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Baghdad Lullaby This one is by an Iraqi émigré, Saadi Youssef

(Without an Alphabet, Without a Face).

America, America

I too love jeans and jazz and Treasure Island
and John Silver`s parrot and the balconies of New Orleans.
I love Mark Twain and the Mississippi steamboats and Abraham Lincoln`s dogs.
I love the fields of wheat and corn and the smell of Virginia tobacco.
But I am not an American.

Is that enough for the Phantom pilot to turn me back to the Stone Age?
Leave me, pilot, leave my house roofed with palm fronds and this wooden bridge.
I need neither your Golden Gate nor your skyscrapers.
I need the village, not New York.
Why did you come to me from your Nevada desert, soldier armed to the teeth?
Why did you come all the way to distant Basra. where fish used to swim by our doorsteps?
Pigs do not forage here.
I only have these water buffaloes lazily chewing on water lilies.
Leave me alone, soldier.
Leave me my floating cane hut and my fishing spear.
Leave me my migrating birds and the green plumes.
Take your roaring iron birds and your Tomahawk missiles. I am not your foe.
I am the one who wades up to the knees in rice paddies.
Leave me to my curse.
I do not need your day of doom.

Translated by Khaled Mattawa, and published by Graywolf Press, 2002.

As the Bald Eagle Tries to Rule Is Ranveer Sena coming from Pakistan?Maoist Naxal ULFA Bodo Pakistans mujahdeen too

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_217139,000900030002.htm

Ranvir Sena strikes again, kills two in Gaya
==========================

Press Trust of India
Patna, March 20

Members of the outlawed Ranvir Sena killed two people last night at village Adai of extremist-hit Gaya district in Bihar, police said today. Heavily-armed men of the outfit swooped on the village firing indiscriminately, in which two persons, Ramdhani Yadav and Rajnandan Ram were killed on the spot. Hiralal Sah, who suffered gun-shot injuries, was admitted to a hospital at Konch, police said.

Old enmity was stated to be the reason behind the killing. Raids were being conducted at various places to arrest the killers, they said.

#2

``But our adventures are not as costly. The only costs seem to be that I will not have any savings when I retire as an old and feeble man.

In any event, I wish you all the best. ...``

What can be more EXPENSIVE than that ?

If you dont have money now you can fend for yourself ........old age can be worse than death without necessary resources even modest necessaties requiring ones with inflation will be more than your present salary .

O Karachi
JAY #28

``.....The last speach of jinnaha really confounded the people, the land created for islam cannot be a secular country, simple as that, especially with the doctrine of TNT and the ethnic cleansing. ....``

Oye besharam

How come a neibouring country who shall go unnamed stated on lofty idealism of decularisn democracy & republic went down the drain not keping promise of its longest elected P.M. Nehru over Kashmir ,cheated muslims deceiving them of secularism and establishing the Hindutva hydra of RSS VHP Jan Sangh Hindu Mahasabha ,Shiv Sena Baj rang Dal Bjp ???????

If That is possible certainly Islamic republic Can be Equallike U.S. hands down

Stranger than Fiction What is Djinn? .I know of all religions Djinnis specific to muslims.I have seen young girl getting posessed the way you describe Daro being taken over by Ashok.

The fact that it happened more in young girl in adolescence made my sciebtific mind think of hysteria .Which is basically a psychological condition occuring in any sex but less developed mind unable to resolve or handle conflicting thaughts.

Exorcist , Omen 1(linda Blair)movies & part of christian (catholic afik )belief system is similar except the movie & exorcism as i have seen in movie seemed More sinister & scary than hysterical like Djinn.

I am a believing & practicing muslim.

O Karachi Sign of senility is one longs for K.L.Saigal songs in drone voice .Somthing like inmovie Hare Rama Hare Krishna when Seth Ji listens to K.L. Saigal And his daughter escapes to Nepal with 3000$ doing drugs.

When brain becomes not old enough like Reagans Alzheimers and only REmote memory remains unable to remember Antecedent new informationms they look for constancy in old ways.

Which city inthe world has not changed 5 times i n the last 5 decades???


Calcutta ,Delhi Mumai Karachi Lahore ........


Nyc,Boston ,Chicago just read the old editions & laugh at the pictures of thses cities.



I am just too selfish to stop & lament like Saigal ..gujra hua zamana wapas nahi ata ...bach pan ke din bhula na dena aaj hase kal bhula na dena ....

Recently Sharukh asked Dilip Kumar if he liked the new Devdas ..he said you cant compare woh zamana with this zamana ...everything changes ...no comparision.

Dilip Kumar btw is doing great for his age getting around sometime in Wheel Chair not dead like Raj Kapoor nor trying to be Dev Anand with red shirt & scarfs ..its riduiculous how some people dont knw how to age gracefully !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Salaam O Rachel* Salaam Some are lucky to be born free without having be colonised ..u.k. u.s.a.

#38
With so many pastes what is your conclusion....

Live AS slave ??????????????


Some are lucky that others have ffought for there Freedom ..Shah nawaz Netaji Tipu Sirajud Dowla by force & Azad Zakir Gandhi Jinnah Nehru Patel etc constitutionally .

Some like P.Misras2 generation had Freedom thrust down there throat so what does he know .

He doesn`t even respect what he got how he got ,without thanking any body

Salaam O Rachel* Salaam

Who Will be World Champion of Cricket ?


Australia crush India; retain World Cup
***************---------************


Johannesburg, March 23: Awesome Australia, inspired by skipper Ricky Ponting`s majestic 140 not out, retained the World Cup after totally outclassing India in Sunday`s final.

The Indians, chasing a record 360 to win, were dismissed for 234 in the 40th over to lose by 125.

Unbeaten Australia became the first side to win three World Cups.

They are also the first side to retain the trophy since West Indies won the first two tournaments in 1975 and 1979.

Darren Lehmann, who scored the winning runs in 1999, took the final catch before the Australians hugged each other in jubilation and set off on a lap of honour, draping themselves in national flags.

It was also Australia`s 17th one-day win in a row, a world record. They went through the entire tournament undefeated.

The result never looked in doubt after Australia`s 359 for two, the biggest score ever recorded in a final. It was also an Australian one-day record.

Ponting, who hit a World Cup record of eight sixes in his 121-ball knock, put on an unbroken stand of 234 for the third wicket with Damien Martyn (88 not out), who played the game with a fractured finger.

``It was one of my best moments,`` Martyn said, who did not play four years ago despite being in the squad.

``This certainly makes up for that,`` Martyn added.

Ponting had taken 74 balls to hit his first 50 but his next 90 runs came off 47 deliveries, during which he hit eight sixes, an unprecedented tally in a World Cup innings, as well as four fours. His score was also the best in any final.

Earlier Adam Gilchrist (57 off 48 balls) and Matthew Hayden (37) gave Australia their best start of the tournament, putting on 105 in 14 overs.

India quick bowlers, so effective in previous matches, were simply destroyed. Zaheer Khan was hammered for 67 off seven wicketless overs, while Javagal Srinath conceded 87 from 10 overs.

India`s only real hope lay in Sachin Tendulkar, the world`s best batsman and the man of the tournament, but he fell for just four in the first over, caught and bowled by Glenn McGrath off an attempted pull.

Virender Sehwag top-scored for India with a run-a-ball 82.

McGrath ended with three for 52 while Lee took two for 31, tak

Excavating India Hearings on Religious Freedom in India and Pakistan
========================================

18 September




Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan
Muslim Forum for Social Justice
DR. KHAN: While we try to analyze the conditions of Muslims of India, we have to bear in mind the nature of Indian society. It is basically a society known for religious pluralism and cultural realism. Muslims are born and brought up in this country, and therefore, they are no longer aliens. We constitute 12 percent of the total population of India and perhaps the second-largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia.

A succession of political parties have announced special programs for development, but their sense of insecurity and even dependence has ruined them. Once rulers of mighty India in the Muslim period, mogul period; today, they are not even secondary citizens. Their present social and psychological conditions are quite alarming, even though the Constitution of India has guaranteed them certain special rights and fundamental rights, there are powerful anti-Muslim groups that are well-supported by the administration that keep them constantly harassed.

The constitution gives them religious freedom. It is because of this freedom to profess, practice and then propagate their religion; normally, in religious matters, there has not been much interference from the Government until recently. It is true that the constitution guarantees equality before the law. It also enables them to establish and maintain educational institutions of their choice, but in practice, a lot of discrimination is noticed: permission to start minority institutions is denied or delayed by the administration in clear violation of the constitutional guarantees. Civil restrictions and disabilities are enforced on them.

The mother tongue of the Muslims of India is generally the Urdu language. This beautiful language is not much encouraged, because it is spoken by Muslims. Telecasts of Urdu news are sometimes curbed, and there are incidents of riots against the Urdu speaking and Muslim communities. In the administration, the Muslims feel they are discriminated. Though they constitute 12 percent of the population, they have very poor representation in government services, particularly the Home Department and the Defense personnel; you do not find increasing representation geared to Muslims because Muslims are suspects.

The status of Muslims under the BJP administration poses a problem. The central government is governed by the National Democratic Alliance which has the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, as the largest single group. It includes the support of a few secular regional parties, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Vajpayee has a secularist background. He is respected by Muslims by and large as the only hope for them amidst tension, suspicion and discrimination.

There are some central ministers who have been accused of supporting the demolition of Babri Mosque in Maharashtra, India. There are cases pending before the designated court. There are people who are central ministers who raise clouds of doubts about the very outcomes of the court proceedings. Shiv Sena, not intending to a political outfit, is adopting a piousness attitude towards Muslims in particular. The chief of the party, Mr. Bal Tagree [ph] hates the very shadow of Muslim. To him, all Muslims in India are suspects. They are Pakistanis, and they should be dumped in the Arabian Sea. This is all his words. His party workers harass Muslims; loot their shops and control religious freedom in every possible way. His party is an ally of BJP, and BJP is forced to work against Muslims. The post-Babri Mosque demolition period, there were riots where thousands of Muslims were killed and made homeless. Bal Tagree is called by me, rather, the present Adolf Hitler of India.

What is happening in some of the BJP-ruled states amounts to a reign of terror. A few major instances are presented here to illustrate how the BJP administration is treating Muslims. Of course, the [in foreign language] is still worse. I`ll not go into that aspect, because there are others to speak about it. The National Commission for Minorities in India has indicted the Gujrat Government done by BJP attacks on the freedom of religion of minorities, particularly Muslims. The state administration and police are biased and partisan. The state has propagated a sense of insecurity. State administrations supported the rioters, is supporting them. The Muslims are attacked; their shops are looted; houses are set on fire. The places of worship and the tomb of a saint were destroyed.

In Uttar Pradesh, a BJP-ruled state again, the government wanted to have a new law according to which prior permission from the district authorities was a condition to build any place of worship. This was obviously against Muslims and Christians. Textbooks which have the test and sentiments of the religion of Muslims were freely allowed to be used by the government, and the central government was then mute. The special police in a town in Gujarat is said to have unleashed a reign of terror on Muslims, dubbing them as Pakistanis. Their policemen utterly supported the Hindu rioters. They allowed the rioters to loot Muslim shops and burn their houses. Muslim students were forced to sing [in foreign language], and when they refused, they were beaten up. [In foreign language] is, in my opinion, an song of the BJP and VHP. To force Muslims to sing this song, this is a very anti-Islamic song. But [in foreign language] is definitely anti-Islamic to sing, because Islam prohibits such songs in praise of Hindu gods and deities.

There are a few premier research institutions such as the Indian Council of Social Science Research and Indian Council of Historical Research that are always headed by top social scientists with a secular bent of mind. But now, the present government with the current central minister, who is from an RSS background, has appointed people to head these institutions, and they have strategy rewriting social themes and history to propagate hate against Muslims and Christians.

In India, Muslims are governed by their own laws in personal matters, and their sanctions are very strong. But the BJP has decided to introduce a common civil code. They want to build a temple on the very site where Babri Mosque stood once. This is politically motivated. BJP has just kept all of this in their hidden agenda. Right now, they cannot do anything, as the central government is a mixture of BJP, its allies and regional secular parties. What happens to the minorities if BJP and its allies, like-minded allies, have an absolute majority? It`s anybody`s guess and a matter of great concern for the minorities.

As long as Mr. Vajpayee is in power, the BJP cannot do much damage. Items to review the Indian Constitution is feared to be a device to make minorities subdued and be secondary citizens. The Sangh Parivar has tremendous influence on the BJP rulers today in day-to-day administration. It wants India to be designated as Bharat [ph], not India, and the state to be declared as a Hindu Rashtriya. Rashtriya is nation. It wants [in foreign language] in the middle of the national flag to be replaced by letters oyem [ph], a typical Hindutva symbol.

Citizenship is to be conferred only on those who are [in foreign language], meaning thereby only these people are [in foreign language], and minorities are no longer [in foreign language]. The national song has to be changed from the present one, [in foreign language], to [in foreign language]. If BJP has its own majority to rule the country, all the demands of the Sangh Parivar will be implemented. This will make the minorities restless.

BJP is against conversion but is forcing reconversion. Many Muslims, many Christians, particularly in tribal areas, are forcibly reconverted, but how the government allows reconversion when the government does not permit conversions? All Muslims are believed Hindus, basically, and they should be reconverted. But let me declare that a vast majority of the Hindus are secular and well-wishers of minorities. Similarly, a vast majority of the political parties and leaders are secular. It is for this reason that the minorities are safe today.

When the BJP Government under pressure from the Shiv Sena and the Sangh Parivar starts ruling the country, what will happen to minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, is something that causes tension and insecurity among all the minorities in this country.

Thank you very much.

[ H

The New Jews A VERY SIMILAR SENTIMENT EXPRESSD BY ANOTHER PAKISTANI EDUCATED IN HARVARD AUTHOR ,MOHSN FROM LAHORE
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/mar-2003/7/EDITOR/op4.asp


We are all on the same side  
==========================

Mohsin Hamid
As someone drawn to writing, someone who likes to tell stories, who likes to dream, I have often lived between worlds. At Harvard Law School, while many of my classmates signed up for electives in securities law and corporate tax, I found ways to earn credits from literature courses. I saw no contradiction in my behavior: I wanted to be a lawyer, but I also wanted to study fiction. And university regulations tended to agree, within limits, that this should be possible. 
On one of my forays into nonlegal education, I encountered a book by Primo Levi called Survival in Auschwitz. The narrator is a man, an Italian and a scientist. But he is sent to a concentration camp because he is a Jew. As his story unfolds, he realizes that being Jewish, an aspect of himself to which he previously attached little significance, is now considered the most important component of his identity. 
I face no concentration camp. I work as a management consultant, previously in New York and now in London. 
I am free to write novels and articles. But more and more I find myself thinking of Primo Levi`s narrator because, like him, I consider myself a secular, liberal, progressive man, and like the people around him, actors in a politicized conflict are attempting to make my religion-Islam-the most important component of my identity. 
This is happening on many levels. Muslim friends of mine in America have been picked up in their homes and workplaces for government-sponsored interrogations. When I travel, I am routinely harassed and subjected to long delays at immigration, even though I have a valid visa and carry ridiculous amounts of additional documentation, such as bank statements, employment letters and utility bills. Teenaged cousins of mine face the prospect of being unable to enroll in colleges outside of Pakistan because the ``background checks`` performed by Western embassies can stretch for months. 
Around the world, non-Muslim officials are reminding people like me that we are Muslims first and businessmen or novelists (or heart-broken lovers, for that matter) second. On this point, these non-Muslim officials are in complete agreement with Muslims like the Taliban who say that a Muslim identity must come before all else. 
To a certain extent, these narrow-minded non-Muslims and Muslims have already succeeded. Like many of my friends, I have come to see the Muslim component of my identity as much more important now than I did two years ago. I feel that Muslims are being persecuted. I feel that Muslim countries are under military threat. I feel that many Muslims live in impoverished, underdeveloped conditions. And my sympathy for my fellow Muslims has grown. 
At the same time, I remain firmly opposed to the idea that this widening division between Muslims and non-Muslims is inevitable, and to the simplistic and dangerous notion that more than a billion Muslims around the world can be disassociated from their ethnic, cultural, political and personal characteristics and meaningfully grouped together for any positive purpose. 
For example, I believe in democracy, the right of people to elect their own leaders. I believe that religion should influence laws only through universal ballots, not through the will of a clerical _lite. I believe that markets, trade and immigration are powerful forces that can be harnessed to improve living conditions on our planet. There is nothing particularly Muslim about these beliefs. There is nothing particularly non-Muslim about them, either. 
Similarly, I see nothing particularly Muslim or non-Muslim in my personal tastes. I like many types of music, ranging from the blues to qawwali. I like novels of the Japanese Haruki Murakami and the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz. I like to watch cricket. I like dogs. I like to dance. I love sushi and have a particular soft spot for fresh-water eel. In other words, I am a reasonably well-off large-city dweller, no more different from millions of my fellow large-city dwellers around the world than they are from each other. 
Surely, shared values and shared tastes (or at least a shared fondness for a diversity of tastes) are components of identity that cannot and should not be brushed aside. The fact that I support a plebiscite in Kashmir and a viable state for the Palestinians does not make me violent. Nor does my opposition to war in Iraq make me a threat worth the attention of an immigration officer. In the end, I remain a law-abiding, productive inhabitant of whatever city I currently choose to call my home. 
Personally, I would like to propose a new and more useful division of the world. I would divide us into those who think that conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims is desirable and those who think it is not. I suspect those of us who oppose such conflict are in the vast majority, and if I had to be seated next to someone on a long-haul flight from London to Hong Kong, I`d rather it be one of us, Muslim or non. 
Mohsin Hamid, the author of Moth Smoke, grew up in Lahore and now lives in London.

 

Old Men Sleep AARPP

AmericanAssociationof Retired Persons

They have Money lots of it in fact all wealth belong to them


They have all the time in the world..Golf Florida In winter ,Europe for Anti Aging Treatment ,(10000$ per session of injections)marry for 10 th time (aristotle Onasis ,Howard hughes,Nicole Smiths husband)


I rather be a old man than freaky pimpled confused teen neurotic

Calculate This
#23Indian

Nepotism is castists INDIAS characteristics .


What is loyalty to brahmin supporting brahmin or Uncle shoving his neohew over more deserving candidate is INjustice under Islamic jurisprudence .But what would you know




Musharaff`s nephew held for US visa violation

PTI[ SATURDAY, MARCH 08, 2003 08:03:35 PM ]

WASHINGTON: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf`s nephew was detained by US immigration authorities for more than two weeks for a visa violation.



Aamir Javed Musharraf, who was detained on February 19 and was released yesterday could be deported to Pakistan or could be permitted by an immigration judge to stay.



He was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, when he went to register at a local immigration office under a programme requiring thousands of visiting men and boys from mostly Muslim countries to be photographed and fingerprinted.



Aamir Musharraf was found to have an expired tourist visa from 1994.



Authorities did not know his place of employment or any other details of his stay in the United States, The Washington Times reported.



Till early this week, about 1,700 people have been detained for at least a few days out of the 122,500 who have registered under the programme.



The Immigration and Naturalisation Service has developed the programme after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as part of a plan to tighten US borders.

The number of illegal immigrants or people who have overstayed their visas is estimated by the INS in the millions.

Dear Aliya! As opposed to Shiv Lingham of Most Ancient pre historic ,atavistic vestigeal remnent of earliest worship invented by mankind
(granting Hinduism is the oldr than judeaism)

You make the circle of life come 360 degrees by Worshipping Vagina

Tunnel Vision

#80 by stuka on February 26, 2003 7:01am PT
``where everybody in power is an Indian hating fundamentalist. ``

This is true right now. Nawaz Sharif, because of his commercial background, saw the economic sense that good relation with India made. Unfortunately, his people were not ready to absorb that reality.
-------------------------------------------
stuka
Atleast Bjp are no matter in a how twisted way represent the Indian people.

Nawaz was made to disappear in a non populist way of Military coup.So untill you are talking to the Military of Pakistan whon are you adressing.

If you dont put yourself in the shoe of the Pakistanis you cannot understand how Nawaz despite coming from Commercial backlground & being Head of state happened to be in Power during Kargil.

Both countries are handicapped for domestic reasons to do the RIGHT THING .Untill unless such atmosphere of just a bit of begrudging tolerance of each other happens short of autocratic discision (never realisticalln possible)by Indian P.M. or Pakistani Musharaff who will bell the cat ?????