Shame On The Wahabi Government Of Saudis. The Meddling Ayotallahs Of Iran And The Crazy Retards Of Russia. #MirMak

Shame On The Wahabi Government Of Saudis. The Meddling Ayotallahs Of Iran And The Crazy Retards Of Russia. #MirMak

CEASEFIRE IN SYRIA. Hundreds of thousands of people died in Syria. Millions are displaced. Thousands of children and women are without husbands and fathers. All for what ? So all of you can fight till your egos are satisfied and come to a ceasefire ? Why start a war when peace through ceasefire is the eventual result ? Why not talk your problems out before millions die in the name of SECTS and PSEUDO ISLAMIC VALUES. And shame on all the so called Islamic leaders who kept their mouths shut till this day either taking the side of Iran or the Saudis. You don't love Islam. You love your sect and shame on you for that. When you face Allah SOON, will you defend your sect or your DEEDS ?

This "STARTUP" Culture Will Kill Pakistan's Reputation Soon...#MirMak

This "STARTUP" Culture Will Kill Pakistan's Reputation Soon...#MirMak

Conferences, incubation centers, award ceremonies, university sponsorship, 10.8 billion speakers in Pakistan each claiming to know entrepreneurship better than Steve Jobs, funding seminars with no zero VC's, you name it and it has been going on but 98% of Pakistani startups have only done one thing and one thing alone, they have just "Started Up" and nothing else. Nobody is producing expansion from their revenues and looking for further funding based on their previous revenues. 9 out of 10 startups are imprisoned within an incubation center run by a person who himself has never started a single company and has taken it to a successful conclusion, either its run a bureaucrat hand picked up the CM of the province or somebody with a Ph.D degree in IT. A Ph.D degree in IT makes you qualified for an entrepreneurship expertise ? Are all Startups only going to deal within the IT sector ? What happened to all the other fields of business that have nothing to do with IT ?

We love to compete with India and we love to look up to America but we fail to learn from either because our national pride does not allow to learn from India and we are too impressed by America to ask questions from their entrepreneurial leaders because of the fear of looking stupid. We are "ONLY" concerned with starting up a business and not concern with growing it. Incubation centers are inducting young people for 3 months and kicking them out after the 3 month period is over with a title "Graduated From....." or "Incubated At....".

All NAB Plea Bargains For The Corrupt Should Include These Conditions. #MirMak.

All NAB Plea Bargains For The Corrupt Should Include These Conditions. #MirMak. 

 

1. They need to fly to Chitral 10 times in PIA ATRs in a month.
2. Few Pegs of Kacchi Sharab, from the same producer in the same town where 35 people died.

3. Dinner for a month at a Lahore restaurant where Aisha Mumtaz found donkey meat.
4. Forced treatment at a government hospital in Sindh interior.
5. Standing at a sidewalk in Lyari with Altaf Hussain's picture for 10 hours.
If they can survive all this then they deserve to pay 2 billion in plea bargain for a 40 billion corruption case.

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto And My Memories With Her.. (Excerpts From My Autobiography) #MirMak

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto And My Memories With Her.. (Excerpts From My Autobiography) #MirMak

As i landed back to Dubai after having performed my Hajj in 2001, i got a call from BB. Ali Jafri and BB's cousin Laleh Jafri were also present with me during Hajj and BB wanted to have a lunch for us. I jokingly said that take me to Burj Al Arab, nothing less. And with a pleasant voice she says to me, Mohammad Ali, you are a member there so you arrange a lunch for all of us at Burj Al Arab. And i jokingly replied, BB Yeh To Lainay Keh Dainay Pargaey...And we both laughed on the phone and i agreed.
Lunch was arranged at the Firoz Suite and BB wanted me to invite a few other people who were visiting Dubai those days. Amongst them were my friends Amin Fahim and Jahangir Badar. So a cozy lunch for about 15 people was arranged and Tappi tagged along as he always did with BB for many occasions. BB came with a young Bilawal, a young boy in his early teenage years, quite, a bit shy and not very talkative. We sat down for lunch and the first thing BB said to me was, Mohammad Ali (She always called me Mohammad Ali) you must have prayed for the forgiveness of your sins at the Hajj specially for being an Advisor in the Government of a dictator... And she meant every alphabet of her sentence because she demanded an answer from me. Tell me, did you ask for forgiveness ? She demanded a reply vehemently. I replied. BB i am an investment banker who loves Pakistan, i have nothing to do with political rivalries, i joined as a technocrat and i resigned as a technocrat, next time i go to Hajj i will pray for the forgiveness of all the political leaders FIRST and then for the forgiveness of common people like me. She turned to Amin and Ali Jafri and said with a smile, Kitna Taiz Hai Yeh... And we all burst out into a laugh.
While our conversation was taking place on the table, Bilawal was leaning over the glass window looking out onto the sea and BB got scared and said in a loud voice, Bilawal, move back. Do not lean over the glass. He, just as the children always do, pretended like he did not hear his mother. She in a firm tone of voice said again, Bilawal, move away from the window, your mother has spoken and she will not speak again. And with that authoritative voice reaching his ears, Bilawal stepped back within a second.
BB turned around to me again and says with a beautiful smile on her face, Ok Mr. Investment Banker, i heard that you took over an oil company called PetroSAA as its Chairman. Why do not you do business with Petroline ? (Petroline was a company of BB trading in oil registered out of Sharjah and Ali Jafri was a Director in it as well). I smiled and answered back, why dont you give me Ali and let him join PetroSAA instead of me doing business with Petroline because i can not be involved in any company owned directly or indirectly by a political leader. For a second she seemed offended but then she turned towards Ali Jafri and said. What do you say Ali ? And Ali replied its your decision BB. The conversation ended there but a few days later i received a call and BB said, take care of Ali, he is joining you in PetroSAA. And Ali did and it was an honor for all of us because he knew oil business better than many i knew in the business. I lead a delegation along with Ali to meet the PM of Thailand, Thaksin Shiniwatra and the Chief of Their Army Staff, and we signed a deal to supply two million barrels a month to Thai Petro Chemical. It was a huge deal and Ali Jafri had played the most intelligent role in it.
BB was a breed different than many politicians i have rubbed shoulders with. She was a polished and educated woman. A woman who knew international politics as well as the Pakistani politics. She was yet a simple woman, she drove around in an old 4x4. Yes an old one, a very old one in Dubai. She went herself for the grocery shopping, checking prices on items herself. Imagine an Ex PM of Pakistan doing groceries ? Going to pick up her children from the school herself ? It happens only with the western politicians but i had never seen such a thing with my own eyes about a Pakistani PM. This brave soul never knew that she would be so violently martyred in her own land. With her death came the closure of a legacy in politics of Pakistan and the beginning of a new one. Pakistan lost a great leader and some leaders gained control of Pakistan because of her death. Who lost and who won, only future will decide, and not these memoirs.

Yeh Hai Jinnah Ka Pakistan. My Message To Pakistan On QUAD E AZAMs Birthday. The Same Message I Gave On The 14th August To All Pakistanis. #MirMak.

IFTIKHAR ARIF.... What A Beautiful Surprise At Home. #MirMak

IFTIKHAR ARIF.... What A Beautiful Surprise At Home. #MirMak

I land in Karachi. Come home and I see my favourite person having dinner with the family. Iftikhar bhai is one of those people who is like family. Love listening to him for hours upon hours. 17 years onwards since I invited him for dinner when I was serving in Islamabad as an Advisor and till this day he remains family. More than family.

What I learn in his company is more than I can learn through several structured PHD Degrees. He is an ocean of knowledge and his love for me shows through his patience when I do not let him leave for hours upon hours upon hours and force him to teach me more. With a smile he says. Chalain Aur Suna Daitay Hain.

Allama Talib Jauhari, My Mohsin, My Mentor, My Friend Is Sick..Please Pray. #MirMak

Allama Talib Jauhari, My Mohsin, My Mentor, My Friend Is Sick..Please Pray. #MirMak

Only a handful of people except my family know the role Allama Talib Jauhari has played in my life for years. Ever since i faced the crisis in 1999, i had hit the bottom and this man helped me come out of it a winner. As much bottom as one could imagine. I always kept a smile on my face but inside i was dying. Nothing was reviving my inside until one day i sat down with this great scholar and a philosopher. And the process of inner enlightenment began. A journey which continues till today. I have never looked at him as a religious icon. I have always looked at him as a man who guided me through Quran. His grip on the subject was beyond comprehension.

He would come and stay at our family home in America for decades but never was i interested to spend time with him until i hit the bottom. This is how Allah puts his love in people's hearts i guess. When i was on top i thought i did not need him but when i hit the bottom, i started to talk to him about Allah SWT and why he puts people under trials. The more time i spent with him, the more we became friends. Yes, Friends. Once i was absolutely giving up on life and was living in Dubai and was talking to him on the phone in mid 2000 and this man flew over to Dubai to spend time with me. Days upon days we spent together just talking.
He was one of the biggest encouragement for me to move to Pakistan. He "Ignited" the love of my country in my heart. He brought YAQEEN in Allah in my heart. He taught me how to smile even in pain. He showed me how to be thankful even in the worst of times to Allah. And all through giving references from Quran and its Tafseer. Hours upon hours we would sit together, either at his house or mine and we would talk. I would ask questions as a student and he would answer with patience like a great teacher, with his chain smoking Dunhill in his hands. He made me promise that once i moved to Pakistan i would spread nothing but positivity and hope amongst its citizens, and i have been keeping up my promise to him for years now.
He is sick and admitted at Agha Khan Hospital. I am flying back first thing in the morning to Karachi and i request everyone to pray for this man who has never spread sectarianism, division, or politics yet he remains an icon. May Allah grant him a long and healthy life. Ameen.

No Guards. No Guns. This Urdu Speaking Is......#MirMak

 

No Guards. No Guns. This Urdu Speaking Is......#MirMak

 

For the past 18 days I have been traveling across Pakistan for speeches and business meetings. Not for a second did I have my usual "Karachi Lifestyle" with guards and guns. Lahore. Pindi. Islamabad. Peshawar. Yes even in Peshawar I felt more safe then I ever felt in Karachi. I am an Urdu speaking person and Karachi is supposed to be the pride of Urdu speaking people but why is it that I feel more safe in almost all cities of Pakistan then I feel in my own city Karachi ? Who is to be blamed ? It's us. Yes. US. We have bought the crap given to us by the so called leaders of Karachi who took our centuries of pride of being civilised Urdu speaking people and in return gave us guns, grenades, bhatta, gutka and a fake sense of deprivation. There is no deprivation. There is no hatred towards Urdu speaking people. We are all one people. All Pakistanis. Take back your city from these goons who have ruined our Urdu speaking SAQAFAT and went to hide themselves in Europe.

Benefits Of Failure...#MirMak

Benefits Of Failure...#MirMak

Yes you read it correctly. I want to talk to you about the benefits of failure that you can use to become successful. Every corner you go to, every Guru you listen to, every person who has never even been successful himself is always singing the song of the benefits of success. How silly to hear the benefits of success. Of course the benefits are obvious. You are rich, you are famous you are content, you are contributing to the society and the list can go on and on. Its like telling someone how beautiful Paris is but never telling them how to get to Paris.
Benefits of failure if used correctly can get you to your destination of success. First thing that failure will do to you will be to make you self reliant. It will make you realize that you are all alone in this world of toughness and cruelty. It will make you stronger. It will make you braver. It will give you a thought process that will lead you to success. People who are afraid to fail are the same people who can not handle success in reality yet keep chasing the dream of being successful. Success is euphoric and euphoria begets more euphoria. You buy a Toyota then you want to buy a Mercedes then you want a Bentley then you want a private plane then then and then.. It never stops. I have been there. I have felt it. I have always wanted more and more and more until i fell on my face. And i fell so hard that the line of Ferraris parked in my garage downstairs i could not even afford the tune up for it. I lost it all. My plane, my cars my business..everything. But what i started to gain was more this time then i had it prior to losing it all. The moment failure looked into my eyes and I started to lose friends, people i had helped rise to the top, contacts, connections, everything. It was the most loneliest feeling in the world and that feeling i did not want to feel again. And that is where my journey of learning from my failure started. The opposite of euphoria happened. Euphoria wants more and pains wants less of pain. So the mind was forced to go into a learning mode. Learning to avoid pain. learning to avoid making silly mistakes. Learning to make myself stronger mentally. Everything that i learned after i fell on my face was to make my mind stronger and wiser.
This time around i realized that the journey of life is a self reliant journey. I realized that except you and your Allah, there is nobody who will or can help you. It made me realize the value of relations. It made me brave enough to face failures and for that reason alone i started to understand success.
Heart ache, pain, loneliness, depression, seclusion from the world, dejection, you name it and i went through it. But the more i was burnt it in the fire the stronger i came out of the furnace. This time around success was a balance of relations, family, values and then money. It was not money only. It was the failures that made me realize who i was inside and not what the world wanted of me or what the society thought of me. Failure made me humble. Failure made me smarter. Failure made me self reliant. Failure made me realize that everything is in Allah's hands except my KOSHISH. Failure made me realize my HAQEEQAT..that it is nothing. And all the things i realized through failure were never taught to me while i was successful the first time......And everything I learned through failures were the real ingredients of true success.

What A Use Of Visa...#MirMak

What A Use Of Visa...#MirMak

Make billions of dollars in corruption. Go to DUBAI. Get thousands killed in Karachi. Go to LONDON. Put The Baldia garment factory on fire. Go to THAILAND. Kill Imran Farooq in London and go to SRI LANKA. Create havoc and Balochistan. Go to SWITZERLAND. Get famous in the entertainment industry in Pakistan. Go to BOMBAY. Loot Oil industry of Pakistan. Go to MALAYSIA. Have a backache. Go To AMERICA. Have a heart problem.  Go to ENGLAND.

Us Pakistanis are world travellers but for all the wrongs reasons.

The Power Of Your Mind Is All You Need.. No University Teaches You This Simple Formula Of Life Long SUCCESS. #MirMak

The Power Of Your Mind Is All You Need.. No University Teaches You This Simple Formula Of Life Long SUCCESS. #MirMak

The first day of my career was the most scariest day of my life. Young, inexperienced, surrounded by movers and shakers of Wall Street who drove Porsches and Ferraris and traveled in private jets as common people take taxis. Young men wearing suits like they have just walked out of a GQ shoot. Rolex was worn if you were broke, if it was not an AP or a Patek or a Vacheron, please hide it under your shirt cuffs. You could smell money and its irrational display in the air. What pressure it puts a young man under, one can not even realize without experiencing it. Nobody to help you, no mentor, no coach, no teacher, they threw you in the ocean and if you drowned, there was somebody to take your place within a blink of an eye. There was nothing that was putting me at an edge above anyone there..everybody was knowledgeable. Everybody spoke the Wall Street lingo. Everybody had the thirst to make money and a name for himself. Everybody was willing to put in 16 hour days 7 days a week. And all this was just to survive not to succeed. I kept wondering what one needs to do to succeed on Wall Street and nothing would make sense. And anybody who was successful will not even give you two minutes of his time to you let alone teach you anything. It was the loneliest feeling in the world. Thats when i had promised myself that IF i ever become successful i would give back to the youth for as long as i live.
Then one fine day, going through the shelves of Barnes & Noble bookstore, i stumbled upon a book called "The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind" By Doctor Joseph Murphy. I read a few pages standing there and i realized that i was onto something. I finished that book page to page about 3 times in the first week and every time i read it it made me realize that the most OPEN SECRET in the world is the power of your mind. Controlling and nourishing my mind was the only edge i needed over anybody else on Wall Street. It simply made me realize that before I master Wall Street or my future, I must MASTER My Mind first. I must realize the power of positivity. I went on a reading spree for the next 28 years till now. There was not a book left on Human Mind or Human Behaviour that i consciously missed reading. It became my infatuation and later in life i realized that Even ALLAH SWT praises mind the most in Quran. Over and over again. If he praises the Human Mind, then it must be the MOST POWERFUL thing in the universe. And if one can master this hardware called Brain run by a software called Mindset, one will hardly lose in life. People think that power lies in mastering others but i always say that TRUE LIES in Mastering your own self. Your life is nothing but what you make of it. And your thoughts are what make your life. If you think YOU CAN NOT Or if you think YOU CAN, you are RIGHT in both cases. Choose one.
you can not live a positive life with a negative mindset. Positivity is the most important trait you need to develop. Allah does not ever punish you for your thoughts, he punishes you for your deeds BUT there is one set of thoughts that even ALLAH SWT is ready to punish, and that is MAAYOOSI (Negativity or Pessimism). It has been declared a sin by Allah SWT. Imagine how damaging negativity must be that the creator himself has declared it a SIN. Because a negative thinker sees difficulty in every opportunity he comes across but a positive minded person SEES an OPPORTUNITY in every difficulty. You can not become anything in life, anything, unless you fill your mind with Positive thoughts. Remember that your thoughts become your words, Your words become your beahviour, your behaviour becomes your habit and your habits finally become YOU. So if your thoughts are negative, you will end up becoming a negative person fooling yourself your entire life expecting positive results. SQUEEZING APPLES does not produce ORANGE JUICE. Negative thoughts can not produce positive results. Progress in life only comes from change and if you are not willing to change your mindset to a positive one, you can not change your life. Stop being and start becoming. When you are just being, you are in a stagnant stage, but when your are becoming, you are on the road to progress and prosperity.
Stop thinking about what might go wrong in life, begin the process of thinking about how many things can go right in your future by you taking control of your mind through positivity. remember that a positive mind only visualizes the rewards of success while a negative mind visualizes the penalties of failure. Wake up every morning with a smile on your face and make it a day to remember because thats all you have when you wake up, that particular day. Yesterday is already gone and tomorrow is not here yet. The only reason i succeeded in life is because i never gave up when i failed. My positive mental state would never believe that a set back should SIT ME BACK DOWN. Remember that the DIFFERENCE between who you want to be and who you are is POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

Friends Are Like Elevators. #MirMak

Friends Are Like Elevators. #MirMak

The first thing you should do as a young individual is to identify your negative friends and simply get rid of them. Friends are like elevators, they either take you UP in life with their support or bring you DOWN with their criticism. You don’t want to get onto an elevator that is going down. It is the most difficult thing to do in life because so many times you will be left alone when you begin to realize that you had been surrounded by negative friends. Look at it as a blessing in disguise. It will make you uncomfortable in the beginning but it will leave you with more time to do POSITIVE things in your life. Read, put in more hours into your goal, do research on your business plan, meet positive role models and the list can go on and on.

My Salute To The APS Children And Their Families. #MirMak

My Salute To The APS Children And Their Families. #MirMak

In half an hour marks the anniversary of the horrific acts of December 16th. I had planned my trip to Peshawar in such a manner that I could be present here on the 15th night before it turns into the day of 16th that I will never forget. I just came back visiting a unit stationed in Peshawar where I spent hours amongst the soldiers who sacrificed their mates and their subordinates in fighting to eradicate terrorism from our soil.

Never let a days pass in your life that you forget even for a second what the terrorists did to our innocent children in APS. Never believe that our future is anything but PEACE. Never let your minds be taken over by negativity. Pakistan's future is PEACE. Pakistan's future is POSITIVITY. Pakistan's future is HOPE. And Pakistan's future is continuous STRUGGLE for betterment.
The best way us Pakistanis can pay tribute to our shaheed children is by bringing PEACE through POSITIVITY HOPE and a continuous STRUGGLE for a better future of Pakistan.

Government Needs To Protect Our Financial Assets And....Here Is Why. #MirMak

Government Needs To Protect Our Financial Assets And....Here Is Why. #MirMak

Markets have gone up points upon points in the past few weeks specially after the IK dharna cancellation. The funniest thing happens to any investor when the family and friends ask after watching the news on the television that the market has gone up, the say..."Oh ho, aaj kal tau baray paisay ban rahay hain market mein"... And you are left speechless and smiling in your heart. How can you explain to them that the Index is going up but not all stocks are up.

On a very serious note, our KSE 100n Index is the most unbalanced or the most lopsided index i have seen in my life. It is not a very well balanced Index. Certain sectors within the index are so heavily weighted that when they go up, the entire index goes up. And to top it all off, the companies within those sectors are so illiquid that a few hundred thousand dollars worth of buying within those companies early in the morning will put those stocks on upper caps thus moving the index up worth hundreds of millions of dollars in market capitalization just with a few hundred thousand dollars worth of buying.

And now lets look at what this phenomenon is. After studying in depth the indices of Tokyo, London, New York, Shanghai, KSE 100, just to compare a few, i have come to some astonishing facts that need to be looked at and the authorities need to fix the problem as we move forward. The index needs to be readjusted before the emerging markets are traded in Pakistan. The Pakistani Index comprises almost 40% of the entire market with just two sectors, OIL and BANKING. Nowhere in the world does this happen except in Pakistan that just two sectors weigh so heavily within an Index. Oil stocks go up, or the bank stocks go up, the entire index goes up and the rest of the stocks remain where they were a few days ago.

Here is a glance of what banks and oil companies weigh in other indices.

NIKKIE
Banks 1%
Oil .44%

Dow Jones
Banks 2.93%
Oil 7.20%

FTSE
Banks 13.3%
Oil 15.27%

SHSZ 300
Banks 18.38%
Oil 1.38%

KSE 100
Banks 23.38%
Oil Exploration 11.41%
Oil Marketing 5.09%

In a country where majority of the investors have no in depth knowledge and are emotional investors who just by looking at the the Index decide to buy or sell, if we do not fix this problem and readjust our index, i foresee a time when investors will be absolutely mislead by the index movement and will either get sucked into buying based euphoria or get forced to sell out of fear. This WILL happen because the higher the index goes the more numerical fluctuation will be visible to the novice investors. A 7999 point swing in a day at 80,000 is hypothetically and in reality possible, with the circuit breakers at 5% up or down for the entire market. Just one major bank declaring bankruptcy in Pakistan or just one oil company losing a few exploration sites will affect the entire market in such a negative manner that we will end up losing billions of dollars of market capitalization in just one single day. And the Government Of Pakistan which owns tens of billions of dollars in PSX assets through its listed companies will be the biggest loser if that happens. And it will happen if the problem is not corrected.

So if not for the sake of a common man in Pakistan the GOP should look out for its own interest and correct this problem immediately. I urge them to do so because soon enough our markets will have a value, at least 40% of our GDP and 40% of the GDP can not be put at risk because two cartels want to reign supreme in the index, we can not afford to risk $100 billion dollars in total and $40 billion dollars of the GOP assets.

Former Saudi Oil Minister Confirms To Bloomber What I Said About The OPEC Deal...#MirMak

Former Saudi Oil Minister Confirms To Bloomberg What I Said About The OPEC Deal...#MirMak

 

 

Former Saudi Oil Minister confirmed yesterday what i wrote in my article 10 days ago on November 30th that "OPEC Members Cheat" and this production reduction of 1.3 million barrels a day will have no affect in the future control of the oversupply glut.

Bloomberg further calculated on their own and came to a result that this OPEC deal will not reduce oversupply in 2017. The Bloomberg article of yesterday titled "OPEC's Historic Deal Won't Be Able To Drain Oil Stockpiles" describes in details what i had already written in my article that the inventories are too high to be controlled by a mere cut of 1.2 million barrels a day and the second point i had brought was that the non-OPEC countries are under no compulsion to agree to a cut in production rather they would find this opportunity to cheat and flood the markets in high seas.

This oil oversupply needs to be addressed as many countries including the GCC economies will no longer be able to bear the pressure for another 12 months and may collapse in totality because they were absolutely dependent on oil revenues to support the welfare based system for their local population. UAE will also begin to feel the brunt of this entire oil debacle because it is very much connected to the economy and support of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi is an absolute oil based economy. Dubai so far had been insulated from an "Immediate" collapse because it had some service based and a lot of tourism based revenues coming in but Dubai with its habit of over doing everything, has almost killed its own tourism industry by building more hotels than needed. An absolute over supply of new hotels and the existing ones barely surviving has brought the hotel rents in Dubai to a historic low, never seen since 2005. Most of these hotels are financed by the local banks against the land that they are built upon and a small token amount investment by the owner in equity. The banks will begin to feel the pressure on their books when these hotels can not service their debt of billions of dollars, in actuality tens of billions of dollars.

All said and done, i feel that Pakistan and its new allies, China and the entire block of CIS countries will become a favourite investment destination for the world. Why ? Because money follows opportunities and opportunities are coming to this region. Its our turn now, We have waited 70 long years. Its time that we enjoy for the next 700 years for the patience and SABAR we have shown for the past 70.

Can Anyone Of You Answer This Young Man From Indian Occupied Kashmir...#MirMak

Can Anyone Of You Answer This Young Man From Indian Occupied Kashmir...#MirMak

I could not sleep last night more than 2 hours. I was twisting and turning all night thinking about the conversation i had with this young man whom i have befriended from IOK for more than 8 months now. This will be the first time i am revealing this fact that i have been having long conversations with many young men of IOK, behind the scenes, for the the past one year. It all started over a year ago when a dubious looking FB profile sent me some questions on my fan page inbox. The profile was dubious but the questions were very intelligent. I answered them and more questions came. Then came another person with another set of questions with the reference of the previous person, same suspicious looking FB profile and no personal pictures. I answered those questions as well and a string of other people appeared with each others references. Conversation started to build and more people got involved. Finally after developing a comfort level the first person revealed to me that they were all from IOK and belong to separate educational institutions. They stated that they had been following my FB posts and were scared to reveal their identities earlier because of the fear that they live under of the Indian authorities. I asked them that how do they have access to social media sites and the answer was, "we have our ways".
We exchanged numbers and more and more young people got involved from IOK over the past 9 months and i have become a sort of advisor or mentor to them. But in reality they should be my mentors for the courage they live with, the resilience i have found in them over the past year, the hope that they carry like a lit candle in their hearts and the smiles that they have even after suffering atrocities upon atrocities. Our conversations have become engaging and i get inspired by them more than they get inspired by me. We talk on call on as well. They call me from several different IP based numbers and we enjoy our conversations, usually at night. One of the same types of conversations took place last night with one of the young men who is a Master's student but has not seen a class room in months. It was this conversation that disturbed me about the people of Pakistan.
He asked me a question after building his preamble. His preamble was......
"Sir, we the youth of IOK have suffered from the time we opened up our eyes. Almost every family has either a Shaheed or a Prisoner in their circle. Our parents have suffered and their parents have suffered. We see deaths and misery and genocidal acts from the time we open up our eyes. We have no freedom to speak, no freedom to choose, and no freedom to dream about our future. We are kept as slaves physically but we live like free birds spiritually. Your country, Pakistan, has everything. Your children open up their eyes in freedom to do what they want. Their fathers and brothers are not arrested in the middle of the night never to be seen again. They can choose their professions and they can dream about their futures and make it a reality. Their sisters and mothers IZZAT is safe. They live amongst their own people and can choose their own leaders. The police, the security agencies the judges and the justice dispensers are all their own people. Then why is it that the people of Pakistan talk bad about their own country ? Why is that they want to run away from Pakistan the first chance they have ? Why is it that negativity is easily believed and positivity is lacking amongst the youth ? Why dont they just thank Allah for what they have and we dream of, and make Pakistan a better country ? If we had that chance ever in our lives, we will make Kashmir a place the world would envy."
Can anyone answer his questions please.... I was left speechless in front of this young man from Indian Kashmir who dreams to live the life like we do in Pakistan, perhaps just for a day. Perhaps just for a few hours...

PEC Reaches An Oil Deal. But Do Not Get Happy Just Yet...#MirMak

PEC Reaches An Oil Deal. But Do Not Get Happy Just Yet...#MirMak

OPEC reaches a deal to cut production by 4.5% or approximately 1.2 million barrels a day. Oil is rebounding. People are rejoicing but only the one's who are naive enough to have missed reading the history of OPEC and its members.
OPEC members are notorious cheaters. 3 times in the past 20 years they have reached a production cut and all 3 times they cheated with each other by pumping and dumping oil in the open market in Rotterdam through back channels. Secondly do not forget that an oil price increase helps the shale producers who were almost out of the game for months due to low prices. Prices will settle between $54 to $58 dollars maximum in 2017 but the moment they reach that level Iran, Nigeria and Libya who have been made exempt from production freeze will not only enjoy the ride but will increase their productions because they have a lower present quota. Russia, the biggest Non-OPEC producer does not take prisoners and all they will have to do is to increase a few hundred thousand barrels a day in production, plus the shale producers back in the game above $50 a barrel, OPEC members cheating with each other, and the chaos will start all over again within months in 2017.

So hold your horses and do not get overly optimistic and sell your house to buy oil stocks. Oil matters are more slippery (no pun intended) these days with Saudis losing their grip on OPEC, Iran back in the game, Iraq and Nigeria with internal problems, Russia the biggest Non-OPEC player suffering from low revenues, China consumption not increasing, mild winters in the offing.....there are too many reasons for me to believe that this rally is very temporary.

LCL Rocked Today....#MirMak #LCL2016

LCL Rocked Today....#MirMak #LCL2016

 

The hunger I saw today in the young lot of Pakistan was amazing. Hunger to learn to become Entrepreneurs. Hunger to acquire knowledge. Hunger to ask questions. It was this same hunger I remember I had in my early 20's. The basis for any success in my view is to develop a systematic yet ever increasing hunger to excel, to acquire knowledge to compete with yourself of yesterday and enhance yourself of tomorrow. I spent my entire day talking to the young minds who kept coming up to me with intelligent questions.

Entrepreneurship Development Institute and its entire team deserves a pat on their backs. Excited for my speech at 9 am tomorrow at the convention centre Islamabad.
Topic: Why Some People Succeed And Some Do Not.

Why New Year Resolutions Never Work.....#MirMak

 Why New Year Resolutions Never Work.....#MirMak

 

New Year is coming in a few weeks and again will start the promises and resolutions....
Get Fit. Quit Smoking. Eat Healthy. Find A New Job.Lose Weight. Enjoy Life. Save Money. Take A Vacation. Join Gym. Help Others.....Etc Etc Etc. you make all these New Year's resolutions and probably have been making them for years and not a single one was kept for more than a few days into the new year. Why you must ask ? Why is it that such a strong commitment you make towards a promise to yourself about doing something and it does not come through except to make you frustrated even further and demotivate you for the entire year until the next new year comes and your internal "Lets Make a Resolution clock" starts to tick again and you repeat the same process of failure to perfection.

Well, the reason we fail to accomplish our new year resolutions is because they are emotional based and emotions are in nature not solid and thus you can not build a foundation of commitment on emotions. A certain date that comes every year in your life can not and should not be the reason for you to get started. On the contrary, it should be a date that you can evaluate what you have accomplished the entire year. It should be a finishing line instead of the starting line that you declare it to be. Secondly most of the New Year Resolutions are absolutely and absurdly unattainable. The bar is set based on wishes and is not result oriented. That is the reason we fail. What we wish the entire year we want accomplished on the last day of the year.
If you stay consistent the entire year, you do not need to make any resolutions. None. You will be enjoying the results of that consistency. So instead of making ridiculous resolutions this year, simply promise yourself that you will stay consistent in whatever you do and you will see how beautifully and how easily you accomplish all that you want to accomplish in the next 365 days to come. So from this year onwards.... STOP MAKING NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS and START REMAINING CONSISTENT throughout the year.

Hypocrisy Of The Saudi Grand Mufti....#MirMak

Hypocrisy Of The Saudi Grand Mufti....#MirMak

The grand mufti of Saudi, a puppet of the Royal family has given a Fatwwa that celebrating the birth of our beloved Rasool Muhammad SAWS is HARAAM, and BIDDAT. Yes he used the word Haraam.
Now comes the Munaafiqat of this guy. When asked is it ok to celebrate the Saudi National Day. He says its a matter of pride for Saudis and it should always be celebrated. Wow. National day of Saudi Arabia is a "Matter Of Pride" but its not prideful for these jaahil bedouins to celebrate the birth of our Prophet SAWS, for whom Allah says.."Aey Muhammad Mein Ney Yeh Dunya Nahin Banaee Hoti Bajuz Teri Mohabbat Mein" The one Allah loves the most is less important to be celebrated than Saudi National Day. Then we wonder why Islam has a bad name....Hypocrisy at its best. I would have never written anything about this but this effects millions of Pakistani Muslims who think that this Grand Mufti is a pious soul and all of Pakistan should follow him.
Prince Salman cuts the salaries of all Saudi local employees, takes away the privileges of free water and electricity for the poor people, puts a freeze on new hiring and cuts the salary in half of the remaining ones and when he himself goes to France, sees a Yacht of 360 meter, makes an offer of 560 Million Euros and buys it within 24 hours. Yes 560 Million Euros. Adds 3 new planes worth 320 million USD into his private fleet. Restores all ties with Israel and opens up its Saudi Embassy in Tel Aviv. Prince Talal makes a statement that Israel has every right to building new settlements, mind you the new settlements are built upon taking Palestinian land forcefully from the poor Falasteenis. Further says, I would rather ONLY do business with Israelis.
Interior Minister says that not a drop of alcohol can be served in the holy land of Saudi Arabia. Well, good move i agree. But when BBC does a secret documentary filming alcohol being openly bought and sold in ARAAMCO Compounds, The minister says, well they are foreigners and they can drink. Wow. Which one is it ? Is it that not a drop of alcohol can be consumed on the holy land of Saudi Arabia or the holy land has different rules for the MASTERS Of AMERICA and ENGLAND. Hypocrites.
These are the people who changed the name of HIJAAZ to Saudi Arabia. The Arabia OF The Sauds. Taking a holy name of Hijaaz, Allah's place and replace it with the name of your family "Saud".. And the entire world kept their mouth shut. Could Yasir Arafat change the name of Baith Ul Muqqaddas to Baith Ul Arafat ? Think. We are selling Islam to the highest bidder with the most money who has one set of rules for the common people and one set for themselves. All these Arab monarchies are nothing but the REAL DICTATORSHIPS run with TYRANNY and ZULM. Each and every one of the GCC states.
No anchor, No reporter, No Official in Pakistan ever speaks against the ZULM of Saudis and their interference in Pakistan by promoting sectarian hate. Last time i wrote against the Saudi Policies of Finance and the same article was picked up and published by the IMF, my FB account was shut down for 3 days. Well expect 6 days shut down this time but i will continue to write whenever i see hypocrisy that is affecting the Muslims of Pakistan.

You Can Not Make A New Beginning But You Sure Can Make A New Ending...#MirMak

You Can Not Make A New Beginning But You Sure Can Make A New Ending...#MirMak

This sudden news of the plane crash has compelled me to write and write to make people realize that life can be taken away within seconds. The purpose of life is not to live being afraid or letting go of your dreams. Being scared of struggles and criticisms. Struggles and criticisms are the prerequisites for greatness. You will never regret the things you did at the end of your life, however wrong they turned out to be but what you will regret is not doing them. Not living up to your potential. Death is not what we should be afraid of because it is not in our control as to when we go, what we should be afraid of is not living our lives to the fullest of its potential.

You do not want to get to the end of your life and realize that you never lived to achieve your dreams. Relationships were not fully nurtured or profession was never fully worked upon or friends were not appreciated or the money you wanted to make was not pursued after. You dreams have picked you in life, remember that. You do not pick your dreams, rather your dreams pick you. A child wanting to be a doctor and another wanting to be a pilot or another wanting to be an accountant, its all from Allah that these thoughts are coming into your head. Do not let your dreams die with you. Your dream should live on as your legacy even after you are dead.
We live full of worries about being robbed of our physical belongings, our money, our phones, our cars, our furniture at home but never do we think for a second that the biggest thief lives within us. The thief which robs us on every occasion he gets a chance on. And that thief is DOUBT. Doubt is the biggest thief in our lives, it robs us of our dreams, our potential, our actions and makes us incapable of living our lives to its fullest potential. You are meant to fly, you are meant to soar. You are meant to touch the skies of your dreams. You are not meant to die dreaming but you are sent to earth by Allah to achieve your dreams, prove to the world that you are ASHRAF UL MAKHLOOKHAAT. That you have been chosen by Allah to be sent to this earth in the form of his working, his creation, his art of perfection.
Never give up on life before life gives up on you. Struggle, go through pain, take criticism, take negativity, take hatred, take everything that comes your way and then DEFY it. Defy it with such resilience that you leave an example for others to follow your path because you can not go back into the past and make a new beginning but you can control your present and write a new ending...starting this very moment.

Shame On Some Channels.... #MirMak

Shame On Some Channels....#MirMak

Some channels are making it look like the only person who lost his life in this air crash was Junaid Jamshed, repeatedly showing his pictures to get the ratings up. Was he the only person on that plane ? What happened to all the others who lost their lives as well ? Were their lives not as important ? Did their relatives not feel the pain ? Will they never be talked about just because they do not raise the ratings of the show ?
Allah guide this Pakistani media and the race for ratings that it is after.

2 of the channels went as far as calling me to take me on the beeper (Phone call) and when i surprisingly replied to one of them that you know that i am a finance person, get somebody from aviation industry, the reply the producer gave me was "Sir dil khol ke PIA ke baray mein bolain, kiya kiya ghalltiyaan ki hain unhon ne financial handling mein"... I was just left speechles and i told him never to call me again for any program...