Pakistan Link The Largest Circulated Pakistani-American Newspaper in North America
Friday, January 8, 2016
VOL. 26/2 - 27 Rabi ‘ul-awwal 1437 H PAGE 9
Life as a Pakistani Student in Europe Isn’t the Same Nawaz Extends Help in Airbase Attack Probe Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz assured PM Narendra Modi that his government would cooperate with India in the probe into the Pathankot Airbase attack. Pakistan would take “prompt and decisive action” and was ready to investigate any ‘leads’ or ‘information’ provided by the Indian government. Premier Nawaz appreciated the ‘maturity’ shown by the Indian government in its statements on the Pathankot incident, his office said in a statement. “Our government is working on the leads and information provided by the Indian government,” Nawaz told Modi. He pointed out that terrorists always tried to derail the process whenever a serious effort to bring peace between the two countries was initiated. Pakistan has been provided with ‘leads’ connected to the attack through diplomatic channels, and a meeting between the two national security advisers before the scheduled foreign secretaries meeting is not being ruled out. The US also says Pakistan PROBE, P28
Bangladesh Asked to Withdraw Diplomat Islamabad: Paki-
stan has asked Bangladesh to withdraw its senior diplomat Moushumi Rahman from the country in 48 hours. Moushumi is the counsellor (political) and head of Chancery at the Bangladesh mission in Islamabad. The move appears to be a counter-action from Islamabad following the withdrawal of its diplomat Farina Arshad from Dhaka on December 23 last year after she was accused of terror financing. Dhaka, however, will not bring her back and instead will send her to its diplomatic mission in another country. A day after Farina flew back home, the Pak foreign ministry twice summoned the Bangladesh envoy in Islamabad to lodge protest against the “treatment meted out to its diplomat” in Dhaka.
US & Canada $1.00
PAGE 20
PAGE 15
My Life as a Muslim in the West’s ‘Gray Zone’
PML-N’s Exhilarating in-House Duels
Pakistan’s War on Terror in Final Phase
Speaking on ‘Pakistan-Sri Lanka Relations’ at an event in Colombo, PM Sharif invited Sri Lankan investors and businessmen to invest in Pakistan and promised that Pakistan’s commercial and economic entities would carve out a smooth path for them
Colombo: Pakistan has dismantled terrorists’ networks and its war against terror has entered the final phase, declared Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday. He was addressing Sri Lankan businessmen and journalists in Colombo during the course of an official visit to the country.
Urging the Sri Lankan business community to invest in Pakistan, PM Nawaz said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and TAPI projects would change the fate of the region. Nawaz said Pakistan offers an attractive investment regime to investors and Sri Lanka could take full
advantage of the available opportunities. He remarked, “We will also encourage our investors to invest in Sri Lanka.” The Premier went on to say that Pakistan desired good economic relations with Sri Lanka. Earlier, Prime Minister PHASE, P28
Canada Keen to Strengthen Economic Ties
Lahore: Canada is keen
to further strengthen economic ties with Pakistan as it is a safe country and a good business destination for foreigners, said Patrick Brown, Leader of Opposition and head of delegation of the legislative assembly of Ontario, Canada. Addressing the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Brown said Pakistan had a huge potential particularly for Canadian businessmen and underlined the need for close contacts between businessmen through use of modern technology to develop networks for sharing each other’s experiences. He asked Pakistani businessmen to initiate joint ventures with their Canadian counterparts.
Pakistan has a huge potential, particularly for Canadian businessmen, said Patrick Brown, head of delegation of the legislative assembly of Ontario, Canada
The existing volume of bilateral trade had no match with the potential in the two countries, he said, citing the expertise of Canada in green
technology that could be of great benefit to Pakistan. The delegation leader announced that he would share what he experienced in
Pakistan with fellow parliamentarians and highlight the soft image of the country. Speaking on the
CANADA, P28
Periodical postage paid at Newport Beach, CA and additional mailing offices
For news, updated round the clock, visit
www.PakistanLink.com
Stay the Course, US Urges India, Pakistan Washington, DC: The US urged India and Pakistan to stay the course on improving bilateral relation in the wake of the latest terror strikes on two Indian targets – the Pathankot air force base and the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan. Describing terrorism as a shared challenge that “all countries in the region” must fight together, state department spokesperson John Kirby said the US “strongly encouraged the governments of both India and Pakistan to remain steadfast in their commitment to a more secure and prosperous future for both their countries and for the region.” Struggling to contain a flareup between Iran and Saudi Arabia that threatens to impair its West Asia strategy, the US is relieved that responses from both India and Pakistan after the terror strikes do not signal any immediate risk of relapse into hostilities in South Asia. In recent talks with India and Pakistan at various levels, the US has underscored the importance of their COURSE, P28
Drastic Drop in Polio Cases Islamabad: Pakistan witnessed a major turnaround in the prevalence of polio last year: There was a drastic reduction in the number of reported cases that dropped from the 306 recorded in 2014 to 51 in 2015. This is the lowest-ever count recorded since 2009, according to official data. Polio remains endemic in just two countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted here, all countries remain at risk of importing the wild poliovirus. The official result of the last anti-polio campaign held in December 2015 reveals the overall coverage of the vaccinations remained above 90% across the country, except in Quetta and Qilla Abdullah in Balochistan. Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, emergency coordinator of Polio Eradication Pakistan, said the last nationwide anti-polio POLIO, P28
ADVERTISEMENT
P2 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
www.PakistanLink.com
ADVERTISEMENT
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P3
www.PakistanLink.com
OPINION
P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
Brahminism in Britain
Pakistan Link 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
Tom Graveney, the consummate batting stylist
Britain in 1937, illustrating the class divide
n By Mowahid Hussain Shah
O
ne reason that the British were able to gel in India was the easy transition from their own class-ridden culture to the casteridden Subcontinental society. As in India, Brahminism – an attitude of superiority and snobbery in the upper classes – was deeply embedded in Britain. Instructive is the biography, “Touched by Greatness” by Andrew Murtagh, of one of the classical English batsmen, Tom Graveney, who died November 3.
During the pioneering era of Pakistan cricket, Graveney was the batting mainstay of the MCC cricket team on its inaugural visit to Pakistan in 1951. He played in the two unofficial Test matches to ascertain whether Pakistan was ready for conferment of full-fledged Test status. He hit 109 in Lahore and, in the pivotal game in Karachi, he hit 123. This game Pakistan won, ensuring its entry in 1952 as the 7th nation entitled to play Test match cricket. The great Pakistani wicket
n By Syed Kamran Hashmi
S
Westfield, IN
oon after he was elected as Prime Minister, he proposed the fifteenth amendment in the constitution which went through the then National Assembly without any delay. After all, he had seized an overwhelming majority in the parliament winning 137 of the 207 seats less than a year ago.
The amendment, to say the least, was controversial, if not downright execrable. It had spurred a backlash from the liberal factions of the society. Among them some called him the “Ameer ul momineen” while others proclaimed him as the “power hungry civil martial administrator.” Nonetheless, he cared less about the “hate mongering secular liberals”. I will let you decide if the critics were justified to rail against him. In its article 239 2B, the amendment said: “The Holy Qur’an and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) shall be the supreme law of Pakistan. Explanation: In the application of this clause to the personal law of any Muslim sect, the
keeper/batsman, Imtiaz Ahmed, who shall be 88 on January 5, told me that Graveney’s was the wicket they all wanted. Twelve years later, Graveney again toured Pakistan as part of Commonwealth XI, and hit two centuries in Lahore. During this tour, he persuaded his nonwhite South African teammate, Basil D’Oliveira, to join England county cricket – a portentous move,
captain in the British Army in late 1940s. He left the Army to earn his living as a Gloucestershire County cricket player. In those days in England cricket, there was a division between upper-class amateurs called Gentlemen and workingclass wage-earners who were called Players. There used to be a Gentlemen versus Players annual fixture, starting from the 19th century, until
Britain’s upper classes, who viewed themselves as citadels of socio-cultural values, separated and distinguished themselves from the “inferior” lower classes through their attire, accent, manners, and schooling. The working and middle classes not only accepted this rigid division but, in effect, were participants in its enforcement. Instead of defiance, they contributed to a defense of the system which was the first nail in the coffin of South African apartheid. Graveney toured Pakistan again in 1969 and hit his last Test century at Karachi. Graveney left an indelible imprint on Pakistan, including on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Graveney was an Egypt-based
1962. This was illustrative of the class divisions in mainstream society. For example, there were different dressing rooms demarcating the Players from the Gentlemen and, on away trips, the same team members used to stay in different hotels
A Liberal Nawaz Sharif expression ‘Qur’an and Sunnah’ shall mean the Qur’an and Sunnah as interpreted by that sect.” Not only that, it also proposed: “The Federal Government shall be under an obligation to take steps to enforce the Shariah, to establish salat, to administer zakat, to promote amr bil ma’roof and nahi anil munkar (to prescribe what is right and to forbid what is wrong), to eradicate corruption at all levels and to provide substantial socio-economic justice, in accordance with the principles of Islam, as laid down in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.” Trust me, had he held the same majority in the Senate, where his party held a minority position, the “Shariat Bill” would have become the part of our constitution. And had it become the part of our constitution, he might have implemented all the rules and regulations that Saudi Arabia had put into practice: the flogging of the criminals, the cutting of their hands, the beheadings, the most inhuman violation of
www.PakistanLink.com
women rights. He grew impatient and annoyed as he could not get the proposal passed by the Upper House. In public rallies, he said the Senate had “no right” to block the amendment. And addressing the people of Swat, he expressed his frustration again: “If the senators vote against the bill, you punish them. You must force them to vote in favor of the bill.” However, the more annoyed he got, the stronger the opposition grew. Sure, the main voice against the bill rose from the Sunni majority of the country, including some of the religious parties. But it was the non-Muslim minority who got mostly troubled by it. They thought his mandate was not to impose the Sharia. Instead, it was to eradicate corruption and to bring transparency in the government. Never did he mention the Islamic rule in his campaign. He bragged about the economy, trade, motorway project and low interest loans for the poor. That was why he got the votes, not
to differentiate the class gap. A Player could not address a Gentleman team member by his first name. Graveney, a former British Army officer, was once admonished by his county captain and forced to apologize for the “egregious crime” of addressing a student batsman, David Sheppard, as “David.” More significantly, it was occurring in a society with rich democratic traditions, where the Magna Carta charter was signed in 1215, curbing the arbitrary powers of the monarch. Revealing in all this was the subservience of the lower classes to passively submit to the superior writ of the upper hierarchy. Britain’s upper classes, who viewed themselves as citadels of socio-cultural values, separated and distinguished themselves from the “inferior” lower classes through their attire, accent, manners, and schooling. The working and middle classes not only accepted this rigid division but, in effect, were participants in its enforcement. Instead of defiance, they contributed to a defence of the system. It is that indoctrinated sense of powerlessness that sustains Brahminism in different forms elsewhere. to convert Pakistan into Saudi Arabia. What has he doing in regards to corruption since he was sworn in? Nothing. All he had accomplished in one year was to clash with the judiciary, the army and the political parties in the opposition. That was Mian Nawaz Sharif then, who emerged as the most powerful politician after the elections of 1997, only to lose his popularity and his position in a coup detat by General Musharraf in less than three years. Reason? In that short period, he had done everything to consolidate his power and almost nothing to improve the economy. NAWAZ, P28
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
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P5
www.PakistanLink.com
OPINION
P6 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
Quaid-i-Azam Drew Inspiration from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) n By Riaz Haq
A
CA
n ongoing debate about the true vision of Pakistan’s founder flares up every year around Quaid-iAzam’s Birthday that coincides with Eid Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This debate is centered on one key question: Did the Quaid want an Islamic state or a secular state or a pluralistic democratic one?
Islamic or Secular Pakistan? Here are a couple of excerpts from Quaid-i-Azam’s speeches given at different times which are often cited in this “Islamic vs Secular Pakistan” debate: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State” “Who am I to give you a constitution? The Prophet of Islam had given us a constitution 1,300 years ago. We have to simply follow and implement it, and based on it we have to establish in our state Islam’s great system of governance.” The secularists insist that the first excerpt from the Quaid’s speech of August 11, 1947 to the Constituent Assembly should be accepted as his true vision for a secular Pakistan. The Islamists vehemently disagree and cite the second excerpt in which the Quaid talked about the fact that the “Prophet of Islam had given us a constitution 1,300 years ago” and we must implement it.
Misaq-e-Madina The question is: Do the two speech ex-
The contents of Misaq-eMadina, Islam’s first constitution approved by Prophet Mohammad 1400 years ago, appear to have inspired Quaidi-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s vision of a pluralistic Pakistan where people of all religions and nationalities lived in harmony with equal rights and protections under the law cerpts conflict or support each other? On the surface, the Quaid’s speeches appear to send conflicting messages. However, a deeper ex- Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Honored by US amination of Misaq-e-Madina (Charter of Supreme Court Medina), Islam’s first constitution approved by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), sug- not exclude non-Muslims. Further into the “Misaq” document, it gests the Quaid’s speeches are consistent with each other and conform to the original says: “No Jew will be wronged for being a Jew. The enemies of the Jews who follow us Islamic constitution. Here’s the opening line of Misaq-e-Ma- will not be helped. If anyone attacks anyone who is a party to this Pact the other must dina: “This is a document from Muhammad come to his help.” The Mesaq assures equal protection to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), governing relations between all citizens of Madina, including non-Musthe Believers i.e. Muslims of Quraysh and lim tribes which agreed to it. The contents Yathrib and those who followed them and of Misaq-e-Madina, Islam’s first constitution worked hard with them. They form one na- approved by Prophet Mohammad 1400 years tion -- Ummah.” ago, appear to have inspired Quaid-i-Azam It clearly says that all citizens of “Yath- Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s vision of a pluralisrib” (ancient name of Madina), regardless of tic Pakistan where people of all religions and their tribe or religion, are part of one nation- nationalities lived in harmony with equal -”Ummah”. So the word “Ummah” here does rights and protections under the law.
www.PakistanLink.com
Two-Nation-Theory Some might now ask what was the need for the Two-Nation Theory given the above vision of the Quaid? The Quaid’s search for Pakistan as an independent state for Muslims was inspired to give India’s minority Muslims better opportunities to grow and p r o s p e r. While it’s true that Pakistan has not lived up to the Quaid’s expectations, it is also true that, in spite of all their problems, Muslims in Pakistan are still much better off than their counterparts in India. The growing intolerance in Modi’s India and the Indian government commission headed by former Indian Chief Justice Rajendar Sachar confirm that Muslims are the new untouchables in caste-ridden and communal India. Indian Muslims suffer heavy discrimination in almost every field from education and housing to jobs. Their incarceration rates are also much higher than their Hindu counterparts. According to Sachar Commission report, Muslims are now worse off than the Dalit caste, or those called untouchables. Some 52% of Muslim men are unemployed, compared with 47% of Dalit men. Among Muslim women, 91% are unemployed, compared with 77% of Dalit women. Almost half of Muslims over the age of 46 cannot read or write. While making up 11% of the population, Muslims account for 40% of India’s prison population. Meanwhile, they hold less than 5% of government jobs. Those who say that the Two-Nation Theory died with the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 are wrong. They need to be reminded that the Lahore Resolution of March 23, 1940 called for two “independent states”, not “state”, in Muslim-majority areas of India in the north east and the north west. The other fact to remember is that Bangladesh did not choose to merge with India after separation from Pakistan.
OPINION
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P7
Modi: Reducing the Art of Diplomacy to What Matters Most n By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai
“
US
The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts.” - Senator Howard Baker
There’s a lot to be surprised about in the recent visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lahore. The summer-long problems at Kashmir’s Cease-fire Line, persistent efforts by the BJP to usurp political power in Kashmir, the oft-repeated misinformation that Kashmir is “an integral part of India,” and the NSA meeting scheduled at Ufa which was cancelled over such things as Pakistan’s insistence that Jammu and Kashmir be included in discussions, would certainly lead most observers to believe that any meaningful dialogue was off the table anytime in the near future. However, if you look at other recent events, a secret meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (denied by the government) is alleged to have occurred on the sidelines of the 2015 SAARC Summit at Kathmandu during which media reports suggest that “both the leaders shared their constraints while agreeing they needed more time and greater political space to move forward with public engagements.” One can’t help but get the sense that the two leaders are wast-
ing no time in implementing whatever agenda may be involved. In November 2105, Mr Nawaz Sharif is reported to have stated during a meeting with British Prime Minister Cameron during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that for a sustainable peace, Pakistan was ready for dialogue with India without preconditions. On December 6, 2015 with Modi’s stamp of approval and reportedly through his initiative, India and Pakistan Foreign Ministers and the National Security Advisors held a meeting in Bangkok for four hours, covering “peace and security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, [and] other issues including tranquility over the Line of Control.” This obviously represents an achievement for Pakistan in negotiations, since India had apparently hit a stonewall in attempting to restrict discussions to “terrorism.” On December 9, 2015, just three days later, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced during a visit to Islamabad’s Heart of Asia Conference that India and Pakistan were resuming bilateral dialogue. Although much credit is being given to Prime Minister Modi for taking this step in visiting Pakistan, it can hardly be believed that Prime Minister Modi was just popping in on Prime Minister Sharif because he needed to borrow some sugar. Modi at times seems like an unpredictable person, but it is doubtful that Sharif was drawn into unknown and unpredictable circumstances like some
stranger. Without a little planning, this could have turned into a major faux pas. The red carpet and all the fancy suits were hauled out of storage in Prime Minister Sharif ’s garage and were there to greet Prime Minister Modi. The stroll hand in hand as the two engaged one another looked like a pair of pigeons who had been reunited after a storm in the Arabian Sea. The Indian National Congress wasn’t too happy about this, however, saying that the visit was not very “statesman-like” and that diplomacy required a little more gravitas. No doubt, that’s why very little headway is made in conventional diplomacy. It gets bogged down in place settings, silver and heavy protocol about who sips tea first, and never gets up close and personal. The personal style of Prime Minister Naren-
www.PakistanLink.com
dra Modi is to be greatly admired, because it demonstrates that he likes to think outside that gold-embossed box. This is also a hallmark of those rulers who skirt democratic process and counsel in favor of doing what feels good. For any other leader, this could be quite dangerous. But this Indian leader seems on a carefully crafted mission, and our guess is that, given Modi’s background, it’s all about money and the flow of dollars from industrial and consumer needs abroad into Indian coffers. And to those who control governmental policy, no other good has higher esteem. The corporate overseers are always at work, and the winds favor peace or war, depending on where the dollars flow. As the Economic Times reported, “India’s trade with Pakistan could get a
boost through a more liberal visa regime, closer links between business houses and grant of most favored nation status to the country by the Nawaz Sharif government.” There has also been talk of cooperation in the gas and petroleum sectors and “the possibility of supplying up to 5 million cubic mets gas per day by extending the DadriBawana-Nangal pipeline from Jalandhar via Amritsar to Lahore, and establishing a 500 MW high-voltage direct current link from Amritsar to Lahore to facilitate power trading.” There is a need to clarify the assertion made by Ram Madhav, the National Secretary General of BJP that “the only outstanding issue with regard to the Kashmir problem is the Kashmir under Pakistan occupation…The Kashmir that is an integral part of India, it has been proved time and again that it’s an integral part of India.” Mr. Madhav does not know what President John F. Kennedy said on July 25, 1961, “We cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.” It also seems to me that Mr Madhav is following the Costa Rican proverb that says: “Every word has three definitions and three interpretations.” The world powers should, therefore, persuade both India and Pakistan to define the parameters of the dialogue over the Kashmir dispute in such a way so that there is only one definition and one interpretation of any joint communiqué they may issue in future.
DIPLOMACY, P24
OPINION
P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
It Is Time for Muslims to Begin a Deep Self-examination n By Yasmine Bahrani
I
American University Dubai
n the wake of the Paris bloodbath, the attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Bamako, Mali, and murders elsewhere before and since, people desperately want to understand the root cause of all this violence. That’s true not only in the West, where many blame Islam itself. It’s true in the Middle East, too, where we are struggling to come to grips with the carnage and the region’s role in it.
Many of the usual suspects were singled out in the reaction here to the most recent attacks. Various Arab and Muslim writers blame Iran and Israel; others point to the West’s policies in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Of course, some media voices repeat the well-worn view that we Arabs are the victims of hidden conspiracies. But more self-critical voices have arisen as well. Though their influence might still be minimal, a few journalists are speaking out. In the Arabic newspaper Al-Mada, Iraqi writer Adnan Hussein offered a suggestion: We must overhaul the educational system. In a piece published just two days after the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, he said that from elementary school through university, our young people are taught — sometimes with a stick — that Islam is not only great, but also better than other religions, and that those who are not like us belong in hell. What has emerged, he wrote, is a “savage faith that stirs up decapitation, spills blood, instigates plunder and rape.” As for the real Islam, he lamented: “It has no place in our lives, or in the best of cases, it has a barely audible voice that almost nobody hears.” On the same day, celebrated Lebanese writer and editor of the Al-Hayat newspaper Ghassan Charbel wrote that to rescue
In Hamtramck, Mich., long a home to Polish Catholic immigrants, the shift in everyday life is about to have its first effect on politics: It now has a majority-Muslim city council. - Salwan Georges/For The Washington Post
itself, the Arab and Muslim world must participate in the struggle against Islamism. Charbel called for shutting down platforms of hate and said the Middle East needs to undertake “a deep re-examination” of its society. He called for “universities, schools, mosques, TV and electronic sites to reclaim their platforms from that handful” of destructive ideologues who control them. “What threatens the Arab and Islamic world today,” he said, “is no less dangerous than the threat that Nazism posed to Europe.” Such writers are asking Middle Easterners to examine their institutions and society more broadly for their share of the responsibility for the violence. But this view is not limited to elite journalists; it is one
that many of my own students at American University in Dubai share. Recently, I asked my students what they thought about commentary that appeared in the Guardian newspaper in November suggesting that France and Britain had failed their immigrants through clumsy — and ultimately alienating — efforts to promote multiculturalism (in Britain’s case) and assimilation (in France’s). In this way, author Kenan Malik said, French and British policies gave Islamism an entrée into isolated Muslim communities. Nearly all my students rejected the premise, arguing that immigrants were responsible for their own actions whether they were isolated or not. Of course, many
www.PakistanLink.com
of these students come from families who fled countries terrorized by Muslim extremists and have no sympathy for them. But they don’t blame Western multiculturalism for the rise of home-grown Islamism. “That’s silly,” shrugged one Syrian girl. Why, then, I asked them, don’t Muslims march in the streets of London, Paris and New York loudly condemning the Islamic State? Because, they answered, mainstream Muslims are too scared that the extremists would come after them. The class brainstormed about what could be done instead. Most concluded that they, too, would be afraid to call attention to themselves. When I asked another class what responsibility we have to explain to others that terrorists don’t represent all Muslims, the response was mixed. One Saudi student said it was not at all our responsibility. “If a (Western) person wants to learn about Islam, he should Google it,” she said. Another, an Egyptian, was angered by the question: “If I hear one more time that Muslims have not done enough to condemn terrorists. . . .” Many Muslims are weary of such criticism. But others emphasize the work that needs to be done, whether it is in coming to terms with their own cultures’ problems, as Hussein and Charbel urge, or through advancing the acculturation of Muslim communities into Western societies. The Jordanian journalist Mousa Barhouma has written about such challenges for years, advising Muslims living in the West to integrate. If you are a Muslim who moves to Holland, he told me, “Don’t act shocked if they serve beer at the local restaurants.” In a recent piece in Al-Hayat, Barhouma wondered whether anyone was struck by the fact that the carnage at Paris’s Bataclan theater took place on Boulevard TIME, P24
OPINION
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9
Life as a Pakistani Student in Europe Isn’t the Same as It Used to Be in My Time n By Dr Akbar S. Ahmed Chair of Islamic Studies at American University Washington, DC
A
s I reflect on the events of this past year and my recent journey studying Islam across Europe, a continent I had come to decades before as a young Pakistani student, I cannot help but think of the dramatic changes in the perception and position of young Muslims in the West. Muslim students today, irrespective of their ethnic, national and political backgrounds, tend to be seen as a monolith. Incidents of violence involving Muslims in one part of the world immediately impact Muslims elsewhere through the instant processes of global media.
Reports of mosques and women in hijab being attacked and students being bullied at school further create worries for Muslims. In addition, reports of savage violence conducted by groups like the so-called Islamic State seem to support the stereotype in the minds of many that Islam promotes violence and young Muslims need to be watched. Disgusting stories of “grooming” in which Muslim men are accused of corrupting young, often underage girls through drugs and drinks and worrying ones of Muslim schools as part of a “Trojan horse” strategy circulate widely and further defame Muslims. In the media, the words “terrorist” and “extremist” are associated with Muslims and put the young further on the defensive. That so many Muslim students continue to pursue their studies with diligence in spite of these conditions and even make their mark is a tribute to their character. I am struck by how different Europe was in my student days in the 1960s. Looking through some old and fading pictures, of no particular significance except to me as a reminder of happier times, I am able to make some comparisons of Muslim life then and now. I see the contrast in the pictorial evidence from those days. I present four of my photographs picked almost at random and taken in different locations in Europe. Looking at them, I think to myself how different most Europeans would find the appearance and looks of a Pakistani student today. The media stereotype makes us believe that a Muslim student would have a beard, a skull cap and wear a loose shirt and baggy trousers while planning to blow things up in his quest for the mythical 72 virgins waiting for him in heaven. The first photograph is taken in Greece at a port as my English fellow students and I prepared to visit one of the Greek islands. It was my first visit to Greece, and I was already in love with Greek culture introduced to me through literature -- from Tennyson’s “Ulysses” to Byron’s “The Isles of Greece.” In my meager travel bag I had Lawrence Durrell’s novels from “The Alexandria Quartet.” The novels, which explored the theme of love, were set just prior to and during World War II in
Alexandria, Egypt, and presented different perspectives on the same events as seen by different characters. I devoured the novels with my friends that summer on a Greek island, a feat made sweet by the knowledge that Lawrence and his younger brother Gerald, also a famous author, lived on and were inspired by these very islands. The references of Durrell to big scientific names and use of difficult words only confirmed to us, if to no one else, that we were ready for adult themes and esoteric literature that at the same time was erotic. My trip to Greece was part of a dare when I impulsively accepted a challenge to hitchhike with a group of English friends from my university in Birmingham to Athens with a limited budget. For me, barely 20 years old, it was an adventure, as I had not done anything like that before. It was still possible then to hitchhike long distances before the dangers of doing so were graphically illustrated in so many popular films like “Duel” (1971) and “The Hitcher” (1986) in which there were good chances that you ended up being chopped into little bits by some psychopathic killer. It was a hard few weeks on the road -- we slept rough, ate little more than baguettes and cheese and depended heavily on the hospitality of strangers -- but it gave me insights into European society. Shortly after this photograph was taken my Greek friend from the university came to see me at the youth hostel where I was staying with my English university friends and asked me to step outside. He was visibly angry with me. He reminded me of my social background and asked what my parents would say if they saw me living in these conditions like these “dirty” English. After weeks on the road we did look scruffy and run-down, but his choice of adjective interested me. He was reflecting a historic suspicion and dislike of the English that some Europeans harbored; in that part of Europe both the Turks and Greeks, who dislike each other to this day, blamed the English for their national woes. He ignored my explanations of having accepted the challenge of hitchhiking and winning the bet as a badge of honor. He insisted on taking me home and his family, especially his mother and sisters, showed me Greek hospitality at its best. I must confess that I had missed warm home-cooked meals and specially clean clothes to wear and clean sheets to sleep in, and I was profoundly grateful to my hosts. My experience in the 1960s could not have differed more from the situation facing Pakistanis -- and others seeking refuge -- in Greece today. On recent visits to Greece in connection with my study on Islam in Europe, “Journey Into Europe,” I met and saw the plight of the refugees and immigrants. They lived in fear of their lives as newly formed groups like the Golden Dawn party terrorized them. Some said that they had been physically beaten while bystanders looked on. The worst, they complained, were the police who saw them all as illegal
and therefore a legitimate target for physical abuse. They were derisively called “Paki,” whatever their nationalities, as a racial slur. The word ironically derives from “pure” and is a term of pride for Pakistanis. As a term of derision, it did not exist in my time. The problem of the refugees was one crisis among many facing Greece. The problems of high unemployment figures, the economic crisis and political uncertainty lay heavy on the land. In spite of this, however, there are heroic stories of ordinary Greek landlords giving shelter to the desperate refugees and coast guard officials saving their lives on the Greek islands. The sense of Greek hospitality and humanism that I experienced as a student does survive. The second picture is taken alongside the famous Little Mer-
www.PakistanLink.com
maid of Copenhagen when a Muslim student could pose with the famous symbol of the city without fear of being accused of wanting to destroy it. I point to this picture to show that I was like other students visiting famous local iconic figures and places. Today, unfortunately, Muslims -- however much they may condemn the actions -are associated in the media with blowing up antiquities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The beautiful mermaid has been defaced and even “beheaded” by different anarchists and student pranksters, but no Muslim group has launched a campaign demanding that her modesty needs to be protected and she be clothed in a niqab. The third picture is in Cambridge with the iconic King’s College in the background. I was at
Selwyn College and had to cross King’s to get to town. My Pakistani friends and I would often run into Ian Stephens, the famous former editor of The Statesman in India and author of several books on Pakistan, as we crossed the college. I can still hear his loud greeting as he spotted us and picture his blue eyes and ruddy face lighting up -“Pakistanis! My day is made!” While Pakistani students can take pride in the fact that their community has contributed significantly to their host country -- there are over a dozen members in the Houses of Commons and Lords, mainstream television presenters and even a former cricket captain with Pakistani backgrounds -- there is no denying that the very word “Paki” is used as racial abuse. The irony is that it is now widely used even for those not of Pakistani origin such as people from India or the Middle East. Finally, the fourth picture is taken in the English public school Sherborne in Dorset. Sherborne has produced some famous names like the actor Jeremy Irons and the mathematician Alan Turing, who was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game” (2014). The school provided the background for “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1969), with Peter O’Toole in the lead role. In the Sherborne photograph I am standing alongside a group of my senior A-level students, who were not much younger than me. The boys are smartly turned out with ties, jackets and hats called boaters. I was sent to the school to teach English for a term as part of my diploma in Education at Cambridge University. My arrival in the small town was unusual enough to merit a small mention in the local newspaper pointing out the curious fact that a Pakistani would be teaching English at Sherborne. As part of my examination I had to do a “practical,” which meant an external examiner would sit in my class at the end of term and observe my teaching and my interactions with the students. To their credit, the boys, who held my fate in their hands, behaved impeccably. I was aware of how easily they could have jeopardized my degree. The examiner’s report mentioned how well the boys had responded to my class and noted their enthusiasm. In the end, I was awarded a “distinction” by the university both in my written and practical examinations. When these photographs were taken, Europe was beginning to become conscious of being an economic and political entity. The highways and hotels that would link different points of the continent were just being constructed. In certain parts, like the southern areas of Spain and Italy, there were few blacktop roads and those that existed were narrow and in disrepair while railway services were erratic. It was the time of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and Pakistan was firmly in the camp of the former. Pakistan was a key ally with vast geopolitical span as its borders touched Iran at one end and Burma at the other. Its LIFE, P24
ADVERTISEMENT
P10 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
SABA HOMES honoring the orphan
501(c)3 - Tax ID # 33-0716944
Help Build the Future of Orphan Girls in Pakistan!
Making a Better World for All Our Children: Honoring the Orphans at Saba Homes
Saturday | January 23 | 2016
Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel, Buena Park, CA
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi
Shaykh Mustafa Umar
Dr. Yahia Abdul-Rahman
Bishop Tom Thorkelson
Ambish
MAKE A DONATION TODAY
Dr. Sana Khan
Aron Kader
714.744.1600
You Can Purchase Tickets At: www.sabatrust.org Call: 714.305.5425 | Email: info@sabatrust.org
17880 Sky Park Circle, Suite 125, Irvine CA 92614
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 Tax ID No.33-0716944
www.PakistanLink.com
PAKISTAN
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P11
Shiites Protest in Pakistan, Indian Kashmir over Cleric’s Execution
Shiites protest in Pakistan, Indian Kashmir over cleric’s execution
Islamabad:
Thousands of Shiite Muslims protested in Pakistan and Indian Kashmir Sunday to condemn Saudi Arabia’s execution of a leading cleric Nimr al-Nimr, as fury over the killing spread. The 56-year-old Shiite cleric was put to death along with 46 Shiite activists and Sunnis who the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda killings. Some were beheaded, others were shot by firing squad.
Iran and Iraq’s top Shiite leaders also condemned the execution, warning ahead of protests that the killing was an injustice that could have serious consequences. Peaceful protests were held across Pakistan, including in the southwestern city Quetta, where about 1,000 people called on the government to reconsider its longtime ties with Riyadh and demonstrators held placards bearing anti-Saudi
slogans. In Lahore, around 1,500 took to the streets, calling Nimr’s execution a gross human rights violation, while in Karachi about a thousand men, women and children shouted slogans against the royal Saudi family. Similar protests also took place in several districts of Sindh and the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where about 500 people gathered to call on the UN to intervene
to stop Saudi Arabia from targeting Shiite Muslims. Amid the rallies, Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir, who was scheduled to arrive in Islamabad Sunday evening, postponed his visit. “The visit was postponed at the request of the authorities of Saudi Arabia,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement, adding the trip would take place on January 7. Meanwhile in Srinagar, the main city of In d i a n - a d m i n i s t e r e d Kashmir, hundreds of angry Shiites clashed with police as they protested the cleric’s execution. The demonstrators bearing photos of Nimr chanted “down with alSaud dynasty,” referring to Saudi leaders and called them “stooges of America” as they marched toward the city center. Some hurled rocks at police, who fired tear gas and wielded batons in return, a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.
Pakistan Launches Crackdown on ISIS Islamabad: Pakistan has arrested eight alleged members of ISIS near Sialkot in the latest move by a South Asian government to counter the widening influence of the extremist Sunni Muslim group based in Iraq and Syria. As the Pakistan government ordered police and security forces to increase their vigilance, one intelligence official said the arrested men had taken an oath to “overthrow democracy and establish a caliphate in Pakistan through an armed struggle”. At least three of the militants were suspected to have received armed training in Iraq. The detentions in Sialkot also coincided with news of the arrests of two suspected Pakistani members of Isis in Turkey. The arrests in Pakistan were the first official acknowledgment by Islamabad of an Isis presence in the country. Like the Bangladeshi government, the Pakistani administration of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has recently insisted that it has no Isis problem. But young, radicalized Muslims from several South Asian countries — including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and the Maldives — have been persuaded to support Isis either by heading to Syria to fight or by attacking targets in their own countries. A week after its terror attacks in Paris in November, the jihadi group boasted that its “soldiers” had been murdering people in Bangladesh, including liberal writers, foreigners and Shia Muslims. Western officials and local analysts in Pakistan said the arrests in Punjab raised questions over the country’s tactics of selectively tar-
geting some extremist groups while letting others operate freely if their targets were primarily in neighboring Afghanistan or India. In the past, many young Pakistani militants became loyalists of al-Qaeda, a movement led mainly by Arab fighters, and supported Taliban groups in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. “These arrests in Sialkot are not comforting,” said Ghazi Salahuddin, a commentator for The News, a newspaper. “They raise the question of exactly what should have been done and wasn’t done in the past to stop militants from being inspired by foreign groups.” Western governments are concerned about the possibility of Isis strengthening its so far tenuous grip on South Asian Sunni Muslims. “Islamic State [Isis] is the new kid on the block. I think people have to acknowledge the need for closer cooperation between these countries to confront the threat,” said one
diplomat. Some hope that the tentative rapprochement between India and Pakistan, demonstrated by the recent surprise meeting between Mr Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, could improve regional co-operation against Islamist terror groups, but Mr Sharif has only limited power in a country whose foreign and defense policies are still controlled by the army. On the streets of Pakistan, ordinary people show little concern for the branding of different militant groups and say extremism is a homegrown phenomenon exacerbated by poverty. “Many poor people become militants because they have no jobs, no food, no electricity or heating and no healthcare,” said Inaam Din, who works as a driver in the capital Islamabad. “Militancy in our country is not being imported from other countries. Our own people are very poor and very desperate.”
www.PakistanLink.com
Pakistan Urges Saudi Arabia, Iran to Resolve Differences through Peaceful Means Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday expressed concern over growing tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran and called for the resolution of differences through peaceful means. While condemning the attack on Saudi embassy in Tehran, Pakistan said it is the responsibility of the host country to provide full safety to all diplomatic missions and their personnel, read a statement issued by the ministry of foreign affairs. Terming the attack on the Saudi mission ‘unfortunate and deeply regrettable’, the statement said the extremist elements can take can take advantage of any disunity in the Muslim community. Further, Pakistan called for the resolution of differences through peaceful means in the larger interest of Muslim ummah Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-ruled Iran have been strained for decades, with Riyadh frequently accusing Tehran of interfering in Arab affairs. Both countries are also divided over a number of issues, namely the nearly five-year war in Syria, where
Iran is allied with the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad, and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed rebels. However, tensions between the two escalated after Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 47 people on charges of terrorism including 56-year-old cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a key figure in anti-government protests in the kingdom since 2011. Reacting to Nimr’s execution Iran said that “the Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution.” Later on Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced that the kingdom was severing diplomatic ties with Iran after demonstrators stormed its Tehran embassy. Jubeir also said that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours. Saudi Arabia “is breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and requests that all members of the Iranian diplomatic mission leave… within 48 hours,” he told a news conference.
Saudi Foreign Minister Postpones Visit to Pakistan Islamabad: Saudi foreign minis-
ter Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir has postponed his visit to Pakistan during which he was expected to consult the leadership over the country joining the Kingdom’s Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism. The visit was postponed on Saudi Arabia’s request, official sources said, without citing any reason. The postponement of the Saudi Foreign Minister’s visit came a day after Saudi Arabia announced the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 others, garnering condemnation from Shiites across the region. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Saudi Arabia will face “divine revenge” for executing the top Shiite cleric whose death sparked protests in which the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran was firebombed. The Foreign Minister was expected to meet Pakistani leadership to take them into confidence over the situation in Middle East and the 34-nation military alliance recently formed by the kingdom to fight terrorism, Radio Pakistan reported today. The Saudi Foreign Minister was scheduled to meet Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif and his Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. Earlier in December, Riyadh announced the formation of the 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, naming Pakistan among the coalition members without first getting its consent. However, the Foreign Office later in a statement said that Pakistan welcomed the formation of the 34-nation alliance to counter terrorism and was awaiting further details to decide the extent of its participation in different activities of the alliance.
Around 100 Pakistanis Left for Syria, Iraq to Join Da’ish Lahore: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah revealed on Monday that less than 100 Pakistanis left the country to join militant group, Islamic State, in Iraq and Syria, Express News reported. “Hundreds of people from different countries have fled to Iraq and Syria to join Da’ish. However, only a very few Pakistanis have left the country in the hope of joining the militant organization,” Sanaullah said while speaking to media representatives in Faisalabad. The law minister vowed to strengthen the security institutions to help curb any influence of the Islamic State in the country, saying those
rounded up from Daska last month were preparing to leave for Syria. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader further revealed that all nine suspects belonged to Jamaatud-Dawa (JuD), a local charity organization which was put on UN terror blacklist in December 2008 for allegedly carrying out deadly attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai. Lauding the role of the country’s security forces in eliminating terrorism, the Punjab law minister said although security forces have played a vital role in dealing against terrorism, the government is yet to overcome the scourge of terror completely.
ADVERTISEMENT
P12 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
www.PakistanLink.com
PAKISTAN
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P13
‘Pathankot Men Wanted to Avenge Afzal Guru’s Execution’
“‘You killed Afzal Guru and now we will take revenge,’ they kept on saying as they continued beating us with rifle butts,” Verma told the The Hindustan Times in Gurdaspur.
New Delhi: The gunmen who at-
tacked an Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot on Saturday planned it as revenge for the execution of Afzal Guru in February 2013. The surrendered Kashmiri militant was controversially hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail by the Congress government amid questions about his role in the parliament attack of December 2001. The Hindustan Times quoted Rajesh Verma, who it said was abducted by four heavily armed men along with two others near Punjab’s Pathankot early on Friday, as describing the reason they allegedly gave for the assault plan. The abductors slit his throat and left him for dead. “‘You killed Afzal Guru and now we will take revenge,’ they kept on saying as they continued beating us with rifle butts,” Verma told the newspaper in Gurdaspur. “As it was New Year eve, my
friend SP Salwinder Singh suggested that I come along and pay obeisance at the mazaar of a saint in village Kolian in Narot Jaimal Singh block close to the border. “As we were coming back, four men in army uniform signaled our car to stop. As we stopped, the four overpowered us and barged into the vehicle and tied all of us with ropes and clothes,” Verma said. Speaking from his hospital bed, he said that soon after they were abducted the men told them that they were going to attack the air force base to avenge the hanging of their colleague Afzal Guru. The Urduspeaking men were carrying assault rifles and grenades as well as a GPS navigation system and had a clear idea about the location of the base. Guru was secretly hanged and buried in the Tihar jail after his mercy petition was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.
“As the car drove for around 30km, they dropped off the SP and the old cook but took me along. When we reached near village Tajpur, where they had intended to enter the IAF base, they slit my throat and left me for dead in the SUV,” he said. “However, I managed to survive by controlling the blood with a cloth and I ran towards a gurdwara from where I managed a phone (call) and informed my relative who rushed me to the hospital,” Verma said. The terrorists, Verma said, were unaware that they had kidnapped a Punjab police officer because they launched a search for the SP when the hooter of the car accidentally went off. Verma said he had told the police and intelligence officials everything he knew, according to the Hindustan Times report.
India, Pakistan Women Unite for Their Right to Loiter n By Eram Agha Girls travelling in a local Mumbai train as part of their ‘right to loiter’ campaign.
Aligarh: As Prime Minster Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif go out of their way to revive stalled peace talks, sometimes even parachuting down at short notice in each other’s countries, this would come as quite an encouragement for both of them. Women here and in Pakistan have already begun a unique collaboration of their own, fighting hard for their, well, right to loiter. It all started with the ‘Why Loiter?’ campaign launched by three women in Mumbai — Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade some two years ago. They have even written a book by the same name with their uncommon take on women’s safety in “cities of 21st century India”. Soon, women in Pakistan joined in with their own version of the campaign, calling it ‘Girls at Dhaba’, primarily an initiative of Karachi-based journalist Sadia Khatri. Phadke has a simple explanation for why Indian and Pakistani women immediately bonded over their loitering rights. “The ideas of izzat and honor are peculiarly South Asian,” she said. “Besides of course the Hindi-Urdu capacity to speak to each other. The ‘chai tapris’ (tea shops) of Mumbai con-
Girls travelling in a local Mumbai train as part of their ‘right to loiter’ campaign
nected with the dhabas of Pakistan. The cross-border interactions never needed much explaining. When they talk, we know what they mean, and vice-versa. In coming years there will be more South Asian bonds of solidarity over this.” Phadke added that they have been in touch with the ‘Girls at Dhabas” since December 2015. “The campaign there (in Pakistan) reflects our own engagement with the idea of public space. It was a very organic collaboration. It was kind of natural that they would come with us on #WhyLoiter.” On December 20 last year, the Pakistan group began “loitering in Karachi” to reclaim public spaces.
Then Nida Mushtaq of the ‘Fearless Collective’, who wanted to talk about the same issue, pitched in. “They did three fabulous murals on the subject, one each in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad,” said Phadke, adding with a laugh, “It’s been wonderful that half the campaign this year has been across the border.” So when Zebunnisa Chughtai, studying management in Lahore University, posted on social media that she is loitering with her sister on the streets of her city “to assert our right to take risks”, she found company in Aligarh Muslim University girls, who were hitting the cafes and road-side stalls frequented by men. RIGHT, P20
www.PakistanLink.com
US Urges Islamabad, New Delhi to Jointly Fight Terrorism Washington, DC: The United States has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, but urged all countries in the region to work together to defeat terrorists. In a statement issued on Sunday, State Department spokesman John Kirby expressed solidarity with India, but also emphasized the need for regional peace. “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an air force base in the Indian state of Punjab on Jan. 2. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families,” he said. “The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism,” he added. Mr Kirby then indirectly addressed a fear that is often expressed in Washington: a terrorist attack could lead to a larger conflict between India and Pakistan. So he urged India and Pakistan to work together against this common threat. “We urge all countries in the region to work together to disrupt and dismantle terrorist networks and to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous act,” he said. In earlier statements, US officials have also urged the two South
Asian neighbors to continue their bilateral dialogue process, which jump-started last week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore. Washington believes that its efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, where it still has almost 10,000 troops, cannot succeed if relations between India and Pakistan do not improve. At the same time, the US administration continues to urge Pakistan to rein in terrorists that target neighboring countries.
Kashmiri Separatist Group UJC Claims Pathankot Attack Muzaffarabad: An alliance of
Kashmiri militant groups on Monday claimed the deadly attack on the Indian Air Force’s Pathankot airbase. The United Jihad Council (UJC) said in a statement that the attack was a message to India that Kashmiri fighters could strike at any sensitive installation across India. “Pathankot air base attack has been carried out by the mujahideen associated with National Highway Squad,” said Syed Sadaqat Hussain, a spokesman for UJC. The UJC comprises over a dozen militant groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. It is headed by Syed Salahuddin. This is the first report of the existence of the National Highway Squad. “Pakistan has nothing to do with the attack but ironically the Indian government, media and their armed forces are suffering from Pakistan phobia,” added the UJC spokesman. The spokesman added that by hurling allegations at Pakistan, India could neither sabotage the struggle of the Kashmiri people in the past nor can it do so now. “It would be better for the Indian leadership to read the writing on the wall and let the Kashmiri people decide their fate on their own free accord, without further waste of time,” elaborated the statement from the UJC . The attack on the Pathankot airbase started before dawn on Saturday and a gun-battle between the militants and Indian forces continued into the third day as this report was filed.
At least seven Indian troops and five attackers have been killed in three days. Indian Air Force’s Pathankot airbase is a mere 50 km from the Pakistan border, and is a major forward operational airbase of the IAF.
‘CPEC Should Not Be Made Controversial’ Islamabad: Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is crucial for the country’s economic stability and security and should not be made controversial like the Kalabagh Dam project. “CPEC is a game-changer not only for Pakistan but for the entire region and nobody will be allowed to make the multi-billion dollar ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor project controversial,” he said while talking to APP. He was asked about reservations being expressed by smaller provinces over the reported change in the western route of CPEC. He said CPEC would pass through the entire country and all provinces would benefit from it, particularly the backward areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. He said the federal government had time and again assured the smaller provinces that the western route would be built on a priority basis and all its work would be carried out in collaboration with the stakeholders.
ADVERTISEMENT
P14 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
www.PakistanLink.com
PAKISTAN
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P15
Keeping Options Open: PIA Sell-off Ordinance Converted into Bill
Change of heads Meanwhile, Federal Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid has been elected as the chairman of the PIA Special Committee that will decide the fate of PIA. The special committee was constituted under a National Assembly resolution with a mandate to oversee matters arising out of the implementation of the repealed PIA ordinance. Hamid was elected with a majority vote in the first meeting of the committee on Monday, de-
n By Asha’ar Rehman Lahore: The toughest are the races
that put you against your own. And the saying goes that it is the in-house victories that are most exhilarating since you always know that you are more capable and deserving than your cousin, your room-mate or your party colleague. Since it provides so much talent to the party to craft good ministers from, Lahore is always likely to provide the PMLN with its exciting inhouse duels. The ever running among these contests is of course the mother of all matches; the one between brothers Nawaz and Shahbaz of the Sharif household. Generations have passed looking – hoping and wishing – for cracks in the Sharif-Sharif coalition. Unsuccessful they have in recent times been aiming, hopefully, for each and any sign of differences that “will surely crop up” as the next generation of the Sharifs take over. Consequently, in the absence of any real challenge to the Sharif hold on power in Lahore and large parts of Punjab other than the potential threat posed by Imran Khan, the focus of late has been on which Sharif kid does or does not have it in her and him. For the moment, Mariam Nawaz
Pakistan Ranked among Top 5 for Financial Inclusion n By Riaz Haq
Islamabad: The federal govern-
ment has converted the repealed PIA privatisation ordinance into a bill to keep the PIA sell-off option open. By turning the repealed ordinance into a bill, the government has ensured the bill will be debated by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Cabinet instead of the PIA Special Committee, which has been formed to decide the fate of the struggling national airlines. Once cleared by the standing committee, the bill will again go to the Senate for voting. The upper house will have three months to take its decision. Last month, the government had promulgated the controversial PIA ordinance to repeal the PIA Act of 1956, aimed at removing a legal hindrance in its privatisation. However, the Opposition-dominated Senate invoked Article 89 of the Constitution, repealing the ordinance in a rare move. The original due date for the airline’s privatisation was December 2014, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised three times. The government has already missed the donor’s deadline of December 31 for inviting investors for PIA. The IMF has also set June 2016 as the deadline for PIA’s privatisation, which the government is likely to miss again.
feating the Opposition’s joint candidate, Naveed Qamar of the Pakistan Peoples Party. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami had all voted in favour of Qamar, who served as the privatisation minister in the previous government. During the meeting, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced the government would honour any decision taken by the committee. The government would invite expression of interests (EOIs) from prospective bidders for selling stakes in the national airlines only after getting clearance from the special committee. “The government is not stubborn as it believes in collective wisdom,” he said during the meeting, urging the committee take the decision holistically, as the cumulative losses at the airlines have reached Rs296 billion. PIA’s complete privatisation, Dar added, was not on government’s agenda. The core business, including the air routes will be offered to the investors, he said while
giving the future roadmap of the airline’s privatisation. Depending on the investors’ response, the engineering and catering operations may also be offered to the investors. About 26% stakes in PIA will be offered to a strategic investor, which cannot be termed privatisation, according to the finance minister. Dar said the organisation would be split into two and the government would retain the debtridden, non-core business and the employees. However, PTI’s Asad Umar questioned him if overstaffing was the reason for PIA’s losses and the government bound the new investor from firing any employee, how would the investor make the airline profitable? “The government’s strategic partnership is actually PIA’s privatisation,” Qamar interjected while urging the treasury members to tell the truth. Dar replied that in case the government did not get encouraging response from the investors, the airline’s restructuring would continue.
Los Angeles, CA: When people in need of money go to unscrupulous and unregulated moneylenders, they usually get trapped in mounting debts at exorbitant interest rates. In developing nations like India and Pakistan, many end up losing their basic freedom and human dignity when they are forced to work as bonded laborers. How can this situation be changed? The first obvious answer is to enforce laws and rules against the use of bonded labor. The second, often ignored, answer is to enable people to legitimately borrow the money they need from regulated financial institutions like banks. In addition, they can also save and invest money as bank customers. This is called financial inclusion. The Economist magazine publishes an annual Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) assessment and ranking of countries for their policies to promote financial inclusion. In 2015, the EIU has ranked Pakistan 5th in the world among 55 countries surveyed for financial inclusion. Peru (90 points) and Colombia (86) remained the top two countries for financial inclusion. The Philippines was followed by India (71) and Pakistan (64), while Chile and Tanzania (62) tied at sixth and Bolivia and Mexico (60) tied at eighth. Ghana (58) rose in the ranks to clinch the 10th place. Finishing at the bottom of the rankings were Haiti, Congo, and Madagascar. Pakistan had 41.7 million bank accounts last year for its adult population of about 100 million, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). More than 31.3 million accounts, or 75% of all bank accounts, belonged to the personal accounts category. The SBP has recently modified the regulatory framework to quicken the bank account-opening process with the help of the na-
tional database authority, according to Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper. “NADRA is the real-time online depository of the biometric impressions of close to 100 million people,” Tameer Microfinance Bank CEO Nadeem Hussain said, adding that utilizing its database had so far resulted in eight million one-minute accounts. According to a new CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), accumulated research confirms that financial inclusion, defined as access to and use of formal financial services, benefits the poor people. Some 20 randomized control trials (RCTs) indicate that formal financial services, such as microcredit, savings, insurance and mobile payments, can have a positive impact on a variety of microeconomic indicators, including self-employment business activities, household consumption, and wellbeing. “But benefits are not limited to the microeconomic level,” notes co-author Robert Cull, Lead Economist, Finance and Private Sector Development Research Group at the World Bank. “In addition to benefits to individuals, non-experimental evidence indicates that broader financial inclusion also coincides with greater local economic activity and decreased economic inequality at the macroeconomic level.” Inability to have a bank account in modern economy causes financial exclusion of such individuals who happen to be poor. Improving their financial inclusion is essential to make them participants in the nation’s economy. The State Bank’s efforts to promote financial inclusion are part of Pakistan’s war on poverty that needs to continue until all citizens have full access to financial services in the country. The high and growing penetration rate of mobile phones offers the fastest way to do this by offering branchless mobile banking to everyone with a cell phone.
PML-N’s Exhilarating in-House Duels
Silent but worth keeping an eye on is the next Sharif generation led by Mariam Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz
paces through the process courtesy her constant presence on the social media and occasional appearances in public. In Lahore and the province at large it is very much Hamza Shahbaz who is earning himself quite a reputation for resolving issues behind the scenes. Moored safely in the family tradition, Hamza, who often prefers to keep his profile low, is able to carry the burden of being informally both the ‘deputy prime minister’ and ‘deputy chief minister’ with not too much of a problem.
In other in-house races, the queerest one during 2015 has to be the unlikely one between Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Khwaja Saad Rafiq. As circumstances demanded, the two PMLN stalwarts from Lahore had to take two different routes to prove that they had won their 2013 tickets to the National Assembly fair and square. Saad Rafiq clung fast to his right to take the legal course whereas Ayaz Sadiq, according to rumors at the time,
www.PakistanLink.com
was made to earn his seat back via a by-election. For the period when Saad Rafiq was being ‘dragged’ through courts, in many clandestine accounts offered by knowledgeable narrators in his hometown, he was so worthy of the sympathy. Later, the sympathies got redirected towards Ayaz Sadiq. At one point the legal battle briefly threatened to de-seat, by his standards, now a much quieter member of PML-N’s ever-rich Lahore talent
basket. This was when the fears about Saad Rafiq’s political career were most rife, but not too long afterwards, the focus shifted to the dangers posed to the future of Ayaz Sadiq. Until the Speaker managed to defeat PTI’s Abdul Aleem Khan in the breathtaking NA-122 by-election he was considered by some in the hometown to have been denied a fair deal by his own party – denied the right to seek relief from the court, which would have been safer choice.
ADVERTISEMENT
P16 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
䜀刀䄀一䐀 伀倀䔀一䤀一䜀℀ 䌀漀洀攀 椀渀 ⼀㘀 愀渀搀 最攀琀 ㈀㔀─ 漀昀昀 礀漀甀爀 攀渀琀椀爀攀 瀀甀爀挀栀愀猀攀℀ 䜀甀攀猀琀猀 椀渀 愀琀琀攀渀搀愀渀挀攀 眀椀氀氀 戀攀 攀渀琀攀爀攀搀 椀渀 愀 爀愀昀昀氀攀 琀漀 眀椀渀 一椀猀栀愀 最椀昀琀 挀攀爀琀椀昀椀挀愀琀攀猀℀ 㠀㜀㈀㔀 倀椀漀渀攀攀爀 䈀氀瘀搀⸀ 䄀爀琀攀猀椀愀Ⰰ 䌀䄀 㤀 㜀
䄀挀爀漀猀猀 昀爀漀洀 琀栀攀 昀漀漀搀 挀漀甀爀琀℀
攀砀瀀椀爀攀猀 ⼀㘀⼀㈀ 㘀
www.PakistanLink.com
COMMUNITY
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P17
Community Link Friday, January 8, 2016
VOL. 26/2 PAGE 18
Waseem Ahmed Is Elected Chowchilla’s Mayor
PAGE 19 egum PAGE
27 Rabi ‘ul-awwal 1437 H
PAGE PAGE23 17
For news, updated round the clock, visit
On Learning to Be Muslim in America
www.PakistanLink.com
Karachi Club Los Angeles Hosts ‘Haleem’ for Local Community
A crowd of about 2,200 Angelinos showed up to enjoy the Club’s hospitality: the event has become a popular feature of the social activities of the Karachi Club Los Angeles
n By Wasim Zaidi Westminster, CA: In keeping with
its tradition of hosting an annual ‘haleem’ party for the community, the Karachi Club Los Angeles organized the singularly enlivening
event for the 22nd consecutive year on November 1, 2015. Garden Grove, CA was once again the frequent GPS entry for most Angelinos of Pakistani origin. A crowd of about 2,200 Angelinos
showed up to enjoy the Club’s hospitality: the event has become a popular feature of the social activities of the Karachi Club Los Angeles. November 1, 2015 turned out to be a day of cheerful merriment
www.PakistanLink.com
and conviviality for the gathering that included several prominent community members, including Mr Ali Sajjad, Artesia City Councilmember; Mr Kamal Zafar, former Central Organizer MQMUSA; Mr
Zafar Abbas, Mr Arif Mansuri, and Mr Irfan Murtaza. The event-attendees also raised a handsome amount for victims of the recent earthquake in the
HALEEM, P19
COMMUNITY
P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
W
hat do a priest, a rabbi, and an imam in Berlin all have in common?
They all want to worship under one roof. Three religious leaders in Germany, representing Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, are spearheading a project to build a proposed shared prayer space, called the House of One, on the now-empty site of a 13th century Berlin church. The building, whose design incorporates three distinct shapes which are all part of a single structure, will only have one entrance, according to House of One representative Frithjof Timm. Jews, Christians, and Muslims will all enter through the single door, which will lead to a common room. From there, worshipers will choose their destinations. According to the project’s website, the common room will serve as a meeting space, where followers of the different faiths can come togeth-
An Interfaith House of Worship in Berlin er to “learn more about the religions and each other.” The House of One is intended to be a place of peace and respect, as well as prayer and learning. Its founding charter lists four main ideological tenets: nonviolence and respect for all life, solidarity, respect and life lived with integrity, and equality. The charter also states that though individual institutions should represent their own religions, none should make claim to exclusivity. The three men heading the project, which began in 2010, include Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin, Priest Gregor Hohberg, and Imam Kadir Sanci. In a promotional video, the representatives of the three major monotheistic faiths are shown talking, walking, and joking together. All three emphasize the importance of establishing the
Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin, Imam Kadir Sanci and Priest Gregor Hohberg are working together to build an interfaith house of worship
House of One in the city of Berlin, a place with a checkered past when it comes to religious tolerance. The site on which the House
of One will stand is centuries old, though now it is simply a paved lot. From 1200, when the first Gothic church was built on the site, until
the second World War, it was home to a number of churches, each built and torn down in their turn. “If you would like to see a rabbi, a priest, and an imam under one roof, in a building in which you can find a synagogue, a church, and a mosque, and in its center, a place where the different beliefs come together, [this place is] the House of One in Berlin,” says Chorin in the video. “It is also wonderful to be able to get to know our friends and neighbors better and to appreciate them,” Sanci adds. Hohberg sums up the vision of the project, saying, “In the House of One, justice, peace and reconciliation will have a home.” The project is still raising funds for the construction of the House of One. Their goal is to raise 43 million euros. So far, one million euros have been raised, from over 1,400 individual donors by “selling” bricks for 10 euros each.
McDonald’s Gets Enthusiastic Response in Peshawar n By Mahwish Qayyum Peshawar: People of the city need not crave a Big Mac from a distance any longer as McDonald s, one of the world’s largest fast food chains, has opened its doors in Peshawar. “The restaurant will offer meals of various levels to customers from all segments of society,” said McDonald’s Pakistan CEO Amin Muhammad Lakhani at the inaugural ceremony of the restaurant on Sher Khan Road in the city on Monday. “The restaurant will provide quality food in a clean environment to its customers.” He added the building is a state-of-the-art structure. “The staff is well-trained, and men and women will work in the
restaurant without discrimination.” Lakhani added not only will quality food be provided to the customers, but employment opportunities are also up for grabs for the youth. As he spoke about the future plans of the restaurant, Lakhani said outlets of McDonald’s would be opened in other parts of the province as well. “People going to other cities to have McDonald’s [food] will no longer have to do so.” McDonald’s Country Marketing Director Jameel Mughal said, “The restaurant, with 200 seats, would provide an appetizing meal for the people.” He added that space for birthday parties and other functions would also be provided. “Be-
200 Employees Fired over Prayer Dispute
The first branch of McDonald’s is inaugurated in Peshawar
sides [separate] meals for children,
there is also a play area.”
Shazia, a customer who came from Islamabad said, “I have come here with my family to taste the food at McDonald’s in Peshawar.” She added that she enjoyed the meal. Mahnoor, who was also present on the opening day, said she used to go to Islamabad and Rawalpindi to have McDonald’s, but now she is happy that an outlet has opened in her city. Another customer, Kamran Khan, said the opening of the chain in the city has made children very happy. “We have been waiting since a long time for this to happen; it is good for food lovers.” A fairly large number of people of the city reached the restaurant to give it a try. - The Express Tribune
Waseem Ahmed Is Elected Chowchilla’s New Mayor
W
n By Patty Mandrell
aseem Ahmed, an 18-year resident of Chowchilla, was elected to serve the city as mayor for the upcoming new year. This will be his second year on the council.
N
early 200 Muslim employees have been fired from a meat-packing plant in the United States after they downed tools following a disagreement over praying at work.
The workers, mostly Somalian immigrants, staged a walkout in objection to what they said was inadequate accommodation of prayer time at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Although the company provided a “reflection room” for Muslim employees to pray since 2009, the workers claim the policy has been changed, according to The Telegraph. “All of these employees are good employees and don’t have any other issues. They feel missing their prayer is worse than losing their job. It’s like losing a blessing from God,” Jaylani Hussein, a council spokesperson said. Further, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
claimed the workers had been treated with prejudice and told, “If you want to pray, go home”. However, the company, Cargill Meat Solutions said there has been a ‘misunderstanding’ and its policy of allowing time for prayer has not changed. Moreover, plant managers from the company met with workers, members of the Somali community, and union leaders after the walkout but failed to resolve the issue, according to a spokesperson for the company. He said workers were advised that not turning up for work three days in a row would put them at risk of losing their jobs. However, after 200 of them didn’t turn up they were terminated. “Cargill makes every reasonable attempt to provide religious accommodations to all employees based on our ability to do so without disruption to our beef-processing business,” the spokesperson added. WORKERS, P28
Before being elected to the council, he was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission and was later appointed to the Planning Commission, where he served for 12 years. Interested in the business community, Ahmed also joined the Chowchilla Industry Development Board. He served on the Madera County High Speed Rail Task Force representing businesses. Ahmed has opposed the high-speed rail project from the beginning. Ahmed has served on the board of the Chowchilla District Chamber of Commerce for several years, with two terms as president. Ahmed was born in Pakistan and came to the United States when he was 14 years old. His family settled in the Bay Area. He grew up in the Concord area and graduated from Mount Diablo High School. After high school he attended a community college and then a state college in San Francisco, where he studied finance and marketing. Ahmed said he liked the small-town atmosphere Chowchilla offered. “What I felt when I came to Chowchilla was a sense of community,” he said. “But what really impressed me was the way the residents were actively involved in the community. I knew this was a place I wanted to call home.” Ahmed said he believes the council is a decisionmaking body that represents all the people within the jurisdiction of Chowchilla and is responsible to the residents. He also said he is a believer in transparency in government. Ahmed said one of the city’s biggest issues is infrastructure. “The city’s infrastructure is old,” he said. It is in need of repair and upgrades.” He noted that infrastructure needs to be in place to accommodate growth. Another area Ahmed would like to focus on is bringing more businesses and jobs to the city. “Our new motto
www.PakistanLink.com
Outgoing Mayor John Chavez, left, passes the gavel to newly elected Mayor Waseem Ahmed at the Chowchilla City Council meeting December 8
is ‘Chowchilla is open for business,’ ” he said. “We are actively pursuing businesses to relocate to Chowchilla.” Ahmed praised the city’s police and fire departments for the job they do. “Our new police chief is leading the department in a positive, new direction,” he said. “My hope is we can get to the point with our budget where we can afford to be competitive in paying our officers for the dangerous job they do.” Ahmed noted Chowchilla is fortunate to have a welltrained, dedicated volunteer fire department, but at some point the city will have to address the issue of a full-time fire department with pay and affordable benefits. “The city will continue to deal with high-speed rail and water issues, but on the whole, the city is moving in a positive direction,” Ahmed said. “I am looking forward to working with the council and city staff to accomplish our goals for 2016.” - Chowchilla News
COMMUNITY
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P19
Glimpses of the Haleem Party HALEEM FROM P17
northern areas of Pakistan. Sun Charity volunteers are diligently working to collect funds for the unfortunate victims of this natural calamity. SUN Charity USA is a dynamic social organization. Its social and welfare activities through
its overseas affiliate, the Khidmate-Khalq Foundation (KKF), are internationally acclaimed. SUN, in collaboration with KKF, played a key role in providing relief to the tsunami and earthquake victims in the South Asian region. SUN is introducing reforms in the educational system in rural Pakistan by
revamping the current curriculum. The highlight of the event was the presence of Mr Babar Khan Ghori, member, Central Executive Committee MQM. Incidentally, it was Mr Ghori’s initiative that saw the inception of the ‘Haleem’ event. Addressing the gathering on the occasion Mr Ghori reiterated his
resolve to continue efforts for community interaction. His message of forging ‘Unity’ on the day was very well received by the audience. Footnote: The nightingale of Los Angeles Mrs Atiya Niazi, who had unfailingly attended the haleem part,y was dearly missed this year. May Allah continue to rest her
soul in peace as she passed away a few months ago. A staunch member of the Karachi Club Los Angeles, she was also one of the pioneers of this important community gathering. At the end, Karachi Club thanked all members for their support and dedication.
Thinking outside the Mosque: On Learning to Be Muslim in America n By Anna Challet f the American Muslim community has a tendency to isolate itself, to retreat from the rest of American society, Zaytuna College is where that insularity comes to die. At the only accredited Muslim college in the United States, students spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to be American.
I
Zaytuna is located on ‘‘Holy Hill’’ in Berkeley, just around the corner from the Graduate Theological Union, a consortium of Christian seminaries affiliated with University of California, Berkeley. The college emerged from the Zaytuna Institute, an Islamic educational organization founded in nearby Hayward in 1996. The college admitted its first class in 2010 and was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges earlier last year. The school has sixty students, split roughly equally between men and women. About half are from California, and the rest are from other parts of the United States. Students don’t take out loans and graduate debtfree, although most of them receive financial assistance from the school, which is supported by individual American Muslim donors. Zaytuna offers only one bachelor’s degree, in Islamic law and theology, but the curriculum combines Islamic and Western teachings. If students are going to be Muslims in the United States, Zaytuna believes they need to understand the country’s history and founding principles. Religious study isn’t enough at this college. Islam may be the world’s second-largest religion, but in the United States, it is the subject of much misunderstanding and even ha-
tred, and its adherents are often maligned. At Zaytuna, young Muslims are asked to figure out the future of their faith in America. Nirav Bhardwaj ‘‘I’m an American and I’m a Muslim and those things can go together,’’ says Nirav Bhardwaj, a twenty-five-year-old sophomore at Zaytuna. ‘‘Unfortunately, people think being Muslim means hiding in a little pocket,’’ says Bhardwaj. ‘‘That’s not what it’s about.’’ Bhardwaj is a convert to Islam. He was raised Hindu. Both of his parents are from Rajasthan in northern India. Bhardwaj says he was ‘‘Islamaphobic’’ in college. But after graduating from University of California, Irvine, with a degree in business administration, Bhardwaj got what he describes as his ‘‘dream job,’’ working for a
major league baseball team doing statistics for scouting and player development. While traveling with the team, he became disillusioned. ‘‘We had players who were married,’’ he says, ‘‘and that just went out the window when they were out at the clubs. It was all about seeking immediate satisfaction. I started asking myself, ‘What are you doing? What benefit does baseball provide society anyway? What is the purpose of life?’’’ Around that time, a Muslim friend shared some Islamic lectures with Bhardwaj. ‘‘I opened a Qur’an and started reading it, and it worked,’’ he says. Bhardwaj decided to travel in the Muslim world and quit his job. He and his friend went to Egypt. It was there that Bhardwaj converted, while studying with a local sheik in 6th of October City outside Cairo.
www.PakistanLink.com
There was tension when he returned home. ‘‘I don’t think I’ve ever made my mom cry except for two times,’’ he says, ‘‘and one of those times was when I told her I converted.’’ Bhardwaj says his mother has become supportive after seeing how he has found his place at Zaytuna. Bhardwaj was drawn to the college to study Islamic principles of economics and transactional law. ‘‘I think Muslims have a lot to offer in the field of finance,’’ he says, especially given ‘‘the corruption on Wall Street.’’ Dawood Yasin Zaytuna’s coordinator of learning outside the classroom, Dawood Yasin, says the college wants students ‘‘to think outside the masjid,’’ using the Arabic word for mosque. ‘‘How are we going to engage the broader community if we’re only working within our own community?’’ he asks. Yasin is also a convert. He was raised Catholic and is a fourth-generation native of Nantucket, Massachusetts. So it’s pretty ironic, he says, ‘‘when people give me the finger and say, ‘Go back to your country!’’’ Yasin worked as a fashion model in the 1990s in New York, Paris, and South Africa. It was while working in South Africa that he converted. ‘‘A lot of times conversion stories are about hitting rock bottom, but I was doing quite well in South Africa, doing TV, and print, and runway,’’ he says. ‘‘But I was asking myself, ‘What does this all mean?’’’ After converting, Yasin backpacked around the Muslim world and studied at an Islamic seminary in Damascus, eventually coming back to the United States, working MUSLIM, P28
COMMENTARY
P20 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016 n By Laila Lalami
S
ome months ago, I gave a reading from my most recent novel in Scottsdale, Ariz. During the discussion that followed, a woman asked me to talk about my upbringing in Morocco. It’s natural for readers to be curious about a writer they’ve come to hear, I told myself. I continued to tell myself this even after the conversation drifted to Islam, and then to ISIS. Eventually, another woman raised her hand and said that the only Muslims she saw when she turned on the television were extremists. “Why aren’t we hearing more from people like you?” she asked me.
“You are,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Right now.” I wanted to tell her that there were plenty of ordinary Muslims in this country. We come in all races and ethnicities. Some of us are more visible by virtue of beards or head scarves. Others are less conspicuous, unless they give book talks and it becomes clear that they, too, identify as Muslims. To be fair, I’m not a very good Muslim. I don’t perform daily prayers anymore. I have never been on a pilgrimage to Mecca. I partake of the forbidden drink. I do give to charity whenever I can, but I imagine that this would not be enough to save me were I to have the misfortune, through an accident of birth or migration, to live in a place like Raqqa, Syria, where in the last two years, the group variously known as Daesh, ISIL or ISIS has established a caliphate: a successor to past Islamic empires. Life in Raqqa reportedly follows rules that range from the horrifying to the absurd: The heads of people who have been executed are posted on spikes in the town’s main square; women must wear a niqab and be accompanied by a male companion when they go out; smoking and swearing are not allowed; chemistry is no longer taught in schools and traffic police are not permitted to have whistles because ISIS considers them un-Islamic. As part of its efforts to spread its message outside the territory it controls, ISIS puts out an Englishlanguage magazine, Dabiq, which can be found online. In February, Dabiq featured a 12-page article, complete with high-resolution photos and multiple footnotes, cheering the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and claiming that they made manifest for the world two camps: the camp of Islam under the caliphate and the camp of the West under the crusaders. The article ran under the title “The Extinction of the Grayzone.” The gray zone is the space inhabited by any Muslim who has not joined the ranks of either ISIS or the crusaders. Throughout the article, these Muslims are called “the grayish,” “the hypocrites” and, for variety, “the grayish hypocrites.” On Nov. 13, men who had sworn allegiance to ISIS struck the city of Paris, killing 130 people at different locations mostly in the 10th and 11th arrondissements, neighborhoods that are known for their multiculturalism. As soon as I heard about the attacks, I tried to reach a cousin of mine, who is studying in Paris. I couldn’t. I spent the next two hours in a state of crushing fear until he posted on Facebook that he was
My Life as a Muslim in the West’s ‘Gray Zone’
her entire life. Perhaps this is my attempt at keeping the world around all of us as gray as possible. It is a form of resistance, the only form of resistance I know. (Laila Lalami is the author, most recently, of “The Moor’s Account,” a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. - The New York Times) CROWD FROM P23
safe. Relieved, I went back to scrolling through my feed, which is how I found out that my friend Najlae Benmbarek, a Moroccan journalist, lost her cousin. A recently married architect, Mohamed Amine Ibnolmobarak was eating dinner with his wife at the Carillon restaurant when an ISIS terrorist killed him. It was probably not a coincidence that the Paris attacks were aimed at restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium, places of leisure and community, nor that the victims included Muslims. As Dabiq makes clear, ISIS wants to eliminate coexistence between religions and to create a response from the West that will force Muslims to choose sides: either they “apostatize and adopt” the infidel religion of the crusaders or “they perform hijrah to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution from the crusader governments and citizens.” For ISIS to win, the gray zone must be eliminated. Whose lives are gray? Mine, certainly. I was born in one nation (Morocco) speaking Arabic, came to my love of literature through a second language (French) and now live in a third country (America), where I write books and teach classes in yet another language (English). I have made my home in between all these cultures, all these languages, all these countries. And I have found it a glorious place to be. My friends are atheists and Muslims, Jews and Christians, believers and doubters. Each one makes my life richer. This gray life of mine is not unique. I share it with millions of people around the world. My brother in Dallas is a practicing Muslim — he prays, he fasts, he attends mosque — but he, too, would be considered to be in the gray zone, because he despises ISIS and everything it stands for. Most of the time, gray lives go unnoticed in America. Other times, especially when people are scared, gray lives become targets. Hate crimes against Muslims spike after every major terrorist attack. But rather than stigmatize this hate, politicians and pundits often stoke it with fiery rhetoric, further diminishing the gray zone. Every time the gray zone recedes, ISIS gains ground. The language that ISIS uses may be new, but the message is not. When President George W. Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, he declared, “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” It was a decisive threat, and it worked
well for him in those early, confusing days, so he returned to it. “Either you are with us,” he said in 2002, “or you are with the enemy. There’s no in between.” This polarized thinking led to the United States invasion of Iraq, which led to the destabilization of the Middle East, which in turn led to the creation of ISIS. Terrorist attacks affect all of us in the same way: We experience sorrow and anger at the loss of life. For Muslims, however, there is an additional layer of grief as we become subjects of suspicion. Muslims are called upon to condemn terrorism, but no matter how often or how loud
Whose lives are gray? Mine, certainly. I was born in one nation (Morocco) speaking Arabic, came to my love of literature through a second language (French) and now live in a third country (America), where I write books and teach classes in yet another language (English). I have made my home in between all these cultures, all these languages, all these countries. And I have found it a glorious place to be. My friends are atheists and Muslims, Jews and Christians, believers and doubters. Each one makes my life richer or how clear the condemnations, the calls remain. Imagine if, after every mass shooting in a school or a movie theater in the United States, young white men in this country were told that they must publicly denounce gun violence. The reason this is not the case is that we presume each young white man to be solely responsible for his actions, whereas Muslims are held collectively responsible. To be a Muslim in the West is to be constantly on trial. The attacks in Paris have generated the same polarization as all previous attacks have. Even though most of the suspects were French
www.PakistanLink.com
and Belgian nationals who could have gained entry to the United States on their passports, Republican governors in 30 states say that they will refuse to take in any refugees from Syria without even more stringent screening. Barely two days after the attacks, Jeb Bush told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the United States should focus its efforts only on helping Syrian refugees who are Christian. Ted Cruz went a step further, offering to draft legislation that would ban Muslim Syrian refugees from the United States. When he was asked by Dana Bash of CNN what would have happened to him if his father, a Cuban refugee who was fleeing communism, had been refused entry, he implied that it was a different situation because of the special risks associated with ISIS. As it happens, I am married to a son of Cuban refugees. Like Cruz’s father, they came to this country because America was a safe haven. What would have been their fate if an American legislator said that they could not be allowed in because the Soviet Union was trying to infiltrate the United States? The other day, my daughter said to me, “I want to be president.” She has been saying this a lot lately, usually the morning after a presidential debate, when our breakfast-table conversation veers toward the elections. My daughter is 12. She plays the violin and the guitar; she loves math and history; she’s quick-witted and sharp-tongued and above all she’s very kind to others. “I’d vote for you,” I told her. And then I looked away, because I didn’t have the heart to tell her that half the people in this country — in her country — say they would not vote for a Muslim presidential candidate. I worry about her growing up in a place where some of the people who are seeking the highest office in the land cannot make a simple distinction between Islam and ISIS, between Muslim and terrorist. Ben Carson has said he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.” Right now, my daughter still has the innocence and ambition that are the natural attributes of the young. But what will happen when she comes of age and starts to realize that her life, like mine, is constantly under question? How do you explain to a child that she is not wanted in her own country? I have not yet had the courage to do that. My daughter has never heard of the gray zone, though she has lived in it
Pakistan, did not watch it during his last years. “In television everything is there whereas in a book a reader can use his imagination. With a book the brain grows; with television it just becomes stale.” Aslam had said mediocrity is built into the medium. “It is severely limited due to its dependence on money. A writer only needs a pen, a painter a brush but TV needs money,” he had said. However, in the same breath, he defended the broadcasting of today, saying a comparison with old times is not fair as in those days people only bought what was needed whereas today’s is more of a consumer society. “He who pays the piper, calls the tune. Why worry about it?” In recognition for his services, the government conferred upon him Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 1968. Renowned playwright Munnu Bhai reminisced the day he wrote his first play for the 1965 war on the insistence of Aslam, saying he had finished writing it in half an hour. He said Aslam was a man of vision and the right temperament needed to undertake such a big project. “He in a very short time established the Pakistani drama. India showed our plays from those times in their acting academies. He used to tell us that drama is about reaction and not action. Elaborating further, he would say a joke becomes a joke only if people laugh. Merely telling a joke does not make it so,” recalled Munnu Bhai. Long ago, on an email group condoling someone’s death, Aslam had written, “The world is rich that she has lived.” Something, that aptly applies to the gentleman himself. RIGHT FROM P13
When women in Mumbai boarded the last local trains, strolling coolly at Marine Drive late at night, women in Delhi walked around the tight gullies of Chandni Chowk. On December 31, 2015, the movement touched a crescendo as ‘Why Loiter?’ went nationwide. “Walks and visits, not always entirely planned, will be continued as part of the Aligarh chapter of the campaign,” said Asiya Islam, an AMU alumni who volunteered along with other female members of the varsity to loiter. “It is this fear of danger in public places that eventually leads to exclusion of women from urban spaces. In Aligarh, while there is no ban on women accessing any part of the university or the city, some public spaces, such as dhabas, certain streets and eating spots are so male-dominated that women feel uncomfortable there. This needs to change.” Phadke told TOI on Saturday, “The idea has been to invite women to post narratives and images of loitering and having fun in the public space. We find that women do access public space for pleasure. We have to demonstrate this to a larger audience.” So what’s in store next? “We all have day jobs,” she said. “But we hope to continue to collaborate with ‘Girls at Dhabas’, also with ‘Fearless Collective’, and eventually build a greater South Asian solidarity. And just, ummm, go loiter.”
COMMENTARY
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21
Treaty of Hudaibiyah: The Game Changer n By Mohammad Yacoob
P
Hawthorne, California
rophet Muhammad, who was sent down to this earth as a blessing for mankind, used his prophetic vision and farsightedness at the Hudaibiyah camp to transform the accepted rules of war and peace, and introduced new strategies that proved to be a game changer affecting the entire world - opening a new chapter in human relations among people around the world and enabling the world to witness Islamic values that changed the prevailing situation in Arabian Peninsula and the then known world forever.
Prophet Muhammad migrated to Madinah and established the first Islamic community. The pagans and the Quraysh of Makkah came to Madinah after the Prophet with swords, spears and other weapons to kill him and to destroy the newly established Muslim community. Their first action was to kill him while he was still living in Makkah. When he was on his way to Madinah they chased him and searched all roads leading to Madinah. Later, they made the decision to travel to Madinah to destroy the newly established Muslim community, ultimately suffering defeats at the hands of Muslims in Battle of Badr, Battle of Uhad, and other battles. The path of destruction was in one direction only, from Makkah to Madina. The game changer proved to be in the opposite direction from Madina to Makkah involving the Prophet and fourteen thousand Muslims travelling to Makkah without the intention of waging war on the Quraysh or the pagan but with the intention of entering Makkah for performing pilgrimage and umrah. Prophet Muhammad’s intention to perform umrah infuriated and angered the pagans who made a decision to block entry of the Prophet and his entourage and followers in Makkah. Although, a state of war had existed between pagans of Makkah and the Muslim community for six years, the Muslims were coming to Makkah unarmed during the month of Dhul Qidah, one of the four sacred months, in which all warfare is forbidden. It was also a traditional practice that no one was stopped from entering Makkah. The pagans, while breaking the established law, decided to stop Prophet Mohammad by force of arms. They dispatched Khalid bin Walid who along with two hundred horsemen got ready to intercept the Muslim pilgrims. Even several
thousand heavily-armed pagans remained in Makkah to make sure that the Muslims did not enter the city. Prophet Muhammad had no intention of fighting, and by employing a new strategy, changed his route to Makkah and camped on the plain of Hudaibiyah. Uthman bin Affan was sent as the Muslim envoy to Makkah. Even the news reaching Hudaibiyah camp that Uthman bin Affan has been assassinated by the pagans and Quraysh did not shake the resolve of Prophet Muhammad who remained determined and continued to exhibit utmost patience. In the camp, he moved under the acacia tree, took a pledge from the Muslims that they would remain steadfast and fight for Islam in the face of provocations by the pagans and Quraysh. The news about the death of Uthman bin Affan later proved to be false. The Muslims were ready to face the greatest danger without fear or fight. This proved to be another situation that was a game changer, forcing the pagans to open negotiations with Prophet Muhammad. Khalid bin Walid visited the Hudaibiyah camp, observed the discipline and order, display of Islamic values by the Muslims and their love of Islam. The good intentions of Muslims speeded up the negotiations process. During the negotiations, Quraysh and the pagans refused to make any concessions or showed any leniency. The pagan representative Suhayl bin Amr raised objection twice to the wordings of the Treaty. The first time he refused to accept the attributes of Allah as the merciful and compassionate when it was written, “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” The second time on the words, “Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah”. When the words, “Following is the text of a pact reached by Muhammad, the Prophet of God and Suhayl bin Amr” were written, he objected to them by saying, “Stop it. If I had accepted you as a Prophet of God then I would not have been hostile to you.” The Prophet accepted both the objections, and the words were changed, demonstrating that there is no compulsion in Islam. Muhammad, the Prophet of merciful and compassionate God, continued to demonstrate the goodness and the human values that Islam wanted each and every pagan to embrace and follow. Many other situations and solutions that became part of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah acted as catalysts in making the Islamic position strong and became part of the game changer. Among other provisions drawn up in the treaty a stipulation was made that all warfare between Makkah and Madinah should be suspended for ten years. That year, the Muslims
were required to refrain from entering the city of Makkah, leave the camp of Hudaibiyah and return to Madinah. The next condition in the treaty required the Muslims to return a pagan or member of the Quraysh clan if he goes over to the Muslim community. On the other hand, if a Muslim goes over to the Quraysh side, he would not be sent back to the Muslim community. The last provision proved to be hard for the Muslims and created a very unsettling situation. Many followers showed resentment and dissatisfaction, however, Prophet Muhammad agreed to the provision. The treaty of Hudaibiyah proved to be a genuine victory for the Muslims. Prophet Muhammad with his convictions and belief in Allah was not looking for a quick victory
Prophet Muhammad, who was sent down to this earth as a blessing for mankind, used his prophetic vision and farsightedness at the Hudaibiyah camp to transform the accepted rules of war and peace, and introduced new strategies that proved to be a game changer affecting the entire world - opening a new chapter in human relations among people and enabling the world to witness Islamic values that changed the prevailing situation in Arabian Peninsula and the then known world forever over the pagans but a long-term victory that would last forever. His strategy was a product of profound political wisdom and farsightedness. He commanded the Muslims to accept the treaty in the face of those who questioned the wisdom of the treaty. Historians say that many reluctantly accepted compliance to the treaty. Prophet Muhammad’s vision turned the treaty of Hudaibiyah as a game changer in many ways. The pagans felt they accomplished more than they had bargained for and elevated themselves to higher levels of arrogance, however, they recognized that Prophet
Muhammad was an equal partner rather than the follower of a new religion who was insisting them to accept Islam, his religion. Even though the treaty made the pagans more arrogant it put a constraint on their hostile attitude. The members of Quraysh and other clans of Makkah started thinking more about Islam, trying to understand it, rather than committing acts of aggression against its followers, the Muslims. Many pagans were impressed by the simple, straight forward and humanistic Islamic values displayed by Prophet Muhammad. And hearing from Khalid bin Walid, Makkan commander, and other Makkans who visited the Hudaibiyah camp, about the discipline, spirit and unity displayed by fourteen thousand followers of Islam made the pagans look at Islam with a new perspective. Many began to waiver in hostility towards the faith of Islam. This was a game changer. The treaty proved the importance and future of Islam by putting an end to the perennial warfare between Makkah and Madinah, opened up ways to penetration of Islamic values into the heart of pagans, encouraging their inquisitive feelings to flourish and look at Islam favorably. The treaty of Hudaibiyah also added a new point as a game changer because it gave the Muslims the peace and security needed without the fear of an invasion from Makkah. It should be noted that Prophet Muhammad had already established peace in Madinah and the surrounding areas by dealing with Christians and Jews before embarking on his journey to Makkah for umrah that ended in the signing of the treaty of Hudaibiyah. He along with the followers, fourteen thousand strong, returned to Madinah without entering the city of Makkah. Prophet Muhammad was a man of truth and fidelity who spoke with sincerity. His treatment of the Christians, Jews, pagans and Quraysh created an atmosphere that ended up in the establishment of peace in the region and gave him time for the propagation of Islam. Within two months of his return to Madinah after signing the treaty of Hudiabiyah he began to address the kings of surrounding empires and chiefs of foreign states with the message of Islam to all men in all corners of the earth. The judgment, wisdom and the strong belief in Allah, and the prophetic vision of Prophet Muhammad, in signing the treaty of Hudaibiyah, proved to be the game changer that changed the world forever. (Mohammad Yacoob is a retired Industrial Engineer and Engineering Proposals Analyst who lives in Los Angeles, California)
A Fascinating Documentary Highlighting Relations between the Muslim World and Europe (Remarks by Ambassador Masood Khan, Director General Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) on the occasion of the screening of the film Journey into Europe by Dr Akbar S. Ahmad) ... Dr Ahmad needs no introduction in Pakistan, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. Currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University in Washington, DC, he has contributed to and shaped contemporary thinking on the relations between the Muslim and the Western worlds. In that sense, he is a communicator and conduit between East and West. Today we are going to watch a fascinating documentary covering relations between the Muslim world and Europe spanning many centuries, starting with the period of Muslim presence in Andalusia and Sicily, tracing the Ottoman expansion into Europe, and understanding the more recent era of colonization and immigration. But this documentary is not about history, but about pressing contemporary issues of multiculturalism in Europe,
cross-fertilization of the Islamic and European civilizations, stereotyping, Islamophobia, terrorism and violent extremism. The message of the documentary is not despondence but hope. It explores how Christians, Muslims and Jews can live together and promote harmony and peace. After Paris terrorist attacks, some existential questions have emerged. Europe and Islam are not quintessentially different or disparate. We see many parts of Europe steeped in Islamic civilization, whose culture, language, architecture and knowledge has left an indelible mark on modern European thought and renaissance. Similarly, Europe has left a strong imprint on the Middle East, Africa and Asia and shaped Muslim worldview. So an interface of cultures already exists. Today it is our collective responsibility to stop the hand of the terrorist from hurting Europe, its people and its cities. We have to work together to frustrate the murderous designs of the masterminds of terror, repulse their attacks and destroy the entities that support them. At the same time, Europe has to restore
self-confidence to stop incitement to hatred against Muslims living in Europe. It is clear that as Hitler, Mussolini, Milosevic and Karadzic do not represent Europe, Baghdadi and Osama Bin Laden do not epitomize, or speak for, Muslims and Islam. They are not us. Criminals and terrorists are not us either in Europe or the Muslim world. There is no use pretending that this problem - the strained relations between West and Islamic world - does not exist. It exists. We need a continuing self-healing process in Europe so that situations that led to the atrocities committed during the interwar period of the last century and the Second World War are not repeated, this time targeting Muslims. And the Muslim world needs its own reformation to turn the tide of violent extremism that threatens the Islamic and Western countries. This is not just about crafting narratives but changing reality on the ground by embracing tolerance, moderation, co-existence and scientific innovation. On the political side, the international community must find ways to resolve the issues of Jammu and Kashmir and
www.PakistanLink.com
Palestine. Let’s focus on commonalties between Muslim and European worlds and try to build on them to save our world from strife and conflict and steer it towards shared prosperity. Pakistan wants to be a crucible for that transition for integrating humanity. But Dr Ahmad’s Journey into Europe is about Europe. It is about how Europe should be more cohesive, more coherent and more integrative. His captivating and gripping odyssey takes us from Andalusia to Sicily to the Balkans to Britain to France to Germany to Denmark - all places jolted periodically by the tremors of simmering religious discord. He gives us hope. Today the story of Europe will be told by the superb narrator Dr Akbar S. Ahmad himself. But we are also fortunate to have in our midst Dr Amineh Hoti, who is the associate editor, cinematographer and script consultant of the documentary. Let me conclude with a phrase I have picked up from the documentary: Fear should not mutate into hatred.
COMMENTARY
P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
A Real Wedding
n By Rafia Zakaria
O
ne of our neighbors is in the wedding business. For this reason, it is nearly always wedding season at their house. The workday does not begin until sometime in the afternoon and it does not end until deep into the night — after the guests have left the brightly lit venues, and the chairs and tables and lights and stages have been dismantled, to be set up again the next day for the next wedding.
Over the years, their wedding business has grown to gargantuan proportions with attention being given to the most microscopic of details. It is not a surprising development; as Pakistan’s cities have swelled with newer arrivals and the progeny of old inhabitants have grown to adulthood, betrothals are numerous and more resplendent. There is, however, another reason for the ever-expanding numbers of businesses catering to the soon-to-wed. As the rate of rural to urban migration rises, and the expanding labor export market leaves many in a constant revolving process of arrival and departure, the family structures that sustained the marital celebration have all but disappeared. The consequence, of course, is that weddings (and not simply the matches made) are transactional affairs. It is far easier to pay someone to make the food, provide the music and set the stage; indeed, with money one can guarantee mirth and merriment of a sort that family relations never could. Those that are paid to be joyous and accommodating, after all, are much more reliable than the relations scarred by deceptions past, by inheritances denied — all the dark realities that those hosting weddings are eager to forget. And forget they do, thanks in part to those that have made weddings a business. With the once-loved ones duly sidelined, wedding organizers and planners will happily take over, ensure that the mehndi is arranged in glittering trays, the offerings for the bride, the perfume and the bangles, the shoes and the chocolate, are all arrayed on trays and wrapped up in tulle. Whatever gaps are left unfilled by the paid can be made up by friends enlisted over the years, whose weddings the now bride and groom have dutifully attended: the cashing in of favors past.
H
If the now marrying have been lackadaisical in attending the mehndis, mayuns, nikahs and rukhsatis of others, the effects will be visible, usually on the dance floor. As all urban Pakistanis know, the number of dances to the latest Bollywood numbers, remixed rap anthems and revitalized oldies are all testaments to the popularity of the bride and groom. The sweaty, dancing, hapless souls, happy on demand and desperate for a bit of the limelight, must participate in the mandatory merriment; it may be their best chance to snag a wife or husband of their own. A second rank may constitute the recently married, eager to exhibit the dribbles of youth that marital drudgery has not bled away, exhibiting the triumph of still fitting into the garments of one’s glory day. Nearly everyone who reads this article will participate in such a spectacle in the short cool months, when large crowds are more easily amassed, fatty foods more easily consumed. Old saris will be dragged out per the retro themes of the day, itchy suits and overgarnished sherwanis stuck over bodies grown large between now and last December.
If the hirelings that have been employed to produce the wedding feast are well paid and honest, there will be biryani and korma
The Pakistani wedding, with its hollow adherence to custom and tradition, largely aped from television dramas and Bollywood sagas, is an attempt to patch up the holes and gaps of now with hired hands and self-serving friends. Underneath the mandatory merriment lies a torn social fabric that is not what it used to be and has little idea of what it wants to be and only mild heartburn. If not, the vapid consumption of grease-laden food will end
with a long night, solitary payment for communal gluttony. Those are the physical risks, the psychological carnage of forgotten sisters, ignored cousins and so much else that has a cost all its own — that accrues invisibly but inflicts its own mortal wounds, whose blood and gore lie just beneath the enforced joy. The wedding is an emblem of culture, and the Pakistani culture, battered by decades of war and demographic change, stands changed. The Pakistani wedding, with its hollow adherence to custom and tradition, largely aped from television dramas and Bollywood sagas, is an attempt to patch up the holes and gaps of now with hired hands and self-serving friends. Underneath the mandatory merriment lies a torn social fabric that is not what it used to be and has little idea of what it wants to be. A sincere commitment to maintaining familial relations requires more than attendance at weddings; it necessitates respect and a desire for love to mean more than the public proffering of hugs and kisses at nikahs and rukhsatis. If the increasing numbers of monetary transactions involved in arranging a wedding, from the florist to the DJ, from the caterer to the venue manager, are any evidence, then it is money and not family that is of primary importance. With the former, the pretence of a happy family untainted by sibling cruelties and parental favoritism can be magically recreated at the wedding venue: a glittering bride and groom, a backlit stage, thumping music, all making up for the love and closeness that is no more. The big wedding has long been a South Asian boast, and urban Pakistanis have begun to enact its grandiosity and faux sentimentality with the artifice of Bollywood productions. There are actors and actresses, some better than others; there are set designers and scriptwriters, choreography and music and, of course, heroes and villains. There is one crucial difference though: the unreality of the Bollywood production is well known but the chicanery of the urban Pakistani wedding, its glittery gloss over frayed families, its garish re-enactment of cinematic scenes, insists that it is, in fact, the real, joyful, thing. (Rafia Zakaria is an attorney and human rights activist. She is a columnist for DAWN Pakistan and a regular contributor for Al Jazeera America, Dissent, Guernica and many other publications)
Pakistan Super League Is Ready to Kick Start in UAE in February
BL, Pakistan’s largest bank, joined hands with Pakistan Super League (PSL) as the cricket tournament’s title sponsor of the inaugural event to be held in the UAE in February this year. The league will now officially be known as HBL Pakistan Super League and has managed an impressive roster of top international cricketers and coaches. In addition, franchise ownership rights were sold for a whopping $93 million, making it the single largest investment in any kind of sport in Pakistan.
The finest Twenty20 players in world cricket have been snapped by the five franchises that will play in the HBL Pakistan Super League to be held in the UAE in February. The player draft that took place at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore saw the five franchises picking nine players each. Lahore Qalandars got flamboyant West Indies opener Chris Gayle while Islamabad United bagged Australian all-rounder Shane Watson. Quetta Gladiators got England’s star batsman Kevin Pietersen. With a large population of Pakistan fans living in UAE, the inaugural PSL with top players is expected to draw large crowds. The Pakistan Cricket Board have already booked all the top stadiums in the UAE for the event. PSL had opted for a draft in place of an auction in order to ensure better competition with the result that all five teams are equally stocked with star power and skill. Peshawar Zalmi made the first pick and opted for Pakistan’s T20 captain Shahid Afridi. Pakistan’s in-form all-rounder Shoaib Malek went to Karachi Kings. Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan will also be seen in action. Dilshan, known for his innovative shots known as ‘Dilscoop’, is set to enthrall UAE fans with his whirlwind knocks. He has been picked up by Karachi Kings. Fast bowler Mohammad Amir, who was banned from the game for his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal, will also be in action for Karachi Kings. Peshawar went for Australian star spinner Brad
Hodge for their team. Islamabad went on to pick England wicketkeeper Sam Billings. However, it is doubtful whether Billings will be available as the dates of the tournament clash with England’s South Africa tour and Billings might be selected for the tour. It is understood that Lasith Malinga pulled out of his contract with PSL wanting to prepare for the oncoming World Twenty20 event. Pakistan skipper Younis Khan, who led the country to its only World Twenty20 championship, did not get picked, neither did Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene. Quetta Gladiators picked Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi. Another good pick by Quetta was Asad Shafiq, who is expected to add solidity to their batting line-up. Quetta also got Sri Lanka’s master batsman Kumar Sangakkara. Karachi got their local boy Fawad Alam while Azhar Ali was picked up by Lahore. Among the Bangladesh players, seamer Mustafizur Rahman was taken by Lahore while hard-hitting opener Tamim Iqbal was chosen by Peshawar. All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will be in the Karachi side. The coaches of the five teams will be Mickey Arthur for Kara-
www.PakistanLink.com
chi Kings; Mohammad Akram for Peshawar Zalmi; Dean Jones for Islamabad United; Paddy Upton for Lahore Qalandars; and Moin Khan for Quetta Gladiators. Teams: (all 20 players) Islamabad United: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Andre Russell, 3 Misbahul-Haq, 4 Samuel Badree, 5 Mohammad Irfan, 6 Brad Haddin, 7 Sharjeel Khan, 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Khalid Latif, 10 Babar Azam, 11 Imran Khalid, 12 Kamran Ghulam, 13 Umar Amin, 14 Sam Billings, 15 Rumman Raees, 16 Amad Butt, 17 Ashar Zaidi, 18 Saeed Ajmal, 19 Hussain Talat, 20 Umar Siddiq Karachi Kings: 1 Shoaib Malik, 2 Shakib Al Hasan, 3 Sohail Tanvir, 4 Imad Wasim, 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Lendl Simmons, 7 Mohammad Amir, 8 Bilawal Bhatti, 9 James Vince, 10 Iftikhar Ahmed, 11 Nauman Anwar, 12 Mushfiqur Rahim, 13 Usama Mir, 14 Sohail Khan, 15 Mir Hamza, 16 Safiullah Bangash, 17 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 18 Shahzaib Hasan, 19 Fawad Alam Peshawar Zalmi: 1 Shahid Afridi, 2 Wahab Riaz, 3 Darren Sammy, 4 Kamran Akmal, 5 Mohammad Hafeez, 6 Chris Jordan, 7 Tamim Iqbal, 8 Junaid Khan, 9 Jim Allenby, 10 Aamer Yamin, 11 Dawid Malan, 12 Imran Khan jr, 13 Shahid Yousuf, 14 Abdur Rehman, 15 Musadiq Ahmed, 16 Hasan Ali, 17 Mohammad Asghar, 18 Brad Hodge, 19 Israrullah, 20 Taj Wali Quetta Gladiators: 1 Kevin Pietersen, 2 Sarfraz Ahmed, 3 Ahmed Shehzad, 4 Anwar Ali, 5 Jason Holder, 6 Luke Wright, 7 Zulfiqar Babar, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Elton Chigumbura, 10 Bilal Asif, 11 Asad Shafiq, 12 Mohammad Nawaz, 13 Saad Nasim, 14 Mohammad Nabi, 15 Akbar-ur-Rehman, 16 Bismillah Khan, 17 Kumar Sangakkara, 18 Aizaz Cheema, 19 Rameez Raja Jr. Lahore Qalandars: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Dwayne Bravo, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Mohammad Rizwan, 5 Yasir Shah, 6 Shoaib Maqsood, 7 Mustafizur Rahman, 8 Kevon Cooper, 9 Cameron Delport, 10 Zafar Gohar, 11 Hammad Azam, 12 Zia-ul-Haq, 13 Zohaib Khan, 14 Azhar Ali, 15 Naved Yasin, 16 Adnan Rasool, 17 Abdul Razzaq, 18 Mukhtar Ahmed, 19 Ehsan Adil, 20 Imran Butt
COMMENTARY
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P23
Film Review
n By Rafiq Ebrahim
T
Winfield, IL
his much-awaited Shahrukh-Kajol starrer surprisingly falls flat on the celluloid; and one wonders what an established film-maker like Rohit Shetty was doing while directing the flick. Dilwale has nothing notable to offer. A poor script, marred by lifeless comic antics, artificiallooking characters, middleaged romantic pair and too many dons – one, Boman Irani, a comic one – their sons and daughters, is what Dilwale is all about.
The story is about multiple dons – Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi, Boman Irani and a few more and their sons, Shahrukh Khan and Varun Dhawan; daughters, Kajol and a pretty new girl – all of them making a mess on the screen. Kali (Shahrukh) after indulging in a number of shoot-outs suddenly reforms into an owner of a car garage that repairs cars and also modify them. He loves his brother Varun (who in reality is not his real brother, but that doesn’t make any difference), and caters to his every whim. Varun, meanwhile, falls in love and performs silly comedy to win the girl, who turns out to be Kajol’s younger sister. Kajol and Shahrukh are
A
Dilwale: Marred by Lifeless Comic Antics
separated, the former thinking the latter to be a real enemy as a result of the clash of the dons. Fights and Hollywood type of actions, including car chases and gun fights follow. After fifteen years they meet each other. During all these years Kajol believed that it were Shahrukh and
n By Tariq Masood
n unassuming and calm-looking Aslam Azhar, once he was off his job, lead a peaceful life in a serene (rented) house off the Margalla Road in Islamabad, away from the glamour and gabble of the city. The octogenarian exuded a strange satisfaction, eyes beaming and face aglow with a faint smile when I met him for an interview (which lasted for about an hour) in November 2014. “Looking back, I am pretty pleased with myself,” he stated, his deep voice echoing across the room.
his father who started the fight with her father and his men and killed her father. The misunderstanding is at last cleared; and the movie comes to a welcome end. As regards the performances, Shahrukh looks impressive only in the scenes in which he has a dark stubble on his face, look-
ing like a matured and kindly person. As a young lover, he fails miserably. He appears as if he has been forced to be romantic. The lipstick on his lips makes him look haggard; his face is in most scenes covered by a cap and hair covering his forehead and dark glasses shielding his eyes. In this
Aslam Azhar – Far from the Madding Crowd
Aslam passed away last Tuesday, after undergoing prostate surgery last month. The 83-year-old leaves behind two sons, Usama Azhar, Arieb Azhar and a daughter Umaima Azhar. His wife Nasreen Azhar is a renowned human and women’s rights activist. A recluse that he was, after spending an eventful life in the world of broadcast he had retreated to his favorite world of books. He was an avid reader of the history of civilizations and anthropology. He owed his love for words and books to his father AD Azhar who was a government servant in British India. Those who knew Aslam, told me he does not meet people unless it becomes extremely unavoidable. True it was; he seldom spoke to the media.
Born in September of 1932, in his early 30s the legendary broadcaster was heading the nascent PTV. He well deservedly had many firsts to his name in the history of broadcasting in the country. Throughout his career, Aslam remained associated with radio and television in coveted positions till the end of Benazir Bhutto’s first government in 1990, except for the 10 years when Ziaul Haq ruled. Yet he had no wish to pen any memoirs. He was content with the recordings conducted by PTV for its archives and sundry interviews by the print media. Think what you will. Azhar did his Bachelors from Government College University, Lahore. He for a brief period after completing his Master’s from Cambridge University in 1954 served with Burma Oil Company. A man of many talents who soon realized his muse lay elsewhere; he joined the government’s department of films and publications. Around that time the then president Ayub Khan and his information secretary
Altaf Gauhar were exploring options to bring the ‘magic box’ to Pakistan to propagate the agenda of the government. For this purpose, they were in negotiations with various international companies. It was November 26, 1964 when the Japanese Nippon Electric Company (NEC) started a three-month pilot project in the lawns of Radio Pakistan, Lahore. Aslam, the man who had experience of both theatre and broadcasting, was the first choice to helm the project. The government being apprehensive of the success of the project asked NEC to bear all the expenses, which it would reimburse only if the project turns out to be a success. With Aslam and his team in charge, the government soon had to write a check for the Japanese. Former federal secretary I A Imtiazi in the book This is PTV: Another Day, Another World, writes that Aslam “was the real found-
ing father of PTV who gathered a team of raw persons and taught them to write, present and produce programs skillfully.” For Aslam, surprisingly enough, the governments of Ayub and Yahya Khan were less interfering. Advertisements were rolling in at a steady pace and he had reasonable amount of editorial independence. He made a conscious effort to introduce folk singers like Tufail Niazi and Saeen Akhter, in his own words, to bridge the gap between the urban and the rural population, and started shows for the youth. He also remembered the time when Ayub was obsessed with celebrating the “so-called decade of development”. He had admitted he was compelled to do a series of propaganda programs but was quite happy to see the people, despite all the propaganda, “throw him out eventually”.
www.PakistanLink.com
film, Shahrukh Khan has given one of his worst performances. Well, it is time for Kajol to say goodbye to romantic roles. She has almost lost her Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaege magical touch. She stands out only in the sequence which shows her as a true gun-smart daughter of a don, frustrating Shahrukh’s plan of smuggling gold. The ShahrukhKajol jori, once outstanding, now seems to be a faded-glory. All others have done their bit roles in a likeable manner, spoilt when trying to be comic. The musical score is just average, and not even the dance and song number performed by the lead players in a costly location like Iceland appeals. Rohit Shetty may be a recognized director, but this time he has failed to do any impressive scene from the poor script. If the lifeless comedy was taken out of the film, the result would have been tolerable. That way the director could have focused on whatever positive aspect he could have picked from the script. The only thing that deserves merit is the camera-work and the angles and lenses the photographer has used, particularly in Iceland. Lamentably Dilwale doesn’t deserve even a star ranking. At the most, because of the presence of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, let me give it one star.
People were absolutely delighted to see the faces of those they had heard on radio, Aslam had recalled during the interview. He established television stations in Karachi, Lahore and Quetta, bringing quality programming and latest equipment. He had to his credit, among other initiatives, the first PTV award ceremony, 1982-83’s Music 89, marathon transmissions on 1970 elections and the Islamic Summit held in Lahore. When BBC’s David Frost visited Pakistan in 1970, Aslam along with Yasmin Shahid Hasan and Shoaib Hashmi interviewed him. Frost was famous for his show Face to Face. Aslam produced a similar program named Roobaroo, hosted by Mohsin Sherazi, which became quite popular. Khuda ki Basti and many other plays got a new lease of life under his able leadership. As the first professional managing director of PTV between 1971 and 1976, he established the Peshawar and Quetta centers in a record three-month time. Before the 1977 elections, realizing that Aslam would not do his bidding; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto transferred him to the less lucrative PTV Training Academy. Later with Zia at the helm, Aslam had to move to Karachi where he started Dastak Theatre group to highlight issues of the working classes. Short plays on social themes relating to workers, students and women were adapted, translated and performed for the workers’ communities. During the first government of Benazir, Aslam was appointed chairman of both Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) and PTV. During the chairmanship he gave clear instructions to all stations to be impartial and unbiased, supported unionism and encouraged programming in regional languages. Benazir was soon sent packing and so was Aslam; he was accused of bringing back liberalism to broadcasting. That was curtains for his professional career. He sided with the left, at least ideologically if not practically. In the early days of PTV, he was much respected by the workers’ union because he always considered himself a man of the people. He refused to have an AC installed in his room until the whole building was provided with adequate air conditioning. He who established television in CROWD, P20
COMMENTARY
P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
Gifts of Appreciation Assets 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) Making gifts of appreciated property is an extremely attractive proposition for many donors. In many instances, the donor can deduct the full fair market value of his or her gift if the charity uses the property or securities in a way related to its exempt purpose. The result is that the donor may avoid paying any capital gains tax on the appreciation of the gifted property or securities. For nonprofit organizations, though, noncash gifts can sometimes be a double-edged sword. While your organization welcomes these gifts, noncash donations required more record keeping than cash gifts and are open to greater scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You should check with your accountant before donating any of the appreciated assets. It is important for a donor and recipient both to check with the proper professionals. Let’s take a look at some of the more common types of noncash donations and their tax treatments. Ordinary Income Property Ordinary income property is property that would produce gain other than long-term capital gain if it were sold by the door instead LIFE FROM P9
president had received an unprecedented welcome in the United States with President John Kennedy hosting his guest in the home of George Washington at Mount Vernon. Harvard and World Bank economists spoke of Pakistan as being at the “take-off ” stage of economic development. South Korean economists came to Pakistan to study its methods. Most important, there was no overt hostility to Islam in the West. The media barely recognized the existence of the religion and certainly did not equate it to terrorism. When people discovered I was from Pakistan they were mildly curious about it as many thought it was part of India, but I did not experience any overt hostility because of Islam. Over the decades, change in attitudes towards Muslims began to take place from the Iranian hostage crisis onward and then built up rapidly with global events such as the fatwa against Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” (1988), Samuel Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” (1993) and finally the events of 9/11 in which nearly 3,000 American lost their lives at the hand of Muslim terrorists. The media have also been slowly but steadily building up a drumbeat of antagonism and suspicion toward Muslims. Pakistani militants
of contributed to charity. Business inventory is one example of ordinary income property. Works of art created by the donor or manuscripts created by the donor and capital assets the donor has owned for a year or less are other examples. A donor’s deduction for a gift of ordinary income property generally is limited to the donor’s basis in the property-the amount paid to acquire or produce the property. In the case of business property, the deduction generally would be reduced by the profit the donor could have made if the item has been sold during the normal course of business. Additional limits apply to property donations made by a regular “C” corporation. Tangible Personal Property To receive full tax benefits for gifts of tangible personal property, donors should make their gifts with the nonprofit organization’s exempt purpose in mind. If the donated property is used by the nonprofit to further its stated charitable purpose, the donor generally can claim a deduction for the property’s current full fair market value. Otherwise, the deduction is limited to the donor’s basis in the property. Real Estate The tax treatment of gifts of have not been out of the news since then: they have been involved in, to give only the more notorious examples, the 2005 bombings in Central London, in which some 50 people were killed and more than 700 injured, the 2014 massacre of 148 in the Army Public School in Peshawar, of which most were schoolchildren and the December 2015 massacre of 14 Americans in San Bernardino, Calif. I wonder if Ian Stephens were alive today in the UK and came across young Pakistanis heading his way, whether he would pause for a moment, turn around, and head the other way or greet them. Such is the distance we have travelled over the last half century. DIPLOMACY FROM P7
We know that all international conflicts ultimately were resolved on the negotiating table. If that is true then the world powers should become deeply engaged in order to make sure that the peace process between India and Pakistan does not get derailed. They can play a bridge building to bring India and Pakistan together so that animosity is done away with and the dawn of dialogue and engagement is sustained. They need to make sure that the policy of conflict resolution adopted by both New Delhi and Islamabad over the Kashmir
No Orphan Without Education
real estate depends on whether the property is unencumbered or encumbered real estate. Essentially, a gift of unencumbered real estate is treated like any other gift of appreciated property; the gift is considered complete when the title to the property is transferred to the charitable organization. Gifts of property encumbered by a mortgage or other debt are more complicated. The gift generally will be treated as both a sale and a gift, which will reduce the amount of the donor’s charitable deduction and generate capital gain taxable to the donor. You should consult your legal and tax advisors before contemplating any significant charitable gift, but professional advice is imperative for gifts of real estate. For an investment property, recapture of accelerated depreciation is a concern and should also be reviewed by your legal and tax advisors. Additionally, for most gifts described in this article, the donor will need a qualified appraisal to validate their income tax charitable deduction. Getting an appraisal and consulting with your professionals before donating is a must. (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.) dispute is consistent, coherent, transparent and dependable. Rest of us need to wait till we see the translation of these important gestures between New Delhi and Islamabad into substantive policy procedures that will ultimately help in resolving the bone of contention – the Kashmir dispute – to the satisfaction of all the concerned parties – India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. That day may come when Kashmir’s desires and interests as well as their representation at the table are recognized. Any process that ignores those sentiments will not only prove to be an exercise in futility but can also cause incalculable human and political damage for the people of the region of South Asia – home to one-fifth of total human race. (Dr Fai is the Secretary General of the World Kashmir Awareness - gnfai2003@yahoo.com) TIME FROM P8
Voltaire. Perhaps they were, and perhaps it was in response to this assault against not only life but also against reason itself, that more voices demanding responsibility are beginning to be heard. (Yasmine Bahrani is a professor of journalism at American University in Dubai. - The Washington Post)
www.PakistanLink.com
It costs just $10 per month to educate an orphan in need.
Sign up for Automatic Direct Payment from your checking or savings account on our secure website to give monthly towards this project or others.
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.
Selling Rs.
106.00 156.25 28.05 0.86 115.00 28.90
106.25 156.95 28.20 0.89 115.50 29.05
(*6 January, 2016) US VISA BULLETIN ON JANUARY 2016 For Pakistan, Bangladesh & India Compiled by Hasan Chishti FAMILY SPONSORED PREFERENCES
Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st Unmarried sons & daughters of U.S. Citizens
May 15, 2008
May 15, 2008
2-A Spouses and unmarried children of permanent residents
August 1, 2014
August 1, 2014
2-B Unmarried sons & daughters (21 years of age or older) of permanent residents
April 1, 2009
April 1, 2009
3rd
Aug., 1, 2004
August 1, 2004
April 22, 2003
April 22, 2003
Married sons & daughters of US Citizens
4th Brothers & sisters of adult U.S. citizens
India
EMPLOYMENT BASED CATEGORY 1st Priority workers
Current
Current
2nd Members of the professions holding advanced degree or persons of exceptional ability
Current
Feb., 1, 2008
3rd Skilled workers Other workers
Oct., 1, 2015 Oct., 1, 2015
May 15, 2004 May 15 2004
4th Certain special immigrants Certain religious workers
Current Unauthorized
Current Unauthorized
5th Non-Regional Center Regional Center
Current Unauthorized
Current Unauthorized
UNLIMITED FAMILY-BASED Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens (IR): The spouse, widow(er) and unmarried children under 21 of a U.S citizen, and the parent of a U.S. citizen who is 21 or older. Returning Residents (SB): Immigrants who lived in the United States previously as lawful permanent residents and are returning to live in the U.S. after a temporary visit of more than one year abroad. Unauthorized means numbers are not authorized for issuance.
RELIGION
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P25
The Real Believers: Some Parables of the Prophet n By Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi
Gems from the Holy Qur’an
W
ho are the real believers? Prophet Muhammad –peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was very much concerned that his followers should be believes in the true sense of the word. His concern was that the believers must have sound faith and sound character. There are a number of Ahadith in which the Prophet –peace be upon him- described the believers’ life and behavior with beautiful examples and parables. I would like to mention ten examples for our knowledge and inspiration. A believer is a peaceful and caring person: The believer is the person whom people consider safe for their money and their persons. (Majma’ al-Zawa’id, 5625) The word ‘iman’ comes from the root ‘amn’ which means safety and security. The Prophet wanted to emphasize that faith is not just belief, but it is also the peaceful, caring and trustworthy character. The person of faith must be honest to all people. People should feel secure about their money and persons when dealing with a true believer. A believer is a person of nobility and generosity: The Prophet – peace be upon him- said, “Do not call grapevine ‘karam,’ because the ‘karam’ is the believer’s heart. ” (Bukhari and Muslim) Arabs used to call grapevine ‘karam’ (generosity and graciousness) because they used to think that vine revived the heart and caused generosity. The Prophet wanted to emphasize that it should be faith that make people kind and generous. The effects of vine are mostly harmful, but the true believers’ hearts are always full of kindness and nobility. A believer is always beneficial: It is reported that one day the Prophet asked his companions: ‘Among the trees there is a tree whose leaves do not fall and it is like a Muslim. Tell me what its name is?’ People went thinking about all kinds of desert trees. Abdullah (ibn Umar)
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).
said, ‘I thought that it was date-palm, but I was shy (and did not reply). Then the people said, ‘Tell us what it is, O Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘It is datepalm.’ (Al-Bukhari ) Date-palm was the most beneficial tree for the people of Arabia. It needed very little water and care; but it was useful for them in all seasons. It provided them food to eat, its stones were used as feed for animals, its trunks, branches and leaves were used for building homes and putting roofs on them. Palm-tree could survive under very harsh climate and its food was most nutritious and beneficial for them in all seasons. The Prophet said that this should be the way of a Muslim. A true Muslim is simple, strong, with little needs and a lot of benefits to all people. A believer is pure with shiny character: “By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the example of a believer is like that of a piece of gold. The goldsmith puts it under the heat, but it does not change and does not lose itself. (Suyuti, Jami’ al-Masanid,
24576) The Prophet – peace be upon him - emphasized that a true believer is like gold, precious, pure and good. If he/she goes through trials and difficulties, they make him even better. He comes out stronger and shines more.
herself: “The example of a believer is like a horse connected to its stud. It moves and then comes back to its place. The believer may forget sometimes but he/ she comes back to faith.” (Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, 11097)
A believer produces only good things. By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the example of a believer is like that of the honey-bee. It consumes good and it produces good things. It does not break, nor spoil.” (Ibid) Honey-bee does not consume anything bad and whatever it consumes it even brings out better than what it took. The honey-bee sits on flowers but it does not break them or spoil them. The Prophet wanted the believers to be like honey-bee in their work and efforts.
If a horse strays, he knows how to go back to its stable; but a donkey keeps wandering and does not know how to come back to its home. A believer is not someone who does not forget and who does not transgress; but a true believer will always return to his/her senses and would not keep wandering like a donkey.
A believer knows how to handle tough situations: “The example of a believer is like an ear of corn; it bends sometimes but it becomes straight; the example of a disbeliever is like a cedar, it stands straight until it falls and does not understand.” (Musnad Ahamad ibn Hanbal, 14468) A believer goes through good times and rough times. He/ she knows how to handle each situation. A believer is not rigid and inflexible because rigidity destroys and uproots. A believer knows his/ her limits and knows how to correct him/
www.PakistanLink.com
Believers support each other: A believer for the believer is like a building, each part supporting the other. The Prophet joined his fingers together . (Al-Bukhari, 475) The believers must support each other in matters of goodness and piety. They should act like a building: each brick supporting the other brick. Believers correct and improve each other: “A believer is the mirror of his brother.” A mirror points out the wrong; but it does not save it or publicize it. A believer does not get angry when his brother tells him about his shortcomings and mistakes, just as a person would not get angry with the mirror shows him his problems. Believers care for each other: The example of believers in their mutual love, compassion and care is like one body: if one part of it has pain, the whole body joins it with sleeplessness and fever. (Muslim, 6538) All believers must be united and connected with each other like one body. Every part of the body cares for the other. If some people in the Ummah suffer the whole Ummah should feel pain and unhappiness. They must support each other. (Khutbah at ISOC – Jumada alUla 29, 1431/ May 14, 2010)
Chapter 113, Al- Falaq (The Rising Dawn), Verses 1-5 (Complete Surah) Say: “I seek refuge with the Sustainer of the rising dawn, [ 1 ] “from the evil of aught that he has created, “and from the evil of the black darkness whenever it descends, [ 2 ] “and from the evil of all human beings bent on occult endeavours, [ 3] “and from the evil of the envious when he envies.” [ 4 ] ______________________ Translator’s Notes [ 1 ] The term al-falaq (“the light of dawn” or “the rising dawn”) is often used topically to describe “the emergence of truth after [a period of ] uncertainty”: hence, the appellation “Sustainer of the rising dawn” implies that God is the source of all cognition of truth, and that one’s seeking refuge” with Him is synonymous with striving after truth. [ 2 ] I.e., the darkness of despair, or of approaching death. In all these four verses (2 to 5), the term “evil” (sharr) has not only an objective but also a subjective connotation – namely, fear of evil. [ 3 ] Literally, “of those that blow (an-naffathaat) upon knots”: an idiomatic phrase current in pre-Islamic Arabia and, hence, employed in classical Arabic to designate all supposedly occult endeavours: it was probably derived from the practice of “witches” and “sorcerers” who used to tie a string into a number of knots while blowing upon them and murmuring magic incantations. The feminine gender of naffathaat does not, as Zamakhshari and Raazi point out, necessarily indicate “women”, but may relate to “human beings” (anfus, sing. nafs, a noun that is grammatically feminine). In his explanation of the above verse, Zamakhshari categorically rejects all belief in the reality and effectiveness of such practices, as well as the concept of “magic” as such. Similar views have been expressed – albeit in a much GEMS, P28
ADVERTISEMENT
P26 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 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
JANUARY 8, 2016 - PAKISTAN LINK
SPORTS SPORTS
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P27
Pakistan to Appeal Yasir Shah's Failed Dope Test
LAHORE: If spinner's appeal is rejected, he faces a possible ban of up to four years. Pakistan will appeal against the decision to suspend Yasir Shah over a failed dope test, authorities recently, as sources said the spin star told a panel last week he had taken medication for hypertension. The 29-year-old leg-spinner was
provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Dec. 27 after testing positive for chlorthalidone, a diuretic used to treat hypertension that is listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list of masking agents. Shah, whose test was conducted on Nov. 13 during the one-day series against England in the United Arab
Emirates, has recently emerged as a match-winner in Test cricket and is the world's highest-ranking spinner in the format. Sources within the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Shah told the medical panel last week he had taken a tablet from his wife to treat hypertension. PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan said the board's medical panel had met on Monday after receiving more details from the ICC on Shah's case, and had decided not to request a second urine sample. "We have decided not to go for the 'B' sample test, and instead will appeal with the ICC," he told. Under the ICC rules Shah has until Sunday to challenge the suspension or plead guilty. If his appeal is rejected, he faces a possible ban of up to four years. Shah emerged as a match-winner for Pakistan in Test cricket after he replaced ace spinner Saeed Ajmal, who struggled with a remodeled bowling action after it was reported in 2014. Shah took 24 wickets in Pakistan's 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka in July and another 15 in a 2-0 Test win over England in November. J
Chris Gayle: Somerset “still interested” in West Indies batsman MELBOURNE: Somerset have confirmed they are "still interested" in re-signing batsman Chris Gayle despite his controversy over comments to a female reporter. The 36-year-old West Indies star has been fined for asking Mel McLaughlin on a date during a live TV interview. He subsequently apologised, but said the reaction was "out of proportion". Gayle spent part of last season at Taunton and the club said he made a hugely positive impact on and off the pitch with community work and coaching. Speaking before the incident, chief executive Guy Lavender told. "We aspire to get the very best players in the world. We have the finances available." From meeting a fan who dived into a river to retrieve one of Gayle's sixes to turning out for South Devon Cricket Club, the Jamaican immersed himself in life at England's smallest cricketing county last summer, and Lavender is keen for him to return. "We know Chris Gayle really
enjoyed his time when he was here," Lavender added. "Last season he was tremendous on and off the pitch, all the pieces of the jigsaw need to align and we'll see where we get to over the next month." Gayle is currently playing for Melbourne Renegades in Australia's
Big Bash competition and his comments came as they beat Hobart Hurricanes on Monday. He was fined by his team for "inappropriate conduct" and one of those openly critical of his behaviour is former Australia opener Chris Rogers, who has signed to play for Somerset this summer. Rogers told ABC Grandstand in Australia: "Bit difficult because he might be playing at Somerset where I'm going to playing this coming year, but from my time at the [Sydney] Thunder I was very disappointed in his attitude and his behaviour. I've never been a fan since. "I would go out with him socially in a group, as you do in a team and I'd probably distance myself from him. "I was very wary of the role he was setting for the young guys and I spoke to them quite a bit; 'do you think this is good behaviour? Would you do this kind of thing?' And all of them, to give them credit, were like no, we don't think this is right." Gayle totalled 328 runs in three appearances for Somerset in 2015, with 85 not out against Hampshire his lowest score. J
PCB Fails to Safeguard National Interests ISLAMABAD: The selection of players for the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which is all set to be launched in February, has exposed the tall claims of the league's authorities of providing opportunities to local talent including emerging players and coaches. Franchises had already selected their players on papers. Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore teams look quite balanced, while Karachi, which was sold most expensively, looked quite weak one, as they haven't select a genuine T20 player, with the exception of tainted fast bowler M Aamir and highly unfortunate Sohail Tanveer. Islamabad is the only side, whose owners despite talking too much, completely ignored the local RawalpindiIslamabad talent in reality. They didn't
even bother to invite any representative of either Islamabad Region Cricket Association or Rawalpindi Region Cricket Association. The hype of plight was witnessed as Islamabad owner Ali Raza Naqvi, despite making tall claims of providing maximum opportunities to local talent and Islamabad name would be taken good care of, gave zero importance to the feelings of the twincities masses. Even most powerful PCB Governing Body member Shakil Sheikh was not invited for the logo unveiling ceremony held in federal capital as the ceremony was completely mismanaged and pathetic. A lot of blunders were witnessed in bidding of players and naming icon players. It was transition of almost all the leagues that local players were
made icon players, but in the PSL's case, some certain individuals blackmailed Najam Sethi and company and managed to reap maximum benefits. One thing, which is strange and completely unacceptable, is the way the PCB is giving over-the-moon importance to the overseas players. It seems these international players have done extra favour to the PCB or Pakistan and are not playing at the UAE venues, but at Pakistani soil, but in reality, nothing is like that. It is true that Gayle, KP, Watson, Sangkakkara, Russel and a few others are big cricketing names, but it is also true that majority f these players don't represent their respective countries and rely solely on playing leagues in different parts of the world. J
www.Pakistanlink.com www.PakistanLink.com
Players Cannot Be Counseled After They Become ‘Stars’: Waqar
KARACHI: Waqar Younis feels it is easier to give lessons in etiquette to aspiring Pakistan cricketers than expect seniors to change. After all, he said, the established players are "stars". It is not as if the Pakistan coach has no expectation of his senior team members; for instance, he has a specific word of advice for Umar Akmal - deliver first, demand a batting position of choice later. For the rest of the team, Waqar says it is best to be careful when it comes to speaking to the media, as "it hurts" to learn about a grouse from the papers the next day. Waqar was responding to a set of questions on disciplinary issues. The former great said the team comprised "a good bunch of people" and that "as a helping hand", he was trying to ensure "it making loose statements did not occur. Team is family: According to Waqar, the ongoing camp at the Gaddafi Stadium was very important to unite a team fractured by Mohammad
Aamir's inclusion for the New Zealand series. "I am sure it will help and bring the players closer," he said. "It's human to make mistakes, and when somebody has made mistakes and people have been forgiven, I think it's time to move on." When asked specifically about players talking out of turn to the media, Waqar likened the team to a family and that it made him "feel sorry" to read about internal differences in the papers. "This is a family environment, you are talking about family, you don't go out and tell," he said. "I think the board should also look into this situation." Waqar also blamed the media for "blowing up" issues, saying when people lived together for three-quarters of a year, a "few odd things happen here and which is normal and common". At the same time, his unhappiness over players airing their views in public was obvious. "They should concentrate on the job they were given rather than talking about these things," he said. J
Halep pulls out of Brisbane International BRISBANE: Defending champion Maria Sharapova and top seed Simona Halep pulled out of the Brisbane International recently citing injuries, depriving the contest of two of its main drawcards. Sharapova withdrew from the season-opening event with a left forearm injury, saying it was a precautionary move ahead of the Australian Open later this month. "I hurt my forearm in practice a couple of days ago," the world number four and third seed said in a statement. "This is such a special event for me, especially being the defending champion. "I'm looking forward to seeing all my fans in Brisbane next year," she added. The 28-year-old Russian had been
due to play fellow countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova in the first round later on Tuesday. Makarova will now take on qualifying lucky loser Margarita Gasparyan, another Russian. Sharapova's decision not to risk her Australian Open campaign comes after the latter half of her 2015 season was wrecked by injuries, first to her right leg which forced her to miss the US Open. She retired from her comeback match at the Wuhan Open in China in September with a left forearm injury, only returning for the WTA Tour finals in Singapore at the end of October. Sharapova was joined on the sidelines at Brisbane by Romanian world number two Halep later Tuesday, who blamed a left leg injury for her decision to pull out. J
PAKISTAN
P28 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016 GEMS FROM P25
more elaborate manner, on the basis of established psychological findings - by Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rasheed Rida (see Manaar I, 398 ff.). The reason why the believer is enjoined to “seek refuge with God” from such practices despite their palpable irrationality is – according to Zamakhshari – to be found in the inherent sinfulness of such endeavours, and in the mental danger in which they may involve their author. [ 4 ] I.e., from the effects – moral and social – which another person’s envy may have on one’s life, as well as from succumbing oneself to the evil of envy. In this connection Zamakshari quotes a saying of the Caliph ‘Umar bin ‘Abd al-Aziz ( called “the second ‘Umar” on account of his piety and integrity): “I cannot think of any wrongdoer (zaalim) who is more likely to be the wronged one (mazluum) than he who envies another.” ___________________ WORKERS FROM P18
“At no time did Cargill prevent people from prayer at Fort Morgan. Nor have we changed policies related to religious accommodation and attendance. This has been mischaracterized.” Speaking to Denver Post the spokesperson said, “It’s an unfortunate situation that may be based somewhere in a misunderstanding. There has been a desire among some employees to go in larger groups of people to pray. “We just can’t accommodate that. It backs up the flow of all the production. We have to ensure food safety. We have to ensure the products we produce meet consumer expectations.”
MUSLIM FROM P19
as an Arabic teaching assistant at Yale and later studying at Dartmouth. At Zaytuna, he leads service education trips with students, in which they work with non-Muslims through organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and with state forestry departments. He also sets up volunteer experiences for students at places such as domestic violence shelters. Some students traveled to Ferguson, Missouri, last year after the death of Michael Brown, to work as community organizers. Yasin’s focus with the students is not a ‘‘feel-good Islam,’’ he says. Yasin wants students to think about their faith in the context of issues such as poverty and the environment. ‘‘How do I buy that pint of strawberries that I know is being picked by people who don’t have access to healthcare or education?’’ he asks students, when ‘‘the Qur’an is telling me to eat that which is pure.’’ ‘‘The Qur’an talks to you through the natural world,’’ Yasin says. ‘‘It’s talking about the mountains and the sky and the rivers and the stars.’’ He adds: ‘‘The Qur’an serves as a reminder to you to be mindful of your responsibility.’’ Iman Hamze Sophomore Iman Hamze is a nineteen-year-old Bay Area native. A first-generation American, her mother is South African and her father is Lebanese. She was raised Muslim. Part of what attracted Hamze to Zaytuna was the chance to study Arabic intensively. She eventually wants to teach the language, ‘‘so that more people can know what the religion is really about. If you can read the Qur’an, you can figure out the religion for yourself, so it’s not just people feeding it to you.’’
Hamze has three older sisters, but she’s the only one of the children in her family to wear the hijab, the head covering worn by some Muslim women, which is not required at Zaytuna. ‘‘My mom wore the hijab and really wanted me to,’’ she says. ‘‘And I never really cared what people thought.’’ For Hamze, wearing the hijab hasn’t been isolating. On the contrary, it’s been a way for her to connect with non-Muslims. ‘‘I guess people have this idea of women in Islam, that they’re oppressed,’’ Hamze says. ‘‘For me the hijab is empowering. I like that it makes me stand out. People ask me about it. Or they ask me about the way I live my life. And I can talk to them and they can see that we’re just like everyone else.’’ Colleen Keyes ‘‘Things are really bleak in the Muslim world,’’ says Colleen Keyes, the dean of students at Zaytuna. ‘‘There’s so much suffering.’’ Keyes believes these ‘‘miserable conditions’’ draw people to extremist Islamic groups. But, she says, those radical views reflect ignorance of Muslim traditions, and ‘‘people around the world are hungry for solid scholarship and thought that makes sense.’’ Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Keyes was raised Catholic. She converted to Islam in the late 1980s. She was teaching English at a community college and had several Muslim students. She wanted to learn more about Islam and in the process realized that the religion resonated with her in ways that Catholicism hadn’t. Her family was taken aback, especially when she began praying five times a day and fasting during Ramadan. ‘‘My mom said, ‘Can’t you find an easier religion?’’’ says Keyes. ‘‘And my sister said, ‘I give her six months.’’’ Keyes taught at an Islamic university in the United Arab Emirates in the 1990s, before returning to the United States to work in community college administration. Keyes is the first woman in administration at Zaytuna. ‘‘Some of the women wish there were more female scholars,’’ she says. ‘‘I tell them that when they get their PhD they can come back and be those female scholars. We’re waiting.’’ She adds: ‘‘American Muslim women have high goals. As they pursue those goals, there will be change. Change has always been part of the Islamic tradition. Wherever it has gone, it has adapted to its environment. I don’t know how there could be anything but change.’’ (Anna Challet is a reporter at New America Media. The essay below is part of a series called “Getting Religion” in the winter 2015 issue of Boom: A Journal of California. It is guest edited by Jason S. Sexton, a lecturer in the honors program of California State University, Fullerton, and a visiting fellow at University of California, Riverside’s Center for Ideas and Society. All photographs courtesy Zaytuna College. - New America Media) NAWAZ FROM P4
Now let us hear the same Mian Nawaz Sharif in 2015. “Every community living here whether Hindu, Muslim or Parsi, everyone belongs to me and I belong to them. I am prime minister of all communities,” he said to the crowd on the occasion of Diwali. Not stopping at that, and asking the organizers to invite him on all the religious events and even spray
paint at him on the upcoming Holi, he added: “It’s my duty to help and facilitate you. If you are in distress, I will stand with you. Even if a Muslim commits an injustice, I will stand with the victim.” Have you heard of a U-Turn? By any standard, this is what is called a U-Turn. From a person who insisted on imposing the Sharia Law following the footsteps of his military patron General Zia ul Haq to the one who claims “the future of the nation lies in a liberal and Democratic Pakistan.” Throughout his political career, if he has ignored to attract one group of people, it is no one other than the Pakistani liberals, a vocal group of urban middle class, people with higher education, professional positions, and many a time foreign exposure. In response, they considered him dumb, uncouth, and corrupt especially when they compared him to Benazir Bhutto, the sophisticated Western. Some even considered him to be a true yet hidden ally of the Taliban and the banned religious organizations. But now, for the first time, he is inching towards them, distancing himself from the right wing religious organizations. To be honest Imran Khan had the opportunity to lure the liberals. He was financially clean and had the charisma to pull them. But he called them “the scum of earth,” and tilted too much towards Jamaat e Islami and the Taliban who aim to implement today the Sharia that Mian Nawaz Sharif did a couple of decades ago. I am not sure what will happen to Imran’s politics and how much he would imbibe the right wing national rhetoric. But I reckon Nawaz will sooner or later capture the votes of Pakistan’s center left. PROBE FROM P1
has said it will not discriminate amongst terrorist groups as part of its counter-terrorism operations .Sharif ’s assurance to Modi proved that Pakistan is not shying away from cooperating with India on this terrorist attack and if all ‘credible’ information is provided, there is enough political will in Islamabad for a thorough investigation. The Indian government, however, officially has neither directly blamed Pakistan nor said anything as to who was the mastermind. The leads according to the Indian media shared by New Delhi with Islamabad include intercepts of mobile phone calls made by the attackers to Pakistan-based handlers and the numbers to which the calls were made. Indian security officials say the assault on the airbase was the work of Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM).That New Delhi was going to reach out to Pakistan through diplomatic channels was apparent when Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had a brainstorming session with former high commissioners who had served in Pakistan and former foreign secretaries, where The News understands, advice was given to continue to engage with Pakistan. It was Vikas Swarup, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, who broke the news of a telephone call around 4pm (IST) to tweet, “PM Narendra Modi received a call this afternoon from PM Nawaz Sharif regarding the terrorist attack at Pathankot airbase”. Sharif held out the assurance of a thorough investigation in a phone call he made from Colombo on Tuesday where he is on an official visit,
www.PakistanLink.com
and is also accompanied by his National Security Advisor (NSA) General (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua. It was after Janjua spoke to the Indian NSA Ajit Doval on Tuesday morning that Sharif made this important call to New Delhi. The NSAs have been mandated by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif to discuss counter-terrorism measures. Doval cancelled a trip to China after the Pathankot attack and attended the National Security Council meeting on Tuesday presided over by Modi and attended by cabinet members including Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. That diplomatic channels were being used by both countries even before the telephone calls at the highest level was apparent when on Monday night a Foreign Office spokesman said: “In line with Pakistan’s commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the government is in touch with the Indian government and is working on the leads provided by it”. PHASE FROM P1
Nawaz Sharif was given a warm welcome as he arrived Tuesday at the President’s Secretariat to hold bilateral talks. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe received the Pakistani Premier at the presidency. The Sri Lankan First Lady greeted Begum Kalsoom Nawaz. PM Sharif and Sri Lankan President held a meeting at the Presidency and emphasized the desirability of enhanced cooperation in trade, defense production, and tourism. The two leaders focused on measures to consolidate their ties for the benefit of the two countries. Later, Pakistan and Sri Lanka signed eight agreements and MoUs related to defense, security, anti-terrorism, trade, and science and technology. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena were present at the signing ceremony of the agreements. COAS for showing zero-tolerance to terrorists: Pakistan’s Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday reiterated zero-tolerance for terrorist organizations. He made this observation while presiding over a Corps Commanders Conference held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. The top military leadership was also briefed in detail on the prevailing and emerging threats, ongoing operations of security/intelligence agencies for breaking the nexus between terrorists and their support mechanism across the country, said an ISPR statement. Speaking to the forum, the COAS
expressed his complete satisfaction over the progress of Operation Zarbe-Azb and operational preparedness of the Pakistan Army. “COAS paid rich tributes to officers and men involved in operation for their sacrifices and successes.” He lauded recent phenomenal successes of Security/Intelligence agencies in Intelligence Based Operations (IBOs) for breaking the terror nexus across the country COURSE FROM P1
bilateral relations in the overall stability of the region. Mr Kirby reiterated the point on Monday, when asked whether the attacks pointed to Pakistan’s failure to act against terror groups targeting India. “And we in the United States want everybody to treat it as a shared challenge. And the Government of Pakistan has spoken to this, has spoken very powerfully to this, and it’s certainly our expectation that they’ll do exactly what they’ve said they will,” Mr Kirby said. POLIO FROM P1
campaign was termed the “best-ever drive”, where even the independently assessed coverage was over 90% in all provinces. Talking to The Express Tribune, he added there had been a massive decline in the number of children missing polio vaccinations in 2015 as compared to 2014. CANADA FROM P1
occasion, LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad expressed the hope that the Canadian delegation’s visit would help explore opportunities to enable people from both sides to launch joint business ventures. He was of the view that Pakistan was not only self-sufficient in the food sector but also had the capacity to supply processed food. “Through big food chains we can significantly increase its demand,” he said. Arshad pointed out that development work on the $46-billion ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor was being carried out at a good pace. “It is a big opportunity with regard to the economic future of Pakistan; we urge that Canadian investors should also participate in it.” He also suggested that the investors could play a role in encouraging relevant Canadian companies to initiate power projects in Pakistan through hydel, thermal, solar, bio and alternative resources. In 2013, bilateral trade stood at $356 million, which rose to $582 million in 2014. The main reason, Arshad said, was a substantial rise in imports from Canada, which went up from $122 million to $358 million. In contrast, Pakistan’s exports to Canada fell from $234 million to $224 million.
CLASSIFIED & MATRIMONIAL
JANUARY 8, 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.
Looking for Live-in Nanny
NURSE NEEDED
Looking for live-in nanny to help watch middle school and high school kids in Northern Virginia. Responsibilities include light meal preparation, taking kids to activities, light housework and laundry. Understanding English required. Experience and references required. Driving preferred but not required. Contact: Saba - 571-262-1937
Nurse needed, RN or LVN, to care for a senior lady. Caregiver needed. Will pay market rate. Please contact 213.712.8888 Thanks imaad
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 – JANUARY 8, 2016
www.PakistanLink.com
JANUARY 8, 2016 - PAKISTAN LINK
ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE
ENTERTAINMENT
amza Ali Abbasi's upcoming drama serial got a new title and teaser trailer (or two) this weekend. The serial, earlier titled Tera Gham Aur Hum, is now called Dile-Janam(although this too is a working title) - and marks Hamza's highly awaited return to the small screen. His last serial Pyaray Afzal was a hit of almost Humsafar proportions and his pairing with TV's sweetheart Maya Ali in the upcoming serial sets similar expectations. Also read: I was nervous to look Hamza in the eye, says Maya Ali How pyara will his new character be, we wonder. "The character I play is very close to who I actually am, so that's nice," said Hamza in conversation with Images.
H
JANUARY 8, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P31
Dil-e-Janam's teasers paint him as a sober man who has the respect of the neighbourhood, where his character (Salahuddin) and Maya's (Manahil aka Manu) live. Except that Manu doesn't think he's the greatest. In the first teaser, Manu vehemently expresses her doubt about Salahuddin's'sharafat' and tells him she hates his smile to his face. However, the next teaser shows Maya describing her dream man and then cuts to her calling out to Hamza. Clearly, Dil-e-Janam will yet another love story where the woman finally sees the man as the hero that he is. Hamza confirms our conjecture: "I would describe it as a sweet and nice love story, like most of our dramas. It's [the story]
is something I personally experienced too, which makes it special for me." Hamza's TV appearance comes a year and a half after Pyaray Afzal - and more and more of his peers are showing more interest in their movie careers. Does Hamza also see himself doing less TV in the future? "Our first strength has always been TV. I am what I am because of TV. If we drift away from TV entirely TV will sink. So actors who are making films, that's great, but they need to do at least one TV serial a year. Even Humuyun Saeed is appearing with Mehvish Hayat in a TV serial with that intention."
e've known for a while that Sara Haider can croon. But just when you think she's peaked, she goes and outdoes herself, every time. When she recently appeared on Coke Studio singing Ae Dil alongside Ali Zafar, she cemented herself as the upcoming superstar that she is. With her new single, Dekha De Rang Apna, the young singer has managed to impress yet again. The song's done a great job of showcasing Sara's singing talent, covering Karachi in the video and
W
making you dance all at the same time. The uplifting music video has been directed by the talented Jami and produced by Omran Shafique. It's of the new music campaign called 'Live in Levi's' for the denim brand, their contribution to lending support to the local music industry. Talking about the song, Haider shared, "I grew up in this city, I grew up in Karachi. It's the idea that the city is changing with us, we are evolving. The song has a lot of hope in it. It's about what our city could be, what lives could be."
www.PakistanLink.com www.Pakistanlink.com
ADVERTISEMENT
P32 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 8, 2016
www.PakistanLink.com