well .. yesterday i was on fishing with my colleagues. It was really a wonderful experience.

I left home at 6:30 am. First we went to Tower to buy prawns for fishing. We also had a delicious break-fast of 'halwa-poori' at Tower. Then we moved towards the fishing point, goTh (village) Abd-ur-Rehman. We took a boat on rent against 1000 bugs.
I think we went about 3 to 4 nautical miles deep in the sea. After choosing a point in sea, our sailor stopped the boat and we started fishing. But soon we realized that there were no fishes at that spot, so we changed the spot and moved few hundred meters. It was my first experience to learn the art of fishing. And i learnt that fishing is not a game of kidz.
We stayed for around six hours in the sea, and caught about 8 kg of fishes of different kinds.

Fishing needs patience and determination

on his 23rd death anniversary ..


                        loh-o-qalam

ham perverish-e-loh-o-qalam kertay rahein gay
jo dil pe guzerti hai raqam kertay rahein gay

asbaab-e-gham-e-ishq buham kertay rahein gay
weeraani-e-doraaN pe karam kertay rahein gay

haan talkhi-e-ayyaam abhi aur beRhay gi
haan ehl-e-sitam, mashq-e-sitam kertay rahein gay

manzoor ye talkhi, ye sitam ham ko gawaara
dam hai to mudavaa-e-alam kertay rahein gay

mai-khaana salamat hai to ham surkhi-e-mai se
tazeen-e-der-o-baam-e-haram kertay rahein gay

baqi hai lahoo dil mein to her ashk se paida
rung-e-lab-o-rukhsaar-e-sanam kertay rahein gay

ek terz-e-taghaaful hai so wo unko mubarak
ek arz-e-tamanna hai so ham kertay rahein gay
                                                          (-Faiz Ahmad Faiz-
                                                                    dast-e-saba,
                                                       Nuskha haay-e-wafa)

About an hour ago i got the tragic news that the legendary TV artist of Pakistan 'Shafi Muhammad Shah' has passed away. May his soul rest in Peace.

He was amongst those few artists who created their own style of acting. He was famous for performing the most agressive scenes in his own calm and cool style. He did most of his classics with PTV (Pakistan Television). afshaaN, perchhayyaaN, teesra kinaara, chaand girhan, aaNch and samjhota are only few of those plays in which he performed superbly. His name was guarantee for the quality of drama. His performance was recognized on state level, and got the Presidential award for 'Pride of Performance'.

His death is a real loss of Pakistani drama industry. It is almost impossible to fill the vaccum created by his absence. He was the only of his style.

He will be remembered always.

Emergency is never considered as a good thing.

But i am feeling much better after the declaration of emergency. Reasons may be more than one, but the most important reason is the ban on few TV Channels. Since March 2007 these channels had converted the life of people into a hell. There was a never ending series of 'breaking news' throughout the day. Continuous talk-shows hosted by few nonsense anchors, with a couple of stupid and corrupt politicians were the routine of everyday.

And above all, the 'ball to ball' commentaries of rallies by the reporters of channels. i.e. now CJ (Chief Justice) is coming out of his house .. now CJ is walking towards his car .. now CJ is talking to some lawyers .. now CJ is ready to enter in vehicle and bla bla. It seemed as if they are not reporters but the angels of death. They were present everywhere. If such a situation would continue, i am afraid that the time was not far when we could hear that CJ was moving towards a wash-room in hurry and reporters were already there in wash-room as well

The fact that opposition is shouting in favour of media, is enough to prove that media was biased. It was only propagating the opposition's point of view, round the clock. (.. and by the way, this is the same opposition which did not allow free media during their own rules.)

But as i said earlier, emergency is not a good thing. He should had to choose a better option. I hope that emergency would be lifted soon.
.. anyhow, life was made stressful by media in the name of 'freedom of expression'. It is peace now.

The person who worked on key posts under the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq is now trying to become a champion of democracy. Mr. Nawaz Sharif became the Finance Minister of Punjab in 1981 and later in August 1985 became the Chief Minister of Punjab during the dictatorship of Gen. Zia. He remained the CM till August 1990.

Basically Nawaz Sharif belongs to a powerful industrialist family. He became the Prime Minister of Pakistan on November 1990 for the first time and was dismissed in July 1993 on corruption charges. In February 97 he became the PM again and remained in the office till October 99. Interestingly in both of these terms he had conflicts with the then Presidents, Chief of Army Staffs and Chief Justices.

In his first term he had conflicts with the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. As a result of intense tensions between the two offices, both had to resign. Earlier in the same term, he also had disparities with three Chief of the Army Staffs (COAS). Firstly with General Aslam Baig. After Gen. Aslam Baig, he had conflicts with the new COAS Gen. Asif Nawaz. The untimely controversial death of Gen. Asif Nawaz raised questions that there might be a hand of Nawaz Sharif in his un-natural death. And then, after Gen. Asif Nawaz, he had differences with President Ghulam Ishaq on the appointment of new COAS. The president wanted to appoint Gen. Wahid Kakar as new COAS, but PM wanted to place his favourite candidate on this seat. Despite the great opposition of Nawaz Sharif,  Gen. Wahid Kakar was appointed as the new COAS. As a result, Nawaz Sharif had differences with Gen. Kakar from the beginning.

When Sharif got power again in 1997, General Jahangir Karamat was working as COAS whose term was due to end on Januaray 99. But Nawaz Sharif had disparities with this COAS as well. As a result of conflict, Gen. Jahangir Karamat resigned in October 98. Nawaz Sharif appointed his favourite candidate General Pervez Musharraf as the new COAS.

Nawaz Sharif also had a dispute with the then Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah. The CJ was hearing a contempt of court case against Nawaz Sharif. During a hearing on 28 November 97, the supporters of Nawaz Sharif along-with MSF (Muslim Students Front), Sardar Naseem and Mushtaq Tahir Kheli (members of Nawaz Sharif's Party) stormed the Supreme Court. The mob breached the police cordon, entered the court-room while shouting slogans against CJ and damaged the furniture of court-room. The CJ wrote a letter to the then President i.e. Farooq Laghari and requested the deployment of Army Troops in the Supreme Court building for future. On the other side Nawaz Sharif was pressurizing the President to remove the CJ and appoint a new CJ of Nawaz Sharif's choice. The tensions rose and consequently first the President resigned saying he could not violate the Constitution and law to oblige the government. And soon after his resignation, the CJ Sajjad Ali Shah was removed.

Though he was an elected PM, but was acting like a dictator in real sense. He brought two controversial amendments in the Constitution of Pakistan. Through the 13th amendment he defused the power of President provided in the article 58-(2)(b) of constitution to dismiss a PM. Then he brought the most notorious 14th amendment through which party leaders got the power to dismiss the members of national/provincial assemblies if they dont vote according to the order of party leader. In this way Nawaz Sharif protected himself from being dismissed by a no-confidence vote. After the 13th and 14th amendment it had become almost impossible to remove a PM legally. There was no one to keep check on PM.

Everything was perfect for Nawaz Sharif then. Stage was set. He had the COAS and CJ of his own choices. Then there was a hand-puppet president of his own choice i.e. Rafique Tarar. And he also had no threat of being dismissed by a no-confidence vote in assembly. He had all the powers and was assuming himself as an Ameer-ul-Momineen !

One thing that I am still unable to understand is, why Nawaz Sharif takes credit of the Nuclear Tests conducted by Pakistan in May 1998 ? It was a capability that Pakistan already had. Pakistan started its nuclear program in mid 70s. In May 98, Pakistan only tested it. What is the greatness of Nawaz Sharif in it ? It was the greatness of our scientists and armed forces who promoted it, kept it secrete and took the care of nuclear program in earlier decades. It was just by chance that India tested its nuclear capability when Nawaz Sharif was PM in Pakistan. After conducting the tests, he imposed emergency in the country and took the most shameful step of freezing the foreign currency accounts of Pakistanis. It shows that how weak was the economic condition of Pakistan during his rule. Then he fooled the nation thourgh 'qerz utaaro mulk saNwaaro' campaign in the name of paying the debts on Pakistan, and hence looted the money of nation.

After March 2007, he used the movement of lawyers (for the restoration of CJ Iftikhar Chauhdry) to come back in Pakistani political scene. Before the movement for CJ, he was almost out of the political scene. The person who himself attacked the Supreme Court and removed the CJ in his rule, tried to gain the sympathy of public by supporting CJ.

This person who himself was planted by a dictator and acted like a real dictator during his own rules, is now showing himself as a torch-bearer of democracy.