Injecting chicken with masala

Injecting chicken with masala
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

My sister demonstrates to me how yummy masala is injected directly into the leg piece of the chicken. This she called Al-Baik chicken and was served with fries and a yummy sauce containing olive oil. A bit heavy too.

Lunch: Masoor ki daal with piyaz and mirch, Karachi

Lunch: Masoor ki daal with piyaz and mirch, Karachi
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Via Flickr:
Massor ki daal, usually cooked for lunch but may also be eaten as a dinner. Mostly eaten in our house with hari mirch (also called Madani mirch or talhi hui mirch) and piyaz (onions) & tamator (cut tomatoes). Sprinkling of chaat masala completes the taste. Must be eaten with either chawal (cooked rice but not boiled) or tandoor ki roti (unleavened bread cooked by Pathans or Afghans in a huge, underground tandoor).

Cooked by my wife.

Lunch: Chicken shashlek, Karachi

Lunch: Chicken shashlek, Karachi
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Via Flickr:
Chicken pieces cut by my good mother. Cooked by my wife and sisters. A wonderful dish except that it is traditionally cooked using wooden sticks. Due to lack of time, it was cooked directly on 'tawwa'.

Dinner: Spicy Spaghetti, Karachi

Dinner: Spicy Spaghetti, Karachi
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Cooked by my wife.

Pakistan's first Blogging awards

It is very clear to me and to others that Google has beaten everyone at world networking game. This game employs human beings, you and me, and it connects everyone of us via various technologies, games, chatting, and googling. It also entails more and more people becoming politicians, gangsters, celebrities and junkies of the internet. It also means painful backs, lack of interest in your brothers and sisters, and more and more play with real time maps at Google. No wonder that majority of the awards worldwide related to blogging are supported by Google. It clearly is their game and by an hour they are becoming even more impressive. (Think of their latest mobile phone directly in competition of Apple).

No prizes for guessing that Google is supporting and sponsoring Pakistan's first ever Blogging awards. CIO Pakistan is partner in crime. And this event will surely bring down Pakistan's iconic and emerging bloggers at a single, mega event. All types of them. Oh, and that appears to be very disconcerting to me. Too many bloggers: People more likely to interact via twitter and blogspot rather than via direct, traditional channel of 'talking', will gather on a single platform and fight it out the awards. Well well.

I am one of those who are part of this melodrama. But I am not hoping to win under any category. I am just being grateful to the organizers for allowing me to be part of this truly historical event taking place in our exciting time. 25 years from now we would be able to tell the world that we were part of the history in the making - and I would be able to tell my kids that organizers, Google Inc. and CIO Pakistan, somehow mistakenly marked me as a celebrity blogger!

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.

Supreme Court asks Musharraf to defend himself

Supreme Court, in not-so surprise move, has asked Musharraf to answer as to why did he kicked out 60 judges when emergency was declared in the country during his final stint as Pakistan's top ruler.

Musharraf is presently in England afraid that his coming back would seriously compromise his security. But now, as SC calls him, he has to come and defend his decisions. What a turn around from the day Musharraf called on Chief Justice, Chaudry Iftikhar, and ordered him out after a marathon 5 hour closed door meeting. Chaudry fought back and was eventually reinstated. Now, once again, he is the CJ of Pakistan's top court and now, as fate would have it, Musharraf will stand trial. And if he cannot answer properly - and Pakistan's military chief, General Ashfaque Kiyani has indicated that army won't interfere - Musharraf will have to face the music.

But my question is: Why is he not being charged for murdering hundreds of Lal Masjid students? Why is he not being charged for not improving electric capabilities of the country? Why is he not being charged for covertly supporting militants across Swat valley who are now being eliminated? When Musharraf, the all-powerful two in one leader, could have done a lot he did not. Why?

We need answers from Musharraf. But we also need to ask Supreme Court's demanding answers for only one crime. Why bigger, more horrible, crimes are being over-looked?

Answers, not reasons.

Bloggers' conference and our worthy Government

It is not at all surprising that Govt. of Sindh is holding a Blogger's conference at a local hotel this weekend. Not surprising in a sense that government, any government that is, knows well that Blogging is perhaps not accountable nor stoppable. It runs across computers, across borders, and without much hassle. And blogging has, since its birth, embarrassed quite a few famous men and women.

But my question is (as a politically inclined blogger) that, 'can we expect any semblance of support from a government which continues to hunt down honest men and women, and which considers freedom loving journalists as enemy combatants'?

I personally think that this conference has been arranged to see the real number of bloggers present in Karachi. Our ministry of information would like to meet some friendly bloggers along the way.

I also imagine myself - and other bloggers - sitting next to ISI and MI agents during the conference.

Good Lord!

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.

Parrot says..............

Points to be noted my lord:

Zardari, President of Pakistan and former husband of BB, has split from his son, Bilawal and his daughters.

Bilawal plans to marry Fatima Bhutto, niece of BB.

Fatima Bhutto was always angry with Zardari and BB over the killing of her father, Murtuza Bhutto. Now she is only angry with Zardari and not with Bilawal.

Pakistan Army wants to arrest and put on trial Zardari for multiple murder cases. That might happen this March (2009) or next April (2010).

One daughter of Zardari might marry a son or relative of PM Gilani. (Against the wishes of her father).

Pakistan Army fully supports Gilani for he is easy to handle and not a nuisance like Zardari.

Nawaz Sharif has gained full support of Lawyers across Pakistan by standing up with them. He has been a lazy man all his life with lots of lassi, cricket and good food. Now he understands that good work alone will help him become the next President of Pakistan.

USA govt. is not so sure they want Nawaz in place of Zardari for Nawaz has always been a rightest and supports militants.

Months between March and June are crucial for Pakistan and for its neighbours.

Zardari supports Iran because Zardari is a Shia. USA is crossed over it. So are many Baluch who understand that Shias have been pouring into the country and have helped, in recent years, fighting b/w Shias and Sunnis.

India is finding it good to have Baluch on their side. They have already managed to take Pakistan away from Dam issue as well as from Kashmir.

India has got another front that of Mumbai drama. Indians of all shades are happy about the U-turn.

How Pakistan fares in months to come only time will tell.