BREAKING UP HURTS just like PHYSICAL PAIN

AFTER A MONTH... OF SPLIT!

Love really does hurt, according to scientists, who found that breaking up can cause physical pain. Researchers discovered a genetic link between physical pain and social rejection.

Muhabbat Mukhtasar bhi ho
To usko Bhool janay may
Umr sari beet jati hay!

Psychologists at the University of California in Los Angeles have discovered that the human body deals with emotional stress in exactly the same way that it reacts to physical pain - by releasing a natural painkiller.

Believe their findings suggest that the experience felt by people is the same regardless of whether their body is injured.

The researchers measured levels of a gene used by the body to regulating the painkillers.

Researchers collected saliva samples from 122 participants to assess which form of the OPRM1 pain gene they had and then measured how they reacted to different senarios.

First, participants completed a survey that measured their own sensitivity to rejection. They were asked, for example, how much they agreed or disagreed with statements like "I am very sensitive to any signs that a person might not want to talk to me."

Then the emotions of 31 people among the group were tested when they were excluded during a virtual ball-tossing computer game.

Prof Naomi Eisenberger, the study co-author, said this overlap of physical and social pain makes perfect sense.

She said: "Because social connection is so important, feeling literally hurt by not having social connections may be an adaptive way to make sure we keep them.

"Over the course of evolution, the social attachment system, which ensures social connection, may have actually borrowed some of the mechanisms of the pain system to maintain social connections."

The same portion of the brain that is responsible for the response to physical pain became activated as a result of social rejection, suggesting that, to our brains, emotions really can “hurt.”

Their study also indicates that a variation in the "pain gene" is related to how sensitive a person is to social rejection.

Prof Eisenberger said: "Individuals with the rare form of the pain gene, who were shown in previous work to be more sensitive to physical pain, also reported higher levels of rejection sensitivity and showed greater activity in social pain-related regions of the brain when they were excluded."

This is the first time that it has been proved that genes involved in physical pain are linked to mentally painful times like social rejection and breaking up with a lover, she said.

The findings back up a previous study by the University of Queensland that indicated that descriptions of the agony of rejection as like a knife being thrust into the heart are more than just metaphors.

Dr Geoff MacDonald said it is no coincidence that people across different cultures and languages use similar terms to describe physical pain and what it feels like to be rejected.

Courtesy Telegraph

PAKISTAN'S WINDOW OF HOPE

By Syed Talat Hussain

Much of Pakistan’s soft clout in Afghanistan in the coming months would be shaped by its ability to tag along with the world’s nation-building efforts. If Islamabad baulks at becoming a strong and willing partner in these, others would fill the gap

The American road-ahead policy presents Pakistan with a unique all-round policy opportunity to shape the strategic environment in Afghanistan, close festering sources of terrorism in tribal areas, and most crucially, regain broad-based clout with Washington. In other words, the ambitious multiple agenda the US has set for itself in Afghanistan, and partly also in the borders areas of Pakistan, provides exceptional room for Pakistan to make strong purposeful manoeuvres to earn solid diplomatic gains.

Take Afghanistan’s internal challenges first. Even though the US has lowered the bar for its nation-building stride, still it is committed to a tall order. In just under two years, endemic corruption has to be rooted out, drug lords’ formidable empire has to be torn down, and the economy has to be built-up and made self-sufficient. This is not all. In this tight time-frame, administrative efficiency has to reach a level where all of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts must have, in the words of General James Jones, the national security advisor, “economic development, good governance, and security”. Also included in the dreamland of benchmarks are “good and competent governors” for all the 34 provinces of the country.

It would be a miracle if even a fraction of this wish list comes true, especially by a weak and politically emaciated president whose second term election President Obama believes was marred by fraud. But Pakistan should resist the temptation of being the Jeremiah, the prophet of doom. Nor prepare to dance with vicarious joy in the event that the situation in Afghanistan defies Washington’s hopefulness. Instead it should, and seriously, partner in these efforts regardless of whether these are doomed to failure or destined for success. It is obvious that to make the first review of the progress in Afghanistan — in the middle of next year perhaps — a worthwhile exercise, the Obama administration will pull every stop to bring about visible change in all these indicators. Therefore, Washington is likely to be far more receptive to productive suggestions on pursuing its development agenda from other countries than it has been so far. Pakistan can step in with plans that enhance Afghans’ capacity to move in the right direction — infrastructure, education, agriculture, irrigation, basic science, technology, water management or many of the dozens of areas where it has expertise to proffer. Much of Pakistan’s soft clout in Afghanistan in the coming months would be shaped by its ability to tag along with the world’s nation-building efforts. If Islamabad baulks at becoming a strong and willing partner in these, others would fill the gap.

Helping rebuild the Afghan National Security Force, the army and the Afghan National Police, is another area Pakistan ought to eye for gaining goodwill and diplomatic ground in Afghanistan. Many of Islamabad’s objections to the conduct of the Afghan National Army (ANA) deployed on the border with Pakistan are sound. The ANA has lived up to its reputation of being a force viscerally hostile to Pakistan. Elements from the erstwhile Northern Alliance dominate the ANA. Its members are mostly Darri and Persian speaking. They have been trained over the past many years to mistreat Pashtuns, which is part of the problem in Afghanistan.

While this history makes them structurally inimical to Pakistan, the fact remains that for the Obama administration to build a truly national army, the institution’s ethnic imbalance shall have to be rectified. Pashtuns, former Taliban, even the personal armies of warlords, have to be integrated into the national army to become viable and take over responsibility of stabilising Afghanistan and paving the way for the start of the pull out of US troops. It is not known yet how much Washington would be willing to allow the Pakistan army to team up in efforts to train the ANA. However, for an Afghan force to be functional and effective in the south and the east of Afghanistan, its ethnic composition has to be such that Pakistan’s contribution to its training must be welcomed in any serious effort in building it up along strong durable lines.

At any rate, Pakistan must make a solid gesture on this project: ditto should be done on Afghan police reforms. Remember, Pakistan cannot afford to be left out of the efforts to create institutions that would play a critical role in defining Afghanistan’s trajectory in the coming months. Also, international confidence that an Afghan national security force has come of age will help endorse Pakistan’s long-standing argument that the prospects of durable peace are inversely related to foreign troop level in Afghanistan. They will have to leave for peace to be fully restored and the Afghan resistance to be neutralised politically. Then there is the issue of safe havens inside North Waziristan and the presence of the Quetta Shura in Balochistan. On the face of it, the room for agreement between Washington and Islamabad is the least on this benchmark. US officials believe removing these sanctuaries is the first and foremost task to bring about a strategic shift in violence in Afghanistan.

Members of Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment see the ‘safe havens’ refrain a stratagem Washington and its allies use to hide their long and spectacular military failure inside Afghanistan to stem the rising tide of the resistance. Beneath this mutual recrimination, however, lies the hard fact that Pakistan and the US have consistently cooperated with each other in combating cross-border movement of the Taliban. Their military operations, not always conceived in perfect harmony, have seen both parties alternately play the hammer and the anvil to smash and squeeze the militants moving across. In the last surge-related operation in Helmand, Pakistan ended up sealing a long stretch of the border with Afghanistan to disallow any spillover effect. A much deeper and wider cooperation will be required to manage far bigger and bloodier operations in the coming weeks.

It is in Pakistan’s core national interest to ensure that safe havens do not become Washington’s excuse for pinning the blame for poor performance in the battles with the Taliban on us. It also serves Pakistan’s paramount security concerns that the wild militant groups in the tribal belt are brought under the heel. The new and vicious wave of urban terrorism has rendered useless the distinction between North and South Waziristan militancy. Government officials themselves admit that much of this terrorism is now flowing out of Mir Ali. This is where Wali ur Rehman, Hakeemullah Mehsud and the other big fish are. Cleaning up this area is critical to making operation Rah-e-Nijat relevant to securing the people from the game of death the terrorists are playing. A hard hit at these safe havens will also take the US pressure off Pakistan and give Islamabad and Washington time to plan about the Quetta Shura.

Pakistani policy makers have a substantial window of opportunity to make wise choices — something they did not do when George W Bush and his neo-con cabal were sending forces into Afghanistan. Pervez Musharraf’s thoughtlessness landed the country in a heap of unintended problems. This nation cannot afford a repeat of a similar mistake now that Washington is seriously thinking about going home.

The writer is a leading Pakistani journalist who is ‘serious and committed’ in media industry of Pakistan

Courtesy Daily Times, Thursday December 10, 2009

CULTURAL COLOURS OF CHOLISTAN ...

This news item published in Daily Times, Wednesday, Dec 09, 2009 is dedicated to one of my venerated friend belongs to Bahawalpur.

PNCA displays textile crafts of Bahawalpur
By Mahtab Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Southern Punjab has a distinguished tradition of arts and crafts, which its people have retained in spite of the passage of time. For centuries the Punjabis are making intricate needle work, woven fans and mats, handmade bed sheets and cushions and many more handy works to choose from.

To promote this indigenous handcrafted works and develop textile industries of Bahawalpur by involving local crafts people, especially women to provide economic empowerment of the area, Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in collaboration with UNESCO and Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) on Tuesday held an exclusive exhibition of needle crafts from Bahawalpur at National Art Gallery (NAG).

Tauqir Nasir, PNCA, DG was the chief guest on the occasion, while Capt (r) Mazhar Hameed, Regional Manager (RM) Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) and UNESCO officials were also present on the occasion. However, because of deteriorating law and order situation, the gathering remained very thin.

The exhibition displayed the artwork by the artisans from remote areas of Southern Punjab region and in Particular from Bahawalpur. Cholistani hand fans, carpets, ladies suits (block prints with vegetable dyes), bed sheets (block prints with vegetable dyes), crinkle (cross stitch and Banarsi stitch), towels, table mats, ladies and men kurtay, cushions, table sheets, ladies suits (Zardozi, Tarakashi and thread embroidery), scarves, cotton men’s wear, handmade shoes, women’s wear (block print and Sussi), crinkle Chiffon (with Gota work), Sandwich covers, Bed sheets (traditional Ralli pattern in traditional colours and styles), and a wide range of Choli and Ghagra (tie and die) were put on display with price tags.

All handmade items especially the needle work on textile appreciated by a number of people, who considered it a symbol of Southern Punjab culture that is effectively used as a tool for poverty alleviation on one side and promotion and development of colourful culture on the other.

UNESCO director Tarja Virtanen, who was unable to attend the ceremony because of worsening law and order situation, in her speech read out on the occasion said that Pakistan has a tremendous potential to become a leading player in the cultural industries. “The country’s rich traditions in craft and design have delighted people through generations and have become sought after items of value in world markets,” Tarja said.

She said culture is a treasure, a resource commonly available to all and free of costs, and cannot be separated, as it is the identity of a region. “Whether it is the potter working on the roadside of GT Road or a woman of Cholistan laboring diligently on their needlework, one can not help noticing and marveling at the look of pride on their faces as they are no less than Sadequain, Guljee, or Anna Molka, when they spoke of their most cherished work. She said that Norway has given them additional funds to conduct pilot activities to demonstrate the value of cultural mapping in NWFP and Punjab under the title of ‘Mapping of Cultural Assets in NWFP and the Punjab’. “Our programmes on handicrafts or cultural industries are geared towards quality assurance and providing access to the artisans to potential markets, therefore we invariably link these activities with UNESCO Awards of Excellence Programme, to encourage crafts persons” Tarja said.

PNCA DG Tauqir Nasir said that this exhibition is all about the colours of Cholistan area that has its own rich culture and tradition. “Long ago, I visited Derawar Fort and Cholistan desert, and while spending my time there, I felt different modes of colours in its ambience. The colours ranging from soft to scarlet, everything reflected diversification of cultural richness of the region,” Nasir said.

For edited published version, please click on the link below
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\09\story_9-12-2009_pg11_11

WANTED: LEADERS WITH INTEGRITY

Wanted: leaders with integrity
By Andleeb Abbas

You only feel humiliated if you have the capacity to feel. The egos of our politicians are so big that they have blinded them to their own reality. They do not see the rightful and do not feel the painful

Leaders with integrity are an endangered species in Pakistan; in fact they are almost on the verge of extinction. The painful process of seeing the same faces shamelessly denying proven facts, making promises which are broken as a matter of routine, and continuing to use and abuse their political positions has become an agony the public can no longer bear. The fact that the president of this country has merrily and unabashedly announced that his position gives him amnesty despite the lapsing of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is an admission of the fact that his title is the only thing saving him from prosecution; this ‘exemplary’ leadership has set the pattern for many of his ministers to follow.

Politics and politicians in this country have become a joke; you really do not know whether to laugh or cry at the totally bizarre character and behaviour of the majority of the politicians around. They rant raucously, they lie unscrupulously and they cheat ruthlessly. Here is how the politician eligibility criteria goes in Pakistan: to qualify for a seat of power, your major qualifications are a graduate certificate from nowhere; you need to have tonnes of experience in hoodwinking, law breaking and leg pulling; your major skills are a fierce determination to put your self-interest above the interest of all else and a ferocious dedication to prove that wrong is right. Being insensitive and callous are of course bonus traits that will ensure your survival under the most penetrative and conclusive media attacks on your performance and behaviour (our Minister of Interior has abundantly proven how sans heart and soul he is while repeating again and again that “it is not possible to stop these terrorists” and thus advises patience to people who see their loved ones being massacred haplessly). Some additional pluses are their unbounded potential and talent at mudslinging and character assassination of all who oppose them; such abusive retaliatory powers will win you accolades from your party leaders; their personal integrity should be zero while their professional corruptibility should be hundred percent. With this lethal combination of qualification, experience and skills, you stand a very bright chance of coming into parliament again and again as every time you are in power you enhance these qualifications to a level where you become a veteran of politics at its filthiest.

The crowning glory for these highly eligible individuals is the NRO. The NRO is like an ISO-9000 certification for corruption of the highest quality level. The NRO list shows a total of 8,041 people. 7,793 high ups from Sindh have benefitted from the NRO, promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on October 5, 2007.

The NRO is a distinguished list. Befittingly, the leader of the country is leading the list from the front. From the SGS and Cotecna, to ARY Gold, to Pakistan Steel Mills, to the Awami Tractor Scheme, the president has really led the way.

Following suit are prominent leaders like Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Mir Baz Khetran, Sindh provincial minister Agha Siraj Durrani and Senator Jehangir Badar, Salman Farooqi, secretary-general to the president, Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington Hussain Haqqani and Wajid Shamsul Hasan, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom are all in line for this unique honour.

The MQM is the second highest accused party. Altaf Hussain had 72 cases against him, including 31 on murder and 11 on attempt to murder charges. Dr Farooq Sattar, the MQM’s parliamentary leader, occupied the second slot. A total of 23 cases were withdrawn against him, including five on charges of murder and four on attempt to murder. The third biggest beneficiary appeared to be provincial minister Shoaib Bukhari of the MQM, against whom 21 cases were withdrawn, including 16 on murder and attempt to murder charges. The PML-N also figures in this illustrious list but is overshadowed by the above two stalwart parties.

In any other country such horrifying exposure would have resulted in resignations and perhaps suicides. In the recent MPA expense scandal in London, from the speaker to the accused MPAs, all resigned; though in many cases the allegations did not amount to more than a few thousand pounds, the humiliation was too much for them to take. But you only feel humiliated if you have the capacity to feel. The egos of our politicians are so big that they have blinded them to their own reality. They do not see the rightful and do not feel the painful.

It is time for justice to take its turn. The judiciary should ensure that they shake the complacence of these alleged wrongdoers and once for all change the belief of this nation that in politics one has to compromise on character and integrity. You may compromise on style and procedures, you may sacrifice on processes and practices, but you can never compromise on principles and values. What we need are leaders with integrity, leaders with dignity, leaders with courage, leaders with conviction, leaders with vision and leaders with passion. This is a nation which came into being due to leaders of integrity and this is a nation which will once again rise and shine due to people of such character. Integrity maybe a rare commodity but not an extinct reality. Let us ensure that this human minority overrules the inhuman majority.

The writer is a consultant and CEO of Franklin Covey.

Courtesy Daily Times, Dec 09, 2009

HELLO GAYS…Here’s not a gay news for you!

Gays 'will never go to heaven': cardinal

VATICAN CITY — Homosexuals and transsexuals "will never enter the kingdom of heaven", a leading Roman Catholic cardinal said on Wednesday (December 2).

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said that while the Church regarded homosexuality as an "insult to God", this did not justify discrimination against gay and transsexual people.

"Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the kingdom of heaven and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul," the cardinal said, in comments reported by the Ansa news agency.

"People are not born homosexual, they become homosexual, for different reasons: education issues or because they did not develop their own identity during adolescence. It may not be their fault, but acting against nature and the dignity of the human body is an insult to God," he said.

Barragan, the retired head of the Vatican's Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, quoted a passage from Paul's epistle to the Romans which speaks of "men committing indecent acts with other men".

"Homosexuality is therefore a sin, but this does not justify any form of discrimination. God alone has the right to judge," the cardinal said.

"We on earth cannot condemn, and as human beings we all have the same rights."

AFP

FAILURE DOESN'T MEAN.......

While reading a book named “Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do”, by Robert H. Schuller, I found something interesting about the people who are afraid of failure. I would love to share this to my dear worthy readers.

Hein Talkhiay safar say bohat tang par Munir/ Ghar ko palat hi jain gay, aisay bhi hum nahi

Mahtab Bashir
mahtabbashir@gmail.com
03335363248
03005256875
Islamabad

* Failure doesn't mean you are a failure . . . it does mean you haven't succeeded yet.

* Failure doesn't mean you have accomplished nothing . . . it does mean you have learned something.

* Failure doesn't mean you have been a fool . . . it does mean you had a lot of faith.

* Failure doesn't mean you have been disgraced . . . it does mean you were willing to try.

* Failure doesn't mean you don't have it . . . it does mean you have to do something in a different way.

* Failure doesn't mean you are inferior . . . it does mean you are not perfect.

* Failure doesn't mean you've wasted your life . . . it does mean you have a reason to start afresh.

* Failure doesn't mean you'll never make it . . . it does mean it will take a little longer.

* Failure doesn't mean God has abandoned you . . . it does mean God has a better idea?

Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do -- Robert Schuller

WOMEN FEEL MOST ATTRACTIVE AT 32

Looking like a fresh-faced twenty-something is, apparently, not all it’s cracked up to be.

Research reveals four out of ten women feel at their most beautiful at the age of 32.

The survey of British women aged between 40 and 60 found a fifth picked 40 as the age they felt happiest with their looks.

The 38 per cent who said they felt most attractive in their early thirties attributed it to the confidence gained from experience, an active love life and eating and drinking sensibly.

Celebrities who will be blowing out 32 candles this year – and no doubt feeling quite relaxed about their appearance – include model Sophie Dahl and actresses Liv Tyler and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Psychologist Dr Sandra Wheatley said the findings were a ‘very encouraging’ sign women valued their achievements as well as their looks.

She added: ‘It sounds to me like women are becoming much more swayed by personality.
‘It’s a sign that we are valued for who we are and what we are capable of, not just what is on the surface.

‘Feeling beautiful is tied in with confidence and life experience.

‘At 32, a woman has been through and survived more experiences and achieved more than at 22.

‘Women can be their own worst enemy, scrutinising each other’s weight and wrinkles.
‘But this is a really encouraging study that beauty is more than skin deep.’
The online survey of 1,500 women was carried out by Willow Water, the bottled water brand which claims to improve the skin’s appearance.

Courtesy Mail