Khalil Dale – the courageous aid worker who was gunned down in Pakistan

The courageous aid workers who fear no evil

He’d already been kidnapped and tortured – so what drove murdered aid worker Khalil Dale back to the danger zone?

By Sarah Rainey

Asked to describe his job as an aid worker for the Red Cross in some of the world’s most dangerous locations, Khalil Rasjed Dale compared it to a Mad Max film. “You’ve got people driving around in cars with machine guns,” he said in an interview in 1998. “There’s no government infrastructure, no law and order and we were trying to help vulnerable people nobody else seemed to care for… You just didn’t know what was going to happen next.”

Two days ago, Dale was found dead. Stationed abroad for more than 30 years, he had been taken hostage by suspected pro-Taliban terrorists on January 5. His decapitated body, wrapped in a plastic bag, was dumped by the side of a road in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan province, one of the most troubled regions of Pakistan.

Dale’s murder left many stunned by the brutality inflicted on such a gentle-mannered man. But as his family grieves, his death has brought into the spotlight the role of British aid workers, stationed in some of the world’s most volatile countries. His loss is not the first, nor will it be the last.

Read more » telegraph.co.uk

Hasan Nasir: ‘We, who were murdered in the darkest lanes’ (Ham jo tareek rahon mey maarey gay)

Comrade Hasan Nasir Shaheed

Excerpt;

November 13, marks the death anniversary of Hasan Nasir Shaheed who was succumbed to death in infamous Lahore Fort’s chamber of horrors in 1960 by Pakistani state. Scion of an aristocratic family of Hyderabad, Deccan, Hasan Nasir was a student at the Cambridge University in England, when he came under the influence of the communist party, which had a vibrant presence in the academia of UK during the post WW II period. …

… The Lahore Fort was a symbol of terror in Pakistan at that time. This symbol of Mughal majesty had been turned into a draconian detention and investigation center during the period of British colonialism. The ‘criminals’ of the independence movement were often detained in the Fort for questioning through questionable means. After 1947, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took over the command of the Lahore Fort. After the ban on the Communist Party along with its sister organizations, and the military coup of 1958, the Lahore Fort was often used to interrogate leftist political activists.

After Hasan Nasir’s murder his mangled body was hastily buried by the police…..

Here’s elegy of Faiz Sahab written in 1961 for Hasan Nasir:

Naagahaan aaj merey taar-e-nazar se kat kar

tukrey-tukrey huey aafaaq pe khursheed-o-qamar

ab kisee samt andheraa na ujaalaa hogaa

bujh gayee dil ki tarah raah-e-wafaa mere baad

dosto! qaafla-e-dard ka ab kyaa hogaa

ab koi aur karey parwarish-e-gulshan-e-gham

dosto khatm hui deeda-e-tar ki shabnam

tham gayaa shor-e-junoon khatm hui baarish-e-sang

khaak-e-rah aaj liye hai lab-e-dildaar ka rang

koo-e-jaanaan men khulaa mere lahoo ka parcham

dekhiye detey hain kis-kis ko sadaa merey baad

kaun hota hai hareef-e-mai mard afgan-e-ishq

hai mukarrar lab-e-saaqee pe jilaa merey baad

Read more » LUBP
See more » http://criticalppp.com/archives/62554

Two Young Sindhi Political Workers Ruthlessly Murdered in Sindh, Pakistan

By Khakid Hashmani

The people of Sindh once again woke up to the sad news that two of their young leaders Qurban Khawar and Roplo Cholyani were brutally murdered. They were travelling in a car along with another leader Noorullah Tunio who survived the attack. The three leaders belonged to a leading Sindh nationalist party. The party alleged that the murders were carried out by death squads of infamous premier Intelligence agency of Pakistan. As the news of their brutal murder spread through Sindh, a wave of sorrow and anger rose through many of cities, towns and villages. The shops and businesses closed in the protest and people came out in the streets demonstrating their resolve to continue their struggle for Sindhi Rights.

The surviving leader Noorullah Tunio was interviewed by the local police. In a video posted on YouTube, he is seen saying that two vehicles sandwiched their car and started firing. Once the car stopped, they threw petrol and lighted causing further destruction when the petrol tank blew up.

After the murders, leaders of several Sindh nationalist parties issued statements and demanded justice. One leader said that there is a secret plan to eliminate leaders of patriot Sindhi leaders so that the favorites of the establishment have a free hand in sabotaging Sindh’s rights movement. Another Sindhi leader said that the frequency of killing of Sindhi leaders has leads him to believe that there is a conspiracy to create Balochistan like situation in Sindh in order to eliminate Sindh nationalists and get rid of democratic set-up.

“Shoot us” : Mazhar Arif writes on role of media in Taseer’s killing

“Shoot us”

by Mazhar Arif

Urdu press and leading television channels, played a catalytic role in what happened. They lament that the responsibility of Taseer’s assassination rests with the irresponsible media and its howling and yelling anchors. The Jamaat-e-Islami and Sipah-e-Sahaba affiliated journalists and analysts in the media berated and maligned Taseer for supporting poor Christian rural worker Aasia Bibi …

Read more : View Point

British MP’s wife found working as a sex worker

LONDON: A British MP’s wife works as a prostitute charging 70 pounds “for oral sex without a condom followed by full sex with a condom”, said a media report here. The revelation left the MP stunned as he said: “That’s a horrible shock”.

Sunday Mirror reported that Tory MP Mike Weatherley’s Brazilian wife Carla, 39, works at three seedy brothels.

The expose could prove ­embarrassing to Prime Minister David Cameron, who campaigned alongside Weatherley at the general election earlier this year.

Weatherley met Carla 10 years ago while he was on a business trip to Rio de Janeiro. Sources say that she was already then a sex worker. There is, however, nothing to suggest that Weatherley knew.

Read more >> The Times of India