But this was surely out of the necessity as their new three in one telephone landline connection providing both television channels and internet broadband over the same single pair wire couldn’t possibly have worked seamlessly without better contact joints.

I hope PTCL understand the necessity and importance of quality service and continue to provide their valued customers with the service they deserve.

[ If you mouse-over the image it will give you the answer ]

” Above is an exclusive picture taken by a source at the entrance of Port Qasim near Karachi, showing US Hummers being transported out of the facility. According to the source, the shipment was not destined for Afghanistan. The picture was taken on Aug. 19, 2009 and being released here for the first time. “

[ credit : Paknationalists]

Nazim Karachi Mustafa Kamal has announced establishing “Karachi Development Trust” for the development and maintenance of infrastructure in city. This he did while dressing a gathering of thousands of employees of the CDGK, subsidiaries and the town administration. He said the funds collected will be utilized by a five member board comprised of non controversial and non political personalities. He personally submitted the form to donate RS. 1000 each month in the KDT account and added that if all account holders donate only Rs.5 in this account than we could collect Rs.45million monthly. Read more . .

The new American Consulate

The new American consulate was an unwelcome neighbour in most locations. It was previously proposed to be constructed near the Karachi Grammar School on Boat Basin. However, its security headaches prompted local area residents to sue for having it not built in their neighbourhoods. Consequently, it is now being constructed at the junction between M. T. Khan road and the Mai Kolachee bypass. If you pass by there and see two tall construction cranes, that is the site. I am highlighting the location in the satellite image below.

It so happens that this location falls on my daily route so I have been able to observe the stages of its construction from day 1. The construction activity is being carried out jointly with a Turkish firm. The structure has two perimeter walls, an outer brick wall with barbed wire on top, and an inner wall. The building structure itself is very solidly constructed with even the walls of the building being built of  steeel re-enforced concrete — in order to make it bomb proof. The location itself is not very cleverly chosen since KPT just constructed a flyover in the vicinity which can give an aerial view inside the perimeter of the compound. Not to mention, it is located at the junction of two critical arteries of the city.

The residential block?

Nevertheless, the American government has been given a generous amount of land here so they can construct offices as well as residences for their officials in Karachi. However, they should now try to be good neighbours and avoid being a burden on Karachi’s citizens. The roads crossing near this location are main city arteries and any kind of blockade of these roads by the American Consulate should not be allowed by the city authorities. Very importantly, the location straddles important public transport routes and mini-buses and rickshaws should NEVER be dis-allowed from passing this area (as it happened on Abdullah Haroon rd). Hopefully, once this building is functional, the citizens of Karachi will once again be able to enjoy the gardens of the beautiful Frere Hall in un-inhibited peace.

Storehouses for construction equipment?

Before parting, I must differentiate between American citizens and the American government (as pointed out by a commentor on my earlier post). The citizens of the United States can be of all kinds, just like the citizens of Pakistan. Of the ones who visit Pakistan, most would not like to live in such castles as the American consulate, and may go around to live in different hotels or even people’s houses. However, the American Consulate is an office of the American government and therefore represents an institutional entity which, due to its prominence, has understandable security needs. Since this location is being built from scratch, hopefully, the US government will be making sure that all its security needs within the city are being taken care of within the perimeter of its compound.

 

The KSA Gallery, another addition to the remarkable contributions of Rabia Zubairy in promoting art has recently opened at the Karachi School of Art with a vision to promote new immerging talent and to expose the art students to the work of senior artists of the country. The gallery is the only Art gallery situated in Gulshan -e- Iqbal a considerably convent spot for people and art enthusiasts living in areas like Nazimabad, North  Nazimabad, Buffer Zone and New Karachi F.B Area to reach for.   

The exhibition “Sentiments’ which is the second exhibition after the opening of the gallery in February this year is a group show of master pieces by noted artists including Marjorie Husain, Hajra Mansur, Mansur Rahi, Meher Afroz, Mussarat Mirza, Naheed Raza, Rabia Zuberi and Riffat Alvi.

At the exhibition the breathtaking artwork in acrylic on paper by Naheed Raza and equally vibrant in colors, in signature style work of Hajra Mansur in water color clearly added life to the exhibition. Work by Marjorie Husain, Mansur rahi, Riffat Alvi‘s art work in earth titled Big bang and oil on board titled human existence by Rabia Zuberi clearly stood out. While a few sculptures by Rabia Zuberi also added to the exhibition.

The Exhibition is truly a mix of sentimental, statements, emotions recorded by the master artists showing their command and strength on the medium to express them selves vibrantly through art.

The exhibition will continue till the 16th of May, 2009 and is highly advised for all art enthusiasts not to miss out on.

KSA Gallery, Karachi School Of Art.
ST-2B, Block 17, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi.
Phone: 021-4984167 & 021-4993471

McDonalds - Sab Sey Best Teacher Kaun? Campaign Billboard

Surely this is a commendable social effort, appreciating the hard working teachers. On the form provided by McDonalds the student has to write a short comment as to why the teacher should be selected and in order to complete the entry [possibly to also win the prize] they also share their personal contact information and school particulars, submitting these entries to the respective McDonalds outlets

Hundreds of Student entrants for the Sab Sey Best Teacher Kaun Campaign - Names and Contact numbers on display

The organizers then place these submissions on all their outlets but quite surprisingly have not bothered to concealing the personal particulars of the participating students. Their personal contact details which include his/her name, school particulars and even their home/cell phone numbers are publicly on display. Quite apparently a serious lapse in protecting the privacy information.

Contact information openly available

www.augere.eu

The conference held at a local hotel here in Karachi started off with great energy and enthusiasm, two of the front tables hosted a number of bloggers who meticulously covered the event live using a live blog applet, tweet feeds, and photo inputs trying not to miss out even the even the slightest bit of the details while battling a number of jittery but yet working wifi connections provided by the organizers.

The honorary guest, the IT minister Raza Haroon,started the event with a bit of a speech praising the role of bloggers and later presenting a DEL laptop to the youngest MCP, 11 year old and class 6 student at Mama Parsi school Umaima Adil.

Also present at the conference were Mr. Andersher Cowasjee and Dr Farooq Sattar. Amongst the key speakers were Jehan Ara, Dr. Awab, Mr Chawla, Urdu bloggerAmmar, Asghar, Raja Islam and Ramla Akhtar .

Although the conference adopted too formal a tone, it was overall not only a successful event but also a very positive and plausible effort to recognize, promote and support the blogger community by the government

The full proceedings of the events which is the replay of the live feed cane be read here and another follow-up post by Dr. Awab can be read here and yet another follow-up post here.

They have recently entered the Dell Social Innovation Competition to hopefully win the Grand prize of $50,000 for Project Karachi. These funds would greatly help with start-up costs for materials and such to help them succeed to bring this bounty for Karachi They need your VOTE

1. First, go to this website – http://www.dellsocialinnovationcompetition.com
2. Then, click the Register Now button and make a new account. Be sure that you check the “I agree…” button.
3. Next, in the “Search Ideas” box type in em[Power] to get to our project.
4. Once you’re there read the short summary of our goals and please click the Promote Button with the arrow on it to add ten points to our idea

That is the least you can do to support a creative project for Karachi and also Pakistan –