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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

[ALOCHONA] The sky, the mind, the ban culture



The sky, the mind, the ban culture

Sadat Uddin Ahmed Amil

THE ban on Facebook could be lifted within days. Or perhaps by the time you read this in print, it might already have been withdrawn. But that is not what exercises our minds at this point. What we are upset about is the brusqueness with which the attack on Facebook was made. Of course, if there is anything obscene that has appeared on it, if the reputations of citizens, powerful or meek, have been ridiculed, all that the authorities needed to do was to go after those who indulged in such nefarious deeds. But to assume that an entire system can be done away with or simply run out of town only rekindles in us all the old thoughts of bygone rulers trying to govern us through control mechanisms that eventually did not amount to much. Control led to chaos. The mechanisms broke down.

The trouble with the post-modern era is that you cannot have all your wishes come true. All this technology around you is really daunting. More importantly, there is the matter of citizens' increasingly powerful sensibilities coming into play. Think back on the Tagore centenary celebrations in 1961 here in this land. Much effort was put into the job of trying to disrupt the proceedings by the Ayub Khan regime because it and its toadies believed Bengalis were actually celebrating the genius of a Hindu bard. Nothing worked for the regime, though. The presence of Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed at the head of the Tagore programme warded off the sinister shadow of the regime. The wolves then lay low, until the time came a few years later when Khwaja Shahabuddin, Ayub's information minister, finally clamped a ban on Tagore music in East Pakistan. That victory proved pyrrhic, though. By the late 1960s, Tagore was back and with him, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the forefront, Bengali nationalism was in the ascendant.

Banning has never been a solution to a problem. It has been a problem on its own. Look at the record. Military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan, having shot their way into power, have gone for imposing a ban on or a suspension of the constitution. That act was speedily complemented by restrictions on the way women would move around. It is rather curious that one of the first things coup-makers do is push civilised laws under the carpet and go for an inspection of female anatomy, in the latter instance, eventually deciding what women should be wearing or not wearing. Well, as history informs us so gleefully, constitutions have always come back and women have certainly refused to have their couture chosen by soldiers propping up illegitimate governments. Usurper regimes have gone for a ban on politicians and political parties. Yahya Khan thought banning the Awami League in 1971 would resuscitate a dying Pakistan in our lives. In the event, the Awami League only made sure that Pakistan was banned in Bangladesh for all time in December 1971.

There is something about the mind that rebels, always. When you ban a book, you are not only stifling intellectual freedom but also you are, at the same time, provoking people into wanting to read it. It is then that clandestine ways are discovered for the book to be distributed to as wide a circle as possible. You can threaten a writer with beheading; you can force a writer into exile. But do not forget that such ham-fisted measures only make the writer that much more appealing and readers that much more demanding. You can come up with all the excuses you can muster about the absence of moral dimensions in a movie and then clamp a ban on it. Once you do that, you are helping in the creation of an insular world for yourself. Insularity, you will of course remember, was what brought down apartheid South Africa and white minority-ruled Rhodesia.

There is a certain degree of arrogance which comes with banning. Turkey's generals, for all their appreciable role in upholding the country's secular traditions, made the mistake of arguing that women could not wear headscarves. The consequence was defiance. Watch the wife of President Abdullah Gul. She never lets go of her headscarf. And like her, other Turkish women have taken to ignoring the scowl of the army. Just as the state cannot decree what raiment people can get into, individuals or groups of individuals cannot and must not insist that a particular sect of believers be proscribed as a faith. You can observe your religion in all its totality, but you cannot turn it into a weapon to intimidate adherents of other beliefs. In much the same way, you cannot be self-righteous about your politics and then use it to hunt down people and destroy their reputations on spurious charges of treason. If you do, you will find the guillotine waiting for you. Do not forget America's Joe McCarthy.

The mind is certainly wider than the sky. You cannot outlaw the sky, can you? Why must you then try putting the mind in fetters? Why not ban the ban culture itself?

Syed Badrul Ahsan is Editor, Current Affairs, The Daily Star.
Email: bahsantareq@yahoo.co.uk.



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[ALOCHONA] Fwd: Fwd :My trip to Malaysia to Attend the WISE Conference



----- Forwarded message ----------

From: Javed Ahmad

 
This program is a part and parcel of the ongoing effort called the "Faith Based Initiatives" introduced during the Bush administration. As the West is taking closer look into Islam they are realizing that this religion will become an inseparable part in the world societies in the future. Therefore, what they are trying is to 'modernize' Islam as per their choice and liking (as they did with other religions) to fit their agendas so that they could continue to rule without any problems. In other words, they are creating a new sect among the 73 predicted by our Prophet (SM). From reading the following paper one can clearly see that -

1. Majority of the participants are 'liberated' Muslims advocating for 'women empowerment' who do not want to give up their belonging to Islam but would like to remain a Muslim in their own terms.

2. The free program is fully sponsored by an American organization in Malaysia and NOT in the USA. Thus taking full advantage of their over inflated dollar value overseas that actually does not carry such a value.

3. Their aim is to accomodate some unislamic 'values' in the name of Islam with the expectation that they will be accepted by the Muslims. And they are counting on 'fatwas' by Muslims scholars to get this done. In other words, they are counting on some 'individual's fatwas' instead of the instructions in the Qur'an and Sunnah.

4. "Sufiism" appears to be main interest among the participants. But was our Prophet (SM) a sufi? Did he practice or advice his followers to practice sufiism? Sufiism itself is a sect.

5. Although the paper is claiming that the participants are taking more and more interest in Islam, but from their discussion and agenda it is apparent that majority of the participants are Islamically empty vessels. Their only weight is on their professional achievements in a secular background. None of them care about Islamic values and its way of life. None of them wear hijab or nikab.

6. So basically, it was a conference of the hypocrite Muslima's supported and funded by the Western financial system with a worthless currency that will soon collapse and will be dumped by all nations. This sort of efforts will continue as long as we value their currencies. In other words, only through their economic collapse these sort of anti-Islamic intrusions will stop.

--- On Tue, 6/1/10, Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd :My trip to Malaysia to Attend the WISE Conference
To:
Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2010, 9:34 PM


Please see this report.It gives us good understanding  of various trends among activist Muslim wome and what we should do.

Shah Abdul Hannan
sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com


My trip to Malaysia to Attend the WISE Conference

Dr. Syeda Sultana Razia,

Associate Professor, BUET

(Published in the Journal of BIIT, Dhaka )


I have traveled to Malaysia to attend the WISE (Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality) conference organized by New York based organizations ASMA (American Society of Muslim Advancement) and Cordova Initiatives. About 200 participants (mostly women)   from   about   60   different   countries   attended   the   conference.   The   organizers sponsored the airfare, and food/lodging for all the participants from 16    to 20    July 2009 in Impiana Hotel at Kuala Lumpur.

Despite few organizing pitfalls the conference was an enormous success in exposing the participants to the diversified activities of Muslim women from all over the world. It also provided  the  big  picture  and  directions  of  the  ongoing  development  work  of  women activists in Muslim world. The participants who were invited are mostly involved in real life work and could be classified as moderate to liberal Muslims. Among them were NGO workers, journalists/columnist/editors, writers, media personalities, lawyers, students and experts  of  Islamic  Shariah/Islamic  studies/sufism,  (I  met  one  lady  who  is  well  versed  in Ibnul  Arabi).  Women  like  Dr.  Nafis  Sadik,  (Under  Secretary  General.  UN),  Dr.  Amina Wadud, Samina Ahmad (Rock band Junoon's business manager), Santanina Rasul, (first Muslim  Senator  of  Phillippines,  elected  twice  in  1987  and  1992)  are  some  of  the renowned  names  participated  in  the  conference.  Marina  Mahathir  and  Mrs  Abdullah

Badawi of Malaysia were also involved with the organizers. For unknown policy reasons, the   members   of   the   mainstream   Islamic   movements   were,   however,   absent   in   the conference.

A number of presentations dealing with women empowerment were made by participants from  different  part  of  Muslim  world.  Several workshops  on  specific  topics  were  offered by the experts of related fields. An all female Shura council, Muftiyyah training program and Muslim women's fund were launched in the conference. A book of biographies of all participants were published and made available to the participants free of cost. My personal observations on the conference and participants are

1.   The   injustice   towards   Muslims   worldwide   gave   birth   to   a   people   who   are passionate  to  identify  themselves  as  Muslims  whether  they  are  adherent  to  the Islamic ideology or not. 9/11 gave birth to a similar brand of Muslims in American society.

2.   Marriage  and  divorce  law  as  practiced  in  different  Muslim  societies  are  the  two most   discriminating   laws   facing   by   Muslim   women   irrespective   of   their geographical   location.   Bringing   justice   to   female   rape   victims   is   another problematic area common to all Muslim societies.

3.   More and more Muslim women are studying Shariah, Islamic studies etc as topics of  interest  and  matriarchal  reading  of  Quranic  text  is  becoming  popular  among these women.

4.   Interest  in  Shariah  and  academic  degree  in  related  fields  (either  from  secular  or religious  school)  were  considered  as  the  main  criteria  of  selecting  female  only members of the Shura council. This council would be responsible for carrying out Ijtihad and issuing fatwa on different women issues on behalf of WISE.

5.   Hijab was treated as a cultural and optional practice of Muslim women.

6.   Practice   of   Sufism   and   spirituality   were   very   much   visible   in   many   of   the participants  who  were  well  versed  in  congregational  meditation  similar  to  those prescribed by silva or quantum method.

7.   It   was   reported   in   one   of   the   workshops   that   although   socially   and   legally prohibited,  sexual  promiscuity,  premarital  and  extra  marital  sex  are  becoming more common in many Muslim countries   (including Pakistan, Indonesia, Middle east, Jordan etc). It was also specifically mentioned that the virginity of unmarried boys and girls in Muslim society is becoming a myth rather than a reality. It was suggested that the stigma related to sex without marriage should be removed from

Muslim  society.  The  workshop  was  led  by  Ms  Seyran  Ates,  a  German  lawyer, writer and publicist of Turkish origin. She believes that marriage is not a necessary condition  for  forming  a  family.  In  personal  life  she  is  a  mother  of  one  girl  and never married.

8.   It was also interesting to observe that organization (NGO) like Sisters in Islam of Malaysia, although controversial, is effective in many ways and has strong Islamic philosophical base supported by personality like Dr. Amina Wadud.

Future considerations towards gender justice  

1.   Marriage and divorce law should be made more legible, convenient to both parties and   related   resources   should   be   readily   available.   Pre-marriage   training   and counseling regarding the requisites, rights and responsibilities of marriage should be arranged and the content of nikahnama should be made familiar to the potential brides and grooms.

2.   Punishment   and   conditions   for   punishment   of   adultery   (Zinah)   and   their applicability   in   contemporary   world   should   be   reviewed   and   revised   by   the mainstream scholars. Special attention must be paid so that rape case is not mixed up with adultery.

3.   In past, the strict interpretation of women dress code, i.e. hijab led to seclusion of women  from  social  life  and  caused  major  damage  to  Muslim  society  although situation is improving since last century. However, too many arbitrary and 'liberal' interpretations  of  Quranic  terms  Khimar,  Jilbab  and  Juyub  have  caused  the  dress code  to  lose  its  essence  of  modesty.  This  is  evident  in  many  westernize  Muslim societies where Muslim women cannot be distinguished from non-Muslims by the way they dress-up. In present world the dress code of Islam can be used as a guard against widespread vulgarity and nudity. Hijab with its essence of modesty should, therefore, be encouraged and popularized in Muslim societies not only to fulfill the religious obligation but also to combat the malaise of indecency.

4.   The breaking down of family as institution is complete in the West. The vibes of it is being felt in Muslim societies as a group of so-called progressives are trying to create social acceptance of sex without marriage as a natural phenomenon. It is an irony  that  when  the  activists  of  the  west  are  raising  voice  against  the  enduring sexual exploitation of women in the name of sexual liberation, our progressives are encouraging the very vise of sexual promiscuity in Muslim society in the name of social  need.  We  have  faced  similar  line  of  arguments  in  favor  of  legalizing prostitution  in  Muslim  societies.  Nevertheless,  it  is  imperative  that  Muslims  all over the world take necessary actions to prevent social permissiveness and family break down at once.

5.   The  patriarchal  reading  of  Quranic  text  as  well  as  interpretations  of  incompetent people  in  many  occasions  led  to  injustice  towards  a  particular  section  of  the society  i.e.  the  women  folk.  The  matriarchal  reading  of  the  text  is  potentially  as harmful  and  as  susceptible  to  unqualified  interpretations  as  patriarchal  reading. Thus  the  main  objectives  of  the  present  day  scholars  and  activists  should  be  to focus  on  the  methodology  towards  balanced interpretations and to put emphasize on  the  competency  of  the  interpreters  in  terms  of  both  intellectual  ability  and devotion.

6.   Last but not least, fatwa and interpretations should preferably be issued by a body of competent scholars (representing both genders and different school of thoughts) rather than individuals.

Finally,  my  write-up  would  be  incomplete  if  I  do  not  acknowledge  Ms  Daisy  Khan (Executive  Director  of  ASMA)  whose  brainchild  is  WISE.  She  is  an  example  of  those extraordinary  people  who  has  the  courage  to  give  up  profession  for  passion.  Ms  Khan spent twenty-five years as an interior architect before committing to full-time community service. I salute Ms Khan and her relentless team for organizing a successful conference.



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Re: [ALOCHONA] First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?



Friends

Mr. Emanur Rahman is correct in saying that we love donkey since we are donkey's ourselves !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Had it been not true than how come since inception we could not make any change of our fate. Donkey's are there to carry load of others and feel proud to be an important animal as we are carrying the load of our friend to whom we are indebted for life.

A national gets the leadership it deserves so is the case with us the Mohan Bangladeshis.
Let us wait for many other OITIHASHIK EPISODES" like this to be presented by our beloved,worshipped,adored politics newly invented "digital politics".

Faruque Alamgir

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 2:26 AM, Emanur Rahman <emanur@rahman.com> wrote:
 

I don't understand why everyone is so surprised by these actions. Bangladesh wants donkeys as leaders and duly elects them. Why complain when you don't like the sound of their braying?

We are committed to worshipping donkeys, wives of donkeys, daughters of donkeys....we've even had an ass as leader.

So much for the "dizital paablic"!

What I was personally disappointed by was that our world renowned computer scientist did not reveal to the BRTA how to shut Facebook down properly.

Oh well, Joy Bangla....

Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com


From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 15:51:24 +0600
Subject: [ALOCHONA] First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?

First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

May 30, 20

Bangladesh's present ruling party banned YouTube in 2009 for publishing the contents of the conversation tape of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with some of the army officers inside Dhaka Cantonment right after the tragic massacre inside the headquarters of Bangladesh Riffles, where a large number of army officers were brutally murdered, while members of their families were humiliated and even tortured.

Hearing the news of availability of such conversation tape on YouTube, Bangladesh government immediately blocked this site for indefinite period. Later the ban was though withdrawn; the conversation tape is very much available on YouTube. The only difference is, by banning YouTube in 2009, actually Bangladeshi government gave an extensive publicity to the contents, for which it was blocked in Bangladesh, and later the tape content drew attention of millions of people around the world.

This time, Bangladesh's same government has banned extremely popular social networking site Facebook for indefinite period. There are two versions from official sources, justifying this ban.

One claims, it was blocked as someone posted obscene cartoon of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia. Another source claims that, the site is blocked because of high pressure from the Islamist groups in Bangladesh, which asked the government to immediately and indefinitely ban Facebook for publishing cartoons of the Prophet of Islam. Three Islamist political parties — Islami Oikya Jote [IOJ], Islami Andolan and Khelafat Andolan — on Friday [May 28, 2010] demanded an immediate ban on Facebook for a recent campaign by some users inviting people to draw images of the prophet. Earlier Pakistani government also banned Facebook at the demand of Islamist and militant religious extremist groups in that country.

Commenting on blocking Facebook, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission sources said: "Some users of Facebook posted anti-Islamic content about Prophet Mohammed [SM], which the government took seriously. Some users even have posted sub-links to pornographic materials, which are not tolerable as well. For these reasons, Facebook has been blocked indefinitely. Access to Facebook may resume only when operators will find proper ways of blocking such anti-social and anti-religious contents."

Giving reactions to blocking of Facebook, a number of Islamist groups in Bangladesh has welcomed the steps and demanding continuation of this ban for indefinite period. While Islamist groups are raising voice against Facebook, on investigation it was found that even some of the notorious Islamist groups as well as suspected Islamist terror outfits are also maintaining their pages on Facebook. Islamic Democratic Party [former Harkat-Ul-Jihad] is having its page on Facebook.

I am not sure, if the government will gain anything by blocking Facebook, but surely it will bring bad reputation for the country as a whole for such violation of rights of expression. Freedom of expression and freedom of press is greatly undermined in Bangladesh during past few months. The latest attempt of the government in banning Facebook will just become another evidence of such situation. Those who advocated such idea, are in reality screwing the image of the present government in Bangladesh.

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/763/first-youtube-then-facebook-and-whats-next



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[ALOCHONA] America's Complicity in Evil



America's Complicity in Evil

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

As I write at 5pm on Monday, May 31, all day has passed since the early morning reports of the Israeli commando attack on the unarmed ships carrying humanitarian  aid to Gaza, and there has been no response from President Obama except to say that he needed to learn "all the facts about this morning's tragic events" and that Israeli prime minister Netanyahu had canceled his plans to meet with him at the White House. Thus has Obama made America complicit once again in Israel's barbaric war crimes.  Just as the US Congress voted to deep-six Judge Goldstone's report on Israel's war crimes committed in Israel's January 2009 invasion of Gaza, Obama has deep-sixed Israel's latest act of barbarism by pretending that he doesn't know what has happened.

No one in the world will believe that Israel attacked ships in international waters carrying Israeli citizens, a Nobel Laureate, elected politicians, and noted humanitarians bringing medicines and building materials to Palestinians in Gaza, who have been living in the rubble of their homes without repairs or medicines since January 2009, without first clearing the crime with its American protector. Without America's protection, Israel, a totally artificial state, could not exist. No one in the world will believe that America's spy apparatus did not detect the movement of the Israeli attack force toward the aid ships in international waters in an act of piracy, killing 20, wounding 50, and kidnapping the rest.  Obama's pretense at ignorance confirms his complicity. 

Once again the US government has permitted the Israeli state to murder good people known for their moral conscience. The Israeli state has declared that anyone with a moral conscience is an enemy of Israel, and every American president except Eisenhower and Carter has agreed.

Obama's 12-hour silence in the face of extreme barbarity is his signal to the controlled corporate media to remain on the sidelines until Israeli propaganda sets the story. 

The Israeli story, preposterous as always, is that the humanitarians on one of the ships  took two pistols from Israeli commandos, highly trained troops armed with automatic weapons, and fired on the attack force. The Israeli government claims that the commandos' response (70 casualties at last reporting) was justified self-defense.  Israel was innocent. Israel did not do anything except drop commandos aboard from helicopters in order to intercept an arms shipment to Gazans being brought in by ships manned by terrorists.

Many Christian evangelicals, brainwashed by their pastors that it is God's will for Americans to protect Israel, will believe the Israeli story, especially when it is unlikely they will ever hear any other. Conservative Americans, especially on Memorial Day when they are celebrating feats of American arms, will admire Israel for its toughness.   Here in north Georgia where I am at the moment, I have heard several say, admiringly,  "Them, Israelis, they don't put up with nuthin."

Conservative Americans want the US to be like Israel. They do not understand why  the US doesn't stop pissing around after nine years and just go ahead and defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.  They don't understand why the US didn't defeat whoever was  opposing American forces in Iraq. Conservatives are incensed that America had to "win"  the war by buying off the Iraqis and putting them on the US payroll. Israel murders people and then blames its victims. This appeals to American conservatives, who want the US to do the same. 

It is likely that Americans will accept Israeli propagandist Mark Regev's story that Israelis were met by deadly fire when they tried to intercept an arms shipment to Palestinian terrorists from IHH, a radical Turkish Islamist organization hiding under the cover of humanitarian aid.

Americans will never hear from the US media that Turkey's prime minister Erdogan declared that the aid ships were carefully inspected before departure from Turkey and that there were no terrorists or arms aboard: "I want to say to the world, to the heads of state and the governments, that these boats that left from Turkey and other countries were checked in a strict way under the framework of the rules of international navigation and were only loaded with humanitarian aid." 

Turkey is a US ally, a member of NATO. Turkey's cooperation is important to American's plan for world hegemony. Erdogan must wonder about the morality of Israel's American protector. According to a report in antiwar.com, the Turkish government declared that "future aid ships will be dispatched with a military escort so as to prevent future Israeli attacks."   Will the CIA assassinate Erdogan or pay the Turkish military to overthrow him?  Murat Mercan, head of Turkey's foreign relations committee, said that Israel's claim that there were terrorists aboard the aid ships was Israel's way of covering up its crime.

Mercan declared:   "Any allegation that the members of this ship is attached to al-Qaeda is a big lie because there are Israeli civilians, Israeli authorities, Israeli parliamentarians on board the ship." 

The criminal Israeli state does not deny its act of piracy. Israeli military spokeswoman, Avital Leibovich, confirmed that the attack took place in international waters: "This happened in waters outside of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves."  Americans, and their Western European puppet states and the puppet state in Canada, will be persuaded by the servile media to buy the story fabricated by Israeli propaganda that the humanitarian aid ships were manned by terrorists bringing weapons to the Palestinians in Gaza, and that the terrorists posing as humanitarians attacked the force of Israeli commandos with two pistols, clubs, and knives.  Many Americans will swallow this story without a hiccup. 

Paul Craig Roberts was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.  His latest book, HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, has just been published by CounterPunch/AK Press. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com    
 
 


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[ALOCHONA] Amar Desh editor arrested after closure



Amar Desh editor arrested after closure
 
Dhaka, June 1 (bdnews24.com)— Police early on Wednesday morning stormed the Amar Desh newspaper office and arrested acting editor Mahmudur Rahman on fraud charges, hours after the government closed the BNP-leaning daily.

The newspaper's deputy editor Syed Abdal Ahmed told bdnews24.com that Mahmudur was taken away minutes before 4am after police had talked with his lawyer at his Karwan Bazaar office. The arrest capped a 17-hour drama played out after the paper's publisher Hashmat Ali Hashu, who himself was briefly 'detained', sued Mahmudur on Tuesday night.

Police had been trying to arrest the acting editor, a BNP stalwart, but were held out by staff since shortly before midnight. The staff barricaded the main entrance to the office for several hours and shut the lift for the 10th floor office. They staged protests and vowed that their chief would have to be arrested 'over their dead bodies' as police reinforcements were brought in. Police then sought their cooperation but were refused before forcing their into the office at 3:30am to end the standoff. Ahmed, also the chief correspondent, had earlier told bdnews24.com that police shut down the paper's press at Love Road in Tejgaon at 11:30pm.

Leaders of opposition BNP and its associate organisations gathered at the scene after bdnews24.com broke the news. BNP vice chairman Abdullah Al Noman, standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, BNP chairperson's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, Shimul Biswas, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku were also there.

The events unfolding since morning--when Hashmat's family said he had been whisked away by intelligence men to an undisclosed place--took a new twist when the Dhaka's deputy commissioner Muhibul Haque cancelled the paper's declaration. The commissioner signed an order to this effect at 10pm, an official of his office said, preferring anonymity. But Mahmudur had told reporters at his office that police shut the press without showing the papers of the order cancelling the declaration.

It was not clear on what grounds the broadsheet, which hit the stands during BNP-led government's term in Sept, 2004, was closed. The government last month knocked private TV station Channel 1 off the air citing irregularities.

Journalist Abdal told bdnews24.com around 11:35pm, " The press started printing Wednesday's paper an hour before but police did not allow distribution to news agent's. "They said printing will stop." Tejgaon Industrial Area police chief Omar Faruk earlier told bdnews24.com that a complaint had been lodged against Mahmudur, who earlier in the day alleged that the government was planning to shut down the newspaper. Faruk said the case alleged financial losses.

The former energy adviser to ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia rushed a news conference at the pro-BNP daily's office and said he had talked with Hashmat after he had returned from his detention at National Security Intelligence office, who had told him that he was 'frightened'. Mahmudur said the NSI men took Hasmat and forced him to sign two papers. "He was made to sit at their office until 2pm while the investigators pressed him to sign two papers." "One of the papers was addressed to Dhaka's deputy commissioner and the other to Tejgaon police chief. The papers state that Hashmat Ali is not the publisher of Amar Desh. Legal steps can be taken as his name is being printed as the publisher."

"He was forced to sit until he signed the papers. Later Hashmat Ali signed the papers and was released after a five-hour detention," said Mahmudur. A former executive chairman of the Board of Investment, Mahmudur said the press meet was organised to protest the current government's 'fascist' behaviour and conspiracy against the news media.

Hashmat's family had earlier told bdnews24.com that he had been detained for six hours after some intelligence officials whisked him away around 9am. He returned to his Shahjahanpur residence around 3pm but went out, they said.

Mahmudur had claimed around 1pm that National Security Intelligence took Hashmat and were forcibly trying to file a case against him.
NSI director Shafiqullah told bdnews24.com earlier that they had not detained anybody by that name. "He is probably sitting at home."
"This is reminiscent of June 16, 1975 when all but four newspapers were banned," Mahmudur said of Ali's detention. "Coincidentally, this is June again."

"I have heard that he is being coerced into bringing charges against me," he told bdnews24.com. "Is this what they have learnt from the Moeen Uddins, the perpetrators of 1/11?" "I guess they will try to file a case against me," he said.

Mahmudur took over the management of the newspaper in 2008. Later he sent a letter to the deputy commissioner for serving as editor of the newspaper. Since then he has been the acting editor of the newspaper. Mahmudur, also the chairman of Amar Desh Publications Limited, said "This daily speaks for a free and sovereign state. As a result, many of its news are not going in favour of the government and are displeasing them. So they are trying to shut it down." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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Fwd: [ALOCHONA] First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?



This is the next.....

Amar Desh shut

Declaration cancelled over 'publisher row'; acting editor Mahmudur arrested

Mahmudur Rahman
 
The government yesterday cancelled the declaration of the Bangla daily Amar Desh citing that it has no authorised publisher.
Acting editor of the daily Mahmudur Rahman was arrested at its office in the wee hours today.
Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Mohibul Haque told The Daily Star, "Declaration of the newspaper has been cancelled as it has no publisher."
The DC has cancelled the declaration according to article-5 and -7 of part-III of the Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973.
The DC said the previous publisher Md Hasmat Ali, in writing, notified the DC office in March that he is no longer willing to be the publisher of the newspaper. However, as of yesterday, Amar Desh was published with Md Hasmat Ali's name as the publisher of the newspaper in the printer's line.
After cancellation of the declaration, over 200 policemen went to the Amar Desh office at Karwan Bazar. The journalists of the newspaper staged a sit-in at the entry points of the office to prevent policemen from entering.
The police also went to the press of Amar Desh at Tejgaon to stop publication of its today's issue but journalists of the daily said they were able to print its first edition.
Meanwhile, hearing rumours that police are going to arrest Mahmudur Rahman, around 100 BNP and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leaders including Nazrul Islam Khan, Abdus Salam, Khairul Kabir Khokan and Sultan Salauddin Tuku gathered at the Amar Desh office to stop the arrest. They chanted anti-government slogans and tried to get to the 1oth-floor Amar Desh office. Police, however, stopped their attempt.
Arrested Mahmudur Rahman was brought down from the building around 4:00am today and the BNP and Chhatra Dal leaders chanted anti-government slogans as he was put into an unmarked police vehicle.
On Hasmat Ali not willing to be the Amar Desh publisher anymore, the Dhaka DC said, "The previous publisher submitted his application with an affidavit." The DC office, in March, informed Hasmat Ali through a letter that the office has accepted his affidavit. The DC, however, could not say the exact date the affidavit was submitted and accepted.
Meanwhile, Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor of Amar Desh, in a letter to the DC office in March said he wanted to be the publisher of the newspaper.
After getting the application, the DC office asked the Dhaka Special Branch (DSB) of police to give a report on Mahmudur Rahman whether he is eligible to be the publisher of the newspaper, said Mohibul.
"We have received a negative report from the Special Branch today [yesterday], the DC said.
When asked, on what grounds the DSB gave a negative report, the DC said they mentioned several reasons including that there are 31 cases filed against Mahmudur Rahman.
"We had been waiting for the report of the Dhaka Special Branch since Mahmudur Rahman filed an application as an aspirant publisher of Amar Desh. But when we received the negative report from the Special Branch today [yesterday]. We cancelled the declaration of the paper as it has no publisher," said the DC.
Mahmudur Rahman is the former energy adviser of the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government and is known as a close ally of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Around 7:00pm last night, Hasmat Ali, elder brother of Mosaddak Ali Falu who is an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, filed a case with Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station against Mahmudur Rahman for using his name as the publisher of the newspaper.
In the case statement, Hasmat Ali said he sold all the shares of Amar Desh Publications Ltd to Mahmudur Rahman last year and the shares were handed over to Mahmudur Rahman.
He said he resigned from the post of publishers on October 11 last year and the resignation form was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka district.
He said Mahmudur Rahman continued publishing his name as Amar Desh's publisher.
He said during this time at least 30 cases were filed against the daily and he was implicated as the accused in all the cases. He said this tarnished his social image and incurred financial loss.
The Daily Star twice called Hasmat on his mobile phone, which a woman picked up. She said Hasmat left home leaving his phone at home. She then hung up.
Tejgaon Industrial Police Station Officer-in-Charge Omar Faruq told The Daily Star that the case was filed under sections-419, -420 and -500 of CrPC in connection with cheating Hasmat Ali and violating section-7 of Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973.
Article-5 of the act is regarding publication of newspapers. It says, "No newspaper shall be printed or published except in conformity with the provisions of this part and unless there subsists an authenticated declaration in respect thereof."
MAHMUDUR'S PRESS CONFERENCE
Acting editor of the daily Amar Desh Mahmudur Rahman yesterday afternoon held a press conference at the newspaper office where he claimed that members of National Security Intelligence (NSI) kidnapped the publisher of the newspaper Hasmat Ali from his house.
The former energy adviser to BNP-Jamaat government termed the incident a government conspiracy to shutdown the newspaper that focuses on corruption of the ministers as well as human rights violation of the government.
He said NSI kidnapped its publisher around 9:00am yesterday and released him at 2:00pm after taking his signatures in two papers, addressed to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka and officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station.
"The paper addressing to the DC reads I, Md Hasmat Ali, is no longer the publisher of the Amar Desh newspaper. The newspaper is being published using my name. I am requesting to take legal action against the move," Mahmudur Rahman quoted Hasmat as saying.
He claimed that the Dhaka DC was not giving the nod to his application to become the publisher of the newspaper.
"The DC informed me that he can't give permission following an objection by higher authority of the government," Mahmudur said.



-----Original Message-----
From: Emanur Rahman <emanur@rahman.com>
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, May 31, 2010 4:26 pm
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?

 
I don't understand why everyone is so surprised by these actions. Bangladesh wants donkeys as leaders and duly elects them. Why complain when you don't like the sound of their braying?

We are committed to worshipping donkeys, wives of donkeys, daughters of donkeys....we've even had an ass as leader.

So much for the "dizital paablic"!

What I was personally disappointed by was that our world renowned computer scientist did not reveal to the BRTA how to shut Facebook down properly.

Oh well, Joy Bangla....
Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com

From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 15:51:24 +0600
Subject: [ALOCHONA] First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?

First YouTube then Facebook and what's next?

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

May 30, 20

Bangladesh's present ruling party banned YouTube in 2009 for publishing the contents of the conversation tape of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with some of the army officers inside Dhaka Cantonment right after the tragic massacre inside the headquarters of Bangladesh Riffles, where a large number of army officers were brutally murdered, while members of their families were humiliated and even tortured.

Hearing the news of availability of such conversation tape on YouTube, Bangladesh government immediately blocked this site for indefinite period. Later the ban was though withdrawn; the conversation tape is very much available on YouTube. The only difference is, by banning YouTube in 2009, actually Bangladeshi government gave an extensive publicity to the contents, for which it was blocked in Bangladesh, and later the tape content drew attention of millions of people around the world.

This time, Bangladesh's same government has banned extremely popular social networking site Facebook for indefinite period. There are two versions from official sources, justifying this ban.

One claims, it was blocked as someone posted obscene cartoon of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia. Another source claims that, the site is blocked because of high pressure from the Islamist groups in Bangladesh, which asked the government to immediately and indefinitely ban Facebook for publishing cartoons of the Prophet of Islam. Three Islamist political parties — Islami Oikya Jote [IOJ], Islami Andolan and Khelafat Andolan — on Friday [May 28, 2010] demanded an immediate ban on Facebook for a recent campaign by some users inviting people to draw images of the prophet. Earlier Pakistani government also banned Facebook at the demand of Islamist and militant religious extremist groups in that country.

Commenting on blocking Facebook, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission sources said: "Some users of Facebook posted anti-Islamic content about Prophet Mohammed [SM], which the government took seriously. Some users even have posted sub-links to pornographic materials, which are not tolerable as well. For these reasons, Facebook has been blocked indefinitely. Access to Facebook may resume only when operators will find proper ways of blocking such anti-social and anti-religious contents."

Giving reactions to blocking of Facebook, a number of Islamist groups in Bangladesh has welcomed the steps and demanding continuation of this ban for indefinite period. While Islamist groups are raising voice against Facebook, on investigation it was found that even some of the notorious Islamist groups as well as suspected Islamist terror outfits are also maintaining their pages on Facebook. Islamic Democratic Party [former Harkat-Ul-Jihad] is having its page on Facebook.

I am not sure, if the government will gain anything by blocking Facebook, but surely it will bring bad reputation for the country as a whole for such violation of rights of expression. Freedom of expression and freedom of press is greatly undermined in Bangladesh during past few months. The latest attempt of the government in banning Facebook will just become another evidence of such situation. Those who advocated such idea, are in reality screwing the image of the present government in Bangladesh.

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/763/first-youtube-then-facebook-and-whats-next


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[ALOCHONA] Fwd :My trip to Malaysia to Attend the WISE Conference



Please see this report.It gives us good understanding  of various trends among activist Muslim wome and what we should do.

Shah Abdul Hannan
sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com


My trip to Malaysia to Attend the WISE Conference

Dr. Syeda Sultana Razia,

Associate Professor, BUET

(Published in the Journal of BIIT, Dhaka )


I have traveled to Malaysia to attend the WISE (Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality) conference organized by New York based organizations ASMA (American Society of Muslim Advancement) and Cordova Initiatives. About 200 participants (mostly women)   from   about   60   different   countries   attended   the   conference.   The   organizers sponsored the airfare, and food/lodging for all the participants from 16    to 20    July 2009 in Impiana Hotel at Kuala Lumpur.

Despite few organizing pitfalls the conference was an enormous success in exposing the participants to the diversified activities of Muslim women from all over the world. It also provided  the  big  picture  and  directions  of  the  ongoing  development  work  of  women activists in Muslim world. The participants who were invited are mostly involved in real life work and could be classified as moderate to liberal Muslims. Among them were NGO workers, journalists/columnist/editors, writers, media personalities, lawyers, students and experts  of  Islamic  Shariah/Islamic  studies/sufism,  (I  met  one  lady  who  is  well  versed  in Ibnul  Arabi).  Women  like  Dr.  Nafis  Sadik,  (Under  Secretary  General.  UN),  Dr.  Amina Wadud, Samina Ahmad (Rock band Junoon's business manager), Santanina Rasul, (first Muslim  Senator  of  Phillippines,  elected  twice  in  1987  and  1992)  are  some  of  the renowned  names  participated  in  the  conference.  Marina  Mahathir  and  Mrs  Abdullah

Badawi of Malaysia were also involved with the organizers. For unknown policy reasons, the   members   of   the   mainstream   Islamic   movements   were,   however,   absent   in   the conference.

A number of presentations dealing with women empowerment were made by participants from  different  part  of  Muslim  world.  Several workshops  on  specific  topics  were  offered by the experts of related fields. An all female Shura council, Muftiyyah training program and Muslim women's fund were launched in the conference. A book of biographies of all participants were published and made available to the participants free of cost. My personal observations on the conference and participants are

1.   The   injustice   towards   Muslims   worldwide   gave   birth   to   a   people   who   are passionate  to  identify  themselves  as  Muslims  whether  they  are  adherent  to  the Islamic ideology or not. 9/11 gave birth to a similar brand of Muslims in American society.

2.   Marriage  and  divorce  law  as  practiced  in  different  Muslim  societies  are  the  two most   discriminating   laws   facing   by   Muslim   women   irrespective   of   their geographical   location.   Bringing   justice   to   female   rape   victims   is   another problematic area common to all Muslim societies.

3.   More and more Muslim women are studying Shariah, Islamic studies etc as topics of  interest  and  matriarchal  reading  of  Quranic  text  is  becoming  popular  among these women.

4.   Interest  in  Shariah  and  academic  degree  in  related  fields  (either  from  secular  or religious  school)  were  considered  as  the  main  criteria  of  selecting  female  only members of the Shura council. This council would be responsible for carrying out Ijtihad and issuing fatwa on different women issues on behalf of WISE.

5.   Hijab was treated as a cultural and optional practice of Muslim women.

6.   Practice   of   Sufism   and   spirituality   were   very   much   visible   in   many   of   the participants  who  were  well  versed  in  congregational  meditation  similar  to  those prescribed by silva or quantum method.

7.   It   was   reported   in   one   of   the   workshops   that   although   socially   and   legally prohibited,  sexual  promiscuity,  premarital  and  extra  marital  sex  are  becoming more common in many Muslim countries   (including Pakistan, Indonesia, Middle east, Jordan etc). It was also specifically mentioned that the virginity of unmarried boys and girls in Muslim society is becoming a myth rather than a reality. It was suggested that the stigma related to sex without marriage should be removed from

Muslim  society.  The  workshop  was  led  by  Ms  Seyran  Ates,  a  German  lawyer, writer and publicist of Turkish origin. She believes that marriage is not a necessary condition  for  forming  a  family.  In  personal  life  she  is  a  mother  of  one  girl  and never married.

8.   It was also interesting to observe that organization (NGO) like Sisters in Islam of Malaysia, although controversial, is effective in many ways and has strong Islamic philosophical base supported by personality like Dr. Amina Wadud.

Future considerations towards gender justice  

1.   Marriage and divorce law should be made more legible, convenient to both parties and   related   resources   should   be   readily   available.   Pre-marriage   training   and counseling regarding the requisites, rights and responsibilities of marriage should be arranged and the content of nikahnama should be made familiar to the potential brides and grooms.

2.   Punishment   and   conditions   for   punishment   of   adultery   (Zinah)   and   their applicability   in   contemporary   world   should   be   reviewed   and   revised   by   the mainstream scholars. Special attention must be paid so that rape case is not mixed up with adultery.

3.   In past, the strict interpretation of women dress code, i.e. hijab led to seclusion of women  from  social  life  and  caused  major  damage  to  Muslim  society  although situation is improving since last century. However, too many arbitrary and 'liberal' interpretations  of  Quranic  terms  Khimar,  Jilbab  and  Juyub  have  caused  the  dress code  to  lose  its  essence  of  modesty.  This  is  evident  in  many  westernize  Muslim societies where Muslim women cannot be distinguished from non-Muslims by the way they dress-up. In present world the dress code of Islam can be used as a guard against widespread vulgarity and nudity. Hijab with its essence of modesty should, therefore, be encouraged and popularized in Muslim societies not only to fulfill the religious obligation but also to combat the malaise of indecency.

4.   The breaking down of family as institution is complete in the West. The vibes of it is being felt in Muslim societies as a group of so-called progressives are trying to create social acceptance of sex without marriage as a natural phenomenon. It is an irony  that  when  the  activists  of  the  west  are  raising  voice  against  the  enduring sexual exploitation of women in the name of sexual liberation, our progressives are encouraging the very vise of sexual promiscuity in Muslim society in the name of social  need.  We  have  faced  similar  line  of  arguments  in  favor  of  legalizing prostitution  in  Muslim  societies.  Nevertheless,  it  is  imperative  that  Muslims  all over the world take necessary actions to prevent social permissiveness and family break down at once.

5.   The  patriarchal  reading  of  Quranic  text  as  well  as  interpretations  of  incompetent people  in  many  occasions  led  to  injustice  towards  a  particular  section  of  the society  i.e.  the  women  folk.  The  matriarchal  reading  of  the  text  is  potentially  as harmful  and  as  susceptible  to  unqualified  interpretations  as  patriarchal  reading. Thus  the  main  objectives  of  the  present  day  scholars  and  activists  should  be  to focus  on  the  methodology  towards  balanced interpretations and to put emphasize on  the  competency  of  the  interpreters  in  terms  of  both  intellectual  ability  and devotion.

6.   Last but not least, fatwa and interpretations should preferably be issued by a body of competent scholars (representing both genders and different school of thoughts) rather than individuals.

Finally,  my  write-up  would  be  incomplete  if  I  do  not  acknowledge  Ms  Daisy  Khan (Executive  Director  of  ASMA)  whose  brainchild  is  WISE.  She  is  an  example  of  those extraordinary  people  who  has  the  courage  to  give  up  profession  for  passion.  Ms  Khan spent twenty-five years as an interior architect before committing to full-time community service. I salute Ms Khan and her relentless team for organizing a successful conference.


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RE: [ALOCHONA] A personal note about Ahmedis



ATTN. Syeda Khundkar ( Syeda A. Mahmood) 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

It is so nice of you to write about mr. anwar kalon. Indeed mr. kalon's timely help must have assisted your mother
to look after the family with 2 small kids. Is it not scary to think about the kind of struggle your mother might
have faced otherwise?

Your mother's desire to show respect and to offer gratitude to mr. kalon is unique.
May allah bless her for remembering such a dignified man.

We meet so many families in Bdesh who are just helpless, numb and in darkness because of unexpected death
of the bread-earner.

Mr. Kalon must be an honest, sincere man who did not pay much attention to the sect of your father. Mr. Kalon
was blessed with wisdom and kindness, therefore he looked after the family of his deceased staff appropriately.

Lets pray to allah for more " kalons" among us. We need to offer helping hands to sick, disabled, poor people, without
any form of discrimination. It is so sad that Ahmadias have been attacked and killed in Pakistan.

I had the opportunity to meet few Ahmadia families in Dhaka in our school days...I have still contact with some of them.
Showing rudeness, intolerance and injustice to religious minorities will not improve our quality of life.

Best wishes.

Khoda hafez.






From: rkhundkar@earthlink.net
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 08:36:29 -0700
Subject: [ALOCHONA] A personal note about Ahmedis



 Something written by my wife Syeda.

-----Forwarded Message-----
>From: Syeda Khundkar
>Sent: May 31, 2010 11:26 PM
>To: 
>Subject: Re: killers of ahmadis came from all over pakistan
>
>I wish to state that my family's experience with a single Ahmedi family in Dhaka, Bangladesh was a life saving one. My father met with an accident while at work in Khulna and died. The Managing Director of the company he worked for was Mr. Anwar Kalon. This man set up a Insurance Claim for my mother who was a widow with two small children. This money was our sole income for years to come. The kindness and respect that Mr. Kalon and his family showed my mother during her vists to his office and his lovely home in Dhanmondi was something a good human being would do. Years later when we had been in the United States and I was planning to visit London my beloved mother had one request to make of me. She requested that I look up Mr. Kalon, speak with him if possible and let him know that we were doing well in the US. I located him through the Mosque and did speak with him.That was my Mother's present from me to her from London. This only shows that both parties did what was the right thing to do at the right time. Nothing was left out because of religion. In fact everything was included perhaps because of it. He helped a widow with two small children, because he anticipated the hard times for her ahead in life and she did the only thing she could, respected and remembered him through out her life and made sure that the two orphaned children did the same. I grieve for all Ahmadis all over the world for their loss, for the brutal murders commited in Pakistan on their community. We cannot forget or forgive this organized crime.
>
>Syeda Khundkar ( Syeda A. Mahmood)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Sekhar Ramakrishnan
>>Sent: May 31, 2010 9:14 PM
>>To: foil-l@insaf.net
>>Subject: Re: [foil] killers of ahmadis came from all over pakistan
>>
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/world/asia/01lahore.html
>>http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-
>>newspaper/front-page/audacious-attack-follows-strike-on-ahmadis-terrorists-
>>fail-to-reach-comrade-in-lahore-hospital-160
>>with two reports on the attack on a hospital caring for the wounded in the
>>Friday attack on Ahmadis,
>>
>>http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-
>>library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/04-ahmadi-stabbed-narowal-qs-07
>>with another example of how little Ahmadi life is worth in Pakistan (supporting
>>the editorial below), and
>>
>>http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-
>>newspaper/editorial/19-culture-of-intolerance-050-hh-12
>>with Dawn's editorial view
>>
>>contain the material below.
>>
>>Sekhar
>>
>> NY Times June 1, 2010
>>
>> Four Dead in Attack on Hospital in Pakistan
>>
>> By WAQAR GILLANI and ADAM B. ELLICK
>>
>>LAHORE, Pakistan - Gunmen stormed into a major hospital in Lahore early
>>Tuesday, killing at least six people before fleeing, local officials said.
>>
>>Lahore´s police chief, Shafique Gujjar, said that the motive for the raid on
>>Jinnah Hospital was to free a militant who has been on a ventilator since he
>>was wounded Friday, in the brazen attacks at two mosques in Lahore that
>>killed more than 80 members of a minority Muslim sect called the Ahmadis.
>>About 35 Ahmadis wounded Friday are also being treated at the hospital.
>>
>>A different motive, though, was offered by local television commentators,
>>who said the attackers had wanted to kill the militant to keep him from
>>revealing any information to the authorities.
>>
>>A witness, Mohammad Iqbal, 43, said "blood was everywhere" as four
>>gunmen dressed in police uniforms tried unsuccessfully to enter the intensive
>>care unit where the militant is being treated. The attackers were driven by
>>police gunfire, said Mr. Iqbal, whose father is also a patient on the unit.
>>
>>Mr. Gujjar, the police chief, said the attackers fired indiscriminately after
>>storming into the back of the hospital near the emergency ward just after
>>midnight.
>>
>>The Punjab Province police force summoned large numbers of armored
>>vans and elite forces as the firing continued. Three police officers and a
>>woman were killed before the gunmen escaped into an open area dotted with
>>trees behind the hospital.
>>
>>Two people who were critically wounded later died, said the hospital´s
>>executive director, Javed Akram, and six others were wounded, two of them
>>critically.
>>
>>"A search for the gunmen was under way," said a senior police officer, Suhail
>>Sukhera. "We will trace them by any costs. We are in a state of war."
>>
>>The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for Friday´s mosque
>>attacks. The Taliban, who are Sunni Muslim, have increasingly focused on
>>attacking minority Muslim groups.
>>
>>There are about two million Ahmadis in Pakistan, where the sect has
>>suffered severe discrimination in Pakistan for decades. Ahmadis are
>>considered heretical by many mainstream Muslims because they believe that
>>Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded their movement in 1889, was a messiah.
>>A basic tenet of Islam is that Muhammad was the final prophet.
>>
>>Waqar Gillani reported from Lahore, and Adam B. Ellick from Islamabad,
>>Pakistan.
>>
>> Dawn June 1, 2010
>>
>> Audacious attack follows strike on Ahmadis:
>> Terrorists fail to reach comrade in Lahore hospital
>>
>> By Zulqernain Tahir
>>
>>LAHORE, May 31: Terrorists targeted Lahore´s Jinnah Hospital on Monday
>>midnight to "free or kill" their fellow, who was injured in Friday´s attack on
>>Ahmadis´ worship place in Model Town, leaving at least five persons dead
>>and six injured.
>>
>>Some 10 Ahmadis and terrorist Moaz alias Amir Moavia were under
>>treatment in the hospital when the terror attack took place at around
>>11.45pm.
>>
>>Acting Lahore police chief SSP Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmed told Dawn that four
>>terrorists wearing police uniform stormed the hospital´s intensive care unit
>>(ICU) on the first floor and opened indiscriminate fire on the policemen
>>deployed outside the entrance to guard the injured terrorist.
>>
>>"The terrorists then entered the ICU block where they had an exchange of
>>fire with policemen present there. Failing to clear the passage to reach Moaz,
>>they managed to flee," the SSP said.
>>
>>He said an ASI, two constables and a man and a woman were among the
>>dead while four others injured. He said that one of the terrorists was injured
>>in the gunbattle. "The terrorists came to either kill or free Moaz but they
>>failed," he said.
>>
>>Soon after the incident, Jinnah Hospital´s chief executive Prof Javed Akram
>>had claimed that "12 people were killed in the attack". However, his claim
>>could not be verified from the city morgue as only five dead bodies were
>>brought there.
>>
>>Punjab IGP Tariq Saleem said: "It was the security arrangements that
>>prevented the terrorists from succeeding in their plan. They have fled
>>towards Hingerwal and we are after them," he said and sounded optimistic
>>that police would soon hunt down the terrorists.
>>
>>It was business as usual in the major health facility of the city when doctors,
>>paramedics, patients and their attendants ran for their lives after the terrorists
>>forced their entry into it from the rooftop.
>>
>>"I was in the emergency when I heard gunshots. We locked ourselves in the
>>ward. The firing continued for about 10 minutes," Jinnah Hospital Medical
>>Superintendent Dr Muhammad Hasan said.
>>
>>Dr Moazam who was present in the cardiology ward told Dawn that everyone
>>was running for his or her life. "My patients suffered a shock and I have been
>>trying to make them stable," he said.
>>
>>Police and other law-enforcement personnel rushed to the spot after having
>>been alerted by the hospital doctors. They cordoned off the area and took
>>positions. "By the time the police entered the hospital building equipped with
>>automatic weapons the terrorists had fled," a police official told this reporter.
>>
>>"However, the police thoroughly searched the building and the adjacent
>>Allama Iqbal Medical College area for over an hour," he said. The hospital
>>lights were switched off during the search operation.
>>
>>The injured terrorist Moaz is being shifted to unknown place.
>>
>>The attack on Jinnah Hospital put more pressure on the government of Chief
>>Minister Shahbaz Sharif to crack down on militants in Punjab.
>>
>>Only a day earlier federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik had spoken in
>>Lahore about the presence of militants in the province, indicating that a large
>>number of them may be concentrated in `southern Punjab´. Mr Malik had held
>>that these militants were born out of an alliance of convenience between the
>>Taliban and Al Qaeda and the sectarian groups that have been active not
>>only in southern parts of Punjab but in fact all over the province.
>>
>>This promptly brought the federal minister and his PPP government at the
>>centre into confrontation with the PML-N set-up in Punjab.
>>
>>Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was quick to reject Rehman Malik´s
>>assertions. He went further by declaring that the mention of Punjab or its
>>southern districts as a possible area for a clean-up operation was part of an
>>"international conspiracy".
>>
>>The statements made in the wake of the Jinnah Hospital incident provided
>>more proof of just how far apart the governments in Islamabad and Lahore
>>stand on an issue that may have the gravest of consequences for the whole
>>country.
>>
>>Responding to remarks that the attack on the hospital may have been aimed
>>at either eliminating or freeing an assailant of the Friday´s strikes against
>>Ahmadis, Rehman Malik said it was not in his "notice" that the suspect was
>>being treated at Jinnah.
>>
>>This obviously suggested that he would have asked the authorities to keep
>>the whereabouts of the suspect secret.
>>
>>Ignorant as the federal minister did sound, his latest remarks were
>>tantamount to an expression of distrust in the ability and the will of the
>>Punjab government to tackle the fast growing monster of militancy. It was a
>>sign that if no one else, the centre and Punjab were moving towards a
>>showdown on what have come to be known as Punjabi Taliban.
>>
>> Dawn June 1, 2010
>>
>> Ahmadi man stabbed to death in Narowal
>>
>>LAHORE: An Ahmadi man was stabbed to death by an enraged man in
>>Pakistan on Monday, just days after gun, grenade and suicide attacks
>>targeting the religious minority killed more than 80 people, police said.
>>
>>The stabbing took place in the town of Narowal, some 100 kilometres
>>northeast of Lahore, where suspected militants wearing suicide vests burst
>>into prayer halls on Friday and killed 82 worshippers.
>>
>>"In the morning, a man identified as Abid Butt climbed the wall of the house
>>of a local Ahmadi family and stabbed Naimatullah, 55, and his son Mansoor
>>Ahmed," local police station chief Riaz Sangha told AFP by telephone.
>>
>>Naimatullah died of knife wounds and his son was rushed to hospital, he
>>added.
>>
>>The attacker escaped, the officer said.
>>
>>Sangha quoted residents as saying that the assailant threatened to not leave
>>any Ahmadi alive.
>>
>>Salimuddin, a spokesman for Lahore's Ahmadi community "strongly
>>condemned" what he called a "targeted killing".
>>
>>Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974 and 10 years later they
>>were barred from calling themselves Muslims.
>>
>>A US State Department report on human rights says that 11 Ahmadis were
>>killed for their faith in 2009.
>>
>>Religious violence in Pakistan, mostly between majority Sunni Muslims and
>>minority Shias, has killed more than 4,000 people in the past decade.
>>
>> Dawn May 31, 2010
>>
>> EDITORIAL: Culture of intolerance
>>
>>Friday's gruesome attacks on Ahmadi worshippers in Lahore were a tragic
>>reminder of the growing intolerance that is threatening to destroy our social
>>fabric. Bigotry in this country has been decades in the making and is
>>expressed in a variety of ways. Violence by individuals or groups against
>>those who hold divergent views may be the most despicable manifestation of
>>such prejudice but it is by no means the only one. Religious minorities in
>>Pakistan have not only been shunted to the margins of society but also face
>>outright persecution on a regular basis.
>>
>>Take the police force, which is notorious for terrorising the poor. Even within
>>that section of society, however, it reserves its harshest treatment for non-
>>Muslims, for the simple reason that brutal or coercive acts directed against
>>minorities are even less likely to get policemen into trouble. There is no
>>shortage of more insidious means of discrimination either. To this day many
>>job applications require candidates to state their religion. Has the irrelevance
>>of this query never struck the organisations in question, or is it part of a
>>screening process designed to weed out `undesirables´? Now let´s venture
>>down to the basic building blocks of society, from institutions to households.
>>In many middle-class and affluent Muslim homes, separate eating utensils of
>>distinctly poorer quality are reserved for domestic staff. But there´s more: a
>>further distinction in entitlement is made between Muslim and non-Muslim
>>employees.
>>
>>None of this is surprising in a country whose statute books are riddled with
>>discriminatory laws, where jingoism is drummed into the heads of
>>schoolchildren and where radio and television talk show participants can
>>casually state that "we are all Muslims here in Pakistan", which is patently not
>>the case. This is a country where a non-Muslim cannot, by law, become
>>president or prime minister. The blasphemy laws continue to be abused to
>>settle personal scores, evade debts owed to non-Muslims and to grab their
>>land by forcing them to flee in the face of violence. The state, meanwhile,
>>remains largely unmoved by the plight of minorities - and that isn´t
>>surprising either for it is a party to this persecution.
>>
>>Tackling the terrorists who kill almost at will isn´t the only job at hand. The
>>culture of intolerance has become ingrained in Pakistan and wide-ranging
>>measures are required to change our collective mindset. Textbooks need to
>>be revised and the perils of both brazen and covert narrow-mindedness must
>>be publicly debated. It would also help if major religious parties came forward
>>to condemn atrocities such as Friday´s attacks on Ahmadis in Lahore. But
>>that is perhaps asking for too much.
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Foil-l mailing list
>>Foil-l@insaf.net
>>http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/foil-l_insaf.net




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