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India-Pakistan

Skinning of billboards featuring women resumes in Peshawar

2008-05-08

As billboard skins displaying images of women were removed in Peshawar last week, the action -- reminiscent of the previous Mutthida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)-led government’s tenure -- left advertising agencies and companies counting their losses and feeling insecure. The Shabab-e-Milli, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)’s youth wing, set advertising agencies a deadline to remove billboard skins carrying images of women, and on May 2 youth from the group allegedly drove around in a black vehicle and took away the skins, Noor Muhammad, an advertising agency employee, told Daily Times on Wednesday. “On the same day, the district government also removed illegal billboards from service roads in various areas of the city,” he added. Noor said the damage to the billboards was hurting advertisers financially. They pay government taxes on the billboards, so the government should give them protection, he said. The manager of a leading department store in Peshawar, who requested that he not be named, said his company rented three billboards in the main centres of the city and paid Rs 550,000 a year for them. One of the company’s billboards, at the Gora Qabristan, featured an image of a girl and boy sitting on a beach, before the billboard skin was removed. The company has now put up an image of a mattress with not a human figure in sight. The department store manager said his company pays around Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per billboard skin to the advertising companies. “We pay due taxes to the government and this kind of behaviour will definitely hurt the economy, as multinationals companies could divert their investments,” he said. If the government had agreed to the removal of such advertisements, it should have taken stakeholders onboard. It should have let advertising agencies and companies know in advance instead of permitting damages to their investments, he added. During the MMA government’s tenure there was a complete ban on such advertising, and we adhered to that policy for five years. If this government also intends to follow the same policy, it should declare this clearly, said the manager. The billboard skins were removed last week despite the Home and Tribal Affairs Department (H&TA) issuing directives to the district administration to stop Shabab-e-Milli activists from damaging billboards. Meanwhile, Shabab-e-Milli has denied any involvement in the removal of billboard skins, and the district government claimed it had removed only illegal billboards. The latter’s claim is challenged by skinned billboards still standing. The provincial government has said it has taken note of the issue, but so far no action has been forthcoming. NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him.

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India-Pakistan

NWFP government acknowledges damage to billboards

2008-05-04

The NWFP government on Saturday acknowledges Friday’s incident in which the skins of billboards carrying pictures of women were removed allegedly by the Shabab-e-Milli (SM), the youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told Daily Times the government condemned whoever did this. “What will the administration do if people take the law into their own hands at their own free will?” he asked. Most likely nothing. The minister said that if billboards were not considered offensive in remaining three provinces of the country, how they could be considered offensive in NWFP. “It is cheap popularity tactic and we would take notice of it. Either government agencies or some other people are involved in it,” he said. Mian Iftikhar said that one JI leader owned an advertising agency in Lahore, however their local leadership was destroying billboards in NWFP, which he said was a double standard. Shabab-e-Milli: Shabab-e-Milli provincial president Abdul Qadir Saraf said that his organisation had not removed the billboards. Concerning the deadline given by his organisation for the purpose, he said that its Peshawar chapter president had issued the deadline, and had also held a meeting with the district nazim and director City Development and Municipal Department (CD&MD) on the issue. “We are thankful to the city district government and provincial government for removing these billboards,” he said. Saraf said that had the billboards been defaced by his organisation, they would have accepted responsibility for it.

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Britain

Britain slams suicide attack warning

2007-06-20

Britain voiced “deep concern” on Tuesday at reported comments by Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq suggesting that author Salman Rushdie’s knighthood could justify suicide attacks, as protests mounted. The expression of worry came as British Muslim leaders condemned the award for the Indian-born author as a “provocation”, but urged restraint from Muslims in this country, rather than the outpourings of anger in Pakistan. As Charles Johnson pointed out, keep an eye on Friday, after prayers. A Foreign Office spokesman said British High Commissioner to Pakistan Robert Brinkley had made London’s position clear in talks at the Pakistani Foreign Ministry in Islamabad. “He made clear the British government’s deep concern at what the minister for religious affairs was reported to have said,” he told AFP. “The British government is very clear that nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks.” “It is surprising that the British government is criticising me. I am the one who is heading the front-line ministry for the front-line state in the war against terrorism,” Haq told AFP. Haq said he had already withdrawn the comment, which he made in parliament on Monday, saying that he meant the knighthood could spark extremism. Meanwhile, Pakistan summoned Britain’s ambassador to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley had been called to receive a protest, High Commission spokesman Aidan Liddle told AFP without giving further details. Pakistan Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam confirmed that Brinkley had been summoned and said that he received a copy of resolutions passed by parliament against the knighthood. “The meeting has taken place. The high commissioner was called and he was given copies of resolutions passed. It was further conveyed to that Pakistan deplores and regrets the decision by the British government,” Aslam said. She said the award of the knighthood showed a “lack of sensitivity”. “He was told the decision by the British government was contrary to objectives to bring about harmony between the faiths. He was told that the people of Pakistan and Muslims all around the world resent this decision.” Brinkley issued a statement late on Monday defending the award and saying it was “simply untrue that this knighthood is intended as an insult to Islam or Prophet Mohammed.” “Sir Salman’s knighthood is a reflection of his contribution to literature throughout a long and distinguished career which has seen him receive international recognition for a substantial body of work,” Brinkley said. Meanwhile, legislators in the NWFP called for Pakistan to sever diplomatic ties with London over the Rushdi issue. In Lahore, around 150 hardline protesters torched an effigy of the British queen and called for Rushdi to be handed over to an Islamic court. “We want Rushdi to be handed over to Muslim country where he should be tried under Sharia law,” protest leader Shahid Gilani of the Shabab-e-Milli told the crowd. “The punishment for a blasphemer is death.” “We have also decided that we will from now on call every dog ‘Sir’,” he said. Meanwhile the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the main umbrella group of Islamic organisations, condemned Rushdie’s knighthood as a “provocation” but called for restraint from ordinary Muslims. Author Salman Rushdi said on Monday he was “thrilled and humbled” to be awarded a British knighthood. In a statement issued by his agent in New York, where he lives, Rushdie said, “I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honor and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way.”

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India-Pakistan

Hundreds held as Pak protests go on

2006-02-18

Police on Friday arrested hundreds of activists of opposition parties and religious organisations, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Khwaja Saad Rafique, as protests against caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI peace be upon him) continued throughout the country. MNA Rafique and his party’s Punjab secretary general Zaim Qadri were arrested by plainclothes policemen in a restaurant in Blue Area when both were having lunch after participating in a rally, PML-N officials said. However, police authorities denied the arrest. “I didn’t send any cops to arrest Saad Rafique,” Rawalpindi District Police Officer Saud Aziz told Daily Times. The PML-N officials said both were arrested on charges of instigating a mob during a violent rally in Lahore on February 14. Islamabad SSP Sikander Hayat also denied the arrests, saying he had not been contacted by Rawalpindi Police for assistance to arrest a member of the National Assembly. Sources said about 300 senior workers of the ARD and MMA had been arrested in Lahore alone in the last 24 hours. They said several hundreds were arrested in other Punjab cities and police were still raiding locations to arrest people allegedly involved in instigating the protesters in Lahore. Jamaat ud-Daawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was detained at his house. “Hafiz Saeed has been detained at his Johar Town residence and a heavy contingent of police has surrounded his house and is not allowing him to come out even for the Friday sermon,” Jamaatu Daawa Information Secretary Habibullah Salfi told Daily Times. He said Saeed was due to address a conference in Faisalabad. Jamiat Mushaikh Pakistan President Pir Fazale Haq has also been arrested. PPP Punjab spokesman Naveed Chaudhry claimed that more than 600 workers of his party had been arrested in Lahore, Faisalabad and other cities. He warned of a massive protest against the government if opposition workers were not released in 24 hours. Protests continued on Friday throughout the country. About 44 protesters, including a union council nazim, were held in Sheikhupura for looting, aerial firing and damaging public and private property during a protest. Police tear-gassed and baton charged thousands of protesters in Kasur. In Karachi, police arrested 70 after firing tear gas to disperse about 2,000 people who had blocked the Super Highway. About 7,000 people protested in Rawalpindi. Police detained about 35 members of the Shabab-e-Milli who tried to stage a violent rally in Multan. About 1,000 demonstrated in Peshawar and thousands gathered in Quetta in a peaceful rally.

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India-Pakistan

Woman pulled out alive 63 days after quake

2005-12-13

MUZAFFARABAD: In an unprecedented incident, a rescue and relief team of Shabab-e-Milli and Al-Khidmat pulled out a woman from under the debris of a collapsed building in Muzaffarabad, 63 days after the October 8 earthquake. BBC Urdu reported that 40-year-old Naqsha Bibi had been rescued on December 10, and local people looked after the woman for two days. She was handed over to a team of German doctors on Monday and was shifted to Pakistan Islamic Medical Association Hospital at Kamsar Relief Camp. Locals said that the woman’s parents and two brothers had died in the quake. Dr Hafiz at PIMA Hospital said that Naqsha Bibi was in ICU. Dang. One tough lady.

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Afghanistan-Pak-India

People have rejected the rulers: Piracha

2005-11-02

People’s confidence in the relief work done by religious parties was a testimony to the fact that the Pakistani nation had rejected the “so-called enlightened moderation” and the US agenda being pursued by the rulers, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Deputy Secretary General Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha said on Tuesday. "We hate enlightenment! We hate moderation! And we hate enlightened moderation most of all!" Piracha said that no enlightened or much-trumpeted human rights organisation was seen in the quake-affected areas. He said the UNHCR had donated its reserve tents to Al-Khidmat for setting up tent villages in the affected areas. The JI leader said that Pakistan could not get $5 billion needed for the rehabilitation of quake survivors despite being a frontline state in the “so-called war against terror”. Islamabad could get only $15 million of the pledges made at the donors’ conference, he said, adding that the world nations’ lukewarm response to the quake tragedy reflected Islamabad’s foreign policy failure. Pak's foreign policy failures have much to do with the presence of Jamaat e-Islami and its clones. If Pakland wasn't full of arrogant, beturbanned holy men calling for death to everybody in sight to include each other, the world would be better disposed to it. But then it wouldn't be Pakland, would it? The world gave $12 billion for the rehabilitation of tsunami survivors, but it did not heed repeated calls for help by the Pakistani relief commissioner, Piracha said. They don't like you. It's because you're always seething, rolling your eyes and walking out of things, y'know. Why waste money on ingrates? According to a JI press release, JI vice chief and Al-Khidmat Foundation President Liaqat Baloch visited the foundation’s camp office at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad. JI leader Mian Mohammad Aslam and Shabab-e-Milli President Syed Bilal accompanied Baloch.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

250 Shabab-e-Milli activists attack alleged brothel

2005-08-06

LAHORE: Around 250 Shabab-e-Milli activists attacked an alleged brothel in Gulberg on Friday afternoon. Naseerabad police said that the activists gathered in front of House No 181-M, Gulberg-III, shouted slogans against vulgarity and demanded that the brothel be shifted from the area. They later entered the house and fired in the air on which inmates called the police. The police rushed to the scene and controlled the situation. The inmates and Shabab-e-Milli activists were called at the police station for investigation, which was underway till this report was made late at night.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Tourism minister involved in crossfire

2005-08-03

"Honey, this year, why don't we take our vacation in Pakistan? Their tourism minister said — " "Oh, he's dead now, dear! Didn't you hear?" "Well, I'm sure the new one will be just as nice!" LAHORE: The election campaign in Union Council 105 was disrupted on Tuesday when supporters of two candidates’ parties, including Tourism Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal, opened fire at each other after exchanging harsh words. "Yer mudder wears combat boots!" "Hypocrite!" "Heretic!" "Apostate!" "Go fer yer guns, Mahmoud!" A bullet hit the minister’s car and also injured an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) during the crossfire. Somehow, we just knew JI would be involved... Both the parties blamed each other for the incident and submitted their applications with the concerned police station for the registration of a case. "You started it!" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Liar!" "Infidel!" "Go fer yer guns, Ahmed!" Former district nazim Mian Amir Mehmood said in a press conference on Tuesday at the Lahore Press Club that the tourism minister was on his way to visit a hospital project when he got into a clash with JI supporters. The matter was resolved in a mosque but JI supporters opened fire when the minister came out of the mosque. "Well, sorry for the misunderstanding, Mahmoud! Glad we got that worked out!" "Duck!" The JI wanted to disrupt the peace of Lahore, Mian Amir said adding, no political party or religious force could be allowed to violate the law. He also said that authorities should take notice of this incident. The former district nazim said that the party responsible for the incident had been identified and an FIR had been filed against them. He said the people who initiated the crossfire were JI supporters. The JI? Oh, come now! Pshaw! The JI could indulge in such things only in Karachi but they could not be allowed to do the same in Lahore, he added. "We got lawnorder up here, by Gar!" "Look out!" He also said the incident showed that JI were aware of their weak position in the upcoming local council elections. On the other hand, a JI press statement blamed the leaders of Watan Dost Group (WDP) for the confrontation. "Yeah! It wudn't us! They dunnit!" "Did not!" "Did too!" JI said that Muhammad Saleem, candidate for nazim, and Abid Mir, activist of Shabab-e-Milli and candidate for naib nazim at Union Council 105, had arranged a meeting at their election office on Tuesday. The tourism minister, whose brother is Abid Mir’s counterpart in the upcoming local council elections, and his supporters opened fire at them before the meeting and injured an activist, Adeel, the JI said. Muthida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Lahore President Hafiz Salman Butt said that the JI was not responsible for the incident. "[Sniff!] Certainly not!" It was Mian Aslam’s political strategy to get the sympathy of the voters of the area, he added. The one with the most casualties wins? He also said that the minister, who had been in charge of his brother’s election campaign, arranged this drama when he realised that his brother was not in a position to win. "It wuz all trumped up! The ammunition was hardly even live!" Eyewitnesses said that the minister, accompanied by his bodyguards, was going into a local mosque to say his prayers when JI supporters confronted him and they got into a scuffle. The matter was resolved peacefully inside the mosque and the minister came out of the mosque after the JI supporters, eyewitnesses said.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

nugets from em urdu press

2005-07-08

dont knoew ifn thees ben posted yet. no goddam date given Pakistan judged unfairly The daily Jang wrote that a report by an American Commission had stated that there was more religious freedom in India than in Pakistan. Pakistan’s foreign office had replied that the report was unfair because in Pakistan, religious minorities have full rights of self-expression. The American Commission recommended that Pakistan be blacklisted by the US government. ‘We blocked the marathon!’ Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore Salman Butt said in the Nawa-e-Waqt that the mixed marathon organised by NGOs who took money from the West was foiled by Jamaat-e-Islami’s Shabab-e-Milli organisation. He said he could not tolerate women running in marathons. Human rights activist Asma Jehangir was arrested in Lahore for organising a ‘mixed’ marathon. Son of the founder of Jamaat Islam Farooq Muadudi said there was no harm in a mixed marathon because men and women already went around together in the streets of the city. Paintings are banned Writing in the Khabrain, Dr Israr Ahmad stated that there was a clear hadith banning all likeness of the living, be it human or animal. But in the matter of pictures taken by a camera, Arab scholars gave permission which was not accepted by Indian Muslim scholars. Dr Israr believed that paintings were still banned but camera photos were allowed as that would solve the problem of photographs on passports and ID cards. Paintings and sculpture remained banned. Hoodbhoy’s worldview Talking to the Jang magazine, Pakistan’s nuclear physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy stated that he was opposed to nuclear bombs because weapons sapped the state’s ability to look after the economic needs of the people. He said the advantage of 9/11 fell to the Islamic extremists and the Bush administration. He said that because of lack of scientific thinking, Muslims had done nothing remarkable in the last 700 years. He said the Mughals built tombs but no universities. In Pakistan, universities had fallen in standard to an extent that they should be shut down. Dr AQ Khan was not a nuclear scientist but a good administrator. Becoming nuclear doesn’t make you independent but you can threaten the world. He said the country was moving in the wrong direction and he was worried about the future but he was thankful he won’t be around to see the future. We will die for the Quran! Quoted in the Nawa-e-Waqt, Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that he and his followers would sacrifice their lives for the Quran and will gather in full strength to protest the desecration of the Quran at Guantanamo Bay. Ex-ISI chief General (Retd) Hamid Gul said that no apology from the US was acceptable. The culprits who desecrated the Quran at Guantanamo Bay should be brought before an Islamic court. more at link

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Mixed citizens rally violently dispersed by police

2005-05-15

LAHORE: A police contingent laid into a gathering of women and men organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Joint Action Committee for Peoples Rights which had congregated on the Main Boulevard in Gulberg to stage a "mixed-marathon" to test the enlightened-moderation" claims of the government, and swept about 40 of them to the police station. That worked well, didn't it? Asma Jahangir, the chairperson of the HRCP, and Iqbal Haider, the secretary-general, were among those who were brutally dragged into police vans and held for a couple of hours at local police stations. The police action against the congregation was taken on the orders of the Lahore Nazim, Mian Amir Mahmood, who claimed that he had disallowed the rally after receiving "negative reports" from the police. In turn, the police claimed that it had received information of an impending assault on the mixed rally by activists of the Shabab-e-Milli, the youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. But eyewitness reports confirmed that a handful of such activists arrived on the scene only after the police had dragged away the women and broken up the event.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

US aggression a threat to world peace, says Qazi

2005-03-05

"Increasing US aggression against poor and weak nations is threatening world peace and should not be tolerated by civilised societies," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, president of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), on Friday. Qazi was addressing a march arranged by the Shabab-e-Milli in Islamabad. He said the US wanted to "suppress the Muslim world. After destroying Iraq and Afghanistan, it is now considering attacking Iran and Syria". "President Pervez Musharraf is supporting the US against the Muslim nation because he claims that Pakistan is a key partner of the US in its war against terror," he said. He said the Bush administration wanted to destroy the nuclear capability of the Muslim countries. "Nuclear capability guarantees peace because the balance of the power prevents enemies from invading," he said. He asked the participants of the peace march to bring about a revolution in the country and said they should come onto the streets against General Musharraf because "there is no need for an armed struggle to oust him". He said people should not get involved in sectarian issues and should join the MMA in a struggle against General Musharraf.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Clerics slam foreign interference in Pakistan's affairs

2004-08-15

Religious and Jihadi organisations held rallies and conferences in the city to celebrate Independence Day on Saturday. Shabab-e-Milli, Jamiat Talab-e-Arabia and Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JD) held meetings where speakers condemned the military establishment for taking over the country. They held that the nation was still in search of independence as people were deprived of their basic rights in the country. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Hizbul Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin were the chief guests at a Shuhada-e-Islam convention, organised by the Jamiat Talab-e-Arabia at Mansoora Auditorium. "This day demands that the nation get rid of the British-trained establishment," Mr Ahmed said. "Give us a Soddy-trained establishment!" He accused the American intelligence agencies of interfering in the country's affairs. Mr Salahuddin said Kashmiris were fighting to join Pakistan and it would be a pity if Pakistan retreated from its stance on Kashmir in talks with India. He said the freedom struggle in Held Kashmir was indigenous and it was not started at the behest of external forces. "We cannot stop it until we get independence," he said. Addressing the Shabab-e-Milli convention, Mr Ahmed urged youths to help the poor. Jamaat-e-Islami Niab Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Adrees presided over the flag hoisting ceremony at Mansoora. "This is the only country in the world which was established in the name of Islam after the Islamic state of Medina," he said. "And just look how well it works!" He said the rulers were American puppets, but the MMA would get rid of the American yokes with the help of the masses. JI General Secretary Syed Manawwar Hassan, Maulana Abdul Malik, National Labour Federation chief Mirajuddin Khan also spoke on the occasion. Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith chief Senator Sajid Mir, who is in Europe, sent a message from Birmingham. He said that Pakistanis did not fight to gain independence from Britain to become army slaves.

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