TCF meeting at Chandni

In between meeting Urdu Academy folks and attending Sheema Kermani’s program I was able to briefly attend the TCF (The Citizens Foundation) meeting.  Mushtaq Chhapra, a TCF founder-director, was heard recounting TCF’s journey, its accomplishments, and the future plans.

Fayyaz Uddin Saieb's “Kuch Khawab Uthaya Phirta Houn”

The Urdu Academy mushaira program also included an exordium to Fayyaz Uddin Saieb’s new Urdu poetry book “Kuch Khawab Uthaya Phirta Houn.”

Urdu Academy of Northern California

How long can a mushaira last?  For hours and hours, if it is good.  Urdu Academy mushaira held on Sunday, September 15 was really good, attendees tell me.  When I reached Chandni, around 7 pm, to attend Sheema Kermani’s program I found the Urdu Academy key players still hanging out.  Here is a photo featuring (L to R) Fayyazuddin Saieb, Syed Ilyas Ahmed, Khalid Rana, Basir Kazmi, and Tashie Zaheer.

Chandni it is

Last Sunday (September 15) was a very busy day, as several programs—of interest to the Bay Area residents of Pakistan descent—took place, all on that day. 

Urdu Academy’s annual mushaira (12 pm-7 pm), a presentation by TCF (The Citizen Foundation), and theater and dance by Sheema Kermani and her troupe (7 pm- 10:30 pm), kept attendees running from one program to another.  Chandni Restaurant in Newark appears to have become the primary choice of Pakistanis for holding social events.  Here you see Chandni’s owner Syed Sarwat (on right) with journalist Abdus Sattar Ghazali.

Ro Khanna vs. Mike Honda

Ro Khanna vs. Mike Honda

How does Ro Khanna like his candidacy to be seen by voters when he runs against longtime incumbent Mike Honda in the elections next year?  Khanna wants to be seen as the voice of the new generation, voice of the people who are tired of ‘business as usual’ in the government, and a candidate of all those who want things to change.  In a meeting at writer and community activist iFaqeer’s residence in Fremont on Saturday, June 22, Khanna explained to the small group how he plans to make California competitive in the manufacturing sector, and how to invest wisely in education.  Will Mike Honda, 71, be better off taking retirement before the next election (and give candidates almost half of his age a chance)?  Khanna’s supporters definitely think so.

Distance Learning in Pakistan

Distance Learning in Pakistan

Koshish Foundation has been involved in generating distance learning coursework through two programs:

1. Through Learntive (http://learntive.com/wordpress/)

Learntive has developed math videos (based on Sindh Textbook Board's Class IX and X curriculum).  The math videos are available on Learntive's web site (e.g., here: http://learntive.com/wordpress/?page_id=652) and have been distributed on CDs to government schools, through the Government of Sindh (http://www.riazhaq.com/2013/03/learntive-silicon-valley-nedians.html)

2. Through the translation of Khan Academy basic science videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyUrdu

Koshish Foundation has recently completed translation of Khan Academy's 1000 basic math, chemistry, and physics videos, and has started work on the next batch of 1000 videos.  Many non-profit organizations (e.g., TCF, DIL) have shown interest in using the translated videos in the schools they operate.

پہچان

 

اپریل پندرہ، دو ہزار تیرہ

ایک فکر کے سلسلے کا کالم

کالم شمار ایک سو تینتیس

  

پہچان

کیلی فورنیا میں صنوبر کے ایسے درخت موجود ہیں جن کی عمریں چار سے پانچ ہزار سال ہیں۔ اس دنیا میں انسان کی تحریر شدہ تاریخ بمشکل تین ہزار سال پرانی ہے۔ صنوبر کے ان درختوں نے اس پوری تاریخ کا مشاہدہ کیا ہے۔ عقیدہ، نسل، زبان، اور جغرافیاءی تعلق؛ پہچان کے وہ طریقے جن پہ انسان فخر کرتا ہے، صنوبر کے اند درختوں نے ایسی پہچانوں کو بنتے اور اپنی ہءیت تبدیل کرتے دیکھا ہے۔ سنہ سینتالیس میں پنجاب کی تقسیم کے وقت کی قتل و غارت گری کے متعلق غور کیجیے۔ صنوبر کے یہ درخت یہ سوچ کر کتنا محظوظ ہوتے ہوں گے کہ ابھی چند سو سال ہی تو ہوءے ہیں کہ تم سب ایک طرح کے عقیدے رکھتے تھے، پھر ایک نیا مذہب بنا، کچھ لوگ اس مذہب کے ساتھ ہوگءے اور سکھ کہلاءے، تم میں سے دوسرے مسلمان ہوگءے، اور اب یہ عالم ہے کہ تم ایک دوسرے سے دست و گریباں ہو۔ تم کیوں نہیں سمجھتے کہ جس پہچان پہ ایک دوسرے سے لڑے جا رہے ہو، مرے جا  رہے ہو، اسے بنے جمعہ جمعہ آٹھ دن ہی تو ہوءے ہیں۔  عقیدے کی پہچان کے ساتھ ساتھ نسلی، لسانی، اور جغرافیاءی تعلق کا بھی یہی ماجرہ ہے۔ یہ ساری پہچانیں مستقل تبدیل ہو رہی ہیں۔ لوگ نقل مکانی کر کے ایک جگہ سے دوسری جگہ پہنچ جاتے ہیں، اور پھر وہ نیا علاقہ، نیا ماحول، نءے موسم ان کو نسل در نسل تبدیل کرتے جاتے ہیں۔ اسی طرح زبانیں بھی مستقل بدلتی رہتی ہیں۔ لیکن انسان کی زندگی بہت مختصر ہے۔ اور اس مختصر زندگی میں اسے اپنی پہچان سے متعلق ہر چیز ساکت نظر آتی ہے۔ وہ اپنی پہچان سے چمٹا رہتا ہے اور اگر اسے اپنے آس پاس چیزیں تبدیل ہوتی نظر آءیں تو اسے بہت برا لگتا ہے۔  

جنوبی ایشیا میں دو طرح کی سیاست کی جاتی ہے۔ ایک سیاست وہ ہے جو طبقاتی تفریق کو بنیاد بناتی ہے۔ جو کہتی ہے کہ غریب کا کوءی عقیدہ نہیں ہوتا، اس کی کوءی نسل، کوءی زبان نہیں ہوتی، اس کا کوءی جغرافیاءی تعلق نہیں ہوتا۔  ہر جگہ، ہر زبان بولنے والے، ہر عقیدے کے غریب اور کمزور ایک طرح کے لوگ ہوتے ہیں۔ اور دوسرے لوگ جو طاقتور ہیں ان پہ ظلم کرسکتے ہیں، کرتے ہیں، اور کرتے رہیں گے، جب تک کہ غریب متحد ہو کر ظلم کے خلاف آہنی دیوار نہ بن جاءیں۔ دوسری طرح کی سیاست پہچان کی سیاست ہے۔ یہ سیاست کہتی ہے کہ ایک عقیدے کے لوگ یا ایک زبان بولنے والے یا کسی خاص جگہ سے تعلق رکھنے والے لوگ ایک گروہ ہیں اور انہیں دوسرے گروہ یا گروہوں سے خطرہ ہے۔ پاکستان پہچان کی سیاست کی ہی پیداوار ہے۔ پھر اس نءے ملک نے اپنے قیام سے پہچان کی سیاست کے دوسرے کھلاڑیوں کو متحرک کیا۔

سنہ سینتالیس میں قیام پاکستان سے ان علاقوں کا جو اس وقت پاکستان میں ہیں آبادی کا تناسب تبدیل ہونا شروع ہوا۔ ایک طرف مقامی سکھ اور ہندو آبادی کو ڈرا دھمکا کر ملک بدر کیا گیا اور دوسری طرف ہندوستان میں ڈراءے دھمکانے جانے والے لوگ اور وہ جو بہتر معاشی مواقع کی تلاش میں تھے، اس نءے ملک میں آگءے۔ مشرقی پنجاب سے مغربی پنجاب آنے والے اپنے ساتھ پنجابی کے نءے لہجے لاءے مگر زبان کی یکسانیت کی وجہ سے مقامی آبادی میں گھل مل گءے۔  سندھ میں آنے والے مہاجر ریل گاڑیوں سے آءے اور ریل کی پٹری کے ساتھ ساتھ آباد تمام بڑے شہروں میں بس گءے۔ راتوں رات کراچی اور حیدرآباد کی آبادی کا نقشہ بدل گیا۔ اس بدلتی صورتحال کو دیکھ کرسندھی راہ نما ءوں کے پاءوں تلے زمین نکل گءی۔ ان کو اندازہ ہوا کہ وہ اپنی ہی دھرتی پہ اجنبی بنتے جا رہے ہیں۔ اور اسی احساس سے سندھ قوم پرستی کی بنیاد پڑی۔ کہ نءے ملک کی نءی لسانی پہچان سے اس پرانے گروہ کی پہچان مجروح ہورہی تھی۔ پہچان کی ایسی ہی سیاست بلوچستان میں بھی کی جاتی ہے۔ یہ خیال کیا جاتا ہے کہ اگر ہمارا علاقہ اپنے طور پہ ایک الگ ملک ہوتا تو ہم اپنی زبان اور طور طریقوں کے ساتھ آرام سے رہتے، اپنے سامنے اپنی پہچان تبدیل ہوتے نہ دیکھتے۔ اور پرانی دنیا میں ہر بیس میل کے فاصلے پہ لوگوں کی ایک جدا علاقاءی پہچان ہے۔ وہ اپنی اس پہچان سے محبت کرتے ہیں اور اسے اپنی آنکھوں کے سامنے تبدیل ہوتا نہیں دیکھنا چاہتے۔ یورپ سے درآمد شدہ ریاست اور قوم کے تصورات ایسی پرتنوع علاقءی پہچانوں کو مسخ کرنے کا سبب بن رہے ہیں۔

After rocking San Jose, Sunidhi Chauhan & Ali Zafar ready to thrill LA

After rocking San Jose, Sunidhi Chauhan & Ali Zafar ready to thrill LA

Sunday blues!  What Sunday blues? Especially if you get a chance to hear two bright South Asian music stars sing on a Sunday night and fill you up with adrenaline for the rest of the week.  In a concert dubbed Krazy 2 Sunidhi Chauhan and Ali Zafar performed at the San Jose University Event Center on Sunday, April 7.  And what a memorable, thrilling performance it was!  Sunidhi Chauhan is an amazing singer who with her aeonic stamina can go on entertaining the crowd for hours.  On April 7, Sunidhi Chauhan, Ali Zafar, Rakesh Maini, and the accompanying dancers enthralled the 2000 plus crowd for over three and a half hours.  Proceeds from the concert benefited Sankara Eye Foundation, a non-profit organization with a vision to be able to perform one million free eye surgeries annually by the year 2020. 

Sunidhi Chauhan and Ali Zafar will cast their magic again on April 20 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

http://www.axs.com/events/240265/krazy-2-featuring-sunidhi-chauhan-and-ali-zafar

In a press conference held the next day Sankara Eye Foundation organizers of the concert, Murali Krishnamurthy, Yogi Patel, Barjesh P Upadhyay, Sachindra Nath and others explained to the reporters Sanakar’s goals.  Sunidhi Cahuhan and Ali Zafar answered questions about their personal lives and professional aspirations.

Sunidhi Chauhan and Ali Zafar’s North America tour is being promoted by Mr. Rakesh Kaushal (Rocky).

NED University’s Alleged Al-Qaeda Connection

NED University’s Alleged Al-Qaeda Connection

There are over 60,000 living NED graduates in the world today.  With such a large population, it is expected that NED alumni will be found in diverse fields.  It should not be surprising to learn that a few NEDians have even been implicated in ‘jihad’ activities.  Let's start with Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 2001 Computer Engineering graduate from the NED University.  There are conflicting reports about his involvement with Al-Qaeda.  Some describe Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan as the IT Chief of Al-Qaeda, others consider him a CIA operative assigned to penetrate the terrorist network.  This NEDian was arrested in 2004, but was later released for ‘lack of evidence.’
Another NEDian known for jihad is TV analyst, Zaid Hamid, a 1989 Computer Engineering graduate. It is said that Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid was enrolled at the NED University when he went to Afghanistan for jihad against the Soviet Union.
The latest allegation of an NEDian’s involvement in terrorist activities has come from Portland, Oregon where Reaz Qadir Khan, a 1987 Mechanical Engineering graduate was arrested--later released on bail bond--for providing material support to terrorists.

Photo courtesy of Yahoo [Reuters/U.S. Marshall Service/Handout]

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The NED University Terrorists

The NED Taliban

Al-Qaeda and the NED

War on Terror and the NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

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Riaz Khan, Riaz Qadir Khan, Ryaz Qadir, Riaz Kadir, Riaz Qadeer, Reaz Qadeer
ریاض قادر خان، این ای ڈی یونیورسٹی، القاءدہ، طالبان، علی جلیل مالدیپی، خود کش حملہ آور، لاہور، ریاض خان

Is it safe to travel to Pakistan?

Pakistan is a failed state and cannot guarantee your security.  The failure of the state is obvious in the daily news of target-killings, terrorist attacks, and kidnappings for ransom: most of these cases remain unsolved. 

AVOID travel to Pakistan if you can.

BUT if you have to…

Pakistan is slightly 'safer' for travelers of Pakistani descent and others who don’t stand out as people of European descent.

If you are of Pakistani descent you are ‘safe’ in urban centers—restrict your movement and keep only close relatives and friends informed about your travel plans.  Pakistani-descent people are relatively ‘safe’ traveling on train on the main N-S line (Karachi to Peshawar).

In Sind, traveling by bus or car on the east side of the Indus is slightly ‘safer’ than traveling on the west side of that river.

In Punjab (and specially north of Multan), traveling by bus during daytime should be safe.  It is also ‘safe’ to travel by bus to Peshawar.

It is not safe to travel in Balochistan if you are not a Baloch or Pashtun.  Even if you are Pushtun you should avoid traveling south of Quetta--it is all Allah-Nazar country where ethnic cleansing seems to be the adopted policy of the Baloch nationalists (more murders like that of Mehmood Afridi coming up soon--Punjabis and Muhajirs have been fair game for a much longer time).

Travelers of European descent

If you really, really, really have to travel to Pakistan, the ‘safest’ place to travel to is Islamabad.  Fly in Islamabad, move around in Islamabad, and fly out of Islamabad.

If you are traveling to Karachi, leave the airport and reach back to it only during daytime, with good traffic on Shahra e Faisal.  Ditto for Lahore.  It is also relatively ‘safe’ to cross Wagah border into Pakistan and then take taxi to Lahore.  Traveling on Daewoo buses in northern Punjab, during daytime should also be 'safe.' Do NOT travel in KP or Balochistan—unless you wish to financially support the Taliban or the Baloch nationalists for their respective wars, through ransom money to be paid by your relatives/government.

[This writer feels qualified to give travel advice not only because he keeps his ear to the ground, but also because has been traveling to Pakistan every year. In January 2013, he took Khyber-Mail from Karachi to Mirpur Mathelo; traveled by car from MM to Sadiqabad; took Daewoo bus from Sadiqabad to Multan; after a short stay in Multan, took another bus from Multan to Lahore.  A couple of years back he flew from Karachi to Gwadar, stayed there and watched with interest Chinese engineers escorted to the airport in armored vehicle.  He has also traveled on bus from Old Sabzee Mandi in Karachi to Quetta; has taken train from Quetta to Taftan (crossing into Iran); has taken a 4X4 from Taftan to Quetta.  Has also flown from Karachi to Dalbadin and then taken 4X4 taxi to Taftan.  He has traveled overland from Karachi to Khunjerab (crossing into China); has crossed Wagah into India by train and on foot, multiple times; there have many other trips throughout Pakistan.  He once found himself stranded at the Dadu train station unable to go to Moenjo Daro because of a ‘police muqabla’, with IG Sindh surrounded by unhappy armed people.  In short, he has firsthand knowledge of Pakistan’s gradual descent into chaos.]

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Tourists, Stay Out of Pakistan

Adventurist Globetrotters, 

Please fight the temptation to visit Pakistan. There are at least two civil wars going on there.  If you visit, there is a very good chance that you will be either killed or kidnapped for ransom.

http://dawn.com/2013/03/14/czech-women-tourists-kidnapped-in-balochistan-officials/

Czech women tourists kidnapped in Balochistan: officials

QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday kidnapped two women tourists from the Czech Republic in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said.

Local government officials said the women entered the province from Iran as tourists and were abducted from an area some 550 kilometres (350 miles) west of Quetta, the main town of Balochistan which borders both Iran and Afghanistan.

“Both the women were from Czech Republic and entered in Pakistan as tourists,” Akbar Hussain Durrani, the provincial home secretary told AFP.

“Gunmen stopped their bus in the Nok Kundi area of Chaghi district and abducted both of them.” Durrani said women were being escorted by a tribal policeman when they were abducted. The guard was also taken captive but was later freed.

Nobody from the Czech embassy was available to comment late Wednesday but Qambar Dashti, a senior government official in Quetta confirmed the incident.

Kidnappings plague parts of Balochistan and northwest Pakistan, where criminals looking for ransom snatch foreigners and locals, sometimes passing their hostages on to Taliban and al Qaeda-linked groups.

Balochistan has been hit by an insurgency in recent years with Baloch nationalists demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the province’s wealth of natural oil, gas and mineral resources.

Attacked with US drones, torn apart from internal sectarian strife, Pakistan looks for a savior in a retired sportsman

Attacked with US drones, torn apart from internal sectarian strife, Pakistan looks for a savior in a retired sportsman

Though Imran Khan is still the cult leader Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has grown around, there are now other recognizable faces in that young political party’s leadership. Fauzia Kasuri is one of those four or five prominent persons that came to mind when you think of the PTI top brass. On Sunday, March 10, Kasuri spoke to a 60-plus gathering of PTI supporters passionately—and with troublesome religious overtones—about the need for a change in Pakistan, claiming her boss, Imran Khan, can turn things around in that troubled country.  The fund-raiser, organized by the Bay Area chapter of PTI was held at the Mehran Restaurant in Newark.

While many young starry-eyed Pakistanis are swayed by Imran Khan’s charm, historians are taking notes of PTI’ promises—the two most important being that after coming in power in Pakistan, PTI will:

Make Pakistan disassociate itself from the US War on Terror and have US stop all drone attacks.

Wipe off all institutional corruption within 90 days.

Besides the main guest, Dr. Dianne Budd (a Code Pink volunteer who participated in PTI’s 2012 march in protest of US drone attacks), Shahab Siddiqui (of Mehran Restaurant), Aftab Yaqub, Javed Tufail, and M. Irfan also spoke at the program.

Listen to Fauzia Kasuri’s speech here:

https://ia601602.us.archive.org/21/items/Kasuri/Kasuri.mp2