You ain't no Lincoln, Bozo!

Emergency in Pakistan

What’s on their minds?

Pervez Musharraf: I know what is good for the nation. And I feel very secure doing what I wish to do. The Army is with me and I don’t face an internal coup. Americans are with me because they need me to fight a war against extremism in Pakistan. Other players and 160 million idiots don’t count.

General Kayani: I can see it is time for my promotion, but how should I do it? I wish someone could give me a Powerpoint presentation explaining the step-by-step process of staging a coup.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry: What kind of people these Pakistanis are? This dictator has suppressed their basic rights and they don't care! Can't they see it is not only the lawyers he is arresting? He is after anyone who does not wiggle his tail like Shaukat Aziz does: political activists, media people, and dish-antenna sellers. Only the lawyers are interested in upholding supremacy of law, in saving the country? Why are political parties and common Pakistanis not coming to help?

Shaukat Aziz: Thanks God I still have my US citizenship. Where would I settle, New York or Hawaii? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Benazir Bhutto: If I can scare Pervez Musharraf and the US with my street power, I can get the General negotiate on my terms. Let me see how Musharraf and the US react to my call for long march on November 13.

Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi and other PML-QA leaders: Can only that part of supremacy of law be restored that would keep BB out of the game?

Maulana Fazl ur-Rahman: I am with Musharraf, or whoever is in power, on anything, as long as I get my cut.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed: Historically every opposition has used my party to create unrest in the country. But this time I want to be assured I would get something out of this.

Altaf Hussain: I control Pakistan’s biggest city. The situation is too fluid for me to say anything to the media. I am monitoring the developments and would decide if the party I rule needs to ditch the General.

Imran Khan: The General has raised the temperature. It is time for a meltdown. I wish there were more people ready to come out on the streets.

Nawaz Sharif: I wish I were in Pakistan, but since I am not, can someone pass me another plate of murgh-musallam, please?

FOSA's 2007 Eid-Diwali celebration held on Sunday, November 4 turned into a brainstorming session to work with other organizations and people in Pakistan to resist emergency rule. The following media advisory sent to various publications was read in the meeting.

MEDIA ADVISORY
FOSA Demands the Restoration of Democracy in Pakistan
The military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, has imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan, aborting the long-awaited return to democracy. With the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), Mr. Musharraf has authorized himself to rule by decree, suspended fundamental rights in Pakistan, and granted himself unlimited powers. The PCO also prohibits the Supreme Court of Pakistan from passing a judgment against Mr. Musharraf. When the Supreme Courtrefused to ratify Mr. Musharraf's declaration of the state of emergency, eight SC judges, including Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhary, the Chief Justice, were taken into custody and Mr. Musharraf appointed a new Chief Justice. Other judges from lower courts and many lawyers, including Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, have been detained. Regular news broadcasts have been suspended, independent TV news channels forced off the air and curbs imposed on the media.
Friends of South Asia (www.friendsofsouthasia.org), a San Francisco bay area based organization, strongly condemns the declaration of emergency rule in Pakistan. It is an illegal and unconstitutional decision and an attempt by a military dictator to continue his illegal and unconstitutional rule. This declaration of a state of emergency must be universally condemned and the generals in Pakistan must end their stranglehold on the country.
FOSA expresses its solidarity with the people of Pakistan in their demand for an end to dictatorship and for free fair and elections. We are heartened by the courage shown by the Justices of the Supreme Court who have declared the PCO and the imposition of the state of emergency illegal and unconstitutional. The Court has declared that no judge of the Supreme Court or any of the high courts including the chief justices would take oath under new PCO. We also commend civil society organizations such as various human rights groups, lawyers groups, independent news and blogger sites in Pakistan who continue to organize and inform the public in defiance of the government orders.
FOSA rejects President Musharraf's defence of emergency rule as a necessary step to combat extremism and terrorism. We disagree that suspending the rights and liberties of its own citizens would in any way help Pakistan fight extremists and terrorists. This is a transparent ploy by Mr. Musharraf and his military junta to crush the nascent movement towards democracy.
FOSA joins with all citizens of Pakistan in demanding an immediate end to the emergency rule and a speedy restoration of the constitution and the rule of law. To ensure working of an independent judiciary, all Supreme Court judges deposed on November 3 by Mr. Musharraf should be restored to their positions. FOSA demands that all political workers and members of the legal fraternity arrested in the wake of declaration of emergency rule be immediately released.

---------------------------
Previously, a bolder plan of action was under consideration. Here is the draft.

With the imposition of Emergency on November 3, 2007
General Pervez Musharraf has plunged Pakistan into
great uncertainty. Whereas General Pervez Musharraf
says he took the precarious step to save Pakistan, no
one doubts the only thing Musharraf is interested in
saving is his own grip on power.

We condemn Pervez Musharraf’s latest authoritarian
decree and want Pakistanis and well-wishers of
Pakistan to build pressure on him to take back the
emergency measures. But having witnessed Pervez
Musharraf’s propensity to sacrifice anything for his
own personal gain we doubt if Musharraf under any
cogent force would backtrack.

Considering Pakistanis desire for democracy, the
recent struggle for the restoration of a Chief Justice
illegally removed by the dictator, the ongoing
pro-civil society debates in the erstwhile independent
Pakistani media, and the pro-democracy sentiments
within the Pakistan army we wish to humbly suggest a
shorter path towards restoring order in Pakistan.

In order to facilitate removal of Pervez Musharraf and
to avoid further chaos in the country by keeping its
institutions intact we urge Pakistanis in general and
Pakistan’s political parties in particular to quickly
form an interim government. The interim government
and events related to its enactment should have the
following features:

1. The interim government should be headed by an
interim president who would hold free and fair general
elections in the shortest span of time.
2. To ensure working of an independent judiciary all
Supreme Court judges deposed on November 3 by Pervez
Musharraf should be restored to their positions.
3. Pakistan Army should stop taking orders from Pervez
Musharraf and current Vice Chief of Army Staff,
General Kayani should immediately take charge of the
forces. General Kayani should work under the interim
president.
4. All political workers and members of legal
fraternity arrested in the wake of emergency should be
released.
5. All bureaucratic institutions with their current
officers should keep functioning under the interim
president.

We urge Pakistani political parties to quickly consent
to an interim president. One choice obvious to many
would be Retired Chief Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed who as
a public servant not only had a spotless career, but
who gained considerable public support while recently
running for President against Pervez Musharraf

Till an interim government through the wishes of
Pakistanis and Pakistan’s political parties takes
command we ask all citizens to commence an indefinite
strike starting from Monday, November 5.

Abrar Hasan Advocate, President, Sindh High Court Bar Association


Is it all coming to a grand finale?

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C11%5C05%5Cstory_5-11-2007_pg12_1

Munir, Abrar arrested, raids to arrest more

By AR Qureshi

KARACHI: Munir A. Malik, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Pakistan (SCBAP) and Abrar Hassan, the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) have been taken into custody and removed to Central Prison Karachi (CPK).

Malik was arrested a few hours after the emergency was declared by Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday evening. Hassan was arrested on Sunday afternoon from his residence and was immediately taken to jail.

Salahuddin Gandapur, senior member of the Sindh Bar Council (SBC), was also taken into custody and raids are being conducted to arrest Rasheed A. Razvi, a former judge and frontline lawyer leader, said Shaikh Munir-ur-Rahman, the SHCBA’s honorary secretary, while talking to Daily Times.

When asked about the leaders of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), Rahman said that the cell phones of both the KBA secretary Naeem Qureshi and President Iftikhar Javed Kazi were off and they might have gone underground under the circumstances.

When asked about a strategy, Rahman, while speaking from an undisclosed location, said that lawyers would boycott court proceedings on Monday and would hold general-body meetings to decide what to do.

Police start rounding up lawyers?: The names of more than two dozen lawyers are on a list for arrests ordered by the Sindh Home Department, sources said. But this has been denied so far by the chief of police.

Sources said that the police have started conducting raids to round up Justice (retd) Rasheed A Rizvi, advocates Abrar Hassan, Noor Nas Agha, Shahadat Awan, Arshad Judoon, Nehal Hashmi, Iftikhar Javaid Qazi, Naeem Qureshi, Aqil Lodhi and others.

There were reports that Advocate Noor Naz Agha was in the custody of Jamshed Quarters police. Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) of Jamshed Quarters DSP Anwar Zaib confirmed Agha’s detention. “We don’t know yet where Agha has been kept,” he said adding that it was the work of the women police. However, SHO Women Police Station Ghazala Pervain denied this. “We don’t have Agha in our custody yet.” According to some reports, the police raided the residence of advocate Munir A Malik and others lawyers.

Gone Phishing

A very official looking email message from IRS, with the above logo, landed in my mail box. It read:


After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that
you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $89.46.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to
process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here


Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.


Regards,
Internal Revenue Service


© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.

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

Were it not for grammatical and syntax errors in the message--the most laughable being "criminally pursued and indicated"--I would have fallen for it.

Allah is smoking out depraved Hollywood people, says Maulana Ahmad Shah Thatvi

Allen Hafman

Thatta, Pakistan
Maulana Ahmad Shah Thatvi has expressed contentment with the latest news of raging fires in California that have burned homes of many Hollywood stars.
“They are the textbook examples of na-farman (disobeyers). Allah's wrath has finally caught up with them," a smug Maulana Thatvi told a large crowd.
“Have you seen American porn? What filth these Hollywood people produce! Naoozo Billah. Is it any surprise that the fire of hell which was their destiny in afterlife has been ordered for them a bit earlier,” Maulana told his Isha prayer audience.
When asked to compare American porn with European and Japanese porn and inquired if European and Japanese actors were going to hell too, Maulana refused to comment because he had not seen European and Japanese porn.
When asked if there was any way the California fires could be stopped, Maulana said that if all Hollywood men and women convert to Islam right away and pray (men and women separately) on Malibu beach the winds may suddenly die and it would be possible to put out the fires. [Maulana was informed by the reporters that the negative image of Muslims and Islam in the American media has ensured that only those interested in getting hired as suicide bombers would convert to Islam.]
When told that Britney Spears was on the verge of conversion to Islam, Maulana said if she had done it in time Allah might have changed His plans, and she might even have received custody of her children.
[Karim Bux and Angelina Matriati contributed to this Rioters News Agency report.]

People from South Asia are at a greater risk for heart diseases than most of the world.

People over 40, and even younger ones if there is a history of coronary diseases in the family, should get their Cholesterol (and Glucose) checked annually. With extraordinary advances that have lately taken place in medical technologies it does not make much sense to die young with a failed heart.
Cut down on meat, eat fruits and vegetables, exercise daily, have a vast social network, and be happy doing what you really want to do instead of putting yourself in some mindless rat race, and there is no reason you would not be blessed with a long, healthy life that would benefit everyone around you.

On its web site, the South Asian Heart Center, describes its mission as:
"The mission of the South Asian Heart Center at El Camino Hospital is to reduce the high incidence of coronary artery disease among South Asians, and save lives, through a comprehensive, culturally-appropriate program incorporating education, advanced screening, lifestyle changes, and case management."

South Asian Heart Center
El Camino Hospital, Park Pavilion, Ground Floor, 2400 Grant Road, Mountain View, CA 94040
Phone: 650.940.SAHC (650.940.7242) | Fax: 650.966.9269 | info@southasianheartcenter..org
http://www.southasianheartcenter.org

A fraud about an alleged fraud

The following email message about an alleged swindling scheme at Indian airports has been making rounds on the Internet.

--------------------------------
PASSPORT FRAUD

Important Information. Please pass it on to all you know..


Dear All:

Be careful At the Indian Airports, This is a well-organized conspiracy by Indian Immigration, Police, Customs and Air India staff with networking at all the Indian International Airports. Be watchful whenever you give your passport to Immigration/ Customs/Air India staff. The passport can be easily tampered and can create trouble to you. They have found easy way of making money from NRIs. This is the way it works.At the time of the passenger's departure, if the passenger is not looking at the officer while he is stamping the exit, the officer very cleverly tears away one of the page from the passport. When the passenger leaves the immigration counter, the case is reported on his computer terminal with full details. Now all over India they have got full details of the passenger with Red Flag flashing on the Passport number entered by the departure immigration officer. They have made their money by doing above. On arrival next time, he is interrogated. Subject to the passenger's period of stay abroad, his income and standing etc., the price to get rid of the problem is settled by the Police and Immigration people. If someone argues, his future is spoiled because there are always some innocent fellows who think the honesty is the basis of getting justice in India . Which is wrong...Please advise every passenger to be careful at the airport. Whenever they hand over the passport to the counters of Air India , or immigration or the customs, they must be vigilant, should not remove eyes from the passport even if the officer in front tries to divert their attention. Also, please pass this information to all friends, media men and important politicians. Every month 20-30 cases are happening all over India to rob the NRIs the minute he lands. Similar case has happened with Armco¢s Arifuddin. He was traveling with his family. They had six passports. They got the visa of America and decided to go via Hyderabad from Jeddah. They reached Hyderabad . Stayed about a month and left for the States. When they reached the States, the page of the American visa on his wife's passport was missing. At the time of departure from Hyderabad it was there, the whole family had to return to Hyderabad helplessly. On arrival at Bombay back, the police caught them and now it is over 2 months, they are running after the Police, Immigration officers and the Courts. On going in to details with him, he found out the following: One cannot imagine, neither can believe, that the Indian Immigration dept can play such a nasty game to harass the innocent passengers.
All the passengers traveling to & from India via Bombay and Hyderabad must be aware of this conspiracy. Every month 15 to 20 cases are taking place, at each mentioned airport, of holding the passengers in the crime of tearing away the passport pages. On interviewing some of them, none of them was aware of what had happened. They don't know why, when and who tore away the page from the middle of the passport. One can imagine the sufferings of such people at the hands of the immigration, police and the court procedures in India after that. The number of cases is increasing in the last 2-3 years. People who are arriving at the immigration, they are questioned and their passports are being held and they have to go in interrogations. Obviously, the conspiracy started about 2 to 3 years ago, now the results are coming. Some of the Air India counter staff too is involved in this conspiracy.

KINDLY SEND THIS TO AS MANY AS YOUR FRIENDS ACROSS THE WORLD AND ALSO REQUEST THEM TO CHECK THE PASSPORT AT THE CHECKING COUNTERS AND BEFORE LEAVING THE AIRPORT.

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

Analysis:
Is the above for real?
Probably not. Why? Because:
1. It is poorly written, indicating it not to be from a credible source.
2. The byline is missing. We don't know who wrote it.
3. The language used is typical of spam: "Similar case has happened with Armco's Arifuddin." Remember the letter that foretold the curse that would fall on you if you failed to make copies of the letter and send them to 100 people? It also used the same language: Arif of Bombay ignored this letter; next day his mother died.
[The truth was otherwise. Arif's mother was sick, but instead of taking care of her he went to make copies of the letter and mail them to 100 people. By the time he was done his mother died.;-)]
4. Even if you ignore #1, 2, and 3, the alleged scheme is too elaborate to take place. It requires collusion of too many people, at various levels. Unless there are regular meetings of all personnel working at Indian airports, to get reports, declare 'income', and equitably divide up the booty, the scheme cannot successfully run.

Conclusion:
It is a hoax. Please do not forward "PASSPORT FRAUD" message to anyone. Do your part in keeping the Internet free of spam.

[Photo courtesy of BBC]

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.