Guppu.com as you know it has been serving as an internet platform for news stories and blogs as an alternate to the mainstream media. We have earned much respect by breaking several exclusive stories and getting many media mentions.

Over the times, I have tried to pay Guppu bloggers for their commitment and dedication but then it all came down to the efforts of myself and a few unpaid guest bloggers because without sufficient income generated by Guppu, I was unable to keep paying bloggers. It’s true that Guppu does not earn revenue yet and it’s just the respect and love from readers that’s keeping it alive. So I’d like your input in this regard as well.

In short, give me the ideas on what should be the way forward for Guppu! The best idea will get a surprise gift. You can email your ideas to me directly at farhan@guppu.com or post via comments below.
Thanks and Regards,

M. Farhan Janjua

Editor-in-chief, Guppu.com.

By Guppu’s Editor-in-chief Farhan Janjua who is also Regional Editor for Middle East at Future Challenges. Farhan wrote this opinion piece for FutureChallenges.org as was originally published here.

Photo: Re Inking Life

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I feel moved to write about what we felt back then and how these terrorist attacks have affected our all lives. Yes, 9/11! A major icon of our times that has changed the lives of countless thousands of people across the world.

I remember I was returning to my parents’ house in my home-town of Lahore in Pakistan when I first heard the awful news on TV. I was only 12 years old at the time and hadn’t a clue what on earth was going on. There was such a mixed response in the beginning. Alongside a widespread feeling of fear and anxiety, there was also much jubilation as many people, my own grandfather included, celebrated the attack and praised Osama Bin Laden as a hero.

You might find this shocking and hard to take, but yes this was the initial reaction of most of the people around me who actually believed this was some sort of victory of Muslims over the infidels! It was only later that we came to realize that this was a terror attack targeting the lives of thousands of innocent people. This perception changed our views, and ever since then we’ve condemned the incident.

As I say, the initial spontaneous response was a kind of jubilant celebration, but once the dust started to settle we got a clearer view. You have to remember that we didn’t have many private TV channels back then, just a couple of state-owned stations. The media response, however, was broadly similar to what we had been feeling on the ground. While many condemned and raged against the terror attacks and vowed to reclaim the religion in whose name the attacks had been committed, others persisted in maintaining that this was not our war but rather part of some bigger picture. Yet thus far nothing has emerged from this “bigger picture” than a load of conspiracy theories.

Just condemning the attacks was not enough. There then began the global war against terror initiated by the USA along with several of its allies. Pakistan is also an American ally, a fact which many people In Pakistan find deeply offensive to this very day.

Thus began the war in Afghanistan on the terror training networks. As the missiles rained down, a potent and poisonous brew was concocted out of threatening words like Taliban, extremists, Jihad, Muslims, sharia, hijab, burqa, and many others. The initial misconception of the events of 9/11 in this part of the world was exactly mirrored in the USA and developed countries as many people started blaming Muslims for what they believed was an attack on freedom and liberty and saw Islam as directly responsible for promoting violence, terrorism and extremism. Unsurprisingly, this onslaught outraged Muslims across the world because Muslims have been around for centuries and the vast majority of them are peace-loving people. A recent study that shows Muslims to be among the most patriotic people in America is only one piece of a large body of evidence in support of this claim.

Put bluntly, if Islam really did preach terrorism, the more than 1.6 billion Muslims living in the world would have created a hell of a lot more trouble!

Ever since there has been an on-going struggle to propagate the real teachings of Islam and refute the fake interpretations of those who attempt to hijack the religion for their own purposes. It has met with a reasonable degree of success, but challenges still remain, and Muslim communities in the West are still the frequent victims of discrimination and racism.

As I say, the war on terror has practically reshaped the world and the Middle East in particular. Ten years on, we commemorate the innocent lives lost in those tragic incidents. And we are right to do so. But we often forget the unsung victims of 9/11 and the war on terror. We forget the countless thousands of innocent lives lost in the war in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the killing fields of Iraq. Alone the death toll in the Pakistan army fighting this war is over 2000. On this day, we should remember and honor the lives of all the victims who lost their lives in this war.

Ten years on, the situation is quite different. I’d say it has changed the lives of many people. Changed their perceptions, and much more. After 10 years, many Americans seem to have shed as many misconceptions of Muslim communities as they have adopted. Many, however, still remember and can hardly forget what happened a decade ago. Meanwhile, the current trend among Muslim communities shows that they have become much more active in denouncing acts of terrorism and violence.

I don’t have any personal story about 9/11 to share, but I would like to say one important thing and that is that we Muslims should apologize for 9/11. Not because we’re guilty of the twin tower bombings, but because we never put enough effort into spreading the true and peaceful message of Islam. If we had, this could have gone quite some way to preempting the initial outrage directed at Muslims.

Disclaimer: Guppu Party is not a real political party! The sole purpose of this post is to encourage the creative #PKTP i.e. Pakistan Twitter Parliament activity! which will help bring political awareness and exchange of ideas!

I, Farhan Janjua, a candidate from Guppu Party is going to contest for the post of Prime Minister of #PKTP i.e. Pakistan Twitter Parliament! Eliminating all crap, below are the main points of our manifesto:

• To promote tolerance and harmony among people belonging from any religious/ethnic/cultural background! And to protect the rights of people belonging from all faiths!
• To make the best use of technology by providing as much opportunities as possible. Will be encouraging the local IT/ICT products and services by providing as much facilities as possible! You never know we may make the cities WiFi enabled ! ; )
• To arrange the training of individuals  from all parts of the country! This includes technical skills training which will ultimately result into creation of employment opportunities! By the way training includes educating people about welfare state too!
• To have an absolute foreign policy which is in the best interest of the country!
• To kick off the illegal Afghanistanis who are living here pretending to be the Pakistani citizens and to bring back the stranded Pakistanis from Bangladesh!
• To appoint Begum Nawazish Ali as tourism minister which will help boosting up the economy! I have seen Begum has a brilliant knowledge and passion for that!
• Boosting economy by creating more employment opportunities and exploring the natural resources with absolute honesty!
• To use global influence to bring foreign investment here! Especially from the giant ICT companies!

That’s all for now!

I am thankful to all those who supported me, special thanks to my family, friends, university mates and management. A special salute to Rabia Garib, editor in chief of CIO Pakistan and their entire team to make this happen.  The official awards winners list can be checked here at the official site

Now some quick words about the travel, while you can enjoy flying to Karachi, trust me, the real essence is in traveling from Lahore to Karachi via ROAD ; ) where you actually get to witness the beauty of our gorgeous land all the way from Lahore via Sahiwal, Khanewal, Bahawalpur, Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, Moro, Hyderabad. The beauty of diverse culture and the hospitality of locals is just awesome. So I was lucky enough to get a chance to go on 21 hours of journey.

I was welcomed graciously by the Karachiites, almost everyone there such as  staff at guest house, taxi walas, and loads of friends there in Karachi. I enjoyed the hospitality to the extent that I couldn’t resist hugging each and everyone I met. Will write a detailed post later. Lets rejoice because Guppu.com is now an Award Winning Startup!

Throughout the year, I’ve learned many things, I achieved many things, in short I got myself be heard and my opinion matters now. My opinions and peice of writeups were featured in many mainstream media including DAWN NEWS, Guardian UK, New York Times, TripleJ of ABC Radio Australia, BBC, CNN, and more. I’ll be posting all the media mentions in the sidebar in a couple of days.

I find my self lucky to have found many supportive felow bloggers who guided me on almost every stage. I also feel lucky to be a part of many revolutionary campaigns like LongMarch, PakCricket, and condemning US drone Attacks etc.

Criticism, Appreciation, Suggestions really helped me to improve my writing style and I’d say the overall year for me as a blogger was quite successful. And I am happy with it =) So would you people like to wish my blog a happy birthday? =)