Terrorists in Waziristan uncircumcised!Talking to Khabrain magazine corps commander Peshawar General Safdar Hussain stated that the terrorists in Waziristan were Uzbek and many of them were found to be not even circumcised as Muslims. Those captured knew nothing about Islam beyond the kalima. He said 600 terrorists had been captured in South Waziristan while 150 were killed.
Seven years in jail for insulting Quran
According to Khabrain a Christian in Chishtian in Punjab was sentenced by a civil judge to seven years rigorous imprisonment for insulting the Quran. (In prison, he could be killed by other Muslim prisoners). The Christian was in the business of doing taviz-ganda (magic cure) and was supposed to have insulted the Quran.
Girls in shorts is no big deal
Daily Insaf quoted President Pervez Musharraf as saying that it was no offence if the Pakistani girls wore nacker (shorts). He said Qazi Hussain Ahmad and his family went to the United States where the gori (white) girls wore shorts. They obviously did not mind that otherwise they would not have gone to the US. Why then was it objectionable to see Pakistani girls in shorts? Nawa-e-Waqt quoted Musharraf as saying that those who didn't like seeing girls clad in shorts should keep their eyes closed.
Hyderabad cleric burns Quran
According to Khabrain a pesh imam of Hyderabad collected separated and ragged pages of an old Quran and burnt them to get rid of them. As ill luck would have it, the pages flew up ands fell on the surrounding houses while burning. The entire locality came out in protest, took hold of the cleric and beat him till he was unconscious with grievous injuries. The people did gherao of Masjid Paretabad and sealed it. The cleric was handed over to the police who put him in jail. The town in Hyderabad became endangered with threats of widespread vandalism from the incensed people.
Mira in more 'trubbel'
Quoted in Insaf chief of Jamiya Naeemiya in Lahore Sarfaraz Naeemi condemned actress Mira for taking part in shameless film scenes in India. He said he had seen pictures of her different poses with a Hindu actor, which had greatly offended him. He said Mira should be punished for indulging in un-Islamic activities. Another cleric said that special NOC should be issued by the government to make sure that actors did not take part in shameless activities in India. According to Khabrain, religious leaders like Munawwar Hassan said that Mira was setting a wrong example for Pakistani youth. Engineer Salimullah said she should be banned from returning to Pakistan. Mira's mother said such films as Nazar were being produced in Pakistan all the time. Other film actors turned against Mira and asked for action against her.
Secretary National Assembly harasses air hostess
According to Khabrain, secretary National Assembly Saleem Mahmud accompanied Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain when he took a delegation to the UK after an earlier tour of the US. During the tour Mr Saleem Mahmood misbehaved after getting drunk on several occasions. While on a BA flight he harassed an air hostess for which he was arrested upon landing at the Heathrow Airport in London. He was taken to a police station. Mr Saleem Akhtar denied that he had got drunk and misbehaved during the tour or made any mischief with the air hostess.
Sheheryar Khan in 'trubbel'
According to Nawa-e-Waqt the wife of Mr Sheheryar Khan, former foreign secretary of Pakistan and current chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was seen embracing Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh and shaking with pleasure (jhoomna). The paper issued a picture from the India newspaper The Tribune to prove the point and said that normalisation with India was at the cost of the nation's honour and self-respect (qaumi hamiyat aur ghairat).
Targeting non-political clerics
According to Khabrain, the police had arrested from Rawalpindi Islamabad area 35 terrorists, out of a total of 90, who had come from the Northern Areas to kill the ulema who would not take sides in the sectarian conflict of the country. These men had confessed to killing the gaddi nashin of Barri Imam (Shia) shrine near Islamabad. The name of the organisation to which the 90 belonged was being kept secret by the intelligence agencies for fear of arousing countrywide passions. The name could be guessed by the fact revealed by the agencies that the gang of 90 had come down to commit violence during the Muharram ashura.
Blaspheming teacher of Sargodha
Reported in daily Insaf Prof Ibnul Hassan of Sargodha University was to take his class in business administration in the evening when he found that the entire class was saying its namaz in the nearby mosque. After the class was missed by students he gave them a dressing down on the return of the pious students. His remarks on their Islamic practice were taken ill by the students who then called upon Islami Jamiat Tulaba to protest. The protest spilled into the city where all the clerics denounced the professor as a blasphemer against the Prophet PBUH and hadith. The professor was apprehended after an FIR.
Girl paraded naked
Reporting from Mianwali Nawa-e-Waqt stated that one Shafi and his gang picked up an innocent girl, raped her and then paraded her naked in the streets of the village Kari Kheor. Shafi was convinced that a brother of the girl was involved in a relationship with his sister and resorted to the honour-based rape.
Is 'dosakh' male or female?
Writing in Jang Ataul Haq Qasimi stated that Mushfiq Khwaja who died recently was a great humourist in his Khama Bagosh columns, which he preferred to write for religious journals. Qasimi asked him whether dosakh (hell) was masculine or feminine. Mushfiq said that in either case it was not good for Muslims. Then he thought and said it was female because the Muslims were helplessly attracted to it. After Qasimi read him a couplet by a Hindu Urdu poet showing hell as masculine, Mushfiq said that for non-Muslims hell must be masculine, but for Muslims it had to be feminine.
Aga Khan Board is Qadiani 'sazish'
Reported by Nawa-e-Waqt Jamaat Islami leader Liaquat Baloch stated that Qadianis were behind the Aga Khan Board which was being imposed on Pakistan to change its ideology. Fatah Mubahala Conference in Chiniot also featured one new Maulana Jhangvi who said that those who removed the mazhabi khana would be removed from the face of the earth.
Dr Safdar Mehmood on Stephen Cohen
Writing in Jang Dr Safdar Mehmood said that Stephen Cohen wrote first on Pakistan army and was greatly welcomed by the ruling circles in Islamabad. His latest book The Idea of Pakistan was full of predictions which were negative. In the past Lawrence Ziring too was in the habit of predicting Pakistan's future. Ziring predicted Pakistan falling to Marxism and a revolution of the Left, but later refused to answer questions when his prediction was proved false. Scholars are supposed to study and analyse and not make predictions.