Rise and Rise of Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhri

Rise of Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry

1996 - Passed intermediate with C grade - CJ was a judge of Baluchistan High Court

1996 - Got admission in Bolan Medical College - though marks were insufficient for him to gain admission - CJ was a judge of BHC.

June 2005 - appointed as a medical officer in Quetta’s Institute of Public Health - CJ was on the bench of Supreme Court

July 2005 - promoted as a section officier in health department - by this time Justice Chaudhry was chief justice of Pakistan

September 2005 - redirecting his career, he had a job as an Assistant Director in FIA

April 2006 - promoted as a deputy director in FIA

October 2006 - bypassing necessary competitive services examination, he was nominated as a non-PSP officer to attend a training course in Istanbul, interestingly enough on the subject of Combating International Terrorism and Organised crime, the only non-PSP and sole under training individual to do the course.

By now - he is a successful businessman, and has also done quite a bit of travelling — regularly to Europe, London and Monaco.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/394266/the-son-also-rises/

Angry Imran Game - (Imran as Angry Bird)

With cartoonised faces of famous politicians replacing the pigs in the original game and Imran Khan’s head as the birds, the game has five levels each based on a city. Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad serve as the five levels respectively, with backgrounds of famous monuments from each city. Download Game Here

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Angry Imran Android Game

Plan for 1,500MW rental power plants

The Economic Coordination Committee approved on Friday plans to set up rental power projects to generate 1,500MW and sent a summary to the cabinet for approval.
Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told journalists after the meeting that in view of a requirement of 2,700MW generation through rental power plants (RPPs), the ECC had asked his ministry to arrange 2,200MW from 14 companies in order to get rid of loadshedding.
‘The ECC meeting today approved 1,500MW to be generated through the RPPs and directed the power ministry to seek 200 mmcfd of gas from the petroleum ministry to generate 700MW from the existing system,’ Mr Ashraf said.
He said that if the petroleum ministry failed to provide the required gas more electricity would be generated through the RPPs.
He said the average tariff for IPPs was 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour while that for RPPs was 13.5 cents per unit. He rejected opposition’s allegations and said no one had provided any concrete evidence of misappropriations against his ministry over the RPP issue.
The plan had been approved by parliament after four days of debate on the RPP issue, he added. ‘Maximum tariff for any RPP is 15 cents per unit and that too for the barge-based generation plant for Karachi.’
In reply to a question about the financial impact of the RPP, Mr Ashraf said that when the plants came online the overall tariff would rise by six per cent.
However, he said, it would be the decision of the government to pass on the increase to consumers or to provide subsidy.
Mr Ashraf said the RPP policy had been adopted over the world and countries like Saudi Arabia and India were also getting electricity through RPPs. ‘We have to decide weather to get electricity or face loadshedding which is resulting in unemployment, low economic growth and protest demonstrations.’
The minister said that the energy mix consisted of hydel, thermal (both public and private sectors), nuclear and limited quantity of coal and wind.
He said the hydel power generation depended on water which was mainly controlled by the Indus River System Authority for irrigation and a new hydel project required at least eight to 10 years.
‘A thermal power plant requires five years and a coal-based plant six years. The country has no other option but to go for rental power plants.’
Mr Ashraf said that 14 per cent mobilisation advance payments were being made to the RPPs and the amount would be deducted from tariff payments when plants became operational.
He defended the advance payment and said it was being done to expedite the commissioning of the plants.
He said the government was also working on hydel power plants and projects like Bhasha Dam and Neelum-Jehlum power plants and it would soon start work on the Bunji dam project.

Source: The Dawn

Solar eclipse shrouds Asia in daytime darkness

A partial solar eclipse silhouettes birds surrounding a minaret of the shrine of Sufi Saint Bah-ud-din Zakria in Multan, Pakistan on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century pitched a swath of Asia into near-darkness after dawn, as millions watched the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon Wednesday. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

Source: The Associated Press: Solar eclipse shrouds Asia in daytime darkness

Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50

Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the “King of Pop” and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.
His 1982 album “Thriller” — which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” — is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.
The public first knew him in the late 1960s, when as a boy he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the music group he formed with his four older brothers. Among their No. 1 hits were “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There.”

Pakistan Jumps 10 Spots on Attractive Outsourcing Countries Index

Pakistan has been ranked at number 20 on the 2009 A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index of the most attractive outsourcing destinations in the world. Pakistan went from 30th in 2007 to 20th in 2009 on the report released May 18th. There are plenty of companies in the Middle East, for instance, that outsource work to Pakistan. Even as concerns increase about Pakistan’s stability and the growing displaced population due to ongoing military operations with the Taliban, the country made a significant jump. Yet, cost is a huge motivator for many companies and is one reason that places like Pakistan score so highly. Countries are measured on 43 different attributes related to financial attractiveness, people and skills availability and business environment. In fact, the report says that as a region, the Middle East and North Africa are becoming more attractive in the ever-shifting geography of popular outsourcing places. Both enjoy large, well-educated populations and proximity to Europe. The index ranks the top 50 countries worldwide for locating outsourcing activities including IT services and support, contact centers and back-office support.

Source: PakPositive

President confers Hilal-e-Shujaat on veteran politician

ISLAMABAD, June 10 (APP) ‑ President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday conferred Hilal‑i‑Shujaat on veteran politician and former federal and provincial minister from NWFP Muhammad Afzal Khan Lala at a special investiture ceremony held at Aiwan e Sadr on Wednesday. The investiture ceremony was attended among others by Chairman ANP Asfandyar Wali Khan, Governor NWFP Owais Ahmad Ghani, Cabinet members, provincial ministers, parliamentarians and other high officials.
Hilal‑i‑Shujaat has been conferred on Muhammad Afzal Khan Lala in recognition of the great courage and steadfastness demonstrated by him in the war against militants in Swat region.
The citation read out on the occasion also said “With granite determination he refused to abandon his village and inspired his people to stand up to bigotry, fanaticism and extremists.
Talking to media, Spokesman for President former Senator Farhatullah Babar said about three months ago, the provincial assembly of NWFP adopted a unanimous resolution urging the President to immediately confer Hilal‑i‑Shujaat on the “courageous and respectable Pukhtoon leader Muhammad Afzal Khan Lala for courage in fighting against militancy and for the survival of Pakistan”.
Afzal Khan fondly called Lala in Frontier belongs to village Drush Khela in Swat. When the victims of militants’ brutalities were streaming out of Swat for safety, the 78 years old Afzal Khan stood up against the militants and refused to abandon his ancestral home for fear of life, he said.
Afzal Khan stood like a rock against the militants and refused to heed the advice to migrate to a safer place. He miraculously survived several attempts on his life by militants who wanted to eliminate him to remove from the scene a symbol of defiance and courage. He and his nephew were seriously wounded in the attack. In another attack his two grandsons were assassinated and body guards seriously injured.
The conferment of Hilal‑i‑Shujaat on Afzal Khan also signifies determination of the President to honour symbols of courage in the fight against militants and to assure the victims that the state will not abdicate its duty to protect them.