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. (more…)

I do not think any resident of Karachi would have forgotten last years monsoon season. Well this years rains will have a drainage solution ready, at least for the residents of D.H.A ala the storm drain project. Civic planning has ensured that work has begun at fast pace, much before the rainy season to ensure that no water collects in the lanes and roads of D.H.A in Karachi. The pictures taken above are of Khayabane Shamsheer, which has been completely dug up on one side to build the storm drain leading directly to the sea, via sea view. Great work, may we humbly beg to have more of these in other parts of the city as well which are usually affected by rainfall?

Just a small recall of the times when you are on / near Shahra-e-Faisal and you are stuck in between a sea of cars standing still. You see an ever-increasing and endless trail of cars piling up from a point where your sight can’t even reach, after a couple of minutes you see a VIP protocol whoosh-by on the empty adjacent road and that’s when you feel like a…….. You know what! :)

Here are some pictures and a video… (a friend happened be in office (on Shahra-e-faisal) when he capture this on his cell phone, so the credits for the pictures and the video goes to Danish)

What goes down and goes up, but never moves?

Scroll down for answer :-P

Click here for answer…

I don’t know who took these photographs as I received this in an email. However, the pictures speak for themselves, ’nuff said.

Is this how we treat others’ hard earned money? Edit: I’m still dubious about the intentions though.
Ref: Link

What kind of a message are we trying to send here?

We do know that Shoaib Akhter’s been a controversial figure in the sports arena. Always the flamboyant paper tiger; he’s flipped the umpires, abused the opposing team and hasn’t left his own teammates in the same game. You can read the chronology of disciplinary actions taken against him HERE.

My point however is not to discuss his long list of misdemeanor. Currently, he’s been banned for five years by PCB for violating code of conduct while under probation period. Additionally he’s being sued by PCB and its chairman for defamation over allegations he made after he was banned.

Dr. Ashraf intends to seek “all legal remedies under the civil and criminal laws of Pakistan” unless Shoaib withdraws his allegations while Shoaib has already stated his intention to appeal against the ban.

Ok. Will this ban really hold? We’ll have to see. Because Yousaf Raza Gillani has assured Shoaib that the ban will be lifted and he would ask the PCB to reconsider it.

What is your view about this? Does Shoaib Akhtar’s playing capability outshine his notoriousness?

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I came across a forwarded mail a few days back containing some recent Pictures of Karachi.

Since then I was wondering that it doesn’t matter how much broken roads we still have, so many ‘kachi abadiyan’ and a number of failed and seized construction projects, we still have made it to the point when we look at our City it looks good, in fact it looks awesome!

Its better to take some time out from our fast lives, all the criticizing and a typical “Karachi daytime life” and spend some time to focus what we have that is really good and worth appreciating. Its good to put yourself in place of a bird and try to see the city as the birds might see it, not being a part of the hectic parts of life just enjoying the scenery. It might seem a little fanatic to be saying something like this “be a bird” or something like that. Its metaphorical, get the essence and spend some time of our lives into something memorable.

Take a look at a couple of pictures of sights in Karachi…

The e-mail containing the pictures did not mention any credits to the photographer, so for me all the credit goes to the sender of that e-mail :P

Yes, its ugly. And painful. But the reality is that PPP is going to be all over Karachi and there is little you could do to stop it. (more…)

In the last three months, the residents of our fine city have been fleeced by SSGC due to inflated bills. Reports of these inflated bills first started appearing in February and have now escalated to a full out uproar as many consumers in Defence, P.E.C.H.S and Gulshan - E - Iqbal Town have received bills upto 3 times the amount of their average billing.

Several residents including me have visited the lavish offices of the SSGC, only to be met with stone walling and various flimsy excuses. I was just reading yesterday in Dawn how a person was told by the complaint officer present that thousands of faulty “new” gas meters had been installed at residences across Karachi and the company was merely recovering its lost charges accrued over last year.

It is a fact that people who have switched to gas via kits on their petrol generators are now incurring equal to sometimes more cost of the power generated previously by petrol. Seems like there is no end for the woes of Karachiates as each passing season increases the load on their weary backs. Perhaps the SSGC is following PTCL in making a quick buck a la the Pakistan package. I really wonder which residences these faulty gas meters have been installed at? Perhaps we can dream that an audit will be carried out? We need consumer courts in this city and fast!! To stop these malpractices being suffered by all of us!!

When will those who claim to be our “leaders” focus their “demands” on actual needs of the hapless people they claim to represent? Take for instance this this recent report from The News. It quotes the the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) Karachi chief, Shabbir Abu Talib demanding amongst other things a two day official holiday for the birth (and death) anniversary of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

“The government should officially announce two-day holidays on the 11th and 12th or the 12th and 13th of Rabiul-Awwal” he insisted, whilst also calling for “uninterrupted electricity supply during Rabiul Awwal processions”, a “special cleanliness campaign” (as a part of which limestone should be sprinkled at roadsides, footpaths, grounds and garbage-dumping centres he demanded) and “high standards of law and order in the city” which would ironically include accommodations for crowds to proceed in processions without any barriers and prior permissions. (more…)