Doctors protest target killing of colleagues

Posted on August 19, 2010 by beenasarwar

As the PMA protested in front of the Press Club in Karachi yesterday afternoon over the murder of an Ahmadiyya doctor – a paediatric surgeon at Dow – they got news of the murder of a Shi’a doctor in the city. This is beyond belief. At a time when the country is facing its worst natural disaster ever – these fanatics continue their killing spree, targeting doctors, of all people. See news report. Following is a press release sent out after the doctors’ meeting on Aug 20, 2010: Continue reading →

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Floods: Biggest disaster to hit Pakistan; reliable donation links

Posted on August 7, 2010 by beenasarwar

What was till today described as the worst floods in Pakistan’s history has now been termed as the biggest disaster ever to strike the country. Report by Anita Joshua in The Hindu

An update to my earlier post Pakistan floods: Links to send donations, relief goods. Please see Rural Support Programme flood appeal. Details in Shandana Khan’s email below – she earlier worked with the internally displaced after the exodus from Swat and other areas following the army operation against militants. She writes:

The RSP Network will provide your donations to its member organisations or Rural Support Programmes, in Punjab, Pukhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan and AJK. The RSPs are working with flood victims. The RSPs will assist flood victims mainly through their existing community networks and field-based offices in the flood affected districts.

The RSP Network is registered in Pakistan as a non-profit and is the largest network of non-government, rural development organisations or Rural Support Programmes with an outreach to 3 million rural households. See http://www.rspn.org for donation details. For queries contact Amina Askari at amina@rspn.org.pk

Regards

Shandana
________________________________
SHANDANA H. KHAN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
NO 7, STREET 49, SECTOR F 6/4
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
PHONE:     00-92-51-2821736/2822476
FAX:           00-92-51-2829115
WEBSITE   www.rspn.org

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Karachi burns again

Posted on August 3, 2010 by beenasarwar

The latest target killing – or assassination – in Karachi has once again plunged the city into tension. Four unidentified gunmen shot dead MQM leader and member of provincial assembly Haidar Raza during wuzu (ablutions) at a mosque where he had gone to attend a relative’s funeral prayers in Nazimabad Block No.2 this afternoon. His guard was gunned down first.

Some 400 people have died in target killings so far this year in Karachi – but in this sprawling city of over 18 million, life in most areas goes on. Haidar Raza’s high-profile murder, however, sent a wave of panic through the entire city. Continue reading →

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‘It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do’

Posted on May 31, 2010 by beenasarwar

Israeli forces approach one of six ships bound for Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea. Photo: Reuters

More power to Uri Avnery; outrage re Israeli attack on aid ships going to Gaza

Just since Friday: the Maoist train attack in West Bengal, the Ahmedi massacre in Lahore the same day, and today, just as we’re getting our breaths back, the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla bringing relief goods and humanitarian aid to Gaza – some 20 killed, several injured. Israel has reportedly arrested all the 700 activists on the boats, incl.1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan of Ireland, European legislators and a Holocaust survivor.

Three Pakistanis were among those taken into custody including the popular Pakistani TV anchor and journalist Talat Hussain and his producer. A priest and Muslim cleric were reportedly among the critically wounded by Israeli gunfire. See timeline of attack and photos at this Gulf News report

Cyberspace has been abuzz with outrage at the developments. Some tweets: Continue reading →

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Ahmedi massacre: threats, demos – add to this debate please

Posted on May 31, 2010 by beenasarwar

Scanned photo & caption from front page of Dawn, May 29, 2010; Reuters photo

Posted this info to my yahoogroup today:

Dear friends:

There was a front page photograph the day after the Lahore massacres, of an elderly Ahmedi with a cap and small white beard, hands ‘clasped together in a prayer of sorts’ as Dawn captioned it. ‘Of sorts’. Even Dawn could not call it prayer.

Iconic photo of a Muslim man pleading for his life as fanatical Hindu fundamentalists went on the rampage in Gujarat, India (March 2002).

It reminded me of another photo of a man during the Gujarat carnage in India, hands clasped, pleading for his life.

Then there’s this photograph a friend sent of a banner on Mall Road outside Lahore High Court that reads:  “Yahudi, Isai, Mirzai Islam ke dushman haiN’ (Jews, Christians, Ahmedis, are enemies of Islam).

How could this banner be allowed to be put up and remain up?

Continue reading →

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Balochistan: Condemn the target killing of Nazima Talib

Posted on April 29, 2010 by beenasarwar

Quetta University teachers protest against Nazima Talib's murder. Photo courtesy Dawn

Another senseless death. Photo: courtesy BBC

Elaborating on the note posted to my yahoogroup this morning:
Condemn the cold-blooded target killing of Prof. Nazima Talib, gunned down while on her way in a rickshaw to the Department of Mass Communications of Balochistan University where she taught for 23 years. BLA claims credit… How can they hope to succeed if they kill educationists? Her murder is a devastating reminder of how the innocent pay for the political ambitions of the ruthless.

See also reports in CriticalPPP on the murder of Prof. Nazima Talib and report in Dawn today about the professor’s burial in Karachi. She leaves behind an elderly widowed mother and a son, 24.

HRCP says: “It is unfortunate that most of senior Baloch leaders have not condemned these ruthless killings strongly enough, some of them present conspiracy theories to divert the blame from the Baloch organisations… The discontent among the Baloch youth could not be assuaged though several months passed since the government made commitments to take measures to win over the Baloch nationalists, especially the young Baloch, under the Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan Package. The murder of the woman teacher at the Balochistan University should serve as a reminder to the powers that be that they need to act immediately and decisively to make things improve in the Balochistan province”. Complete statement at HRCP blog

TALES OF DEPRIVATION IN MINERAL-RICH PROVINCE in The Daily Tawar, Baluchistan, translation posted at NewAgeIslam

The Baloch people have a right to self-determination – A damning indictment of Pakistan’s continued military presence and human rights violations in Balochistan by the British activist Peter Tatchell, advocating Balochistan’s right to self-determination in Opendemocracy (thanks Anthony Barnett for flagging this)

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