Information on Ghana by Rhoda from Ghana

Ghana: History & Culture

By: Rhoda from Accra (Capital of Ghana)

History: Medieval Ghana (4th - 13th Century): The Republic of Ghana is named after the medieval Ghana Empire of West Africa. The actual name of the Empire was Wagadugu. Ghana was the title of the kings who ruled the kingdom. It was controlled by Sundiata in 1240 AD, and absorbed into the larger Mali Empire. (Mali Empire reached its peak of success under Mansa Musa around 1307.) Geographically, the old Ghana is 500 miles north of the present Ghana, and occupied the area between Rivers Senegal and Niger. Some inhabitants of present Ghana had ancestors linked with the medieval Ghana. This can be traced down to the Mande and Voltaic people of Northern Ghana--Mamprussi, Dagomba and the Gonja. Anecdotal evidence connected the Akans to this great Empire. The evidence lies in names like Danso shared by the Akans of present Ghana and Mandikas of Senegal/Gambia who have strong links with the Empire. There is also the matrilineal connection Before March 1957 Ghana was called the Gold Coast. The Portuguese who came to Ghana in the 15th Century found so much gold between the rivers Ankobra and the Volta that they named the place Mina - meaning Mine. The Gold Coast was later adopted to by the English colonisers. Similarly, the French, equally impressed by the trinkets worn by the coastal people, named The Ivory Coast, Cote d'Ivoire. In 1482, the Portuguese built a castle in Elmina. Their aim was to trade in gold, ivory and slaves. In 1481 King John II of Portugal sent Diego d'Azambuja to build this castle. In 1598 the Dutch joined them, and built forts at Komenda and Kormantsil. In 1637 they captured the castle from the Portuguese and that of Axim in 1642 (Fort St Anthony). Other European traders joined in by the mid 18th century. These were the English, Danes and Swedes. The coastline were dotted by forts built by the Dutch, British and the Dane merchants. By the latter part of 19th century the Dutch and the British were the only traders left. And when the Dutch withdrew in 1874, Britain made the Gold Coast a crown colony. The first Britons arrived in the early 19th century as traders in Ghana. But with their close relationship with the coastal people especially the Fantes, the Ashantis became their enemies. Ghana is located on West Africa's Gulf of Guinea only a few degrees north of the Equator. Half of the country lies less than 152 meters (500 ft.) above sea level, and the highest point is 883 meters (2,900 ft.). The 537-kilometer (334-mi.) coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers and streams, most of which are navigable only by canoe. A tropical rain forest belt, broken by heavily forested hills and many streams and rivers, extends northward from the shore, near the Cote d'Ivoire frontier. This area, known as the "Ashanti," produces most of the country's cocoa, minerals, and timber. North of this belt, the country varies from 91 to 396 meters (300-1,300 ft.) above sea level and is covered by low bush, park like savanna, and grassy plains. The climate is tropical. The eastern coastal belt is warm and comparatively dry; the southwest corner, hot and humid; and the north, hot and dry. There are two distinct rainy seasons in the south-May-June and August-September; in the north, the rainy seasons tend to merge. A dry, northeasterly wind, the Harmattan, blows in January and February. Annual rainfall in the coastal zone averages 83 centimeters (33 in.). The manmade Volta Lake extends from the Akosombo Dam in southeastern Ghana to the town of Yapei, 520 kilometers (325 mi.) to the north. The lake generates electricity, provides inland transportation, and is a potentially valuable resource for irrigation and fish farming. There's also another man made lake in the Ashanti Region, called lake Bosomtwi, it's the biggest man made lake. Ghana has a population of about 20 million and our currency is cedis. We derived the name from how we call cowries in our local language, "Sidie". About 74.8% of our population is literate. Christianity is the major religion practised here, followed by Islam and the traditional religions. Agriculture takes about 55% of the labour force, industry comes next with about 15% Ghana is a very peaceful country even though we r not very rich. The major foreign exchange earner is cocoa and it makes the best chocolates.As I told u earlier, I live in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Accra is the home town of the Ga tribe but it's now inhabited by people from all over Ghana and many foreigners as well. It is a beautiful city with a lot of tourist attractions, there are a lot of beautiful beaches and friendly people. The major vocation of the Ga tribe is fishing but most of them have diverted but there are still some fishermen around. The President lives at the Osu Castle which is along the coast with a beautiful scenery. We have a lot of entertainment centers, restaurants, and hotels in Accra. Most of the major government and private institutions have their head offices in Accra.Ghana actually has 10 regions and the region with the richest culture is the Ashanti region. The Ashanti kingdom is one of the richest, biggest and well respected in Africa. The King is called Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11. It's a modernised kingdom but it still maintains a lot of it's culture. The language of the Ashanti's is Twi and it is the most widely spoken local language in Ghana. The current President is from the Ashanti region. The cultures vary from region to region but we do have a lot of things in common. Will tell u more about the food, music and festivals in my next mail. I have to get back to work.

Some of the Best Moments in Life

Stop telling God you've got big problems.Tell your problems you've got a BIG GOD!
* To listen to your favorite song in the radio.
* To laugh until it hurts your stomach.
* To go for a vacation to some pretty place.
* To clear your last exam.
* To receive a call from someone, you don't see a lot, but you want to.
* To find money in a pant that you haven't used since last year.
* To laugh at yourself looking at mirror, making faces.:)))
* To laugh without a reason
* To accidentally hear somebody say something good about you.
* To wake up and realize it is still possible to sleep for a couple of hours.
* To be part of a team.
* To watch the sunset from the hilltop.
* To make new friends.
* To pass time with your best friends.
* To see people that you like, feeling happy.
* To use a sweater of the person that you like and find that it still smells of his perfume.
* See an old friend again and to feel that the things have not changed.
* To take an evening walk along fav path.
* To laugh ...laugh...and laugh ... remembering stupid things done

The Death of Great Pakhtun Patriot.

The Death of Khan Abdul Wali Khan, a great Pakhtun patriot


The towering icon of this province, Khan Abdul Wali Khan has passed away, after years of service and devotion to this land and its people. He spent the best part of his life struggling for the Pakhtun people and nation. Like his illustrious father, the venerable Ghaffar Khan, a truly Nelson Mandela figure, many of these years were spent in painful confinement. Both son and father were ignored by fortune, but I am certain the conclusion of history will be more favorable. No doubt there will be well deserved and many glowing obituaries about Khan Wali Khan and his contributions as a rare and a great Pakhtun leader; I wish to remember him as a seer, who could peer into the future. He was personally very kind to me in my various capacities as an administrator and someone belonging to this province.
In 1982-83, as deputy commissioner, Peshawar, I had the awful and distasteful duty to place Khan Abdul Wali Khan in preventive detention during the MRD agitation against the martial law of Ziaul Haq. There existed, I felt a bond, based on respect and which lasted beyond official capacity; it was love for a person, who struggled for the rights of his people. His periodic tirades against the federation served its cause many a times; it forced the federal government to be just to NWFP in terms of funds and other matters. I intend to write today about a meeting with him in which he analyzed Pakistan’s situation in clear terms. Because what he said then is even more relevant than before.
On the morning of 3rd October 1983, I was informed by assistant commissioner Charsadda, that Begum Wali Khan had a serious medical problem and if I would have her personal physician Dr. Alif Khan rushed to Wali Bagh. This was arranged. However, fearing that more assistance may be needed, I also went to Wali Bagh. Wali Khan was also present and was plainly distressed about the medical problem of Bibi. After it was controlled, I was requested to stay back for lunch. During and after lunch Wali Khan, spoke at great length about the situation in Pakistan and what he thought was wrong with it.
I reproduce verbatim my noting of the period, which I have kept. The situation then was that there was a guerrilla war going on in Afghanistan; a secret war in which Pakistan was the conduit for provisioning the Afghan jihad with money, weapons and jihadis from all over the Muslim world, including Osama bin Laden. Internally there was a martial law, where a military dictator had been in power since 1977. The political parties had launched a movement for the restoration of democracy (MRD). There was distrust between the PPP and the NDP, similar to the one today. Political activities were banned, preventive arrests were made and in Sindh there was violence and many deaths. President Zia, cautioned that the times were delicate and sought understanding from political forces.
Wali Khan was pessimistic about the future of the country. He felt that the political problems facing it required deft political handling and intermediation of political forces to resolve the issues of various nationalities composing the state. However, the United States was not allowing that to happen, because of support for the Zia government, in order to achieve its political objectives in the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Wali Khan said that the army looked for support not from its own people but from the foreign power. “It is an exchange of resources (armaments) for political backing of a military regime”, he said.
He felt that the MRD movement had become regionalized. That was its greatest weakness. The smaller provinces were fighting a political battle for getting their rights, but Punjab was happy with the continuance of the Zia regime because of the transfer of resources to it. “Until more balance was brought into the province - centre relationship, the smaller provinces would remain back ward and their development will be thwarted” Wali Khan said. He thought that “One way was to limit the powers of the federation and to confine them to the Lahore Resolution subjects of defense, foreign affairs, currency and communication”. Wali Khan spoke at length of the alienation of Sindh and suggested that its problems must be dealt with politically and not with the heavy hand of violent suppression.
Abdul Wali Khan said, “The main reason for the entry of the USSR into Afghanistan was Pakistan’s faulty foreign policy relationship with its smaller neighbor; if we had not been so callous in frequent closures of the Pak-Afghan border in the past, it would not have forced the Afghans to look to Moscow for trade and other needs. Our actions had brought Soviet influence to Afghanistan and into our back yard”.
Wali Khan felt that no military regime was capable of solving Pakistan’s political problems because, “The military was self centered and dependent not on internal democratic support but upon external help. On the other hand a political government is always dependent upon its popularity in the public; its agenda is internal. This gave the democratic process an edge in facing many difficult challenges not available to any other form of government. If the present trend of non-democratic governance continued for long, it could carry within it the seeds of incalculable danger to Pakistan’s future”.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs that the passing away of a great and a rare personality took place in circumstances, which in many ways resembles the internal and external situation confronting Pakistan in 1983. Does it mean that we have not progressed in the last 23 years? My only regret is that Khan Abdul Wali Khan could have been so much more. He had so many qualities, which would have served Pakistan well; however I believe he was not comfortable with power. The frontier has lost one of its most outstanding leader and a prominent fighter, who advocated equity and justice as the operating principles of the federation. S.M.Arif YousafzaiManaging DirectorZam Zam Tijarat PeshawarMobile Phone; 03005865516

Pitras to his son ....

Ahmed Shah "Pitras" Bokhari, the eminent Pakistani author of humorous Urdu short stories, and man of letters, wrote this to his son Haroon ("Rooney") while he was studying in England. Pitras's genius and candour was by no means limited to Urdu alone: My Dear Rooney,
I sent off a cable to you when I received your most vivid letter & the 'Presto' photograph. Didn't the Presto remind you of "fatafat foto" - it did me. Your letter was delightful & reassuring as it clearly showed that you liked being where you were & doing what you were doing. This is the best tonic you can have for life ahead of you. Do you know that between this letter of yours & your previous letters one could feel the difference of several years of maturity, as if merely by the fact of launching upon a career of your own & by being in different surroundings away from home, you had added many years of maturity to your being.
Within a week I'll be sending you a draft for 40 or 50 pounds, so that your bank account looks a little richer and you have less anxiety about possible emergencies. Luckily you have known a great deal about England from books, magazines, etc, etc & directly from persons who have lived there, including such travelers as me & uncle ZAB. I am sure therefore that you would not have had the same strange & sometimes baffling reactions about your environment that I had, for example, when I arrived at Victoria Station, London in 1926 with no one to meet me there & heard unintelligible cockney from the railway porter for practically the first time in my life -- also when I didn't know whether a taxi would or would not be beyond my means, or whether I should or should not speak to a woman. You know all that it is important to know & have seen more of life than I had seen at your age. Nevertheless parents have an incurable habit of giving good advice, in season & out of it, even when it is not needed. It arises from affection and from protective desires & from anxiety for your welfare, born of love. Let me therefore give way to this incurable habit, & if you find my advice superfluous, as I sincerely hope you will -- I am sure you will -- you can ignore it forgivingly -- that is to say without being irritated by it. I will make it as brief as I can. First of all, a very simple piece of advice -- avoid breaking the law. I don't mean resist the temptation of committing a murder or robbing a bank. Your life is not heroic enough to have such monumental desires, as you haven't had the ample opportunities that are provided by having been brought up amongst hoodlums & gangsters. But one is always liable to break laws in little things. One had better avoid that in foreign countries. It is bad manners for a foreigner to enjoy the hospitality of a country & then break a queue or traffic rules or rationing regulations or evade taxes. It is also suicidal; for you'll find that if you break a law the consequences will depress you more in a foreign country away from home than if you broke the same law in Lahore. Deep down being civilized, we are always afraid of breaking the law & it is no use surrounding ourselves with avoidable fears specially in another country where these fears are likely to be large.
Secondly, women. This is not a delicate subject. I am not going to speak about the "delicate" side of this matter. There is nothing concerning that aspect of which you do not know or which your good senses, good breeding & decent values will not guide you in. And if you do not have the good values, one or a thousand letters from me will not give them to you. All that I wish to say is that when you meet women, you are bound to show off a little -- we all tend to do so, more or less according to the amount of vanity & the amount of desire to appear good & great in addition to being good or great. But do not try to impress women or for that matter anyone with your money. This is vulgar & besides can have disastrous consequences purely from the worldly point of view. Do not transform what can be a very pleasant experience into a vulgar or an expensive hobby. It is like smoking-- it is a mildly sinful, expensive & supposedly soothing activity, but there is a difference between smoking & chain smoking; also between smoking & taking drugs like opium. The next two or three years are important in your life. On them depends how comfortable your life as an individual or as the husband of a wife or the father of children will be in years to come.
Keep these 2 or 3 years reasonably free from entanglements that may be too big for you to handle. Emotional upheavals -- no one can help or condemn, but alas they have social consequences. These latter come up against the hard facts of life. If you would like to lead a life of pure emotions, caring neither for whether you starve nor for whether you are socially acceptable -- you would be a great man, & for me to advise you would be to insult you. But till you are sure that you have their measure of greatness, you will need all the caution & forethought that mediocre, average men, which most of us are, need for ordering their pretty undistinguished lives. Thirdly, as time goes on, your letters to us will be come less & less frequent & also more & more brief. It will be a sign, not of callousness, but of an expanding horizon & a change in perspective. But two things I will still like you to do. Do write regularly to Mummy -- however brief the letters. You are more important to her than she is to you. Also with the years her need of you will grow greater, your need of hers less. Therefore be kind & considerate. Her demands will be urgent to her, but not great or difficult to fulfill.
Also keep in constant touch with Mansoor. Do not let his friendship wither away for want of feeding. If he was only your brother, he could some time or other become a nuisance in life. But luckily he is also a very good friend & a friend is never, never worth losing. Besides, you are going to work in the same firm for many years & it will be comforting to both of you to retain the bond you have. As for me, write to me when you feel, whether it is for money, for advice, for consolation or for mere fun. Your letters will always be welcome to me & I don't think I'll ever fail to understand your point of view or to sympathize with you or to love you, whatever your joys or your pains may be and however right or wrong you may be. In your work, you can only use the intelligence & the character you possess. I cannot add to them by exhortations. But as one who has been a 'boss' in one way or another for many years, let me tell you that what bosses like & have a right to demand is that their employee should be above all, reliable. Not only your bosses but your friends have the same right to demand reliability of you. Your foolishness, your inefficiency, your weaknesses can all be overlooked by your friends & even viewed with affection if they feel that for moral values you can be absolutely depended on -- that you will not let them down. Bosses expect the same thing. However big the machine, & the organization and however impersonal their relations in & with that machine, they are after all human beings. Thank God that the highest pitch of a large-scale industrialization has not yet killed that fact. Above all, do not, if you can help it, create a crisis in your life -- that's all.This letter has almost become like Polonius's speech to Laertes. I am too close to it to see whether it is full of clichés & as pompous as Polonious's string of wise sayings was. But I am not afraid of exposing my pompousness to you, if I have it in me. You & I have been friends for many years -- you have been a jolly fine companion to me & I do not mind if I reveal my worst weaknesses to you. I am sure you will forgive them, and at the worst will smile at them with understanding & affection. I am studying the Mexican system of education, on behalf of our government. A large part of the Mexican population is illiterate & backward, but since the Mexican revolution of 1910, there is a great stirring of the soul in this baffling & picturesque country & their struggle to rise and redeem their cultural soul are fascinating and inspiring. This will take me right up to the end of June. After that I'll probably go to London -- to broadcast on Pakistan on the national & international network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation & to give a lecture or two at the McGill University at Montreal. All these are in response to invitations received. Thereafter, back home through London of course. And who knows I may steal time to look you up in Liverpool or you to look me up in London. I'll keep you fully informed of my movements & plans.Mummy asked me to send you some clothes from here. I'll be sending you money instead, as clothes rationing is off in England -- sending stuff from here is expensive and complicated. A little later you might give me a picture of how you stand financially, so that I send you a steady supply of filthy lucre according to your needs. I was going to say that I am not rich, but you know how rich or poor we are. What you may not know fully I that, nevertheless, at all times we should be not only ready but delighted to treat your needs as the most paramount in the family. Bless you and wish you the best of luck. Have a good time -- I am using good in the Greek sense. The Greeks had the word 'kalos' which meant three things at once -- the great, the good & the beautiful -- for in their great wisdom they realized that all three were inseparable.With best of love,Affectionately,
AbbaP.S. Keep your Urdu alive. Ask Mansoor to keep you supplied with an occasional book or magazine. This is important.

UN structural reform & Pakistan

PAKISTAN TIMES online edition (http://pakistantimes.net/2005/04/28/oped1.htm) 28th April 2005.

UN structural reform & Pakistan
By Amer Rizwan Khattak

THE United Nations Organization came out of the most horrible and devastating war, the humanity has ever seen. However, the geopolitical realities and the very nature of the world system has undergone a transformation since its inception in 1945. So theorists and analysts have long been demanding an overhauling of its organizational structure. Of late, a ‘High Level Panel’ under the chairmanship of former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun has submitted a report to UN Secretary General on ‘Threats, Challenges & Opportunities’. Former Executive Director of the UN Population Fund Dr Nafis Sadik represented Pakistan in the panel. Roughly speaking, on the most important point of Security Council enlargement, the panel has suggested two models: ‘Model A’ recommending the creation of new permanent seat but without veto, and “Model B’ talking about quasi-permanent seats or members who could be rotated or re-elected after two years term. Pakistan is the member of Coffee Club that opposes expansion in the permanent category, and expostulates that such important decisions are to be based on the consensus of the general membership.Pakistan’s position on the creation or addition of new permanent seats in the UNSC is based on its own geopolitical realities. Its avowed stance is: “ There should be no new centres of privilege and power in the United Nations, because these are relics of the past; these are anachronistic in character, and that such inequities should not be perpetuated”.The Government of Pakistan also expresses its hope, along with a large number of countries, “That this process should be inclusive and transparent; that the question of Security Council reform should be addressed comprehensively which means that it should also look at working methods, decision making and so on. And then whatever decisions are taken should enjoy the support of the majority of the general membership because it is going to affect their fate”.Pakistanis Foreign Ministry Spokesman expressed his optimism that the finalization of these recommendations would be inclusive and transparent, and would keep in mind the need for consensus, because that was going to affect the entire globe, and that Pakistan would play a very active role in the debate when these recommendations were submitted to the general members.In any case, Pakistan has much stakes in whether India is successful in winning UNSC seat or not. That is why the most daunting challenge for the Pakistani policy-makers is to try to foil Indian designs in this regard, because if such eventuality occurs then India would get a perpetual strategic leverage vis a vis Pakistan, particularly the tenacity of Pakistan’s position on Indian Held Kashmir would receive a serious setback. India along with Germany, Brazil and Japan has been vying for that covetous slot. It is for this reason that Pakistan has embarked on hectic diplomatic activity in order to mould international public opinion against such a move. Pakistan is the member of ‘Coffee Club having forty odd members. Of late, Pakistan’s permanent representative in the UN Munir Akram convened a meeting of the club members supporting ‘Model “B”. Besides, the members have embarked upon a flurry of diplomatic activities. Pakistan’s former foreign secretary Riaz Khokher’s recent visit of People’s Republic of China is considered as a part of the same exercise. Again, Pakistan’s official position got its true manifestation in the statement read by Mr Tariq Osman Hayder as the special envoy of the President of Pakistan in the Arab League Summit held March this year in Algiers. He said there,“the question of Security Council Expansion in terms of the UN process, and in terms of substance, should be guided by consensus as any other modality would lead to divisiveness at a time when the United Nations should be more united. There should be no arbitrary deadlines, the issue is too important.” The latest event in that direction was a meeting called ‘Uniting for Consensus’, joint initiative by Pakistan and Italy at New York on 11 April. Former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inamul Haq represented Pakistan in the meeting as a special envoy. Invitations were extended to all members, and response was overwhelming. Representatives of 119 States, three inter-governmental organizations, the current President of the UN General Assembly and various facilitators of UN reform process were among the participants. The United States, China and the Russian Federation, the three permanent members of the UNSC, also attended the meeting. The proponents dismissed Annan’s suggestion that they settle the question of Security Council reform by a vote in the General Assembly before world leaders meet if they cannot reach a consensus on reforming the Security Council. Pakistan’s envoy Inamul Haq said that Pakistan fully supported the UN reform agenda but reforms, particularly the expansion of the Security Council, must be made by consensus among the member States. Moving towards the same direction, Pakistan has also demanded a permanent seat for Muslim countries in the United Nations Security Council, if at all any new permanent seat was created. Talking to a private news channel, Ambassador Akram said there should be a permanent berth for Muslim states at the UNSC. The OIC countries should decide which country would represent Ummah at the forum. When Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was in Beijing, he discussed with his Chinese counterpart Premier Wen Jiabao the issue of UN reform as well because this is an issue of mutual interest. Both China and Pakistan are active in this regard. Both sides reiterated that there should be comprehensive reform of the United Nations, and that, not just the Security Council, but other organs of the United Nations including the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council should be reformed, and the sentiments of the General membership should be taken into consideration in this exercise, and that no issue should receive undue priority in consideration of UN reform. Again, one of the items of the agenda of the President of Pakistan’s first ever visit to three Latin American countries viz Brazil, Argentine and Mexico was UN Security Council reform and expansion. It is to be kept in view that Brazil has the aspiration to be a permanent member in the reformed UNSC, and Argentine has had apprehensions to that effect. That is why, both Pakistan and Argentine vowed to forge a united front against the creation of new permanent seats in the UN Security Council. However, Pakistan’s dilemma is that it cannot afford to alienate Germany, Japan and Brazil in its diplomatic maneuovrings. Accordingly, Pakistan did display astute strokes of diplomacy in its discussions on the subject especially with Japan. When Foreign Minister was in Tokyo earlier this year, he expressed his country’s principled position on the subject. However, he hinted at not opposing Japan’s candidacy for its economy and track record implying that latter’s candidacy would be backed by his country, perhaps, for the only Asian seat that might be created.Traditionally, Pakistan’s all multilateral and bilateral arrangements in the international sphere have been determined by its relations with its arch foe-turned-competitor India. Regardless of the fact, whether or not its manoeuvrings are braced with success, one may conclude that despite sweeping changes in the world system, the contours of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy are still circumscribed by its traditional tools.●
© 2005 Amer Rizwan Khattak
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Lord Macauly on Lord Byron and William Windham on the Lord Macauly

"From the poetry of Lord Byron they drew a system of ethics compounded of misanthropy and voluptuousness,—a system in which the two great commandments were to hate your neighbour and to love your neighbour's wife"
On Moore's Life of Lord Byron. 1830.
I wish I were as sure of anything as Macaulay is of everything. William Windham (1750–1810).

HEIGHT OF IGNORANCE

A worldwide survey was conducted by the UN.
The only question asked was:
"Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the foodshortage in the rest of the world?"
The survey was a huge failure,
In Africa they didn't know what "food"meant,
In Pakistan they didn't know what "honest" meant,
In Europe they didn't know what "shortage" meant,
In China they didn't know what "opinion" meant,
In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant,
In South America they didn't know what "please" meant,
And in the USA
They didn't know what
"The rest of the world" meant!!!

LATEST ON SARDARS FROM INDIA

THIS IS AN UPDATE ON SARDARS FROM INDIA

Sardar comes back 2 his car & finds a note saying "Parking Fine"

He writes a note and sticks it 2 the pole " Thanks 4 d complement "

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How do you recognize a Sardar in School?
He is the one who erases the notes from the book when the teacher erases
the board.

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Once a Sardhar was walking and had a glove on one hand and not on other so
the man asked him why did he do so.
He Replied that the weather forecast announced that on one hand it would be cold and on the other hand it would be hot.

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Sardarji bought a brand new Maruti and decided to drive down from Amritsar
where he lived, to Jalandar, to show off to his friends. He reached there in a few
hours. After spending a few days there, he decided to return, and called up
his mother to expect him in the evening.
But he didn't reach in the evening and not the next day either. When he finally reached home on the third day, his distraught mother ran and asked him " Arre Puttar, kihoya?"

The Sardarji got out, obviously very tired from a long journey, and said,
"Oy, ye Marutti wale pagal hain, agge jaane waaste chaar gear banaatehain,
aur pichche jaane waaste sirf ik?"

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Santa Singh decided to start a chicken farm so he bought a hundred chickens
to begin with.

A month later he returned to the dealer for another hundred chickens
because all of the first lot had died.

A month later he was back at the dealer for another hundred chickens, for
the second lot had also died.

The dealer was puzzled. But Santa now like a man with considerable experience from all this descerned " I know where I'm going wrong," said Santa to the dealer, " I think I'm planting them too deep."

Me and my boss//FAMOUS QUOTES

When I take a long time to finish, I am slow,When my boss takes a long time, He is thorough
When I don't do it, I am lazy,When my boss does not do it, He is busy,
When I do something without being told, I am trying to be smart,When my boss does the same, He takes the initiative,
When I please my boss, I am apple polishing,When my boss pleases his boss, He is cooperating,
When I make a mistake, You're an idiot.When my boss makes a mistake, He's only human.
When I am out of the office, I am wondering around.When my boss is out of the office, He's on business.
When I am on a day off sick, I am always sick.When my boss is a day off sick, He must be very ill.
When I apply for leave, I must be going for an interviewWhen my boss applies for leave, It's because he's overworked
When I do well, My boss never remembers,When I do wrong, He never forgets
Posted by AMER RIZWAN at 2:25 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Friday, July 14, 2006

THE HOLY KA'ABA

"KA'ABA" The House Of Allah in Makkah. The Ka'aba is covered by a black cloth known as 'Kiswa', which is produced and changed every year. Special factory is designed for the making of 'Kiswa' in Makkah. It costs approximately Saudi Riyal 17 million. the cloth is made of 670 kgs of silver and dyed black. About 120 kgs of pure gold and 50 kgs of pure silver is used in writing the Quranic verses over the cloth. The total area of the cloth is 658 square meters.

Giving Democracy a Fair Chance Thursday September 25, 2008 (1405 PST)

There has been much fuss both in the national as well as the international media with respect to the presidential candidature of Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, the Co. Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party. Most of the stories hit hard at him. The allegations range from corruption and betraying the BB legacy to his mental incapacity and owning large empires of wealth and assets. The ‘Times Online’ carries a story suggesting that Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
‘The Economist’ comments on Zardari`s Candidacy for President of Pakistan;
“For a man accused of massive corruption in his murdered wife`s two governments, on account of which he has spent eight years in prison, where his lawyers said he became depressed and demented, this is quite a turnaround….. At the least, it would make the PPP accountable for its handling of the country`s twin crises: a plunging economy and spiraling Taliban insurgency……..”
I personally think that PPP should be given a fair chance to complete its innings on its home ground lest it is packed home immaturely and it fights its case with the public arguing that it was not sinning but have been sinned against. Even the next government should be given a similar chance. Only after allowing them to have full terms that the people would be able to decide about the good and bad. This should not be taken by the incumbent government to be a sort of carte blonche by the incumbent government. This would levy an equal responsibility on the same to respect the democratic rules and let the PML(N) governs the province of Punjab in accordance with the mandate that it has won as a result of the February elections.
Remember Democracy is the self-regulatory system; it`s like riding a bicycle; the more you stumble and fall, the greater chance you have to master the art of cycling. Abandoning cycling with the fear that it would collapse and we would hurt, is not a very good recipe.
Democracy is like flowing water. Allowing it to have an uninterrupted flow would result in the settling down of the impurities. The crux of the argument is that it is high time that we try the norms and rules of a democratic system. The process would not be free of risks and troubles but ultimately we would have to master it. Pakistan being a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country cannot afford the other way round. The dictatorships, both civilian as well as military have given an irreparable damage to the system; we have dismembered; we have been running by fits and starts; we have been the sufferers of the worst sectarian strife.
Now, around this murky circle, there is only murk, but at the outer edge of the same there is a silver lining i.e. Democracy that is the road to the stability of Pakistan. Devoid of democracy, we would grope in the dark; without freedom of expression and freedom of association and that of profession, we would continue hurtling down. We must be at liberty to express ourselves in a myriad of ways. That is the formula of social development and national integration. The more gregarious and versatile our society is the more glued it would be.
AMER RIZWAN KHATTAK

DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP (Poem) By: MARY FRYE

DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP
(Poem)
By: MARY FRYE

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Article on NAM 'Havana from 1979 to 2006'

Havana from 1979 to 2006

Amer Rizwan Khattak

Havana is preparing for the 14th NAM Summit on September 15 and 16. Ironically, the movement is caught between contradictory pulls, the lofty ideals of peace and justice and the imperatives of the national interests of its leading members. One of the pioneers of the movement i.e India voted against one of the NAM members ie Iran in the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, ostensibly to preserve its deal on the transfer of nuclear technology by a superpower to whom NAM showed aversion during the Cold War era. The problem of unity in the movement has been further compounded by the absence of strong charismatic leadership.
It is a measure of the dilution of the movement that more than half of its members were directly or indirectly tied with either of the two superpowers in the cold war rivalry. Its sermons on disarmament match poorly with the fact that some of the biggest arms importers are among its prominent members. Its image has greatly been damaged by the violation of international law by its own members. While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were aligned with one or another of the great powers. For example, in view of these conditions, the onset of new millinium could well mark the acceleration of the process of political decay that had already beset the movement. The need of the hour is to resolve political and economic strifes, to stop the use of coercion among the members and not to acquiesce the use of force against the NAM members.
The post-cold war era, particularly the period after 9/11 is important for NAM for it has to justify its existence. Now when the world is no longer bipolar, NAM is looked upon by many as an anachronism. The same problem was a matter for concern for the leaders of NAM when they met at Nicosia in 1993. Besides, Third World debt, economic issues and the changed geo-strategic environment were discussed. They clamoured for NIEO more vociferously than ever. The Durbin Summit Meeting 1998 was important for many reasons. Firstly, South Africa once the epicenter of apartheid policy got the honour of hosting the meeting, secondly ther legendary Nelsen Mandela was the belle donna of the entire proceedings and thirdly the meeting was being held after the nuclear explosions of the two South Asian neighbours. It was against this backdrop that Mandela served a diplomatic blow to India by acknowledging the gravity of the Jammu and Kashmir doispute between India and Pakistan, and by expressing willingness on behalf of the internatiomnal community to extend every possible help in order to help resolve this issue.
It was at Durban that the idea of Bandung-II was conceived. It is true that NAM played a key strategic role in galvanizing the Third World countries to pursue on an independent course during cold war but now they faced the prospect of becoming irrelevant in the post-cold war ear in the new unipolar world of the 21st century. Thirteenth NAM Summit that was held at Kuala Lumpur (Feb 20-25, 2003 was to deal with this big question and to justify its existence. Malaysia was the chair. Foreign Minster of Malaysia Hamidal Bar expressed concern at the obtaining situation in the Middle East and called for the deployment of an international situation to grapple with the situation. The big challenge before the member countries during the Bandung II Conference 2005 was to revitalize NAM so that it can perform the role of new rallying point for the developing countries to protect their interests against the tide of globalization and seek structural reforms in the UN to allow the third world a voice in all political and economic negotiations. It must be countervailing force to the monopoly on power now exercised by G 8, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, each with a veto power, the Britton Woods institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank and the vastly enlarged NATO and the European Union.
Only consensus and will by the member countries would promise the Movement's revitalization at time when its members are considering the urgent need of keeping its foundational principles alive and taking new steps toward unity, coordination and solidarity that will enable them to confront with a single voice the challenges facing the nations of South at this time. In response to the challenges posed by the post 9/11 period, and tendency by the sole super power to go to any length and to settle international disputes on its own terms and conditions at any cost, the Third World has decided - as is laid out in the Political Declaration - that the defence of multilateralism and the principles of the UN Charter are the basis for revitalizing the Movement. As the text states, to this end it is essential: "like never before, for our nations to remain united, firm and to shoulder a greater level of activism" to close the way to such pretensions.
NAM must become an agency for political coordination, nay it has to promote and defend the common interests of the Third World, as well as to foster unity and solidarity; defence of peace and international security; cooperation based on international law; and promotion of the sustainable development of the peoples of the developing world. Multilateralism and the strengthening of the role that should be played by the UN, the fight for nuclear disarmament and the promotion of South-South cooperation are some of the many other elements that have been precisely outlined in the document.
In response to this reality, Havana 2006 text proposes a plan of action that includes the strengthening of the NAM's ability to give an effective response to the different events and issues that affect the interests and priorities of its member states, just as it expresses the need to define and promote a political agenda for the global economic matters of interest to member nations. The Havana event will be, without a doubt, a stage where the South will show its ability and determination to close the way to unilateralism and coercion and frustrate the designs of the developed world stop them from reaping the fruits of development.
The writer is a Research Scholar.
Email: amerrizwan@gmail.com

The Most Famous Wedding

The groom is the son of Javed Miandad and the daughter is of Dawood Ibrahim, wanted by the Indian government for bombing of the Air India Headquarters. Dawood lives in Dubai as a free trader in Gold.

Teacher tells a student
a=b, b=c implies a=c.
Tell me an Example.
Student: I love u - u love your daughter - so I love you're Daughter.

It's funny when people discuss over "love marriage" and "Arranged marriage"
It is like asking a person if he would like to "hang himself" O"shoots himself".

What is a girl friend?
Addition of problems,

Subtraction of money
, multiplication of
Enemies & division of friends.

A married man was asked to perform his SWOT
(Strength, Weakness, Opportunity , Threat) Analysis.
He said, my strength is my wife.
My weakness is my neighbour's wife.
Opportunity comes when neighbour goes out.
Threat comes when I myself go out

Guide: "I welcome you all to Niagara Falls . These are the world's largest waterfalls and the sound intensity of the waterfall is so high, even20 supersonic planes passing by can't be heard.Now may I request the ladies to keep quite so that we can hear the Niagara Falls ?"


Man: How old is your father?Boy: As old as me.Man: How can that be?Boy: He became a father only when I was born
Teacher : Correct the sentence, "A bull and a cow is grazing in thefield"Student: A cow and a bull is grazing in the fieldTeacher:How?Student: Ladies first.

Customer: If I post this letter tonight, will it get to Delhi in two days time?PostMaster:Yes sir, it definitely will.Customer:I bet you, it won't.Post Master: Why not?Customer: It's addressed to Mumbai.

1st thief: Oh! The police is here. Quick! Jump out of the window!2nd thief: But this is the 13th floor.1st thief: Hurry! This is no time for superstitions

Man before Marriage I like Airtel...."Aisi Azaadi Aur Kahaan" After Marriage He's Like Hutch... "Where R U Go Our NetworkFollows."

They say that when a man holds a woman's hand before marriage, it is
Love; after marriage it is self-defence

It is difficult to understand GOD. He makes such beautiful things as
Women. And then he turns them into Wives!?!!!?!

After Finishing MBBS, Dr. Munna Starts his practice. He Checked 1st
Patient eyes, tongue & ears by Torch
& finally said BOLE TO.......... TORCH THEEEEK HAI

What is the difference between a woman and a magnet?
Magnets have a Positive side!


A person, who surrenders when he's WRONG, is HONEST.
A person, who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE.
A person, who surrenders even if he's RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.

A sardarji pulled out 6 people from a burning house...Still he was in jail.......You know why?Coz all the 6 were fire brigade staff!

*I wrote your name on sand it got washed.I wrote your name in air, it was blown away. ThenI wrote your name on my heart & i got Heart Attack .

*God saw me hungry, he created pizza .He saw me thirsty, he created pepsi .
He saw me in dark, he created lightHe saw me without problems, He created

YOU.Twinkle Twinkle little star
You should know what you are
And once you know what you are
Mental hospital is not so far.

*TEACHER== Name four members of the cat family?STUDENTS== Daddy cat, Mummy cat and two kittens !

*Police man== Stop, stop, your headlights are not working.The Man== Move, move, even the brakes are not working.

*Why does history keep repeating itself?Because we weren't listening for the first time!

*An Astronomer was watching the sky from his telescope.A sardar was observing him, suddenly a star falls,seeing that sardar shouted "kya nishana hai"

*When ur life is in darkness pray to God Ask him to free u from darkness andEven after you pray and you are still in darkness,Please pay your ELECTRICITY BILL !

Ataturk.... address given in the 1930s on the defence of Gallipoli

(From the address given in the 1930s by Turkey's ruler Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who led the defence of Gallipoli in Turkey against allied invasion forces in World War I, to the grieving New Zealand and Australian families who first went there to mourn their loved ones):

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie, side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.”

THE VISIBLE DIFFERENCE

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the
country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They
spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered
a very poor family. On the return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs
.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Newsweek on Pakistan....

Newsweek on Pakistan....
Promise in Pakistan
What's behind one of the world's most surprising economic success stories? In part, September 11.By Ron MoreauNewsweek InternationalMarch 27, 2006 issue -
In the late 1990s Lahore-based businessman Iqbal Ahmed was depressed. Pakistan was isolated internationally and in the grip of a deep recession, and his modest, liquefied-petroleum-gas operation didn't seem to be going anywhere. "I used to get up and say, 'What the hell, it's another day'," he recalls. "Now I can't wait for the day to begin. I see a very bright future."Ahmed has good reason to be optimistic. Two years ago he signed a deal with Houston's Hanover Energy Co. that has helped transform his LPG extraction plant into the largest and most efficient in Pakistan, with revenues last year of $130 million. Backed by several international investors, Ahmed has bid some $400 million to buy a controlling interest in Southern Sui Gas, one of two state-owned gas production and distribution companies that are being privatized. And he recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Excelerate Energy of Houston to import liquefied natural gas into Pakistan in supertankers. "We're enjoying a seachange in economic conditions and opportunities," says Ahmed, 60. "Pakistan is open for business."The proof is in the numbers. Last year the country's GDP growth rate hit 8.4 percent, the world's second highest behind China, following two years of solid 6 percent growth. This year the economy is predicted to expand by nearly 7 percent. After years of instability, with the government and military trying to distract people from their economic woes by waging jihad in Kashmir and railing against neighboring India, a true middle class is now developing. Economic reforms have given the government money to invest in health and education, and foreign investors are eying Pakistan for the first time. In many ways the country has become the world's most surprising economic success story.It's a heady turnaround for a nation that, in the late 1990s, was practically a failed state with near-zero GDP growth. Because of its headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons, Pakistan had become the world's most sanctioned nation after Libya. International aid had dried up. The government was forced to borrow at exorbitant short-term rates, burdening the country with a crushing $38 billion debt. "We were in a real soup when [Gen. Pervez] Musharraf took over," says Ziauddin (he uses only one name), the Islamabad editor of the Dawn newspaper.One of Musharraf's first and smartest moves after his 1999 coup was to appoint Shaukat Aziz, a dapper and urbane international banker, as his economic czar, and to give him a free hand to revive the economy. Butwhat really turned the country's fortunes around was September 11. "The 9/11 attack was the best thing that ever happened to Pakistan," says Lahore-based businessman Salmaan Taseer. The United States and Europe immediately lifted all sanctions; Washington gave Pakistan $600 million outright to meet urgent debt payments, and forgave another $1.5 billion in debt. Working with Aziz, America and other creditor nations also rescheduled Pakistan's heavy debt over a manageable 30 to 35 years. In 2004, the United States pledged $3 billion in economic and military assistance over the next five years, in addition to $100 million for education reform. The EU pitched in, lifting quota restrictions on Pakistan's main export, textiles.At the same time, Aziz, who is now prime minister, began enacting a series of common-sense economic reforms. They focused on boosting fiscal discipline, government transparency and accountability. He quickly cut the budget deficit from 8 percent to 4 percent by slashing spending, and lowered interest rates. Since 2002, he has increased tax revenues by 20 percent. He also instituted a sweeping privatization program that has won kudos from both domestic and foreign investors. State-owned companies in numerous industries—banking, cement, fertilizer, utilities—have been sold off, as has a chunk of the state's inefficient telecom giant, PTCL.The newly privatized and cash-flush banks have been on a lending spree, extending loans to capital-starved domestic businessmen and to the Pakistani middle class, which until 2002 had little access to consumer credit. People have snapped up credit cards, and are buying cars and other big-ticket products with easy-credit bank loans. "This is the best government we've had in the past 30 years," says prominent Lahore businessman Syed Babar Ali, who heads some of the country's biggest joint-venture companies, including Coca-Cola and Nestlé.Foreign investors have been flocking to Pakistan to bid on privatizations and on licenses in the newly opened telecom sector. The sale of two cellular-phone licenses (won by U.A.E. and Norwegian companies) netted the government nearly $600 million. It's a good investment as Pakistan, with 24 million cell-phone users, is now the world's fastest-growing wireless market after China. Indeed, Pakistan is expected to receive upwards of $3 billion in foreign investment this year, largely in telecom and gas and oil exploration. The Karachi Stock Exchange recently hit a record high.Bullish domestic investors, too, are snapping up telecom licenses and state assets. Businessman Taseer raised $40 million from Pakistani banks and $25 million from a U.S. venture-capital company in two months as part of his successful bid for a wireless license. He is also building a 350-room Hyatt hotel and shopping-mall complex in Lahore with $40 million in debt and equity that he organized from domestic banks and investors in just six weeks. "This would have been inconceivable before," says Taseer, 50, a cigar-smoking tycoon who publishes the Daily Times newspaper and is constructing Lahore's tallest office building. "Not long ago, we would have waited at least three years to get a loan from an international bank. In the last two years there has been more economic activity in Pakistan than in the past 50."Even Pakistan's nascent technology sector—dwarfed by India's—seems to be taking off. Salim Ghauri, the CEO of Lahore-based NetSol Technologies, says his company's software revenues this year are expected to jump to $19 million, compared with last year's $11 million. DaimlerChrysler uses Ghauri's LeaseSoft auto-leasing and financing software in its operations in eight Asian countries, and Toyota uses it in Thailand and China. "We are competing with the best in the world, and we are coming out on top," says Ghauri, 51, who set up NetSol in 1996 after he returned from working as an IT consultant in Australia.Still, all is not rosy. Pakistan must modernize its creaky infrastructure, further improve tax collection and, most important, normalize economic relations with India. Government critics say the current boom is not benefiting the country's poorest citizens, who make up more than one third of its 160 million people. "The rich have become very rich since 9/11, and the middle class is better off, but not the mass of Pakistanis," says Dawn's Ziauddin. Aziz counters that a recent government-sponsored survey indicates that the country's heady growth has reduced the number of Pakistanis living below the poverty line from one third to a quarter of the population (interview).Some bankers and economists warn that the economy is dangerously overheating, due to unsustainable consumer demand and easy credit to both industrialists and consumers. Aziz and the government dismiss the concern—but consumers and the private sector have borrowed more money from the banks in the past two years than they had in the previous 12. Critics argue that growth-spawned inflation, which hit a high of 11 percent one year ago and is running this year at 8.5 percent, is a big reason the poor are not benefiting from the boom. "Inflation is clearly eroding the purchasing power of the poor," says a foreign banker in Islamabad. This year the price of sugar is up by 26 percent; wheat and potatoes, by 15 percent.According to the foreign banker, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of his comments, "The government is running the [economy] like it's heading for elections." True: President Musharraf and Aziz are eying the crucial 2007 parliamentary elections. Organized political opposition to Musharraf is rising, and he and Aziz are hoping that an economic resurgence will persuade average voters to return them to power for another five years. That's what most businessmen are hoping for, too. But if the rewards of the boom don't start trickling down, the country's runaway growth could ironically prove to be the government's undoing.With Zahid Hussain© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11902379/site/newsweek/
--

Wealth, Success and Love

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."
"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.
"No", she said. "He's out."
"Then we cannot come in", they replied. In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.
"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!" The woman went out and invited the men in.
"We do not go into a House together," they replied.
"Why is that?" she wanted to know. One of the old men explained:
"His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one,
"He is Success, and I am Love."
Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"
His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"
Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion:
"Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"
"Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," the husband said to his wife.
"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."
Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success:
"I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"
The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!" OUR WISH FOR YOU... Where there is pain, we wish you peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubting, we wish you a renewed confidence in Your Ability to work through them. Where there is tiredness, or exhaustion, we wish you understanding, patience, and renewed strength. Where there is fear, we wish you love, and courage.
Please send this on to your friends and loved ones to remind them of the importance of "love".

UK Magistrate's pronouncement 100 years ago...!!

"Two friends have weighed in with their views to this posting that I received today and I think u can add yours to the Magisterial oration and circulate for the benfit of the common humanity, particularly the obedient ones."

- "Ah for the days when men were allowed to be cowards and were honoured for so being!"

- "This verdict should be cast in pure gold, framed in a platinum and displayed at all public places, in the houses of parliament, outside women's rights organization offices (jumbo size), at all railway stations, airports, sea ports and toll plazas. Slides should be telecast on prime time on all TV channels around the world (during Oprah and all soap operas too). Judge Makinson be awarded (posthumously now) Nobel Prize, Victoria Cross, Medal of Honor, Legion d'Honneur, Nishan-e-Haider, Nishan-e-Pakistan, Padam Bhooshan and whatever other highest civil and military awards the world can bestow upon a judge with such an exceptional sense of justice and, valour. Also for his masterly articulateness."