A calculated move by Zardari

A very calculated move by Zardari. He thought that for the current time he would become Chairman of the PPP as per Benazir's will, but what will happen after him? Bilawal Zardari could never have become chairman. Since Fatima Bhutto and Zulfiqar Bhutto (children of Murtaza Bhutto) would have made valid claims for throne. So he made his son the chairman and changed his name to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Zardari would remain co-chairman and hence will be calling the shots.

Meanwhile Benazir's seat is now vacant. There will be no elections on that seat. There will be bye-elections on it and Zardari will run from that seat, make way into parliament and hence move towards the coveted PM slot.

A good move by Zardari.

A Way Out

Times are changing by the minute, confusions increasing and answers hard to come by. Media, thanks to Musharraf, has evolved so much that even sometimes they don't know what to do with their new found independence.

Whom should an average Pakistani trust amongst the current political players? Media? Musharraf? Bhutto? Nawaz Sharif? Judiciary? Lawyers? America? NGOs? Directly or indirectly all of them are involved in not only internal Pakistani politics but also global politics.

It is quite clear that America does not need Musharraf anymore. They have found a much more controllable person in Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf towed the line for sometime but his refusal of handing over AQ Khan, not allowing direct engagement of Nato forces in Pakistan and not sending troops to Iraq would not have won many Western friends. It seems that his time is up and a massive propoganda has been unleashed against him just like it was unleashed against Zulfiqar Bhutto. This is usually done to ensure that when he goes nobody will miss him. And also to create confusion and chaos. Since a confused and chaotic nation can never progress. Only those from such a nation can progress who distance themselves from such confusions.

Pakistan is badly entangled in global politics at the moment. Nobody including Musharraf is an angel. Whom should Pakistan trust at the moment? And what should we do? I think the following will surely help.

1. Place your trust in nobody else except Allah.
2. Pray for Pakistan
3. Revolutionize your life as per the commands of Allah (i.e. Shariah).
4. Do not try to force Shariah since doing so will be going against Shariah in itself.
5. Influence your circle i.e. your family and friends to follow Shariah in both letter and spirit.
6. Whoever is ruling Pakistan, try to support him in everything which is not against Shariah. You don't know on what basis he is making his decisions. So don't distrust him.
7. Especially follow Shariah when it says that don't spread anything without proper investigation. If all of us, including our media, starts following this then 90% of the current confusion and chaos will be over.
Distance yourself from being a victim or an agent for spreading of confusion and chaos.

8. Become active. Develop communities. e.g. if you feel education is the cure for Pakistan develop a small community to educate the uneducated in your circle. Rather than watching television for hours you can help someone within that time. Don't worry about resources. Help a single person. Be positive. Abdul Sattar Edhi, Ansar Burney and hundreds of social workers in Pakistan don't rely on government or funds from US for helping the poor.
9. Vote. Vote for whoever you think is the lesser of the evils. Don't worry about rigging. You just do your duty and leave the rest to Allah.

In the end please remember that a leader making wrong decisions is not as dangerous as an extremely divided nation. If we continue on the same lines, as we are walking on today, we risk becoming a confused, chaotic and divided nation.

http://ideologicalconflict.blogspot.com

Chief Justice Iftikhar

A question for everyone. I tried to do some research about it but failed to find anything.

Why did the CJ Iftikhar take oath under the first PCO, which Musharraf brought after removing Nawaz Sharif? Wasn't that illegal? A lot of judges refused to do so and opted for retirement. Like Justice Wajih Ud Din.

What was the position of CJ Iftikhar when Nawaz Sharif bought Judges to remove CJ Sajjad Ali Shah? Where was he then?

I would be obliged if someone can provide me answers to these 2 questions. I tried to search but didn't get any leads. Thanks.

War Between Muslims and Moderates

A war between Muslims and Moderates is raging on in our country. All those who knowingly support the real agenda of Moderates seemed to be nothing short of Munafiqs of this age. True identify of Munafiqs is only with Allah. The real aim of Moderates is to re-define and/or re-interpret Islam. Through my various readings, I found that the Shariah Council headed by >>>>> and the 'Moderates' agenda, now openly being pursued by Musharraf, PPP and to some extent MQM are involved in it.

Also all the other parties who are trying to give a secular image are also not faithful to the cause of Pakistan and Islam.

There are a huge quantity of people who don't really understand what Moderates are preaching but they agree with the slogans that Moderates are advertising. e.g. Slogans such as 'Hatred, Extremism & Terrorism' must be ended and fought with. 'Change must be embraced otherwise we will be left back than other countries'. These slogans are harmless and everybody be it moderates or Muslims agree to them. But once you delve deeper into the thought process you will find yourself in their quagmire of Islamophobia more highligted of that their need to 'Re-Interpret' Islam as per the modern times. Which actually means that all modern things must be justified by Islam and then adopted. Muslims say that All Modern things must be adopted after they pass successfully from the filter of Quraan and Sunnah. If they are not found in Quraan and Sunnah, then they must pass through

Current Political Scenario

"When the Maulana answering a question said, the PPP had kept itself out of the APDM perhaps because it did not want to annoy Washington and damage its negotiations with President Gen Musharraf, everyone present burst out laughing."

Daily Dawn 12th July 2007 quoting
Maulana Fazl Ur Rahman
All Parties Conference

London 11th July 2007

In the more recent interviews and news items that I have read in Herald and Dawn, it is quite clear that PPP on Washington's behest is trying to work out a relationship and power sharing mechanism with General Musharraf. Moreover BB has been actively lobbying in Washington to support them so that PPP come into power and, as she puts it, not the 'Pakistani Hamas' (I read this in May's Herald). This clearly tells us to stay as far away as possible from

1. PPP
2. Musharraf
3. And all parties prepared to ally with Musharraf such as MQM, PML(Q) etc,

The reason being that instead of pursuing interests of Pakistan its only going to pursue Western interests in Pakistan. If they come into power then we can well imagine to what extent these people can go in their agenda of 'enlightened moderation'.

It is better to vote for any party in APDM such PML(N), MMA or the best is Tehreek-e-Insaaf. It is also highly recommended that everyone should become politically active and try to contribute in whatever way possible. The first step is voter registration and everyone should ensure that their names are in the voter's list.

I feel that we usually sit and either brood or complain about the wrongs happening in our country. So instead of doing that we must contibute in whatever way possible. Because if we are not prepared to contribute then we have no right to complain.

Your comments are most welcome.

Feminist Movement

An interesting letter appeared in the Daily Dawn Magazine of April 15th 2007 about the Feminist Movement and the biggest fault in its ideology i.e. copying men. This letter is written by a female. I have produced it here as is.

Degrading women
One common thread I noticed in the articles on International Women’s Day published in the Magazine (March 4) was the popular tendency nowadays to find the value of women in relation to men.The problem with the ‘feminist’ women is that they have taken man as the standard — the highest level to which they must aim and aspire. They want whatever man has or does, and in this process they have degraded themselves by getting involved in a race to ‘copy’ men.This is not to say that pursuing a career for a woman is wrong, but considering this as the only means to ‘self-realization’ and in the process devaluing and looking down upon the one privilege God has reserved only for the woman, is a loss indeed.We must realize that working outside the homes is in no way superior to shaping the future of society by properly raising our children. If only we realize that our worth lies not in becoming like men, but in valuing and fulfilling the special privileges God has bestowed upon us.

Naureen Aqueel
Karachi

Madressah force on the offensive in Islamabad: Move to impose Talibanisation; three women kidnapped

After reading the news item in the Daily Dawn of 29th March 2007, titled 'Madressah force on the offensive in Islamabad: Move to impose Talibanisation; three women kidnapped'. I was forced to wonder whether this latest move by Pakistani Citizens is right or wrong. But then I realized that we had lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, a long way back and especially put the final nail in the coffin, when we agreed to join hands with Americans to murder people who just a little while back were our own and were helping in furthering our foreign policy.

Moreover we also have failed to realize that there is a huge section of Pakistani Society, who have decided on living their lives by Shariah Law. This section, though present in large numbers, have no representation in decision and law making in the affairs of the government. The problem is more complex, since the so-called religious parties, are busy in pursuing agendas and struggles which does not necessarily lead to having Shariah Law put into place. Therefore this section feels alienated, and is forced to take matters in their own hands.

The leading newspaper 'Daily Dawn' in Pakistan might wish to call it Talibanisation probably to scare the 'moderates' or 'liberals' or even the people who are unaware of such jargons, but this is nothing but a wish to have Shariah as the primary law in Pakistan. A law, which does not accept prostitution (of any type), using women to sell products, alcohol, gambling, usury etc as signs of progress and moderation.

As a result of all this, America has successfully laid down the seeds of a Civil War in Pakistan and once that happens and gets out of control, guess who would be coming to 'help' and 'free' us, make a Iraq out of us and neutralizing our nuclear assets? The icon of democracy, United States of 'Free' America.

Following appeared in Daily Dawn

By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, March 28: Signs of Talibanisation appeared quite evident on Wednesday in the heart of the federal capital when hard-line religious leaders and hundreds of men and women activists from the local madressahs challenged the writ of the government for the second time by trying to force their brand of Islamic justice in Islamabad.

They first took hostage three women from a house near their stronghold of Lal Masjid for allegedly running a brothel and later forcibly detained two security personnel in protest against detention of their four supporters, two of them women teachers of Madressah Hafsa.

The madressah students, mainly women, had been taking rounds of the nearby markets for a few days, threatening video and music shop owners to close down their business. In some way, they had been encouraged by the soft pedalling by the government on their earlier action of occupying a children’s library two months back, which still remained in their control.

The three women were apparently kidnapped two days ago, but the situation took the form of a confrontation on Wednesday when the authorities detained four madressah people on the charge of threatening video-shop owners. The madressah students reacted violently, and within no time two police vans were attacked and two security officials taken hostage.

Later, the ulema and local administration reached an agreement under which Qamar Abbas of Islamabad police and Hammad of Punjab police were released with their official vehicles. In return, the two women teachers and two other activists were released by the police.

However, the three kidnapped women were still stated to be in the custody of the students of the madressah and negotiations were under way for their release.

“We will not release the women unless a ‘strong’ FIR is registered against them so that they can be taken to task for their immoral activities,” said Ghazi Abdul Rashid, deputy Imam of the mosque.

The tension that gripped the capital continued from 1pm to 8pm as all roads leading to the Lal Masjid were closed by police and baton-wielding students of Madressah Hafsa and Jamia Fradia, another seminary of the mosque for men, remained on the roads, staged a demonstration and chanted slogans against the government and President Pervez Musharraf. Heavy contingents of police was seen outside Aabpara police station but they did not go close to the mosque. The hard-line ulema of the mosque are reported to be trying to impose ‘Talibanisation’ in the capital after the government showed its incapability to get vacated the library occupied since Jan 21.

According to a security official, the ulema were trying to expand their operations in the city in the name of Jihad.

Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali said the ulema had a facility to use frequencies of FM radio and on Wednesday they blocked four frequencies -- FM 92 to 96 – to launch their propaganda through radio for an hour in the morning.

The students of Madressah Hafsa, who had been occupying the government’s library for children for the past two months, had raided the house, picked the owner Shahmim, her daughter Sadaf and daughter-in-law Nadia Batool, and detained them in Lal Masjid.

Abdul Rashid claimed that the ‘brothel’ had been raided on the complaint of residents of the area, who, he said, feared that the owner, allegedly having links with senior police officials, would take revenge if they lodged any report against her.

Police picked up Madressah Hafsa teachers Tasleem Bibi and Seyeda Bibi with two activists, Qari Aziz and Maroof, who had tried to close a video shop. Two police personnel present there stopped them and took them away.

Police took the four to Aabpara police station and kept them there for eight hours.

They were released when Lal Masjid Imam Qazi Abdul Aziz gave an ultimatum to the local administration that if the teachers were not released by Maghrib, the activists would march towards the police station to burn it.

The government made Aabpara Police Station SHO Mohammad Safeer a scapegoat and suspended him.

A police source said he had been suspended for not tackling the situation and picking up the teachers of the seminary at a time when Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Mohammad was addressing a big gathering of lawyers in Rawalpindi and an Azadari procession had been taken out from the Markazi Imambargah, located half a kilometre away from Lal Masjid.

The deputy imam of the mosque said he had given 15 days to the administration for releasing five activists and former Inter-Services Intelligence official Khalid Khawaja, who was pursuing the case of people who had ‘disappeared’.Police sources said the activists had removed wireless sets from their vehicles they were monitoring all the moves of the force.

Later, the Islamabad police chief ordered the force not to use wireless sets for conveying any message.

Moderates give in to hardliners: Battle over mosques

With millions of 'Unauthorized' buildings and shopping plazas all over Pakistan our 'Moderate' government only finds the Mosques as 'Unauthorized' and brings them to the ground. After doing so our Leading newspaper Daily Dawn, labels the Mosque Razers as 'Moderates'. A clear indication of the ideological conflict.


By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: Religious elements started rebuilding a mosque the city administration had demolished to widen a road after the government on Monday acquiesced to their demand not to raze any mosque in the city for any reason.

Triumphant hardliners distributed sweets to celebrate the government’s surrender which, however, failed to persuade the clergy controlling the Lal Masjid to end its confrontation with the government.

Maulan Abdul Rashid Ghazi, administrator of Madressah Hafsa for girls of the Lal Masjid, announced at a press conference that his students would not end their occupation of the Children’s Library until the government met all their demands.

That means reconstruction of the six mosques demolished over the years and providing legal cover to 76 other mosques declared by the Capital Development Authority as “unauthorised”.

Madressah Hafsa girls, who initiated the confrontation by occupying the Children’s Library on January 21, said they would allow its child members in from Tuesday but would vacate it only after the government had met the demands.

Initially the government fumed and took a tough posture against the religious forces but gradually it climbed down as the religious elements toughened their stand and became menacing.

Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq took part in the reconstruction of the Hamza Mosque on the Murree Road.

Most of the “unauthorised” mosques had been built during the rule of his father, Gen Ziaul Haq.

The decision to allow reconstruction of Masjid Ameer Hamza was made under an agreement reached between the local administration and Wafaqul Madaris, a supervisory body of seminaries.

The Religious Affairs Minister along with a delegation of the ulema of Wafaqul madaris called on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao to apprise them on the new development.

The government also formed a nine-member committee to discuss issue vis-a-vis illegal construction of madressahs and mosques on encroached state land, to decide such issues in accordance with ‘Islamic precepts’ and refer their recommendations to the authorities for implementation.

The members of the committee are: Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Chaudhry Muhammad Ali (convener), CDA’s Member Planning Brig Nusratullah, Additional Deputy Commissioner (general), Deputy Director Auqaf (ICT), Khateeb of Imdadia mosque, F-6/4, Maulana Zahoor Ahmed Alvi; Khateeb of Khulfa-i-Rashideen mosque, G-9/2, Maulana Nazir Ahmed Farooqi Hazarvi; Khateeb of Darus Salam mosque, G-6/2, Maulana Muhammad Sharif; Wafaqul Madaris deputy secretary Qazi Abdul Rashid; Khateeb of Masjid Syedna Hassan, G-9/4, Maulana Zameer Ahmed Sajid; Khateeb of Masjid Ahle-i-Hadith, G-6/1, Maulana Abdul Aziz Hanif; and Khateeb of Masjid Asna Ashri, G-6/2, Allama Akhtar Abbas.

The demolition of Masjid Ameer Hamza was stated to be the bone of contention between the government and Ulema and due to this confrontation the girl students of Madressah Hafsa occupied children library on January 21.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao while talking to the delegation led by Wafaqul Madaris president Maulana Salimullah Khan on Monday expressed satisfaction over the dialogue process between the Islamabad Administration and the Ulema.

Courtesy: www.dawn.com

Women Protection Bill

A bill was passed by the Parliament of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It was and is known as 'Women Protection Bill'. It was launched with great fanfare and after it was passed from the parliament and the senate, the 'Moderate' and 'Enlightened' president of Pakistan General Pervaiz Musharraf signed it. It was projected as the 'Victory' of moderate and enlightened forces in Pakistan. People who followed the time line of this bill and the various clauses in the bill, would definitely disagree with this notion. And if you can analyze the new bill carefully, it would just appear to be either a marketing or a Anti-Hudood campaign.

What is Hadd?
Hadd if simply defined, is the Islamic punishment, which has been set by Allah and communicated through the Glorious Quraan, and Sunnah of our Prophet (peace be upon him). e.g. In case of robbery, the hand of a robber will be cut away. In case of a large robbery, one hand and one leg of the robber will be cut, in case of Zina, if the person is married, then 'Sangsaar' (i.e. burying the body of the person except for the head, and then stoning the person to death etc).

These punishments though harsh in front of the world, but as Muslims we believe that since they are Allah's commands therefore they cannot be challenged, changed or modified. People who are unhappy/disagree with these punishments are in fact unhappy/disagree with the Quran. An act which is exactly the same as Kufr. Since Quraan and commandments of Allah and HIS prophet (peace be upon him) are to be accepted and followed in full and not in part and parcel.

Also mechanisms to prove the crimes which results in Hadd punishments are quite strict, e.g. in case of Zina. 4 witnesses of the crime are required before 'Sangsaar' can be done.

Please also note that a very popular clause of Pakistani Constitution is 'No law, which is contrary to Holy Quraan and Sunnah can be passed in Pakistan. Nor can such a law exist in Pakistan'. Therefore any such law is also against the constitution of Pakistan.

Hudood Ordinance
In the times of Zia Ul Haq. A committee of Ulema was formed to incorporate Islamic Mode of Punishments into Pakistani Law. These laws were written down and were known as Hudood Ordinance. It was mentioned in Hudood Ordinance, that crimes which cannot be proved through evidence mentioned in the Holy Quraan cannot get the Hadd Punishment. e.g. if for the crime of Adultery, there are no 4 witnesses, then the Islamic Punishment of 'Sangsaar' cannot be awarded to the criminal. In such a case, if other kinds of Circumstantial Evidences e.g. 1,2,3 witnesses, DNA tests etc, are present, then the judge can award other kinds of lesser punishments, as he deems fit. The law for this lesser punishment is known as 'Tazeer' and the law for the Islamic Punishment is known as 'Hadd'.

History of Women Protection Bill
It would be prudent to mention the history of the propoganda mechanism employed before the passing of this bill. About 4-5 months back, GEO News (a local news channel), started a massive campaign. Putting up sign boards and dedicating precious air time in challenging and asking people to think whether Hudood Ordinance can be changed or not. On their website the comments (edited I am sure) of various Islamic Scholars were present. Most of the credentials of the 'Islamic Scholars' were dubious but those Scholars who were renowned for their knowledge and not-for-sale personalities, were of the opinion that only those portions of Hudood Ordinance can be changed which were created by man i.e. Tazeer.

Various talk shows were arranged in which Islamic and not so Islamic scholars were invited to comment on these laws and somehow the one single purpose of the whole show was to make the renowned and conventional scholars to just say that the Hadd laws can be changed. Needless to say no recognized Aalim or Islamic Scholar agreed to changing of Hadd laws. And if for sake of argument someone accepted as well, then it can be assumed that he went against the Quran and Sunnah and therefore the dubiousness of such a scholar can be ascertained.

After some time a bill was prepared and submitted in the parliament by Chaudary Shujaat Hussain. The writers of this bill are not known till today. The religious alliance (MMA) rejected the bill immediately, since it was making some very crucial changes in the Hadd punishments and hence was against the Quraan and Sunnah. The ruling party, PML (Q) could not think of passing the bill since the ruling coalition required votes. The help came from another secular party PPP, which once was the sworn enemy of Musharraf, but lately have become the apple of his eyes.

The media projected this event as the Mullah going against the Protection of Women and started a massive hate campaign against them. The headlines of Daily Dawn were shocking to say the least. The news items presented in Dawn contained sledging journalism rather than objective journalism. People were confused since the media completely blacked out the clauses which the religious alliance was shouting against. Nobody knew the contents of the 'Women Protection Bill' either. Hence the General Public did not know the clauses of the bill which were under argument.

People in the ruling PML(Q) who had an iota of faith inside them, agreed to consult the non-political Ulema. The names of two, based on their unbiasedness and knowledge were suggested and agreed upon immediately (by all concerned parties, except for PPP). The two were Mufti Muneeb Ur Rahman and Mufti Taqi Usmani. The latter being a retired judge is quite experienced in Pakistani Law as well.

The two studied the major clauses of the bill and presented some changes in the Bill. It was agreed by all concerned parties that these clauses will be incorporated in the bill. The signatories, besides the Ulema, included Chaudary Pervaiz Elahi and Chaudary Shujaat Hussain and some key members of MMA.

The two Ulema also noted that the Bill even after the changes will be useless and it does not do anything to guarantee protection of Women against crimes which are prevalent in the rural areas of Pakistan. The lands of land lords from Punjab and Sindh.

Therefore the Ulema recommended some more areas to be covered. e.g. Marraige of Women to Holy Quraan should be banned. Karo Kari should be banned etc.

All was settled. But it seemed that the 'Moderate' president of Pakistan was against any changes in the bill. Why ? No one knows. PML(Q) probably fearing losing Musharraf's vote of confidence and PPP wanting to gain his confidence formed an alliance to gaurantee the passge of the bill. The Ulema asked for appointment from the President to tell him of the gravity of going against the commandments of Allah, but they were not given time.

Eventually the bill without the recommendations of the Ulema was forced on the parliament. The 'Moderate' president of Pakistan asked all 'Moderate' and 'Enlightened' forces of Pakistan to unite and ensure that this bill is passed.

The bill was passed through a majority vote. In doing so, the parliament went against the constitution of Pakistan. And brought a useless law into place which didn't guarantee anything for the women.

Clauses Against Quraan and Sunnah.

I would like to present some of the clauses which are against the Quran and sunnah.

1. A person who has committed Zina Bil Jabr (rape) cannot be awarded the Islamic Punishment of 'Sangsaar' or 70 lashes even when the complainant has brought 4 witnesses with him/her.

2. Islamic law does not allow changing of Hadd Punishment, once awarded, even by the Prophet (peace be upon him). But now Hadd punishments can be over ruled by the Provincial Governments.

Some links are presented below, where one can go and find the details of the clauses which violate the Quraan and Sunnah.

Interview of Mufti Taqi Usmani Saheb on the topic of Women Protection Bill
http://www.darsequran.com/scholarsbayaan/taqi-interview.php

Detailed Article of Mufti Taqi Usmani Saheb
http://www.darsequran.com/articles/urdu/muntakhab_htmls/hudood-taqi.php

Conclusion
It can be easily ascertained that since the 'Women Protection Law' does not cover some of the gross inadequacies which are being committed against women in the interiors of Punjab and Sindh, not by Mullahs and Ulema but by Land Lords who maintain their strangle-hold on Pakistan, therefore it has nothing to do with 'Women Protection' and has been presented for some other hedious reasons, amongst which can be, distribution of combined opposition, fight against Hudood Ordinance, bowing to the whimps of Europe and America.

The forces which are announcing their loyalties to 'Moderate', 'Enlightened' and 'Sub Say Pehlay Pakistan' camp are forces which are prepared to go against Quran and Sunnah. These camps have been created by President Musharraf and wants people to forget about religion or keep religion as a personal rather than a collective agenda.

These forces, by using Negative Propoganda and For Sale Media and Journalists, are leaving no stone unturned to malign Islamic Principles, Islamic Law and Islamic Scholars.

These are very hard times for all of us. Already news of people getting fired from Air Force, PIA and other government runned institutions because of having beards.

It is required for all of us to unite on Quraan and Sunnah. Make every effort to understand it from people who have knowledge of Quraan and Sunnah. And protect our Imaan, since these forces will do everything to take our Imaan and Jazba from us.

Meanwhile a committee of Non-Political Islamic Scholars have been formed by the name of 'Tahaffuz-e-Hudood Allah' committee.

May Allah protect us all from such a propoganda. Who knows what this has in store for us in the future.