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"b) Provide public toilets for men, so that they are not obliged to relieve themselves on the roadside. (Bad for our project "Soft Image")."

) ) ) heeeeeee

even if you see create lots of public toilets all around, even then you will see them relieving themselves on the road side. lol ha ha thats not an obligation due to absence of public toilets. ha ha ha ha

Apart from joking..... Samar, your purpose of public toilets setting up will fail. Actually some one has already tried it before.

some time ago, CDA established Public Toilets all around Islamabad. Now you can see arrows with Public Toilets written on them everywhere in islamabad. but even then you can with same frequency men that are "relieving" themselves on the road side.................

number 2, if you dont mind, samar bhai. thats a very low vision for a president. to create public toilets all around. lol ) ) ) )


<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial" id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by ausmanpk2001</i>
<br />"b) Provide public toilets for men, so that they are not obliged to relieve themselves on the roadside. (Bad for our project "Soft Image")."

) ) ) heeeeeee

even if you see create lots of public toilets all around, even then you will see them relieving themselves on the road side. lol ha ha thats not an obligation due to absence of public toilets. ha ha ha ha

Apart from joking..... Samar, your purpose of public toilets setting up will fail. Actually some one has already tried it before.

some time ago, CDA established Public Toilets all around Islamabad. Now you can see arrows with Public Toilets written on them everywhere in islamabad. but even then you can with same frequency men that are "relieving" themselves on the road side.................

number 2, if you dont mind, samar bhai. thats a very low vision for a president. to create public toilets all around. lol ) ) ) )

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I agree with you on that,. it is more of an 'educating' dilema, other wise there are enough Masjid's in all of our neighbourhoods that boast of adequate facilities.
<b>Pakistanis win Stockholm challange</b>

http//pakistanidefenceforum.com/index.php?s=4b614788ddd19b72a05ca1d61ef5b58a&showtopic=55274

In a very formal ceremony of STOCKHOLM CHALLENGE at City Hall ( the hall where nobel prizes are given), yesterday evening, Pakistan won the Final award for ICT Entrepreneurship in Public Administration category. More then 500 projects all over the world were competing
in 6 diffrent categories for the final awards. There was very low participation from Pakistan, so only two projects could reach the final round.
One of them "RISEPAK" who just managed to reach Stockholm from Pakistan at 11th hour (as they were working with very limited resources ) won the Final award.
RISEPAK is an earthquake relief coordination and accountability tool designed to collect, collate and display information about damage, access and relief for rural Pakistani citizens affected by the Oct. 2005 Earthquake on a public portal, setup within 12 days of the earthquake. www.risepak.com ,

The kind of work what pakistan is doing is as good as anywhere else in the region, but somehow we dont have the buzzword unlike others.
This event was sponsored by Sun Microsystems, CISCO, Ericsson, SIDA, SPIDER, and KTH

For more info on Stockholm Challenge go to http//www.stockholmchallenge.se/default.asp

http//www.stockholmchallenge.se/projectdata.asp?id=1&projectid=1031

<b>Daily Times - Site Edition Friday, May 05, 2006 </b>

<u><i><b>Sir Anwar Pervez is 12th richest Asian in UK</b></i></u>

KARACHI Renowned Pakistan-origin businessman in the UK Sir Anwar Pervez has been ranked as the 12th richest Asian in Great Britain.

He is the first Pakistan-origin person to achieve this distinction.

According to the Sunday Times, Sir Pervez is the richest of all of the Pakistani diaspora in the UK with assets valued at 390 million pounds sterling. After a comprehensive research, the Sunday Times has published a list of 50 richest Asian businessmen in the UK wherein Indian steel giant Mittal’s owner, Lakshmi Mittal, stood first. The list includes Sri Hinduja and Gopi Hinduja, Anurag Dik****, Anil Agarwal, Jatania brothers, Naresh Goyal, Vikrant Bhargava, Gulu Lalvani and Tom Singh. Sir Anwar Pervez is positioned at No 12 among top 15 richest Asians in the UK, according to a press release.

The Sunday Times report states that Sir Pervez owns the second largest cash and carry wholesale network in Britain and has illuminated the name of Pakistan by sheer hard work, dedication and honesty. He lives in London and has converted his tiny business into Bestway Group of UK, an empire with assets of hundreds of millions pounds. He was the first-ever Pakistani knighted by Her Majesty the Queen of Britain.

The media further reported that Bestway was one of the fastest growing business groups in the UK operating in diverse sectors from cash & carry business, real estate to banking. Sir Anwar Pervez founded the Group in 1976 by establishing a modest store and with his hard work and vision, he has taken Bestway Group to the heights of fame and stability. Bestway is currently establishing one of the most sophisticated cement plants in Pakistan and is a major shareholder in United Bank. The Group is already operating two cement plants as well as a rice-processing unit.
<u><b>City gets first Asian Lord Mayor </b> </u>

The city of Leeds is expected to elect its first Asian Lord Mayor on Monday when councillors meet for the first time since the local elections.
Mohammed Iqbal represents the City and Hunslet ward in the south of Leeds.

Three of the London bombers came from neighbouring Beeston and Holbeck and Mr Iqbal led the local Muslim community's condemnation of the 7 July attacks.

During his year in office, he said he would work to bring together people of different faiths and cultures.

Thrilling opportunity

"I am delighted to have been chosen and thrilled to have this opportunity to be the first Asian Lord Mayor of Leeds," Mr Iqbal said.

"I will work hard during my year of office to promote this wonderful city and bring together people of different faiths and cultures.

"Leeds has a great tradition of welcoming and embracing people from all over the world. It welcomed my family and it is a great honour and privilege to be given the chance to represent it in this way."

A self-employed businessman, Mr Iqbal came to Leeds in 1970 when he was nine years old.

He is married to Fatima and the couple have two children, 22-year-old Sayeka and Mohammed Awais, aged nine.

Sayeka, a Leeds University law student, will be Lady Mayoress.


Story from BBC NEWS

http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/5003612.stm

Published 2006/05/22 071424 GMT

© BBC MMVI
<u><b>Pakistan plans largest mobile WiMax rollout</b></u>

<i>By David Meyer</i>

http//news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6075684.html?part=rss&tag=6075684&subj=news

Pakistan plans to roll out the largest mobile WiMax network yet, Motorola announced Tuesday.

Motorola is providing the country's Wateen Telecom with an 802.16e-based Motowi4 network. An initial uptake of a million subscribers is expected, with a nationwide rollout to follow.

As a developing country, Pakistan has until now lacked the infrastructure for widespread broadband.

The deployment is a milestone in the spread of WiMax, a superfast wireless technology that has a range of up to 30 miles and can deliver broadband at a theoretical maximum of 75 megabits per second. The 802.16-2004 standard, which is used in fixed WiMax networks, is being skipped in favor of a large-scale introduction of 802.16e, which was only recently agreed upon by the WiMax Forum.

"We made the decision 18 months ago to jump over (802.16-2004) and go straight to 802.16e," Paul Sergeant, Motorola's marketing director for Motowi4, told ZDNet UK on Tuesday. "We've been working on it for a while, which is how we're able to ship so soon after agreement."

"802.16e leads to a much larger market as it addresses mobility needs, but we also felt it could be just as good a solution for fixed broadband," he added.

Some analysts said the Pakistan deal is proof that major players in the industry are throwing their weight behind mobile WiMax in a way they haven't with the fixed version.

"The really interesting thing is that Motorola is really focusing on the mobile version, as are Alcatel and Siemens," Julien Grivolas, a telecom analyst at Ovum, said.

"Mobile WiMax is going to be something for the big players, as opposed to fixed WiMax, where (they) set up OEM (original equipment manufacturer) agreements with smaller vendors," Grivolas said.

On Tuesday, Motorola also made its first public demonstration of third-party interoperability of its WiMax products. At the WiMax World Europe Conference in Vienna, it showed off a third-party PCMCIA card that incorporates a mobile WiMax chip from Beceem Communications.

"The market is looking for carrier class (802.16e) solutions that either support mobility from the beginning or can be upgraded," Sergeant said.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial" id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pracs</i>
<br /><u><b>City gets first Asian Lord Mayor </b> </u>

The city of Leeds is expected to elect its first Asian Lord Mayor on Monday when councillors meet for the first time since the local elections.
Mohammed Iqbal represents the City and Hunslet ward in the south of Leeds.

Three of the London bombers came from neighbouring Beeston and Holbeck and Mr Iqbal led the local Muslim community's condemnation of the 7 July attacks.

During his year in office, he said he would work to bring together people of different faiths and cultures.

Thrilling opportunity

"I am delighted to have been chosen and thrilled to have this opportunity to be the first Asian Lord Mayor of Leeds," Mr Iqbal said.

"I will work hard during my year of office to promote this wonderful city and bring together people of different faiths and cultures.

"Leeds has a great tradition of welcoming and embracing people from all over the world. It welcomed my family and it is a great honour and privilege to be given the chance to represent it in this way."

A self-employed businessman, Mr Iqbal came to Leeds in 1970 when he was nine years old.

He is married to Fatima and the couple have two children, 22-year-old Sayeka and Mohammed Awais, aged nine.

Sayeka, a Leeds University law student, will be Lady Mayoress.


Story from BBC NEWS

http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/5003612.stm

Published 2006/05/22 071424 GMT

© BBC MMVI

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yesterday Farooq Qureshi been appointed as a mayor for Borough of Waltham Forest, in addition there are 11 Pakistani councillors only in above borough….
Thanks for the lead Sajjad,.. Glad to see that the London Borough with the second highest number of Pakistanis (Following Newham I believe) have equal representation in the community as well. I will put on some detail about the Mayor if I find some thing,, but as of now unable to even get a news report apart from the borough's website

http//www.walthamforest.gov.uk/index/news/new_cabinet_and_mayor.htm
<u><b> B r a n d i n g Pakistan</b></u>

http//pakistanimage.blogspot.com/

<i>When thinking of Pakistan, most people in the West immediately picture a desolate rocky terrain, with bearded, turbaned fanatics b r a n d i shing AK-47s. The reality could not be further from the truth. With the Pakistan Brand under so much pressure, it falls to us as Pakistanis to get together and manage these misperceptions, to counter the negatives, and to tell the world all about the Pakistan we know and love.</i>

<b>Pakistan Image Project
LocationIslamabad, Pakistan </b>

The Pakistan Image Project is an attempt to address misperceptions about Pakistan by projecting those aspects of Pakistani culture and life that do not make it into mainstream Western media. Using our people, culture and geography, we hope to break negative brand perceptions and create a new brand image for Pakistan; one that projects a compassionate, care-giving characteristic.
<u><b>Walker's World Pakistan poised to become Asian tiger</b></u><i><b>By Martin Walker
UPI Editor Emeritus
Published June 5, 2006</b></i>

WASHINGTON -- War is not often seen as a source of economic growth, but Pakistan seems likely to emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the Bush administration's War on Terror. As a front-line state and major base for the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan, Pakistan has enjoyed U.S. financial support that has paved the way for new private investment and is turning the country's period of military rule into an economic success story.

The publication Monday of the Pakistan government's budget demonstrates this dramatic change in the country's financial fortunes, with surging growth and new investment plans that suggest the world's second most populous Islamic nation is poised to join China and India as one of Asia's new "tiger" economies.

The Persian Gulf sheikhdom of Dubai is to invest an initial $10 billion in Pakistan's boom, mainly in property, port and transport development, a sum that may triple to $30 billion if current negotiations succeed.

The World Bank, now run by former U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who urged heavy U.S. financial support of Pakistan when the country was being wooed after the Sept. 11 attacks as a key partner in the war on terror, is now doubling its own investment loans to $6.5 billion. The government is also to increase its own development budget by 50 percent.

Salman Shah, economic adviser to Pakistan's prime minister, announced in a press conference Sunday that the country's gross domestic product has grown at an annual rate of 6.6 percent in the latest fiscal year.

"This year also the economy has shown a solid growth in spite of major setbacks during the year," Shah said, citing the massive earthquake that killed some 70,000 people last October and the dizzying climb in oil and commodity prices.

Pakistan's growth rate has averaged an annual 7 percent over the past four years, helping lift almost 20 million of Pakistan's 150 million people out of poverty. The proportion of Pakistanis officially calculated as living below the population has fallen from over a third to less than a quarter in the past five years, Shah said.

Pakistan's take-off began with the War on Terror, starting with the war to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. That triggered a big U.S. aid program, starting with $91 million in the first year and rising steadily to $706 million in 2005.

"The U.S. forgave all bilateral debts to Pakistan, helped reschedule debts involving multinational lenders, provided billions in economic and military assistance, and encouraged international banks to provide even larger amounts of aid. As a result, Pakistan's foreign debt declined from $47.8 billion to $30.3 billion (today's estimate). Foreign exchange reserves, boosted largely by the transfer of large sums of money from expatriate Pakistanis, rose to $12 billion," notes Dr Ahmad Faruqui, research director at the American Institute of International Studies

U.S. and international funds were joined by private investment from the Arab world and the Gulf states as the military government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf launched a program of economic reform and privatization. Pakistan Telecom was privatized last year, with the bulk of the shares being bought by companies based in the United Arab Emirates.

Already closely linked to the oil-rich Gulf economies through some 3 million Pakistani guest workers, Pakistan is now benefiting from new infrastructure investment. Dubai Ports World is bidding for the management contract to run the new Chinese-built port of Gwadar, near Pakistan's frontier with Iran on the Indian Ocean, and other Gulf companies are investing in the new road and rail links from Gwadar to China and Central Asia.

President Musharraf is now seeking to emulate India's success in the high-tech and IT sectors, telling the annual OPEN Silicon Valley conference Saturday that "a network of infrastructure is in place to serve as trade and energy corridor for the landlocked Central Asia, South Asia, the Gulf region and China."

"We have put in place an elaborate IT infrastructure; connected cities and towns to the Internet; and three submarine cables are to further enrich the IT scenario," Musharraf said. "On top of it, we have talented English-speaking graduates, which are an asset for the country and international investors."

"Pakistan today is in an altogether different league economically," Musharraf told the conference by video. "It has been put firmly on path of high economic growth with its GDP having more than doubled to $135 billion and all macro-economic indicators including exports, revenue collection, foreign investment, foreign exchange reserves staying positive."

Pakistan's future prospects are far from guaranteed. Political instability, violent spillovers from the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, a new surge in the oil price or new tensions with India could all jeopardize the country's future growth.

But once again, a pattern emerges of a major U.S. strategic initiative bringing financial aid and investment and transforming regional economies. It happened in the Cold War, when America's Marshall Plan revived the war-battered economies of Western Europe. It happened in Japan, when that country became the industrial base for the Korean War in the 1950s and then the U.S. strategic base in Asia. It happened again in the Vietnam War, when U.S. aid and investment helped Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore into their economic takeoff, and led to the formation of ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations that has become a regional powerhouse.

And now the same seems to be happening in Pakistan. The one exception to this rule of U.S. strategic involvement leading to a surge in growth is Iraq, where the instability of the insurgency has been a disincentive for outside investors. But the part played by the Iraq war in suppressing Iraq's oil production has led to higher prices, and the massive inflows to the oil-rich Persian Gulf countries that are now pumping some of this money into Pakistan.

http//www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...05-105018-7702r
<b>Interview Shaukat Aziz—Riding 'A Tidal Wave'</b>

<i><b>Pakistan's P.M. is bullish on his country, and why not? Per capita income has doubled in only two years.</b></i>

<i>Newsweek International</i>

March 27, 2006 issue - Shaukat Aziz, a suave and savvy 30-year veteran of international banking, has been the architect of Pakistan's remarkable economic recovery ever since he joined President Pervez Musharraf's government in 1999. Last week the 57-year-old prime minister talked to NEWSWEEK's Zahid Hussain and Ron Moreau about the difficulty of restoring the country to economic health. Excerpts

What prompted you to start an aggressive reform agenda six years ago?

The financial situation of Pakistan was precarious. We had high fiscal deficits and debt levels and our ability to pay was suspect. We didn't have enough money to pay the next month's oil-import bill. So we started ensuring fiscal discipline, containing expenditures and increasing income. We focused on investment and growth. We bit many bullets to restore credibility. The fundamentals of reform were deregulation, liberalization and privatization.

How far will you take the privatization process?
It is not the business of government to be in business. We decided to open everything up. We just sold 26 percent of Pakistan Telecom—which was overstaffed and inefficient—for $2.6 billion. We eventually want nothing in the public sector.

What's been the reaction of foreign investors?
Foreign-investor interest in Pakistan today is very strong. This year foreign investment will be the highest in Pakistan's history, at close to $3 billion. There are opportunities in agribusiness, IT, telecom, software, hotels, engineering goods and infrastructure. We see Pakistan as a hub for many multinationals.

What's your reaction to the criticism that GDP growth is not trickling down to the poor?
Income is spreading. In the past three years we have seen the emergence of a middle class that is creating demand and driving a lot of the growth. Our per capita income has gone up to $800. Two years ago it was $400. The highest incidence of poverty is in the rural areas where 60 percent of our population lives.

http//msnbc.msn.com/id/11902385/site/newsweek/
<b>Promise in Pakistan</b>

<i><b>What's behind one of the world's most surprising economic success stories? In part, September 11.</b></i>

<i>By Ron Moreau
Newsweek International</i>

March 27, 2006 issue - In the late 1990s Lahore-based businessman Iqbal Ahmed was depressed. Pakistan was isolated internationally and in the grip of a deep recession, and his modest, liquefied-petroleum-gas operation didn't seem to be going anywhere. "I used to get up and say, 'What the hell, it's another day'," he recalls. "Now I can't wait for the day to begin. I see a very bright future."

Ahmed has good reason to be optimistic. Two years ago he signed a deal with Houston's Hanover Energy Co. that has helped transform his LPG extraction plant into the largest and most efficient in Pakistan, with revenues last year of $130 million. Backed by several international investors, Ahmed has bid some $400 million to buy a controlling interest in Southern Sui Gas, one of two state-owned gas production and distribution companies that are being privatized. And he recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Excelerate Energy of Houston to import liquefied natural gas into Pakistan in supertankers. "We're enjoying a sea change in economic conditions and opportunities," says Ahmed, 60. "Pakistan is open for business."

The proof is in the numbers. Last year the country's GDP growth rate hit 8.4 percent, the world's second highest behind China, following two years of solid 6 percent growth. This year the economy is predicted to expand by nearly 7 percent. After years of instability, with the government and military trying to distract people from their economic woes by waging jihad in Kashmir and railing against neighboring India, a true middle class is now developing. Economic reforms have given the government money to invest in health and education, and foreign investors are eying Pakistan for the first time. In many ways the country has become the world's most surprising economic success story.

It's a heady turnaround for a nation that, in the late 1990s, was practically a failed state with near-zero GDP growth. Because of its headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons, Pakistan had become the world's most sanctioned nation after Libya. International aid had dried up. The government was forced to borrow at exorbitant short-term rates, burdening the country with a crushing $38 billion debt. "We were in a real soup when [Gen. Pervez] Musharraf took over," says Ziauddin (he uses only one name), the Islamabad editor of the Dawn newspaper.

One of Musharraf's first and smartest moves after his 1999 coup was to appoint Shaukat Aziz, a dapper and urbane international banker, as his economic czar, and to give him a free hand to revive the economy. But what really turned the country's fortunes around was September 11. "The 9/11 attack was the best thing that ever happened to Pakistan," says Lahore-based businessman Salmaan Taseer. The United States and Europe immediately lifted all sanctions; Washington gave Pakistan $600 million outright to meet urgent debt payments, and forgave another $1.5 billion in debt. Working with Aziz, America and other creditor nations also rescheduled Pakistan's heavy debt over a manageable 30 to 35 years. In 2004, the United States pledged $3 billion in economic and military assistance over the next five years, in addition to $100 million for education reform. The EU pitched in, lifting quota restrictions on Pakistan's main export, textiles.

At the same time, Aziz, who is now prime minister, began enacting a series of common-sense economic reforms. They focused on boosting fiscal discipline, government transparency and accountability. He quickly cut the budget deficit from 8 percent to 4 percent by slashing spending, and lowered interest rates. Since 2002, he has increased tax revenues by 20 percent. He also instituted a sweeping privatization program that has won kudos from both domestic and foreign investors. State-owned companies in numerous industries—banking, cement, fertilizer, utilities—have been sold off, as has a chunk of the state's inefficient telecom giant, PTCL.

The newly privatized and cash-flush banks have been on a lending spree, extending loans to capital-starved domestic businessmen and to the Pakistani middle class, which until 2002 had little access to consumer credit. People have snapped up credit cards, and are buying cars and other big-ticket products with easy-credit bank loans. "This is the best government we've had in the past 30 years," says prominent Lahore businessman Syed Babar Ali, who heads some of the country's biggest joint-venture companies, including Coca-Cola and Nestlé.

http//msnbc.msn.com/id/11902379/site/newsweek/
Pracs

whilst I appreciate your efforts in brining to the attention the positive side of PAkistan. The recent cases re Pak steel, electricity, second/third presdential term, stock exchange has left black marks. would u agree.

Are we still on for the dinner prog.
I agree with you all the way Goodman and am concerned as you and fellow Pakistanis are, however I do see this as my personal duty to highlight the 'proud' moments because I feel that as a nation we do not do that. This is in no way to say that we eclipse the 'failures' and areas where we need improvements. We are like any other third country, infact just like any other country.

The country we live in is a place where you have scandals every day involving politicians, bribery, allegdly buying titles, and so forth. We do know that there is a lot of positive in this country but no one has to say that its taken..with Pakistan ofcourse its the other way round. the Steel mill thing could be a positive thing because the Supreme Court has actually taken charge here,.With what has happened at the Stock Exchange has been happening for quite some time,, its only now taken the lime light and people have started asking questions,, and hey we are challenging a military dictator , we are talking the talk, some day we will walk the walk.

Call me an optimistic, call me an idealist but hey a little positive hurt no one.

Do excuse me on the drabbling here, I guess I am kind of high on the Philosophy today..
Oh yeah about the dinner,.. I promised DT i would call in to check if ASK is in UK and get on a date,, was thinking about asking our good friend Sajjad Dar as well...Let me make some phone calls and drop on emails..
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