The Dragon’s Teeth Correction: It was Jason and Cadmus who sowed the dragon's teeth, not Ulyesses, although the reference is still Greek mythology.

Why not hang Surabjit Singh? Re: # 46
See "Criminals - or victims of an unjust system" - http://www.chowk.com/articles/7273
We all do what we can. Unfortunately, I did not hear about the Zahid Masih case until after the poor man was hanged. The case only strengthens the arguments against the death penalty.

Why not hang Surabjit Singh? Excellent piece by Farhatullah Babar, PPP spokesman and former senator, in The News, March 21, 2008 -
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=102396

He notes that Sarabjit’s family located him in 2000 (ten years after the arrest) and that the convict said that the prosecution had forced him to admit to a wrong identity. "The Supreme Court dismissed his appeal in August 2005. Unfortunately, our record of convictions on the basis of confessions alone is not very remarkable," says Babar, listing several such cases & pointing out that execution on the basis of confession alone (as in Surabjit's case) can turn out to be a national embarrassment and cast shadows on relations between the two countries.

Babar also notes the strangeness of the timing of Surabjit's execution date announcement "after nearly three years of limbo, and just when a democratic government is to enter office. Let it not be said that it was cynically timed to warn the new government against pursuing its vision of peace in the region. It is one thing when issues of peace are decided behind the scenes by those who want to hang every Indian crossing into Pakistan but quite another when public representatives are asked to pay the political wages for it by making it look like their decision."

Student Politics in Pakistan: A Profile Re: # 126
NFP,
Just because 'history' has 'recorded' something does not mean that the record should not be set straight.
There was no DSF in India. The CPI student wing was called the All India Students Federation.
Re: Dr Haroon, maybe re-check with him.
best, beena

Student Politics in Pakistan: A Profile Re: # 119 & #120
Thanks NFP & HP - I was talking specifically about 1951-54. Student leaders in Karachi colleges started DSF. It was not a student wing of the Communist Part although most DSF members had socialist leanings and some were members of the CP. However, some also belonged to other parties, & the Muslim League leadership was very cooperative with them. DSF had office bearers like Maulana Ehtishamul Haq Thanvi's nephew Habibul Haq (an anesthetist at Lady Dufferin Hospital, Karachi). However, the DSF leadership was careful to keep party politics out of the student body and to keep their demands linked to improving the educational system and student life.
DSF was banned in 1954 and some students who had been part of it formed NSF. It was after this that it began getting linked with one or other political party. What I've said is easily verifiable through people like S.M. Naseem in Islamabad, Dr Haroon Ahmed in Karachi (who was never with NSF), and of course newspaper files of that time. Anwar Sen Roy (now with BBC in London) did a detailed interview of Dr Sarwar in Jan 2007, in which he raised all these issues.

Student Politics in Pakistan: A Profile Re: # 122
Sorry, it was the River Volga (Danube is in Europe). Yes, my father knew him but not very well. Mushirul Hasan in Germany is in contact with his brother Shoaib Naqvi in Karachi.

Student Politics in Pakistan: A Profile Re: # 117
For the record - the ‘Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case’ was in 1951. Hassan Nasir and Zuhair Naqvi were two separate people. Zuhair Naqvi’s brother of Zoheb Naqvi, a retired businessman, lives in Karachi. Hassan Nasir came to Pakistan from Hyderabad, India. DSF in Lahore did not last long.

Zuhair Naqvi died very young, in Moscow -- he was drowned in the Danube, according to Dr Mohammad Sarwar (my father) who knew him.

I wish NFP had also written something about the DSF, which was not, as he writes, the student wing of the Communist Party of Pakistan, but was definitely a left-wing, progressive organisation says Dr Sarwar.

Sarwar was elected as DSF's first Secretary General in Karachi 1951 (he was then President of the Dow Medical Union President), and the following year he was elected President of the DSF. In December 1953, the All Pakistan Students Organisation (APSO) was formed, of which Dr Sarwar was elected Secretary General. Soon afterwards, APSO was banned, and my father along with other student leaders, were arrested. NSF was formed after that.

Re: #112
Hassan Nasir's mother was a remarkable woman, says Dr Sarwar. She came from Hyderabad to identify his body. She refused to accept the body she was shown as that of her son, and moved Lahore High Court for the production of her son's body. She eventually went back to India without ever being shown his body.

The Dirty Tricks Brigade Tries to Spoil a Party Here's an excellent piece by Mohammed Hanif, a gifted writer who has worked as a reporter with Newsline, scripted a feature film, and heads the BBC Urdu Service – `My Benazir
Murder Fantasy'. The entire article is worth reading but this part jumped out at me:
"…Any sudden death can tinge one's memory and judgment but there are certain facts about her which are conveniently ignored. Even if all the allegations about her corruption and arrogance are true, one should keep in mind that she was active in politics for thirty years, out of which she was in power only for four and a half years. The rest of the time she struggled against two of the most well
entrenched military dictators in the region. The reason we don't see very many dossiers on the financial corruption during General Zia and General Musharraf's regimes is that when Bhutto was in power the intelligence agencies went into over drive documenting or sometimes inventing her misdemeanours. When the generals or their cronies are
in power all the intelligence leaks just dry up…"
Full text at: http://sacredmediacow.com/?p=1012.
Also see Editor The Nation, Arif Nizami's piece on the ground realities that have drastically changed in recent months, and Benazir's will that Zardari's opponents have been insisting is forged - "Need for a breather: Benazir Bhutto's will is genuine", The Nation, Thursday, 17 Jan 2008 - http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/jan-2008/17/index1.php
Nizami has a credible reputation and there is further significance in the fact that this article was published in a paper from an ideologically driven (right-wing) media group that has traditionall supported the 'establishment'.

To Boycott or not to Boycott ! Thanks for this piece, good arguments. Abdul Wahid Baloch of National Party (which is boycotting) told a seminar in Islamabad on Dec 18 "MMA is very happy at the boycott. I met a friend from MMA who offered me a ride the other day, he was all smiles. He said, 'Thank you for having cleared the road for us'.� Here's the link to a piece I wrote for IPS on Dec 10 re the boycott issue - http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40403

Media: The more things change... Re: Geo's case before the Sindh High Court to restore at least the non-news channels, first the Deputy Attorney General on Nov 27 claimed that the government had not stopped the channels. Then, after inordinately delaying the case, the learned bench dismissed the petition as non-maintainable under the PCO. Was anyone surprised?

Eyewitness: Karachi, May 12, 2007 The MQM is certainly not the only party that wields arms in Karachi - its rivals are hardly Gandhian in their outlook, which is what it would require to remain unarmed and peaceful in the face of the threat that day.

But MQM is the most dominant party in Karachi - and it forms Government. Therefore it has a responsibility to maintain peace. It was the Government that disarmed most of the city`s police force that day and ordered the law enforcing agencies to allow the rampage until 4 pm. As a friend wrote, ``It could not have been the Chief Justice or the opposition. It has to be the Government and the Government means Musharraf.`` In Karachi, Government also means MQM.

One more quote from a lawyer in Karachi: ``First, the media does do the same for political thuggery by other parties. The media and civil society have never hesitated in condemning the terrorism and savagery of militant sectarian groups. The only difference is that other parties do not issue lists of `chauvanistic journalists`. Other parties do not present bullets in an envelope, as has been reported to have been done with Azhar Abbas (see today`s Pakistani newspapers), who is on the MQM`s list of `chauvanistic journalists.` The truth is that until recently we did not have the courage of confronting the MQM with our written words. But the truth has confronted the MQM courtesy of live television.

``Second. Nobody wants to eradicate the MQM or its supreme leader Mr. Altaf Hussain. We only want it to lift the aura of fear and violence.``

A Personal Publication Bina Sarkar Ellias` website is www.gallerie.net

To Margaret Hassan, It Matters For those who appear to have taken my piece the wrong way - I am not at all trying to justify the plight of Margaret Hassan, merely pointing out that it is US aggression and heavy-handedness that has led to the breakdown of law & order, leading to this kidnapping spree. I don`t believe the kidnappers can escape responsibility for their actions, but those who have attacked Iraq on false pretexes must also shoulder their share of the blame.

Re: Afghanistan - in some ways certainly it is better off, and the situation there is different from Iraq. Perhaps I should not have mentioned them in the same breath, but to me, the connection is that in both countries, US bombings have caused horrific civilian casualties and breakdowns in infrastructure. These in turn have only enraged more people, turned increasing numbers against `the West`, and enabled them to take advantage of the prevailing lawlessness - and it is the ordinary Iraqis, and people like Margaret Hassan who are paying the price.

I stand corrected on Robin Cook - that sentence should have read: ``There is already fierce opposition to this in Britain, including by former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, then Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House of Commons, who resigned from the government in protest against Britain’s involvement in what he, along with millions of protestors around the world, saw as an unjustified invasion.``

A Wedding Night in Boston... Enjoyed this highly readable and well written piece immensely!

The Price of Love Update on this case is, unfortunately as Saman Khan predicted, the girl`s father did get his way. Unable to withstand the pressure (she`d been beaten up, locked up, and forced into a nikkah with her cousin), she eventually told `Kalam` to leave her alone, and he has given up the case. Unless the two of them are willling to fight it out, there`s nothing anyone on the outside can do, sadly. Re: mshergill`s question - lots of links to hudood ordinance articles, including on this site; I provided some links in a previous interact here.
beena

The Forgotten 54 and More http://www.dawn.com/2004/10/15/letted.htm#3

`Forgotten POWs`

Your Oct 2 editorial ``Forgotten POWs``, referring to a letter from the daughter of an Indian army officer, was apt and a humane reminder of the senseless stand taken by the governments of Pakistan and India.

The release of two Indian soldiers taken prisoner during the Kargil conflict is a welcome move which also underscores the emotional plight of relatives of those described as `missing`, `deserter` or `declared dead` Indian or Pakistan soldiers.

The letter also claims that ``at least 54 Indian POWs are still languishing in jails in Pakistan since 1971 and some could be in prison on the Indian side too`` (hoping against hope). But the ``official positions do not tell the whole story`` raises hopes among the kith and kin of the long lost (forgotten) souls.

A critical point you have raised is that ``both (India and Pakistan) may not want to touch a sensitive issue by publicly admitting the presence of POWs``. To overcome the apparent embarrassment (diplomatic denial), the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) has evolved a process.

Two committees for peace and reconciliation were set up by the sixth joint convention held in Karachi (December last). A meeting of the joint committee (India and Pakistan) was held during the 10 years of celebration on Sept 5 in Lahore.

Relevant to the forgotten POWs ``it was decided to adopt as a priority issue the identification of Indian prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistan prisoners in India. Two sub-committees were set up to take the responsibility for extensive investigation and compiling the list of such prisoners within a timeframe ranging from three to six months.

The process is on in India and Pakistan and hopefully by the end of this year there will be solid evidence to this effect. The seventh joint convention of PIPFPD is to be held in February 2005 in Delhi where concrete steps will be taken to resolve this agonizing issue.

DR S. HAROON AHMED

Co-convener, Peace and Reconciliation Committee, PIPFPD, Karachi