This picture you are seeing above is Cricket Legend Imran Khan who was mistreated by IJT Student wing goons of psuedo religious party Jamat-e-Islami and Administration of Punjab University when he reached there to address students about recent political crisis in Pakistan after Martial law.

If one remembers, this is same Imran Khan who first gave us Worldcup Cricket in 1992:

and then Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital for Cancer patients who are served free.

Regardless of his political point of view, one should not forget what he has done as a common man for his fellows. Trust me nobody could say a word if Imran would not have decided to build a hospital. Who are we? do we like interference by others? He had right to spend money and fame whereever he wanted. It’s a big big Ehsaan of Him and then several unsung Pakistani Heroes and Heroines who said Labbaik on His call and helped him to give us something which we didn’t deserve at all.

I have right to go against Imran Khan due to political point of view but what he has done for us can’t be ignored by any Pakistani. I feel we don’t deserve any good thing in this country and we were made to get screwed by generals,feudals,policians and several other kind of thugs.

Was Imran humilated? No. Was Humanity was offended? Absouletly Yes.

Those who hate Imran should have moral courage NOT to visit his cancer hospital to treat anyone in their circles.

This is not first time. Imran was offended at that time as well when MQM goons urinated all walls of Karachi by expressing their party menifesto in the form of Imran Harami, Imran Zaani and Imran Najaiz Baap ki Aulaad

The cancer which we have given as Pakistani nation to Imran is so severe that it can’t be cured in his own hospital. *sigh*

Technorati Tags: Politics , Pakistan , Musharraf , Imran Khan , PTI , Martial Law

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Twitter is a very handy tool to send short messages a.k.a alerts to a group of people who is interested to know your current activities. The best part of this system is that a person can recieve alerts by three modes like Instant Messengers, email and via SMS. You don’t have to worry about target medium. All is required by you to publish your current status or message and it will be sent to medium which was preferred by your twitter feed’s subscriber.

Frankly speaking I am not much into such Web 2.0 toys and I admit that despite of trying various systems, I never thought to use them seriously. Infact I am not so crazy of any social networking stuff like Orkut or Facebook etc. The reason I liked twitter is that it’s API provides you freedom to use this alert system according to your Interest. I made a brief note on my technical blog about using the API in PHP language which is obviously interesting for developers only.

Last night I integrated my blog with my twitter account. I found two different plug-ins and Twitter gadget which were quite useful. One is wordtwit which sends alerts to all my Twitter followers about new and updated posts. The other is Twistter This! which is like digg this thingie. One can now send Title of my blog post on his/her twitter account which then will intimate subscribed users of that particular person. Very Interesting stuff. Other thing which I added is Twitter badge which will let my blog readers to know about the updated status which I can set from my Facebook Account or by going to twitter site, otherwise they wil see the alert message of my new blog post. Something like this is on main page of my blog on right panel:

As you can see the text on bottom of badge, follow kadnan at http://twitter.com ,It will send you to my twitter profile where you can click follow link on top left and start recieving updates about my blog/[any other message which I set].

If you are a blogger and wants to reach to more and more people, twitter is for you. If you are a programmer like me, you can use Twitter API to utilize this free service with your web site for sending different alerts.

Happy twittering!

Technorati Tags: Blog , Web 2.0 , twitter

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Pakistan defeat India in 2ODI by four wickets and gave a perfect Dewali gift to Indians. Pakistanis also took revenge of T20 Final when Indians defeated Pakistan on occasion of Eid. Watch the highlights of thst sensational match. I love the way whole Indian crowd become dead at the end of 2nd last over.

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From IHT:

Three reporters from Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper have been ordered to leave Pakistan in the next 72 hours for an editorial the paper ran that used an expletive in an allusion about President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, an official said Saturday

This is not the first time, Christina Lamb was expelled in2001 when she was working on story against ISI’s guys who were blamed to help Talibans by aiding them weapons.

Reuters says:

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has ordered three journalists from British broadsheet the Daily Telegraph out of the country for using “foul and abusive” language about the country’s leadership, state television said on Saturday.

According to Pakistani Television Breaking News, foul language was used for both Pakistan and its leadership.

How true is that, I googled a bit about the root of all evil and found out the daily telegraph Editorial with title, Bankrupt RelationShip :

In the old parlance, General Pervez Musharraf is “our sonofabitch”. He has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis. And he has sacked independent-minded judges for fear that the Supreme Court declare illegal his re-election as president last month.

In short Telegraph blamed Musharraf to prmote terrorism by various means, also to create more instability and uncertainity by imposing ban on media,sacking Supreme Court judges and imposing Martial law. The reporters were not kicked out due to defaming of Pakistan. If Govt had any concern about Pakistan image, they would not have imposed emergency. My point get strenghtens further after reading comment by Imran Gardezi, Ministr press, Pakistan High commission:

The language used for the President of Pakistan in your leading article (”Bankrupt relationship”, November 9) is offensive and flouts the norms of decent journalism.

For a newspaper of The Daily Telegraph’s reputation to resort to such derogatory language is highly regrettable.

This deserves an apology

So it’s all about Musharraf, again.

Technorati Tags: Martial Law , Pakistan Army , Pakistan , politics , Musharraf , Telegraph , journalism , blog , news

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From The News:

A coded message said, “A particular contractor has recovered 120 ‘maal’ from the Lahore High Court and shifted to Kot Lakhpat godown.” Another message said, “How much maal the Ghazi contractor has so far recovered from a particular spot and shifted to the godown.”

Insiders said the code ‘contractors’ was being used for police officers, who were involved in the operation. The code ‘maal’ (goods) is used for demonstrators, who are being arrested by the ‘contractors.’ ‘Godown’ refers to a prison where the ‘maal’ recovered from a particular area is shifted.

Remind me the days when both MQM and Army in mid 90s used some interesting codes for each others. Names like Farooq Dada(for Farooq Patni),Nadeem Commando,Arshad K-2 were common in use in Media and among officials for MQM goons of that time.

Technorati Tags: Musharraf , Pakistan Army , Martial Law , media , Emergency , politics , MQM , blog , News

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(Ashfaq Kiyani: What is he aiming? What’s in his mind?)

There had been rumors for last 2 days that Musharraf’s own men are gearing up against Musharraf to throw him out as he has become pain in ass, not only for Pakistan but Pakistan Army as well. The rumor was so well-organized that Musharraf had to come up with something like:

It is a joke of the highest order

Financial Times has come up with interesting analysis about WHY Mush’s military friend will not let him go or how Mush keeps all of them organized. FT says:

He took care to ensure that the military hierarchy was consulted individually and collectively,” says one close observer of events. “The military hierarchy seems to be loyal.

But FT further says that Love With Musarraf or Sacrifice lives for Musharraf will be tested if:

That loyalty would be severely tested if the US and UK made the flow of aid to the military contingent on the restoration of democracy. Both countries have told the government that they are reviewing their aid programmes and Washington on Monday made a show of postponing defence co-operation talks with Islamabad, scheduled for this week.

I don’t know what will be the outcome of this battle. All I know that Mush’s advisers are just giving him wrong advises to corner him and *defame* him further. I would leave after quoting this excerpt which is 100% true.

While the Punjabi-dominated officer class has no compunction about ordering a crackdown in the tribal areas or in the Pashtun north-west frontier province, it will be a different story if popular opposition to emergency rule forces the army to fire on its own flesh and blood in the Punjab.

If that happens, Mr Musharraf may rapidly find himself short of tennis partners.

Image: Jang News paper

Technorati Tags: Pakistan , Musharraf , Army , USA , America , War on terror , News , blog

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Yesterday I came across this news on BBC in which one of the arrested Pakistani troop came up with following statement:

I surrendered because I realised that I was only fighting fellow Muslims,” said Shafiullah, a soldier from Dargai area.

When I read that, it reminds me several voices which I have heard many times who never got tired by saying that Mullah or Jehadist organizations just made money by sending youth to fight against their own Muslim brothers and they are misguided because they kill their own people. One of our well-wishers got so mad that he even made a movie by condemning everyone whom he disagreed.

Now the question is, who is misguiding these soldiers? are they being misled by Jehadists or fascists within government who are actually sending their own brothers to face their own brothers? It’s better you think of yourself and make efforts to find answer. The fact is that whether they are Talibans or Northern Alliance, Pakistani Army or Waziristan Tribesmen, there are things common between all of them. They follow same ALLAH. They recite same Kalima. This is the reason Pakistani soldier had to come up with something like that:

I surrendered because I realised that I was only fighting fellow Muslims

Saif is right. A true Muslim soldier will never aim his rifle towards other Muslim person.

Technorati Tags: Politics , pakistan , War on terror , Wazristan , Afghanistan , USA , America , Musharraf

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Musharraf imposes Martial law Emergency. I don’t want to say what Musharraf tried to say to justify this act by blaming Chief Justice Judiciary. All I know that billions of Pakistanis like you’re seeing above have been slapped badly. 16 corore Pakistanis have been offended by a Single Person. I repeat by a SINGLE PERSON.

Image Credit: The Age Australia

Technorati Tags: Pakistan , Musharraf , Martial Law , politics

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According to Newsweeek:

But newsweek didn’t tell the reason, MAXIM did:

Image manipulated by: Webresizer

Technorati Tags: Pakistan , Newsweek , Media , Politics , War on terror , Islam , extreemism , cartoon

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Shahrukh asked question about reliability of Web 2.0 on Facebook. What actually he asked was something which was not asked first time neither last time. He asked:

Do you think Web 2.0 bubble will burst pretty soon or it already did?

The first question comes in mind, What is Web 2.0? .Uncle Tim tried to explain the story behind it but that was too complex for a layman. In January I shared what actually is being considered Web 2.0 by IT geeks and laymen. After visiting the link and experiencing several Web 2.0 based systems myself, I came up with conclusion that:

Web 2.0=(Community || Mash-ups || Blogging || RSS Feeds || Big Fonts n Text || Rounded DIVs || Tagging||Wikis||Adsense)

Almost something like that right? You will find all or any of them or many of them in apps which declare themselves Web 2.0 complaint applications.

Now the question arises, what’s the source of Inspiration? what made Web architects to come up with systems which have all mentioned attributes. I personally not sure but when I see such things in web 2.0 based applications it reminds me Karachi’s Minibuses who have all or few of characteristics of Web 2.0 Applications.

The thing which you’re seeing above is actually one of many minibuses in Karachi. A very well-decorated bus. The decorated layer which you are seeing is actually called Chamak Patti in local language which means Flash-strip .These buses have several other salient features as well like high-volume unwanted Music, Supersonic speed, professional drivers who’re so professionals that they consider it insult to apply brakes. So what do I find similarities between Karachi’s minibuses and Web 2.0 or How Web 2.0 terms which I mentioned above are applicable on these mini buses? Follow me!

1) Big Colorful Fonts and Text: One of the main feature of Web 2.0 websites is Big Fonts,Text with lots of Colors. Karachi’s Minibuses have been using this feature for several decades. Writing Route number in Big Big decorated and colorful fonts like you can see U-5 here is not a Web 2.0 invention. Our very own Minibuses Owners and local Minibuses Architects came up with this idea which worked very fine because it was easy to figure out what that bus is all about.

2) Rounded DIVs, ColorFul Layouts and Big buttons: The layer of decoration which is called Chamak Patti is nucleus of a minibus. Just like a Design layout makes a Web site attractive or worst similarly the layer of Chamak Patti plays main role to make a bus attractive or worst looking. Most probably idea of big buttons and colorful layout was taken from these Chamak-Pattis.

3)RSS Feeds/Podcasts: You will ask how the feature of RSS feed exists in a MINIBUS?? Well, let me explain. what’s RSS feed? a medium to send you info continuously no matter you like all of them ,few of them or NONE of them. You have to accept feed entries. By keeping this scenario in mind, we can safely say that continuous and high volume cheap music in minibuses is NO different than unwanted RSS feeds. NO matter how much you despise, you gotta listen the music or cheap and vulgar jokes( FM-W11 fame).

4)Tagging: Now you will guys say that I will be failed to associate Tagging with Minibuses. Sorry to burst your bubble guys but Don’t underestimate our local talent. Tagging is all about.. ummm.. linking something or someone by writing few words or a word so that others could be notified about the content nature. Now how does it work in Buses? well very simple. Ever witnessed stuff written on back of seats? Things like R+S with cupid sign, if this is NOT tagging then what else would you call tagging? The R+S with cupid sign actually telling that R is in love with S providing no further details but it does tell nature of the Content that is Aashiq(Lover). So again, credit goes to our minibuses.

5) Adsense: Now you guys gotta say, Adnan Beytay, You can’t prove it!-Well why not guys? Any Karachiite who claims that he has traveled in minibuses and say he never saw mobile marketing agents then don’t trust him. He’s just lying. In Karachi’s buses, you would see characters who sell some product by repeating some pre-written content which they memorize very properly. Yes you are right, I am talking about those who starts with thing like ,Merey Meharban, Bhaijaan Qadardaan aaj k din mey aap k samney ek nayab cheez laya houn- Then they add customized stuff related to their product and when they reach to stage where they have to reveal price, they end up with thing like ,Kompany ke Mashoori k liye ye sirf x Rupay mey where x=Amount of product.

6)Wikis: Sounds weired? yes I also think so but our minibuses also act like Wikis. If you don’t know what are Wikis? Wikis are web sites where content can be edited by several users regardless of their association with content managers that is, you can add/remove data from certain website and save it. Update info will appear for other visitors. Our minibuses provide this feature by allowing users(passengers) to edit out different instructions written on walls of minibuses by bus owner. For Instance if it’s written, Apni Cheezoun ka Khud Khyal Karain so some passenger will edit it out and make it Apni Cheezoun ka Khud karain or if it’s written Khirki se bahir Sir na Nikalain then some Manchala passenger will make it as Khirki se Bahar na Nikalain and Safar Khamoshi se karain becomes Khamoshi se Karain.In this way our buses provide a great interface to edit out different instructions without any external interference.

7)Social Networking/Communities: Web 2.0 also provide a facility to interact with other users free of cost. You can chat with them, fight with them or whatever you want. All free of cost. Minibuses provide this feature by providing a platform to tussle with conductor, driver and other passengers. You just get involved with them no matter you are necessary or not which is not different than participating on blogs and Social networking systems.

8)Mashups: Mashups are actually systems where more than one type of applications are integrated on a single page. Usually Maps are integrated with other systems to provide a visual information of certain stuff. In Buses, the only way to have Mash-up is making efforts to get into Ladies Compartment. Do keep this thing in mind that this mash-up could create lots of trouble for you

So, that was all about Web 2.0 features in our local minibuses. Next time when you prefer your journey in minibus, do think once about the features provided by minibuses but Use them at your own risk. Don’t complain me if you are unsubscribed(Kicked out) from any of mentioned service due to your stupidity. :-)

Image Credit: Fazullah Abbasi

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0 , Mashups , Websites , RSS , AJAX , Karachi , Pakistan , Tafreeh , Masti , fun , personal , Minibus

Cross-posted at: Adnan Siddiqi:Let’s get technical

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