Islamabad capital of Pakistan is among most beautiful capital cities in the world, diplomats do not feel like leaving Islamabad once they are appointed here by their respective countries, literacy ratio in Islamabad is 100%, its lush green mountains, water streams and vallies are a big tourist attraction, since last two days I am here, I have reached Islamabad during the night at 28th July 2007, on 29th I am placed here in hotel by my host organization, I had met an age old Journalist, Mr. Abdullah today in the morning who took birth in 1938 and have joined Associated Press of Pakistan in 1965 and is still working for it as correspondent in Sahiwal district of Punjab province of Pakistan, he has said that feudal of Pakistan does not want spread of education among their tenants, if their voters became educated they will not elect these corrupt and character less feudal,
he has blamed feudal elites of Pakistan that they had assured Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of their support but they did nothing to save his life, he has also narrated a scene of Bhutto’s arrival in Sahiwal district where he had ordered notables of Sahiwal district to stand in a row, lined up notables one by one came before Bhutto, their hands were tied before their bellies as mark of respect and they were uttering the same sentence in which they all were assuring Mr. Bhutto about their loyalty to him. That age old correspondent of APP is a fan of ex president of Pakistan Field Marshal Muhammad Ayube Khan, who had built new federal capital city Islamabad.
During late in the evening my bureaucrat cousin has paid visit to me in my hotel room, he has just arrived back from China, during conversation with me he has revealed that Chinese common people are no more having good opinion about Pakistan, he has further revealed that laptops of inferior quality labeled as IBM are abundant in the market in China at the price of thousand Yuan per piece, but many buyers had a real bad experience with these cheap laptops, because, those laptops were just toys, their key boards have refused to print any word on their screens, so he was unable to buy one for me from China for which I had asked. When I came down to see him off till his car, suddenly two European or probably American beauties have appeared on the track, despite of last month bloodshed in Islamabad foreign tourists are visiting Islamabad. My hotel where I got a stay is located in an area which was a battle ground between government forces and Lal mosque militants, life has returned to normal in Islamabad now, I can see through the tinted mirrors of my hotel room, people are busy doing their routine tasks.
Today is 30th of August 2007 I just came back from the holiday Inn hotel Islamabad where the Conference was held, in its opening session Minister of Information Mr. Durrani has graced the occasion, Journalists working for Associated Press of Pakistan have attended the session, Minister has accepted the demands forwarded to him by Journalists, in his speech honourable Minister has proved the he deserves the position which he has acquired and quite capable of understanding the needs of Journalists working for an official news agency, and is able to upgrade the institution.
Closing session of the conference was addressed by Secretary Information Mr.Anwer Mehmood, he has revealed exact figures of revenues collected by present regime of President Parvez Musharaf this year, which are 840 billion rupees much higher then ever before collected by any government in Pakistan, 17 billion dollars are export earnings and GDP is now 140 billion dollars, debts are 40 billion dollars. It is all due to policies of present government that Pakistan has become a rich country now, he has also approved all the demands forwarded to him by Journalists, most of correspondents of APP have also demanded protection from harassment and other tactics used in third world countries commonly to stop journalists from doing their duties. Managing Director APP Mr. Riaz Hussain Ray has not only increased the monthly remunerations of correspondents but also has accepted their demand regarding payment through their respective bank accounts during first week of every month.
Submitted by
Abdur Raziq