Suicide bombers holed up in Lal Masjid: President Musharrf

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ISLAMABAD, June 29: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Friday that an operation could be launched against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa brigade, but a raid would lead to heavy casualties on both sides because a large number of suicide bombers were inside the mosque and seminaries.

Responding to reporters’ questions at the concluding ceremony of the National Media Workshop at the National Defence University, President Musharraf said: “Can you guarantee that blood of any dead or injured will not be screened on television channels during the operation?”

He said that militants having links with Jaish-i-Muhammad and Al Qaeda were hiding in the mosque and seminaries and they had explosives. They might cause havoc in case of an armed operation, he said, adding: “Let it be clear that the action against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa brigade was not withheld because of government’s weakness or cowardice in the face of enemy.”

He warned that some foreign elements were busy in the tribal areas planning terrorist activities against some western countries which, if materialised, could entail “extremely dangerous consequences”.

“Critics should understand that the madressah houses 2,500 women students with minor boys and suicide bombers inside are equipped with sophisticated arms. While police are not capable of launching such a complex operation, the army cannot be involved for it can give a wrong message to the world,” the president said.

“We have involved senior clerics of the country, the Council of Islamic Ideology and the Imam-i-Kaaba to end the standoff. Shall we now call Allah to help these elements shun their wrongdoings?”

The president announced that he would address the nation next week and inform the people about some important national issues and the steps his government was planning to take to halt the spread of extremist tendencies in the NWFP. He said he would appear on the national television every fortnight to explain his viewpoint subject by subject.

He rejected opposition’ claim that fair and free elections were not possible under him and said: “It is not going to deter me from holding elections even if this element was not ready to contest the polls under my dispensation.”

About the army chief’s uniform, he said: “This issue certainly needs to be addressed but leave this decision to me.”

Asked if he wanted to remain in power on a permanent basis, he said: “No one is permanent nor will remain forever, but as long as I am at the helm I will continue to express whatever I see is good for the nation.”

In response to a question, he admitted that there had been a gap between the government and the media and said the media should promote national interests while reporting events.

He said nuclear and strategic interests, war on terror, extremism, militancy and Talibanisation, operations in the tribal areas and Balochistan and issues relating to inter-provincial harmony were the areas where the media should exercise restraint.

The president admitted that a large number of ministers lacked enthusiasm on a number of issues.

He was critical of the way media hype had been created after the March 9 decision of sending presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

“I was pushed to make amendments to the Pemra ordinance as a result of this imbalance in coverage, but I did not mean to impose curbs on the independence of media. It has been left to the media to set limits under a code of conduct.”

Reiterating his government’s resolve to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict, the president said an action would be decided against elements which had decided not to accept a judgment if was against the reinstatement of the chief justice.

Deaths in Karachi due to wind and rain!

It is very said news for all of us that about 250 deaths caused by heavy rains and winds, which includes many casualaties happens due to big signboards. In the effected areas there is no electricity, water sewerages and other utilities in the city.

جو میں نے دیکھا

جو میں نے دیکھا وہ آپ مجھ سے واپس نہیں لے سکتے۔
بس بات اتنی سی ہے۔
اب سے چند سال پہلے جب یہ سب ٹی وی چینلز شروع ہوئے تھے تو شائد کسی کو بھی اندازہ نہیں تھا کہ بات یہاں آ کر ٹہرے گی۔
ایک ایسی قوم کے لئے جو کرکٹ میچ یا پھر صرف جلد بازی میں تیار کئے گئے ڈرامے ٹی وی پر دیکھنے کی عادی ہو، اچانک سے پی ٹی وی کے خبرنامے کے علاوہ کوئی اور خبریں اپنی سکرین پر دیکھنا ایک دلچسپ تجربہ تھا۔ نتیجہ یہ نکلا کہ جلد ہی پاکستان ان بہت کم ملکوں میں شمار ہونے لگا جہاں سوپ ڈراموں کے بعد دوسرے نمبر پر ٹی وی پر سب سے زیادہ مقبول چیز خبریں اور خبروں سے متعلق مباحثے کے پروگرام بن گئے۔
یہاں تک سب کچھ ٹھیک ہی چل رہا تھا۔
لیکن پھر ایک بہت بڑی قدرتی آفت نے ملک کی حکومت اور میڈیا دونوں کو امتحان میں ڈال دیا۔ اکتوبر دو ہزار پانچ کے زلزلے سے ظاہر ہے حکومت نے تو کیا ہی کچھ سیکھنا تھا، میڈیا کے کچھ حلقوں کو یہ ضرور سمجھ آگیا کہ معلومات کے ساتھ ساتھ تصویر کی طاقت کیا ہوتی ہے۔

تصویر کی طاقت کیا ہوتی ہے اور یہ کیا کیا کر سکتی ہے؟ اس وقت پاکستان میں سبھی سیاسی حلقے ، حکومتی یا اپوزیشن، ملک میں موجود اس نئی حقیقت سے ڈیل کرنے کی کوشش کررہے ہیں۔

بس کیا تھا۔ چیف جسٹس کے بحران میں پاکستانی میڈیا نے نہ صرف اس سیکھے ہوئے سبق کا بھر پور استعمال کیا بلکہ اس بحران کے شروع میں ہی بہت جلد بہت کچھ اور بھی سیکھ لیا۔
اس بحران میں پہلی مرتبہ پاکستان میں ڈی ایس این جی یا وہ آلات جس کی مدد سے لائیو کوریج کی جاسکتی ہے، کا بہت اچھا استعمال کیا گیا۔ اس سلسلے میں سب سے پہلے آج ٹی وی اور پھر آے آر وائی سامنے رہے جس کے بعد جیو ٹی وی نے بھی ایسا کیا۔
بارہ مئی کو جو کچھ کراچی میں ہوا ، وہ اس شہر میں پہلے بھی کئی مرتبہ ہو چکاہے فرق صرف یہ ہے کہ پہلے لائیو کیمرے نوجوان لڑکوں کو طرح طرح کی گنیں لوڈ کرتے ہوئے نہیں دکھاتے تھے جبکہ اب ٹی وی کا ہر ناظر شام کو دوستوں کے ساتھ بحث میں یہ کہہ سکتا ہے کہ ’میں نے خود دیکھا۔۔۔۔۔’شائد یہ بھی تصویر کی طاقت کی تشریح کرنے کا ایک طریقہ ہے۔ آپ ایک مرتبہ ایک تصویر سے جو کچھ حاصل کرتے ہیں وہ پھر آپ سے کوئی چھین نہیں سکتا۔
جو میں نے دیکھا وہ میرا ہے۔
تصویر کی طاقت کیا ہوتی ہے اور یہ کیا کیا کر سکتی ہے؟ اس وقت پاکستان میں سبھی سیاسی حلقے ، حکومتی یا اپوزیشن، ملک میں موجود اس نئی حقیقت سے ڈیل کرنے کی کوشش کررہے ہیں۔ لیکن افسوس صد افسوس کہ بظاہر پاکستانی ریاست تاریخ کے ایک بنیادی سبق سے مکمل طور پر نظریں چراتی دکھائی دیتی ہے اور وہ یہ کہ : ان تصویروں کو آزاد نہ کیا تو یہ تصویریں ان سب کا پیچھا کریں گی۔

A Culture of Contradictions, Review City Pakistan

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Whether it was the bloody crusades, continual suicide bombings aimed at obliterating enemies of God’s last religion or the war-bent aftermath of 9/11, nothing has made the ongoing clash of civilizations more apparent than a puny little cartoon, one that has brought to light the ugly face of western contempt. The debacle of a barbaric portrait of a man Muslims hold dearer than any ideal fathomable has proved to be nothing but a resounding slap on the face after all our years of ass kissing and nauseating yelps of enthusiasm when asked to ‘sit’, ‘stand’, ‘roll over’ and ‘play dead’.
Depicting Hazrat Mohommad (PBUH) as a terrorist encapsulating a bomb for a turban seems to be the tip of an iceberg that has its vice-like grips of intolerance deeply rooted within a hotbed of social deconstruction. The west manages to give away time and again just how trigger-happy it can be when it comes to provoking the sentiments of the third world. Falling back on the crappiest excuse in the book, one that entails ‘freedom of the press’, they have demonstrated a culture of contradictions all of their very own. Is it not these very same Europeans who banned the head-scarf in France, who frisk search every man with a beard and suspicious name (read Muhammad) at almost every airport in the world and seek to root out all immigrants on the basis of their ties with suspected militants who have no more affiliation with them than Osama has with Heidi Klum? Freedom of art, craft and movement, my foot.The stance of the Danish government is to vindicate the cartoons’ right to be published under the banner of unrestraint but, instead, they should really ask themselves one question: does freedom of speech really have to come at the cost of having to tolerate speech one finds abhorrent? Ever find yourself asking just when and where the ‘liberalist’ west will draw the last straw? I know I do.
We Muslims may be called fanatics (and I do not, for a single second, doubt that we’d be much better off without a few radical elements), anarchists against the idea of pacifism and a far cry from tolerant in pursuits such as gender equality and the like, but one thing we are not and never have been are defilers of the prophets of any God sent creed, be it Jesus, Moses or any other messiah in a list that runs into the thousands.
It’s not our problem that fractions in the west have made Jesus Christ ‘superstar’ the butt of many perverse jokes, that they make dashboard tributes of him winking and flashing the thumbs up sign while personifying his new-found and revamped image of being an all round ‘nice guy’ and making movies such as The Last Temptation Of Christ in which he is shown giving in to the allure of a life less extraordinary. It’s not our problem that throughout the ages, Christians the world over are beginning to lose their faith for a new world order, one in which ‘sensibilities’ may be aversely affected if prayers are offered in schools, the word ‘God’ is not to be mentioned in front of impressionable young kids and the advent of a Muslim uprising is seen as a threat to life as they know it. It’s not our problem when radical Christian elements blow up abortion clinics to protect their Catholic faith and it sure as hell isn’t our problem when priests and other clerics of the holy order fondle young alter and choir boys due to their pent-up homosexual tendencies. But it is our problem if they jump onto the bandwagon of religious regurgitation by repulsively illustrating the entire enormity of our 1500 year-old faith within a few strokes of the hand that holds the pen of blasphemy in a comic strip of degradation.
What the west wanted, the west got: a backlash of violence and hatred that has the unguided potential to spew forth a tsunami of vengeance and brute force which is exactly the kind of reaction we have going against us. It’s pretty obvious that this is going to be played down as an ‘extreme’ answer by ‘barbaric’ religious fundamentalists, exactly the kind of image we’re trying to throw out the blood splattered window. Whether sufi, progressive or extremist, we all feel pretty passionate about the Prophet’s depiction and aren’t afraid to show it.
However, this is where our own common sense should come into play. Do we really want to give those Danish and European flag bearers of emancipation the response they’re crossing fingers for by picking up our guns, torching the councils of their representation and chanting hate slogans or do we opt for the more cool and calculated approach by waging a quieter, smarter war on liberal ignorance. The boycott of Danish goods is cute, but it can get a whole lot cuter with a 1.3 billion Muslim strong campaign against the documentations of degradation through a thought process that does not entail violence. Whatever the answer is, it does not lie in mayhem and disorder.
This fiasco is not about Christians vs. Muslims or the West vs. Islam, it is about the incapacity of a nation of focused fools to understand that they cannot, under any circumstances, play around with the divine sentiments of those who in many a case put their faith before their lives. That’s playing with fire territory so don’t go crying to mommy when your pants get burnt.
This was solely a premeditated act of disconcertation and malicious provocation, one that requires an immediate apology and rebuking of any further efforts to reprint this joke of expressional freedom.
Review City Pakistan
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Chief Justice of Pakistan's address to Supreme Court Bar Association

Chief Justice of Pakistan's Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry addressing to Supreme Court Bar Association today on 26 May 2007. It is learnt by newspapers and at www.BBCUrdu.com that the most of invitation cards given to the Diplomats in the capital city Islamabad bypassing the judges of Supreme Court.
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