If we recall that last month there were countrywide protests against the rising cost of electricity which ultimately resulted in an announcement by the Federal Govt to reduce the tariff, instructing all consumers to deposit 60% of the bill for the month of October. It seems that KESC has this month included the arrears of 40 per cent back again in this months electricity bills. Your comments and reaction to this reversal in decision in light of the crushing economy

Read more: The Nation

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A few days back Dawn had reported from a press release issued by the Karachi City District Government that our 36-year old mayor was ranked as the 2nd Best Mayor in the world along with Berlin’s Klaus Wowereit, and Chongqing’s Wang Hongju.

But what has suddenly turned into an embarrassing situation for the CDGK, is when Joshua Keating an editor of Foriegn Policy Magazine revealed in a blog post that we never ranked him in any way. This entire mess could have been avoided with some very basic fact-checking and now in response the Karachi City Government has also scrambled to edit its own website to quietly amend its text to reflect the changed position
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Yesterday, 12 of November, 2008 Oxford University Press Launched “Journey To God” a book written by DR. Jurgen Wasim Frembgen. The book is a revised English translation from the original German edition by Jane Ripken. The book surveys the whole Muslim world with special emphasis on Pakistan and India to understand the Sufi Islam as being embedded in wider and social and cultural context focusing on it’s concrete, practiced and live forms, showing how popular Sufism developed into almost ubiquitous mass movement, present in all levels of the Muslim society as a dynamic force until modern times. The book tries to synthesize the perspective and approaches of ethnography, history and Islamic studies to explore the different facets of Sufism which sets this book apart from various other introductory books available on the topic. The book not only address to the Sufi and Dervish traditions as a spiritual path following mystical teachings but also focuses on it’s popular manifestations as a ritualized, performance - oriented part of the local everyday religion.

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One hears so much hoopla these days whenever something controversial happens. Financial situation has gotten worse, many banks are rumoured to be closing down and cutting down operations, while commodity prices are reaching new highs. A lot of budget cuts are happening in case of brands, cancellation of campaigns, concerts and what not.

It was a high time that an event happened to shake this town a bit. Seventh Lux Style Awards did just that. Shook up some people and created lots of controversies.

LSA was postponed in August to be held in Karachi at the DHA Golf Club on 29th Oct, 08, with much razzmatazz and security precautions. Whatever and however the event was organized, one has to give credit to the brand for going ahead with the event even when every head in the industry was going this way and that.

I’ll steer away from the controversy wagon about who wore what and said what. That’s just an industry thing and happens all the time (e.g. Gia going bald). What I will review on however is: how I was blown away by the performance of Reshma,–a very well known Punjabi folk singer–Atif Aslam and Shehzad Roy. Their fusion performance received a resounding round of applause. Reshma also received the Lifetime Achievement Award and candidly accepted the fact that she could not speak English and would prefer commenting in Punjabi.

Yes, there were lulling minutes, when the power went down; heck, it’s Karachi after all! At least the audience didn’t have to wait for the ceremony to start for hours. Shaan and Ali Azmat did fitting anchoring of the show along their female cohorts. And for the first time, students from NAPA and NCA were recognized and four outstanding students (two each from NAPA and NCA) were awarded Unilever Scholarships.

Continue for a complete list of winners: Read more

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Cowasjee narrates his versioin of the (in)famous Zardari signature story at Mazar-e-Quaid. Simply love his last line. We shall now have a spelling-minister.  “Now, back to this September 12 when I went to the Mazar and asked the keepers to let me have photocopies of what had been written by the September 11 visiting ‘dignitaries’ in the visitors’ book. I was given copies of remarks recorded by the president, the Sindh governor and the Sindh chief minister. Subsequently, on September 14, I wrote in my column: Read more

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A very interesting development has taken place where the World Wildlife Fund Pakistan and Dawood Corporation in Karachi have signed a memorandum to collaborate for the establishment of a regular beach cleaning mechanism at Sandspit Beach.  Soon the City District Government Karachi will also be taken into confidence for the proper disposal of collected solid waste.

Sandpit beach is a globally nesting site of two endangered species of marine turtle, the Green turtle and the Olive Ridley, that visit the beach for laying eggs between June to December each year.  Due to the pollution the number of egg laying nests has continued to decline over the past twenty years

News credit - The Nation

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AT recently said that AZ should be the next president. This he thinks is better for country. Many see it in quite different perspective. For Karachi this might be a good gesture, no matter whatever is the real agenda. For country’s sake this seems shocking. What you think is the real reason Altaf bhai gave such a statement? Was it because of the reconciliation fever that seems to take on everyone in country or after sitting in power for 5 years Altaf bhai finally realized the attraction is too difficult to resist? What they say in urdu ki iqtidaar ka maza muu ko lag gaya hai. There is no doubt about the fact that no matter how much you despise the two, currently Karachi is in their hands & luckily/unluckily people have choosen them. With agencies always ready to get political parties fight each other do you think both guys are taking right steps for peace in karachi? Please also comment especially in view of the fundamental reason MQM was born i.e the fight for the rights of the Urdu speaking community in Pakistan (Karachi). Do you guys believe this cause is still alive or it’s dead now?

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14th August is just round the corner and we’ve decided to have some of the wonderful memories of partition related here by the authors and commentators. Stories which you have been fed by your grandparents or your parents, who migrated from across the border to begin a new life here in the country made for democracy and equal rights for ALL citizens. Stories my grandparents tell me often, follow:

My grandparents (father side) lived in Bahunagar and then Bombay. My grandfather used to have a tea stall which he used to run along with his elder brother, Ahmed. British army was their regular customer and when they came they came in droves and all the war chat would take place there, albeit in English, a language my grandfather never really understood except for the morsels. He also tells me, whenever in good mood, that Hindu banyas were also his prized customers and they would be very rich and very tidy in their manners and style.

Then they came to Karachi, Pakistan.

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That time of the year again folks, the exams touted as the make or break stage of any young student’s life are underway again. Inter exams for Pre-Medical, Pre-Engineering, Computer and Home Economics sections all kick started yesterday, reportedly without any “untoward” incident. Interestingly, authorities this time have enforced Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to help prevent the presence of outsiders within a radius of 60 yards of the examination centres and to avoid any law and order situation. However, centre superintendents told Dawn police force was not deployed at various centers making the implementation of the section 144 impossible. Most interesting, however, was the claim by a spokesperson of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi that not a single case of cheating was reported in any of 41 centres across the city. Read more

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The purpose of city nazim Mustafa Kamal’s on-going trip to the United States has been the subject of much discussion lately. All three major English dailies, Dawn, The News and Daily Times have carried stories on it recently.

On Monday, Daily Times reported he was getting “special treatment” from the State Department because they viewed him as a potential future leader of the country. The report in Monday’s The News was also on similar lines, it quoted CNN’s State Department Correspondent Zain Virje as saying that the mayor of Karachi was a “guest with a mission”. Daily Times also published the full transcript of the interview Kamal gave to Virje, and even though Kamal played down speculation about the purpose of his visit, telling Dawn’s Anwer Iqbal that he had come to the United States to urge American businessmen to invest in his city, speculation is still rife. Read more

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