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Friday, March 27, 2015
VOL. 25/13 - 7 Jumadal-ukhra 1436 H PAGE 12
Magsi Asks Sindh Not to Talk of Secession
PAGE 19
PAGE 13
“Don’t Try to Make an Issue out of a Non-issue”
Urdu Academy Pays Tributes to Jamiluddin Aali
Pakistan, United States Renew Commitment
Pakistan Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani hoists the national flag in Washington (File photo)
Washington, DC: Pakistan and the US reaffirmed their commitment to a long-term cooperative relationship to pursue mutual security and economic interests as senior American officials attended the Pakistan Day
Court Irked by Rangers’ Failure to File Comments Karachi: The Sindh High Court
on Tuesday directed the provincial and law enforcement authorities to submit their respective replies in a petition against Rangers for detaining workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement during a raid on the party’s Nine Zero headquarters in Azizabad. Expressing displeasure over the failure of Rangers to file their response, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh again issued a notice to the director general of the paramilitary troops and other respondents and put off the hearing to April 7. The petition against the paramilitary troops for raiding the party headquarters and arresting party workers was filed by MQM leader Gulfraz Khan. The petitioner submitted that
COURT, P26
reception on Monday evening. Pakistan Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani and Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick F Kennedy spoke at the reception, emphasizing positive energy and momentum in the
bilateral partnership. US administration officials from various departments, including Defense, Treasury, the USAID, Congressional aides and think-tank experts, as
COMMITMENT, P29
campaign, ‘Sehat Ka Ittehad’ (United for Health), in the province and expressed grief and sorrow over the killing of 131 students in a Taliban attack on an army-run school
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American Official Pledges Support to Pakistan
Karachi Operation to Be Taken to Logical Conclusion
Chicago, IL: A top official of the US State of Illinois has denounced acts of terrorism being perpetrated in Pakistan, especially the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, while assuring Islamabad of Washington’s support in fighting the menace. “It was an inhuman act,” Illinois’ Secretary of State Jesse White said after watching a video of the Taliban attack in which 140 students were killed. The occasion was a well-attended reception held by the Pakistani Consulate General in Chicago, to mark Pakistan Day at which Secretary White conveyed the good wishes of the United States to the government and people of Pakistan as well as to the members of Pakistani community here. Apart from Secretary White, representatives of Illinois governor, Senator Mark Kirk, city mayor and the attorney general attended the reception. Thirty-four consul generals and members of the Pakistani community were also present. The event began with recitation from the holy Quran followed by playing of national anthems of Pakistan and the United States.
K a r a c h i :
Gates All Praise for Khan’s Sehat Ka Ittehad Campaign Islamabad: Philanthropist and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has written to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, lauding his efforts for polio eradication in Pakistan and expressing interest in his initiative to use mapping technology as part of the eradication campaign. “I am encouraged by your personal commitment to eliminate this disease in Pakistan. Your strong leadership comes at a critical time in our global efforts,” he said in the letter. Earlier this month during a telephonic conversation with Imran Khan, the chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation appreciated Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s initiatives, particularly those pertaining to polio eradication. He congratulated Imran on conducting a successful anti-polio
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in Peshawar. “I am interested in your opinion on the use of mapping technology in Pakistan — a technology GATES, P26
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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday declared that the operation in Karachi would be taken to its logical conclusion and will continue till the elimination of last terrorist. Chairing a meeting on law and order situation in Karachi he said the government would extend all possible support to the law enforcement agencies to successfully undertake this task. Corps Commander Karachi and DG Rangers briefed the prime minister on the status of the ongoing operation against terrorists and criminals, a press release issued by the PM office said. Interestingly, in an unexpected turn of events, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chose to preside over a crucial law and order meeting at the Pakistan Air Force Faisal Base in Karachi, opting out of the usual location for such meetings – either the CM House or Governor House. Adding to the controversy, Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad OPERATION, P26
MQM Dubs Imran’s Statement as ‘Altaf Phobia’ Azad Kashmir: In a fiery speech at a rally on Wednesday, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan took a jab at Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, provoking strong condemnation from MQM’s Rabita Committee. “Altaf Hussain’s time is up,” said Khan. “It is time the people of Karachi stop living in fear.” The PTI chief went on to say that 2015 would be the year of election in Pakistan. He said PTI would hold its next rally in Karachi to defeat MQM and Altaf Hussain. Reacting to Imran Khan’s statements, MQM leader Farooq Sattar said the PTI chief was suffering from “Altaf phobia.” Terming Imran Khan’s statements a “threat,” Sattar said “only time will tell whose time is up.” MQM, P26
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OPINION
P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
Pakistan Link Democracy, Science, and Higher Learning Go Hand in Hand n By Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui
President
Arif Zaffar Mansuri
ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org Editor
Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui afaruqui@pakistanlink.com
Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan)
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“
Editor Pakistan Link
It is indeed possible that the psychological factors working against science development will become more intense in the ACs (advanced countries) but will lessen in the LDCs (less-developed countries). If so, the LDCs would have an exciting opportunity indeed … From a historical point of view, there is precedent for a reversal of roles. Civilizations rise and fall… the opportunity is so momentous and exciting that this task deserves the primary attention of the whole scientific community of LDCs …”
- Science Development: The Building of Science in Less-Developed Countries by Michael J. Moravcsik (International Development Research Center, Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University, 1973) Professor Moravcsik makes this observation in 1973. As China, India, and some of the Pacific Rim countries take a quantum leap in the realm of science in the post-1973 era, his buoyant optimism about the future of science in developing countries does not appear to be wholly misplaced. Viewed from a historical perspective too, his observation is well justified. The world’s four earliest civilizations - Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley, and the Yellow River Valley - sprang up and flourished outside the geographical boundaries of Europe and America. They nurtured scientific enquiry and sustained the creative impulse. The march of science in the regions now forming parts of the Third World was religiously sustained throughout the early ages. The universities of Cordova and Toledo in Spain formed the hub of scientific enquiry where scholars from the rich East - Syria, Egypt and Iraq, to name a few - dabbled in science, and prospective researchers from the poor West looked askance when told to go back to clipping sheep because their teachers “doubted the wisdom and value of training them for advanced scientific research.” (Prof Abdus Salam, Developing countries need more scientists, Nature, 13 December, 1979, pp. 666-667). By the time North America was opened up “much of North Africa, South and East Asia were both densely populated and highly organized politically, culturally, and for the time, technologically.” (J.P.Cole, Geography of World Affairs, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books Limited, 1979). China appeared decidedly more innovative than Mediaeval Europe, and better poised to stage a renaissance in Asia than was Italy in Europe. Its multifarious scientific successes today are a confirmation of its earlier promise. There is thus a message in Moravcsik’s observation. Science is by no means the exclusive preserve of the ACs as Pakistan’s nuclear science successes testify. Given continued governmental patronage, the country’s nuclear scientists accomplished the cherished goal. Denied this patronage, Pakistani scientists in other disciplines were left to fret and fume. They were hardly rewarded for their demonstrable verve and zest in various research undertakings. Not so anymore. The picture has blissfully altered as we discovered during a visit to Pakistan in 2003. A wholesome change had taken place, thanks to the vision of an enlightened group at the helm in Islamabad. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman was a member of the visionary group. An outstanding chemist known internationally for his research accomplishments, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman was then Federal Minister in-charge of Science and Technology and Chairman, Higher Education Commission (HEC). I have vivid recollections of the 2003 visit. We meet in the idyllic surroundings of Islamabad. The August evening is unusually warm and batters my fragile frame but Dr Atta’s words seem to have a soothing effect. An outstanding researcher and academic, he displays no airs. In fact, he is unassuming and modest as he addresses us in his clipped British accent, furnishing proof of his education at Cambridge. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, outstanding researchers have been rewarded monetarily - for their research successes, he breaks the heart-warming news.
PINSTECH - hub of Pakistan’s scientific research
His words are music to the ears. But I am aghast, nay, flabbergasted. For I am familiar with the formidable failings of Third World science: concern is often voiced for upgrading the status of Research & Development, plans are enthusiastically drawn up, priorities exuberantly defined, reappraisals eagerly made, and commissions frequently formed. But at the critical stage of implementation the urgency and enthusiasm disappear and the task is entrusted to the next generation of planners! The cycle continues as bureaucracy stultifies scientific enquiry. Much to the chagrin of the researcher, bureaucrats and economists act in conjunction to seriously distort the priorities of a research program. They adopt an even more highhanded approach in parts of the Third World where democracy, a friend of science, makes only an elusive appearance and bureaucracy enjoys a freed hand. How did Dr. Atta succeed in the face of such familiar impediments? I ask. He smiles. “I have the support of the President.” General Musharraf emerged as the Patron Saint of science, a firm supporter of all developmental strivings, during his tenure. His government accorded high importance to education, information technology, and scientific research. It drew up elaborate blueprints and implementation of various schemes got qickly underway. Scientists, researchers, and academics seemed to have found a messiah. Returning from the President’s Rawalpindi Camp Office, a group of IT experts from California seemed to endorse Dr Atta’s views when I elicited the group’s comments about the wholesome change the next day. They found the government favorably disposed to well-meaning schemes based on sound scientific reasoning and insightful evaluation. The government then was certainly not an ideal democratic dispensation but we certainly had the ideal men at the helm to ensure Pakistan’s sustained march in the important sectors of education, R&D, and IT. Advances in these sectors indisputably serve as a nation’s passport to modernity and all-round progress. As the interview with Dr Atta proceeds, he enumerates many successes under his stewardship: 25,000 teachers have been trained in the IT sector, the number of cities with access to the Internet has shot up from 29 to 1600, UNCTAD representatives concede Pakistan is way ahead of India, international experts testify we are the ninth IT manpowerproducing country in the world. The use of mobile phones in the country has also astronomically risen - from 220,000 to well over one million! Dr. Atta talked of the 300 projects running under the Higher Education Commission. In a later interview, he furnished an update on the program: “We are encouraging teachers to do their PhDs
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under three different programs. One, where the teachers go through an entire PhD program abroad. Two, where their program is divided into two parts, one to be completed in Pakistan and the other to be completed abroad. Three, where the entire program is to be undertaken in Pakistan.” Forty students left for China, 50 for Austria and another 50 for Germany. “Many others are bound for France, Australia, Japan and the Scandinavian countries,” he informed. “For the local PhD program the government has approved Rs. six billion.” Impressive developments indicative of sincere strivings to promote higher education. There were other well-meaning initiatives: “We have changed the syllabi in more than 80 subjects. Salary structure of the teachers has also been improved to make it more market-compatible. We have introduced a new tenure-trek system of appointment wherein faculty members will be appointed on contract and their performance will be reviewed first after three years and then after six years by a panel of international experts. The starting salary for an assistant professor is in the range of Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 and a professor at the top level is to get Rs 120,000 a month. We are also selecting some of the distinguished professors to reward them so that they can act as role models in their respective fields.” Was Pakistan in the process of availing of the exciting opportunity that Moravcsik points to in his 1973 observation? There were catalytic forces at play to breed optimism. The opportunity is still so momentous and exciting that the task deserves the primary attention of the whole scientific community. This piece was written towards the end of 2003. Today, as Pakistan grapples with challenging domestic and international problems, the importance of science and higher learning should not be lost on the new government. Democracy is a friend of science. Pakistan’s march in the important sectors of higher education and R&D undertakings should continue – with an added momentum – under the present democratic setup. Democracy, science and education go hand in hand. - editor@pakistanlink.com
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P6 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015 n By Syed Kamran Hashmi
E
Westfield, IN
veryone knows Dr Zakir Naik in Pakistan, a physician by training, a learned scholar of comparative religions, and the founder of Peace TV. His extraordinary ability to reel off the Qur’anic and Biblical verses with equal speed, confidence and accuracy has inspired many young Muslims who after listening to his speeches read the scripture more attentively. I am not sure if they focus on the message as much, but they do memorize the exact number of every verse along with the name of its chapter (Sura). So when they quote the Qur’an in a discussion they also rattle off its numerical details. This strategy works in their favor every time, giving them an edge over their peers, boosting their confidence and making it easier for them to make their point. Try it yourself and you would also feel as if the Divine authority now resides in you.
Dr Naik is a tall man from India with an elongated face covered with a patchy, salt and pepper beard which for religious reasons stays untrimmed. A pair of glasses sits on top of his wide nose overlooking the eyes magnifying them both in size and impact. Except for the eyes (perhaps), by no means, anything strikes you in his appearance as extraordinary. Yet, you feel uncomfortable. I could not figure out until recently. However, now, I think it is the oddity of his attire that creates
Dr Zakir Naik’s Tragedy
confusion. He wears a formal, well fitted, modern two-piece suit with a perfectly knotted necktie. What sets him apart is that while he puts on Western clothes he always covers his head with a knitted kufi cap and pulls up his pants above the ankles following the Islamic principles, an odd combination, don’t you think? When I watched him for the first time a few years ago on television he was addressing a huge crowd. At least five thousand people had gathered to listen to his lecture. Not all of them belonged to his faith. There were Hindus, Sikhs and, yes, there were Christians as well. His popularity was soaring at that time spilling over to the neighboring states and piercing through the sectarian divides. Was his message that impressive? Or was it the blistering speed with which he fired off the verses from the Qur’an and Bible? I think his message stood controversial from day one, sugar coating his fanaticism and covering up his intolerance. But, he rose to
prominence anyway. That happened not because of his fund of knowledge, although it played an important role, but because it was the right time to have an expert on the study of comparative religions. After 9/11, unsure of how to react to the allegations from the West, Muslims did not know how to defend their faith. Dr Naik, quite simply, through his command both on the Bible and the Qur’an, cheered them up. After listening to his lecture, instead of getting nervous about the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, every Muslim felt revitalized, confident about the supremacy of their religion and the accuracy of their scripture. At that time, he should have stayed focused on the area of his expertise limiting his discussions to the scriptures. But, like any other religious scholar who get carried away with media attention and notoriety, he too started commenting on every subject - from international politics to evolution - in his lectures, and
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made the same mistake as his predecessors: combining religious facts with personal opinion. On one occasion he said that the 9/11 attack was an inside job and that he could not pronounce Osama bin Laden (OBL) a terrorist because he (Dr Naik) had not met the leader of Al Qaeda personally nor did he have any proof of OBL’s guilt. He did not stop there, and went on to say, “If bin Laden is fighting enemies of Islam, I am for him, but I am not sure if he is.” True, these comments made him unpopular in the West but here at home, as an emerging anti-imperialist scholar, his popularity graph climbed higher and higher. As if the geo-politics was not enough, he then commented as a scientist specializing in evolution and said, “Evolution is still a theory, which has not been confirmed yet,” implying that soon new evidence would emerge which would undermine, refute or oppose the current concepts of human existence. But the final nail he drove into
OPINION the coffin of his clean reputation was his repetitive, unapologetic and incautious remarks about Yazeed, the notorious Ummayad Caliph responsible for the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussein (RA). That statement unmasked the facade of his neutral and objective approach towards religious discord, exposing him as the supporter of the doctrine promoted by Ibne Taimeyyah and followed in letter and spirit by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through a pact between the House of Sauds and its religious elite. What should have happened next if you took a stance against Shiites in public in favor of Salafi doctrine? Yes, you guessed it right. Standing next to the newly crowned King of Saudi Arabia and holding the certificate with him, Dr Zakir Naik received the most-prestigious award of the Kingdom last week. It was handed over to him in recognition of his “Service to Islam” in a ceremony hosted by the Royals, held at a splendid five star hotel. Facing the camera, a big smile runs across his face as if he truly believes he has served the religion well and has built a bridge between the hostile sects, which of course, did not happen. The tragedy with many scholars in my opinion is that the more you want to define Islam through the eye of a single expert, the more you reject the alternate points of view, and the more you elevate yourself on a higher moral pedestal the distortion and fragmentation you are going to create in religion would be much deeper and harder to reconcile, and that is what happened to Dr Naik as well.
OPINION
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P7
Lahore Carnage
n By Dr Mohammad Taqi
F
Florida
ifteen people, including a police guard, were killed when the jihadist terrorist group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which has recently remerged with the Tehreeke-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), bombed two churches in Lahore right at the time of mass this past Sunday. The casualties could have been much higher were it not for the fallen volunteer and policeman who tackled the suicide bombers and prevented them from entering the church naves. The targeted Christians immediately took to protests, which turned violent. Two bystanders were beaten and then burnt by some in the crowd, something that cannot be condoned at all. It was a gruesome lynching by any standard and a judicial inquiry must ascertain the facts and bring the offenders to book.
The Federal Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, took it a step further, however, claiming that the lynching witnessed on Sunday is “the worst form of terrorism”. Mr Khan said that incidents like the brutal attack on the Lahore churches happen all over the world and when “a similar incident occurred right in the heart of Paris where a synagogue was attacked the minority Jews did not react violently in the French capital”. The protesting crowd’s excesses notwithstanding, it is rather disingenuous of Mr Nisar to compare the Christians of Pakistan to the Parisian Jews. The massive vitriol and disgust-
ing slurs unleashed on social media by several Pakistanis against their Christian compatriots right after the Lahore tragedy gives some idea of the hate, prejudice and the denigration the Christians go through daily. Treated as second-class citizens and relegated to the periphery of society and slums of the cities, the Christians have been insulted and humiliated since long. They have been burned and bombed for years and now are being maligned too as anti-Pakistan traitors. The same people, including Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who have rationalized the TTP’s relentless terrorist campaign as a response to US drones, are unwilling to consider the mitigating circumstances in the Lahore lynching. The people who are loath to identify the thousands of victims of terrorism by their religious, sectarian, ethnic or tribal identity, are now suddenly playing up the Islamic faith of the unfortunate lynching victims and, like Mr Nisar, conflating a law and order disaster with terrorism. What also seems to be lost on Mr Nisar is that the agitation by the Christian crowds was a vote of no confidence against his government and party, which have done absolutely naught in their six terms and 17 years of cumulative rule in Punjab to protect the beleaguered Christian community and punish its tormentors. From the caste system perpetrated on the Christians and the colossal socio-economic injustice it entails to being the perennial targets of the anti-blasphemy laws, the doomed community has reeled under prejudice without even
a whimper. However, the decades of bombings and burnings, mostly on the watch of the PML-N, might have pushed the bruised and battered Christians over the edge. As the Persian adage goes: tung aamed, ba-jang aamed (frustrated to the extreme, one opts to fight back). The extreme frustration of the marginalized and brutally victimized communities with the PML-N is not just because of the latter’s inaction but also its active hobnobbing with extremist jihadist groups. The PMLN’s consorting with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) aka the Ahle-Sunnat-wal-Jamaat, is rather well known. The SSP is said to have been involved in the July/August 2009 rioting against the Christians in Gojra, Punjab, in which, according to official reports, seven Christians were burnt alive and 68 houses, including churches, were torched. None of the culprits was punished. The recent documents introduced in the US versus Abid Naseer trial in
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a New York court include materials captured from Osama bin Laden’s lair in Abbottabad, again reminding us of the PML-N’s active courting of the vicious TTP. On page 61 of the dossier is a 2010 letter from the al Qaeda operative Atiyah Abdal-Rahman to his boss bin Laden, which notes, “Regarding Tehreek-e-Taliban: we have informed Hakeemullah Mehsud and his companion Qari Hussain that the Punjab government (Shahbaz Sharif) sent them a message indicating they wanted to negotiate with them, and they were ready to re-establish normal relations as long as they do not conduct operations in Punjab [in their governmental jurisdiction, which does not include Islamabad or Bandy (Pindi)]. The government said they were ready to pay any price... and so on. They told us the negotiations were under way.” Qari Hussain Mehsud was the notorious Ustad-eFedayeen, i.e. teacher of the suicide bombers, who was killed in a drone strike in October 2010.
The PML-N spokespersons have denied such contacts and termed the Osama bin Laden dossier’s surfacing now, a “conspiracy”. However, exactly five years ago, in a ceremony on March 14, 2010, Mr Shahbaz Sharif stated, “The Taliban and PML-N both opposed former military dictator Pervez Musharraf ” and, therefore, he was “surprised that this common stance has failed to stop the Taliban from carrying out terror attacks in Punjab”. Mr Sharif said, “General Musharraf planned a bloodbath of innocent Muslims at the behest of others only to prolong his rule, but we in the PML-N opposed his policies and rejected dictation from abroad, and if the Taliban are also fighting for the same cause then they should not carry out acts of terror in Punjab.” As abhorrent as the PML-N’s overtures to the TTP were, even more disgusting was its pitch to spare just Punjab as the rest of the country went up in flames. The PML-N’s Punjab dispensation did not just stop at negotiations with the TTP. The very same Punjab government has funded the Jamaatud-Dawa’s Muridke center, allowed the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba’s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi a life of comfort in jail and given stipends to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s sectarian terrorist Malik Ishaq whose hands are soaked in the blood of dozens. The Punjab government has given all minorities every possible reason to doubt its motives and actions. Is it a surprise then that the Christian protestors, having zero confidence in the Punjab government’s hollow pledges to deliver justice, protested aggressively? The minorities, whether Christians or others, must however realize CARNAGE, P29
OPINION
P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015 n By Farhana Mohamed, PhD
T
Los Angeles, CA
he December 16 terrorist attack at the Army Public School, Peshawar, resulted in unprecedented loss of 122 innocent school children, two teachers, and 20 administrative staff. Of course, there is always a silver lining in the darkest cloud - the heartwrenching tragedy of December 16 has also resulted in several positive outcomes. Shortly after the Peshawar School attack, government organized an all party conference (APC) followed by the approval of the historical National Action Plan on December 24, 2014. Despite some reservations, if properly implemented, NAP has the potential of greatly eradicating the menace of terrorism from the Pakistani soil. The salient features of NAP include acknowledging no distinction between “good” and “bad” militants, enforcing executions to convicted terrorists (not going well with the European Union), setting-up of special military courts for two years for speedy trials (being criticized by the lawyers and civil society), cutting the source of funding for all terrorist organizations and banning their operation with different names, registration of all madrassahs (religious organizations are up on arms against this provision), and expediting the return of IDPs (displaced due to suc-
Rainbow in Every Cloud cessful army action in the North Waziristan). Another positive outcome of the APSP tragedy was the announcement by Imran Khan during the December APC that his party Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) will end its almost four-month long “Naya Pakistan Dharna (sit-in)” in Islamabad. This action provided a face-saving exit to Imran and the PTI and a sigh of relief for the Nawaz Sharif government as well as a rare building of solid support to the nation’s stance against terrorism. While the dharnas in Islamabad, which started about August 14, 2014 by both Imran Khan and D. Tahir-ul Qadri, raised some legitimate concerns, their modus operandi was a big source of disappointment. There was no consideration by the protesters that the rowdy sit-ins in Islamabad badly tarnished Pakistan’s image; investor fear already high due to precarious security situation, further escalated with the aggressive attitude of these two political parties; hostile and derogatory stance of both parties toward state institutions was incomprehensible, and the sheer street chaos resulted in cancelation of trips of foreign dignitaries including those of the Presidents of China, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. While Dr Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and PTI had to call off their sit-ins by November and December, respectively, both par-
ties eventually showed solid support to NAP and other counterterrorism measures. In the true spirit of implementation of NAP, a bold operation is also in progress against the militant wings of some mainstream political parties which
brought to conclusion, it will hopefully result in bringing lasting peace to urban centers, especially Karach, after decades of turmoil and insecurity. However, serious efforts are needed under NAP’s framework to stop reprehensible terrorist attacks on dif-
According to author and poet Maya Angelou, “God put a rainbow in every cloud”, therefore, loss of many innocent lives due to menace of terrorism will not go in vain but pave the way for a more tolerant and robust Pakistan were a sacred cow until now due to political compromises and politicization of police force. If
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ferent sects and minorities on Pakistani soil. In October 2014, the World
Bank’s South Asia Economic Focus estimated the protests cost Pakistan’s GDP a loss of 2.1% points from the projected growth of 6.7%. In addition, there was almost 3% devaluation to the value of the rupee due to the political turmoil. However, things are looking up again. China continues to show confidence in investing in Pakistani economy. According to a Reuters report in November 2014, China will be investing 45.6 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan through 2020. The Wall Street Journal continues to publish encouraging news about Pakistan’s growing economy under the present government. For instance, according to a recent article in WSJ’s Frontiers Newsletter by Charlene Lee on Asia (March 11. 2015), the International Monetary Fund has praised the macroeconomic stability of Pakistan due to its prudent economic policies, strong remittances, control on inflation, and growing investor confidence. However for “achieving higher, sustainable and inclusive economic growth”, IMF is recommending a need to broaden the tax base, focus on harnessing energy crisis, investing in education and health sector, and privatization of (unprofitable) public enterprises. According to a quote by the author and poet Maya Angelou, “God put a rainbow in every cloud”, therefore, loss of many innocent lives due to menace of terrorism will not go in vain but pave the way for a more tolerant and robust Pakistan.
OPINION
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9
Tradition, Reform and Modernism in the Emergence of Pakistan - 4 n By Professor Nazeer Ahmed
T
CA
asawwuf lit the lamp of faith in the subcontinent. It illuminated the landscape, provided guidance to millions, inspired kings and mendicants alike. Islam took roots and became one of the two major faiths in this vast and diverse land. In the Pakistan region, conversion was augmented by the influx of people from Iran and Central Asia. Soldiers from successive invasions settled in the land between Delhi and Peshawar creating a rich mixture of Indian, Afghan, Persian, Turcoman and Central Asian races.
The light of tasawwuf faded with time. Spirituality and ethics gave way to selfishness and greed. The decay is noticeable in the latter half of the seventeenth century in Mogul India as well as in Safavid Persia and the Ottoman Empire. In a poignant letter to his son Azam written in the year 1704, Emperor Aurangzeb captures the moral bankruptcy of the times: “My son, my soul, life of my life…..Hameeduddin is a cheat…..Siadat Khan and Muhammed Amin Khan in the advanced guard are contemptible…..Kulich Khan is worthless…..Sarbarah Khan, the Kotwal, is a thief and a pickpocket…..Arshi Khan gets drunk and smells of liquor….Akbar is a vagabond in the desert of infamy…..Kam Baksh is perverse. I myself am forlorn and destitute and misery is my lot.” Social decay led to political disintegration. A resurgent Europe, riding high on waves of new ideas and technological prowess, moved in to supplant the Islamic world. The expanding social and political rot was reflected in the Sufi world as well. Where great Sufi Shaikhs once radiated their light to an entire subcontinent, there sprang a class of hereditary tomb keepers, the sajjada nishins. Tasawwuf, whose purpose was tazkiya (cleansing) of the self and a longing for divine presence, became synonymous with visits to shrines which became cash machines for sajjada nishins offering cures for incurable diseases with wafts of peacock feather broomsticks. Reform movements arose to arrest the social disintegration. One of the earliest was that of Shah Waliullah of Delhi (d 1762). Born in 1703, Shah Waliullah was witness to the disintegration of the Mogul empire. India was invaded by Nadir Shah (1739) and Ahmed Shah Abdali (1761). The Marathas rose up in Central India displacing Mogul
power. Shah Waliullah sought to arrest the political implosion of India through social reforms. He was a scholar (alim) of the first rank as well as a practitioner of the Qadariya tareeqa and was unique among the reformers of the eighteenth century in emphasizing both the esoteric and exoteric dimensions of Islam in his writings.
looked upon Sufism with suspicion and held it responsible for the internal decay within the Muslim body politic. The urban-based ulema emphasized strict adherence to the exoteric aspects of the Shariah and its injunctions, and they sought support for their positions in the ahadith of the Prophet. Their intellectual approach and their arguments,
The coalition of landlords and rural shrine-based interests formed the basis of support for the Unionist party which was organized by Fazl Hussain and Chotu Ram in 1923. By focusing on land reforms and emphasizing traditional culture, the Unionists created a regional Punjabi party transcending the communalism that was sweeping much of northern India. Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus alike gave their allegiance to the party and it governed the key province of Punjab for over two decades In the nineteenth century, as Punjab first came under Sikh domination and then under the sway of the British, attempts were made to reform Sufi practices. The effort was led by the Chishtiya tareeqa which was most widely practiced in the subcontinent. The thrust of these reforms was to bring Islam back into its traditional spiritual mold based on the Sunnah of the Prophet. This was the goal of Ahl e Sunnah wal Jamaat. This Jamaat was most active in the rural areas as it was here that Sufism and the sajjada nishins held their sway. There was at the same time an urbanbased movement to reform Islam. This movement, spearheaded by the ulema,
however, had little impact on the rural folks who stayed bound by their loyalties to the local sajjada nishins. A decayed Sufism existed side by side with a feudal structure that had grown around hereditary landlords. The Mogul rulers, and the nawabs who followed them, had granted deeds to large tracts of unsettled lands to their favorite courtiers, generals and soldiers. These titles (jagirs) were passed on from father to son, and in time the hereditary owners of these deeds became powerful landlords whose sway extended not only over their lands but also their tenants. Some of the zawiyas had also received land grants from the emperors and the nawabs so that the saj-
jada nishins were at once owners of the supernal talisman and temporal fiefdoms. The steady influx of cash from offerings of devotees added to their wealth. Economic power translates into political power. There grew up in Punjab and Sindh a two-tiered social structure wherein the sajjada nishins and the powerful landlords occupied the privileged upper echelons of society while the masses tilled the land and toiled in their sweat. The British, who replaced the great Moguls in the nineteenth century recognized the benefits of keeping the sajjada nishins and the landlords in a power structure that would safeguard their imperial interests. Their policies in the Pakistan region reflected these imperial interests. The Land Alienation Act of 1900 conferred on the sajjada nishins the same privileges as those for the landlords. Since land was a primary criterion for social status, many of the honorary government appointments such as the local judges went to the landlords and the sajjada nishins. The British thus successfully created a two-tiered political support structure for the Raj, the first by the maharajas and the nawabs, and the second by the landlords and the hereditary sajjada nishins. It ensured that political power in the Punjab stayed in the rural areas away from the growing political awakening in the cities and the increasing demands for self-rule. A confluence of money, politics and religion is inimical to the spiritual development of humankind. It creates a triad of power structure which corrupts all three. To be true to its divine mission, religion must remain above wealth and politics. Else, it forfeits its spirituality and succumbs to the downward pull of profane worldliness. The coalition of landlords and rural shrine-based interests formed the basis of support for the Unionist party which was organized by Fazl Hussain and Chotu Ram in 1923. By focusing on land reforms and emphasizing traditional culture, the Unionists created a regional Punjabi party transcending the communalism that was sweeping much of northern India. Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus alike gave their allegiance to the party and it governed the key province of Punjab for over two decades. The political and social stability of the province served British interests well. A large proportion of the Indian Army that fought in the Second World War was recruited in the Punjab. Service in the army provided another binding element for Punjabis of all faiths supplanting communal and India-centrist elements. (To be continued)
“And Beat Them” They Say “So Says the One Who Calls Himself the Most Merciful and the Most Compassionate!” Does He? - 2 n By Dr Aslam Abdullah Las Vegas, Nevada
M
ost Muslims or most people live in a patriarchal society where women are assigned a marginal role. In this system, men are considered to be the caretaker, supervisor, protector, in charge, ruler, owner and controller of women. Regardless of the system of checks and balances, their authority is absolute and they can dictate their terms at their will. This always leaves the wife and other women in the family in greater disadvantage. It is this patriarchal system that all traditional religions promote. It is this traditional approach that was the reason behind the suppression of women throughout human his-
tory. They were denied the right to think for themselves. They were stripped of their dignity as an equal member of human society. They were reduced to mere sexual toys. They were described as seductress, daughters of Satan and they were accused of getting Adam expelled from heavens despite the supposed assertion they were created from his ribs. They were told that their presence makes men go deviant in their commitment to God. They were the ones blamed for everything that went wrong in a men’s world. They had no identity, no soul and no status as they were considered a shadow of the male member of their society.
The purpose of the divine guidance was not to legitimize this inhumanity that had existed in human society in history. It was not to legitimize the then existing understanding of women and their role in society. It
was not to accept the claim that they are mere sex toys and an object to be abused by men. The purpose was not to justify the claim that they were seductress or daughters of Satan. It was not to legitimize the claim that they were created from the rib of Adam. It was not to institutionalize the notion of male superiority. The purpose of the divine guidance was to challenge the imbalance and inequality that had existed for centuries. It was to reassert the essential truth that all humans are equal and gender or race cannot be used as the basis to divide and discriminate people. That is the reason that the Qur’an in one of its defining verses describes the role of men and women in a manner that restores dignity and equality to both. The Qur’an says: “Verily, if men have the capability to surrender to God, so have the women, if men have the capability to have convic-
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tion in the Divine guidance so have the women, if men can be truly devout to God so can be women, if men can be true to their words so can be women, if men can be patient in adversity so can be women, and if men can have humility towards God so can be women, and if men give in charity so can women, if men can exercise control over them so can women, if men are mindful of their chastity so can women, and if men can remember and heed to the divine message so can women; For all such men and women God has readied protection from sins and forgiveness and a mighty reward. (33:35) At another place the Qur’an establishes the norm of equality when it says: ““Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female: You are members, one of another” (3:195) The Qur’an made family the basic unit to ensure this equality and
dignity. It persuaded men and women to bring about changes in their relations especially at the family level to ensure that the dignity of the two is never threatened. It was not through force that such a change was sought. It was through inspiration and giving individuals the ability to mold and shape their own behavior that such a change was proposed. Thus the Qur’an said: “And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in peace with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect. (30:21) In its references to women, the Qur’an demolished the myth that women were sex toys or objects or seductress or subservient to man or even to husbands. The divine asserted that they were full human beings and their rights were no MERCIFUL, P29
OPINION
P10 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
The East India Company: The Original Corporate Raiders n By William Dalrymple
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ne of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: “loot”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word was rarely heard outside the plains of north India until the late 18th century, when it suddenly became a common term across Britain. To understand how and why it took root and flourished in so distant a landscape, one need only visit Powis Castle.
The last hereditary Welsh prince, Owain Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, built Powis castle as a craggy fort in the 13th century; the estate was his reward for abandoning Wales to the rule of the English monarchy. But its most spectacular treasures date from a much later period of English conquest and appropriation: Powis is simply awash with loot from India, room after room of imperial plunder, extracted by the East India Company in the 18th century. There are more Mughal artifacts stacked in this private house in the Welsh countryside than are on display at any one place in India – even the National Museum in Delhi. The riches include hookahs of burnished gold inlaid with empurpled ebony; superbly inscribed spinels and jeweled daggers; gleaming rubies the color of pigeon’s blood and scatterings of lizard-green emeralds. There are talwars (swords) set with yellow topaz, ornaments of jade and ivory; silken hangings, statues of Hindu gods and coats of elephant armor. Such is the dazzle of these treasures that, as a visitor last summer, I nearly missed the huge framed canvas that explains how they came to be here. The picture hangs in the shadows at the top of a dark, oak-paneled staircase. It is not a masterpiece, but it does repay close study. An effete Indian prince, wearing cloth of gold, sits high on his throne under a silken canopy. On his left stand scimitar and spear carrying officers from his own army; to his right, a group of powdered and periwigged Georgian gentlemen. The prince is eagerly thrusting a scroll into the hands of a statesmanlike, slightly overweight Englishman in a red frock coat. The painting shows a scene from August 1765, when the young Mughal emperor Shah Alam, exiled from Delhi and defeated by East India Company troops, was forced into what we would now call an act of involuntary privatization. The scroll is an order to dismiss his own Mughal revenue officials in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and replace them with a set of English traders appointed by Robert Clive – the new governor of Bengal – and the directors of the EIC, who the document describes as “the high and mighty, the noblest of exalted nobles, the chief of illustrious warriors, our faithful servants and sincere well-wishers, worthy of our royal favors, the English Company”. The collecting of Mughal taxes was henceforth subcontracted to a powerful multinational corporation – whose revenue-collecting operations were protected by its own private army. It was at this moment that the East India Company (EIC) ceased to be a conventional corporation, trading silks and spices, and became something much more unusual. Within a few years, 250 company clerks backed by the military force of 20,000 locally recruited Indian soldiers had become the effective rulers of Bengal. An international corporation was transforming itself into an aggressive colonial power. Using its rapidly growing security force – its army had grown to 260,000 men by 1803 – it swiftly subdued and seized an entire subcontinent. Astonishingly, this took less than half a century. The first serious territorial conquests began in Bengal in 1756; 47 years later, the company’s reach extended as far north as the Mughal capital of Delhi,
The Mughal emperor Shah Alam hands a scroll to Robert Clive, the governor of Bengal, which transferred tax collecting rights in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company. Illustration: Benjamin West (1738–1820)/British Library
and almost all of India south of that city was by then effectively ruled from a boardroom in the City of London. “What honor is left to us?” asked a Mughal official named Narayan Singh, shortly after 1765, “when we have to take orders from a handful of traders who have not yet learned to wash their bottoms?” It was not the British government that seized India, but a private company, run by an unstable sociopath. We still talk about the British conquering India, but that phrase disguises a more sinister reality. It was not the British government that seized India at the end of the 18th century, but a dangerously unregulated private company headquartered in one small office, five windows wide, in London, and managed in India by an unstable sociopath – Clive. In many ways the EIC was a model of corporate efficiency: 100 years into its history, it had only 35 permanent employees in its head office. Nevertheless, that skeleton staff executed a corporate coup unparalleled in history: the military conquest, subjugation and plunder of vast tracts of southern Asia. It almost certainly remains the supreme act of corporate violence in world history. For all the power wielded today by the world’s largest corporations – whether ExxonMobil, Walmart or Google – they are tame beasts compared with the ravaging territorial appetites of the militarized East India Company. Yet if history shows anything, it is that in the intimate dance between the power of the state and that of the corporation, while the latter can be regulated, it will use all the resources in its power to resist. When it suited, the EIC made much of its legal separation from the government. It argued forcefully, and successfully, that the document signed by Shah Alam – known as the Diwani – was the legal property of the company, not the Crown, even though the government had spent a massive sum on naval and military operations protecting the EIC’s Indian acquisitions. But the MPs who voted to uphold this legal distinction were not exactly neutral: nearly a quarter of them held company stock, which would have plummeted in value had the Crown taken over. For the same reason, the need to protect the company from foreign competition became a major aim of British foreign policy. Robert Clive, was an unstable sociopath who led the fearsome East India Company to its conquest of the subcontinent.
Photograph: Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images The transaction depicted in the painting was to have catastrophic consequences. As with all such corporations, then as now, the EIC was answerable only to its shareholders. With no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term wellbeing, the company’s rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of Bengal, and the rapid transfer westwards of its wealth. Before long the province, already devastated by war, was struck down by the famine of 1769, then further ruined by high taxation. Company tax collectors were guilty of what today would be described as human rights violations. A senior official of the old Mughal regime in Bengal wrote in his diaries: “Indians were tortured to disclose their treasure; cities, towns and villages ransacked; jaghires and provinces purloined: these were the ‘delights’ and ‘religions’ of the directors and their servants.” Bengal’s wealth rapidly drained into Britain, while its prosperous weavers and artisans were coerced “like so many slaves” by their new masters, and its markets flooded with British products. A proportion of the loot of Bengal went directly into Clive’s pocket. He returned to Britain with a personal fortune – then valued at £234,000 – that made him the richest self-made man in Europe. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, a victory that owed more to treachery, forged contracts, bankers and bribes than military prowess, he transferred to the EIC treasury no less than £2.5m seized from the defeated rulers of Bengal – in today’s currency, around £23m for Clive and £250m for the company. No great sophistication was required. The entire contents of the Bengal treasury were simply loaded into 100 boats and punted down the Ganges from the Nawab of Bengal’s palace to Fort William, the company’s Calcutta headquarters. A portion of the proceeds was later spent rebuilding Powis. The painting at Powis that shows the granting of the Diwani is suitably deceptive: the painter, Benjamin West, had never been to India. Even at the time, a reviewer noted that the mosque in the background bore a suspiciously strong resemblance “to our venerable dome of St Paul”. In reality, there had been no grand public ceremony. The transfer took place privately, inside Clive’s tent, which had just been erected on the parade ground of the newly seized Mughal
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fort at Allahabad. As for Shah Alam’s silken throne, it was in fact Clive’s armchair, which for the occasion had been hoisted on to his dining room table and covered with a chintz bedspread. Later, the British dignified the document by calling it the Treaty of Allahabad, though Clive had dictated the terms and a terrified Shah Alam had simply waved them through. As the contemporary Mughal historian Sayyid Ghulam Husain Khan put it: “A business of such magnitude, as left neither pretence nor subterfuge, and which at any other time would have required the sending of wise ambassadors and able negotiators, as well as much parley and conference with the East India Company and the King of England, and much negotiation and contention with the ministers, was done and finished in less time than would usually have been taken up for the sale of a jack-ass, or a beast of burden, or a head of cattle.” By the time the original painting was shown at the Royal Academy in 1795, however, no Englishman who had witnessed the scene was alive to point this out. Clive, hounded by envious parliamentary colleagues and widely reviled for corruption, committed suicide in 1774 by slitting his own throat with a paperknife some months before the canvas was completed. He was buried in secret, on a frosty November night, in an unmarked vault in the Shropshire village of Morton Say. Many years ago, workmen digging up the parquet floor came across Clive’s bones, and after some discussion it was decided to quietly put them to rest again where they lay. Here they remain, marked today by a small, discreet wall plaque inscribed: “PRIMUS IN INDIS.” Today, as the company’s most articulate recent critic, Nick Robins, has pointed out, the site of the company’s headquarters in Leadenhall Street lies underneath Richard Rogers’s glass and metal Lloyd’s building. Unlike Clive’s burial place, no blue plaque marks the site of what Macaulay called “the greatest corporation in the world”, and certainly the only one to equal the Mughals by seizing political power across wide swaths of South Asia. But anyone seeking a monument to the company’s legacy need only look around. No contemporary corporation could duplicate its brutality, but many have attempted to match its success at bending state power to their own ends. The people of Allahabad have also chosen to forget this episode in their history. The red sandstone Mughal fort where the treaty was extracted from Shah Alam – a much larger fort than those visited by tourists in Lahore, Agra or Delhi – is still a closed-off military zone and, when I visited it late last year, neither the guards at the gate nor their officers knew anything of the events that had taken place there; none of the sentries had even heard of the company whose cannons still dot the parade ground where Clive’s tent was erected. Instead, all their conversation was focused firmly on the future, and the reception India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, had just received on his trip to America. One of the guards proudly showed me the headlines in the local edition of the Times of India, announcing that Allahabad had been among the subjects discussed in the White House by Modi and President Obama. The sentries were optimistic. India was finally coming back into its own, they said, “after 800 years of slavery”. The Mughals, the EIC and the Raj had all receded into memory and Allahabad was now going to be part of India’s resurrection. “Soon we will be a great country,” said one of the sentries, “and our Allahabad also will be a great city.” (Continued) (William Dalrymple’s new book, The Anarchy: How a Corporation Replaced the Mughal Empire, 1756-1803, will be published next year by Bloomsbury & Knopf)
PAKISTAN
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P11
Pakistan Holds First National Day Parade in Seven Years
The parade was a display of pageantry aimed at demonstrating that the country had the upper hand in the fight against terrorism
Islamabad: Pakistan Monday held its first national day military parade for seven years, a display of pageantry aimed at showing the country has the upper hand in the fight against the Taliban. Mobile phone networks in the capital were disabled to thwart potential bomb attacks, some roads were closed to the public and much of the city was under heavy guard for the event. The annual Pakistan Day parade was last held in 2008 before authorities abandoned it because of fears it could be targeted as Taliban militants increased their attacks on the military. The military says the Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP) is on the rack now thanks to an offensive waged
against militant strongholds since June last year, allowing the display of martial pomp to be restarted. The event, presided over by President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif, was held on a parade ground in leafy Islamabad. The event comes just over three months after TTP gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, an atrocity that shocked even conflictweary Pakistan. President Hussain paid tribute to soldiers fighting militants in the restive northwest, calling them his sons and pledging to go to the front line to hug them. “I also salute the innocent mar-
tyrs of the Army Public School Peshawar, who by sacrificing their lives made it clear to the enemy that this nation cannot be defeated,” the president said. Both modern and more traditional elements of Pakistan’s military arsenal were on display, from nuclear-capable missiles and the new home-made armed Burraq drone to a camel-mounted musical band. There were fly-pasts by the air force, including some dizzying aerobatic displays by JF-17 Thunder fighters, which are locally produced in cooperation with close ally China. Nuclear-capable Nasr and Shaheen missiles, which have a range of up to 1,500 kilometers (900 miles), and Babur cruise missiles were also paraded.
Nation Stands United against All Odds, Says Nawaz
Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the anti-state elements threatening Pakistan were out to challenge not only the lives but also the very fabric of Pakistani nation. He claimed the nation stands united to defeat all kinds of militancy and extremism. “Pakistan is resolved to redeem its pledge given to its founding fathers that it will protect the homeland,” he made the remark in his message to the nation on Pakistan Day. We are also committed to preserve and ensure freedom, equality and social justice as core values of our polity as desired by our enlightened forbears, he added. “Three-quarters of a century had elapsed since the Muslims of the subcontinent irreversibly resolved to seek their own independent Muslim state. “I am confident that with the valued assistance of our valiant armed forces, unconditionally supported by the entire array of political opinion, we will surely overpower threatening forces,” he observed. Presidential remarks: President Mamnoon Hussain has said that on the historic occasion of the Pakistan Day, all citizens should renew their resolve to bring the country to the forefront of the comity of nations The president said the day marked the momentous occasion when Muslims of India resolved to struggle for an independent state based on principles of equality and justice.
A view of the fly-past performance by Pakistan Air Force jets
The ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Acting Air Chief Air Chief Marshal Saeed Ahmed Khan and Naval Chief Admiral Zakaullah, besides diplomats from various countries and a huge number of citizens. The prime minister along with the Defence minister received the president as he reached the parade venue in a traditional buggy (horses-driven cart) escorted by the Presidents’ Guards. The president also reviewed the parade while Parade Commander Brigadier Khurram Sarfaraz accompanied him. The chief guest also received salutation from different formations of the armed forces, including Armed Forces Nursing Wing, Special
Chinese President Likely to Visit in April
The exact date of the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan is yet to be confirmed
Islamabad: Chinese President Xi
Special Services Group inspire and impresses one and all at tthe parade ground
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Services Group commandoes, Grils Guides, FC, Pakistan Police and others. The president also congratulated the Parade Commander and the soldiers taking part in the historic parade taking place after a gap of seven years. He said that such a splendid parade made him proud and firmed his belief that no force could ever defeat the nation having forces with such a determination to render sacrifices for the national security. He said that some 75 years ago “our sages resolved to form a separate homeland and achieved the objective for what we should be thankful to Allah and obliged to our forefathers.” He said that the parade was an occasion to remember the sacrifices of elders and pay tribute to their effort.
Jinping is expected to arrive in the country in April, sources privy to the development told Dawn on Sunday. They revealed that during the visit, the Chinese head of state will address the parliament and unveil China’s plans for the future of the Pakistan-China friendship. The exact dates of the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan are yet to be confirmed, but government sources indicate that he is due to arrive in the first week of April. Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam did not deny that the Chinese president’s visit is imminent, saying: “We will announce the visit when appropriate”. A source in parliament said that
the government wanted to make Mr Xi’s visit a historical one and, therefore, different events were being planned to showcase Pakistan’s social and economic potential. Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said on March 10 that the Chinese president had cancelled his visit to Pakistan in March due to domestic engagements. The envoy had said that the Chi¬nese head of state was to attend the ongoing session of parliament in Bei¬jing, which took place once a year. “It is mandatory for all Chinese leaders to be present in the country” until the parliamentary session ends, he said. An earlier visit to Pakistan planned for September 2014 had to be shelved due to security concerns.
PAKISTAN
P12 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
Climate Change Blamed as Erratic Downpours Hit Pakistan’s Harvests
Islamabad: Anxious farmers in Pakistan waited for weeks for the rains to arrive – but when the skies finally opened, the downpour was so intense it destroyed crops and put the harvest in jeopardy. “We weather scientists are really in shock, and so are farmers, who have suffered economic losses due to crop damage,” says Muzammil Hussain, a weather forecasting scientist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). “The wind from the southeast has carried moisture from the Arabian Sea. Normally, the northeast wind brings rain during winter, and the southeast wind brings monsoon rains in summer. But the pattern has changed this year because of what is believed to be global warming.” Farmers across much of Pakistan plant winter crops of wheat, oilseed and potato late in the year and wait for rains to water the land. This year, the rains arrived more than three weeks late and were unusually heavy, accompanied by violent hailstorms. Along with the rains, temperatures also dropped. Ibrahim Mughal, chairman of the Pakistan Agri Forum, says excessive moisture due to heavy bouts of late rain is likely to lead to outbreaks of fungus on crops, and production could be halved. “If the rains come a month ahead of the harvesting time [April to mid-May], it is always disastrous,” he says. “It can hit production for a crop such as wheat by between 20% and 30%, and if the rain is accompanied by hailstorms and winds then
the losses can escalate to more than 50%.” Arif Mahmood, a former director general at PMD, says the onset of winter across much of Pakistan is being delayed by two to three days every year, and there is an urgent need for farmers to adapt to such changes. “Over recent years, winter has been delayed by 25 to 30 days, and also the intensity of the cold has increased, which has affected almost every field of life − from agriculture to urban life.” This year has also been marked by abrupt changes in temperature. Ghulam Rasul, a senior scientist at PMD, says big swings in temperature are likely to add to the problems being faced by millions of farmers in Pakistan. “The average temperature during the first two weeks [of March]
Two Women among 36 Honored for Their Services
Lahore: Acting Governor Rana Muhammad Iqbal on Monday gave civil awards to 36 people in recognition of their services in various professions. Nine people were awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz, 12 Pride of Performance, and 15 Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in a ceremony at the Governor’s House. The only woman amongst the recipients of Sitara-e-Imtiaz was Yasmin Tahir who was awarded for her services as radio talk show host. Information Technology University vice chancellor Dr Umar Saif was given Sitara-e-Imtiaz in recognition of services in information technology; University of Punjab vice chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran and University of National Textiles, Sheikhupura, professor Dr Niaz Ahmed Akhtar in education; Rahat Ali Khan in music; Dr Abdul Rasheed Sial in public service; Muhammad Pervaiz Masood and Muhammad Younis Sheikh in social welfare; and Saeed Ajmal in sports (cricket). Pride of Performance awards were given to Prof Muhammad Masoodul Hasan in physics; Lt Col
Shafqat Hussain in engineering; Dr Mazhar Mahmood in metallurgy; Muhammad Ayub in education; Atif Shah and Asim Buikhari in film, drama and acting; Zulfiqar Ali Ghazi in calligraphy; Mir Muhammad Ali in fine arts; Muhammad Tufail in literature; Prof Asghar Sodai (late) in poetry; Abdul Rauf Tahir in journalism; and Muhammad Atif in sports (snooker). Ayesha Haroon (late) was given pride of performance for her services in journalism. Prof Rehan Asghar was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in botany; Prof Muhammad Ashraf in veterinary sciences; Muhammad Abdul Mateen Khan in education; Dr Muhammad Khan in education; Aijaz Hussain in music and Sajjad Hussain Tafu in music; Dr Shaheen Mufti in literature; Ghulam Abbas and Prof Sadat Saeed in poetry; Prof Rafiuddin Hashmi in history; Syed Tabish Alvi and Khwaja Babar Masood in journalism; Muneer Ahmed Dar (late) in sports; and Mahmood in public service. Dr Qari Mian Thanvi was awarded for recitation of the Holy Qur’an.
was between 11 and 13 degrees Celsius, but now it’s on a continuous upward trend and has reached 26˚C over the space of two days,” he reports. “The winter rains in the north and central area of Pakistan, and the sudden rise and fall in temperature, are related to climate change.” Serious damage: Similar storms and late winter rains have also caused serious damage across large areas of northern India. The states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra – the two most populous states in the country – have been particularly badly hit. In Maharashtra, snow and landslides have blocked roads and cut off towns and villages. In Uttar Pradesh, there are fears that more than 50% of the wheat crop has been lost in the eastern part of the state.
Qadir Magsi Asks Sindh to Stop Talking about Secession
Hyderabad: The Sindhi nationalist
leader Dr Qadir Magsi has urged the people of Sindh, who nurture resentment against the federation of Pakistan, that they do not need to ‘dislike’ the country. “We shouldn’t hate Pakistan; only the system that subjugates particular segments of people,” he said, while addressing the Sindh Taraqi Pasand party’s 24th annual motherland day public meeting on Saturday night in Qasimabad Town. “The breakup of Pakistan will immediately lead to the division of Sindh into many parts. The terrorists employed for this agenda of foreign powers are working on this scheme in Sindh,” he said, dissociating his party from those who raise the slogan of secession from Pakistan. “Our party is not one of those who shed blood of innocent people for the sake of dollars and Euros”. Magsi advised the rulers to reform the federating system in a way that no ethnic group such as Baloch, Sindhis, Seraiki or Pakhtun consider themselves inferior to others. All MAGSI, P29
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New CEC of MQM to Draft Party’s New Constitution Karachi: Altaf Hussain, the chief of
the beleaguered Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has reconstituted the party’s Central Executive Council (CEC) and empowered it to draft a new constitution or amend the existing one. The first CEC was formed in March 2011 but it became functional after about eight months when names of its members were announced. The mandate of the previous CEC did not provide involvement in the party’s organizational matters in Karachi. But the new 28-member CEC will be looking after the working of Karachi’s 26 sectors making up the MQM’s organizational structure. It will also look after party affairs in the rest of Sindh, GilgitBaltistan, Azad Kashmir and other parts of the country. However, it will work under the coordination committee. According to an MQM press release issued on Sunday, Mr Hussain said the CEC would also recommend the suspension or expulsion of members found involved in violating party discipline. “It will act as parliament of the MQM whose members will enjoy [organizational] powers. This CEC will make the constitution of the MQM and can also amend the existing constitution.”
He said more members would be added to the CEC soon. The new CEC members are: Senator Nasreen Jalil, MNA Rashid Godial, Kanwar Khalid Younus, Adil Siddiqui, Babar Ghauri, Dr Saghir Ahmed, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, Tariq Javed, Aminul Haq, Tauseef Khanzada, Shakir Ali, Javed Kazmi, Saleem Tajik, Waseem Akhtar, Shahid Latif, Ashfaq Mangi, Yousuf Shahwani, Iftikhar Randhawa, Saif Yar Khan, Abu Bakar Siddiqui, Anwar Alam, Kishwar Zehra, Zarreen Majid, Naeem Siddiqui, Heer Sohu, Naila Latif, Shabbir Qaimi and Umar Qureshi.
Convict’s Statement Has Helped MQM Politically: Khursheed Lahore: Syed Khursheed Shah,
leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, has urged the leadership of Muttahida Qaumi Movement to dissociate itself from what he called its militant wing and said the party should remain part of mainstream politics. He did not agree with the contention that the statement of deathrow prisoner Saulat Mirza had tarnished the party’s image. “The statement has actually benefited the MQM politically,” Mr Shah said at a press conference here on Sunday. There could be “some truth in the statement”, he said, but wondered why “so much importance” was being attached to a statement by a man sitting in a death cell. “The delay in his (Mirza’s) execution and suggestions that his death sentence may be turned into life imprisonment are creating a lot of doubts. His death penalty should be executed (without any delay),” he remarked. The death-row prisoner’s statement was even creating doubts about the Rangers-led operation being carried out in Karachi, the PPP leader said. He said: “It was the MQM’s demand that the army supervise the Karachi operation. And the operation is being carried out properly. We support the actions of the army and Rangers and (feel) the operation should continue without discrimination.” Mr Shah welcomed Altaf Hussain’s statement that MQM did not want confrontation with the national institutions. Mr Hussain’s party was the second largest party of Sindh and it would not be in the national interest to push it to the
wall by “labeling it as a terrorist organization”, he said. Talking about those killed in Lyari, he said: “A majority of those killed in the Lyari operation belonged to the Taliban.” The PPP leader said the law and order situation in Sindh had improved considerably after the launching of the operation. He also called for an operation against banned organizations. “The banned organizations are a cancer for our society and an operation should be launched against them.” He welcomed the agreement between the government and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) over the setting up of a judicial commission to look into allegations of rigging in the 2013 general election. “The PPP had advised the government not to accept the resignations of PTI legislators and to resolve the matter through dialogue,” he remarked. He asked PTI chief Imran Khan to return to parliament.
PAKISTAN
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P13
Security Forces Regain Strategic Heights in Tirah
The Inter-Services Public Relations has claimed that more than 80 militants have been killed and 100 wounded in the fresh offensive
Peshawar: Security forc-
es have regained strategic heights in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency after fierce clashes with militants. According to a report filed by Dawn correspondent in Landi Kotal, 24 militants were killed and several others injured when helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts in the valley. The main targets of the air attacks were areas considered to be strongholds of the banned Lashkar-i-Islam militant group. The areas included Sadana, Maza Thal and Khyber Sungar. At least five militants hideouts were destroyed. Sources said that in the Tirah Valley clashes, one officer and six soldiers
were killed and 30 troops were injured. The clashes took place after militants recaptured the Khyber Sungar Post near the border with Afghanistan. The bodies of the troops who died in the clashes and the injured soldiers were taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar. The deceased officer has been identified as Major Gulfam who hailed from Kurram Agency. The sources said security forces later regained all positions, including Khyber Sungar Post. A visitor reported having seen around 12 empty coffins outside the hospital mortuary. Two bodies had been brought to the CMH on Saturday. An official said troops
had also captured important ridges, including Ghulam Ali hilltop, Takhtakai and Nagrosa tops. He said security forces had for the first time entered the area in Tirah. Security forces had launched the Khyber-II offensive last week to flush out militants of Lashkar-i-Islam and other banned outfits from the area. The Inter-Services Public Relations has claimed that more than 80 militants have been killed and 100 wounded in the fresh offensive. Militants have denied the official claim which could not be verified from independent sources because the media has no access to the area. Security forces expelled elements of the banned Lashkar-i-Islam
from Bara, after the Khyber-I operation was launched last year. Bara has been handed over to political administration and internally displaced persons have started returning to their homes. Meanwhile, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif arrived in Peshawar on Sunday and was briefed on the military operation in Khyber Agency. Corps Commander Lt Gen Hidayatur Rehman and senior officers attended the briefing at the corps headquarters. The ISPR said in a statement that Gen Sharif was briefed on the overall security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, the progress in the Zarb-i-Azb operation and the ongoing operations in Khyber Agency. The statement said that steady progress was being made in the area. The ISPR said that Gen Sharif reaffirmed the army’s determination to take the operation to its logical conclusion. He said terrorists would be cornered in isolated pockets. He vowed to continue the operation and wipe out all terrorists from urban centers and remote areas for the sake of the country’s peace and prosperity. The army chief also visited wounded soldiers at the CMH. He praised the resolve and indomitable spirit of the troops.
Indian Delegation All Praise for Pakistani Authorities Ahmedabad: The Gujarat dele-
gation which returned from Pakistan after overseeing the successful return of 57 fishing boats to Porbandar was all praise for the western neighbors on Monday. The delegation, led by Pravinchandra Malli, assistant director of Fisheries of Vadodara, had landed in Karachi on March 9 to coordinate efforts for repatriating the trawlers. The delegation remained in Karachi till March 22 when the Pakistan Marine Security Agency (PMSA) delivered the fishing boats to the Indian Coast Guard some 105 nautical miles off Karachi on the Indo-Pak International Maritime Boundary Line in the Arabian Sea. As India got custody of the boats, the delegation boarded the return flight and landed back in Ahmedabad early on Monday morning. The delegation had a daunting task of getting all the boats repaired and make them seaworthy in days before the deadline of March 31, Pakistan had set to claim the boats. In frantic activities, amidst bombing incidents in Karachi, the delegation held a series of meetings with officers of PMSA, local contractors and technicians to get the job done. But delegation members admitted the task would have been dif-
ficult without the cooperation of Pakistani authorities. “Pakistan authorities knew that we had very little time. Repairing engines would have taken months. So, we had to do repairs in days. Contractors quoted 59,000 Pakistani rupees for repairing hulls of boats. But PMSA officers told the contractors they cannot manipulate the situation and forced them to repair hulls at 32,000 Pakistani rupees. Similarly, officers helped reduce towing contract prices by almost half,” Malli told The Indian Express on Monday. Pravin Rada, assistant superintendent of fisheries at Mangrol in Junagadh district, also said the PMSA helped their cause a great deal. “Our home secretary had told us wind up the entire operation in 10 days. But the contractors said repairs would take at least three weeks. However, Commander Azim Sidiqqui of PMSA told contractors the repairs would have to be completed in a week. PMSA also arranged for boats to take us to Baba and Bhit islands off Karachi where seized Gujarat boats had been anchored and repair was going on,” said Rada. The delegation had put up at
a private hotel and Pakistan had stationed a special team of police officers for their security. A few delegation members even went around Karachi under a security cover. “We went for darshan at Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple in Clifton area thrice. Eyes of auto-drivers would light up when they learn that we are from Gujarat. They would say, for example, oh, we have a relative in Bilkha of Junagadh. They would not demand even fare,” said Aravind Panjari, one of the fishermen’s leaders on the delegation. Panjari said that they also went shopping and found from their behavior and body-language that people were welcoming. “The response from Pakistan authorities was unbelievable. I had not thought of getting such a warm welcome and respect in Pakistan in my wildest dream. I am convinced common people in Pakistan are not hostile to Indians and surely not all the officers in Pakistan. - Gopal B Kateshiya MUSCLEMAN FROM P15
“In Karachi, the trend is to work on the upper body, have biceps and impress girls,” said Anwar. “That is a very bad reason to even begin with. Here people do it for themselves.” Courtesy The Express Tribune
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“Don’t Try to Make an Issue out of a Non-issue” date him about the talks. Before meeting with the Pakistani high commissioner, Mirwaiz explained that his group had always been in favour of acting “as a bridge” between the two countries and coming to a last solution for the Kashmir issue in order to strengthen peace between the two neighbors. “Both the countries have been holding talks with each other for nearly six decades but no solution has emerged,” said Farooq. “We in Hurriyat believe that we can become a platform, a bridge where the two countries can build and consolidate peace in the entire region.”
New Delhi: A spokesman for the In-
dian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said there is no place for a third party in the dialogue process with Pakistan, reported Times of India. “Let me reiterate there are only two parties and there is no place for a third party in the resolution of India-Pakistan issues. The only way forward to proceed on all outstanding issues is a peaceful bilateral dialogue within the framework of Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration,” the spokesperson said. This statement is seen as a response to Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit’s remark earlier in the day, when he underplayed his meeting with Hurriyat leaders in New Delhi, according to Times of India. “I don’t think the government of India is objecting to our meeting with Hurriyat leaders,” Abdul Basit told reporters on Monday on the occasion of Pakistan Day. “Don’t try to make an issue out of [a] non-issue,” he said. He further said that Pakistan has been “serious and sincere about resolving issues with India through peaceful dialogue”. “The need of the hour is that India and Pakistan engage in a peaceful bilateral dialogue,” Basit said. “We cannot resolve or settle our problems by use of force.” The high commissioner further said: “The agenda of the Indian and Pakistani PM is common. This is a golden opportunity.” According to media reports, Pakistan had extended an invitation to released Hurriyat leader Masarat Alam to attend its Republic Day celebrations but he did not attend the function. Meanwhile, DawnNews reported on Monday that Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said unless the stance of Kashmir’s people is accepted, peace talks will be meaningless. The chairman of moderate Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, had met Basit on Sunday for a one-on-one meeting at the latter’s residence. The Pakistan envoy had told Farooq about Islamabad’s stand during talks held between Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and his Indian counterpart S. Jaishanker. The meeting took place one month after Basit had gone to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s residence in Delhi to up-
Lawyers’ Panel to Assist Overseas Pakistanis
Lahore: The first meeting of the Overseas Pakistanis Commission, Punjab, on Monday approved a panel of lawyers to help overseas Pakistanis with their court cases in the country. The participants of the meeting also decided to arrange road shows in various countries to introduce the commission to Pakistanis settled there. They decided to recruit students from universities across the country as interns to assist with various tasks. Addressing the meeting through a video link on Monday, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the commission had been established to ensure timely resolution of problems faced by overseas Pakistanis. He said the commission had been set up as an administratively and financially autonomous body. The chief minister also sought a proposal for establishment of a police station dedicated to addressing the problems faced by overseas Pakistanis. Sharif urged the participants to use the platform of the commission to raise awareness about the various problems faced by overseas Pakistanis. In particular, the commission would ensure the security of real estate owned in the country by overseas Pakistanis. “Overseas Pakistanis invest their hard earned income in the country’s real estate. We will not let anyone illegally grab their properties,” the chief minister said. He directed the commission to work towards the establishment of advisory councils comprising representatives of Pakistanis living and working abroad. He said committees of the commission had been already set up in all the 36 districts of the province. He said the office of the commission would soon be equipped with the latest technology. The chief minister said that the performance of the commission would be reviewed after every two weeks. Earlier, Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab Commissioner Afzaal Bhatti briefed the meeting on the commission’s activities. Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab Vice Chairman Khalid Shaheen Butt was also present on the occasion.
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MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P15
A Pakistani Muscleman’s Moment of Glory in Australia
n By Natasha Raheel Karachi: “I was crying, just crying, and
Arnold [Schwarzenegger] saw me, and said I’m a soft-hearted man, I shouldn’t cry being a big strong man.” But anyone who saw a photograph of Pakistani bodybuilder Atif Anwar with his arms raised, biceps bulging, receiving a gold medal from Schwarzenegger while weeping would know how much it meant to him. Anwar worked two jobs at a time in Karachi, while putting in countless hours at the gym training as a body builder all for one dream only: to meet his hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. Three years later, the Pakistani bodybuilder achieved his dream, when he became the winner of the Arnold Classic body building competition held in Australia. The competition, as you might have guessed, is named after none other than Hollywood legend and seven times Mr Olympia, Schwarzenegger. “The last three years have been crazy, where I’ve worked two jobs at a time and still training as a bodybuilder putting hours into gym,” the 34-year-old told The Express Tribune. “It’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of struggle and it all paid off. Seeing my hero Arnold giving me the prize, watching me was all that I could ask for. It’s like my mind just went blank. I just kissed his hand and he seemed genuinely happy.” Firmly believing all his hard work conspired for that one moment, Anwar added. “It was my dream to meet my hero; he’s been my inspiration all my life. I just remember being very confused, awestruck, but Arnold is a very humble, very gentle and down-to-earth human being. I’m inspired and humbled myself.” The soft-spoken athlete gives out parking tickets to people and serves for City Council during the day and has set his eyes on becoming Mr Olympia in the next two years. Lack of support from Pakistan: A disappointed Anwar said that despite all his efforts, officials in Pakistan hesitated to support him. He recalled how last year, he wanted to go for a Pro Card from International Federation of Body Building, which was awarded to a selected few, depending on their physique and form. However, he needed the No-Objection Certificate from Pakistan Body Building officials, but they did not co-operate. “Now I’ve won the title, and they claim that I’m one of their boys, but last year when I needed them to give me clearance to apply for Pro Card in Austra-
lia, they made me beg, I used to call them for two hours each day. But now I have no regrets or complains, I’ve proved myself and Allah helps those who work hard,” Anwar said. Compared to Pakistanis, his Australian friends have been more cooperative and encouraging. He said that even his bosses at the City Council celebrated his win and gave him time to train for the event and take care of his diet. “Australians are very supportive people, even at my work-place they let me take time for lunch and training; they understand,” he said. However, he claimed Pakistanis get easily charmed with superficial things and only like to associate themselves with celebrities. “It is one of the greatest weaknesses of our society; we support winners in sports and in life, or those who already have all the resources, who can do without all the favors. However, the losers, the ones who are brave enough to pursue their passion regardless of their circumstances or are struggling, go unnoticed, or are told to quit the sport altogether. I know this because people told me to quit as well.” Afshan, Atif ’s wife and his source of support, says that it is not fair that everyone turned their attention to Anwar once he won the title, while a year ago no one would even like his pictures on Facebook. “It’s unfair. If people can’t support athletes, they shouldn’t de-motivate them either. Now he’s earned this title, and everyone is talking about it, but where were these people when Atif really needed that pat on the back and few words of encouragement, and support? Till last year, when he would put his pictures on Facebook, no one would even like them,” said Afshan. Anwar said his dream of becoming a bodybuilder began when he was 19 years old. He did his schooling at Sindh Madressatul Islam and went on to complete his intermediate in commerce and decided to become a bodybuilder after that. The body-builder said he was interested in sports and was training for martial arts during his teenage years till he watched Schwarzenegger’s movies. That is when he suddenly yearned to have a physique like the former Mr Olympia. “I was into martial arts and weighed 72kg, I was athletic,” said Anwar. “But then I watched Arnold’s movies.” “I still remember that I went to Rainbow Center to buy a copy of Pumping Iron and watched it repeatedly. I knew I wanted to be a body builder at that moment,” Anwar added.
His father was not pleased with his decision. “He would ask me what I would do for a living and get upset. He thought I would do odd jobs and clean cars and said that I was making a mistake leaving my studies.” Anwar recalled that his father’s remarks would be disheartening, but he didn’t give up on his dream. He became Mr Sindh for the first time in 2002, then Mr Pakistan in 2003, and went on to take the same title in 2006, while he also competed for Mr Universe in the US, where he finished fourth. Later on, Anwar also won titles at South Asian championships. “Body building is all about motivating yourself and will power; it’s like you live and die every day, working out, taking proper diet, educating yourself about your body,” said Anwar. “I began from Karachi, trained at different places, even went to the US for a while, came back, got married to the most amazing woman who supported me through thick and thin and then shifted to Australia,” he said. In Australia, he took courses in physical education and training and received a degree too. “It’s been twoand-a-half years that I’ve been strug-
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gling to get here.” A piercing gap: Claiming that the success at Arnold Classic has only made him more grateful, Anwar said, “My father was against my decision, but I spoke to him today, and he said that his former colleagues and friends at work threw him a dinner and asked him to get them connected to me.” “He is now proud of me. In just a couple of days I’ve got more than 7,000 friends requests on Facebook too, but I know all of this will go away, so, I’m not forgetting my values.” Anwar said he feels the absence of his mother, who passed away in an accident when Anwar was just four years old. “It’s been 30 years,” said Anwar. “She was dropping me to school, when that accident took place. I still feel it. I wish she could see this achievement too.”
However, he is grateful to his wife for her constant support. “Anwar looks very tough but he is the best husband and the most caring person I know,” said Afshan. “He might not be that educated but he is a very smart and sensible man. His character is such,” she said. The couple got married in 2001, had a son a year later and is now building a life in Darwin. Dedicating medals to APS victims: Anwar said that he wants to dedicate his medals to the Army Public School victims. He said that he would want all of his medals and any accolades he may win in the future to be dedicated to the children in Peshawar after the deadly attack on the school on December 16 that killed more than 140 people, including 132 children. “My medals are dedicated to the children and the Peshawar victims,” Anwar said. “It was a horrifying attack. Even here, as I was watching it on the television, I was shaken, disturbed and those images of blood in the classroom and on the kid’s shoes and bags still haunt me.” Aspiring bodybuilders in Pakistan: According to Anwar, who is also training a few clients besides preparing himself for Mr Olympia, athletes in Australia are more health-conscious and serious about bodybuilding compared to their counterparts in Pakistan. He said that body building can only be done if the person is working out for himself, instead of others. MUSCLEMAN, P13
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WOMENS WORLD
MARCH 27, 2015 - PAKISTAN LINK
WOMEN
P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
By Sumeha Khalid
A
ll fashion conscious women are always on a look out for the latest trends - be it clothes, accessories, sparkling ornaments and of course hair and make-up. And the fact is that fashion shows and weeks play an important part as it is on the ramps of such shows that the latest trends in make-up and attire are revealed. When we talk about fashion shows how can we forget TDAP - a fashion show that provides an apt platform for the fashion and textile industry to brush shoulders with foreign buyers. Karachi recently played host to the Expo Pakistan Exhibition 2015 which took off with the TDAP fashion show boasting of renowned designers who sent down the runway some of their best collections. Trend alert: While our renowned designers gave the audience a great option to jive up their wardrobes; the team of Sabs salon also came up with fun ideas for hair and make-up this season that gave the models a fresh look. Ace model Nadia Hussain, for instance, in a couture outfit looked striking sporting a neat chignon at the nape of the head. Hair & make-up trends: There was great emphasis on hair let loose with light waves and soft curls, at times back-combed for a classy look. If not that, then simple pins were used to pull together the hair loosely at one side giving the models a very stylish appeal. Full graduated layers as well as
mermaid waves were some of the favourite hair trends observed at the ramp of TDAP. Some of the designers had also accessorised their collections with interesting and offbeat head gear, like flowers as 'mathay ka jhoomar', crowns with flora perched atop the heads, turbans as in the case of Nauman Arfeen who completed the 'dervish' look with choghas and the Turkish Fez. Nida Azwer's colourful rendition of Bahar was as brilliant as can be. For this specific collection the make-up artist had opted for soft twisties with hair pulled back at the nape. Make-up was a mix of soft and bold with the look varying for the designers depending on the collection they were sending down the runway. While one saw red pouts done beautifully teamed with light eyes there was also a hint of smokiness to give the models a bold look in some cases. However, the base at times seemed a bit heavy and could have been somewhat lightened. One saw liberal use of eyeliner which never goes out of style. At times the liner had been drawn as close to the eyes as possible lending the models a natural yet intense look while at others it was flicked out for sexy appeal. As far as lip shades go it seemed the dominating lip colours were scarlet, browns, wine colours and various shades of peach and pink. The event had been organised by Catwalk and the hair and make-up for both the days was by Sabs Salon. While the designers did a good job of dressing
up the models, the make-up artist too did not disappoint although at times one felt the models would have looked even lovelier with a softer base for the bold and beautiful make-up adorning their faces. Designer delight: On both the days, the designers were divided into two categories; those who showcased entire collections and those who sent down capsule collections. Those in the first category included names like Zaheer Abbas, Sahar Atif, Adnan Pardesy, Maliha Raza and Usman Rehman, Ali Xeeshan, Huma Adnan of FnkAsia, Delphi, Naushaba Brohi of Inaaya, Nauman Arfeen and Kuki Concepts and an out-of-the-box collection by two graduates of PIFD. The ones in the latter category were Maheen Khan (Gulabo), Deepak Perwani, Maheen Kardar (Karma Pink), Akif Mahmood, Nickie Nina, Rizwanullah, Sara Sublime, Faraz Manan, Arslan Iqbal, Mohsin Ali, Sana Safinaz, Sadaf Malaterre, YBQ, Zainab Chottani and Nida Azwer. Go the fusion way: One saw a lot of fusion at this year's TDAP with designers having whipped up smart and trendy lines. Cigarette pants paired with shirts of varying lengths was a constant in most collections as were skirts and dresses with cropped tops and jackets. The dominant hues this year were both bright and sober earthy tones while some had opted for a monochromatic colour palette. The monochrome collection by Adnan Pardesi was outstanding yet unique.
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MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P19
Friday, March 27, 2015
VOL. 25/13 PAGE 20
PAGE PAGE 25 17
egum PAGE 24
Quest for a Saraiki Province in Pakistan
7 Jumadal-ukhra 1436
A Timeless Romance: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge
For news, updated round the clock, visit
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Urdu Academy Pays Tributes to Jamiluddin Aali
Glimpses of the Urdu Academy function
n By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
T
he Urdu Academy of North America dedicated its March 15, 2015 monthly literary event to the life and work of a prominent Urdu poet, Jamiluddin Aali. The event was held at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark, CA. Moiz Khan was MC of the literary event. Syed Aslam, a senior community member, presided over the proceedings.
This was the first time Moiz Khan was presenting an Urdu Academy program. His excellent performance drew wide applause. Moiz Khan presented a wellresearched maqala on the life and work of Aali while a number of Urdu enthusiasts recited his poetry which included Irshad Khan, Ishaq Nagpurwala, Khalid Rana, Kausar Saiyed,Lubna Manzar, Manzar
Salam, Mubeen Khalil, Nagesh Avadhany, Shamsun Nahar, Tajwar Shahana, Tasadduq Husain Attari, Zafar Shah and Abdus Sattar Ghazali. Born on January 20, 1925 in Delhi in a literary and aristocratic family, Aali embarked on his poetic journey at an early age. He passed the CSS examination in 1951 and joined the Pakistan Taxation Service. His career saw many ups and downs and he joined the National Bank of Pakistan as its vice president in 1967 and retired from it as its senior executive vice president in 1988. On 30 September 1944, Aali married Tayaba Bano. They have five children (three sons and two daughters). In poetry, Jameeluddin Aali has been an innovator par excellence, in so far as he has revived the
classical form of doha and adapted it into Urdu imparting a distinct South Asian Muslim cultural flavor while retaining its beauty. A doha is
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a form of self-contained rhyming couplet in poetry. Dohas are generally lyrical and appeal to the intellect or sometimes even the emo-
tions of the reader. Among the most famous dohas are those of Sarahpa, Kabir, Rahim, Tulsidas, ACADEMY, P29
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P20 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
Quest for a Saraiki Province in Pakistan
“
n By Ras H. Siddiqui
Pakistan-Beyond the Security State” was the topic of a conference held in Berkeley, California on February 27-28, 2015 which shed some academic light on a powerful yet troubled country whose role on the world stage continues to attract strong interest. This two-day event was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and was jointly sponsored by the Institute for South Asia Studies, Berkeley Pakistan Initiative and the Institute of International Studies. Defying the image of Pakistan that many in this country have developed, those who know better were not surprised that a many if not most of the academics who presented their work at this conference were Pakistani women. One of them was Dr Nukhbah Taj Langah. She is a recognized academic, author and the leader of the Pakistan Saraiki Party. And lucky for us she visited Sacramento after the conference and talked to members of the local Pakistani community both at a residence and at the Kabab Corner Restaurant. But first, before any alarm bells go off, Dr Nukhbah is a strong proponent of a Saraiki province within Pakistan and is not heading any secessionist movement. She talked at length about that fact and said that “creating a Saraiki province means acknowledging diversity within the federation of Pakistan and strengthening and balancing the federation rather than weakening it.” She added, “It is important to mention that according to our party manifesto, all people living in the Saraiki region carry the Saraiki identity, without any distinction of language, culture and
ethnicity.” This report is being written with encouragement from Sacramento’s Ubaid Khawaja who is currently the President of the International Saraiki Congress USA and at whose residence this meeting took place. Ubaid cited that the Saraiki people are oppressed and that a rich culture thousands of years old was being ignored and suppressed. And when we hear this complaint from any group in Pakistan, it is best to listen. Ubaid also mentioned that the core geographical area of the future Saraiki province was the former princely State of Bahawalpur which joined Pakistan and then later became a part of the Punjab. I asked Dr Nukhbah about her presentation at the Berkeley conference. She replied that it was about Saraiki and other ethno-nationalist movements and how they once united as in the case of United Nations Alliance (1994) and PONM-Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (1998). “I am studying the reasons of the failures of these alliances and how
it has weakened the ethno-nationalistic aspirations within Pakistan, thus strengthening the domination of Punjab. This is a working paper and in progress.” Asked why a Saraiki province should be formed, she replied: “Pakistan includes diverse cultures, ethnicities, religions and identities. All the other provinces in Pakistan including Baluchistan, Sindh and KPK have one major language representing the culture of that province. Along the same lines Saraiki language is spoken in most part of Punjab but until 1970’s has been tagged a Punjabi dialect. However, historically Saraiki language and culture are far more ancient and richer than Punjabi.” She added that Saraiki is sometimes tagged as a dialect of Punjabi (and sometimes Sindhi), but it is a much older language and civilization as compared to Punjabi. She said that the question is not just about the historic significance of Saraiki but about a people’s linguistic and political rights which she detailed
extensively. Besides language and cultural identity socio-economic issues also emerge strongly. Just to highlight a few, the Saraiki-speaking areas are mainly agricultural with little or no industry of their own. Jobs in this area are mainly given to outsiders and academic institutions are backward and neglected. Apart from Multan and Bahawalpur Universities, which were set up by Mr Bhutto around 1975, no new university or college has been set up. There are few hospitals, besides Nishtar Hospital built in 1951 using local funds and Multan Institute of Cardiology, which was built after demands of area political activists. The roads and general infrastructure are also in miserable shape. There is a 20:1 disparity of development funds between upper Punjab and the Saraiki region and last but not least the law and order and human rights situation along with excesses of police and bureaucracy is shameful. Dr Nukhbah elaborated on both the constitutional and political demand for the creation of a fifth fed-
erating unit in Pakistan by the name of “Saraiki” or “Saraikistan” province (she spells it “Siraiki” and “Siraikistan”). When I asked her about areas which the future borders of this province would include she replied that four divisions of the Punjab province, namely Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and District Jhang along with Dera Ismail Khan Division from KPK would make up the province. She added that Saraiki is spoken in all the four provinces in Pakistan but the boundaries envisioned would not include any areas from Sindh or Baluchistan. Dr Nukhbah is the daughter of the late Taj Muhammad Langah, founder of the Pakistan Saraiki Party and an old member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). She is also the author of a book -Poetry as Resistance: Islam and Ethnicity in Postcolonial Pakistan (Routledge, 2012). (Saraiki is spelled in many different ways, including Siraiki or Seraiki. For the purpose of this article the “Saraiki” spelling was used)
Deep Down in the Heart of Texas, a Little Bit of Pakistan Zindabad n By Michael Kugelman
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rowing up in a middle class family in southern Punjab, Rauf Arif often dreamed of coming to the United States to acquire a higher education. He wanted to use his advanced degree to make meaningful contributions to the education sector back in Pakistan.
Eventually, Arif, along with his wife, Lamia Zia, followed through with this dream: They moved to the United States to pursue their graduate educations. First, they went to the University of Kansas, where Rauf was a Fulbright scholar and Lamia worked at the prestigious Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. Then, they relocated to the University of Iowa, before moving to Texas. Rauf is now an assistant professor of communication at the University of Texas campus in Tyler, a small city of about 100,000 located about 150 kilometers from Dallas. Lamia is an independent journalist and political communication researcher. They recently hosted me in Tyler, where I gave several lectures to some very impressive students. Rauf and Lamia are quite impressive as well — and they’ve only deepened my longstanding admiration for the US-based Pakistani diaspora. Both are very much products of Pakistan and the surrounding region. Lamia is a Pakhtun from Islamabad, and her parents are from Afghanistan. She speaks six languages.
Rauf is from Punjab. At Partition, his parents and other relatives walked for a month from Indian Punjab to Lahore; the grueling journey claimed the life of his father’s brother. Rauf and Lamia met while working in the newsroom of The Nation newspaper, where they served under the late Ayesha Haroon. Lamia was the only female reporter during that time. She would later work for Geo, and Rauf for CNBC. They were comfortably ensconced in Islamabad’s journalist community; numerous high-profile media personalities attended their wedding. I was curious to hear about their experiences in Texas. This is a state that has suffered through a recent series of disturbing attacks on ethnic and religious minorities. Earlier this month, for example, an Iraqi man who had recently fled his country to escape the threat of IS was shot dead in Dallas — while he was taking pictures of freshly fallen snow. At the same time, I’ve always been struck by the similarities between Texas (and the American South on the whole) and Pakistan. Both are known for their hospitality, their good food, and their emphasis on family. They are also both known for their conservatism and religiosity. And, unfortunately, for extremist groups — such as the KKK and the Taliban. Despite various challenges, Rauf and Lamia have adjusted quite well so far. This says something about the resourcefulness of the Pakistani dias-
Rauf Arif (left) and the author (right) experiment with local fashion in Tyler, Texas. — Photo credit: Lamia Zia
pora, but also about the United States. They describe the city of Tyler as fairly tolerant (the presence of a large college campus, and the sophistication and progressivism that this brings, certainly helps in this regard). Incidents of discrimination tend to be rooted in naiveté rather than ill intent (in restaurants, for example, Rauf is sometimes greeted in Spanish). Rauf and Zia recounted a telling story: Several months ago, some young people appeared in front of Tyler’s Islamic Center bearing placards calling on Muslims to leave the country. A priest who happened to be driving by stopped, and encouraged the protestors to leave. They refused. The priest then called the police, who quickly arrived and stood quietly outside the mosque to ensure that peo-
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ple could safely enter and exit the facility. The imam instructed worshipers to ignore the protestors. They did so, and the incident ended peacefully. Lamia and Rauf are not the only Pakistanis in Tyler — in fact, to my surprise, there are about 100 Pakistani families there, many of them quite well off. We drove through a fabulously wealthy neighborhood (it could have been Beverly Hills) where many doctors live; Tyler, in fact, has some of the best medical facilities in the United States. Quite a few of those 100 Pakistani families live in this neighborhood. In essence, when it comes to the socioeconomic pecking order in this small Texas city, Pakistanis are kings of the hill. Alas, Lamia and Rauf don’t live
in this neighborhood — but they are still doing quite well for themselves. They’ve slowly assimilated to the ways of Texas: They are big fans of fajitas, even as they sometimes go against the grain — such as by opting for a small car over a super-size SUV. At the same time, they retain links to Pakistan. They cook paratha; they know which local establishment offers authentic tea from Peshawar; and they periodically make the trek to a well-known halal grocery in Dallas to secure Pakistani kabobs. Still, this is what I find most impressive about them: In several years, they hope to return to Pakistan — just as Rauf had originally dreamed of doing back when he was growing up in southern Punjab. So many Pakistanis relocate to the United States and never really go back. Rauf and Lamia appear genuinely interested in taking the skills and education they’ve acquired here, and putting them to good use back in Pakistan. Pakistan is a country where many challenges — bad political leadership, subpar levels of research and development, few graduates with advanced degrees — can be attributed to a decades-long process of brain drain. For this reason, the future plans of Rauf and Lamia provide the country with some welcome cause for hope. (Michael Kugelman is the senior program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. - Dawn)
COMMUNITY
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21
Akbar Ahmed Examines Experiences of Muslims in ‘Journey into Europe’ n By Sereen Thahir
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ashington, DC: As an anthropologist, Akbar Ahmed has been mapping cultures and communities, especially in the Islamic world, almost his entire professional life. Over the course of four decades, he has documented Muslim groups as varied as the Pathans of Swat Valley and African American congregations of Harlem.
Now in his latest tour de force, Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair for Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC, examines the experiences of Muslims in Europe. The Pakistani academic and former diplomat recently returned from the Old Continent, where he and his team—a group of American and non-American scholars—studied European Muslims and the attitudes and perceptions of Europeans about their Muslim neighbors. The ethnographic study “Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Empire” took Ahmed and his team to 32 cities and 40 mosques, where they interviewed imams, grand muftis, ordinary people, scholars, students and national leaders. The project was launched by Ahmed’s friend Lord Bhiku Parekh, who is of Indian Gujarati origin, at House of Lords, whose religious background symbolized the interfaith nature of the project. Speaking from his home in the tony Washington suburb of Bethesda, Ahmed shared his preliminary thoughts on the project, which he said was motivated by his desire to explore conditions of Muslims in Europe in light of immigration issues and the latest Middle Eastern conflict in which many Europeans are fighting on the side of ISIL. The only way to understand the attitudes of the youth was to understand the context of the society in which they emerge from, the professor says. At the same time, through this project, he also wanted to explore the history of the religion on the continent, he says, before quickly pointing out that Islam in Andalucía was the center of world thinking centuries ago, yet the efforts of Muslim scientists and thinkers are often overlooked in history. “Muslims ruled in Europe for almost 800 years, and that too very successfully,” he says. “With that leadership came advances in education, sciences, and religion. The main library in Cordoba had 400,000 books.” In a complete reversal, he points out that
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n By Almas Akhtar
he large banquet hall at the Armenian Center Southfield glittered with bright lights. The table centerpieces adorned with flags of Pakistan and the United States depicted the theme of the event which was the Pakistan Day Dinner organized by the Pakistan Association of America, Michigan on March 21,2015.
More than 400 people, mostly of Pakistani descent, gathered not only to enjoy the elaborate dinner and musical performance, presented by Pakistani musicians but also to meet old friends from all over the state. Mr Asif Noorani, a veteran Pakistani journalist and writer of three books who was currently in the state visiting his daughter, was roped in to give the keynote address. Brightly colored shalwar-kameez worn by women, added a lot of color to the banquet hall in Southfied, which is a city situated in the central part of the State. Among the guests one could also spot three or four white American women accompanying their spouses. One of them was seen spending her time taking photographs. Like other photographers she clicked her camera endlessly during a fashion show and captured
just one educational institution in the West, Harvard University, now publishes more research than the entire Arab world put together. It is no coincidence that Muslims are on the defensive across Europe. Whether it is attacks in Great Britain, or laws against wearing the hijab in government places in France, Muslims are seen in a negative light in a region that has a vast, but untold, Islamic history, Ahmed says. Muslims comprise approximately 10 percent of the population of all of Europe. They range from immigrants to converts to indigenous Muslims and are spread all over the continent. Stating that “being put in a defensive position is not a bad thing,” Ahmed says he sees an opportunity in the present crisis. “The leadership in Europe is slowly emerging, but I don’t believe they are sufficiently cohesive or vocal enough. Muslims must be active in politics. If they organized, they can have a sufficient impact.” He adds, “Muslims and Muslim countries must continue to put an emphasis on education and scholarly research. Right now we have non-Muslims speaking about Muslims on television; we must be sure that Muslims are out there with their voice.” Ahmed cites Bosnia as one of the bright spots in Europe. “I was looking for major Muslim thinkers who see themselves as Muslims and Europeans,” he says. “While there were several in France, the UK, and Germany, it was nothing compared to those in Bosnia. They are coming
out of a genocide, where they fought for their survival as Muslims. Yet, they do not speak of revenge but look forward. I spoke with the president and the grand mufti and the conversations were at a high intellectual and Islamic level. By my meetings with these people, I believe Islam is secure in Europe.” Ahmed, who was part of the elite Pakistani civil service, has an advice for European states: they must try harder to make the immigrants who are citizens feel welcome. “We have many second and third generation Muslims there who feel marginalized by society and can become radicalized,” he says. Having conducted similar study a few years ago on Muslims of America, Ahmed offers interesting comparisons between Muslims of Europe and the United States. In The Journey into America project, which is available as a book and as a documentary, Ahmed and his team document how Americans look at Muslims and how American Muslims view themselves. Prefacing that “neither the Muslims in America nor the Muslims in Europe are a monolith,” there are major differences between the two groups. “In Europe, they are differentiated by countries, ethnicities, ideologies, and even migratory patterns,” he points out. “So the old colonial relationships between France and Algeria means the Algerians will go to France. The South Asians will go to England because South Asia was colonized and so on. In America, there’s no such thing because America was not a colonial power.” The second big difference, in his opinion,
is the economic status. “Muslims coming to America were by and large middle class. Not all of them, but they were generally doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs. The Muslims that began to come in the 1960s and 1970s were reasonably well off and adjusted quite well. Of course, there are always some sections of the population that do not adjust. This is distinct in comparison to the Muslims in Europe. There, you see a lot of factory workers coming to England from South Asia. That first generation came to literally earn some money with the goal of sending it back and eventually then going back.” So who is doing better? “I think if you were to look at it in the context of history, then certainly the Muslims in America are far more comfortable,” he says. “America does not have a colonial attitude towards Islam. The relationship was very much up to the individual until 9/11. 9/11 has changed everything because after that you have all kinds of debates, controversies, and questions.” Journey into Europe is the last in the quartet of projects exploring ties between the world of Islam and the West. The first, Journey into Islam, looks at the Muslim world and its diversity and how various Muslim groups view the West. The second, Journey into America, had his team travel through 75 cities across the United States, while the third, The Thistle and the Drone, focused on Islam in 40 tribal societies. Like the three previous projects, Journey into Europe will also be published as a book by the Brookings Institution early next year. “We also hope to have a documentary about the entire journey with some really spectacular and rare footage,” he says. “Both of these aim to be a contribution to knowledge in the field of anthropology, the methods of which were established by Ibn Khaldun, a famous scholar who was in Spain during the time of Islamic rule. He is also the namesake of my chair position at American University, so I am especially proud of this.” The documentary is scheduled to be released later this summer. Ahmed says he hopes his work will “allow people to believe that we are all part of one humanity,” which he thinks might not happen in his lifetime.” Asked about his next project, he says: “My friend, Professor Lawrence Rosen at Princeton recently joked to me, ‘You’re running out of continents now! What’s next, Islam in the Antarctic?’”
An Auspicious Pakistan Day Event in Michigan
the attention of the audience. In the spirit of goodwill PAA invited an
Indian designer Rachna Chandra to present the fashion show; she pre-
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sented some very gorgeous Pakistani dresses in the show. A couple of local Pakistani dressmakers had also set up stalls in the lobby. The proceedings started earlier with the singing of the national anthems of Pakistan and the host country by a group of finely attired kids. Their faces beamed with happiness when their performance was widely applauded. The spread at the buffet table was impressive and delicious, to say the least. The post-dinner session started with the speech of the Presi-
dent of the Michigan chapter, Mr Muhammed Zahid , who laced his talk with couplets from Urdu poetry. He referred of to the Pakistani community as a big family and pleaded for unity among the members. ‘Let bygones be bygones,’ he said in conclusion. He received a huge round of applause from the audience for his remarks. Mr Asif Noorani, the guest speaker, spoke about the great job being done by charities such as the Edhi Foundation, SIUT, DAY, P29
COMMENTARY
P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
In Memoriam
Altaf Husain : “The Maker and Breaker of the Governments and Powers” n By Syed Muazzem Ali
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San Diego , CA
ltaf Husain, an outstanding journalist of South Asia, was born on 26 January 1900 in Sylhet, Bangladesh. His father Maulvi Ahmedullah was a prominent lawyer before he joined the coveted Assam Civil Service. Maulvi Ahmedullah had two sons, Altaf Husain and Anwar Husain and a daughter, Zebu Ahmed. Altaf Husain had his earlier education in Calcutta, graduated from Murari Chand (MC) College in Sylhet and, when Dhaka University was established in July 1921, enrolled himself in the first batch for the Master’s degree in English literature.
Altaf Husain is known as the legendary editor of Pakistan’s largest and oldest English Daily Dawn, but what is little known is that “Dawn” was first born during his student days at the Salimullah Muslim(SM) Hall of the Dhaka University. This needs some elaboration. My father late Syed Mustafa Ali, a close friend of Altaf, was a student in the first batch of Honor’s class in English literature at the Dhaka University that year, and from his autobiography “Atmokotha” one gets a glimpse of Dhaka University student life during the early years. Once the University was established in Dhaka the Muslim students started taking active interest in various literary and cultural activities and Altaf Husain played a leading role in organizing all such events. Maybe in their youthful exuberance they went too fast for the conservative group of students at the University who could not keep pace with them when these students, within two months of establishment of the University, wanted to organize a Bengali drama called “Bongonari” by famous writer D.L. Roy in the dining hall of the S.M. Hall. The conservative group protested, and the first provost of the Hall, Ahmed Fazlur Rahman tried to intervene and stop the drama on the date scheduled. But as a compromise, he allowed the organizers, led by Altaf, to hold the play during the summer recess when most of the students were away from the Hall. Altaf Husain did not forget the drubbing that his group suffered at the hands of the conservatives and
R
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he decided to strike back at an opportune moment. Once the examinations were over in March 1922, and the students were relatively free, a wall paper by the name of DAWN appeared near the stairs of the S.M. Hall. The main thrust of the wallpaper was to oppose ultra-conservatism and to criticize actions of the members of that group. There was no
pen-name of Ain-ul-mulk. Through this immensely popular column, he cogently put forward hopes and aspirations of Muslims in British India. In no time, his passionate and inspiring column caught the attention of Muslim League President Mohammad Ali Jinnah who appointed him as the Editor of the Dawn which he had founded in Delhi.
As the partition dates were finalized Altaf was sent to Karachi in early August 1947 with some senior members of his Delhi office to set up the Dawn office. Yusuf Haroon, a budding industrialist and an energetic member of the Muslim League Central Committee, was asked to provide necessary logistic facilities. Altaf and his team brought out the first issue
Altaf Husain is dead but his greatest love “Dawn” is alive. In Ali’s farewell party from Dawn in 1953, Altaf had somewhat proudly observed that one day SM Ali would be the Editor of a daily paper that “may well be as good as Dawn, but nothing better than Dawn, because there can be no newspaper better than Dawn” mention about the name of the editor of the wallpaper or its contributors but everyone knew Altaf Husain was behind it. The wallpaper gained some popularity among the students for its interesting contents and some more issues appeared later. His friends and contemporaries believe that this wallpaper episode had aroused the interest for journalism in him and Altaf had realized for the first time how public opinion could be molded through the power of pen. After finishing his studies at the University, Altaf Husain started teaching at the Islamia College in Calcutta but his passion for journalism continued. It was at that time that he began writing his weekly column “Through Muslim Eyes” in the prestigious Daily Statesman under the
The paper was originally a weekly but within a year it became a daily and its first editor was Pothan Joseph. Altaf Husain took over in 1944 and was given complete freedom to run the paper and pursue an independent editorial policy. Soon the paper gained huge popularity and its circulation went up phenomenally. Altaf, through his powerful pen and immaculate articulation, played a critically important role in the Pakistan Movement which led to the creation of a separate homeland for Muslims in British India in August 1947. Earlier, for a short time in 1942, Altaf also served as a Press Advisor to the Government of British India, and was a member of a threemember panel along CP Johnson of the Statesman and SA Govindarajan of the Hindu.
of Dawn from Karachi on 15 August 1947 carrying the news of the birth of Pakistan. Today, the street in Karachi where the first office of the Dawn was set up is named after him. My eldest brother late S.M. Ali, also an outstanding journalist of international fame, served under Altaf in the editorial section of the Dawn office in Karachi from mid-1952-to mid-1953 before he left for London. In his writings he fondly recalls his former boss and colleague: “The greatest contribution that Altaf sahib made to journalism was that he gave the editorship of Dawn a unique prestige built on power and authority” with “scrupulous fairness, strictly according to his own judgment and not under the dictates” of the owner of the paper. Yet, he laments this power and authority could not save
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look for the root causes, which is what our more natural, holistic approach seeks to do. Address the problem, and the pain will subside. • Make good choices. Most chron-
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ic conditions are caused by bad lifestyle choices. Try walking more, eating and sleeping better, eliminating stress and bad habits from your life, and watch pain decrease and health increase. It’s that simple. Moreover, surround yourself with a healing community of likeminded “healing buddies” who support your healthy choices. • Explore natural healing techniques, and if necessary, see a natural healing practitioner. You are your best doctor, on call 24/7. I developed many self-healing techniques that address the needs of every aspect of mind-body health. These techniques are free and easy to implement at home, on the job, and wherever you might be. You might also explore meditation, yoga and other approaches for filling the holes in your wholeness.
democracy in Pakistan when Ayub Khan put the country under military dictatorship, or help solve the problems between the center and what was then East Pakistan and sums up that it was not Altaf Sahib’s individual failure but the failure of the press as an institution in Pakistan. Despite institutional limitations, Ali had noted that Altaf called shots in his dealings with each succeeding government in Pakistan from 1952 and that whenever a central government was in real crisis in Pakistan, an editorial in Dawn “could make a crucial difference between its survival and downfall.” As regards Altaf ’s exit from the editorship of Dawn and the profession, Ali believes it was “somewhat forced” as Ayub Khan had been trying to dislodge the “independent minded” Editor from Dawn by offering him Cabinet portfolios for some time and finally succeeded in bringing him in the cabinet in March 1965 as the Minister in-charge of Industry and Natural Resources. Altaf did not care for the job that had robbed him of much of his authority and power. After three years he resigned owing to ill health, and just ten days later, on May 25 1968, he died of heart attack in Karachi. It is indeed sad that Altaf Husain, who had all along fiercely opposed the tyranny and corrupt politicians and military dictators in Pakistan, had to succumb to pressure at the end of his otherwise illustrious career. The International Herald Tribune, in an obituary note on his death, had described him as “the maker and breaker of Governments and powers.” Altaf Husain is dead but his greatest love “Dawn” is alive. In Ali’s farewell party from Dawn in 1953, Altaf had somewhat proudly observed that one day SM Ali would be the Editor of a daily paper that “may well be as good as Dawn, but nothing better than Dawn, because there can be no newspaper better than Dawn”. Happily, the high standard set by Altaf has largely been maintained by Dawn. On his birthday we remember this legendary journalist for his outstanding journalistic skill, eminent personality above all, sheer brilliance. (Syed Muazzem Ali is a former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador of Bangladesh. Repeated ) • Look into homeopathy. Homeopathy predates modern medicine. Homeopathic medicines are safe and effective, with no known side-effects or negative drug interactions. They target the root causes, not the superficial pain. I have personally seen homeopathy dramatically raise the quality of life and happiness for countless of my patients. With the appalling death toll due to pharmaceutical pain medication, natural solutions like homeopathy are our safest, brightest hope for the future of pain management. About Dr. Frank King; Dr. Frank King is a chiropractor, doctor of naturopathy, and founder and president of King Bio, an FDA-registered pharmaceutical manufacturing company dedicated to education, research, development, manufacture and distribution of safe and natural homeopathic medicines for people and pets.
COMMENTARY n By Dr. S.M. Ghazanfar
(
Emeritus Faculty University of Idaho Moscow, Idaho
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P23
Islam: As American as Apple Pie
Presentation at the UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALISTS Fellowship, Moscow, Idaho; November 28, 2010)
Let me first express my profound appreciation for this opportunity. And my topic this morning, though not Islamic religion as such, truly reflects a widely-quoted verse from the Holy Qur’an: “O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another” (Sura 49:13). And such conversations are so critical and, of course, so in accord with the UU’s eight principles. In fact, I think one of the most popular songs of the late 1950’s, “Getting to Know You” (King and I movie) should become the spiritual song of today. Please allow me to preface my remarks by providing a brief historical perspective to our cultural connections. First, I want to emphasize that we are all part of the Judeo-Christian-and-Islamic Civilization–and there are even faith-related historic linkages. And when we mention our Greek heritage, the conduit was the Islamic civilization, along with its own huge contributions. But this is a topic for another occasion. Despite such connections, the “love-hate” relationship between the West and Islam has persisted for centuries, so much borrowed and learned from the Islamic world and yet the demonized image. Second, even prior to Columbus’s 1492 journey, there is evidence of Muslim presence on this side of the Atlantic; Muslims had already explored the “ Sea of Darkness and Fog,” as it is called in some writings. There were 14 th-century Muslim travelers from Mali, and even Chinese imperial fleets, led by Muslim admiral Zheng, traveled ahead of Columbus. And, further, Spanish Muslims had a key role in Columbus’ voyages, in that his were facilitated with Arab navigational documents and instruments; and Muslims guides accompanied him. In fact, he specifically acknowledges his “Moor” helpers. Thirdly, evidence suggests up to 25-30 percent of the slaves were Muslims – and that heritage links with contemporary Afro-American Muslims. Some will remember Kunta-Kinte in that Alex Hailey epic, The Roots; he was a Muslim, as were many others. There are still old church structures in the South which face toward Mecca. Relatedly, a recent article in the Mother Jones magazine points to archeological evidence of slaves buried at Ground Zero, some of whom were Muslims – and this has its own implication for that NY Islamic Center controversy. And finally, perhaps most importantly, our Founding Fathers, as they formed a new pluralist identity for the new nation, acknowledged Islam and Muslims, despite Glenn Beck, Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, and other zealots and despite the “Civilizational Clash” nonsense. Outlining his vision in 1783, George Washington wrote, “The bosom of America [was] open to receive...the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions .... They may be Mohammetans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be atheists.” And the 2 nd President John Adams,
in signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, wrote, “The US has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Muslims.” And Benjamin Franklin expressed his respect for Islam when extending financial support to an interfaith center, he said that “even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.” They even praised Islam’s Prophet Mohammed as one of the
have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel prizes, built our tallest buildings, and lit the Olympic Torch” (Cairo speech, June 4, 2010). Now as for those contemporary manifestations, some more visible than others, yet hardly part of our consciousness, let me narrate just a few. There is, of course, our lan-
orange, lemon, tangerine, orange, candy, saffron, syrup, chess, etc. And talking of chess, the phrase ‘checkmate’ derives from Arabic ‘shahmat,’ which means ‘the king is dead.’ And there are numerous towns and cities with Arabic names – Aladin, Wyoming; Arabia, Nebraska; Baghdad, Calif.; Cairo, Ill.; Koran, Louisian; Mahomet, Ill; Mecca, Calif.; Mecca, Indiana; Palestine, Texas; Sultan, Washington; etc. etc. And curiously, there are native-American tribes whose names
Outlining his vision in 1783, George Washington wrote, “The bosom of America [was] open to receive...the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions .... They may be Mohammetans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be atheists.” And the 2 nd President John Adams, in signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, wrote, “The US has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Muslims.” And Benjamin Franklin expressed his respect for Islam when extending financial support to an interfaith center, he said that “even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service” world’s “sober inquirers after truth,” and a “model of compassion.” As for Unitarian Jefferson’s pluralism, there stands a statute of an angel at the entrance of the University of Virginia that he founded, carrying a tablet entitled “Religious Freedom, 1786,” and the tablet has the name “Allah” along with that of God and Jehovah, as well as Brahma. Believe it or not, there are even Islamic linkages to our Constitution. So much for this brief historical background to our cultural linkages. Before narrating some contemporary linkages relevant to the topic, however, let me quote President Obama from his Cairo speech last year: “As a student of history, I know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment.” As for our contemporary links, he said, “And since our founding, American Muslims
guage, not only as our everyday vernacular but as the language in various academic disciplines. From A to Z, there are thousands of English words whose etymology links with Arabic, directly or via other European languages, especially Spanish, including the word ‘alphabet.’ Some scholars suggest Arabic as 6 th among the top ten languages that contributed to English, and “there are perhaps over 500 words which impregnate our everyday speech,” says one scholar. Columbus, of course, spoke Arabized-Spanish and always signed his name as “Al-Amirate Columbus. “Al-Amirate” is derived from Arabic “Al-Amir,” which means ‘leader,’ and is also the root of Admiral and Mayor. I sometime affectionately refer to our local mayor with this title. There are so many other words of Arabic origins, e.g., apricot, algebra, decipher, cipher, gauze, giraffe, alcohol, alcatraz, lemon, magazine,
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have Arabic origins. And here is a shocker: One source informs me, that even the word ‘ California’ is traceable to Arabized Spain, linked to the word ‘Caliph’ which refers to ‘Khalifa.’ Talking about Khalifa, I recently read of another interesting cultural connection; Father Nesti of the Univ. of Houston’s Catholic Church informs us that St. Francis of Assissi brought the idea of the bell-tower after he saw the prayercalling minaret when visiting a Caliph in Baghdad. And there are academic disciplines – mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, etc., which not only share their origins in the Islamic world, but which incorporate numerous words of Arabic vocabulary – e.g., algebra, logarithms, elements in chemistry (the word al-chemy originated in 1362, meaning the remixing of various elements into a new and improved one), names of numerous stars, etc. We have Arabic
numerals, of course, whose origin in turn is linked with early India. And, of course, the origins of the blues music lie in our history of slavery; slave trade lasted from 1619 to 1865, of course. There is considerable documentation for this cultural heritage. Witness stories tell us that African-Muslim slaves would sing melancholy songs, using their instruments of African origins, and their laments would include Islamic recitations, as they would wonder about the cause of their captivity. “Their shouts and hollers begat blues music,” says one scholar. When filmmaker Martin Scorsese documented the roots of the blues in his 2003 seven-part documentary series, he traced the origins to West Africa, and there are ethnomusicologists who inform us that Arabic musical and religious modulations were part of the West African culture for centuries. “The music of African-American blues singers is based on a collective memory of Africa that carried forth in slavery,” one source informs us. And then there is the Flemenco music and lyrics, rooted in eight centuries of Islamic Spain. And there is Bob Dylan’s 1964 hit song, “Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,” the man was playing the Arabic musical instrument. There are various other cultural connections, of course. There are some of our foods, drinks, and other products. Among the food drinks are popular -- shish-kababs, bakhlawa, hamas, kus-kus, etc., but perhaps most notable is coffee, or qahwa. Originating in the Arabian peninsula in the 1400s, coffee then found its way to Europe 200 years later and became fashionable in Paris, London and Boston in the 1600s. Popular among the sufis, and once banned in Europe as “the drink of Muslim devils,” the Pope later blessed it as OK. Mormon faith still discourages it. It was brought to America in 1607 by one John Smith, an adventurer and mercenary who fought against the Ottomans in Hungary. Licensed to be sold in Boston in 1607, and New York in 1696, a century later, America was a fullfledged nation of coffee drinkers, and now the liquid is an iconic part of the culture. We consume over 400 million cups daily, making us the world’s leading coffee-drinkers – thanks also to Star-Buck. And then, at the St. Louis’ 1904 World’s Fair, Arab food and culture were inseparable. Holy water from River Jordon was popular, as was zalabia–a flat, gridlike pastry. An Arab-Christian vendor, Abe Doumar from Syria, saw another vendor selling ice-cream on plates and offered his zalabia to be shaped into a cone for the ice-cream–and thus emerged the ice-cream cone! Later, he invented the first cone-making machine and went into ice-cream business. His machine is still in use at the Doumar family’s Cone and Barbecue Restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia. And, among various other similar products with Arab linkages, there were, of course, cigarettes – only surviving brand is the Camel. But there were others – Fatima, Cairo, Mogul, Omar, Sultan. And in the early 1900s, there were “ Garden of Allah” candy boxes. And there are numerous items of jewelry, clothing, perfumes, etc. that link to the Arab-Islamic world. (Continued next week)
P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015 n By Dr Zafar M. Iqbal Chicago , IL
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Iqbal’s Concept of ‘Khudi’ - 4
oethe was not the only one fascinated by Eastern/Persian literature and culture. Another German writer was Friedrich Martin Bodenstedt (1819-1892), who was the head of a public school at Tiflis, Transcaucasia. Given his proximity to Persia and his interest in Persian literature, he published poetry, Die Lieder des Mirza Schaffy (English trans. by E. d’Esterre, 1880), which has been popular since, and has gone through over 160 editions in Germany. This is based on a man with the same or similar school-master in Georgia. In this West literary interest in the East and its literature and culture, we cannot ignore Edward Fitzgerald’s ‘Rubaiyats of Omar Khayyam’ and its extraordinary popularity in the West since Fitzgerald’s first edition, 1859.
In his ‘Stray Reflections’, Iqbal talks about the influences on this thinking and poetry: “I confess I owe a great deal to Hegel, Goethe, Mirza Ghalib, Mirza Abdul Qadir Be-dil and Wordsworth. The first two led me into the ‘inside’ of things; the third and fourth taught me how to remain oriental in spirit and expression after having assimilated foreign ideals of poetry, and the last saved me from atheism in my student days.” On Goethe, Iqbal had more to say: (i) “Our soul discovers itself when we come into contact with a great mind. It is not until I had realized the infinitude of Goethe’s imagination that I discovered the narrow breadth of my own.” (b) As to “Faust”, Goethe “picked up an ordinary legend and filled it with the whole
experience of the nineteenth century - nay, the entire experience of the human race.”
mate ideal is nothing short of Divine workmanship. It is as good as the creation of a
“I confess I owe a great deal to Hegel, Goethe, Mirza Ghalib, Mirza Abdul Qadir Be-dil and Wordsworth. The first two led me into the ‘inside’ of things; the third and fourth taught me how to remain oriental in spirit and expression after having assimilated foreign ideals of poetry, and the last saved me from atheism in my student days.” This “transformation of an ordinary legend into a systematic expression of man’s ulti-
beautiful universe out of the chaos of formless matter.”
COMMENTARY (ii) It is from Goethe “alone” that we get a “real insight into human nature”. In contrast to Shakespeare who as a “realist Englishman re-thinks the individual”, Goethe as “the idealist German “rethinks the universal”. Indeed “Faust is a seeming individual only. In reality, he is humanity individualized.” (iv) “Nature was not decided what it should make of Plato and Goethe. Poet or philosopher. [“Iqbal too was both,” said Anil Bhatti. I agree!] (v) “No nation was so fortunate as the Germans. They gave birth to Heine at the time when Goethe was in full-throated ease. Two uninterrupted Springs!” (vi) In the Lecture on “The Philosophical Test of the Revelations of Religious Experience” in Iqbal’s English book “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,” speaking of the creative self, perfection and God, he quotes Goethe: “In the endless self-repeating For evermore flows the Same. Myriad arches springing, meeting, Hold at rest the mighty frame. Streams from all things love of living, Grandest star and humblest cold, All the straining, all the striving Is eternal peace in God.” Iqbal freely acknowledged being influenced so much by Goethe and others (including Hegel, Wordsworth) -- Iqbal also puts Goethe in the same category as his own Urdu favorite and his predecessor, Ghalib. In light of this and other details, I believe, had Iqbal had a similar feeling toward Nietzsche, Iqbal would have no hesitation in similarly acknowledging Nietzsche, and his influence.
The Timeless Romance of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge n By Siraj Khan
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Boston, MA
bout 40 years ago, when as a young music director Ravindra Jain started to record songs for Chor Machaye Shor, he had no idea that he will be (indirectly, of course) changing the entire landscape for Bollywood romantic movies of the future. That although blind himself, he would manage to leave people wide-eyed in amazement. He was, and still remains today, the only Bollywood composer who always writes his own lyrics. From his flowing Aligarh pen came Le jaenge le jaenge dilwale dulhania le jayenge – a Kishore Kumar + Asha Bhosle superhit duet, picturized on Shashi Kapoor and Mumtaz, which was to become an integral part of every wedding over the years. About 20 years after the release of that song, Yash Chopra decided to make a movie. The original story-line was a British boy and an Indian girl love affair, living in London. The movie was to be made in English and Yash Chopra wanted to have (believe it or not) Tom Cruise for the lead male. Though receptive, Tom Cruise was not readily available and a lot of time was lost going back and forth. That’s when son Aditya came into the equation, rewrote the script and launched his career as director with this venture. NRI Raj’s role was first offered to Saif Ali Khan but for some unknown reason he did not accept it, after which Shah Rukh Khan was made the offer. Shah Rukh Khan was initially not very comfortable with the role either. After playing powerful characters in Baazigar and Darr, to play the button-cute purely romantic Raj seemed too diluted. At that stage even Kajol was not signed up for Simran’s role. The first actor to come on board was actually Anupam Kher (Shah Rukh’s businessman father). The name of the movie was still undecided at that time, with several names being bounced around. One day Kirron Kher had accompanied her husband to a production meeting during which she went through the
script and suggested the name Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge to Aditya. That tagline immediately rang the bell loudly with everyone and the name of the movie was firmed up almost instantaneously. The film was released in October 1995. The rest, as they say, is history. Earning $20 million worldwide, DDLJ was declared one of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters ever, winning numerous awards. Audiences appreciated the duo of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol so much that they were cast together subsequently in several other successful film, including Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and My Name Is Khan (2010), and are often referred to as Indian cinema’s most loved on-screen couple. Shah Rukh himself credits DDLJ with making him a star that he is today.
Several contemporary films have paid homage to DDLJ. For example, Jab We Met (2007), Bodyguard (2011), Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), and Chennai Express (2013) all included scenes very similar to the train scene, wherein a girl is running to catch a moving train and is helped aboard by a boy with his outstretched hand. The British film Slumdog Millionaire also contains a scene where a young girl and young boy replace the adults usually seen in the “train scene”. However, the story of DDLJ did not end with the “train scene”. There was one rather unprecedented and perhaps unexpected record that it also created. It played at the Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai and completed a continuous run of 1000 glorious weeks in December 2014. To commemorate
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the event, cast members including Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal, Mandira Bedi and Pooja Ruparel appeared on TV show Comedy Nights with Kapil. Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and director Aditya Chopra also attended a live chat with fans at the theater on 12 December. Two people who were terribly missed were the late Yash Chopra and Amrish Puri. DDLJ generated about $1 million for the theater owner Manoj Desai over the period. In later years, the run was reduced to one matinee show per day, where many film-goers having seen the movie 50 or more times still clap, cheer, mouth the dialogs and sing along to the many songs of the cult film, which are popular even today. President Barack Obama, in his speech at the Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi during his visit to India in January 2015, reproduced a Raj-Simran line, “Senorita..bade bade deshon mein” to a pleasantly surprised audience and received a thundering applause. http://www.diggvideo.com/full-videobarack-obama-says-bade-bade-deshonmein-hindi-dialogue_4feb85611.html Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge is not a film any more. Put together cohesively as a story of timeless romance and a victory of true love, it has now become an institution in itself. (Siraj Khan is a world citizen who lives a life without boundaries. He is a connoisseur of South Asian film music and has been the creative director of some of the most engaging and entertaining musical concerts in New England, using music, poetry and the performing arts effectively for outreach and connecting people of all ages, faiths and nationalities. While the OP Nayyar concerts presented in Boston and elsewhere have been his signature events, he has managed and directed several other concerts like Adnan Sami Live in 2013 and more recently directed the widely acclaimed Gul-o-Gulzar, a musical drama to celebrate and showcase Gulzar’s 50 years in Bollywood. Siraj is a finance and audit professional, working in the global nonprofit space)
SPORTS SPORTS
MARCH 27, 2015 - PAKISTAN LINK
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P25
New Zealand in final as Elliott Seals Waqar Younis Fears 'Death' For Pakistan Cricket Sensational Win With Six Off Steyn
David Miller is embraced by his team-mates after coming up short.
AUCKLAND: Incredible, just incredible. Amid scenes of rare passion, of the like New Zealand has never seen for a cricket match, Grant Elliott played the innings of his life to carry his adopted country into the World Cup final against the land of his birth. With five needed off two balls, but effectively four because a tie would have been enough for New Zealand due to them finishing higher in their group, Elliott pulled an injured Dale Steyn high over mid-on to ensure New Zealand's adventure would stretch all the way to Melbourne. It was a breathtaking match throughout, but the finish was something spectacular. The quarter-finals had been bemoaned for not providing a close contest. This, though, was an epic. It was also going to be historic in any case with neither side previously reaching a World Cup final, but while everything pointed to an even game it was not guaranteed. How it delivered as New Zealand, riding on a ferocious assault by Brendon McCullum, were pushed into a position of authority by a stand of 103 between Elliott and Corey Anderson, who played another
Brendon McCullum thanks the crowd for their strong support, New Zealand v South Africa, World Cup 2015, 1st Semi-Final.
vital hand in this tournament, but should have been run-out on 33. It came down to 46 needed off 31 balls when Anderson top-edged high into the night sky and perilously close to the Spidercam wires which would have made it a dead ball. Luke Ronchi then picked out deep square leg to leave 29 needed off 17 balls and Daniel Vettori, in what will likely be his final international tournament, joined Elliott. Then it became 12 off the last over after Elliott was given a life on the last ball of the penultimate over when he top-edged towards deep square leg where Farhaan Behardien and JP Duminy collided. A bye was scampered to the keeper off the first ball of the last, but then Elliott lost the strike again. Wait, though. Steyn was limping with what appeared a calf injury. He had treatment and charged in. Vettori squeezed a boundary
behind square on off. Then another bye as New Zealand showed great awareness, before Elliott's final, crowning, moment to put an indelible seal on an extraordinary home campaign for the co-hosts. South Africa's players slumped to their knees, emotions on full display. Some did not move from their outfield positions for a few moments. Elliott offered a consoling hand to Steyn, much as Andrew Flintoff had done to Brett Lee at Edgbaston in 2005. New Zealand's players charged onto the outfield, led by the inspirational captain who had sparked the demanding chase of 298 with a blistering display. Only one higher total had been successfully chased on this ground in ODIs, but six overs of McCullum, after the match had been trimmed to 43 overs by rain, completely changed the complexion. J
Make Wahab Pakistan Captain: Ramiz ADELAIDE: Former batsman Ramiz Raja suggested recently that fast bowler Wahab Riaz should be appointed Pakistan cricket captain after Misbah-ul-Haq retired as the One-Day International (ODI) skipper following the team's ouster from the 2015 World Cup. "It's a difficult one because Pakistan have not yet trained a youngster. What I saw of Wahab against
Australia convinces me that he's got it in him to make it big as a leader because he showed aggression, passion and emotion and that is what is required right now to put Pakistan cricket back on track," Ramiz was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "The team think-tank have not really been able to give Pakistan that aggressive tag that it's renowned for and I've been very disappointed with
the route that we have taken. Pakistan cricket is about emotion, about showing passion and to a certain degree about being unpredictable in a healthy way, which makes it so romantic." Misbah had announced months back that he would retire from ODIs after the World Cup. Wahab bowled an unforgettable fiery spell against Australia, especially to Shane Watson, in Friday's quarterfinal at the Adelaide Oval here, a few standout performance of the World Cup. He gave his team more than a chance of winning the match despite defending a modest total of 213 but some dropped catches gifted the cohosts the win. "You can experiment with an outof-box idea like this in one-day cricket. Australia is a great example. George Bailey was plucked out of first class cricket straight into international cricket as a leader when he was made Twenty20 captain," said the former right-handed batsman. "I've seen the ingredients to give Wahab Riaz that pedestal and position. Let's see how he operates but what I saw of him against Australia, he can take Pakistan cricket in the right direction." Wahab finished the World Cup with 16 scalps at an average of 23.00 and an economy rate of 5.56. Pakistan's next international assignment is a tour of Bangladesh involving two Tests, three ODIs and a T20I from the middle of April. J
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SYDNEY: Waqar Younis warned recently that cricket could die in Pakistan if rival teams continue toboycott the country where international tours have not taken place since 2009. There has been no international cricket in Pakistan since the militant attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March 2009 which killed eight people and injured seven visiting players. "The biggest hurt is that we are not able to stage international matches," Pakistan head coach Waqar said. "I fear the game might die out as we lack talent at junior level and it's tough to indulge kids in cricket. It's a very important aspect, we have to bring international cricket back and the government has to help in this regard." The Pakistan Cricket Board managed to bring minnows Kenya for a short one-day series last year and are negotiating with Zimbabwe for a visit in May this year. Waqar believes Pakistan's quarter-final exit from the World Cup at the hands of Australia showed there is a lot of hard work to be done on the country's cricket set-up and infrastructure. "If we want to save Pakistan cricket we have to lift our domestic game because there was a big difference in standards at the World Cup. We were well behind other teams. "We can't delay it, we need power-hitters like there are in other teams and players who can score 300-plus runs," said Waqar, whose team only crossed the 300-mark just once in seven games at the World Cup -- against tUnited Arab Emirates. "Cricket is changing fast and we have to keep pace with that, if not we will be left far behind."Waqar stressed
Pakistan needed good batsmen. "Bowling has never been our problem. I think we should feel proud of our bowling at the World Cup. "But it's the batting where we have been struggling for a long time now and after Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan - whenever he quits -- we will have a big vacuum. "It is a matter of putting things in order. It's not only about winning the World Cup but also improving our ranking by lifting our standards." Waqar said strict rules on bowling actions badly affected Pakistan's buildup for the World Cup. "Just before the World Cup, the International Cricket Council launched a crackdown and because of that we lost Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez," said Waqar of his two key spinners who were suspended due to illegal actions. J
Amir Sohail Sees Conspiracy in Keeping Sarfaraz, Hafeez Out of Team in World Cup Matches ISLAMABAD: Former ace batsman and cricket analyst Amir Sohail said that Muhammad Hafeez and wicket keeper cum batsman Sarfraz Ahmed had kept out of the team as conspiracy. Describing the tour committee selection of Sarfaraz in today's match the former batsman said "Sarfraz selection was a sensible decision," he further added that only a regular wicketkeeper could have taken Hashim Amla's difficult catch. Amir expressed his criticism over team management's decision to send back Muhammad Hafeez from Australia. "This is an attempt to stop Hafeez from becoming the future captain," he stated. The team, he noted, was playing well after Moin Khan's return to Pakistan. The former cricketer also hailed
outstanding performance of Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz who helped to bring Pakistan back in the game on critical moments. It is pertinent to mention here that Sarfaraz Ahmed was given first chance in World Cup against South Africa and neglected in first four matches which included first two disastrous defeats against India and West Indies. Amir went on to say that Pakistan team managements doing conspiracy against opener batman Muhammad Hafeez and Wicket Keeper sarfaraz Ahmed they don 't want to see these both player in Pakistan team because they two have potential to be Next Captain .while team management want to see other captain according to their will in future like Ahmed Shahzad and other players. J
Wahab Invites Brian Lara to Pak LAHORE: Fast bowler Wahab Riaz, who left the world stunned with his performance during the Cricket World Cup quarter-final against Australia in Adelaide, has invited cricket extraordinaire Brian Lara to Pakistan. Lara recently said he would love to meet Riaz and termed the ICC's decision to fine him "uncalled for". He also offered to pay for it himself. On Tuesday, Riaz took to social networking site Twitter and said he was 'honoured' that Brian Lara wants to meet him. Further, Riaz extended an invitiation to Lara and
said he would love to be his host. Riaz's 30 minute spell with Shane Watson that was the highlight of the match but the bowling ace was fined half of his match fee for mocking Australian batsman Shane Watson during their quarterfinal match and sending a 'kiss' in the air. Conversely, Watson was fined only a meager 15% of his match fee. Responding to the fine, former West Indies batsman said, "I don't know what the ICC is thinking. It's just uncalled for. We need this in a sport that people are running away from, especially 50-over cricket. loved the exchange." J
COMMENTARY
P26 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
Never Too Late to Invest in Hereafter n By Saghir Aslam Rawalpindi, Pakistan 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) Though Ramadan has come to an end, the month when Allah SWT is extremely merciful, showers His blessings on us like no other time and is more forgiving than any other time, yet it is never too late to get all of His blessings through an investment in His way that will have a guaranteed return, a huge return that one can not even imagine, they only condition is the intention has to be to only please Allah SWT. Allah’s mercy remains there throughout the year. He is always waiting for us to first simply make an intention of doing good and that is the starting point of your investment, without putting any money and any effort, you start to receive the return the kind of return which has no comparison to the return we gain from the worldly investment. One of the beautiful things about Allah SWT is that He wants to give you back more to what you have given in His way. One of His ways to return Never Too Late to Invest in COURT FROM P1
the paramilitary troops raided the party headquarters in Azizabad on March 11 and took away as many as 110 workers, including Muhammad Amir Khan, Yousuf Munir Shaikh, Habib, Muhammad Hanif, Sabir Hassan, Muhammad Aslam Baloch, Syed Ahmed Raza, Mumtaz Ali, Hussain Ali, Mushahid Bashir and Khalid Rasheed. He stated that the law-enforcers ransacked the party’s headquarters and took away Rs3.5 million. The petitioner, who is a member of the MQM’s coordination committee, said that the Rangers had kept the activists in illegal detention and they were also being harassed. The petitioner requested the court to declare their confinement as illegal and direct the paramilitary force to produce them in court. The home secretary, provincial police chief, Rangers director general, city police chief, heads of the crime investigation department and special investigation unit, and SHO of the Azizabad police station were impleaded as respondents. GATES FROM P1
which has helped Nigeria get close to eradicate polio. I know there are sensitivities around this type of technology, and I look to your guidance on what is appropriate. I’ve asked Dr Waqar Ajmal to follow up with your team during his current mission,” said Gates. “It is encouraging to see the army, federal and provincial governments working together under your banner ‘United for Health’. This initiative is key to interrupting transmission, and it highlights how polio is truly a humanitarian prior-
Hereafter us on our ‘investment’ is to protect us from tragedies which sometimes we don’t even get to know about. If we give and expect a certain return in a certain time and we don’t get it chances are that either we will get it at later stage in this world or in hereafter or Allah SWT has reserved the return for us for a certain time that He knows will be the best time for you to receive it. When giving in Allah SWT way we should do background check on who we are giving the money to, for what cause, its effectiveness and impact, and we should make sure the organization is trustworthy. There are several hundreds and thousands of charities, Masajids and various Islamic institutions that one can choose to give to. In my opinion it is important to help those that do not have food and shelter but what is more important is to give such people a long term solution, creating income earning opportunities for them and enabling them to work towards sustainability in their lives. This way they not only help themselves but will be able to live with dignity and respect in the
ity above political and partisan differences. “I have no doubt that your discussions with the chief secretary and chief minister of KP will help encourage the implementation of IPV campaigns and the revitalization of quarterly and monthly review meetings,” he observed. “Thank you again for your commitment and dedication to these efforts. I look forward to the day when you and I can celebrate the eradication of this terrible disease and the improved health of all the world’s children,” Gates concluded. MQM FROM P1
Farooq Sattar said Imran Khan was responsible for the ongoing situation in Karachi. “Imran Khan should stop insulting the people of Karachi and dreaming of taking over the city; the people of Karachi will defeat him.” Sattar went on to say that the PTI serves as a political wing for the Taliban. Imran Khan wants to introduce a “Lal Masjid-like” system in Karachi, said Sattar. Meanwhile, an official statement from MQM’s Rabita Committee also strongly condemned Khan’s statements, saying they were akin to a “threat.” Both parties have been lashing out at each other since the 2013 general election in Pakistan. OPERATION FROM P1
was not present at the meeting despite having received the premier along with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah from the airport. It is reported the governor was not present as the federal govern-
society and if we help someone to attain that, Allah SWT will help us to achieve whatever goals we have set for ourselves in this world and the hereafter. To donate visit www.sabatrust. org, you can call on 714-767-7222 or email us at: info@sabatrust.org for further information. (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, or 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.) (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.)
ment considered the option of removing him from his post following Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s convicted worker Saulat Mirza’s allegations.
Govt. Dissolves Committee Probing Saulat Mirza’s Death-Cell Video Quetta: The Balochistan govern-
ment on Wednesday dissolved the committee formed to investigate the video recording of Saulat Mirza, a condemned prisoner currently on death row in Machh Jail. Sources in Balochistan Home and Tribal Affairs Department confirmed that the committee was dissolved following issuance of a new death warrant by an Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC). The ATC has fixed April 1 as the fresh date of execution of Saulat Mirza. “There is no justification for the committee after issuance of fresh death warrants,” sources added. The controversial video of Saulat Mirza, in which he claimed that he received direct orders from MQM leader Babar Ghauri to assassinate the then KESC chief Shahid Hamid, was released hours before his hanging in Machh jail on March 19. Following the airing of the video, Saulat Mirza’s execution was postponed for 72 hours through a presidential order. The Balochistan government had then formed a committee headed by Inspector General Prisons Bashir Bangulzai to investigate how the video was recorded from a jail cell. The committee comprised senior officers from the provincial government’s prisons and home departments. Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti had ordered the inquiry.
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Support Hidaya Schools Due to corruption, mismanagement and poverty, the state of schools in economically depressed areas of under-developed countries are in a deplorable state. Hidaya opens schools in rural areas which have none to begin with, as well as adopts and operates “ghost schools” which have been shut down.
Hidaya is currently operating 67 schools with over 7,00 0 students from 1st to 8 th grade in poverty stricken areas of Pakista n. It co st to ru s about $160 n appr a oxim classro om ate eac ly 40 st of hm uden ont ts h.
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Buying Rs. 101.50 150.91 27.06 0.8484 110.94 27.63
(*25 March, 2015)
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RELIGION
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P27
Prophet Muhammad’s Message: Common, Unique and Relevant n By Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi We sent you not except as a mercy for the worlds. (Al-Anbiya’ 21:107) Have you seen someone who rejects religion? That is the person who pushes the orphan aside and does not promote feeding the needy. Woe to those who pray but who are unmindful of their prayer, whose aim is to be noticed, while they hold back the common courtesies. (Al-Ma’un 107:1-7) The word “humanitarian” is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “a person devoted to promoting the welfare of humanity, especially through the elimination of pain and suffering.” Prophet Muhammad was the best example and the greatest leader who came to promote human welfare. Allah sent him as a “mercy to the worlds.” As a Prophet and Messenger of Allah, his mission was to guide human beings to the path of truth and salvation. He, however, did not limit his work to preaching faith and prayers alone; he also emphasized helping all human beings, regardless of their races, colors or religions. He was good to all human beings. The purpose of this talk is to emphasize the humanitarian aspects of the Sirah of the Prophet - peace be upon him. We shall look at both the humanitarian teachings of the Prophet and his humanitarian example. Humanitarian teachings of the Prophet From the beginning of his mission until he left this world, Prophet Muhammad emphasized that all human beings are one family, descending from the one and same father and mother, Adam and Eve. He spoke against racial or color discrimination. He spoke against tribalism and against all kinds of prejudices. There is not a single incident or a single statement in which he showed directly or indirectly any prejudice against any person of any race, color or tribe. In the society in which he was born such discriminations were common; but he always spoke against them and reminded his followers to treat all people with respect. He emphasized justice towards all people. He was just not only to Muslims, but also to non-Muslims. He was just not only to his friends but also to his enemies. Allah gave him the message of universal justice: O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you
Gems from the Holy Qur’an
From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) (Recently, a media talk show host, well known for his anti-Muslim bias, saw it fit to make scornful remarks against the Qur’an on TV. In these columns, selections from this Holy Book will be published, so that unacquainted readers of the Pakistan Link may be able to judge for themselves.)
make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to Piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is wellacquainted with all that you do. (Al-Ma’idah 5:8) Prophet Muhammad - peace be upon him- preached this message and practiced it in the best way. Neither in the time of peace nor in the time of war he did injustice to his enemies. Actually, in many instances when he defeated his enemies in battles, he forgave them and let them go free. He emphasized the human rights of all people. Before Prophet Muhammad there was no concept of universal human rights; it was he who gave the world this idea that all human beings have some God-given and inalienable rights. He spoke about the rights of life, right of basic necessities of life, right of property, protection of honor, personal freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience and conviction, equality before law, the right of consultation. It was he who taught that women must be treated with respect and honor. It was he who taught the dignity of workers and said that workers should be given fair wages and paid promptly. It was Prophet Muhammad - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - who taught the first time in history that rulers are responsible before their people and they can be removed by the people.
Prophet Muhammad taught kindness to family, love of children, respect of parents and elders and kindness to neighbors. He told us that even if our parents or other relatives reject Allah’s message and continue in their unbelief or idol worship, we should not mistreat them. We should not follow their wrong ways, but in worldly matters we should be good to them. He told us that we should treat all our neighbors with care and kindness. He told us, “He/she is not a believer who eats while his neighbor is hungry.” He did not distinguish between a Muslim and non-Muslim in this humanitarian treatment of relatives and neighbors. Prophet Muhammad was not only kind to Muslims; he was also kind and respectful to non-Muslims. He listened to their arguments and answered them in the nicest manner. He criticized their misconceptions and gave them the message of Islam, but never forced them to accept Islam. Some of his own relatives did not accept Islam but the Prophet did not mistreat them even when he had full powers to do that. He rather helped them whenever they were in need. He taught kindness to neighbors and to all relatives whether Muslims or non-Muslims. Prophet Muhammad never allowed fighting any person or group unless they attacked first. He urged peaceful relations, agreement and treaties and he reminded his followers to observe all treaties and covenants as long as the enemies observed them. Humanitarian Example of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him - also gave us a perfect example of a humanitarian leader. In his early age, before Allah appointed him as His Prophet and Messenger, Prophet Muhammad was
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known as an honest, trustworthy and truthful person. He was called al-Sadiq and al-Amin. It was due to his loving and peaceful character that Quraish asked him to arbitrate in their dispute on who should place the Black Stone in the wall of the Ka’bah when they were repairing its building. It was due to his humanitarian spirit that he joined a group of noble people in Makkah who wanted to protect the widows, orphans or strangers in their city. He joined the Hilf al-Fudul and even after he became the Prophet of Allah, he continued speaking highly of this group, its humanitarian efforts and indicated his willingness to respond to them whenever they would call. When the leaders of various tribes in Makkah made life difficult for Prophet Muhammad, surrounded his house and came to kill him, the Prophet did not leave his home without making sure that anything that he had borrowed or kept as a trust with him must be returned to its rightful owners, although some of them turned against him and became his enemies because of his message of Islam. This is a most unique example of sincerity and honesty as well as of humanitarian spirit. It is reported that after the Hijrah while the people of Makkah were still his enemies, it came to the attention of the Prophet that they were going through shortage of food due to some famine; the Prophet immediately sent some food for them from Madinah. This is another unique example of humanitarian spirit towards the enemies, even when they are at war. Prophet Muhammad never allowed the starvation of any person, even animals. He warned about Allah’s punishment of hell for a woman who kept a cat in some place, did not allow the cat to go out nor gave her food or water. The poor cat died of starvation. On the other hand, the Prophet praised a person who gave water to a very thirsty dog and thus received special blessings of Allah. There are many examples of his compassion and kindness towards the animals. As the leader of the community, in Madinah, the Prophet used to receive charity (Sadaqat and Zakat), but he never used it on himself or his family. He was, however, very generous in helping the poor people. He used to give with such a generosity that people used to say that he gives like a person who PROPHET, P29
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 his conversion to Islam travelled and worked throughout the Muslim world, from North Africa to as far East as Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. After years of devoted study he 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. Chapter 25, Verses 54-59 And He it is who out of this [very] water has created man, and has endowed him with [the consciousness of] descent and marriage-tie: for thy Sustainer is ever infinite in His power. And yet some people worship, instead of God, things that can neither benefit them nor harm them: thus, he who denies the truth does indeed turn his back in his Sustainer! Yet [withal, O Prophet,] We have sent thee only as a herald of glad tidings and a warner. Say: “For this, no reward do I ask of you [-no reward] other than that he who so wills may unto his Sustainer find a way!” Hence, place the trust in the Living One who dies not, and extol His limitless glory and praise: for none is as aware of His creatures’ sins as He – He who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six eons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness: the Most Gracious! Ask then, about Him, [the] One who is [truly] aware. Chapter 25, Verses 62-71 And He it is who causes the night and the day to succeed one another, [revealing Himself in His works] unto him who has the will to take thought – that is, has the will to be grateful. For, [true] servants of the Most Gracious are [only] they who walk gently on earth, and who, whenever the foolish address them, reply with [words of] peace; and who remember their Sustainer far into the night, prostrating themselves and standing; and who pray: “O our Sustainer, avert from us the suffering of hell – for, verily the suffering caused by it is bound to be a torment dire: verily, how evil an abode and a station!”-; and who, whenever they spend on others, are neither wasteful nor niggardly but [remember that] there is always a GEMS, P29
CLASSIFIED & MATRIMONIAL
P28 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
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PAKISTAN PROPHET FROM P27
does not fear poverty. Beside teaching and preaching the message of Allah, it was his mission to remove the suffering of all people. It is important for us Muslims to remember this humanitarian spirit of Islam. We should be kind and generous towards all people. Because of the lack of understanding of the humanitarian nature of Islamic teachings and humanitarian example of Prophet Muhammad - peace be upon him - many Muslims today think that our social work, relief work and humanitarian efforts should be only directed towards Muslims. We lag behind in supporting the humanitarian causes here in America and around the world. This is against the clear teachings and spirit of Islam. We should emphasize more and more humanitarian works. We should establish institutions for the assistance of all poor people, regardless of their religions. We should feed the hungry, provide clean water and clothes to those who are in need. We should establish medical clinics for free treatment of all those who are sick and need our help and assistance. We should take care of the senior citizens, orphans and widows to the best of our capacities. We should organize systematic relief programs for those who are victims of natural or man-made disasters everywhere in the world. We should establish educational institutions not only for Muslims but also for others. Just as da’wah is important, humanitarian work is also very important. Actually no successful Da’wah work can be done without sincere humanitarian work. GEMS FROM P27
just mean between these [two extremes]; and who never invoke any [imaginary] deity side by side with God, and do not take any human being’s life – [the life] which God has willed to be sacred – otherwise than in [the pursuit of] justice, and do not commit adultery. And [know that] he who commits aught thereof shall [not only] meet with a full requital but shall have his suffering doubled on Resurrection Day: for on that [Day] he shall abide in ignominy. Excepted, however, shall be they who repent and attain to faith and do righteous deeds: for it is they whose [erstwhile] bad deeds God will transform into good ones – seeing that God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace, and seeing that he who repents and [thenceforth] does what is right has truly turned unto God by [this very act of] repentance. MERCIFUL FROM P9
less than men. Thus the Qur’an did what religious clergy had often neglected. It called for absolute equality of genders. The Qur’an realized that the two genders are different in biology and physiology and psychology. But the call of the Qur’an was not to further deprive the other on the bases of these differences but to inspire them to use the distinctive qualities as complimentary in an environment of peace and love for the common good of humanity. The purpose of the divine message was to break the domination of human over fellow humans not only in houses of worship but in houses where human beings dwell in basic family units as well as in all spheres of human society. It was to liberate people from living in fear of others. It was to eliminate subservience of human to fellow humans. It was to make humans fearless and to help them realize that equality is the only way forward for a balanced and just society and its absence would bring
MARCH 27, 2015 – PAKISTAN LINK – P29 human beings to a disaster. It was to eliminate the patriarchy that had existed for long. It was to liberate women from all bondages and to give her the freedom to express her dignity and identity in the context of the responsibilities the divine has placed on each human being according to her own free will. But the way this verse has been explained by commentators and translators has turned this message upside down and institutionalized imbalance and inequality leading to major repercussions for men and women in the family and the society. The verse does not give men authority over women or husbands over wives. Yet, whenever the prevalent definition of this verse is challenged by someone, the traditionalists and the dead from their graves speak up complaining that the new approach is either being promoted by a group under the influence of antiIslamic forces who want to weaken Islam or by misguided Muslims who have no knowledge or regard of the divine guidance. If the challenger happens to be non-Arabic speaking, then his or legitimacy is questioned on linguistic grounds and trashed away. (Continued next week) CARNAGE FROM P7
that in a bigoted and radicalized society, they have a really minuscule sympathy cushion that would evaporate quickly if protests turn violent, something an agent provocateur could easily accomplish. The lynching of two bystanders is out of character for a community known for its patience and peaceful conduct, and has to be thoroughly investigated. On the other hand, the suicide bombers who attacked the churches had, in all likelihood, help from Punjab-based jihadists. The Lahore carnage has put the Punjab government in the dock again for tolerating and fraternizing with extremists of all shades.
MAGSI FROM P12
provincial and major languages should be given national status, he added. In a rare public criticism of the ideologue of Sindhi nationalism, late GM Syed, the STP chairperson said that hundreds of Syed’s political decisions proved to be detrimental for Sindh. The STP chairperson expressed support for the ongoing military operation, ‘Zarb-i-Azb’ in Waziristan, and demanded that it should continue until no terrorist is left alive on the country’s soil. He also came down hard on the Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Zardari, accusing him of trading the blood of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto for his nefarious interests. Magsi said the Sindhis need to elect progressive and enlightened leadership to the legislature for their representation. The provincial leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties also addressed the meeting. Later, the motherland awards were given to Dr Adeeb Rizvi for health, Abdul Hai Paleejo for literature, Bedil Masroor for music and IBA Sukkur for education. DAY FROM P21
Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent Trust, The Citizens Foundation and many others all over Pakistan and was particularly pleased to add that the Pakistani Americans were contributing to these efforts. He also referred to many small and unknown charities that were doing their work
almost anonymously. His concluding remarks, greeted by applause, were tinged with a strong note of optimism. An emerging star from the community Salman Pervaiz brought the house down with his rocking dance performance. Later, a new talented artist Ali Sher captivated the audience with his singing. One may like to add that the Pakistani community in Michigan is not as large as, say California or Texas, but it has certainly flourished in the last 40 years. The Pakistanis have distinguished themselves in the fields of healthcare, engineering and telecommunication. It would not be out of place to mention that the Pakistani Americans residing in the state of Michigan have launched several social and charitable organizations, the most notable of which is APPNA, which has chapters in different states and ranks among the largest medical societies in North America representing more than 17,000 physicians. The Citizens Foundation is a nonprofit organization with the mission to promote school education in the under-privileged areas of Pakistan. ACADEMY FROM P19
Jamiluddin Aali and Surdas. Besides doha he has also written ghazals, poems, lyrical ballads or geets and patriotic songs. His long poems reflect a unique discourse on great scientific and philosophical themes, blended with aesthetics. At mushairas, Aali recited dohas in his melodious voice, which became an instant hit and made him one of the most sought-after poets at poetry recitals. Jameeluddin Aali is perhaps one of the greatest living authorities on Urdu language and literature, and wrote forewords on scores of rare classics reprinted under his supervision at Anjuman Taraqi-iUrdu, which he headed at one time. He wrote a number of national songs. His most famous Jeeve Jeeve Pakistan was released on PTV on August 14, 1971. Shahnaz Begum was the singer while music was composed by Sohail Rana. The song has managed to stay in the hearts of thousands of Pakistanis to date; there is no child, adult or anyone who has at some point lived in Pakistan and does not sing along to ‘Jeevay, jeevay Pakistan’ when it is aired every year on the 14th of August. The many awards he has received include the President’s Pride of Performance, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Canadian Urdu Academy Award, Sant Kabeer Award and Kamal-iFun Award. Besides, he has received honorary DLitt degrees from a private university and Karachi University. Naseer Ahmad related a very interesting story in Dawn newspaper about his relationship with B a b a - i - Ur d u , Maulvi Abdul Haq: Aali was abroad in 1962 when he received a telegram that Maulvi Abdul Haq, reverently called B a b a - i - Ur d u ,
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was on his deathbed and wanted to see him. He cut short his visit and returned to be with the man who had devoted his life to the cause of Urdu. “He handed over to me the reins of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu he had founded more than 50 years before, and made me its honorary secretary,” recalls Aali. He has held that position since, but has not yet found a suitable person to don the mantle after him. Under him, the Anjuman has published more than 300 books. He also seeks PhD theses of Karachi University’s Urdu Department for publication and pays for them. “In recognition of his great services to the Urdu language, I found it befitting to bury Maulvi Sahib on the Anjuman’s premises. I knew it was not legal and even the property had not been transferred to the Anjuman’s name. But I asked a group of students to dig up a grave. The death had been announced through radio and newspapers and a mammoth crowd had gathered on M.A. Jinnah Road for Maulvi Sahib’s funeral. “After the prayer, when the funeral procession moved towards the grave site, the then commissioner inquired where we were heading. When I explained it to him, he was incensed. ‘No’, he said. ‘You can’t bury him on the Anjuman’s premises. That’s not a burial place’. I said, ‘Well, that was Maulvi Sahib’s will. But if you think it is illegal, you make the crowd understand your viewpoint.’ And I grabbed the mike and announced through the public address system that the commissioner was not allowing the burial on the Anjuman premises. The crowd became furious, the commissioner panicked and escaped the scene, saying that he would have the body exhumed and buried somewhere else. “A group of students kept a day-night vigil on the grave for 40 days when we had it cemented, and averted the row.” He, however, admits that the ‘will’ claim was just an excuse to ensure Baba-i-Urdu’s burial.“In fact, there was no such will left by Maulvi Sahib”, says Aali. COMMITMENT FROM P1
well as members of the Pakistani-American community attended the event at the Pakistani embassy. US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson also attended the event. In his address Ambassador Jilani said that regular sessions of the Strategic Dialogue in wide-ranging areas, implemen-
tation of cooperation in various sectors, and high-level exchange of visits, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s official visit to Washington in 2013, signify the strength of the bilateral relationship. “We have developed convergences on a range of international and regional issues, including strategic stability and regional security.” He also appreciated Washington’s support for the Dasu Dam and energy projects. Referring to the success of this month’s Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference, attended by the US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and around 150 American entrepreneurs in Islamabad, Jilani said it represented deepening economic cooperation between the US and Pakistan. Joint military drills in October: The United States and Pakistan will conduct a range of joint military exercises starting in autumn this year, according to the US Central Command. According to policy documents, the two countries have more than 100 engagements and exercises planned. The joint drills are expected to begin in October. They will focus on a broad spectrum of military components, including air, land, sea and special operations The planned engagements between the two countries’ militaries include seminars and other forums covering a range of topics including counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, civil-military cooperation, and intelligence. Earlier this month, Pakistani and US military representatives gathered at the Macdill Air Force Base in Florida for the 24th US-Pakistan Military Consultative Committee, an annual forum for reviewing military-to-military engagements and exercises between the two countries. The meeting was attended by Pakistani Rear Adm. Ahmed Saeed, director general of the Pakistan military’s joint warfighting and training. US representation at the MCC was led by Maj. Gen. Steven Busby, US Central Command’s director of strategy, plans and policy, while other CENTCOM representatives also participated in the MCC. Obama underscores Pakistan’s importance to Afghan peace: While appreciating Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s working in cooperation with Pakistan on Afghan reconciliation, US President Barack Obama has said it is vitally important to pursuit of peace. “You’ve shown bold leadership in reaching out to Pakistan, which is critical to the pursuit of peace,” Obama said addressing Ghani, who stood next to the US president in a Press interaction following their extensive White House talks. Obama noted that since the best way to ensure Afghanistan’s progress is a political settlement, “we’re going to continue to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process.”
ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE
MARCH 27, 2015 - PAKISTAN LINK
ENTERTAINMENT
P30 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 27, 2015
Why haven't they done a play on Celine's luggage tote like Michael Kors and Kate Spade have done? You'll find both bags at Pedro. The brand is a Pakistani icon and needs a major fashion turnaround - similar to the one at Burberry where they went from staid old British stalwart to one of the coolest labels. Here's hoping Jafferjees TFPW collection is a step in that direction. TFPW's lineup includes a handful of newer designers. Madiha Raza won her place after wowing the audience at FPC's emerging talent showcase, Maybelline Millenial Fashion, last year. It will be interesting to see if she can live up to that phenomenal debut. Inaaya is another of last year's discoveries that needs to build on an impressive beginning.
I
t's Fashion Week time! The Fashion Pakistan Council has just announced the lineup for Telenor Fashion Pakistan Week Spring Summer 2015. The four-day event features some of Pakistan's top designers but there is also a significant high street presence at the event. While the credentials of the likes of Sania Maskatiya, Shamaael Ansari and HSY are unquestionable, brands like Levis have flopped badly on the ramp before and their place at Telenor Fashion Pakistan Week (TFPW) is questionable, this time I hope they hire a stylist who understands how to put together a runway show. Caanchi & Lugari, Lala Textiles, Gul Ahmed and Daaman will have to up their game and think out of the box if they want to make an impact on the ramp. Unless they do, Fashion Pakistan Council needs to rethink whether high street deserves a spot at what is one of Pakistan's top fashion weeks. Fifth Element has teamed up with Rizwanullah for their Swarovski segment and these sort of designer collaborations are what high street brands should be looking at if they are serious about having a presence on the fashion scene. Al Karam for example have chosen to launch their Sania Maskatiya lawn at fashion week, which is smart as Sania has grown to appreciate what works on the runway. Jafferjees meanwhile is a label that needs a makeover. Their quality is simply phenomenal and yet they
have a dowdy image. They don't keep up to date with international trends at all. I'm not suggesting that they make designer knock-offs but they do need to pay attention to the iconic bags of our time. Everyone from Ferragamo to Forever 21 has done a version of the bucket bag made popular by Mansur Gavriel.
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Other relative newcomers like Abdul Samad and Somal Halepoto will have to justify being given the chance to showcase. It will also be interesting to see Body Focus Museum and YBQ back on the ramp - both are excellent brands we don't see enough of. It's great to see Lahore designers like Fahad Hussayn and HSY showing in Karachi again, particularly as Karachi designers show regularly in Lahore. Fahad Hussain's collection 'Putlighar' at PFDC L'Oreal Bridal Week Day. -Photo Courtesy Faisal Farooqui and Dragonfly team I do wish they would make their designs more readily available in Karachi like Zara Shahjahan, who opened a store here recently and is showing in Karachi for the first time.
It would be great if top Lahore labels like Elan, Muse and Sublime would also come to Karachi - both to show and with a retail presence. Some Karachi stalwarts are conspicuous by their absence. FPW will miss the likes Maheen Karim, Sana Safinaz, Shehla Chatoor, Ayesha Farook Hashwani and Adnan Pardesy - all of whom made the winter edition of FPW particularly memorable. On paper this is not one of the strongest editions of Fashion Pakistan Week - despite being a marathon 4-day affair. Despite strong names like Deepak Perwani and Nida Azwer, the lineup lacks depth. Let's hope that the participating designers make TFPW better than it looks on paper.
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