It wasn’t lights, camera, action but lights, camera, tweet/blog! At Kohinoor Hall of Regent Plaza on 28th May, 2010 in Karachi, the first of its kind Annual Blog Awards were organized by CIO and Google. Most of the KMB bloggers were present at the event either as nominees or part of the organizing committee (special mention of Rabia Garib) that has now become a stepping stone for the blogosphere of Pakistan.

The first Blog Awards received 207 entries for 41 defined categories, which were judged by 14 industry experts. Welcoming around 300 guests that not only included nominated bloggers but tech gurus and industry specialists whose input made the evening intellectually riveting.

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KESC has asked the citizens of Karachi to brace themselves for up to 14 hours of load shedding. The impact of this would really be unbearable for those small businesses and shop keepers who cant afford to have a power generator at their dispense. It will also have an adverse effect on petrol and gas consumption because people will use these resources to fuel up their power generators. Students, elderly people at homes, house wives, children thus every citizen will be paying a price.

With already a backbreaking inflation, financial crises, job cuts, sense of insecurity due to an increasing crime rates and ever increasing fear of terrorism this power crises would just add more to the misery of a common citizen of the city.

Oxford University Press today in a local hotel, launched one of it’s latest publications, Choked Pipes: Reforming Pakistan’s Mixed Health System written by Dr. Sania Nishtar, a book that gives an in-depth review on Pakistan’s health system and the challenges faced in the field. The author has drawn attention on a number of structural factors  both within and outside the health care system and highlights the need to bring reforms to make this system work better.

Dr. Sania Nishtar is the founder and president of a health sector NGO (think tank), Heartfile which is the country’s  most powerful health policy voice today. She is also a member of many expert working groups and task forces of WHO (World Health Organization). She has also been an advisor to the WHO  on numerous occasions, has published over a hundred health journal articles and is the author of 4 other books. She is the recipient of many national and international awards and holds a fellowship of the royal College of Physicians of London and a Ph.D.
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Following statement has been given by MQM in today’s paper on this issue. No further explanation was given on nature of “majbuuri“

Original Post:
Amid all the politically irrelevant noises media wasted everyone’s time in, there are few developments which many have ignored and hardly any channel seem to be interested in discussing it. This is about the elimination of the rule to conduct elections inside a party, which is a serious blow to the already fractured democracy we have.
Pakistan is currently under political occupation of the 2% feudal tribe and all major political parties have literally become the personal property of few individuals namely PML and PPP leading the race with ANP and JUI behind. But what was shocking was MQM’s vote to support this amendment which is quite contrast to what MQM has been preaching since 3 decades. For a long time now MQM seemed to be the only hope (at least on paper) against the feudal family affair in other political parties but has MQM joined the feudal voices lately or was it eyewash that worked for 3 decades before it also started enjoying the fruits of power corridors?
MQM claiming to be middle class, anti feudal party seems to have taken a U-TURN when it really matter the most and is a very disappointing outcome for the ordinary people as now the one man rule in parties has been officially validated. How a party which has no tradition of democracy inside its own ranks can claim to bring democracy to the nation, MQM’s support to elimination of the elections inside party has raised some serious questions on its stance on the 2%.

One of the most shocking example of this dictatorship rule inside parties is shown yesterday when Mr. Zardari gave party ticket to Mr. Jamshed Dasti (and here) who was recently forced to resign after his grand humiliation in Supreme Court when his degree proved to be fake. If there had been democracy inside party this nonsense wouldn’t have happen at first place. MQM by supporting elimination of elections inside party has indirectly validated “Dynastic Despotism”, like someone said on TV.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has issued order register another case against the National Highway Authority (NHA) and other relevant contractors in Shershah bridge collapse case. Hearing the suo motto case about bridge collapse, the chief justice severely reprimanded the police and inquired what progress was made during these many years in the case. The CJP ordered that another case should be registered against the National Highway Authority (MHA) and concerned contractors. In addition, the chief justice ordered the police to arrest the people involved in showing negligence.

[image: Mudsi]

One of the exclusive Nokia’s market research revealed that Pakistani Software Applications Industry possesses a huge potential and growth prospects and its local developers can do wonders in the industry if their exceptional piece of work is put forward at the global level. Thus, to recognize and promote the creative excellence of Pakistani developers, Nokia offers an excellent opportunity for them to participate in the globally launched, Nokia Calling All Innovators (CAI) competition by submitting their applications now and win the exciting rewards.

CAI competition is open to anyone in Pakistan with bold ideas and tremendous talent.  Whether it is someone new to mobile or an experienced coder, Nokia is offering new opportunities for local developers to grow their business.  The competition challenges mobile and web application developers to submit entries for locally relevant content in English or Urdu in any of these four categories; Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Productivity and Life Improvement. Details about each of these categories are available here. 

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The Karachi Matriculation board has postponed exams scheduled for 24th and 25th of March, after students protested over the delay in issuance of admit cards

Telenor Pakistan, a few days back called upon a number of bloggers, at there regional office in Karachi to introduce, and discuss their new campaign “Karo Mumkin“. First of all I was glad to realize that the company seriously believes in the potential of the immerging new media (social media) and respect’s the bloggers and the young generation who are busy day and night generating content over the internet for the sake of it and not for any financial gains, there are a lot of other companies who don’t realize the true potential of the social media, and how strong it has become over the days and completely ignore this aspect of marketing .

Coming back to Telenor’s new campaign “Karo Mumkin”, the idea is to give the nation some hope and ignite a fire in them to think of social change and actually making an effort for it by sending in their ideas to the company which will then take these ideas to a TV show where the selected few will be carried forward and a finalist will be chosen who will earn the company’s support to bring the idea into action. (more…)

A friend referred to me this interesting site: Azme Alishan, which I personally think is a good online initiative for all Pakistanis.

The concept of the website is all about being a part of a journey towards a brighter tomorrow. You can register to claim your own pixel and declare yourself a Nishan-e-Azm. Every pixel represents one more Pakistani determined to bring Pakistan back to its rightful glory. As pixels are added in, we can see a colored picture of Minar-e-Pakistan emerging. You can also participate by SMS’ing your AZM<space>Name to 5454 (Rs. 1+GST).

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Mustafa Kamal, former Nazim Karachi, and four other PAKISTANIs have made it to World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders 2010 winners list. Others include Amir Jahangir, Hamid Yar Hiraj, Muhammad Tabba and Umar Saif. According to WEF : The honour, bestowed each year by the Forum, recognizes and acknowledges up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.. It is indeed a proud moment for everyone and lets give full credit to the ones who deserve. These were drawn from a pool of almost 5,000 candidates, the Young Global Leaders 2010 were chosen by a selection committee. The 2010 honourees will become part of the broader Forum of Young Global Leaders community that currently comprises 660 outstanding individuals.

www.weforum.org

[image: bluechipmag]