Madhuri Gupta A Shia Muslim?
Madhuri Gupta, 53, the Indian Diplomat who was posted in the Indian High Commission at Islamabad was arrested in the city on charges of spying for Pakistan may have turned Muslim six years ago according to reports.
The suspicion comes from the fact that her family has extremely close ties with a Muslim family from Lucknow and is greatly inspired by the religion.According to a source, "Her kin has very close relations with a well-known Muslim family of Ashiq Hussain Jafri in Lucknow. Ms Gupta spent her early life in Lucknow with Jafri's family where she enthused (sic) Islamic values.”
The lady was seen during Ramzan wearing the kind of rings and bangles that people from the Muslim Shia community wear. Another source said, "She was really inspired by the teachings of Islam, but was scared to announce her new faith."
Madhuri even said, "I am fasting and I have great respect for Islam."

All this while, arrested Pakistani mole Madhuri Gupta has claimed that she gave away India's secrets out of spite.

But Headlines Today has learnt, that is far from the truth.

Madhuri, in fact, was pain-stakingly cultivated as a spy by Pakistan's intelligence agency. And the entire spy operation was supervised by the chief of Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau himself.
Sources have told Headlines Today that Pakistan took great pains to cultivate Madhuri as spy.
Top officials of Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau were themselves directly involved in this subterfuge.
Among Madhuri's handlers was Pakistan's intelligence chief, Javed Noor himself.
In fact, such was Madhuri's significance in Pakistan's spying scheme, that the Pak IB chief met her himself.
Noor is no ordinary man. In addition to being Pakistan's top intelligence officer, he is also believed to be a trusted lieutenant of the Pak Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
And then, there were the rewards. In lieu of selling her country's secrets, Madhuri was given all material comforts.
In spite of what the shamed diplomat might say now, she also received handsome sums of money.
Seeing the well-entrenched network which had been put in place by the Pakistan intelligence agencies, only reinforces fears that they may have extracted extensive information from Gupta. Something that can cause unthinkabale damage to India's interests and operations in the region.

Pakistan, the only country in the world with a blasphemy law
In Pakistan, an attempt is underway to create an “Islamic State” that would deny the principle of “equality of its citizens” as intended by the country’s father, Ali Jinnah, in a speech he delivered to the constituent assembly in 1947.

Pakistan is the only country in the world with a “blasphemy law”.
Over the past decades, a number of laws have been adopted that have undermined the values on which the nation was built. The constitution for example ensures that “non-Muslim cannot become president or prime minister.” Indeed, in some cases, they are denied the right to be judges or trial lawyers. This perpetuates social and professional discrimination in the workplace, business and public offices.
The blasphemy laws, he noted, are proof that in Pakistan there is no separation between state and religion. What is more, some groups in government, parliament, the military, police and even the courts “support confessional fundamentalism and ideologies promoted by extremists.”

Introduction in 1986 of the now infamous blasphemy laws by dictator Zia-ul-Haq. Under such laws, anyone who defiles or desecrates the Qur‘an or the name of the Prophet Muhammad can get life in prison or the death penalty.

Pakistan is the only Muslim country that has this kind of rules. Other nations like Indonesia, Nigeria and Bangladesh are examining whether they too should adopt similar legislation.
A popular movement bringing together Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, Sikhs and Muslims, who are also victims of the blasphemy laws, to fight discrimination and violence is not enough. The government must make an effort “to eradicate fundamentalism from the country”. The international community must also be brought on board since it “is already involved on the Afghan front against the Taliban who have found a refuge in inaccessible areas along the border.”

“China and India have already complained about problems caused by extremists along their border,” the NCJP executive secretary said. “India and Pakistan are also two nuclear powers,” he noted, and “a crisis in South Asia” could have consequences “at a global level”.
In order to mobilise public opinion, promote a campaign to abolish the blasphemy laws and fight fundamentalism, NCJP activists have organised a series of conferences in a number of European countries, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

“The battle for democracy in Pakistan must be backed by a common front that includes the government, the Christian minority and the international community. It must lead to legal and constitutional reforms that protect democratic principles and respect human rights.” (DS)

India: Number one exporter of

"SEX SLAVE"

Prostitution has turned into an integral part of 'all sorts' that make the world. Women who alternate to this rarely, get a sympathetic word from the society and their life is wasted away selling momentary pleasures for a meal and existence in cubby holes called 'cages'. If their plight is pathetic, worse still is that of the prostitutes.

Such heinous cases have come into lime light. Every year poor Indian girls are sent to Gulf countries as "maids" but they have to actually satisfy the physical hunger of the rich crowds who uses girls as a commodity.

Sad but true
These girls are use as prostitutes and to please the masters who have hired them. Initially they are vigorously used as prostitutes. When they losses their charm and the masters are bored, these girls are then forced to work as a bar tender and dancers in bar.
Once the masters jaded, they always have an option to look forward in India for more choices. This is because the poor people in India think they do not have nay choices except selling their daughter’s skin to the rich people.
Ranzaan was stopping them:
As soon as the auspicious month of ramzaan is over, export of these unfortunate girls raises to the top. This is because in gulf countries people are not allowed to touch liquor or any other women as they fear "ALLAH".
But as soon the month is over the fear of Allah is also over? They should understand that those girls are some ones sisters and if their sisters are treated the same way what would be their reaction?
The Government should divert more funds for rehabilitation and private charitable institutions should also contribute what we achieve in science and technology will be negated if we cannot protect our minor girls who are being exploited. The Government should severely punish the people connected with this inhuman practice should be totally banned for the good of the future citizens of our country.

Kyrgyzstan goes French over headscarf

Starting from Tuesday girls are not allowed to wear the traditional Islamic headscarf in Kyrgyz state schools. The regulation is aimed at protecting the predominantly Muslim country’s secular status.
The new regulation prohibits the wear of any ‘cloth symbolising religious affinity’.
“We are a secular state. Children are coming under massive attack and we will protect them. When the choice is between education and a headscarf we choose education,” Education Ministry official Damira Kudaibergenova told Reuters.
Kyrgyzstan is seeing an increase in radical Islamic movements as people see their living conditions worsen.
In January, President Bakiev signed a law on religious freedom, which many human rights watchers said was restrictive. Religious organisations are now banned from inviting children or distributing religious texts in public places, reports Gazeta.ru news website.
Hijab in the world
Several countries have restrictions on wearing clothes required by Islamic norms. In Kyrgyzstan’s neighbour Uzbekistan, religious clothes are banned by the constitution.
The headscarf display is limited in governmental or public places in Morocco, Egypt and some other African countries. In Turkey the ban on the headscarf is a thorny issue. An attempt to allow the wear of the hijab led to mass demonstrations in 2008 and the subsequent annulment of the law.
In Europe the headscarf issue led to a major controversy in France in the mid-1990s, pitting supporters of religious freedom against supporters of secularism. In 2004 the country banned the wearing of religious symbols in schools and universities unless they were discreet.
Similar restrictions are in force in some states of Germany.
Headscarf ban lifted after protests
Kyrgyz Education Ministry has lifted the ban on traditional Islamic headscarves in schools after numerous protests. The ban was meant as a preventive measure against radical movements.
Propeller Kyrgyz Education Minister Abdyla Musaev explained Wednesday that its ban on the religious hijab clothes, which was imposed in February, has now been lessened to a mere recommendation, reports AKIpress news agency.
After the ban was announced, as well as mass protests, Muslim women’s rights organization Mutkalim filed a lawsuit against the ministry claiming the regulations were unconstitutional and violated several international conventions that the country had ratified.
Mutkalim also gathered some 50,000 signatures under a petition calling for abolishment of the ban and called for the resignation of the education minister.
The ban on the hijab headscarf and other religious symbols in schools and universities had been introduced on February 19. The Education Ministry said it was necessary to protect students from radical Islamic organizations seeking new recruits.
Kyrgyzstan is a predominantly Muslim country in Central Asia. The government has recently taken several measures against Islamic organizations it deemed extremist.

Now, fatwa forbids Muslims from Facebook
Facebook forbidden to Muslims

Facebook forbidden to Muslims a real fatwa. The social network index was developed in Egypt as a likely cause of the increase in divorce and family crisis. E 'own community against the most commonly used among young people of Arab countries that, according to the newspaper "al-Quds al-Arabi, the Sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atrash Muslim cleric has issued a decree that prohibits their use for the first time to all Muslims.
The author of the fatwa is the former chairman of the Fatwa Committee of al-Azhar Islamic university, an Egyptian cleric, who had issued the order after it becomes aware of the data emerging from a study released in the Arab country that the success of Facebook goes hand in hand with the number of divorces among the Muslim families.
"Facebook, or Internet, broken a family of five"
In recent days, a team of sociologists Egyptians demonstrated, studies in hand, that at least one out of five cases of divorce in the Arab country has been caused by a betrayal or anyway Facebook started online. For scholars of the social network to help the spouses betray himself through contact with strangers do not comply with Shariah. "This technology tool, like others of the same type, including satellite channels, are a double edged sword - concluded the Egyptian cleric -. While allowing the spread of Islam, on the other allow people to live love illicitly and to have interpersonal relationships forbidden by Sharia. So those who enter into these sites should be considered a sinner

As it happens, CNN has a piece on Muslim women, especially teenaged girls, who choose to wear the hijab or veil. As one woman explains, the “purpose behind wearing the hijab” was “so that a man should know [a woman] for her mind, not her body.” This is a distinctly modern and feminist spin, but it is not really true–or, at least, it is far from the whole truth. The hijab also has much to do with the sense of women as property that is exchanged in marital contracts. Again, my point is not to denigrate Islam, but to insist that the conversation about Islam, its place in the world today, and its future as a modern faith, should be carried forth on the basis of an empirical and not ideological view of what Islam teaches. Yet it seems as though the only views of Islam available these days are (for or against) highly ideological ones.

'South Park' bleeps references to Mohammed
Who condemns Muslim radicals?
A ministry wants the public to formally object to the television show South Park.
The show ran its 200th episode last week, one which dealt with Islam. But due to pressure from pro-Muslim organizations, producers bleeped out the words "the Prophet Mohammed." One pro-Muslim website, RevolutionMuslim.com, had posted death threats against the show's creators if it was aired unedited .
In a recent episode, they were not allowed to show the Muslim prophet Muhammad because radical Muslims threaten violence against anyone who does. Revolution Muslim, an American-based group, has used images of the murdered Danish cartoonist who satirized Muhammad to warn “South Park” not to repeat his offense, the implication being the creators will meet the same fate.
South Park has made a habit of mocking Christianity and the values of Christians -- but chose this time to sidestep any confrontation with Muslims.

France's burqa ban wrong
France's proposed veil ban goes too far
The following editorial appeared in the Seattle Times on Monday, April 26:
French officials have gone too far by proposing a complete ban on full Islamic veils in all public places.
The ban would prohibit Muslim women from wearing the burqa, a full head-to-toe veil with mesh over the eyes, and the niqab, which leaves slits open for the eyes.
Even tourists would be forced to remove veils when visiting France.
France has Western Europe's largest Islamic population, with about 5 million Muslims. Around 2,000 women wear a full veil.
Currently, secular law calls for a ban only in places that might hinder work performance, such as schools and certain businesses.
The country's top official for family planning calls women wearing burqas in France an "invasion" and claims banning the veil will send an important message to women on a global scale. When women are fighting for their rights and dignity in Afghanistan, how can France continue accepting the very thing they are fighting against?

In actuality, this ban would send a very different international message, one of growing Islamophobia in France.

Supporters of the proposal believe the veil signifies gender inequality, despite Muslim women coming forward last year and openly stating they wear veils by their own choice, not by force of Islamic law or their husbands and families.

In addition, the European Court of Human Rights could very well challenge the law as an infringement upon freedom of religion.

Not only would this ban be pointless, because of the small number of Muslim women who actually wear a full veil and the fact that it is likely to be challenged by French courts. It infringes on individual rights.







Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2010/04/27/1232545/frances-proposed-veil-ban-goes.html#ixzz0mPE88BK6

Spying for Pakistan

India arrests diplomat for spying for Pakistan
A senior Indian woman diplomat of the level of second secretary in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, has been arrested for passing on Indian state secrets to Pakistan intelligence agencies for two years. 53-year-old IFS Group B officer Madhuri Gupta was working in the press wing of the Indian High Commission, according to intelligence sources.
It is unlikely that she was a lone spy operating on her own. But there is so far no confirmation of any others arrested or interrogated. According to sources, simultaneously, the station head of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Islamabad R K Sharma has also come under the scanner, according to sources.
According to sources, Gupta, a spinster, is alleged to have been taking information from the RAW station head in Islamabad, which was passed to the Pakistani spy agencies.
This is the first-ever case of a senior Indian diplomat being arrested for such a crime. What is more, Indian agencies believe that the 45-year-old is just a part of a massive Pakistani spy ring and there may have been others in the Indian diplomatic establishment also engaged in counter espionage. Currently the exact nature of the inducements to Gupta for her services is not known. But the revelation is shocking and will have wide ramifications, coming as it does as the SAARC summit is underway at Thimphu in Bhutan and will doubtless have to be taken up with Pakistan at the highest level. The extent of damage done will also have to be assessed.

ICC World Twenty20:

Pakistan women’s squad off to West Indies

Pakistan women’s cricket team left for the West Indies here on Friday to participate in the Twenty20 World Cup to be played there from April 30 to May 16. Sana Mir is leading the 14-member team. Four officials are also accompanying them: coach Mansoor Rana, trainer Yasir Malik, physio Huma Fatima and team manager Aisha Asher. The team will play warm-up matches against the West Indies on May 2 and against Australia on May 3. They will play their first World Cup match against Sri Lanka on May 6.

Tehreema floors her audience
From among the dance doyennes of Pakistan, Tehreema Mitha has not been in the limelight as the others despite being superbly skilled at her craft. The reason perhaps could be that she moved to the US 13 years back to start her own dance company, and visits Lahore off and on for teaching purposes and dance tour trips.
A dance performance by the artiste was recently held in association with the Lahore Chitrkar at the Ali Institute of Education, titled A Tribute to Indu Mitha on her 80th Birthday.
It was pleasant to see the event start on time, the well-mannered audience and the highly aesthetic stills of Tehreema and Indu outside the venue and around the stage.
For the typical Pakistani majority that relates dance to filmi sleaze and commoditises women, watching Tehreema could be a tutorial on dance as an art form by a self-assured woman. This was no dainty, painted doll following music with rhythm. She rose above the music, the audience and the ambience to become larger than life with her dance moves. Despite her delicate frame, her henna-dyed hands and adornments, she moved with rhythmic force, exuded energy and was in total command. She spoke her mind through her body movements and it was a treat to see her classical performances of Bharat Natyam and Bhopali Tilana as she followed the vocal chant of the raag with her feet and arms, and the manjira with her neck. The Bharat Natyam was adapted to Pakistani taste and was softer than the full-blown traditional Indian style; for which the credit goes to Indu.

'Pakistan may let Taliban use its nuclear weapons against India'
Pakistan may let surrogate Taliban use its nuclear weapons to do its "dirty work" against India in the event of escalation of tension between the two South Asian neighbours over Kashmir, a top US non-proliferation expert has suggested.
Bob Graham, head of US Commission on the Prevention of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) proliferation and terrorism painted such a scenario at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on nuclear terrorism on Thursday.
"If something broke out in Kashmir that reignited the vitriol between India and Pakistan, that could be an incident that could cause someone to make the decision," he warned
"(The Pakistanis may say) We don't want to use these weapons, but we're going to let our surrogate Taliban have access to these weapons and they'll do our dirty work," he said.

"I think one of our recommendations was to work with India and Pakistan to develop some fail-safe procedures," Graham said responding to questions from lawmakers concerned about the safety and security of nuclear weapons in Pakistan.

Although during the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union were strong adversaries and had the capability of destroying each other, "we understood that we didn't want to allow a mis-step or an accidental event to become the ignition for such a war", Graham said.

"So we set up the red phone in the Oval Office and a whole protocol," he said referring to the report of the commission released early this year.

Noting that "none of that exists between India and Pakistan", he said: "I have felt that this may be an area in which the US and Russia together, since we developed these protocols for our own benefit and the world's benefit, might work together with India and Pakistan to try to get them to develop."

Graham said he was encouraged that within the last month India and China have started to develop some of those fail-safe procedures.

"But there's almost nothing that has been done in a similar vein between the real adversaries, which are India and Pakistan," he noted.

As power shortages spread, Pakistan switches off the lights
Pakistan — Amid fears that severe energy shortages could touch off riots, Pakistan will announce drastic measures this week to save electricity, including a shorter workweek and restrictions on nighttime wedding celebrations, government officials said Wednesday.
With power outages lasting up to 20 hours a day in cities and villages, halting industry and even farming in some places, the electricity crisis could further destabilize a vital U.S. ally. Already this year, there have been streets protests, some violent, resulting in at least one death, over the electricity stoppages.
The Obama administration says that helping Pakistan surmount its electricity crisis is one of the top priorities of its aid effort.
Pakistan has been crippled by a shortfall in electricity generation, producing only about 10,000 megawatts of the required 16,000 a day. Further, some generators aren't working at full capacity because the government owes money to power producers. The government is expected to inject around $1 billion into the system to pay its debts, but energy savings can't make up for the shortages until new plants come online.
Industries such as the textile sector have had to shorten shifts and lay off workers, and farmers can't use their electric pumps to irrigate fields. Some businesses, such as tailoring and printing, are telling customers it will take weeks to complete their orders.
As well as suffering from outages, consumers have been hit by a steep hike in the price of electricity, as Pakistan eliminated subsidies to meet lending terms by the International Monetary Fund , causing further resentment.
The energy-saving measures are likely to extend the country's one-day weekend to a second day, push clocks forward by an hour and close industry for one day during the workweek, according to officials who were briefed on the plans, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity ahead of the government announcement.
Street lighting also will be cut back, so that only every second or third light is on, markets will close soon after sunset and wedding receptions — huge, ostentatious events in Pakistani tradition — will be required to end by 9 or 10 p.m. Individual provinces will impose further restrictions.
In the dominant Punjab province, where more than half the country's population lives, there will be a ban on electrical billboards, neon signs, decorative lights on buildings and the operation of fountains, and government offices won't be permitted to run their air conditioners before 11a.m. Analysts said enforcing the restrictions would be difficult.

Newlyweds Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza land in Pakistan
Newlywed and hailed as cross-border peace ambassadors, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik arrived in Pakistan on Thursday to a frenzied reception. Camera bulbs flashed and fans thronged to get a glimpse of the lovebirds as they landed at Karachi airport, their first visit here after their April 12 wedding that bridged the two nations' bitter sporting and political divide. The pair are in Pakistan for a week of celebrations -- after a tough engagement and media frenzy that saw Muslim elders called in to arrange a divorce for Malik from a wife he long-denied ever having. Hundreds of fans gathered outside Jinnah International Airport, carrying placards reading: "Welcome to Pakistan's daughter-in-law". "I am very happy for both of them and I hope their marriage helps build relations between the two countries," said well-wisher Faqir Khan, a waiter. Mirza, in sunglasses, red trousers and a green tunic, grasped the hand of her new husband, who was wearing blue jeans and a green t-shirt. The couple were welcomed by provincial sports minister Mohammad Ali Shah and other local government officials, but did not speak to reporters.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence and broke off all official contact following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The stand-off extended to the sporting world, with a freeze on non-tournament matches between their respective national cricket teams. Malik and Mirza's sporting marriage is unprecedented in the perennial rivalry between the South Asian nations, and some right-wing Hindu groups in India had denounced the union, accusing Mirza of betraying her country. Twenty-eight-year-old Malik married Mirza, 23, in the Indian city of Hyderabad on April 12 after divorcing another Indian woman, Ayesha Siddiqui, who said she wed the former Pakistan cricket captain in 2002. Siddiqui's claim, which Malik initially denied, created a huge stir before Muslim elders in Hyderabad negotiated a divorce settlement allowing the sporting pair to tie the knot, family members said. Malik, a former Pakistan captain, is serving a one-year ban for breaches of discipline, while Mirza is recovering from a wrist injury. Family members said the couple will later Thursday travel to Islamabad to arrange Mirza's visa. The Indian tennis star will apply for a visa to Sialkot, Malik's hometown, where a reception is planned for April 25. Another reception will be held in the eastern city Lahore two days later, family sources said. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is also expected to hold a reception in the couple's honour later this month.

ISLAMABAD: Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza have arrived at a local hotel where reservation had been made for their day-long stay in the capital city.The couple was provided a VVIP protocol as they left Benazir International Airport for the hotel on Thursday evening.A cheerful crowd gathered outside the airport to welcome the newly-weds. However, the couple left the airport in a coaster from VIP exit.The roads were blocked for free movement of the couple’s convoy who are being treated as state guests during their visit to the city.Reservation for the state guests has been made in a five-star hotel for a day in Islamabad.They are expected to meet high officials in the capital city including the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad.Earlier, the couple took a flight from Karachi airport and arrived in Islamabad in one hour and forty-five minutes.Shoaib and Sania were presented flower bouquets by the plane crew as they got onboard at Karachi airport.On her arrival in Karachi from India, Sania Mirza said it is for the first time in her life that she has come to the metropolitan city. “It feels great to have arrived here in Pakistan,” she said.

Once Afghanistan is pacified, al Qaeda eliminated from this area and the US forces out of Afghanistan; Pakistan will remain in the US calculation only as a nuclear armed country capable of considerable mischief

I rarely write about US-Pakistani relations. The reason is that I have difficulty in being objective about either country. My problem, as I have said before, is summed up in the refrain from a song made famous by Mary MacGregor in the 70s, “Torn between two lovers, feelin’ like a fool. Loving both of you is breakin’ all the rules.”When things seem to look up between the US and Pakistan, I do get a bit excited but sadly not for too long. The relationship between these two countries is rarely based on mutual respect. Almost always it is a matter of mutual need and unfortunately for Pakistan it needs the US more often than the other way around.It all really started when in 1953 Bogra, our man in DC, was brought back to become prime minister of Pakistan. It was about getting US aid, wheat and money then, and in some way or the other that is what it is still all about. The US needed Pakistan to become a part of US-led anti-communist alliances that encircled the USSR. And Pakistan was quite happy to oblige in return for financial and military largesse. A Faustian bargain?My awakening to the world of international politics happened 50 years ago during the U-2 crisis. For those that might not know or do not remember, U-2, a US spy plane piloted by Gary Powers flew from the US air base in Pakistan at Badaber and while over the USSR was shot down and the pilot captured.This created a major international incident but for me it all became relevant when Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the USSR, announced that he had put a red circle around Peshawar. Meaning of course that Pakistan was going to be a target in any future nuclear war. For many months after that announcement I would have nightmares about a nuclear explosion that would destroy us all. Today this might seem quaint but at that time it seemed real enough.During the India-Pakistan war in 1965 it became clear that the US was not going to help Pakistan out in any local conflict. Clearly for the US, Pakistan was an expendable ally and sadly that is the way it is and will always be. Yes, the famous ‘tilt’ by US president Richard Nixon towards Pakistan during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan probably prevented India from taking over ‘Azad Kashmir’; clearly a big deal but that was about it.Recent history of bilateral relations between these two countries has revolved around Afghanistan. First the Reagan-Ziaul Haq collaboration in defeating the USSR forces in Afghanistan, then the Bush-Musharraf collaboration in getting rid of the Taliban in Afghanistan and now the Obama Af-Pak strategy against the resurgent Taliban.The question then is, what does Pakistan need the US for and does the US need Pakistan for anything besides the help it gives in controlling the Taliban in Afghanistan? Obviously as long as the Pakistani economy is in the doldrums and the Pakistan Army continues its fight against the extremists, Pakistan will need the US both for financial and military aid.As far as the US is concerned, ‘summits’ and recent US pronouncements notwithstanding, Pakistan but for its role as a safe haven for al Qaeda and a refuge for the Taliban fighting against the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan is of no interest to the US. Once Afghanistan is pacified, al Qaeda eliminated from this area and the US forces out of Afghanistan; Pakistan will remain in the US calculation only as a nuclear armed country capable of considerable mischief.From the Pakistani perspective this is however a great opportunity. What Pakistan needs most at this time is help in putting its economic house in order and the US seems willing to do so. And that is the best part of the scenario. Pakistan is under a democratic dispensation and not a military dictator whose only concern is in prolonging his personal rule and getting money to support the corporate interests of his constituency — the Pakistan Army.What Pakistan can demand from the US for its support in the Af-Pak scenario are three things besides night vision goggles. First, direct aid to end its problem with the ‘circular’ debt that is crippling power production. Second, aid to set up new power production and third, to open up US markets to Pakistani textile products. If Pakistan can get that help now, it will put the Pakistani economy back on its feet.Obviously what Pakistan needs right now is not more F-16s but more power generation. And that is the conundrum facing the Pakistani ‘establishment’ at this time. Surely the establishment must realise that it cannot survive if the country that pays for it is no longer a viable economic entity. If the establishment accepts this idea, then Pakistan will not only grow as a functioning democracy but will also have a decent chance of becoming economically independent and stop being subservient to the US and international donor agencies.The US also expects something from Pakistan beyond the Af-Pak scenario if it is to continue its support. First and foremost, Pakistan must control the extremist impulse within the country that makes it a base for terrorism against its neighbours and even the US. Second, Pakistan must convince the world that its nuclear facilities are safe and will never fall into the hands of the extremists.Finally, the US expects that Pakistan will become a viable member of the international economic community that minds its own business, does not export terrorism and definitely does not interfere in its neighbours’ affairs. This is going to be the biggest challenge for the Pakistani establishment. Old habits die hard!And no, the US and Pakistan never were and never will be ‘natural’ allies because as a ‘people’ they have nothing in common.

Syed Mansoor Hussain has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com

Jaswant Singh pleads for peace between Pakistan and India
Former Indian external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, while urging the people of Pakistan for peace between New Delhi and Islamabad, has maintained that both the countries should forget the past and look forward to the betterment of the poverty-stricken people of the Subcontinent.
He was speaking to an audience here at a local hotel on Friday evening. The senior politician and former central leader of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party is in Pakistan to promote his controversial yet popular book ‘Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence’, which had raised a furore when it was released in August 2009, and soon became the subject of controversy, which led to his expulsion from the BJP due to its positive portrayal of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Without mincing words, veteran Indian politician maintained that both countries should forget the past to meet the challenges of the future. “If we remain in the narrow alley, then we will not see the sunlight,” he succinctly averred.

Drama Serial Thori Si Wafa Chahiye on Geo Tv
Believable characters and relationships make this a serial which isn’t just emotional and moving, but also comments on the universal need to ‘belong’ and be loved by your family.
A serial which is all about the sacred institution of marriage, and how it is vital to a prosperous and thriving society.

Fashion Pakistan Week 2010

Models sashay down catwalks, flaunting the latest creations by designers during the first day of Fashion Pakistan week with an opulent opening ceremony in Karachi on April 5, The event is scheduled to feature 52 designers – 49 of them from Pakistan and one each from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates – in a follow-up to a first event held in Karachi last November.

Pakistan honoured.

Ramchand Pakistani honoured
Here’s something uplifting. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York is known for exhibiting and showcasing critically acclaimed works of art from all over the world. The museum recently invited our very own film Ramchand Pakistani, directed by Mehreen Jabbar, for special screenings from April 21-26. It’s an honour because MoMA has very high standards of picking and choosing art pieces. Way to go MJ and her team.
That’s not it. Last month at the Belgrade International Film Festival in Serbia, Ramchand Pakistani was received with a standing ovation, apart from getting critically praised by those who know the art of film-making. This makes the movie the first Pakistani film ever to have been invited for screening at no fewer than 33 film festival all round the globe! In June 2010, the film has also been invited for a special screening by the Vancouver Film Festival, Canada.

Shoiab Malik and Sania Mirza’s marriage caught the imagination of the people of two nations who have lived amidst war and bloodshed in the last over sixty years since the partition that bloodied most of the two nations.Two hundred thousand people were killed, following the partition that saw the biggest ever movement of people from one place to another.And since the partition most of the time has been spent amidst acrimony and war mongering by hawks in the two nations.India has accused Pakistan of being responsible for spate of attacks in the country while Pakistan too has accused India of the same.This is the reason that the marriage has become so much newsworthy for people across the borders and beyond.Meanwhile the wedding reception of Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik didn’t have too many prominent faces as expected. It turned out to be a very low key affair with only few Bollywood celebrities, politicians and sports persons attending the reception.The star couple from two rival countries seems to be the symbol of love and friendship across both the countries and in the near future may act as the good will representatives of India and Pakistan.The much awaited event to be held on April 15 was unexpectedly dull on the D-day. The venue, the Taj Krishna, was decorated with flowers and golden light, done by the famous Hyderabad based florist and decorator, BalKrishna. Besides hotel’s security guards, police and traffic police were also called to keep a check on the guests and also media.The first to turn-up was Shoaib Malik’s mother Sultana, who was extremely delighted to have Sania as her daughter-in-law and was waiting eagerly to welcome Sania in Pakistan. She also said that they will have a grand welcome celebration in Sialkot on April 17.Sohail Tanveer, Pakistani cricketer, was also present at the event. He said, “I am representing the Pakistan cricketing fraternity here. It feels great to be in India and especially in Hyderabad for this august occasion. The best part is we are taking our ‘bhabhi' [Sania] back home.” Firdous Ashiq Awan, Pakistan’s federal minister for population welfare, along with other Pakistani delegates, gifted Sania a golden crown studded with semi-precious stones.Out of 1000 guests, only few were among famous personalities to attend the event. Among them were, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Chief Chandrababu Naidu, Subbirami Reddy, famous South actors Nagarjuna and his wife Amala, Jagapathi Babu, Venkatesh, Vishnuvardhan and film producer V.J. Rajendra Prasad, Bollywood actor Raza Murad, actresses Neha Dhupia and Rakshanda Khan, ghazal maestro Talat Aziz who is also Sania’a Uncle, fashion designers Shantanu and Nikhil with their wives Rima and Vidushi and kids Ayan, Rishan, Vivhan and Ninya. Former Davis Cuppers S.P. Mishra and Vasudeva Reddy, and tennis stars of yesteryears, Jayadeep Mukherjee and Enrico Piperno, former test cricketer Arshad Ayub and chairman of GVK group of industries, GVK Reddy, were among the VIPs.And guests who were expected but didn’t turn up were Salman Khan, Arbaz Khan and Malaika Arora Khan and Police Commissioner of AP.

Pakistani Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, cricketer Sohail Tanvir and singer Waris Baig attended the wedding reception of Shoaib Malik and Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza Thursday night.

Awan, population welfare minister who represented the Pakistani government at the reception, presented a crown to Sania on behalf of the people of Sialkot, the home town of Shoaib. She also handed over gifts from Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to the newly-wed couple.

Bhutto killing conspiracy theorists feel vindicated by hints of state involvement
Report fails to identify perpetrators but 'it is the closest we'll get', say observers

Pakistan Friday welcomed a report by a UN-appointed panel which said the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto could have been averted.A spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari -- Bhutto's widower -- said in a statement "the Pakistan Peoples Party welcomes this endorsement as the main thrust of the UN report".The independent panel Thursday said the 2007 murder of Bhutto was avoidable and the authorities deliberately failed to properly investigate her death.

Conspiracy-minded Pakistanis have embraced the findings of the UN report as most believe that the murder of Benazir Bhutto was orchestrated by the country's military establishment. From the local roadside tea stall to the drawing rooms of Pakistan's elite, anyone suggesting that Bhutto was killed by jihadists is dismissed as naive. Even those who accept that Islamist extremists played a part insist that another hand was controlling them.
"We are a land of conspiracy theories," said Cyril Almeida, a columnist at Dawn newspaper, a Pakistani daily. "We don't yet fully understand this issue of militancy."
Since coming to power in early 2008 the Pakistan People's party has pushed for a UN inquiry rather than leaving matters to Pakistani law enforcement. The PPP lacked confidence in the police as it believed it was in no position to investigate the country's all-powerful military spy agencies, headed by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate.
"One hopes that this report will contribute to halting the impunity with which Pakistan's intelligence agencies and non-state actors perpetrate abuses, including political assassination," said Ali Dayan Hasan, a South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, the international campaigning group. "If a domestic inquiry had reached the same conclusions, with the PPP in power, it would have been dismissed as politicised. The reality of power in Pakistan precludes the perpetrators of this assassination from being brought to book. This [report] is the closest we'll get."

The UN report concluded that a 15-year-old suicide bomber killed her. But it also pointed to a broader intrigue in which the military's role should be investigated - a view that chimes with popular Pakistani perceptions of a conspiracy involving the state.
The PPP emerges unscathed from the UN report, as no senior party official was singled out as culpable for the poor security arrangements. The commission dismissed another popular theory: that her husband, Asif Zardari, now president, was involved. Bhutto's security chief and senior party official, Rehman Malik, is now the interior minister.

Thank goodness, it is all over
Thank God Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza affair is now headed for a happy ending after weeks of blazing controversy.
I am no great admirer of Malik except the fact that according to my thinking, he was too hastily removed from Pakistan captaincy at a time when he was maturing into a good skipper. This one decision by PCB chief Ijaz Butt triggered a chain of events that has brought bad name and disrepute to Pakistan cricket. But I am greatly dismayed at the way Pakistani media has treated Malik’s planned marriage with Sania, the Indian tennis celebrity. Granted that since both are famous and rich, it was news for the media but beyond that it was going too far. We are a Muslim country and should personal lives of individuals be spotlighted with such freedom! Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of this sordid affair has been over zealous willingness of Pakistani TV channels to bite the bait hung for them by the Indian media which was no doubt also encouraged and sponsored by official Indian authorities because it was not only a God-given opportunity to defame a well known Pakistani but also to settle scores with Sania, a Muslim girl who had emerged as an icon internationally and had outbid the famous Tendulkar in brand monopolies. She had to be brought down to earth and if possible, ruin her tennis career and her multi million commercial potential.

Let us have an unbiased look at the ground realities before sitting on judgment. Malik and Sania announce their resolve to marry. Sania breaks off her official engagement, with her cousin, which had been officially solemnized with the consent of the two families. The first person to condemn this proposed marriage is our good old friend Mr Bal Thackeray, the self styled guardian angel of Hindu ideology and religion. As if this was a signal, all hell breaks loose. Immediately, the family of Ayesha Siddiqui who had been thus far completely oblivious of Malik’s whereabouts and his personal life, wake up and start levelling accusations against Malik, going to the extent of saying that Malik is a ‘ZANI’ and should be stoned to death.’

They also seek Indian police help to harass and malign Malik. Ayesh’s family members are so ‘shameless’ that they publicly announce that they had an abortion of Ayesha, carried out during her so-called relationship with Malik! Will any Muslim family with a bit of respect admit such a thing in public? Did you notice the language used by Ayesha’s father in his press conferences? Do gentlemen stoop down to this level? In any case if the family thought that Ayesha’s marriage with Malik was real, why did they have to carry out the abortion especially if the whole thing was so legal and formal as they claim! Secondly, was the consent of ‘legal’ husband Malik obtained for this abortion and if not why? Who was financing the vilification campaign of the Siddiqi family and why the ‘aggrieved wife’ did not come before the media?

I know of far more serious moral infringements of famous Hindu sports personalities without such hue and cry as has been so promptly displayed in this particular case including the case of a former Indian cricket captain who made the daughter of a famous industrialist pregnant despite being married and with children. How did the Indian media treat the well-known affairs and sexual binges of a male Indian tennis star? They were all given a passing mention and very brief spotlight. Muslim sportsmen in India are never treated at par with their Indian counterparts. One has just to look at the careers of Mohammed Kaif, Irfan Pathan and now Yousaf Pathan to see this reality. Zaheer Khan is still there because he is indispensable for the Indian team. Everybody knows that Muslim sportsmen in India have to be ten times better than their Indian counterparts to make the grade. The Indian political elite should have sprung to Sania’s defense but exactly the opposite is happening. Even mainstream political parties like BJP have sprung into action adopting an anti-Malik stance. Pakistan Cricket Board could have come to Malik’s rescue but to expect anything sane from Mr Ijaz who is also a ‘Sialkoti Munda’ is just being naive. Mercifully, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi finally came to Malik’s help followed by a belated response from Firdous Ashiq Awan, the public representative from Sialkot. Once it had become known that Indian police and other quarters were getting involved, they should have been the first ones to react. Malik has not committed a crime which has been proved so why should the Indian police have confiscated his passport or mobile phone? Is this not a typical case of declared guilty without trial! Whatever the news value of this entire episode, fairness and justice should have been the key elements in this saga!

(Zakir Hussain Syed is Pakistan’s internationally renowned sports administrator, sports broadcaster and sports analyst)

A reason to smile: Nigar

In Pakistan, we often make the mistake of thinking that the phenomenon of women breaking stereotypes and conquering uncharted terrain is a recent one.

Nigar is Pakistan’s first female cartoonist. She started her illustrious career with a bold decision – in 1967, she switched out of a pre-med degree to study fine arts. As a result, she was drawing comics when no teachers or coursework in this artistic format were available. The situation was so dire at the time that when Nigar came to work at the Karachi Arts Council, she found little to occupy her. It was then that Ali Imam, then director of the council, made her draw one cartoon a day to keep her busy. She has never looked back from that experience.

With a fondness in her voice, Nigar narrates how she got her first break, drawing cartoons for the Sun newspaper. Her character, Gogi, an urban Pakistani woman struggling with her frailties in the context of gender-discriminate social norms was such a hit that soon the Morning News, Dawn, The Mirror, and the Daily News began featuring her work.
After publishing countless cartoons for various publications and nine comic books and receiving many national and international accolades, Nigar still inspires many budding artists who feel limited by their choices in an environment that does not support creativity.

Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik marriage goes viral on internet. Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik’s marriage has remained the most talked about marriage in Pakistan & India during the last several years. The marriage ceremonies of even wealthiest men and women don’t get the sort of publicity that this marriage has attracted.

Shoaib-Sania nikkah solemnized

Sania Mirza weds Shoaib Malik Today
Tennis star Sania Mirza married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik on Monday, after a romance that saw the groom forced to get a messy divorce from his first wife days before the wedding.
The two wed at a plush hotel in Hyderabad, hometown of Mirza, the poster girl of Indian tennis on whom ride millions of rupees in brand endorsements.
"The nikah (marriage) has been completed, it has just got over. Please pray for the couple," Rucha Naik, a spokeswoman for Mirza, told reporters waiting outside the hotel.
Marriages between people from India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed rivals who have fought three wars, are rare. But this wedding transfixed the two nations as a dramatic revelation came to the fore days after Mirza and Malik said they were marrying.
A Hyderabad woman named Ayesha Siddiqui complained to police, saying she and Malik married in 2002 and that he could not marry again without divorcing her.
Police seized Malik's passport and questioned him after the former Pakistani captain denied knowing the woman.
The two sides repeatedly appeared before TV cameras to refute each other's claims as Muslim clerics weighed into the row.
But last week Malik signed divorce papers in an implicit acknowledgement of his marriage to Siddiqui, who then withdrew her complaint.
Mirza is the first Indian to win a WTA tour event in 2005. Despite initial promise, she now ranks at 89, hamstrung mostly by injuries.
Malik, 28, is fighting a year-long ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board for poor performance and indiscipline.
The couple will settle in Dubai.
Mirza, 23, wore a red embroidered sari from her mother's wedding trousseau 25 years ago. The groom, accompanied by relatives from Pakistan, wore a long black tunic.

maulavis upset:
UP ulema chastise Sania's 'forward' behaviour
Adding to Sania Mirza's pre-marital blues come scathing chastisement from ulema, including Darul Uloom Deoband. The "objectionably forward behaviour'' displayed by the India's ace tennis player has obviously not gone down well with the Islamic seminary --their advise to Saina and her would-be groom is to behave in a restrained manner and not to flout guidelines set by the Holy Book till they are actually declared husband and wife.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Mufti Ashraf Farooqui from the Fatwa department of Deoband, roundly lambasted the couple for their "unacceptable behaviour''. The kind of proximity shared publicly by Sania Mirza and Shoaib before their marriage is un-Islamic and therefore "haram'', the mufti ruled. "It is against the tenets of religion and also culture which has always put high premium on restraint.'' Islam, the mufti ruled, unequivocally prohibits free mixing between opposite sex. The kind of intimacy Saina has developed -- they are living under the same roof -- is highly objectionable. "Nikah ke pahle tanhai mein milna, batein karna, ghoomna-phirna, Islam mein haram hai (Islam bans meeting in isolation, going around and talking before marriage),'' he said. The couple, therefore, need to rectify their behaviour, he said. The unbridled show of intimacy has upset not only the maulavis, but also the members of All-India Muslim Women Personal Law Board. Shaista Amber, the president of the body, termed the free-for-all-shows staged by the couple, particularly the "bepurda and behijab Saina'' totally against the spirits of Shariat. Islamic rules apply to everyone, from a rickshaw-puller to a celebrity, and they are definitely guilty of flouting all that is scared in Islam, she said. Bride and groom, as per Islamic practices, must stay separately and if living under the same roof, they must occupy different wings or rooms, said Naib Imam of Lucknow Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali. Going by the reports, this is not being followed in Mirza household. Shoaib must move out and find himself another residence, he said. The maulana also expressed displeasure at the obvious disregard shown to Islamic tenets by the celebrity couple. Their `nikah' could be valid but the behaviour leading up to is totally un-Islamic, he said.
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Sania Mirza to wed Shoaib Malik today
In yet another surprising twist to the Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik affair, the Indian tennis star has decided to marry the Pakistani cricketer today instead of the previously decided date of April 15.
Quazi Azmatullah Jaffri of Dar-Ul-Qazzat confirmed that the nikah will be performed after evening prayers in Hyderabad today.
The couple had earlier announced that they would tie the knot on April 15 but as it turns out that date has been set for their reception ceremony to be attended by about about 500 guests at the Taj Krishna hotel.
Ever since they announced their wedding, the couple had been hounded by the media over Malik's first marriage. Another Hyderabad girl Ayesha Siddiqui had alleged that Malik married her over the phone before dumping her without a divorce due to her weight problems.
Shoaib initially denied the allegations and claimed that Siddiqui duped him into a phone marriage by sending photographs of a different woman. The all-rounder, however, finally agreed to divorce her after being pressurised by community leaders.
Siddiqui had also filed an FIR against Shoaib alleging fraud and criminal intimidation which led to the cricketer'spassport being confiscated by the police.
The FIRs have been withdrawn after Malik agreed to divorce Ayesha and Shaoib is likely to get back his passport before the reception if he applies to the court today.
"As far as police are concerned, the case is closed. Malik has to apply to the court and get back his passport," Narasimha Reddy additional commissioner of police told PTI.
He said some administrative procedures have to be followed.

"We received requisition from Siddiquis. Now they can settle the matter in Lok Adalat," Reddy said.

Sani Pakistani: A Tribute.















The media and the marriage
....so here it goes
It has been over a week since a private television channel broke the story about Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik being engaged to marry Indian tennis player Sania Mirza, and the media seems to have only gotten into full swing as the milky plot thickens into a curdling, sensationally sweet kheer.
First of all, what exceptional journalism by the news media. Seriously, hounding Malik for scandalous stories day and night is no easy task, even for one of the country’s biggest news networks. Of course, the story is so great that it in fact becomes its own reward, where news networks and media outlets get to take a gear-shift from terror/despair to celebrity/scandal. It helps lighten the mood, and sugary treats are often good to keep the national news digestion metabolism going.
Seriously, it seems like celebrity marriage scandals conveniently pop up every now and then. It wasn’t too long ago when the media was all over Meera’s supposed wedding, and boy did the news channels have a field day with that one. The formula is so simple: all you have to do is send out a mob of camera men and reporters to ask annoying questions of every single relation of the scandalous celebrity in question, and then parade that on the airwaves all day and all night.
Though I doubt the broadcasters knew the exact magnitude of what they were about to uncover in the current celebrity scandal episode of Shoaib and Sania’s engagement. What would have otherwise been a day’s worth of news with some possible runtime on the little ticker on the bottom turned out to be a full-fledged, high-risk, cross-border drama packed full of entertainment and scandal. Once the media-hype flared, the conflagration became uncontrollable on both sides of the border, with everyone ranging from politicians to sports professionals commenting on the spectacle. Hell, the media even went down to Shoaib’s hometown to dig up his chubby childhood friend who rambled on incessantly about how great the whole thing is, in what would probably be the only airtime he gets in his entire life.
Speaking of getting airtime, this latest media blitz has given old washed up celebrities like Adnan Sami new ideas on how to get some publicity going for them. The previously highly-controversial singer has been prompted to announce his plans to wed his third (yes, one, two, three… third) wife. He’s also offered to do a duet song with Nawaz Sharif. I don’t know what to expect other than a rap mash-up of Kabhi Nahin and Thori Si Lift Kara De. Of course, this bait was lapped up in no time by the news channels, which started running it in the headlines juxtaposed with Shoaib’s convoluted wedding, making half of the top stories about messed up celebrity weddings.
The media’s salivating over the Shoaib-Sania story is understandable, given that it has all the elements of a Bollywood extravaganza. The strapping young hero Shoaib Malik whose career had just taken a turn for the worst finds sanctuary in love with a sporting celebrity from the other side of the border. Of course, if the cross-border affair isn’t controversial/scandalous already, it gets exacerbated beyond proportion when the hero’s jealous ex-telephonic affair decides to make an appearance in the media spotlight. And of course the media was more than happy to grant the other woman, Ayesha Siddiqui, the stage to hurl insults at the embattled Shoaib. What further drama will ensue over the fact that young Ayesha used a stand-in, a mysterious woman from Saudi Arabia, to entice Shoaib, one can only wait and see.
Moreover, what better villain could any Bollywood-type plot ask for than Bal Thakray himself making outlandish statements about the patriotism and honour of the beloved heroine of this affair. Heck, now even the Hyderabad police has become involved with a case registered against Shoaib by the jealous ex. Now all we need is for Shahid Kapoor to agree to play Shoaib Malik in a Bollywood blockbuster based on true events. This will make millions in theatres once its released.
Indeed, the plot hasn’t even materialised yet, and the media conglomerate has already made millions off it. If the story wasn’t already being milked for everything it was worth, someone had to get hold of a two-second, cell-phone video clip of Shoaib caught at a dance practice through a crack in a door, and that clip has been run on repeat, cut, spliced, mixed with cheap songs, four-way psychedelic split, black-and-white romanticised, you name it; all the post-production effects you can think of, in all possible combinations. It might just be nominated for the most-played clip in Pakistan’s free media history.
Okay, maybe I’m going a little over the top with this media bashing. I mean, the media works so hard day and night reporting on terrorism and the ills of Zardari, they deserve a break, right? Right! But when you get bombarded by videos, commentary, criticism, analysis, and debate over Shoaib and Sania’s wedding in the form of ‘Breaking News’ bulletins, please forgive me for wanting to shoot myself in the mouth. It is as if there’s no bigger news on the whole planet than Shoaib’s plans to marry.
The country is in an indefinite state of turmoil, there’s no water or electricity, we’re constantly on the verge of war on both our borders, and this is what you get in the news, continuously, for a whole week? Why is the great free media going after cheap celebrity gossip when it could be putting its great investigative journalistic resources towards greater goals, such as getting hold of bank account details of corrupt politicians, or maybe some real covert coverage on the things the ISPR doesn’t want embedded reporters to be snooping around in. If that’s too much to ask, and if the media must get their fill of strange wedding arrangements, then the least they can do as a compromise is look into all the mainstream politicians who have strange polygamous dealings going around.
At the end of the day, this whole absurd ordeal just tells us something about how the media works, and something about ourselves. Sadly, we as a media consumerist society are happy just feeding off cheap celebrity gossip, giving the media that cherished airtime over which they compete so vehemently.
And we, the biggest critics of the West, should wake up and take a long hard inward look before we criticise the apathetic and disinterested American electorate for being too caught up with television-news soap operas in the form of the OJ Simpson trial or the Monica Lewinsky affair to pay attention to important issues such as Israel-Palestine and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the end of the day, we’re feeding on the same kind of media-manufactured cheap thrills. And it seems we could gorge on this useless information until we’re stuffed, and then slip into a nice comfortable… sleep.

Maliks reach deal; Shoaib signs divorce

The ordeal of families of Ayesha Siddiqui and Shoaib Malik came to an end when both the families reached a compromise late on Tuesday night with the divorce paper signed by Shoaib Malik handed to Siddiquis.
According to the deal, Ayesha Siddiqui, the first wife of Shoaib Malik withdrew the FIR filed against him, whereas, Shoaib has signed the divorce paper.
No money was exchanged when deal was signed.
A number of Muslim community leaders brokered the deal between the two sides, negotiations for which started last night and concluded this morning. Abid Rasool Khan, a Congress leader and also a common friend to both the families, said many Muslim leaders were involved in working out the compromise.
Addressing the media, Abid Rasool Khan said, “The community especially elders were upset at the muck throwing, the allegations and counter allegations, the inconsistencies in the statements. Things were going bad to worse; there was a lot of pressure from community on both families that this should not be done this way. That is why we got involved. We negotiated whole of last night and by the grace of Allah have managed to hammer out an honourable solution for both parties. We have not taken any sides. The matter has been resolved peacefully.”

He added, “There has been no money involved except the nominal amount required to be given to Ayesha for maintenance at the rate of 5,000 per month for 3 months, as per Islamic Law.”

Ayesha Siddiqui gets public sympathy in Pakistan

Shoaib Malik claims to have been cheated and deceived by her but public sympathy in Pakistan seems to be with his alleged first wife Ayesha Siddiqui if an opinion poll conducted by a television channel here is anything to go by.
A show on 'Geo TV' on Shoaib's much-anticipated wedding with Indian tennis star Sania Mirza put a question to the viewers, asking "Who is in the wrong in the Shoaib Malik and Ayesha Siddiqui controversy."
During the show itself 62 per cent of the polled votes blamed Malik and only 38 per cent said Ayesha was in the wrong.
Since Ayesha broke her silence and produced the Nikahnama of her marriage with Shoaib, there has been widespread sympathy for her from the Pakistani people particularly after the press conference held by her father and mother on Friday night.

Shoaib clears air, says he never met Ayesha
Embroiled in a controversy over his alleged first marriage, former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik has claimed that he has never met Ayesha Siddiqui, who claims to be his first wife.
Speaking to The Times of India, he said, "This relationship started on the telephone, in the year 2001. I was in Sharjah at that time, with the Pakistan cricket team. She telephoned me, introduced herself as Ayesha, and told me that she was a fan of mine, who lived in Saudi Arabia. That's how we got talking."
He says that the Siddiquis cheated him by showing some other girl's photograph as Ayesha's.
Since the news of Sania and Shoaib's marriage broke, the controversy has thickened with both Ayesha's and Shoaib's family arguing and counter-arguing about the whole affair.
Shoaib flew to Hyderabad on Friday night to meet Sania and prepare for his marriage with the tennis star.
Meanwhile, Sania Mirza backed Shoaib Malik on social networking site Twitter saying that she and her family know the truth.

The passion for Bhutto

The majority of Muslims in Pakistan are ensconced in the popular Barelvi creed of Islam that is the mainstay of Muslims in the subcontinent. It reassures the enshrinement of the traditional Sufism that prevailed due to a long period of interaction between Islam and the esoteric strains of Hinduism and other faiths of India.

‘Folk’ Islam became the dominating creed of the rural peasant, the urban proletariat and the semi-urban petty-bourgeoisie. It incorporated the anti-clergy elements of Sufism, and a more relaxed fiqh, fusing these with accommodating forms of worship and the concept of overt religious reverence of people it considered divine. The result was a sub-continental Muslim ethos that was socially tolerant and repulsed by the puritan dogma.

Though agrarian in its worldview, ‘folk’ Islam did not negatively react to modern Islamic reform initiated by rationalists like Syed Ahmed Khan, and consequently (by the 1960s), it became the chosen expression of populist (secular) politics in Pakistan. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) became the first Pakistani political party to set the tone of its rhetoric according to the populist imagery of ‘folk’ Islam, in the process managing to attract the urban working classes and the rural peasantry towards its social-democratic programme.

Not only did the PPP chairman, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, become one of the first major Pakistani political figures to start being seen indulging in rituals associated with ‘folk’ Islam (such as visiting Sufi shrines), PPP rallies too started radiating an aura of the colourful activity found at many Sufi shrines. The 1970s in Pakistan thus became an era of populist extroversion.

With ‘folk’ Islam adopted as a populist political expression by the ruling PPP, this form of expression eventually became the tool that culturally connected the country’s secular political parties with the spiritual and political moorings of the working classes and the peasants.

The cultural synthesis emerging from such a connection was one of the reasons behind Bhutto’s image, graduating from being that of a ‘brave patriot’ (1967-68), to becoming a people’s messiah (1970s) and the embodiment of a Sufi saint posthumously.

The ZAB regime was a vibrant mix of rural and urban populism (such as through the promotion of folk and proletariat art and music), and of modern bourgeois liberalism that helped urban society maintain a liberal aura. Night-clubs, horse racing and cinemas continued to thrive; religiosity largely remained a private matter, or manifest itself in a display of passion at shrines through dhamal, qawali, etc.

However, lurking within this mix was also an awkward anomaly. As the popular variation of Islam in Pakistan peaked in the 1970s, the modern variation (tied to the Aligarh thought) started to erode when things started to change within some state institutions after the 1971 East Pakistan debacle. A move was seen afoot in the army towards puritanical strain of Islam, especially those advocated by renowned Islamic scholar and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief, Abul Ala Maududi.

The JI was an early advocate of what came to be known as Political Islam. It first emerged as an opponent of secular/socialist Muslim nationalism in the 1950s and 1960s and was also opposed to the more populist strains of the faith. The JI was eventually successful in converting a sizable section of the urban middleclass to its cause after the former stopped resonating with the modern, reformist tradition of Syed Ahmed Khan. The populist ‘folk’ Islam they began to associate with ‘Bhuttoism’ or a ‘vulgar’ populism, supposedly aimed at undoing the hold on society of bourgeois politics and economics.

Thus, the urban bourgeoisie and the petty-bourgeoisie became the main players against the Bhutto regime during the 1977 PNA movement, led by the JI and its allies. But it wasn’t until the arrival of the Ziaul Haq dictatorship and the anti-Soviet Afghan Jihad that political Islam managed to find state approval.

As the US and Saudi Arabia pumped in millions of dollars of aid for the ‘jihad’, the more aggressive and puritanical strains of Islam that were largely alien to the region’s Muslims began finding official sanction as well. But in spite of the rapid proliferation of the jihadi mindset and penetration of puritanical Islam in the workings of society that Zia initiated, Bhutto is still remembered as an icon in the devotional sense of loyalty to the culture of ‘folk’ Islam.

Thus, it is not surprising that his death is not seen by his supporters as martyrdom gained through the puritanical concept of ‘jihad’ against an infidel. Instead, his execution by the Zia dictatorship is embroiled in the kind of folk imagery that would leave the Islamists cringing. It is remembered more as a murder of a modern Sufi saint who danced to the gallows in defiance of a usurper and his malicious, scheming team of puritan clerics.