Islam & Pakistan! Technology & Me!
Ammar
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Home page: http://www.ammar360.com
Posts by Ammar
Irony
32 years ago
The pictures presented in this post are ironic to say the least. Probably the very reason why we have’nt progressed as a nation.
What you see is a small, torn, Pakistani flag presenting a painful picture to any patriotic Pakistani in Karachi. The national flag is under the flags of three different political parties.
Click on the images below for a full-size view.
Do I need to say any more?
Report: Humanitarian Crisis in Pakistan
62 years ago
I’ve compiled a report on the humanitarian crisis that Pakistan faces today. The report has been published at “Global Voices Online“, a community of more than 200 bloggers around the world who work together to bring you translations and reports from blogs and citizen media everywhere, with emphasis on voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media.
The report highlights how the Pakistani Blogosphere has reacted to the crisis and gives you an in-sight to cyber activism in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been hit by a severe humanitarian crisis as a result of the military onslaught against the Taliban insurgency. The valley of Swat is in Pakistan’s Malakand division, a beautiful valley often dubbed as another heaven on planet earth. It used to be a prominent tourist resort before it was struck by militancy and extremism of the local Taliban.
It is being reported that over one million (some reports even suggest that figure stands at near 2 million) people have fled their homes from various areas in the Malakand division and FATA including Buner, Dir and Swat. These “Internally Displaced People” (IDPs) are seeking refuge in other areas of Pakistan. Temporary camps have been established in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) where registered IDPs are provided food and shelter.
The crisis is huge. The problems seem impossible to overcome. But Pakistan as a nation has always proved its resilience and unity in testing times. In this regard, a massive relief effort has been launched by many organizations and individuals. The Pakistani Blogosphere is also taking a leading role to provide relief to our Pakistani brothers and sisters in distress.
Read the Full Report at: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/05/21/pakistan-a-humanitarian-crisis/
IDP’s Calling – Anyone for Relief efforts?
63 years ago
Last year, when a calamity hit Balochistan, we responded with FAST Relief. A well coordinated effort of us students at FAST Karachi. We raised quite a lot of money and made sure every penny of it was spent for the right purpose. We focused on medical aid and bought important medicine for daily use.
Now we have another humanitarian crisis knocking our door, that of the internally displaced persons (IDP’s). People who are leaving their villages and home-towns to avoid the military offiensive against Taliban militants. Are we ready to respond to this call? Will another FAST Relief rise in our absence, now that we have almost graduated?
Do we have people here to answer this call? Can we stand up, as responsible members of the society and do something again from Karachi and launch a well coordinated effort and provide some relief to the IDP’s?
Let us help the Pakistan Army restore peace to our Northern Areas. Let us stand together as a nation and prove that nobody is stronger than us.
Revisiting Procom.Net 2009
203 years ago
Let me begin in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Merciful. Thank You my Lord for making this possible. The 10th All Pakistan Programming, Engineering and Business Competition came to its close on May 2, 2009. The year’s biggest event at FAST Karachi truly lived up to its standards. Originally scheduled for the 30th of April and 1st of May, the event had to be postponed and transformed into a one-day affair because of the violence in Karachi. The postponement and rescheduling of the event was probably the toughest situation that I have ever encountered in my life.
Initially, we had over 200 teams registered and the total number of participants exceeded 620. These were record figures for any event in Karachi. The biggest plus was the fact that over 170 of these participants were to come from all over Pakistan (outside Karachi). Following the postponement by two days – the actual turnout was of over 140 teams, over 450 participants of which over 80 were from outside Karachi. And frankly, the turnout was unexpected. Given the situation – none of us expected such a great turnout of participants, guests, judges and visitors.
How we managed to pull it off – together – shall remain a mysterious miracle for years to come. But one thing is for sure, this year’s event is indeed being counted amoungst the best event’s ever held at FAST (Karachi). I congratulate my team for winning all the appreciation from the Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, corporate guests, visitors and our faculty. It would not have been possible without your sheer dedication.
For me, personally, had it not been Papa’s (Syed M. Faheem) and Ammi’s trust and support in me, I would never have made it where I stood a few days back. Arsalan Tariq Mir was also a great support I had. I can never thank him enough for his never ending cooperation and support. Bilal Musharraf, Maisam Raza, Saad Jamal, Saad Najeeb, Umair and Humayoon were there for me throughout the 4 years of journey till I became President of this mega-event. I will have to thank my little brother, Maisum, for bearing with me – spending sleepless nights just because I had to stay awake for Procom.Net.
It would not have been possible without Mr. Pervez Mohsin and Prof. Zafar Nasir’s unconditional support and trust in me and my team. I believe one of the reason’s behind our success lies in the fact that they did not interfere in our decision making – rather stood by us against people who tried to.
Both my Vice-Presidents, Naveed and Umair deserve all the credit for putting in their maximum. We really gelled together as a team when it was required. Atif Khan’s cooperation is also worth applause. He was part of all critical decisions that we took. We stood firm and pushed ahead when problems refused to let us move forward.
Adnan M. Yousuf (aka TipTop) was a great motivator since the very beginning. Moosa, Hasan, Saleh, Musab, Suhaib Zia, Zain Alvi, Fakhar-ul-Hasan, Abdullah, Waqar, Shoaib Ahsan, Asim Fayyaz, Hassan Yousuf. Thank you all for making it a success.
Assad Ullah kept pushing me when I thought of backing out of the race to become President. His efforts for the Design team can not be under-estimated. He was sick yet he made sure we had all the panaflex banners ready just before it was too late. We missed you at the event Assad.
And of course when it comes to the Juniors – Wahib Saif, Murtaza Munawwer Fazal, Hani Haider, Shahrukh, Ravendar, Ali Ikram, Asif, Ali Raza, Waqas Adnan, Amir Khan, Faizan Mehboob, Mohammad Ali, Fahad, Syed Hassan.. you guys rocked! Forgive me if I’ve missed out any names here, but you guys were brilliant when it mattered!
Hats to Ali Abbas Rizvi, Usman Tariq, Ali Ahmed Zaidi and Sami Moiz for Guest and Participant relations work. I am especially thankful to the little girls, Zahra Bhojani and Saima Karim for thier untiring efforts. A special word of thanks to Anum Fatima Sayani – the little girl working on a very important task these days =D
I have tried to mention almost everyoneI could remember. Forgive me again if I have missed out on any name. It was a total team effort and like I mentioned in my speech, I am proud of you ALL.
And as for motivation, here is what Mr. Faizuddin Alim (Snr. Business Development Executive at TPS) has to say about our event:
Hats off to all you! For making my journey special! For making this success possible!
Best Regards
Syed Ammar Faheem
President
Procom.Net 2009
Big losses for Cell phone/handheld device manufacturers
33 years ago
The world has been hit terribly by the Global economic recession. The hit has been particularly hard for cell phone manufacturers that include big names like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorolla.
I am particularly concerned about Nokia – the fact that its sales have plummetted by 90% is alarming indeed.
Here, I have tried to bring to your attention these losses and what impact they may have on the telecom industry using news from various sources of quarterly reports coming from manufacturers.
I’ll begin with Nokia, followed by Sony Ericsson and Motorola.
Nokia
Nokia’s net profit falls 90 percent
If you were wondering how bad things have gotten for the mobile handset market, just take a look at Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phones.
The company on Thursday reported a 90 percent fall in first-quarter net profits as the global recession took a big bite out of demand for mobile devices.
For the first quarter, which ended March 31, Nokia said that net profits fell to 122 million euros ($161.3 million). A year earlier the company reported net profits of 1.22 billion euros. Analysts had expected the company to report net profits of about 306 million euros.
The company’s sales fell to 9.27 billion euros from 12.66 billion euros last year. This was also below analyst expectations, which were counting on sales of around 9.80 billion euros.
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson posts loss, plans to cut 2,000 jobs
STOCKHOLM – Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a euro293 million ($387 million) net loss in the first quarter on falling sales and said it would slash an additional 2,000 jobs to cut costs.
The result was the third consecutive quarterly loss for the Sony Corp. and LM Ericsson AB joint venture, which reported a profit of euro133 million in the same period in 2008.
Sales in the January-March quarter tumbled by 36 percent to euro1.7 billion, from euro2.7 billion a year earlier.
Sony Ericsson attributed the sales drop to weaker demand for mobile phones, with distributors and retailers trimming inventories amid the economic slowdown.
Motorola
Motorola posts $3.6b loss as devices sales fall by 26 percent
Motorola reported a fourth quarter loss of $3.6 billion, or $1.57 a share, hit by falling sales, particularly in its mobile handset unit. Sales dropped 26 percent, sinking to $7.1 billion, and missing analyst expectations of $7.2 billion. Mobile Devices saw sales drop to $2.35 billion, a 51 percent decline compared to the same period last year. The operating loss was $595 million, compared to an operating loss of $388 million in the year-ago quarter. The struggling handset maker shipped 19.2 million handsets in the quarter, which it estimated gave it a 6.5 percent of the global market. It blamed the unit’s poor performance on the weakening economy and on “gaps in its portfolio.” Motorola also said it was suspending its dividend, and was embarking on a cost savings plan that aimed to save $1.5 billion in 2009. In another blow, Paul Liska, its chief financial officer, is leaving the company. SVP and corporate controller Edward J. Fitzpatrick has been named acting CFO until Motorola can find a replacement.
Other market players like Apple (net loss o f $69 million) and Palm (net loss of $841,000 approx.) have also reported losses over the first quarter.
Blackberry, however, seems to be gaining some ground with its demand rising, particularly in the Middle East and in South-Asian countries like Pakistan.
The mobile handset manufacturing industry does seem to be going through a really rough patch for now. Given the circumstances, there is not much hope for the immediate future but things might stabilize over the course of a couple of years, I hope.
Something that should is worrying for me as a Telecom professional is that this sharp drop in demand of handheld devices and cell phones will have a direct impact on service operators, but let us all hope for the best.
The market in Pakistan is promising indeed. There still is quite a lot of potential for growth here. Let us all hope for the best!
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