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Updates in Your Groups, November 15, 2011

2011-11-15T17:48:00.001+05:00

Updates in Your Groups
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talpurmir posted a file asiafarming-facebook.txt

Khairpur: then and now – a page from history

2009-08-22T19:01:00.000+06:00

A few years after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan (1951), facing a brutishly aggressive government of Pakistan, the Mir, now at the age of 22, was forced to merge Khairpur with the One Unit of West Pakistan, a political reorganization designed to support dictatorship. Khairpur and Bahawalpur were the first states to be annexed in 1955 through a Merger Agreement which their rulers were forced to sign in 1954 on threat of military invasion. This threat was made by General Iskander Mirza (Dictator-Governor General 1955-1958) while his right hand man, General Ayub (Dictator-President 1958-1969) was the chief of the armed forces at the time. The Khan of Kalat who had simultaneously received this threat, refused to accept any such illegal agreement and this lead to a military invasion in 1958 causing a massacre in Kalat city along with various other human rights violations and atrocities throughout Balochistan.
In 1947, on the 15th of August, British paramountcy over the foreign affairs of the Princely States of India came to an end, leaving them fully independent but also surprised and unprepared. All sovereign rulers had the choice of remaining fully independent or accede to either dominions of India and Pakistan. The States were misled into believing that they would continue to exist in the same relations with the newly formed dominions as they did with the British Empire, if they acceded to either dominion. This they believed until the very last days before independence for India and Pakistan. It was this erroneous belief that led the vast majority of rulers to reject the proposal of a union of princely states such as the United Arab Emirates today, as put forward by the Nawab of Bhopal. After Accession however, the states lost everything except the Ex-Rulers' titles, privileges and a privy purse which was promised to them by an agreement. As India failed as a large centralized state in maintaining the higher quality of life that the former subjects of the princely states were used to, there came a great resurgence in the popularity of the princes and they began to participate in politics. In 1972 foreseeing certain defeat in the upcoming elections, Indhira Gandhi violated the agreement made with the princes and treacherously cancelled all the privileges and privy purses that were promised by her own father Nehru, the first prime minister of India. The princes were financially destroyed as most of them had not invested abroad during their reign. Suffering great economic hardships they were forced to abandon politics. In Pakistan too, in the same year, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did the same to the rulers even though they had mostly stayed away from politics.In 1947 accession was the only feasible option because the states were given absolutely no opportunity to organize their independence and while many had excellent military forces; their defenses had been completely crippled due to fighting the powerful armies of Hitler and the axis-powers, in alliance with the British in the Second World War. Ironically, it was the British, under Labor Party control, that were arm-twisting the rulers to surrender to the new successor empires of Pakistan and India. (The Kingdom of Bhutan is the only Princely State that survives to this day).The Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had publicly declared that Pakistan was not going to coerce, intimidate or put any pressure on any State making its choice. But those States which wish to join the Pakistan Constituent Assembly will find us ready and willing to negotiate with them an agreement for the mutual advantage of both the parties. When India usurped the states Mr. Jinnah did not, although he did take over those functions of these states that might possibly have posed a threat to Pakistan in the future. These functions were foreign affairs, defense, and communications to some degree. It was a treaty called an "instrument of accession" signed by the rulers and Mr. Jinnah that permitted Pakistan to manage the above mentioned functions on the rulers behalf. However, the rulers were guaranteed sovereignty over all other matters. The instrument specifically promised no coercion to enter into any other agreement with or recognition of any constitution of Pakistan. Furthermore, by taking over the function of Defense from Khairpur for the sake of Pakistan's security it became incumbent on Pakistan to protect the sovereignty of Khairpur.The States that successfully acceded to Pakistan were; Khairpur, Bahawalpur, Swat, Dir, Amb, Chitral, and Kalat with its sub-states, while Junagarh and Manavadar were forcefully taken over by India on the grounds that the majority of their population was Hindu. Together, these states (not including Junagarh and Manavadar) contributed one third of Pakistan's area. (After Junagarh, Khairpur and Bahawalpur were the first States to accede simultaneously to Pakistan on the 3rd of October 1947. Khairpur was essential for Pakistan, because 1) The State bordered India; 2) Khairpur lay on the Indus River and India could easily nullify the Sukker Barrage had the State acceded to It. ( The boundary of Khairpur lies just 40 yards from the Barrage gates.) ; 3) The canals Nara and Rohri, that water southern Sindh pass through Khairpur; 4) The Railway and the Grand Trunk Road which connected the capital of that time (Karachi) with the military base in the north, passed through Khairpur).

The Eighth Sovereign of Khairpur, Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpur II (the present Ex-Ruler) acceded to Pakistan on the 3rd of October 1947 while in his minority through his Regent. Even before accession, Pakistan Day (14th August) was celebrated by Khairpur to discourage its considerable Hindu Minority. From 1947 till mid-1955, Pakistan was a soft amalgam of the paramount State with that of the dependent Sovereign States of the Princes who enjoyed the full support and friendship of the illustrious founders of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan. The States were part of Pakistan, although autonomous and sovereign. In other words they were not administered from the federal capital of Pakistan as the provinces are today.A few years after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan (1951), facing a brutishly aggressive government of Pakistan, the Mir, now at the age of 22, was forced to "merge" Khairpur with the "One Unit" of West Pakistan, a political reorganization designed to support dictatorship. Khairpur and Bahawalpur were the first states to be annexed in 1955 through a Merger Agreement which their rulers were forced to sign in 1954 on threat of military invasion. This threat was made by General Iskander Mirza (Dictator-Governor General 1955-1958) while his right hand man, General Ayub (Dictator-President 1958-1969) was the chief of the armed forces at the time. The Khan of Kalat who had simultaneously received this threat, refused to accept any such illegal agreement and this lead to a military invasion in 1958 causing a massacre in Kalat city along with various other human rights violations and atrocities throughout Balochistan. Curiously enough, none of the other states, which had not introduced democracy, were asked to merge and surrender their sovereignty to the 'One Unit'. A fact about which most historians are unaware.
It should be noted that like other Princely States, Khairpur had also surpassed Pakistan in practically all fields of social development. Khairpur had made it its goal to match the economic development of the West and it had made more than sufficient advances towards this goal in the period after Partition, for example:
*The State had the first democratic elections based on universal adult franchise in Nov.1950, before they were held in Pakistan. Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, and a personal friend of the Mir of Khairpur inaugurated the Khairpur Legislative Assembly. The Mir protected this fledgling democracy from dominance by feudal forces. It was his support of Mr. Kizilbash a non-Sindhi yet progressive administrator that allowed for his election as chief minister. The young monarch even forced his own relatives to wholly follow the policies of Kizilbash. Soon afterwards, following Khairpurs example, the rulers of Bahawalpur and Kalat introduced democracy in their countries as well.
* The State provided better quality free health care for its citizens, far superior than that provided in Pakistan. Eminent foreign doctors were invited to train local doctors by performing operations with them.
*It had the highest per capita expenditure on education of all units that joined Pakistan. The state spent 22% of its budget on education. European teachers were employed to train local teachers of primary and high schools. The best and most qualified teachers were concentrated in Khairpur for college education. Primary education was compulsory while it was genuinely free up till metric, to all who came. The poorest students were provided with free books, housing, clothing and even food. After metric, scholarships were given generously. Many of these very students attained prominence not just in Khairpur but Sindh, and Pakistan and abroad. Indeed, some of these very students that received free clothing and food later became ministers, chief ministers, justices and chief justices. (Free education of dubious quality is just now being provided in the Punjab and still remains to become a reality in Sindh - 50 years later!). After the merger with Pakistan this education came to an end and the children had no choice but to join the oppressive child labor force of Pakistan.Adult education was given attention as well with the setting up of schools for grown ups. An industrial school for women was set up with a German lady as principal.
* Khairpur had a post partition (1947-1955) revenue growth of 310%. The highest of any area in Pakistan was the Punjab at 40%, while Sindh had only 13%.
* Despite having negligible taxes, its budget per capita was more than double than that of the highest found in Pakistan.
* It had an extremely low crime rate due to the expeditious disposal of criminal and civil cases, while there were widespread complaints about such in adjoining regions.
* The State had a swiftly growing industrial base, which formed the main part of its revenue. It was the state's heavy investment in its human resources through education that provided it with a concentration of skilled labor force technicians and engineers. This allowed for its industrial development as private enterprises began to invest in Khairpur as it provided the necessary workforce. Perhaps the greatest testimony of Khairpur's economic success was that there were negligible agricultural taxes such as dhull etc. despite it being deep in the rural interior of Sindh! Mir Ali Murad had personally toured Europe and chosen the machinery for industry. Khairpur had only built one industrial zone that had led to so much economic growth and welfare. It had developed a new 5 year program to build eight more industrial zones for which roads and power houses were already being built. Loans were being provided to private industry to set up in the new zones, plots of land were already taken over by private firms. God only knows what was in store for the next five year plan after that. But alas it was not to be.
With the merger of the State, all these developments were brought to an end, retarded into non-existence. To the corrupt military controlled government of Pakistan of that time, social and economic development of these states was seen as a threat, particularly because development of the provinces bordering the states was pathetic and this eventually would have led to unrest. Inside Pakistan, Khairpur was relegated to the backwaters. Virtually every promise of the merger agreement was broken. During the regime of general Ayub Khan, dictator of Pakistan, practically all the industrial units were shut down as soldiers marched into factories and stole their assets. The suddenly unemployed workforce, under great duress, fled to Karachi and Lahore, while many were reduced to starvation and begging. The Khairpur Welfare Trust was usurped and ruined. By 1985 the real income of this area fell to a 50th of what it was!! After the failure and end of the devastating "one unit" fiasco (July 1st 1970) that led to the genocide of a million Pakistanis of Bengal, the break up of Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh, the provinces were allowed a mock existence. However, the States were not even permitted that. **
--
(Retrieved by Sindh WebSite www.sindh.ws from http://www.khairpursindh.org/historyContent.asp?ChapterID=3 )
They reveal an important phase in the history of Sindh, which had been almost erased due to propaganda or the 'official' version of history that has clouded the truth soon after the Khairpur State (which was at the time an independent & sovereign unit of Pakistan) was annexed by the Pakistan in 1955 in violation of the agreement that Khairpur had with the state of Pakistan. The owners & contributors of this site permit the free use of information and contents of the first three chapters to all especially for articles about Khairpur which may be published or broadcast without any charge.
Friday, 03 March 2006 Last Updated Wednesday, 08 March 2006

Generated: 21 October, 2008, 17:35

Deteriorating Sindh: PPP regime and our role

2009-05-23T16:27:00.002+06:00

From: Zulfiqar Halepoto

Deteriorating Sindh: PPP regime and our role

Dear Folks

I am writing these lines with great disappointment and anger on the state of affairs in Sindh in all sectors of governance and the conduct of present regime and especially the performance of PPP.
I have visited 18 districts of Sindh for a district level consultation to hear the voices of the people on six thematic issues education, health, food (agriculture, water and environment), housing, and natural resource management). This is an initiative of an international NGO. In the 1st phase I started my journey from Karachi, Thatta, Mithi, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdatkot, Sukkur and now meeting people in Khairpur. Though I am a very optimistic person but I have witnessed a great level of decline in Sindhi society in the following terms. This trip of mine in boiling heat and scratchy sun with 50+ temperatures was a trip of total frustration and regret in the following terms:

People are disillusioned and are still in shock of Benazir Bhutto's assassination
People are totally frustrated over the state of affairs of Sindh government and its so-called policy of reconciliation and alliance with MQM and the dying anti-people and anti-PPP feudal, which
tried to destroy Sindhi society and joined Musharraf to divide Sindh.

Deteriorating law and order situation, Jirga system, honor killing, unemployment, poverty, hunger, tribal feuds, decline in social services delivery and massive deterioration in infra-structure is the order of the day in Sindh under this so-called PRO PEOPLE REGIME

People are angry on massive corruptions, nepotism, favoritism, killing on merit and other authoritarian and unethical acts of the entire PPP Sindh based leadership.
Not a single minister or legislators from Sindh is clean in these areas of preferential treatment. Everyone is just blind and ruining the social cohesiveness of Sindhi society.
There is a great crisis of leadership in PPP and everyone is operating through its own cronies and favorites from presidency to CM house and to speaker house Badin. Everyone is treating Sindh as their PURCHASED SLAVE.
And especially those who were very active against Musharraf regime and stood shoulder to shoulder with civil society in the struggle of giving a new face of democratic values, plural socio-economic and moral coherent but on the contrary the society is declining fast to an anarchic society with no leadership.
On the other hand the major policy level issues of Sindh like NFC, water distribution conflict with Punjab, dams' construction, ownership of Karachi, issue of influx of Swat immigrants are washed away by the present regime. On the contrary PPP again is fighting the proxy war of military establishment and throwing peoples development agenda away from their priority.
Almost two years are gone only in exercise to transfers and postings of their favorites and cronies. Every legislator and minister from Sindh (in both Sindh and federal cabinet) are every day fighting over these tinny issues, killing merit and pushing Sindhi society towards a society of stone-age.
The days of Mr. 10% are gone, Due to price hike and financial crisis 10% is not a decent amount for them to cater their needs and now at least 30 to 40% commissioned is the order of the day.
Young, dynamic and brilliant youth of Sindh every day travel miles and miles to go to appear in the entry tests of various exams of different projects but next day a list of favorites comes from CM house and other influential for the replacement of meritorious people and youth is getting deprived of their rights.
Education department is the worst example of bad governance in Sindh. Other departments are also competing education department to win the race. In almost all the districts, the present education department managers including the minister were called a DISASTER.
Now my question to all and to myself is that…Are we still going to support them... I believe and confess that Sindhi middle class and especially the writers, intellectuals and technocrats and even
mediocre like me don't want to discontinue their social relations with these civilized feudal of PPP.
Sindh is going fast of the hands of Sindhis… now who us going to save our motherland…,People will not come from the sky…it is you and me to change or at least play our role.
Sindh is dying in hunger, poverty, unemployment and lake of justice in all fields. It is time to wake up and stand up

سورهيه بادشاهه جي مدفن وارو معاملو ۽ ڪجھه حقيقتون

2009-04-14T18:34:00.004+05:00

لکندڙ: نبي بخش شر/گرهوڙ شريف

(روزاني ڪاوش، حيدرآباد ـ 14 اپريل 2009)

سورهيه بادشاهه جي مدفن جي حوالي سان دوست نواز ڪنڀر ڪاوش ۾ جيڪو ڪالم لکيو آهي، انهيءَ ڪالم کانپوءِ ماڻهن ۾ ڪافي بحث هلڻ شروع ٿيو، ته سورهيه بادشاهه ڪٿي مدفون آهي؟ ان حوالي سان ٻه هنڌ مشهور آهن، هڪ ايسٽولا ٻيٽ ۽ ٻيو ڪراچي کان 7 ڪلاڪن جي سفر تي چرڻيو جبل، جنهن لاءِ مقامي ملاحن جو چوڻ آهي ته، انگريز سرڪار سورهيه بادشاهه جي ميت سندن وڏن ملاحن کي ڏني هئي ته اها ميت هو سمنڊ ۾ لوڙهي ڇڏين، پر انهن ملاحن سورهيه بادشاهه جي ميت سمنڊ ۾ لوڙهڻ بجاءِ کيس چرڻيو جبل تي دفن ڪري ڇڏيو ۽ جڏهن انگريز سرڪار کي ان ڳالهه جي خبر پئي ته انگريزن انهن 6 ملاحن کي ڦاسي چاڙهي ڇڏيو هو، جن جون قبرون به هو ڏيکارين ٿا. اڄ به هوڙهن ذريعي شڪار ڪندڙ ملاحن جو عقيدو آهي ته، جڏهن به سمنڊ ۾ طوفان ايندو آهي ته ملاح اهو چئي چرڻيو جبل ڏانهن ڀڄندا آهن ته هلو هلي سورهيه بادشاهه جي سام ٿيون ۽ پوءِ انهن ملاحن کي ڪجهه به ناهي ٿيندو، مون پڻ اهي قبرون ڏٺيون آهن، اتي اٽڪل 7 يا 8 قبرون آهن، جن مان هڪ سورهيه بادشاهه جي چئي وڃي ٿي، اتي هڪ مجاور به آهي، جنهن کي پاڻي ۽ کاڌو ملاح پهچائيندا آهن. 1998ع ڌاري ڪجهه دوستن جي مدد سان ايسٽولا ٻيٽ جي تحقيق ڪئي وئي، انهن دوستن ۾ ڊاڪٽر نرمل ڪمار مهراج، جاپان جو جاماري يامان ڪا ذوڪي، لعل محمد بلوچ ۽ جميل احمد بلوچ شامل آهن، انهيءَ تحقيق موجب بلوچستان جي شهر پسني کان ڏکڻ ۽ اوڀر جي ڪنڊ طرف اٽڪل 40 ناٽ، مطلب سامونڊي ڪلوميٽر لانچ ذريعي وڃڻو ٿو پوي، جتي ايسٽولا ٻيٽ آهي، جنهن کي بلوچ هفته لعل، سنڌي ست لعل ۽ هندي ۾ ساتا ديپ چوندا آهن، اسٽولا ٻيٽ جي ڪناري واري پاسي جتان ماڻهو مٿي ويندا آهن، انهيءَ کي مقامي ماڻهو بالادار چوندا آهن، بالادار جي سامهون جبل تي برٽش سرڪار پاران هڪ ٽاور لڳايل آهي، جنهن ۾ جهازن کي رستو ڏسڻ لاءِ بلب به لڳل آهي، انهيءَ بلب کي چيڪ ڪرڻ لاءِ هڪ ملازم به رکيل آهي، انهيءَ کي انهيءَ ٽاور تائين پهچڻ لاءِ ٽاور ۾ رسو به ٻڌل آهي، پر هن وقت پاڪستان جي حڪومت ڪجهه فاصلي تي رستو ٺاهي ڇڏيو آهي، جڏهن اسان انهيءَ ٽاور وٽ پهچداسين ته اتي ٽڪري ۾ هڪ غارآهي، جتي هندو ڌرم موجب ڪالي ماتا جو مندر آهي ۽ انهيءَ جا آثار به آهن. ان کان ٿورو ڏکڻ طرف هڪ تڪيو ملندو، جنهن لاءِ به اهو چيو ويو ته اتي لطيف سائين آيو هو، توهان جڏهن مٿي ويندو ته اتي بي بي حوا جي نالي سان هڪ مسجد ۽ حضرت خضر جي نالي مقبرو ملندو، جيڪي سمنڊ ۾ شڪار ڪندڙ ماڻهن ٺهرايا آهن، انهيءَ مسجد ۽ مقبري ۾ ٻيو ڪجهه به ناهي، اتي هڪڙي هنڌ قلندر لعل شهباز جو تڪيو به آهي ۽ ڪجهه مفاصلي تي هڪ مزار جو نشان موجود هو، مقامي ماڻهن جو چوڻ هو ته هي سنڌ جي وڏي پير جي تربت آهي. انهن جو مطلب شايد سورهيه بادشاهه ڏانهن هجي، اتي تحقيق لاءِ ويل دوستن جيڪي تصويرون ورتيون اهي به سرڪاري اهلڪار کانئن ڦري ويا هئا، پر پوءِ به جاپاني دوست جي گذارش تي ڪجهه نقشا ۽ تصويرون ڇڏيون هيائون، پر انهن تصويرن ۾ سورهيه بادشاهه جي مزار واري تصوير نه ملي هئي، پر جيئن ته ڳالهه اڄ به منجهيل آهي، ته هاڻ اسان اها مزار چوڻيو جبل واري مڃون يا ايسٽولا ٻيٽ واري؟ هاڻ اسٽولا ٻيٽ جو ڪافي ذڪر اچي ويو آهي، ٿوري معلومات هن ٻيٽ مطابق هيءَ ته هن جي ڊيگهه 3 ڪلوميٽر، ويڪر ڏيڍ ڪلوميٽر ۽ مٿان اهڙو سڌو آهي جهڙو هيلپيڊ هجي، هتي ڪو به ماڻهو مستقل نٿو رهي، باقي مڇي جي شڪار خاص ڪري گانگٽ يا جهينگو مڇي جا شڪاري هتي اچن ٿا، جن کان معلومات وٺي سگهجي ٿي، هن ٻيٽ جي هڪ طرف کان ڪارو سمنڊ آهي، جتي ڪو به جاندار نٿو وڃي ۽ ٻئي طرف کان سائو سمنڊ آهي، جتان ماڻهو سفر ڪن ٿا، هن ٻيٽ ۽ سمنڊ متعلق معلومات جاپان جي سياهه جا ماري يامان ڪا ذوڪي هڪ ڪتاب ۾ گڏ ڪئي هئي، پر اهو ڪتاب صرف ڪوئيٽا جي لائبريري ۾ موجود آهي، جيڪو جاپاني زبان ۾ آهي، هڪ ترجمو ٿيل انگريزي ۾ ڪتاب ڊاڪٽر مهراج نرمل ڪمار وٽ آهي ۽ ڪجهه تصويرون به.

Spike in the Soul - The Honor Dogs of Sindh and Balochistan

2009-04-07T05:18:00.002+05:00

Below are some of the feelings being expressed on Sanalist. Once again please go to the video given in the post. The innocent and the poor girl represents all those who have been killed or being tortured because of Shameless Cultures codified in some religion or religions. (Mazhar)

Injustice anywhere is threat to Justice everywhere... Martin Luther King.

--- In sanalist A. Sindhi wrote:

There was news about burying 5 women who were still alive in Baluchistan. They were first beaten by 17 honorable brave Balochs, and then hit by the speeding tractor with the blade in front. As if it were not enough, the shattered skulls women were then dragged by the tractor blade into a ditch, and buried alive.

Then there was news about barbarically throwing a woman in front of vicious dogs, they mauled her, and chewed her while the barbaric spectators mercilessly watched the horrified woman running helplessly fighting for her life, and dying. All this happened in the name of honor. All of the victims were accused of being "karis".

Atrocities to women in Pakistan are not a new thing. What the most disturbing is the fact that all those barbaric incidents against women are taking place under the watch of the so called champion of democracy and human rights, the PPP. Ironically, that was not enough, but all of those ugly incidents took place in the provinces that are run by none other than the PPP Jialas, the Sindh and Baluchistan.

Any act of violence against the women gone unpunished deepens the ugly scar on the face of the ruling junta. Thanks to Iftikhar Chaudhry, who has taken the suomoto action to the burial of 5 women alive in Baluchistan? This is the province that complains the most of human rights violations. I wonder if the Baloch human rights groups found this to be the violation of the human
rights as well. I even wonder if the so called U.S. based Pakistani human rights activists even noticed these atrocities against women in Sindh and Baluchistan.

I am deeply in pain. Ever since I watched this appalling video on BBC/Urdu.Com, I am restless. Does this fall under the human rights violation as well? Are there any American based Pakistani human rights activists, who feel the pain in their heart by every flog that landed on the back of this poor underage girl? Did those screams poke a spike into anybody's soul?

My heart throbbed with each of the strokes of the flog: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21-22 - 23- 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 - 33 - 34... Is this the Islam? Would anybody issue decree of 100 lashes against those mullahs for publicly raping the humanity?

Maybe this girl is not a Sindhi, Punjabi, Mohair, Baloch, or Pathhan. Maybe she is a faceless feminine gender caught by some barbarians at a wrong time and at the wrong place. I am shocked and disgusted at the denial by the so called iron fist government of Pakistan that this incident ever took place in Swat. I am sure, most of you have already watched this video. Have it one
more time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/multimedia/2009/04/090403_swat_flogging.shtml

This act of naked barbarism is no match to the pain those poor women in Sindh and Balochistan endured before meeting their Maker. There are no words to describe the agony of suffering from the blows by the tractor blade, or being mauled and chewed by the vicious dogs. It's the human tragedy. Call it Islam, or call it honor. A woman in Pakistan has no refuge. If she is spared
by the barbaric Islamists in the tribal areas, she better be sure that the honor dogs of Baluchistan and Sindh will get her.

Women have been tortured, killed, maimed, raped, and burned all along in every government and in every times. However, we can no longer accuse the past governments, or the Musharraf regime, for that matter, for the ills of the country and society. The most powerful man in the PPP is at the helm of the government. We thought the change will come after the PPP takes over the
country. Indeed, the change did come. But, it came for the worst. (A. Sindhi)

On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 9:15 PM, arh.. <arh..@...> wrote:

The subject clip is part of documentary relayed on CBC network in Canada, the same documentary also showed public punishment of a man as well, which is equally condemnable.. The documentary also showed how Pakistani state has practically dissolved on ground in Swat area. The really shocking thing is the failure of state to prove totally ineffective in administration of law and order situation. It is very much true for Swat which is documented, also in punjab when state was trying to control Punjabi munda from coming to islamabad from lahore, whereas state can shoot at site people in Sindh and Baluchistan. So what does that mean? In my humble opinion, the state has started disintegrating and is bifurcated between winners and losers. I see the extremists and Punjabis as winners and Sindhis and Balochs as losers. (Asim).

Last night more than 2000 men and women, Hindu and Muslim participants of annual lokmela held at RahMoor near Nabisar road district Umar Kot Sindh Pakistan . ,passed unanimous resolution to condemend the barbaric action of mullas lashing young girl in sawat.this resolution was passed on a motion forwarded by women activists of GRDO who were there to participate this Mela on the invitation of HARI MAZDOOR TANZEEM(HMT) district umar kot (F. Shah, GRDO).

Akvopedia

2009-03-22T17:45:00.001+05:00

Akvo, an open-source water and sanitation web portal, is seeking partners and supporters to help provide its content in various languages.

"Akvo is targeting a large number of small drinking water and sanitation projects in developing countries to collect information about low-cost water and sanitation technologies there. We put them online on a website called akvopedia," Peter van der Linde, a co-founder of Akvo.org [http://www.akvo.org/] and its director for partnerships, told IRIN in Istanbul at the 5th World Water Forum (WWF) [see: http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/].

Akvo, which means 'water' in Esperanto [see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto], was set up six months ago with the aim of helping donors and activists fund thousands of new water and sanitation projects. In addition, the company manages Akvopedia [see: http://www.akvo.org/wiki], which is a platform for users to upload and edit water and sanitation-related information.

"Think of it as a Wikipedia, the strength of which is everybody can have an input," the Akvo co-founder said.

Van der Linde said the idea was to enable people in the water and sanitation business to share their relevant good or bad experiences so that the knowledge bank on the subject keeps growing and improving. However, the content on Akvo and Akvopedia is currently only in English, a limitation van der Linde said they are working hard to remedy.

Language barrier

"We are looking for support organisations and people who want to help us voluntarily. We are teaming up with partners in other countries, such as India where we have a strong partner and they've done great work in disseminating part of the content in several languages there. We need these sorts of partners to help us develop the content further," he said.

Margiet Samwel, water and sanitation coordinator for Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) [see: http://www.wecf.eu/] - a network of 100 women's and environmental organisations in 40 countries in Europe, the Caucasus region and Central Asia - is one of Akvo's partners. She told IRIN at WWF that from her experience of working with implementing partners, particularly in parts of the former Soviet Union, the issue of language was a crucial one.

"We have some officers on the ground who speak English and Russian, but not many people from NGOs and the general public speak English, which means if there is some important information available online in English only, they can hardly make use of it. It would be very good to have the content of Akvopedia in other languages as well," she said.

As an interim measure, Samwel suggested prospective users try the free translation service by Google [see: http://translate.google.com/?hl=en], saying that it proved to be quite effective and accurate.

Aitzaz, pl. pull back; your role is over; let judges be the judges now

2009-03-21T19:45:00.001+05:00

By Aziz Narejo

The glorious lawyers' movement and their second "Long March" joined by political parties and civil society activists has finally achieved its objective as illegally and unconstitutionally deposed judges have been reinstated to their pre-November 3, 2007 position. Many people had earlier dismissed the lawyers' movement and had termed it a lost cause. Some others had suggested a "middle road". The people marching from Lahore last Sunday proved them wrong and forced the government to reverse the military dictator's draconian action against the judiciary. One must congratulate the lawyers, civil society activists and political parties that steadfastly supported the epic movement for the restoration of judiciary to pre-November 3, 2007 position.

Now as the Chief Justice is about to resume his work, it is reported in the press that Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has taken it upon himself to hold a flag hoisting ceremony at the Chief Justic's house. Talking to media outside the CJ's house he said that political parties have been invited to participate in the ceremony while Naheed Khan, Safdar Abbasi and Shaharyar Awan (son of late lawyer leader Imdad Awan) are to hoist the flag.

It must be said that when military dictator attacked the office of the highest adjudicator in the country, it was the duty of all the citizens to stand up against the illegal and unconstitutional action of the usurper general. It must also be admitted that Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan and other leaders of the lawyersâ€™ movement have played a heroic role in the struggle but now they must realize that their role is over. They have done their duty. The Chief Justice is back. Now they must go back to their normal working too.

It must also be mentioned here that after his reinstatement by the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ramday in July 2007, Justice Iftikhar Choudhry had declined to hear any cases against military dictator Musharraf. He had also declined to hear cases pleaded by lawyers' movement leaders like Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. The Supreme Court under him had also decided not to call on government leaders and hold political appointments like acting governors, etc.

The reinstated judges including CJ must be commended for not participating in Zardari's farewell dinner for Dogar. It is a praiseworthy practice for the superior judiciary to stay away from higher official's meetings and socialization as was the case in the initial days. The CJ must extend such practice to all political figures inside or outside the government.

I hope, if these lines reach the CJ, he would stop the flag hoisting ceremony to be a political function.

P.S. This doesn't mean that the civil society should stop keeping an eye on the working of the judiciary or other branches of the government. But that is a separate issue.

Third Grade Citizens and Present Long march

2009-03-18T06:21:00.001+05:00

By Dr Mataro Hingorjo

Some days back, Pakistan was in chaos, because the real public of Pakistan was on roads, government authorities refused to control them, government, military and America bent before the ocean of people of Pakistan. Finally we got the decision which was desired by the all first, second and third grade citizens of Pakistan.

Geo TV it is continuously thanking various forces like military, government and America for the honour which they have paid to the people of Pakistan. Majority of justice loving citizens were form Punjab. I remember the days like 12th May,18th October and so many other days when there were the huge crowds of people even two fold than the last two days gatherings. They were not honoured but they were bathed with blood by the same Establishment which is too much polite today! I don't find the reason except they are third grade citizens not so heavier as the current were, nobody of them was the relative of any personnel of Establishment, so Establishment troops were free of any hesitation to fire at any body who comes in the way of their guns' barrels.We are the third grade citizens, we need to suicide or stand up for the gross route revolution.

Federalism and Democracy - Pakistan’s Experience and Challenges

2009-03-17T20:13:00.001+05:00

From: Jami Chandio <JamiC@ned.org>
Date: Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 10:48 PM

Federalism and Democracy - Pakistan's Experience and Challenges

International Seminar Organized by: The World Sindhi Institute (WSI)

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies

John Hopkins University, Washington, DC

Room#806, The Rome Building, 1619 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036-2213

Friday, March 20^th, 2009

12 Noon to 3:15 PM

Lunch Provided

Metro line guide: http://www..wmata.com/rail/maps/find_station.cfm

Embattled with poverty, lawlessness, environmental degradation, cross-boarder conflicts, and swelling population, Pakistan continues to operate under the pretext of state Islamization inspired by nuclear empowerment, state militarization, and US Aid guarantees. Corrupt and undemocratic mode of governance engineered by military and civil-bureaucracy with little to no regard for its founding principles of constitutional democracy, secularism, rule-of-law, provincial autonomy, and basic human rights, the state is once again at the brink of social and political debacle.

· Is Pakistan ready for constitutional democracy and embrace secularism?

· Can centralization be replaced by provincial Autonomy and sovereignty?

· Can judiciary be independent and the rule of law be restored?

· Can there be a development-path which is sustainable, and accessible to all people and all regions of Pakistan?

The seminar is design to invoke a meaningful dialogue among students, academics, scholars, and activists alike who are particularly concerned about the future of Pakistan and its relationship with the international community.

Panelists

Zahid Makhdoom

Member World Sindhi Institute's Board of Directors is based in Vancouver, Canada, where he works as a Justice at the Provincial Court of British Columbia. Born in Sindh, Makhdoom has persistently struggled for human rights of people of Sindh, for which he was imprisoned in 1971-72 for ten months. Zahid Makhdoom is an extremely engaging and dynamic speaker, with extensive knowledge of politics and culture of South Asia, particularly Sindh, Pakistan. His subject of interest is indigenous people all over the world and their political relations with states.

Selig S Harrison

Selig S Harrison is a director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and a senior scholar of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He has specialized in South Asia and East Asia for fifty years as a journalist and scholar. He is the author of five books on Asian affairs and U.S. relations with Asia and has co-authored and edited many books.

Jami Chandio

Jami Chandio is executive director of the Center for Peace and Civil Society (CPCS), a think tank based in Pakistan's Sindh province. He edits CPCS' quarterly journal Freedom. One of Pakistan's most celebrated journalists, Mr. Chandio is the former editor of Ibrat, Pakistan's largest Sindhi-language daily newspaper, a former anchor on Sindh TV and KTN, and former chair of the Liberal Forum of Pakistan. He has worked with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Pakistan as a political expert since 2004. During his fellowship, Mr. Chandio is studying the problems of federalism and prospects for provincial autonomy, including constitutional mechanisms that can be used to prevent, manage, and resolve intra-state conflict in Pakistan.

------

"The breakup of Pakistan would be a costly and destabilizing development that can still be avoided, but only if the United States and other foreign donors use their enormous aid leverage to convince Islamabad that it should not only put the 1973 Constitution back into effect, but amend it to go beyond the limited degree of autonomy it envisaged. Eventually, the minorities want a central government that would retain control only over defense, foreign affairs, international trade, communications and currency. It would no longer have the power to oust an elected provincial government, and would have to renegotiate royalties on resources with the provinces."

Selig S Harrison, New York Times, February 1, 2008.

"Radical Islamic groups, which portray themselves as the guardians of Pakistan's ideology, have had a special status conferred on them by the military and civil bureaucracy that normally governs Pakistan. The Islamists claim that they are the protectors of Pakistan's nuclear deterrent capabilities, as well as the champion of the national cause of securing Kashmir for Pakistan. Secular politicians who seek greater autonomy for Pakistan's different regions or demand that religion be kept out of the business of the state have come under attack from the Islamists for deviating from Pakistan's ideology."

Husain Haqqani, "The Role of Islam in Pakistan's Future", The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2004-05.

The World Sindhi Institute (WSI) § 6965 S Craig Ct., Franklin, Wisconsin § 414.235.3610 §

local contact: 703-801-8519

www.worldsindhi.org

What got Geo in trouble. Links to Watch Geo Online

2009-03-16T20:49:00.001+05:00

From: jami chandio

All the videos have been saved on multiple locations and can be seen by anyone. Feel free to circulate them

official anthem : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiwPotaS_4s
farooq naik : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aQh1oP5qZI
Waadae : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSPpIjr_FSg
Tahira abdullah : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZpbHLsOuuA
Benazir Baghi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQGX8OzFS9U
Insaf : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m5AZFF1O_g
Jinnah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W62F5JpGsxo

To watch GEO online, use the following links.

IN PAKISTAN ONLY:
http://www.geo.tv/geoip/

All over the world:
mms://stream.wmlivesvc.vitalstreamcdn.com/live_stream_geo_tv_GEOVIDEO
http://94.75.220.137/idesitv.com-geonews-333jdd223
http://www.paktvlive.com/geonewslow.html
http://94.75.220.137/idesitv.com-geotv-30ddn3ns

The Black Widower

2009-03-04T09:34:00.002+05:00

From: Jami Chandio

Date: Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Subject: The Black Widower: Our not-so-strongman in Pakistan, Nicholas Schmidle, The New Republic, Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Black Widower

Our not-so-strongman in Pakistan.

Nicholas Schmidle, The New Republic Published: Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Asif Ali Zardari (Credit: Aaron Huey)

Last fall, during Asif Ali Zardari's first foreign trip as head of state, the Pakistani president met with Sarah Palin in New York City. The meeting occurred amid Palin's other campaign cameos with U.S.-friendly world leaders, most of whom could manage little more than an awkward grimace amid the onslaught of flashbulbs. (Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo reportedly flat-out refused to meet her.) But Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto and oft-described playboy, looked delighted as he greeted--and then charmed--the vice-presidential candidate. Zardari, who wore fashionable wire-rimmed glasses and a broad grin, called Palin "gorgeous" and then added, "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you." Palin blushed. When a handler asked Zardari and the Alaskan governor to continue shaking hands, Zardari gestured in the photographer's direction while still staring at Palin and quipped, "If he's insisting, I might hug."

Zardari's comment created a stir back home. Stories about the incident splashed across the front pages of Pakistani newspapers. Pakistani Facebook subscribers formed a group sarcastically titled, "Zardari should marry Sarah Palin for the sake of world peace!!!!!" and railed against their president's boorishness. The imam of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the site of a pro-Taliban rebellion in the summer of 2007, issued a fatwa against Zardari, claiming that his behavior was un-Islamic and inappropriate for the leader of a Muslim state. One could argue that it was particularly inappropriate for the leader of one of the world's least stable states. After all, this was Zardari's maiden presidential tour abroad--a time to shore up Pakistan's and America's confidence in him. His flirtation with Palin seemed to cast further doubt on his capacity to rule.

Zardari's clumsiness presents a serious problem, not only for his country but for the United States. Since 2001, Washington's approach to Islamabad has been less a matter of international relations than personal diplomacy, focused narrowly on the country's head of state. This is partly a matter of necessity: Pakistan lacks the civil institutions and governmental continuity that make deeper relationships possible. And, as Bush officials geared up for war in Afghanistan, they cherished their newfound, one-call-can-do-it-all ally, Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf promised to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda on the Afghan border and showed that he was trying to normalize relations with India to boot. When, by late 2006, the Taliban was stronger than ever and Al Qaeda had reconstituted itself inside Pakistani territory, Washington began looking for someone new. The pro-American Bhutto seemed just the person, despite her previous, less-than-successful turns as prime minister. But those plans crumbled when Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007. Then Musharraf resigned last summer, effectively leaving Zardari, at least in the eyes of many American officials, as the last, best hope for the United States.

It's an enormous responsibility and one that few expected Zardari ever to assume--not least because he had spent eight of the last eleven years in jail. He had been charged with corruption, money-laundering, murdering his brother-in-law, and evading taxes on a bulletproof BMW. Once, he allegedly attached a bomb to a businessman's leg and ordered him to withdraw his money from the bank. When Bhutto was prime minister, Zardari earned the nickname "Mr. 10 Percent" for the cut he purportedly took on government contracts. He was ultimately cleared of all the charges against him, but Zardari has often behaved more like a don than a democrat.

That will matter little to the United States if he proves to be a capable leader. But it's worth considering just how many U.S. interests are at stake in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed, Taliban-infested, economically desperate nation of 170 million people. Washington urgently needs Islamabad's help in fighting Al Qaeda and restoring stability to Afghanistan. And, as questions grow about Pakistan's complicity in November's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the United States craves a leader who can prevent full-scale war with India. Accomplishing all this would tax even the most gifted politician. Is the man who flirted with Sarah Palin up to the task?

I met Zardari in Islamabad on August 18, perhaps the most significant day of his political career. For weeks, he had been spearheading impeachment proceedings against Pervez Musharraf, whom he blamed for failing to protect his wife. Just a few hours before I arrived at the headquarters of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which had been founded by Bhutto's father in 1967, Musharraf had announced that he was resigning under the pressure, leaving Zardari as the most powerful political figure in the country. A banner, staked into a slice of grass in front of the building, read: "CONGRATULATIONS TO ASIF ALI ZARDARI FOR LEADING THE MOVEMENT TO FIGHT THE WORST DICTATORSHIP." Inside, Zardari was shaking hands and slapping high-fives with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other anti-Musharraf politicians.

To get in the building, I had pushed through a throng of local journalists and celebrating PPP supporters crowded near the entrance. Owing to the security hazards of living near the PPP nerve center, most of the other houses in the neighborhood had erected blast walls, some 40 feet tall. PPP-hired security guards led me through two metal detectors and into a waiting room. Top politicians from other parties milled around the hallways, hoping for a brief, private word with Zardari. Finally, an aide cleared the room of these high-profile characters, leaving only me. Zardari charged through a door. He apologized for being late, ran his hand through his hair, and fell onto a sofa. "I am half-exhausted, so if my answers aren't up to your standard," he said, "please forgive me." A framed photograph of Bhutto stood on a glass table to one side. A picture of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, rested on another. Zardari blinked forcefully once or twice, as if trying to wake up, and then flashed a pleasant, if forced, grin and told me how it was his life had come to this.

Zardari was born into the world of landed gentry, where acting haughty and debonair was expected. "Our name 'Zardari,'" he explained to me, "means 'people with wealth.'" His father, Hakim Zardari, was a middling feudal--middle class along the spectrum of landholders in the Pakistani province of Sindh--who combined a sense of entitlement with raw, urban grit. Hakim built and ran a cinema in downtown Karachi called the Bambino. The vertical sign that fronted the cinema showed a flapper, her arms outstretched as if frozen mid-jig, swinging her hips inside the top "B" of "BAMBINO." As a kid, Zardari and his friends loitered around the box office, gawking at passing girls and occasionally fighting over the finer ones. He recalled watching El Cid and Cleopatra on premier nights and humming the songs from South Pacificfor months.

In the mid-1980s, Benazir Bhutto, who had taken over the PPP between her father's overthrow (in 1977) and hanging (in 1979), asked her mother to find her a suitable husband. Unmarried women in Pakistan attracted scandal, and Bhutto needed to be able to meet with male party workers at night without creating a controversy. Meanwhile, Zardari's parents had been shopping around their son, Asif, who was assisting with the family construction business at the time.

The Bhuttos and the Zardaris were not exactly cut from the same cloth. While the Bhuttos represented a political dynasty and were amongst the biggest landholders in Sindh, the Zardaris were, in the words of The Guardian, "looked down on as Johnny-come-latelies." (Hakim's feudal peers considered his cinema business a plebeian endeavor.) Bhutto was ultimately willing to overlook the social stigma of "marrying down." She was reportedly attracted to Zardari's sense of humor and open-mindedness. Yet, when asked in 1987 if her impending marriage would affect her career, Bhutto sniped, "[Asif] will not be involved in my political career at all, and I have no intention of visiting his cement works in Karachi." The two married on December 18 of that year.

I asked Zardari if he ever felt that Bhutto was out of his league. "I imagined myself as a knight in white armor," Zardari said. (He habitually muddles cliches.) He wore black slacks with a cream-colored shirt, and, though he no longer styles his mustache in the handlebar fashion, he keeps a neat chevron trimmed close to his upper lip. Soon after taking a seat, he unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt, reached in, and twisted a tuft of chest hair. "I don't think I fathomed what she was until I married her. I just couldn't grasp the ... giganticness of her personality," he added. "There is a saying in my language: 'The camel only finds out that there is something taller than him when he comes beneath a mountain.'"

In June 1989, six months after Bhutto was sworn in as the first female prime minister of Pakistan, she and Zardari came to Washington. President George H.W. Bush had invited Bhutto for an official visit to discuss the waning cold war. As Bhutto and Zardari sauntered with George and Barbara through the Rose Garden, they struck quite a collective pose: the president in a tuxedo, Barbara in a bubble-gum-colored evening gown, Bhutto decked out in green (the color of Islam and Pakistan) with a dupatta balanced precariously on her head, and Zardari in all white, sporting a bulky turban. Despite wearing clothes that flaunted his Sindhi, swashbuckling roots, however, Zardari behaved obsequiously around Bhutto, as if a clause in their marriage contract required deference to her in public. "He didn't know what to do," recalls Stephen Cohen, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution who attended a dinner with Bhutto and Zardari during this visit. "She told [Zardari] to 'Go stand over there,' and he did. ... He looked totally out of his element."

In the ensuing years, Zardari seemed to settle into his role as Bhutto's number two. He stabled his horses at the prime minister's house and spent his time doing business, bolstering his unctuousness with her political influence. Shaheen Sehbai, a reporter who covered the parliament during those years and who is now an editor of the English-language newspaper The News, remembers Zardari as someone who could be "warm and dapper" in public, and a "very ruthless Mafioso type" in private. Rumors of Zardari's glad-handing and arm-twisting swirled around the parliament soon after Bhutto first took power in 1988, according to Sehbai: "We used to hear all the time that Zardari was on the take." It was Sehbai who later dubbed Zardari "Mr. 10 Percent."

In August 1990, Bhutto's government was dismissed on charges of corruption and abuse of power, and Zardari was thrown into jail. He stayed there until 1993, when Bhutto returned to power, bailed out her husband, and named him minister of the environment and, later, minister of investment. In seesaw fashion, Bhutto's government was again dismissed in November 1996 on corruption allegations, and Zardari was, once again, put in prison. In 1998, Bhutto went into exile in Dubai, facing the threat of her own incarceration.

Zardari, meanwhile, languished in Karachi Central Prison, where he was tortured--beaten with a rifle butt and slashed with shards of glass. Today, he has a sickle-shaped scar on his tongue and a scar across his neck. "This is my jugular vein," Zardari said to me, pulling down the collar of his shirt. "They cut it open and said, 'We are going to kill you.'" I asked him what kind of information his torturers hoped to extract. "Basically, they were trying to break me. They had tried everything [to defame Bhutto] but it hadn't worked," he said. His jailers offered to let him go if he could guarantee that Bhutto wouldn't return to Pakistan, a proposition he refused. Said Zardari, "They simply didn't want us to be the leaders of the PPP."

In late 2004, Zardari was finally released from jail. He flew to the United States to seek medical care for diabetes and back and heart trouble, conditions exacerbated by the torture. In 2007, 18 years after their first trip, Zardari and Bhutto were back in Washington, courting the next generation of Bushes. Though George W. Bush's administration strongly backed Musharraf, political instability and the growing pro-Taliban insurgency in Pakistan won Bhutto receptive audiences. Armed with lobbyists, she tirelessly ran the think-tank circuit and cultivated officials, arguing that a power-sharing arrangement between her and Musharraf would offer the best hope for quelling the country's problems.

The Harvard-and Oxford-educated Bhutto enchanted Washington. Policymakers, regional experts, and influential columnists seemed willing to overlook her two ineffective terms as prime minister, her dubious distinction of having supported the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and her husband's reputation as a crook. But Zardari kept a low profile. When they were together, he deferred to Bhutto, staying out of her way and calling her "The Boss."

Zardari and Bhutto eventually returned to Pakistan in October 2007, after the government waived their outstanding corruption cases. The night Bhutto arrived, after eight years in exile, suicide bombers attacked her procession, killing more than 140 people. Bhutto narrowly escaped. Just two months later and only a week after her twentieth wedding anniversary, terrorists targeted Bhutto again, this time successfully. Pakistan burned for days. The worst rioting occurred in Bhutto and Zardari's home province of Sindh. When Bhutto's family and supporters buried her, Sindhis chanted, "We don't need Pakistan! We don't need Pakistan!"

Soon after, the PPP produced Bhutto's handwritten will at a press conference. In it, she had written: "I would like my husband Asif Ali Zardari to lead you in the interim period until you and he decide what is best. I say this because he is a man of courage and honour. He spent 11 1/2 years in prison without bending despite torture. He has the political stature to keep our party united. " Having inherited Pakistan's most powerful political organization, Zardari faced a monumental choice: call the PPP into the streets to avenge his wife's murder, and possibly plunge the country into civil war; or sound a conciliatory tone in the hopes of defusing the crisis. Surprising everyone with his maturity, restraint, and leadership, Zardari chose the latter. Speaking in Sindhi at a press conference just days after Bhutto's assassination, Zardari repeated, "We want Pakistan. We want Pakistan." At one of the most volatile and dangerous moments in the country's history, Zardari led Pakistan away from the brink.

Zardari had always believed that he could flourish in a larger role, even while he kept up the appearance of being content at Bhutto's side. Like Bhutto, who watched and learned from her father before she assumed power, Zardari spent years watching and learning from his wife. His style, however, couldn't be more different than Bhutto's. Whereas she relied on intellect and charisma, Zardari relies on street smarts and cunning, qualities honed by a childhood scrapping on the steps of the Bambino and more than a decade in prison.

Consider how he rose to power this year. In the aftermath of Bhutto's December 2007 assassination, Musharraf had delayed parliamentary elections more than a month. When they were finally held in February, the PPP sailed into power, buoyed by what some called a sympathy vote. Zardari didn't run for a seat. He preferred to stay behind the scenes and play kingmaker. His detractors predicted that Zardari would fail, owing to his checkered past. Yet he soon formed a national government and four provincial governments by cobbling together alliances with partners that Bhutto, had she been in power, would likely have eschewed, including the party headed by Nawaz Sharif, Bhutto and Zardari's arch-rival. Zardari rose above deep ideological differences and years of backbiting to achieve some consensus across the political landscape. He employed his personal touch--invitations to his home, photo ops, and promises--and in the end he secured enough support to win the presidential election.

But sometimes Zardari's charm hasn't been enough, and his penchant for back-room dealings has shown a darker side, too. He doesn't handle dissent well. His political opponents and even some within the Bhutto family accuse him of murdering Benazir's brother in September 1996 to remove potential rivals within the PPP. And, shortly after the PPP's recent return to power, he sought to stifle criticism in the press by offering prominent journalists lucrative jobs in government. Beyond co-opting the media, Zardari has surrounded himself with jailhouse pals, business partners, and former exiles. Several of Zardari's fellow inmates now occupy cabinet-level posts in his government-by-friend. He tapped one of his doctors to run the National Reconstruction Bureau, an office tasked with implementing local governance schemes. (The doctor now runs the oil ministry.) Another, Dr. Qayyum Soomro, who treated Zardari in jail during his torture, is now one of his closest aides.

While the torture nearly broke Zardari physically, the more lasting consequence has been his deep mistrust of those who've not experienced the same, even people within his own party. Zardari suspects many PPP members of being on the payroll of the state's spy agency, the ISI. "These intelligence scoops work in a very subtle manner," he told me (presumably meaning "spooks") as his eyes darted around the room. Zardari has demoted some of Bhutto's former top aides to make space for his prison buddies. I mentioned that some believed he only trusted those people who have spent time, in some capacity, in jail. Zardari acknowledged as much. "When we are making decisions," he replied, "we prefer to take people who have been through the mill, because there is a constant process of trying to break us."

That process has only grown in scope now that Zardari is president. Even before the global economic meltdown this fall, the value of the Pakistani rupee had dropped sharply and foreign exchange reserves had dwindled, leaving Islamabad with no cash to buy energy or even food. (In November, the International Monetary Fund finalized a $7.6 billion loan to Pakistan to save the country from bankruptcy.) Weeks after Zardari took power, and just hours after he addressed parliament for the first time, terrorists bombed the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, killing more than 50 people; and, in November, gunmen based in Pakistan went on a rampage in Mumbai, bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of war. It would be easy to conclude that Pakistan, never the most stable place even in the best of circumstances, had come unglued. That seemed to be the clear sense of the Obama administration, which has launched Predator strikes within Pakistani territory. The war against Islamic militants has gone so badly, in fact, that Zardari's government recently relented to Taliban demands and agreed to the imposition of sharia law in the Swat Valley.

When I visited Zardari in his office on the night of his great triumph, I tried to elicit his master strategy for managing the multiple crises unfurling around him. "What comes next?" I asked.

Zardari paused and stared at the ceiling. "I was sitting in prison, looking at the poverty, looking at the problems of the nation, and thinking, 'How are we going to bring the country out of this mess?'" His eyes still fixed upward, he told me that he considered the problems he inherited even worse than conventionally portrayed. "I know that the figures are all wrong," he said. Then, speaking with the conviction of a man who felt that ruling Pakistan had always been his destiny: "You see, I know where the state is going." The rest of us, apparently, must wait to find out.

Nicholas Schmidle is a fellow at the New America Foundation. His first book, To Live Or Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years In Pakistan, will be published in May.

Remembering Shaikh Ayaz: Legend of Sub-Continent

2009-03-01T17:45:00.001+05:00

Remembering Shaikh Ayaz: Legend of Sub-Continent
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Remembering Shaikh Ayaz: Legend of Sub-Continent Invitation of celebration of Birth Day on March 2nd, 2009 at Karachi Arts Council main auditorium at 3.30 PM Programme includes: Papers and Speeches- Book Launch and Music This is an open Invitation for all He sangram! samhoon Aa Narayan Shayam! -
http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/0a37191772160af2?hl=en

Photos of Shaheed Hemu Kalani's home

2009-03-01T17:44:00.001+05:00

Photos of Shaheed Hemu Kalani's home
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21st January was the 66th anniversary of our great hero Shaheed Hemu Kalani. Few days ago I visited his home at Mirki line old Sukkur on the request of his brother Mr. Tekchand Kalani who is a building material supplier and lives in Chambur Mumbai and took some photos.

http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/9f91c216cf3a8b27?hl=en

Zardari, Tara Masih to democracy, plunges country into another crisis

2009-02-27T14:37:00.001+05:00

(How can Yousuf Gilani advise Asif Zardari to impose governor's rule in Punjab dislodging the PML-N led provincial government when he had assured Shahbaz Sharif only a couple of days ago that no such action will be taken? Why this treacherous deceit and duplicity? Even if the fake judges had unseated Shahbaz, the Punjab coalition could have elected another CM. Why this attack on
democracy and the provincial rights?) - Thurs, Feb 26 2009 1:23 am

http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/28ab89fd4b89d0c4?hl=en

Who rules Sindh; Bhutto Factor & more

2009-02-17T19:27:00.003+05:00

The relevance of the Bhutto factor
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The relevance of the Bhutto factor By Sherry Rehman If Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were alive today, he would have celebrated his 81st birthday on January 5, 2009. The enthusiasm his followers demonstrate on every birth anniversary of the Shaheed leader, thirty years after his judicial murder, remains a challenge for those looking for an academic understanding of the phenomenon of 'Bhuttoism'. Perhaps the reason leaders like Shaheed Bhutto continue to live in the national memory is because of the dedication they commit to their cause. For Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, people's empowerment was a cause so important that he refused to make any compromises even when his life was at stake. - Tues, Jan 6 2009 3:12 pm 1 message, 1 author

http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/8545dd18294200dc?hl=en

Who Rules Sindh? Resolutions of SDF Dialogue - 1 new
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Saeen; As you were not there so probabaly you are mistaken. One wishes that title could have been as you wrote but it was Dialog on Sind's issues. The responsible perons should take serious notice of this strage modification ( deliberate or due to carelessness) in already announced title so that it is not repeated in future. - Sun, Feb 15 2009 8:33 am
1 message, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/3fb013f4f118bace?hl=en

Sindh's share in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) - 1 new
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[link] سنڌ جي 36 ترقياتي رٿائن لاءِ پهرين ڇهه ماهي دوران رپيو به جاري نه
ٿيو،وفاقي سرڪار سان رابطي جو فيصلو ڪراچي (رپورٽ: اختيار کوکر) وفاقي سرڪار
هلندڙ مالي سال جي ترقياتي پروگرام (پي ايس ڊي پي) ۾ رکيل سنڌ جي 56 رٿائن مان 36
رٿائن لاءِ مالي سال جي پهرين ڇهه ماهي دوران هڪ رپيو به جاري نه ڪيو. وفاقي
سرڪار کي سنڌ جي رٿائن لاءِ بجيٽ ۾ رکيل 18 ارب 48 ڪروڙ 64 لک رپين مان جولاءِ
2008ع کان 31 ڊسمبر 2008ع تائين 9 ارب 24 ڪروڙ 32 لک رپيا جاري ڪرڻا هئا پر انهي
عرصي دوران صرف 2 ارب 87 ڪروڙ رپيا جاري ڪيا ويا. جن رٿائن لاءِ هڪ رپيو به جاري
نه ڪيو ويو آهي. انهن لاءِ بجيٽ ۾ 6-ارب 52 ڪروڙ 35 لک رپيا رکيل آهن. سنڌ حڪومت
فيصلو ڪيو آهي ته سنڌ جو وڏو وزير ناڻي واري وفاقي صلاحڪار ۽ وفاقي - Fri, Feb 13
2009 1:47 am
1 message, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/f72bd10bca53a0ec?hl=en

Sindhis want autonomy - 1 new
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Sindhis want autonomy: JunejoBy ZAMIR SHEIKH submitted 22 hours 52 minutes ago

KARACHI - �Helplessness and hopelessness in Sindh has reached the breaking point and there is a serious demand for change in the democratic set-up as people in the province have started thinking that under the present political dispensation they would not get their legitimate rights�, said Abdul Khalique Junejo, Chairman Jeay Sindh Mahaz, in an interview with The Nation.� - Fri,
Jan 16 2009 1:42 pm
1 message, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/sindh-politics/t/62444e983d92dbfd?hl=en

12 months of PPP Government - No Releif, Jobs or Mega Projects for Sindhis

2009-02-16T19:30:00.002+05:00

By: Asma Lashari
Date: Feb 16, 2009 4:31 AM

If its all true, then it catastrophe for Sindh
A. Baloch

"Sindhi Nation-Big-INFO" wrote:

12 months of PPP Govt.. No Releif, Jobs or Mega Projects for Sindhis.

For the last 12 months Pakistan Peoples Party (PPPP) has been in Power with full representation and control in all corridors of POWER. They have their president, prime minister, favorite chief of army staff, Chief Justice of SC, CMs, Chairman in Senate, Governors of choic and overwhelming majority in NA.

People of Sindh who have been voting for PPP & great Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Sahiba unanimously for the last 38 years and have costed 90% of their votes to PPP candidates on 18th February 2008, now they ask what will they get in return? It is time to speak up and let our views be known to the government of PPP and to worthy Mr Asif Ali Zardari, Mr. Bialwal Bhutto Zardari, Yousif Raza Gilani, Qaim Ali Shah, Rehman Malik, Fahmeeda Mirza, Naveed Qamar, Agha Siraj Durani, Shery Rehman, Khursheed Shah, Zulfiqar Mirza, Peer Mazhar ul Haq, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Farook Naik, Murad Ali Shah & all others federal and provincial Ministers. Please Raise your voice and tell them that the 40 million people of Sindh are still waiting for some relief. We have noted that one year has passed but:

1. No mega Project in Thar, Gorakh, Daharki, Khipro, Nooriabad, Keti Bander, Matli or Shikarpur has been announced. Sindh / Thar Coal Authority has not yet been returned back to Sindh Government & project has not been launched formally.

2. DOW Medical College rejected the orders of CM for admissions of Sindhis & no action has been taken against them & Sindhi student are not being allowed to study in DMC, KU and NED
Karachi.

3. No administrative action has been taken so far by Board of Revenue to regularize Sindhi villages of Karachi, Hyderabad & Sukkur. Goth Abad Act-1987 has not been implemented. No plan to shift and establish low-cost residential areas for rural Sindhis in their own capital Karachi has been materialized .

4. 5000 illegally employed MQM workers of Water Board & 18000 terrorists working in Community Police of Karachi have not been sacked yet. Thousands of MQM Doctors appointed by former govt without any merit have not been terminated.

5. No formal enquiry conducted and action taken to punish the criminals & terrorists involved in massacres of 12th may & 18th oct 2007 & 9th April 2008. 5200 Cases withdrawn against terrorists of MQM in past and 4800 cases withdrawn under NRO in April 2008 (under PPP govt) have not been re-opened and pursued yet.

6. Work on Thal canal is still continuing, no action taken to stop it. The theft of Sindh's water is continuing unabated & illegal flow in CJ & TP link canals is causing drought and water famine in Sindh.

7. Every week the Federal Minster of Power & CM Sindh are issuing contradictory statements and no formal resolution has been brought in NA to shelve-off the Kalabagh Dam permanently.

8. Dictator Musharraf violated the Constitution, compromised sovereignty of the country, destroyed institutions, waged war on own people, murdered political leaders and innocent citizens, caused disharmony among provinces, created divisions among the people and ruined the economy but he has been given safe passage and indemnity & no action has been taken against him and his Q-league-MQM-Functional-League Team so far.

9. No measures have been taken to stop hunger & suicides in Sindh. People in villages can not afford to buy flour, rice, gas, electricity, medicines & petrol. Everyday dozens are committing suicides and women are selling their beloved kids. Share of entire Sindh's electricity is given to Karachi and 4 to 8 hours load shedding in Sindh has not been stopped yet.

10. Non-Sindhi terrorist Governor Ishrat ul Ibad, Chief Secretary & IG of Sindh & Dummy Chief Justice Dogar all are still in offices & not removed yet and PPP has agreed on expanding the power sharing in province and federal government level with MQM. Half of the ministries in Sindh have been given to them & Urdu speaking unelected PPP leaders. A Political Party that represents less than 5% of population in country is having more than 27% power share at federal level & 45% in Sindh. Non-Sindhi Federal Law Minster and Information Ministers are appointed as representatives of Sindh. Tenure of Local govt was supposed to end in beginning of this yea but for the want of MQM it is still continuing and MQM has been given the ministry of Ports & Shipping so that they can bring weapons through port.

11. Corruption is at new heights in Sindh, Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan. In Sindh MQM & PPP ministers of health, education, excise & taxation, forest, communication, fisheries, culture irrigation, revenue, local govt, food etc & in federation WAPDA, Finance, Defense ministries have broken all past records of corruption and bribery. Ministers are openly negotiating 1 to 5 million bribes for lucrative transfers & postings and General, Brigadiers, Colonels & Majors are freely getting, forest, highway and riverrine lands, permits, plots and contracts through ministers

12. There is no foreign policy at all, on one hand Nawaz Shareef, Imran Khan and Jamait Islami are playing in the hands of jihadee extremists and on the other hand PPP, MQM, ANP & JUI have mortgaged the national sovereignty with NATO countries.

13. Thousands of Sindhis affected in Larkana-Dadoo rains and floods & cyclone in Badin and Thatta are still shelter less, without food and medical help. Fishermen and framers are still homeless, jobless, foodless and their children are without food, education and medicines.

14. Division of District Hyderabad has not been annulled, Maleer, Hyderabad and Lyari Districts have not been restored, terrorist Dist Nazims Sayed Mustafa Kamal and Kunwar Naveed Jameel are enjoying more powers than ordinary PPP ministers, MNAs and MPAs.

15. Abuses to women, minorities, children, harees and weaker sections of the society are continuing & no administrative or legislative action has been taken yet. Jirgas, SANG CHATEES, CHAR BHETA, BADO, Karo Kari are being supported by Sindhi Waderas of PPP, PML-N, PML-Q and Functional League unanimously.

16. Stock market has crashed, electricity, gas, diesel, kerosene and CNG prices have touched the new heights, Dollar became Rs. 79 from 61 in just 12 months. Pakistan is struggling under its biggest budget deficit in a decade, $21 billion; inflation that hit a 30-year high, 24.3 percent.

17. Judiciary & the brave son of all the four provinces Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammd Chodhri has not been restored yet. PPP has recently re-appointed 9 justices in Sindh and out of them just 1 is a native Sindhi and 8 are Muhajirs, which brings the number of Muhajir Justices to 24 out of 29 in Sindh High Court. The MQM representative corrupt muhajir Judge Anwer Zaheer Jamali has stopped the promotion of majority of Sindhi session & civil judges. 50 percent of newly proposed judges announced in daily Kawish are also muhajirs.

18. No provincial autonomy introduced & no initiative has been taken for new NFC award. Highways of Sindh, islands and coastal, Clifton & defence lands taken by Federation have not been returned to Province, Concurrent list remains intact, the sales, toll, and excise taxes are not yet been declared provincial revenues.

19. No Truth & Reconciliation Commission formed yet, no probe into assassinations of great Sheed Benazir Bhutto sahiba, Nawab Akber Bugti, Balach Maree, Munawer Suharwardi, Abduallah Murad Baloch, Meer Murtaza Bhutto & thousands of other Sindhis & Balochs.

20. In Sindh, Seraiki & Balochistan fast-rising unemployment is creating disaster, it is projected to reach 6.6 percent in 2009. Jobs of teachers, doctors, engineers clerics, nurses and policemen are being given for 1 to 15 lacs bribe. Overnight the middles class PPP , MQM, ANP, JUI & PML-N ministers have bought PRADOs, LEXUS, Range rovers, Land Cruisers. Civics, Corollas and Mark-11. They are living a lavish life in 1000 to 1600 yard lavish Bungalows in Karachi and their voters are left alone foodless, jobless and shelter less under the hot sun.

21. Crimes in Sindh province are increasing rapidly, MQM has established a new division to extort money through theft of mobile phones, car snatching & robberies, jihadees are committing bank robberies and the dacoits patronized by Sindhi feudal, police and intelligence agencies have made the life of Sindhi villagers miserable. Everyday 5/6 small growers, Hindu Sind businessman and low-grade govt officer are being kidnapped for ransom in rural areas.

22. PPP and MR Zardari are also planning to sell the valuable energy asset The Qadirpur gas field, second-largest natural gas reserve in country of 2.9 trillion cubic feet in the Indus River flood plain, it is may be one of the first big-ticket sales, Pakistan Railway, SSGC, Steel Mill & PIA are also in the queue for sale.

23. Sindh is being ruled by just 7 families of: 1-Mr Zardari, Mrs Azra Pechuho & Mrs Faryal Munawer, 2-Mr Altaf Hussain, 3-Peer Pagara, Yousif Raza & Saddarudin Shah, 4-Mr Zulfiqar Mirza, Mrs Fahmeeda Mirza, Peer Mazhar ul Haq, Qazi Asad Abid & Jam Saifullah Dharejo, 5-Agha Siraj Durani & Khursheed Shah, 6-Naveed Qamar, Sayed Qamar Zaman Shah & Sherry Rehman, 7-Sayed Qaim Ali Shah, Nafeesa Shah, Mr Durani, Asad Shah and Naheed Shah and 40 million people have no direct or indirect access to jobs, education, health an opportunities.

24. Sindhi and Bloch Prisoners are still in jails, people are still missing and operation in Balochistan continues. The prison conditions in Sukkur, Khairpur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Quetta and Mach Jails are dreadful and every day there are riots in Jails.

25. Everyday one can find a number of announcements made by PPP ministers, MNAs and MPAs and the very next day they forget what they said earlier and announce a new plan. Speeches and announcements have become a mockery of democracy.

26. Sindhi language has been forcibly driven out of Karachi and Latifabad delivering a near death blow to Sindhi language. None of the private Schools in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur are teaching Sindhi Language in classes 1 to 5.

27. Except just one posting in UAE no Sindhi has been appointed as Ambassador / Consul General to any Country yet. No action has been taken or policy made for promotions of Sindhis as Generals, Brigadiers, Admirals and Air Martials. No Sindhi has been appointed as Chief of any Government owned Corporation.

28. Massive illegal immigration across the border from India & Afghanistan, from FATA Northern Areas and from distant lands and other provinces of Pakistan is exerting a fatal stress on the resources of Sindh. Biharis, muhajirs and Afghans have controlled all the entry and exit points of Karachi, Habb, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur. The remaining poetions of the govt lands have been occupied by PPP ministers, MNAs, MPAs, office bearers and their business
partners.

29. No quota of 75% or 80% has yet been fixed and implemented for the purpose of employment of indigenous Sindhi people in all private businesses, industries & multinational corporations.

30. Nationalists and writers like Gul Muhammad Jakhrani, Mahar Hussain Shah, Jalal Mahmoo Shah, Yousif Leghari, Zameer Ghurmo, Jam Saqi, Amar Sindhoo, Fatah Malik, Abrar Qazi Hameed Sindhi, Kazi Kahdim, Qasim Bughio, Qamar Shahbaz, Javed Leghari, Suleman Shaikh have either joined the ranks of govt or supporting them for tiny interests.

31. Clean and germ free drinking water is not yet been supplied to different districts & no action taken and or crash program launched to build farm to market roads and bridges connecting the taluka and district headquarters. Despite demands bridges for connecting Kandh kot wit Ghotki, Khairpur with Larkana and Sakrand with Manjhand are not yet built or even conceived. No new industries launched or proposed to be established in rural Sindh.

32. No new TV or radio station or new school, college or university are being announced for any remote district or taluka of Sindh. Jacobabad, Mithi, Qamber, Thatta, Sanghar, Badin, Umer Kot and Dadu still need new Universities & technical colleges but PPP is only busy in changing the names of existing institutes and towns and earning under MUFAHAMATI (reconciliation) policy.

33. First time in history of Pakistan only 3 Sindhi senators have elected out of 11 senators. An ut of 8 non-Sindhi Seneatos 5 have been nominated by PPP and 3 by MQM. Senator Islam u Din Shaikh and Senator Gul Mohamad Laat are openly claiming that they have given 15 crores each through Peer Mazhar, Sharjeel Memon, Ayaz Soomro and Khursheed Shah.

34. When development is continuing in Punjab under CMship of Shahbaz and Pakhtoon an Baloch representatives are raising their voice against hunger, poverty and atrocities, none of the Sindhi Ministers, MNAs, MPAs, Senators, Party Office Bearers, Nazims or any PPP leader has so far publicly raised any disagreement with Party leadership for the general Cause of Sindh, None of them has objected on any Anti Sindhi Policy or for lack of opportunities, jobs or Postings ad projects for rural Sindh and above all they have not brought forward any legislation for the benefits of public at large.

Dear elected representatives of PPP, Distinguished Sirs & Madams,, we the 40 million Sindhis respect your mandate and appreciate the sacrifices made by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Sheed Benazir Bhutto sahiba & Meer Murtaza Bhutto but we have also suffered a lot, we have lost of sons and daughters under the dictatorships and tyrant rule of Yahya, Zia, Musharaf and Altaf Hussain and we are still waiting for some relief, please we should not be taken for granted, please reciprocate.

Sindhi People & Civil Society of Sindh

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~

محنت، مثبت سوچ ۽ روين جي غربت

2007-09-16T03:10:00.000+05:00

محنت، مثبت سوچ ۽ روين جي غربت

سيد عرفان علي شاهه

ڪجهه عرصو اڳ مون کي هڪ واقفڪار پاران هڪ اي ميل ملي، جنهن ۾ غريب ۽ امير ملڪن جي وچ ۾ فرق واضح ڪيو ويو هو. ڄاڻايو ويو هئو ته ترقيءَ جو تعلق ڪنهن ملڪ وٽ زمين جي هجڻ، نه هجڻ سان نه آهي. جپان جي اڪثريتي آبادي پهاڙن تي مشتمل آهي، پوءِ به هو دنيا جو ٻيو نمبر اقتصادي طور تي مضبوط ملڪ ليکيو وڃي ٿو. ترقيءَ جو راز ڪنهن ملڪ جي قديم هجڻ سان به واسطو نٿو رکي. انڊيا ۽ مصر ٻه هزار سال قديم آهن، پوءِ به اڄ تائين غير ترقي يافته آهن. جڏهن ته 0 5 1 سال آڳاٽا ملڪ ڪيناڊا، نيوزيلينڊ ۽ آسٽريليا ترقي يافته چورائن ٿا. رنگ يا نسل سان به ڪو امير يا غريب ناهي ٿيندو. پنهنجي ملڪن ۾ سست ۽ بيڪار چورائيندڙ امير ملڪن ۾ وڃي، ان جي پيداواري قوت بنجي ويندا آهن. ان صورت ۾ سوال اهو ٿو پيدا ٿئي ته نيٺ به اصل فرق ڪهڙو آهي؟ دراصل ڪيترن سالن کان انهن ملڪن جي مقرر ڪيل تعليم ۽ ڪلچر سبب پيدا ٿيندڙ ذميوارانه روين جو فرق آهي. امير ملڪن ۾ گهڻا ئي انهن ماڻهن جي آهي، جيڪي ايمانداري، ذميواري، قانون جو احترام، پنهنجي شهرين جي حقن جو احترام، ڪم ڪرڻ جو شوق ۽ وقت جي پابندي ڪندا آهن ۽ غريب ملڪن ۾ انهن اصولن تي فقط ٻه يا ٽي سيڪڙو ماڻهو عمل ڪندا آهن. اسان غريب ان ڪري نه آهيون ته اسان وٽ وسيلا نه آهن يا قدرت اسان تي مهربان نه آهي، پر اسان پنهنجي روين جي ڪري غريب آهيون.

ويجهڙائي ۾ پارٽي جي ميٽنگ ۾ شريڪ ٿيڻ لاءِ لنڊن وڃڻ جو اتفاق ٿيو. ايئرپورٽ ۾ داخل ٿيس ته ڪسٽم آفيسر پڇيو ته ڪيڏانهن پيا وڃو؟ مون وراڻيو ته لنڊن. چيائين: ڇو؟ مون چيو ته پارٽي ميٽنگ آهي. جڏهن کيس سڌ پئي ته مان صوبائي اسيمبليءَ جو ميمبر آهيان، تڏهن هن منهنجو تمام گهڻو خيال ڪيو ۽ بورڊنگ ڪارڊ وٺي، اميگريشن ڪائونٽر تان اسٽيمپ لڳرائي، مون کي اندر ڇڏي آيو. مون سوچيو ته سڀاڻي جيڪڏهن مان ايم پي اي نه رهندس، تڏهن به منهنجو ايترو خيال رکيو ويندو؟. ۽ ڇا هو عام ماڻهن سان به ايئن ئي پيش ايندو هوندو؟.

لنڊن پهتاسين ته دل کي خوف ورائي ويو ته پاڪستاني پاسپورٽ هجڻ جي ڪري تنگ نه ڪن، پر ڪجهه سوال پڇي، هنن آسانيءَ سان وڃڻ ڏنو. لنڊن ۾ زير زمين ريل هلندي آهي، جنهن کي ٽيوب ٽرين چوندا آهن. اها سڄي شهر ۾ هلندي آهي. هڪ سئو سال اڳ ڪنهن ڪمپني ڪوئلي جي کاڻ خريد ڪئي هئي ۽ ڪوئلي کي ڪڍڻ لاءِ انهيءَ ڪمپنيءَ هڪ سرنگ ڪڍي هئي. ڪنهن کي خيال آيو ته ڇو نه هيٺ موجود خالي سرنگ ۾ ٽرين جي وڇايل پٽڙي کي پئسينجر ٽرين هلائڻ لاءِ استعمال ڪيو وڃي. اڄ ڏسي سگهجي ٿو ته لنڊن ۾ زير زمين ڪيترا ئي پليفارم ۽ شهر آباد آهن ۽ پئسينجر ٽرينون گذري رهيون آهن، جن ۾ ڏهاڙي هڪ لک کان وڌيڪ ماڻهو سفر ڪن ٿا. ٻئي پاسي اسان آهيون، جيڪي ڇهن فوٽن جو گٽر يا ڪا نالي به ٺاهڻ کان لاچار آهيون. سڄو ڏينهن ڪم ڪرڻ کان پوءِ جڏهن ماڻهو گهرن ڏانهن واپس وڃڻ لاءِ ٽرين ۾ ويهندا آهن ته هر شخص وٽ ڪجهه نه ڪجهه پڙهڻ لاءِ ضرور هوندو آهي. هو آفيس کان گهر تائين جي سفر کي پڻ لاڀائتو بڻائيندا آهن. ڪو به ڪنهن جي باري ۾ ڪجهه به ڄاڻڻ يا خبر چار رکڻ لاءِ بيقرار نه هوندو آهي. هر ڪو پنهنجي زندگي جيئندو آهي. هر شئي طئي ٿيل آهي. جيڪڏهن هو چوندا ته ڪنهن جڳهه تي ڏهن منٽن ۾ پهچڻو آهي ته ڏهه منٽ ئي لڳندا. هيءَ هڪ سوچ آهي، هڪ رويو آهي، جيڪو ئي امير بڻائي ٿو. هتي ٽيهه سال کن اڳ روزگار جي سلسلي ۾ آيل پاڪستاني ۽ هندستاني اڄ امير ترين ماڻهو سڏجن ٿا. هتي ماڻهوءَ جي روزمرهه جي استعمال جون شيون هڪ ئي قيمت تي ملنديون، هتي اوهان جي آئيڊياز کي اهميت هوندي آهي.

ان جي ابتڙ اسان پنهنجن روين تي ويچار ڪريون ٿا ته اسان کي خبر ئي نٿي پوي ته اسان ڇا آهيون ۽ ڇا پيا ڪريون. اسان وٽ ترقي جو راز محنت يا تعليم نه آهي، ذاتي تعلقات آهن. هر شخص پنهنجي حيثيت مطابق تعلقات وڌائي رهيو آهي. ڪنهن کي نوڪري کپي، ته ڪنهن کي ٺيڪو، ڪنهن کي اليڪشن ۾ سيٽ، ڪنهن کي وزارت، ڪنهن کي بئنڪ کان قرض کپي ته ڪنهن کي بئنڪ کان قرض معاف ڪرائڻو آهي. اسين مختلف زبانن ۾ ورهايل آهيون ۽ ڪي وري فرقن ۾. جيڪڏهن سڀ سنڌي آهيون ته پوءِ جتوئين ۽ مهرن ۾ ورهايل آهيون. مون کي وڏي شڪايت انهن ماڻهن ۽ ادارن سان آهي، جيڪي ماڻهن جي اهڙي ذهينت جوڙين ٿا. اسان سڀ زهر اوڳاڇيون ٿا. لکون، پڙهون، ٻڌون ۽ ڳالهايون به زهر ٿا. هڪ گدلاڻ اها آهي، جيڪا دونهين ۽ دوائن جي فيڪٽرين جي ڪيميڪلز سان اسان جي ماحول، وراڪ کي خراب ۽ زهريلو ڪري رهي آهي ته ٻي گدلاڻ اها آهي، جنهن سان اسان سڀ پنهنجي ماڻهن جي سوچ کي گدلو ۽ زهريلو بڻائي رهيا آهيون. ڪو به سياستدان حق سچ جي ڳالهه ڪرڻ لاءِ تيار نه آهي ۽ ڪو به لکندڙ پنهنجي معاشري کي آرسي ڏيکارڻ لاءِ تيار نه آهي.

ڪجهه ڏينهن اڳ ۾ مون هڪ شخص کي چيو ته تون پنهنجي ڳوٺ واري اسڪول جي استاد کي ڇو نه ٿو چوين ته هو ڏهاڙي اسڪول اچي؟ هن جواب ڏنو، مائٽ آهي، سڀ مائٽ ناراض ٿيندا. مون کيس چيو ته هي ٻارڙا اوهان جا نه آهن؟ ڇا هنن سڀني جي مستقبل کان وڌيڪ تولاءِ هڪ شخص جي ناراضگي اهم آهي؟ تنهن تي چوڻ لڳو ته سائين مون کيس هڪ ڀيري چيو هو، ته چيائين، ”تو ڪڏهن پهرين ته نه چيو آهي. جڏهن کان موٽر سائيڪل ورتي اٿئي، تڏهن کان شڪايتون ڪرڻ لڳو آهين“. اهو به هڪ رويو آهي. سماج ۾ تعليم تي ڳالهه ٻولهه ڪرڻ لاءِ ڪير به تيار نه آهي، هر شخص سياست تي ڳالهائڻ چاهي ٿو. هر هوٽل هر اوطاق تي فقط اهو بحث آهي ته ڪير ڪنهن جي سامهون بيهندو؟ ڪير اليڪشن کٽيندو؟ ڪير هارائيندو؟ هن جا تعلقات هن سان سٺا آهن، هن جا هن سان خراب آهن. هڪ ڏينهن اسيمبلي ۾ ته همت ڪو نه ٿيم، پر ٻاهر اچي دوستن کي چيم ته شاهه عبداللطيف ڀٽائيءَ جي عرس مبارڪ تي اسڪولن کي موڪلون ڇو هجن؟ ته سڀ مون تي ڏاڍا ناراض ٿيا. مون چيو ته ڇا اهو سٺو نه ٿيندو ته ان ڏينهن سمورا اسڪول کليل هجن ۽ فقط شاهه عبداللطيف ڀٽائي بابت ٻارن کي پڙهايو وڃي، موڪل سان ته ڪجهه به حاصل نه ٿيندو. اسان جو ڪلچر، عقيدو ۽ علم ايترو ته پڪو ٿي ويو آهي، جو اسان ٻيو ڪجهه ٻڌڻ لاءِ تيار ئي نه آهيون. اڄ جيڪڏهن مان چوان ته ادا اوهان سڀ علم حاصل ڪريو، سڀاڻي جيڪڏهن مون کي موقعو مليو ته مان توهان کي ميرٽ تي نوڪري ڏيندس، ته ڪير به مون کي ووٽ ڪو نه ڏيندو. جيڪڏهن مان چوان ته فرد واحد بجاءِ مان ادارن ٺاهڻ کي ترجيح ڏيندس ته سنڌ ۾ مون کي هڪ بيڪار سياستدان سمجهيو ويندو.

دنيا ۾ قانون سخت ۽ نافذ ڪرڻ وارا نرم هوندا آهن. جڏهن ته اسان وٽ قانون نرم ۽ نافذ ڪرڻ وارا سخت پئي رهيا آهن. اسان وٽ اختلاف راءِ کي دشمني سمجهيو ويندو آهي. جيڪڏهن اسان هڪ ٻئي جي راءِ سان متفق نه آهيون ته ڄڻ دشمن ليکباسين. هڪ ٻئي جي ڳالهه کي ڪٽي، بلند آواز ۾ ڳالهائڻ کي هميشه سوڀ جي شاني سمجهيو ويندو آهي. تمام وڏا لکندڙ پنجن ڏينهن جون پراڻيون اخبارون پڙهي، تجربا لکي وٺندا آهن. ماڻهن ۽ انهن جي مسئلن تي ڪو به نه لکندو آهي. سوچي ڪير به ڪو نه ٿو، ڪو به خواب ڏسندڙ نه رهيو آهي. شهيد ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو چوندو هو ته مان هڪ آئيڊيا آهيان، هي ماڻهو مون کي مارڻ نه پر هڪ آئيڊيا کي مارڻ چاهين ٿا. شايد دشمن جي چال سگهاري هئي، جو ان کان پوءِ اسان سوچڻ ڇڏي ڏنو آهي. اڄ تائين مون کي ياد نه آهي ته ڪنهن عام ماڻهو يا صحافيءَ مون کان اهو پڇيو هجي ته اوهان جي پارٽيءَ جو منشور ڇا آهي؟ بيروزگاري ڪيئن ختم ڪري سگهجي ٿي؟ نوجوانن ۽ ٻارڙن جي تعليم لاءِ اوهان وٽ ڪهڙي پلاننگ آهي؟. اسين بيمار ٿيون ته اسان لاءِ اوهين ڇا ڪندا؟ اجتماعي سوچ جي ڪمي آهي. هر ڪو پنهنجي ذات تائين محدود آهي. اسان سڀني گڏجي، فرد واحد کي مضبوط ڪيو آهي ۽ ادارن کي ڪمزور. هڪ شخص پنهنجي شخصي واسطن جي بنياد تي ڊي پي او بڻجي وڃي ٿو، پر هڪ محنت ڪندڙ ماڻهو فقط ڪلارڪ ئي رهي ٿو. اڄ به وڏن وڏن آفيسرن جو سمورو ڪم ڪلارڪ ئي ڪندا آهن. انهن کي سڀ ڪجهه ڪرڻ ايندو آهي. وڏا آفيسر صرف پنهنجو نوٽ لکي، فائيل موڪلي ڏيندا آهن. اڄ به هڪ فرد واحد اسيمبلين جي اجلاسن کي سڏائڻ ۽ نه ڏائڻ جو اختيار هٿ هيٺ رکيون ويٺو آهي ۽ اڪيلي سوچ کي اسان مٿان مڙهڻ جي ڪوشش ڪري رهيو آهي. سوال اهو آهي ته اسان کي نيٺ ڇا ڪرڻ گهرجي؟

منهنجي ويچار موجب سڀني ادارن جهڙوڪ سياسي پارٽين، ميڊيا، انصاف جو ادارو وغيره کي پهرين پنهنجن ماڻهن سان ويهي، پنهنجو احتساب ڪرڻ گهرجي، پنهنجين غلطين کي قبول ڪرڻ گهرجي ۽ ماڻهن کي اهو ٻڌائڻ گهرجي ته اسان ان ڪهڙيون ڪهڙيون ۽ ڪٿي ڪٿي غلطيون ٿيون آهن. اسان ڪٿي اوهان سان ڪوڙ ڳالهايو، غلط معلومات فراهم ڪئي ۽ ڪهڙا فيصلا ڪيا. اهو به ٻڌائڻ گهرجي ته اڳتي ڪڏهن به ائين نه ٿيندو. ميڊيا اهو ٻڌائي ته سماج ۾ فقط ڪاروڪاري ۽ خونريزيءَ جا واقعا نه پيا ٿين، پر ڪجهه ۽ ڪٿي چڱا ڪم به ٿي رهيا آهن. انصاف جا ادارا هڪ مهيني اندر هر ڪيس جو فيصلو ٻڌائين. هر شهريءَ کي اهو حق هجڻ گهرجي ته هو واپڊا سان لاڳاپيل ڪنهن به آفيس ۾ درخواست ڏئي ۽ ان جي بجلي لڳي وڃي. هر گهر کي پيئڻ جو صاف پاڻي ملڻ گهرجي. ايم پي اي ۽ ايم اين اي کي ترقياتي اسڪيمون ڏيڻ بجاءِ انهن اسڪيمن لاءِ قانون سازي ڪجي ۽ انهن جي نظرداري به ٿيڻ کپي. سماج ۾ صاف سٿرن ترقياتي ڪمن کي ميڊيا ۾ جاءِ ملڻ گهرجي. ماڻهن کي ٻڌايو وڃي ته سندن حقن سان گڏ سندن ڪهڙيون ڪهڙيون ميواريون آهن. هر اداري ۾ وقت جي پابنديءَ کي يقيني بڻايو وڃي. جيتوڻيڪ مٿيان سڀئي ڪم اسان جي سوسائٽي ۾ مشڪل ضرور آهن، پر ناممڪن نه آهن. صحتمند ٿيڻ لاءِ ڪڙي دوا ته پيئڻي پوندي. نه اسان وٽ وسيلن جي کوٽ آهي ۽ نه اسان جي ماڻهن ۾ قابليت جي ڪمي آهي. فقط حوصلي افزائيءَ جي ڪمي آهي. اسان کي پنهنجا ٻنيون ٻارا به آهن، ته صحرا به، ثقافت به آهي ته لوڪ گيت به ۽ تاريخي ورثو به آهي. فقط هڪ بهتر رويي جي ڪمي آهي، جنهن سبب اسان غريب آهيون.

ڪهاڻي مرديڪا جي

2007-08-31T17:02:00.000+05:00

ڪهاڻي مرديڪا جي

آگسٽ2007 جي شروعات ۾ سنڌ وڃڻ ٿيو جتي دوستن ملائيشيا جي حال احوال کان واقف ڪرڻ لاءِ زور ڀريو. ان کان اڳ ۾ به سوچيم ته ڪجهه سنڌي ۾ لکجي پر مصروفيت ۽ وقت جي گهٽتائي جي ڪري همٿ نه پئي ٿيئ بحر حال هاڻ ڪجھه وقت ڪڍي سنڌ جي ساٿين لاءِ ڪڏهن ڪڏهن هتان جو حال احوال هن بلاگ تي لکبو۔

اڄ 31آگسٽ 2007 تي ملئيشيا پنهنجو پنجاه ساله جشن آذادي ملهائي رهي آهي. جنهن جا جشن ڌوم ڌام سان ملهايا پيا وڃن. ملاڪه ۾ به جشن آزادي يا "مرديڪا"جا رنگ هر طرف وکريل نظر اچن ٿا . آزاد ٿئي ملئيشيا کي هاڻ پنجاه سال پورا ٿيا آهن. انهن پنجاه سالن ۾ ملئيشيا جيتري ترقي ڪئي آهي، سا سنڌين لاءِ هڪ مثال آهي. هتي جي ترقي ڏسي ذهن ۾ اهيو سوال ضرور اٿي ٿو ته آخر سنڌي ماڻهو ڇو اها ترقي نه ڪري سگهيو آهي جيڪا هتي جي چينين ۽ ملئي ماڻهن ڪئي آهي. هتي به مسئلا آهن، نسلي فرق ۽ تضاد آهن، پر تنهن هوندي به معاشي ميدان ۾ سڀ قومون پنهنجي معاشي ترقي کي اوليت ڏينديون رهيون آهن. معاشي ميدان ۾ چيني ڪافي تيز آهن. ملئي ڪافي پوئتي پيل آهن پر آزادي وقت هنن سندن آئين ۾ اهڙا تحفظ رکي ڇڏيا جن سان هنن کي ملڪ ۾ خاص "ڀومي پُترا“ اسٽيٽس حاصل آهي. ملئيشيا جي ٻين رهواسين کي اهڙي خاص حيثيت حاصل ناهي۔

چينين ۽ انڊين تاملن کي جيتوڻيڪ ملئي اڪثريت رکندڻن جو اهيو آئيني تحفظ ڪجهه ناپسند آهي، تنهن هوندي به هو ان ڳالهه سان اتفاق ڪن ٿا ته آئين جون اهي شقون جيڪي ملئي ماڻهن کي ڀومي اسٽيٽس ڏين ٿيون، انهن ملئي نسل جي ماڻهن لاءِ ضروري به آهن جو هو ڪافي پوئتي پيل آهن. سنڌي ماڻهن کي به پاڪستان ۾ اهڙي قسم جي تحفظ جي ضمانت ڏيندڙ آئيني گيرينٽي جي ضرورت هئي مگر ايئن نه ٿيو. ملئي قوم جي"ڀومي پُترا"حيثيت ۽ گهڻ مذهبي، گهڻ ثقافتي سماج جي باوجود هن ملڪ جي شاندار ترقي جي ڪهاڻي لاءِ ضروري آهي ته ملئيشيا جي آزادي جي تحريڪ ۽ هن جي ڊيموگرافي ۽ سلطنت ملاڪه کان ملايا ۽ پوءِ ملئيشيا ٿيندڙ ملڪ بابت ڪجهه ڄاڻ حاصل ڪجي۔

هن مضمون جو باقي حصو پڙهڻ لاءِ هتي ڪلڪ ڪريو۔

Sulaiman range - No water, to drink, no livestock, no school, no health

2007-05-30T20:20:00.000+05:00

Posted by: Wasim Wagha

The tribals of Suleiman Mountains - No water to
drink, no vegetation for livestock, no school, no health

Dear Mushtaq

Absolutely right. Extraction of Uranium is a
huge threat to people's health, a health problem
which would in fact affect the generations. It
is a threat which would seep to next
generations. The indigenous and tribal peoples
the world over are campaigning against Uranium
extraction like the aboriginals in Darwin (Australia).

But the question remains 'what can be done' against this.

Wasim Wagha

Centre for Indigenous Peoples of Indus (CIPI)
DAMAAN Development Organization

Mushtaq Gaadi wrote:

Dear Wasim,

Thanks for sending this brief note on the
problems of tribal people living in Suleiman
mountains. I would just like to mention the acute
public health problem related to the vast
operations of the extraction and processing of
uranium in the area. As this is considered the
matter of national security, the government don't
allow to undertake any research and documentation of this problem.

Regards,

Mushtaq

Wasim Wagha wrote:

Dear friends

When the Baloch from Balochistan province
struggle against the brutal exploitation of their
natural resources, and at least their demands are
well known nationally and internationally, the
exploitation of other Baloch tribes, Buzdars and
Qaisranis, in the Suleiman Mountains go unchecked
and un-challenged. The area is being exploited
and deprived of very basic facilities just as if it is a 'foreign land'.

A local weekly newspaper 'Al-Manzoor' of Taunsa
Sharif (District D G Khan) has published a
detailed story of their sufferings (16-23 May
2007). Below are some highlights:

i. Drinking water: In papers,
fifty water supply schemes have been constructed
with millions of rupees, but on ground not a
single one exists. The people and animals drink
water from the wells and ponds together.
ii. Education: There are few
high, middle and primary schools but without
staff / teachers – the buildings look like 'bhoot-bangley' – ghost places.
iii. Health: There are only
three basic health centres but without doctors;
the doctors reside in cities and run their
private clinics. Women and the worst victims of
non-availability of health services; they have to
come all the way down from mountain to Taunsa city.
iv. No water / No Livelihoods:
Diverting the hill-torrents into drains, to save
newly constructed Chashma Right Bank Canal in the
plains, has further dried the area – no water, no
vegetation. This is adversely affecting their
major livelihood of livestock rearing.
v. Identity: The National
Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) mark their
area, on identity cards, as 'Ilaqa-e-gher', - an
Urdu word which means 'foreign land'.

This is only of tip of iceberg. The exploitation
and discrimination dates back to partition
times. Against their will, at the time of
partition (1947), they and their tribal area were
included in Punjab province (district D G Khan)
as "De-Excluded Area". This decision resulted in
a series of endless discrimination e.g. on
National Identity Cards (NICs), instead
of writing 'tribal area', their area is marked
as 'Ilaqa-e-gher', - an Urdu word which means
'foreign land'. The area is rich in minerals like
oil, gas, gypsum, Uranium, fuller-miti and many
more, and the government is extracting these
resources without any royalty to them.

Wasim Wagha

Centre for Indigenous Peoples of Indus (CIPI)
DAMAAN Development Organization

'Last of Mohicans' to participate in SANA Convention

2007-05-30T15:57:00.001+05:00

Posted by: Aziz Narejo

Indigenous Peoples' Rights: "Last of the Mohicans" Coming to SANA Convention

"Red-Indianization" has not ended with the
colonization of the Americas, Australia and News
Zealand. Millions of indigenous people around the
world continue to be threatened with losing their
land, basic human rights, identity, language,
culture and heritage. Globalization, large-scale
population movements, discrimination, loss of
political power and living under the hegemony of
powerful and unscrupulous majorities have
dispossessed, marginalized, intimidated and weakened many people.

This sounds very familiar if one looks at the
miserable condition of Sindhis who have suffered
immensely as a result of the partition of the
Indian sub-continent and the unprecedented
migration that has continued unabated since. They
have lost control over their resources, their
land and the decision-making in their own
province. Their language and culture have been
under constant attack and conspiracies have been
afoot since long to bring demographic changes
turning them into a minority in their own land.

Siraikis and Baloch also face similar threats in Pakistan.

I think it is important that the issue is
internationalized and effectively taken up at
different forums. It is necessary to establish
contacts between indigenous people around the world.

Keeping that in view, we have invited the
greatest living American Indian leader, Russell
Means to be the keynote speaker at the
forthcoming SANA Convention to be held in
Orlando, FL June 29 – July 2. I am glad to inform
you that he has graciously accepted the
invitation and would be delivering the keynote
address during our annual banquet. He will speak
on the 'empowerment of indigenous people,
activism of indigenous people and inherent rights
of the indigenous people on world stage'.

I had been in contact with him since last couple
of years and had invited him for our Sindh
Convention but he could not get Pakistani visa in
time and couldn't attend our convention held in Karachi in December 2005.

Russell Means is said to be the most famous
American Indian leader since Crazy Horse and
Sitting Bull. He was among the Indian activists
including his father "Hank Means," who occupied
San Francisco's Alcatraz Island in 1964 lasting 19 months.

He became first national director of the American
Indian Movement in 1970 and has been active in
the American Indian movement/activities since.
"Later that year, Means was one of the leaders of
AIM's takeover of Mount Rushmore. In 1972, he
participated in AIM's takeover of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs office in Washington, DC, and in
1973 he led AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee,
which became the group's most celebrated action" (Wikipidia).

In occupying the Wounded Knee site of a 1890s
massacre of Indians by US cavalry, AIM was
attempting to regain lands granted to the Lakota
in the 1868 Laramie treaty. Both events brought
worldwide attention to the injustices and
privation faced by American Indians past and present.

Russell Means is also a famous Hollywood actor.
He started his acting career in 1992 playing the
title role in the film: "The Last of the
Mohicans" (1992). He has starred in several
movies after that. He is an author, an artist and a music writer too.

Means and his wife Pearl are currently building
"Treaty Total Immersion School" on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation. Through "total immersion" in
the Lakota way of life, children will be
instilled with the pride and confidence to face any challenge.

You can read about him at:

http://www.russellmeans.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0575184/
http://cdbaby.com/cd/russellmeans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Means

Friends, it is our sincere effort to make the
SANA conventions most meaningful for our
community in North America and our people in
Sindh and elsewhere. I hope this will be a
significant effort in that direction. I would
request all of you to please attend the SANA
Convention and hear this great leader of the indigenous people.

Best regards,

Aziz Narejo
TX

__._,_.___

"I am not well" says Ali Nawaz Memon

2007-05-27T20:02:00.001+05:00

From: Ali Nawaz Memon
Date: Sun May 27, 2007 10:50 am
Subject: I am not well

Dear Friends

I have not been well for past several weeks. It has made me realize how fragile I am. It has made me realize how little time we, the human beings have on this earth. I has also made me realize that we have no time to waste.

If we have a mission or even a desire to do something, we cannot afford to wait until tomorrow because indeed, tomorrow may never come.

I cannot say that I have a mission. I only have a few desires. Since my childhood I have wanted justice for all. I have wanted simple but clean fresh food for all. I have wanted a small but clean home for all.

Looking at Sindh, Pakistan and many other places, I know that justice is critical for my and every one else's existence. To me justice means protection from a bully at school play ground. It means protection from a tyrant wadera. It means protection from corrupt police. It means becoming strong individually and collectively. It means honest judges, people oriented parliaments, devoted ministers and presidents. It means rule of just laws. Not just rule of law but rule of just law.

I have learnt over years that fresh food and clean home become possible with a job for every one. For a reasonable job, education and skills for every one become important.

In short, I desire rule of just law, education and job for every human being. Specially, I want it for my family members. And, I consider all of you as my family members.

Yes, these are simple but tall orders. So far, we have been talking about more or less the same things. How to get rule of just law, education and job for all? Obviously, we must continue our individual struggle and effort. Every student must study. Every one must seek skills which will make life easier for the family.

In parallel, we must work collectively to make the whole existence easier for each other. I like to think that despite my wordly ways, I am a religiously and spiritually oriented person like most of you. We need help of the supreme creator--Allah, God, Ishwar or whatever name we have. Nevertheless, I truely believe that democracy is very imortant for us. If we can regularly elect people who are also committed to providing us rule of just law, education and jobs, then life will get better.

I do not know, how much time I have. At age 65, probably I do not have much. On top of that I may not be able to use my remaing time wisely. So why am I telling you all this? Because, I like to share my desires with you. Because, may be your desires match some of mine. May be you will like to dedicate some of your time working towards achieving rule of just law, education and jobs for every one.

I have no set way of achieving rule of just law, education and jobs. Please do it your own way. Just remember that these are worth while things for our existence. Please get these things for yourselves and for every one else.

God bless you all.

Your input and help towards development of Sindh is always welcome.

Ali Nawaz Memon

Sindh Development Institute
7204 Antares Drive Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20879

Dawn Invites Musharraf to Launch TV Channel: What a Shame!

2007-05-26T13:16:00.001+05:00

From: Aziz Narejo <anarejo@yahoo.com>
Date: May 26, 2007 2:54 PM
Subject: Dawn Invites Musharraf to Launch TV Channel: What a Shame!
To: sindh-politics@yahoogroups.com

Dawn Invites Musharraf to Launch TV Channel: What a Shame!

Doomed are the people that acquiesce to military dictatorship.

Dawn calls itself an independent newspaper. In its editorials, it speaks of democracy and calls for an end to military rule, independence of judiciary and freedom of media but it invites a military general - who came to power through a coup d'etat and is behind blatant attacks on judiciary and media - to launch its TV news channel!

( http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/26/top4.htm )

What a shame! What a doublespeak!

Hypocrisy, submissiveness, corruption, terrorism, lies and advancing own interests at ANY cost have become fair game in Pakistan. No wonder the country remains mired in the troubled waters. It faces crisis after crisis. Peoples' sufferings never end while elite and opportunists continue to prosper.

There could be no hope until each and every citizen stands up and says NO to the military dictator and his accomplices. There has to be a complete boycott of the military dictator. No compromise – no middle road – no dialogue with the dictator no matter if he is in uniform or not. The other road leads to eventual destruction of all.

The only ray of hope at present is the heroic stand of CJ and the lawyers' resolute movement.

Aziz Narejo

__._,_.___

Impact of unfairness on health of Sindhi people

2007-05-20T09:57:00.000+05:00

Posted by Mir Atta Muhammad Talpur

Nobody is unaware of the sufferings of Sindhi people and injustice and unfairness they face in every walk of life. The main reasons for unfairness and injustices are due to multiple known and unknown factors. The most important factors, among others, are arbitrary military rules, exploitation of Sindh's natural resources, corruption and its feudal society. All these factors, have contributed towards sense of deprivation, unfairness, injustice and to some extent in sense of alienation. It has now come to be known that unfairness and injustices have serious health impacts as well. So far no study has been conducted to find out the health impact of injustices meted out to Sindhi people during different periods. Such studies are costly and take long time to find results. There is definitive need for starting such a prospective study. This has become more important now because of two reasons. 1. The magnitude of injustices and unfairness to Sindhi people have seen sharp increase in more recent times, and 2. Another study, conducted elsewhere on a different sample of population has proved that there is definitive impact of sense of deprivation, injustice and unfairness on health, especially on causation of heart diseases. The findings of that study can be extrapolated to Sindhi population to some extent. However, to find out impact of injustices and unfairness meted out to Sindhis in more precise quantitative and qualitative terms, a separate specific study is required. We have all the expertise and are able to conduct such a credible unbiased prospective study spanned over 5, 10 or 15 years but we lack financial resources. In any case, until we are able to conduct our own studies and research, let us accept the results of study conducted by others (see below) and extrapolate it to our Sindhi society.

Sense of injustice causes heart disease

15 May 2007

A team of researchers from UCL Epidemiology & Public Health have shown that people who feel they are treated unfairly are at heightened risk of experiencing heart problems.

5726 men and 2572 women from 20 civil service departments in London participated in the research as part of the long-term Whitehall II study.

The findings, published in the current issue of the 'Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health', show that repeated experiences of injustice in different areas of life family, the workplace or society in general may produce negative stress-related reactions that, in the long term, increase the risk of a heart attack.

The participants were asked to score their responses to the statement: "I often have the feeling that I am being treated unfairly" on a scale of one to six, with one being 'strongly disagree' and six being 'strongly agree'.

Their mental and physical health was tracked for an average of 11 years, using validated health and quality-of-life surveys and data on ill health and death.

During the monitoring period, there were 528 new cases of fatal and non-fatal heart attack and angina in people who had had no signs of heart disease when the study began.

Just under 3,000 people felt they were unfairly treated, and when all the figures were adjusted to take account of traditional coronary risk factors, gender, age, socioeconomic position, chronic work stress and unfair treatment at work the results showed that a heightened sense of injustice directly corresponded to risk of a heart attack or angina.

People who scored five or six were 55 per cent more likely to have serious heart disease as those who did not feel they were unfairly treated and twice as likely to have it as those who scored one or two. Participants in lower socioeconomic positions and women were more likely to be exposed to everyday acts of injustice.

Lead author Dr Roberto De Vogli (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health) commented: "Although people may consider fair what is unfair and vice versa according to some subjective expectations, adjustment for a personality characteristic such as hostility did not reduce the effect of unfairness on heart disease. I understand that this is a long shot, but the key message is that we must try to promote fairness in society."

---

Full text of the study is available at http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/61/6/513

---

Mir Atta M. Talpur

Security of Sindhis

2007-05-17T18:03:00.000+05:00

From: Zulfiqar Halepoto
Date: Thu May 17, 2007 4:51 pm
Subject: Security of Sindhis

Mushtaq Mirani wrote:

Dear All

Tragic events generate fundamental questions to reshape the nation. The Karachi carnage of 12 May hammers our minds to ask the following questions:

How long Sindhis can live on borrowed time in Karachi?

How Sindh can develop economically and socially when its capital is hostage to alien people?

How Sindhis can claim ownership of Sindh in the global community when its demographic stability is threatened by a large scale migration to Sindh?

How democracy, good governance and rural of law can be established in Sindh when fascists control the Sindh assembly and the Sindh government?

The debate on these questions will produce answers to obtain permanent security of Sindhis in Karachi and re-engineering of Sindh to make it secure, democratic and prosperous nation.

Emotional, incompetent and personalized politics of Sindhis has brought Sindh to this stage where today we are living like Polish people under Nazi occupation.

I hope that Sindhi thinkers, politicians and civil society activists will start a serious debate on the issues I have raised.

Regards,

Mushtaq Mirani

Rafi Chandio wrote:

Dear all

Mirani sahib has invited an important discussion about the security of Sindh? I would like to express my concern about the recent show down in Karachi. Regarding questions asked by Mirani sahib I have fundamental problem with this approach. We have always seen problems from an illusionary perspective, for instance the question of ownership of Karachi? What do we mean by this ownership ?

Who is owner of Mombay, London, New York and other mega cities, if Sindhi's are not the masters of Karachi no body else can claim the sole ownership of Karachi lets us go further deep in this issue.

Concept of ownership is not related to cities and specially mega cities of to days global age, rather it is an issue of disadvantaged groups and their participation in the these cities.

Nationalistic sentiments are not serving the purpose of social development of Sindh, indeed it failed to materialize any socio-political solution to the commons of Sindh.

W.W Rostow in his "stages of growth" mentioned that for the fourth and most important stage of growth which he termed as take-off stage, it must be supported by mature socio- political conditions, emergence of a political party is a must to facilitate growth and development.

Lack of a mature political party is not only problem of Sindh but it is same with all over Pakistan including Karachities.

Parties like MQM,Muslim league (many groups) are not true representatives while PPP is facing institutional crisis. lack of political set up is the primary cause of underdevelopment, it becomes more serious with rural areas where representation is sought on weaker negotiation terms. These weaker negotiations are outcome of parallel power structure which is equally present in rural as well as in urban cent res of country. This collective bargaining capacity of commons has an explicit opportunity cost of provision of social goods.Which simply means that poor is forced to buy these social goods from market.

Intensity of such problem is more severe in rural areas because rural inhabitants income is not matching the purchasing power of urban commons.

The nationalists do blame masses "because they did'nt vote them in power so they are the culprits". a common complain by the nationalist organizations of Sindh.

These parties have been influenced heavily by socialist ideas, They don't accept any concession less than complete revolution, now there is the trade off between nationalist political parties and public needs. there voice has never ever represented their needs rather they have always been raising voices for their internationalist theoretical affiliations.

People are more interested to have public goods like health , education, human rights and other factor which may help them to enhance their capacity to get rid of poverty but nationalist parties try to make them apart from the rest of country by scaring them. reason why PPP won the elections on and on was that they have at least raised the slogan of their and addressed their concerns. we must come up with better ideas for Sindh a political party with a genuine ideas and sectoral development approach will only deliver to the Sindh. In fact the real issue is to fill up the development gaps between Pakistan nationalist parties must develop pressure on both governments to invest and adapt more friendly policies in rural areas of country with a clear goal to transform the agrarian society of Sindh but our political parties must know what they are up to .

In order to generate health polemics criticism is more than welcome. Thanks and kind regards

Rafi Chandio

I see a movies couple of years back and still remember the following scene

�One schoolboy was curious for every thing in the class, the entire staff and teachers were annoyed of his every minute questions. He kept on talking and questioning many things differently.

When his inquisitiveness (as conceived by the school management) crossed the limits, he was isolated for time being. After some time he was again reinstated and was called by the principal of the school in his office and granted time to explain that: -

What was wrong with him?
Why he is so curious about every thing?
Why he saw every thing against the conventional norms?�

He gave a very simple reply: -

�People see the things as they are and ask why?
I see the things as they might be and asked why not�

Cheerz
Zulfi

Father Disowns MQM MPA after May 12 Karachi Killings

2007-05-16T19:05:00.001+05:00

From: Mushtaque Ahmad

Sindhi Newspaper Daily "Awami Awaz: and "Ibrat" have reported today (Wednesday May 16, 2007) that Dr. Dino Mal, father of MQM MPA Dr Shankar Lal, has disassociated himself with is son and has called for social boycott of his son from Hindu community.

Dr Dino Mal had arrived at home of late Nawaz Kanrani in Thul city of Jecobabad district to condol his murder with his family, who was shot dead during rally on May 12 in Karachi while raising sologans in Awami Tahreek's rally (Awami Tahreek is led my Rasool Bux Palejo). The family of Shaheed Nawaz refused to accept condolence of Dr. Dinomal, and accused him of supporting and harboring terrorists. Dr Dinomal, tears in his, cried before the hundreds of people and grieved family apologized behalf of his son and assured the family of late Nawaz that he has nothing to do with his son.

Dr. Dino Mal termed MQM a terrorist group and his son Dr. Kirshan Lal as fifth columnist (Gadhar) of Sindhi people.

Details are available in the below link

http://www.dailyibrat.com/