Pakistan’s folk culture is a living tradition practiced by a dominant majority of its people. Pakistanis, therefore do not have to go looking for folklore, it is all over. In fact, it is so common place that an average rural Pakistani may have no awareness whatsoever of his folkloric culture and the richness of his folk heritage, just like a fish in water.

Pakistan with its rich and varied heritage has a craft tradition of more than 9,000 years dating back to the Mehergarh civilization in the Balochistan province which reveals the earliest evidence for pottery production. The Indus valley civilizations of Moenjodaro in Sindh and Harappa in Punjab, 5,000 B.C. indicates impressions of woven cloth production from cotton and wool. The dominant historical influence still to be seen in the form, design and colour of Pakistani handicrafts is essentially Islamic, a fusion of Turkish, Arab, Persian and the indigenous Mughal tradition.

The crafts represent a valuable material heritage, which forms a tangible part of our historical and contemporary culture. Unlike the west, most traditional crafts in Pakistan is neither a profession nor a hobby, but an essential component of the diverse cultural patterns – a product of the ethnic and communal attitudes and practices. As such crafts have meanings and definite social context in traditional society. However, the onslaught of the industrial age is erasing this craft heritage, even in rural areas. But there is a recent trend towards the use of crafts as art objects in urban homes. Historic forms and designs are being revived both by the increasing number of trained craftsmen and by designers for the tourist and export trade.

Pakistan is noted for some of the most beautiful handicrafts of the world. Whether it is the elaborate dress of a bride or a simple household utensil, it is designed and created so artistically that it becomes an object of art. The different regions, towns and cities specialize in their particular handicrafts. This is why there is so much diversity and variety in the crafts of the country.

The indigenous skills of Pakistan have evolved over centuries through communal practice and therefore constitute the most authentic representation of Pakistan’s traditional art

The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, popularly known as Lok Virsa, is a pioneering national organization at the federal level striving hard since its inception in the This task is being done in a professional and systematic manner in close association with a vast network of provincial and regional cultural institutions, non-governmental organizations and community-based bodies, who are actively engaged with the practitioners of the traditional culture at the grass root level.

Lok Virsa has been working closely with Thatta Kedona for the last many years. They have undertaken a number of initiatives in the village Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka in Punjab for the promotion and preservation of traditional culture including activating the village women and resumption of the tradition of making dolls and ethnological research resulted in creating ethnic dolls dressed up in the traditional costumes of various provinces and minorities. In pursuance of their objectives, they give training to village women to make international quality products, to generate income and thus becoming an effective part of the society. They also collaborate with the Export Promotion Bureau of Pakistan to introduce their products abroad.

Their present publication of Thatta Kedona will also go a long way in maintaining the traditional culture and creating on its basis a foundation for good quality artisanship. We wish them success in their endeavours [Also here and here].

Friends and fellow bloggers have been telling me that getting your own domain name is a must for a long time. Reasons: You don’t really own your Blogger blog (as per Blogger’s ToS, the domain and the platform are properties of Google though you own content). And it has serious consequences. Having your own domain gives you more credibility (and yes, an ego boost – sajshirazi.com looks much better). And of course it gives you more flexibility.

Above all else, here is another reason. Those who are looking forward to making money from blogs now need own domain. Initially BlogSpot used to be the best way to get your adsense account approved, but later now it’s getting harder to get your adsense account with blogspot. News is that Google may pull down all adsense account on BlogSpot blogs any time. Similarly other paid posting platforms are also offering less and less on free platform blogs.

While I move to sajshirazi.com, I owe big thanks to all my awesome readers. Many thanks to you all for reading, sharing, liking and leaving valuable feedback that kept me going since 2003. Do please come and join me there. Internet (and blogging) is so lonely without friends.

It can be as simple as twitter account, tweeting micro blogs. It can be a facebook update. It can be a free blog on wordpress, blogger or even tumblr. It can be as complex as having your own domain and hosting with a Content Management System.

Some take it even further and have a whole network of websites and blogs. (some folks also include mass SMS as a form of blogging) Whatever form a blog may have, Its basic idea is simple. It is to communicate what is happening around us and our opinion and feelings about it.

Blogging was seen as political/economic threat

Blogging , when it starts reporting on current issues, steps on toes of some existing institutions and professions. These institutions (media houses, newspapers, information cells of governments)  enjoyed either a monopoly or  some degree of control over the information and its presentation to masses. With introduction of Blogging in equation, they no longer enjoy same degree of control over their most important commodity. Information!

Suddenly, the playing field is level again. Authorities  are becoming  more insecure each day as they lose ability to hide things and suppress the voices of decent. Experienced journalists found themselves competing with wannabe , part time journalists like me.  They are using every mean possible to discourage bloggers and maintain their monopoly over information, which at the end of the day will be a futile effort.

Remember Printing Press. Law says,  you still need a license to install a printing machine. By Legal definitional, that printer on your desk is also a printing machine. no one cares anymore. this will be the case with blogs as well. Sooner or later everyone realize that you can not fight and idea but with and idea.

Types of Professional Blogging

 The basic test of a professionalism in a profession is Money. If you do something for love of it, its a Hobby. But if your livelihood depends on something, its your profession. Most Institutions are having a blog or two. BBC has many, Jang has one. Companies have blogs too. These companies and institutions are now hiring people to blog on their behalf. This is one example of professional blogging where one is hired to blog on the behalf of a company and get paid for it.

In my humble opinion, we see following kind of Professional Bloggers in Pakistan. I am making a list on the fly there is no particular order to this list.

• Professional Bloggers On Salary( Few Lucky… )
• Content Writers Working on ODesk like site Or Local Software Houses(Most Educated /Exploited of the Lot)
• Adsense Publishers / Re-Bloggers (Your average boy next door)
• Affiliate Marketing Professionals(people with 3000+ friends on facebook)
• Local / Current Affair Bloggers (People with a Unique Idea)

Who is making most Money?

As per my estimates, Adsense Publishers / Re-Bloggers ( People who have one or two blogs with adsense on them) are making most of the money in Pakistan. individually, they might be earning 10,000 Rs to 50,000 Rs per month but it is a huge number. Let me give you an example of Haroon Abad. It is a small city on the brink of cholistan desert in southern Punjab. About 5 hours drive from Lahore. According to its post office, every month 100-150 guys get Western Union Payments from Google. payment range is small 8000 – 25000 Rs each but the number of people is quite astonishing.

Most of these people like to be anonymous. They sit at home, hunt viral content on internet and then either re-write it themselves or get it re-written by someone else for 50 -100 Rs per 500 word article.  Then they reblog it on their websites and spam the hell out of it on social media sites.

There are some rag to riches stories among these people. People who make millions. But the word never gets out. They don’t want to draw attention. These guys never disclose address of their website :).  They live in constant fear of Panda Updates and SERP rank drop. They spend days after days, devising strategies to bring more traffic and find high paying keywords.

Some may argue that these are not bloggers. These people don’t contribute anything to society or internet. They just get what’s on internet already and Chew it and spit it back on internet. In the process they make some money for themselves and for Google too.

But so what if they do so, who cares. In a country like us, where there is no electricity and internet is a luxury, these guys are making a couple of dollars each day for their families. They are also bringing in foreign exchange. I think they are real heroes.  My Hat’s off the them.

PS: Google’s recent crackdown on such spamlogs reduced their numbers considerably but they are really survivors. Most of them have recovered with new sites and accounts. :)

Who is Best and what Future Holds

In my humble opinion, Local / current affair bloggers are the best of the lot. These people are blogging out of passion and have made it a profession. When the history of internet will be written, their names will be at top of the list.

They are not making much money but they are making some. some of them are even making enough to make a living out of it. The Future is Them. They hold the eye balls of a majority of internet users in pakistan and as the internet usage grows , so will their Incomes. Only thing, that is holding these people down is absence of online economy in Pakistan. People who browse websites don’t buy stuff online. Not because they don’t want to or do not have purchasing power. Reason is as simple as 1,2, 3.

1. they don’t have credit card or method of payment
2. there is no recourse in case of fraud by a merchant.
3. Due to high merchant fees, it is too expensive to shop online.

The future is only bright for local bloggers when local businesses want to advertise through your blog. I don’t mean just a few MNC or cell companies spending few hundred thousands to get brand exposure. I mean when people start to buy groceries online. Then whoever holds the most traffic locally will get most advertising revenue. It will be a billion dollars advertising revenue that has to be divided among local blogs. but that , i don’t see happening in next 5- 10 years.  There are some basic hurdles that can be removed by simple measures. I will discus this in detail in my next post , Inshallah.

Why I wrote this Blog Posts?

Minutes ago, i was having a discussion on future of blogging in context of pakistan. We were chatting on facebook . As we all know, chat on facebook is not a very good medium to have a serious debate. So, while looking for a medium to express my opinion , I realized , i have an account on Lahore Metblogs. Also, i noted that there has not been any activity here since January. so, this post is just an ice breaker and call to all my fellows on lahore metblogs to take some time out of thier ever busy lives and post something here. it can be anything, a photo, a thought, a comment. just anything to let us know that you are still there..

Earlier, Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, the Chairman and the Rector Lahore School of Economics presented annual report of the School and highlighted achievements during the academic year.

The Lahore School of Economics, Chartered in 1997, has the distinction of being the first private sector not-for-profit degree granting institution established by the Government of the Punjab. Since then we have matured to be an established institution of higher learning with a wide range of academic disciplines encompassing economics, business, finance, social sciences, media studies art and design, mathematics, statistics and environmental sciences at both the undergraduate and post graduate levels. The Lahore School has currently 3266 students in these disciplines with 66 doing their M.Phil and Ph.D, 457 doing their masters and 2643 completing a 4 years bachelors degree.

The Lahore School’s Annual Conferences on the Management of the Pakistan Economy are significant in that they provide the theoretical basis for policy making. As an example I would like to place on record that it was at the Annual Conference in April 2008 that the Lahore School recommended that an appropriate security blanket for the poor would be an old age pension scheme of Rs.1000 per month for widows. A number of influential policy makers were at the conference and we would like to believe that it contributed in a small manner to the development of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) introduced in 2008-9 and which is widely acclaimed the world over. Incidentally that conference also recommended a school feeding and health care program in the field of education and hospitalization insurance coverage for serious illnesses in the health sector to complete a social security blanket for the poor. We hope sir, that you will consider these remaining two policy proposals to benefit the ordinary people of Pakistan in the future.

Related: Lahore School of Economics Eighth Convocation, Lahore School Students at their best (Photos), Pround Parents at Lahore School Convocation 2012 (Photos)

The target audience seems to be females, especially housewives. I am not sure if they are running this campaign only on Facebook or if it’s also in main stream media. But if it’s only on Facebook, I doubt the real impact of this.

P3 Orion aircraft on fire at PNS Mehran - Source: Dawn.com/AFP

Gunfire and explosions rocked Pakistan Navy’s PNS Mehran base in Karachi last night. Recent reports have confirmed at least 8 casualties and two aircrafts destroyed at the high security facility. P3 Orion aircrafts are operated by Pakistan Navy for maritime surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Navy has become the most targeted wing of the armed/security forces in Pakistan with four terrorist attacks spanning over the last two months. All four have taken place in Karachi targeting buses carrying Navy personnel and now an air-base. The first ever attack on naval interests in Pakistan during the current war on terror took place on March 4, 2008 when the Naval War College in Lahore was attacked by two suicide bombers killing at least 8 people.

Our prayers and thoughts are with the affected families and friends of our brave military men who’ve lost their lives in this incident. Inna lillahe wa inna illehe rajioon.

We all pray in unity for peace in Pakistan!