My Pakistan

Pakwheels.com has brought about a live community of automobile enthusiasts in several cities of Pakistan. I started browsing the website in 2003 and have connected to a very friendly, diverse and lively community of cars enthusiasts. There are thousands of registered members at www.pakwheels.com and hundreds out of them meet every month in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, UAE and several other Pakistani and foreign cities.

This weekend we gathered at I-8 Markaz, Islamabad. There were some interesting rieds. Let pictures do the talking.

A 1967 restored Volks Wagon beetle

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On Friday, September 26, 2008, got an opportunity to visit Bajaur as part of a media team. Around 8.20 am we flew from Islamabad heliport after boarding MI-17 helicopters and after about 90 minutes flight landed in Bajaur, one of the seven lawless Pakistan tribal districts bordering Afghanistan where Al-Qaeda and Taliban linked militants are fighting pitched battles with Pakistani military.

A cobra gunship helicopter gets ready to strike militants in Bajaur, Pakistan

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Owning a laptop has been on my wish list for a long time, but the high prices prevailing in the past have been a big deterrent. However, I kept reading about new and used laptops and their going prices which were in six digits for so many years. But currently these machines are available at affordable prices.

I was thinking of getting a laptop from Karachi, because prices in Islamabad were around 5,000 rupees more as I figured out from online shops and classified ads.

Late December, I had a surprise opportunity to visit Karachi for work which had been shut for about five days due to unrest following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

After reading reviews of HP 530, I had decided to buy it, but when I went to market with a friend, did not find it at several shops. Instead, a shopkeeper in Karachi’s Clifton market showed me Toshiba L-45 Satellite S7409 and it clicked me instantly. Read the rest of this entry »

Asif Ali Zardari

Asif Ali Zardari, 52, widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto and co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party was elected as president of Pakistan on September 6. His announcement to contest presidential election opened a floodgate of critical stories about the man who will lead the destiny of some 180 million, mostly poor, Pakistanis. Read the rest of this entry »

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