India beat New Zealand in tri-series cricket
VOH Watch
Sep10-16
COLOMBO, Sep. 13: India eased to a six-wicket triumph over New Zealand in their opening game of the tri-nation trophy here. Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh were India's heroes, helping them to bowl out New Zealand for just 155. India then reached the victory target for after losing four wickets in the 41st over to make a strong start in the event.New Zealand tried to make a fight of defending a small total, dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh to dent India's chase under lights. Dinesh Karthik was removed early in the piece to bring Dravid to the crease but his comeback was a labored 45-ball 14, after which Tendulkar fell for 46. New Zealand didn't have many to defend to begin with and by dislodging two of the most successful batsmen in ODIs in successive overs, they gave themselves some lift. However, skipper MS Dhoni (45) and Suresh Raina (35) took them to an easy win. Earlier, Nehra and Yuvraj shared six wickets as India restricted New Zealand to 155 and boost their hopes of qualifying for the final. Left-arm seamer Nehra finished with 3-24 and left-arm spinner Yuvraj with 3-31 as India never allowed New Zealand to build a big partnership. Skipper Daniel Vettori top-scored with 25 in his team's below-par batting display. Fast bowlers Rudra Pratap Singh and Ishant Sharma bagged two wickets apiece as New Zealand failed to last their quota of 50 overs.New Zealand, who need a victory to keep alive their hopes after losing to Sri Lanka in the first match, failed to cope with India's pace-spin combination after electing to bat on a slow pitch in the day-night game.Nehra rocked the top order when he trapped Jesse Ryder leg-before with the match's third delivery and then dismissed Brendon McCullum in a similar fashion in his next over for his 100th wicket in one-day internationals. Geo News

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Aussies beat England in 4th ODI to win series
VOH Monitor
Sep10-16
LONDON, Sep 13: Brett Lee's 5-49 reduced England to 220 all out and Australia cruised to a seven wicket victory at Lord's on Saturday to take an unassailable 4-0 victory in the one-day series. Michael Clarke hit an unbeaten 62, Tim Paine 51 and Ricky Ponting 48 to ease Australia to a winning score of 221 for three with 6.2 overs to spare. With the series now decided, Australia has the chance for a 7-0 overall triumph to take away some of the hurt of losing the Ashes Tests. Already 3-0 up with four matches to go, the Australians, who removed the last five England wickets off 21 balls, hit back strongly after England raced to 96-1 inside the first 19 overs and captain Andrew Strauss gave the home side a solid platform with 63.The Australians slowed the scoring rate with spinner Nathan Hauritz taking 2-23 off 10 overs although Lee, bowling some devastating yorkers, was the big star as the tourists won the series three games early. The teams meet twice at Trent Bridge and finally at the Riverside Sept. 20."At the home of cricket to get five is very special, but the players played extremely well and to have this series win at Lord's is an awesome effort," Lee said. Geo Sports

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England regain the Ashes from Australia

VOH Watch
Aug 19-25
LONDON, Aug 24: England regained the Ashes after beating Australia by 197 runs Sunday to win the deciding fifth test and take the five-match series 2-1. Michael Hussey was the last man out after tea at The Oval, for 121, for Australia to be dismissed for 348 and fall well short of the 546 set by England. England’s all-rounder Andrew Flintoff bowed out of test cricket with the fairytale ending he had hoped for. afp


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Maria Sharapova's return still a work in progress
VOH Watch
By Diane Pucin
Aug 4- Aug.11
Maria Sharapova still wears her long, shimmering silver earrings. She still elevates the sound of
her ground strokes, the grunts that reverberate throughout stadiums and indicate the effort needed to produce her whip-like forehands and backhands. What Sharapova is now trying to locate is a new comfort zone with her serve. She has a rebuilt shoulder, an in-progress service motion and the firm belief that at 22, she may have some aches and pains, she may need to spend more time working out and less time just playing, but ultimately winning tennis matches is a passion that hasn't ebbed. Although she isn't seeded, the former Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open champion will be a top draw at the L.A. Women's Tennis Championships that begin today at the Home Depot Center in Carson. It is fellow Russian Dinara Safina who has earned the No. 1 spot in the 56-woman draw. While the top eight seeded players get first-round byes, Sharapova will play Jarmila Groth of Slovakia tonight. It is an unfamiliar place for a woman more used to playing on Sundays instead of Mondays in these non-Grand Slam tournaments. Sharapova needed the surgery to repair her torn right rotator cuff, and this will be her sixth tournament back on the Sony Ericcson WTA Tour. Sharapova was a Wimbledon champion at the age of 17 and was once ranked No. 1. Now she's ranked 62nd, after she was soundly beaten by Venus Williams in a quarterfinal at Palo Alto last week.But this comeback is a work in progress, Sharapova said. On the advice of her doctors and her coach, former ATP Tour player Michael Joyce, Sharapova has tried to shorten her service motion and eliminate extra movement with her arm and shoulder."Absolutely, the idea is to make serving easier on my arm," Sharapova said. "Is it where I want it to be? No. Is there still work to do? Yes. It's going to be an ongoing thing for sure." Sharapova's fierce competitiveness and her willingness to play attacking tennis with the kind of forceful ground strokes that keep pace with the big-hitting Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, have been missed on the women's tour. And Sharapova, whose main base is in Manhattan Beach, is remaining upbeat even if her results haven't been all positive yet. She lost in the quarterfinals to Dominika Cibulkova at the French Open and was upset by Gisela Dulko in the second round of imbledon, but if those were disappointments, Sharapova won't say that.What she will say is that her time away from tennis only reinforced her love of the game. And she is aware that a 22-year-old can't rely only on her loose-limbed athletic talent and competitive attitude forever. "For the rest of my career I'll be doing shoulder exercises," she said. "It won't be as fun as I want it to be. It's all a routine. But everyone has to do it. Everyone has injuries. It's part of the game." Sharapova said that on the day she had surgery, while she was still groggy from the effects of anesthesia, she called Joyce. "He was getting something to eat," Sharapova said, "and I told him to come and get me because I didn't belong there in the hospital, come take me home. But I guess I was still almost completely passed out." Joyce, for his part, has wrestled with the remaking of Sharapova's serve. "Before the injury," Joyce said, "her serve was a huge weapon for her and it's difficult to make a change like this. But right now her arm isn't ready to serve the way she did before the surgery and maybe it never will be and that's why we've made the adjustment. "It's a tough thing for an athlete at Maria's level to do, to make a big change like this to something that had been second nature. She used to have a very loose, long, drawn-out motion. She had a tough serve, but her arm was going in a lot of directions. We don't have many choices at this point. We'll see what happens down the road." In the meantime, Sharapova is just happy to be competing again. "While I was off," she said, "I missed the game every day. That I did learn. I want to be out here very much." Latimes

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Test cricket will stay my priority, says Pietersen
VOH Watch
Aug 4- Aug.11
LONDON Aug 04: Kevin Pietersen has calmed fears that he will reject an England contract this winter to become effectively a freelance cricketer with a view to maximising his earning potential in the Indian Premier League. The 29-year-old batsman, who had surgery on his injured Achilles tendon last week, is treating his estimated six-week recuperation period as the equivalent of a mid-career break. He told Nasser Hussain in an interview on Sky Sports that he intends to play Test cricket for at least five more years, beginning with the series in South Africa this winter. Suggestions that the England management will take a tougher line on the Indian Premier League (IPL) appearances started speculation that Pietersen, who commands an IPL wage of $1.55 million (about £940,000) from Royal Challengers Bangalore, may prefer to slip away from central control to open more options. While he believes that Twenty20 will continue to grow as a format and expressed concern over the future of Test cricket Pietersen said that his strongest commitment is still to England and the five-day game. “I will not be giving up any form of the game at the moment,” he said. “I love playing for England, and Test cricket for me is the best. Playing against Australia is amazing. A couple of years ago, I said that I would play for England until I am 34 or 35, if I am fortunate. This is a new era of cricket, but I know there is no freelance cricketer in me for years to come. I will be playing for England and Test cricket is my priority.” Pietersen is angry at stories that he exacerbated his Achilles trouble during the IPL by breaking an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) medical edict not to go on long-distance runs. The injury first materialised in the West Indies in March and April, but Pietersen was given a clean bill of health by the ECB before joining Bangalore. He rejected allegations by Evan Speechly, the Bangalore physiotherapist, who said that Pietersen had become “a bit carried away” during a run along the Durban beach front. Pietersen revealed that he has taken up the issue with Speechly and said that he did nothing wrong during his two-week stint. “I would never jeopardise my England career by doing something I should not be doing,” Pietersen said. “It is absolute nonsense to say I should not have been running. I was never sent out there under any strict orders not to run. I was given a programme for my leg. If I could not run, I would not play cricket. Perhaps I am going to have to taper down some of the training, make it more specific. With that, I don’t think I should have any problems.” Although he has been ruled out of the remaining npower Ashes series, Pietersen has been named in England’s initial 30-man pool for the Champions Trophy that gets under way in South Africa on September 22. agencies. Dailytimes



Pakistan Cricket Board confers Shahid Afridi Twenty Twenty captaincy
VOH Watch
July 27- Aug.4
KARACHI July 30: Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday named their World Twenty20 championship hero Shahid Afridi as captain for the one-off T20 International against Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 12. Though the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that its chairman Ijaz Butt “has appointed Shahid Afridi as captain for the Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka”, the senior allrounder is set to lead the Greenshirts in their title defence in the West Indies next year. The 29-year-old confirmed that Butt has assured him Twenty20 captaincy till the April 30-May 16 spectacle in the Caribbean, saying that he would try his best to make it two in a row for Pakistan. Younis will continue as Pakistan’s regular captain for Tests and One-day Internationals. Afridi, who made his international debut as a 16-year-old in 1996, is one of Pakistan’s senior most players but has never captained the country in any format of the game. He was always floated as a captaincy candidate in recent years but was never actually selected till now. This time, however, the PCB has chosen him ahead of vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq, to lead Pakistan in the Twenty20 format. It was his heroics in back to back World Twenty20 editions in South Africa and England that prompted the authorities to give him the responsibility. Afridi was the man of the tournament when Pakistan reached the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 where it lost to old-rivals India. He narrowly missed that prize in England last month but was the man of the match in the semifinal and final against South Africa and Sri Lanka. The flamboyant cricketer said that captaincy is unlikely to affect his performance. “My focus will remain on giving my best for the team and hopefully I will carry on from where I left in the Twenty world cup,” he said. Afridi, who has played 26 Tests, 273 One-day Internationals and has appeared in all 23 Twenty20 Internationals, opted out of the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka but is now back in the 16 man touring party for the one-day series against Sri Lanka. It will be the first time Afridi will lead the national team in any format of the game, getting his chance nearly 13 years after making his Pakistan debut. He has plenty of captaincy experience at the domestic level, having led Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Sindh and Karachi Dolphins over the past few years. He is already eyeing a second World Twenty20 title in the Caribbean. Pakistan will begin the defence of their title against fellow Asian Test nation Bangladesh in St Lucia on May 1. The 2010 World Twenty20 championship comes just ten months after Pakistan lifted the crown at Lord’s after the International Cricket Council (ICC) was forced to make some adjustments to the cricket calendar because of the postponement of the ICC Champions Trophy.THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL



Thirty Players team anounced for ICC Champions Trophy
VOH Watch
IslamabadJuly27 : Pakistan Cricket Board formely announced the thirty players for the International CrucketC Club Champions Trophy, 2009 scheduled in South Africa from September 2009. The players includes:

Yunis Khan (Captain)



2. Salman Butt 3. Khalid Latif











4. Nasir Jamshed
5. Azhar Ali











6. Imran Nazir 7.
Shahid Khan Afridi










8.Misbah
ul Haq 9. Umar Amin












10. Kamran Akmal 11. Sheharyar Ghani











12. Shoaib Malik 13.Rana Naveed










14. Abdul Razzaq 15 .
Yasir Arafat

The rest of the players selected for
International CrucketC Club Champions Trophy, 2009 are as follow:

16. Muhammad Yousaf 17. Fawad Alam

18. Kamran Akmal 9. Sarfraz Ahmed

20. Umar Gul 21. Muhammad Amir

22. Abdul Rauf 23. Muhammad Asif

24. Muhammad Talha 25. Sohail Tanveer

26. Rao Iftikhar 27. Wahab Riaz

28. Saeed Ajmal 29. Abdul Rehman

30. Muhammad Hafeez

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Monitoring every regional historical development

Monitoring every regional historical  development
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Discerning social Change in Gilgit-Baltistan

Discerning social Change in Gilgit-Baltistan
Reflecting socio-economic, administrative and cultural impulses in regional periphery

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SRs Times
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Mission Statement & Weekly VoH Publishing team


VoH
Voice of Voiceless

The blog aims to disseminate the accurate regional information without consideration of race, color, ethnicity, religion and ideology to the valuable readers across the globe. We promise to abide with the moral and professional ethics of citizen journalism through this medium of communication. The voiceless masses of this one of the most beautiful places on earth, situated in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan experience hard times due to continuous natural and man made disasters which have left them at surviving stage. Shortly speaking, in a short span of time, Hunza valley has embraces a steady socio-economic and ecological development making it self an authentic book to read about or take a model for rest of far flung valleys bordering Chines Sinkiang province in the extreme north of the country. The haphazard material development in this comparatively small area has also served to create various socio-economic and ethical problems which ultimately served to shake the fabrics of very roots and foundations of culture and civility among dwellers. On geo-political front, analysts find a very little say of a common man in the major decisions related to regional socio-economic development, violation of meritocracy by mafias in political parties, pressure groups which safe guard their own interests, a unbridled bureaucracy, corrupt regimes that patronizing nepotism or favoritism and who wield powers in Gilgit, the main hub and capital of Gilgit-Baltistan. Rapid increase in expenditures ranging from general commodity price hikes to transportation has left no option or time for people to think on other issues.
The so called Economic-Recession, unequal distribution of wealth, concentration of opportunities towards certain beings, lack of social responsiveness and transparency in government sector and no check and balance on private sector has brought its ugly implication in terms of high unemployment, depression among the youngsters, anxiety and hatred towards system of governance.
We vow to bring fore the issues of common man at grass root level, strive to highlight irregularities in government sector and flaws in public policy and finance in a democratic way. We shall continue to give our opinion on issues of importance and determine to prove a viable platform to have a positive role for public welfare, inter-communal harmony, integrity and social justice.
Amid such a situation when even the survival of country is on stake and is defamed due to continual terrorist incidents throughout the our county, we may pray for a peaceful and prosperous future of the nation. May Lord save the peaceful Gilgit-Baltistan region from the evil designs of devils in human form.

The blog has been developed and upgrading by the efforts of the following dedicated volunteers.


Board of Editors
Editor: Shamsuddin Muhammad
Email:jaashams@gmail.com


Co-editor: Inam Karim
Email: inamkarim02@gmail.com


Reporting Team
Karachi: Sartaj Karim
Email: sartaj_compaq@hotmail.com



Hunza: Naeem Hamoon
Email: naeemhmn@hotmail.com


Gilgit: Aslam Shah

Email: hunzaishah@gmail.com


Islamabad: Ikramullah Baig
Email: hunza_havenonearth@yahoo.com

Voice of the voiceless!

The blog is a venture with exclusive news updates, unbiased analysis and opinion on historical, cultural, ecological, socio-economic, geopolitical and administrative issues and events occurring in country in general and the region particular. It would serve as a portfolio of credible information retained first hand from own and secondary reliable electronic and print media sources and aspire to become a powerful voice for a common man. We are committed to adhere with the professional ethics of citizen journalism, a new trend to shackle the chains of excessive curb over dissemination of reality either for any cause in the name of so-called sensor, with maximum possible accuracy and least deviation while delivering information to show the real side of picture of events so that our valuable readers will have an alternative portal to know what developments are going on various levels, particularly backward areas like that of Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan, Azad Jamu and Kahsmir, Tribal areas etc., across the country. One can easily discern a great social change in terms of attitudes, perceptions both in individual and society; values and reaction to the variables in daily life patterns among the dwellers of the comparatively backwards areas like Gilgit-Baltistan, a deprived region of its fundamental rights for more than six decades of its liberation from colonial yolk. In a quest to voice over issues of vital importance, keeping closer to circle of concern, Hunza, a name famous for its beauty and rich cultural heritage has been selected to represent as a case to further the cause and issues of the rest of the region. Virtually, the region especially Hunza-Nagar retained a rapid development with a short span of time after remaining isolated for centuries to out side world. The blog also aims focus largely to identify core areas from on bottom or grass root level to the top. Keeping due consideration of inter-religious harmony, tolerance, respecting pluralism, diversity, mutual respect, democracy, equal opportunity and other aspects of human rights and professional values of journalism, the blog will serve as a binding force and medium of voice of the voiceless people of the area with reference to Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The idea of creation of this blog came into my mind during a visit after spending few years of career at Karachi, capital of Southern province to the region. While traveling from south pole of the country to north, I experienced many new changes nearly in all aspects of life explicit in urban areas and implicit in rural belts: people have opted to modern technology, availed faster means of communication; task centered behavior, selfishness, following short-cuts, chase of wealth and more opportunities in their career and many more that made their lives much more easier but crazier than before. Nevertheless, the scene suddenly turned bit dim when I entered the region of Gilgit-Baltistan. I could not believe my eyes that this was the Gilgit I saw four years ago. Many things, except the faces were utterly unchanged formats primitive outlook. The Chinese bridge that linked Danyore and Gilgit and a main source of transportation was no more. Few people told me that few journalists have lost their lives in lethal road accident due to lack of arrangements on part of concerned authority to avoid the incident. Karakorum High Way (KKH), one of the highest truck able route and so-called eighth wonder in the world is under construction and many places portray nothing but a passage through a rough stony pasture. It took nearly twenty four hours from Rawalpindi to reach after an exhaustive journey to Hunza, my home town, compared to nineteen hours in past. The scenario seemed worse in Hunza, my home town which remained unchanged for last four years except a drastic decline in standard of living of more than fifty percent of the population. One may think that people have replaced muddy homes with cement ones but that are not the real yardstick of measurement of both mental and material development. Infrastructure, fixtures, telecommunication systems were largely depreciated to their estimated life coupled with inappropriate number of personnel required in educational, administrative and health institutions. The so-called economic meltdown that started from American giant Leman soon took the world into its tyrant claws, shaking many stable economies of the world including the rural areas of developing states- a big example of negligence and subjugation by the rulers of respective countries where people live not above the level of animals. Apart from the allegations on policy makers of industrialized nations having economic interest only, the poor, irrational, incompetent, self-centered and corrupt leadership in Pakistan like other third world countries where immature economies spends it larger portion of budget expenditure on defense could not resist the negative consequences of economic crisis in terms of high rate of unemployment, recession, right or down sizing, price hikes, violation of consumer rights and so on. Hunza-Nagar, like other parts of Gilgit-Baltistan was no exception. The smiling faces that greeted us once warmly few years ago turned unhappy for the crisis brought its ugly implication on the daily life pattern of an individual thus sucking down the unique attributes of population: courtesy, generosity and hospitality. Having a so-called high rate of literacy in the country unfortunately, the region is facing many problems ranging from health to drinking water and energy sector. To many, it was because of lack of geo-political awareness and excessive tendency towards NGO culture where people little bother to beg their rights from the states besides emphasis on duties. Historical chronicles vindicate that the region remained in isolation for many centuries due to a specific location and lack of access to out side world. Many dynasties ruled the area that hardly accepted change in a traditionally sophisticated feudal based society. The wheel of transition continued to move and finally the area got librated through a mutiny with the help of indigenous population from the clutches of Dogra subjugation. Later, the area was affiliated with Pakistan vide a secret treaty called Karachi Treatise as defacto part, unconditionally. Gilgit-Baltistan region got on real terms an impetus to grow from zero level with the visit of three icons of development: Aga Khan, President Ayub Khan and Z.A.Bhutto- a historic event of its nature with long standing implications on live of the people of the region.The area could hardly observed any impulse for more than half dozen years of affiliation with Pakistan when Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan (3rd) first time introduced Diamond Jubilee Schools network during mid fifties in the region. A real phase of development gain impetus when Shah Karim Alhusaini, Aga Khan (fourth) stepped in the region, a population with miserable conditions in 1960. He initiated many new projects in different aspect of life, strengthening the existing educational network under the umbrella of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) for the betterment and uplift standard of living of masses lived under poverty line. Aga Khan Development Network in collaboration with donor agencies, with a view to bring social change from grass roots level, initiated rural support programme and other services for less-privileged societies in the region. In simple words, initial projects were stretched to new areas under AKDN umbrella ranging from self-entrepreneurship to planning and building services. These development programmes served a catalyst for a common man who, earlier was confine to a certain limit where facilities and perks were confined to a specific creed, definitely a big change in society led to process of decline of so-called nobility. By, 1974, Z.A.Bhutto, chief of Pakistan Peoples Party and his cabinet undertook a disintegrated country following the fall of Dhaka, albeit eliminating princely status of numerous states gave them democratic structures, initiated socio-economic, political and administrative reforms in civil services cadres under 1973 constitution of Pakistan. These reforms opened a path for further reforms in tribal and affiliated princely states, mostly in mountain regions. Elders assert, by 1976, when Bhutto abolished the princely status of the units and replaced the princely flag with that of the country declared region formally its de-fecto part. The new development allowed for the first time a limited right of franchise and representation in a parallel council governed from capital. He in collaboration with international donor agencies like UNICEF and World Food Programme helped ensure provision of basic necessities like food to indigenous population still in poor conditions. He gave word to poor and enables to build his destiny. The facility fell a prey of Zia-ul-Haq who abolished the programme to benefit his favorite breed. He altered such programmes to facilitate Mujahideen busy fighting Afghan war against Soviet invasion on behalf of American assistance. By, 1988, before the withdrawal of USSR, Zia regime played a dirty game: as an integral strategy to get parallel success, he supported a breed of militants to eliminate all those against his faith in Gilgit-Baltistan. Unfortunately, the indigenous people could not understand his nefarious designs under the veil of religion that had to sustain his regime using divide and rule tactic and nothing to do with public welfare fell a prey of communal discord. Thousands of innocent people were brutally killed without a reason from both sides and this in turn sowed the seeds of sectarianism thus introducing a Kalashnikov culture in this region. On country’s political front, frequent interventions of military in politics in the wake of undemocratic moves of leadership, double standard attitude of bureaucracy and excessive influence of establishment forces harmed political evolution during last sixty two years of country's history. A finest dictatorship is considered worse than a worse democracy for it largely overlook the opinion of masses. The undemocratic regimes since 1952 onwards in general and during dictators’ regimes left people with no option but to support immature, corrupt and unable leadership confined to their self interests coupled with narrow vision. On global front, with the withdrawal of USSR from Afghanistan, American administration started to shift its strategy of dependency and support for Pakistan especially that to check movement and expansion of communist philosophy, an anxiety among the then US policy planners. Political front once again passed through a new change in 1999 when military took over in October 1999. Numerous Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), both national and international rapport delivered remarkable work since 1990s to 2004 in many sectors like education, health, cultural preservation, design and building.

History repeated itself, but in a new form under different circumstances after cold war, when terrorists attacked twin towers of World Trade Centre, an icon of prestige and glory of America killing thousands of innocent people as a response to US policies inviting a fresh hostility between US and Islamist groups or in other words initiated an open conflict between two countering forces. To some, hidden forces worked behind the incident: Muslims thought it was a Judaist elements while to Europe and US a strike of Islamist elements; even the then Bush administration alleged Islamist groups behind this nefarious act to initiate an open armed struggle to defy its policies and interests. The September 11 incident served a cause to create sufferings for the Muslim communities residing in America and Europe. Being a sponsoring source of Jihadist elements, Pakistan was in real trouble as it was asked either ally the US or ready to go into stone age. Consequently, Pervez Musharraf took U-turn in state policy against billions of dollars as assistance. Once again, US dependency on Pakistan after Afghan war, in an endless war against an invisible enemy in terms of Osama started, leading farmer to think to gain control over natural resources in Afghanistan and Central Asian states. As a state, Pakistan endured many hardships, mostly from inside elements, Majority of our political leadership, for instance is largely nurtured under the aegis of military establishments and always ready to achieve their own interest lest it comes to compromise on national matters, evident from the successive overthrowing of representative regimes. They could not deliver any remarkable to uplift the standard of living of a common man except false promises. It was the Musharraf regime which can be given credit for many reasons: allowed a national government to complete its five year tenure, introduced local government systems for dicentralization of power though a move to by pass the then political and administrative forces like his predecessors military dictators to bolster one man show. Apart from few of blunders in terms of killing of Akbar Bugti, subjugation of judiciary, appointment of army on service and retired personnel in institutions offering higher education, other key positions in major public organiztions and using force as a decisive force instead of dialogue his regime can be recalled for many things during last eight years. He was the first who put hand on non-state actors, brought changes in status of deprived regions like Gilgit-Baltistan bringing reforms and took initiatives to improve education and health facilities. He gave us an International University, increased woman representation, empowered Northern Light Infantry, established N.A scouts and notified Hunza-Nagar district and many more. Yet, at the same time on mass level, despite many accomplishments, it failed to address the real issues of poor. Giant fishes got most and poor further got depressed as the regime greatly revolved around the interests of Chaurdhries and lords. December 2007, shall be remembered a black day when Benazir Bhutto, a female leader of international repute was assassinated at the same place where one of the most famous Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan as killed. Country fell into chaos and observed an extreme internal and internal threat to her existence second time after 1971. Good heaven, the situation soon normalized. With the dawn of democracy, based on Benazir Bhutto's sacrifice has brought a hope of change of image of the country in global economy. PPP led contemporary government has given a new Self Governance Reforms Package 2009 ahead of poles to empower the assembly to legislate on various subjects not allowed in past and choose their own Chief Minister unanimously with the consent of Prime Minister, the head of set up-a good initiative after Z.A Bhutto's compassions for the region. The package has opened a door for more autonomy resembles to that of Azad Kashmir. Though, there are many flaws in the package yet, it will serve to reduce feeling of deprivation among the masses.

There is another side of the picture that the poor performance in many of the departments in government sector during last two years has raised many questions in our mind regarding its capability to cope the challenges that the country faces internally and externally. Public welfare, security from internal and external aggressions and provision of basic necessities to the citizens is the fundamental responsibilities of modern states. Yet, more focus on external threats under security syndrome has left the country nothing but to expend on defense-thus neglecting other sectors like education, strategic personnel planning, health, trade and industry and exploitation of natural resources to strengthen our economy. As for as the private sector especially the NGOs are concerned, the are now confine to reporting to get funds, roam and measure the length of roads in their luxury vehicles. Now it depends on flow of events that will decide the future course of history.





Shamsuddin Muhammad,

Author and Editor,

VoH



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Hyderabad,, IslamicRepublic of Pakistan, Pakistan
I am social person with a tendency towards learning knowledge that will balance the material world and the hereafter, a legacy obtained from the family. I earned my MA (General History with specialization in Modern History) and M.A.S (Master of Administrative siences with speciliazation in HRM) both from University of Karachi in 2005 and 2007 respectively, am fond of social work and public welfare. The blog focuses on social change caused by socio- economic and geo-political impulse in the country in general and the region particular.

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