Pakistan Link - January 29, 2016

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

Friday, January 29, 2016

VOL. 26/5 - 18 Rabi ‘u-thani 1437 H

PAGE 13

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How Would Hemingway’s Hero Deal with Syria?

‘I Don’t Believe in Extension, Will Retire on Due Date’ R awalpindi:

DirectorGeneral InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant-General Asim Bajwa on Monday rubbished rumors regarding an extension in General Raheel Sharif ’s tenure as Chief of Army Staff, quoting the Army chief as saying he will “retire on the due date” in November this year.

Bajwa in a series of tweets quoted the Army Chief as saying, “Pakistan Army is a great institution. I don’t believe in extension and will retire on the due date.”

“Speculations are baseless,” the COAS said, adding, “Efforts to root out terrorism will continue with full vigor and resolve.”

Mehmood Shah, a retired Pakistani general formerly tasked with security in the tribal belt, said Raheel Sharif never intended to seek an extension as army chief.

“He is a true soldier and he RAHEEL, P28

Pakistan Excels China, India in Reducing Corruption

US & Canada $1.00

Barrister Farogh Elected PBC Vice Chairman

‘You Have Guns, You Can Fight It out’

Pakistan-India Talks Expected in February

Islamabad: Pakistan and

India are expected to kick off secretary-level talks in the first or second week of February, Indian media reported on Wednesday.

“The foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India are expected to meet next month and the two sides are in touch for finalizing the new dates,” India’s NDTV quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying.

“Islamabad and New Delhi are in touch to resume the talks and finalize a date. The final date will be announced after mutual consent whereas the meeting is likely to be held in Islamabad,” he is reported to have said by the Indian media.

The secretary-level talks that were due to be held on January 1516 were cancelled after an attack on an Indian Airbase in Pathankot on January 2. Later, India’s

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry (right) greets his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad. File photo

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesman Vikas Swarup addressed a press conference to announce that the talks had been postponed with mutual

consent and that a new date would be announced soon.

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry is currently visiting the US and

is due to meet members of the community in Los Angeles on Friday, January 29. He will be accompanied by Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani.

Helping Pakistanis Achieve Their American Dream

Islamabad:

Corruption in Pakistan is on the decline as testified by Transparency International Berlin annual global report 2015 which was released on Wednesday. It showed Pakistan improving its ranking from the 50th most corrupt country in 2014 to 53rd in 2015.

The report also shows Pakistan has done better compared to its other neighbors, including China, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal in combating corruption. This does not mean that all these countries are more corrupt than Pakistan. Instead these countries either maintained their 2014 CPI scores or lost a few points in 2015.

Although a typographical mistake in the TI Berlin report shows Pakistan’s rank to have improved in 2015 by nine countries as against 2014, in actual fact it has improved by three ranks from the previous 50th most corrupt to 53rd most corrupt.

CORRUPTION, P28

For news, updated round the clock, visit

www.PakistanLink.com Hillary Defends Muslims from Trump’s Islamophobia Washington:

Hillary Clinton bashed on Monday her Republican counterpart Donald Trump, while replying to a MuslimAmerican woman’s question regarding the former’s role in making the United States safer for Muslims.

The democratic presidential front-runner was addressing a CNN town-hall event when an Air Force veteran raised a question about how Clinton would make the US safe for Muslim children, given the rise of Islamophobia in the country.

Clinton, used the question as an opportunity to criticize Trump, who called the Muslim population ‘dangerous’ to the US. “One of the most distressing aspects of this campaign has been the language of Republican candidates, particularly their front-runner that insults, demeans, denigrates different people,” Clinton said. ”He has HILLARY, P28

Pakistan Has Unique Role in Afghan Peace Talks: China Beijing: Chinese Foreign Minister

L-R: NAPA President Arif Zaffar Mansuri, NAPA General Secretary Dr Shoaib Patail, NAPA Treasure Asif Chattha, NAPA Board Member Samin Faruqui, and Consul General of Pakistan Abdul Jabbar Memon. Pictures by Anwar Khawaja and YKKB

Los Angeles, CA: A grand and imposing event was held at a banquet hall in Los Angeles to officially launch the National Association of Pakistani Americans, USA (NAPA USA) last week.

The event that was well attended by the movers and shakers of the

Pakistani-American community in Southern California marked the first public event of this nationwide organization. The newly arrived Consul General of Pakistan in Los Angeles, Abdul Jabbar Memon, was also present on the occasion.

The event was emceed by Dr

Hawa Vaheed, who introduced the speakers and conducted the program admirably.

The President of NAPA USA, Arif Zaffar Mansuri, welcomed the guests and defined the objectives, mission, vision, and core values

NAPA, P17

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

Wang Yi on Tuesday said Pakistan had a unique role in the Afghan peace talks and urged Islamabad to take part in the peace process with China which will play the role of a mediator in the talks.

In a joint press conference with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani here, Wang said peace talks were the “right way towards enduring peace and tranquility” in Afghanistan.

China, which is part of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, will join the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan in a meeting of the group in Islamabad on February 6, reports the Chinese media.

The four nations will confirm a roadmap to restart the peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban to try to end the civil war in the country that has dragged on for 15 years.

ROLE, P28

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OPINION

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

Pakistan Link President

Arif Zaffar Mansuri

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An Open Letter to the President of Pakistan n By Abdul-Majeed Azad

M

OH

r President:

The mercenaries of Taliban have spilled blood again, this time of innocent students and faculty of Bacha Khan University in Charsadda. The memory of the 2014 heinous killing of 130 school students in Peshawar is fresh. Not long ago, the terrorists had preyed on the innocent crowd watching a game of volleyball in Lakki Marwat and struck the garrison city of Rawalpindi. And the list goes on.

Peshawar - literally meaning the Gateway - has been decimated and turned into a graveyard. Filthy, ignorant-to-their-bones and illkempt goons born out of the illicit marriage between Al-Qaeda and Taliban are indiscriminately killing and maiming innocents by scores, sparing not even the worshippers.

The world says shame on you and on all Pakistanis for watching listlessly one bloody massacre after another in their towns and cities. It was not long ago that your whole country stood passionately behind the efforts to reinstate Pakistan’s chief justice leading to the ultimate ouster of General Musharraf and your coming to the helm.

What happened to that passion?

Where the hell is that chief justice amidst all this mayhem?

Believe it or not, out of 6346 verses in the Qur’an, there are only four verses with the word ‘jihad’ in them, all converging on the concept of self-control, self-discipline, self-restraint and self-defense.

Above all, there is not a single use of the word ‘saif ’- an equivalent for sword - in the entirety of Qur’an.

Isn’t it ironic then that the Taliban and remnants of Al-Qaeda savages hiding in the darkest caves have blithely blindsided the majority of 180 million of your countrymen by redefining the religion in the silhouettes of just these four verses?

The American soldiers were accused of desecrating Qur’an and flushing its pages down the toilet in Iraq and then at Gitmo. We can always find in our hearts the ele-

R

Policemen stand beside blood on the floor at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda after the Taliban attack last Wednesday. At least 20 people died in the assault (Photo courtesy Aamir Quereshi/AFP/Getty Images)

ment of forgiveness for their ignorance and the hatred borne out of that ignorance, thereby showing that Muslims can always stand on a higher moral ground – no matter what. But how could you justify

Believe it or not, out of 6346 verses in the Qur’an, there are only four verses with the word ‘jihad’ in them, all converging on the concept of selfcontrol, self-discipline, self-restraint and selfdefense. Above all, there is not a single use of the word ‘saif ’- an equivalent for sword - in the entirety of Qur’an Muslims laying in wait outside a mosque before the Friday prayers to kill fellow Muslims, when one of those 6346 verses in Qur’an says in no unequivocal terms: whoever killed a Muslim intentionally, his abode in hellfire is guaranteed?

Contrary to the vision of a hashish-filled heaven, the journey of the suicide-bombers to the hell

begins no later than the moment he pushes the button to detonate the charge.

So, those who hid Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and other foxes in their chicken coops should have asked these revered ‘guests’: which brand of savagery was their creed that sanctions spilling blood? It is anything but Islam because Islam abhors blood-letting - any blood for that matter - but more importantly, that of their fellow religionists.

In his farewell sermon delivered in the ‘Uranah valley of Mount Arafat, the Prophet of Islam said: O people, just as you regard this Month (Dhul-Hijjah), this Day (the ninth day) and this City (Makkah) as sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that he will indeed reckon your deeds.

So, no matter what the circumstances are and, no matter who proclaims to speak on behalf of Muslims, no one can or should ever be allowed to twist, alter or mock this ageless legacy of the Prophet.

It is high time that Pakistanis picked up the Book they claim to be the law of the land. It is high time they found out for themselves

as to what are the true commandments of their Creator with regard to tribalism, ethnicity, women, education, sanctity of life, governance, and even the definition of an enemy.

That is the only lightning rod Pakistanis will ever need at this crucial time of crisis to decide their destiny. If not, then the fanaticism intertwined with myopic religiosity that has pervaded Pakistan in the post 9/11 era, will destroy the very fabric of its existence that is already fraying at the seams!

Things in Pakistan will not change until ordinary Pakistanis stop behaving like lifeless zombies. Billions of American dollars in aid will serve one and only one purpose: continue to fatten the pocket lines of corrupt politicians. Pakistan is ranked the 40th most corrupt country among the 180 monitored by global watchdog Transparency International.

On top of that, the arms given to fight the terrorizing mercenaries are used in futile continuation of hostility towards India alone.

Mr President, make no mistake, my country is not your deliverer; never was, never will be. Pakistan’s deliverance is in the hands of Pakistanis alone. They are your Moses. They ought to muster the courage to part the sea between the violence that has gripped the country, and the prosperity that has eluded them for what seems like an eternity.

Maybe it is high time that the pompous and hubristic paper tigers claiming to be the stewards of Pakistan’s destiny, and the inept Pakistanis should seriously consider leasing out their lawless territory to the Mother Queen for the next 68 years, because as the turbulent history of the past 68 years since annexation shows, none of you are capable of governing it.

This will perhaps give you all enough time for a thorough soul searching and setting your priorities right. ( The writer is a Chemical Engineering Professor and a freelance writer. He lives in OH and comments on absurdities he witnesses in his community and around the world)

The Islamic Imperative to Defend Religious Freedom

eligious freedom is much larger than just the right to practice one’s faith. It encompasses freedom of belief, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly. These are freedoms that are the underpinnings of a just and civil society and affect everyone - those of faith and those without. Hence, it is in the interest of all citizens to work towards freedom of religion.

For Muslims, religious freedom runs two ways: it allows the practice of the faith in an open manner, free from prejudice and persecution, and it is a responsibility that we bear to ensure that others can freely practice their faith or no faith.

As Muslims, it is not enough to demand religious liberty for only the practitioners of our faith; we must defend the rights of all others to practice their faith just as vociferously. This is an Islamic obligation.

American Muslims, and all Muslims, must be at the forefront of reli-

gious freedom battles. Whether it be the persecution of the Yazidis in Iraq

by ISIL, blasphemy laws in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, the violence against Copts in Egypt, attacks against the Baha’i in Iran, oppression of the Shi’a in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, or attacks against Jews or Ahmadiyyas or Christians in any number of countries, American Muslims must take a stand against all of these violations of religious liberty.

Standing up against infringement of someone’s religious freedom is not only a moral obligation, it is a duty prescribed by our faith. We find references in the Qur’an that we must defend the faith of others as they defend ours. Our history is one where people of all faiths found refuge and prosperity in Muslim lands. In the contested areas of today where ISIS is murdering people because of their faith, we find mosques, churches and synagogues in close proximity and sometimes sharing the same walls.

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In the current time, when American of other faiths are confused about our faith and are often presented with horrific images that are antithetical to our values, and at a time when we are dismayed and disgusted that groups like ISIS justify their crimes in the name of Islam, it is more imperative than ever that we send a resounding message that we support religious liberty for everyone. Furthermore, we must ensure that Muslims are active in religious liberty advocacy in the US and internationally. We must be at the forefront of this movement as a matter of religious responsibility.

[Contact: Saif Inam, Policy Analyst, saif@mpac.org] On Wednesday, January 27th, join the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) as it partners with the “I Am Your Protector “ movement to commemorate the International Holocaust Day with an Interfaith ceremony honoring courageous individuals during

the Holocaust who were protectors of Jews, often risking their own lives to save the “other.” In particular, we will be recognizing Muslim protectors, who are often unknown. The event will be held at the Muslim Community Center (MCC) in Silver Spring, Maryland. See details here. -MPAC

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.

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JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P5

FLAGSHIP STORE NOW OPEN 18725 PIONEER BLVD. ARTESIA, CALIFORNIA (562) 860-7425

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OPINION

P6 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016 n By Mohammad Yacoob

D

Los Angeles, CA

r Jamal Badawi, one of the leading Muslim scholars in North America, delivered an unscheduled Friday Sermon - Juma Khutba - at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, Southern California on November 27, 2015, a local Mosque where I go every Friday. I was pleasantly surprised to see him and to listen to his Khutba. He spoke eloquently about the state of the world, extremism, violence, hate mongering; from a very high scholarly level, but in pure and simple language, quoting verses from the Qur’an and emphasizing the responsibility of Muslims.

I met him after the Friday Prayer and thanked him for coming to our Islamic Center and added, “Because this is a Thanksgiving weekend, you are here with us, Dr Jamal Badawi”. I also told him that my son-in-law Salim Ahmed, who is a Canadian citizen, was his student in the 1980’s. He asked me for more details which I did not have at that time. Later, Salim gave me details via email and wrote, “Salaam, We used to meet at the Dartmouth Masjid. This was around 1985 and Br Jamaal was an economics professor at St. Mary’s University. I had shared apartments with Ibrahim Zanussi/Libya and also another time with Issam Abukather/Palestine. He may remember them. Brother Jamaal used to invite us students to his house for iftar in Ramadan for which I am most grateful. I had even sent Br. Jamaal an invitation to my wedding but I am not sure if he received it. – Salim Ahmed.”

Dr Jamal Badawi and I could not continue the conversation.

He was escorted to be taken to the city of Ontario, California, that is more than forty miles from Hawthorne, to attend the Annual Conference of the Muslim American Society (MAS). He was the Keynote Speaker at the Conference that was being held during this American Thanksgiving Weekend.

A few minutes later a young man, who attended the Juma Prayer and heard the conversation between Dr Jamal Badawi and me, approached and said, “We do not celebrate Thanksgiving; it is celebrated by the Mushrakeens.” I immediately told him, “I disagree with you,” and walked away from him. Indirectly, he seemed to tell me that Thanksgiving is a Christian holiday. He made the remark by making a casual observation when he heard me use ‘Thanksgiving Weekend’ in the conversation with Dr Jamal Badawi. This young man took it upon himself to make a judgment.

I would like to give two examples of casual observation ending up in forming opinions about a situation, jumping to con-

Gratitude and Thankfulness

clusions, and passing judgment. The first example is about two friends, Ahmed and Yousuf, who came to the United States as students, decades ago, from an Asian country. Ahmed went to Chicago and Yousuf enrolled in the University of California at Los Angeles. They graduated from their respective universities and were out of touch with each other for eleven years. Ahmed graduated from a university in Chicago, applied for immigrant status in the US and became an entrepreneur, a big business man. Yousuf graduated from the University of California, started working as a Director in an Engineering Company.

Ahmed came to Los Angeles and met Yousuf merely by chance. Yousuf, now a US citizen, invited Ahmed to his place, a three-bedroom apartment in an eight-unit building, for dinner.

At the dinner, Ahmed had another surprise waiting for him. He met an old friend from his neighborhood in the old country at the dinner party. Ahmed turned to his other childhood friend, and said, “You know Yousuf is smarter than me; he always talked about starting a business after graduating from college, even before coming to the US. Look at him, still living in an apartment and working as an engineer.” Ahmed’s friend turned to him and said, “You are right; Yousuf is a smarter man. He owns this eightunit apartment building and owns two others. Many a times he has said that he wants to live a simple life and help others.” This brings us to a point that clearly says that Ahmed made a casual remark that did not stand the test of facts.

I would like to add another casual observation account. It

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relates to my personal experience in Los Angeles at a Wells Fargo Bank. I had planned to go to two Banks, Wells Fargo Bank and Union Bank. In Wells Fargo Bank, I was holding an envelope from the Union Bank addressed to me wherein I had placed transaction papers of both banks. A person standing behind me saw the envelope, Union Bank envelope in Wells Fargo Bank, and with a smile and with complete seriousness said to me, “Aren’t you in the wrong bank?” He made a comment based on his casual observation.

Most often people tend to believe what they hear or see that may provide only a part of the information, then suddenly form an opinion and pass judgment. I am not going to go into the details of Thanksgiving or its historical background; however, I would say that I do celebrate thanksgiving. I started celebrating thanksgiving with a small “t” more than thirty five years ago to express my gratitude to Almighty God. My thankfulness directed to Almighty God makes me see in it an awareness of, and appreciation for, what I have and what is around me. I am thankful to God for my family, health, friends, community and the good life I am enjoying in the United States. The people around the world have been expressing gratitude through ages. I elevated my gratitude to a higher level of thankfulness and express it through the Islamic Prayer. I wrote to Los Angeles Times as to how I celebrate my thanksgiving.

Voluntary Islamic Thanksgiving Prayer, November 22, 2001 “I came to the United States in 1962. My father, an army contractor who had worked with the British army in India, told me to go to Oxford or Cambridge, but I decided to come to California. This is because of the speech made by Vice President Richard Nixon in 1957 in Bangalore in south India. During the speech he mentioned that Bangalore reminded him of California. I decided to come to California.

In the last 20 years, I have started celebrating Thanksgiving in a very unique way--an additional way. To give thanks to God, I perform two units of voluntary Islamic prayer, either on Thanksgiving Day or on Friday, in the morning, afternoon or evening. Since this is not a compulsory or mandatory Islamic prayer, I choose the day and the timing. This year, I have decided to perform four units of Thanksgiving prayer, to thank God more for the good life my family is enjoying in these United States. I will pray to God to bless America, humanity and our spaceship, the Earth. May God give us the strength to fight terrorism, intolerance and hate crimes.

Mohammad Yacoob, Hawthorne (http://articles.latimes. com/2001/nov/22/opinion/le-sau22_2.1) As Muslims we thank Almighty God and also engage in GRATITUDE, P24

OPINION

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P7

Dalit Scholar’s Suicide Brings India’s Caste Apartheid in Sharp Focus n By Riaz Haq

“

CA

Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic” - Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Father of India’s Constitution

What Dr Ambedkar said decades ago about the inherent inequality of Indian society continues to be true today.

The latest manifestation of it is the suicide of a Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vermula in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

In 2015, the University of Hyderabad suspended five Dalit PhD scholars -- all members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) -- after reports that on August 3, students from ASA attacked Susheel Kumar of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), from the ruling party BJP’s student wing. A team of investigators from the university found these five students innocent, but they were still suspended after BJP Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya insisted on this action.

Smirti Irani, another ruling BJP minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, has also been accused of playing a role in the suspension and subsequent protest and death of the Dalit scholar in Hyderabad. She is also accused by the Opposition of lying about it.

India’s rigid caste system assigns each individual to an occupation based on his or her birth. Such divisions have existed in other societies but these assignments are particularly rigid in Hindu society. It’s extremely difficult for someone born to low-caste parents to pursue occupations reserved for higher castes. This has resulted in what the United Nations considers “Caste Apartheid”.

The Hindu hierarchy is said to have evolved from different parts of the body of Brahma—the creator of the universe.

Thus, the Brahmans, who originated from the mouth, are engaged in the most prestigious priestly and teaching occupations.

The Kshatriyas, made from the arms, are the rulers and warriors; the Vaishyas, from the thighs, are traders and merchants. The Shudras, from the feet, are manual workers and servants of other castes. Below the Shudras and outside the caste system, lowest in the order, the Dalits engage in the most demeaning and stigmatized occupations like scavenging, for instance, and dealing with body waste.

Women get the worst of both worlds under the system of Caste Apartheid. They face discrimination and sexual intimidation, however the “human rights of Dalit women are violated in peculiar and extreme forms.

Stripping, naked parading, caste abuses, pulling out nails and hair, sexual slavery and

bondage are a few forms peculiar to Dalit women.” These women are living under a

The Brahmans, who originated from the mouth, are engaged in the most prestigious priestly and teaching occupations. The Kshatriyas, made from the arms, are the rulers and warriors; the Vaishyas, from the thighs, are traders and merchants.

The Shudras, from the feet, are manual workers and servants of other castes form of apartheid: discrimination and social exclusion is a major factor, denying access ”to

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common property resources like land, water and livelihood sources, [causing] exclusion from schools, places of worship, common dining, inter-caste marriages”, according to the UN Human Rights body.

In spite of the obvious devastating impact of caste discrimination, the Indian government continues to oppose the UN attempts to define it as racism. Paul Divakar, convener of the Delhi-based National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, says, “In a country that prides itself as being the world’s biggest democracy, more than 200 million people from the Dalit communities suffer from caste discrimination.”

The only minority group reportedly worse off than Dalits are Indian Muslims, according to Indian government’s data. The Muslims of India suffer from widespread discrimination in education, employment, housing and criminal justice system.

Given the many ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines running through the length and breadth of India, there have long been questions raised about India’s identity as a nation. US South Asia expert Stephen Cohen of Brookings Institution has said, “But there is no all-Indian Hindu identity—India is riven by caste and linguistic differences, and Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar are more relevant rallying points for more Indians than any Hindu caste or sect, let alone the Sanskritized Hindi that is officially promulgated”.

The ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines dividing India have only widened under the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India which has been engaged in a concerted campaign to accelerate total Hinduization of India. It does not augur well for the future of the country as a secular, democratic and united nation envisioned by its founders.

OPINION

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

T

n By Beena Sarwar

here is now a numbing familiarity to the kind of news that broke on Wednesday morning from Pakistan.

This time, heavily armed militants in suicide vests scaled the walls of a sprawling university campus near Charsadda, a picturesque town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as North West Frontier) province near the Afghan border.

Gunfire and explosions starting at about 9 am resounded through the dense fog enveloping Bacha Khan University, set idyllically amidst sugar cane fields some 13 km from Charsadda.

The four assailants killed at least 19 students and teachers before themselves being killed by the police and army in a three-hour long gun-battle.

The casualty rate was far lower than the attack on the Army Public School in nearby Peshawar just over a year ago on Dec 16, 2014 in which militants killed some 150 school children and teachers.

The relatively low casualties, pointed out Senator Rubina Khalid of the Pakistan People’s Party, is not a basis for self-congratulation.

“We send our children to school to study, not to be shaheed or martyred,” she said, speaking on Geo TV’s nightly Capital Talk show, hosted by well-known journalist Hamid Mir. This in fact is a sentiment that many are now voicing: stop glorify-

Voices Grow Louder – Stop Glorifying the Dead ing those killed in such attacks as “heroes” and “martyrs”.

Familiar litany After every such murderous assault – and the list is a long one – we hear the same noises, vowing that this will never be allowed to happen again. There have been many apparent “turning points”, even before the APS attack, and before that, the attack on Malala Yousufzai. The list includes attacks on a police academy, naval base, air force b a s e , army cantonment, hotel, mosques, churches, markets, and schools.

But in each case, the national resolve is quickly splintered by the confusion created through disclaimers by various public figures and journalists: “The attackers are not Muslim”, “No Muslim would do this” – and that in fact, it is India which is somehow behind the attack.

Retired brigadier general and former Inter-Services Intelligence station chief in Peshawar Asad Munir rubbished these denials.

In short, today’s militants are ideological descendants of the “mujahideen” or holy warriors spawned by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan military in the name of Islam to drive the “godless Communists” (Soviet Union) out of Afghanistan.

The Taliban and others that arose from the madrassas that developed the mujahideen have splintered into many factions. However, they share the same world view: anti-democracy, anti-women’s rights, anti-education, anti-homosexuality – all of which they enforce through

violence.

Peshawar redux Their linkages with Al Qaeda and Daesh, despite differences, are natural.

Hamid Mir in his show cited an Afghanistan number that was used to call the attackers on their cell phones, as well as international reporters. The calls, he said, were made by Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Geedar [jackal] group.

He also showed viewers a photograph that Mansoor had sent to reporters, in which five armed, grim-faced males sit against a scenic background of lush green hills and valleys.

The one in the center is heavily bearded. Two look very young – perhaps even younger than the students at the university they were

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setting out to attack.

Believed to be the one of the masterminds of the Peshawar school attack of December 2014 that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for, the daily Dawn reported that Mansoor took responsibility for the Bacha Khan University attack on a post on his Facebook page. The page has since been taken down.

Following the Peshawar massacre, the Taliban had released similar photos of the attackers apparently taken before they were dispatched on their deadly mission. This time, however, the Taliban have distanced themselves from the attack, terming it “un-Islamic”.

Another similarity between the Peshawar school and Bacha Khan University attacks is that intelligence received prior to both tragedies hinted at the forthcoming

attack.

The Army Public School was attacked ostensibly because the Taliban wanted to take revenge against Pakistan’s armed forces for their military offensive against the militants.

A legacy under attack Bacha Khan University, with some 600 faculty members and 3,000 students from around the country, is a symbol of peace and education – both anathema to the militants.

On the day of the attack, about 600 guests were expected for a poetry recital due to start at 11 am to commemorate the 28th death anniversary of Pashtun nationalist leader and freedom fighter against the British rule, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, after whom the university is named.

Known as “Badshah” (king) or Bacha Khan, he was a devout Muslim – the kind the Taliban would term an apostate – who founded a non-violent red-shirted army of Khudai Khidmatgars (servants of God).

Bacha Khan’s creed of nonviolence and friendship with “Mahatma” Gandhi earned him the nickname of the Frontier Gandhi.

Initially opposed to the creation of Pakistan, he pledged allegiance to the new country when it was formed in 1947. But subsequent Pakistani governments looked upon him with suspicion and jailed him several times. He died in Peshawar in 1988, while under house arrest.

Bacha Khan University is one of several educational institutes set up by the Awami National Party, the party founded by Ghaffar Khan’s son Wali Khan. The Bacha Khan Medi

VOICES, P23

OPINION

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9

How Would Hemingway’s Robert Jordan Deal with Syria? n By Dr Akbar S. Ahmed Chair of Islamic Studies at American University Washington, DC

E

rnest Hemingway’s great war novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which was made into a blockbuster Academy Aw a r d - w i n n i n g film with the same title (1943), contains one of American literature’s most celebrated creations in its protagonist Robert Jordan.

Through Jordan we learn what it means to be an American hero by an author who many saw as an authentic American hero himself.

So conscious was Hemingway that Jordan represented the best virtues of being American -- he is brave, courageous, compassionate, and stoically sacrifices his life to fight injustice -- that he insisted Gary Cooper, who had made his career playing the classic American heroes, take the part.

In the story, Jordan has come to Spain to kill Franco’s fascists and blow up his bridges in what we would describe today as “terrorist acts”. The story does not last more than a few days but contains several levels of meaning at the center of which is a love story between Jordan and a young Spanish girl called Maria. For Hemingway, Maria embodies the land of Spain and the hope for the future - her eyes sparkle when she looks at Jordan, her hair is golden and Jordan runs his fingers through it although it is cropped from the time the fascists shaved her head after raping her, and even her young

D

A group of Spanish Civil War refugees at a children’s home in the French Pyrenees. (Credit: War Resisters’ International and the Brocca family; wikipedia.org)

breasts which are described as “little hills” - and Jordan’s love for her symbolizes the love of the American for the land and its cause. Just as he wanted Cooper for the male

central concept in Western society which is to battle for the idea carried in the title, For Whom the Bell Tolls, a line from a poem by John Donne, the English poet.

ligion and color -- interconnected as part of a larger human civilization with values that are universal and must be protected even if it involves violence. The fictitious

Indeed the irony of those American presidential candidates who would call the Syrian victims of Assad - the Marias escaping from the slaughter “rabid dogs” and deny them refuge, even to orphan children, seems to have escaped them lead, Hemingway met and invited the fresh-looking Ingrid Bergman to play Maria.

Hemingway had consciously projected Jordan as embodying a

n By Dr Gary Welton

escribed by the Belaruskaya Entsiklopedia as the “largest technological disaster of the 20th century,” the catastrophe at Chernobyl was the equivalent of 350 atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima. To increase your understanding of this tragic event, I highly recommend Svetlana Alexievich’s book, “Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster.” Alexievich was recently honored as the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, a well-deserved honor.

She published this documentary in 1997, having interviewed many survivors, about 10 years after the catastrophe. Her book is a thoughtful and gut-wrenching recounting of the personal tragedy and loss in the Ukraine and Belarus. The book was translated into English in 2005 by Keith Gessen. I hope the Nobel Prize will motivate more people to read this historical account. Those who are accustomed to only reading novels should not avoid this book. It is fascinating reading. One journalist reported, “Show me a fantasy novel about Chernobyl—there isn’t one! Because reality is more fantastic.”

She emphasized the medical impact on both the human and animal levels. For example, one child reported, “The sparrows disappeared from our town in the first year after the accident. They were lying around everywhere—in the yards, on the asphalt. They’d be raked up and taken away in the containers with the leaves. They didn’t let people burn the leaves that year, because they were radioactive, so they buried the leaves.”

The societal losses were also emphasized.

One man said, “Of course I agree with those who write that it wasn’t just the reactor that exploded, but an entire system of values. But this explanation isn’t quite enough for me.”

The book includes political commentary. “We

The answer is the bell tolls “for thee.” The poem includes another well-known phrase, “No man is an island.” Hemingway is arguing that we are all -- irrespective of re-

Jordan is not the only American who is drawn to the battle between the Republicans and the Fascists of General Franco and his fascist allies in Germany and Italy; some

Lessons of Faith Radiating from Chernobyl

don’t need anything from the government.

Just leave us alone, is all we want … we’ll be

There is also cultural analysis, from a society that is less individualistic than America.

To increase your understanding of this tragic event, I highly recommend Svetlana Alexievich’s book, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. Alexievich was recently honored as the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, a well-deserved honor all right without the government.” One man reported, “The Gulag, Auschwitz, Chernobyl.

One generation saw it all.”

A photographer reported, “Our politicians are incapable of thinking about the value of an individual life, but then we’re not capable of

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three thousand Americans actually turned up to volunteer in the fight against the tyrant in Spain in the late 1930s.

What would Robert Jordan do today against the tyrant President Assad of Syria? Not much.

There is a difference in the political and cultural context in the two situations. If Jordan did what came so naturally to him when he left for Spain he would be branded a “terrorist”. Volunteers from America are specifically barred from leaving the US to join the battle in Syria against Assad. If they do go, as some have, or try to, they are called terrorists and are subject to arrest, persecution and risk losing their citizenship. So Assad, backed by foreign forces, has butchered over 300,000 civilians and driven out some four million to seek shelter in foreign lands and over seven million to escape from their bombed-out homes with impunity. Still he survives. The Marias of Syria wait for Robert Jordan to come to their aid in vain.

A juxtaposition of these two events from history challenges Hemingway’s idea of America as the champion of democracy, human rights and justice. Indeed the irony of those American presidential candidates who would call the Syrian victims of Assad - the Marias - escaping from the slaughter “rabid dogs” and deny them refuge, even to orphan children, seems to have escaped them.

Hemingway would have been distressed at America’s abdication of its role and, because he would have understood its implications, despair at the depth of the loss.

it either. Does that make sense? We’re just not built that way. We’re made of different stuff.”

For me, however, the primary impact of this oral history involved the comments the survivors made about their faith.

The Orthodox Church had strong historical traditions in the European sectors of the Soviet Union. The Kremlin, however, had sought to create a new atheistic society. In some ways, they were successful in that project; in other ways, not so much.

For example, Malcom Muggeridge is quoted, “The authorities forgot to suppress the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the most perfect expositions of the Christian faith of modern times” (as cited by Philip Yancey).

Yet copies of the Bible were hard to obtain, and many churches were eliminated. To understand the catastrophe of Chernobyl, one must understand the event in the context of a Christian tradition within an atheistic (but disintegrating) empire.

Survivors made the following statements about how they coped with the disaster, and how it changed their lives: • “Dying isn’t hard, but it is scary.

There’s no church. The priest doesn’t come.

There’s no one to tell my sins to.”

• “Everyone prays. And those who don’t know how to pray, also pray.”

• “There used to be Communism instead of God, but now there’s just God. So we pray.”

• “Now I sing in the church choir. I read the Bible. I go to church—it’s the only place they talk about eternal life. They comfort a person. You won’t hear those words anywhere else, and you so want to hear them.”

• “But for a person who was raised under Stalin, we couldn’t imagine the possibility of some supernatural power. I only read the Bible afterwards.”

CHERNOBYL, P23

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JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P11

Bacha Khan University Closed Indefinitely

A student talks on a mobile phone after he was rescued in a militant attack at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda

Peshawar: The Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, where militants killed 21 students and teachers last week, reopened briefly on Monday as the administration held a session to review the security situation before resumption of academic activities.

During the session, presided over by the varsity’s vice chancellor, it was decided that academic activities on campus will not commence until provision of adequate security.

BKU spokesman Saeed Khan told media that the university administration demanded deployment of Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers in and around the campus, deployment of sharp shooters, provision of licensed weapons to faculty members and other staff, raising of campus’s boundary walls and installation of CCTV cameras before regular academic activities begin.

Teachers in Khyber Pakh-

tunkhwa have permission to carry firearms after the TTP massacred at least 144 people, the majority of them children, at Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS) in December 2014.

The spokesman added that another meeting of the university’s administration will be held next week to decide the future course of action.

Meanwhile at least 200 students gathered on the grounds of the university on Monday after the gates opened, shouting slogans against both the government and the Taliban.

“You must protect us!” they shouted, while also vowing to continue their education despite the threats.

“Some people aren’t going to the university today as they have serious concerns about the incident and their personal security and that of the students,” a teacher at the uni-

Peshawar: Headmaster Naveed Gul walked past

the armed guard at the gate into his office. As primary school pupils studied their morning lessons outside, he reached beneath his warm woolly sweater, and pulled out a gun. “This is an M20 pistol,” he said. “It’s made in China and it works perfectly.”

A debate over arming teachers has surged in Pakistan once more, days after assistant chemistry professor Syed Hamid Husain opened fire on the Taliban gunmen who stormed the university campus where he worked.

Students told how the 33-year-old father-oftwo died shielding them with a handgun during the attack that claimed 21 lives at Bacha Khan University (BKU) in Charsadda.

Teachers there had been given permission to carry firearms after the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan massacred at least 144 people, the majority of them children, at Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS) in December 2014.

At the Government Primary School Akhunabad in the city, Gul slid his own gun ─ a Chinese knockoff of a Soviet WWII-era pistol ─ quickly into the desk drawer, saying weapons in school give him confidence.

“You have guns with you. You can fight it out,” he said.

The headmaster already has the scenario played out in his mind.

“If one terrorist were to come and I’m sitting here... I will automatically take out my pistol,” he said gesturing. “So I take cover from here, and fire with a sharp mind.”

“I want to protect myself and my students,” Gul said.

‘Where did he get the courage?’

Psychologists discussing mass shootings in the United States (US) recently told AFP that post-traumatic stress can translate into such hyper-vigilance: a state of alert close to paranoia.

But Gul is matter-of-fact.

versity said, on condition of anonymity.

At least 21 people were killed when unidentified gunmen entered the university in Charsadda town last week and opened fire on students and faculty members.

The mastermind of the APS Peshawar attack, Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar group, claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, adding that four attackers were sent to the university.

Authorities say the Bacha Khan University attack was planned and orchestrated by Pakistani Taliban militants based in neighboring Afghanistan, and has called on the Afghan government to co-operate in its investigation.

Five suspects have so far been arrested for acting as “facilitators” to the attack, Pakistan Army media wing said Saturday.

Afghanistan Should Act against Elements Plotting Terror in Pakistan: PM London: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday said initial investigation into the Bacha Khan University attack revealed that the attackers came from Afghanistan.

Speaking to media in London, the PM however clarified that he is not accusing the Afghan government of involvement in the attack, adding that some elements from the neighboring country are responsible for terrorism inside Pakistan.

The premier said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to allow their respective soils to be used against the other.

“Pakistan is fully abiding by the agreement, so should the Afghan government.” said Nawaz.

Answering a question about the Pathankot attack, the premier said that Pakistan is working on the leads provided by India and will also send a team to India to investigate the attack.

At least 21 people were killed when unidentified gunmen entered Bacha Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkha’s Charsadda town Wednesday and opened fire on students and faculty members.

The mastermind of the APS Peshawar attack, Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar group has claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, adding that four attackers were sent to the university.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR on Saturday too claimed that the attackers came from Afghanistan.

After thorough investigations into the terrorist attack on the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan has clearly told Afghanistan it was time that they took ‘relevant details’ seriously that proved that handlers of the attack were operating from the Afghan territory.

Armed Teachers in Classrooms: ‘You Have Guns, You Can Fight It out’

A teacher handles an AK-47 assault rifle during a weapons training session for school, college and university teachers at a police training center in Peshawar, January 27, 2015

Militants have long targeted education in Pakistan, from the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in Swat in 2012 to the APS massacre and Wednesday’s assault at BKU. On Friday, the TTP faction behind the Charsadda attack vowed to continue targeting schools and students, calling them “nurseries”.

Provincial spokesman Shaukat Yousafzai said that with 68,000 schools and just 55,000 policemen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the gov-

ernment cannot provide security, so it gave in to the teachers’ demand they be allowed to carry weapons.

“There is no harm in using them in case of an attack,” Yousafzai said.

But Peshawar-based analyst and retired brigadier Saad Khan said arming teachers is “stupid”.

“These are young men,” he said. “If a fight breaks out, you know, the rush of blood, and if

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The premier said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to allow their respective countries to be used against the other

Twenty-two people were killed in this attack on January 20. In this regard, the Afghan Charge d’Affaires, Syed Abdul Nasir Yousafi, was summoned to the Foreign Office on Tuesday where ‘concern’ was expressed about certain terrorist elements who operated from inside Afghanistan.

However, the spokesman at the Foreign Office in his statement did not name these terrorists believed to be the Pakistani Taliban headed by Mullah Fazlullah.

“He (Afghan charge d’affaires) was told that investigations have revealed that handlers of this terrorist act were operating from the Afghan territory and used Afghan telecommunication network for planning and executing this attack. In this regard, the relevant details have already been shared with the Afghan side,” said the spokesman.

somebody has a gun...”

Instead of killing attackers on the spot, Khan called for rooting out the long-term causes of militancy, echoing critics of a national crackdown on extremism who say it has failed to go far enough.

“Let them become men of books,” he said.

Syed Hamid Husain, by all accounts, had been just such a man - a brilliant academic lecturing at a university named after a peace icon known as the ‘Frontier Gandhi’.

Husain’s family said that changed after the APS massacre.

Elder brother Sajjad expressed a baffled pride in the actions of his kind-hearted sibling, who he said as a child would faint at the sight of blood.

“We don’t know where he got that much courage from,” Sajjad told AFP tearfully at the family home in Swabi, near Charsadda, clutching his three-year-old nephew in one arm and a picture of the child’s father in the other.

The Taliban’s cold slaughter of dozens of children in the APS massacre had changed his “soft” brother into something more “cruel”, Sajjad said.

“He said he felt a trembling inside... that something should be done.”

‘We are not scared’ In the US the debate over arming teachers is nuanced. President Barack Obama’s recent tears over the shooting of 20 children in Connecticut in 2012 prompted powerful arguments on both sides, as did Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s call for guns in schools last October.

In KP, for parents and students, the question appears unsettlingly one-sided.

“They (teachers) can fight and kill maybe two, three, four people,” said Ehsanullah, whose son attends the Akhunabad school.

“When they come, our teacher will attack them,” said ten-year-old pupil Shafey Hussain.

“We are not scared of anybody.”

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PAKISTAN

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P13

PPP to Give Government Tough Time in Senate over PIA Bill

Two Hitmen Confess to Killing of Imran Farooq in London

The Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2015, seeking to convert the national flag carrier into a public limited company, was passed by the National Assembly last week amid the opposition’s protest and walkout

The two alleged hit-men, Khalid Shahim (left) and Syed Mohsin Ali. After their confession, the MQM issued a statement denying that any member of the party was involved in the murder

Islamabad: The main opposition PPP is determined to give a tough time to the government when it presents the controversial PIA bill to the Senate again.

The Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conver-sion) Bill, 2015, seeking to convert the national flag carrier into a public limited company, was passed by the National Assembly last week amid the opposition’s protest and walkout.

On Dec 5, the government had introduced the law in the form of a presidential ordinance, but it stood repealed after the opposition-dominated Senate passed a disapproval resolution on Dec 31.

The resolution had been moved by the PPP’s Saeed Ghani on behalf of 52 senators from both sides of the aisle under Article 89(2) of the constitution. It carried signatures of senators belonging to the PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, PMLQ, Balochistan National Party-Awami and Jamaat-i-Islami as well as some independent senators. Members of the Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party, a partner of the ruling coalition, had also put their signatures on the resolution.

Talking to Dawn here on Monday, the PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Saeed Ghani, said his party would soon contact other parties to devise a joint strategy to counter the government’s move to get the bill passed through the upper house of parliament.

Mr Ghani said the PPP was not against steps aimed at improving the state of affairs in the PIA, but it would not allow the rulers to privatize the airline, come what may.

Mr Ghani, however, refused to give a categorical reply when asked whether the opposition parties would straightaway reject the bill at the time of its introduction in the Senate. “It is too early to make any such announcement. We can suggest amendments to the proposed law,” he said.

Mr Ghani was of the view that the government had no other option, but to seek cooperation of the opposition parties if it wanted to get the proposed law passed smoothly from the Senate.

Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq said the government was ready to talk to the opposition on the issue.

He, however, said it seemed the opposition parties would not listen to the government as they had their own “political agendas”.

Under the circumstances, he claimed, the government had been left

London: Two alleged assassins of a

with no other option, but to present the bill before a joint session of parliament after its possible rejection in the Senate.

Soon after passage of the disapproval resolution by the Senate last month, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and former minister Mushahidullah Khan assailed opposition parties, accusing them of ‘indulging in political point-scoring on an important national issue’.

Reiterating the government’s claim that the ordinance was not aimed at privatizing the PIA and was promulgated to take the airline out of the control of bureaucracy and to improve the financial health of the national carrier, Mr Dar had hinted that the government would use the option of getting the law passed through a joint sitting of the parliament.

The minister stated that the government had many other ways to enact the law. “We could have introduced the law in the National Assembly where it has a majority. And after its rejection by the Senate, the government could have taken this bill to a joint sitting of the parliament as allowed by the constitution,” the minister had stated.

Mr Dar had alleged that some opposition members had misguided PIA employees and incited them to observe protest by telling them that the ordinance had been promulgated to privatize the airline, which would lead to sacking of employees.

Mr Dar said he had always tried not to invoke the constitution’s provision of summoning a joint session despite being asked by the government to do so when the Senate in the past had amended two laws that had already been passed by the National Assembly.

Mushahidullah Khan, in his hard-hitting speech, alleged that the previous PPP government had brought the PIA to the verge of collapse by making out-of-merit appointments and through corruption.

Saeed Ghani had stated that the opposition had no regret for its action and would in future also use its constitutional right to oppose the trend of carrying out legislation through ordinances.

“You (the government) also have the constitutional right to get the law passed through a joint session. Go for it”, he had stated while pointing towards the ministers sitting in the house.

According to another report, the government’s proposal to off-load 26 per cent share in PIA and enter into a “strategic partnership” with a com-

petent private stakeholder has predictably been received with enormous hue and cry. This was expected from the clumsy juggernaut that PIA has become over the years. Workers union came out charging and mainstream opposition parties too jumped into the fray.

But the numbers don’t lie: as things stand today, PIA has an accumulated debt of Rs300 billion and incurs yearly losses of Rs20 to Rs30 billion, which the government has to pay to keep it alive. The PML-N government is fed up of nursing the problem child and is all set to handover it to able hands.

MQM Senator Elected PBC Vice Chairman Islamabad:

In a major upset, MQM Senator Dr Moham ma d Farogh Naseem has been elected Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the highest supervisory body of lawyers in the country. His victory marks the resurgence of the Hamid Khan group in bar politics after a gap of nearly eight years.

Barrister Naseem bagged 12 votes against the 11 secured by his opponent, Syed Amjad Shah — a little known lawyer from Abbottabad who was fielded by the traditionally-strong Asma Jahangir group. The elections were presided over by Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt, who heads the council as its ex-officio chairman.

Dr Naseem, who replaces Azam Nazir Tarar of the Asma Jahangir group, will now lead the council for a year. The PBC exercises general control and supervision over the provincial bar councils and regulates the entry of lawyers into the legal profession.

Abdul Fayaz will be the chairman of the PBC Executive Committee, another powerful office.

Though the Hamid Khan group continued to enjoy the confidence and majority of lawyers in the 23-member council from 1995 to 2008, its influence was eclipsed by the Asma Jahangir group, which had bagged all the elections: PBC, provincial bars or the Supreme Court Bar Association, since FAROGH, P28

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Pakistani politician knifed to death on a London street have testified that they travelled from Pakistan to commit the killing. The confessions are the latest twist in the grisly killing of Imran Farooq who was stabbed outside his north London home in 2010.

The murder brought Pakistan’s violent politics to suburban Edgware, where Mr Farooq lived an apparently low-key life with his wife and young sons in a quiet side street lined with apple trees.

Unbeknown to his neighbors, Mr Farooq was also a leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). He was granted asylum in Britain and later gained British citizenship.

Details of their confessions to a closed court hearing in Pakistan have now been leaked to The Sunday Telegraph by an official close to the investigation. They reveal how the killers allegedly bought a fiveinch knife from a high street “pound store” and then struck at their victim as he arrived home from work.

The knife was later recovered at the scene, along with a brick used to bludgeon their victim.

The crude means of dispatching their target could not have been more different than the polonium used in the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, which a public inquiry last week blamed on the Kremlin. But it has demonstrated once again the relative ease with which foreign hitmen could fly into Britain to settle political scores on the streets of London.

The two alleged Pakistani hit-men, Khalid Shahim and Syed Mohsin Ali, revealed details of the killings in “confessional statements”, recorded and sworn before a presiding magistrate, that are considered court evidence under Pakistani law.

Mr Mohsin Ali said that he grabbed Mr Farooq as he arrived outside his home, while another operative slashed his neck with the knife He added that both had been monitoring his movements so that they knew his routine. The killers struck at 5.30pm on a September afternoon and then headed straight to the airport to flee back to Pakistan that night.

They had travelled to Britain on student visas obtained by another alleged conspirator in Pakistan and stayed at an unidentified college hostel while they planned the attack, he added.

A third arrested man, Moazzam Ali, is alleged to have provided them with the logistics for their trip to Britain. The use of student visas will raise fresh concerns in Britain about the potential for abuse of that system.

The two men were arrested last year as they tried to slip into Pakistan from Afghanistan and appeared before a special terrorism court last Thursday.

Scotland Yard detectives are understood to have travelled to Pakistan to interview the men in September. Although the two countries do not have an extradition treaty, proceedings are believed to have been underway and Pakistan has indicated that it would be willing to hand the men over.

Since the arrests, Islamabad has attempted to intensify pressure on Britain to bring charges over the murder against Mr Hussein and other exiled party leaders in London.

Mr Hussein has consistently denied any involvement in the murder of Mr Farooq. His supporters claim that the allegations against him are part of a long-running political smear campaign by political foes in Pakistan.

But Pakistan’s federal investigation agency (FIA) has now filed a court report naming Mr Hussein and several allies as co-conspirators in the murder for the first time.

In the filing, seen by The Telegraph, the FIA’s counter-terrorism wing states: “The assassination of Imran Farooq was the result of a conspiracy hatched in UK and Pakistan…”

The case, known as a “first information report”, covers charges of conspiracy, assistance, abetment and ultimate assassination and murder under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act. The crimes carry the death penalty.

MQM STATEMENT: After the accused assassins gave their statements, the MQM issued a statement denying that any member of the party was involved in the murder.

“We categorically state that no party personnel have had anything whatever to do with the tragic death of Dr Farooq. We mourn the loss of a man who was our friend and colleague for many years.

“MQM welcomes any assistance that may be provided to the British Metropolitan Police Service, who continue to investigate the death of Dr Farooq.”

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JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P15

Who Is Feeling the Pinch after Youtube’s Return?

Rehman Malik May Become ‘Star Witness’ against Musharraf

No Mediator in Saudi-Iran Row

Islamabad: With the testimony of US lobbyist Mark Siegel, the prosecution in the Benazir murder case completed the recording of evidence against former president Pervez Musharraf.

However, the prosecution is likely to introduce former minister Senator Rehman Malik as an additional witness before the court.

Advocate Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed, the special prosecutor in the high-profile murder case, told Dawn that Mr Malik may be brought before the court as an additional witness to establish Gen Musharraf ’s link in the assassination of Ms Bhutto.

He said in his statement recorded before the investigation officer, Senator Malik had testified that Gen Musharraf threatened Ms Bhutto at a meeting held in Dubai prior to her departure for Pakistan in 2007.

Sources in the prosecution said Mr Malik had claimed that he witnessed Musharraf threatening Ms Bhutto at the Dubai meeting that her future depended on her relationship with him (Musharraf).

In his statement recorded with the FIA in April 2013, Mr Malik also claimed to have written multiple letters to Gen Musharraf requesting him to provide appropriate security to Ms Bhutto.

Sources in the prosecution claimed that the testimony of Mr Malik would strengthen the prosecution case against Gen Musharraf.

It may be mentioned that in 2010 the prosecution named four witnesses against Gen Musharraf.

They were: former secretary interior Syed Kamal Shah, former director general National Crisis Management Cell retired brigadier Javed Iqbal, former director general Intelligence Bureau retired brigadier Ejaz Shah and US lobbyist Mark Siegel. Kamal Shah, Iqbal and Siegel recorded their statements with the anti-terrorism court (ATC).

On January 20, 2016, Mark Siegel concluded his statement with the court via a video link from the US. The ATC summoned Mr Siegel in 2012 but he could not appear before the court because of security concerns. In October last year, he consented to testify via a video link.

During the cross examination, Barrister Farogh Nasim, the counsel for Gen Musharraf, produced evidence before the ATC to establish that Mr Siegel was a paid lobbyist of the PPP and his statement could not be termed as free, fair and transparent.

Barrister Nasim also shared with the ATC photocopies of Mr Siegel’s contract with the previous

Riyadh: Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister denied on Monday the existence of any mediation between the Kingdom and Iran amid ongoing tensions, Bahrain News Agency reported.

“Some countries had offered to mediate and communicate ideas between Riyadh and Tehran, but there will be no mediation unless Iran responds positively,” Adel al Jubeir said while addressing the media on the sidelines of the first ministerial session of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-India Cooperation Forum.

“There won’t be any mediation because, for 35 years, Iran has adopted a hostile approach toward Arab countries by meddling in their internal affairs, sowing sectarian strife and backing terrorism as confirmed by numerous strong evidences,” the minister added.

The United Nations along with several other countries has listed Iran among the terrorism-supportive countries, Al Jubeir informed the media.

Karachi: The Pakistani internet

community is celebrating the reappearance of YouTube, but there are those who have taken the ban reversal personally.

After all, the ban, imposed on the world’s largest video-sharing website in September 2012, meant there was a vacuum to be filled.

These Pakistanis launched local proxies to counter the ban, meaning that internet users had to themselves the next-best alternative.

However, their flourishing businesses are now bound to take a financial hit. Over 50 small entrepreneurs whose business model was custom-built to fill the void have already started feeling the pinch.

Local video-sharing websites have been witnessing a steady drop in traffic since December 5, 2015 — when the world’s largest videostreaming website became accessible across Pakistan.

“With the government removing the official ban last week, things are only going to get worse for YouTube’s local proxies,” say experts.

YouTube was blocked in Pakistan on September 17, 2012 for not removing blasphemous content from its platform.

After Google – YouTube’s parent company – and the Government of Pakistan failed to reach any agreement in this regard, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA); the telecom sector’s regulatory body, directed the country’s internet service providers to block access to YouTube.

Though the website officially remained blocked in the country for over three years, it was always available to Pakistani users through proxy servers. It became even easier to access the website’s content after local entrepreneurs launched their own portals allowing ‘direct access.’

Local video-streaming websites, such as playit.pk, ytpak.com and tune.pk, not only provided an alternative to YouTube but also flourished and earned significant profits.

Lahore-based Ytpak was boasting 1 million daily page views with 200,000 videos watched on the platform every day less than a year ago.

Playit.pk was recording 2 million daily page views until recently.

According to market sources, these local websites were making between $1.5 and $4 per 1,000 impressions (CPM) – a popular measure to calculate ad revenues of such websites. Moreover, the top players even booked between $5,000 and $7,000 in monthly profits and remained among top 50 websites in the country.

Come December, 2015 and the equation started to change as YouTube became accessible across Pakistan. Though the government’s official stance was unchanged, the video-streaming giant was allowed to be accessible unofficially; multiple government sources confirmed this to The Express Tribune.

“We have witnessed up to 30% drop in our traffic since YouTube became accessible in the country,” said Playit.pk’s Founder and CEO Muhammad Sohaib Shaheen. The 2013-start-up from Faisalabad saw its Alexa ranking drop by 9 points to 49 as on Saturday (January 23) compared to 40 as on December 5 last year. The websites daily page views dropped from 1.7-2 million two months ago to 1.3-1.5 million now.

YouTube launches Urdu version for Pakistan: “It will certainly affect their traffic and might even get to a stage where survival becomes difficult,” said Badar Khusnood, Co-founder and Partner at Bramerz, a leading digital marketing agency.

“These companies were reproducing YouTube’s content, which was not legal, but some brands still chose to advertise with them,”

Khusnood said adding that this might change.

“YouTube’s local version promotes local content, thus the brands would like to advertise with it. If these entrepreneurs find other revenue streams or restructure their business model they can survive,” he added.

‘Silver lining’: While many of these proxies may go out of business, top players still seem to be optimistic about their business.

“A lot of controversial content is uploaded on YouTube every day and it takes a while to take it off the platform,” said Ytpak’s Erfan Ilyas.

“It might work in their favor.”

Ytpak witnessed over 15% decrease in its traffic to 3.5 million visitors per month compared to 4.2 million a month ago. Ilyas, however, insists it wasn’t a big drop and won’t lead to a troubled situation.

“We expect the slowdown over the next two to three months only.

Meanwhile, we are engaging users through local content and also developing new products,” he said, adding brands that have traffic would continue to get business.

While these entrepreneurs refused to disclose financials, a look at the overall market size offers some explanation for their interest in this growing market segment.

Pakistan’s documented advertising market is $500 to $600 million, say market sources – one of the main reasons why Google, which can make around $8 to $10 million a year from Pakistan, launched its local version, they say.

Ban on Altaf’s Coverage: MQM Protests in Karachi Karachi: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday held what they termed “peaceful demonstrations” against the media blackout on party chief Altaf Hussain’s statements and images following a Lahore High Court order.

While traffic jams were expected, the situation on Karachi’s roads remained under control with no reports of major traffic congestions due to the protest.

MQM legislators staged a walkout from the Sindh Assembly session on Monday over the speaker’s refusal to allow them to table a resolution demanding the federal government lift the ban on the telecast of Altaf Hussain’s statements and speeches.

Muhammad Hussain Khan of the MQM, who sought permission to move a motion for the resolution in the assembly, warned during the session that millions of Altaf followers in Karachi had started stag-

ing demonstrations and the protest would spread to other cities as well, followed by rallies and strikes if the ban was not lifted.

Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, however, said, “The issue is sub judice. If taken up it will create problems.”

The Lahore High Court on Sept 7, 2015, ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority

and the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) to ensure a complete blackout of all activities of MQM chief Altaf Hussain in both electronic and print media after petitions filed with the court sought a ban on the MQM supremo’s speeches for his alleged remarks against state institutions, including the army and Rangers.

The petitioners were of the PROTESTS, P28

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MALIK, P28

Khalid Shamim’s Life in Danger, Claims Wife Karachi: Khalid Shamim, a key suspect in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Imran Farooq murder case, is being mentally and physically tortured in a Rawalpindi prison and his life is in danger, his wife told the media here on Monday.

Bina Khalid also raised some important questions at a press conference here at the Karachi Press Club and disputed the official version that her husband was arrested while crossing into Pakistan from Afghanistan in June 2015.

She claimed that Shamim was taken into custody on Jan 6, 2011 at Malir Halt in front of her.

She said that a petition regarding Shamim’s illegal detention was filed on Jan 12, 2011 in the Sindh High Court and an FIR regarding her husband’s disappearance was also lodged at the Model Colony police station on a directive of the Supreme Court.

She said her husband had no link with the MQM and he never visited the United Kingdom, but he was forced to give a false statement.

“My husband is a Pakistani citizen and he has been in the custody of Pakistani authorities for the past five years,” she said.

She also questioned as to why a murder case was registered in Pakistan and the state had become a complainant when Dr Farooq was assassinated in the UK, an investigation into his killing was being carried out in London and his family was also residing there.

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COMMUNITY

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P17

Community Link Friday, January 29, 2016

VOL. 26/5 PAGE 20

PAGE PAGE27 17

PAGE 22 egum PAGE

WELead OC’s 2016 Political Kickoff Luncheon

18 Rabi ‘u-thani 1437 H

The Woman Who Was Booted from Trump Rally

We Want to Encourage Our Team: Shaharyar

For news, updated round the clock, visit

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Helping Pakistanis Achieve Their American Dream

Glimpses of the launching ceremony of National Association of Pakistani Americans, USA (NAPA USA). More pictures on pages 18 and 19 NAPA FROM P1

of the organization. He stated that NAPA USA was founded in 2015 to serve as a platform for advanc-

ing the political, business, social and cultural interests of the PakistaniAmerican community. He described NAPA USA as a community-based,

all-inclusive, non-religious, non-political and not-for-profit organization. He stated that one of the main objectives of the organization is to

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give the Pakistani-American community a collective voice and presence nationwide.

In his brief speech Mansuri said, “America is great – among other things, what makes America great is its constitution which begins

COMMUNITY

P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

with ‘We the people’ and provides – peace, liberty and justice for all.’ He stated that the Pakistani expatriate community in America is a thriving and successful community and that the basis of the creation of this association is to ensure that Pakistani Americans continue to thrive in America and continue to enjoy all the rights, benefits and freedoms as any other citizen of this great country and that our future generations are able to retain our heritage, culture, traditions and values and make their mark in the land of Jefferson and Lincoln.

Mansuri stated that NAPA USA’s vision for the future is a thriving, vibrant, dynamic, passionate and united Pakistani-American community and an America that is enriched by the vital contributions

of Pakistani Americans. He further stated that NAPA USA envisions a Pakistani-American community proud of its heritage and positive about its future in America.

The General Secretary of NAPA USA, Dr Shoaib Patail, discussed the next event of NAPA USA, which will be held on February 27, 2016 at the Sheraton Hotel in Cerritos, California. He described the event as one of the most significant events of the Pakistani-American community. He informed that the following special guests have confirmed their attendance at the event: US Senator John McCain - Chairman Senate Armed Services Committee; US Congressman Ed Royce - Chairman House Foreign Affairs Committee; Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United

States Jalil Abbas Jilani; US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard G. Olson; US Congressman Keith M. Ellison; US Congressman Eliot L. Engel – Ranking Member House Foreign Affairs Committee; US Congressman Raul Ruiz, MD; US Congressman Tony Cárdenas and Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell. He invited the community to attend and support the forthcoming event.

The Treasurer of NAPA USA, Asif Chattha, described the financial structure of the organization and discussed the setup which requires internal control and audit systems which allow transparent and open record keeping of the Association’s financial matters.

The Member of the Board of NAPA USA, Samin Faruqui, deliv-

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ered the closing remarks. He urged members of the Pakistani-American community to support the organization and to join NAPA USA. Speaking on the occasion, the Consul General of Pakistan in Los Angeles, Abdul Jabbar Memon, stated that the launching of NAPA happened to be his first public engagement with the Pakistani community since his arrival in Los Angeles. He congratulated members of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of NAPA USA on their efforts and assured them his support for all Pakistani causes. He stated that he is the Consul General of each and every Pakistani within the territory of his Consulate. He invited every member of the Pakistani community to bring any issues or problems that they are facing to his attention. He stated that

he has an open-door policy and that he wants to make sure that whoever needs to talk to him can easily get through to him.

Members of NAPA USA Advisory Board that were present on the occasion included: Dr Sohail Masood, Dr Naseem Malik, Waqar Khan and Dr Akmal Abbasi. NAPA USA Board Members that were not able to attend the event included Seeme Gull Khan Hassan and Dr Ashraf Kamdar.

A very festive and elegantly decorated venue was arranged by Zohra Patail and Rubina Faruqui along with a team of volunteers. Attendees of the event were treated to a melodious musical entertainment provided by Arshad Ali, Shazia Ali and Zohra Patail. A sumptuous dinner was enjoyed by all.

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JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P19

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COMMENTARY

P20 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

WELead OC’s 2016 Political Kickoff Luncheon & Honoring Women Leaders in OC

n By Saboohi Ahmed

O

n a bright afternoon on Thursday the 21st of January 2016, the Women Empowered group led by director Karen Hinks hosted a special reception at Antonello’s Restaurant in Santa Ana California. The group WELead OC’s agenda is to identify and assist Democratic women candidates from Orange County to run for political office at the local, state and national level.

The luncheon was arranged to honor four special women who have made a difference in the lives of residents of Orange County. The first honoree was Rima Nashashibi who is a recognized speaker around the world on issues involving equal opportunity, tolerance, and fairness. She served as Vice Chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County and is a prominent member of the Arab-American community. The second honoree was Tammy Tran, Senior Community Liaison for Southern California Edison. Tammy has a long history of working on political campaigns and has been the

District Director of the campaign of State Senator Lou Correa and an activist in the Vietnamese community in Orange County. The third honoree was Laura Kanter, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Youth Programs of the LGBT Center of OC. The fourth and last honoree was Jennifer Muir the successor to Orange County Employee Union former General Manager Nick Berardino. Jennifer is 35 years old and was designated Orange County’s

Mrs Razia Husaini Passes away Mrs Razia Husaini, former Principal of Islamia College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan passed away on January 17, 2016 in Sunnyvale, California where she had been living with her son Hammadullah Husaini since 1989.

Mrs Razia Husaini was born in Hyderabad, India. She was the only girl among the four siblings. Her father was a Mathematician who worked in the Bureau of Translation at Osmania University. Her mother was very well versed in Urdu literature. Her eldest brother, Late Dr Shamsuddin Siddiqi, was the Head of the Urdu Department, Peshawar University. Her other elder brother Dr. Moinuddin Siddiqui is a retired Professor of Statistics at Colorado State University. Her younger brother Dr Waheed Siddiqee is a retired Lockheed Engineer and a long

time San Francisco Bay Area resident.

Mrs Husaini migrated to Lahore, Pakistan along with her mother and three brothers in 1949. She got her MA in Urdu Literature from Punjab University in 1952 and worked as a Lecturer at Islamia College for Women, Lahore for over 25 years. She was then appointed as the Principal of the College and worked in this position until her retirement in 1989.

She was married to Mr. Syed Ahmedullah Husaini in 1953, a

Most Influential Persons in 2015.

She manages a union that has 18,000 members and has a challenging task of protecting the rights of workers in Orange County.

The luncheon set in the elegant surroundings of Antonello’s was packed to capacity with over 150 guests in attendance. The chief guest was Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, representing Congressional District 38. She was accompanied by a surprise guest, Loretta Sanlawyer by education, with a long career in journalism and public relations with United States Information Service in Pakistan.

In 1989, Mr. and Mrs. Husaini migrated to the USA where they lived with their son Syed Hammadullah Husaini. Mr Ahmedullah Husaini passed away in 1998 after a short illness. His death deeply affected her. During the past eight years, Mrs. Husaini’s health had been deteriorating steadily due to multiple health issues.

She was a deeply religious person and was blessed to have performed Hajj in 1996. During her long academic career, she had inspired and touched the lives of a large number of students and colleagues who still remember her fondly and with respect.

She breathed her last on January 17, 2016, and was buried in the Five Pillar Muslim Cemetery in Livermore, California. She is survived by a son, a daughter, and six grandchildren.

May her soul rest in peace and God grant the bereaved family courage and fortitude to bear the loss. (Ameen)

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chez, her sister who represents the 46th District. Both the Sanchez sisters reflect the values of Empowered Women as they grew up in modest circumstances as children of immigrants from Mexico, but through ed-

ucation and hard work rose to high political office.

Also present at the standing room only event were other significant players in the OC political scene. Beth Krom Council Member from Irvine was in attendance as was Dr Lorraine Prinsky Trustee of Coast Community Colleges. Candidates for 2016 elected office included Farrah Khan who is running for Irvine City Council and Diana Carey candidate for Westminster City Council.

The message from the honorees was that women should be motivated to run for office at the local, state and national level. Women of minority origin should be especially encouraged to seek elected office. As Congresswoman Linda Sanchez told the group, “If you are not at the table where the decisions are being made, there is a good chance that you will end up being on the menu”.

Gamechangers Network Launched in Inland Empire

T

his past Sunday, January 24th, marked the start of CAIR-LA’s first session of the Muslim Gamechangers Network in Inland Empire!

The Muslim Gamechangers Network (MGN) is a comprehensive 4-month social justice training and empowerment program for Muslim high school youth that consists of weekly interactive sessions and field trips centered on themes of identity, history, social responsibility, and community organizing.

The current program is cosponsored by the Ansaar Academy of the Islamic Center of the Inland Empire (ICIE).

Over 50 high school students are participating in the current program, making it the highest number of registrants CAIR-LA MGN has had thus far!

The main facilitators who will be there every session offering guidance and support to the students for the next three months include CAIRLA’s Youth Development Manager Sahar Pirzada and Hammad Alam, a 2014 graduate of the UCLA School of Law and former Chaplain of Harvard Divinity School.

Additionally, the interactive sessions feature guest facilitators every week to expose the students to the activists and leaders of the local Muslim community.

The first session was facilitated

by Marya Bangee and Ahmed Abdelgany who have been actively involved in Muslim youth programming in Southern California for many years.

The introductory workshop, “Navigating Identities,” created a space for participants to learn more about one another as individuals and began to explore how systems of oppression affect their personal lives and the lives of their peers. The students got a sense for the overall flow of the sessions and set community agreements for the remainder of their program.

Rayyan Misherghi, a Sophomore at Claremont High School who is active in her local MSA and greater IE community, shared her thoughts on the first session. “I was really impressed with the first session of MGN. I am ecstatic for the rest of the program and I feel passionate about many of the future topics we plan to discuss. Overall, I have a deep appreciation for the work of CAIR and their mission to help empower American Muslims.”

The round of weekly interactive sessions will take place at ICIE every Sunday from 10:00am-12:00pm and will conclude with a ceremony on May 8th.

For more information about CAIR-LA’s Muslim Gamechangers Network program visit www.muslimgamechangers.com.

COMMENTARY

n By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan

C

Garden Grove, CA

oncept of Satan is part of all religions. The only difference is of name, form and role. While some dread and loath it and others consider it to be a source of power and worship it. Most religions believe in duality of power, a force of good and a force of evil, who together balance the world. In Taoism we have the concept of Yin and Yang; in Zoroastrianism we have the concept of Mazda and Ahriman. In Hinduism, rated the oldest of religious culture, we have the concept of Rama and Ravana who have assumed a human form to personify good and evil respectively.

This duality was convenient to explain the good and the bad which people enjoy and suffer in the world.

But it was deficient in establishing the credentials of Omnipotent God in protecting the innocent and those who believe in Him from the harm of the force of evil. This duality was convincing to the blind believers, but the “inquiring” minds distanced from religion as a hoax when they saw the innocent and the believers suffering in a world ruled by Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient God. Prophetic religions in their infancy stressed more on God. They did mention the devil, Satan etc. and did not give a total picture of it because the consciousness of the people of that time could not grasp it. As prophesied by his predecessor Jesus (PBUH0 (John Ch.16 V1213), Muhammad SA was sent as the last messenger close to the time when consciousness of man was to reach its maturity. All hidden and abstract metaphysical aspects over which mankind was pondering for long were revealed. Qur’an and sayings of Prophet Muhammad SA uncovered many a mystery including that of Satan.

The good and evil were created

by God so that people used their sensory faculties and the analytical power of their computer like brain to understand and avoid evil ways and adopt good practices for their own good. When selfishness and greed for power, pleasure and possession made us reject good and accept evil ways, our faculties to distinguish the good from the evil were lost. We started to be erratic and irrational under the pretext that all morality was relative. When we suffered the consequence of this indiscretion we put the blame for our follies on extraneous factors. This extraneous factor, which is blamed for all our evil deeds, is the Satan.

This fact is expressed in Qur’an thus, Satan will tell to the wrong doers when the curtain is lifted from all realities: I had no power over you except to suggest and you accepted my suggestions and acted on them.

Now blame yourself and not me (Ch14 V22).

To understand Satan we have to go to its beginning which coincides with the beginning of the universe.

The question which has intrigued the thinkers from time immemorial is what was in the beginning?

Some say that there was nothing and we have come from nothing and will go to nothing. This is not knowledge but an excuse which we have made to live a life of irrespon-

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21

Reality of Satan in Hadith and Qur’an sibility and destroy the world and go away from here without having to suffer any consequence for our evil deeds (Ch45 V24). Others say that the world has always been there (Khadeem) and will be there forever. From this they deduce that the talk of end of the world, our resurrection and our accountability before God, is only a story that has been going on for ages (Ch23 V83).

Those who live in a world of fiction don’t care about facts. They know that everything has come into existence because of the planning and execution of the plan by its maker. But they want us to believe that this vast beautiful and balanced world has come into existence without The Creator. They are turning this world upside down to make the people of common sense lose it and believe in their nonsense. The oldest thing existing needs to have a beginning somewhere at some time; and what has a beginning also has to end sometime. We may not have the means to understand and know what happened tens of thousands of years ago when the world came into existence. We may know few things about what is holding this universe in unison and making our lives possible on this planet but we do not care to know who has started it and is sustaining it. We do this to allow ourselves the liberty of speculation and run our agendas based upon this deceit. Farfetched speculations and opinions are of less importance in such matters than common sense and authentic tradition which come from the First Source even if it is through word of mouth and tradition. What was revealed to the prophets about it by the One who made it, we disbelieve, not to exhibit our scholarship over them but to expose our ignorance and arrogance against them.

Those who believe in the creation of this world by a Creator say that the first thing that existed was intellect, some say it was consciousness, and some say it was word. The widely accepted notion is that it was the word (Be) which has existed since the beginning. It is mentioned in all the revealed scriptures to be the command that created everything and is creating everything.

Gospel of John begins with this verse: The word was in the beginning and the word was with God, the word is God. Qur’an says in several places: That when Allah intends to do something He says: Be, and it happens (Ch36 V82). This concept is also attributed to Greco-Roman philosopher Plato by St. Augustine (HOWP by Bertrand Russell).

There is a hadith of Nabi SA which says that it was the consciousness of Allah that existed in the beginning that started all the creation.

It says: Kunthu Kanzan Makhfiyan wa Ahbabtha An Aarafa Fakhalakhthahu Khalq. Allah says in this Hadith I was a hidden treasure and I wanted to reveal Myself, therefore I created all the creations so that I may be recognized through them.

Kunthu Kanzan Makhfiyan is accepted as Hadith by most of the Sufi scholars, but others deny it as a hadith and consider it as the saying of Sufis. All scholars of exegesis agree that Qur’an and Hadith are complementary to each other and explain each other. Verse 12 from Chapter 65 of Qur’an confirms the authenticity of this Hadith by affirming what is

said in it. Allah says: I have created the seven skies and the earths likewise, so that you may know that Allah has power over everything and His knowledge encompasses everything. Li-Tha’alamu, “So that you may know”, in this verse confirms that Allah created everything so that we recognize Him and ehatha bikulli Shaieen Ilma is an assertion that His consciousness is encompassing everything.

This Consciousness is what is referred to as the First, Supreme and Active Intelligence in Greek Philosophy. And the intelligence that we have is the one gifted to us by our creator to understand our universe to make our lives better and to understand Him and praise Him, not that He is craving for it, but to demonstrate our own worthiness to qualify for His vicegerency. The irony is that instead of using this intelligence for this purpose we are using it to deny Him and destroy this world by running it at our whims and fancy.

We understand and believe in the invisible magnetism and electricity through its manifestations, but we do not want to understand the Creator through His creation on the pretext of His invisibility. It is a biased way of applying intelligence because of our arrogance and we are suffering its consequence.

These arrogant people who want to run their writ by denying God are as much culpable for the problems of the world as those misguided religious people who misinterpret religion and are running their writ in its name. To hope that we can understand the hidden power behind this universe and our existence in it through dialogue and debate is a luxury for few people who are indulging in it for thousands of years with no result except disaster. Nabi SA cautioned us that we should beware of unnecessary questions, discussion and arguments lest we are destroyed like the people before us (Riyaz Us Saliheen 1782).

When Allah made intention to start His creation the first thing to appear was a Nebula (an atom?), which when broke asunder, various celestial objects were formed and then He made all living things with water (Ch21 V30). One of the objectives of the Hedron experiment

by CERN in Swiss Alps was to find the Boson particle which gave mass to the electronic elements generated in the Big Bang that led to the for-

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mation of all things, big and small, from Planetary Systems to Viruses.

Because of sundering of the nebula immense fire and heat was generated and from this fire “Narus Sumoom” was created the Satan (Ch15 V27). This happened much before the creation of Adam. Therefore Satan is an earlier creation than Adam and this was the first creation that was made conscious of its Creator, Invisible but still conscious and active. Satan emerged from the fire and dissipated into air like the signals from computing element of silicon chip, which are not seen but are recognized through their manifestations on the monitor or by the action of the objects they are supposed to bring into action.

As Satan was created from fire its nature is rage, revenge and destruction. Restraint contemplation and obedience is not in its fiber which is the hallmark of angels which were created much later from Noor (light). Allah made the other creations and all these creations recognized Him. These were silent spectator of the spectacles which Allah had created. Allah wanted to create someone who could recognize Him incognito and appreciate His creative genius, thank him for the gift of life and provisions to sustain it, and take care of himself and his fellow being and the universe in the same thoughtful and caring manner in which He had designed it, created it and is sustaining it. So He created man, Adam, as His vicegerent.

Satan being the oldest creation was expecting this crown of vicegerency to be placed on its head because of his seniority. Therefore he refused to be subservient to Adam by refusing to prostrate before Adam (Ch15 V26-40). Instead, he challenged God to give him respite to beguile Adam and his progeny till the end of time to prove that Adam and His progeny would swerve in its responsibilities. Allah permitted it (Ch17 V61-65). He ordered Adam, Eve and Satan to go down and live on earth to start the test of their wits against each other in accordance with the rules that He will send through His messengers from time to time (Ch2 V38-39).

One may read my article “Religion and Science Can Come Together to Reconcile Creation with Evolution” (Pakistan Link April 30, 2010) to understand how they descended to earth from their ethereal and celes-

tial abode.

One of the four elements which constitute the being of man is fire from which came Satan. The other three being earth, air and water.

Alluding to this fact Nabi SA said: Satan is in your being (the fiery element in us) and it circulates with your blood creating evil thoughts in you (Riyaz Us Saliheen 1849).

Because of this fiery element circulating in his blood, man has acquired the quality of anger, hatred, greed, lust, jealousy etc. Through the power of insinuation Satan tries to excite these baser instincts in us and brings about disturbance in our lives and the society we live in.

When people flouted the values of life presented to them by the Messengers and the society watched these values being violated and even encouraged it under various excuses, then the whole society was in chaos in which the innocent and the believer also suffered. The weak suffered because of their vulnerability and the faithful suffered because of their morality which prevents them from paying back to their tormentors in the same coin.

The messengers were sent to warn us against beguilement of Satan and to save us from it through moral principles and practices (Ch7 V26 onwards). Many supplications that were taught to us to ward off these insinuations of Satan were positive suggestions to give hope to the truly conscious believer in Allah. If we are not finding these supplications effective in comforting us it is because we chant these supplications but do not live by the moral principles given to us.

God is not helpless to stop the transgressors and help the aggrieved, but this is not his way, He wants people to follow the way of their choice and be responsible and culpable for it. He wants us to use our senses, our intellect and our knowledge to understand good from bad, wrong from right, vice from virtue (Ch91 V8-10). When we fail to exercise our freedom in the right way and follow the insinuations of Satan then we suffer because of our own failure and not because of the failure of God to guide us or His weakness to protect us. We are destroyed after we reach the tipping point, not because of the wrath of God but because of our own follies (Ch43 V36-39). The time when we will be made to face the consequences of our evil deeds is known only to God. The good that we enjoy in the meantime is the mercy of Allah which gives us a chance to redeem (Ch16 V61), and the hardship we face is the consequence of our own misdeeds (Ch4 V79). We are all hostage to our own deeds says Allah (Ch74 V38). But believers blame Satan and non-believers blame Allah for all the misfortunes that befall us because of our flawed understanding of religion.

As Allah has taken the responsibility to keep His sincere servants away from satanical insinuations Satan assaults the virtuous people the most (Ch18 V61-64) to prove his point that man is unfit for the role of vicegerency. The wicked need no systematic assault from Satan as they succumb to its suggestion easily and follow him hoping that they are doing the right thing till they reach the cliff of their destruction in vain (Ch43 V36-39).

COMMENTARY

P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016 n By Dr Shahid Athar

T

Indiana

alking about God or trying to speaking on His behalf may be easier. It is the practice of God’s presence in our lives that is more difficult. The first question the human mind asks is “where is God”? Is He in us, with us, around us or up there in Heaven? Qur’an answers these questions by stating: “When My servants ask you about My whereabouts, tell them I am nearer to them than their jugular vein”.

(2:186)

A father had taught his two sons, ages 10 and 8, about God. He then wanted to test their knowledge so he gave them each some candy but cautioned them to eat where no one could see them. After a few days, he called them and asked where they ate the candy. The older boy said, “I had to eat the candy in the closet and I made sure nobody watched me”. The younger returned the candy to the father and said, “I found no place where God could not see me; therefore I did not eat the candy”.

Regarding the practicing God’s presence, Christians are familiar with the writings of Brother Lawrence, “The prayer of Jabez” and “The sacrament of the present moment.”

They may not know that the awareness of God’s presence is very much emphasized in the Qur’an in the concept of Taqwa which is sometimes translated as being God-con-

n By Fatima Asad Dear Mr Trump, I grew up in one of the best towns in America – Moorestown, New Jersey. Surrounded by a loving, protective family and an amazing community, I attended the best schools, made lifelong friends and married the love of my life.

My parents moved to this country carrying what every single American parent carries, the hope for an amazing future for their kids filled with countless, unimaginable opportunities.

Thanks to this country and my diligent parents, I always got way more than I ever needed. Thanks to my Christian and Jewish neighbors, I was taught tolerance, aiming high and smiling every day. Thanks to my high school classmates, I was accepted and encouraged to wear my identity on my sleeve. Thanks to my best friends, I wasn’t judged by my crazy family dynamics or the smell of fried onions coming from my backpack.

I have never faced discrimination or felt afraid walking alone in the darkest hours of sundown. I have never faced work-

A

n By Andrew Fowler

s Rose Hamid, an American Muslim, waited in line to enter a campaign rally for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump in Rock Hills, South Carolina, she was pleased to find that people were very kind to her. She had wondered if they would even let her in with her hijab, but Trump supporters at the event did more than that.

“The people who were around me were kind. They were very welcoming. They were taking pictures. People offered popcorn,” Hamid told INSIDER. But that sense of welcoming did not last long for Hamid, 56, a flight attendant who said she went to the Jan. 8 rally to protest the candidate.

Before Trump took the stage, the announcer introduced a song for President Obama. He played “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” a song that Hamid interpreted as a jab against the Democratic president who shed tears while remembering the young lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary as he announced his executive action to make changes to gun

Practicing the Presence of God scious, God-fearing, to be pious, to be careful or heeding God’s call or having self-restraint In verse 3-4 of chapter 2 of Qur’an , the features of those who practice God-consciousness are described as those who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, spend from what God has given them, believe not only in the Qur’an but the other holy scriptures that came before Qur’an, and believe in the hereafter. As a reward for practicing Godconsciousness, their reward is to get true guidance from their Lord.

God consciousness is considered a protective shield in Islam. A Muslim is never alone by himself and even if he is alone he is with God. Therefore, if he is God-conscious, then he knows that God is ever watching over him. Caliph Omar described God-consciousness “as if you’re going on a path with a lot of bushes and you fold your clothes to avoid thorns setting into them”. Someone else advised a fellow human, “If you wish to do the wrong, do it outside the domain of God”.

God-consciousness gives us discipline and self-restraint. In the matter of fasting in Ramadan, Qur’an tells us: “O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you so that you may learn self-restraint (2:183)”. God-consciousness elevates the dignity of humans in the eyes of God. The Qur’an says “the most honored of you in the sight of God is the one

who is most God-conscious and God has full knowledge and is acquainted of all things that you do (49:13)”.

A God-conscious person is also a Godfearing person. The fear of God is different than for example, the fear of a lion or snake, from whom we expect no mercy and try to run away. But the fear of God is like fear of a child for his mother mixed with love. We fear God for His displeasure, afraid of losing His blessing and incurring His punishment.

We fear Him with love and not with hate. “O you, who believe, fear God as He should be feared and die not except in the state of submission to Him (Qur’an 3:102)”. It also says: “O you who believe, fear God and let every soul look to what provisions he has sent forth for the morrow. Fear God for God is well acquainted with all you do (59:18)”. Those who are God-conscious get many rewards of being so and the best one is God’s love, mercy and guidance. “O you who believe, if you fear God He will grant you a criterion to judge between right and wrong, remove from you all evil that may affect you and forgive you for God is the Lord of grace unbound” (Qur’an 8:29). Thus, practicing God’s presence we do acts of pleasing Him and avoid his displeasure in order to receive his love, guidance and forgiveness.

Acts of practicing God’s presence The first act is being clean, both

A Letter to Donald Trump place bigotry nor have I ever worried about getting out of my comfort zone. This country has completed my identity; given me the confidence to walk with my head held high, inspired me to continue looking forward. But at 26, I feel afraid for the first time in my life, and I mean truly scared because I am now a mother.

It’s bad enough having to be burdened with the task of raising strong and independent girls in a world that still dances to the men’s rhapsody. To top it off, crazy masked so-called Muslims have raped an essential part of my identity. But I don’t blame them completely, Mr Trump. You see, they belong to Third World nations and ideologies – they are not taught the values that you and I have been gifted. I do not blame them because violence and turmoil is all they’ve ever seen. Let me put it in simple terms for you: These peanuts don’t know better!

However, you know better, Donny. They are not the real threat to our beautiful nation.

It is men like YOU Mr Trump who are making life hard for our children. What did they ever do to you? What did I do to you that I am be-

ing forced to have this conversation with my four-year-old?

Mr Trump, what do you mean I’m not al-

The Woman Who Was Booted from a Trump Rally laws.

“Whoever had the mic said, ‘Mr. Trump supports the first amendment almost as much as he supports the second amendment,’” Hamid said.

She also recalled that Trump supporters were told to shout the candidate’s last name over and over as a way to point out disruptors.

Hamid attended the rally as part of Go Yellow Against Hate, a group whose stated goal is “to counter the recent increase in Islamophobia and attacks on Muslim institutions.” According to Hamid, some of the members of the group have been forcefully ejected from Trump rallies in the past, but they continue to show

up to protest what they perceive to be Trump’s divisive language.

Hamid, who was sitting several rows behind the candidate, said she was removed from the stadium after standing and putting on a yellow star — the group’s adopted symbol — when Trump started talking about the problem of radical Islam in the US and the world. People around her started yelling “Trump, Trump, Trump!” after other members of her group, who were protesting more vocally, were kicked out, she

www.PakistanLink.com

physically, mentally and spiritually, free our thoughts of all evils and concentrate on our relationship with God. The act of worship, whether it is five daily prayers, fasting in the month of Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, or giving charity are nothing but to bring us closer to God in communication. Acts of asking forgiveness is another tool for practicing God’s presence. Forgiveness is the reward of repentance which only comes out of practicing God’s presence. “He is the one who accepts repentance from His servants and forgives sins and He knows all you do and He listens to those who believe and do acts of God-consciousness and He increases their bounty.” (Qur’an 42:25-26).

Thirdly, acts of communication with God whether informally or formally during prayer, bring us closer to God in practicing his presence and we are told “and your Lord says call on me and I will answer your calls” (Qur’an 40:60). Remembering God all of the time not only gives God-consciousness but also gives peace and tranquility to our hearts. “Those who believe are those whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of God, for without doubt, in the remembrance of God the heart finds rest.” (Qur’an 13:28). In addition to the above acts of practicing presence, it would also be advisable to be in the company of those who are God-conscious. The company of such believers is sure to strengthen our belief and add to the awareness of the presence of God around us. lowed back in the country? What do you mean I can’t go back to my childhood home? What do you mean that I can’t visit my best friend?

What do you mean that I can’t take my daughter to her favorite park? With each visit back home, I am more frightened than ever. With each visit back home, I slide my scarf back another inch. With each visit back home, I feel like the people I grew up with might just turn against me. (It doesn’t help that I’m coming from Pakistan).

I feel bad for you Mr Trump. For the legacy you are leaving behind. You have disgraced America. She made you who you are today and this is how you thank her? You are forcing this nation to bleed tears as you wreak havoc. You could be using your money to do so much good, yet you have chosen the road less taken. What is it you want, Mr Trump? Because I know what I want, I want you to leave us in peace. No one is forcing you to like us, but there is no pressure for you to make our lives hell either. Seriously, no pressure, dude!

Sincerely, A confused mama (The author is the founder of “Tutor on the Road” blog and holds a Degree in Human Services. She is an avid writer, freelance journalist, traveler and youth mentor. Courtesy The Express Tribune) said.

“When you start demonizing other people, when you start planting these seeds of fear in other people, that fear is what leads to hate,” Hamid said. “And when you start saying things like see how they hate us, then they say, ‘well if they hate us, I’m going to hate them right back.’”

In fact, in his speech that day, Trump spoke of hatred right after Hamid was ejected.

“There is not hatred on our behalf.

There is hatred against us that is unbelievable and it’s their hatred. It’s not our hatred.

It’s their hatred,” Trump told the crowd. In a video captured by a Trump supporter and posted on YouTube, Hamid is seen being escorted out by guards. She stops to respond to each person who is yelling at her. One man asked her if she brought a bomb to a rally, Hamid said.

“How do you get decent people, to behave in a way that is unacceptable, and is murderous at times? It’s that whole mob mentality that takes over,” Hamid said. “The language is very dangerous.” - Business Insider

COMMENTARY Women in Islam: Exploring New Paradigms Author: Moin Qazi Published by Notion Press, Chennai, India Year of publication: 2015 Pages: 141 ISBN: 978-93-84878-03-0

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P23

Book Review

Women in Islam: Exploring New Paradigms

n By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi

I

t is not difficult to see why one would not remain unimpressed by this newly published book on women in Islam.

Authored by a renowned academician and author of numerous books on Islam, Dr Moin Qazi and beautifully titled, “Women in Islam: Exploring New Paradigms”, the book came crashing down the prevalent misconceptions about the status of women in Islam. It’s worth mentioning that, a few months ago, I came across a book on the same subject, titled “Denied by Allah” which created doubts in many minds accusing women rights of being lesser in Islam. However, I am certain, one will find no room for any such doubts after glancing through the contents of the book by Moin Qazi.

Among the many chapters that will captivate an avid reader of Islam are: “The Muslim Feminist Legacy”, “Women in Qur’an and Sunnah”, “The Queens of Islam”, “Selected Traditions on Women” and “20 Eminent Muslim Women in History”. For me, the two most appealing chapters in the book were: “A Need for Fresh Vision” and “Time to Look Inward”. Qazi calls for rediscovering and rejuvenating the lofty status of women enshrined in the Qur’an and Sunnah (Prophetic traditions) and thus reclaiming the authentic Islam. For this, he asks Muslims to take a note of introspection.

He avers, “We have to introspect why Muslim women are not able to model themselves in the secular domain in the molds in which matriarchal icons like Khadija and Aisha were cast. These women played a key role in the mission of the Prophet in spreading Islam.

They were the defining emblems of Islamic civilization.”

Qazi makes it clear that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was centuries ahead of the men of his time in his attitudes towards women, and not surprisingly, right after he died, men started rolling back the reforms he began. “The Prophet may have been too advanced for the mindset of 7th century men, but his compassion for women is exactly the model that Muslims in the 21st century need to emulate”, he says.

This anthology also offers an introduction to women’s excellence in knowledge and education in the early centuries of Islam.

Extraordinarily talented and immensely qualified female companions of the Prophet taught many great male Islamic scholars. However, the author regrets, the former’s contributions were not recognized or meticulously preserved by the male Muslim historians.

It’s indeed a pleasant surprise to know, thanks to the author’s scholarly production, that the Islamic scholars of great stature such as Imam Shafi’ee, Ibn Khilkan, Abu Hayyan and Ibn Asakar, the prominent scholars of hadith

spent more than three decades in the development sector. Previously, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Manchester, he has also served on deputation to the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome and Ministry of Rural Development Government of Malaysia. Until the date, Qazi has authored four collections of poems and received an Honorary DLitt at World Congress of Poets held at Istanbul. His recent translation work “Mohammad: The prophet for eternity” in which he rendered Syed Sulaiman Nadvi’s lectures, throws light on the life of the Prophet as an abiding model for all mankind.

GRATITUDE FPOM P24

and tafseer, studied under female scholars.

The stories of women Islamic scholars who dialogued with men about religious and legal issues or the preferred interpretation of an Islamic text abounds in the Islamic literature. However, Qazi reproduces very inspiring, moving and unique stories. For instance, a famous incident that took place in the mosque between the Caliph Umar (r.a.) and an unknown woman who cited a passage from the Qur’an in support of her argument against placing a ceiling on the amount of the Meher (dower for women). Hazrat Umar realized his error and said: “The woman is right and the Caliph is wrong”.

Thus, Qazi takes his readers to the conclusion that Islam strongly encourages the education of women both in social and religious domains. Their education and cultural training was regarded integral dimension of social development and there was no priority for men, in relation to the right to education. Both are equally encouraged to acquire education. Indeed, all the Qur’anic verses, which relate to education and knowledge are directed to both men and women alike.

However, the question arises: when the Qur’an accorded women such a lofty status and rights that they could not even imagine in the seventh century Arabia, then why this discrepancy between the actual Qur’anic provisions for women and their sorry state of affairs in the Muslim world today?

Reappraising the common Muslim mindset, Qazi attempts to answer the above question with quite a different approach. He says that the answer lies in the deterioration of basic Islamic feminist values that occurred in the Muslim world after the disasters of the Mongol invasions and the Crusades in the eleventh trough thirteenth centuries. He opines that the patrilineal traditions in the Middle East that preceded Islam both improved and curtailed the freedoms of women in its earliest days. Furthermore, Qazi places much of the blame for the most constrictive interpretations of Islam on the Abbasid dynasty, which ruled from the mid-eighth century onward and interpreted Islam in a legalistic and rigid manner designed to

serve the political expansionist interests, thereby sacrificing much of the ethical, normative thrust of the religion as practiced in the days of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Qazi also describes the Prophet Muhammad’s revolutionary reforms to elevate the status of women horrifically degraded in the seventh century. The reforms regarding women rights introduced by the Prophet, he shows, were completely egalitarian and liberating. However, regrettably, not long after the Prophet’s demise, he opines, several misogynists, retrogressive and patriar-

Qazi makes it clear that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was centuries ahead of the men of his time in his attitudes towards women, and not surprisingly, right after he died, men started rolling back the reforms he began.

“The Prophet may have been too advanced for the mindset of 7th century men, but his compassion for women is exactly the model that Muslims in the 21st century need to emulate”, he says chal interpretations of the Islamic law (Shariah) emerged. He dwells upon it: “The reforms that took place in the early years of Islam are clearly progressive changing with the needs of the society. However, the more detailed rules that were laid out by the classical jurists allowed many pre-Islamic customs to continue, and also reflected the needs, customs and expectations of the society in which they lived, instead of continuing the progressive reform that was started during the time of the Prophet.”

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The ultimate belief that Qazi wants to imbibe in his readers is that Islam has been incredibly advanced in providing revolutionary rights for women and uplifting women’s status even in the seventh century. Many of the revelations in the Qur’an, he tells us, were by nature reform-oriented, transforming key aspects of pre-Islamic customary laws and practices in progressive ways in order to eliminate injustice and suffering.

At the end of the book, there is a unique accumulation of narratives from heroic Muslim women from different ages of history. They are great embodiments of knowledge, classical scholarship, social activism, mystical influence, political empowerment, financial power and bravery. From the first centuries of Islam in Arabia till the late 17th century in India, it gives a closer look at and evaluation of the roles Muslim women have played in multiple lawful pursuits including the humanities, art, literature, law, theology, social sciences and administration. Inspired by the vision of a better world, this chapter stresses the need to empower the feminine and assure gender balance in all these areas of excellence.

Qazi takes us through an inspiring journey of women empowerment that starts off with the Prophet’s first and most beloved wife Hazrat Khadija bint Khuwaylid, who was a successful business woman and one of the elite figures of Makkah. As the saying goes, “behind every man, there is a woman”, it was to her credit that the Prophet had the vital support in propagating the new faith of Islam. No wonder, Khadija had the distinction of being the first Muslim.

This collection of Muslim women’s stories also point out the paramount role of women in creating a better world for all beings.

It beautifully illustrates how women, down the ages, put herculean efforts towards the enhancement of political and social rights, sustainable environments, protection of people from the travesties of war and promotion of religious diversity, pluralism and democracy.

A spotlight on the author of this book is a must at the end.

He holds doctorates in Economics and English Literature and has

he is none other than Dr Aslam Abdullah, Imam of the Islamic Center of Las Vegas, Nevada, who has inspired me and raised my soul to higher levels of spirituality through his reminders about Islamic values, his writings and speeches. He inspired me by his unique, frank and honest style which he uses in his articles, about our responsibilities as Muslims and followers of Prophet Muhammad; about our strengths and weaknesses as Muslims; and about human existence on this earth, placing emphasis on good side of life. He says, “The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.”

(Mohammad Yacoob is a retired Industrial Engineer and Engineering Proposals Analyst who lives in Los Angeles, California) CHERNOBYL FROM P9

• “Sometimes I get strange thoughts, sometimes I think Chernobyl saved me, forced me to think.

My soul expanded.”

I had the opportunity for three consecutive summers to help support and interact with a boy through Children of Chernobyl. We still joke about his renaming mashed potatoes, as he regularly asked whether or not smashed potatoes would be on the menu. In relative terms, he is one of the fortunate ones.

There are many lessons from human tragedy. One survivor said, “Victory is not an event for us, but a process. Life is a struggle. An overcoming.” Alexievich reports here on men and women who continue this struggle, seeking to find eternal and ultimate meaning in our temporal and human struggle.

(Dr Gary L. Welton is assistant dean for institutional assessment, professor of psychology at Grove City College, and a contributor to The Center for Vision & Values)

VOICES FROM P8

cal College and the Bacha Khan Medical Complex in the nearby cities of Mardan and Swabi respectively are part of this endeavor. The Awami National Party is also working on facilitating a Bacha Khan university in Khost, Afghanistan.

Bacha Khan’s message of peace and non-violence resonates with Nobel Laureate Malala Yousufzai, who was “heartbroken” by the brutal attack on students and staff at the Bacha Khan University that she has strongly condemned.

In a statement expressing solidarity “with the families of all the victims and all those who suffer as a VOICES, P28

COMMENTARY

P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

Market Is Pretty Efficient at Pricing Financial Assets 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) Unless you’re a disciplined growth investor, the instinct to favor cheap stocks runs deep. From youth, we learn to bargain hunt.

But financial markets often defy our instincts. And so it is with bargain hunting for stocks that cost $1, $5 or even $10. Cheap stocks usually are cheap for good reason. Buying them can put you into laggard companies that will undercut your portfolio’s performance.

It’s true that the crowd can fall prey to bouts of euphoria and fear that lead the market to overprice or underprice stocks. But more often than not, the market is pretty efficient at pricing financial assets.

Each day, legions of analysts, strategists and money managers sift through the stocks that make up the market. Their collective decisions, as well as those of millions of individual investors, put a price on every stock, usually close to what it’s worth.

So it’s unlikely that you will be a big winner just because a stock looks cheap. In fact, the contrary is true.

The lower a stock’s price, the less likely it has a good earnings history.

And profits are the most important driver of stock performance. Stocks under $10 have an average Earnings Per Share rating of 39, a weak score. It means almost two out of every three stocks have better earnings growth than shares selling for less than $10.

GRATITUDE FROM P6

thanking people for their good acts, deeds or favors they have heaped on us. Our thankfulness is called ‘Tashakkur’ in Arabic and ‘Shukriya’ in Urdu language. As a matter of fact, I thanked many people on the Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24, 2011 in an article entitled “Thanksgiving” posted on Islamicity on November 19, 2011.

I thanked the African-American community for standing up with the Muslim community. I appreciated and thanked the Japanese-American community for condemning the misguided Americans for their suggestion of placing Muslims in internment camps. The Latino community is always under the threat of being branded as illegal aliens; I thanked them for being with the Muslims when extremists and hatemongers raised slogans in favor of the deportation of Muslims; thanked Rev. J. Edwin Bacon, rector, All Saints Church, Pasadena, California; and thanked Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, Television program hosts. I thanked our own leaders: Dr Maher Hathout, founder of Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC); Salaam Al-Marayati, President of MPAC; Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Los Angeles; Dr Ahmed Sakr, Founder of Muslim Students Association of American

Higher-priced stocks tend to attract institutional money, the key to a stock making a huge, substantial move. Why? One reason is that big buyers and sellers of stocks prize liquidity. They want to be able to move in and out of stocks without causing wild spikes in price. For that reason, many mutual funds have a minimum price limit that forces them to avoid cheap, illiquid stocks.

Low-priced stocks can suffer from extreme volatility. A ¼- or ½-point move in a $5 stock is a big percentage change-nice on the way down. A 1-point decline in a $5 dollar stock means a 20% loss. A 1-point moves in, say, a $25 stock represents 4%.

Very cheap prices also can carry greater transaction costs. That’s because the spread between the bid and ask prices for a low-priced stock amounts to a far greater percentage.

The bid is the price where you can sell a stock instantly. The ask is how much you have to pay in order to get an immediate execution on your order.

A low-priced stock might trade at 5 bid and 5 ¼ ask. That 25 cents amounts to a transaction cost of 5%.

That means the stock has to rise 5% before you’re assured of getting out even. Now take another stock that trades at 50 bid and 50 ¼ ask. That spread amounts to a transaction cost of 0.5% per share, insignificant in comparison.

Looking for cheap stocks also and Founder of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA); Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, President of California Shura Council; and Congressman Keith Ellison, member of the House of Representatives On Wednesday December 2, 2015, the white snow from the snowcapped San Bernardino mountains melted, started flowing into the valleys and ravines, as pure, pristine, clean and colorless water and met the pool of blood that had accumulated in the city of San Bernardino as a result of the massacre by the man and wife team and turned red.

Out of more than five thousand universities in the United States, I had thanked the students and scholars of only one university, the University of California at San Bernardino.

I wrote, “I would like to express my profound thanks to millions and millions of Caucasian and White Americans who are standing by the Muslims and supporting them to show to the whole world that the dark FACE (Fundamentalists, Arid Conservatives and Extremists) on the American scene does not represent United States. This month, November 2011, more than 100 non-Muslims students at University of California, San Bernardino, wore the hijab, Muslim scarf, to show solidarity with Muslim students and also to experience what if feels to be in that garb. They discovered that Muslim women are

No Orphan Without Education

doesn’t work well when using priceto-earnings ratios. According to conventional wisdom, low P-E stocks are a better value.

Say a company earned $1 a share last year and its trading for 40. That gives it a 40 P-E, which is high by historical standards. Another company with the same earning but selling for $10 would carry a P-E of 10.

The cheaper shares seem to be a better value because they cost you only $10 to get that $1 in earnings.

Sounds logical, but it is true?

A stock with a PE ratio of 40 implies that investors expect the profitability of the underlying company to increase to justify the multiple. A stock with a PE on 10 suggests a comparatively moribund earnings future.

Indeed, studies of the best-performance equities show that winning stocks typically have a P-E 20% higher that the rest of the market before they begin their big advances. If you insist on cheap, low P-E companies, you almost guarantee yourself that you will never buy a leading stock.

Over the years, I personally have done much better with higher priced stocks. In my earlier investments days, years ago, I have bought cheap stocks. Traditionally, I do not buy stocks under $20. They have taught me a lot about investments and were a great learning experience.

(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.) stronger and more courageous than Muslim men. Thank you very much scholars and student community of America. I wish I could thank millions and millions of Americans individually on this Thanksgiving Day – November 24, 2011. At least several hundred Americans I know personally, but it is a tremendous task. Right now, I am praying to Almighty God to bless you and your families.” http:// www.islamicity.com/articles/articles. asp?ref=IV1005-4164&p=2 From my vantage point, my Islamic values are not going to change, will remain the same, whether I respond to the creatures of absolute ignorant, fear mongers and hatemongers or not. As a result of the San Bernardino massacre, attacks on Muslims and Mosques have increased. Those who are attacking Muslims and displaying their vast knowledge of ignorance by listening to ignorant leaders are not afraid of terrorists; they are afraid of 99.999% Muslims who are against terrorism, extremism, racism and Islamophobia.

The American Muslim community and decent Americans must continue to work to replace fear with understanding, negativity with the positive message of Islam. I am thankful to hundreds of people who guided me, inspired me and taught me ways to serve humanity. Today, I would like to thank one person, and GRATITUDE, P23

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

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Exchange Rates for Currency Notes* Countries

USA

UK S.Arabia Japan Euro UAE

Buying Rs.

Selling Rs.

106.60 152.75 28.40 0.87 115.75 29.20

106.85 153.45 28.55 0.90 116.25 29.35

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

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RELIGION

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P25

Love of Prophet Muhammad – Peace Be Upon Him n By Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi

Gems from the Holy Qur’an

T

hose who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel with them - who commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); he releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that were upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honor him, help him, and follow the Light which is sent down with him, it is they who will prosper. (Al-A’raf 7:157)

Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that you have gained; the commerce in which you fear a decline; or the dwellings in which you delight - are dearer to you than Allah, Or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause - then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious. (alTawbah 9:24) Islam is the love of Allah and His Messenger. Love of Allah and His Prophet must be in the heart of every Muslim. No one can live a true Islamic life without deep and sincere love for Allah and His Prophet Muhammad – peace and blessings be upon him. Islam is not just beliefs and rituals; Islam is the relationship of love for Allah and His Prophet. This love is part of our faith. Faith is not complete without this love. It is also the sign of our faith. The more we have this love, the more our faith will shine and bloom and fill the earth with its perfume.

Why do we love Prophet Muhammad? Prophet Muhammad was a special person. He was the Last and Final Prophet of Allah. To love Prophet Muhammad is to love Allah and to love all God’s Prophets and Messengers. Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him - was the best human being who ever lived on this earth. All the qualities that make a person loveable were in him. He was perfect in his appearance and in his character. He was perfect in his words and deeds. Many people who saw him personally said that they never saw anyone like him, neither before him nor after him.

His cousin and son-in-law Syidna

From the translation by Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)

‘Ali said about him, “Whosoever saw him suddenly he was overwhelmed by him, and whosoever saw him with knowledge loved him.” Allah and His angels love him. He was the Mercy of Allah to the worlds (Rahmatullil‘alamin). He was the best role model (uswatun hasanah) for all humanity.

In order to receive the love of Allah, we have to follow his way. The way to practice Islam is to love him and the way to success and salvation in this world and in the Hereafter is in the way of Prophet Muhammad.

How to love Prophet Muhammad? This is the most important question for every one of us. Muslims in general love Prophet Muhammad and hold him very dear to their hearts. Our love for the Prophet should not be only emotional; it should be serious, thoughtful and it must lead to good and proper actions.

His love must be sincere and deep in our hearts, we should express it by our tongues and it must reflect in our actions. The Prophet – peace be upon

him - said: None of you shall have (complete) faith unless I become dearer to him than his parents, his children and all people. (Al-Bukhari 14) The love of the Prophet – peace be upon him - has a joy and happiness. We can fully enjoy it and benefit from it if we follow the right course.

Let us keep the following five points in our mind: 1. We must learn his Sirah and Sunnah from authentic sources. The more we learn about his life, the more we shall love him. We must follow his way and his teachings. We must do whatever he told us to do and we must avoid everything that he told us not to do. His Sunnah is not just few rituals; it is his whole lifestyle. He was the most loving, kind and charitable person. He was very caring towards his family, his friends, his followers and even to his enemies. He was the Mercy of Allah to the world; we should also try to become most merciful and kind people. Allah says: Say: “If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

Say: “Obey Allah and His Messenger”: but if they turn back, Allah loves not those who reject Faith.

(Al ‘Imran 3:3132) 2.

We should increase our Salat and Salam on him.

His name should be mentioned with utmost respect and love.

Allah says: Allah and

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His Angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you who believe! Send blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. (Al-Ahzab 33:56) 3. We should love his family (Ahl al-Bayt), and all his Companions (Sahabah) from amongst the Muhajirin and Ansar. We should give them full respect and honor and appreciate their devotion, services and sacrifices and we should try to follow their good examples.

4. Loving him means also loving his Ummah. We should care for every member of the Ummah and work for unity and harmony among them.

We should never hold ill feelings towards any person, especially towards other Muslims. The Prophet – peace be upon him - said: Anas bin Malik said, “The Prophet – peace be upon him - said to me, ‘O my son, if you can have your morning and evening in such a way that you have no ill-feeling against any one then do so.’ Then he said, ‘O my son, this is my Sunnah and whosoever love my Sunnah he loves me and whosoever loves me, he will be with me in Jannah.’”

(Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith no. 2602) 5. Loving him also means loving the whole humanity and caring for all people. Prophet Muhammad was sent by Allah to bring mercy to the worlds. Loving him means removing injustice, hunger, poverty, diseases and inequality from this world. He was sent to remove sin and corruption from this world. Loving him means working to spread righteousness in this world. He was sent to save people from Hell unto the eternal success and salvation. Loving him means spreading his message of truth and guidance to all people. We should convey without trying to convert. We should try to remove misunderstandings from the minds of people about him. We should show to the world the loving and merciful way of Prophet Muhammad – peace and mercy of Allah be upon him.

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 3, Verses 35 to 37 When a woman of the house of Imran prayed: “O my Sustainer!

Behold, unto Thee do I vow [the child] that is in my womb, to be devoted to Thy service. Accept it, then, from me: verily, Thou alone art allhearing, all-knowing!” But when she had given birth to the child, she said: “O my Sustainer! Behold, I have given birth to a female” – the while God had been fully aware of what she would give birth to, and [fully aware] that no male child [she might have hoped for] could ever have been like this female – “and I have named her Mary. And, verily, I seek Thy protection for her and her offspring against Satan, the accursed.” And so her Sustainer accepted her with goodly acceptance, and caused her to grow up in goodly growth, and placed her in the care of Zachariah. Whenever Zachariah visited her in the sanctuary, he found her provided with food. He would ask: “O Mary, whence came this unto thee? She would answer: “It is from God; behold, God grants sustenance unto whom He wills, beyond all reckoning.”

Chapter 3, Verses 42 - 43 And lo! The angels said, “O Mary! Behold, God has elected thee and made thee pure, and raised thee above all the women of the world.

O Mary! Remain thou truly devout unto thy Sustainer, and prostrate thyself in worship, and bow down with those who bow down [before Him].

Chapter 3, Verses 59 to 60 Verily in the sight of God, the nature of Jesus is as the nature of Adam, whom He created out of dust and then said unto him, “Be” – and he is. [This is] the truth from thy Sustainer; be not then among the doubters!

Chapter 3, Verse 64 Say: “O followers of earlier revelation! Come unto that tenet which we and you hold in common: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall not ascribe divinity to aught beside Him, and we shall not take human beings for our lords beside God.” And if they turn away, then say: “Bear witness that it is we who have surrendered ourselves unto Him.” GEMS, P28

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JANUARY 29, 2016 - PAKISTAN LINK

SPORTS

SPORTS

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P27

We Want to Encourage Our Team, Not Malign It: Shaharyar

LAHORE: Pakistan's successive defeats against New Zealand and England in the T20 contests have set the alarm bells ringing in the cricketing quarters here with the all-important World T20 now just weeks away. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is reluctant in taking any drastic steps at this juncture.

PCB chairman Shaharyar M Khan, talking to media after inaugurating the Benazir Bhutto Women Cricket Tournament at the Bagh-iJinnah ground said: "I have no serious concerns over the team's performance against New Zealand but some little changes may be made. In fact, we want to encourage our team instead of bringing them down.

"Whenever we play outside the country it is a difficult proposition

for us. In England and New Zealand we face a lot of problems due to the seaming conditions," Shaharyar said. "India, too, have lost matches to Australia in Australia.

"Wins and losses are part of the game. In today's ODI against New Zealand, we got their six wickets for just 99 but their lower order batsmen did a very good job, so it is all part of the game," the chairman said.

He also defended T20 captain Shahid Afridi. "We have made him captain till the World T20 and we will stand with him."

However, the Pakistan thinktank must be quite worried over the World T20 preparations after the successive T20 series defeats to England and New Zealand.

When asked that tainted medi-

um fast bowler Mohammad Amir had raised doubts by bowling his first deliveries as wides in the T20 and ODI against the Kiwis, the chairman said: "Every bowler bowls wide deliveries, you should also see that he has taken three wickets in today's match."

When asked if constant failure of Pakistan's opening pair could make way for another tainted player, Salman Butt, the chairman said Aamir had settled well in the team and now both Salman and Muhammad Asif could also make a return if they performed well in domestic cricket.

He said the 'big three' formula of the ICC had been criticised world over and Pakistan also considered it as non-democratic. "It is better if they change that," he said. J

Red-hot Rabada Routs Feeble England

BCCI Wants Overall Review System (ORS) in Place of DRS

CENTURION: Kagiso Rabada completed a dream sequence with 13 wickets in the match as South Africa thumped England by 280 runs in the final Test at Centurion. England won the series 2-1, and can claim the bragging rights, but South Africa have their first Test win in 10 outings and evidence that the future is not necessarily as bleak as has been suggested.

South Africa's victory was a convincing one, a splendid recovery after their defeats in Durban and Johannesburg. Most pride of all will come in the feat of Rabada, only the third South African to take so many wickets in a Test, following Makhaya Ntini and Hugh Tayfield. He finished with 13 for 145 in the match, pronouncing that he has the capability to become the inspiration in South Africa's attack for many years to come.

From the start of their innings, England's task was to try to bat long and hope that South Africa's attack fell

apart in front of their eyes. Kyle Abbott was carrying a hamstring, Rabada had borne a heavy workload and the unpredictability of Morne Morkel meant that he might go haywire if left to carry the pace bowling alone. With only three seamers, backed by the offspinner Dane Piedt, their threat might be neutered, even on a surface of variable bounce.

It all proved a hollow theory. Little went right for England for the outset.

They lost three wickets in 21 overs on the fourth evening and capsized completely on the final morning, their last seven wickets disappearing for 49 runs in 13.4 overs. It is fair to suggest that they made no concerted attempt to save the match.

This enterprising England side is a batting line-up of great extremes, committed to a positive approach which can produce thrilling cricket but which also comes close to an abdication of responsibility in times of hardship. J

ADELAIDE: A few days after Anurag Thakur, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, revealed that the board is willing to adopt the Decision Review System (DRS) in an altered way, new details are emerging of what could be on the cards.

The Indian team wants an Overall Review System (ORS) in place of the DRS, keeping in mind the 13 home Tests this season, reported Times of India on Tuesday.

What it effectively means is that other than leg-before decisions, which depends on the ball tracking system, the players are open to the use of technology for other decisions. The reason for this, said an insider, is that India had been on the receiving end of umpiring howlers in the five-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia and prior to that in the away three-Test series against Sri Lanka last August.

In the 2016-17 season, India are scheduled to play Bangladesh (1 Test), New Zealand (3), England (5) and Australia (4), apart from an away four-Test series against the West Indies, and are keen to become the No. 1 red-ball team.

The home matches are likely to be played on turning tracks to be played on turning tracks and at times even the best of umpires get it wrong. While Indians are still against the ball-tracking technology, thy don't want to miss out on bat-pad decisions, which they did in Sri Lanka last year, a source said. J

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Time Running Out for Akmal, Shehzad: Afridi KARACHI: Pakistan Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi on Monday urged his team to raise their game in upcoming international competitions following their 2-1 Twenty20 defeat in New Zealand last week.

Pakistan won the first match by 16 runs before going down tamely by 10 wickets and 95 runs respectively in the next two games - their worst Twenty20 defeats in terms of wickets and runs.

Afridi did not mince his words in warning his players they have a tough task to compete in the Asia Cup (Feb 24-March 6) in Bangladesh, followed by the World Twenty20 (March 11April 3) in India.

"We failed to fulfil what was expected of us in the Twenty20 series in New Zealand," Afridi told AFP. "We did win the first game but in the last two we didn't show the right kind of fighting spirit."

Afridi said his team was running out of time before the major events.

"If we don't learn from our mistakes and lift our performances then we

will struggle in future events," said Afridi, singling out misfiring batsmen Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad for their ordinary show.

"Umar and Shehzad have got enough chances which not many players get for Pakistan at the highest level, so they have to prove their worth before time runs out for them," said Afridi, who was also critical of his own performance.

"Captain's performance matters and I know my scoring runs and taking wickets is the key which I also need to improve on in the next two tournaments," said Afridi who will retire from international cricket after the World Twenty20 in India.

The seasoned all-rounder urged the cricket authorities to reform the domestic structure of the game to make it more competitive. "We have to improve our system, especially we have to revive school cricket from where we can get talented players who should be groomed at the NCA and that is very necessary for our future," he said. J

Serena Beats Sharapova to Reach Semi-Finals

MELBOURNE: Reigning champion Serena Williams ramped up the power in the second set to vanquish fifth seed Maria Sharapova for the 18th match in a row and reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-1 victory recently.

Sharapova broke the world number one in the first game and mounted a stiff challenge in the opening set but wilted in the second to extend a losing record that goes back 12 years.

Williams said the Russian brings out the best in her.

"When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game," Williams said. "I think that makes me play better. When I'm forced to play better, I do well."

The gulf between Williams and Sharapova, a former number one and five-times grand slam champion, speaks volumes about the balance of power in the women's game.

Williams has reached the last four at Melbourne Park on six previous occasions and gone on to win the title every time.

On Tuesday's evidence, it looks like only illness or injury can prevent the 34-year-old from repeating the feat and adding a 22nd major title to her collection.

The American, who came into the tournament after a four-month layoff, twice had treatment for "food poisoning issues" during breaks in the 92-minute rematch of last year's final.

Sharapova handed back her early break with two double faults in game four but started the match well and offered a genuine test in the 55minute opening stanza.

The Russian showed character to storm back from 0-40 down to hold serve for 4-4 and was all over Williams's serve in the next game, the American yelling "C'mon!" on successive points as she finally held.

The match turned on the next game when Sharapova fended off three set points despite failing to get her first serve in before Williams converted the fourth after a long rally with a volley at the net.

Sharapova had fired 21 aces in her fourth round match but managed just seven against Williams.

"I think if you're serving maybe 180 (kph) against somebody else compared to Serena, that's an ace," said the 28-year-old.

"Against Serena, as we all know, the return is one of her great strengths. She's very explosive. She stays quite close to the baseline.

"She cuts the ball early. She doesn't give you many angles."

Williams has an 8-0 record against her semi-final opponent Agnieszka Radwanska, who as the fourth seed is the highest ranked challenger remaining in the draw.

"Nothing's guaranteed in sports," said Williams. "I still have to win two matches against potentially two extremely tough opponents." J

PAKISTAN

P28 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016 VOICES FROM P23

result of extremist violence”, she said: “This brutality must be stopped.

The authorities must act to ensure that all schools and universities are safe. I urge all people with peace in their hearts to renew their resolve to stand up to terrorism and ignorance and work together to protect life and learning. This attack happened on the 28th anniversary of the death of Abdul Ghaffar Khan who was a great freedom fighter, a man of peace. I hope his message of non-violence and harmony will prevail and end intolerance in our society.”

But to achieve this goal, Pakistan must continue with a multi-pronged, unified approach. The National Action Plan developed after the Peshawar attack must be implemented, not just in name.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Choudhry Nisar claimed great success in having tackled terrorism, with many arrests made. The reality on the ground is that many banned organizations continue to operate freely. As young journalist Umer Ali wrote in The Nation: “The government bans an organization, it emerges with a new name, contests elections and even wins seats. LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba], banned in 2002, changed its name to JuD [Jamat ud Dawah] and is still working freely under the guise of a welfare trust – often along with Pakistan Army in cases of emergency.”

After the militant attack on the Pathankot air base in India, in an effort to mend fences with India, Pakistan announced action against banned Jaish-e-Mohammad. There were reports that the JeM offices had been “sealed” and its leadership taken into “protective custody”. Asked Ali: “Banned since 2002, the government must answer the simple question: why did it wait for 14 years to take action?”

Analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, who hails from the southern Punjab area where many of these organizations have their bases, also asks this question and points out that there are in fact no “offices” as such to be “sealed”.

Taliban and their like-minded groups have killed over 50,000 civilian and 10,000 armed forces personnel in Pakistan over the past decade.

And yet the national unity needed to counter this threat remains elusive.

Efforts towards this national unity need to be made now to yield dividends in the future. - Scroll.in RAHEEL FROM P1

doesn’t want to be known in history as someone who was after power,” Shah said.

Mohmand added that Gen. Sharif is mindful how the public and international image of both Kayani and ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who led the country for nine years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, seemed to deteriorate the longer they held power.

“By deciding himself not to take extension, he is saying that the institutions are bigger than the individuals, and the state is bigger than the institutions,” Mohmand said. “Previously, the institutions were subservient to individuals.”

As for potentially undercutting ongoing military operations, Shah believes Sharif ’s pending departure will instead strengthen the army’s resolve to finish the job.

Gen. Zubair Mahmood Hayat, the Pakistan army chief of general staff, is most often mentioned as Gen. Sharif ’s likely successor. Hayat also has a reputation for being a moder-

Sahibzada Yaqub Laid to Rest

ate who worries past Pakistani leaders have not done enough to reign in Islamist extremist groups.

“The next army chief will be under tremendous pressure to follow in the footsteps of Gen. Raheel,” Shah said. “His successor will have to work hard to match this standard.”

HILLARY FROM P1

cast a wide net — he started with Mexicans. Now it’s Muslims.”

“But I found it particularly harmful the way he has talked about Muslims — American Muslims, and Muslims around the world,” she added.

“It’s not only shameful and contrary to our values to say that people of a certain religion should not come to this country, or to claim that there are no real people of the Muslim faith that share our values, and to have the kind of dismissive and insulting approach. It’s not only shameful and offensive, which it is. I think it’s dangerous.”

In December 2015, Trump had called for a “total and complete” block on Muslims entering the United States, in the wake of mass shooting in California by a Muslim couple.

MALIK FROM P15

PPP government for projecting the image of Pakistan.

SIEGEL’S TESTIMONY: In his testimony on October 1, Mr Siegel alleged that despite imminent threats to her life, Gen Musharraf deliberately deprived Ms Bhutto of the security detail she deserved as a former prime minister.

The case against Musharraf was built on the four witnesses. Except Mr Siegel, the rest of the witnesses held key posts under Gen Musharraf.

Two of them have already retracted their statements implicating their former boss while the prosecution decided not to call Ejaz Shah into the witness box, saying his testimony was not needed.

Kamal Shah and Cheema recorded their statements with the ATC in January last year.

FAROGH FROM P13

then.

Talking to reporters soon after his election, Barrister Naseem rejected a perception that the politics of the bar would now be dictated by “90”, as the MQM secretariat in Karachi is known.

“There are no two opinions over the fact that I belong to MQM, but to politicize my credentials over my membership of a particular party is unfortunate,” he said, adding that he was not merely the Hamid Khan group’s candidate, but had been assured of unconditional support from the other camp too.

In his statement before the media, Dr Naseem gave the impression that the decision to run for office was not his alone.

“There is a difference between being a senator of a political party and acting in the capacity of a PBC member,” he said.

“Ridding society of rampant corruption does not mean living in a utopia, but curtailing the menace will be our top priority,” he emphasized.

PROTESTS FROM P15

view that Altaf ’s remarks were in violation of Article 5 which asks for showing loyalty to the state and obedience to the constitution, and that a case of treason should be registered against him.

The court observed that there was sufficient material on record to order a complete blackout on the activities of Altaf Hussain.

GEMS FROM P25

Chapter 3, Verse 84 Say: “We believe in God, and in that which has been bestowed from high upon us, and that which has been bestowed upon Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, and that which has been vouchsafed by their Sustainer unto Moses and Jesus and all the [other] prophets: we make no distinction between any of them. And unto Him do we surrender ourselves.”

Pakistan Hopes to Pose Stiffer Challenge in Second ODI

CORRUPTION FROM P1

In a press release, TI Pakistan Chairman Sohail Muzaffar said the CPI score for Pakistan this year had again increased by one point to 30, and the rank had improved by three.

The 2015 CPI score is the best ever but Muzaffar believes “Pakistan should have performed better which can be achieved by having on-ground measures for the implementation of zero tolerance for corruption.”

He hoped that the government will take serious steps to implement the recommendations of TI Pakistan which may result in a marked reduction of corruption and much better CPI in future.

ROLE FROM P1

Given that peace in Afghanistan was crucial to the security and stability of the region, China hoped to strengthen communication with Russia, India, Iran and other countries for “synergy” in contributing towards the process of reconciliation, Wang said.

“China will continue to be the promoter, mediator and facilitator of the peace talks,” he said. Rabbani said the coordination group was more likely to succeed than previous peace attempts because it involved both China and the US. “At the same time, we also call on all members of the Taliban groups to come to the negotiating table,” he said. “We see that the Afghan problem can be solved only through peace and negotiation. There is no military solution.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani in Beijing. Rabbani is visiting China from Monday to Thursday to boost the bilateral ties. The two top diplomats greeted each other at the Chinese Foreign Ministry before sitting down for talks in the presence of their delegations.

Both countries attach great importance to the official visit. This is Rabbani’s first trip as Afghan foreign minister and the first high-level visit between China and Afghanistan this year. Last year, the two countries celebrated the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties and their Year of Friendly Cooperation.

www.PakistanLink.com

Napier: Pakistan hoped to pose a stiffer challenge to New Zealand than Sri Lanka did, but with two matches to go, their tour is threatening to go the same way as the previous one.

The most recent loss was perhaps the most disheartening of their three on tour. Having held New Zealand by the collar at 99 for 6, Pakistan eased their grip - introducing spinners to hasten the over-rate - and the New Zealand lower order shoved them to the ground.

Even with Mitchell McClenaghan in hospital, New Zealand eased to their eighth limited-overs victory in ten games.

As ever, there is an edge to this Pakistan attack, but they have also lacked the full breadth of limitedovers skill, at times. They had broken New Zealand’s batting open with swing, seam and pace, yet have had struggles with containing throughout the tour. There was also a seeming dearth of intent with ball and bat. With six wickets down by the 23rd over, they opted to reserve the quicks for later in the innings, instead of hunting for those last four scalps.

Then the chase of 281 began slowly only 33 coming from the Powerplay.

New Zealand have scrapped, jived and thrived despite everything that has been thrown at them. Four top players are ruled out of the next match, but such is the depth in their cricket at present that they have a bowler of Doug Bracewell’s quality to replace McClenaghan. Their middle order had seemed a weakness, but on Sunday it was Henry Nicholls and Mitchell Santner who revived the team with their seventh-wicket stand.

The weather may play a role in shortening this match, but the rains are forecast to clear by afternoon.

New Zealand Monday defeated Pakistan by 70 runs when the latter failed to chase a 281 runs target in first One-Day International (ODI) game of three-match series at Wellington’s Basin Reserve cricket stadium.

The Pakistani team collapsed at 210 runs while chasing the target.

Babar Azam remained prominent batsman who scored 62 runs and Mohammad Hafeez contributed 42 runs.

Rawalpindi: Former foreign minister Sahibzada Yaqub Khan was laid to rest in the Army Graveyard at Race Course on Tuesday morning.

He died on Monday night in Islamabad, leaving behind his wife and two sons.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and senior army officers attended the funeral prayers of the late foreign minister.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lauded the services of Sahibzada Yaqub Khan for the country as a seasoned and refined diplomat during his posting at Pakistan’s important missions. He prayed to Almighty Allah to grant eternal peace to the veteran diplomat and patience and forbearance to the bereaved family.

Adviser to the Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry visited the residence of the Sahibzada in Islamabad and offered condolences to his wife and sons.

They also expressed condolences on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

PIA Workers Observe Countrywide Strike

Karachi: Employees of the Pakistan

International Airlines observed a countrywide strike on Tuesday against the proposed privatization of the national flag carrier.

The employees kept the PIA offices closed throughout the day, but the management insisted that the flight operations remained unaffected and no revenue losses were incurred.

The Joint Action Committee of PIA employees had called the strike.

It said the protest would continue and there would be no “compromise” until the government took back its decision to privatize PIA, after the protesting employees were offered by the management to get the issue resolved through talks.

In Karachi, employees suspended regular work and attended the protest which was part of the countrywide campaign called by the JAC – an alliance of different PIA workers unions – to resist the privatization move.

“Our protest will continue till the withdrawal of the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Ordinance, 2015,” said Capt.

Sohail Baloch of the JAC. “We don’t accept any offer for talks from the PIA management which is being conveyed [to us] time and again. Our demand is very clear and straight. We don’t want privatization at any cost — that’s it.”

In Lahore, employees staged a demonstration and PIA’s main Egerton Road office observed a complete strike. A number of customers who visited the office had to return after the airline’s employees told them that work would remain suspended the whole day.

CLASSIFIED & MATRIMONIAL

JANUARY 29, 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.

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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.

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Proposals invited from well settled professionals. Please call at 301 525 8941

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P30 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

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JANUARY 29, 2016 - PAKISTAN LINK

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE ENTERTAINMENT

lighty Mannu (Maya Ali) and serious Salahuddin (Hamza Ali Abbasi) are thrown together as the latter has to tutor the former.

What happens next? Sparks fly

F

Hum TV's latest offering Mann Mayal has been introduced with a lot of fanfare and the kind of publicity that's usually reserved for movies.

The star attraction is of course Hamza Ali Abbasi, who returns to the silver screen for the first time since his iconic portrayal of Afzal inPyarey Afzal.

It is to Abbasi's credit that, despite being one of the brightest stars Pakistan's nascent film industry he has not abandoned the medium that helped keep the entertainment industry alive during leaner times.Mann Mayal is produced by Momina Duraid, Samina Humayoon Saeed and Sana Shahnawaz. Written

by Samira Fazal and directed by

JANUARY 29, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P31

Haseeb Hassan, this serial also stars Maya Ali, Aisha Khan, Gohar Rasheed and Aiman Khan as main characters. The cast boasts not-to-bemissed performers like Saba Hameed, Atiqa Odho, Javed Shaikh, Arjumand Rahim and Vasey Chaudhry in its ranks too.

The story so far From the first scene it is obvious that Mannu and Salahuddin are wary of each other... but is it just the bussing seeds of attraction?

The story revolves around Mannu (Maya Ali) and Salahuddin (Hamza Ali Abbasi), who live in a provincial town in Sindh. Mannu is best friends with Salahuddin's younger sister Beeya and their families share the usual friendliness and trust of neighbors with like minds that comes through years of familiarity.

The greatest difference between them is the fact that Mannu's family

is comparatively wealthy and lives together according to tradition with a full quota of relatives, while

the world well beyond his years. He knows his lack of position and wealth would make any connection

commendable Director Haseeb Hassan is a stickler for details and it shows in all

Salahuddin lives a simple but respectable life with his mother, father and sister. The first episode shows Beeya passing her final exams with an 'A' while Mannu, much to her own disappointment, ends up failing. Beeya has been forced to study hard by her paragon of a brother and this impresses Mannu's father enough that he asks Salahuddin to tutor Mannu.

From the first scene it is obvious that Mannu and Salahuddin are wary of each other, but the audience soon realizes that friction is just a veneer for a simmering attraction that both are trying to suppress.

Flighty Mannu (Maya Ali) and serious Salahuddin (Hamza Ali Abbasi) are thrown together as the latter has to tutor the former. What happens next? Sparks fly Salahuddin is the more discerning of the pair, a quiet, studious, sensible young man who understands

difficult and he doesn't want to be distracted from his own aim to be somebody by a relationship that will only cause him pain.

Mannu on the other hand is naïve and not as self-aware. She is attracted to her friend's straight-laced brother but isn't sure why. She jumps from one mood to another like a child, trying to attract the attention of her serious new teacher.

Is a love triangle in the offing?

Gohar Rasheed stars as Mannu's prospective husband Mikaal Meanwhile Mannu's family has quietly invited a family to come and see Mannu for a rishta. Blissfully unaware, Mannu visits her friend Beeya to make mithai for the coming guests, but ends up studying with Salahuddin again.

The episode ends with a teaser for next week showing Gohar Rasheed as Mikaal the prospective rishta.

Highlights: Hamza, Maya are

his projects from Bol Meri Machli to Dayar e Dil. Mann Mayal has some wonderfully authentic settings and is beautifully shot with the kind of lighting and ambiance that invites the audience into the character's little world.

Haseeb Hassan's work often relegates the audience to a distant third person but for this intense love story there is a lot of warmth and intimacy in the way this drama has been made.

For a first episode this was remarkably slick; relationships, fault lines and most importantly the main protagonist's attraction for each other were nicely established without clumsy dialogues and forced situations.

Despite some strong echoes of Pyarey Afzal in this episode, Hamza Ali Abbasi has managed to establish Salahuddin as an independent character from his first moment on screen.

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P32 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2016

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