27 Electrical's Blog

NUSTians make a 7.5 MW Power House

2009-06-08T13:20:00.002+05:00

I just read the story in The News. It is something that we should be proud of!

I'm guessing the students who did this ought to be from EME college. I don't know where they got the teachers from... :D

One thing I think is deplorable is the coverage this FREE Media has given to this achievement. And I'm not letting the Government off the hook either.

Some "Engineer" from CDA was the chief guest at the inauguration. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the government, one would think that they were too busy helping the IDPs to attend functions of magnanimous importance.

Nevertheless, this is an achievement that needs to be held up with pride. It has to be remembered, not forgotten. Students should be encouraged to take up huge projects such as these!

Dreams in the scale of Islam

2009-04-12T20:18:00.006+05:00

The previous semester saw some interest in dreams like the communication skill presentation by Rabia and the dream of Raheel. I found this translated friday sermon from sheikh Saud bin Ibrahim al-Shuraim (Imaam at masjid al-Haram) about dreams and decided to share it with you all. He has dedicated both the khutbahs of jumma to dreams its importance to people, what our attitude should be towards dreams, the types of dreams, etiquettes and issues of dream interpretation. I am copy pasting the translation of the khutba taken from this source

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First Khutbah

O people! The son of Aadam has a great desire and an enflamed interest regarding the unseen, whether it is related to the past or the future, and refusing to accept that such a phenomenon exists, is ignoring a fact of life. People’s obsession with such phenomena is related to how close they are to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and Qur’aan which firmly addressed this subject and clarified it, as Allaah says, which means, “(He is) Knower of the unseen, and He does not disclose His (knowledge of the) unseen, Except whom He has approved of as messengers, and indeed, He sends before him (i.e. each messenger) and behind him observers” (Al-Jinn: 26-27).

It is no wonder that the further people are from the time of prophet hood, the more confused they become and mix facts regarding the issue of the unseen, and the more eager people with weak souls become to know the unseen. Some believe in illusions as facts, others accept what fortune-tellers say, and others guess and speak about the unseen during all times while the verses from the Qur’aan are recited before them day and night, like the saying of Allaah, which means, “Say, ' None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected.'” (An-Naml: 65) as well as the sayings of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, like the Hadeeth where he said, “Five things only Allaah knows, and he recited the verse (the meaning of which is) “Indeed, Allaah (alone) has knowledge of the hour and sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow and no soul perceives in what land it will die. Indeed, Allaah is Knowing and Acquainted” (Luqmaan: 34)”

Thus, it is not possible to know the unseen or address it, except through what Allaah has told us, or what He revealed to His Messenger sallaalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Anything other than this would be guesses and illusions, or a mixture of words conveyed to people by some Jinn.

Islam removes confusion and illusions from the mind and guides those who stray from the straight path. Believing in the unseen cannot be equated with believing in fantasies.

Those who survive this phenomenon, get trapped by their eagerness to know the future, which they think is a major factor in deciding the stability and instability of their lives, so they try to reach that through dreams. You might meet a brother (in faith) or a friend and be greeted with a gloomy or cheerful face, but you would be surprised to discover that this disposition is due to a dream which they have seen in their sleep.

Slaves of Allaah! This issue is not only the concern of individuals or common people, but many eminent figures join them in this concern. Dreams have disturbed many great people, and other dreams came as glad tidings to many others. Some dreams became the concern of nations, like the dream of the king of Egypt, which the Qur’aan told of in the story of Prophet Yoosuf, peace be upon him. His dream included both glad tidings and warnings at the same time; it gave glad tidings of the increase in provisions for seven consecutive years, then warned against famine for the following seven years.

Slaves of Allaah! Dreams have had great importance in people’s lives before and after Islam. Educated people and intellectuals might differ in the way they view dreams and judge their issue. Philosophers have rejected that dreams have any meaning at all and claimed that dreams result from the reactions which take place in the body and reflect the state of mind. Some psychiatrists have a negative stance towards dreams, which is actually very close to that of the philosophers. They refer it to the mood of people and certain parts of their memory which become hyper during sleep, making dreams purely biological.

On the other hand, Islam and its scholars have followed the prophetic path in dealing with dreams, and have judged dreams according to the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. They have ruled that true dreams are from Allaah, some warn and others bring glad tidings. Ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said, “Prophecy is finished but tidings remain” people asked, ‘What are these tidings?’ he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam replied, “A true dream which a man sees, or others see for him” (Bukhaari & Maalik). These tidings could be good or bad as Allaah says, which means, “So give them tidings of a painful doom” (Al-Inshiqaaq: 24).

Slaves of Allaah! These dreams are the ones which the truthful and trustworthy sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said about them that, “At the end of time, the believer’s dream will rarely be incorrect; the more truthful a person is, the truer his dreams are; and the dream of a faithful believer is a part of the forty six parts of Prophecy” (Bukhaari & Muslim).

In this era, many people’s hearts have little attachment to Allaah. Belief in divine decree, pre-destiny and that whatever Allaah wants happens and whatever He does not will not happen, and that everything happens with His command…all these aspects of belief have become weak in people’s hearts. Due to this, their hearts have become more attached to the issue of dreams, and in this way, they have differed from the righteous generations of our Salaf. They have started talking about this issue more and relying on it, until it has reached a level where it has overwhelmed people’s discussions in their gatherings, on satellite channels and religious inquiries, so much so that people ask more about dreams than they ask about matters of religion, and what should and should not be done by a Muslim.

These practices take place while people are heedless of what they should do regarding dreams, and how they should deal with them based on the prophetic instructions, which one should not transgress nor ignore. The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam left us with a clear religion, and he sufficed us regarding the issue of dreams, talking about it, getting attached to it, seeking to find out its interpretation or relying on it. People’s increased inquiries about dreams is a form of transgressing the limits set in the Sunnah and an imbalanced approach to the issue.

When some people see a dream, their lives become disturbed, and they become terrified and unable to relax until they find someone to interpret it for them so as to discover whether it brings glad tidings or evil news to him. If we stop at the limits which are set for us in the prophetic guidance, then such anxiety would not be felt, and people would not occupy themselves with this subject, which has become a way to attract audiences to the internet and satellite channels.

In order to discern the best way of dealing with this widespread phenomenon in our communities, let us listen to some of the etiquettes relating to this issue. Abu Salamah, may Allaah be pleased with him said, ‘I used to see dreams and become sick because of it, until I saw Abu Qutaadah and told him about this. So he said to me, I heard the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam saying, “Good dreams are from Allaah, and bad dreams are from Satan, so if of you see in your dream something which you dislike, then spit three times to your left and seek refuge in Allaah from its evil, then it will not harm you” (Muslim). In another narration Abu Salamah, may Allaah be pleased with him said, ‘I used to see dreams and they would feel heavier on me than a mountain, until I heard this saying of the Prophet, then it never bothered me after that’ (Muslim).

Slaves of Allaah! We see that not everything one sees in his sleep is a good dream that needs an interpretation, because what people see in their sleep is one of the three types, as narrated by ‘Awf Ibn Maalik, may Allaah be pleased with him, that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said, “Dreams are of three types, some are from Satan to sadden the son of Aadam, some are the result of what a person thinks about while he is awake so he sees it in his sleep, and some are one of the forty six parts of prophecy” (Ibn Maajah). Imaam Al-Baghawi said, ‘This Hadeeth proves that not everything which a person sees in his sleep in true and should be interpreted. The correct understanding is that some of it is from Allaah, and the rest are mixed up false dreams which have no interpretation’.

An example for these mixed up false dreams is the story of the Bedouin who came to the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! I saw in my dream that someone beheaded me, and my head rolled and I started going after it " So the messenger sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “Do not inform anyone nor talk to people about whispers that come to you in your dreams from Satan” (Muslim).

As we were instructed through the Sunnah, the way a believer should deal with this type of dream is to seek refuge in Allaah from its evil and the evil of Satan; to spit three times to the left; not to inform anyone about it; to stand up and pray as much as he is capable of; and then switch to the other side when he lies down. Some scholars added that he should recite the verse of Al-Kursee (the throne) because the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam informed us that Satan will not be able to harm the one who recites it.

Imaam An-Nawawi said regarding the way to deal with evil dreams, ‘One who sees an evil dream should follow all the etiquettes which were mentioned in the different narrations from the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, and even if he does only some of them, it will protect him from the evil of Satan with the will of Allaah’.

The second type of dreams is that which results from a person’s whims and what he thinks about during the day and that which occupies his mind. For example, if he has been thinking about traveling or a trade, then he would see in his dream similar to what he was thinking while he was awake. These mixed up dreams are also ones that cannot be interpreted.

The only type left is the true, good dream from Allaah that brings good or bad tidings. It may be clear and not in need of an interpretation, as the dream of prophet Ibraaheem when he saw that he is slaughtering his son. Some may be ambiguous and need someone to interpret them, like the dreams that the mates of prophet Yoosuf saw in prison. This is the type which the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam forbade us from telling except to scholars or wise people seeking their advice, the messenger sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “Don't tell your dream except to a scholar or a wise person seeking his advice” (Tirmithi).

All other dreams which one might see and it includes legislating things to be lawful or unlawful; performing certain acts of worship; deciding the night of Al-Qadr which the Prophet was informed with then later was made to forget it; or dreams which result in judging people, giving or depriving them of their rights, and whether they are truthful and honest people or not...all such dreams are mixed up dreams and doubts, which we should not rely on, according to the sayings of the majority of scholars, like Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyim, Ibn Taymiyyah, An-Nawawi, Ash-Shaatibi and others. Ash-Shaatibi mentioned the story of the Caliph Al-Mahdi who wanted to kill the judge Shurayk Ibn ‘Abdullaah. Shurayk asked him, ‘Why do you want to kill me, while it is unlawful for you to spill my blood?’ He replied, ‘I saw in my dream that I was talking to you and you were talking to me with your back to me, so I asked an interpreter, and he told me that this man (Shurayk) is one who visits you often and opposes you behind your back’ Shurayk said, ‘O leader of the believers! Your dream is not like the dream of (prophet) Yoosuf the son of (prophet) Ya’qoob, and Muslim’s blood cannot be shed based on dreams’ so Al-Mahdi bowed his head down and signaled him with his hand to leave, so he left.

Ibn ‘Asaaker mentioned in the history of Damascus that some people saw Imaam Ash-Shaafi’ in their dream saying to them, ‘Yoonus Ibn ‘Abdul A’laa lied on my behalf in narrating such and such Hadeeth, I did not narrate it’ Imaam Ibn Katheer commented on this saying, ‘‘Yoonus Ibn ‘Abdul A’laa is a trustworthy scholar, and cannot be doubted simply because of a dream’.

Imaam Ath-Thahabi narrated that Al-Maroozi said, ‘I took Ibraaheem Ibn Al-Husari (a righteous man) to Imaam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, and he said to Imaam Ahmad, my mother saw such and such a dream for you, and she mentioned you in Paradise. So Imaam Ahmad said, dear brother, Sahl Ibn Salaamah was told the same by people, then he started killing Muslims. A dream should not deceive a believer’.

Second Khutbah

O people! If we want to be just, fair and sincere in our advice, then we should not put all the blame on the people who see the dreams, but we must also address those who interpret them, because they have a great responsibility towards people who see these dreams.

An interpreter should be a scholar in this great field of knowledge, and should be able to weigh the harms and benefits resulting from the interpretation. He should not take the lead in interpreting dreams, specially those who do it through satellite channels, and in big gatherings, because it is just like passing a fatwaa. The king said in the story of Yoosuf, as Allaah says, which means, “And (subsequently) the King said, ' Indeed, I have seen (in a dream) seven fat cows being eaten by seven (that were) lean, and seven green spikes (of grain) and others (that were) dry. Oh eminent ones, explain to me my vision, if you should interpret visions.'” (Yoosuf: 43).

Ibn Al-Qayyim said, ‘A person passing Fatwaa, an interpreter and a doctor are exposed to the private hidden affairs of people, so they should conceal these things’.

Interpreters should not rush to interpret dreams, nor should they make people feel that their interpretations are facts. They should know the danger of this and the arrogance it could lead to. Ibn ‘Abdul Barr narrated that Imaam Maalik was asked, ‘Can anyone interpret dreams?’ he said, ‘How can people play around with matters related to prophecy’. Ibn ‘Abdul Barr also narrated that Imaam Hishaam Ibn Sassaan said, ‘Ibn Sereen used to be asked about one hundred dreams but he would not answer, but he would tell people, fear Allaah while you are awake, then what you see in your dream would not harm you’ and he would also say, ‘I only say what I think to be the interpretation, and I could be wrong’.

If this was the saying of the leader of interpreters through the ages, how should people in our time act? We see a person asked about one thousand dreams, and not once would he say, I do not know, or say that they are mixed up false dreams.

Interpreters should also realize the danger of interpreting dreams through TV channels that millions of people watch or in big gatherings, for the following reasons:

First: It is dangerous because he is talking about the unseen, specially that no one can say for sure that what he is interpreting is going to take place or not.

Second: It is difficult to know the situation of the one who saw the dream through TV channels, and whether they are righteous people or not, which has a strong connection to how a dream is interpreted. Two men came to Imaam Ibn Sereen both saw that they were calling the Athaan (the call for prayer), so he interpreted it for the righteous man as performing pilgrimage according to the verse which means “And proclaim to the people the Hajj (pilgrimage); they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they w ill come from every distant pass” (Al-Hajj: 27), while he interpreted it to the other man that he will steal and his hand will be cut according to the verse which means “So when he had furnished them with their supplies, he put the (gold measuring) bowl into the bag of his brother. Then an announcer called out, 'Oh caravan, indeed you are thieves.'” (Yoosuf: 70).

Third: Some people would not comprehend the way the interpretation was done through the screens, and ignorant people would think that it is a type of fortune telling which is prohibited, and the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “Say to people that which they are acquainted with, or do you want that people reject what Allaah and His Messenger say” (Bukhaari).

Ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “If you talk to people with words which they cannot comprehend, then it will be a trial for them” (Muslim).

Fourth: Preventing evil precedes accomplishing benefits, and the evil of interpreting through TV channels is greater than the benefits for many obvious reasons. One reason being the fact that it is talking about the unseen and interpreting is like passing Fatwaa and our Salaf used to avoid that. And then the evil resulting from the interpretation of some dreams is also great. For example a girl will not succeed in her marriage or another case whose husband will marry a second wife in secret. What do you think the situation of these women would be? One is awaiting failure in life and will remain depressed, and the other will always doubt her husband? Some people take these interpretations without referring to trustworthy scholars to confirm them, which results in the expected problems.

Some people give the excuse that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam used to ask: “Who saw a dream?” (Muslim) so that he can interpret it for them. We would answer saying,

· This was the Prophet sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, and his interpretations were undoubtedly true.

· His interpretations were in a mosque that was attended by a small number of people, not millions like the case of TV channels.

· The audience with the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam were the companions whose wisdom cannot be compared.

· No one from the four rightly guided caliphs or those who came after them did that, and especially Abu Bakr for whom the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam testified that he is knowledgeable in the field of interpretation.

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In an interview given to al-watan (arabic) newspaper of qatar Sheikh Shuraim told about one of his dreams. When the interviewer asked him about his feelings on being appointed imam at masjid al-haram. This was his reply:

"My acceptance as an imam of haram was not something that was surprise and happened at once rather it was a long process, it took much time... and before being appointed as imam, i used to dream of being so and indeed it is a great blessing of Allah(SWT) to be an imam of haram. i ask Him to guide me on the path of gratefulness"

A partial translation and full arabic of this interview is available on this link.

For any one who is more interested in the islamic etiquettes and principles of dreams and their interpretations i will recommend the three series lecture on dreams and dream interpretation by Anwar al-Awlaki available at http://www.hoor-al-ayn.com/lectures/anwar-al-awlaki/

MOU signed by EME and Nokia Siemens Networks

2009-03-14T13:46:00.004+05:00

Taking learning beyond class rooms

The College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (C of E&ME), the largest constituent college of National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) in Pakistan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nokia Siemens Networks to provide its students with industry exposure and insights into the latest in telecom technologies. The association is in line with Nokia Siemens Networks’ commitment to contribute to development of higher technical education in the country and sets a precedent for many such similar tie-ups.

Commenting on the partnership, Commandant of College of E&ME, Major General Shahid, said, “Against the back drop of a rapidly growing telecom sector, it is important to supplement our curriculum with sessions conducted by experts in the field - this is the best way to bring our students up to speed with the industry they will enter in the next few years.” He also impressed upon the students to participate ardently and make best out of this partnership by coming up with innovative solutions. He briefly introduced the college and informed the audience that it is due to the committed faculty students of college that multinationals get talented engineers form the college.

Under the scope of the new partnership, senior managers from Nokia Siemens Networks will conduct lectures for the Electrical and Computer Engineering students of E&ME College. In addition to offering a scholarship program to two selected students, Nokia Siemens Networks will also provide internship opportunities to two students per semester, imparting to them valuable hands-on experience.

Adds Saad M. Waraich, Country Director for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Nokia Siemens Networks, “As a corporate that has had a presence in the country for the past 50 years, we are in a position to leverage. “

A total of five in-class modules, of which four will be in mobile networks and one in fixed networks will be provided as part of the program. The four Mobile Network modules will include Mobile Networks Today, Evolution towards 3G, Future of Mobile Networks, Implementation, Project Management & Network Care. The Fixed Networks module will include topics like Evolution from PSTN to Next Generation Networks and Broadband Access, Transmission & IP Core. An additional module will be based on a visit to the Nokia Siemens Networks’ Telecoms Expertise facility at Islamabad.

All these module sets will be delivered within the span of one semester. E&ME students will also benefit from the three Web Based Training modules that Nokia Siemens Networks will install on the university’s platform. These modules will be accessible via the internet and will shed insight into Mobile Networks like GSM, UMTS and HSDPA.

OH yes 27 Electrical will have the lectures at the very start.

The Consequent is as bad as the Antecedent

2009-03-11T23:58:00.007+05:00

There is a lot of talk about the Long March and restoration of the "essence" of democracy these days. Though this may not be the most "politically correct" time to say all this, I present below my point of view over all this crap.

Quoting Iqbal, (from "Iblees ki majlis-e-shura"). The first advisor to Satan is quoted as saying:

A good point well,my seeing eye hails,
No danger too there from a kingship’s veil.

We gave to kingship the masses rule’s dress,
Self conscious now is man with self’s ingress.

The kingship science has a different sense,
It needs not a garb of a monarch hence.

May be Nation’s Council or Kaiser’s court,
A king’s eye craves a foreign land or port.

Didn’t you see western democratic track,
Whose face is shining but inner is black.

Now, we are fighting for such a system of government. Whereas, we should (being the 'learned' elite) fight for the just system - Islam.

Democracy and dictatorship have failed to deliver in our country. Democracy is an object of the elite while dictatorship is destined towards an end. Whenever a dictator takes over, the democrats want to see his back. While, a democracy has never survived its intended tenure.

It is not hidden from anyone how Iqbal has criticized nationalism. Of the greatest idols present in Ka'aba, at the time of ignorance, Hubal was the greatest. Today's Hubal is nationalism. It is a cancer for this Ummah and Muslims. We shouldn't be fighting, then, for democracy should we? We'd rather be fighting for the restoration of a single Islamic government. "Islamic" would have caused some goosebumps to rise up. Now, by the "Islamic Government" I mean the following (at least):-

Freedom of movement (no passports, no borders).
Single Economy (based on the Islamic standards of Gold and Silver plus no to Interest in all its forms. The earth's resources are Muslim property).
Single Military (Pakistan's military supremacy should be useful to the Palestinians, Chechans, Somalians etc. etc. The Nuclear Bomb is surely, an "Islamic Bomb").
Single Foreign Policy (never repeat - NEVER - what we did to the Palestinians living in Gaza in Dec. 2008).

These four points (I think) are readily implementable. There should be no doubt that such a solution will ultimately get the Ummah back to its long lost glory!

So, am I discouraging anyone from going to the Long March? No. Join the March for some Rule of Law.

But our struggle shouldn't end here. We shouldn't fall prey to nationalism and democracy. It is our belief that Muslims should live as a Jama'a. If a wealthy country such as Saudi Arabia does nothing to relieve the poor masses in another country, then we will perhaps, be replaced by better people (for the record, I believe that before this year's over, the Sheikhs would become poor; I would pray for this not to happen, though). And in Pakistan's case, we are responsible for the sufferings of all oppressed Muslim nations in the world today because this following Ayah seems to have been sent down specifically for us:-

“And what is the matter with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and for the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, “O Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper”?” [al-Nisa 75]

We Pakistanis - proud and arrogant of our nuclear and missile technology - are responsible for the protection then, of Chechens, Afghans, Iraqis, Gujaratis, Palestinians, and all others because we are the only ones today who have the strength. Do we really want Allah to take this blessing away from us?

Drones parked in our own backyard, to Bomb our own People

2009-03-08T11:24:00.003+05:00

http://teeth.com.pk/blog/2009/02/18/drones-parked-in-pakistan

In a shocking discovery reports have emerged from simply Google Earth images evidence of three drones parked on an airfield in some remote destination within Baluchistan, the images were captured by orbiting satellites and archived within Google Earth data warehouse to suddenly be discovered recently. Though there is no denying that during the Musharraf regime bases were rented out to the American army costing them a massive deficit to the tune of $10 Billion. But what probably irks the nation is that the Pakistani government have categorically denied that the Pakistani bases are being used to launch drones-
Omar Qureshi who writes for The News broke this discovery locally in Pakistan

The picture of the drones on the Pakistani soil, taken in 2006, has three drones, all Global Hawks. The picture has coordinates and they can be vaguely read as 27 degrees, 51 minutes North; 65 degrees, 10 minutes East. These coordinates place the strip not far from the nearby Jacobabad airbase which is around 28 degrees north, 68 degrees east.
One can easily verify the authenticity of the picture taken in 2006 with the 2009 image found online on Google Maps by merely inserting the above coordinates [or follow this LINK] in satellite mode

The Times Online also carried the report

The CIA is secretly using an airbase in southern Pakistan to launch the Predator drones that observe and attack al-Qaeda and Taleban militants on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan, a Times investigation has found. The Pakistani and US governments have repeatedly denied that Washington is running military operations, covert or otherwise, on Pakistani territory — a hugely sensitive issue in the predominantly Muslim country.
The Pakistani Government has also repeatedly demanded that the US halt drone attacks on northern tribal areas that it says have caused hundreds of civilian casualties and fuelled anti-American sentiment. But The Times has discovered that the CIA has been using the Shamsi airfield — originally built by Arab sheikhs for falconry expeditions in the southwestern province of Baluchistan — for at least a year. The strip, which is about 30 miles from the Afghan border, allows US forces to launch a Drone within minutes of receiving actionable intelligence as well as allowing them to attack targets further afield

But it all started a few days earlier when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee commented on 13th of February that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base in Pakistan. The disclosure also marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

The CIA declined to comment, but former U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, confirmed that Feinstein’s account was accurate.

While Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said Feinstein’s comments put Pakistan’s government on the spot.

If accurate, what this says is that Pakistani involvement, or at least acquiescence, has been much more extensive than has previously been known,” he said. “It puts the Pakistani government in a far more difficult position [in terms of] its credibility with its own people. Unfortunately it also has the potential to threaten Pakistani-American relations.

Chowrangi very rightly sums up the dilemma facing the people of Pakistan

But now the cat is out of the bag. So that is once more proved that how much regard American and our own government has for the people who reside in Pakistan. Their lives are of no value and our own government is involved in the killings. What a shame and what a sorry state of affairs. Another lie of our president has been caught and nobody knows how many more are on the way

For now the Government of Pakistan has a lot of explaining to do and just mere diversion tactics towards Musharraf might alone not help their case

CV:: Dos and Donts

2009-02-22T10:17:00.001+05:00

From: Muzammil Butt <muzammil.butt@yahoo.com>
To: eme_alumni@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, August 22, 2008, 8:51 AM

hey all.

I just came across this article, it may be useful for many of us (though this topic has been discussed many times here, but I have seen many of our juniors making the same mistakes). BTW these instructions are quite comprehensive.

The ultimate job hunting tool. In today extremely competitive job market, a perfect CV is more crucial then ever. Your CV has got the potential to make or break your career.

The first purpose of your CV is to get you an interview. If you are not getting interview calls then it is the time to look at your CV.

The second purpose of your CV is supply selected, factual and useful data about you.

Please remember with CV "less is more". 2 pages is recommended length for professional and 1 page for students unless you have got a good enough reason to go beyond 1 and 2 pages respectively.

Essential elements:

Your contact details
Your abilities, skills & competence and what are offering
Your achievements
Your educational background
Some relevant personal information

Once you have created a winning CV then should be proud of that document as it is the most important document of your life.

Some Dos and Don'ts of CVs

Dos

Do add max three lines punch line under your name which should tell who you are and what skills you have got and your objective.
Do leave enough white background space in your CV i.e. it should not look much cluttered.
Do add career highlight section in your CV just below your punch line.
Do make CV well organized, relevant and concise.
Do highlight (with bigger font) your name in your CV.
Do check spelling before sending out the CV.
Do check grammar before sending out your CV.
Do take the print out of your CV to see how it looks on paper.
Do use right sign post; headings.
Do read it out loudly twice in order to capture any errors.
Do show it to couple of your well wishers for any useful advice and error spotting.
Do quantize your accomplishments, e.g. reduced drop call rate to 1.5% .
Do use action words e.g. drafted, created, organized, managed etc.
Do keep it simple. Avoid complex and lengthy statements .
Do make your CV visibly attractive.
Do use bullet points.
Do concentrate on your
achievement not on your responsibilities.
Do remember Honesty is the ONLY policy when writing your CV.
Do list your strongest attributes on top of your CV.
Do add professional membership.
Do add any industry seminar/workshop attended.
Do add all internal and external technical and soft skills trainings.
Do include only your last obtained degree unless you have a good enough reason to add any old degree.
Do remove any duplication.
Do make sure you have put down your cell number and email id under your contact details at the top.
Do highlight all the key words in your CV.
Do use a high quality white paper if you are posting out your CV.
Do think about the potential reader while creating your CV.

Don'ts

Do not Include references.
Do not include your picture.
Do not include your id card number.
Do not include your nationality.
Do not include your father name.
Do not include your gender.
Do not include your marital status.
Do not include your current salary.
Do not include your religion.
Do not use font size below 11.
Do not use fonts other then Aerial, Time Roman, Century Gothic, Tahoma.
Do not write "CV" or "Resume" on the top it is obvious.
Do not use abbreviations which is not common in the industry.
Do not write every single job you have done unless they are all relevant.
Do not add any negative points.
Do not put any irrelevant hobbies.
Do not include your windows /MS office skills as it is obvious in our industry.
Do not include your health information.
Do not include any information which is humorous.
Do not use graphics, shading, fancy border etc.
Do not use I or We as it already implied.
Do not put reason for leaving the jobs.

Top 10 Interview Tips

2009-02-16T20:07:00.002+05:00

Top 10 Interview Tips
Posted by: "Muzammil Butt"
Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:58 pm (PST)

Great interviews arise from careful groundwork. You can ace your next interview if you:

Enter into a state of relaxed concentration.
This is the state from which great basketball players orOlympic skaters operate. You'll need to quiet the negative self chatterin your head through meditation or visualization prior to sitting downin the meeting. You'll focus on the present moment and will be less apt to experience lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt andself-condemnation.

Act spontaneous, but be well prepared.
Be your authentic self, professional yet real. Engage in trueconversation with your interviewer, resting on the preparation you did prior to coming to the meeting. Conduct several trial runs with anotherperson simulating the interview before it actually occurs. It's thesame as anticipating the questions you'll be asked on a final exam.

Set goals for the interview.
It is your job to leave the meeting feeling secure that the interviewerknows as much as he or she possibly can about your skills, abilities,experience and achievements. If you sense there are misconceptions,clear them up before leaving. If the interviewer doesn't get around toa sking you important questions, pose them yourself (diplomatically) and answer them. Don't leave the meeting without getting your own questions answered so that you have a clear idea of what you would be getting yourself into. If possible, try to get further interviews, especially with other key players.

Know the question behind the question.
Ultimately, every question boils down to, "Why should we hireyou?" Be sure you answer that completely. If there is a question about your meeting deadlines, consider whether the interviewer is probing delicately about your personal life, careful not to ask you whether your family responsibilities will interfere with your work. Find away to address fears if you sense they are present.

Follow up with an effective"thank you" letter.
Don't write this letter lightly. It is anothe ropportunity to market yourself. Find some areas discussed in the meeting and expand upon them in your letter. Writing a letter after ameeting is a very minimum. Standing out among the other candidates will occur if you thoughtfully consider this follow up letter as an additional interview in which you get to do all the talking. Propose useful ideas that demonstrate your added value to the team.

Consider the interviewer' s agenda.
Much is on the shoulders of the interviewer. He or she has theresponsibility of hiring the right candidate. Your ability to do the job will need to be justified. "Are there additional pluses here?" "Will this person fit the culture of this organization? " These as well as other questions will be heavily on the interviewer' s mind. Findways to demonstrate your qualities above and beyond just doing the job.

Expect to answer the question,"Tell me about yourself."
This is a pet question of prepared and evenunprepared interviewers. Everything you include should answer thequestion, "Why should we hire you?" Carefully prepare your answer to include examples of achievements from your work life that closely matchthe elements of the job before you. Obviously, you'll want to know as much about the job description as you can before you respond to thequestion.

Watch those nonverbal clues.
Experts estimate that words express only 30% to 35% of what people actually communicate; facial expressions and body movements and actionsconvey the rest. Make and keep eye contact. Walk and sit with aconfident air. Lean toward an interviewer to show interest andenthusiasm. Speak with a well-modulated voice that supports appropriateexcitement for the opportunity before you.

Be smart about money questions.
Don't fall into the trap of telling the interviewer your financial expectations. You may be asking for too little or too much money and ineach case ruin your chances of being offered the job. Instead, ask what salary range the job falls in. Attempt to postpone a money discussion until you have a better understanding of the scope of responsibilitiesof the job.

Don't hang out your dirty laundry.
Be careful not to bare your soul and tell tales that are inappropriate or beyond the scope of the interview. State your previous experience in the most positive terms. Even if you disagreed with a former employer, express your enthusiasm for earlier situations as muchas you can. Whenever you speak negatively about another person orsituation in which you were directly involved, you run the risk (earlyin the relationship) of appearing like a troubled person who may havedifficulty working with others.

Palestine and its importance to us as muslims

2009-02-01T16:28:00.002+05:00

The issue of Palestine is an issue that concerns us all. We are all aware of the humanitarian side of the issue the brutality, injustice, genocide being done. However we are mostly unaware of our relation to the holy land Baitul Maqdas (Jerusalem) as a Muslim. The city of Baitul Maqdas is a city to which the hearts of our predecessors and Sahaba were attached to. Not only them but the hearts of the prophets of Allah were also attached to this place.

The virtues of Baitul Maqdas are great and its surroundings are also blessed by Allah as is mentioned by Allah in Quran

Glorified be He (Allaah) Who took His slave (Muhammad) from the Masjid al-Haram[Makkah] to Masjid alAqsa [in Jerusalem], the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed.(Ch17 .V1)

The prophet Ibrahim and his nephew the prophet Lut made Hijra from their homeland Iraq to the land of Palestine like the prophet Muhammad made hijra to Madina from Mecca.

We (Allah) said "O fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibrahim". And they wanted to harm him but we made them the ultimate losers. And we rescued him (Ibrahim) and Lut to the land which We have blessed (Ch 21. V69-71)

As Ibraheem left his son Ismaeel in the blessed area of Mecca and later they built the Kaaba where Ismaeel used to worship he also left behind him another son Ishaaq who worshipped Allah in the other house of Allah masjid al-Aqsa.
Even the heart of the prophet Moosa was clinging to Baitul Maqdas. After Allah saved bani Israeel from the oppresion of Firawn (pharoah) they did not return to Egypt rather they headed for Bait ul maqdas as Allah informs us in the Quran in Surah Maida that Moosa told his nation
O my people! Enter the holy land (Palestine) which Allaah has assigned to you and turn not back (in flight); for then you will be returned as losers.( Ch 5: V 21)
but they refused and said you and your Lord fight we will remain sitting here. Then they were punished in their wanderings through the desert of Senai. Moosa still yearned for the Holy Land even till his death when he refused to die far from the Holy land. We were told about this by the Holy prophet as narrated by Abu Huraira:

The angel of death was sent to Moosa and when he went to him, Moosa slapped him severely, spoiling one of his eyes. The angel went back to his Lord, and said, "You sent me to a slave who does not want to die." Allah restored his eye and said, "Go back and tell him (i.e. Moosa) to place his hand over the back of an ox, for he will be allowed to live for a number of years equal to the number of hairs coming under his hand." (So the angel came to him and told him the same). Then Moses asked, "O my Lord! What will be then?" He said, "Death will be then." He said, "(Let it be) now." He asked Allah that He bring him near the Blessed Land at a distance of a stone's throw. Allah's Apostle said, "Were I there I would show you the grave of Moses by the road near the red sand hill." (Sahih Bukhari)

This was the level of love the prophet Moosa had for Baital Maqdas. Then after Moosa came the prophet Yu'sha(Joshua) who fought for this land and liberated it for bani Israeel who settled there. After that many prophets came and they were in the Holy Lands and they died there and are also buried in the holy land. Masjid al-Aqsa is the place where many prophets sent to bani Israeel worshipped Allah and taught the people. For Bani Israeel masjid alAqsa performed the same role as Masjid alNabwi had in the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The prophets worshipped there and taught people there.

Maryam the mother of Eesa also worshipped there and the Prophet Zakariya always found fresh non-seasonal fruit with her when he visited her there as is mentioned in Surah Ale Imran (Ch3: V37). Also the two prophets and cousins Yahya and Eesa worshipped and called Bani Israeel to Islam from here but were rejected by Bani Israel. Yahya was killed by Bani Israeel and they tried to crucify Eesa but Allah saved him and raised him.
These are just some examples of the devotion and relation of the prophets to Baitul Maqdas and Masjid alAqsa.
The virtues of Masjid al-Aqsa are great. In one hadith we find that Aboo Dharr said,
"We were discussing, in the presence of the Messenger of Allaah, regarding which of the two mosques is more superior: The Prophet's mosque or al-Aqsa mosque. The Messenger of Allaah then said, 'A prayer in this mosque of mine is four times greater in reward than a prayer al-Aqsa mosque; though how excellent the place it is! A time will soon come when a man will have a space of the land as narrow as the bridle of his horse and he will then see that Baitul Maqdas is better for him than this world and all that is in it." (Al-Haakim)
The prophet Muhammad also said
No journey [for the purpose of worship] should be undertaken except to three mosques: My masjid (masjid Nabwi), Masjid al-Haram [in Makkah] and Masjid al-Aqsa . ( Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)

In another hadith in Sahih Bukhari the companion Abu Dharr asked the prophet "O Allaah's Messenger! Which mosque was first built on the surface of the earth?" He said, "Al-Masjidul-Haram (in Makkah)." I said, "Which was built next?" He replied "Masjid Al-Aqsa." I said, "What was the period of construction between the two?" He said, "Forty years."

Another virtue of Baitul Maqdas is that Dajjal wont be able to enter it nor will Yajuj Majooj.
Once Maymoona asked the prophet ""O Allaah's Prophet, tell us about Jerusalem." the Messenger of Allaah said, "It is the land of Resurrection and Gathering. Go there and pray there. For, one prayer you perform there equals a thousand prayers you perform elsewhere."

Also our prophet on the night of Mairaaj went first to Masjid alAqsa he tied his Buraq to the ring to which the prophets used to tie their animals (this place is the dome of the rock) and led the other prophets in prayer in Masjidul Aqsa and then he ascended to the heavens on his Buraq with Jibraeel where he met his Lord.
The land of palestine will be the capital of the Khilafat near the end of times as 'Abdullaah ibn Hawaalah al-Azdee narrated that the Messenger of Allaah put his hand on his head and said, "Ibn Hawaalah, when you see the caliphate has settled in the holy land, earthquakes, sorrows and serious matters will have drawn near and on that day the Last Hour will be nearer to mankind than this hand of mine is to your head." (Ahmad and Aboo Daawood)

The companions also kept the matter of Baitul Maqdas close to their hearts. Abu Bakr in his Khilafa would say
"It is more beloved to me that I take a small village in Al-Shaam(Palestine and its surroundings) than a big city in Iraq"
Also we find the love that the Sahaba had for Baitul Maqdas in the event of its capture in Khilafa of Umer when he left madina for Baitul Maqdas. There he inquired about the position of Masjid alAqsa and he found that the christians there were using it as a pit for the refuse. Scholars say that there is no area of masjid alAqsa where a prophet did not worship his Rabb and teach the people their religion and they were using it as a pit. So Umer started cleaning the place and the companions followed then he looked for Bilal and asked him to give azaan and Bilal considered this moment to be so momentous that he was convinced to break his vow not to give Azaan after death of the prophet.
Also AbuDharr came and settled in this land and he sent a letter to his beloved friend Salman al-Farsy inviting him to come and live in this blessed and holy land.

Now this land is not only in the hands of the jews but our muslim brothers and sisters are being oppressed there. When I was gathering material to write this post i was thinking masjid al Aqsa is so sacred to us then why dont we desire(in terms of taking actions) for it to be freed for Muslims, desire to visit it like we all wish to go to Mecca or Madina and desire to go live there. If what has happened to Baitul Maqdas happens to Medina will our next generation be as inactive unaffected and unmoved like us when we see the calamities our brothers and sisters are facing in Palestine?

Note: resources used for this post
1- Excellences of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Sheikh Abdul-Baaree Ath-Thubaytee
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2543839/Excellences-of-AlAqsa-Mosque-
2- Audio lecture: History of Palesine by Sheikh Ali al Tamimi
http://www.dhikrullah.com/downloads/lectures/timimi/History%20of%20Palestine.mp3

How do I define myself effectively in “three words?”

2009-01-21T20:28:00.002+05:00

From Rozee Blog

Question from Job Seeker:

I am a Mechanical Engineer. In one of my career interviews the interviewer asked me to define myself in three words and why they should select me and reject others. I was not able to provide a satisfying answer. Share with me some comments.

Answer from ROZEE:

Employers look for a well-rounded person when they are hiring an employee. Once you have satisfied the interviewer that you are a good Mechanical Engineer he may still probe you for further answers to get a better understanding of your overall personality. Research has shown that employers value following characteristics in candidates. Although all of these traits are important, however, depending on the nature of the job, some are more important than others:

• Excellent communication skills
• Trustworthy / Responsible / Mature
• Good organizational / Time management skills
• Team player
• Able to work well under pressure / Loves challenges
• Hard worker / Energetic / Self-motivated
• Having analytical skills
• Dedicated to meet deadlines / Persists until job is done
• Adaptability to changes
• Good People Skills

You need to review this list and see which ones apply to you. It is not a bad idea to see which areas need improvement and determine what you can do to enhance yourself.

With regards to your second question as to why the employer should hire you, you need to refer back to the first question: What characteristics do you possess from the above list which qualifies you as a model employee?

In other words, where you might lack in the number of years in experience or the level of degree from other candidates, you can make-up in these important, more “softer” areas. A person with more experience and a long string of degrees maybe turned down by an employer to hire a candidate that shows more enthusiasm, dedication to job and adaptability to change at work.

2009 Year of Environment

2009-01-14T09:29:00.002+05:00

(original post at: http://niitsec.blogspot.com/2008/12/2009-year-of-environment.html)

Finally after a long wait, Pakistan has paid some attention to environmental issues by declaring year 2009 as the "Year of Environment". (News item, The NEWS) Declaring new year for ‘something’ is a ritual in Pakistan, yet I would not term the initiative by ministry of environment as mere eye wash (alluding to previous 'year of soldier' and 'year of mountains'). It is high time that we Pakistani's start thinking in a responsible fashion on the issues of environment. It is duly hoped that we all respond positively to this initiative and play our role for making “Pakistan Clean” and preserving our environment for future generations.

Studying at the top university of Pakistan puts us all into a position of greater responsibility. Considering the resources we all have, at our disposal, its imperative to start working for our country at the very start! It is hope that we all at NUST will, in our capacities, work together to contribute in making our environment clean. What can I do for bringing a change at this small level? We all know very little about the potential we have: Small things help bring a big change.

The Minister of Environment has “urged international bodies, non-governmental organizations, provincial governments and private sector to actively participate in making year a success”. The News further adds that: “Activities would commence from January 1, 2009 with the issuance of commemorative stamps and would continue throughout the year. The activities would include the screening of documentaries on environment, a comprehensive awareness campaign, panel discussions, dialogues, planting of 10 million trees in a day to surpass a world record, seminars, exhibitions, essay-writing competitions, and walks.” (The News: Sunday, December 21, 2008)

Once we are clear of our obligations, doing the things in actual isn’t that hard! Let’s think of what we can all do!

U can:·

Make a resolve to throw trash in bins, be it involves carrying wrappers around for quite some time!

Consume lesser amount of plastic shopping bags in our shopping …. Carry multiple things in one shopping bag!
Conserve less water during your baths, ablution and other uses.
Conserve power by shutting down our PCs when they are not in use or by correctly managing the “power settings”. Hibernate or standby after 15 minutes
Plant a small tree and make it your responsibility to water it during free time.
Prefer walking to market or other place over using car/bike when it can be avoided!
Convince others to follow you.These are mere simple steps!!

What you and I can do together? Multiply the above ten times…..What we all NUSTians can do? .... Do the calculations.

To match the initiative by ministry of environment,
We can:

Start paper recycling projects at all NUST campuses.· Extend the project to recycling other “useful waste”.
Observe plantation week at all NUST campuses, in April and do a massive campaign involving almost all students at NUST.
Initiate waste collection drives at all NUST campuses thus making them all clean.
Organize seminars and lectures on environmental issues by calling people who have been working for environment protection.
Launch a massive awareness campaign convincing the people to sign a declaration to reduce waste and recycle!

Let’s “join hands and start working” and NOT “sit back and criticize only”!

See what others are doing!

Environment at MIT

http://web.mit.edu/environment/commitment/gbtf.html

Green BUZZ at Georgia Tech
http://www.gatech.edu/greenbuzz/http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/tbd/about.php
http://www.stewardship.gatech.edu/index.php

Harvard Green Campus Initiative

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/12.15/21-green.html

We can also do it!

Further Links to news items:

Programme on environment approved 2009 to be ‘Year of Environment’

UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

India Defeated In The First Round

2008-12-30T16:27:00.000+05:00

India Defeated In The First Round

Adm. Mike Mullen asked Pakistan for a guarantee that Pakistan Air Force will not respond to Indian surgical strikes. General Kayani is said to have responded with showing Mullen a photograph of an IAF Mirage-2000 locked by Pakistan Air Forces’ F-16 taken on December 13. ‘Next time, we’ll bring it down’, Mullen was told. To make sure the message was loud and clear, Pakistan Air Force jets started patrolling the skies in hot mode and a red-alert was issued throughout the country. The Indian war rhetoric has failed to impress Pakistan. Instead, the focus is now shifting to Indian intelligence agencies’ failure to put together credible evidence implicating Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks.

Dan Qayyum PakistanKaKhudaHafiz.com
Sunday, 28 December 2008.
WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

It is best to win without fighting- Sun Tzu

With India and Pakistan standing eyeball to eyeball, it was India that blinked first, with its media and officials admitting defeat on the diplomatic front.

Times of India writes:

“While the de-escalation should soothe the tense nerves of the international community, it was being feared that Islamabad, by raising the bogey of war, may have edged out India’s concerns. By feeding fears of an imminent conflict between two nuclear-armed rivals, it had ensured that the focus would shift towards conflict prevention. Indian security experts noted that Gilani made it a point to mention that “our friends are persuading India against aggression”.
While the government persisted with reminders to Islamabad about unkept promises, independent security experts said Pakistan may have got away with almost no cost at all. “As of now, Pakistan has managed to divert attention from the Mumbai attacks to an India-Pak conflict,” said K Subrahmanyam.

It was diplomacy by fear, and Pakistan played it effectively. As it allowed passions to run high and let known terrorists join in the show of national belligerence, it was also playing victim. As part of the script, its foreign secretary, it now turns out, even summoned the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, Satyabrata Pal, on Friday to lecture him on the need for India to bring down tensions.

The U.S. and China had on Friday asked India - in a clear sign of Pakistan’s success - to engage in a dialogue with Pakistan. It’s becoming increasingly evident that India has so far nothing to show for its diplomatic offensive in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.”

How could things have gone so wrong, wonders Vir Sanghvi of the Hindustan Times:

“I am now coming round to the view that they’ve only gone wrong for us. They’ve gone very right for Pakistan. Islamabad has got exactly what it needs, and what it always wanted.

Consider what’s happening today. The operation in the tribal areas has stalled. The Taliban have sworn to back the Pakistan army against India. Troops have been moved to the Indian border. The incoming Obama administration is talking about appointing a special envoy for India and Pakistan.

And forget about acting against those who organized the Bombay attacks. Pakistan isn’t even willing to hand over Dawood Ibrahim or Masood Azhar [Editor: Not in Pakistani custody anyway]. Moreover, Washington seems largely content with this state of affairs.

I don’t want to sound like a pessimist or a warmonger — especially since I have always applauded New Delhi’s moderation and restraint — but it is beginning to seem to me that Pakistan has out-maneuvered both India and America.”

M. K. Bhadrakumar writes at Asia Times Online:

“By gently holding out the threat to the U.S. that the Afghan operations would grievously suffer unless Washington restrained Delhi from precipitating any tensions on the India-Pakistan border, Islamabad seems to have neatly pole-vaulted over Rice to appeal straight to the Pentagon, where there is abiding camaraderie towards the Pakistani generals.

With Pakistan’s recalcitrance and Mullen’s veiled threat of reopening the Kashmir file, a sense of frustration is gripping Delhi. Pakistan has ignored India’s tough posturing. The faltering Indian security agencies, which have been in a state of appalling decline in recent years, seem to have failed to put together any hard evidence of a Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

All indications are that Pakistan is not impressed by the Indian rhetoric. It seems to think Indian politicians are grandstanding in an election year. But, just in case Delhi may spring a surprise, Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has warned that the armed forces would give an equal response “within few minutes” if India carried out any surgical military strikes. “The armed forces are fully prepared to meet any eventuality, and the men are ready to sacrifice for their country,” he reportedly said.

Just as we predicted, an all out war seems to have been averted and Indian media and officials are admitting defeat.

China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have come out strongly in the last couple of days which saw an intense diplomatic effort by all parties to make it clear to India that they not only remain unconvinced of Delhi’s allegations, but also that any attack could have serious consequences for India and the region as a whole.

Pranab Mukherjee was made to do an embarrassing u-turn on India’s previous stance previously, admitting that terrorism - a global issue and not a bilateral one - should be fought jointly.
The Indian officials have also been made to backtrack from their earlier claims of deploying troops along the border with Pakistan.

Times of India, December 22nd:
Even as India refused to take the military option off the table while asking Pakistan to rein in the terrorists, the Indian Army’s and IAF’s quick reaction teams (QRTs) were deployed along the borders in the Western Sector.

“Runways, hangars, main roads, ammunition stores and other sensitive places have been provided with additional cover. Sophisticated radars are installed at a few air bases and we are keeping watch on each and every cross-border activity,” said an IAF personnel.

Indian forces were on regular firing exercises at locations like Lathi Firing Range in Jaisalmer, Mahsan in Bikaner, Suratgarh and Ganganagar.

India Today, December 27th:
India has informed Pakistan that it has not engaged in any sort of troop build-up along the frontier.

In response to the ‘deadline’ set by India and the threats from Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee, Pakistan had gone on a diplomatic counter-offensive, briefing world powers and countries in the region on the deteriorating relations with India and the steps taken by it to address Indian concerns. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia. He also met ambassadors of Italy, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey soon after returning from France where he had gone for annual bilateral consultations. However, his most crucial meeting was with Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal at the Foreign Office when he said that India should defuse the tension.

Mr. Pal was accompanied by his deputy Manpreet Vohra. The Indian side was categorically told that any ‘surgical strikes’ would be considered a declaration of war. India was urged to respond to Pakistan’s proposal for joint investigation into the Mumbai attacks.

According to sources, the Indian diplomats looked somber when they came out of the meeting.
As things stand, the possibility of war has been averted for now, which is being seen as a massive diplomatic victory for Pakistan.

This of course does not mean that we should let our guard down. In addition to the diplomatic counter-offensive, it was Pakistan Army’s seriousness that put India on the back foot.

Once the realization set in that any further attempts to enter Pakistan Airspace will be punished severely by the PAF, the Indians had gone to plan B, with Mullen asking for a guarantee that PAF will not respond to Indian surgical strikes.

General Kayani is said to have responded with showing Mullen a photograph of an IAF Mirage-2000 locked by Pakistan Air Forces’ F-16 taken on December 13th. ‘Next time, we’ll bring it down’, Mullen was told.

To make sure the message was loud and clear, Pakistan Air Force jets started patrolling the skies in hot mode and a red-alert was issued throughout the country.

Failing to get that guarantee, the chance of an Indian strike was reduced significantly. For them it was never about a full war. A few surgical strikes on pre-agreed locations would have been enough to relieve some of the pressure the Indian Government faces domestically. Pakistan Army on the other hand made it clear that any action from India would be taken as a declaration of war, and the response would be swift and decisive.

India faces humiliation now on the diplomatic front having failed to achieve anything from this standoff.

In its attempts to isolate Pakistan by building what it saw as a definitive case, it is India that stands alone on the diplomatic front and is left with begging the Iranians and Chinese to put pressure on Pakistan.

We can now expect an intense and sustained terrorism campaign in Pakistani cities in an attempt to destabilize the country along ethnic / sectarian lines - New Delhi’s time-tested method.

On the diplomatic front India will be lobbying hard to have the ISI (and Pakistan Army) declared as terrorist organizations.

We can also not rule out another false flag attack in the next few weeks.
Pakistanis need to stay united.

It’s not over yet.

Dan Qayyum moderates PakistanKaKhudaHafiz.com, one of the emerging Pakistani nationalist e-posts and a source for news from a Pakistani perspective.

Career Counselling Session

2008-12-20T23:12:00.007+05:00

Career Counseling Session

---------------------------
EME ALUMNI: for De-27 Electrical,
Venue: Lecture Hall (EE dept),
Date: 17November, 2008)
Speaker: Mr. Afnan Ahmad (De-18 Elec)
(Manager, Core Network Optimization, Telenor Pakistan)
Background
The meeting was arranged by SNS Faizan Razzaq (27 EE) on the platform of career counseling (C-3, initiated by shahid habib khan 26 EE). The meeting was a result of the continuing efforts of students of 27 EE for utilizing the alumni platform to the maximum benefit of the sophomores.

--------------------------

Details of Session

Mr. Afnan Ahmad started the presentation by throwing some thought provoking questions at the students. He stressed out that start of professional career must be well planned and focused. Each student must know his/her talents and must have a plan about future direction.

Be selective in your career interests
It was stressed out that knowing the company one is applying to is a pre-requisite for all job tests/interviews. The students were told to apply in job openings in which they are really interested. The tough competition and limited number of job openings demands a high degree of planning and organization on the part of the students.

Be good at studies, projects and relations
Students were stressed to utilize their potential to the maximum. It was highlighted that students graduating from their college hardly appreciate the potential of the links and associations with seniors and faculty. Recommendation letters and appreciations from professors, Hod’s and people who know you are a powerful succeeding in professional career. Those who appreciate this potential can really build on it and prosper. This all discussion was followed by a categorical statement that GPA does matter: it is the first filtering criterion in job applications. Students must pay consideration to choose their final year project of their own interest. They must be specific in the scope of their project. Doing a project because it has been assigned to you is not the right attitude. Moreover, if the final year project is related to the field of your interest (with regards to career) it will improve your chances to get a job.

Take the job applications seriously
Mr. Afnan shared his experiences of interviews and hiring with the students and told them to be serious in their job applications. Resumes forwarded to a list of companies are the first ones to be discarded! For every job opening one must make a custom resume and attach a befitting cover letter. Blank emails are mostly ignored; however, the email text must not be excessively long either. The projects or work experience related to job opening must be highlighted properly in the email also.
The resume must consist of particular details and must reflect different dimensions of your personality. Each company has different demands and the resume must be tailored accordingly. (e.g. an R&D company will be more interested in your projects as compared to a company which is hiring for management vacancies). Email IDs must consist of your name; emails from weird/ridiculous IDs are not entertained (since they reflect your personality in a negative manner).

Choices of Career
Mr. Afnan presented several job prospects in front of the students:

Research and development / Software Houses
Project and/or Product based companies
Project based companies are those which work on projects (for others) and get their revenue out of them. Working in these has an inherent risk. If the country is in disaster, projects will be hard to get and thus financial condition of company will not be good. Software houses generally fall into this category.
While product based companies are those which have their work developed into a finished product and they design, implement and sell their product. These companies are more financially stable.
Pro’s
· Excellent learning opportunities
· Experience is a plus for graduate schools
· Usually, casual atmosphere and these days, they are stable compared to telecom companies
Con’s
· Unstable due to shortage of financing. (smaller companies)
· Public sector organizations are not good pay masters.
· Growth is subject to graduate qualifications.
Examples
CARE, And/Or Logic, PalmCHIP, NESCOM (NDC/AWC/PMO), LMKR, Elixir, DPS, NCR/Teradata
Mr. Afnan further added that if someone gets a job in NDC, PMO etc and has got some interest for research too…he will certainly recommend him to join. These defense related RnD institutes offer pay scales better than government but are somewhat lesser than that of private companies. However he quoted example of an eminent Mr. Abubakr who won tamgha-i-imtiaz for in recognition of his work to highlight the bright prospects of getting recognition on genuine work.

Academia
Be specific
Doing masters and PHD and then joining academia as a teacher is certainly not a bad option! Payscales are good and the R&D element comes as a bonus. However students must be specific in applying abroad too. They must specifically know which companies they are aiming at and which universities are favored for hiring by specific companies. e.g Those interested in communication must know which universities in Sweden are preferred by Ericson and for electronics and controls, students must know which universities can improve their chances of getting admission in Siemens in Germany.
Mr. afnan stressed that students must know specifically for what they want to pursue for masters: Telecommunication industry doesn’t need masters at all in Pakistan!
Use the resources well
Mr. Afnan also told the students that in his view those going abroad for studies must use their research contacts well. They must try to find jobs or do research after studies so they do not have to start afresh when they return Pakistan (since masters alone is not much valued for jobs here). Examples of Dr. Shoab Khan, Dr. Mudassir, Dr. Muid Mufti, Dr. Mojeeb and Dr. Maud were quoted. Most of them are either running their own R&D companies or doing consultancy, all because of their research contacts abroad.
Pro’s
· Provide good careers in academia in Pakistan.
· May open R & D companies in Pakistan e.g. CARE
· Government scholarships available
· Preference in public sector jobs
· Excellent career opportunities abroad
Con’s
· Doing only MS is not a recommended option for most jobs in Pakistan.
· Opportunity cost for MS+PhD is very high
EMEnents in top colleges:
MIT, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Stanford, USC, Georgia Tech, KTH(Sweden), Oxford, K JIST(Korea: Daewoo, Honda, Samsung are Korean) KFUPM (pays students for studying there!), HUT

Service Industry
All the industry that provides services is called service industry i.e. telecom, oil and gas etc
Service Industry is more interested in your presentation skills, co-curricular activities, management skills, interpersonal relations etc. rather than loads of technical knowledge alone. This industry requires MBA at specific stage of career (not in all cases, doing MBA directly after graduation is discouraged). People who have multidimensional personalities fit well.
Pro’s
· Excellent career growth opportunities (not applicable to Telecom: its saturated)
· Job security
· Excellent pay masters
· Highly paid consultancy jobs available
Con’s
· Strong communication & presentation skills required for growth.
· MBA is required at some stage.
Companies
Siemens, Motorola, Ericsson, Nortel, Huawei, Mobilink, Ufone, WorldCALL, MOL, Shell, Tullo , Orient, Petroleum, PTCL/NTC, Toyota/Honda

Production Industry
Automobile, Electrical Appliances, Fertilizer companies fit here. These companies have much less glamour (in terms of packages) and very often the engineers have to work in remote areas.

Points to Ponder

• What makes you special? Why graduates from EME? Why you?
• In whichever field you work in, strive to be in the top 10%.
• Take your studies & CGPA seriously. Get guidance from alumni and guide your juniors correctly.
• Join the EME Alumni e-group (on yahoo groups) to be part of the EME grad community (EME_Alumni)

Mr. Afnan told the students that they must be in top 10% people in whatever they do. If they are not in the top 10% they will be the first ones to lose their jobs if companies start lay-off. Not being in top 10% also reflects that either you have made a wrong choice of field or you are non-serious.

Students were stressed to be smart and organized since the lack of openings, only allows the survival of the fittest!

In Q&A session Mr. Afnan told the students that sports, extra-curricular activities and management experiences also count in the job interviews. Therefore the students need to have an all round personality. Having the best of grades and co-curricular activities as well, is the best thing you can have on your resume.

Documented by: Muhammad Uzair Sukhera (De-27 EE)

TARBELA DAM

2008-12-05T08:06:00.009+05:00

Educational Trip

A long awaited educational trip was arranged for De-27 Electrical on Saturday 29 November 2008. Since it was the first ever official class trip, everyone was enthusiastic about it. The students had gathered at college at the given time of 8.30 am and the buses left the college at around 9.15 am. Due to overwhelming fervor almost 85% of class had shown up for the trip. The students were accompanied by three members of the faculty of electrical department namely Mr. Arfakshand Ali Qazalbash, Mr. Asim Ejaz and Mr. Haider Zia. (got the hidden message? if not pls contact umair ehsan! :p)

The students reached tarbela dam site at around 11.30 am. The public relations office of tarbela dam project welcomed the students. Senior engineer Mr. Amin, (civil works - WAPDA) gave a briefing to the students on the tarbela dam project.

Mr. Amin started the briefing by giving a historical perspective into the Indus water plan. The students were briefed about the background of the plan as well as the intimate details of the project: the proposed dams (mangla and tarbela being the bigger dams and several other barrages) and link canals (total of 8) to overcome the shortage of water in the eastern rivers due to their division with India. The only large dam on the mighty river Indus is the tarbela dam. The dam project was the largest civil contract given to a consortium of 13 European companies known as the TJV (tarbela joint venture). The construction started in 1968 and it took 6 years to complete the project, however, due to technical issues it started functioning in 1977.

The students were briefed about the construction phases of the dam from an engineering point of view. In the first phase a small diversion was created to restrict the width of the river. A buttress dam was built on the main stream of the river. In the next phase the construction of the main dam was started along with the construction of the tunnels. In the final stage the buttress dam was closed and water was diverted through the tunnels. As the dam construction was complete it was filled with water. Due to water inrush cracks appeared in the dam and it was again drained before doing the remedial works to secure the structure. The overall project cost was 2.85 billion $ and the whole amount was recovered within few initial years of its operation. A total of 120 Villages had to be displaced during the dam construction; tarbela being the largest. The lake formed in the dam has a surface area of 100 sq mile.

The basic purpose of tarbela dam is water storage for irrigation. This dam has the primary and secondary storage dam. The dam has 5 tunnels. Tunnels 4 and 5 have been reserved for irrigation purposes. In tunnel 1 and 3 a total of 10 turbines each of capacity 175 MW have been installed while in tunnel 2 there are 4 turbines of 432 MW output. The total power production capacity of tarbela dam is 3470 MW, if full head is available. The initial live storage capacity of dam was 9.7 million cubic meters which has been reduced to 6.8 million cubic meters now: an overall loss of 30% due to sedimentation. The dam height is 1565ft above sea level. The width of the dam at the top is 40ft while the base width is 2000ft. The dam has maximum discharge flow of 15 lac cusecs.

The briefing was followed by a question and answer session. The first question asked was related to the problems faced during dam construction. Mr. Amin replied that cracks had appeared in the main dam structure due to a technical fault. The dam was then drained and remedial steps were taken to reinforce the dam. The adjacent mountains were also plated and reinforced with iron rods.

In reply to a question related to the power shortage Mr. amin explained the modus operandi of the power generation. He told us that the discharge capacity of the tunnels was around 80,000 cusecs. The tarbela dam is primarily a dam for irrigation purposes and not the power generation. Therefore the water discharge from tarbela is under control of the IRSA's directives. IRSA issues a demand notice to tarbela and mangla dam: the water release is as per demand. The spillways are only used in case the demand is higher than the discharge capacity of the tunnels. The demands are fulfilled through the tunnels so that the water discharged can be used for power generation purposes. If however the water demands is lesser the turbines can not be run at full capacity. The students were later briefed that the water demand for that particular day from IRSA was 50,000 cusecs; therefore the turbines were not working at full capacity. The water discharge rate at any time of the day is further governed by the power demand by WAPDA. If the power demand is greater at night the major portion of IRSA's water demand is fulfilled during night time to maximize the power output of power station.

Mr. Amin was asked about the feasibility of the KALABAGH dam from an engineering point of view. He then gave an interesting insight into the standing of Pakistan all over the world in terms of water storage structures and then reiterated that KALABAGH and BHASHA dams are an imperative for us. He briefed the audience that detailed feasibility studies of KALABAGH have proved that there are no technical flaws in the project plan. Mr. Amin briefed the students that the total count of small and large capacity, dams in Pakistan doesn’t exceed the number of fifty in any case, while the number of dams in USA is 75,000 and 93000 in China!

After the briefing the students were taken to the spill ways and a brief explanation of their functionality was given. After the spillways the students were taken to the main dam. The students were briefed that the water demand for that day was 50,000 cusecs and it was being fulfilled by water discharge through the tunnels therefore the spillways was not in operation. It was further explained that the water inflow is recorded at bisham and during summer season the water from glaciers is stored in the dam. However only 13 to 15% of total water can be stored and rest is spilled away which eventually goes into the Arabian sea!

Afterwards the students were taken to the power station. Due to security measures the cameras and mobiles were not allowed. The students were split into groups which were monitored by the faculty as well as the experts from WAPDA who gave detailed briefing of all the components of the turbines. The power generation process was explained in detail along with the operation of the tunnels.

After this detailed briefing and inspirational engineering insight into the power generation process the student had a stop over at a small hotel on a small lake near GIKI for lunch. The return journey started at around 4.20 pm. The students reached college at around 7 pm after a great experience and fun. All the students were pleased with the college administration and the HOD electrical department for arranging such a great trip and providing them with an excellent experience.

The overall discipline of the students was really good and everyone tried to maintain the reputation of NUST. The faculty from electrical department was really helpful and made this trip a success. It is hoped that the final year students will be provided with such opportunities often since they have been waiting for whole three years. Furthermore, it would be really appreciated if the college also arranges lunch for the students.

Written by: Muhammad Uzair Sukhera
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Photo credits: Muhammad Usman Farooq
Data by: Aneeqa Ishaq

Agenda for meeting with Commandant

2008-11-04T19:37:00.013+05:00

This detailed write up is a follow up of the long class meeting before the commandant's address on 31st October 2008. Whole of the 27 Electrical participated in the meeting and the college issues were shortlisted with respect to priority. Main issues were presented to the commandant while the detailed write up was presented to the DEAN Brig. Abdul Ghafoor on 4th November 2008 (in a very long meeting that lasted for 2 hrs!) by a group of students from 27 electrical. The response received was very positive. Immediate action was taken on many issues.(details later). The following is the detailed write up.
-------------------------------------------------
Detailed write up for follow up meeting with CI

Authors:

Muhammad Uzair Sukhera
Asad ullah Taqi
Faizan Razzaq
Marya Sharf
Mir Muhammad Ali Khan
Rabia Maqbool
Saifullah Shah
Sana Mehmood Awan
Syed Arslan Ali Shah
Taimoor Imtiaz Bhatti
Usama Bin Shabbir
Waqas Aliemuddin
Aneeqa Ishaq

------------------------------------------------------

Academic Issues

Resource Allocation for Final year students

The importance of Final Year projects in the course of our degree cannot be overemphasized. The department of Electrical Engineering at E&ME has by far been leading research at the Undergrad level in Pakistan.

Historically, Final Year students are given the following benefits at least:

· Cabins.
· Computers
· Access to the Internet.

Cabins
Final Year students need a place to work on their project. They also need a place where they can store tools, hardware etc. Electrical Department doesn’t have a project lab so these Cabins also allow students to work till late hours even after labs and class rooms have been closed.

DE-27 has not been allotted cabins. So, we face the following problems:
· We do not have a place where we can store hardware.
· We have to work in labs since we don't have cabins. We don't have much time to work there since labs are used for teaching most of the time.
· No classroom is free for more than a few minutes.
Solutions
· The former DSP lab can be turned into a Projects lab (where we are provided cabins, power supplies, cables etc). It is currently being used for nothing. Final year students should be given priority.
· The machines lab near cadet battalion might also be a potential Projects lab. Though, EE students would prefer a cabin in their own department.
Computers
Most of the projects in EE department are done in the following steps:
· Algorithms are developed
· Simulations are first done
· Results are compared to those desired
· Necessary changes are incorporated
· Hardware is assembled
Most of the work is hence, done on computers.
Computers have to be issued to 27 EE as soon as possible. Computers available in laboratories cannot be used since,
· Our data is insecure.
· They are a source of viruses.
· Labs are busy most of the time.

Solution
· Computers should be issued as soon as cabins are ready.

Internet Access
The Internet has now become a backbone to all research and development all over the earth. Electrical majors use it for:
· Accessing the IEEE database.
· Accessing online Forums.
· Accessing documentation on online libraries.
· Accessing Open-Ware like Open course-ware (http://ocw.mit.edu/).
· Contacting each other.
· Downloading books. (The commandant mentioned in his address that we should feel free to download books even if it is considered illegal.)
· Updating Anti Virus software.
· Using email.

Slow Internet speeds have up till now, hindered us. The bandwidth should be increased - as promised and as soon as possible.

Solutions
We are satisfied with your response to our Internet query. But, all this should be done swiftly. However it is suggested that:
· Wireless Internet access is provided to students in departments during day time.
· In all project labs few LAN internet connections are provided at least. For this matter we would want LAN access in the controls and communication lab (or the electric machines lab if it is to be provided to the students for Final Year Projects)
· At least, on-demand downloading of videos, books and software should be facilitated through restricted sites. Restricting website access isn't helpful. Student authorities should be consulted before websites are restricted.
· A search able index of available software, books and videos etc. should be available.

Student Feedback
As far as the student academics feedback is concerned, it hasn’t proved to be fruitful so far. There are some faculty members, who, in spite of their negative feedback many times by different departments and, are still teaching here and in the same way. The main reason for this is that the HODs do not personally take interest in the student feedback. Whenever students to go HOD with negative impression about a teacher, he says to try the same teacher for a few more weeks to see better results. By that time, it’s too late and that particular course is destroyed for the students.

The feedback that is currently conducted by NUST authorities has the following flaws:

· Questions regarding a teacher tend to be irrelevant and vague.
· Specific student comments are not entertained.
· The feedback is lost in administrative red-tape.
· The feedback has proven ineffective.
· After each course there is no formal re-evaluation. Consequently the course outlines remain as such year after year. The problems faced by students during their course are never addressed.
· Due to lack or re-evaluation, very often, gaps are left out in the various course contents, especially in pre-requisites. These gaps cause a lot of problems for the students. The humanities courses (mathematics) are mostly inconsistent with engineering approach. Such courses should be taught by a teacher who can relate their mathematics to engineering concepts.

This has led to:
· Incompetence among teachers.
· Bad teachers surviving although students are genuinely unhappy with them.
· Incompatibility in various course outlines
· Courses are taught while their pre-requisites are not taught earlier.
· Persistence of the problems faced by students in understanding the course material in each batch.

Solution
The solution to this grave problem is simple: the HOD should be empowered to take the feedback of teachers in his department and take swift action. Also, unavailability of a replacement shouldn't be an excuse. The HOD should take personal interest in the student matters and should, once in awhile, sit with the students to listen to their academic problems. Also a lot of care should be taken while devising course plan and sequence of courses.

College Educational Trips
It has been observed that the students are, in general, not aware of the practical implementation of engineering at the industry. We are well aware of the lack of funds and security issues; however there are plenty of options for college administration to arrange trips for the students. Such trips would broaden the vision of students and help them in exploring different dimensions of engineering

Due to excessive stress on the security college might not arrange the recreational trips however authorities are requested to officially support the trips of SAS (sports and adventure society). College authorities are requested to look into the following suggestions for the educational trips.

Heavy Industries Taxila: Mechanical, Electrical and MTs students.
POF WAH: Mechanical and Electrical students
Tarbela and Mangla Power Plants: for students of electrical
Aircraft complex Kamra: Electrical students studying radars and those working on projects of UAVs
Pascom/PTCL exchange: students of computer and electrical engineering
Mobile Network Switching Centres (MSCs): (telenor, mobilink, zong, ufone, warid in Islamabad) for computer and electrical students.
Attock Oil Refinery: for students of electrical, mechanical and mechatronics

All the above mentioned places are in vicinity of Rawalpindi and college can easily collaborate with them, as most belong to armed forces.

Printing /Photocopy Facility in departments
The existing printing and photocopy facility present in the college is not sufficient for the students. The lack of this facility poses a serious problem for the students especially for in-living students, and they face a lot of problem in doing their work. The only photocopy machine available for the students is not enough to suffice the whole college. And it also mostly out of order. Same is the case with the printers in the printing shop. There is only 1 colored printer which is mostly out of ink.

The photocopy /printing facilities are important for the students. Most teachers give handouts which are to be photocopied by the whole class, it becomes a serious issue for the class senior to get them photocopied. Students need printers to print their assignments which they get on regular basis.

Solution
The printing and photocopy facility should be present in each department and students should be given access to these. Printers are currently available to the students only in the computer department. The billing system can be the same as followed by the printing press.

Training Program and Exam Date sheet
Students should be consulted for their preferred order of exam subjects for the exam date sheet. Each class can be asked to hand in its draft before the training office finalises the exam date sheet. It would not just gratify the students who are after all to go through the trouble of taking exams but would also eliminate any chance of rescheduling that the training office would ultimately have to do if the unsatisfied-with-date sheet students manage to get their petition heard by the HOD.
Same is true for the training program as for an effective study to be carried out throughout the week; the credit hours should be evenly spread over the week and not concentrated in 2-3 of the week’s days. Students of each class should be consulted as they can rightly tell which of the courses are tougher than others so that their classes should not all be scheduled for the same day.

Workshop facilities
The workshops available at the College of E&ME are not being used for students' sake. They should also accommodate final year students and help them with the mechanical fabrication of their project. The required material should be available at college for cheap purchase.
Provision of multimedia projectors in Electrical Dept

Electrical Engineering in EME has the top most merit among all the courses taught in NUST. But, unlike the Computer and Mechatronics department, the electrical department lacks multimedia in the classrooms. The projectors present in the class are obsolete, and it is very difficult for the teachers to prepare the slides for them. The teachers have to take the class in other departments if they have to use a multimedia.

Solution
It is essential that the projectors in the classrooms of electrical department be replaced be multimedia projectors at least in two classes.

Electronics Shop
Earlier this year, some students suggested the college authorities to open an electronics shop within the premises of the college. The students, on the demand of college authorities, provided a detailed list of the necessary products that the electronics’ shop should have. But, with the change of command of College of E&ME, the proposed suggestion and the consequent development was overshadowed by other college matters.

For students of Electrical and Mechatronics Engineering, this shop is an ultimate requirement. To get a single IC chip, one has to go to College Road --- There is both wastage of time and money. Most importantly, for the students working on Robots, it will prove to be beneficial in terms of both time and money. The Final Year Students also require miscellaneous electronics equipment and ICs for their projects. A new electronics shop in the college will be a great deal of convenience and relief for the students.

The shop can be given on contract to any reasonably good electronics shop (A list of famous electronics shops and their contact details was also given earlier this year). With the establishment of electronics shop, the products not available in Pakistan can also be ordered through them, thus, saving a lot of shipping expenses. The shop management will pile up demands from the students and place an order of their simultaneous shipping to save a significant amount of shipping charges.

Collaboration with local retailers and international manufacturers
Most of the electronics equipment used in the final year projects as well as the class projects is not available in the local markets. The college administration can invite the local retailers to acquire such equipment from the bigger markets at Lahore and Karachi and sell it at the college shop. For instance the retailers like http://www.electronicspk.com/.

The equipment purchased from abroad, accompanies huge shipment charges which ruin the budget of the students. Once a shop is established it would be quite much easy to stack orders from several students and then place the order simultaneously, thereby dividing the shipment charges in acquiring the equipment.

Placement Office
Placement offices play a very important role in every institution. In all institutions across the world, placement offices not only make it sure that each of their student gets an internship in a reputed company but they also play an important role in getting them jobs. Unfortunately, the placement office we have at our college isn’t up to the task. Not only is it totally dormant in its activities but the students also get the notice of most internships in the last week of application submission and in some cases (witnessed last year) even the last day. Mostly the applications are not at all followed up by the placement office and the students are said to follow up themselves. This lack of coordination left many of the students of degree 27 without getting any internship. This is a major issue of the students and we would be highly obliged if the authorities took some immediate steps for its solution as it is the final year of degree 27 and a cooperative working placement office is much required by us.

Solutions
Here is our solution to the problem which can be implemented immediately and would solve the problem greatly.
· First of all we should have a dedicated person for the placement office. The teachers already have their hands full with their schedules and placing the important task of placement office management in their hands is not only a problem for students but also for them.
· The professor teaching engineering management (already a part of placement office) should be made the head of placement office and his primary duties should be the placement office administration.
· Placement office should start its drive with full force ;to get students internships and jobs ,people with contacts in the industry should be made a part of it and they should have primary duties regarding placement office so that they can do justice to the job
· The placement office should make further contacts with the alumni and in the college’s annual dinner for the alumni the final year students should be made to interact with the alumni. Final year students should be made to realize the importance of keeping in contact with the college so that our juniors don’t face the problems we and our seniors did.
· For students who want to apply abroad for MS the collaboration of the college with the international universities should be made clear and methods for applying in them should also be discussed in detail with the respected students.

Career Counseling to be linked with Placement Office
The EME alumni may be in constant contact with the college administration, but the interaction of the alumni with the students is almost non-existent. Shahid Habib Khan, a student from DE-26 electrical, and a member of the alumni, have initiated a step to increase the interaction with the students. He has started a “career counseling center (C-3)”for the said purpose, and also arranged a meeting with the final year students of all the departments of EME collage in the ASG hall during the summers.

It is good step taking from the member of the alumni to help the students of the college, but he is lacking official support from the administration. The college should encourage such efforts from the students and give official patronage to the C. It is suggested that the C-3 initiative be linked to the placement office. The current students should be made part of this too. If the college invites the alumni for career counseling of the current students it would be more effective.

Online Job Portals
Once the placement office gets stronger it must be used to make the job hunt for the graduates much easier. The online job portals like RozeePk and brightspyre.com do have collaborations with universities. Recently NUST Business School (NBS) and SEECS launched an online job portal on their websites. It is recommended that similar portals also be launched on our college website. All the students should be made to enter their CVs in these databases through the coordination of these job engines with the college.

Issuance of Transcripts
In order to send applications abroad for any master’s degree, a transcript from NUST Headquarters is required but the process is an age in itself:
The master's admissions for the fall, 2009 have begun. Some have their deadlines as near as early December. Now to get a transcript, we have to pass through a long procedure in which we need clearance from the account office, cadet battalion, GSO-II, deposit our library card (membership is temporarily cancelled), and finally get recommendation from the Training Officer and the Head of the Dept.

After this, 14 working days are taken by NUST HQ to issue the transcript. Each transcript is of worth Rs. 500 and if one needs 8 transcripts he will have to deposit Rs. 4000. To end up with, there is some rule which the exam cell has told us that result of previous semester has been dispatched on Oct 16, 2008 and according to a NUST rule we can’t apply for the transcript for 6 weeks from then onwards. Earliest we can apply for a transcript in first week of Dec. which would mean a close in the admission deadline.

One has to undergo the same clearance procedure as is needed of the graduated student request for the transcript such as return of all library books and signatures from a lot many authorities and departments he/she had not even known to exist. Such a clearance procedure is absolutely unneeded and should be removed as part of the transcript retrieval procedure for students who are yet graduated but are making applications for a further degree. The distinction should be made as it can definitely shorten and ease the process.
Solution
Students requiring transcripts can submit their names to a student body/representative. Transcripts should be issued to these students as soon as possible. The security clearance should be done automatically.

Graduates should be issued transcripts as early as possible.

College Website
The college website is an important web domain which can make or mar the image of the whole institute on the World Wide Web. The college website lacks any appropriate description of the laurels achieved by the college in academics and vice versa. The college website simply lacks the glamour and life that the websites of top engineering universities have!
Following are a few suggestions to improve the college website:
· The websites of the famous universities world over have a database of the undergraduate as well as the R&D projects which lend credibility to the institute’s fame. Starting from De-27 the students must be encouraged to write a brief overview of different modules of their project during their project work to be uploaded on the college website.
· The college website just gives a brief description of the ongoing engineering programs and is simply not enough for the in-experienced freshmen to make the right choice of discipline. It is suggested that each department must put up a detailed write of their program and the dimensions of their discipline[1]. This task can be assigned to the students with ease. A small competition can be arranged with the winner earning a reference of his name on college website or else earning a certificate.
· Another suggestion for the college website is to allow the students to customize their own web pages: for instance, the website of the famous IIT league in India provides the students with such luxury.[2],[3] The customization by students will allow the outsiders to have a sneak peek into the college activities and most importantly will allow the students to share their projects, findings and ideas with each other freely[4]. These discussions will serve as reference for the upcoming batches and may, in the long run, provide a platform to the engineering students, all over the country, to get involved in healthy educational discussions.
· A college website development team should be constituted which must be provided full support of the administration to develop the college website.
[1] Electrical Engineering, Undergraduate Handbook 2008 http://www.ee.princeton.edu/undergrad/ug_handbook.pdf
[2] http://www.iitd.ac.in/bsp/index_files/page0005.htm
[3] http://iiita.ac.in/inner.php?conf=proj
[4] MIT on campus newsletter “MIT Tech Talk” http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/techtalk-info.html

Administrative Issues
Student Representation
Student representation is doubtlessly a task requiring extreme responsibility but a higher GPA should not be seen as the ONLY possible factor implying responsibility in someone. The sole purpose of college appointments is to get the issues and problems faced by students, resolved. The college appointments must be selected keeping in mind this “problem solving”. The purpose of college appointments must not be restricted only to conveying the administrative orders to the students!

Moreover a genuine student representative need not just be responsible, he/she should also be able to assert the confidence of all the students being represented, which is only possible in case he/she is selected by the students rather than the officials.
In fact a person selected by the students would naturally be the one they ‘believe’ is responsible of the obligations of representation and fully capable of fulfilling them.

Solutions
· It is suggested that the college appointments should be nominated by students and should be true representatives of them. They should be allowed to access all authorities.
· In all the classes Class Representative must be selected unanimously by class. The authorities are requested to issue proper notification for this.
· The HODs must keep closer contact with CRs to solve their problems at departmental level.
· A committee should be formed of Appointments, CRs and active students to discuss problems and issues with authorities on regular basis.

Shortage of rooms in Girls’ Hostel
All of us are working on our final year project. Due to courses at day time, students hardly get any time for their FYP. For that reason students have to stay in college after the college hours.
In case of girls, conveyance is a major problem after college hours. That’s why most of them want to shift in the hostel. But it is observed that there are not enough rooms to provide with accommodation to the final year girls.

It is also observed that the female captains have also been provided with lodging in the girls’ hostel, reducing the already small number of rooms for the UG students. Thus it is suggested that being a part of the military, these captains ought to be adjusted elsewhere.
Solutions
It is suggested to build more rooms at the back side of the hostel. But in the mean while the previous hostel can be renovated and some of the in-livings can be shifted there.
In case, if all these suggestion are not implemented and the girls of final year are not accommodated in hostel, then they should be provided with conveyance after 9:00 PM, because they will be paying for the buses but will not be availing it.

Medical facilities
All students (NUSTians, PCs and GCs alike) are really disappointed with the attitude of the Medical Officer. So much so, that the students hesitate to go to the MI room now. The Medical Officer has stated many times that he is not responsible for NUSTians and that he is only responsible for the GCs. After 4pm he refuses to attend any patient, however serious his condition maybe. The Lady Doctor is available only till 12pm, a minute late and the patient would find himself at the mercy of the dispenser. Moreover, after 4pm the dispenser refuses to give common painkillers to the students, even during the exams.
This issue requires immediate attention.
1. The practice hours of the Lady Doctor should be increased till at least 2.30pm so that students can visit the MI room during lunch break.
2. The dispenser should be allowed to consult the doctor for common diseases like fever, and then provide medicine to the students after 4pm.
3. The Medical officer should be paid a bit extra or at least persuaded to attend the NUSTians.

College Out-pass
The current out-pass system prevalent in college is moribund. It has the following flaws:
1. Only the appointment holders are allowed to sign out-pass, if a student is unable to find an appointment holder, he finds himself stranded inside the college.
2. The gate watchman asks for out-pass when leaving college, but seldom asks for it when a student is returning to college, hence out-pass has no effect.
3. Student has to get out-pass AND sign the register at the gate.
4. The students have lot of questions regarding the need of out-pass register. Why the students are not allowed free entry and exit like in other universities?

Solutions
An efficient system would be just to keep the Gate Register, and make it effective.
1. Any student leaving the college would have to sign his hostel’s specific register.
2. A detailed report of all students leaving and entering the college should be made from the register daily and sent to the Company commanders, thus eliminating the need for an out-pass and the daily headcount in the hostels.
3. Female appointments currently don’t have the authority to sign out-pass. It’s such a hassle to get it signed from G-II if one has to go out on a short notice.
If the Gate keeper is not able to perform these duties, then he should be replaced with a person who can. Some Security officer can be along with the gate keeper.

Behavior of College Staff
The behavior of College Staff and Drill Instructors is not good with the students. They usually talk to students rudely without any regard for their respect. Specially, the gatekeepers misbehave when one forget to display the College ID Card.
Morning fall
Morning fall in is something everybody goes through in their school life. It is meant to inculcate the importance of time and discipline. But when one reaches the stage of university studies it is this very time that suffers at the hands of a fall in. With working hours from 8 to 4 and ever-going projects and studies all this fall in does is to waste precious time and cause inconvenience. A university student doesn’t need a Montessori concept to tell him its time for class. Suffice it to say, this morning fall in (for the NUSTians) is a redundant routine and should well be abandoned.

(note: the authorities explained that the fall in will not be totally cancelled and senior degrees will have to attend on one day)

College Transport and Bus Stop

· Students availing the college transport should be charged on distance basis.
· Buses are still overcrowded on certain roots (DHA route for instance). Administration is requested to recheck the lists of students and is requested to make sure that the number of students for a bus is not more than its capacity.

· Routes of buses are not properly organized. The routes should be reorganized so that the buses which travel to distant destinations (e.g. Gulshanabad, Model Town, and DHA) do not have to go through detours. For example the bus which travels to Model Town takes a detour towards Muree Road and returns through Chaklala resulting in a travel time of 2 hours from college to Model Town. A total travel time of 3-4 hours each day for a student significantly affects the studies as well as the health.

· There are college buses for the residents of Islamabad whereas there are no college buses for the residents of Rawalpindi, for which college has hired sub-standard buses. The college (NUST) buses are allowed to use the main gate whereas the hired buses have to use the ASG gate. This distinction should be removed.

· The ASG gate and the bus stop is not suitable to students (travelling in their own cars as well as those using college hired buses) in times of inclement weather. So during rain or harsh weather all students should be allowed to use the main gate.

· The students' car park (ASG gate) has no shade which proves to be a problem during summer and during rain. This problem has been pending for almost over 6 months and yet still nothing practical has been done!
· There is a public bus stop for public transport at the main gate but there is no such stop at the ASG gate. Students who use public transport have to walk a long distance on the main road to the public bus stop and this poses a significant threat to their security. Therefore these students should be allowed to use the main gate at all times to easily avail the public transport.

· Students who do not find it feasible to avail the bus for both the morning and the evening trip should be given the option to register themselves and thus be charged for the only trip they want to avail.

(all students are permitted to contact college SNS faizan razzaq for any problems related to buses)

General Campus Issues
Girls’ common room
There isn’t any proper place for girls to sit and relax during the free time. Thus it is suggested that there should be a proper common room for girls in every department.
There is no common room in Electrical and Mechanical departments. The condition of the tiny common rooms in Computer and Mechatronics departments is pitiable. It must be improved and special care ought to be taken for its cleanliness.

College Cafeteria
This problem has been taken up with the authorities time and again and we already feel it is a lost cause!
Solutions
However keeping in view the shortage of funds the following suggestions are presented.
· The kiosk near the departments must be completed on emergency basis and a shade (like the one on bus stop) must be built near it. A pavement must also be built to ensure access in the bad weather too.
· The cafeteria near the cadet battalion lack sitting arrangement, new arrangement can be made available by following:
· Constructing some shade under the trees for female students
o Extending the cafeteria on their backside and build some shade on the backside of the shops for male students
o There is a vacant hall above the shops. This hall can be extended and tables can be put there for the students.

Electricity

Even though Load shedding has apparently disappeared, we cannot totally depend on WAPDA for a reliable supply of electricity. The college should have sufficient backup for electricity, since almost all courses require students to perform some form of simulations or programming. Moreover, the supply of water in hostels is tied with electricity too.
Dean has assured us that one generator will be provided for two NUST hostels (Liaquat and Iqbal), Cadet Mess and Girls’ Hostel. This is a very good effort on the part of College authorities, but this facility should be extended to all the hostels, since they’re paying the same fees and hostel charges. This can be ensured by placing the existing generators such that electricity from them can be provided to the rest of the hostels (Jinnah, Nishter and Jauhar) in the evening.
Solutions
· Until the generators are installed, lab timings should be extended till at least 11pm. After an afternoon nap and the intervening dinner hour, there's hardly enough time to get substantial work done with the frequent load-shedding.
· For the final year students at least one lab can be left open for the students. The equipment required should be issued in the name of students. In case of any damage or loss the students will have to pay for it.
· The keys of the lab dedicated to be left open in evening can be handed over to the class representative, so the students are totally responsible for taking care of the lab.

Internet access in campus

The need for Internet in the college campus cannot be over-emphasized. Not only is it a requirement for reviewing research papers, it’s also needed for information on sensors, ICs and other equipment. Moreover, most teachers upload assignments and projects on online groups.
The main problems being faced by the college Internet infrastructure are:

Bandwidth provided to the campus by NetSol is not enough, since there are more than 500 In-living students. Bandwidth should be at least 16 Mb/sec
The person in charge in the server room has been overloaded with responsibilities. The manpower in server room must be increased to ensure proper working of the server and network.
The Backup system for the servers is not reliable. Often the server hangs when the electricity goes. A simple gas generator dedicated for the server may solve the problem.
The wireless infra-structure is very difficult to handle in the absence of a Rigger and a wireless specialist. They should be provided if this system is to be run properly.
Even when the wireless network is running properly, there is no coverage inside most of the ASG blocks. Small wireless routers at specific locations inside the blocks maybe able to solve this problem.
The best solution for the internet access problem in hostels is a wired DSL link. Two connections of 2 Mb/sec each maybe provided to each hostel, with the router being placed in the Warden’s room. Most of the students have already connected their PCs through a LAN system. The college can utilize this infrastructure free of cost, just the DSL connections need to be provided.

The CI has promised a rigger and DSL connection for one hostel. Our only request is that this be done on an urgent basis, since the final year students in the hostels are suffering a lot.

College Functions
Annual college functions are an important part of any college or university. Functions like Welcome Parties for the freshmen, Farewell party for the outgoing batch, old Emenents reunion, and annual sports week are not held in the college of EME.

Welcome and farewell parties are organized at class level by the students themselves. The need is to give these functions official status. Only Girls welcome and farewell party are officially organized by the administration in the college auditorium. Such function should also be arranged for all the students.

A sports week is should be held in each semester in which the events should be held throughout the day, so the in living and the out living can both actively participate. An annual sports week is held in the MCS, which is a sister, campus of the EME. If they can have a sports week, so can us!
Most colleges have an old students reunion parties once every each year. It is a great event in which the present students get to interact with the people who have studied in the institute are now in the working field.

Winter Arrangements
There’s still no gas available in Jinnah Hostel, D Block. There are currently 33 Students of Degree 30 living there, and it would be really hard for them to live there without any gas heaters, since the hostel is really open, there is no corridor to protect them from the wind. The radiators currently installed are really ineffective, and the heat from them can only be felt when they are touched by hand!

Sports week
When students complain that there are no sports in the college, the authorities reply that the sports are arranged by the cadet battalion and tournaments are being arranged by societies like SAS. But these tournaments are arranged in the night time only because of the classes in the daytime and it is not possible for the out living students to participate in such tournaments.
Solution
The lack of sports activity for the out-living students is a serious issue. The solution of this problem is to arrange a sports weekend for the students. Instead of arranging some tournaments in the night time, there should be a 3 day sports weekend, so all students can participate in the games. Such an event should be held in each semester. Military College of Signals (MCS) holds a similar type of sports week and it is essential that such type of event be initiated in our college as well.

Thank You for considering Students’ problems and reading our suggestions in this regard!

Double Weightage Quiz

2008-09-10T19:28:00.001+05:00

Posted on behalf of Syed Muhammad Salman Shah
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assalam o alaikum all

Another Ramadan has started.

Ramdan is just like a double weightage quiz. What!!
Thats right just like a double weightage quiz.
Every good deed gets multiplied and every bad deed and every negligence (to do good deeds) is more harmful than any usual day.

Ramdan its the best time to make good habits
I have personal experience about it
I started praying 4 prayers regularly after one Ramdan.
I started praying Fajr regularly after the next Ramadan.
And in the next Ramdan started praying in the mosque.

Also gain the most reward by taking reward from other people.
Tell them something good and if they act on it you get the reward for their good acion. No hardwork just one good advice. So be active and post advices for us so that you get more benefit.
Ramdans also a good time to root out bad habits. So
Stop being disobedient to parents.
Stop backbiting.
Stop lying.

Almost one third of Ramdan is gone so only two third time is left.
Capitalize on the time left
Dont miss out on this heavy weight quiz.
Even the chillest person in college will regret and take tension of double weightage quiz that is missed or is not done correctly. So take tension for Ramdan.
Dont waste this opporunity
Dont miss out on this ramdan!
Dont miss out on this ramdan!!
Dont miss out on this ramdan!!!

Pakistan, what the future looks like!

2008-07-17T20:43:00.003+05:00

It seems as though we have managed to democratically elect a government that is intent on destroying Pakistan. I present to you a review of the 100 day of Zardari's Government!

Judges were not restored and neither a dictator - or for that matter, mini dictators (Nasim Ashraf etc.) were removed.

Stock markets are down. Economy is suffering from neglect (Naveed Qamar, thank you).

Peace has been established in Islamabad. The rest of Pakistan does not count.

Power, food and health crises have plagued the country.

USA is calling the shots.

Pakistan is being threatened. NATO presents an external threat whereas the local Taliban aren't going Happy-Feet either.

It seems as though Pakistan's future has been sold to foreigners.

The following things have happened (as of typing the post):

Lawyers haven't given up.
Musharraf hasn't given up.
Zardari hasn't given up.
Nawaz hasn't given up.
ANP hasn't given up.

The first to succumb to public pressure will undoubtedly become a less unpopular person/party in the eyes of the people of the country. But it seems as though all the players are happy and content. It seems as though the balls in no one's court.

Is our country doomed to this fate?
What can we do to help?
When are we going to bring about a change?
What is the change going to be? (Besides Nasim Ashraf getting sacked - everyone seems to think k agar mein aaya to sabb se pehle Naseemay ko farigh karun ga.)

The “Dash” Day!!

2008-07-11T22:52:00.002+05:00

(Inspired from the hugs day!!!)

Replace the “Dash” in the title of this article, and you might get a day that is celebrated in one or the other part of the world, literally. You name it and they have it!!!! The “dash” day phenomena is taking the world by a storm.

I heard about this hug day on some news channel. The news really got my attention. The hug day?? Really?? Haven’t the people gone too far in celebrating the so called “days”?? The world “hug” day is actually celebrated officially on the 1st Saturday following the 30th of June. (you can actually hug any person roaming the street with the “free hug” banner!!!).

These “dash” days are huge in number, swarming our life. Mother’s day(second Sunday of MAY), father’s day(3rd Sunday of June), women’s day(8 March), men’s day(19 November), Grandparents day, children’s day(20 November), Labor Day(1 may), valentine day(14 February), friendship day(first Sunday in August), peace day(21 September), Earth Day(22April), April Fool’s day(1 April), this day , that day , and of course the “hugs day” ;)

Some of the more weird ones I found were the Bubble Gum day(1 February), Buy Nothing Day (The day after thanksgiving), International talk like a pirate day(19 September), Ninja Day(% December),Mischief night (30 October),Monkey Day (14 December), No Pants Day(first Friday of May) ,The towel day(25 May).... Is it enough or do you want some more!!!

The question that must arise in one’s mind here is, Do these “dash” days serve any real purpose?? Are they just for fun? Just another time pass??Why do people spend so much time and money in arranging and celebrating these days?? Do they make the impact they intended to make?? Well, I think they DO… they do make a difference. !!

I usually hear people say, “What is the purpose of telling your mom that you love her only on the mother’s day? Cant you tell her this the every other day??doesn’t she deserves your love each single day??” or something like “express your love any time you want, why to do it only on 14th of Feb.??” or “ this children day is crap, if you want to help a child, just go and help him. Don’t wait fort the children day!” and many more comments like this (sometimes back, I supported many of these arguments!!)

These “dash” days (Except for the really weird ones I stated earlier) serve as a stimulus for the people, who sometimes forget that there’s more in this world than there own self. They might not always have an impact on a large scale, but they always do make the small differences. Just for example, on children’s day, if just one thousand people even think that they should help needy children, maybe 10 people will actually do it, and maybe 1 or 2 people make it a habit. Someone’s life might change!!

Everyone is not born to bring a revolution. Just play your part in helping someone. Sometimes, just make someone smile. That my friends, is itself a very big deed.

Happy “dash” day !! :)

Semester Over!! Will it be the same next Semester??

2008-07-08T20:32:00.004+05:00

Congratulations 27 Electrical, we have now stepped out of the Sixth semester..

Here's NEWS for the Seventh:-

The following Teachers will be teaching you next...

Lt. Col Dr. Rashid
Dr. Khalid Munnawar (KM)
Deitel (Prof. Kaleem)
Engr. Tauseef Iqbal (--NICK NOT AVAILABLE--)
Dr. Ibrahim Siddiqui (--NICK AVAILABLE BUT CONF.--)

Jamia Hafsa... MY take

2008-07-05T19:15:00.004+05:00

This post is meant to shed light on Uzair's post on the same topic.

The Jamia Hafsa tragedy marks a dark day in our history when laws and accountability were abused.

When there are active bordellos running in your locality and prostitution is practiced openly and widely, would you start setting up an army? Or would you rather go to the police? I'd rather go to the police and get an FIR registered against Aunti Shamim rather than let her get an FIR registered against me for abduction.

But things were not as rosy for the people at the said Jamia: high-ups (as Uzair says) were involved.

Prostitution is a centuries old trait that has been practiced in parts of the world. Never in history, was it considered good - men and women were considered chaste if they kept away from such people. But thanks to modernization and an advancement in our thinking, it has taken a more humanitarian picture.

The result: Abduction of prostitutes and pimps will result in the army using the most cruel weaponry against you (chemical weapons including...). So that all those who are thinking of stopping these people, ought to think twice.

Operation Silence – a year passes by

2008-07-04T17:35:00.000+05:00

Dust, smoke, gunfire, screams, blood ------ what followed? SILENCE which pierced the hearts, even of those who had vociferously supported the operation before; silence that made everyone of us numb and deprived us of the courage to raise our voices against it; silence that provided perfect shelter to the perpetrators, that to this date no inquiry could take place; deadly silence, that hid the figures of casualties and countless still remain missing!
Was it a befitting punishment? Was their crime so grave? Were they ever given a right to court trial? Were they given a fair chance of negotiations? Did they get the sympathies of the human rights commissions, who can’t keep quite even at the death sentence of brutal killers? Well, to be impartial, the answer to all the questions above is an emphatic NO. This is a country where chain killers remain on the loose, where Mr. 10% becomes the practical head of state, where rapists and bandits are almost never punished ----- Was the crime committed by students of jamia hafsa so grave?
It is agreed that protest and propaganda is the right of every individual and that one needs to exercise them within limits. Think of the protests that take place in this country. Protests at BB’s death left hundreds of trucks and several trains burnt and economy crashing down badly. Nobody was held responsible! The students of jamia hafsa did tread on some sensitive grounds, True! But again I would ask, was their crime so grave? Kidnapping the people who were running a brothel, which existed under the very knowledge of police high-ups, wasn’t that big a deal as kidnapping the whole judiciary. Students of LUMS and Punjab University protest against emergency and only police is enough to take care of them yet the students of jamia hafsa protest against immoral values and whole lot of rangers, police and SSG are sent to teach them a lesson – a lesson of life – the operation to silence them all! Did the students of jamia hafsa belong to a lesser creed?
So this injustice continues, it were our forces at jamia hafsa and now the ISAF hitting at our backyard killing innocent. For how long we want to maintain the silence? For how long we want to think of ourselves as helpless dejected soles? Its time for a change! Time to stand-up, Time to join hands and raise our voices! It’s time, that you and I, who constitute the youth of Pakistan, take responsibilities of steering Pakistan to right path. To teach the perpetrators a lesson and to stand up against the dictators! Let’s make a resolve; we won’t be enjoying university life ever again in life (graduate level). Its time to act, we are in final year. To raise our voices, against the dictators, against the imposers, at every level, starting from our own college!

My take on operation "Sirat-e-Mustaqeem"

2008-07-03T11:55:00.002+05:00

Once this new government came into power, there was a hype created: "we are going to resolve all issues through dialogue"...

The hype fell face down when Richard Boucher came to talk some sense into the Politics of this country..

To be realistic and a bit sympathetic to this country's present rulers, negotiations were started but soon they failed. It seemed each time a dialogue was started, an American missile would tear through all hopes of peace.

So much for the hit-out-at-government part...

The militancia on the other hand, has not been the damsel in distress that they seem cut out to be. Perhaps each time a dialogue was started, what party benefited the most? The Qabailis. Each Peace-Talk seemed to mark an opportunity.

For instance, take this latest attack: inside Peshawar. Peshawar was somewhere militant's could only have dreamed about.

It seemed as though Pakistan's fate has been put into the wrong hands. Our democratically elected leaders and our not-so-democratically elected militant leaders are all playing their own game. No one is thinking about Pakistan's interests and no one is thinking about Islam. We are playing with Pakistan's interests and we are flagrantly using religion for our own selfish needs.

Note to ALL...

2008-07-02T23:44:00.002+05:00

Uzair sent me an sms telling me that you people were missing me at the blog... (awwwww)..

I've got no excuses... was not just in the mood to sit and type...

Now I believe that since we are not gonna meet up for some weeks... I might as well become an active member of the 27-Electrical Blog...

I'd soon like to post something.... but right now, i'm passing through a Writer's Block!! so... help me out!

Class Trip --- 27 Elec rocks!

2008-04-24T22:21:00.009+05:00

So rare are the events of joy and happiness in EME that they can be easily counted on fingers! It all began with "satais walk out!" call by Mr. Iatesam Nazir, at the welcome in first year. Yup it was a stupid act for some while a moment of joy for others. With it began the slogan of "class unity" as termed by Madam Sobia. Inevitably, the theme did not last for long; personal likings and disliking are very often preferred over collective interests. Nevertheless, the story goes on. The best event of my memory was the 'mud bath'! Every one was chased, trapped, deprived of the cell phone and wallet, tossed up, splash n thud! That sophisticated treatment was given to a few people, most of us were dragged in mud for a considerable distance. The best of best: Mr. Hanif put on a rare display of talent by making a frantic sprint to run away from the hooligans, alas there were a few people who intersected him.........splash and thud:p

Well i said, fun filled events are rare and yet i am prolonging the writing: its just to make up for the small data available:p. The khewra trip was indeed a great one. The trip went better than expected and washed away all the misunderstandings and scuffles developed during the trip arrangement. Thanks to the organizers Usama, Iatesam and Meer Ali. A period of silence.........then comes the welcome. Arangement of this event was a hell of a thing for Arslan Ali Shah. I give him due credit for tolerating all that crap. As for me i never took it seriously. Although the welcome was not up to the mark, yet it was still a good event ( i can't help being biased here, if i am wrong do correct pls!).

So now after being dormant........finally comes up the latest trip. Although the trip idea had been in circulation during the previous semester, yet none of the previous organizers were willing to take the challenge. Finally, how it happened i have got no clue! This time ladies took the initiative by putting forth the idea once more. After two postponements the trip was finalized.........on sms! (weird as it sounds!). Anyhow, all this stuff is irrelevant here, the matter at hand is to appreciate the class participation for this trip. Again thanks to Iatesam and Waqas for the arrangement. Yup the best part of this trip was that nobody was sure of the destination.........initially the plan was for pir sohawa but later on in the on spot polls the voters for pir sohawa lost to those in favour of murree by an outstanding margin! (it was termed a defeat worse than what sheikh rasheed faced:p). Alrite so did we go for murree? nopes! the dictator (iatesam here :p) hijacked the bus and took us to Ayubia claiming he had discovered a good track on WikiTravel site. (:p it wasn't remotely a bad decision as far as outcome is concerned).

Well yes the point of all this writing is to thank the entire class for making this trip spectacular! (even to those who made it remarkable by not coming :p). It must be mentioned here that the class must maintain the unity amongst their ranks and put their personal fights below the class matters. The organizers must be given a due appreciation cause i know its a thankless job: no matter how much effort u put in, the criticism never ends!). Electrical 27 i believe is a great class and this recent fun-filled trip is a proof of my claim!

PS: O yeeaaaah i remember! thanks to Usman Farooq for providing us some new wallpapers too ;):p

Crippled Moralities

2008-04-24T21:56:00.001+05:00

Credit: Muhammad Shabbir

Source:http://derailedsaint.blogspot.com/2008/04/crippled-moralities.html

(Be the change that you want to see in this World)

As if from ever, we have managed to admit, even perpetually criticize, the hollow moralities that we possess as a society, yet never quite admitting the existence of the same in ourselves as individuals. Unfortunately I realized this not by mere observation but by the bitter truth hitting really hard in my face.
That eventful afternoon, I was sitting with my friend in a restaurant discussing, well not heroic or honorable topics, but the simple miseries we faced, and those too more like platitudes of lack of so

me comforts rather than dearth of some basic necessities. Little did we know that just a few moments later we would be facing a pair of gunmen bent on relieving us of whatever monetarily valuable possessions we happened to have. Yet there we were offering anything and everything that we could to save our lives. The process of being robbed was not as shocking as it was strange. They were committing the act as if they were selling some product which we weren't expected to live without. As I offered my mobile, I took up the courage to ask for the SIM, a plea which was politely rejected. Yes politely. In fact the whole deed was done without a single word of rudeness from either side, we of course not at all being in a position to express ourselves. They on their part intended not to ruin their sadistic fulfillment by spitting out abuses.
After being looted we both were filled with anger. I was angry at almost every fabric that made up our society. The police, the onlookers of the event, the government and of course the thugs. I had a sudden sympathy with the thousands who got robbed of their belongings this way. I thought of the poor people who lost their entire days, weeks or even months earnings in a single moment. But then the realization struck. I wasn't concerned with justice. It was all a collection of feelings of revenge and its side affects that I felt. The real grief I felt was for my own loss. I had known people who had been robbed and I had been sorry for them but I had never really felt this way.
Then I realized that we all use the universal moral virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope & charity not as the codes governing our lives but rather as tools of personal well being. As pathetic as it may seem, me generalizing the newly founded vice in myself over to my whole society, the fact remains that it is all true. And I am not even talking about the general hypocrisies found at the higher level like politicians, themselves former Justice Department abusers, coming to the rescue of the Judiciary or the people burning mobile connections as a protest against the Denmark cartoon scandal and buy-backing the same connections when offered a better package or the general welcome given by the people to all the military dictators to power and the disgraceful removal of the same in the name of democracy.
It is the definition of a vice that one cannot tolerate it when one is at its receiving end. We don't really care about people dying from hunger or we wouldn't be wasting food in our wedding ceremonies. We don't see it as a vice because we don't suffer from hunger. We loathe the racial discrimination that we face in foreign countries yet we racially profile other people of our own country. We don't realize that we are harsh with our juniors until our Boss scolds us. We look for short cuts, we bribe our way, we use friends' and family's influence, we lie through our teeth, we plead and we threaten because it is much easier way to get things done. And then suddenly we talk about the evils of bribery, nepotism and social manipulations just because some other person beat us in the game.
This hypocrisy doesn't just somehow magically appear up there but has roots in our very homes when a father says to his son suspecting him to be lying "Solemnly declare my child that all of your life you'll say the truth, the complete truth, nothing but the truth so help you God" and the next moment asks him to lie to the unwanted visitor "Tell him I am not home". We have a gross talent of criticizing other people for the same inadequacies and flaws that corrupt our own characters. We believe that every thing, as morally wrong as it may be, is doable if we can just find enough of other people as examples for justification. It is not uncommon for us to hear the phrase "So what, everyone does it".
No. Everyone doesn't. All it requires is an opening of the eyes. People with enough strength of character and firm moral principles don't. All we need is a firm belief in the general principles of good regardless of other people's belief in it. We need to act justly, truthfully and courageously without trying to count the benefits we can achieve from it. Any society which adheres to such principles never faces the fear of destruction or extinction. It is an Islamic teaching that faithless (nonreligious) societies can survive but hypocritical and unjust ones cannot. So let us try to shun the moral hollowness that we posses and adhere to the principles of human virtues for the survival of our society and its honor.

Mian Usman's Photos... My hankypanky

2008-04-17T22:22:00.005+05:00