We are all Chand Bibi

Every woman who has ever been dictated to by a self-proclaimed guardian of faith, every woman who has been told to adopt others’ views on what modesty means knows what it is to be a Chand Bibi.

What we saw last week on our TV and computer screens was not simulated. It was not a documentary of a time gone by, nor was it a Hollywood movie that can be dismissed as being Orientalist and thus biased.

The spectacle, unfortunately, was reality — a reality that we have ignored for too long: the fact that people with a very demented view of religion are spreading like cancer in our country.These are men who use religion to justify hatred and misogynism. The three bearded Pashto-speaking men, who hold down Chand Bibi, a 17-year-old girl, and whip her publicly because a neighbour accused her of walking out of her house with a man who was neither her father nor her brother, are not mentally stable individuals.And yet they continue to terrorise our nation, murdering innocent men, women and children in the name of our religion.

Too many of us have been in denial for too long, writing off these men as aberrant isolated individuals in the north-west who have absolutely nothing to do with our lives. We need to think again. Swat is only 100 miles from Islamabad. And retreating into our ostrich-like behaviour is no longer a luxury we have. For in one way or another, we are all Chand Bibis.Every woman who has ever been subjected to the scrutiny of a man’s gaze, to approval from a male, his validation or even physical presence, without which we are often not respectable enough, is a Chand Bibi.

It was us as a nation that these hateful men were trying to terrorise; it was us as a nation that day that lay crying in the dirt.We must stand up for Chand Bibi because, whether we realise it or not, we are all connected.

And it is this connection, this unity of all being or Wahdat al wujud which Ibn Arabi wrote about, that makes a crime against a human a crime against God.The concept of Wahdat al wujud is enshrined in the Holy Quran which says, in Verse 5:32, that “If you save one life you save all of humanity; if you take one life, you kill all of humanity”.It is the state of interconnectedness described in this Verse that explains the relationship between God and His creation, one if studied further teaches us what a grave sin we commit every time we harm that which He has created.

For if God made us in His image, called us his ashraf ul makhlooqat and asked His angels to bow before us, if our hearts are said to be a “reflection of the Divine”, judging and then seeking to destroy each other is an incalculable transgression of the Divine will.“Do not kill women and children or an aged, infirm person”, said the Holy Prophet.

“Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees. Do not destroy an inhabited place... Do not be cowardly.”And yet it is these very sins that these people continue to commit in the name of religion. It is the essence of the message of spiritual liberty, enshrined in the Holy Quran, that they continue to desecrate.To go back to the 17-year-old girl who was flogged without a trial in Swat, an act that is in blatant disregard of our religion, we must stand up for her. We must stand up for Chand Bibi because, as Martin Niemoller wrote once,

First they came for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up,because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up,because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn’t speak up,because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time there was no oneleft to speak up for me.

We must stand up for Chand Bibi because otherwise when they come for us, there will be nobody left to stand up for us.

Pakistan could collapse within 6 months: Report

Pakistan could collapse within six months in the face of snowballing insurgency, according to a top expert on guerrilla warfare. Such dire prediction was given by David Kilcullen, a former adviser to top US military commander General David H. Petraeus.Petraeus also echoed the same thought when he told a Congressional testimony last week that insurgency was one which could "take down" Pakistan, which is home to nuclear arms and al Qaeda.

Kilcullen's comments come as Pakistan is witnessing an unprecedented upswing in terrorists strikes and now some analysts in Pakistan and Washington are putting forward apocalyptic timetables for the country. In an analysis piece, the New York Times cast doubts about the success of President Barack Obama's strategy offering Pakistan a partnership to defeat insurgency, but the Pakistanis still consider India enemy number one.Officially, Pakistan's government welcomed Obama's strategy, with its hefty infusions of American money, hailing it as a "positive change", the paper said.

But as the Obama administration tries to bring Pakistanis to its side, large parts of the public, political class and the military have brushed off the plan, rebuffing the idea that the threat from al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which Washington calls a common enemy, is so urgent, it added.

India is going to collapse after this general election going by the alignments happening among the opportunistic political parties . Collapse will be faster than that of Pakistan. If Pakistan is faced with religious fanaticism ,India is facing with political opportunists . The new "fronts" which are nothing but a bunch of people who want to see India fail for their political goals .

INDIA CASTE SYSTEM WILL DISINTEGRATE INDIA INTO MANY STATES:If this caste politics is not checked at this stage, and no body can either stop caste system break up of India into pieces of Sikhism,budhism,islamism,chris tianism....than new states will be,Punjab--khalistankashmir-kashmiristanuttaranchal-paharhistanBihar-MoistanMadhya Pradesh& Andhra-naxalistanmaharashtrya-shiv senaistanArunachal& small states-in ChinaThanIndia will be only Uttar pradesh on world map .

The video that shook Pakistan

President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the flogging of a 17-year-old girl in public in Swat – where the government recently signed a peace deal with the Taliban – and ordered an inquiry into the matter. The incident has put the controversial Swat peace deal into jeopardy, with TV footage showing the Taliban mercilessly beating the girl – sparking outrage in Pakistan and abroad.

The Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan has taken ‘suo moto’ notice of the flogging of a young woman in Swat. That is a good thing for sure.

Pakistan is shaken by the images of a 17-year-old girl being flogged in their own country, demonstrations were held against yet another indication of the Taliban rule swarming all over the country.The Supreme Court of Pakistan wants the government to take action. Meanwhile, the young girl clearly terrified, now says she was not beaten at all.

Pakistani hero bus driver honored in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's cricket community on Monday honored a Pakistani bus driver as a hero for risking his life to get Sri Lankan cricketers to safety as bullets pierced their vehicle in last month's deadly terror attack in eastern Pakistan."By God's help I did not feel scared at all and never thought of jumping out of the bus to save myself," Mohammad Khalil said through an interpreter at an elaborate ceremony at Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters.

Six police officers and a driver were killed and seven members of the Sri Lanka contingent wounded in Lahore on March 3 when more than a dozen heavily armed gunmen ambushed the team convoy en route to a match against Pakistan.

The attack was among the highest-profile terrorist strikes on a sports team since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes.

Obama Outlines Sweeping Goal of Nuclear-Free World

Declaring the future of mankind at stake, President Barack Obama on Sunday said all nations must strive to rid the world of nuclear arms and that the U.S. had a "moral responsibility" to lead because no other country has used one.

On the broader anti-nuclear issue, more than 140 nations have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. But 44 states that possess nuclear technology need to both sign and ratify it before it can take effect and only 35 have do so. The United States is among the holdouts, along with China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan.

Emerging Pakistani miniature artists on show in US for first time

In the 1980s the National College of the Arts in Lahore, Pakistan revived the ancient traditional styles of painting from the Mughal, Deccani, Pahari, Rajput and Persian schools. In keeping with these traditions, artists are trained in a precise, exquisitely detailed style of painting that begins with the meticulous crushing and preparing of pigments and other materials, such as hand made paper hand threaded brushes.

Madassar Manzoor and Attiya Shaukat are two up and coming artists from this school, both working with contemporary and often deeply conflicted themes. Together, the artists will contribute a total of fifteen new miniature paintings.

This exhibition marks their first showing in the United States.

Indian contemporary art is hotter than ever, but globalization is also giving a lift to artists from neighboring Pakistan says the New York Times in its review of a show featuring three female artists at Aicon Gallery in New York which ended January 11 2009 .

Farida Batool, Tazeen Qayyum, and Adeela Suleman were presented in its recently relocated space on 35 Great Jones Street during a time of great political upheaval for the country. The three women’s artistic practices speak to the role of women and Pakistan’s tumultuous recent history.

Pakistan remains a roadblock for U.S. in Central Asian affairs

The United States has the cooperation of Afghanistan, which once harbored Al Qaeda, but has limited ability to maneuver in neighboring Pakistan, where the terrorist group is now based.

President Obama's plan to create a unified U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan marks his effort to sever his administration's approach from the failures of the past. But administration officials are struggling to identify a clear path around the problem that has undermined U.S. policy in those countries for much of the last seven years: The United States can operate freely in Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda used to be based, but has limited ability to control what happens in neighboring Pakistan, which the terrorist network now calls home.

In Afghanistan, the United States is poised to send an additional 21,000 troops and to train thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers, while working directly with the government to bring corruption under control.

In Pakistan, however, the U.S. approach hinges on providing an extra $5 billion in aid over the next five years and leaning on Islamabad to take steps against the Islamic militants that it has so far been unwilling, or unable, to carry out.

In some ways, the rollout of the strategy last week marked the beginning of a concerted effort to increase pressure on Pakistan.

Obama described the country's border region as "the most dangerous place in the world," and warned that the United States' patience was wearing thin after Washington provided more than $12 billion in aid to Islamabad over seven years only to see Al Qaeda remain intact.

Pakistan's activities remain a mystery to folks in Washington. That makes it fairly difficult to find legislative language that would address this concern.

Even after the Obama administration's recent high-level discussions with Pakistan over the new strategy, U.S. intelligence officials said Islamabad continued to foster relationships with Islamic militant groups that it helped organize with U.S. support in the 1980s.

Obama: India, Pakistan's enemy should be poverty

President Barack Obama says India and Pakistan's greatest enemy should be poverty, not each other.

He met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the G-20 meeting in London Thursday, and later told a news conference that he suggested it would "make sense" for the two nuclear-armed neighbors to have "a more effective dialogue."

Obama says they discussed the terrorism emanating from Pakistan, but focused more broadly on how the U.S. and India can cooperate on counterterrorism.
Obama described Singh as a "wise and decent man" who has done a "wonderful job" guiding India on a path of economic growth.

US President Barack Obama called for a dialogue process between India and Pakistan but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that a “minimum pre-condition” was that Islamabad should not allow its soil to be used to promote terrorism.

Asked after their first substantive meeting, that lasted an hour, whether India was willing to talk with Pakistan on Kashmir, the Prime Minister said: “We are willing to discuss bilaterally all the issues that bedevil the two countries. This cannot proceed if hundreds of people die like they did in the Mumbai attack.”

Afghan President Signs Law

"Legalizing Rape"

Karzai rushed the new Shia Family Law through parliament in a shameless bid to win votes in advance of national elections. Read more »

Terrible news out of Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has rushed through a law that "negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home."

According to an Independent UK article posted, the Shia Family Law:
Regulates personal matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance and sexual relations among Afghanistan's minority Shia community.
...
The provisions are reminiscent of the hardline Taliban regime, which banned women from leaving their homes without a male relative. But in a sign of Afghanistan's faltering steps towards gender equality, politicians who opposed it have been threatened.

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has signed a law which "legalizes" rape, women's groups and the United Nations warn. Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.

In a massive blow for women's rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent.

"It is one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century," fumed Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation. "It is totally against women's rights. This law makes women more vulnerable."

The law regulates personal matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance and sexual relations among Afghanistan's minority Shia community. "It's about votes," Ms. Karokhail added. "Karzai is in a hurry to appease the Shia because the elections are on the way."

A report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, Unifem, warned: "Article 132 legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband".