Benazir Bhutto (R) co-chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with her son Bilawal (L) leaves to take a rest after listening to the final results of election 06 October 1993 at Naudero, 17 Km from Larkana, Pakistan, 07 October 1993. The PPP had claimed early victory nation wide but lost votes in urban cities of Punjab province.
Click here to read more…
Reference: http://news.bbc.co.uk
Three days after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Bilawal Bhutto finds himself inheriting not just one of the most celebrated names in politics, but a history steeped in power and bloodshed.
He has been chosen as the chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party. It is a party founded and always led by a Bhutto.
While friends of Benazir say she always envisaged Bilawal becoming her political heir, they agree that she would not have wanted him to have to bear that burden so young.
Only 19 years of age, Bilawal is still some way from completing his education.
He has followed his mother to Oxford University, where he studies history, and he says he will complete his studies before entering the maelstrom of Pakistani politics.
He is described as a keen sportsman, enjoying cricket, shooting, horse-riding and Taekwondo.
In joining Oxford’s Christ Church college, he also followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first elected prime minister and founder of the PPP, who was executed under martial law in 1979.
Bilawal also echoed his mother’s own experience of tragedy when he quoted her at his first press conference.
“My mother always said democracy is the best revenge,” he declared, raising his voice.
But he looked not entirely at ease as party supporters broke into chants of: “Bilawal, step forward! We are with you!”
Born in September 1988, a month before his mother was elected prime minister, Bilawal was given a name meaning “one without equal”.
Since then he has spent most of his life outside Pakistan, travelling with his mother, who went into self-imposed exile in 1999, moving between London and Dubai.
In an interview in 2004 he was asked if he wanted to enter Pakistani politics.
“We will see, I don’t know. I would like to help the people of Pakistan, so I will decide when I finish my studies,” he said.
He has been forced into a decision even earlier.
By Ravi Nessman
Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan rejected an outside investigation into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Saturday, despite controversy over the circumstances of her death and three days of paralyzing turmoil. On Sunday, two suspected suicide bombers died when they prematurely detonated their bomb near the residence of a senior leader of the ruling party in eastern Pakistan, police said.
The Islamic militant group blamed by officials for the attack on Bhutto denied any links to the killing on Saturday, and Bhutto’s aides accused the government of a cover-up.The disputes were sure to further enflame unrest that has killed 44 people over three days and threatened to derail Jan. 8 parliamentary elections meant to restore democracy in this nuclear armed nation, a key ally against Islamic extremism.
The growing questions about Bhutto’s assassination have led to calls for an international, independent investigation. While the government dismissed that idea, U.S. officials said Pakistan was quietly consulting with other countries about the conduct of the probe, suggesting the country wants to ensure its findings are seen as credible. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema defended the government’s ability to carry out its investigation. He said an independent judicial probe should be completed within seven days of the appointment of its presiding judge.
Reference: http://www.storyofpakistan.com/
Benazir Bhutto, the eldest child of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was born on June 21, 1953, at Karachi. She attended Lady Jennings Nursery School and then Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examination at the age of 15. In April 1969, she got admission in the U. S. at Harvard University’s Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Political Science. After graduating from Harvard, Benazir joined Oxford University in the fall of 1973. Just before graduation, Benazir was elected to the Standing Committee of the most prestigious Oxford Union Debating Society.
In 1976, she graduated in P. P. E. (Politics, Philosophy and Economics). In the autumn of 1976, Benazir returned once again to Oxford to do a one-year postgraduate course. In January 1977, she was elected the President of the Oxford Union. Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in June 1977. She wanted to join the Foreign Service but her father wanted her to contest the Assembly election. As she was not yet of age, Benazir Bhutto assisted her father as an advisor.
Reference: http://www.nazariapak.info/
In order to resolve the Constitutional tangle once again, a British Parliamentary Commission under the leadership of Sir John Simon came to India. Simon Commission was boycotted by both the parties i.e., the League and the Congress and other representative political parties in India on the basis that it had no Indian representation. Resolutions were passed condemning the exclusion of Indians from the Commission. The Commission’s task was to report to the British Government the desirability of establishing the principles of responsible government and extension, modification, or restriction of the degree of responsible government then existing under the Act of 1919.
Reference: http://www.epicurious.com/
Peanut-studded brownies, peanut butter frosting, chocolate ganache…what better way to savor the PB-chocolate combo?
Servings: Makes 30 brownies.
Ingredients
Brownies
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup roasted salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Reference: http://www.arabia.msn.com/
The website of China’s new anti-graft bureau crashed shortly after going online due to the huge volume of messages from the public complaining about rampant corruption, state media said Wednesday.The website (yfj.mos.gov.cn) of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, which was set up to collect information on corrupt activities, was so popular it crashed on Tuesday, just one day after it was launched.
“The enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the website reflects the growing frustration felt by the general public towards corruption at government level,” Xinhua news agency said.
Reference: http://www.jazbah.org/
Tahira Naqvi is the author of two collections of short stories, titled ‘Attar of Roses’ and ‘Dying in a Strange Country,’ and an upcoming novel. She is also known for her translations into English of several works of prominent author, Ismat Chughtai, as well as other well-known women writers of Urdu fiction.When I first invited Tahira Naqvi to give a lecture on Ismat Chughtai at the ‘Sadaa: Voices of Women’ arts festival we were organizing in Seattle, I was not sure what to expect. Though I was familiar with Ms. Naqvi’s own writing and her scholarship on Chughtai, I had never had the pleasure of attending one of her lectures. She informed me that though in her various talks, she had often spoken of Chughtai’s work, she had never before given a lecture on her.
Ismat Chughtai’s name should be familiar to anyone who has even a slight interest in Urdu literature and drama. Urdu, one of Asia’s most romantic languages, is yet to be recognized as such in the West. Chughtai opened new avenues for women writers in Urdu fiction. Ms Naqvi’s lecture at the University of Washington in Seattle turned out to be one of the best I have ever attended, very insightful and entirely intriguing.Speaking to a mixed audience of Pakistani, Indian, and Caucasian Americans – some already familiar with Chughtai and others learning about her for the first time, Tahira Naqvi introduced Ismat Chughtai as one of the most famous writers in Urdu fiction. “I refer to Ismat as an unexplored territory because there is [still] so much that there is to know about her.” According to Ms. Naqvi, Ismat was an “unselfconscious feminist.” “Ismat was doing all the things that we imagine feminists or women who are truly liberated [would] do but she didn’t think she was doing anything extraordinary. That was the way she was.” This was before the word ‘feminist’ was part of the vocabulary.
Reference: http://pakistaniat.com/
Many of us living in North America (though not all it seems) celebrated Eid yesterday (Wednesday). Some others in Europe and elsewhere are celebrating today, while others celebrated yesterday. Most in Pakistan (but, again, not all) will celebrate tomorrow (Friday). Hajis are finishing off Hajj as I write. To all of them we at ATP wish a very happy Eid and Haj felicitations. Whether you choose to spell it Eid, or Id, or Eed or anything else, we wish you well and we wish you the best.
The dilemmas of multiple Eids (which we have written about before) is now a well-rehearsed cacophony, a mandatory topic of discussion, a reminder of our collective disarray, and a pesky but now familiar nuisance. But this time Eid seems to have taken on a more disturbing, even sinister, undertone.
The gloom of Pakistan’s disturbed politics had already sapped an entire people of their self-confidence and sense of common purpose, but recent reminders of the culture of violence that we have bred have left us numb. As if to remind us of our multiple predicaments Eid this time is preceded by the two shocking stories about the tragic train crash of the Karachi Express and the murder of Gulgee and his wife and housemaid. Of course, Sahir has said this in a very different context, but I am reminded nonetheless of his verse: Tou dil taab-i-nishaat-i-bazm-i-ishrat laa nahiN sakta / meiN chahouN bhi tou khaab-awar taranay gaa nahiN sakta.
By Michael Mejia, Men’s Health
Rererence: http://health.yahoo.com/
Here’s a sign of the times: You can actually hire people to come to your house and organize your closets. They’ll also do your garage, your attic, and the shed in your backyard. These people are tough on pack rats. They ask questions like “Why do you have this box of dog leashes, but no dog?”
My job isn’t all that different. As a trainer, if I see something in a client’s workout-or my own-that doesn’t belong there, I get rid of it. If I see a redundant exercise, it’s gone. Disorganized workout? I organize it. And if I see a client doing a program he got out of some old bodybuilding magazine, I throw the whole thing out and start over.
