The curious case of US consulate in Karachi

Pakistanis subsidize the poor US government!

Shawkat Aziz, a Citibank banker in New York, was imposed on Pakistan as a wonderboy who would take Pakistan out of its economic mess. He was not the only one to be so imposed. Moeen Qureshi, and Shoaib, among others, had preceded him in the list of such wonder-boys.

He was made the Finance Minister, and then the Prime Minister. Here is the first order he issued on becoming PM:

The first order of PM Aziz: serve the US
Concessions to friendly countries is a norm, says former official

by Ansar Abbasi

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Musharraf, the clean guy

Everyone, except the army, was corrupt, he said, and set about cleaning the system. Here is a sample of Mr. Clean_Guy's actions:

Documents reveal power scandal in Chak Shahzad palaces
Government found illegally subsidising Musharraf, Shaukat’s electricity bills

Saturday, May 23, 2009
By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, who have built up multi-million rupee palaces in the name of farmhouses in Chak Shahzad bordering Islamabad, are getting subsidy on their electricity bills and are charged at the cheapest agricultural rates, copies of their bills obtained by The News have revealed.

A selected few amongst the other highly influential and well-connected residents of Chak Shahzad are also paying the cheapest rates with the connivance of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco).

While the whole world knows that Musharraf has constructed a modern house on the farm, obtained for breeding poultry and vegetables, the Iesco is still allowing him to enjoy the cheapest of power tariff D-2(1), which is meant for agriculture tube-wells and lift irrigation pumps and is even subsidised by the government from the taxpayers’ money.

Quranee Urdu, or Urdu words from the Quran

The easier it is here, the more difficult it will be in the Hereafter

we born Muslims did not have to struggle with having to search for the truth, except may be in a superficial way. Being brought up as Muslims we could always see the wrong in other aqeedas. There is a downside, for all will be asked what action they took on the knowledge they possessed.

Some take it to mean we should not try to gain knowledge - if we do not know, we won't be asked about it, but that is wrong. We will be taken to task for not trying to learn.

Those who understand Arabic will have a harder time. Those of us who have a language close to Arabic, will also have to explain why we did not try to learn it.

Subhanallah. There is good news for those who can understand, read and write Urdu:

Urdu is similar to Hindi. Both were indistinguishable, except for the script. Urdu became closer to Arabic because of incorporating the script, but retaining a few letters of the alphabet for sounds peculiar to its Indian origin.

A book called "Quranee Urdu" has just come out by Col. Aashiq Hussain. He has spent his life in the education corps, with Urdu, Arabic and linguistics as his passion. He claims that 94% of the words in the Quran are in use in Urdu in some derived form or the other (sometimes the meanings are different from the Quranic ones).

world heritage tour: Moenjodaro

This is part of the Indus Valley civilization, which thrived about 5000 years ago. The city had straight and perpendicular road grid, covered sewage lines running along the roads, and the city was made entirely of unbaked bricks. It had a rich quarter: on higher ground, and more spacious, and a poor quarter, the opposite.

Seals and Toys from this and the sister site of Harrappa are also dintinguishing features.

The reason for suffering in this world

It is wonderful we haven't had more accidents and sufferings than we have had.

There is so much that could have gone wrong in my life.

And whatever has gone wrong, has also resulted in my betterment, and whatever hasn't, obviously was for the good.

alHamdulillah.

When the doctors told me I would go blind in six months, and I thought the world had ended for me, and I blamed Allah for shattering my dreams. Little did I know that my affliction would save me from being insufferably arrogant.