On april 26, 2012, on one hand the SC had given a verdict against the premier while on the other people  supported the candidate of PPP in South Punjab in by-elections in Multan PP-194.

On May 12, 2012, in Kamoo Shaheed, Pakistan peoples party(PPP) held the largest public procession in the country by any political party in four years time. It was a real tsunami for real revolution. Independent observers believe that it was estimated to be million people show.

Previously, on October, 18, 2007, it was also Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP), which gathered about 3.5 millions pakistanis to wellcome Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, to support democracy in Pakistan and to oust dictator from the country. It was largest ever public gathering in the history of Pakistan. Quantity of people was record high and we saw that in general elections 2008, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as victorious.

Yet, again, people have expressed their solidarity with PPP in Kamoo Shaheed on may 12, 2012. “Kamoo Shaheed (border of Sindh and south Punjab also called Siraikistan)- Millions of Pakistanis (estimated to be two millions) belonging to Sindh, Sarikistan, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and other areas of Pakistan gathered in this area to express their support for democracy, in particular for the Pakistan Peoples Party and its leaders President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.”

But question arises why two millions people came out in the favour of PM and current PPP government?  I am not going to exaggeratre but fact is that current PPP government has resolved so many issues of our country. Though, there  was no good for PPP, when PPP came in power.

During the general elections campaign PPP chairperson Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was murdered in cold blood, by forces who did not want to see democracy take root in the country. And then a new government was formed. However, now it is being targeted by an increasingly assertive media, judiciary and army. The frequent suo motu notices taken by the Supreme Court were putting the government in a very vulnerable situation where it constantly has to fight for its survival. Who restored the judiciary? Who settled the long- standing disagreements over the National Finance Commission? Who guaranteed provincial autonomy through the 18th Amendment? Who passed the 19th Amendment and 20th amendment? While some people say that these do not affect the common man in any tangible way, the effects of passing such
legislation is going to be positive for the country — though they may take effect in the long run.

PPP government has facilitated people and thousands of jobs have been created during its current tenure and people are very very happy with this current government. People of Pakistan believe that this is the peoples government, this is the reason why  they have displayed show of power and people have announced their verdict on 12th may.

Prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani did not write letter  to Swiss authorities to re-open graft cases against President of Pakistan, because President enjoys national and international immunity under the law under the constitution of Pakistan. So, he got convicted to uphlod constitution. Moreover, it is not written in In the detailed verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) that the Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani step down or be removed from office or disqualified.

Only the political orphans demand his resignation. Infact, they are devoid of wisdom and they lack the wit to interpret SC detailed verdict, Two millions people public gathering and both houses’ resolution in the favour of PM. Political orphans should develop moral courage to face the realities, instead of pushing whole nation in trouble by highlighting/raising their own made issues.

This social media tool which is bound to take the market by storm will soon be available to the mainstream market. It comes as no surprise that digital media revolution is the next big thing, and if Face book were a country it would be the fourth largest country in the world. Having said that, there lies a huge potential, waiting to be tapped as far as the social media industry is concerned. As more and more businesses are steering towards shifting to this platform, in order to generate sales leads and engage better with their audience, a growing need lies in optimizing the experience of the brands with their customers.  This tool is the future of digital media and is inclined to shape the way brands think and devise their strategy to interact better with customers.  It has the ability to highlight for a brand what has proved to be the most engaging content or what has been causing its performance to plummet.

The in-depth competitive analysis allows direct comparison to be made with the competitors and determines how and why one brand is performing better than another when they belong from the same genre.  This dynamic tool is capable of extracting what’s relevant, meaningful and emotionally charged out of the redundant data widely available, and exhibit in the form of graphs using Face book’s Graph API.  This is done by drawing connections between various objects. The parameters covered in the graph include fan base, engagement rate, talk ability, interaction per fan, most responsive content type, best/worst fans, time band etc just to name a few.

This state-of-the-art tool is capable of providing sentiment analysis for lingual contexts, thereby offering a highly customized and localized sentiment measurement; which is otherwise made unavailable by the major competitive brands.  Moreover, this tool provides better tracking and offers profound detail. The dynamic tracking information is also available through one click. Furthermore, a higher ROI can be achieved using this tool. The social monitoring is taken to a new level as the efficiency and effectiveness of digital marketing can be measured in real time. This not only saves time, but is also cost effective and allows accessibility of detailed information through just a click.  Moreover, this detailed information is available for the non-admin side, which was previously made unavailable to the users.  Being a major breakthrough in social media, the tool would be the most sought after product with its ability to give information that we all want to attain but are unable to.

The Tool is set to launch by the end of May, 2012.

Hany Ghoraba, a journalist, businessman and political analyst in Cairo, describes on live audio, the years preceding, during and up to present Egypt, focusing on The Egyptian Revolution:

Live from Cairo: From Tahrir to the Muslim Brotherhood

The initial uprising began in Cairo, Alexandria.

Ahmed Salah, an Egyptian activist, public speaker and advocate of non violent resistance,  shared his account through photos.

On February 11, 2011, Mubarak resigned after demonstrations turned violent with clashes between security forces and protesters.

Bodies of some of those killed by the military put in rubbish by the military

One of many that appeared in the battles in Tahrir

Blood and live ammo, everywhere.

Tear gas canisters are made in the USA. They were not bought, but given as military aid. This is where American tax payers money is spent.

One of the snipers.

One of many revolutionary heroes that the whole world must recognize.

Amnesty International and The Egyptian Organization For Human Rights have documented extensive cases of human rights abuses such as torture, killing and forced virginity tests under the regime of Mubarak between 1993-2007, including the 2011-2012 revolution when SCAF [Supreme Council of Armed Forces] were granted rule over Egypt.

In June, 2012, Egypt will elect a new President.

Topics discussed in live audio : The Muslim Brotherhood, The National Day of Police, The Friday of Fury, SCAF, Tahrir, Khaled Said, Hosni Mubarak, Emergency Law, the 2011-2012 elections, and the culture, history and strength of the people of Egypt.

Hamayoon Khan simply steals the first episode of Coke Studio Season Five with his highly appraising “Lar Sha Pekhawar” with a saccharine Pashto accent and splendid vocals.

It’s a love song that depicts true feelings of a girl who is asking her beloved to go to Peshawar and bring her a black shirt and a three or four flowers for her. The mere beauty and magnificence of the song lies in its rich and intense lyrics that truly represent and inculcate a feel of rich Pashto culture and language. The song “Lar Sha Pekhawar” has been performed by numerous Pashtu and Afghani artists. The same song has been sung by Pashto legend Gulnar Begum and was a part of Pashto film “Naway Da You Shpay”. It was picturised on actress Nimmi and music was composed by legendary musician Munir Sarhadi. The song has also been sung by Pashto singer Noor Jehan in a different style. The tune of the song has been copied to Urdu version of Shehzad Roy’s song “Tujhko Qasam hey Meri Na Aana hath Khali” too. Afshan Zebi from Hazara has also sung this song, but one would find a lot of Hindko language trace in her singing of this song. Pashto singer Nadia Gul has also sung the same song in one of her performances. With some altered lyrics like “Lar Sha Nangarhar Ta”, the legend Ahmed Zahir has also sung it but in a bit gloomy style.

The beautiful song belongs to a genre of most popular and most ancient form of Pashto poetry known as “Tappa”. This form of Pashto poetry is very famous and one would find thousands of Tappas in Pashto language with diverse themes of love and severance. Most of these Tappas have been sung and composed by many Pashto speaking singers. Originally, Tappa was composed without musical instruments, but today a lot of experimentation with different musical instruments has made it even more popular with some more aura and charisma.

The CS song starts with some western music and in the middle some beautiful Rubab played by Sadiq Sameer is also heard. One would also see Babar Khanna on Dholak, Farhad Humayun on drums, Zoe and Rachel as backing vocalists and Asad on guitar too. The Coke studio version of this Pashto song is a soulful and poignant melody with a totally innovative and novel western fusion. It is difficult to compare the same song sung by many singers, but the CS version remarkably captures an intimacy of Pashto music, and marks a modern day rhythm that truly embarks the subtlety of Pashto music, by adding more instrumentation and dimension to it, with an alluring and tempting performance.

Keep it up Coke Studio!

Image Courtesy: Coke Studio

Is Hollande’s program, based on increasing government expenditures and raising taxes in order to stimulate growth, what the situation calls for? The current assessment is that it is not enough, and that he will have to make drastic cuts to government expenses, improve tax collection, and implement

In an interview a few weeks ago, Nicolas Sarkozy, playing on the statement often attributed to Louis XV, said that he didnât expect a deluge to come after him. To judge by the election results, it seems that the French electorate shared his assessment and decided to entrust its future for the next five years to socialist François Hollande. Sarkozy thus joins a long line of heads of state in the EU who, since the start of the economic-financial crisis, have failed to be reelected to a second term. The reasons for Sarkozy’s failure were not only his leadership, personality, and lifestyle, which infuriated many, but more particularly his inability to implement even a fraction of his economic program. His successor now faces the difficult mission of extricatingFrance from the crisis.

As a direct result of the economic crisis, which has made the French public anxious and uncertain about its socioeconomic future, the question of Muslim immigration and integration was brought to the fore, as was the discussion of French identity popularized by Sarkozy. The constraint that dictated the handling of these issues (in addition to the Toulouse terrorist attack) was the rising support for Marine Le Penâs far right party, which fed on the anxieties of the public looking for scapegoats for the deteriorating economic situation. Le Penâs successes indicate a public willingness to support populist solutions, a growing worrisome trend among other European nations.

During his presidency Sarkozy also tried to leave his stamp on security and foreign affairs (which were largely pushed aside in the election campaign). In terms of continuity in several issues (the nuclear policy, the Mediterranean dimension, and relations with the Arab world, for example), Sarkozy responded to certain situations and adapted policies to changing  circumstances, leaving behind an impression of opportunism and  improvisation.

The 80 percent of respondents in a May 2011 public opinion poll who said that Franceâs international standing had been weakened, and the May 2011 letter by a group of diplomats to a French newspaper about the disappearing voice of France, claiming that improvisation was dictating French policy, reflect Sarkozyâs failure in security and foreign affairs. At the same time, it is doubtful if any other policy could have reclaimed the lost French influence in the international arena.

An examination of the president-electâs statements and platform show that any change expected in foreign relations will be in style more than in content. Regarding Iran, for example, Hollande has made it clear that alongside negotiations with the international community Iran must be made to understand, via sanctions, that France is opposed to Iran attaining nuclear weapons. Hollande expressed opposition to a military operation. In terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hollande (who is considered pro-Israel) expressed support for Israelâs security and the two-state solution. The pro-Palestinian bias in the socialist party will hopefully not affect the ongoing trend of separating disagreements on the conflict (disagreements that will not be resolved) from expanding bilateral relations.

More than Hollande having won the election, it was Sarkozy who lost his bid to provide the French public with a sense of socioeconomic security and hope for a better future. It is doubtful whether at a time of economic crisis and growing unemployment Hollande will get the one hundred days of grace accorded most new leaders. The urgent task that will determine hispolitical fate will be to  extricate France from the economic-financial crisis in which it now founders.

Tipping Point, a coincident, ‘secret hand’ tapping and all such things seem logical when I try  go in depth about triggering of Khan’s Tsunami.

I have pondering over rising and surprisingly expanding popularity of Imran Khan and Tehrik e Insaf for last few days. Even common people are looked excited over Khan’s political charisma offline and online.

But what’s the genuine reason behind all these updates?

Anyway, it’s not easy to find this out in Pakistan’s web of political participles.

After thinking about it in a couple of ‘alone’ sessions, I guess that I have come to a conclusion! Two factors are the cornerstones in making PTI a trend of masses and a new beacon of hope in Pakistan politics.

After I share these two factors, I am hopeful that you would be agreeing with me too:

Simplicity of Message

Just one simple message over and over and over and over again that could be understood by even a labour!  The simple message is “Status Quo needs to be broken” and a “Tsunami of Change” is only capable for this. Of course, Tsunami of Change is linked intelligently and deliberately with Imran and PTI.

Consistency of Message

Repeating, repeating and repeating the same message here, there and everywhere by skillfully utilizing all media tools. The same message is being consistently channelized into the minds of people by every and single person of PTI.

This two-prong strategy is analogous to what Obama did four years back in US 2008 campaign where he became a symbol of change with his simple and consistence message.

The simplicity and consistency made Obama, the president of United States.

But in Imran’s case would the result be same too or not? We have to wait to get the answer.

Though the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz has begun its protest movement against the Pakistan People’s Party led government following the conviction of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt case, virtually there has been no opposition party in both Senate and the National Assembly that could squeeze the government to improve governance over the last four years.

The PML-N, major opposition party, on several occasions supported the PPP government and even when Mr Gilani had lost majority in the National Assembly after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) quit the ruling coalition, Nawaz Sharif came forward to save the government on the pretext of saving democratic system.

But, there has been an opposition, though. The man who emerges on country‘s leading TV channel at 10:05 pm has been causing anxiety among the ranks of Bhuttos’ party. Yes buddies!, I mean Kamran Khan, who unearthed several corruption cases and stand by the country’s top court in every thick and thin until the court convicted Gilani with contempt.

Usually, you will find most of the Pakistani TV anchors staging almost same kind of programs, trying to pit their guests, often politicians, against each other.  Most of the anchors try to copy Hamid Mir, one of the top Pakistani journalists. As you saw when Mir raised Balochistan issue and most of the anchors followed him.

But, this is not the case in Khan’s show, you will always find him telling the people in his energetic voice how the corrupt ministers and government officials are plundering the national wealth. Kamran Khan, who is dubbed as King Khan in several comedy shows, is a real king of Pakistan’s populist media. He kept informing the people on daily basis about Supreme Court proceedings into several corruption cases like, Haj corruption, Rental Power case, Steel Mills case, Ephedrine case, NRO and NRO implementation and several other cases. He kept telling the people how the Supreme Court orders were being defied.

He was who kept emphasizing government to implement court orders. You might watch the show on the eve of the Yousuf Raza Gilani’s conviction in contempt case, in which Khan took federal minister Qamar Zaman Kaira online.

Kaira tried to humiliate Mr Khan by alleging that he was bias. The minister also tried to enforce that the politicians had the right to carry out corruption as they were the representatives of people.

It doesn’t make any difference!  Almost all the anchor persons compromised on their stances due to one reason or other and tried to hide behind the democracy, but, Kamran Khan never changed and I hope he will continue his efforts to rid the country of bed governance, corruption and exposing corrupt politicians.

I hope the “King Khan” would never succumb to any pressure from power corridors.

Nowadays it is well-known that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can give new opportunities for development to everybody. Yet, lack of access to them in developing countries create difficulties to people for individual and social advancement as well. Women in developing regions occupy the highest level of the digital gender divide because of huge responsibilities for their families and kids at home that causes challenges for them in education, employment, participation in governance and business. Women have always had important role in educating our young children and developing our societies it is obvious that empowering them with new tools and values will surely help them contribute to the competitiveness of our economies and to building new generation which can fully understand the new challenges of the technological world of the developing regions. Needless to say that today there are many barriers to women’s access to ICT especially in developing regions because ICT is considered by the majority of people as a primarily male industry. Women are underrepresented among ICT users and very rarely work as developers.  In some countries cultural norms and even concerns over personal safety may make it difficult for women to attend training courses.

Over the last twenty years many intervention programmes have been implemented to increase the number of women in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) profession. In 1995, the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) recognized the growing influence of ICT in development and the importance of women’s participation in discussions regarding its integration globally. To that end, they established a Gender Working Group to address the significant gender issues from access to control. The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UN ICT Task Force Secretariat released a report in 2002 that focused on ICTs as tool to advance and empower women. When the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was established, a Gender Caucus was created to ensure women had a seat at the table and a voice in the room. The research showed that in developing countries women enjoy fewer benefits from ICTs than men, it is also found that gender-based obligations, societal biases, and even physical strength can restrict women’s ability to learn about or use of new technologies. i.e;

• Women are responsible for running households, they are less mobile and have less free time than men, and therefore cannot easily take advantage of training and other resources;
• Male students discourage female students from accessing computers in labs by pushing them out of line;
• ICT use can shift family dynamics and the balance of power, causing conflict in the home which can lead to arguments, violence, divorce, and even death;
• Women often feel uncomfortable or annoying when visiting internet cafes on their own.

Women in developed countries are using ICT to expand their mission, drive their passion to improve the world form the grass roots. There is a growing reality that women’s engagement in ICTs is important for multiple forms of development, including social and political justice as well as economical development. However presently, the ICT sector does not take full advantage of female talent in developing countries. This is bad for the sector and bad for those women who could create new opportunities for themselves and their families with the ICT jobs that deliver better salaries and career paths than most other sectors. Despite the obvious benefits, many women never consider a career in ICTs particularly in developing countries because there is a lack of awareness among students, teachers and parents on what a career in ICT could offer.

A few days ago one Uzair Baluch proudly sitting with a Turban on a Pakistani TV channel is seen sitting in lavish surrounding of his home. Seated proudly he boasted about the grace of god but failed short of mentioning the grace of his henchmen who have kept the city of Karachi by its throat in the last few years to make him a rich man.

When I am writing this piece only 50 of the 300,000 AK 47’s distributed by PPP government’s main fall guy Zulfiqar Mirza has been recovered. 9 days later only 6 henchmen are dead, 20 arrested. Uzair looks as defiant as ever. Round 1 has ended. Sorry to say but Police has failed to make much ground. A reporter categorically said after spending PKR 10.0 Million in this time 98% of the ammunition got wasted.

Pakistan’s interior minister has widened the doubt on TTP and BLA separatists. Looks like Round 2 should be a bigger offensive otherwise. The level of defiance shown by the armed men of Lyari would unsettle a lot of nerves in the city in case the law enforcement elements fail.

Whilst many might be accusing political rivalry within PPP or blaming others for this operation; the fact of the matter remains that being closest to the port and the sea belt of Karachi. This area of Lyari has been a major conduit for smuggling from abroad and for destination within Pakistan as the area also holds one of the largest Truck port as well.

Being next to the financial hub of I.I. Chundrigar road, next to the largest commercial market, closeness to Northern Bypass/Lyari Expressway and its proximity to the port makes the need of a serious operation there a must for both civil and defense purposes especially after the revelation of TTP and anti Pakistan BLA having grounding over there.

Whilst we should not forget that how Zulfiqar Mirza used People’s Aman Committee’s henchmen to unleash terror on the city of Karachi just a few months ago and massacred, maimed, raped and looted people of the heart of Pakistan for his own lust of power. Interestingly the master mind is off the scene. I am sure pulling the strings from rear.

As for Uzair Baluch who I feel thinks that he is the Robin Hood of Lyari fails to demonstrate that he read the full legend that Mr. Hood lived with his people and never lived a rich life as he gave everything back to the poor. Since he is involved in extortion, kidnapping, murder and smuggling. He by partaking a little and that too may be to the so called supporters manages to live a lavish life on his own. Doesn’t make sense isn’t it.

There is no doubt that Lyari deserved better from its leadership especially PPP. They after being so many times in power failed to develop this area and I am sure out of selfish reasons and may be incapability to deliver as well. Since they have always seen the poor and talented people of Lyari only as infantry and nothing else. In my view, they think that with a full stomach and equal opportunity they would and might exercise their right to choose their representatives intelligently and that may see PPP loose its only stronghold in Karachi. This strategy may have worked for them but is unfortunate for the poor of Lyari.

But what ever we might say. Lyari operation has to be done rightly without any foul play as its future would determine the future course of peace in Karachi. The government and the army should not undermine the strategic importance on the peace of Karachi due to Lyari; as I feel & I hope I am wrong. This might start a wrong trend in the city and with the current polarization in the city. This would be detrimental for the future of Karachi & Sindh. Wishing for a swift action and praying that the innocent of Lyari shall prevail for their betterment and a better Karachi.