Sajjad Naveed's Blog - Read News, Views, Columns, Videos

2010-11-04T09:49:00.000+03:00

Aik farmaishi Column – Javed Chaudhry

2010-09-19T11:53:00.000+03:00

Baarish Mein Bheghi Hoee Mohabbat

2010-08-08T09:29:00.000+03:00

Hum Wafadar Nahi Tou Bhi To DilDaar Nahi by Saleem Safi

2010-07-31T10:55:00.001+03:00

Darwazay Khol Dein – Javed Chaudhry

2010-07-27T09:45:00.000+03:00

Jalsazi Jalsazi Hoti Hai by Saleem Saafi

2010-07-10T14:17:00.000+03:00

Ya Relief Be Mil Kar Rahy Ga by Abdulla Tariq Sohail

2010-07-10T13:15:00.000+03:00

Mister Fraudiay by Talat Hussain

2010-07-10T13:10:00.001+03:00

Ahtajaj Ka Behtreen Rasta by Hamid Mir

2010-05-21T00:13:00.000+03:00

Qaeed bhee aik Naymat hai – Javed Chaudhry

2010-05-16T13:50:00.001+03:00

Pukhta Ho Jatey Hain… by Irfan Siddiqui

2010-05-10T11:29:00.001+03:00

Aik Khetbi Nojwaan Ki Fazol Guftego by Javed Chaudhry

2010-04-09T12:20:00.000+03:00

Nokroon Ki Zuban by Javed Chaudhry

2010-04-08T12:24:00.006+03:00

Spirit Of Iran

2010-03-23T15:42:00.000+03:00

Qoumi Nishan Hamara by Talat Hussain

2010-03-21T14:09:00.000+03:00

Pakistan’s first free English-to-Urdu dictionary goes online

2010-03-17T11:55:00.004+03:00

In a time where the adage ‘there are no free dinners’ is a social norm and not an academic concept, anything that comes for free is a welcome change.

So when Ali Mozaffar Jafry and Azad Qalamdar, two ambitious entrepreneurs, decided to introduce the first online/offline downloadable English-to-Urdu dictionary, the concept not only seemed novel but was particularly refreshing since it was being offered not only for free but was also for a language that has millions of speakers and was still awaiting a breakthrough online.

The initiative might just be the first step but certainly the one in the right direction.

Jafry and Qalamdar partnered up for Pakistan Open Knowledge Foundation (POKF), a non-profit organization, in collaboration with the Lingoes project to introduce the downloadable dictionary keeping in mind the growing needs of Pakistani computer users, both in private and public sectors.

Lingoes, an easy dictionary and text translation software, offers lookup dictionaries, full text translation, captures words on screen and translate selected text and pronunciation of words in 80 different languages.

Qalamdar discovered the Lingoes translator online and after further study of search trends discovered that more than six million annual dictionary related searches for Urdu translation were just on Google alone. He realized that Lingoes was a valuable software that should be shared with Pakistani users.

In order to reach into an untapped market, Qalamdar created a website and promoted it on search engines and social networks to the Pakistani internet market. He then approached Ali Mozzaffar Jafry for financial support to cover site expenses and promotional costs.

“If it were not for Mr. Jafry, the project would never have materialized,” said Qalamdar.

The duo then planned to broaden the scope to language tools development and promotion which gave birth to Pakistan Open Knowledge Foundation.

POKF’s main objective is to develop and promote free educational resources and applications to Pakistani users, starting with the Lingoes Translator.

The website www.lingoes.pk was launched in 2009 and got an outstanding response from all over the world. According to Lingoes, the website has received and served more than 30,000 plus unique visitors from over 80 different countries, 90,000 plus page views and an estimated 12,000 downloads.

“Our inspiration is Wikipedia and that all POKF's software will always be 100 percent free and open-source,” said Qalamdar.

However, Qalamdar and Jafry’s determination to keep the website free for users did come across some obstacles. While seeking corporate sponsorships – they received a negative response.

Jafry said that “most of them thought that we were frauds as there are lots of people roaming with such ideas.” “We are not doing all this for financial gain, it is the self satisfaction and the appreciation of the people which makes us happy and motivates us.”

So far, the only corporate sponsor has been Nokia Pakistan for which they are very obliged and appeal to the corporate sector to support such initiatives.

Their argument is that the Pakistani corporate sector is already benefiting from all kinds of free office productivity tools and therefore it should support the sustaining of open-source development culture in Pakistan.

Currently, the POKF is working on an Urdu-English dictionary for use with Lingoes. They are also working on a widget for websites catering to Pakistanis, which will enable point-click-lookup functionality to each webpage of the site will be able to get instant English-to-English and English-to-Urdu meanings and listen to human voice pronunciation of any word, any where on the page.

Another project that they are in the middle of is an Urdu plug-in for the Google Translate Engine, which will offer full page machine translation of pages in English to Urdu.

Currently, Jafry and Qalamdar are working on an ambitious plan to develop dictionaries for regional languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi for the website.

Download: http://www.lingoes.pk/2009/11/download-english-to-urdu-dictionary.html

Pakistan Saudia Relations - by Mirza Ishtiaq Baig

2010-03-17T11:47:00.002+03:00

Khudkush Hemloon Key Asel MasterMind

2010-03-16T12:56:00.001+03:00

Pakistan Air Force by Dr Matloob Hussain

2010-03-16T12:45:00.000+03:00

Talibaan Aur Jemhoriyet by Hamid Mir

2010-03-15T15:50:00.000+03:00

FM invited to S. Arabia for briefing on Indian PM’s visit

2010-03-14T11:38:00.000+03:00

Dawn News : By Shakeel Ahmed

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday he had been invited by his Saudi counterpart to Riyadh for taking him into confidence about the recent visit by the Indian prime minister to Saudi Arabia.

Talking to reporters at the Multan airport, Mr Qureshi said he would go to Saudi Arabia on April 3. “If a friend like Saudi Arabia comes forward for mediation between Pakistan and India, we will go ahead without hesitation.”

In reply to a question about Indian intentions of seeking a Saudi role in resolving differences with Pakistan, the foreign minister said he thought India might not have sought it because it always discouraged a third-party involvement.

Mr Qureshi said he had no objection to meet the Indian foreign minister, but if negotiations were not fruitful he did not want to waste time. “Pakistan wants result-oriented talks and meaningless negotiations are just wastage of time.”

He said India was facing internal differences over the issue of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan. Some elements in India were opposing it because of the Mumbai attack, but a group in the media and Indian intellectuals was in favour of the talks.

Mr Qureshi said Pakistan had not only condemned the Mumbai attacks but also carried out investigations and arrested some important planners and suspects who were facing trail. He said Pakistan was facing Mumbai-like incidents on a daily basis and India should broaden its vision and realise that how a big challenge Pakistan was facing today.

The minister said that during the recent visit of President Hamid Karzai, Pakistan and Afghanistan had signed a joint declaration to fortify road, rail and air connectivity and upgrade the existing facilities to enhance bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2015.

He said Pakistan had offered assistance to Afghanistan in setting up new capacity-building institutions and upgrading the existing ones. He said the two countries had agreed to encourage people-to-people contacts, promote cultural exchanges and boost economic cooperation between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China.

Mr Qureshi said that like India, Pakistan also shared river water with Afghanistan, but they had no dispute over it. He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan had also agreed to revive the peace jirga for evolving a common strategy to combat terrorism.

In reply to a question, the foreign minister said the government was making sincere efforts for the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui detained in the United States, adding that the issue had been raised with US officials at meetings of every level. He said that a team of lawyers had been hired in consultation with Dr Aafia’s family to defend her.

SC to review petition against Musharraf

2010-03-13T18:11:00.000+03:00

Dawn News : Saturday, 13 Mar, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court is due to review a petition against former president Musharraf's dual office on Monday.

The petition is technically outdated but is relevant to the current political scenario as it involves the legal question of whether or not the president can hold an office other than the presidency.

The petition filed by Jamaat-e-Islami three years ago, was seeking revision of an earlier Supreme Court verdict which said Musharraf could hold the office of the president as well as the post of the army chief.

At present, legal challenges have been made in the Lahore High Court to President Asif Ali Zardari holding the position of the co-chairman of PPP, the ruling party, while being the president.

A four-member apex court bench will take up the review petition against former president Musharraf's dual office on Monday with the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heading the full bench.

India warns Pakistan of ‘decisive’ response

2010-03-13T11:28:00.000+03:00

By Jawed Naqvi : Dawn News

NEW DELHI: Even as Pakistan struggled to deal with a spate of deadly terror attacks on Lahore on Friday, it also had to cope with a dire warning from India that another cross-border attack on its soil would invite a swift and decisive response from New Delhi.

The warning came from Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a televised interaction at a symposium in which he accused Islamabad of dragging its feet on the Mumbai terror probe.

What made the warning unusual and probably unprecedented was that it followed an intervention by Pakistan’s High Commissioner Shahid Malik who told the minister that Islamabad sympathised with India’s problems with terrorism and that it was doing its bit to punish and not encourage terrorists.

“The Pakistan government has no intention of any aggressive activity against India,” Mr Malik said during an animated question and answer session that followed Mr Chidambaram’s address.

In his reply, Mr Chidambaram said Pakistan needed to show credible action against terrorists to match its words. “I know you wish to mean what you say. You are stating the Pakistan government’s official brief. But let’s put that to test,” Mr Chidambaram told the envoy.

Earlier, Mr Chidambaram argued that Pakistan had proved a difficult neighbour since partition. He said India’s main hope was for a political transformation in Islamabad.

Saying that India’s response to a future attack, if it was found to have come from Pakistan, would be “swift and decisive”. Mr Chidambaram however refrained from saying that it would be a military intervention.

“If it is the state policy to sponsor terrorism, if the state policy is to export terrorism to India, how will we deal with that state,” he said at the India Today conclave in New Delhi.

The home minister said: “It is no secret that every militant organisation that is based in Pakistan, is supported by the ISI. Lashkar, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Al Badr — each one of them is supported by the ISI.”

Making it clear that war between the two nations was not an option, the minister said: “Then we must talk, when we can, when we think there can be progress.”

He said nothing came out of the foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries held in New Delhi in February. “But I am told we are still open to another round of talks between the foreign secretaries,” he said.

Diplomatic sources said there appeared to be no reason to believe that another round of talks was happening soon as there was no movement from either side away from their positions. Pakistan has offered a roadmap for a dialogue. India has offered progress only if terrorism is first curbed. Unless there is flexibility the foreign secretaries will come face to face now only in Bhutan during next month’s Saarc summit.

There could also be a window for a meeting when the two countries attend a nuclear summit in Washington next month.

Food Street Of Lahore by Javed Chaudhry

2010-03-09T16:16:00.001+03:00

Lakeer

2010-03-09T12:07:00.000+03:00