Pakistani News for the Rest of Us

The issuance of Machine Readable Passports is commencing from Five Regional Passport Offices across the country to the applicants, from Monday 25th October 2004.
It is announced that applicants for getting new Passports will no longer be required to fill forms and bring photographs with them. The requirements for the Machine Readable Passport will be Computerized …

Pakistan’s women ministry has launched a new programme with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for the education and training in political processes of female leaders and representatives of local bodies across the country.
“The Women’s Political School [WPS] project will help in institutionalising the process of training of women political leaders, taking into …

A 94-year-old pink palace modelled on the famous 18th century castle in Versailles in France formed the gracious backdrop to a three-day festival of music, dance and nostalgia as Indian artistes mingled with their Pakistani compatriots.
“Accept it or not, we lost half our glory after partition. Most of our population went off to Pakistan, and …

The number of cell phone users in the country has surpassed the number of fixed line telephone customers in just over a decade of operations, helping the country to achieve a cellular tele-density rate of over four while tele-density rate of fixed telephones stands at three percent.
According to latest figures compiled by the Pakistan Telecommunication …

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is going to launch its Wireless Local Loop (WLL) service in the remote areas of the country this month.
PTCL Senior Executive Vice President, Sales and Human Resource, Shahzad Sadan, said this at an Iftar-cum-dinner hosted by PTCL, here on Wednesday. He said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will inaugurate the WLL …

Sharif Khan is accustomed to breaking new ground. Now he can add another accomplishment to a long list.
Recently, the Mississauga squash great was inducted into the United States Squash Racquets Association’s Hall of Fame, becoming the first non-American to be conferred the honour.
“It’s the highest honour a squash person can receive, so I’m truly humbled,” …

Alhamra Art Gallery will be flush with colour from November 23 to December 5 as it displays works by five South Asian masters and young contemporary artists.
The painting exhibition, titled ‘Living legends, old masters and new voices’, will illustrate the development of art in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The five million rupee exhibition, …

Recently, the ineffable Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is pitted against Luciano Pavarotti in a feeble comparison. The trouble with most recording companies as they try to market yet another product from the most recognisable qawwali great is their eagerness to settle for the limpest of clichés.
While this is the case with The Ultimate Nusrat …

He has scaled Mt Everest without bottled oxygen, crossed Antarctica and travelled solo across the Gobi desert. Now controversial Italian climber Reinhold Messner, called the most famous mountaineer alive, wants to rebuild two villages of Pakistan devastated by an earthquake.
The 60-year-old, who has climbed all the 14 mountain peaks in the world towering above 8,000 …

The Textile Department of the National College of Arts (NCA) is conducting a month-long workshop on the indigenous but endangered art of dyeing clothes with colours extracted from fruits and vegetables.
The college has invited two craftsmen from Sindh to conduct the workshop participated in by second and third-year students.
Sajida Vandal, the NCA principal, said the …

The Edhi Foundation has bought some 20 boats to carry out rescue operations to save the lives of fishermen.
Faisal Edhi told The News that out of 20 boats, four were bought for fishermen, to save their lives in case of their vessels’ drowning.
The 20-feet long boat can carry 40 people and is also equipped with …

Zaki Uddin Khalifa opened his first rug store in a small downtown showroom 27 years ago. He had just moved to High Point from Pakistan and had little money for advertising. But his small store grew to become on of the largest Oriental rug stores in the United States with a helping hand from the …

The Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP) has decided to start subsidized diploma courses in civil, electrical, mechanical and computer technology with admission fee as low as Rs500 per semester.
The subsidized courses are aimed at providing an opportunity to people belonging to lower middle and middle class to improve their skills as per the demands of …

Omer Pasha has released his debut music single and video The Curse, online at www.omerpasha.com. Holding dual nationality Pakistani/Canadian Pasha is one of the very first singers of Pakistan to produce an English single. The single has two video versions The Curse (The Forebodings and The Curse Unveiled follow a theme and story Unveiled of …