Drama of Devolution under 18th Amendment

It is not surprising to note that despite high sounding drum-beating of 'Devolution of powers to Provinces' nothing has been practically devolved under 18^th Amendment in respect of policy decisions, financial controls and regulatory powers.

 

Everybody knows that the ministries exercise their powers and functions through attached Departments / Organizations. Take example of Federal ministry of food and agriculture; the subject was a provincial matter even before the 18^th Amendment but all policy matters, foreign aid/loan and regulatory functions were exercised by the Federation.

 

Now notionally the ministry has been devolved to provinces but the situation on the ground is still as under;

 

Sr.	Attached Department / Mega Project	Devolved to Provinces	Shifted to Another Federal Ministry	Remarks
1	Department of Plant Protection	No	Yes To Min of Commerce
2	Seed Certification & Registration Department	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech
3	Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation	No	Yes To Min of commerce
4	Pakistan Agricultural Research Council	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech
5	Pakistan Central Cotton Committee	No	Yes To Min of Textile
6	Pakistan Oilseed Development Board	No	No	Closed
7	Soil Survey of Pakistan	Yes	No	To Punjab
8	Agriculture Policy Institute	No	Yes to Min of Planning
9	Economic Wing	No	Yes to Min of Planning
10	WTO Cell	No	Yes to Min of Econ. Affairs
11	Animal Quarantine Department	No	Yes To Min of Commerce
12	Federal Water Management Cell	No	Yes To Min of Power
13	Pakistan Tobacco Board	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech
14	Pakistan Horticulture Board	No	Yes To Min of Commerce
15	Mega Project NAPHIS	No	Yes To Min of Commerce	Rs 773 Million
16	Mega Project Vegetable Hybrid Seed Production	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 500 Million
17	Mega Project Bio-saline Agriculture	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 826 Million
18	Mega Project Crop Maximization	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech	Rs 8,013 Million
19	Mega Project National Commercial Seed Production	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 3,500 Million
20	Mega Project Commercialization of Tea Production	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 492 Million
21	Mega Project Boosting Fodder Availability	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 611 Million
22	Mega Project Neelibar Agri. Res.	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech	Rs 348 Million
23	Mega Project Benazir Bhutto Res. Station	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 916 Million
24	Mega Project Pak China Coop	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech	Rs 691 Million
25	Mega Project Indigenization of Hybrid Seed Prod	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 655 Million
26	Mega Project Pak China Rice	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech	Rs 433 Million
27	Mega Project Pak China Cold storage	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 2,229 Million
28	Mega Project National Institute of Genomics	No	Yes To Min of Science & Tech	Rs 482 Million
29	Mega Project Water Conservation	No	Yes To Min of Power	Rs 18,000 Million
30	Miscellaneous Projects	No	Yes to Min of Sc. & Tech

 

Conclusion: It is evident that nothing is going to change after so called devolution and the ministry may be re-established with a new name within few days to continue business as usual. Chief Minister of Punjab has raised his concerns on the superficial process of devolution without handing over of assets and infrastructure in case of all devolved ministries. In return the movement of wheat from Punjab (to Balochistan and for export) through Sindh has been subjected to 'Private Tax' levied by private army of a sitting Sindh Minister.

Source:msarwar80@hotmail.com

--
Shahzad Afzal
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/

17 June in history

1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.

 

1497 – Battle of Deptford Bridge – forces under King Henry VII defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.

 

1565 – Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

 

1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.

 

1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.

 

1673 – French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.

 

1773 – Cúcuta (Colombia) is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.

 

1775 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill

 

1789 – In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.

 

1839 – In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the Edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result.

 

1861 – Battle of Vienna, Virginia in the American Civil War.

 

1863 – Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War.

 

1876 – Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud – 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.

 

1877 – Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon – the Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.

 

1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

 

1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.

 

1901 – The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.

 

1910 – Aurel Vlaicu performed the first flight of A. Vlaicu nr. 1.

 

1930 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law.

 

1932 – Bonus Army: around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.

 

1933 – Union Station Massacre: in Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.

 

1939 – Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison.

 

1940 – World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.

 

1940 – World War II: the British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces.

 

1940 – The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.

 

1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.

 

1948 – A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Airlines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.

 

1953 – East Germany Workers Uprising: in East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.

 

1958 – The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing many of the ironworkers and injuring others.

 

1958 – The Wooden Roller Coaster at Playland, which is in the Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada opens. It is still open today.

 

1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km²) of land undervalued (4 cents/acre) in the 1863 treaty.

 

1961 – The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.

 

1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.

 

1963 – A day after South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem announced the Joint Communique to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out, killing one.

 

1963 –: Z. A. Bhutto then foreign minister, resigns.

 

1971 – President Richard Nixon declares the U.S. War on Drugs.

 

1972 – Watergate scandal: five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

 

1987 – With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.

 

1991 – Apartheid: the South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.

 

1992 – A 'joint understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).

 

1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase , O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

 

2003--United States troops shoot dead two former Iraqi soldiers who were protesting that they had not been paid since their country was occupied.

 

2004--The Pentagon confirms a report in The New York Times that CIA chief George Tenet – who steps down from the post next month – was allowed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to have an Iraqi prisoner secretly detained in alleged violation of the Geneva Convention

 

 

2005--Great Pakistani scientist AQ Khan is said to be stable after suffering a heart attack.

 

2007--Air strikes in Afghanistan on a suspected Al Qaeda headquarters kill several militants as well as civilians, including children.

 

2007--Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, outlaws armed factions of Hamas. (CTV)

2007--At least 35 people die in Kabul, Afghanistan as the result of a bombing of a police bus

 

2010--Israel's decision to ease the Gaza blockade is welcomed by the United Nations and the United States; Gaza's Hamas rulers say this is propaganda by Israel.

2010--Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak warns Lebanon of the responsibility it holds if Israel has to involve itself in a "violent and dangerous confrontation" with a Gaza-bound international aid flotilla said to include dozens of Lebanese and several Europeans. (AFP)

--
Shahzad Afzal
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/

US keeping secret stash of smallpox viruses

US keeping secret stash of smallpox viruses at lab in Georgia to use for future bioweapons

Wednesday, June 08, 2011 by: J. D. Heyes

You may have heard that smallpox has long been eradicated but what you may not know is that the United States and Russia still maintain stocks of the disease, and the U.S. is still in the business of researching and developing it. The question is, why?

According to the U.S. government, Washington and Moscow recentlysupporteda decision to keep the two stocks intact, arguing that moreresearchneeded to be conducted on one of the world's deadliest diseases. Specifically, researchers say more work is needed in order to come up with a safer version of thevaccineand better treatments for those who are already infected withsmallpox.

"In other words," wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in explaining the Obama administration's decision, "we've beaten smallpox once, but we must be ready and prepared to beat it again, if necessary."

While that may sound like a reasonable explanation on the surface, there could be more to it than that. After all, if adiseasehas been eradicated since 1977, it doesn't sound like there needs to be much more "research" done to combat it - does it?

Consider this: The U.S. military maintains a biohazard research facility at Ft. Detrick, Md., and, according tothis reportposted on the Centers for Disease Control website, clearlythe Pentagonis concerned that weaponized smallpox and other highly contagious and deadly agents could be unleashed on the American people, if not by a nationalgovernmentthen by terrorists.

According to the report, the U.S. discontinued its offensivebiological weaponsresearch program in 1969, though the former U.S.S.R. continued theirs and eventually produced smallpoxvirusby the ton, according to the book,"Biohazard,"by Ken Alibek. But there appears to be enough evidence to suggest that the U.S. is keeping its samples of smallpox around for the purpose of conducting further research - research that is banned under various treaties and executive orders.

"During the first two decades after theUnited Statesratified the BWC (Biological Weapons Convention), the U.S. Biological Defense Research Program was conducted in a reasonably open manner," saysthis reportby Jonathan B. Tucker, a senior researcher at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

He adds, "Threat-assessmentstudiesand development projects were unclassified and described in detailed annual reports toCongress. During the late 1990s, however, heightened concern over chemical and biological terrorism apparently caused some elements of the U.S. biodefensecommunityto alter this policy. The Pentagon and theintelligencecommunity began to conduct secret threat-assessment studies that clearly exceeded the limits for defensive research specified in the Scowcroft memorandum, but Congress was not informed of the change. Indeed, during the Clinton administration, some classified biodefense work took place even without the full knowledge of the National Security Council staff."

Further, in 2001 - just a week before the 9/11 attacks,The New York Timesreported that three secret threat-assessment projects were being conducted by the Defense Department, in conjunction with the U.S. intelligence community. They were calledProject Bacchus,Project Jefferson, andProject Clear Vision, each designed to reconstruct a banned bioweapon or mass production facility, and each violated the provisions ofbioweaponstreaties and agreements to which the U.S. was a party.

And the research is ongoing.

"Today, despite U.S. participation in the BWC, Americanscientistscontinue to conduct ongoing research on biological agents," saidthis PBS report. "Since 2001 the U.S. government has spent or allocated more than $50 billion to address the threat of biologicalweapons, including an effort to develop an even deadlier strain of the anthrax virus to test against currentvaccines. Scientists are also working on vaccines against the smallpox virus, which has been eradicated worldwide since 1980."

--
Shahzad Afzal
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/

America is using Chemical Munitions in Drone attack on Pakistan

News

TEHRAN, June 8 -- Pakistani physicians and experts reported that the United States uses chemical munitions in its drone attacks on the country's civilians, Iran's Fars News Agency (FNA) said.

Given the fact that the Pakistani civilians who have come under the US drone attacks have been afflicted with different skin, optic and respiratory diseases, it can be concluded that Washington is using chemical weapons in its attacks in Pakistan, the physicians said.

"Since the missiles launched by the US drones contain dangerous chemical substances, a large number of the injured people in these attacks cannot be declared as dead or alive since they have been afflicted with complicated diseases due to the deadly chemical materials used in the missiles," a Pakistani physician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told FNA.

Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties ofchemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (warfare or weapons). Neither of these falls under the term conventional weapons which are primarily effective due to their destructive potential. Chemical warfare does not depend uponexplosive force to achieve an objective. Rather it depends upon the unique properties of the chemical agent weaponized. A lethal agent is designed to injure or incapacitate the enemy, or deny unhindered use of a particular area of terrain. Defoliants are used to quickly kill vegetation and deny its use for cover and concealment. It can also be used against agriculture and livestock to promote hunger and starvation. With proper protective equipment, training, and decontamination measures, the primary effects of chemical weapons can be overcome. Many nations possess vast stockpiles of weaponized agents in preparation for wartime use. The threat and the perceived threat have become strategic tools in planning both measures, and counter–measures.

Another physician in one of the biggest hospitals in Peshawar also lamented that there is no complete information about the patients injured in the US drone attacks and transferred to the state hospitals in different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Officials and political figures as well as the people in Pakistan are all furious at the US drone attacks on their country.

In April, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha called for an end to Washington's air raids on Pakistan as well as an end to the US espionage operations in the country, asking Washington to pull its spies out of Pakistan.

The issue was raised by Shuja Pasha in a meeting with Leon Panetta, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

Political observers say that if the US ignores Islamabad's above-mentioned demands, the Pakistani Army and the ISI will cut Islamabad's cooperation with the US.

US drone attacks have escalated in Northwest Pakistan since President Barack Obama took office. More than 100 raids were reported in the area last year.

The drone attacks arouse deep and broad anger within the Pakistani population against both the US and the Pakistani government.

Many Pakistani politicians and former officials have blasted the Islamabad government for its weak stances against the US and its drone attacks on innocent Pakistani people.

Source: Bernama

Read more: US drones launch chemical attacks on Pakistani civilians ~ Terminal X http://www.terminalx.org/2011/06/us-drones-launch-chemical-attacks-on.html#ixzz1Oj897jeY

--
Shahzad Afzal
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/

Rosa Parks-The famous "No" in History of America

امریکی تاریخ کا مشہور ترین (انکار)

دسمبر ۱۹۵۵ کی ایک سرد شام کو دِن بھر کی پُر مشقت اور  تھکا دینے والے سلائی کڑھائی کے کام سے فراغت پا کر روزا پارکس نامی ایک سیاہ فام عورت، اپنےدستی تھیلے کو مضبوطی سے سینے سے چمٹائے اور اُس سے گرمی کا احساس پاتے ہوئے سڑک پر جا رہی تھی۔

دائیں بائیں دیکھ کر احتیاط سے سڑک عبور کر تے ہوئے وہ اُس بس سٹاپ پر جا کر کھڑی ہوگئی جہاں سے اُس کے گھر کی طرف جانے والی بس کو گزرنا تھا۔

تقریبا دس منٹ تک بس کا انتظار کرتے ہوئے روزا پارکس کے ذہن میں وہ افسوس ناک غیر انسانی مناظر گھوم گئے جو اُن دنوں امریکہ میں عام دیکھنے کو ملتے تھے، اور وہ تھے کسی بھی سیاہ فام کو اُسکی نشست سے اُٹھا دینا تاکہ وہاں پر ایک سفید فام بیٹھ سکے۔

یہ رویہ بھائی چارے کے جذبات یا مہذب معاشرے کی نفی تو کہاں محسوس ہوتا، اُلٹا امریکی قانون سیاہ فاموں کو اِس بات سے سختی سے منع کرتا تھا کہ وہ کسی سفید فام کے کھڑے ہونے کی صورت میں قطعی نہیں بیٹھ سکتے۔

 

معاملہ صرف یہاں تک ہی محدود نہیں تھا، اگر کوئی سیاہ فام بزرگ عورت کسی نوجوان سفید فام کے کھڑے ہونے کی صورت میں بیٹھی پائی جاتی تو اُس بزرگ اور بوڑھی عورت پر جُرمانہ کیا جاتا تھا۔

جی ہاں، یہ اُسی زمانے کی بات ہے جب دُکانوں یا کھانے کے ریستورانوں کے دروازوں پر فخر سے ایسی تختی لٹکائی جاتی تھی جِس پر لکھا ہوتا کہ یہاں بِلیوں، کتوں اور سیاہ فاموں کا داخلہ منع ہے۔

نسل پرستی پر مبنی یہ رویئے روزا پارکس کو غمگین اور افسُردہ کیئے رکھتے تھے۔ وہ ہمیشہ یہی سوچتی رہتی کہ کب تک ہم سیاہ فاموں کے ساتھ یہ امتیازی اور کمتر سلوک جاری رہے گا؟ کب تک سیاہ فاموں کو تو قطاروں کے آخر میں رکھا جائے گا مگر سفید فاموں کے جانوروں کو بھی برابری کے حقوق دیئے جائیں گے؟ اِنہی سوچوں میں گُم روزا پارکس اپنے سینے میں درد چُھپائے بس کے آنے پر اُس میں سوار ہو گئی۔

 

 

بس میں دائیں بائیں دیکھتے ہوئے روزا کو ایک خالی نشست نظر آگئ، بس کے انتظار میں کھڑے شل ہوئی ٹانگوں کے ساتھ وہ نشست پر بیٹھ گئی، دستی تھیلے کو اُس نے مزید بھیچتے ہوئے سینے سے لگا لیا۔ اپنی سوچوں میں گُم وہ سڑک کو دیکھنے لگ گئی جسے بس گویا کھاتے ہوئے اپنی منزل کی طرف دوڑ رہی تھی۔

 

 

 

کُچھ ہی دیر بعد اگلا سٹاپ آ گیا جہاں سے بس میں مزید لوگ سوار ہو ئے اور بس بھر گئی۔

بس میں سوار ہونے والا ایک نوجوان سفید فام آہستگی سے اُس کرسی کی طرف بڑھا جہاں روزا پارکس بیٹھی ہوئی تھی۔ سفید فام اِس انتظار میں تھا کہ روزا اُس کیلئے نشست چھوڑے گی مگر آجمعاملہ اُلٹا ہو گیا تھا، روزا نے سفید فام کو اُچٹی سی نگاہ سے دیکھا تو سہی مگر اُس کیلئے نشست خالی نہ کی اور ایک بار پھر اپنی نظریں باہر کی طرف سڑک پر ٹِکا دیں۔ سفید فام کے چہرے پر توہین کا احساس نمایاں تھا۔

یکا یک ہی بس میں سوار ہر مسافر کا رویہ معاندانہ ہو گیا، لوگ طنز سے بھی بڑھ کر  روزا کو گالی گلوچ  تک کرنے پر اُتر آئے تھے اور اُسے فورا اُس سفید فام کیلئے نشست خالی کرنے کیلئے کہہ رہے تھے۔

لیکن روزا اپنے موقف پر قائم خاموشی سے اپنی نشست پر براجمان تھی۔ بس کا ڈرائیور ایک سیاہ فام عورت کی اِس قانون شکنی کی جراءت اور سفید فام کی توہین پر یوں خاموش نہیں رہ سکتا تھا، اُس نے بس کا رُخ پولیس سٹیشن کی طرف موڑ دیا تاکہ پولیس اِس سیاہ فام عورت کو ایک معزز سفیدفام کی توہین کرنے کی جراءت کا مزا چکھا سکے۔

 

اور حقیقت میں ایسا ہی ہوا، پولیس نے روزا پارکس گرفتار کر کے تحقیق کی اور بعد میں  اُسکا جرم ثابت ہونے پر اُسے ۱۵ ڈالر جرمانے کی سزا سُنائی گئی، تاکہ اُسکی سزا دوسروں کیلئے ایک مثال بن جائے اور آئندہ کوئی ایسی جراءت نہ کرے۔

 

 

بات تو چھوٹی سی تھی مگر امریکا کی سر زمین پر ایک چنگاری بن کر گری۔ مُلک بھر میں بسنے والے تمام سیاہ فام  روزا پارکس کے ساتھ پیش آنے والے اِس ناروا سلوک پر آگ بگولہ ہو گئے اور ایک تحریک چل پڑی کہ وہ نقل و حمل کے تمام وسائل کے خلاف اُس وقت تک  احتجاج کے طور پر بائیکاٹ کریں گے جب تک امریکی حکومت اُن کو تمام تر انسانی حقوق دینے پر آمادہ نہیں ہوتی اور اُنکے ساتھ مہذب معاملے کا وعدہ نہیں کر لیا جاتا۔

یہ بائیکاٹ اپنی تمام تر ثابت قدمی کے ساتھ ایک طویل عرصے تک چلا، سیاہ فاموں نے ۳۸۱ دنوں تک احتجاج کیا اور امریکی حکومت کو اپنے سامنے گھٹنے ٹیکنے پر مجبور کردیا۔

روزا پارکس کی فتح ہوئی اور عدالت نے مُلک میں نہ صرف نسلی امتیاز کے اِس  قانون کو بلکہ اِس جیسے کئی امتیازی  رواجوں کو فوری طور پر ختم کردیا۔  

اور اِس واقعہ کے ۴۶ برس بعد مؤرخہ ۲۷  اکتوبر  ۲۰۰۱ کو، امریکی تاریخ میں پیش آنے والے اِس تاریخی واقعے کی یاد ایک بار پھر اُس وقت تازہ ہو گئی جب مِیشی گن کے شہر ڈیئر بورن میں واقع ھنری فورڈ عجائب گھر کے منیجر سٹیو ھامپ نے اُس پرانی بس کو خریدنے کا فیصلہ کیا۔

جی ہاں 1940 ماڈل کی یہ بس جس میں روزا پارکس کے ساتھ وہ سانحہ پیش آیا تھا، ایسا سانحہ جس نے امریکا میں انسانی حقوق کی تحریک کو جنم دیا اور پھر سیاہ فاموں کو بھی برابر کے حقوق حاصل ہو گئے۔

 

اور یہ پرانی بس چار لاکھ بیانوے ہزار ڈالر میں خرید کی گئی۔

سن ۱۹۹۴ میں جب روزا پارکس کی عمر ۸۰ سال تھی, اُس پر لکھی گئی ایک کتاب بعنوان خاموش طاقت میں وہ اپنی یادیں تازہ کرتے ہوئے کہتی ہے کہ اُس دن مجھے اپنے ماں باپ اور اجداد بہت یاد آئے تھے، اُس دن میں نے اللہ کے حضور گڑگڑا کر التجاء کی تھی کہ یا رب تو ہی ہے جو کمزوروں کو طاقت سے نواز سکتا ہے۔

 

اور پھر ۲۴ اکتوبر ۲۰۰۵ کو ۹۲ سال کی عمر میں وفات پانے والی اِس بہادر خاتون کو خراجِ تحسین پیش کرنے کیلئے ہزاروں سوگوار جمع ہوئے۔

وہ با ہمت اور بہادر خاتون، جِس نے انسانی حقوق کی برابری کیلئے علم بُلند کیا تھا۔

روزا پارکس کے جنازے میں کئی ممالک کے سربراہان نے شرکت کی اور ہزاروں لوگ ڈھاریں مار مار کر رو رہے تھے، امریکا کا جھنڈا سر نگوں ہو کر اِس عظیم خاتون کو سلامِ عقیدت پیش کر رہا تھا۔

روزا پارکس کی میت کو وفات سے دفنانے تک امریکی کانگریس کی ایک عمارت میں رکھا گیا، تعظیم کا یہ اعزاز سربراہانِ مملکت یا اہم ترین شخصیات کو دیا جاتا ہے۔

۱۸۵۲ سے لیکر آج تک صرف ۳۰ ایسے لوگ گُزرے ہیں جنکو یہ اعزاز حاصل ہوا جبکہ اِن تمام ۳۰ اشخاص میں سے روزا پارکس واحد خاتون ہیں۔

روزا پارکس اِس دنیا سے رُخصت ہوئیں تو اپنے سینے پر کئی تمغے سجائے ہوئے تھیں، 1996 میں اُنہیں آزادی کے صدارتی تمغہ سے نوازا گیا جبکہ 1999 میں اُنہیں کانگریس سے گولڈ میڈل عطا کیا گیا۔

روزا  کیلئے اِن سب اعزازات سے بڑھ کر  اُنکا اپنا ایک لفظ تھا اور وہ تھا (نہیں)، یہ نہیں امریکا کی تاریخ کا سب سے طاقتور انکار تھا جِس کی ہاں میں ہاں مِلانے میں اُس کی تمام سیاہ فام نسل نے ساتھ دیا تھا۔

--
Shahzad Afzal
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/

Pakistani Taliban Behind Naval Base Attack

The Pakistani Taliban has said it was behind an attack on a Karachi naval base that has claimed at least five lives and destroyed naval aircraft.

Such a cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani

A gun battle between security forces and Taliban militants raged on Monday morning inside a naval base in Pakistan -- more than 10 hours after attackers with guns and grenades stormed the compound in Karachi.

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Shahzad Afzal
http://shahzadafzal.blogspot.com/

CIA used stealth drones in Pakistan to monitor Osama’s compound

Washington: The CIA conducted secret flights of stealth drones over the Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad for months before the May 02 Navy SEALs raid that led to killing of al-Qaeda chief, an American newspaper quoted sources as saying.

The sources said that the sophisticated stealth drones allowed the CIA to go undetected beyond the boundaries that Pakistan has imposed on other US drones that carried out attacks in its tribal region near Afghan border.

The agency turned to the new stealth aircraft "because they needed to see more about what was going on" than other surveillance platforms allowed, said a former U.S. official familiar with the details of the operation. "It's not like you can just park a Predator overhead — the Pakistanis would know," added the former official, who, , spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the program.

Details: The News Tribe

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Shahzad Afzal
http://shahzadafzal.blogspot.com/

Banks warned against 'magic pen'

Central Bank says ink used in these Chinese pen disappear from cheques, documents and other types of paper

Picture only for illustrative purpose. The Chinese pen looks like a normal pen (FILE)

The Central Bank has sent an urgent letter to the country's banks, warning them against an illegal Chinese pen, dubbed the "magic pen," which it says can be used to forge documents with its vanishing ink.

The letter, headed "important and very urgent", said such Chinese pens have been illegally smuggled into the UAE, citing a warning letter from Dubai's general administration for criminal investigation.

In a report published on Saturday, the Arabic language newspaper 'Emarat Al Youm' said the Central Bank warned the country's 23 national banks and 28 foreign units that the ink used in the Chinese pen could vanish within one hour to four days after writing on normal paper.

"Banks are urged not to use customers' pens to sign on any official document and cheques to avert those Chinese pens…banks are advised to use only their own pens and to be extremely cautious when completing transactions with normal pens," the letter said, according to 'Emarat Al Youm'.

"This Chinese pen look like a normal pen but its ink is different as it disappears from cheques, documents and other types of paper, rendering those documents valueless…these pens are very cheap and are entering the UAE illegally."

The paper quoted the Central Bank as saying these Chinese pens had already been used in an unamed nearby country, adding that this had prompted the ministry of interior in that country to issue a warning to banks.

"This is a novel swindling method…the warning issued about these types of pens should be taken seriously by all bank employees," 'Emarat Al Youm' quoted Jamal Saleh, head of the risk management section at Dubai Commercial Bank as saying. "All customers should also be warned against this pen through their mobile phones, e-mail or other means."

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http://shahzadafzal.blogspot.com/

Banks warned against 'magic pen'

Central Bank says ink used in these Chinese pen disappear from cheques, documents and other types of paper

Picture only for illustrative purpose. The Chinese pen looks like a normal pen (FILE)

The Central Bank has sent an urgent letter to the country's banks, warning them against an illegal Chinese pen, dubbed the "magic pen," which it says can be used to forge documents with its vanishing ink.

The letter, headed "important and very urgent", said such Chinese pens have been illegally smuggled into the UAE, citing a warning letter from Dubai's general administration for criminal investigation.

In a report published on Saturday, the Arabic language newspaper 'Emarat Al Youm' said the Central Bank warned the country's 23 national banks and 28 foreign units that the ink used in the Chinese pen could vanish within one hour to four days after writing on normal paper.

"Banks are urged not to use customers' pens to sign on any official document and cheques to avert those Chinese pens…banks are advised to use only their own pens and to be extremely cautious when completing transactions with normal pens," the letter said, according to 'Emarat Al Youm'.

"This Chinese pen look like a normal pen but its ink is different as it disappears from cheques, documents and other types of paper, rendering those documents valueless…these pens are very cheap and are entering the UAE illegally."

The paper quoted the Central Bank as saying these Chinese pens had already been used in an unamed nearby country, adding that this had prompted the ministry of interior in that country to issue a warning to banks.

"This is a novel swindling method…the warning issued about these types of pens should be taken seriously by all bank employees," 'Emarat Al Youm' quoted Jamal Saleh, head of the risk management section at Dubai Commercial Bank as saying. "All customers should also be warned against this pen through their mobile phones, e-mail or other means."

--
http://shahzadafzal.blogspot.com/

France's banning of face veils (niqabs)

Hebah Ahmed and Mona Elthaway, both Muslim women, debate France's decision to ban face veils (niqabs) in public.

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Shahzad Afzal
http://shahzadafzal.blogspot.com/