A key witness of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has been shot dead in Karachi yesterday on Khy-e-Bhukahri

DAWN: Khalid Shahanshah, the chief security officer of PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, was assassinated on Tuesday afternoon outside his Clifton residence, police and witnesses said. They said that gunmen on a white car sprayed him with a volley of bullets while he was stepping off his double-cabin vehicle in front of his house at Khyaban-i-Bukhari.

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“Of Spaces and Substance”, An exciting exhibition of beautiful photographs, the art work of a talented IVSAA graduate (2004), Sara Hashim opened yesterday for public at the Unicorn Art Gallery, Clifton.

To experience exhibition and enjoy the artwork do give this Gallery a visit, as the entrance is absolutely free without any discrimination of class or social status.

Note: Timings From Noon till 8 Pm (Except Sunday) - Exhibition continues till 25th July 2008. 

Unicorn Gallery,

Unicorn House, MCF 1-5, Shahrah-e-Iran, Clifton ( Near British Consulate), Karachi.
Phone: +92-21-5831200, 5877625,5877632.
Web : www.unicorngallery.net 

Founded in 2004 the “Karachi Vocal Ensemble” has appeared regularly at various events, including at the Alliance française. Its repertoire varies from madrigal to musical. They are accompanied at the piano by Ayesha Tariq and Hiroko Yasunori.

Program:

1)Waltz in F major (F. Chopin)
2) Sonata no. 17, 2nd and 3rd movement (W.A. Mozart)
3) Se lontan ben mio tu sei (W.A. Mozart)
4) Plaisir d’amour (J. Martini)
5) Consolation (F. Liszt)
6) Habanera (from ‘Carmen’ by G. Bizet)
Short Interval
7) None but the lonely heart (P.I. Tchaikovsky)
8) Etude no. 4 (F. Chopin)
9) Scherzo no. 1 (F. Chopin)
10) Veris leta facies (from ‘Carmina Burana’ by C. Orff)
11) Tourdion (P. Attaingnant)
12) Gnomenreigen or Dance of the Gnomes (F. Liszt)

Participant list:

Piano: Ayesha Tariq, Hiroko Yasunori
Conductor: Ayesha Fiaz Uddin
Sopranos: Iris Yang, Kazuyo Arae, Maartje Fiaz Uddin, Magdalena Khan, Sanam Saeed,
Altos: Ayesha Tariq, Hiroko Yasunori, Mrs. Lee, Ruth Bavington, Saman Shamsie
Tenors: Michael Menezes, Momin Zafar, Omer Jamil
Basses: Austen Freitas, Dr. Graham Platts, Arthur Rodrigues

On: Saturday 03 May, 2008
Time: 8:30pm
Location: Karim Administrator Alliance Française de Karachi Plot, St. 1, Block 8, Kehkashan, Clifton, Karachi.
Admission: Free passes available at the reception prior to the concert.
For more call on 5873402, 5862864.

This was a MOST fun sight I came across whilst driving through the Punjab colony area, from Clifton, onwards to Defence… A line of cows calmly crossing the street. Me, armed with my camera, of course did what was so natural - stop and click the scene!

Here’s something that never ceases to amaze me. The time it takes a cow, for example, to cross the road, would be enough to get cars and cars full of busy people going about their busy lives,  to honk like crazy. Few people would take the opportunity to switch off their cars and just let the ‘dairy on feet’ pass by. All this riff raff, running around seems a bit… inhuman.. unnatural.

I know I’m sound like quite the oldie here, but it helps to take a minute away from the fast paced life and well… watch the cows go home, every once in a while. And if we let them cows cross the road peacefully, then perhaps one day we will quite rightfully be able to look at a sight like this and say, “Hey Buddy! Mooooo Over, will ya?!”

Dawn Blog is reporting a sharp increase in crimes in Karachi. According to the report, Gulshan-e-Iqbal tops the list with most crimes committed (car and mobile phone snatching). Just about a couple of weeks ago, a neighbor who is a senior police officer was shown a gun and his unregistered Toyota corolla was taken away.

Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town reported the highest occurrence of car theft as 41 cars were taken at gun point and 100 were stolen. The second most likely place to have a car stolen was Clifton, where 20 automobiles were snatched at gun point and 64 were reported stolen. North Nazimabad came in third with 25 armed carjacking and 59 stolen vehicles.

With the political scenario obviously tense in the city, security is the first casualty and we all need to be one notch more careful.

Faris, at Emergency Times, tells us about his experience at two polling stations in Karachi, once in Clifton and on in Malir. Red more here.

At one, it was an easy task to vote, at the other, not so much, showing us both sides of the election process.

One of the most talked about election constituency is the NA-250, Karachi XII. KMB Election watch has previously covered NA-239, NA-240, NA-241, NA-242, NA-243, NA-244, NA-245, NA-246, NA-247, NA-248 & NA-249.

The NA-250 constituency has two cantonment boards — Clifton Cantonment Board and the Karachi Cantonment Board. Generally the areas of Clifton and Defence fall into this area

Since 1988 MQM has won this seat three times, PML twice and MMA once in the total of six elections held since 1988, including the by election in 2007. In 1988 an independent candidate with the backing of MQM had won after securing 48 per cent of the total votes polled. The PPP was the third with only 16pc votes. In 1990 elections the MQM secured 53 per cent votes whereas IJI bagged 26 per cent and PPP got 22 per cent. In 1993,

In 1993 PML secured 64 per cent as the MQM boycotted the NA elections. The PPP secured 20 and the Pakistan Islamic Front (PIF) had obtained 16 per cent votes. In the 1997 elections, the PML retained the seat with 52 per cent of the votes cast, and the HPG was the runners up with 41 per cent and the PPP had secured a minimal 7pc. Finally in 2002 Abdus Sattar Afghani of MMA captured the seat barely with (21,462) and leaving behind Nasreen Jalil of MQM with (19,414) with the sad demise of the Jamaat Islami leader by-elections were held in 2007 which were easily picked up by MQM.
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I’ve just recently seen this new Arabic restaurant spring up in Clifton, just beside the China Town Restaurant near Bilawal House. So last night a few friends and I decided to pay a visit to try it out, since there is a real dearth of good Arabic restaurants in the city.

To be honest, this addition isn’t much worth the hype either. For starters, walking in the room with one female companion whose first remark when we sit down is “i’m the only girl in here” doesn’t make for a good first impression. However, the menu’s looked appetizing, and they had a large list of sheesha flavors (exorbitantly priced, Rs. 250 for single flavor, and mixed flavor was Rs. 500!) So we skipped the sheesha and headed for the meals. I ordered the shwarma platter, which promised an addition of hummus and salad, I got a small serving with garnish and a spoonful of hummus.

The food was passable taste wise, despite the false advertising (the menu has a picture of chicken broast and fish, neither of those items are on the menu). That’s not all. I’ve seen poor service, on average, most restaurants in the clifton defense area have very poor service, save for the really classy places like Okra, but never have I seen a waiter so spaced out (or high on something is more like it) then here.

I could go on an complain about the fact that the music was skipping, and they simply let it skip rather than correct the problem, however I think that by now, you can get a sense of my disappointment.

Why do these new ventures invest so much money on making an ambiance and theme (that is obviously in demand in the city) and then spend nothing on training for local waiters?

Talk about interesting things in Karachi! This house is in Clifton and as mentioned in this Flickr comment discussion, it seems to have gone thru a number of changes. Any idea of what is the intent here?

Banks and account opening issues have been discussed in the past here as well, but this an incident that took place today which I wish to share. If there is anyone that can influence the policy dept in banks, please please please ask them to think about consumer convenince, instead of making an attempt to sound like idiots by making things difficult for customers.

I joined a new workplace in the end of Dec 2007 and decided to open my bank account today, since the month is drawing to an end, the company will need a means to deposit my salary.

It turns out that I am dealing with MCB Bank, and after filling out the requisite paperwork and doing a million and 25 signatures at obscure places, I was informed that my account will be opened tomorrow…i.e. the next working day.

Why I asked, and I was informed that my NIC will be required to be verified from NADRA (the issuing authority here). Seems logical, only it has already been verified a gazillion times. (I thought I saw the branch said “online” outside).

Plus, I need to pay 10,500 as a minimum deposit amount and when I told them I already had a relationship with their branch in clifton, they tell me they don’t really care and that all info will have to be re-verified and I will still need 10,500 minimum.

Why on earth? Would the person who makes these banking policies please atleast keep consumer convenience in view?

Oh did I mention? I need to pay 250 to close the account too if I wish to. (which might be needed because I dont’t see the point in keeping floating balances to the tune of 10,000 in each account just to meet their conditions).

What madness!