Buildings falling in Karachi: why should we be surprised?

 It was in 1969 or early 1970 that a contractor took me to see what is called a "peer" (pronounced like "peel"). I was not well and he told me that just looking at the "peer" would turn me into a new man. The man lived in a dilapidated building somewhere in Saddar, and at first I hesitated, but the contractor told me not to worry, the building would remain standing as long as the holy man lived there, which was in a poorly constructed shed on the roof. Needless to say, looking at the saint did not have any effect on me, but I'm mentioning this episode to point out that even in those days, violations of the building code were breezily taking place, even though not as frequently as today.

The day before yesterday a building fell in the old city area of Lyari, killing many people (27 bodies have so far been taken out of the rubble, twenty of them belonging to a Hindu family). The authorities had given permission for only two floors, but the builder had constructed another floor, so when it was decided to demolish the third floor, the builder went ahead and made two other floors and a penthouse, further endangering the building. 

Another building (one with eight floors) nearby has developed cracks and is in danger of collapsing, but its residents have refused to leave, even though electricity, gas and water have been disconnected. It is reported that there are about a thousand such structures in the city that need to be demolished. More tragedies are sure to follow. 

Four witnesses

 Published in The News on April 7, 2007

I’m amused by the Council of Islamic Ideology’s declaration that four witnesses are required to prove adultery. For one thing, no one in his right mind would commit adultery in full view of four males. Secondly, adultery means different things to different people. In the wild north, a woman is liable to be stoned to death or shot if she’s caught talking to a man who is not her father, brother or uncle. So they should remove that caveat about confessing to adultery being sufficient for conviction.

If I were hauled to a police station or kidnapped by the heavily veiled female students of the Jamia Hafsa, I would confess to any crime, even the murder of the first prime minister of the country (although I was only seven years old at the time) to save myself from being tortured.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/49614-four-witnesses

 

Unholy deeds

Published in Khaleej Times on January 9, 2006

I NEVER thought I would see the day when Muslim fundamentalists and those on the other side would see eye-to-eye on any issue. Mr Sharon’s stroke and coma are seen as divine retribution by US Christian evangelist Pat Robertson for “trying to divide the land of Israel.” Jewish fundamentalists say the same thing, but according to President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran, Mr Sharon is being punished for killing thousands of Muslims. Needless to say, this is the opinion of most people in the Muslim world too. Should we not expect similar punishment for those who are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in recent times? And to avoid more suffering of Israeli politicians for causing the division of the Holy Land, why not hand over the whole territory to the original inhabitants (the Palestinians)?

—Shakir Lakhani,

Karachi, Pakistan

Boeing hired Indian software engineers at US$ 9.00 an hour!

Published in DAWN on July 01, 2025

THIS is with reference to the editorial ‘Air India tragedy’ (June 15) which stated that Boeing had reached an agreement with the United States Justice Department to pay $1.1bn to avoid prosecution for the two widely reported 737-MAX crashes. Boeing has a history of trying to cut costs, and for this purpose it outsourced to Indian engineers the development of its 737-MAX planes, paying them only nine dollars an hour because their American engineers would have charged $35-40 an hour, as reported by IndustryWeek, which quoted Mark Rabin, a former software engineer.

Rabin, while talking about Indian engineers’ lack of competence, said: “The coders … were typically designing to specifications set by Boeing. Still, it was controversial because it was far less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code. Frequently, it took many rounds going back and forth because the code was not done correctly.”

Also, an Indian company, Hindustan Computers Ltd (HCL), played a major role in the development of the 787 Dreamliners, one of which crashed recently less than a minute after take-off from Ahmedabad.

The teams investigating the crash should seriously consider all the relevant background while looking into the incident.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1921317/dangerous-option

"Celebrating" the sacred month of Muharram

Western writers know very little about Islam, so they say that Shia Muslims celebrate Muharram when in fact it is not something to celebrate about. The proper word would be "mourn". As I've said before, I have nothing against Shias (or even Hindus and other no-Muslims), but I do think that the way they observe this month is not quite right. Their chest-beating and self-flagellation, for instance, is incomprehensible, as well as their mourning processions that shut down entire cities.

There was a time, for instance, when all female employees (even Sunnis) of Pakistan TV had to wear black and cover their heads in the first ten days of Muharram, acting as if they'd just embraced Shiaism. Most Shias used to believe that the surest way to get to heaven was to do something that would hurt Sunni Muslims (I know this from personal experience, a Shia government officer deliberately got my salt factory shut down in the sacred month).

Shias of course believe that the ancestors of today's Sunnis killed Hussain, while I used to know many Sunnis who said that it was the ancestors of Shias who did it. I wish they would stop indulging in such fights and get united. I've known many Shias who act like normal human beings even in the first ten days of this month, they don't get upset when a Sunni man says "Assalam Alaikum" to them, but of course there aren't many of them. Most of them are busy mourning.

  

Iran Israel war ends with a whimper

Embed from Getty Images

Just when it was getting interesting, the 12-day war ended with a whimper after Iran fired six missiles at the US base in Qatar. All flights to the Gulf states were cancelled, and I'm sure most people in Qatar and UAE spent a sleepless night wondering if they would be killed. But then, Trump realized that if the war lasted longer, it could get out of hand and spread throughout the Middle East.

So at first sight it looks like Iran was the victor. Israel lost because it wasn't able to kill Khamenei, Iran is still capable of making the bomb (although a "dirty" one at present), and the Iranian people didn't overthrow their government. Besides all this, Israel also suffered immense damage, as its Iron Dome was not able to protect it from Iranian missiles. Israelis must be wondering why they have to pay such heavy taxes if they are not safe from Iranian missiles.

What I don't understand is why Iran had to inform the US and Qatar that it was going to send missiles towards the latter. All six missiles were intercepted and shot down. This proves that Iran was also eager to stop the war, perhaps because it would soon have run out of missiles. 

The only winner appears to be the US. Rulers of Arab states must be thanking their stars that they have US soldiers to protect them. If the bases hadn't been there, it wouldn't have taken Iran simply walk in and overthrow their corrupt regimes. And Trump is now closer to getting the Nobel peace prize.

Trump's attack on Iran: start of the Third World War?

It's now evident that Trump cannot be trusted. Israel attacked Iran while talks were still ongoing with the US. Trump, despite saying that he would wait two weeks before deciding whether to attack Iran or not, bombed Iran within two days (while Iran was negotiating with EU countries and only a day after Pakistan recommended that he should be awarded the Nobel peace prize!). Trump evidently thinks that the Iranian public will thank him!

I'm amazed that Trump can be so stupid. Suppose it had been Iran attacking the US: would he have quietly surrendered? So why does he expect Iranian leaders to do so? 

Arab leaders are making a big mistake. They should break off diplomatic relations with Israel and support Iran. If they don't, Israel will not stop until it's occupied all Arab countries. 

One thing we now know: Pakistan should increase spending on its defence. Iran is weak because it subsidized prices of essential items so its people would support its authoritarian government. It should have acquired latest weapons to defend itself.

Indians amazed at Pakistan's influence on Trump

Finally, Indians have realized that they can't fool Americans all the time. They planned and executed the failed attack on Pakistan, but found that the world did not accept their reasons for doing so. Now, with the Israel Iran war entering its second week, US President Trump did not ask for their advice, but invited Pakistan's army chief for consultations on how to proceed in the war. Immediately after the two hour lunch with Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir ended, Trump announced a delay of two weeks before he would decide whether to enter the war against Iran. Indians are flabbergasted, and their political analysts are accusing Muslim-killer Modi for his failed foreign policy (as well as the debacle of its failed attack on Pakistan). Modi must be wondering what went wrong.

Of course, Modi is not the only one spending sleepless nights. The traitors in our midst, Imran Khan and his cronies, are wondering why the millions they spend every month lobbying against our army have not worked. Even when the Field Marshal was there, they staged demonstrations against him and the army. I hope he rots in his prison cell until he dies.

Why some businessmen are reluctant to pay tax

A few years back I was explaining the benefits of paying income tax to some Memon businessmen. Of course, I've been paying income tax since 1967 (58 years ago), but when I found that getting a visa for the UK and other countries, it is necessary to be registered with the FBR and file income tax returns (even if you don't earn anything), I got my wife registered and we immediately got visas for the UK, Singapore, etc. Despite this, the Memons were not convinced. One of them said, "Once you start paying income tax, they will harass you no end, they will come to your office and try to find some mistake in your accounts so they can extract bribes from you".

He was, of course, telling the truth. I remember once getting a notice for a huge amount from a lady income tax officer (she is a non-Muslim). Without giving any reason, she got my company's bank accounts frozen, and the income tax consultant took quite a lot of money to operate our accounts again.

This is why the system is so rotten. The income tax officer can do anything and will never have to face accountability for any illegal activity. So, when People's Party representatives in parliament objected to giving sweeping powers to FBR officials to arrest people, I understood their concerns (even though our politicians are highly corrupt). Until and unless FBR officials are told that they cannot act without proof and they will be tried for using their powers to harass innocent people without proof, businessmen will be reluctant to pay tax.

 

Mystery of the missing Indian female pilot

During last month's Indian attack on Pakistan, Indian army and airforce claimed that all the pilots returned safely. But they have yet to explain why their female Rafale pilot (Shivangi Singh) has not been seen since after the war ended. Earlier, a video clip had gone viral showing a woman surrendering after parachuting down to a place which was obviously in northern Pakistan. Later, the Governor of Pakistan's KP province had claimed that she was in Pakistan's custody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSQIm72qHBQ). Later, the Al-Jazeera TV channel also reported the same thing.

But when asked if she was in Pakistan's custody, the Pakistan army spokesman denied it, claiming that someone had spread this news on social media. 

On Facebook, worried Indians are asking Modi to clarify whether she's dead or in Pakistan, but they are not getting any response from Modi (the butcher of Gujarat).

I suppose if the Indian leader admits that she's dead or in Pakistan, it will prove that he and his army has been lying about the war. No sane Indian would then believe him when he says that the four day war achieved its objective.