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Thursday

September 20, 2012

Volume 1, 027

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Hudak hoodwink Minister Baird`s Comments about Sikh Extrimism

Protests are ongoing in various parts of the Muslim world over an amateur film against "Islam". In the

meantime,

Google, which is hosting the YouTube video in question, has rejected a request from even the White House to take the video down.

Tim Hudak’s most recent Mississauga visit where he came to Discuss Bold Ideas to Stop Government Overspending and Focus on Job Creation along with local MPP hopeful Pam Hundal was seen as a welcome sign

by Ontario’s PC Party to get connected with all. As early the same day he was at the Dixie Gurdwara to get a better understanding of the “Sikh” faith. When asked why his message is not being well received by the Ontarians as in the recent by-elections his party lost a rather safe seat to NDP the answer was that the voter turnout was more and yes day to day folks in Ontario are getting connected to his party’s message and it is just a matter of time, till the message is fully understood. When his attention was drawn towards a recent statement by Canada’s foreign minister Mr. John

Baird where he vows to “prevent Sikh extremism in Canada” which clearly has outraged the Sikh community at large. He acted as a true politician and did his best not only to hoodwink the issue but downplayed it by say am sure Mr. Baird was referring to a small number Sikhs and turned the microphone to Pam Hundal who in return said that she can`t speak to that particular issue, because I don`t know whom he consulted before making such comments. She further said that her PC party of Ontario stands for fairness and respect for all & that’s what her party believes in. When asked about the recent US anti Islamic movie which has caused riots all around the world, Mr. Hudak said that we in Ontario stand for equality of all faiths and would not want any such issues arising here.

Pakistan Government declares holiday to protest anti-Islam film Pakistani government has announced a national

holiday on Friday to protest against the American anti-Islam that has caused an outrage throughout the Muslim world.

The federal cabinet decided to make Friday an official “day of expression of love for the prophet” after discussing the “Innocence of Muslims” movie, which has triggered more than a week of violent protests across the Islamic world, a senior government official said.

The move came after religious parties called for a day of protest on Friday to denounce the film.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, while speaking to media representatives, said that the Pakistan Peo-

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ple’s Party (PPP) would join protestors in their demonstrations.

The head of the Sunni Tehreek religious party urged people across the country to close their businesses and hold rallies against the film, which was made in the United States.

Sources said traders and transporters associations in the largest city and commercial hub Karachi had backed the call.

Around 500 protesting lawyers broke through a gate to Islamabad’s heavily-guarded diplomatic enclave on Wednesday, chanting anti-US slogans and castigating the Pakistan government for its “criminal silence” over the film.

The film has fueled outrage across the Muslim world, with more than 30 people have been killed around the world during more than a week of attacks and violent protests linked to the controversial film. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have all blocked access to YouTube, following the video-sharing website’s failure to take down the movie.

On Tuesday, over 2,000 protesters

chanting anti-US slogans and burning the American flag gathered outside the US mission in Peshawar to vent their fury at the “Innocence of Muslims” film. Furious protestors in Karachi also marched towards the US consulate to protest against the film, which has triggered a week of deadly protests across the Muslim world.

There have been furious protests outside US embassies and other American symbols in at least 20 countries, and the American ambassador to Libya and three other US diplomats in the North African country have been among those killed.

02

September 20, 2012

September 20, 2012

03

Revoking Canadian citizenship of more than 3,000 after a fraud investigation The Canadian citizenship of more than 3,000 people is being revoked and thousands of others who hold permanent resident’s status will be denied the chance to swear allegiance to this country as the federal government cracks down on fraudsters who have not met the basic requirements to become a citizen.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told a news conference on Monday that his department, with the help of the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP, is targeting people who game the system by faking the amount of time they have spent in Canada.

The rules say immigrants must have resided here for at least three of the four years immediately prior to filing their citizenship application. But Mr. Kenney says thousands of people have found ways to fake proof of lives spent in Canada – many with the assistance of crooked immigration consultants. The going rate for simulating residence for a family of five is about $25,000,

said the minister.

“In many jurisdictions around the world, simply having a Canadian passport can double your salary. It can give you access to some of the highest quality health care in the world at no cost,” he said. “It can give your children access to subsidized post-secondary education at our excellent colleges and universities, and, of course, can represent a political insurance policy.”

In addition to the 3,100 people who have been told that their citizenship is being cancelled, Mr. Kenney said there are 5,000 people who have obtained permanent resident’s status, but who have not been living in Canada and who will be flagged for additional scrutiny if they apply for citizenship.

For the most part, said Mr. Kenney, these are wealthier individuals, many of whom reside in tax havens like the Arab Gulf states.

“This is an economic calculation for many of them,” he said. “If you can make big money in a tax haven while letting your kids go to

McGill [University] for a fraction of a non-resident fee, and if you can come to Canada for expensive surgery when you need it, why wouldn’t you do it?”

Some of the schemes for fabricating Canadian residency have been easy to expose as fraudulent. Mr. Kenney said his favourite trick was one concocted by a Montreal consultant who literally created a fake address for his clients. “There was a door and a post box, but if you opened the door, there was a brick wall behind it,” he said.

Jinny Sims, the immigration critic for the NDP, said Mr. Kenney has made previous announcements about getting tough with citizenship fraudsters. “All he’s done this time is change the numbers,” said Ms. Sims, who said the government should instead be doing more to go after the unscrupulous consultants.

Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal critic, said the minister’s time would be better spent trying to speed up the process for the tens of thousands of

people who are waiting years to become citizens.

But immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said most people in his profession will applaud the crackdown.

“It’s about time,” Mr. Kurland said in an e-mail. “We’re talking about outright fraud, where the person is counselled to fabricate a life in Canada, from false addresses and ‘lost’ passports, right to the false statements on the application that they were in Canada, when in fact they were not.”

Mr. Kenney said the process of revoking a citizenship can be cumbersome. The suspected fraudsters must be informed of the decision in writing, the federal cabinet must approve the revocation, and an appeal can be launched at the Federal Court. “However, in a majority of these cases where we’ve already commenced revocation proceedings, they have basically surrendered,” he said. “Frankly they don’t have a lot of skin in the game because we’re often talking about people who have never lived in Canada.”

Pakistan tests nuclear-capable missile

16th Spet 2012 Mississauga: MPP Dipika Damerla's Fall Fling Community BBQ a mismanaged affair as she herself had to come admit and say sorry to all as more people showed up than expected no one(volunteers) were there to guide even the media, so bottom line a confused state of affairs better luck next time as we all "live & learn".... (Don't we)????

Was granted bail on merit, SC not doing me a favour: Ali Musa Gilani ISLAMABAD: Ali Musa Gilani, son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, said that he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Ephedrine quota case on merit and the apex court had not done him a “favour”.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Ali Musa said that the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), which had arrested him at the Supreme Court gate yesterday before he could submit a pre-arrest bail application, was becoming too personal against him.

“They held a press conference today and said that they did not want me to become a hero. I’m not here to become a hero.

How can a government worker give such a political statement?” he said while lashing out against the anti-narcotics body.

He added that whatever happened on the Supreme Court’s premises yesterday was in contempt of the court and was also in his contempt. “I will move a privilege motion against the contempt done against me, and have submitted a contempt of court application as well.”

Ali Musa also clarified that there was no recovery on

him in the case, even if all the allegations against him are proven correct. “The main beneficiaries have been spared who are moving about freely.”

Deplorable living conditions worsened by lack of support, experts say Millions go toward renovations but residents with mental health and addiction issues need more help, study suggests Decrepit and unsafe living conditions are inevitable when people with severe mental health and substance abuse problems are housed in buildings run by non-profits without the funding to provide critical supports, a Vancouver mental health expert said Tuesday.

Dr. Michael Krausz, a professor of psychiatry at the University of B.C. and the author of the province’s Health of the Homeless survey report, was responding to a CBC news story in which former residents and staff complained of revolting conditions and blatant criminal activity in publicly owned social housing residences run

by Atira Property Management.

The allegations included feces, urine and dirty needles in hallways, clogged and filthy plumbing, mould and insect infestations, staff getting high or falling asleep on the job and blatant drug use and prostitution within the buildings.

The buildings involved were among 26 privately owned hotels — 24 in Vancouver — acquired by BC Housing between 2007 and 2009 for use as social housing.

Several non-profits, including Atira, were contracted to run them. BC Housing retained responsibility for major upgrades and maintenance while the non-profit contractors oversee day-to-day maintenance, including electrical, and pest control.

The City of Vancouver, responsible for inspecting the properties, has pursued private landlords through the courts for consistently allowing their buildings to fall into states of disrepair, but Coun. Kerry Jang said the city does not consider non-profits such as Atira to be slum landlords.

Many of the buildings were old

and some were in terrible shape when the non-profits took over their operation, Jang said, and while some private owners have repeatedly ignored city orders to make repairs, the non-profit operators have generally been cooperative.

“When the building is tenanted by folks with some significant ... mental health and addiction problems, once something’s repaired it gets broken again,

it gets trashed. It’s a never-ending cycle at times,” he said.

Moreover, Jang said that the funds provided the operators by BC Housing are often insufficient to make the needed repairs, especially when the same things need to be fixed over and over again.

BC Housing invested $65 million in renovating the 26 properties when it acquired them, but this funding was only enough to address immediate safety and security concerns — such as installing fire escapes — in the buildings in the most critical condition, Craig Crawford, BC Housing’s vice-president of operations, said in a statement Tuesday.

The province is providing $87 million, with an additional $29 million from the federal government, to conduct major renovations on 13 single-room Downtown Eastside hotels, starting with the Marble Arch hotel on Richards Street

next month. The funding was announced in March and the hotels cited in the CBC report are among those that will be renovated, Crawford said.

But it is not enough to merely put a roof over people’s heads, said Krausz. It is important to note that the people who live in these buildings suffer from complex combinations of mental illness and psychological trauma and are often chronic substance abusers. “Single-room occupancy hotels are not mental health housing, are not really equipped or funded [to support] mental illness or addiction,” he said. “A lot of the time there isn’t any kind of specific support services in place.”

Krausz is one of the principal researchers with the national At Home/Chez Soi project, which explores the effect of providing these vulnerable populations with a combination of housing and support services.

The three-year study, which ends in March, is funded by the federal government at a cost of $110 million.

Vancouver accounts for about $25 million of that funding, Krausz said.

About 100 people living in the Bosman hotel who are being offered health care and community support services as part of the study are showing significant improvement compared to a control group who have not been offered any intervention, Krausz said.

“They only stabilize if you have appropriate support,” he said. Paying for such supportive housing does cost more than simply putting a roof over people’s heads, Krausz said, but when the savings in terms of police enforcement, emergency-room treatment and prison time are taken into account, it also works out to a good deal for the taxpayer.

Pakistan early this week conducted a successful test fire of the indigenously developed multi tube Cruise Missile Hatf-VII (Babur), having a range of 700 kilometers.

Babur Crusie Missile is a low flying, terrain hugging missile, which can strike targets both at Land and Sea with pin point accuracy. It carries stealth features.

Equipped with modern cruise missile technology of Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) and Digital Scene Matching and Area Corelation (DSMAC), it can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads. The missile was launched from a state of the art Multi Tube Missile Launch Vehicle (MLV), which significantly enhances the targeting and deployment options of Babur Weapon system.

The test was witnessed by Director General Strategic Plans Division Lieutenant General (R) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, Chairman National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) Mr. Muhammad Irfan Burney, senior officers from the armed forces and strategic organizations. In today’s test National Command Authority’s fully automated

Strategic Command and Control Support System (SCCSS) was once again employed. It enables robust Command and Control capability of all strategic assets with round the clock situational awareness in a digitized network centric environment to deci-

sion makers at National Command Centre (NCC).

The system has the added capability of real time remote monitoring of missile flight path. The test consolidates and strengthens Pakistan’s deterrence capability and National security.

The successful test has also been warmly appreciated by the President, Prime Minister of Pakistan and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, who have congratulated the scientists and engineers on their outstanding success.

Infected Australian sheep to be disposed of KARCHI: Commissioner Karachi, Roshan Ali Shaikh has ordered the culling and disposing of about 21,268 diseased Australia sheep imported from Bahrain.

Talking to media, Roshan Ali Shaikh said that the livestock department of Sindh has been directed to start the disposal operation, which might take more than one day.

He said in the first phase the veterinarians would administer lethal injections to all the sheep so that they could be killed humanely and in the second the carcasses would be dumped in a mass grave.

“Heavy earthmoving machinery to dig up a big dump is on its way to the farm where the sheep have been corralled”, he said.

Earlier on Saturday, the Sindh livestock authorities confirmed the

consumption of the sheep imported from Australia was injurious to health.

According to officials, random testing validated Australian Merino sheep were infected.

“The veterinary diagnostic laboratories in Islamabad an Tando Jam tested the blood samples of at least 80 sheep and the saliva of nine of them”, an official added.

"The samples from the sheep tested positive for 100 percent presence of salmonella and actinomyces, a couple of pathogens", officials added further.

They also tested positive for 44 percent E. Coli, a species of bacterium, which could be highly pathogenic.

Last week, the livestock department had sealed the farm where Australian sheep believed to be infected with a contagious disease are being kept.

A total of near 22,000 infected Australian sheep were unloaded at Port Qasim on September 13.

Approximately 75,000 sheep departed from Australia on board the Fremantle-based Wellard Rural Exports ship Ocean Drover.

Their destination was countries in the Middle East. 53,000 sheep were offloaded in Qatar and Oman, while the remaining 22,000 were to be transported to Bahrain.

However, when the Ocean Drover arrived in Bahrain on August 29 it was asked to leave its berth until matters were resolved.

It was here that concerns were raised in regards to the sheep being infected with scabby mouth disease. The ship remained in the waters of Bahrain for 14 days and the sheep were not allowed to be unloaded.

04

September 20, 2012

Putin’s visit in context Tanvir Ahmad Khan

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Innocence of Muslims So is the title given to this disgusting movie which is filled with filth, hate & does ridicule Islam to its fullest? Well where else this film could have been made other than the mighty “United States Of America” who wants to police the whole world but fails to see the social evils within a section of its own citizens as every other month we do get disturbing news out of this big country called “USA”, first the theatre massacre then came the senseless “Gurudawara”(Sikh place of worship killings) and now this disgusting movie which has triggered riots all over the world and even have had US diplomatic missions abroad in grave danger and has had four US citizens including a Ambassador killed so far and has placed countless in harm’s way. But the drama never seems to end as US first admitted that they could not find the producer of the movie than they finally did get hold of him but have still to come up with some sort of formal charges.

Now the point exactly is that isn’t it high time that this big power should start worrying about the issues within rather than creating fake wars all around the world (Iraq war being a perfect

example). As “charity (does) begin at home” (right)?

Now having said that lets also focus on the role of the “Muslim” world and its leaders. As united all the Islamic governments still have to clearly narrate their sentiments /demands to the United States and the world. As just being a super power’s ally and just keeping quite on issues that directly or indirectly affect not only the Muslim world but humanity in general is not going to help at all. Which countries of influence like Saudi Arabia and its close friends normally prefer to do?(for reasons best known to them). Muslim Ummah of today needs a solid leadership which has been lacking for years which will not only unite all Islamic factions but would rather create them into a positive force which in the long run would bridge the ever widening gap between the Ummah and the world.

As issues of this nature which do offend the Muslim world would creep up every now and then and the already exiting gap between the east & the west would only widen with the passage of time with no end in sight (for now) at least.

Prophet Mohammad/ Satanic verse/ Film/ Cartoons Dr. Solomon Naz ( 416-271-1040)

Thou shalt not revile other gods( Ex. 22:28- The Bible) And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee, behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, I will make him a great nation…but my covenant will be established with Isaac. (The Bible Genesis 17: 20) These are two nations out of the seed of prophet Abraham. Not going to the complexity of historic jumbles; we find that God blessed the older son Ishmael of Abraham also; no matter he was the son from a bond woman called Hagar. He promised that he( Ishael) will also have twelve tribes out of him will the kingsbe born (from his seed) and his generation will be countless. God also blessed Ishmael and said you will inherit the riches of the sand dunes. To my mind; and according to the scriptures these are the two nations out of Abraham seed sprouting out to inhabit the earth. St. Paul is an exponant of this exegesis in a more profound way when he explains in a dynamic way.

“Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid and other by a free women …. Which things are an allegory: for these are two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia and answers to Jeruslem which now is in bondage with her children. For now we brethren as Isaac was are the children of a promise; a free woman.”

To my mind, as God called Yahweh both of Abraham and of the unborn Christians and Muslim, blessed Ishmael also must understand that God is loving God of all nations both Jew and Christian and of the Islamic faith. According to the faith that day is not far away when all will accept that it is the same God that we all worship.

The Crusade wars; no matter who started them were a curse both for Christians and the Muslims. It was never ever a doctrine of Christianity according to the Gospel; no matter the Pope of those times did sanctioned them.

In a society of the day as the Prophet David says the earth belongs to God and all nations have right to live on it. I will say in todays` language all of us have an unalienable right to live on equal rights and

WHEN I wrote earlier on Pakistan-Russia relations (Dawn, March 13), I argued that Vladimir Putin’s triumphant return to the office of president would ensure continuity of the process by which Islamabad and Moscow are overcoming the distrust of decades. Furthermore, Pakistan’s efforts since the mid-1990s to reassure Moscow that it was not an implacable ideological foe were beginning to carry conviction. With inter-governmental consultations in Islamabad, the stage has been set for President Putin’s historic visit in early October.

No less significantly, high-level contacts between military leaders of the two countries are under way. It is time to map the promising landscape in which bilateral and larger strategic considerations are converging.

Given the troubled past, it is a new beginning where building blocks for long-term cooperation can come alike from bilateral benefits and from sharing a new perspective on changing regional and pan-Asian equations.

Unlike Europe where an economic union and a powerful military pact have shaped the march of history for decades, the Asian continent has lacked stable security architecture; it has a few multilateral economic institutions that function with varying degrees of success. South Asia, inhabited by more than a billion people, is particularly deficient in this respect. Some of the worst conflicts of the post-Second World War period have taken place in Asia.

It has, however, not prevented a number of Asian countries from achieving phenomenal economic success. China, the leader in bringing about a shift in the centre of gravity of global economy eastwards, has also demonstrated unusual diplomatic skill in resolving or mitigating contentious issues with its neighbours. India has maintained a high rate of growth for years but has not emulated China well in forging mutually beneficial relations with its neighbours.

More recently, the United States has been strengthening its presence in Asia and is now engaged in ‘pivoting’ strongly to the Pacific. This strategic manoeuvre is not restricted to an upgraded Pacific Command but also aims at reducing the gravitational pull of the Chinese economy for a growing number of Asian states. Washington continues to count on Japan, with which it has a formal treaty, and India, that it hopes to enlist as a strategic counterweight to China in creating a new Asian order under its oversight.

Inevitably, it would lead to fresh contentions. Considering the worsening of tensions in the South China Sea and East China Sea, the Asian continent would see more flux. Meanwhile, Moscow has often been seen to be too preoccupied with the consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union to be an actor of substance in Asian affairs despite occupying a vast space of the continent. A retrospective look at 12 years of President Putin’s ascendancy in Russian politics leaves one in no doubt that reviving a Eurasian policy was always an essential aspect of his endeavour to restore his nation’s global status.

Moscow’s efforts to establish special relations with the states that broke away began soon after the unravelling of the Soviet Union. For Moscow, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Collective Security Treaty Organisation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, were steps towards what is often described as Russia’s geopolitical resurgence.

In an article published by Izvestia in Oc-

its preservation. The making of derogatory films, writing questionable books and rediculing Prophet Mohammad serves no purpose to lift up Christianity to heavenly abode. It looks that there looks to be big conspiracy for the polarization of the people, rather than briging them to one fold, one faith.

What defense mechanism Christianity is putting forth against any onslaught they are supposedly facing?

There is no danger at Azad Kashmir, a territory consisting of only 4200 all to Christianity.

Rest assure. Christ square miles, was created as a separate entity for claimed that I am the the purpose of convincing India and the world that Way; the Truth and it will eventually liberate the occupied portion of Life. Stand by that Truth. Do not drown the state of Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian yourself in stark darkgovernment (also known as Internationally Disness by following the puted Areas of Jammu and Kashmir IDA: JK by worldly warfare. Rest assure you do not the United Nations). There are several United Naserve God by Creating tions resolutions still pending which grant the right riots, hatred, murders . of self-determination to the citizens of IDA: JK; Do not destablise further this Universe but it seems as if the world nations are following which is already passthe code of ‘might is right’, and no sanctions are ing through perilous laid upon India for the numerous human rights vitimes. When the Bible says, Do not revile olations committed against innocence.The Azad other gods its further Kashmir government being a small separate entity analysis says, do not could not convince United Nations or anybody curse and redicule other religions, else. Unfortunately, that scenario did not prove prophets and gods. beneficial. Instead, it is creating confusion in the THE TOTALITY OF minds of children born in Azad Kashmir and the THE GOSPEL MESSAGE IS TO COMchildren born abroad as if their attachment with FORT; NOT TO Pakistan is transitory; and that once the fate of CONFOUND THE Kashmir is decided they will form an independent WORLD. PEACE THAT PASSES UNstate parallel to India and Pakistan. There is no DERSTANDING BE need to incur extra expenditure by running the WITH YOU FOR Azad Kashmir government and same elected memEVER AND EVER. AMEN.

tober 2011, Putin proposed, notwithstanding reservations of Ukraine and Georgia, that the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan should become the cornerstone of a Eurasian Union including Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and open to other states. The suggested Union would have a single currency. Putin has carefully tended relations with China and India. He widened the quest and lent his name and authority to ideas for a more robust engagement with the Pacific region. Two years ago, a major Russian institution produced a seminal report Going East: Russia’s Asia-Pacific Strategy, the leitmotif of which was Russia’s restored capacity to ad-

dress relations with the West, stability in the South and a window to the East.

The just concluded meeting of the leaders of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in Vladivostok represents a high water mark in implementing this comprehensive approach. Way back in 1996 in that port city of the czarist dreams of a position of prestige and profit in the East, I heard a small group of local intellectuals express despair about the region’s future. Leading up to the Apec meeting in 2012, Putin had committed $20bn to its uplift with projects going far beyond the cosmetic demands of hosting a large international event.

Clearly, the objective is to equip Russia with the means to be more effective in the Asia-Pacific region. If Moscow is now exploring a place for Pakistan in its reinvigorated Asia policy, Islamabad’s reasons for a substantive relationship with Russia also go beyond cooperation in some specific projects. Its excessive participation in the US-led war on terror led to noticeable shrinkage of the parameters of its foreign policy. The kind of assistance it received from the United States and most other partners since 9/11 did little good to its declining economy. Pakistan needs enlargement of its diplomatic and economic space, a desire not always supported by its Western allies. The worst example of abridging Pakistan’s choices is the American opposition to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline which, incidentally, may figure, together with the Turkmenistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, as areas of future cooperation with Russia. In fact, Pakistan’s best hope to overcome the crippling energy crunch seems to lie in large scale collaboration, be it in hydel or coal-based generation, with Russia and China.

Given Pakistan’s situation, Russia and China may expect preferential treatment. President Zardari has invested considerable energy in re-setting relations with Russia and strengthening ties with China. He should make sure that these expectations are not wantonly frustrated.

There is also a global interest in developing trade routes through the hub constituted by Pakistan and Afghanistan, and cordial relations between Pakistan and Russia can have a beneficial impact on the regional strategic balance. The quadrilateral summit of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Russia alone can open new vistas for future.

THE PEOPLE OF AZAD KASHMIR SHOULD ALSO DEMAND PROVINCIAL STATUS

HABIB YOUSAFZAI, KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE

ber can run the province and the money saved can also be utilized for the betterment of the people. It is time that instead of living in an illusion the people of Azad Kashmir should also demand provincial status in the same way as it has been adopted by the people of Gilgit Baltistan. For instance, India captured 53000 square miles area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 1947 and from this, 11000 square miles was snatched by China in the 1962 war (also known as Aksai Chin).

The Indian Parliament already endorsed the resolution passed by Sheikh Abdullah’s government in the State of Jammu and Kashmir (IDA: JK) making it an integral part of India. Consequently, India received a passport to force her own will in the occupied territories; and it has deployed more than 700,000 Indian forces who commit all kinds of atrocities against the Kashmiri people. The IDA: JK is virtually devoid of human rights. To this day, the Indian regime and its armed forces have murdered more than 202,802 citizens, made 215,994 arrests, 110,117 have disappeared, 115,782 homes have been demolished, leaving 122,792 widows and 207,335 orphans to say the very least.

September 20, 2012

SHC restrains authorities from demolishing Hindu temple KARACHI- The Sindh High Court on Friday restrained the Karachi Port Trust and other respondents from demolishing the structure of Shri Laxmi Narayan Mandir, a Hindu temple believed to have been constructed about 200 years ago at the Native Jetty Bridge.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam also appointed a Nazir of the court for inspection of the temple and directed him to submit his report after ascertaining the factual position of demolition and construction activity at the site within seven days.

The directions came on a constitutional petition filed by Kailash Wishram, a resident of the residential quarters on the temple premises, who impleaded the secretary of ports and shipping ministry, the chairman of the KPT, the SHO of the Jackson police station and a private company that ran a food court under the Jinnah Bridge as respondents.

The petitioner represented

by Advocate Zain A. Jatoi submitted that he was a practising Hindu of a caste that was not given equal status by other members of the Hindu community.

He said that the Narayan Mandir was constructed much before the partition of the subcontinent and for a long time Hindus performed their religious rituals at the temple where access to seawater was one of the essential things to perform worship. According to the Pakistan Hindu Council, the temple was constructed about 200 years ago and the festival of Raksha Bandhan (Nariyal Puja), Ganesh Chaturthi, ie birthday of Shri Ganesh Deva, and every new moon night is celebrated there.

It is a sacred place for performing death rituals, funerals and other religious rituals at the sea.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the private company, an endeavour in collaboration with the KPT, had started some construction work blocking the access to the seawater from the temple. He said the construction would threaten their place of worship and so also the right of the minority commu-

nity at large. Responding to a court query, the petitioner submitted that the construction was being raised at the behest of Mukesh Chawala, provincial minister of excise and taxation and member of the Hindu Panchayat.

The petitioner was directed by the bench to include the name of the MPA in the list of the respondents. The court ordered that the temple, its staircase, boundary wall and corridors originally constructed may not be demolished.

The bench directed its office to place the matter before a bench hearing the matter of construction and property and adjourned the hearing for 10 days.

Factory fire case A division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar directed the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE), the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the labour department, the chief controller of buildings, the ministry of industries and others to submit detailed reports pertaining to essential prerequisites for safety and security in public-use buildings in the wake of the Baldia factory fire incident. The court was seized with the petition of Agha Syed Atta-u-Allah Shah, chairman of the

Raah-e-Raast Trust, who also sought a detailed inquiry report in respect of the garment factory.

The petitioner submitted in the petition that due to criminal negligence of the civic agencies the public-use buildings were devoid of safety, security and lifesaving measures and thus tragic incidents of fire frequently cause deaths of innocent people due to non-availability of emergency exitdoors, emergency stairs, firefighting arrangements in the multi-storey commercial, public, industrial and education buildings.

He submitted that the garment factory was gutted after a fire broke out in the factory resulting in a situation in which workers present inside the factory could not be rescued and they died due to non-availability of emergency exit doors and stairs and lack of proper rescue operation by the fire brigade department.

He prayed to the court to direct the civic agencies, including the KMC and SITE, to furnish a list of all public-use buildings, including factories, educational institutions, multi-storey residential and commercial buildings where adequate arrangements for emergency exit, fire alarms, etc, were not in place and direction be given to authorities for fulfilling the requisite safety measures in these buildings without any delay.

The court observed that all answering respondents shall submit their comments in respect of their duties and functions with regard to safety and security and in respect of lifesaving efforts and measures and under what law they were obliged and competent to carry out and enforce such provisions.

The court ordered that reports shall clearly and distinctly reveal as to what extent such obligations had been fulfilled and should explain reasons for non-fulfilment of all such measures, which have not yet been fulfilled or complied with.

Notices have been issued to the Pakistan Labour Federation, the Pakistan Medical Association, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, the Institute of Architects and Engineers as well as Abdul Rehman and Faisal Siddiqui advocates to assisting the court on instant issue and adjourned the hearing till October 10.

Attempt to marry a minor girl with a 40-year old man foiled

LAHORE: A mother’s attempt to marry her 11year daughter to a 40year-old man failed on the intervention of the neighbors.

Mother of an under age girl Sonia, living in Ghoray Shah Lahore, arranged her marriage to a 40-year old man.

As the preparations were being finalized for the ceremony, the neighbors intervened and locked the mother and the daughter in a room.

As soon as Geo News broke the news the police immediately came into action and arrested the mother and the daughter.

05

Imran Khan likens Muslim sentiment for blasphemy to Jews' for holocaust CHITRAL: Touching upon the sensitive issue of the blasphemous film that has generated massive protests by Muslims everywhere, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan likened the sentiments of Muslims for blasphemy with that of the Jews’ for the holocaust and asked for similar rights with regard to hate speech.

Speaking in Chitral and talking the Jewish Holocaust as an example, Khan said that people in Europe can be jailed for just questioning the actuality of the massacre because it hurt the sentiments of the Jews. “We are also being hurt in the name of ‘freedom of speech’,” said Khan. “We will also get the same law implemented for us in the West,” he added. Khan said that the people of the West were ignorant of Islam and it was their ignorance which was being manipulated by the people spreading hate against the religion.

“They do not know how much we love our beloved Prophet (pbuh) … that Muslims are willing to sacrifice their lives for him,” said Khan.

“I take the responsibility to educate them about how much we love our beloved Prophet (pbuh),” he said.

Waziristan rally About the rally to Waziristan on October 7, Khan said it would include journalists and human rights organisations, who would tell the world what was really happening in drone strikes and who the actual victims of it were. He said drone attacks were not just killing militants; they were killing innocents including women and children. He said that the PTI would take Pakistan’s biggest rally ever to Waziristan along with journalists and human rights organisations from foreign countries so they could show the people there what was truly happening in these drone strikes.

Speaking on the ‘war on terror’, Khan said: “Taking part in America’s war has destroyed us.”

“Every month we are spending Rs90 billion on this war,” he said, adding that people were dying and money was being wasted because of it.

“When a person’s family dies, he picks up arms in revenge and uses it against his own country men,” said Khan, adding that America’s war was killing Pakistanis on both sides.

“We will let the people there [abroad] know what is happening in this war because this war will only end when the people of the US and UK protest against it,” said Khan.

Criticising political parties, Khan said: “No other party has the courage to go to Waziristan.” The new Pakistan and people’s rights.

Adressing other issues and promising a new Pakistan, Khan talked about development, education, jobs and hospitals in Chitral.

He promised the people of Chitral that PTI would work on their development so they would not have to rush back and forth to Peshawar. He said that as per its economic policy, PTI would generate jobs for them, create hospital and colleges. The PTI chief said that at least 3000MW of electricity could be generated from the springs of Chitral.

“You should not be facing loadshedding,” said Khan. “Every spring can generate electricity … Chitral can progress and cheap electricity will take you forward.” He added that the royalties from the generated electricity could be used to make universities so the Chitrali youth would not have to go elsewhere to study.

Speaking on development in Chitral, Khan said that the lack of progress on the Lowari tunnel was not due to monetary problems. “There was money but it went into their pockets; it went out of the country,” he said.

“You all want change, a new Pakistan, a just system, release from old politicians,” said Khan, adding that this was what PTI was offering.

He said that PTI would ensure the development funds would go to the locals and they would get to decide where that money should be spent.

06

September 20, 2012

Inside the killing fields of Karachi

By Idrees Bakhtiar Each dawn and sunset brings the news of death.

Every day, the death toll in the city hits the half a dozen mark. The crime of the victims? The accident of birth.

Targeted not for their choices but for their ethnicity, religion or sect. There has been an alarming increase in the level of violence in the city. To a point, this is understandable. What else can be expected given the continuous influx of sophisticated weapons; the non-stop splintering of well armed militant groups and the complete lack of political will to stem this violence.

From January this year, when 55 people were gunned down, the killings have only witnessed an upward swing. Ninety-three people were gunned down in February, while April claimed the lives of 183 people, the highest so far this year. Last year in April, 169 people were killed. July brought a bit of a breather comparatively, as 133 people were killed while the same month last year claimed the lives of 324 people.

Among other areas, Orangi and Kati Pahari were worst hit with 133 reported deaths, followed by Lyari, 100, Sohrab Goth and its adjacent Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, 86, and Malir-Qaidabad, 61.

There seems to be no respite from the violence despite tall claims by the officials and members of the government, including the Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik. “Strict action will be taken against those involved in criminal activities,” Shah said addressing the Sindh Assembly.

The killing spree continues unabated and according to unofficial figures collated by Dawn, by the end of August around 1,054 people lost their lives, while around 600 men were wounded.

Arms bazaar During the last few years, the number of arms presence in the city has increased at least fivefold. Investigations by senior police officials show that the arms mostly come from Darra Adam Khel in the tribal areas and Balochistan. Stacked in the concealed cavities of buses and trucks carrying passengers and fodder for animals, these are difficult for law enforcing agencies to detect.

A couple of months ago, interrogation of

Mujeeb Khan, an alleged arms smuggler, revealed that arms find their way in buses and coaches from Darra to Mardan, to Naway-e-Qila and to Talaganj, and then to Ghotki, Nawabshah, Hyderabad and finally, Karachi.

The principal arms dealers involved in

shops of arm suppliers indicates that illegal arms are also proliferating in the city, as not all arms these shops sell are legal. At least six arms dealers are suspected of selling illegal weapons under the table, one source said.

Officials say that only some ammunition

smuggling along this route have been identified as Manzoor, Khalid, Mujeeb Khan, Mosa, Rafique, Arshad and Rashid. Several have been arrested.

One Rehmatullah, recently arrested by the CID, disclosed that four local dealers were involved in supplying arms in Karachi.

The Balochistan route includes Pisheen, Mach, Bolan, Sibi, Lehrri, Dera Murad Jamali, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Khuzdar, Larkana and Karachi.

Rehmatullah disclosed that Haji Shirin, Haji Shakoor, Noor Mohammed and Haji Nasir are also involved in the same.

The arms recovered include sophisticated ammunition, anti-aircraft guns, light machine guns, rocket launchers, hand grenades, locally made bombs, rifles, mini rockets, and ammunition of AAK and rifles. The accused are said to have connections with the Balochistan Liberation Army.

The arms recovered in May were on the tip off of a suspect already in police custody.

Though it could not be fully ascertained, officials say that the increase in the number of

is locally made in Darra. The bullets that pierced the armoured personnel carriers of the CID during the botched Lyari operation were made of steel and most likely came from Afghanistan and originated in India.

Arms of Nato/Isaf forces, which often land into the hands of the Taliban, have also been identified.

During the last seven months policemen, officials of the CID, Intelligence Bureau, Rangers and other law enforcing agencies have been targeted. Investigators fear CID and IB personnel were hit by the Taliban, whose presence in the city is suspected by all authorities.

A study by investigators shows their presence is on the rise in various parts of the city like Taiser Colony, Pukhtoonabad, Sultanabad and Kati Pahari and Hub, the neighbouring area of Balochistan.

Legal flaws Detained suspects often obtain bail on fake documents, through ‘middlemen’, present all

the time in courts to facilitate them,” a senior official said. As a result the accused hardly return for the next hearing, if ever, after being bailed out while the suspects resume their violent agenda until caught in another case. Interrogation reports of some of the re-arrested accused show that they abscond after getting bail.

Being the biggest commercial hub, Karachi attracts people from all over the country.

On its peripheries the kachi abadis continue to spring up, housing a large number of migrants mostly from the northern and north-western parts of the country.

Since the national census has not been conducted, it is not possible to figure out the demographics, but the number of Pushto-speaking people has increased manifold including internally displaced persons who migrated from tribal and adjoining disturbed areas. Some of them have set up construction and trading businesses, investing millions of rupees.

Turf war The tilt in the balance of population has adversely affected the interests of some political parties particularly those who want to continue their hold in the city, especially in the lucrative areas. Off and on, the conflict takes an ugly turn resulting in killings, targeted or otherwise. It is unfortunate and deplorable that the killings have badly affected the ruling allies. The highest number of people who fell victim to the killing spree in the last several months belong to the Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttehada Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party — fighting the turf war to which CM Shah referred to in one of his speeches. The PPP and the MQM were at loggerheads in Lyari, with the PPP initially supporting the Peoples Amn Committee, but later abandoning it. The MQM and ANP have been fighting for control in different areas. With the complexion of these areas changed, the MQM finds it difficult to operate, while the ANP wants a strong footing in the Pakhtoon speaking areas.

More perplexing perhaps is the officials’ confusion about restoring normalcy in the city despite agreeing that across the board action, free from political influence and changing relevant laws to keep suspects behind bars are necessary to purge the city of its violent criminals.

Karachi factory fire: Relatives bury dead Families in the Pakistani city of Karachi are burying their dead after a fire engulfed a garment factory with workers trapped inside, killing at least 264 people.

Many other relatives lined up at the city's hospitals to give blood samples to help with DNA identification of almost 100 charred bodies.

Many relatives are still waiting outside the Ali Enterprises factory in the north-western Baldia town area of Karachi, hoping for news of their loved ones.

Continue reading the main story World's worst workplace fires • September 2012: At least 38 killed in a

The fire began on Tuesday and raged for more than 15 hours overnight.

The blaze was one of the worst fires in Pakistan's recent history.

Officials said late on Wednesday that the death toll was 289, but revised it down on Thursday. On Thursday, Karachi's police chief announced that the rescue operation was over and put the toll at 264.

Police are looking for the factory owners, who they say face charges of conspiracy to murder for negligence. Government officials are also being investigated for failing to enforce fire safety regulations.

fire at a fireworks factory in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu • December 2011: Ninety people killed in a hospital fire in the Indian city of Calcutta • June 2010: More than 116 people killed in a fire which destroys shops and housing in Bangladesh • August 2004: A fire in a supermarket in Paraguay kills at least 364 people • December 2001: At least 280 people die in a fire in a shopping area of the Peruvian capital Lima • November 1993: More than 80 workers killed in a fire in a toy factory in southern China

• May 1993: At least 188 people are killed in a fire at a Thai toy factory • March 1911: Fire in New York textile factory kills 146 Some chanted slogans against the government. They said the tragedy could have been prevented if the authorities had enforced the relevant safeguards.

Scenes of mourning were played out across the city and elsewhere in Pakistan.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says emergency workers have now cleared the factory of any remaining fire victims and police officials are conducting an inspection.

Frantic calls Witnesses in Karachi described how hundreds were trapped inside as the flames consumed the factory - the building had metal grilles on the windows and no fire exits.

Workers had little time or opportunity to escape from the four-storey building's single exit - many could do so only by jumping from those windows they could get out of. Dozens suffered broken bones or worse.

Those trapped inside the building frantically rang their friends and relatives as flames engulfed it, reports say.

Funerals are expected to take place in Karachi and in other areas of Pakistan throughout the day. A number of the workers came from rural Sindh and Punjab provinces.

Firefighters on crane lifts battled to res-

cue other trapped survivors suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, but the death toll rose steadily over the day.

The fire began hours after a blaze at a Lahore shoe factory killed 25 people, highlighting Pakistan's lax safety regulations.

Police have announced investigations

into both fires. Reports say they may have been caused by electrical faults.

In the Karachi blaze, a faulty electrical switch is thought to have caused a boiler to explode. The flames set fire to chemicals stored in the building, officials believe.

Garment factories and other plants in Pakistan require their own power sources because of an increasingly erratic national grid.

The garments industry is critical to Pakistan's frail economy - according to central bank data, it provided 7.4% of Pakistan's GDP in 2011 and employed 38% of the manufacturing sector workforce, accounting for 55.6% of total exports.

September 20, 2012

07

Entertainment Renowned writer Hajra Masroor passes away

KARACHI: Well-known literary personality and Urdu fiction and drama writer Hajra Masroor passed away early Saturday, DawnNews reported.

Masroor achieved a prominent position in the world of Urdu literature through her writings and continues to hold a special place in her readers’ hearts. She had migrated to Pakistan after Partition.

According to her national identity card, she was born on Jan 17, 1930. However, Ahmed Hussain Siddiqui has mentioned her year of birth as being 1929 in one of his books. Other articles about her also mention 1929 as her year of birth.

Masroor was a native of Lucknow in India.

Her father was a doctor in the British Army and her mother was also a courageous woman in her own right. Anthologies of Masroor’s works have been widely published and include: ‘Chand ki Doosri Taraf’, ‘Teesri Manzil’, ‘Andheray Ujalay’, ‘Chori Chupey’, ‘Haye Allah’ and ‘Charkhay”.

She also wrote the script for the 1965 Pakistani film ‘Aakhri Station’.

Masroor, who had been married to Ahmed Ali Khan, who was the editor of Dawn for 28 years, became practically a recluse following her husband’s death in 2007.

Game Of Thrones tops Emmy awards

FANTASY series Game Of Thrones has dominated the Creative Emmy Awards, which recognise arts, craft and technical work on television shows.The HBO programme picked up six prizes including best visual effects and best costumes the latter of which went to British designer Michele Clapton. BBC nature show Frozen Planet took home four awards, led by the trophy for outstanding non-fiction series. And actress Kathy Bates won a prize for her impersonation of Charlie Sheen.The Oscar-winner was a guest star on US sitcom Two And A Half Men, from which Sheen was fired in 2011, playing the ghost of his character, Charlie Harper.Bates, who revealed last week she had had a double mastectomy, was not able to collect her award in person, but proved a popular winner with the audience in Los Angeles. She was one of a handful of guest actors honoured at the technical awards, which precede next week’s Primetime Emmys.Chat show host Jimmy Fallon won the prize for best guest actor in a comedy series, in recognition of his appearance on long-running sketch show Saturday Night Live

The Unforgettable Mohammad Rafi: Singer for every season and every reason Contributed by Salim Shaikh Email: mhd7866@hotmail.com It was not just love, passion, romance, anger and heart break, Mohammad Rafi’s voice could capture the essence of life – a failed poet’s feelings, a fiery unionist’s roar, a poor farmer’s despair, he was really anybody at all. There are thousands of ways of saying ‘I love you’ in a song, Mohammad Rafi could deliver them all. The frustration of a failed lover, the friskiness of teen lover, the philosophy of unfulfilled love and the shock of heart break – he could justify and explore all crevice of ardour.

Simply put, Mohammad Rafi was the most versatile singer Bollywood has ever produced. Peppy romantic songs, tragic melodies, ghazals, bhajans, qawalis, folk, classical, and semi-classical – he could sing all octaves and all genres effortlessly. That is why music directors call him a singer for every season and every reason. This helped him to become the playback singer of the biggest superstars of his time: Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Rajindar Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Raj Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, and Dharmendra among many others. He has a special talent to imbibe a star’s style and translate it in a song.

His popularity is so gigantic that even after 32 years of his death on July 31, 1980; his fans arrive from the distant corners of the world to visit his grave in Juhu, Mumbai, India, to pay him respects. Rafi comes from a very humble background, born in a village Kotla Sultan Singh, near Amritsar in British India. His nickname was Pheeko. He began singing at a very early age after listening the chants of a darvesh in his village.

Then the family moved to Lahore where his father started men’s salon. His elder brother’s friend Abdul Hameed noticed his singing talent and encouraged him to take singing seriously. Later on Rafi learned classical singing from Ustad Bade

Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwan Lal and Firoz Nizami. First time he sang in public at the age of13 in Lahore. Shyam Sunder noticed Rafi’s talents and gave him an opportunity to sing first time with Zeenat Begum in a Punjabi film Gul Baloch in the year 1941. In 1944 Rafi moved to Bombay and then there was no turning point, but a smooth ride towards super stardom in singing. In Bombay he was introduced

to music director Naushad, film directors Mehboob, Abdul Rashid Kardar, Nazeer and many other famous and successful people of that time. As a singer Rafi was highly influenced by K.L. Saigal and G.M. Durrani. He sung with his idols in some songs. His association with Naushad was enormous, but he sang with all the famous and successful music directors of that era including S.D. Burman, Shankar Jaikishan, Ravi, Madan Mohan, O.P. Nayyar, and Laxmikant Pyarelal.

Although, Rafi had a great command on Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, and most of his songs are in Hindi-Urdu, but he also sang in other Indian languages including Konkani, Bhojpuri, Oriya, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujrati, Telugu, Maghi, Mahithili and Assamese. He also sang few songs in other languages such as: English, Persian, Spanish and Dutch. He won numerous awards in is life time. He was awarded ‘Best National Singer Award’. He also won six Filmfare awards as a best singer. He was honoured with Padma Shri award by the government of India.

He also received a silver medal from the Indian Prime Minister Pandi Jawaharlal Nehru. The Stardust magazine named him the ‘Best Singer of the Millennium’. Rafi will always in the hearts of his fans. Singers like Mahendra Kapoor, Shabbir Kumar, Mohammad Aziz and Sonu Nigam became popular after adopting Rafi’s style. Besides many awards the government of India put the sign ‘Mohammad Rafi Chowk’ which stands on Mumbai’s arterial SV Road in Bandra, the suburb of Mumbai in which he lived. Perhaps his biggest award is the place that he has carved in people’s heart in many corners of the world.

The legendary Lehri The legendary Lehri, who passed away last week in Karachi at the age of 83, will live on as the once almost indispensable sidekick of the Pakistani film.

The legendary Lehri, who passed away last week in Karachi at the age of 83, will live on as the once almost indispensable sidekick of the Pakistani film.

Starting in the mid-1950s, Lehri — born Safirullah Siddiqui — was a reliable entertainer for many decades. In his later years he served as a nostalgic reminder about all that had gone wrong with Pakistani cinema and the country in general.

The largely urban-based dramas produced soon after independence in 1947 cast the protagonist in the role of an educated young man without too much of an appetite for fun and games. Heroes could not be jokers. The funny bits, the comic relief, were assigned to a group of comedians from amongst whom Lehri emerged as a prominent face.

It would be hard to describe Lehri as a multi-dimensional actor.

His success is best explained by his ability to deliver comedy deadpan.

He knew his limitations and in these was rooted his subtlety.

Born around 1930, according to Mehta Gander’s Pakistan Cinema — 1947-1997, Lehri “started as a stage performer in Karachi” before he got his break in film in 1956.

‘Anokhi’, more known for starring Sheela Ramani, a Dev Anand heroine from Bombay, is listed as Lehri’s debut film. The film was made in Karachi and he “had to wait for two more years for his next assignment in ‘Dil Mein Tu’,” writes Gazdar, who places Lehri in a class of his own.

The biggest compliment Gazdar pays to this “entirely different entity” among comedians is: “It will not be an exaggeration to add that Moeen Akhtar, Pakistan’s internationally famous TV and stage entertainer, is also one of the aspirants to Lehri’s style of humour. Lehri’s long list of films includes ‘Insaan Badalta Hay’, ‘Jabb Say Dekha Hai Tumhen’, ‘Aag’, ‘Nai Laila Naya Majnun’,

‘Anjuman’ and ‘Saima’.

“Lehri came into his own in the 1960s when heroes such as Kamal, Waheed Murad and Muhammad Ali were piloting Pakistani film forward. By now working in Lahore productions, in 1965 he was an accomplished enough actor to win the prestigious Nigar Award for the best comedian in `Kaneez’, an honour he won numerous times later, too.

As other lead actors such as Nadeem came on the scene, Lehri — though showing signs of ageing — continued to provide comic relief in his now familiar side role. His acting career was

curtailed by a stroke that he suffered in the 1980s, and Nazrul Islam’s lesser known 1988-production ‘Chakkar’ was one of his last films.

HUMOUR AND DECENCY: Lehri’s forte was the quip and in his monotone, his audience became used to finding a brand of quiet, almost surreptitious humour. To critics and to his fans, his restrained style came to personify the ‘decency’ of times gone by.

His innocent, straight-faced persona hid behind it a formula. Lehri’s dialogue was always delivered with a consistent nasal emphasis that betrayed an effort to be low-key, but whenever necessary it was carefully spiked with the innuendo that sold.

The naughty sexual undertones were very much a part of Lehri’s work. His satire on social ills was chiselled, cutting but not blatant. After the stroke, Lehri was reduced to occasional appear-

ances in PTV shows and newspaper columns. By the time private-sector television arrived, though, the film industry was struggling and all that it had once encompassed was looked upon both with a sense of loss and with fondness.

In Lehri, television found one of the more well-known surviving veterans of a ‘decent’ creative age. This time, he was cast in double role: he could help perpetuate the lament about the Pakistani film industry just as he pioneered the trend of celebrating outstanding Pakistanis during their lifetime.

With his long white beard and his ever pleasant disposition, Safirullah Siddiqui Lehri came to be known as one of the most effective protagonists of Pakistanis’ televised trips to the happy film kingdom of the past. As appeals for donations to help the actor through his long illness were routine, it was Lehri’s presence which ensured this was no tear-jerker in which he was playing a lead role. He retained his soft touch and prevented situations from degenerating into vulgar charity-collection enactments.

An editor more mindful of preserving a cinematographic image and a lifetime’s reputation would have perhaps deleted the portion where the actor was shown on the screen shyly asking Nawaz Sharif for money.

But it was still fun to find the same old Lehri relating jokes to Mr Sharif: “She was wearing a net kurta; I said while the dress may not kill flies and mosquitoes, it will surely kill the germs of sharafat [decency].”

It was this sort of humour that had marked Lehri’s entry on the public stage some 56 years ago, and this brand which had sustained him. This is what his fans will remember him for.

Five minutes of fame doesn't make you a celeb: Malaika Item number queen and glam diva Malaika Arora Khan wows masses with her special dance moves or her stint on reality television. Currently she's busy assisting her hubby Arbaaz Khan with production work on Dabangg 2. Excerpts from a chat: You seem to have made a career out of judging reality shows on television.

I love judging talent hunt/reality TV shows. Being a judge on a dance or talent based reality show gives me creative satisfaction and helps establish a connect with the audience. Television has a huge reach and it's great to be part of such a medium.

Do reality music dance shows on TV throw up enough talent?

The dance shows which I have judged in the past have mostly had celeb participants, who

were not looking for a platform to stardom with the show. For India's Got Talent Season 4, my new show, I am going to judge ordinary people with some interesting talent, which sounds fun.

Between TV and films, which is a better platform for aspiring actors?

TV is a great platform to be noticed, but one can't earn five minutes fame and think she/he has become a huge celebrity. You just can't come on a show and expect people to remember you forever. TV actors have made it big in films because of their talent and hard work.

In Bollywood lead actresses are now doing item songs. Do you feel they are encroaching your territory?

There is enough work and space for everyone in Bollywood. Filmmakers know what

they want and sign up stars accordingly. Even item songs are offered to people who fit the song.

You are producing Dabangg 2. How hands-on are you as a producer?

Currently, Dabangg 2 is keeping me on my toes. I am learning lot of new things as a producer. It is a whole new process for me which is amazing and I am loving every moment of it.

You balance home and work really well.

What's the magic formula?

The entire credit goes to my family because without their support it wouldn't have been possible for me to work and enjoy my personal life too. It is not easy to maintain a proper balance, but my family has been my pillar of strength.

08

September 20, 2012

Rawalpindi: The old city of crumbling temples

by Shiraz In early 19th century the British made Rawalpindi the central seat of military power as they aimed towards Afghanistan. This was in line with their strategic approach towards the Russian Empire in order to enjoy and retain complete control over central Asia, otherwise known as “The Great Game”.

After the partition in 1947 the city continued to be the General Headquarters of Pakistan Army. But this city has a lot more to tell than just being the army headquarters.

Historically Rawalpindi has been rich in its heritage and culture; with a multi-religious population this city had a lifestyle of its own. Even today, more than 60 years after partition, one can still trace within this city, the remains of the multireligious culture of Pakistan.

Roaming around the old areas of city one can see the places of worship of various religious faiths; Sikh Gurudwaras, Hindu and Jain Temples Hindus and old Mosques.

However, with Partition, a lot changed.

Almost all Hindu and Sikh families from Rawalpindi migrated to India, only leaving the remnants of their heritage behind.

Various areas of Rawalpindi like Krishanpura, Akaal Garh, Mohanpura, Amarpura, Kartarpura, Bagh Sardaraan, Angatpura tell you about the glorious past of this historic city.

There are about ten Temples and Gurudwaras in Rawalpindi, whose architecture exist but they are no longer functional and in a very bad shape. Incidentally or fortunately, one of the Hindu temples located at Kohati bazaar is in good condition. Its premises are used as a government school

for disabled children. Another beautiful Gurdwara known as Bagh Sardaraan is owned by the Punjab police and the building is currently used as their

at Gunjmandi now houses storerooms or shops.

There are a few more abandoned temples scattered around College road, Bohar Bazaar, Purana Qilla,

main office.

But alas! Rest of the Temples and Gurudwaras are not in good shape and need renovation.

These structures are desperate for empathy and attention by the government and other relevant departments. The premise of the Hindu temple located at Govt. Asghar Mall College is used as a scrap yard today. A temple dedicated to Hindu god Shiva

Bagh Sardaraan and outskirts of Rawalpindi which are on the verge of crumbling.

According to a media report, in the old area of Lunda bazaar of the city, there used to be three temples, a Gurdwara, a Khalsa School and many Havelis of Hindus and Sikhs. Of the three temples, only two survive. The third, a Temple of goddess Kali, which was situated in the main

bazaar, no longer exists.

It has been converted into living quarters and extensions have been made, thus changing the original structure entirely.

In Lunda bazaar area one can see the tall structure of a temple, known as Mohan temple.

This temple is believed to have been built by two Hindu Hakims whose names were Hakim Asa Anand and Hakim Moti Ram in 1930.

The fact is that there are several abandoned temples in Rawalpindi and Islamabad and yet there is not a single place for the Hindus living in the twin city to celebrate their religious festivals like Diwali, Shivratri or Holi.

This is sad but true.

A majority of Hindus in the twin cities cannot participate in their religious functions due to a complete absence of a common place for worship. There are more than 25,000 Hindus living in Rawalpindi and Islamabad including the locals living here for long and those who have arrived in the federal capital from other parts of the country, mainly Sindh.

Recently, following a request from Ramesh Lal, a Hindu parliamentarian of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez issued a directive (to the Chairman of the Capital Development Authority) to identify a suitable land and build a new temple for the Hindu community.

It is no doubt a good gesture by the government of Pakistan but on the other hand it is also necessary to restore and preserve the old heritage of the city. Lot needs to be done in this regard through government initiatives and the people of Rawalpindi.

India opens retail to global supermarkets Sanjoy Majumder, Delhi India's government has once again cleared a controversial plan to open up its lucrative retail sector to global supermarket chains.

Last year, the government suspended a similar plan after fierce opposition from its allies and political rivals.

International firms such as Walmart and Tesco will now be able to buy up to a 51% stake in multi-brand retailers.

Analysts say the government has reintroduced the measure in an effort to revive a flagging economy Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "I believe that these steps will help strengthen our growth process and generate employment in these difficult times."

Strong opposition The decision was one of several key reforms announced by the government. It also approved a plan to allow foreign airlines to buy 49% stakes in local carriers, in the hope that this will boost the country's troubled aviation sector.

The decision to open up India's lucrative retail sector to international supermarket chains has come as a major surprise. It was among a slew of key economic reforms announced by the government and is seen as vital to reviving the country's slowing economy.

For months the decision has been held up by political gridlock, especially because it was opposed by the government's own allies. But it now appears the government has decided to bite the bullet, especially as its own credibility - and that of Manmohan Singh - is at an all-time low following a series of financial scandals.

Much will now depend on Mr Singh's ability to keep his disparate coalition together, as opposition to these measures is expected to be fierce. Many will see this as a final throw of the dice, not just to revive the economy and boost confidence among investors but also ahead of the national elections due in 2014.

It also follows Thursday's dramatic 14%

rise in the price of diesel, which is heavily subsidised in India.

Mr Sharma said the implementation of the policy had been left entirely to the states, sug-

The government was forced to back down on retail reform after the cabinet first undertook to open up the retail sector last November.

The move had been strongly opposed by tens of thousands of small businesses and cornershops who fear they will be put out of business.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communists labelled it a "betrayal of democracy". But this latest move has already been welcomed by economists who say it will transform the way Indians shop and will boost the economy.

Some business leaders also backed the plan.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chief executive of conglomerate Bharti Enterprises, said: "The series of policy decisions announced by the government today signal that India is on the move.

"More importantly, they will boost sentiment within the domestic industry and provide much needed momentum to the economy."

Briefing reporters after the press conference, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said: "Views of all state governments were ascertained, some states received the proposal very well, some expressed reservations. We tried to build a consensus through an inclusive and democratic process."

gesting that some opposed to reform could opt out.

Direct selling Reports suggest that other conditions have also been imposed on groups wanting to invest in India. For example, companies will have to

invest at least $100m (£67m), open outlets only in towns with a population of more than one million and source at least 30% of produce from India, the AFP news agency reports.

Similar conditions were suggested when the government first attempted to introduce the plan last year.

Multinational retailers such as like Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco already have outlets in India, but they deal with smaller retailers. This decision allows these chains to sell directly to Indian consumers. "Tesco welcomes this positive development but we await further detail on the conditions... we are hopeful that [it] will allow more Indian consumers, businesses and communities to benefit from world-class retail investment," said a statement by Tesco. Wal-Mart said greater investment following the government's move would "lower the price of products, improve the livelihoods of farmers and ease supply-side inflation.

"Through these, and several other initiatives, we hope to make a positive impact on the lives of the people of India."

Arab Spring nations don't yet grasp freedom of dissent A desk inside the burnt U.S. Consulate building in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday, September 13, two days after an attack on the building in which the U.S. ambassador and three other U.S. nationals were killed. The attack came as protesters outside the compound rallied against a movie that unflatteringly portrays Islam's Prophet Mohammed. Photos: Protesters storm U.S. Embassy buildings.

September 20, 2012

09

OSLER GEARING UP TO CELEBRATE MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY EVENTS WEEK-LONG CELEBRATION TAKING PLACE ACROSS HOSPITAL SITES Brampton/Etobicoke – William Osler Health System hospitals are celebrating significant anniversaries this fall, and plans to mark these milestones are well underway with a number of activities and events planned in the community and in the hospitals over the weeks ahead.

Etobicoke General Hospital opened its doors on September 25, 1972 (40 years) after several years of grassroots community fundraising.

Brampton Civic Hospital opened on October 28, 2007 (5 years) as the largest community hospital in Ontario. This year, Peel Memorial has also reached some noteworthy milestones in its journey of renewal. To commemorate these anniversaries and Peel Memorial‟s 82-year legacy of caring, an Osler-wide celebration is planned for the week of October 29 – celebrating “Safe and Compassionate Care….Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

The communities of Brampton, Etobicoke and the surrounding areas are invited to take part in Osler‟s anniversary activities and events.

The most visual and visible activity as part of the celebrations is the „2012 Osler Anniversary Mosaic‟, which is themed, I ♥ MY Hospital. The mosaic will be made up of messages from people in the community and across the hospital sharing congratulations, an expression of thanks based on an experience in an Osler hospital, or commemorating a loved one who was born at or cared for in one of the hospitals.

“We are proud of Osler‟s rich history of medical excellence, innovation, and great care that makes a difference in the lives of patients and their families,” said Kay Blair, Board Chair, William Osler Health System. “The Osler Anniversary Mosaic is a wonderful way to bring our hospital community together so that we can all be part of Osler‟s proud legacy of care.”

Mosaic sentiments can be a hand-written message or drawing, and must be received by October 5, 2012. Submissions need to be created on a white, 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and then scanned

and emailed to anniversaries@williamoslerhs.ca or dropped off at Osler Foundation offices, just inside the main entrance of each hospital. Online messages, stories and photos can also be shared through Osler‟s anniversaries webpage, CelebrateOsler.com.

The community is also invited to commemorate the past and celebrate the future at Osler hospitals throughout the week of October 29 to November 3. Activities planned during the week include a multi-faith sunrise ceremony, displays of hospital archive items, and the unveiling of each hospital‟s Anniversary Mosaic. The events will culminate in a benefit concert for Osler on Saturday, November 3, at the Rose Theatre in Brampton.

To honour Peel Memorial‟s legacy and celebrate the next phase of its revitalization, a public event will also be held to unlock two Peel Memorial time capsules.

“These are exciting times for Osler with

lots of great activities and events to look forward to as part of our anniversary celebrations,” said Matthew Anderson, President and CEO, William Osler Health System.

“We encourage as many in the community as possible to complete a mosaic piece, submit a story about an Osler experience or memory, or join us in October for one of the events taking place across our hospital sites.”

Volunteers from the hospitals will also be on-hand in the community in September to help people share their Osler message or memory on the Anniversary Mosaic. On Saturday, September 15, volunteers will be at Shoppers World in Brampton, and on Saturday, September 29 at Woodbine Mall in Etobicoke.

Everyone who shares a story and/or message for one of the 2012 Anniversary Mosaics along with their contact information will be entered into a draw to win tickets to the benefit concert on November 3.

Farmers angry at counterterror tactic in Pakistan MIR ALI: Pakistan’s effort to cut off the flow of fertilizer to militants using it to make bombs in this key tribal sanctuary along the Afghan border has outraged local farmers, who complain the policy has cut their crop yields in half.

The blowback in North Waziristan could prove costly as the army grapples with how to tackle enemies of the state holed up in the remote, mountainous area, a task that is likely to be more difficult if the government is unable to mobilize support from local tribesmen. ”It’s true that fertilizer is being used to make bombs, but the farmers are not the ones doing it, so why does the ban apply to us?” said Mohammad Daraz, a farmer in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan.

Pakistan has struggled in recent years to avoid offending the population with heavy handed tactics as it battles domestic Taliban militants throughout the northwest.

The US has faced this same difficulty in neighboring Afghanistan, not least in its efforts to keep fertilizer, most of which comes from Pakistan, out of the hands of militants whose bombs have killed hundreds of American soldiers.

Pakistan first imposed a ban on certain types of fertilizer in North Waziristan and other parts of the semiautonomous tribal region more than three years ago, officials and farmers said.

The government instituted the policy after determining that fertilizer had been used in most of the major bombings in Pakistan, especially those involving vehicles packed with explosives, said a senior government official who worked on the ban.

The ban was meant to apply only to urea and other fertilizers that contain ammonium nitrate because they can most easily be turned into explosives, said

the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

But security forces have instead simply tried to prevent all fertilizer from getting into North Waziristan, said farmers and fertilizer dealers.

The problem has gotten worse for the

whose corn and wheat crops have declined more than 50 per cent.

When the government first imposed the ban, farmers were still able to buy smuggled fertilizer on the black market, although they had to pay higher prices, said Samandar Khan, a farmer in Mir

thousands of farmers in North Waziristan with each passing year as authorities have increasingly attempted to cut down on fertilizer smuggled into the area, which has become the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the country.

Most of the farmers work plots of only a few acres terraced into mountainsides or nestled in valleys next to their mud brick homes. These fields are becoming less productive because of the lack of fertilizer. ”The ban is affecting farmers, because yield is significantly reduced and crop color is faded,” said Daraz, the farmer from Miran Shah,

Ali, another major town in North Waziristan.

The situation changed last year after security forces opened fire on a vehicle close to the North Waziristan border and wounded two people who were attempting to smuggle in fertilizer, said Rafique Ullah, a driver who has worked as a smuggler himself. ”Since then, the smugglers have almost completely stopped bringing in fertilizer,” said Ullah. ”They are scared now because they think security forces might kill them.”

Hamidullah Khan, a farmer in Mir Ali, said there’s very little fertilizer now on the black

market. What is available, he said, is far too expensive for farmers because prices have risen six-fold since before the ban.

Khan said he’s tried to use organic fertilizer, a mix of animal waste and rotten plants, but that his wheat crop this spring was about half the yield of most years before the ban. ”We have heard that this fertilizer is used to make bombs, but we use them for our crops,” said Khan. ”Those who use it for bombs can purchase it even at these high prices.”

Intelligence officials denied militants were still able to obtain fertilizer in North Waziristan and said the ban has helped reduce the number of bombings in the country.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Ahsanullah Ahsan, claimed the ban hasn’t affected the group.

Dealers said they still managed to smuggle a few 50-kilogram (110-pound) bags into North Waziristan at a time and sell them for very high rates. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by authorities.

A bag of calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer, used by militants in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, can help produce two to four bombs, depending on whether they are targeting vehicles or foot patrols, according to the US military’s Joint IED Defeat Organization.

Insurgents either grind or boil the fertilizer to separate the calcium from the nitrate, which is mixed with fuel oil, packed into a jug or box and then detonated. Urea is dissolved in water and then combined with nitric acid to make explosives needed for a bomb.

Federal officers interview maker of anti-Islamic film Los Angeles: A Southern California filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie inflaming protests across the Middle East was interviewed by federal probation officers at a Los Angeles sheriff’s station but was not arrested or detained, authorities said early on Saturday.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was interviewed at the station in his hometown of Cerritos, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Walker said.

Federal officials have said they were investigating the activities of Nakoula, who has been convicted of financial crimes. If the probation department determines Nakoula violated terms of his release, a judge could send him back to prison.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is escorted out of his home by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers in Cerritos, California. Reuters Walker said Nakoula traveled voluntarily in a squad car with deputies. “He went to the Cerritos station to talk with probation officers. He’s not under any arrest,” Walker said.

The deputy said he doesn’t have information on the interview or how long it lasted. KNBC-TV reported that Nakoula went to the station early Saturday morning.

The TV station said that media had been staking out the home at the end of a cul de sac in the Southern California city when the man emerged wearing a coat, hat, scarf and glasses.

There was no answer early Saturday at the federal probation department’s California’s central district office in Los Angeles.

The probation department is reviewing the case of Nakoula, who was previously convicted on bank fraud charges and was banned from using computers or the Internet as part of his sentence. The review is aimed at learning whether Nakoula violated the terms of his five-year probation.

Karen Redmond, a spokeswoman for the administrative office of the US courts, confirmed Friday the review is under way.

Federal authorities have identified Nakoula, a self-described Coptic Christian, as the key figure behind “Innocence of Muslims,” a film denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that ignited mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Middle East.

A federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press on

Thursday that authorities had connected Nakoula to a man using the pseudonym of Sam Bacile who claimed earlier to be writer and director of the film. Violent protests set off by the film in Libya played a role in mob attacks in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials. US Embassy gates in Cairo were breached by protesters and demonstrations against American missions spread to Yemen on Thursday and on Friday to several other countries. Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and was ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

His attorney cited Nakoula’s poor health in a bid for leniency and home detention, stating his client suffered from Hepatitis C, diabetes that require twice-daily insulin shots, and other ailments that required more than 10 medications a day, according to a transcript of the sentencing obtained by the AP. Many records in case remain sealed, but prosecutors sought a longer prison term and noted that he misused some of his own relatives’ identities to open 600 fraudulent credit accounts. Nakoula apologized during the proceedings and his attorney James D. Henderson Sr. said Nakoula had learned his lesson.

“He’s clearly gotten the message,” Henderson said. “I can’t imagine him doing anything stupider than what he did here, but what’s done is done.”

Henderson said during the hearing that his client had been enlisted by another man to open the accounts and had only received $60,000 to $70,000 from the fraudulent transactions. He got involved

in the scheme after losing his job in the gas station industry and had been forced to work for a few dollars a weekend at swap meets to try to support his children and an ailing father, Henderson said, according to the transcript.

It could be difficult to establish a probation violation case against Nakoula. In the federal court system, the conditions of supervised release are geared toward the offense for which a defendant was found guilty and imprisoned.

In Nakoula’s case, the offense was bank fraud. His no contest plea was to charges of setting up fraudulent bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, depositing checks from those accounts into other phony accounts and then withdrawing the illicit funds from ATM machines.

While it was unclear what might have provoked authorities’ interest, the filmmaker’s use of a false identity and his access to the Internet through computers could be at issue, according to experts in cyber law and the federal probation system.

Nakoula, who told the AP that he was logistics manager for the film, was under requirements to provide authorities with records of all his bank and business accounts. The probation order authorized in June 2010 warned Nakoula against using false identities. Nakoula was told not to “use, for any purpose or in any manner, any name other than his/her true legal name or names without the prior written approval of the Probation Officer.” Federal prosecutors had charged that Nakoula used multiple false identities in creating his fraudulent accounts. Several, Nicola Bacily and Erwin Salameh, were similar to the Sam Bacile pseudonym used to set up the YouTube account for the anti-Islamic film. Other pseudonyms used in the accounts ranged from Ahmed Hamdy to P.J. Tobacco. Nakoula was also told he could not have any access to the Internet “without the prior approval of the probation officer.” Nakoula was ordered to detail any online devices and cellphones to authorities and was told his devices would be monitored and subject to searches.

10

September 20, 2012

Baluchistan Journalists threatened: Death or jail

By KATHY GANNON The telephone call to local journalists generally comes in the late evening. The voice on the other end is harsh. He has a statement he wants printed, and he prefaces it with a terse order: "Report our messages without making any changes or we will kill you."

The messages they deliver warn of upcoming violence or assassinations, sometimes naming an intended victim, or claim responsibility for atrocities already committed. The calls come from Sunni militants notorious for violence against minority Shiites or members of secessionist groups that routinely blow up police stations and attack government facilities in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

But the late-night calls put the journalists in a bind. If they don't print the messages, they could be killed. If they do print them, they could face three years in prison under Pakistan's anti-terrorism laws.

It's no surprise which risk they'd rather run. At least 20 journalists have been killed in Baluchistan the past six years, their bullet-ridden bodies sometimes found stuffed into sacks.

"If you are a journalist here in Baluchistan you have a choice: Either a bullet in the head or a jail sentence," said Ashiq Butt, a stocky bureau

chief with the News Network International (NNI), a Pakistani news agency that feeds its reports to newspapers.

But authorities are putting pressure from their side as well, trying to stem spiraling violence in the province.

Last month, the Baluchistan provincial government for the first time charged 21 news organizations, their owners and several journalists under the anti-terrorist law, which provides for three years in jail if convicted of carrying messages, reports or information supplied by outlawed militant groups.

The charge sheet filed by the government accused the news organizations of "spreading panic." Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to work as a journalist, according to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, because of the numbers of journalists killed there. In the last six years 41 journalists have died violently in the country, although 12 of those deaths are still under investigation to determine whether they were linked to their profession, according to the CPJ site. Last year The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers declared Pakistan the most dangerous place to be a journalist because of the death toll.

Many of the multiple militant groups and

armed factions in Pakistan — such as Lashkar-eJanghvi, behind many slayings of Shiites — operate with impunity, with police too weak to take much direct action against them. So they are only emboldened to threaten journalists into being their mouthpieces.

"If I want to live in this city I have to write what they say," Butt said.

The statements can often be cruel and explicit, detailing those who have been killed, he said.

Sunni militants' messages are laced with vitriolic attacks against the minority Shiite Muslims they revile as heretics.

Just last week, he was called by a member of the violent Baluchistan Liberation Army, a selfdeclared secessionist group fighting for an independent state for ethnic Baluchis against what they see as domination from ethnic Punjabis. The group has already claimed responsibility for the deaths of three journalists. The caller had a message and added, use it verbatim or die.

Butt did exactly that, publishing the statement, "The Punjabis have captured our lands and we will kill the Frontier Corps and Police ... We will continue our struggle until Baluchistan is liberated from Pakistan."

Aryan Khan, another journalist in the Baluchistan capital Quetta, said Lashkar-e-Janghvi militants even dictate the language newspapers and broadcasters should use in their normal news reports whenever they report on the death of a Shiite, whether in an attack or from natural causes.

Rather than the respectful, euphemistic terms usually used by Urdu-language press for a person's death, "they say we should use the same word we use if an animal dies," he said.

In recent years Pakistan's Baluchistan province has been shattered by relentless bloodletting by the separatists and by Sunni militant killings and suicide bombings against Shiites. Human rights activists and international aid workers operating in Baluchistan have also been attacked.

The international Red Cross suspended its operations in May after one of its workers was killed in Quetta.

"For us Baluchistan has become a source of great concern," said Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "The situation in Baluchistan looks set to continue for a long time — the issues are deep seated and don't lend themselves to easy solutions. For media support groups, the region has emerged as a new front line."

Escalating violence is making vast parts of Baluchistan inaccessible to reporters and human rights workers, said Dietz.

That, he contended, seems to suit the government.

"The government seems to be quite happy that there is little or no independent monitoring of the situation," he said. He also criticized the Baluchistan provincial government for laying charges against journalists and news organizations covering both sides in the conflicts ravaging the region. In an interview in Quetta, provincial police chief Omar Ibne Khitab justified the charges, saying the anti-terror law was clear. He also said his force does not have the equipment to trace the threatening telephone calls to journalists and locate the culprits. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a report last month criticizing the government for inaction on arresting those who have attacked and threatened journalists as well as national media outlets for neglecting coverage of events in Baluchistan. The report said local journalists feel threatened from all sides and neglected by the government. "Journalists in the field felt threatened from the security forces, militants and insurgents," said the report released Aug. 30. "If they said one thing they were traitors to one side and if they did not they were traitors to the other side.

From within the HRCP's heavily guarded office, Shamsul Mulk said rights workers risked their lives investigating the killings of journalists as well as the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of scores of people, many linked to the separatist movement. Many rights workers have left the organization out of fear for their lives.

"I wouldn't be here if there wasn't a guard outside the door," he said. "People are afraid. They are not even attending our meetings anymore."

In this Tuesday, April 17, 2012 photo, Pakistani journalists chant slogans during a demonstation in Quetta, Pakistan. The telephone call to local journalists generally comes in the late evening. The voice on the other end is usually a Sunni militant with a statement he wants printed threatening of violence or claiming responsibility for attacks that already occurred. Journalists fear being killed if they don't print the messages.

In this Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 photo, Pakistani journalist Ashiq Butt, bureau chief with the News Network International (NNI), a Pakistani news agency that feeds its reports to newspapers, gestures in his office in Quetta, Pakistan. The telephone call to local journalists generally comes in the late evening. The voice on the other end is usually a Sunni militant with a statement he wants printed threatening of violence or claiming responsibility for attacks that already occurred.

Journalists fear being killed if they don't print the messages.

In this Friday, Sept. 14, 2012 photo, Pakistani security stand guard in front of the Press Club in Quetta, Pakistan. The telephone call to local journalists generally comes in the late evening. The voice on the other end is usually a Sunni militant with a statement he wants printed threatening of violence or claiming responsibility for attacks that already occurred. Journalists fear being killed if they don't print the messages.

In this Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012 photo, Baluchistan Union of Journalists President Essa Tareen looks at the charge sheet that the Pakistani government has filed against the journalists in his office in Quetta, Pakistan. The telephone call to local journalists generally comes in the late evening. The voice on the other end is usually a Sunni militant with a statement he wants printed threatening of violence or claiming responsibility for attacks that already occurred. Journalists fear being killed if they don't print the messages.

In this Friday, Jan 20, 2012 photo, journalists demonstrate against the killing of Pakistani journalists in the violent Baluchistan capital of Quetta, Pakistan. The telephone call to local journalists generally comes in the late evening. The voice on the other end is usually a Sunni militant with a statement he wants printed threatening of violence or claiming responsibility for attacks that already occurred. Journalists fear being killed if they don't print the messages. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

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Kasab asks for presidential pardon in Mumbai attacks case MUMBAI: Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, has pleaded for mercy in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case in a final bid to avoid the gallows. His mercy petition has been sent to the President’s office, Indian media outlets reported. Pakistan-born Kasab sent his petition through officials at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai where he is being held, the Press Trust of India said.

“We have sent a mercy petition to the president filed by Kasab,” the news agency quoted a senior official at the high-security prison as saying.

Earlier in August, Indian Supreme Court rejected a plea by Kasab to convert the death sentence handed to him by the Bombay High Court to life imprisonment. “We are left with no option but to award death penalty,” the two judges said in a court order on August 29. “The primary and foremost offence committed by Kasab is waging war against the government of India.”Kasab, who is currently held in a maximum-security prison in Mumbai, was found guilty on charges, including waging war, murder and terrorist acts, and was sentenced to death in May 2010.

September 20, 2012

11

Kamran fires as Pakistan warm up in style KARACHI: Kamran Akmal’s 92 not out helped Pakistan successfully chase a tough target of 186 with five balls to spare and beat India by five wickets at R Premadsa Stadium in Colombo.

Akmal hit five fours and six sixes while Shoaib Malik scored 38 to steady Pakistan after Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed captain Mohammad Hafeez for 38 and Shahid Afridi for 0 in the same over.

In the first innings, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma scored half centuries to take India to a powerful total of 185 after MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.

Kohli scored 75 runs, hitting seven fours and two sixes while Sharma hit six fours and two sixes to score 56 before being removed by Saeed Ajmal. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave India a good start before Umar Gul bowled Gambhir for 10 and Afridi caught out Sehwag for 26 off Ajmal’s ball.

Pakistan left out Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq, Raza

Hasan and Yasir Arafat.

Squads: India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan,

Lakshmipathy Balaji, R Ashwin.

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez (Capt.), Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami.

Flashback: From Goa with love Moniza Inam relates how the Goan community brought a unique touch of exuberance and vivacity to the Karachi of the 1960s The lively strains of a popular jazz number filtered into the streets of Saddar and passersby would stop for a moment to hum the tune and smile as they went on their way while a band of jovial merry-makers danced the night away in the grand hall of the Karachi Goan Association. This was the Karachi of the 60s — a cheerful, vibrant city, that owed much of its joie de vivre to its Goan Community. Goa, the coastal city distinguished for its breathtaking scenery, picturesque beaches and lush coconut groves, is familiar to us through Bollywood which has long capitalised on its natural beauty and vivacious culture.

Located on the west coast of India, the state is the smallest in India in terms of size. Surrounded by land on three sides and the Arabian Sea on its west, the Goan state enjoyed an important geo-strategic position throughout history, which turned it into an epicentre for maritime trade, a hybrid cultural centre, and the platform for diffusion of colonialism in the subcontinent. In 1510, it was captured by the Portuguese, which paved the way for an idiosyncratic blend of Indo-Hindu and LusoChristian culture.

In the 18th century, the Goans started to move out of their state to avail greater economic opportunities in British India, and the quest took them to Bombay (Mumbai), Karachi, Africa and other destinations. The port city of Sindh was among their favourite destinations as the British decided to develop the metropolis as a future hub of trade and commerce. When Charles Napier conquered Sindh, a large number of Goans began to migrate to Karachi.

This marked the beginning of a long drawn journey in which the community established itself in the city and took active part in its development with its hard work and diligence, specifically in the areas of education, healthcare, community service and sports. The Goan community also brought a unique touch of exuberance and vivacity to their adopted city through their rich cultural tra-

ditions in music, drama, theatre and dance.

Mary Dias, an 83-year-old Goan who moved to Karachi with her parents before the Partition, states that “we are hardcore Karachittes; we came here while the city was still evolving and made valuable contributions to make it a vibrant and culturally aesthetic metropolis as well as an economically viable city. Many of the people who chose to live here had Portuguese passports, which

they surrendered to become Pakistani citizens.” According to Ronald deSouza, a principal electrical consultant and a human and civil rights activist, at the time of the Partition the aggregate population of Karachi was almost 400,000 of which the Goan community numbered around 12,000 to 15,000, about three to four per cent of the total population.

The 1960s were quite a revolutionary period as the generation of ‘baby boomers’ was coming of age and new ideas were being generated in every walk of life and on the global level there was an atmosphere of bonhomie and camaraderie. This spirit and culture also made its way into Pakistan, especially in the Goan community where the ’60s are considered the golden period. (Cont.. to next issue)

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September 20, 2012

McGuinty Government Salutes Innovation in Ontario’s Film and Television Industry The stars shone brightly at this year's Toronto International Film Festival(TIFF), thanks in part to made-in-Ontario technologies that brought the next generation of entertainment to screens across the city. Kitchener-basedChristie Digital Systems Canada Inc.and Toronto-based Arc Productions are two Ontario companies that are helping to transform movies -and local economies - with innovations in 3D projection and computer-generated animation.

This year's festival featured Frost, a short film by the Canadian Film Centre, with dramatic visuals created by Arc Productions. The TIFF Bell Lightbox -- where Frost and many other films had their premieres -- was outfitted with Christie's cutting-edge Solaria Series digital projectors to screen the best in cinema. Other films screened at the Lightbox included the Canadian gems Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley and Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children.

As the third-largest entertainment sector in North America, Ontario's film and television industry supports 30,000 jobs. Last year, the province's film and television industry generated $1.26 billion for Ontario's economy -- 31 per cent

more than the year before.

Attracting investment and supporting business is a key part of the McGuinty government's plan to create jobs and strengthen the economy.

A strong economy protects the services that matter most to Ontario families: health care and education.

QUICK FACTS • TIFF’s economic impact is estimated at $100 million annually.

• Ontario created 121,300 jobs in 2011-- the highest level of job creation since 2003.

• 1.4 million people attended the yearround activities of the Toronto International Film Festival Group in 2011.

• Science fiction blockbuster Total Recall was shot entirely in Toronto in 2011, and Carrie, Kick-Ass 2, RoboCop and Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim are among major films currently in production in Ontario.

• Every million dollars of film and television production in Ontario generates 23 full-time direct and spin-off jobs.

• Ontario has cut taxes on business investment in half, making the province more competitive and encouraging new businesses to invest.

FM reached Washington for bridge-building talks

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan renew their high-level contacts on Tuesday when Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar arrives here for talks both sides hope will be a “bridge-builder”.

“Her visit is set to begin a focused, constructive and sustained dialogue on issues of interest to both countries,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador Sherry Rehman while stressing the need for staying

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President Zardari urges US to immediately cease drone strikes

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday urged the United States to immediately cease drone attacks and initiate dialogue with Pakistan over suggested alternatives to the use of the pilotless planes for striking high-value targets and other militants in its tribal areas.

The president’s statement came during his meeting the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman here in Islamabad. Speaking during the meeting, President Zardari reiterated the stance that drone strikes were proving to be ineffective. The president also strongly condemned the defamatory video made by an American ridiculing the Holy Prophet (PBUH). He said that the sentiments of any sect or religion should not be hurt.

Clarifying the US government’s position on the issue, Grossman said that the American administration had no connection to the video.

‘US a major development partner’ Earlier today, Grossman also met with the Pakistani prime minister. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Pakistan regarded its relations

with the United States as “very important” and that Pakistan valued it as a major development partner.

“The Prime Minister said that relations between Pakistan and United States are very important and we value United States as a major development partner,” a statement issued by PM Ashraf’s office said. “We have a shared objective in fighting terrorism and need to cooperate more to get rid of this menace,” the statement said.

Ambassador Grossman said that future relations between Pakistan and the United States should be based on market access and trade.

The US government was working on a bilateral investment treaty to “facilitate” US investment in Pakistan and improve market access, according to the Pakistani statement.

A delegation led by the special envoy had held separate meetings with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday to discuss the future trajectory of the intricate bilateral relationship between the two countries.

engaged with the world’s only superpower.

“This will be an opportunity to anchor the relationship in the goals we week: predictability, transparency and mutual respect. It will be an important bridge-builder at multiple levels.” This will be the foreign minister’s first official visit to Washington for bilateral talks.

She will spend four days – Sept. 18 to 20 – in the US capital and will later go to New York to join the Pakistani delegation to the annual UN General Assembly. President Asif Ali Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the general assembly.

In Washington, the foreign minister is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, US Trade Representative Ron Krik and other senior officials. Her engagements on Capitol Hill are equally significant where she will also have an exclusive session with Senator John Kerry.

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Kerry already plays a major role in shaping America’s foreign policy but

he is expected to have a bigger role in President Barack Obama’s second term.

US media reports claim that he may replace Mrs Clinton as Secretary of State in the next set-up because Mrs Clinton does not want to continue. Two other congressional leaders who have a major influence on US policies towards Pakistan – chairs of the House and Senate intelligence committees – are also meeting the foreign minister. She also will have meetings with former speaker, now the House Minority leader, Nancy Pelosi and with Congresswoman Nita Lowey, a ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. At the embassy, the foreign minister will address a joint meeting of representatives from 18 major US think-tanks. She will also speak at the Council on Foreign Relations, School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, and at the Asia Society in New York.The engagements show Pakistan’s desire to broaden its engagements beyond the administration and reach out to US lawmakers and foreign policy experts as well.