Elections ahoy! Elections Ahoy! Yes people it’s almost time!

For the first time in the history of Pakistan a civilian government will hand over power to another civilian government (I got the chills just typing that).

But that’s the truth and it is time for us civilians to now decide who is going to plunder and loot… uh… I mean ‘govern’ us for the next five years.

The Contenders…

To make it easier lets list down the candidates ….boxing style:

Corner #1

In the left corner we have PML-N. Yes, my friends our very own exponent of how to get the perfect hair transplant done.

PML-N, the same people who gave us the nuclear bomb, the motorway and… well, uh… that’s about it. They did however “Nawaz-o-fi” us with the yellow cab scheme, the money laundering scandals, Kargil and not to mention two 3-year terms of taking corruption a step further.

In the 2nd corner…

We have our very own MQM. The party that was the savior of all mohajirs and now is set out to free Pakistan from the “Jagirdaaraaaaaan’s” *bhai style*.

The “bechara” party as I call it, MQM is the only party that has been in power for 20+ years. But the thing is that they are always oppressed by the “namaloom afraad” who kill, loot and terrorize their innocent workers and the “awam” of Karachi. They have always been a victim of the “establishment’s” vendetta and now are at war with the unseen Taliban that are out to get Karachi. Enough reason to cry all the time I think.

Just one question to our British bhai: How come these “namaloom afraad” always, always and always show up when you call for a SOG? Oh and what in the world of AK-47 & TT do you mean by “raza karana taur per”??….Does it have anything to do with Raza Haroon?

The 3rd Corner…

Moving on to our 3rd corner, we have the saviors of democracy: The Pakistan People’s Party. The party whose ministers claim that “corruption hamara bhi haq hai”. After a statement like that is there anything left to say, other than “kal bhi Bhutto loot ta tha and aaj bhi Bhutto k naam se loot te hain”

Corner #4…

Corner four belongs to our Phataan bhai’s, ANP. ANP holds power in Khyber Pakhtoon Khuwa but are generally focused on Karachi. They seem to be completely ignorant of the plight of the people in KPK but have statement after statement on the apathy of Karachi. We know you have a foothold in Karachi but if you can’t handle your own province how do you suppose a city like Karachi will be tamed by you??

Introducing the Referee…

The referee comes next and it is none other than our beloved PML-Q – or Lota’s – as they are commonly known. True to our Pakistani identity of today the referee (PML-Q) is on the side of the party that offers the best deal. This is why at any given time they can be in the opposition, in power or supporting a dictator.

Now to answer the burning question, who gets our vote? The thing is that every party listed above claims to change our fortunes if given power but if you take a closer look they have all been in power for the last 5 years and we have gone from bad to worse.

PPP – Ruling party and majority holder in Sindh
MQM – Coalition partner and owners of Karachi
PML-N – Hold power in Punjab
ANP – Coalition partner and hold power in KPK
PML-Q – On and off coalition partner

Oh yes… then there’s the guy at the Bell!

Now with all the corners and the referee position taken we are left with have the tsunami-wielding PTI on the bell. With the December 2011 Tsunami, they proved that they can ring the bell really loud but time will tell if they are given a chance to enter the ring and actually fight.

The only benefit that I see in voting for PTI is that they have not been given a chance before and MAYBE, just MAYBE, the change that we are looking for can come from here.

In August last year my parents went to Canada to visit my sister. The whole time they were there they were all praise for the place and every other Skype call had the same lecture for me: Apply for immigration! Why don’t you apply for Canadian immigration? What is it in Pakistan that has you stuck there? Apply for Canadian immigration IMMEDIATELY!

I didn’t. Why you ask? Well for one thing Canadian immigration was closed back then. But the truth is I didn’t want to go to Canada! My life In Karachi was good. I had a good job, a decent car, was making good money, shopping at the best outlets and had the best of friends. What else could I want?!

Karachi Life…

Yes, there were the uncertainties….

1.    The regular bomb blasts: Yes, but there weren’t any close to my neighborhood. In fact, I’ve never even heard the echo of one.
2.    The mobile snatching: Oh come on! It’s just a phone. Look on the bright side: this is your chance to get the new iPhone! And actually I was just robbed once and that too was my own fault… I didn’t even know the name of the area I went to.
3.    Load shedding: Huh?! What’s that? There’s no load shedding in my area (and no I don’t live in defense or Clifton). The “light” situation in my area (and some other parts of Karachi too) is so good now that my UPS battery died because of not being used and being on-charge all the time.
4.    Karachi shuts down: This could be troubling because Karachi can shut down at the drop of a hat. But I worked at a multinational company and if there was any uncertainty we were put up at a 5 star hotel for the night! And even if I didn’t want to stay at the hotel and wanted to be with my daughter, my house was just a “Shar-e-Faisal” away. And looking on the bright side again, you get to leave office early and go to office late the next day or maybe just take the day off!
5.    CNG load shedding: the long lines, the unscheduled shut downs. Just another outing with the family is how I looked at it; well I had already decided to shift to petrol, so bye-bye CNG load shedding!
6.    “Mehangayee”: like I said, I had a good job that paid me enough money to afford the good life, so the “mehangayee” aspect didn’t bother me that much….Alhamdullillah!

I am not kidding people, all of the above is true! I actually loved my life in Karachi…the late night sheesha, the all-night cards sitting, the visit to Sindbad with friends and family, the latest movies in 3D….

My Life Today…

BUT the fact of the matter is I don’t live in Karachi anymore and don’t plan to go back!

Why? One of the reasons is the call I made to my friend one Wednesday night. He was at the Agha Khan hospital and said he will call me the next day. I was worried and asked if everything was ok. He said yes and that I shouldn’t worry.

The next day my friend came over with his family and we called another friend over too. As soon as they arrived I asked my friend about the previous night and why he was at the hospital. He said that he was there to see a colleague of his who had been shot.

I immediately retorted saying that this is inevitable if you are involved with a political party. He said yes, but the person who was shot was a very decent person and had no affiliation with any political party. He went on to relate his colleague’s story.

The person had left his office in defense at around 8:30 pm and in 5 minutes was at the Creek Club signal. His mistake was that instead of staying on Khayaban-e-Ittehad he turned towards the bypass that runs parallel to it.

As soon as he got onto this road, he was shot. The bullet went through his back and exited through his chest, fortunately missing his organs. The people who had shot him walked up to him and stole his bike. There was no warning or argument or fight for the bike, just one shot in the back.

But wait, the worse is about to come. The person, shot & bleeding, tried to stop around 15-20 cars but no one stopped. He then walked bleeding to the nearest petrol pump, which is around a 200 meters from where he was shot but even at the pump no one bothered to immediately take him to the hospital but only called an ambulance to have him picked up…….

Well, being a husband and a father, this incident had a very deep impact on me. After carefully evaluating the overall situation in Pakistan along with the foreseeable future and also consulting some very close friends and relatives, I decided that it is time for my family and I to leave.

I am not saying that all my Pakistani brothers and sisters should take the same decision, but I know this was the right decision for us.

May Allah protect our beloved homeland… Ameen!

P.S: In case you’re wondering what happened to the guy who was shot. Alhamdullilah, he survived the ordeal as the bullet missed his organs.

It’s because of Google Android’s open source nature that applications become easy to access and download for users. If you know how to do coding, it’s even easier to share applications of unique nature for others. In this brief post, you’ll be able to understand the availability and amazing features of the top ten Android applications.

Unlike its rival Apple, Android makes applications and upgrading a lot more convenient and affordable. Here are ten Android applications that will make your smart phone a lot smarter! They are free to download and use. You don’t have to surf the entire internet to get one application for your phone. These ten might possibly make your phone just perfect.

Seesmic Application:

If you’re on the go and don’t have time to shuffle through windows and more windows of programs and networks, then you need Seesmic for your Android phone. This application offers a home screen widget which keeps you updated with the new tweets from Twitter and other networks. You just have to download it for your phone and you’re ready to tweet, update, share and stay connected with the world. An added feature of the Seesmic application is its suave, professional style of dealing with commands. Smooth, swift and efficient!

AppBrain Market Sync:

Initially it was impossible to transfer applications from your home PC to your Android, but then AppBrain Market Sync showed up and presto! It’s a lot easier now. It’s free. If you have an application on your PC that you wish to send to your Android phone then you need to get AppBrain Market Sync as soon as possible. It makes sharing much more desirable.

Sketch Online:

If you’re bored and your fingers are restless, there’s a chance you can doodle with other bored Android users online. Sketch Online is a free application that helps you draw, sketch or simply make silly little figures on your touch screen. Its beta version is free and downloadable. Why don’t you get it now and have some sketchy fun?!

Task Manager:

Conventional PC users will have problems with Android’s perpetually-present application mode. The absence of the cross in the window can be a little troublesome. So you need an application that can override the persistent presence of programs. For that, you need to download Task Manager that makes your smart phone a smaller, perhaps cuter version of a PC. It’s free and easy to install.

Google Maps Navigation:

When you’re out, you need direction. For this purpose, Google Maps Navigation application offers to help you find your way when you’re lost. It also calculates the route in the very beginning of your tour so that data transfer is minimal and no difficulty is faced during the trip even if the signals drop. It’s free, it’s easy to download. What more could you ask for?

Google Sky Map:

Are you interested in star navigation from the very comfort of your home? Download this free application called Google Sky Map that offers precise positions of the stars, using your phone’s orientation. You can take it out at night, lie down under the sky and gaze while your easy, nifty little application tells you everything you need to know about the wondrous sky above you.

Swype:

Download this from the original producer’s website since it isn’t available in the market openly yet. Swype offers a riddance to the keyboard with the help of a touch screen keyboard. Now you can swipe your finger through the letters of keyboard according to the spellings e.g. put your finger at ‘C’, swipe it through the alphabets to ‘A’ and stop at ‘T’; you have just written ‘CAT’ by swiping your finger over the screen. How amazing is that? It’s for free, and it’s openly available on the maker’s main site.

Brain Genius Deluxe:

Now here is an application that offers exercise for the brain. With games that revolve around observation, memory, calculation and reasoning, Brain Genius Deluxe helps you sharpen your intellect and logic by offering easy games and even difficult ones for some intense mind sharpening.

Skyfire 2.0:

Here’s a media application that offers seamless streaming through YouTube and Flash content. It offers pinch to zoom, a choice between full desktop web pages and mobile optimized pages, anonymous browsing and multi-tab browsing and also helps you in choosing the kind of content you want to view. It’s better to use it on faster operating Androids.

RAC Traffic:

Who doesn’t hate traffic? RAC Traffic Android application offers news updates on traffic incidents. You can sit in your car and simply navigate through the application to receive heads up on incoming and outgoing traffic. It makes driving on the road and online a lot easier.

It was one of the golden periods of Islamic history when the Islamic empire stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to India, under the rule of the Abbasids.  Baghdad was the world’s center of learning during this era. The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was the stage where a famous Muslim scholar was engaged in translating all the known Greek scientific works of the time into Arabic.  He was to become known as the Father of Algebra and his name was Abu Jaffar Mohammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi.  He is considered to be one of the most influential mathematicians in history.

It’s a little known fact that the word “algorithm” is derived from his name.  Also, the much feared word “algebra” is derived from the word “al-jabr”, from the title of his most famous book Al-Maqala fi Hisab-al Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah.

Early Life of Al Khwarizmi

Very little is known with certainty about his early life.  He was born possibly in 780 CE to a Persian family living in Khwarizm situated in Khorasan, which was a part of the Persian Empire.  He worked under the patronage of the Abbasside caliph Al Mamun.  His illustrious life concluded in 840 CE or 850 CE.

His Magnus Opus

Photo Credit: MuslimHeritage.com

This book introduced three fundamental concepts:

• Reduction: Reducing an expression into a simpler form
• Completion: Making a negative quantity positive by moving it to the other side of the equation
• Balancing: Subtracting the same number from both sides by changing the signs

Al Khwarizmi’s Contributions to Various Fields of Science

Al Khwarizmi made contributions in various fields of science including Mathematics, Astronomy and Geography.

Hindu numeral system: One of his most important contributions was to recognize and propagate the importance of Hindu numerals from 1-9.  He combined it with 0, which was developed by the Arabs and it was called the Hindu-Arab numeral system.  The introduction of zero was a revolutionary concept, which changed the future of mathematics and many other fields of science.

Astronomy: Al Khwarizmi left a considerable amount of work on astronomy.  His works include calendars, calculations of the positions of celestial bodies such as sun, moon and various planets, calculations of sines and tangents, astrological tables, etc.  He expounded extensively on the works of ancient Indian astronomers.

Geography: He performed very influential and extensive research on geography.  His major contribution was correcting and improving Ptolemy’s work based on his own findings.  He worked with a team of geographers to create a map of the known world.  He presented locations (latitude and longitude) of over 2000 cities, oceans, mountains and other places in the world at the time.  Another work by him involved degree measurements to find the circumference and volume of Earth, which was commissioned by the caliph Mamun.

Famous Books by Al Khwarizmi

Al Khwarizmi’s books were taught in the universities of the Arab world as well as throughout Europe till the sixteenth century.  Some of his famous books include:

• Kitab al-Jam ‘a wal- Ta freeq bil Hisab al-Hindi on Arithmetic
• Kitab Surat-al-Ard, on Geography
• Istihhraj Tarikh al-Yahud, on Jewish calendar
• Kitab al-Tarikh
• Kitab al-Rukhmet about sun-dials

“That fondness for science, … that affability and condescension which God shows to the learned, that promptitude with which he protects and supports them in the elucidation of obscurities and in the removal of difficulties, has encouraged me to compose a short work on calculating by al-jabr and al-muqabala , confining it to what is easiest and most useful in arithmetic.” Al-Khwarizmi (Source)

(Image courtesy of theRIAA)

Do you know of any third-world country that despite unending political, religious, economical and social crisis, keeps on setting world records in almost every field? No? Well I know of one–Pakistan. With great pride, I announce that Pakistan is the only country that in the last decade has achieved the highest number of world records academically.

Let’s start with Ali Moeen Nawazish, who set a world record by scoring 21 A’s in 23 A-level subjects. To date, this record is yet to be broken. That’s followed by a student in Islamabad, Ibrahim Shahid, who set a new world record by scoring 23 A’s in Cambridge O-level exams. Shahid, a student of a private school in Islamabad, sat for 24 subjects and scored 23 A’s. Pakistan’s vigilant youth has displayed their academic prestige internationally as a challenge to the rest of the world.

Ammar Afzal, a 9th-class student from Okara City, won a world computer software course. According to the newspaper details, the 15-year-old student got the distinction by winning first global position in Stanford University, England’s (SUE) World Computer Software Course.

Meanwhile, on Pakistan Day, a group of Pakistani students painted the largest painting in the world. A painting of a Pakistani flag, encompassing different pictures of the region and measuring 42,000 square feet, was made on a canvas by a group of over 1,300 male and female students at the National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.

Then you have Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa. She was a Pakistani student and computer prodigy, who at a young age of 9 became a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), the youngest in the world until 2008. As a reward and appreciation, Arfa was invited by Bill Gates to visit Microsoft’s U.S. headquarters.

We see that, amazingly, all these students excelled in their fields despite meager funds and resources. It shows how capable the young generation of Pakistan is, but sadly they are not appreciated on any front. The poor and young Arfa Karim died in a local hospital early this year. The government of Pakistan did not help the poor soul to survive her deadly disease. The indifferent attitude of every Pakistani toward their heroes is a shame.

Other than Ali Moeen Nawazish who comes from a well-off family, all other record holders have not been encouraged by the government, to help them bring more fame and honor to their country. Every other hero like these is struggling with the impending dangers that Pakistan confronts. Despite these hardships, they decipher their targets and achieve them somehow.

Time is needed to reflect on the innovative, self-motivating and intelligent youth of Pakistan. The government should not only appreciate the students who earn these record titles but should also find those students who have the talent instilled in them. How should that be done? A simple way is to impart knowledge by making education free at all levels. Plus the parallel system of education should be abolished, and a strong and effective education system should be pushed in.

These are not hard changes, which a country like Pakistan cannot afford. These are simple way forwards, which the policy makers need to reflect upon.

This year has been great for Pakistan as far as International Competitions and science projects are concerned as a number of students from across the country bring home the accolades in fields ranging from debates and film-making to math Olympiads and scientific research. Here’s a quick list of the events:

International Science Olympiad

The team from Pakistan brought home silver, four bronze medals and two honorable mentions after competing with 236 students from around 59 countries in the International Science Olympiads 2012 held in the month of July in USA, Singapore, Argentina and Estonia. The four to six-member teams were selected out of 6,000 students and participated in the science categories hosted by the different countries before receiving the prizes.  Syed Waqar Ali Shah bagged the silver in Math while Usama Zaid Malik, Azlan Shaukat, Huma Sibghat and Dilsher Ahmad won bronze.

The Karl Popper Debating Championship in Mexico

The Pakistani team sweeped the competition by winning the final against South Korea and having all three members listed in the top 10 speakers of the tournament.  Before securing the championship, the 15-year-olds went through 6 preliminary rounds, 3 elimination rounds and then the grand finale. Zainab Hameed was named the top speaker of the competition while Azeem Liaquat stood second and Ahmed Shujaan landed fifth position among the 200 participants from 45 countries.

Bio Chemical Research

A matric student from Khairpur, Shadab Rasool, was awarded a scholarship worth $250,000 by the US State University of New York for his research pertaining to Bio Chemicals which will help enable the recycling of industrial waste.

Shadab collected some used tea, washed it with boiled water until it was decolorized and then dried it. He then proceeded to test it with substances like cadmium, lead, nickel and phenol commonly found in industrial effluent before the impartial judges in the USA. A check with a spectrophotometer revealed no traces of these chemicals after an hour, proving his research.

National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) in Seattle

A student film production concerning US drone attacks in Pakistan won the Best Audience Award at the international annual film festival held in the USA.  NFFTY considers work by filmmakers aged 22 and under from all over the world and the 20-minute film “The Other Side” is written and directed by Danish Ali and his five-member team.  The short film explores the social, psychological and economic effects of drones in the northwest tribal areas of Pakistan.

International Computer Project Olympiad

M. Ubaidullah, a 9^th grader, bagged gold medal after competing with students from 45 countries presenting 150 projects in Turkmenistan. His winning project was a plant automation system and was awarded the gold medal in the hardware category. The project P-Bot powers itself by solar cells and helps in automatically protecting plants in all weather conditions by virtue of its cold-flame and greenhouse setting.

International World Math’s Day Competition

Moosa Feroze stood first in the 11-13 year old age category at the International World Math’s Day Competition held in Sydney, Australia. 5.5 million students of 52,805 schools from more than 200 countries participated in the competition.

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Isef)

Three Pakistani students made it to the Isef finals held in Pittsburg from May 13 to May 18 while two of the five finalists failed to obtain a visa.

Syed Shahzeb spent eight months on his project titled “Production of Artificial Magnetic Domains in Non-Metals.” According to him, electricity could be produced more cheaply if nonmetals were used and that was the driving force behind his research.

Of the team of three girls, only two could make it to America. Mahnoor Hassan, Shiza Ghulab and Bushra Shahed’s project “Energy Square for Cattle” is designed to facilitate care for animals in time of calamities. The squares are a dry mix of nutrients and ingredients such as mulberry, wheat, maize, rice polish, urea and calcium and have no expiry date. Also, according to the presenters, after just 28 days a few licks of the concoction had helped control diseases, enhance milk production and increase weight in the cattle they conducted their tests on.

Musa Rahim Khan couldn’t present his project titled “Water and Heat Detector” due to the visa issue.

He who controls the media, controls minds. This rightly quoted line by the iconic singer Jim Morrison is perhaps not given heed by our media persons and organizations, where sensationalism and high ratings become the sole objective. The battle to gain commercials has even deteriorated the moral values and media ethics of our newsmen. However, this impish trend can be eradicated if cognizance is propagated. Since the very inception of Pakistan, media remained in the shackles of military dictatorship. It was the era of Ayub Khan when black laws like P.P.O were enforced, in which journalists and editors were given press advice and their freedom of expression was snatched.

Similarly, the era of Bhutto and Zia could not use any substantive measures to intensify the role of the media. The respective tenures of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were of almost the same nature. Where state-owned media was used for private purposes, journalists and editors were bribed to write in favor of or against somebody. Though the military coup by General Pervez Musharraf was illegal and unconstitutional, it nevertheless brought some drastic changes and reforms in the media. The emergence of private electronic media transformed the entire landscape of Pakistan’s media. That sudden boom in this particular field gave birth to several officially licensed TV channels. Hence, the role of the media was much more intensified and became severely vital. That media was, of course, a corporate media, their aims, apart from providing news, to make money and run their respective organizations.

The objective to generate revenue distracted the attention of our media persons. The battle to get high ratings through sensitizing the news story and ultimately obtaining a huge amount of TV commercials have severely defocused our newsmen. Footage of very sensitive materials are at times used repeatedly to grab public attention. The case of Sarfaraz Shah, a young boy arrested on false charges of having a toy gun and snatching cell phones of the people, was shot dead by the Rangers. He was imploring for mercy, but he wasn’t shown any by the Ranger’s soldier. He was shot and the footage was telecast on all private channels. That was indeed a very sensitive clip, which should not have been on TV. But to catch the public interest, the media totally violated the Code of Ethics.

The traumatic incident at Swat, where a young girl was put to the merciless lashes of the Taliban–her horrible cries and screams made available for public viewing through the media. That clip must have been shown with parental guidance. But it would have discredited some organizations from taking credit for breaking news. Aren’t these footages depicting the darkest of aspects of our media? The newly emerged phenomenon of taking credit for the breaking news has further demoralized the character of our media. News is telecast without any authentic or reliable source, since it would provide the other channel an opportunity to take the credit for breaking news. This tendency must be discouraged in order to bring authentic and true information to the masses.

The role of the media is of utmost importance in Pakistan, since it shapes opinions, ideas and views. If the message is not properly propagated by the media, it can surely mislead masses and would not bring any constructive change. The quote by Morrison is good enough to show the significance of media. Therefore, our media persons and organizations must abide by the Code of Ethics and stick to the agenda of providing knowledge, news and entertainment.

What will happen to me after I die?

This is a question man has been asking ever since he became aware of the fact that life ends at some point.  Why is it important to think about this ultimate reality? Everything we do in life has a specific objective and a specific outcome, the same applies to life itself.

Almost all religions believe in the existence of life after death, which is derived from the actions taken in this life.  Islam presents a very well defined concept of death and the life after death.

"Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgement shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have succeeded. For the life of this world is but goods of chattels of deception" (Surah Aal-Imran, vs. 185)

"Every soul shall taste death. And We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. To Us must you return." (Surah Al-Anbiyaa, vs. 36)

All of us believe in life after death, which means we should be hard at work to make our eternal life as good as we can.  But we fail to strive to achieve this objective during our life.  Why is it so? If we know that judgment after death is an undeniable fact, why don’t we prepare for it? Could it be because we don’t remember death?

Have we become so involved in our grand designs for life that we have practically forgotten about the thing that can end it all at any time, Death?

Why Must We Remember Death?

A straight forward response is that if we forget about it, we will not be prepared for the life after death, which is eternal.

"O you who believe let not your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah and whoever do this the loss is their own. And spend in charity out of the substance which we have bestowed on you before death should come to any of you and he would say `O my Lord why don't You give me a respite for a little while? I should then have given largely in charity and I will be one of the doers of good. But to no soul will Allah grant respite when the time appointed for it has come and Allah is well-acquainted with all that you do." (Al-Munafiqun 63:9-11)

According to a hadith of our beloved prophet (SAW), narrated by Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), “an Ansari stood up in a gathering in the presence of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him, “Who is the most intelligent and careful person?” The Prophet SAW) replied, “Those who remember death most and prepare for it most. These are people who have excelled in the nobility of this world and the honor of the Hereafter.” (Reported by Tabraani, Ibn Maajah)

How Should We Remember Death?

The best way to remember death is to read the Qur’an because it discusses the concept of death and the life after death in great detail.  This helps in developing the right perspective for death and an understanding of the importance of life after death.

Another method prescribed by the Prophet (SAW) is visiting graveyards, because nothing can remind us of the end of life better than a view of our final resting place.

“I used to forbid you to visit graves, but now (go and) visit them, for this softens the heart, makes the eyes weep and reminds one of the Hereafter, and do not speak in an obscene manner,” said Prophet (SAW) (Reported by al-Haakim, 1/376; Saheeh al-Jaami’, 4584)

(Image courtesy of Zackstern)

Social media has caught the fancy of Pakistani politicians, Musicians, Businesses and what not.  Imran Khan and PTI are the trend setters in this area.  Since Facebook (FB) is the De-facto leader of social media platforms, let’s take a look at how the largest pages of Pakistan stack-up on FB :

In the ever-expanding scandal-ridden landscape of Pakistan my favorite one yet is the Malik Riaz saga! It’s really an amazing tale of “idiocy” on the part of the players and ineptness on the part of the system.

How it all Began…

The story begins one fine day with a certain Mr. Malik Riaz – a high profile real estate tycoon – giving a statement that he bribed the Chief Justice’s son, Mr. Arsalan Chaudry, to get cases pending in his father’s court turned in his own favor. According to Mr. Riaz however, Mr Arsalan defrauded him and did not produce the desired results.

Oh, in case you didn’t know already, Mr. Malik Riaz has several pending cases in court against him, ranging from land grab to murder.

Anyhow, the chief justice – being the beacon of justice in Pakistan now days – promptly took suo moto notice of this and thus began the ultimate tussle between good and evil.

On the Side…

Before we move on with the story, what I don’t understand is that everything in the suo moto notice revolved around whether or not Arsalan Chaudry is corrupt, but what about the fact that a person (Malik Riaz) is openly admitting to bribing the chief justice’s son to influence the path of Justice????????

Hello?!

Why wasn’t Malik Riaz arrested immediately on his arrival in Pakistan (in a private jet no less)? Even if Arsalan Chaudry failed to deliver, isn’t it a crime to bribe someone in any case?

I have run out of profanities and I still cannot express how stupid the whole justice system appears to me.

If you remember, this is the same Malik Riaz who was asked on a program on GEO about how his projects get approved so quickly and how is it that all his dealings with the authorities (in his construction work) goes through smoothly. To this Mr. Riaz proudly replied that he places “wheels” under his files to get them through faster; CLEARLY implying bribing. It is an open secret that Mr. Malik Riaz has quite a few high profile people on his payroll including army personnel and politicians.

On with our Story…

However, to continue with our story, Malik Riaz produced a list of documents including air tickets, hotel bills, and apartment rental agreements as evidence of what he spent on Arsalan Chaudry to bribe him.

Of course the story took a strange twist with Mr. Malik Riaz being exposed of setting up an interview with two popular journalists. Following this, documents of payments made to most senior journalists by Bahria Town (Riaz’s flagship construction project) surfaced, implying that he manipulated the media to his advantage.

As is the case with most high profile cases in Pakistan, this one too is still in progress as of today.

My Two Cents

My take on this comic saga is very clear. This was not just about good and evil, but rather about the never ending political power struggle. On the one hand you have the PML-N represented by Mr. Chief Justice himself, and on the other hand the PPP with Mr. Malik Riaz in their corner.

You beg to differ? Does the unconditional support given by the PML-N to the chief justice not ring a bell?

How about Mr. Asif Ali Zardari selling his father’s mansion (behind Avari Plaza, Karachi) within months of his father’s death to Malik Riaz’s Bahria town where a 40+ storey residential building is being built? This plot is super-prime real-estate in a high security zone with apartments for military personnel on one side and the Baloch Officers’ Mess right opposite. How in the world of &%$# does someone get approvals for such a sensitive project in a matter of months when I have problems getting a line man to fix my land line?!

This whole saga was (in my view) just a ploy by the PPP to tame the chief justice and dent his credibility. Unfortunately (for the PPP) I believe their plot fell flat on its face as Mr. Riaz has recently issued an apology to the Supreme Court and now is even more deeply embroiled in cases pending against him.

Where it all goes from here is anyone’s guess…

(Image Courtesy: BigStockPhoto)