More supporting material for Imran Khan's case against Altaf Hussain


http://www.dawn.com/2007/06/09/top11.htm

Photo and story from Daily Dawn, Karchi

(Note the byline, "By a Reporter." Karachi journalists hide behind such bylines because they fear retaliation from MQM. Thanks God, Advocate Iqbal Kazmi is braver.)




Ordeal of freed May 12 petitioner



By A Reporter


KARACHI, June 8: Advocate and civil rights campaigner Syed Mohammad Iqbal Kazmi, who went missing on Wednesday afternoon, was released on Friday morning by his captors on condition that he leave Karachi within five days.

Mr Kazmi had recently filed petitions in the Sindh High Court on the May 12 violence and the new Pemra ordinance in which major political and government figures were named as respondents.

Upon regaining his freedom, Mr Kazmi narrated his harrowing ordeal to journalists at the committee room of the Karachi Bar Association in the City Courts on Friday.

Later in the evening, Korangi police registered an FIR against unknown persons on the complaint of Mr Kazmi.

He said that he had left his residence in Korangi at about 3pm on Wednesday in his Alto car, bearing the number-plate AKV 520, to drop off his eldest son at the house of his mother-in-law in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

“On my way back some unidentified persons in a Prado land-cruiser bearing an AFR 2007 number-plate started chasing me. As I reached near Qayyumabad, they intercepted my car and forced me to get into their vehicle,” he said. He added that after a 30-minute drive they took him to a bungalow with his face covered and his hands tied. He was kept in a room without a fan or a bed.

With tears welling up in his eyes, Mr Kazmi said that two men tortured him during this period and quizzed him about his association with Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and the reason for filing a petition against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain.

They also asked him to disclose the names of his supporters. He claimed his captors used to throw cold water on him to force him to stay awake.

“They burnt the sensitive parts of my body with cigarettes and pressed my fingers with stones,” he said.

Mr Kazmi said that his captors threatened him with death if he did not disclose the names of those who had asked him to file the petition. He said his cellphone containing photo clips of the May 12 incidents, Rs12,000 in cash, a telephone directory and other documents were taken from him.

He said that one of the men -- whom the others referred to as ‘sahib’ – talked to him in a much more civilised manner. He said the man grilled him and asked him to withdraw the petition. Mr Kazmi said he was given some plain white papers to sign and then asked to bathe.

“As I came out of the bathroom I was given a cup of tea with two tablets, after which I fell asleep. When I came to I was lying near some thorn-bushes near Clifton.”

Mr Kazmi said that after much difficulty he hailed a taxi, whose driver facilitated him by letting him call his wife and took him to the City Courts. He said that he would neither surrender nor leave Karachi even at the cost of his and his family’s lives.

His wife, Sadia Kazmi, also said that the family would not leave Karachi and would face whatever happened. She criticised the officials of the Sindh home department for what she described as their failure to register an FIR on time and to provide security to her family.

Naheed Afzal, counsel for Mr Kazmi, condemned the kidnapping of Mr Kazmi and vowed to lodge an FIR with the police.

Referring to the petition filed by Mr Kazmi, he said Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, federal Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah, MQM chief Altaf Hussain, the Sindh CM’s Adviser on Home Affairs Waseem Akhtar, Chief Secretary Shakeel Durrani, Home Secretary Ghulam M. Muhtaram Naqvi, Provincial Police Officer Niaz A. Siddiqui, CCPO Azhar A. Farooqui, the SHO City Courts police station, SHO Jamshed Quarters, and others were named as respondents.

Mr Afzal said that in case any harm came to Iqbal Kazmi, his family or his property, the entire responsibility would rest with the Sindh government and added that Mr Kazmi should be provided with proper security. He demanded the recovery of his vehicle within 24 hours and said that Mr Kazmi had been threatened thrice at different times after filing the petition.

KBA General Secretary Naeem Qureshi said that the lawyers were fully supporting Mr Kazmi. He said that he had contacted the home secretary to ask him to provide security to the Kazmi family, but he (the home secretary) had refused to do so. He said the issue would be discussed in the next meeting.

Sniffing Stereotypes

I often sit on the second floor of the Santa Clara Library. Here, tables with power outlets and Ethernet ports are set for people to use laptop computers. You are surrounded by books and connected to the world through the Internet--it really works out great. Where I sit, each table has six chairs but normally only four people sit at each one of them, one person at each corner. So, this particular day I was sitting at a table which had three corners taken (one by me of course). A young man comes in, looks around, does not find a place anywhere else and decides to take the fourth corner of our table. As soon as he comes closer to the table I can smell oil out of his clothes--it is the kind of smell you normally find in Desi, especially in Gujrati households. I am sure many in the Desi community like that smell, after all it is food smell--but there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that it is not a desirable odor for people outside the community. So this guy settles down in his chair and now the whole table is engulfed in this very powerful oil-and-masalah smell. I was not too happy about the situation but I was OK with it. A couple of minutes later I see a man sitting across me giving a piece of paper to the newcomer. Naturally, I got very curious and I peeped. In bold letters the note on the paper read, "YOU STINK REALLY BAD. CAN YOU PLEASE GO HOME, TAKE A SHOWER, AND THEN COME BACK HERE?" Wow! I could not wait to see what would happen next. The newcomer read the note a couple of times, appeared very confused, and looked at the person who had given him that message. That man, apparently to avoid any conversation on this topic, had gotten busy in his work. The newcomer got up, put his things back in the backpack and left. I thought about going after the newcomer and telling him, "No, you don't have to take a shower. Just change your clothes and put on good cologne. And next time before going to a public place sniff your clothes and make sure they are not giving off a strong kitchen smell, and you would have to do it outside your home, to differentiate better between odorless air and the oil-masalah smell. It is not only a matter of common courtesy but also a way to avoid negative stereotyping for the whole community." But I did not go after that man and now I wonder if he would really understand why that rude note was given to him.

Sorry

Sorry, Alex.
It was a bit late when I realized we shortchanged you on the Christmas tip.

Peter Brizzi is marvelous!

Watched an almost hour-long puppet show called ‘The Night before Chris Mouse.’ It is amazing how much talent can be stuffed in one person. The whole show was single-handedly run by Peter Brizzi, who can speak in a multitude of voices and can artfully manipulate his many puppets from behind the curtain. The performance was intended for children but everybody in the audience enjoyed it and had a great time. An excellent show!

Greater Good!

Greater good for all cannot be achieved by excluding some from the definition of "all."

[A thought in response to a person's argument that the Adivasis (tribals) must understand the greater good for all being achieved through Uranium mining in their area. Antinuclear activists from Jadugoda, Indian Uranium mining site and a tribal area, spoke at Stanford and other venues over the last weekend.]

See pictures at:
http://karachiphotoblog.blogspot.com/

San Francisco Library’s Second Annual South Asian Writers Reading Event held at SF Public Library on Saturday, November 4

Roshni Rustomji-Kerns and another writer read their short stories. Rustomji’s story was titled “South going woman, north going woman.” Rhoda Sohrabji, the protagonist, grows up in the US, where she was transplanted from India when she was four; she now lives in Oaxaca where one day she gets involved with a network of people sympathetic to Oaxaca’s indigenous uprising; Rhoda gets to listen to stories of communal riots in India and ethnic strife in San Francisco. “South going woman, north going woman” appeared partly autobiographical--the only question being if Rustomji really took that dangerous ride in Oaxaca’s mountains to give safe company to a rebel. With the latest bout of political upheaval in Oaxaca—Mexico still struggling with its identity and notions of equality and justice, five centuries after the arrival of Conquistadores—Roshni Rustomji’s piece was timely and pertinent. It had humor sprinkled in good amount too. “If my kind of Indios aren’t allowed to rule Mexico, then your kind of Indios can rule Mexico.”

The other writer read English translation of his Urdu story. The translation was done by Moazzam Sheikh, widely known for his translation of Intizar Hussain and other Urdu writers’ work.

Most people in the audience were themselves writers, a self-supported community (members satisfying each other’s desire to be heard)—strong testimony to declining popularity of fiction writing as an art form. Why read or be read to when you can watch a movie?

(Picture shows Roshni Rustomji-Kerns and Moazzam Sheikh)

Need a ride to/from SFO?

http://www.flysfo.com/
has excellent information on BART to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Caltrain to BART, SamTrans buses, shuttles, and all.

Sharing a planet and an epoch

It was a chance meeting. I ran into him more than a year after we met last. But that short meeting brought back fond memories.

Save for my parents few people have done as much for me as he has. And knowing his boundless benevolence I am sure I am not the only recipient of his kindness.

“In the vastness of space” wrote Carl Sagan, “and the immensity of time it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie.” The reference was to his wife Ann Druyan. How true! Look at the history and the millennia to come and then look at the countless stars and imagine their planetary systems and lives that might be. How easy it is to miss a kind person by a few hundred years, by a few solar systems!

It indeed is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Safwan Shah.

A Columbus Day entry from my notebook

1492-2006
USA celebrating five centuries of illegal immigration.
[One of the first batches of illegal immigrants landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.]

Secure but hated is not well-secured.

(on 911's 5th anniversary)

Unbearable Heat
The temperature was in triple digits yesterday, and inside the house it was even hotter because the gas heater had its pilot on. So, whereas heater had been off the heat from the pilot was making our lives miserable. And in some ways it was hurting us financially too--our last gas bill being $60.12 for using 46.4 Therms.
When I came back last night the temperature inside the house was 88 F. Earlier I had tried to open the heater panel to switch off gas supply to the heater, but I could not figure out how to open it. Last night on coming back home I opened all doors and windows to bring the indoor temperature down. That late at night it was pleasant outside, the temperature must have been in the 60s. I thought about trying to open the gas heater panel one more time, but it was dark near the heater and I decided to give it a try during daytime. I just paced up and down the living room till the temperature dropped to 82 F; by then it was a little after midnight. Even with all the doors and windows open it was taking longer to cool the house because outside air was still and the heat from the heater was trapped near the ceilings.
I got up very early this morning; I had to talk to people on a conference call during their work hours (in Istanbul and Dublin). The thermostat indicated it was 72 F inside. After attending the conference call I went to the gas heater. The writing on its bottom panel instructed the operator to, "Press to open." I pressed the panel but it did not open. I fought with it until I pressed at the right spot (very bottom) and the panel swung open. I lay on the floor to see the controls inside. I could locate the shut off gas valve in the back. I reached back in the heater and turned the knob off, the pilot went off. I felt so relieved--a monstrous ugly monkey off my back.

How to be productive while baby-sitting?
(Alternative titles:
How to efficiently use your baby-sitting time? Things to do during your baby-sitting hours. Efficient use of your baby-sitting time.)

This is how the morning started. I did a Google search on efficient use of baby-sitting hours. I baby-sit on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I am a firm believer in multitasking, that with computers and other automation it is possible for you to do more than a couple of things concurrently. But when I am baby-sitting I fall short of my parallel processing goals. I put a child gate at the door to my garage office and start working on the computer, but the children strongly disapprove. They start with loud protests and then go on to throw their toys in the office; if I still don't pay attention they tell me they need to go bathroom, right away--just about anything to disrupt my work. I have also tried taking a nap during my baby-sitting hours especially when the children are busy playing with each other. I thought I would refresh myself and when children would take their afternoon nap I would be full of energy to do my work. But that scheme did not work either. The children might have been playing with each other but as soon as they saw me reclining on sofa and closing my eyes, they smelled foul play. They rushed to me and told me that they too needed to take a nap, when actually it was not their nap time. One other thing I tried was to write my diary during my baby-sitting time. These days I mostly write on computer, but since working on computer while looking after the babies was not practical I thought I would discreetly use my diary to write my thoughts, and would later type the stuff on the computer. But discreetly writing diary while baby-sitting did not work either. The children realized I was up to something. They came close and discovered my diary and the pen; then they wanted to snatch the pen off my hand and tear off pages from the diary. I wonder if I should build myself a cage. I sit in the cage do my stuff and occasionally accord a glance to the children. I am afraid they would use their 'need to go the bathroom, right away' trick to get me out of the cage. Oh, I have also tried watching documentary films while looking after the babies thinking I would efficiently use my baby-sitting hours to gain knowledge and nurture my soul. But babies don't like documentaries, and when I tell them to play with each other they normally go but very soon there is a big fight; I have to get off the sofa and intervene. And the most important part of the documentary is aired right at that very instant.

But my baby-sitting ordeal has not gone completely unfruitful. I have finally discovered a prescription that works, although I am not too big a fan of it. It is retail therapy. Well, actually I don't buy anything I just take children to a large store and look at things with them.
So, this is where I was this morning: looking for new ideas to put baby-sitting time to good use. My search took me from one web site to another, and then I saw this:

http://psychcentral.net/2006/05/12/am-i-crazy/#respond

"Where do I begin? I am 47 years old, a male with a lot of issues that I don’t seem to ever get any warning before they explode on me that serve to wreck my life and the lives of those around me. I had a lot of emotional issues as a youth........."

The narrative moved me. I wanted to write a response, but the web site didn't let me post a comment. Here is what I wanted to say:

You have come to the right place. Write more, pour your heart out. It would heal you and would ultimately set you free from your demons. Being suicidal is stupid. Life has to end one day; why end it sooner? Learn to look at your life from a distance, as if all that has been happening with you is actually someone else's experience; as if you are reading your past in a book. Keep going through life one day at a time. Make little doable goals for every day and get those things done. And remember that you are not the only owner of your life, the rest of the world, all 6 billion of us, are connected to you in one way or another.