The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost (1874–1963)

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,    
And sorry I could not travel both    
And be one traveler, long I stood    
And looked down one as far as I could    
To where it bent in the undergrowth;            
 
Then took the other, as just as fair,    
And having perhaps the better claim,    
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;    
Though as for that the passing there    
Had worn them really about the same,            
 
And both that morning equally lay    
In leaves no step had trodden black.    
Oh, I kept the first for another day!    
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,    
I doubted if I should ever come back.            
 
I shall be telling this with a sigh    
Somewhere ages and ages hence:    
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—    
I took the one less traveled by,    
And that has made all the difference.            
 

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MAA KI BAATEN!

Got it on my e-mail forward. Very good.


 
Mujhko ab bhi yaad hain wo saari ammi ki baatein
Daantna mujhko baat baat par, pyaar ki wo barsaatein

Khailna merey saath saath aur phir padney ko kahna
Meri khushiyon ki khaatir abbu se ladtey rahna

Meri gustaakhi pe unka zor se wo jhallaana
Abbu ke aaney par unko kuchh bhi na batlana

Thaam ke ungli meri mujhko bahar lekar jaana
Seedha rasta kya hota hai ye mujhko samjhana

Pyaar se mujhko paas bithaa kar sar pe tail lagaana
Phir kahna ki beta dekho kaam sabhi ke aana

Dekho beta geebat gussa achchi baat nahin hai
Ye sab kaam galat hain betey aur ye kaam sahi hai

In kaamon ko karke tum achchey insaan banogey
Is rastey par mat chalna warna beimaan banogey

Paisey ka izzat ke aagey koi mol nahi hai
Bhool na jaana ye baatein jo mainey aaj kahi hai

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Mobile Charging Through Peepal Leaves!

I haven't tried this but if someone does, successfully or otherwise, please let me know, Amad

Its very Strange But True Very True.

Now, you do not require any mobile charger to charge your mobiles. Only there is need to use green leaf of peepal tree and after some time your mobile will get charged..

No soon the people came to learn this development, they tested it and found encouraging results. If your mobile has been discharged and you are inside a jungle then you need not to use any charger. You Should pluck two peepal leaves and your work would be done..

It is very good idea and easy to charge your mobile. You would have to open your mobile battery and connect it with peepal leaf. After that without shaking mobile set you should set the battery in your mobile set. After some time your mobile would be charged.

Though it is unbelievable but as soon as the residents of Chitrakoot came to know about the discovery they could not believe the news. But when they saw it practically then the incident proved true.

Now hundreds of mobile holders are using this technique and charging their mobiles.

Several persons including Sushil Kumar Shukla, Santosh Verma, principal of Mahatma Gandhi School , Raj Karan Patel, Shyam Patel, Shekhar Dwivedi, Pramod Gupta, Manager of Gayatri temple, RN Tripathi proved the incident true.

Whereas according to the botanists, it is just changing mutual energy into electrical energy power can be saved in battery. Similarly, it is also possible. They said that it is the subject of research




Step by Step guide to charge your mobile battery using peepal leaf
1- Open your mobile cover

2- Take out your battery

3- Take two to three fresh leaves of peepal/pipal/ ashwattha tree

4- Touch the stub of these leaves on your mobile battery terminal for a minute

5- Clean the mobile battery terminal with the soft cloth

6- Put your battery again in your mobile and switch it on

7- Now you can see the result

8- If required repeat the process with fresh leaves

Learning Foreign Language

A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along, when all of a sudden, a cat attacks them.

 

The mother mouse yells, "BARK!" and the cat runs away.

 

"See?" says the mother mouse to her baby. "Now do you see why it's important to learn a foreign language?"

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So You think your Job is tough ???

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History's Greatest Replies

Robert Benchley

After lunching at the Algonquin Hotel one day, the American humorist Robert Benchley and his companions walked through the lobby and out the front door. Still engaged in conversation with his friends, Benchley offhandedly said to the uniformed man standing by the front door, "My good man, would you please get me a taxi?" The man immediately took offense and replied indignantly, "I'm not a doorman. I happen to be a rear admiral in the United States Navy." Benchley instantly quipped:

"All right then, get me a battleship."

Niels Bohr

After receiving the Nobel Prize in 1922, the Danish
physicist Niels Bohr invited friends and associates to a celebration
party at his country cottage North of Copenhagen. The event was also
well-attended by members of the press. One reporter, noticing a
horseshoe hanging on a wall, teasingly asked the famous physicist, "Can
it be that you, of all people, believe a horseshoe will bring you good
luck?" Bohr replied:

"Of course not, but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe it or not."

Winston Churchill

Nancy Astor was an American socialite who married into
an English branch of the wealthy Astor family (she holds the
distinction of being the first woman to be seated in Parliament). At a
1912 dinner party in Blenheim Palace—the Churchill family estate—Lady
Astor became annoyed at an inebriated Winston Churchill, who was
pontificating on some topic. Unable to take any more, she finally
blurted out, "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd put poison in your
coffee." Without missing a beat, Churchill replied:

"Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."

Another famous Churchill reply also involves a London
party and a female Member of Parliament, and once again a slightly
inebriated Churchill. This time, it was Bessie Braddock, a socialist
Member of Parliament from Liverpool, who finally had enough. She
reproached Churchill by charging, "Winston, you're drunk!" The Grand
Old Man may have had one too many drinks, but he still had his wits
about him, replying:

"You're right, Bessie. And you're ugly. But tomorrow morning, I'll be sober. And you'll still be ugly."

Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber worked for a number of years as a news
reporter in the Midwest before moving to New York City in 1912. After
her novel "So Big" won the Pulitzer Prize in 1926, she quickly followed
up with the hit play "Show Boat" (so successful and financially
remunerative, she called it her "oil well"). Ferber was fond of wearing
tailored suits well before they became fashionable. One day, she
arrived at the Algonquin Hotel wearing a suit that was very similar to
one that the English actor Noël Coward was wearing. Ferber and Coward
were friends (she once described him as her favorite theater companion)
and Coward saw an opportunity to engage in a bit of playful badinage
with one of his favorite people. Carefully looking her over, he
observed, "Edna, you look almost like a man." Ferber looked Coward over
in a similar manner and came back with a classic riposte:

"So do you."

W. C. Fields

W. C. Fields died at age sixty-seven on December 25,
1946, his life cut short by his notorious alcohol consumption (by some
accounts, he drank as much as two quarts of gin a day). Some wags
thought it was a fitting irony that Fields died on Christmas, the one
holiday he despised the most. As he lay in his hospital bed shortly
before his death, Fields was visited by the actor Thomas Mitchell, a
good friend. When Mitchell entered Fields' room, he was shocked to find
the irreligious Fields paging through a Bible. Fields was a lifelong
agnostic, and fervently anti-religious (he once said that he had
skimmed the Bible while looking for movie plots, but found only "a pack
of wild lies"). "What are you doing reading a Bible?" asked the
astonished Mitchell. A wiseacre to the end, Fields replied:

"I'm looking for loopholes."

Mohandas Gandhi

Some of history's greatest replies come from people we don't usually associate with great wit. In the decades prior to World War II, Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi led a massive campaign of civil disobedience designed to help colonial India win its independence from the British Empire. In 1931, shortly after being named Time magazine's "Man of the Year," Gandhi traveled to London to meet with British authorities. The entire nation was curious to learn more about this little brown man, as many called him. Constantly swarmed by press and photographers, Gandhi was peppered with questions wherever he went. One day a reporter yelled out, "What do you think of Western civilization?" It was a defining moment, and Gandhi's reply instantly transformed him from an object of curiosity into a celebrity. In his heavy Indian accent, he answered:

"I think it would be a good idea."

Courtesy: http://www.drmardy.com/repartee/historygreatreplies.shtml

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Unusual phobias

alektorophobia - fear of chickens
aulophobia - fear of a flute
clinophobia - fear of going to bed
ecclesiaphobia - fear of churches
eisoptrophobia - fear of mirrors
geniophobia - fear of chins
genuphobia - fear of knees
gymnotophobia - fear of nudity
ichthyophobia - fear of fish
levophobia - fear of the left side
linonophobia - fear of string
meteorophobia - fear of being hit by meteor
nephelophobia - fear of clouds
odontophobia - fear of teeth
ouranophobia - fear of heaven
pediophobia - fear of dolls
pogonophobia - fear of beards
siderophobia - fear of starts
stygiophobia - fear of hell
triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number 13

Banta Singh to Bill Gates

Dear Mr. Bill Gates,

This letter is from Banta Singh from Punjab. We have bought a computer for our home and we found problems, which I want to bring to your notice.

1. After connecting to internet we planned to open e-mail account and whenever we fill the form in Hotmail in the password column, only ****** appears, but in the rest of the fields whatever we typed appears, but we face this problem only in password field. We checked with hardware vendor Santa Singh and he said that there is no problem in keyboard. Because of this we open the e-mail account with password *****. I request you to check this as we ourselves do not know what the password is.

2. We are unable to enter anything after we click the 'shut down 'button.

3. There is a button 'start' but there is no "stop" button. We request you to check this.

4. We find there is 'Run' in the menu. One of my friend clicked 'run ' has ran upto Amritsar! So, we request you to change that to "sit", so that we can click that by sitting.

5. One doubt is that any 're-scooter' available in system? As I find only 're-cycle', but I own a scooter at my home.

6. There is 'Find' button but it is not working properly. My wife lost the door key and we tried a lot for tracing the key with this ' find', but unable to trace. Is it a bug??

7. Every night I am not sleeping as i have to protect my 'mouse' from CAT, So i suggest u to provide one DOG to kill that cat.

9. My child learnt 'Microsoft word' now he wants to learn 'Microsoft sentence', so when u will provide that?


Best regards,

Chinese Twins

Chinese pair accidentally had twins without getting married,

Guess what they named them...

Jo Hua, So Hua.

Cushions In Arms!

Smile With Me - Buying Gifts For Men

Got it on the internet. Amusing for men and funny for women...

Buying gifts for men is not nearly as complicated as it is for women. Follow these rules and you should have no problems.

Rule #1: When in doubt - buy him a cordless drill. It does not matter if he already has one. I have a friend who owns 17 and he has yet to complain. As a man, you can never have too many cordless drills. No one knows why.

Rule #2: If you cannot afford a cordless drill, buy him anything with the word ratchet or socket in it. Men love saying those two words. "Hey George, can I borrow your ratchet?" "OK. By-the-way, are you through with my 3/8 inch socket yet?" Again, no one knows why.

Rule #3: If you are really, really broke, buy him anything for his car. A 99 cent ice scraper, a small bottle of de-icer or something to hang from his rear view mirror. Men love gifts for their cars. No one knows why.

Rule #4: Do not buy men socks. Do not buy men ties. And never buy men bathrobes. I was told that if God had wanted men to wear bathrobes, he wouldn't have invented Jockey shorts.

Rule #5: You can buy men new remote controls to replace the ones they have worn out. If you have a lot of moneybuy your man a big screen TV and watch him go wild as he flips, and flips, and flips.

Rule #6: Buy men label makers. Almost as good as cordless drills. With-in a couple of weeks there will be labels absolutely everywhere. "Socks. Shorts. Cups. Saucers. Door. Lock. Sink." You get the idea. No one knows why.

Rule #7: Good places to shop for men include Northwest Iron Works, Parr Lumber, Home Depot, John Deere, Valley RVCenter, and Les Schwab Tire. (NAPA Auto Parts and Sears' Clearance Centers are also excellent men's stores. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know what itis. "From NAPA Auto, eh? Must be something I need. Hey! Isn't this a starter for a '68 Ford Fairlane? Wow! Thanks.")

Rule #8: It's hard to beat a really good wheelbarrow or an aluminum extension ladder. Never buy a real man a step ladder. It must be an extension ladder. No one knows why.

Rule #9: Clamps. Men can never have enough quick grip clamps. No one knows why.

Rule #10: Buy your man Duct Tape. This is a man's most universal repair tool. All men know, if you can't fix it, duct it.

Noor in the morning.

Our son Noor Ud Din is growing fast. Recently he has developed the habit of waking up in the morning and crying like hell. The idea is to wake everybody up and not let them sleep anymore. How dare anybody sleep while he is awake? Get up and go on about doing your things. I don't want to see you lying down. He seems to be telling us. When the home machinery has started and everybody is busy in their daily chores, he is at ease.

If I try to trace this, then I find this habit of his in my very dear Tahir Mammooo. Once he used to get up, he used to ensure that everybody is up as well. But he used to attack subtly by going to each and everyone and using straw poking into ears and/or continuous chitter chatter.

Where Noor Ud Din's style is to cry his lungs out.

Emergency 2007

Emergency has been put onto the Nation of Pakistan as on 3rd November 2007. The move is done for freeing the Judiciary from people who have a bit of integrity left in their bones. There are some people condemning Emergency and they are in majority and are quite loud. There are some people on Musharraf's side but they are generally silent. And there are some people who say, what the heck? Emergency has no affect on my life so what do I care.

Surely if you have enough money to take your dear ones to private rather than government hospitals where the number of patients is far greater than the number of beds then you don't need to care.

Surely if you have enough money to travel by car or taxi rather than travel in over crowded buses with space for just one hand and one foot, then you don't need to care.

Surely, if you have enough money to hire the services of the best lawyers to present your cases in the courts, where by the way you being right will not matter, then you don't need to care.

Surely, if you have enough references and links in the government to protect you from goons, land mafia, bhatta collectors etc, then you don't need to care.

Surely, if you have enough money to send your children to private schools, rather than government run schools where there is no furniture and no teachers, then you don't need to care.

Surley, if you have enough money to rent or own a house in that part of your city where there are no gangs and no gang wars and your children can play around in the neighbourhood happily and safely, then you don't need to care.

Surely, if you can ensure that such luxuries, as mentioned above, can be passed onto your children as well, then you don't need to care.

But as for me, I believe that the continuous mis-representation of the section of Pakistani society who wants to live the Islamic way of life, is going to give birth to further extremism and further deterioration.

I believe that now Lal Masjid, May 12 and Oct 18 carnages in Karachi will have no convictions and they would eventually become parts of dusty dossiers.

But it does not matter what anyone of us believe and how happy or sad we are with whatever is going on. I believe in the court which is much higher than the Supreme Court, where the Judge, Jury and Executioner is the same. In whose courts you cannot lie as the prime witnesses will be your hands, your eyes, your feet. In whose courts there can be no NROs and no deals. Where the poor will be equal to rich and powerful. For they are the heavenly courts of Maalik-e-Yaum-Deen (the Maalik of the day of the judgement). Over there cases such as Lal Masjid, May 12 and Oct 18 carnages will be disposed off in just a few seconds.

Sometimes I wonder that maybe Allah has allowed the killers to escape punishment in this world and have few more days in sunshine. For no court or ruler of the world can execute a punishment which equals their crime. The crime which is the brazen Massacre of Innocent People.

All of you, who do believe and do care, worry not, since that day is not far, when Justice will be done and truth will prevail.

On the winning side of a thriller.

While there might be some debates on the number of consecutive matches we have won, or who should be doing what, or whether we are good at setting totals or chasing them, there can not be a debate on where we usually end up in a thrilling match.

The match started with cool but not chilly winds blowing around. Incidentally the chill was to come from the thrilling end of the match. The ground we were playing on was on a continuous slope, with one side filled with soil.

Set a total of 165 we were pretty confident that we would cross the finish line with much ease. But it seemed that we had not accounted for inexperience. As a good number of our batsmen chose for aggression when coolness was the key. In the end those of us succeeded who read the situation and the pitch well and had the ability to hit the ball in gaps.

The batting stars would go to Abdullah and Nisar who gave us a very good start with 32 from 32 balls from Nisar and yet another 50 from Abdullah, Samir Bhai who had a magical return of form and a resilient counter attack from Amir Bhai that took us through.

Samir Bhai, went one down after Nisar's gutsy 32 from 32 balls. With Abdullah scoring freely from the other end, Samir Bhai took sometime to settle down and find his form. Which luckily for us he did. Abdullah got another 50 for the team but a change of bat saw his end. He was not happy getting out and its good to see him putting a price on his wicket and trying to win the match and not being happy for just a 50.

While Abdullah was coming back things were looking good for us, but it was something that changed drastically over the course of the next few overs. Rizwan was the next man in and with the slowish pace of bowling and his favourite area blocked by either thick sand or fielders, he found it difficult to score freely. Samir Bhai took charge from the other end and started hitting boundaries all over the ground. Its a delight to watch him when he starts to hit through the gap boundaries almost at will. But his wicket saw a flurry of wickets. Bilal was first ball and then Rizwan came back as well. Habib and Ahmed provided a bit of resistance but Ahmed wasn't able to put bat to ball and Habib thought that aggression was the key. Both were bowled out. Meanwhile Amir Bhai who went in after Ahmed seemed not be that bothered about the runs and balls equation or the wickets in hand. He kept on scoring the twos and threes which were vital at that point. Anees Bhai was the next man in and he saw it off till the end.

Earlier we lost the toss and were put into field. Anees Bhai was a bit late so I bowled the first over and was infact the most enjoyable experience of my cricketing life. With a slight jerk of the wrist the ball was swinging in and was getting bounce as well. It was a good first over and probably the sign of things to come. As given the condition of the pitch and the ground, there was not to be any free scoring. Anees Bhai bowled very well from the other end. He bowled good line and length with excellent pace. Amir Bhai was the first change and he proved a bit costly. Nisar was the first spinner to be introduced. He bowled well but the experienced batsmen didn't seem to be in too much botheration on his bowling and were sweeping him for easy singles and doubles.

I went for spin from both ends when Anees Bhai finished his spell, by bringing in Habib. The batsmen who were quite set now started swinging and managed some meaty blows. In his second over they had a boundary and a six. It was an ideal example that one should never allow a batsman to settle down even if he is not scoring runs, since a time would come when he would start to hit and it would be quite difficult to stop him then. It was good that I had saved up overs from Ahmed and me.

Ahmed was to be the partnership breaker for us as we managed a run out in his first over and in his second over he bowled the other one, bringing two new batsmen to the crease.

Abdullah came in from the other end and dried the scoring. Abdullah and I finished the bowling without much incident.

Fielding was quite good as well as Nisar and Rizwan took some good catches and over all we managed 4 run outs, two from direct hits. Khurram fielded quite well as if having a personal grudge against the ball and never allowing it to go through.

In the end we knew why they were quite happy in getting 165, since they felt (and rightly so) that they had a good chance in defending the score. Had it not been for back bone innings from Samir Bhai and a late order intelligent innings from Amir Bhai they would have been successful.

Last but not the least we might have won 2 in a row, but never have we won 3 in a row. So let us all keep up the good work, keep thinking, keeping working and win the 3rd match as well.

Indian TV channels blocked after massacre expose

NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Officials in India have blocked television channels which aired secretly recorded footage allegedly exposing government involvement in the 2002 killing of Muslims.

The riots in Gujarat state left at least 2,000 Muslims dead and many victims and rights groups at the time accused the Hindu nationalist-ruled local government of backing the violence.

The Headlines Today private television network on Thursday began broadcasting footage of men accused of taking part in the deadly riots apparently admitting that they were spurred on by Hindu groups allied with the government.

On Friday cable operators in the state’s commercial capital Ahmedabad received written orders to block the Aaj Tak and Headlines Today channels.

Channels that covered the expose, which comes as the state readies for assembly elections in December, were also ordered to be pulled, it said.

State elections officer Ashok Manek confirmed the order had been issued by top Ahmedabad district official, or collector, Dhananjay Dwivedi.

Dwivedi cited concerns about sparking “communal feeling,” said the report, referring to a term commonly used to describe tension between religious groups in India.

Police verbally told cable operators in other parts of the state to stop carrying the channels.

But Gujarat government spokesman Bhagyesh Jha denied that the state had issued any orders against television channels.

“I have not passed the order,” Jha said. “You ask the collector (Dwivedi) about it.” Dwivedi could not be reached for comment .

The channels showed interviews secretly recorded by a reporter of the investigative news magazine Tehelka with several men allegedly involved in the anti-Muslim attacks.

The magazine’s investigation also pointed to alleged support for the carnage from police and state politicians.

Some men reportedly said that Gujarat’s hawkish Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gave Hindu mob leaders three days to do “whatever” they wanted.

The expose prompted renewed calls from rights activists for tough court action against any wrongdoers.

“The victims have said all that we saw on TV,” said Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice and Peace, which has given legal help to Gujarat victims.

“The courts have heard the charges, but if they don’t expedite the hearing, evidence can be lost.”

The Tehelka report has highlighted how cases surrounding the mass-killings are still stuck somewhere in India’s notoriously slow court system.

Setalvad said 15 cases related to the riots were pending before the Supreme Court.

Only about 30 people have been convicted so far for their role in the carnage, according to Setalvad.

“There is a distinct possibility that this footage may polarise people on religious lines,” said activist Zakia Jowhar of anti-poverty group Action Aid, who remembers fleeing from the riots in Ahmedabad.—AFP

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/28/top10.htm

Discord on 58(2)b persists: Benazir

LARKANA, Oct 27: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief said on Saturday that differences with President Gen Pervez Musharraf over the Constitution’s Article 58(2)b — the power to dissolve assemblies — had yet to be resolved.

She was addressing a press conference at her Naudero residence on Saturday night.

Ms Bhutto called for the formation of a “neutral, caretaker set-up, an independent election commission” and curtailment in the powers of nazims before the general election.

She said the voters’ lists should be uploaded on the internet so that people could themselves check whether they had been enrolled or not.

“I have come here to bring about a change and to address the issues of empowerment, unemployment and education.”

She said the Constitution should “govern everything”.

In reply to a question, she said in the 2002 elections PPP had secured a majority of the vote, claiming that if “impartial elections” were held the party would again win by a big margin.

She expressed the hope that all political parties would unite against the government if the elections were rigged.

In reply to a question about the National Reconciliation Ordinance, the PPP leader said she would make no comment about allegations by the PML-Q leadership as “efforts for reconciliation are going on”.

The PPP chief said the ARD and APDM were one over the need for transparent elections and her party still respected the charter of democracy.

In reply to a question about the length of her stay in the country, Ms Bhutto said she would be staying in Pakistan, but due to lecture engagements abroad, she would be out of the country off and on.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/28/top6.htm

Emotional welcome for Benazir

By M.B. Kalhoro

LARKANA, Oct 27: Thousands of party faithful turned out to give an emotional welcome to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday when she set foot on the soil of her ancestral village after eight years. Chanting “Jeay Bhutto”, the People’s Party supporters cheered and clapped as Ms Bhutto visited the mazar of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in Garhi Khuda Baksh village.

Ms Bhutto waved from her bullet-proof vehicle to jubilant crowds, who were prevented from approaching the vehicle by security staff wielding AK-47s.

A huge portrait of Mr Bhutto hung from a pylon, and green, red and black PPP flags fluttered as her convoy whipped up a duststorm.

Ms Bhutto laid a shawl inscribed with Quranic verses and showered rose petals on her father’s grave. She then sat beside the tomb for almost an hour, reading the holy Quran.

“I feel very sentimental. I was eager to visit the tomb of my father, the Quaid-i-Awam, and offer prayers,” Ms Bhutto told reporters later.

She was then driven to her family residence, protected by security officials in jeeps mounted with machineguns.

“There is still a threat to my life, but Allah can protect everyone and I am not scared of these people (militants),” the PPP chief asserted.

“I now feel better about my security.”

ARRIVAL IN SUKKUR: Earlier, Ms Bhutto arrived in Sukkur from Karachi by aeroplane, adds Abbas Jalbani.

Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops were deployed at the airport for Ms Bhutto’s first foray outside Karachi since last week’s attack marred her return to Pakistan.

Thousands of PPP workers and supporters had started thronging the Sukkur airport hours before the PPP leader’s arrival, although the local party leadership had made no announcements about Ms Bhutto’s schedule.

Rumours were in circulation that the announcement of Ms Bhutto’s arrival in Sukkur was a decoy and that she had already reached Garhi Khuda Bakhsh or even that she may take a helicopter from Sukkur air-port.

After the plane touched the tarmac, hundreds of vociferous workers gatecrashed into the airport after dismantling three tiers of security cordon thrown by police, the Rangers and the Airport Security Force.

Ms Bhutto’s bullet-proof Nisar Khuhro-driven four wheeler --- followed and preceded by identical vehicles and accompanied by 24 police vans, two jeeps carrying police high-ups and two others carrying Rangers --- left the airport for Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhuuto in a caravan of two to three thousand vehicles. The fleet kept on swelling as more vehicles joined it on the road to Larkana.

Larkana DIG Muzaffar Shaikh advised Ms Bhutto to change her route because at the beginning of the road leading to Dakhan from Madeji, at least 5,000 people were waiting for her and the narrow turn was a security risk. Initially she refused but, after a 15-minute persuasion, she agreed to take the Gaheja-Ratodero link road.

Benazir Bhutto said that the threat to her life, coupled with “poor security arrangements”, made for her by the government could not keep her away from the masses as “I don’t care about my life”.

Talking to journalists accompanying her during the Karachi-Sukkur flight, Ms Bhutto said she was extremely happy to be able to return to her ancestral village and her constituency.

“When I announced my plan of return, I was told that I was endangering my life. Even President Musharraf advised me on TV that I should defer my homecoming. But I decided to face the threat and take the risk.”

She said that when she arrived in Karachi, three million people greeted her. “People want change.”

She added that for her, entire Pakistan was Larkana (her home town) and she would visit different parts of the country soon.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/28/top5.htm

Efforts on to unify ruling party and PML-N

By Ashraf Mumtaz

LAHORE, Oct 27: Some important leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League are making efforts to unify the ruling party and the PML-N of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in an attempt to avoid what they call the split of the rightist vote which in their assessment would benefit their common rival Pakistan People’s Party in the triangular fight in the upcoming general elections.

A formula for the purpose is being conveyed to the exiled PML-N leadership for their consideration, knowledgeable ruling party sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The formula is that a committee having three representatives from each side should be constituted to run the party for an interim period and take all decisions during the elections.

The head of the committee should be someone acceptable to both factions.

The ruling party thinks that if the two factions of the PML contested the election from separate platforms, their votes would split, and the PPP would be the sole beneficiary.

Two Lahore-based PML-N leaders privately met a senior leader of the ruling party with the request that both sides should try to understand the political losses they may have to face at the hands of the PPP in case they failed to join hands.

Two central leaders of both the factions are expected to meet in about a week to discuss the matter further.

The ruling PML comprises leaders who had left the PML-N after the overthrow of the Nawaz Sharif government in October 1999. They have since been supporting President Musharraf, who calls the exiled PML-N leader as his enemy number one.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who is also provincial president of the party, is of the view that the ruling PML is the real party and the PML-N leaders should join it. He insists that the Sharifs would not be returning to the country for another three years and thus their supporters should join the ruling party.

The PML-N leaders have been staunchly opposing any cooperation with the ruling party. However, it’s not clear if they would be flexible in the changed political situation.

A ruling party leader said on Saturday that he would advise both sides that in election campaign they should train their guns at the PPP, not at each other. Already, he said, the PML was not criticising the PML-N leaders.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/28/top7.htm

PM, Shujaat sound out Pagara on alliance

KARACHI, Oct 27: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday reviewed the law and order situation in the country, especially in the aftermath of the Oct 18 attack on the Pakistan People’s Party rally, and held consultations with allies of the Pakistan Muslim League to strengthen the ruling platform in the run-up to the general elections.

Officials refused to give details of the discussion on law and order, but sources said the position taken by PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto on the nature and status of inquiry and the evolving situation due to hardening positions on both sides was a matter of concern for everyone.

At the end of the meeting held at the Sindh Governor’s House, it was resolved that the ruling coalition would contest elections as a single bloc.

PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri, provincial Minister for Women Development Saeeda Malik and Adviser to CM Tariq Hassan attended the meeting.

While meeting coalition partners separately, the prime minister said that the PML and its allied parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, would jointly participate in the elections and he was confident of forming the next government.

Recognising the possibility of tempers rising during elections, Mr Aziz said the government would ensure law and order and free, fair and transparent polls.

MEETING WITH PAGARA: The prime minister also met PML (F) chief Pir Pagara at his Kingri House, declaring later the ruling coalition will stay united and win the elections.

PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who has been critical of Pir Pagara of late, Governor Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Arbab Rahim accompanied him.

“We will win the upcoming general elections and continue to stay together in the next government,” Mr Aziz told reporters after the meeting.

It was no doubt a ‘very important’ meeting because the PML chief had also come to meet the Pir.

He described the meeting of great benefit and declared: “We are committed to working towards building a country where there is development and peace and we are also striving to achieve such a political climate which is conducive for further stability of the democratic process”.

In reply to a question about the meeting between Pir Pagara and Chaudhry Shujaat, he said: “We are one and the same and working for the progress of the country.”

Chaudhry Shujaat said: “I am only a worker of the Muslim League while the chief of the party is Pir Sahab Pagara,” and added “Right from day one we considered him (Pir Pagara) our chief.”

When asked whether the PML would be able to overwhelmingly beat the PPP in Punjab, Chaudhry Shujaat declared his party will defeat the PPP all over the country, and not jut in Punjab.

In reply to a question regarding the formation of a grand alliance, Pir Pagara said it was totally up to President General Musharraf. “If he has taken lessons from the past, then definitely he would be able to choose right people for the alliance,” he added.

The grand alliance, he said, would be formed by General Musharraf.

Commenting on the emerging political scenario, the PML (F) chief said all the guns had been directed at the PPP.

The meeting with Pir Pagara was seen as part of ruling party’s effort to strengthen anti-PPP coalition for coming elections.

Later, the prime minister also held a meeting with the legislators belonging to the ruling coalition at the Chief Minister’s House.

APP adds: Speaking in a TV programme, Chaudhry Shujaat said the PML was ready for reconciliation with other political parties.

He expressed sorrow over the Karachi blasts and said it was unfortunate that baseless allegations were being levelled against his party leadership.

The PML chief said the PPP had benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

He said the national and all the provincial assemblies took part in the presidential election and even opposition parties participated and lent the legitimacy to the process by fielding their candidates.

Chaudhry Shujaat said he would not support the demand that the local bodies should be dissolved, but their powers would be limited to prevent them from interfering in the election process.

PML chief, Aziz mull poll plan with Altaf

KARACHI, Oct 27: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain paid a visit to the headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Saturday and held discussions on matters of mutual interest.

Members of the MQM coordination committee, legislators, ministers and advisers and a large number of workers welcomed them.

Mr Aziz and Chaudhry Shujaat also talked to MQM chief Altaf Hussain over phone, who thanked them for visiting the ‘Nine Zero’. The overall political and law and order situation with special reference to tribal areas and Swat came under discussion.

The MQM chief expressed concern over the situation in the Northern Areas and urged the prime minister to resolve it through dialogue on a give-and-take basis. He said that if the operation became necessary, the loss of innocent lives and property should be avoided.

Later, the prime minister told newsmen that all coalition partners would contest the coming elections from one platform and they would form the next government as people would elect them on the basis of their performance during the last five years.

Mr Aziz said that during his talks with Mr Altaf Hussain, it was decided that joint committees of the PML and the MQM should be set up to formulate election strategy.

He said that he had visited the MQM headquarters as part of a process to hold dialogue with coalition parties.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/28/top3.htm