Pakistan

PM Gilani paid a visit to the Chinese embassy, expressing his condolences.

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Beyond EXPO template

im confused about the categories….

The Farmer, the Crocodile, and the Jackal.

This Pakistani story is called The Farmer, the Crocodile, and the Jackal, and it’s a fictional folk tale. It talks about the everyday lives of the farmer, the crocodile and the jackal by explaining how humans and animals coexist. They all speak one language and this means that they can either be friends or even enemies unlike our lifestyle. These animals and people believe that the jackal is the most sacred animal among the land, and they believe the alligator is the enemy of the nation since he eats people and other animals. The jackal is probably the judge in this nation, because of its status, and since he said, “You know I am always a just judge…” These animals and humans must live in swamp areas and jungles, because it states that in the story, “So that very night he went into the jungle and lay down as if dead.” Some issues that could be noticed in this type of society was that there was no type of law around, which meant that the alligator couldn’t be punished for eating all those people. Another issue for this alligator was the drought that caused his water to dry up, which means that he lives in a dry place, and that causes a lot of people to have to move around to find useable resources. In conclusion, even though there is no justice system, the alligator received his punishment through karma, which means that he ended up with nothing at the end.

Source: http://folkloreandmyth.netfirms.com/pakistan.html

Land mine explosions kill 3 in southwestern pakistan

This text is a news article. It was written by the associated press of the heral tribune newspaper. It probably wasn’t written by someone who was inside Pakistan because there’s no emotion in it, and it is only stating facts. With this, people that would want to read this would be educated adults that take a care in the matter, and this article informs it’s readers. This article doesn’t really have a bias perspective on the matter, since it’s just stating the facts. The importance of this article is that it was written on April 15 2008, which means that it’s a recent matter and it’s still on going.

source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/15/news/Pakistan-Land-Mine-Blasts.php

At least 80 people have died in a series of bomb blasts which ripped through the crowded streets of India’s western city of Jaipur. No one has taken responsibility for these bomb blasts over the past few years, and India is now suspecting Pakistani-based groups. Pakistan denies these claims.

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National sport of Pakistan

Brief History of Field Hockey 

• Hockey is a sport/game that mainly consists of sticks and a ball, where the stick is used to hit the ball to score into a goal. Many variations of hockey are based on the materials, techniques and fields that the games are played on (e.g. ice rink – Ice hockey, outdoor field – field hockey)
• Ancient variations of hockey used curved sticks and a ball, dating back at least 1272 B.C. when the earliest Egyptian drawings of the game being played were made. Another one dates from 500 B.C. in Ancient Greece, with more hockey-like games being developed throughout Europe and the Middle Ages.
• The modern version was first played in English public schools, and the game was established with full rules in 1900 by the International Rules Board.
• The game was brought to the Indian subcontinent by British servicemen, with the first clubs forming in Calcutta, India in 1885.
• Pakistan won the Olympic Games in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
• The artificial turf fields were introduced in 1970’s, changing many aspects of the original game, as well as changing many techniques and materials used in the game. Unable to keep up the finances of a synthetic surface, India and Pakistan lost domination of the sport, unlike the wealthier European countries. Since the 1970’s, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany have led the sport at the Olympics.
• Women’s hockey associations were non-competitive until 1975. By then, over 58 associations for women. Women’s field hockey was introduced into the Olympic Games in 1980.
• Argentina has emerged as a strong team recently, winning medals at the last two Olympics and the World Championship in 2002.

Field Hockey in Pakistan

• Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is the largest governing body of hockey in Pakistan, with the PHF Women Wing (PHFWW) as the official organization for women’s hockey in Pakistan.
• The Men’s team won three gold medals in the Olympic Games, and four titles in the Hockey World Cup.
• Pakistan has won the most number of Asian gold medals and is the only Asian team to have won the Champions Trophy with three titles, ranking as one of the top teams in the world.
• Recent boosts in Pakistan’s economy have helped the government invest in sports, and have pushed Pakistani athletes further towards success. International tournaments are now held there, while Pakistan sends their athletes abroad as well. Many facilities were reconstructed and renovated, and new equipment was bought. It has helped boost the performance of Pakistan in sports, including field hockey.

Analysis of Benazir Bhutto’s letter (Jaime Brias)

Analysis of Benazir Bhutto’s ‘Reconciliation’ (Chloe Chia)

(the rest of the analysis by our group will be posted soon…)

Comparison of two articles on terrorists in Pakistan

Article URL: http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/03/29/asia/OUKWD-UK-PAKISTAN-POLITICS.php

After being elected into the government, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani proposed his priorities for his administration. Many things were on his political agenda, with the fight against terrorism and extremism on top of it all. Terrorism has always been a problem in Pakistan. With so many people having extremist ideologies, religious discrimination, as well as Pakistan being a nuclear power, the combinations lead to constant conflicts and acts of violence. The President Musharraf has also been unpopular among the people, with his support for the US-led campaign against Islamist militants. His influence on Pakistan’s security strategies have always been quite questionable, therefore the new government decided to take a new approach to stopping terrorism to be determined by the parliament, instead of Musharraf setting policies single-handedly. Gilani established new laws and reforms to remote tribal areas along the Afghan border, replacing the separate, colonial-era laws that it was once ruled over by. This satisfied many human rights groups, and also the terrorists, whom the government aimed to stop from causing anymore conflict. Gilani also promised a clean government, ridding it of the National Accountability Bureau, who have been suspected of victimising people, and probing out corruption of previous leaders. He had also promised for higher pay for farmers to increase resources and energy production, as well as closing gaps between the rich and the poor. For international relations, Gilani said he wanted stable relations with the West, China, and Afghanistan. He also planned to “take forward” Kashmir negotiations with India, hoping for 100% peace with the Pakistan’s long time rival.

I don’t know much about Gilani and his political background, but from reading what he promises to do, he seems to have quite an ambitious outlook on things, like all leaders do. Except this time, his ambitions seem achieveble, and with me, he has a rather good reputation. He seems to have the makings of a good leader that can bring Pakistan out of its political meltdown. He plans to get rid of the things that got Pakistan into such trouble, and make its relations with other countries better than ever. Only thing is, these were only said. We can only wait and see if he will put his dreams into action.

1. Do you trust Gilani’s word? Why/Why not?

2. Do you think his ambitions are really acheiveble? Would he even pursue these ambitions as he promised? Why/why not?

3. What do you think could be some drawbacks in Gilani’s plan for Pakistan? Why/Why not?

Power cutoffs cause Protests

Summary:

In Multan, Pakistan citizens attacked an electric company office, and set it and many other buildings on fire. Over 40 protesters went to jail, and many were injured. These acts of crime were committed because houses and buildings were on power outages and couldn’t function correctly. For example, a textile industry said that they had power cuts that slowed down production and business as well. The purpose behind these outages includes a large demand and the fact that some people don’t even have the power to turn on their fans during the scorching heat of the summer. The current government blames the pervious government, and says that it’s going to get worse before they can actually do anything about it.

Personal Response:

Pakistan is a highly populated country, 7^th most populated country in the world, and I do believe that if they’re going to have enough energy for the rest of the country the government is going to have to make some changes. I suggest that they find new was to create and store energy faster since it is predicted that by 2040 Pakistan will have the 3^rd largest population in the world. On another matter, I think that the people shouldn’t use violence as a way to get the point across, but since it’s the only thing that’s catching the attention of the government it was probably one of the only things people could do to express their anger. Overall, I think that a solution could be maybe renewable energy, but Pakistan might not have enough money for this to happen in the near future, and people are suffering now.

Questions:

1. Will people start moving to other countries if they can’t get the electricity that they need?

2. How will the government try to control the situation, and get energy back to the people?

3. If Pakistan resorts to a type of renewable energy, will it be efficient enough for the entire country, or will there be still some areas that are still going to suffer?