Showing posts with label Festivals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Festivals. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Peace returns to Malam Jabba
Malam Jabba – the biggest ski resort in Pakistan has seen its good days and bad days. Good days when it was a thriving ski resort for the skiing enthusiasts of Pakistan and even attracted enthusiast from abroad. Located in the Karakoram mountain range and some 40 km from the town of Saidu Sharif in the Swat Valley, the resort was established due to joint efforts of the governments of Pakistan and Austria. Besides ski slope of about 800m with the highest point of the slope 2804m (9200 ft) above sea level, the Malam Jabba Ski Resort was equipped with modern facilities including roller/ice-skating rinks, chair lifts, skiing platforms, telephones and snow clearing equipment. The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation had a beautiful hotel constructed at the foot of the ski slopes.
The bad news came when the ski resort was badly damaged during 2008 when militants took control of the area. After Pakistan Army’s successful operation, and control over the area, the resort is under repair and renovation and is thus closed for the tourists for now.
And the good news again is that the resort has been restored and a 5-days peaceful skiing gala is being organized by the PaRRSA (the Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority) of the Khyber Pakhtunkwa province from 26-30 January 2011. It may be mentioned here that after cleansing the area from militancy by the Pakistan army, an “Aman Mela (Peace Fair)” was held in Swat in July last year, which attracted over 40,00 thousand tourists beside a huge participation by the locals.
Besides being a tourist and skiing resort, Malam Jabba also assumes significance from the fact that there are to Buddhists stupas and six monasteries that are located close by the resort. These monasteries dating back to some 2,000 years are also an added tourist attraction for the skiers and spectators.
Friday, December 24, 2010
25th December – the birthday of the Christ and Quaid
Unlike the Christian world, for whom there is no prophet to revere after the Christ, we the Muslims have same respect as we have for any prophet that came to this world before Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him). For us, the birthday of a prophet is as respectful as it is for his followers.
So Happy Christmas to all Christians around the globe. And I wish everyone peace, love, prosperity and all the happiness in life. When I went to market today, I saw lot of rush on shops selling Christmas trees....
Friday, September 10, 2010
Eid Moon Sighting and Eid Mubarak
Which should I take first? OK let us start from the good wishes – Happy Eid to all my viewers. The Eid ul Fitr is to be celebrated in Pakistan partly on 10th September (that is today) and largely on 11th (to coincide with the famous 9/11 thing) tomorrow.
Now how come there are two Eids? This is not the first time that this difference of opinion has occurred – rather it is repeated every year. The controversy starts from the northern part of Pakistan interestingly, which is far above in north than Saudi Arabia, where the moon sighting takes place earlier than the rest of the world above Saudi Arabia geographically.
Whenever the difference of opinion occurs, I always refer to Moonsighting.Com, which I believe give some scientific explanation of the occurrence of the new moon. Now as per the details given at the website, there was no chance of seeing occurrence of moon on 8th September. However on 9th September (as can be seen on the map), there was a minute chance of seeing the moon on the south-eastern tip of Pakistan with naked eye. While almost the entire Sind and half of the Balochistan could see the moon with the use of optical aids. The rest of Pakistan could have seen the moon with extreme use of optical aids only. That means the moon was there on 9th of September and the Moon Sighting Committee stationed in Quetta yesterday had all the chances to see it, if they “wanted” to see it. They did not announce the “sighting of the moon” despite some 19 authentic evidences received from Mardan, Charsadda, Shabqadar and other areas, confirming the sighting of Shawwal moon.
So the question is why didn’t they see it? With all the optical devices given to the committee, the failed to see the moon. Probably, they were averting an official Eid on Friday, which according to some superstitions is “heavy” for the sitting government, which is even otherwise under clouds and is suffering from a credibility issue. Or else their devices are so weak or the lenses were not properly cleaned which could allow a clear view of the skyline. Or maybe they wanted an Eid exactly on 9/11 for some unknown reasons.
So Happy Eid to those who are celebrating Eid today (1oth of September) and to rest of others (including me) who would celebrate the official Eid tomorrow. And I also do hope that till next year we find a credible mechanism of moon sighting to rid the country from the agonizing wait and celebrating two Eids every year.
