Daily Archives: 10/12/2008

Politics, Random

A Chinese story that fits on Politics

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You never know what happens

A son & horse

One day, the horse runs away, and the neighbours pity the farmer.
“Never mind,” the farmer says, “You never know what happens.” Sure enough, two days later the horse returns, bringing a pack of wild horses with him. This time his neighbors congratulate him on his good fortune. The farmer’s response is the same: “You never know what happens.”

A few days later, his son breaks both his legs in a fall from a wild horse. The neighbours once again commiserate, and once again the farmer says, “You never know what happens.”

Then a group of the emperor’s soldiers ride through the town, taking every able young man with them to fight in a border war. The farmer’s son, temporarily disabled, gets to stay home.
Still you never know what happens

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News, Pakistan, Politics

Pakistan: Information on Mohajir/Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Altaf (MQM-A)

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To See the source, click here, UNHCR

Query: Provide information on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Altaf (MQM-A) in Pakistan.

Response: SUMMARY- The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Altaf (MQM-A) has been widely accused of human rights abuses since its founding two decades ago. It claims to represent Mohajirs- Urdu-speaking Muslims who fled to Pakistan from India after the 1947 partition of the subcontinent, and their descendants.

In the mid-1990s, the MQM-A was heavily involved in the widespread political violence that wracked Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, particularly Karachi, the port city that is the country’s commercial capital. MQM-A militants fought government forces, breakaway MQM factions, and militants from other ethnic-based movements. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and others accused the MQM-A and a rival faction of summary killings, torture, and other abuses (see, e.g., AI 1 Feb 1996; U.S. DOS Feb 1996). The MQM-A routinely denied involvement in violence.

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