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Karachi – The Biggest City of Pakistan

May 30, 2006 Karachi Talking about the biggest city of Pakistan, no, it’s not the new capital of Islamabad, it’s the port city of Karachi. Karachi was the capital of the new republic after the partition, but after the capital shift to the north, Karachi still serves as the economic center of the country. Karachi house the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan, Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, known as Quaid-i-Azam (the prime leader). This mausoleum is located not far from city center, and becomes the main pilgrimage spots for Pakistanis from the whole country. The architecture itself cannot be described more than distinctive, but still interesting place to spot the pilgrims. Karachi also has beaches. Cliffton beach might be the most popular in the city. If there is something that this beach doesnt share with other beaches in the world, it is the camels provided for the tourists to linger around the sand. It is not common for the visitors to swim here, so dont expect spotting girls with bikinis like those in Bali. In weekends, the beach might be crowded, by single visitors, couples, families, and even gay couples, who share affections quite openly on the benches near the [...]

May 30, 2006 // 0 Comments

Thar Desert – Life of Survival

May 22, 2006 Special thanks to Om Parkash Piragani from Sami Samaj Sujag Sangat and Jamal from Ramsar Otagh It’s a vast, hot, dry, dusty, shady desert area stretching from the corner of Interior Sindh of Pakistan up till Rajasthan and Gujarat over the other side there in India. Water is a main problem here, food is insufficient, and education is luxury. Thar or Tharparkar desert is where about one and half million tribal people, living in more than 800 widespread villages, survives their life, with their cattle, despite all of the hardship. Umerkot is a small, busy town connecting the desert to the interior Pakistan. It’s a vital survival for the people from the deep desert. Umerkot is not a common Pakistani city. It boasts the point of world history as the birth place of the biggest Mughal king, Akbar. And what makes the town special: it has the largest Hindu inhabitants proportion in this Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Most of the people, some claimed seventy percent, are Hindus. If might said, Umerkot is the ‘little India’ of Pakistan. The town has some offices, a bustling bazaar, rows of shops, and decent schools. For the people in the desert, [...]

May 22, 2006 // 1 Comment

Umerkot – A Failed Nation?

May 15, 2006 Giving understanding to the people and the leaders is a main task for the development programs here Sami Samaj Sujag Sangat is a small NGO in Umerkot dealing with the welfare of the people in the rural areas of Umerkot, bordering with the vast Tharpakar connecting this interior Sindh with Rajasthan and Gujarat in India side. This part of Pakistan had quite a substantial amount of Hindu people, and especially in deep desert, the rural villagers were mostly Hindus from the lowest caste. Umerkot itself had a glorious history as the birthplace of a Mughal king, Akbar. The town had a very ancient fort, but not much was left from the ruins. Parkash, a friend of mine, was working in this NGO with a teamwork which consist of people from the two religions: Muslims and Hindus. They work together without any problem. Religions had never been problem here, as people from both religions respect each other and live harmoniously. Beef was even not served in restaurants here, as about half of the population were Hindus and the Muslims respected their diet choice. Neither pork (as everywhere in Pakistan). The NGO was planning to held a health session [...]

May 15, 2006 // 0 Comments

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