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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Imran and Jemima together for a Cause

Source: The News

By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: Imran Khan and Jemima Khan appeared together in public for the first time since they divorced in 2004 to lead a big protest rally of Pakistanis in front of 10 Downing Street where President Pervez Musharraf was meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown here on Monday.

The high profile divorced couple stood side by side in front of the prime minister’s office for some time, where a large number of overseas Pakistanis had gathered to protest the arrival of Musharraf in London and his “anti-democratic” steps in Pakistan.

Many believe here that this was one of the biggest rallies of overseas Pakistanis in the recent days who had gathered to protest against Musharraf’s policies. The protesters kept on chanting slogans against Musharraf for more than two hours without any break. The intensity of the slogans was so powerful that these could be heard from a long distance. The PPP and PML-N activists were also present there in a large number.

The international and Pakistani media was present there to cover this event. But, the most striking attraction in the whole demonstration was the presenceEl of Imran and Jemima. Both Imran and Jamima stood in the front row facing the office of Prime Minister Brown. However, Imran left the venue after staying there for some time. While Jemima stayed back with the demonstrators and kept on shouting slogans against Musharraf’s action against the civil society, democracy, judiciary and lawyers.

In the past, Jamima Khan had been participating in such demonstrations outside 10-Downing Street and Pakistan High Commission when General Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency in the country on November 3 last year. Jemima had even participated in the demonstrations which were held to protest the arrest of Imran Khan in Pakistan. She also used to bring her two sons along with her to push for the demand of release of their father. But, on Monday, both Qasim and Suleman were missing from the scene of demonstration.

A small number of people carrying the pictures of President Musharraf were also present outside the 10-Downing Street there to appreciate his policies in Pakistan. They were also chanting slogans in favour of Musharraf and welcomed his arrival in London.

Their presence created a big stir in the law enforcement agencies who feared that both the groups of Pakistanis might clash with each other. A heavy contingent of police force was deployed between the two groups

After chanting slogans against Musharraf, the anti-govt demonstrators turn their focus to the pro-Musharraf people and raised slogans against them for supporting the president. The overseas Pakistanis were also carrying the pictures of Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif. A large number of Baloch nationalists were also present there, carrying anti-Musharraf placards.

The protesters were also carrying placards inscribed with slogans like “restore the judges”, “Musharraf should go”, “restore democracy in Pakistan” and “respect the human rights of the people of Pakistan”. The demonstrators kept sloganeering till Musharraf left the office of the prime minister around 2 pm.

Turkish MPs plan headscarf reform

A Turkish woman. File photo
Two major parties in Turkey have submitted a joint plan to parliament to ease a ban on the Islamic headscarf in the country's universities.

The Islamist-rooted governing AK Party and the nationalist MHP say it is an issue of human rights and freedoms.

The two parties have enough votes in parliament to overturn the constitutional ban on headscarves.

A strict headscarf ban has been in force in universities since 1997. It was ordered by the secularist military.

The issue is highly controversial in a mainly Muslim country whose secular elite - including the powerful military - sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says.

The move to ease the ban has been criticised by judges and university officials. read more

YouTube + Digg + Obama = YouBama

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One reason we endorsed Barack Obama as our Democratic nominee for TechPresident earlier today is because he has made an effort to understand technology and create a comprehensive technology platform. Not only is he Web-savvy, so are his constituents. A site called YouBama that launched a few days ago is a case in point. Designed by two Stanford grad students, Christopher Pedregal and Eric Park (who actually now works at NASA), to drum up grass-roots support for Obama, the site lets supporters upload videos explaining why they are going to vote for the candidate. The videos can then be voted up or down Digg-style. Pedregal explains to me:

The idea was to make it personal and individual. Everyone says this will be the YouTube elections. This can democratize the campaign process. It is an experiment. We don’t know if voters have a lot to say.

It is a simple but sophisticated site that will appeal to the YouTube generation, and an effective way to distill the most powerful messages with the broadest appeal. (The video at the top right now is a clip of George Clooney endorsing Obama on the Charlie Rose Show). The best part about the site is that it has nothing to do with the official Obama campaign. Says Pedregal:

There are a lot of things the Obama campaign can’t say or can’t do. There are a lot of sensitive issues regarding race or gender or attacks the candidates might use, and voters will want to react to that.

YouBama isn’t trying to be more than a grass-roots marketing vehicle for the Obama campaign. Pedregal and Park are both Obama supporters and they want to drum up more votes for his campaign. Their attitude is that supporters of other candidates can create their own sites. But they also feel that creating this site is “most applicable” to the Obama campaign because of its efforts to reach out to younger voters and speak to their aspirations. In other words, they feel they have the best chance of getting good videos from Obama supporters as opposed to those of the other candidates.

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Startup Insiders - A Must-Attend Event! [Lahore]

V:
StartupInsiders-Logo-GW.jpgThe brilliant people at Green & White and P@SHA in collaboration with tech leaders of our IT industry have started the Pakistani version of the renowned BarCamp - and after the resounding success of the first edition in Karachi and another scheduled on Thursday for Islamabad - the geeks and nerds would land in Lahore and assemble at Vahzay's premises on 1st of February, 2008.

Date: 1st February, 2008
Time: 1800 hrs - 2100 hrs
Venue: VahZay Pvt Ltd. 19-A1, E-II, Gulberg-III, Lahore

Directions: From the Liberty roundabout on Main Blvd. Gulberg, go towards Qaddafi stadium. When you get to the roundabout just before the stadium gate, make a left. The Hockey stadium should now be on your right.
Go about 200 meters and make a left in the first street you see on your left. There is a Punjab Book Board office at the corner with a big sign up-front, hard to miss.
Go 100 meters and the first gate on the left is VahZay. There is plenty of parking along the wall that runs in this street from the turn all the way to VahZay gate.

Have a look at this map.

Entrepreneurs who will be there include:

Imran Zia, CEO, VahZay
Kewan Khawaja, co-CEO, Techlogix
Monis Rahman, CEO, Naseeb Networks
Osama Hashmi, CEO, CDF Software
Sajjad Kirmani, VP, Netsol Technologies
Fahd Bangash, CEO, Amaana
Hasan Rizvi, CEO, Five Rivers Technologies
Shehzad Ahmed, CEO, Descon

Who should attend? Quoting Osama Hashmi of G&W:
Bring everyone around you who has the spark to change the world but doesn't think there is enough support from the industry to get going. These people are here to help. Bring your demos if you're looking for funding, bring your ideas if you're looking to start on the demo. Bring your cameras and camcorders. Finally, bring an open mind so we can all have a lot of fun, sip some deep deep coffee and talk startup.
This is your chance to draw inspiration from the people who've 'been there, done that'. The event is FREE and OPEN TO ALL - it's an event not to be missed. So, come one, come all!

More details can be found at:
Green & White
P@SHA News
In the Line of Wire

Posted on Metroblogging Lahore