Archive for November, 2008
Time to go solo: Stop Begging, Start Building!
Nov 29th
By Laila Sohail
Saturday, 29th November – 2008
The economic crisis has taken us exactly where it was expected…straight into the account books of the big bosses at the IMF We may be told that it’s a do or die situation, but there are options available. We should first get the IMF off our back, and then work on our own development programs. What Pakistan needs right now, is an out of the box solution…and some courage.
The IMF is going to bail us out with 7.6 billion dollars. The interest rate is going to be between 3.51% and 4.51%, but an official announcement is yet to be made. Apparently that’s it. We take $4bn this year, $3.6bn the next, and repay it by 2016. Or at least that’s the part we are told. According to speculations, the deal comes with an implicit price. A 30% cut in the defense budget is demanded. Other cuts may ask for reducing the number of pensionable posts in the government and semi government departments, devaluing the rupee, increasing sales tax by Rs 50billion, and imposing a 7% tax on agriculture.25% of government assets may be kept as mortgage, and the future annual budgets may now be prepared by the IMF and not the Ministry of Finance, so now it is not only at the borders where our sovereignty is compromised.
There are also concerns about the very reasons for going to the IMF. The notion being that the whole economic crisis was exaggerated so as to leave no other options open. The IMF hawks want us to go under, America wants us to go under…and now the government wants us to go under. It may be the last nail in the package to ensure that even the economy is no more independent.
It does not really matter what the intentions of the IMF are. The fact is that the Fund is not a charity institution. Regardless of its noble claims of strengthening countries, it is at the end an institution working in its own interests, and one should not be naive enough to either deny or criticize that. The loans may be meant to stir up the economy, but history has shown us the failures of this policy. One can not blame the IMF for our own ineffectiveness. Borrowing to develop, and then borrowing again to finance the previous borrowing, is a policy that can now safely be called a failure, as we have no development, but only borrowing bills to show for it. More >
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Loading ...A nation gripped in sheer frustration
Nov 9th
You can party around the world with 240 odd people and then claim to have paid for them out of your own pocket while YOUR people die of hunger right under your nose. Yes, Mr. President! You have proved once again that you and your government are just not ready for governance of a country that means a lot to 160 million people.
How ridiculous could things get? If you have so much for yourself that you can pay for luxury trips for so many people, why can’t you bring your own assets and only KEEP them in Pakistan?
It is not about certain individuals now. It is about an entire nation gripped by sheer frustration and helplessness. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Bhindi Fried – Yeah!
Nov 3rd
LoL! Okay! I find it easier to type rather than to write, so I’ve decided to place the recipes and my experiences in the kitchen up here, on my blog.
My first recipe is Bhindi (go figure out what you wanna call it in english, I like the word ‘Bhindi’, because ‘Okra’ or ‘Lady Finger’ in english sounds really really odd to me!) =D
Ingredients:
Bhindi’s, cooking oil, a tomato, onions, some red chilli, salt, zeera (cumin seeds), salt to taste.
Method:
Okay, take up whatever utensils you have around and put the things in place.
- Chop the onions, the tomato and the bhindi.
- Heat the oil and put the onions in it. Stir fry till golden brown. I’m good at this part! haha!
- Add the cumin seeds (zeera), a little less than a teaspoon perhaps, and fry a little more.
- With that done, add the bhindi’s (the chooped okra) and the chooped tomato to the fried onions.
- Add the red chilli and salt-to-taste.
- Fry the bhindi (chooped okra) to your liking. I’d like it a little green and crisp
If you ever try it, do tell me how it was.
Special thanks to A.B. for the recipe!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...FAST Relief [Update]: Aftershock rattles Pakistan as disease spreads among survivors
Nov 1st
A strong aftershock rattled southwestern Pakistan Saturday, as aid agencies warned that disease had begun to spread among tens of thousands of earthquake survivors waiting for relief supplies.
The 5.0-magnitude quake struck just before 6am in the mountainous province of Baluchistan, where a powerful pre-dawn tremor on Wednesday killed up to 300 people and left 70,000 people homeless.
There were no immediate reports of further casualties or damage as a result of the latest aftershock, the second strongest of more than 250 tremors to have shaken the region since Wednesday’s quake.
Aid has begun reaching devastated villages, but angry villagers in remote areas said they desperately needed shelter, with thousands of people whose mud-brick homes were flattened sleeping in the open in freezing temperatures. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...FAST Relief
Nov 1st
With one single objective in mind, we have started off on a mission to help the people of Baluchistan. The objective is to make them proud of being Pakistani, to provide relief to the displaced and injured people of the Province.
The deadly earthquake on the 29th of October has left over 300 people dead, several injured and around 15,000 people displaced. Unofficial sources say some 70,000 homes have been demolished.
Students are collecting donations at FAST Karachi, in any form. Material or cash.
If you’re abroad, we have made arrangements to collect the money through Western Union branches throughout Karachi. You can send the money in any of the following names:
- Syed Ammar Faheem
- Hina Aman
- Arsalan Tariq Mir
- Naveed Ahmed Taj
Do not forget to provide the MTCN number which is used for verification by the Western Union branches.
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