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| Afghanistan/South Asia | |
| Nuggets from the Urdu press | |
| 2004-12-31 | |
| Religion 'khana' allowed in passport According to Nawa-e-Waqt, Maulana Jullundhari of Khairul Madaris in Multan announced that the interior secretary had submitted to the threat by the religious leaders of an all-out protest against the government by allowing the entry of religion in the machine-readable passport to be issued in the future. The government had taken the stance that the religious 'khana' (category) did not occur in the passports of other Muslim states like Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Malaysia, but the clergy wanted non-Muslims clearly pointed out. In Insaf, leader of Ahrar said that the government should not refer to the Qadianis as Ahmedis as that was a misleading name. Later interior minister Sherpao said there would be no religion khana but religion minister Ijazul Haq said that there should be. Insulter not buried in graveyard According to Insaf, one Chaudhry Bashir Ahmed had insulted the Holy Prophet PBUH and was convicted by the court. But during his stay in Bahawalpur jail he allegedly died of heart attack. Immediately the clergy in Bahawalnagar announced that no one would be allowed to read his janaza (funeral prayer) and that no one would be allowed to bury him in a graveyard. Therefore, his family received his dead body and buried it on their own property. But the atmosphere in Bahawalpur was tense during the janaza. Hitler gifted car to Allama Mashriqi According to daily Pakistan, the founder of Khaksar Tehreek in India, Allama Inayatullah Mashriqi wrote his masterpiece Tazkira and sent to his hero Hitler, who read it and rewarded him with a gift of a car in 1929. The car was a Renault. Allama Mashriqi rode the car but in 1931 he gave it up. But the police during their raids on his residence often took it and used it mercilessly till its condition became bad. The Renault Company had frequently requested to buy back the car for a thousand dollars but the car was safe at Mashriqi House on Zaildar Road in Lahore.
Fire spares Quran According to Insaf, in India's Hyderabad when a fire spread in a storeroom, it destroyed everything. The Quran kept in the store also caught fire and was consumed by it but the portions where the Arabic text was written was spared by fire, which was considered a miracle. Generals and accountability Writing in daily Pakistan, Tanvir Qaiser Shahid stated that National Assembly's standing committee on production once called chairman of Pakistan Steel Mill General (Retd) Abdul Qayyum (formerly head of Wah ordnance factory) for some explanations but he refused to come to Islamabad for the session. Similarly a Senate standing committee called the Major General in charge of PASSCO for certain explanations and he too refused to attend. When the committee chairman was too insistent the said Major General phoned him and threatened him. When the chairman still insisted he sent agriculture minister Bosan and secretary Ismail Qureshi but did not appear himself. Don't joke with clerics! Sarerahe stated in Nawa-e-Waqt that state minister for religious affairs should be careful in making fun of the ulema in Pakistan. The minister had said that clerics and heejras (gays) could be responsible for the spread of AIDS in Pakistan. The column warned him against bringing disrepute to the religious leaders in charge of seminaries of Pakistan. He could however play around with the heejras. According to daily Pakistan, the minister said that 500 cases of sexual abuse against the clerics were under investigation. | |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |