Pakistan Faces a Divide of Age on Muslim Law

By CARLOTTA GALL

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Cheering crowds have gathered in recent days to support the assassin who riddled the governor of Punjab with 26 bullets and to praise his attack — carried out in the name of the Prophet Muhammad — as an act of heroism. To the surprise of many, chief among them have been Pakistan’s young lawyers, once seen as a force for democracy.
Their energetic campaign on behalf of the killer has caught the government flat-footed and dismayed friends and supporters of the slain politician, Salman Taseer, an outspoken proponent of liberalism who had challenged the nation’s strict blasphemy laws. It has also confused many in the broader public and observers abroad, who expected to see a firm state prosecution of the assassin.
Instead, before his court appearances, the lawyers showered rose petals over the confessed killer, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a member of an elite police group who had been assigned to guard the governor, but who instead turned his gun on him. They have now enthusiastically taken up his defense.
It may seem a stark turnabout for a group that just a few years ago looked like the vanguard of a democracy movement. They waged months of protests in 2007 and 2008 to challenge Pakistan’s military dictator after he unlawfully removed the chief justice.
But the lawyers’ stance is perhaps just the most glaring expression of what has become a deep generational divide tearing at the fabric of Pakistani society, and of the broad influence of religious conservatism — and even militancy — that now exists among the educated middle class.
They are often described as the Zia generation: Pakistanis who have come of age since the 1980s, when the military dictator, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, began to promote Islam in public education and to use it as a political tool to unify this young and insecure nation.
Today, the forces he set loose have gained such strength that they threaten to overwhelm voices for tolerance in Pakistan’s feeble civilian government. They certainly present a nagging challenge for the United States.
Washington has poured billions of dollars into the Pakistani military to combat terrorism, but has long neglected a civilian effort to counter the inexorable pull of conservative Islam. By now the conservatives have entered nearly every part of Pakistani society, even the rank-and-file security forces, as the assassination showed. The military, in fact, has been conspicuously silent about the killing.
“Over time, Pakistani society has drifted toward religious extremism,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political and defense analyst from Lahore. “This religious sentiment has seeped deep into government circles and into the army and police at lower levels.”
“The lower level are listening to the religious people,” he said.
Indeed, the Pakistan of today, and the brand of Islam much of the nation has embraced, is barely recognizable even to many educated Pakistanis older than the Zia generation. Among them is Athar Minallah, 49, a former cabinet minister and one of the leaders of the lawyers’ protest campaign against Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2007 and 2008.
Mr. Minallah studied law at Islamic University in Islamabad from 1983 to 1986, and the first lesson any student learned in his day was that the preservation of life was a pillar of Islamic law, he said.
But under General Zia in the 1980s, the government began supporting Islamic warriors to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the Indian control of Kashmir, and the syllabus was changed to encourage jihad. The mind-set of students and graduates changed along with it, Mr. Minallah said.
That change is now no more apparent than among the 1,000 lawyers from the capital, Islamabad, and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi, who have given their signed support for the defense of Mr. Qadri, who has been charged with murder and terrorism.
Their leader is Rao Abdur Raheem, 30, who formed a “lawyers’ forum,” called the Movement to Protect the Dignity of the Prophet, in December. The aim of the group, he said, was to counter Mr. Taseer’s campaign to amend the nation’s strict blasphemy laws, which promise death for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
In interviews, Mr. Raheem and six of his colleagues insisted they were not members of any political or religious party, and were acting independently and interested only in ensuring the rule of law.
All graduates of different Pakistani universities, they insisted they were liberal, not religious conservatives. Only one had religious training. They said they had all taken part in the lawyers’ protest campaign in 2007 and 2008, and that they were proud that the movement helped reinstate the chief justice.
Yet they forcefully defended Mr. Qadri, saying he had acted on his own, out of strong religious feeling, and they denied that he had told his fellow guards of his plans in advance. He was innocent until proved guilty, they said. They have already succeeded in preventing the government from changing the court venue.
In their deep religious conviction, and in their energy and commitment to the cause of the blasphemy laws, they are miles apart from the older generation of lawyers and law enforcement officials above them.
“I felt this is a different society,” said one former law enforcement official when he saw the lawyers celebrating Mr. Qadri. “There is a disconnect in society.”
The former security official, who has worked in fighting militancy and who requested anonymity because of his work, said that within just four hours of the killing, 2,500 people had posted messages supporting Mr. Qadri on Facebook pages.
Mass rallies championing him and the blasphemy laws have continued since then.
This conservatism is fueled by an element of class divide, between the more secular and wealthy upper classes and the more religious middle and lower classes, said Najam Sethi, a former editor of The Daily Times, a liberal daily newspaper published by Mr. Taseer. As Pakistan’s middle class has grown, so has the conservative population.
Besides his campaign against the blasphemy laws, it was Mr. Taseer’s wealth and secular lifestyle that made him a target for the religious parties, Mr. Sethi said.
“Salman had an easygoing, witty, irreverent, high-life style,” he said, “so the anger of class inequality mixed with religious passion gives a heady, dangerous brew.”
Government officials, analysts and members of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the secular-leaning party to which Mr. Taseer belonged, blame the religious parties and clerics who delivered speeches and fatwas against Mr. Taseer for inciting the attack. On Monday, Mr. Qadri, who confessed to the killing, provided a court with testimony saying he was inspired by two clerics, Qari Hanif and Ishtiaq Shah.
The police say they are now seeking the clerics for questioning, but with the growing strength of the conservative movement on the streets, religious leaders — even those who incite violence and terrorism — are nearly untouchable to the authorities and are almost never prosecuted.
The blasphemy law has been condemned by human rights groups here, who say it has been used to persecute religious minorities, like Christians, and on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI called on Pakistan to undo the law. But the law has become an opportunity for religious parties looking to whip up public sentiment, Mr. Sethi said.
A dark presence in the background is the military establishment, which has sponsored the religious parties for decades, using them as tools to influence politics and as militant proxies abroad. The military also has a heavy influence on much of Pakistan’s brash media, which fanned the flames of the blasphemy issue with sensationalist coverage.
“Democracy has brought us a media that is extremely right-wing, conservative,” Mr. Sethi, 62, said. “Most are in their 30s and are a product of the Zia years, of the textbooks and schools set by the Zia years, which are not the sort of things that we were taught.”
“The silence of the armed forces is ominous,” Mr. Sethi added.
Indeed, whether on the military or civilian side, the government has failed to act forcefully on the case at every stage, the former security official said. Whether through fear or lack of policy, it has done little to challenge the ideology behind the attack or the spreading radicalism in Pakistani society.
“The entire state effort has been on the capture and kill approach: how many terrorists can you arrest and how many can you kill,” the former security official said. “Nothing has been done about the breeding ground of extremism.
“Unless the government does something serious and sustained,” the official warned, “we are on a very dangerous trajectory.”

Salman Masood contributed reporting from Islamabad, and Waqar Gillani from Lahore, Pakistan.

Mawdudi, Jamat-e-Islami & Deobandis had Opposed Pakistan's Creation.

With Book Reference "Dawat O Irshad of Mawdudi - Mawdudi, Jamat-e-Islami, Democracy, Jinnah and Pakistan??? The Jamat-i-Islami was also opposed to the idea of Pakistan which it described as Na Pakistan (not pure). In none of the writings of the Jama’at is to be found the remotest reference in support of the demand for Pakistan. The pre-independence views of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of the Jamat-i-Islami were quite definite:

Farooq Haider Mawdudi & Professor Shariful Mujahid in Frontline - 1

 

[ Download ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1layfX5gTc

“Among Indian Muslims today we find two kinds of nationalists: the Nationalists Muslims, namely those who in spite of their being Muslims believe in Indian Nationalism and worship it; and the Muslims Nationalist: namely those who are little concerned with Islam and its principles and aims, but are concerned with the individuality and the political and economic interests of that nation which has come to exist by the name of Muslim, and they are so concerned only because of their accidence of birth in that nation. From the Islamic viewpoint both these types of nationalists were equally misled, for Islam enjoins faith in truth only; it does not permit any kind of nation-worshipping at all. [Maulana Maududi, Nationalism and India, Pathankot, 1947, p-25]

Farooq Haider Mawdudi & Professor Shariful Mujahid in Frontline - 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hulyK7-eB2c

Maulana Maududi was of the view that the form of government in the new Muslim state, if it ever came into existence, could only be secular. In a speech shortly before partition he said: “Why should we foolishly waste our time in expediting the so-called Muslim-nation state and fritter away our energies in setting it up, when we know that it will not only be useless for our purposes, but will rather prove an obstacle in our path.” [Reference: The Process of Islamic Revolution, 2nd edition, Lahore 1955, p-37]

Farooq Haider Mawdudi & Professor Shariful Mujahid in Frontline - 3


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTzZovlxFO4

Paradoxically, Maulana Maududi’s writings played an important role in convincing the Muslim intelligentsia that the concept of united nationalism was suicidal for the Muslims but his reaction to the Pakistan movement was complex and contrad...ictory. When asked to cooperate with the Muslim League he replied: “Please do not think that I do not want to participate in this work because of any differences, my difficulty is that I do not see how I can participate because partial remedies do not appeal to my mind and I have never been interested in patch work.” [Reference: Syed Abul Ala Maududi, Tehrik-i-Adazi- e-Hind aur Mussalman] (Indian Freedom Movement and Muslims), pp 22-23]

He had opposed the idea of united nationhood because he was convinced that the Muslims would be drawn away from Islam if they agreed to merge themselves in the Indian milieu. He was interested more in Islam than in Muslims: because Muslims ...were Muslims not because they belonged to a communal or a national entity but because they believed in Islam. The first priority, therefore, in his mind was that Muslim loyalty to Islam should be strengthened. This could be done only by a body of Muslims who did sincerely believe in Islam and did not pay only lip service to it. Hence he founded the Jamat-i-Islami (in August 1941). However, Maulana Maududi’s stand failed to take cognizance of the circumstances in which the Muslims were placed at that critical moment. [Reference: Ulema in Politics by Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi , p-368]

Several Leading Founding Fathers of Jamat-e-Islami i.e. Late. Maulana Manzoor Naimani, Masood Alam Nadvi, Mawlana Wahiduddin Khan [alive and over 80 in Azam Garh UP India] resigned from Jamat-e-Islami due to Mawdudi’s Wrong Interpretation o...f Islam [Ref: Meri Rafaqat Ki Sargazasht - Mawdudi Kay Sath Meray Shab o Roz by Late. Manzoor Naimani and Taabeer Ki Ghalti [a critique on Mawdudi's Islamic Politics and Methodology] by Mawlana Wahiduddin Khan. After partition several leading JI Leaders quit Jamat-e-Islami because Mawdudi/Jamat-e-Islami had decided to enter Politics [Parliamentary Politics/Democracy based on Secular Principle] those who Left after Machi Goth Congregation were Amin Ahsan Islahi, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani and Dr. Israr Ahmed.

Farooq Haider Mawdudi & Professor Shariful Mujahid in Frontline - 4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzH7sUM8_4k

In my opinion Pakistan can only be run peacefully if it is to be run et all then it must be run through an Strictly Secular Constitutional System otherwise be prepare for another Yugoslavia of 90s, Lebanon of 70s and 80s or latest Iraq. Those who claim that Jinnah wanted an Islamic State should know about Jinnah that he was an Ismaili [in his early life as per the record of Bombay High Court] and then converted to Shiaism [as per Sindh High Court Record more references are given at the end with excerpts from a books].

Just assume that Pakistan is going to be an Islamic State [in a literal and real sense] then what School of thought will govern the country [just imagine the mess Deobandis hates Barelvis, Shia and Wahaabis, Wahaabis hate Deobandis, Barelvis, Shias, Barelvis hates Deobandis, Wahaabis but they dont hate Shia as much above all if Jamat-e-Islami is allowed to run then all those mentioned above hate Jamat-e-Islami to extreme].

We are in a soup for big time. Assume that Jinnah wanted Theocratic Country then it would have been a Rafizi Pakistan. I am posting the entire history below read and you all decide tha should Pakistan be run on Secular Ideology or Islamic Ideology? I vote for Strictly and Pure Secular Pakistan.

LATE. MR JINNAH’S RELIGION:

On 24 September 1948, after the demise of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his sister Fatimah Jinnah and the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, submitted a jointly signed petition at the Karachi High Court, describing Jinnah as ‘Shia Khoja Mohamedan’ and praying that his will may be disposed of under Shia inheritance law. On 6 February, 1968 after Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah'’ demise the previous year, her sister Shirin Bai, moved an application at the High Court claiming Fatimah Jinnah’s property under the Shia inheritance law on grounds that the deceased was a Shia. As per Mr. I. H. Ispahani who was a family friend of Jinnah, revealed that Jinnah had himself told him in 1936 that he and his family had converted to Shiism after his return from England in 1894. He said that Jinnah had married Ruttie Bai according to the Shia ritual during which she was represented by a Shia scholar of Bombay, and Jinnah was represented by his Shia friend, Raja Sahib of Mehmoodabad. He however conceded that Jinnah was opposed in Bombay elections by a Shia Conference canditate. Ispahani was present when Miss Fatima Jinnah died in 1967. He himself arranged the Ghusl and Janaza {Funeral Bath and Funeral} for her at Mohatta Palace according to the Shia Ritual before handing over the body to the state. Her Sunni Namaz-e-Janaza was held later at Polo Ground, Karachi after which she was buried next to her brother at a spot chosen by Ispahani inside the mausoleum. Ritualistic Shia talqin (last advice to the deceased) was done after her dead body was lowered into the grave. (Jinnah had arranged for talqin for Ruttie Bai too when she died in 1929). Allama Syed Anisul Husnain, a Shia scholar, deposed that he had arranged the gusl of the Quaid on the instructions of Miss Fatimah Jinah. He led his Namaz-e-Janaza in a room of the Governor General’s House at which such luminaries as Yousuf Haroon, Hashim Raza, and Aftab Hatim Alvi were present, while Liaquat Ali Khan waited outside the room. After the Shia ritual, the body was handed over to the state and Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Usmani, an alim belonging to Deoband school of thought known for its anti-Shia belief, read his Janaza according the Sunni ritual at the ground where the mausoleum was later constructed. Other witnesses confirmed that after the demise of Miss Fatimah Jinnah, alam and panja (two Shia symbols) were discovered from her residence, Mohatta Palace. Despite all this Jinnah kept himself away from Shia politics. He was not a Shia; he was also not a Sunni; he was simply a Muslim.

[PAKISTAN: Behind the Ideological Mask (Facts About Great Men We Don’t Want to Know) by Khaled Ahmed, published by VANGUARD Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. The Murder of History: A critique of history textbooks used in Pakistan by K.K. Aziz, published by VANGUARD Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad].

Three months before the partition of the subcontinent, in an interview with Doon Campbell of Reuters, Jinnah firmly stated: "The new state will be a modern democratic state with sovereignty resting in the people and the members of the new nation having equal rights of citizenship regardless of religion, caste or creed." He repeated this on August 11, 1947, whilst addressing the members of his Constituent Assembly, making it doubly clear to them that religion is not the business of the state. He told them: "You are free, free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State."

On August 11, 1947, before the flag of Pakistan had even been unfurled, Jinnah told his people and their future legislators:

"You are free, free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the State.

Jinnah addressed his Constituent Assembly at Karachi. He told the future legislators :

". . . . . . . you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.

"Well, gentlemen, I do not wish to take up any more of your time and thank you again for the honour you have done to me. I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fair play without any, as is put in political language, prejudice or ill-will, in other words, partiality or favouritism. My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and cooperation I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world."

Indian Congresswoman and poet, Mrs Sarojini Naidu, after meeting Jinnah for the first time at the 1906 annual session of Congress held at Calcutta.

Now to what Mohammed Ali Jinnah had to say on the future constitution of Pakistan in his broadcast to the American people in February 1948: "The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principles of Islam.

"Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. Islam has taught the equality of men, justice and fairplay to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims - Hindus, Christians and Parsis – but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan. "

Jinnah's views against mixing religion with politics

"Jinnah left the Home Rule League and the Congress after Gandhi took them over because he (Jinnah) strongly disapproved of the introduction of religion into politics by Gandhi, and because he disapproved equally strongly of unconstitutional means to secure swaraj." H.M. Seervai -- Legend and Reality, p.169

"Jinnah had told him that he (Gandhi) had ruined politics in India by dragging up a lot of unwholesome elements in Indian life and giving them political prominence, that it was a crime to mix up politics and religion the way he (Gandhi) had done." Transfer of Power Documents, Vol.VI, p. 617

"Jinnah, however, warned Gandhiji not to encourage the fanaticism of Muslim religious leaders and their followers. Indeed, he was not the only person who foresaw danger in the Khilafat Movement." K.M. Munshi, Pilgrimage to Freedom -- p. 22

"Jinnah made it clear, however, that he had no intention of playing the role of an Islamic Khalifah. As Pakistan's Governor-General, he intended to see to it that all its citizens, irrespective of religious or cultural orientation, were, politically and before the law, similar and equal." The Pakistan in the Twentieth Century -- A Political History by Lawrence Ziring - pp. 66, 67

"Jinnah's insistence on balance and fairness to all, irrespective of religious persuasion or cultural identity, projected a secular approach that was now obscured in the Muslim League's struggle to achieve parity with the Congress." Ibid, p. 39

"Jinnah, the 'ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity', had worked hard to get the Congress and the League to co-operate and deplored the opportunistic alliance between the Mahatma and the Khilafat Muslims." The Sole Spokesman -- Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Demand for Pakistan by Ayesha Jalal -- pp. 8, 9

Quaid-e-Azam never referred to Pakistan as "Islamic Republic" but as the "State of Pakistan," "Sovereign State of Pakistan," "Dominion of Pakistan" or "Federal Republic of Pakistan".

Pakistan not to be a theocratic state

"Will Pakistan be a secular or theocratic state? You are asking me a question that is absurd. I do not know what a theocratic state means." Jinnah's press conference in New Delhi on July 14, 1947, Jinnah -- Speeches and Statements 1947-1949, Oxford University Press, p.15

"But make no mistake: Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it..." Jinnah's address to the people of Australia on Feb. 19,1948 -- Ibid, p.118

"In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State--to be ruled by priests with a divine mission." Jinnah's address to the people of the United States of America in February 1948, Ibid, p.125

Equal status, and rights, and protection to minorities

"Minorities, to whichever community they may belong, will be safeguarded. Their religion or faith or belief will be secure. There will be no interference of any kind with their freedom of worship. They will have their protection with regard to their religion, faith, their life, their culture. They will be, in all respects, the citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or creed". Jinnah's press conference in New Delhi on 14th July 1947, Ibid, p. 13

"You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed--that has nothing to do with the business of the State". Jinnah's presidential address to the Constituent Assembly on Aug.11, 1947.

"Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State." Ibid.

"We have many non-Muslims- Hindus, Christians, and Parsis--but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan." Jinnah's address to the people of the United States on February 1948, p.125

Almost all authors of the books on the Quaid-e-Azam, including Stanley Wolpert, Lawrence Ziring, Ayesha Jalal, H.M. Seervai and K.M. Munshi, substantiate and support the view that the Quaid was himself secular and always wanted Pakistan to be a secular state.

Ulema and Pakistan Movement

Muslim religious organisations of the sub-continent --Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Majlis-i- Ahrar- i-Islam and Jamat-i-Islami [1]-- were politically very active during the struggle for Pakistan but all of them opposed tooth and nail the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims. The opposition of Jamiat and Ahrar was on the plea that Pakistan was essentially a territorial concept and thus alien to the philosophy of Islamic brotherhood, which was universal in character. Nationalism was an un-Islamic concept for them but at the same time they supported the CongressParty' s idea of Indian nationalism which the Muslim political leadership considered as accepting perpetual domination of Hindu majority. Jamat-i-Islami reacted to the idea of Pakistan in a complex manner. It rejected both the nationalist Ulema's concept of nationalism as well as the Muslim League's demand for a separate homeland for the Muslims.

Deobandis are Anti-Pakistan - Part - 1

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqzGHWP5Kj8

The most noteworthy feature of the struggle for Pakistan is that its leadership came almost entirely from the Western-educated Muslim professionals. The Ulema remained, by and large, hostile to the idea of a Muslim national state. But during the mass contact campaign, which began around 1943, the Muslim League abandoned its quaint constitutionalist and legalist image in favor of Muslim populism which drew heavily on Islamic values. Wild promises were made of restoring the glory of Islam in the future Muslim state. As a consequence, many religious divines and some respected Ulema were won over.[2]

The Muslim political leadership believed that the Ulema were not capable of giving a correct lead in politics to the Muslims because of their exclusively traditional education and complete ignorance of the complexities of modern life. It, therefore, pleaded that the Ulema should confine their sphere of activity to religion since they did not understand the nature of politics of the twentieth century.

Deobandis are Anti-Pakistan - Part - 2

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw64zU2Ajag&feature=related

It was really unfortunate that the Ulema, in general and the Darul Ulum Deoband in particular, understood Islam primarily in a legal form. Their medieval conception of the Shariah remained unchanged, orthodox and traditional in toto and they accepted it as finished goods manufactured centuries ago by men like (Imam) Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf. Their scholasticism, couched in the old categories of thought, barred them from creative thinking and properly understanding the problems, social or philosophical, confronting the Muslim society in a post-feudal era. They were intellectually ill-equipped to comprehend the crisis Islam had to face in the twentieth century. [3]

The struggle for Pakistan -- to establish a distinct identity of Muslims -- was virtually a secular campaign led by men of politics rather than religion and Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his lieutenants such as Liaquat Ali Khan who won Pakistan despite opposition by most of the Ulema.

Jinnah was continuously harassed by the Ulema, particularly by those with Congress orientation. They stood for status quo as far as Islam and Muslims were concerned, and regarded new ideas such as the two nation theory, the concept of Muslim nationhood and the territorial specification of Islam through the establishment of Pakistan as innovations which they were not prepared to accept under any circumstance. It was in this background that Jinnah pointed out to the students of the Muslim University Union: "What the League has done is to set you free from the reactionary elements of Muslims and to create the opinion that those who play their selfish game are traitors. It has certainly freed you from that undesirable element of Molvis and Maulanas. I am not speaking of Molvis as a whole class. There are some of them who are as patriotic and sincere as any other, but there is a section of them which is undesirable. Having freed ourselves from the clutches of the British Government, the Congress, the reactionaries and so-called Molvis, may I appeal to the youth to emancipate our women. This is essential. I do not mean that we are to ape the evils of the West. What I mean is that they must share our life not only social but also political." [4]

Deobandis are Anti-Pakistan - Part - 3

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCx2uYlGVaQ&feature=related

The history of the Ulema in the sub-continent has been one of their perpetual conflict with intelligentsia. The Ulema opposed Sir Syed Ahmad Khan when he tried to rally the Muslims in 1857. Nearly a hundred of them, including Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, the leading light of Deoband, ruled that it was unlawful to join the Patriotic Association founded by him. However, the Muslim community proved wiser than the religious elite and decided to follow the political lead given by Sir Syed Ahmad.

The conflict between conservative Ulema and political Muslim leadership came to a head during the struggle for Pakistan when a number of Ulema openly opposed the Quaid-i-Azam and denounced the concept of Pakistan. It is an irony of history that Jinnah in his own days, like Sir Syed Ahmad before him, faced the opposition of the Ulema.

The Ahrar Ulema -- Ataullah Shah Bukhari, Habibur Rahman Ludhianawi and Mazhar Ali Azhar – seldom mentioned the Quaid-i-Azam by his correct name which was always distorted. Mazhar Ali Azhar used the insulting sobriquet Kafir-i-Azam (the great unbeliever) for Quaid-i-Azam. One of the resolutions passed by the Working Committee of the Majlis-i-Ahrar which met in Delhi on 3rd March 1940, disapproved of Pakistan plan, and in some subsequent speeches of the Ahrar leaders Pakistan was dubbed as "palidistan" . The authorship of the following couplet is attributed to Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar, a leading personality of the Ahrar:

Ik Kafira Ke Waste Islam ko Chhora

Yeh Quaid-i-Azam hai Ke hai Kafir-i-Azam. [6]

(He abandoned Islam for the sake of a non-believer woman [7], he is a great leader or a great non-believer)

Deobandis are Anti-Pakistan - Part - 4

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB5TZ_u5aro&feature=related

During the struggle for Pakistan, the Ahrar were flinging foul abuse on all the leading personalities of the Muslim League and accusing them of leading un-Islamic lives. Islam was with them a weapon which they could drop and pick up at pleasure to discomfit a political adversary. Religion was a private affair in their dealings with the Congress and nationalism their ideology. But when they were pitted against the Muslim League, their sole consideration was Islam. They said that the Muslim League was not only indifferent to Islam but an enemy of it.

Dr. Zakir Naik says "Making Pakistan was a Blunder".

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvQhGcrwMjQ

After independence, the Ahrar leaders came to Pakistan. But before coming, the All India Majlis-i-Ahrar passed a resolution dissolving their organization and advising the Muslims to accept Maulana Azad as their leader and join the Congress Party.[8]

The Jamat-i-Islami was also opposed to the idea of Pakistan which it described as Na Pakistan (not pure).

In none of the writings of the Jama'at is to be found the remotest reference in support of the demand for Pakistan. The pre-independence views of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of the Jamat-i-Islami were quite definite:

"Among Indian Muslims today we find two kinds of nationalists: the Nationalists Muslims, namely those who in spite of their being Muslims believe in Indian Nationalism and worship it; and the Muslims Nationalist: namely those who are little concerned with Islam and its principles and aims, but are concerned with the individuality and the political and economic interests of that nation which has come to exist by the name of Muslim, and they are so concerned only because of their accidence of birth in that nation. From the Islamic viewpoint both these types of nationalists were equally misled, for Islam enjoins faith in truth only; it does not permit any kind of nation-worshipping at all.[9]

Maulana Maududi was of the view that the form of government in the new Muslim state, if it ever came into existence, could only be secular. In a speech shortly before partition he said: "Why should we foolishly waste our time in expediting the so-called Muslim-nation state and fritter away our energies in setting it up, when we know that it will not only be useless for our purposes, but will rather prove an obstacle in our path." [10]

Paradoxically, Maulana Maududi's writings played an important role in convincing the Muslim intelligentsia that the concept of united nationalism was suicidal for the Muslims but his reaction to the Pakistan movement was complex and contradictory. When asked to cooperate with the Muslim League he replied: "Please do not think that I do not want to participate in this work because of any differences, my difficulty is that I do not see how I can participate because partial remedies do not appeal to my mind and I have never been interested in patch work."[11]

He had opposed the idea of united nationhood because he was convinced that the Muslims would be drawn away from Islam if they agreed to merge themselves in the Indian milieu. He was interested more in Islam than in Muslims: because Muslims were Muslims not because they belonged to a communal or a national entity but because they believed in Islam. The first priority, therefore, in his mind was that Muslim loyalty to Islam should be strengthened. This could be done only by a body of Muslims who did sincerely believe in Islam and did not pay only lip service to it. Hence he founded the Jamat-i-Islami (in August 1941).[12]

However, Maulana Maududi's stand failed to take cognizance of the circumstances in which the Muslims were placed [13] at that critical moment.

The Jamiat-i-Ulema- i-Hind, the most prestigious organization of the Ulema, saw nothing Islamic in the idea of Pakistan. Its president, Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, who was also Mohtamim or principal of Darul Ulum Deoband opposed the idea of two-nation theory, pleading that all Indians, Muslims or Hindus were one nation. He argued that faith was universal and could not be contained within national boundaries but that nationality was a matter of geography, and Muslims were obliged to be loyal to the nation of their birth along with their non-Muslim fellow citizens. Maulana Madani said: "all should endeavor jointly for such a democratic government in which Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis are included. Such a freedom is in accordance with Islam." [14] He was of the view that in the present times, nations are formed on the basis of homeland and not on ethnicity and religion.[15] He issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from joining the Muslim League.

Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani accepted the doctrine of Indian nationalism with all enthusiasm and started preaching it in mosques. This brought a sharp rebuke from Dr. Mohammad Iqbal. His poem on Hussain Ahmad [16] in 1938 started a heated controversy between the so-called nationalist Ulema and the adherents of pan-Islamism (Umma).

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a member of Indian National Congress regrets that he did not accept Congress president ship in 1946, which led Nehru to assume that office and give the statements that could be exploited by the Muslim League for creation of Pakistan and withdrawal of its acceptance of the Cabinet Plan that envisaged an Indian Union of all the provinces and states of the sub-continent with safeguards for minorities. [17] He had persuaded the pro-Congress Ulema that their interests would be better safeguarded under a united India, and that they should repose full confidence in Indian nationalism. However, they should make efforts to secure for themselves the control of Muslim personal law, by getting a guarantee from the Indian National Congress, that the Muslim personal law would be administered by qadis (judges) who were appointed from amongst the Ulema.[18]

In a bid to weaken the Muslim League's claim to represent all Muslims of the subcontinent, the Congress strengthened its links with the Jamiat-i-Ulema- i-Hind, the Ahrars and such minor and insignificant non-League Muslim groups as the Momins and the Shia Conference.[ 19]

Along with its refusal to share power with the Muslim League, the Congress pursued an anti-Muslim League policy in another direction with the help of Jamiat-i-Ulema- i-Hind . It was not enough to keep the Muslim League out of power. Its power among the people should be weakened and finally broken. Therefore, it decided to bypass Muslim political leadership and launch a clever movement of contacting the Muslim masses directly to wean them away from the leadership that sought to protect them from the fate of becoming totally dependent on the sweet will of the Hindu majority for their rights, even for their continued existence. This strategy -- called Muslim Mass Contact Movement -- was organized in 1937 with great finesse by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. [20]

Congress leaders .... employed Molvis to convert the Muslim masses to the Congress creed. The Molvis, having no voice in the molding of the Congress policy and program, naturally could not promise to solve the real difficulties of the masses, a promise which would have drawn the masses towards the Congress. The Molvis and others employed for the work tried to create a division among the Muslim masses by carrying on a most unworthy propaganda against the leaders of the Muslim League. [21] However, this Muslim mass contact movement failed.

It is pertinent to note here that a small section of the Deoband School was against joining the Congress. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (1863-1943) was the chief spokesman of this group. Later Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Othmani (1887-1949), a well-known disciple of Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani and a scholar of good repute, who had been for years in the forefront of the Jamiat leadership quit it with a few other Deoband Ulema, and became the first president of the Jamiat-i-Ulema- i-Islam established in 1946 to counteract the activities of the Jamiat-i-Ulema- i-Hind. However, the bulk of the Deoband Ulema kept on following the lead of Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani and the Jamiat in opposing the demand for Pakistan.

Contrary to the plea of the nationalist Ulema, the Muslim intelligentsia was worried that the end of British domination should not become for the Muslims the beginning of Hindu domination. They perceived through the past experience that the Hindus could not be expected to live with them on equal terms within the same political framework. Therefore they did not seek to change masters. A homeland is an identity and surely the Muslims of the sub-continent could not have served the cause of universal brotherhood by losing their identity, which is what would have inevitably happened if they had been compelled to accept the political domination of the Hindus. The Ulema thought in terms of a glorious past and linked it unrealistically to a nebulous future of Muslim brotherhood. This more than anything else damaged the growth of Muslim nationalism and retarded the progress of Muslims in the sub-continent. [22]

The nationalist Ulema failed to realize this simple truth and eventually found themselves completely isolated from the mainstream of the Muslim struggle for emancipation. Their opposition to Pakistan on grounds of territorial nationalism was the result of their failure to grasp contemporary realities. [23] They did not realize that majorities can be much more devastating, specifically when it is an ethnic, linguistic or religious majority which cannot be converted into a minority through any election.[24]

The Ulema, as a class, concentrated on jurisprudence and traditional sciences. They developed a penchant for argument and hair splitting. This resulted in their progressive alienation from the people, who while paying them the respect due to religious scholars, rejected their lead in national affairs. While their influence on the religious minded masses remained considerable, their impact on public affairs shrank simply because the Ulema concentrated on the traditional studies and lost touch with the realities of contemporary life.[25]

Notes:

1. After independence "some of the Ulema decided to stay in India, others hastened to Pakistan to lend a helping hand. If they had not been able to save the Muslims from Pakistan they must now save Pakistan from the Muslims. Among them was Maulana Abul Aala Maududi, head of the Jamat-i-Islami, who had been bitterly opposed to Pakistan." Mohammad Ayub Khan, Friends not

Masters, P-202

2 Ishtiaq Ahmed, The Concept of an Islamic State in Pakistan, p-66

3. Ziya-ul-Hasan Faruqi, The Deoband School and the Demand for Pakistan, p79-80

4. Speech on Feb. 5, 1938

5 Afzal Iqbal, Islamization of Pakistan, p-28

6. Ibid. p-54

7. Alluding to Quadi-i-Azam' s marriage to a Parsi girl.

8. Munir Report, p-256

9. Maulana Maududi, Nationalism and India, Pathankot, 1947, p-25

10. The Process of Islamic Revolution, 2nd edition, Lahore 1955, p-37

11. Syed Abul Ala Maududi, Tehrik-i-Adazi- e-Hind aur Mussalman (Indian Freedom Movement and Muslims), pp 22-23

12. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Ulema in Politics, p-368

13. Ibid., p-368

14. Zamzam 17.7.1938 cited by Pakistan Struggle and Pervez, Tulu-e-Islam Trust, Lahore, p-614

15. Ibid. p-314

16. Hasan (rose) from Basrah, Bilal from Abyssinia, Suhaib from Rome, Deoband produced Husain Ahmad, what monstrosity is this? He chanted from the pulpit that nations are created by countries, What an ignoramus regarding the position of Muhammad! Take thyself to Muhammad, because he is the totality of Faith, And if thou does not reach him, all (thy knowledge) is Bu Lahaism.

17. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, in his biography, India Wins Freedom, fixes the responsibility for the partition of India, at one place on Jawaharlal Nehru, and at another place on Vallabh-bhai Patel by observing that "it would not perhaps be unfair to say that Vallabh-dhbai Patel was the founder of Indian partition." H.M. Seervai, Partition of India: Legend and Reality, p-162

18. Dr. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, op. cit., p-328

19. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, The Struggle for Pakistan, p-237

20. Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Ulema in Politics p-334

21. Justice Sayed Shameem Hussain Kadri - Creation of Pakistan - Army Book Club, Rawalpindi ,1983 -- p-414

22. Ayub Khan, op. cit., p-200

23. According to Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, the present state of affairs of the Moslem world. Dr. Iqbal said: "It seems to me that God is slowly bringing home to us the truth that Islam is neither nationalism nor imperialism but a league of nations which recognizes artificial boundaries and racial distinctions for facility of reference only and not for restricting the social horizon of its members." (Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p-159) Dr. Iqbal had apparently in mind the following verse from the Holy Quran: O Mankind ! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. (49:13)

24. Qureshi, op. cit., p-378

25. Afzal Iqbal, Islamization in Pakistan, p-26

26. Ayub Khan, op. cit.,p-202

27. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Modern Islam in India, Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1963, p-173

28. Afzal Iqbal, op. cit., p-29

29. Qureshi, op. cit., p-383

30. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Islam in History, p-215

31. Munir Report, p-205

32. Ibid. p-218

33. Ibid. p-219

34. Anita M. Weiss, Reassertion of Islam in Pakistan, p-2

35. Leonard Binder, Islam and Politics in Pakistan, University of California Press, 1961, p-29

36. Anita M. Weiss, p-21

37. Ibid. p-21

38. When Pakistan appeared on the map, they (Ulema) found no place for themselves in India and they all came to Pakistan and brought with them the curse of Takfir (calling one another infidel). Munir, From Jinnah to Zia, p-38

39. Prof. Rafi-ullah Shehab - The Quaid-e-Azam and the Ulema - The Pakistan Times, Islamabad 25.12.1986.

40. Ahmad Bashir, Islam, Shariat and the Holy Ghost, Frontier Post, Peshawar, 9.5.1991

41. Ibid.

Are monkeys self-aware?

By Vanessa Schipani

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New results suggest that rhesus macaques recognize themselves in the mirror, but the debate is far from over

[Published 30th September 2010 04:47 PM GMT]

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Rhesus monkeys may recognize their own reflection in a mirror, indicating self-awareness--a trait traditionally reserved for humans, chimpanzees and orangutans and a topic of much debate among researchers, including Marc Hauser, professor of psychology at Harvard University and the recent subject of misconduct investigations.

Rhesus monkey Image: Wikimedia commons, user 13bobby

The results, published in the September 29th issue of PLoS ONE, question the existence of a stark cognitive divide that separates higher primates from the rest of the animal kingdom.

"In most instances, monkeys do not show [self-awareness]," Christopher Coe, director of the Harlow Primate Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the work, said in an email to The Scientist. But the new study "indicates that rhesus monkeys can acquire this ability in the right setting and with the right tools."

For years, the Gallup mark test has been the standard method for assessing self-awareness. Researchers dye a small tuff of hair on an animal's head, and then give it access to a mirror. If the animal touched the mark while looking in the mirror, researchers concluded it understood the reflection to be its own. Humans over the age of two, chimpanzees, orangutans and potentially gorillas can conclusively pass this test. Monkeys, on the other hand, nearly always fail.

In 1995, Hauser published a controversial paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which reported that cotton-top tamarins show signs of self-awareness, despite many failed attempts in the past by other researchers. He used a modified form of the Gallup mark test, however, by dying the entire white head of the tamarin a bright color, such a green or pink. Hauser argued that the small mark was simply not relevant to monkeys, causing them to fail the test in the past.

Yet, monkeys react to a Gallup mark that they can see on their arm or hand, noted Gordon Gallup, lead researcher in the field, professor of psychology at the University at Albany, SUNY, and inventor of the Gallup mark test. "If it's salient on their arm, then it ought to be equally salient on their face."

Skeptical after reading Hauser's paper, Gallup requested to see some tapes recorded during the study. "When I looked at the tapes, I was absolutely shocked," he said. "There was not a shred of evidence in any of the video tapes that suggested that cotton-top tamarins could recognize themselves in mirrors."

In 2001, Hauser reported that he was unable to reproduce the results of the 1995 paper. His new findings, published in the American Journal of Primatology, suggested that cotton-top tamarins do not exhibit behaviors suggesting self-awareness, once again limiting this ability in primates to the great apes.

Despite the irreproducible results of the 1995 paper, Randy Schekman, editor-in-chief of PNAS, said the journal does not have plans to retract Hauser's original paper. "The Harvard committee investigating Hauser has not contacted us about it, and we have no reason to pursue the matter unless someone challenges the paper."

Another study, on the rule learning abilities of cotton-top tamarins, unrelated to his tests of self-awareness, was the subject of the recent misconduct investigation and the retraction of a 2002 Cognition paper.

The new study on rhesus macaques now provides more evidence that some monkeys do possess the ability to recognize themselves in mirrors. Luis Populin, a professor of anatomy also at the UW-Madison, who normally studies the effects of drugs such as Ritalin on monkeys, stumbled upon this project when graduate student Abigail Rajala claimed that she observed a monkey using a small mirror provided for enrichment to groom himself. The monkey paid particular attention to the area around an implant in its head, which the researchers used in their studies on attention deficient disorder.

The observation prompted Populin and his colleagues to test for self-awareness in the monkeys, replacing the traditional splotch of color used in the Gallup mark test with the head implant. They also used monkeys that had years of experience with mirrors, which Populin believed was a necessary ingredient for them to pass the mark test.

While looking into the mirror, the monkeys examined and groomed the area around their implant and other unseen areas on their bodies, such as the genitals. In cases where the implant was removed, the monkeys failed to touch their heads at all, but continued to examine their genitals in the mirror.

This movie shows a monkey waking up from a nap, reaching for the small mirror outside his cage, positioning it to view himself, and grooming the area around the implant while looking at himself. The view of the head implant has been blocked for discretion.
Video courtesy of Luis Populin.

The implanted monkeys also showed sparing amounts of aggressive or submissive social responses, another indication that they did, in fact, see the reflections as themselves.

The paper contains a couple of flaws, however, that "render the results inconsequential and uninterpretable," said Gallup. For one, the monkeys can feel the implant in addition to seeing it, unlike the traditional color mark, which controls for tactile cues. Thus, they could be drawn to touch it, despite their reflection in the mirror.

However, Populin believes he controlled for this by presenting the monkeys with a mirror blocked by black plastic. When the mirror was concealed, the monkeys failed to examine their implant and their genitals as often. "Subjects may touch the area because it itches or it is irritated," he agreed. "Although if that were the case, one would see no difference between the mirror and no mirror condition."

The videos of Populin's work, which were published along with the paper, are no help in solving the debate. Some researchers argue the behaviors in the videos do not illustrate self-awareness, and some argue they do. The videos don't "strike me as compelling, self-directed behavior," said Gallup, "but [they do] strike me as investigative behavior coupled with instances of intermittent social behavior." Contrastingly, Charles Snowdon, professor of psychology and zoology at the UW-Madison, who was not involved in the research, said, "the videos are impressive in that rhesus macaques show some evidence of precursors of mirror recognition," in an email to The Scientist.

Whether there exists a blatant cognitive divide separating higher primates from the rest of the animal kingdom still remains open. "For other species, vocal or odor recognition may be more salient," said Coe, "but until paradigms are developed in other modalities we will not know what other species may have [self-awareness]."

Read more: Are monkeys self-aware? - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57730/#ixzz116q06LYF

The Romance of Gauhar Jaan

By Vikram Sampath In December of 1911, at the famous Delhi Durbar, Emperor George V was crowned the paramount power of British India in the presence of Indian princes and aristocrats. While the announcement by the emperor that the capital of his Indian territories would be shifted to Delhi from Calcutta might have cast a pall of gloom in “the second city of the empire”, the durbar itself brought unprecedented glory to one Calcuttan—the legendary Hindustani vocalist Miss Gauhar Jaan. Pop sensation: (clockwise from top) Gauhar Jaan in a recording studio; a nautch performance under way in the early 1900s; a Singer record of Gauhar Jaan’s; a portrait of young Gauhar; and a 1905 drawing of her on a matchbox that was made in Austria. At that glittering ceremony, in the presence of the emperor and his queen and all of India’s royalty, Gauhar Jaan, along with her contemporary Janki Bai, were bestowed the rare privilege of presenting a song specially composed for the occasion Yeh jalsa taajposhi ka mubarak ho mubarak ho! They were escorted to the emperor after the concert and he praised them profusely for their talent and presented them with a hundred guineas as a token of his appreciation. Such was the fame of the first Indian and woman to record on the gramophone, Gauhar Jaan. Born Eileen Angelina Yeoward in Azamgarh, in what was then the United Provinces, in 1873, Gauhar was a woman of exceptional beauty, talent and grace. She seemed to symbolize the secular ethos that Indian classical music is known for—her grandmother was Hindu, grandfather British and father Armenian Christian. Gauhar embraced Islam and remained a devout Muslim all her life, though most of her compositions are replete with Krishna bhakti. The marriage of her parents ended in a bitter divorce when she was barely six years old. Angelina and her mother Victoria then moved to Benaras, where they converted to Islam and took on the names of Gauhar Jaan and Badi Malka Jaan, respectively. In the culturally vibrant atmosphere of Benaras, Gauhar’s innate talents in music, dance and poetry blossomed. Fortunes turned for the mother and daughter as they moved to Calcutta and established themselves in the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. They were counted as among the most famous baijis of Calcutta. No wonder then that in 1902, Frederick William Gaisberg, the Gramophone Company’s first India agent, chose Gauhar as the first Indian artiste whom he wanted to record. When recording technology came to India in the early decades of the 20th century, it was the women who accepted this very novel and unfamiliar medium and adapted to it. Disregarding several superstitions (recording on evil English instruments would displease the gods and make one lose one’s voice) that were floated by men, they went ahead and recorded. This not only helped democratize music and bring it out of the confines of the kothas (brothels) and courts, but also liberated these performing women from the clutches of their exploitative patrons. To Gauhar goes the credit of devising a unique template of presenting something as expansive as Hindustani music in just 3 minutes, which was all that a single disc could record at the time. The end of a recording was usually marked by the high-pitched and sometimes flirtatious announcement “My name is Gauhar Jaan!”. This was of course a technical necessity because record masters were sent to Hanover in Germany for pressing, and these announcements helped the technician identify the singer. In her illustrious career, Gauhar recorded close to 600 records in over 10 languages. Her repertoire was vast and ranged from the weighty khayal and dhrupad to the supposedly lighter forms of thumri, dadra, kajri, hori, chaiti and bhajan. But what set Gauhar apart as a star of her times was her feisty nature and flamboyant lifestyle. She became notoriously famous for throwing a lavish party that cost Rs20,000 when her cat produced a litter of kittens. She was among the few people in Calcutta who flouted government regulations and went around in a four-horse-driven buggy, for which she even paid a fine of Rs1,000 a day to the viceroy. Despite all the fame and adulation, Gauhar pined for true love all her life. After several unsuccessful and short-lived romantic escapades, including one with the famous Gujarati theatre actor Amrit Keshav Nayak in Bombay, Gauhar chose the most unlikely of suitors—her secretary Abbas, who was much younger than her. Sadly their courtship ended in a bitter legal tangle after she realized that Abbas was embezzling her money. She won the case but lost all her money in the process of funding her high-profile lawyers and was reduced to a state of near beggary. That was when she was invited to Mysore by the Maharaja Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar as a state guest and court musician. But by then Gauhar had lost the will to fight and in 1930 breathed her last in Mysore, lonely and forlorn, with none by her bedside. In her lifetime, Gauhar attained a celebrity status that few women of her era could even dream of. For someone whose photograph appeared on picture postcards and matchboxes during her time, sadly today Gauhar is almost forgotten and largely unacknowledged even by the world of Hindustani music. This is what made researching her life for her biography an immensely challenging, yet enjoyable task. In a culture where the art is always perceived to be bigger than the artiste, and where documenting their personal lives is seldom considered important, it was quite an exercise to exhume this marvellous artiste from her grave and place her in a historical perspective, bringing her memory and contributions to Hindustani music in the public discourse. The CD that comes along with the book of her digitized and mastered soundtracks from original 78 rpms, seeks to immortalize Gauhar Jaan for readers and lovers of Hindustani music. As an Urdu poet had once said: Hum to markar bhi kitabon mein rahenge zinda Gham unhi ka hai jo mar jaayen to guzar jaate hain (Even in death I will remain immortal in the books that are written about me, Pity those who don’t just die, but ‘pass away’ into oblivion). Vikram Sampath is the author of ‘My Name is Gauhar Jaan!’ The Life and Times of a Musician. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: The Live Mint, New Delhi URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicCulture_1.aspx?ArticleID=2722

Science ends here

Nadeem F. Paracha

Many Arab as well as some western academics (who were paid large sums of money and perks) were continuously invited to the rich, conservative kingdoms and asked to scribble books claiming that the Muslim holy book was punctuated with scientific truths hundreds of years before the West discovered them in their labs. — Illustration by Abro

I am itching to get my hands on a recently published book, God Created the Universe by Fatehulla Khan. After reading the review of the book, I can safely assume it is yet another document in the long line of glorified assertions that much of what we call scientific truths today was mentioned in the scriptures a long time ago.

Ever since the late French physician, Maurice Bucaille — on a hefty payroll of the Saudi royal family in Riyadh — wrote Islam, Bible & Science (1976), many believe that ‘proving’ scientific truths from holy books has been the exclusive domain of Muslims. However, in spite of being impressed by the holy book’s ‘scientific wonders’, Bucaille remained a committed Christian.

Very few of my wide-eyed brethren know that long before Muslims, certain Hindu and Christian theologians had already laid claim to the practice of defining their respective holy books as metaphoric prophecies of scientifically proven phenomenon. They began doing so between the 18th and 19th centuries, whereas Muslims got into the act only in the 20th century.

Johannes Heinrich’s Scientific vindication of Christianity (1887) is one example, while Mohan Roy’s Vedic Physics: Scientific Origin of Hinduism (1999) is a good way of observing how this thought has evolved among followers of other faiths. It is interesting to note how a number of Muslim ‘scientists’ have laboured hard to come up with convoluted interpretations of certain scriptures. Ironically, their ancient counterparts, especially between the 8th and 13th centuries in Baghdad and Persia, had put all effort in trying to understand natural phenomena and the human body and mind through hardcore science and philosophy.

Those great men of Islamic antiquity weren’t over-reading into divine texts for scientific answers; instead, to them God’s command to reflect on nature and the world around them was enough to inspire them to become dedicated rational scientists and philosophers. They were celebrated not only by Muslims, but humanity at large for their scientific prowess.

But, alas, beginning around the early 1970s, with the collapse of a secular nationalist mindset in the Muslim world, and the rise in influence of totalitarian oil-rich puritanical monarchies, Muslim polities and mindset began to suspect science as a tool of western and communist social engineering and imperialism.

Whereas the wealthy monarchies remained firmly in the western camp during the Cold War, they aggressively proliferated reactionary literature that attacked both western and Marxist ideas across the Muslim world. Added to this was the propagated perception that modern science was the creation of the continuing Judo-Christian tradition (nay, ‘conspiracy’) aimed at undermining Islam.

Many Arab as well as some western academics (who were paid large sums of money and perks) were continuously invited to the rich, conservative kingdoms and asked to scribble books claiming that the Muslim holy book was punctuated with scientific truths hundreds of years before the West discovered them in their labs.

This practice — clearly emerging from a mixture of an inferiority complex and the passion for shouting down modern liberal and leftist notions — sanctified myopia and an unscientific bent of mind in the Muslim world. As many Muslim scientists such as Ziauddin Sardar and Pervez Hoodbhoy, and renowned Islamic scholars like Muhammad Akhund, have already lamented, Muslims through such literature are actually encouraged to drop out of any field or lab work required for genuine scientific research. Many are persuaded to follow the belief that all they need to know about science is already in the holy book.

Rationalist Islamic scholars have been insisting throughout the 20th century to date that the holy book is less a book of laws or science. It is an elaborate moral guide for Muslims in which God has given the individual the freewill to decide for him or herself through exerting their mental faculties and striving to gain more empirical knowledge.

Iranian writer, Vali Reza Nasr, is right to mourn the trend today that though most Muslims are quick to adopt western science, they simply refuse to assume a rational scientific mindset. No wonder then, for example, most Pakistanis still don’t have a clue about what the country’s only Nobel Prize winning scientist, Dr Abdus Salam, got the award for, but many are quick to quote from books written by super cranks like Harun Yahya and Maurice Bucaille, explaining how things like the Big Bang and others are endorsed in the holy book.

In addition to such claptrap, there are already books out there claiming that electricity can be generated from jinns. A whole session was organised in Islamabad in the late 1980s during the Ziaul Haq regime in which fringe crackpots (disguised as scientists) were invited by the dictator to determine the ‘speed of heaven’, and how to overcome the energy crisis with the aid of jinns!

So why read books of science, or enter a lab to understand the many workings of God’s nature and creatures; just read the holy book. Who knows you may find a theory on time travel and laser guns in it as well? Forget about all those great Muslim scientists of yore, or Abdus Salam, Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Just get in touch with your friendly neighbourhood jinn for all your energy needs.

Has Google Been blocked in Pakistan?

PTA has blocked another site in order to ensure that all Pakistanis are unable to see the Blasphemous images

This time its Google!!!

Blocking Facebook was a reasonable step as FB wasnt even sticking to their own Terms & Conditions, Wikipedia was blocked because it contained articles and links about the Blasphemous event

But Google … ??? It means I cant even search within my personal blog as its search is powered by Google!!

What next?? expect Bing, Altavista, Alexa, Mywebsearch, Yahoo … and may be even e-mail sites (as pictures can be mailed) blocked in a couple of days and whatever PTA thinks fit!!

Hamid Mir/Jang Groups's Somersaults on Freedom of Expression.

Former president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Mazhar Abbas said that on the whole media’s role in the entire episode left a lot to be desired. “We go by the official version and don’t even use words like ‘alleged’. We (the media) must be very careful when an allegation is being levelled against someone,” said Mr Abbas. He said that the electronic media totally ignored these guidelines and did not even express regret if someone had been cleared by court or law-enforcers through an inquiry. “Throughout his ordeal, Faiz remained quite confident but we were devastated. We spent sleepless nights since Sunday when it all began,” his family members said. ‘Therapy shoes’ passenger mulls action against ASF By S. Raza Hassan Saturday, 15 May, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/therapy-shoes-passenger-mulls-action-against-asf-550

ISLAMABAD: Some elements in the federal government have hatched a grand conspiracy to malign and blackmail the Pakistani media and top of the list is the Jang Group of Newspapers and Geo TV. This grand conspiracy was noticed last Friday when a federal minister made allegations in the National Assembly and said that they have not paid huge amounts of sales tax. Most of the figures presented in the National Assembly were not correct. The same afternoon, a top government minister told this scribe that “enough is enough” and now they can teach a lesson to Jang Group any time. He claimed that it was only President Asif Ali Zardari who never allowed any “action” against you people otherwise the action would have started long ago. The minister was angry with Ansar Abbasi and Dr Shahid Masood. He claimed that the government had collected a lot of material against these two. Another minister told this scribe the same evening that President Zardari had given a green signal to launch a campaign against some journalists of the Jang Group, including Shaheen Sehbai, Ansar Abbasi, Dr Shahid Masood, Kamran Khan, Hamid Mir and some others. He said that Dr Shahid might be implicated in some forgery case. Another minister revealed that some people within the establishment suggested to the government to use the family of late Khalid Khawaja against Hamid Mir on the basis of a tape. A top official of the interior ministry rejected this idea and said that these types of concocted tapes cannot be proven in a court of law but the same night some pro-PPP websites launched a campaign against me. The next day, a section of the media belonging to a close friend of President Zardari published a one-sided story with baseless allegations. A newspaper and a TV channel tried to involve me in the murder of Khalid Khwaja. I will take legal action against all those who started this campaign but one thing must be clear. It is a conspiracy not only against me. The ultimate goal is to silence the voice of Pakistani media on certain issues. Was it a coincidence that PPP Secretary Information Fauzia Wahab addressed a press conference on Saturday against Ansar Abbasi and the next day a full-fledged campaign was launched against me in a section of the media belonging to Governor Punjab? REFERENCE: Grand plot against media Monday, May 17, 2010By Hamid Mir http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=239716 Monday, May 17, 2010, Jamadi-ul-Sani 02, 1431 A.H http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/may2010-daily/17-05-2010/col6.htm



Monday, May 17, 2010, Jamadi-ul-Sani 02, 1431 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/may2010-daily/17-05-2010/mulkbharse.htm


AND AFTER ALL THESE SPEECHES READ THIS BY THE SAME HAMID MIR:

He had been trying to establish direct contacts between the USA and the Taliban for the last five years. He also tried to mediate between the Pakistan Army and the Taliban many times in the last two years but all his efforts failed due to lack of trust between him and the current military leadership of Pakistan. His known contacts with some former CIA officials and an American businessman Mansoor Ijaz also created problems for him. He was intelligent enough in maintaining links with Americans and their critics like Hameed Gul at the same time but unfortunately he could not anticipate the seriousness of his adversaries, who did not miss any opportunity to strike against friends and foes alike. The militants confronted him as to why on the one hand he was opposing the drone attacks but on the other hand he was trying to establish contacts between the USA and the Taliban. The militants claimed that he arranged a meeting between US Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes and a religious cleric Javed Ibrahim Paracha in 2005 in Serena Hotel, Islamabad. They also produced some articles downloaded from the Internet and asked about his links with former CIA officials, James Woolsey and William Casey. Khwaja had met these former CIA officials through an American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who was very close to the Bill Clinton administration. Ijaz played a key role in forcing the Sudanese government to expel Osama bin Ladin from Khartoum in 1996 and helped Khwaja to establish direct links between the Taliban and the Bush administration in October 1999 when he wanted Mulla Omar to meet James Woolsey to avert an American attack on Afghanistan. Mulla Omar refused to meet the then CIA leader. REFERENCE: What was the last mission of Khalid Khwaja? http://thenews.com.pk/print3.asp?id=28590 http://ejang.jang.com.pk/5-2-2010/images/4045.gif


People have short memory! Because this very Hamid Mir right after 911 had filed this "CANARD"


Military Dictators particularly in Pakistan always survive through exploiting imaginary and concocted fears. General Zia ul Haq had survived by exploiting the fear “Islam is in Danger” and Maudoodi’s Jamat-e-Islami and other Deobandi-Wahabi-Barelvi Mullahs helped General Zia in his every dirty effort to exploit Islam for the sake of perpetuating his Ruthless Rule to achieve a bigger goal for the Americans that was routing Communist USSR in Afghanistan once and for all. The day the Communists left Afghanistan General Zia and lackeys in Religious Mafia of Afghanistan and Pakistan lost all viability in the eyes of US Military Industrial Complex and came ‘Divine Intervention’ of 17 August 1988. Now almost after 16 years the Pakistan is again under the Military Dictatorship courtesy USA and again imaginary Fear and Terror threat from so-called Al-Qaeda. Musharraf had said somewhere between 12 October 1999 to 2005 that Pakistan was about to be declared ‘Terrorist Rogue State’ and allegations were all over the place that Pakistan is not a responsible state and believed to be involved in Nuclear Proliferation to other Rogue States around the world. Whereas such rogue States like Iraq and Iran amongst those nations who received Weapons from USA in their time of ‘distress’ Iraq {during Iran-Iraq War from USA, Europe and Saudi Arabia} and Iran {during the same war from USA remember Iran-Contra Affair}.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed [Former Federal Information Minister and Ex Federal Minister for Railway under General Musharraf's Martial Law Regime]

In 2005 the then Pakistan's Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid had said in an interview that;

"Pakistan: Khan Gave Nuke Material to Iran Thursday, March 10, 2005

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149995,00.html

"Dr. Abdul Qadeer gave some centrifuges to Iran," the minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He helped Iran in his personal capacity, and the Pakistan government had nothing to do with it."

In a seminar arranged by Mir Khalil ur Rehman, the federal Information Minister Sh. Rasheed said:

Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed says that Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, disgraced scientist dubbed the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, provided Iran with centrifuges that can be used to purify uranium for nuclear weapons.

In the same seminar the Minister said Qadeer did this without the involvement of Pakistani govt, means govt. is not involved but Qadeer did on his own. Isn't it strange after all Nations top scientist is always under tight security. Who is Rasheed trying to fool or save? Is this technology like a peanut, which you can sell anywhere you want. If the govt. doesnot know about this then these Security Agencies in Pakistan must be taken to task for the security lapse. These Security Agencies never fail to break any elected popular government through cloak and dagger, yes they never failed in doing so since the 'death' of General Ziaul Haq through a divine intervention. Since 1990 till 12 Oct 1999, these very Security Agencies conspired against every Civilian Government of Pakistan elected by the people but it is amazing the real job which they were responsible for was not done et all. I am not buying the Ranting of Sheikh Rasheed.

A very senior journalist from Karachi, Late. Mr. Shabbir Durrani , had once said to me; “do whatever you want but don’t ever try to work with Jang Groups of Newspapers, Pakistan {Owners of GEO TV and The News International}”, he had further advised that it would be much better for you to do labour at dockyards as Jang Groups and their Executives are worse than [no offence to Jews and Hindus] Shylocks {more crudely Baniya (Hindu) Money Lenders}. That was his statement about Daily Jang and their owners, the sad thing is that Daily Dawn {sometimes} and its management is not far behind in this dirty game. Daily Dawn Pakistan which otherwise is least sensational and scandalous but sometime plays to the tunes of Vested Interests even without checking the credentials of the Journalists filing the story. In November 2001 a reporter cum analyst cum biographer i.e. Mr Hamid Mir {Now in GEO TV of Jang Group of Newspapers Pakistan} filed a story in Daily Dawn that “Osama Bin Laden said he had nuclear and chemical weapons and was ready to use them” [For complete story click the links below]. The most pathetic thing is that nowadays nobody questions the story, you can file anything you like anywhere.

People have short memory because after 4 years in the same Daily Dawn one of the most serious and senior journalist and that too amongst the senior editors Ms. Zubeida Mustafa opined in her columns that “Stephen Hess and Marvin Kalb write in their book The Media and the War on Terrorism about the "CNN effect" (a term now applied for all television channels), "In 1992, President George H.W. Bush saw television images of starving children in Somalia and he felt obliged to send US troops there to distribute food."

They add, "Less than a year, later President Bill Clinton saw television images of Somali fighters dragging the desecrated body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu and he felt obliged to withdraw the troops." She further wrotes, “With more serious implications has been the media's propensity to project an image which may actually misrepresent the truth. The images could be positive or negative, but not accurate.” Since there is no professional check - an editor for websites, a code of ethics for television and radio - just about anyone can acquire a medium and put anything up there. All the information so released becomes an article of faith because it has been well presented and is believed by the gullible reader/viewer/listener.” I wonder was there any professional check on Mr. Hamid Mir (now in GEO TV) when he filed that story in one of the most ‘prestigious’ newspaper of the country and shamelessly the editorial executives are now advising all and sundry to check and cross check before filing any story. Did they ask from that reporter that Atomic/Nuclear devices are not that kind of devices, which can be carried away easily like .22 caliber pistol? Yet they published Hamid Mir’s story as headline in Daily Dawn as a gospel truth.

It’s a separate debate whether Al-Qaeda/Taliban was involved in 9/11 or not but still after thoroughly bombed and destroyed Afghanistan, the most high tech US Intelligence apparatus couldn’t ‘succeed’ in nabbing the Bearded Bandits i.e. Osama, Zawahiri and Omar {seems to be the disciples of Hassan Bin Sabbah of Nazari Community of Qila Al Amut, Khorasan} but isn’t it strange that these wanted persons are being sought after by CIA, NSA, DIA, FBI etc.etc. but a petty reporter of Pakistan not only knows where he was right after 9/11 and that was not the end, the reporter also declared himself as an un-official biographer of Osama Bin Laden.

Mr Hamid Mir, Geo TV Host/The News International Correspondent

Osama claims he has nukes: If US uses N-arms it will get same response By Hamid Mir

November 10, 2001 Saturday Shaba’an 23, 1422

http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/10/top1.htm

KABUL, Nov 9: Osama bin Laden has said that “we have chemical and nuclear weapons as a deterrent and if America used them against us we reserve the right to use them”.

He said this in a special interview with Hamid Mir, the editor of Ausaf, for Dawn and Ausaf, at an undisclosed location near Kabul.

This was the first interview given by Osama to any journalist after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

The correspondent was taken blindfolded in a jeep from Kabul on the night of Nov 7 to a place where it was extremely cold and one could hear the sound of anti-aircraft guns firing away. After a wait of some time , Osama arrived with about a dozen bodyguards and Dr Ayman Al-Zuwahiri and answered questions.

Hamid Mir: After American bombing on Afghanistan on Oct 7, you told the Al-Jazeera TV that the Sept 11 attacks had been carried out by some Muslims. How did you know they were Muslims ?

Osama bin Laden: The Americans themselves released a list of the suspects of the Sept 11 attacks, saying that the persons named were involved in the attacks. They were all Muslims, of whom 15 belonged to Saudi Arabia, two were from the UAE and one from Egypt. According to the information I have, they were all passengers.Fateha was held for them in their homes. But America said they were hijackers.

HM: In your statement of Oct 7, you expressed satisfaction over the Sept 11 attacks, although a large number of innocent people perished in them, hundreds among them were Muslims. Can you justify the killing of innocent men in the light of Islamic teachings ?

OBL: This is a major point in jurisprudence. In my view, if an enemy occupies a Muslim territory and uses common people as human shield, then it is permitted to attack that enemy. For instance, if bandits barge into a home and hold a child hostage, then the child’s father can attack the bandits and in that attack even the child may get hurt.

America and its allies are massacring us in Palestine, Chechenya, Kashmir and Iraq. The Muslims have the right to attack America in reprisal. The Islamic Shariat says Muslims should not live in the land of the infidel for long. The Sept 11 attacks were not targeted at women and children. The real targets were America’s icons of military and economic power.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was against killing women and children. When he saw a dead woman during a war, he asked why was she killed ? If a child is above 13 and wields a weapon against Muslims, then it is permitted to kill him.

The American people should remember that they pay taxes to their government, they elect their president, their government manufactures arms and gives them to Israel and Israel uses them to massacre Palestinians. The American Congress endorses all government measures and this proves that the entire America is responsible for the atrocities perpetrated against Muslims. The entire America, because they elect the Congress.

I ask the American people to force their government to give up anti-Muslim policies. The American people had risen against their government’s war in Vietnam. They must do the same today. The American people should stop the massacre of Muslims by their government.

HM: Can it be said that you are against the American government, not the American people ?

OSB: Yes! We are carrying on the mission of our Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The mission is to spread the word of God, not to indulge massacring people. We ourselves are the target of killings, destruction and atrocities. We are only defending ourselves. This is defensive Jihad. We want to defend our people and our land. That is why I say that if we don’t get security, the Americans, too would not get security.

This is a simple formula that even an American child can understand. This is the formula of live and let live.

HM: The head of Egypt’s Jamia Al-Azhar has issued a fatwa (edict) against you, saying that the views and beliefs of Osama bin Laden have nothing to do with Islam. What do you have to say about that ?

OSB: The fatwa of any official Aalim has no value for me. History is full of such Ulema who justify Riba, who justify the occupation of Palestine by the Jews, who justify the presence of American troops around Harmain Sharifain. These people support the infidels for their personal gain.The true Ulema support the Jihad against America. Tell me if Indian forces invaded Pakistan what would you do? The Israeli forces occupy our land and the American troops are on our territory. We have no other option but to launch Jihad.

HM: Some Western media claim that you are trying to acquire chemical and nuclear weapons. How much truth is there in such reports?

OSB: I heard the speech of American President Bush yesterday (Oct 7). He was scaring the European countries that Osama wanted to attack with weapons of mass destruction. I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons. We have the weapons as deterrent.

HM: Where did you get these weapons from ?

OSB: Go to the next question.

HM: Demonstrations are being held in many European countries against American attacks on Afghanistan. Thousands of the protesters were non-Muslims. What is your opinion about those non-Muslim protesters ?

OSB: There are many innocent and good-hearted people in the West. American media instigates them against Muslims. However, some good-hearted people are protesting against American attacks because human nature abhors injustice.

The Muslims were massacred under the UN patronage in Bosnia. I am ware that some officers of the State Department had resigned in protest. Many years ago the US ambassador in Egypt had resigned in protest against the policies of President Jimmy Carter. Nice and civilized are everywhere. The Jewish lobby has taken America and the West hostage.

HM: Some people say that war is no solution to any issue. Do you think that some political formula could be found to stop the present war ?

OSB: You should put this question to those who have started this war. We are only defending ourselves.

HM: If America got out of Saudi Arabia and the Al-Aqsa mosque was liberated, would you then present yourself for trial in some Muslim country ?

OSB: Only Afghanistan is an Islamic country. Pakistan follows the English law. I don’t consider Saudi Arabia an Islamic country. If the Americans have charges against me, we too have a charge sheet against them.

HM: Pakistan government decided to cooperate with America after Sept 11, which you don’t consider right. What do you think Pakistan should have done but to cooperate with America ?

OSB: The government of Pakistan should have the wishes of the people in view. It should not have surrendered to the unjustified demands of America. America does not have solid proof against us. It just has some surmises. It is unjust to start bombing on the basis of those surmises.

HM: Had America decided to attack Pakistan with the help of India and Israel, what would have we done ?

OSB: What has America achieved by attacking Afghanistan ? We will not leave the Pakistani people and the Pakistani territory at anybody’s mercy.

We will defend Pakistan. But we have been disappointed by Gen Pervez Musharraf. He says that the majority is with him. I say the majority is against him.

Bush has used the word crusade. This is a crusade declared by Bush. It is no wisdom to barter off blood of Afghan brethren to improve Pakistan’s economy. He will be punished by the Pakistani people and Allah.

Right now a great war of Islamic history is being fought in Afghanistan. All the big powers are united against Muslims. It is ‘ sawab ‘ to participate in this war.

HM: A French newspaper has claimed that you had kidney problem and had secretly gone to Dubai for treatment last year. Is that correct ?

OSB: My kidneys are all right. I did not go to Dubai last year. One British newspaper has published an imaginary interview with Islamabad dateline with one of my sons who lives in Saudi Arabia. All this is false.

HM: Is it correct that a daughter of Mulla Omar is your wife or your daughter is Mulla Omar’s wife ?

OSB: (Laughs). All my wives are Arabs ( and all my daughters are married to Arab Mujahideen). I have spiritual relationship with Mulla Omar. He is a great and brave Muslim of this age. He does not fear anyone but Allah. He is not under any personal relationship or obligation to me. He is only discharging his religious duty. I, too, have not chosen this life out of any personal consideration.

Notes:

The flip side of information By Zubeida Mustafa

http://www.dawn.com/2005/03/16/op.htm#2

As per one of my friend who is in GEO TV. During Judicial Crisis [Musharraf Days] it was Hamid Mir who got out of the office and slapped one policeman in Islamabad to instigate Policemen to enter GEO office to create a scene. These anchors often create a situation where they made their guests to say what they themselves [anchors] want to say. Why we forget that Nazir Naji and Ahmed Noorani Tapes were also made available on internet. Who tapped the conversation???? Hamid Mir and many other leading anchors in several Pakistani Private TV Channels [who are also leading correspondents in Newspapers] are ASSETS and when assets don’t follow the line then such leaks are also used. Hamid Mir is a known time server. Many of us have now forgotten that it was Hamid Mir who filed a lead story [and story was false] in Daily Dawn [Hamid Mir wasn't even a Contract Employee of Dawn] after 911 that ” OBL has more than 30 Nukes [as if Nukes are .22 Caliber Pistols and can easily be carried around when half of the leading Military around the world were looking after for OBL. Above all Hamid is an expert in quick somersaults: Read the contents of this story when Hamid Mir and Col Imam were exchanging allegation

Don't be deceived by these sycophants, time servers and worse creatures on earth like Hamid Mir and his likes they are worse than snakes. On one hand he says that the Pro PPP websites/bloggers http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/11/capital-talk-and-let-us-build-pakistan.html is creating differences between Geo/Jang Group Journalists and Pakistan army. Whereas Hamid Mir himself has damaged the reputation of Pakistan Army [read the articles below].

Not only the reputation of Army but Mian Nawaz Sharif and PML-N [One source claimed that it was Ejaz Shah who was the head of anti-narcotics force in 1998, when the-then Nawaz Sharif regime tried to involve Asif Ali Zardari in a narcotics case through him. But he refused and later the Nawaz regime booked Zardari in the same fake case through the Punjab police - Why Benazir points finger at IB chief By Hamid Mir Saturday, October 20, 2007 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=10696 as well by filing stories without any credible facts [and if with facts then those too based on Biased Corruption Cases registered by Former Senator of PML - Saif ur Rehman (nowadays a proclaimed offender) and allegedly Mr. Ansar Abbasi is also doing the same. NAB Documents, Accountability, Ansar Abbasi & Musharraf's Treason Trial. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/11/nab-documents-accountability-ansar.html

In his popular talk show 'Capital Talk' (Geo TV) on the night of 5 November 2009, Hamid Mir dedicated almost entire program to criticize the 'Let us build Pakistan' blog as well as the group 'Critical Supporters of Pakistan People's Party' (CSPP). Hamid Mir and his guest Ansar Abbasi alleged that the 'Let us build Pakistan' was being run from the President House, and that an ambassador was the overall in charge of this blog. The 'Capital Talk' and the 'Let us build Pakistan' debate http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/11/capital-talk-and-let-us-build-pakistan.html.

Mir also alleged that the CSPP and the Let us build Pakistan were trying to create differences between Pakistan Army and media. Read Hamid Mir's Article after the video which are very damaging for Pakistan Army. Not only him but Kamran Khan has well has done this. So much so that a Retired Colonel of Pakistan Army has declared [without naming anyone] that such journalists are Fifth Columnists. One such example is: Shaheen Sehabi, Jang Group & Definition of National Interest. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/10/shaheen-sehabi-jang-group-definition-of.html

VIDEOS OF THE PROGRAM:









COURTESY: http://www.youtube.com/user/politicssss
COURTESY: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrNeopk



Who is Ilyas Kashmiri? Friday, October 02, 2009
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=201054

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This is with reference to Hamid Mir's report (Sept 20) titled "How an ex-commando became a terrorist". It is total disinformation -- Ilyas Kashmiri neither had any association with the SSG nor did he serve in the army as a soldier. Being an ex-commando officer, I know that the SSG never indulges in such heinous crimes. It's a superior professional force of the army composed of responsible officers and men who carry out professional tasks. I would like to add that there is always an attempt by hostile agencies to defame the security forces of Pakistan with a malicious intent. Therefore, newspapers and columnists must refrain from falling prey to these fifth columnists.

Colnel (r) Imam

Ex-SSG officer,

Rawalpindi

How an ex-Army commando became a terrorist By Hamid Mir Sunday, September 20, 2009
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=24626

ISLAMABAD: Once he was a blue-eyed boy of President General Pervez Musharraf. He got a cash award from the president for slitting the throat of an Indian Army officer in the year 2000 but after 9/11, he became a suspected terrorist.

This terrorist was Ilyas Kashmiri, reportedly killed in a US drone attack in North Waziristan last week. US officials claimed that Ilyas Kashmiri was a senior al-Qaeda commander and his death was a huge loss for the militants fighting against the foreign forces in Afghanistan. Very few people know that Ilyas Kashmiri was a former SSG commando of Pakistan Army. He was originally from Kotli area of Azad Kashmir. He was deputed by Pakistan Army to train the Afghan Mujahideen fighting against the Russian Army in mid-80s. He was an expert of mines supplied to Afghan Mujahideen by the US. He lost one eye during the Jihad against Russian invaders and later on he joined Harkat-e-Jihad-e-Islami of Maulvi Nabi Muhammadi.

Ilyas Kashmiri was based in Miramshah area of North Waziristan where he was working as an instructor at a training camp. After the withdrawal of Russian Army from Afghanistan, Ilyas Kashmiri was asked by Pakistani establishment to work with Kashmiri militants. He joined the Kashmir chapter of Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami in 1991. After a few years, he developed some differences with the head of HuJI Qari Saifullah Akhtar. Ilyas Kashmiri created his own 313 Brigade in HuJI. He was once arrested by Indian Army from Poonch area of Indian held Kashmir along with Nasrullah Mansoor Langrial. He was imprisoned in different Indian jails for two years and finally he escaped from there after breaking the jail. His old friend Langrial is still imprisoned in India. Ilyas Kashmiri became a legend after escaping from the Indian jail. It was 1998 when the Indian Army started incursions along the Line of Control and killed Pakistani civilians many times by crossing the border. Ilyas Kashmiri was given the task to attack the Indians from their back. He did it many times. Indian Army killed 14 civilians on February 25, 2000 in Lonjot village of Nakial in Azad Kashmir. Indian commandos crossed the LoC, spent the whole night in a Pakistani village and left early morning. They slit the throats of three girls and took away their heads with them. They also kidnapped two local girls. The next morning, the heads of the kidnapped girls were thrown towards Pakistani soldiers by the Indian Army.

The very next day of this massacre, Ilyas Kashmiri conducted a guerilla operation against the Indian Army in Nakyal sector on the morning of February 26, 2000. He crossed the LoC with 25 fighters of the 313 Brigade. He surrounded a bunker of Indian Army and threw grenades inside. After one of his fighters Qudratullah lost his life, he was able to kidnap an injured officer of the Indian Army. That was not the end. He slit the throat of the kidnapped officer. He came back to Pakistan with the head of the dead Indian Army officer in his bag and presented this head to top Army officials and later on to the then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf, who gave him a cash award of rupees one lakh.

The pictures of Ilyas Kashmiri with the head of a dead Indian Army officer in his hands were published in some Pakistani newspapers and he became very important among the Kashmiri militants. Maulana Zahoor Ahmad Alvi of Jamia Muhammadia, Islamabad, issued a fatwa in support of slitting the throats of Indian Army officers. Those were the days when Corps Commander, Rawalpindi, Lt Gen Mehmood Ahmad, visited the training camp of Ilyas Kashmiri in Kotli and appreciated his frequent guerilla actions against the Indian Army. His honeymoon with the Pakistan Army generals was over after the creation of Jaish-e-Muhammad. Gen Mehmood wanted Ilyas Kashmiri to join JeM and accept Maulana Masood Azhar as his leader but the one eyed militant refused to do so. The militants of JeM once attacked the training camp of Ilyas Kashmiri in Kotli but he survived that attack. His outfit was banned by Musharraf after 9/11. He was arrested after an attack on the life of Pervez Musharraf in December 2003. He was tortured during the interrogation.

The United Jihad Council led by Syed Salahuddin strongly protested the arrest of Ilyas Kashmiri and on the pressure of Kashmiri militants, Ilyas Kashmiri was released in February 2004. He was a shattered man after his release. He disassociated himself from the Kashmiri militants and remained silent for at least three years. It was the Lal Masjid operation in July 2007, which totally changed Ilyas Kashmiri. He moved to North Waziristan where he spent many years as a Jihad instructor. This area was full of his friends and sympathisers. He reorganized his 313 Brigade and joined hands with the Taliban but he was never close to al-Qaeda leadership. He attracted many former Pakistan Army officers to join hands with him. The strength of 313 Brigade in North Waziristan was more than 3,000. Most of his fighters were hired from the Punjab, Sindh and Azad Kashmir. It is alleged that he organised many terrorist attacks in different areas of Pakistan, including the assassination of Major General (retd) Faisal Alvi in Rawalpindi. Alvi was also from the SSG and he led the first-ever Army operation in North Waziristan in 2004. Kashmiri planned attacks on Alvi on the demand of Taliban in North Waziristan. Sources close to his family have yet not confirmed his death in a US drone attack but there is no doubt that Ilyas Kashmiri was actually a creation of the Pakistani establishment like Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi of the banned LeT. The Pakistani establishment abandoned and arrested most of these militant leaders without realising that they had followers all over Pakistan and they could create problems for Pakistan anytime. The establishment is still without any policy about all those who were once declared “freedom fighters” and were honored by the top Army officials like Pervez Musharraf.

My only point is this that why should we blame USA when our several TV Anchors for instance Kamran Khan of GEO TV who 'SUCCESSFULLY' [Al-Qaeda commander claims responsibility for 9/11 attacks Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Accuses Pakistan of inflicting more damage on his organisation; Mustafa says al-Qaeda men also attacked Danish embassy in Islamabad These comments were made in an interview with Najeeb Ahmed that was broadcast on Monday on Geo TV's Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath programme. This was the first detailed interview in five years of a senior al-Qaeda leader. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16144 ] interviewed some obscure and concocted Militant Abu Mustafa Al Yazid [What is Al-Qaida ? Aaj Kamran Khan K saath P-1 http://vidpk.com/14526/What-is-Al-Qaida-?-Aaj-Kamran-Khan-K-saath-P-1/ http://vidpk.com/channel_detail.php?chid=41 ] and relayed it on GEO TV for creating more problem for Pakistan. How the hell they get such interviews when even the high tech Western Agencies could't trace them??? Months after right after 911 Hamid Mir filed a front page Super Headline In Daily Dawn that Osama Bin Laden has 36 Nukes [Hamid Mir wasn't even Dawn Employee not even on contract Daily Dawn, Hameed Haroon, Hamid Mir & Nuclear Bombs http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/04/daily-dawn-hameed-haroon-hamid-mir.html Hamid Mir Calamity & Geo TV. http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2008/12/hamid-mir-calamity-geo-tv.html ] what was the purpose of such stories which always embarrassed Pakistan. There are several Militants of Northern Areas who used to address crowded Press Conference and getting coverage in every Private TV Channels in Pakistan. Basically this Rat Race amongst TV Channels has ruined the mental peace of Pakistanis. Nobody is saying to ban TV Channels but did anyone ever questioned the news they present, its veracity, its source, and its background. These TV Channels are keeping alive this "Alleged War On Terror" to make money out of the miseries of People of NWFP, Baluchistan and FATA. Let me quote you a dialogue from a best seller by Late. Harold Robbins

'The truth,' I said. 'Can't any of you tell the truth? Do you always have to manipulate others doing your dirty work for you when the truth is so much simpler?'

'That's show business,' Guy said glibly.

'I don't like it,' I said.

'You better get used to it if you're going to stay in it.' (from The Lonely Lady, 1976)

Despite all this the Editor Jang has the audacity to lecture Pakistanis about "Corruption Free Pakistan" in his editorial

The Editor Daily Jang in his editorial dated 7 Nov 2009 http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2009-daily/07-11-2009/idaria.htm [Internet Edition]is lecturing Pakistani People and Politicians about Corruptions what about CORRUPT AND LIAR Journalists in Jang Group of Newspapers/The News International and GEO TV.

And if that was not enough another Group Editor, The News International i.e. Mr Shaheeh Sehbai [same Newspaper Group] who has nowadays adopted the role of Grand Tomás de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, and like a bull in a china shop hitting everybody without even bothering to remember [as per his own article] that several leading corrupt journalists/columnists [again as per his own article] are working and writing in Daily Jang.

Shaheen Sehbai on Corruption in the Print Media: The peers, naturally those who come out unscathed and "clean", should sit down to formulate lists of those who have been publicly demonstrating a lack of intellectual, moral and professional integrity. Big names like Minhaj Barna, Mushahid Hussain, Maleeha Lodhi, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Nazir Naji, Ataul Haq Qasmi, Ayaz Amir, Hussain Haqqani, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, Najam Sethi, Nasim Zehra, Jamiluddin Aali and many others who sought or accepted political, diplomatic or government jobs, or joined political parties as activists, should be asked to explain why they did not quit journalism to do so and why they continued to use the profession to get, keep or regain lucrative jobs or positions of power. How do they retain, or claim to retain, their objectivity and credibility, once they have demonstrated their political ambitions. In the least they should have apologised to the profession. REFERENCE: Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats? by Shaheen Sehbai January 5, 2000 REFERENCE: http://www.chowk.com/articles/4687

Atta ul Haq Qasmi [condemned by Shaheen Sehbai in 2000 Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats? by Shaheen Sehbai January 5, 2000 REFERENCE: http://www.chowk.com/articles/4687 for corruption but contributing for Corruption Free Jang]

Jang publish Quran and Haidth on its front page and read and listen the audio of Jang Group Journalists and note the abusive language. Do also note in the light of Ansar Abbasi's claim that he is Islamist Journalist whereas he and his subordinate Ahmed Noorani are involved in wiretapping without court order and in second part of the audio Nazir Naji asks "are you tapping the call to which Noorani says no" [Lies and Islamic Journalism]

The Editor Daily Jang in his editorial dated 7 Nov 2009 http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2009-daily/07-11-2009/idaria.htm is lecturing Pakistani People and Politicians about Corruptions what about Abusive AND Criminal Journalists in Jang Group of Newspapers/The News International and GEO TV.

Nazir Naji Abusing Journalist APRIL 19, 2009 . 580 COMMENTS in Featured Articles

http://pkpolitics.com/2009/04/19/nazir-naji-abusing-journalist/

Audio is in three part click the link and read the Editor Jang who is advising government on Controlling Corruption whereas forgetting that JANG Group is infested with Corruption.

STOP PRESS

Since Judiciary is restored and you can check PLD that what the Judiciary has to say about Wiretapping and Eavesdropping

In 1997 the Supreme Court directed the Government to seek its permission before carrying out wiretapping or eavesdropping operations; however, the judiciary’s directive has been ignored widely. No action was taken during the year 2001 on the case of 12 government agencies accused of tapping and monitoring citizens’ phone calls, which has been pending since 1996, and no additional action the case was expected.

Pakistan Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor 2003 February 25, 2004 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27950.htm

The Supreme Court directed the Government to seek its permission before carrying out wiretapping or eavesdropping operations; however, the degree of compliance with this ruling was unclear at year’s end.

“The government acted in violation of Article 190 of the constitution, which says all executive and judicial authorities in Pakistan shall act in aid of the Supreme Court. Instead of readily and honestly complying with the Supreme Court verdict in the Judges’ case, the prime minister castigated the ridiculed it and implemented it reluctantly in phases. Then there was the allegation of wiretapping of state functionaries, which is also a violation of a fundamental right.”[Dawn 30.1.1997]

Do note the wording “wiretapping/intercepting of anybody not just state officials” Pakistan Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor 1999 February 23, 2000 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/441.htm

In 1997 the Supreme Court directed the federal Government to seek the Court’s permission before carrying out any future wiretapping or eavesdropping operations. Nonetheless, that same year, a lawyer for a former director of the Intelligence Bureau, charged with illegal wiretapping during Benazir Bhutto’s second term in office, presented the Supreme Court with a list of 12 government agencies that still tapped and monitored telephone calls of citizens.

Why these tapes have appeared [if genuine] so suddenly just after Mr Ansar Abbasi [Editor Investigations - The News International/Jang/GEO] surrendered his own plot and “managed to file” a particular story on this surrender??

Mr. Shaheen Sehbai, Group Editor, The News International - Jang Group of Newspapers is very fond of quoting Foreign Press particularly when Foreign Press [Pro Zionist] is negative on President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and PPP. Shaheen Sehbai while quoting The New York Times: “The problems in Afghanistan have only been compounded by the fragility of Mr. Obama’s partner in Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari, who is so weak that his government seems near collapse.” The Washington Post in a report by two correspondents said: “Zardari's political weakness is an additional hazard for a new bilateral relationship...The administration expects Zardari's position to continue to weaken, leaving him as a largely ceremonial president even if he manages to survive in office.” The report in The New York Times was filed by journalists Peter Baker, Eric Schmitt, David E Sanger, Elisabeth Bumiller and Sabrina Tavernise from Islamabad, Washington and New York while in the Washington Post Karen DeYoung from Washington and Pamela Constable from Islamabad contributed to its report. Both newspapers referred to President Zardari's increasing weakness in the context of the new Afghan policy being prepared by President Obama, which will be announced on Dec 1. REFERENCE: Obama administration fears Zardari collapse WASHINGTON (Shaheen Sehbai)Updated at: 1525 PST, Monday, November 30, 2009 http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=92494

Seven years ago Mr Shaheen Sehbai was also quoted in The New York Times as well his Editor in Chief i.e. Mir Shakil ur Rehman, and do note what Mir Shakil ur Rehman had to say about the Patriotism and Loyalty of Shaheen Sehbai with Pakistan.

"QUOTE"

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 1 (Reuters) -- The editor of a leading English-language daily said today that he had resigned, citing pressure from the government after the newspaper reported a link between the prime suspect in the killing of Daniel Pearl and an attack on India's Parliament in December. India blamed Pakistan-based militant groups for the attack, but the Pakistani government denied any link. The editor who resigned, Shaheen Sehbai, said that after publication of the article in his paper, The News, the owner and editor in chief, Mir Shakeel ur-Rahman, was pressed by the government to dismiss him and three other journalists. ''I was told by my editor in chief that he had been asked to sack four journalists -- myself, Kamran Khan, Amir Mateen and Rauf Klasra,'' Mr. Sehabai said in an online interview. ''He did not name who had said that, but he told me to go and see the I.S.I.,'' Pakistan's intelligence service. REFERENCES: A NATION CHALLENGED: SUSPECTS; Kidnapping Suspect Bears Sign of Militancy Elsewhere By DOUGLAS JEHL Published: Saturday, March 2, 2002 Editor Forced to Resign http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/02/world/nation-challenged-suspects-kidnapping-suspect-bears-sign-militancy-elsewhere.html

The article, Mr. Rahman wrote in the letter dismissing Mr. Sehbai, ''was perceived to be damaging to our national interest and elicited severe reaction of the government.'' He also accused Mr. Sehbai of violating standard procedures. Mr. Rahman and government officials were not immediately available for comment. Mr. Sehbai and one of the reporters, Mr. Klasra, have recently complained of harassment by intelligence agencies, a colleague said. While Pakistan's news media enjoy relative freedom, some newspapers have been forced to remove staff members after complaints from the government or intelligence agencies. REFERENCES: A NATION CHALLENGED: SUSPECTS; Kidnapping Suspect Bears Sign of Militancy Elsewhere By DOUGLAS JEHL Published: Saturday, March 2, 2002 Editor Forced to Resign http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/02/world/nation-challenged-suspects-kidnapping-suspect-bears-sign-militancy-elsewhere.html

"UNQUOTE"

SHAHEEN SEHBAI'S DOUBTFUL LOYALTY WITH PAKISTAN AND READ WHAT HE HAD SAID TO "The Times of India" ABOUT PAKISTAN ARMY AND ISI.

"QUOTE"



Exposing the Pakistani establishment's links with terrorists can be a hazardous job. It cost Daniel Pearl his life, and Shaheen Sehbai, former editor of 'The News', a widely-read English daily in Pakistan his job. Fearing for his life, Sehbai is now in the US He speaks to Shobha John about the pressure on journalists from the powers-that-be in Pakistan:

Q. Is it true you had to quit because a news report angered the government?

A. On February 16, our Karachi reporter, Kamran Khan, filed a story quoting Omar Sheikh as saying that he was behind the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, the Kashmir assembly attack and other terrorist acts in India. Shortly after I am, I got a call on my cellphone from Ashfaq Gondal, the principal information officer of the government, telling me that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had intercepted the story and I should stop its publication. I told him I was not prepared to do so. He then called my newspaper group owner/editor-in-chief, Mir Shakil ur Rehman in London and asked him to stop the story. Rehman stopped it in the Jang, the sister newspaper in Urdu but could not do so in The News as I was unavailable. The next day, all editions of The News carried the story. It was also carried by The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune the same day, as Kamran also reports for The Post. On February 18, all government advertising for the entire group was stopped. On February 22, Rehman rushed to Karachi and called a meeting at 10 p m. He told me the government was very angry at the story. He said he had been told to sack four journalists, including myself, if the ads were to be restored. He asked me to proceed to Islamabad to pacify the officials. Sham informed us that he had contacted the officials and was told by Anwar Mahmood, the information secretary that the matter was now beyond his capacity and we will have to see the ISI high-ups to resolve it. I was told to go and see the ISI chief in Islamabad and also to call Anwar Mahmood on Eid and improve my 'public relations' with him.

I left the meeting with the firm resolve that I would neither call nor meet anyone, even at gunpoint. Sham, however, left for Islamabad to meet the officials. His meetings were unsuccessful. From my sources, I learned that the ISI and the government were not prepared to lift the ban unless I gave them specific assurances. If I refused, there may be trouble for me as the owner was already under pressure to fire me and the other three journalists. On February 27, I took a flight out of Karachi to New York. On February 28, I received a memo from my owner accusing me of policy violations. In reply, on March 1, I sent in my resignation.

Q. Is the ISI still keeping a close watch on journalists after Daniel Pearl's killing?

A. The ISI has been a major player in domestic politics and continues to be so. That means it has to control the media and right now, it is actively involved in doing so. Pearl's murder has given them more reasons to activate the national interest excuse.

Q. Is there a sense of desperation within the Pakistan government that it should not be linked in any way to events in India?

A. Yes. That's why when our story quoted Omar Sheikh claiming such links, the government came down hard on us.

Q. Has there been any pressure on the staff of 'The News' to 'conform'?

A. Yes. The News was under constant pressure to stop its aggressive reporting on the corruption of the present government. A few months back, Pakistan International Airlines stopped all ads to The News as we ran a couple of exposes. A major story on the government owned United Bank was blocked when we sought the official version. Intelligence agencies were deputed to tail our reporters in Islamabad.

Q. This is not the first time you and your family have been under pressure, is it?

A. I have been the target of physical attacks in the past too for stories against the government. The first was in August 1990 when I was arrested and detained for 36 hours and falsely charged for drinking, before a judge gave bail. The second time, in December 1991, three masked men broke into my house in Islamabad, ransacked it, pulled guns on my two sons, beat them up and told them, Tell your father to write against the government again and see what happens. In 1995, I was threatened once again and I had to take my entire family away. My newspaper then, Dawn, decided to post me to Washington as their correspondent. This time, I feared that I could be physically targeted again. So I decided to leave the country.

Q. Is the present regime in Pakistan any different from earlier ones with regard to freedom of the press?

A. It has tolerated some freedom under foreign pressure, but the situation is basically the same. Now Musharraf appears to be under pressure to manage the media more effectively in order to manage the October elections and get his supporters elected in the polls. He needs to legitimise his military rule through a political process, which essentially is being rigged from the beginning.

Q. Is your case the first instance of a crackdown on the media by this government?

A. This was the first case of a major financial squeeze on the country's largest media group. It was followed by demands to sack me and other senior journalists and then to change the policy.

Q. How independent will the forthcoming polls be now?

A. They will be as independent as the recently-concluded local bodies polls in which candidates were named by the army and no one else was allowed to win. Candidates for state and national assemblies are now being pre-selected and influential politicians are being pressured, lured or coerced to join Musharrafs supporters.

Q. What is the mood within the Pakistani media?

A. The media is generally quiet and has fallen in line because Musharraf is getting strong support from the US and the West. But elements in the media are very resolute and they will fight back as soon as they see Musharraf losing his grip. The October polls will determine the role of the media as well because if Musharraf fails to 'manage' the elections, his control over the media will be finished.

Q. What do you propose to do now?

A. I will be writing out of Washington for some time and will return to Pakistan around the October polls. My days in Pakistan were very exciting as I maintained a completely independent editorial policy and pursued it to the last day. In the memos written by the owner, he repeatedly complains that I was not consulting him on policies. I had no need to, as he watches his own commercial interests. REFERENCE: The Daily Noose (Interview with Shaheen Sehbai) Publication: The Times of India Date: March 18, 2002 http://www.hvk.org/articles/0302/206.html

"UNQUOTE"

Mr. Shaheen Sehbai, Group Editor, The News International - Jang Group of Newspapers is very fond of quoting Foreign Press particularly when Foreign Press [Pro Zionist] is negative on President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and PPP. Shaheen Sehbai while quoting The New York Times: “The problems in Afghanistan have only been compounded by the fragility of Mr. Obama’s partner in Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari, who is so weak that his government seems near collapse.” The Washington Post in a report by two correspondents said: “Zardari's political weakness is an additional hazard for a new bilateral relationship...The administration expects Zardari's position to continue to weaken, leaving him as a largely ceremonial president even if he manages to survive in office.” REFERENCE: Obama administration fears Zardari collapse WASHINGTON (Shaheen Sehbai)Updated at: 1525 PST, Monday, November 30, 2009 http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=92494 Obama administration fears Zardari collapse Updated at: 1525 PST, Monday,November 30, 2009 http://www.geo.tv/11-30-2009/53849.htm

Should we believe Mr Shaheen Sehbai or his Editor in Chief Mir Shakil ur Rahman's Letter Addressed to Mr Shaheen Sehbai asking for his resign on filing Concocted Stories in The News International

"QUOTE"

SHAHEEN SEHBAI RESIGNS AS EDITOR OF `THE NEWS`

Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 07:42:48 -0500

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

It is with great sorrow that I have to convey this bad news to you all today. I have resigned today as the Editor.

I am enclosing enclosing the correspondence with MSR which is self explanatory. I wish to thank you all for all the cooperation and respect that you extended to me during these 14 months as Editor. I will be available to each one of you as a friend at all times. Wishing you the best of luck and a great future. Shaheen Sehbai

Pl read on:

Memorandum

To: Mir Shakil ur Rehman, Editor-in-Chief, The News
From: Shaheen Sehbai, Editor, The News
Date: March 1, 2002
Subject: Reply to Memo dated Feb 28, 2002

With reference to your Memo dated Feb 28, I have been accused of policy violations starting from March 2001 until the publication on Feb 17 this year of the Kamran Khan story on Daniel Pearl case. I can obviously understand that these so-called �policy violations?are nothing but an excuse to comply with the Government demand to sack me, and three other senior journalists, as you told me in our meeting in your office on Feb 22. I feel sorry that you have to make such excuses. You could have given one hint that you wanted me to go and I would have quit immediately.

I understand that you, as owner of the Jang Group of Newspapers have been so intensely pressurized in the last about two weeks that you are no longer ready, or able, to withstand it. All government advertising of the Group has been unjustifiably suspended by the Government starting Monday, February 18, 2002, following the investigative story done in The News by our reporter, Kamran Khan. This story, as it appears now, was just an excuse to twist the neck of the Group because the same story appeared simultaneously in the Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune and not one point contained in it was denied or clarified by the Government. Instead they tightened the screw on the Jang Group, as it appeared to be the most vulnerable and within their reach. This has a very obvious, and sinister message, for the free Press in Pakistan: Get in line, or be ready for the stick.?I feel sorry that you have decided to get in line, but I cannot be a party to this decision.

You had informed me officially at a meeting in your office on Feb 22, 2002, at 10.15 p.m. that you have been given names of four journalists of The News? myself, Kamran Khan, Amir Mateen and a staffer in our Islamabad Bureau (probably Rauf Klasra as you did not name the 4th person), to be immediately sacked before the government advertisements could be restored. You also informed me that officials of the Information Ministry wanted me to improve my PR with them as they had been complaining that I was not available to them, which is basically not true. You told me to directly contact these officials and talk to them about restoring the advertisements of the Group. Mr Mahmud Sham, who later joined our meeting, had informed us that the Secretary Information had clearly stated that matters were beyond his capacity to resolve and that we have now to meet the ISI high ups.

As a matter of principle I refused to call, or meet, any of these government officials in a situation when the entire Group was being held hostage with a gun pointed at its head. I, however, conveyed to the Government, through Mr Sham, all the evidence that the policy of The News?was very balanced, in fact tilted, in favour of General Pervez Musharraf's government, not under any government pressure, but because some of the things he was doing were right and The News never hesitated to support any right step taken by the Government. At least 50 editorials and over 100 Op-Ed articles published in about 6 weeks were cited to show that The News had no bias against the government. Proof was also provided of how �The News? at times, went out of its way to accommodate government requests.

Apparently these argument have not satisfied the government and the pressure is continuing on you, as your Memo indicates. Whatever other issues you have raised are childish and frivolous and I would not waste my time discussing them. But one message that emerges is very clear --- I ran the newspaper as a very independent Editor, according to whatever I thought was objective, true and professionally sound journalism. I made the best use of the latest available computer technology to create a working environment in which the entire editorial staff was integrated in such a network that almost everyone was available to each other at all times. I interacted with all my staff on a personal, round the clock basis, no matter where I was located or traveling, even outside Pakistan. So the charge that I was not available to my staff is laughable as it shows how far removed you are from the ground situation.

Your complaint of lack of general improvement in The News?is also obviously an excuse to build some case against me under Government pressure. You never once complained of that before. In fact the ground reality is just the opposite. I successfully built a great team of reporters, editors and writers during the 14 months I have been the Editor. We achieved a lot in breaking major stories, including assumption of the office of the President by General Musharraf and corruption in various government departments including Social Action Programme (SAP) and Employees Old-age Benefit Institution (EOBI). The overwhelming impression that any newspaper of the Jang Group could not publish anything against its advertisers and commercial sponsors was removed by the investigative stories we did on PIA and other corporate organizations. The News became the most quoted newspaper abroad, not only for its stories but its editorial comments and opinions. The latest such quote was in the prestigious New York Times just three days ago. The Washington Post interviewed me last week as Editor of The News.

The real reasons for failure to bring about a real visible change in Karachi are known to you. For over a year now you have been sitting on all the plans, proposals and schemes, including a Vision Document prepared after months of hard work. The scheme to revamp all the magazines has been lying on your table for months. The designs and site plans to renovate the entire newspaper office on 4th and 5th floors has been gaining dust for months and the staff is forced to work with hundreds of cockroaches creeping on papers, computers, inside telephone sets and faxmachines. In fact I have been bogged down in these totally useless exercises for most of my time, hoping that you would find time and money to start implementing any of these detailed proposals for change and improvement. You have always been promising to launch these scheme within weeks, but that time never came. I am appalled at your audacity to accuse me of being responsible for not bringing any change while the fact is that you have always been complaining of the financial crunch?in the newspaper. You have stopped increments of all the staff and played legal jugglery with all the contract employees by refusing to renew their contracts or giving them salary increases.

Even despite that I continued to work 20 hours a day to improve the editorial content of the newspaper which has been appreciated and recognized by every one, including your senior Directors and Editors of sister publications in letters written to me. The readers, however, are the best judge.

Why you never raised any objection before, and why you are doing it now, is obvious --- the Government pressure is unbearable. This is not a happy omen.

Therefore, I have to convey this sad message to you, though I feel very content and satisfied that I have taken the right decision on the basis of principles. I have decided to resign from the Editorship of The News with immediate effect, rather than to submit to Government pressure and change the policy of the newspaper. Under my editorship, I will not allow the newspaper to become the voice of any government for monetary considerations. I had given my name, credibility and reputation to The News?and I prefer to protect these precious assets, rather than my job. But I will earnestly request you not to take any action against the other colleagues you have been asked to sack, as the ultimate responsibility of whatever appeared in the newspaper was mine, as Editor, and not theirs. They should be allowed to continue with their jobs. I wish, you, the newspaper and all of my colleagues a great future.

I hereby, resign from the editorship. Please accept my resignation today and remove my name from the print line of the newspaper as of tomorrow, Saturday, March 2, 2002. I would not be responsible for the contents of the newspaper as of tomorrow.

Best Regards

Shaheen Sehbai

Memorandum

To: Shaheen Sehbai, Editor, The News
From: MSR, Editor-in-Chief
Date: 2/28/02
Re: Violation of policy


I am constrained to bring to your notice several, and repeated, violation of editorial policies clearly understood between us. Infact, these policies have also been agreed in writing. On 26th March, 2001, you had published a one sided, incorrect and libelous article against Mr. Aittiazaz Bob Din, a well known businessman residing in the United States. Although Mr. Bob Din had cited person differences between the two of you, dating back to your stay in the United States, as the motive behind the unfounded allegations against him, I had disregarded this suggestion at that time and had judged the matter purely on merit. As you will recall, you were unable to substantiate the serious charges you had leveled against him. It was only through my personal apologies and the intervention of mutual acquaintances that we were able to dissuade Mr. Din from suing the News for defamation and libel.

On two different occasions, you published unfavourable articles about PIA, which were of uncertain veracity and did not contain their point of view, as a result of which they denounced these articles in a press conference, threatened to take legal action, suspended our advertisements and also stopped putting our papers on PIA flights. Needless to say, these measures hurt us financially, damaged our reputation and took a great deal of pacification to undo.

I would also refer to the written terms of our agreement at the time of your appointment under which you are required to discuss the top stories of the day and other important editorial matters with me and seek the Editor-in-chiefs point of view and verdict on contentious issues? To my recollection, you have never deemed it fit to consult me on any matter. In this connection, I would further like to refer to our meeting on the eve of Eid in which group Editor Daily Jang was also present and we discussed the fallout of the story printed a few days earlier in the News ( again without consulting me, I might add ) which was perceived to be damaging to our national interest and elicited severe reaction by the Government. It had been agreed that we would contact relevant Government functionaries and arrange to meet with them to discuss the issue and also convey our point of view. Regrettably, you chose not to go to Islamabad and attend the meeting even though this had been clearly agreed. You even rebuffed senior Government officials who contacted you on the phone by hanging up on them. Sham Sahib and I left several messages with your assistant but again, you chose not to take or return our calls.

I would also like to take this opportunity to point out again, that it is a frequent complaint that you do not interact with people. Not only have senior Government officials protested that you are inaccessible to them, but even your own staff complains that you are hardly available for meetings, guidance and discussions.

I must convey my disappointment to you at all these issues, as I must convey my disappointment with the lack of general progress in the improvement of the News. The number of mistakes and blunders being committed, failure to follow agreed journalistic ethics - as pointed out to you from time to time by EMD have all resulted in financial set backs as well as loss of credibility for the News. I have only recounted some of the problems besetting the Jang group. It is quite evident that matters are not proceeding as we had agreed. However, before I make up my mind, I would like to hear your point of view.

I look forward to hearing from you about the serious issues that I have raised above and any solutions that you may propose.

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

"UNQUOTE"

REFERENCE: Why Are We Killing Ourselves? Anas Malik March 2, 2002 http://www.chowk.com/interacts/5252/1/0/a

Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, [commission of] or incitement to an offence. Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party,. REFERENCE: 1973 Constitution of Pakistan http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/part2.ch1.html

One must raise objection on the comment of Mr Hamid Mir and Mr Ansar Abbasi that a blog http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/ carrying PPP flag!!! What does that mean? Should Pakistanis first have permission from GEO TV/Jang Group/The News International to utter something, or one has to ask for permission of GEO TV/Jang Group/The News International to exercise their Political Right that includes showing Flag of any political party. Both of the Top Journalists Mr Hamid Mir and Mr Ansar Abbasi were behaving as if we are living in Third Reich.

In his popular talk show 'Capital Talk' (Geo TV) on the night of 5 November 2009, Hamid Mir dedicated almost entire program to criticize the 'Let us build Pakistan' blog as well as the group 'Critical Supporters of Pakistan People's Party' (CSPP). Hamid Mir and his guest Ansar Abbasi alleged that the 'Let us build Pakistan' was being run from the President House, and that an ambassador was the overall in charge of this blog. Mir also alleged that the CSPP and the Let us build Pakistan were trying to create differences between Pakistan Army and media. REFERENCE: The 'Capital Talk' and the 'Let us build Pakistan' debate http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/11/capital-talk-and-let-us-build-pakistan.html

VIDEOS OF THE PROGRAM:









COURTESY: http://www.youtube.com/user/politicssss

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COURTESY: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrNeopk

Lets suppose that http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/11/capital-talk-and-let-us-build-pakistan.html is owned by PPP then what about those blogs who are exposing Rauf Klasra, Haroon ur Rasheed, and Mohammad Malick Video - Journalist Corruption – PKPolitics Responds http://pkpolitics.com/2009/07/28/journalist-corruption-pkpolitics-responds/ or what about those blog which are critical to the PPP Pakistan Army kicks out Rehman Malik from GHQ http://teeth.com.pk/blog/2009/10/18/pakistan-army-kicks-out-rehman-malik-from-ghq

LET ME GIVE A GLIMPSE OF MUD SLINGING

The Editor Daily Jang in his editorial dated 7 Nov 2009 http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2009-daily/07-11-2009/idaria.htm is lecturing Pakistani People and Politicians about Corruptions what about CORRUPT AND LIAR Journalists in Jang Group of Newspapers/The News International and GEO TV.

Journalist Corruption Scandal - Mohammad Malick JUNE 3, 2009.

Courtesy: PKPOLITICS http://pkpolitics.com/

URL: http://pkpolitics.com/2009/06/03/journalist-corruption-scandal-mohammad-malick/

Shaheen Sehbai in the year 2000 on Corrupt Journalists:

The peers, naturally those who come out unscathed and "clean", should sit down to formulate lists of those who have been publicly demonstrating a lack of intellectual, moral and professional integrity. Big names like Minhaj Barna, Mushahid Hussain, Maleeha Lodhi, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Nazir Naji, Ataul Haq Qasmi, Ayaz Amir, Hussain Haqqani, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, Najam Sethi, Nasim Zehra, Jamiluddin Aali and many others who sought or accepted political, diplomatic or government jobs, or joined political parties as activists, should be asked to explain why they did not quit journalism to do so and why they continued to use the profession to get, keep or regain lucrative jobs or positions of power. How do they retain, or claim to retain, their objectivity and credibility, once they have demonstrated their political ambitions. In the least they should have apologised to the profession. REFERENCE: Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats? by Shaheen Sehbai January 5, 2000 REFERENCE: http://www.chowk.com/articles/4687

The Editor Daily Jang in his editorial dated 7 Nov 2009 http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2009-daily/07-11-2009/idaria.htm is lecturing Pakistani People and Politicians about Corruptions what about CORRUPT AND LIAR Journalists in Jang Group of Newspapers/The News International and GEO TV.

Video - Journalist Corruption – PKPolitics Responds

http://pkpolitics.com/2009/07/28/journalist-corruption-pkpolitics-responds/

Atta ul Haq Qasmi [condemned by Shaheen Sehbai in 2000 Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats? by Shaheen Sehbai January 5, 2000 REFERENCE: http://www.chowk.com/articles/4687 for corruption but contributing for Corruption Free Jang]

http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2009-daily/07-11-2009/col3.htm

Haroon ur Rasheed [still writing in Corruption Free Jang]

http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2009-daily/07-11-2009/col4.htm

Shaheen Sehbai on Corruption in Media:

The peers, naturally those who come out unscathed and "clean", should sit down to formulate lists of those who have been publicly demonstrating a lack of intellectual, moral and professional integrity. Big names like Minhaj Barna, Mushahid Hussain, Maleeha Lodhi, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Nazir Naji, Ataul Haq Qasmi, Ayaz Amir, Hussain Haqqani, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, Najam Sethi, Nasim Zehra, Jamiluddin Aali and many others who sought or accepted political, diplomatic or government jobs, or joined political parties as activists, should be asked to explain why they did not quit journalism to do so and why they continued to use the profession to get, keep or regain lucrative jobs or positions of power. How do they retain, or claim to retain, their objectivity and credibility, once they have demonstrated their political ambitions. In the least they should have apologised to the profession. REFERENCE: Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats? by Shaheen Sehbai January 5, 2000 REFERENCE: http://www.chowk.com/articles/4687

Can Shaheen Sehbai prove his wild accusations against some journalists/columnists in the Court of Law?

Dr Shahid Masood and Jang Group of Newspapers often pull popular stunt to gain cheap popularity.[that is why Dr Shahid often write Urdu Columns because human memory is weak] One wonder which version of Shahid Masood and Jang are to be trusted? the one who started his career in ARY ONE World - Views on News, the one who used to exploit Pakistanis on Meray Mutabiq on GEO TV, or the one who joined PTV and Prime Minister Secretariat as the Advisor to PM or the one who again joined Jang Group of Newspapers and GEO TV's Meray Mutabiq [AIK BAR PHIR - ONCE AGAIN] ‘revealing’ that he is dismantled by the government, I wonder after so many somersaults [for earning quick bucks], does even the inept PPP Government need a Zionist Conspiracy to dismantle this comedian, Dr Shahid Masood? One wonders that when Dr Shahid Masood knew everything bad about Asif Ali Zardari & Co then why did he join the PPP Cabinet, he also accepted the post of MD PTV and then again quit PTV and that too when his pay package was discussed [read the news below filed by the side kick of Ansar Abbasi i.e. Muhammad Ahmad Noorani in The News]in National Assembly and Senate he filed this story in The News International about Ansar Abbasi and rejoined GEO TV again.

ISLAMABAD: Senior anchor person and former MD PTV Dr Shahid Masood has said that he has been told by a federal minister that Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigations, The News, was on the government hit list and once he is “dismantled” the next target will be Shaheen Sehbai, the Group Editor of the newspaper. Dr Shahid explained that he was clearly told by a PPP government federal minister that he (Dr Shahid) has already been ‘dismantled.’ “Ansar Abbasi is being dismantled right now while Shaheen Sehbai will be dismantled in the near future,” he said. REFERENCE:Minister reveals media-bashing plans of government, says Dr Shahid By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani Wednesday, December 31, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19300

According to Dr Shahid Masood, the minister told him that first he (Dr Shahid) had been ‘dismantled’ successfully. “Now a character assassination campaign against the Editor Investigations, The News Ansar Abbasi is under way, and after completely dismantling him (Ansar) a similar campaign will be launched against Group Editor, The News, Shaheen Sehbai. REFERENCE: Minister reveals media-bashing plans of government, says Dr Shahid By Muhammad Ahmad Nooran Wednesday, December 31, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19300

BUT THE SAME GEO TV/JANG GROUP/THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL'S CHIEF CORRESPONDENT KAMRAN KHAN DENY ITS OWN NEWS BY REFUTING DR. SHAHID MASOOD'S CLAIM IN AN EPISODE OF GEO TV "JAWABDEH" - WATCH AS TO HOW KAMRAN KHAN EXPOSED DR. SHAHID MASOOD IN THE VIDEO.


Dr. Shahid Masood is ‘bad mouthing’ everybody from Musharraf to Zardari but would you like to watch him in this video with Musharraf and Dr Ishratul Ibad???? Dr Shahid Masood in the company of Relaxed General Musharraf and Governor Sindh Ishratul Ibad and that too after Dr Shahid Masood joined Pakistan Television Corporation on the orders of President Zardari:

Musharraf and Shahid Masood Freindship

Mr. Ansar Abbasi's sidekick in The News International i.e. Mr. Muhammad Ahmad Noorani had also filed this story today i.e. Sunday, November 22, 2009, and he is feeling very bad about ARY ONE WORLD'S FOUNDER OWNER Haji Abdul Razzaq of ARY TV INVOLVEMENT IN CORRUTPION and NRO. One thing is forgotten by Mr Muhammad Ahmad Noorani that Dr. Shahid Masood [GEO TV] was once affiliated with ARY One World, as its senior executive director and was the chief of ARY One World conducting the show Views On News on ARY.

"QUOTE"


ISLAMABAD: It might be shameful for the whole media community of Pakistan which is continuously fighting against dictatorial rules and its by-products like the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), one of the cronies of top man sitting at the capital hill top, Haji Abdul Razzaq of ARY TV, is also among the beneficiaries of the atrocious and notorious NRO ordinance. According to documents available with The News, in the scam of plundering of billions of rupees of the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), cases of buddies of the top man - Hussain Lawai and Haji Abdul Razzaq - were closed under the NRO after four months of the promulgation of the notorious law. Both the cases against Lawai and Haji Razzaq were criminal in nature and thus were closed/disposed of by the Special Court (Offences in Banks) on August 19, 2008, on the recommendation of a federal review board which was given on June 26, 2008.

It is highly criminal on the part of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) that by defying all the rules and regulation it first gave a green signal to Hussain Lawai to be appointed as CEO of Arif Habib Bank, and now the central bank is in the process of bestowing My Bank upon the person involved in MCB plunder scam. The SBP spokesman was not available to record his version despite repeated calls made on his cell phone. A federal review board, consisting of Justice (R) Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice (R) Malik Muhammad Qayyum and Justice (R) Agha Rafiq Ahmad Khan, declared that FIR No 5/97 (Case No 12/97) and FIR No 6/97 (Case No 14/97) were politically motivated and thus the board recommend that the cases should be withdrawn. On this recommendation the concerned court acted swiftly and took no time in terminating the cases. According to the apex court judgment and legal interpretation these cases will be reopened on November 28, 2009, and both Lawai and Haji Razzaq will be liable to arrest. REFERENCE: MCB plunder scam By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani - ARY chief, Lawai were ‘cleansed’ under NRO Sunday, November 22, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=25718

HUMAN MEMORY IS WEAK BUT FIRST AWARD SHOULD BE GIVEN TO JANG GROUP AND ITS CORRESPONDETNS BECAUSE THE SAME MUHAMMAD AHMAD NOORANI HAD FILED THIS NEWS AGAINST DR. SHAHID MASOOD WHEN HE JOINED THE PPP GOVERNMENT. ALL IS FORGOTTEN NOW BECAUSE NOW DR. SHAHID MASOOD IS IN GEO TV.



ISLAMABAD: The Establishment Division on Monday issued an ambiguous notification explaining the package and remunerations of the newly-appointed chairman-cum-managing director of the state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV). The letter of the Establishment Division bearing No 1/64/2008-E-6, dated June 30, 2008, says that besides the fixed remuneration of the new chairman PTV, any other “financial benefits” are negotiable between Dr Shahid Masood and “competent authority” at some later stage. The Establishment Division letter read: “Dr Shahid Masood, chairman PTV, who also has the additional charge of managing director, has agreed to receive the same remuneration package which was given to former MD PTV Yousuf Baig Mirza (annexure-III).” The contract of Dr Shahid Masood will be for a period of five years which could be terminated by either side on a six-month notice. The attached document (annexure-III) issued by the Establishment Division on May 25, 2007, said that MD PTV Yousuf Baig Mirza would get Rs 700,000 per month as salary. His house rent would be Rs 150,000 and utility allowances Rs 25,000. The salary would be raised by Rs 50,000 per annum. Free mobile phone, two residence telephones and one fax would be allowed. Business class tickets would be given for the national and international travels. Recreational allowance would be given according to the situation. The notification issued by the Establishment Division on Monday said Dr Shahid Masood would be paid Rs 50,000 extra to that of the package of the previous MD as he (Dr Shahid) would also hold the office of the PTV chairman. REFERENCE: Package of PTV chairman announced By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani Tuesday, July 01, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=121626

Information minister Sherry Rehman has also approved the Establishment Division notification. However, senior PTV officials see the point of “extra financial benefits to be negotiated later” with concern. The officials maintained that it would be totally against the rules of the corporation and illegal to offer somebody any percentage of the income from any programme aired on the PTV. Dr Shahid Masood was appointed as the PTV chairman through the Establishment Division letter No 1/64/2008-E-6, dated May 31, 2008, and was given the additional charge of the MD through the letter No 1/64/2008-E-6, dated June 21, 2008. REFERENCE: Package of PTV chairman announced By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani Tuesday, July 01, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=121626

IF THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH MR. MUHAMMAD AHMAD NOORANI AND JANG GROUP STRIKE AGAIN AND THAT TOO WHEN DR SHAHID MASOOD JOINED GEO TV

ISLAMABAD: Senior anchor person and former MD PTV Dr Shahid Masood has said that he has been told by a federal minister that Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigations, The News, was on the government hit list and once he is “dismantled” the next target will be Shaheen Sehbai, the Group Editor of the newspaper. Dr Shahid explained that he was clearly told by a PPP government federal minister that he (Dr Shahid) has already been ‘dismantled.’ “Ansar Abbasi is being dismantled right now while Shaheen Sehbai will be dismantled in the near future,” he said. Dr Shahid Masood told The News that the message was conveyed to him in the last 48 hours through a federal minister. Shahid said that the minister was not threatening him directly but was conveying a message. “The establishment has decided to do this dismantling of senior journalists of the country (all incidentally belonging to the Jang Group of newspapers),” Dr Shahid quoted the federal minister as saying. Dr Shahid said that everything was being done by the government but the minister used the word “establishment”. It is important to mention here that the term establishment is generally used for the military authorities and intelligence agencies. According to Dr Shahid Masood, the minister told him that first he (Dr Shahid) had been ‘dismantled’ successfully. “Now a character assassination campaign against the Editor Investigations, The News Ansar Abbasi is under way, and after completely dismantling him (Ansar) a similar campaign will be launched against Group Editor, The News, Shaheen Sehbai. REFERENCE: Minister reveals media-bashing plans of government, says Dr Shahid By Muhammad Ahmad Nooran Wednesday, December 31, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19300

Dr Shahid, who hosts the Geo News programme “Meray Mutabiq,” which is recorded in Dubai, recently resigned as the chairman/MD PTV and as special assistant to the prime minister. Dr Shahid told this scribe that he responded to the minister by saying that it was unfortunate that the secret funds of the information ministry are being misused by bribing some mercenary journalists. Dr Shahid said that he told the minister that during his stay in a government department and later in government the use of this secret fund was confirmed. “However, it is very unfortunate that the secret fund of the information ministry, which was first used to bribe journalists to get support for government policies, is now being used to tarnish the image of some leading and independent journalists for the first time in the country’s history.” Dr Shahid said that he made it clear to the federal minister that government’s policy to tarnish the image of independent journalists by bribing other journalists through secret funds of the information ministry is going to fail and it will ultimately tarnish the image of politicians, democracy and the country. REFERENCE: Minister reveals media-bashing plans of government, says Dr Shahid By Muhammad Ahmad Nooran Wednesday, December 31, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19300

Despite all the above yet the Editor of The News International, Mr Shaheen Sehbai has the audacity to file this canard line in his bi-line “story” in The News. Shame on you Mr Shaheen!

“QUOTE”
Days after his meetings at the Nadra, an important journalist of the official news agency APP started calling TV anchors and media persons on behalf of Brig Imtiaz and each time he handed over the phone to the brigadier who wanted himself on the screens. Many anchors have gone on record to say the brigadier was too eager and ready to spills the beans. One anchor wrote that the brigadier said he wanted to explode a “political nuclear bomb”. That he was going to spill the beans against his own self was irrelevant and unimportant but this time he was trying to compensate the PPP for ‘Midnight Jackals’ against Benazir Bhutto. The part of the plot to attack the media is yet to be implemented as the operation is not yet over. politicians, he said that he himself (Kaira) was the biggest cell. REFERENCE: The return of the Daylight Jackals By Shaheen Sehbai with reporting from Mazhar Tufail and Ahmed Noorani Friday, September 04, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=24299

“UNQUOTE”
Mr. Shaheen Shebai [Former Correspondent of Daily Dawn Pakistan, Former Editor of The News International, Ex Director News of ARY ONE TV Channel, Former Director of GEO News Network, and presently Group Editor, The News International, Jang Group of Newspapers, Pakistan] I hope you remember the background of Mr Shahin Sehbai [One of the Editor of The News International and earlier he was in Dawn], he had escaped from Pakistan [to save himself from the wrath of the Establishment headed by General Musharraf and Co particularly after the Controversy of Shaheen Sehbai's Story on the Murder of Daniel Pearl after the start of War on Terror] and Mr Shaheen used to run a Web Based News Service i.e. South Asia Tribune but suddenly Mr Shaheen Sehbai reappeared and closed his website [whereas Mr Shaheen during his self imposed exile in USA used to raise hue and cry against the Military Establishment that he and his family member's life is in danger] he returned to Pakistan and that too under the same Martial Law of General Musharraf and joined ARY TV Channel then GEO and then The News International [where he is presently working].