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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44235)7/4/2003 3:26:14 PM
From: Sultan  Respond to of 50167
 
Old column but still worth a look..

In the name of religion

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

"The first observation that I would like to make is this: you will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state."

Then, "You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed. That has nothing to do with the business of the state."

Two statements made on August 11, 1947 by the only man of consequence to have ruled Pakistan, the founder, builder and maker of the state, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The others - the misrulers, breakers and dismantlers of the State of Pakistan - have continually maintained in the interests of expediency and self-perpetuation that "the notion of church and state as distinct institutions, each with its own laws, hierarchy and jurisdiction, is characteristically Christian and is alien to Islam" (Roedad Khan, Dawn, March 8).

President General Pervez Musharraf is now fighting terrorism 'across the border' whilst strictly ignoring terrorism within his borders. To take Karachi alone, working backwards to 1994, total killings atrtributed to terrorism are: 2002 = (10); 2001 = (107); 2000 = (84); 1999 = (85); 1998 = (667); 1997 = (396); 1996 = (166); 1995 = (1742); 1994 = (813). Of these, listed hereunder are the crimes comitted purely in the name of religion, specifically targeting Shias and Sunnis with each killing the other (name, FIR, police station):

Contd..

dawn.com



To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44235)7/8/2003 1:38:11 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 50167
 
Iranian twins died today, even in death they connected humanity together, the feeling that our collective pains and joys are common has rarely been so much highlighted by global media. The lost of life is so immense but collective will of races to bring them true happiness to both of them surpassed the loss we suffered today, in death they contributed towards our common heritage and common roots, they always shall be remembered as souls who through their will to live separately brought together amidst clash of cultures a heroic effort from various nationalities to bring mankind together. Together mankind can do wonders, today was such a day a small step towards sharing our capacities to eliminate pains of others, and this is true sacrifice and true honour. May mankind see many such days. Amen

<<The father of twins, Dadollah Bijani, a poor farmer from southern Iran, said the sisters were kept in a local hospital for years under the care of U.S. doctors, but then went missing during the confusion of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.



He eventually tracked them down to Karaj, near the capital Tehran, where they had been adopted by a doctor, Alireza Safaian.

Despite a court ruling awarding father-of-11 Bijani custody, the twins decided to stay with Safaian, who said the twins had been abandoned when he adopted them with even hospital staff unwilling to look after the sisters.

Singaporean Armila Teo, 48, wept in the hospital lobby after hearing news of Ladan's death. "I'm very upset," she said. "Even if I'm not related, the emotion just overcame me."

Twins joined at the head occur only once in every two million live births, and successful separation is even rarer. It has never been performed on adults. German doctors turned the Bijanis away in 1996, saying it could prove fatal to separate them.

"We will remember them in the best of times and feel that at least we helped them achieve their dream of being separated," said Goh, who led a successful similar operation in 2001 on infant girls from Nepal.

Goh was assisted in the Bijani surgery by Dr Walter Tan, a plastic surgeon, and Dr Ben Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Carson separated twin boys joined at the head in Germany in 1987 and six-month-old twin girls in 1997.>>