Working Man’s Death - Brothers

Pakistani men use little more than their bare hands to dismantle an abandoned oil tanker for scrap metal.

(video via jawsmusictheme)

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The SMS-based social networking service enables users to gather local and international information on their phones, free of cost, without using the internet.

IT-savvy Shahzad has been into developing programmes and websites ever since he was in grade six. This hobby transformed into passion and helped him achieve a lot at a very young age.

Smile SMS – the first of its kind service launched in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – operates similar to Facebook, however, the only difference is that an internet connection is required for Facebook, while Smile SMS can be used without it.

“This service helps you update your status, let your friends comment on it and make new friends,” said Shahzad. “In K-P, not a lot of people have access to the internet, so I thought of developing a unique programme for them.” Read More

(via  zushan)

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hopingpakistan:

Mir Zafar Ali is a Pakistani visual effects specialist who has brought Oscars and BAFTA awards to Pakistan, for his visual effects in 2007’s “The Golden Compass”, which even beat “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Transformers” released in the same year. 

He has also been associated with visual effect treats such as “X-Men: First Class”, Spiderman III (for his character “Venom”) (2007), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Land of the Lost (2009), Ghost Rider (2007), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), and Monster House (2006). Monster House is part of the American Film Institute’s Top 10 animated films for the year 2006. It was also nominated for an Oscar for the best animated film, as well as a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award, but failed to win any of them. Spiderman too was nominated for a BAFTA, Annie Award and a Saturn Award (by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films) 

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Asfandyar Khan - About her

Shot at 968th death anniversary of Sufi Saint Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery (Data Gunj Baksh) 990-1077 in Lahore, Pakistan.

Artist: Asfandyar Khan (check/buy his music: asfandyarkhan.bandcamp.com)
Track: About her
Director: Usman Malik
Post-Production: tisvr Media Studios (tisvr.com)
Shot on Canon 7D with 50mm and 15-85mm lenses.
Photos from the event can be found here: flickr.com/photos/ujmi/sets/72157628980808247/

Ladies and gentlemen, finally I am ready to share my first music video with you. I know I could do things different, but it was a pretty spontaneous shoot. Looking forward to your comments and critique. (via umalik)

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First ever Pakistani Woman for Order of British Empire honor in UK

Ansari, of Queen’s Walk, South Ruislip, had absolutely no idea about the magnitude of her achievements and was surprised to know about her inclusion in the New Year Honours List for her services to Muslim women in the UK. The 51-year-old spent 22 years working as a producer for the BBC’s World Service, but decided to quit in 2006 to pioneer the Ethnic Minority Foundation’s (EMF) Muslim Women’s Project.

In the last six years with EMF, Ansari has helped thousands of Muslim women learn basic English and IT skills. “I was shocked because I could never imagine that something like this would happen,” Ansari told the Gazette. “I did a lot of work for Muslim women to get them a basic education. I think it has made a lot of difference in families and not just for individuals. There are communities that have been living here for 30 or 40 years but they need confidence.”

According to ruislip.uxbridgegazette.co.uk, centres have been established in Bolton, Bristol, Bradford, Leicester and London. Ansari said that because of government cuts, the project no longer had any of its own classrooms, but was able to use libraries as academic spaces instead. “It is a difficult time but I won’t stop, I am not retiring anytime soon,” she vowed.

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KARACHI: Consistent taste and “word of mouth” is what has taken Student Biryani, a brand of Café Student, from a small roadside vendor to one of Pakistan’s fastest growing franchise networks. The Karachi-based food outlet – after attracting notable traffic in Dubai – now wants to test North American and European markets; extend its Gulf network through global franchising.

Established by Haji Muhammad Ali in 1969, the eatery – a favourite biryani restaurant for most, if not all, Karachiites – with a 15% return rate, continues to expand disregarding investors concerns about energy crises and poor law and order.

Student Biryani’s network is spread over 26 outlets (12 branches and 14 franchise restaurants) in Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Dubai. It is adding one more outlet – a takeaway restaurant – in Boat Basin, Karachi this December while also finalising the launch of its first restaurant in Islamabad, to be operational early next year.

There is no better market for the business than Pakistan, Ali’s son and company director, Muhammad Arif believes. “There are more opportunities than difficulties. Pakistan is an agriculture-based economy,” he added, “ the ingredients are a lot cheaper here.”

There are days when sales are affected due to violence in the city, Arif said, but added that the business normally does great, especially on public holidays.

Arif’s father started the business – selling homemade biryani and a few other dishes – in Saddar, Karachi. He named it Cafe Student to attract students from a host of schools and colleges that were located in the area.

This worked well for him as his first customers were students and teachers who particularly liked his biryani, which dominated the business so much that it overshadowed Café’ Student, the official name.

Ali’s recipe for biryani is still the business secret for Café Student that associates its popularity partly to “the word of mouth” – publicity, as Arif puts it. The business has turned Ali’s recipe into a formula that’s centrally dispatched – mostly in the form of premixes– to all outlets to ensure that each place has the same taste, Arif said.

“We have a centrally-controlled supply chain,” Arif said, “we buy the same quality of rice to make sure the taste doesn’t change,” he added.

The love for biryani coupled with consistent taste helped the business grow significantly over the last decade. It converted its head office in Saddar to a multi-storey restaurant serving 2,500 to 3,000 customers every day – the number includes takeaway, dining-in and home deliveries.

With a continuous expansion plan, the company is now considering franchise option to meet the increasing demand for the brand.

“Franchising is the easiest and fastest way to grow your business,” Arif said. “You don’t have to invest and yet your brand name and consumer-base grows while you get royalty,” he added.

Responding to a question Arif said, one needs to invest about Rs8 million to develop a 3,000-sqaure-feet restaurant – a standard size for the business – in Pakistan. There is tremendous opportunity for this business in Pakistan; one has to be patient because it grows slowly, he added.

The company has a 15 to 1 return rate, he said, but it can vary for branches depending upon the size of the unit. The return ratio for a takeaway unit, he explained, will be different from a dining-in restaurant.

The company already has 14 franchise restaurants in the country and more are in the pipeline. The story doesn’t end here; Student Biryani is also extending its customer-base in the Middle East.

“We are almost ready to open our first branch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,” Arif said, adding, “We have another branch in the pipeline for Sharjah; we will launch it soon.”

The majority of customers in Dubai are Indians, Arif said, he is, therefore, personally interested in entering the Indian market as well.

The company is in the final stages to give the go-ahead for three franchisees one each in the US, UK and Dubai. They are expected to launch their operations very soon, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2011. (via pakistank2)

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tibor-1:

Gasherbrum - IV, Karakoram Range, Baltistan, Pakistan

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Niaz Murtaza

Starting small, Pakistan could initially help entrepreneurs climb the technological ladder within existing export sectors where it is currently restricted to low-end products, e.g. textiles; then help domestically cost-efficient sectors, e.g. petrochemicals, become export-competitive; and then finally tackle other challenging sectors.

Pakistani governments have shown some finesse recently in delivering reasonable quality municipal services. Such sophisticated economic engineering could, with some effort, be the next step in their intellectual and managerial growth.

contd….

(via  pak-socioeconomy)

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A woman bike rider about to get a ticket in Lahore

What is wrong with this picture? Well check the facial expressions of the young boy on back of the other bike - he is CONFUSED!

That girl however might just be the new Pakistani super heroine! 

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These are Pakistani policewomen. The lady on the right is wearing delicate henna on her hands, and both submissive Muslim women are wearing a girlish lace-trim on their encumbering headscarves. (via muslimswearingthings)

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