The Teen Talwar in Karachi get a touch of Sindhi flavour.

This impressive monument can be found in the area of Clifton.
Karachi has many landmarks, but the Teen Talwar really stands-out. The three white marble swords symbolize (and are inscribed with the dogma of Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah) Unity, Faith and Discipline. ("ittehad, yaqeen-e-muhkam, tanzeem.") This lovely tribute was commissioned by the former President & Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Quaid-e-Awam). The abundance of white, good-quality marble in the city's vicinity has apparently encouraged its wide use for the creation of many monuments, lending a symbolic nature of grandeur & purity.

Stockholm’s Immaculate Public Library

 

Stockholm’s Immaculate Public Library

Housing over four million volumes of text and media, Stockholm’s nearly century-old public library is a must-see for traveling logophiles. For the internationally minded, their abundant supply of Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian texts is hard to beat.

Anara Tower

 

Anara Tower was a proposed super tall skyscraper located in Dubai. It would have been 600m tall with 135 floors. It was designed to look like a massive wind turbine. The building was cancelled in 2009.

MUCH TO CHEER IN PAKISTAN

Some facts for the faint hearted Pakistanis

The Gallup 2012 Well Being survey reports that 20% of Pakistanis say they are "thriving". Even with the high levels of corruption and security situations facing the country, Pakistan still ranks better than their neighbours in Bangladesh (16%) and India (11%).

Pakistan's Stock Markets are booming, hitting new 4-year highs. Share prices are driven by healthy profits and foreign buying, making the KSE-100 the third fastest growing index in the world.

Pakistan’s bustling IT Industry is now worth $2.8 billion and growing. Pakistan also leads the world in biometric IT services with the world’s biggest biometric database.

Today, Pakistan's economy is the 27th largest in the world. As Part of "the Next 11" group of nations, it is one of the top 15 emerging economies (BRIC + Next11). Pakistan will be among the top 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.

Preliminary official estimates are indicating that Pakistan's nominal per capita income has increased by 9% to $1372 in 2011-12 from $1258 in 2010-11.

Pakistan is still a country with significant population of poor people. However, its recent levels of poverty are among the lowest in South Asia. Life expectancy in Pakistan has jumped from 32 years in 1947 to 67 years in 2009. Preliminary estimates are also showing that the poverty rate in Pakistan has declined from 17.2% in 2008 to 12% in 2011.

Literacy is also a very important indicator of progress. Though the literacy in Pakistan has increased from about 10% in 1947 to about 60% today, it remains dismally low relative to many other nations. However, a closer examination of literacy data by age groups shows that the literacy rates are rising by every generation.
Age +55 = 30%
Ages 15 to 25 = 70% (Male 80%, Female 60% - UNICEF)

Enabling virtual education is the high-speed broadband expansion led by PTCL which has propelled Pakistan to become the fourth fastest growing broadband market in the world and the second fastest in Asia, according to a recent industry report. Serbia leads all countries surveyed with a 68% annual growth rate from 2010 to 2011. Thailand (67%), Belarus (50%), Pakistan (46%), and Jordan (44%) all follow Serbia.

Based on hunger data collected from 2003 to 2008, The International Food Policy Research (IFPRI) has reported that Pakistan's hunger index score improved over the last three consecutive years reported since 2008 from 21.7 (2008) to 21.0 (2009) to 19.1 (2010) and its ranking rose from 61 to 59.

The Gallup survey confirms that only 28% of Pakistanis have confidence in their national government which stems from the obvious failure of the state in delivering basic services such as rule-of-law, security and electricity to the people. The best way to improve the well-being of the people is to improve governance, reduce corruption and persuade people to pay taxes to give the state more resources.

While the worst 5% of the Pakistan story gets all the headlines, the reality of Pakistan today as vibrant society and a strong nation gets ignored by the mainstream media. The real story of Pakistan is the resilience of its 180 million citizens who continue to strive to make it better and stronger.

DESTINATION PAKISTAN..........Ski Resorts of Pakistan.

The two major Skiing resorts in Pakistan are in Malam Jabba (Swat Valley) and Naltar Valley (near Gilgit). The Malam Jabba Resort was much more developed with a great hotel and all skiing facilitiies but all are destroyed by terrorist and rehabilitation work is underway. However, Naltar requires some work but still is a very beautiful area and lots of snowfall in the winter. There are also 2 ski lifts here and Ski competition is organized regularly by PAF.

Malam Jabba

Malam Jabba is a Hill Station in the Karakoram mountain range nearly 40 km from Saidu Sharif in Swat Valley. Malam Jabba is the most famous ski resort in Pakistan. The area also contains two Buddhist stupas and six monasteries that are scattered around the resort. The presence of the monuments at such a height indicates that the area has been inhabited for over 2000 years.

The Malam Jabba Ski Resort owned by the Pakistani Tourism Development Corporation, had a ski slope of about 800 m with the highest point of the slope 2804 m (9200 ft) above sea level. Malam Jabba Ski Resort was the joint effort of the Pakistan government with its Austrian counterpart. The resort was equipped with modern facilities including roller/ice-skating rinks, chair lifts, skiing platforms, telephones and snow clearing equipment.

In late June 2008, the Malam Jabba Ski Resort was set on fire and destroyed after being closed for more than a year. A large portion of the resort had been reduced to ashes and the militants also damaged chairlifts and a tower belonging to the meteorological department. In May 2009 however the army started an offensive against the Taliban and retook the town. The ski hill at the resort has now been rebuilt and is fully operational. The hotel has undergone reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Malam Jabba is at almost 1 ½ hours drive from Mangora Town in Swat valley. In winters one can easily reach there through jeeps from Mangora

Naltar Valley

Naltar is a valley near Gilgit and Hunza in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Naltar is 40 km from Gilgit and can be reached by jeeps. Naltar is a forested village known for its wildlife and magnificent mountain scenery. Now the communication is available by the efforts of Pakistan army signal corps. There are ski lifts under the 'Ski Federation of Pakistan'. Transport is available from Gilgit to Naltar.

After Terrorists attack on Malam Jabba, Naltar is rightly called the Home of Skiing in Pakistan. Naltar is the oldest Ski resort of Pakistan at an altitude of 10500 feet. Naltar has Ski slope of almost 600 meters. There is a base camp of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at Naltar. Ski Competitions are held at Naltar regularly under the supervision of PAF. Pakistan Skiing Federation has installed two lifts at the skiing sites and is also planning to install another one there.