Please help survivors

As Earthquake survivors are dying I am going back to the Letter from Earthquake Relief FrontI and Letter from relief front II by Ejaz Asi and I just want to admit that many of us failed to help, we tried but we have not done much. Grief is taking over me.

First Earthquake Survivor Dies of Winter

"The winter weather has claimed its first lives, killing three earthquake survivors including two children, the United Nations said." The relief efforts have reached to a standstill.

The Humanity first is airlifting 1000 prebuilt houses for earthquake survivors. They are asking for $10 in donation only.

Imran Khan has opened a relief fund as well and is doing some fund raising at the moment in USA. Please donate to help survivors. $10 dollars is not much it is less than what it costs for a Holiday Gift this is the time for giving.

When Wombs Become Bombs

A good article giving insight into women suicide bombers By Mia Bloom, the author of "Dying to Kill." However, I encourage Muslim women to take up the role of Mukhtar Mai instead of becoming suicide Bombers. Mukhtar Mai should be a role model for all Muslim women who have suffered abuse. She is among honored Asia's Heroes by Time Magazine's International Edition. On a related side note: There are people out there trying to capitalize on her name by reserving URL and linking it to search engine; waiting for someone to pay them to buy the URL so sad to see these sociopaths.

Terror's stealth weapon: women - Los Angeles Times: "Arab feminists argue that women
want to show that they are as dedicated to the cause as their brothers, sons and fathers.

What is so compelling about why women become suicide bombers is that so many claimed to have been raped or sexually abused by enemy forces, according to interviews with those who knew them. Once dishonored, they are no longer marriageable. Joining a terrorist group is one of the few remaining options for women who, according to the strict honor code followed in some Islamic societies, must otherwise be executed by their own families."

Pre-marital sex in South Asian countries

Oh! The South Indian film industry is outraged on Khushboo's comment.
Well! The truth is that show biz (film industry) is not clean itself at all. They don't give any roles to new actresses until they get a piece of cake. It is no secret in Pakistan and India. I had a brief stint in Showbiz in Pakistan but gave it up just because there was too much backstage corruption and lewdness. Khushboo is just telling the truth what subcontinent women are passing through. Although this thing is not very common in Pakistan but metropolitan cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, etc. are an exception (By the way the internet café scandal was not very far on timeline). Again I must say that it is not very wide spread even in metropolitan cities. Folks who are involved in pre-marital sex in Pakistan are very small in number but the truth is it does happen in Pakistani society. Any doubts! read Asmat Chughtai, and Saadat Hassan Munto (On a side note: just found Manot's translation in Hindi and English. Don't forget 'Raja Gidh' by Bano Qudsia). In showbiz it is very common. Personally, I have heard stories from friends both male and females. The women desperately complaining that the guy has dumped her and is not faithful. The guy opining she is not very faithful because she might have had relationship with others or she can have with others as well because she has had with him (lousy excuse though). I know those guys were out on hunt and the man objective was to have fun. Unfortunately, I was not of much help and advice to those girls after the water has risen above their heads. The guys would promise marriage against norms (love marriage instead of arranged) and the girl would fall in trap; willing to do everything the guy wants. Once the girl is in spider’s net he would have a feast and move on to next victim.

I know a guy who was always bringing stories about his new encounters; he married a woman who was elder than him and less than average attractive. When I questioned his decision, he said that he had so much fun that he would not trust a beautiful woman anymore and would marry a less attractive woman so that she remains obliged. Moran! What a shame? He was exploiting girls himself and now he was blaming beauty. For his spouse he considered chastity and piousness a great virtue. He wanted a woman who does not look to other men or other men don’t pay attention to her. Subcontinent society is full of double standards.

When AIDS threat was new to subcontinent my office driver came to me and asked reluctantly that if I would answer his personal question. He required confidentiality. I am just discussing it after 10 years without mentioning his name. Sahib! I live here in Islamabad and my wife lives up in mountains. I am thinking I should get her tested for AIDS (Moran! Being illiterate he considered that AIDS is a test for infidelity). I was stunned by his question. Know it was my turn to pull the carpet beneath his feet. I said have you been faithful to her as you are living far away from your wife don’t you have any encounters. If you do you might have transferred HIV/AIDS to her. He was shocked speechless and went out with his head down in shame.

Now I am living here in USA for almost seven years and I have noticed a new trend among my Indian colleagues. Many Indian students (gals and guys) are living together without any nuptial agreement. They consider it important for being hip and advanced. Especially "In Rome, do as Romans do." This is not very common among Pakistanis though but some Pakistani guys do have secret girlfriends that they do not introduce to their community because of fear of reprisal from their peers. So Khusboo is just telling the truth about new trends in Indian society.

Indian actress in hot water over pre-marital sex - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com:
NEW DELHI - A popular south Indian actress has been pelted with sandals, tomatoes and rotten eggs and hauled before court for telling Indian men not to expect their brides to be virgins
anymore.Khushboo, a 35-year-old star of Tamil language movies, told a magazine in September there was nothing wrong with premarital sex -- as long as it was protected sex.
The row has also engulfed 19-year-old tennis player Sania Mirza, already under a separate Islamic fatwa for wearing skirts on court, after she stormed out of a news conference on Sunday when pressed on her reported support for what Khushboo said.
"Initially, Khushboo's comments went unnoticed.
But a week later, Tamil-language Sun TV, based in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, ran a story of film industry outrage."

Update: MSNBC also has news about a prostitue Nasra Ismail 27 of South Asian origin killed in London. So why there is an outrage about Khusboo's comments? Face the truth and ask how much you have contributed to your society's moral degradation. Some of you (us) may find culprit in your (our) ownself.
On side note: Peer pressure has forced Sania Mirza to backtrack her comments about pre-marital sex presumably in favor of Khushboo (I am becoming her fan too ;). Now she says that "Pre-marital sex is a sin in Islam." I don't know why Mullahs are so worried becasue she did not said that in the context of Islam or Muslims. Many Muslims would doubt about her religious standing and would not consider her a true representative of Islam especially when they find her doing pooja in front of Kali Devi (Her name sounds Muslim though like India President Azad). She is already under fire for her sports and baring her necessities.

(By the way I am not supporting anyone's statment I am just stating the facts the way they are. I do believe that pre-marital sex is prohibited in Islam).

Saddam still has US friends!

A new twist in Saddam trial. I am surprised that Saddam still has US friends. Although war in Iraq was unjustified as it was based on forged WMD evidence but I don't have sympathies with a tyyrant.

Clark Arrives to Assist Saddam Defense - Yahoo! News: "Clark has been advising nearly a
dozen international lawyers on Saddam's defense team. He has contended that Saddam's rights have been violated in the legal process following his capture. But a U.S. government official close to the court said the defense team had not filed the proper paperwork to have a non-Iraqi lawyer in the courtroom."

On the other hand I do respect Saddam's Lawyer's point of view and he should get protection so that he can do his job peacefully.

Al-Dulaimi says the details of his more than 10 visits with Saddam in Camp Cropper are too
humiliating to discuss, for both himself and his client. Al-Dulaimi says he had always been opposed to Saddam when the dictator was in power, but he so resented watching a foreign power invade his country that he decided to defend Saddam in court. Al-Dulaimi intends to prove that the tribunal is illegal because it was set up under occupation.

On the side note: Iraq's Ex-PM says that Human Rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as Hussains era.
Well! by looking ta news reports I would say they seem to be worse than that.

IRAQ, Bush and Cheney Quagmire

More and more is coming out about Iraq and 9/11 and the GOP is getting into difficulties. AS GOP is getting under intense fire by Murtha and Bush's handling of the Iraq has fallen well below 40 as well as his Job approval ratings the GOP has come up with Padillia indictment in such a "hi fi" manner that they do it for high value targets only. I don't believe they will succeed in an eye wash because everyone knows that he was kept for three year on a dirty bomb charge and now the admin is just trying to avoid high court show down as MSNBC says. The new charges are about helping terrorist cells and waging Jihad in US. Similar charges are filed in Surprisingly "non hi fi" manner against Hamid Hayyat in California. It seems like that the administration is trying to divert media attention. Earlier the media was not taking up these issues loudly but as the President approval ratings are dropping the media has started covering more stories in a liberal manner to reflect US public sentiment. Seems like Sheehan factor is working.

Our sons made the ultimate sacrifice and we want answers. All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his five-week vacation to talk to us, before the next mother loses her son in Iraq. -- Cindy Sheehan, Camp Casey, Crawford, Texas

Seems like Iraqis will be solving their own problems and heat on GOP will become intense. Now the Iraqis are demanding a timetable to troops withdrawal. It seems like it will really get worse for GOP before it will cool off. The media had been under fire especially Al-Jazeera by Blair and Bush and hopefully media is going to show their muscle as well. We know what role media has played in Nixon's Watergate scandal. I guess I was right in saying that anyone from media who tried to cover massacre in Iraq was punished in some how. Not only Al-Jazeera but Italians suffered too and some of the independent US media as well which was not embedded with the US troops. I guess this Al-Jazeera bombing, use of Phosphorus on Iraqi Civilians and call by Murtha will not be silenced easily.

Media is going to take this heat further. Recently, my local TV station showed a documentary "And Now This" the emphasis was "9/11 Omission Report:" Things that were deliberately left out of the 9/11 commission report. The documentary alleged that the commission was so called bipartisan as the commission was commanded by GOP favorites. Very, Very informative documentary! I will try to get a copy for my father in law who write newspaper columns.

Let's see which way the wind blows, only time will tell. It seems like the political wrangling is really getting ugly and dirty right now.

Kind of ODD! Is it tag system or what?

I am not sure how the Tag system works at Technorati but just found something odd today. I checked my bloglog and seems like someone came to my website by searching insurgent websites. I am far away from that.... LOL!

I tried it my self but could not find my website in the search using these terms.
I am including a snapshot of bloglog that shows where surfers came from. Click on picture to enlarge.

(all above from Nov 18, 2005)

Update Nov 21, 2005
On the side note: If these searches are run by agents in CIA or FBI trying to find "insurgent websites" then typing these words in search engine would only turn up all pages which have used these words in text. That would be a stupid "keyword" to search. They should ratehr search Fatawas or the solgans that extremist use to find their website.

Latest: On Nov 21 I checked my bloglog and some one has came to my wrbsite searching for
"riligious porn movies." .... LOL!

I ran the search and my website is there in the list without any highlighted words, so I don't know why it showed up when there are no related words in there.

Anyone! any word on that?

Not only odd but inhumane too

I wanted to include the image here as well but then I cannot be that inhumane. This is not art this is just ridiculing human body after death. There are better ways to teach anatomy. Totally repulsive, bizarre, outlandish and sick idea.

Cadaver Exhibition Raises Questions Beyond Taste - New York Times: "The jaunty fellow with the
conductor's baton waving in one hand stands on a pedestal seemingly lost in the music. But there are a few startlingly odd things about this tall, lithe gentleman: He is dead, his skin has been methodically ripped away and there is a pinkish void where his viscera are supposed to be. Besides a few supporting segments of muscle, bone and ligament, the man has been rendered into a web of white spindly nerves."

Aftershocks 60 minutes by CBS

Here is CBS's 60 minutes Aftershocks video about Earthquake in Pakistan. A bunch of paramedics form NY have taken the humanitarian task on their own. They say that
We are Putting a band aids on a wound of size of Texas
We are doing extreme medical procedures without anasthesia, if conducted in NY people will sue us here they thank us.

CBSNews.com / CBS News Video

Whose case against whom?

It has just started coming in news while I had already recieved links from a professor from myprevious school. It is terrible and leave another question unanswered. How long US has been doing this? It seems to me that these are the atrocities that are stirring up violent reaction against US in Iraq and elsewhere in the world. A question comes to mind what is ethics and was Saddam really a criminal if he has used chemical weapons as the world biggest democracy is also using these. Indictment of Libby also raises many questions. On a side note does any one remember who supplied chemical weapons to Iraq against Iran? Anyone remember torent speeches about gasin out people. And further I am horrified to see abuse in Iraqi prisons by Iraq's interior ministry.

“people covered in welts from torture. They show torture devices. They show men so emaciated they look like Holocaust survivors.”

So we were accusing Saddam Hussein and Chemical Ali (I am not defending them by the way).

Just asking a philospohpical question
NOW! Whose case against whom?

Here is what I already knew about this:

Forwarded message from Baker ..@...edu
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 14:44:11-0600
From: Baker ...@...edu
Reply-To: Baker ...@...edu
Subject: Sources for downloading *The
HiddenMassacre* (on what happened in Fallujah a year ago Nov8/9)
To: PSA@LISTSERV.KSU.EDU Here's a good
source for the English and Arabic versions of the Italian documentary *The Hidden Massacre* (directed by Sigfrido Ranucci) about the use of chemical weapons (and torture of prisoners, in some cases todeath) during the assault last year on Fallujah.First, bookmark this page, since it provides relevant additional material (e.g., Pentagon's response, Democracy Now! coverage
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/en/body.asp Then click on the big link "VIDEO" in the opening box. It takes you to a page with a variety of links to the documentary in differentformats (wmf & ram -- Windows Media Player & RealPlayer), and in either streaming video or downloadable as a storable file, and in packet sizes that are suited for different sorts of internet connections [FYI: you can find your way back to this by just going to the
website for the Rai 24 Network: http://www.rainews24.it/. There's a link at the top of the leftmost navigation bar that takes you to the URL I gave above.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional material: Here's a BBC article " US 'uses incendiary arms' in Iraq" (BBC News, 8 Nov 05).: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417024.stm
Interesting (perhaps) in connection with it: "Compare earlier and later versions of the article" (Media Lens Message Board, 8 Nov 0511:43 a.m.: http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/271945.html.
-L.

US government in past has denied use of chemical weapons.

U.S. denies using phosphorus against civilians - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials say white phosphorus was used as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November, but deny an Italian television news report that it was used against civilians. Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that while white phosphorus is most frequently used to mark targets or obscure a position, it was used at times in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. White phosphorus is a
colorless-to-yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military ignites once it is exposed to oxygen, producing such heat that it bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. It can cause painful burn injuries to exposed human flesh."

Now as the Italian claims are interesting so I am thinking something else as well (firing on Italian Journalist). No apologies by US. Anyone who tries to document these kind of incidents gets a little bit flavor .... Well! may be I am just worng in my conclusions because I am just reading News and making opinion. I would say best way to bring Iraq to normal is by giving general amnesty and pardon. It is time to 'Move on' and build bridges between nations.

My eyes are burning-Karachi too

I had a tough night preparing earthquake presentation for my university's international week. It was hard to control emotions while I was going through pictures and details of the earthquake. I was having a hard time keeping my self sane enough and suddenly the news flashed on TV about Bombing in Karachi. Earlier it was reported that Islamists have done the job.

Top News Article Reuters.com: "A car bomb exploded outside a KFC fast-food restaurant in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding 15 in an attack thought to have been carried out by Islamist militants, police and
doctors said."

Sepoy has just noted down under collateral damage that Balochistan Liberation Army has admitted the wrong doing and target was Pakistan Petro Ltd's office located above KFC. People of Pakistan are not going to forgive BLA so easily especially in this difficult time. Earlier people thought it was about provincial rights but now I would say it is plain terrorism (search the Watandost's archives for Balochistan and BLA articles).

The collateral damage is usually used in terms of damage to the parties themselves who are on offensive for good cause or damage to the neutrals who are caught into line of fire.
It was pure terrorism.

Mr. Bugti shame on you and your followers and the countries that are sponsoring your struggle and brokered peace recently. Everyone knows who brokered peace, the powerful friends in world. I hope powerful friends are listening and will not accept BLA's apology about hitting KFC as collateral damage. Terrorism is terrorism.

Hey Muslim Skeptic!-This is your Wake up call

When September 11 happened lot of Muslims refused to accept the fact that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks and started propounding conspiracy theories. Same is happening again.

Anger, confusion in al-Zarqawi's home town - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com: "Conspiracy theories Some voiced anger of al-Zarqawi's attack on fellow Jordanians, but others were unsure that he was involved at all, saying it could have been a bogus claim."

OK MUSLIM SKEPTICS! This is enough! This time Allah has provided the proof as well. These people Al-Zarqawi and Mr. Laden and Al-Qaida are just mercenaries and are not following the true spirit of Islam. This is a wake-up call for every Muslim to follow skeptics. Bush and his administration may be bad and mislead the world towards Iraq war but these Muslim extremists are not good either.

AMMAN, Jordan - Strapped with a disabled explosives belt, an Iraqi woman arrested Sunday confessed on television to trying to blow herself up with her husband in one of three suicide attacks earlier this week that killed 57 people.
The 35-year-old woman "the sister of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's right-hand man who was killed by U.S. forces in Iraq" appeared on Jordanian state TV hours after she was captured by security forces who were tipped off by an al-Qaida claim that a husband-and-wife team participated in Wednesday's bombings. Looking nervous and wringing her hands, Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, 35, described how she failed to blow herself up during a wedding reception at the Radisson SAS hotel on Wednesday night after struggling with the cord on her explosives belt.

What did thinnocentcent Muslims do that this self styled interpreter of Islamic codes of justice started taking their lives?

Shame on yBothboth skeptics and the followers of hardline interpretations of Islam.

South Asia Earthquake Relief's Bid

South Asia Earthquake relief has requested that we must do some effort to increase media coverage South Asian earthquake so that world community gets a wake up call through media coverage and help survivors.

The have designed a very impressive effort. Please click on this link SAQuake. It takes you to their web site. On the web site please enter your zip code and it will automatically bring up the news / media channels / outlets in your area. Just send them a letter by one click. That's it! you don't need to do much. The letter is already compiled. If you want you can compse your own message as well.

By checking out the media outlets in my area, I realized that many of them has not given any coverage to South Asia earthquake. Using SAQuake I have reached the media outlets in my area. It is very impressive. Thanks Ayesha.

Here is the message

Dear Friends:

Thank you first of all for being on the 'receiving end' of our many emails and messages. Your help, attention and responses have been having impact on many levels as far as getting more attention from Congress, President Bush, corporations and now more media outlets. Continued and collective efforts can only allow the millions of survivors of the Earthquake disaster in South
Asia to have some better chance of 'surviving' the 'second wave of deaths' brought on by the harsh winter descending rapidly upon them.

Please visit www.saquake.org for links to initiatives in action....

We have all been asking ourselves the same question forthe past month: How can we get the Media's attention to keep theearthquake story alive in the news?Members of the SQUAKE.ORG alliance organizations
have confirmation thatnational media outlets like USA Today get 800-1000 letters every weekout of which they print a select few. So what would happen if a mediaoutlet were to get 10,000 letters on the same topic within a few days?
Let's try to get 10,000 people to send in letters over the next few daysand it might just do the trick. And its very easy to do. This is howit works:The SAQUAKE.ORG Web Team has installed
a special software on our website(www.saquake.org) that will allow anyone to send a pre-written letter to five media outlets through a few clicks of the mouse. Simply go to thewebsite (www.saquake.org) and enter your zip code. A list of all the national and local media outlets that cover your area will come up. Yousimply click the five media outlets of your choice and a
pre-writtenletter (which you can edit or replace) will be sent to those mediaoutlets by following a few simple steps. The entire process takes less than one minute. Since there are a large number of media outletslisted, you can repeatedly go to the website and send letters to fiveadditional media outlets every time you do it. SAQUAKE.ORG 's media consultants have recommended that we concentrate ourefforts and send letters to these five major news organizations: 1) New York Times2) Washington Post3) Wall Street Journal 4) USA Today5) LA TimesLets have our collective voices be heard in the media circles. Pleasego to www.saquake.org and tell the media
companies to do better.And forward this e-mail to those you you believe share your passion tomake a difference.Thank You for everything you are doing to save precious lives in the earthquake affected areas.Regards-- Aisha

Help Earthquake Relief Efforts Now

Go to: http://ww.saquake.org,

http://ww.opensiliconvalley.com

http://helppakistannow.blogspot.com For Relief Info, Act to Help, and Appeals to leaders

We all belong to same Ibrahamic faith

It is good to know that Pakistan is trying to build bridges between Muslim and Jews. To that part I do give credit to Musharraf. I hope these efforts will not be derailed by religious parties. They should remember the example of Prophet Mohammed who always tried his best to have good relations with his Jew neighbors.

Aljazeera.Net - Pakistani delegation visits Israel:
A 174-member Pakistani delegation has arrived in Tel Aviv, Aljazeera's correspondent in Islamabad reported. The non-official delegation includes religious scholars, political figures, retired officers and businessmen, the correspondent said on Saturday.
Pakistan took a bold step on 1 September when its Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri met his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom for the first time in Turkey, a diplomatic breakthrough that both sides at the time said was the result of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Shalom said after the talks that he hoped the historic event would encourage other Muslim countries to open ties with Israel.
At Thursday's meeting, Rosen told the Pakistani leader that Israel wanted to establish diplomatic, trade and economic ties with Islamabad. But Musharraf "clearly told him that
establishment of an independent Palestinian state was a must for any forward movement" in this regard, Sultan said.
The president, General Pervez Musharraf, made his remarks at a meeting with US Jewish leader Jack Rosen, chairman of the Council of World Jewry, during a meeting near the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad, on Thursday, said General Shaukat Sultan, chief spokesman for the
president.
"Rosen informed Musharraf that the Jewish community in America was collecting donations for the victims of the 8 October earthquake.
Pakistan declined an offer of direct aid from Israel after the quake, but said it could send aid through international relief organisations. Pakistan did not invite Israel to an 18-19 November donors conference in Islamabad that sought more help for what is expected to be a years-long effort to rebuild quake-hit areas."

French Quarter II

Just trying to figure out what went wrong in France? Earlier I thought it is suppression of Muslims and Hijab factor however, I found this news article interesting which defies that theory.

"What Makes Someone French? - New York Times: 'I was born in Senegal when it was part of France,' he said before putting the pipe in his mouth. 'I speak French, my wife is French and I was educated in France.' The problem, he added after pulling the pipe out of his mouth again, 'is the French don't think I'm French.' That, in a nutshell, is what lies at the heart of the unrest that has swept France in the past two weeks: millions of French citizens, whether immigrants or the offspring of immigrants, feel rejected by traditional French society, which has resisted adjusting a vision of itself forged in fires of the French Revolution. The concept of French identity remains rooted deep in the country's centuries-old culture, and a significant portion of the population has yet to accept the increasingly multiethnic makeup of the nation. Put simply, being French, for many people, remains a baguette-and-beret affair."

"France doesn't know how to manage diversity," Says Yazid Sabeg who leads the CS Group only French-Arab Stock Market giant in France,. "It doesn't want to accept the consequences of a multiethnic society."

Request for Reilef and Donations

Here is another request from pakistan.

RSPN - Donations: "The teams of the Rural Support Programmes are already in the disaster zones coordinating relief efforts with the army, government, and other NGOs. RSPN is coordinating the collection of funds and relief items, which are delivered and distributed by the RSPs in the affected districts. RSPs rely on local communities to identify the villages with the greatest needs. In NWFP, the SRSP and government are setting up tent villages for displaced communities. All relief goods are being directed into these villages for distribution. Tent villages will be equipped with accommodation, a medical unit, and sanitation facilities."

Items required (Please click to enlarge)

Oh Jordan! May Allah Help You

To terrorists!

Shame on you and may Allah does not give you peace. At a time when world is trying to save lives at different places you are a shame on the face of earth. Quran says killing an innocent is like killing entire humanity.

3 Hotels Bombed in Jordan; At Least 57 Die - New York Times: "The bombs tore through the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, hit a wedding party at the Radisson SAS Hotel down the street, and exploded at the Days Inn Hotel, all within minutes. The largest number of victims were at the Radisson wedding, where numerous Jordanian notables were in attendance. "

Lone Wolf Mcquade

Osama Bin Javed is another restless soul like Ejaz Asi, I have written about in my previous posts, who did not wait long to hear from relief agencies and just spear headed the relief work on his own. The volunteer organizations do have a long process but that is to ensure not only the safety of the volunteer but also the safety of those for whom these people will work for. On the other hand I totally agree that there should be a procedure to let the volunteers through in shortest possible time. I have three people from US who want to go to Pakistan as volunteers and I don't know where to send them. One of them is a Journalism and want to bring stories so that he can help raise funding for reconstruction and long term needs of survivors by writing documentaries.

CNN.com - Volunteer sets out on mission to quake zone - Nov 6, 2005: "'Unfortunately, we're unable to assist you with your request.' This is the response Osama Bin Javaid, a 27-year-old London-based Pakistani, said he received from every aid agency he contacted. One of a growing number of people frustrated at having to wait in line to help with earthquake relief in Pakistan, Bin Javaid decided to take matters in to his own hands. 'Whoever I could find who was doing anything, I contacted,' Bin Javaid said. 'It was a bit frustrating to go through all that red tape and bureaucracy ... There should be a simpler process if somebody wants to participate [and] somebody wants to volunteer.

After a few weeks of feverish fundraising and recruiting -- including two friends from Karachi, both doctors -- he set out on October 23 for the remote Neelam Valley in Azad Kashmir, approximately 75 miles from Muzaffarabad, to open a free clinic."

Darwin's Ingenious Design of Evolution vs Intelligent Design

"I am neither writing for or against 'intelligent design' nor 'evolution' nevertheless I always wonder why scientist always try to prove God does not exist. Why they do not try to find a scientific proof for the existence of God. While no one is propounding a scientific theory for the existence of God many people however try to prove facts scientifically that are stated in the 'Bible' and 'old Testament' or 'Quran'." I don't' know much about bible but for example, Quran testifies that two oceans cannot meet as there is a barrier between them. Science provides the proof for this divine revelation that waters from two different densities cannot mix with each other and scientists have found this just recently that water densities do not allow water from one ocean or sea to mix into the other one thus creating a natural barrier (More will follow with references; just been busy).

Kansas education board downplays evolution - Science - MSNBC.com: "TOPEKA, Kansas. - Risking the kind of nationwide ridicule it faced six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public-school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution."

French Quarter

I will try to write something on this soon however at the moment Earthquake victims are the focus of my attention. At this moment I can only think that there are repercussions from France's Hijab policy. The picture included on Economist's web page with their article shows a Muslim woman in Hijab. My request to Muslims is that they abide by law because it is their country and they must follow the law. A law abiding citizen is much more helpful to Islam, Muslims and West rather than an outlaw.

Unrest spreads from Paris to the provinces Economist.com: WHEN riots erupt in one of the biggest countries of the supposedly super-stable European Union (EU), it can be embarrassing for the government concerned. When those riots go on night after night for the best part of two weeks, only to continue getting worse, it starts to become truly alarming. On Sunday November 6th, the eleventh night in a row of unrest in France, the violence intensified and spread to new areas, despite promises from the country's president and prime minister to stamp it out. What
started with a few disaffected, mostly Muslim youths throwing rocks and burning cars on the outskirts of Paris is fast turning into a national crisis.
......
France is home to Europe's biggest Muslim population-some 5m strong-and most of the youths confronting the police are French-born Muslims of Arab or African origin (though the children of Portuguese immigrants and native French are also reported to have taken part). In an effort
to stop the violence and show it to be un-Islamic, one of France's largest Muslim organisations has issued a fatwa, or religious order, forbidding "any action that blindly hits private or public property or could constitute an attack on someone's life."

Letter from relief front II

This is another letter by Ejaz from Relief Front to his uncle however he 'CC'd to me as well to give a broader picture. Emphasis in brackets and bold is all mine.

Tue, 8 Nov 2005 17:10:53 +0500
From: "Ejaz Asi" ejaz asi@...com
To:"Iftikhar Ajmal Bhopal"

Subject:Re: Trauma Patients in RWP/ISL

Walikum assalam, Iftikhar uncle,

I wish i cd go back and be with these patients. I don't have working knowledge of clinical psychology but I am quite a sensitive person by inheritance and have studied human behavioral psychology privately. One of my team members, Arfeen, a son of Peshawar family who was born and bred in London, is a renowned speaker and psychiatrist. I was with him for three such
trauma patients. It was because of him, we also survived, I think. I have been having disturbing dreams of helpless children and women who don't want to tell their secret sorrows. But as I survived long uphill and downhill walks of day long and the sights of amputated legs and arms and dead bodies, I believe I would survive my nightmares too. I am not scared of them anymore. I have transformed them to keep myself on my toes and do whatever I can in any respect. My knee n ankle's been recovering pretty quickly and amazingly. I am fascinated by how God gives us courage to overlook and not let our small sorrows, pains and issues to come in between such causes. Atleast three or four of us had walking problems on uphill as well as downhill but still we not only managed to keep walking but also kept our fasts while we walked whole day long.

The lady, to whom we could not offer any tents as we didn't bring any such stuff otherwise, brought Akhrot (Walnuts) somehow and presented to us. Nature wouldn't have been more proud of its daughters than that hour, I believe. I wish I could meet and work with your family. I certainly learnt a great deal of different things with the doctors team I have been with. As everyone of us is back in Karachi and back to our usual businesses, I find it very difficult to concentrate on these frivolties. Arfeen's still there with an old member of our team, Waqar. However, the rest of us have planned to visit JPMC, Al-Akhtar and Al-Rasheed trust's hospitals and meet earthquake patients and survivors. I deeply wish to work for their rehabilitation but lack adequate sources and directions like many others. However, the need of the hour is to stay awake and remain hopeful and keep working. I talked to Dr. Faisal (DHQ, Rawalpindi) this afternoon and asked if his hospitals need volunteers, food or clothing and/or toys for children. I gathered that its pretty good there now however these survivors need to settle down somewhere safe and restructure their lives. Again, I was clueless how was that going to happen, when government and NGOs want to control everything now. However, one thought keep swirling my mind after I left AJK. I met Mr. Zaman Awan, Asst. Director Schools, Muzaffarabad there who said, "don't think these people have 'settled-down'. They smile and feel alive to see you guys and girls who have come this far and their belief in humanity and love rekindles." I think at least that thought needs to survive. I urge you to keep me updated about RWP/ISL camps and hospitals so I could see what I can do in my capacity. I can at least spend my evening hours at local hospitals or camps or if your daughter (in Karachi) could guide better, that would be great too. I have postponed the idea of narrating a lot of junk-scenes of bad-media coverage, so-called TV-stars behavior and such stuff in public because this relief operation is going to last longer than our fondest imagination. And a lot more public is reading our blogs than we could think of and it only discourages the innocent public to cooperate and keep their prayers at least coming for the affectees. It would also leave bad marks on the minds of a lot of our foreign readers and volunteers who still haven't been able to deliver more than what they already did for Tsunami. I have one more request to make. I tried to trace and talk to Dr. Kamran (Psychiatry ward, RGH) but couldn't. There were two patients I saw and want to inquire about their well-being. One 21 yr old Saiqa, blind and 22 members of her family dead. Second was 4 yr old Asim who wouldn't sleep whole night and as you said keeps staring at the ceiling whole night long. While the young kids are easier to counsel and recover, the older girls and adults are even more nightmarish. You can put up 2-3 sample patients with their histories on your blog which I would happily link and let others know of the severity of the problem. I would inshallah put up my last expedition of Panjgran with possible map-location and other related information by the end of the week. Take good care of yourself and also your back. Many prayers and wishes for your family. dua go (remembering you in my prayers as well)

Ejaz Asi

Pakistan Earthquake Overlay

Here is a Paksitan earthquake overlay from "flicker' photo stram at ej eomag. You can see from this overall picture why it is so difficult to reach people in the affected areas which is spread over more than 600 square miles (thanks to google for map).

Tents for Pakistan II

Here is our collection. We are very far from Chicago, Houston, and NY the places from where things will be air lifted. We are looking forward for someone who is willing to undertake this work in the above mentioned areas. If any organization is willing please send me an email ASAP before the end of this week Nov 7-11, 2005. You will have to get an undertaking cleared from Pakistan Embassy so that you can get permission for Air Lift by PIA.

I have counted almost 83 tents; There are almost 150 sleeping bags, blankets and quilts in very good shape and quality. Jackets like Columbia outer wear and wool sweaters and fleece for all ages. We hope to fill this Uhaul 26 feet truck by tomorrow. It is 3/5 full on Sat and Sun and tomorrow we are running another collection in front of Good Food Store, Missoula. We are also looking forward to collect cash donation tomorrow so that we can ship these items to Chicago, NY, NJ, California, Washington or Houston for onward transportation (where ever people are willing to take care of it). Click on pictures to enlarge.

Letter from Earthquake Relief Front

I got a message today from Ejaz Asi of ej eomag. I am copying the message at the end and my rejoinder as well. Just removing the email addresses to avoid spam. Also including my rejoinder.


I have also been thinking on many fronts lately but never had time to write in detail. His email provided an impetus to write down my thoughts as well. I am organizing my thoughts briefly under different topics and need help from my readers to update on issues as well as to spread the word about "Letter from Earthquake Relief Front" and to organize people for the following.

Providing relief and comfort to disables:
We should start collecting funds to provide prosthetic limbs and arms to survivors who have had legs and arms amputated. Is there anyone documenting the number of disables.

Adopting children
Also there is a need to adopt the children who have no one left behind. One of my colleague's wife 'Mrs. Chaudhry' has already inquired me, how she can adopt a child from Pakistan and bring here to US? It will be much better to provide good homes to orphans in good Muslim families. We need to setup things like that as well. Any thoughts let me know. We need to team up for future that lies ahead.

Emotional Therapy
The emotional therapy has to be done long way from now. May be we can invite specialists through VSO, Pakistan chapter from abroad as well. Once I trained/briefed their volunteers from three different countries in Muree, Pakistan.

Disability Laws
Pakistan also need to revise its disability laws and the new buildings especially in those areas must be friendly and accessible to people with disability. I feel that this is the most pressing task
that should be pressed ahead of time before the reconstruction starts.

Rebuilding and reconstruction
As complete towns are leveled so the government should re-plan towns and reallocate plots of land to homeless. The new homes and buildings must be designed to absorb earthquake shocks. They should incorporate all the housing amenities in those projects.

Any one willing to lend a hand or starting a programs like these please write to me. I want to be part of it.

All this can be done through NGO's at grass root level. I had been planning to write on this since the earthquake devastation but was unable to find a time block. I have worked with grass root level NGO's like Sungi Development Foundation, Ministry of Planning and Development, Govt of Pakistan, Academia, and consulting organizations in Pakistan so I have training in project planning. My experience in US has incorporated some foresight how things should be keeping in mind the future development needs.

Inshallah, I will write more on these issues.

Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 08:06:09 +0500
From: ejazasi@...com
To: emullah@...com
Subject: Re: Comment: "Operation LoC"

hey I got ur message but because of short time and haphazard life that's been ever around me, I can hardly respond to anyone at my blog where I hardly go anyway... But wait a min, you said you r collecting funds or tents??? How do you plan to send those funds or tents and to whom? I just spent 10 mins on TV for news and got nothing out of it. it was all crap. I mean it may be great for average Joe that prime minister is going to A camp where children schooling has started and
they have toys. Now I am sure you must be familiar with how media tactics influence public opinion and if I am not wrong, this suggests that A camp where schooling has started and toys are available is equal to ANY camp that's out there which in fact is outrageous. Its actually bloody distorting the reality. The reality is we reached to a town after traveling 8-9 straight hours becoming the first team in 20 days, we treat patients, give them medicine for more bandages and we have no medicine left to move ahead so we fall back with another 8-9
hours walk on foot. And there are other 50 such villages still remaining. I am a great user of
documenting stuff but this disaster was so big and chaotic that I forgot to take any snapshots or arrange for such. But still my team mate Arfeen (therapist) had some video shots saved which I hope to put online and show you guys that almost EVERY camp is short of sanitation, electricity and proper Therapist's counseling. There's good enough food pouring in all the time, blankets and stuff yes. But even we healthy persons had to live on Imodium for five days coz we cd not sit in open for our toilet needs nor we were used to the desi-toilettes etc.. How the hell the patients wd use such things??? ummm again the last thing I want to say to you or do is Discourage. But for God's sake, just think about it for a sec. The funds you r collecting might have been meant for a fiance's ring, or little hina's picnic party or some body's car collecting money. If you don't spend those AMANATs properly on right people and on right time, how r you going to live with a guilt and wounded conscience??? hmmmm I have no idea what to do about it... I am just trying to contact any or every person I met half way in our trips who would give BETTER updates on which villages still don't have Prime minister's visited camps. And inshallah would update my blog and spread the word. We don't have to be frigging relying on these media giants all the time to feed our bunny heads. Its people money for the people which would be sent by the people, so why the heck govt. And media says that ITS BUSINESS AS USUAL whereas it's not. God be with those homeless and whose wounds still make our lives miserable because we have to live with a heavy heart we can't reach them.
ej

Ejaz

We sent first batch of funds to International Red Cross. Second one is going to PIA because it has tents and stuff for air lift. My other school KSU where I still need to go to finish my degree soon is sending money to Edhi. My friends and I are also sending our money to Edhi. I truly understand the situation you are talking about. I have been to these areas under normal circumstances and I know what it is like as they never had these amenities before the earthquake as well and know it will be even worse. I worked with late Omar Asghar Khan and his Sungi Development Foundation for two years at grass root level.

I want to do the same as soon as I get a break in summer from my teaching assignment here at UMT. I will visit Pakistan in summer 2006 and will definitely like to meet you. I cannot leave in the middle of semester. I am thinking that advising and undertaking long-term development and reconstruction projects is much better for me rather than packing up at the moment and rushing to Pakistan under an restless impulse. I may be able to do more by lending a hand at this point in providing funds and goods and reconstruction thoughts and advisory on frequent visits in future.

Thanks for your feedback.

....

Pain versus Hope and Happiness

This picture on Ejaz's blog has inspired this post. This picture shows how the relief efforts are bringing a flicker of joy and happiness into the lives of the earthquake survivors especially children. Ejaz has wonderful posts and he is rushing back and forth to earthquake affected area to conduct relief work. I am nominating him for best Cliopetra 2005 Blog award

Tents For Pakistan -- Give Them a Shelter

Glen-Paul Amick is a graduated student in the Department of Journalism at University of Montana. He read my article "What sentence can we give to the survivors of earthquake: Life or Death?" two days ago. He immediately called friends and faculty at UMT and set up an organization "Tents for Pakistan (TFP)." He opened a bank account same day for collecting funds. By evening he was able to rely news releases on local TV, Radio, and print media about TFP's fund raising (being journalism major it did help). He is also going to send a Radio feed from his department which will be broadcasted
on all Radio Stations in USA for tent donations.

The idea was to get tents, sleeping bags, jackets, sweaters, medicines and funds for two days outside university's annual SOS skiing fair and garage sale on Nov 5 and 6, 2005. Every year university's outdoor program holds an annual skiing fair and sale right before the skiing season starts. People bring in their almost new shoes, skis, poles, snowboards, sleeping bags, blankets, jackets, sweaters, coats, gloves, hats, for sale. Idea was great so I immediately made some new posters for "Tents for Pakistan". The response is great. See the pile we collected on Sat morning in three hrs. As soon as people coming to SOS fair learned about TFP they went back and brought some more stuff for donations. Many people who brought their stuff for sale in fact decided to donate for good cause. We have collected almost new Tents, Blankets, Sub zero temp sleeping bags (that can be worn like quilt as well), Jackets, Parkas, duck downs etc. One guy has brought a big two room tent. He says that one room is designed for kitchen.

The UMT students have made friends with visiting Pakistanis. For last three years University of Montana (UMT) has received and trained three groups of 40-45 primary school teachers from Pakistan in their six months training program in education and teaching sponsored by USAID. Many trainees were from earthquake affected areas. Paul says that he feels a responsibility to reach out and help because UMT has made friends with teachers from Pakistan.

Please note: If anyone wants to donate tents or fiber glass houses they can buy it from http://www.armytents.com and fiber glass houses from http://www.kind-hearts.org
You can ship these tents and houses to PIA for air lift; for more info check Pakistan embassy's website. They have worked out a procedure for PIA to airlift things out of NY, Chicago, and Houston. You have to deliver things to PIA in NY, Chicago, and Houston. Do not forget to complete a disclosure form.
This guy donated a large two room tent with kitchen area.

Update (4:50 pm): I just sent back to get update. By 4:30 pm we have collected lot of camps, blankets, quilts, warm jackets, and pledges for more stuff that people have promised to bring tomorrow. Among these we have seven (7) big two room tents that can house an entire family and set up a kitchen as well.

Also Related in NY Times.

Give them Shelter

THE earthquake in Pakistan has left millions homeless. Umar Ghuman, Pakistan's minister of foreign investment and a longtime customer of my foundry supply company, has asked me to help find housing for as many of these people as possible before the onset of winter in the next few days.Tents are not protection enough, and conventional prefabricated houses are neither readily available nor easy to ship. The solution, then, is to think of something less conventional, like the work shed-greenhouse combinations sold at Sam's Club and other retailers. Such sheds - small (882 cubic feet), plastic, weather-tight, insulated and portable - retail for around $2,000. Two hundred thousand of these houses - temporary homes for a million people - would cost
less than $400 million.These sheds come in sections, such that a C5-A military cargo plane could fit hundreds of units on a single flight. The manufacturer can produce nearly 20,000 units per month, but additional new machinery could be developed promptly to speed up production. Although there are many garden structures to choose from, the one that combines both shelter and greenhouse functions is manufactured in Winfield, Kan. "

Eid Mubarak

My heart and mind is with the earthquake survivors. I am just imagining how many children would not have:

1. a shelter
2. the comfort of their loved ones.
3. their parents.
4. their brothers and sisters in their arms
5. new clothes
6. new toys

and someone to hug them and say Eid Mubarak!
Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers. Please bring someone home tonight to dinner table who does not have enough to eat or his close relatives are not around and make them feel that they are not far from their homes. I wish all of you a happy Eid with your families and anyone you invite to share the blessing of this Eid day.

Life or Death: To be or not to be that is the question

It seems like the movement to save the earthquake victims is dying gradually and media in US and across the world is following up on Bird Flu and Libby's indictment. Surprisingly whenever the government is under pressure we start hearing about a big epidemic emerging from some part of the world.

The earthquake survivors are dying a slow death and soon it will become instant with sub-zero temperatures. 80,000 people still without a tent or shelter and winter has already started.
"What sentence can we give to the survivors of earthquake: Life or Death?"