Family Planning in Pakistan

Forget contraceptives, forget pills, forget One Child Policy - the most potent tool to promote family planning in Pakistan ? The School Fee. Current exorbitant Fee requirements for a child in a good private school will render any couple to think a thousand times about extending their family. Take note doctors.

BCP or DR?

My wife keeps a diaper and wet tissues in the glove box of our car for our 1 year old. Does that fall under Business Continuity Planning (BCP) or Disaster Recovery(DR)?

Death - A Tough Calling

Just met a friend of ours who lost her father. She had tears in her eyes. I imagined my daughter in her place and teary eyed.


I can not see tears in my daughter's eyes.

Afternoon at Home

The Purest Thing

... a baby's breath.

And After All This?

You fight. You win. You lose. You take a beating. You beat the hell out of someone. You dive in water. You dive in deep. You dive in shallow. The water is crystal clear. The water is muddy. Something sticks to you. You somehow get free of something. Something overpowers you and leaves you breathless. Something heavy just sits on your chests and leaves you frozen. Then it somehow leaves you and you are all perspiring. You are amongst people who have left this world. They come and talk to you. They make you smile. They make you cry. They make you afraid. You find something or someone that you lost. You lose something or someone you love. You are at unfamiliar place with familiar people. Sometimes you are with unfamiliar people at familiar places. Sometimes the place you know so much presents a very weird look. It is gloomy. It is dark. It is worn out. You do not want to be here.  Sometimes you see green and sometimes blood red. Sometimes its white. Sometimes its bright.  Sometimes it fireflies. Sometimes its fire works. You always wanted to be here. You inhale. You exhale. You want to scream. You want to shout. You want to cry. You want to release a cry of joy. Sometimes you do all this. Sometimes you just cannot. Sometimes you feel it. You feel it like its real. You feel it can not be fake. You see a beautiful bird. You see a hideous beast. The bird touches you. The beast comes for you. Sometimes the beast transforms in to something you do not like. Like a lizard. A spider. A snake. Something you despise. Something you dread. You do not want to be here! Oh you always wanted to be here! Oh let it continue!


And after all this, you have to wake up from the dream.

Pakistan - To Do List

Being a member of ArmChair Analysts Party, I am drawing up a To-Do list of what to do with Pakistan in case I become a Prime Minister. I know its a tough thinking assignment but being a drawing room armchair analyst for quite some years now, I have become adept in it. Of course I being of the group that only talks and does nothing in reality to help change the situation in my country, for this 14th August Independence Day, I am offering here my Top-10 To-Do List for Pakistan.

Please feel free to come up with your own Top-10 or Top-15, (Top 5?) if you like, of things to do to Pakistan if you were made the Prime Minister. I am 'thinking' (as usual) that perhaps this may result in ideas that can perhaps be read by someone who can do something to change the situation - perhaps a least bit. Or any good idea that can be picked up by someone to be implemented. Or a list that we can draw up and perhaps (ludicrously) make part of political parties manifesto - assure them that we will vote for them. Some moron is going to win so the wish list could be made a part of every party's manifesto.

The list could be anything that comes to your mind. They can be very practical to totally ridiculous. Ridiculous has a lot of creativity I believe. What I would prefer is a wish list that is with a certain practical implementation of it. So here is my To-Do list.

1 - Disband the Moonsighting committee. Observe the first of ramadan with Saudia to clean up the domestic mess. Trust me its a mess. I am from Peshawar and I live in Karachi so every year I get to taste the best of 'mayhem' in this country. I have witnessed situation in which half of my family was observing fast and half celebrating Eid! Why waste time on such issues?

2 - Rename part of Arabian Sea as Pakistan Sea. I agree with Ardsher Cowasjee.. why not?

3 - Make ISI accountable for their deeds. If they are so good, they should be applauded - if not - made to pay. They can be made to speak through elected representatives, kinda like congressional hearings in US. I know they get a lot of bad PR, let them give a voice too eh?

4 - Make a centralized coordination centre of information sharing for all the intelligence agencies to prevent terrorism attacks. What I have seen is that information of impending terrorist attack is already there but was not shared with all in time thus preventing the loss of innocent lives and loss of capable administrators in form of Police officers or elected representatives.

5 - Make a truly independent authority in Karachi to bring to book the culprits that have created mayhem in the city. We seriously need that in Karachi as lot of innocent blood has been spilled.

6 - Introduce uniform education curriculum all over the country. Yes its a provincial subject but force the provinces to do so. Every Pakistani child needs to have a good education and that requires a good uniform curriculum. Every public and private school should be made to follow it - including medressahs. They can offer 'other' subjects if they wish to but there should be standard minimum for all.

7 - Make Competition Commission of Pakistan a truly independent authority. That should make a lot of cartels wet their pants. This would ensure that Courts do not have to take the suo-moto course which is not right in my opinion. The findings of Competition Commission can be be presented in court and let they decide what the final verdict is.

8 - Ensure that every classified information is declassified after a certain time period. We need to know a lot of what has happened in the past. This should make assignment of responsibility possible and things could come to fore as to why something happened.

9 - Remove the Blasphemy and Hudood Laws from the law books of Pakistan. Remove the condition of 'muslim only' head of state. The Blasphemy Laws are only used to exploit the minorities - there is nothing sacred to them. Regarding 'muslim only' head of State condition, I believe its totally discriminatory since every 'Pakistani' has the right to serve the nation regardless of the faith. I would be better off with a capable 'infidel' ahmadi than a dumb-ass mullah.

10 - Make mandatory on big corporates for establishment of water filtration plants by assigning them districts of Pakistan and make them accountable through elected representatives and media. Clean water should be accessible to all pakistanis and this may lead to reduction in lots of diseases.

So whats your list?

PostMan's Law - The End

It never seems to end when you don't know when its going to end.

Safest Place

The safest place, where nothing bad could touch me, nothing could hurt me, was the lap of my father or when I used to lie with him with my back against his chest.

My Daughter

Credit KKT at Buzzvines

Peeping in every few minutes
My precious still there
The world beckons for her
And I know she cannot remain
That bed will be empty
The room for once tidy
The rituals will have to change
Her scent, though it may linger
But it too will dissipate
Last loving glance
At sleeping beauty
Suddenly she seems changed
No longer as childlike as I recall
My child nonetheless
Who will protect her
How will I tame my instincts
Fear may engulf her heart
But mine feels torn apart
How will life go on
Who will I live for
Who will I care for
Who will I worry for
The Lord giveth
And the world taketh away

Forest ? Nay Jungle

Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know how much you're going to pay for it!

Army - The Concept

Army is one concept that is totally against the codes of ethics and morality. It has legitimized and sanctified killing.