Lahore: A nine-year-old girl was in a critical condition in hospital after being raped by three men in Pakistans Punjab province,police said. The girl was taken to a hospital in Bahawalpur after being raped on Wednesday.Doctors said she was in a critical condition due to loss of blood and internal injuries. A medico-legal report confirmed the rape.Police registered a case against seven people for kidnap and rape.Five of them were named by the girls mother,The Express Tribune said. The victim had gone missing from her home in Manzoorabad in Rahim Yar Khan on Wednesday morning and later found in a nearly unconscious state in the same area. Police had been informed that the suspects had fled to another village. According to the FIR,the student of class two was abducted by three women and a man.She was taken to a dera,where she was raped.The girl was beaten up before she was left in front of her home.The mother said when she was taking her child to the police,one of the kidnappers threatened to kill her if she informed police.PTI
Afghanistan says it has released some 250 prisoners formerly held by the US in hopes that this will lead to reconciliation in the 11-year conflict.A defence ministry spokesman said that 80 were freed from prisons across the country on Friday,the latest batch of a total of 400 to be released this week.The freed prisoners had been captured in operations against militants.Police major Jalal Uddin said he was certain the prisoners would now support the Kabul government and help the peace process.The US military held thousands of prisoners at a facility on its Bagram base.AP
Paks Osama report out,but not for all
APakistani commission has submitted a report on probe into how Osama bin Laden lived in the country undetected for years until his killing by US special forces,but the report might never be revealed,officials have said.The judicial commission was appointed 18 months ago,to probe one of the most embarrassing episodes in Pakistani history,but its findings could remain classified.The Pakistani government set up the five-member panel after US Navy SEALs conducted a secret raid on a compound in Abbottabad on May 2,2011,killing bin Laden without informing Islamabad until afterwards,the Daily Times reports.ANI
On road to recovery,Malala leaves hospital
London: Malala Yousufzai,the 15-year-old Pakistani rights activist who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls education,has been discharged from a Brittains hospital after doctors said she was well enough to spend time recovering with her family. Malala was discharged on Thursday but is due to be readmitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull,doctors said. Post-shooting,Malala has become a an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to the Talibans efforts to deny women education and other rights,and over 250,000 people have signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.She has also been awarded the 2012 Tipperary International Peace Award from Ireland. Doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where Yousufzai was treated said that although the bullet hit her left brow,it did not penetrate her skull. Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery, said Dave Rosser,the hospitals medical director.... We decided that she would benefit from being at home. Malala has already been leaving the hospital regularly on home leave to spend time with her parents and younger brothers,who have a temporary home in central England,Rosser said.REUTERS
India wary as Turkey set to broker Af-Taliban peace
NSA To Visit Istanbul In Feb To Lay Out Delhis Concerns
Indrani Bagchi TNN
New Delhi: Turkey is emerging as the new player in the unfolding Afghanistan peace process.As Afghanistan and Pakistan work on a peace roadmap,with the assistance and blessings of London and Washington,Turkey has stepped in,even offering to host senior Taliban leaders released by Pakistan for reconciliation talks with the Afghan government. Although India is not part of the deal,India will be deeply affected by the outcome of whatever political process is implemented in Afghanistan.And with a strong presence on the ground in Afghanistan,India will be keen to ensure its own red lines about the accommodation of Taliban in a future Afghan government are respected.Therefore,Shivshankar Menon,national security adviser,will travel to Turkey in February for talks on Afghanistan with his counterpart,Muammer Turker,as well as foreign secretary,Feridun Sinirlioglu.India is likely to lay out a few of its own perceptions first,that the US withdrawal should be accelerated. During the December trilateral summit of Asif Zardari,Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Gul in Ankara,a proposal was floated to invite the Taliban to set up office in Turkey.This would be similar to the help given by Turkey to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.Sources said Turkey would probably not go as far as to allow the Taliban to open an office,but they would be willing to let peace talks between Taliban and Afghanistan happen in their country.But Turkeys involvement may not go down well with many groups inside Afghanistan.Certainly Dostum and the Uzbeks,as well as the Hazaras,say analysts,would have reservations,which would need to be managed if this initiative is to go through. The Taliban tried,unsuccessfully,to open an office in Qatar in 2011-12.In the revived peace initiative through a roadmap,the west has pushed for a Taliban office in Saudi Arabia,given that countrys old connections with the extremist group.However,sources said,Pakistan prefers Turkey as a neutral venue more than Saudi Arabia.This is significant,because Saudi Arabia is generally believed to be Pakistans premier patron,apart from the US. Pakistans army chief,General Kayani too is reportedly keen to achieve some kind of a peace breakthrough in Afghanistan,which would preserve Pakistans interests.Kayani,just nine months shy of retirement,has reportedly come under fire from his colleagues for the mess in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In recent years,Turkey has also expanded its own foreign policy initiatives through the so-called Arab uprising,Turkey has projected itself as a successful Islamic democracy.Muslim Brotherhood found an early home in Turkey,though Syria,a close neighbour,refused to legitimize the group. Turkey is becoming an important partner for India as well,building convergences between two rising economies.
UNDER THE GUN: With a strong presence on the ground in Afghanistan,India will be keen to ensure its own red lines about the accommodation of Taliban in a future Afghan government are respected
Kabul: The Taliban on Friday warned of a prolonged war in Afghanistan if any foreign troops stay after the end of 2014,as Kabul and Washington prepare to discuss the residual American security presence. US President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will hold talks in the US next week on a longterm security pact between the two countries,with US troops remaining in Afghanistan at the top of the agenda. If America wants to leave a small or large number of its troops for whatever length of time then it means war and destruction will continue in the region for that same length, the Taliban said in a statement.If Karzai and the Kabul regime agree with the presence of even a single American soldier then,just as presently,they shall also be responsible for all future hostilities,casualties and destruction. The latest media reports suggest the US department of defence has prepared plans that leave either 3,000,6,000 or 9,000 troops in the country,which US defence secretary Leon Panetta has will focus on preventing al-Qaida from regaining a foothold in the war-shattered nation. Troops would also continue training the Afghan army and police,who will be responsible for national security more than a decade after a US-led alliance ousted the Taliban regime. General John Allen,commander of US and Nato forces,had earlier suggested leaving up to 15,000 troops,and the new forecasts would mean scrapping a plan for diplomatic posts across Afghanistan,the Wall Street Journal said. Fewer soldiers would also heighten US reliance on drones to monitor and target militants after most manned aircraft and their pilots pull out,the paper added.AFP
TIME TO PACK UP The latest media reports suggest the US department of defence has prepared plans that leave either 3,000,6,000 or 9,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014.Troops would also continue to train the Afghan army and police to take over internal security
The brother of the head of al-Qaida is reported to have been captured by regime forces in Syria.Mohamed al-Zawahiri is said to have been seized in Deraa in the south-west where he was meeting opposition activists. Rebel fighters insisted Mohamed al-Zawahiri was engaged on a humanitarian mission and had not been involved in violent acts.They also claimed that he had,in fact,proposed a local truce to enable aid to get through. However the Syrian regime is likely to try to capitalize on Zawahiris presence in the country if indeed they have him under arrest as proof of their repeated charge that the revolution has been taken over by terrorists.Ayman al-Zawahiri,who took over as al-Qaida leader following the killing of Osama bin Laden,has declared that it is the duty of Muslims to take part in a jihad against the pernicious,cancerous regime of Bashar al-Assad and warned the opposition against depending on the West for help. Jabhat al-Nusra,an Islamist rebel group with links to al-Qaida,has become increasingly powerful in the conflict,overshadowing the more moderate fighters,and its leader,Abu Muhammad al-Julani,is said to be in personal contact with Ayman al-Zawahiri. There is also evidence of groups of foreign volunteers,albeit not in large numbers,joining the uprising.Mohamed al-Zawahiri has,however,denied in the past that he wanted to get involved in the Syrian struggle.Speaking in Cairo recently,he stated that he had no plans to join the rebellion. Zawahiri spent 14 years in an Egyptian prison on charges of being involved in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and taking part in terrorist acts.But he has protested his innocence and insisted that he now devotes his time to attempt reconciliation between jihadists and mainstream Islam. Mohamed al-Zawahari is a former military commander of the Islamic Jihad movement,but has,he has stressed,turned away from violence.He claims to have been a conduit for talks between hardline Salafist groups in the Sinai and the Egypts Muslim Brotherhood government.Last year Zawahiri offered to help in negotiations between the US and Islamists and maintained that his attempts at reconciliation had made him a target for hardline Islamists who have accused him of betraying the cause. There is no evidence that his offer was taken seriously by the US administration. The reports of his presence in Syria have come from rebel factions but remain unconfirmed.Deraa,near the Jordanian border,has,however,become a stronghold for Jabhat al-Nusra where its emir,the organization has announced,is Abu Julaybib,a brother-in-law of the the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq,who was killed in a US air strike in 2006.Jabhat al-Nusra denied reports on Al Jazeera that Abu Julaybib and Julani,who has been described as an emissary of the Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawhari,were killed in fighting in Deraa.THE INDEPENDENT
New Pak Taliban faction chief fought against India in J&K
Islamabad: Bahawal Khan,the new chief of a Taliban faction in Pakistans South Waziristan region after the killing of Mullah Nazir in a US drone strike,is a militant who fought Indian troops in Jammu & Kashmir. Named the head of the faction shortly after Nazirs death on Thursday,Khan is a member of the Kakakhel subtribe of the Ahmedzai Wazirs.The 34-year-old illiterate former bus driver and father of two also ran a hotel.He fought alongside the Afghan Taliban before the 9/11 terror attacks. Khan,who is also known as Salahuddin Ayubi,is a long-time associate of Nazir and is expected to continue his predecessors policy of maintaining peace in South Waziristan while focusing on attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan. US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal,a website that tracks the war on terror,that Khan is closely allied with al-Qaida,the Afghan Taliban and other terrorist groups in the area.PTI
Time to redefine military doctrine
Warning that forces of doom and gloom are bent on derailing the system,PM Raja Pervez Ashraf on Friday said that Pakistan will have to redefine its military doctrine to comprehensively tackle terrorism.PTI
Owaisi questioned over hate speech,files plea against FIRs
Says Media Did Not Present His Speech Comprehensively
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Hyderabad: There was high drama within hours of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi returning from United Kingdom on Monday,with the police questioning him over his alleged hate speech at his home in the evening.The interrogation took place even as Akbaruddin filed a writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh high court,urging it to direct the home secretary and DGP to refrain from filing multiple FIRs against him on the grounds that cases against him are already booked in Nirmal and Nizamabad towns. Akbaruddin contended that the controversy about his speeches at public meetings (in Nizamabad on December 8 and Nirmal,Adilabad,on December 22) was a result of airing or publishing only select portions of his speech. Had the entire speech been considered,my credentials as a person having strong allegiance to the Constitution and as a person struggling to secure the rights guaranteed to the minorities by the Constitution in a lawful manner would have been established, Akbaruddins petition said.No care,he said,was taken by the media to present his speech comprehensively. Akbaruddin also spoke about an attack on him by certain people in Old City which,he said,affected his health,because of which he is required to travel to London frequently for treatment.Citing the multiple FIRs against him in various police stations,the MLA said that the Supreme Court has ruled that filing several FIRs on a single crime is unconstitutional. An advocate,NVSJ Rama Rao,filed a petition in the court urging it to direct the Centre,state,YouTube and Google India to remove the hate speech portion of Akbaruddin and also prevent TV channels from holding debates on this issue as it hurt sentiments of various communities. Akbaruddin arrived via a Qatar Airways flight from London in the early hours of Monday.He was received by MIM legislators and hundreds of party supporters.The MLA then directly came to his residence located at Road Number 12 of Banjara Hills. As he was supposed to appear before Nirmal police at 10.30 am,Adilabad police completely cordoned off the town as a preventive measure.Subsequently,they were informed by the MLA that he will not be able to appear due to health reasons and his advocates Mohammed Ismail and Sattar Khan communicated the same to Nirmal police by appearing in person. Meanwhile,BJP activists protested and burnt effigies of Akbaruddin at Nagulchinta,Moaza Jahi Market,Karbala Maidan,Ram Nagar and Musheerabad X Roads on Monday morning.Police arrested 43 BJP activists including their senior leader,Bandaru Dattatreya at Moazam Jahi Market and 10 more activists at Nagulchinta.Heavy bandobust has been provided at Akbaruddins house to prevent untoward incidents.
New Delhi: Investigations into the 2006 Malegaon blast case may see the arrest of some Muslim men too by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).The agency,which has already arrested four alleged Hindu fanatics,is on the trail of two Muslim men who it suspects helped the Hindu terror module in conducting reconnaissance in the town and provided some kind of logistical support. Sources said the agency believes it was not possible for rank outsider Hindus to conduct reconnaissance and plant bombs in the close-knit Muslim dominated textile town without some local support and only on the basis of disguising themselves as Muslims.The agency has already put two men under scanner but has not apprehended them yet for lack of hard evidence. Even the arrested accused from the Hindu terror module have as yet not disclosed anything on this angle of investigation,said sources.NIA has arrested Rajender Chaudhary,Manohar Singh,Dhan Singh and Lokesh Sharma in connection with the case.Sources said an interrogation of Lokesh,who was taken into custody on Saturday and is a senior member of the group,may throw more light on this. Except Lokesh,rest of the accused were more or less foot soldiers.Lokesh,along with Ramji Kalsangra,Sandeep Dange and Sunil Joshi were the chief conspirators in almost all Hindu terror acts.He has far more information than the others,but is a tough nut to crack.He was arrested last year in connection with Malegaon 2008 and Samjhauta Express blasts,but he never revealed anything about the Malegaon blast in 2006 or certain other explosions that Chaudhary has confessed to, said an officer privy to investigation details. While a claim to the effect that Hindutva radicals behind the terrorist attack may have used Muslim hirelings was made by Swami Aseemand in his confession after his arrest in 2010,it is only now that NIA is finding itself closer to getting some evidence to what looked like an outlandish claim then.Aseemanand had confessed before a magistrate not once but twice about this.
The NIA believes it was not possible for outsider Hindus to conduct operations without local support
DREAMS GONE SOUR No.of suicides among Indians in Gulf rises
Daniel P George TNN
Chennai/Dubai: There are thousands of Indian workers in the Gulf but precious little is being done to address their various problems,including cheating by touts and travel agents and low or unpaid salaries,social workers say.More then 125 Indians,including 75 in the UAE alone,killed themselves in the Gulf countries last year,they add and call upon authorities to rescue hundreds of women from all over India who are locked up in brothels in the gulf. These facts provide an unpleasant backdrop to the 11Pravasi Bharatiya Divas,the annual jamboree of NRIs,which began in Kochi on Monday.Dubai police figures show that more 70% of all suicides in the UAE in 2011 were committed by Indians.However,the number of suicides among Indians in Dubai and the northern emirates fell from 147 in 2008 to 114 in 2009,110 in 2010,76 in 2011 and 75 in 2012. C P Mathew of Dubaibased Valley of Love said steps were being taken to help those in trouble but the numbers continued to rise.Many here are without their families.They have none to talk to about their problems and financial pressure from back home adds to their woes, he said. Mathew added that credit card trap was the biggest killer. Dr S Irudya Rajan of the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram said,Kerala has the highest suicide rate in the country and this is being carried to the gulf by those going there.According to my study the economic situation,not being paid the promised salary,shattered dreams,failure to cope with stress and lonelinnes are the biggest contributors to suicides.
New Delhi: The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind on Monday joined the embarrassingly long list of organisations and individuals demanding regressive measures to improve security of women in the country. Among their suggestions is abolition of co-education,declaring all sex outside legal marriage illegal,complete ban of alcohol in the country,and public execution of those involved in heinous crimes. The organisation has outlined 11 specific steps for Justice J S Verma Committee to consider for improving safety and security of women in the country.Many of these suggestions are a throwback to regressive societal norms. Co-Education should be abolished and proper education facilities meant for only women only should be available at all level of education, it has said.Jamaat has suggested that all educational institutions should prescribe sober and dignified dress for girls. Jamaat expresses hope the committees will reach the root of the disease and find out the cure, it said in a statement.Only proper marriage contracted by free will of man and woman should be recognised as legally permitted form of legal sexual intimacy.All sex outside marriage including livein-relationship should be declared illegal and punishable, it recommended. The organisation has called for capital punishment for heinous crimes like rape.These punishments should be given in public and there should be opportunity for people to witness the same so that it might act as deterrent to such heinous crimes, it has said.Alcohol is in the root of all evils and crimes particularly against women it should be completely banned in the whole country, it has demanded. The organisation has also called for making marriages easy,abolition of all forms of dowry and all unnecessary expenditures to be curbed and made punishable.
Male: A 15-year-old in the Maldives whose stepfather is accused of repeatedly raping her and killing the resulting baby risks being flogged for fornication with another man under the nations strict Islamic law,a police source said on Monday. In the course of inquiries into the rape case,investigators say they unearthed evidence of the girl having had consensual sex with another man,which is an offence in the Indian Ocean holiday destination,the source said. Women,including minors,having consensual sex outside marriage can be charged in the Maldives,where convicts can be publicly flogged.Minors receive the punishment when they reach 18,the age of majority. The childs stepfather is accused by police of repeatedly raping the girl and fathering a child by her which he subsequently murdered.The girls mother has been charged with helping dispose of the infants body,police said. We completed the investigation (into the murder of the infant) and gave a report to the prosecutor generals office, Maldivian police spokesman Hassan Haneef said.He declined to give details saying that Maldivian common law did not allow the discussion of any case involving a minor. The local Haveeru newspaper quoted an unnamed official from the prosecutors office saying that the fornication charge was unrelated to the rape which had been separately dealt with.AFP
Malaysia Bar pushes for chemical castration
Kuala Lumpur: After a South Korean court punished a pedophile with Asias first chemical castration,Malaysias Bar Council has suggested similar treatment should be considered for repeat sex offenders as an alternative form of sentencing. But,Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee said the available medical studies on the treatment suggested there were serious side effects involved in its use. Womens Aid Organization executive director Ivy Josiah felt the procedure could be seen as a form of medical treatment,and should only be considered in cases where the offender had no control over his sexual urges. The vast majority of rapists rape knowingly... and they should be punished as per the existing laws.Only a very,very tiny number of rapists do so because of a condition such as mental illness, Ivy said.PTI
90-yr-old Saudi groom wants teen bride back,stirs uproar
Dubai: A 90-year-old Saudi mans marriage to a 15-yearold girl in exchange for a fat dowry has sparked widespread condemnation from human rights and social media activists in the kingdom. The frightened girl locked out her husband refusing him entry to the bedroom for two successive days before fleeing back to her parents home,the Al-Arabia reported. But the groom insisted that his marriage was legal and correct,and that he paid $17,500 dowry to marry the girl,who is the daughter of a Yemeni father and Saudi mother.He vowed to sue his inlaws to give him back the girl or return him the dowry. The travails of the girl evoked widespread condemnation from the people,who used Twitter to criticize the parents of the girl. Suhaila Zein el-Abedin,a member of the Saudi National Association for Human Rights,urged the government authorities to intervene as soon as possible to save this child from tragedy. On twitter,Mouhammad Khaled Alnuzha @ mkalnuzha,a legal expert asks,Is this a case of human trafficking crimes punishable by law PTI
HEINOUS CRIME Indian mom in UK gets life for killing son over Quran
London: An Indian-origin mother,who beat her 7-yearold son to death like a dog for failing to memorize the Quran,was on Monday sentenced to life for killing him and setting his body afire to hide evidence after applying barbeque gel. A sobbing Sara Ege,33,collapsed and had to be helped from the dock after being told that she would serve 17 years before she could be considered for parole. Cardiff crown court heard that Sara,a mathematics graduate from India,treated her son Yaseen like a dog when he struggled to memorize passages of the holy book of Islam. She beat him on the hands and his body until he collapsed on the floor of his bedroom and died in July 2010,the Guardian reported. She was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice and given a four-year sentence for that crime,the BBC reported. Her husband Yousuf Ege,a taxi driver,was cleared of allowing the death of a child by failing to protect him. Sara had pleaded not guilty to murder and claimed her husband was responsible for Yaseens death.While sentencing her,justice Wyn Williams said,I am satisfied that it was his failure to learn the Quran that day that resulted in the beating that caused his death. On the day of Yaseens death you had kept him home from school so he could devote himself to his study of the Quran.He was memorizing passages but on that day Yaseen must have failed in some way and it was that which was a trigger for the beating. PTI
London: India is among the top five countries named as the hub of illegal migration to the UK.Nigeria,Pakistan,China,and Bangladesh are the other countries named by the UK home office as the hub of illegal migration,the Daily Mail said. It claims a latest Home Office study reveals a robust estimate of 863,000 illegal migrants living in the UK,70% of whom are believed to be based in London.Their origins have been deduced based on the nationalities of people detected by the authorities. UKs immigration minister Mark Harper blamed the problem on uncontrolled immigration under the Labour government and stressed the Tory-led coalition was determined to get tought on the issue. The figures from London School of Economics are included in the study Practical Measures for Reducing Irregular Migration.PTI
New Delhi: An angry India on Wednesday summoned Pakistani high commissioner Salman Bashir to the foreign office and lodged a strong protest over the killing and mutilation of Indian soldiers,even suggesting that the incident might force New Delhi to do a rethink on its re-engagement with Pakistan.Hours later,Islamabad reacted accusing India of making baseless and unfounded allegations. With the Congress too reacting strongly against the barbaric act,the government seemed to recognize that the incident will inevitably force India to draw conclusions on Pakistans sincerity in carrying forward the bilateral engagement. As Islamabad remorselessly dismissed Indias protest,the US endorsed New Delhis position. Senior government sources told TOI that the US had conveyed to India that Washington saw the incident as a deliberate escalation of violence or reprisal.This was privately conveyed by the US to India. Sources here said the government was perplexed over the aggression.
MURDER MOST FOUL: (Top) Army officers carry the coffins of two soldiers,Sudhakar Singh and Hemraj,brutally killed by Pakistani troops on the LoC,in Rajouri on Wednesday.Sudhakar,30,(above,left) was to return home to his wife and son in MPs Sidhi district this month while Hemraj,29,had called his wife hours before the firing to say he had booked a ticket home to Mathura in February
Khurshid: Will have adverse impact on peace process
New Delhi was perplexed more so because the government in Islamabad has backed up its peace overtures with the claim that the Pakistani army was on board.They recalled the bilateral discussion of December 27 last year in which Pakistan insisted it remained committed to the 2003 truce,describing it as an important confidencebuilding measure that needed to be respected. The unprovoked killing of Indian soldiers and brutalization of their bodies seems to have raised doubts about Pakistans claim that its army was invested in the peace process,and would make it difficult for New Delhi to pursue the desire for peace,especially after the sharp political reaction to the gruesome provocation. India desisted from expressing misgivings on the peace process against the backdrop of the outrage.Even though he insisted on ensuring that the situation did not escalate,foreign minister Salman Khurshid warned of an adverse impact on the ongoing peace process.Describing the incident as unacceptable,he said India was expecting an appropriate response from Pakistan. Khurshid said the Pakistani high commissioner had been spoken to in very strong terms.We had discussions on December 27 on conventional CBMs like the 2003 ceasefire.Violations are a matter of great concern.And if these arent immediately contained,itd have an adverse impact on what weve been trying to do for such a long time, he said.
NGO sends disabled girls to boys hostel as punishment
Almost All Girls Too Terrorised To Talk,Says Child Rights Panel
Rageshri Ganguly TNN
Bhopal: Like lambs sent to the wolves,an NGO entrusted with the welfare of minor girls many of them disabled and mentally weak had been sending them for months to the boys hostel next door in the name of punishment. The shocking fact,which has just come to light,has both startled and enraged people across Madhya Pradesh where the Sehore-based NGO,Bright Star Social Society,had been running the two hostels for boys and girls. In raids carried out on Tuesday at the Mandi area of Sehore,which neighbours Bhopal,a team from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) found that the girls,almost all of whom were too terrorized to talk,would be forced into the boys rooms whenever they made a mistake or complained to officials about the poor facilities they had to live with. Senior madam would send us to the boys whenever she thought we should be punished for we had done something wrong, one of the girls told the SCPCR officials.We were then made to do dirty things.Often we were thrashed. Another disabled girl was so terrified on being asked by the team what exactly went on there that she broke down and wouldnt utter a word. More worryingly,SCPCR chairperson Usha Chaturvedi told TOI that apart from gross irregularities in both the hostels,while records showed a total of 48 girls only 30 were present on Tuesday.The rest,18 of them,we were told by secretary (of the NGO) Avanish Jaffery,hadnt turned up since the Diwali vacation, she said.Also,we found that all the 30 girls were stacked up in one room of 11 feet by 11 feet dimension. The Sehore district administration has cancelled the licence of the NGO to run the hostels but little action has been taken against the two who were heading operations,Sangeeta and Irshad Jaffery.Questioned about it,district collector Kavindra Kiyawat said directives had been issued to the NGO to vacate the hostel within three days.Kiyawat has for now ruled out sexual abuse of the girls though there is no information on whether they had already been sent for medical examination.SCPCR has asked for a report now and ordered the district project coordinator to trace the missing girls.Meanwhile,during initial interrogation Avanish confessed before the SCPCR team that though he had 15 days ago taken one of the girls to the boys hostel on account of bed wetting,he had not left her with them.I kept the girl with me and my wife, he said.Rajya Shiksha Kendra commissioner Rashmi Arun Shami,along with social justice commissioner B K Batham,also inspected the hostels and spoke to the girls.But calling the incident very sensitive,both refused to divulge any further details about the alarming case.
JJ Act: HC asks govt to respond on lacunae
New Delhi: Taking a grim view of allegations that lacunae in the Juvenile Justice Act allow hardened criminals to get away,the Delhi high court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond.The HC acted on a PIL seeking annulment of certain provisions in the juvenile law,including those that spare minor convicts from life imprisonment and death penalty.A bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and V K Jain gave time till February 14 to the respondents,the Union ministries of Parliamentary Affairs and Law and Justice.The petitioner lawyer,Shweta Kapoor,told court that various provisions of the Act,including Section 16,require to be held as ultra vires as it prohibits a juvenile above the age of 16 years from being awarded life imprisonment and death penalty.The PIL also highlights the alleged contradiction in various provisions of the Act which allows a juvenile convict to go out of a special home after attaining majority.TNN
New Delhi: The Pakistani aggressors who killed Indian soldiers and mutilated their bodies may have undermined one of the key factors underpinning the peace process.Pakistan lured India,deeply distrustful of its intent post-26 /11,to the negotiation table by promising that the Pakistani Army was on the same page as the Zardari government on the restoration of normalcy in ties.The brutality on the Line of Control (LoC) raises doubts about the credibility of the promise,and prompt India to take a fresh look at its options. More so,because India was in any case expecting that Pakistan is likely to get more assertive in Jammu & Kashmir,which may be a direct consequence of the US-sponsored role the Pakistan Army believes it is playing to bring the Taliban into Afghan government in Kabul. On the face of it,Pakistani government has really no proximate reason to escalate temperatures on their eastern flank.There are no elections due any time soon,so there is really no reason to whip up nationalist sentiment inside Pakistan by invoking the India bogey.So why would Pakistan resort to this kind of provocation that could invite a sharper Indian response Something has changed.The change actually started a few years ago.In the years since Pervez Kayani has taken over the reins of the Pakistan Army,infiltration into India has steadily increased. In recent weeks,Pakistan has been pulled out of the doldrums after suffering its worst couple of years with the US.Its renewed sense of importance lies in once again being identified as the key to peace in Afghanistan.With the US preparing to turn off the lights in Afghanistan by 2014 some say,even this year the concerted western effort there is to go the tried and tested way.The Pakistani Army is once again being given the keys to the peace effort in Afghanistan,by being asked to broker a deal with the Taliban,to bring them into the government.
Nirmal (Adilabad): Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi,arrested for making a hate speech,was on Wednesday remanded in 14-day judicial custody and sent to Adilabad district jail,about 200 km from Hyderabad.Police filed five fresh cases against Akbaruddin while producing him before the magistrate,including cases of criminal conspiracy and sedition. Police said Akbaruddin was evasive in his replies and said he claimed his statements were misunderstood by those who lodged the complaints against him.While the MLA was being questioned,senior police officers viewed a recoding of his entire speech in Nirmal on December 22,2012.After watching a recording of his speech in Nirmal on December 22,2012,senior officers decided to file more cases against him. Police filed a petition before the court seeking seven-day custody of the MLA.After directing Akabruddin to file his reply,the court posted the matter for Thursday.Tagged as undertrial number 7546,Akbaruddin also filed a petition seeking his transfer to Chanchalguda Jail in Hyderabad on the grounds that the medical facilities he needs wouldnt be adequate in Adilabad.The petition was dismissed but jail authorities were directed to ensure proper medical attention to the accused. Meanwhile,Adilabad and Nizamabad districts observed a bandh on Wednesday.MIM members damaged two state buses and OB vans in Nirmal while in Bhainsa,police used mild force to bring the situation under control.In Bodhan in Nizamabad,police lathicharged MIM workers.
Brutality Similar To 2000 Strike By Ilyas Kashmiri
Josy Joseph TNN
New Delhi: Nobody wants to be on record,but many seasoned Pakistani watchers within the security establishment are beginning to suspect that Tuesdays attack on Indian soldiers may have been executed by the Special Services Group (SSG),the Pakistan Armys commando unit.Reasons for this presumption are many most important being that the one operation that has most parallels with the attack was a strike of February 2000,which was suspected to be an action by the SSG. I dont have any credible evidence to say for sure,but the way the operation was carried out,the beheading etc point fingers at the SSG, said a senior official in the security establishment.He said it had an uncanny resemblance to the February 27,2000,operation,which was led by Ilyas Kashmiri,the dreaded terrorist commander who was killed in a US drone attack. Though some dispute it,many in the Indian establishment believe Kashmiri was actually a member of the SSG when he carried out the raid.A second group has said that Kashmiri was working in tandem with SSG and not really a member of the commando unit.But all of them agree on Kashmiris SSG training for his Afghan missions and later operations in Kashmir. According to the Army,the Pakistani attackers were wearing black uniforms,which is a standard SSG outfit.Started in 1950s,SSG has had active role in most of the wars with India,and it has also played a key role in the mujahideen war against Russians in Afghanistan through the 1980s. The 2000 raid was on Ashok Listening Post,a remote advance post that had already been identified vulnerable by the commanding officer of 17 Maratha Light Infantry. Seven Indian soldiers were killed,and sepoy Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar (24) was beheaded and his severed head taken back to PoK.Pakistani media has reported that Kashmiri paraded the head before Gen Pervez Musharraf and in the local town. This time the attack came when three soldiers were part of a patrol party,close to LOC,and ahead of the fence.It is possible that the attackers lay in waiting through the night.It is almost a repeat of what happened in 2000, a second Kashmir hand said.He said the attackers were either SSG members or terrorists. However,there are two other probabilities.One,the attack was carried out by regular Pakistani soldiers.Second,it was an action by terrorists with the blessings of the Pakistani Army.
Implement plebiscite promise: Omar uncle
J& K chief minister Omar Abdullahs uncle Sheikh Nazir Ahmad has accused the Indian establishment of repeatedly stabbing the Kashmiri leadership in the back while seeking implementation of Jawaharlal Nehrus 1947 plebiscite promise.Ahmad,who is also ruling National Conferences general secretary,said New Delhi had always deceived and backstabbed Kashmiris while addressing his party workers in Srinagar.TNN
Pakistan high commissioner Salman Bashir at external affairs ministry office on Wednesday
GRIM MOMENT: Army personnel carry the coffin of Lance Naik Hemraj at Rajouri on Wednesday
India debunks Pak denials after attack
Rajat Pandit TNN
New Delhi: The government may have asked the security forces manning the borders with Pakistan not to further escalate the situation as of now but it has also been made clear that a repeat of such barbaric cross-border action will not be tolerated again militarily as well as diplomatically. Furious with the Pakistani Army for blatantly flouting norms followed by all civilized and professional armies,the Indian security establishment debunked all denials emanating from Islamabad on Wednesday. Officials said there was no doubt Pakistan Army regulars wearing black uniforms similar to the commandoes of its elite Special Services Group (SSG) had intruded well into the Mendhar sector of J&K on Tuesday to brutally behead an Indian soldier and try the same with another. Even as the Indian directorgeneral of military operations (DGMO) Lt-General Vinod Bhatia talked tough to his Pakistani counterpart Major-General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed on Wednesday morning,defence minister A K Antony said there was clear evidence that regular Pakistani troops had conducted the highly provocative action after sneaking across the Line of Control (LoC). That it happened there is a reality.The way they treated the dead bodies of the Indian soldiers is inhuman... We are closely following the situation, said Antony,after being briefed by Army chief General Bikram Singh.Lt-Gen Bhatia also lodged a strong protest with his Pakistani counterpart at about 10 am.He told Maj-Gen Ahmed the action conducted by regular troops of the Pakistani Army,during which the bodies of the two Indian soldiers were badly mutilated,was a grave violation of the rules of engagement followed by civilized and professional armies. Gen Bikram Singh has also briefed national security advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon about the manner in which the Pakistani Army was regularly violating the ceasefire agreement that came into force in November,2003,along the 198-km International Border in J&K,the 778-km LoC and the 150-km Actual Ground Position Line in Siachen to give covering fire to terrorists.
Pak attackers took soldiers head as trophy
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The fog of war is a reality even during peace time along the troubled Indo-Pak border.So it is not surprising that Tuesdays gruesome attack on Indian soldiers has slightly different narratives,according to who you speak to. What is clear is that three soldiers of 13 Rajputana Rifles,the Barasingha battalion,deployed with two others in the Mendhar sector,were together when they were attacked by the Pakistani intruders.The soldiers were close to the LoC,ahead of Indian fencing built several meters inside the LOC. The Intelligence establishment says the three were returning after manning through the night to an advance post,ahead of the fence,when they were ambushed.They were on their way to the company headquarters around 10.45am when the attack took place. But Army officials said the three were acting as scouts ahead of the sevenmember area domination patrol when they were ambushed. All,however,agreethe two Lance Naiks Hemraj and Sudhakar Singhwere killed immediately.The Pakistanis beheaded Hemraj and carried his head back across the border as a trophy and were then were trying to severe Singhs head but failed. Probably,it was then that the other Indian troops opened fire. The gun-battle lasted for over 30 minutes.The third soldier,who was injured but escaped a brutal death,is being treated at the military hospital in Udhampur. The Pakistani attackers took away the personal weapons of both Hemraj and Singh.Some sources indicate there was even hand-to-hand engagement between the two sides,knife injuries on the dead are indicative of that.
Washington: The annals of US lottery history is filled with a litany of bad luck --winners who blew their jackpot and went broke after poor decisions and lousy investments.Urooj Khan never got that far;he died,possibly murdered by someones greed,even before he got to collect his winnings. Khan,an India-born owner of a three-store dry cleaning franchise in Chicago,had won $1 million in an Illinois state scratch-off lottery a few days before he keeled over and collapsed at midnight last July after eating a meal of keema (ground beef),according to his wife Shabana Ansari.She called 911,and the medical examiners office later declared his death to be from natural causes after finding no trauma to his body,and toxicology reports showed no unusual substances in his blood. The likely cause of death was said to be arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,which covers heart attacks,stroke or ruptured aneurysms.There was no autopsy. Not so fast,an unnamed relative complained to authorities a few weeks later,demanding a closer scrutiny of Khans death,amid rumors of family squabbles over Khans estate.Khan was already a wealthy man before he died,and the $425,000 lottery winnings (which Khan had opted to take in a one-time lumpsum payout after taxes) would have added to his estate,which,because he had left no will,would under local law be divided between Shabana Ansari,his second wife,and Jasmine,his 17-year old daughter from an earlier marriage. The local county medical examiner then re-opened the case and retested fluid samples that had been taken from Khans body,including tests for cyanide and strychnine.When the final toxicology results came back in late November,they showed a lethal level of cyanide,leading to the opening of a homicide investigation. Khan,authorities now,say may have been killed,although they do not immediately link the death to the lottery.They plan to exhume Khans body within the next two weeks as part of the investigation. Authorities have meanwhile extensively questioned Khans wife,whose family is from Hyderabad,and also executed a search warrant at the home he had shared with her.But in television interviews she has said she loved her husband,has nothing to hide and would be happy if the investigation yielded the truth.I want the truth to come out in the investigation,the sooner the better, she told ABC.Who could be that person who hurt him She also said she did not demand the re-opening of the case and has no idea who did. It has been an incredibly hard time, she added,saying she was struggling to keep his dry cleaning business going.We went from being the happiest the day we got the check.It was the best sleep Ive had.And then the next day,everything was gone.
POISONED Urooj Khans body could be exhumed in the next two weeks for probe,say authorities
Islamabad: A militant group in Pakistans lawless tribal belt beheaded a Sikh man kidnapped over a month ago after accusing him of acting as a spy for a rival outfit,media reports said on Wednesday. Mohinder Singh,40,was kidnapped from his shop in Tabbai village of Khyber Agency by unidentified armed men on November 20.Singh was a seller of herbal medicines,a trade that is common among Sikhs in northwest Pakistan. Singh was beheaded on Tuesday and his body was mutilated before it was packed in a sack and dumped at Zakhakhel Bazaar in Khyber Agency,unnamed officials were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.They said Tawheedul Islam,a militant group,had claimed responsibility for killing Singh. A note left with the body said Singh had been killed for spying for a rival militant group,the Lashkar-e-Islam.The body was identified by the slain mans brother Daswant Singh. He said his brothers killing was a cruel act against members of the minority Sikh community.We have no enmity with anyone and have lived peacefully in Khyber Agency for more than six decades, he said. Daswant said his family had earlier approached the Tauheedul Islam,a pro-government militia of Zakhakhel tribesmen,but it had claimed it did not know the whereabouts of Singh.PTI
Hundreds of potentially inflammatory advertisements linking Islam to terrorism have gone up in the subway — the biggest series of its kind to date.
The ads depict an image of the Twin Towers in flames with a quote, attributed to the Koran, “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.”
The pro-Israel American Freedom Defense Initiative paid $77,000 for the message to be placed on 240 clocks throughout the subway system.
The MTA last year rejected a similarly provocative advertisement from the group, citing an authority guideline against content demeaning to any particular religious or cultural group.
The ads read, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”
But the MTA backed down after a federal court ruled the guidelines violated the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.
That ad campaign featured billboards in just 10 stations. Many of them were vandalized, authorities previously said. The Defense Initiative’s tactics have been criticized by Islamic and nondenominational organizations, including the Interfaith Center of New York.
"They may be legal but they're not moral,” said the Rev. Chloe Breyer of the Interfaith Center. “Demonizing the religions of others does not show New Yorkers at our best.”
IN our school and college days we all loved to assist friends set up `sabeels` alongside Lahore`s traditional `Ashura` procession, providing cold drinks to the thousands who mourned. Sects and beliefs never mattered then. But then neither did one`s religion. For well over 1,332 years, the tragedy of Karbala moves everyone who hears about it, be they Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh or any other religion. This is one incident that brings out the need to support those with a moral position.
As children we attended the `sham-ighareeban` with our Shia friends, and learnt the lesson of supporting those in the right. Everyone respected the beliefs of others. Yes, there were always a few silly chaps who wanted attention, but they were at best ignored.
The ancient city of Lahore is connected to the tragedy in no uncertain terms.
Historical accounts say seven brave warriors from Lahore died while fighting in the Battle of Karbala. It is said their father Rahab Dutt, an old man who traded withArabia in those days, had promised the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) to stand by his grandson in his fight to uphold the truth.
That pledge the brave Rajput Mohiyals of the Dutt clan from Lahore upheld.
Today they are known as Hussaini Brahmins, who lived in Lahore till 1947.
Then there is the fact that besides the Hindu Rajputs of Lahore, in the battle also fought John bin Huwai, a freed Christian slave of Abu Dharr al-Ghafari, whose `alleged` descendents, one researcher claims, still live inside the Walled City of Lahore.
I have been on the track of these ancestors for quite some time and have been able to trace one Christian family living inside Mori Gate. They claim to have a connection with a `Sahabi` whose name they cannot recollect. M. A. Karanpikar`s `Islam in Transition`, written over 250 years ago, made this claim, but I do not think it is a claim worth pursuing.
But the most powerful claim of Lahore as the place where the descendents ofHussain ibn All came lies in the Bibi Pak Daman graveyard, where the grave of Ruquiya, sister of Hussain ibn Ali and wife of Muslim ibn Ageel, is said to exist.
Also graves here attributed to the sisters of Muslim ibn Ageel and other family members. Many dispute this claim.
But then no less a person than Ali Hasan of Hajweri, known popularly as Data Sahib, came here every Thursday to offer `fateha` at the grave, informing his followers that this was the grave of Ruquiya. The place where he always stood to offer `fateha` has been marked out, and his book also verifies this claim. Mind you detractors exist, of this have no doubt, but the supporting evidence is quite strong.
Let me begin the story of the Dutts by going through the record of the Shaukat Khanum Hospital and the recorded fact that Indian film star Sunil Dutt, who belonged to Lahore, made a donation to the hospital and recorded the following words: `For Lahore, like my elders, I will shed every drop of blood and give any donation asked for, just as my ancestorsdid when they laid down their lives at Karbala for Hazrat Imam Husain.
Makes you think -but then there is this account which says that the seven sons of Rahab Dutt lost their lives defending the Imam at Karbala. The Martyr`s List at Qum verifies this. History records when the third thrust by Yazid`s forces came, the Dutt brothers refused to let them pass. The seven Punjabi swordsmen stood their ground till they were felled by hundreds of horsemen. In lieu of the loyalty of the Dutt family to that of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) was coined the famous saying: `Wah Dutt Sultan, Hindu ka dharm, Musalman ka iman, Adha Hindu adha Musalman.` Since then, so the belief goes, Muslims were instructed never to try to convert the Dutts to Islam.
A grieving Rahab returned to the land of his ancestors, and after staying in Afghanistan, returned to Lahore. I have tried my very best to locate their `mohallah` inside the Walled City, and my educated guess is that it is Mohallah Maulian inside Lohari Gate. Later theymoved to Mochi Gate, and it was there that the famous Dutts lived before 1947 saw them flee from the hate of the people they gave everything for.
The most interesting thing about the Hussaini Brahmins is that they are highly respected among Hindus, and even more amazingly it is said that all direct ancestors of Rahab Dutt are born with a light slash mark on their throat, a sort of symbol of their sacrifice. I was reading a piece by Prof Doonica Dutt of Delhi University who verified this claim and said that all true Dutts belong to Lahore.
I must point out to an amazing version of these events that an Indian historian, Chawala, has come up with. It says that one of the wives of Hazrat Imam Husain, the Persian princess Shahr Banu, was the sister of Chandra Lekha or Mehr Banu, the wife of an Indian king Chandragupta. We know that he ruled over Lahore. When it became clear that Yazid ibn Muawiya was determined to eliminate Hussain ibn Ali, the son of Hussain (named Ali) rushed off a letter to Chandragupta asking for assis-tance. The Mauriyan king, allegedly, dispatched a large army to Iraq to assist. By the time they arrived, the Tragedy of Karbala had taken place.
In Kufa in Iraq a disciple of Hazrat Imam Husain is said to have arranged for them to stay in a special part of the town, which even today is known by the name of Dair-i-Hindiya or `the Indian quarter` The Hussaini Brahmins believe that in the Kalanki Purana, the last of 18 Puranas, as well as the Atharva Veda, the 4th Veda, refers to Hazrat Imam Husain as the avatar of the Kali Yug, the present age. They believe that the family of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him)is Om Murti, the most respected family before the Almighty.
All these facts bring me back to our days as school children working hard to provide relief to the mourners on Ashura. Reminds me of our neighbour Nawab Raza Ali Qizilbash, who invited us to his `haveli` every year to see the preparations before the event. Raza Bhai is no more, and neither is the tolerance that we all enjoyed so much.
Source: Dawn
Prediction about Karbala in Hindu books (See video links)
In selecting this post, we at the LUBP stand by the pluralist traditions of our land. We stand with our Hindu and Christain Pakistani brothers and sisters (and followers of other religions and faiths) and want to highlight the universalist strands of the Karbala paradigm where Imam Hussain was supported by his Hindu and Christain friends and supporters, who also sacrificed their lives for his cause of standing up against injustice.
Karbala teaches us to awaken our conscience and take a stand against oppression and tyranny. This is a clarion call for us to take a stand against not just the ongoing genocide of Shias in Pakistan but also of the persecution of our Christain, Ahmadi, Hindu, Barelvi and Sikh Pakistanis. We stand with our moderate Deobandi Pakistanis who are taking a stand against the ISI tactic of cultivating their sect for raising jihadi-sectarian militias that fulfil the foreign and domestic policy imperatives of our establishment.
Karbala teaches us to stand with Aasia Bibi in this time when she is being persecuted by the so-called independent closet Jamaati judiciary. Shame on you, Babar Awan, for opposing the revocation of the laws passed by Islamist tyrants and going against the initiatives and efforts by your party, the PPP, to help Aasia Bibi. By your words , you have cast your lot with the progeny of Yazid and General Zia ul Haq. (Qudsia Siddiqi)
Hindu contribution to the marsiya Intizar Husain
Source: Message of Peace
It may appear a bit odd to talk about Hindu contribution to the tradition of marsiya and azadariat a time when communalists in India seen bent upon effacing every vestige of the religious heritage of the Muslims from that country. In fact, now is the time to show how different were the cultural attitudes in this land in the past. I am chiefly indebted for this information to Kalidas Gupta Raza.
Kalidas Gupta Raza, who died recently, is known as an authority on Ghalib. His preoccupation with the marsiya and the azadari tradition in general is a little less known. And it was something more than of mere academic interest. While on a visit to Bombay I had the opportunity to meet him. Seeing me curious about his pen name, ‘Raza’, he told me that he had chosen it because of his devotion to Hazrat Imam Raza. He was kind enough to give me his booklet titled, ‘Shaoor-i-Gham’, which included marsiya pieces written by him.
While engaged in his research on Hindu marsiya writers he had unearthed a number of such writers, which were hitherto unknown to us. An article, which was intended to be the first chapter of his book, Hindu marsiya go is included in his collection, published under the title,Sahv-o-Suragh, in which he has traced Hindu involvement in azadari from the times of Quli Qutab Shah. This ruler, he says, would take care to say goodbye to wine as soon as the moon of the month of Muharram was sighted. Clad in black, he would come out from his palace and proceed to the aza-khana followed by a large number of people, most of whom were Hindus.
The first Hindu marsiya writer, as researched by Gupta Raza, was as Ram Rao, whose pen name was ‘Saiva’. He belonged to Gulberg but migrated to Bijapore in the time of Ali Adib Shah. In about 1681, he translated Rozatush Shuhada in Deccani verse. This translation was in addition to the original marsiyas written by him.
Sri Makkhan Das, and Balaji Tasambak with ‘Tara’, as his pen name are some other marsiyawriters, who flourished in Deccan in the years that followed. Add to them the name of Swami Prashad who wrote marsiyas in Urdu under the pen name of ‘Asghar’, though he also wrote poetry in Persian and Hindi.
As the centre of Urdu shifted from the South to the North and the azadari culture began to flourish in Lucknow. Here, too, we find the Hindu gentry actively participating in the rituals of Muharram and Hindu poets ardently engaged in writing marsiyas. Better known among the earlier poets was Munshi Channoo Lal Lakhnavi, who wrote ghazals under the pen name of ‘Tarab’ and marsiyas under the pseudonym, ‘Dilgir’. In his later period, he wrote marsiyas alone and distinguished himself in the field.
Raja Balwan Singh, who wrote under the pen name, ‘Raja’, was the son of Maharaja Chait Singh, the ruler of Benares. But the British did not allow him to rule for long. Ousted from Benares, he succeeded in winning a jagir from the Maharaja of Gawalior. His son Raja mostly lived in Agra and became a disciple of Nazeer Akbarabadi. He distinguished himself as amarsiya writer, though he also wrote in other verse forms.
Lala Ram Prashad wrote marsiyas under the pen name, ‘Bashar’. Gupta Raza tells us that he was a devotee of the Ahl-i-Bait. In his last days, he migrated to Karbala. It was there that he breathed his last and was buried there.
Perhaps in Lucknow, Hindus were more deeply involved in the rituals of Muharram. So their participation was not confined to writing marsiyas alone. Lala Har Prashad was not a marsiyawriter. But he had a passion for reciting them. Every year, he participated with devotion in taziaprocessions and recited his favourite marsiyas depicting the martyrdom of Hazrat Abbas.
Lala Har Prashad belonged, as Mirza Jafar Husain has told us, to the family of Raja Mahra. But Tika Ram was a potter. Out of his devotion for Imam Husain (AS) he had made a tazia of clay, which in its own way was a piece of art. This tazia was exhibited every year on the night of Muharram 10 and was always a centre of attraction for the mourners.
Mirza Jafar Husain has written about a unique ritual observed by the Hindu mourners. On the night of Muharram 10, someone from among them chose to masquerade as a messenger. He was expected to perform his duty on the day of Ashoor. So the next day, with bells hanging around his body and with a morchhal in his hand, he would go running from one place to the other, going to each group of mourners and announcing in a mournful voice, “Husain Kushta Shud” (Husain has been martyred).
In a cultural atmosphere of this sort, who could imagine a Hindu-Muslim riot? Only in such an atmosphere a Hindu poet could feel inspired to write marsiyas. This atmosphere in later times found its echoes in Munshi Prem Chand when he wrote his famous play, Karbala, in which a group of Hindus is seen fighting in Karbala for the cause Imam Husain (AS) stood for.
New Delhi: Pakistan on Sunday finally agreed to the flag meeting being demanded by India to resolve the LoC imbroglio,a day after IAF chief N A K Browne warned that other options for compliance would have to be examined if Islamabad continued to blatantly flout the sanctity of the line of control. But even as the two sides prepared for the flag meeting to be held between rival formation commanders at the Chakkan Da Bagh crossing point in Poonch district at 1pm on Monday,the Pakistani army was at it again to violate the ceasefire agreement a well-honed strategy to give covering fire to terrorists trying to sneak into J&K. On Sunday evening,the Pakistani army fired mortar shells on several Indian posts in the Nangi Tekri area of the Krishnaghati sub-sector of Poonch district.We retaliated to the Pakistan firing, said an officer. Earlier,on Saturday night as well,in the by now over half-a-dozen such ceasefire violations since January 1,Pakistani troops had opened fire at Indian posts in the Krishnaghati sub-sector,quite near the place where two Indian soldiers were brutally killed last week.
SLIM HOPE
India,Pakistan brigadiers to meet at Chakkan-Da-Bagh crossing in Poonch district at 1pm on Monday Indian delegation,led by Brig T S Sandhu,to protest killing,beheading of two jawans by the Pakistani army regulars in Mendhar sector last week Delegation also to demand that Lance Naik Hemraj Singhs severed head carried away by Pak intruders be returned
Another J&K panchyat member shot at,20 resign
Around 20 J&K panchayat members resigned on Sunday,a day after a woman panch was shot at by militants.The 45-year-old victim was shot in the neck and is critical.Panchayat leaders said they were quitting because they feared for their lives and blamed the state government for failing to provide them security.No militant oufit has claimed responsibility.P 9
NO RESPITE: The Pakistani army continued shelling on Indian posts on Sunday as well
New Delhi: Pakistan on Sunday finally agreed to the flag meeting being demanded by India to resolve the LoC imbroglio,a day after IAF chief N A K Browne warned that other options for compliance would have to be examined if Islamabad continued to blatantly flout the sanctity of the line of control. But even as the two sides prepared for the flag meeting to be held between rival formation commanders at the Chakkan Da Bagh crossing point in Poonch district at 1pm on Monday,the Pakistani army was at it again to violate the ceasefire agreement a well-honed strategy to give covering fire to terrorists trying to sneak into J&K. On Sunday evening,the Pakistani army fired mortar shells on several Indian posts in the Nangi Tekri area of the Krishnaghati sub-sector of Poonch district.We retaliated to the Pakistan firing, said an officer. Earlier,on Saturday night as well,in the by now over half-a-dozen such ceasefire violations since January 1,Pakistani troops had opened fire at Indian posts in the Krishnaghati sub-sector,quite near the place where two Indian soldiers were brutally killed last week.
SLIM HOPE
India,Pakistan brigadiers to meet at Chakkan-Da-Bagh crossing in Poonch district at 1pm on Monday Indian delegation,led by Brig T S Sandhu,to protest killing,beheading of two jawans by the Pakistani army regulars in Mendhar sector last week Delegation also to demand that Lance Naik Hemraj Singhs severed head carried away by Pak intruders be returned
Another J&K panchyat member shot at,20 resign
Around 20 J&K panchayat members resigned on Sunday,a day after a woman panch was shot at by militants.The 45-year-old victim was shot in the neck and is critical.Panchayat leaders said they were quitting because they feared for their lives and blamed the state government for failing to provide them security.No militant oufit has claimed responsibility.P 9
NO RESPITE: The Pakistani army continued shelling on Indian posts on Sunday as well
Srinagar: Over a hundred panchayat members in Kashmir resigned from their posts on Monday,the fourth day of relentless action after sarpanch Habibullah Mir was shot dead in Bomai village in north Kashmirs Sopore town on Friday.On Saturday,Zoona Begum,a 45-year-old woman panch at Hardshiva,was critically injured after being shot at in her neck near Sopore.Twenty Kashmiri panchayat members had quit on Sunday. A deluge followed on Monday with over 100 members announcing their resignation through paid advertisements in local dailies.Militant threats in the past two years have had a crippling effect and panchayat members clearly fear for their lives now. Chief minister Omar Abdullah said that the rural development department received only 50 resignations but they were not accepted.Authorities said they received 40 more resignations from Baramulla district.On Sunday,Omar had assured panchayat members speedy probe into the attacks and punishment for the culprits.Clearly,the assurances have not worked.
Pak PM dismisses Baloch govt after Quetta killings,Shias end protest
Govt Rejects Demand For Army Control Over Town
Islamabad/Karachi: Yielding to protests over the killing of nearly 100 Shias in Quetta,Pakistan PM Raja Pervez Ashraf on Monday sacked Balochistan government and imposed governors rule in the troubled province. Following a major terror attack on their neighbourhood on Thursday,thousands of Shia Muslims had refused to bury their dead until the Balochistan government was dismissed and the army given control of Quetta.Accepting their demand,the Pakistan government on Monday dismissed the PPP-led coalition government for failing to protect the minority community. President Asif Ali Zardari issued a formal proclamation late on Monday which said that a report from the governor had made it clear that the government of Balochistan cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. Following the order,the protesting Shias who had picketed on the streets of the Balochistan capital with bodies of the victims,ended their four-day sit in protest and started burying those who had died in the bomb attacks. The order said governors rule would remain in force for two months.PM Ashraf announced the governments decision at 1.30am during a meeting with Shia leaders. However,the government did not concede to a demand from the ethnic Hazara Shias for the army to be given control of Quetta to improve security and to carry out operations against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.When Shia leaders repeated the demand for the army to be given control,Ashraf said governor Magsi and the civil administration will have the authority to call in the military if needed.PTI
Cleric,followers troop into Islamabad
Islamabad: Tens of thousands of protesters led by fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri poured into Islamabad late on Monday demanding sweeping electoral reforms,as authorities put up barricades and deployed riot police turning the Pakistani capital into a virtual fortress. Qadri,who began his long march in Lahore on Monday,was moving towards Islamabad with around 30,000 to 50,000 supporters,witnesses in Punjab province said.The figure was far short of Qadris claim that millions would join his protest. The cleric,who heads the Tehrik Minhaj-ul-Quran,returned to Pakistan last month after living in Canada for the past seven years.Political parties have accused Qadri of acting as a front for the military and security establishment to delay this years general election so that the term of an interim administration can be prolonged. The cleric has shaken up political circles by demanding key electoral reforms,including the dissolution of the Election Commission and installation of a caretaker government after consultations with all political parties,army and judiciary.Witnesses said Qadris convoy,which was currently making its way through Punjab province at a very slow pace,consisted of over 200 vehicles,including trucks and buses. Scores of women and children were among the protesters.Hundreds of Qadris supporters gathered at Constitution Avenue in the heart of Islamabad,where the march is expected to end. Almost 10,000 policemen were deployed across Islamabad as part of security for the protest.Most plazas and shops in Blue Area,the main commercial district of Islamabad,were closed.Key roads and thoroughfares across Islamabad were blocked with empty containers and barricades. Petrol pumps along the Islamabad-Rawalpindi highway were shut and public transport went off the roads,causing inconvenience to the residents of both cities.Qadri was himself travelling in a bomb-proof SUV surrounded by police jeeps and armoured vehicles.Authorities in Punjab province mobilized some 7,000 policemen,including commandos,to protect Qadri and his motorcade. Mobile phone services were suspended along the route of the march to stop militant groups from using phones to detonate bombs. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned that strict action will be taken against the protesters if they pose a threat to peace and security. Malik also repeatedly warned of terror threats to the march.PTI
Bamako: Islamist forces on Monday seized control of a town in a fresh attack in Malis government-held south and vowed to strike at the heart of France as it waged a fourth day of airstrikes against them.A local government official reported the jihadists had seized Diabaly,some 400km north of the capital Bamako. Meanwhile French warplanes launched airstrikes on the town of Douentza,800km north of Bamako,residents reported. Planes repeatedly bombed the Islamists headquarters in Douentza.It was destroyed but the Islamists were not there, said a resident.Other locals confirmed the report saying the extremists had already fled. France launched the operation alongside the Malian army on Friday as the insurgents threatened to advance on Bamako after months of torpor over a planned African military intervention to drive out the jihadists. Experts had said a regional operation could only get off the ground in September.French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed the Islamist victory in Diabaly,which put them on the road leading directly to the capital.We knew there would be a counter-offensive towards the west, he told BFM Television. They have taken Diabaly after heavy fighting and resistance from the Malian army,which was insufficiently equipped at that exact point. He earlier told journalists that while the Islamists had retreated in the east of Mali,French forces were facing a difficult situation in the west where rebels are well armed. The attack was led by Abou Zeid,a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),said a regional security source said. On Sunday,French Rafale fighter planes struck bases used by al-Qaida-linked fighters in Gao and Kidal,two of the main towns in northern Mali.Sixty Islamists were killed in Gao alone on Sunday,according to residents and a regional security source.AFP
ON WARPATH: A French Rafale fighter jet lands in Ndjamena,Chad,before being deployed in Mali on Sunday