A Mirror on Pakistan: In their own words by Pakistanis

[ArjunPandit]

All those Delhi people w

Strong exception taken.. please correct it to lutyens & liberal delhi..

[Manish_P]

From Yawn - Up the IMF creek

IT is that time of the year. When targets, revenues, large-scale manufacturing, taxes and baselines can be heard all around. The air in the studios, talk shows and in drawing rooms echoes with Arabs, billions and trillions, with earnest discussions about their significance. Each party has their own set of numbers, their own interpretation and complete belief in their policies and the lies of the other.

In between all this, however, there is an added sense of urgency. There is a realisation of the crisis facing us, and for once the crisis is not just an abstract idea. Sri Lanka next door has given us images and stories aplenty of what this ‘crisis’ can look like. But politics, as usual keeps our leaders from communicating this to the people — for the side in power is keen to live up to its image as a doer and the other is so angry at its removal that its version of a doomsday scenario is being seen as hyperbole.

...

In between the lines, though, there are signs enough, if one is intent upon finding them. Consider that by now, we have two prime ministers in a row, who have both been elected, taken oath, and then rushed off to tour ‘brother’ countries. And each one of them came back and expressed the sense of humiliation they felt at having to ask for money.

Hard though it may be for both to admit, Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan are on the same page on this issue — those who came before rarely ever expressed such views. Are these two just more sensitive or has the welcome being given to Pakistanis, who come with the same old wish list, changed? Perhaps the hosts now don’t bother to hide their eye-roll any longer. The trips, the deferred oil payments and the rollovers (not the same as the eye-roll) are not new but the sense of humiliation is.

...

Because instead of delving into why the IMF conditions are now such a big issue while they weren’t before, we have personalised the answer. It is about individuals. Asad Umar took too long and then he rubbed the IMF people the wrong way; Hafeez Sheikh just didn’t care enough to push back; Shaukat Tarin went back and forth with growth and then stabilisation, and now Miftah Ismail is not negotiating hard enough.

...

It is easier to blame the technocrats rather than accept that we have been travelling up the creek after having dropped the paddle some way back. Why admit to structural problems when we can dump it all at the door of ‘poor management’? The polarised debate about the ‘krupt’ (corrupt) and the ‘na-ehal’ (incompetent) is doing us no favours but it is so easy to dabble in it, for it is easier than accepting that the IMF is just tired of us, coming back again and again and then again. And that the United States is not interested in making a call to the IMF and telling it to give us an easy ride (no it is not just because of Imran Khan).
...

[Manish_P]

Atomic power Bakistan doesn't have competency to even run a bus service in it's biggest city

Lots of small gems in this long read..

Yawn - PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLES’ BUS SERVICE

Throughout the week since its launch on June 27 though, I count more cutouts than the actual buses during my commute. So, on this hot and sticky Saturday afternoon, as I spot a moving red pixel in the distance, I feel the acidic mix of cautious joy and latent anxiety rise through my gut to the back of my throat.

The ruby red bus pulls up, gently, and the doors swing open, releasing a gust of chilled air from the inside. I take one short step from the asphalt to the soft rubber floor of the bus and the automatic doors swiftly swing shut behind me. Anyone who has ever taken a bus in Karachi would appreciate this one giant leap for the city’s commuters.

..

Four key elements of a scheduled bus service — timings, route, stops and fare — are all a bit hazy right now. Other elements, including communication, staff training and service quality, are also patchy at best.

..

The map for Route 1 identifies 38 stops along the roughly 30km corridor and Nursery is one of them. The bus, however, stops again 200m ahead, and then again, about 400m ahead, before reaching the next notified stop, FTC. From there to Tower, the bus would make far more than 38 stops, sometimes stopping in the middle of nowhere to drop off a loud passenger. In the absence of clearly notified and marked stations, each stop is a negotiation between an aggressive passenger, a clueless conductor and a pliant driver.

..

To investigate, we first met with Irshad Bukhari, the menacing-but-grandfatherly president of the Karachi Transport Ittehad. When we asked him for bus routes and stops, he shared with us a bound file with a page for each route. Each page had names of the neighbourhoods that the buses on that route passed through. No maps. No roads. No landmarks. No stops. Just neighbourhoods. This is how bus routes have been conceived, approved and communicated in Karachi thus far. You can check for yourself: go to Google and search for “Karachi bus routes”. See what shows up even today. Hang your head in disappointment.

..

For private owners and contractors, the only thing that matters is passenger numbers, since each trip has a fixed cost of fuel, labour (driver and conductor) and bhatta plus challans along the way. The more people they could take on the trip, the higher the revenue to offset fixed costs. Time, efficiency, speed or service quality were nowhere on the agenda — not for the owner, nor the provincial transport department that should have been the regulator.

The bus therefore lingered to get on board as many people as it could. It would stop wherever it would spot a paying passenger and begrudgingly slow down just enough for a passenger to jump off to disembark. Who needs bus stops then anyway? This was a system primed to deliver the bare minimum, as it cannibalised itself. Hardly surprising, therefore, that the routes and number of buses decimated, first gradually, then suddenly.

On my last ride, from the Model Colony to Nursery, the conductor decides to keep the front doors open and hollers, “Tower! Tower!”, as the bus lingered through the Model Colony Road for a good 10 minutes. I’m not sure if the Gulistan coach that crossed me earlier at Tower was a curse, but the ghosts of all the old buses and coaches seem to be haunting the Peoples’ Bus Service.

I confront the conductor about the door and, after mumbling some excuse, he sheepishly asks the driver to close the doors. To be fair, it may not even be his fault entirely. In his sweat-stained cream shalwar kameez and black slippers two sizes too small, he cut a rather unkempt figure. The night before, the conductor I saw was wearing a uniform. None of the conductors on this Saturday are wearing one. They also appeared a bit lost.

..

And there is lots more..

[Manish_P]

Politicians based in Uk-istan, Jernails in US, Kirketers in the gulf..

Yawn - Where are we headed?

PAKISTAN has become a surreal place. It feels more like a circus where the more bizarre the somersaults the more appreciative the audience and the more clownish the act the more enjoyment it elicits. All we need is a gladiatrix with moustaches and that may well be on the cards.

But circuses are long gone, bread is becoming scarce, and cats cannot be belled in Pakistan. I cannot delude myself and fend off the dread of how and where all this will end even though I am reassured it is scripted. I am particularly frightened by the quality of the leadership that is supposed to lead us back to normalcy.

The recent address by the most important man in the country was so riven by illogic that it left one quaking in one’s boots.

There is no relief in sight. The straight-faced pronouncement by next-gen leaders-in-waiting that God wanted them to vote one way and sent an angel to point in the direction sucks air out of the lungs.

A senior officer was confident that the new most important man will bring salvation, it could be read in his face. There is little doubt the present will extend into the future and that too if we are fortunate.

Alas, a unique feature of Pakistan rules out such cooperation. Pakistan is probably the only country in the world that is not the permanent home of its leaders. They are all anchored abroad with their capital assets in off-shore havens and refuges in stable locations. It is also the only country that flies in leaders, has them elected from pliant constituencies, and anoints them as prime ministers.

[Anoop]

https://www.dawn.com/news/1727864/2022- ... neutrality

Pakistan's year in review - a month by month, blow by blow account.

[Manish_P]

Is Pervez Hoodbhoy right? Are Pakistani men migrating to Europe for "adventures"?

In his op-ed for Dawn, prominent Pakistani physicist and intellectual Pervez Hoodbhoy offers up the possibility that young men are desperate to reach the shores of the EU because of the “lure of adventure and libidinal frustration”, i.e. in search of sexual pleasures not easily accessible in a conservative society like Pakistan.

Excerpts -

“They're not challenging any of my facts. Are they? I'd be worried if they did that because one must be on very solid ground now,” he continued. “I think it's probably to everybody's knowledge how frustrated young Pakistani men are and how no woman feels secure being with them.”

“They have no access to women, to sex. No access to upper-class women. They just play cricket and video games. Marriage is the only way for them to have sex. Because upward mobility for them is blocked, they feel a terrible frustration, especially those who want to see more of the world and experience what they see plastered on TVs.”

Too much free time, not enough job prospects, and access to ***** through smartphones have also warped many of these young men's ideas about what kind of adventures and possibilities may await them in liberal European societies, Hoodbhoy states. Add in a conservative strain of Islam that seems to be getting more extreme as time goes by; these young men risking their lives to build a future in Europe are programmed to reject the values and customs of the new world they see around them.

“When Muslim teenage boys go to open-air swimming pools, they are overwhelmed when they see girls in bikinis. These boys, who come from a culture where for women it is frowned upon to show naked skin, will follow girls and bother them without their realising it. Naturally, this generates fear.”

“This is reflected in how the Pakistani community lives in places like Bradford and Birmingham and East London, and even in Manhattan or the Bronx. You do see much greater introversion. You see the emphasis being on religion. Less open-mindedness, less curiosity about the world around them. Less absorption into mainstream culture.”

“It's with Muslims practically everywhere. From Morocco and Algeria to Singapore and Australia, the Muslims stand out, they are instantly identifiable. You see the hijab and the burqa, but more so the hijab. I think it's an assertion of identity."

But why do Muslims worldwide feel such a strong need to assert their Muslim-ness when they move elsewhere? Why don't we see this in Hindus, Jews or Christians?

“It's probably failure because Muslims really have very little to show in terms of achievements in science, technology and ideas. Even in terms of films, except for Iran. And in Iran, the films are all outside of the mainstream of Iranian culture, so there's this collective sense of failure that then transforms into cultural conservatism.”

“So Islam ran out of steam basically after the 13th century, and since then, it's been coasting along,” Hoodbhoy sums up.

[sanman]

lal topi is congratulating us in his own unique way



With Imran Khan gone, only Zaid Sahib can lead Pakistan

[sanman]

[Haresh]

lal topi is congratulating us in his own unique way



With Imran Khan gone, only Zaid Sahib can lead Pakistan

This is just the standard paranoid irrational islamic mindset.

I have heard this sort of nonsense "mosque talk" they sit around and regurgitate this

"science was invented by islam"

"the greatest scientist, even today are moslems"

"there would be no science without numbers, numbers were invented by moslems, therefore all of science is islamic"

one of the best was
"NASA" was really named after a moslem scientist called Nazar, but "they" (whoever they are) can't admit to it openly, so its a secret code"

It just goes on and on.

[sanjaykumar]

Not too many views for this outstanding Muslims channel. He will always be the best Muslim for Hindus.

[Manish_P]

The express tribune - Confessions of a Patriot

(would that be a bakriot or a braytriot?)

It’s always challenging and stressful when facing aggression and hostility from an adversary or a rival. I have spent over a decade in America facing criticism of Pakistan from the Indian diaspora, American professors and some of those ridiculous Pakistanis who have to do Pakistan bashing for their benefits. The types that work in places such as Voice of America. However, what’s more difficult rather than very hurtful is when those same Indians come to you and show their sympathy with you for being a Pakistani.

I’d pay anything to go back to that situation where the Indians in America are disturbed and angry because of a somewhat stable Pakistan, which uses its strengths to counter the hostile Indian moves.

I used to be invited to these various Indian talk shows such as those on CNN, WION, and Republic TV where Arnab Goswami sits wearing his funny glasses and bashes Pakistan for fun. I remember being on those shows and unleashing hellfire on Arnab and the rest during my extremely fierce defence of Pakistan and critique of India. Those shows invite me now more than ever. They have called and texted and requested more than ever before.

I refuse to appear on their shows anymore. I always use some kind of excuse for not being able to come on air but the truth is: I don’t know what to defend anymore. What do I argue there? Should I strongly defend the economy of Pakistan or should I rather brag about the global standing of Pakistan? Do I take pride in how journalism is free in Pakistan or should I rather make a case for a Pakistan that fights corruption? The Indians would tell me how their nation is the 4th or 5th largest economy now and they’ve landed on the moon too. Should I argue that we have a moon on our flag so we don’t need to go?

Just as Pakistan, for its legitimate defence against India, needs Afghanistan to be free of Indian involvement so as to continue to have the strategic depth, I and many others also need some material for solid arguments. Unfortunately, I feel like I have lost the strategic depth. Imagine Pakistan not having its strategic depth while fighting with India. That’s where I am. That’s why I am refusing to fight.

Pakistan is hardly ever mentioned in the western broadcast media. I hate to put it this way but Pakistan does not matter here anymore.

Pakistani leadership used to get red carpet treatment by the American president. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set footsteps on the moon, had visited Pakistan as one of the countries he went to. Kissinger asked Pakistan to help engage with China. Now? Pakistan spends years in the grey-list and celebrates as some major victory when it exits it. Active duty soldiers were killed in the Salala incident and Washington DC even refused to apologise. That was around the same time when Shah Rukh Khan was merely detained for some hours for which almost the entire American government machinery apologised to India.

As for the economy, the nation’s nationals have become so mentally slaves of foreign forces controlling their lives that people make major buying decisions and wedding plannings based on when and whether or not the IMF loan will come. Because the announcement of that would bring the dollar and gold rates down for a few days and that would be the window for executing the plan. A friend of mine wants to buy some US dollars. He’s waiting for MBS to arrive and announce some kind of investment.

[Nsmith]

Love you to the moon and back

While I'm happy for India, I feel regret that we have been conditioned not to aspire for much, let alone for the moon.

Congratulations are definitely in order. Let me raise my glass of thandi lassi to our neighbours. Cheers to the people who are working hard and competing on the world stage, unlike some of us who can't seem to get out of the Toshakhana, the infighting, religious hierarchy, delusional and misguided superiority, tearing down minorities, burning churches, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Yes, India is certainly not rinsed in milk (or as is colloquially said, it is certainly not doodh ka dhula), but clearly its people have their priorities in perfect alignment under their tri-coloured flag. Yes, the devil is in the detail, and one can talk about much wrong in the past and present, but that's everywhere and not our point of reference today. Their institutions, such as the governing body, soldiers, cricket, tech, film industry, democracy and much more, can hold its own. To draw a comparison Sarmad Khoosat's Zindigi Tamasha was canned in Pakistan due to pressure from entities that are to remain unnamed, but Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan was released to a full house despite the ridiculous uproar, calling for its nationwide ban, pre-release and after.

A country of almost 358 million in 1947, our neighbour, historically speaking, was always taught to be country proud. That was taught post-independence. Hence, ethnicities were never encouraged or referred to as Parsi, Muslim, Hindu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan, Upite, Tamil; they only called themselves Indians.

In his book, titled The Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru explained the very concept of “unity in diversity”. Divide and rule doesn't make successful nations. Our beloved Jinnah and Nehru won independence for their countries together, but tragically for us, the wonderful and patriotic Quaid died, and the vacuum was filled through quick changes by quasi-leaders planted by powers that be. Meanwhile, Nehru lived for another 16 years to sow the seeds of real democracy and success that India reaps today.

Nehru coined the term “temples of modern India” to describe scientific research institutes, steel plants, power plants and dams being launched in India after independence to jumpstart scientific and industrial progress. Education became the benchmark for equality. It wasn't that money made a great equalizer, but education did. Continuing those policies, Indira Gandhi abolished feudalism, an archaic system that does not work with modern governments and is diametrically opposed to progress for all. Imports were banned, Indians ate homemade chocolate, cheese and cola and drove a car that was manufactured locally.

Enter modern times and almost the turn of the century. Fifty years into independence, Vajpayee is in power, a different party but he keeps his eye on the ball of progress and education. That's how one gets to the moon and back. For nations to achieve great progress, the current generation has to stand on the shoulders of the bygone leaders who keep the country above parties, institutions and individuals.

According to Teenaz Javat, an Indian friend of mine who moved to Pakistan in the 90s after marrying a Pakistani, and has experienced living in both countries: “The makers of modern India put religion on the back burner. With science up front, we are now on the moon"

Being a country-loving Pakistani is a responsibility that we, collectively or individually, cannot shirk. We need to be the voice that wants to yell from tall buildings at the top of our lungs, but somehow, we find ourselves as desperate and pathetic characters in the movie A Quiet Place. Quiet, scared, fearful, petrified!

Our voice is lost in the comatose phase of “Shhh, koi soon lay ga (people will hear)”.

What's up, countrymen? Do you want to compete on the world stage, or do you want to keep being beaten down all the time?

As I sit and ponder the root cause of us being where we are today, only one thing explains it. We never gained independence from the colonists. They left a legacy behind of red coats, descendants of holier-than-thou religiosity, elitism and feudalism (dukedoms, earls, marquis, lords, ladies, and at the top of the food chain, a king who wants it all).

Like it was in the European Middle Ages, it is in the interest of our misguided legacy holders to keep the population uneducated and always desperate for the next meal. Their desperation ensures that they only focus on acquiring a resource that leads them to the next food source and water, let alone security, housing, education and a quest for a better life. And advancement, improvement, development, research, science, technology, energy, a network of business and telecommunication, roads, railways, travel and tourism are buzzwords left to appear in ministers' portfolios, only to be aspired for and never to be reached.

As a Pakistani, don't you sometimes want to win?

Don't you want to wake up in the morning and read a happy, positive headline that makes you proud? Where are those headlines? Where did they go?

They went to the A Quiet Place it seems.

As a kid growing up in Pakistan, during the early 80s, I remember going out after sunset on Independence Day to see the lit city of Karachi dressed like a beautiful bride: bright, beautiful, vibrant and full of promise.

Where did that promise go?

Today, I felt a pang, and while I'm happy for our neighbour, I did feel regret that we as a nation have been conditioned not to aspire for much, let alone for the moon.

[sanjaykumar]

In fact both societies are reclaiming their respective religious heritages.

When Pakistanis realise and accept this fact, Pakistan will end. But India should NOT incorporate it into akhand Bharat.

Hindus will recommence their degeneration, only just beginning to recover from it.

[sanjaykumar]

Pakistani bleating is merely getting tiresome. You made your bed lie in it.

The great thing about those Pakistanis who are monetising the jahalyat of the Pakistani people on YouTube is that the Indian public’s curiosity has been satiated.

They have moved on to more important things.

[Manish_P]

Hood-boy on the 'Pee-eh-duhs' and Univer-'cities' of Al Bakistan

Yawn - Why Pakistan fails in space

THANKS to a legion of excellent scientists and engineers trained in Indian universities, India is shooting for the stars.

Here ‘stars’ is a metaphor for much else: astrophysics, computers, chemical technology, pharmaceuticals, heavy engineering, process management, etc.

On this side, led by blind men, Pakistan is heading for the caves.

That every Pakistani institution has been corrupted isn’t breaking news but for sheer depravity, unethicality and incompetence our senior academics — meaning vice chancellors, deans, chairpersons, and professors — take the cake.

Is the system so truly broken, so hopelessly dystopic? Let the reader decide after seeing the everyday, real-life examples below. Each has been verified for authenticity.

One: X and Y are brothers. X became ‘Dr X’ after submitting a shoddy piece of research to the department of chemistry of a local university. Some years later, the younger Y wangled a scholarship and applied to a cow college in the American Midwest. There, no foreign applicant with two legs is ever rejected — nor is any thesis — for those who can pay. Fortunately for Y, having Big Brother X’s thesis in hand spared him the sweat and toil of research. Changing the title page, shuffling subtitles, throwing in a dash from here and a smidgen from there, by the grace of God Y became ‘Dr Y’ with a doctorate in materials science and engineering. The story gets even better: today both brothers are vice chancellors of public universities under HEC’s jurisdiction.

Two: Z was mediocre during school days and couldn’t make it to engineering or medical college. Like many other less successful students, he is a Bachelor’s in physics and eventually became ‘Dr Z’. Thereafter he became assistant professor at a university in Lahore. In due course, he applied for promotion to the next higher grade for which he had to submit his teaching portfolio, including course examination papers, to some committee. I chanced upon the final exam paper set by Dr Z for his introductory physics class. It left me perplexed. Downloaded from the internet, some questions were beyond wrong — they were bizarre. Example: Why is cross price elasticity of demand important? This PhD in physics did not know the question actually belongs to economics! He had set new standards of idiocy but the assessment committee, as always, was generous. Dr Z now flaunts his new credentials as ‘HEC tenured associate Prof Z’.

Three: W hails from a certain mountainous area where scholarship is little known or admired but power and guns are highly respected. In time W became Dr W and then Prof W. He rose yet further to dean and VC of a university in the area. This entitled him to what every Pakistani VC cherishes most — an official Land Cruiser and armed security staff. Then along came a problem: the university’s faculty accused the VC of kickbacks and corruption in awarding building contracts, making spurious appointments to various faculty and staff positions, etc. In a fit of anger, the VC, accompanied by his armed guards, strode into a group of protesters and hurled vile abuse.

Four: Dr X and Dr Y are husband and wife in different academic fields but teach in the same city. To fulfil HEC criteria for annual increments and promotion, both need to publish a certain number of research papers yearly. Of course, even junk papers need effort and so normally one university professor scours the internet and copy-pastes, perhaps cooks up suitable data, finds references, and then puts it all together. Co-authorship can be sold for a price but is gratis for friends and when there’s a happy conjugal relationship. When X, from engineering, was asked what Y, from psychology, had contributed, his reply was straightforward: she gave me peace of mind. Committee members chuckled and accepted his explanation.

Just before leaving office, PM Shehbaz Sharif gave the nation a parting kick by ramming through a bill authorising 24 new universities. Why? Could it be because of sudden thirst for knowledge? Fact: in Pakistan’s murky business environment the only industry that thrives is real estate and construction of buildings and roads. Another 24 new campuses is a super bonanza for contractors. This is also why on Mr Sharif’s orders Quaid-i-Azam University’s once-beautiful campus was cruelly vivisectioned by constructing a highway running right through it.

[Manish_P]

Eeek.. this Paki seems obsessed with the letter 'E'

Yawn - Three Pakistans

...three?!? is he prophesying the freedom of Balochistan

Our 75-year history contains three eras of about 25 years, each starting and ending in a crisis, marked by lengthy army rule, hybrid regimes and debatable progress. This torrid history came from four huge prenatal gaps, which made the new state vulnerable to multiple problems, all oddly starting with an ‘E’.

Our freedom drive was uniquely pre-emptive, faith-based and elitist — based more on the Muslim elite’s fears about their interests under Hindu rule rather than the abuses of the masses. It thus lacked mass politics in its western half. Finally, the country largely received India’s poorest areas. #standard paki excuse... cunning baniya kufrs cheated us So, at birth, it faced the huge task of creating a state, nation, polity and an economy under an inept coterie.

Elitist Pakistan (1947-71): This era started with the blood-soaked Partition. The elite-headed freedom drive soon generated its first three ‘E’ issues: elitist economy, establishment sway and ethnic gripes. A fourth — enmity — emerged soon with India on Kashmir. The four ‘E’s’ mix led to the second tragic partition.

Extremist Pakistan (1972-98): This era started with the 1971 trauma and ended with huge economic, political and external crises due to the nuclear tests and another army coup. The four ‘Es’ soon led to other ‘E’ issues. To deal with enmity and ethnicity, the establishment stoked extremism, this era’s lasting legacy. The economy, which earlier at least had efficiency if not equity, lacked both now to become another major ‘E’ issue. Finally, the nuclear tests and coup triggered external exclusion and isolation.

Excluded Pakistan (1999-2023): This era started and ended with huge economic and political crises and external exclusion. But the two ends hide eras of progress based on deep ties with the US and China, which were weakened due to the legacies of several ‘E’s’ — elitism, establishment and extremism. Other ‘E’s rose soon. Educationally, we have the world’s second highest number of illiterate children.

Electorally, the establishment is again ignoring the Constitution and is seen to delay the polls. Ecologically, we are one of the states most vulnerable to climate change, which is forcing eviction and emigration. Exclusion globally is back as we shun the world socially due to extremist xenophobia, while it shuns us politically and economically, as in the case of the new meandering India-Europe corridor that the G20 chose over the straight India-Pakistan-Iran-Turkey-Europe route due to our tense ties with India and the US.

To this long list of existential ‘E’ threats, one can add some ‘D’s — demography, despotism and despondency.

The key challenge for society is to push against enmity with India as it is the one ‘E’ that can have a big domino effect on all ‘D’s and ‘E’s. #the baki pee-eh-duh presents this age-old taqiya as some sort of a realization only dawning now

This raises the teasing query of how better our history may have been without this enmity.

The extent to which society can push the elites may decide which E-word history assigns to our next 25-year centennial era: emerging, entropic or even extinct.

[disha]

One thing that will be useful is a Urdu - English dictionary. Let me list some of the words for which I had to find the meaning the hard way. I cannot find a good online dictionary. I cannot read/write urdu.

Perhaps, with so much knowledge in BRF we can create a comprehensive dictionary...

Thanks ArunK'ji for your yeoman's service. I will put the English translations to some of the words in Urdu. Quoting your post.

Aaasman : Sky., As in "Aasman se gire aur Khajur mein atke" (lit: Fell from sky and got stuck in a date (tree))
Gehra : Deep/Depth., As in "Yeh Gehra Mamlah hai" (lit: This is a Deep subject)
Maslaah : Issue/Problem., As in "Pakistan duniya ke liye ek bahut bada maslah hai" lit: Pakistan is a big Issue/Problem for the workd)
Raviyya : Attitude/Approach., As in "Agar pakistan ka yeh raviyya hoga toh aman ki asha nahin rahegi" (lit: If pakistan persists with this attitude/approach there will be no hope for peace)
Ahem: I am taking it as "Aham" meaning "Firm"., As in "Hum aham se kahenge ki pakistan bakistan hai" (lit: With firmness I can say that pakistan is bakistan)
Ghairiyat : Persuasion/Attitude., As in "Inki Ghairiyat mein nahi koh woh kafir koh baksh de" (lit: It is not in their persuasion that they will forgive kafirs)
Maujuud : Present., As in "Jahan be terrorist attack hota hain, wahaan bakistani maujuud rehte hai" (lit: Wherever there is a terrorist attach, there pakistani are present)
Sabak : Lesson., As in "Pakistan ko aur kaiye sabak sikhne hain" (lit: Pakistan has to learn many more lessons)
Ailaan : Announce., As in "Bhutto ne ailan kiya ke hum ghaas kha kar bhi atami taqaat ban jayenge" (lit: Bhutto announced that we will eat grass and still become nuclear power)
Glushan : "Gulshan": Garden
Mubaat : <?>
Sadr : Prime minister/Leader as in "Sadr-e-riyasat", where riyasat is country or political entity.
Aisiyat : Haisiyat (as in "level" or "class" or "capability", as in "Pakistan ki Haisiyat nahi ke Bharat se muqabla kar sake" (lit: Pakistan does not have the capability/class/level to compete with Bharat)
Guft-e-gu : Tete-a-tete
Mubassar : <?> Mudassar : If it is used as a name or title, it references an elderly or highly ranked person. Otherwise it references the passage of time.
Sarbarah : Taking care off., as in "Pakistan kayee suvaron ki sarbarah karta hain" (lit: Pakistan takes care of several pigs)
Arz : Application/Request., as in "Arz kiya hai, ke pakistan ko bakistan kaha jai" (lit: "It is requested that Pakistan be called Bakistan")
Haqeekat : Reality
Mufadaat : Advantages/Assets/Blessings
Sard-Mehri : <?>
Askari : <?>
Haseena : Belle | Muhhobbat : Love | Sard-e-pakistan : Should be dard-e-pakistan, as in pain in the butt
Bahami : <?> |
Hawaala : Take or give Possession, also an illegal way of txfering money | Mulaqaat : Meet | Shaqs : <?> Shaks: Persons
Baraks : <?> | Hukumat : Rule/Ruler | Mulk : Country | Sharkat
Batadareej? | Husn : Beuty | Munafiq : Appropriate | Shrt : Bet
Bawajood : Be-Wajood: Without any basis or facts or proof | Iktallafi | Munasif : Appropriate, as in "munasif nahi samjhaa" | Siyasat : Political Government
Behtar : Better | Ishtaraaq | Munkin/Namunkin : Mumkin/NaMumkin : Possible/Not Possible | Taaluk : Related
Buniyaad : Basis/Foundation | Ittefaq : Per Chance | Munsaliq : <?> | Taariq : Calendar Date
Daawat/Daawatnama : Feast/Invitation to Feast | Jamooriyat : Group/Sect | Muqqammal : <?> | Tai : Decide
Dafaa : Remove/Abolish/Get out | Jawaaz : <?> | Muqsad : Goal | Taleel : <?>
Darmiyaan : Differences | Jism : Body/Physical Body | Muqummal : Mukammal: Complete/Total | Tamaam : All things considered
Dastaan : Story (a long story) | Karwai : Action | Murboosh : <?> | Taqwiyyat : <?>
Dastoor : Custom/Constitution | Kayamat : End of days | Mushtehar : <?> | Tashreef : Bring to present, come here or present here
Durust : Healthy | Khaas : Special | Mustaliq : <?> | Taur : Attitude
Faislaa : Decision | Kharja | Mustaqbil | Tawaqo?
Falahh | Khyaal : Thought | Mutabiq | Tehat : Clause
Farishta : Angel | Kism : Kind, as in what kind of banana country pakistan is, kis kism ka kela riyasat pakistan hai | Muzakraat | Ummeed : Hope
Farmaana | Lafz | Nazreen | Waada
Farz : Duty | Lahoo : Blood | Paawan | Wazeer-e-Azam : Viceroy
Fateha | Maghrab | Parlimaan | Wazeer-e-Kharja
Feesat : Percentage | Maqsad | Qubool : Admit, as in I admit that some words are still to be given meaning | Zyati : Exploit/Forced upon, as in aurat ke saath zyati ki gayi, lit: Some women were "forced upon" (raped)

[disha]

Love you to the moon and back

While I'm happy for India, I feel regret that we have been conditioned not to aspire for much, let alone for the moon.

The author of the above farticle needs more Islam to win. Laments is what the author is doing, but not coming to the reason why they are in the current state and the reason is simple. They need more Islam.

[KLNMurthy]

Love you to the moon and back

While I'm happy for India, I feel regret that we have been conditioned not to aspire for much, let alone for the moon.

The author of the above farticle needs more Islam to win. Laments is what the author is doing, but not coming to the reason why they are in the current state and the reason is simple. They need more Islam.

Also more Djinnah.

[Manish_P]

One thing that will be useful is a Urdu - English dictionary. Let me list some of the words for which I had to find the meaning the hard way. I cannot find a good online dictionary. I cannot read/write urdu.

Perhaps, with so much knowledge in BRF we can create a comprehensive dictionary...

Thanks ArunK'ji for your yeoman's service. I will put the English translations to some of the words in Urdu. Quoting your post.
..

For the past 1-2 months the most common phrase i see the awaam saying in each and every video of youtubers from bakistan is -

'In hukumran-no ney is mulk ka beda ghark kar diya hai'

[g.sarkar]

They have no navy as such, so no beda. So how can there be a beda gark?
Gautam

[Manish_P]

They have no navy as such, so no beda. So how can there be a beda gark?
Gautam

They have camels

They consider Arabs as one of their four fathers.

Arabs consider camels as ships of the desert.

Q-E-D

(Qaabil-e-Daawa)

[g.sarkar]

Manishji, Subhan Allah.
Gautam

[disha]

Also more Djinnah.

That too. Today is Fridin and I heard several of their lots got 72 Djinns!

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/worl ... mbing.html

Though I do not think any towels will come from Bakistan.

[Nsmith]

Shabbar Zaidi, former FBR chairman and blue-blood RAPE from Karachi has been throwing lots of towels recently on a business newspaper ( ) from bakistan...

How far ahead of Pakistan is India?—I

The G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 should have been an eye-opener for Pakistan. However, it does not seem so. We are complacent as usual. There is a glaring absence of a serious debate in the print and electronic media on the economic fallout that Pakistan will face on account of realignment of elements, including one of our main sources of cash as a last resort.

In one of his articles of five-part ‘Learning From Others’ series carried by this newspaper earlier this year, this writer drew comparisons between the of economies of Pakistan and India in 2002 and 2023.

On a personal note, it was iterated that when this writer was in 2008 the President of South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), which has its headquarters in India’s capital, there were frequent visits to this city as well as country’s economic and financial hub Mumbai. At that time, Lahore and Karachi airports were much better than the airports of these two very important Indian cities. Their airports were filthy and not at all customer friendly. However, a decade later, this writer observed that New Delhi’s new airport was better than even Heathrow in London or the JFK in New York. [This is Lahore airport today btw - link]

How did this profound transformation take place in a matter of one decade or so? Pakistanis have to learn the manner in which infrastructure in India underwent such a huge transformation. Now almost all the major cities of India have mass transit programs whereas Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, does not possess any such system. At present, we are at least 50 years behind India.

Despite these apparent shortcomings even our mainstream media peddles an outrageous narrative that conveys, albeit unsuccessfully, a belief that a time will come when Pakistan will ultimately conquer India. The purpose of this series of articles is to identify the primary reasons for these differences in growth and economic gap between the two almost identical societies that were part of one country just over 75 years ago. The following are differentiating factors:

Lack of rigidity

History has proved that Indians are not rigid in their decision-making processes. At the time of Partition of the subcontinent the status of India was as under:

The Union of India was consequently established from 6 former Indian provinces/presidencies (East Punjab, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam) and 562 former princely states.

At present, there are twenty eight (28) provinces and eight (8) union territories of India. All the provinces have been created on the basis of ethnic, cultural and linguistic homogeneity. For example, Haryana is originally a Hindi-speaking state which was carved out of the former state of East Punjab.

Karnataka is Kannada-speaking southwestern state of India whereas Tamil-speaking modern Tamil Nadu state emerged from the Madras Presidency of British Administration.

The differences of views in India were as strong as those were witnessed in Pakistan. India was facing the prospect of secession of Tamil Nadu from the Union at the time of linguistic determination under the Constitution. However, their politicians were mature enough to overcome those crises and all such matters were ultimately settled.

On the other hand, in Pakistan, we are in the habit of consolidating various governing units based on myopic political considerations and ill-conceived expediencies such as One Unit in 1954 and the 1956 and 1962 Constitutions. Despite an almost 100 percent increase in population after the arrival of the 1973 constitution, no new province was carved out.

Any such endeavor is viewed with suspicion. The lingering demand for the creation of a ‘Seraiki province’ is a strong case in point.

All the political parties promise the establishment of a ‘Seraiki province’ before every general election, but do not act in this regard after elections.

The absurdity can be gauged from the fact that there is hardly any cultural or linguistic affinity between a person living in Hub, which is almost a part of Karachi although it’s a part of Balochistan province, and a person living in Loralai, a town of the same province but at a distance of almost 1,000 kilometers from the former.

The seat of government in Balochistan is Quetta, which is over 700 kilometers from Hub. This rigidity is the biggest cause of stagnation of economic development in the country. Pakistanis are strangely placed insofar as their approach to the subjects of governance and devolution is concerned.

Homegrown finance ministers

This writer penned an article about the Finance Ministers of Pakistan sometime ago. He started with unelected Malik Ghulam Muhammad to bureaucratic supremo Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

The present Finance Minister of India is Nirmala Sitharaman. She obtained a degree in economics from the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, which is affiliated to Bharathidasan University, in 1980, Master of Arts in economics and M Phil degrees from JNU in New Delhi in 1984.

Unfortunately, however, people without foreign degrees are not treated with much respect in Pakistan. [That's cuz bakis are intellectual cucks] The results are obvious.

Economics relates to the common man in particular circumstances. Our rulers from 1947 onwards remained disconnected from the masses due to absence of general elections and in 1957/1958 we ended up under a Martial Law administration with a strong military presence. As such, the Ministry of Finance has never been able to relate itself to the common man of Pakistan. ‘Q’ Block of Pakistan Secretariat (Ministry of Finance) in Islamabad is divorced from Pakistan. [The baki elite like to think isloo and la-whore and clifton are suburbs of Londonistan and live in their own cuckooland]

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40263902 ... -is-indiai

[Nsmith]

Part 2

The Indian diaspora is quite highly placed in developed economies where a number of Indians are also part of advisory structures, but when the time comes in India to select a Finance Minister preference is given to an elected person with domestic experience.

In Pakistan, however, we have had Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers who never spent an hour in public life in Pakistan. They went back to their stations or ‘bases’ abroad as soon as they were out of power.

Competition & comparative studies

Unlike Pakistan, India has always benchmarked itself against China, which is a much a bigger player. Pakistan, however, was never able to bracket itself with any reasonable competitor owing to its myopic view of the world. Pakistan should have benchmarked itself against India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia.

However, over time, especially after 1971, we are constantly downgrading our benchmarks. We deeply admire the cultural settings of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. On account of lack of social and commercial relations with India and Bangladesh, our generation born after the 1980s is not able to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of societies of India and Bangladesh, which are comparable to our own society.

As a result of which, our youths believe that their society is much inferior to those of the USA and Canada. Ironically, they start admiring the monarchies of sheikdoms of the Arab world. This means we haven’t set any proper benchmark in our quest for development.

Therefore, we are now being bracketed with Afghanistan, Nigeria and Somalia. One of the biggest losses that we have incurred by not having social and commercial relations with India is that we have lost the idea of competitiveness.

Our common man erroneously believes that India is a society where there is constant aggression against Muslims without realizing the fact that there are areas in Mumbai such as Mohammad Ali Road and Crawford Market where millions of Muslims observe their religious obligations in more peaceful manner than in some parts of Pakistan.

The author is a witness to Friday congregations that take place on roads in Mumbai downtown due to shortage of space. No security arrangement is required as there is no history of any event in the last 30 years. This, however, does not mean that everything is ideal for Muslims in India....

Read more here - https://www.brecorder.com/news/40264641 ... is-indiaii

[Srikanth P]

In the comments section of the above article there is a comment by a person "tulukan mairandi".... and people who don't know what this means are replying seriously to his comments.... hilarious

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40263902 ... -is-indiai

[Manish_P]

Manishji, Subhan Allah.
Gautam

Gautam Sahib, coming from you that is high praise indeed and I am most humbled. May Allah grant you a 100 camels soon. You shall then be an Admiral and have your very own Navy

[Manish_P]

In the comments section of the above article there is a comment by a person "tulukan mairandi".... and people who don't know what this means are replying seriously to his comments.... hilarious

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40263902 ... -is-indiai

I see a Dr. Salaria in there. I wonder if it is the same dude who used to be a Dawn regular. Ever extolling the virtues of jihadistan and raging against India and kufrs. Though at times I felt he was an Indian in disguise trolling them...