» Recent Links » May 2008

Recent Links » May 2008

“Economic Meltdown” in Pakistan → Riaz Haq on Haq’s Musings talks about the economic meltdown in Pakistan “Modern economies and markets are largely driven by business, investor and consumer confidence. The movers and shakers of business and investment world look to the national political and economic leadership and their pronouncements and actions for cues on what is to come. When they sense a lack of competent leadership, their confidence drops and the markets and the economies come crashing down, as has been observed in Pakistan recently” - Other links realted to economy on Teeth Maestro’s Blog 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 #
The End Of President Musharraf: How Soon, How Bad? → Murtaza Shibli from Kashmir Affairs writes on the much awaited exit of Musharraf he narrates an incident when Musharraf sought Geelani’s support for his new Kashmir policy he said “Bush and Blair are with me and they support this formula”, How ironic to have goons from the west run our country. Murtaza predicts that tables might turn around this weekend, but lets not hold our breath for yet another facade #
Pervez Musharraf Staying Alive → Arif Rafiq at Pakistan Policy Blog writes: ‘A headline this week in a Pakistani paper read, “Something is about to happen.” Alas, nothing did. There was immense speculation of the imminence of Pervez Musharraf’s resignation and departure from Pakistan.’ but nothing happened #
Ten years later - By Pervez Hoodbhoy → It’s May 1998 and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulates wildly cheering citizens as the Chagai mountain trembles and goes white from multiple nuclear explosions. He declares that Pakistan is now safe and sound forever. Fast-forward the video 10 years. Pakistan turns into a different country, deeply insecure and afraid for its future. Grim-faced citizens see machine-gun bunkers, soldiers crouched behind sandbags, barbed wire and barricaded streets. #
Baluchistan, as I saw it ! - Travelogue by Ale-Xpressed → Ale-Xpressed has penned yet another brilliant article where he shares his personal travel experience visiting the hostile territory of Baluchistan. Its definitely worth reading. #
Op-ed Dawn: Host-cartel support by Naeem Sadiq → Naeem Sadiq shares some views about the present political chaos #
Meray Mutabiq - 24 May, which exposed Shautak Aziz in the Steel Mill Scam → PkPolitics hosts the entire show of Meray Mutabiq (Dr. Shahid Massod’s Show) where he talks with General Abdul Qayyum, Ex-Chairman Pakistan Steel Mills. If you have not seen it, drop everything and see it Now or read The News report. Quite simply corruption charges must be brought up against those involved #
Independent Judiciary 1.0 - FAQ → This elaborate FAQ on the Judicial issue in Pakistan is a definite bookmark for all concerned. Ale-Xpressed has done well to pen down the questions and provided some good explanations for each #
Ex-chief of Steel Mills spills the beans → It has finally emerged, Shaukat Aziz, according to the Ex Chief of Pakistan Steel, was fully engaged in siphoning off Steel Mills at peanut prices ‘price of only land of the Steel Mills was Rs 40 billion whereas he was fixing the price of whole the project at Rs 21 billion’ More on Steel Mills at this blog #
The Judiciary Crisis - The case for and against restoration → Owais suggests to move on “As far as judiciary issue is concerned, I am all for restoring all but the political ones. Judges needs to be above partisanship but they have become party in the whole crisis. Those who maintained their defiance without political activities should not only be honorably restored but also elevated. Those who have become political players are too indebted to one side to maintain their independence.” But then it should also include the PCO judges who initially displayed political affiliation, why should we be selective in picking and choosing on only the non-PCO, many of the PCO sworn judges were fundamentally illegal in occupying the seat after the full bench declared the emergency null and void #
WeCite Blog: Breathing Space for AQ Khan → After enduring four years of detainment in his own house, Pakistan’s controversial scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan has been given slight relaxation. That he was allowed to go the Academy of Sciences #
Karachi’s beaches: terminally ill, soon to perish → Hoteliers from around the world have rushed in to take advantage of the city govt. selling away the coastline for a pittance, and now we find ourselves in the enviable position of living in a city by the sea with not a single public beach. There are no more beaches left in Karachi - there are a few pathetic remnants of once beautiful beaches - the rest have all been taken over by the military or sold off to private developers. Needless to say, they’re all walled off. #
Pakistan’s economy most vulnerable among the 25 large developing countries → Based on the latest available key economic indicators of the twenty five largest developing countries, Pakistan has the worst fiscal and current account deficit level (measured as a percentage of GDP), fourth highest inflation rate, and the second worst performing currency when measured in terms of its depreciation till May 9 against the US Dollar since January 1, 2008 #
The Urdu Internet and Making it Pretty → Friends at Bytesense have written a very elaborate explanation about the ongoing struggles we are having with implementing Urdu on the Internet, a very detailed analysis followed by some suggestions. If are to expect Pakistanis to embrace the Internet in any big way, we must ensure that Urdu font is easily accessible and readable, as our single digit literacy rate which ‘may’ know how to read English will get us nowhere, in terms of the numbers we hope to make an impact with #
Musharraf, “shorthand” for Pakistan? → An interesting description given to Pakistan by Negroponte Question: “Does the Bush Administration still consider President Musharraf an indispensable ally?” Answer: But it really is shorthand for the nation of Pakistan and it’s a shorthand for saying that we have an — I mean, Pakistan is in an indispensable situation in terms of dealing with the threats” #
US soldier refuses to serve in ‘illegal Iraq war’ → Certainly good news, but I suspect its just maybe a ploy by the Democratic Party to exert more pressure on the Republicans. I would have celebrated this decision any other day, but not so close to their elections. Ulterior motives are definitely involved #
Naeem Chisthi on Salman Taseer → Baithak discusses a little in depth information about the new controversial Gov of Punjab Salman Taseer #
Sex in Depth: In Pakistan, a dark trade comes to light → A worrisome article which sheds light on the upswing of the prostitution dens in Pakistan - Could the ‘maulvis’ of Lal Masjid be there to highlight a deep rooted causes after all they were after these sex-dens #

Recent Links by Month