The Pakistani Spectator

A Candid Blog


Author Archive

The myth of Ghazwa-tul-Hind

By ALE-Xpressed • Dec 4th, 2009 • Category: Politics

Religion has quite frequently been used as an excuse for military motives. Talking specifically about Islam,hadees has been used as a tool to invent excuses for political motivations and military interventions/attacks as and when required.
There has been enormous hue and cry over Ghazwa-tul-Hind for years. This was probably first used by self-styled Jihadi activists in [...]



RentACoder: Beware of Pakistanis !

By ALE-Xpressed • Oct 28th, 2008 • Category: Misc

RentACoder.com a.k.a RAC “is an international marketplace where people who need custom software developed can find coders in a safe and business-friendly environment.” RAC is arguably the most popular freelance platform in Pakistan and has thousands of registered service providers from Pakistan.
RentACoder has been displaying a warning message regarding Pakistani service providers for a few [...]



October 8 : Not to forget

By ALE-Xpressed • Oct 8th, 2008 • Category: Politics

Today marks the third anniversary of disastrous earthquake that hit northern Pakistan, especially Kashmir and parts of India and Afghanistan. More than a hundred thousand people lost their lives. Since then, even with millions and millions of rupees coming into the country for reconstruction and development in those parts of Kashmir affected by the tragedy, [...]



Dine-out in the red-light area of Lahore

By ALE-Xpressed • Jul 14th, 2008 • Category: Misc

Wrong guess. It’s not about Cuckoo’s – continue reading!
I have this bad habit of roaming around the city with friends on the weekends and like all Lahoris, dining out in the end with no good entertainment options available. Being fed up of the exquisite restaurants, all stereo-typed to the same M.M.Alam road restaurants; I [...]



100 days under the king-maker

By ALE-Xpressed • Jul 8th, 2008 • Category: Politics

The direction less PPP government seems to be dropping in darkness. The 100 days treated as a litmus test for a nascent government to prove its willingness and capacity to perform have been wasted. The regime seems to be treading the same path of preserving the status quo. The president is as dummy as was [...]



The Kalabagh and the PTI

By ALE-Xpressed • Jun 1st, 2008 • Category: Politics

The government of Pakistan shelved the controversial Kalabagh dam project on May 27, 2008. Three provinces of Pakistan, other than Punjab, had strong reservations over the project. Musharraf, during his times announced to build the dam despite those reservations but could not. This was probably the first good move by the newly formed [...]



No Mercy for Musharraf !

By ALE-Xpressed • May 30th, 2008 • Category: Politics

No mercy !

Now, that the news of Musharraf’s resignation are popping up, arrangements are being made to provide him the safe passage. This leaves me with nothing to be happy about. What difference will it make if he now leaves with a safe passage ? He might move to his heaven, Turkey and spends [...]



Nuclear Power : The Baloch Perspective

By ALE-Xpressed • May 29th, 2008 • Category: Politics

Almost an year back, following the links on the Google search results for ‘Baluchistan Geography’ I happened to visit a blog titled Gedrosia. The content at the blog came as a surprise to me and I dropped an email to the blog-owner. Today, I feel myself in a better position to understand his feelings, being [...]



Celebrating Youm-e-Takbeer ?

By ALE-Xpressed • May 29th, 2008 • Category: Politics

28 May, 1998: Pakistan successfully tested its nuclear weapons at Chaghi hills in Baluchistan. The government promised the necessary follow-up measures for the people of the area to avoid any after-effects but did not fulfill the promise and hundreds, if not thousands, are known to be suffering for the effects of the nukes.

Was having [...]



Baluchistan: as I saw it !

By ALE-Xpressed • May 29th, 2008 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look

Uninhabited deserts, barren land and an under-developed region going through insurgency for long – this is what I knew about Baluchistan before setting my foot there. There has been a curiosity somewhere inside me to know the details but it never grew strong enough to make a trip to the province. A few of us [...]