Pakistan Link - February 12, 2016

Pakistan Link The Largest Circulated Pakistani-American Newspaper in North America

Friday, February 12, 2016

VOL. 26/7 - 3 Jumadul-ula 1437 H PAGE 11

Cornered Maulana Aziz ‘Pardons’ Gen Musharraf COAS Vows to Defeat ‘Externally Funded’ Terrorists Rawalpindi: COAS General Raheel

Sharif on Wednesday said Pakistan has achieved significant successes in operation Zarb-e-Azb, but the war against terrorism is complex and requires a steadfast and unified response.

“Terrorists are being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies and have their sympathizers at home who provide them shelter and refuge,” the Army Chief said while presiding over a Corps Commanders Conference here, according to Inter Services Public Relations.

The COAS reiterated that ‘we will defeat the nefarious designs of our enemies and eliminate terrorists from Pakistan’s soil.’

He said resilience of the whole nation and professionalism of the security forces are Pakistan’s real assets.

“I am optimistic that we will succeed in bringing enduring peace in Pakistan,” he remarked.

The press release said the conference took a holistic review of the internal and regional security situation, including reconciliation in Afghanistan and security of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The participants also discussed COAS, P28

Queen Máxima of Netherlands Visits Pakistan Islamabad:

Máxima was the queen of elegance as she carried out her first day of engagements in Pakistan on Tuesday.

T h e Dutch royal, who is on a three-day tour of the country, is visiting in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary General’s special advocate for inclusive finance for development.

The focus of her trip is to promote financial access for all, and Máxima’s visit comes after Pakistan launched its national financial inclu QUEEN, P28

US & Canada $1.00

PAGE 15

PAGE 13

Nawaz Calls for Implementation of UN Resolutions

Nawaz Was Shaken

by Benazir’s Murder

Pakistan, Qatar Sign $1Bn LNG Deal

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is on a visit to the State of Qatar on the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani

Islamabad: Pakistan and Qatar

signed a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreement on Wednesday in Doha during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s two-day visit to the Middle Eastern country.

The agreement was signed by Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasiand and Chairman of Qatar

Gas Board of Directors Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi at a ceremony in Diwane-Emiri in Doha. The kingdom will provide a billion dollars’ worth of LNG to Pakistan annually following the agreement. The Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited will sell LNG from 2016 to year 2031 to Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

Abbasi later told media that the

import price of LNG from Qatar was the best available rate, adding that Pakistan will get at least thirty-five million tons of LNG to help overcome the energy crisis.

“The import of gas will also help start production of at least 2,000 megawatts of electricity from power houses that are currently

AGREEMENT, P28

PIA Strike Ends, Fares Slashed by 50pc

Islamabad: Pakistan In-

ternational Airlines (PIA) has announced a reduction in its fares on domestic and major international flights, including Umra fares, with immediate effect to stabilize unrealistic hike in fares and to facilitate its valued customers.

PIA spokesperson Daniyal Gilani confirmed to Dawn.com that fares have been reduced by up to 50 per cent.

Tickets for KarachiIslamabad-Karachi and Karachi-Lahore-Karachi flights will now be available for Rs7,500 while return tickets for Umra would cost Rs54,500 for passengers from Lahore/ Islamabad and Rs44,500 for passengers from Ka-

For news, updated round the clock, visit

www.PakistanLink.com CPEC a Great Opportunity for Development: Imran Islamabad:

Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday termed the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a great opportunity for the country to improve growth rate and bring economic development.

Addressing a press conference, he said that the mega project would also provide a number of jobs to our youth. “CPEC is also a great opportunity to knit the country together as the highway being constructed under it from China to Gwadar would lift those parts of the country out of poverty which were being neglected in the past,” he said.

Imran noted that if the project was executed earnestly it would have a positive impact on the national economy. He said that talks were being held with the federal government on charting out the western route of the CPEC. To a question, he said Essential Services Act was being implemented at public hospitals of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa following Peshawar High Court orders. He said that the Health Reform Act was also approved unanimously by all political parties in the provincial assembly but some parties had joined hands with protestors against the act.

Four Uncapped Players Included in National T20 Squad Lahore: Pakistan has included four

PIA workers union has called off the strike and the airline has resumed regular flight operations

rachi.

Fares for PIA’s Karachi-Islamabad one-way flight start at Rs7,366. —

Coutesy PIA website Fares for Shaheen Air’s Karachi-Islamabad one-way flight start at

Rs14,000. — Courtesy Shaheen Air website.

The reduction in

PIA, P28

Periodical postage paid at Newport Beach, CA and additional mailing offices

uncapped players in the national side that would participate in the forthcoming World T20 tournament in India. They are: batsmen Khurram Manzoor and Babar Azam, fast bowler Rumman Raees, and allrounder Mohammad Nawaz.

Fast bowler Mohammad Irfan has returned to the squad after missing the recent T20 internationals in New Zealand, espncricinfo reported on Wednesday.

The selectors left out opener Ahmed Shehzad from the squad that toured New Zealand in January, along with batsmen Shoaib Maqsood and Saad Nasim, wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan, all-rounder Aamer Yamin and fast bowler Umar Gul. Pakistan’s bowling unit includes Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Anwar Ali while Gul - who

T20, P28

ADVERTISEMENT

P2 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

ADVERTISEMENT

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P3

www.PakistanLink.com

OPINION

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

Pakistan Link

the floor at sadda after ay. At least 20

n By Dr Adil Najam President

Arif Zaffar Mansuri

ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org Editor

Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui afaruqui@pakistanlink.com

Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan)

Shabbir Ghori

urdulink@yahoo.com Resident Editor Urdu Link & Director Video Operations

Anwar Khawaja

akhawaja@pakistanlink.com Director Advertising & Sales

Dr Hawa Vahed

sales@pakistanlink.com

Regional Offices YKKB ykkb03@gmail.com Sacramento, CA

Shahid Hussain 530-933-8181

San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA

M. Akhtar Shah 415-756-3664 New York, NY

Jahangir Lodhi 646-696-7126

Jlodhi@pakistanlink.com Houston, TX Houston@Plpublications.org Phoenix, AZ Phoenix@Plpublications.org Ontario, Canada Ontario@Plpublications.org

Letters to the Editor Readers are welcome to express their opinion in these columns. Please keep your letters

brief and to the point. Letters without full name, complete address, and a daytime phone number will not be published.

Also, copies of letters sent to other newspapers are not encouraged. Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Editor at the Pakistan Link Headquarters address listed below.

Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is published weekly for $65 a year by JAZ LLC, DBA PL Publications, LLC, 1501 North Raymond Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92801.

Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA and additional mailing offices.

POST MASTER: Send address changes to Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815 The management has the right to refuse to print any advertisement, news, article, letter or any other material. In case of any errors in advertisement the management will not be liable for more than the amount paid for the advertisement to the Link.

Advertisements in Pakistan Link are placed in good faith. The newspaper is not responsible nor endorses the contents of any advertisement. In case of a frivolous lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear the total cost of the suit, including but not limited to the Link’s costs and the attorney’s fees.

Information for Subscribers The printing of Pakistan Link is unfailingly completed by Wednesday every week and its copies are handed over to the mailing house for prompt dispatch to the subscribers. The Link should reach its destination on time if there is no delay at the post office. If a delay is occasioned it is in no way attributable to the performance of Link’s management. In case of delayed receipt of Pakistan Link or missing issues, please contact your local Post Office and submit a “Publication Watch” form.

PAKISTAN LINK Headquarters

P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815

Tel: 714-400-3400 Fax: 714-400-3404 E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com

Pakistan Office

42 Rehman Court Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road Karachi-74400, Pakistan

A

When the Young Cannot Be Young

Boston

little more than a year ago and less than a week after the horrific attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS), I was in Charsadda. At the New Muslim College, Charsadda, some 10 kilometers from the Bacha Khan University which was the scene of an equally horrific attack three days ago.

That crisp December morning in 2014, crammed into a long thin classroom, was made memorable by the thirty or so young college students I spent an hour and a half talking to. We talked about Pakistan. About what was happening in Pakistan. We talked about them. Their hopes. Their fears.

Yes, we talked about the APS attack too. But, most of all, we talked about what it means to be young in Pakistan.

Actually, they talked. I listened. But more on that later.

I was in Charsadda that morning to conduct a focus group discussion on that last question – what does it mean to be young in Pakistan today? The focus group was part of our research for the Pakistan National Human Development Report (PkNHDR) on youth. In preparation for the report that will be launched later this year, we have been listening to a lot of young Pakistanis. A lot.

My research team – itself composed of bright young Pakistanis – estimates that we have directly engaged over 100,000 young Pakistanis between the ages of 15 and 29, including through a comprehensive national youth attitudes survey. But the most structured of these engagements were the over 70 focus groups, with some 1,200 young men and women, conducted across the length and breadth of Pakistan, of which this Charsadda meeting was one.

n By Hoda Hawa and Riham Osman Washington, DC

A group of students from Peshawar

I should note that many of our other focus groups were memorable. That previous afternoon we had met, in Peshawar, with a group of Hindu youth and, then, another group of young Peshawarbased entrepreneurs. The evening after Charsadda, we were in Saidu Sharif with young twenty-something activists from across Swat.

The next morning with a group of young coal-miners from Shangla. The meetings I would later

I knew exactly why I felt encouraged. It was their unbounded energy. Their spirited hopes. Their unbridled ambition. Their confidence in themselves, in their own future, and in Pakistan. Their deep passion for all things Pakistan have with young men and women in Baluchistan, or my colleagues would conduct in Sindh, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and with youth from Fata have all been full of insight.

But there was something special, something especially memorable, about Charsadda that morning. This was a boys’ college.

Fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-year olds. Bright-eyed. Eager. Energetic. Enthusiastic. And they were

know why.

I knew exactly why I felt encouraged. It was their unbounded energy. Their spirited hopes. Their unbridled ambition. Their confidence in themselves, in their own future, and in Pakistan. Their deep passion for all things Pakistan.

Their inherent recognition of their own potential as well as of their responsibility. Their commitment to change; and to being the change.

But it was also about how they

Thank You, Mr President “The first thing I want to say is two words that Muslim Americans don’t hear often enough -- and that is, thank you. Thank you for serving your community. Thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors, and for helping keep us strong and united as one American family. We are grateful for that.”

P

resident Obama’s visit on Wednesday to the Islamic Society of Baltimore was alone historic, but the words he shared were more momentous and will leave an impression on generations of American to come.

As we sat in the mosque and listened to the President’s speech, it was a remarkable moment to have the President of the United States acknowledge the beauty of our faith and thank us for the contributions American Muslims have made to the advancement of our nation - a sentiment not often expressed by our leaders.

In his speech, President Obama said, “The first thing I want to say is two words that Muslim Americans don’t hear often enough -- and that is, thank you. Thank you for serving your community. Thank you for lifting up the lives of your neighbors, and for helping keep us strong and united as one American family. We are grateful for that.”

Thank you. Two words that President Obama doesn’t hear enough as

so eager to talk. They had so much on their mind; so much to say.

But what struck me most of all was how much they wanted to be heard.

As we left Charsadda for Swat, I remember saying to my colleagues that I had never felt more encouraged, more optimistic, about the youth of Pakistan than at this meeting. But, also, that I had felt deeply uncomfortable.

Except that I did not immediately

well. We might disagree at times with the President’s policy decisions, but when the President works to ensure all Americans are included in our national discourse, we as a community should extend our gratitude.

Thank you Mr President for your continued commitment to serving all Americans and speaking out against the hateful rhetoric that has worked to destroy our collective unity.

Thank you Mr President for reassuring our youth that they belong and that they don’t have to choose

www.PakistanLink.com

between their American and Muslim identity because they are indeed, both.

The White House is currently receiving hateful backlash for President Obama’s decision to visit a mosque -a reflection of the current climate of fear propagated by a loud minority of people who seek to divide our nation.

The White House has made it a point that the visit to a mosque was one in a series of engaging religious communities including Jewish and Christian events. Yet the hate only erupts when

were responding to APS. Remember, this was just days after the APS attack, and these were young boys not too much older than those who had been massacred in Peshawar. The previous night I had visited the makeshift shrine of tributes and flowers that had sprung up outside APS Peshawar.

While there, I reflected on the realization that it was the young in Pakistan who were doing the dying. A major news magazine in Pakistan had just named a school kid from Hangu, Aitizaz Hasan, as their person of the year – for having lost his life while saving his school in Ibrahimzai village from suicide bombers. But there was also the realization that it was also the young in Pakistan who had been doing much of the killing. Those who had attacked APS – just like those who attacked the Bacha Khan University– were themselves not much older than those they killed. This thought was haunting me.

Charsadda gave me another perspective. Unlike every other APS conversation I had been hearing – on television, on social media, from politicians, in drawing rooms – theirs’ was devoid of sloganeering. There was no sign of despair. No hollow display of anger or anguish. No camouflaging of fear with bravado. Instead, there was resolve. Very endearing. Very becoming. Very mature. A very matter-of-fact recognition that this was the reality of the Pakistan they had inherited. A reality they had already internalized.

It hit me on some reflection that the source of my discomfort was not different than the source of my enthusiasm. These were fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-year olds. There was something very odd, very wrong, with them talking about terror, about death, about extremism, even about politics in general with the maturity and depth of knowledge that they were displaying.

This is not what fifteen-, six YOUNG, P28

he engages Muslim communities.

Now is the time for us to express our gratitude for President Obama’s address and for the White House to hear from the American Muslim community. Send a comment over to the White House thanking the President and sharing your thoughts on his visit using this link. Also, use the hashtag#ThankYouObama online to express your appreciation for his leadership.

(Hoda Hawa is Director of Policy & Advocacy and Riham Osman is Communication Coordinator of Muslim Public Affairs Council)

Views and opinions express e d by authors and contributors in articles, letters, opinion pieces, reports, advertisements, etc appearing in Pakistan Link and Urdu Link are their own. The paper neither shares nor endorses them and thus should not be held responsible for the views/opinions of the writers & advertisers.

ADVERTISEMENT

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P5

www.PakistanLink.com

OPINION

P6 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016 n By Mustafaen Kamal

P

London, UK

akistan has produced some renowned female figures over its relatively short history. Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and Ma l a l a You s af z ai are just a couple amongst many notable examples.

But perhaps their success is all the more note-worthy because it was achieved despite great institutional and cultural barriers.

My recent trip to Pakistan highlighted some great strides that have been made in terms of security and infrastructure. However, an issue that has refused to retreat as far as I can remember is a widespread and archaic sentiment that women have a fixed place in society and any deviation from it is at odds with an all too secure status quo.

This issue is particularly close to my heart because both my Grandmother and Mother have spent a great deal of their lives overcoming social obstacles that have derided their every career achievement and belittled their stature in society. I have drawn a great deal of inspiration from their stories and sharing some of it with the readers will allow me to highlight demons that appear to be very much alive.

The birth of my Grandmother was marked with one gunshot to announce to her ancestral village of Begum Sarai that a girl had been born. Had she been a male, 2 gunshots would have heralded her

Pakistan and Clipped Wings birth. She was the fourth of nine siblings but the first female. My Grandmother was lucky, in that her father was an educationalist, so upon realizing that there were not many educational opportunities for girls in the local area he sought out a school quite far from the family home to make sure little Saida had every opportunity her brothers had.

A phrase of her father’s that my Grandmother often narrates is that “the best jewelry a woman can have is a proper education.”

However, it was evident to her that she was an exception, rather than the rule. Many of her friends were being taught recipes while she learned about the human skeleton.

If schooling was rare for girls, going to university was even rarer.

But my Grandmother got in with a scholarship and was part of a very small female minority in the 1950 intake of St. George’s Medical College. There she met my Grandfather, Sarfraz, who made sacrifices that would help and shape Saida’s career for decades to come and serve as an example of complete ease with her accomplishments despite what society thought.

When the decision was taken for them to move to Karachi, Pakistan, after the Partition, Sarfraz knew that he would have limited opportunities in the new country due to the highly specialized nature of his research work. But he had faith that Saida’s intelligence and grit would see them through into their new lives, no matter what was to come.

A Simple Choice to Save Water n By Jennifer Bates PETA Foundation Norfolk, VA

D

It was due to this faith that Saida was able to blossom into a renowned clinician as well as founding and running a Hospital for 25 years. Many State officials, both foreign and domestic, used to seek her medical opinion. She matured into a respected figure that had a great deal of clout in a young Nation.

Her journey was largely a solitary one, as Sarfraz passed away at the age of 49 and the responsibility of their three daughters and her Hospital fell solely on her shoulders. For a single mother to have such a prominent role in the city’s healthcare infrastructure whilst looking after young daughters was unheard of.

The respect I hold for my Grandmother, as she juggled family and work commitments while battling attitudes which sought to

www.PakistanLink.com

see her at home carrying out a primarily domestic role, is enormous.

She clearly passed on her genes to my Mother who now lectures at one of the world’s most renowned universities and teaches Medicine in what is still a male-dominated profession.

Their journeys would have been inspirational had they been achieved amidst complete equality.

However, they weren’t. Patriarchy is alive and well in Pakistan and, although progress is being made amongst educated circles, inane cultural traits seem to shackle any movements towards progress.

Currently, only 20% of Pakistan’s workforce is female and women have a 40% lower literacy rate.

Moral duty and Pakistan’s needs dictate that society unclips the wings and allows everyone to fly.

espite a bit of rain and snow, California has now entered the fifth year of its most severe drought in history, and water scarcity remains a very real threat. But rather than address the problem in a meaningful way, the state has chosen to relax emergency regulations. It is evident that it is on California residents to act where the state will not. Anyone who wants to have water for the foreseeable future must stop eating meat and dairy.

It can take almost 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, and nearly 900 gallons to produce a single gallon of milk.

(By contrast, it takes less than 50 gallons of water to produce a gallon of soy milk.) From irrigating the crops that feed cattle to providing animals with drinking water, animal agriculture strains California’s water supply. And these industries are also hell on animals, who are mutilated without painkillers, confined to tiny stalls or filthy feedlots, and slaughtered by the millions each year.

There is one simple choice every Californian can make that will save water, the environment, and the lives of sentient animals: Go vegan. For a free vegan starter kit, visit www.PETA.org.

OPINION n By Abdul-Majeed Azad

L

Cleveland, Ohio

ast year for one of the Jumu’ah prayers, my wife and I went to a small but beautiful masjid in Columbia – a picturesque suburb of Maryland.

The khateeb was a young LatinoAmerican revert.

He talked about the expulsion (exclusion by choice, he said) of consciousness of God from our life in general but particularly from our prayers.

He lamented – as many of us would agree – about the obsession that we have developed for the materialistic aspect of life. It seems the more we get the more intense our pursuit become for yet more – without an iota of reflection whether it is good or bad for us in the long run.

He illustrated this by taking a very poignant example: our unforgivable obsession and insatiable infatuation with our cell phones.

He shared his observation that these days when we stand in prayer, many of us are only momentarily and fleetingly thinking of our Creator – Allah. For the remainder of our prayers, first our eyes, then our thoughts and finally our concentration are focused only on one thing: our cell phone! It is as if, all affairs of life have morphed into a 5 inch x 3 inch sleek box made of chips, metals and glass.

It has become quite a common sight in prayer halls that for most part, only one hand rests on the chest or the belly: the other hand automatically goes to our pocket

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P7

The Distractive Devilry of the Cell Phones where our precious little cell phone resides, lest we should miss a call or text from our spouse, child or a friend!

Prayers demand absolute Ikhlaas’ (total devotion and submission to the Creator). Sadly, our ego defies the presence of Allah and His angels above and around us! As such for most people, prayers have become mere rituals. The soullessness of those rituals becomes more tainted by the omnipresence of cell phones. Then, no matter how many gazillions prostrations we make in our entire lifetime, we will not experience the strength that prayers gave to the Prophet (saw), his companions and those who followed them soon after. It has been said that when ‘Ali ibn Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) would enter the mosque for prayers, he would make a thorough ablution after which he would sit down on the floor until his body organs had all come to sync with each other and his whole being had attained total calmness, allowing his mind to concentrate fully for the purpose of prayer.

In one of the narrations, it is mentioned that the first sign of diversion from salaat is the shifting and wandering of eyes. This is followed by the heart becoming inattentive as it begins to entertain not only vain thoughts but is also filled with purely worldly matters. This tempts the brain to entertain everything else other than the prayer.

At that moment, it is said that Allah calls out to the person, saying: Where to O’ my servant? Where to?

Something better than me? Some-

thing better than me? Allahu Akbar!

In a well-known narration (recorded as authentic in saheeh Mus-

So, the next time we enter prayer - in congregation or alone, let us make sure that our hands are free, our pocket is light and our heart is filled with Allah’s presence.

The distractive devilry of the cell phones belongs in our home, our car or office desk drawer lim and Bukhari both), one of the signs given by Rasulullah (peace be upon him) of Dajjal – the antichrist

www.PakistanLink.com

– was that “he will have one eye, and, you know your Lord cannot be the one with one eye.”

The allegory of ‘one’ eye in this hadith is profound. When we concentrate too much on one thing, it becomes the focus of our attention, our obsession and our lifelong goal.

At that point, we cannot see clearly, nor can we think rationally about other benign venues and possibilities. Thus, for all practical purposes, it appears as if we have only one eye.

Our religion is that of moderation. There is nothing wrong in using the latest technology and gadgets in moderation. But when our cell phone becomes a joined-at-thehip item, it adds a unique dimension to our detachment from khushoo’.

Because of this self-imposed inseparability, one begins to expect a call, an IM or a tweet, within seconds of entering the prayer. This callous attitude towards prayers has emboldened us so much, that we don’t feel an iota of shame or guilt - let alone sincerity - towards Allah (swt) or the fellow Muslims standing next to or around us. Many allow - shamelessly and proudly – their phone to ring repeatedly, bird-tweet jarringly or fill the room with loud obnoxious Bollywood tunes, while standing in prayer! Sadly enough, even the two most sacred mosques are not immune to this shameless defiance by many.

Many of us are well-versed in this humble yet steadfast covenant in the Qur’an: Say, Verily my prayers and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are (all) for Allah – the Cherisher of the Worlds. (6:162)

In the obsessiveness with our phones, true appreciation of this undertaking seems to have blurred.

This gadget in our hand/pocket is a manifestation of the empowerment we have given to our nafs (these days it is called selfie). So, the next time your phone rings in the prayer hall, think how far removed we are from fulfilling this solemn covenant.

How do we expect to reap the benefits of prayers, when we come into it with such a baggage of distraction? Come to think of it, we were never commanded by Allah (swt) to ‘offer’ prayer: the commandment was to ‘establish’ prayer. There is a world of difference between the two: ‘offering’ is a worldly thing as you’d see Mushrikeen doing to their false deities, while ‘establishing’ transcends the soul of a Muslim to the highest station, beyond his/her comprehension! Developing unconditional trust in Allah’s Power is a pre-requisite, even before we come to the prayer. Once this realization sets in, we will truly affirm that all our affairs are indeed in His hands and if there was some urgency or emergency, it cannot be thwarted by you, your spouse, your friend or anyone else, save by Allah. Then and only then, we would experience the sweetness of prayer in our life. Otherwise, none of us would have a response to this declaration: And they do not value the attributes of Allah, as they ought to be (6:91, 39:67).

Ever wonder if the father and son were to take a quantum leap and time travel to the present, how would the conversation between Aazar and Abraham go? If Abraham were to challenge that Aazar’s hand

CELLPHONE, P28

OPINION

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

Religion and Politics in the United States n By Shahid Javed Burki

T

On December 2, a couple of Pakistani origin fired on a group attending an office party in their work place, killing 14 of them. In the investigations that followed it was revealed that that the woman,Tashfeen Malik, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Shocked by the incident, many in America demanded action and Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz — even the more sedate Jeb Bush — promised to exclude many Muslims from America.

The battle against Islam was on. Islamophobia that had been de-

At a Baltimore Mosque, Mr Obama Makes the Case for Tolerance and Inclusion

W

US

he drama surrounding the American election has reached the political stage.

There are still nine months left before the country’s citizens cast their votes to elect the successor to Barack Obama. The election will matter for Pakistan and other countries of the Muslim world. Most contenders for the Republican Party’s ticket used religion to build their support base. This could have been done without making explicit antiMuslim and anti-Islam statements.

But some events in the period leading to the first electoral test in the small mid-western state of Iowa compelled several candidates to take positions contemptuous of Muslims and their religion.

Editorial in Washington Post

hen President Obama visited a synagogue in Washington last May, his second time at a Jewish house of worship in this country as chief executive, there wasn’t a peep from the Republican candidates seeking their party’s presidential nomination. Yet when Mr Obama turned up at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday, his first visit to an American mosque after seven years in office, Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) let loose a toxic barrage of snark and sanctimony. veloping for some time reached the public space.

The ‘phobic’ suffix as applied to Islam has a history extending back at least half a century. The suffix became a way to call bigotry a disease. For those who were identified with it worked hard to escape that description. This is the hope President Barack Obama has as he escalates the fight against those who have come to routinely label Islam as a faith that does not fit into American culture and political system. It was a coincidence that the president’s first visit to a mosque during his entire tenure took place two days after the voters went to the caucuses in Iowa.

But if recent history is any guide, Obama and those who believe as he does have a long distance to travel.

Religion has always been a factor in American politics. Frank

Bruni, a liberal columnist writing for The New York Times, dealt with this subject a day before the voters in the state of Iowa caucused to winnow the Republican Party’s field of the nearly dozen aspirants for the presidential contest in November.

According to him, “religion was integral to our country’s founding. It’s central to our understanding of the liberty that each of us deserves. But so are the principles that we don’t enshrine any one creed or submit anyone — including those running for office — to religious litmus test.”

But the Republican aspirants ignored this basic tenet of the American system. Most contenders went out of their way to impress the Iowan voters about their religiosity.

Senator Ted Cruz, who emerged as the winner in Iowa, said: “Any presi POLITICS, P24

www.PakistanLink.com

The president’s message at the suburban Baltimore mosque was patriotic, inclusive, tolerant and empathetic — it was, in short, presidential. Mindful of FBI statistics and reports of rising vandalism, threats and other hate crimes against American Muslims and mosques — including the mosque in Baltimore he visited — Mr Obama delivered a timely reminder that Muslims belong in the United States and are as fully American as Christians, Jews and any other citizens. In that sense his remarks were, almost literally, allAmerican.

It’s fair to say the president waited too long to visit an American mosque, though he’s been to ones overseas. Hate crimes against American Muslims and places of worship have quintupled since Sept. 11, 2001, and they jumped again in 2014 even as such crimes declined against other groups, according to the FBI. (In raw numbers, there are still more hate crimes directed at Jews than Muslims in the United States.)

Since the terrorist attacks in Paris in November and in San Bernardino, Calif., the following month, there has been a new spike in hate crimes against Muslims and mosques, including vandalism, graffiti, verbal threats and assaults. They are a gift to the Islamic State and encouraged, intentionally or not, by Mr Trump, Mr Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Ben Carson and other GOP luminaries, who have cynically taken the terrorists’ carnage as opportunities to whip up xenophobic fear and venom.

So Mr Obama’s visit, even if overdue, was timely. It was a refutation of the hate-baiting on the Republican stump — calls to exclude Muslim immigrants (Trump, et al.), disqualify American Muslim presidential candidates EDITORIAL, P24

OPINION n By Farah Mohamed

O

Managing Editor The WorldPost

n Wednesday, President Barack Obama made his first visit to a US mosque as commander in chief. In an impassioned speech to Muslims at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama denounced growing antiMuslim bias, called for greater religious tolerance, urged Americans not to be “bystanders to bigotry” and told young American Muslims that “you fit in here.”

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9

Obama’s First US Mosque Visit Came Late, but still Means a Lot, Says Top Muslim Scholar

In the wake of Obama’s visit, The WorldPost spoke to scholar Akbar Ahmed, a professor at American University. Ahmed (no relation to Huffington Post reporter Akbar Shahid Ahmed) has traveled throughout the United States to research the relations between Muslims and nonMuslims in the country.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What does Obama’s visit to a mosque mean for Muslims at this time?

It has high symbolic significance. In any case when the president of the United States does anything, it carries both symbolism and substance. In this environment of high Islamophobia, of widespread Islamophobia and growing Islamophobia, the fact that the president of the United States has even come to a highly visible fixture, a recognizable symbol of Muslim culture and identity which is a mosque, and sat and talked to Muslims, means that he’s embracing the Muslim community.

Because it’s happening in his last year, when he’s the lame-duck president, its substance is not what it would have been had he come seven years earlier, which is when people expected him to come. Why? Because he had just taken over, [and] his instincts were always to reach out to communities, to build bridges, to embrace minorities -which is what he did. Before he even took office, he said, ‘I’m going to close Guantanamo Bay as soon as I come to the White House,’ et cetera, et cetera.

Guantanamo Bay is still open. So I have no doubt that he would have wanted after taking over to have visited a mosque, to reassure the Muslim community -- particularly when he would have been reminded that President George [W.] Bush, after 9/11, actually visited a mosque several times, and made some good statements. He said, ‘America is not the enemy of Islam, our problem is not with the religion, it’s with certain people,’ et cetera, which was very reassuring. It did not check or stop the Islamophobia, but it was reassuring.

Now if President Obama had said something as clear as that -- he has been making statements which are pluralist, which have an exclusive message -- but in the environment of growing Islamophobia, we have not been able to effectively check the prejudice, the hatred around Muslims.

The random attacks on Muslims, on mosques, on women in hijab. The leading political figures of the land -- not just ordinary figures, but presidential figures, who are actually saying, ‘If we get elected, we will ban all Muslims from coming to the United States, we will close all mosques, we will deport Muslims.’ Some are even saying we will have internment camps for Muslims.

With this very heated rhetoric, just the fact that he turns up is of high symbolism. If he’d come earlier and done something very substantial for Muslims, it would have made an impact on their lives, but at this stage, just the symbolism is all that they will get.

Is the visit too late? What kind of impact do you think it can have despite coming near the end of Obama’s presidency?

For the Muslim community, beggars cannot be choosers. If other major figures of this country -- major figures, not ordinary people -- are saying, ‘We will deport Muslims, we will lock them up, we’ll strip them of their nationality, this is a cult, it’s not even a religion, these are potentially all terrorists’ -- if this is the kind of rhetoric they’re hearing, and then the president of the United States comes and says, you know, ‘I embrace you, I value you, you’re part of this society’ -- I think we need to recognize that nuance.

Having said that, I perfectly understand the sense of disappointment with the Muslims. I share that, because I was hoping many years back that once Obama came in, he would actually live up

President Obama greets families after speaking at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque. Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times

to what he wanted to do. I sensed throughout that his heart wanted to move in this direction, but his head would tell him that you must weigh the pros and cons and you must look at the consequences in the American political arena.

It’s easy for us to discuss Obama as a political figure, but he is constantly attacked even now, even today, seven, eight years after he’s been president, by people who -- and a large number, not just 1 or 2 percent of Americans -- actually believe he’s a secret Muslim. Many of them believe he’s become the president to actually destroy America from inside. Many of them believe he’s the Antichrist -- he’s been sent here to finish America and Christianity and so on. Now, in that environment, for him to even make such a bold decision to [come] to the mosque is just bold.

But I also want to hasten to add that if Obama had lived up to his instincts -- to actually do what he’s done now, today -- seven years back [instead], he would have lived up to the tradition of the greatest heroes that he admires. Here’s the irony. Obama admires people like [former President John] Kennedy. He admires people like Martin Luther King Jr. Now those are very bold people. If you read the history of these extraordinary American leaders, you will see that they were changing history. They were literally standing up with a flood coming down and saying, ‘I’m not going to budge, I’m going to stand here.’ So if he had taken that route, he would have [had] a major impact, but seven years back. So in that sense, this is too little, too late. But my answer to that is: Better late than never.

What does the timing of the visit mean, specifically with regard to [Republican presidential hopeful] Donald Trump, presidential elections and the current prevalence of Islamophobia in America?

Unfortunately, it is now so polarized, and President Obama himself is a figure of such controversy among certain circles -- mainly Republican, mainly right-wing -- that whatever he says will have the opposite effect [of what he intends]. So if he says, ‘Muslims are all right, they’re citizens, we must respect them, we must embrace them,’ he will not improve things for them. He will exacerbate things for them with those people.

That is the tragedy.

However, we must not underestimate the symbolism of the president coming to a mosque, because this also plays abroad. The United States sometimes assumes that we live in a cocoon and we have huge metaphorical walls around the continent and nothing else matters. But the world is watching the United States. In the Middle East, in Africa, in China, in Russia, in India, people are watching the United States. So what Obama does or doesn’t do has an impact. And for the world, the fact that you have Trump saying one thing and the president doing something else does matter.

And there, I think, is the biggest contribution of the president going to a mosque. [People in other countries] may not know much about the day-to-day lives of Muslims in America, but they do know that when there was hatred towards Muslims, the president went out and said, ‘Here I am, I’m at a mosque.’ And that matters a great deal to people watching America, because then

they feel, ‘Yes, the real America, the America of the Founding Fathers, the America of pluralism, the America of inclusivity, is still alive and well.’

And in that sense, however late, however lame it may seem to some people, to some Muslims, I think it also serves the purpose of strengthening the view of the Muslim community, both here in the United States and abroad.

Would a visit like this by future American presidents hold similar significance?

I think the biggest effect that a visit to a mosque will have will come from those people who take a contrary position. That is why President Bush coming from the White House to the mosque made such a huge impact, because Bush was seen in the Muslim world as someone who’s just launched a war on Afghanistan [and] launched a war on Iraq -- two Muslim countries.

So a lot of people are saying, ‘He’s the enemy, he’s right-wing, he’s determined to destroy Islam,’ and so on. And suddenly, there he was in a mosque.

With Obama, although he’s Christian and he represents the United States, at the same time everyone knows that his father was a Muslim from Kenya. However secular, [Obama’s father] was still a Muslim. [Obama] grew up in a very Muslim environment in Indonesia. He spent time in Muslim countries like Pakistan. He’s grown up in a culture where you would expect him to be saying, ‘All right, I’m going to visit a mosque because a lot of my friends are Muslims, and what’s the big deal?’ But, in fact, he didn’t do it, because he’s so defensive.

Now take a man like Trump or [Sen. Ted] Cruz who know very little, at least according to their statements, about Islam, and are making the most inflammatory statements about Muslims and Islam... I would urge Trump, I would urge Cruz, I would urge the leaders of the Republican Party who are making comments on Islam, to actually visit a mosque. To sit and talk to scholars.

To learn about Islam. And then come to their conclusions.

It’s a free country. They can just postpone their remarks to have enough time to read a book about Islam or visit some Muslims. There are lots of Muslims who would be willing to talk to them.

There are lots of good organizations that are doing active interfaith work. Call them and talk to them.

If they still feel they have problems with Muslims, then by all means, go ahead. But if they feel that maybe they’ve learned something that’ll temper their doubt, I think a great service will have been done. They will then effect change.

It is [former President Richard] Nixon, the right-wing Nixon, Communist-hating Nixon, who goes to China and changes history. It is [Indian Prime Minister] Narendra Modi, who represents the [Bharatiya Janata Party], the hard-core, right-wing BJP, who then comes to Pakistan, to Lahore, visits the home of [Pakistani Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif and joins the birthday party of his granddaughter.

These are the epoch-making, the historymaking, history-changing moments in history.

That’s what you need from someone like a hardright political figure. Obama saying nice things, or [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton, is what you’d expect. She’s been secretary, she’s been

www.PakistanLink.com

the wife of the president, she’s met Muslims, she’s had Muslim friends -- she’s showing the respect that she would show to any minority, whether it’s Muslim or Jewish or any other -- and we applaud her for that.

But what you need are the people who are actually condemning, creating an atmosphere which is highly inflammatory and dangerous and is provoking some of this violence towards these minorities. And unfortunately, it’s having two consequences. One is terrorizing minorities. I’ve met many Muslim women who are now fearful of going out in case someone assaults them or [does] something violent. And secondly, it strengthens those Muslims who would want to do violence, because they would say their argument is, ‘The West is the enemy, the West is attacking us.’ They will say: ‘If you don’t believe us, listen to what Trump is saying. Listen to what Cruz is saying.

Listen to these politicians. This is the enemy, do you think you can make friends with them? Come and join us.’ So in the end, it does not help us as Americans. It weakens us. It divides us as Americans. This is an argument that they don’t fully appreciate.

Thinking of your extensive work on Islam in America and your Journey into America project, what does Obama’s mosque visit mean for the larger Muslim-American community?

Number one, his visit is not only of great significance to Baltimore, but to Americans. Because the problem today is not just Baltimore. It’s not restrictive. It concerns all Muslims, wherever they are living in the United States.

Number two, the substance of what he said or didn’t say isn’t what’s important, because a president’s speech could be given anywhere. He could sit in his Oval Office and give the speech, he could have it issued, he could have one of his secretaries read it out. It’s his visit, it’s his physical presence, it is the president of the United States in a mosque that is symbolic. That is the message which is important today.

What are your thoughts on what was said? Is there anything that stood out to you?

We need to put it in the context of the visit.

It’s not a political visit. He’s meeting a range of people to really make a point that, look, these are Americans, they are ordinary like you and me.

They’re involved in everyday ordinary activity as in any other community center anywhere in America.... It is a bit late for him to give that kind of message. And in his speech he’s made mention of this rhetoric towards Muslims, and he’s been doing that in different ways over the last couple of years. He did say one or two things a bit more explicitly. His heart wants one thing and his head wants another thing. His heart is going one way, his head is going another way. But here we are seeing a bit more of the heart.

So even the fact that he says to Muslim Americans, “I wish to say thank you” -- now that, in the American context, today in 2016, seems almost revolutionary, because we haven’t heard that. We haven’t heard a president or a prominent man say that. He’s been making statements, general statements, that minorities should be given rights. And we don’t do this in America, but here he was explicit. That, in itself, is a huge improvement in this environment.

Normally, politicians turn up to a community and they talk about what applies to that community. But for him to be sitting in a mosque and saying these things for Muslims is significant, because this is Obama applying balm to the wounds. He’s healing the Muslim wounds when he actually says things like, ‘I want to say thank you on behalf of the American people.’

He’s applying balm because they have not heard this before. All they’ve heard is suspicion, abuse, attacks -- so this is balm.

What did you make of his specific message to young Muslims about identity?

When he talks to the young Muslims... all young Muslims -- it’s not just in that particular mosque -- are going to be saying: ‘The president spoke to me. The president said I am an American. I am acceptable. I am accepted.

I am part of this great country, and I can contribute.’ This is the message they’re taking.

There’s a significance because he’s talking directly to the youth. And as we know, the challenge with Islam today is the youth, because a

VISIT, P22

ADVERTISEMENT

P10 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

Help Build the Future of

Orphan Girls in Pakistan!

Saghir Aslam and his wife Bushra Aslam well known philanthropists and founders of IEWS and Saba Homes, for the past 50 years have been helping people. Many years back they felt the need for an institution that will cater for the most vulnerable and poorest of the poor; the orphans in Pakistan. They left comfortable lives they were living in America, to not only build the institution for orphans but to help Pakistan change its global image from a terrorist country to a peaceful, peace loving, prosperous Pakistan.

501(c)3 Tax ID No.33-0716944

We make sure that the girls not only get the best education opportunities but they also excel in other fields. A Martial Art & Karate best trainer is hired that conduct training sessions on daily basis.

Regular sessions are organized for children’s character building, motivation and time management as part of capacity building program.

At Saba Homes orphan girls are provided with accommodation including; fully Regular exposure visits are organized to various places including; Mansehra, Murree, furnished rooms, rest rooms, play area, state of the art kitchen, dining hall, study Kashmir, Fort Rohtas, Faisal Mosque, Educational Institutions, for children at Saba room, library and prayer room.

Homes to learn and explore.

Schooling: Saba girls go to well reputed private school for quality education. Tutors: Saba Homes hires teachers to help girls with their home work so that they excel to be the best in class.  17 of Saba Girls Received A+ and A  15 of Our Girls Received B+ and B  Most of Saba Girls are Prefect in their class A fully equipped computer lab is setup at Saba Homes for the girls to learn and further improve their computer skills.

Recreational activities including; Ice Cream treat, Halwa Puri Breakfast, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC meal treats, Morning Walks are organized on weekly basis and Eid Parties twice a year for the orphan girls at Saba Homes to make sure they enjoy life just like other girls.

Sponsor a Girl for $50/Month or $600/Year!

MAKE A DONATION TODAY!

Through PAYPAL at: www.sabatrust.org Make Your Checks Payable to “Saba Homes”

Mail Your Checks to: 17880 Sky Park Circle, Suite 125, Irvine CA 92614 Call: 714.305.5425 Email: info@sabatrust.org

www.PakistanLink.com

PAKISTAN

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P11

Military Acts to Protect Billions of Dollars of Chinese Investment

Army Seeks Funds to Raise New Security Division

A soldier and his dog search cars at a checkpoint on the main highway outside Quetta, November 30, 2015. - Reuters

The Army is currently spearheading a war against terrorism in the tribal areas

Gwadar: A heavy police presence, guarded convoys, new checkpoints and troop reinforcements have turned parts of the southern port city of Gwadar into a fortress, as Pakistan’s powerful military seeks to protect billions of dollars of Chinese investment.

Securing the planned $46 billion economic corridor of roads, railways and pipelines from northwest China to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast is a huge challenge in a country where militants and separatist gunmen are a constant menace.

The armed forces and interior ministry have sent hundreds of extra soldiers and police to Gwadar, the southern hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and more are on their way.

“Soon we’ll start hiring 700-800 police to be part of a separate security unit dedicated to Chinese security, and at a later stage a new security division would be formed,” Jafer Khan, regional police officer in Gwadar told Reuters.

A senior security official in the town of around 100,000 people said a further 400-500 soldiers had been recruited as a temporary measure to protect Chinese nationals.

On a recent visit, an SUV carrying Chinese visitors was escorted by two police cars and an army vehicle, while police blocked traffic at every crossroad along the route. It was not clear who the passengers were.

Keeping foreign workers and executives safe in Gwadar, which has expanded significantly over the last 15 years largely thanks to Chinese investment, is relatively straightforward.

The same cannot be said of the corridor as a whole.

Its western branch passes north through Balochistan province, where ethnic Baloch separatist rebels are opposed to the CPEC project and chafing under a military crackdown.

It skirts the tribal belt along the Afghan-Pakistan border where militant groups including the Pakistan Taliban and al Qaeda have long been based, and takes in Peshawar, scene of some of the worst insurgent atrocities of recent years.

Islamabad: Pakistan Army has

Crackdowen and anger The main responsibility for securing the corridor, vital to Pakistan’s long-term prosperity, lies with a new army division established in the last few months and numbering an estimated 13,000 troops.

Pakistan’s Planning Ministry does not yet have specific estimates on how many jobs the CPEC will create

in Pakistan, although officials believe the project could generate hundreds of billions of dollars for the economy over the long term.

Some of the police, army and paramilitary reinforcements deployed in the last year have been stop-gap measures while the new Special Security Division builds to full strength.

Enhanced security goes beyond Gwadar and across Balochistan, an arid, sparsely populated province bordering Iran and Afghanistan which sits on substantial deposits of untapped natural gas.

“We have tightened our security in those areas where the corridor is supposed to pass. We cannot allow Pakistan’s economic backbone to be held hostage,” Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti, the provincial home minister, told Reuters.

The tough approach means anger is growing among separatist rebels and the broader Baloch community, a potential problem for the military as it pursues a two-pronged approach: amnesty for rebels willing to disarm and hunting down those who are not.

“We consider the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as … an occupation of Baloch territory,” said rebel spokesperson Miran Baloch, a member of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), adding its fighters would attack anyone working on the project.

“Thousands of Baloch families have been forced to flee the area where the CPEC route is planned. (The) Baloch (people) will not tolerate such projects on their land.”

The low-level insurgency has hit development in the province for decades. In recent violence, five soldiers were killed by a remote-controlled bomb some 50km (31 miles) east of Quetta last month.

Also in January, two coastguards died in a bomb blast in Gwadar district, although in both cases it was not possible to determine who was behind the attacks.

Progress so far “quite smooth” Army chief General Raheel Sharif, who launched a prolonged assault on militants after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 pupils at a school in Peshawar in late 2014, will hope a sharp fall in violence nationwide will also benefit the CPEC. Militant, insurgent and sectarian groups carried out 625 attacks across Pakistan in 2015, down 48 per cent from 2014, said an independent think-tank, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies.

“Once people find they have a

stake in this progress, the need for checkposts and barricades will disappear,” he said this month in Quetta, as he and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif officially launched a new highway linking the city with Gwadar.

The Pakistani Taliban recently threatened to target important government and military installations that could inflict economic loss on the country, although they did not talk specifically about the CPEC. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said progress so far on the corridor was “generally speaking, quite smooth”.

“The Pakistani government has done a great deal of work to protect the security of Chinese organizations and citizens. China is deeply thankful for this,” Lu added.

Cornered Maulana Aziz ‘Pardons’ Gen Musharraf

Islamabad: Maulana Abdul Aziz

announced on Sunday that he had forgiven former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf and the other characters involved in the Lal Masjid operation.

He was accompanied by family members, including his wife Umme Hassan and Haroon Ghazi, the son of his late brother – Abdul Rasheed Ghazi – who was killed in the 2007 military operation against the mosque - at Sunday’s press conference.

He said that he and his family forgave Gen Musharraf and others “for the sake of peace in the country”, adding that he had wanted to forgive the military ruler far earlier, but it took him time to convince all of his family members.

But, this did not mean that Gen Musharraf was cleared of all wrong-

www.PakistanLink.com

sought additional funds from the finance ministry to raise a new security division and an additional 28 security battalions, it emerged on Sunday.

A statement released by the ministry of finance said senior officials from the army had a meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at his ministry in Islamabad, where the demand for “financing and the release of funds” was made by military officials.

The statement quoted Dar as saying that the “government attaches the highest importance to security matters” and assured the “provision of funds for the new security division and additional battalions.”

Pakistan Army is currently spearheading a war against terrorism in Pakistan’s northern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where terrorists from militant organizations doing in the Lal Masjid operation case, which is currently pending before the Supreme Court.

“I cannot forgive the blood of others who were killed during the operation, because they don’t belong to my family; only their relatives can forgive,” he said, adding that Umme Hassan wanted to wait until the cases against us had been decided to dispel the impression that they had reconciled.

The embattled cleric had been under increasing pressure in recent weeks after civil society activists Jibran Nasir and Khurram Zaki, separately, stepped up their campaign to lodge cases against him. Mr Nasir first approached lawmakers, who took up the matter on the floor of the house.

MNAs such as Saman Jafri, Shireen Mazari and Senator Farhatullah Babar had all criticized the interior minister for being soft on Maulana Aziz.

This had prompted frantic activity among law enforcement circles, and there were reports that the cleric had met with security officials who were urging him to post pre-arrest bail.

Maulana Aziz finally appeared before a judge on Feb 2 to obtain pre-arrest bail in two cases.

It was here that he first announced his intention to forgive Gen Musharraf. According to Advocate Tariq Asad, who represents the complainants of the Lal Masjid case in court, Maulana Aziz had no authority to forgive Gen Musharraf for anyone’s murders.

are believed to have taken refuge.

In June 2014, the army launched a comprehensive military operation – Zarb-i-Azb – against Taliban militants threatening the writ of the state by launching brazen attacks on government and military installations.

Since then, the military has claimed to kill thousands of militants in air raids in the north and through intelligence-based operations in various parts of the country.

But the threat of militancy and extremism is far from over. Despite the military offensive and stringent counter-terror measures, Taliban terrorists managed to breach the security of a university in Charsadda last month, killing 21 students and professors in an attack that bore resemblance to the brazen Dec 2014 assault on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 144.

No Evidence of Jem Chief’s Involvement in Pathankot Assault Islamabad: A team constituted by Pakistan to investigate last month’s attack on an Indian airbase has concluded that there is no substantive evidence to suggest Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of the outlawed Jaishe-Muhammad (JeM) militant group, ordered or masterminded the assault.

Six gunmen attacked an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2, leading to a three-day-long standoff that killed seven soldiers.

New Delhi had claimed that the attackers belonged to the JeM and they had sneaked in from the southern Punjab district of Bahawalpur. The claim was based on mobile communication the Indian spy agencies had intercepted between the attackers and their alleged handlers in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) after India shared the ‘leads’ with Pakistan.

Subsequently, a crackdown was launched in Punjab against the JeM, its headquarters was sealed, and dozens of activists detained. The SIT has since been working on the Indian ‘leads’. It is also expected to visit India to study the evidence the Indians have.

The Express Tribune has learnt from officials privy to the SIT investigations that Pakistani authorities have conveyed to New Delhi that there was no substantial evidence that could prove the involvement of Maulana Azhar in the Pathankot assault.

ADVERTISEMENT

P12 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

PAKISTAN

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P13

Pakistan Calls on World to Combat Islamophobia

United Nations: Decrying the rise

of Islamophobia worldwide, Pakistan has called for action to combat the forces of xenophobia and warned that if timely steps were not taken to check this disturbing trend, it could threaten regional and global peace and security.

Speaking at an event organized at the UN by Pakistan Mission and the OIC on “Countering Xenophobia through Interfaith Cooperation”, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that Islamophobic acts were unfortunately taking place in countries known as traditional champions of human rights and humanitarianism.

She regretted that some unprincipled politicians in the West had sought to build their political fortunes by spreading fear and xenophobia – promising to build walls against migrants; barring refugees, even widows and orphans; threatening to ban the adherents of a specific religion from entry to their countries’ shores.

Unfortunately, this campaign of hate and prejudice had received a fillip from ignorant Western media portrayals of Muslims.

Initiating the discussion Ambassador Lodhi said the purpose of the event– during a week at the UN, devoted to interfaith harmony – was to highlight the concern of Pakistan and OIC countries over certain recent developments which were posing a danger to harmony, social cohesion and observance of human rights and humanitarian norms.

The instances of insults against Islam and Muslims were now legion, she said. Islam has been called un-

People take part in a demonstration in Paris, January 30, 2016, to protest against government plans to extend state of emergency for another three months

speakable names; minarets have been portrayed as missiles.

These have not been empty insults. “Expressions of such hate and prejudice have provoked physical and psychological violence against Muslims and their businesses, mosques and community centers in some countries.

“Almost all Muslim communities have been subjected to such intolerance. Many live in fear. Their alienation expands the divide between faiths and cultures within and among nations.”

Ms Lodhi quoted President Obama who acknowledged during his visit to a mosque earlier last week that “an attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths. And when any religious group is targeted, we all have a responsibility to speak up.”

She also highlighted the plight of refugees and migrants pouring into Europe. While initially this evoked many heart-warming acts of generosity, humanity and solidarity, the purveyors of hate have sought to turn the tide against the advocates of openness and humanitarianism, especially after the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris.

She added: “They have equated helpless refugees and migrants with violent extremists in order to generate political support for the forces of hate, prejudice, intolerance and xenophobia.”

Terming such xenophobia and discrimination a ‘dangerous trend’, she warned that such profiling of entire peoples and communities by religion or ethnicity, has grave antecedents.

Seventy-five years ago, this led to the ISLAMOPHOBIA, P28

Orange Line Train ‘Runs over’ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s Studio Lahore: Along with the proverbial understanding of what development really is, the burning question that is largely overlooked is: Development, yes, but at whose cost? Punjab government’s newest romance – the Orange Line train – has become a strange initiative. Wherever the ‘weapon of mass transition’ tries to make room, naysayers are ready to pounce.

However, Big Brother is smarter than what he comes across as.

He knows what he’s doing and is determined to somehow make this work. The latest casualty on the road to acquiring the urban spectacle is Sargam Studio situated at Scheme More Chowk in Allama Iqbal Town.

Bulldozers have been summoned and the decision to tear down walls of the retreat where this man, who called himself Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, used to make music is final and irrevocable. Good money has been offered to the place’s current owner Raza Shah in return; Rs2 million isn’t that bad a price, is it?

However, the interesting part is yet to come. What does one do of the victim, who despite knowing everything, still feeds the slayer?

When Big Brother was looking for some place to record an anthem for the train, Sargam Studio offered its services; ironically, it seems Jiyo Shaira, Jiyo Shaira will inevitably be the studio’s dying words. Shah is in no mood to let go; he refuses to believe that Nusrat’s Sargam is not as significant as Presley’s Graceland or Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch

or, for that matter, Hotel Ambos Mundos’ Room 511 that Hemingway made famous.

Back in the day, Shah was a regular visitor of the place. “I have myself seen Nusrat produce classics like Ali Da Malang and Jogi De Naal here,” he tells The Express Tribune.

Nusrat established the space back in 1983 and some of his most memorable hymns were pieced together behind its very walls. This is the place where Nusrat spent his lonely nights and busy days. His items of personal use, his instruments are still present at Sargam, crying in protest. When Nusrat died, his body was first brought to the studio before burial. After his passing away, many of his adherents who went on to become giants of the region’s music made several pilgrimages to the place over the years. “They would kiss the doorway before stepping in, carrying their footwear in their hands,” Shah recollects.

Sargam also served as Nusrat’s

office where famous personalities like Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan used to seek his company. Shah had purchased the entire place as is, in a bid to safeguard the memories of Nusrat.

But all that resides in the past.

What resides in the present is a notice issued by the government to bring the place down.

It is pertinent to note that an earlier Lahore High Court decision had forced the government to rework the route. While sites like Chauburji and Shalimar Gardens might just be able to escape the wrath of the oncoming train, Sargam lies tied to the track, waiting to be run over by the government’s conviction.

“People from around the world approached me to purchase Sargam and many of the instruments kept here. I always told them it is out of the question.”

The ruling party’s representatives themselves are unhappy over the move. Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz Cultural Wing Vice President Altaf Bajwa says it really is a shame. “I am the place’s co-owner.

Jiyo Shaira, Jiyo Shaira was written by me only,” he says, adding, “As a worker of PML-N, I urge the government to not do this.”

On the other hand, project in-charge Khawaja Ahmad Hasan maintains Orange Line is for the welfare of the people. “We will also secure our heritage and renovate the studio, rest assured,” he says.

www.PakistanLink.com

Nawaz Was Shaken by Benazir’s Murder: Burkha Dutt

Dutt was sure about Nawaz’s reaction because she had hitched a ride with the twotime prime minister from Lahore to Larkana

Karachi: One of Benazir Bhutto’s bitterest foes, Nawaz Sharif, was visibly shaken after the killing of the Pakistan Peoples Party leader as he flew in to Larkana following her assassination in December 2007. It seemed like a watershed moment for him.

This incident, amid other anecdotes, was narrated by Indian TV journalist Barkha Dutt during the launch of her book, This Unquiet Land, on the second day of the 7th Karachi Literature Festival Saturday morning.

Dutt was sure about Nawaz’s reaction, because she had hitched a ride with the two-time prime minister from Lahore to Larkana.

“India through my eyes,” is how she described her 318-page book. The session began with columnist Ghazi Salahuddin commending the awardwinning journalist for her book’s ‘scoop’: the secret ‘deniable’ meeting between the Indo-Pak premiers on the sidelines of the 2014 Saarc summit in Nepal.

Describing Narendra Modi’s Pakistan policy as unconventional, Dutt said the Indian premier manages to surprise both his critics and supporters when it comes to DelhiIslamabad relations. “This proves that he’s not playing to the script when it comes to Pakistan,” said Dutt. She explained this philosophy better by answering a question later, saying “the BJP is strident in opposition and innovative in government.”

Criticizing dynastic politics in both countries, Dutt said the presentday Bhuttos and Gandhis are out of sync with the changing electorate, adding that the Congress [like the PPP in Pakistan] has no immediate future in politics.

When asked by the moderator to comment on rising extremism in her country, Dutt negated the notion saying “everything is amplified.” She admitted that intolerance has risen in the country but it is more than intolerance for the other religion, it is for any other point of view. It is now near impossible to have a civil conversation about anything owing to the ‘social media mobs’. “Intolerance of the other’s point of view” has increased, she said.

However, she acknowledged that India’s future is safe since people always push back the intolerance, thus ensuring that the state hovers in the center and not towards any extreme.

Salahuddin lamented this lack of collective sense in Pakistan, saying the way Indian civil society came out to the streets in protest after the 2012 Delhi bus rape incident can never be replicated in Pakistan.

Talking about Kashmir, she said the issue is imminently resolvable, and that India’s only concern vis-à-vis Pakistan about the issue is terrorism.

Answering a question about the strict visa regime between the two countries, she said: “The Indians would love to visit Pakistan in larger numbers…so both sides need to grow up [and make the process less cumbersome].”

When an audience member asked the journalist to share anecdotes about her experiences in Pakistan, she said once after interviewing Benazir’s husband, and future president, Asif Ali Zardari, she was told that nothing was recorded due a technical glitch. Dutt then went back to Zardari and for the first time saw his famed temper boil over as he threw the mike away and got really angry.

“After initially refusing to re-record, he finally came around, thanks to my persistence,” remembered Dutt.

Dutt also informed the audience about how she came to Pakistan following the Abbottabad raid in 2011. “I wasn’t getting a visa so I tweeted [then interior minister] Rehman Malik about it and then got it,” she recalled, saying the move later became controversial.

Even before an audience member finished his question about India’s ‘biased policy towards Pakistani players in the Indian Premier League (IPL),’ Dutt cut him off, saying, “The non-inclusion of Pakistani players [in IPL] is a matter of shame.”

Celebs Flock to Dubai as Pakistan Super League Kicks off

Dubai: Gone are the days when Paki-

stanis were obsessed with teams from the Indian Premier League (IPL). Now our very own Pakistan Super League (PSL) has taken over.

And there was no shortage of star power at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium at PSL’s opening ceremony.

The movers and shakers of the cricket world from all over the globe were there but other celebs also popped in to rep their respective teams.

No wonder that as a match between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators inaugurated the T20 cricket tournament, all eyes were on the bleachers instead.

Well, you can’t blame the spectators: Fawad Khan was sitting there with his family looking picture perfect.

ADVERTISEMENT

P14 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

v

v

Let us be your

Valentine BUY ONE GET ONE 70%* OFF

*DISCOUNT TAKEN ON ITEM OF LESSER VALUE

18725 PIONEER BLVD. ARTESIA, CA (562) 860-7425 OFFER VALID FROM FEBRUARY 5-14TH

www.PakistanLink.com

PAKISTAN

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P15

FIR Registered against Prime Minister’s Top Aides for Killing of PIA Workers Islamabad/Karachi: Police registered a criminal case on Saturday against top aides of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in connection with the killing of two PIA workers as signs of discord appeared within the ranks of Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association (Palpa) over the ongoing strike against the government plans to sell off the national flag carrier.

Police registered an FIR against several federal government officials, including Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Privatisation Commission head Muhammad Zubair, Senator Mushahidullah Khan and PM’s Special Assistant on Aviation Shujaat Azeem, on the complaint of PIA Joint Action Committee Chairman Sohail Baluch.

PIA’s General Manager (Administration) Brig (retd) Asif and another official Mama Maqsood have also been named in the FIR which includes charges of murder and attempted murder.

“A case has been registered on the court orders. Sohail Baluch is the complainant in the FIR,” confirmed District Malir SSP Rao Anwar. “Apart from the alleged murderers, some government officials have also been named in the FIR for hatching a conspiracy.”

Two PIA employees were killed by ‘mysterious’ gunshots on Tuesday when scores of PIA workers clashed with law enforcers outside the Karachi airport during a violent protest against the planned privatization of the airline. Police investigators have not found any clues as to who fired the shots. On the day of the incident, police claimed that they had recovered the casings of the bullets.

Surprisingly, however, they now deny any empties were found at the crime scene.

A man shown in television footage of the protest as a possible shooter has turned out to be a PIA protester. The man, who has his face covered in the footage, showed up at the PIA headquarters on Saturday to tell the media that he was a PIA employee. “I had covered my face on the protest day to save myself from tear

PIA workers protest at the Karachi Airport

gas,” he said.

Meanwhile, signs of discord appeared within the ranks of Palpa when its president Amir Hashmi announced that most pilots were ready to get into the cockpit. However, an official statement issued by Palpa through its public relations official did not specifically mention if the association was ready to break away from the strike led by the Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE).

“Palpa Executive Committee stands united on all issues. It also supports anti-privatization stance of all employees,” it said in a vague statement. “Palpa members were neither instrumental in halting the flight operations nor they alone can resume it.”

Earlier in the day, Hashmi told news channels that most pilots were in favor of resuming flight operations.

Pilots were ready to report to work but they were receiving threats from protesting employees, he claimed.

Palpa’s official statement also referred to the matter. “The Executive Committee of Palpa unanimously condemns in strongest possible words the threat given to its president Captain Amir Hashmi from the forum of JACPIAE and demands an unconditional public apology.”

Television channels have been showing footage of a union leader warning the Palpa president. But

differences were obvious among the 14-member Executive Committee, which met with only four office-bearers, under the chairmanship of Vice President Sadiq Rehman.

Despite repeated attempts neither Rehman nor Palpa General Secretary Sohail Ahmed responded to phone calls and texts for comment.

Hashmi was also unavailable. “Hashmi is a weak leader. He has not been able to take a firm stand on any of the issues. Most of the pilots are sticking with the strikers,” said a JACPIAE leader.

Imran Khan: On the political front, PTI Chairman Imran Khan flew to Karachi to express solidarity with the PIA employees and present his charter of demands.“For the sake of the country, and the passengers suffering, Nawaz Sharif should hold talks. When a person stands for his rights, he is shot down. This is illegal and unlawful,” he said.

Presenting his charter of demands with regard to PIA, Imran asked the government to announce a judicial commission to probe the February 2 incident, to withdraw Essential Services Act, to assure workers that no coercive action will be taken against them, and to announce deferment of PIA corporatization by one year.

He also appealed to the employees to defer their strike so that Pakistani citizens do not suffer.

Kashmir Day : Nawaz Calls for Implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday called for resolving the lingering issue of Kashmir in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions, saying the credibility of the global organization will be at stake if it fails to implement its own resolutions.

Sharif spoke to lawmakers in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan’s part of Kashmir, as Pakistanis celebrated “Kashmir Day.” Pakistan observes the day by holding rallies and arranging seminars on the issue of Kashmir, which is divided between Pakistan and India.

“Only implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions can amicably resolve the Kashmir issue. Until then peace in the region will remain an elusive dream,” Nawaz said.

He also expressed his hope for early resumption of bilateral talks between Pakistan and India, which were to be held in January but were delayed

following an attack on an Indian air base. Seven Indian soldiers and all six attackers were killed in the assault in Pathankot, close to India’s border with Pakistan.

Indian investigators at the time said phone intercepts suggest that the gunmen in the assault came from Pakistan. Pakistan denounced the attack and detained several suspects for

questioning.

Meanwhile, Sharif in a separate statement paid tribute to Kashmiris for showing resilience “in their struggle for freedom from Indian subjugation.” He urged the international community to take notice of human rights violations in the Indian part of Kashmir.

The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir after gaining independence in 1947. UN security council resolution 47, adopted in 1948, calls for a vote among Kashmir residents to determine the disputed region’s fate.

But the resolution was non-binding and has never been implemented.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmir insurgents in its portion of Kashmir. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support. Indian atrocities against Kashmiris and willful violations of human rights in Kashmir are often reported in the media.

www.PakistanLink.com

Clinton Emails Suggest US Examines Pakistani Media Closely Islamabad: “I get these reports every morning. They are somewhat painful to read since, as you know, in Pakistan, the media can be particularly outrageous. However, we can’t ignore the fact that these talk shows are the most watched programming,” former US undersecretary of state Judith McHale wrote in an email to Hillary Clinton in Feb 2010.

The reports she refers to are exhaustive summaries of Pakistani primetime talk shows that log the discussion on various local TV shows on a daily basis. The media summaries, which regularly arrive in the email inboxes of US embassy employees or State Department officials in Washington, appear repeatedly in the US presidential candidate’s recently declassified emails, most frequently between 2009 and 2012.

The emails offer a rare insight into Washington’s engagement with Islamabad through the lens of the local media. In background discussions with Dawn, current and former embassy officials admitted that journalists and media were the primary sources of information for many officials who came to Pakistan.

The summaries of talk shows and news coverage, which contain exhaustive details on what-was-said and who-was-saying-it, would be discussed among Ms Clinton’s aides at the Washington level if there was something of interest to them.

Michael Kugelman from the Woodrow Wilson Center explained that the importance Washington placed on Pakistani media could be gauged from the fact that the embassy in Islamabad actually started issuing official statements meant to “correct the record” when `false or misleading’ claims were made in media about the US or its policies.

“It’s an initiative that didn’t last long – and at any rate I’m not sure how effective it was given that many Pakistanis, including those most likely to believe the media assertions that the US was trying to reject, probably were not aware of these US counter-statements,” he said.

For example, a series of emails exchanged between State Department officials in April 2010 expressed frustration with former ISI chief Hamid Gul’s allegations that the US is implicated in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The exchange notes that Mr Gul was one of the people named by Ms Bhutto as possible ‘threats to her security’ in a letter sent to Gen Musharraf before she came to Pakistan.

This factoid, the emails indicate, was shared with Pakistani media outlets, and at least one of whom aired it within an hour of it being sent out.

“Whenever there is something that affects US interests, or there is a clarification that needs to be made regarding US role in any matter, they (US officials) are on it almost immediately,” said a former embassy staffer.

But, he said, since most officials did not necessarily have a great deal of context about Pakistan, they relied on media coverage and interviews with journalists to get a feel for how issues were viewed domestically.

Christopher Snipes, spokesperson for the US embassy in Islamabad, told Dawn: “One of the best ways to understand [Pakistan] is to read the news from a variety of sources and in

a variety of languages.”

He said that all US embassies looked at media in the language of the country they were in to keep “well-informed on current events”.

In Pakistan, he said, “there are more newspapers circulated in Urdu than in English and most television news is broadcast in Urdu; we read the Urdu press and watch Urdu television news alongside the English media.”

But the analysis contained in the emails goes deeper than just understanding cultural context. A special analysis of Pakistani media from May 2, 2011 – the day Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Abbottabad – notes that while “no outlets openly expressed sympathy for Bin Laden”, two TV show hosts used the word ‘shaheed’ (martyr) to describe him. The report also goes on to gauge the overall slant of media coverage over the Abbottabad raid, but notes that the “tone and tenor [of the coverage] remains relatively positive”.

These summaries also highlight news reports and opinion articles from the print media, and each newspaper’s circulation figures, average readership and other such metadata is included with every summary.

“This helps the officials understand who should be given importance and who should be ignored.

There are certain columnists or hosts who are opinion leaders, who are widely watched and followed; they are the ones who are approached.

Not everyone deserves to be taken as seriously,” said the former embassy staffer, who was privy to the compilation of the media analysis reports.

One email contains the complete English translation of an op-ed about former US Ambassador Cameron Munter, highlighting his energetic efforts during the flood relief operation. The writer compares the diplomat’s zeal to the lack of support shown by local politicians, a comparison that prompts congratulatory messages from other State Department employees in the email chain.

However, in more recent years, Mr Kugelman says, the US has become increasingly interested in social media in Pakistan, mostly because of its significant demographics: the urban, English-speaking, tech-savvy middle and upper classes.

“You can be sure that Washington also keeps a tab on how Pakistani militant groups use social media – which is rooted in Washington’s broader recognition that terror groups around the world, led by IS (militant Islamic State group), see social media as a highly strategic tool for recruitment.”

ADVERTISEMENT

P16 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

COMMUNITY

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P17

Community Link Friday, February 12, 2016

VOL. 26/7 PAGE 18

PAGE PAGE 20 17

PAGE 20 egum PAGE

Shura Council Compassion Award for Dr Faisal Qazi

3 Jumadul-ula 1437 H

Kashmir Is Not Forgotten, That Won’t Happen

Tribalism, Not Islam, Is behind Terrorism

For news, updated round the clock, visit

www.PakistanLink.com

Keith Ellison Urges Muslim Community to Get out to Vote

Keith Ellison emphasized that sending delegates to the national Democratic Convention is very important. “You should send many Muslim delegates to the Philadelphia Democratic Convention,” he urged the community

n By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

D

emocratic Muslim Congressman, Keith Ellison has urged the seven-million strong American Muslim community to register as voters and go out to vote in the forthcoming presidential elections.

He was addressing a special luncheon held on January 23, 2016 in his honor at the Chandni Restaurant, Newark, CA. In his brief speech, Congressman Keith Ellison told the audience that the current contest in the November 2016 election is not about Muslims but it is a fight to include everybody. The congressman was al-

luding to the anti-Muslim posture of Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

Donald Trump has called for barring all Muslims from entering the United States. Trump has previously called for surveillance against mosques and establishing a database for all Muslims living in the US. On the other hand another Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson has said no Muslim should be president of the United States of America.

Congressman Keith Ellison pointed out that anti-Muslim sentiments or Islamophobia spike in the presidential elections. Donald Trump is a hypocrite and trying to incite fellow Americans against

Muslims.

Keith Ellison is the first Muslim Congressman who was elected from Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2007. Andre Carson from Indiana is the second Muslim congressman who was elected in 2008.

Keith Ellison urged the Muslim community to register as voters and vote in the forthcoming elections.

He was of the view that on Friday, there should be a table for voter registration in every mosque.

He also said that the Muslim community should actively participate in local elections and Muslims should serve on local school boards.

He said if the Muslim voter turnout is 70-80 percent they could change

www.PakistanLink.com

the scenario in local elections.

Keith Ellison pointed out that sending delegates to the national Democratic convention is very important. “You should send many Muslim delegates to the Philadelphia Democratic convention.” It may be recalled that a record number of Muslim delegates attended the 2012 Democratic National. An estimated 100 Muslim delegates from 20 different states were in Charlotte, North Carolina, while only a “handful” of delegates attended the Republican National Convention in Tampa during which the RNC adopted a platform plank targeting the religious practices of Muslims. There were 43 Muslim and Arab-American del-

egates at the DNC in 2008 and 25 in 2004.

Prominent Bay Area Muslim Community leaders, Javed Khan, Shafi Refai and Javed Ellahie had sponsored the special luncheon to honor Congressman, Keith Ellison.

The community leaders reminded the community that the 2016 elections is very crucial for American Muslims which should be seen as a respectable and dignified community. Both Muslim Congressmen Keith Ellison and Andre Carson have gone out of their way to challenge the Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

ELLISON, P28

COMMUNITY

P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

CAIR-LA Sends Report on Bullying of Muslim Students to 70 Schools in San Bernardino District Anaheim, CA: In an effort to proac-

tively engage with educational institutions, the Council on American-Islamic Relations of the greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA) Feb 5 announced that it had sent copies of its report, “Mislabeled: the Impact of School Bullying and Discrimination on California Muslim Students” to 70 elementary, middle, and high school principals in the San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) to help school administrators deal with the rising level of Islamophobia being experienced by students.

This action comes in conjunction with the US Department of Education (DOE) urging schools to do what they can to ensure “schools and institutions of higher education are learning environments in which students are free from discrimination and harassment based on their race, religion, or national origin.”

In a letter addressed to SBCUSD school principals, CAIR-LA Senior Civil Rights Attorney Fatima Dadabhoy and author of the CAIR-CA school bullying report, wrote: “As you are likely aware, bullying and discrimination at schools are very serious problems that can have a lifelong impact on victimized students.

Students who face bullying and discrimination are at risk of feeling marginalized, disempowered, and of internalizing the negative stereotypes directed at them. Along with government, community groups, and parents, schools play an important role in creating hate-free environments where students feel safe and can focus on learning.

“I would like for this report to

serve as a resource to schools by providing information on the experiences of Muslim students and the potential consequences of Islamophobia in the school environment.”

The report states that 55% of Muslim students have been subjected to at least one form of religion-based bullying. This is twice as high as the national average of students reporting being bullied at schools. The report also shares the experiences of students on what makes them feel uncomfortable or unwelcome at school. Many of these reflections shared certain themes such as negative reactions to wearing a hijab, social ostracism, being called a terrorist, negativity from teachers, reactions to accommodation requests, and increased scrutiny on 9/11. Recommendations are also provided on how Congress, textbook publishers, schools, and parents can work to create safe and inclusive school environments.

CAIR-LA has seen an increase in the number of cases reported involving discrimination and bullying of Muslim students since the tragedy of the San Bernardino shootings. Click here to view the online version.

Shura Council Award for Dr Faisal Qazi

S

hura Council is pleased to announce Dr Faisal Qazi as the “2016 C o m passion Award” re cipient, says a press release. It adds: Dr Qazi is a founder of MiNDS Network which is dedicated to empower families through specialty healthcare and other similar free services.

In response to the recent San Bernardino tragedy, Dr Qazi took the initiative and launched a fund drive for the victims which collected more than $200,000. Click here, here and here to read more.

“Compassion is Islam and Islam is compassion. We are proud of Dr Faisal Qazi for his selfless service for the common good and pleased to have him as an active member of Southern California community,” said Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman of the Islamic Shura Council.

Shura Council invites you to celebrate its 21 years of service on Saturday, February 27th. Congressman Keith Ellison will offer his perspectives on the role and responsibility of Muslim-Americans during this year of presidential elections.

Please Secure Metallic Balloons This Valentine’s Day

Rosemead, CA: Records might be

made to be broken, but Southern California Edison just experienced one that it never wants to come close to again.

SCE saw an all-time high 924 power outages caused by free-floating metallic balloons last year, far surpassing its previous high of 714 in 2012.

With Valentine’s Day near, SCE strongly urges its customers to make sure their balloons are always tied to a weight — as required by California law — and to never release them outdoors because of the thousands of customers left without power when the metallic balloons float into power lines and other electrical equipment.

Serious injuries and property damage can occur when the balloon contact is severe enough to bring down power lines — which happened 96 times last year for SCE. Anyone who sees a downed line or dangling wire — even if it appears not to be live — should not touch or approach it or anything in contact with it and call 911 immediately.

“Metallic balloons look harmless, but there’s no way to overstate how dangerous they can be when released outside,” said Paul Jeske, SCE’s director of Corporate Health and Safety. “Merchants should always ensure that balloons are property weighted and remind their customers to never release them outdoors.”

To prevent outages and injuries, SCE recommends some other safety tips for handling metallic balloons:

… Do not attempt to retrieve a balloon — or any foreign object — tangled in power lines or inside a substation. Instead, call SCE at 800611-1911 and report the problem. … Never tie a metallic balloon to a child’s wrist. If the balloon contacts electricity, such as the service drop to a home, it can travel through the balloon and into the child, causing serious injury or death. … Never attach streamers to any balloon — latex or metallic. … When done with balloons, do not release them. Puncture them several times or cut the knot and throw them in the garbage to prevent them from floating away.

More on metallic balloon safety can be found at on.sce.com/staysafe.

About Southern California Edison Edison International An (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 5 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

IECRC Organizes 14th Annual Milad Shareef Conference

Glimpses of the Conference organized by the Islamic Educational and Cultural Research Center in Newark

n By Zafar K. Yousufzai Fremont, CA

Newark, CA: “Indeed there has come to you a noble messenger from among you - your falling into hardship aggrieves him, most concerned for your well-being, for the believers most compassionate, most merciful.”

- [Al-Qur’an 9:128] The Islamic Educational and Cultural Research Center (IECRC) is a non-profit, non-political grassroots community-based 501(c)(3) organization. It was founded in 2002 and provides community services in Northern California (San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento) and Vancouver, Canada.

It enhances spiritual insight through education, research and counseling based on centuries-old Islamic traditional values of the Awliyah Ikram (Friends of AllahSaints) of love, tolerance, peace and harmony The IECRC organized its 14th annual Miald Shareef Conference on Sunday, January 10, at the Mehran Restaurant, Newark, CA. A large number of people from San Francisco Bay Area and tri-cities gathered on the occasion and ben-

efited from the recitation of the Holy Qur’an, Qaseedah Burda Shareef, Manqabat. Nasheeds, Naats in praise of the Prophet (SAWS), and speeches in English and Urdu on the life of the Holy Prophet (SAWS).

The special annual event started with a recitation of the Holy Qur’an by Hafiz Abdullah Qadri followed by Humd in praise of Allah (SWT) presented by ladies and volunteers of IECRC. Hafiz Abullah Qadri, accompanied by students of the center, also recited Qaseedah Burda Shareef. Later, the Executive Director of the center Mr Ayyaz Yousaf Qadri took over the podium and introduced the naat reciters. Abur Rahaman Qadri, Emad Ahmed Kausar Zaidi, Riaz Ahmed, Kareem Raydhan, and Zafar Khan recited beautiful naats. Among the ladies Atiyah and sisters presented a popular Manqabat. The center’s students also presented Nasheeds.

They included Zainab and Zoha, who recited in Arabic, English and Urdu, and Umar, who presented Qaseedah Burdah Shareef.

The Almighty Allah’s beautiful names were eloquently presented

by Ariba and Nabiha sisters.

Three speakers delivered

speeches on the occasion: Maulana Muhammed Ramazan briefly highlighted the significance of 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal; Sheikh Adil from Iraq, a PhD in Islamic Sciences who also teaches Arabic at the center, stressed to love our holy prophet (SAWS). Sheikh Ta’rif Arabi-Qadri from Syria described the holy prophet as our shifa (cure).

The young speakers from the center, including Moinuddin Qadri, Aa’ishah Riaz, Hafiz Abdullah Qadri, Abdul Qadir and Zainab Qadri spoke on the life and kindness of the Holy Prophet (SAWS).

Dr Allama Iqbal’s famous poem, Lub pey aati hai dua bun kay tammanna meri, was sung by students of different age groups. Their recital and mannerism impressed the gathering and were duly lauded.

Later, Naveed Agboatwal and Amir Ahmed highlighted the activities and services of the IECRC by presenting a slide show. The center offers weekday classes and Sunday school of Hifz/Tajweed/Arabic language. Lessons are given by a qualified traditional scholar. Besides the Qur’an classes the center arranges a bi-weekly Zikr - spiritual gathering program.

www.PakistanLink.com

The ‘ladies only’ program includes Qur’anic Tafseer classes and monthly Giyarween shareef meeting on the eleventh day of each Islamic calendar in commemoration of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA). The spiritual counseling and healing services are open to all, irrespective of race and religion.

After the IECRC presentation, the Guest speaker from Pakistan Shah Abdul Haq Qadri, son of a prominent Khateeb and founder of Darul-Uloom and Bazm-e-Raza Karachi, took over the podium.

He delivered a thoughtful speech in Urdu. He focused on the four key elements of the life of the Holy

Prophet (SAWS). He described them as his beauty, character plus kindness and nearness in his personality.

The organizers, participants, volunteers and the packed-hall audience presented Durood o Salam in Urdu and Arabic while Shah Sahib made a comprehensive dua’ for all. Later, dinner was served.

At the end, Syeda ZilleHumma Ayyaz, research scholar, thanked all participants, especially volunteers, for making the event successful. She also presented a plaque and certificate to Naeema Zafar of Fremont for having been adjudged the best volunteer.

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P19 COMMUNITY Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry and Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani Meet Community Members at Consul General Abdul Jabbar Memon’s Residence, Los Angeles, January 29, 2016

Glimpses of the reception. Pictures by Anwar Khawaja

www.PakistanLink.com

COMMUNITY

P20 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

Kashmir Is Not Forgotten, We Are Not Going to Let That Happen: Dr Korhola n By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai Washington, DC: “It is in the interest of

world peace that India and Pakistan need to resolve the Kashmir dispute to the satisfaction of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The final and durable settlement of the Kashmir dispute will undoubtedly guarantee peace and stability in the region of South Asia. It will also have a great impact on the international peace and security.”

This was stated by Dr Eija-Riitta Korhola who served as member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament and who was the keynote speaker at the Kashmir Solidarity Day event organized by friends of Kashmir in Washington, DC metropolitan area and beyond. The event was attended by a large number of people interested in peace and stability in the region of South Asia.

Dr Korhola added, “Kashmir is not forgotten. We are not going to let it happen.

Why? Because as human beings we cannot afford ignoring basic right of self-determination.” She emphasized, “The Kashmir problem was in many ways created by one of our members in the EU. When the British left India in 1947, they left without defining the future of Kashmir. Because of this historical background Europe has a special responsibility to make sure that the Kashmiri people get the right to have the promised referendum to define their own future.”

Dr Korhola suggested that all sides of the conflict – India, Pakistan and Kashmiris – should talk to each other with respect. We do not need to tell the Kashmiris what they want. They should be provided the full opportunity to decide whatever they want without any external pressure.

Mr Lars Rise, founding Chairman of the Norwegian Parliamentary Kashmir Committee, pleaded for a third party mediation to help bring all parties concerned to the negotiating table. How can India and Pakistan

hope to resolve the Kashmir conflict without the participation of the Kashmiri leadership when we know that the Kashmiri people are the primary party to the dispute, Lars asked.

Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness, said that ”no one knows better than Washington foreign policy experts that American strategy of conflict in a region involving India, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- and of the delicate relationship that need to be safeguarded from violent disruption. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir and the potential for a more devastating third can hardly be said to have been removed, especially in view of the nonviolent and popular uprising in Kashmir. Despite the heavy cost, the people of Kashmir are not likely to give up their demand to the right of self-determination, Fai continued.

We fail to understand why India and Pakistan do not want the Kashmiri participation in the talks when the right to choose the destiny of 18 million people was given by

the UN Security Council to the inhabitants of the territory and not to the leadership in New Delhi or Islamabad, Fai added. Any attempt to strike a deal between any two parties without associating the third, will always lead us to a barren land. So, the future negotiations must be tripartite between the Governments of India and Pakistan and the leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Senator (Dr.) Akbar Khawaja, quoted Bilawal Bhutto, the Co-Chairman of PPP, “I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it.” Bilawal also said, “Quaid-e-Awam Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had a special place for Kashmir and Kashmir people in their hearts.

I will follow the policy of my predecessors on the Kashmir issue because their struggle for the right to self-determination is historic.”

Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Senior Vice President, Kashmiri American Council who recently came back from the Valley mentioned the atrocities that are being committed by the Indian army on the civilian population day

Karachi Schools Win Big at the Harvard Model United Nations

in and day out. Syed Ali Geelani, the leader of Kashmiri resistance gave me a simple message, Khan added, and the message was: The Kashmiri diaspora has a responsibility to internationalize the Kashmir conflict.

Mr Javaid Rathore, former advisor to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said that the international community needs to realize its responsibility to help urge both India and Pakistan to set a stage for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

Ali Shahnawaz Khan, Executive Director, Kashmiri Scandinavian Council, said that Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris. It is they who have the right to decide its future, Khan said.

Others who spoke included Sardar Zarif Khan, Sardar Zubair Khan. Sardar Zulfiqar Khan was the ‘MC’ of the event.

The event concluded with the formation of a human chain by hundreds of participants to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Jammu & Kashmir.

- gnfai2003@yahoo.com

Tribalism, Not Islam, Is behind Terrorism

Karachi Grammar School (KGS) has

won the best international delegation award, while The Lyceum bagged the best small delegation award at the Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN), 2016 which was held in Boston, United States.

Over 3,000 delegates and 300 faculty advisers representing over 199 countries participated in the MUN, debating issues of international importance. The 63rd HMUN session was held from Thursday, January 28, to Sunday, January 31, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel under the guidance of a staff comprising more than 200 Harvard University undergraduates.

Other Pakistani schools that attended HMUN included Aitchison College from Lahore and Roots Millennium from Islamabad.

HMUN has three main delegation awards: Best Small Delegation for teams with less than 10 members, Best Large Delegation for teams with 10 or more members, and Best International Delegation.

A 14-member team participated in the HMUN, the KGS team’s debate head told The Express Tribune.

The KGS team also won all the debate competitions in Karachi before heading to Boston to compete in the internationally recognized event. The team won the best delegation award at Zabmun-VIII, MUNIK-7 and BAYMUN 2015.

The president of the Lyceum Debate and MUN Society, Ad-

eel Khalique Shaikh, said that they bagged the Best Small Delegation award, which is for teams with less than 10 members.

The Lyceum team consisted of eight members, all of whom won awards, with two best delegates, two outstanding diplomacy winners and four honorable mentions. “Each member of our delegation won an award. We sent an eight-member team and we have eight awards in our school with the best small delegation as well,” Shaikh told The Express Tribune.

The KGS delegation included Uzair Saqib, Zainab Saeed, Taimur Ahmed Mian, Ghasharib Shoukat, Suroor Rahimtoola, Nasha Kanga, Laleh Ahmed, Rahul Bherwani, Channan Hanif, Zarak Quraishi, Riva

n By Jan Sjostrom

M

ost Americans don’t know much about the Muslim world, which is why we’re having such trouble dealing with it, scholar and diplomat Akbar Ahmed told the audience Tuesday at The Society of the Four Arts.

Effendi, Hakim Faiz, Shahzel Najam and Leila Khan. The eight-member team from Lyceum comprised Bakhtawar Atta, Aleena Aamir, Wa-

www.PakistanLink.com

“We look at it as a stereotype and a monolith,” he said. “There is no Muslim world. There are only sects and nationalities with little in common.”

Ahmed has a lot of experience to back up his claims. Chairman of Islamic studies at American Universay Peracha, Zulqarnain Aamir, Ja- sity in Washington, DC, he served as nian Shah, Obaid Rehman, Maheen Pakistan’s high commissioner to the Naveed and Amsel Bilal. - The Ex- United Kingdom and Ireland. He’s press Tribune TRIBALISM, P24

COMMENTARY

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21

Why Did the Scientific Revolution Not Take Place in the Muslim World? - 2 n By Professor Nazeer Ahmed

T

scholasticism, having arrived at the same point in philosophy that Muslim philosophy had arrived at three hundred years earlier resolved the apparent tensions between philosophy and religion in a fundamentally different way. One of the principal figures in this tradition was Thomas Aquinas.

Whereas Muslim philosophers had struggled to maintain the omnipotence of God in nature and human affairs by speculating on the nature of time and advancing the idea of “the necessary” and “the contingent”, the European philosophers separated nature and philosophy into separate compartments. Nature, they concluded, was within the domain of reason; matters of theology were beyond its reach.

Concord, CA

he Asharite Response

The intellectual storms created by the Mu’tazalite and anti-Mu’tazalite movements continued to rage long after the eighth century. The Islamic world had come face to face with the Greek rationalism and was trying to reconcile its belief systems with reason. Was there an interface between reason and faith? If there was one, where was it? The major intellectual figures of the Islamic Golden Age grappled with this question and advanced their own views and their own theories.

Among the most influential of the usuli ulema who tried a reconciliation of reason with faith was the Shafi’ scholar Abul Hasan al Ash’ari (d 936). To maintain the transcendence of God and preserve His power over all decisions, Al Ash’ari advanced the thesis that time was discrete and was built up of small increments (atoms). At each increment of time, the Will of God intervenes and determines the outcome of an event.

Thus, in the Asharite cosmology, a natural law which appears to follow the logic of cause and effect gets broken up into an infinite series of occasions for the intervention of the Will of God. Those who accepted the philosophy of al Ash’ari were called the Asharites. The Asharite ideas found wide acceptance in the Islamic world and influenced some of the major thinkers of Islamic history, including Al Gazzali and Allama Iqbal.

Al Ash’ari’s thesis was a major step towards a reconciliation of faith and reason. Al Ash’ari rejected the Mu’tazalite position that the Qur’an was “created”. He explained that the divine attributes of seeing, hearing and action are different from those of human beings and must not be understood in anthropological terms.

However, in advancing his own “atomistic” theory of time, Al Ash’ari’s left himself open to a critique from the philosophers and scientists.

What is time? Is it linear? Is it discrete? Is it warped? Is it even “real”? The limits of reason are the limits of human understanding of time. The Qur’an offers profound insights into the nature of time to guide humankind in its quest for the Truth. The passage of time, absolute time, perceived time, time as a moment, time as a day and as a mirage are all clarified in different contexts in the Qur’an.

The definition of a natural phenomenon must therefore state, a priori, its assumptions of time within which the phenomenon are defined. Otherwise, observations, theories and deductions that are derived in one time frame become speculative when applied to a different time frame. Al Ash’ari won the debate against the Mu’tazalites of the day. However, his assumptions are insufficient to accommodate modern theories of quantum physics. The search for a satisfactory definition of the interface between reason and faith is perpetual and must continue. tists

The Approach of Ibn Sina and the Scien-

Ibn Sina was one of the most celebrated scientists of the Islamic Golden Age. His approach to the question of cause and effect in nature was fundamentally different from that al Ash’ari. To preserve the overarching authority of Divine Will in nature, Al Ash’ari conceived of time as moving in discrete, small increments (atoms). Ibn Sina, on the other hand, tackled the more fundamental issues of “change” and the “agent of change”.

He constructed a hierarchy of causers of change and distinguished between the “necessary” and the “contingent”. God is “necessary”, he maintained, whereas the created world is “contingent”.

In the cosmology of Ibn Sina, the metaphysical structures of necessity and contingency were different. The necessary is “the source of its own being without borrowed existence. It is what always exists”. By contrast, “the contingent being is ‘false in itself ’ and ‘true due to something else other than itself… It is actualized by an external cause other than itself.” Thus the theories of Ibn Sina stay close to the guidance provided by the Qur’an. However, his esoteric arguments of the

“necessary” and the “contingent” were too complex for the layman and his works remained unknown except among the scholars and the elite.

Al Gazzali’s Tahafut al Falasafa (Repudiation of the Philosophers) Abu Hamid al-Gazzali (d 1111) was one of the most influential theologians, jurists and skeptical philosophers in Islamic history. Born into a Persian-Arab family in Tus in Northeastern Iran, Al-Gazzali received his early training in Qur’an, fiqh and tasawwuf in the local religious schools and then studied under a well-known scholar, al-Juwayni of Nishapur. The erudition, brilliance and intellectual acuity of the young AlGazzali attracted the attention of Nizam ul Mulk, the grand vizier of the reigning Seljuks, who conferred upon him the title of “hujjaatul Islam” (evidence of Islam) and appointed him a professor at the Nizamiya college in Baghdad. His lectures on jurisprudence and tasawwuf attracted a wide following and his fame spread far and wide.

After teaching at the College for four years, Al Gazzali went through a profound internal crisis. Outward ritualistic observances of religion and esoteric philosophical discourses brought him no inner peace. He quit his prestigious professorship and embarked on a journey to Damascus, Jerusalem and onto Mecca and Madina for hajj. His introspections during this period brought him the conviction that true faith resided in the heart and it was only through a cleansing of the heart and constant remembrance of God that man ascends to Divine presence. Al Gazzali returned to Nishapur (1098) where he founded and taught at a Zawiya, a college structured after Sufi teachings. In 1106 he returned to the Nizamiya College and continued to teach there until his death.

Al Gazzali lived in a period of great political turmoil. The Islamic world was divided between the Fatimids in Cairo and the Abbasids in Baghdad. The Sunni Seljuqs backed the Abbasids and were engaged in a military struggle with the Shia Buyids of Iraq for control of Baghdad. The Crusaders, taking advantage of the Fatimid-Abbasid rivalries, were successful in capturing Jerusalem in 1099. The assassins, a band of disgruntled Fatimids, were active throughout the Islamic world, causing havoc with their targeted killings of Sunni leadership. Nizamul ul Mulk himself fell to an assassin’s dagger in 1092. On the intellectual plane, the turbulence generated by the injection of Greek philosophy continued to roil theological debates. It had been four hundred years since the Mu’tazalite movement had first enjoyed and then lost the patronage of Abbasid courts in Baghdad. Though these centuries, the intellectual genius of Muslims scholars had struggled to accommodate the challenge of Greek ideas. The work of Al Ash’ari (d 936) had brought a degree of calm to this intellectual landscape but the undercurrents of a perceived disharmony between faith and reason persisted.

Al Gazzali injected himself headlong into the Fatimid-Sunni and philosophy-theology debates. His dialectic reflects the political and intellectual turmoil of the age. He argued eloquently against the esoteric doctrines of the Fatimids as well as the deductive approach of the philosophers. In his treatise Tahaffuz al Falasafa (Repudiation of the Philosophers), he contended that

the metaphysical arguments of the philosophers did not meet the test of reason. Basing his powerful dialectic on the earlier works of al Ash’ari, Al Gazzali argued that there was no cause and effect in nature, and that all natural events happen by the Will of God. “The connection between what is habitually believed to be a cause and what is habitually believed to be an effect is not necessary….. For any two things, it is not necessary that the existence or the nonexistence of the one follows necessarily from the existence or the nonexistence of the other. Their connection is due to the taqdir of God, who creates them side by side, not to its being necessary by itself.”

Al Gazzali supported his argument by offering the combustion of cotton an example: “We say that the efficient cause of the combustion through the creation of blackness in the cotton and through causing the separation of its parts and turning it into coal or ashes is God—either through the mediation of the angels or without mediation”.

In modern language, Al Gazzali’s position can be stated as follows: The laws of nature are not deterministic. Cause and effect are not necessary consequences of each other; they exist “side by side”. The outcome of a natural phenomenon is a moment of God’s grace.

The Legacy of Al Gazzali Al Gazzali’s dialectic on philosophy had a global impact both on the Islamic as well as Western civilizations. Although Al Gazzali’s thrust was against the arguments of the philosophers rather than philosophy itself, his encyclopedic works had a chilling effect on the pursuit of philosophy in the Islamic world. In essence, it eliminated reason from the realm of natural phenomenon.

The Riposte of Ibn Rushd As interest in philosophy waned, the Spaniard Ibn Rushd (1128) took up the defense of philosophy. Considered a giant among philosophers, Ibn Rushd wrote extensive commentaries on the works of Aristotle. He took issues with Al Gazzali’s position that there was no cause and effect in nature. In his Tahaffut at Tahaffut (Repudiation of the Repudiation) he argued that reason was a valid tool for understanding both nature and revelation. Whereas Al Gazzali had questioned the validity of cause and effect in nature, arguing that phenomenon happen only by the will of God, Ibn Rushd argued that natural phenomenon followed laws ordained by God. Thus the sway of Divine Will over all affairs is preserved both through the natural laws and their outcomes. However, the Islamic world chose the mysticism of Al Gazzali over the rationalism of Ibn Rushd. Reason was marginalized, whereas mysticism thrived.

As Spain fell to the Christian Conquistadores (1086-1248), Latin translations of the works of Ibn Rushd and other Muslim philosophers became available in Europe and were a driving force for the rise of the scholastic tradition in Christendom. Universities sprang up all over Europe. Those at Bologna 1088, Paris 1150, Oxford 1248, Cambridge 1209. Rome 1303, Florence 1321, Prague 1348, Vienna 1365, Venice 1470, and Valencia 1499 are well known. European

www.PakistanLink.com

The Interaction of Faith with Reason in Europe and the Islamic World, a Contrast in Outcomes To recap, here is a summary of the galactic battles between faith and reason in Islam and Christianity: The first to attempt a reconciliation of faith and reason were the Mu’tazalites. They overextended their reach by applying reason to the divine realm without a sufficient grasp of the limits of reason. To preserve the transcendence of God they speculated that the Word of God was “created”. In other words, they tried to contain God in the confines of reason and were summarily rejected by Islamic orthodoxy. The Asharites advanced an “atomistic” theory of time. This view did gain wide traction and became a part of Islamic thought. The Muslim scientists used a different approach by suggesting that the domain of the Divine was “necessary” whereas that of nature was “contingent”. This view was too esoteric for main street Islam to absorb. Al Gazzali stood on the shoulders of the Asharites and the scientists but in his attempt to repudiate the philosophers, he went too far and banished reason from nature. The Latin West accommodated reason with faith but they paid a heavy price for this accommodation. They banished reason from faith and made the natural sciences secular.

The Simultaneous Mongol Invasions and the Crusades The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century (1219-1257) devastated much of the eastern Islamic world. The great cities of Samarkand, Bokhara, Merv, Nishapur, Ghazna, Esfahan, Tabriz and Baghdad were destroyed. A vast swath of territories extending from the Amu Darya to the hills of Jerusalem was decimated. The nomadic Mongols had no use for agriculture. Dams were levelled and canals filled in. Libraries were burned. Men of learning were slaughtered. In short, the curtain fell on the classic Islamic civilization that had nurtured science and philosophy for five hundred years.

While the Mongols ravaged the eastern provinces of the Islamic world, the Crusades were active in the West. When the Caliphate of Cordoba disintegrated in 1031 and al Andalus broke up into warring principalities, it was a signal for the Christian powers to enter the fray.

Toledo, the ancient Visigoth capital, fell in 1086 and Lisbon in Portugal in 1147. After the disastrous defeat of Muslim armies at the battle of Los Novas de Talosa (1212), the Conquistadores rapidly overran most of Spain. Córdoba, the seat of the Spanish Caliphate fell in 1236, followed by Seville in 1248. Only the Southern tip of Spain around Granada and the hills of Pujara held out until 1492.

Thus, within a span of a generation between 1219 and 1258, more than half of the Islamic world was either destroyed or occupied. The areas ravaged by the Mongols included what is today Uzbekistan Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Pakistan up to the river Indus, Iran, Iraq, Eastern Anatolia and Syria. In the West, the province of Spain was lost.

The simultaneous loss of the prosperous cities of Persia and Spain was a blow from which the Islamic civilization never recovered. With the rulers gone, the pursuit of philosophy, which depended heavy on patronage from the top, suffered a mortal blow. It was the end of the Golden Age of science in Islam.

The Islam that emerged after the Mongol Crusader onslaughts was a spiritual Islam,

COMMENTARY

P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016 less empirical and exoteric and more esoteric and spiritual. The destructions tested the metal of Islamic civilization. In its darkest hour, the inner spirituality of Islam rose up to the challenge. Islam renewed itself through tasawwuf and was successful in converting the Mongols. Astronomy, architecture and artisanship won the patronage of the new rulers and continued to flourish. However, the emphasis of Islamic civilization shifted decidedly towards the sciences of the soul. Whereas the archetype of the Golden Age were philosophers and scientists like al Razi and Ibn Sina, the archetypes of the Sufi age were Shaikh Abdel Qader Jeelani of Baghdad, Shaikh Shadhuli of Cairo, Ibn al Arabi of Spain, Mevlana Rumi of Anatolia and Shah Naqshband of Samarqand.

It was this Sufic Islam, syncretic in its tendencies, open and inclusive towards other faiths that spread to the India-Pakistan subcontinent, Indonesia, Malaysia, sub Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe.

Out of the political turmoil of the Mongol-Tartar invasions, there emerged three strong land empires in Asia- the Ottomans, the Safavids and the great Mughals of India. All three of these empires patronized art, architecture, astronomy and artisanship but neglected the natural sciences. The Ottomans, for instance were strong in metallurgy and cannon manufacture.

However, the design and manufacture of guns and engines of war was more driven by superb artisanship than a basic understanding of the physics of armaments. This trend continued for four centuries. For instance, the Mysore rockets that were used during the Anglo-Mysore wars (1770-1799) had twice the range of anything used in Europe at the time. However, there is no indication that the master artisans who produced them had a deep understanding of Newton’s laws of physics well known to European scientists of the era.

As was observed earlier, alVISIT FROM P9

lot of these[people joining extremist groups] are mainly young people, and they are the future.

So we’ve got to -- we Muslims and non-Muslims living in the United States or European countries -- have to win them over. And so far, the rhetoric of hatred does not win them over. The rhetoric of hatred pushes them away from us. So the fact that he’s coming and reaching out to them and applying this balm means that they suddenly feel that [they] have another attractive alternative to look to.

What do you think was the impact of Obama’s willingness to address the more tense aspects of the MuslimAmerican relationship -- like the presence of a perversion of Islam among a small amount of people, and the tricky experience of Muslims with intelligence and security in this country?

A lot of this is happening. It may be Trump saying it, but Obama’s in charge.

So Trump will say, ‘Look, it’s not my administration, maybe I wouldn’t be doing this if I was in charge.’ So Obama has to comment on the [Department of Homeland Security], this anti-Muslim rhetoric that feeds into reactions of these officials.

And there have been so many incidents of families or individuals being prevented -they’ve got their tickets, they’ve boarded a plane in London and suddenly they’ve been asked to go back, or in America the pilot simply feels uncomfortable -- that’s not a good environment to be a Muslim.

He has mentioned these points, but this time he’s more explicit. Even just sitting there, praising Muslims, saying nice things -- that’s enough for me in terms of applying the balm. Not enough sub-

Salafism, Shia, Sunni, the raging controversies While religious schisms were not unknown in Europe and the Protestant-Catholic rivalries sometimes erupted into armed conflict, the pursuit of scientific endeavor managed to transcend these divisions. Science had become a secular endeavor open to all shades of religious opinions. The printing press made possible the widest dissemination of knowledge. More than a million books were printed in Europe in the seventeenth century. There were respected scientists among the Protestants as there were among the Catholics and they built an edifice of science as a cooperative enterprise.

By contrast, the post-Timurid

period (1400-1700) in the Islamic world was characterized by sharpened conflicts between Shias and Sunnis, Sufis and Salafis. The Safavids in Persia were Shia and they were engaged in continual conflicts with the Sunni Ottomans. Iran acted as a wedge between the Ottomans and the Moguls of India, preventing any effective military coordination between the two Sunni powers. For example, the Ottoman sultan Suleyman II asked the Mogul emperor Aurangzeb for assistance against the Grand Christian Alliance during the wars of 1683-1699. Aurangzeb could not and did not send a relief column to the Ottomans because he was occupied in a prolonged conflict with the Shia kingdoms of the Deccan in southern Indian. A second example is the appeal of Tippu Sultan of Mysore to Amir Zaman Shah of Afghanistan in 1798 for military help against the British.

Zaman Shah was disposed to help but was prevented from doing so because of a British inspired Shia uprising in Herat in Western Afghanistan.

A new schism arose in the Islamic world in the mid-seventeenth century which had a profound impact on the development of science and civilization in Islam. The post-MongolTartar era was dominated by Sufic Islam. It was inherently syncretic, open to absorbing the cultures of the lands into which it made inroads. Thus the Hindus of India and the Buddhists of Indonesia found it easier to walk into the fold of Sufi Islam. This syncretic Islam produced great rulers like Akbar (d 1605) of Mogul India. However, the very success of Sufi Islam, generated a counter reaction, starting with India. Aurangzeb (d 1707) ascended the throne of Mogul India after Shah Jehan and embarked on dismantling the inclusive syncretic culture built by his great-grand father Akbar. Akbar had included the Hindus as people of the book, marrying Hindu princesses and abolishing discriminatory taxes against them. Aurangzeb reinstated

the jizya and replaced the Sufi South Asian culture, which he viewed as deviationist, with a juridical Islam codified in Futuhat e Alamgiri. The Hindus and the Sikhs rebelled, starting the long process of political disintegration. The political decay was reflected in the arts, architecture, artisanship, science and culture.

A harsher, uncompromising version of Islam was introduced by Abdel Wahab of Arabia (d 1792).

Proclaiming that all practices which were not in strict conformance with the practices of the earliest Muslims were bida’ (innovation), Abdel Wahab waged a relentless struggle against the Bedouins of Arabia, forcing them into conformance with his views. The stern creed of Abdel Wahab was adopted as the official dogma by Saudi Arabia. With the discovery of oil in the Middle East, and the enormous wealth that accrued with it, the reach of Wahhabi ideas extended to the entire globe. The word “Wahhabism” carried a connotation of extreme rigidity in religious matters. This rigidity extended to science and culture as well. For instance, until recently, the major universities in Arabia were opposed to photography and videos.

Only recently has the Saudi religious establishment made an about-turn and now the students in Saudi universities openly carry mobile phones with video features.

The raging controversies over sectarian differences drained the intellectual resources of the Islamic community. Bogged down over questions of what was permissible and what was not, science and philosophy were marooned. The controversies persist to this day. (To be continued) (The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)

or MLK, he’s more cautious -- he doesn’t do anything dramatic and implement it, particularly in a mosque. He will also be cautious that anything he says that’s too controversial will be counterproductive because it’s coming from a mosque. You will have right-wing comments tomorrow saying that he had a Muslim Brotherhood agenda, saying he’s encouraging terrorism, so he’s aware that he’ll be getting enough backlash, and he would not want to add to it.

How important is this move for the global Muslim community? How important is it for the global community in general, given the rising Islamophobia, especially when it comes to how to deal with the influx of refugees?

The world knows one figure that leads the country, and that’s the president.

So the world is looking at the president sitting in the mosque. Huge symbolism.

When the Queen of England or Prince Charles actually visit a mosque or are visited by Muslims, which happens frequently, when they appoint members of the House of Lords who are Muslims, it sends a signal. I’m not saying the problems disappear. There’s still Islamophobia. There’s still terrorism. There’s still challenges. But it is minimized because you have these very significant figures visiting and reaching out. On the other hand, you have countries like France where you do not have this interaction.

You do not have the president visiting a mosque or Muslim scholars to look upon.

And you do have a marginalized, angry, alienated community ready to explode, and we’re seeing the explosions unfortunately there.

If you take the men of violence, as I call them, they will see this as a ploy -- ‘It’s meaningless, he’s offered you nothing, don’t be fooled by his empty gestures.’ Mainstream governments will approve, will applaud and will compliment Obama. I can almost assure you that the Saudi government, the Iranian government or the Pakistani government would be pleased that he’s done this, because it reaffirms for them that they and the United States can be friends. Even in countries like India, which has a pluralist tradition, you have a tradition of heads of state who are not Muslim reaching out to Muslims and other minorities.

So that is an example that you need to present to the world. And America, in its finest traditions, is a pluralist society.

If you don’t believe me, go to the University of Virginia and look up the statue of the angel that stands outside the university created by Thomas Jefferson. On that plaque that the angel is holding symbolizing America, it says “religious freedom,” and the year is 1776. The first word is “God,” for Christians. The second word is “Yahweh,” for Jews. The third word is “Allah,” for Muslims. And if this is not enough, the next is the Hindu word for God, “Brahma.”

Here is a Founding Father dreaming of a society where there would be religious pluralism, where people from all over the world can come here, create here, live by the law, live by respect for knowledge, build up this society to a new world. Sometimes that world requires boldness. It requires courage. And it requires, always, faith in humanity. And that is what Obama aspires to. And that is

what took him to Baltimore.

What do you hope American Muslims will take away from this? What do you hope global Muslims will take away from this? And what do you hope nonMuslims around the world will take away from this?

Muslims both here in the United States and abroad will respond by saying, ‘It was good it happened.’ I think people abroad, mainstream Muslims, will be maybe more appreciative than Muslims here in the United States, because Muslims here do have a genuine problem. And they want their problems, which have now become almost routine, to be fixed. If you’re a student looking for a job or a Muslim boarding a plane, you will come across some kind of prejudice.

Muslims are going to face that, and while they will take away some positives from the speech, they will ask, ‘Is it or is it not going to change [our] lives?’

Muslims abroad will say, ‘It’s good...

Islam is a great religion, Obama’s come to a mosque, even he has accepted that Muslims are good people and they should be thanked for their contributions to society.’

Now as far as non-Muslims are concerned, I think the responses abroad will be positive. The responses in the United States will be predictable, which is that the Republicans will say that this is typical of him, this is terrible, and give reasons for why they believe that. And the Democrats will say it’s a very positive thing. We already have Hillary Clinton, we already have [Sen.] Bernie Sanders all taking this position of inclusivity. So the president did something he’s expected to do, and we applaud it.

though art, architecture, literature and poetry flourished and artisanship and craftsmanship were valued, the postMongol period was characterized by a marked decrease in scientific activity.

The era produced architects like Mimar Sinan and Ahmed Lahori, poets like Rumi, Hafiz and Amir Khusroe, astronomers like Ibn al Shatir but no scientific figures of the stature of Ibn Sina. So, when Europe embarked on a scientific revolution (1600-1800), the Islamic world was found napping and finally succumbed to European military onslaught.

Most noticeable was the delay in the introduction of the printing press which was introduced into Europe in 1439 and spread throughout Europe by the end of the fifteenth century. In Italy alone, there were no less than 77 printing presses in the year 1500.

The printing press made possible the spread of knowledge. It was one of the main engines for the Renaissance which produced the likes of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. It was only in 1728 that the printing press was introduced into the Ottoman Empire and into Mughal India at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In both cases, what held back the introduction of this technology was the opposition of the ulema who held that the Word of God would be defiled by contact with wooden presses.

Equally disastrous was a neglect of naval technology. After the Battle of Lepanto (1571), there was a steady and exorable decay in the naval prowess of Muslim empires. By the year 1700, the Ottoman Empire spent as much on its navy as it did on the royal kitchens. The result was that the Muslims who had controlled the trade between Asia and the Mediterranean worlds surrendered it to Europe.

Control of the seas also meant that the balance of global power shifted inexorably in favor of the West.

Europe went on to discover America and circumnavigate the horn of Africa bypassing the trade routes through

the Middle East. Europe thrived while Muslim lands sank into poverty.

Concurrent with the loss of technological edge and political power, there was a regression in intellectual activity as well. While new universities sprang up all over Europe, embracing the pursuit of science and philosophy with vigor, the Muslim world was content to recycle what it had learned five hundred years earlier. There was no innovation in education. The Madrasas and Zawiyas of the Muslims encouraged learning by rote while the European universities encouraged critical thinking and scientific education.

So, when Europe entered the early modern period based on scientific discoveries and technological innovation and produced Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Bacon, Newton and Pascal, the Islamic world just could not compete with the West. For almost three hundred years Europe enjoyed a near monopoly in scientific discourse and scientific advancements. It was only in the latter part of the nineteenth century that scientific knowledge was diffused through Asia, starting with Japan and later spreading through China and India.

stance, perhaps, but at least he’s done it.

Later, perhaps, but he’s made it. Perhaps it could have come earlier, but better late than never. In the end, he’s given us something before he leaves.

But I think this was a time when he could have said much more, been more definitive... ‘This is a gross injustice that has been done, I will make sure it’s corrected or make sure it’s looked into in every case.’ Something to assure Muslim minorities. But it goes back to the bigger point -- he has come with symbolism in mind and has not brought substance, because by definition, [because] he is where he is in the last term, he cannot bring substance. The next president, if he’s so inclined -- specifically, if he represents an opposite point of view -- is just going to scrap it. For [Obama], at this moment, it’s enough to raise these issues.

The Muslim community, I know, will feel like much more could have happened, much more substance could have been offered to them. But they will be grateful for what they get, because at this moment, they are in a corner. There’s a banquet, and in this banquet, they are not [at] the table. They are getting some crumbs and that is all that they can expect, because in this situation, there are others who will not even give them those crumbs. There are others who say ‘Pack them all in an internment camp and feed them nothing.’ So at least you have someone saying, ‘Here I am, I sympathize with you, these are problems, and we’ll do something about them.’ But he hasn’t said ‘I’m going to solve it, I’m going to completely change everything’...

It’s not Obama’s style. He’s not a JFK

www.PakistanLink.com

COMMENTARY n By Tauqeer Muhajir

D

espite tentative beginnings, the potential offered by the PSL goes beyond cricket. But for the PSL to succeed, it needs to be developed at a TestMatch pace rather than a T20 one

It’s a case of better late than never: Pakistan might be the last to board the premier T20 league train, after India, Australia, West Indies, and even Bangladesh, but here we are nonetheless, without an overdose of Bollywood song and dance, without an array of celebrity power, and despite much antagonism at home.

To be hosted in Sharjah and Dubai between Feb 4 and Feb 23, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) pledges to propel the cricket-starved country and the cash-starved Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) towards commercial viability and greater professionalism.

The first instalment of the tournament features only five teams — Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators — and in all probability, will return a negative net profit margin despite a total investment of $93m.

On the surface, in this day and age of broadcast and sponsorship rights, this investment pales in comparison to the money brought in by other T20 leagues being played around the world. The Indian Premier League (IPL), for example, boasts franchise values of around $700m, not to mention the $1.75billion from the sale of TV rights for a decade. In comparison, the PSL has only been able to muster $20m for three years from broadcasting rights.

But a closer inspection of the fine print reveals that even in comparison to the IPL, the PSL has done well till now. Back in January 2008, when eight IPL teams were first auctioned, the Indian cricket board generated a combined $724m from franchise sales. But this amount was to be paid in 10 annual instalments, thereby handing each team about $9m every year.

In comparison, Islamabad United’s sale at $1.5m fares well, as Pakistani products’ value is gauged on a 1:10 ratio against Indian products. In effect, the inaugural value of Islamabad United would be calculated as $15m, which is over and beyond the $9m average earned by IPL teams. By the same logic, Karachi Kings’ sale at $2.6m is a major coup.

PCB sources define this period as a “teething process,” from which the Board, franchises, sponsors and other stakeholders have already drawn many lessons.

“The biggest chunk of revenue generated is always from broadcasting deals, but the underdevelopment of sports broadcasting in Pakistan has meant that we are somewhat handicapped on that front,” explains a PCB source.

Industry insiders believe that scheduling of the PSL has come at an inopportune time, which might see advertisers invest cautiously in the PSL. “A limited pool of advertising money is now being split four ways: to the MCL, PSL, IPL and then the T20 World Cup. With the MCL being played simultaneously as the PSL, we are already seeing the first signs of advertising money being split between the two leagues,” says one advertising executive.

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P23

The Promise of Pakistan Super League

Another argues that with Habib Bank bagging title sponsor rights for the first edition of the PSL, there will be some advertising impetus, but again, its extent is likely to be limited. “Advertising on television might see a spike during matches since those are prime slots,” he says.

But both advertising executives assert that the market is clear about not gauging PSL’s success over the first year.

“It is a new product; it will take time to become established. Its success will be evaluated after three or four years, once its teething problems are over. Only then can we have a discussion about whether the league is sustainable or not, or whether sponsors still retain their interest or not,” says the first advertising executive.

“The mere fact that the PSL is being held is ‘success’ at this stage,” says the second. “In the first attempt, success cannot be gauged in terms of money but in organizing the competition.”

It is clear that the financial side of things will take a bit more time to become established, but the PSL having to be played abroad and not in Pakistan has a major impact on the numbers floating around.

Consider, for example, ticket sales: all tickets are being sold in UAE dirhams and the PCB will also be paying the cost of organizing the tournament in dirhams. Were the league to be held at home, ticket sales would arguably be higher and franchises would have greater control over gate money received.

But in the meantime, till the PSL doesn’t return home, there are plenty of opportunities for franchises to grow, both on the field and off it.

Since the teams participating are all private entities, set up to encourage greater professionalism in cricket, there are larger plans among the franchises to launch cricket academies and attract local talent.

Peshawar Zalmi, for example, have announced setting up an academy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), for which land has already been allotted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

For young Pakistani talent on show at the PSL, there is great opportunity to share a dressing room with international stars and seniors from the Pakistan team. They’ll be

coached by big-name coaches and their talent will be honed by specialized trainers. Away from the grind of domestic cricket, the PSL offers elite exposure and experience to those selected. In turn, youngsters selected for the national team will be more aware of what is needed to cut it at the international level.

Encouragingly for most franchises, Pakistani consumers have already begun warming up to the idea of a premier T20 league that they could call their own. Lahore-based online seller Ahmed Majeed has

If the PCB can eke more revenue out of broadcast deals from the second season, the roster of international superstars playing in the PSL will also improve been receiving orders for fan merchandise, but he says that the Rs950 price point is proving to be prohibitive for clients.

“We receive orders largely through Facebook. I have already sold over 350 Lahore Qalandars t-shirts and a fair few for Karachi Kings. But many clients often make phone calls to simply ask if we can reduce selling prices; we always refuse, of course, and nearly all of them declined to place an order,” he says.

Majeed explains that cloth for the fan merchandise is being sourced from Faisalabad and stitched locally. But while t-shirts are being made in Lahore, replica kits are being sourced from Sialkot and sold at shops across Lahore.

www.PakistanLink.com

Meanwhile, in Karachi, unofficial fan merchandise has also made its way to Zainab Market and Tariq Road, the city’s two main commercial hubs. Mohammad Naeem, a seller in Zainab Market, explains that his Rs300 t-shirts have sold like hot cakes, to the extent that he had to re-order them thrice ever since the Karachi Kings launch show.

“We ordered t-shirts for three teams: Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators.

We thought that demand for these teams will be high, and so it proved.

Till now, we have had three consignments for Karachi Kings shirts, each with 500 shirts. And we’ll be ordering again this week,” says Naeem.

According to him, unofficial low-cost fan merchandise is being manufactured in Karachi and distributed to shops and sellers across the city. “Everyone is excited about the PSL but tentative at the same time. These low-cost t-shirts have allowed us to check the mood of clients and what they want. Nobody is prepared to invest big money at this stage,” he argues.

But over at Lord’s Sports, among the oldest sports goods shops in Karachi, owner Zohaib Iqbal reports only a mild interest in PSL merchandise. “Two out of 10 customers,” he says, when asked to quantify consumer interest.

“The performance of the Pakistan team is also a huge factor in determining consumer interest.

Since the team is not doing well in New Zealand, demand is low these days,” says Iqbal, who terms the PSL replica kits as a niche product at this stage.

“Availability of the product is low too, so that also has an impact.

Unless someone is particularly putting replica kits in their store fronts and marketing them, sales of official merchandise are bound to be low,” he argues.

On its part, the PCB has been looking to clamp down on the sale of unofficial merchandise, claiming that it is illegal to use PSL teams’ logos for private businesses. Some legal notices have already been served on offending parties and PCB lawyers are pursuing these cases with great intent.

“Replica kits and merchandise that we see popping up on Facebook are in fact illegal. The business model of the PSL is designed to allow

franchises to generate revenue from the sale of official kits and merchandise since they own their respective brands,” says one source. “In practice, this means that franchises will be the ones to source, market and sell merchandise, and not any other vendor who pops up on Facebook.”

The Karachi Kings, for example, have already started marketing sales of collar t-shirts at Rs1,700 each and round neck t-shirts at Rs900. When asked if such price points will drive consumers away, the PCB source claims that the plan is to have replica kits and merchandise that are affordable to all.

“Fans might want Rs300 shirts, and in due time, you will see official merchandise catering to that customer segment too. The idea is to have different quality merchandise selling at different rates, thereby allowing fans to buy whatever is feasible for them,” he explains.

“In the US, for example, there are three or four different types of shirts sold by the NFL, each of a different quality and price. Fans buy whatever they can afford, some even go for the quality that is worn by players on match days, which costs far more than the ordinary t-shirt that most will wear on a day-to-day basis. The idea is to replicate those practices,” says the PCB source.

Despite the complications, the PSL is a golden opportunity for PCB to build upon. A successful first edition of the PSL might open up the possibility of having a few matches being hosted at home in the second season, thereby increasing chances of international cricketers returning to Pakistan.

Then there are on-ground branding and sponsorships opportunities to be leveraged and a potential increase in broadcasting revenue to be registered. Although scheduling conflicts have put the PSL in a fix this time around, gathering as many eyeballs as possible for the second edition will be key. But that will only happen after a first PSL edition is successfully concluded, thereby giving all stakeholders a precedent to build on.

If the PCB can eke more revenue out of broadcast deals from the second season, the roster of international superstars playing in the PSL will also improve and add more value to the league, both in terms of marketing as well as invaluable exposure for the Pakistan’s younger lot.

Off the field too, franchises will be able to leverage greater marketing opportunities. Imagine the branding opportunities presented by the PSL: branded credit cards for fans, schools and colleges activated to support local teams, home delivery nights from food sellers, more television sets sold too as has been a clear trend in World Cups.

It seems like an irony in terms, but the success of the PSL will have to be gauged at Test-match pace and not a T20 one. The beginnings are slow and humble, but if handled carefully, PSL will have a truly transformative impact on Pakistan and its cricket-crazy people. Ab khel ke dikha.

(Tauqeer Muhajir is a media consultant and serial entrepreneur.

He has been associated with the launch of T20 cricket in Pakistan as a media consultant to the initial sponsor bank. He is also the editor of T20 portal, infot20.com. Additional reporting by Ahmed Yusuf).

- Dawn

COMMENTARY

P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

Your 401(K): Should You Be More Aggressive? n By Saghir Aslam Rawalpindi, Pakistan

(The following information is provided solely to educate the Muslim community about investing and financial planning. It is hoped that the Ummah will benefit from this effort through greater financial empowerment, enabling the community to live in security and dignity and fulfill their religious and moral obligations towards charitable activities) More people than ever are using 401(k) plans to save for retirement but just reaching your employer match enough?

The proliferation of 401(k) retirements accounts, combined with the large reduction is companies pensions, dramatically changed the way Americans save for retirement.

Instead o relying on employers to fund their retirement, workers are more responsible for their own savings. The upside is that they gained a say in how much they contribute and how their money is invested.

The numbers of active participants is defined contribution plans, which nearly double the number from 1992. Over the same time period, the number of participants in defined benefit plans, such as pensions, was essentially unchanged.

With so much responsibility in their hands with a 401(k), employees now have to make strategic decisions; including determining how aggressive they can afford to be in building retirement savings.

TRIBALISM FROM P20

traveled extensively researching his many books and documentaries about the relationship between Muslims and the West. His book Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration and Empire was just released.

The terrorists who are killing, raping and looting throughout the West and Islamic countries are not inspired by Islam, he said. Rather, they’re the product of a resurgence of tribalism in Islamic countries and a dispossessed population oppressed by central governments.

Syrian President Bashar alAssad has booted millions out of Syria, he said. One million people have poured into Europe. Jordan’s king estimates that about 20 percent of his country’s population is made up of Syrian refugees. Most ISIS fighters are from Sunni tribes living in Western Iraq and eastern Syria.

About a third of the Islamic population is young. They’re often unemployed and without hope.

“ISIS is a breakdown,” Ahmed said. “It’s not about Muslims who want to blow themselves up and think about the afterlife. It’s a failure to understand how to live a decent life on Earth.”

Globalization plays a role in the rise of tribalism, he said.

“As people become more anonymous and the state becomes more fluid, the reaction is to fall back on your community. The tribe is their community.”

The United States can’t afford to ignore the problem, he said. The world’s 1.5 billion Muslims make up a quarter of its population.

“The United States either leads or it is out,” Ahmed said. “History

ness

Consider long-term aggressive-

Being aggressive may pay offer for 401(k) participants who invest in more stocks than bonds, but investors who are within five to 10 years of retiring may want to act more conservatively, because that 401(k) is money they’ll need to tap into in the near term and don’t want to lose, he adds.

Denning points to some numbers to show the impact of trending aggressively. The 20-year old mean total return on a balanced, conservative allocation of 60% U.S bonds and 40% U.S stocks from 1976 to 1996 was 706%. That figure rises to 8% when you reverse the balance, with 40% bonds and 60% stocks.

And while the difference may not seem like much, a rapidly rising or falling stock market can dramatically affect returns in one year. In 2012, the same balanced, conservative allocation had a return of 8.9%, while the balanced aggressive allocation had an 11.3% return. But in 2008, being aggressive would have lost you 20.2%, while the conservative route would have resulted in loss is cruel to those who are out and we have a lot of competition.”

The West must work in concert with modernists in Islamic countries to combat terrorism, he said.

“This is a global problem. It has to be tackled globally. We can’t think of it locally. This has been a problem in our strategic thinking.”

He also recommended learning more about the Muslim world, getting to know Muslims personally and forging interfaith alliances.

Don’t expect a quick victory, he said. “This will be a long, drawn-out battle.”

Resident Michael Ainslie, who recommended Ahmed as a Four Arts speaker, felt uplifted by the talk.

“It gave me a ray of hope,” he said. “His delineation of modernists in the Islamic world is what we all need to believe is there. They should be our allies in bringing about positive change.”

EDITORIAL FROM P8

of 11.7%, according to an analysis of the market.

What really boils down to is how much home work you must look your over all finances for example, is your no paid for per, do you still make mortgage payments?.

Do you have income from rental properties? You need to take necessary steps in order to be successful.

For example you need to choose a financial planner that in itself is a task that you need to take very seriously.

There are lot of people out there with license to be financial adviser, what you want to look at is not just credentials of the investment adviser but you also want to see his experience and do not forget to ask for references. Do not just file references you need to take action that means calling the clients he gave you as reference and pick their brain and get all the information.

I will elaborate more on financial adviser in another article.

(Saghir A. Aslam only explains strategies and formulas that he has been using. He is merely providing information, and NO ADVICE is given. Mr Aslam does not endorse or recommend any broker, brokerage firm, or any investment at all, nor does he suggest that anyone will earn a profit when or if they purchase stocks, bonds or any other investments. All stocks or investment vehicles mentioned are for illustrative purposes only. Mr Aslam is not an attorney, accountant, real estate broker, stockbroker, investment advisor, or certified financial planner.

Mr Aslam does not have anything for sale.) ness into “pitting people against each other.” This, the Floridian said piously, “is hurting our country badly.”

What’s hurting the country badly are hate-mongers who would rather betray American values by appealing to bigotry than address the reality of 2 million to 3 million American Muslims, the overwhelming majority of them patriotic, who are as entitled to dignity and respect as everyone else.

Editorial, WASHINGTON POST, February 5, 2016 POLITICS FROM P8

dent who doesn’t begin the day on his knees isn’t fit to be the commanderin-chief of this country.” One of the many responsibilities that devolve on the person who occupies the White House is to command the country’s large armed forces. Senator Marco Rubio, who came in third in the Iowa caucuses, worked religion into most responses he gave to the questions he was asked. Asked to interpret what Time magazine meant when it called the senator the Republican Party saviour, Rubio was quick to respond: “Let me be clear about one thing.

There is only one saviour and it’s not me. It’s Jesus Christ, who came down to Earth and died for our sins.” In another response Rubio tried to pick up on Cruz’s pledge to kneel before God before the start of every day. “I pray to God for wisdom,” he said. “The presidency of the United States is an extraordinary burden and you look at some of the greatest presidents in American history. They were very clear. They were on their knees all the time asking God for wisdom and for the strength to persevere.”

Religion in America routinely

(Carson) and conflate anti-Muslim hate speech with efforts to combat terrorism (Cruz). His speech was a reminder of what makes Americans American — not citizens’ place of worship but rather their allegiance to certain principles, including tolerance.

To that positive and patriotic message, Mr Trump responded with his trademark sneer and umpteenth intimation that Mr Obama, a Christian, is a closet Muslim. “I don’t have much thought,” Mr Trump said, accurately. “Maybe he feels comfortable there. . . . There are a lot of places he can go, and he chose a mosque.”

Mr Rubio somehow contorted the president’s message of inclusive- POLITICS, P28

www.PakistanLink.com

Support Hidaya Schools Due to corruption, mismanagement and poverty, the state of schools in economically depressed areas of under-developed countries are in a deplorable state. Hidaya opens schools in rural areas which have none to begin with, as well as adopts and operates “ghost schools” which have been shut down.

Hidaya is currently operating 81 schools with over 10,0 00 students from 1st to 8 th grade in poverty stricken areas of Pakista n.

It co st to ru s about $160 appr n a cla oxim ssro om ate eac ly 40 st of hm ont udents h.

Donate Zakat & Sadaqah to Support Hidaya Schools

Hidaya Foundation 866.2.HIDAYA | www.hidaya.org Hidaya Foundation is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) charitable organization with Tax ID # 77-0502583

Exchange Rates for Currency Notes* Countries

USA

UK S.Arabia Japan Euro UAE

Buying Rs. 105.60 152.50 28.05 0.89 118.60 28.85

(*11 February, 2016)

Selling Rs. 105.85 153.20 28.20 0.92 119.10 29.00

RELIGION

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P25

Love of Prophet Muhammad – Peace Be Upon Him

Gems from the Holy Qur’an

n By Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi

T

hose who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet - whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel with them - who commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); he releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that were upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the Light which is sent down with him, it is they who will prosper. (Al-A’raf 7:157)

Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that you have gained; the commerce in which you fear a decline; or the dwellings in which you delight - are dearer to you than Allah, Or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause - then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious. (alTawbah 9:24) Islam is the love of Allah and His Messenger. Love of Allah and His Prophet must be in the heart of every Muslim. No one can live a true Islamic life without deep and sincere love for Allah and His Prophet Muhammad – peace and blessings be upon him. Islam is not just beliefs and rituals; Islam is the relationship of love for Allah and His Prophet. This love is part of our faith. Faith is not complete without this love. It is also the sign of our faith. The more we have this love, the more our faith will shine and bloom and fill the earth with its perfume.

Why do we love Prophet Muhammad? Prophet Muhammad was a special person. He was the Last and Final Prophet of Allah. To love Prophet Muhammad is to love Allah and to love all God’s Prophets and Messengers. Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him - was the best human being who ever lived on this earth. All the qualities that make a person loveable were in him. He was perfect in his appearance and in his character. He was perfect in his words and deeds.

Many people who saw him personally said that they never saw anyone

From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) About the translator: Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born of Jewish parents in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding foreign correspondent for the Franfurter Zeitung, and after years of devoted study became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age. His translation of the Holy Qur’an is one of the most lucid and well-referenced works in this category, dedicated to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (people who think).

like him, neither before him nor after him. His cousin and son-in-law Syidna ‘Ali said about him, “Whosoever saw him suddenly he was overwhelmed by him, and whosoever saw him with knowledge loved him.” Allah and His angels love him. He was the Mercy of Allah to the worlds (Rahmatullil-‘alamin).

He was the best role model (uswatun hasanah) for all humanity. In order to receive the love of Allah, we have to follow his way. The way to practice Islam is to love him and the way to success and salvation in this world and in the Hereafter is in the way of Prophet Muhammad.

How to love Prophet Muhammad? This is the most important question for every one of us. Muslims in general love Prophet Muhammad and hold him very dear to their hearts. Our love for the Prophet should not be only emotional; it should be serious, thoughtful and it must lead to good and proper actions. His love must be sincere and deep in our hearts, we should express it by our tongues and it must reflect in our actions. The Prophet

– peace be upon him - said: None of you shall have (complete) faith unless I become dearer to him than his parents, his children and all people. (Al-Bukhari 14) The love of the Prophet – peace be upon him - has a joy and happiness. We can fully enjoy it and benefit from it if we follow the right course. Let us keep the following five points in our mind: 1. We must learn his Sirah and Sunnah from authentic sources.

The more we learn about his life, the more we shall love him. We must follow his way and his teachings. We must do whatever he told us to do and we must avoid everything that he told us not to do. His Sunnah is not just few rituals; it is his whole lifestyle. He was the most loving, kind and charitable person. He was very caring towards his family, his friends, his followers and even to his enemies. He was the Mercy of Allah to the world; we should also try to become most merciful and kind people. Allah says: Say: “If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.” Say: “Obey Allah and His Messenger”: but if they turn back, Allah loves not those who reject Faith. (Al ‘Imran 3:31-32) 2.

We should increase our Salat and Salam on him. His name should be mentioned with utmost respect and love. Allah says: Allah and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you who believe!

www.PakistanLink.com

Send blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. (Al-Ahzab 33:56) 3. We should love his family (Ahl al-Bayt), and all his Companions (Sahabah) from amongst the Muhajirin and Ansar. We should give them full respect and honor and appreciate their devotion, services and sacrifices and we should try to follow their good examples.

4. Loving him means also loving his Ummah. We should care for every member of the Ummah and work for unity and harmony among them. We should never hold ill feelings towards any person, especially towards other Muslims. The Prophet – peace be upon him - said: Anas bin Malik said, “The Prophet – peace be upon him - said to me, ‘O my son, if you can have your morning and evening in such a way that you have no ill-feeling against any one then do so.’ Then he said, ‘O my son, this is my Sunnah and whosoever love my Sunnah he loves me and whosoever loves me, he will be with me in Jannah.’”

(Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith no.

2602) 5. Loving him also means loving the whole humanity and caring for all people. Prophet Muhammad was sent by Allah to bring mercy to the worlds. Loving him means removing injustice, hunger, poverty, diseases and inequality from this world. He was sent to remove sin and corruption from this world. Loving him means working to spread righteousness in this world. He was sent to save people from Hell unto the eternal success and salvation. Loving him means spreading his message of truth and guidance to all people. We should convey without trying to convert.

We should try to remove misunderstandings from the minds of people about him. We should show to the world the loving and merciful way of Prophet Muhammad – peace and mercy of Allah be upon him.

(Khutbah at ISOC – Muharram 18, 1427/ February 17, 2006)

Chapter 3,Verse 145 And no human being can die save by God’s leave, at a time preordained. And if one desires the rewards of this world, We shall grant him thereof; and if one desires the rewards of the life to come, We shall grant him thereof; and We shall requite those who are grateful [to Us].

Chapter 3, Verse 151 Into the hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth We shall cast dread in return for their ascribing divinity, side by side with God, to other beings – [something] for which He has never bestowed any warrant from on high; and their goal is the fire – and how evil that abode of evildoers!

Chapter 3, Verse 191 Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the succession of the night and the day, there are indeed messages for all who are endowed with insight, [and] who remember God when they stand, and when they sit, and when they lie down to sleep, and [thus] reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: “O our Sustainer! Thou hast not created [aught of] this without meaning and purpose. Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! Keep us safe, then, from suffering through fire!”

Chapter 3, Verses 196-198 Let it not deceive thee that those who are bent on denying the truth seem to be able to do as they please on earth: it is [but] a brief enjoyment, with hell thereafter as their goal – and how vile a resting place! – whereas those who remain conscious of their Sustainer shall have gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide: a ready welcome from God. And that which is with God is best for the truly virtuous.

Chapter 3, Verses 199-200 And, behold, among the followers of earlier revelation there are indeed such as [truly] believe in God, and in that which has been bestowed from on high upon you as well as in that which has been GEMS, P28

ADVERTISEMENT

P26 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

“Your Peace of Mind is Our Business”

TAXES: Don’t Go At It Alone

• • •

For your 30 minute complimentary consultation, please call us today at:

714-896-0366

Corporate Office:

• •

Trust us in your corner to provide: Personal, Family Style Service Professional Completion

Expert Advice

Competitive Pricing

Maximum Refund, GUARANTEED!

At Bharmal & Associates, CPAs, our highly qualified and experienced staff are ready to help you with any business and tax issues you may be facing.

10262 Valley View St., Ste 237A Garden Grove, Ca 92845 T: 714-896-0366 F: 714-896-0377

Irvine Office:

2901 Business Center Dr. Ste 130 Irvine, Ca 92612 T: 949-387-9823 F: 949-743-5804

E-Mail: info@bharmalcpas.com www.bharmalcpas.com

www.PakistanLink.com

SPORTS SPORTS

FEBRUARY 2016–-PAKISTAN PAKISTAN FEBRUARY 12, 12, 2016 LINKLINK – P27

South Asian Games: Pakistan Beat India in Hockey Contest

GUWAHATI: Pakistan defeated India in the hockey event in the ongoing South Asian Games recently.

Pakistan scored two goals while struggling India could only hit one in second half of the match.

Fareed ahmed from Pakistan side scored the first goal in the first half while the second was made by Arsalan Qadir in the second half, putting Pakistan in a comfortable position with 2-0.

Later, the hosts tried their best to make a come back in the game but could only score a single goal in the second half of the play.

Earlier, Pakistan had defeated Sri Lanka in first match of the event. J

PHF Planning to Launch Hockey League in Nov ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to launch its very own Pro Hockey League in November which will also involve foreign players, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary general Shahbaz Ahmed Senior revealed recently. The former Olympian believed development and growth of young hockey players would rely on the success of the league which would help Pakistan regain its historic aura as a hockeyplaying nation. "Work to start country's first pro league is in progress and hopefully it will be given final touches by the end of this month or at the start of next month," Shahbaz was quoted as saying. Pakistan have not won a major title since claiming the

last of their eight men's Olympic gold medals at Moscow in 1980. "The league will prove a landmark in regaining the glory of hockey and will help rebuild our supremacy in the game internationally," Shahbaz added.

Shahbaz, since his appointment as the PHF secretary in September last year, has expressed his belief that Pakistan hockey can go through a successful transition if young players are provided with better opportunities to showcase their talent. "We have to start rebuilding and that can be done by providing a platform to our young players to play in an active league with some of the best players in the world. This will help hone their tal-

ent," he said.

The former Olympian avoided revealing details regarding financial aspects of the league but was very optimistic about the prospects of foreign players' participation. But Shahbaz had some reservations about the participation of players from Europe. "We will invite the best players from all nations but I don't think European players are going to feature in the inaugural edition," he said.

He also hinted at the possibility of inviting Indian players to the league. "I'm confident that besides India, the league will see participation from players belonging to Malaysia, Korea and other Asian countries." J

Unique Entertainment of a ‘Run Down’ PSL DUBAI: Both Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches recently hung in the balance literally till the very last over, and the two cliffhangers provided perfect demonstrations of the merits of low-scoring ties.

Long gone is the delicate balance between bat and ball that once made cricket, cricket. Now the batsmen reign supreme and the 20-over game has been one of the biggest perpetrators of this shift in power.

But the PSL has brought about a

welcome change and, at the risk of speaking too soon, bowlers once again seem to have found some semblance of help from the conditions.

In the first match on Sunday, Islamabad United managed to defend 132 against Karachi Kings.

With four needed off the last ball, Shane Watson's perfect yorker to win the game was right up there with any last-ball match-winning boundary.

Peshawar Zalmi were not that lucky in the second match, as tabletopping Quetta Gladiators managed to chase down their 136-run target.

But not before the teams played out yet another nail-biter and it required some hefty hitting from Anwar Ali and Elton Chigumbura to take Quetta over the line.

The matches kept all those watching at the edge of their seats for the entirety of the contests and, barring the most die-hard of Karachi and Peshawar fans, was money and time well spent.

It is still early days for PSL, but Lahore's Umar Akmal-inspired 193 on Monday was the only time that a team ran away with the game in the first innings. The Lahore-Quetta match was the first time in eight matches that the aggregate score crossed 300. J

www.Pakistanlink.com www.PakistanLink.com

World Twenty20 Matches of Pakistan Could be Played on Neutral Venue: PCB Chief

LAHORE: Pakistan's cricket chief Monday said a proposal was given to play their World Twenty20 matches on neutral venues next month in the event that Islamabad does not allow the team to tour India.

India host the ICC World Twenty20 from March 8 to April 3 but Pakistan's participation is subject to government clearance as there are specific threats, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said.

"We have told the ICC (International Cricket Council) now and before as well, the decision (to tour India) is with the government and it will consider if there is a specific Pakistan oriented security threat," Khan told media.

Khan said a proposal was given during the ICC Board meeting in Dubai last week.

"Someone in the ICC meeting said that if there are doubts over extremists (at Pakistan matches) we are ready to play at neutral venues in case our government does not give the permission to tour India," said Khan.

Neighbours Pakistan and India share a volatile relationship. There was a thaw recently as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif briefly met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a climate change meeting in Paris late last year.

That was followed by a surprise

visit by Modi to Lahore to attend Sharif's birthday and a family gathering.

But last month's attacks on an Indian air base in Pathankot derailed the peace process leading to the cancellation of talks between the foreign secretaries.

Khan said there have been incidents recently which suggested that there are indeed Pakistan-specific threats.

"They are not general threats, like Australia had in Bangladesh and they did not send their team for the Under-19 World Cup," Khan said.

Australia withdrew from the January-February Junior World Cup over security fears.

"PCB could hold a meeting with the BCCI officials in Mumbai (the BCCI office was the scene of protests by Shiv Sena activists in October 2015), Pakistan singer Ghulam Ali's concerts could not be staged twice over threats and before that a book launch for Khursheed Kasuri (the former Pakistani foreign secretary) was disturbed," said Khan of the recent events in India last year.

Khan said a 500-plus Pakistan contingent featuring in the South Asian Federation (SA) Games in Guwhati was different from a cricketing event.

"There are more chances of attacks on cricketers than on swimmers and players of other games." J

Messi Undergoes Tests for Kidney Problems BARCELONA: Barcelona striker Lionel Messi is expected to play in Wednesday's King's Cup semi-final against Valencia despite missing training recently to have tests on his kidneys, the La Liga club said.

"Barcelona striker Lionel Messi will undergo several tests on Monday and Tuesday to assess the evolution of the kidney problems he suffered last December," Barcelona said in a statement on their website "Messi will return to his normal duties with the first team on Wednesday."

The Argentina international missed his team's FIFA Club World Cup semi-final in December as he was suffering from renal colic, a type of abdominal pain often caused by kidney stones.

Despite the problem, he played in the final three days later and has also played in all of Barca's league games since.

Barcelona visit Valencia in the second leg of their King's Cup semi-final recently. The La Liga leaders take a 7-0 lead into the match. J

PAKISTAN

P28 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016 GEMS FROM P25

bestowed upon them. Standing in awe of God, they do not barter away God’s messages for a trifling gain.

They shall have their reward with their Sustainer – for, behold, God is swift in reckoning. O you who have attained to faith! Be patient in adversity, and vie in patience with one another, and be ever ready [to do what is right], and remain conscious of God, so that you might attain to a happy state!

YOUNG FROM P4

teen-, seventeen- year olds are supposed to be preoccupied with.

There are so many other things that fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-year olds around the world preoccupy themselves with. Mundane things.

Silly things. Sweet things. Beautiful things. None of those things came up in our conversation with these young men, boys really, in Charsadda that morning.

It hit me then just what the perils of being young in Pakistan today are. Extremists are out to indoctrinate the young. Terrorists are out to kill them. Educational institutions can neither guarantee quality education not physical security.

An emergent politics of anger use the passions of the young as fuel for petty politicking. The result is that the space for the young to be young has shrunk – is endangered. We often associate youth with the ability to be carefree. But in securitized times to be carefree is to be a target.

Too many of our young can simply not afford to be carefree. Across the world, and in Pakistan too, it is poverty and lack of opportunity that can rob the ability to be young from the young. In Pakistan today, it is also security. Safety.

Most places around the world, I would have finished a meeting with such a smart group of youngsters with a prayer wishing them the great success they deserved. In Charsadda, I added a prayer for their safety.

As the horrendous news from the Bacha Khan University unraveled, I was taken back to my own Charsadda conversation. I was taken back to the prayer I had left them with. I wondered how they were doing. I knew that a year ago some of them were getting ready for their Intermediate exams (FSc/FA) and onwards to university. I do not know if any ended up at the Bacha Khan University. I offered a silent prayer, again, for their safety. For the safety of all the young in Pakistan. Everywhere.

CELLPHONE FROM P7

made idols don’t speak, his father would simply take him to a mosque, ask him to peek inside and point out to a Muslim obsessing with his phone!

While some may resent the suggestion, it is undeniable that many of us consciously bring along a partner to Allah to the prayer hall – a partner that warrants as much (or even more) attention as deserved by Allah. Ironically, very much like the calf fashioned by Saamrei for Moses’ people, this mini God in our pocket too creates a sound!

So, next time we enter prayer in congregation or alone, let us make sure that our hands are free, our pocket is light and our heart is filled with Allah’s presence. The distractive devilry of the cell phones belongs in our home, our car or office desk drawer. [The writer is a Chemical Engineering Professor and a freelance writer)

ISLAMOPHOBIA FROM P13

Holocaust.

Ambassador Lodhi said those who had declared the denial of the Holocaust a crime should hardly argue that the freedom of expression allowed insults against Islam and hate speech and incitement to violence against Muslims.

As hate inevitably breeds hate, Islamophobia will breed its antithesis.

“It is a recipe for a clash of cultures – a clash we must avoid if the world is to have any hope of collective action to end the chaos in the Middle East and eliminate all forms of terrorism”, she added.

Prominent speakers at the event included interfaith activists Dr William Vendley, Dr Munir Al-Kaseem and Dr Faroque Ahmed Khan, who appreciated the timely initiative by Pakistan and stressed the fact that Islamophobia had become a global issue which needed to be urgently addressed.

ELLISON FROM P17

This time again, Keith Ellison is being targeted by several lobbies, including Tea Party and AIPAC, to defeat him in November. Javed Khan told the community that Keith Ellison is in a very vulnerable position, especially this time around, given the current situation in the country. He needs our financial support desperately.

Syed Riffat Mahmood, a former candidate in congressional election, described Donald Trump and Ben Carson as the leaders of bigotry and racism. He asked the American Muslim community what it has done to fight back.

Syed Mahmood said: There are 435 Congressmen in the United States. Jewish community has around 42 congressmen. American Muslims have only 2 congressmen. Both Congressmen are under lot of pressure to preserve their seats in the elections of 2016.

Syed Mahmood presented his book “The American Revolution As Affected by the Muslim World: A Historic perspective” to Rep. Keith Ellison. This book is regarding a very special segment of American History which has never before been discussed in such detail. In order to avoid the political, social, cultural and religious clash among Civilizations, this book will help Americans, political leaders, journalists, students and scholars to understand the challenges we are facing in today’s world.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali, writer and journalist, also presented his book “Islam & Muslims in the Post 9/11 America” to the congressman. The book is a study which describes the impact of 9/11 on the American Muslims and how they are responding to the post-9/11 situation when their civil rights have been curtailed, their faith is under constant attack and they are virtually treated as second class citizens.

POLITICS FROM P24

plays a prominent part in politics, especially on the side of the Republican Party. It always has an outsized role in Iowa where evangelical Christians make up an especially large faction of the Republican electorate. While the 2016 campaign was more expressive about the role of religion in America, the Iowans had been there before.

The winner of the Iowa caucuses in 2012 was Rick Santorum who put his Catholicism at the forefront of his campaign. The winner in 2008 was former Governor Mike Huckabee, once an evangelical pastor who never let the voters forget that fact.

Will the candidates who took

Fatima Surayya Bajia Is No More

such overt positions on the question of religion in politics move away from it as the contest travels to other, less religious, parts of the country? That would be hard for the Republicans to do. If in November, the White House goes to a Republican, the Muslim world should be prepared to deal with a hostile United States. (The writer is a former caretaker finance minister and served as vice-president at the World Bank) Karachi: Renowned drama writer Fatima Surayya Bajia passed away at the age of 85 on Wednesday in KaraCOAS FROM P1 the importance of timely return of chi, Express News reported.

The veteran writer was the older the Temporary Displaced Persons (TDPs). sister of satirist Anwar Maqsood, poet Zehra Nigah and cooking expert Zubaida Tariq.

AGREEMENT FROM P1 She was suffering from throat non-operational,” said the minister.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cancer.

Bajia had been awarded several is currently on two-day visit to the State of Qatar on the invitations of times for her inimitable contribution His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Ha- to Pakistani television and Urdu litmad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir erature.

Born on September 1, 1930 in of the State of Qatar, and His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Karnatak, India, she migrated to PakiBin Khalifa Al-Thani. stan with her family soon after PartiUnder the deal, Pakistan will im- tion. port 3.75 million tons of LNG annuMany, including Prime Minister ally from Qatar which corresponds to Nawaz Sharif, Sindh Governor Dr Isharound 20 percent of the South Asian ratul Ebad and President Mamnoon nation’s gas needs.

Hussain expressed their condolences “It is the single largest energy on the sad demise of the literary figcontract in Pakistan’s history and ure. will enable the import of 1.5 million In an obituary note appearing in tons of LNG in the first year and 3.5 Dawn, senior journalist Asif Noorani million tons from the second year,” wrote: Fatima Surayya — Bajia to one Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the DPA and all — who passed away in Karanews agency. chi on Wednesday, was the kind of The deal allows Pakistan to im- lady one would have liked to have as port cheaper gas for 15 years and a grandmother. She was sweet, warm comes at a time when the country is and a repository of children’s bedtime striving hard to resolve its severe en- stories. Tales narrated verbally or preergy crisis - a factor that has caused sented in the form of plays were her electricity outages and dragged down to be converted into a public limited the economy. company to be called Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited QUEEN FROM P1 (PIACL). sion strategy last year.

The government plans to split Shortly after touching down at Islamabad airport, the royal headed the ailing national flag carrier PIA straight to her first meeting with of- into two companies and sell the control of its core business to a global ficials of the State Bank of Pakistan.

This is Máxima’s first visit to a airline, but the opposition to the sellSouth Asian country.

She will be attending a round- T20 FROM P1 table discussion and will also be failed to impress the selectors on his meeting the World Bank Group. She latest comeback from injury - has will later be introduced to the Benazir been dropped.

Income Support Program that gives financial support to women through Pakistan didn’t name a specialdigital bank accounts thereby increas- ist spinner but would bank on alling their independence. rounders Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Imad After landing at Islamabad air- Wasim and new face Mohammad port, Máxima opted for more tradi- Nawaz - a left-arm spinner and fulltional clothes: The Dutch queen wore time batsman. a chocolate brown silk blouse with Squad: Shahid Afridi (captain), long sleeves, elaborately patterned Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, long skirt and matching shawl. She Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Babar accessorized it with turquoise oval Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wadrop earrings, matching ring and a sim, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Irfan, delicate bracelet.

Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Khurram Manzoor, Rumman Raees.

PIA FROM P1 fares comes a day after the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees called off its strike against the privatization of the national flag carrier and asked employees to resume their duties across the country with immediate effect.

Private carriers had allegedly hiked their fares during the strike by the national carrier. The Competition Commission of Pakistan has taken notice of the fare hike by private carriers.

The National Assembly on January 21 witnessed the passage of six bills, including one to convert the national flag carrier into a public limited company.

Under the bill, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) is

www.PakistanLink.com

forte. Her spotless white hair vied for attention with the white starched saris that were her trademark, if one may use the word.

Bajia was born on Sept 14, 1930, in Hyderabad Deccan to a highly literary family that hailed from Badayun (UP). Her maternal grandfather held a senior position in the state. But when the Nizam government fell after the invasion by Indian troops, the family had no choice but to migrate to Pakistan. She remembered distinctly that a senior officer of the Indian Army helped them take a train to Bombay (now Mumbai) from where they sailed by the SS Damra to Karachi. The large family, including her great-grandmother, grandparents, parents, Bajia and her nine younger siblings, disembarked at Keamari, the port in Karachi. Their baggage included 80,000 books, a claim Bajia never failed to make.

Used to comfort and luxury, the family faced a difficult time. Bajia’s marriage broke up, and she had had to bear the loss of two stillborn babies.

With all her elders, except her mother, dying within the first decade of their migration, Bajia had to assume the responsibility of fending for the family. She started making dolls and later designed and embroidered clothes to keep the kitchen fire burning. In an interview with Dawn in 2010, Bajia claimed that she was among the first clothing designers in the country. Her services were used by the All Pakistan Women’s Association at the Gul-iRaana Club in Karachi.

Her talented siblings include poet Zehra Nigah, painter and writer-cumTV presenter Anwar Maqsood, and culinary expert Zubaida Tariq. One of the most widely read individuals that this obituarist ever met was her younger brother Ahmed Maqsood Hameedi.

Bajia’s one weakness was tobaccofilled paan which she took in excess for several years. It took its toll in 2003 when she fell prey to mouth cancer.

A difficult and long-drawn surgery ensued, and a lengthy period of convalescence followed. Yet once she recovered, she was back in harness with a renewed vigor.

Bajia told this writer in August 2012 that she had penned more than 300 plays for children, women and general viewers. Initially, of course, she wrote for the radio but when TV made its debut in the country she started writing long plays and serials for the audio-visual medium. Her most popular serials included Shama, Afshan, Ana and Aagahi.

She had long had a fascination for Japanese literature. She wrote poetry in the Japanese-style Haiku, and claimed to have popularized it. She also adapted Japanese short stories and novels into stage plays in Urdu.

Her forte was musical programs and the one that stands out in many people’s memory was Sakal bin Phool bani Sarsoon, which included songs written by Amir Khusro 700 years ago.

Zehra Nigah, Bajia’s younger sister, rendered the commentary in her melodious voice. The songs were subsequently released on a long-play record which turned out to be a good seller.

Bajia had links with the premier educational institution PECHS School for Girls, set up by Begum Amna Majeed Malik. She helped the staff organize milaad events and mushairas, lending to them her distinct touch of elegance.

At the risk of using a cliche, one can say that the lady with the oldworld charm will be missed by a wide variety of people.

CLASSIFIED & MATRIMONIAL

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P29

Classified Section Long Term Job Long Term Job 5-10 yrs-/Live-in Nanny (lady) to help 8yrs old boy, school going child and minor light household work.

Must have US valid driver license and be independent-Salary $1000-$1400 per month. Contact Mr. Ali 951-805-2474 or saliusa@outlook.com.

3 Fulltime Positions in Cerritos CA Warehouse Person Needed Full Time: Have background in warehouse minim -um 3 years Good for attention to detail.

Able to make ups/fedex/usps/dhl labels Basic MS Office Experience Must have paperwork to work in the US Salary is $3k a month --------------------------------

Technical Person Full Time Needed: Have background in computer knowledge and know how to research online Good for attention to detail.

Good on Research on line and google Basic MS Office Experience Must have paperwork to work in the US Hourly Rate $15 per hour ---------------------------------

Marketing Person Full Time Needed: 3 years previous working Marketing experience Social Media Experience (Facebook, Twitter, etc) Must have a BA degree in Marketing Salary $52k a year -------------------------------------------

Call for details ask for Shakeel 562-394-8190 M-F call after 6pm / Saturday-Sunday after 10 am Located in Cerritos, Mon-Fri, Full Time email resumes: career@planetcellinc.com

Support the Community by Supporting Pakistan Link.

To Advertise or Subscribe in the most popular Pakistani-American newspaper “Pakistan Link” Call 714-400-3400

Matrimonial Link 50 year old divorced project manager in US seeking a bride. MS Electrical Engineering and MBA. I look much younger than US Citizen, Pakistani, my age. A simple Urdu-Sunni, Business, Financially and down to earth person Professional Settled, looking for someone Age 40, divorced, similar from a 5-8 height, good looking, decent background, seeking a suitable US Citizen preferably 40 or below. professional partner.

A moderate and open Contact minded Shia. Caste 951-805-2474 or no bar. For further td@esecurityauditors.com information, please Place Your Matrimonial Ad Today email: pflandc@ Buy 3 Get 1 FREE! gmail.com call: 714-400-3400 or Email: Sales@pakistanlink.com

Place Your Matrimonial Ad Today Buy 3 Get 1 FREE! call: 714-400-3400 or

US Citizen, UrduGujrati- speaking, Muslim Sunni, height 5”6, weight 160 lbs.

We are looking for a humble, selfless lady, preferably over 65, who could be a suitable match for my father.

Please contact Cell 310 895 0056

Email: Sales@pakistanlink.com

Shahnawaz Matrimonial Free Matrimonial Service

Contact:

Mahbano Khan Cell: (562) 746-9439 e-mail: khanmahbano@gmail.com

Sunni family seeks proposal for 31 yrs daughter tall 5 ft 6 inches slim fair pretty working as an executive for a leading bank.

Proposals invited from well settled professionals. Please call at 301 525 8941

Read Pakistan Link and Urdu Link online at www.pakistanlink.com www.PakistanLink.com

ADVERTISEMENT

P30 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 - PAKISTAN LINK

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

ENTERTAINMENT

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P31

The vastly talented Anurag Sinha (who made his debut as a terrorist in Subhash Ghai's Black & White) is wasted in the role of Abhimanyu and while his performance is competent, he doesn't fit the role. Murli Sharma as the police officer provides comic relief whereas the father Manish Choudhari looks angry all the time for no reason.

This flick has no relation to the previously released Sanam Teri Kasamwhere Kamal Haasan and Reena Roy danced on RD Burman's award-winning tunes, so I'm not sure why the title wasn't changed, it probably should have been.

One of my criticisms has to do with the film's length, it would have been more successful with skilled editing in the latter half. A general audience now only has stamina for a 2-hour movie, tops.

ot every film from Bollywood is a masterpiece; not all flicks from India are guaranteed to be hits. Despite this, former VJ and model/actress Mawra Hocane gets one of the meatiest roles ever written for a Pakistani in Bollywood (the first since Zeba Bakhtiar's Henna 25 years ago), and, even though the story is flawed and heavily inspired by A Walk to Remember, delivers a powerful performance.

The film revolves around two neighbours - the woman is a 'nerd' working in a library and the man an ex-convict studying to be a lawyer.

These two mismatched individuals cross each other's path and in the first half, Inder (Harshvardhan Rane) falls for Saru (Mawra Hocane). After a few meant-to-be-tragic-but-arecomic incidents, her parents disown her and she moves out of her house only to be taken in by Inder. He helps her get a makeover and, in true Bollywood fashion, she becomes the hottest gal in town.

Saru's crush, her colleague (Anurag Sinha), finally wakes up to her existence post-transformation and sends her a proposal, which she accepts. Saru continue to be 'just friends' with the unlucky Inder, who seems happy for her and even chaperones her to dates and shopping sprees.

However, fate is bent on uniting the film's hero and heroine: her suitor eventually backs out of their relationship and Saru falls in love with Inder. The second half of the film shows the tumultuous evolution of their relationship from friends to lovers.

Anybody who has seen A Walk To Remember will be familiar with this story, and some might say a predictable yet tried-and-test plot will yield positive results. However, to make a film with two newcomers in the lead (one of them a Pakistani) and with no big names in the cast is a risk and takes a big heart. Lucky for us, directors Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru took the plunge.

Even before the film was realised Mawra was being criticised for 'cry-

N

ing too much,' something that was seen as an unfortunate hangover from her TV drama persona. I'm here to tell you it's true: she does cry a lot in the film. However, being miserable appears to be the requirement of the role so I don't fault her for it.

We can only criticise Mawra for being typecast as a tragic heroine when we stop producing sobfests in our own industry.

In fact, I think she was the best choice for the role of a damsel-indistress who discovers confidence when she finds love. She has a lovely presence on screen and sometimes steals the show from her more seasoned co-stars like guest star Vijay Raaz.

She particularly shines in the more tragic moments of the film, such as when she learns that her father has disowned her. None of those sobbing scenes are over-thetop, and she has her countless sniffsniff performances in Pakistan to thank for that.

She even dances well; the song Khench Meri Photo showcases her funny, goofy side and allows her to demonstrate that she does have range.

Mawra and Harsh share an excellent chemistry and look good together, which may make the viewer ignore the loopholes in their story.

The two share a kiss in the film - the subject of some scandal - but it was necessitated by the script and not just present for the masala.

Tamil actor Harshvardhan Rane has certainly put in countless hours at the gym, but perhaps acting classes would have been a better investment.

He remains in his comfort zone throughout the film, the result being that his character doesn't have depth.

He reminds me of John Abraham and might do well as an action hero if he chooses his films wisely.

The two share a kiss in the film the subject of some scandal - but it was necessitated by the script and not just present for the masala.

www.Pakistanlink.com www.PakistanLink.com

ADVERTISEMENT

P32 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 12, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com