Pakistan is destined to drown in blood from civil war,

by Pervez Hoodbhoy

The War within Islam

18 Jan 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

I am sharing with you some lines that I have just written for family and friends who are warning me:

Whatever one might think of Governor Salman Taseer's politics, he was killed this Wednesday for what was certainly the best act of his life: trying to save the life of an illiterate, poor, peasant Christian woman. 

But rose petals are being showered upon his murderer. He is being called a ghazi, lawyers are demonstrating spontaneously for his release, clerics refused to perform his funeral rites. Most shockingly, the interior minister - his political colleague and the ultimate coward - has said that he too would kill a blasphemer with his own hands. 

Pakistan once had a violent, rabidly religious lunatic fringe. This fringe has morphed into a majority. The liberals are now the fringe. We are now a nation of butchers and primitive savages. Europe's Dark Ages have descended upon us. 

Sane people are being terrified into silence. After the assassination, FM-99 (Urdu) called me for an interview. The producer tearfully told me (offline) that she couldn't find a single religious scholar ready to condemn Taseer's murder. She said even ordinary people like me are in short supply.

I am deeply depressed today. So depressed that I can barely type these lines. 

Yesterday a TV program on blasphemy (Samaa, hosted by Asma Shirazi) was broadcast (it'll be rebroadcast today). Asma had pleaded that I participate. So I did - knowing fully well what was up ahead.  But I could not bear to watch the broadcast and turned it off after a few minutes.

My opponents were Farid Paracha (spokesman, Jamaat-e-Islami) and Maulana Sialvi (Sunni Tehreek, a Barelvi and supposed moderate). There were around 100 students in the audience, drawn from colleges across Pindi and Islamabad.

 

 

Even as the mullahs frothed and screamed around me (and at me), I managed to say the obvious: that the culture of religious extremism was resulting in a bloodbath in which the majority of victims are Muslims; that non-Muslims were fleeing Pakistan; that the self-appointed "thaikaydars" of Islam in Pakistan were deliberately ignoring the case of other Muslim countries like Indonesia which do not have the death penalty for blasphemy; that debating the details of Blasphemy Law 295-C did not constitute blasphemy; that American Muslims were very far from being the objects of persecution; that harping on drone attacks was an irrelevancy to the present discussion on blasphemy.

The response? Not a single clap for me. Thunderous applause whenever my opponents called for death for blasphemers. And loud cheers for Qadri, the murderer. When I directly addressed Sialvi and said he had Salman Taseer's blood on his hand, he exclaimed "How I wish I did!" (kaash ke main hota!).

Islamofascism is a reality. This country is destined to drown in blood from civil war. I wish people would stop writing rubbish about Pakistan having an image problem. It's the truth that's really the problem.

Am I afraid? Yes, I'd be crazy not to be. And never more than at the present time. The battle for sanity has been lost. Many friends have written to me to leave Pakistan. How can I? One must keep fighting as long as possible. It is what we owe to future generations.

43 percent children in rural Punjab unable to read: survey

 

* ASER surveys 7,767 households, 679 schools in 13 districts of province
* 67% children could not read English
* Only 32% mothers found literate
Staff Report

 

LAHORE: The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan 2010, a sample survey to assess the learning outcomes of school-going age (3-16 years) children, has revealed that as high as 67 percent children in 13 districts (rural) in Punjab are not able to read sentences in English, while 43 percent children could not read words. As much as 15 percent children were graded as “beginners’ level” as they were unable to recognise alphabets and words.
This was announced by the South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) Coordinator Baela Raza Jamil at the launching of ASER Punjab (Rural) 2010 report at the Punjab Civil Officers Mess auditorium on Thursday.

The ASER Pakistan (Rural) 2010 sample survey was conducted by the SAFED, managed by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in collaboration with the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), UNESCO, Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) and Sindh Education Foundation (SEF).

The survey was conducted in 7,767 households and 679 schools, including 292 private schools in 390 villages across 13 districts of Punjab (rural). The selected villages were in the following districts: Chiniot, Faisalabad, Jhang, Kasur, Khanewal, Lahore, Mianwali, Multan, Nankana Sahab, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Sheikhupura.
The on ground survey was conducted by volunteers in a campaign titled “Citizens on the march”. In each district, 60 volunteers were mobilised to survey 30 villages in pairs.

The survey collected information of 616 schools, out of which 387 were government-run and 249 were private. Out of the 387 government schools, 205 were boys schools, 82 were girls schools and 80 were categorised as co-ed or mix schools. Of 249 private schools surveyed, nine each were boys and girls schools and 231 offered co-education.
The learning level of 20,790 children (57 percent male, 43 percent female) and their mothers was assessed with a powerful methodology having three simple instruments. Literacy information was collected from 8,087 mothers.
The class-wise analysis of English reading skills shows that 50 percent children enrolled in class 3 could read English and only 16 percent could read sentences fluently. Of those who could read sentences, 61 percent could not understand their meaning.

54 percent children could read at least one sentence in Urdu or their local language and 39 percent could read a level 2 story. In the age group of 6-16, 13.6 percent children were not able to read letters and thus categorised as beginners.
Data on reading ability of out of school children showed interesting trends because 42 percent children were able to read sentences and 30 percent could read story level text. 27 percent of out of school children were at the beginners’ level and could not recognise alphabets.

In order to test mothers’ literacy, the survey assessed 69 percent mothers who agreed to be tested out of the total contacted, and found that only 32 percent mothers were literate. Amongst all the districts, mothers’ literacy rate in Chiniot and Jhang was the lowest, averaging at 21 percent.
Of children enrolled in schools, the survey revealed that 21.8 percent children were taking paid tuition after school hours. Out of this, 16.5 percent were enrolled in government schools and 32.8 percent in private schools. The survey found that as much as 15.4 percent children in Punjab (rural) were not enrolled in schools. Of this, 7.9 percent children had dropped out whereas 7.5 percent were enrolled in schools.

The overall student attendance in government schools stood at 85 percent as per register and 81 percent according to the head count on the day of school visit. The attendance level in primary schools was 85 percent whereas in elementary schools, attendance was 86 percent.

The overall attendance in private schools was 88.5 percent as per headcount and 87.3 percent as per register.

Jinnah’s Pakistan?

 

Ardeshir Cowasjee
(11 hours ago) Today

THE following excerpts beg comments from all those who have been or are now occupying the power seats of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

From Mohammad Ali Jinnah`s presidential address at the All-India Muslim League session in Delhi in April 1943: “The minorities are entitled to get a definite assurance or to ask: `Where do we stand in the Pakistan that you visualise?` That is an issue of giving a definite and clear assurance to the minorities. We have done it. We have passed a resolution that the minorities must be protected and safeguarded to the fullest extent, and as I said before, any civilised government will do it and ought to do it. So far as we are concerned, our own history and our prophet have given the clearest proof that non-Muslims have been treated not only justly and fairly but generously.” (Rizwan Ahmed, ed., Sayings of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah , Karachi: Pakistan Movement Center, 1986, p. 30.)

While discussing Pakistan in an interview given to a representative of the Associated Press of America on November 8, 1946: “Hindu minorities in Pakistan can rest assured that their rights will be protected. No civilised government can be run successfully without giving minorities a complete sense of security and confidence. They must be made to feel that they have a hand in government and to this end must have adequate representation in it. Pakistan will give it.”

(Ahmed, Sayings , p. 65.)

In Jinnah`s interview given to a Reuters correspondent on May 21, 1947, he assured the minorities of Pakistan “that they will be protected and safeguarded. For they will be so many citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or creed.” He had no doubt in his mind that they “will be treated justly and fairly and the collective conscience of parliament itself will be a guarantee that the minorities need not have any apprehension of any injustice being done to them.”

(Sailesh Bandopadhaya, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan , New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1991, p. 326.)

From Jinnah`s address to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947: “We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community — because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on — will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago. No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls, in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has got nothing to do with the business of the state…. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state. The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country, and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the nation. Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.” ( Dawn , Independence Day Supplement, August 14, 1999.)

Jinnah`s interview with a Reuter`s correspondent on October 25, 1947: “Every citizen is expected to be loyal to the state and to owe allegiance to it. The arm of the law should be strong enough to deal with any person or section or body or people that is disloyal to the state. We do not, however, prescribe any schoolboy tests of their loyalty. We shall not say to any Hindu citizen of Pakistan: if there is war would you shoot a Hindu?” (Ahmed, Sayings , p. 42.)

Jinnah`s broadcast to the people of Australia on February 19, 1948: “The great majority of us are … members of the Muslim brotherhood of Islam in which we are equal in right, dignity and self respect. Consequently we have a special and a very deep sense of unity. But make no mistake: Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it. Islam demands from us the tolerance of other creeds and we welcome in closest association with us all those who, of whatever creed, are themselves willing and ready to play their part as true and loyal citizens of Pakistan.” (Ahmed, Sayings , p. 69.)

arfc@cyber.net.pk

A brave man cut down by fanaticism

 

by Rashed Rahman

 

The whole country has been shaken and sent into new depths of depression and gloom by the assassination of Governor Punjab and publisher of Daily Times Salmaan Taseer. A man of conviction and courage, Salmaan Taseer was gunned down by one of his own Elite Police Force guards. The assassin, after the dastardly deed, surrendered to police. He has stated that he had killed Governor Salmaan Taseer because he had called the Blasphemy Law a black law.

The incident shows that the fanatical mindset has now permeated broad sections of our society. The governor’s defence of Aasia bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death by a lower court on an alleged charge of blasphemy evoked the religious lobby to condemn him. Fatwas were issued calling for his death, and many of our ‘heroes’ of the electronic media joined the chorus of condemnation of the Governor for his bold stand in defence of a poor, helpless Christian woman. Much food for thought here for those still capable of thinking in our increasingly irrational society.

Salmaan Taseer grew up in straitened family circumstances due to the untimely demise of his father, famous intellectual Dr. M. D. Taseer. His mother, Chris, struggled in penury to bring up her three children, Salmaan and his two sisters. From such humble beginnings, Salmaan went on to qualify as a chartered accountant from England, set up his own accountancy firm on returning to Pakistan, and ventured into the (then) booming Gulf States to build a business base that later catapulted him into the ranks of the captains of industry and commerce in Pakistan.

His association with the PPP was both emotional and consistent. He was the author of a book on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he greatly admired, a prolific reader and writer, and a man who never shrank from expressing his firmly held opinions without fear. This boldness often landed him in trouble. Arrested during the MRD movement of 1983 by the Ziaul Haq military regime, he was subjected to horrendous torture in the notorious Lahore Fort. Undeterred, he rose to Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly in 1988, a stint that sealed his enmity with then Chief Minister Punjab Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N. For his outspoken criticism of the Sharif government from the floor of the Assembly and outside, Salmaan was beaten black and blue by the Punjab government’s goons, suffering fractures in the process.

None of this broke his spirit though. He concentrated on building up his business empire, and then re-entered the political fray as a federal minister in the caretaker government that oversaw the elections of February 2008. Later, in May 2008, he was appointed Governor Punjab by the PPP-led government, an office he held until his untimely death.
For his boldness and courage of conviction, friendship and generosity, fearless advocacy personally and through his media group (which includes Urdu daily Aaj Kal and TV channel B-Plus) of liberal causes, Salmaan Taseer will live on in our hearts and memories.
God grant his family the strength to bear this irreparable loss.
Rest in peace, my friend.

 

DAWN 5th Jan, 2011

 

ISLAMABAD: Salman Taseer, the flamboyant and high-profile Governor of Punjab, was gunned down here on Tuesday by one of his security guards.

The guard, Mumtaz Qadri of the Punjab Elite Force, yelled out ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ and emptied two magazines of an SMG on the governor in the Kohsar Market before surrendering himself.

He later explained that he had killed Mr Taseer because of his recent criticism of the blasphemy law.

The governor had arrived here in the morning. After visiting the Presidency and Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, late in the afternoon, Mr Taseer, who was staying with a relative in Sector F-6/3, went to Kohsar Market which is home to some of the city’s popular cafes.

He was accompanied by over a dozen guards, including nine personnel of the Elite Force.

According to a police officer, the governor went into a restaurant and when he came out after having a meal Qadri shot at him.

The guard is said to have fired at Mr Taseer from the back when he was going to the parking area.

According to police, he emptied his gun, loaded it with another magazine and fired a second round of 30 bullets at the governor.

The governor fell on the road and, by most accounts, died on the spot. The guard put his gun down on the ground and was taken into custody.

Kohsar police reached the spot soon afterwards and took all the guards and the security squad into custody.

Dawn has learnt that police are searching for a man Mr Taseer had met in the market. He went missing after the assassination.

The governor was taken to the Federal Government Services Hospital, but was pronounced dead. The security squad was taken to the police station for interrogation.

While questions were raised about why the rest of the security guards did not stop Qadri from opening fire, they told police during interrogation that they were taken by surprise and once they figured out what was happening they feared that if they used their guns they too would be suspected of being involved in the murder.

As the news of the assassination spread, PPP leaders present in the capital visited the hospital where the body was being kept.

Distraught leaders spoke of the loss his death would bring to the party. Leaders of other parties, including the PML-N, also visited the hospital.

For the rest of the evening, the focus remained on the assassination, the reaction to it and the investigation process being carried out at the Kohsar Market.

The quiet corner of Islamabad, which is often likened by visitors to a European town square and is frequented by foreigners, was crawling with policemen, journalists and others.

Political activity too came to a halt in the capital as a deadline announced by PLM-N leader Nawaz Sharif minutes before the assassination was forgotten in the commotion and despair that spread in the wake of the murder.

Fear was writ large on the faces and voices of most of the leaders who spoke to the media about the killing.

‘INSTIGATED’
Interior Minister Rehman Malik was the first official to confirm that the governor’s death was the work of his own security guard, who had confessed that he had been ‘instigated’ by Mr Taseer recently dubbing the blasphemy law as a black law.

“He was stationed in Rawalpindi and used to be part of the governor’s security during his visits to Pindi and Islamabad. He had been on the governor’s guard duty at least three times. His name is Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri.

“It is yet to be determined if this was an individual act or others were also involved.”

The body was later taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for an autopsy, which concluded that the governor had been hit by 40 bullets — 26 were lodged in the body and 14 had exited.

After the autopsy, the body was taken to Lahore for burial from Chakala Air Base in a C-130 aircraft.

An FIR had not been registered till late in the night.

AASIA FACTOR
Recently a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, was sentenced to death for allegedly committing blasphemy. Mr Taseer emerged as one of her most high-profile supporters.

He not only visited her in jail and held a press conference with her, but also promised to get a presidential pardon for her.

Although the pardon was prevented by a court order and the PPP distanced itself from any attempt to amend the blasphemy law, Mr Taseer kept criticising it publicly.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari asked the interior minister to supervise the investigation.

According to his spokesman Farhatullah Babar, the president described the assassination as “ghastly” and said that no words were strong enough to condemn it and that the perpetrators of the heinous crime must be punished.

The minister set up a joint investigation team (JIT) to ascertain whether the assassination was the act of an individual or the result of a conspiracy.

The JIT, headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Islamabad Police Bani Amin, comprises officials of Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and the Special Branch of police.

Following the orders of the president, Mr Malik arrived here from Karachi and asked the JIT to present its report in 24 hours.

According to sources, the squad of Elite Force deputed on Tuesday had been provided by Rawalpindi police whose security guards the governor used whenever he came to Islamabad.

As the Pakistan People’s Party announced a three-day mourning, the president asked its leaders to limit functions in connection with PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 83rd birth anniversary on Wednesday to holding seminars at the district, divisional and provincial levels.

The president asked Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and MNA Faryal Talpur to attend the funeral on his behalf. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will also attend the funeral.

In his condolence message President Zardari described Mr Taseer as endowed with great courage and energy. “He faced the vicissitudes of life with composure, resilience and courage.”

Miscellaneous Musing….

Beijing launches car quota to counter gridlock

For thousands of hopeful commuters in China’s capital, 2011 started with a click, not a bang. Residents hoping to snap up Beijing car license plate numbers under a new quota system aimed at easing paralysing traffic, logged onto a website that launched in the first moments of the new year. Within 10 minutes, 6,000 people had applied for new plate numbers, a Beijing newspaper reported. By 5 pm, more than 53,000 applications had been submitted online, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The applicants are competing for the first batch of 20,000 plates, which are to be awarded by lottery on January 25. Every month a new batch of plates will become available. The new system aims to reduce the number of cars in the notoriously gridlocked capital. ap

Judo deaths alarm Japanese parents

Research showing that an average of four children die each year during judo lessons in Japan has alarmed some parents as the country prepares to introduce martial arts as a compulsory school sport.
Yoshihiro Murakawa is one of those concerned about the government’s plan, because he is convinced his 12-year-old nephew died in a reckless judo practice. The Japan Judo Accident Victims Association, which Murakawa helped create with other families last March, has urged the government to set safety guidelines for judo at school.
“Many factors are involved here,” Murakawa said of his nephew Koji’s death during judo club training. “First of all, many judo instructors at Japanese schools are too ignorant about what to do when a serious incident occurs,” he said.
Murakawa also criticised some judo club instructors at Japanese schools for neglecting safety measures, such as letting children rest properly.
At least 110 children were killed in school judo practice over 27 years from 1983, according to research by Ryo Uchida, an assistant professor at Aichi University of Education. In 2009 and 2010 alone, 13 children have died and the latest case, involving a six-year-old boy, occurred in November, a local newspaper reported.
Parents have been alarmed by the statistics because Japan plans to introduce traditional martial arts, including judo, as a required subject not only for boys but also girls at middle schools from 2012. Middle school pupils are aged between 12 and 15. afp

More than 1,000 dead birds fall from sky

Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 black birds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said that it began receiving reports about the dead birds late at night. The birds fell over a 1-mile area of Beebe, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.
Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the he birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that “the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail.”
The commission said that New Year’s Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.
Robby King, a wildlife officer for the agency, collected about 65 dead birds, which will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis.
Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results “usually were inconclusive.” She said she doubted the birds were poisoned. ap

 

Khalid’s cartoon says it all! Pakistan we MUST react to this bunch of incompetent Baboos & Political Feudals that have held this Motherland hostage while they have looted & pillaged it beyond recovery, unless we the people do something!