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Archive for category Roshan Pakistan

PHOTOS: Imran’s Photo hung In Chicago. USA

 

 

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COLLAGE OF PAKISTAN: LAND OF THE FREE, BRAVE AND THE BEAUTIFUL

The Birth of Pakistan

by  on Oct 24, 2011

The Birth of Pakistan

The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on July 18, 1947. The Act created two dominions, Indian Union and Pakistan. It also provided for the complete end of British control over Indian affairs from August 15, 1947. The Muslims of the Sub-continent had finally achieved their goal to have an independent state for themselves, but only after a long and relentless struggle under the single-minded guidance of the Quaid.

The Muslims faced a gamut of problems immediately after independence. However, keeping true to their traditions, they overcame them after a while. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was appointed the first Governor General of Pakistan and Liaquat Ali Khan became its first Prime Minister. Pakistan became a dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

The boundaries of Pakistan emerged on the map of the world in 1947. This was accomplished on the basis of the Two-Nation Theory. This theory held that there were two nations, Hindus and Muslims living in the territory of the Sub-continent. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was the first exponent of the Two-Nation Theory in the modern era. He believed that India was a continent and not a country, and that among the vast population of different races and different creeds, Hindus and Muslims were the two major nations on the basis of nationality, religion, way-of-life, customs, traditions, culture and historical conditions.

The politicization of the Muslim community came about as a consequence of three developments:

  • Various efforts towards Islamic reform and revival during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • The impact of Hindu-based nationalism.
  • The democratization of the government of British India.

While the antecedents of Muslim nationalism in India go back to the early Islamic conquests of the Sub-continent, organizationally it stems from the demands presented by the Simla Deputation to Lord Minto, the Governor General of India, in October 1906, proposing separate electorates for the Indian Muslims. The principal reason behind this demand was the maintenance of a separate identity of the Muslim nationhood.

In the same year, the founding of the All India Muslim League, a separate political organization for Muslims, elucidated the fact that the Muslims of India had lost trust in the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress. Besides being a Hindu-dominated body, the Congress leaders in order to win grass-root support for their political movements, used Hindu religious symbols and slogans, thereby arousing Muslim suspicions regarding the secular character of the Congress.

Events like the Urdu-Hindi controversy (1867), the partition of Bengal (1905), and Hindu revivalism, set the two nations, the Hindus and the Muslims, further apart. Re-annulment of the partition of Bengal in 1911 by the British government brought the Congress and the Muslim League on one platform. Starting with the constitutional cooperation in the Lucknow Pact (1916), they launched the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements to press upon the British government the demand for constitutional reforms in India in the post-World War I era.

But after the collapse of the Khilafat Movement, Hindu-Muslim antagonism was revived once again. The Muslim League rejected the proposals forwarded by the Nehru Report and they chose a separate path for themselves. The idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of Northern India as proposed by Allama Iqbal in his famous Allahabad Address showed that the creation of two separate states for the Muslims and Hindus was the only solution. The idea was reiterated during the Sindh provincial meeting of the League, and finally adopted as the official League position in the Lahore Declaration of March 23, 1940.

Thus these historical, cultural, religious and social differences between the two nations accelerated the pace of political developments, finally leading to the division of British India into two separate, independent states, Pakistan and India, on August 14 & 15, 1947, respectively.

COURTESY: PLEASE VISIT A WONDERFUL  SCHOLARLY WEBSITE ON PAKISTAN: STORY OF PAKISTAN

 

http://storyofpakistan.com/the-birth-of-pakistan/

 

Grate Acknowledgement of Pakistani Photographer Muhammad Shoaib Tanoli

 

 

 

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Pakistan – The Coffee table book
 

A publication of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Govt of Pakistan

 
 
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NORTHERN PAKISTAN

 

Just before Pakistan-China border

 
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Northern Pakistan

 

A snapshot of some of my travels in the breathtaking areas of Northern Pakistan 12 years ago – the red line across the mountains is the border with Azad Kashmir. In fact, this view also takes in Punjab, the Islamabad Capital Territory and the North-West Frontier Province- four of Pakistan’s eight provinces

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Pakistan through my eyes

 

Pardon me for making another mosaic collection of my photographs but I just couldn’t help it. Having photographed Pakistan especially Islamabad-Rawalpindi (where I live) extensively I have come to appreciate everything about Pakistan- and I have found beauty in them- from Pakistan’s sunsets to landscapes to architecture to remnants of British colonial buildings to a weather-beaten tap to a single dew on a plant- and especially culture.

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Karachi Shoe Shop- Pakistan

 

Saleem-Shahi Sandels/Shoes at Hyderi Market Karachi Pakistan

 

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PAKISTAN MILITARY

 

PAKISTAN MILITARY

Khurram Gardezi

 

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Pakistan Map

 

Pakistan Map at Wagha Border Lahore.

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Roots (Mountain Nanga Perbat, Fairy Meadow, Pakistan)

 

My Beautiful Pakistan.

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Roots (Mountain Nanga Perbat, Fairy Meadow, Pakistan)

 

My Beautiful Pakistan.

 

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Pakistan, Karachi

 

Pakistan, Karachi beach
Nikon f2, lens 28mm, Ektachrome 400 ASA

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Colors Of Pakistan.

 

Cultural Dresses of Pakistan.

 
 
 
 
Pictures taken by Muhammad Shoaib Tanoli & Others

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WHAT A COUNTRY!

 

WHAT A COUNTRY! 

 

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Yes, what a country! A paradise on earth, that’s what Pakistan got —
from shining sea to the second highest peak in the world. Before you
declare it ‘paradise lost’, tarry a while and think: Only in this
country does the heart beat faster when a PIA plane brings you back to
your roots. In no other country does it feel like home. In no other
country does the desi food taste as delicious as here. In no other
country do you get hugs and kisses accompanied by profuse dinner
invitations when you chance upon an old acquaintance. People are
genuinely happy to welcome you back to where you really belong.

Only in this country does a tooth extraction cost Rs4,000 and an
implant Rs75,000. My dentist in the US charges $500 for tooth
extraction and $5,000 for an implant.

“Go back and get your teeth fixed. It’s much cheaper there,” Dr Ruvo
tells me when I go running to her for help. Dr Shahid Mahmood, the
Texas-trained dentist in Islamabad says: “I tell my friends and family
in America to take a trip out to Pakistan, get their dental work done,
have a vacation and return refreshed in less than half the money they
would spend on their teeth treatment in the US.”

Dental issues aside, Islamabad is a happening place. Some friends
wanted to eat out on Valentine’s Day. “We went around but were turned
away. Every place was booked solid.”

Professionals in all fields, I find are efficient, friendly and
willing to help you when you turn up in their offices to get work like
car insurance, car registration, refunds for unused PIA tickets, money
transfers and a hundred other things that need to be done if you’ve
been away from Pakistan long.

But what a country — where traffic lights don’t exist in the capital
city. The message: Drive at your own risk; fend for yourself! There
are no cops on the streets. It’s free for all. The daredevil motor
bikers challenge every nerve in your body as they charge around
recklessly packed with women and children at the back. The only cops
you see are standing fiddling with their cell phones or chatting
leisurely with each other while lined up along VIP routes daily.

What a country where a property tycoon can buy off the sons of VVIPs,
load them with pricey gifts and then openly boast about his feats.
First to fall from grace is the son of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
The case stands unresolved. Now it’s Bilawal’s turn to have a
multi-million dollar mega-home named after him by Riaz.

What a country where the president of the poverty stricken populace
brazenly accepts this graft in the name of his son from the most
controversial man in Pakistan. With his own millions stashed overseas,
Zardari and son are hardly a charity case in need of a roof over their
heads courtesy Malik Riaz. Splashed in the media are photographs of
the VVIP father and son holding ‘court’ in one of the 50 formal
drawing rooms of Bilawal House in Lahore.

What a country where the same man, Malik Riaz builds a sand castle
telling all and sundry that it will be the tallest building in Karachi
worth $45bn in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Group. The hyper TV
channels go into an overdrive putting Burj Khalifa in Dubai to shame.
Malik’s tower will soon replace the Burj in height and grandeur,
open-jawed Pakistani public is told. Not so fast! Say the Abu Dhabi
Group. They publish a quarter page clarification in all our newspapers
contradicting Riaz’s tall claims.

Distancing itself from the deal, the Group declares that the whole
exercise was nothing more than a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ between
them and Malik Riaz of Bahria Town. Since both the parties failed to
reach a “conclusion” the deal stands cancelled!

What a country where the US dollar touches the Rs100 mark. Instead of
stalling the rupee decline, the government dispenses with the services
of its finance secretary. A week later, the finance minister too
departs, leaving the country’s finances in the lurch. A manager of a
local bank tells me that as elections near and uncertainty grows,
politicians are busy transferring their ill-gotten wealth out of
Pakistan.

What a country where the ruling elite are the main black marketers who
pocket $6.12bn, paralleling almost half of Pakistan’s foreign exchange
reserves. Their ill-gotten money is mainly acquired through drug
smuggling, book piracy, gas and oil smuggling, human smuggling, tax
evasion and counterfeit money. Havocscope, the world’s leading
provider of information about the black market ranks Pakistan close to
Afghanistan which is the world’s number one country with $7.3bn in
black market. There are laws to catch the scofflaws but the courts,
including the Supreme Court are helpless.

What a country where the son of a prime minister along with a federal
minister and a federal secretary are accused of importing the deadly
drug called ephedrine and health officials divert 25,000 kg ephedrine
to the pharmaceutical companies for smuggling abroad. The then
Director General Health Dr Rashid Juma, a respected brain surgeon, in
his statement as an ‘approver’ alleges that he was threatened by the
then health secretary Khushnood Lashari to do as told or else he’d get
the sack. Ironically, the minister and the secretary continue in their
posts despite the court accusing them of the crime, while the son who
is a member National Assembly is out on bail. The case will gradually
fizzle out as happens always.

What a country where the constitution is violated by the lawmakers
themselves, most of them holding fake degrees and owing huge sums to
the State Bank. When the Election Commission writes to 249 legislators
giving them a deadline to prove their academic credentials, only 26 of
them respond. The rest, 223 member parliaments miss the deadline,
proving they sneaked into the parliaments on suspected fake degrees.
Heavens don’t fall. There is business as usual. When the State Bank
threatens to out the identities of the bank defaulters, pressure from
the government and the opposition arrives and the matter goes into a
limbo.

What a country where one million ton plastic bags a week are thrown
randomly and are left lying forever. Most of them make their way to
the chocked gutters or fly around in the wind until they land on trees
and bushes. We have a minister and a secretary in charge of
environment. They, like the rest of the government wear blinkers and
perhaps don’t see the plastic bags suffocating the environment.

Still, what a country where ordinary people are the most resilient,
hard working and honest — Pakistan could have been a paradise for all
— from the privileged to the underprivileged, had it not been pillaged
repeatedly by those in whom God had wrested power.

Paradise lost and regained may yet be the lasting narrative for Pakistan.

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Akhtar Mengal to ride to power on the shoulders of Nawaz Sharif to become the Sheikh Mujib of Baluchistan

All these Baloch warlords Nawabs, Khan and Sardars are same, with a typical Sardari mentality. They use the ordinary middle class Baloch for their interest and when times come they will discard them like they are no body. Time has come that the ordinary Baloch must join hand and ditches these all Nawabs, Khans and Sardars and sends them all in one big grave.

Foreign Hands Supporting Baloch Sardars

 

 

Reference

 

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Akhtar Mengal Returns from Self-Exile – 22 Mar. Akhtar Mengal announced he would return from Dubai and participate in elections. He refused to condemn his brother Javed Mengal who is sitting inLondon under MI6 patronage and carrying on militancy. Brahmdagh Bugti also announced boycott of the elections saying ‘Baloch are not part of Pakistan’. Akhtar being the son of Attaullah Mengal is also fiercely anti Punjab and anti Army like his father. He and his father never protested against target-killings of some 1600 Punjabis during the last 5 years but go on protesting that thousands of Baloch are missing and agencies have been killing them. Attaullah, as Chief Minister, had dismissed and repatriated Punjabi teachers and all the Police in 1972. But Nawaz Sharif is bending over backwards to befriend them. Incidentally, Mengal are Brahuis and not Baloch. They are a different racial stock and speak an ancient dialect called Brahui which has no script and negligible literature. On arrival, he met the CM and demanded the ouster of FC and Army from Balochistan. He demanded personal security by named individuals and the CS complied.

 

With the politician-rulers remaining busy in massive corruption, the bureaucracy has also abdicated its responsibility to run their departments. This is the state of all the departments – health, education and law and order are not the only areas suffering neglect; even the administration of justice has collapsed. The Baluchistan High Court as well as the Supreme Courts routinely interfere and try to run the departments without much success as it is not their job. Instead, they should haul up the politician-rulers and award exemplary punishments to civil servants for failure to justify their appointments and salaries.

The Baloch/Brahui activists are now focused on election and securing of their ‘rights’. There is no talk of ‘Independence’, other than by those five who are sitting abroad under patronage of CIA/MI6 in Europe. Incidents of target killings, sectarian killing, IEDs and crime have greatly reduced but people do not still feel safe, especially while going to Baloch/Brahui areas.

Zardari’s hurried signing of Iran-Pak Gas Pipeline and allowing regularization of smuggled vehicles during the last days of the PPP government, while doing some good, is seen as a cynical ploy to garner support which may fail in its political purpose but are nevertheless welcome because of being of long range public benefit.

Unknown-7The selection of weak persons as caretaker CM and PM is viewed as effort to avoid heat of controversy. Their weakness and inexperience of administration may end up doing good as the focus would remain on fairness of elections. While a majority in Balochistan would have liked the caretakers to haul up the criminals of the former government and do something assertively to ensure writ of the government, they can be content and comfortable if the bureaucracy and the Army were unhindered in their statutory roles of efficient administration and stern enforcement of law and order. The people are happy that neither the Governor nor the departing CM were able to get their candidates appointed caretaker CM. Nothing much is expected from the caretaker CM except that he appoints impartial officials of good repute in administration.

The rush of the JUI F, PML (N) and (Q), ANP and several others to join the Opposition one day before the tenure of PA came to an end, further brought down the dignity and prestige of the MPAs. They announced with a poker face that they had decided to leave the Treasury Benches for the good of the people. The people in their response used quite a foul language for the quality and character of all the MPAs. With no accountability of the regime in sight, all the former MPAs have filed their papers to be re-elected.

This election is presenting two broad possibilities; both directly dependent upon the party which might form the federal government. One: Aslam Raisani type corrupt administration coming into power again through massive horse-trading; two: Akhtar Mengal becoming the CM through lack of far sight in PML(N) leader, and support of RAW/CIA/MI6. The First possibility will almost immediately take the province back to loot, plunder and lawlessness – worse in every facet of civic-life this time with more crime, more corruption, and more slogans for ‘independence’.

Akhtar Mengal as the CM appears to be the preference of the Establishment which is being viewed with great optimism. That will result in strengthening the separatists sitting abroad pursuing the US Agenda of destabilizing Pakistan. India will be overjoyed and the Baloch/Brahui militants’ camps in Afghanistan will get a new lease of life. Akhtar and his father Attaullah Mengal are known Punjab/army and Pakistan haters. They have never condemned the target killings of Punjabis in Balochistan nor ever declared their allegiance to Pakistan. Having already demanded that FC and the Army ‘get-out-of-Balochistan’, should Akhtar become CM, he would demand the same saying it was his election-promise. The Army is smug and detached as it was in pre-1971 election in East Pakistan, which gave the Awami League overwhelming majority which presented it as mandate for secession. Mengal and his allies cannot contest or win elections in Pashtun areas but if they win big in Baloch/Brahui areas, they will present it as a mandate for secession of Central and coastal Baluchistan. With USA and Afghanistan supporting insurgency in Baloch/Brahui areas and India enjoying considerable influence with the ANP, the situation would be out of the control of patriotic politicians. The military would then have to crush the rebellion. What would be chances for success? That is not hard to guess. A political solution is preferable but it would be much harder to pursue after insurgency supporting parties win outright with blackmail and intimidation as in the past. With no writ of government in Baloch/Brahui areas, free-and-fair elections will only be a slogan. The local sardar will win by dint of their tribal authority despite, nay because of, their anti-Pakistan credentials. Is the Army doing right in the name of sham democracy which would to let the country be torn apart?

During the last 5 years the Pashtun population, which is nearly 50% of the total, was sidelined in the province. The only hope is that the Pashtun, Hazara, settlers, and minor tribes unite in a coalition. JUI (F) has always sold itself to the highest bidder, even if its anti Pakistan. But if the majority Pashtun vote remains pro-Pakistan, the CM will not be able to openly go against Pakistan. The damage to the federation from allowing anti-Pakistan elements to operate as legitimate politicians free to plunder at home and make deal with hostile foreign powers would then make the TTP appear to be saviors and redeemers. Giving a free reign to the foreign enemy and their local collaborators would not create patriots; it will create and encourage traitors. The elections used to be contested for political power but now with the scale of corruption having reached billions of rupees, elective office has become a goldmine. With foreign powers supporting their collaborators agents, the stakes have risen by several notches. Militancy and inter-tribal turf war is expected to intensify as the Elections draw closer. Balochistan may see the worst bloodshed of its 43 years history

 

 

 

 

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Shaheed Parveen Rehman: A Modern Muslim Saint Falls Victim to Karachi Terrorists & Land Mafia

Parveen Rehman, a leading social worker in Pakistan was shot dead by unidentified gunmen amid rising ethnic, sectarian and criminal violence in Karachi city. 56-year-old Parveen was killed right outside Orangi, on March 13, 2013, where she headed the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), one of Pakistan’s most successful non-profit organisations, which helps poor communities.

Orangi is considered Asia’s largest slum and houses close to a million people in Karachi. A trained architect, Parveen also worked tirelessly to document land in the ever growing slum and in Karachi, to protect it from the city’s notorious land mafia, who she had been receiving death threats from for years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parveen Rahman. Image from Twitter courtesy Alexpressed

On his blog Alexressed Diary of a concerned Pakistani, Ale Natiq writes:

Most people know her as the Director of the Orangi Pilot Project but she was more than a mere NGO Director. She and her organisation have left footprints across a wide area of Karachi and have influenced several thousand lives. It will not be unfair to say that she influenced the lives of half a million people or half the population of Orangi in one way or the other. Karachi’s slums and katchi abadis have lost a mother figure.

Among other milestones, the OPP is known for initiating one of the most successful community-driven sanitation programs in the world. Since its inception in 1980, it has helped 2 million people improve their sanitation by installing underground sewer pipes and indoor toilets across Pakistan.

Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s Morning Edition and Author of Instant City Life and Death in Karachi, which features an interview with Parveen, remembers on Twitter:

 @NPRInskeep: Outsiders would get a little tense just visiting Orangi, the vast gang-infested zone of Karachi where Rahman cheerfully worked each day.

Karachi Violence

The day Parveen was murdered, seven other people were killed in various incidents of violence in the city. There was a feeling of extreme loss and grief among Pakistan’s Twitterati. Pakistan Director at Human Rights Watch Ali Dayan Hasan tweeted on March 14, 2013:

@AliDayan (Ali Dayan Hasan): Slowly but surely, everyone and everything good in our country is being targeted and killed.#ParveenRehman #Pakistan

Others including journalists Beena Sarwar, Mohammad Hanif and columnist Cyril Almeida echoed his sentiments:

@beenasarwar (beena sarwar)#ParveenRehman RT @mohammedhanif: this is the saddest thing. And we thought we have seen too much sadness. Can’t even muster up anger

@cyalm (cyril almeida): A selfish thought tonight: am sick at the thought of the growing number of ppl in my phone book who have been cut down. Too much death.

@BhopalHouse (Faiza S Khan): I realise, I’ve known for some time, that no depths to which Pak won’t sink. Grateful that I still feel heartbroken. Soon that too will end.

@AmSayeed (Amima Sayeed): the negative propaganda against NGOs has led to this:#ParveenRehman shot dead. It is the blind hatred that doesnt see contributions!!

Tribute to social worker Parveen Rehman killed by terrorist in Karachi, Image by Ayuib. Copyright Demoyix (14/3/2013)

Parveen’s Fight against Karachi’s Land Mafia

Before joining the OPP in 1982, Parveen worked as a architect. She continued to teach at various architecture schools over the years to create socially-responsible architects in the country. Parveen, had spent years documenting land in the fringes of the ever-expanding metropolis Karachi. According to her students and colleagues she had been receiving death threats from the mafia involved in grabbing precious land in the city:

Ms Rehman was an ardent compiler of the record of precious lands, which were on the fringes of the city in shape of villages but were speedily vanishing into its vastness because of ever-increasing demand by thousands of families who were shifting to Karachi every year from across the country. She said on record that around 1,500 goths (villages) had been merged into the city since 15 years. Land-grabbers subdivided them into plots and earned billions by their sale.

Journalist Fahad Desmukh tweeted his audio interview with Parveen Rehman in which she talks about threats from the land mafia in Karachi: 

@desmukh (Fahad Desmukh): Parveen Rehman: “We said all that you can do is kill us. What else can you do? We’re not afraid of you” #LandMafia

SesapZai an artist from Pakistan writes in her blog:

It almost seems to me that people in Pakistan do not want to develop; development is a looming monster that becomes a huge threat as soon as someone tries to push it forward. And rather than supporting and encouraging such brave humanitarians — like Parveen Rehman — who’d dedicated as well as put their lives on the line, to help the poorest in the region live better lives, they are instead murdered. And with them, all hopes and dreams for a better, more economically sufficient future, wither away too.

Creative Commons License

Written by Qurratulain Zaman 
Posted 16 March 2013 7:28 GMT · Print version Print version

 
 

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