My todays pic: name of allah

It is a picture we (Yao from Cote d°ivore) have been given. If You read from right to left: the separate line is “A”, initial vowels are always standing alone. The right part of the bow is “L”, in the middle is again a line for “A” with a sign over it that makes it sound double, so “AA”, and the rest is “H”. So the proper pronunciation is “Alaah”.

“Allahu akbar” means “God is great”… its sad that for a lot of people this words became the symbol of a crazy militant blowing himself up as that is what they are portraited like.

And now we are at the source of problem… What was just a common practice was transformed into a rigid rule. In the recent years it has become a symbolical issue. Right now hijab became one of the symbols of true Islam. We have been faced with conflicts that have been caused by wearing hijab (forbidden in schools in France; Egypt and Turkey are running an agressive campaign against Hijab – see cases brought up by Amnesty International that included violence on women) and cases where women were abused for not wearing it, or wearing it in a “unsifficient” way (common also in Pakistan)…

But my point was simple in the fact, that the women in Pakistan are a litle bit of mistery, showing only the face and You are not supposed to stare at them, but only catch a glimpse. Of course I am not talking about Burka (whole face cover), but about the scarfs around the heads and shoulders of girls. With combination of their love for traditional-alike patterns and bright colours it makes them look often very beautiful…

For those guys who are looking for girls who look innocent and precious, its very easy to fall in love here

Good thing that I rather prefer lil crazy, smart, rather strong, impulsive girls that are ready to fight with anybody…

Its often the desolation of man`s creation that lets the beauty of work of nature stand out, the simple presence of a man makes the nature look weak and enslaved.

Or is it just that the beauty is in the eyes of beholder and its me who likes these views? Is it an accident that among my favourite movies are those that show the end of our days (Children of Men, 28 days later)?

Well the goals are:
- finish MC in Pakistan on 1st of July
- travel Pakistan for 2-3 weeks
- go back to Slovakia in an interesting way (I still dont know what it means)
- travel Slovakia and Czech republic for some month
- while being in Slovakia, walk/hike it from East to West (like 2 weeks?)

The girl is Anna a.k.a. Maya from Hungary… The tickets from Budapest to Karachi sounded expensive so she took a flight to India and from over there took a bus to Lahore – Pakistan, we picked her up right after crossing the Paki-India border…

Since her arrival till now she has:
- been to Shalimar Gardens
- been for a cinema show of a 3-hours long Punjabi movie called Gulabo (rosebud)
- took a ride on a rollercoaster for 0,5 USD
- felt sick because of all the spicy food
- bought her first Shalwar Kameez
- been to Badshahi Mosque, old city of Lahore and Food Street
- took with the MC a 23 hours long train ride from Lahore to Karachi
- got bitten by miriads of mosqitos and found the miracle of Repellent
- had the first day in company (Unilever) and was busy since first minute
- been to Mohatta Palace and the Beach park in Karachi
- organized an AIESEC+Hungary presentation for the company people
- on weekend suggested that we go to Thatta, so we did

…time limitations are only in Your head, maybe I should be little bit creative with my time too.

a Pakistani asking a new trainee what is different in PK from home…

her answer is exactly what was my though:

“its hard to say, there is nothing that would be similar ”

I made a webpage for it here: www.aiesec.pk/nsc08

And have put some nice pictures here …I didnt make too many of general “people pictures” and actually have to put them online…

What should I write about the conference to give it sense for people who have not been there, consider it to be just an another conference or dont even care too much about AIESEC conferences?

Well, lets try it like this:

• each Local Chapter came with between 2 and 6 different dances to mostly bollywood songs but also random 70s disco.
• The conferences in Pakistan are officially decided to be without alcohol, but it was fully fine, because we had galons of Pakola and sheesha to socialize with.
• The conference was on the hills in Murree and thus sometimes we had been quite freezing.
• The hotel (Shangrilla) is a few star hotel that I would never be able to efford.
• On the last night a bunch of guys have decided to follow the tradition that on last night there is no sleep, they have been hanging on the swings till morning.
• The official night had more than 20 externals participating and was covered by Dawn TV.
• The conference made a profit that will finance the LC for at least half a year.

________________________________________________________________

See the footage here on YouTube:

AIESEC Pakistan, NSC 08, Dawn TV footage

I have been dealing with an HR+training company called Navitus for the conference (and beyond), one of the basic things I noticed at these guys is that everything is possible – whatever You suggest, their reply is: sure, sounds cool, just send us some more info and we see what we can do…

One of the things they gave AIESEC Pakistan (without us even considering such an option) was that a guy called Sarmad Tariq would come and deliver a speech at the closing plenary. Who is Sarmad? A guy who lost everything he had – purpose of life and ability to move anything apart from his head, but didnt give up. He has gained partly both of it, he still cant walk but he has a damn interesting life…

And he told us a few things about him and his view on life…

Quote 1:
I dont want to stay/go to place that reminds me about what I cant do, but a place that challenges me and gives me satisfaction about what I can do.

Quote 2:
Pain is temporary, pride is for ever.

Quote 3:
There is a physical law: “every action causes a reaction of same power but opposite direction”. The only difference between objects and human beings is that humans case the reaction doesnt have to be in the opposite direction – humans can use the action, make it stronger, make use of it.

Its because of moments like this I really like Pakistan. I will try to describe the situation. I am in a train, its already night, sitting at the window. Window is open, wind coming in, dark country dotted with lights and rumbligh of the train outside. And whats inside? In front of me, through the gap between seats I can see a small boy in brigh orange jumper trying to find something interesting to do. While his father is lying on the seat and just laughs at him. To my left is a man with white long beard – a man who would have problems to enter Your country because of how he looks like – teacher at a medical university, he is talking to my friend (pakistani) about school system in Pakistan and world – funny is that they speak English, so I can understand what they are saying (hellloo! two pakistanis are speaking English, they dont even know I am listening, its natural for them – native English). And behind me, through the seats gap I can hear two Pakistani women chatting in Urdu (about I have no idea what).

A small story from few minutes ago that might help You understand the openness of people here: if You are in the train, reading a book or newspaper and put it down, anybody around can just pick it up and start reading, he doesnt even feel like its needed to ask You for allowance – why would You now agree?

By the way, the man who picked up the book was the same one who is talking now about the school system. And to make the moment even more special – he was asked to make (run) the evening prayer. When You are traveling You are not obligated to pray – but if You want… So he is saying the prayer alound and few join in it in silence. He does it on the corridor of the train – only space possible – some people have to wait for them to finish before they can pass… nobody minds.

And to really get an insight into Pakistani people, right after the old man went to run the prayer, the friend of mine, who was talking to him, has turned to me with a big ironic/sarcastic smile and said “that was random!” – they are the most sarcastic people I have ever met. I actually do think they have been through so much shit that humour is a way out – and it really works, they go over problems and within days make fun of them.

Scene one: Sudan – teddy bear case
A primary school teacher was charged for “letting 7-years old children in her class name a teddybear Mohammed“. It was part of a lesson where the kids were supposed to pick a name for the teddybear, so they picked the most favorite name of theirs. If You are not able to find what is the problem, the religion-protectors found it as an offence to name a toy by the name of the prophet Mohammed… (read original text)

Silly isnt it? And pointless! Conservative Islam doesnt agree with depicting people and most of all holy people, because it doesnt want them to become subjects of worship, true – but putting this case in the same category is idiotic! And no talks about cultural sensitivity – that is not the case here! If this is blasphemy how DARE the protectors of faith name their sons with the name of the Prophet? Do they claim that their son is worth the Prophets name? Stupidity!
She was in jail for a week waiting for the court to decide, was supposed to be given 15 days of jail, but has been pardoned by the president… and than deported from the country…

And to finish the story – a worker at the school has been fired and accused that it was her who started the whole thing… She claims to be innocentand has her life screwed big time as nobody wants to employ her and her family is being harrassed… As I say, pure Stupidity in all directions. (read article)

Scene two: England – bishop supports implementation of Sharia law
A bishop has told in an interview that he thinks that some aspects of Muslim law – sharia should be implemented in UK law, mostly in field of economy and marriages. As result a virtual “stoning” by media and even politicians started, not a single word of support worth notice…
And I feel like puke – PUKE – P.U.K.E. – vomit! If you are looking for a couple of guys who would kill all the Muslims in Your town, try for example this page. The comments of people to the topic are so absurd, simple minded and “I am right and who doesnt agree is s sissy and leftish liberalist!”…. pure disgust…

Ironic: if You get married in Pakistan under Muslim law, Your marriage is valid in UK, but in UK its not possible to get married under Muslim law… isnt that weird?
MEGA ironic: during the carnage and shit throwing, the news from Nov 07 that UK government will issue Sharia-compliant bonds has made it to headlines again… (read original text)

…the whole thing is about exagerrating and missinterpreting. But it perfectly fits into the scheme of “war on terror“, because war needs propaganda (doesnt matter if the war is/not “just”) and fear and hate of the enemy is a basic propaganda element… I guess those who came up with the term “war on terror” got more than they asked for …

Scene three: Iran – government forces people to follow Sharia-called rules
Well, in last year or so the conservative elements of the government of Iran have started to push on following of some rules that they call Sharia. First of all, there is nothing like Muslim law, its just a collection of instructions taken from Koran and Muslim traditions that a power-party or religious group proclaims to be Sharia. Forget the concept of a book of Muslim law, Koran is not a book of law, but a collection of verses on God and Life… Thus logically Muslim law is actually the law of the power group… and often the power group chooses different rules than the people would.

Iran in last year has seen persecutions of women who had their head scarf not “non-transparent enough” or of not enough of length etc. Really ridiculous crap because of simple reason – people of the countrz (muslims) do not agree with those rules. Understand, Muslims are pushed to follow a “Muslim” law that they do not agree with, thus there are only two options:   a) they are not Muslim, b) the law is not Muslim…

You pick, but I have been told that women after comming from outside fling the piece of cloth on the ground – because they are made to wear it, not because they believe in it. What in Turkey becomes a symbol of “free presentation of being Muslim” is in Iran a way “of raping the beliefs of people”…

Today was holidays – the “day of solidarity with people of Kashmir (and Jammu)”. We went out to the city and (like its so often) I had some really weird sights…

Huge banners in Urdu and English have been placed around the city. Talking about heroes, enemies, not much abound friendship, peace or agreement… Its hard to understand such an approach, but let me say a few things for You about this valley…

The whole problem started with the Partition of British Raj India into India and Pakistan in 1947. The history behind this is really interesting, but at this moment all You need to know is that the muslims from India under the leadership of Jinnah have succeeded to persuade the British that its inevitable to create a separate Muslim state. Till today most Indians think it was not needed…

But anyways, the British said OK – each province of India (something like a mini-state) can choose if they want to be part of Pakistan or India. The problem was that in Kashmir the ruler was Hindu, but most of people were Muslim, so he decided to try to stay independent, i.e. not to choose… This made the muslims from new forming Pakistan pissed off (as they thought he could want to join India, who had more resources to offer) and sent army to kick the rulers out – and seeing that the rulers of course announced that Kashmir and Jammu want to join India…

Btw, the British would have never accepted K+J being independent, they didnt even agree with Bengal=Bangladesh be separeted and agreed only on its separation only if it is part of Pakistan!

Now the problem was that the leadership of India had an official document stating that K+J want to join India (that document got lost and nobody knows where is it) and thats why India has sent its troops to “protect” K+J. Only a UN-backed negotiation has stopped a full-scale war and has set a cease-fire line – which defacto became the border. India at that time promised that a census – referendum will be held in K+J where the people will decide whom they want to join… That census never happened… The leaders of India at that time felt that K+J are their “homeland” and thus never intended on giving the region to Pakistan.

Since that war, one more war between Pakistan and India about Kashmir took place, the result was actually a return to original cease-fire line. Part of it were troops trained and financed by Pakistan regimes that were supposed to stir revolution in Kashmir. They failed… This war made Zulfikar Bhutto become a hero, for his fight with words (as foreign minister) against India.

As a matter of fact, the area is partly disputed also by China, but Pakistan to strenghten its position against India made a border agreement with China and thus doesnt have conflicts with it. It should be also said that the disputed region is the size of Slovak and Czech republic combined.

To finish up the thing:
- both Indians and Pakistanis feel that Kashmir and Jammu are part of their country
- in light of the proclamation of Kosovo independence its possible to consider Kashmir pronouncing itself independent (as it did in the 60s), but nobody would support that.. as one of my friend ironically noted: “we want them to be free… under Pakistani rule”. And K+J has not enough infrastructure and will among people to become an independent state
- historically during Partition there was a district of India, that had mostly Hindu inhabitants, but leadership was Muslim, that proclaimed itself part of Pakistan (despite being fully surrounded by want-to-be-india districts), Indian troops kicked the leadership out… but it was MUCH smaller than K+J…but according to a (current) map of Pakistan I have, it is shown as part of Pakistan

picture for comparison… CR+SR=15 mio people
Pakistan = 180 mio people
disputed region (K+J) = 10 mio people

The day after the reporting was quite absurd for the girl, because police made her go to show them the place and the police guys went for a raid… into the woods, 30 mins walking away from the exact spot… They came back after 15 minutes with a bunch of random guys and asked her if any of them were among those robbers… of course not   …but they busted them anyways…. because they have been having a drink and smoking pot… after that the made her do a identikit of the real robbers and give them the numbers of the lost phones and sent her home with comment that they will take care about it…

For three months the amount of results of the investigation was as expected – zero. But than the girl got a letter from police saying that “hectic investigations were underway”. Laughing stock it was.. Till a week after, when she was sent a message that she should come and identify the suspects…

I am not going to talk about how was it, I wasnt there, but if You want to know, read her own words on how did it go HERE.

The really absurd aspects of the whole case:
- one of the robbers during the robbery itself tried to persuade us that he is from police by showing a licence… a motorbike licence, sadly I didnt notice what was written on it
- police tried to find the guys by going to the forrest, day later and on wrong place
- random guys got busted during the forest raid for smoking pot
- the robbers have been idiots enough to keep the phones and even leave the SIMS on
- the police has been sending romantic SMSes to the numbers to attract the robbers attention
- the police arranged a date with one of the robbers and when he arrived he got busted
- the robbers will be charged around two years, what was commented by locals “dont worry, its food for free twice a day for two years”
- the police asked the embassy and the girls employer to make endorsements for them about how good their work is
- during the interrogation the occupation of the robbers changed from “painters“ to “thieves”
- the police got those two to get two random phones to serve as replacement for those phones we have lost (as the third one they kept and used… idiots)
- a newspaper has published full names of both us- the victims and the robbers

I have heard numerous times the sigh “we are living in such a bad/cruel world“… You know what? If You have a look at it – its CRAP! This is the best world there has EVER been (at least for homo sapiens sapiens)… We made the world this way and it might not be ideal for our minds and expectations but it would be a heaven for people from decades passed…

Yes, You open news and there is killings mixed with terrorists and topped with nature catastrophes. But consider a simple fact: its not very distand past when the state of WAR was a standard relationship between countries, peace was only the period of time after a successful war when there was no risk from other power to start a war (they were defeated).

Enjoy what You have, stop complaining, but do not stop trying to make world a better place…

What I mean is that every foreigner goes to hospital here, 99 percent because “shit happens“, i.e. they get a slight food poisoning. I was heroically escaping this inglamorous state… In order to make an even bigger fool out of me by braking an ankle-bone by tripping on grass I am not going to explain how that happened, if You want to know, check the blog post about it…

But what it gave me chance for was to visit hospitals both in Lahore and Karachi. And the result is not too surprising as a fact, but I still could not stop myself from feeling a little surprised. The general standard of the hospitals was on a European average. The Lahori hospital looked better than any state run hospital in Slovakia (well, both hospitals I was to vere private). The Karachi one looked like a typical small Slovak hospital (I avoided going to the most expensive one, this one was like middle class).

Lets set the difference clear – the Lahori doc charged 800 rupee (13 USD) for a check, the Karachi one charged 300 (5 USD).

Both doctors treating me were competent, the expensive one had fluent English, the other spoke more or less (enough for emergency but for a check I needed a Pakistani). I have not experienced any problems and actully their treating of me was exceptional (I am white You know), thus I was prescribed loads of painkillers (that were useless as it didnt hurt), been transported in a wheel chair and the Lahori doc even suggested a surgery to fix it asap…

I have absolutely no worries about medical treatment anymore… and if You want to comment that it was private hospitals – true. But if You can read this (have PC), You will have enough money to get a private treatment…

PS: soon I am going to a dentist, so look forward for some more medic news!

…I look out of the window and see big red flames maybe a kilometer or two away… they have been higher than the trees… and the whole city around (except of houses lighted by generators) has been dark…

I took a pic, but it was really far away…

Update from 20.01.08: I have browsed all the news possible and didnt find a single mentioning of the event anywhere… People are so used to black-outs here that if they didnt wake up at the sound or sirens (which I doubt), they didnt even notice. Lets hope it also means that nobody was harmed…