Tag Archives: courageous

Khalil Dale – the courageous aid worker who was gunned down in Pakistan

The courageous aid workers who fear no evil

He’d already been kidnapped and tortured – so what drove murdered aid worker Khalil Dale back to the danger zone?

By Sarah Rainey

Asked to describe his job as an aid worker for the Red Cross in some of the world’s most dangerous locations, Khalil Rasjed Dale compared it to a Mad Max film. “You’ve got people driving around in cars with machine guns,” he said in an interview in 1998. “There’s no government infrastructure, no law and order and we were trying to help vulnerable people nobody else seemed to care for… You just didn’t know what was going to happen next.”

Two days ago, Dale was found dead. Stationed abroad for more than 30 years, he had been taken hostage by suspected pro-Taliban terrorists on January 5. His decapitated body, wrapped in a plastic bag, was dumped by the side of a road in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan province, one of the most troubled regions of Pakistan.

Dale’s murder left many stunned by the brutality inflicted on such a gentle-mannered man. But as his family grieves, his death has brought into the spotlight the role of British aid workers, stationed in some of the world’s most volatile countries. His loss is not the first, nor will it be the last.

Read more » telegraph.co.uk

How Long Can Sindh ‘n Sindhis Endure?”

By: Ahmed Makhdoom

Bashir Khan Qureshi, the roaring and raging voice of Sindh, the versatile leader of Sindh, the brave and courageous person, the humble and loving human being is no more with us! He fought for Sindh, he agitated for the rights of downtrodden Sindhis, he vociferously, vehemently and valiantly declared Independence and Freedom for Sindh and, sadly, he paid the ultimate price – the martyrdom.

جي تُون وِڙھٞندي تہ مَا رِيو ويندين؍

سَڄي سِـنڌُ تان وارِيو ويندين؍

دودا؍ تُنھِنجو ساھُ ثہ وِيندو؍

پَرَ قومَ جو ويساھُ نہ وِيندو؍

(شيخ اياز)

“Je tuun wirrhandein ta maaryo weindein,

Sacjee Sindhu taan waaryo weindeinn;

Dodaa, tuhinjo saah ta weendo,

Para qoma jo weisaahu na weendo!”

(Shaikh Ayaz)

“Fight, and sure to die on field art thee,

Sacrificed for Sindh, thy life admirable be;

Oh Dodo, breathe thy last will certainly thee,

Never shall diminish Nation’s trust in thee!”

(Shaikh Ayaz: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)

How long can the sacred and sentient land of Sindh continue to be desecrated, demeaned and debased? How long can the effervescent and exuberant children of Mother Sindh keep on being poisoned, murdered and butchered? How long can Sindhis keep on tolerating the savagery against their Motherland? How long would the peace-loving Nation of Sindh continue to witness the ethnic cleansing and genocide being perpetrated against them ruthlessly by the demonic forces of evil?

How long Sindhis will continue to turn the other cheek when their language and culture, values and way of life, history and heritage are systematically being punched, punctured and pulverized by the uncivilized marauders, tyrants and terrorists of deep dark forces? How long peace loving Sindhis continue being taken for a ride in the caravan of fraud, deceit and duplicity by the looters, liars and loafers?

Yes, how long might the Sindh and Sindhis continue to endure with patience? How long will Sindhis keep on suffering in acute pain and anguish? Till the Sindhis in Sindh have become extinct? Till the Sindhi language and Sindhi culture of peace, values and way of life, history and heritage has been deleted, destroyed and dumped by the deep dark forces of the security establishemnt?

Continue reading How Long Can Sindh ‘n Sindhis Endure?”

Dangerous Minds: Noam Chomsky on the Wall Street protests

Noam Chomsky sends a “strong message of support” to the organizers of the Occupy Wall Streetprotests:

“Anyone with eyes open knows that the gangsterism of Wall Street — financial institutions generally — has caused severe damage to the people of the United States (and the world). And should also know that it has been doing so increasingly for over 30 years, as their power in the economy has radically increased, and with it their political power. That has set in motion a vicious cycle that has concentrated immense wealth, and with it political power, in a tiny sector of the population, a fraction of 1%, while the rest increasingly become what is sometimes called “a precariat” — seeking to survive in a precarious existence. They also carry out these ugly activities with almost complete impunity — not only too big to fail, but also “too big to jail.”

The courageous and honorable protests underway in Wall Street should serve to bring this calamity to public attention, and to lead to dedicated efforts to overcome it and set the society on a more healthy course.” …

Read more » Dangerous Minds