The Red Dress

Hello, and AsSalam.

It is quite interesting story.

Greetings from Atlanta.

Ashraf Gohar Goreja

Dear Aamir - I thank you for your kind wishes - I am quite happy I assure you - pls dont let etc etc etc cloud your mind on my account !!

Aamir - Well hullo ! Down the wrong track again i see.

I was talking about the protagonist here. But then I guess some people dont read teh story teh author has painstakingly written and just jump in with halfbaked ideas. Typical !!

PLS STOP READING BETW MY LINES AND READ THE STORY !! How have you managed real life ??! I don on my pessimistic hat only when it comes to your posts : )

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Getting back to the story - loneliness does give you strange ideas and make you do strange things!! Why is it that women lose priorities once they get married. Men never stop doing what they do - but women start cucooning (??) tehmselves - and then when it is too late - find htemselves up the creek w/o a paddle! well much food for thought!!

Reply Deepika # 74

Apr-7-02 0:19:2 EST Reply #: 73

Lajwanti-------Reply Samina

This Indus Inquirer is worse than National Inquirer”

Ia mover you!!! I needyo u like zebra needing bicycle, or even motorbike! OK? TATA! I will survive!!! Soolaymaaneee!

Helloooooooooooo Lallookheti! Areyou ready to rocking and roll??

Reply Samina

See behain, Deepika is very bad. I a mreading following story which is explain everythung:

Inner Beauty Overrated, Survey of Indian Men Reveals

Chaitanya Sabharwal , Special to the Sulekha Indus Inquirer

New Delhi, Apr 6, 2002 A 788-person survey of Indian men on the issue of sexuality, simultaneously conducted in three countries, revealed a distinct preference for physical beauty, sexual charm and just plain lip-smacking ooomph in women to more metaphysical traits such as honesty, spirituality, integrity and general inner beauty. 748 out of the 788 men who responded said looks are definitely more important than rectitude. ``What are you going to do with inner beauty yaar, take it to a nightclub and a movie?`` asked Suresh Uppal (Hyderabad), summarizing the near universal wonderment about the practical utility of `goodness` as compared to, in the words of another respondent Upendra Banerjee (Nainital), `the hubba hubba factor`.

Thirty eight respondents, all from Microsoft, Infosys, Satyam, GE, Oracle, IBM and Wipro from the city of Bangalore (a city that offers countless hedonistic pleasures but is filled with largely harmless software types who pack curd rice for work and don`t know what to do with a loose evening) couldn`t understand the meaning of sexual charm; one of them asked if it was a new line of firewall software and another wanted to check with his father before answering the survey.

Bal Thackeray, the other respondent who voted no, railed against polls as a Western contrivance that had no place in a traditional Hindu society like India. He spoke vehemently that seeking public opinion is detrimental for the society and popular mandate should have no place in governance of India. He asserted, ``India should be led strictly by Hindu scriptures, especially the great 3000-year old works of Manu and his party men.`` He proceeded to smash the microphone on the survey-holder`s head before resuming to write an op-ed piece for Saamna; it is rumored that he writes the whole magazine himself under various pen names but that is, you will also agree, beside the point.

The last respondent to vote was India`s prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who answered using his trademark poetic wit that, to be really frank with you, eluded this hapless reporter. When posed the question by the Sulekha Indus Inquirer (http://www.indusinquirer.com), he answered with this couplet from Faiz Ahmed Faiz:

phir koi aaya, dil-e-zaar! nahiin, koi nahiin.

raahrau hoga, kahiin aur chalaa jaaega.

Is someone there, oh weeping heart? No, no one there.

Perhaps a traveler, but he will be on his way.

Ms Manisha Koirala, a leading Bollywood actress (whose picture we have included for your convenience so you know who we are referring to), did not comment on this issue because, in her words, `thinking about such things makes my head hurt`. Since nobody wants to see such a pretty head hurt, the Sulekha Indus Inquirer (http://www.indusinquirer.com) left it at that.

However, University of Delhi sociologist Ms Mahima Chatterjee found these poll findings are in keeping with similar polls done elsewhere in the world. Ms Chatterjee, smiling gently through her benevolent glasses, concluded, ``All these polls done around the world point to one indisputable fact: men are unemotional, lascivious dogs.`` This preference of men, she says, contrasts sharply with that of women who do not place such emphasis on sex and high performance. ``They are more evolved from the baser pleasures. They care more about things like the color of wall painting, whether the kitchen utensil set is complete, if the pillows are appropriately fluffed and blankets folded properly. You know the more profound stuff,`` she said, extending her gentle smile.

Summing up the survey, one of the more thoughtful respondents Imtiaz Khan (London) concluded, ``Inner beauty is revealed and cherished over time as all passion subsides. It takes its time. Like Shakespeare said, `I know a passion still more deeply charming than what fevered youth ever felt; And that is love by long experience mellowed into friendship. (Source: Sulekha Quikbites)`` Like, how long? ``Oh after you are about 80, 85 years old. Overall, this inner beauty thing is seriously overvalued for most of life.``

This desire for external appeal is uniform across the country: 95% of Bengali men said they can go without sweets for a year if they can get hitched to a sexy siren for a wife; 92% of Tamilian men are willing to spend a summer without sambhar for their dream girl; but a smaller 62% of Andhra men said they might consider going easy on dowry (but unwilling to abstain from consuming pickles) if the girl is in the class of a Bipasha Basu or Angelina Jolie (picture included for your reference).

But do men who look for beautiful girls also think they themselves should look handsome and ooze loads of charm and sex appeal? Answered Mr Nayan Gupta (Chicago), a 30-year old engineer (originally from the great state of Punjab) with an interesting mustache, oily hair and a belly that is growing somewhat defiantly, ``Why I look good? I am man. Also, I am NRI (sic).

Reply Deepika #70

You ar MARRIED?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOuh ave twayed withm yaffction! yous houldapolgise IMMEDITELY!

Youa re shamless. Whyy ou did thit? WHY????

Whya lsoyou writing nasty thing? First youd onot tellingturth, and then y ouaremakkingup very bad storya boutme.

Why doy ou hateme? WHY????

Youa renot niceparson.

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Reply Samnasha #67

Deepika,

I heard different, yar. I heard that you first spotted bechari Laju while she was at the Spice But Not Too Much Spice Cafe while she was trying to decide between the Kalakand Delight and Burfi Banana Bonanza. You kept trying to catch her eye, but she was ignoring you being absorbed by far more important matters. You even spilled your Tutti Fruiti Sherbet on the floor in front of her to get her attention, but it was a no go....she got and imperiously gathered her burqa around her and stepped over your mess...

So now you try to make up stories (cliched as well!) bother her online? You will never be as brilliant as she is....meet your Roxanne...

See laju, as Michael sings, you are not alone....



thak you behain. I am hglad somebody understand.

Blass you.

AAmir #64 You are indeed a great mahatama. A deity in fact that appears in different forms. Please dont do jinnah though, or else ylh will jump to his feet and start singing the pakistani national anthem and then you`ll be sorry!!

Deepika,

I heard different, yar. I heard that you first spotted bechari Laju while she was at the Spice But Not Too Much Spice Cafe while she was trying to decide between the Kalakand Delight and Burfi Banana Bonanza. You kept trying to catch her eye, but she was ignoring you being absorbed by far more important matters. You even spilled your Tutti Fruiti Sherbet on the floor in front of her to get her attention, but it was a no go....she got and imperiously gathered her burqa around her and stepped over your mess...

So now you try to make up stories (cliched as well!) bother her online? You will never be as brilliant as she is....meet your Roxanne...

See laju, as Michael sings, you are not alone....

Reply Lajwantii # 58

“PLzz drik some SHATTAP juice ..ok? me freD? ok? “

Whyy ou are so rude, behain? You should b ekinda nd guntle, no? Thenon ly wil peple see yournice nature, inner beauty vaghairah. Iwa nt peopleto onlythunk nice thoughta aobut Lajwanti(i)s – ok?

Don ot angry, I am fried, I am giwing sypathyonly. Not nastythought or vulgrityb ad hygeine impure think. Seehow nice, no?

Ok, tata.

Reply Deepka #61

Dukhi Ram #50 I get it, AAmir & Co.! You change your nick to reflect the mood!! So after Gujrat, you become Dukhi Ram. When Afgahnistan has it`s first real elections soon, you will become Khushal Khan Afghan. With Palestinians having half the Israeli army on their tails, you will become Dukhi Fatimah. You clever, clever man!!

urstruly #57 (yawn) please refer to my posts of a couple of weeks ago to you on the board below this one (the ones regarding name-calling being no substitute for reasoned argument). My saying ``somewhat right`` in one post and then immediately following it up with a stronger term ``wrong``, does not weaken my point by any means.

PS: In case you chose to respond to this post, please refer to the above-mentioned set of posts from me and consider them to be my response. So Bye Bye until the next time that you unable to control your urge to write something stupid on chowk...

lajjobhai

plis minding own bznizz..also 20, naat 16, okayy?

Anny beHen,

Waht this father- dghter rellation?? haiN??/ Its Amrecan culture. Plzz dont see movezz like AMRECAN BEUTY...Givez bad name to Izlam ..ok?

aap he bata sakteein hai ..kya yeh theek haii?haiN?

PLzz drik some SHATTAP juice ..ok? me freD? ok?

Mr. Butthead321

``On my post below, even the first part as you state it is wrong.``

``You got this part somewhat right (I had a relative who was present at that dramatic meeting in Murree).``

I think you gotta make up your mind, as to what you want to say....but I am not surprised as I see tens of splitheads everyday at chowk.

Yours truly,
Beavis.

progressive #42 given the backwardness of the most fervent muslim proselytizers, and given the arrogance and hatreds prevalent among many Arabs in particular, it would be a great pity if we were to have any more converts to the ``islam`` as these people understand it.

There has no doubt been a run on books on Islam, but these are mostly books written by five or six western scholars and two or three Pakistani writers. Not the garbage written by people like Sahih Bukhari that these people treat as their sacred book. And no doubt these best-selling books correctly point to the overall beauty of the true Islam - it`s emphasis on peace, honesty, simplicity, and so on. This is true Islam, not the Islam that these Islamist Chauvinists understand. If they were not chauvinists, and true muslims, they would realize that muslims are not a ``chosen people``, there are no chosen people, and that Islam calls for respect to all faiths, and that you can be a muslim and go to hell and be a non-muslim and go to heaven.

These are foreign concepts of those ``brothers`` who run around congratulating themselves on what they think is the spread of Islam. The fact is that most people in the world associate islam with terrorism, and where there is smoke there is fire. Let these Islamists first convert to civilized human beings, and then they can start preaching to others.

Ras Siddiqui #63 Interesting account by Asghar Khan and it provides some new information on Zia`s primer on ``How to bootlick bosses and bootkick ex-bosses, journalists, and others``. He omits Zia`s brutal crackdown on the palestinians in Jordan (where he was heading a tank brigade for the King) in the late 1970`s, and which was remembered ever since by the palestinians as ``Black September``.

urstruly #44 On my post below, even the first part as you state it is wrong. Bhutto did not go ``berserk``, although he did give Zia a piece of his mind. While I have no love for either Bhutto or Zia, and consider them to have done more damage to Pakistan than all external forces put together, rest assured they were both grown up men, not half-brained idiots of the kind one sometimes finds on chowk...

urstruly #44 you write: ``A relative in army once told me that in Murree Bhutto actually went breserk; according to his words ``Bhutto nay tay odhi (Zia`s) maaN behan ik kar ditti``.`` You got this part somewhat right (I had a relative who was present at that dramatic meeting in Murree). Bhutto, arrogant and defiant till the end. When told of the gallows being prepared for him, he told his jailors that he wanted not one but 8 gallows to be set up, since he planned to hang not one but 8 generals. His definance no doubt left Zia withh little choice (even he had wanted to exercise it) but to carry out the execution.

Being you, you had to continue and add bs: ``Zia in return took off his belt and beat the living daylights out of Bhutto. `` This is a figment of your imagination - Zia was far more subtle than that, and was always self-effacing with others and at times even diffident (he would for example almost invariably flatter people by graciously showing them to the door - even after he had gently informed them that he had a file of charges prepared on them, and unless they started behaving he would use that file to put them away.).

{{When the Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses of the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears and converted to Islam. }}

hehe...and then the spaceship landed, and transported them all to heaven...

lajjobhai

plis minding own bznizz..also 20, naat 16, okayy?

Since this is a board of Zafar from India ,story of love & romance like that of Manju & riyaz qureshi

THE ONE CURE FOR COMMUNALISM,SECTERIANISM & PROVENCIALISM WAS TOUTED INTER COMMUNAL MARRIAGES .AMONG THE INDIANS INTERRASCIAL MARRIAGE IS THE HIGHEST BOTH LINGUAL AS WELL AS RELIGOUS.WHILE THAT WOULD WORK FOR INDIAN IDENTITY DEVOID OF HYPHENATED INDIAN UNLIKE MOSTYTY OF AMERICANS WHO ATLEAST HAS ONE MORE IDENTITY IRISH,JEWISH,INDIAN,OR ARAB BESIDES .

WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE ARE THE RSS,BAJRANGI ,BJP.VHP.RSS SENDING PURITY OF HINDUTVA RACE ,ZIONISM,MUSLIMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN TARGETTED AS JEWS WERE IN 30-40 OF EUROPE.NOT ONLY THERE LIVES ARE DISPOSABLE BUSINESSES ARE THREATENING OF TIGHTENING NOOSE OF ECONOMIC THROTTLING AROUND THERE VERY LIFE BLOOD & AIR.



Meanwhile, 5 are charred alive and one is hacked





Joydeep Ray







Ahmedabad, April 3: Away from the shamianas and the red carpets, Gujarat prepared a bloody welcome for the Prime Minister, who arrives here tomorrow. Late last night, five members of a Muslim family were burnt to death at Abasana village, 70 km from here. And this evening, in broad daylight and in the heart of this city,

34-year-old Muhammad Riyaz Qureshi was hacked to

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

death, apparently because he’s married to aHindu.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Today’s attack took place in Shahpur Darwaza, opposite the Shahpur police post. There’s a heavy police deployment in the area but the policemen saw nothing, heard nothing and did nothing.

Riyaz, who’d married Manju a year ago with both families’ consent, was returning home around 4.35 pm when he was intercepted by 15-odd people. ‘‘One of them beat him up with a stick and the others stood, watching. Two others then hit him with large stones and later hacked him to death,’’ Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone-II, K C Patel said.

Later, they sprinkled petrol and kerosene on the body and set fire to it.

Officers of the Madhavpura police station — which this area falls - are yet to confirm the reason behind the killing but a senior official said Riyaz was killed because of his marriage. None of them, however, could explain how such an incident could take place in a busy, well-patrolled area.

Perhaps Riyaz should have heeded the warning when his small house in the nearby Ramlal ni Khada area was ransacked and damaged on February 28. He had then managed to flee the mob, but there was no escape this time as his assailants — all apparently locals — seemed to have laid their plans with chilling accuracy.

Police officials ruled out the involvement of any of Manju’s family members. Manju’s uncle, Deepak Waghri of Amthaji Ni Chali where Manju lived before her wedding, said, ‘‘There was no objection from our side to their marriage.

Initially we were not in favour of the relationship but then we came round.’’ If Riyaz had a waarning, the victims of last night’s carnage were caught totally unawares: their village was long considered an oasis of communal harmony, safe enough for the four Muslim families to live in. The attack, locals, say, was carried out by people from other villages.

If there’s any silver lining to the tragedy, it’s the scene at the village on Wednesday morning. Raveenabanu Ghanchi, whose husband Salimbhai was killed, has sought shelter at the house of the village’s Hindu sarpanch and is surrounded by his family.

``Don’t tell her about Salimbhai’s death, she thinks he was injured and is now in hospital in Ahmedabad. She was rescued by us from a temple, close to their burnt house and since then she has been staying with us’’, said sarpanch Madharsinh Solanki. His eyes were full of tears, his family and other villagers wore white as a sign of mourning.

‘‘We never thought of such an incident in our village even though we were getting news of torture on Muslims in some neighbouring villages. They were all so well protected despite the rising communal tension in the state,`` said Solanki.

The attackers, he says, ‘‘had all come from other villages. The attack took place at night; some of us woke up smelling something burning but we couldn’t identify them.’’













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Okay, by now you have probably gotten the point. The letters with the Anthrax came from inside the United States.

The letters contained a specific type of weaponized Anthrax made by a United States military lab which had been claiming for a lot of years that it wasn`t doing that sort of thing any more. ``What? Oh, you mean THAT Anthrax over there! Sheesh, we thought you said `Pamflax` and shuckies but we quit making that stuff a long time ago. Honest. Really. If we`re lying may God strike us... a glancing blow.``

(Ahem)

The pattern of the mailings of the Anthrax letters was also suspicious. Congress got their Anthrax letters just in time for the vote on the disingenuously named USA Patriot Act (aka the anti-terror bill) which the terrorized Senators voted into law without bothering to read. How convenient for the bill`s sponsors that there was a terror attack on the Congress just when Congress was about to vote on the anti-terror bill. Eerie timing, isn`t it?

So now, knowing that the Anthrax letters came from an American source, take another look at the actual letters.

There are several indications of deliberate deception in these items. The first is the quite obvious way the addresses are written at a slight slant, oddly enough matching the look of the posters and flyers at the Post Office warning all America to ``watch out for these``. While the letters to Congress are intended to appear to be from fourth graders, the letters to the New York Post and Tom Brokow have no need for such an artifice. Dates written by Middle Easterners begin with the day first, then the month, then the year. The above letters follow the American convention for the dates shown.

One of the letters is a photocopy of another. Most places which have copiers have typewriters or word processors, appliances whose operation is no mystery to the sort of people who go in and out of government laboratories.

In short, the entire look of the letters is a contrived fake, creating what they thought a letter from a third world middle eastern terrorist would look like, so that the phrases ``Death to Israel``, and ``Allah is Great`` (a real Muslin says either ``Allah Achbar`` or ``God is Great``) would point the finger of blame for the Anthrax at the middle eastern Arabs.

Except that we know for a fact that the Anthrax didn`t come from the Middle East. It isn`t Saddam`s or Osama`s, it`s the very best high quality mil-spec Anthrax home grown at Fort Detrick, Dugway, and USAMRIID.

It`s our Anthrax.

And that means that all the slanted writing, the extra crossings on the ``T``s, the references to Allah and Israel are a carefully crafted hoax, designed to trick Americans into thinking that Arab Muslims from the middle east were to blame for the Anthrax letters.

The above letters are not evidence of a terrorist attack but of a deception against the people of the United States; a deliberate frame-up of middle eastern Arabs perpetrated by the same party who owns the Anthrax.

That a plan exists to frame Arab Muslims for the crimes of another party is now a proven fact.

Reply Godot # 39

Whoever wrote this post was stoned out of his/her mind. But it`s funny!!!”

Godot Saheb, it is nainsafee to saym y pain and humliation is cause by illegal drug,wine orother haram item like pork etc.. Ok? You shlud not laughing at me, Ia malso human like your only – flash and blod, justlake mans!. Why ID o not also desarve s y p a t h y? It is als omeaning something to me, not bjeust youall. Ok? Yous hod do rightby me. INVER EAT PORK!!!!

AnNy also is laugh, buta t leastshe is not accuse meof dirty habits unIslamic behaviours or other gundah cheez. Thak you behain. Iam glud you belief my innocent.

Plz brelief me. And tall me, a mIrightor wong? DoI nothave HUQ to replying when somebowdy toy wath my affaction, and thenwrite nasty things about me on chowk? (I’t’s NOT TRUE!!!! Howcan I convancing? I NEVER DIDT HESE THIGS!!! Iam stull pur!)

My heartis wery heave.Chowk stuff, whyy ou are latting them parscutting me? I am wushing for understood. And nobdy halping. Why?

Lajwanti

Re: Lajwantii, #41

``Writting lettts to 16 yr olds.``

If I were that way, I am not stupid enough to ``write letters`` in a public forum, Lajwantii. Sure, you`re smart enough to know that. Humbert Humbert I am not. And it`s not me that I care about that bothers me.

Ras #43
Just for the sake of understanding history, did the Nawab Ahmad Khan murder case against Bhutto have any merit?

zafar...since you have not shown up here yet i do not know if you`d mind if i use this thread...ofcourse chowk has not provided us a relevant board for this either...t

...a letter a friend forwarded from ramallah...it is self explanatory...

_________________________________________________

UNDER SIEGE IN RAMALLAH... WHAT WE NEED

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah


Dear All:

I am the director of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah (Http://www.sakakini.org). As I am under siege at home, i am sending out this email to journalist friends, & others, to ask to please get
our message out & disseminated further.

I hope this message will not become morbid fodder for chain emails to draw pity, or prayers, or donations, but rather actions. We are doing our bit by resisting & or standing steadfast, & ask the world to please do its bit in the name of our common humanity, each according to his her/own capacity. We do not want to become the red indians of the Arab world, but simply want to live free, in peace & dignity on this land.

I will start by a few paragraphs` overview of the situation ``live`` as i see it, & follow it with 9 suggestions of what we would please like to see happen in the media & elsewhere in the outside world.

Firstly tonight -Sunday- we have heard numerous reports of 30 Palestinian policemen executed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers in a building where they sought refuge on Irssal street in Ramallah. This was after 5 Palestinian officers were executed by being shot to the head & then had their corpses thrown on the pavement for hours on Friday. Ambulances are prevented from reaching their destinations & 2
hospitals have either been broken into (Arabcare) or shot at (Nazer Maternity Hospital). If this continues, it will be another Chechnya or Sarajevo in the making.

Personally, I have been shut at home since Friday morning, like all the tens of thousands of inhabitants of Ramallah & El-Bireh, & no prospect of an end soon. We did not have electricity for one day, but thank
God it got reestablished today Sunday.

One of the employees of the Sakakini Center had the Israeli army burst into his village (Kobar) yesterday, destroy belongings & arrest his younger brother, alongside 30 other young men from the village.

The cleaning lady of the Center lives in a house with an outhouse for toilets. For 3 days the Israelis have been posted by the door to her house & preventing all exit. When the eldest today sneaked out to the
outhouse, the Israelis caught him & beat him. His school teacher father tried to intervene, the Israelis beat him & arrested him.

One of the board members of our center was arrested with all the employees of the office building where he was working late Thursday night. They were all blindfolded & had their hands tied & placed in one
room for 16 hours. The Israelis destroyed some office furniture & stole hard drives from computers. They all untied themselves once they realized the Israelis had gone on to bigger prey..

My brother in law & his wife & their 3 under-10 year old kids are without phone & electricity since Friday & cannot go live w/ someone else as they would be shot at.

My next door neighbor`s 70+ year old father lives near Yasser Arafat`s office. The Israelis broke into his home Friday, broke everything w/ the butt of their rifles (TV, sinks, furniture, etc.. ) & then stole
some money.

There are reports also of Israeli soldiers breaking into banks & change offices & jewelery stores & stealing money & jewelry.

In El Bireh, they arrested Saturday 150 young men between 16-45 years of age after calling out for men of this age bracket to get out, they are grouping them in Ramallah`s Old City.

The only local private TV station in town that used to air hourly news & advice (Watan TV) has been seized by the Israelis on Friday, & they are now airing pornographic films. Journalists have been ordered
out of Ramallah today Sunday.

All neighborhoods are abuzz with talk of who is next in Israeli home incursions. As for me & many others, there is the human instinct of crying out for help when in danger.

What we have done: With our means we have made phone calls to appeal for help & pressure on the international community to a number of high level officials in a number of neigboring countries, as well as sent appeals to the media like this one.

Below are 9 modest &/or utopic suggestions & requests:

1- This is a long siege please keep the pressure to have our story told & appeals for action continuous.
2- The Centre`s admin.& finance director, Ms. Manal Issa has collected about 10 testimonies by children around her describing conditions under siege as well as drawings she has scanned. These testimonies in
Arabic can be obtained directly from her at: issamanal@yahoo.com. I will translate them tomorrow to englsih & have them available. I am also asking that anybody who gets this email directly or forwarded, ask us for copies of these testimonies to have them published as widely as possible.
3- Please ask for pressure on the international community & decision makers to lift the siege on us. We need tens & hundreds of letters daily to: president@whitehouse.gov & vice.president@white house.gov
4- If you do not want that, please write mainstream news organizations in the US about the siege.
5- We need daily demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies.
6- We need appeals from Arab artists to western European artists for concerts/demonstrations/appeals to decision makers to lift the siege.
7- We need action by Western/European artists for events to ask for the siege to be lifted on us.
8- If you work for a publication, please keep a section for daily news or weekly news from the siege, interviews with witnesses to repression/the siege, children`s testimonies, & information from hospitals.
9-The disastrous health picture can be obtained by calling the Ramallah Hospital & talking to its director Dr. Atari or to the Deputy minister of health who is stationed there Dr. Munther Sharif (972 2 2298 2220).
10- Please give us your suggestions for action & for what you need from us to better help us.

Thank you to the Muharraq Club, Bahrein TV, & Dubai`s Nadwat al Thaqafa for hearing us already..

Thank you all & we all look forward to hearing from you soon,

Adila Laidi.

Ras

``Bhutto, however, saw this as a treacherous act of one who owed everything to him. He did not mince his words when he saw Zia-ul-Haq in Murree on July 15 and subsequently on a number of occasions spoke of revenge.``

A relative in army once told me that in Murree Bhutto actually went breserk; according to his words ``Bhutto nay tay odhi (Zia`s) maaN behan ik kar ditti``. Zia in return took off his belt and beat the living daylights out of Bhutto.

From Dawn April 4, 2002


The hanging of Bhutto

By Mohammad Asghar Khan


It will be 23 years on April 4,2002, since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged after a trial of doubtful judicial propriety. It would be well to examine the circumstances that led to this tragic event that is likely to haunt Pakistani politics for a long time.

Bhutto selected General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq for the post of Chief of the Army Staff when General Tikka Khan had completed his term of duty in this appointment on March 1, 1976. On assuming this post, Zia-ul-Haq superseded a number of officers senior to him in service. He attracted Bhutto`s attention when as a Divisional Commander, he invited him to various functions. He was lavish in his praise of the prime minister and at one of these functions presented him a sword in recognition of his services to the country and its armed forces.

It was as a result of his persuasion that Bhutto agreed to be the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corps, an honour normally bestowed on senior army officers of general`s rank. I gather that he had even tried to persuade him to don the uniform of the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corps, which he wanted Bhutto to wear at a military parade.

Zia-ul-Haq was selected to preside at a General Court Martial convened at Attock in 1973 to try a number of officers charged with a conspiracy to overthrow Bhutto`s government. In view of the nature of the trial, the prime minister kept himself informed about its progress and, therefore, with Zia-ul-Haq`s conduct of the proceedings. What he saw of Zia-ul-Haq during this lengthy trial confirmed him in his opinion that he was a trustworthy officer.

After his appointment as Chief of the Army Staff, there was no occasion to doubt his reliability or to suspect any personal ambition on his part. The people`s movement against Bhutto`s government in the spring of 1977 was a test of his loyalty and he had no difficulty in passing the test. During his tour of army formations he told the officers and men that their job was not to question the validity or justification of an order but to obey blindly the commands of the government.

It is said that at one place while addressing an army unit which was on martial law duties and some of whose personnel had fired on an unruly crowd, he had said that they had fired 20 rounds of ammunition but there was only one body. Where, he had asked, were the remaining 19 bodies? At another place, he congratulated a young officer who had ordered firing on a youth. He promoted him on the spot. Later, two months before he staged his coup, he, along with the Chiefs of Staff of the other two services, issued an unusual statement, reaffirming their loyalty to Bhutto. This statement was given wide publicity.

On the evening of July 4, Bhutto held a meeting with his senior advisers at which Zia-ul-Haq was also present. The political situation was discussed and Bhutto told them that he would be resuming the dialogue with the PNA leaders the following day and intended resolving the deadlock. The possibility of an accord being reached between the government and the PNA was not to his liking and Zia-ul-Haq decided to act without delay to obviate that risk.

The plan for a coup which had been ready for some time was immediately put into action. The operation was a simple affair and was localized to the capital. The details had already been worked out by the Corps Commander at Rawalpindi, Lt-Gen Faiz Ali Chishti,and the whole operation was completed before dawn of July 5, 1977.

The public received the news with mixed feelings but by and large Zia-ul-Haq`s action, particularly because of his promise to hold elections within 90 days, was accepted by the majority of the people as having been justified in the circumstances. The public had not acclaimed his assumption of power but because of his promise to hold elections within a stipulated period, had accepted it as a reasonable step in the peculiar conditions that had been created.

Bhutto, however, saw this as a treacherous act of one who owed everything to him. He did not mince his words when he saw Zia-ul-Haq in Murree on July 15 and subsequently on a number of occasions spoke of revenge. The Constitution of 1973 had laid down death penalty for the kind of action that Zia-ul-Haq had taken and Bhutto had reminded him of that. Mindful of his personal safety and that of his close associates, Zia-ul-Haq was put on guard and decided that he would take no risks.

Bhutto`s show of strength at Lahore on August 8 led Zia-ul-Haq to feel that the PPP might well win the October `77 election and he did not relish the idea of handing over the government again to Bhutto. Even though Bhutto had assured him of forgiveness for the action that he had taken on July 5, he could not risk the possibility of such a thing happening and, therefore, decided not to take any chances.

After this, Bhutto and the PPP made a series of mistakes. Bhutto was certain to the end that he could not be hanged and a sentence of imprisonment did not worry him too much, because a person of his standing could not, he felt, be kept locked up for very long. He therefore, decided to adopt a posture of defiance and to make political capital out of the trial. The PPP leadership, not accustomed to a mass struggle, wrongly assessed the public mood and believed that people would rise to save their leader. They too were firmly of the view that no court could dare sentence him to death and even if it did, Zia-ul-Haq could not carry out the sentence.

By virtue of being the chairman of the Islamic summit, Bhutto wielded considerable influence in the Muslim world and had powerful friends amongst the richest Muslim heads of state. The Shah of Iran, the King of Saudi Arabia, Colonel Moammer Qadhafi of Libya and the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi were four of Pakistan`s important bankers and each one of them was on the best of personal terms with Bhutto. How could Zia-ul-Haq disregard their advice? Apart from these four aid-giving countries, Bhutto had good equations with the governments of the Soviet Union, China and all the important western countries. It was a formidable array of sovereigns, presidents and prime ministers and the PPP can be forgiven for making a massive miscalculation.

When the trial started in the Lahore High Court, Bhutto objected to the Chief Justice, Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain, being on the bench which was to try him, on the grounds that Mushtaq Hussain had been superseded twice under his orders and could not, therefore, be expected to be impartial. This objection was over-ruled and from then on Bhutto`s attitude towards the court was one of defiance and often of contempt. The case in the Lahore High Court lasted about seven months. The court held Bhutto guilty and sentenced him to death.

When Bhutto appealed to the Supreme Court against the verdict of the Lahore High Court, a bench of seven judges with the Chief Justice was set up. Justice Yaqub Ali had been replaced by Sheikh Anwar-ul-Haq as Chief Justice on September 23, 1977. This happened immediately following the admittance by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Yaqub Ali on September 20, of a writ field by Mrs Nusrat Bhutto, challenging Bhutto`s detention under martial law. The Supreme Court had agreed to hear the case and had ordered that Bhutto and a number of other PPP accused be brought to Sihala police rest house near Rawalpindi from Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore.

After Justice Yaqub Ali`s removal, Bhutto objected to the inclusion of the new Chief Justice, Sheikh Anwar-ul-Haq, as a member of the Bench on the grounds that by accepting the office of acting president during the absence of Zia-ul-Haq from the country, he had compromised his impartial status. Bhutto also stated that the Chief Justice in his public statements had been critical of his government in the recent past.

This objection was overruled and the trial started by a full bench of the Supreme Court comprising all the nine judges at Rawalpindi on May 20, 1978. Throughout the trial, Bhutto`s attitude was more cooperative than it had been at Lahore. He still appeared to believe that political considerations and pressure from foreign governments would save his life. At the same time, he hoped that the Supreme Court`s decision would be in his favour.

The trial ended in January, 1979 and by a majority decision of 4 against 3, the Supreme Court decided to uphold the judgment of the Lahore High Court. The judgment of the Supreme Court was made public on February 6, 1979. Bhutto was given a week to file a review petition, the final decision on which was made known on March 24, 1979 and the decision given earlier was confirmed. It was now up to Zia-ul-Haq to grant a reprieve. During the next few days a large number of mercy appeals were made to Zia-ul-Haq, amongst them many by foreign governments.

Zia-ul-Haq`s answer was made known to the people of Pakistan through the 11 a.m. radio news on April 4,1979, after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been buried at his ancestral graveyard at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana district. He had been hanged in Rawalpindi district prison early that morning. Thus ended a turbulent career. We are too close to the times in which Bhutto lived, to assess accurately the impact of his life and death on the future of Pakistan. It will be some time before a realistic assessment could be made.

Zia-ul-Haq`s decision to hang Bhutto, however, raises some important issues. On July 15, 1977, when asked by Mufti Mahmood whether he intended to try Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq had categorically stated that he had no intention of doing so. On September 3, 1977, however, Bhutto was arrested for complicity in Nawab Ahmad Khan`s murder. He was released on September 16, on bail granted by the Lahore High Court and re-arrested on September 17, on Zia-ul-Haq`s orders. In addition to the Nawab Ahmad Khan murder case, 25 other cases were prepared against him, material for which had been collected by the martial law authorities.

It appears that the decision to proceed against Bhutto was taken in the six weeks between July 15 and the end of August. Some of the happenings during this period which led Zia-ul-Haq to change his mind were: the reception that Bhutto received on arrival at Lahore in August; the advice of the junta whose members were not prepared to take the risk of Bhutto winning the election; the pleadings of some PNA leaders that Bhutto should be tried and the elections postponed; the provisions of the 1973 Constitution which laid down death penalty for the abrogation of the Constitution and finally Zia-ul-Haq`s inbred distrust of politicians.

These factors, besides the normal influence of unbridled power, the effects of which increased with every day that passed, led Zia-ul-Haq to decide on Bhutto`s trial and the postponement of the elections. The decision to hang him was the natural consequence of this background. What had happened between September, 1977 and April, 1979 strengthened Zia-ul-Haq`s resolve to remove from the scene the one man, who he knew, would not pardon him for what he had done on the early morning of July 5, 1977.

There is little doubt that Zia-ul-Haq`s decision was motivated by political considerations and was not the action of an impartial head of state. He was on record during the trial as having said that he would hang Bhutto and when one of the nine judges on the bench completed his tenure during the course of the trial, he was not given an extension to complete the hearing of undoubtedly the most important case of Pakistan`s judicial history. When the illness of another judge had reduced the Bench to 7 and a verdict of 4 in favour of upholding the Lahore High Court decision and 3 against was given, Zia-ul-Haq confirmed the sentence.

It could be argued that this action was justified on technical grounds. However, the ultimate penalty in a case when the death sentence had been upheld by so narrow a difference of view between the judges, after the Bench of nine had been reduced to seven, smacked of a biased mind rather than that of an impartial referee. Had the original Bench of nine judges been maintained, the verdict could well have been 5-4 in Bhutto`s favour. Moreover, when there was so much talk of bringing in Islamic laws, care was taken not to amend the Criminal Penal Code to allow the next of kin in a murder case, to forgive the accused on receipt of blood money if he chose to do so - an action which is permitted in Islam.

There is of course the larger issue of the right of a military dictator, who according to his own solemn undertaking, had assumed control for an interim period, pending the transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people, to hang an elected prime minister of the country. It was also odd that a Chief of the Army Staff , himself an Armoured Corps officer, should have hanged the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corp.

Moreover, it was unprecedented that in spite of the appeals of almost every head of state of a Muslim country, he should have hanged the current chairman of the Islamic Conference. There must obviously have been some overriding compulsion that led him to take this unprecedented step. It could only be his determination to hang on to power and to remove from his path any impediment, that could create difficulties for him or endanger his position in the future.

The writer is a former Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force.

A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11

Excerpts from ``Muslim American Leaders: A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11`` © Middle East Media & Research Institute

Muslim American reports in the Arab press indicate that Muslim proselytizing efforts have been unusually successful since the September 11 attacks. `Alaa Bayumi, Director of Arab Affairs at the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat that ``non-Muslim Americans are now interested in getting to know Islam. There are a number of signs...: Libraries have run out of books on Islam and the Middle East... English translations of the Koran head the American best-seller list... The Americans are showing increasing willingness to convert to Islam since September 11... Thousands of non-Muslim Americans have responded to invitations to visit mosques, resembling the waves of the sea [crashing on the shore] one after another... All this is happening in a political atmosphere that, at least verbally, encourages non-Muslim Americans` openness towards Muslims in America and in the Islamic world, as the American president has said many times in his speeches...``(1)

CAIR chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper `Ukaz that ``34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of September 11, and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S. since Islam arrived there.``(2)

According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston has recently become a center of Islamic proselytizing aimed at Christians. On September 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi sent a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, in which he described the unfolding of events since September 11: ``...From the first day, the media began to insinuate that Muslim Arab hands were behind this incident. At noon, the directors and administration of the Islamic Center of Boston held an emergency meeting, and I stayed on the line with them from my clinic. We decided to hold a blood drive, and we set up a committee to contact the Red Cross and organize it for us. We invited the media to cover the event...``

``All of us tried to grab onto every scrap of information that would indicate that Muslim Arab hands were not involved in the loathsome crime. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we tried to prove our humanity on the day we found ourselves attacked from all sides. Our hearts bled and our spokesman said that proselytizing in the name of Allah had been set back 50 years in the U.S. and in the entire world...``

``On Saturday, September 15, I went with my wife and children to the biggest church in Boston, [Trinity Church in] Copley Square, by official invitation of the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent Islam by special invitation of the senators of Boston. Present were the mayor of Boston, his wife, and the heads of the universities. There were more than 1,000 people there, with media coverage by one of Boston`s main television stations. We were received like ambassadors. I sat with my wife and children in the front row, next to the mayor`s wife. In his sermon, the priest defended Islam as a monotheistic religion, telling the audience that I represented the Islamic Society of Boston.``

``After the sermon was over, he stood at my side as I read an official statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning the incident [i.e. the attacks]. The statement explained Islam`s stance and principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koran verses translated into English... These were moments that I will never forget, because the entire church burst into tears upon hearing the passages of the words of Allah!!``

``Emotion swept over us. One said to me: `I do not understand the Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you said are the words of Allah.` As she left the church weeping, a woman put a piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was written: `Forgive us for our past and for our present. Keep proselytizing to us.` Another man stood at the entrance of the church, his eyes teary, and said, `You are just like us; no, you are better than us.``` (3)

``On Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society of Boston issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge, located between Harvard and MIT. We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam. All expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to understand its precepts.``

``Of all the questions, not a single one attacked me; on the contrary, we saw [the people`s] eyes filling with tears when they heard about Islam and its sublime principles. Many of them had never heard about Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam only through the biased media. That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting in the church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a delegation of 300 students and lecturers from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic Society of Boston, accompanied by the American Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts of Islam, and defended it from any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I again read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their] eyes filled with tears. The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center...``

``On Friday, September 21, the Muslims participated in a closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts. In the meeting, a discussion was held on introducing Islam into the school curriculum, to inform the [American] people and to fight racism against Muslims arising from the American people`s ignorance regarding the religion. With the governor`s support, measures to examine implementation of this goal were agreed upon...``

``These are only some of the examples of what happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and in many other American cities, during these days. Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write to you today with the absolute confidence that over the next few years, Islam will spread in America and in the entire world, Allah willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the past, because the entire world is asking, `What is Islam!`(4)

Fatihi`s reports of American Christians` crying upon hearing Koranic verses have an historical context. This type of narrative is about part of the ethos of Islamic proselytizing. It comes from the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad`s invitation to the Christian community of Najran, located in what is today North Yemen, to visit the mosque. When the Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses of the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears and converted to Islam.

Fatihi also published an article in the London daily Al-Hayat:

``...There are initial signs that the intensive campaign of education about Islam has begun to bear fruit. For example, the rate of converts to Islam since September 11 has doubled… There is solidarity with the Muslims on the part of many non-Muslims in American universities. For example, dozens of non-Muslim American women students at Wayne [State] University… have put on veils as a symbol of identification with the Muslim women students at the university and at the other universities of America.``

``One of the most important topics [in an NPR broadcast] was an interview with several young women at American universities who recently converted to Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston. They hold advanced degrees from universities in Boston, such as Harvard, and they spoke of the power and the greatness of Islam, of the elevated status of women in Islam, and of why they converted to Islam. The program was broadcast several times across the entire U.S...`` (5)

Godot sahih,

me very happy .. you also hppay..

What is wrong wit you ..haiN? Writting lettts to 16 yr olds.

Take it essy.Your fried.

Laaju

Urgent: Eyewitness Report From Ramallah

ZNet Top

Mideast Watch Home

by Tzaporah Ryter

April 02, 2002

MIDEAST WATCH



Ramallah, Occupied Palestine -- My name is Tzaporah Ryter. I am an American student from the University of Minnesota. I currently am in Ramallah. We are under a terrible siege and people are being massacred by both the Israeli army and armed militia groups of Israeli settlers. They are shooting outside at anything that moves.

I am urgently pleading for as much outside help as possible to help save lives here.

I arrived in Ramallah last Thursday. I had come back for a visit to the Palestinian city where I had been previously living and studying. On Thursday afternoon, the Israeli army began sealing off each entrance to Ramallah and there were rumors that they planned to invade.

People were rushing back home from across checkpoints and also people were trying to flee. People were not allowed to go out and many working people -- with homes and children to return to -- were not allowed in, everyone was trying to take cover. Those traveling in began desperately searching for alternative ways and traveling in groups, but the Israelis were firing upon them and everyone was running and screaming.

Women carrying their children were trying desperately to flee from Ramallah, carrying infants and toddlers, and their young children were running along in the rain through the fields, slipping and falling on the rocks, trying to reach safety. Israeli jeeps were speeding across the terrain pulling up from every direction and shooting at the women and children, and also at me, as we ran in opposite directions. They were chasing down people, hunting them like that in the fields.

When I reached Ramallah, people were panicking and trying to buy bread, rice and milk from corner stores, but most supplies were already gone. We bought what we could and went inside to wait for what was coming.

When night fell, Israeli tanks began to invade and also we saw Israeli troops coming on foot from the valley, and surrounding our house. I could hear them calling to each other in Hebrew. They were against our door and all around. They were firing everywhere a barrage of bullets and there was tank fire. We had to lay on the floor and keep silent. We stayed there, on the floor, for nearly four days in the darkness.

We knew that our circumstances were better than others because old people or infants or people with medical emergency needs had no help. It was very cold, with most families packed all in one room. Some people are without life sustaining medicines like insulin, and they are altering their doses dangerously if they have any medicine left to take. People are becoming dangerously sick from lack of food and water and heat. The fear and terror only makes things worse, but it cannot be avoided.

In the daytime, we heard them shooting people in the streets, and could hear them screaming and screaming. No ambulance was allowed through. Then their screams stopped and there was just silence.

We had a telephone and would receive calls from all over telling us what was happening. Everyone is in grave danger and Israeli soldiers were killing people everywhere. They are arresting medics and ambulance drivers, including foreign volunteer medical workers.

They keep taking doctors and medics, just now another call. Again, this time the wife of a doctor telling us her husband has been taken from the ambulance.

Large groups of people have been found in rooms, shot dead, there are blood marks where they have lined people up on their knees and shot them, with their ID cards laying on top of them. They are taking people from their homes, blindfolding them, removing their clothes, taking them away or lining them up and shooting them against the wall.

People are making phone calls and saying that these soldiers and militia have come in and are shooting people and then the line cuts off.

The numbers of these killings I fear are much greater than the numbers confirmed in the press, because the human rights offices and the media centers have been stormed, and everything is shut down. No one can move without almost certain chance of being shot by the Isreali snipers, who are everywhere.

The Israelis are demanding that all journalists leave Ramallah and today another foreign journalist was shot. They do not want any more internationals here and are deporting people. It seems quite clear that they do not want eyewitnesses which is only heightening my own fears.

The hospitals have also been surrounded and invaded and Israeli troops are taking the injured people and interrogating them. Today a woman, a patient, tried to walk out from hospital. The Israelis shot her in the neck and killed her.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health is saying that they fear the spread of diseases because of the number of unburied corpses.



The numbers are only growing in reports of the mass killings here and Israeli troops continue to round up people. People are calling frantically, missing a relative and we do not know where they have been taken, including children.

The numbers we have now exceed 600, and we are estimating between 700 and 800. All human rights groups and legal advocates are being denied any information of where the detained are being held. From what we know confirmed is that 10% of those taken so far have been children under age 18.

On the fourth day I decided to try to move. People were running out of supplies and I also was so worried about people, and had to check to see if they were okay. If I didn`t, I feared panic would overtake me so badly that I really had no other choice but to try and go.

It was not safe where I was in any case and at least if I left I would still have my sanity. It was really terrifying as there are some internationals here, usually traveling in groups, and the Israelis are saying on the radio that they will arrest or shoot the internationals. They did shoot some yesterday and regardless, it`s not as if snipers differentiate and they are everywhere.

My friends told me not to go, and were really scared for me, but I had to go. When I went outside, there were cars all shot up and hit by multiple bullets and shells in the middle of the road, unparked. There must have been people in them but I don’t know where their bodies are. There are no reports of them, but they must exist.

I got to the corner trying to go to the bakery for bread and food for people. Some people were calling and calling with only one cup of rice left. I made it to the corner but they opened fire on my first try, and shot at me, so I had to turn back.

After that I tried again and it took me one day to make it a block because I had to start over again and again. I had to climb through the valley, and as I passed house by house, people were warning me and pointing out what path seemed safest for these two minutes. In the next two minutes, it would be something different. They really helped to keep my path safe.

Today is Day Five and they are still rounding up people like this and we hear them shooting all day long.

This afternoon the Israelis suddenly lifted the curfew, suddenly announcing that everyone had two hours to go out to get food. However, the Israeli soldiers also took food from many of the stores, looted, and there is no bread or things. People went to get whatever they could.

Even though the Israeli army said it had lifted the closure for two hours -- in which we still were not able to transfer medical supplies and still was not long enough to everything that was badly needed -- the Israelis continued shooting people in the streets indiscriminately on their way, so people were running around trying to make it to the store or find a safe route only to have to run back home again. It was an added cruelty and terror tactic in this macabre situation, a sick joke: starve people and then shoot them when they try to find food with your permission.

In an apartment building in Beitunia neighborhood where I used to live, they took 60 people who were my neighbors, including several familes, and pushed them into one room since last night. The Israelis told them that they are to be used as ’Äúhuman shields’Äù, as the apartment building is across from a building that they were invading.

One child needs to go to the hospital since last night and, initially, the families were able to call outside. Now, the Israelis have taken their phones.

There are reports that they are rounding up men between the ages of 14 and 45 in that neighborhood, and these civilians, from these same Palestinian families trapped in that building, were just used to walk in front of an Israeli tank as it invaded the Preventative Security Compound.

Reports also have alleged that the Israelis were saying that some could leave but shot them when they attempted to leave. The buildings there are burning, and people are trapped inside.

We keep calling to try to find people but there has been no electricity and most people’Äôs phones are dead now. I do not know what is happening to many people. The only solution to this is to try to brave the deadly streets in order to check, but its almost impossible and terrifying to leave the house at all.

Each place I come to, I am afraid to leave not only for myself but for everyone else in this horrifying position. Israeli death squads have been yanking people into the street. I also hear only shooting and shooting, with no return fire. This suggest that unarmed civilians are being gunned down mercilessly everywhere and I am so scared for everyone. I feel like maybe if I leave one place, one area or neighborhood I will never see the people again alive.

There are more explosions outside now and more shooting. Another explosion. More firing, it just doesn’t stop.

This is a massacre. The foreign delegations tried to get in but were turned back, the International Committee of the Red Cross is trying to help but they are being ignored. Please help.

I am not only scared for myself and for people here, but if this cannot be stopped, I am truly scared for all of humanity, for a world in which we send men to the moon but cannot stop ethnic cleansing.

On the news in America, we see hardly anything of demonstrations. What are you doing over there?

There do not seem to be any reports of what is happening. In truth, its got to stop. Please go out to the streets, please demand a response from your representatives. Be loud, march up to the capitals, refuse to leave until the Israelis withdraw. Act now! Tell them the Israelis are murdering innocent people whose only crime is being born in their own homeland, a Palestinian under a military occupation.

Demand international protection for the Palestinian people, scream that this is an affront to humanity and that it is time that the US not only stop supporting Israel, but that the US stop its abuse of human rights within its own borders. This is about all of our struggles. For the love of God, please stop this slaughter. Please help.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Contacts



1. The New York Times

National Desk

Katie Roberts 212 556 7356 or Jim Roberts 212 556 7356 or Laurie

Goodstein 212 556 1854

Also, contact Bob Herbert 212-556 1952 (a columnist there) and the publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. 212 556 3588

2. Washington Post

Op-ed editor: Fred Hiatt 202 334 7281

Foreign Affairs:

Jim Hoagland 202 334 6899

Karen de Young 202 334 7468

National News:

Jackson Diehl 202 334 7467

Maralee Schwartz 202 334 6082

Editorial writer: Amy Schwartz 202 334 5138

3. San Francisco Chronicle

Managing Editor: Jerry Roberts 415 777 7124

Op Ed Editoror Lois Kazakoff 415 777 6054

Columnist: Jon Carroll 415 777 6249

National Editor: Jim Brewer 414 777 7103

Editorial Page Editor: John Diaz 777 7018

4. LA Times Executive Editor: Leo Wolinsky 213 237 3243

Managing Editor Dean Baquet 213 237 5100

National Editor: 214 237 7091

Foreign Policy Writer: Norman Kempster 202-861 9227

Editorial Page Editor: Janety Clayton 213 237 7931

5. Associated Press

Managing Editor Michael Silverman and National News Editor Ann Levin

are both at 212 621 1500

Religion writer (and sympathetic, but needs to be reminded): Julia

Lieblich 212 621 1659

News Features: Bruce De Silva 212 621 1830

6. Knight Ridder/Chicago Tribune News Service

Editor: Jane Scholz 202 383 6085

7. Newhouse News Service

National News Linda Fibich 202 383 7850

Values Reporter: Mark O`Keefe 202 383 7857



8.. Religion News Service Adelle Banks 202 383 7863



ELECTRONIC MEDIA

1. NPR

DANIEL SCHORR 202 414 2271

SENIOR FOREIGN EDITOR: LOREN JENKINS 202 414 2298

FOREIGN AFFIRS CORRESPONDENT TOM GEJLTEN 202 414 2288

POLITICAL EDITOR KEN RUDIN 202 414 2250

RELIGON: LYNN NEARY 202 414 2196

NATIONAL EDITOR: DAVID SWEENEY 202 414 2212

2. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

HOST: ROBERT SIEGEL 414 2110

DECISION MAKER: ELLEN WEISS, 202 414 2110

3. TALK OF THE NATION:

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: GREG ALLEN 202 414 2713

4. MORNING EDTIION

BOB EDWARDS 202 4154 2350

5. Here are some numbers to call:

ABC News - 212-456-4040

CBS News - 212-975-3691

NBC News - 212-664-4971

CNN - 404-827-1511

Fox News - 212-301-3300

MSNBC - 201-583-5222

PBS - 703-998-2150

NPR - 202-414-2200

NY Times - 212-556-1234

USA Today - 703-276-3400

WS Journal - 212-416-2000

Wash. Post - 202-334-6000

Time - 212-522-1212

U.S. News - 202-955-2000

AP 212-621-1600

MSNBC - 201-583-5000

CNBC - 201-585-2622

Call editorial page editors and ask them to contact the following people OR WHOMEVER:

1. Rabbi Michael Lerner. Email: RabbiLerner@tikkun.org. Phone: 415-575-1200

2. Israeli Peace Activist Uri Avnery. Email: uravnery@netvision.net.il

3. Rabbi Arthur Waskow. Email: Awaskow@aol.com. Phone: 215-844-8494

4. Cherie Brown. Email: Ncbiinc@aol.com. Phone: 202-785-9400

5. Rabbi Roly Matalon or Rabbi Marcello Bronstein. Phone: 212-787-7600

6. Professor Tanya Reinhart. Email: reinhart@post.tau.ac.il

7. Professor of Poli Sci Jerome Slater. Email: jnslater@acsu.buffalo.edu

8. Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. Email: reblynn@swcp.com

9. Professor of Poli Sci at Ben Gurion University David Newman. Email: newman@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

10. Professor of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University Adi Ophir. Email: adiophir@post.tau.ac.il

11. Professor Rebecca Stein. Email: rlstein@sscl.berkeley.edu

12. Allan Solomonow. Email: asolomonow@afsc.org

13. Rabbi Brian Walt. Email: brianwalt1@aol.com

14. Ella Shohat. Email: eshohat@gc.cuny.edu

hamidm #32 Agreed on the style. The write-up could benefit from liposuction: I still have not built up the courage to go back an actually read, rather than skim, through this story.

soundmeister #35: I did not say hamidm was wrong in attributing ``dark and stormy night`` phrase to Bulwer-Lytton (or whatver the name was). I said Zafar Anjum does not start with this phrase. hamidm #32 has since clarified that he meant the style was unoriginal, not the phrase.

As for people being too generous to new writers, why not? There is enough petty sniping on chowk as it is. The man made an effort to sit down and write something, did he not??

Re: Lajwanti, #36

Whoever wrote this post was stoned out of his/her mind. But it`s funny!!!

lajjobhai

u are a riot..im laughing so much as im typing this, its making my tummy hurt..total awesome

Reply Deepika # 33

“Wow. I don`t know what to say.”

Thisi is news? Really? So whyyo u are saying, haiN?

“ I thought everything was going great between us.”

Aap kabhee poochtay to maiN aap ko theek bata saktee. But NO, tupicall, all talkshal, magar listen lafz ka nam bhee naheeN suna. Andhtan complaning, baysharam. also forgetitng my bathday.

“I thought we really had something special going these past

six weeks.”

Six weeks? It felt like six YEARS…timeflie s when you ar having fun, no?

“ Apparently, I was wrong. It`s become

clear to me that all this time, you were just using

me for sex,”

I am DENYING!!!! Whyyou are tyring to spoil my goodname on chowk? Ali1, PLZ DOIN”T BELIEVE!!!!! I amswaring, ok? IAM NUT LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!! I am expaining everything.

“ friendship, and good conversation.”

HaaN, now you are trying tobe repactable, but TOOLATEW BUDY! You are soolaymanee keeda. Ok?

Ishould give sypathy, butia m too ongry, becz you are talling lying about me. I am respactble, ok! Nothatkin d of parson!

“I can`t believe I let you use me for stimulating

conversation like that.”

Aapko ghalat fahmee hooee hay. GEDDIT?

“ You were great when it

came to sharing my passion for African literature,

but it was all a lie.”

What tutushutu have to do withthas, haiN? Okri ka nam letay rahna, bheenda ka salan bana rahay ho kya?

“ I don`t know how you can stand

to look in the mirror, knowing your life has been

built on a foundation of untruths.”

At least it is built, ok? Whoyou are totalk?

“I`m sure being a generous lover was also part

of your elaborate ruse.”

Hai taubah!!!!! Urstruly, koi bhee, mujhay bachao iss liar say!!!!!

You evil rascal!!! Kafir bhai will teaching you lesson you are not forgetting, reminding you of maternal grandmather and everything! Talling impoper lies about lady.

“ It`s all falling into place. You

may have seemed responsive to my desires and

sensitive to my needs, but all the while, you were

just manipulating me into participating in mutually

satisfying intercourse.”

Chowk staff! CHOWK STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAF!!!!! Please doing something! See what all they are sayinga bout me, haiN??? Thius is nat far!! Thisis abusive post!!! Meyra nam mittee meiN mila raha hai yeh Deepika dakookaheeN ka!

(Hai RabbaN mainnoo chook lay!!!)

“Did it mean anything to you, that time we sat in

your kitchen drinking coffee and sharing the

newspaper?”

Lieslieslieslies and MORE LIES. MaiN coffee naheeN peetee. Aap akhbar naheeN par sakte! Ha! What prof youa re hawing?! Just vulgar conjacture.

“ Or when we took the long way home

after our second date, holding hands”

Namumkin! Plz believing me averybudy, this NEVER HAPPENING, OK!

“ The look in

your eyes tells me all I need to know.”

HA! Iam wearing burka whole time, how you are seeing my eyes, haiN? HaiN? HAINNNNN?

“Hey, I`ve got an idea! Why don`t you send me a

card saying you`re happy to have met me, and that

your life was enriched by the time we spent

together.”

Sand youself card if youwant one. I am busy wushing my hair. Ok?

Plz do not dmean my name like this again. AndI am changing my talaphone number.

I amn ot your fried anymore. I was guving sypathy, but nevergain.

Lajwanti

tahmed321:

hamidm got it spot-on right....Bulwer-Lytton WAS in

fact the guy who invented the ``It was a dark and

stormy night....`` beginning immortalised by Snoopy

in his innumerable unfinished typewritten novels.

Since 1982, University of California professor Scott

Rice has been running a contest on cheesiest

opening lines in a novel which he calls the Bulwer-

Lytton Award. Check out www.bulwer-lytton.com for

details. Zafar Anjum may have inadvertently

become a top qualifier for the 2002 award :)))



Romair:

Whoa.....boy! Give the man a break OK? Nothing

wrong in spreading a little humour is there,

especially when the young writer can only learn

from the experience? IMHO Chowk is too polite to

its new contributors, it`s a wonder Ras Siddiqui

hasn`t come along with his patent Welcome to

Chowk speech.....

ylh:

Too much single malt last night or what? What

was with that last post???????

Wow. I don`t know what to say. I thought

everything was going great between us. I thought

we really had something special going these past

six weeks. Apparently, I was wrong. It`s become

clear to me that all this time, you were just using

me for sex, friendship, and good conversation.<

BR>

Is that all I was to you, somebody you could

potentially be interested in dating long-term,

assuming things kept progressing? After all the

dates we`d been on, was it that easy to throw it all

away once you decided I wasn`t really right for you?

It all seems so hollow now.

I remember the time we saw Monsoon

Wedding and then went out for coffee. Over lattes,

we discussed everything from Indian cinema to

our respective college experiences. Now I know it

meant nothing. And the time you told me about

how you watched your grandmother slowly die of

cancer? What a sucker I was.

You were very clever, enjoying yourself when

we met at that party. I must have been blind. Even

that early in the game, you were already weaving

the web of physical attractiveness, intelligence,

and sense of humor that you would use to

ensnare me, culminating in a six-week dating stint.

I hope you had fun.

I can`t believe I let you use me for stimulating

conversation like that. You were great when it

came to sharing my passion for African literature,

but it was all a lie. I don`t know how you can stand

to look in the mirror, knowing your life has been

built on a foundation of untruths. I bet you just read

Season Of Migration To The North just to impress

me with your theories on the subject.

I`m sure being a generous lover was also part

of your elaborate ruse. It`s all falling into place. You

may have seemed responsive to my desires and

sensitive to my needs, but all the while, you were

just manipulating me into participating in mutually

satisfying intercourse.

Did it mean anything to you, that time we sat in

your kitchen drinking coffee and sharing the

newspaper? Or when we took the long way home

after our second date, holding hands and talking

about our favorite songs? How about the time you

made me a picnic lunch in the park? Were those

just your devious ways of finding out if our

personalities were compatible in case you wanted

to see more of me? Wait, don`t answer. The look in

your eyes tells me all I need to know.

I feel like such a fool. All this time, I thought

there was something behind your interest in me.

Instead, it was just some sort of trap to win my

time and affection—until you lost interest, that is.

How could I have been so blind? Couldn`t I see

that all those jokes you told were just a thinly veiled

attempt to get me to have a good time with you?

Apparently not, because I fell for it like a sparrow

weighted with sandbags.

Perhaps words have different meanings for

you. When you said, ``Thanks, I had fun,`` I guess

what you were really saying was, ``I will be funny,

charming, and affectionate until I grow tired of

you.``

Now you want to be ``just friends``? Whatever it

takes to help you sleep. Your carefully chosen

words aren`t fooling me. The time for that is over. I

refuse to fall victim to your sincerity ever again.<

BR>

Hey, I`ve got an idea! Why don`t you send me a

card saying you`re happy to have met me, and that

your life was enriched by the time we spent

together. What`s that? You like and respect me too

much to do something tacky and dismissive like

that? I figured you`d say something like that.

Typical.

Wow. I don`t know what to say. I thought

everything was going great between us. I thought

we really had something special going these past

six weeks. Apparently, I was wrong. It`s become

clear to me that all this time, you were just using

me for sex, friendship, and good conversation.<

BR>

Is that all I was to you, somebody you could

potentially be interested in dating long-term,

assuming things kept progressing? After all the

dates we`d been on, was it that easy to throw it all

away once you decided I wasn`t really right for you?

It all seems so hollow now.

I remember the time we saw Monsoon

Wedding and then went out for coffee. Over lattes,

we discussed everything from Indian cinema to

our respective college experiences. Now I know it

meant nothing. And the time you told me about

how you watched your grandmother slowly die of

cancer? What a sucker I was.

You were very clever, enjoying yourself when

we met at that party. I must have been blind. Even

that early in the game, you were already weaving

the web of physical attractiveness, intelligence,

and sense of humor that you would use to

ensnare me, culminating in a six-week dating stint.

I hope you had fun.

I can`t believe I let you use me for stimulating

conversation like that. You were great when it

came to sharing my passion for African literature,

but it was all a lie. I don`t know how you can stand

to look in the mirror, knowing your life has been

built on a foundation of untruths. I bet you just read

Season Of Migration To The North just to impress

me with your theories on the subject.

I`m sure being a generous lover was also part

of your elaborate ruse. It`s all falling into place. You

may have seemed responsive to my desires and

sensitive to my needs, but all the while, you were

just manipulating me into participating in mutually

satisfying intercourse.

Did it mean anything to you, that time we sat in

your kitchen drinking coffee and sharing the

newspaper? Or when we took the long way home

after our second date, holding hands and talking

about our favorite songs? How about the time you

made me a picnic lunch in the park? Were those

just your devious ways of finding out if our

personalities were compatible in case you wanted

to see more of me? Wait, don`t answer. The look in

your eyes tells me all I need to know.

I feel like such a fool. All this time, I thought

there was something behind your interest in me.

Instead, it was just some sort of trap to win my

time and affection—until you lost interest, that is.

How could I have been so blind? Couldn`t I see

that all those jokes you told were just a thinly veiled

attempt to get me to have a good time with you?

Apparently not, because I fell for it like a sparrow

weighted with sandbags.

Perhaps words have different meanings for

you. When you said, ``Thanks, I had fun,`` I guess

what you were really saying was, ``I will be funny,

charming, and affectionate until I grow tired of

you.``

Now you want to be ``just friends``? Whatever it

takes to help you sleep. Your carefully chosen

words aren`t fooling me. The time for that is over. I

refuse to fall victim to your sincerity ever again.<

BR>

Hey, I`ve got an idea! Why don`t you send me a

card saying you`re happy to have met me, and that

your life was enriched by the time we spent

together. What`s that? You like and respect me too

much to do something tacky and dismissive like

that? I figured you`d say something like that.

Typical.

tahmed

.... no no, i was not trying to say that zafar mian

ripped off his masterpiece - i am sure it is an

original .... i was just poking fun at his rather

tedious style a`la `` it was a dark and stormy night``

.... nothing more or less .....actually mrs flannagan

would have loved this piece - she was big on

metaphors, similies and went gaga over

alliteration .....``on scrolls of silver snowy

sentences`` and ``babbling brooks`` .... but then what

do i know - i am sure zafar is not going to give up

writing on account of my silly bad attitude ......



romair

.... so you noticed ? ......no, i have nothing positive

to say about anything - i will leave that up to

tahmed .... that would be quite contrary to my

purpose in life ......

..... and please stop equating top notch four year

colleges like westpoint and boulder to community

colleges like kakul and risalpur ..... i was there -

and so what if i failed the saluting test and spent

mid-term break smoking dope and watching the

rain fall over salahuddin company ..... i know all

about geopolitics and, push come to shove, could

still disassemble a G-3 in a couple of hours ....

Deaf Lesbians Criticized For Efforts to Create Deaf

Child

By Matt Pyeatt

CNSNews.com Staff Writer

April 02, 2002

(CNSNews.com) - A leading pro-family

organization is questioning attempts by a

Suburban Washington, D.C. lesbian couple to

deliberately create a deaf child.

Candy McCullough and Sharon Duchesneau of

North Bethesda, Md. said they did everything

possible to make sure their newborn son is deaf

by specifically seeking and obtaining a sperm

donor for artificial insemination who has a lengthy

family history of deafness.

But one group has made it clear it disagrees with

the women`s choice to produce children with

disabilities, not to mention raising them in a

homosexual household.

``This couple has effectively decided that their

desire to have a deaf child is of more concern to

them than is the burden they are placing on their

son,`` Ken Connor, president of the Family

Research Council, said.

``To intentionally give a child a disability, in addition

to all the disadvantages that come as a result of

being raised in a homosexual household, is

incredibly selfish,`` Connor said.

McCullough and Duchesneau, who were featured

in a cover story of the Washington Post Magazine

March 31, already have a daughter who was

designed to be deaf and they`re hoping their son

Gauvin is deaf as well. Duchesneau is the mother

of both children.

Because the child is a newborn infant, it will take

several months until an audiologist can determine

whether Gauvin can or cannot hear.

The women, however, insisted that it is not of

utmost important that Gauvin is deaf, but they

would like their son to have the same disability as

the rest of the family.

Duchesneau hopes the family`s deafness stays

intact. ``He`d be the only hearing member of the

family. Other than the cats,`` she told the

Washington Post Magazine.

McCullough was more direct in her hopes that

their son would be deaf. ``I would say that we

wanted to increase our chances of having a baby

who is deaf,`` she said in an interview with the

Post.

But Connor said it was wrong to attempt to

produce a deaf child and that serious challenges

against the traditional definition of family were

taking place.

``This reduces the father to a mere inseminator,

raises the prospects of donor shopping and

designer genes, and turns a baby into a trophy,``

Connor said.

An official with the Family Research Council said

the group`s opposition to deliberately creating deaf

children would not change if the couple were

heterosexual.

McCullough told the Post that families should have

the right to seek sperm donors from anyone in

order to be comfortable with the culture of the

family.

``Some people look at it like, `Oh my gosh, you

shouldn`t have a child who has a disability`. But,

you know, black people have harder lives. Why

shouldn`t parents be able to go ahead and pick a

black donor if that`s what they want,`` McCullough

asked rhetorically.

sb100 sa100``They should have that option. They

can feel related to that culture, bonded with that

culture,`` McCullough said.

But Connor disagrees when it comes to

deliberately trying to create children with the

burdens of physical disabilities.

``We`ve seen many parents try to ensure they create

children possessing a certain trait, however, this

couple has sought to create a child so that he

does not possess a certain trait - in this case, the

ability to hear,`` Connor said.

sb100 sa100

``One can only hope that this practice of

intentionally manufacturing disabled children in

order to fit the lifestyles of the parents will not

progress any further,`` Connor said.

The women were quick to point out that they would

not be disappointed if Gauvin could hear but were

just as clear in telling the Post that they preferred

him to be deaf.

``A hearing baby would be a blessing,``

Duchesneau said. ``A deaf baby would be a special

blessing.``

Connor hopes the practice of designing babies is

stopped. ``The places this slippery slope could

lead are frightening,`` he said.

Post 28 is NOT by me. Some sicko has got hold of

Chowk nicks again. Have you no shame chowk

staff for playing such games with me?

-YLH

hamidm #22 Is a ``dark and stormy night`` = ``rainy morning``?? Hunh????

Also, ``It was a dark and stormy night`` is of course the old joke about how to start a novel when you have a writer`s block. You stretched like a rubber band to put down Zafar Anjum...one may find other things to critique in his article (given the number of angrezi-dans on chowk), but it is no rip-off as you claim.

hamidm #22: Just out of curiousity; do you ever have anything positive to say about anyone?

Why this desire to be the habitual negative critic?

If someone is attempting to come up with something original, give the guy some credit, and encouragement. It is ok to criticize some pieces, but one has to really wonder about a person, who can never see anything positive in any argument, any story, any person.

Why not try to come up with something of your own? Perhaps an original idea, an original argument, an original piece of prose or poetry, instead of habitually attempting to become the devil`s advocate? That plays well to the peanut gallery, but it it is an indication of a great deal of bottled anger or a great desire to become the center of attention, or a sign of an inferiority complex which demands a defensive stance against anyone who attempts to present anything original.

Just some food for thought.

Hopefully, your first thought will to think about what I have stated, rather than a habitual knee-jerk reaction to criticize what I have stated.

Ashok #21

Thanks for the geography lesson - not Khasia though - only following fauji Dad to the latest god forsaken military outpost ...

Reply hamidm:

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

There`s still hope for Mr. Zafar here.... 2002 contest is open. Shoo-in for finalist at least.

May make a new category for him: subcontinental angst.

:))

me not ashok. Me give sympathy ..me your fried ..ok?

soundmeister #14 ``This is what happens to us desis after watching Summer of 42 for the first time!`` you must add Monsoon Wedding to Summer of 42 to get this article.

........it was a dark and stormy night ...

.........i couldn`t get past the first paragraph ... but here is the original, in case you wondered ...

``It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.``

....Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

This guy hydra, who has now assumed a new nick ``Ashok`` appears to have a very disastrous sexual life. Why else would he meddle so much with ladies affairs by his multifarious nicks of Bijli, Shah, AeishA, Chunkey Pandey etcetera etcetera.

APOLOGY

…apologoise for breaking into this thread…thought chowk would put up an article to discuss the current plight of the palestinians…if you are interested in that please use reply #461 as a springboard to launch a discussion over this issue in the speakers corner…

Dear Zafar,

Liked it ... having spent a good part of my preteen years chugging along on the Assam Mail or Teensukhia Mail to Dibrugadh (on to Dinjaun) or Jalpaiguri (on to Gantok/Rumtek/Kalimpong or Darjeeling) I could even identify with the endless rain, the Teesta bridges and the Bhramaputra in full spate !! Can`t recall which part of Assam is supposed to be the rainist spot on the planet ...

Are you planning to write a sequal where Khushi finds out about Laila ... ?

Re: Ashok, #13

It`s not me who has a problem. You do.

Jeezeus!

This is what happens to us desis after watching Summer of 42 for the first time!

Wanted to write more but am too overcome with laughter, making typing difficult.....

HEEHEEHEEHEEHAWHAWHAW

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

I agree with some of the replies here. A story which could have used a lot fewer words. A fine attempt nevertheless.

Asta

www.kurukshetra.org

tahmed321 #7,

:))

Re: anNy, #5

``this was way too long and a bit tiring to read``

No kidding! anNy, hats off to you for managing to go through the entire story! Sounds like you are out of reading material. By the way, you owe me a book. And twenty years is just too long a time.

PS: at times you are just too funny!!! I love that trait in people, especially when they are as natural as you. Keep it up, girl!

Re: tahmed321, #7

``maybe I`ll come back and read it again.``

You can`t be serious!!! You are right about the weather reporting, though. After I read the first paragraph, I got so much in the mood that I watched the weather channel till the muffled night quietly started to creep through under my doors (which finally enveloped the entire house shutting all the light bulbs,) the confused moon in the purple sky played ankh macholi with the dark clouds, and the rain drops the size of chokandar broke all of my windowpanes.

Re: temporal, #9

The best writer uses the least words.

Zafar:

(and also for some chowkies who write long posts)


…could this have been delivered in less than 7428 words?


…for instance this:


[…Stretching her limbs in a yawn, she rolled out of the bed. Collecting her flowing jet-black hair in a fist, she rounded them in the shape of a bun. She straightened her sari in places where it had got loosened and crumpled…] 42 words


versus this


…stretching, she got off the bed, pulled her hair in a bun and adjusted her sari…16 words


or this


…as she rose up she stretched and adjusted her hair and sari…12 words


…when it comes to creative writing i believe in ‘less is more’…granted, i stretch this dictum sometimes…but i ask you…is it possible to say what you want to say without substantially diminishing or lessening the effect of what you want to deliver?


rgds,

t

Zafar: Plenty of weather reporting, provides an interesting character to the story. The central figure is a 43 year woman, and that is good since enough of these recently graduated teenagers I say!!!

I basically skimmed through the story, like the monsoon rains sliding off the back of an Indian film heroine PS You can see how I have been influenced by the story`s weather channel references :-)

In fact, I love this original style so much, I will drag this post on a bit more: I have a dreamlike feel for the story rather than an understanding of the plot. After all, I did slide through like rain off the back of ... (I already said that). I hope the story was meant to read like that, kind of like the short story equivalent of an impressionistic painting. Like dark monsoon clouds and green dripping leaves in romantically distant Patna...like rain falling at night on the shingles of the house I once lived in on the mountains near Murree...followed by silence and low pitched howling sound of the wind going through the pine tree jungle...and then the moon would shine through the clouds, framing them with a bright silver lining...

Thank you sir...enjoyed skimming through your story...maybe I`ll come back and read it again.

….mamoon, being one of the chief protagonists, should’ve been better developed…he doesn’t really click….he goes from being in love with henna, to having an affair with laila to falling in love with khushi as if changing clothes…

Please Sign Christopher Lee`s Petition:

http://www.jinnahfilm.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=NS-SimPetition&file=petition&id=1

2002-12-31



All Film Distributors

Undisclosed addresses.





To the Attention of All Film Distributors:



We, the undersigned, would like to present to you the following petition.



Jinnah Movie Release



``Jinnah: The Movie``, is not just a film, it is about the history in the birth of a nation and the life of one of the world`s greatest heroes.

This film was produced in the memory of Mr Jinnah, who fought for the equal rights of minorities in India and in its process, he built a nation, Pakistan.

Mr Christopher Lee, CBE, who played Mr Jinnah in the film, not only considers to have given his greatest ever performance in this film, but thinks it is one the best films ever made. He is championing this campaign by making the press and the world aware of the film`s existence.

Please kindly ad your support for its release and so that the world can judge for itself.

Sincerely,

Juan F. Aneiros

On Behalf of

Mr Christopher Lee, CBE

this was way too long and a bit tiring to read..there was so much that you could have done without...can understand the detailed explaination of things and even how when one sits down to write, details keep coming laikin this was carrying it all too far..story was okay, but i feel sara should have gotten the guy after all that climax building...khushi kahan sae agayee?

you can never lose with the older woman/younger man storylines.

good, entertaining story

Engaging work; well done. Needs a bit of pruning of adjectives and extranous descriptions and slang (somehow seems to be inconsistant with the stately pace of the narrator`s voice), but points to the skill of the author in pulling the plot off.

Looking forward to author`s next work!

An overemphasis on words and similes killed the story. It doesn`t flow naturally. I gave up after the first paragraph (I couldn`t swallow ``muffled dawn`` peeping through the window while the rain knocked on the ``windowpanes, sheet after sheet.`` Where did you get this?) After the first few lines I pretty much knew where this thing was going! As they say in economics, there is an ``opportunity cost`` involved for me here.

dude, stop beating around the bush with irrelevant details that are interesting at first and become irritating by the end....you take so long to get to the interesting parts, that one almost doesn`t want to bother getting to them...

details are one thing...but do we really need to know about every speck of dirt on every blade of grass and how it moves with every drop of rain falling on it at precisely 88 degrees...and how all of this is a reflection of sara`s emotions...just tell us what the emotion is...