The Readers Articles

Harassament in Offices and How to Prevent That...

2011-01-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

TO ladies working in offices, harassment is a common word/situation. Some ladies may even call it Normal Office Practice. The blame of such undesired activity is shared between both parties, i.e. Males and Females. We will be looking at what is harassment, how it happens and how to ward it off in coming lines.

Harassment is a situation in which a female staff may be exploited by his male colleagues by WORDS (mimics, jeers and taunts) and ACTIONS (leg-pulling, blame game etc). Harassment may end in physical exploitation of ladies in the final stage.

So if you have understood what harassment is, let’s see why it happens!

We can never deny that a natural attraction exists between males and females. In honorable males, this emotion is controlled by family values and character. In most males, this emotion remains uncontrolled so they try to take unfair advantage of weaker-sex.

The second biggest reason is Make-ups ad See-Through/Tight dresses worn by ladies. Make-up can give you a graceful look and it can also give you a sex-appeal. In my experience, ladies choose to be more appealing than being graceful!

The third reason can be exposure of possible weakness by ladies. Ladies do not look brave and strong. E.g. they avoid eye-contacts and show panicked body movement. A weakness spotted by a cunning officer will be used against ladies in every case.

The fourth reason is giving too much feed-back. It is a laughter in response of an officer’s joke (where it should had been a smile and in ideal cases, no smile at all!), interfering in a discussion between two officers, listening to call for more than required time, sharing personal things with an officer you have not tested etc.

The fifth reason is trusting ladies only by ladies. Ladies have proven to be switchy in certain cases. If you trust them too much, they can spill out your secrets at a time of their convenience! So offices are not a place to befriend people. Offices are like jungles. Let’s see how!

ANIMAL NO. 1,

THE LION
The Lions are clever, senior, powerful and a bit evil officers. Lions are good workers/ fighters and often not interested in harassments. However, they are seen active in flirts. Bear in mind, flirt is first step to harassment. The lions know their job well so they can not be black-mailed or influenced. Lions are political and have contacts everywhere. Lions are present in every Office.

Can you spot lion in your Office?

ANIMAL NO. 2

THE JACKALS
Like Lions, every office has at least one jackal. They are sycophants (they praise lions very much!). Often they are slow or dumb workers but save their skins by their oily tongue. They are highly political and extremely dangerous. They will plot against you. They will make Lions your personal enemy. They are middle-rankers.

ANIMAL NO. 3
THE RATS
Rats are similar to jackal but are fundamentally distinguishable on the single fact that they are not in good books of lions. Rats make small plans with jackals to overthrow a middle-ranker. Rats NEVER plot against lions because they fear from them too much. Rats will be found complaining against nearly all staff members on their backs. Like jackals, rats are also dangerous! Rats are also present in every Office. Rats are always low-ranker. When they get promoted, they become jackals.

ANIMAL NO. 4

THE EAGLES
The eagles keep themselves to themselves. If they talk to you, they will make it very clear that they are not interested in you. If they wish to flirt but remain in control of their own self. They are always found alone. They are not a danger to any body. They will fight for their personal glory. They are found to take small advantages from their job. They are not present in every office but in most offices they are found. They have a good background and they really enjoy it. They do not believe in politics but make good net works of their own!

ANIMAL NO. 5
THE DOLPHINS
They are extremely rare in offices. The biggest feature of them is a sense of self-importance. They are religious from within their hearts so they will do anything for you. They will make your office your home and will make you their friend. They share and they teach. They are smileys and not a part of any political/flirtous/harassment activity. However they will tease you and do it till the last day!

Bigger Offices are bigger zoos. They host complete range of animals. Some are:

ANIMAL NO. 6
THE GIRAFFES
Long-necked as actual giraffes, they can see things from a distance. They are found bickering about something negative which is about to happen. They eventually become laughing stock for other officers. Giraffes can harass new comers about their career prospects!

ANIMAL NO. 7
THE DEERS
Too smart for their own good! Such officers take a certain pride in their physical beauty. They believe that their work is equally outstanding which is never the case. They are “give-away” crowd. The trick is to admire them in well-phrased language. They will attack on you only when you call them Ugly. They won’t be forgetting it too easily! They are a moderate danger to new comers only.

ANIMAL NO. 8
THE RODENTS & THE ANTS
They are in essence like Rats but lack politics skills. The ants are also similar but more hard working than rodents. These animals cope with most of the work load handled by the Offices and are extremely clerk-minded. On certain occasion they will flatter some pretty girl (wow! See you are SAFE!) And do some flirt. Rodents and Ants are recognized good workers so never come in their way!

ANIMAL NO. 9
THE GOFERS
Officer tracked in menial tasks. They can not get rid of their assignment and are not qualified enough to get a new one. Due to load of small chores on their credit, management never takes them seriously. They develop liaison with rats and jackals. They can do anything to any body so they are dangerous.

ANIMAL NO. 10
THE BEAVERS
Kings of their work-space. Good workers but keep themselves to their table/desk/cabin/floor only. No oily tongue and no impression making exercise. They are strong but not ambitious. Satisfied people! If befriended, they become a good friend of you. Otherwise they won’t even know you exist. They turn into lions sometimes!

ANIMAL NO. 11
THE SWANS
Thinking caps! They use most of their time thinking what should be done and how it should be done. Philosopher type. If given a responsibility, they “prioritize” their jobs. Highly successful in good working conditions. Under stress story is different because they don’t find time to think and analyze. If some swan tries to harass you, it is possible you become a grandmother till finalizes his plans. Not a big threat then!

ANIMAL NO. 12
THE CHEETAHS
An opposite of swans. They are performers but not thinkers. Sikh Bhayya. They act before they think. In routine matters they are big hits. If some new situation arises, cheetah will ask for help from his junior swans and senior lions. Extremely dangerous if you want to avoid flirts. Usually cheetahs also become lion when promoted.

ANIMAL NO. 13
THE SHEEPS AND GOATS
New comers and internees. Quite helpless and afraid of nearly everything. They have no idea how to make their presence announced. (No impression making techniques!) They are subjected to extreme exploitation by nearly every officer but a few will venture to help them. When Sheep and Goats get adjusted into an organization, they become an animal of their choice!

So 13 sorts of different animals you will face when you are a lady. Do NEVER think that males are not harassed. I can recount some very disgusting events in which my best friends and I were maltreated. For males this jungle is also very dangerous or I would more dangerous than ladies. Top management always believes in words said by females and it means…well, you can understand!

In the zoo of the above animals, one can be very safe if she tries the following simple things!

• Eye-contact is vital with a serious face. If an officer is talking too much, try narrowing of eyes and pressing of lips. It will give you a stony and very serious look.

• Do not show panicked and confused body movements. The best move is to go slow! Remain serious at all times so you will not lose control at any time.

• Pick an officer, test him/her and then trust him/her. Always watch out if he/she is betraying your trust. If you find a broken commitment, do not cry about it. Just come back slowly never showing your inner emotions! Always keep testing him/her with bits of your personal data.

• Use graceful make ups on. Do not apply too much of make up on your self. An extremely dangerous thing is to wear see-through/tights/short-sleeves. It will invite lions, jackals and rats. Even in that case, no dolphins will come and stop eagles to come!

• Do not show emotions at the spot. Delay your laughter while dealing with most officers till you get alone. Refrain from giving your personal opinions to anybody but the people you trust.

I hold an experience of 3 years in different offices and all that I have written is for your personal consumption only. Discuss it with as many people as you like before acting on any suggestions. I have written these lines as a duty to my younger generations. Promise me that when you will become an officer, you will be a DOLPHIN!

Thanks to Mr. Saleem Haider, Accounts and Admin. Officer, Askri Bank for providing the artilcle

Antoine Point of View about The Best Way to Invest In Emerging Markets

2011-01-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

Antoine van Agtmael has been investing in emerging markets for over 35 years. The chairman and chief investment officer of Arlington, Virginia-based Emerging Markets Management LLC, which has close to $13 billion in assets under management, coined the term "emerging markets" in the 1980s and has written several books on the subject.

Van Agtmael, a former World Bank economist, recently spoke to Institutional Investor contributor Tracy Tjaden about opportunities in 2011 and the threat of a bubble.

Do you subscribe to the theory that emerging markets have now emerged?

They have not fully emerged, depending on the country, at least not yet. They’re more like teenage markets. They’re moving in that direction but they’re not there yet, either in terms of economic development, corporate governance standards, the market regulations or the way people invest locally. There is still a ways to go.

What’s your outlook for 2011?

I don’t make projections, but I will say next year our chances of doing better than the developed world are better than us doing worse. It’s not going to be one of these stellar years because the global economy is still anemic.

What have investors learned about emerging markets in the last few years?

If they got in late in 2008, they think emerging markets are the best thing since sliced bread. If it was 2007 they think they’re the most volatile thing you can imagine. If they’ve been in for 23 years like we have been, they know we have just gone through more than usual ups and downs — this time caused by things not having a lot to do with the emerging markets themselves.

What’s your take on current allocations to emerging markets?

People follow the MSCI Index and in that world, emerging markets are 13 percent of the total investable universe. I think that’s just plain wrong. All kinds of things are excluded from their definition. Many investors are simply looking at the wrong benchmark.

The full market cap of emerging markets is really closer to 28 percent, and Goldman Sachs just came out with a new report on emerging markets that says it’s 31 percent. This is what I’ve been saying for years.

Let’s say the world’s largest investors read this article and immediately bump their allocations from six percent to 30 percent. All hell would break loose — we would quickly have a bubble, but it is unlikely to go so fast and for the record, now I do not believe we are in a bubble now. The best way to invest in emerging markets is to average in and average out with a gradual increase of your target by a few percent of equities each year.

Is it that people are overestimating the risk in emerging markets?

In October 2008 there was talk about submerging markets, the idea that if it’s bad in the developed world it must be worse here. That turned out to be wrong. I’m not saying there are no risks — the question, though, is perception of risk.

Meaning?

Things were better in emerging markets than investors believed but worse than they had thought in the developed world. That caused a major adjustment in thinking, not just about opportunities, but also about risks.

Do you believe emerging markets should trade at a discount?

No, not any more because you’re getting a better deal overall. You take more corporate governance risk, but you take less risk on economic growth. You are taking slightly more market risk with volatility now only marginally higher, but if you don’t do it you are not participating in what is the most dynamic, growing part of the world.

Given your position that allocations are far too low, do you think we’ll see more pension fund trustees speak out about upping these levels in 2011?

There is no question about it – it’s way overdue. It will happen. I just hope it doesn’t happen too fast. But I can tell you my children will find it crazy in 10 years to not have half of their equity portfolios in emerging markets.

If sentiment does change like that in 10 years, isn’t a bubble inevitable?

Yes there is a very high probability if it would happy too fast. And a drop will follow.

My advice: average in and average out. You can’t go wrong. If you want go from let’s say 6 to 40 percent in 10 years, that’s 34 percent, that’s 3.4 percent increase per year. But you don’t panic and you don’t get overly enthusiastic. When everyone likes it, you know there’s a bubble so you stop investing for six months to a year. When the market drops, you come in and for the first few years double the pace.

That’s a pretty structured approach and it would require discipline. It’s more than discipline, it’s a conscious ignoring of your animal spirits. Just keep them in the cage.

What’s the region to watch in 2011?

The Middle East. It’s a cheap cash flow machine. I’m overweight in the Middle East — they have much lower PE than companies elsewhere, they have good growth prospects and they benefit from the fact that they have money there and they’re using it. Sometimes this goes overboard, we saw that in Dubai, but in the long run it works.

You’ve been investing in Africa longer than most. What’s your view of the region now?

We’re performance hunters not asset gatherers. We’ve had an Africa fund for 17 years and its performance has been several times better than emerging markets, with volatility that has been half as much as emerging markets. Now it has over $800 million in assets, which makes us the biggest [investor in Africa] and that doesn’t include South Africa.

What do you own?

Primarily we invest in stocks, I always say beer, banks and bouillon, which is perhaps a little flippant. We also own a few mines and other commodities producers. We try to invest in a number of companies that are profitable local affiliates of very major companies — the Guinness and Unilevers of this world.

We are not as daring as you might think. We went into the equivalent of the Wild West of investing but it’s not like we’re investing in the local gold digger, but rather the local grocery store, which tends to be very profitable and you can buy them at half the price.

We have three people who focus on Africa and travel there constantly and a portfolio of about 60 companies from all over Africa. And we do this very much from the bottom up. You pick a stock first not a country, and you really have to know the stock. We don’t look at the index.

Thoughts on China?

My belief is that China is neither superman nor about to fall off a cliff. I believe China will become the anchor economy, replacing the U.S. There will be slower growth in China but it will remain strong. It is in a steady climb toward being a world power and it is doing things in a smart way, with trains, electric cars.

Will we continue to see emerging markets increase the amount of trading and investing they do with each other?

Yes, and this is key. It marks a huge shift in the balance of power.

(courtesy: CFA)

Founder of Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah

2010-12-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Mohammad Ali Jinnah (December 25, 1876 – September 11, 1948) was a 20th century lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Islamic Republic of Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam "Great Leader" and Baba-e-Qaum ("Father of the Nation").

Jinnah was born Mohamed ali Jinnah bhai in, some believe, Wazir Mansion, Karachi District, of lower Sindh. This is disputed as old textbooks mention Jhirk as his place of birth. Sindh had earlier been conquered by the British and was subsequently grouped with other conquered territories for administrative reasons to form the Bombay Presidency of British India. Although his earliest school records state that he was born on October 20, 1875, Sarojini Naidu, the author of Jinnah's first biography, gives the date as ”December 25, 1876”.

Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on August 14, 1947 and Pakistan's first Governor-General from August 15, 1947 until his death on September 11, 1948. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress initially expounding ideas of Hindu-Muslim unity and helping shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress; he also became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League.

He proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India.

History

In 1892, Jinnah was offered an apprenticeship at the London office of Graham's Shipping and Trading Company, a business that had extensive dealings with Jinnah bhai Poonja's firm in Karachi. In London, Jinnah soon left the apprenticeship to study law instead, by joining Lincoln's Inn. It is said that the sole reason of Jinnah's joining Lincoln's Inn is that the welcome board of the Lincoln's Inn had the names of the world's all-time top-ten magistrates, and that this list was led by the name of Muhammad. No such board exists, although there is a mural which includes a picture of Muhammad. In three years, at age 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England.

During the final period of his stay in England, Jinnah came under considerable pressure to return home when his father's business was ruined. In 1896 he returned to India and settled in Bombay. Jinnah built a house in Malabar Hill, later known as Jinnah House. He became a successful lawyer, gaining particular fame for his skilled handling of the "Caucus Case".His reputation as a skilled lawyer prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defense counsel for his sedition trial in 1905. Jinnah argued that it was not sedition for an Indian to demand freedom and self-government in his own country, but Tilak received a rigorous term of imprisonment.

When he returned to India his faith in liberalism and progressive politics was confirmed through his close association with three Indian National Congress stalwarts Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta and Surendranath Banerjee. These people had an influence in his early life in England and they would influence his later involvement in Indian politics.

In 1896, Jinnah joined the Indian National Congress, which was the largest Indian political organization. Like most of the Congress at the time, Jinnah did not favour outright independence, considering British influences on education, law, culture and industry as beneficial to India. Jinnah became a member on the sixty-member Imperial Legislative Council. The council had no real power or authority, and included a large number of un-elected pro-Raj loyalists and Europeans. Nevertheless, Jinnah was instrumental in the passing of the Child Marriages Restraint Act, the legitimization of the Muslim waqf (religious endowments) and was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, which helped establish the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun. During World War I, Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting the British war effort, hoping that Indians would be rewarded with political freedoms.

Jinnah had initially avoided joining the All India Muslim League, founded in 1906, regarding it as too Muslim oriented. However he decided to provide leadership to the Muslim minority. Eventually, he joined the league in 1913 and became the president at the 1916 session in Lucknow. Jinnah was the architect of the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the League, bringing them together on most issues regarding self-government and presenting a united front to the British. Jinnah also played an important role in the founding of the All India Home Rule League in 1916. Along with political leaders Annie Besant and Tilak, Jinnah demanded "home rule" for India—the status of a self-governing dominion in the Empire similar to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He headed the League's Bombay Presidency chapter.

In 1918, Jinnah married his second wife Rattanbai Petit ("Ruttie"), twenty-four years his junior. She was the fashionable young daughter of his personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit, of an elite Parsi family of Mumbai. Unexpectedly there was great opposition to the marriage from Rattanbai's family and Parsi society, as well as orthodox Muslim leaders. Rattanbai defied her family and nominally converted to Islam, adopting (though never using) the name Maryam Jinnah, resulting in a permanent estrangement from her family and Parsi society. The couple resided in Mumbai, and frequently travelled across India and Europe. In 1919 she bore Jinnah his only child, daughter Dina Jinnah.

In 1924 Jinnah reorganized the Muslim League, of which he had been president since 1919, and devoted the next seven years attempting to bring about unity among the disparate ranks of Muslims and to develop a rational formula to effect a Hindu Muslim settlement, which he considered the pre condition for Indian freedom. He attended several unity conferences, wrote the Delhi Muslim Proposals in 1927, pleaded for the incorporation of the basic Muslim demands in the Nehru report, and formulated the “Fourteen Points”

Prominent Muslim leaders like the The Aga Khan, Choudhary Rahmat Ali and Sir Muhammad Iqbal made efforts to convince Jinnah to return from London (where he had moved to in 1931 and planned on permanently relocating in order to practice in the Privy Council Bar. to India and take charge of a now-reunited Muslim League. In 1934 Jinnah returned and began to re-organise the party, being closely assisted by Liaquat Ali Khan, who would act as his right-hand man. In the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly, the League emerged as a competent party, capturing a significant number of seats under the Muslim electorate, but lost in the Muslim-majority Punjab, Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province. Jinnah offered an alliance with the Congress – both bodies would face the British together, but the Congress had to share power, accept separate electorates and the League as the representative of India's Muslims.

The latter two terms were unacceptable to the Congress, which had its own national Muslim leaders and membership and adhered to secularism. Even as Jinnah held talks with Congress president Rajendra Prasad, Congress leaders suspected that Jinnah would use his position as a lever for exaggerated demands and obstruct government, and demanded that the League merge with the Congress. The talks failed, and while Jinnah declared the resignation of all Congressmen from provincial and central offices in 1938 as a "Day of Deliverance" from Hindu domination, some historians assert that he remained hopeful for an agreement.

In a speech to the League in 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal mooted an independent state for Muslims in "northwest India." Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in 1933 advocating a state called "Pakistan". Following the failure to work with the Congress, Jinnah, who had embraced separate electorates and the exclusive right of the League to represent Muslims, was converted to the idea that Muslims needed a separate state to protect their rights.

Jinnah came to believe that Muslims and Hindus were distinct nations, with unbridgeable differences—a view later known as the Two Nation Theory. Jinnah declared that a united India would lead to the marginalization of Muslims, and eventually civil war between Hindus and Muslims. This change of view may have occurred through his correspondence with Iqbal, who was close to Jinnah. In the session in Lahore in 1940, the Pakistan resolution was adopted as the main goal of the party. The resolution was rejected outright by the Congress, and criticized by many Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Syed Ab'ul Ala Maududi and the Jamaat-e-Islami. On July 26, 1943, Jinnah was stabbed and wounded by a member of the extremist Khaksars in an attempted assassination.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah founded Dawn in 1941, a major newspaper that helped him propagate the League's point of views. During the mission of British minister Stafford Cripps, Jinnah demanded parity between the number of Congress and League ministers, the League's exclusive right to appoint Muslims and a right for Muslim-majority provinces to secede, leading to the breakdown of talks. Jinnah supported the British effort in World War II, and opposed the Quit India movement. During this period, the League formed provincial governments and entered the central government.

The League's influence increased in the Punjab after the death of Unionist leader Sikander Hyat Khan in 1942. Gandhi held talks fourteen times with Jinnah in Bombay in 1944, about a united front—while talks failed, Gandhi's overtures to Jinnah increased the latter's standing with Muslims.

In the 1946 elections for the Constituent Assembly of India, the Congress won most of the elected seats, while the League won a large majority of Muslim electorate seats. The 1946 British Cabinet Mission to India released a plan on May 16, calling for a united Indian state comprising considerably autonomous provinces, and called for "groups" of provinces formed on the basis of religion. A second plan released on June 16, called for the separation of India along religious lines, with princely states to choose between accession to the dominion of their choice or independence.

The Congress, fearing India's fragmentation, criticized the May 16 proposal and rejected the June 16 plan. Jinnah gave the League's assent to both plans, knowing that power would go only to the party that had supported a plan. After much debate and against Gandhi's advice that both plans were divisive, the Congress accepted the May 16 plan while condemning the grouping principle. Jinnah decried this acceptance as "dishonesty", accused the British negotiators of "treachery”, and withdrew the League's approval of both plans. The League boycotted the assembly, leaving the Congress in charge of the government but denying it legitimacy in the eyes of many Muslims.

Jinnah gave a precise definition of the term 'Pakistan' in 1941 at Lahore in which he stated:

Some confusion prevails in the minds of some individuals in regard to the use of the word 'Pakistan'. This word has become synonymous with the Lahore resolution owing to the fact that it is a convenient and compendious method of describing [it].... For this reason the British and Indian newspapers generally have adopted the word 'Pakistan' to describe the Moslem demand as embodied in the Lahore resolution^.

Jinnah issued a call for all Muslims to launch "Direct Action" on August 16 to "achieve Pakistan". Strikes and protests were planned, but violence broke out all over India, especially in Calcutta and the district of Noakhali in Bengal, and more than 7,000 people were killed in Bihar. Although Viceroy Lord Wavell asserted that there was "no satisfactory evidence to that effect", League politicians were blamed by the Congress and the media for orchestrating the violence. Interim Government portfolios were announced on October 25, 1946.

Muslim Leaguers were sworn in on October 26, 1946. The League entered the interim government, but Jinnah refrained from accepting office for himself. This was credited as a major victory for Jinnah, as the League entered government having rejected both plans, and was allowed to appoint an equal number of ministers despite being the minority party. The coalition was unable to work, resulting in a rising feeling within the Congress that independence of Pakistan was the only way of avoiding political chaos and possible civil war. The Congress agreed to the division of Punjab and Bengal along religious lines in late 1946.

The new viceroy Lord Mountbatten of Burma and Indian civil servant V. P. Menon proposed a plan that would create a Muslim dominion in West Punjab, East Bengal, Baluchistan and Sindh. After heated and emotional debate, the Congress approved the plan. The North-West Frontier Province voted to join Pakistan in a referendum in July 1947. Jinnah asserted in a speech in Lahore on October 30, 1947 that the League had accepted independence of Pakistan because "the consequences of any other alternative would have been too disastrous to imagine."^.

The independent state of Pakistan, created on August 14, 1947, represented the outcome of a campaign on the part of the Indian Muslim community for a Muslim homeland which had been triggered by the British decision to consider transferring power to the people of India.

Jinnah vision for Pakistan

While giving an interview to American press representatives in July 1942, when asked by one of the journalists whether the Muslims were a nation or not, Jinnah replied:

We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all cannons of international law we are a nation. Wanted Pakistan to be a secular state or an Islamic state. His views as expressed in his policy speech on August 11, 1947 said:

There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make. I cannot emphasize it too much.

We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago.

No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State.

As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.

The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the Nation. Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.

(Jinnah, August 11, 1947 – presiding over the constituent assembly.)

While this may seem to be an indication that Jinnah wanted a secular state, he also referred to Islam and Islamic principles:

The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principle of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody.

We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims --Hindus, Christians, and Parsis --but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan.

Broadcast talk to the people of the United States of America on Pakistan recorded February, 1948.

It has been argued by many people that in this speech Jinnah wanted to point out that Pakistan would be a secular state as mostly people think that an Islamic state is a theocratic state. This perception, however, is wrong and is misinterpreted; the reason is that a true Islamic state is not a theocratic state, as stated by Jinnah in his speech.

On the opening ceremony of the state bank of Pakistan Jinnah pointed out that the financial setup of the state should be based on Islamic economic system.

We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on

true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice. We will thereby be fulfilling our mission as Muslims and giving to humanity the message of peace which alone can save it and secure the welfare, happiness and prosperity of mankind. Speech at the opening ceremony of State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi July 1, 1948

It appears that Jinnah felt the state of Pakistan should stand upon Islamic tradition in culture, civilization and national identity rather than on the principles of Islam as a theocratic state.^[50]

In 1937, Jinnah further defended his ideology of equality in his speech to the All-India Muslim League in Lucknow where he stated, "Settlement can only be achieved between equals." He also had a rebuttal to Nehru's statement which argued that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British Raj and INC. Jinnah stated that the Muslim League was the third and "equal partner" within Indian politics.

Along with Liaquat Ali Khan and Abdur Rab Nishtar, Muhammad Ali Jinnah represented the League in the Division Council to appropriately divide public assets between India and Pakistan. The assembly members from the provinces that would comprise Pakistan formed the new state's constituent assembly, and the Military of British India was divided between Muslim and non-Muslim units and officers. Indian leaders were angered at Jinnah's courting the princes of Jodhpur, Bhopal and Indore to accede to Pakistan – these princely states were not geographically aligned with Pakistan, and each had a Hindu-majority population.

Jinnah became the first Governor-General of Pakistan and president of its constituent assembly. Inaugurating the assembly on August 11, 1947, Jinnah spoke of an inclusive and pluralist democracy promising equal rights for all citizens regardless of religion, caste or creed. This address is a cause of much debate in Pakistan as, on its basis, many claim that Jinnah wanted a secular state while supporters of Islamic Pakistan assert that this speech is being taken out of context when compared to other speeches by him.

On October 11, 1947, in an address to Civil, Naval, Military and Air Force Officers of Pakistan Government, Karachi, he said:

We should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture and where principles of Islamic social justice could find free play.

On February 21, 1948, in an address to the officers and men of the 5th Heavy Ack Ack and 6th Light Ack Ack Regiments in Malir, Karachi, he said:

You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil. With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.

The office of Governor-General was ceremonial, but Jinnah also assumed the lead of government. The first months of Pakistan's independence were absorbed in ending the intense violence that had arisen in the wake of acrimony between Hindus and Muslims. Jinnah agreed with Indian leaders to organise a swift and secure exchange of populations in the Punjab and Bengal. He visited the border regions with Indian leaders to calm people and encourage peace, and organised large-scale refugee camps. Despite these efforts, estimates on the death toll vary from around two hundred thousand, to over a million people. The estimated number of refugees in both countries exceeds 15 million. The then capital city of Karachi saw an explosive increase in its population owing to the large encampments of refugees, which personally affected and depressed Jinnah.

It is said that when the then Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, learned of Jinnah's ailment he said 'had they known that Jinnah was about to die, they'd have postponed India's independence by a few months as he was being inflexible on Pakistan'.

Jinnah later advocated the Two-Nation Theory embracing the goal of creating a separate Muslim state as per the Lahore Resolution. The League won most reserved Muslim seats in the elections of 1946. After the British and Congress backed out of the Cabinet Mission Plan Jinnah called for a Direct Action Day to achieve the formation of Pakistan.

The direct action by the Muslim League and its Volunteer Corps resulted in massive rioting in

Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus. As the Indian National Congress and Muslim League failed to reach a power sharing formula for united India, it prompted both the parties and the British to agree to independence of Pakistan and India. As the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Jinnah led efforts to lay the foundations of the new state of Pakistan, frame national policies and rehabilitate millions of Muslim refugees who had migrated from India.

Through the 1940s, Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. In 1948, Jinnah's health began to falter, hindered further by the heavy workload that had fallen upon him following Pakistan's independence from British Rule. Attempting to recuperate, he spent many months at his official retreat in Ziarat. According to his sister, he suffered a hemorrhage on September 1, 1948; doctors said the altitude was not good for him and that he should be taken to Karachi. Jinnah was flown back to Karachi from Quetta.

Death of Jinnah

Jinnah died at 10:20 p.m. at the Governor-General's House in Karachi on September 11, 1948, just over a year after Pakistan's independence from British India.

He had two separate Funeral prayers: one was held privately at Mohatta Palace in a room of the Governor-General's House at which Yusuf Haroon, Hashim Raza and Aftab Hatim Alvi were present at the Namaz-e-Janaza held according to Shia Muslim rituals and was led by Syed Anisul Husnain, while Liaquat Ali Khan waited outside. After the Shia prayers, the major public Funeral prayers were led by Allamah Shabbir Ahmad Usmani a renowned Sunni Muslim scholar and attended by masses from all over Pakistan. This funeral was well on record and supported by pictures as well.

Jinnah was buried in Karachi. His funeral was followed by the construction of a massive tomb, Mazar-e-Quaid, in Karachi to honor him; official and military ceremonies are hosted there on special occasions.

well a man of principle born once in a millennium and that man was Mr. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Great Leader and Extra Brilliant minded Lawyer and also a great politician who was the only lawyer with high fee, but who set his remuneration only 1 rupee after becoming first Governor General of Islamic Republic of Pakistanand at the end i would like to say thanks to wikipedia.org for the courtesy,

Blogging a Fun, Profession, or Way of Communication

2010-12-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”. A blog comprises text, hypertext, images, and links (to other web pages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular “area of interest”, such as Washington, D.C.’s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences.’

Bloggers are basically content providers who provide different kind of information they have free of cost. They don’t charge any subscription or fee for the content they are offering to reader or downloader. Then how do they make money?

Their revenue model for the bloggers is advertisement revenue model. They attract readers towards their blog by providing them content of their blog and place the ads of different advertisers and as someone hits their blog their page rank increases and the revenue generates. The most popular advertisers are Google ad sense program and Yahoo advertisement program. To earn handsomely from a blog you need huge traffic on your particular blog and it take time and considerable effort to attract readers to a blog. Some people maintain personal or amateur blog; the purpose of which is not to make money but to share something or building a personal diary.

The benefits of owning a blog are that you may earn handsomely through the blog and be self employed. Beside the cost to own, maintain and run a blog is very much low. The blog provider provides you software which you may download from their website free of cost and that software provides you graphical user interface through which you can update or submit posts without having knowledge or experience of html, xml, php or other programming languages which are used to build a websites. The popular blog providers are www.blogpost.com and www.wordpress.com. Moreover, a blog has more search engine visibility and preference. You enter a post and it can be seen in a search engine just in some hours. People may share their experiences and build a community through blogs. The reader or user may post his comments on the content provided thus the blog provides two ways communications letting the blogger know how much he is successful in meeting the requirements and needs of the reader or visitor. The visitor may ask for some information through this channel.

There are certain demerits of blogging that you need considerable time (at least one year) to build traffic and stream of income and the blog must be updated regularly within the shortest possible time spam. There are piracy and copyright issues which the bloggers often violate and provide content which is copyright protected or just copy the content of others. Blogging can sometimes have unforeseen consequences in politically sensitive areas. Blogs are much harder to control than broadcast or even print media. As a result, totalitarian and authoritarian regimes often seek to suppress blogs and/or to punish those who maintain them. No authority exists to exercise check and control on the activities of bloggers.

The popular blogs are:

For more details and tricks of blogging please refer to:

www.techmynd.com

www.problogger.net

(courtesy: Sarfraz)

Social Evils and their role in Pakistan

2010-12-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

Social evils are the bad habits or activities that take root in the society and cause harm not only to the person who is involved in these activities but also the people who are related to him or live around him.

Pakistan is a developing country characterized by rising poverty which is said to be the mother of all evils but apart from that there are social trends, customs, norms and practices are more harmful for the mankind than the poverty related issues. Let’s discuss both briefly:

Poverty leads towards a gap between poor and rich and this gap get widen and the poor becomes poorer and rich, richer. This situation leads the poor people towards frustration and to get normal they harm their own self or sometimes society. Thus, this frustration leads the young people towards the addiction of drugs or crimes. They start smuggling, commit thefts to snatch their so called right and this leads towards societal insecurity and safety problems. People are killed and robbed and the concept of welfare state is destroyed. Moreover, pressure of rising inflation and the social inequality, where people see their fellow citizens using luxuries lead poor people toward the evil of bribery which is common feature of the public sector offices in Pakistan. This increases the greed of the people taking bribery and the whole machinery of the public administration get corrupted which is the case in Pakistan.

The frustrated people seek refuge under the shelter of drugs and the healthy nation get close towards the doom of destruction. This situation is very much common in Pakistan where unemployment is on the peak and without reference or bribery the good jobs cannot be secured and the tired and frustrated educated representative of the young nation starts taking drugs. This story do not ends here. The children are abolished to go to school and are forced to work for their livelihood. The work conditions and wage rates for such children are shamefully worst. Yet they are forced to do the work like beasts. Due to poverty fathers cannot afford another social evil that is ‘Jahez’ and the poor daughter remains unmarried and sometimes commits suicide by taking poison or burning themselves and if unfortunately she gets married she has to live with taunts or her in laws kills her and simply say that “the stove get blasted”. Moreover, she is tortured for the doings she never committed in her life.

The women have been the subjected to the social evils before the Islam was spread on the earth. The Arabs use to bury their daughter alive. But in case of Pakistan this tradition seems to be prevailing in other ways. ‘Karo Kari’ is an old tradition prevailing in the Sindh province of Pakistan according to which when a man and women are found suspected to have relations the tribal ‘Jurga’ may give the verdict to kill them both even if the suspected crime could not be proved, which is against the morality and humanity. Moreover, to secure the property for the male heirs the female heirs are forced to marry with The Holy Quran which is outrageous and neither Islam nor the law enforced in the country allows such doings.

Apart from the explicitly seen evils of society, well published by the media, other behaviors of the people living in the society of Pakistan also can be considered as evil. There seems to be a change in the behaviors and actions of the people living here, which is making them selfish and greedy. A well known concept of individualism imported from western countries, which is me, me, me and only me behavior which indicates towards the behavior of people seeing themselves an individual not the part of wider society. It is only ones profit that matters even if it is for the cost of other’s life.

Industrialists here in Pakistan do not take the necessary measures to dispose off the wastes of their plants because these measures are costly and let the airs and waters of the country pollute that affect on the health of people. In general nobody believes the concepts of right and wrong. We are losing our values where children do not have time for old parents or grandparents and the core values of honesty, tolerance, empathy and respect are being violated. In context of Pakistan, religious extremism has lead towards many problems people do not know the true spirit of Islam and commit unjustified acts like suicide bomb blasts and terrorist activities to destabilize the political and social environment of the country. Moreover, there are religious grouping like Shiyyah and Sunni who keep rowing each other.

The main reason for such thing is mainly lack of education and political and social awareness. People do not know their rights and others powerful people exploit them. This situation is very much severe in the less developed and feudal controlled areas of Pakistan. The feudal lords intentionally restrict the development of their governed areas as to the basic facilities of education, infrastructure and utilities. Feudal lord is considered the owner of not only the lands of that area but also the life of people living under his vicinity.

Then there are so called festivals and functions which do not relate to Pakistan as Basant and Mehndi. People spoil a lot of money on these occasions for nothing and cause harm for society. During the festival of Basant a lot of innocent people are killed or get injured. Mehndi creates the sense of inequality among the society.

The key question is here to ask our self. Where are we going? Have any of us has contributed towards the eradication of these evils? But we don’t waste our time on such things and say it’s the responsibility of government. But, what’s our responsibility? To elect that government who do not listens to their people after they are elected? It is another social evil. Not taking the responsibility for our surroundings. When a business man is required to cope up with all environmental and social issue which we call his social responsibility why don’t we take initiatives to make a better Pakistan, to educate the people of Pakistan about their rights, values and their potential.