As a brown-skinned Sikh with a turban on my head and a long beard on my chin, I deal with my fair share of racist and xenophobic harassment regularly, including in my home of New York City, the most diverse city on the planet. It usually takes the form of someone yelling or perhaps mumbling at me: Osama bin Laden/terrorist/al Qaeda/he’s going to blow up the [insert location]/go back to your country/etc. Less often, someone might threaten me, get in my face, or in one case, pull off my turban on the subway.
My experience is not terribly unique for a turban-wearing Sikh in the United States. Especially since 9/11, we Sikhs have become all too familiar with racial epithets, bullying and violence. Just last month, a gurdwara in Michigan was vandalized with hostile anti-Muslim graffiti. Last year, in what we can assume was a hate attack, two elderly Sikh men were shot and killed while taking an evening walk in a quiet neighborhood in Elk Grove, Calif.
Many talk about the prevalence of anti-Sikh attacks as a case of “mistaken identity.†Sikhs mistaken for Muslims. Indeed, we are by and large attacked because of anti-Muslim bigotry. The Michigan gurdwara was targeted for that reason, and most of us who experience racist harassment as Sikhs in the U.S. experience it through the vilification of Muslims and/or Arabs.
Ironically, many Sikhs themselves vilify Muslims or at least distance themselves from the Muslim community at every possible opportunity. I remember in the days, weeks and months after 9/11, the first thing out of the mouths of many Sikhs when talking to the press, to politicians or even to their neighbors was, “We are not Muslims.†While this is of course a fact, the implication of the statement if it stops there is: You’re attacking the wrong community. Don’t come after us, go after the Muslims! Sikhs believe in equality and freedom and love our country and our government. But Muslims? We don’t like them either.
The roots of anti-Muslim sentiment in the Sikh community run deep in South Asia, from the days of the tyranny of Mughal emperors such as Aurangzeb in the 17th century to the bloodshed in 1947 when our homeland of Punjab was sliced into two separate nation-states. Despite these historical realities, Sikhism has always been clear that neither Muslims as a people nor Islam as a religion were ever the enemy. Tyranny was the enemy. Oppression was the enemy. Sectarianism was the enemy. In fact, the Guru Granth Sahib, our scriptures that are the center of Sikh philosophy and devotion, contains the writings of Muslim (Sufi) saints alongside those of our own Sikh Gurus. Nevertheless, historical memory breeds misguided hostility and mistrust of Muslims, especially in the contemporary global context of ever-increasing, mainstream Islamophobia.
What is it going to take for Sikhs and Muslims to join together in solidarity against the common enemies of racist harassment and violence, racial and religious profiling, and Islamophobic bigotry? Perhaps the recently exposed NYPD spying program (along with the “education†officers have received about Islam) will serve as a wake up call to my community (and other communities for that matter) about how bad things have really gotten. While we Sikhs confront bigotry on a daily basis from our neighbors, classmates, co-workers, employers and strangers on the street, our Muslim American counterparts are systematically targeted by our own government. (I should note that, of course, Sikhs too are profiled by law enforcement in less repressive, though still troubling, ways, especially at airport security).
Sikhism was born hundreds of years ago in part to stand up for the most oppressed and fight for the freedom and liberation of all people. If this isn’t reason enough for us to make the cause of rooting out Islamophobia from the NYPD and other law enforcement and government agencies our own, we only have to return to the bleak reality we Sikhs in the U.S. still face right now in 2012. A time when gurdwaras are still vandalized with anti-Muslim statements, Sikh kids are still being bullied and tormented at school every day, and I am called Osama bin Laden while walking down a Manhattan street for the 258th time (no I’m not counting).
“We are not Muslims†hasn’t been so effective for our community, has it? Even if we do so in a positive way that does not condone attacks on Muslims, simply educating the public about the fact that we are a distinct community and that we in fact “are not Muslim†will not get to the root of the problem. As long as we live in a country (and world) where an entire community (in this case, Muslims) is targeted, spied on and vilified, we will not be safe, we will not be free.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail in 1963, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.â€
I hope the NYPD’s blatant assault on the civil rights of our Muslim sisters and brothers propels us Sikhs as well as all people of conscience to action. Perhaps “We are not Muslims†will become “We are all Muslims,†as we come together to eradicate Islamophobic bigotry in all its forms.
The political situation that hits me on a most personal level is local garbage. Why is that poor people’s streets are filled with garbage? When I walk down my street, there is garbage mixed in with the leaves. We can’t blame the City for this. I watched a hearing on public television where Boston’s Mayor Menino was pretty much imploring Boston residents to use garbage bags! Street sweepers do come by regularly to clear up the debris, but they can’t be responsible for picking up people’s lawns.
The immortal Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.â€
One of my enduring memories of Zurich, Switzerland, the city where my mother was born, was the sight of people awake at 7am vacuuming their window frames. I mean, who in America vacuums their window frames? Maybe the Arabs. The women in Dearborn, Michigan will certainly be found well before noon sweeping if not vacuuming the sidewalk in front of their homes.
Yet even this can be made into a complex issue! Friends from Beirut explained to me the vast differences between sidewalk upkeep between Sunnis, Shias, and Christians in Lebanon.
What are the factors that influence a person’s interest in keeping up appearances? I am guessing that home ownership plays a great role in determining the amount of energy spent in sweeping the sidewalk. When you own something, it represents you in this world. So it is quite likely that those who rent are less likely to care if passersby have to gag as they walk past.
Personal organization is probably key. If the inside of your home is chaos, you are less likely to venture outside to control the chaos out there. The amount of leisure time probably also plays a role. The essence of Middle Class America includes weekends free to tend and prune the garden. When people are working two or three jobs, there is less interest in “the lawn†and more energy spent on getting food on the table.
What could possibly be done to beautify the neighborhood? One approach would be to increase government: perhaps fine people for non-compliance of some basic standard, or at least make more trash receptacles available to the public, which would be managed by paid employees.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while giving a speech in support of the garbage workers strike. He said the people who remove the trash from our community are as important as doctors, because their work prevents disease. You can’t argue with that!
But on my street it’s not just about the weekly garbage pick-up. People seem to be sitting on their porches just throwing cigaret butts towards the street. After garbage day is over, their lawns remain strewn with bottles and wrappers. Why don’t people clean up in front of their homes?
Possibly, what is needed is a non-government neighborhood organization to educate everyone about the importance of recycling and reducing waste. I’m guessing that nothing short of peer pressure would convince many of my neighbors to think about their waste.
Recycling receptacles are free for anyone who wants them from the City. All you have to do is care enough to make a phone call, and separate your food containers from your food remains. If you really truly care enough you can even separate your food waste and compost it in the yard.
All of this is so simple, so what lies between us and environmental responsibility? School children are being educated about the importance of where we put our waste, but they can only do so much to convince their parents.
A lot of the issue really does have to do with personal pride. When you buy, say, a pack of rice mix, you cook the rice and then you have a packet as well as a box to dispose of. It does take some small amount of effort to separate the plastic packet from the box. The box is recyclable.
A lot of American housewives worked hard in all their free time to get the government to take responsibility for these boxes and cans. A lot of mothers were worried about the garbage pile-up, and rightly so. We live in a country where the people can actually make a difference when it comes to these essential issues. We should support those people who made the effort to do the right thing.
When you see a person litter, what does it make you think about that person? Why do people go about their lives as if it’s someone else’s job to pick up their waste? Are we barn animals? How do we go about explaining to our loved ones and neighbors the importance of such matters?
I truly do not know. But I think it’s interesting to ponder the question, is such a simple matter a sign that we need more government or less government? Whichever we choose, what are we willing to do to see this problem through to its resolution?
The village of Tantura is a Palestinian fishing village eight kilometers northwest of Zikhron Yaakov on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Immigrant Jews and Palestinian Arabs intermingled on a regular basis in this peaceful village, which had a total population of about 1,500 people. It was considered a model of development for the area. But in May of 1948 Tantura became a focal point in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israeli forces.
Israeli commander David Ben Gurion gave the order to ethnically cleanse Tantura. At 2:30 am on May 23rd, the Israelis struck under cover of darkness, with an attack that began with heavy machine gun fire followed by an infantry attack. The village was controlled within 3 hours. Occupation and looting followed.
Although the villagers had surrendered, around 200 of the men in Tantura were put against a wall and shot execution style by Israeli forces. The survivors were taken captive by the Israelis and placed in prison camps where they would soon become part of a work brigade. The International Red Cross took the surviving women and children to a nearby village and later bussed them off to refugee camps in Jordan and Syria.
Hala Gabriel, now a resident of the Los Angeles area, was born as a refugee – she had status as a refugee but not as a citizen.. Her family immigrated to Michigan when she was a young child. She came to California for college and has called Los Angeles her home ever since. Her youthful memories are those of a witness to the memories of loss as related by those around her: Loss of home, loss of loved ones, and the knowledge that they could not return to claim the property rightfully theirs.
Ms Gabriel attended the California Institute of Arts and began her career in the entertainment industry. She was eventually hired by Paramount Pictures Studio as senior production accountant, and has worked freelance on many television series and features ever since.
In 2004 she produced and directed a short documentary called the Love Project, for which she won the Silver Award at the International Houston Film Festival.
Determined that Tantura would not be forgotten, Ms Gabriel has embarked on a documentary film project titled: Road to Tantura. It is the Nakba writ small. It is history that comes to life and demands justice.
Ms Gabriel vowed to tell the story of Tantura in a documentary she is in the process of producing. If justice is to be achieved then truth is its predecessor. The film, not yet complete, goes beyond the realism associated with documentaries. Road to Tantura is not simply realism – though it is certainly that, it is intimate. Ms Gabriel and her camera crew take the viewer on a tour of the village, which no longer exists except for the ruins of her family home, built by her great-grandfather in the 1800’s. Not hesitating to show the close up of faces in the grip of remembering or of relating memories passed through generations, Ms Gabriel was able to interview survivors of the original massacre.
In her words, she states that she had “to fill in a part of my life that was missingâ€.
The real tragedy – the ultimate tragedy – of the Nakba is not simply that it happened, the real tragedy occurs when people forget so the justice cannot be attained and the truth remains buried. In recent decades Palestinians, most of them the descendants of the victims of Israel’s ethnic cleansing, have begun to speak out so that murder and property theft are not compounded by memory loss. The work in progress clip of her documentary shows Ms Gabriel on the verge of tears throughout. In one scene Hala is told that the family prepared a meal of freshly caught fish from the Mediterranean for the following day. It was to be served to her father and his sibling by her grandmother on the day of the attack. An uncle in Germany points out the exact location of their home from a picture in a newspaper. In England, she interviews a former Israeli soldier who took part in the ethnic cleansing. He himself is a Holocaust survivor and bluntly compares the Holocaust with the ethnic cleansing of Tantura.
Ms Gabriel has consented to an interview by The Muslim Observer. Please join us as we travel the road to Tantura.
TMO: Could you tell us approximately at what age the experiences of the refugees from Tantura first began to impact on your consciousness?
MS GABRIEL: Growing up my parent’s never really spoke about their experience or why they no longer lived in Palestine. I knew I was Palestinian and I knew we were refugees, but I didn’t completely understand what that meant. When I was 12 we became naturalized citizens. It wasn’t until I was an adult when I finally understood that I was born “not belonging†as a “citizen†to any place. That concept was and still is very troubling to me. How can any person on this planet be born, and not belong or have complete rights as any human on this planet?
TMO: Can you remember any stories – even anecdotal ones – that remained with you through adulthood? Please be detailed.
MS GABRIEL: My parent’s never spoke about what they experienced. When we immigrated my family very much wanted to detach from the pain they had experienced and the perceived failure and deep loss they endured. They wanted to disassociate with their painful past and insisted we become “Americanâ€. That meant we spoke mostly English in the home, we ate macaroni and cheese, and we decorated Christmas trees even though we were not Christian. We did what Americans do.
TMO: Was there a moment that you can recall when you made an irrevocable decision to embark on your film project?
MS GABRIEL: After 9/11 I felt very compelled to express something about my family history and background. I sat in front of my computer and decided to write a short story about my family village Tantura. When I tried to write, I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about my family history or village. I had never even seen a picture! I had done an Internet search several years earlier and found nothing, but the Internet was pretty new back then so I decided to try again. This time I came across a news article about an Israeli scholar named Teddy Katz. Apparently Katz had researched a master thesis project on the events that occurred in Tantura. As a result of his research, Israel soldiers who he had interviewed, and who had participated in the attack on Tantura were suing Teddy for libel. In the article it said that for part of his defense, Teddy was using a memoire written in 1950 by a Palestinian from Tantura named Marwan Yahya. Marwan Yahya is my father. I had no idea that my dad had written a memoire. I found Teddy’s email address on the Internet and sent him an email introducing myself as Marwan Yahya’s daughter, and asked him if he could please send me a copy of my dad’s memoires. This began a dialog between Teddy and me. Eventually Teddy and I met when he came to Los Angeles to speak at some local universities. At that point Teddy begged me to please go to Syria and interview the surviving villagers of Tantura who are still living in the Yarmouk Refugee Camp. That request seemed absolutely daunting at the time. But about 5 years later circumstances led me to that part of the world and I began doing this documentary.
TMO: Were there individuals and/or groups that cooperated with you?
MS GABRIEL: With the exception of support from Teddy Katz, I’ve been for the most part alone in my journey to do this. I will admit there have been some “miracles†along the way to help me.
TMO: Were there individuals and/or groups that you feel put obstacles in your path?
MS GABRIEL: I’m not sure how to answer this question. The biggest obstacle has been financial. I work, save money than spend it all on the project. This is how I have financed this project so far. I am hoping to save and raise more money so I may complete it soon.
TMO: While the entire trip to Tantura must have been fascinating, is there any one moment that stood out?
MS GABRIEL: The first time I tried to go to Tantura I was stopped at the Israeli/Jordanian border on the Israeli side and interrogated for 7 hours. I was strip-searched and all of my belongings were literally ripped apart. I was not permitted to enter Israel and was held until the last bus departed back to the Jordanian border. It was horrible, exhausting experience.
Six years later I went back, this time I flew into the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv with a Jewish-American friend named Frederick. He was allowed in within two hours. I was again held and interrogated for 7 hours. Finally Teddy Katz called one of his friends who is a member of Israeli’s Knesset. His friend called the airport on my behalf and I was finally permitted to enter. It felt, once again, like a miracle for me.
Seeing the ruins of Tantura was very haunting to me. From the moment we stepped out of our car, onto the parking lot, which is the location of the mass grave, I felt a very sad feeling. It clear that something is not right. The ruin of my family home is one of the only structures that still stand in Tantura. On the side wall of the ruins there still remains a worn out carved poem my great-grandfather had put on the side of the home when he built it. It read: “What a blissful home, built by Mahmoud Yahya. The glorious rich legacy fills its grounds with personal generosity, copious wealth and giving. A start of history with people flocking towards it offering abundant greetings.â€
TMO: Could you compare in general terms the general public’s awareness of the Nakba today with its awareness a decade ago?
MS GABRIEL: I really think the advent of the Internet has had a huge impact on the general public awareness of the Palestinian plight. Although many people still do not understand the factual history of the Nakba, they are certainly more and more aware of the daily atrocities occurring to Palestinians right now.
TMO: We know that the Palestinian people are brave and resilient. Do you find their current assessment of their situation optimistic or pessimistic?
MS GABRIEL: Although the situation for Palestinians living under the occupation is horrific and indescribably criminal, I do believe that the Palestinians will return to their home. I do believe that Israel in its current form will not sustain itself.
TMO: Do you have a message for our readers about your work?
MS GABRIEL: I’m doing my best to tell the story about my family’s village. This documentary is very important to me because it is, what I consider, the proper burial for the hundreds of villagers (many of them my relatives) who perished the day of the attack. I hope your readers will check out my website and the clip I have posted on Vimeo. Perhaps with their help I can finally finish this project.
Please access Ms Gabriel’s web site at:www.roadtotantura.com for more information and to make a contribution so that she may complete this essential project.
The Muslim Observer extends its thanks to Ms Gabriel for her time.
I never understood why, at the end of every one of his shows, TV game show host Bob Barker always refrained “Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered. Goodbye everybody!†I did not comprehend the importance of controlling the pet population while growing up in the suburbs of America. Sure, my friends and neighbors had cats and dogs for pets. However, I never witnessed a problem with stray animals while growing up.
It wasn’t until I moved to Kuwait as a young adult that I witnessed first hand the problems that an out of control pet population can wreak on a society. Stray cats are routinely spotted dumpster diving for sustenance in some of the richest neighborhoods in the country. There are even more cats in the less posh neighborhoods. Most recently, dogs have joined their domestic counterparts on the cold hard streets of Kuwait. However, dogs are not as sprightly as cats and cannot reach into the tall dumpsters for food. Dogs in Kuwait often hunt smaller animals for food and have even attacked humans without provocation.
The uncontrolled pet population is also taking a toll on the health of consumers. Stray cats often mingle with customers in the open-air cafes and restaurants of Kuwait. Being that they are so used to human contact, the cats walk right up to customers and rub against the odd leg or “meow†for a scrap of food. It’s a heart-breaking scene to watch. Just an ocean away, pets are pampered in American cities often decked out in designer pint-sized duds and noshing on the best food that money can buy.
The primary reason the pet population is so out of control in Kuwait is a lack of responsibility on the part of pet owners. People purchase the pets when they are small, cute and cuddly. However, once the pet reaches maturity, they are often left to fend for themselves and released outdoors. The concept of spaying or neutering a pet in Kuwait is foreign to say the least. And with only a handful of veterinary hospitals to serve the entire pet loving populous of Kuwait and two animal rescue groups, it’s a losing battle.
The situation has become dire and authorities in Kuwait have taken matters into their own hands. Day laborers in the tiny country, who normally perform duties to keep the streets clean and landscaping pristine, have been given a new job. The new job requires placing poisoned dog food in areas populated by stray dogs and even cats. The aftermath of the poisonings, which has resulted in dead animal carcasses left to rot on the streets of Kuwait, has been widely publicized on local blogs and in local newspapers.
The poisoned kibble resembles real dog food and a heart wrenching side effect of the intentional poisoning is that family pets are unintentionally ingesting the food as well. A French expatriate shared her story in a recent interview, “After a walk in the local park, my dog began foaming at the mouth and shaking. I remembered that he had run towards something that had taken his interest in the park, and realized he had ingested poison. His legs were dragging on the way home and for once he was not pulling on the leash, but I did not realize what was wrong. By the time we realized it was too late, but there is no emergency animal hospital here so there was nothing I could do but watch him die.â€
A relatively new project, to control the stray animal population in Kuwait, was launched late last year in a joint initiative by the animal rescue group K’s Path and Kuwait National Petroleum Company. The premise of the initiative is to round up stray animals and nurture them back to health. Once healthy, the pets are adopted by loving homes. Rehabilitating the animals takes more time, money and manpower than simply poisoning them to death. An unexpected silver lining to the animal poisonings is that many people in Kuwait have called themselves to action and are opening their homes to animals in need.
As for the stray animal poisonings in Kuwait, as of press time, they continue despite the public uproar.
On Saturday March 10, Naqshbandiya Foundation for Islamic Education (NFIE), held its annual Mawlid-Un-Nabi (s) Conference 2012 in Chandler, Ariz. inviting approximately 200, a diverse group of attendees.
Mawlid-Un-Nabi marks the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (s). It’s time of sharing the understanding of his glorious teachings and appreciating the way he lived his life in the simplest form.
The conference invited keynote speaker, Shaykh Muhammad Bin Yahya Ninowy, who travelled from al-Madina al-Munawwarah to highlight the beauty of Prophet Muhammad (s) and how his example to the human kind is a key to the gates of paradise.
Before the lecture, a well-known and award winning qasida recitor from Pakistan, Al-Haj Noor Muhammad Jarral, filled the room with his voice. Every word in his qasida was dipped in love and admiration for the beloved Prophet (s).
Soon after maghrib, the evening prayer, the audience sat eagerly to hear Shaykh Muhammad Bin Yahya Ninowy speak.
He was born in Syria and his family lineage can be traced back to Prophet Muhammad (s) through his grandson Hussein ibn Ali by way of Musa al-Kadhim. His family descends from the Iraqi village of Ninowa, where Hussein ibn Ali was martyred.
Shaykh Yahya attended Al-Azhar University to study with prominent scholars of Syria, Hijaz and North Africa. He has written countless books on the topic of Islamic sciences and currently resides in Madina, Saudi Arabia.
He began the lecture by emphasizing on how difficult the process of building great characters in sahabas and walis is.
“Building a building is easy, but building great characters is difficult,†Shaykh Yahya said.
He said ALLAH confuses His greatness by testing great souls through life’s hurdles so they can overcome and reach a level beyond human desires.
Muslims must realize their significance as the honorable ummah of the Prophet (s). They need to appreciate the fact that a messenger was sent to them from amongst them!
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but beauty is relative,†Shaykh Yahya said. “If you recognize yourself as beauty, then you reflect beauty around you.â€
He said Prophet Muhammad (s) is the gateway to heavens and Muslims need to take advantage of that because he is the source of all good things like wisdom, love, beauty and compassion.
Pakeeza Mukarram, a high school student and volunteer at NFIE, said, “I thought the speech was very eye-opening in embracing the greatness of our Prophet (s).â€
As the event came to an end, a group of divine voices presented nasheeds in expression of their love to Prophet Muhammad (s). Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali, a winner of multiple awards from Pakistan and a student of famous Qari Abdul Basit Muhammad Abdus Samad, joined Bilal Muhammad Siddiqui and others in sending peace onto the beloved Prophet (s).
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Interfaith Community United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP) sponsored a benefit performance in Hollywood of the nationally acclaimed play Sarah’s War. The play is the project of the Levantine Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
The nationally acclaimed production is a fictionalized account of the activist life and death of Rachel Corrie in 2003. As a member of the International Solidarity Movement she went to Gaza motivated by a strong sense of empathy and identity with the people of Gaza. In the opening scene she tells her favorite uncle about her plans. She meets his objections with answers that show naivete -yes – , compassion and unmovable determination. Even if one did not know Rachel’s story, one would know that this young women would not be dissuaded from her desire to protect the people of Gaza from Israeli force.
The play is set in several acts, not necessarily in chronological order and in a simple stage setting. There are a minimum of props, and a screen in the background helps set the tone. The acting and the dialogue give the play its considerable force.
Sarah’s War opens with pictures of Sarah — one is tempted to say Rachel – as a young child juxtapositioned with scenes of destruction in the occupied territories. In a bow to realism, the play also deals with the feelings of her survivors and the emotions that play out within her small family group after her death. Indeed death, particularly violent death, plays havoc with the emotions of the survivors, and here the play is stark in dealing with this issue.
There are scenes of Sarah facing an Israeli guard tower, meeting an ISM translator, being gently chided by a more sophisticated ISM activist, and even being snubbed by a Palestinian woman who finds her naivete tedious. Sarah cannot believe that her small group is in danger from Israeli fire because they are sitting under a banner that proclaims them to be international observers. As if to truly secure her safety, she dons a dayglo jacket that would announce her status to the world.
Perhaps the most poignant scene takes place after Sarah’s death. We see her mother sorting out her clothing and reminiscing. Sarah talks to her – she often addresses the audience – and causes her to remember her own student days during the Vietnam war. Her mother longed to be an activist but held back. Gradually Sarah brings out her mother’s memories. Did she see herself in her daughter – will this mitigate the loss of her child – a loss which is life’s one inconsolable grief?
Sarah’s War is beautifully acted, expertly directed and presented. Its message is strong and uncompromising. It is intimate as well as realistic.
Abica Dubay as Sarah heads a fine cast in Valerie Dillman’s play. Matt McKenzie’s direction gives the audience an edge of the seat performance.
“Seeing this play makes me relive Rachel Corrie’s death†said a young woman, not without tears in her eyes.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is the nation’s largest civil liberties and advocacy organization. CAIR promotes the understanding of Islam often by building coalitions. CAIR promotes justice and mutual understanding.
The Interfaith Community United for Justice and Peace (OCUJP) is a dedicated group of clergy and lay persons representing different faiths. All are united in their espousal of justice and civil liberties for all. For further information, please access them at: www.icujp.org.
The Levantine Cutural Center, now entering its 11th year, seeks greater understanding of the Middle East and North Africa through artistic and educational programs. The Freedom Theatre West is a project of the Levantine Cultural Center.
To access the Levantine Cultural Center, please use the following address: www.levantinecenter.org.
Alameda (Calif.)–In a confidential memo intercepted and published by WikiLeaks, the (former) Pakistani Foreign Minister Kausuri stated to American governmental figure(s): “We are the only Muslim country to have such weapons, and don’t want anyone else to get it(!)†Regarding, Abdul Khan’s “personal†proliferation, a U.S. cable from Karachi stated that the Musharraf regime was attempting to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
(Much has changed from the Pak policy of proxy proliferation against the Israeli threat toward the end of the Musharraf regime.)
Pakistan, also, acted as a behind the scenes negotiator between Iran and D.C. (the District of Columbia). It involved seven phone calls between Islamabad and Tehran and eleven with Washington. During this period, the COAS (Commander of the Armed Services) and Foreign Minister Kausuri attempted to convey to Persia that provoking nuclear conflict would “endanger…regional – and Pakistan’s “domestic security.†Further, it had not only the potential of destabilizing Musharraf’s Government, but to “inflame sectarian tensions†within the Pakistani homeland.
At the same time, the Rawalpindi generals advised the Foreign Ministry it was a “PR stunt,†and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment capabilities were not a new thing, and Washington should merely “humor them.â€
On the other hand, The Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) “Aziz and [the Turkish PM] Erdogen, also condemned [Iran’s Chief Executive] Ahmedinjad’s statements against Israel as completely unacceptable…â€
(Pakistan’s policy towards its close neighbor seems to have gone as a bulwark against Israel to an expanding threat to Islamabad.)
It is quite clear from the foregoing that Pakistan comprehends a potential threat from the Medes, but, at the same time, it is more concerned over a major disruption on its borders since the mineral wealth of Iran is essential to its own growth and basic requirements.
Hina Khar, the current Foreign Minister of Pakistan is reported to have stated that Pakistan’s sovereignty should be respected. Further, that no decision should be made against the national interests of her nation. Particularly, among the prime purgatives, is the Pak-Iran pipeline project, and should not be pressured by external elements, especially, the West’s boycott against the Persian Gulf country. “The [pipeline] projects are in [our] interests…â€
(Eventually, India desires to have this pipeline expanded into its own territory, too. Bharat is one of the super economic “tigers,†and her and her major competitor (China) are rich in highly polluting coal to fuel their growth, and, thus, they are destroying their very environments, and cleaner energy is called for. Natural gas is one such cleaner form. Iran and Israel are informal “allies of India,†but India’s improving relationship with Pakistan and her interest in her stability are essential to New Deli’s GNP (Gross National Product), also, and may discourage India from intervening against Pakistan if Iran is attacked by Israel, and Pakistan feels it is in its national interests to give its Western neighbor succor, or to attack the Israeli base in the Arabian Sea and Tel Aviv’ direct nuclear threat to Rawalpindi.)
The Foreign Minister affirmed that Pakistan felt that regional security depended upon their (Iran and Pakistan’s) mutual security although she advocated continuing talks and trade with India. Yet, “…Pakistan will pursue its co-operation with Iran.â€
Your author has shown mixed possibilities over what A.Q. Khan had begun. Curiously, Pakistan’s reaction as a nuclear power is central to any conflict that may erupt between Israel and Iran if the worst is to happen. Definitely, if Israel employs its nuclear prowess, Rawalpindi will be forced to respond. On the other hand, if the war remains conventional, Islamabad has many alternatives to follow.
The situation is most disquieting, for both Pakistan and Israel are nuclear-tipped with Iran having the largest conventional armed forces in the Middle East. Your author heard one of the top-ranking ten (retired) U.S. generals, who took out an ad in the New York Times, to dissuade Washington from taking part in any assault on Iran two weeks ago. When asked by his BBC World Service interviewer what would happen? The General replied that the UAE (United Arab Emirates) first would be decimated, and, then, the Straits of Hormuz would be closed. This would force the American Navy to open the vital waterways to the West. Furthermore, Iran has the capability to attack Washington’s Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Besides, the other NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) nations would be obliged to protect their interests in the Middle Eastern mineral wealth (oil). This would encourage most of the Arab League to come to the rescue of Iran spreading probably to South Asia, and even to Central Asia, too, leading to a major regional conflagration.
Your commentator contemplates going into this subjects in future posts, for he is committed to help preventing this war by the means in his hand (writing).
In Old Cairo, I was searching for one thing, really: the madrassah or school of the Mamluk Sultan Al Nasir Muhammad, built in the 1290s. The reason is that I knew it was a building that contained an architectural relic transported from the Holy Land. This relic is extraordinary. It is a portal from the city of Acre, in the northern part of present-day Israel, and it was part of a structure built by western crusaders in the 13th century. Acre was the last outpost of the crusaders in the Holy Land. They finally got ousted from there in a major defeat in 1291, at the hands of the Mamluks (Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil, conquered Acre in 1291, and the portal was assimilated into the facade of the madrasa by al-’Adil Katbughaour, Sultan Al Nasir Muhammad’s predecessor). The entire portal was transported like a military trophy to Cairo. As the portal to his school for the study of the Qu’ran, built in the 1290s, it was a gem in a new setting.
It took some searching, but I found it:
The Sultan’s appropriation is sealed by a little roundel right above the pointed arch. It reads, “Allah.â€
The thing about this portal is that the thousands of people who have walked by it every week since the 1290s probably have not recognized it as foreign. I mean, compare it to the other arches, real Islamic ones, in this same building. It’s just not that different.
Experts can tell the difference: the colonnettes in the jambs and the ribbing in the arches are typically Gothic, as is the trefoil of the innermost arch. Also, the marble is whiter, clearly from elsewhere. But the main point is that this portal doesn’t look very out of place in an Islamic context because–get ready! this is the eureka moment!–because Gothic itself was an imitation of Islamic architecture. It took its cue from Islamic architecture encountered by crusaders in the Holy Land. But here’s the twist: they didn’t think of this style as Islamic. They thought of it as “ancient Holy Land style.â€
If you look in your textbooks, the first Gothic buildings are St Denis near Paris and Noyon cathedral, both built in the 1140s. But there is another first Gothic structure, and that is the rebuilt Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem, done by the crusaders. They did it in 1140 or so. They used pointed arches on that structure because that was what they were seeing all over Jerusalem on all the important buildings. Gothic was a Holy Land import, a direct effect of exposure to the architecture of the eastern Mediterranean.
So when Sultan Al Nasir Muhammad imported this portal back to Cairo, what did he think he was doing? Was this a knowing reclamation? If that was the case, he would have been saying something powerful, something along the lines of “You thought you could occupy the Holy Land, but you barely laid a claim to it. In fact, it occupied you. And now we will re-assimilate your derivative efforts back into our grand structures.†Or is that granting too much self-awareness? Clearly he knew this was a crusader portal. He had just taken back the city of Acre. This is a trophy, and it has been Islamicized.
I’m not sure what the more moderate claim would be. Maybe he simply saw the subtle difference and enjoyed it, enjoyed owning it: “Look at this exotic portal: now it’s ours.â€
The news that a U.S. Army sergeant killed 16 civilians, most of them children, in southern Afghanistan early Sunday morning was treated by many media outlets primarily as a PR challenge for continued war and occupation of that country.
“Afghanistan, once the must-fight war for America, is becoming a public relations headache for the nation’s leaders, especially for President Barack Obama,†explained an Associated Press analysis piece (3/12/12). Reuters (3/12/12) called it “the latest American public relations disaster in Afghanistan.â€
On the NBC Today show (3/11/12) the question was posed this way: “Could this reignite a new anti-American backlash in the unstable region?†The answer: “This is not going to bode well for the U.S. and NATO here in Afghanistan,†explained reporter Atia Abawi. “Obviously people here very fearful as to what’s going to happen next, what protests will come about throughout different parts of Afghanistan, and how the Taliban are going to use this to their advantage.†“People,†as used here, would not seem to include Afghans, who are presumably less frightened by protests against a massacre of children than they are by the massacre itself.
The front-page headline at USA Today (3/12/12) read, “Killings Threaten Afghan Mission.†The story warned that the allegations “threaten to test U.S. strategy to end the conflict.†In the New York Times (3/12/12), the massacre was seen as “igniting fears of a new wave of anti-American hostility.†The paper went on to portray occupation forces as victims: The possibility of a violent reaction to the killings added to a feeling of siege here among Western personnel. Officials described growing concern over a cascade of missteps and offenses that has cast doubt on the ability of NATO personnel to carry out their mission and has left troops and trainers increasingly vulnerable to violence by Afghans seeking revenge. The fact that the massacres occurred two days after a NATO helicopter strike killed four civilians was “adding to the sense of concern.â€
Another Times piece (3/12/12) began with this:
The outrage from the back-to-back episodes of the Koran burning and the killing on Sunday of at least 16 Afghan civilians imperils what the Obama administration once saw as an orderly plan for 2012. That sounds as if “outrage†is the most serious problem–the reaction to the actions, not the actions themselves.
Treating the killing of civilians as chiefly a PR problem is not a new phenomenon. As FAIR noted (“The Bad PR of Dead Civilians,†5/11/09), the news that dozens were killed in NATO airstrikes brought headlines like “Civilian Deaths Imperil Support for Afghan War†(New York Times, 5/7/09), “Claim of Afghan Civilian Deaths Clouds U.S. Talks†(Wall Street Journal, 5/7/09) and “Afghan Civilian Deaths Present U.S. With Strategic Problem†(Washington Post, 5/8/09).
Covering the latest atrocity, the Washington Post (3/12/12) reported that “the killings Sunday threatened to spark a new crisis in the strained relationship between the United States and Afghanistan.†A separate piece quoted an anonymous U.S. official complaining that massacres “plays to the absolute worst fears and stereotypes†of the U.S. military, and that “it’s the type of boogeyman [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai has always raised, but we’ve never had an incident like this.â€
But there have been similar single incidents, most notably a 2007 attack by Marines that killed 19 civilians. And night raids by NATO forces have killed Afghans throughout the war.
On the Sunday talkshows, Republicans and Democrats spoke about the massacre–often with little to distinguish their points of view. On ABC’s This Week (3/11/12), Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told viewers that “unfortunately, these things happen in war…. You just have to push through these things.†He added that “the surge of forces has really put the Taliban on the defensive…. We can win this thing. We can get it right.†Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) remarked:
I think the president has a good plan. Obviously, it’s a very difficult situation because we have real terrorism that emanated from Afghanistan. The president doesn’t get enough credit. He’s done an amazing job with the drones and Al-Qaeda.
On NBC’s Meet the Press (3/11/12), Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell, a Republican, said the news was “tragic because we have so many brave men and women, David, for now 10-plus years in the global war on terror, have done marvelous work for the cause freedom in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places…. It’s too bad and we’ll have to see the details. But I’m really proud of what our kids are doing there.â€
Is it too much to expect that the dominant reaction after a grisly atrocity should involve sympathy for its victims rather than pride in the forces whom the perpetrator belonged to?
ROME (AP) — Since the start of the month it has been illegal to die in Falciano del Massico, a village of 3,700 people some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Naples in southern Italy.
Mayor Giulio Cesare Fava issued the tongue-in-cheek decree because the village has no cemetery and it is feuding with a nearby town that has one — creating a logistical problem about what to do with the deceased.
The mayor told newspapers that villagers are content.
“The ordinance has brought happiness,†he was quoted Tuesday as saying.
“Unfortunately, two elderly citizens disobeyed.â€
o Stopwatches are used in modern competitions of speed. Swimming, short-distance running, equestrian sports, skiing, snowboarding, and biking are just some of the applications. In some sports, such as swimming, digital stopwatches are connected to starting pads which athletes kick when starting or finishing a race. This allows for much more accurate timing than would be possible than by pressing a button.
History
o The first stopwatch was produced by the TAG Heuer company under the name micrograph. Since then, other companies have begin creating their own stopwatches, seeing the potential. In 1855, a horse named Lexington set a world speed record that was recorded by stopwatch; the time was recorded to a precision of quarter-seconds. This famous race encouraged the widespread production of the mechanical stopwatches of the day. Today, most watches and stopwatches operate on quartz, which resonates at a reliable number of times per second when electric signals are applied.
* The face of a stopwatch may be either analog or digital. Stopwatches are often used in situations where precision is critical, so both analog and digital usually feature time divisions in up to hundredths or thousands of a second. The face of an analog stopwatch may have several hands, each representing a different increment of time; digital stopwatches will simply display the time in a minute:second:hundredth format.
Buttons
 The buttons on a stopwatch are very similar between analog and digital versions. At the very least, a button to start and stop the stopwatch is required. Most modern stopwatches also feature both a reset button and a lap button. The reset button reverts the time to zero, saving the necessity of winding it by hand. The lap button differs between digital and analog. On an analog clock, it will stop a special lap hand on the face of the clock, giving the time of a particular lap. On a digital clock, the lap button displays the current time but continues to count in the background.
 Stopwatches are watches that time events. Instead of telling one the time of day, the stopwatch tells the person how long it took to perform a certain function. Some stopwatches can time multiple events. Some stopwatches can time parts of the event along with the total time of the event.
Functions
 The stopwatch contains buttons to perform certain functions, such as starting, stopping and split timing. Your stopwatch could have other functions such as an alarm or calendar function. Refer to your owner’s manual for a list of all functions of your stopwatch.
Advanced
 Stop watches have a split button to time parts of the event. For example, if your race is a relay race and you want to know the time for each relay, press start at the start of the race. At the same time, press the split button on your stopwatch. Now when the first relay is done, press split. The watch displays the time for the first relay but continues to accrue time for the total race. Press the split again for the next relay. Repeat this until the race is over, and then press stop.
The watch will display the total time for the race. Press split to get the time for the first relay. Press split again for the second time and continue until you have all of the relay times. Stopwatches will only hold a certain amount of split times, so check your owner’s manual to see how many split times your watch holds.
Timer
 Stopwatches have a timer built into them. A timer is the reverse of a stopwatch. Instead of timing the event, the timer times how long it takes you to do something. For example, if you leave your home to go to work, press start on the timer mode. When you reach work, press stop on the timer mode. The time it takes you to get to work displays on the face of the stopwatch.
The war of words between Iran and Israel is now a war of assassination attempts; headlines today read “National security analysts believe Israel’s government is giving serious consideration to an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months.â€
It seems though, that with each presidential election campaigning nominees use this as means of flexing their muscles of international politics. Though Americans seem to understand more the cascading affect of military, political and economic consequence that any action would trigger.
After the repercussions of Iraq, and American troops still in Afghanistan for over a decade, the talks of Iran being “next†has often been muttered. Though at the center of all this is Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran denies is even aimed at developing weapons.
And still, “Israel will decide for itself whether to strike Iran,†Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Barack Obama at his visit to the White House last week. “My supreme responsibility as Prime Minister of Israel is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate,†he told Obama.
Washington, on the other hand, is pressuring Tel Aviv to hold off on what it considers would be a premature and dangerous attack on Iran, arguing that economic sanctions require time to take hold. But Israel may have already decided to proceed with a military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.
When it comes to Israel and Iran, all that is being said and done is mostly verbal. This is due to the fact that Israel may feel they have clock that’s ticking, though most of this is bluffing. According to Jeffrey Goldberg who writes extensively about Israel and Iran for Bloomberg and The Atlantic, part of this, as he puts it, “is to convince the world, hey, you better deal seriously with this problem or we’ll deal with it in a much more serious fashion.†Almost in a sense that Israel feels they must over-dramatize the danger they feel so that America, once again, can come in and take care of Israel’s problem; all this while continuing to bankrupt the American citizens.
Although it must be said, that for all bombings around the Eastern world Israeli says Iran is behind it, and Iran says Israel is behind the abductions of their nuclear scientists. Goldberg continued with stating that the Iranians look at the world in the following way: Libya, which gave up its nuclear program, was as he put it, “crushed by the West.â€
20 years later, the assassination attempts of the war of words between Iran and Israel continues. Will we continue to hear more threats and plans by every politician until the end of next January’s elections, and then see no action? Or will this shift towards yet another region?
• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
In Turkey, where Islamic and Western social values collide, what women cover up is often more controversial than what they flaunt.
The January 2012 cover of Âlâ magazine, which is controversial among secularists and conservative Muslims alike.
So when the new monthly lifestyle magazine Âlâ launched last year to cater specially to the tastes of pious Muslim women, it prompted conservatives and secularists alike to ask whether fashion can coexist with Islam.
With glossy pages filled with demurely smiling, stylishly head-scarved young women, Âlâ has been dubbed the “Vogue of the Veiled†by one Turkish liberal newspaper. After six issues, its circulation has increased to 30,000, with some 5,000 subscriptions sent abroad.
While some secularists believe the magazine is evidence of the creeping Islamization of Turkish society, conservative Muslims have claimed it is violating Islamic notions of female modesty by encouraging covered women to beautify themselves.
Although Turkey has been governed by an Islamist-rooted party since 2002, it is still technically illegal for women to wear head scarves at Turkish universities, and they are also banned in a range of public-sector jobs: a legacy of the state-imposed secularism that dominated the country for much of the 20th century.
Âlâ’s editor in chief, Seyma Yol Kara, is less interested in the magazine’s critics than in the millions of head-scarved women who she says have long been “second-class citizens.†With clothing advice, interviews with successful Muslim women, articles on mental health, and photos of readers, Âlâ is aiming to give them a voice, says Ms. Yol Kara, who herself wears a head scarf. “We are trying to bring new products and new options to women who wear head scarves and women in whose lives Islam plays an important role,†she says. “I’m happy to be helping women who think like me.â€
A mechanical apparatus consisting of a continuous moving belt that transports materials or packages from one place to another.
A conveyor belt (or belt conveyor) consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material – the conveyor belt – that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler. There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors; Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport industrial and agricultural materials, such as grain, coal, ores, etc. generally in outdoor locations. Generally companies providing general material handling type belt conveyors do not provide the conveyors for bulk material handling. In addition there are a number of commercial applications of belt conveyors such as those in grocery stores.
The belt consists of one or more layers of material. They can be made out of rubber. Many belts in general material handling have two layers. An under layer of material to provide linear strength and shape called a carcass and an over layer called the cover. The carcass is often a cotton or plastic web or mesh. The cover is often various rubber or plastic compounds specified by use of the belt. Covers can be made from more exotic materials for unusual applications such as silicone for heat or gum rubber when traction is essential.
Material flowing over the belt may be weighed in transit using a beltweigher. Belts with regularly spaced partitions, known as elevator belts, are used for transporting loose materials up steep inclines. Belt Conveyors are used in self-unloading bulk freighters and in live bottom trucks. Conveyor technology is also used in conveyor transport such as moving sidewalks or escalators, as well as on many manufacturing assembly lines. Stores often have conveyor belts at the check-out counter to move shopping items. Ski areas also use conveyor belts to transport skiers up the hill.
A wide variety of related conveying machines are available, different as regards principle of operation, means and direction of conveyance, including screw conveyors, vibrating conveyors, pneumatic conveyors, the moving floor system, which uses reciprocating slats to move cargo, and roller conveyor system, which uses a series of powered rollers to convey boxes or pallets.
Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC – http://www.iamc.com) an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, has welcomed the introduction of Congressional Resolution H.Res 569 by Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) “recognizing the tenth anniversary of the tragic communal violence in Gujarat, India.â€
“Congressman Ellison’s resolution is an important effort to memorialize all those who were killed in the horrific sectarian violence of Gujarat in 2002,†said Mr. Shaheen Khateeb, President of IAMC. “It is an opportunity to renew our pledge to continue the struggle for justice and reparation for the victims and to combat the discrimination and the economic hardships that plague minorities in Gujarat,†added Mr. Khateeb.
The resolution quotes the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report of 2003 which found that the communal violence claimed the lives of an estimated 2,000 people and displaced over 100,000 into refugee camps.
IAMC has called on all people of conscience to call upon their local Congressional representatives and urge them to become a co-sponsor of the House Resolution H.Res 569. In observance of the 10th anniversary, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) as part of the Coalition Against Genocide, organized candle light vigils across various cities in the US during the weekend of March 3rd – 4th 2012.
Indian American Muslim Council is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with 10 chapters across the nation.
The Coalition Against Genocide (CAG), the broad-based alliance that was instrumental in getting the diplomatic visa of Narendra Modi revoked, organized a New York rally in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Gujarat Riots.
Hundreds of Indian-Americans of diverse religious backgrounds gathered to remember the victims of the anti-Muslim pogrom in front of the Gandhi statue in Union Square on March 3rd, 2012. Though the balmy 55 F made it feel like a beautiful spring evening rather than winter, the mood of the rally remained somber.
They had gathered to remember the victims of a carnage that was unleashed on the Muslims of the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002. Thousands were brutally killed, hundreds of women and girls were raped, and many thousands “ethnically cleansed†in the spring of 2002 in the well-planned pogrom in the Indian state of Gujarat.
“We want Gandhi’s Gujarat NOT Modi’s Gujarat,†they chanted, pointing to the statue of Mohandas Gandhi, the founder of modern India.
The rally was addressed by not only Indian American leaders but by well-known American religious leaders and human rights activists. Dr. Hillel Levine, the founder of Center for International Conciliation, prayed for the victims of the pogrom.
Rev. Mark Lukens, the President of The Interfaith Alliance, Long Island Chapter, spoke against all kinds of discrimination including racism in America and Islamophobia.
Joe Lombardo, the national co-chair of United National antiwar Coalition, pledged to work with Coalition Against Genocide, and vowed not only to get justice for the victims of Gujarat but also to fight the infiltration of Hindutva-fascists in US power centers. He thanked Muslim Peace Coalition USA and Desis Rising Up and Moving for their fight against discrimination in the US.
Al-Haj Imam Talib Abdur Rashid, an imam who heads the umbrella body of New York area Muslims known as the Islamic Leadership Council, stated that the movement that killed Gandhi and tens of thousands of Muslims and Christians would not be allowed to flourish in the US.
Biju Mathew, one of the founding members of Coalition Against Genocide, vowed to continue the struggle till Hindutva-fascism is completely defeated.
Dr. Shaik Ubaid, another founding member of the coalition pointed out that the coalition is expanding and that more American interfaith and civil rights leaders and groups are supporting it.
Biju Mathew and Dr. Shaik Ubaid were given the Lincoln-Gandhi-King Award by the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area Indian Americans for their role in launching the Coalition Against Genocide to fight for pluralism and justice and to keep Narendra Modi out of the US. The other speakers named them “The Men Who Defeated Narendra Modi.â€
Bhairavi Desai, the leader of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, and Svati Shah of South Asia Solidarity Forum, both Gujarati Hindu women, said “We want Gandhi’s Gujarat, not Modi’s Gujarat.†They agreed with a later speaker, Saeed Patel, a Muslim from Gujarat, that the Gujarat pogrom is a stigma and a mark of shame for Gujarat and India. Alex Koshi, a commissioner with Rev. Martin Luther King commission in New Jersey, Habeeb Ahmed, a human rights commissioner with the Nassau county, Juned Qazi of Indian National Overseas Congress, Yusuf Dadani of Indian American Muslim Council, Silky Shah and Bhumika Moochala of Gujarati ancestary, Azhar Bhatt of Muslim Peace Coalition, USA and Dr. Satinath Choudhry, a Dalit leader, were among the other speakers.
The rally was followed by a candle-light vigil, the candles representing the lives of all the victims of Gujarat pogroms that were violently snuffed out.
It was rush hour in Union Square and thousands of passers by stopped and picked up the flyers about the Gujarat pogrom.
Similar vigils and rallies were held in ten cities across the US by organizations that are members of the Coalition Against Genocide http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/
A man worthy of a Noble Peace Prize and maybe more!
By Almas Akhtar, TMO
“Edhi†is a household name in Pakistan, a name which is a source of comfort and trust for the poor people of Pakistan. Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi is a world renowned social worker from Pakistan who has been helping the sick, poor, mentally unstable, orphans, drug addicts of Pakistan for the last 60 years. Edhi is not a human being, he is more than that–maybe an angel living on our earth. He is a simple man who owns few clothes, lives in a small three bedroom house in the old Mithadar neighborhood of Karachi; but he, his wife, and his children, and thousands of volunteers run the Edhi Foundation. They have one goal “live and help live.†This foundation was the dream of a humble man who wanted to help humanity. He started the non profit Edhi Foundation with Rs 5,000 ($60) and an old van as an ambulance in 1951.
Today there are over 300 Edhi Centers within the country and offices in almost 25 countries around the world. The Edhi Foundation has saved 20,000 abandoned babies uptil now and 50,000 orphans have been housed in Edhi Homes. Almost a little over 1 million babies have been delivered in Edhi Maternity Centres. Maulana Edhi does not take a single penny from the government. It is believed that the people of Pakistan trust him more than the government and donate thousands of rupees to his foundation. A couple donated their two villas in Clifton, Karachi to the Edhi Foundation, which has been transformed into a girls’ school and women’s shelter. A few Pakistanis in England donated four buildings in United Kingdom worth 1.4 million pounds. These buildings have been converted into Edhi Foundation’s UK offices and shelter houses.
The Edhi Foundation has the world’s largest free ambulance service according to the Guiness Book of Records. Edhi is helped by his wife Bilquis Edhi in running the maternity homes, orphanages and adoption centers. A cradle is placed outside all Edhi Centers for unwanted babies, the Missing Person Service posts bulletins for missing people on radio, TV and the internet. The Animal Centre takes care of unwanted and ailing pets. Public kitchens all over the country feed the hungry.Edhi himself bathes unclaimed bodies for burial.The Edhi Morgue in Mithadar is the largest morgue in the country. “Apna Ghar†is the house for drug addicts where they are provided medical and psychological help.
Maulana Edhi has recieved the Lenin Peace Prize, the Bazlan Prize and UNESCO’s Madanjeet Singh Prize for Humanity. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani officially sent a nomination to Nobel Committee in November 2011 to award the “2012 Noble Peace Prize†to Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi. He has recieved the Nishan e Imtiaz from the government of Pakistan in 1989. He will continue to work for the sick and needy weather he gets the Noble Peace Prize or not, but it would be a worldwide recognition of the Edhi Foundation and it’s programs. The Nobel would be a tribute to a living saint of our times ….Abdul Sattar Edhi. “It is the Humanitarian Revolution we need, let’s spread the word,†said Mr. Edhi.
Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, 59 years old, currently of Bani Gala village on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, is certain of many things. He is certain that “a huge change†is coming to his country. He is certain, too, that a “revolution†is on its way. And even if he does not state it explicitly, he is certain that he will, within eight months to a year, win a landslide victory in elections to become Pakistan’s prime minister. “When we are in powerâ€, he says these days, not “if we were in powerâ€.
When I arrive, Khan is sitting alone at a table in the garden of the house where he has lived since 2005. It is mid-afternoon, but the sun is low and the light is already fading. The house, built as a family home when he was still married to Jemima Goldsmith, sits on the crest of a ridge and commands a view of the foothills of the Himalayas, a large shimmering lake and the city of Islamabad. He is dressed entirely in black, working his BlackBerry.
The house has become part of Khan’s political persona. There is the short journey through the increasingly scruffy villages and then up to the beautiful hacienda-style house with the dogs, the lawns, the swimming pool and the view. There is the image of the politician who currently leads all polls in the country, looking down from his hilltop on the city and the power that he seems set to seize. The vision of the uncorrupt outsider eyeing the distant den of iniquity that he is set to purge is simply too neat to ignore.
Consciously or otherwise, Khan does nothing to undermine the impression. He leads me briskly down to the edge of his land, steps up on to a large boulder overhanging the steep slope and points out the park which he saved from illegal development, and the new houses scattered across the shores of the lakes that are getting closer and closer to where we are standing. “Look at it,†he says angrily. “There is no planning, no planning at all.†He flings an arm out towards the serrated ridge of hills along the horizon. For, along with the certainty, there is righteous anger. This is directed at a number of different targets: a “corrupt political elite†who “plunder†Pakistan; strikes by American missile-armed unmanned drones against suspected Islamic militants near the Afghan frontier; the local “liberals†who condone the strikes; the lack of electricity crippling the country’s economy; imperialists of old and neo-imperialists of today; the war on terror and its attendant human-rights abuses; multinational lending organisations; Washington; rich Pakistanis who avoid tax while their countrymen live in “multi-dimensional deprivation.â€
In Pakistan today, certainty and anger make a potent mix. The country, chronically unstable if astonishingly resilient, is not only suffering ongoing extremist violence but also terrible economic problems which are steadily wiping out any gains in prosperity made in previous decades. Over recent months Khan has held a series of huge political rallies, with crowds numbering more than 100,000. In terms of popularity at least, Khan and the party he founded 15 years ago, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Union for Justice), have made a major breakthrough.
In the brutal world of south Asian politics–where dynasties, patronage and frequently sheer muscle count more than policies or public support–this is a genuine achievement. In 1999 I spent several days with Khan and his partyworkers on the campaign trail in eastern Pakistan. The headline on my pessimistic piece was: “No Khan Doâ€. These days few would risk such glib assessments of Khan’s electoral chances.
The late 1990s, when Khan was making his political debut, were a raw time. The political scene in Pakistan was dominated by Benazir Bhutto, one of the most celebrated female politicians in the world, and her local rival, Nawaz Sharif. In 1999 the army stepped in through a bloodless and broadly popular coup. I saw Khan on and off occasionally over the subsequent years, but there was little to indicate that my earlier analysis was wrong. He was a legend in sporting terms–one of the best all-rounders in cricketing history–and increasingly well-thought of as a philanthropist, without doubt, but not a serious politician. A column in a local English-language political magazine relentlessly satirised the ambitions of “Im the Dimâ€, and few disagreed.
Now Bhutto is dead, assassinated on 27 December 2007 by Islamic militants, and the old guard of politicians who have survived her, including her husband Asif Ali Zardari, president since 2008, are detested. Khan says he could take over–democratically, of course–at any moment, but he is biding his time. “We have the power to go out and block the government on any issue. But we will only have one chance and we have to be completely prepared.†Back in the late 1990s, he tells me, politics was “like facing a fast bowler without pads, gloves or a helmetâ€. Not any longer, he says.
Khan was born on 25 November 1952 into a wealthy and well-connected family in Lahore, Pakistan’s eastern city. Ethnically he is a Pashtun, or Pathan, as British imperialists called the peoples concentrated along what once was known as the North-West Frontier. Educated at Lahore’s Aitchison College, one of the most exclusive schools in Pakistan, the Royal Grammar School in Worcester and Oxford University, his early years were typical of Pakistan’s anglicised upper classes.
Khan reminisces about how his family home, Zaman Park, was surrounded by fields and woodland where he used to hunt partridge. “Now everything is built up; it’s like living next to a motorway,†he says. “The air pollution, noise pollution It is terrible.â€
The shy teenager’s precocious sporting talent took him rapidly into the national side: he made his Test debut against England in 1971, aged just 18. Eleven years later, after performances combining tenacity and flair, he was made captain of Pakistan. Khan’s two autobiographies, All Round View (1992) and Pakistan: A Personal History (2010), both tell the story of his years as an international cricketer: the victories against the odds in front of the home crowd, the career-threatening injury overcome, the return from retirement at the age of 37, winning the World Cup–for the first and only time in Pakistan’s sporting history–despite a ruined cartilage in his shoulder. It is only when in Pakistan, where the sport is a national passion, that the enormity of his sporting achievement is clear.
Neither book is forthcoming about his activities off the pitch, however. A string of rich, well-connected, beautiful women earned him a reputation as a playboy. Then in 1995 he married Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of the late billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. Aged only 21, she converted to Islam and moved to Pakistan. The couple soon had two sons.
“I had always wanted to marry a Pakistani, but I realised while I was playing cricket that sport at that level and marriage were not compatible,†he says. “So I decided I’d only get married when I gave up sport.†Khan twice announced his retirement: the first time, General Zia ul-Haq, then military dictator of Pakistan, persuaded him to reconsider, and the second time he returned to the team to help raise funds for Pakistan’s first cancer hospital. His mother, to whom he wad been very close, had died of cancer in 1984 and in her memory he had decided to build a hospital which would offer free treatment to the poor. “The whole board [of the hospital] said I needed to keep playing so they could raise money. So I carried on until I was 39, and by then I was too old for an arranged marriage. I just could no longer trust someone else to find someone for me.
“So I found it very difficult,†Khan continues. “The irony was I thought all the 25-year-olds were too young, and I was still looking when I met Jemima–and she was 21.†The couple married in 1995 and divorced nine years later. “It would have had a greater chance of working if I hadn’t been involved in politics or she had been Pakistani. Or if she could have got involved in the politics with me.â€
As one of his wife’s grandfathers was Jewish, a noxious storm of abuse and conspiracy theories was unleashed. Pakistan is a country where antisemitism is so deep-rooted as to be remarkable only when absent.
Local politicians targeted this “weak spotâ€: spurious court cases, rabble-rousing editorials, underhand smears all contributed to make Pakistan a hostile environment for the young socialite heiress.
The construction of the cancer hospital and the leadership of his party consumed most of Khan’s funds and time. “Because they attacked me and her, calling me part of the Jewish lobby, she couldn’t get involved in politics and that was the beginning of it becoming more and more difficult. And she really gave it her best shot. I look back and think: could my marriage have worked? I think of the words of the prophet [Mohammed] (s): ‘Don’t fight destiny because destiny is God.’ I believe the past is to learn from, not live in.â€
He still gets on well with her family–when in London he stays with his former mother-in-law Lady Annabel Goldsmith–and has a “fabulous relationship†with his sons. A day or so after we meet, he is flying to London for three days for half term. “It’s very important to spend time together. Children really need a mother and a father. They have different roles, but both are very important. This idea of having two men as parents. It’s a nonsense.â€
Religion became important to Khan relatively late. He grew up, he says, surrounded by faith. His mother read him stories from the life of the Prophet Mohammed (s) and at seven he was taught to read the Koran in Arabic by a visiting scholar. But as a young man, he was not devout. The return to faith came following his mother’s illness and a profound personal interrogation, he says, prompted by the furore after the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. Wanting to defend Islam from what he saw as ignorant attacks, Khan began to read more widely about the religion.
These days his identity as a conservative, but not fundamentalist, Muslim has become part of his political programme and, in a way not often understood in the west, his political persona in Pakistan.
Liberals in the country dismiss him as a mullah, literally a low-level cleric but figuratively an ignorant extremist, just, they say, without the beard that is the mark of the pious Muslim man. This, predictably, irritates Khan. His faith, he says, has been influenced primarily by the Sufi strand of Islamic practice, which emphasises a believer’s direct engagement with God without the intercession of a cleric or scholar. Another major influence is Allama Iqbal, a poet, political activist and philosopher who died in 1938 and is considered one of the spiritual fathers of Pakistan. “Iqbal, who is my great inspiration, clashes with the mullahs,†says Khan. “The message of all religions is to be just and humane but it is often distorted by the clergy.â€
For all the talk of tolerance, Khan’s party has been keeping some strange company recently, sharing a platform, for example, with the Difa-e-Pakistan or Pakistan Defence Council. This is a coalition of extremist groups which wants to end any Pakistani alliance with the USA and includes people who not only explicitly support the Afghan Taliban but who are associated with terrorist and sectarian violence. At one recent rally of the council in Islamabad, I met members of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a Sunni group which has murdered thousands of Shias, while around me hundreds chanted: “Death to America.â€
Lashkar-e-Toiba, the organisation responsible for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai in India in which 166 died, is also part of the coalition. Mian Mohammed Aslam, the head of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a mass Islamist party similar to the Muslim Brotherhood in the Islamic world and dedicated to a similarly hardline, conservative programme, spoke warmly of “close relations†with Khan, even going as far as raising the prospect of an electoral pact with Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf in the coming elections, when I interviewed him.
Khan says that as a politician he and his party need to reach out to everybody, but that does not mean that he endorses the views of the Islamists. Undoubtedly a social conservative who is religious in outlook and rhetoric, he does not lapse into simplistic binary analyses of the west (secular or “Crusader Christian†against Islam) like many of his countrymen. He denies being anti-western at all. “How can I be anti-western? How can you be anti-western when [the west] is so varied, so different? It doesn’t make sense.â€
It is not religion driving Khan’s anger but something else. Take, for example, his analysis of the violent insurgency in the western borders of his country. For most scholars, this is the result of a complex mix of factors: the breakdown of traditional society, war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the 2000s, the generalised radicalisation of the Islamic world since 2001, al-Qaeda’s presence, the Pakistani army’s operations in the area and the civilian casualties caused by drone strikes. The militants themselves, who behead supposed spies and drive out development workers or teachers, are increasingly unpopular. Yet Khan calls the violence a “fight for Pashtun solidarity against a foreign invaderâ€. He insists “there is not a threat to Pakistan from Taliban ideologyâ€.
For Khan this foreign invasion takes various forms. There is dress (he speaks admiringly of how the Pashtuns still shun western clothes) and there is TV (he mentions how his former mother-in-law thought one channel beamed in from India was in fact American, because of all its adverts for consumer goods). His charge against the “liberal elite†is implicitly a charge against the most westernised elements in the country. It is a defence of a vision of the local, the authentic, the familiar, against globalisation.
However, with his cultured public-school vowels, his half-British children, his British ex-wife, his success at a game the English invented, it becomes a very personal argument, too. Khan says he first became aware of the effects of colonialism as a teenager. “My first shock was going from Aitchison to play for Lahore. The boys from the Urdu [local language] schools laughed at me
Then in England we had been trained to be English public schoolboys, which we were not. Hence the inferiority complex. Because we were not and could never be the thing we were trying to be.â€
Even the memory agitates him. “I saw the elite [in Pakistan] who were superior because they were more westernised. I used to hear that colonialism was about building roads, railways etc but that’s all bullshit. It kills your self-esteem. The elite become a cheap imitation of the coloniser.†He says that he recently read that after 200 years of Arab rule in Sicily, the court continued to speak Arabic and wear Arab clothes for 50 years after their former overlords had left.
His recent book is full of such references. P34: “Colonialism, for my mother and father, was the ultimate humiliation.†P43: “The more a Pakistani aped the British the higher up the social ladder he was considered to be.†P64: “In today’s Lahore and Karachi rich women go to glitzy parties in western clothes chauffeured by men with entirely different customs and values†– and so on through the 350 pages.
This lays him open to charges of hypocrisy, inconsistency, of being a self-hating “brown sahib†himself, accusations frequently made by the “liberal elite†Khan so detests. Yet Khan’s patriotism, faith and honesty are attractive to many in a chronically unstable country seen as an exporter of extremism and violence, as irremediably corrupt, as “the most dangerous place in the worldâ€.
So, what would Khan do in power? At the moment he is thick on aspiration and thin on practical policy. He would, he says, cut government expenditure and raise tax collection. He would turn the mansions and villas of senior officials – “these colonial symbols†– into libraries or even museums “like after the Iranian revolution†to show the people how the elite lived. He would solve the “energy and education emergencies†and he would “totally pull out of the war on terrorâ€, withdrawing the army from the western border zone and letting “our people in [these areas] deal with the militants themselves.â€
Whether he could make the country’s powerful military obey such directives – his critics allege he is unhealthily close to the army – is unsure.
As for relations with Washington, his position is clear: “We need to be a friend of American, but not a hired gun,†he says. “We will take no aid from them. We will stand on our own feet, with a fully sovereign foreign policy and no terrorism from our soil.â€
Which political leaders does he admire? Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the moderate Islamist Turkish prime minister, he says; Brazil’s Lula da Silva, who forced a better redistribution of his country’s newly generated wealth; Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew of Malaysia and Singapore, two authoritarians. But it doesn’t really matter. If Khan does end up prime minister he will do things his way.
Khan is not “dimâ€, as the elite who he detests contemptuously say, but is not an intellectual either. He is a politician riding a wave of public disaffection, and that wave might just carry him to power. What he does afterwards is not something he worries about. He will be 60 this autumn. This would only bother him, he says, if he “had nothing to look forward toâ€. But he is convinced that he does. From his hilltop Khan looks down and says: “This country will go through its biggest change ever. A revolution is coming.â€
Australia’s Dav Whatmore took over this week as Pakistan’s new cricket coach. And when looking for a comparable job in American sports, the job as manager of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox comes to mind. Boston was a supremely talented team last season, but they suffered an historic collapse due to internal team strife. Similarly, Pakistan boasts perhaps the largest stockpile of cricket talent in the world, especially in the bowler department. But while chicken and beer was part of downfall of the Bostonians who play in front of Fenway Park’s green monster, game-fixing, steroids, and in-fighting have been the scourges of Pakistan’s men in green.
Pakistan’s cricketing ups and downs are infamous. Last month’s Test whitewash of England was followed by a flop in the limited overs series, losing 4-0 in the one-day games and 2-1 in the Twenty20s. And while a change in management regime away from Theo Epstein is hoped to change Boston’s fortunes, frequent changes in the Pakistan Cricket Board and sackings of captains and coaches have halted Pakistan’s on-field progress.
But Sunday’s appointment of Whatmore —who guided Sri Lanka to World Cup victory in 1996 —could change all that. Former captain and ex-coach Intikhab Alam is pinning his hopes on Whatmore. “I think the missing ‘more’ in Pakistan cricket will be achieved through Whatmore,†Alam told AFP. “With his perfect record in the past I hope he will enhance the team’s performance, though it will take some time.â€
The 57-year-old, who played seven Tests and one limited over international for Australia, also guided Bangladesh to the second round of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean where they beat giants India. Alam said a lot will depend on the players, some of whom resisted Whatmore’s appointment in 2007 when an inexperienced Geoff Lawson was chosen instead. “It is the coach’s responsibility to bring more consistency, which is missing, but at the end of the day it is important players also do their best and listen to the coach,†said Alam.
Pakistan has also signed Julian Fountain as fielding coach, which Alam believes will help in their weakest area. “Fountain comes with rich experience and has served England, the West Indies and Bangladesh so I hope with him around, much-needed improvement in fielding will also come about,†said Alam, coach of Pakistan’s World Cup-winning team in 1992.
Another former captain, Aamir Sohail, also believes Whatmore can help the team overcome recent mistakes, even if the challenge is huge. “I wish him the best of luck in his endeavours and hope that he will take notice of our recent mistakes in one-day cricket,†said Sohail. “When you take responsibility in international cricket you are bound to face pressure but you need to be objective and I hope everyone rallies behind him in support to achieve the targets,†he said.
Whatmore himself on Sunday acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead. “We want to be consistent. We don’t want peaks and troughs,†Whatmore said. “We want the team to be at a good level for a long period. When we’re brilliant there will be peaks, but we want to still perform and win games when we’re not brilliant. We want to eliminate the bad performances. But you can’t do that by focusing on the result. You have to focus on the process.â€
Whatmore’s first task is the four-nation Asia Cup in Dhaka later this month, an event that includes a high-profile match against India on March 18. A positive performance will give a first hint of Whatmore can bring to Pakistan cricket, but defeat will bring immediate pressure from fans and media. But unlike the Boston clubhouse, maybe some pakodas and Pakola can help Whatmore’s clubhouse come together and play in unison.
Zamalek’s player Ahmed Hassan (Photo: Bassam El-Zoghbi)
Veteran Egyptian soccer player Ahmed Hassan became the world’s most capped player ever this past week when he came on in the Egyptian national team’s 1-0 victory over Niger. A so-called cap is given to a player every time they make an appearance for their country’s national team in international soccer competition.
The 36-year-old midfielder came onto the pitch in the 87th minute during the Pharaoh’s victory in Qatar’s capital Doha, overtaking Saudi Arabia’s goalkeeper Mohamed al-Deayea with the most ever appearances for his country. Hassan thought he had reached the magical mark in a 5-0 rout of Kenya two days ago, but the east Africans sent an under-23 squad so the match was not an official international.
His joy at reaching the milestone was tinged with sadness as he admitted to still being traumatized by the deaths of 75 football fans after a league match in Port Said last month. It was the biggest Egyptian sporting tragedy and several national team stars, including Mohammed Abou Treika, Mohamed Barakat and Emad Moteab, reacted by announcing their retirements.
“Of course I am happy with the achievement, but my happiness is not complete. I am still saddened by the death of Ahly fans in the Port Said disaster,†Hassan said on his website. “I have waited for this achievement for so long, but I hoped to get it in better circumstances,†he added. Hassan’s professional career has taken him throughout Egypt and Turkey, in addition to a spell with Belgian club Anderlecht.
