One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life. ~ Khalil Gibran
Tag Archives: Love
Women Get BORED With Their Monogamous Men – Even More Scientific Proof
by
It’s always nice when science reinforces the things I’ve been saying for years. It happens so often these days I’ve pretty much stopped reporting it. Yet I recently came across this New York Times article that’s quite wonderful. It’s got me written all over it. Continue reading Women Get BORED With Their Monogamous Men – Even More Scientific Proof
Ranbir – Katrina’s love life
Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif made headlines with the rumours of opting for a live-in relationship. According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Ranbir and Katrina had visited an architect for the interiors of their Bandra apartment. The report further stated that Katrina is indeed significant in Ranbir’s life which made him take the decision to move out of the Kapoor house. The home in question will reportedly be ready by next year. And Ranbir Kapoor is soon going to make a major announcement and surprise everyone.
Read more » The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/Ranbir-Katrinas-love-life/photostory/45348738.cms
Now Sex is not forbidden topic in Pakistan
Now Sex is not forbidden topic in Pakistan
Read more » BBC urdu
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2014/12/141202_sexual_health_programme_pak_zs?ocid=socialflow_twitter
Sex should be everyone’s right in Pakistan as its basic need of body: says Rights activist Farzana Bari
Video clip is in Hindi/ urdu language.
Courtesy: Roz News Tv » DailyMotion
PEACE – Make Love, Not War
21 September: International Peace Day
“On this International Day of Peace, let us pledge to teach our children the value of tolerance and mutual respect. Let us invest in the schools and teachers that will build a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity. Let us fight for peace and defend it with all our might.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.
Read more » UN.org
http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/
LOVE RULES THE DAY!
Supreme Court Bolsters Gay Marriage With Two Major Rulings
By ADAM LIPTAK
WASHINGTON — In a pair of major victories for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that married same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits and, by declining to decide a case from California, effectively allowed same-sex marriages there.
The rulings leave in place laws banning same-sex marriage around the nation, and the court declined to say whether there was a constitutional right to such unions. But in clearing the way for same-sex marriage in California, the nation’s most populous state, the court effectively increased to 13 the number of states that allow it.
The decisions will only intensify the fast-moving debate over same-sex marriage, and the clash in the Supreme Court reflected the one around the nation. In the hushed courtroom Wednesday morning, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced the majority opinion striking down the federal law in a stately tone that indicated he was delivering a civil rights landmark. After he finished, he sat stonily, looking straight ahead, while Justice Antonin Scalia unleashed a cutting dissent.
Read more » The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/us/politics/supreme-court-gay-marriage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Why I Love Pakistan
Why I Love Pakistan (March 23, 2013)
Following is the text of the keynote address I delivered at the Pakistan Day banquet of the Pakistan Association of America, Troy, Michigan, March 23, 2013. – Ethan Casey
There’s a question I get asked almost invariably, whenever I speak in public about a country I’ve known and loved for almost twenty years: Why Pakistan? I don’t think I can fully or satisfactorily answer that question, but this talk will be an attempt at least to acknowledge and address it.
The people who ask the question – Why Pakistan? – often phrase it as, “Why did you first go to Pakistan?” There are specific, contingent answers I can give to that version of the question. Most specifically, I first went to Pakistan in early 1995 because a fourteen-year-old Pakistani Christian boy, Salamat Masih, and his uncle were on trial for blasphemy, and the newspaper I was writing for at the time, the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, wanted me to write about it. More broadly, I had become interested in the horrible and chronically disputed situation in Kashmir, I had already spent many weeks on the ground in the Kashmir Valley itself and several months in India, and I felt both a desire and a duty to spend time in Pakistan, in order to elicit and appreciate the Pakistani point of view on Kashmir. These were identifiable, proximate starting points for what has become my lifelong friendship with Pakistan.
I don’t think that’s what most people who ask mean by the question, though. Implied in it are a few other questions: Why do you care about Pakistan? Why do you look at and write about Pakistan so differently from so many other Americans? Why in the world would you go to a country with such a bad reputation? Why do you keep going back?
These questions are more interesting, and my books are attempts to offer full, proper answers to them. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that it has taken me the effort of writing two full books, just to begin answering the questions for myself.
Which is to say that I can’t really explain my enduring interest in, and love for, Pakistan, but I can narrate it. I once told a New York literary agent that I had written a book about Pakistan. He responded by asking me: “What’s your argument?” I’m sure the agent considered himself savvy, but his question betrayed the fact that he looked at Pakistan the same tiresome way most members of the American political and publishing establishment do: not as a country and a society in its own right, but as a problem or challenge for America to deal with, about which it’s necessary for any writer to have an argument. Not only do I refuse to see Pakistan that way; I genuinely don’t see it that way. I don’t claim to know or understand Pakistan completely. But by the same token, I don’t know or understand my own wife or mother or father or brother completely. But I love my wife and parents and brother, and my own country, as well as I humanly can, despite their faults and flaws, as I know they also love me despite mine. My love for Pakistan is similar: human, based on flawed and partial knowledge and understanding, but honest and genuine. I was so surprised by the literary agent’s question – “What’s your argument?” – that I could scarcely blurt out my answer, which was and is: “I’m not making an argument; I’m telling a story.”
7th April – The First Anniversary of Bashir Qureshi: “Such is my Love for Mother Sindh, Other Beloveds all Forgotten”
By Dr. Ahmed Makhdoom
“Watthee hara hara janamu waribo, mitthaa Mehraann mein milbo”
“Every birth each ‘n every time we’ll keep returning to Sindh Mo0therland,
Dearest! Each ‘n every time we’ll keep meeting on banks of Mehran grand”
(Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
(Note: Mehran – Sindhuu Nadee, Indus
River; Grand ‘n Great River of Sindh)
Today, 7th April 2013, is the First Anniversary of the departure of that magnificent, monumental and marvellous Sindhi leader, Saaeen Bashir Khan Quraishi, from his Motherland, Sindh and from our midst, his beloved kindred folks, Maaruunarraa of his Maleer! Integrity ‘n Credibility, Humility ‘n Humbleness are some of the most important ‘n formidable qualities in a real ‘n true, verdant ‘n veritable leader of a great ‘n glorious Nation! His integrity was impeccable! His credibility was impregnable! His humility exemplary! His humbleness exceptional! If Sindh be the Queen of the World, he was her Crowning Glory!
This is my humble homage ‘n a tearful tribute to Bashir Khan Quraishi on his 1st Death Anniversary! I am sharing herewith my humble and modest homage and a tearful and heart-wrenching tribute that I posted on 7th April, 2012, when we heard the passing-away of this wonderful man, a real and true leader of Sindhis and one of my dearest and closest friend! He was venomously, wily and viciously poisoned by the savages, brutes and barbarians who tyrannically rule, terrorise, torture and torment our glorious motherland, Sindh, and the simple, naive, gullible and docile indigenous people of Sindh, today!
Extremely saddened and shocked to learn about the passing-away of one of the most cherished, loved and illustrious son of Sindh. We raise our humble hands towards the Magnificent Lord (Allah, God, Ishwar, Ahura-Mazda, Waaheguru) in sacred prayer, to grant our brother Bashir Khan Qureshi, a choicest place in His Gardens. May His Soul Rest in Peace! May the Good Lord give courage and fortitude to his entire family, colleague, friends and millions of Sindhis in Sindh, Hind and worldwide Diaspora he had left behind mourning, to bear this extremely heavy untimely and irreplaceable loss with patience and forbearance. Aameen.
We also beseech the Most Beneficent Creator to shower His Mercy and Benevolence over his beloved Motherland, Sindh, now suddenly and sadly left without the great helmsman and, I must say, anchorless in this turbulent ocean of our existence.
Bashir Qureshi was a leader extraordinaire, an exceptional and exquisite human being and a bright and brilliant sun that shone and glittered our Fatherland, Sindh!
He was the roaring and raging voice of Sindh, the versatile leader of Sindh, the brave and courageous Sindhi, the humble and loving human being is no more with us! He fought for Sindh, he agitated for the rights of downtrodden people of Sindh, he vociferously, vehemently and valiantly declared Independence and Freedom for Sindh and, sadly, he paid the ultimate price – the martyrdom. Now, it is up to people of Sindh to RESOLVE, UNITE and FIGHT for the Freedom of their Motherland!
SANA is a secular voice of North American Sindhis
President of Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) Jamil Daudi said in his statement; SANA is a secular organization to its core, in the true sense of the word, meaning that it doesn’t believe in the discrimination on the basis of one’s faith or lack of faith whatever the case may be. SANA, like Sindh, belongs to all the peace loving Sindhis no matter what religion or faith they believe in.
He said, I would request all the members of SANA and all the SANA-list members to please follow the spirit of Sindh, i.e., tolerance for each other and for all the fellow members of the organization, and all human beings at large. Let’s join hands to do good, as Sindhi, we believe in making the world a safer place to live in & spread love & peace.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, February 25, 2013.
Promoting Inter Faith Harmony – Pakistani students preserve the historical Katas Raj Mandir of Pakistan.
Courtesy: YouTube
Must watch: After violence-mongers had their day of senseless rage, Pakistani youth cleaned the mess with the message of tolerance
“Here’s the other side of Newsweek’s Muslim Rage photo. Something the mainstream media wouldn’t be too keen to show you in highlighted characters and red strips. Today, tens of hundreds of people showed up from 8 year olds to 60+ senior citizens in different cities of Pakistan to clean up the mess created by the few individuals who somehow always end up defining Pakistan. Here’s to all of today’s participants, you’re the reason why we have a good future. Pakistan is proud of you.
Courtesy: Vimeo
Happy Raksha Bandhan to All brothers and Sister
By: Jadam Sindhu
“Sister is someone who is caring and sharing. Sister can understand things you never said. She can understand pain which is not visible to anyone. I love my sisters.” Happy Raksha Bandhan to All brothers and Sister 🙂
Courtesy: Adopted from Facebook
Sindh after the ‘Love for Sindh’ rally
By Haider Nizamani
The killing of Sindhi political activists in Karachi on May 22 by masked gunmen laid bare the fault lines that may define the future political landscape of Sindh. That the violence against peaceful demonstrators was not followed by attacks on Urdu speakers in various towns of Sindh shows the perpetrators of violence are still on the fringes.
Politicians issued customary condemnations and formed committees. Some spoke of creating a new province in Sindh, while others vowed never to let that happen. It needs a deeper understanding of the issue by Sindh’s politicians and intelligentsia to tone down the rhetoric that emphasizes differences between Sindhi and Urdu speakers.
Sindh can easily do without antics such as Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement that Nawaz Sharif is responsible for the killings carried out by trained snipers in Karachi. The allegation is a dangerous mix of political expediency, incompetence and insensitivity that neither helps us understand the dynamics of politics in Sindh nor instils confidence about the government’s ability to apprehend the real culprits behind the killings.
What happened in Karachi on May 22 indicates enduring features of the city’s politics, but this time it can have repercussions well beyond the metropolis. It was yet another proof of an increasing trend of instantaneously resorting to violence to make a political point.
The rally was called Mohabat-e-Sindh (Love for Sindh) and the participants were unarmed. The stated objective of the rally was opposing the demand for dividing Sindh on linguistic lines and expressing solidarity with the people of Lyari, Karachi’s predominantly Baloch locality. Groups that do not carry weapons are an easy target in Karachi’s violence-ridden political milieu. The message is loud and clear: get armed or get out. The space for nonviolent political expression is fast shrinking. In that way, the attacks on late Benazir Bhutto’s rally in October 2007 and the violence against the supporters of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on May 12, 2007 were not very different from the May 22 Napier Road incident.
The level of political mistrust between Sindhi and Urdu speaking communities is also very high. Ignoring this reality by meaningless rhetorical statements of an imagined unity will not resolve the problem. What is required is a higher degree of political acumen to bring the two communities together because their fate is conjoined whether they like it or not.
Secular Sindhi Sufi (mystic) poet of peace, Shah Abdul Latif
When the world was still to be born
When Adam was still to receive his form
Then my relationship began
When I heard the Lord’s Voice
A voice sweet and clear
I said “Yes” with all my heart
And Formed a bond with the land (Sindh) I love
When all of us were one, My bond then began.
– Secular Sufi (mystic) poet of peace, Shah Abdul Latif ( 1689 – 1752 )
Rinkle Kumari and Islamists’ sudden support for love marriage: Dr Omar Ali’s comment on Rinkle Kumari
Notice that all the Islamists are saying “it was a love marriage, she left on her own accord to marry Naveed”. This must be the first time they have approved of girls running away from their family to get married. Usually they are on the side of those who are labelling them Kari and arranging for their death …
Courtesy: LUBP and Facebook
via Twitter.
Ghalib’s unique strand of Sufism – Dr Mohammad Taqi
If anything, the wine of adoration may actually have enhanced Ghalib’s description of those mystic themes of Love Divine. February 15th marks the 142nd death anniversary of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib
“Ghalib, you write so well upon these mystic themes of Love Divine,
We would have counted you a saint, but that we knew of your love of wine.”
Professors Ralph Russell and Khurshidul Islam narrate from Altaf Hussain Hali’s Yadgar-e-Ghalib (Memoir of Ghalib) that when King Bahadur Shah Zafar heard Ghalib recite the above ghazal, he commented, “No, my friend, even so we should never have counted you a saint.” Ghalib retorted, “Your Majesty counts me one even now, and only speaks like this lest my sainthood should go to my head.”
That 19th century connoisseur of wine — and mysticism — continues to fare quite well even today. Several biographies of Ghalib and translations and commentaries on his works have appeared in the past decade like the 2003 volume by Professors Russell and Islam titled The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals preceded by Natalia Prigarina’s Mirza Ghalib: A Creative Biography in 2000.
A few weeks ago in India, Justice Markandey Katju suggested that Ghalib be awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously and the writer-activist Asghar Ali Engineer started a signature campaign towards that goal. The suggestion and the campaign became mired in a controversy, which is beyond our scope here. What really caught my attention was Mr Engineer’s apt comment that besides, and in, his literary contribution, Ghalib “was a follower of what is known as Wahdat al-Wujudi school of Sufism, which is most liberal school among sufis” and his entire poetry is representative of this liberal, humanistic and all-embracing ethos.
Work on Ghalib’s poetry, letters and life had started in his lifetime, with his close friends and disciples meticulously archiving the relevant materials. Ghalib’s biographers from Hali to Russell, and his aficionados — Ghalib Shanasan — have all acknowledged his mystic aptitude if not outright mysticism. In biographical sketches his doctrinal inclinations too have been recorded. But while the masters writing on and about Ghalib have elaborated on his ostensibly sectarian persuasion and journeys in Sufism, a particular strand of Sufism that is unique to Ghalib has gone unnoticed. And interestingly this is something that has been hiding not just in plain sight but announced with pride by Ghalib himself.
Commenting on Ghalib’s faith, Russell and Islam, again on Hali’s authority, report that his antecedents were Sunni Muslim but at some point in his life he became either a Shia or at least sympathetic to the Shias. Hali himself notes that Ghalib may have been a Tafzeeli — someone who exaggerates in praising Hazrat Ali Murtaza (RA). Other scholars like Sufi Tabassum have made similar observations. This perhaps does not even begin to define Ghalib’s creed, which he had himself expressed both in verse and prose.
For all practical purposes Ghalib was not a religious man and had nothing to do with religious orthodoxies. For example, while his letters provide a great montage of almost all his life, there is remarkably no mention of him having participated in any Twelver Shia ritual at all. The anecdotes about his wine consumption and not observing fast or prayer rituals have, of course, been part of literary lore. Within the 19th century orthodox Muslim society, Ghalib remained an arch unorthodox.
Sufism and its intricacies are not my forte nor do I wish to venture where the greats like Malik Ram and Maulana Ghulam Rasool Mehr had once held sway. I do want to draw the attention of the Ghalib scholars towards how within the realm of Sufism, Ghalib apportioned himself a niche that perhaps was neither explored before him nor expounded on after him. This may actually have to do with Ghalib’s well-known desire to remain above the crowd in all his temporal and, indeed, divine quests, thus remaining unorthodox even within the heterodox Sufism.
Hali’s memoir of Ghalib had carried, in its opening, a portrait of the poet captioned with a Persian verse of Ghalib. A similar sketch, along with the same verse, adorns Russell and Islam’s aforementioned work. The Urdu journal Nuqoosh had also opened its Ghalib edition with the same lines, which say:
“Ghalib-e-naam-awaram, naam-o-nishanam ma-purs,
hum Asadullahem-o-hum Asadullahi-em.”
(I am the renowned Ghalib; do not ask of my name and fame/I am both Asadullah and Asadullah’s man.)
Russell and Islam explain it as: “My name is Asadullah and my allegiance is to Asadullah, ‘the Lion of God’ — a title of Ali (RA), a cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and the object of Ghalib’s special reverence.” But translating Asadullahi as mere allegiance is quite exoteric and does not do justice to the verse and the nuanced thought therein. On many occasions in his letters Ghalib refers to being the servant of Ali (RA), saying, for example, “Ali ka bandah hoon, uss ki kasam jhoot naheeN khata” (I am the retainer of my lord Ali [RA] and do not swear by his name in vain).
The God-man relationship in the sufi realm, of course, has many dimensions. The fundamental one is that of Lord (rabb) and His servant (abd), and the more sublime and complex one is an inimitable and divine intimacy (wasl) with the Creator (dhat). Reading Ghalib’s above quoted Persian verse, and other Urdu and Persian verses, and parts of his prose together suggest that the intended esoteric meaning of Asadullahi is not as limited as Russell et al had noted — perhaps Ghalib was pushing the envelope.
Ghalib himself leads us into the second and related dimension of his sufi realm in another Persian verse, saying:
“Mansoor-e-firqah-e-Ali-allahiyan manem,
Awaza-e-anaa Asadullah der afganem.”
Translation: (If) there is a sect of those saying Ali [RA] is our lord, (then) I am their Mansoor, For I chant that I am the (lord) Asadullah.
Mansoor al-Hallaj’s claim and fame in mysticism are self-explanatory. But by drawing a parallel between Mansoor and God on the one hand and himself and Asadullah Ali on the other, via equating an-al-Haq and anaa Asadullah, Ghalib appears to have let us in on the crux of his Wahdat al-Wujudi philosophy, and more. In his declaration ‘I am Asadullah’ and thereby the annihilation into Ali, Ghalib distinguishes himself not just from the ordinary crowd but also his strand of Sufism from other sufis and sufi orders.
If anything, the wine of adoration may actually have enhanced Ghalib’s description of those mystic themes of Love Divine. February 15th marks the 142nd death anniversary of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.
(Versified translations from Professors Ralph Russell and Khurshidul Islam.)
The writer can be reached at mazdaki@me.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/mazdaki
Courtesy: Daily Times
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20122\16\story_16-2-2012_pg3_2#.Tz0GpQOz204.twitter
India – The Parso Gidwani Center for Sindhi Studies.
By Gul Agha
Saaiin Parso Gidwani had a bhuungo constructed in a small village Kutch and stayed there. His love of Sindh was legendary. I went to visit Saaiin Parso Gidwani in 2000 in Kutch but he had gone for treatment to Mumbai they said. Some time after I returned to the US, he wrote to me and very kindly sent a copy of his book on the Sindhi language. “The Parso Gidwani Centre of Sindhi Studies was created in 2011 in memory of the Ethnolinguist Parso J. Gidwani (1937-2004) who was a pioneer in the field of ethnology and linguistics related to the Sindhi world. The PGCSS results from a cooperation between Dr Michel Boivin, Centre for South Asian Studies, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, France) and Dr Charu Gidwani, R. K. Talreja College (Ulhasnagar, India). The Centre is a first step towards realizing Parso Gidwani’s wish for an Institute for Sindhi Studies. Its policy is framed by an Advisory Board whose members are scholars of international fame. The PGCSS is an integrated approach to Sindhi Studies with perspectives on Sindhi History, Culture, Literature and Language.”
Via » above article adopted from Gul Agha’s facebook page.
Qawwali – Aaye Hain Woh
» YouTube
Ram Bhi Maan Bhagwaan Bhi Maan
“Ram Bhi Maan Bhagwaan Bhi Maan” Poetry: Hazrat GM Mast Parwazi, Singer: Inayat Khaskheli.
» YouTube
Sindh and Its Sindhiyat – By Geet Chainani, M.D.
– Sindh, the land of Sufis, the hope and ultimate destination of my quest!
The time I’ve spent in Sindh, Pakistan over the last year and a half has been life changing. It’s taught me much about the history of South Asia, the cultural heritage of Sindh, our Sindhi brothers and sisters, the dynamics of the Muhajir- Sindhi relationship among a few things. But I believe these to be the more obvious lessons that every second generation removed Sindhi Indian American would also search for when they visit.
There’s been a deeper and much more personal journey involved for me as well: a spiritual one. I came to the land of Sufis to find myself with the hope to find my God as the grand triumph and ultimate destination of my quest.
I’ve learnt that I’m still learning and still looking. On this journey I’ve found beautiful hidden messages that I’ve read in books or inscribed on the walls of temples and Sufi durgahs:
“Vasudeva Kutumbakam”
“Ekam sat viprah bahuda vedanti.”
“Satyam amritasya putrah”
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than bowing your head in prayer a thousand times. -Shaykh Sa’di
*
I believe not in the outer religion,
I live ever in love.
Say Amen! When love comes to you.
Love is neither with the infidels nor with the faithful.
– Sachal Sarmast
*
If you are seeking Allah,
Then keep clear of religious formalities.
Those who have seen Allah
Are away from all religions!
Those who do not see Allah here,
How will they see Him beyond?
– Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai
My time in Sindh surrounded by Sindhi Muslims has shown me the other side of Sindh’s story and another side of Sufi Islam. The stories of the Sindhi who provided their Hindu counterparts their homes to hide out in during the violence that broke out, the Muslims that bid a final farewell to their Hindu friends with tears in their eyes, the Sindhis who still hold those memories close to their hearts and feel the loss of the Sindhi Hindus as something Sindh never recovered from.
On November 7, 2011 three Hindus were killed in Shikarpur district of Sindh, Pakistan. As many of you already know, I worked in Shikarpur at the start of my time in Sindh. I still maintain close contact with my co-workers. A member of my family also sits on the board of a Hindu association of Sindh. Here’s what I must say, as it is the other side of the truth that exists.
Immediately following the killings the religious (Hindu in this case) spokesperson jumped on the bandwagon to claim religious bias as a cause of the killing. I turned to my personal network in Shikarpur for answers: there had been an election recently in which the Hindu community had supported the ruling party which won due to the large number of Hindu votes they received. The opposing party didn’t take their loss lightly and instead decided to teach a lesson to the opposite party. The end result of which was the death of the three Sindhi Hindu of whom only one was a doctor. Religious bias was not the reason for their death, politics was. Anyone who follows politics closely shouldnt be shocked to learn of the ways in which politicians use religion as a political strategy. As they say, ” The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
What followed next was an absolute uproar within the Sindhi community and an alternate backlash against the government for their inadequate response and towards Sindh warning all Sindhis that this type of violence and is anti Sindhiyat and will not be tolerated by the residents of Sindh. They further emphasized that Sindh is the land of Sufis and believes in living in a tolerant society. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend as I was in Islamabad on official business. A young activist was kind enough to send me pictures.
Following the killings thousands of Pakistanis, both Hindu and Muslim, gathered publically across Pakistan to stand against the death of the three victims and the inaccurate message of intolerance it displayed. There was also a hunger strike that followed.
Sayings in books thousands of years old that we claim as ours aren’t good enough. It is far more necessary to put those words to action and there is no better time than now. Hate only breeds hate. History is meant to learn from not to regurgitate. It’s wrong to paint today’s canvas with yesterday’s paint. When you reach into the paint jar you may end up with dried out, useless paint. This is perhaps why they say one should not live today in the past of yesterday.
No one is saying that the sentiments of the Hindu Sindhis are wrong. Anger for being removed from motherland and from sacred river Sindhu is justified. But another truth follows suit: there’s a time for anger and then there’s a time to let go, to change and to move on.
Tides must turn. Peace must prevail.
Only then will their be prosperity in South Asia again.
Praying for peace
Reference reading:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=76954&Cat=2
http://www.thehansindia.info/News/Article.asp?category=1&subCategory=4&ContentId=17528
http://www.demotix.com/news/924585/civil-society-protest-against-killing-hindu-doctors
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/11/protest-against-killing-of-hindus/
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mohandas Gandhi
To find out more or to support our work in Sindh, Pakistan please visit our website at www.thelifebridge.us
Beyond Borders, a journey of friendship between India and Pakistan by Shariq Ali
– The village was small and the entire community was tied together like a family, with common cultural values and traditions evolved over hundreds, if not thousands of years. They were farmers and knew very well as to how to work in the fields and love and sing together, but had poor understanding of the political realities of their times.
One day, they saw the sunset as one community but at the dawn, realized that the village is divided by an invisible line created not by Hindus and Muslims, but by few British advisors called Radcliffe commission. And so was the territory of 88 million people of the subcontinent. ….
Read more » ValueVersity
Washington Sindhis Join in “Sindhi Culture Celebration Day” Festivities
It is not only Sindhi-speaking people who are participating but also Pashto-speaking Sindhis, Urdu-speaking Sindhis, and Punjabi-speaking Sindhis, who live in Sindh are demonstrating their love for Sindh.
By Khalid Hashmani
The Sindhis who live in and around the Washington DC area joined festivities of the annual “Sindhi Culture Celebration Day”. The event was organized by Mrs. Nasreen and Mr. Iqbal Tareen at their residence in McLean suburb on the night between Saturday, November 19 and November 20, 2011. Several local Sindhis joined Tareens in this event to make it a memorable celebration of Sindhi culture, language and identity.
Continue reading Washington Sindhis Join in “Sindhi Culture Celebration Day” Festivities
A society obsessed with love for death – By Mujahid Hussain
During 1990s, Pasban the “Revolutionary Brigade” of Jamaat-e-Islami came up with a slogan “If we won’t succeed in equitable redistribution of resources, we’ll distribute the hunger and poverty on equal basis”. Majority of newspaper intellectuals found themselves enchanted in the apparent structure of the sentence with understanding the real implications of this vague and rather unreasonable slogan and kept them busy in forecasting a potential revolution from the village Karbath in outskirt of Lahore. But one fine morning it was Pasban itself that was found in the middle of a revolution and Jamaat-e-Islami also got some tranquility as a result. Not long ago a newspaper published a photograph of a shop where a routine ‘Sale’ was the advertised in these words: “Suicidal Attack Sale”. There was a flashback of same slogans in one’s mind when on 30th October 2011 the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf, Imran Khan while addressing the grandest ever rally of his party in Lahore declared that “Tsunami of Tahreek-e-Insaf has arrived here”. Pasban a movement of some emotional youth wanted to distribute want and hunger on equitable grounds if their campaign to provide social justice to masses fails in any case; the trader of Lahore emphasized the expanse of his price-reduction as “suicide attack” while the chief of PTI used the euphemism of a catastrophic term of tsunami to highlight his intent to provide social justice to all citizens of state and to end corruption from the country. Have we fallen short of agreeable and pro-life lexicon even to denote a positive action? ….
Read more » View Point
Split in Sindh PPP Imminent; Nawaz-Mirza under Pressure for Alliance; Fahmida Mirza Offers to Resign
– Split in Sindh PPP Imminent; President Offers Aitzaz An Important Position, May Play Prominent Role in Future; Nawaz-Mirza under Pressure for Alliance; Fahmida Mirza Offers to Resign
Aitzaz May Play Prominent Role in Future; How Fasih Bokhari Was Nominated as Chairman NAB?
By Aijaz Ahmed
Islamabad: There seldom comes a cooling off interval in Pakistani politics – at least not these days. With every passing moment, the temperature gets higher and the hectic moves and counter moves by the stakeholders create more and more confusion. Amidst all that, the moves by one of the players, Zulfikar Mirza may soon result in split within his own party.
On his return from Malaysia, Zulfikar Mirza dropped another bombshell; he addressed a press conference along with the leaders of the Peoples Amn Committee and announced that following in the footsteps of Imran Khan, he would carry three suitcases to London, UK, filled with evidence against Altaf Hussain of MQM. The statement of Mirza created another storm in the troubled city of Karachi, Sindh and prompted MQM demands for his arrest. The rampant political crisis is destined to lead towards a final showdown within the PPP ranks as well as between the PPP and its love-hate partner the MQM.
A group of PPP dissidents from Sindh is getting united with a resolve to fight against any effort for passing the proposed Local Government Ordinance, which was first introduced by military dictator Musharraf and then reintroduced by Babar Awan known as Mr. Tughral in the political circles of Islamabad.
The move is not only to oppose the local government ordinance bill, but the built in opposition to the government-MQM alliance is also coming to the fore. The group emerging around Mirza in Sindh will ultimately gain strength, and the people in the province having sympathies with PPP will by and large go with Mirza team, says a PPP leader from the political team of the president, Zardari.
The central leadership of the party is trying its best to control the damage caused by Mirza, but for the first time in the history of the party, it appears that all the efforts by the leadership are going in vain as dissent in the party is visibly increasing.
The game does not end there; rather another innings of the long and tiring game of politics is being started again, and the umpires of the game have become, as always, the main players of the innings now. There are clear indications that the behind-the-scene players who ‘encouraged’ Mirza to go up in the arms to such an extent where he put his relationship with the president at stake are trying to bring Mirza and Nawaz Sharif closer on some point of mutual interests and that is the opposition of MQM and elimination of corruption, sources in the power circle of Islamabad have revealed. ….
Read more » Indus Herald
The beauty of expressions, especially when expressed through eyes and and not said in words （︶︿︶）
My Fellow American: understanding of as being American changes the whole dynamics
My Fellow American is a film project in the United States devoted to recognizing that Muslims are our neighbors. My Fellow American project was created to offer a new narrative about Muslims in America and offer people a safe platform to discuss their opinions. My fellow American is hoping to share this message of tolerance. This 2 minute film is actually praising Muslims and showing how they are helping their fellow Americans. …
Courtesy: → Elizabeth Potter, Unity Productions Foundation,
facebook.com/MyFellowAmericanProject@usmuslimstories
Bullae Shah!
Na mein Aabi
Na mein Khaki
Na vich Paleedi Paki,
Na mein Mosa
Na Faroon,
Bullah ki janaaan mein kaun?
Na mein Arbi
Na Pashori,
Sirf Apna Ap pachan, Doja koi hor na janaan
Methon na koi hor Sayana
Bullaya O khara hai kaun?
Bullah ki janaan mein kon
SANA’s 27th annual convention begins in St. Louis, USA
St. Louis: Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) is a symbol of peace, brotherhood, love & unity. It is a platform where cultural ideas meet practice. SANA is holding its 27th Annual Convention in Saint Louis, Missouri from July 1-4. We will have two nights of Sindhi music at the Convention. We have invited best artists from Sindh.
The venue and the room reservation: The venue of the Convention is ST. LOUIS AIRPORT MARRIOTT, 10700 Pear Tree Lane · St. Louis, USA.
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