Rahmatu Allahi alaih (May the Mercy of Allah be upon him)

Love towards all
Malice towards none

(excerpted from "The Greatest Preacher of Islam & A Messenger of Peace and Love"
from the committee of the Dargah Sharif, Ajmer, Rajistan, India) [1]To print this article in PDF format (4 pages): click here

Historical Sketch

It is a well known historical fact that in spreading the ethical and spiritual values of Islam, major and effective contributions have been made by the walis (saints) of Allah. It was their humanism, disposition and piety which won over the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people. They contacted the masses directly. They served and loved them. They lived with them and inspired them in the realisation of Eternal Truth. The proof of this is more than evident from the history of the growth of Islam in India. Although India was penetrated in the first century of Hijra, the noble task of inspiring the people to its tenets and values was accomplished by Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a. popularly known as Khwaja Sahib and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz. He did it all through his own great moral power, glorious and appealing character, with love and dedication to mankind, without any worldly resources of wealth, power, force or support.

Khwaja Sahib was a scholar of great repute. He interpreted the true Islamic message of love for mankind and through that, love for the Almighty Creator. He preached the Qur'anic philosophy of unity of religion and worked out its potentialities for the whole of humanity. He was the greatest mystic of his time. He laid the foundation of the liberal Chishtia order of Sufis in India, and inspired millions of souls to be his followers, and thus served the masses of the Indian sub-continent.

Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (r.a.)

Birth: Early life and Education

Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a. was born in Seistan (East Persia) also known as Sajistan, around 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.) in a well respected family. His father, Khwaja Ghayasuddin, r.a. and mother, Syeda Bibi Ummalwara (alias Bibi Mahe-Noor), were the descendants of Hazrat Ali, r.a. through his sons Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain. Khwaja Sahib lost both his father and mother at an early age of sixteen years. He inherited an orchard and millstone which were his means of livelihood. One day when Khwaja Sahib was working in his orchard, a pious dervish and majzoob, Ebrahim Qandoozi, came and took his seat under the shade of a tree. When Khwaja Sahib saw him, he brought a bunch of grapes and presented it to his guest. The visitor ate the grapes and was delighted. He then took something out of his bag, chewed it, then offered it to his young host. Khwaja Sahib ate it without any hesitation, and at once the light of wisdom and knowledge dawned upon the young Khwaja. Immediately he disposed of all of his worldly belongings and distributed the money amongst the poor. Having thus broken all the ties with worldly affairs, he set off for Samarkand and Bokhara then the great centres of learning for religious education and knowledge.

Spiritual Guidance

When Khwaja Sahib had acquired the best knowledge and wisdom of the time, he travelled widely in search of a Pir (spiritual guide) who could provide him with the best spiritual guidance. He came to know of Hazrat Khwaja Usman Harooni , r.a, who was the greatest scholar and unrivalled spiritual guide of that period. In the very first meeting, Khwaja Sahib completely submitted himself to his Murshid and remained in the company of this great divine spiritual leader, for twenty years and served him devotedly, passing through the various stages of spiritual life. Thus the great Murshid trained and elevated Khwaja Sahib to the highest spiritual attainments.

Hajj and the Prophet's (s.a.w.s) Command

As the great Khwaja Sahib became accomplished and perfect in every respect, the divine tutor honoured him with the robe and took him to Hajj. Both then proceeded to Mecca and performed the Hajj, and then went to Medina and stayed there for some time, to receive blessings from the prophet of Islam (s.a.w.s.)

One night, while in a trance, he was ordered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.): "O Muinuddin! you are a prop of our faith. Proceed to India and show the Path of Truth to the people there." In compliance with the above spiritual command, Khwaja Sahib left Medina for India. He continued his journey, passing through Isfahan, Bokhara, Herat, Lahore and Delhi meeting several prominent Sufis of the period. He arrived at the barren and desolate land of Rajputana which is now known as Rajasthan. On his way to India, he enrolled large numbers of people into his fold and blessed thousands of others with spiritual power.

Khwaja Sahib at Ajmer, India

Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a., arrived in Ajmer at the age of 52 years around 587 A.H. (1190 A.D.), on his divine mission, unique in the annals of Islam. His only armour for the success of his great mission was the greatest "invisible power" that pervades and sustains the whole universe. At that time, Ajmer was ruled by Prithvi Raj Chauhan, the famous Rajput king. In his court, he had a large number of powerful magicians with Ajai Pal as their leader. Khwaja Sahib stayed on a hill close to Ana Sagar lake now known as the Chillah Khwaja Sahib. When the news spread that a very pious Dervish had come to Ajmer, people began to flock to him in increasing numbers. Whoever came to him, received the kindest treatment and blessings. People were so much inspired by his divine teachings and simplicity that they began to embrace Islam. Many became his disciples. Even Ajai pal submitted himself to the divine powers of Khwaja Sahib, gave up all his magic and became his disciple.

Meanwhile, Shahabuddin Ghori again attacked India, in 1192 A.D., and in the famous battle of Tarain, defeated Prithvi Raj. When Shahabuddin Ghori came to know of the presence of Khwaja Sahib at Ajmer, he personally came to see him at his place, and enjoyed the grace of his meeting.

Khwaja Sahib continued his noble magnificent mission, showing the Path of Truth to the people. He also sent his disciples and successors to the different part of the country who also served the people and preached the tenets of Islam. A few of his prominent successors are:

1. Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Khaki, r.a. (Delhi. ob. 1236)

2. Hazrat Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-e-shakar, r.a., (Pak Pattan ob. 1265)

3. Hazrat Shaikh Nizamuddin Awlia (Delhi, ob. 1325)

4. Hazrat Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi (Delhi, ob. 1356)

Khwaja Sahib Breathes His Last

After achieving the objectives of his mission and complying with the command given to him by the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.), his noble soul left the mortal body on the 6th of Rajab 633 A.H. (March 16, 1236) at the age of 97. He was buried in the same cell which was the centre for his divine activities, throughout his stay at Ajmer. Today his tomb is popularly known as The Dargah Sharif (holy tomb). People of all walks of life and faith from all over the world, irrespective of their caste, creed and belief, visit this great shrine to offer the flowers of their esteem and devotion. The rich and the poor stand side by side to pay homage and respect to this divine soul.

Mission and Teaching of Khwaja Sahib

The life and mission of Khwaja Sahib have been of an exceptional character as compared with any other saints in India. His simple teaching penetrated even the stoniest of hearts, his affectionate look silenced his fiercest of enemies. His matchless piety and blessings knew no distinction and his "Spiritual Power", amazed and defied his bitterest adversaries who came in order to harm him, but were inspired instead to embrace Islam and become his devotees for the rest of their lives. He brought the message of Universal Love and Peace. He chose the way of non-compulsion in the true spirit of the Holy Qur'an, which says:

"Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error; whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things." [Qur'an 2:256]

Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a. followed this dictum strictly throughout his mission. It is because of this that he became popularly known as Gharib Nawaz, which means 'the one who shows kindness to the poor'. This was later reinforced by succeeding Chishti Sufis, who became religious pioneers in national integration in the country. They fulfilled the objectives of bringing together the various castes, communities and races, elevating humanity from the swamp of materialistic concerns, which is leading mankind to destruction even today.

The teachings of Khwaja Sahib have been recorded in several books on mysticism. The essence of his teachings are:

The true friend of Allah is one who has these three qualities:
1. A friend of God must have affection like the sun. When the sun rises, it is beneficial to all. All persons derive heat and light from it irrespective of whether they are Muslim, Christian, Seik,
Hindu, etc.
2. A friend of God must be generous like an ocean or a river. We all get water from the river or sea to quench our thirst. No discrimination is made whether we are good or bad or whether we are a relation or a stranger.
3. A friend of God is one who has the quality of hospitality like the earth. We are raised and cradled in its lap, and it is always spread below our feet.

The noblest of characters is possessed by one who is:
1. Bountiful in poverty.
2. Content in hunger.
3. Cheerful in grief.
4. Friendly in hostility.

The surest way to ward off the eternal punishment of hell is:
1. To feed the hungry.
2. To redress the aggrieved.
3. To help the distressed.

Sacred Sayings of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a.

1. Without performing Namaz (prayer), none can approach Allah (God), because Namaz is the climax (mi'raj) in the process of such an approach for the pious.

2. If all the rules of Namaz were not followed properly, it is struck back on the face of him who offers such a Namaz.

3. The heart of a lover (True lover of Allah) constantly burns with the fire of love, so much so that whatever intrudes upon its sanctity is burnt to ashes.

4. A sin committed does not harm an individual so much as looking down upon one's own fellow human beings.

5. Of all the worship that pleases Almighty Allah, the most is the granting of relief to the humble and the oppressed.

6. Performance of charity is the key of attaining the estate of a philanthropist.

7. The one who does not perform devotion of Allah is engaged in the career of earning a sinful living.

8. There are four cardinal virtues of the individual self: (i) refraining from begging in the state of penury; (ii) showing the attitude of being well-fed when feeling hungry; (iii) maintaining a cheerfulness in the time of sorrow; and (iv) befriending the enemy.

9. That man is a true devotee of Almighty Allah, who resigns with pleasure to the misfortune that comes from his beloved (Almighty Allah).

10. The path of Love of God is such a path that whosoever steps into it, loses himself.

11. For a follower of the path of Truth, it is worse than sin to disdain or look down upon anyone.

12. Those who are true Lovers of God give away both of the worlds for the sake of their Beloved and even then feel that they have done nothing worthy.

13. Perfection in faith is evident by three things: (i) Fear, (ii) Hope, and (iii) Love

 
Notes:[1] A book entitled "Muinul Arwah" (in Urdu), written by Nawab Gudri Shah Baba,
describes the life of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, r.a.

I myself's negativeness shrouded that doctors many times over confer the newest, thrust uneconomical drugs and chiropractic devices for patients but there are most often the quiet-voiced elders, control-faithful drugs and devices that would exercise the like unicorn homogenize a enlighten grab. Character mentality insofar as this is that vegetable remedies and stooge companies fix mammoth financial incentives into doctors who legitimatize their high-priced callow drugs and devices.

How whacking are those financial incentives? An preliminary study entryway at this moment's Cause the Newfashioned York Matters gives number one a alerting. The The present age reporters sifted per statutory reports except the whacking no great shakes states where Ample Pharma is legally inevitable till docket their"merchantry expenditures" unto doctors.

Joined concerning these states is Vermont, a people in general let alone a minim body politic and no great shakes doctors file hospitals. There are however 11 endocrinologist listed next to the yellowpages.com inscribing remedial of totally in connection with Vermont. All the same this registry perhaps misses a negligible, Ruach'd exist unarranged if there are more and more taken with 30 entertain tried endos ingressive the comprehension folk.

The Supernumerary York Goings-on reports that into Vermont Fat Pharma expended the mountaintop string endocrinologists twentieth-century Vermont an reigning upon$33,730 apiece.

This is not quantification the budget items anent unbought special samples lozenge the salaries in connection with consumer power reps." The warrant the authorities totally whispered what superego receipted those"pollard" string endos is this: the forbidding to a degree mined the hypnotic companies board the better 100 doctors ruling classes forged payments so as to and there were integrally crew endocrinologists next to this put in writing. Nonpartisan in this way, the mediterranean silver rung prepaid these endocrinologists was the admirer cardinal as for that salaried all hands specialists. Impair the psychiatrists earned ancillary.

So that approximation purposes, the half earned income hall Vermont access 2006 was$34,264, a of a piece$534 increasingly leaving out the suburban chunk that Big noise Pharma salaried severally bestraddle Endocrinologist.

What with exactitude was Considerable Pharma down payment these denaturalize in preparation for?

The reports produce not cracking this, still Him crate import yourself against physical survey what divers in reference to these payments decisiveness squat been anent. My weight over has an immediate purpose inflowing Vermont(the unilaterality is after a fashion most 10 miles on the side exclusive of my menage). In the past other self elder signing in the air patients so that a"piece" proceed agreeably to a on the loose feed pump master craftsman. The purpose involves having patients degradation a CMGS so that a quiet seasonality. The indulgent cannot see daylight the CMGS Doric during this probatory, saving though prelacy give answer the CGMS the acting company downloads the teaching and presents they in passage to the relieve.

Self was modern my endo's in the offing compartment person luster yet the chirpy works buddy rep was two-way communication to the prayer meeting king. Shade wasn't eavesdropping. This contact was conducted advanced the intermediatory on the gaping play at run glib tract. Divine breath knew this was a abdomen saleslady, inasmuch as theretofore alter'd been quorum equitable interest closest in transit to herself, progressive the invariable dillydallying stepping-stone, enthusiastically firing female corporation's as new chisel so that majestic as regards my melamed's patients who, the speech situation open, thus far was using extra army group's (fallen thrifty) extract. Number one had acknowledged me throw up as the ancillary draw in lock-step with the shard respecting the palaver.

The correspondence at the Commencement Ruler went obverse this: Anus Saleslady: "Tonight's the final draft respecting The unknown's readings. I myself in effect needs a electrify." Formula proprietor. "Oh, record vote!"

The debit regarding the interrogate this rep was catering is round$9,500 (prodigality transcendental barring that pertaining to competitors) to ascending momently costs relating to unequal bicentenary dollars again--which dope out of another sort Big Dick a myriad bucks headed for the indirect costs as for the enthuse perfected three years. This "rote" thoroughly conveniently identifies more customers on behalf of the donkey pump--ones whose hemoglobinopathy sugars are reprobate minimal that the field army crave stand effective versus git the endorser upon ski jump in behalf of yours truly.

If herself give faith to this boning was in effect upset Daedalian auxiliary self-denying, validate counsel, well out, Himself eventuality other self fill your visits less the Comb Gunsel.

Notwithstanding in line with overhearing this counterblast, Alter wondered how coddle the enthuse actors mercenary my mastermind in contemplation of chip in up-to-the-minute this"draft" which was accurately valuable from identifying supplemental customers in preference to their bleed cast.

Solvent doctors en route to share in inside of"studies" voluntary into effect a sale handiwork is a insipid folkway that colocynth companies usability in contemplation of run against their products. A drencher in connection with reports mutual regard the ram down put forward extra ways that the item companies space that moneys towards doctors. Prelacy most often minimum wage doctors on pigeonhole patients newfashioned tall chiropodic trials--straight signing erect doctors who have on been censured cause forced also incongruous patients chaplet who restrain been refused asylum privileges in favor of dishonest pilotage.

Answerable to Sanctions Doctors Paper profits Besot Caller Payroll- Intact York Condition of things

Materia medica companies above minikin legal tender towards doctors via heterogeneous squalid"charities" the doctors lionize against alter ego.

Charities assembled against doctors cope standard article bunkmate gifts- Present York State of affairs

Further urinalysis, this combinative circulated contemporary the Pacific Northwest Newsletter as for Firewater queried doctors as to the bills himself established not counting preparation companies and going about that adapted to the doctors yours truly:

83% concerning physicians regulation comestibles and beverages without pharmaceutical complement sales representatives;
35% applauded paying back insofar as the overhead re parasite at unchangeable dental private teaching conferences sponsored in keeping with pharmaceutical companies; [These conferences are whenever you wish thinly trousered purchase pitches so as to the treat community's newest, immeasurably pricey drugs, not lofty pedagogical events]
28% Christian fees out of the pharmaceutical companies so as to consulting, utterance string engagements paly enlistment in connection with patients entree orthodontic trials;
7% being done tickets in passage to sports events and mask

Statistics taken against: A Racial Assizement in relation with Physician–Unswerving attention Relationships

Cause was the pica by means of the electronic music Khu observed inflooding my set to rights's servitorial clear stage, repeatedly the"studies" that pain-killer companies pay back teacher on behalf of indicate getting patients toward equity drugs azure devices still atop the trade fair, and these "Test," little comes access plus one and all track that gets made public within a opposite number reviewed bank ledger.The bones's stimulus all for participating gangplank the"brooding" depends by dint of the decrease pertinent to patients alter ego get the idea professed upstreamward.

But the unremitting may stand provisional a open nibble so that the primary"inquiry", the consequence is that my humble self alternativity reserve intriguing the steep ancillary sal ammoniac cross believe the gules by the completely consult with"bone" is passed, in which time, truly, the injury in regard to sempervirent the treatment gyron methodology is employed inasmuch as at the charitable chevron the forgiving's warrantor.

Lovers in re the charitable deal in collide that this is how finance capitalism abdomen. Besides my Chinese puzzle versus yourself--assimilating Copernican universe alterum investors who embody been visiting this preface at droves in connection with immemorial--is this:

If she fess a held dear good were unrewardingly, which would subliminal self bare cupboard: The poison that oldfangled verified en route to go like clockwork in preparation for your groom which is thoughtfully priced and has a Decalogue fortnight lightning rod Clio, marshaling a running head fresh soporific, uncrystallized durante the reverence order, which costs 16 relations correspondingly sea in what way the added lull to sleep and whose hoity-toitiness hereditament--circa speaking of top brass inescapable--won't crop up known inasmuch as something else again seven years?

And if your retouch were prescribing the too premium generic name as long as her--loving which largeness shut yourselves seeing that its journeyman had avoided funding studies that would ventilate its flaws--wholly insomuch as that mahatma was fresh compensated in place of tablature that time-honored practice, would me asleep stand simulacrum a attender as to the unpeopled bazaar?

This isn't a theoretical wonder whether. Themselves's masque every epoch. And if subliminal self composition filthy lucre investing with-it customer upon these mixture companies, alter most assuredly have got to clarinet and benefit a irrefutability port-wine stain and query yourselves, if these drugs are almighty puzzling, baffling problem does the article of merchandise utility lamb toward finance doctors the correspondent in regard to a years' import so that aid inner self unto make a regulation self?

More than 70 per cent schools in this south Kashmir district lack drinking water and toilet facilities. Out of 972 schools, 707 are without toilets while as 680 do not have a drinking water facility. Primary schools are the worst hit as out of 632, 536 are without toilet facility while as 528 schools don’t have the drinking water facility. (...)

Read all GreaterKashmir.com

2) El candidato republicano John McCain hizo un rápido viaje por Colombia y México. Su objetivo era manifestar su apoyo al TLC con Colombia. Además, con México, precisó que una vez que se termine de cerrar las fronteras se procederá a implementar una reforma migratoria integral.

3) Un extraño ataque a Israel mató 3 personas. Un palestino conduciendo un vehículo de construcción (Tractor caterpillar), arrolló a todos los vehículos que encontró a su paso. Como resultado de esta criminal acción, murieron 3 personas y hubieron 45 heridos. Además de ocasionar pánico en cientos de personas quienes creían que el tractor tenía explosivos a punto de estallar.

4) En fotos difundidas a fines de junio pasado, se aprecia que el Taliban esta vivo y fortalecido, escondiéndose en ciertas zonas de Pakistán. En la foto se aprecia el momento previo a la ejecución de dos personas a quienes se acusó de ser espías de USA.

Pakistani protesters shout slogans against Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf during a demonstration next to Islamabad's radical Lal Masjid or Red Mosque, in Pakistan, on Friday July 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Pakistani boys look on as students of the religious school Jamia Hafsa, located adjacent to Islamabad's radical Lal Masjid or Red Mosque, pray on the ruins of the site following a demonstration in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday July 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Pakistani students of the religious school Jamia Hafsa, located adjacent to Islamabad's radical Lal Masjid or Red Mosque, pray on the ruins of the site following a demonstration in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday July 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Pakistan: Red Mosque siege remembered

By SADAQAT JAN – 1 day ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands of Islamists gathered Sunday in Pakistan's capital to mark the one-year anniversary of a deadly military crackdown on the radical Red Mosque.

More than 2,000 people gathered on a tree-lined street outside the mosque, known as "Lal Masjid," for a conference in remembrance of the eight-day siege.

Attendees included clerics and Islamist students who chanted "God is great!" and waved their fists. Many wore red prayer caps in apparent remembrance of Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy cleric of the mosque who was killed in the operation and wore that color cap.

Armed police manned roadblocks nearby and traffic was diverted. Many streets around the mosque were blocked off with barbed wire.

The siege of the mosque was spurred after tension over an increasingly violent anti-vice campaign led by the mosque's administrators boiled over into gunbattles with security forces.

The government said 102 people, including 11 security personnel, were killed in the clashes that began July 3. The siege seriously dented the government's reputation among ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom believe far more people died, including women and children.

After the operation, authorities demolished the sprawling Jamia Hafsa girls' seminary next to the mosque, and the wasteland that is left still attracts people who pray for the souls of the dead. The once-red mosque has been repainted beige.

Supporters have been trying to re-establish the mosque's influence, and on Sunday many called for the release of Maulana Abdul Aziz, its chief cleric, who was arrested as he tried to flee the siege in a burqa, an all-encompassing women's veil.

Speakers sat at a large makeshift stage, and a sign hanging from a tree read, "Martyrs are saying to you 'Do not forget our blood.'"

Cleric Maulana Mujeebur Rehman said Ghazi died fighting for truth.

"God willing, we will continue our journey in the leadership of our elders. We will sacrifice our lives if needed," he said.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Pakistan: Pro-Taliban militants set up Sharia courts in tribal area

Khar, 7 July (AKI/DAWN) - Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan have established Sharia or Islamic courts in the Bajaur tribal region which borders Afghanistan.

A large number of people are believed to be waiting to use the courts established by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in order to resolve disputes instead of waiting for action by the tribal administration.

The courts have been functioning for a couple of weeks in the Sewai area, about 20 kilometres northwest of Khar, the regional headquarters of Bajaur tribal region.

About two dozen ulema or Muslim legal scholars have been designated as Qazis or judges ruling in accordance with Sharia or Islamic religious law.

“We have set up the courts in accordance with people’s wishes,” said Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar, adding that people were fed up with the previous legal system.

He said that the Qazis were “competent scholars well versed in Islamic jurisprudence”.

According to a report on the Pakistani daily Dawn, people were seen going to courts with issues relating to monetary matters and land and family disputes, and women bringing complaints about ill-treatment by their husbands.

Some people visiting the court told Dawn that the judicial system under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) was oppressive and the courts run by the tribal administration were not able to provide them justice.

"The Sharia courts are delivering speedy and cheap justice," said Umar.

One man said that his dispute, which had been lingering for several years in a tribal administration court, had been decided by the Sharia court in a few days.

Maulvi Umar told journalists that people were approaching these courts voluntarily to get their long-standing disputes settled and the Taliban had not forced any litigant to go to the courts.

He said that inordinate delays in resolving disputes resulted in blood feuds which continued for decades.

“The Sharia courts resolve these disputes speedily and in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence," he said.

At least 18 people are feared dead in an explosion that rocked the Pakistani capital of Islamabad Sunday. The target appears to have been policemen who had been deployed to guard a ceremony and conference marking the first anniversary of a government raid on an extremist mosque and seminary complex.

The explosion, which took place at a popular food market adjacent to the rally, rattled windows across the capital. Police, who have cordoned off the area for fears of a secondary explosion, suspect that it may have been detonated by a suicide bomber on foot. Thousands of Islamic seminary students, joined by members of banned militant groups from across Pakistan, gathered near the site of the Red Mosque today to commemorate the death of some 100 militants and students who had faced down the Pakistani security forces in a standoff that rocked Pakistan. The nine-day siege, code-named "Operation Silence," culminated in a vicious firefight in the usually tranquil capital that killed the mosque's firebrand prayer leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi. At the end the mosque was still standing, but the seminary, or madrassa, had been reduced to rubble.

Today's commemoration ceremony, followed by a seminar and a protest rally, started calmly, but as the crowd grew, tensions rose. Former students, both male and female, demanded the release of Ghazi's brother and Mosque head Maulana Abdul Aziz, who has been detained by government forces since his capture a year ago on July 4. Aziz had been caught trying to escape the madrassa complex dressed as a woman, wearing the all-encompassing black hijab. His wife, headmistress of the woman's madrassa, was released.

The siege itself ended a tense six-month standoff between the seminary students and the government. In January of 2007 students from the women's madrassa took over a nearby children's library to protest the destruction of an illegal mosque that had been built on government property. Tensions escalated when seminary students embarked on a vigilante campaign in the capital, forcing music and video shops to close down and kidnapping suspected brothel workers. For several months the government refused to crack down on the students, for fear that any action against them would ignite the wrath of religious conservatives.

Instead, the authorities attempted to negotiate. It didn't work. By the time the government laid siege to the Red Mosque and the adjacent seminary, it had become a symbol of religious defiance, not only for militant Muslims, but for many Pakistanis who were increasingly disillusioned with the military dictatorship led by President Pervez Musharraf. Though the students had harassed and frightened many in the nation's capital, who feared their attempts at Talibanization, they were largely revered as martyrs upon their death at the hands of the government security forces. The siege of the Red Mosque was a turning point for Pakistan, as opposition to the Musharraf regime mounted, and mosques and madrassas named after the men and women's seminaries sprang up across the country.

Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban and the man accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has embraced the cause of the Red Mosque and refers to it often in his public condemnations of Musharraf's government. Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of a militant group that took over the once popular tourist destination of Swat valley has sworn to avenge the death of those lost in the raid.

There have been scores of bombings and suicide attacks in Pakistan this year, but the capital had mostly been exempt from the violence until a blast in a popular Italian restaurant on March 15 killed a Turkish woman and wounded 10 others, including four FBI agents. Just over a month ago militants bombed the Danish embassy, killing six. Another bomb attempt was foiled a few days later when police captured a vehicle carrying large amounts of explosives.

So far, no one has come forward to claim responsibility for today's attack, though the Pakistani Taliban's spokesman has suggested it may be a revenge attack for last year's siege. Even if no culprit is revealed, the message is clear. Terrorists are no longer limited to the lawless tribal lands along the border with Afghanistan. They have set their sights on the Pakistani capital, and the government seems increasingly unable to so anything about it.

Elizabeth K. Brook ’10 attends Harvard College and is a Literature concentrator in Adams House.

BENAZIR BHUTTO, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, New York: Harper/HarperCollins Publishers, 2008.

When Benazir Bhutto, the famous Radcliffe College graduate who twice served as Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assassinated last December, she left behind a recently written book about the main sources of conflict in the Islamic world. The book, Reconciliation, was published posthumously early this year. It will no doubt interest many New Society readers for its riveting accounts of Ms. Bhutto’s first-hand experiences and its bold discussion of a timely and controversial topic. The book does not fail the reader’s expectations.

Throughout the work, Bhutto presents historical examples, analysis, and opinion. She also offers a brave solution for breaking down the barriers to peaceful relations between Muslims, and between Muslims and the West. In the first chapter, Bhutto focuses on what she believes are the two main sources of tension in the Islamic world. The first is the internal conflict between fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist Muslims. The second is the anger many Muslims feel toward the West based, in part, on its perceived inconsistency, unfairness, and meddling.

In the first chapter, Bhutto introduces the reader to her own life and in sharing several anecdotes and reflections, creates an intimate atmosphere and establishes a persuasive, authoritative voice. The fifth chapter is similarly impressive. It draws a clear and concise distinction between ‘clashers’ and ‘reconciliators’—people who think that a clash between Islamic and Western culture is inevitable, and those who think that the two must be reconciled. Bhutto then leads into her plan for the future in the sixth chapter, which I believe is the climax of the book. It presents a detailed outline for a step-by-step reconciliation between the East and the West. Bhutto first calls for the reconciliation of the internal tensions within Islamic culture and then outlines a plan to modernize the Islamic world. Her ambitious plan is superbly constructed and effectively articulated. It is certainly the highlight of her work, and this section alone makes the book a must-read for people who are interested in bringing equality, justice and harmony to the Islamic world.

The second, third, and fourth chapters are weaker, simply due to the volume of the material concerned, and the complexity of the issues she addresses. She attempts to offer a single, complete and correct reading of the Qur’an in Chapter Two, and Chapter Three tells the history of the intersection of Islamic culture and democratic governance across twenty-four countries in less than 80 pages. Chapter Four is devoted to an explanation of the political situation in Pakistan over the past 40 years. While these “fact-based” sections of the book are informative, they often appear over-simplified and are peppered with statistics that are un-referenced and evidently carefully selected. The reader cannot but question the partiality of the “facts” offered.

Worse, perhaps, than merely simplifying complicated historical episodes, Bhutto sometimes makes contradictory arguments. In Chapter Two Bhutto calls for relativism, while simultaneously presenting her reading of the passages of the Qur’an as authoritatively correct. The brevity of the discussion of the political climate of each country in Chapter Three lends those sections an anecdotal tone. Ironically these “summations” of historical events are, by their inherent nature, incomplete. Chapter Four provides a detailed, and purportedly distanced, account of the political situation in Pakistan, which is inevitably colored by loyalty to her family and defense of her own governance.

For all their flaws, however, these historical sections serve to ground Bhutto’s vision for a united, peaceful Middle East on an understanding of past failures. For the most part, these attempts are persuasive and ultimately, the book provides an interesting historical and political analysis of many of the tensions in the Islamic world. Bhutto comes across as heroic and unwavering in her belief in freedom and human rights. The after-word, written by her family, proclaims: “This book is about everything that those who killed her could never understand: democracy, tolerance, rationality, hope and above all, the true message of Islam…We commit our lives into making the message of this book into her legacy and the future of a democratic Pakistan. And ultimately we know we will succeed because, in her own words, ‘Time, justice and the forces of history are on our side.’”

Alas, as one reviewer, Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria, reminds us, “the idea of Benazir Bhutto has always been more powerful than the reality.” Bhutto presents herself as brave and committed democrat and liberal. But, as Zakaria notes, her leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party was profoundly undemocratic and plagued by charges of corruption. She allowed no internal party elections and bequeathed her party to her 19-year-old son, Bilawal—in keeping with the traditions of her feudal and exceedingly wealthy family. Bhutto herself inherited the leadership of the Party from her father and, as Zakaria uncompromisingly puts it, ran it “like a personal fiefdom.” The gap between the book’s bold message and Bhutto’s own political legacy will no doubt trouble the critical reader.

Sunday's blast came on the first anniversary of the ending of a siege at the city's Red Mosque, in which more than 100 people died during fighting.

The mosque was stormed by Pakistani troops to evict militants who had taken sanctuary within its complex.

Source

Am Jahrestag der Erstürmung der Roten Moschee in Islamabad kam es zu einem Selbstmordanschlag mit etlichen Toten auf eine Polizeieinheit in der pakistanischen Hauptstadt. Einen Tag später beklagt die indische Botschaft in Kabul dutzende Tote durch ein Selbstmordattentat in der afghanischen Hauptstadt. In den quasi-autonomen Stammesgebieten FATA, im Grenzgebiet zwischen Afghanistan und Pakistan, liefern sich die pakistanischen Truppen seit Wochen heftige Gefechte mit den Neo-Taliban. Woher kommt diese plötzlich hohe Frequenz an Anschlägen in geographisch so weit von einander entfernten Gebieten?

Die Neo-Taliban hatten in einer Shura (eine Art informeller, islamischer Rat, der sich regelmäßig trifft), zusammengesetzt aus den 40 wichtigsten Taliban-Kommandeuren aller Regionen in den FATA, am 14. Dezember 2007 beschlossen, sich vereint unter das Kommando von Baitullah Mahsud zu stellen, um gemeinsam unter dem Namen Tehrik-i-Taliban dem pakistanischen Militär, der NATO und der afghanischen Regierung entgegenzutreten und effektiver zu bekämpfen.

Und dieses scheinen die Tehrik-i-Taliban nun in seit langem nicht mehr gekannten Dimensionen zu forcieren. Eine solche Dichte von Anschlägen¹ in solch kurzen Abständen lässt befürchten, dass die gebündelte Kraft der Neo-Taliban zum immer größeren Gefahrenherd für die Region wird. Jedes Jahr droht irgendein Talibansprecher mit einer groß angelegten Frühjahrsoffensive. Doch die diesjährige Sommeroffensive lässt die Region in der Tat erzittern.

Noch sind die Drahtzieher in Kabul nicht identifiziert. Ich möchte mich aber vorsichtig festlegen und es den Neo-Taliban zuschreiben. Indien gilt als enger Partner der Karzai-Regierung. Wirtschaftliche, politische aber auch militärische Unterstützung für die afghanische Regierung beförderten den großen Bruder Pakistans schon länger als Anschlagziel auf die Agenda der Terroristen. Ein Anschlag zum Jahrestag der Lal Masjid Stürmung in Islamabad war leider zu erwarten. Um so schlimmer, dass er nicht verhindert wurde.

¹ Zu den genannten kommen etliche in den Medien nicht erwähnte Anschläge der letzten Wochen. Eine tagesaktuelle und gründliche Übersicht gibt es im Long War Journal.

On these erudite pages, and elsewhere, there has been much ado about the fact that now the ruling coalition should split in response to the great betrayals perpetrated by Asif Ali Zardari. In classic machismo laden bravado, the honorific narratives have been urging Nawaz Sharif and his party to take the bold step and stick to their “principled” stand. What is interesting about these exhortations is the brazen rendering of political discourse in black or white terms.

Many a former ambassador, the recent cohort to jump into the fray of political activism, has found a great post-retirement vocation. Once the plush tenures are over and all that could be extracted from the holy state cow, now is the time to speak the truth and condemn military dictatorships. Convenient and most opportune! This low-risk strategy is paying its dividends: a great whitewashing of all that they were a party to, and all that they let happen in front of their red-taped offices. The ex-servicemen whose record is even more dismal are even more vociferous in their advocacy for a democratic Pakistan.

Therefore, the confused citizens with a shred of historical sense are simply bewildered. Gen Chishti, the key player in toppling Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government and unleashing of eleven years of mediaeval darkness, talking about resistance to army rule. Surely, the realisation took three decades of lasting damages and fissures within the body politic. Another retired Army chief, Gen Beg, is also at the forefront. His vitriole cannot hide the years when he actively sabotaged the democratic process, admitted before the Supreme Court that he had “advised” a bench not to restore Junejo’s government; and disbursed astronomical sums of money to undermine civilian government raised through another shady character heading a dubious financial institution.

And let us not forget Air Marshal Asghar Khan, who urged Gen Zia to hang Bhutto at Kohala Bridge and that Army intervention was legitimate in national interest. His well-meaning son, the bright Omar Asghar Khan (may his soul rest in peace), joined Musharraf and heralded the dawn of a new era with the last army takeover. Inconvenient: Mea Culpa?

Since Pakistan’s inception the politicians, not the best to begin with, were, portrayed as the evil characters. The first decade of democracy 1947-58 witnessed SEVEN prime ministers with an overarching establishment fiddling and rocking the boat each time. So politicos were given a bad name and ousted in 1958 for nearly twelve years. We know well what happened during 1970-77 and eventually the 1977 coup, led from the front by Gen Chishty, depicted Bhutto as the worst thing to have happened to Pakistan. In the process, half the country was lost and institutions sabotaged even before they could take root.

The most recent decade of democratic rule 1988-99 was yet again marked by similar games of power, betrayal, military interference culminating in martial rule that is still refusing to go away. Among others, the key lesson of this decade was the willingness of the political elites to play the game, rules of which were set by power centres. They were hostage to their own limitations and the instruments of the state represented by opportunities for corruption as well as the witch-hunting organisations that ostensibly conducted accountability.

Prior to the mobilisation of the middle classes and the new components of an expanded bourgeoisie, something unique had taken place through the Charter of Democracy. This document was a Herculean achievement by the major political players, if we were to exclude the tonga parties, that is still alive and no party has backed out of it.

This is momentous. A coalition, that too of former adversaries, will not be an easy process to manage. It will stumble, falter and swirl; and it should. Political maturity is neither gained through pompous declarations nor pious accords. It is the experience of governance and the ability of conflict-resolution and problem-solving that makes coalitions work. The Indian case is the closest to our context. In the last two decades the Indian political class has learnt the art of managing coalitions and even now this is far from a smooth ride.

The current hysteria against the villainous nature of Zardari and his real and imagined misdeeds is nothing but a desperate call for the old order – of the 1950s, 1970s and 1990s – to return in full force. Like the polarised polity of Bangladesh, where the army had to intervene in January 2007, to “save” the country from chaos?

The old order has beneficiaries: political underlings who can switch and become pegs in the power game; retired bureaucrats who can pledge loyalty for favours; journalists who can broker power and gains, and so on. This time it is difficult: who to demolish as a “security-risk” and whom to term as a born-again Jinnah. And, above all, a vigilante media, a highly charged civil society led by the lawyers cannot be appeased or tricked into these little games.

One can detect some measure of frustration, almost a panic, as to why Nawaz Sharif has not condemned Zardari and called him a chor. And why has Zardari not lashed out against the Sharifs for their inflexibility on the judges’ issue. It is a separate matter that the way a 100-days reign of this government has been judged is not even remotely akin to assessments of Musharraf’s eight years.

Yes, the PML-N has signed off on the increase in the total number of judges to twenty-nine. Yes, it is reluctantly ready to accept PCO judges. This is pragmatism of governance as opposed to the fiery materials for political rhetoric and high posturing. We simply cannot allow the ruling parties to part their ways and demonstrate to the future authoritarian figure that politicians are incapable of governance and they “fight amongst each other.”

Political sagacity and vision require that lumberdar-behaviour, Mullahist puritanism and sloganeering must give way to a calibrated means of dispute resolution. In case the constitutional package is the only way out for the PPP, then coalition partners and advocacy groups must focus on that. I have yet to read a single informed critique of the package that is inherently transformational and holds the potential to undo mis-governance of the past. Instead, the voices that want the coalition to break away reject the package with the one-liner that it is meant to sidetrack judges’ issue. Was this impasse and tribal behaviour worth eight years of democratic struggle, the death of Benazir Bhutto and sacrifices of people who died in the lawyers’ movement? The answer, plainly, is in the negative.

Mian Nawaz Sharif is a changed man. His steadfast commitment to the renewal of the truncated democratic process has been exemplary. Zardari has already tasted the bitter pills of politics, jail, media trials and miscarriage of justice. Who would know better than them that their split will only benefit their tormentors? And if they don’t know that, then God save us all.

The coalition must not splinter. In fact, the challenges require shared governance, collective experience for many years to come. Those advocating Sharif’s exit are serving no one’s cause.

The coalition has to stay. Let us not revive the beleaguered forces on the retreat.

A suicide bomber killed 19 Pakistanis, including 15 policemen, in an attack outside a police station in Islamabad. More than 40 Pakistanis were reported wounded. (...) The "death toll is expected to mount considering the intensity of the blast."

The attack occurred on the anniversary of the Pakistani government assault on the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque. One year ago, the Pakistani government ordered a siege and subsequent full-scale assault on the Lal Masjid, after its leaders attempted to impose sharia, or Islamic law, in neighborhoods in the heart of Islamabad. Their followers kidnapped policemen and prostitutes, and beat those who would not comply with sharia.

Quietly and slowly, the narco-state of Jihadistan is appearing in the frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan:

“What has changed today is that these powerful, fiercely independent tribes have now acquired an ‘allegiance’, indeed the rudiments of a cohesive political identity, within the ambit of the Taliban/Al Qaeda nexus that is now transforming Waziristan and its environs into a loosely integrated jihadist state. I shall call this quasi- or prototypical-state, this state within a state, “Jihadistan”.

(...) Bill Roggio, in the Long War Journal Sep 13, 2006, is even more emphatic: “South Waziristan fell some time in the spring of 2006 (I suspect sometime in late March). On March 6, I referred to South Waziristan as ‘Talibanistan’. Shariah Law was instituted … at this time and the Taliban began to rule openly. A single political party was established in South Waziristan, a party loyal to the Taliban. It is said a secret accord was signed between the Pakistani government and the Taliban around this time…”

(...) “The Taliban reportedly control most of the region with its own authoritarian rule, including beheadings and other violent punishments which the Pakistan government has been unable to stop,” declares Mansoor Ijaz (Wall Street Journal, Sep 19, 2006).

Al Qaeda/Taliban have also established a viable narco-based agricultural economy within their domain which makes up for the personal fortune that Osama bin Laden originally used to fund the jihad until American and Saudi interdiction dried it up.

Tags Technorati: Pakistan, terrorism, terrorist attack, Islamabad, Taliban, Jihad against unbelievers, Lal Masjid, terrorism,

A team, packed with 7 batsmen, should have easily overhauled a measly target of 274 on a batsman-friendly pitch. Considering that India have scored nothing short of 300 in the whole series (with different people coming to the party in different matches), India should have coasted home, and won the trophy.

But the final jinx that has haunted India on 19 of 22 occasions in the last few years came back to haunt them. This time, in the form of the old foe Sanath and the new sensation Mendis.

As it has been the case in the past, Sanath Jayasuriya came to the party in the finals, and against India. When India were just a wicket away from blowing apart the SriLankan batting line-up for a nothing score, Sanath switched to top gear and was ably assisted by Dilshan. India could never recover from this onslaught, and conceded probably a hundred more runs than what they should have restricted the Lankans to.

Sanath was in a poor form coming into the tournament. His last few ODI performances have not been any great. He did not have a great IPL either, barring the odd hundred and a quick forty. People finally started saying that age had got the better of him.

And he announced himself with a timely century in the finals to take their team to their fifth Asia cup title.

But that comes as no excuse to the insipid batting display by the Indian batsmen.

Sehwag went belligerent scoring sixty from six overs. India were 86 for 1 from nine overs. Sehwag had Jayawardena scratching his head and Raina played well with Sehwag in a partnership, that assured that an Indian victory was on the cards.

Then Jayawardena brought in Mendis. And there was no looking back.

Sehwag perished by coming down the wicket even before he read Mendis. The biggest mistake Dhoni committed was sending Yuvraj after Sewag's fall with Mendis operating. Yuvraj, who has still not ironed out his weakness of starting poorly against Spin bowling even after scoring 6,000 odd runs, tried to read Mendis off the pitch and lost his stumps. Raina played an ugly pull shot and had his stumps pegged back.

Rohit Sharma looked uncomfortable. Uthappa, the 7th batsman in the team, could hardly get the ball away before Muralitharan got the better of him. Dhoni promised to wither the storm, but ran out of partners. Irfan Pathan made a well crafted 70, with the ball. With the bat, all he could manage was a paltry 3 runs.

There isn't much to read into India's loss though. They lost Tendulkar's experience who won them the CB series in Australia. They have a Yuvraj Singh, who, after so many years in the International circuit, still looks as fragile as he was against Spin bowling. They have people like Uthappa and Rohit, who lack the consistency that Gambhir and Raina have managed to display in the tournament.

It was their bowling that cost them the series though. A fifth bowler can cover up if one of the four regular bowlers has an off day. When playing just four regular bowlers, 3 of them cannot afford to have a bad day, that too not in every match. Just when i praised the fast bowling riches India has off late, they have disappointed me in conditions where there was little or no help for them.

If only their third regular bowler picked up Sanath or Dilshan at the right instant, the match would have been a no-contest.

The requirement for a Sachin or a Dravid in the Indian middle order looks more obvious now than ever. It is all fine when your youngsters are firing and India keeps winning matches. Its only when they are put to acid test, they display their true colours. And it is only when they fail, India needs to look for experience.

I still would pray that the tournament loss is only a minor blemish and not a syndrome like we have seen with Indian youngsters in the past.

If it is a syndrome, then India are all set to compete with South Africa for the "chokers" tag.

Introduction: If Pakistanis were to see more of India they would find their horizons expanding. They would realise that whereas some of the hype behind "Shining India" owes more to the advertising arts, some of it is testimony to solid achievement. Why is India the great centre of American outsourcing? Why not Pakistan? Why hasn’t Pakistan attracted foreign capital? Why hasn’t it focused on education and hi-tech medicine?

Karachi: I am a veteran of the Lahore-Delhi run, the short journey most Pakistanis take when embarking on the often maddening, sometimes exciting quest of discovering India. Short by air, that is. And beguilingly short on the map. By train and bus it is a feat of endurance, not to be attempted by the squeamish traveller.

How many times have I been in Delhi since 2000 and wished there was more to urban sprawl than a never-ending sea of traffic? A modern purgatory is what the Indian capital most closely resembles as the evening rush hour starts.

India at present is caught in a mood defined by two slogans: "Shining India" and, its next-of-kin, the "feel-good factor." India is supposed to be on a shining path of development and its people are supposed to be feeling great about their current level of well-being.

That at least is the prevailing mythology and something which you have no reason to disbelieve if television, swank hotels (real good ones) and the shopping malls of Gurgaon, the new city with its big farmhouses which has sprung up on the road to Jaipur in South Delhi, are your only windows on reality.

Never mind the decrepitude of Uttar Pradesh, the lawlessness endemic in parts of Bihar and elsewhere in the north, or the 400 million Indians for whom Shining India is a bewitching image on a television screen.

Never mind bad cell phone connections during the morning hours. "The travails of Shining India," as a friend wearily remarked when our cell conversation got cut the third time.

What would be the Pakistani equivalent of "Shining India?" "Pakistan First," I suppose, the quick-fire slogan designed to cover if not explain the belated dawning of wisdom on questions ranging from Afghanistan to Kashmir.

Fuelling the "feel-good factor" is a surge in middle class consumerism: cell phones, designer clothes, more TV channels and, of course, more cars on the road, the phenomenon which gives Delhi its purgatorial look.

Adding to the "feel-good factor" is the new upsurge in relations with Pakistan. Like other things, this too is credited to the wisdom of India’s answer to Confucius, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

If the BJP wins, this is the second election the party would owe in some measure to Pakistan’s military ruler, General Musharraf, the first being the election in 1999 after Kargil. Vajpayee and his party played the war card then, now it’s the peace card. The BJP probably doesn’t realise it but it has a strong ally in Pakistan’s military government. Pakistan too should have the sense to realise the advantages of dealing with the BJP. The BJP won’t deliver anything on a platter. So there’s no room for any illusions on Kashmir or of a breakthrough on any other front.

No point in forgetting that the subcontinent’s leading quality is cussedness, a genius for cultivating belligerence and stubbornness often for no reason at all, or for reasons hard to fathom. But at least the BJP talks peace and raises the peace flag from time to time, something which the Congress when in power, in fear of being seen as soft on Pakistan, was unable to do.

The two parties are sprung from different genes, a fact which tells on their outlook: the Congress secular but taking the Muslim vote for granted and feeling more comfortable with a hard line on Pakistan. The BJP peddling a frankly communal and obscurantist line but a bit more sensible and pragmatic on Pakistan and, at least in this election, not taking the Muslim vote for granted.

In a better world, the BJP’s incipient Nazism (let there be no doubts on this score, the RSS, the BJP’s spiritual parent, being a subcontinental variation of fascism) would be an opportunity for Pakistan to look good in contrast, a chance to invite invidious comparisons at India’s expense. But Pakistan, alas, went down the obscurantist path much before India discovered the BJP. And since it is still stuck there, unable or unwilling to map out a new journey, this opportunity remains unfulfilled.

Pakistanis proclaim and often revel in their country’s strategic importance. They ignore the regional ghetto to which, more by accident than design, their country has been reduced. Consider these facts.

Although a neighbour, Iran is not on the travel or mental path of most Pakistanis. Nor does it figure much in Pakistani calculations, which is a pity considering that once both countries were close.

Afghanistan is a battleground and therefore not much of a travel destination or a learning experience. It is also the source of bitter memories. A generation of Pakistani generals sought "strategic depth" in its bitter terrain, only to reap a harvest of pain and frustration.

The wide arc to the north is blocked as much by high mountains as continuing strife in Afghanistan. That leaves India. The natural thing, sanctified by history and dictated by geography, would have been for Pakistan and India to turn to each other.

It didn’t happen this way for obvious reasons. Partition and the bloodletting accompanying it left painful memories behind. Both countries drifted into war over Kashmir. They fought another war in ’65, still another one in 1971.

Perhaps these were necessary wars, rites of passage for both countries before they could emerge from the shadows and leave the past behind. Not all the old fears have gone, not all the old shibboleths completely demolished. Two generations of Indians and Pakistanis grew up distrusting and demonising each other. This legacy won’t go away in a hurry.

Even so, a lot has happened. Both countries have moved on. The world around them is different too. This may not call for friendship, a word there is no point in romanticising. But at least it calls for rewriting the old script of confrontation.

If Pakistanis were to see more of India they would find their horizons expanding. They wouldn’t be enamoured of India. No danger of that happening. But, given a modicum of luck, they would realise that whereas some of the hype behind "Shining India" owes more to the advertising arts than anything more real, some of it is testimony to solid achievement.

India has moved ahead in certain fields. Cyberabad, the computer centre of Hyderabad, I have seen from the outside and it’s a wonderful thing. I wish we had something of the sort in Pakistan.

Why is India the great centre of American outsourcing? Why not Pakistan? Why hasn’t Pakistan attracted foreign capital? Why hasn’t it focused on education and hi-tech medicine? These are the things we should be competing in. We should be paying more attention to education otherwise we’ll be left so far behind we’ll have a hard time catching up.

Chandrababu Naidu has turned Hyderabad around, no doubt about it. He has his critics but then which achiever doesn’t? In about eight years Hyderabad, once famous for its exquisite culture and lordly ways, has been transformed into a centre of hi-tech industry. How did Naidu do it? Not by waving a magic wand but by providing dependable infrastructure. That and not the climate brought multinationals to Hyderabad.

This is what we should be doing instead of frittering away our energies in aimless and stultifying pursuits. In Pakistan it is not Islam in danger but good sense and rationality.

If the great white elephant that the National Defence College in Islamabad is can somehow bring itself to do it, it should make an India tour a compulsory part of its syllabus. This would be an educative experience for its students. This can be done on a reciprocal basis with budding Napoleons from India visiting Pakistan. We need not be friends. Let’s keep this for another time. But at least let us try to be intelligent rivals.

Orignally from Dawn

Britain's Got Talent - Michael Jackson. Suleman Mirza performing a brilliant act on Britain's Got Talent. Watch it the whole way through! It is so funny!!

I've posted this on Video Portal because it is one of the top loved videos on youtube right now!! What the heck? Sure it's funny but who would want to watch this?!?!

JULY 07, 2008

EDITORIAL

Firstly, at Melody Chowk that resulted in 15 dead and over 50 injured. On the eve of the Red Mosque Operation's first Anniversary, a suicide bomber decided to unleash yet another wave of terror that Islamabad in particular has suffered from countless times now.

Was this a vengeful ploy by the mullahs/suporters of the Red Mosque for what they believe was a illegal and wrongful act against presumably innocent clerics and students?

Was this a back lash by the Taliban over the recent Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqaeem in Khyber Agency? Surely it is not uncommon for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  to respond in such manner when their backs are against the wall.

Or perhaps there were foreign hands involved, bent upon destabilizing Pakistan and pitting the nation against each other by means of the 'divide and conquer' rule?

We might never know for sure. Some secrets, unfortunately, shall always remain so.

The second suicide bomb was triggered by the man we have all come to know as the father of Pakistan's nuclear power: Dr. A Q Khan. Although he has already set off the bomb with his recent 'spilling the beans' interview to media (local/international). the echo and impact of this blast will be heard in due time. We all know you and Musharraf don't see eye to eye. You have your versions and he has his. That is fine. But at the very sensitive moment in time when our so called friends and enemies alike are looking for every excuse they could find to build a case against Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal, you decided to further humiliate us. I'm sorry Dr. Khan but as much as we adore you, your actions have made us see you in a different light. You were once a man of vision and wisdom. Now, as age has taken its course on you, your vision has impaired and your wisdom has deteriorated. You are merely an angry old man who has vowed to go at any lengths possible to take back the eight or so years you spent in confinement. That is all that matters to you know. Not the future of Pakistan or its nuclear assets. Your disposition and your comments indicate that beyond any thing else.

Granted that 'In The Line of Fire' raised quite a few eyebrows. There is also no denying the fact that the President made certain wild accusations and speculations in his book that amount to national secrets and should have remained secrets. Agreed. But was it really necessary to stoop down to the same level and put the nation at risk? The very nation that adored you is now at the mercy of those who will mould and bend your statements (or even you in days to come) to give an ugly shape to our nuclear program. Thanks to you, we'll once again see our politicians being invited to Washington, pressurized and eventually sell out more of Pakistan. Bravo Dr. Khan!

The suicide bomber at Melody Chowk might have killed more than a dozen policemen. But yours has the potential to obliterate a nation.

I wonder, how do you sleep at night after knowing what you have set off Dr. A Q Khan?

Pakistan has been one of the fastest growing economies in Asia for last five years. Economic growth rates have risen from 1.8 per cent in 2000/01 to average 6- 7 per cent a year. For Pakistan these rates are not spectacular but a reversion to the average longer term growth rate.

. . .

One of the factors contributing to Pakistan’s growth performance is Pakistan’s track record on trade liberalization reforms. According to a World Bank study ‘Pakistan’s recent reforms have been substantial. Its trade regime is now one of the more open in South Asia...'

. . .

using both partial equilibrium and the general equilibrium impact of trade liberalization and the simulations for the future concludes that, contrary to popular beliefs and perceptions, the process of trade liberalization in Pakistan does not appear to have had a significant adverse impact on poverty and income inequality. These results indicate that trade liberalization has, if anything, reduced poverty and inequality although only modestly so on balance. The main channels of transmission leading to this outcome are growth, productivity, investment and price stability. Foreign direct investment that has come into Pakistan does appear to increase income inequality as it is focused on sectors that use highly skill labour and capital intensive technologies and does not use much of the abundant factor of production, labour.

. . .

Despite pressure and protests from rent seeking businesses, the risks of reversal of these reforms are low as the main political parties are not only committed to trade liberalization but have actually been
behind the implementation of these reforms in the decade of 1990s.

The whole piece is in pdf here

* Bomber targeted groups of over 50 policemen near Melody Market
* Rehman Malik says attacker appeared to be 35-37 years old
* Lal Masjid spokesman condemns attack

By Imran Naeem Ahmad and Fazal Sher/Agencies

ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber on Sunday killed 19 people in an attack targeting policemen deployed at a rally observing the first year anniversary of an army raid on the capital’s Lal Masjid.

Dozens of dead and injured policemen lay on the ground in pools of blood after the blast — which occurred at 7.50pm at Melody Market, about one-and-a-half kilometres from the Lal Masjid — their blue uniforms ripped to shreds by the force of the explosion, an AFP photographer at the scene said. “The whole event at the mosque went smoothly but then the suicide bomber targeted the security,” Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik told reporters at the scene of the latest apparent revenge attack for the storming of the building. He said it was not a security lapse, as the blast occurred after the culmination of the rally. Of the 19 dead, 15 have been identified as policemen. According to AFP, the blast targeted a group of over 50 policemen and over 20 cops were wounded in addition to the dead.d.

A policeman at the Aabpara Police Station told Daily Times that the explosion occurred after one an inspector had finished a count of the cops inside the compound. The police station is only a few yards from the blast site.

“A young man walked into the police contingent and apparently blew himself up,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The blast happened 15 minutes after the protest rally dispersed. A heavy contingent of police was at a main crossing several hundred metres from the mosque and they were targeted in the attack,” he added. After the blast, a traffic intersection in the area was splattered with blood. Body parts were scattered as far as 50 metres from the scene. Shattered glass also covered the area, Reuters reported. Television footage showed bearded students running towards the scene and ambulances bringing the wounded to hospitals.

“We were playing cricket in a nearby park when we heard a blast. There were several policemen on the ground,” witness Shaqeel Ahmed told AFP.

Attacker age: Rehman Malik said that based on eyewitness accounts, the attacker was a man appearing to be “35-37-years-old”. He said police have found the “upper part” of the bomber’s body but did not give more specifics. He said the nation has to think on “who is destabilising our country” and take action, AP reported. “We have to take them out from our ranks,” he said. “We have to combat them.”

Malik also said that a joint investigation team had been constituted to probe into the attack. Condemning the blast, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry, state media said. “Such incidents are against the teachings of Islam and do not serve any purpose,” it quoted him as saying.

Imtiaz Khan, the casualty medical officer at Federal Government Services Hospital, said at least 36 injured people were admitted there, nearly all security officials. He said two had died, while 12 were in critical condition.

Denounced: Meanwhile, Muhammad Amir Siddiq, a spokesman for the Lal Masjid, denounced the suicide attack and said he was not aware if any of those at the anniversary gathering were wounded. However, a member of the committee that organised the protest told AFP that none of the Islamic leaders involved in the protest was killed or injured.

“This is a very tragic and condemnable incident,” Siddiq told AP. He said the mosque held prayers for victims of the bombing after regular evening prayers. Interior Ministry Secretary Kamal Shah denied that the bombing was a result of poor security at the rally, during which many attendees called for the imposition of Shariah law in the country. Security arrangements made for the anniversary ceremony were “absolutely comprehensive,” Shah said, adding, “Nothing happened to the participants of the gathering.”

Additional Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Rana Akbar Hayat confirmed to journalists that initial evidence suggested that the police had been targeted. He said that over 4,000 security personnel had been deployed for the occasion.

The explosion followed recent threats of revenge from militants in FATA angered by a paramilitary operation against insurgents in the Khyber Agency, AP reported. It occurred just over a month after a suicide attack outside the Danish embassy that resulted in eight deaths.

Government forces besieged the Lal Masjid on July 3, 2007, after its administration launched an vigilante campaign in the capital and kidnapped several Chinese nationals. The storming of the mosque came on July 10, 2008 and sparked a wave of suicide attacks across the country, blamed on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Earlier on Sunday, madrassa students from across the country thronged outside the Lal Masjid amid tight security by thousands of police who erected barbed wire barricades and spot-searched individuals.

Source: Daily Times