A foregone conclusion —Dr Mohammad Taqi
Only after the disaster in Swat spilled over into Buner and the media spotlight showed the true colours of Sufi Muhammad, did both the military and civilian leadership spring into action
The Pakistani parliament’s Special Committee on National Security (SCNS) received a briefing this past week from the Secretary Defence Lieutenant General (R) Syed Athar Ali and Director General ISI Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
Read more >> DAILY TIMES
‘If no water for Sindh, no port for Punjab’
KARACHI: Sindh can stop supplying gas to Punjab, block highways leading towards the province and cut its connection from seaports if Punjab tries to block its water, said Dr Kaisar Bengali, Adviser to Chief Minister on planning and development.
Addressing a seminar titled Democracy, Provincial Autonomy, Challenges and Future Prospects on Sunday, he said the decision of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) acting chairman to open the Chashma-Jhelum link canal was a violation of the Irsa act.
This irrational attitude of the Punjab bureaucracy is not new, Bengali claimed, adding that they have been controlling more than their share of the nation’s resources.
“Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa would have no other option but to ink [transit] agreements with India if we cut off their link of Port Qasim and stopped supplying gas,” he said.
Punjab has forgotten that the province receives rainfall as all the clouds head towards to from Sindh, the adviser said with a smile.
The participants of the seminar resolved that the Chashma-Jhelum link canal should be closed and demanded for the federal government to honour its commitments and agreements regarding the distribution of the Indus waters.
They also claimed that the Irsa acting chairman should be punished for violating regulations.
He went on to say that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is now confined to Punjab and 50 per cent of the parliamentarians who have fake degrees belong to the party.
Meanwhile, Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said that the Sindh government has achieved the National Finance Commission (NFC) award after a 19-year struggle. The people opposing the government’s policies had signed the NFC award allotting only 37 per cent of the share to the provinces, he said, adding, “Credit should be given to the present government for giving 56 per cent share of the finances to the provinces.”
Courtesy: Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2010.
Extremists’ war on people’s Islam —Yasser Latif Hamdani
The Deoband philosophy is a rejectionist philosophy, which rejected modernity and saw the British as the embodiment of western irreligious thought and materialism
The attack on Hazrat Ali Hajvery’s shrine has struck at the root of Lahore’s religious and cultural ethos. For 1,000 years, this city has been sustained by the cultural openness and tolerance that Ali Hajvery, or as he is known to the people of Lahore, Data, gave us. …
Read more >>- Daily Times
Extraordinary Rendition
By: Hakim Hazik
Justice Iftikhar of the Lahore High Court has struck a blow for democracy. He has granted a bail before arrest to the selfless civil servant and policeman par excellence, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, formerly of Sindh Police department and currently in charge of public prosecution in the Punjab.
This kind-hearted and mild mannered gentleman has always put duty before personal benefit and national service before self interest. However has never given any quarter to the enemies of the state and has always been unflinching and steadfast in upholding the rule of law.
Read more >>- JusticeDenied
Courtesy: Geo – via >> Siasat
Deadly blasts hit Sufi shrine in Lahore
Suicide bombers have launched a triple attack on a Sufi shrine in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
At least 35 people died in the blasts at the popular Data Darbar shrine late on Thursday evening, officials say.
At least 175 other people were hurt in the blasts, believed to be the first targeting a shrine in Lahore.
Thousands of people were visiting the shrine at the time, officials say. It holds the remains of a Sufi saint, Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery.
Read more >>- BBC
Continue reading Lahore – 3 suicide blasts rocked Sufi Sharine
Do not hate me for who I am! —Shahid Ilyas
We are taking too long to understand that Pakistan does not mean Punjab only. It consists of several nationalities, which have very distinct and old languages, cultures and histories. All of them have as much a share in the state of Pakistan as any other
Going by the rhetoric that one comes across from a host of media, including e-mails, the internet, TV shows, blogs and personal conversations, it is very disturbing to see the level of hatred which the youth in Punjab (is it only the youth?) — exceptions notwithstanding — harbour against personalities like President Zardari, President Karzai, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Mahmud Khan Achakzai. On the other hand, a soft corner in their attitudes is discernible for Qazi Hussein Ahmad, Nawaz Sharif, Zaid Hamid, Hamid Gul and Pervez Musharraf — people who subscribe to, some explicitly, others implicitly, the narrative which states that the international forces in Afghanistan are ‘occupying’ forces (do we have any business with who occupies what?), the Taliban are fighting to ‘free’ their country from a foreign occupation while India is an irreconcilable enemy, and so on and so forth. Can a country like Pakistan see stability with the configuration of love and hate on the above patterns?
To begin with, let’s ask what can be the possible reasons for the widespread hostility towards the person of President Zardari? Is it the NRO? But Zardari is not the only person to benefit from it or to allegedly be corrupt. The problem seems much deeper. It has partly to do with the anti-Zardari propaganda on pro-establishment news media. But it has also to do with where he comes from and what he stands for. The continuous and decades-long domination of political power in Pakistan by an overwhelmingly Punjab-based establishment makes it so difficult for them to accept the presence of a non-Punjabi and non-obliging personage in the presidency of the Islamic republic. It is simply too much for them to see the president talk about such ‘irritating’ issues as the rights for the Baloch and Pashtuns, and civilian supremacy over the armed forces. Indeed they have enjoyed so much power and for so long, that they started to take the same for granted.
We are taking too long to understand that Pakistan does not mean Punjab only. It consists of several nationalities, which have very distinct and old languages, cultures and histories. All of them have as much a share in the state of Pakistan as any other. All of them have to be given a chance to reach to the highest slots including the presidency and the prime minister house. Their languages and cultures are as important as any other, and the same has to be granted as much importance — on official level — as the languages of Punjab and Muhajirs. Asif Ali Zardari’s presence in the presidency is not the result of a favour from anyone. He is the president of the Islamic republic because he is duly elected and he represents a group of people, which has equal ownership of the country.
Read more >>- Daily Times
Link – http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20106\30\story_30-6-2010_pg3_4
PPP should quit provincial coalition on differences: LHC CJ
LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party should separate itself from the coalition in the Punjab government if it has any differences with it, a private TV channel quoted Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif as saying on Tuesday, adding that his personal relations with the Sharif brothers can never come in the way of justice.
The LHC CJ was addressing a ceremony in Hafizabad, where he inaugurated a new chamber of lawyers. He said he shares 40-year old relations with the Sharif brothers, but his relations with both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders have never come in the way of justice. He said some elements were creating baseless propaganda against him and his son, the channel reported. …
Read more >>- Daily Times
Why are Ahmadis persecuted so ferociously in Pakistan?
By Mohsin Hamid
…. Because if we can be silenced when it comes to Ahmadis, then we can be silenced when it comes to Shias, we can be silenced when it comes to women, we can be silenced when it comes to dress, we can be silenced when it comes to entertainment, and we can even be silenced when it comes to sitting by ourselves, alone in a room, afraid to think what we think.
That is the point.
Read more >>- DAWN
Courtesy: Dunya TV >> via- Siasat
PTA plans to push Pakistan to 1984 – by Jahanzaib Haque
A leaked confidential draft of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) allegedly delivered to the Lahore High Court (LHC) has suggested the implementation of a new draconian system which would greatly curtail internet freedom in the country, not unlike Big Brother from George Orwell’s ’1984′.
For more >>- Tribune
I never really cared for Ahmadis – By Fasi Zaka
– Tribune
I have never really been vocal about rights for Ahmadis, even privately, but my compassion trigger is easily pulled if there are atrocities against Pakistani Hindus and Christians. Part of this can be ascribed to my belief in the prejudice that the Ahmadis are a relatively well-off community, making the Christians and Hindus of Pakistan uniquely guilty of a double crime, first for not being Muslims and second for being poor. These two communities seem especially vulnerable. I have changed my mind. And it’s not because of the attack in Lahore that killed so many Ahmadis. The whole country, Muslim and non-Muslim, is under attack by the Taliban.
What really helped me see the inhuman treatment of the Ahmadis in Pakistan is the absence of condemnation for it. Nawaz Sharif in his condolence message said Ahmadis were our brothers; it’s been enough to get the Pakistani religious world on his case. While sympathy is not outlawed for Ahmadis, it may as well be.
A strong case can be made against the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leader for fomenting aggression and religious persecution under the country’s laws regarding hate speech and incitement to violence.
– DAWN
The street power and political clout wielded by Pakistan’s religious right have resulted in the state and society being held hostage by extremist elements. The latter stop at nothing to further their agenda of inciting hatred, divisiveness and violence. The latest example is that of the Jamaat-i-Islami chief, Syed Munawwar Hasan, who during a sermon in Lahore on Friday threatened a fresh movement against the Ahmadi community if it “did not accept their minority status” and the government kept silent about “their blasphemous and unconstitutional activities”.
By ASIF SHAHZAD, CHRIS BRUMMITT
LAHORE, Pakistan – A former major who trained fighters for war in Afghanistan and Kashmir keeps cropping up in terrorism investigations in Pakistan. But police say the gray-haired grandfather is shielded by his links to the army and powerful intelligence agencies.
To read full story, click here or click the following link;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37539837/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTEV_sGma957F4UWwPAOsDugDpJQD9G5SGN80
Source – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE9MjwqIV8M&feature=channel
Courtesy: Express TV
Punjab ignoring CID report on terror groups – By Nasir Jamal and Shakeel Ahmed
– DAWN
LAHORE: The Shahbaz Sharif government appears to be reluctant to take action against the banned sectarian and Jihadi organisations operating in Punjab in spite of evidence that these may have been involved in many terrorist attacks in the province recently and may have strong links with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Sharif government’s unwillingness to deal with the growing menace of terrorism in the province, including its southern districts, is in defiance of the evaluation by its own counter-terrorism agencies. A recent secret document based on data collected in south Punjab finds that a number of banned groups are carrying out a “sustained drive” to recruit fresh cadre from among the “poverty stricken, illiterate and unemployed” youth in the region.
Continue reading Jihadis In Punjab – Punjab Govt Ignoring Reports
A lawyer’s ‘safarnama’ – By Khaled Ahmed
– Tribune
A Lahore lawyer Khwaja Muhammad Sharif travelled to the Philippines and the UK in 1995 and carefully recorded his observations during the tour. His jottings became the book that appeared titled Shakh-e-Nazuk kay Ashiyanay (Nests built on a Weak Branch) published by Kausar Brothers Publishers, Turner Road Lahore. Fifteen years later, he is the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.
– Wichaar
We, the undersigned Canadians of Pakistani origin, strongly condemn the massacre of over eighty and the wounding of many more Ahmadi citizens of Pakistan assembled in their mosques in Lahore to offer Friday prayers on May 28, 2010. Our heart-felt sympathies and condolences go to the loved ones of those killed and injured in the brutal and unprovoked attacks.
Continue reading Pakistani-Canadians condemn terrorist attack on Ahmadis
Rally in Hyderabad against Terrorist Attack in Lahore
Hyderabad- Sindh Civil Society organizations have organized a protest demo condemning brutal killing of people of Ahmediya Sect in Lahore. The protest rally will be held on June 1, 2010 at 11:00 am from Sindh University Old Campus Hyderabad to Press Club Hyderabad.
May 31, 2010
– Tribune
I am writing this article from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where the news of the tragic attack in Lahore has just reached me via CNN. Although I had plans for another topic for this week’s article, the tragedy compels me to tackle the subject head-on. Such intolerance has existed in other faiths as well but they have gotten over it. Christians have learned from their indiscretions during the inquisition and Hindus have also learned from their theological fractures after the assassination of Gandhi. Yet Muslims remain unable to deal with pluralism.
Continue reading Sending the fanatics a clear message – By Saleem H Ali
Once again 93 innocent have fallen victims in the name of religion in Pakistan. The attack against two Ahmadiya prayer centers in Lahore shows that extremists have no hesitation in killing their own country men and women just because they practice different religion. I join rest of the Sindhi community in condemning this barbaric act. I also join in demanding that the Pakistani constitution be amended to create a separation between state and religion.
Khalid Hashmani, McLean, Virginia, USA
May 30, 2010
Sovereignty Belongs to God – By: Hakim Hazik
God does not normally communicate with politicians these days. There are people who claim to be directly in communication with God. They are more likely to be found in long stay psychiatry facilities. If they are unlucky, and happen to be in Pakistan, they will be charged with blasphemy and dragged through courts. Not infrequently, they will be lynched by religious fanatics.
Opinion : Blowback In Lahore
The attacks on Ahmedi mosques that killed over 80 people once again underline that such terrorism is unstoppable until you get at the infrastructure that trains and guides these terrorists.
Lahore, May 28: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the militant attacks on the worship places of Ahmadi community in Lahore and called upon the government to take adequate measures to protect the minorities.
Sindh Medical College Alumni Association of North America (SMCAANA) strongly condemns this barbaric act of hatred and mass murder at mosques in Lahore.
Problem is that, in Pakistan, every target is a soft target except few. This has to be taken care of by better intelligence otherwise these will continue.
We do not preach tolerance and respect of each other in Pakistan. This tolerance and respect for each other and the rule of law has to come from within and from the Government.
Every segment of society needs to not only condemn this but also stand for each other irrespective of their beliefs and ethnic origin.
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Ahmedi prayers centers attacked in Lahore, for more news at BBc, click here
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