Egg-throwing extremist shouted ‘Cameron’s bitch’ at Muslim Tory minister is jailed By Mail Online Reporter A protester who yelled ‘Cameron’s Bitch’ as he pelted Britain’s most powerful Muslim woman with eggs during a hate-filled protest was convicted today. Gavin Reid, 23, was part of a mob who shouted at Baroness Warsi before throwing several eggs in November last year. The peer, now a Cabinet minister, was left with egg yolk running through her hair after the attack in Luton and had to take cover in a nearby sari shop. Protesters abused her in Urdu and English saying she was ‘Cameron’s … Continue reading Gavin Reid jailed over attack on Baroness Warsi

Blasphemy law revisited By I.A. Rehman Is it not time for the learned ulema to re-examine their thesis that the blasphemy law can stop private citizens from killing suspects? –File Photo The recent killing of two blasphemy accused in police custody and the case of a mentally unstable woman who spent 14 years in confinement on a charge she could not understand have underscored the need to revisit the blasphemy law. For reasons of space only a few issues will be addressed in this article. The first question is: has Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) achieved the … Continue reading Pakistans Mullahs need to get their heads out of their asses

By Jawed Naqvi The Lata-Rafi pairing was not some deliberate shoring up of maudlin secularism in the clichéd Hindu-Muslim mode. –Source: chandrakantha Saturday will mark the 30th death anniversary of Mohammed Rafi, India’s singing legend who was loved beyond the borders of South Asia. Though he was paired with many playback singers over a career spanning four decades, his more memorable songs were rendered with the iconic female vocalist, Lata Mangeshkar. Rafi was a Punjabi Muslim, Lata a Maharashtrian Hindu. Their love songs still inspire millions. The Lata-Rafi pairing was not some deliberate shoring up of maudlin secularism in the … Continue reading The waning romance of an idea

by Shyema Just the way you wouldn’t hand weapons to an untrained army, you wouldn’t hand cameras and a press pass to untrained media representatives. However, fact of the matter is that time and time again we are reminded that the latter has been taking place in Pakistan almost constantly. A country expects its army to protect and defend them and similarly a country expects its media to responsibly broadcast news to them. What we saw yesterday in the wake of an enormous national tragedy was not responsible reporting. We could not even wait a few hours before we started … Continue reading What could not be recovered from the crash site

PURPLE PATCH: Thoughts on life —Leonardo da Vinci Not louder does the tempestuous sea bellow when the north wind strikes its foaming waves between Scylla and Charybdis; nor Stromboli nor Mount Etna when the sulphurous flames, shattering and bursting open the great mountain with violence, hurl stones and earth through the air with the flame it vomits; nor when the fiery caverns of Mount Etna, spitting forth the element which it cannot restrain, hurl it back to the place whence it issued, driving furiously before it any obstacle in the way of its vehement fury…so I, urged by my great … Continue reading Thoughts on life —Leonardo da Vinci

Book review: A continuing legacy —by Dr Amjad Parvez Che Guevara — Jo Chale Toh Jaan se Guzar Gaye By Dr Saulat Nagi Fiction House; Pp 272; Rs 240 The first chapter begins with Faiz’s couplet, “Na raha junoon-e-rukh-e-wafa ye rasan ye daar karo gey kya/Jinhain jurm-e-ishq pe naaz tha woh gunehgaar chaley gaye.” The verse essentially conveys that individuals who take pride in committing crimes for the purpose of justice are no longer to be seen and expresses disappointment with the existing system. Che’s struggle against imperialism invited enemies not only from North America but from Latin America as … Continue reading Che Guevara — Jo Chale Toh Jaan se Guzar Gaye

COMMENT: WikiLeaks fiasco —Ali K Chishti Although the WikiLeaks fiasco is embarrassing for both the US and Pakistan, as it reflects the mistrust between the two closest allies in the war on terror, without each other’s support they cannot win the war on terror WikiLeaks, a Swedish whistleblower project, consists of activist journalists who have previously leaked videos and articles embarrassing the US government. Only a couple of days back, it leaked more than 90,000 top secret documents of the US military, consisting of cables, internal memos and e-mails sent out to various Department of Defence (DoD) officials related to … Continue reading WikiLeaks fiasco

COMMENT: The road to perdition —Dr Mohammad Taqi In the Obama lexicon, the word victory does not exist in the Afghan context. Indications are there that the Pakistani security establishment has been outsourced the effort to tame the Taliban to allow the US a face-saving withdrawal “All praise is for the Almighty who bestowed sovereignty upon the army, then made the people subservient to the army and the army subservient to its own interests” — Justice Rustam Kiyani. In his three-minute address announcing a three-year extension in the service term of General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani — … Continue reading The road to perdition

AN ATOL INVESTIGATION Iranian spy still a teasing enigma By Mahan Abedin More than 10 days after his return to Iran, Shahram Amiri remains an enigma with many wondering whether he was “kidnapped” by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as he now claims, or whether he was a spy who got cold feet, or even whether he was an Iranian “double-agent” from the very outset. After a lengthy investigation involving interviews and conversations with scores of knowledgeable sources in Iran, Asia Times Online can now reveal some of the essential background features of the case. However, the central … Continue reading Shahram Amiri – Iranian spy still a teasing enigma