Christian Father Commits Suicide After ISIS Members Rape Wife and Daughter in Front of Him Because He Couldn’t Pay Poll Tax

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CP REPORTER

A Christian father who watched his wife and daughter get brutally raped by members of the militant group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) because he couldn’t pay them a poll tax in Mosul, Iraq, killed himself under the weight of the trauma this past weekend.

A report from the Assyrian International News Agency said ISIS began enforcing Islamic laws in the northern Iraq city which they overran on June 10.

Read more » The Christian Post
http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-father-commits-suicide-after-isis-members-rape-wife-and-daughter-in-front-of-him-because-he-couldnt-pay-poll-tax-122220/

Francis Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina elected pope

Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina elected pope

VATICAN CITY: (Reuters) – Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope on Wednesday to lead the Roman Catholic Church, a prelate announced to huge crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

He took the name Pope Francis, the cardinal said.

Cardinals elected Bergoglio on just the second day of a secret conclave to find a successor to Pope Benedict, who abdicated unexpectedly last month.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer)

Courtesy: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-pope-succession-idUSBRE92808520130313

A bad movie plot

By: Irfan Husain

ANOTHER day, another crisis in Pakistan. What else is new? Given the roller-coaster ride we have been on these last few years, nothing has the power to surprise or shock anymore.

Even the fact that a warrant for the arrest of Makhdoom Shahabuddin has been issued just as he was filing his nomination papers for election to the prime ministership causes a big yawn.

If a screenwriter had crafted the script we have been following, a movie producer would have rejected it for being too unbelievable. The whole business about a tycoon bankrolling a series of multimillion dollar holidays for the chief justice’s son and his family is bizarre enough. But in a swift counterstroke, the prime minister is dismissed by the top judge, pushing his son’s scandal into the background.

One suo motu too many – By: Tausif Kamal

Whenever some of our preconceived myths are shattered by a stark, unyielding and yet truthful reality, we tend to revert to denial and a refusal to face up to the facts as they are

The Supreme Court’s short order in the Arsalan Iftikhar case absolving the Honourable Chief Justice (CJ) without any investigation or examination of any evidence in the underlying imbroglio is premature. It is in fact contradicted by the Supreme Court’s own statement in this order: “…the Supreme Court (SC)…cannot judge the guilt or innocence of the parties without evidence or trial…” So how is this ruling not applicable to the CJ, who is so intertwined in this scandal being the father of one of the main suspects, and whose judicial power is at the heart of this corruption scandal?

This is in way to imply that the CJ is guilty but there cannot be an exemption from inquiry and investigation along with other participants and witnesses, for possible criminal violations based just on mere words of one of the parties. Who is Malik Riaz to give a clean bill of health to the CJ? It is strange that the SC is relying on the good word of Malik Riaz whom the former considers to be an accused fit to be prosecuted for some serious criminal offences under Pakistan’s criminal laws.

To contend that the media is maligning the judiciary by highlighting this scandal is to blame the messenger and not the message. Let us not be sidetracked, for now at least, by corruption in the media, which no doubt prevails, but which is less important than the imperative of our judiciary to have an unassailable reputation and an image above reproach. Conducting a thorough probe or inquiry of all those allegedly involved, including the Honourable CJ, will clear rather than tarnish the judiciary’s reputation and remove the dark clouds hanging over our most esteemed institution.

The nation has a right to know answers to such vital questions as how long the CJ knew about his son’s involvement with Malik Riaz and how many meetings the CJ had with Malik Riaz before the matter was seized through a suo motu action. The only other acceptable alternative to such an inquiry would be for the CJ to quit honourably in the larger interests of the judiciary and the country.

Order from chaos

By Farrukh Khan Pitafi

Every wolf’s and lion’s howl

Raises from hell a human soul

— William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”

Every scandal that is brought to limelight brings with it some sign of hope. The Arsalan Iftikhar scandal is no exception. It is true that it raised some serious questions about the need for oversight over the conduct of the judiciary, the media and big businesses. Also true that it has brought our unceasing hypocrisy to the fore. Amazingly, many among those who insist that Arsalan was acting alone, even if he was not actually a victim of a conspiracy, also believe that since Abdul Qadir Gilani, the prime minister’s son, called Mubashar Lucman during a staged interview with Malik Riaz, it proves that the PPP government is involved in a plot to malign the judiciary. But what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, sirs. If you can readily believe that the chief justice’s son kept his father in the dark about his corruption, what is the harm in believing that Abdul Qadir Gilani, too, might have acted alone? …

Read more » The Express Tribune

Via- Twitter

Jaffria Alliance member’s son killed in Karachi, Pakistan

Shia killing: Hail of bullets leave Jafaria Alliance leader injured, son dead

KARACHI: Target killing of Shia leaders returned to Karachi when eminent Jafaria Alliance leader Mohsin Rizvi was attacked along with his son by unknown assailants near Patel Para as they were commuted between Golimar and their home near Islamia College, Express News reported on Friday.

Both father and son were critically injured after the attack, however Mohsin Rizvi managed to drive the car to the nearest hospital in Soldier Bazar.

The assailants managed to escape after the attack.

His son, Akmal was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. While Mohsin Rizvi’s condition was described as stable after doctors performed an emergency operation.

As news of the attack spread, a large number of leaders and workers gathered at the hospital. Distrusting official security, they set up their own cordons. …

Read more » The Express Tribune

Christian father’s tribute to Imam Hussain

» YouTube

Taliban jihadis hang 8-year-little boy in southern Afghanistan

Militants hang 8-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan

By David Ariosto, CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — An 8 year-old boy was hanged by militants in Afghanistan’s Helmand province after the boy’s father — a police officer in the southern city of Gereshk — refused to comply with militants’ demands to provide them with a police vehicle, officials said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the hanging, saying “this action is not permitted in any culture or any religion,” according to a statement Sunday, which provided details of the incident.

Karzai said he has ordered local authorities to root out the militants and arrest them “as soon as possible.” …

Read more → CNN

Aatish Taseer, the son of an assassinated Pakistani leader, explains the history and hysteria behind a deadly relationship

– Why My Father Hated India

By AATISH TASEER

Ten days before he was assassinated in January, my father, Salman Taseer, sent out a tweet about an Indian rocket that had come down over the Bay of Bengal: “Why does India make fools of themselves messing in space technology? Stick 2 bollywood my advice.”

My father was the governor of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province, and his tweet, with its taunt at India’s misfortune, would have delighted his many thousands of followers. It fed straight into Pakistan’s unhealthy obsession with India, the country from which it was carved in 1947. …

Read more → THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Shehrbano Taseer: Hatred that killed my father hurts all Pakistan

Five months ago, my father Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by his security guard Mumtaz Qadri for opposing misuse of Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws. During the investigation, we were shown a video that made my blood freeze. In a tiny madrassa in Rawalpindi, the chief cleric of a little known Sunni religious group, Shabab-e-Islami, was frothing at the mouth, screeching to 150 swaying men inciting them to kill my father, “the blasphemer”.

Qadri was in the audience, nodding and listening intently. A few days later, on January 4, he casually strolled up behind my father and shot him 27 times. As was reported this week, the blasphemy laws are still being used to persecute Christians, while Qadri, who has still not stood trial, is treated as a hero.

Losing the battle for Pakistan

by Sher Ali Khan

A few days ago, the progressive-leaning parliamentarian Shabaz Bhatti was shot down in cold blood for advocating a moderated stance against a draconian law in Pakistan. The changing societal dynamics comes in the backdrop of a struggling democratic government, which is failing to assert itself for Pakistan’s survival.

It was almost a month ago when I wrote a report for the Express Tribune about the Christian community yearning for a ‘more tolerant’ Lahore. After exploring various pockets of the society, it was sad to see that the community had become insolent and rather afraid to even interact with general population.

If one spoke to historians regarding the character of Lahore say not sixty but thirty years ago, one would have found a completely different social structure in Lahore. Though Islam had rapidly become a majority entity, communal activities were not exclusive rather they were inclusive.

The story of Pakistan’s road down the conception of Islamic state has only hardened differences between various communities to the point Pakistanis cannot be considered Pakistanis without obeying to a certain brands of Islam.

For years, the army and the ISI have provided safe havens for militant groups as part of a greater plan to maintain a strategic and military presence in Kashmir and Afghanistan. It is clear with the confirmed death of Colonel Imam, the so-called father of the Taliban that the dynamics of these relationships have changed over time. Increasingly these militant groups have become rouge thus functioning beyond the scope of the state. …

Read more : View Point

Notes From My Memory – Mir Thebo

…. I like G. M. Syed but not his fanatic followers because if you differ with them even slightly, they will consider you an enemy of Syed and Sindh. I have few memories of G. M. SYED and his politics that I can share with you.

According to Wikipedia, G. M. Syed was a political leader who pioneered the Jeay Sindh movement for the freedom of Sindh from Pakistan. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Sindhi nationalism. In 1930 he founded the Sindh Hari Committee, later led by Hyder Bux Jatoi. …

Read more : Indus Herald

About the author : Mir Thebo has played a prominent role as a leftist, progressive political activist for at least four decades in Sindh & Pakistan (60s-90s). He will be writing on personalities & events & also share with you his views on many issues from the past.

Nurse finds her long-lost dad

Nurse Discovers Patient Is Her Long-Lost Father

– David Knowles

Wanda Rodriguez, a 41-year-old assistant head nurse at New York’s Calvary Hospital, had not seen her father since she was a baby.

Raised by her mother in the Bronx after her parents broke up when she was less than a year old, Rodriguez didn’t know much more of her father than his name, Victor Peraza, and her mother’s recollection that Rodriguez looked a lot like him.

But as fate would have it, on Aug. 25 a new cancer patient was admitted to Calvary, a hospital that administers care to the terminally ill. When Rodriguez learned his name while discussing his case with a colleague, she froze up.

“I thought, if he’s my complexion, if he has green eyes, he could be my dad,” Rodriguez told ABC News. …

Read more >> AOL News

A Father Taken Hostage By His Daughter

Source – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXlNEV1lKWg&feature=player_embedded

Father, son and the donkey!

Folk story>> A man and his son along with their donkey were going through a jungle .

Suddenly they were accosted by a person who said ,’ Both of you are walking along with your donkey . At least one of you should ride the donkey.’

Hearing this , the father put his son on the donkey .

After sometime, they met another person ,who said to the son ‘,Imagine a young man riding a donkey while the father walks behind .Shame on you .’

Hearing this , the father asked the son to get down and mounted the donkey himself .

After some time they met another person , who said ,’Your donkey is strong enough to carry both of you . Why walk in the sun ?’

So the father asked his son also to ride the donkey .

After some time they met another person who said, ‘Imagine both of you riding a poor donkey. Shame on you ,’

This time , the father did not know what to do

That is life . You can’t please one and all. Listen to all, think it over but decide yourself what to do. Anyway, whatever you do, it is okay by me, only don’t carry the donkey.