"Bubblo" is gone... at last!

With staying over 2 years, he at last left me or I should say taken away from me. He served me with honor and dignity; never fell apart when I'm on it. I was his 3rd or 4th owner but maybe the best one in all, the proof of his loyalty towards me is that he never died on me... True subordinate.

He was old but stylish, expensive to maintain but not heavy on my pocket (as company was responsible for its maintenance;) ), multi-dimensional and multi-purpose (from Ansar to highest management, everyone has one way or the other has benefited from his services), last but not least many become trained drivers with his help.

Another introduction of Bubblo could be that he was daring friend of bubbly; I wonder what she would do without him... I tried getting feedback from bubbly's current owner and he thinks, without him, she might loss the interest in her life and spirit. :S

Now those of you who're not familiar with this Bubblo and Bubbly term, well these are two cars... One which was my official car and other is Tahir's (earlier owners was famous dirt-track winner - AbdKhan, who almost accident her over 10 times, ab pata nahe yea bubbly kay chal challan aysay thay yea iss kay driver kay, her ache ghari ko dekh kar uss ke taraf kichtee chali jati thi, for accident of course :) aaj kal ghare Tahir kay pass hai aur us kay chal chalan ka sab ko idea hai.. ;) ). Bubbly kay karnamoo say tu aap sab wakeef he hoin gay, those of you who're not familiar with Bubblo's activities... One thing which you must have noticed all the time, that Bubblo was also parked behind Bubbly. Inn douno ka pyar jo sacha tha.. :D And this simply was his only activity :)

Now as Bubblo is retired from his services, I will be driving a more sophisticated and fresh blood car, which we call here "RIV", now what this stands for? let this be secret for time being...

My best wishes for Bubbly and its new adventures.

Is it Afghani or Pakistani Food...

If you love taking food that looks like Afghani but taste like Pakistani food then try visiting "Baithak" in blue area, Islamabad. One of the best cuisines of Islamabad, there you get both variety and taste under same roof. Though one might not find it very lavish and decorated but its a worth spending dinner place. If you're sitting at ground floor, high volume music might over-kill your taste buds :)

Today while coming to office from blue area in evening, encountered a pretty strange incident which I've saved for some other day :)

Now about the food, if you're first timer there then order "Tawa Chicken", you might love this.

But today, we ordered "Chill Man Biryani", this is their house speciality and taste good, and Cheese naan for starter - recommended for those who're on dieting but want to taste something good.. I wasn't on dieting or anything, so it was a starter for me at least.

Then comes the "Reshmi kabab" as side dish, its with boneless chicken cubes, marioated in some 'secret recipe' of their (at least what they claim, not sure what is so special but again this was good). This is one of the dash for 2nd visit of Baithak, order "Gosht-e-Bedamijaan" now on menu, they advertise following recipe boneless mutton and mutton machli cooked in almonds, mushrooms and gravy flanored with cream and yoghurt... Actually this dish is cooked and offered with chicken only...

So if you plan to spend a night with different taste then do try this cuisine.

The Power of NO!... Part 1

On March9, 2007, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said "NO" to then President Pervez Musharraf's request that he resign, and his defiance sparked a revolution of lawyers who refused to allow guns to drown out the voice of the law. Justice Chaudhry said: "I felt that I was only doing the duty of my conscience." But as the rule of man threatened to overwhelm the rule of law, his defiance guided Pakistan's march to justice. "It was the proclamation of a new manifesto for Pakistan, a declaration that the pursuit of justice can not be subverted."

Quaid-i-Azam in his speech on Criminal Law Emergency Power Bills on Feb 6, 1919 said:
"No man should lose his liberty or be depreived of his liberty wihtout a judicial trial in accordance with the accpeted rules of evidence and procedure... the powers which are going to be assumed by the executive, which means substitution of executive for judiciary, such powers are likely to be abused, and in the past we have instances where such powers have been absused... there is no precedent or parallel that I know of in any civilized country where you have laws of this character enacted...
it imperils the liberty of the subject and fundamental liberties of a citizen."

Some declared this decade the era of independence of judiciary and it was achieved in what Helen Keller best discribed words "We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough".

TomTom pays Microsoft and settles patent-infringement dispute

Microsoft and TomTom have settled the patent-infringement suits (and countersuits) between the two vendors, Microsoft announced March 30.

Microsoft is not paing TomTom, but TomTom is paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount as part of the deal. Here is Microsoft’s official statement:

“The cases have been settled through a patent agreement under which TomTom will pay Microsoft for coverage under the eight car navigation and file management systems patents in the Microsoft case. Also as part of the agreement, Microsoft receives coverage under the four patents included in the TomTom countersuit. The agreement, which has a five-year term, does not require any payment by Microsoft to TomTom. It covers both past and future U.S. sales of the relevant products. The specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.”

There has been much speculation that TomTom was unwilling to license at least four of Microsoft’s patents because of incompatibility of those licenses with GNU General Public License terms. But TomTom officials have declined to discuss the case publicly in any way over the past month, so no one knew for sure.

Microsoft’s statement specifically mentions that TomTom is taking pains not to violate the GPL version 2 terms via the new licensing arrangement forged between the two companies> TomTom is removing from its products the functionality that seemingly infringed on Microsoft’s file-allocation table (FAT) patents:

“The agreement includes patent coverage for Microsoft’s three file management systems patents provided in a manner that is fully compliant with TomTom’s obligations under the General Public License Version 2 (GPLv2). TomTom will remove from its products the functionality related to two file management system patents (the “FAT LFN patents”), which enables efficient naming, organizing, storing and accessing of file data. TomTom will remove this functionality within two years, and the agreement provides for coverage directly to TomTom’s end customers under these patents during that time.”

Bottom line: TomTom — unlike some other companies developing around Linux which have signed patent-licensing deals with Microsoft — isn’t licensing Microsoft’s FAT as part of this agreement.

What’s your take? Is the settlement good or bad for Linux vendors who might be in Microsoft’s sights?

NOTE: Source taken from ZDNet

I see blood on streets now, what you see?

Got up late this Sunday, had few things planned for the evening and dinner. When I come downstairs, only plan I had in mind was how much to eat in lunch as today one our favorite Sunday food was prepared. I walked into the lounge, saw a head line something like "20 killed in suicide attack on imam bargah in Chakwal" (now death toll has risen to over 30), my first thought was... Not again! Though, this is becoming a daily routine but one wish to see people smiling and enjoying their lives on TV not death. The unfortunate fact is not even a single missing day, you see TV reporting deaths across Pakistan.

Few facts, Do you know:
- What effects will have it on new generation, especially children aged between 7-12, at this age they learn and build personality from their surroundings and experiences.
- What effects it will have on youth, they want to see a bright future ahead (they always have ambitious goals) to play a constructive role for their community and country. Patriotism is always at pick in this age.
- What will happen to those, who're building their career, they're the most delicate ones… Most in this age are either experience a bitter reality of life and sometime they become over sentimental and disappointed to see chaos, destruction, lawlessness and discrimination in society. The research shows they're the most unhappy age-group in this world.
- Then comes the lot, who is recently married and have couple of kids... At this stage of life, you're most venerable to leave your homeland or lost the love and passion for the country. Because right now, you're not focusing on yourSELF but children you've and for their future, you're always willing to compromise yourOWN.
- Those who've married children, either telling their sons and daughters to leave the country for better future or either telling them to do everything possible for secure future. They're venerable to force their children to leave something big for something small (money).
- Senior citizens, they're the only hope of putting pause to everyone’s live. They always have some stories to tell to their grand children of good old days, if they're optimistic then they would tell them that time will come back, we only have to work together and love each other for what we're... not to hate for what we aren't.

The tragedy of today's Pakistan is that a Muslim is killing other Muslim for the name of Islam. And the biggest tragedy of all is "we remain silent to everything".

I regret to write about deaths, dishonorable acts, mayhem, tragedy but what else I should write, when I only see this around me...

My Islam, Your Islam, their Islam... How many Islams are there?

Islam has given right of property to women when girls were buried alive on their birth, Islam gave woman the right to testify when they were not considered the entity of any value; Islam even gave her the rights either she wants to give birth and feed her own child or not. This is where Islam has put “aurat” (woman) over 1400 years back.

Islam gave her voice and status to speak up for herself. Iqbal once said, if Muslim women knew the rights given to them by Islam, their husband would ask their permission first before even leaving home. And now where we stand today? In confusion, either to portray us as moderates for western world or fundamentalists for Islamic world.

Islam was and is a progressive religion; just compare teachings of Muhammad (PBUH) which were introduced almost 1400 years back with Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. Islam was way ahead in terms of giving rights to woman, labor, deprived, prisoners and pagans even. Now we live in a society were Muslims are killing other Muslims in name of Islam and jihad (holy war).

Today, a disturbing video showing a teenage girl being flogged by Taliban fighters has emerged from the Swat Valley, offering a shocking glimpse of militant brutality in the once-peaceful district, and a sign of Taliban influence spreading deeper into the country.

The two-minute video, shot using a mobile phone, shows a burka-clad woman face down on the ground. Two men (one who might be her brother) holding her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned fighter with a flowing beard, whips her repeatedly.

"Please stop it," she begs, alternately whimpering or screaming in pain with each blow to the backside. "Either kill me or stop it now."

A crowd of men stands by, watching silently. Off camera a voice issues instructions. "Hold her legs tightly," he says as she squirms and yelps.

Reached by phone, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the flogging. "She came out of her house with another guy who was not her husband, so we must punish her. There are boundaries you cannot cross," he said. He defended the Taliban's right to thrash women shoppers who were inappropriately dressed, saying it was permitted under Islamic law. Later he said, the Swat girl would have been stoned to death if the Qazi had been present.

He claimed that girl had the illicit relationship and that’s why she was awarded punishment of less than 40 whips and both the man and the girl confessed their sin prior to the awarding of the punishment.

No matter whatever the case was, publicly humiliating the girl (female) in front of “na-marams” is totally unacceptable and non-Islamic. Don’t forget, in our society woman is given/offered more respect than in western countries, we respect and honor all relations associated with females whether that is mother, sister, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and daughter.

Drone attacks on our sovereignty or...?

This question has always come to mind that how is that possible the Americans keep on attacking our sovereignty and we keep quite. There is huge probability that our government and our defense forces want Americans to clean our dirty laundry. If we do, that might result in re-precautions which we can't control like extensive terrorist activities throughout Pakistan. At least for time being, we can claim that we're not involved and blame Americans for violating our boundaries.

Simple fact, which we should not forget is that we want to wipe out these militants and control this sudden surge of militancy through out Pakistan. Unfortunately FATA or tribal agencies are not in our control; even so, our cities like Attock, Gilgit, D I Khan, Parachinar etc. are going through everyday violence. When we're not in position to control violence in main cities then controlling it outside almost becomes impossible.

Today, a suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at an alleged hide-out connected to a Taliban leader who has threatened to attack Washington, killing 12 people and wounding several others. This time again, we had the official condemnation followed by "nothing".
The attack came a day after Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a police academy in the eastern city of Lahore, saying it was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes on militant bases on the Afghan border.

The point is that we need to once for all declare, what we want for our nation. As Albert Einstein said, “Not until we dare to regard ourselves as a nation, not until we respect ourselves, can we gain the esteem of others, or rather only then will it come of its own accord”.