The hideaway villa used by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief, to entertain his lovers is to be put up for sale in an attempt to bail out the cash-strapped city of Berlin. The rundown, empty Wald-hof estate, set in woodland 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the city, has become a financial burden for the Berlin council, which has been contemplating the closure of opera houses and other desperate measures to avert bankruptcy.
Maintenance costs alone amount to 255,000 (£168,000) a year. Now the council has devised a strategy to dispose of one of its most notorious pieces of property and make a profit. We want to test the interest of the international property market, Irina Daehne, of the councils real estate department, said. It will be announced on the internet and there will be an advertising campaign. The process will begin in August, usually a good time to dispose of country estates. Estate agents estimate that the house and surrounding land could fetch 2,000,000.
So far the only interest has been expressed by animal breeders and construction companies.
It will be difficult, it seems, to interest international schools or private universities in land quite so tainted as Goebbels romantic bolthole. Goebbels took over the place in 1936. A diary entry for November 6 that year records his enthusiasm: wonderful autumn weather, the wood is so perfect . . . we have to get rid of the Jewish plague. Completely . . . Otherwise, early to bed. One sleeps so well in the woods.
The propaganda minister, in charge of film-making, built a cinema on the premises and invited a string of film starlets to the house, including his principal mistress Lida Baarová. She enjoyed swimming in the Bogensee lake. Other glamorous visitors included the Third Reich actress-es Zarah Leander and Marika Rökk.
It was not only play for Goebbels. He also wrote his most important speech, calling for Total War, in the study of the house during the winter of 1942-43. A perfect place for creative thought, he said.
After the war the estate passed from one dictatorship to another. The Communist Free Youth movement set up a training centre there and it was used by various East German leaders. Nowadays it is used as a barracks for out-of-town riot police who travel to Berlin every year to help control the traditional May Day protests. As the home of a noted pioneer of activist media, this would be ideal for a museum of activist journalism. The CBS section, for example, could have Walter Cronkite's hairpiece, Dan Rather's old computer printer, Edward R. Murrow's final cigarette butt, and a bottle of the embalming fluid they use to keep Andy Rooney on the air.
A whole wing could be devoted to the BBC, the Guardian and the Independent. This could house Robert Fisk's bloody bandages, a hash pipe from a BBC office party, a Reuters issued keffiyeh, and Robert Pilger's autographed Che Guevara t-shirt.
There would be a multi-media wing with video and audio clips of noted moments in media history: ABC's Don Kladstryp justifying the murder of American sailor Robert Stethem during Nightline in 1985, a full-length presentation of Cronkite's "Tet 68," Ed Bradley plagiarizing the Daily Worker, NBC's Garrick Utley in his wistful, nostalgic recalling of the conquest of Saigon by the Stalinist army on the tenth anniversary.
#1
The rundown, empty Wald-hof estate,
Maintenance costs alone amount to 255,000 (£168,000) a year.
Does NOT compute, Does NOT compute, Check the records and arrest whoever has been defrauding this account.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2007 8:08 Comments ||
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Good article and better comments, AC.
If ever one debates a leftist about Vietnam and/or the power of the left in the media prior to the advent of talk radio and the 'net, and one brings up Tet and the way Cronkite et al LIED about who won the battle (as well as the FACT that the communists were ready to surrender afterward) they either a)act dumfounded, or b)change the subject.
The first group is ignorant, the second evil.
The reason the "fairness" doctrine has been brought up so quickly in this congress is that the left wishes a return to the halcyon days of electronic media when they had absolute control over the information stream. How they must long for the days when a leftist like Cronkite could LIE about who won a major battle and get away with it because there was literally no means for the truth to get reported.
The story of the leftist media LYING about Tet, and the complicity of the leftist press in making sure that America did not stand up successfully to communism in SE Asia, needs to be repeated over and over. It needs to be introduced into classrooms whenever it can be slipped past the teachers' unions and left-controlled departments in universities. The blogosphere needs to say it as many times as is necessary for the concept to penetrate America's national consciousness. And leftists need to be put on quoted record as denying it in the fashion of holocaust denial.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/28/2007 8:13 Comments ||
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#3
Nowadays it is used as a barracks for out-of-town riot police who travel to Berlin every year to help control the traditional May Day protests.
And there you have it.
#5
I see Baarová's film career did not suffer once she stopped sucking Goebbels' cock (to put it in an ungentlemanly fashion). I suppose the gap between 1944 and 1950 was deemed sufficient denazification.
KOLKATA: Doubting she would be able to visit her motherland whatever be the outcome of elections there, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has appealed to the Indian government to grant her citizenship or permanent resident status. "To live like a writer I cannot shift elsewhere. Here (India) I can meet my own people, converse with them in my own language, the language for expressing my thoughts. The government can help me live as a writer," she said.
The writer, who was earlier given a six-month residential permit valid till February 17 said she hoped that the appeal made to the Foreigners' Registration Office in December for a six-month permit extension from February would be granted.
"I can then concentrate on my writing. Let us see," Taslima, who has also lived in Sweden, Germany and France, said. "I am also loved by people in Europe but Kolkata holds a special place for me."
Asked if she wished to return to her home in Bangladesh, which she was forced to leave in 1994 with fundamentalists issuing death threats against her after her book Lajja invited their wrath, she said, "that does not seem to be possible as there will not be much change in the socio-political situation in Bangladesh.
"All major parties, ruling and opposition, will not risk antagonising the fundamentalists, who are holding sway in Bangladesh politics at present. Both BNP and Awami League want to keep such groups in good humour," she said.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 08:48 ||
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A reminder of who this brave lady is...
Let's burn the Burqa
My mother used purdah. She wore a burqa with a net cover in front of the face. It reminded me of the meatsafes in my grandmother's house. One had a net door made of cloth, the other of metal. But the objective was the same: keeping the meat safe. My mother was put under a burqa by her conservative family. They told her that wearing a burqa would mean obeying Allah. And if you obey Allah, He would be happy with you and not let you burn in hellfire. My mother was afraid of Allah and also of her own father. He would threaten her with grave consequences if she didn't wear the burqa.
She was also afraid of the men in the neighbourhood, who could have shamed her. Even her husband was a source of fear, for he could do anything to her if she disobeyed him.
As a young girl, I used to nag her: Ma, don't you suffocate in this veil? Don't you feel
all dark inside? Don't you feel breathless? Don't you feel angry? Don't you ever feel like throwing it off? My mother kept mum. She couldn't do anything about it. But I did. When I was sixteen, I was presented a burqa by one of my relatives. I threw it away.
The custom of purdah is not new. It dates back to 300 BC. The women of aristocratic Assyrian families used purdah. Ordinary women and prostitutes were not allowed purdah. In the middle ages, even Anglo-Saxon women used to cover their hair and chin and hide their faces behind a cloth or similar object. This purdah system was obviously not religious. The religious purdah is used by Catholic nuns and Mormons, though for the latter only during religious ceremonies and rituals. For Muslim women, however, such religious purdah is not limited to specific rituals but mandatory for their daily life outside the purview of religion.
A couple of months ago, at the height of the purdah controversy, Shabana Azmi asserted that the Quran doesn't say anything about wearing the burqa. She's mistaken. This is what the Quran says:
"Tell the faithful women that they must keep their gaze focused below/on the ground and cover their sexual organs. They must not put their beauty and their jewellery on display. They must hide their breasts behind a purdah. They must not exhibit their beauty to anybody except their husbands, brothers, nephews, womenfolk, servants, eunuch employees and children. They must not move their legs briskly while walking because then much of their bodies can get exposed." (Sura Al Noor 24:31)
"Oh nabi, please tell your wives and daughters and faithful women to wear a covering dress on their bodies. That would be good. Then nobody can recognise them and harrass them. Allah is merciful and kind." (Sura Al Hijaab 33: 59)
Even the Hadis --a collection of the words of Prophet Mohammed, his opinion on various subjects and also about his work, written by those close to him-- talks extensively of the purdah for women. Women must cover their whole body before going out, they should not go before unknown men, they should not go to the mosque to read the namaaz, they should not go for any funeral.
There are many views on why and how the Islamic purdah started. One view has it that Prophet Mohammed became very poor after spending all the wealth of his first wife. At that time, in Arabia, the poor had to go to the open desert and plains for relieving themselves and even their sexual needs. The Prophet's wives too had to do the same. He had told his wives that "I give you permission to go out and carry out your natural work". (Bukhari Hadis first volume book 4 No. 149). And this is what his wives started doing accordingly. One day, Prophet Mohammed's disciple Uman complained to him that these women were very uncomfortable because they were instantly recognisable while relieving themselves.
Umar proposed a cover but Prophet Mohammed ignored it. Then the Prophet asked Allah for advice and he laid down the Ayat (33:59) (Bukhari Hadis Book 026 No. 5397).
This is the history of the purdah, according to the Hadis. But the question is: since Arab men too relieved themselves in the open, why didn't Allah start the purdah for men? Clearly, Allah doesn't treat men and women as equals, else there would be purdah for both! Men are higher than women. So women have to be made walking prisons and men can remain free birds.
Another view is that the purdah was introduced to separate women from servants. This originates from stories in the Hadis. One story in the Bukhari Hadis goes thus: After winning the Khyber War, Prophet Mohammed took over all the properties of the enemy, including their women. One of these women was called Safia. One of the Prophet's disciples sought to know her status. He replied: "If tomorrow you see that Safia is going around covered, under purdah, then she is going to be a wife. If you see her uncovered, that means I've decided to make her my servant."
The third view comes from this story. Prophet Mohammed's wife Ayesha was very beautiful. His friends were often found staring at her with fascination. This clearly upset the Prophet. So the Quran has an Ayat that says, "Oh friends of the prophet or holy men, never go to your friend's house without an invitation. And if you do go, don't go and ask anything of their wives". It is to resist the greedy eyes of friends, disciples or male guests that the purdah system came into being. First it was applicable to only the wives of the holy men, and later it was extended to all Muslim women. Purdah means covering the entire body except for the eyes, wrist and feet. Nowadays, some women practise the purdah by only covering their hair. That is not what is written in the Hadis Quran. Frankly, covering just the hair is not Islamic purdah in the strict sense.
In the early Islamic period, Prophet Mohammed started the practice of covering the feet of women. Within 100 years of his death, purdah spread across the entire Middle East. Women were covered by an extra layer of clothing. They were forbidden to go out of the house, or in front of unknown men. Their lives were hemmed into a tight regime: stay at home, cook, clean the house, bear children and bring them up. In this way, one section of the people was separated by purdah, quarantined and covered.
Why are women covered? Because they are sex objects. Because when men see them, they are roused. Why should women have to be penalised for men's sexual problems? Even women have sexual urges. But men are not covered for that. In no religion formulated by men are women considered to have a separate existence, or as human beings having desires and opinions separate from men's. The purdah rules humiliate not only women but men too. If women walk about without purdah, it's as if men will look at them with lustful eyes, or pounce on them, or rape them. Do they lose all their senses when they see any woman without burqa?
My question to Shabana and her supporters, who argue that the Quran says nothing about purdah is: If the Quran advises women to use purdah, should they do so? My answer is, No. Irrespective of which book says it, which person advises, whoever commands, women should not have purdah. No veil, no chador, no hijab, no burqa, no headscarf. Women should not use any of these things because all these are instruments of disrespect. These are symbols of women's oppression. Through them, women are told that they are but the property of men, objects for their use. These coverings are used to keep women passive and submissive. Women are told to wear them so that they cannot exist with their self-respect, honour, confidence, separate identity, own opinion and ideals intact.So that they cannot stand on their own two feet and live with their head held high and their spine strong and erect.
Some 1,500 years ago, it was decided for an individual's personal reasons that women should have purdah and since then millions of Muslim women all over the world have had to suffer it. So many old customs have died a natural death, but not purdah. Instead, of late, there has been a mad craze to revive it. Covering a woman's head means covering her brain and ensuring that it doesn't work. If women's brains worked properly, they'd have long ago thrown off these veils and burqas imposed on them by a religious and patriarchal regime.
What should women do? They should protest against this discrimination. They should proclaim a war against the wrongs and ill-treatment meted out to them for hundreds of years. They should snatch from the men their freedom and their rights. They should throw away this apparel of discrimination and burn their burqas.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 8:52 Comments ||
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#2
boy, that'll get you killed quickly in the Islamic Paradise
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2007 8:57 Comments ||
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#3
SO, the burqa is simply an Islamic Porta-potty.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2007 16:27 Comments ||
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Beccy Cole took out Female Artist of the Year in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 people. Her controversial song Poster Girl, which promotes pride in Australian troops, was named the Single of the Year and the APRA Song of the Year.
Cole wrote it in response to a fan's letter of criticism for the artist performing for Australian soldiers serving in Iraq. "I'm absolutely thrilled, thrilled beyond belief," she told the audience. "I don't want this to be my moment, I want it to be a moment when we think about the diggers past and present who do such a great job for our country. They're incredible people."
A ROW has erupted over Muslim-only washrooms at La Trobe University that can be accessed only with a secret push-button code. Muslim students have exclusive access to male and female washrooms on campus, sparking claims of bias and discrimination.
A university student, who did not want to be identified, raised the issue with the Sunday Herald Sun this week. Australian Family Council spokesman Bill Muehlenberg said concerns over the exclusive facilities were valid."Do we have a Christian washroom or an atheist washroom?" he said. "The whole thing is madness."
Mr Muehlenberg said the separate facilities were divisive. "If Muslims are saying 'we are good Australians and want to integrate', why are they insisting on separate washrooms?" he said.
Victorian Muslim community leader Yasser Soliman said the washrooms were necessary. He said the separate facilities were also due to concerns from non-Muslim students. "Muslims need to wash their feet before prayer and in the past there have been complaints about them washing their feet in sinks, so this is a happy medium," he said. Mr Soliman said most universities provided Muslim-only prayer and washrooms for students.
A La Trobe University spokesman said the washrooms were established with the advice of senior Muslim religious leaders. He said the university also had a Christian chapel with a meeting room and four chaplains from major denominations had offices.
La Trobe University Christian Union vice-president Richard Thamm backed the washrooms. "It's part of their religion, they need to wash in a special way before they pray," he said.
#1
"in the past there have been complaints about them washing their feet in sinks"
So you went to the expense of building separate bathrooms for them?
Why not just install some foot-washing "sinks" like I saw in youth hostels all over Germany? (And they weren't just for moslems, either - the Germans might not wash under their arms after hiking all day, but they sure do wash their feet.)
Yeesh.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/28/2007 14:36 Comments ||
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#2
"Just shut up and scrub the floor dhimmi slave."
It's all about power.
#3
They used to have blacks only washrooms too. In those days the "left" understood apartheid was a form of racism. Now they have given themselves over to Goebbels and do not even realize it.
Stop the Presses! University Eggheads try to resolve an issue and end up creating a bigger problem. Fercrisesakes. Make the damn accommodations just dont officially recognize exclusivity for Muslims, or for that matter, any other group. If your not Muslim and you happen to wander in when Abu is washing lil Mohamad chances are your next trip will be to the other rest room.
PESHAWAR: A young scientist, who claimed creating a new theory regarding the universe, has demanded of the President of Pakistan and Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) to forward his research to International Institutes of Astronomy and Astrology for evaluation.
Saifullah Khan, who teaches cosmo-physics and cosmology, while addressing a news conference here Thursday claimed that he had created a new theory about the universe after a ten-year long research and efforts, a copy of which he had submitted to Pakistan Science Foundation and HEC for further evaluation but was awaiting their response.
The theory of Kainaat and Lail-O-Nahaar as the title given by the young scientist, describes a brief history of dark matter-to-matter, illuminating and darkening of universe. The theory also mentions the exploring challenging mysteries of universe like twisters, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tides, tsunami and orbits. It also tells about gravitational forces and how the masses, stars, galaxies, cluster and dark matter swim in the universe.
He claims that it is wrong concept that dark matter is only detectable by its gravity but there is another force Repulsion (opposite to gravity), which would help detect the dark matter. There is a fifth force which exists everywhere in universe and still not detected like gravitons.
However, its nature is completely different from gravity and state of different matter such as solid, liquid, gas. This force is extending, emitting, radiating from its origin in space in each direction and its nature is repulsion.
The origin may be in solid, liquid or gas, however, the solid has extreme possibility, also liquid somewhere, as well as combine both solid and liquid state, during that stage of its conversion into matter.
The theory of Kainaat and Lail-o-Nahaar has added a new force into the theory of everything, which is known as Ratqan means Repulsion, he said, adding that the four forces of universe i.e. gauge boson is the general term for these four types of particles that transmit each force are gluons, graviton, photons and weakens.
He said that the scientists and physicists agreed upon the existence and nature of these forces, which exchange between the particles that makes up matter.
Saifullah has supported his theory with some graphs, images and formulas, depicting the existence of the fifth force named Ratqan in the universe.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 17:48 ||
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#1
but there is another force Repulsion
Theory of Pakistan in a nutshell.
Posted by: Stephen Hawking ||
01/28/2007 18:08 Comments ||
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#2
Saifullah has supported his theory with some graphs, images and formulas
Well that settles it then. What more proof do you need?
#3
demanded of the President of Pakistan and Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) to forward his research to International Institutes of Astronomy and Astrology for evaluation.
Dope plagarizes dark energy and demands evaluation by Astrologers. A sure sign of pseudoscience: the theory explains everything (from 'twisters' to twistors).
The origin may be in solid, liquid or gas, however, the solid has extreme possibility, also liquid somewhere, as well as combine both solid and liquid state, during that stage of its conversion into matter.
Pakistan has almost a hundred universities now. Not one of them is world class. Truth be told, not even one of them is a real university.
...
The teaching at QAU is no better. Rote learning is common, students are not encouraged to ask questions in class, and courses are rarely completed by the end of the semester. This university has three mosques but no bookstore. It is becoming more like a madressah in other ways too.
...
The HEC's "generosity" extends even into largely illiterate tribal areas. There are so-called universities now in Malakand, Bannu, Kohat, Khuzdar, Gujrat, Haripur, and in many other places where it is difficult to detect the slightest potential for successfully establishing modern universities.
...
Another poorly thought-out, and dangerous, HEC scheme involves giving massive cash awards to university teachers for publishing research papers - Rs 60,000 per paper published in a foreign journal.
...
Established practices of plagiarizing papers, multiple publications of slightly different versions of the same paper in different research journals, fabricating scientific data, and seeking out third-rate foreign journals with only token referees are now even more common. The HEC has broadcast the message: corruption pays!
...
The casual disregard for quality is most obvious in the HEC's massive PhD production programme. This involves enrolling 1,000 students in Pakistani universities every year for PhD degrees.
Thereby Pakistan's "PhD deficit" (it produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present) will supposedly be solved and it will soon be at par with India. In consequence, an army of largely incapable and ignorant students, armed with hefty HEC fellowships, has sallied forth to write PhD theses.
...
Although the HEC claims that it has checked the students through a "GRE type test" (the American graduate school admission test), a glance at the question papers reveals it to be only a shoddy literacy and numeric test.
...
In my department, advertised as the best physics department in the country, the average PhD student now has trouble with high-school level physics and even with reading English.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 18:26 Comments ||
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#5
man,John, you're making me more cynical about the Pak system!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2007 18:40 Comments ||
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#6
"The theory also mentions the exploring challenging mysteries of universe like twisters, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tides, tsunami and orbits. It also tells about gravitational forces and how the masses, stars, galaxies, cluster and dark matter swim in the universe."
I got a better idea: how about you ignorant 7th-century throwbacks work on perfecting the wooden cartwheel first, before you start dabbling in cosmology?
"Challenging mysteries of the universe", my aching, hairy white ass...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/28/2007 18:44 Comments ||
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#7
More from Hoodbhoy on Islamic Science in Pakistan during the rule of General Zia Ul Haq...
Scientists began to write and discuss scientific papers on such topics as the angle of God, the temperature of Hell, or the latent energy of jinns. One university professor of physics wrote a paper on the speed at which Heaven was departing from Earth. A nuclear reactor scientist argued that jinns were made up of methane gas and proposed that jinn energy may be tapped to meet Pakistan's energy requirements.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 18:45 Comments ||
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#8
surprised the Ford Foundation or the John D & Catherine T MacArthur foundation hasn't heard of them. They need AlGore as their front man
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2007 19:17 Comments ||
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#9
#7: "Scientists began to write and discuss scientific papers on such topics as the angle of God, the temperature of Hell, or the latent energy of jinns. One university professor of physics wrote a paper on the speed at which Heaven was departing from Earth. A nuclear reactor scientist argued that jinns were made up of methane gas and proposed that jinn energy may be tapped to meet Pakistan's energy requirements."
Holy sh*t.
The mind reels. Boggle.
I wondered who did the "scientific" research for the "Weekly World News"....
Add "islamic science" to the growing list of oxymorons - with the emphasis on MORON.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/28/2007 19:32 Comments ||
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#10
It's not even original nuttery. One of my college profs had his own personal theory of what matter's made of that "predicted" particles with negative mass. Not anti-matter; something completely different.
Regular mass would be repelled from negative mass; negative mass would be attracted to regular mass. Very odd idea.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/28/2007 19:36 Comments ||
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#11
The only comment I have on his claim is:
"Right...."
Back to work...
#12
A young scientist, who claimed creating a new theory regarding the universe, has demanded of the President of Pakistan and Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) to forward his research to International Institutes of Astronomy and Astrology for evaluation.
Whatever happened to writting a paper & sending it to a professional journal?
#13
A nuclear reactor scientist argued that jinns were made up of methane gas and proposed that jinn energy may be tapped to meet Pakistan's energy requirements.
This is the guy who went to Afghanistan and advised Osama about building dirty nuclear devices. AFAIK, he is still wanted by the US.
Pak is hiding him in Burma.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 20:01 Comments ||
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#14
At least the 'demand' part is a constant islamic conclusion. The evaluation of which will naturally create humiliation which then creates seething and of course the fifth force, Ratqan, will then start eye rolling and riots. It's all clear now. It's another Khan job.
Karachi, Pakistan: Six students were injured in a row between two student organisations, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT) and Pakhtoon Students Federation (PSF), at the Dawood Engineering College of Science and Technology Saturday on a second day of campus violence.
Clashes between some of the IJT and PSF activists have been going on for the past one week in various colleges of Karachi. On Saturday morning, the students fought over a poster urging students not to fight on campus. According to reports, the fight was over who would put up the poster first. And what started as an exchange of hot words snowballed into a full-fledged fistfight following which, the students hurled classroom furniture at each other.
Four of the injured students Atif, Khurrum, Ali and Imran, belonged to the IJT while, the other two, Zafar Iqbal and Aftab Khan, are members of the PSF. According to sources, Rangers personnel who had been deployed at the university immediately threw out one group of students and in an attempt to separate the warring factions, kept the other one inside.
However, once out on the road, the group became even more violent and blocked the new MA Jinnah Road by burning tyres that they stole from a nearby petrol pump.
Traffic on the road was suspended for around three hours, till the police arrived. Personnel from all of police stations in the area reached the troubled spot, and used tear gas, baton charge and open fire to disperse the students. According to the Jamshed Quarters police station, no FIR has been filed yet and neither have any arrests been made so far.
Daily Times made repeated attempts to contact Deputy Superintendent of the Rangers (DSR) Capt Waseem, who is in charge of the Rangers contingent deployed at the university, but he declined to comment.
IJT Secretary Information, Ahmer Khan, alleged that the PSF was trying to induce students taking their BCom examinations in various colleges, to cheat. In order to maintain the discipline of the college, we tried to stop them and also took the principal into confidence, but the staff is cooperating with them, he told Daily Times. He claimed that one of the IJTs posters was taken down by PSF activists upon which they notified the Rangers who reportedly took no action. Therefore, we had no option but to protest, he concluded.
From Monday to Wednesday, IJT members were harassing PSF recruits at the Federal Urdu University of Science and Technology (FUUAST), Islamia College, Dawood Engineering College and National College, Pakhtoon Student Federation (PSF) Sindh President, Tariq Tareen, claimed while talking to Daily Times. When PSF members came to college in the morning, IJT members would accost them and pester them to join the IJT. We have complained to everyone from the Gulshan-e-Iqbal TPO to the Karachi CCPO.
Finally, when we realized that no authority was going to help us, we decided to hold a demonstration outside the Idara Noor-e-Haq (Jamat-e-Islami headquarters) on Thursday, Tareen maintained. The IJT is part of the JI, and we figured that it would be able to stop them. But instead of listening to us, they attacked us and fired shots at us. In return we hurled stones at them, and were able to get out of there after a lot of difficulty. Saturdays incident at Dawood College is part of the same series of events.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 11:42 ||
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ROFLMAO! Thanks, john - I needed that after some of the other posts.
The first kilometre of the 11-km Banihal rail tunnel that will link Kashmir to rest of India has just been completed, promising to conquer the magnificent Pir Panjal Range, which has caused the Valley to miss a railway link for 154 years.
The tunnel from Laole (Banihal) to Qazigund on the Udhampur-Srinagar line is going be Indian Railways largest, and the second largest in Asia after the recently completed, 20-km Wushaoling tunnel in Gansu, northwest China. The longest operational rail tunnel in India is the 6.5-km Karbude on the Konkan railways.
For nearly three years now, a team of about 500 has been working under the mountains round the clock and aims to finish the tunnel by December 2009. Early 2010 should see 40 trains ply on the tracks to and from the Valley.
At the work site near Qazigund, a 56-metre shaft leads to a 36-metre passage opening into the 1 km of the tunnel already complete from the Srinagar end. Work is being simultaneously undertaken from the the South Portal-Jammu end, where another kilometre will be completed soon.
Down the shaft cut through the mighty rocks, dazzling lights and roaring machines give the first glimpse of the effort that has gone into making the 9.5-meter horse-shoe hole. Designed by an Austrian team, which supervises the work every week, the tunnel is being dug according to the New Austrian tunnelling technique, first used in India for the Delhi Metro.
The engineering effort is phenomenal even in this age as the rocks offer maximum resistance to even the worlds most high-tech machines. The earth at the site is made of limestone, clay and quartizite. Quartizite is the most difficult to cut through, said P Purkayastha, DGM, civil, for Ircon, the firm also constructing the Qazigund-Baramulla track in the Valley.
Though the Rs 4.5 crore excavator and breaker imported from South Korea has been breaking rocks for three years now, the work is moving at 2.5-to-3 meters a day. But for the people working there, it is a battle won every day. We have bought a new machine worth Rs 18 crore which will require no explosives, said Harpal Singh, project manager, Hindustan Construction Co, contractors for Ircon.
The engineers make holes to drain the water seeping in after excavation, but for the workers, it is like working in a shower for hours. Amid all this, an average of 2.5 tonnes of rocks and earth muck, in local jargon come out of the hole daily. The rocks piled up will be as high as the pyramids in Egypt, said Purkayastha.
Though the beautiful terrain outside the construction site is captivating for the workers too, for most of them the tunnel is the hardest task they have ever undertaken. A R More, a construction engineer and veteran of many railway tunnels, including Delhi Metros, agrees: This tunnel will be the hardest job ever in the history of Railways, and the most challenging as well.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 06:48 ||
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#1
New Austrian tunnelling technique
Makes sense, being diggers and all.
#6
Wondered that, Ship when I saw your first post. Of course, who am i to pick at other's nits?
Posted by: BA ||
01/28/2007 11:39 Comments ||
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What's the line on how soon one of the portals is shut by an explosive once it opens? And is there anybody willing to bet there won't be simultaneous attacks on both ends, sealing in any number of trains / people?
The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to ensure that illegal Bangladeshi migrants are not included in the electoral roll of the national Capital and steps for identifying them to be expedited.
The court also issued notice to Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) to file its response by March 26 on a pending petition alleging that over five lakh illegal migrants, particularly Bangladeshis, have been included in the voters list of various constituencies in the Capital.
The Election Commission informed the court about the steps taken by it on the issue and said that more than 43,000 such names have already been deleted from the voters list.
Further, it referred to its earlier affidavit in which it had said that around 32,000 names were deleted from the voters list till January 2006.
The court was hearing on January 23 a PIL filed by a state BJP leader Ved Vyas Mahajan seeking direction to the Election Commission to carry out revision of the electoral roll of all the constituencies in the capital in order to remove the names of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the voters list.
The court has been seized of another PIL on the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in which it was alleged that they have become burden on the civic amenities of the Capital and citizens of the country were deprived of their fundamental rights at the cost of illegal migrants.
The court has been monitoring several contentious issues connected with the menace of the illegal Bangladeshis and the Delhi Police has been periodically apprising it about the steps taken to deport them.
The authorities were also directed to take all possible precautionary steps before issuing ration cards and voter identity cards.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 06:35 ||
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Aerostat balloons, CCTV, fences, razor wire, armed UAV's, roving patrols, dogs? They'd better get with the program. Suspect they could learn a thing or two from us, whahahaha.
#2
The problem is that Indian middle class loves their cheap domestic help and that means hiring Bangladeshi illegals.
And by padding the voting rolls with the illegals, the Congress party is assured of winning certain constituencies. During the last general election, the congress leader Sonia Gandhi attacked the BJP for its 'Shining India' campaign and had a photo-op in a Delhi slum, populated mainly by illegal immigrants, saying that that was the 'real India'.
Posted by: john ||
01/28/2007 7:12 Comments ||
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#2 - Damn, the DemocRats really have spread their poison around the world!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/28/2007 14:39 Comments ||
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#1
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), House Chair of the Judiciary Committee said, "Well wishes to Minister Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah. I look forward to seeing him in Detroit."
#12
Minister Farrakhan underwent a major and serious 12-hour abdominal operation, to help correct the severe damage caused by the radiated seed implantation procedure he received to treat his prostate cancer.
Okay...first of all I call BS. I'm no doctor and no expert on radiation therapy, but the last time I checked irradiation via implantation of non-noxious media did not cause problems or damage and was very carefully monitored so it didn't do so.
So, when will the seething and raging commence about the whiteys trying to assassinate the good and faithful minister to the dark races (or, maybe it was the Joooooooooooooooooooooooooossssss!!!)
#2
According to new research, the Moon affects not only the tides of the oceans but also people, producing a range of symptoms from flare-ups of gout to bladder problems. It may even lie behind the causes of car crashes and affect people's hormonal balances.
Then again, it may not. We don't know, but it's a good hook to sell papers with!
#3
This made me think of the Kit Kat candy bar commercial in which a man is watching TV, and his wife, with an enormous rear end, wearing stretch pants, enters the room, faces away from him, bends over and says, "Honey, do these pants make my rear end look big?"
At which point he shoves the entire candy bar in his mouth and mumbles.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The hideaway villa used by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief, to entertain his lovers is to be put up for sale in an attempt to bail out the cash-strapped city of Berlin. The rundown, empty Wald-hof estate, set in woodland 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the city, has become a financial burden for the Berlin council, which has been contemplating the closure of opera houses and other desperate measures to avert bankruptcy.
