2009 May

The ever changing MQM

Posted on May 31, 2009 //

By A.K.Chisti

MQM is one political party which had been instrumental in not only bringing upon a change but had been in a constant state of introspection throughout her relatively short political years. It was obviously founded as a student reactionary force back in the ever rebellious late 1970’s and later transformed herself into a mainstream political party in 1984 by announcing herself as “Mohajir Qaumi Movement”. Interestingly the momentum to change did not stop as MQM finally went universal in Pakistan by actually changing her party name from Mohajir Qaumi Movement to Muthida Qaumi Movement in 1997.

All in All, the man who had the vision and who over-looked and maneuvered the constant change of direction was none other than the founder of MQM who is known as Quaid-e-Tahreek, Altaf Hussain Bhai or the Leader of the Struggle. A rebellious student of B-Pharm from University of Karachi.

Undoubtedly, Altaf Hussin Bhai is a visionary leader with an excellent organizational and leadership qualities who actually made the right decisions at the right time. I was once told by a friend whose a close relative of late Benazir Bhutto that if Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s speeches could be matched by anyone in Pakistan; it could only be your leader: Mr.Altaf Hussain and coming from a Sindhi Nationalist made me all proud that day. What’s more astonishing is that the leader of MQM who did everything and suffered personally, financially and even physically rejected to step into a public office which is unprecedented by South Asian standards where most of not all are power hungry and political office is considered the mecca or the ultimate destination.

Altaf Hussain’s Vision for Pakistan had always been of a progressive, enlightened and secular Pakistan – a Pakistan free from discrimination, a Pakistan where provincial autonomy is insured as promised in 1940 Pakistan Resolution and by 1973 Constitution and where distribution of wealth is transparent and just.

Unfortunately, the message of Quaid-e-Tahreek of MQM, Altaf Hussain Bhai had been distorted by certain forces who considers even the mention of “equality and empowerment for all ” as Blasphemy and Treasonand they are indeed the real one’s who should be tried under article 6 for actually rejecting the constitutional approach of Altaf Hussain Bhai to resolve issues.

It also makes an interesting observation that whenever MQM actually starts becoming popular in Northern Pakistan something against MQM happened. In 1992 when MQM actually wanted to go-global by changing her name to Muthida Qaumi Movement a “Serb Style Genocide” was conducted where more than 15,000 of MQM workers and voters were brutally murdered in extra-judicial killing.

12th May is not an exception too; it came when MQM was popular in Punjab and NWFP thanks to the great contributions by MQM during the Earthquake Relief Work. MQM by then was getting popular in Punjab and then 12th May happened and MQM had to close her offices thanks to the negative propaganda against MQM although by then MQM did got couple of seats from Azad Kashmir where couple of her member got elected to the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly where one of her member today is the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

Similarly the recent violence is not out of the blue too, MQM after abstaining from the Nizam-e-Adl Legislation (often dubbed as Nizam-e-Jahalat Legislation) won hearts of the people of Pakistan who overwhelmingly were against dealing with those who beheaded our soldiers, flogged our women publicly and molested the dead. The speech of Haider Abbas Rizvi, the deputy parliamentary leader of MQM shall always be remembered in history of the parliament as one of the most brilliant speeches ever by a parliamentarian and which reflected the real sentiments of people of Pakistan but just when there were huge signs of good-will for MQM around the country; the conspirators did what they are good at; and the peace of Karachi got disrupted. Unfortunately MQM against fell victim to the negative propaganda which this time the propaganda didn’t worked out against MQM.

Similarly showing great magnanimity the leader of MQM Mr.Altaf Hussain not only kicked start MQM’s activities and working in Punjab but has actually assured the Punjabi brothers that MQM will stop Talibans coming into Punjab and that MQM will give out unconditional support to the Government and Armed Forces against the Talibans and not only that KKF a brilliant charity organization of MQM was asked by QET, Altaf Hussain Bhai to work for the Internally Displaced People who are migrating from SWAT.

Conclusion:
For as long as Pakistan remains an epicenter of terrorism, the future will see MQM remaining active in opposing religious fundamentalism and defending its city. The future is also likely to see a rounded support for MQM from non Urdu speaking societies, as they begin to see MQM in a positive light with regards to its active role in opposing religious fundamentalism. Importantly, a softer image of MQM will emerge as they continue to be the first party to send help to disaster prone areas, as they have done in October 2005 and October 2008. Recruitment of Non Urdu speaking members to MQM will steadily increase due to the recognisation of MQM as the only party that truly represents the ninety eight percent of Pakistan’s middle class and working class and a party that is working for democracy. In the future, it will continue the campaign outside of Sindh to clear the misconception of MQM in the minds of people who had been severely misguided by anti MQM forces.

This article was first published on 14th may 09 @ Chowk here

Filed Under: Karachi, Politics in pakistan // Tagged: Add new tag, changing karachi, mqm changes?, secular party

The displaced persons of swat

Posted on May 30, 2009 //

Today the people displaced from the swat region of Pakistan due to our war against the militants have exceeded 3 million. This has happened because the militants are holed up in major population centers in Swat and the general public fearing an all out assault by the army has chosen to vacate their homes for fear of their lives.

To understand the plight of these displaced people we have to understand that they did not leave their homes and crops in an orderly and planned manner, they ran for their lives!! So even though being financially stable in their own surroundings they are bereft and drifting on the high seas right now, living in camps eating food donated to them, and basically trying to chalk out some meager form of existence until they can go back home.

Only about 300,000 people have been provided shelter in the camps set up by the UNHCR and Pakistan’s government. This is hardly 10% of the total number of displaced people, the rest are living with their kith and kin who according to their proud pashtun traditions have opened their hearts and homes to them. Pakistan is fighting to provide for these 300,000 people although public and private aid is coming in as well as relief efforts organized by all the NGO’s and social welfare organizations. The international donors conference pledged 543 million usd for the people of Swat on May 21st but has only provided 16% of that amount to the U.N. Currently even the U.N.H.C.R is appealing for more funds so that they can help alleviate suffering in this grave humanitarian crises.

To put things into perspective for us, this is twice the number of people which came from India to Pakistan when this country was created, such is the magnitude of this movement. We have to help these people, we have to provide them with basic food and water and education for their children on an interim basis or they will never forget that the war on the Taliban resulted in them losing their lives and their careers. After reading a lot of analysis and reports on the situation in the camps as well as talking to some friends who went their themselves to distribute aid the following problems seem to be at large.

Nadra Id Cards

It seems as per newspaper reports and eyewitness accounts that the NADRA authorities are charging Rs 50 for replacement cards for those who do not have id cards in the camps as most of the camps are not allowing un registered occupants. Now considering the fact that most of these people did not even get a chance to pack a change of clothing when they ran is it not inhumane of our NADRA authorities to charge them? Frankly its not just inhumane its a disgrace.

Volunteers and donations

The problems relief collectors and workers seem to be facing are being intensified by the fact that people who were more than willing to give for the earthquake victims are not so generous anymore. This is because most of us still claim that since the army is responsible for their displacement they should provide for the people of Swat. I beg to differ and ask the question, who’s army is it? The army of Pakistan is not some individual and isolated organization separate from our state, it is comprised of sons, husbands and fathers of the Pakistani nation who are laying their lives down for our security, so instead of blaming them it is up to us the citizens of Pakistan to lend a hand. Its time we came to our senses, these people could be us. Also of note is the fact that there are up to 65000 plus pregnant women in the camps and there is urgent need for doctors, para medical staff and gynecologists. We must all do what we can to help our brothers and sisters so please do not hesitate to volunteer or donate.

The infiltration issue

Yes this is a serious problem as well. Without proper screening and as per reports on the BBC of militants now shaving beards to melt away we have to be able to screen the people coming through these camps to our cities. Although stopping them from entering our cities does cause emotional trauma but we have to also understand that every city of Pakistan can only absorb so much, so rehabilitating them in the camps and making sure they can return to their homes as quick as possible should be the governments focus. the recent Lahore incident is enough proof that all of Pakistan’s urban centers are under threat.

Religious ulema & parties

It is shocking, nay horrifying to see that most of our local religious parties have still adopted a position of neutrality for the militants. At one end the JUI is collecting relief goods for the displaced people and on the other end is condemning the war on the Taliban and urging the population of our urban areas to protest against it. Are they insane? Do they not realize that the displacement has not been caused by the army but by their talib brothers who refused to honor any accord, agreement or constitution? What are they suggesting that we all turn our heads down and stick them in the sand and the Talibs will go away? Nay we have already done that with the “peace deals” and it did not work. Although we must care for the displaced people of Swat under no circumstances should such parties be allowed to influence our populace.

Camp facilities

Although we all know that the government of our country is stretched to the wire as it is, there are some facilities not available in the camps which need to be there. For example PTCL has been kind enough to provide free long distance dialing stations in most UNHCR camps but can a private bank not take some initiative and install a small ATM plus cash withdrawel counter for many of these refugees are financially stable and would like the facility to be able to withdraw money to facilitate their interim displaced lives without having to beg for food. We must remember that although displaced these people are not street urchins and must not be humiliated because of this war at any cost.

Quick return

As the army has managed to clear most of the areas previously occupied by the militants it is high time that at least the people of these areas are allowed to go back home. Even if it is step by step the process of returning home for these people must begin as they not only have houses and crops at harvest time to care for but most of them have running businesses they must see to, normalcy must be restored to their lives and pronto.

Hopefully as indicated by ISPR and our President some of these people can start going back to their homes soon. I hope and pray this happens sooner than later as they have suffered enough for the rest of us. I salute the spirit of sacrifice in each and every one of the displaced people of Swat.

I also urge my international & local readers to chip in via the widget to the right of this post, I promise every penny of your donation will go towards this cause.

Filed Under: Current Affairs, News Views // Tagged: 3 million displaced, camps not enough, huge crises, more aid is needed, pakistan at war, sustained effort for rehabilitation required

Lahore attack, my 2 cents

Posted on May 29, 2009 //

Its the morning of the 28th of May, Thursday as I sit at work in Karachi checking my mails, answering them as fast as I can because of the fear of KESC quitting once again leaving me stranded without data or work. At this precise moment my telephone, cell phone and twitter go berserk at the same time. On one end is my office in Lahore calling to delay all shipments to them because they just heard an extremely loud explosion, on the Bberry twitter goes into overdrive as message after message screams the same thing “Lahore has been attacked again”

I turn on the Tv to horrific scenes in the civil lines area of Lahore, a middle class neighborhood where offices of the Capital city police and Rescue 15 stand next to the ISI offices as well as quarters of government officials. Terrorists had managed to get a suzuki pickup(truck) laden with 100 kgs of explosives there and blew it up with the effect of not only leveling the 15 building, but blowing away as many as 58 cars and window panes and glass fronts of shops more than a quarter of a mile down the road.

My immediate response was to call up people I knew in Lahore to make sure they were safe, followed by the realization that although the channels showed 23 dead the reality was far grislier as people on the ground told me. Even now the government estimates about 25 deaths while eye witnesses claim there were at least 200 people inside the 15 building when it went down. How many perished is anyones guess but a day after this attack many other details have come out which help me make the following analysis.

First of all, although officials may tell us that this attack was well planned and all, it was not. Infact the attackers did not even make it with their explosive laden convoy of death to the target which were the ISI offices adjacent to the 15 building. Why did they not do so? Simply because as they started firing at people indiscriminately and hurled hand grenades around they were attacked back, not just from the rooftop of the neighboring 15 building but from across the street as well thus making them halt in place and detonate their payload before they reached the target.

Secondly this attack’s responsibility was claimed for by the Tehrik E Taliban Punjab wing, which basically comprises of none other than the Lashkare Jhangwi and other fine folks coming under the umbrella of the TTP which is under serious threat in Swat. This was not a tit for tat attack by the TTP but an act of desperation from the murderers in mingora to bring the war to the streets of our cities because they are losing the real battle in Swat. Lets face it when the tide of public opinion in Pakistan swings against something like it has against the militants, it is very hard to swing it back and that is precisely what these militants are trying to do as they are running scared of the brave jawans of our army, who need I remind my readers are laying down their lives for our security.

Thirdly what sickened me the most yesterday and even today are the various statements coming from our political parties. They start out with condemning the attacks and then for the umpteenth time try to blame the events of this horrible attack on some sort of unseen hand. A few channels even went as far as pointing out that indeed “India” seems to be involved. This is exactly the kind of half arsed cockamamie shit that has gotten us into this dilemma in the first place. Who are our leaders kidding? Do they think we walk around with bandages on our eyes that we cannot even see that the enemy striking at us again and again is from within? What makes the blood boil even more is some of our leaders who still refuse to condemn the Pakistani militants and instead prefer to sit on the fence scoring brownie points and blaming our government for towing America’s line. Please if not for the love of your own countrymen then for the sake of your own bloody skin stop spreading this version of lies and propaganda, this is not America’s war those bastards targeting our cities are not Americans and the TTP is not flying a combined version of the India/Israeili/American flag, yes “they” are getting weapons from somewhere else but it is our Pakistani militants who are firing them on our children.

The long and the short of it is that the militants are indeed present among us and whilst we are on the verge of winning a decisive victory in Swat, it will take a long time to root this threat out. That is unless we tell our leaders to go to hell and combine as one nation against this evil from within.

I would like to think and pray that those who died yesterday will find peace and those they left behind the strength to go on. I would also love to pray that the attackers in Lahore wake up to a fiery eternal life in front of the maker in whose name they kill so indiscriminately!!

Other places to read for excellent analysis of this incident which cannot be found in our morally corrupt newspapers are Chup and Mosharraf Zaidi’s blog.

Filed Under: F.K's Life, News Views // Tagged: carnage at 15 building, lahore attack, solution or extermination?, stop pointing towards india

PCB has the warts not shoaib akhter

Posted on May 26, 2009 //

Although the PCB has had its fair share of gaffes in the past, it has really taken the cake this time around with the release of the now infamous press statement about Shoaib Akhter describing to the whole world why he cannot take part in the upcoming cricket event.

Its not just that they insulted him by disclosing a private medical condition and given his bad boy image caused more people to go tch tch haye kaisa Pakistani hay, but the way his condition was described to all and the fact that no respect was given to his privacy is more than alarming.

Seems like the PCB has it out for Shoaib and even though he has hardly been a model citizen by any description, to humiliate him in front of the whole world like this is totally unacceptable. Perhaps this is a method of trying to get him to bid farewell to them once and for all. Shoaib with his drug antics and the attitude did prove to be a waste of hs talent, but lets be fair when we say that PCB played a major role in his demise as well.

When will these officials learn? They need to take a quick course in media handling skills in my humble opinion, already talk is surfacing of a rift between the chairmen of the selectors and our captain. When are we all going to decide that we play, staff and support the same “Team Pakistan”?

Full Story

Filed Under: Cricket // Tagged: akhter humiliated, pcb releases a foolish statement, too much detail

Relief Effort for Swat Part II

Posted on May 25, 2009 //

Blaggers are Pakistan’s version of bloggers, people who are well versed in the latest tech tools and use it to market their own blogs around the web sphere. Some of these Pakistani bloggers are activists as well and are bringing about major social change by contributing towards relief efforts such as the ongoing one for swat. I got in touch with some of them in this regard and was amazed to see the effort being put in from behind the screens as well as their zeal for fellow Pakistanis. The chronicling below is in no order of rank whatsoever.

Teabreak Team & Sana Saleem

The famous chaiwalla of the Teabreak team ( incldin Asim & Bilal) and the bubbly ninja of the Pak blagger community realized the need of proper organization of the online relief effort earlier on, teabreak were the first to launch a forum for this effort at this address. What started out as a coveritlive event to bring together everything that was going on, as well as provide updates in real time from the streets of Karachi to the camps in mardan grew into various branch efforts such as the relief camp organized opposite park towers to an enormous and very effective twitter campaign where bloggers from all over Pakistan and abroad using the #swat and the #idp twitter hash tags pleaded, organized international as well as domestic support and generally caused a ruckus for the refugees of Swat. Current efforts by this org include an sms group using chopaal technology where people can join in by texting “join IDP” to 0332-4672255 in order to get in the loop and a merging of their efforts with various other bloggers like mazaydar.com who are offering free banner space for a year for donatees and the Swat relief operation in Dubai which is collecting money on international grounds for the IDP’s. In short the teabreak team and sana have done an enormous amount of work and kept the forum running for write ups to live events to info spread to followups for the relief effort in Swat. They have also while doing all this given time to the camp opposite Park towers and even now as we speak are out there raising awareness for the refugees in any way they can.

Dr Awab

The teeth maestro hit the ground running as soon as news broke on the millions of people fleeing from Swat to the camps. He was among the first to join the teabreak effort and started a relief camp of his own at his hospital to collect goods which he is as we speak is distributing by hand in swat. He has also been very actively engaged in providing the rest of us with real time reports from ground zero as well as many many pics of what the situation is really like in Swat @ his website. In a weeks worth of relief effort Awab has managed to raise a total of 2.4 million Rs which he used to buy relief hampers from Makro Lahore and loaded them on trucks to drive with, to Swat for distribution. Also of note here is the 90,000 Rs donated by Pasha as well as the team members accompanying him in this great effort organized and staffed by the blaggers of Pakistan. As of now his collection drive has reached the figure of 2.9 million rupees and still relief continues to pour in via the form of money and goods for Awab Alvi. Pics taken by him @ ground zero are here. His progress can also be viewed on twitter via the #idprelief or @DrAwab tags, overall an extremely touching initiative and effort indeed by this blagger!!

Other Pakistani bloggers (being updated constantly as per suggestions)

Mosharraf Zaidi is not only a brilliant writer and academic but is also running this entire site for the swat refugee relief effort. It is extremely detailed in effort and specific in statistics as far as informing and pointing out what is happening and what is being collected and where and how is it being dispersed. Well done sir!!

Kashif Aziz of Chowrangi fame is also doing a marvelous job in writing about the various issues facing the refugees of this crises in the camps and revealing how the NADRA authorities are busy fleecing them for replacement id cards as well as highlighting how the people are suffering as govt officials dance around new york. Chowrangi has always had insightful articles and with his focus firmly now on the swat crises Kashif is doing a great deal in informing the rest of us about the real picture. I salute him!!

International Blaggers

From twittering their sympathies to actually raising funds and awareness for the IDP’s as well as donating their web portals and ideas to this effort there are many international bloggers from Pakistan who are out their on the web working tirelessly for this effort. Kalsoom of Chup deserves a mention here as she has not only been writing about and for this cause but also updating us on whats been going on in DC as far as the swat relief effort is concerned. From Dubai we have Unaiza collecting funds for Awab’s and other efforts to Masarat featuring Pak bloggers on Dubainightline radio to raise awareness for this campaign. These are just some of the international bloggers with links to Pakistan who are striving for the swat relief effort, if I were to chronicle all of them it would take a few hundred posts, such is the outpouring of concern and goodwill by these ladies and gents.

Tweeps

There are some people who although not very well known on the blogging scene are very diligently involved in spreading the message of awareness via twitter, a social networking platform which is the current “in rage” killer app after Facebook. Of note amongst them are Sabeen, Discomaulvi, Bilish, Swatcrises, Ali360, Harisn, Jadoon88 & Asimimtiaz these tweepers are all at work even now for Swat.

PRAC

The digital presence of MQM has not been behind in anyway in not just monitoring the situation in Swat and providing updates as well as data for their organization and the KKF which as previously mentioned have collected an enormous amount of relief goods and money for the refugees, but have also been very active on Face book in the form of their members like Ali Raza Abidi, Ali.K Chisti as well as Rehan Shakoor spreading awareness and information for the IDP’s in swat and going as far as to recently announce a “Free” transport offer for any blogger collecting goods for these IDP’s. This is the same organization which helped bring abut the first national bloggers conference in Karachi and is now working side by side many individuals in the web sphere to provide as much help as possible for the Idp’s in Swat.

Obviously there must be some people who have been left out of this post and are doing wonderful work for the displaced people of swat whether internationally or in Pakistan. I salute each and every one of them for their efforts and humbly request that they send me data as well as pictures of their efforts so I can include them in this ongoing effort to preserve what is being done.

Long live Pakistan!!

Filed Under: Making a difference // Tagged: bloogers for swat, collecting aid for swat digitally, digital activism at its best, digital effort for swat, latest tech tool being used for swat, pakistani bloggers, relief for idps digital style, teabreak

Pride not glory

Posted on May 23, 2009 //

Since the conclusion of the Aus-Pak series in the emirates we have now won some accolades of merit, as the last series was played against a team who even without their top two players is more than a match for our prowess. The Pakistan team has earned a reprieve of sort in the face of their fans and the local media.

At the start of this series, Pakistan had really no idea of how they would perform, having played against minnows in the past few months and recently swapped captains again for the heck of it, if not anything else they presented a side still unsure of itself and stumbling through the motions. With the first match going our way due to some mercurial bowling by Afridi who has surprised us yet again, we all went a little mad expecting us to route the Aussies and jump back into the deep end of glory. Obviously this was not to come about as the Aussies proved once again that they are one heck of a professional outfit as they took the next three games from us, luckily at times but always coming out better under pressure.

Still Pakistan won not only the last match to go down 2-3 but also took the 20/20 match in style, outplaying Australia in every department. Therefore if we analyze in hindsight it was not really a bad run of the green for Pakistan, getting a new spinner Saeed Ajmal and an opener Ahmed Shehzad in the process, but we were never short on talent in the ranks were we? What we are short on still is able team management was as per past appeared totally lost during the course of this series. If our best bowler Umar Gul resting in the most key match was not baffling enough our eccentric captain choosing to not even join the team in the victory ceremony at the end of the 20/20 win took the cake.

So what is the game plan for Pakistan cricket? Management is effective only if things are in place top downwards and sadly right now we are still faced with too many external problems and infighting to ensure this. Did anyone in the PCB notice that our new captain failed to make any sort of impression with the bat? Or that his attitude was more reflective of perhaps a man who was not playing with a deck full? Numerous times the fans saw him grinning from the balcony as our wickets fell. Everyone knows he cannot handle criticism and is very positive but must he appear maniacal? Still as far as being brimful of pride and a little short in the grey matter this phenomenon is not limited to just the team management these days is it?

The crux of the matter is that Pakistan as a country is more interested in their pride than victory of a more intrinsic nature right now. Perhaps that is why we have been limping around ever since the Srilankan attack in Lahore and presenting excuse after excuse as to our security measures and our cricket. Our board is currently embroiled in yet another fiasco as they have legally filed suit against the ICC for stripping the world cup from us while it is still being staged next door.

This is obviously not the need of the hour, although our board does have a moral stand as to the issue, the fact that no team will be willing to risk their lives to play in this country is a truth which should not be lost on any of us. We keep saying India and Srilanka have the same security issues as Pakistan but we are dead wrong. Pakistan right now is fighting a war with its own people, who are trying to implement some sort of quasi religious militant government of their own over the constitution of our country. It’s a civil war we are fighting and among this mayhem cricket matches really cannot happen. There are not just team security issues that are the problem here, who exactly will go watch the world cup in these conditions? I as a normal citizen of Karachi get chills when I think about something going wrong in a movie theater and am avoiding even that much less a stadium full of people. Something going “boom” in a stadium full of people can result in a stampede and we all know the great exit points of all our stadiums and what chances they would offer to people running away in the mayhem. Will the helicopters being touted to provide airborne support for visiting teams pick up people who cannot get out in the case of such a scenario?

The plausible strategy should be to adopt the U.A.E for the time being as a surrogate home for our cricket and this can be achievable I think as not only the conditions but the locals are more than attuned and friendly to our brand of cricket. Plus the facilities in the emirates are state of the art and even if they more expensive for our board to stage a series will work for the team’s well being in the long run. We have to realize that we need to improvise with the situation going on in Pakistan and save our cricket for the future, so that at least there will be something to return with to Pakistan when the time comes.

However instead of positive strategies being thought off it’s in the news this week that a sports psychologist has been hired for the team so that they can learn how to deal with pressure better. A capital idea I say but doesn’t the management realize that we need a good batting coach rather than all these fancy shmancy support staff first? We failed 3 times as a batting outfit straight in this series, we were cruising in the 3rd match at 97 for naught and were trundled out around the 160 mark, and all this when the Aussies did not even have their star bowlers in play. I do think our captain and the board needs to see the psychologist first, once their head issues are resolved we can get around to the actual business of playing and winning cricket matches for Pakistan.

As published in the Friday Times on 22nd May 2009

Filed Under: Cricket, Published Articles // Tagged: cricket in pakistan, what is the future?, what went wrong in dubai

Relief effort for Swat Part I, Karachi

Posted on May 20, 2009 //

Ever since Pakistan launched a full out attack on the Taliban, a massive displacement of people fleeing the war zone has taken place. So huge is the throng of families fleeing the affected area that it is tilll now the single largest displacement of people in Pakistan’s history.

Yes, this is more horrible a displacement than in the Bangladesh war, or any other war in Pakistan. On ground estimates show a number of 1.48 million people in camps set up by different relief agencies, International donor groups and the government of Pakistan in Mardan, Buner and other areas needing immediate relief. This number is growing every single day as people are pouring out of the war affected areas any chance they can get, leaving behind everything that is theirs, some even forgetting to lock or bolt their homes as they flee for their lives.

Living under the open sky sometimes and sometimes in tents these poor souls have to depend on relief goods and aid to get through their day to day existence which is being gathered in all parts of the country, however nowhere is the relief effort more powerful or more emotional than in Karachi, which is known not only for its azure shores but for the generosity of the philanthropists who live here. We have seen this city taking the lead when the earthquake of Oct 2007 happened, when PAF C130s ran out of space at the PAf base on karsaz with the amount of goods people donated for the victims of the quake from Karachi. Now again the city is alive with the spirit of donation, everywhere you go you can see organizations collecting goods and medicines for our brothers and sisters in swat.

I thought I would do a series of posts recognizing not only the collective effort which makes my heart swell with pride in this city but chronicling to the best of my ability what is being done and by whom.

The first organization I have contacted for this is the Khidmat E Khalq foundation(KKF), the charitable wing of MQM which has been seen in full force throughout this city going from shop to shop in the shape of celebrities asking for aid, to donations from party funds as well as relief drop off camps set up all over the city. Two days ago I stood on tariq road and heard Amjad Sabri singing “Bhar de joli” from a truck as people ran to give him 5 Rs, sometimes 50, sometimes 10 and whatever they could to help the people of Swat. I saw an Umar sharif one of our best comedians cry tears as he appealed to the shop keepers by name to come out and open their hearts and boy did they come. Never before have I seen such spirit on this road damned by commercialism, never have I seen not only shop keepers but thela wallas giving anything they could just to keep someones stove burning in those camps in Swat.

Till date the KKF has collected around 3 carore 75 lakh Rs (half a million dollars) worth of goods for the relief effort in Swat. Five truckloads of goods were dispatched just yesterday on a C 130 from PAF base on shahrae Faisal. How do i know this? Well because I ask rather than judge and below are the 4 documents outlining what has been donated (itemized lists) as well as some photographs of the relief activities going on in Karachi organized by KKF. Suffice to say this Karachiite is full of emotion and gratitude for the people of this city and organizations like KKF without which none of this would have been possible. Tum sab ko sallam hay!!!

Celebrities gathering donations shop to shop with KKF for Swat @ Tariq Road

Khidmat E Khalq foundation relief camps all over Karachi, 14th May

Trucks being loaded onto C 130 @ PAF base yesterday, 19th May 2009

Next to come in this series will be a post covering the activities of the bloggers of Karachi and from all over Pakistan as they digitize the relief effort with the latest tech tools in their own special way, so keep the browser here folks & don’t hate but participate, Pakistan Zindabad!

Credits

Khidmat E Khalq foundation & PRAC for providing the data and the pictures

Filed Under: Karachi, Making a difference // Tagged: a city galvenized into donation, khidmat e khalq foundation, mqm helps swat refugees, relief camps of kkf, relief effort in karachi for swat

Aku workshop for branding and media strategy

Posted on May 20, 2009 //

The Agha Khan Foundation is hosting a Branding and Media Strategy workshop for non profit organizations.

Dates : May 27-28th

Venue : Karachi

Timings : 930 to 1630 hrs

Language : English and Urdu

Fee: 9000 Pkr

They will be accepting nominations by the end of this week. The nomination document has to be duly filled out and sent to this address:

D-114 Block 5, Clifton, Karachi – 75600, Pakistan

Tel no 92-21-5865501,5865502

Who Should Attend

This workshop is aimed at senior level development professionals who are responsible for strategic planning for their organizations.

Workshop Purpose

Traditionally, branding was seen as a corporate necessity. However, not-for-profit organizations who successfully “Brand” themselves, their services and products, obtain greater stakeholder appreciation and loyalty. As nonprofit organizations do not have the marketing budgets of corporations, they need to engage popular media to get their message across at no or minimum cost. The purpose of this 2-day workshop is to highlight the ways in which this can be achieved by developing a brand identity of the nonprofit organisations and by building linkages with the media.

The workshop will discuss the essentials of development communications and its effectiveness in dealing with media. It will also discuss media outreach, integrating media outreach as part of your organisation’s branding exercise and its benefits. The training will enable the participants in establishing linkages with media and provide better understanding of media’s expectations. Practical skills like writing effective press releases, conducting press conferences and television appearance skills will also be imparted.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

1. Understand the importance and benefits of communicating their organization brand to stakeholders.

2. Develop a clear market position that speaks of the core value of their organization.

3. Chalk out a Unique Selling Proposition for their organizations.

4. Integrate media outreach as part of the organization’s branding.

5. Learn tools to build effective and sustainable linkages with media, such as

· Writing press releases

· Appearances in Electronic Media

· Do’s and don’ts of media collaboration

Facilitators’ Profile

Tazeen Javed
Manager Development Communications

Ms. Tazeen Javed heads the Development Communications. She has degrees in Social Policy and Development and International Relations from University of Manchester and University of Karachi respectively.
She has 8 years of experience in the fields of journalism, development and civil society. She has conducted trainings, compiled organizational policies and procedures and assessment formats for building capacity of partner organizations. Her notable previous professional engagements in different capacities were with Daily Dawn, Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research, Geo Television Network and Interflow Communications among others.
She was the secretariat coordinator of the World Social forum 2006 which was held in Karachi. In addition to the day to day management of the secretariat, she trained over 2,000 volunteers. She also has the unique experience of monitoring general elections as an international observer in Sri Lanka and Ukraine. Ms. Javed has written extensively on social issues in Pakistani Newspapers and magazines.

Kausar Saeed
Manager, Capacity Development

She has to her credit more than 20 years of diversified experience of the developmental, academic, entrepreneurial and commercial sector. Ms. Saeed has worked in Inter flow Communications. In addition she has the experience of managing her own full service advertising agency.
She has also served as faculty in various Universities of Pakistan. Her expertise includes Marketing Management, Advertising, Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior. Currently she is pursuing M.Phil. Degree in Management Sciences.

Registration:

Please send your nomination(s) with the workshop fee paid through a bank draft in the name of Aga Khan Foundation.

Discount available for two or more participants.

Last date for receiving nomination(s):

Wednesday, May 20, 2009.

Participants will be informed of confirmation by:

Friday, May 22, 2009

D-114 Block 5, Clifton, Karachi-75600, Pakistan
Tel : 92-21-5865501,5865502, Fax:92-21-5865503
E-mail :

Filed Under: Karachi // Tagged: agha khan foundation event

Truth emerges about Benazir rumor

Posted on May 19, 2009 //

A huge hue and cry was made in our “print media” as well as “private news channels” and “blogs” about a well known American journalist Seymour Hersh saying in an interview he gave to an Arab channel that there was a death squad formed by Dick Cheney and headed by the now commander of American forces in Afghanistan which indulged in the murder of high profile targets like Rafiq Hariri and Benazir bhutto.

I wrote a post on this yesterday and was immediately informed by two of my readers as to this being a total fabrication of facts. Since then “Dawn” who ran the story on their website till yesterday issued an apology and Hersh has vhenemently denied any such statement.

In short Seymour Hersh has denied that he ever alleged or said any of the above in an interview to an Arabic channel, he says that although he has been critical of some us actions under Cheney there is certainly no death squad and that he has no idea or info about who murdered Hariri or Benazir. His denial is in front of the world in this article. In his words these reports of him alleging Cheney had some kind of death squad are “pure madness”

Goes to show exactly what I have been harping on about in several articles of mine on the integrity and the fact checking indulged in Pakistani media and print. The fact that any of our newspapers would publish such a story without confirming it from the source itself tells us what?

There is one piece of the puzzle still missing though, Benazirs statement that Osama Bin Ladin has been murdered, wonder whether she believed in something she was told to?

Filed Under: News Views // Tagged: Hersh denies such statements, rumors turn out baseless, there is no death squad

This is my leader