[DAWN] The arrival of Sirajul Haq as the fifth emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI) is being interpreted variously. Most commonly, however, it is being viewed as the restoration in the Jamaat of the Qazi Hussain Ahmed ...the absolutely humorless, xenophobic former head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He was also head of the MMA, a coalition of religious parties formed after 2001 that eventually collapsed under the weight of the holy egos involved. Qazi was the patron of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar during the Afghan mujaheddin's war against the Soviets. His sermons are described as fiery, which means they rely heavily on gospel and not at all on logic. Qazi once recommended drinking camel pee for good health, but that was before his kidneys went... strain of populist politics fired by a strong desire to evolve into a mainstream political party.
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04/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] INCIDENTS of communal violence targeted at Sindh's Hindu population are occurring with disturbing regularity. On early Friday morning a Hindu temple in Hyderabad was set on fire by unidentified arsonists, resulting in damage to an idol and the structure itself. Earlier this month a dharamshala in Larkana was attacked by rioters after a Hindu man in the town allegedly desecrated the Holy Koran. These attacks send ominous signals to Sindh's Hindu community while they indicate that the pluralistic atmosphere of the province is deliberately being poisoned. Sindh is not immune to the tide of fanaticism that has overwhelmed Pakistain. And unless consistent efforts are made by the state and society to address such violent incidents, the situation will only deteriorate. A number of suspects were picked up on Saturday while Sindh police officials are looking into different angles to unmask the culprits behind the temple attack. Apart from the involvement of myrmidons, the possible role of IDPs and land-grabbers is also being examined. Unless proper investigations are conducted, this case, like many before it, will remain unsolved, which will not bode well for religious harmony in Sindh.
As historian Dr Mubarak Ali stated in a lecture in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... on Friday, to sit quietly as intolerance grows against non-Moslems is akin to acceptance of communalism. Political parties and civil society in Sindh have spoken out against the acts of desecration. Yet more needs to be done to promote interfaith harmony amongst the people and to actively oppose the communal narrative. It is not enough to simply say that Sindh is the land of Sufis; society must indicate through its actions that the message of amity and brotherhood preached by the mystics of yore is still alive in today's Sindh and that the hateful narrative of zealots has no place here. The state, on its part, must bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice to show non-Moslems it is serious about protecting their places of worship and to send a strong message to communalists.
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04/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] DO all rulers wish for absolute power? Most of them probably do. Do they have their wish granted? Not many in this day and age are as lucky as Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... . Lord Acton had famously warned that "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Richard Fallon, our constitutional law professor at Harvard Law, had concluded at the end of his course that the law's best bet against abuse of power has been to require it to be widely distributed, regulate discretion of power wielders and subject their decisions to disclosure and scrutiny.
Livid at the whimsical appointments and transfers undertaken by the caretakers in 2013, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the current defence minister and possibly the sanest voice in PML-N, filed a petition before the Supreme Court. The apex court accepted his petition and undid the caretaker appointments.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nawaz Sharif
