Zalimon ke zulm se,
Jaahilon ke Jahal se,
Kaafron ke Kufr se,
Munafiqon ke Jhoot se,
Makaron ki Makari se,
Qarz ki nahoosat se,
Shirk ki Inteha se,
Walwalon ki kami se,
Jawanon ki Neend se.

Pakistan ko nijaat dila, Pakistan ko nijaat dila.

LAHORE: The National Assembly may soon introduce legislation regarding pre-marital blood screening to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, Thalassemia, Hepatitis and other diseases that are transmitted through genetic abnormalities; blood transmission; and sexual relations, sources within the National Assembly said on Tuesday.

They said the government would impose stern punishment to enforce the law, which would be binding on every Pakistani couple. The punishments would range from a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000; six months to a year’s imprisonment; or both. Parliament is also planning on adding a provision to the law to collect the medical history of all Pakistanis deported from foreign countries, especially the Middle East, upon their arrival at airports. The sources said this was necessary as many people are deported from Middle Eastern countries after being found positive for HIV, hepatitis C, etc. Such people rarely inform the government or their families of these conditions to escape stigma and can thus spread the infections, they added.

The parliamentary sources said the law would be implemented through the thousands of basic health units (BHUs) functioning throughout the country. They said the officials working in these BHUs to keep a check on people violating the law.

The Standing Committee for Health in the National Assembly is due to meet today (Wednesday) to discuss the final timetable for placement of the bill before parliament and conduct a final debate on its pros and cons. According to committee Chairman Yasmeen Rehman, they would also discuss the issue of spurious drugs; shortage of life-saving medicine; and the high prices of medicines being sold by multinational companies.

She told Daily Times the committee had already drawn up the outline and major clauses of pre-marital blood screening law. She said passage of this law would ensure the safety of future generations from several deadly diseases.

Source: Daily Times

<lameKid> So what do you think about YPP?
<StoryTeller> Salman will definitely win
<Wizard> most probably
<lameKid> But there is nothing to win, who so ever gets selected by voting will be working for Pakistan, and if he works with his full heart it will be a win for Pakistan.
<Wizard> well that’s a good idea, lets put personal gains and favoritism aside and think about the country first
<lameKid> isn’t that the whole point of this show?
<StoryTeller> well kind of..
<StoryTeller> so what were you talking about
<lameKid> I meant do you think they will get to do more shows?
<lameKid> and more importantly do you think they will do what people are expecting now?
<lameKid> or it’s just talk talk no walk?
<StoryTeller> achay sawalat hain
<Wizard> they can’t be answered that easily
<Wizard> we will have to wait and watch..
<lameKid> I already know that, but phir bhi what do you guys think
<StoryTeller> seriously it’s too early to say anything..
* Wizard quit (Ping timeout)
<lameKid> chalo Wizard ki to batti gul hogayee
<StoryTeller> gul aaj kal bara gul gul kar raha hay
<lameKid> abay ja bhai aik baar baat kia karli g-girl se tum to peeche hee par gaye :/
* StoryTeller quit (Quit: haan bhai ab to yaheeh kahoge )

We all wish that new year brings something new in our life, some change, something real nice and good that could make this new year special.. But it happens very rarely.. right?

I guess 2009 is an exception for me.. (2008 was good too.. but 2009 is just great as of yet).. I am sure you guys are wondering what I am talking about..

Well first let me tell you about how our blood camp went.. HORRIBLY WRONG.. why? We had a target of 100+ pints, but we could only get 49 pints.. it’s just not cool you know.. anyways.. now let me tell you what YPP is..

YPP is Youth Parliament of Pakistan, a non-profit, non-political, non-religious program initiated by Abrar-ul-Haq. This organization is inviting Pakistani youth to come forward and work for Pakistan.. in whichever field they are comfortable with.. They want the youth to identify problems and give solutions for them.

They have started a reality based show called “Kaun hoga naujawanon ka Wazeer-e-Azam”, and they are inviting interested groups from all over Pakistan for this show. We (me, Ayesha, and YLap) were invited too.

I didn’t want to be a part of it, but after severe convincing from mom, ayesha and Hina aapi, I agreed. But I requested for “Airplane” tickets, they surrended and agreed to pay half amount (or more?) ofthe tickets after Hina aapi pressurized them

On 14th we reached Lahore, and at 12:00 PM we arrived at Ali Auditorium (where recording had to take place). When we arrived they were getting ready for the first session, we were sent to a Focus Group discussion, it was organized with help of British Council, I was really hesitant there.. but it actually helped a lot.

After focus group, we had our recording but we were sent to KFC (thanks to Abrar bhai for that), After that we (me, Ayesha, Qasim, Waqar, Sir Asif, Arsalan, Saad [my cousin]) and there was one more person from Karachi (his name was Musawwir – I think), we all were teamed against each other.. Sir Asif V/S Waqar, Arsalan V/S Qasim, Saad V/S me, and Ayesha V/S Musawwir.

Everyone of us had to give 2 minutes of Speech (about what we see as problems in our country and what are the solutions to them) in front of live audience and judges, Most of us were thinking that Sir Asif will win easily, Qasim has no chance, Ayesha will be victorious against Musawwir and I (and my lack of confidence) will ruin this chance for me so Saad will easily win.. BUT I guess it was time for unexpected things to happen.

At the last moment we were told that we can’t deliver our speech while reading from a paper, so we have to remember our speech.. most probably this affected everyone, including me.. anyways I decided that it’s useless to try to remember the speech instead I will just speak about the things that are important to me, if they are important to me why would I need to prepare right?

Well then program was started, Waqar gave a very tough competition to Sir Asif.. very few points separate them, then Qasim was GREAT, he was simply GREAT, and Arsalan unfortunately received very low score (most probably the lowest score of all). You must be thinking why we had thought that Sir Asif or Arsalan would get more points? well because they are usually more confident and comfortable (in communications/discussions) then Waqar and Qasim.

Anyways after that it was me and Saad, Saad as expected had a very good speech, then I gave my speech and somehow people liked it so much that I got standing ovation for that (thanks to Waqar , he was the first one who got up from his seat on stage) everyone was clapping and I was like “uhh.. what did I say, what did I say..”, then Abrar bhai hugged me and said “Thalassemia will be the first thing we will discuss on first Youth Assembly”.. I was ahead in Audience scores but Judges score evened us (me and Saad) quite nicely.

After me, it was Ayesha and Musawwir, unfortunately since me and Ayesha both had to talk on same topic and we were right after one another she got a little emotional (due to my speech) and lost her train of thoughts while talking so she ended it very quickly.. Judges liked it but Musawwir received more points [I wish Musawwir was against me ]

Now we are waiting for march, when this will go on-air on ATV channel. Viewers will be allowed to vote via SMS for participants who they think deserve a chance to sit in Youth Assembly (that will be organized in Islamabad, I think).

And now about me (or that’s the “main” part from topic).. I feel great, why? because we had to walk on 14th the whole day.. and even though I had to take 8-10 tablets that day I was just fine! I was walking, carrying luggage and everything was fine.. That’s just so good! I FELT GREAT.

Well that’s all for now, talk to you laters

-Salman

Abu Dhabi: It is not the first time Rahim Khan Khilgi, a limousine driver, had found valuables left behind by passengers. “I have returned more than 18 mobile phones left behind by passengers. Besides, I also got Dh14,000 on one instance and $2000 on another. At all times, I have ensured that the passenger got back his/her belongings,” said Khilgi. Recently, Khilgi, a Pakistani driver working for Fast Limousine, was surprised when he realised that a passenger left behind his wallet containing Dh40,000 besides credit cards, cheques and other important documents. “On April 19, at midnight, a passenger from the business lounge of Etihad Airways boarded the limo. After I dropped him off at Dubai Marina I stopped at a fuel station to fill up. I got out of the car and as I was about to take my bag from behind I noticed a purse on the back seat,” said Khilgi.

He immediately handed over the valuables to Captain Ahmad Al Merri, the police duty officer at the airport. He has been working with Fast Limousine for the past three years. Earning Dh2,600 on an average every month, Khilgi said he wouldn’t say that money is not important to him. “Money is the most important thing these days. But can it give happiness? No. whereas the gratitude and happiness of a person who gets back his belongings are immeasurable.

“Most people ask me why I chose to return the money, but only my wife and a friend said that I did the right thing by returning the money,” he said.

Moved by the driver’s honesty, Captain Ahmad Al Merri wrote a letter to Fast Limousine’s management who in turn brought the incident to the notice of the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC). Two weeks ago, ADAC honoured Khilgi ‘for demonstrating a high sense of honesty and personal integrity while serving customers at Abu Dhabi International Airport’. Recently, Khilgi was the guest of honour at a special ceremony hosted by ADAC Operations Department to present him a cheque of Dh4,000 in recognition of his exemplary attitude.

Click here to read from original source.

World’s Most Conscientious Customer Completes Botched Software Purchase Over A Year Later:

I just wanted to pass along a story of a truly honest customer.

The software company I work for put out a version available for download early 2007. It was a success, however for the first two months there was a small problem. As soon as you purchased it, you were able to download it BEFORE your credit card was validated. This led to the company getting burned until it was fixed.

Back in 2007 we had a customer who tried to pay for the download in Pakistan, and then paid for it with a debit card. It was the only card payment he had, and it was rejected. He had no other forms of payment, and we had to write it off as a loss while he got to enjoy using his software for free. Whatever, it was our web engineers’ mistake that caused it.

In October 2008 a letter came in the mail with a check from a customer for the Download version. Obviously this raised some questions as we could not process a download order paid by check. I opened up the file with the name on it, and lo and behold, there was the guy from Pakistan who we had written off the charge for.

I called him up, and it turns out that he just moved to the US and one of the first things he did when he had gotten a checking account was to send a check to us for the full amount of the software that we had written off over a year and a half prior.

Honesty, and memory like that is hard to find these days. I wonder if coming from another country and culture had anything to do with it.

Click here to read from original source.

<Wizard> Quaid-e-Azam ki wajah se Pakistan Aazaad howa aur logon ne unhain hee bhula dia
<StoryTeller> He was the leader, but saying he is the sole responsible for our freedom is not true.. many people sacrificed there lives and even children for Azadi..
<Wizard> okay but why do we have to neglect our leader’s birthday?
<StoryTeller> I guess not giving a public holiday is fine.. but there should be programs and events organized to honor him..
<Wizard> Bhai, for 27th they have arranged FREE Bus Ride from anywhere to Larkana.. everywhere I go people asking “Tum larkana jarahay ho?”, media per har taraf yaheeh hay.. news channels per news se ziada is din ki baat horahee hay
<Wizard> Who is paying for all that? the tax-payers?
<StoryTeller> But how many actually pay tax?
<Wizard> If they stop wasting tax money on Shadi in PM House and Such events and if people can see that there hard-earned cash is utilized properly THEY WILL PAY TAX.
<StoryTeller> nah..
<Wizard> Khair that’s not the point.. the point is that we have neglected the nation’s leader, but we are remembering a martyred party leader in a very huuuge way.., Liaquat Ali Khan was martyred as well we don’t remember him like this.. so why 27 has to be an exception?
<lameKid> and no one talked about several fire fighters who died at Ghakar Plaza sukker..
<Wizard> yes, they are the heroes.. they died while trying to save others..
<StoryTeller> but 27 is for remembering a hero too..
<Wizard> Yes, but why only 27th.. Why not 25th, why not salute the heroes of 23rd December? Why not honor those who sacrificed there lives in the three wars?
<StoryTeller> hmm.. saheeh baat hay yaar..
<lameKid> itna kharcha event per kia gaya, media coverage, free bus rides, everything but nothing for heroes of 23rd december, OR Quaid..
<lameKid> even jo compensation announce ki gayee hain unhain un ke relatives tak pohanchne main pata naheen kitna time lage, kitne dhakke khane paren unhain..
<StoryTeller> pohanche bhi ya naheen.. who knows..
<Wizard> sad..

I am not against anything or anyone.. 27th is definitely for a hero, a great leader.. but we shouldn’t neglect others as well..

There is a song being played by Najam Shiraz on TheMusik etc today most probably it is dedicated to this date.. it has a line/verse: “Hum koi shahadat bhoolay naheen.. bhoolay naheen.. Mitti ki mohabbat bhoolay naheen..”

I just wish that it was true.

-Salman