So then, December is upon us, another year has gone by in the Fatherland's struggle to keep its head above water, to be accepted as another half-civilised country in the comity of nations.

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PICK up any Urdu textbook and the chances are that it will endorse the following myths: (a) the term 'Urdu' means military camp. Our language is called 'Urdu' because it was created in the army camps of the Mughals especially during the reign of Shah Jahan;

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KARACHI: Pakistan's television networks are heaping political pressure on an increasingly unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari with critical and influential programming that offers a voice to the poor. In the decade since military ruler Pervez Musharraf issued licences and so …

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Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.

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PESHAWAR: Fazal Raheem, the cop who stopped a suicide bomber at the entrance of the Judicial Complex on Thursday, is no longer in this world, but he has kept his words.

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A previously undiscovered letter written by one of India's best known female rebels against British colonial rule has been found by academics. The letter was written by Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi, shortly before the Indian mutiny - or first war of independence - in 1857.

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KARACHI: Recently, when the top official of Sindh who also belongs to a leading political party was asked whether it was due to government and police 'efficiency' that terrorists had not been able to strike Karachi, he admitted, on condition of anonymity, that 'although we  …

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The tragedy of those from Punjab and Bengal, who had no choice but to leave their houses in a hurry or be killed by insane mobs, is even more heart wrenching. There is hardly a Punjabi home on either side of the border that didn't experience the searing tragedy of the partition.

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Baluch, Sindhis to protest Musharraf in Houston

Baluch and Sindhis are joining hands to protest against Pakistan military atrocities and state terrorism in Baluchistan when former coup leader General Pervez Musharraf comes to speak at an event in Houston on Saturday morning.

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Report Suggests Pakistani Envoy In Washington Has Issued 360 Visas To Americans In One Month Without Consulting Islamabad...

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Its upsetting. The sex trade is rising in Pakistan. Reasons range from poverty, to being forced (by relatives) to out of choice. The clients from Islamabad raised an eyebrow... By Mona Rana for the BBC Urdu news service.

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Polish now the second language spoken in Scottish Schools

For the first time ever the second language spoke most in Scottish schools is Polish in 19 local authorities across the country.

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Britain is multilingual yet there are few teachers of community languages and even fewer training courses. Spanish, French and Latin are considered to be prestigious qualifications but community languages are often dismissed as irrelevant or second rate...

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"The most ominous warning of all for Bhutto came from the federal railways minister, Sheik Rashid Ahmad. He accused her of "raising the flag of imperialism" (i.e., Bush administration support), which means she 'will have to face suicide attacks.

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The Musalman is the world's last remaining handcrafted newspaper. The pages are prepared by master calligraphers, writing in Urdu - both the language & the art of calligraphy are threatened by the digital age.

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"SIPHON" the short film is now online

The short film SIPHON has been released and is freely available (and downloadable) online now in both Flash and QuickTime versions at the following address:

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Indian Language Wikipedias

Indian language Wikipedias are growing slowly. The main reason for slow progress could be that most of the computers in India are pre-WinXP and do not have support for Unicode. Another reason could be the lack of (awareness of) tools to type Indian language scripts on computer.

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