Pakistan Link - January 22, 2016

Pakistan Link The Largest Circulated Pakistani-American Newspaper in North America

Friday, January 22, 2016

VOL. 26/4 - 11 Rabi ‘u-thani 1437 H PAGE 9

Raheel, not Nawaz, Holds the Key to Peace Mystery

PAGE 15

PAGE 9

Christopher Lee and the Making of Movie Jinnah

Sharmeen Obaid Wins Oscar Nomination

University Attackers Identified

Gunmen slipped into a university campus in Charsadda under cover of fog Wednesday, killing at least 20 people — some of them shot execution-style — in the latest terrorist attack in Pakistan targeting students in apparent revenge for expanding military crackdowns

Peshawar: Inter-Services Public

Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Asim Bajwa on Wednesday said major breakthroughs had been made in identifying the terrorists who attacked the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda earlier in the day.

Zardari and Bilawal to Meet in Washington

The ISPR chief said the terrorists’ phone calls had been traced and analyzed, and that two cell phones had also been recovered from them.

“When army reached the premises, all four attackers were alive.

They were contained in the hostel and were eventually eliminated on

US & Canada $1.00

the roof and the stairs,” informed the ISPR chief. They had a lot of ammo, including grenades, he added.

“Their call logs were analysed and an intelligence picture was established, with most data having been collected,” said Lt Gen Bajwa.

ATTACK, P28

ZARDARI, P28

www.PakistanLink.com

Attacks on Innocent Civilians, Students Inhuman: Imran

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf Chairman Imran Khan has termed the terrorist attack on Bacha khan university, Charsadda as barbaric and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families of martyrs of the attack.

He said that attacking innocent students and civilians is extremely inhuman and could not

Pakistan Pulls Saudi Arabia, Iran Back from the Brink

Islamabad:

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was scheduled to fly to Dubai on Wednesday while on his way to the United States to join his father Asif Ali Zardari and siblings.

PPP leaders said Bilawal will stay in Dubai and leave for the US on January 23 and is likely to return to Pakistan in a couple of weeks.

Mr Zardari is already in the US and he flew to Washington from New York Tuesday. He will wait for Bilawal before holding a series of meetings with senior US officials.

Some reports said Zardari was expecting to muster US support amid tension with the establishment back home.

Following his strongly worded statement in June in which he warned former generals of exposing their ‘deeds,’ Zardari has not returned to Pakistan.

A PPP leader told The Nation

For news, updated round the clock, visit

be tolerated at any cost. “Terrorists are seeking to attack soft targets like that of academic institutions as they have to face tough resistance from our armed forces, police and other law enforcement agencies after the emergence of the nation’s common resolve of uprooting terrorism from Pakistan,” he said.

Pakistan Successfully Tests Ra’ad Cruise Missile Rawalpindi: Pakistan on Tuesday

Encouraged by the ‘positive response’ from leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proposed appointment of focal persons to take the ‘peace process’ forward. Above, he meets President Hassan Rouhani of Iran

Tehran: Describing Pakistan’s efforts

for de-escalation of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran as a “sacred mission”, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said he was encouraged by

the “positive response” from the leadership of the two brotherly countries.

“We got positive response from the leadership of two countries, who were appreciative of Pakistan’s ini-

tiative and efforts,” Prime Minister Nawaz told the media here before leaving for Switzerland to attend a meeting of the World Economic BRINK, P28

Periodical postage paid at Newport Beach, CA and additional mailing offices

conducted a successful flight test of Ra’ad, an indigenously developed Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), the Army’s media wing claimed in a statement.

The flight test of the cruise missile, which is also known as Hatf VIII, was the seventh since it was first tested in 2007.

It is essentially a flying bomb, generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many hundreds of miles with high accuracy. Modern cruise missiles can travel at supersonic or high subsonic speed.

These guided missiles are selfnavigating and fly on a non-ballistic very low altitude trajectory in order to avoid radar detection.

The most common mission for cruise missiles is to attack relatively high-value targets such as ships, command bunkers, bridges and

MISSILE, P28

ADVERTISEMENT

P2 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

ADVERTISEMENT

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P3

www.PakistanLink.com

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

Victim Mentality

Pakistan Link n By Mowahid Hussain Shah

President

Arif Zaffar Mansuri

ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org Editor

Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui afaruqui@pakistanlink.com

Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan)

Shabbir Ghori

urdulink@yahoo.com Resident Editor Urdu Link & Director Video Operations

Anwar Khawaja

akhawaja@pakistanlink.com Director Advertising & Sales

Dr Hawa Vahed

sales@pakistanlink.com

Regional Offices YKKB ykkb03@gmail.com Sacramento, CA

Shahid Hussain 530-933-8181

San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA

M. Akhtar Shah 415-756-3664 New York, NY

Jahangir Lodhi 646-696-7126

Jlodhi@pakistanlink.com Houston, TX Houston@Plpublications.org Phoenix, AZ Phoenix@Plpublications.org Ontario, Canada Ontario@Plpublications.org

Letters to the Editor Readers are welcome to express their opinion in these columns. Please keep your letters

brief and to the point. Letters without full name, complete address, and a daytime phone number will not be published.

Also, copies of letters sent to other newspapers are not encouraged. Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Editor at the Pakistan Link Headquarters address listed below.

Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is published weekly for $65 a year by JAZ LLC, DBA PL Publications, LLC, 1501 North Raymond Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92801.

Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA and additional mailing offices.

POST MASTER: Send address changes to Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815 The management has the right to refuse to print any advertisement, news, article, letter or any other material. In case of any errors in advertisement the management will not be liable for more than the amount paid for the advertisement to the Link.

Advertisements in Pakistan Link are placed in good faith. The newspaper is not responsible nor endorses the contents of any advertisement. In case of a frivolous lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear the total cost of the suit, including but not limited to the Link’s costs and the attorney’s fees.

Information for Subscribers The printing of Pakistan Link is unfailingly completed by Wednesday every week and its copies are handed over to the mailing house for prompt dispatch to the subscribers. The Link should reach its destination on time if there is no delay at the post office. If a delay is occasioned it is in no way attributable to the performance of Link’s management. In case of delayed receipt of Pakistan Link or missing issues, please contact your local Post Office and submit a “Publication Watch” form.

PAKISTAN LINK Headquarters

P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815

Tel: 714-400-3400 Fax: 714-400-3404 E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com

Pakistan Office

42 Rehman Court Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road Karachi-74400, Pakistan

O

ne of the dominant blights that characterize the 21st century is victim mentality, which has been exponentially amplified and exacerbated by social media.

It demoralizes by fostering the sense of being marginalized. It induces in its wake helplessness. It becomes a self-defeating and self-perpetuating trap. It is meek acceptance of lack of control and blaming others for negative circumstances, while exempting oneself from responsibility.

44 years after the Dacca debacle, Bangladesh, which pre-1971 was a province of Pakistan, continues to hang people for being proPakistan then. The flames of rancor and resentment burn bright.

Victim mentality was always there, but often in the background, not at the very center of the stage.

Over-emphasis on ethnic and cultural identity is akin to pouring gasoline on embers. Rational logic has very little to do with it.

Ironically, in America today, surveys have revealed that many non-college educated Caucasians see themselves as disempowered victims in the changing demography of America, which, in effect,

is a slow-motion glacial browning of society. It is this combination of rage, fear, and frustration that is propelling Trump.

Too many Americans have been brainwashed into believing that the pinprick element of externally inflicted/induced terror is more consequential than the routine carnage at home facilitated by the spinelessness of their own lawmakers to stand up to gun terror.

Elsewhere in other parts of the world, strains of a similar virus are evident. It may come as news to some beleaguered Indian Muslims that a significant swath of the

Trump and Evangelicals

n By Dr Gary Scott Smith Grove City College

D

onald Trump, who has been leading the national polls for the Republican nomination since this past summer, has strong support among evangelicals. Given Trump’s beliefs, lifestyle, crude language, and some of his positions on issues, this is baffling. As Jonathan Merritt argues in “The Atlantic,” “Trump is immodest, arrogant, foul-mouthed, money-obsessed, thrice-married, and until recently, pro-choice. By conventional standards, evangelical Christians should despise him.”

Nevertheless, in various polls, significant percentages of evangelicals (as high as 45 percent of white evangelicals in a December 2015 CNN poll) say that they would vote for the real estate mogul. Granted, his support among evangelical leaders is limited primarily to proponents of the prosperity gospel such as Paula White and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. In a July 2015 World Magazine survey, only four percent of 94 prominent evangelicals said that they supported Trump for president while 75 percent declared that “they absolutely would not vote for him in primaries.” In a December 2015 World poll, none of these leaders reported that he or she would vote for Trump if the presidential election were held that day.

So what makes Trump so attractive to rank and file evangelicals, especially older white ones who have limited education? Evangelicals have typically preferred candidates who express faith convictions similar to their own and have a strong record of involvement in the life of the church. Such candidates abound in 2016: Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, and Rick Santorum all fit this description—Trump does

Hindu majority community see Muslims as over-pampered. This sentiment brought Modi to the forefront of Indian public space, with his complicity in the Gujarat massacres burnishing his “strongman” imagery and escalating his popularity in the so-called largest democracy in the world.

Victim mentality also induces self-pity by side-stepping the necessity of self-scrutiny. Can the evil of injustice be fought by avoiding it? Victim mindset is a corrosive problem in Pakistan, wherein nation-building projects are constantly being subverted by infusing

not.

Growing up, Trump attended Sunday school and worship services with his parents at the First Presbyterian Church in the Jamaica section of Queens. He still labels himself a Presbyterian, although he now worships (admittedly primarily on Easter and Christmas) at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, a Reformed Church of America congregation where Norman Vincent Peale, the famous advocate of the power of positive thinking, long served as pastor. Although Trump has repeatedly declared on the campaign trial that the Bible is his favorite book, he has declined to specify what biblical books, passages, or teachings he most values. Trump has declared that he is a Christian and that Christianity is a “wonderful religion,” but he has not discussed his beliefs about Jesus. Moreover, the real estate tycoon forthrightly asserts that he has never asked God to forgive his sins.

Trump’s various statements about religion suggest that his faith is neither deep nor well-informed.

In addition to not being an active church member or describing his faith journey (as George W. Bush, Barack Obama, or several other current candidates for the Republican nomination have done), Trump’s personal history does not comport well with evangelical values. He has been married three times, made part of his fortune by operating gambling casinos, frequently uses coarse language, and has displayed little concern for the poor, orphans, or refugees—groups evangelicals profess to want to help.

Russell Moore, the head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, calls Trump “an unrepentant serial adulterer who has abandoned two wives for other women” and “spoken in

www.PakistanLink.com

vulgar and harsh terms about women, as well as in ugly and hateful ways about immigrants and other minorities.” Moreover, Moore protests, much of Trump’s wealth has been derived through an “industry that preys on the poor and incentivizes immoral and often criminal behavior.”

Considering these liabilities, what makes Trump so appealing to many evangelicals? Various pundits conclude that evangelicals (and many other political and social conservatives) find Trump’s blunt, bold statements, including his willingness to stand up to the hostile, secular media, and his messages to be attractive, especially his strong criticisms of the Republican establishment and Obama’s approach to immigration and foreign policy. Their sense of alienation from the mainstream political process also fuels evangelicals’ support of Trump.

Most evangelicals, of course, like Trump’s prolife position and opposition to same-sex marriage. They also resonate with Trump’s promises to defend the religious liberty of Christians and to fight to keep Christianity from being further removed from the public square. Troubled by terrorist threats, economic woes, and perceived moral decline, many evangelicals see Trump as a strong leader who could help restore America’s place in the world (he continually pledges that he will “Make America Great Again”), preserve traditional values, and increase their safety and prosperity. Sadly, civil religious patriotism and their own economic advancement seem more important to numerous evangelicals than supporting a candidate whose faith commitments, personal morality, lifestyle, and policy prescriptions (although Trump has been very vague about this) line up with their own.

OPINION a provincial color. So, instead of cohesion, fault lines along ethnic, tribal, and sectarian fissures are inflamed and sharpened.

There are areas now in Pakistan where the Pakistani flag is scarcely seen. So the dilemma then emerges: how to protect Pakistan from Pakistanis?

Lahore witnessed a surge of food fraud and food crime when donkey meat and pork were peddled to unsuspecting consumers.

These were fellow citizens preying on fellow citizens.

The true casualty is that victim mentality self-victimizes by paralyzing self-responsibility. It enfeebles the fighting spirit. Great leaders realize this.

To cite the Quaid: “The weak and the defenseless, in this imperfect world, invite aggression from others. The best way in which we can serve the cause of peace is by removing the temptation from the path of those who think that we are weak and, therefore, they can bully or attack us.”

A victim mentality run amok plays political football with the very fate of a nation. It dilutes one’s confidence and competence to overcome difficulties.

Victim mentality is now virtually a cottage industry, fanning “us” versus “them” conflicts. Its polarizing aftermath fragments state and society.

Most prognosticators predict that Trump, despite having been the frontrunner for months, will not win the Republican nomination. People, they argue, become more pragmatic and thoughtful the closer they get to voting. Thus far, while Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, and some prosperity preachers have praised Trump, few evangelicals have publicly criticized his outlandish and harmful statements about Muslims or refugees or some of his policies as contradictory to Scripture. It is time to do so. Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that “deep down, maybe they [the Gospels]” influence his decision-making. Clearly, evangelicals and others who desire candidates whose views are directed by biblical values have better choices.

(Dr Gary Scott Smith chairs the history department at Grove City College and is a fellow for faith and politics with The Center for Vision & Values. He is the author of “Religion in the Oval Office”(Oxford University Press, 2015), “Faith and the Presidency From George Washington to George W. Bush” (Oxford University Press, 2009), “Religion in the Oval Office” and “Heaven in the American Imagination” (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Views and opinions express e d by authors and contributors in articles, letters, opinion pieces, reports, advertisements, etc appearing in Pakistan Link and Urdu Link are their own. The paper neither shares nor endorses them and thus should not be held responsible for the views/opinions of the writers & advertisers.

ADVERTISEMENT

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P5

www.PakistanLink.com

OPINION

P6 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

Hate is Nothing New, But Our Response Should Be n By Rep. Judy Chu US Representative for California’s 27th District CA

W

e were attacked. It was a surprise. And to fight enemies abroad, we turned against neighbors at home.

This is what happened after that infamous December 7th, 74 years ago this week, when Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into World War II. That initial attack, and the thousands who were killed or injured, was traumatizing. We were scared.

But, before long, we let that fear cloud our sense of right and wrong.

To feel safe, we adopted prejudice as a tactic and began rounding up American citizens of Japanese descent, holding them like prisoners without a single proven charge of espionage.

Years later, we apologized for that. But have we learned from it?

On September 11th, 2001, another surprise attack brought a resurgence of fear across our country. And with that fear came a resurgence of hate. Crimes against Muslims, Middle Easterners, or those of Arab descent, sky rocketed from 20-30 anti-Muslim crimes in a year to almost 500. And the

numbers have remained high since then. Though we are more secure today, Muslims in America are attacked for being Muslim about five times more today than before 9/11.

And that is because the level of hate speech in our national rhetoric remains high.

Just look at the most recent surprise attack in San Bernardino -- the worst case of domestic terror since 9/11. Not even days after that tragedy, imagine my shock when the head Liberty University called for more weapons on campus so that “we could end those Muslims before they walked in.”

Those Muslims? Surely he misspoke. By using Muslims as a synonym for terrorists, we recklessly endanger innocent people. What’s worse is that some take relish in encouraging it Xenophobia has taken over.

The latest proposal from wouldbe leaders to ban all Muslims from entering this country is turning fear into anger and directing it at minority groups. This is a level of demagoguery that my friend and fellow Congress member Keith Ellison recently warned would likely end with somebody being killed - a concern backed up by the still high level of anti-Muslim crime. In fact, noted racist and former grand wizard of the KKK David Duke recently said the tone of political speech today has “made it okay” to air white supremacist views.

And I fear it will only get worse. This is not just an unsettling return to the racist mistakes of our past. It’s distorting our country moving forward, leaving us all less safe in the long-term.

By pushing away the American-Muslim community, we lose one of our greatest assets against terrorism: the trust between the community and law enforcement that we rely on to spot the warning signs of radicalization. The reality is that one of our greatest threats is in homegrown terrorism, radicalized individuals acting on their own the way we saw in San Bernardino.

Further, acting the way ISIL claims in their propaganda by turning against our own Muslim community only contributes to those who are vulnerable to radicalization.

The proper response to an attack is unity. We are stronger when we stand together. Others want us to forget that and turn a suspicious eye on those around us, dividing Americans along faith lines. This is wrong for our country and for our safety.

We need to fight against the fear and anger directed at Muslims and others. We need to resist the dangerous prejudices of our past that gave us the Jim Crow laws, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese incarceration during World War II, and jobs offered with the caveat that Irish, Italians, or Jews need not apply.

www.PakistanLink.com

I

Becoming Our Better Selves

n his last State of the Union address, President Obama reflected on his legacy and described a vision forward for the future of America. Speaking with the confidence of a man who has accomplished many goals, he reflected on the state of discourse in our nation.

“It doesn’t work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic,” he said, claiming that his being unable to temper the rhetoric between the two parties as one of the regrets of his presidency.

The toxic political environment in Washington relates to our nation as a whole and does not just occur in a vacuum. To blame politicians or to say that politics in DC is the problem is to have a parochial view of the situation. The rancor in Washington is merely a symptom of the larger societal trends of fear, extremist political ideology, and lack of empathy that is not only present throughout our nation, but also gaining popularity. Our leaders come from amongst us.

The Tea Party, anti-immigrant groups, and Islamophobes are ubiquitous today. Fear is leading us to exclude and harm those we deem the other. And an inability to compromise on other issues, has led us to do what is needed to gain political clout (like gerrymandering), or going far as to break the law (as is

in the cases of Kim Davis and the Oregon extremists).

And the President pointed out that we must be that change we want to see, stating, “Changes in our political process — in not just who gets elected but how they get elected — that will only happen when the American people demand it. It will depend on you. That’s what’s meant by a government of, by, and for the people.”

It is up to us. And it goes beyond just voting - as the President put it, we cannot merely vote out politicians we don’t like. We must learn to work together, compromise, and put our egos to the side in order to ensure we do not let the great be the enemy of the good.

When it comes to the civic engagement, we must be involved in campaigns, be involved in local government, and engage our elected officials.

The change begins within us.

That includes viewing our fellow citizens as genuinely trying to do good for our country, having sympathy for our fellow man, and manifesting the values of mercy and compassion in our daily lives.

It is then we can meet the challenge of the President when he said, “If we want a better politics, it’s not enough just to change a congressman or change a senator or even change a President. We have to change the system to reflect our better selves.” - MPAC

OPINION

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P7

Why Are There so Many Misconceptions about Muslim Americans?

n By Matthew La Corte

Research Associate at the Niskanen Center US

P

eaceful American Muslims are unfairly and ignorantly being lumped together with evil extremists in the aftermath of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.

Last month, Donald Trump -- dismayingly, still the Republican frontrunner -- further poisoned already toxic political discourse by proposing the US ban all Muslims immigrants from entering the country. Unfortunately, this sort of rhetoric is widespread, and is unmistakably contributing to the increase of recent anti-Muslim hate crimes.

But anti-Muslim rhetoric is out of step with reality. Not only are Muslim Americans successfully integrating into US society, they are actually more opposed to intolerance and violence than many other Americans. Nevertheless, many Americans are still succumbing to hysteria. The question is, why?

There is a natural human tendency to fear what we do not know.

And most Americans simply do not know Muslims. Trump’s divisive rhetoric reflects the dark side of unfamiliarity. However, the silver lining is that once more Americans become friends and neighbors with Muslims, anti-Muslim prejudice is bound to subside.

Muslims make up just 1 per-

cent of the American population, sixty percent of whom have been in the US for 25 years or less. Muslims tend to stand out because of unfamiliar religious and cultural customs, such as their prayer schedule, head scarves, and strange-seeming names. These differences sometimes breed suspicion, and in more extreme cases hostility, largely because these traditions are new to Americans.

At the same time, most Americans see and hear Muslims only on film or on the news, which disproportionately overlook the mundane, peaceful lives of ordinary Muslims, instead focusing on violent religious extremists.

A lack of personal contact with Muslims allows this distorted picture to flourish, leading many Americans to see their Muslims compatriots as a dangerous threat, rather than as fellow human beings and loyal Americans who contribute positively to society. Polls suggests that as many as seven in ten Americans seldom or never interact with Muslim Americans. Just three in ten are acquainted with a Muslim.

At one percent of the population, American Muslims are also too few to have much political clout, which makes them easy and safe target for unscrupulous politicians seeking to capitalize on ignorance and fear. It’s easier to lump all Muslims together and scapegoat them as a group than it is to acknowledge that terrorism is a complex, multifaceted problem.

Fear of the unknown is certainly not new. In America, new

immigrant groups, from the Jews to the Irish to the Italians, have faced similar discrimination and general-

Terrorism is real, and it’s natural to be afraid of it. But these fears are exacerbated by politicians and pundits using ignorance of Islam and unfamiliarity with ordinary Muslims to incite panic across America. To restrict Muslim immigration due to the acts of a few unrepresentative extremists would be to base US policy on fear instead of facts ized misunderstandings about their culture and people.

The cure for this is interac-

www.PakistanLink.com

tion, integration and acculturation.

Muslim Americans are trying to assimilate, and are succeeding. But it can be difficult to swiftly overcome stereotypes when only 1 out of every 100 Americans is Muslim. It’s a time-consuming process that many groups have had to suffer through.

But the evidence is clear. Increasing familiarity and assimilation does markedly reduce hostility to “strange” out-groups -- it breeds knowledge, understanding, and tolerance.

In 2009, Gallup measured public support for marriage equality and found that 40 percent of American adults saw it as “legally valid,” while 57 percent disagreed. Only 27 percent of those who did not know someone who was gay thought gay marriage was “legally valid.” But support for gay marriage was nearly double that among people who did know someone who is gay.

Gallup explained that those who know someone who is gay or lesbian are “significantly more supportive” of gay marriage. The polling found that interacting with gays and lesbians led to greater acceptance and more tolerant attitudes. Mere acquaintance makes a big difference.

Michael Shermer, editor-inchief of Skeptic magazine, has said that LGBTQ role models in the public eye were “essential for awakening empathy and understanding, and thus for expanding the moral sphere ever outwards.” Muslim Americans don’t get this significant, sympathetic presence in media and popular culture. Lack of exposure renders them mysterious and threatening to many Americans.

Mona Chalbi at the FiveThirtyEight blog finds that the more likely a person is to know a Muslim, the more likely they will express positive feelings toward Muslims as a group. This pattern holds regardless of the personal characteristics -political affiliation, education, race or age. If Muslims are hostile toward Americans, you would expect exposure to them would breed more contemptment, not less.

Terrorism is real, and it’s natural to be afraid of it. But these fears are exacerbated by politicians and pundits using ignorance of Islam and unfamiliarity with ordinary Muslims to incite panic across America. To restrict Muslim immigration due to the acts of a few unrepresentative extremists would be to base US policy on fear instead of facts.

MISCONCEPTIONS, P24

OPINION

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

Chinese Concerns about CPEC Must Be Taken Seriously n By Salahuddin Haider

T

Karachi, Pakistan

wice in one week, the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, and the foreign ministry in Beijing, showed concern about the controversy raging over the “game-changer” plan of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which our most trusted neighbor has agreed to fund and execute.

Though mute, the concern demands urgent attention by the Pakistani government. The holding of two All-Parties Conferences—first by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and followed soon afterwards by the former Balochistan chief Minister Akhtar Mengal, were powerful messages reflecting the anxiety of smaller provinces about the efficacy of CPEC to contribute to their welfare.

True, speeches made at both these moots were neither inflammatory nor aggressive. Except for the remarks of Akhtar Mengal, who heads his own Balochistan National Party (BNP) which displayed divergent views about the fate of the Gwadar Port, all other participants, including Hasil Bijenjo, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, despite being supporters of the prime minister, could not hide their dissatisfaction over the approach of the federal administration on the sensitive subject.

Such a development was in itself a wake-up call for the party in power in Islamabad, and the majority Punjab province. Planning and development minister Ahsan Iqbal, representing the government at the second conference, did try to furnish details of the plan but remained unconvincing in his defense till the end. Doubts and suspicions continued to persist even

after his detailed presentation.

The principal point of contention from the smaller provinces was not about the construction of roads, highways, bridges, culverts etc. It was about the setting up of economic zones in each of the four provinces on the five different routes chosen to connect Gwadar to China. Khyberpukhtoonkhaw chief minister, Pervez Khattak had been much more severer and scathing in his criticism of the government plan. He has repeatedly accused the federal government of changing the original plan presented at the first all-parties moot convened by the prime minister.

Dissatisfaction over the plan, involving 46 billion US dollars, has wittingly or unwittingly, been allowed to become controversial , which eventually forced the Chinese government to express its anxiety

about its execution.

To put it plainly, a leading Chinese diplomat some two months ago, had asked me as to why the Pakistan government, was not presenting its economic priorities to allow the plan to kick-off. I was alarmed by his comments but thought it inopportune to air them lest the government accused me of spreading public discontent. Prior to that a few months ago, our Chinese friends looked worried about the CPEC becoming a political football. I merely tried to pacify their concern by telling them that some ill-conceived views were being aired by special interest groups opposed to the government, but I could clearly feel that my explanations did not appear to convince them.

The cat was finally out of the bag when two successive Chinese statements flowed

www.PakistanLink.com

from Islamabad and Beijing within a short span of time. What adds to the prevailing problems is the position taken up by the Peoples Party, whose parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly and the Senate, Khurshid Shah and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan respectively, demanded an open debate on the floor of the two houses for the satisfaction of the general public. Even PPP MNA Nafeesa Shah felt that development plans on the CPEC route are being diverted to “just one province” The MQM parliamentarians too looked unhappy which was evident from their speeches in the two houses of the parliament.

This is a grave situation, yet not much has been lost and in the present circumstances heavy responsibility rests on the prime minister. He and army chief General Raheel Sharif had been issuing clarifications repeatedly about the huge benefits from the CPEC, but while Raheel Sharif is clearly handicapped by being apolitical office holder, Nawaz Sharif, elected on popular votes, has to respond to the objections in much greater detail than he had been doing so far.

Either on television, or at a representative gathering of the stake holders, he has to clearly outline the economic corridor plan, where Chinese and Pakistanis have to have a joint venture for developing various areas through soft or hard loans from Beijing, or

by Chinese companies’ own investments.

Each and every plan for such developments needs to be placed before the people of Pakistan in crystal clear and unambiguous terms. Clouds of doubts need to be dispelled quickly, lest they turn ominous. The plan must be debated in the parliament where all kinds of views are expected to be aired and suspicions erased. This is the need of the time, a pressing call of the hour.

OPINION

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9

n By Dr Akbar S. Ahmed

Christopher Lee and the Making of Jinnah showing his generosity, he put my name first on a list of people he thanked.

But his choicest words were reserved for the Quaid himself. Lee declared that his role in the Jinnah film was his “own personal tribute to an extraordinary man and great statesman … this Great Leader, the Father of the Nation, who literally gave his life for his country … whose image has been so shamefully distorted by the ignorant and whose reputation and achievements have been so grossly maligned. May he truly rest in peace!”

(Professor Akbar Ahmed is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University, Washington DC)

Chair of Islamic Studies at American University Washington, DC

W

e had become friends during the shoot, as had our wives, and he would make it a habit of ringing from his hotel room after a hard day’s shoot and dropping in to chat with me on a variety of subjects, including the shoot itself.

He would often talk to me in the stern tones of an elder brother admonishing his sibling: “Akbar, you have to stop behaving like a professor and you must become a producer. This business is full of sharks and you will not survive if you do not.”

Lee would go on to explain that professors lived in their own gentle world of books and ideas while the film business was a cutthroat world of unscrupulous people with little care for the niceties of life. I understood what Lee wished to communicate – and his sincerity – but would laugh it off by saying, “Do not worry: it will be the professor who will complete the film without compromising.”

At the start of the shoot in Karachi in early 1997, a bearded military officer wearing civilian clothes asked to see me. He said he represented the Army and was the liaison officer. He held the rank of Major and I suspected he had been asked to submit a detailed personal report of the film. He had been reading the negative media reports and had many questions, especially about Lee’s capacity to play Jinnah. I needed to convince him.

I asked him to meet me alone in the basement of the hotel where we kept our wardrobe, late one evening. I then rang Lee and requested him to meet me there too, after dressing up like Jinnah. I had seen the impact he had on Pakistanis when he was fully dressed as Jinnah. Lee was always a good sport and fully cooperative when it came to protecting and projecting the film project. Our cast and crew were marvelous, doing things their agents would normally not allow.

Lee was dressed in the full Jinnah outfit – black sherwani and white shalwar with the karakuli hat on his head. I told him to stand still

Powers for the Rangers

Christopher Lee remained proud of his performance as Jinnah

in the middle of the dark room with a bright light shining on him. I then went out and brought in the Major.

On seeing Lee, the Major thought he was actually seeing an apparition of Jinnah. With an exclamation he seemed to jump back a few inches, murmuring that this was the Quaid-i-Azam. After that, I never had any problem with him and he became an enthusiastic supporter of the film.

Lee did not hide his admiration for the man he was playing. In one of the many meetings where he accompanied me to try and win over Pakistanis, someone asked him how he could play Jinnah who was thinner and shorter than him. It was the kind of question that Pakistanis would pose.

Lee stood up to his great height of 6 feet 4 inches and said in his magnificent voice, “Would you not like the great Quaid-i-Azam to stand tall and tower over Gandhi?”

The negative press about him and the film had been skillfully manipulated in the newspapers on our arrival – by someone who imagined he was a better candidate to play Jinnah. Lee was baffled. He knew how dangerous the incitement to hatred was. Published articles were urging Pakistanis to physically stop the production as it was a conspiracy against the country.

“Why don’t the Pakistanis understand that we are here to pay tribute to the great man? They object to my having played Dracula – and that was 30 years ago. If people

thought like this then the Ameri-

his choicest words were reserved for the Quaid himself.

Lee declared that his role in the Jinnah film was his “own personal tribute to an extraordinary man and great statesman … this Great Leader, the Father of the Nation, who literally gave his life for his country … whose image has been so shamefully distorted by the ignorant and whose reputation and achievements have been so grossly maligned. May he truly rest in peace!” cans would object to Anthony Hop-

kins playing an American president after he acted in The Silence of the Lambs as a psychopathic killer.”

But Lee was big-hearted enough to ignore the personal attacks. Once it was all over and he returned to his home in London, he remained a passionate champion of both Jinnah and the film made in his honor.

Lee turned up loyally at the launch of my book Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity which was being launched at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the summer of 1997. He saw how warmly Pakistanis received him. When we talked – which we did fairly frequently over the years – he would say with a laugh that whenever he enters a taxi driven by someone he thinks is Pakistani or visits a Pakistani restaurant, he is invariably recognized and very kindly treated.

Lee’s career went from strength to strength as he got starring roles in some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of all times, like the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars films. He was even singing and publishing songs. The Queen recognized him as one of the greatest British actors and knighted him.

In spite of a heavy working schedule, Lee completed his autobiography, Tall, Dark and Gruesome (1999) and kindly sent me a copy inscribed “To Akbar Ahmed who gave me the opportunity to portray a giant of history.” In the book he had a section called “Jinnah” in the form of a post-script. Once again

n By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd.)

Westridge, Rawalpindi

T

he wrangling between Sindh and the Center over the powers of the Rangers has provided the electronic media with a rating race, adding constantly high-pitch overtones to the hype created by its anchors and panelists from all political parties dispensing their pearls of wisdom and indulging in all kinds of hair-splitting comments.

One wonders why is anyone afraid of the Rangers and wants the NAB, Police, FIA to probe his/her alleged corruption cases? There is saying in Persian, “Aan ra keh hisabesh pak ast – Az muhasabah cheh baak ast”. (If anyone’s accounts are clean he fear not any audit). What has he/she to hide from the Rangers that he/she wants to disclose to the other civil agencies? Or, is it because they feel that they would be able to have their way with the others but not with the Rangers? I hope not, for, if such is the assumption then it would only tarnish the credibility of the NAB, Police and the FIA in the eyes of the general public.

Hence, if you have nothing to hide/fear be honest and have faith in Allah and let the Rangers probe the cases, for, you ladies and gentlemen, are honest and patriotic Pakistanis. - jafri@rifiela.com

Raheel, Not Nawaz, Holds the Key to the India-Pakistan Peace Mystery n By Ayesha Siddiqa

T

Pakistan

he idea of improving relations with India does occur to the Pakistani army but it is not sure about the terms of engagement

The news of Masood Azhar’s possible detention in Pakistan left me with the same feeling I had when reading a story in my childhood about Sheikh Chilli, a man who built castles in the air. What if he hadn’t shaken his head so violently that the basket of eggs didn’t come crashing down, as did his dreams?

Even as I sat down for an interview soon after, Pakistan’s federal minister for privatization claimed the news of the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief ’s detention was not verified. He had come from a meeting with other ministers in

which none vouched for the news of the arrest.

In fact, the minister stated that the Ministry of Interior had advised him to be non-committal.

The statement from the office of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spoke of action against the JeM but was guarded about any specifics. So why did someone in authority leak the news of Azhar’s detention to the Pakistani media?

By the end of the evening of January 15, it was clear that the story needed to be approached with great caution. Sources from Bahawalpur, where the JeM is stationed, talked about the authorities taking 13 JeM members into custody from various cities in Punjab.

However, what is more interesting is the report of Masood Azhar and his brother Mufti Rauf being picked up from Islamabad. Didn’t the government say for years that Azhar did not live anywhere in Punjab but had disappeared somewhere in the tribal areas?

Despite the news, his men in Bahawalpur seemed calm and contained. Though news

came of the JeM’s offices being shut down, one wondered what they were talking about since

www.PakistanLink.com

the JeM has no office. It is not a political party which would require an office. Its entire business is conducted from the madrassa Usmano-Ali in Bahawalpur and another huge madrassa being built on the main highway outside the city. Closing down these seminaries would draw attention and create excitement that was not observable. It certainly makes one wonder if the news was a trial balloon to see India’s reaction– just like some believe the Pathankot attack was meant to test New Delhi’s red lines.

The JeM folks were of the view that all of this will wash away in another ten days.

Throughout the evening when news was spread about the Pakistan government taking action, there was nothing happening in Bahawalpur. The only thing which has happened thus far is that JeM’s website and magazine are no longer available online, which is very different from what happened with LeT/JuD. The difference in civil-military perspec-

RAHEEL, P24

ADVERTISEMENT

P10 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

SABA HOMES honoring the orphan

501(c)3 - Tax ID # 33-0716944

Help Build the Future of Orphan Girls in Pakistan!

Making a Better World for All Our Children: Honoring the Orphans at Saba Homes

Saturday | January 23 | 2016

Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel, Buena Park, CA

Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi

Shaykh Mustafa Umar

Dr. Yahia Abdul-Rahman

Bishop Tom Thorkelson

Ambish

MAKE A DONATION TODAY

Dr. Sana Khan

Aron Kader

714.744.1600

You Can Purchase Tickets At: www.sabatrust.org Call: 714.305.5425 | Email: info@sabatrust.org

17880 Sky Park Circle, Suite 125, Irvine CA 92614

Through PAYPAL at: www.sabatrust.org

Make Your Checks Payable to “Saba Homes”

Mail Your Checks to:

17880 Sky Park Circle, Suite 125 Irvine CA 92614

Call: 714.305.5425 Email: info@sabatrust.org Tax ID No.33-0716944

www.PakistanLink.com

PAKISTAN

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P11

Nawaz Stresses Peaceful Resolution of Saudi-Iran Row

Four Nations Call on Taliban to Join Afghan Peace Talks

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and General Raheel meet Saudi King Salman at the Royal Palace

Foreign Secretary Chaudhry (L) shakes hands with members of the Afghan delegation

Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz

Kabul: Representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States gathered in Kabul on Monday called on the Taliban to resume peace talks with the Afghan government.

Senior officials from the four countries met for most of the day at the Presidential Palace amid tight security, a week after a first round of discussions in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

In a joint statement released by the Afghan Foreign Ministry, they said the talks “made progress on a roadmap toward initiating peace talks with Taliban groups.”

It said they hope to bring the two sides together for talks “aimed at reduction of violence and establishing lasting peace in Afghanistan and the region.”

The four-nation group “called on all Taliban groups to enter into early talks with the Afghan government,” and agreed to meet again in Islamabad on February 6.

The insurgents are not represented at the talks. An official close to the process said that another two “preparatory” meetings are expected to take place.

“There are different opinions about the methodologies and approaches in resuming these talks,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

The roadmap would include “who do they want to talk to, on what timetable, what incentives are to be offered, and what kind of action will be taken with those people who want to talk and those who do not want to talk,” the official said.

“The meetings are part of a threestep process,” said Abdul Hakim Mujahid of Kabul’s High Peace Council, tasked with ending the war. Mujahid also served in the Taliban’s 1996-2001 administration.

“The first step is to formulate a roadmap, the second is to invite the armed opposition to the negotiating table and the last step is the implementation of the peace plan,” Mujahid told The Associated Press.

Kabul held direct talks with the Taliban for the first time last summer in Islamabad, but that process collapsed after Afghanistan announced that longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had died more than two years ago in Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary represented Pakistan at the meeting, Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah had confirmed.

Afghan Foreign Ministry Spokes-

Sharif in his meeting with Saudi royals on Monday urged the Kingdom to resolve its differences with Iran peacefully, Radio Pakistan reported.

The premier said Pakistan is following a policy of promoting brotherhood among members of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), adding that confrontation between Muslim nations damages the larger interest of the Ummah.

PM Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif arrived in Riyadh Monday to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran amid growing fears that a prolonged confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia could have serious consequences for the region.

After arrival, General Raheel Sharif also held a meeting with the Saudi defense minister, said a statement from ISPR. The premier and army chief, earlier traveled to Saudi Arabia in the same plane, and were to later visit Tehran in an attempt to persuade the two rivals to de-escalate and resolve their disputes diplomatically.

They are accompanied by National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Janjua and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.

The prime minister will meet Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on

Jan 19 at the Presidential Palace, said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

On the same day, the statement said, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will travel to Zurich to attend the World Economic Forum being held in Davos.

“Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will lead a high-level delegation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran on Jan 18-19 to exchange views on regional and international issues,” said an official statement released by the Foreign Office on Sunday.

With the army chief in the delegation, the visit has assumed added importance and it is hoped that Pakistan would make a serious attempt to defuse tension between the two countries, Dawn newspaper reported.

“Pakistan is deeply concerned at the recent escalation of tension between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The prime minister has called for resolution of differences through peaceful means, in the larger interest of Muslim unity, particularly during these challenging times,” added the official release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

It further said that Pakistan had consistently advocated the policy of promoting brotherhood among member states of the Organization

of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The Foreign Office said in its statement that Pakistan enjoyed cordial and brotherly relations with both the countries, which were characterized by strong bonds of affinity, mutual respect and solidarity, and drew strength from shared historical, cultural and Islamic values.

Although, the two countries have been on the opposing sides for a long time, on matters relating to the Middle East or international issues, Riyadh and Tehran have of late become quite aggressive against each other.

The execution earlier this month of Saudi dissident Sheikh Nimr Baqir Al Nimr, who was a fierce critic of the royal family, sparked tensions bordering almost on hostility between the two countries.

Riyadh snapped diplomatic relations with Tehran after its embassy in Iran was ransacked by protesters.

With Pakistan embroiled in its own fight against terrorism, the sudden spike in rivalry between its two friendly countries put additional strains on the civil and military leadership.

Analysts regard the leadership’s diplomatic initiative a wise step to help Riyadh and Tehran prevent the current tensions from taking a hazardous turn which could endanger peace of the entire region.

Pervez Musharraf Acquitted in Akbar Bugti Murder Case

Quetta: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta acquitted on Monday former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the case of the murder of Jamhoori Watan Party leader Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed in a military operation in 2006.

The court also acquitted two others, former federal home minister Aftab Khan Sherpao and, former provincial home minister Shoaib Nosherwani.

During the hearing, the court rejected the request by Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, to order exhumation of his father’s body to ensure that it was that of the late Bugti.

Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed along with his 26 comrades during an operation in the mountains of Dera Bugti in August, 2006. Musharraf, who was president at the time, had directed the military operation.

Musharraf had constituted a feder-

al negotiation team headed by Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the late Makhdoom Amin Faheem in March 2005 that held numerous meetings with Nawab Bugti.

In January 2015, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) indicted Musharraf in the case of the murder of the Jamhoori Watan Party leader. Two other accused

– former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and Balochistan’s former home minister Shoaib Ahmed Nausherwani – were also indicted.

In December 2015, Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, son of the slain Baloch chieftain revealed that Musharraf had sent an apology through his lawyer and urged Jamil to accept the killing of Akbar Bugti as God’s will.

“Our stance is clear. We won’t accept anyone’s apology regarding Nawab Bugti’s murder,” Jamil told the media during Nawab Bugti murder case hearing in the Anti-Terrorist Court.

“During today’s hearing Musharraf ’s lawyer asked me to meet him personally, but I refused and told him to discuss all issues before the court.”

However, Jamil urged the court to include the negotiation team constituted by Musharraf as witness in the investigations to know what precisely Musharraf ’s message was.

www.PakistanLink.com

man Shekib Mostaghni said the meeting would be attended by the same officials that met in Islamabad last week: Afghanistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai, US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard G. Olson, his Chinese counterpart Deng Xijun and the Pentagon’s senior envoy to Pakistan, Lt. Gen. Anthony Rock.

The first round of the “roadmap” talks was held in Islamabad last week as the four nations try to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban. During the meeting, Sartaj Aziz proposed four points to help guide the reconciliation process: • Creating conditions to incentivize the Taliban to move away from using violence to pursue political goals and come to the negotiating table • Sequencing actions and measures appropriately to pave the way for direct talks with the Taliban • Using confidence-building measures to encourage Taliban groups to join the negotiating table • A realistic and flexible roadmap which broadly defines steps and phases ─ but avoids unrealistic targets and deadlines ─ is important for charting the course of action At last week’s talks in Islamabad, Javid Faisal, deputy spokesman to the Afghan Chief Executive, said Pakistan would unveil a list of Taliban members who are ready for talks, but no names have so far been released and Sartaj Aziz has refused to say whether Pakistan is in possession of such a list.

Analysts caution that any substantive talks or reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban are still a long way off.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan this winter, when fighting usually abates, underscoring a worsening security situation.

Last week, the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad was the target of an hours-long gun and bomb siege. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State group which has battled the Taliban for leadership of the insurgency in Nangarhar province.

Late Sunday a rocket launched by the militants landed very close to the Italian embassy compound. The foreign ministry in Rome reported no casualties and said it was unsure if their compound was the target.

Observers say the intensifying insurgency highlights a push by the militants to seize more territory in an attempt to wrangle greater concessions during talks.

ADVERTISEMENT

P12 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

PAKISTAN

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P13

PPP Grabs Powers to Grant ‘Prosecution Immunity’ as Opposition Members Protest

Opposition lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly on Friday chant slogans against the passage of the bill that amended the provincial criminal prosecution law

Karachi: Amid a full-throated

opposition protest, the Pakistan Peoples Party managed to pass a key amendment bill in the Sindh Assembly on Friday, empowering its government to “withdraw from the prosecution” of any person being tried by any court before the final judgment of the case, or cases, against him/her.

After gubernatorial assent to the Sindh Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, functions and powers) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the provincial government, through its prosecutor general, will not only be able to discharge any accused but also take disciplinary action against any investigator and call record from any law enforcement agency.

Although the government claimed that it amended the 2009 criminal prosecution law to comply with the decisions of the superior judiciary, it is widely believed that the new amendments would benefit the ruling party as well as its key leaders and certain bureaucrats, most of whom are facing corruption probes against them.

While the bill was on the order of the day only for introduction, Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro tabled a motion for suspension of relevant rules for the consideration of the bill which was put to the house for a voice vote by Deputy Speaker Syeda Shehla Raza, who was chairing the session.

Opposition members launched a noisy protest over the motion and led by Leader of the Opposition in

the Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izharul-Hasan, gathered before the rostrum of the speaker, tore up copies of the bill and chanted ‘No, No’.

But the house passed the amendment bill after three readings of the 11-clause document were completed in a few minutes.

The government inserted a new section, Section 9-A, in the Sindh Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, functions and powers) Act 2009 through which it empowered the prosecutor general — a lawyer appointed by the provincial government — to issue guidelines not only to his subordinate prosecutors but also to “officers responsible for investigation” for effective and efficient prosecution.

However, it appears that legal eagles of the provincial government carefully crafted the term “officers responsible for investigation” to bring Rangers officials under the administrative control of the PPP government through its prosecutor general.

Under Section 9-A(e), the government empowered a prosecutor to “withdraw, with the consent of the Court, from the prosecution of any person either generally or in respect of anyone or more of the offences for which he is being tried”.

However, according to Section 9-A(e)(iii) of the bill, the prosecutor, or prosecutor general, have to obtain prior approval of the government for withdrawing cases “triable by the special courts and at any stage of a trial before any trial court subordinate to the High Court be-

fore the judgment is passed, the prosecutor general or any prosecutor specifically authorized by him, may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, inform the court on behalf of Government that the prosecutor shall not prosecute the accused upon the charge and thereupon all proceedings against the accused shall be stayed and he shall be discharged of and from the same: provided that such discharge shall not amount to an acquittal unless the court directs otherwise”.

Another amendment inserted in the 2009 law empowered the prosecutor general to replace any prosecutor from any court in the name of ‘distribution of work’. The amendment reads: “The prosecutor general or any prosecutor authorized by him shall distribute work to the prosecutors in the Supreme Court, High Court, Federal Shariat Court or a Special Court, Tribunal established under any law”.

Opposition leader says govt. wants to withdraw cases:After the session, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar told reporters that the hasty adoption of the bill suggested that the government wanted to withdraw some cases.

When asked whether he was referring to the cases against former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain, he said now the government could withdraw any case against anyone.

He said the government could also remove any honest prosecutor from any case and appoint a prosecutor of its choice.

Qaim Says New Law Will Strengthen Prosecution Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed

Qaim Ali Shah defended the passage of a key amendment bill in the provincial assembly on Saturday that empowered it to “withdraw from the prosecution” of any accused facing trial in a court.

He claimed the bill was passed in line with the apex committee’s recommendations.

The Pakistan Peoples Party passed the amendment bill in the Sindh Assembly on Friday, empowering its government to “withdraw from the prosecution” any person being tried by any court before the final judgment of the case, or cases, against him/her.

“The amendment to the criminal prosecution law has been made in the light of the apex committee decisions,” he said. “This is very simple that the prosecution has been strengthened.

Apart from that, the prosecutor would

be able to withdraw the allegation when he would find them without substance not only on his own but with the consent of the court. Hue and cry is being made just to make the headlines.”

The chief minister argued that the recent amendment was made to

enhance the conviction rate by the antiterrorism courts, which stood at 10 per cent. The government effort would not only improve the conviction ratio but also lead to better prosecution.

“When our government had taken over, the budget for law and order was Rs14 billion and now it stands at Rs60 billion,” he said. “This is because we have not only increased the salaries of policemen but have also enhanced the compensation for heirs of martyrs just to inculcate the spirit of confidence and motivation among the policemen and other law enforcement agencies personnel.”

He said the government had given special attention to the capacity building of the police force while upgrading training centers and acquiring services of army officers to train policemen.

www.PakistanLink.com

India Plans Laser Walls along Border with Pakistan

A laser wall is a mechanism to detect objects passing the line of sight between the laser source and the detector

Delhi: India plans to cover the Pak-

istan-India border in Punjab with laser walls to prevent cross-border infiltration, according to NDTV. “All these riverine stretches located in Punjab will be covered by the laser wall technology developed

by Border Security Force (BSF) to completely eliminate the chances of breach of the international border

by Pakistan-based terror groups,” a Home Ministry official said.

As of now only five to six of around 40 vulnerable unfenced stretches along the Pakistan-India border in Punjab are covered by laser walls. A laser wall detects objects passing the line of sight between the laser source and the detector. A laser beam over a river sets off a loud siren in case of a breach.

The suspected infiltration point of Ujj river in Bamiyal allegedly used by the six Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists before storming the Pathankot air base was not covered by a laser wall, the report said. A camera to keep watch

over the 130-metrer river bed was in place but was not recording.

Before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pathankot air base on January 9 last week, BSF covered this stretch by putting up a laser wall.

There are BSF posts on either side of the river in Bamiyal with a personnel on each post keeping a watch on the river day and night.

Last year, the Indian border guarding force had started erecting laser walls on unfenced riverine stretches of international border in Jammu sector. The area is also lit up with high mast lights.

There is speculation that the six JeM terrorists might have walked through the dry river bed at night and BSF personnel might have missed them.

Following the attack in Pathankot, additional personnel have been deployed along the border in Punjab and boat patrolling has been intensified, particularly during night.

Dozens of Militants Surrender in North Waziristan Peshawar: Nearly 80 militants from the North Waziristan region surrendered to government forces on Friday in a rare move that follows a dip in Taliban violence in Pakistan, sources involved in the deal said.

“I believe this is the beginning and many more will follow them if the surrendered militants are given amnesty,” one tribal leader said, noting the surrender might worsen internal rifts among the militants.

The men came from a militia led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful leader in North Waziristan, who has links the Haqqani network, the most high-profile threat to US forces in Afghanistan.

Bahadur has traditionally fought Afghan and NATO forces across the nearby Afghan border rather than Pakistani troops. A deputy of his, Halim Khan, was reportedly involved in the negotiations. “(Khan) was already in good books of the authorities as he used to avoid attacking the security forces in his native Razmak subdivision,” said one of the members of the jirga, a traditional tribal gathering.

The surrender follows a dip in overall Taliban violence in Pakistan, partly caused by an anti-Taliban military offensive in North Waziristan launched in June 2014.

But Saifullah Mahsud of the Islamabad-based think-thank FATA Research Center cautioned against overplaying the significance of any surrender or any hope that it might weaken the Haqqani Network, which the US government has said has ties to elements in the Pakistani security forces.

“These groups have never been fighting Pakistani forces anyway,” he said. “I wouldn’t say the Haqqani’s position is weakened.”

Cleric Arrested for Inciting Boy Lahore: Police arrested an imam for inciting violence after a 15-yearold boy, who was reported to have been mistakenly accused of blasphemy, cut off his own hand.

The cleric, Shabbir Ahmed, last Monday told worshippers at a village mosque that those who love the Prophet Mohammad always say their prayers, before asking who among the crowd had stopped praying, according to local police chief Nausher Ahmed.

Mohammad Anwar, 15, BOY, P28

ADVERTISEMENT

P14 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

PAKISTAN

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P15

Sharmeen Wins Nomination, India out of Oscars Race

Karachi: Film-maker Sharmeen

Obaid-Chinoy has bagged yet another Oscar nomination while all Indian entries have been ruled out of the race.

Her documentary A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness has been nominated in the short subject category of best documentary for the 88th Academy Awards.

The announcement was made on Thursday evening by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The prestigious ceremony is due to take place on February 28, 2016.

Sharmeen has previously won an Oscar for her documentary Saving Face at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in 2012, bringing home Pakistan’s first Academy Award. She is one of only eleven female directors who have ever won an Oscar for a non-fiction film.

The film follows the story of an eighteen-year-old girl, a rare survivor of an honor killing attempt, who falls in love and lives to tell the tale.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated her for the nomination. According to a statement issued by the PM office, he expressed the government’s commitment to rid Pakistan of the evil of honor killings by implementing appropriate legislation.

On the other hand, regional Indian films Court, Jalam, RangiTaranga and Nachom-ia Kumpasar that were vying for a spot in different categories of the awards couldn’t make the cut this year, reported IANS. India has never won an Oscar, even though Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India were nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category in the past.

Though none of the Indian films could make it to the list, Indian-

Sharmeen brought home Pakistan’s first Academy Award for her 2012 documentary Saving Face

American Pixar artist and director Sanjay Patel’s animated short film Sanjay’s Super Team managed to get nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category.

Sharmeen is one of only eleven female directors who have ever won an Oscar for a non-fiction film. Inspired by her courage and the countless victims of honor crimes in Pakistan, she has also launched an Anti-Honor Killing Campaign, The Price of Forgiveness.

Meanwhile, the prime minister invited Sharmeen to the PM House for the first screening of her Oscarnominated film, a statement said.

The country’s leading opinion makers from different segments of society, academics, and intellectuals will also be invited to the screening.

Sharmeen has also charmed her way into legendary Hollywood actress Meryl Streep’s heart with songs from her feature documentary, Song of Lahore.

The three time Academy Award

winning actress was seen swaying to the music performed live by Sachal Music, following the screening of Sharmeen’s documentary in New York.

PTI Orders ISPs to Unblock YouTube

Karachi: The Pakistan Telecommu-

nication Authority (PTA) on Monday formally issued directives to all internet service providers (ISPs) to remove viewing barriers from YouTube, the most popular videostreaming website.

The website’s Pakistani domain has already been online for the past couple of days as part of a trial run, a PTA official told The Express Tribune.

“They have blocked the unwanted content which was the YOUTUBE, P28

Punjab IT Board Removes APS Attack Video Game after Uproar Islamabad: A video game based on the Peshawar Taliban school massacre of more than 150 people, mostly children, was removed Monday after triggering a social media uproar, with critics blasting it as tasteless.

The game, called “Pakistan Army Retribution”, was released by the Punjab IT board on Google Play, and invited the player to step into the shoes of a soldier shooting extremists in the hallways of a school.

It was inspired by the country’s deadliest ever insurgent attack that saw nine Taliban gunmen storm a school in Peshawar, shooting students and teachers in cold blood and occupying the school for hours until they were killed by the army.

But after an article on Dawn.com criticized the game, social media users lambasted its makers for exploiting the tragedy.

“Bizarre and distasteful,” user Shaheryar Mirza wrote.

“Play the APS game on Android, kill the bad guys, empathy and good taste in one go,” wrote Fasi Zaka, referring to the Army Public School that was targeted in the grisly attack.

The Punjab Information Technology Board, a government body aggressively promoting digital innovation in the province, offered a mea culpa on Twitter.

“The APS game has been removed.

The video was removed Monday after triggering a social media uproar. Photo: Google Play Store

It was in poor taste,” its head Dr Umar Saif wrote.

“It wasn’t very well done and it was in poor taste,” he said. “In hindsight it was not a good thing to do.”

Saif, in an interview to Guardian Newspaper, said Pakistan Army Retribution was just one of dozens of videos, jingles and social media items commissioned as part of a Peaceful Pakistan campaign intended to build on national revulsion over the APS attack.

“APS was a watershed for Pakistan so we had the idea of using it as a theme to promote peace, tolerance and harmony,” he said. “The plan was to show children that the best weapons are the pen and the book.”

The game was produced by an independent company that had “misunderstood the brief ”, Saif said.

“We tried to the use the campaign to galvanize support for peaceful Pakistan but I guess we messed up with this particular game.”

Background: In an attempt to honor the valor of Pakistan Army soldiers, the Punjab IT Board last month released an Android game themed on the Peshawar Army Public School attack in December 2014.

This first-person shooter (FPS) game titled ‘Pakistan Army Retribution’ is based on the tragedy, when terrorists massacred 144 pupils in what was the country’s most brutal terror attack.

www.PakistanLink.com

Pakistan Asked to Extend Afghan Refugee Status until 2017

Madrassa Reforms: Punjab Closes only Two Suspected Seminaries

New York: The Pakistani government

Islamabad: A year after the government announced plans to register and reform madrassas as part of the National Action Plan (NAP), the ruling party is apparently shying away from taking action against the seminaries with ties to militants while the subject of reforms is yet to be broached.

According to an official document shared with the lower house of parliament recently, the government said that Punjab had closed only two madrassas despite having well over 10,000 seminaries. On the other hand, Sindh, which followed a ‘zero tolerance policy’, has shut down 167 seminaries which were suspected of having links with militants.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rules in coalition with the Jamaat-eIslami and the Qaumi Watan Party, as many as 13 madrassas were shut down.

Under the 20-point NAP, which was unanimously adopted following the 2014 terrorist attack on the Army Public School Peshawar, the government had decided to reform madrassa education, in addition to launching a program to register and regulate every seminary in the country and to crack down on those which have ties to militants.

One year later, while the interior ministry has some details on efforts to map seminaries, it remains silent on the monitoring and regulation measures. The subject of reforms, however, has been left untouched.

According to the report, Punjab has completed the extensive and exhaustive work of mapping 13,782 seminaries in the province. Sindh and Balochistan lag far behind, having completed only 60 per cent of the exercise.

Interestingly, while the government had intricate details on seminaries in Punjab, it failed to provide similar figures for Sindh or Balochistan beyond a percentage for how far along the process was. Worse still, the government provided no figures, even a completion percentage, for K-P. Punjab has most seminaries: Providing a breakup of the 13,000 seminaries in Punjab, government figures showed that most of the madrassas were located in the south of the province, while Multan had the largest concentration of seminaries among the cities.

North Punjab had approximately 2,000 seminaries while 4,000 are located in central Punjab. A majority, around 7,000 madrassas, were located in south Punjab hosting around 70 per cent of all seminary students in the province.

Of the cities, Multan topped the list with 1,108 seminaries, followed closely by Lahore with 1,102 seminaries.

South Punjab cities of Muzaffargarh and Rahm Yar Khan followed with 900 and 811 seminaries respectively. Faisalabad had 483 madrassas while Sargodha had 433.

A sect-wise distribution of the seminaries showed that most schools followed the Barelvi school of thought with 6,606 madrassas (3,656 registered and 2,950 unregistered) aligning themselves with the sect. It was followed by the Deobandi sect with 6,106 seminaries (30,92 registered and 3,014 unregistered) across the province.

should reduce rights violations against Afghan refugees by extending their legal residency status until at least December 31, 2017, Human Rights Watch has said. On January 12, 2016, the government extended registered Afghan refugees’ Proof of Residency (PoR) cards until June 30, 2016.

“Pakistan’s six-month residency extension reduces Afghan refugees’ insecurity, but the government also needs to stop police abuse of refugees,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director. “A two-year extension both sends the message that refugees shouldn’t be pressured to go home and would give officials time to work out resettlement to third countries and other longer-term solutions.”

The temporary extension of the PoR cards, which officially recognize their holders’ status as “Afghan citizen[s] temporarily residing in Pakistan,” is a relief to the country’s 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees whose existing PoR cards had expired on December 31, 2015. However, the sixmonth extension falls far short of the end-2017 date recommended by the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON).

That insecurity is exacerbated by implicit and explicit threats by Pakistani officials over the past year, saying that after the expiration of their PoR cards, their holders become “illegal aliens and have no right to stay [in Pakistan].”

Pakistan is host to one of the largest displaced populations in the world.

The 2.5 million Afghan refugees, which according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) include an estimated 1 million undocumented Afghans living in Pakistan as of November 2015, consist of many who fled conflict and repression in Afghanistan during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and their descendants.

Wasim Gets Pre-arrest Bail Extension till Feb 1 Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) extended on Monday the interim pre-arrest bail granted earlier to Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s mayor-nominee Wasim Akhtar in a case relating to rioting and violation of the loudspeaker act.

Headed by Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh, the bench extended the bail till February 1, 2016. The MQM leader, nominated as the party’s candidate for Karachi mayor, had moved court to seek bail after an anti-terrorism court issued nonbailable warrants for his arrest as the police had declared him an absconder in the case.

Last November, the Soldier Bazaar police had booked several MQM leaders and workers for allegedly holding a rally without permission near the Quaid’s mausoleum, blocking roads, misusing loudspeakers and rioting in protest over Rangers’ raids against them.

The prosecution alleged that MQM activists had staged a rally and sit-in when police stopped the party members from marching towards Jinnah Courts, headquarters of the Sindh Rangers. They were booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 6/7 of the Sindh Sound (Regulation) Act, 2015, commonly known as the loudspeaker act.

ADVERTISEMENT

P16 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

COMMUNITY

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P17

Community Link Friday, January 22, 2016

VOL. 26/4 PAGE 18

PAGE PAGE20 17

PAGE 19 egum PAGE

Tax Season Starts January 19, 2016

11 Rabi ‘u-thani 1437 H

US Student Wears Hijab to Experience Challenges

Interview with Senior Kashmiri Leader

For news, updated round the clock, visit

www.PakistanLink.com

MGYW’s 2015 Annual Banquet: It’s All about Women Empowerment

Glimpses of the MGYW 2015 Annual Banquet

n By Farhana Mohamed, MBA, PhD Pictures by Shazia Ali & Ashraf Ali

T

he Pakistani American Forum - Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW) recently held its annual fundraising banquet in Southern California.

The program was emceed by young lawyer Madiha Shahabuddin.

It started with the acknowledgement of event sponsors (Pakistan Link, Safeer-e-Pakistan, Infinity Care, MONA, and Islamic Relief USA), generous donors, Board Members, and volunteers for their support.

The Qur’anic recitation was done by

Mohammad Rafay. It was followed by the introduction of Mayor Pro Tem Ali Sajjad Taj, City of Artesia, by MGYW Board President Zille Huma Zaman.

Mayor Pro Tem Taj delivered an inspiring address spotlighting the importance of educating underprivileged young women of Pakistan. He also urged guests to donate generously to the noble cause. Prominent community activist Mahomed Akbar Khan was introduced by Emcee Madiha Shahabuddin to present a Certificate of Recognition to MGYW on behalf of US Congressman Ed Royce (CA-39).

Keynote Speaker, Dr Sana U. Khan, an accomplished radiologist

and a philanthropist, was introduced

by Board Member Tasneem Afzal.

Dr Khan, who had returned from performing Umra a day ago, elaborated how image of book on MGYW logo connected to importance of education. He mentioned that the first word that was revealed on Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was “Iqra” (read). While importance of education is not gender-specific in Islam, he correlated the crucial role educated mothers play in upbringing and providing education to their children. He also gave examples of how small contributions can bring about a positive change.

These succinct speeches were followed by Dr Farhana Mohamed’s

www.PakistanLink.com

presentation highlighting MGYW’s accomplishments and new projects undertaken during the preceding year. Some of the significant projects included Karachi Grants, Haripur Transportation, Pindi/Sagri District Graduation Incentive, Karachi Gift Pack, Hamida Shaukat Ali Girls School, Kot Shera, Punjab, and collaboration with PFOWA for supporting education of daughters of low-income Pak Foreign Office employees.

In addition, she mentioned MGYW partnership with distinguished NGOs, which benefited girls belonging to low-income families throughout Pakistan.

The fundraising segment was conducted by Shaista Khan, assisted

by Board Members. She motivated the guests to make generous donations toward various MGYW projects. The musical entertainment was lead by Ashraf Ali who emceed the segment as well as presented a popular national song on stage accompanied by Dr Sana Khan and MGYW Board. Throughout the event, talented Arshad and Shazia Ali enchanted the audience with contemporary popular songs and oldies.

The program was memorable in all aspects and the MGYW Board Members who made tremendous efforts for its success included Tasneem Afzal, Sufia Altaf, Iram Iqbal, Bina Kamdar, Shaista Khan, Farhana Mohamed and Zille Huma Zaman.

COMMUNITY

P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

Tax Season Starts January 19, 2016 and Ends April 18, 2016

T

he Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 crossed the hurdle in both the House and the Senate and was signed into law by President Obama on December 18, 2015 approving a $1.1 trillion spending measure which will not only extend a number of important tax provisions, but will also make several of them permanent.

The following provisions were extended and modified through 2019: • Bonus depreciation at 50 percent for 2015-2017 and phased down to 40 percent in 2018 and 30 percent in 2019.

• The Work Opportunity Tax Credit, modified and enhanced for employers who hire long-term unemployed individuals (unemployed for 27 weeks or more) to

R

osemead, CA: Attention high school seniors. Don’t miss your chance to earn a $40,000 scholarship.

n By Rafique S.M. Ahmed

Some of the provisions made permanent include business research and development, small business expenses, individual deductions for state and local sales taxes, and financing rules for multinational corporations. The legislation also ends a 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports and is intended to create more jobs, more opportunity, and more economic growth.

The new tax season will commence on January 19, 2016. The Internal Revenue Service will begin processing electronically submitted individual returns that day.

Manually prepared returns mailed to the IRS will not be processed prior to January 19. The IRS is expecting to process more than 150 million individual returns in 2016 with 80% filed electronically. The filing deadline to submit 2015 tax returns was extended to April 18, 2016 from April 15 mainly due to Washington DC celebrating Emancipation Day on April 15, 2016.

“We look forward to opening the 2016 tax season on time,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen recently announced. “Our employees have been working hard throughout this year to make this happen timely and would appreciate the help from the nation’s tax professionals and the software community to helping taxpayers during the filing season.”

The following deductions, credits and other tax provisions were made permanent in the above legislation: • The Research & Development credit • Increased expensing limitations and treatment of certain real property as Section 179 property • The exclusion of 100% of gain on certain small business stock • Reduction in S corporation recognition period for built-in gains tax • The enhanced Child Tax Credit • The enhanced American Opportunity Tax Credit • The enhanced Earned Income Tax Credit • The deduction for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers • Parity for exclusion from income for employerprovided mass transit and parking benefits • The deduction of state and local general sales taxes • The special rule for contributions of capital gain real property made for conservation purposes • Tax-free distributions from individual retirement plans for charitable purposes • The charitable deduction for distribution of food inventory • The tax treatment of certain payments to controlling exempt organizations • Basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property • The employer wage credit for employees who are active duty members of the uniformed services; 15-year straight-line cost recovery for qualified leasehold improvements, qualified restaurant buildings and improvements and qualified retail improvements • The treatment of certain dividends of regulated investment companies • The Subpart F exception for active financing income • The minimum low-income housing tax credit rates for non-federally subsidized buildings • The military housing allowance exclusion for determining whether a tenent in certain counties is lowincome, and • Regulated investment company qualified investment entity treatment under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act.

February 1 Deadline Approaches for the $1.2 Million Edison Scholars Program

40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages.

• The New Markets Tax Credit, providing $3.5-billion allocation each year through 2019, the carryover period for the credit has also been extended to 2024.

The following Tax provisions are revived and extended through 2016: • Modification of the exclusion of mortgage debt discharge.

• Mortgage insurance premiums trated as qualified residence interest.

• The above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses, and • Over a dozen incentives for energy production and conservation.

The following are the other significant changes in the tax landscape of 2015 which may affect your tax returns: • The Affordable Care Act or popularly known as Obamacare will continue to bring in new surprises to both taxpayers and tax preparers since the ACA is being implemented in phases.

• Foreign earned income exclusion for 2015 increased to $100,800.

• Personal and Dependent Exemption amount increased to $4,000 and is subject to phase-out if income exceeds specified amounts.

• Social Security Tax will be computed at 6.2% up to a maximum wage limit of $118,500.

• Standard mileage rate for business use of vehicle increased to 57.5 cents per mile. No change in rate for charitable use. However, the rate for medical care and move of residence reduced to 0.23 cents per mile.

(Rafique S.M. Ahmed is a professional Tax Accountant. He has been providing accounting and tax services in California for more than thirty-five years. He is also an Authorized IRS Electronic Filing Provider. His office, Automated Tax & Financial Services, is located at 1109 Via Verde, San Dimas, California 91773. Rafique Ahmed can be reached at (909)599-1412or (909)599-1414)

A Capitol Hill Internship Program for American Muslims

Interested in politics? Want to spend two months on Capitol Hill in DC? Looking to network with Congressional representatives?

Walk the halls of Congress with Senators, Congressman and policy makers, gain an understanding of the policy making process from an insider’s perspective, and interact with a network of thousands of interns from across the nation who are also passionate about social change.

Apply now. Applications are due Monday, January 25th.

www.PakistanLink.com

Seniors dreaming of becoming engineers and planning to study science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) in college have until Feb. 1 to apply for Edison International’s $1.2 million Edison Scholars Program.

Thirty high school students in Southern California Edison’s service territory will each be awarded a $40,000 scholarship from Edison International, the parent company of SCE. Since 2006, 520 students have received $5.3 million in scholarships.

“We strongly encourage high school seniors from SCE’s service area who will be pursuing STEM studies in college to apply for the Edison scholarship,” said Tammy Tumbling, SCE’s director of Philanthropy and Community Investment. “We know that the costs associated with STEM education are high and can be a deterrent for underserved, low-income students.

That’s why we offer 30 scholarships — so we can help a greater number of students realize their dreams.”

Applicants must have a 3.0 GPA or above and either live in or attend public or private high schools in SCE’s service area. High school seniors must demonstrate financial need and plan to be a full-time undergraduate student

majoring in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, industrial engineering, computer sciences/info system, environmental engineering or environmental sciences at a four-year college or university.

Students from underserved communities and ethnic minorities are especially encouraged to apply.

To apply and get additional eligibility information, students are encouraged to go to: scholarsapply. org/edisonscholars.

Scholarship recipients will be announced in April. Edison Scholars may also be eligible for summer internships at SCE after completing their second year of college.

Edison International’s support of charitable causes such as the Edison Scholars Program is funded entirely by Edison International shareholders. SCE customers’ utility bill payments do not fund company donations. In addition, dependents of Edison International and SCE employees are not eligible for the Edison Scholars Program.

About Southern California Edison: An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 5 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

CAIR-LA’s New President

O

n behalf of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area office (CAIR-LA), we’d like to congratulate the newly elected president of the CAIR-LA Executive Committee, Dr Asif Harsolia, says a press release. It adds: The Executive Committee serves as a local board that oversees the work of the CAIR-LA office.

Asif R. Harsolia, MD formerly served as the Vice President of CAIR-LA’s Executive Committee.

He has a history of activism in the American Muslim community, and has previously served in leadership and volunteer positions with various nonprofits. Professionally, he is a board-certified cancer specialist in Radiation Oncology.

Originally from Michigan, Dr Harsolia obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Michigan Medical School. Later, he successfully completed his residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan where he had the privilege of training with some of the world’s top specialists in the field of radiation oncology. He is a practicing partner with the Memorial Radiation Oncology Medical Group in Orange County and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, Irvine on the Volunteer Faculty. He currently lives in Irvine with his wife and three children.

Says Dr Harsolia: “The CAIR team in LA is made up of a truly talented and sincerely dedicated group of staff and volunteers and it

is a privilege and honor to be able to work with them. I have always been impressed with the mission and nature of CAIR’s work and in these turbulent times, I think this work has never been more vital…

“Together, I honestly believe we can make a real difference in helping our fellow Americans to better understand the Muslim community and the beautiful and peaceful Islam that we all know and love rather than the absurd caricature of our faith that is currently being peddled by the worst elements of society.”

The CAIR-LA team would like to convey their sincerest appreciation and gratitude to former President Br. Yasir Mahar for his visionary leadership in guiding the organization during his tenure. “I’m extremely grateful to have been able to serve as President over the past 2+ years,” said Yasir Mahar.

COMMUNITY

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P19

Shura Council Booth at World Peace Conference

T

he Islamic Shura Council of Southern California in cooperation with ICNA/ WhyIslam participated in a Dawah and Outreach Booth at the Rotary World Peace Conference in Ontario, CA on January 15 and 16, 2016.

The conference drew more than 1,500 people of diverse faiths and ethnicity from across Southern California working together for world peace. Representing Muslims of Southern California, Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman of the Shura

Council, spoke about Islam and its core teachings at the conference.

Many guests visited the

Shura Council information table with their questions and curiosity about Islam, Muslims and global geopolitics. The Shura Council

volunteers answered their questions and also offered free translations of the Holy Qur’an in English and Spanish and various

pamphlets on myriad topics.

Several visitors also expressed their interest in inviting Muslim speakers to their respective places of worship, organizations and communities. Guests also received free informational and educational material on Islam, including more than 100 Qur’ans.

Shura Council urges the community to engage in similar outreach efforts to negate the prevalent toxic xenophobic rhetoric that is corroding the spirit of America.

Helping Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders #GetCovered by January 31 n By Tina Tchen and US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

W

hen Lusi Maumau’s husband changed jobs, they lost their health insurance. They went uninsured for months – scrimping and saving for a basic doctor’s visit and praying that no medical emergency would hit them.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, they were able to review their options with someone in their community and find a plan that worked for them. Lusi found a plan that provided the quality health care coverage her family needed, and was truly affordable.

Since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010, stories like Lusi’s have been repeated again and again. She and her husband are two of the nearly 18 million Americans who have gained health care coverage. And, if you still haven’t enrolled, the time to do so is now.

In spite of so much progress, too many of our fellow Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) lack health coverage and don’t see a doctor regularly. In fact, 1 in 4 AAPIs has not seen a doctor in the past year; among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, it’s only about 1 in 3. Under the Affordable Care Act, nearly two million uninsured AAPIs have gained access to health care options. However,

more than 200,000 people in our communities still don’t have the safety, security, and peace of mind that comes from being covered.

This week, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, housed within the US Department of Education, in collaboration with the Action for Health Justice collaborative, kicks off its third annual National AAPI Affordable Care Act Week of Action to urge AAPIs and others to #GetCovered. You have until January 31, 2016, to enroll through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

The Week of Action’s activities include a stakeholder call today; an #AAPIhealth Twitterstorm on Wednesday; and additional social media activity to share information, resources, and stories throughout the week. For the latest information and resources, including inlanguage materials, click here.

Lusi and her husband’s journey to getting

quality, affordable health care would not have been possible without in-person assistance.

In-person assisters, also known as navigators, are trained experts on the enrollment process.

Many of these experts speak multiple languages and are often community members themselves, helping individuals and their families sign up for the health insurance – many getting coverage for the first time.

For example, Wah Wah Kyaw is a Burmese American outreach worker at a nonprofit in Philadelphia. As a navigator, Wah Wah receives satisfaction in helping her clients obtain health care services and educating them about the benefits of health insurance. A refugee to the US, she works as a navigator because she wants to give back to her community by educating others about the importance of having health coverage.

Krishna Bista is a navigator who works

out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he encountered a woman at a Nepali store. After speaking with her, Krishna discovered that the woman did not have health insurance for herself or her baby. Krishna offered to assist her in enrolling and was able to submit the application within less than a week.

As a navigator, Krishna has seen many clients who have never made doctor’s appointments or dealt with medical bills, or knew how to apply for health insurance. Thankfully, Krishna is there to help.

Check out your options for coverage that meets your needs and budget at HealthCare. gov. You can also call 1-800-318-2596 FREE for help in nearly 250 languages, or find help in your community at LocalHelp.HealthCare. gov. The deadline to enroll is January 31, 2016.

Remember: health equity is a civil rights issue. It’s an AAPI community value. We can prevent so much death, disease and harm by taking better care of our health. And it starts with making sure you are covered.

(Dr Vivek Murthy is the United States Surgeon General and Vice Admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

He also serves as Co-Chair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Tina Tchen serves as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the First Lady)

US Student Wears Hijab to Experience Challenges Faced by Muslims

A

high-school Catholic student, Zion Lourdes Perez, wore a hijab on her way back home in Seattle, United States, as part of a “modesty week” program at school, exposing her to the everyday challenges faced by Muslim women. Feeling targeted, she tore off the hijab half way through her journey.

The 15-year-old, co-founder and president of the Muslim Students Association at Franklin High, shared her experience that she describes as “overwhelming”.

“I felt like people were staring at me, whipping around to look — really negative vibes, like I was some kind of threat or foreigner. When I tore it off, I was relieved. All I wanted was to blend in,” she said.

However, since Perez had intended to wear the hijab for a full week, and not just a few hours, the next day she put it on again.

“I have a whole new respect now. They really have to be strong. It takes tremendous courage to walk around wearing a hijab,” Perez said, referring to Muslim women.

Perez also took part in a workshop to honor the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, where she, and 40 other guests, spoke about Islamophobia. Of all the guests, there was only one white student, Samuel Aronwald.

A senior at the school, Aronwald shared his views saying, “I feel like this is a really large issue. Six months ago, I didn’t understand Muslim people.”

However, this changed when his interest in psychology made him think about the effect of being part of a stigmatized group.

He described Islam as “misunderstood”.

This change in Aronwald’s views inspired Perez to form the Muslim Students

www.PakistanLink.com

Association at Franklin High, which is only one of two in the Seattle School District.

“There wasn’t any place where they could connect with each other,” she said, adding, “I didn’t know much about Islam except what I saw in media. To accept other groups and cultures you have to understand them.”

Perez said wearing the hijab had been a curiosity at first, but seeing the reaction of people, she wanted to keep it on for the week to gain a deeper understanding of how these women are judged and treated.

She noted that after a few days, her friends stopped noticing.

Principal of the high-school Jennifer Wiley while speaking about Muslims students in her school, said: “They’re wrestling with really complex issues.” – The Express Tribune

COMMENTARY

P20 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

Interview with Senior Kashmiri Leader Raja Muzaffar

Is Kashmir Ready for Independence from India and Pakistan? n By Qaisar Abbas

The number of people, however, who support independence from India and Pakistan is growing every day and they have become a huge political force on both sides of Kashmir today.

Of all the solutions proposed so far, the former president of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf ’s four-point formula has been very popular. How do you analyze this formula as a Kashmiri?

A

gainst the backdrop of recently renewed talks between India and Pakistan and the historical baggage it carries with a series of failed rounds of negotiations in the last 60 years, it is hard to know how long the current round of congeniality would last.

If the dialogue continues this time, for sure Kashmir will be on top of the agenda, among other issues of terrorism, border security, trade, and cultural relations.

To Raja Muzaffar, a veteran Kashmiri leader who resides in California these days, the new level of trust between the prime ministers of both countries is a good omen and the people of Kashmir welcome these developments.

Muzaffer witnessed bifurcation of his homeland into two parts in his childhood dividing his family members on each side of the Line of Control (LoC) in the aftermath of the 1947 partition of the subcontinent.

In his view, however, the political landscape has drastically changed since then and people of Kashmir now overwhelmingly support the third option of independence from India and Pakistan.

“Unfortunately,” he says, “There are some elements in New Delhi and Islamabad with a mentality of expansionism, extremism and narrowmindedness,” and they are creating roadblocks in establishing a durable peace in the region.

The following interview with Raja Muzaffar reveals his candid analysis of the dispute with bold proposals to resolve it. Read on: You have been part of the freedom movement in Kashmir throughout your life. How did you get involved in this movement and why?

My family was influential in Uri (Baramulla District) which falls on the LoC and my uncle Pir Maqbool Gilani had a big role in my political training which led to my participation in the freedom struggle as a member of the Plebiscite Front. I moved to the Middle East in 1975 and returned back to Pakistan to be active as one of the founding leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

I held several offices in JKLF as its Secretary General, Senior Vice Chairman and Acting Chairman. When political differences between the two party leaders-Yasin Malik and Amanullah Khan intensified-I resigned from the party.

Struggling through the thick and thin of local and transnational dynamics of the time, we continued working for the freedom of our homeland. I have no regrets over my role in the political struggle, the psychological trauma we went through, the fights we won, and the mistakes we made.

Kashmir has become a tug-of-war between the two

The Indian government-according to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Mahmood Kasuri, was ready to negotiate the four-point formula. Musharraf ’s plan, although it was not a new idea, proposed to keep the current division of Kashmir, make the LoC a soft border and allow human exchange and trade on a limited basis. But no one consulted the people of Kashmir as a party to the dispute. In my view both Pakistan and India have to find an out-of-thebox solution which is acceptable to the people of Kashmir who support independence.

The ever changing wave of peace talks between Pakistan and India is once again on its peak. Prime Minister Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore in December seems to be opening new doors of negotiations. If talks resume, what should be the strategy to resolve the Kashmir dispute this time?

nuclear powers in South Asia: India and Pakistan. But people of Kashmir-the real stakeholders- are taken for granted, rarely considered as part of the dispute. What are the reasons behind this attitude?

People of Kashmir have been the target of conspiracies by a handful of people in Islamabad and New Delhi who have a mentality of expansionism, extremism and narrowmindedness. They are the real roadblocks in establishing peace in the region. The UN resolutions after the partition transformed the Kashmir dispute into a regional conflict between India and Pakistan. Humanistic issues of Jammu and Kashmir have never been important for policy makers of India and Pakistan. They have always curbed our right of selfdetermination which exposes their colonial and expansionist designs.

As it appears, there are three types of political forces in contemporary Kashmir: Pro-India, pro-Pakistan and those who seek independence from both. Which of these lines of thought are popular among the people of Kashmir?

Yes, it’s true there are three political camps in Kashmir.

As you know, Kashmir is on the agenda of the expected talks and we think this is a positive step for finding a solution to the dispute. Political leadership in Kashmir has welcomed it while they think they should also be an integral part of the discussion. I think both countries by now have realized that no solution is possible without the participation of Kashmir’s political leadership. So far, both sides seem to be serious this time and there is no reason to doubt that.

Within the context of historical baggage and the current environment in South Asia, do your foresee an agreeable solution to the Kashmir dispute in the near future?

In the current situation, terrorism is no more confined to a single nation as it has become a global threat. The rhetoric of religious and communal hatred in India and Pakistan has to be diminished by the leadership of both countries.

Forming a contact group comprising India, Pakistan and Kashmiri leaders could be a viable option for developing an innovative resolution of the dispute.

After suffering for so long, the people of Jammu and Kashmir are hungry for peace, freedom and development.

They will support a durable solution agreeable to all. I am hopeful that Kashmir will become the Switzerland of Asia and an adorable garden of peace in the near future.

(Qaisar Abbas, PhD, is a freelance writer, researcher and consultant on media strategies and grant development based in the United States. He can be reached at qaabbas@gmail. com)

Slain Muslim Students’ Families Fight Grief to Honor Legacy n By Jonathan Drew Raleigh, North Carolina: Shortly before they

were gunned down, a young Muslim couple was eating out with relatives when the conversation turned to anti-Islamic attitudes in the United States.

It was January 2015, months before the massacres in Chattanooga, Paris and San Bernardino, California. Deah Barakat and Yusor Abu-Salha had just gotten married and started living together in an apartment near the University of North Carolina.

When Barakat’s mother worried aloud that the family could be harmed because of their religion, “we were all laughing it off, like: ‘Nothing bad is going to happen. This is America,’” said Deah’s brother, Farris. “’Watch it happen,’” Farris Barakat recalled his sister-in-law saying. “’You guys won’t be laughing.’”

About 10 days later, the couple was killed in their apartment along with Yusor’s younger sister, Razan. A white neighbor, who described himself as an atheist and expressed disdain for religion, has been charged with capital murder.

The families believe the three were targeted because of their faith; the sisters’ father says federal prosecutors recently told him they are still considering charging the defendant, Craig

Hicks, with a hate crime.

The deaths of the three young Muslims lie at the intersection of themes that have gripped the American psyche in recent months: gun violence, attitudes toward Islam and the justice system’s handling of racially charged slayings.

Yet as the anniversary of the killings draw near, the victims’ families are channeling their grief elsewhere, into deeply personal philan-

thropic projects meant to honor them.

“Deah, Yusor and Razan were very good representatives of Muslim-Americans,” said Farris Barakat. “We’re not scary. We’re not ‘the other.’ And I think people should see that.”

The families see the charitable projects as a continuation of volunteer work the three victims were passionate about. It’s work that’s needed all the more, the grieving relatives say,

www.PakistanLink.com

since terror attacks in the US and Europe have ratcheted up anti-Muslim rhetoric, including calls to turn away Syrian refugees.

“There’s this concept in Islam called a continuous charity,” Farris Barakat said. “The idea is that your good deeds don’t have to end when you die.”

In August, Farris Barakat and his father, Namee, traveled to Turkey to complete a project that 23-year-old Deah Barakat had launched before his death: a dental clinic for Syrian refugees. Fifteen dentists and 40 or so other volunteers treated about 800 refugees, most of them children.

“These kids are in so much need, and it’s not by choice,” said Namee Barakat, a native of Syria who came to the US in the 1980s. “I cannot believe anyone would refuse these refugees” entry to the US. Reshaping negative attitudes about Muslims is a key goal of Farris Barakat’s charity, The Light House Project. He is renovating a house his brother owned in Raleigh to serve as a community center, host after-school programs and provide office space for charities including United Muslim Relief, which tackles poverty and related conditions in developing countries.

Scholarships have been created to honor LEGACY, P22

COMMENTARY n By Sanam Maher

“

Karachi, Pakistan

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21

Rise of Pakistan’s ‘Burger’ Generation

Burger”, once a pejorative that denoted someone young, spoilt, and rich, has evolved into a catchall phrase for a newlypoliticized youth who support Imran Khan’s PTI party

On the evening of April 24, 2015, Sabeen Mahmud, the director of The Second Floor, a beloved cafe and communal space in Karachi, was shot and killed.

Mahmud’s murder, and the resounding question of who was responsible, made news within and outside Pakistan. Less than a month later, the authorities announced that they had a culprit: a 27-year-old man named Saad Aziz.

For many, Aziz seemed to be the unlikeliest of suspects. Media reports painted him as a mildmannered man who had graduated from a reputable Karachi business school with good grades, the father of a baby girl, and a restaurant owner who loved football.

He was “a burger kid”, explained one unnamed friend interviewed by the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune at the time of Aziz’s arrest. “He was funny, acted in plays and danced.”

In Pakistan, the label “burger kid” is a loaded one.

“The implications of being a ‘burger’ are that you are spoiled, and detached from what is going on in the country,” says Monis Rahman, 45, the founder of Rozee.pk, Pakistan’s biggest online jobs portal.

“A burger lives in a cocoon and is enamored by things outside of Pakistan - by the West,” Rahman explains. The word is often used to describe well-to-do Pakistanis who may have American or British-tinged accents after years spent studying or working outside Pakistan, he says.

“Fully dressed with matching accessories even for 8am classes at university, they always own the latest in fashion, cars and gadgets,” is another definition suggested by The Express Tribune. “Their ‘parties’ mimic nightclubs in foreign countries since the poor souls don’t have any clubs here and have to recreate the experience on their own.”

Despite the connotations, being a burger in Pakistan has value, Rahman says.

“People who have stronger English-speaking skills and more international exposure are valued higher in the jobs market.”

Since 2013, there has been a slow but steady evolution of the term “burger” beyond its pejorative context.

That year, Pakistanis voted in the first general elections in which power was transferred from one democratically elected government to another.

Former cricketer Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was dismissed as a “baby boy or a burger boy” by older political leaders, while his supporters were called “burgers”.

“It’s the first time that the burger group will also come out to vote,” quipped politician Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed before the elections in May 2013.

“They’re going to join the chapati-and-salan [curry] folk. They might need to carry their laptops on their heads to protect them from the sun.”

While Rasheed hinted that PTI supporters were more suited to campaigning on social media from the comfort of their homes, he made one crucial point: “If they do come out to vote, they’ll do amazingly well.”

An estimated 46.2 million people voted in these elections, compared with the 36.6 million voters from the previous 2008 elections. The 2013 election saw the highest voter turnout in Pakistan’s history. Thirteen million were firsttime voters and more than half the registered voters were aged 18-29.

Rasheed was proved right. Khan’s base of young, educated urban “burgers” helped the PTI to emerge from the elections as the second most powerful political party in the country. With 7.7 million votes, the PTI knocked President Asif Ali Zardari’s party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which garnered 6.9 million votes, from its perch and into third place.

PTI’s burgers began to wear the label with pride; literally, in some cases, as the party’s sup-

Arsalan Taj Ghumman, 30, former president of the Karachi chapter of PTI’s student wing (standing) says it’s a source of pride to have brought ‘burgers’ into the political fold [Image courtesy Arsalan Taj Ghumman]

porters turned up at rallies and on election day wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Kaptaan’s Burger Army” (“Kaptaan” is a moniker that pays tribute to Khan’s time as captain of the Pakistani cricket team).

That an American fast food has become a catchall phrase for a generation of Pakistanis who flocked to a political party which promised change, including an end to the decades-old hold of the two ruling parties and the rooting out of corruption, has its origins in the story of how the food itself first came to Pakistan. This begins in 1953, a handful of years after the partition of In-

dia and Pakistan, when a man named Syed Musa Raza arrived in Karachi.

Originally from Lucknow in pre-partition India, Raza spent several years after partition in 1947 working in the Middle East.

Although he knew no one in Karachi when he arrived, his son, Ashfaq Raza, 53, says: “My father dreamed of starting up a business that would ensure people would know of us and know our family’s name.”

As his nine sons moved to the United States and England for their studies, Musa Raza, who is no longer alive, urged them to return to Karachi as soon as they could to start up a business.

Ashfaq’s older brother, Iqbal, a flight engineer, travelled frequently to Europe and witnessed the arrival of McDonald’s there in the 1970s. “He saw the long lines outside McDon-

ald’s restaurants and hit upon the idea of bringing the franchise to Pakistan,” Raza says.

In 1978, the brothers approached the McDonald’s corporation. They were promptly turned down. “They told us that Pakistan was not ready for burgers,” Raza recalls.

They made an offer to Burger King who gave them the same answer.

“So we took that as a challenge,” Raza explains. “We wanted to prove these multimilliondollar chains wrong.”

Bringing burgers to Pakistan

To learn the ropes, the brothers spent a few months working at a McDonald’s near their family home in Hartford, Connecticut. At one point, Raza and five of his brothers worked at the same outlet.

Their colleagues did not know that they were there to soak up all the information they could about running a fast food enterprise.

“We even offered to work for no pay,” says Raza, who spent three months at McDonald’s while in high school.

The brothers were paid $1.80 an hour and worked their way up from cleaning the restrooms to learning to make the food, handle equipment and manage staff. In late 1978, the Raza brothers returned to Karachi and began testing burger recipes.

“Our friends warned us that this was a bad

www.PakistanLink.com

idea,” Raza says. “At that time, there were no burgers in Pakistan - just bun kebabs.” The bun kebab, a local variant of the burger, consists of a slender minced meat patty and a potato or lentil patty. Slapped inside a bun and garnished with a fried egg, onions, chillies and chutney, the bun kebab is a staple at roadside cafes or street vendors’ carts and is gulped down in three or four bites. But the brothers didn’t want to make what Raza refers to as this “poor man’s burger”.

“I’m sure many people told McDonald’s in the 1950s that American households weren’t interested in what they had to offer,” Raza says.

“But McDonald’s changed the game. That’s what we wanted to do - change the model of how and what people ate in Pakistan.”

They spent three months perfecting a tender beef patty with a peppery spice and the slightly sweet “secret sauce” that cut out the need for what Raza calls “frills”, like tomatoes or onions.

In the following months, the brothers laid down the foundation for Pakistan’s first burger joint, and created a blueprint that would be replicated in hundreds of fast-food outlets in the country for years to come, its simplicity belying the mammoth task of creating an entirely novel approach to eating out.

Homegrown enterprise The brothers were determined to source all the food products locally - this was to be a proudly Pakistani enterprise - and so while equipment had to be brought in from the US, everything from ketchup to straws and paper ramekins for sauce had to be made in the country.

“You won’t believe it, but at that time, there was only one supplier in the country who made disposable cups, and it was selling them to the national airline only,” Raza recalls. “They refused to sell the cups to us because they didn’t think it was worthwhile and they didn’t understand what we were trying to do.” It took the family five years to convince the company to produce the 16-ounce cups Mr Burger needed.

Following the McDonald’s model, the Raza brothers wanted to hire students to work at the outlet. But they did not anticipate the stigma associated with working in a kitchen.

“Kids from Karachi were embarrassed about getting a job at a restaurant and, moreover, they didn’t want to do basic chores like cleaning the floor,” Raza says.

Some employees would appeal to Raza - “I’m a Syed [families believed to be direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad], how can I mop the floor?” Raza laughs at the memory now. “They didn’t realize I am a Syed as well. I cleaned the floors and tables for two years until the employees came around to it.”

1980: Mr Burger is born One year later all that remained to be decided was the name. “There used to be a restaurant in Hartford named Mr Steak,” Raza recalls.

“When we were trying to come up with a name for our business, that name clicked.”

And so, Mr Burger was born. “It was simple, easy to remember and whether someone was educated or not, it was easy to pronounce,” Raza says.

His brother Iqbal, the flight engineer, travelled to Paris frequently and after the name was settled, he strolled down the Champs-Elysees and found an artist who sketched a logo for the business.

In 1980, the Raza brothers opened the doors of the first Mr Burger in Karachi’s Nazimabad neighborhood. They served five kinds of burgers - Mr Burger, Beef Burger, Chicken Burger, Egg Burger and Veggie Burger - for five rupees each (five cents today), French fries (Rs2) and flavored slush (Rs2 a cup). The prices ensured that even students on shoestring budgets could buy a meal of fries and slush.

“Within minutes we had nearly 150 people crammed into this tiny space,” Raza recalls. “People in the neighborhood had been watching as the restaurant was being constructed and they were so curious about what we were selling that we didn’t even need to advertise our opening - the news just spread through word BURGER, P23

COMMENTARY

P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

A

n By Jessica Orwig

deeply disturbing and controversial line of thinking has emerged within the physics community.

The 2 Most Dangerous Numbers in ihe Universe Are Threatening the End of Physics

It’s the idea that we are reaching the absolute limit of what we can understand about the world around us through science.

“The next few years may tell us whether we’ll be able to continue to increase our understanding of nature or whether maybe, for the first time in the history of science, we could be facing questions that we cannot answer,” Harry Cliff, a particle physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research — better known as CERN — said during a recent TED talk in Geneva, Switzerland.

Equally frightening is the reason for this approaching limit, which Cliff says is “Because the laws of physics forbid it.”

At the core of Cliff ’s argument are what he calls the two most dangerous numbers in the universe. These numbers are responsible for all the matter, structure, and life that we witness across the cosmos.

And if these two numbers were even slightly different, says Cliff, the universe would be an empty, lifeless place.

Dangerous Number 1: The strength of the Higgs field The first dangerous number on Cliff ’s list is a value that represents the strength of what physicists call the Higgs field, an invisible energy field not entirely unlike other magnetic fields that permeates the cosmos.

As particles swim through the Higgs field, they gain mass to eventually become the protons, neutrons, and electrons comprising all of the atoms that make up you, me, and everything we see around us.

Without it, we wouldn’t be here.

We know with near certainty that the Higgs field exists because of a groundbreaking discovery in 2012, when CERN physicists detected a new elementary particle called the Higgs boson. According to theory, you can’t have a Higgs boson without a Higgs field.

But there’s something mysterious about the Higgs field that continues to perturb physicists like Cliff.

According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the theory of quantum mechanics — the two theories in physics that drive our understanding of the cosmos on incredibly large and extremely small scales — the Higgs field should be performing one of two tasks, says Cliff.

Either it should be turned off, meaning it would have a strength value of zero and wouldn’t be working to give particles mass, or it should be turned on, and, as the theory goes, this “on value” is “absolutely enormous,” Cliff says. But neither of those two scenarios are what physicists observe.

“In reality, the Higgs field is just slightly on,” says Cliff. “It’s not zero, but it’s ten thousand trillion times weaker than its fully on value — a bit like a light switch that got stuck just before the ‘off ’ position. And this value is crucial. If it were a tiny bit different, then there would be no physical structure in the universe.”

Why the strength of the Higgs field is so ridiculously weak defies understanding.

Physicists hope to find an answer to this question by detecting brand new particles at the newly-upgraded particle accelerator at CERN. So far, though, they’re still hunting.

Dangerous Number 2: The strength of dark energy Cliff ’s second dangerous number doubles as what physicists have called “the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics.”

This perilous number deals in the depths of deep space and a mind-meltingly complex phenomenon called dark energy.

Dark energy, a repulsive force that’s responsible for the accelerating expansion of our universe, was first measured in 1998.

Still, “we don’t know what dark energy

(Shutterstock) Illustration of the Higgs boson and field

is,” Cliff admits. “But the best idea is that it’s the energy of empty space itself — the energy of the vacuum.”

energy. And although theoretical physicists have done so, there’s one gigantic problem with their answer:

mind-boggling huge that it’s impossible to get your head around ... this number is bigger than any number in astronomy — it’s a thousand trillion trillion trillion times bigger than the number of atoms in the universe. That’s a pretty bad prediction.”

On the bright side, we’re lucky that dark energy is smaller than theorists predict. If it followed our theoretical models, then the repulsive force of dark energy would be so huge that it would literally rip our universe apart. The fundamental forces that bind atoms together would be powerless against it and nothing could ever form — galaxies, stars, planets, and life as we know it would not exist.

On the other hand, it’s extremely frustrating that we can’t use our current theories of the universe to develop a better measurement of dark energy that agrees with existing observations. Even better than improving our theories would be to find a way that we can understand why the strength of dark energy and the Higgs field is what it is.

Getting answers could be impossible Cliff said there is one possible way to get some answers, but we might never have the ability to prove it.

If we could somehow confirm that our universe is just one in a vast multiverse of billions of other universes, then “suddenly we can understand the weirdly fine tuned values of these two dangerous numbers [because] in most of the multiverse dark energy is so strong that the universe gets torn apart, or the Higgs field is so weak that no atoms can form,” Cliff said.

To prove this, physicists need to discover new particles that would uphold radical theories like string theory, which predicts the existence of a multiverse. Right now, there’s only one place in the world that could possibly produce these particles, if they exist, and that’s the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. And physicists only have two to three years before CERN shuts the LHC down for upgrades. If we haven’t found anything by then, Cliff said, it could signal the beginning of the end.

“We may be entering a new era in physics. An era where there are weird features in the universe that we cannot explain. An era where we have hints that we live in a multiverse that lies frustratingly beyond our reach. An era where we will never be able to answer the question why is there something rather than nothing.”

LEGACY FROM P20

(Illustris Collaboration) The distribution of dark matter and gas is shown above. This simulation is for the current state of the Universe and is centered on a massive galaxy cluster

If this is true, you should be able to sum up all the energy of empty space to get a value representing the strength of dark

“Dark energy should be 10120 times stronger than the value we observe from astronomy,” Cliff said. “This is a number so

(YouTube/Perimeter Institute) Illustration of a multiverse

www.PakistanLink.com

the victims at North Carolina State University, and at the UNC School of Dentistry, which held a day of service in their honor. Deah Barakat was a student at UNC’s dental school; Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, had been accepted to study there. Razan Abu-Salha was a 19-year-old student at NC State who had stopped by her sister and brother-in-law’s apartment for dinner the night all three were killed.

Razan Abu-Salha volunteered alongside her sister and brother-in-law at dentistry clinics in rural North Carolina, her father has said.

Yusor Abu-Salha met her husband while the two helped run the Muslim Student Association at NC State, and she had planned to travel with him to Turkey for the free dental clinic.

She discussed growing up as a Muslim in the US in an interview recorded in 2014 as part of the StoryCorps oral history project and broadcast by North Carolina Public Radio.

“Although in some ways I do stand out, such as the hijab I wear on my head, the head covering, there’s still so many ways I feel so embedded in the fabric that is our culture. ... There are so many people from so many different places, of different backgrounds and religions.

But here we’re all one — one culture,” she said.

Hicks, the defendant, had been brazen in Facebook rants about his disdain for Islam, Judaism and Christianity. His attorneys didn’t return messages seeking comment. (Associated Press writer Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report. AP)

COMMENTARY

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P23

A Short Cultural History of West-Returned Pakistanis

I

n By Nadeem F. Paracha

n the 1950s and 1960s, Pakistanis who had lived in a Western country and then returned home were usually perceived to have become more informed and ‘modern’.

One way of observing this is to study the way the country’s once-thriving Urdu cinema portrayed such Pakistanis. For example, across the 1950s and 1960s, most Urdu films that had a character who had returned from Europe or the US was usually portrayed as a wise and enlightened person.

Cinematic narratives in this context went something like this: An educated city dweller was seen to be more level-headed and less religious than a person from the rural areas.

And such a city dweller was usually a Pakistani who had gone to the West for studies or work.

Pakistani film actor Santosh often portrayed the character of the wise and enlightened Western-educated hero in Urdu films of 1950s and early 1960s.

Then, in the 1970s, Pakistan elected its first popularly elected government led by the left-liberal populist, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Bhutto’s populism was a regional version of social democracy that was supposedly positioned to be more rooted in the common wisdom of the ‘masses’. It is even more interesting to note how Pakistani films treated this new phenomenon.

As the radical social youth movements of the 1960s in the West exhausted themselves, they became more faddish in content. These emerging fads and fashions also arrived in Pakistan.

So whereas in the 1960s, most Urdu films had celebrated the US or Europe-returned Pakistani as a person possessing modern wisdom and progressive ideas, in the 1970s he/ she was usually portrayed as a wild guitarslinging and dope-smoking hippie.

In Urdu films, during the Bhutto era, though the ‘level-headed’ US/Europe returned Pakistani was still perceived as being progressive, many of his more socially ‘liberated’ contemporaries were seen through the prism of the so-called ‘masses’.

BURGER FROM P21

of mouth.”

Introducing fast-food culture The brothers did not just introduce a new food to Pakistani consumers - they served up the fast-food culture that they had seen in the US, one that a majority of Pakistanis had never been exposed to as international travel was a privilege reserved for the rich.

While some customers were annoyed that the restaurant only served burgers - “You won’t believe how many people asked us why we didn’t have nihari or biryani on the menu,” Raza says - others wanted a taste of this “American food”.

“They wanted to try it, but they were confused about how to eat a burger,” Raza says. “Some would pick it apart and then use the bun as roti to scoop up bites of the patty.” Raza and his brothers would then demonstrate how to unwrap the burger’s paper covering, and pull it down halfway to form a pocket while eating.

Customers would sit at a table and holler at servers to bring their food over or get angry that they weren’t being waited on, he recalls.

“They had no clue about self-service, takeaway food or disposable items people returned wrappers and cups to us until they learned they could throw leftovers in the trash.”

Mr Burger’s “no smoking policy” was an alien concept too. At the time, there was a marked shift in attitude towards more gun-toting as AK-47s,

Interestingly, this perception of the ‘masses’ was mostly helmed by film-makers with petty-bourgeoisie backgrounds, though such portrayals did not mean that Pakistani society had shifted to the religious right. Not just yet. It was just that the urban liberal tenor of the Ayub Khan dictatorship (1958-1969) had mutated (during the Bhutto regime) into becoming a more populist notion.

Thus, Pakistani films of the 1970s came with a new narrative that now suggested that it was fine to be liberal, as long as one remained in contact with the cultural traditions of his/her surroundings.

So where the Europe-returned Pakistani hippie was portrayed as a bumbling hippie buffoon in most 1970s films, an urban Pakistani who was equally liberal but managed to slip in a dialogue or two about ‘Eastern values’, became an admirable aspiration. Again, this projection was more of a petty-bourgeoisie perception, rather than of the masses.

The rootless hippie types were also shown to belong to rich families as a way to attack the industrial classes that the Bhutto regime was denouncing.

The 1970s were also a time when a larger

brought by Afghan refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion in their country, flooded the black market. “Some people - especially the big shots - would pull a gun on my employees if they asked them not to smoke inside the restaurant,” Raza remembers. “They felt insulted.”

Back then, the brothers couldn’t find a Pakistani company making sliced cheese. “One of my customers walked in with a packet of Kraft cheese slices he bought in America,” Raza says. “He was used to eating a burger with cheese abroad and that’s what he wanted.”

Raza tracked down a small company that manufactured butter and desi cheese or paneer in Sahiwal, Punjab. “They tasted the Kraft cheese and then spent months trying to make it,” he explains. Once the taste mimicked the yellow plastic-wrapped Kraft slices, the suppliers proudly brought a large block of cheese to the restaurant.

“I looked at it and I said, ‘What is this?’ You see, they didn’t have a slicer for the cheese,” Raza says, laughing.

They imported a cheese slicer from the US and taught the supplier how to use it.

At first, a social equalizer So who came to Mr Burger? “Everyone,” Raza says.

In the first 15 years of business, Nawaz Sharif, the current prime minister, used to come for the chicken burgers, as did former President Zardari, who at the time was Prime

number of Pakistanis began travelling abroad.

The only difference this time was that whereas almost all Pakistanis used to travel to Europe or the US for work and studies in the 1950s and 1960s, many now began moving to the oil-rich Arab countries (mostly for work) from the mid-1970s onwards.

Up until the late 1970s, Pakistan was a lot more pluralistic than most Arab countries.

Pakistanis going to these countries were actually going to places that were squarely under the yoke of monarchies and autocratic regimes whose states were still in the process of being ‘modernized’.

Soon these Pakistanis began sending impressive amounts of money to their families back home, triggering the emergence of a prosperous new urban middle-class.

The process that saw these Pakistanis being exposed to puritanical strains of the faith practiced by Arab populations and also enjoying a sense of their rising economic statuses back home generated a whole new strand of Pakistanis who now began relating their former religious and social dispositions as something associated with low economic status.

This is at least one reason why from 1980

Minister Benazir Bhutto’s fiance.

During the day, queues would spill out of the restaurant and on to the street.

“Everyone, no matter how important or rich they were, had to get in line,” he says. Initially, the space was a great equalizer. High-ranking police officials and businessmen briefly rubbed shoulders with students and laborers at Mr Burger. But soon, there was a return to the well-worn grooves between these classes.

“We had space for only four hanging tables - no chairs - inside the restaurant, so we’d clean and wash down a space outside where people could sit,” Raza says. “Some movie stars, rich people and celebrities who wanted to avoid the aam aadmi [common man] began to come in after 10pm and would sit on this cleaned floor to eat their burgers.”

While the fast food concept was new for a majority of people, it thrilled others to finally have access to a beloved staple of life outside Pakistan.

“Members of foreign consulates and diplomatic missions in Karachi were so happy they could finally have a burger here,” Raza recalls. His first sweet taste of success came from these customers. “You are the McDonald’s of Pakistan,” they would tell him.

American culture trickles out By the mid-1980s, there were five Mr Burger outlets in Karachi. The tantalizing brush with American culture that Mr Burger offered trickled past

www.PakistanLink.com

onwards, a large number of urban middle and lower-middle class Pakistanis began sliding towards various shades of puritanism. Or at least pretending to.

This process was also hastened by the policies of a staunchly conservative military dictatorship that had toppled the Bhutto regime in July 1977.

A successful middle-class Pakistani now denoted an educated urbanite who was a trader, businessman, banker or white-collar employee, but who, at the same time, was now more likely to observe regular prayers and preferably adorn religious attire.

In the post-9/11 scenario, Pakistanis living in the West, too, went through this transformation. And though this transformation had been more gradual and slower among the middle and lower middle-classes within Pakistan, it became more pronounced within the Pakistani diaspora in the Middle-East, Europe and the US. It was mainly accelerated by the popularity of travelling Islamic evangelists catering squarely to South Asian Muslims living in the West.

No more were West-returned Pakistanis being associated with cultural modernism as such. Nor were they free-wheeling wags.

So who are they now?

Anecdotes abound about how the offspring of Pakistanis who had been living in Europe and the US from the 1980s onwards were shocked to discover that Pakistan was not the kind of a Republic they had imagined it to be.

This was an intriguing development.

West-returned Pakistanis are now perceived, or rather perceive themselves to be ‘better Muslims’ than those living in Pakistan. This is how they like to distinguish themselves.

Had Pakistani cinema been thriving today, I’m sure the films would have now been portraying the new West-returned Pakistani not as a wise modernist or even a hippie buffoon but as a shocked Muslim wagging a righteous finger at his compatriots and advising them to repent, albeit in their American/European accent, of course. (Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com)

the palate and into other parts of customers’ lives in a way that Raza had not anticipated.

“Customers began objecting that the teenagers who came to Mr Burger were behaving in a very ‘Westernized’ way - they would come there for dates,” Raza says. “The kids are sitting too close together, they are holding hands,” he recalls customers complaining.

For Raza, this was a source of pride. “I felt very happy that this was a safe space for these teenagers,” he says.

“To this day I have customers coming in with their wives and they tell me, ‘Our first date was at Mr Burger’. Their children call me Uncle Burger.”

And these “Westernized” customers were given a name: burgers.

According to Raza, the phrase was coined by Pakistani comedian Umer Shareef back in the 1980s. “He saw that people of a certain class and from certain well-off neighborhoods such as Clifton and Defense would come to Mr Burger a lot and he started calling them ‘burgers’,” Raza claims.

In an interview last year, Shareef confirmed the term was used to describe people from this “certain class”, and he used the analogy of food to describe “burgers” as distinct from the aam aadmi. “[In the 1980s] I started noticing women in restaurants who were the kind of people to pick up a roti using a tissue paper,” he said.

“We had never done anything

like that, so I asked myself, ‘What class do these women belong to?’” It was a class that preferred to align itself with the West, and behaved as though it did not even know how to eat a common roti, he implied.

The rise of fast food By 1995, the Raza brothers were flipping more than 100,000 burgers a month. A year later, they received word that they were being “watched”.

“Some of our customers told us that they had been employed to thoroughly research Mr Burger, to see how it had done so well in Karachi,” Raza claims. McDonald’s was coming to town, and Mr Burger was no longer the only option for Pakistanis in search of fast food.

In 1993, Pizza Hut was the first foreign franchise to land in Pakistan, followed by KFC in 1997 and McDonald’s a year later.

Today, KFC reportedly has the largest share - 37 percent - of the fastfood market in the country, followed

by McDonald’s at 26 percent, while other foreign franchises have made inroads here too such as Hardees, with 6 percent of the market share.

For consumers under the age of 19, who account for 45 percent of Pakistan’s population of more than 185 million, burgers have always been a part of life, whether by way of the small roadside kiosks or international brands.

In 2013, BIL Foods, the fran BURGER, P28

COMMENTARY

P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

Estate Planning Is Job Best Tackled with the Help of Pros - 2 n By Saghir Aslam Rawalpindi, Pakistan

(The following information is provided solely to educate the Muslim community about investing and financial planning.

It is hoped that the Ummah will benefit from this effort through greater financial empowerment, enabling the community to live in security and dignity and fulfill their religious and moral obligations towards charitable activities) You can write a will yourself by obtaining a kit from the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Execute a single copy of your will and use photocopies for any extra copies. Otherwise, probating your will could be held up while the court searches for all the signed originals.

In most states, legal fees for a simple will should not exceed $1,000. Wills can be completed by your family attorney who specializes in estate law.

Trusts. Trusts are effective tools to sort out complex family arrangements or sizable assets.

Trusts, like wills, are meant to address both personal and family needs. But unlike wills, they can continue to carry out your wishes after you are gone.

Trusts are contracts between you and some designated trustee who will carry out your instructions. A trustee can be an individual, a corporation or a bank.

Trusts created during your lifetime are called inter vivos trusts, in simple terms revocable family trusts. Those created at your death, under the terms of your will, are called testamentary trusts.

You can set up trusts within your will instead of leaving the money directly to a beneficiary.

The trustee carries out your wish, MISCONCEPTIONS FROM P7

The rare cultural magic that transforms outsiders into insiders and turns fear into fraternity has worked for 300 years in the United States. The magic will work for Muslims, too, if we act like Americans and let it. – The Huffington Post RAHEEL FROM P9

tives on handling India-centric militancy is clear. It seems that while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is keen to have peace and like a timid chicken sticks his neck out every now and then, the military would like to remain more cautious. It isn’t that Raheel Sharif ’s army is not interested in talks but that it is not keen to have a conversation between civilians or to allow personal camaraderie to develop between the two prime ministers. Although Pakistan military’s involvement in Pathankot is not proven, whoever planned the show was aware of GHQ Rawalpindi’s unhappiness with how the December 25 Modi visit played out in Pakistan – the two leaders seemed to be building personal ties without the army being center-stage.

Pathankot certainly did not happen from nowhere but it seems to have followed a predictable pattern: an attack not big enough to provoke a

say, that your children’s inheritance be held until they reach 20, 30 or 40. A trustee might also by designated to arrange for someone to manage money for a spouse or a handicapped child.

Bypass Trusts. For married couples with assets of more than $650,000 in 1999, a bypass trust allows you and your spouse to shield more assets from Uncle Sam. Under current tax laws, you can pass on up to $1000000.00 tax-free to your heirs. But for amounts over that the federal government collects hefty estate taxes. You should check with your accountant and attorney the latest amount allowed by law. As I have written many times before it is always best to work with your financial advisers.

Many couples with substantial assets fail to do this, lulled by IRA laws that allow you to pass everything on to your spouse. Trouble is, once both of you are gone, the tax man can collect a heavy toll on your estate for anything over $650,000.

With a bypass trust the surviving spouse can live off the income from the assets and even tap the principal in some cases. When he or she is gone, your heirs get up to $1.3 million passed on tax-free to them.

Durable Power of Attorney.

If you are disabled and unable to communicate, your heirs may be blocked from using your assets to pay health-care and nursing-care bills. The situation can be horrific huge response like targeting militant headquarters across the border but which generates enough hue and cry to postpone a conversation.

Despite that, Islamabad keeps talking about the threat of India’s ‘cold start’ military strategy. It appears that the generals are quite conscious of the fact that Delhi may not be close to activating such a plan if it needed to. It’s not about weapons but changes in doctrines and force structures that could manage a swift and sharp response. Also, post-Pathankot, the comparative caution in the Indian reaction was palpable. This was construed as Delhi having too much at stake this time or that politically Narendra Modi had committed himself to the peace process to a degree that he could not allow the same kind of reaction as the BJP displayed under Congress rule. Then there are those who are out-rightly skeptical about the incident and argue that the Indian government’s restraint is because it does not have sufficient evidence regarding JeM’s involvement.

From the perspective of an average Pakistani, this is all a bit like being on a seesaw. There is the public, which would like to have improved relations but has not turned into a critical mass or developed enough political clout to become noticeable

as your children scramble to find the money to care for you.

A durable power of attorney designates someone to act on your behalf when you are incapacitated.

You can name anyone you trust. A lawyer can prepare a durable power of attorney document for $100 or more. You can also purchase forms at stationary stores, though again, be certain they reflect the regulations in your state.

Heath care Proxy. With this you can authorize a trusted relative or friend to make medical decisions for you. Say you are gravely injured and unconscious. A proxy knowing of your wish not to be kept alive using artificial means can act on your behalf. Forms are available in stationary stores but it is better to seek professional help.

In more than one instance, I had to help a family create a will with the assistance of an attorney.

One instance was when a brother was informed, after the doctors told his wife, that he was dying. I was assigned the difficult task of getting the will signed by the dying husband. You think that was easy; I had tears in my eyes. Imagine what her husband felt like and what was going through his mind?

Let’s plan now so that none of us have to go through that particular ordeal.

(Saghir A. Aslam only explains strategies and formulas that he has been using. He is merely providing information, and NO ADVICE is given. Mr Aslam does not endorse or recommend any broker, brokerage firm, or any investment at all, nor does he suggest that anyone will earn a profit when or if they purchase stocks, bonds or any other investments. All stocks or investment vehicles mentioned are for illustrative purposes only.

Mr Aslam is not an attorney, accountant, real estate broker, stockbroker, investment advisor, or certified financial planner. Mr Aslam does not have anything for sale.) to the military. On the other hand, there is the political and ideological right-wing represented by both the military and religious lobby that remains super-cautious and disinterested in building links. But the problem any analyst is likely to face during these times is confusion regarding the military’s stance.

Where the army stands Was Pakistan’s army chief on board during Modi’s impromptu visit to Lahore? Most likely, yes. It is almost unimaginable that he was not in the decision-making loop. But this is also where one ought to draw a line.

After the Ufa debacle, Nawaz Sharif would certainly not have wanted to appear to be alone in wanting to talk. However, this does not mean that the army chief approves of the larger game plan of improving ties with India, especially an enemy who, according to the post-Raheel Shareef popular narrative, is responsible for most acts of violence in Pakistan.

The brutal death of 140 children at the Army Public School in Peshawar is etched in memory of the entire country and so is the narrative that the killers were sponsored by Indian intelligence.

Since the beginning of Zarb-eRAHEEL, P28

www.PakistanLink.com

No Orphan Without Education It costs just $10 per month to educate an orphan in need.

Sign up for Automatic Direct Payment from your checking or savings account on our secure website to give monthly towards this project or others.

Hidaya Foundation 866.2.HIDAYA | www.hidaya.org Hidaya Foundation is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) charitable organization with Tax ID # 77-0502583

Exchange Rates for Currency Notes* Countries

USA

UK S.Arabia Japan Euro UAE

Buying Rs.

Selling Rs.

106.35 152.55 28.25 0.87 115.70 29.05

106.60 153.25 28.40 0.90 116.20 29.20

(*20 January, 2016) US VISA BULLETIN ON JANUARY 2016 For Pakistan, Bangladesh & India Compiled by Hasan Chishti FAMILY SPONSORED PREFERENCES

Pakistan/Bangladesh

1st Unmarried sons & daughters of U.S. Citizens

May 15, 2008

May 15, 2008

2-A Spouses and unmarried children of permanent residents

August 1, 2014

August 1, 2014

2-B Unmarried sons & daughters (21 years of age or older) of permanent residents

April 1, 2009

April 1, 2009

3rd

Aug., 1, 2004

August 1, 2004

April 22, 2003

April 22, 2003

Married sons & daughters of US Citizens

4th Brothers & sisters of adult U.S. citizens

India

EMPLOYMENT BASED CATEGORY 1st Priority workers

Current

Current

2nd Members of the professions holding advanced degree or persons of exceptional ability

Current

Feb., 1, 2008

3rd Skilled workers Other workers

Oct., 1, 2015 Oct., 1, 2015

May 15, 2004 May 15 2004

4th Certain special immigrants Certain religious workers

Current Unauthorized

Current Unauthorized

5th Non-Regional Center Regional Center

Current Unauthorized

Current Unauthorized

UNLIMITED FAMILY-BASED Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens (IR): The spouse, widow(er) and unmarried children under 21 of a U.S citizen, and the parent of a U.S. citizen who is 21 or older.

Returning Residents (SB): Immigrants who lived in the United States previously as lawful permanent residents and are returning to live in the U.S. after a temporary visit of more than one year abroad.

Unauthorized means numbers are not authorized for issuance.

RELIGION

n By Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P25

Thanksgiving in Islam

Gems from the Holy Qur’an

T Faith.

hen do ye remember Me; I will remember you. Be grateful to Me and reject not

(Al-Baqarah 2:152) We bestowed Wisdom on Luqman: “Show (thy) gratitude to Allah.”

Any who is (so) grateful does so to the profit of his own soul; but if any is ungrateful, verily Allah is free of all wants, worthy of all praise.

(Luqman 31:12) The Qur’anic word for thanks is “shukr.” It is mentioned in the Qur’an many times. Shukr is not only the way of good human beings; according to the Qur’an it is also the way of our Lord, our Creator. Allah loves thanks and thankful attitude and He says that He Himself is the most Thankful and Grateful Being. Four times in the Qur’an Allah is called “Shakur” (35:30,34; 42:23; 64:17) which means “Most Grateful.” According to scholars Shukr mean: “It is the consideration of the favor and its acknowledgment. Shukr from the human means the recognition of the favor. Shukr from Allah means the reward and appreciation.”

Shukr is a very important principle in Islam. It is a quality of the believers and it is a source of all goodness. Shukr is used in the Qur’an sometimes as equivalent to faith.

The faithful are thankful people and the unfaithful are ungrateful people.

Allah has described His Prophets and Messengers among those who were thankful people. Prophet Noah was a grateful servant of Allah (AlIsra’ 17:3). Prophet Abraham used to thank Allah for His many blessings (Al-Nahl 16:121). Prophet David and his family were told to be grateful to Allah (Saba’ 34:13). Allah told His Prophet Muhammad: Nay, but worship Allah, and be of those who give thanks. (Al-Zumar 39:66) Thankfulness creates many positive qualities in life. It makes a person happy, contented, hopeful and optimistic. Thankfulness takes away hate, anger, grudges and jealousy.

Give thanks to someone and you will always see a smile in return. Thankfulness makes strangers friends; it can win even the hearts of the enemies.

Thankfulness should not be only in happy times; it should be also in dif-

From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)

ficult times. Someone may say how a person can be thankful when he/she is in distress, difficulty, suffering and pain. We must, however, know that Shukr can change the difficulty. It certainly lightens the burdens of pain.

In Islam thanksgiving has two aspects: thankfulness to Allah and

our gratitude to many others from whom we receive benefits and services.

Allah has been good to us and so in our thankfulness we should worship Him and obey His commands and orders. Our daily prayers, our fasting during Ramadan, our Zakat

used to say, “Thanks be to Allah who brought us to life after he made us to die and to Him is the resurrection.”

(Al-Bukhari, 5837) When we eat, he told us that we should say: When the Prophet – peace be upon him - used to eat or drink, he

Thankfulness creates many positive qualities in life. It makes a person happy, contented, hopeful and optimistic. Thankfulness takes away hate, anger, grudges and jealousy. Give thanks to someone and you will always see a smile in return. Thankfulness makes strangers friends; it can win even the hearts of the enemies. Thankfulness should not be only in happy times; it should be also in difficult times thankfulness to human beings.

Thankfulness is not only a ceremony or festival; it is the whole life. The whole life should be lived in thankfulness to Allah who is our Ultimate Benefactor. We should also express

and our Hajj are all our acts of thanksgiving. We should do them not only as duties; we should do them with an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude to our Lord and Creator. We should never forget that we are constantly under Allah’s favors and blessings.

The Prophet – peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - was the most grateful servant of Allah.

He taught us to remember Allah and give thanks to Him all the times. He told us that when we get up in the morning we should say: When the Prophet – peace be upon him used to go to bed, he used to say, “In your name I die and I live.” And when he used to wake up, he

www.PakistanLink.com

used to say, “Thanks be to Allah Who gave us food and drink and made us Muslims.” (Al-Tirmidhi 3379) When we put on our clothes, we should say: Whenever the Prophet – peace be upon him - put on any new dress, he would say its name ‘Amamah or shirt or shawl, then he would say, “O Allah, Thanks be to You, You gave me this to wear. I ask You to give me the good of this dress and the good for which it is made and I ask You to protect me from the evil of this dress and from the evil of that for which it is made.” (Al-Tirmidhi 1689) The Prophet – peace be upon him - also said: “Those who do not thank people, they do not thank Allah.” (AlTirmidhi 1878) We should be thankful to our parents. We should obey them, serve them and take good care of them when they need our help. We should thank our brothers and sisters, our relatives. We should thank our neighbors, coworkers, employers and employees. We depend on others and we owe many things to others. We must show our gratitude to every person in caring and thoughtful ways. (Repeated)

About the translator: Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born of Jewish parents in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding foreign correspondent for the Franfurter Zeitung, and after years of devoted study became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age. His translation of the Holy Qur’an is one of the most lucid and well-referenced works in this category, dedicated to “li-qawmin yatafakkaroon” (people who think).

Chapter 75, Al-Qiyaamah, Verses 1 – 15 Nay! I call to witness the Day of Resurrection!

But Nay! I call to witness the accusing voice of man’s own conscience!

Does man think that We cannot [resurrect him and] bring his bones together again? Yea indeed, We are able to make whole his very fingertips!

None the less, man chooses to deny what lies ahead of him, asking [derisively], When is that resurrection day to be?

But [on that Day,] when the eyesight by fear is confounded, and the moon is darkened, and the sun and the moon are brought together [ 1 ]on that Day, the journey’s end will be!

Man will be apprised, on that Day, of what he has done and what he has left undone: nay, but man shall against himself be an eye-witness, even though he may veil himself in excuses.

Chapter 75, Al-Qiyaamah, Verses 20 – 40 Nay, but [most of] you love this fleeting life, and give no thought to the life to come [and to Judgment Day]!

Some faces will on that Day be bright with happiness, looking up to their Sustainer; and some faces will on that Day be overcast with despair, knowing that a crushing calamity is about to befall them.

Nay, but when [the last breath] comes up to the throat [of a dying man], and people ask, “Is there any wizard [that could save him]? – the while he [himself] knows that this is the parting, and is enwrapped in the pangs of death -: at that time towards thy Sustainer does he feel impelled to turn!

[Useless, though, will be his repentance:] for [as long as he was alive] he did not accept the truth, nor did he pray [for enlightenment], but on the contrary, he gave the lie to the truth and turned away [from it], and then he went arrogantly back to what he had come from.

[And yet, O man, thine end comes hourly] nearer unto thee, and nearer – and ever nearer unto thee, and nearer! ________ Translator’s Notes: [ 1 ] I.e., in their loss of light, or in the moon’s colliding with the sun.

ADVERTISEMENT

P26 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

“Your Peace of Mind is Our Business”

TAXES: Don’t Go At It Alone

• • •

For your 30 minute complimentary consultation, please call us today at:

714-896-0366

Corporate Office:

• •

Trust us in your corner to provide: Personal, Family Style Service Professional Completion

Expert Advice

Competitive Pricing

Maximum Refund, GUARANTEED!

At Bharmal & Associates, CPAs, our highly qualified and experienced staff are ready to help you with any business and tax issues you may be facing.

10262 Valley View St., Ste 237A Garden Grove, Ca 92845 T: 714-896-0366 F: 714-896-0377

Irvine Office:

2901 Business Center Dr. Ste 130 Irvine, Ca 92612 T: 949-387-9823 F: 949-743-5804

E-Mail: info@bharmalcpas.com www.bharmalcpas.com

www.PakistanLink.com

SPORTS SPORTS

JANUARY PAKISTAN JANUARY22, 22, 2016 2016 –-PAKISTAN LINKLINK – P27

Waqar Warns Players to Refrain From Using Social Media During NZ Series

WELLINGTON: Pakistan team head coach Waqar Younis recently

urged the players to stop from selfies and social media during ongoing New

Zealand series, a private TV channel reported.

According to details, Umar Akmal put a selfie on social networking website Twitter - violating the orders of Waqar Younis who uploaded a post - warning the players to refrain from using social media. The decision came after Pakistan routed by New Zealand in second T20 - making the series equal with 1-1.

The players participated in gym session and practiced indoor due to rain. However, possibility of including Anwar Ali as a replacement of Sohaib Maqsood is likely. The third and final T20 match would be played in Wellington on January 22.

Earlier, Pakistan team dropped to sixth position from fifth in latest International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 ranking after losing match against New Zealand by 10 wickets. J

Depleted Bangladesh Eye Another Series Win DHAKA: It is becoming increasingly difficult to predict playing XIs from both sides, who aren't afraid to tinker with their combinations in their quest to narrow down on an ideal combination going into the World T20 in India.

Both Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have to play in the preliminary round, also featuring Oman, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands, with the top two teams progressing. That means, both sides will want to throw the younger players into the deep end, to see how they acclimatise to the pressure. That

Bangladesh are sitting pretty with a 20 lead means the time is ripe for them to unleash their bench strength.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, are still smarting from their series loss to Afghanistan in UAE. Ordinary performances in the first two games means they are running out of time.

They rested the designated captain Elton Chigumbura among three players in the last game. It remains to be seen if they are brought back in at a crunch time. That apart, they will also need impact players like Sikandar Raza and Luke Jongwe to come good if they are

to challenge the hosts in conditions as subcontinental as it can get.

With Bangladesh missing Mushfiqur Rahim due to a hamstring injury, even asMustafizur Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain, their best seamers on show in the first two games, have been rested, Zimbabwe will hope to cash in on the relative inexperience of some of the Bangladesh players. Among them, Sabbir Rahman, will be keenly followed after his impressive outing in the previous game that also earned him the Man of the Match award. J

Pakistan Gambles on PSL to Boost Coffers KARACHI: Pakistan is rolling the dice on global superstars such as Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen to boost the country's cash-strapped cricket board when its new highoctane, short-form Twenty20 league begins in the UAE next month.

But insiders warn Pakistan's first franchise-based league may not be enough to overcome revenue and time lost during the country's long exile from hosting international cricket.

Pakistan has been forced to play nearly all its home series at neutral venues since Islamist fighters attacked the Sri Lanka team's bus in 2009, killing eight people and injuring nine others, including six touring cricketers.

After two aborted attempts, the first edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) will be held next month at two venues -- Dubai and Sharjah -- in the United Arab Emirates, the team's home away from home.

"This was long overdue," former PCB CEO Ramiz Raja told AFP. "I

think the spread and the pie will be larger and the PSL will give hope and scope to Pakistan cricket besides helping emerging and middle-tier players."

But insiders agree there is little hope for the tournament to continue if it can't eventually return home for greater gate and TV revenues.

With lower salary caps than leagues elsewhere, it will also need to steer clear of the ever-present threat of fixing that has hit its predecessor leagues in India and Bangladesh, resulting in bans for the likes of international stars Shanthakumaran Sreesanth of India and Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh.

With Pakistan's young pace star Mohammed Amir making his international comeback after five years in the wilderness for spot-fixing, the country can ill afford a repeat of the sort of controversy that has blighted it more than any other team since the phenomenon emerged in the late 1990s. J

Gayle Takes Aim at Critics As He Leaves BBL

New Zealand Dismiss Downside of Record Win WELLINGTON - New Zealand have weighed up the impact of their record win over Pakistan in 2nd Twenty20 and concluded the benefits far outweigh the downside.

Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson's unbroken 171-run stand to win the match and level the series set a new record for the highest Twenty20 partnership. They eclipsed by one run the previous best of 170 set by South Africa's Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman against England in 2009. However, their dominance at the top of the New Zealand innings meant no time in the middle for anyone else in the battling line-up with only one match left before the world T20 championship starts in India in March.

Guptill said recently that winning was better than making sure everyone had batting time. "You don't really

want to get out to give other people a go, do you?" he said. Guptill scored an unbeaten 87 from 58 deliveries as New Zealand beat Pakistan by 10 wickets in Hamilton. Pakistan won the opening match by 16 runs in Auckland, meaning the series is set for a decider in the third and final match in Wellington on Friday.

Against Sri Lanka in two Twenty20 wins earlier this month New Zealand lost four wickets in the first match and only one in the second, meaning limited opportunities for their middle order batsmen. "It can only be good for us that we're winning, not many wickets down," Guptill said. "Probably only three of us have had good long innings in the last three or for four games. It's disappointing for the middle order but it can only be good for New Zealand cricket." New Zealand skipper

Williamson, who scored 72 off 48 in partnership with Guptill, said the record was nice but winning was better. "You can't have everything," he said. "It was a really good performance from the team all round. "An improved bowling effort on a pretty good batting track first, and then for Gup and myself to put a big partnership together was pleasing. "If you do things well then guys don't get bats, but they'll be preparing and training for the next game just as normal and I'm sure they'll be ready to go."

Pakistan spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed said his bowlers were unable to find a way to break Guptill and Williamson who were only separated in the first match by a run out. "There was a good combination between Guptill and Williamson because they've got a different style of game," he said.

SYDNEY: Chris Gayle has farewelled the Big Bash League for this summer - and possibly forever - with a social media outburst in which he hit back at former cricketers who criticised his behaviour during an interview with journalist Mel McLaughlin. Gayle also declared himself a league-builder in the Twenty20 format and said that if he had played his last BBL innings his "memory with the fans will live on forever".

His final innings certainly was memorable: a 12-ball half-century that equalled the all-time fastest T20 fifty set by Yuvraj Singh in 2007. But Gayle will be remembered more for the interview in Hobart in which he asked McLaughlin for a drink and told her: "don't blush, baby".

His comments were widely criticised, including by Cricket Australia, and while Gayle was not suspended by his team, Melbourne

Renegades, it is considered unlikely he will be welcome in future BBL tournaments. Gayle used his Instagram account on Tuesday, the day after his last innings of the series, to thank the Renegades and the Australian fans for their support.

"Ppl think I may have played my last innings in Aus but my memory with the fans will live on forever!!" Gayle wrote. "I build leagues around the world and Big Bash is one of them ... 'Give the ppl what they want'."

Gayle's conduct during the interview was criticised by various media outlets and former players, including Andrew Flintoff, who tweeted at the time that Gayle had "made himself look a bit of a chop".

Gayle's former Sydney Thunder team-mate, Chris Rogers, was more expansive on ABC radio during the Sydney Test and said he had concerns about the influence set for younger players. J

Wahab Riaz Injured During Practice WELLINGTON: Pakistani fast bowler Wahab Riaz was injured during a practice session recently. His elbow has been injured and he is being treated by the doctors.

According to the Pakistani team doctor Wahab will be fit to play the third T20 match on Friday. "He has been treated and for the time being he is resting. But he will be a part of the team in the 3rd T20" the doctor told

www.PakistanLink.com www.Pakistanlink.com

the media.

Wahab Riaz has been spearheading the Pakistani bowling attack especially since last year's ODI World Cup where his spell to Australian batsman Shane Watson was one of the highlights of the tournament. Pakistan will be looking to bounce back against New Zealand in the decider on Friday, after being outplayed in the second T20. J

PAKISTAN

P28 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016 RAHEEL FROM P24

Azb operation, the focus has shifted from internal insecurity as the primary threat back to India as the main security issue. To recollect, the former army chief, General (retd) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani gave several speeches before the end of his extended tenure emphasizing the primacy of the internal. Given Kayani’s unpopularity in getting an extension from the PPP government and the alleged corruption of his brothers, his departure and Raheel Sharif ’s appointment as the chief was welcomed by bulk of the army. General Sharif is viewed as conservative and professional, a chief who brought the organization back on track – including on the issue of threat assessment. The armed forces also have reservations as far as India’s presence in Afghanistan is concerned. Therefore, it can be concluded that like any professionally structured military, Pakistan’s has not diverged from its emphasis on India.

However, it’s not that the military is entirely closed to the idea of developing ties with India. There are other considerations as well, such as American influence or less dramatic pressure from China to improve ties with New Delhi. The officer cadre in particular has good working relations with the Pentagon. Beijing, on the other hand, would like IndiaPakistan bilateral relations to become manageable. Pakistan, in any case, has been rapidly moving into China’s sphere of influence which means that its military and economic dependency is likely to grow. Strategically, this translates into China extending its protective umbrella to Islamabad.

Initially, one had expected that Nawaz Sharif would be punished with a coup for his overzealous overtures to India.

The fact that he wasn’t may not necessarily be an indicator of the enhanced strength or capability of the political government but also a willingness of the armed forces to let it continue.

Apparently, while talking to people in a private gathering, General Raheel Sharif spoke about the army giving the government space to breathe.

From an India-Pakistan perspective, this means that the generals are not keen to rush into a linkage that would then be tantamount to neutralizing the military’s influence in power politics or threatening Pakistan’s ideological and political relevance. The act of holding on to selected non-state actors creates that bubble in which the establishment feels secure, especially when it is unsure about the consequences of Hindutva-dominated politics in India.

Seen in this context, the entire post-Pathankot handling of the Jaish looks like a bit of a test case. Something did happen for some part of the government to have taken Masood Azhar into custody. It’s not that there is any plan to hand him over to India or urgently curtail the organization’s power. In fact, during my visit to my hometown in Bahawalpur on January 16, I did not see any signs of a clampdown on the organization or its headquarters. In any case, it may not be doable since the headquarter is basically a madrassa with an attached mosque which cannot be closed until there is an immediate provocation.

However, can Delhi just give-up on confidence building? Peace is a long term plan which will probably come about with small and incremental steps.

(Ayesha Siddiqa is an independent social scientist based in Islamabad and author of Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy. The Wire)

BURGER FROM P23

chiser for Fatburger, predicted that demand for fast food will continue to grow and estimates a 30 percent increase in Pakistan by 2017.

Local chains, American flavors Industry sources say that it is difficult to put a number on the market share for homegrown fast-food businesses, but they agree that it is swiftly growing to cater to the demand.

Shahvez Fazail, 33, for instance, founder of the online delivery service Food Genie, has signed on more than 60 burger chains in the last year, including Mr Burger, and of these, new local businesses outnumber the foreign entities.

One of Fazail’s clients is Ali Raza, 38, owner of Burger Inc. Raza studied and worked in the US before returning to Karachi in 2004. He, like many fast-food restaurant owners in Karachi I spoke to, spent his formative years abroad where he got his first job. He believes that the local burger chain boom has arisen partly because of the lucrative growing demand, but also from a need to cater to consumers like himself - a generation that has been exposed to international fast food trends and franchises.

“Part of our personalities are very rooted in another culture,” he explains.

“It’s not just those of us who have returned to Pakistan, though - everything is so accessible via the Internet and we travel so much now that we all want to be part of an international culture that we see so much of.”

While those who have returned to Pakistan relish traditional food, they also crave American burgers, he says. That’s where the local chains step in.

“The international brands are great, but they’re all about convenience and volume,” he explains. “They can nuke you a burger in three minutes, but I’ll make it from scratch, with the freshest of ingredients and the best quality beef in the market.”

Despite the friendship between Pakistan and the US being lukewarm at best over the past few years our palate still takes its cues from the US. Local burger chains try to offer the best of both worlds, bringing fresh, homegrown produce to a menu with a decidedly American flavor.

Naveed Savul, 47, the owner of Burger Lab, which he started nearly four years ago, also feels the local market is spurred on by food trends outside of Pakistan.

“We were very used to overly processed, synthetic-tasting fast food, but then we saw a change in the US and Europe - a return to organic, fresh cuts and locally sourced ingredients,” he says.

In the years Burger Lab has been operating, Savul has noticed greater demand for “gourmet burgers” - burgers with blue or gouda cheese, for instance - which, costing more than Rs700 ($6.68) have become staples on restaurant and cafe menus, catering to customers with deep pockets. According to the consumer research firm Euromonitor International, the annual disposable income of Pakistanis increased by 23.1 percent between 2008 and 2013 and expenditure jumped by 24.5 percent.

“Unlike my generation, kids today have a lot of money and there’s an entrenched culture of eating out or ordering in,” says Raza of Burger Inc. Harbingers of change Since the day Mr Burger came to Pakistan, burgers - the food, the concept - have become harbingers of change.

“I feel so happy when I hear people using this term ‘burgers’,” Ashfaq Raza says, laughing. “It makes me think of Mr Burger. It reminds me of how people doubted us when we were starting out, but then called us pioneers, and began to follow us.”

“The Pakistani market is very trend-oriented, but it’s a small percentile of consumers who start these trends,” says Savul, owner of Burger Lab. These consumers manage to spark something. “One definite reason for this demand for burgers is the idea that ‘The cool people are eating them’,” Savul feels.

PTI and its supporters arguably hope to capitalize on the possibilities that such trendsetters offer, and perhaps redefine what it means to be a burger.

“I think that when they [critics] refer to us as ‘burgers’, they are talking about people who are from the educated class,” says Arsalan Taj Ghumman, 30, the former president of the Karachi chapter of PTI’s student wing, Insaf Students Federation.

“We have never been involved in corrupt politics, we aren’t afraid to question what we are told and we don’t believe that politics must be a game of fear and threats.”

For Ghumman, it is a source of pride that the party was able to bring a generation of “burgers” into the fold.

“The most ignorant people are those who belong to the upper class in Pakistan,” he says.

“They have been given every opportunity in life by God and they have everything that one could desire. It is very difficult to attract these kinds of people to political activism, and if PTI has done so, it is a big victory for the party.”

When PTI’s critics comment on the branded clothes that these party supporters wear, their income or accents, and use the word “burger” as a slur, Ghumman has a simple retort: “Would you call Mohammad Ali Jinnah a burger? He lived abroad, he was educated in London and he worked there, and he liked to dress a certain way. Can you call the founder of our country a ‘burger’?” - Al-Jazeera BOY FROM P13

raised his hand by mistake after apparently mishearing the question.

Ahmed then accused the boy of blasphemy, according to local media, a serious allegation in Pakistan.

Anwar fled home, where he cut off the hand he had raised and placed it on a plate before presenting it to the imam, according to police chief Ahmed.

The imam was arrested late Saturday and would appear in court “for further legal proceedings”, Ahmed added.

“Shabbir Ahmed, the cleric, has been arrested and booked under anti-terror law for inciting the boy to take such an extreme step,” Ahmed told AFP from Hujra Shah Muqeem district, some 125 kilometers (77 miles) south of Lahore.

YOUTUBE FROM P15

main point of contention and it has been solved,” the official said on the condition of anonymity as the authority is yet to issue a formal statement in this regard.

ATTACK FROM P1

ated with input from Nadra.”

“We have gathered almost all relevant data on who they (attackers) were, from where they came and who supported them.” But the ISPR chief said the information is “sensitive” and is being “processed and updated,” which will be shared with the public later.

“We cleared the sanctuaries of terrorists after which certain people crossed the border towards Afghanistan and are operating from there.

That aspect is also under investigation,” he maintained.

Bajwa said the terrorists were getting instructions from outside and were receiving calls.

“They (terrorists) are targeting symbols of progress. We are fighting a war against faceless bastards (terrorists).”

The ISPR chief said, “As long as the facilitators and financiers of terrorists are present, they can carry out an attack at any place and time. What matters is how we respond to this as a nation.”

TWENTY KILLED: Gunmen slipped into a college campus under cover of fog Wednesday, killing at least 20 people — some of them shot execution-style — in the latest terrorist attack in Pakistan targeting students in apparent revenge for expanding military crackdowns.

The attack in Charsadda, about 30 miles from Peshawar, was claimed by a Taliban faction. It is likely to unite the country behind stern action against militants 13 months after a similar rampage at a nearby armyrun school killed about 150 students and teachers.

Four suspected attackers also were killed in Wednesday’s bloodshed, officials said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed a “ruthless response,” saying the attack was on all of Pakistan.

“Cowards and their finances will see our national resolve to eliminate terror,” a statement issued by his office said, even as some Pakistani media outlets reported that the death toll could rise from among the dozens wounded.

Wednesday’s assault began about 9 a.m. when at least four gunmen cut through a back fence into Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

“I saw two terrorists standing on the roof. . . . They were shouting, ‘Allahu Akhbar,’ ” said Basit Khan, a student of computer sciences. “After that, firing started and I and my friends started running. There were people screaming. We were terrified.”

Eyewitnesses said many of the university students were shot in the head.

All four terrorists, who were clad in Shalwar Kameez like students, were killed in the operation.

They all wore beards while two of them are said to be under 20 years of age and two others fell in the age bracket of 20-25.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Raheel Sharif also visited the targeted university and spoke to the people. He was also given a briefing on the attack and the consequent operation to neutralize the threat.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman, Imran Khan also visited the university. Speaking to the media persons, he said, the civil and military leadership are on one page in the fight against terrorism.

Bajwa said forensics and fingerprints of the attackers had been shared with the National Database Registration BRINK FROM P1 Authority (Nadra), adding that “an Forum. The prime minister had arintelligence picture is also being cre- rived in the Iranian capital from

www.PakistanLink.com

Saudi Arabia earlier on Tuesday after meeting with King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. He met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and exchanged views on the situation in the region including the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Prime Minister Nawaz was accompanied by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and his Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi during the two-nation visit, which was aimed at easing tension between Riyadh and Tehran. Nawaz told newsmen that Pakistan had proposed to the Iranian leadership to appoint a focal person on the SaudiIran issue, and informed he would also talk to Saudi Arabia to appoint their focal person. He said Pakistan would also appoint a focal person on the issue so that it could interact with the two brotherly countries through their focal persons to take this process forward.

The prime minister said he was very satisfied with his visit to Saudi Arabia and Iran, adding Pakistan was making sincere efforts for deescalation of tension between the two brotherly countries with whom it enjoyed close, historic and brotherly ties. To a question, the prime minister said Pakistan was not acting at anyone’s behest, rather it was its own initiative to de-escalate tension between the two countries. He referred to Qur’anic verses which commanded that whenever there is a dispute between two Muslim brothers, it was the duty of other Muslims to help reconcile their differences.

MISSILE FROM P1

dams. The modern guidance system permits precise attacks.

The Inter-Services Public Relations said Ra’ad, with a range of 350km, “enables Pakistan to achieve air delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea.” The missile is approximately five meters long and could weigh up to 1,000kg.

Special “terrain hugging low level flight maneuvers enable it to avoid detection and engagement by contemporary air defense systems,” the ISPR statement added.

ZARDARI FROM P1

that Zardari wanted to introduce his son to senior US officials and also discuss ‘Pakistan’s and regional situation.’

“Asif Ali Zardari has called Bilawal to US. They will discuss the recent party meetings chaired by Bilawal and also meet US officials,” said a close aide of the PPP chief.

The father and the son have been invited to the US President’s annual breakfast on the first Thursday of February.

But before that event the Bhutto family would celebrate Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari’s 25th birthday on January 25. Aseefa Bhutto Zardari’s birthday will follow on February 2.

Sources said US Secretary of State John Kerry may attend one of the two birthday functions.

On Tuesday, Argentinean Ambassador in Islamabad hosted a lunch for PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at his residence. The lunch was also attended by the ambassadors of UK, China, France, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Germany, Romania, Austria and Hungary.

From the PPP side Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, leader of the opposition in the Senate, Vice-President PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar, Faisal Karim Kundi, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Noor Alam Afridi, Palwasha Khan, Salim Mandviwalla, Mustafa Khokhar and Jamil Soomro also attended the luncheon meeting.

CLASSIFIED & MATRIMONIAL

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P29

Classified Section Long Term Job Long Term Job 5-10 yrs-/Live-in Nanny (lady) to help 8yrs old boy, school going child and minor light household work.

Must have US valid driver license and be independent-Salary $1000-$1400 per month. Contact Mr. Ali 951-805-2474 or saliusa@outlook.com.

Looking for Live-in Nanny

NURSE NEEDED

Looking for live-in nanny to help watch middle school and high school kids in Northern Virginia.

Responsibilities include light meal preparation, taking kids to activities, light housework and laundry.

Understanding English required. Experience and references required. Driving preferred but not required. Contact: Saba - 571-262-1937

Nurse needed, RN or LVN, to care for a senior lady. Caregiver needed. Will pay market rate. Please contact 213.712.8888 Thanks imaad

Support the Community by Supporting Pakistan Link.

To Advertise or Subscribe in the most popular Pakistani-American newspaper “Pakistan Link” Call 714-400-3400

Matrimonial Link 50 year old divorced project manager in US seeking a bride. MS Electrical Engineering and MBA. I look much younger than US Citizen, Pakistani, my age. A simple Urdu-Sunni, Business, Financially and down to earth person Professional Settled, looking for someone Age 40, divorced, similar from a 5-8 height, good looking, decent background, seeking a suitable US Citizen preferably 40 or below. professional partner.

A moderate and open Contact minded Shia. Caste 951-805-2474 or no bar. For further td@esecurityauditors.com information, please Place Your Matrimonial Ad Today email: pflandc@ Buy 3 Get 1 FREE! gmail.com call: 714-400-3400 or Email: Sales@pakistanlink.com

Place Your Matrimonial Ad Today Buy 3 Get 1 FREE! call: 714-400-3400 or

US Citizen, UrduGujrati- speaking, Muslim Sunni, height 5”6, weight 160 lbs.

We are looking for a humble, selfless lady, preferably over 65, who could be a suitable match for my father.

Please contact Cell 310 895 0056

Email: Sales@pakistanlink.com

Shahnawaz Matrimonial Free Matrimonial Service

Contact:

Mahbano Khan Cell: (562) 746-9439 e-mail: khanmahbano@gmail.com

Sunni family seeks proposal for 31 yrs daughter tall 5 ft 6 inches slim fair pretty working as an executive for a leading bank.

Proposals invited from well settled professionals. Please call at 301 525 8941

Read Pakistan Link and Urdu Link online at www.pakistanlink.com www.PakistanLink.com

ADVERTISEMENT

P30 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com

JANUARY 22, 2016 - PAKISTAN LINK

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

ENTERTAINMENT

akistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy 's documentary on honour killing, "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness", has been nominated as one of five documentaries from across the globe in the 'Best Documentary - Short' subject category for the 88th Academy Awards.

Chinoy, who previously won Pakistan's first Academy Award for her documentary 'Saving Face' at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in 2012 described the nomination as an "opportunity for Pakistan to acknowledge honour

P

JANUARY 22, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P31

killing as a problem and address it immediately."

"I am delighted that my documentary has been nominated for an Academy Award. This film and its message is incredibly important to me. This is an opportunity for Pakistan to acknowledge that it has a problem and to address it with urgency because there is no honour in an honour killing. We will send out a strong message that this heinous crime is not a part of our culture or religion," said Chinoy.

A Girl in the River, which is a joint production of Sharmeen

Obaid Chinoy (SOC) Films and Home Box Office (HBO), follows the life of an 18-year-old girl who is a survivor of an honour killing attempt.

Honour killing is a pressing issue in Pakistan as more than a 1,000 women fall prey to this practice each year, usually at the hands of their own family members.

Most women never survive the attack and virtually no one has ever been sent to jail for an honour killings crime.

In her case, she eventually had to forgive.

www.PakistanLink.com www.Pakistanlink.com

ADVERTISEMENT

P32 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 22, 2016

www.PakistanLink.com