Karachi News


DAWN/The News International, KARACHI	17 September 2006, Sunday, 23 Shabaan 1427

www.karachipage.com (click on underlined key-words/dates to get more details)
Altaf’s birthday celebrated at KU
Reckless driving claims three lives
Muslims blamed for interfaith dialogue deficit
Women’s bill: the inside story
Troops to stay in Waziristan: Aurakzai
20 dead as coalition launches major anti-Taliban offensive
Altaf’s birthday celebrated at KU
KARACHI: It was all merriment, slogans, fireworks and slaughter of a cow, to celebrate the 53rd birthday of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) supremo, Altaf Hussain, in the Arts Lobby of the University of Karachi, on Saturday.

The glittery and spirited programme was organised by the KU unit of All-Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO) ñ the youth wing of MQM, in the background of a very tense stand off between them and Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) that objected to it saying there was no precedence of organising such programmes in the varsity.

The birthday cake was cut amid the din of firecrackers that filled the Arts Lobby with smoke and stench of the sulphur compelling the onlookers to seek the fresher environment outside the lobby.

The Rangers and police mobiles were parked near the entrance of the venue to prevent any clash between the two adversaries.

The Student Advisor and the Campus Security staff were making frenetic efforts. Dr Muhammad Ahmed Qadri, the Student Advisor, had meeting with the representatives APMSO, IJT and Peoples Studentsí Federation (PSF) to avert any clash. Some girl students walking near the Arts Lobby were critical of the slaughter of the sacrificial cow on the roadside as, according to them, it was the first such instance in the history of the university.

“It pollutes the university - both physically and aesthetically. It is a place of higher learning and its sanctity should be preserved”, one of the students said bluntly and quickly walked away.

The birthday falls on 17 September (today), but due to Sunday, the occasion was celebrated a day earlier.

Reckless driving claims three lives

KARACHI: Two persons were found dead while four persons lost their lives in different mishaps on Saturday.

The decomposed body of a 28-year-old man was found in a well in Memon Goth locality near Filter Plant in Steel Town police jurisdiction.

Area people informed the police, who shifted it to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). The body was identified as Bahadur Jokhio, 28, a father of six and resident of Ibrahim Goth near Pipri.

Area police said that Bahadur, who had been working as butler in the office of Water and Sewerage Board in Manghopir, had left his house on September 12 and went missing. Police said Bahadur was financial constraints, adding that investigations were underway to know the exact cause of death.

Another decomposed body of a middle-aged man was found from a house situated in Defence Phase-I within Defence police jurisdiction.

Area residents after smelling a stink informed the police, who shifted the body to the JPMC, where it was identified as Muhammad Ishaq, 50, hailing from Butgram (Azad Kashmir), working as a watchman in the house. Later, the body was placed in the Edhi morgue.

ACCIDENTS: Muhammad Shah, 7, Arif, 40, Nabeel, 12, Mahim, 8, Aisha, 10, Moseka, 13, and Rabia, 10, all passengers of a coach, received injuries when their coach over turned near Police Training College on the Hub River Road.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital, where Muhammad Shah breathed his last. Later, the body was shifted to the Civil Hospital for legal formalities.

Haji Waseem, 80, a resident of nearby vicinity of Pipri, received serious injuries when a recklessly driven coaster ran over him, while he was crossing the National Highway in Steel Town police jurisdiction. The injured was taken to the JPMC, where doctors pronounced him dead.

A pedestrian was crushed under the wheels of a locomotive near Landhi Railway Station, while he was crossing the railway track. The body was shifted to the JPMC, where the deceased was identified as Muhammad Sohail, 35, resident of a nearby locality.

ELECTROCUTION: Abdul Salam, a 13-year-old boy, died of electrocution when he received an electric shock, while repairing a electric pumping machine in Chanesar Goth within Mehmoodabad police jurisdiction. The boy was rushed to the JPMC, where he later died.

Muslims blamed for interfaith dialogue deficit

KARACHI: Speakers held the Muslims responsible for not presenting the true picture of Islam, which has created breach among people of different faiths with the Muslims.

They expressed these views at an interfaith dialogue seminar, organised by the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), at its city campus, on Saturday in collaboration with the US Consulate Public Affairs in Karachi.

US Consul General Marry Witt was the chief guest while others who accompanied her were James William, Press Head US Consulate Islamabad, and Minister Councillor and Karen Heimsadh VC US Consulate Karachi.

All the three speakers, Dr Ikram U Khan, a US-based Pakistani, Kareema Daud, a US citizen of Palestine origin and Naurain Khan, a US-born of Pakistani parents spoke at length about the causes behind the gap between the Muslim society and the West.

There was a consensus of opinion among them that it is the Muslims who were unable to convey the message of Islam to the world, and consequently differences emerged among the societies. They believed that the only solution to overcome the differences was to educate people about Islam and Muslims.

Tina Kareema Daud observed that trade and business is very important to bring people of different faith closer and in this relation the Muslims have to struggle, communicate and interact to bridge the gap. She said the objective that prompted her to visit Pakistan was that she wanted to have face-to-face dialogue with the people of Pakistan, as people from other parts of the world wanted to know about the culture, traditions and norms, since September 11 incident, Pakistan emerged as the most strategic, powerful Islamic country on the world map.

Rejecting the policy of violence, she remarked that we Muslims were eager to accuse each other without knowing the background of the incident. We must visualise the situation and then react but in a peaceful manner. Condemning the genocide of Palestinians, she said that she personally was against the US support to Israel and aggression towards Palestinian Muslims.

Kareema, a PhD in Arabic language, opined that there was communication gap between the Arab states and Pakistan which should be bridged through interaction between their societies.

Naurain Khan, whose major was political science, compared Karachiites with the people of Houston and was optimistic, that people here were also eager to know about the Muslims living in America. She commented that Muslim community in the US did a better job after 9/11 by communicating with each other.

However, all these speakers were skeptical of media that projected negative picture of the Muslims and Islam, and suggested that Muslims should educate people over misunderstandings.

Dr Khan, discussing the prevailing situation that arose after 9/11, said that Islam was peace loving religion but its followers failed to deliver the message to the West.

Women’s bill: the inside story

ISLAMABAD: The dispensation given to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to resolve the Women Protection Bill row didn’t yield what General Pervez Musharraf had desired, sources in the government said.

President Musharraf became infuriated when he came to know about the constitution of an out-of--parliament MMA-PML Ulema committee during his visit to Kabul a few days back, it was reliably learnt.

But the PML leadership hurriedly conveyed to him that the committee comprising Ulema recommended by both sides (MMA and PML) would remain informal and recommendatory in nature. “The president in a meeting a few days back had instructed it clearly that he didn’t want any formal arrangement with Ulema to give their input regarding this bill as (the) the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a coalition partner, was already there and Benazir’s PPP came on board through secret negotiations,” an official privy to the meeting said.

This was the same meeting in which Shujaat had vowed to secure approval of these Ulema individually, rather than collectively, at a forum, formal or informal. The PML chief was assigned this delicate task by President Musharraf as the Religious Affairs Ministry represented by its minister, Ejaz-ul-Haq, and secretary Wakil Ahmed Khan didn’t want to take the responsibility to get the “original bill” endorsed through Ulema, fearing the proposed names (Ulema) might declare it un-Islamic in front of eager mediamen after going through the draft.

Interestingly, the original draft was also reportedly endorsed by Chairman Islamic Ideology Council Professor Khalid Masood.

MMA component parties had threatened to quit the national and provincial assemblies if the Women Protection Bill, as recommended by the parliament select committee formed by the NA speaker (MMA and PML-N boycotted it), was passed through sheer strength.

Keeping in mind the unrest in Balochistan in the wake of the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, government stalwarts thought they could not afford the MMA’s quitting the assemblies. So they engaged the religious alliance through informal talks.

The talks held under the auspices of Shujaat and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi were declared successful by the government side, but the MMA cautiously endorsed an agreement with the government without any of its leaders putting their initials on it.

However, the MQM and the Benazir Bhutto-led PPP have refused to endorse the MMA-PML Ulema agreement. They have announced they will vote for the original bill passed by the parliament select committee.

Of late, the ruling PML chief has announced he will refer the PML-MMA Ulema recommendations to the select committee. He is now active for a seemingly elusive broader consensus on the issue.

Sources said in one such meeting with President Musharraf in the chair, Law Minister Wasi Zafar was eager to endorse a proposal there should be no discrimination between men and women in terms of witnesses in the rape case. Sitting nearby, Minister for Women Affairs Sumaira Malik wanted to endorse it but kept mum. Dr Sher Afgan Niazi and others were taken aback when this proposal was made.