In This Together

The same story everywhere. Still, a good thing that it draws attention to some prominent issues.

Mr. Ras,
I apologize for the delay in response, my last visit was by chance. My email is siqbal@gmail.com. I would be happy to clarify misconceptions and false information about Air Chief Marshal (retd) M. Anwar Shamim. I may or may not convince you, your perogitive; but it is only fair that history should have an honest and factual record.

regards,
Saqeba Iqbal
Iqbal

Mr. Siddiqui,

I would like to point to a factual error in your piece. My father, Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) Muhammad Anwar Shamim, has never been in prison for drugs, or any offense, ever. He has served honorably, and retired with honor. I would be grateful if you will provide this correction to whomever was your source of misinformation about my father. If not satisfied, please email me and we can discuss your sources.

Thank you,
Saqeba N. Iqbal,
Attorney At Law

Mr. Siddiqui,

I would like to point to a factual error in your piece. My father, Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) Muhammad Anwar Shamim, has never been in prison for drugs, or any offense, ever. He has served honorably, and retired with honor. I would be grateful if you will provide this correction to whomever was your source of misinformation about my father. If not satisfied, please email me and we can discuss your sources.

Thank you,
Saqeba N. Iqbal,
Attorney At Law

MastRam,

There you go! I knew I was on to something :)

The upshot of your arguments seems to be that any formal system of logic must exclude these self-referential assertions from undermining systemic integrity and coherence.

Because if that is true, then a whole lot of what I was thinking about makes sense,...things with implications broader than just mathematics.

Re Eklavya #171

Such statements are examples of the famous Russell`s Paradox ( set of all sets that are not members of themelves). In any formal system, self-referential statements can show such contradictions. The most well-known of them is Epimenides` paradox (`` All Cretans are liars`` said by a Cretan). Russell tried to create a mathematical system without such paradoxes, but I guess Godel proved that it was impossible. A fascinating account of these things is there in a book by Douglas Hofstadter(sp?) - ``Godel, Escher, Bach-...``

Stuka,

IMO, the whole class of arguments suggesting, in various ways, that the notion of tolerance must include a tolerance of intolerance (or that tolerant people and intolerant people are the same if tolerant people refuse to tolerate intolerant ones) is logically flawed. At best, all these seductive arguments are devices for some people to promote intolerance.

If some math wizards help me out, I think I can mathematically prove the logical flaws in such arguments.

Re: Stuka

{{Well, logically, the right to SAY ``there will be no freedom of speech`` is part of freedom of speech. The actual suppression of freedom of speech would go against it.

You can demand censorship, but not impose it.}}

Right, but then what purpose does saying something you either don`t really mean or know is impossible, serve? In either case, you`d be blabbering. No?

Rsaxena:

been following this interact for a while and its interesting. Just had one comment:

``using some mullah logic, i see...the right to say ``there will be no freedom of speech`` is not part of freedom of speech...get it?``

Well, logically, the right to SAY ``there will be no freedom of speech`` is part of freedom of speech. The actual suppression of freedom of speech would go against it.

You can demand censorship, but not impose it.

Re: Shah

Have a fire up your a$$ again?

Shah,

It`s his infinite charm...

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

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

``she wants to know WHERE you got the hedwig socks from???``

inglistaan..normal girls call for lingerie from Marks..i call for socks :P

she can order some from this official potter site i think...and oye..does she have one of those cut off hogwart tshirts?

Re: semiconfusedme

{…..yes, it’s as much as someone’s right to “police” the board as it is to pollute it….then why are you getting all hot and bothered over the “policing” ? }

using some mullah logic, i see...the right to say ``there will be no freedom of speech`` is not part of freedom of speech...get it?

Nuggets from the Urdu press

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Nasibo Lal in trouble

According to Khabrain, folk singer Nasibo Lal, while singing at Gujranwala Arts Council, allowed fuhush (obscene) dancers like Alisha, Khushboo and Lashana, to perform lasciviously in front of a local audience. People responded with great enthusiasm although the event was against the rules of decency. They repeatedly performed bhangra while ignoring ideology of Pakistan.

Milosevic and Osama

Historian of Afghan jehad Raja Anwar, writing in Khabrain, said that if Milosevic could be brought under trial in an international court why couldn`t Pakistan or any other state ensure that Osama bin Laden is brought before an impartial court? He could be punished only if found guilty. Raja Anwar wrote that Afghanistan had given nothing to Pakistan but kalashnikov culture and was not willing to make any concession, not even on the Durand Line.

Mufti Shamzai`s fatwa

According to Nawa-e-Waqt, Mufti Shamzai of Karachi`s Banuri Mosque issued the fatwa that when the Americans land in Pakistan his followers should immediately take over the country`s airports. Fifty thousand followers did bayat-e-jehad (pledge of war) on his hand. He said anyone fighting on the side of Christians against Islam would go to hell.

Sharif brothers part ways

According to daily Din, Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif fell apart in their hideaway in Saudi Arabia and that Shehbaz Sharif had bought a residence of his own separately from the family still led by Abbaji. The paper opined that since Shehbaz had decided to part ways with the family he may lose Saudi financial help.

Pakistan`s paradox

Renowned columnist Nazeer Naji wrote in Jang that Pakistan had a strange history of upheavals. Bhutto, a liberal, chose a fundamentalist officer General Zia for promotion to army chief, who overthrew him and converted Pakistan into a fundamentalist state. Bhutto was a secularist but spent more time banning alcohol in Pakistan and apostatising the Ahmedis to please the mullahs. The initial paradox was that Jinnah was a secular leader who was opposed by the mullahs, but later Pakistan was to be moulded in the vision of not Jinnah but mullahs. Then General Zia chose Nawaz Sharif as his heir but in 1997 he was elected for his economic policies; instead he chose to enforce shariat after coming to power. But for a man devoted to shariat he chose General Musharraf, a non-Islamist, to head the army. General Musharraf who toured the cantonments to defend Nawaz Sharif for sacking an earlier chief, was later to remove Nawaz Sharif. And an Islamist army was now ready to get rid of the jehadi mullahs and rid the state of fundamentalism. Nawaz Sharif was opposing his anti-Taliban policy from Saudi Arabia although his brother chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif had clearly said during his tenure that the Taliban were training the terrorists targeting Pakistani leaders.

What will Pakistan give?

Famous columnist Irshad Haqqani wrote in Jang that Pakistan and the US had discussed the matter of Pakistan`s offering landing facilities during the invasion of Afghanistan but there was no discussion on territorial rights. But General Hameed Gul, through a letter, said that he had trimmed his anti-Musharraf position when assured by him that neither land nor landing facilities would be granted to the American troops.

US to take intelligence help

Famous columnist Hussain Haqqani wrote in Jang that during the Afghan war the Americans used Pakistani intelligence to fight the Soviet Union but this cooperation was not really beneficial; but this time, he hoped, it would be more fruitful. This was a crucial point of time in the Pak-US relations.

Osama wanted me killed!

Leader of the PPP Ms Benazir Bhutto said in daily Din that Osama bin Laden paid Nawaz Sharif of the PML ten million dollars to topple her from government through the device of a no confidence vote. She said that Osama also planned to get her killed, but his plans failed twice.

Present land holding against Islam

According to daily Din, Council of Islamic Ideology came to the conclusion that the present land holdings in Pakistan were against Islam and must be undone because the child born in the house of a feudal lived in luxury while the one born in the house of a poor man was deprived. In the past, land reforms were undone by the Federal Shariat Court on the question of annexation of land without payment of market price.

Beaten up for singing `mahiya`

According to daily Pakistan a police officer ASI Shameem Gondal of Malka Hans had the habit of following a lady school teacher singing the mahiya songs of Mansoor Malangi loudly to seduce her into thinking of love. But the school teacher suddenly took off her burqa and started beating him up with her shoe. Other school girls accompanying her joined in and also beat him up with their shoes. After the beating it was discovered that one tooth of the thanedar ASI was broken but he was allowed to go only after he swore on a copy of the Quran and made the school teacher his sister.

It is not aunt`s home!

According to Nawa-e-Waqt, ex-ISI chief General Hameed Gul said that after the Taliban shot down two unmanned spy planes of the United States, the Americans were bound to run away from the battle field. He said all would soon be well because defeating the Taliban was not khala ji ka ghar (easy as being in one`s aunt`s home).

Zia wanted Afghanistan

Quoting a journalist once close to General Zia, Maqbul Sharif, daily Pakistan wrote that General Zia did not want the Russians to leave Pakistan at the end of the Afghan war. He wanted the question of a new government in Kabul resolved before their exit. In fact he wanted to send Pakistani troops to Kabul in the same manner that India had sent its troops to East Pakistan.

Jehadi organisations are fake

Quoted in Jang, ex-ISI chief General Javed Ashraf Qazi said that 90 percent of the organisations engaged in jehad in Kashmir were fake. Hew said leaders like Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Samiul Haq were interested only in amassing funds and advancing their political ends. If they were sent to Afghanistan to fight they would jump out of the bus and run away. He said in the past the Taliban were warned many times that because of them Pakistan was being labelled a terrorist state but they did not listen.

Israel did it!

Talking to daily Pakistan, Sipah Sahaba chief Maulana Azam Tariq said that those who attacked New York and Washington should be sought in Israel and India because Osama bin Laden was blameless. He said if Afghanistan was attacked he would issue fatwa for the murder of Americans and Israelis. He said America wanted to attack Pakistan`s nuclear installations while pretending to attack Afghanistan. He added that there would be civil war in Pakistan if Islamabad continued to support the Americans.

Hekmatyar will join Taliban!

Editor Ausaf Hamid Mir wrote that if Pakistan were to sever relations with the Taliban in the wake of similar action by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, it will force two offended Afghan leaders, Hekmatyar and Sayyaf, to join the Taliban and make an anti-Pakistan alliance. This new alliance will stop the advance of the Northern Alliance but Pakistan would be forever deprived of the friendship of its precious Afghan brethren.

Allah will answer Mulla Umar`s call!

According to Khabrain Mulla Umar of Afghanistan had prayed to Allah for special intervention against the American attack, as a result of which Allah had sent down a storm off the coast of Karachi as a sign. Before this, Salahuddin Ayubi had also prayed like Mulla Umar and his prayer was heard and a Christians army was caused to be gharq (sunk) by Allah.

A Lahori heir to Afghan throne speaks out!

According to daily Din, Ashraf Durrani of Lahore was discovered to be in the line of descent of Ahmad Shah Abdali Durrani who established the first Afghan empire. Ashraf Durrani formally laid claim to the throne of Afghanistan and stated that the Afghan people were not satisfied with the government of the Taliban. He also laid claim to the diamonds presently owned by the Queen of England and said that the diamond had belonged to his ancestor Shah Shuja.

Allama Iqbal`s joy

Famous historian Dr Safdar Mehmood wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that Allama Iqbal would have been overjoyed to see that the civilisation of the West was no longer obsessed by women but by a bearded man called Osama bin Laden.

Ms Mazari is anti-America

According to Ausaf, former chairman of the state-run Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, Mr Niaz A. Naik, wrote to the Foreign Office saying that the present chairman of the institute, Dr Shireen Mazari, was anti-American and was harming the interests of Pakistan by writing against the United States. The paper said that upon an inquiry made by the Foreign Office, ex-foreign minister Agha Shahi stated that she had criticised the United States while defending the interests of Pakistan.

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