A Housewife’s Weblog

Most of us have this toy called “mobile phone” and the easiest way of staying in touch with others is sending an SMS. Even if it means just forwarding interesting or funny things to multiple people. We as a nation are a little careless when it comes to hurting someone with our sense of humour or you may say laughing at the cost of others. NOW don’t forward messages without reading them carefully otherwise you may land in BIG trouble. Read below the an extract of “Thenews” which says if proved guilty maximum punishment canbe 14 years imprisonment and/or confiscation of property!!!

ISLAMABAD: A country-wide campaign has been launched against emails and text messages containing offensive and fabricated stories against the civilian leadership.

Sources told Geo News, decision has been taken to initiate an immediate action against the banned outfits engaging propaganda against the security forces through Internet.

Directive has been issued to DG FIA for taking to task the elements involved in the crime under Cyber Crimes Act.

Interpol has also been formally requested to track such emails and web sites developed outside the country. Help will be sought from the international police for deportation of the people involved in the crime, sources said. Read the rest of this entry »

So many had expected so much from Obama the thinking, intelligent and more world-sensitive US president. But what we are seeing around our part of the world is more of the same with the new veneer eroding fast. More force; more aggression; more dictation.

Shireen M Mazari

Obama is certainly stretching his global goodwill to its limits. After critiquing the US invasion of Iraq when out of power, he has upped the military ante with the surge in Afghanistan; refocused on the military centric approach in Pakistan with a massive increase in drone attacks against Pakistani civilians (just so much “collateral damage” for the US of course) on the one hand, and with the successful goading of the Pakistan military through the Zardari nexus into FATA where the quagmire is already unfolding in the terrible deaths of our soldiers and innocent civilians while the terrorism issue shows no signs of abating. Pakistan has come out the worst in Obama’s policies especially in terms of the growing intrusiveness the US is acquiring in our daily lives with US inspectors now promising to hover in all our bureaucracies to see that the “aid” they are giving is spent as they see fit not to mention the $.9 billion that will immediately go back to the US for the rebuilding of its embassy in a more imperial design.
Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Osley has tried to examine the performance and aims of British forces in Afghanistan in Independent. I cannot question his assessment of their performance but aims are really doubtful. Anyway passing only in 3 out of 9 aims is nothing to be proud of. Its good that there is a Brown’s secret plan to cut Afghanistan force by 1500.

Strategic aims: how Britain is faring in Afghanistan

Stop terrorist plans for attacks on the UK

* MoD’s main stated aims include: “Deny al-Qa’ida its Afghan base”.

* Terrorist bunkers bombed out, training camps disrupted.

* Operations did not prevent attacks on London transport network.

* Fear plotting continues among terrorists in Pakistan and fghanistan.

Verdict: Failure

Avoid a bloody war

* Former defence secretary John Reid said he hoped British forces would leave without “a single shot being fired”.

* More than four million bullets fired by the British Army in a year, as conflict intensified.

* More soldiers have died there, 184 in all, than in Iraq.

Verdict: Failure

Catch Osama Bin Laden

* Post 9/11, al-Qa’ida’s most recognisable figure became world’s most wanted man.

* Afghanistan refused to extradite him before he went into hiding.

* His whereabouts unknown, remains an inspiration to insurgents.

Verdict: Failure

End Taliban rule in Afghanistan Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON, April 24: Two days of continuous congressional hearings on the Obama administration’s foreign policy brought a rare concession from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who acknowledged that the United States too had a share in creating the problem that plagues Pakistan today. In an appearance before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, Mrs Clinton explained how the militancy in Pakistan was linked to the US-backed proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. “We can point fingers at the Pakistanis. I did some yesterday frankly. And it’s merited because we are wondering why they just don’t go out there and deal with these people,” said Mrs Clinton while referring to an earlier hearing in which she said that Pakistan posed a “mortal threat” to the world. “But the problems we face now to some extent we have to take responsibility for, having contributed to it. We also have a history of kind of moving in and out of Pakistan,” she said. “Let’s remember here… the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago… and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union. “They invaded Afghanistan… and we did not want to see them control Central Asia and we went to work… and it was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what it sounds like a pretty good idea… let’s deal with the ISI and the Pakistan military and let’s go recruit these mujahideen. “And great, let them come from Saudi Arabia and other countries, importing their Wahabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. “And guess what … they (Soviets) retreated … they lost billions of dollars and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. “So there is a very strong argument which is… it wasn’t a bad investment in terms of Soviet Union but let’s be careful with what we sow… because we will harvest. “So we then left Pakistan … We said okay fine you deal with the Stingers that we left all over your country… you deal with the mines that are along the border and… by the way we don’t want to have anything to do with you… in fact we’re sanctioning you… So we stopped dealing with the Pakistani military and with ISI and we now are making up for a lot of lost time.” It was question from Congressman Adam Shciff, a California Democrat that spurred Secretary Clinton to delve into history and come out with an answer that other US politicians have avoided in the past. The congressman noted that while the US had provided “a phenomenal amount of military support for Pakistan,” they had not changed the paradigm. “And more pernicious, there are elements within the Pakistani intelligence services, the ISI that may be working at cross-purposes with us. “How we can possibly be funding the Pakistani military if elements of the military or intelligence services are actually working against us and having the effect of killing our troops next door?” he asked.

marriages...

I met a thirty-something friend after a year recently and was mystified at her almost overnight transformation to a svelte goddess. What added to the mystery was the erstwhile warrior princess coyly saying that she had her husband to thank for her wonder-woman look.

Wondering how much he had paid for what appeared to be an expensive makeover, I congratulated her on her very “K-commendable” reply and cattily suggested she audition for one of the Kyunki avatars on television.

“Oh, you’ve got it wrong,” she said. “We split six months ago and that’s when I suddenly realised how much time I wasted bickering  about our relationship. Now I’ve joined a gym and look better than I did in my teens. That’s the reason I thank the swine when I look in the mirror,” she said, sounding more like her old self, to my relief.

Her situation deserves some thought that why bad marriages are harder on women’s health than on men’s, so women stuck in strained relationships — marked by arguments, angry outbursts and resentment — should consider out. And this is not your usual agony aunt advice but words backed by medical wisdom.

A US study reported that women in strained marriages are more likely to have high blood pressure, obesity and other signs of a clutch of metabolic disorders called Syndrome X — pot bellies, high blood sugar, high bad cholesterol, low good cholesterol, high triglycerides (a type of blood fat) — which is a risk factor for diseases such as heart attack, stroke and diabetes.

According to the study, the depression in a bad marriage affected women in a big way, most likely because, they take the negativity more to heart and mull over it more than the men. Read the rest of this entry »

DUBAI — Pakistan’s Twenty20 World Cup hero Shahid Afridi has an uncomplicated style of batting — hitting the ball cleanly and clearing the fence effortlessly. The flamboyant cricketer has almost the same attitude even during a conversation — he comes across as straight, cheerful and simple. In short, an uncomplicated and cool person.
The aggressive all-rounder, who helped Pakistan clinch the Twenty20 World Cup, talked about the team’s World Cup triumph, his transformation as a match-winning bowler, controlled aggression, Test chances and the influence of Bob Woolmer in his career, among other things, in an exclusive interview to Khaleej Times here on Sunday. Excerpts:

Afridi & kids

Dressing room atmosphere

Though Pakistan began the T20 World Cup with two consecutive losses in the warm-up matches, they lifted their performances remarkably during the crunch games. Afridi’s energy was one of the reasons for the transformation as he lifted the team on several occasions with his sensible batting and lethal bowling.
Asked to rewind the dressing room atmosphere, he said: “Before the World Cup we played four one-day international matches against Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We did well against the World champions and the performance lifted our morale. When we arrived in the UK, we played two warm-up games against India and South Africa. Though we didn’t win, we performed well in both the matches.

“Besides, all the senior players took up responsibility. We all realised that the World Cup is a global event and we should try our best to win it for the country. We face several problems on the domestic front. So we were focused to win it for the people of the country.

“The senior players, including Younis Khan, Misbah-ul Haq, Umar Gul and me, decided that we should take up responsibility rather than leaving it to the young guys. We all realised that if senior players perform up to their potential, definitely we have a chance to win. In every team there are three or four match winners. We all were motivated and keen to win the cup.”

Bowling success Read the rest of this entry »

What would you do if you were mad at your friend? Would you just stop talking to her? Would you tell your other friends what she did and encourage the others to avoid or neglect her? Would you approach your friend and “chew” her out and then walk away, intending never to look back? Or would you speak to your friend to explain why you are angry and try to resolve the issue?

Okay, I’m guessing that not too many of you answered ‘yes’ to the last question, and yet you probably got the feeling that you should have. Well, you are right; you should have answered yes to the last question, and yes, I know that it’s a lot easier said than done.

Most of us will say that we don’t have the time to deal with these kinds of situations. It takes more time to confront someone to demand an apology or explanation. It’s a lot harder than just ignoring that person (and the issue). Most of us would just say thats it’s not worth it and then move on.

Similarly, if we had two friends that were in conflict among themselves, how would we handle the sitaution? Would we involve ourselves positively and attempt to rectify the situation or would we, again, just say that it’s not worth it andlet it alone., leaving them to duke it out themselves?

Well, the truth is that it is worth it. It’s worth the extra minutes or hours or even days that it might take to resolve a conflict. It’s worth it because losing a friend is usually not worth it.

Don’t fight dirty, fight right

Conflict management is a fancy term that essentially means knowing how to fight right. We have all been in our share of arguments or disagreements that resulted in raised voices and hurt feelings. When you look back at any of these instances, do you think to yourself that maybe you could have done things differently. Maybe you shouldn’t have called her that name, maybe you shouldn’t have stormed out like that. People say that hindsight is 20/20; now is our chance to have the foresight by learning from this hindsight. Read the rest of this entry »

Ali Medical Centre -Sector F-8 – Phone no. 2255313-15

Amanat eye hospital, Mayo Rd., Rawalpindi. 5562150,5562151

ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE OF CARDIOLOGY (A.F.I.C.), PESHAWAR ROAD
RAWALPINDI, Ph. no. 5586471-5

Capital Hospital(CDA) -  Phone no. 9221334-43

Chohan eye hospital, 86 Naimuddin Rd., F-8/4 , Islamabad
Ph. no.2251882

D.H.Q Hospital Phone no. 5556311-12

Fauji Foundation Hospiatal Phone no. 5788150-65

Fazal International Hospital Phone no. 4845845

Fed. Gov. Services Hospital(PolyClinic) - Phone no. 9218300

Hayat Wali Medical Centre Phone no. 5542184

Hearts International Hospital Phone no. 5510888

Holy Family Hospital Phone no. 9290321-26 Read the rest of this entry »

Suddenly, there was a person said salaam.
“May I come in?” he asked.
But Fatimah did not allow him enter the room.
I’m sorry, my father is ill,” said Fatimah turned back and closed the door.
She went back to her father who had opened his eyes and asked Fatimah,

“Who was he, my daughter?”
“I don’t know, my father. It was the first time for me to see him,” Fatimah said gently.
Then, Rasulullah looked at his daughter with trembled look, as if he wanted
to reminisce about every part of her daughter’s face.
“Know one thing! He is who erases the temporary pleasure; he is who separates the companionship in the world.

He is the death angel,” said Rasulullah .

Fatimah bore the bomb of her cry. The death angel came toward him,

But Rasulullah asked why Jibril did not come along with him.
Then, Jibril was called. Jibril was ready in the sky to welcome the soul of
Habibullah and the leader of the earth.
“O Jibril, explain me about my rights in front of ALLAH?” Rasulullah asked with a weakest voice.
“The doors of sky has opened, the angels are waiting for your soul.”
“All jannats open widely waiting for you,” Jibril said.

But, in fact, those all did not make Rasulullah  relieve, his eyes
were still full of worry.
“You are not happy to hear this news?” asked Jibril.
“Tell me about the destiny of my people in future?” Read the rest of this entry »