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Nuggets from the Urdu press
âBonaâ comes out of ground According to Jang, a farmer in Qasur digging a tubewell on his land, came upon a foot-long âbonaâ (lilliputian) after having reached some depth. He pulled out the lilliputian and called the villagers who came to see it from great distances. After that, he threw the lilliputian back into the well. He told the reporter that people frequently found small creatures living underground. One indication was that wherever their little colonies lived no water could be found because they drank up all of it. He said the little creature was injured because the drill had cut his body. He had neglected to take its photograph. TSNM declares jihad again According to daily Pakistan, the dreaded Tanzeem Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) of Malakand in Swat had once again activated itself through the mosques and was calling on people to stage an uprising against democracy in favour of shariat. The organisation was banned in 2001 after it sent thousands of its followers to Afghanistan to fight the Americans, but the followers could not come back. Its leader Sufi Muhammad was put behind bars where he remains. Sufi Muhammad had declared war on Pakistan in Malakand as a result of which 41 men were killed, including 12 from the law enforcement agencies. In 1998, Sufi Muhammad proclaimed that anyone found opposing the shariat by word of mouth should be done to death. Jang reported that the warlord of Jalalabad, Hazrat Ali, had sold 33 Pakistanis from Dir to Uzbek warlord Dostam in Shabarghan. The Pakistanis had gone to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight alongside the Taliban but could not return. Dostam is known for buying and selling his Taliban prisoners at a very high price. Uneatable sweets According to dailies Jang and Insaf all the well-known brands of local sweets were in fact uneatable because they were made in unhygienic conditions. This was revealed after the government conducted raids on a dozen famous sweet-makers in Lahore with branches all over the city. The ghee used was impure and pots in which the sugar-and-saccharine liquid was collected were unclean and full of bugs. Insaf gave photographs in which the rooms where the sweets were made are clearly unhygienic, full of rats and cockroaches. The âfood squadâ also raided many burger-making joints and found that the ketchup there was fake and dangerous for health. Pakistan is one of the largest consumers of sugar-related products and Punjab leads the provinces on the basis of per head consumption. According to Insaf Lahoris had given up eating sweets after the report. They pointed to specific sweet-sellers and said that naked men were employed in making sweets and their sweat visibly fell into the sweets. All the famous brands in Lahore were found wanting in hygiene and purity. Islamic Council against women MNAs According to Jang, the Council for Islamic Ideology (CII) decided that it was against Islam to induct women into the assemblies or other bodies since they were not put through the competition of free and fair elections. In its annual report, the Council said that the LFO had allowed undeserving women of the political elite to enter the assemblies without merit, which was against the Islamic principle of adl. It said that some of these women belonged to the âWesternised and modernised classâ that was a stranger to the Islamic worldview and spoke in favour of sexual equality. Jang reported women MNAs as saying that the Council could only find evidence against women in the LFO. They said the clergy was against whatever minimal rights given to them. Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-11-21 |
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