Information highway bandits

Saeed Ahmad (not his real name) is a good friend of mine. This morning I got the following SOS message from him.

From: saeed @yahoo.com
Date: Oct 11, 2007 9:21 PM
Subject: Emergency !!!
To: @yahoo.com


How are you today? I went to Australia for a program called (world summittion child labour and child exploitation ).On our way back to our hotel we were robbed by a gang of armed robbers and my wallet and my ATM card and other valuable things like my I.D card was taken including the wallet.

I needed to pay for my hotel bills but do not have anything on me right now and I have contacted every one to be of assistance,please I want you to help and send about $2,500 to help me pay some bills here and get my flight ticket back and I will return the money back as soon as I get back to home by Friday Morning.I am so sad and unhappy about the situation here and I have to visit the Doctor at the Holroyd Private Hospital(villawood) here in Australia which Mrs Tomajina rushed me immediately because I was hurt badly so I want you to help me send some money to pay part of my bills so that I could leave Australia.

Please I need to hear from you soon as you get this email, I will send you the information where you will be sending the money to me through Western Union.But the problem is that I have sent Mrs Tomajina to the Western Union outlet here and she was told that I would not be able to use my international passport to get the money pick up because it is not an Australia Passport,So I have decided to used Mrs Tomajina who has saved my life here in Australia. please you will be sending the money through her information to help me get the money picked up at the Western Union office here in Australia,Please be rest assured that I will pay back the money as soon as I arrive back by Friday Morning,And please understand that your help is much needed right now because I am very stranded here.

Waiting to hear from you.

Thanks for the effort

Regards,
Saeed

-------------------------------------------------------

Obviously, the above message got me very worried. Mindful of spam I sent the following message.

Dear Saeed,
Is it really from you?
Kindly confirm.
Salam
C.

-----------------------------------------------------

Right away, I got a response from Saeed.

Hello,
Thanks so much for the reply and so much concern towards my situation.Please I need your help right now that why I have contact you if you can help me with any amount tangible so that I will be back home.It really me but I wish to explain better but time does not permit me because I am using a public library internet here in Australia that why, I wish you can send me the money and when I get back I will surely pay you back.I will be looking forward to read from you as soon as possible so that I can send the information you will be sending the money to.Looking forward to read from you.
Regards
Saeed

-------------------------------------------------

A bit suspicious, I wrote,


Dear Saeed,
Kindly give me a phone number where I can contact you.
thanks
C.

------------------------------------------------

Saeed responded with,

Hello,
How are you doing? And thanks so much for the reply.I am very sorry I can't provide any phone number right now because my phone can't work here in Australia and the only way I can contact you right now is through mails, and that why I have contact you if you can help me with any amount.Please try and understand me better and I promise when I get back I will surely pay you back.I will be looking forward to read from you so that I can send you the details you will be sending the money.
Regards
Saeed

--------------------------------------------

Being completely satisfied, I wrote


OK
Please give me the name, account number etc. where I
need to send the money to.
regards,
C.

------------------------------------------

Saeed responded with,

Thank so much for helping me but I don't have any account here and the neither the poor widow Mrs Tomajina has but you can kindly send the money through Western Union Money Transfer to her so that she can kindly help me pick the money up at the Western Union outlet office here.Here is her details below:

Recievers Name:TOMAJINA L. SPARTALIS

Add:17 ALCOOMIE STREET, VILLAWOOD
2163-SYDNEY NSW.AUSTRALIA.

Text Question:Who send the money?
Answer:

Please kindly get with the necessary information like MTCN(money transfer control number)and also the address you use and send the money as soon as possible.Looking forward to see that
Regards
Saeed

---------------------------------------

Then I wrote,

Thanks for the information, Saeed.

Let me run to the nearest Western Union. It is late
at night here, but let me find a branch that operates
24 hours.

I have been deeply disturbed ever since I read your
distress email message this morning. In fact I have
been crying.

Saeed, Because of our years of friendship I am not
going to send you $2500 that you have asked for--I am
going to send you $25000. I don't want you to spend
any more time in Australia, looking for a bargain
ticket. If the money I am sending you cannot get you
a charter flight, you can at least come first class on
the next airline flying out of that hellhole.

And please don't think for a moment that I am doing
you any favor. I am merely paying back what you have
done to me through all these years. How can I forget
your help in my hours of crisis? When Michelle, my
first wife, ran away, you started dating her and
provided her support. And innumerable other times you
have proved yourself to be a friend I can truly count
on.

As for the robbery that deprived you of everything, I
have a suspicion that you have been trapped. I won't
be too surprised if I find out that the hotel manager
and robbers are cohorts. I have even nurtured the
thought of Mrs Tomajina being part of the gang--Mrs
Tomajina being hotel manager's mistress. But the fact
that Mrs Tomajina did not disappear after the looting,
and in fact has been helping you, makes me discount
the last part of my theory--or else, the plot is
really thick.

Saeed, I am disgusted by this incident of armed
robbery of an innocent American traveler in Australia.
It has proven beyond doubt that Australia is not safe
for Americans, and in fact is a terrorist country. I
am going to ask President Bush to bomb Australia. In
fact an aerial campaign, to soften enemy positions,
can commence right away--but not before you safely get
out of there.

As for poor widow Mrs Tomajina, kindly thank her on my
behalf. It is great that she is besides you in this
moment of misery. Is she good looking?

Saeed, Let me not make this message any longer. I
know that having lost everything you are checking your
email at a library and libraries limit the time
patrons can use computers--these Australian library
terrorists can especially be ruthless.

Saeed, Let me assure you that with my money and your
charm this ugly episode is coming to an end.

Hope to see you here soon, before the Australian skies
get filled with our Apaches and B-2 stealth bombers.

Love,
C.
-------------------------------------------------

Photo courtesy of Amazon dot com.

"Pressure Tactics"

I came across this news report in Daily Dawn:

http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/02/local20.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------
KARACHI : SHCBA chief's complaint

By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, Oct 1: A ditch has been dug in front of Sindh High Court Bar Association President Abrar Hasan's residence in Gulshan-i-Iqbal to make it inaccessible by car, the SHCBA chief told a meeting of its members addressed by presidential candidate Wajihuddin Ahmed on Monday.

Mr Hasan told the meeting that he had been receiving "warnings" for quite a few days. The town municipal administration sent a bulldozer this morning and it cut a trench in front of his house. Fortunately, he had already driven his car out of the house for proceeding to the high court. A truck came soon afterwards and took away the dug-up earth and rubbish, perhaps to prevent early refilling and leveling. He said no pressure tactics would work and he would remain steadfast in the campaign.
-----------------------------------------------------


The first picture is a close-up of the "punishment" trench; the other one shows the ditch from some distance away--that it is only in front of one house.

What do you think of this? Who came up with this idea?
Imagine pro-Musharraf people sitting somewhere, making a list of everyone against Musharraf's presidency and deciding who deserves what kind of punishment.

Digging a ditch in front of your opponent's house may appear amusing to some, but imagine facing inconvenience related to such a punishment when the table is turned and others are strong enough to do that to you.

Mourning the death of Jamal Ashraf Ansari

If every birth reminds us God is still hopeful with humanity, perhaps every death reminds us how little time we have to fulfill that hope.

Jamal Ashraf Ansari died in Karachi today.

Although I had the pleasure of briefly meeting soft-spoken Ansari I did not really know him that well--directly. Indirectly I know a lot about him; the source of my indirect information being Ansari's bright son writer, blogger, activist Sabahat Ashraf, more popularly known by his penname iFaqeer.

1970s were a special time in the history of Pakistan. Middle East ready to exploit vast oil reserves opened its doors to skilled and unskilled labor of the subcontinent. It was around the same time that a lot of teaching positions opened up in Nigeria. Pakistani teachers went to West Africa in hordes. Jamal Ashraf Ansari was one of them. Several years later on returning back from Africa Jamal Ansari started teaching at a Karachi college, and that was when the prefix 'Professor' was added to his name.

Long time ago when as a child I heard the expression of a death leaving a hole I conjured up an image of humanity that is made of various shaped blocks butting each other. Every now and then a hand shows up from nowhere and randomly picks up a block, leaving an empty space. Then the whole humanity jostles and squirms and the movement ends up filling up the absent block's space, but in this process the blocks around the hole change their orientation and the whole frame of humanity does change its shape a bit.
That is exactly what Jamal Ashraf Ansari’s death would do too.

[Photo obtained from http://www.gcmnk.edu.pk/ , Government College for Men's website--Jamal Ashraf Ansari taught at that college.]

FOSA held joint celebration of 60th year of Indian and Pakistani Independence


“Go West, Young man,” they would be advised. They would heed the call, would leave, and on reaching the destination, would forget about the lands they came from. And their forgiveness would be more of a nonelective than a voluntary act. The ‘young man’ settled in the West would have little means to keep in touch with the folks left behind. Not any more. Modern day immigrants—and now they are going everywhere, east, west, north, and south (though a more recognizable stream flows from countries of turmoil to those with stable political systems)—keep well connected, if they wish to, with people they have left. But FOSA (Friends of South Asia, www.friendsofsouthasia.org) insisted that immigrants to Western countries often have a frozen social, political, and environmental image of their ‘homeland’, whereas in reality places are going through continuous change. Keeping up with its tradition of holding a joint celebration of Indian and Pakistani independence days, this year FOSA marked the occasion by holding its fourth annual South Asian literary evening on Saturday, August 25, at Milpitas Library Community Hall. FOSA had invited South Asian writers to reflect on the notion of ‘Revisiting Changing Homelands’ “to recognize and record” changes immigrants see and feel taking place in their ‘homelands.’

Even with a strong desire on the part of FOSA administrators to get submissions in regional South Asian languages, FOSA failed to get much diversity in contributions for the literary evening. Though hard to believe that FOSA’s widely distributed call for submissions, making rounds in the literary groups on the Internet, did not reach people writing in Tamil, Sindhi, Nepalese, and other South Asian languages let alone Bangla (the only South Asian language boasting Nobel Prize in literature), the literary evening featured only two entries in any language other than English--both pieces were in Urdu.

Moazzam Sheikh a writer originally from Lahore and settled in San Francisco moderated the literary evening. Moazzam Sheikh writes fiction in English and Urdu, and translates from Urdu and Punjabi into English. He is the editor of ‘A letter from India: contemporary short stories from Pakistan’ (Penguin Books, 2004).

Amina Kamal Khan a poet and filmmaker living in Washington DC area had submitted a poem for the evening. Amina Khan’s poem ‘Coming home’ was read by Moazzam Sheikh.
Khawaja Ashraf, editor of PakistanWeekly.com, has been writing short stories in Urdu and English since 1973. His Urdu stories have been published in Auraq, Lahore and Shubkhoon, Allahabad. Khawaja Ashraf read a short story titled “A Cup of Tea With Buddha.”


Mohezin (Mo) Tejani, currently residing in Thailand, writes articles, stories, and poetry for various magazines worldwide. A Chameleon's Tale – True Stories of a Global Refugee, the first volume of his globetrotting memoirs, was published in June 2006. “Fruits of Childhood” written by Mo Tejani was read by Saadia Mumtaz.

Rinku Dutta, born in Sanctoria, Bihar, is currently engaged in post-doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania. Ijaz Syed read a piece written by Rinku Dutta--the commentary was titled "54, Chowringhee Lane."

Maheen M Adamson, a research fellow at Stanford University, is interested in film, theater, and Urdu literature. Maheen Adamson read “Aik Ungal Ka Border" (Urdu).

Ahsan Sajjad, a Karachite settled in the heart of Silicon Valley, has been writing songs in the American Folk/blues style. Ahsan Sajjad read "The Origination of The Musical Chair", a satirical piece.
Saqib Mausoof, a writer and filmmaker based in San Francisco is currently working on his feature film ‘Kala Pul’, and his travelogue, Afraid to Shoot Strangers. Saqib Mausoof read his memoir titled “The Dancing Girl of Mohenjodaro.”
Wajahat Ali a native Californian of Pakistani ancestry has been writing and producing plays and films since he was a child. His play "The Domestic Crusaders" was performed at various places in the Bay Area and earned accolades from critics. Wajahat Ali's troupe performed staged reading of an excerpt from Ali's play "How to read 'Un-Wholly Warriors.’”

A prevue of the movie Kala Pul and a short film on crossing Wagah border were screened to conclude the literary evening.

Got this email:

Sep 17, 2007 11:34 AM
subject Unauthorized Activity
Dear Bank of America client,

You have received this email because you or someone had used your account from different locations.For security purpose, we are required to open an investigation into this matter.

In order to safeguard your account, we require that you confirm your banking details.

The help speeed up to this process, please access the following link so we ca complete the verification of your Bank of America Online Banking Account registration information.

http://0xcb709527/icons/small/%20/www.bankofamerica.com/sslencrypt218bit/online_banking/


If we do no receive the appropriate account verification within 48 hours, then we will assume this Bank of America account is fraudulent and will be suspended.

The purpose of this verification is to ensure that your bank account has not been fraudulently used and to combat the fraud from our community. We appreciate your support and understanding and thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

----------------

Look at the ghastly grammatical errors in the message. They make me cry. Can someone kindly offer an 'English writing' class to the spammers? Please!

Pervez Hoodbhoy's keynote speech at NEDians' Convention 2007

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy spoke on "The Power of Ideas." It was a brilliant speech given in a soft tone that would make you fall madly in love with Hoodbhoy's scholarship. You can listen to the speech here:
http://ia341225.us.archive.org/1/items/PervezHoodbhoysSpeechAtNediansConvention2007/PhAtNedian.mp3

Nawaz Sharif landed at Islambad, but was made to leave for Saudi Arabia

News reports suggest Nawaz Sharif went back to Pakistan without thinking too much about the details of the imminent confrontation (for example, when asked to hand over his passport, he and his colleagues did not have a pre-planned strategy to cope with the situation; the entourage was not prepared for how much pushing and shoving it was ready to take, and where to draw the line).
Most importantly, Nawaz Sharif picked up the wrong city to land in to. Not sure why he did not go straight to Lahore, his power base. In Lahore, it could very well be a completely different story. Imagine hundreds of thousands of NS supporters gathering in and around the airport; imagine PML-N local leaders preemptively threatening officials who would be found responsible for turning back NS, etc.

A suit for the contempt of court (in not letting NS in) has already been filed. Let's see what comes out of that.

A review of Shazia Mirza’s comedy stints at NEDians’ Convention 2007

Humor in most parts is about putting very serious things in a most unserious manner. These are the things that you either have great respect for, have strong reservations about, or are normally uncomfortable discussing in public. Consequently, humor banks on poking fun at religion, important government matters, and sexual mores and attitudes.

Shazia Mirza, a UK based comedian of Pakistani ancestry, gave two performances of stand-up comedy at NEDians’ Convention 2007, in San Jose.

The War on Terror being the most serious stuff these days was understandably Mirza’s one domain of humor—she was original, brilliant, and very funny.
[For example,
My grandmother is on a wheelchair. She was stopped at an airport in the US. Looking at her wheelchair, they asked, “Did you make it yourself?”

Pakistani women normally walk five steps behind their husbands.
These men look better from behind.
But now Pakistani men are having their wives walk five steps ahead of them.
Because of the landmines.]

Pakistanis are definitely not at the forefront of sex-related-morality reevaluations. To state the obvious, Pakistanis are conservative in their attitudes towards sex. Comedians performing to Pakistani audiences are expected to pay attention to this little detail, and especially comedians who are from the Pakistani ethnic group. But Shazia Mirza did not display that intelligence. Her jokes on sex at the NEDians’ Convention were devoid of the subtlety and suavity this conservative community is used to in regards to sex-related jokes. Though this aspect of Shazia’s comedy least bothered this scribe, some in the audience did object to her content and the organizers promptly informed Shazia about the objections; she was asked to “tone it down.” The way Mirza acted after this confrontation made it obvious she had come without a B plan. She appeared confused on where to go from there.

One short-phrased thought on Shazia Mirza’s performance that stayed with this correspondent was: one man not laughing. For, in most part Shazia Mirza’s comedy on September 8 was grade-school humor: you pick one person from the group and make him/her the butt of the joke. Everybody laughs their hearts out, everybody but the person everybody is laughing on. Perhaps this kind of humor displayed in comedy clubs to an intoxicated audience that is hell-bent on having a great time, even at the expense of others, is OK but at the NED Alumni convention it was a different story. In NED culture where social status of a student was set by the time they had spent at the University—more senior being more worthy of respect—making fun of people on how they dressed or on their physical appearance did not go well with many in the audience.

The third aspect of Shazia Mirza’s comedy that was most problematic to this scribe was a hint of snobbery in her dealing with the audience. Maybe we were seeing her UK based understanding of her own ethnic group: people who have learned to amass wealth, but otherwise are not too educated. This hint of disdain was obvious in her opening note [that whereas she had been asked to tone down her content she believed she should be giving Pakistanis what she gives to her “White” audience--as if what she gives to her “White” audience is the premier class stuff, and toning down the act would be like giving a second class product to Pakistanis, who, whereas are second-class people still deserve premier stuff] or her questions meant to size up audience’s cultural refinement [for example, if the audience knew about ‘Vagina Monologues']. It might very well be that some of the Pakistanis are not too much into off-Broadway shows, or operas, or NY Times bestsellers, but they definitely don’t need a comedienne from Europe to tell them that.

Amazing how reputable news agencies goof up with editorial comments. Look at this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070711/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_radical_mosque
At least 106 dead at Pakistan mosque

By SADAQAT JAN, Associated Press Writer 39 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Commandos cleared the warren-like Red Mosque complex of rebel fighters Wednesday, ending a fierce eight-day siege and street battles that left more than 100 dead. The government warned it would not tolerate militancy in any of Pakistan's thousands of religious schools.
Officials found no corpses of women and children, although seven or eight of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition, apparently by the militants' gasoline bombs, said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, a military spokesman.
At least 106 people were killed overall since the violence began at the Red Mosque. They include 10 soldiers, one police ranger and several civilians who died in the crossfire // one word in 2002 of the initial street fighting last week.
..............................
-----------

Apparently Sadaqat Jan wrote "cross fire" which the Associated Press editor changed to "crossfire" with the comment 'one word' (not sure about 'in 2002' part; may be the reference is to Word 2002 software) and then everything including the comment was published on the Internet. Yours truly found it at Yahoo.

Starting a Green Literary tradition

Now there is a Green Halqa-e-Arbab- e-Zauq--not green
as in 'green with envy', but green as in kind to our
environment. This Halqa-e-Arbab- e-Zauq, with Dr.
Khawaja Ashraf as its patron, meets on a conference
call. No need to drive to anywhere or make special
arrangements to fit the Halqa program in your busy
schedule; just call in and be part of the literary
conversation. Green Halqa-e-Arbab- e-Zauq's first
meeting took place on Sunday, July 1. Ijaz Syed,
Shahab Riazi, Saqib Mausoof, Khawaja Ashraf, and this
scribe attended the conference. Ijaz Syed read parts
of a Punjabi translation of his short story "Butt
Sahib" (originally written in English). The story,
translated into Punjabi by Narinder Jeet Kaur, has
appeared in Sanjh, APNA's Quarterly Magazine. A
detailed discussion on the story followed the reading.
Green Halqa-e-Arbab- e-Zauq plans to have regular
meetings on Sundays at 10 am, Pacific Standard Time.
Conference call number and access code would be
published at various forums, before each meeting.

Hugo Chávez and the closing down of RCTV

Richard Gott appears to be the apologist of the kind that permeates the left today. To these people Chavez is an infallible hero because of the simple fact that he challenges the hegemony of the West. No further questions need to be asked. Chavez is above any independent scrutiny, a very convoluted left logic professes.
Such blind loyalty to a living person appearing to be a revolutionary is pathetic--it paves way for fascism.

----------------
> >>
> >> Racism and TV in Venezuela
> >> by Richard Gott
> >>
> >> "RCTV was a white supremacist channel."
> >>
> >> This article originally appeared in The Guardian
> (UK).
> >>
> >>
> >> After 10 days of rival protests in the streets of
> >> Caracas, memories have been revived of earlier
> >> attempts to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution
> of
> >> Hugo Chávez, now in its ninth year. Street
> >> demonstrations, culminating in an attempted coup
> in
> >> 2002 and a prolonged lock-out at the national oil
> >> industry, once seemed the last resort of an
> opposition
> >> unable to make headway at the polls. Yet the
> current
> >> unrest is a feeble echo of those tumultuous
> events,
> >> and the political struggle takes place on a
> smaller
> >> canvas. Today's battle is for the hearts and
> minds of
> >> a younger generation confused by the upheavals of
> an
> >> uncharted revolutionary process.
> >>
> >> University students from privileged backgrounds
> have
> >> been pitched against newly enfranchised young
> people
> >> from the impoverished shantytowns, beneficiaries
> of
> >> the increased oil royalties spent on higher
> education
> >> projects for the poor. These separate groups
> never
> >> meet, but both sides occupy their familiar
> >> battleground within the city, one in the leafy
> squares
> >> of eastern Caracas, the other in the narrow and
> >> teeming streets in the west. This symbolic battle
> will
> >> become ever more familiar in Latin America in the
> >> years ahead: rich against poor, white against
> brown
> >> and black, immigrant settlers against indigenous
> >> peoples, privileged minorities against the great
> mass
> >> of the population. History may have come to an
> end in
> >> other parts of the world, but in this continent
> >> historical processes are in full flood.
> >>
> >> Ostensibly the argument is about the media, and
> the
> >> government's decision not to renew the
> broadcasting
> >> license of a prominent station, Radio Caracas
> >> Television (RCTV), and to hand its frequencies to
> a
> >> newly established state channel. What are the
> rights
> >> of commercial television channels? What are the
> >> responsibilities of those funded by the state?
> Where
> >> should the balance between them lie? Academic
> >> questions in Europe and the US, the debate in
> Latin
> >> America is loud and impassioned. Here there is
> little
> >> tradition of public broadcasting, and commercial
> >> stations often received their license in the days
> of
> >> military rule.
> >>
> >> "Those most in view on the screen were
> long-haired and
> >> pulchritudinous young blonds."
> >>
> >> The debate in Venezuela has less to do with the
> >> alleged absence of freedom of expression than
> with a
> >> perennially tricky issue locally referred to as
> >> "exclusion", a shorthand term for "race" and
> "racism".
> >> RCTV was not just a politically reactionary
> >> organization which supported the 2002 coup
> attempt
> >> against a democratically elected government - it
> was
> >> also a white supremacist channel. Its staff and
> >> presenters, in a country largely of black and
> >> indigenous descent, were uniformly white, as were
> the
> >> protagonists of its soap operas and the
> advertisements
> >> it carried. It was "colonial" television,
> reflecting
> >> the desires and ambitions of an external power.
> >>
> >> At the final, close-down party of RCTV last
> month,
> >> those most in view on the screen were long-haired
> and
> >> pulchritudinous young blondes. Such images make
> for
> >> excellent television watching by European and
> North
> >> American males, and these languorous blondes are
> >> indeed familiar figures from the Miss World and
> Miss
> >> Universe competitions in which the children of
> recent
> >> immigrants from Europe are invariably Venezuela's
> >> chief contenders. Yet their ubiquity on the
> screen
> >> prevented the channel from presenting a mirror to
> the
> >> society that it sought to serve or to entertain.
> To
> >> watch a Venezuelan commercial station (and
> several
> >> still survive) is to imagine that you have been
> >> transported to the US. Everything is based on a
> >> modern, urban and industrialized society, remote
> from
> >> the experience of most Venezuelans. Their
> programs,
> >> argues Aristóbulo Istúriz, until recently
> Chávez's
> >> minister of education (and an Afro-Venezuelan),
> >> encourage racism, discrimination and exclusion.
> >>
> >> The new state-funded channels (and there are
> several
> >> of them too, plus innumerable community radio
> >> stations) are doing something completely
> different,
> >> and unusual in the competitive world of
> commercial
> >> television. Their programs look as though they
> are
> >> taking place in Venezuela, and they display the
> >> cross-section of the population to be seen on
> >> cross-country buses or on the Caracas metro. As
> in
> >> every country in the world, not everyone in
> Venezuela
> >> is a natural beauty. Many are old, ugly and fat.
> Today
> >> they are given a voice and a face on the
> television
> >> channels of the state. Many are deaf or hard of
> >> hearing. Now they have sign language
> interpretation on
> >> every prograe. Many are inarticulate peasants.
> They
> >> too have their moment on the screen. Their
> immediate
> >> and dangerous struggle for land is not just being
> >> observed by a documentary film-maker from the
> city.
> >> They are being taught to make the films
> themselves.
> >>
> >> "Venezuelan state TV will become a useful space
> for
> >> rescuing those values that other models of
> television
> >> always ignore, especially our Afro-heritage."
> >>
> >> Blanca Eekhout, the head of Vive TV, the
> government's
> >> cultural channel, launched two years ago, coined
> the
> >> slogan "Don't watch television, make it". Classes
> in
> >> film-making have been set up all over the
> country. Lil
> >> Rodríguez, an Afro-Venezuelan journalist and the
> boss
> >> of TVES, the channel that replaces RCTV, claims
> that
> >> it will become "a useful space for rescuing those
> >> values that other models of television always
> ignore,
> >> especially our Afro-heritage". With time, the
> excluded
> >> will find a voice within the mainstream.
> >>
> >> Little of this is under discussion in the
> dialogue of
> >> the deaf on the streets of Caracas. For the
> protesting
> >> university students, the argument about the media
> is
> >> just one more stick with which to hit out against
> the
> >> ever-popular Chávez. Yet as they mourn the loss
> of
> >> their favourite soap operas, they are already
> aware
> >> that their eventual loss may be more substantial.
> As
> >> children of the oligarchy, they might have
> expected
> >> soon to run the country. Now fresh faces are
> emerging
> >> from the shantytowns to challenge them, a new
> class
> >> educating itself at speed and planning to seize
> their
> >> birthright.
> >>
> >> Just a few weeks ago, Chávez outlined his plans
> for
> >> university reform, encouraging wider access and
> the
> >> development of a different curriculum. New
> colleges
> >> and technical institutes across the country will
> >> dilute the prestige of the older establishments,
> still
> >> the preserve of the wealthy, and the battle over
> the
> >> media will soon be submerged in a wider struggle
> for
> >> educational reform. Chávez takes no notice of the
> >> complaints and simply soldiers on, with the
> >> characteristics of an evangelical preacher: he
> urges
> >> people to lead moral lives, live simply and
> resist the
> >> lure of consumerism. He is embarked on a
> challenge to
> >> the established order that has long prevailed in
> >> Venezuela and throughout the rest of Latin
> America,
> >> hoping that the message of his cultural
> revolution
> >> will soon echo across the continent.
> >>
> >>
> >> Richard Gott is the author of Hugo Chávez and the
> >> Bolivarian Revolution. He can be contacted at
> >> rwgott@aol.com
> >>

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.