A BAD TASTE IN THE MOUTH

To me Ch. Nisar Ali Khan Federal Interior Minister is one of few upright political leaders of the country, but his reaction to Imran Khan’s call for resignation of NADRA Chairman in the wake of decision of Election Tribunal in NA 122 and declaring that NADRA reports were true have left a bad taste in the mouth. It appears that he has neither read the Inquiry Commission Report nor the NA 122 decision of the Election Tribunal containing observations and strictures passed against the conduct of NADRA Chairman otherwise he would not have made the remarks.

The Inquiry Commission in its report while discussing NADRA’s report about non-verification of thumb impressions on the votes and NADRA Chairman’s opinion that those votes were valid gave the remarks that he(NADRA Chairman) cannot declare them to be valid as reports sought from NADRA by the Election Tribunal was only on the verification of the thumb impression and not on the validity of the votes cast.

Coming to the Election Tribunal while discussing the unsolicited supplementary report by NADRA it pointed out that NADRA was required to make a record based report and it was beyond its allotted sphere to make conjectures that the members of the polling staff might have written wrong numbers of CNIC on the counterfoils on the polling day. Election Tribunal is not supposed to attach any importance to conjectural/concessional theory of statistical expectation brought on report by Chairman NADRA through his supplementary report/explanatory note. Chairman NADRA did not know what happened on the polling day so he should not have theorized without any factual/legal basis that members of polling staff might have been written wrong CNIC numbers on the counterfoils.

I hope and expect that the honorable minister would take necessary action against NADRA Chairman in accordance with law to clear the name of his own ministry from the acts of his subordinate institution. It may also be mentioned here that there were widespread news that NADRA Chairman is friend of Mr.Ayaz Sadiq’s son when NADRA’S supplementary report was submitted and that the news was never contradicted.

Tasneem Hameed

Misplaced Priorities

Syed Saadat in his article "Misplaced priorities" in Daily Dawn has succinctly portrayed the Shahbaz Sharif Governance Model. It is based on the rule of personal likes and dislikes, be it in policies, people or priorities. Most of the priorities are based the principle that Work should not only be done, but seen to have been done especially in the eyes of the voter. Even a person of average intellect can understand why Punjab, despite its big budget could not achieve a reasonable level of development. Short term, quick actions for public consumption that mostly peter out in the longer run are taken to project the image of a go-getter. The application of self-righteousness and self-aggrandizement have played havoc with the working of the government giving rise to a culture of abdication of responsibilities and to save one’s own skin at the cost of good governance. Bureaucrats who are in good books are given opportunities much beyond their capacity and seniority and protected even when exposed. Honest and upright officials loathe to work in the province and blue-eyed and yes men rule the roast.

Mr. Shahbaz Sharif is not known to like reading much, but in the interest of people of Punjab specifically and Pakistan generally I would request him to read the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to at least get his priorities right.

Tasneem Hameed

Inquiry Commission report

After  going through the Inquiry commission report I was really surprised to see that the commission has neither discussed the evidence produced by PPP and PML(Q) nor given its finding on their arguments. On page 164 the report says as under:
TREATMENT OF THE EVIDENCE
As only the following parties listed below either
produced witnesses, cross examined witnesses, exhibited
documents by way of evidence in support of their case and in some
cases provided closing briefs and oral submissions only their cases
will be considered:
PTI, PML (Q), PPP, BNP (A) and (M), JI, MQM (H), PML (N) MQM
and ECP

The report then goes on to COMMISSION'S DETERMINATION ON PARTICULAR ISSUES on page 165.

It  then it goes on to discuss the evidence of PTI , Baluchistan parties, JI, MQM(H), MQM , PML(N) and ECP, but did not discuss the evidence and arguments of PPP and PML(Q) and then goes on to page 203 for COMMISSIONS FINDINGS IN RESPECT OF EACH TOR 

What to make of it? Why PPP or PML(Q) are keeping quite? Been a lawyer myself I am completely confused because it is an illegality that vitiates the whole inquiry because PPP and PML(Q) evidence/arguments if considered might have changed the mind of the Inquiry Commission.

Tasneem Hameed

Metros And Danish Schools

Metros and Daanish schools are the pet projects of Punjab Chief Minister and billions of rupees have been spent on them. Two recent news reports are showing another picture of these projects.

The title of first report is “Daanish school building crumbles within a year of opening”. According to the report within a year of its inauguration by Punjab Chief Minister in 2013, the building started crumbling, with major cracks in walls and beams and leaking pipes and roofs – forcing management to close down its two dining halls.

A report by the Chief Minister Inspection Team, which investigated the faults and causes says: “The errors (cracks) that have appeared in these buildings are of serious and unique nature and cannot be rectified with confidence. Precious lives are at stake, which cannot be left to chance”. Thus partial closure of the residential school has been ordered by the Daanish Schools Authority.

The report has also raised serious concerns about soil survey, building and structural design, material used in the buildings and non-supervision of the work, terming all these factors major causes of the start of collapse of the building that had cost the nation Rs698m within a year.

According to another report after recent rains the underground metro bus stations of Rawalpindi/ Islamabad Metro at 6th Road and I.J. Principal Road were inundated with rain water and created problems for passengers as escalators went out of order. Rain also exposed the poor drainage system on elevated roads.

At the Committee Chowk to Warris Khan Section of the metro bus, the contractor was still installing drainage pipes and work is still going on in the Liaquat Bagh Section.

The above reports show the manner in which projects are conceived and implemented in Punjab.  We remember what earlier happened to Sassty Roti project. Is there any authority in Pakistan that can take notice of robbing tax payers of their money on extravagant and badly conceived projects and stop the plundering of county’s resources.

Tasneem Hameed

In respose to an article of Bakhtawar Bilal Sufi in Dawn

 Hats off to Bakhtawar Bilal Sufi for having the courage although being himself a lawyer to point out the failure of lawyers to play their role  in the administration of justice in his article ‘Time to Introspect’. It is real fact that the lower judiciary is in a terrible shape after the lawyer’s movement. Lawyers having smelled power, encouraged by the former Chief justice of Supreme Court  Mr iftikhar Chaudhry started considering themselves above the law. One remembers the way they treated fellow lawyers Naeem Bokhari and Ahmed Raza Qasuri and assaulted Ministers Tariq Azeem and Farooq Sattar and when they were booked the honorable chief justice quashed the cases. Although the former chief justice used to take suo moto action on flimsy matters and was very sensitive about the dignity of superior court judges, he always looked the other way when lower court judges were being humiliated by the lawyers. Now lawyers are more found on strike than in courts on issues ranging from personal to international. They never use Sunday to strike for their noble cause. In addition to harassing judges they have started taking justice in their own hands by helping criminals escape after cancellation of their bails. Here, I am reminded of an abstract of my satirical article written three years back about the lower judiciary:

"These courts follow the Rule Of Law(ers). Lawyers have developed an effective system of overseeing that the law(er) takes its own course, followed by the courts. A system of collective wisdom of judges, lawyers, court officials and the willing case parties is successfully administering justice. The courts although constitutionally report to the superior courts, they have dotted reporting relationship with the Bar Associations/Councils".

I hope that the lawyer’s community will rise to the occasion at this important juncture of our history and devote themselves to the rule of law and become soldiers of justice instead of any chief justice.

Tasneem Hameed

The rule of lawyers

 Hats off to Bakhtawar Bilal Sufi for having the courage although being himself a lawyer to point out the failure of lawyers to play their role  in the administration of justice in his article ‘Time to Introspect’ in daily Dawn newspaper. It is real fact that the lower judiciary is in a terrible shape after the lawyer’s movement. Lawyers having smelled power, encouraged by the former Chief justice of Supreme Court  Mr iftikhar Chaudhry started considering themselves above the law. One remembers the way they treated fellow lawyers Naeem Bokhari and Ahmed Raza Qasuri and assaulted Ministers Tariq Azeem and Farooq Sattar and when they were booked the honorable chief justice quashed the cases. Although the former chief justice used to take suo moto action on flimsy matters and was very sensitive about the dignity of superior court judges, he always looked the other way when lower court judges were being humiliated by the lawyers. Now lawyers are more found on strike than in courts on issues ranging from personal to international. They never use Sunday to strike for their noble cause. In addition to harassing judges they have started taking justice in their own hands by helping criminals escape after cancellation of their bails. Here, I am reminded of an abstract of my satirical article written three years back about the lower judiciary:

These courts follow the Rule Of Law(ers). Lawyers have developed an effective system of overseeing that the law(er) takes its own course, followed by the courts. A system of collective wisdom of judges, lawyers, court officials and the willing case parties is successfully administering justice. The courts although constitutionally report to the superior courts, they have dotted reporting relationship with the Bar Associations/Councils.

I hope that the lawyer’s community will rise to the occasion at this important juncture of our history and devote themselves to the rule of law and become soldiers of justice instead of any chief justice.

Churchill Proved Right

White House spokesman at a regular briefing stated that Taliban is not a terrorist organization, but an armed insurgency. US also been trying to have some sort of talk with Taliban. It may be mentioned here that a couple of years after the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan implored US to differentiate between Taliban and Al-Qaeda as according to them Taliban leadership comprised ethnic Pashtun Afghans who grew up in refugee camps or religious boarding schools in Pakistan. Taliban were local people with local agenda and they were here to stay. On the other hand, Al-Qaeda had a global agenda which went beyond any particular country and was aimed at a kind of globalized Islamic jihad against the United States as a superpower and US was advised to open negotiations with Taliban for finding a lasting solution. But, the advice was looked upon with disdain and it was even propagated that Pakistan was playing a double game. Winston Churchill was prophetic when he said 'You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else'.

Lahore And Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs

 Lahoris have been suffering from four types of power outages. Load shedding, Metro/ flyovers,  past  and present work, grid tripping and the unknown.  Load shedding is usually for one hour at a time repeated on an average of eight hours daily. Metro/ road's outages is between eight to ten hours weekly or fortnightly for shifting electricity related equipment for the earlier constructed Metro road, flyovers or  construction of new roads. Grid tripping and the unknown happen off and on for different durations of time. Lahoris are also facing another dilemma, when their prayers for rain to get relief from hot weather and the outages is answered, grid tripping or some other fault results in a very long outage. The unknown outages remain a secret as nothing is told about the reason and the enquiry numbers remain engaged all the time during this outage to avoid responding. With the advent of the holy month of Ramazan and a lot of promises of improvement nothing  changed. It is time our rulers read Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory to find out what are our needs instead of wasting time and money on projects which may only satisfy their own political needs or needs of people of their class.

Insights about Earth: Landsat Photos from NASA Part 1

NASA’s website for the Landsat program quotes the baseball player Yogi Berra, saying “You can see a lot by just looking”. If you’ve never heard of the Landsat program before, that quote pretty much sums it up. There have been eight Landsats since 1972, and their purpose from the beginning was to take photographs of the earth. And by photographing the same place over 40 years, these photos give amazing insights into things like soil erosion, the effects of natural disasters, and the migration of penguin colonies.

 Alaska’s Columbia Glacier: The Columbia Glacier descends from an ice field 3,050 meters (10,000 feet) above sea level, down the flanks of the Chugach Mountains, and into a narrow inlet that leads into Prince William Sound in southeastern Alaska. It is one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in the world. This false-color image, captured by the Thematic Mapper (TM) instrument on Landsat 5, show the glacier and the surrounding landscape in 2011. Snow and ice appears bright cyan, vegetation is green, clouds are white or light orange, and the open ocean is dark blue. Exposed bedrock is brown, while rocky debris on the glacier’s surface is gray.

Yukon Delta: Countless lakes, sloughs, and ponds are scattered throughout this scene of the Yukon Delta in southwest Alaska. One of the largest river deltas in the world, and protected as part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, the river’s sinuous waterways seem like blood vessels branching out to enclose an organ.

Pretty much everyone knows the ‘blue marble‘ image. Taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972, it’s a picture of the earth, framed against the vast emptiness of space. The image is common now, but no one knew what the earth looked like from space until the late 1960′s, when people actually went up there. And though we went up to explore space, there was no denying the sudden appeal of the earth below. For the first time we could really see the earth in all its glory, and NASA and the Department of the Interior decided to see more. So the Landsat program was born.
When Landsat 1 was being designed, a new type of imaging system was installed, which could detect light wavelengths outside the visible spectrum, like infrared. This was helpful in showing things like water saturation in soil. So instead of trying to tell the difference between slightly different shades of green, as you would in a ‘true color’ photograph, the imaging system could use other wavelengths and display saturated areas in pink and dry areas in yellow. The different way of looking meant greater understanding, and some amazing looking images.

 Lake Eyre: The scary face in this image is actually inundated patches of shallow Lake Eyre (pronounced “air”) in the desert country of northern South Australia. An ephemeral feature of this flat, parched landscape, Lake Eyre is Australia’s largest lake when it’s full. However in the last 150 years, it has filled completely only three times.

 Meandering Mississippi: Small, blocky shapes of towns, fields, and pastures surround the graceful swirls and whorls of the Mississippi River. Countless oxbow lakes and cutoffs accompany the meandering river south of Memphis, Tennessee, on the border between Arkansas and Mississippi, USA. The “mighty Mississippi” is the largest river system in North America.

Possibly even more amazing however, are the images that are ‘true color’. Red clouds, anyone?

WITH THANKS FROM NASA.

More hiding than revealing

The findings of Inquiry Report Of Leakage Of Full Court Video Footage just released after taking five months appears to be an eyewash as it does not give answers to many important questions about the event of 11.12.2013. The first important question is about Ch. Abdul Hameed who is one of the main characters of the event, but no designation/position is mentioned against his name. The second question is why it took five months to complete the inquiry. The next important question is about the authority that approved the making of private arrangement of footage of the Full Court Reference and what are the rules and traditions of Supreme Court Of Pakistan in this regard. Another question that remained unanswered is about the relationship between Ch. Abdul Hameed who handed over the footage and the Geo reporter to whom it was given. It is surprising that, despite proven charges  a simple warning has been recommended for Ch. Abdul Hameed while the Geo reporter who boasted of his professionalism on 11.12.2013 for getting hold of the footage has gone scot- free. The inquiry was conducted by the additional registrar of the supreme court who, despite his legal knowledge has failed miserably to do the job judicially and objectively. The report appears to hide facts and people instead of bringing out the truth.The Chief Justice Of Pakistan is requested to reject the findings of the report and order re-inquiry by a judge of the Supreme Court Of Pakistan to bring out real facts

From theft to scandalization with impunity.

In December 2013 on the occasion of retirement reference of former Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry all the TV channels accused one channel of illegal TV coverage of the reference in collusion of supreme court officials. Now again all other channels are criticizing the same channel for accusing and defaming ISI, its head and military for involvement in the attack on famous TV anchor person Hamid Mir of that channel. In the first case the new chief justice appointed a one man inquiry committee to look in to the matter. However, it is surprising that nothing has been revealed about the findings of that inquiry. There is a general perception that when it comes to lawyers and media the apex court looks the other way if some wrong is done by them. In the present case about accusations against ISI and Head ISI a judicial commission has been appointed and also complaints against the channel have been filed by the ministry of defense and ISI in PEMRA and notice has been issued to the channel. At the same time a joint investigation team including members from ISI and MI has also started working. The inclusion of ISI and MI in JIT looks very odd. The situation is very complicated. At present, the position of PEMRA Chairman is under dispute and is sub judice. It seems that the matter would go the apex court where as discussed earlier a much smaller matter has not been finalized or made public so far. There is no doubt that the government has failed miserably in handling the situation and created a crisis. It is time that the apex court make  public its own inquiry report about illegal TV coverage of ex-CJs retirement reference before the matter pending with PEMRA comes before it for a decision  otherwise its impartiality would come in to question.

Tasneem Hameed

Ruining Rulers

 According to a news report ‘Millions go down the drain' Rupees 100 million  were spent by the Punjab Government  only  on the preparation of ceremony for breaking the world record for reciting the national anthem and the same was postponed for the second time. Earlier a lot of  money was spent on making preparations for holding Basant at Changa Manga that also was later cancelled. Billions of Rupees have been spent by the Governments of Sind and Punjab for holding Sind Festival and Punjab Youth Festival. We all know  that a large population of the country has suffered from terrorist attacks and are living in constant fear. My heart goes out to the families of the victims of terrorist attacks and how they would be taking the celebrations of these political festivals when they might be in a state of mourning. Bilawal Bhutto in particular and other politicians in general,  who daily express sympathies for the families of the victims are unable to empathize with them. Billawal's mother was a victim of terrorism how he would have felt if some sort celebrations were held under any name or pretext immediately after her killing.

Supreme Court Enquiry

A lot of hullabaloo was raised on 11th December 2013 on the day of retirement of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry by all the TV channels about the TV coverage of the reference by only a single channel. It was pointed out that under the supreme court rules TV coverage was not allowed and also that undue favor was given to a specific channel.  All these channels also boycotted the remaining ceremonies. A Supreme Court official responded by blaming the person recording the reference of having ran away without handing over the footage to them and thus was guilty of theft. The new Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gillani  taking note of the situation ordered holding of an enquiry by the Additional Registrar of the Supreme Court Of Pakistan. It is really surprising that more than three months have passed without any news of the result of the enquiry and even the aggrieved channels are maintaining a silence since that day. People of Pakistan has a right to know what happened on that day and expect the new Chief Justice not to follow his predecessor in keeping keep all matters relating to judiciary out of bounds without any legal justification. It is time that the old ways are replaced by transparent working and an immediate notification is issued about the result of the enquiry.

Tasneem Hameed

The Last Rites Of Cricket

Many a careers have been destroyed by match fixing and spot fixing in Cricket. Cricketers have even gone to jail as a punishment. International Cricket Council has been very strict on the issue. But nobody could imagine that the biggest fixing of all was yet to come and that too from ICC, the ICC fixing. Just like match and spot fixing money is the main cause. We remember that until 1990s when England and Australia had two votes against one vote of other countries India lead the campaign for equality and rule had to change. Now same India is the driving force behind the Big Three proposal. What a change. After keeping it as a secret from other countries,  and playing behind the scene games the Big Three openly indulged in horse trading. What a combination, fixing and horse trading. Money is overtaking gentleman's game and this surely is not Cricket. Is there any one or any institution that could save the noble game of Cricket.

Tasneem Hameed

Youth Business Loan

The announcement of Prime Minister Youth Business Loan program was not only surprising, but also daring. In the presence of rulings of the Supreme Court about the procedure to be adopted and conditions to be met about similar appointments, the appointment of prime minister's daughter as the Head of the program shows the growing confidence of Mr. Nawaz Sharif either in himself or in the apex court under a new chief justice. While the nomenclature of the program and the name of its head speak loudly about the political nature of the program, banks have been asked to finance it. The announcement was completely silent about the qualification, experience and business acumen of the head of the program indicating that there was nothing worth mentioning. It appears that the prime minister wants to give the much needed experience to her daughter now to fill that void and prepare her for bigger appointments in the future.  Many people thought that the pronouncements of Imran Khan about the royal nature of the family  was a political ploy, but Sharifs are bent upon proving him right.  Earlier Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took the lead in  appointing  his son as the head of a co-ordination committee for facilitating government affairs in Punjab, ignoring very senior party members.

Tasneem Hameed

The Great Human Server

Everything created by God has a purpose to fulfill for human benefit. God wanted to provide humans best possible environment and conditions so that they could live their lives in the best possible manner. While some creations required intelligence and work to be unraveled, some others were very apparent to be made use of. One such creation that stands out due to its impact and advantages is a tree. Immediately after it converts in to tree from a plant it starts serving the humans.

 Starting from providing shade from sun and rain, providing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide, making environment healthy as well beautiful, its life remains dedicated to human service.  It helps in water, preventing soil erosion and water pollution as well as providing fruit not only as a food, but also a means of livelihood. It provides abode to birds and help in developing wildlife. In short during all its long life it remains an epitome of human service. But, its service does not end here. If it is cut down and converted in to furniture it provides business opportunities to one segment of humans, and comfort to another other segment. Lastly even if it is made to die and burnt, it produces heat and light before disappearing from the world scene.

Tasneem Hameed

Performance Appraisal

                                                          Judge And Be Judged


         Extract                                                                               By: Tasneem Hameed
There has been a consensus among the
HR thinkers and experts that instead
of denying the bias, it is proper to look
for ways to decrease it to the utmost
extent. The best way is to introduce
a method that gets the view of more
people about the personal bias of the
appraiser. These then be put together
to reach definite conclusions about its
existence or otherwise.

First published in 

People Discovery

The Extra MILE E-Zine Issue 6 - October 2013

Tasneem Hameed

Global Oneness Day

With thanks to Humanitysteam
Today is Global Oneness Day. Let us see How it began.

The creation of Global Oneness day began as a simple petition drive by Humanity’s Team in 2008. Members of Humanity’s Team created a Oneness petition with the goal of obtaining 50,000 signatures that could be delivered to the United Nations (U.N.) with a request that the U.N. support the focus on awakening Oneness.  By the time Humanity’s Team approached the U.N. in May, 2010, over 52,000 signatures had been obtained from more than 150 countries.   
When members of the Global Council for Humanity’s Team met with the U.N., the signatures, the Oneness petition and supporting material were presented.  The U.N. was invited to take the Oneness petition up as a discussion.  In addition, Humanity’s Team requested that the U.N. create a Global Oneness Day that could be celebrated around the world. 

Crowdsourcing And HR

To get the job done being the basic function of management, it remains its constant endeavor to find better ways to accomplish the same. From daily wages to  temporary to permanent workers followed by contractual workers employers continued to explore better ways to get the job done efficiently and effectively.  Not so long ago, outsourcing became the buzzword. It was found economically beneficial to outsource different functions of the organization to external specialized agencies. The trend continued and now crowdsourcing has entered the arena. James Surowiecki and Jeff Howe are the two people who discussed and introduced the term crowdsourcing. James Surowiecki in his book “The Wisdom of Crowds” discussed it,  and  Jeff Howe in 2006 introduced crowdsourcing as a method of sourcing people who are willing to help or work on a project. While outsourcing stipulated outsourcing of work to specialized external agencies, crowdsourcing has opened the door for specialized people the world over to give their services to carry out functions, jobs and tasks. The whole process from soliciting help, to offer from interested people, negotiation between the parties, finalization of contract and payment after successful completion of the contract takes place online. oDesk. Kickstarter,  MinuteWorkers, Innocentive, CloudCrowd and Elance are some of the important websites engaged in providing crowdsourcing services to the interested parties.

Travel Tips

The very thought of traveling evokes a mixed feeling of curiosity, exuberance and anxiety. What kind of place it is going to be? How much fun and enjoyment we are going to have? What difficulties lie in store? All these questions come up for consideration immediately after hearing about traveling. Is it possible that the anxiety part is eliminated to make the whole concept of traveling a positive exercise. Perhaps not 100% but to a great extent through a proper planning process . The nature of traveling might vary from family travel to business travel but , the basic requirements mostly remain the same. 

Following are the basic components of any kind of travel for each of which a decision has to be made
Travel budget
Place(s) to travel
Dates of travel
Number of people involved in the travel
Mode of travel
Nature of accommodation
The purpose of this article is not to provide help in making decisions with respect to the above but to provide hints for successful implementation of the decisions made in some of the areas.