The blast in a busy market in Peshawar, which took away so many
lives—especially of children and women—has deeply saddened everyone
in the country. Words are not enough to condemn this dastardly act.
Heart-rending as it was, we must stand up against those involved in
this heinous crime and show the resilience that no amount of
terrorism can intimidate this nation of 170 million brave people who
had weathered many storms before. So, instead of being overawed by
the tragedy we must mobilise all our resources to support our army
to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the face of our
motherland. The army alone cannot fight this insurgency. We need to
mobilise the entire nation especially our students to, at least,
beef up our internal security system. We need to go back and
strengthen the scouting system that was in vogue in the past. We
need to protect our educational institutions by mobilising student
volunteers to guard their campuses along with regular security.
These are extraordinary times that require extraordinary measures to
protect the loss of every human life.—Lahore
Marvi tell us the right figures
Nooure Zeenate Jehan
Marvi Memon should become spokesperson of the poor of Pakistan much
above his party affiliations (ML-Q). She should look herself .She
makes everyone proud with her candid, well prepared, logical
explanations. Shireen Mazari is another who makes us feel bold and
taller. Another name, I would not forget is Dr Neelofar Mehdi. I
would request Marvi to put the record straight once for all to belie
the oft beaten-drummed claims of PPP-AZ, its coalition-cartel of
shameless opportunists though belonging to previous government that
that they inherited empty exchequer forex reserve were scantiest,
collateral debts of trillions of rupees were indebted to IPPS etc,
power was short by thousands of mega watts and they inherited the
power -shortage, export falling, agricultural, industrial falling
profile, etc.
Will Marvi and Dr Salman issue two page true figures for nation to
tell how badly economy, power, industrial, agricultural, import,
export, monetary, fiscal, services, electricity, water, law and
security sectors have been misgoverned and hundreds of trillions
dollars lost through brazen corruption and incompetence in last two
years of PPP-AZ, MQM, MMA, ANP abetted by the silliest ‘ mumafti
siyasat ‘ of ML-N and Nawaz Sharif.—Karachi
US mind blowing
Jawel Ahmed
This week’s issue of US was mind blowing. I really liked the
Graffiti and the cover story was very interesting. This children’s
international film festival is a very fruitful try to attract young
minds to develop their interest in our declining film industry. I
think they can change the scene and can do something really good for
the industry in he future. Here, talking about the young generation,
I also want to talk about a student of Karachi University who threw
his shoe on an American scholar. I also belong to Karachi University
and I personally believe that this act was against our education and
social and cultural values. This is not a way to express oneself.
That American scholar was a guest in our university and it was our
responsibility to give him the respect and protection because our
beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) has taught us to welcome,
respect and serve our guests in best manner whether they are Muslims
or not. So, that boy should feel sorry for this highly ill mannered
act and we all, as students should condemn instead of appreciating
him.—Via email
Meena Bazaar blast
Javed Ahmed
I am a citizen of burning Pakistan. I want to talk about the recent
bomb blast in Peshawar on Wednesday morning near meena bazaar. This
was the 2nd blast in Peshawar and 5th in the month of October. This
is a question mark on the security measures made by the government
for the citizens. We are the citizens of Pakistan and we are dying
as there is no value of our lives just because our government has no
concern for us and has become completely ignorant. The government
has full authority of providing security and then they have the
intelligence reports too which inform them that these blasts will
happen still the government is enable to secure the innocent
students, women and other citizens. Why? Are we this worthless? A
LESCO bill wrongly stamped by easy paisa shopkeeper
Today, in the morning I was shocked to know through a local
newspaper that LESCO has refused to acknowledge the payments of the
LESCO customers that they have made to Telenor easy paisa Outlets.
Really upset, I called the LESCO (Lahore Electricity Supply Company)
to know the truth and their representative from the Revenue
department confirmed the status and said,” we are not getting any
sort of payments from Telenor or Tameer Bank as there is no
agreement between LESCO and Telenor/Tameer Bank so far”. He further
told that “If you have paid your amount already then you better get
it back from the outlet you paid and pay it to the recognized bank
the way you have been doing for years or otherwise you will have to
pay the arrears next time you get the bill”. I called the Tameer
Bank to know how the bank is going to clear this issue or if they
will be able to pay my amount back, a Lahore based senior officer of
the bank confirmed me that there is no agreement between LESCO and
Tameer bank so far and Tameer bank is currently using KASB Bank to
pay the amounts to LESCO. To my question that why Telenor and Tameer
bank came forward to collect the money from the people of Pakistan
without establishing a system and network, he was speechless first
and then tried to clear the situation he said, “Tameer bank is going
to have an agreement with LESCO in the coming week and if you get
your next month’s bill with arrears, don’t worry and it will be ok,
your money is safe”.
I am not satisfied because I never checked the stamp at first on my
bill that the shopkeeper had put on my bill as I had a trust on the
company but today I checked the stamp it was ridiculous, the stamp
was telling that I had paid a bill of December 2009 whereas I paid
the bill of October 2009.I asked this to the guy representing Tameer
Bank and he told, “You must go back and get the stamp changed”.
Well, it is pinching, that if Tameer Bank tries to clear my amount
in the next month or they are able enter into an agreement with the
LESCO; even then my bill will not be paid because a wrong stamp by
shopkeeper had completely changed my transaction from the very
instance I paid him. I again say, the service is no doubt a good
activity by why Telenor found it necessary to deceive people of
Pakistan when they did not have the proper arrangements. Lahore is a
population of over 10 Million and if 5% of the population trusted
Telenor and paid their electricity bills in the month of October, we
can expect a huge amount of money that the company/bank collected on
LESCOs’ behalf.
Why Telenor and Tameer Bank spent Millions of Rupees on marketing
and advertisement at a very immature stage when they knew it from
the very first day that it is not going to work. I ask them, isn’t
it a foul play or if I used a little technical language, it may be
called a fraud or financial scam. It is always the right of customer
to know before what he pays and what for? State Bank, PTA and all
the concerned authorities must take these kinds of things very
seriously because it may please few people to see that how speedily
Pakistan is forwarding towards Mobile Banking but there has to be a
proper frame work and guidelines before any activity.—Lahore
Bring all British troops home
Saleem Ahmed
Although Prince Harry failed to march with the Anti-War Majority on
the streets of London recently, a fearless Peace Seeking Lance
Corporal bravely hoisted a Flag of Peace to the mast for the entire
world to see. To observe a serving soldier marching in opposition to
the Queen’s foreign policy in the Middle East was heartening to say
the least. Perhaps after all there is still hope for this country?
Like millions of voters in the British Isles the Lance Corporal is
plainly sick to death of the relentless slaughter and body and mind
maiming of hundreds of British soldiers, and hundreds of thousands
of blameless Muslims: men, women, children and babies. The rhetoric
that “Monarchical Britain has sent its troops to occupy the Middle
East to safeguard the people of Britain” will not wash anymore.
It is hypocrisy and poppycock of the very worse kind, and one reason
why millions of us want ALL military personnel returned to the
British homeland, and not only a highly privileged and pampered
Prince Harry, who stated not verbatim, that “he would loyally stay
with his men”. This was established when we witnessed this trigger
joyful royal on camera disgracefully unleashing killing rounds from
his heavy machine gun in the direction of Muslims who were valiantly
resisting occupation of their homeland. Nevertheless, although the
majority of people in the British Isles did not want the Queen’s
troops or air force sent to occupy other countries in the first
place, the voting public were nonetheless horror-struck that this
royal; Prince Harry, unlike the rest of his army colleagues was
given the privileged choice to leave the region if he wished and
thereby avoid the consequences of further fierce resistance from
those defending their homeland.
His retreating therefore, beggared the question “… is the life of
this personage worth more than each and every one of his fellow
British ‘Tommie’s’ who had to stay put and risk being killed or
maimed in the months to come? Deplorably, the answer seems to be a
resounding Establishment yes. Evidently his life according to
Britain’s Establishment, is manifestly worth more than any of the
soldiers or airmen who were to be left in the region! On the other
hand there is no doubt that the grief stricken relatives of those
killed or maimed think otherwise; the lives of their loved ones no
matter what rank they are, are just as important as any Prince. The
irony of course being that no strings were manipulated from the
apathetic high echelons of power in Monarchical Britain that would
save other lives by bringing them home! Like the majority in
Britain, the people of foreign countries that we have occupied are
sick of all this pointless slaughter, and justly seek to expel our
military and put an end to Britain’s arrogant interference and
meddling in affairs that should not concern them. Moreover this
peacefully protesting soldier is exceedingly brave because he is
prepared to defy the Establishment and openly express his concerns
with a heartfelt compassion; a compassion that encompasses all those
unfortunate human beings who have been placed at the sharp end as
well as receiving end of Monarchical Britain’s mucky uncompromising
and crusading self serving war-mongering. We should not forget
either that this man is likely to be court martialled for his peace
loving beliefs. How absurd therefore that he should be the focus of
humiliation and degradation because he is fervently campaigning for
PEACE and not war? And what is his dastardly ‘crime’ millions of us
wish to know?—Via email
