Herding donkeys, Rannikot

Herding donkeys, Rannikot
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Via Flickr:
I found one of the Gabol women herding water from the Runni stream under the shadows of the fort during one of my trips to Rannikot. As a photographer it is a joy to shoot such traditional people going about their age old works.

Britney as Jamila: Afghan elections goes awry

Funniest thing to have happened in a week is this: One Afghan election card has a photograph of a blond Britney Spears next to a name which says 'Jamila', a fairly common Muslim name. If it had been James Bond as Muala Buksh or Beckham as Barish Khan, it could have been missed by a lot of men at Afghan polling station. But to make Britney into Jamila is taking things to far. And I am not sure if Britney really enjoyed that sort of name changing and even nationality changing.

Such picture, though being hilarious, nevertheless proves beyond doubt that Afghan polls are total sham. And USA, of all the countries, wishes to save its face on Afghan democracy reforms. I am not sure who will win - one which is supported by USA will win - but whoever does will have to face lots of criticism over the conduct of this elections - and probably lot of Britneys as nightmare.

I hope, for once in a century, rigging at Afghan polls are not connected to Pakistan or its intelligence agency, ISI. Pakistan has been a kicking bag for much of American media. And Indians have ridden the wagon on and off. I am yet to hear someone suggest that Pakistan may be involved. It is good news so far. And we hope it remains as such.

Of Pirs and Hobbies

Recently, while searching for some item at google.com, I came across a very self-centered website of an incredibly self-centered political and religious leader, Pir Pagara.

His personal website, http://www.pirpagara.com, displays his hobbies in no nonsense terms. It states, under the grand title: [http://www.pirpagara.com/hobbies.htm]

HORSE RACING - SPORT OF KINGS

* Pir Sahib is very fond of Hunting some areas as Awadh is reserved for.

* Pir Sahib hunting where no body else is allowed to hunt.

* Pir Sahib is very fond of horses and horse racings. He has many horses of high breed, which often win the races Karachi race club has been restored only with Pir Sahib's efforts.

* Forecasting is also hobby of Pir Sahib. His Political forecast often comes true.

No wonder than that most of the Pakistanis, under such Pirs and Faqeers, remain illiterate and highly charged, senseless people. No wonder that Pakistan today finds itself under immense pressure from all fronts. When our so-called great leaders have over the head hobbies such as stated above, Pakistanis can safely go to the doldrums.

Murdering Baluchistan

Baluchistan, since its emergence as a Pakistani state, has been in the think of things. It has been bombed, its people have been tortured and killed; and its chiefs have dis-allowed any semblance of civilization to its people. Baluchistan remains Pakistan's backyard with all the dirt and the garbage of Punjab and its other elite classes, the Military and the civil bureaucracy (most of which happens to be from Punjab as well).

No wonder then whenever something happens in Baluchistan Punjab gets the finger. So it should be. Except for Bhutto's indiscriminate killing of Baluchis during 1970's, most of the happenings in Baluchistan have come via Punjab.

For one, the strange reasons about not building any number of small dams in Baluchistan are too well unknown. So is the habit of federal government of not promoting any sort of tourism inside the province. And when it comes to share distribution, once again Punjab takes the major cake. The cake which should preferably go to Baluchistan considering its vast mineral and petroleum wealth.

Such grievances gets an air when leaders of this province are kidnapped and murdered in cold blood. I don't know the names of the Baloch leaders murdered nor do I know their importance to the province except that one of them was following the case of missing persons belonging to Baluchistan. He was due to appear in the court soon, I am told. If that is the case, then one must point fingers at our own Military Intelligence, IB and ISI rather than go for Indian RAW or Afghani agencies. After all, kidnapping and reselling of primarily Baloch and Pathan men have been the work of our agencies and not someone else. This killing could have been the work of someone else, just to malign our agencies, but the possibilities are dim. CJ is already looking into the matter hard.

I will, meanwhile, keep my fingers crossed until I know the hard facts. But if the killers are not found, Baluchistan will burn badly. It is already burning and I am really not sure where are my Pathan and Baloch friends at the moment.

Long March farce

If Mr. Aitizaz Ahsan, chief proponent of independent judiciary by which he primarily means Ch. Iftikhar, the former CJ of Pakistan, wishes to save his face he needs to concentrate on the idea that Mr. Nawaz Sharif is salable and is a useless drum beater. On one side Mr. Nawaz acts as if he is a Islamist and on the other he becomes quite a liberal by asking for a free justice system. Therefore, Mr. Ahsan, who is now no more part of PPP's central committee, should think about the financial constraints this long march will cause him and his poorer supporters.

I cannot imagine for my life that Nawaz Sharif, ever so changing, would be able to finance the entire operation. I also cannot imagine a shrewder younger brother, Shehbaz, to allow his big brother to finance such a futile thing. For one, USA does not want Mr. Iftikhar on the hot seat. They cannot afford to have him on a place from where they cannot fulfil their ambitions. USA wants general anarchy in the country and Zardari and his team mates are capable of achieving that. Long march and its future repercussions would be disastrous for the country. If CJ comes along on the hot seat, Zardari would be the first one to be sent to jail for good. His corrupt brothers, MQM and Chaudry brothers, who helped Musharraf storm Lal masjid and kill hundreds of innocent women and children studying inside, would follow.

Steel Mill, ever so in debt, would be audited heavily. CJ will also take up the case of hundreds of Baluch missing since war on Terror began along with many innocent men and women whom Musharraf either sold to USA for billions of Dollars or kept in dingy prisons countrywide.

So Long March should not achieve what it intends to do. It should be a face saving activity for American citizen, Zardari; it should help Nawaz become a puppet of USA. But it should not help the likes of Mr. Ahsan to come up and get CJ reinstated. That would jolt the entire program of USA govt. and thwart its global ambitions.

But marchers are out shouting slogans. If Nawaz sells at this time, and somehow he cannot be trusted, then the entire responsibility would fall on the lawyers. We know they are serious but would they be able to hold on to this sloganeering for good? And what shall be the outcome of all this mess when we are told that Sherry Rehman, Information Minister, has resigned. So have the DCO and DGP Lahore? We are also told that Zardari is being increasingly cornered by his own fellows at home. And Mr. Gilani, a very slow moving PM, is now flexing his muscles and asking questions.

NOTE: Gilani is a Punjabi and so are Mr. Ahsan and Mr. Nawaz Sharif. Chaudry brothers, although they hate Nawab group, are still Punjabis at heart. Pakistan Army Chief, General Kiyani is also a Punjabi. But Mr. Zardari is a Sindhi and has a serious dis-advantage. Will a mentally challenged Sindhi President survive this all Punjabi game ? BB would have certainly handled the situation much better but USA had other designs.