Skip to content

2011

INDIA NEEDS ANOTHER KARKARE

ALI SUKHANVER

Burdened with the burnt dead bodies of innocent children and helpless men and women, the unlucky Samjhauta Express still seems moving towards Lahore. Across the Wahga border, somewhere into the Indian lands one can feel Swami Aseemanand sinisterly smiling at the pathetic fate of the departed train; he is enjoying the pain and agony which the passengers of this train had experienced before handing over their lives to the heartless flames surrounding them. He is very happy that he succeeded in acting upon the “bomb-for-bomb” strategy. Under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code a Panchkula magistrate recorded Aseemanand’s statement on 15 January 2010, regarding the Samjhauta blast case. His earlier confession was recorded in the Mecca Masjid case, which was being probe by the CBI. Aseemanand confessed that the bomb attacks on the Samjhota Express in 2007 were plotted by the Hindutva militants Ramji Kaisangra and Sandeep Dange under the benevolent guidance of some military and intelligence officers.Read More »INDIA NEEDS ANOTHER KARKARE

Stony Sleep-By Qaisar Sultan

Pakistanis have been asleep for so long that they have forgotten what the truth and hope are. People, no matter what the conditions are, do not let go of their hopes and inspirations. I still believe that we would find a leader who would change the way things are. There was a time that we stood up against general Ayub. We fought against a powerful dictator in favor of democracy. The country was used to wake up when Karachi was awake. Once Karachi, enduring the wrath of the dictator against people of Karachi, was neglected as the epicenter of movements against wrongs, people of the country became complacent. They were all happy to see the decay of the symbol of urban and enlightened life. The urban life brings changes. The city people are more enlightened than the rural people. The major city, Karachi, called “Mini Pakistan” was ignored. They started fighting for their rights. The MQM became the representative party for the Mohajirs. They had to defend themselves from the federal power with the military might. The cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Peshawar, and Quetta should have been allowed to lead the country. The rural people look for the leadership, jobs and training in the big cities. They go back to their villages and small town and spread the civility and enlightenment. The system that does not allow these migrations or restrict them through state policies deprives a huge majority the opportunity that the urbanites have. China is a great example where there was an exodus of rural people to the urban areas; same happened in the USA. That is a change that makes countries stronger and more civilized.Read More »Stony Sleep-By Qaisar Sultan

WHEN CRUSHED ONES GET UNITED

  • by

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

The Russian capital Moscow’s busiest airport Domodedovo witnessed the first terrorist attack of the New Year 2011 on the 24th of January. At least 34 people were killed and more than 180 injured in the blast which occurred inside the airport’s international arrivals hall near the baggage area. The New York Time says, “The attack inflicted a deep injury on Moscow’s image just as President Dmitri A. Medvedev prepared to woo foreign investors at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The bomb set off in the international arrivals hall of Domodedovo, the city’s glittering showcase airport — killed and wounded visitors from the West, something that has occurred very rarely in previous terrorist attacks.”

Read More »WHEN CRUSHED ONES GET UNITED

Pakistani Auto dealers exploiting car import policy

By Moonis Ahmed

KARACHI: The local car dealers are reportedly involved in prima facia violation of vehicle import policy that was formulated to facilitate overseas Pakistanis on their return to homeland, sources told Daily Times.

The dealers have been openly exploiting car import policy—transfer of residence, gift and personal baggage scheme — at large and importing thousands of used cars at the expense of billion of dollars of foreign exchange of the country, sources said.
Read More »Pakistani Auto dealers exploiting car import policy

The Cause of Violence

By Qaisar Sultan

What causes violence on this earth? Is it the survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom, or recognition in human societies that makes the killings necessary? The recognition comes through power; and man has to be more powerful than others. The egotistical and sometimes pragmatic nature of things is such that we do require some power over others. The design of nature is that the big fish has to eat the small fish; and the predator has to kill the pray to survive. So there may be a purpose in violence itself? Then were wars necessary? The self-defense was deemed a requisite if cultures were to preserve its ways and norms. There were religious obligation to defend God and gods.  Socrates had to be poisoned as he was charged of corrupting the minds of youth against what their gods had prescribed. The first historical tale, Iliad, is full of “heroic violence”; their gods were so proud of the killings in the name of valor and courage that Achilles and Hector were considered human gods. The violent heroes were prophets to gods whose valor were glorified, praised and worshipped. The first Biblical narration of Cain killing Abel was described to find the moral underpinning of human race. There were two main motives in the first violent killing; woman and possession. Cain did not like the idea of a more beautiful sister to be married to Abel; and after the murder, he yelled, “I am free to take all of his possessions, all of his flocks fell unto my hands”. Then he cried for the rest of his life with the feelings of guilt of committed violence. There is another explanation of the murder of Abel that Cain could not give animal sacrifice as he was a farmer and his brother was a herder. There seems to be a sense of injustice that propels to anger; and anger transforms to violence; that something ought to belong to someone and does not. Two things enter into mind; one is the envy and the other is the sense of injustice.Read More »The Cause of Violence

Islamabad: Saidpur Village, hub of tourists

The centuries-old Saidpur Village under the green Margalla Hills is serving the federal capital as a hub of tourists but its security arrangements needs to be beefed up. Preserving this artistic and rich cultural site in the foothills of Margalla is no doubt a remarkable effort to help revive the dying arts of the region and promote inter-civilization harmony but lack of security arrangements keep most of the visitors away from the site, said visitors to the village. The project was started by Capital Development Authority with an objective to make the village as a ‘model village’ in different phases, said an official of CDA, adding that Phase I of the project was completed while Phase II was pending due to shortage of funds.Read More »Islamabad: Saidpur Village, hub of tourists