Our Announcements

Not Found

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

Archive for category Islam: The Universal Message of Peace

One country, two religions and three very telling pictures: The empty pews at churches just yards from an overcrowded mosque

 

  • Two photos show Sunday morning services in churches in East London
  • The third shows worshippers gathered for Friday midday prayers outside a nearby mosque 
  • The difference in numbers could hardly be more dramatic
 
By GUY WALTERS
29 May 2013 
 
 
Set aside the fact that our Queen is the Defender of the Christian Faith. Ignore the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords. Pay no attention to the 2011 Census that told us 33.2 million people in England and Wales describe themselves as Christians. For if you want a more telling insight into religion in the United Kingdom today, just look at these photographs. The story they tell is more revealing than any survey.
 
Inline image 1   Inline image 2
The photo on the left shows St Mary’s Church in Cable Street while the photo on the right shows worshippers gathered for Friday midday prayers outside a nearby mosque in Spitalfields, both in East London
 
What they show are three acts of worship performed in the East End of London within a few hundred yards of each other at the end of last month. Two of the photos show Sunday morning services in the churches of St George-in-the-East on Cannon Street Road, and St Mary’s on Cable Street. The third shows worshippers gathered for Friday midday prayers outside the nearby mosque on the Brune Street Estate in Spitalfields. The difference in numbers could hardly be more dramatic. At St George’s, some 12 people have congregated to celebrate Holy Communion. 
 
Inline image 3
Empty pews: 18th-century parishioners crowded into St George-in-the-East hear John Wesley. Only 12 people attended the service
 
When the church was built in the early 18th century, it was designed to seat 1,230. Numbers are similar at St Mary’s, opened in October 1849. Then, it could boast a congregation of 1,000. Today, as shown in the picture, the worshippers total just 20. While the two churches are nearly empty, the Brune Street Estate mosque has a different problem — overcrowding. 
 
The mosque itself is little more than a small room rented in a community centre, and it can hold only 100. However, on Fridays, those numbers swell to three to four times the room’s capacity, so the worshippers spill out onto the street, where they take up around the same amount of space as the size of the near-empty St Mary’s down the road.
 
Inline image 5
Dwindling flock: St Mary’s Cable Street in East London was built to hold 1,000 people. Today, the congregation numbers around 20
 
What these pictures suggest is that, on current trends, Christianity in this country is becoming a religion of the past, and Islam is one of the futureIn the past ten years, there has been a decrease in people in England and Wales identifying as Christian, from 71.7 per cent to 59.3 per cent of the population. In the same period the number of Muslims in England and Wales has risen from 3 per cent of the population to 4.8 per cent — 2.7 million people. And Islam has age on its side. Whereas a half of British Muslims are under 25, almost a quarter of Christians are approaching their eighth decade. 
 
It is estimated that in just 20 years, there will be more active Muslims in this country than churchgoers — an idea which even half a century ago would have been utterly unthinkable. Many will conclude with a heavy heart that Christianity faces a permanent decline in Britain, its increasingly empty churches a monument to those centuries when the teachings of Christ governed the thoughts and deeds of the masses.
 
Inline image 7
A study in devotion: The tiny mosque on the Brune Street Estate, Spitalfields, holds only 100 people, so the local Bangladeshi community throng the street for Friday midday prayers
 
On Sunday October 1, 1738, St George’s was packed twice during the day to hear the great evangelist John Wesley, who then preached at the church for the following week explaining, as he put it, ‘the way of salvation to many who misunderstood what had been preached concerning it’. Today, there are no John Wesleys to fill up the pews. The church does its best, offering, for example, a monthly ‘Hot Potato Sunday’, during which the few congregants can discuss the readings of the day over a baked potato.
 
Canon Michael Ainsworth of St George’s puts on a brave face when he says: ‘What we are  saying now is it is not just a matter of numbers. It is about keeping faith with the city and hanging in there — being part of the community.’ At St Mary’s, meanwhile, Rev Peter McGeary cannot explain why the numbers are so low: ‘It’s impossible to say, there are so many variables.’ When he is asked if he tries to boost his congregations, he simply replies: ‘We are not a company, we are a church.’
 
In contrast, there seems a remarkable energy attached to the mosque on Brune Street, which has been described as the ‘Mecca of the City’.
Here, come rain or shine, members of the Bangladeshi community perform the Friday prayer of Jumma under the open sky. It is a communal act which will surely only grow in popularity. Sadly, that’s not something that can be said of the two nearby churches, and unless they can reinvigorate their congregations they may finally end up being deconsecrated.
 
When that happens, such large buildings will be attractive spaces for those who can fill them. One day, in a few decades, St George’s may well again be packed with worshippers — but they will not be Christians.

Reference

 

, , ,

No Comments

ONLY IN AMERICA : Guantanamo Bay prison guard converts to Islam because of the living faith of Muslim detainees

Guantanamo Bay prison guard converts to Islam because of the living faith of Muslim 
detainees
Holdbrooks 1

Terry Holdbrooks Jr. converted to Islam while serving as a U.S. Army military policeman guarding detainees at Guantanamo Bay. It was the faith he saw lived by the detainees that drew him to study the religion he had been told was violent and destructive — and he found there a discipline and peace he’d sought all his life. 
 
 

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Terry Holdbrooks Jr., 29, wears the beard of a bald Amish guy, the tattoos of a punk kid, and the twitchy alertness of a military policeman. Take him to a restaurant, and he’ll choose the chair with its back against the wall. Take his photo, and he’ll prefer to look away from the camera. 

 

Part of that wariness Holdbrooks learned while guarding detainees from 2003 to 2004 at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. holding tank for military prisoners on the southeastern point of Cuba.  

 

 

gitmo

 

   

And part of that wariness he developed after he converted to Islam while stationed at Guantanamo. That was after months of midnightconversations with the Muslim detainees, and his conversion prompted several of his fellow soldiers to try several times to talk some “sense” into him so he wouldn’t “go over to the enemy,” as they put it.

 

Holdbrooks told the story of his conversion and of his observations of the controversial detention center to an audience of about 80 people at the Huntsville Islamic Center in Huntsville Saturdaynight, May 25, 2013. The camp, he said, tramples on every human right the U.S. has said it supports. The current hunger strike by 102 of the 166 prisoners has crossed 100 days. Many of those men were cleared to go home five or six years ago, Holdbrooks said. Their home countries tell their lawyers the U.S. won’t release them, and the U.S. tells them their home countries won’t receive them.

 

“They’ve lost hope. They’ve decided it’s better to die,” Holdbrooks said. “One of them is down to 70 pounds.”

 

 

gitmo 2

 

 

  

Holdbrooks is traveling with Khalil Meek, a co-founder and executive director of the Texas-based Muslim Legal Fund of America. They are raising money for that non-profit civil rights organization, which helps pay for legal help for Muslims who are American citizens and who have been accused of vague crimes or placed on no-fly lists and other restrictions under the increasingly broad “anti-terrorism” provisions.

 

Traitor?” by Terry Holdbrooks Jr.
 

Even more than raising money for legal defense, Holdbrooks said, he wants to stir Americans to action. Holdbrooks’ self-published account of his experience at Guantanamo, “Traitor?,” was published this month — a 164-page single-space account whittled by an editor he worked with from his 500-page manuscript.  

It’s available for sale online at www.GtmoBook.com.

 

“I tell this story and I wrote the book so idiot-simple that anyone could read and understand that the existence of Guantanamo is something to be ashamed of,” Holdbrooks said. “I just want to share information with people in depth and then let them make up their mind.”

“I may have become a Muslim, but I am not a traitor.”

12-year-old ‘terrorist’

 

At Guantanamo, Holdbrooks mulled over the information Army instructors has taught about Islam as he’d watched the so-called terrorists day after day. What he’d been told wasn’t lining up with what he observed. The detainees read their Qurans. They kept the daily schedule of prayers. They remained undiscouraged under horrendous pressure.

 

One of his duties was to escort prisoners to interrogations and then return them to their cells. He knew the kind of stresses and tortures they were undergoing in repeated questionings. He had dodged their thrown poop when anger ripped down the row of mesh wire cages. When detainees were punished with the “frequent flier program,” he’d moved men from one cell to another every two hours, round the clock.

 

“How can you wake up in Guantanamo and smile?” Holdbrooks asked them. “How can you believe there’s a God who cares about you?”

 

“I am happy to have spent time in Guantanamo,” said one detainee, the man who became his mentor, after his release. “Allah was testing my ‘deen’ (faith). When else would have I have five years away from all responsibilities, when the only thing I had was my Quran, and I could read it and learn Arabic and mental discipline?”

 

“Fortunately for us,” Holdbrooks said. “Most of them are bigger men than some of us would be.”

 

As Holdbrooks got to know the detainees, as he learned their stories during his long night shifts, he came to see the detainees as individuals. Many were men who enjoyed talking about the same things he does: Ethics, philosophy, history, religion. Many let him know what they thought of the 9/11 attacks: That they violate the teachings of Islam.

images-48 

“Here, I had all the freedom in the world, and I’m miserable,”Holdbrooks said. “They have nothing, and they’re happy – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something’s going on.”

 

 

 

gitmo 4
 
 

 

Terry Holdbrooks Jr. grew up a troubled kid with junkie parents who dumped him at 7 on his ex-hippy grandparents to be raised. By 18, he’d finished both high school – a year early – and trade school. He loved drugs, sex, rock-and-roll and tattoos – his ink would eventually cover his arms from shoulder to wrist. His earlobes have been stretched to so that they can hold a plug that a thumb could pass through.

 

So when Holdbrooks walked into an Army recruiter’s office in Arizona a year after 9/11 saying he wanted to “join the Army, go kill people and get paid for it,” the recruiter looked up briefly and turned back to his computer. “No, thank you,” the recruiter said.

“This was still right after 9/11,” Holdbrooks said. “The Army was flush with recruits, and they could take the cream of the crop.”

 

It wasn’t until his fourth visit to the office — when he took the ASVAB, the military’s aptitude test — that the recruiter realized Holdbrooks was worth pursuing.

 

 

Holdbrooks signed up for military police because it offered a bonus. When his unit was transferred to Guantanamo, the sergeant detoured through New York to take them to Ground Zero.

 

“Remember what Muslims did to us,” the sergeant told the soldiers. “Remember who you’re protecting.”

 

So Holdbrooks arrived at the hot, seared base expecting hulking killers in every cell. What he found were doctors, taxi drivers, professors. One scary “terrorist” was 12. Another was in his 70s and dying of tuberculosis. Holdbrooks identifies himself as antagonistic, questioning, independent person. He is naturally suspicious – and found his suspicions turning in a surprising direction.

 

“You start thinking, ‘Was I lied to?'” Holdbrooks said.

 

 

white house

 

 

   

In the time he had off from his escort and cleaning duties at the prison, Holdbrooks began reading more about Islam online. The prisoner he talked the most to, a former chef from England, gave him his own copy of the Quran.

 

“You’ve got to realize the significance of that,” Holdbrooks said, his tough bravado breaking for a moment. “He’s in this cage for 23 and a-half hours every day. If you lose your Quran, you’re out of luck. That’s it. You’ve lost everything.”

 

It took Holdbrooks three nights to read it. As a restless seeker in his teens, he had studied Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and never saw much sense in them. Monotheism, he decided, was responsible for a lot of misery, and he renounced religion.

 

But in the Quran, for the first time, he found a religious text that meets his criteria of logic. 

 

“It made sense from beginning to end,” Holdbrooks said. “It doesn’t contradict itself. There’s no magic. It’s just a simple instruction manual for living.”

 

After three months of intense study and conversation, one night Holdbrooks told the detainee that he wanted to become Muslim.

“No,” the man said.

 

“Whoa,” Holdbrooks said, stirring laughter during his talk in Huntsville. “The guard wants to embrace Islam, and the bad guy says ‘no’? I must really suck.”

 

The detainee explained what he meant. Converting to Islam meant Holdbrooks would have to change his life. Change his diet. Quit drugs. Quit drinking. Stop profanity. Quit getting tattoos. And be prepared for his relationships to everything – wife, Army, government – to change.

 

Little by little, Holdbrooks made the changes. Holdbrooks found a measure of health, discipline and peace of mind he’d never had before. And he found a family.

 

“Every little step I took toward Islam, Islam was taking more steps toward me,” Holdbrooks said.

 

One night in December 2003, he was ready to stumble through the declaration of faith in Arabic. He read from a card on which the detainee had transliterated into English syllables the Arabic words for, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.”

 

“I knew I’d finally said it right when their faces lit up,” Holdbrooks said.

 

 

Holdbrooks 2

 

 

 

But after Gitmo, when he rotated back to the States, he lost his grip on both peace and discipline.  

 

He was honorably discharged early — for “generalized personality disorder,” the Army told him, although Holdbrooks wonders if his new faith influenced the decision. 

 

He and his wife divorced. He began trying to drink away his memories of Guantanamo.

“But you can’t drink away things like that,” Holdbrooks said.

By the end of 2008, he found himself wondering, “When was I happy?” The answer, he realized, surprised him: When he was in Guantanamo – because there he was being a good Muslim.

 

Holdbrook has been clean since 2009 – a victory he credits to following Muslim dietary codes, including daytime fasting several days a week all year, not just during Ramadan. Last fall, he married a nurse he met at his mosque. They had spent a year of careful getting acquainted in accordance with Muslim guidelines – which meant a lot of chaperoned visits, he said. He’s finished a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He spends most weekends traveling with the Muslim Legal Fund of America to tell his story and to encourage Muslims to become involved in pushing for policy changes.

 

 

gitmo 5

 

 

 

Holdbrooks is part of a small, but growing, number of former Gitmo guards who are speaking out about conditions at the center. But in addition for adding to the chorus calling for the camp’s closure, he has a message for fellow Muslims.

 

If the Prophet Muhammad were to come back to Earth today, Holdbrooks said, he would find the best examples of Islam in the United States. American Muslims have a responsibility to live their faith so others can see a true example, not the perversions of the terrorists or the tyranny of corrupt governments in some majority-Muslim nations. 

 

“You can’t be afraid to be a Muslim in public,”

Holdbrooks said. “Tell your neighbors you’re Muslim. Invite them into your home. Invite them to visit the masjid to see our secret bomb factories.”

“If it’s time to pray – pray. The whole world is an acceptable place to pray.”

 

 

 

 

gitmo 3

 

 

, ,

No Comments

WEALTHY ARABS & THEIR MOCKERY OF ISLAM


MUSLIMS ARE THEIR OWN BIGGEST ENEMIES IN THE WORLD PART 4 REMOVING CURTAINS OF ARAB HAREMS – III

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

SEX PREDATOR (Thurkee) NAWAZ SHARIF TRIES TO SEDUCE BRITISH JOURNALIST KIM BARKER

HORNY NAWAZ SHARIF TRIES TO SEDUCE BRITISH JOURNALIST KIM BARKER

Nawaz “Horny” Sharif has a rule, to be a PML(N) Jiyali, a female has to smile when Nawaz makes a pass at them. Unfortunately for Nawaz, British journalist Kim Barker got her signal mixed and almost smacked Nawaz across his face. Her she tells the story, about the “future” leader of Pakistan. Shame on you, Nawaz sharif, have you not heard of sexual harassment being against the law in Pakistan.

Unknown-171

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From The Washington Post

 

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-04-14/lifestyle/35261829_1_lara-logan-lynsey-addario-new-york-times-journalists

 

Foreign female journalists face challenges most often in parts of the world where protections for women are weak even in peacetime — in societies where men and women lead highly segregated lives and often don’t have sex before marriage. In these countries, men often say they view Western women as the sexual equivalent of junk food: fast and cheap.

Even highly placed sources can behave inappropriately. Kim Barker, who was the South Asia bureau chief with the Chicago Tribune from 2004 to 2008, was offered an iPhone by former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif. But that phone would not really have been free: His pickup line was, “I’m fat and old. But I would still like to be your friend,” she writes in her book, “The Taliban Shuffle.”

I

 

KARGIL OPERATION IN THE LIGHT OF THE HEADLINES OF THE NEWSPAPER… PART-I

  
7 June
India disconnected from Northern Kashmir
“If India cannot restore its supply route to Siachen than she will have to face great loss of lives, Siachen war has been now shifted to Kargil” Retired Indian General
‘India might attack Pakistan in desperation’ The Economist
‘India Plans to attack and capture few areas of Azad Kashmir under command of General Mahinder’
‘India should face facts in Kargil, stop attacks over Mujahideen and turn towards negotiations’ US Ambassador
9 June
‘9 Indian soldiers killed in skirmish over Sialkot Sector, Mujahideen destroy ammo depot in Kargil’
‘Pakistani Foreign Minister might visit India on 12 June,India formerly notifies Pakistan, talks will be over Kargil not Kashmir’
10 June
‘Israeli Commandoes arrive over LoC to help Indians’
‘Will not withdraw even from an inch’ Pakistan rejects pressure; before visiting India Pakistani Foreign Minister visits China
11 June
‘Govt and opposition unites against India; express confidence over armed forces’
12 June
‘We have tackled all Indian plans of aggression over allfronts’ Nawaz Sharif
13 June
‘IndoPak talks fruitless due to stubbornness of India with Pakistani Foreign Minister’
14 June
‘After failure of negotiations Wajpai orders war; heavy number of personnel arrive at LoC from both sides’
 
 
 
17 June
‘Whole nation stands with armed forces’ Nawaz Sharif
‘Will not let nation down’ Parvaiz Musharaf
18 June
‘important Indian posts captured by Mujahideen; 65 Indian soldiers killed, 400 laid down weapons in front of Pakistani forces. Indian diplomatic, political and military pressure rejected; will not withdraw from important defense positions in Kargil’
20 June
‘any place might be converted into Kargil; India should resolve Kashmir dispute’ Nawaz Sharif
21 June
‘G-8 countries reject Indian demands against Pakistan; both countries should come to table for peace talks; unanimous decision’
22 June
‘India rejects appeal of G-8 countries’
‘whole region is at the verge of volcano; peace talks withIndia would be over Kashmir not Kargil’
23 June
‘If India attacks Pakistan she will get destructive response; Pakistan’s wish for negotiations should not be taken as weakness’ Nawaz Sharif
‘India signals crossing of LoC; Indian army might cross LoC under cover of attacking Mujahideen’ Indian Foreign Minister
24 June
‘India warns of a full war; have ordered army to prepare to cross LoC’ Indian Army Chief
25 June
‘Mujahideen should withdraw from Indian Held Kashmir; LoC should be relocated’ USA
‘US stance supports Indian stubbornness, we are acting upon Shimla pact while India is not only continuously violating the pact but wants to capture Siachen and other areas as well’ Pakistan
26 June
‘Kargil is not separate from Kashmir; Mujahideen will not withdraw from Kargil’ Nawaz Sharif’s reply to US General Anthony
27 June
‘Will not accept any pressure on Kargil dispute, clarified to US General that we will not withdraw forces from LoC unanimously’ General Parvaiz Musharaf
‘Diplomatic links between Clinton-Nawa Sharif for negotiations’
‘Nawaz Sharif leaves for visit to China’
28 June
‘China ensures complete support to Pakistan overKashmir dispute’
1 July
‘Cannot capture Kargil and Daras peaks’ Indian Army
‘Indian army is facing intense loss of lives, intense bombardment and latest weapons are of no use’ even missiles are not hitting the targets. Pakistanis are fighting with zeal and courage, they cannot be crushed’ Colonel Vikram Singh and Squadron Leader Panday talks to media
‘Nukes are not for being kept in cupboards; Pakistan will not end its support to Kashmiris; if India dared to attack Pakistan, we will not refrain from using nuclear weapons’ Raja Zafar-ul-Hassan
 
 
Indian aerial and artillery bombardment converted Kargil peaks into stones but was unable to breakup courage of Pakistanis
 
2 July
India should refrain from devastating peace of the region. Kashmir dispute is the burning dispute of the history, India should not misjudge China’s interest for peace in the region’ China
‘After failure in the Kargil India will open new battle fronts. Pressure over Indian govt is increasing to change policy due to number of casualties in the hands of Mujahideen are unacceptable’ Ex-Indian Army Chief General Wishwanath Sharma
‘Without opening other battle fronts it is impossible to defeat Mujahideen in Kargil. Indian army with either have to fight face to face with Mujahideen or cross LoC’ Indian Defense Analyst A.K Dandy
3 July
‘Kargil could not be separated from Kashmir dispute. Indian army’s supremacy will be unacceptable over any part of LoC including Kargil’ Pakistan
‘Will not accept any deal over Kashmiris rights to decide freely, we are acting upon a clear policy’ Nawaz Sharif’s letter to Sardar Qayum
‘In order to retaliate any Indian aggression Pakistani F-16s have been airborne, this is a message to enemy that it will not be spared’
‘If India attacks to Pakistan we will be side by side withPakistan; it is in the greatest interest of Pakistan to follow its principle stance’ Chinese Ambassador
‘As long as Pakistan supported army is not withdrawn from Kargil, Clinton should stop aid to Pakistan; American Congress Committee over Kargil blamesPakistan for the dispute’
4 July
‘Indian army had to face intense casualities in Daras; intense fighting continues in Kargil. A big attack has been thwarted; Indian army launched a big attack with the support of artillery and airforce but failed.
‘Nawaz Sharif leaves for USA, USA made it clear that she wants end to the war, Pakistan’s three points agenda will be discussed in one to one meeting. Pakistan will not withdraw from its principle stance, we are ready for long term war as well’ Tehmina Daultana
‘From “Cricket” to “bus” and now deceptive diplomacy; nation not being told the truth. Deals are in progress to return Kargil to India; Prime Minister has no right to deviate from the national stance’ Saeed Manes
5 July
Nawaz-Clinton 3 hours long meeting; consensus on restoring the LoC, due to the situation in Kargil threats of war have developed, in order to stop the war both countries should take solid maeasure and start negotiations among higher officials’ Clinton
‘We cannot withdraw even from 1 Inch’ Pakistan Army
‘Pakistan should not accept international pressure overKashmir dispute, Mujahideen will not withdraw from peaks at any cost. Kargil is totally under control, within few weeks India will not be even able to withdraw its military equipment from “Zojila Pass”. If Indian army crossed LoC in no time Pakistan army will be inSrinagar. Allah is with Mujahideen, sudden visit of Nawaz Sharif to USA is suspicious’ Hafiz Saeed talks to Majeed Nizami and media
 
 
18000 feet high peak of Kargil
 
6 July
‘Including Huriat Conference all Mujahid organizations reject Nawaz-Clinton deal’
7 July
‘Pakistan has been defeated on diplomatic fronts’ Shah Mehmood
8 July
‘Nawaz Sharif has committed treachery by selling Kargil, he has no right to be in power; caretaker govt should be formed to resolve the situation. I am forced to live outside of Pakistan on return will start campaign against Nawz Sharif’ Benazir Bhutto
‘Nawaz govt has signed its deal of death. The deal of slavery is worst than destructive results of war, not even a single word of the deal expresses Pakistani stance’ Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s reaction over Washington Declaration
‘As a reaction over govt policy on Kargil Peoples Party will stage demonstrations tomorrow on the call of Benazir Bhutto; Peoples party appeals all parties to support its demonstrations’
‘On the order of US President, Nawaz Sharif ignored national interest and wasted a golden opurtunity. Whole nation had been united but our leader got defeated in the psychological war. In the next war Washington will be openly against us. The decision of Prime Minister has devastated morale of army’ Hameed Gul
‘We have not signed any deal for the withdrawal of Mujahideen. President Clinton has assured to resolveKashmir dispute within 18 months by taking personal interest. Anti govt elements are spreading rumors. Kashmir has become international dispute against the wishes of India. Due to the deteriorating situation over LoC US intervention was inevitable. So I visited USA to meet US President’. Nawaz Sharif’s interview before leaving New York  
9 July
‘in spite of Pakistan’s agreement there are no hopes of withdrawal of Mujahideen, fighting is growing intense we are facing intense resistance. We are ready for a full fledged attack over Kargil’ Indian General VP Malik
‘hope that Nawaz Sharif will fulfill the promise of ending the Kargil dispute’ USA
‘If we withdraw from Kargil no one will be in Indian Held Kashmir to support Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif has bowed the head of 14 million people. We will not let him to give up a victory over the table. Nawaz Sharif has hired few persons to propagate that Kargil has no importance. Army and Mujahideen are against him’ Press Conference of Kashmiri Mujahideen
‘Govt has sold out Kashmir in the deal with USA’ Yousaf Raza Gillani
 
 

images-17

 
 
           
 These headlines published in the Nawa-i-Waqt summarize the war that was fought in 1999 for two motnhs at the height of 18000 feet. This is clear that Pakistan army has won that war tactically, strategically and professionally. This is also evident from the statements of Indian civil and military leadership expressing hopelessness. Not only this in spite of utilizing its full aerial and territorial power India failed to capture peaks of Kargil. In this small scale war not only India has to bear great casualities but in spite of having ten times bigger army and latest weapons she had to lick the dust but in such sensitive and grave situation Indian media stood side by side with Indian army and this was the Indian media that propagated India as oppressed. Alas! Pakistan lost that war due to American interests attached with India. As Pakistani military leadership ignored Indian reaction over Kargil operation in the same manners Pakistan’s political leadership did an unforgiveable mistake by accepting USA as a arbitrator and failed to understand American interests in India. In the other words USA got victory in Kargil and this was openly expressed by Bill Clinton in his address to Indian in March 2000, “This was not India that has recaptured Kargil but USinterference that forced Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil…”

Nawaz Sharif-The Horny Duffer of Gowalmandi

This man would be PM a third time ? Have we learnt nothing ?

Someone asked for the relevant bit to be highlighted. Just read the bit below……..

He ignored me. “I have bought you an iPhone,” he said.

“I can’t take it.”

“Why not? It is a gift.”

“No. It’s completely unethical, you’re a source.”

But we are friends, right?” I had forgotten how Sharif twisted the word
“friend.”

“Sure, we’re friendly, but you’re still the former prime minister of

Pakistan and I can’t take an iPhone from you,” I said.
But we are friends,” he countered. “I don’t accept that. I told you I was
buying you an iPhone.”

I told you I couldn’t take it. And we’re not those kind of friends.”

He tried a new tactic. “Oh, I see. Your translator is here, and you do not
want him to see me give you an iPhone. That could be embarrassing for you.”

Exasperated, I agreed. “That’s it.”

He then offered to meet me the next day, at a friend’s apartment in Lahore, to give me the iPhone and have tea. No, I said. I was going to Faridkot. Sharif finally came to the point. “Kim. I am sorry I was not able to find you a friend. I tried, but I failed.” He shook his head, looked genuinely sad about the failure of the project.
That’s OK,” I said. “Really. I don’t really want a friend right now. I am
perfectly happy without a friend. I want to be friendless.”

He paused. And then, finally, the tiger of Punjab pounced. “I would like to be your friend.”I didn’t even let him get the words out. “No. Absolutely not. Not going to happen.

Hear me out.” He held his hand toward me to silence my negations as he made his pitch. He could have said anything—that he was a purported billionaire who had built my favorite road in Pakistan, that he could buy me a power plant or build me a nuclear weapon. But he opted for honesty.

“I know, I’m not as tall as you’d like,” Sharif explained. “I’m not as fit
as you’d like. I’m fat, and I’m old. But I would still like to be your
friend.”

No,” I said. “No way.”

He then offered me a job running his hospital, a job I was eminently
unqualified to perform. “It’s a huge hospital,” he said. “You’d be very good at it.” He said he would only become PM again if I were his secretary. I thought about it for a few seconds—after all, I would probably soon be out of a job. But no. The new position’s various positions would not be worth it.

Eventually, I got out of the tiger’s grip, but only by promising that I would consider his offer. Otherwise, he wouldn’t let me leave. I jumped into the car, pulled out my tape recorder, and recited our conversation. Samad shook his head. My translator put his head in his hands. “I’m embarrassed for my country,” he said.

After that, I knew I could never see Sharif again. I was not happy about this—I liked Sharif. In the back of my mind, maybe I had hoped he would come through with a possible friend, or that we could have kept up our banter, without an iPhone lurking in the closet. But now I saw him as just another sad case, a recycled has-been who squandered his country’s adulation and hope, who thought hitting on a foreign journalist was a smart move. Which it clearly wasn’t.”

, ,

No Comments

PTT Archive: Imran Khan Condemns Drone Attacks

imran-khan-r670

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan. – File Photo by Reuters

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, strongly condemning United States drone strike in North Waziristan which killed 24 people, said on Saturday latest drone attack speaks volumes about so-called close working partnership between Pakistan and the US in ongoing war.

The PTI chief said rulers reopened Nato supply routes against strong sentiments of people and bypassed parliamentary resolutions to appease the US which reciprocated by continuous drone strikes, last of which killed 24 people on Friday.

hose killed in these strikes.

Khan demanded that government should disclose identification details of causalities so that “we know how many women children and ordinary civilians have been killed.”

He asked will any other nation allow indiscriminate killing of its citizens? The fact that their identities are not disclosed casts serious doubts on claims that those killed in strikes were militants, he added.

Khan said the government is equally responsible in indiscriminate elimination of its citizens as it has consciously avoided disclosing identification details of those killed in American drone strikes.

“Our rulers are blindly supporting US claims of high precision drone strikes and minimum collateral damage when they are actually aware of details of civilian casualties in tribal areas,” he He said continuing drone assaults were in clear violation of international humanitarian laws. There is complete media censorship in tribal areas and resultantly no way to ascertain identities of tadded.

Rejecting the claims that these strikes are primarily carried out against foreign militants, he said statistics from independent organisations suggest that both US and Pakistan government are grossly under reporting civilian casualties. Accounts of local, western journalists suggest large number of civilians killed in these strikes.

The PTI chief said the government avoided commenting on stopping unilateral drone strikes that was one of most critical parliamentary preconditions before reopening Nato supply routes.

, , ,

No Comments