Computers for Pakistan

More interesting and positive things are happening. Good work Dr. Nasim Ashraf and Mr.
Qureshi:

http://www.jang-group.com/thenews/sep2000-daily/10-09-2000/main/main2.htm

Ras

post no 16 was addressed to Satywadi on another forum ... sorry for the digression.

Ras Siddiqui

You are an inspiration to all of us.

Yasser

I am sorry to barge in like this, but Musharraf is in New York staying at the Roosevelt hotel. While he is here it is time to send him a message.

I am prepared to organize a protest against the infamous, immoral, discriminatory, and unIslamic Blasphemy law of Pakistan. As it is Applied, it is nothing more than a political instrument used for the harrassment of minorities.

One Military dictator introduced it as law, another should get rid of it.

I urge all likeminded people who live in the N.Y area to join with me within the next 48 hours. I have already spoken up agianst the Blasphemy law in Dawn: Letters to the Editor in the past, now its time to take action.

Please e-mail me immediately to join a coordinated protest. The moment is ripe to send a msg, while the eyes of the press are focused on New York & the U.N Millenium summit. The more people that participate, the better. If necessary, i will do it alone. I will respond immediately to all e-mails received with details.

OMAR MIRZA

knotyourcupoftea@aol.com

See I am pissed off right now because you have had the nerve to pass on a judgement about my family which has documented its family History for centuries... Ali Wali Hamdani, was from the Iranian city of Hamdan and he came to Kashmir to spread Islam ...His shrine was burnt down a few years ago by the Indian Army ...

Listen, whereas there might be people amongst Indian Muslims who claim to be what they are not .. you cannot expect me to deny my family history just to conform to your views. If I had completely local blood I would tell you ... to me there is no race more noble than the Pakistani race ... but the truth is that I do have authentic Arab and Persian heritage ... not necessarily something to be proud or ashamed of..

and believe me its not how your family has its Arab or Persian heritage.

And Chowk people please PUBLISH this .

This report could have used much improvement. So much to do and such a shortage of time on my hands, or should I say hand because this appears
to be a one-handed effort. Hidaya`s program deserved much better.
There is no shortage of new efforts towards IT in Pakistan. Asim, I wish that I could make it to the Stanford event but to drive for 2 hours in each direction on a weekday after work from Sacramento is not easy as age marches on.

Here is another IT effort in Boston, the details of which are at: http://www.pak2000.org/

Thanks Aisha and YLH. I wish that I had the
energy that you young kids can generate.
One thing that I would like to tell all of our young people is that even if you could devote just ONE hour a week to Pakistan, it could make a BIG difference for some of our less fortunate people.
Let us use Maulana Sattar Edhi as our role model.

Ras

Further to the last interaction, i have been informed of the following site which actually lists new high tech policies Dr.Rahman

is going to speak about at Stanford.

Please visit the site of PSEB and download Pakistan`s new

IT policy. On paper at least, the policies look pretty good:

http://www.pseb.org/itpolicy.pdf

Regards

Asim

Here is start...the Government taking an initiative to talk with its youth about its policies on high tech development in Pakistan. Let us see if this man is indeed the harbinger of glad tidings from home.

Asim

PAKISTANIS AT STANFORD are proud to present

MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PAKISTAN.



``NEW GOVERNMENT POLICIES FOR RAPID GROWTH OF HIGH TECH

INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN.``



Tuesday, September 12th, 8:30 pm.

Teaching Center, Stanford Engineering Quad TCSEQ)

Stanford University.

Cosponsored by



* The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)

* Stanford Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC)

* Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES)

For a MAP to the Teaching Center please refer to:



http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/tcseq/map.html

The Teaching Center is located in the Science and Engineering Quad at

Stanford University, off the South side of Serra Mall, not far from Lomita

Mall. The building is Southwest of The Oval, as highlighted on the link

to the map above.



For DIRECTIONS to Stanford please refer to



http://www.stanford.edu/home/visitors/vicinity.html (map of Stanford)

Or follow the text directions below

From Highway 101 North & South:



Take the Embarcadero Road exit west toward Stanford. At El Camino Real,

Embarcadero turns into Galvez Road as it enters the university. Make a

right turn onto Campus Drive East. Continue driving and make a left turn

onto Palm Drive. Park your car at the Oval.

From Highway 280 North & South:



Exit Page Mill toward Stanford. Turn left onto El Camino Real. Make a left

on Galvez/Embarcadero. Make a right turn onto Campus Drive East. Continue

driving and make a left turn onto Palm Drive. Park your car at the Oval.

Assalamalaikum.

I have to agree with Syed Adeeb. He very aptly put the thing I was wondering how to express without sounding very anti-``Muslim``. There is noting wrong with slogans, they bring life into a lot of things, but it only kills the point when they are aired unnecessarily in a function where people may feel intimidated by them. Actions speak louder than words(...even louder words)

I also felt the translation of Sura Rehman should have been more carefully and clearly read out. It`s so powerful.

But, anyway, It`s very easy to point at what was wrong, but hard to get involved and correct it. I applaud the effort and hope they continue to do as they have.

Wassalam,

Aisha

I too was was present at the aforementioned event, and am particularly encouraged by the initiative taken by many of the people in our community. Although I applaud the goals, - and am enthusaistic supporter of their objectives, - I was disappointed by the general rhetoric of some of the speakers. Many of us are successful professionals, and yet at times, particularly in public forums, we tend to loose sight of common sense and public etiquette. Sloganeering with religious overtones was hardly appropriate behaviour for some speakers, particularly in the presence of local elected officials. It just reinforces their stereotypes of Muslims in general.

I was also suprised by the CAIR Presidents choice of language particularly with reference to ethnic minorities in the US, _ I have been an admirer of CAIR and in immeasurable work that has been undertaken to project a positive image of the Islamic community. Nonetheless callous remarks, often unintentional can leave profundly negative impressions with the local audience.

The whole point being, - that while the positive work of these organizations and individuals is throughly appreciated and applauded, - we need to rein in our emotions, particularly in public forms
to project a collective persona that is consistent with our beliefs and traditions.

I also understand, that the individuals organizing such events have to often struggle hard to bring together a community audience, - and sometimes have to accomodate the leading ( or the loudest) voices in the community to get things done. My intent is not to detract from the goals or the objectives of such worthy efforts but to rather improve upon our methods.

Re: Ras

Good idea! Another thing would be to chain email schools and other places like ITTs and ask them what they do with their old PCs. These places upgrade their equipments and the old ones are just sold off to the highest bidder. Universities and such will also be a good bet and putting an ad in the papers will help also - market your idea aggressivily and don`t rely on CAIR or the Pakistanis in this matter; expand outwards into the business sector and see if a business is willing to donate it old systems and use the donation for a tax write off!

A potential tax write off will appeal to the businesses and they might help you out. Appealing to their greed will work better than appealing to their sense of alturism.

Best of luck!

Ciao!

Actually I have been thinking of starting a forum (magazine, whatever) for Pakistani IT professionals with information such as upcoming technologies, interviews, impact on society, etc. Since the content would have to be from the contributors, I wonder how many people are actually interested. Don`t hesitate contacting me at chaudhar@umich.edu.

Last year I contacted the people of Citizen Foundation schools (through email) and found out they are looking for donated computers. They actually have (or can get) teachers trained at least in the basics of computers. Their kids learn english from the begenning.

S2:

Nice moniker. And nicer to see you here after ages.

Here is an insight on the educatioanl angle you mentioned. This is from a recent Banglasdeshi paper.

rgds

t
________________________________________________


One `must` learn to read & write in Sirajganj or `go to jail`

By Morshed Ali Khan with Akhtaruzzaman Bablu in Sirajganj

If you know someone aged between 11 and 45 and he does not now how to read and write, you better advise him not to go to Sirajganj these days.
Because, there he runs the risk of being stopped on the road by one of the mobile teams of magistrates and asked to prove that he knows
how to read and write. Failure would land him in embarrassment.

In the district town, an illiterate person is first assigned to join one of the 550 literacy centres. And on the second occasion, if he
has not learnt his lesson, magistrates might impose a fine and finally, if he has not availed the facilities to learn to read and write, he faces up to three months` imprisonment.

This is being done as part of a Tk 18.9 crore government project to eradicate illiteracy from the district where an estimated six lakh people are illiterate. The project launched in May will continue till October.

As soon as it is eight in the evening, all businesses except restaurants and pharmacies in Sirajganj town are closed. The teams of magistrates and other officials move in the town to make sure the directive is implemented.

Hundreds of shop employees, rickshawpullers and others of the target groups turn up at the literacy centres everyday for an hour. At 8 pm,
the town with a population of about 1.5 lakh suddenly looks deserted.

Female participants attend classes in the afternoon.

Shafiqul Islam, 20, is a rickshawpuller from Shoyagovinda area of the town. Born in a poor peasant family, he was illiterate.

``I learnt to write my name and address within five days of joining a centre and I want to complete the course with my friends. I am sure
it is going to help us in the future,`` said Shafiqul.


Deputy Commissioner of Sirajganj A F M Saiful Islam, who is in overall charge of the project, told The Daily Star the project is called Prodipta Sirajganj and it is part of the government`s scheme to eradicate illiteracy from all parts of the country with such crash programmes.


``Of course we have problems, but we are hopeful of a success rate of 80 per cent. In all the 19,674 centres in the district, female participants are particularly serious about the course. But we have problems regarding male participants.``

The DC said Union Parishad chairmen have been given the responsibility of employing teachers for the centres. Ninety-six teams have been formed in the district -- comprising journalists,
teachers, doctors, prominent persons and government officials -- to monitor progress of the centres.

``At the end of the six-month long course, an examination will be held and the results will determine our success rate,`` he said.

In addition to those in the target age group, older people in many areas have joined the programme.

Sujabat Ali, 50, a day labourer, said he and his friends joined a centre although they do not belong to the specified age group.

``Earlier, I had to use leaf of a jackfruit tree, oil and kerosene lamp to create `ink` for giving thumb impression on a paper. But now I can hold a pen and write my name, I am proud of it,`` he said with a smile.

Ras: ``Computers, obsolete here and basically gathering dust in our garages (even early model Pentiums),``

Are you kidding? What about people like me who are still using their early model Pentiums :) Old faithful is still going strong; hasn`t let me down once :)

On a serious note; it sounds like a great idea. Maybe it is time to send the old faithful P33 off to a higher cause. I will see if I can develop enough courage to depart with her.

Ras,

Assalamlaikum. Thanks for writing this up. And it was nice meeting you at the fundraiser. I`m sure there are lots more people like me and Yasser who look up to what you have contributed to our community, Thanks.

Dareecha (www.dareecha.org) is also a non-glory seeking organization that I am a fellow of and I am so proud of the expertise we Pakistanis possess in the domain. Inshallah with more people like those on Dareecha`s board, we`ll get there sooner than the pessimists imagination allows them to perceive.

I hope such organizations grow and reach out more each day, but more than anything else I hope that we catalyze our thirst for knowledge and progress, because truth can`t be pushed into someone`s head, it needs to be sucked in.

Wassalam.

Aisha.

Pakistan Zindabad!

jiye IT!

PS: Thanks Yasser.

badmash rehan:

er ---- woh cheen wali chalegi?

--t