Pervaiz Munir Alvi

Since 9/11 government of Pakistan has received roughly ten billion dollars from the USA in military and civilian aid. Half of this amount was as rent reimbursement for the use of Pakistani military facilities by the USA for her Afghanistan war efforts while the rest was as direct economic aid to Pakistan.

Bush administration had no strings attached to the funds and Government of Pakistan was free to spend the money as it deemed fit. As a result of this economic aid combined with lifting of other economic sanctions by the US, Pakistan government under President Musharraf was able to retire some of its debts, revive its economy and at the same time built up its foreign reserves. But that was mostly during the years when both the White House and the American Congress were under the Republican control.

Asma Mirza

Just saw this image published at a cricketing website with the caption:

Homeless children play cricket after being displaced by the Taliban, Swabi, Pakistan.

I say, while in Pakistan, they are not homeless.They are displaced from warm holdings of a house to harsh surroundings. Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs). They are not homeless because Pakistan is their home. And ours.

Owais Mughal

Today’s post is dedicated to the Meter Gauge Railway located in Sindh province of Pakistan, which in its hey-day, had a network of 517 kilometers of track. Today 325 km of meter gauge track, a few locomotives and some workable coaches still remain; but it is just a matter of time before this National Heritage is completely lost to oblivion.

The photo above is courtesy of Agha Waseem Ahmed and shows a class YD 2-8-2 locomotive No 518, a veteran of meter-gauge railway, now at display as a monument at Sukkur’s Pakistan Railway Museum.

I chose above photo as our title not only for its photographic quality but also for its symbolism. It shows the darkness creeping onto this once flourishing Steam Railway of Pakistan. At present, regular trains do not run on this netwrok, unless of-course some one is willing to pay for a special train charter and fuel. The rut had set in many years ago. Slow moving and aging steam trains were no match to the advent of diesel and road network.