Junaid N. Sahibzada

New Year Eve 2009. Sydney

2009-01-01T22:54:00.006+11:00

New yr eve 2009 at Sydney as viewed from North Bondi.

From New Yr Eve 2009

New Yr eve 2009 sunset video.

New Yr eve 2009 fireworks video

Future of India and Pakistan

2008-12-31T01:03:00.003+11:00

Pakistanis must apologise

2008-12-28T23:03:00.007+11:00

Every Pakistani whether living abroad or in Pakistan was deeply touched by the tragedy of Mumbai attacks. Attacks like the one in Mumbai occur on a routine basis ever since Pakistan joined the Global War on Terror, however, the attacks in Mumbai were of greater concern to Pakistanis then the attacks of Marriot, carnage at PPP election rallies, the attacks of US drones in FATA and the attacks by suicide bombers on regular intervals in different cities . Reason being that the last time when the such an attack of such proportions was carried out in India, back in 2002, India threatened Pakistan with a full scale military invasion and amassed its troops along the Pakistani border. As of current standing, Pakistan and Pakistanis really cannot afford to have another war right in the middle of an ongoing war of which there seems to be no end.

Just like most Pakistanis, I was very much concerned by what was going to happen next. I was very much aware that India had enough of it and if this was really the handiwork of a Pakistan based group, India would certainly like to do some thing about it. I was also worried that may be its another ISI sponsored fiasco to settle the score for whats going on in FATA and Balochistan (whether thats true of wrong is certainly questionable) . And of course their were conspiracy theories as well (Mossad, Col Purhoit et al blah blah.)

Soon after the blasts, Indian gov and all the Indian media outlets declared that India had enough evidence to prove that the attackers came from Pakistan. The statements from the Indian side, both gov and media, did not clarify what they meant by "Pakistan". Did the evidence indicate that the attacks were sanctioned by the government of Pakistan, the attackers trained by Pakistani army OR did the Indian gov and media meant that the attackers, though, were not sent by the gov of Pakistan, but were Pakistani citizens, trained and equipped by rogue Jihadi groups in Pakistan?

From the history of Indo-Pak relations, I and every Pakistani know that there is quite a good chance that the attackers are Pakistanis. Even if they are Indian Muslims, upset with the treatment meted out to them at the hands of the Indian gov, there must be some sort of Pakistani involvement in arming and training them. By Pakistani I do not necessarily mean Pakistani gov but Pakistan based jihadi outfits.

Now as usual, the Indian gov and the Indian media started pointing fingers towards Pakistan. What was meant by Pakistan was left undefined. Many Pakistanis took it as an accusation towards the state of Pakistan and each and every Pakistani. Both sides quickly descended into a war of words. The war of words was fought both on the gov level, in cyber space and as well as in a personal capacity. I too quickly got involved in fiery debates with some of my Indian friends and got carried away with my nationalistic sentiments.

With the war cry becoming louder from both sides, I started posting stories of how the Indian gov has still not provided any evidence even though one month has passed since the attacks took place. Whipping up the dead horse of Kashmir, right when the relations between India and Pakistan are at their lowest, also became part of the justification. Slowly after one month, the issue was no longer the attacks in Mumbai but how Pakistan had been supporting insurgency in Indian Kashmir and how India had been stubbornly sitting on top of the Kashmir issue.

Finally, one day I realized that keeping in mind the historical data, I should simply say a sorry to my Indian friends and apologize rather then trying to split hairs by bringing up discrepancies found in the various accounts of the Mumbai attacks as narrated by various media outlets. This is exactly what both the governments of Pakistan and India are right now involved in. The Indian gov, trying to do some face saving in front of a nation angry and humiliated at the hands of 20 or few gunmen while the Pakistani gov trying to put up a brave face in front of accusations and threats being hurled from the Indian side. No wonder, time and again, both India and Pakistan, gov and people, end up, back at square one as they were in 1947.

It is very much the responsibility of the Indian gov to provide the evidence it has claimed to have from day one, but mean while the Indian gov prepares the evidence, Pakistani gov should not sit idle and make its own efforts to investigate the attacks. Pakistani gov can rid itself of the stain and stigma of sponsoring terrorists only by making serious and honest efforts to investigate. Though the Pakistani gov is justified in asking for evidence, still it will be better if it doesn't wait for evidence. It should treat this matter with the same urgency as it would have treated a similar incident of terrorism in the UK or the US.

What about the people? Pakistanis and Indians? Well to all Pakistanis, I would say that keeping in mind our history, there is a good enough chance of this being the handiwork of our country men. Whether gov sponsored or independent non state actors. So there is no harm in apologising. If it turns out , much as I would wish, that the perparators were not Pakistanis, we would have lost nothing. However, if it turns out that the terrorists were indeed Pakistanis, we would have lost a lot by then.

To all my Indian friends, I apologize twice.

Once for what ever happened and hope it is not repeated ever again.

Secondly, I also apologize for taking this long to apologize. This apology should have come on the very first day.

The story of two beggars

2008-12-28T22:58:00.001+11:00

Tahir and Habib are London beggars. They beg in different areas of the West End. Habib begs just as long as Tahir but only collects £10-15 every day.

Tahir brings home a suitcase FULL of £10 notes every day, drives a Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house and has a lot of money to spend.

Habib says to Tahir 'I work just as long and hard as you do but how do you bring home a suitcase full of £10 notes every day?'

Tahir says, .... 'Look at your sign, what does it say'?

Habib's sign reads 'I have no work, a wife and 6 kids to support'.'

Tahir says ' No wonder you make no more than £15 a day

Habib says... 'So what does your sign say'?

Tahir shows Habib his sign......It reads,,,,

'I only need another £10 to move back to Pakistan'.

Appeal for Donations to wikipedia

2008-12-26T08:51:00.001+11:00

An appeal from Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales

Dear Reader,

Today I am going to ask you to support Wikipedia with a donation. This might sound unusual: Why does one of the world's five most popular web properties ask for financial support from its users?

Wikipedia is built differently from almost every other top 50 website. We have a small number of paid staff, just twenty-three. Wikipedia content is free to use by anyone for any purpose. Our annual expenses are less than six million dollars. Wikipedia is run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which I founded in 2003.

At its core, Wikipedia is driven by a global community of more than 150,000 volunteers - all dedicated to sharing knowledge freely. Over almost eight years, these volunteers have contributed more than 11 million articles in 265 languages. More than 275 million people come to our website every month to access information, free of charge and free of advertising.

But Wikipedia is more than a website. We share a common cause: Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's our commitment.

Your donation helps us in several ways. Most importantly, you will help us cover the increasing cost of managing global traffic to one of the most popular websites on the Internet. Funds also help us improve the software that runs Wikipedia -- making it easier to search, easier to read, and easier to write for. We are committed to growing the free knowledge movement world-wide, by recruiting new volunteers, and building strategic partnerships with institutions of culture and learning.

Wikipedia is different. It's the largest encyclopedia in history, written by volunteers. Like a national park or a school, we don't believe advertising should have a place in Wikipedia. We want to keep it free and strong, but we need the support of thousands of people like you.

I invite you to join us: Your donation will help keep Wikipedia free for the whole world.

Thank you,

Jimmy Wales

Sculptures by the sea

2008-12-03T14:32:00.001+11:00

One of the most unique and amazing exhibition of scultptural art.

Kempsie

2008-12-03T14:30:00.000+11:00

The lonely beach littered with tree trunks.

The TableLands

2008-12-03T14:28:00.001+11:00

Away from the coastal paradise, inside the Australian mainland lies the lush green fields of Tamworth, Lismore and Taree.

Urunga Lagoon

2008-12-03T14:25:00.000+11:00

An oasis of serenity in the midst of turbulence and chaos

Gold Coast

2008-12-02T22:22:00.001+11:00

Gold Coast is an urban paradise.

Byron Bay

2008-12-02T22:17:00.003+11:00

Byron Bay is one of the most beautiful and scenic places of Australia.

Have a look at some of the pics.

Spit to Manly

2008-09-07T21:02:00.005+10:00

Sydney has been blessed with some of the world's most exotic landscape. Oceanic views, forest bush land and a diverse flora and fauna are all part of the beautiful Sydney.

Around Sydney, one can embark on a number of scenic oceanic walks. The Bondi to Cogee walk takes you from the famous Bondi beach to the Cogee beach via Tamaramma, Bronte, Clovelly and Gordon's Bay.

A complete list of parks, walks and camping places can be found by visiting the following URL

Department of environment: Gov of NSW

Another famous walk starts from the Spit Bridge and end at the Manly beach. The walk is 10 KMs long and goes through a variety of landscapes which include, rain forest, mountains, cliffs and harbour side residential areas.

Last weekend, I along with my friend went on an expeditionary trip to explore the trek and take some pics of the beautiful sights one can come across.

I have placed a slide show below.

Enjoy

Sydney in Winters

2008-07-26T23:15:00.007+10:00

Last weekend I went out with one of my friend, Waqas, on a shooting spree. Yes a picture shooting spree of the most beautiful spots of Sydney.

Unlike other parts of the world, Sydney still retains it spring-time like beauty through out the year and even in winter.

Here are some glimpses of Sydney's winter beauty.

Son of Lion: Benjamin Gilmour

2008-07-13T19:10:00.003+10:00

Son of a Lion; Warrior Poets. A Pashtun lad challenges his father's authority by refusing the future mapped out for him in an area of the Hindu Kush mountains where weapons are manufactured.

It just happened to be a co-incidence that I met Benjamin Gilmour, a Sydney paramedic by profession and a movie maker by passion.

A friend of mine sent me an email telling me of some one who had visited Pakistan and fell in love with the culture and people of the North West Frontier Province, N.W.F.P. Such was the intensity of his love for Pathans that he decided to make a movie which brushes aside all stereotypes of Pathans and narrates the story of an ordinary village boy who is born into a family of gun manufacturers but wants to give up working as a gun manufacturer and pursue his formal education.

The name of the movie which Mr. Gilmour directed is "Son of a Lion" starring local characters and local actors. The story revolves around a young boy from the town of Darra Adam Khel, whose father is a gun manufacturer by profession. The father of the boy wants his son to follow in the foot steps of his father and also become a gun manufacturer, however, the boy is interested in getting a decent education.

The movie has been shot in Darra Adam Khel during 2005-2006. The Australian Film Council funded the venture and Gilmour, who had never directed a movie, shot all the scenes and authored the script of the movie.

The movie has been featured in many film festivals around the world and a google search reveals more then 25, 300, 000 results. The movie has already won numerous awards in the Australian film festival.

Mr. Gilmour from the obscurity of a Sydney parademic has become an authority on the geo-political affairs of the area and is often invited in numerous radio and TV talk shows to present his views on the on-going conflict in the region.

Benjamin Gilmour: At his Sydney residency

Gilmour is deciding to make more documentaries on Pathans and the contribution of Pathans in the economic development of early 19th and 20th century Australia. Gilmour is interested in making more documentaries which show case the contribution of Pathans in economic success of Australia in the form of Ghan railway line which runs through the rugged, treacherous and dangerous terrain of the Australian outback.

Pak Army is incapable of running civilian educational institutes

2008-06-16T19:57:00.010+10:00

Notice from the administration of EME college warning students not to meet the opposite gender unless in a group of three or more.

Earlier this week I received a forwarded email where an Indian was criticising a regulation change order promulgated by the administration of one of Pakistan’s prestigious university, NUST.

The web link for the article written by the Indian blogger can be visited at the following URL.

http://now.mythings.in/post/37707882/on-2nd-june-2008-one-of-the-premium-engineering

The link does not work any more.

I have also graduated from one of the campuses of the same university the Indian blogger is criticising and it is not a surprise that such an incident has happened because it happened in my times as well.

For those who don’t know what NUST is? Read on.

NUST, stands for National University of Sciences and Technology. The university was basically a re-grouping of Pakistan Army’s vast educational resources spread throughout the country. The entity which was formed after the re-grouping was named NUST. The university is different from other Pakistani universities in the following ways:

The head of the university is a retired army officer belonging to the educational corps of Pakistan army. The university was formed to allow civilian students to benefit by enrolling in the various educational programs offered by the university and study along Cadets of Pak Army.

The university also has certain civilian only campuses where only civilian students study.

Coming back to the topic, the administration of the university in all campuses, civilian and army ones, is mostly ridden with serving or ex-army officials who have little or no teaching experience in civilian institutes. The fact that such officials have no experience working in civilian institutes, makes them treat civilian educational institutes as their platoons and enforce rules and regulations which have no co-relation with the progress and performance of the institute. Rather then concentrating on improving quality of education, the army-ridden administrations tries to police, control and modify the behaviour of the students. May be because they want to experiment with the tricks and tips they have learnt during their service in the military.

One such example of such mind control and behaviour modification can be found in the letter printed on the notice board of EME College Rawalpindi. The notice has been signed by the adjutant of the academy, Captain Syed Asad Hussain Shah. The notice warns all students that two students of opposite genders can only meet each other in groups of three or more. A male student cannot meet, talk, chat, study, discuss and hang around with a female student unless in a group of three or more.

As usual, and true to their nature, Pakistan army is less interested in the actual job they have been assigned in that particular college and more interested in “preserving the moral fabric” of the society by imposing draconian, derogatory, insulting and gender discriminatory rules and regulations on the students of the college.

By issuing such notices, the administration of the college is basically subliminally declaring the following

1. The students of the college, who are all grown ups, mostly in their early twenties, have no manners and etiquettes as to how to behave in the presence of the opposite gender.

2. The students of the college have not received a good upbringing from their parents.

3. The administration needs to monitor who is having an affair with whom or else the college will become a centre of scandals, affairs and dates.

Such sick and regressive mentality prevails every where Pakistan army tries to interfere in civilian institutes.

A similar incident happened when I was studying in university. It started off with a boy-girl thing and ended up as harsh, rude and collective punishment for all.

What I don’t understand is why a young boy having an affair with a young girl such a big issue for the military nut jobs. No amount of military, social, economic or any other form of repression is going to stop girls and guys developing mutual attraction for each other. Developing mutual attraction for the opposite gender is part of the evolutionary human psyche. The effort should be to direct the attraction in a proper way and guide youngsters on how to deal with issues of adolescence and teenage. How many Pakistani universities have ever held an information session for youngster’s educated them about gender relations and how to express mutual attraction in a proper way in line with Islamic principles?

Secondly, even if a boy and girl have crossed the limits, as per Pak Army code of morality and ethics, why collectively punish every one else. Why not just call the parents of the persons involved to the university and advise them to control the raging hormones of their kids?

Lastly, such incidents will keep on happening till boys have testosterone in their bodies and girls have estrogens in their bodies. So all those hell bent on conquering our hormones need to learn that one should try to adapt with nature rather then try to suppress it. Pak army might be able to contain and restrain the militants in the restive Waziristan agency, but it will never be able to control the hormonal forces of nature.

It is high time that Pakistan Army retreats from all the spheres of the Pakistani society and get back to their original job, defending the geographical borders of the country and let parents take care of their sons and daughters.

My Story

2008-06-10T01:55:00.001+10:00

Achieving the Permanent residency status is the number one agenda of every international student or prospective migrants wanting to come to Australia.

I was one such international student who arrived in Australia on the 2nd of Feb, 2005 and became a permanent resident on the 28th of May 2008. I had to go through a painful, stressful and outrageously expensive process , though, I think there was also a less expensive way to do so.

Any how, what is done is done. Let me narrate my story in pictures and words. Hope the readers are able to make a much better decision and learn from my experiences.

Offer of admission from UTS

I was offered a letter of offer from UTS some where in Nov 2004. I quickly started the procedure for the final grant of a student visa to Australia. Paying the tuition fees, performing medical check ups, blah blah.

Grant of visa

Finally after filling out all the forms, submitting all the documents requested, I was finally granted the visa.

Letter of grant of visa from the Australian High Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan

Unlike previous times, I was not interviewed for the visa. The visa was sent stamped on my passport and sent to the offices of my educational consultant.

Original Student visa as stamped on my passport. The label has been stamped inoperable on expiry.

Studying at UTS

Studying while searching for work and getting blue collar jobs such as filling shelves in super markets, washing cars and delivering pizzas was some thing I had never done before.

After a lot of struggle, hard work, patience and determination, I was finally able to finish my studies from UTS

Page one of my UTS transcript

Degree awarded during graduation ceremony

Permanent Residency

I applied for Permanent residency on the 27th of Sept, 2007. After appearing in the IELTS exam for three times, I was able to achieve a score of

Listening 8.5
Reading 9.0
Writing 8.0
Speaking 9.0

in the exam because of which I was able to claim the extra bonus points.

Copy of my IELTS report.

Finally on the 28th of May, after waiting for almost eight months , I was awarded the permanent residency.

Stamp of permanent residency on my passport.

End of story!

Pakistan's national anthem

2008-04-26T02:04:00.002+10:00

New National Anthem

Zardari sir zameen Shaad baad.
Kishwar-e-Hassen Sharifa baad

Tu Nishaanay Corruption Aalishan
Arz-e-Zardaristan

Shaad baad Opposition Saari Barbaad

Zardari Sarr zameen Ka Nizaam
Aattay,Gas, Bijli Ka Bohran,

Qum Mulk Saltanat

Choudhry Paindabad
Shaad Baad zardari har case say farar

All credits go to the original anonymous genius.

Cars

2008-03-04T13:37:00.003+11:00

The first ever car I bought was a Honda Prelude. It was a 19 years old car but still had an excellent drive and looked like a new car.

The second car I bought was a Suzuki Swift 2006. The car has been an international success and has become very popular in Australia.

Copyright © 2008 Junaid N Sahibzada

Graduation Ceremony

2008-03-04T13:35:00.000+11:00

Me

2008-03-04T13:33:00.001+11:00

Apartment

2008-03-04T13:30:00.000+11:00

Gordon's Bay

2008-03-04T13:25:00.002+11:00

On the eastern coastline of Sydney, between the lovely eastern beaches of Sydney is a place called Gordon's Bay. Next to Gordon's Bay is a snorkelling paradise called Clovelly.

Some excellent pics from Gordon's Bay and Clovelly.

Copyright © 2008 Junaid N Sahibzada

Sydney Beaches

2008-03-04T13:18:00.001+11:00

One of the reason Sydney is so famous is because of the lovely beaches it has.

White crystal sand with crystal clear blue waters. A perfect paradise for the holiday escapists.

Enjoy the natural beauty of Sydney beaches.

Copyright © 2008 Junaid N Sahibzada

Crystal St Waterloo

2008-03-04T13:15:00.003+11:00

I landed in Sydney on the 2nd of Feb, 2005. My friend brought me to his Unit at 9 Crystal, Waterloo.

I loved the place so much that even today I am still at the same place.

Enjoy some scenic pictures of 9 Crystal St, Waterloo

Copyright © 2008 Junaid N Sahibzada

Centennial Park

2008-03-04T13:08:00.003+11:00