Objectivity here, of course, is debatable, as different factors hold different significance for different people.

Following is what we came up with:

In Punjab, PML(N) getting a lof of people back from PML(Q), is again going to get the lion’s share with losing some seats to PTI. But those seats lost to PTI will now be filled by PML(Q) returnees. PPP, loosing a big number of seats to PTI and PML(N/Q), because of the current government policies, is gonna get a lesser number as compared to last election. PTI is probably going to win 10-15 seats which will not be sufficient to make any difference. All this means is situation stays more or less same in Punjab, with PML(N) making a coalation goverment with PPP.

In Sindh, PPP, despite such a poor performance, is going to rule over rural Sindh, with MQM winning in Karachi/Hyder Abad. PTI, again, is going to get 5-7 seats, along with ANP. With Jamat Islami (JI), and other religious parties (RPs), seats staying almost at the same number, we dont see much changing in Sindh as well; a PPP lead government in coalation with MQM.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), ANP is going to lose big time. One of the major factors for ANP’s win in last elections was absence of MMA. So people didnt have much choice. Althgouh MMA is no longer there; the parties that constituted MMA will be back this time taking lion’s share of votes, with JI coming back to lime light. PTI is also going to get some seats in KP, but those seats again will not be enough to make any significant difference to equation. PPP, as ANP, is also going to lose a big number of seats. These seats are going to get distributed between JI, other RPs and PML(N) in majority, with few going to PTI. So its quite possible to have a PML(N)/JI/Other RPs colation government in KP as well.

In Balochistan, in last election, PPP and PML(Q) were the front runners with a big number of Independent Candidates (ICs). This time, PPP is out. A big number of PML(Q) guys are gonna join PML(N). JI/RPs are also gonna come back. PTI doesnt seem to get anything in Balochistan. So again, its going to be a coalation government with PML(N)/JI/RPs and ICs.

With these stats in provincial assemblies, PML(N) in coalation with JI/RPs is going to be in government in at least 3 provinces, namely Punjab, KP and Balochistan and PPP in coalation with MQM is going to be in goverment in Sindh.

If we take the same figures to National Assembly, as PPP is going to lose a big number of votes,  those votes will go to PTI and PML(N). PML(N) will also lose a good number to PTI, but that gap will be filled in by PPP votes and PML(Q) returnees. So PML(N) still has chances to be the major party, but it will still lack simple majority. Again it will be a coalation government with JI/RPs  and PPP will sit on opposition benches with PTI.

This coming election was again going to be a PML(N) favoured election as 1997 untill PTI emerged. Although PTI is not going to get anything significant, but it surely is going to mess things up big time, as no major party is going to get simple majority, and with coalation goverments in all provinces and in the capital, decision making will be even more challenging.

PML(N) is not going to get a simple majority anywhere, but they probably are the best bet to get their PM elected, with probable government in 3 provinces and a significant majority in National Assembly.

You of course have the right to disagree, and your feedback is always welcome

Lets start where we left …

It was a nice Wednesday morning in Makkah, when we were told that buses for Madinah al Munawwara will be arriving soon, so we should pack up, get our luggage to hotel reception, and be on our toes. And so we did. After putting our luggage at the reception, and staying on our toes for a while, we realized it gonna take a while, and we can safely get off our toes. And so we did. Back in our rooms, back on our beds, as the journey ahead was an exciting one, and a long one, a journey of a life-time, and we wanted to live every moment of it.

Outside, on the road, there were people all around, getting out, reaching out to their buses, getting their luggage, with their eyes shining with the excitement and hope to finally get their gaze on the sabz gumbad of Roza-e-Mubarak.

Around 11.00 am, there was the final call, finally. Buses had arrived, and we had our marching orders. We helped each other to get our luggage to the buses, as they were not directly outside the hotel, rather on a side road, because of the congestion on the road.

We were a fairly large group, and I think we had 4 buses for us. Once we all boarded the buses, our group leader went into each of the buses and announced the name and face of the contact person for each bus to lead the journey, as each bus would move on a different pace. When he came to our bus, he first apologized that he will not be able to join us in this journey, as he had some administration business to do in Makkah, and will join us in a day or so. And then came a surprising announcement from him, he nominated me as the contact person for our bus, in his absence. I was like :O I was about to express my concerns, as I was a first-timer, and I wasnt fluent in Arabic, the driver and everything else outside the bus being Arabic, and I had no experience in handling Haj-journey-formalities anyway, but then I realized this might be an opportunity to serve the fellow Hajjis, and help them, and that has its own reward. So I stood up and accepted the responsibility. I tried to collect as much information as I can, from our group leader, about the stuff to expect during the journey, and tried to remember the Arabic lessons that I took at uni I also had a refresher course on Arabic before going to Hajj; but I didnt expect an exam like this.

Khair … the journey began. As we were moving out of Makkah, we saw Masjid-e-Ayesha as well. This is the place where you have to come to do Ihram, if you plan to do Umrah, while you are in Makkah.

First part of my exam was about unregistering the Hajjis on exiting Makkah. Govt. of Saudi Arabia has a very sophisticated system to track Hajjis. When we left Jeddah, our passports were taken into custody, although they would travel with us, wherever we go. Upon entering Makkah, the representative of Muallim, traveling with us, presented our passports to the registration office outside Makkah. Now while we were exiting Makkah, the driver had our passports, and he would take them to the registration office and update our status as we exit the city.

As the bus stopped by the registration office, I heard some loud voices at the front of the bus. I was sitting at the back. Sensing some trouble, I approached the driver and tried to put my Arabic speaking skills to some real-life test. After a bit of back and forth, spelling out his and mine sentences with a full stop after every word, what I could gather was horrible. The number of people present in the bus, was 1 less than the number of passports driver had. That meant 1 person was missing. Ohh yes, the count, is one the most important things to remember when you are leading a journey. As leader of that group, I was genuinely worried. The driver was a nice person, but the registration office staff, who have by now, boarded the bus, didnt seem to care that I had poor Arabic speaking skills. All they wanted was an answer about the whereabouts of the missing person. It, indeed, was a big deal, and potentially, a big trouble.

Just to be sure, we did the counting again only to find out that driver was right. Number of passports, was 1 more than the number of people. I tried to contact my actual group leader, who was in Makkah, and as you would expect, as per Murphy’s law, he wouldnt pick up the phone.

I kept thinking and thinking, with the staff speaking some tough Arabic near my ears, that this was our first stop, and nobody had gotten off the bus yet, how can we miss 1 person. What this means was that we didnt have that 1 person on the bus since the start of the journey, and that means it was not the person missing, it was the passport which was extra. I saw some hope.

I tried to explain all of this to the registration staff, who didnt pay any attention first, as I probably, wasnt making any sense, thanks to my Arabic skills. I rephrased my sentences, and that probably made some sense this time, as they seemed to be paying attention now. How do we know this for sure? was their natural reaction to my argument. Right at that moment, Allah sent some ghaibi-maddad , and one of the group members suggested that there might be an expired passport attached wi th a valid passport, hence giving the +1 count. I felt like hugging him right then, but the situation was not appropriate. So I translated this possibility to Arabic, and registration staff was now listesning to us fully. And we unpacked the bundle of passports in front of them, and started counting the passports, seperating them one by one. Fortunately that group member was right, and the extra passport was seen near the start of the counting, attached to another valid passport. This wasnt obvious early on, as the passports were bundled together and we were counting them depedning upon their cover, and nothing else.

Phewwww !!!

I indeed was relieved and so was the driver Thanks to Allah, I passed the first part of the exam.

I’ll come back to our journey in next post and share the remaining bits insha’Allah. Stay tuned !!!

Dear Sir,

Being a Pakistani, I have great confidence in you, and your force. I have tried to put “our” in here, but I have some stupid friends, and they wont let me do that, and rather insisted on calling it “your” force. My friends are stupid, but I can depend upon them, so can’t risk annoying them. I hope you understand my situation.

It was a great relief to know that the biggest terrorist on the face of earth has been dealt with, and that too on the Land of the Pure. I have always been a great fan of action movies, and I used to wonder if such things, as shown in the movies, do happen in real world? That a bunch of gunmen from an army can get into another country’s land, more than 200 kilometers in, without being noticed, completing their “mission“, without any hurdle, and then calling that country’s government after reaching their bases, only to inform they were there. I used to wonder. But I appreciate you and your force, for helping me overcome my amusement.

My stupid friends still think you knew about it, and because of some complications involved, are unable to acknowledge it, and I want to believe that, but my non-Pakistani friends, here in United Kingdom, expect a more reasonable explaination from me. For them, it was not that big a deal that Osama was hiding in Pakistan, what shocked them more was the news that US Army operated inside Pakistan. The problem is the difference in values in Pakistan and in the United Kingdom. Although not a noteworthy issue in Pakistan, over here people are frightened when a foriegn Army operates in their country. So they are still unable to digest this.

Sir, I know your secret service, ISI, is one of the best in the world. I cant believe them to be unaware of any such operation coming, but they, themselves, are contradicting me, by staying silent. When my friend called me to break this news to me, I was not very hopeful of the civilian leadership, but I thought, never mind, we have General Kayani, and he would be really furios about all this, and he will assume a strong position on this. Yes right, I was not expecting you to retaliate or anything, we already dont expect that, but at the least a strong stance, few harsh words, something to qoute for when my non-Pakistani friends ask me ‘what do you have to say about this?’.

But you, my last hope, disappointed me. I have nothing to say. Its not that I have stopped going to office, or meeting my friends, its just that I sometime feel the absence of a thing called “self-respect”. Yes, you are right, thats not the end of life, one doesn’t need self-respect to breath. Its all about Oxygen, I’m sure you’ll advise. But, somehow, probably because its his death aniversary today, I can’t get rid of Tipu Sultan’s words:

“One days’s life of a lion is preferable to hundred years’ existence of a jackal.”

He probably didn’t know it was all about Oxygen. Science hadn’t been that advanced as yet.

Poor Tipu!

-
Yours faithfully,
A humiliated Pakistani.

I read in Mumtaz Mufti‘s Labaik and I can testify; Be warned, there are going to be many distractions, planted by the devil to get you carried away with it, and forget the purpose you came all the way, for. You will see shopkeepers misbehaving, just ignore. You may see your organizer mishandling things, just ignore. It may take your 8 hours to complete a 1-2 hours journey, just ignore. Dont fight over your place in the qeue if somebody gets in front of you, just ignore. You may be pushed in the crowd, in the Harram or outside, just ignore. But mind it, dont push anybody. This place is sacred, and dangerous at the same time. Dangerous; because here, prayers are accepted more than any other place in the world. If you pushed somebody, and he prayed bad for you, and that prayer is accepted, you are in big trouble, for the rest of your life may be. Just stay low, with your head down, and focus on just one thing; Allah. He is the reason you came all the way from your home, leaving everything behind, right? so just focus on Him. Leave everything else alone. Nothing else is important. Nothing at all. And this is not easy. You just can’t ignore everything. But then you will only be questioned for trying, and not the outcome. So try, at the least.

Khair, I was saying that keep yourself fit. We used to say that Hajj is about 3 things; praying, eating and sleeping When we would recieve calls from Pakistan, people would ask, what were you doing? And we, literally, had only these 3 answers, sleeping being the most frequent one As you have to travel long at odd hours, and catch oppurtunities of less crowd in Harram and in Masjad-e-Nabwi at late hours and everything, so you need sleeping intervals. People from home, though, expect something else as an answer They expect us to be doing Ibadah and praying all the time, but, unfortunately, thats not the case.

We had 2 more days at Makkah, before leaving for Madinah. We also went for zyaraat around Makkah, including Jabl-e-Saur and Ghaar-e-Hirra. We also went to Arafat, Jabl-e-Rehmat and visited Mina & Muzdalfa, the places we were to come back during Hajj days.

We also socialized a bit with our group mates. They were  all nice people including at least 4 software people, who are nice by default, you know

Khair, lets talk about our journey to Madinah in my next post. Till then … bye.

This time its an animated series on Salah-ud-Din Ayubi. Its named Saladin : The Animated Series and is produced by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in Malaysia. I have seen only the first episode yet, and I found it quite amusing. I think its worth watching the whole series. And its a good initiative as well, remembering our heroes. We do need a lot of such works to get our heroes to our children’s minds.

Saladin: The hero who became legend

About Saladin: The Animated Series Wikipedia says:

“Saladin is be a 13-part animated TV series. Production started in May 2004 and a six-minute trailer was previewed during the Multimedia Super Corridor’s 10th Anniversary celebration in April 2005. The first (new) episode will air in late 2009.”

“SALADIN, The Animated Series has won the Best Technology category at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (SICAF) Promotions Plan competition. It was short listed along with ten other finalists . In the competition, contestants have 10 minutes to pitch their proposed TV series to an international jury of broadcasting executives before a live audience of conference attendees.”

“The animation film Saladin by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) has won the Tokyo Big Sight Award at last week’s Tokyo International Anime Fair 2007, the world’s largest anime exhibition.Saladin won the award for excellence in 3-dimensional computer-generated imagery (3D CGI), special visual effects and animation.”

[Thanks Sheikh sb for sharing this nice bit.]

I am qouting a small glimpse here:

1. Pakistan is the sixth most populus country of the world.

2. Pakistan is the second largest Muslim population of the world after Indonesia.

3. Pakistan has the seventh largest standing armed force in the world.

4. Pakistan is the only Muslim-majority nation to possess nuclear weapons, and seventh nation of the world in this regards.

5. The economy of Pakistan is the 25th largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power, and the 45th largest in absolute dollar terms. This makes us better than Sweden, Malaysia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Israel, Denmark, UAE, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway to name a few.

6. We have a rich culture and a rich heritage.

7. We have gold & copper mines. We have coal mines. We have natural gas.

8. We have 4 seasons of weather. We have mountains. We have fields. We have forests. We have rivers.

9. Our doctors and engineers are among the best in the world. Our human resource in general is rated very high in every field. I can tell this from personal experience.

10. We are among the most generous nations of the world.

Just look at this list of 10 items, and you will see all the reasons for us to progress, and excel as a country, as a nation.

Yes, there are many bad things going on, but that is because of us, the people of Pakistan. If only we are able to do something, Pakistan has all the resources to flourish, and develop itself to any level. And probably that is what our enemies are afraid of. They know, this nation, if given the right direction, and right leaders, can do wonders.

And we will do wonders. Insha’Allah !!!

I think I was 14 or 15 at that time, we were preparing for Darbaar, when my father told me that I would do Bay’t on Pir Sahb’s hand this time. I had seen people going for Bay’t before this, but I didnt know what they actually did, or what was the process, as I was never part of such a group before this. But I always used to think, when would I be part of that group, as you can imagine from a child , well I think at 14-15 you are still a child, arent you? According to my father, I wasn’t, and thats why he took me for Bay’t, as he thought I am of enough age to go for this.

Bay’t was normally done seperately from Mulaqaat, at the darbaar. Before or after Mulaaqat, somebody from the darbaar staff would come to call for Bay’t. So did it happen this time, and when he called, my father sent me along others who came for bay’t. It wasn’t much crowded outside, as it was not Mulaaqat time. We went into Pir Sahb’s hujjra. For men, normally, Bay’t is done by taking one’s hand into PS’ hand and repeating whatever PS say, after him. But as we were a group, and it was not possible to do it individually, PS held a piece of cloth in his hand, and gave the other end in our hands. He would do the same way with women, i.e. using the piece of cloth. Once we held the piece of cloth, he started with Bismillah, repeating Shahaadah, then Taubah for all the sins you had done in past, and a promise to stay away from sins in future, particularly from Kabaairs, by name, and then acknowledging the acceptance of Naqashbandyyah Silsilah, and PS’ bay’t. That was it really. After coming out of PS’ hujjara mubarak, we were given a small card which has Wazaaif printed on it, which were to be repeated after every Salah. Wazaaif were literally, Darood Sharif, Al-Hamd Sharif and Surah Al-Akhlaas, in different numbers after different prayers, assuming you’d be offering all the 5 prayers off course We were also handed over a copy of Shajra Sharif, which actually is the spiritual lineage of PS, tracing back to Prophet Muhammad (SAW). We were then asked for our names and addresses to be added to the Darbaar database, which was on big registers, so that we can be contacted via postal mail for any correspondence.

I was formally introduced into Naqashbandyyah silsilah now.

This was the theoretical bit about bay’t, I will come to spiritual bit in my next post insha’Allah.

I signed up for it sometime ago, only to learn recently that his half day event has coincided with a shift of development methodology at my workplace. We have recently started using Scrum, and hence are looking for a new project management tool, that supports Scrum. We are trying a couple of them, and are still interested in any better options. So it was a good oppurtunity to have a first hand look at FogBugz, and also see if we might be iterested in shifting to Kiln as well, as compared to Subversion (SVN), which we currently use.

I was on my way to the Oval, home to Surrey County Cricket Club, he was using one of the conference venues at the Oval, when I saw a group of 3 guys standing on the other side of compartment of Northern Line. I dont know how & why, but from my first look, I knew they are developers and are going to the same place as I was And guess what, they actually were developers and they actually did go to the same place. As they say in Urdu, Dil ko dil se raah hoti he, I realized, we developers, have a sense of brotherhood. And we recognize each other regardless of racial, linguistic or geographical background. It was a good feeling.

Anyway, it was scheduled for 9 in morning, and we were greeted with hot tea and cofee, orange juice and freshly baked brownies. There were almost 200-250 people in the refreshments’ room. I picked a brownie, took a glass of juice, and looked for some empty space. There were only 2 people on the table I chose, one of them being a tester for hosted web applications. He was delighted as I jumped in the discussion and talked about the hosted PM software we were using; “you see, here comes another one”, was his response

Khair, after a while we headed towards the conference hall, where a soon-to-crash countdown application was running a clock, which soon converted into a count down screen. And before it did convert, Mr Spolsky appeared from right side and reached for the rostrum. And as the count down ended, the application crashed with BSOD, which we would realize in a while was a fake one. He used this as a bug-report to kick off his demostration of FogBugz.

I kinda liked FogBugz, and its seemless integration with Kiln, their version control product, which is based on Mercurial. The concept is, sort of, similar to Microsoft’s Team System, as you can track a bug/feature from the time it was reported till the time it was integrated into the source code, and released to the customer, in every aspect, which is cool. FogBugz does not have support for Scrum natively, but they have a plugin architecture, and there is a Scrum plugin available that you can use for it to work.

The demonstration was interesting, and Joel is a good speaker, as he kept the attendees still interested in his talk till the end, which is a quality. He was followed by another guy from FogGreek who ran a Kiln university, describing distributed version control and how Kiln does it in detail. I was not very impressed by Kiln as such, I mean its OK if you have to compare it against SVN for example except its branching  support, which is really really good. It makes branching so seemless and intiutive. Although the guy presenting Kiln was so much keen on thrashing SVN and likes in comparison to Kiln, but we didnt buy much of his arguments.

As the Oval, the conference venue, is a stadium, and hosts cricket matches as well; on my way out I spotted the Pakistan room on one of the sign boards, and I couldnt resist taking a picture

Pakistan Room at the Oval

I think I was back in office by 12:30 pm, to give some expert opinion on FogBugz

We did both, in the yard, which is called Mutaaf, and in the corridors, depending upon the situation of the crowd therein. But this first one, we did in the Mutaaf. During the course of Tawwaf, the aunty who was leading us, gradually got us into the closer circle, around Kaa’ba, and in the last last round, we were in the most inner circle, and were able to touch the walls of Kaa’ba, and even stay there for a while, just next to the door of Kaa’ba. We, however, couldn’t get to Hajr-e-Aswad, as it was heavily crowded, and we were more worried about the ladies, particularly my mother. Also, you cannot get to Hajr-e-Aswad in a plain fashion. You have to push people around, and forcefully make your way, which I thought was a contradiction here, as by pushing people and forcing them out of your way, you are causing trouble to them, a big trouble actually if they are elderly. And people just forget where they are and what they are doing. We rather should be more tolerating and should be avoiding any chance of causing trouble to anybody, let alone pushing them. So if you can get to it easily, fine, dont push people otherwise. Well that is a personal opinion, and you can obviously disagree.

And as first look has its own experience, I can tell, your first Tawwaf is an experience of its own as well. Better do it in the Mutaaf, if possible. The feeling of being that close to Kaa’bah does magic to you. You remember your sins, and thank Allah, that despite all I have done, He has been Kind enough to allow a person like me, to come to His House; an exhaulted place on earth.

After completing Tawwaf, you are supposed to offer 2 rakaa’t Wajib-ut-Tawwaf at Maqaam-e-Ibrahim. Again, as Maqaam-e-Ibrahim is normally crowded, you can offer these anywhere around it. That completes Tawwaf. Now get ready for Saa’ee, the walk between Safa and Marwah. You start at Safa, and walk towards Marwah. The distance is almost 450 meters. You have to walk 7 times, i.e. 3.5 complete rounds, totalling to around 3.15 kilometers. For Saa’ee, if you can get socks with soft bottoms, they would be really helpful. As, walking this distance, bare-footed on hard surface gets you tired easily, and your feet start to ache.

During Saa’ee we also met some of our group members and, off course, exchanged smiles On the end of our last round, at Marwah, we were greeted by Z bhaee, (yeah, lets call him Z bhaee), as he was trying to gather us again, so that he can take us back to hotel together, minimizing the risk of anybody getting lost, as it was our first visit to Haram.

After Saa’ee, you can, optionally, offer two rakaa’t, for shukrana, that Allah enabled you to do Umrah.

Now we had to get out of the Harram, which is not any easy task if you are there for the first time, as its so big, and you have, yet, no sense of direction, and it looks same all the sides. Thanks to our GL sb, he led us to the same gate we got in through. This is important; remember the name of the gate you got in through. That will, at least, give you a hint to ask people if you lose the direction. On our way out, we crossed Mutaaf, and took some pictures of Kaa’bah.

As different people walk at different speeds, and Marwah was, almost, on the opposite side of the gate were to get out from, so it took us a while to get out of Harram. And yes, this was among the first lessons that I learned at Hajj; take other people along. You might be fast at walking, which I am, slow down, and you might be slow at walking, speed up, so that the group can move. Khair after a while we were out of Harram, all together, and we headed back to hotel.

No, it hasn’t ended yet. You are still in Ihram, and the restrictions will continue to apply till the time you cut your hair. For men, you can either get a hair-cut or a head-shave. Head-shave has preference over hair-cut. This is done to symbolize that you have taken your pride away for Allah, as hairs are considered an important part of your persona. For women, they are supposed to cut almost an inch of their hairs, by themselves, or by some fellow woman. So, before reaching for our rooms, we went to a barber near our hotel. All of men in our group went for head-shave. After childhood, this was my first time to get a head-shave And I can tell, its a different experience when you touch your head after that Khair, this completes your Umrah, and now you are free from Ihram restrictions. You can now take off the white sheets you have been wearing, and can wear your normal clothes.

We had our breakfast now, and headed straight to beds, for a quick nap before Zuhr.