Numaan’s Diary

There is so much discussion going on about the presence of Black Water in Pakistan. I never paid attention to all the sensational text messages, emails and news articles appearing every where about Black Water and their not-so-secret missions.

I love Dr. Awab Alvi. I think he has his heart is in the right place. I was really surprised to see that an educated, enlightened person like him would buy all these rumors about black water. I am not a very good writer when it comes to debunking the sensationalism and putting the things in the right prespective.I will try my best to stay focused and clear.

Before talking about Dr. Alvi’s post. I would like to share some simple facts.

1. United States and Pakistan are close allies in the war on terror. This means that the two countries collabrate and co-operate with each other to strike against terrorist organizations. This collabration and cooperation is on many levels and the exact details of it can not be made public by either government due to security concerns.

2. United States provides Pakistani government billions of dollars for development. United States donated the most amount of money and efforts to help during the earthquake in Kashmir and to assist Pakistan with Swat Refugee Crisis.

3. The two countries have a long history of working together and it had always been mutually beneficial for both of them.

4. When our government have such strong ties with the United States, it is no wonder that we allow certain liberties to US agencies to work on our grounds. For example we have allowed them to attack militants in tribal regions using unmanned bomber planes. We have allowed them to build significant intelligence infrastructure and this we did long ago when the USSR invaded Afghanistan.

I believe that it is not such a big deal that we allow US security agencies a certain freedom to work towards our common goals like exterminating the Pakistani soil of Taleban. Our agencies must keep a check on the activities of US agencies in Pakistan to make sure that they do not harm our national interests. We will have to cooperate because we are allies in a war and our economy is dependent on that war.

Now lets talk about Dr. Alvi’s post which is based on several rumors in media.

1. The video at the end of the post: shows no proof of any kind (video clips, photographs, documents) showing black water doing all these things such as harassing Pakistanis or blocking roads. There are many roads blocked by security agencies in Islamabad. You can just show an image of a blocked road and claim that it is blocked by Black Water security personels.

2. The presenter in the video is a woman wearing Hijab and she ends her monologue with the line that “Pakistanis should realize that the United States is their real enemy”. Its more like an extremist propganda speech instead of an analysis by a professional defense expert.

3. In this video the analyst blames that the Black Water is on a mission to assasinate Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. Do you people really believe that killing Dr. Khan has become so difficult for CIA that it had to hire a notorious organization to do the job? Do you really believe that such secret operations are carried out by renting houses openly?

3. Dr. Alvi requested people to help map black water in Pakistan. Perhaps Dr. Alvi forgot to watch the video he shared. The woman in the video told that Black Water has an office in Khayaban e Rahat which is not far away from where Dr. Alvi lives. So if Black Water are such bullies I think Dr. Alvi would have no trouble finding their offices and may be he will even get some shocking pictures as well. like Black Water munching french fries at McDonalds?

4. Dr. Sahab asks patriotic Pakistanis to help map and expose Black Water. How he is going to verify that the video or pictures or incidents reported to pakvoices are genuine?

I am not saying that there is no Black Water in Pakistan. I am simply saying that there is so much sensational rumors based journalism going on about things that are not important. We the patriotic Pakistanis should be more concerned about the crisis in Baluchistan, food mafia, water and power resources. These issues are the real security threats to Pakistan.

I strongly urge the Pakistani blogging community to please be responsible. There is very little difference between fact and fiction. Do not sensationalize things on your own. Get some documented proof or make sure that the sources you are referring to are showing some credible documented proof of the claims they are making.

Did you know that Isaac Newton was drinking a cup of tea when he discovered the universal law of gravity. I didn’t know until Lipton’s clear your mind website told me. I found this website from a pamphlet that came with tea packet. It had riddles and some interesting quizzes. Who doesn’t love riddles? Particularly smart people like myself who love answering questions like “which of these giant elephants is small?”

I loved Lipton’s new ad campaign. It is such a simple and fantastic idea to spread the message, to get noticed and to be loved by consumers by just asking them questions and telling them how smart they are, they should drink Lipton tea more often. The idea behind the campaign is based on the simple communication technique which is to ask intriguing and interesting questions. People love to be asked questions and they love to answer riddles so that they could look smart.

Lipton has given people a chance to feel smart by posting riddles all over the town on billboards, newspapers and posters. They have also launched the campaign on television and FM radio. Riddles are a great conversational tool, it is a wonderful way to get noticed and loved by people. People read Lipton ads carefully, then they answer riddles which makes them feel good about themselves and then they ask these questions to their friends and family.

So here is one for you:

The man who invented it doesn’t want it. The man who bought it doesn’t need it. The man who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?

Try answering without googling, when you are done guessing then select the text above and google for it.

If you like watching traditional PTV school of Drama and were regretting the downfall of PTV, well regret no more. We now have Hum Tv.

What made those Golden age PTV Dramas so wonderful? This is the question asked by every Pakistani Television producer. After the downfall of Pakistan Television Corporation and the emergence of the private television channels. The television producers now had plenty of money and options but were unable to produce popular television serials. They tried every thing to recreate the typical PTV golden age charm. They made simple dramas based on middle class families, they made dramas on the more glamorous lives of the rich and famous, they copied Indian soap operas, they even tried to remake the classics such as ‘Khuda Ki Basti’. But they failed to get attention.

I feel that Hum TV has successfully found the formula. I am not saying that all their dramas are wonderful. No, I don’t think that they have revived the Pakistani TV Drama as yet. But they are on the right track. With the arrival of Momal Productions (Sultana Siddiqui’s production company), Hum TV has presented several high quality dramas, Like Dil Diya Dehleez, Malika, Meray Paas Paas, etc.

Hum TV is also my mother’s favorite television channel, she doesn’t like Star Plus and she is unable to enjoy the Dubai based dramas of Geo TV. She explains that the Golden age PTV dramas were loved because they portrayed the lives of middle class Pakistanis. She feels that today each and every channel is making serials on the lives of Aliens who live in Dubai, dress like Indians, and are just as wealthy as Bill Gates. How could Pakistani audience relate to these stories?

I don’t agree with my mother. For example there is this serial “Dil Diya Dehleez” on Hum TV which is based on the lives of a feudal family and even though the family is based somewhere between NWFP and Punjab but they speak and dress like Urdu speaking people. The women are all dressed up in expensive Saris, Sharara, Gharara and have their faces powedered for a party at all times. Even the maids in their castle speak Bamahavra Urdu. I can not understand such things but according to my mother you need to give them a little free hand to create beautiful scenarios that people could love. But why people can not love a real feudal family? Like there were classic PTV dramas Marvi and Waris that depicted the lives of feudal families quite accurately and people loved those dramas.

I agree with my mother that Dil Diya Dehleez is a wonderful drama. It has nice background music, original soundtrack with some great semi-classical songs such as “kahay ko tu yaad aay sajanya” and “Jhotay teray naina”. I feel that the glamour in this drama is different from what we see on other TV channels and Star Plus. It has nice dialogues, a well written script and since it is based on a best selling novel we know for sure that it has a plot and the director Yasir Nawaz knows exactly how to handle the story. There is that typical Pakistani simplicity in the story. It is a story of Honour, dignity, pride, sacrifice and love. But I think that such stories are common every where. The question is still unanswered, What are the elements necessary to make a great Pakistani Television Drama? I feel that by answering this question we can tell a lot about our National Character.