Friday, December 27, 2019

بینظیر بھٹو: جرأت کا استعارہ


شہید محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کی شہادت کو 12برس ہو چکے ہیں، ان کی شہادت سے بھٹو خاندان، پیپلز پارٹی، پاکستان اور پورے عالم کا جو نقصان ہوا اس کا کوئی ازالہ نہیں ہو سکتا۔ 27دسمبر پیپلز پارٹی کے لئے شامِ غریباں کی مثل ہے جس کو یاد کرکے ہم سب کا دل دہک جاتا ہے، یہ ایک ایسا سانحہ ہے جس کو الفاظ میں پرونا ممکن ہی نہیں۔ 
تاریخ گواہ ہے اس ملک کو ہمیشہ پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی نے ہی بحران سے نکالا ہے۔ محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کی شہادت کے بعد بھی ملک کو ایک بحران نے گھیر لیا تھا، پورا ملک جل رہا تھا، اس وقت جب بی بی شہید کو لہد میں اتارا جا رہا تھا، تب مردِ حر آصف علی زرداری نے ملک کو ٹوٹنے سے بچایا۔
محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کی شہادت ایسے فرد کے لیے یادوں کی بارات اپنے ساتھ لے کر آتی ہے جس نے ان کے ساتھ اچھا اور برا دونوں وقت گزارے ہیں۔ حقیقت میں ان کی زندگی قومی اور بدلتے عالمی منظر نامے میں رہنمائی فراہم کر سکتی ہے۔
ہم سب کو معلوم ہے کہ دیگر چیزوں کے ساتھ انہوں نے انسانی حقوق، جمہوریت اور خطے میں امن کے لئے انتھک جدوجہد کی، اس کے باوجود کچھ لوگ اب بھی یہ پوچھتے ہیں کہ ان کی شخصیت کی کون سی خوبی ان کی زندگی کے آخری دنوں میں ان کی ترجمانی کرتی ہے۔
میرے نزدیک ان کا حوصلہ اور بہادری ان کی شخصیت کی صحیح عکاسی کرتے ہیں، میں ہمیشہ ان کے حوصلے سے متاثر ہوتی۔ باحوصلہ رہنا ایک ایسی صلاحیت ہے جو بہادری اور جرأت کی صلاحیتوں میں ممتاز مقام رکھتی ہے، یعنی کسی صدمے کے بعد دوبارہ باحوصلہ ہو جانے کی صلاحیت۔ 
ایک مرتبہ آپ کو ان کے سحر کی تہوں کے اندر جھانک کر دیکھنے کے قابل ہو جانے کے بعد جو چیز زیادہ متوجہ کرتی وہ ان کی زندگی میں بہادری کا عنصر تھا۔ قائد عوام ذوالفقار علی بھٹو کی شہادت کے بعد بی بی شہید کو نظر بندی اور جلاوطنی کی سخت تکالیف برداشت کرنا پڑیں۔ 
شہید محترمہ نے اپنی 28ویں سالگرہ سکھر جیل میں گزاری، یہ وہ زندگی نہیں تھی جس کی وہ توقع کر رہی تھیں، انہوں نے اپنے والد ذوالفقار علی بھٹو کی گرفتاری اور عدالتی قتل کا صدمہ بھی برداشت کیا، اور پُرعزم ہو کر پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کی قیادت کی اور مارشل لا کا ڈٹ کر مقابلہ کیا۔ 
عظیم باپ کی عظیم بیٹی نے اپنے دکھوں کو جھٹکتے ہوئے عوام کا ساتھ دینے کا فیصلہ کیا اور ہمیشہ ثابت قدم رہیں۔ قید کے دوران بجائے اس کے کہ وہ قید تنہائی پر اداس ہوتیں، انہوں نے بڑی بہادری اور عزم سے جیل کی سختیاں کاٹ کر ضیاء حکومت کا سر شرم سے جھکا دیا۔ 
جیل کی سلاخوں کے پیچھے سخت قید میں یہ حالت تھی کہ انہیں مناسب طبی سہولیات بھی میسر نہیں تھیں، جس کی وجہ سے ان کے ایک کان کی قوت سماعت متاثر ہوئی، اس کے بعد کراچی کی جیل میں گزارا گیا ایک ماہ بھی اتنا ہی سخت تھا۔ 
بی بی شہید اپنی جدوجہد میں بھی بینظیر تھیں اور زندگی کی آخری سانسوں تک ہر ظالم و جابر آمر کے سامنے ڈٹی رہیں۔ ان کی رگوں میں موجود بھٹو کے خون نے انہیں اپنی راہ سے ہٹنے نہ دیا۔
وہ دہشت گردی کے سامنے اس وقت کھڑی ہوئیں جب پاکستان میں چند ہی لوگ اس مزاحمت کو سمجھ سکے تھے، اپنے آخری عوامی جلسے میں بھی ان کی تقریر مزاحمتی سیاست کی علامت تھی۔ ان کی آخری تقریر پاکستان کے عوام کے مستقبل اور ملک میں امن و ترقی کا ایک مکمل روڈمیپ ہے۔ 
انہوں نے دہشت گردوں کو اپنا مکا دکھایا جنہوں نے جنت نظیر وادیٔ سوات پر قبضہ کر لیا تھا اور وعدہ کیا کہ وہ سوات میں پاکستانی پرچم لہرائیں گی، انہیں اچھی طرح معلوم تھا کہ 18اکتوبر 2007کو وطن واپسی پر ان کے تاریخی استقبال کے موقع پر دہشت گردوں کے حملے کے بعد وہ خطرات میں گھری ہیں لیکن یہ بینظیر ہی تھیں جنہوں نے اس چیلنج کے باوجود پاکستان کی اصولی جنگ میں ایک قدم اور آگے بڑھایا۔ 
بلاول ہاؤس کراچی میں 19اکتوبر کو میں ان چند لوگوں میں شامل تھی جن سے انہوں نے آئندہ کے لائحہ عمل سے متعلق مشورہ کیا، اس وقت انہیں بخوبی علم تھا کہ ان کی زندگی کو شدید خطرات لاحق ہیں۔ 
اتنے خطرات کے باوجود جنرل مشرف نے انہیں سیکورٹی دینے سے انکار کر دیا تھا کیونکہ اُسے امید تھی کہ بینظیر بھٹو انتخابی مہم سے علیحدہ ہو جائیں گی لیکن صاف ظاہر ہے کہ جنرل مشرف محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کو نہیں جانتا تھا۔ 
ایک ماہ سے بھی کم عرصے میں جب وہ اپنے خاندان سے ملاقات کرنے دبئی گئیں اور اس دوران جنرل پرویز مشرف نے ملک میں ایمرجنسی لگا دی تو بہت لوگوں کا خیال تھا کہ محترمہ اب باہر ہی ٹھہر جائیں گی اور جائزہ لیں گی کہ آگے کیا ہوتا ہے۔ یہ ایک آزادانہ اور منصفانہ مقابلہ ہرگز نہیں تھا۔ 
ایک مرتبہ پھر وہ ہم میں سے صرف چند لوگوں کو مطلع کرکے پی سی او کے خلاف مزاحمت کے ارادے سے وطن لوٹ آئیں۔ بالآخر 27دسمبر کو دہائیوں سے پیچھا کرتی قاتل سوچ نے محترمہ بینظیر بھٹو کو راولپنڈی کی سڑکوں پر بیدردی اور سنگدلی سے ہم سے چھین لیا مگر ان کا نظریہ اور فلسفہ آج بھی ہمارے لئے مشعل راہ ہے۔
 یہ بینظیر بھٹو کی شخصیت کا صرف ایک پہلو تھا، آج وہ ہم سب کے دلوں میں زندہ ہیں لیکن ایک بات یقینی ہے کہ اگر آج وہ حیات ہوتیں تو ملک کی سیاست اور پاکستان کے حالات مختلف ہوتے۔ میں امید کرتی ہوں کہ ان کی زندگی سے پاکستانیوں کو بہادری، ہمہ جہتی اور قیادت کے اسباق سیکھنے کا موقع ملے گا۔ 
اب ان کے صاحبزادے بلاول بھٹو زرداری پر قیادت کی ذمہ داریاں اس طرح عائد ہو گئی ہیں جیسے خود محترمہ شہید پر ہوئی تھیں۔ بلاول بھٹو زرداری کے سامنے طویل کیریئر ہے اور پاکستان کو بلاول بھٹو زرداری کی اجتماعیت، ہمہ جہتی اور برداشت کی واضح آواز کی ضرورت ہے۔ 
آج پھر ایک بھٹو پاکستان کو جمہوریت کے سفر پر آگے بڑھانے نکلا ہے، شہید نانا اور شہید ماں کے خواب کی تکمیل میں اس کا ساتھ دیں۔

بینظیر کی جائے شہادت پر بلاول کا پہلا خطاب

لیاقت باغ کی سیاسی تاریخ میں بھٹو خاندان کو یہ اعزاز حاصل رہا ہے کہ اس تاریخ ساز مقام پر بھٹو خاندان کےمتعدد افراد نے جلسوں کے ذریعے تاریخ رقم کی ہے۔

12 سال کے بعد یعنی آج 27 دسمبر 2019ء کوبھٹو خاندان کی تیسری نسل کے چشم وچراغ اور پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری یہاں جلسہ عام سے خطاب کریں گے جو کہ لیاقت باغ میں ان کا پہلاجلسہ عام ہوگا۔
اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکستان ہی کی نہیں بلکہ عالمِ اسلام کی پہلی خاتون وزیرِ اعظم شہید محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کی آج 12ویں برسی کے موقع پر لیاقت باغ روالپنڈی میں پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے جانب سے جلسہ عام ہوگا، یقیناً بلاول بھٹو زرداری کی اس جگہ سے ان کی جذباتی وابستگی بھی ہے۔
لیاقت باغ جہاں بلاول بھٹو زرداری کے نانا ذوالفقار علی بھٹو اور نانی نصر ت بھٹو نے انتہائی کام یاب اور بھرپور جلسے کر کے تاریخ رقم کی۔
بلاول بھٹو زرداری کے نانا ذوالفقار علی بھٹو جنہیں لیاقت باغ سے محض 3 کلومیٹر کی مسافت پر واقع اُس وقت کی سینٹرل جیل میں تختۂ دار پر لٹکایا گیا تھا اور والدہ بینظیر بھٹو کو لیاقت باغ میں جلسۂ عام سے خطاب کے بعد ہزاروں لوگوں کے ہجوم میں شہید کر دیا گیا تھا۔
محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کی وصیت کے مطابق ان کے بعد پارٹی کی قیادت ان کے صاحب زادے بلاول بھٹو زرداری کے سپرد کی گئی، جو اس وقت محض 19 برس کے تھے۔
اپنی والدہ کی12 ویں برسی کے موقع پر راولپنڈی کے لیاقت باغ میں جلسۂ عام کا بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا اپنا ہی فیصلہ ہے

Thursday, December 26, 2019

#SalamBenazir #PPP #BenazirBhutto Remembering Benazir Bhutto's 27th december 2019

#SalamBenazir #BenazirBhutto - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Rawalpindi speech 1973

Pashto Song - A Tribute To Benazir Bhutto

#PPP Music - #BenazirBhutto -- ميں باغی ہوں

#BenazirBhutto - Book on life of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto launched

Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that he has no courage to write about martyrdom of his mother despite the passage of 12 years. He said, “It is very difficult for a son and she was not only my mother but also my leader.” He was speaking at the launching of a novel on the life of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto by Turkish writer, Yasar Seyman. The novel has been published in three languages i-e Turkish, English and Urdu.

The PPP Chairman said that it was tried to stop her story but no one will be able to do so. The name of Islamabad airport was Benazir International Airport but the name was changed. Similarly it was tried to change the name of Benazir Income Support Programme. But no one will be able to erase her name from the hearts and minds of people of Pakistan.

He said that when she (Benazir) was campaigning for her first election it was said that a woman cannot be a prime minister. Her haters had gathered together and fatwas were issued against her. It was said from the mosques that a woman cannot become Prime Minister and if one votes for her then his or her marriages will be annulled. She confronted and fought against all of them and became a Prime Minister. Massive rigging took place in 1988 elections and it was first experience that how selected are chosen. The then President came to Asif Ali Zardari and asked him to become Prime Minister because they did not want to salute a woman. But the people had voted for Benazir Bhutto and not Asif Ali Zardari or anyone else.
https://pakobserver.net/book-on-life-of-shaheed-benazir-bhutto-launched/

#Pakistan #PPP - Benazir Bhutto - When hope dies, you breathe it back to life again!

Syed Ishrat Husain
On December 27, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto held a rally at Liaqat Bagh in Rawalpindi, the venue named after the country’s first Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan, who was defeated at this very location during a rally in 1951.After an emotional speech, BB prepared to leave the venue, and emerged from her bomb-proof vehicle to wave to her supporters. Shots were fired at her, and a suicide bomb was detonated at once following the shooting. She was rushed to the hospital where she died.
She ascended to prominence after the execution of her father, ex-prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, at the hands of the brutal military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq. As an impassioned opponent of Zia’s regime, she was lionized as an emblem of Pakistan’s democratic struggle. Benazir Bhutto was a powerful symbol of feminine resistance and resilience. Her most important positive legacy was perhaps her strident opposition to the military rule of Zia-al-Haq and Pervez Musharraf. Her determination to return to face elections was a significant effort to strengthen the democratic forces in Pakistan. The decision proved to be fatal as it took her life, but if a democratic system consolidates and the military refrains from coups in the future, she could be claimed as one of the key leaders who made that possible.Benazir Bhutto inherited a bitterly polarized Pakistan left by General Zia-ul-Haq. Nothing was served to remove the restrictions placed on the Ahmadi minority. She could not remove the sharia laws put forward by Zia’s regime, or the blasphemy law which hurts the minorities in Pakistan even today.
The Ahmadi community has long been persecuted in Pakistan. Since 1953, when the first post-independence anti-Ahmadi riots broke out, the relatively little number of Ahmadis in Pakistan have lived under threat. Between 1953 and 1973, this persecution was infrequent, but in 1974 a new wave of anti-Ahmadi disturbances spread across Pakistan. On September 6, 1974, a constitutional amendment came in to affect which explicitly deprived Ahmadis of their identity as Muslims.In 1984, Pakistan amended its penal code, granting legal status to five ordinances that explicitly targeted religious minorities, including a law against blasphemy; a law punishing defiling the Quran; a prohibition against insulting the wives, family, or companions of the Prophet of Islam; and two laws specifically restricting the activities of Ahmadis. On April 26, 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq issued these last two laws as part of Martial Law Ordinance XX, which amended Pakistan’s Penal Code, sections 298-B and 298-C. Ordinance XX undercut the natural actions of religious minorities generally, but struck at Ahmadis in particular by prohibiting them from indirectly or directly posing as a Muslim. In addition, Ordinance XX prohibited Ahmadis from declaring their faith publicly, propagating their faith, building mosques, or getting the call for Muslim prayer.
Elections held under Zia-ul-Haq in 1985 reversed universal voting rights and introduced a system of separate electorates that required non-Muslims to register as a separate category and vote for non-Muslim candidates. To vote, the Ahmadis had to file as non-Muslims. Since then, Ahmadis have in practice been denied the right to vote in local, provincial, and national elections.

In 2002, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf abolished the separate electorate system and restored the original joint electorate scheme with one major amendment. Through an executive order, he created a separate category for Ahmadis. Executive Order No. 15 states that elections for the members of the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies shall be declared on the basis of a joint electorate, but the status of Ahmadis was to remain unchanged. As a result, Pakistani citizens have been moved to a single electoral list, leaving only Ahmadis on a non-Muslim list. The new Election Act 2017 retains the provisions affecting the status of the Ahmadis. If anyone raises an objection against a particular voter identifying them as non-Muslim, the election commission can summon the individual and ask that they declare they are not Ahmadi or be put on a supplementary special voter list.It was reported in Human Rights Watch that an Ahmadi can only vote if he acknowledges that he is a non-Muslim, and that violates the very basic tenet of an Ahmadi’s faith.
The issue of abducting and forcefully converting Hindu girls in several districts of Sindh province was taken up in the Sindh Assembly, where a resolution was debated and unanimously passed after it was modified over objections of certain lawmakers that it should not be restricted to Hindu girls because, girls irrespective of their faiths should be protected from being kidnapped and forcibly converted in Sindh
Forced Conversion bill:Article 20 of the Constitution guarantees religious freedom.
On July 16, 2019, the issue of abducting and forcefully converting Hindu girls in several districts of Sindh province was taken up in the Sindh Assembly, where a resolution was debated and unanimously passed after it was modified over objections of certain lawmakers that it should not be restricted to Hindu girls because, girls irrespective of their faiths should be protected from being kidnapped and forcibly converted in Sindh.
However on October 8, 2019, the Provincial Assembly of Sindh rejected the bill criminalizing forced religious conversions. This was the second attempt at enacting an anti-conversion law in the Sindh province.In December 2016 the Provincial Assembly passed a similar bill, but on the insistence of the provincial government, the governor did not assent to it.
The governor Sindh reportedly returned the bill to the assembly, calling for them to revisit it. He had primarily raised objections over the clause that denounced the conversion of small girls and said the practice should be stopped, stating, when the fourth Caliph Ali Ibn e Abi Talib can convert to Islam at a young age, why can’t Hindu girls?
The governor’s criticisms refer to the “Age of Conversion,” which forbids children from converting to a different religion while they are minors. No individual shall be deemed to have changed their religion until they attain the age of majority, which is 18 years of age.
A request to the Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
On the evening of the 12th death anniversary of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, I would like to request you to look into these very important issues which are related to the peace of the province and the country both. I would like to remind you that the honour killing bill was presented by PPP’s Sughra Imam in 2014 and passed unanimously from the parliament during PMLN’s last government. I hope Sindh province should hold the lead to create harmony between the majority Muslims and the minorities through legislation.
At a remembrance ceremony in London for Salman Taseer, the governor of the Punjab province who was killed by his own security guard, you said;
To the Christian and other minority communities in Pakistan, we will defend you. Those who wish to harm you for a crime you did not commit will have to go through me first.
I hope Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s legacy flourishes, may you lead the provincial and federal parliaments for the rights of minorities.

#Benazirbhutto - Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Was The Strongest Chain Of Federation Of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari



Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was the strongest chain of Federation of Pakistan and those who assassinated her had planned to break the chain but failed due to "Pakistan Khappe" slogan of President Asif Ali Zardari soon after the national tragedy.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was the strongest chain of Federation of Pakistan and those who assassinated her had planned to break the chain but failed due to "Pakistan Khappe" slogan of President Asif Ali Zardari soon after the national tragedy.In his message on the eve of 12th martyrdom day anniversary of former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the PPP Chairman paid rich tribute to her, saying that people of Pakistan would never forget their brave leader, who sacrificed everything for the country and for the rights of its downtrodden and barefoot masses.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that as a young daughter whose father and the most popular leader Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged by dictator, she fought bravely for the ideals her father embraced the gallows for.She led the followers of Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto into an untiring struggle against the burtal tyrant in shape of Zia.
She suffered solitary confinement, imprisonments and forced exiles while fighting for restoration of democracy.
The PPP Chairman pointed out that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto defeated the dictatorship and was given power under compulsion after its remnants failed to completely hijack the 1988 general elections.
After elections, as Prime Minister, she ordered release of all the political prisoners in the country and launched programmes for the development of country and the masses.He said that programmes covering health, education, poverty eradication, women development and defence, she launched, put the country onto the path to progress and prosperity.
The ballistic missile programme made our defence invincible in the wake of nuclear programme launched by her father Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto before his judicial murder.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reiterated his commitment to the mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and pledged that he would continue the struggle with the support of Pakistani masses and the Party supporters.He said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto would continue to live in the hearts and minds of the people as her legacy would never be forgotten in the history of Pakistan and her struggle for democracy, human rights and peaceful society.

#Pakistan #PPP - Bilawal Bhutto expresses anger over removal of 800,000 names from BISP database

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday expressed anger over the government’s decision to expel 820,165 people from the database of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), ARY News reported.

The PPP leader termed the decision as an attack on the process of making poor women empowered. He said the decision shows that the incumbent government didn’t interested in removing poverty from the country.
Bilawal Bhutto demanded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) govt to take back its decision and warned that he will take up a decision at every available forum.
Earlier in the day, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Sania Nishtar said that the government had decided to expel 820,165 unmerited people from the database of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
Sania Nishtar made the announcement while conducting a press conference during the inauguration ceremony of Ehsaas programme for undergraduate students at Higher Education Commission (HEC). The ceremony was also attended by President Dr Arif Alvi.

“The people who have been expelled from the BISP database over failing to meet the merit. The deserving people had been apportioned after a survey conducted 10 years ago which is seemingly enough to change condition. Unmerited people were being paid since 2011. The government took the decision for restricting government employees to get registered in the programme.”
While detailing the Ehsaas undergraduate programme, the special assistant announced the provision of educational scholarships to 50,000 students in a year.

Benazir Bhutto: A Phoenix that rose from Ashes

Abdul Rasool Syed
 
Benazir Bhutto, a woman of courage, boldness, and resilience who
fought against the toxic mindset of people on all fronts. Standing among the world's most prominent leaders she built an image for Pakistan that brought the country back in the world's good books.
27th December is marked every year as the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto – one of the greatest leaders of the world and the first Muslim woman to head an Islamic country. She was an epitome of courage, resoluteness, steadfastness, and resilience. Her intrepidity is eulogized not only by his diehard ideologues but also by her worst detractors. Her life is characterized by the indefatigable struggle against the despotic forces of dictatorship and fascism. She left no stone unturned to get democratic ethos entrenched in the political, social and economic order of the country.
She carried forward the legacy of populism as inculcated by her great father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in such an amazing way that people become so deeply infatuated with her that the eyes of every Pakistani wept ocean of tears over her untimely and painful assassination. Her cold-blooded murder shook rank and file of Pakistani masses and her unforgettable and charismatic persona would continue to impress the generations to come.
Benazir Bhutto was born June 21, 1953, the first of four children in a well-to-do landowning family of the province of Sindh. She grew up in surroundings littered with the trappings and perks of Pakistan’s post-colonial, English-speaking elite. She was attended to by an English governess, called by her nickname, “Pinkie,” due to her rosy complexion and enrolled in Roman Catholic convent school.
She paid a price for her promise. Over the next five years, with the Pakistan People’s Party outlawed, Bhutto was in and out of detention, sometimes at home, under house arrest, or in prison, under harrowing conditions
While at 16, she had to leave for Redcliff College, Harvard University for which she was not mentally prepared. “I cried and cried and cried because I had never walked to classes in my life before,” she once told an interviewer. “I’d always been driven to school in a car and picked up in a car, and here I had to walk and walk and walk. It was cold, bitterly cold, and I hated it … but it forced me to grow up. “
From Harvard, she went on to Oxford University to study politics, philosophy, and economics, an arena where she honed her debating skills by becoming the first foreign woman to be elected president of the prestigious Oxford Union. She was a brilliant student and excelled in oratory at Harvard and Oxford, inspiring not just minds but also connecting hearts — it was she who introduced the incumbent British Prime Minister Theresa May to Philip May who would become her husband.
A shrewd politician and a committed family woman, Benazir had a legacy that refused to die down with her; As a veteran journalist Hasan Mujtaba commented in his poem, “Tum zinda hokar Murda ho/Wo Murda hokar Zinda hai (You are already dead while you live/She is alive even after her death).

Quaid-e-Azam A Visionary Leader Of South Asia: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari



PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a visionary leader of South Asia and the importance of his two-nation theory is becoming more clear.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a visionary leader of South Asia and the importance of his two-nation theory is becoming more clear. He said this in his statement on the eve of birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Wednesday.

He held Quaid-d-Azam authored a history by making Pakistan through splendid struggle.
PPP is a real flag-bearer of vision of Quaid-e-Azam. Bilawal remarked Quaid-e-Azam had said 70 years earlier that Hindu and Muslim can never live together. He further stated PPP will continue to protect the religious rights of minorities in PakistanPPP always waged a struggle for equal political, economic and social rights for all Pakistanis.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

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BENAZIR BHUTTO’S DEATH ANNIVERSARY TO BE OBSERVED ON FRIDAY

Aamir Qureshi

SINDH GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON DEC. 27 TO
COMMEMORATE PASSING OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER.

The 12th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto will be observed on Dec. 27 (Friday), according to representatives of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Sindh government.
State-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported that the PPP had finalized arrangements for a recitation of the holy Quran on behalf of Benazir at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi, where the former prime minister was assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007. PPP Vice Chairman, and former prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday visited Liaquat Bagh and reviewed arrangements for the public gathering to mark her death anniversary, APP added.
Babar Jadoon, the PPP president for Rawalpindi, said the party would remember Benazir and her sacrifices. He said the former prime minister had sacrificed her life to promote the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.
Jadoon vowed to follow in her footsteps to and continue her mission for the progress and development of the country, adding Benazir Bhutto was still alive in the hearts and minds of people across Pakistan. Benazir was a leader of international stature and her services would be remembered forever, he added.
On Monday, the Sindh government formally announced that Dec. 27 would be a public holiday to mark the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. In a notification issued by the provincial government, Friday has been designated a public holiday throughout the province, and all offices, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, corporations and local councils falling under the control of the provincial government would remain closed.

After the Junaid Hafeez Verdict, Time to Face the Truth About Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law


Pakistan’s blasphemy law needs to be sentenced to death — not so-called ‘blasphemers.’
On Saturday, Multan-based academic Junaid Hafeez became the latest to be given the death sentence for blasphemy in Pakistan.
The 33-year-old former lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University had been arrested in 2013 over alleged “blasphemous” comments on Facebook, after accusations from an Islamist group that had explicitly taken issues with Hafeez’s “liberal views.”
After six years of solitary confinement, and a problematic trial, Hafeez has been sent to the gallows by a sessions court for “outraging religious sentiments.”
Pakistan is one of 13 countries where blasphemy is punishable by death. The constitution’s Islam-specific clauses, notably Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, maintain that the capital punishment is solely for sacrilege against the majority’s religion in the Muslim-dominated country.
Furthermore, given that unlike Saudi Arabia or Iran, Pakistan hasn’t executed anyone for blasphemy, apostasy, or atheism, the existence of the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam has been taken up by mobs as sanction for vigilante killings. As a result, there have been over 75 extrajudicial executions, and more than 4,000 blasphemy cases registered since the inclusion of Section 295-C in the PPC in 1986.
Islamist mobs haven’t spared HindusChristians, or Ahmadis after having their religious feelings outraged, which their country’s constitution reaffirms as sufficient cause for taking the culprit’s life. For atheists and agnostics, their apostatizing identity mandates the death penalty.
Meanwhile, the case of Junaid Hafeez and the lynching of Mashal Khan in 2017 underlines that even Muslims aren’t safe from the Islam-specific blasphemy law, for they can just as easily be deemed “not Muslim enough.”
And now, following the adaptation of the Penal Code clauses into the similarly draconian cybercrime laws, death sentences are being handed out for content that is posted online, resulting in silencing of progressive voices online and the exodus of anonymous accounts.


The few that have been vocally upset about the Junaid Hafeez verdict have long pointed out the drawbacks of the country’s blasphemy law. The diminishing voices against the blasphemy law have reiterated how the legislation leaves it open to misuse.
Given how former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was killed for his criticism of the blasphemy law – especially now with his murderer’s shrine enjoying a holy status in the capital – these few voices mustering some form of criticism regarding the law, and the farcical trials, are courageous and commendable.
There have been similarly admirable revisionist efforts to highlight the ostensible flaws in the blasphemy law through study of Islamic jurisprudence.
Yet Pakistan’s blasphemy law remains untouched, nay untouchable. And the reason for that is as straightforward as it is ominous.
Amid all the failings that are echoed in the carefully camouflaged critiques of the blasphemy law – from its religious supremacism to loose verbiage, from false allegations to rigging of evidence – perhaps its greatest flaw is oft ignored: its very existence.
Critics often speak of “misuse,” but what possible use could there be for a law that at best hinders much-needed reform in Islam, and at worst sanctions death for words, cartoons, and other expressions?
No matter how repulsive or offensive it might be, the protection of free speech – guaranteed by Article 19 of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Pakistan’s Constitution – is an inalienable feature of any democracy, unless the speech explicitly calls for violence.Critique of religion – any religion – is neither a call for violence nor a denial of rights for its adherents, which makes the very idea of blasphemy completely antagonistic to basic human rights. The “evidence” in such cases is intangible sentiments, making the “crime” victimless.Therefore, the battle against the blasphemy law cannot be won until the democratic principle of basic human rights supersedes religious dogma.Hence, it should not matter whether there is or isn’t any evidence for the allegations against any blasphemy accused. It should not matter which personality, belief, or religion was or was not offended. It should not matter what 1,400-year-old scriptures do or do not sanction for this victimless “‘crime.” Nobody, absolutely nobody, deserves death for outraging, mocking, or blaspheming words in a country that wants to self-identify as a democracy.
Given that such a realization isn’t anywhere in sight, one can only take solace in triumphs like Asia Bibi being found not guilty of blasphemy and managing to escape the country last year, while hoping the same for Junaid Hafeez.
However, it is not its victims but the blasphemy law itself that needs to go. It is not the “blasphemer” but the blasphemy law that needs to be given the death sentence.
https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/after-the-junaid-hafeez-verdict-time-to-face-the-truth-about-pakistans-blasphemy-law/

Pakistan-based terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar - Where are the 3 terrorists who were swapped for 170 passengers of hijacked IC-814?

 


Tuesday, 24 December, marks 20 years since the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 by five Pakistani terrorists. Their aim was the release of terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar.
The hijack and subsequent hostage-release situation lasted a week until India agreed to release the three terrorists for about 170 passengers who were onboard.
The IC-814 was hijacked on 24 December 1999, when it was on its way to Delhi from Kathmandu. The flight, which made stops at Amritsar and Lahore, ultimately stationed itself in Kandahar, Afghanistan.The CBI had charged 10 people, out of which seven, including the five hijackers, are believed to be in Pakistan.On the 20th anniversary of the Kandahar hijack, ThePrint traces the activities of the three terrorists released — Azhar, Sheikh and Zargar — and how they still are a challenge for the security establishment in India.
Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammed
After his release, Masood Azhar regrouped his terror organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and launched a series of deadly attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016.
The most recent terror attack by the Jaish was in February 2019, when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama killing 40 personnel.
Azhar, who was arrested from Kashmir in 1994, is also believed to be supported by Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, and was so important that multiple attempts were made to get him released, even before the Kandahar hijack. In July 1995, Al-Faran, a Kashmiri Islamist militant group, kidnapped six foreign tourists from Pahalgam in Kashmir and demanded Azhar’s release in exchange for the tourists.
This year, after much persuasion, the United Nations declared Azhar a global terrorist. At present, he is believed to be suffering from severe renal illness and is undergoing treatment at a military hospital in Pakistan.
It is alleged that Sheikh lured Pearl into a trap by promising to arrange an interview with an Islamic cleric, and kidnapped him. Pearl was accused of being an American spy, and Sheikh demanded the release of a halted US shipment of F-16 fighter jets to the Pakistani government to let Pearl go.
Sheikh, along with his associates, kept Pearl captive for nine days before releasing a videotape which showed Pearl’s severed head.
Born in the UK, Sheikh was a student at the London School of Economics, where, it is believed, he came in contact with radical Islamists. He is said to have subsequently worked with several militant outfits, including the Jaish-e-Mohammed, al-Qaeda and even the Taliban.
Sheikh was first arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur in October 1994, after he had kidnapped four Western tourists to demand the release of Azhar and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen chief commander Sajjad Afghani.
His attempt was, however, foiled. Sheikh was arrested and the hostages were freed.
At present, Sheikh, who was arrested on 12 February 2002 in Lahore, is in a Pakistani jail for his role in Pearl’s death. He has been sentenced to death.
Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Al-Umar Mujahideen
Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, who belonged to the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was in jail since 1992.
Intelligence sources said after his release in 1999, Zargar is believed to have renewed the activity of Al-Umar Mujahideen in Muzaffarabad, close to the LoC. Sources also said that Zargar has recruited and trained youngsters for “war” in Kashmir and is believed to have been working to renew the sleeper cells.
Zargar is suspected to be the man behind the June 2019 terror attack in Kashmir’s Anantnag, in which five CRPF personnel were killed and three others were injured after their patrolling party was attacked with grenades.
Also, in 2017, Zargar claimed responsibility for many of the grenade attacks on the security forces in the Kashmir valley.
“I’m Mushtaq Zargar, the Al-Umar Mujahideen chief. I’m in Doda (a district in the eastern Jammu region) and am speaking to you on behalf of my organisation and Jaish-e-Mohammed. We together carried out the attacks and we do plan more such and similar strikes for we strongly believe India understands only the language of violence. The musallah jadujuhad (armed struggle) is the only way out as it alone can drive the occupying forces out and free our Kashmir from the Indian yoke,” he had telephoned Deccan Chronicle to say.
Zargar, a coppersmith by profession, grew up in Srinagar and crossed over to Pakistan to get arms training in 1988. In 1990, he drifted from the JKLF and founded the Al-Umar Mujahideen, which favours Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan.
https://theprint.in/india/pragya-thakur-blames-spicejet-for-seat-allotment-controversy-on-delhi-bhopal-flight/339758/?ref=is

#Pakistan - Chairman #PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari greets the #Christian community on the eve of #Christmas

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has extended greetings to the Christian community of Pakistan as well as the world on the eve of Christmas.
In his message of felicitation, he said that all religious festivals served the purpose to bring communities together. He added that Christmas was a time for unity and kindness and that we must learn from the story of Christmas the lessons of love and kindness.
On this auspicious occasion, I wish our Christian brothers and sisters a very merry Christmas and would like to assure them that the PPP will continue its role in protecting and safeguarding the rights of all minority religions in Pakistan.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the PPP has struggled for equal political, economic and social rights of all the citizens of Pakistan without any discrimination of caste, creed and religion.
The PPP Chairman praised the great contributions of the Christian community in nation-building and over all progress of Pakistan. From John Permal, Pakistan’s fastest man, in sports to Ground Captain Cecil Chaudhry, the hero who valiantly defended Pakistan’s skies against its enemies. From Justice Cornelius to Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti, Christians have served Pakistan and defended its soil bravely.
He appealed the Christian brothers and sisters to hold special prayers for the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan and for true democracy in the country.
اسلام اباد/کراچی (24 دسمبر 2019) پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے پاکستان سمیت دنیا بھر میں مسیحی برادری کو کرسمس کی مبارکباد دی ہے۔ پی پی پی چیئرمین نے اپنے پیغام میں میں کہا ہے کہ تمام مذھبی تہواروں کا مقصد لوگوں کو ایک دوسرے کے قریب لانا ہے۔ انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ کرسمس اتحاد اور خدمت گذاری کا موقعہ ہے اور ہمیں کرسمس کی کہانی کو پیار و شفقت کے درس کی طور پر سمجھنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ میں اس پرمسرت موقعے پر اپنے مسیحی بہنوں و بھائیوں کو کرسمس کی مبارکباد دیتا ہوں اور انہیں یقین دلاتا ہوں کہ پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی ملک میں تمام اقلیتوں کے مذھبی حقوق کی حفاظت کرتی رہے گی۔ بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی نے ہمیشہ تمام پاکستانیوں کے لیئے ذات، رنگ اور مذہب سمیت ہر قسم کے امتیاز کے بغیر یکساں سیاسی، معاشی اور معاشرتی حقوق کے لیئے جدجہد کی ہے۔ پی پی پی چیئرمین نے پاکستانی مسیحی کمیونٹی کی قوم سازی و ترقی میں کلیدی کردار کو سراہتے ہوئے کہا کہ کھیل کے میدان کے تیز ترین دوڑنے والے شخص جان پرمل سے لے کر دشمن سے بڑی بھادری سے نبرد آزما ہو کر ملکی فضائی حدود کی حاظت کرنے والے گراوَنڈ کئپٹن سِسئل چودھری تک، اور جسٹس کارنویل سے لے شہباز بھٹی تک، مسیحی کمیونٹی کے افراد نے ہمیشہ پاکستان کی خدمت اور اپنی دھرتی کی حفاظت کی ہے۔ بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے مسیحی بھائیوں و بہنوں کو اپیل کی کہ وہ کرسمس کے موقعے پر اپنی عبادات کے دوران پاکستان کی سالمیت اور خودمختیاری کے ساتھ ساتھ ملک میں حقیقی جمہوریت کے قیام کے لیئے بھی دعائیں مانگیں۔
اسلام اباد/ڪراچي (24 ڊسمبر 2019) پاڪستان پيپلز پارٽي جي چيئرمين بلاول ڀٽو زرداري پاڪستان سميت سڄي دنيا جي مسيحي برادري کي ڪرسمس جون واڌايون ڏنيون آهن. پي پي پي چيئرمين پنهنجي پيغام ۾ چيو آهي ته مذهبي ڏهاڙن جو مقصد ماڻهن کي هڪ ٻئي جي ويجهو آڻڻ آهي. هن وڌيڪ چيو ته ڪرسمس، اتحاد ۽ خدمتگذاري جي مهل آهي، ۽ اسان کي ڪرسمس جي قصي کي محبت ۽ شفقت جي درس طور سمجهڻ جي ضرورت آهي. خوشي جي هن موقعي تي مان پنهنجن مسيحي ڀينرن ۽ ڀائرن کي ڪرسمس جون مبارڪون ڏيان ٿو ۽ کين يقين ڏيارن ٿو ته پاڪستان پيپلز پارٽي ملڪ ۾ سمورين اقليتن جي مذهبي حقن جي حفاظت ۽ رکوالي ڪندي رهندي. بلاول ڀٽو زرداري چيو ته پاڪستان پيپلز پارٽي هميشه ذات پات، رنگ ۽ مذهب جي متڀيد کانسواءِ سمورن پاڪستانين لاءِ سدائين هڪجهڙن سياسي، معاشي ۽ سماجي حقن لاءِ جدوجهد ڪئي آهي. پي پي پي چيئرمين پاڪستاني مسيحي برادري پاران قوم سازي ۽ ملڪي ترقي ۾ ادا ڪيل اهم ڪردار جي واکاڻ ڪندي چيو ته راندين جي ميدان تي ڊُڪڻ جي مقابلن جي تيز ترين شخص جان پرمل کان وٺي دشمن سان بهادري سان جهيڙي فضائي حدن جي رکوالي ڪندڙ گراؤنڈ ڪئپٽن سسيل چوڌري تائين، ۽ جسٽس ڪارنيل کان شهباز ڀٽي تائين، مسيحي ڪميونٽي سدائين پاڪستان جي خدمت ۽ ڌرتي جي حفاظت ڪئي آهي. بلاول ڀٽو زرداري مسيحي ڀائرن ۽ ڀينرن کي اپيل ڪئي ته هو ڪرسمس جي عبادتن دوران پاڪستان جي سلامتي ۽ خودمختياري سان گڏوگڏ ملڪ ۾ حقيقي جمهوريت جي قيام لاءِ پڻ دعائون گهرن.