DECISIVELY Debunking Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories: In memory of Neil Armstrong

Left-to-right: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin - the crew of Apollo 11.

Introduction: 25th August, 2012 marked the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man to ever set foot on the moon back in 1969. This man, along with his "Apollo 11" crew-members, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, is among the true heroes of the scientific era.

            However, owing to the work of several notable conspiracy theorists, there exists a huge mob of people that believes that none of the moon landings the Apollo missions were real. To uphold their claims, they present a variety of arguments, ranging in quality from utter dumb to moderately technical - however all of these arguments can be proved false with a little logic and scientific knowledge. The theories are based on insufficient knowledge.

            Since I have always been an astronomy freak and can't see one great hero presented in such bad light, I decided to write a huge article debunking all the major theories in one place - a service rendered in the honour of Neil Armstrong.

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How the conspiracy theories started:

            On February 15, 2001 the FOX television aired a program titled "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land On The Moon?". The program featured "evidence" that proved NASA's Apollo missions were faked. (i.e. they were shot in a studio on Earth, supposedly by the director of film The Space Odyssey)

            Although the conspiracy theories had been around for decades, starting in 1974 with Bill Kaysing's book "We Never Went to the Moon", reinforced by the works of the award-winning photographer David Percy (author of Dark Moon: Apollo and the Whistle-Blowers) and Ralph Rene (author of " NASA Mooned America!")  but the airing of this program was the time when most people started believing in them. 

  

But why do moon landing conspiracy-theories exist in the first place? Are the theorists credible?

             If I were to give an opinion on why such theories exist - assuming the theorists had no negative motives - I would simply suggest that these theories arose out of lack of scientific knowledge. Most of the notable theory advocates  were people not trained in science (e.g. Bill Kaysing held an arts degree; David Percy was a photographer; Ralph Rene was self-taught publisher with no formal degree) These people made conclusions based on analysis of Apollo photographs and footage, with little or none attention towards the complex physical SCIENCE involved in the moon's environment. People who have knowledge of science can better judge the physics involved in the moon missions instead of people who have insufficient or no knowledge of physics.

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DEBUNKING THE SPACE "ODDITIES" PRESENTED BY THE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS:

            We shall now examine the many claims made by various conspiracy theorists and debunk them with LOGICAL and SCIENTIFIC facts. We shall start off with points raised by the leading advocates and move on to the other ones when they're done.

1. The PHOTOS shows wind blowing the U.S. flag on the moon, although the moon has no atmosphere and the flag should not blow on the moon (Ralph Rene)

Reply: This is perhaps the most commonly repeated point from the theorists. It is quite absurd to make a decision on MOVEMENT in a STILL photograph. Obviously, the people seem to be perceiving the wrinkles on the flag as signs of motion - and I would recommend them to watch all the video footage and note that the flag is actually motionless.

If you search for Lunar Flag Assembly, you will note that the flag was fastened to a Г-shaped rod so that it did not hang down (see photo on the left).

Now for some proof, see the photos below, the two photos are two successive photographs showing Buzz Aldrin saluting the US flag. The flag is motionless although the wrinkles on the flag appear to be indicative of motion.

These two photographs had a time difference of several seconds

Animation of the two photos, showing that though the camera moved between the photographs, the flag is motionless.

 (Also see the video footage in point no. 10, it clearly shows a motionless flag)

2. There is also a VIDEO footage of the astronauts that shows that the flag was moving (Raplh Rene)

 Reply: The video Raplh mentioned is the one in which Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are trying to hoist the US flag into the moon soil. Take a look at the video below, keeping in mind the structure of the flag post that I mentioned above.

 

            As you can see, the flag is not moving of it's own accord. It's moving because the astronauts are twisting the flagpole, trying to hoist it into the ground. The movement of the flag is unlike anything you would see on earth. In the absence of air, there is no damping effect on the flag and it keeps fluttering due to inertia. On earth, the movements of the flag would quickly be damped.

NOTE: This was also EXPERIMENTALLY verified by MythBusters in Episode 104 of their TV series using this method: "The Build Team placed a replica of the American flag planted on the Moon into the vacuum chamber. They manipulated the flag in a manner similar to what the astronauts did when they planted the flag on the Moon, then stopped the manipulation. They first tested at normal pressure; the momentum moved the flag around somewhat but quickly dissipated. In pure vacuum conditions, after the manipulation stopped, the momentum caused the flag to flap wildly as if it were being blown by a breeze. This is because there was no resistance from air to dampen the motion. This proved that in a vacuum, a flag does not need wind to flap for a while after a person sets it in motion."

 3. Without an atmospheric cloud cover, there should have been a sky full of stars but Apollo photographs do not show a starry sky (Bill Kaysing, Ralph Rene). NASA could not hope to recreate the lunar sky, so they may have opted for simple black backdrops.

 Reply: Faking a starry sky is too easy a task for any studio. The fact that there are no stars actually proves the authenticity of the photographs.

Capturing stars requires slow shutter speeds of >30s for good exposure and can not be captured at fast shutter speeds.

            Those who are familiar with photography might know that capturing stars requires the camera to be set at SLOW SHUTTER SPEED to maximize exposure. For properly capturing a starry sky on earth, an average of 30 seconds time should be set.

              The white surface of the moon was strongly reflecting the sunlight. In such strongly lit situations, a FAST SHUTTER SPEED ranging around 1/500 seconds may be required to prevent overexposure. Apollo photographs were taken at fast shutter speeds. However, at this configuration, stars can definitely not be captured.

This is an example of a space photograph in which no stars are seen; the photograph was captured at fast shutter speed to minimize overexposure resulting from the Earth's glare due to sunlight.

4. The film used by astronauts on the moon should have melted due to the supposed high levels of radiation and temperature above 250 ° F (Bill Kaysing)

Reply: There are several points to be noted here.

• A special transparency film produced by Eastman Kodak under a NASA contract was used by the Apollo astronauts. The photosensitive emulsions layers were placed on an ESTAR polyester film base. The melting point of ESTAR is 490° F, although some shrinkage and distortion can occur at around 200° F.
• The films were protected in special camera casings to keep them cool and were never exposed to high temperatures.
• The moon has no air, hence, without convection or conduction, the only method of heat transfer on moon was radiation. Radiative heat can be effectively directed away from an object by wrapping it in a material with a reflective surface, usually simply a white material. The camera casings, as well as the astronauts' cooling system-equipped clothing, were indeed white.

 5. Only two men walked on the Moon in every Apollo mission. Yet the astronaut reflected in the visor is not holding a camera. Who took the shot?

Apollo 12 Astronaut: Bean's camera is attached to his suit.

Reply: Astronauts were not "holding" their cameras like we do. The cameras were attached to the chest of the space-suit they were wearing, leaving their hands free for other operations unless they wanted to click. 

            Here is a close-up photo that shows the camera to be attached to the suit. 

6. Shadows cast on the moon's surface should be parallel (and equal) as there is only one light source - the sun. Yet in some photographs, the shadows cast by the astronauts are not parallel. 

 Reply: This is explained on the basis of perspective of the camera and the angle of photography. In addition, the surrounding hills and slopes should also be taken into account as they alter the direction of light. One such example was experimentally demonstrated by MythBusters (read caption for details)

In this Apollo 14 photograph, the shadows of the rocks and the lunar lander are not parallel. "The MythBusters built a small scale replica of the lunar landing site with a flat surface and a single distant spotlight to represent the Sun. They took a photo and all the shadows in the photo were parallel, as the myth proposed. They then adjusted the topography of the model surface to include a slight hill around the location of the near rocks so the shadows fell on a slope instead of a flat surface. The resulting photograph had the same shadow directions as the original NASA photograph from Apollo 14."

            As far as perspective and angle of photography is concerned, shadows that are parallel in real life may appear different in a photograph. The image below illustrates this concept.

This photograph shows the "perspective" concept. The shadows are infact parallel in real-life but in a 2D angular photograph, may give a false impression of not being parallel.

7. The shaded side of objects should be dark and in sharp contrast, but they are not, indicating a three point lighting in a studio (Ralph Rene)

Buzz Aldrin is clear - despite being in shadow

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8. Many Apollo photographs show lighting "hot spots", as well as a darkening of the surface toward the horizon. Sunlight should not produce hot spots, nor should the surface fade in an airless environment. Seemingly, a spotlight was used.

Reply: The soil of the moon has a strong tendency to reflect sunlight. The (main) reason is that there are tiny glass spheres present in the soil that were formed in meteorite impacts. As a result of strong reflection from the soil, even the shaded sides of objects are not dark. 

            (The moon surface reflects 10% of the total light it receives. When the sun is directly overhead, the maximum illumination can be up to 10,000 lumens. However, in the Apollo missions, the sun was diagonal, and the luminosity was hence decreased to 3400 lumens. Now, when 10% of it will be reflected, the moon surface will seem to be lit up with 340 lumens power - the power roughly equal to a 35 watt light bulb.) 

             The "hot spots" also result from similar phenomenon. Contrast enhancement from NASA in some shots also created more of this effect. As for fading of the surface, the surface fades drastically toward the horizon. It is brightest near the foreground due to sunlight being preferentially reflected back toward the camera. Farther away, the sunlight is preferentially reflected away from the camera, making the ground look dark. The technical term for this phenomenon is Heiligenschein, and is the result of light refraction, reflection, and diffraction on the surface of and inside the glass spheres of the lunar soil. (This phenomenon can also be seen on wet grass where water droplets act like small glass spheres).

 

9. During the videos of the lunar landings the astronauts replied instantly to Mission Control in Houston.  Yet light, radio waves, and all energies of the electromagnetic spectrum travel at roughly 186,000 miles per second, meaning the response time of the astronauts to comments made by Mission Control should have been a little over two seconds since the moon is over 200,000 miles from the Earth.

Reply: This is actually a pretty great point put forward by one theorist online; however it clearly shows lack of information.

 

            NASA hadn't established a direct link with the television channels. The live pictures transmitted from the Moon were displayed on a 10-inch black-and-white monitor and a vidicon camera was pointed at the screen, the output of which was given to the channels. 

            Television channels actually showed us the live footage from the ASTRONAUT's side. i.e. the voices of the mission control that we heard in the footage were coming to us from the moon, and not directly from mission control. The conversation between the mission control and the astronauts as seen in the footage was hence, without any time delays.

10. There is one photograph of an astronaut standing on the surface of the Moon in direct sunlight, yet he casts no shadow

Theorists mention the absence of a shadow in this photograph.

Reply:  The photograph the theorists refer to is shown. If you see carefully, you will note that there is a shadow below him and to his right. 

            The shadow is not attached to his body as the astronaut John Young was jumping. A video of that scene is shown below. It is odd that the theorists do not have information about such a popular scene.

(P.S. Don't mind the music in the video: Just watch it as I couldn't find any better version :P And do observe the motionless flag)

 

11.  In an Apollo 11 photograph of Buzz Aldrin the horizon is located at eye level; however, if the camera was mounted to Neil Armstrong's chest, the horizon should be at chest level.

Note the level of the horizon in this shot.

Reply: The theorists refer to the image shown and argue that the horizon should be at chest level if the camera that took this shot was at chest level. 

            However they assume that Buzz and Armstrong were standing at the same level. If Armstrong's reflection in Buzz's visor is enlarged, Armstrong will be seen to have the horizon at his chest level - indicating that he actually was standing at a higher level than Buzz when the photo was taken. Armstrong's chest, and hence the camera, was at Buzz's eye level, which is why the horizon is seen at Buzz's eye level.

Enlargement of Armstrong's image in Buzz's visor, indicating that Armstrong was indeed standing at a higher level than Buzz.

12. The sound of the Lunar Module descent engine should be heard in the Apollo audio transmission, but there is no sound heard, not even at touchdown.  

Reply: This one is pretty easy. sound transmission requires a medium. On earth, the engines would surely make alot of noise but in the vacuum atmosphere of the moon, with no air to act as a medium, sound should not be heard.

13. A clear footprint cannot be made in vacuum because there is no moisture to hold its shape.

Reply: This point was also experimentally disproved by the MythBusters.

Our planet's soil is weathered and rounded, so the particles do not support each other's weight very well unless some moisture is present. Lunar soil, because it is not weathered, has a more jagged texture, so the particles "lock" with each other and will hold the shape of the imprint much more clearly.

14.  One photo from Apollo 11 is looking up at Neil Armstrong about to take his first step on moon. If Armstrong was the first man on the Moon, then who took the shot? (Ralph Rene)

Reply: This is among the most  non-objective points. Surprisingly however, it came not from a curious child pondering over the moon landings but from Ralph Rene himself.

            If I plan a trip with a big moment, obviously I will be fully equipped to capture that big moment in the perfect way. NASA, similarly, had a plan for it's big moment.

            While still on the steps, Neil Armstrong deployed the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly from the side of the Lunar Module, which happened to contain the TV camera. That camera took the photograph under question.

15. The space suits were too heavy and too pressurized for the astronauts to comfortably perform all the tasks that they did. The gloves on the Apollo space suits would also have expanded in the vacuum of space to the point where they would be immobile. (Ralph Rene)

Reply: The space suit although made of hard materials has jointed sections to allow a good range of movements.The upper and lower torso sections are put on separately and the two pieces are connected at the waist to allow the flow of water and gas-lines. Gloves and helmet create a sealed protection against meteoroids and radiation. The material they are made of does not expand in vacuum, it's made for vacuum and low-pressure environments.

            As far as weight is concerned, the suits are really heavy for Earth but in space (gravitation-free environment) and Moon (low-gravity environment), weight of the suit is none, and negligible, respectively.

16. The Lunar Lander weighed 17 tons and the powerful booster rocket (of 10,000 lbs thrust) at the base of the Lunar Lander was fired to slow descent to the moons service. Yet it has left no traces of blasting on the dust underneath. It should have created a small crater, yet the booster looks like it's never been fired.

Reply: The Lunar Lander certainly had a huge mass but with the moon's low gravity - a 6th of Earth's gravity, the 17 ton would actually have weighed 17/6 = 2.8 tons.  That certainly isn't enough to leave a crater at the landing site; aided by the fact that the lunar soil particles "lock" with each other (as mentioned in point 10 above).

Moreover:

• The Lunar Module was throttled down to mere 3000 lbs when landing, and turned off before actual touch down. 
• The Lunar Module descended at an angle, moving laterally across the ground. When the astronauts identified a suitable landing site, the LM leveled off and dropped to the surface. The LM did not hover over its final landing site for any significant length of time.
•  In a vacuum exhaust gases expand rapidly once exiting the engine nozzle. They should not create a "pressure effect".

17. A large amount of dust was generated during the landings, yet no dust can be seen on the Lunar Module footpads or anywhere.

Reply: This is because in the absence of atmosphere, the dust particles generated in landing simply followed a ballistic motion when they were blown away. On moon, we can not get those "billowing dust clouds" like Earth since there is no air to suspend the clouds.

18. The TV footage was hopeless. Part of the reason for the low quality was that, strangely, NASA provided no  direct link up. So networks actually had to film all the footage from a TV screen in Houston - a deliberate ploy, so that nobody could properly examine it. (Ralph Rene)

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 19. By contrast, the still photos were stunning. Yet that's just the problem. The astronauts took thousands of pictures, each one perfectly exposed and sharply focused. Not one was badly composed or even blurred. (Ralph Rene)

 Reply: The transmission of videos from Lunar Module wasn't done a high-speed internet connection: It used the Lunar Module's radio antenna and power supply, and was hence limited to a low bandwidth.

             Apollo 11 could therefore use a black-and-white, slow-scan TV camera with a scan rate of 10 fps (frames-per-second) at a low resolution of 320x240.

             In order to broadcast the images to the world, the pictures had to first be converted to the commercial TV standards. In the US, this was the EIA standard of 30 fps at 525x394 resolution. This is why the networks had to shoot the footage from NASA's screen in Houston, and not directly.

A highly underexposed photograph from Apollo.

 As for the photos, the theorists should note that not all shots were perfect; but then, why should NASA actually publish unfocused or improperly exposed photographs? The photos publicly released were the best photos among the roughly 5300+ photographs from all Apollo missions. The picture shown at the side is an example of an underexposed photo.

20. Some Apollo photographs show mysterious lights in the shadowy background that appear to be studio spotlights.

Lens flare in this photo is mistaken for studio spotlight.

Reply:  Some theorists present photographs like the one on the left and claim that the "lights" seen in the background are studio lights.

However these "lights" are actually lens flare and are often seen on earth as well when the image of sun is reflected back and forth inside the camera lens.


Another close-up image shown below shows the same lights; and from that photo one can clearly infer that the lights are lens flares afterall.

These lights are clearly lens flares.

 21. Apollo 16 photographs show a rock with a clearly defined "C" marking on it. This "C" is probably a studio prop identification marking.

 This notorious C rock is shown in the figure. Theorists claim it to be the markings of a studio prop.

This was uncovered to be just a hair fibre that got scanned on the film. The images were widely distributed in this form. The original photos do not have this C.

A magnification of this "C" shows a secondary mark that appears to be a shadow is clearly visible under the top portion of the mark, which supports the fact that the "C" was a hair fibre on film.

Note the secondary mark - a shadow.

 22. The Apollo crews were launched into space but never left Earth orbit.

Reply: This is a very lame argument. An ordinary orbiting satellite, even one that isn't as large and as white as Apollo, is clearly visible from earth. People even track them as hobbies. It is known that Soviets also tracked Apollo all the way from the moon to the earth.

23. To reach the Moon astronauts would have to travel through the Van Allen Radiation Belts, resulting in lethal doses of radiation.

Reply: This is often stated by the theorists. NASA was well aware of the Van Allen Radiation belt and  upon research, found that there was no danger. The total radiation dose that the astronauts encountered was 1 REM, an amount that is easily tolerated by the body. Toxic levels of radiation begin over 150-200 REM with 300+ accounting for lethal doses.

 

24. There are many pictures of spacesuited astronauts inside buildings with artificial moonscapes, presumably the studio where the moon landings were faked. 

Jim Lovell training for Apollo 13.

Reply: These photos are from various training/practice scenarios that all astronauts were subjected to before being sent to moon. NASA never claimed that those photos were from moon, nor ever made any attempt to hide them. They are publicly available.

25. The film of the astronauts moonwalking is actually film of the astronauts skipping in front of a high frame-rate camera, slowing down the picture and giving the illusion they are on the Moon. If the video footage of the Apollo astronauts is played at double normal speed, their motion appears quite normal, thus the images were faked by playing normal motion at half speed.

Reply: The MythBusters tried this experimentally: "Adam donned a replica NASA space suit and mimicked the astronauts' motions while being filmed by a slow motion camera. They also attached Adam to wires in order to mimic the Moon's lower gravity. While comparing the new and original footage, the MythBusters noted that at first glance, they looked similar, but there were many small discrepancies due to filming in Earth's gravity. In order to film in microgravity, the MythBusters boarded a Reduced Gravity Aircraft run by Zero Gravity Corporation and filmed exactly the same movements. Adam noted that the movements were more comfortable and made more sense in microgravity, and the footage from the plane looked exactly like the original film. The MythBusters concluded that the Moon landing film is authentic"

            Besides, there is a scientific explanation: An object in free flight will follow a ballistic trajectory in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. Moon's gravity is one-sixth that of earth. If the ballistic flight of an object on the Moon is sped up by a factor of 2.46 it will mimic exactly ballistic motion on Earth. 

            Apparently, when using a slow motion camera, the ballistics will resemble, but the arm movements will seem unnaturally fast - and oddities will appear.

Some points that the theorists can not falsify:

1. There are many moon rocks brought back by the Apollo missions. 382 kilograms (840 lb) of Moon rocks were collected during the six manned missions. These have characteristics that are not found in Earth or artificial rocks, such as evidence of meteoroid bombardment and exposure to cosmic rays. Likewise, Earth rocks have unique characteristics not found in the moon rocks, such as weathering and exposure to water. Finally, the moon rocks returned by Apollo have been determined to be between 3.1 and 4.4 billion years old, older than any rocks on earth.

Genesis rock brought back by Apollo 13 is older than any Earth rocks.

 2. Apollos 11, 14 and 15 erected laser reflectors on the lunar surface. Laser beams are routinely fired at these reflectors through telescopes at McDonald Observatory in Texas and near Grasse in southern France and these laser beams are actually reflected back from the moon. Timings of these reflected beams are used to measure the Earth-Moon distance to an accuracy of one inch. Do the theorists have any answer to this?

3. In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which was in a low polar orbit over the Moon, returned a series of images of Apollo landing sites showing the vessels themselves at rest on the Moon’s surface. A direct visual confirmation is a sure sign that the moon landings were real.

This is LROC's first picture of Apollo 11 after LRO dropped into its 50 km mapping orbit. At this altitude, very small details of Tranquility Base can be discerned. The footpads of the LM are clearly discernible. Components of the Early Apollo Science Experiments Package (EASEP) are easily seen, as well. Boulders from West Crater lying on the surface to the east stand out, and the many small craters that cover the moon are visible to the southeast.

Apollo 17 landing site photographed by the LRO mission

4. Last but not the least, a few logical points: More than half a million people were working on the Apollo program. To plan a conspiracy on this scale would have been as difficult as making real landings. It's just not feasible. Yet, after all this time, not a single inside man has slipped anything. Those who are naturally dead did not make any deathbed confessions or leave behind any secret incriminating documents or photos. None of the Apollo workers ever showed any evidence of "reward". They all had quiet lives in retirement with no luxurious mansions  or anything. No disgruntled employee fired from the Apollo program made any dark revelations. Everything is so normal and nothing seems fishy.


THE ABSOLUTE VERDICT:

             The above discussion makes it clear that all the objections raised by the conspiracy theorists were invalid – MAN REALLY WENT TO THE MOON – SEVERAL TIMES. It was indeed a great achievement for mankind and should be remembered as such.

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Exclusive: Proving Shaukat Khanum uncorrputed - National asset targeted for political vengeance

Introduction:  

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital is a charitable organization working in Pakistan since 1994. Being headed by a notable politician, it is not unsurprising that rival politicians have often tried to defame SKMH. The following table shows, in brief, the milestone achieved by the hospital in treating scores of cancer inflicted patients patients in Pakistan.

Patient Statistics - Click to enlarge

This article, from an unbiased and non-political point of view, will serve to nullify the allegations made against Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) owing to PML-N's political rivalry against the chairman of this project.

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THE ALLEGATIONS:

            Khawaja Asif, a noted PML-N leader, accused Imran Khan of having transferred Rs 4.5 billion out of the country from SKMH accounts, which were donated by people in charity to the hospital, to invest in speculative real estate business in Masqat and Dubai. He also stated that Imran Khan incurred huge losses on those investments.

WHAT DO WE MAKE OF THESE ALLEGATIONS? :

These allegations clearly show a complete lack of understanding of the way charitable, non-profit organizations are run all over the world, since the money invested abroad was in-fact the "endowment fund" that all major non-profit, charitable organizations invest in a suitable business. Coming from a political figure, the lack of such knowledge is indeed disappointing, however that remains another issue and we move on to explain what Endowment Funds actually are.

WHAT IS AN ENDOWMENT FUND:

Nonprofit organizations, institutions, universities, hospitals, mosques and churches all over the world often make use of Endowment fund to secure an income even in the time of financial crisis. It is an investment made by an institution in any estate/business/capital from which regular withdrawals are made to facilitate ongoing operations or other specified purposes.

 To get a simple idea of it: Think of a mosque, the donations of which are used to set up a small general-items shop closeby. The profit earned from the shop is credited to the mosque so that in the time when donations are low, an adequate earning may be secured from the shop to keep the things running.
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With this background, we can move on to shun the points raised by Khawaja Asif against SKMCH:

1. Endowment Funds are a necessity and are used all over the world:

The details on the way Endowment funds are used is explained above. They secure an income in the time of crisis or when the donations are low, hence they are an absolute necessity and securing one for Shaukat Khanum was indeed A GOOD STEP.

http://www.shaukatkhanum.org.pk/news-a-events/events/273.html

EXAMPLES OF OTHER HOSPITALS AND FAMOUS INSTITUTIONS:

Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, a cancer hospital from Canada:  http://www.pmhf.ca/Pages/Donate/NamedFunds.aspx

"Building our endowment is essential because it will ensure Princess Margaret Hospital has the ongoing funding necessary to continue its leadership role in international cancer research"


Royal University Hospital, Canada: http://foundation.saskatoonhealthregion.ca/Page.aspx?pid=328
" Royal University Hospital Foundation manages a range of endowments with a combined value of approximately $8 million. The capital funds are held in perpetuity, while the annual distributable earnings support a variety of initiatives at Royal University Hospital."



 Harvard University, USA: http://www.hmc.harvard.edu/

 "Formed in 1974, HMC manages Harvard University’s endowment and related financial assets. HMC’s singular mission is to produce long-term investment results to support the educational and research goals of the University."


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2. The accusation was of "money laundering" but in-fact no money was taken out of Pakistan; only overseas donations were used: 

Shaukat Khanum receives upto 35% of donations from the overseas Pakistanis and the rest from within the country. A portion of the money from the overseas donations was directly transferred as the endowment fund and no money was transferred from Pakistan in PKR.
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3. No losses were incurred in this investment:

Mr. Imtiaz Hydari, the owner of the HBG Holdings where Shaukat Khanum invested for an endowment, had himself been a donor of Shaukat Khanum for over 20 years. HBG Holdings is a leading private equity group specializes in managing investment capital from private and institutional investors in the Middle East. The firm is owned by leading investors from the Middle East and manages about $1.8 billion in private equity, asset management and banking.

Imtiaz Hydari promised that Shaukat Khanum would be a share holder only in terms of profit and any losses on the part of the company would not be shared by Shaukat Khanum. The financial board invested in his company in the best possible interests and received the company's official statement.


Imtiaz Hydari himself stepped forward after the accusations were made and answered key questions for the media. (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-124781-Khwaja-Asif-vs-Imran-investor-speaks-and-answers-key-questions)

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THE ABSOLUTE VERDICT:

In the light of the facts stated above, it is clear that all the accusations targeted at Shaukat Khanum
were either meant to purposefully defame it, or were spawned out of ignorance to the way charity hospitals and institutions are run all over the world.

Regarding Khawaja Asif, HBG Holdings chairman Imtiaz Hydari was right to say: "If he is a man of any substance, he will appear again on television to Apologise to Imran Khan, SKMT and Imtiaz Hydari."

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Shehbaz Sharif's Villainy & Young Doctors' Fight for Right

Introduction: 

Currently, there is a lot of talk over the young doctors of Punjab, who have been on a strike for several days, demanding the implementation of a proper service structure for their profession. These strikes have been exploited by the Punjab government, in collaboration with the media of Pakistan, to create a nationwide negative image of the doctors and their profession. Owing to the media’s manipulated and twisted depiction of the situation, the people have begun to see doctors as inhumane beings that care for money alone and not for their patients’ precious lives.

The demands of the doctors are not only just; but are also supposed to benefit the health system and the patients. The Chief Minister, being a hypocrite, has turned away from the promises he made last year; and teamed up with the media to create propaganda against the doctors.

                In this post, we will explain this issue from an unbiased and realistic point of view, explaining all the facts that the media purposefully twists or omits, to give the readers an insight into what REALLY is happening; summing up the discussion with some interesting facts that curiously evade the eyes of the media.

(PLEASE NOTE: Whatever we have stated about the government hospitals in this article is what we saw with our own eyes; provided we belong to Nishtar Hospital. Further details about any of the point regarding the government hospitals will be happily made available)

Topics:

1. The background of doctors' strikes

    a. The strike of March 2011

    b. The strike of June-July 2012

2. The Government's Violent Response

3. The role of media - a whore for money

4.  Some truths that everybody should know

5. The CM's "Revolutionary" steps for Health Department

6. The Absolute Verdict

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THE BACKGROUND OF DOCTORS’ STRIKES:

1.   The Strike of March 2011:

The public tends to view the doctors as “messiah” – the saviours; however it must be noted that the doctors are also humans and require an appropriate pay to fulfill their needs. Until last year, the doctors had but a meager pay of Rs. 18,000 (Please note that this was the pay of YOUNG recruited doctors; not the senior doctors).

Owing to this, the young doctors of Punjab went on a strike last March, demanding a pay raise along with the implementation of a service structure. The following table highlights the main points behind the demand of the doctors:

                Back then, the government of Punjab showed an extremely rigid attitude, but after a tireless effort by the young doctors, agreed to fulfill their demands. The pay of young recruited doctors was raised to Rs. 24,000 for House Officers and around Rs. 40,000 for PGRs. The government promised to make arrangements for a service structure in the following budget.

(NOTE: Service 

2.   The Strike of June-July 2012:

As mentioned, the government had promised to implement a service structure for doctors in the upcoming budget, but when the time came; they broke their promise (as was expected from them)

The doctors went on a PEACEFUL STRIKE wearing black ribbons on their arms for 2 weeks, during which the government paid no heed.

In countries with an educated government, a peaceful protest by the cream of the nation is enough to provoke a negotiation (e.g. the strikes of Germany this year, in which the doctors wore black ribbons for 2 hours; provoking a favourable response from the government)

Unfortunately, the government of Punjab isn’t good at all, and as a result, the doctors were forced to take measures like closing down the Out-patient Department. (This doesn’t mean that the patients were left to die; they were simply referred to the emergency or indoors; and were treated as needed. The operation theatres were functional as well)

THE GOVERNMENT’S VIOLENT RESPONSE:

On 1^st of July, as the doctors of YDA sat for a meeting at Services Hospital Lahore - prior to a scheduled press conference - they were brutally attacked Punjab police. Punjab police started to arrest doctors as if they were terrorists, raiding the hostels and torturing the detained. This all occurred before the doctors could even officially announce the results of their meeting. 

The following morning, the hospitals were teeming with policemen, arresting many doctors and threatening them; after which the hospitals’ emergencies had to be shut down; the young doctors could not work in a hostile environment where they would be arrested on sight.

Dr. Nadeem placed on ventilator

Dr. Nadeem, a YDA representative from Gangaram was brutally tortured, suffering a paralysis of the right side, and has been on a ventilator since.

Dr. Usman Zafar was also tortured and moved to an unknown location; his status is currently unknown.

Both of the legs of Dr. Aamir were broken along with a spinal injury.

Even the homes of the doctors were raided. The 2-years old daughter of Dr. Mazhar, a YDA representative from Multan, was taken from her home; and was returned on the condition that Dr. Mazhar would offer his own arrest.

The lady doctors were humiliated by being forced out of their hostels at 2 a.m. in the night; with nowhere to go for shelter.

Right now; more than 350 doctors are under detention and are facing torture.

Dr. Usman Dar's son in a silent protest to release the captive doctors and roll back the false accusations

 THE ROLE OF MEDIA – A WHORE FOR MONEY:

Throughout the strike, the print and electronic media, being heavily paid by the government, played a FILTHY and DISGUSTING role. The print media and TV channels showed ads full of lies in order to provoke the people into hating the doctors.

 An inside report tells that Rs. 1.6 million per day was spent wasted each day for huge ads against the doctors in newspapers; and 450 million for ads in TV channels. These resources could have been used in a better way.

The entire blame for the natural deaths of the patients was put on the doctors. The media tried to show that the doctors are striking for payraise; while infact they were only demanding a service structure that was already promised to them.

The media is quick to attribute the dozen natural deaths to the doctors; but it does not mention the pitiable health facilities provided by the government (that we mention below); nor does it pay attention to trivial issues conditions e.g. each day 1132 people die due to poverty; WHY doesn’t the government get blamed for that??

The media of Pakistan has been notorious for false propagandas.

Have all the people forgotten the planted interview of Malik Riaz, the false reports on Ajmal Qasab, the false reports on Osama Bin Laden and many more?

What a shame; even forwarded text messages find their way into the news (as we proved in our article here: http://absoluteverdict.blogspot.com/2011/10/exposing-pakistani-media-exclusive-look.html)

SOME TRUTHS THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW:

1.       During the strike, no patient died at the hands of the doctors! When the OPDs were shut down, the patients were admitted through Emergency Dept. and the Operation Theatres remained functional. 

2.       The doctors demanded a service structure that was promised to them; they did NOT ask for a pay raise as was portrayed in the Government’s print ads.

3.       The pay of the young doctors is NOT over Rs. 70,000 as the Government’s ads stated. This pay is achieved when the doctors come to the level of Asst. Professor after 20 years of service. The pay of the young recruited doctors is Rs. 24000. The salary of grade 17 doctors is 42000 to 44000 per month with all the allowances, and the salary of grade 18 doctors is 52000 to 54000 which is contrary to the claims to the Punjab Government who have presented false figures regarding the salaries of the doctors in media. According to the government the salary of the grade 17 doctors is form 60000 to 76000 and grade 18 doctors is 61000 to 1,36000.

Payslip of a grade 18 doctor

4.       The natural deaths in the hospitals were attributed to the young doctors. The media did not state the causes of death in any of the patients. In Pakistan, a huge number of patients turn up in the hospitals only at the terminal stages of their illness, due to which natural deaths upto the number stated are not uncommon.

5.       Reports stating that doctors purposefully killed patients (e.g. a child with a drip) have also been proven to be false. (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=415971275110938)

THE CM’s “REVOLUTIONARY” STEPS FOR THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT:

After the above discussion, it also seems appropriate to shed some light on the actual progress of the health dept. , something that curiously evades the media.

1.       The current budget allows only 1.3% of the total to the health department; which is lower than most of the developing nations. According to this budget, each individual in Punjab receives only Rs. 120 for his hospital expenses.

2.        The medicines provided in the government hospitals are of EXTREMELY POOR QUALITY and POTENCY and come from infamous firms. These medicines are not available in any market and are supplied only to these hospitals. According to a report, the nameless firms making these medicines belong to one of the acquaintances of the Health Secretary (Details available on request). The government doctors are forced to violate the rules and ask the patients to buy medicines from the pharmacy stores for their own safety.

Ironically, the media has also not shown anything about the real culprits of the recent deaths that occurred in Punjab Institute of Cardiology due to substandard medicine.

3.       The CT Scan, MRI, X-Ray and OT equipment in the government hospitals are mostly out of order, and when functional, of poor quality.

4.       The CM has not appointed a Health Minister throughout his 5 year term. A field as broad as health deserves a dedicated ministry, preferably led by a doctor, rather than a mental patient like himself who owns 18 ministries to his name.

THE ABSOLUTE VERDICT:

The above discussion makes it clear – the doctors are just in their demands. The culprit to blame is the Chief Minister of Punjab, who took extreme, violent and criminal measures for a cause that was easily negotiable; endangering thousands of lives, wasting millions of Rupees in fooling the nation and living upto his reputation as an enemy of the health department.

Calling the army for aid will not help; 150 army doctors can not possibly take the place of the thousands of young doctors. Negotiation is a necessity to solve a situation like this.

If you don't even have the sense to negotiate, you do not even deserve to be called a leader!!

We would really like to question: “Khadim-e-aala” or “Kaatil-e-aala”????

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Hazrat Aisha's Real Age at Marriage Time - The Most Complete Explanation

There is a lot of misunderstanding in the Muslim world regarding the age of Hazrat Aisha at the time of her marriage to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This misunderstanding has often led to the belief that child marriage is permissible in Islam; and still remains one of the favourite points used by many non-Muslims to create skepticism against the religion of Islam.

              The popularly believed notion is that Hazrat Aisha was 6 years old when her Nikah was performed in Mekkah; and 9 years old when she moved in to live with the Prophet (PBUH).

              However, an in-depth study of historical facts and authentic ahadith actually reveals that this information can not be true, and Hazrat Aisha was atleast 16-19 years old when she was married to the Prophet (PBUH).

    We will prove this fact in two parts:

1. Invalidating the authenticity of the narration(s) that state Hazrat Aisha's age to be 9 years at the time of her marriage.
2. Proving the actual age of 16-19 years via several ahadith from the AUTHENTIC books on ahadith
   

PART 1: 
              First, we must consider that there is ONLY ONE HADITH reported by Hisham bin Urwah that states Hazrat Aisha's age to be 9 when she moved in. (Note: Although this information is widely quoted and found in many Hadith and history books, it must be noted that this information has come from a single person, i.e. Hisham bin Urwah, who is the last narrator in this Hadith's chain of narrators, on the authority of his father. Thus, this Hadith is primarily a single Hadith. In general, a Hadith has more credibility if it is narrated by more people independently from diverse chains of narrators. In this case, there is basically only one source.)

              Hashim bin Urwah lived for 71 years. In the first part of his life, he lived in Madina. Following 131 AH, he moved to Iraq. Hashim had a huge number of students at Madina, and NONE of them - not even the most famous ones like Malik ibn Anas - reported to have learnt any such hadith from him. Practically, all the narrators of this Hadith were Iraqis. 

However:

• It is reported that Hisham bin Urwah's memory suffered in his later years in Iraq - to the extent that some of the traditions reported from Hisham bin Urwah could not be trusted for authenticity. (Mizanu'l-ai`tidal, by Al-Zahbi , Arabic, a book on the life sketches of the narrators of the Hadith, Al-Maktabatu'l-athriyyah, Sheikhupura, Pakistan, Vol 4, pg 301).

• Yaqub ibn Shaibah is reported to have said, "narratives reported by Hisham are reliable EXCEPT those that are reported through the people of Iraq". 

•  Even Malik ibn Anas, the most popular student of Hisham, discredited all narratives of Hisham that were reported through people of Iraq. (Tehzibu'l-tehzib, by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Arabic, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, one of the most well known books on the life and reliability of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet (PbuH), vol 11, pg 48 - 51).

 
PART 2:


              There are ahadith from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and also from earlier Islamic histories, that suggest that Hazrat Aisha must have been older than nine when married. We list some of them below:

• According to ahadith in Bukhari and Muslim, Hazrat Aisha is said to have joined the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the raid that culminated in the Battle of Badr, in 624 CE. However, because no one below the age of fifteen was allowed to accompany raiding parties, Hazrat Aisha should have been at least fifteen in 624 CE and thus at least thirteen when she was married following the Hijra in 622 CE.

•  The earliest surviving biography of Hazrat Muhammad PBUH (Ibn Hisham’s recension of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rashul Allah), records Hazrat Aisha as having converted to Islam before Hazrat Umar ibn al-Khattab, during the first few years of Islam around 610 CE. In order to accept Islam she must have been walking and talking, hence at least three years of age, which would make her at least fifteen in 622 CE.

• According to many Ahadith in Bukhari, it is believed Hazrat Aisha participated in the battle of Badr and Uhud. Also in Bukhari (Kitabu’l-maghazi) Ibn `Umar states that the Prophet did not permit me to participate in Uhud, as at that time, I was 14 years old. But on the day of Khandaq, when I was 15 years old, the Prophet permitted my participation. So if it was not allowed to participate in Uhud for people younger than 15, then Hazrat Aisha would be atleast 15 in those battles, indicating she could not be 9 at the time of her marriage.

• Tabari (an authentic and early history of Islam) reports that Hazrat Abu Bakr wished to spare Hazrat Aisha the discomforts of a journey to Ethiopia soon after 615 CE, and tried to bring forward her marriage to Mut`am’s son. Mut`am refused because Hazrat Abu Bakr had converted to Islam, but if Aisha was already of marriageable age in 615 CE, she must have been older than nine in 622 CE.

• Tabari also reports that Hazrat Abu Bakr’s four children were all born during the Jahiliyyah, the pre-Islamic period, which could be said to have ended in 610 CE, making Hazrat Aisha at least twelve in 622 CE.

• According to Ibn Hajar, Hazrat Fatima was five years older than Hazrat Aisha. Hazrat Fatima is reported to have been born when Muhammad (PBUH) was thirty-five years old, meaning Hazrat Aisha was born when he was forty years old, and thus twelve when Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) married at fifty-two.

• According to the generally accepted tradition, Aisha was born about eight years before Hijrah. However, according to another narrative in Bukhari (Kitaab al-Tafseer) Hazrat Aisha is reported to have said that at the time Surah Al-Qamar, the 54th chapter of the Qur’an , was revealed, “I was a young girl”. The 54th Surah of the Qur’an was revealed nine years before Hijrah. According to this tradition, Hazrat Aisha had not only been born before the revelation of the referred Surah, but was actually a young girl, not even only an infant at that time. So if this age is assumed to be 7 to 14 years then her age at the time of marriage would be 14 to 21.

•  According to almost all the historians, Hazrat Asma (the elder sister of Hazrat Aisha), was ten years older than Hazrat Aisha. It is reported in Taqreeb al-Tehzeeb as well as Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah that Hazrat Asma died in the 73rd year after migration when she was 100 years old. Now, obviously if Hazrat Asma was 100 years old in the 73rd year after Migration to Medina, she should have been 27 or 28 years old at the time of migration. If Hazrat Asma was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah, Hazrat Aisha should have been 17 or 18 years old at that time. Thus, Hazrat Aisha – if she got married in 1 AH (after Migration to Medina) or 2 AH – was between 18 to 20 years old at the time of her marriage. 

  
THE ABSOLUTE VERDICT: 


              In the light of the above discussion, it is quite certain that Hazrat Aisha could not have been 6 years old at the time of her Nikah; or 9 years old when she moved in to live with the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). She was about 18-19 years old at the time of Nikah Prophet’s house and around 21 when she moved in to live with him.

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April Fool’s Day – Removing the Muslim World’s Misconceptions

Intro: For the past several years, some highly emotionally charged stories regarding the origin of the April Fool’s Day have been circulating all over Pakistan, and to a great extent, the entire Muslim world.

Since most of our fellow Pakistanis and Muslim brothers seem very keen to take up such stories without really bothering to verify them, so we thought we’d write a little feature on it.

Falsifying the April Fool stories that we hear in Pakistan (and the Muslim world):

Several stories about the origin of the April Fool’s Day have been circulating in Pakistan, usually through text messages but sometimes through emails and blogs.

We shall falsify the two major ones here:

1.     FAKE THEORY NO. 1: Reported online with the name of a fictitious scholar ‘Aasim Ibn ‘Abdullaah Al-Qurawayti,  the most famous story is summarized below:

           “When the Muslims ruled Spain, approximately one thousand years ago, they were a force that could not be destroyed. the disbelievers sent their spies to Spain to study and find out the secret of the Muslims’ strength, who attributed it to their taqwa.

           To break this strength, the Christians began to send wine and cigarettes to Spain for free.

           The faith of the Muslims began to weaken,and the western Catholic Christians subdued the whole of Spain and put an end to the Muslim rule of that land which had lasted for more than eight hundred years. The last stronghold of the Muslims, in Grenada, fell on April 1st; hence they considered this to be the “trick of April."

FALSIFYING THIS THEORY: The last stronghold of Granada fell not on 1st April, but on January 2, 1492, when Muhammad XII of Granada surrendered the Emirate of Granada, the city of Granada, and the Alhambra palace; following the Granada wars. 

Moreover, it would be worth mentioning that cigarette was not yet invented when Isabella and Ferdinand were planning to take over Granada in the 1480s. In fact, tobacco itself was not yet known to the Europeans.  

Furthermore, Reconquest was not so easy as to have been accomplished by making Spanish Muslims addicted to smoking cigarettes. It took almost 500 years of ceaseless Christian military campaigns in spite of anarchy and dispersion of power that had prevailed in Muslim Spain since the fall of Spain’s Umayyad dynasty in 1031 CE, and 11 years of cleverly crafted strategy of Ferdinand-Isabella team to unseat an incompetent Muslim monarch.

2.      FAKE THEORY NO. 2: In 1492 when Spain was captured, the Christians promised the Muslims that they would be transported to Africa safely; but they were burnt alive in the ships on 1^st April, and hence they celebrate the April Fool’s Day to spite us.

FALSIFYING THIS THEORY: Although Spain was captured in 1492,  the Muslims were not expelled until the 16^th century. 

In addition, the order to expel the Muslims was given on 9^th April, 1609. So once again, this event is clearly not linked to the 1^st of April!

The Actual Origin of April Fool’s Day:

There is more than one theory about the origin of April Fool’s Day.

The most credible of these theories states that the tradition began in 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1583. The transition was in accordance with the orders of Council of Trent, the 16^th century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church.

People who were not aware of the transition kept on celebrating the New Year during the last week of March through 1 April instead of 1 January. And they became the objects of jokes and hoaxes such as placing a paper fish on their backs and was also called "poisson d'avril" (April fish) meaning an easy to fool person.

(Some people disagree with the above theory, stating that the OLDEST mention that we find about the April Fool dates back to 1392 in Chaucer’s book “Canterbury Tales”. That is explained as below:

In Canterbury Tales, the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set “Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two”. Readers apparently believed this line to mean "March 32", i.e. April 1. Somewhere in the storyline, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox; implying to the reader’s that this refers to April Fool’s Day

 Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, “Syn March was gon thritty dayes and two.” Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. May 2, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381.)

____________

The Absolute Verdict:

The above discussion makes it clear that the April Fool's Day is not a tradition made to spite the Muslims.

 Reacting to these rumours over the internet, Abdul-Halim V, has rightly remarked on Planet Granada blog: "...sometimes I get the feeling that as a group, Muslims need to develop a lot more critical-thinking and need to learn not to pass on everything we hear from so-and-so as the truth".

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New Year - 5 Simple Reslutions All Pakistanis Should Make!

 This is a VERY short but meaningful post for the New Year! :) Explanations have been deliberately omitted for brevity and simplicity.

--------------

Everyone makes bright plans and resolutions for himself/herself as the new year approaches. The practice is effective if followed properly; it helps them improve themselves and live more comfortably.

But apart from the personal resolutions which you all must have made, why not make some SIMPLE but highly valuable resolutions for the good of our homeland Pakistan?

The 5 resolutions given below, though exceedingly simple, will surely do wonders for Pakistan if you follow them well!


1. Say "No" to Provincialism; and "Yes" to Nationalism. Eliminate provincialsm from your heart.

2. Put an end to racism and hate-promoting factors e.g. sms campaigns against certain casts, people and races; jokes are jokes only when they don't hurt anyone.

(Note: We have emphasized these points in detail in other articles by us.
http://absoluteverdict.blogspot.com/2011/12/appeal-to-all-pakistanis-unity-faith.html
http://absoluteverdict.blogspot.com/2011/10/all-pakistanis-please-put-end-to-jokes.html )

3. Keep your homeland clean, make a small habit to not throw trash/wrappers or anything at all on the roads.

4. Speak up against what is wrong and try to change it: violence, injustice, child abuse, racism etc.

5. Convey the beneficial points you discover/learn to everyone you know. Spreading your enlightenment is necessary to bring about change on a huge scale.

I request you to keep these points in your mind at all times! :)

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In the end, the Absolute Verdict Team wishes all the readers a very happy new year! May you all achieve all your noble desires and play your role in Pakistan's rise! :)

Thanks for being with us! :)
Best wishes!

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