Saray Jahan Ka Dard Hamaray Jiger Main Hai

Bravo IIUI Academic Staff Association! After resolving all internal problems, our students and teachers are raising voice for Dr. Tahir Malik…!! An "intelligent" move to please His Excellence Dr. Fateh Muhammad Malik.

Who is the most well dressed person?

IIUI to Construct Grand Mosque at its New Campus

The International Islamic University, Islamabad has decided to build a central grand Masjid at its New Campus Sector H-10. A Committee to supervise the project was constituted in a special meeting held here with IIU President Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui in the chair. Mr. Munawar Iqbal Ahmad Chairman Dept. of English has been appointed as Convener of the project while other members of the committee included Prof. Dr. Sahibzada Sajid-ur-Rehman Director Dawah Academy, Dr. Rehmat Elahi Associate Prof. Faculty of Basic & Applied Sciences, Dr. Muhammad Bashir Asst. Prof. Faculty of Arabic, Dr. Habib-ur-Rehman Asim Asst. Prof. Faculty of Arabic, Dr. Abdullah Rizk Asst. Prof. Faculty of Shariah & Law, Dr. Muhammad Saleem Shah Asst. Prof. Faculty of Usul-ud-Din, Dr. Ubaid Ullah Khan Asst. Prof. Faculty of Shariah & Law, Dr. Suleman Al-Hawamda Asst. Prof. Faculty of Usul-ud-Din, Mr. Ibrar Anwar Additional Students Advisor.

Dr. Siddiqui also defined the functions and role of the committee for fund raising campaign, the money collected will be deposited in the Masjid account # 18440007185501 being maintained with Habib Bank Limited,IIUI Branch Islamabad. It was also decided that the ground breaking ceremony for the mosque shall be held in February, 2010.

International Islamic University Islamabad

Dr Nabi Bukhsh Baloch: a nonagenarian scholar

Founders of IIUI Series

By Rauf Parekh: drraufparekh@yahoo.com
Monday, 23 Nov, 2009

Dawn.com: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/dr-nabi-bukhsh-baloch-a-nonagenarian-scholar-319


Some personalities are so versatile and the fields of their achievements so varied and vast that it becomes much difficult to capture their personality in article-length writings. Prof Dr Nabi Bukhsh Baloch is one such personality. He is a multi-faceted diamond whose lustre has not been eulogised in a befitting way. A couple of years ago Pakistan Academy of Letters published a book on him in its series ‘Pakistani adab ke meymaar’. Written by Muhammad Rashid Sheikh, the book titled Dr Nabi Bukhsh Baloch: shakhsiyet aur fun successfully captures at least some glimpses of the personality and literary achievements of the giant known as Dr Baloch. In writing this piece, I have benefited greatly from the book and also from the Urdu translation of an article written by Dr Abdul Jabbar Junejo.

Prof Baloch has written in seven languages — Sindhi, Arabic, Urdu, English, Persian, Balochi and Seraiki. In addition to editing, compiling and translating over 50 books, he has worked on some basic aspects of the Sindhi language, history of Sindh and history of Islamic literature, setting a stage for other scholars to work on. Among such projects, a comprehensive Sindhi dictionary, history of Muslims of the Indo-Pak subcontinent in 25 volumes and 100 great books of the Islamic world deserve a special mention, his other works are not any less important though.

Despite a long history of Sindhi lexicography and a number of Sindhi dictionaries, the writers and scholars of Sindhi had always felt a need for a comprehensive Sindhi dictionary. Dr Baloch took up the project as a challenge and with rigorous field work and deep research compiled a Sindhi dictionary in five volumes, taking care of all technical aspects of lexicology.

Although he had finished the job in 1954, the printing work, beginning in 1957, took too long and the last volume appeared in 1988. Dr Baloch wanted to revise and update it in the light of the classical and folk Sindhi works (that has been published in 43 volumes) but his advice was ignored. His other lexicographic works include a Sindhi-Urdu dictionary and an Urdu-Sindhi dictionary (both in collaboration with Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan), a one-volume Sindhi dictionary and an edited version of an old Sindhi dictionary.

Aside from his other achievements as director of the National Commission for Research, History and Culture, Dr Baloch had chalked out a grand plan to compile the history of the Indo-Pak subcontinent in 25 volumes since he believed that western scholars and historians have not done justice in writing the history of the region and have largely ignored some very vital source materials such as books and letters written by Sufis and Muslim scholars. Dr Baloch got published as the first volume in the series ‘Chach Nama’, an important source on the history of Sindh in Persian, with an introduction in English. It is a pity that he was removed from the post in 1983 and after he left the entire project was shelved.

In 1983, he was made an adviser in the National Hijrah Council and, as is his disposition, he immediately chalked out a great plan. It was about procuring, editing, translating and publishing great books written in the Islamic world. He believed that Muslims had given the world a great treasure of books in different branches of knowledge and many of them had been wiped out from the face of the earth mainly due to negligence and indifference. The remaining wealth of this legacy should be preserved and spread. It was decided that initially 100 great books of the Islamic world would be edited and published. Baloch sahib visited some of the best museums, libraries and archives in different countries of the world to obtain the manuscripts, copies or rare editions of some of the best books on a variety of topics. He got translated into English and published six of them and the other 10 were in different stages when he was removed. It was fate yet again that hampered his plans otherwise he has never surrendered before difficult times as is evident from his life.

Born in March 1919 in a small village named Qarya Jafer Khan Laghari in the district of Sanghar, Sindh, Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch had to bear some great hardships since early childhood to acquire an education. Orphaned at the age of six months and living in a far-flung village that was deprived of all amenities, he fought the odds bravely and did his Masters in Arabic from Aligarh Muslim University in 1943. Here he Prof Dr Nabi Bukhsh Baloch met renowned scholars and professors. Among them was Allama Abdul Aziz Memon, the then head of the Arabic department, who inspired him most. Both struck a friendship that lasted till Allama Memon’s death in 1978. Allama Memon, according to Dr Baloch, used to take a stroll every evening and Baloch sahib, a keen student of his, would give him company. During the walk the able pupil would unleash a deluge of questions about the Arabic language, literature and other innumerable scholastic issues. The erudite teacher would only be glad to reply. With Allama sahib’s permission, Baloch sahib began scribbling down the conversation and the result was a scholarly piece published under the title ‘Mahazraat-e-Memoni’. Under the guidance of Allama Memon, Baloch sahib began research on ‘Sindh under Arabs’ to earn a doctorate. But in 1945 he had to leave it unfinished as Pir Illahi Bux, also an Aligarian, had asked Dr Ziauddin Ahmed, the then Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh University, to relieve Baloch sahib since his services were needed more as a lecturer at the newly established Sindh Muslim College at Karachi.

Winning a doctoral scholarship in 1946, Baloch sahib left for the US where he earned a doctorate from Columbia University on ‘A programme for teacher education for the new state of Pakistan’. In 1949, returning back with a PhD under his belt, Dr Baloch was denied a decent job by the Public Service Commission. He began research on Sindhi folklore and travelled across Sindh for some 13 months with very little paraphernalia. These cumbersome trips on foot and camelback proved very fruitful as he collected invaluable material for his research work on Sindhi folklore which was published later and is held in high esteem. Later, he joined the government’s information and broadcasting division and during his stay in Karachi in 1950-51, carried out extensive research on Sindh’s history proving that the location of Daibel was in fact where the ruins of Bhambhor were situated.

Dr Baloch was selected as the press attaché for the Pakistani embassy in Damascus in 1951. Meanwhile, Allama I. I. Kazi, the then vice-chancellor of Sindh University, offered him to join the university as professor of education. At Sindh University he proved to be an asset and later established a department of Sindhi language and the Institute of Sindhology. He also launched several research journals such as ‘The University of Sindh Journal of Education’ and ‘Sindh University Research Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’. He was appointed vice-chancellor of Sindh University in 1973.

In 1976, Dr Baloch’s services were obtained by the federal ministry of education and in 1980 he was made the first vice-chancellor of the International Islamic University, Islamabad. The university was very fragile in its early phase and there were only nine students. Here he worked hard to make this nascent university stand out and just when it began to flourish he was removed. In 1990, the Sindhi Language Authority was established and Dr Baloch was a natural choice as its first chairman. In the brief span of his tenure as chairman, he got 25 books published.

But a workaholic as he has been all his life, Baloch sahib could not sit idle and at the ripe age of 75 began fresh scholarly projects. Since then he has published his work on ‘Shahjo risalo’ in 10 volumes, revised the comprehensive Sindhi dictionary in five volumes and authored ‘A treasury of gems’ (a collection of colloquial and rustic idioms of the Sindhi language) in three volumes. The work on the remaining volumes is in progress.

Dr Baloch turned 90 this year and is busy as usual with his scholarly works. His simple life, humility and continuous hard work are lessons for those who complain of scarcity of time and have adverse circumstances as a pretext for not working hard. Here is a glittering and dazzling life to emulate. Tighten your belt!

IIUI Blog Tidbits: This is how we improve security situation in our University!

Security specialists are conducting crucial interviews.

Perspectives on Terrorist Attacks-III

Monthly Al-Shariah, Gujranwanla at http://www.alsharia.org/articles/monthly_alsharia/2009/10_nov/mushtaq_iiu.php

Perspectives on Terrorist Attacks-II

IIU, me and you-Part I
Thursday, October 22, 2009 By Fasi Zaka

The News, http://thenews.jang.com.pk/print1.asp?id=204409


Several months ago, I was invited to speak at a seminar at the women's campus of the International Islamic University (IIU). It was, to say at the least, a memorable experience. I came to the unfortunate realisation that I too was a prejudiced individual after I compared my expectations to what I saw there.


I expected a strict, stifling academic atmosphere that would be pervading the air in a sea of burqas. It was none of those things; the only cliché present was my pre-conceived notion, sadly with what could be called new neo-colonial mindset of the modernist Muslim despite his/her good intentions. The female students there were animated, gutsy and held intellectual discourse with vigour.

Most striking was the plurality of the female campus of the IIU; the girls there chose their own identities and wore what they liked (with even the occasional moderate western wear). The segregation hadn't created an artificial environment; the students were free to be their own selves without the social mores that come into play when the genders mix.

When I heard of the bombing at both the male and female campuses of the IIU, I was deeply saddened. I continue to wonder how urban apologists for the Taliban will spin this one. In all likelihood they won't, they will pretend it never happened. Rehman Malik is already at the blame game, claiming the problem was a lapse in university security. Since when have universities become experts in counter-terrorism is beyond me. He chose to ignore the obvious, which is that his ministry miscalculated when it thought schools were under threat and advised to shut them down instead of including universities on the list as well.

While the PPP maybe an abject failure in governing this nation, our only alternative is proving to be a duplicitous man preaching a hollow holier-than-thou tirade. Nawaz Sharif won't answer questions about the Taliban, nor will he back the army into a war it has been slow to engage in.

After the IIU bombing, what else is it that the Taliban can do to prove to Nawaz Sharif that they are entirely Godless? The left will quote Chomsky, Pilger and others to explain the social conditions that lead to movements like the Taliban, in effect intellectually justifying their methods. There is no denying the areas that have spawned this collective deserved better. But then, frankly, what are the redeeming features of the Taliban, if any? Explaining their background cannot, and does not, mitigate their callousness or inhumanity.

Muted defenses of the Taliban always argue that one should not attempt to wipe them out because they are Muslims, 'well intentioned' but deviant. But what is odd that it seems the Taliban have no such qualms, having relegated everyone but themselves into the pit of infidels.

For a long time now, there has been no room left for understanding and compassion. It is time to demonise them. General discourse and the media need to paint them as the new infidels. The kid gloves need to come off; the right wing of this country has to treat them with the same disdain and suggestions of all-encompassing evil that they reserve for USA, India and Israel.

To be a member of the Taliban should be an unequivocal slur, it needs to have shame. In the battle for minds, maybe the same misdirected and spontaneous anger that creates mobs in streets against people (usually religious minorities) for alleged blasphemy should be aimed at people who collaborate with these murderers. It's no less a grave blasphemy to kill and maim innocent girls in an overtly Islamic university in the name of the Prophet (PBUH).

But no, we have one standard for the Taliban and another for people who mark their heads with red dots and adorn their necks with crosses. This is the crux of our problem, not military might against the hordes of barbarians inside our gates.

Remaining silent is not an option. Avoiding questions the way Nawaz Sharif does cannot go on. And if we are to start on this right now, I propose a simple start. We legislate against allowing abstentions in both the upper and lower houses of parliament for both resolutions and pending legislation.

So whether it is the NRO, Kerry Lugar or action against the Taliban, the officials elected to represent the interests of the people cannot use the opt-out clause (abstentions) to gain false and damaging moral ground if they do not want to appear to support or be against certain issues when tabled.

Name the legislation after the students who lost their lives at the university, it is the people, army brass and politicians who remained silent for so long that the girls and others have been silenced violently in the prime of their lives. Surely, Nawaz Sharif must have an opinion on that. But maybe he believes the comical and sad statement that Qamar Zaman Kaira gave after the bombing: "their real faces are now exposed in front of the nation." Really? Only now?

The writer is a Rhodes scholar and former academic. Email: fasizaka@yahoo.com



IIU, me and you -Part II

Thursday, October 29, 2009, By Fasi Zaka

The News, http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=205729

In times of unimaginable tragedy, it is hard to judge outpourings of grief. The mind is freckled by floods of angry emotion. After having said this, I still feel disappointed that right after the International Islamic University (IIU) bombings one of the pictures I saw in the press was of a demonstration by the boys of the university upholding banners that were against the Kerry-Lugar bill. It seemed to me the significance of what had happened to these hapless students hadn't yet dawned on them.

The International Islamic University has absolutely nothing to do with the bill, and in any case the Taliban didn't bomb the university because they were convinced that the IIU had drafted it for John Kerry. Even at that time, in the aftermath of a senseless act it was difficult to acknowledge for people that the Taliban were utterly nihilistic in their aims.

It was a lost opportunity to honour the lives of the people lost, to say that Islam just doesn't allow any semblance of what the Taliban are doing. One of the students who died was Sidra, a young topper of the Rawalpindi board in the arts group. Her best friend who saw her die chillingly spoke of being unable to sleep, to remember the cold touch of her cheek when she was about to be buried. How did the Kerry-Lugar bill fit into this? Valid criticisms of the bill aside, this was not the moment to do it because it was peripheral to the whole issue, because the Kerry-Lugar bill is also on the lower end of the Taliban agenda, revenge being their first. And the thirst for blood is so great, that the revenge is also taken from the absolutely innocent.

I wonder just how influential the Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) is at the IIU. Recently one of their office-bearers gave a statement to the press that Blackwater is behind the wave of terror attacks in the country. This is purposeful and utterly extreme mischief. If Blackwater is in Pakistan, and I increasingly believe that one of its subsidiaries might, it should be sent packing. But not for the nonsense that the Jamiat is keen on having people believe.

Blackwater should be sent back, not because it may laughably be complicit in terror, but because the firm is trained in counter-insurgency in Iraq and has a trigger-happy reputation and is staffed reportedly by bigots, starting from the very top. What if a firm like Blackwater kills someone in Pakistan, how will the law apply? It's an invitation to flout our laws because we know the Americans won't allow a trial here, and it's already happening with incidents of foreigners being stopped and caught with illegal unlicensed weapons.

But, for a moment, even in our anger acknowledge that whatever firm the Americans may be using, they do need security and are acting in accordance with the directive, or at least philosophy of Rehman Malik and Shahbaz Sharif. Our rulers would extol the people of Swat to fight the Taliban, rather than doing something about it themselves. They are saying that educational institutions must protect themselves rather than the government increasing general security. With this trend, all the Americans are doing is the same. If the government will not protect the people (only itself by buying more and more bullet-proof cars), then the Americans will have to use private contractors.

But every argument that concerns legitimate internal concerns, say Americans with automatic weapons in the country, the Taliban or literally anything else, is increasingly hijacked and overtaken into vapid and vacuous arguments that sidestep the real issues. Without realising it, or maybe they do, but these right-wingers are hurting our country by making everything into issues of national pride or patriotism.

And this patriotism is hurting us because it is made by disingenuous people. It doesn't reflect what this country should stand for. If we believed all our citizens have a right to life, we would be more incensed by the IIU bombing than we really are.

Let me give an example of this confusion. In a recent letter to the editor a young man wrote about his educational institution in Faisalabad where a couple were sitting under a tree. Security came and shaved the heads of both the man and woman. The writer of the letter was honest to admit that he was fearful and couldn't speak up for two innocent people. But one reason people stay quiet is that they somehow believe that the tyrants who were shaving the heads of the couple may have been morally right. That's the confusion of the myth-making we are creating in this country. If we had a real sense of values we wouldn't think twice about speaking up for that poor duo because we knew others would share the sentiment. What crime was committed between two people sitting and doing nothing wrong in an open space?

In LUMS a girl is making news for her campaign against public displays of affection. Let us grant her the right to do so for argument's sake, but the manner in which she did so is nothing less than hypocritical and reflects a tyrant in the making. By taking pictures of people secretly and promising to more and distributing them on email lists, I wonder if she is convinced Allah appointed her as the guardian to invade people's privacy by being holier than thou.I wonder if she took a break from her voyeurism activism to lead a rally against the Taliban after the IIU bombing. Which is more important now?

The writer is a Rhodes scholar and former academic. Email: fasizaka@yahoo.com

Perspectives on Terrorist Attacks-I

In response to our recent posts, we have received some article from our readers sharing different perspectives about terrorist attacks. Enjoy reading!

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Disinformation: Manufacturing Monsters

Tipu Sultan Shaheed on 25 July, 2009

http://www.dailymuslims.com/Opinion/Disinformation_Manufacturing_Monsters.html

Following destruction of European economies by WW1, Americans stepped into the role of world leadership. Woodrow Wilson made many statements like "every people has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live…. " and that "no right anywhere exists to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were property." Leaders of struggles for independence all over the world were very disappointed when they learned that these were just words. In the curious reasoning of an official U.S. commission to the Philippines, "American sovereignty is only another name for the liberty of the Filipinos." Vietnamese appealed to USA to help liberate them from the French, but after defeating the French on their own, they found USA ready to take the place of the French as the imperialist power.

Because of strong popular support for democracy and freedom within American public, the postwar USA strategy for global domination took a distinctly different shape from the pre-war imperialism. Taking a leaf from Machiavelli, they invented the enemy of “Communism” and painted it in the worst possible colors. USA wars to dominate the globe and control world economies were painted in terms of a battle of Good and Evil – much like Star Wars. This myth, that the Americans were pure, good, and had all excellent human qualities, while their enemies were purely evil and had no redeeming virtues, was deeply planted into the American psyche. Hollywood and many other media initiatives spread this message, and it was widely believed by the rest of the world. There is plenty of documentation proving that CIA grossly exaggerated the potential of the communist threat and strength of the Russian economy and war capability, so as to scare the American public and to generate more funding for “Defense” industries in both public and private sector (the USA has never fought a defensive war). Extensive anti-communist propaganda created the Red Scare. In a “witch hunt” created by national hysteria during the Cold War, lives and careers of thousands of Americans were destroyed by accusations of communism.

Imperialism USA style sought to protect business interests and maintain an economic stranglehold on the world. Under the pretext of fighting communism, USA destroyed economies and ruined lives of millions of poor people all over the world. When the USA sought to replace the French rule over Vietnam (as they had replaced Spanish rule over Latin America), they labeled the Vietnamese independence movement as communist. Forced to fight against the USA whom they had hoped would be their ally, the Vietnamese turned to the other superpowers, Russia and China for support, turning this into a self fulfilling labeling.

British monopoly on Iranian oil permitted them to pay only 16% of its value to Iran. When Mossadegh took over in 1951, he nationalized the oil and paid the British a fair price. The tactics used by CIA to create a coup and regain control of Iranian oil are of special interest. They bribed journalists, preachers and other opinion leaders to create hostility to Mossadegh, hired thugs to attack people, making it look as if the attacks were by Mossadegh. Street gangs were paid to set off riots. A plague of violence descended on Tehran. Gangs of thugs ran wildly through the streets, breaking shop windows, firing guns into mosques, beating passerby, and shouting ‘Long live Mossadegh and Communism!” A cooperative Army general finally used tanks to attack the Prime Minister’s residence and and replaced him by a US puppet. US oil companies — Gulf, Standard of New Jersey, Texaco and Mobil — received a 40 percent share of the new National Iranian Oil Company, and the Shah established a tyrannical dictatorship, with the dreaded CIA-trained Savak doing dirty work for him

Chile had enjoyed 160 years of peaceful democratic rule, when Salvador Allende came to power. US Copper mining interests had earned 7 billion dollars profits on an investment of 1 billion in Chile, and were threatened by Allende’s plans to nationalize copper mines. CIA trainers whipped the Chilean military into an anti-Communist frenzy, persuading them that socialists were de facto Russian spies, a force alien to Chilean society—a homegrown "enemy within." In fact, it was the military that had become the true domestic enemy, ready to turn its weapons on the population it was sworn to protect. General Pinochet carried out a coup on both the economic and political front. Mass killings and torture of citizens were justified on the grounds that the Government was fighting a war against dangerous Marxist terrorists, funded and controlled by the KGB. In every case, the threat was either wildly exaggerated or completely manufactured, as revealed by later declassified U.S. government's own intelligence reports. At the same time, the best social security system in Latin America for the poor was dismantled leading to widespread poverty (cheap labor) where none had existed. Policies wildly favorable to foreign multinationals and harmful to domestic interests were put in place with a systematic campaign of “disinformation” on the economic front.

The collapse of Russia led to national consensus in the USA on enjoying the “peace dividend” ; evil had been vanquished, and there were no enemies left to fight. NATO was no longer necessary, and should be dismantled. Congress proposed to divert the massive cold war budget to social welfare, building or repairing essential infrastructure (lack of which led to the Katrina disaster). Within the corridors of the Pentagon and the “Defense” industry threatened by billions of dollars of budget cuts, there was desperate brainstorming about need to manufacture a new monster. Their dilemma was that there were no worthy enemies to be found. With USA war capabilities much greater than that of the rest of the world combined, there was no one who could step into the position vacated by Russia. Perhaps we can take perverse pride in that the lot fell on us, the poor Muslims. Proceeding were started by Samuel Huntington, who put forth the thesis that henceforth wars would be fought between civilizations, and that the Muslims were the biggest threat to the Western civilization. The entire civilization of the Muslims as a whole was a sufficiently big target that there was no chance of achieving success in destroying it quickly, leading to the need for a new enemy. Close on the heels of Russian collapse, the CIA lured Saddam Hussain into invading Kuwait, providing a pretext for the Gulf War, and buying time to put the new strategy in place. Before the first budget cut proposals could see the light of day, enough new enemies were in place that US “Defense” budgets kept increasing. Meanwhile, the monster manufacturing industry was in full gear, and today the USA public feels the same hysteria against Islam and Muslims that was once attached to communists.

Today, exactly the same tactics that worked so successfully in Iran and Chile and numerous other parts of the world – for details see The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein – is being repeated without essential changes in Pakistan. Army intelligence sources conclude that there are less than 4000 “American Taliban” in the NWFP. These have been heavily supplied with arms and money by the CIA, and can recruit local populace in the name of Islam at heavy salaries. Just as thugs in Iran were paid to vandalize and shout slogans favoring communism and Mossadegh, so thugs have been hired to shout Islamic slogans and carry out extremely cruel acts. Movies have been made of grisly slaughter by people shouting the Kalima, and widely circulated. Trillions of dollars of USA defense budget depends on making the Islamic monster as fearsome as possible. The skill of the CIA at manufacturing videos is well established. Key policy makers and opinion leaders have been deceived into believing that there is “home-grown” enemy within, exactly as in Chile. This has led to widespread support for a war against our own civilians, a sure-fire recipe for disaster and disintegration of Pakistan.

The only way to slip out of the noose currently tightening around our collective necks is to wake up and become aware of the enemy strategy to deceive and destroy us. It is madness to bomb our own civilian population, in a futile attempt to get rid of a small number of paid CIA agents, who are informed well in advance. We in Pakistan have been living with Mullahs and Talibans for a long time, and we never saw the atrocities currently being witnessed. On the other hand, these atrocities are a trade mark of CIA training methods, and were used systematically by CIA trained guerillas fighting to destabilize anti-American Latin American regimes. Our only problem in Pakistan is foreign interference, and CIA schemes and plots very similar to those they have successfully implemented in many other countries. A clear understanding of this will generate the national consensus and unity required to rescue us from this time of great difficulty.

EVIDENCE: Many readers have asked for evidence of CIA involvement. First note that it is a spy agency and does covert actions. Its very purpose is concealment of its hand. Studying how they have worked in the past provides a good clue to how they will operate in the present. CIA agents do not go around asking people to betray Islam or Pakistan for money. Following standard practice, Lawrence of Arabia faked a conversion to Islam, performed Hajj, mingled with the people before inciting Arab leaders to revolt against the Turks with the help of the British. With the understanding that we are not going to get the documents proving CIA involvement until fifty years later, when the Freedom of Information Act might be used to extract them, here is the necessarily indirect evidence:

1. There are many substantiated reports from many sources that these “American” Taliban are not locals. The NWFP is a closed, traditional, society which is well knit together. People know each other and those in nearby villages, and can identify families and clans which have been there for a long period of time. Nobody knows who these Taliban are.

2. There is only a small number of them. They are able to hire local people at wages which are outrageously high – especially in view of local poverty. They have access to supplies of weapons and funds which clearly smack of CIA involvement. Nobody else is rich enough to finance such an operation.

3. Many eyewitness accounts testify to their complete lack of Islamic values; surprising when they claim to have the goal of fighting for the establishment of Shariah.

4. Afghani Taliban leadership has issued many statements disclaiming any connection with these people.

5. Locals report that these Taliban leaders are nowhere to be found during engagements – only the innocent dupes they hire actually engage in fights with the Pakistan army or with local residents.

6. The grisly methods they use in killing, widely distributed via movies, is a hallmark of CIA operations in Latin America. Islamic Law prohibits mutilation of dead bodies, torture, and many other methods used by these Taliban. Nothing like this was reported against the Afghani Taliban. Indeed a female British reporter captured by the Taliban was so impressed by their behavior that she later converted to Islam.

7. This kind of operation, destabilizing government by funding groups to fight against the government, setting the army and the politicians at loggerheads, buying up both political and army leadership to support US goals, and concealing their hand in the chaos that follows, is the standard modus operandi that the CIA has used countless times in Latin America successfully to topple governments that they did not like. This is well documented in many places, including books written by ex CIA agents like William Blum. Read Killing Hope by Blum or Shock.

8. Numerous sources readily available on internet report on covert US plans to destabilize and disintegrate Pakistan. The kind of random violence we see on the streets has NO OTHER possible explanation. Locals can kill for profit or for personal or for political motives. However, CIA finances general rampages which are not motivated by any personal reasons, but meant only to destabilize and bring about desired regime change or dissolution. This type of CIA operation against other countries is well documented Ours will acquire its documentation fifty years later.

Save Pakistan Rallies at IIUI

University blasts in Pakistan and the future of Islam

Opinion
University blasts in Pakistan and the future of Islam

The International Islamic University is carving out a much-needed space in Muslim intellectual, and through it, political, life.

By Mark LeVine
from The Christian Science Monitor, October 23, 2009 edition

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1023/p09s03-coop.html

Lund, Sweden - When the Taliban attacked the International Islamic University in Pakistan this week, many were shocked that militants were targeting an Islamic school. In fact, the double suicide bombers were going after a university that is at the forefront of changing the way Islamic and Western knowledge are brought together in the Muslim world.

I also had some misconceptions before I had lectured in the very building where the second bombing took place. But the encounters I had there in 2007 utterly changed my understanding of Pakistan, as well as the future of Islam.

I had only landed in Islamabad just a few hours before I was scheduled to give my first talk at the university, and whether it was the 13-hour time difference with Los Angeles, two nights flying in coach, or walking through an arrivals lounge that had recently been attacked by terrorists, I felt more uneasy about being in Pakistan than Baghdad or Gaza during their own periods of intense violence.

Matters weren't helped when I was introduced to a group of male religious studies students by my host as someone who'd lived in Israel and speaks Hebrew. In fact, my stomach sank a bit – especially as their long beards and traditional dress reminded me a lot more of the Taliban than the graduate students I normally spend time with.

But as with most things in Pakistan, appearances were deceiving, and the situation was far more complex, and inspiring, than I'd imagined.

It turned out that the students with whom I was meeting weren't merely studying Islam, they were PhD students in comparative religion. They were situating Islam, its history, and its religious dynamics within the broader study of religious experience worldwide.

Moreover, the recently established program in which they were studying was a model for the International Islamic University's drive to develop a new curriculum, one that would combine 1,000 years of Islamic learning with the latest developments in American and European humanities and social studies scholarship.

The students explained they were all learning Hebrew, as well as biblical criticism and contemporary approaches to religious studies as part of their course work. As we began to talk it became clear that neither students nor faculty had much time or desire to engage in spirited critiques of the United States or the West.

They were much more interested in discussing how to better integrate "Western" and Islamic methodologies for studying history and religion. And more telling, they were trying to figure out how to criticize the government without "disappearing" into the dark hole of the Pakistani prison system for five or 10 years, or worse.

Colleagues in the history and political science departments were just as eager to develop the most up-to-date curriculums possible, and in so doing lay a benchmark for the development of their fields, not just in Pakistan, but globally.

This is not to say that the members of the University community supported US policies in the Muslim world. Far from it. But as good social scientists (or social scientists in training), they understood the importance of the interplay of local and global dynamics, and of the problems in their own societies that contributed to the violent relationship between the US and many Muslim groups around the world.

Indeed, when I delivered my second lecture on globalization early on a Saturday morning, the room was filled with students, more women than men (upward of half the student body at the University are women), who grilled me about the assumptions underlying my research and methodologies. Would that most of my students back home were as interested in what I was teaching as were they.

As I walked around the campus, and met faculty and students who'd come from all over the Muslim world to study there, the role of the IIU in the larger context of Islam globally became evident.

The University was carving out a much-needed space in Muslim intellectual, and through it political, life through its bringing Muslim and Western traditions into dialogue.

Yet it was receiving, and continues to receive far less attention from scholars, commentators, or policymakers than the fully American-style universities being opened across the Persian Gulf. This is most recently evidenced by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, just established with great fanfare and a $10 billion endowment from the king in Jeddah.

Such a venture is surely important, not just for having one of the world's fastest supercomputers or giving every newly hired professor $400,000 in research money – I got $3,000 when I was hired at University of California, Irvine, and that was when the university was flush with cash.

Yet the singular focus of KAUST on hard sciences is ultimately myopic and will likely produce little in the way of the larger societal change in Saudi Arabia predicted by the new university's boosters. Such changes come only with a robust public sphere where citizens who are educated broadly and humanistically are equipped with the social knowledge and skills to challenge the dominant political and social-religious discourses.

Building such an active Pakistani citizenry was and – I imagine despite the bombing – remains a major goal of the IIU.

Sadly, it's just such a goal that probably made it a "legitimate" target for the Taliban, for whom a healthy public sphere populated by educated citizens willing and able to challenge, potentially democratize, and clean up their government would pose at least as big threat to its position in the country as the army they are now fighting in the country's northwest.

Not surprisingly, the core mission of the IIU would also not win it many friends among the country's corrupt economic and political elite, who, as many of the senior education and religious officials I met confided to me, share the Taliban's desire to silence any kind of critical scholarship or societal debate.

With this attack, the Taliban has struck what until now was a sanctuary, however fragile and inchoate, where the emerging generation of Pakistanis and Muslims could determine on their own terms how best to bring together their cultures and traditions to grapple with the profound challenges faced by their societies.

I hope it doesn't weaken the spirit and resolve of the thousands of students who've come to the IIU from across the Muslim world to help build a better future. They are not just the future of Pakistan, or of Islam; they are the future as well.

Mark LeVine is a history professor at University of California, Irvine and currently a visiting professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author most recently of "Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam" and "Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989"

Cheap Publicity, Bad Advice or Complacency?

We are in crisis and our "leadership" is busy in photo sessions!

Fatiha Khawani kar, Camera Main Dal

Column

Desperadoes attack university in Islamabad

Dawn, Wednesday, 21 Oct, 2009


http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-blast1-in-islamabad-qs-07

ISLAMABAD: Three girls were among six people killed on Tuesday in twin suicide attacks inside the International Islamic University, Islamabad. Two blocks were severely damaged.

This is the first time that militants have targeted women and a prestigious Islamic educational institution.

The blasts took place in quick succession in segregated blocks for girls and boys in the university’s campus in the capital’s H-10 sector.

A bomber barged into the women-only facility despite fierce resistance put up by a local worker, blowing himself up at the entrance of the girls’ cafeteria.

The other bomber detonated his explosives-laden jacket on the first floor of the Imam Abu Hanifa block.

A string of attacks have rocked Peshawar, Swat, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Islamabad since Oct 5, killing more than 250 people. The bombings have made October one of the bloodiest months since the beginning of the terrorist attacks.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the strikes.

The incident took place amid reports about threats to educational institutions, some of which decided to close their facilities for a few days.

However, officials of the Islamic University said they were not aware of any direct threat.

‘We were hearing that some schools were being closed down, but we never received any specific threat,’ an outraged Prof Parveen Tariq Agha, the in-charge of the women’s wing, told Dawn.

She rejected suggestion of a security lapse and said the university’s premises were properly secured. But, she said, no one could have guessed that a suicide bomber would target girls in this manner. Other teachers were equally outraged.

‘This is a cowardly act,’ another faculty member said. ‘Those who target students, particularly women, cannot even be considered human beings,’ she said.

The new campus of the International Islamic university is spread over several acres and houses over 17,000 students, including 6,000 women.

There are 2,000 foreign students from 45 countries, but mostly from China and African countries.

Sources said that security and intelligence agencies had information that terrorists would strike a university on Tuesday.

The police said one of the attackers, who was carrying five to seven kilograms of explosives, blew himself outside the office of the chairman of the Sharia Department, killing two people and creating a hole in the office wall and cracking adjacent walls.

Eyewitnesses said that shards of glass and body parts lay scattered in the corridor. Nearby rooms, including a conference room and classes, were damaged by the blast.

The other suicide bomber, they said, struck the girl’s cafeteria after 3pm. Pellets mixed with the explosives also damaged a large area, perforating roofs and walls.

Investigators said they had found skin attached to a forehead and an ear, which they believed were of one of the attackers.

The other attacker, wearing a vest containing five to eight kilograms of explosives, had disguised himself as a woman and was wearing a colourful shawl. He was intercepted by a worker identified as Pervez Masih when he tried to enter the girls’ cafeteria.

It is believed had Mr Masih not stopped the suicide bomber, the death toll would have been higher because about 50 students were having lunch at that time.

A leg believed to be that of the suicide bomber was found in the cafeteria. There was some confusion about the gender of the suicide bomber.

Some students said they had spotted a ‘woman’ acting suspiciously near the cafeteria, but there was no official confirmation.

Shortly after the blast, the area was cordoned off as teams of police, intelligence agencies, bomb disposal squad, civil defence, and doctors arrived at the scene.

Rescue workers said they had removed 37 injured people to nearby hospitals, where two of the injured woman students died. Their colleagues identified them only as Hina and Seher.

A 21-year-old suspect, sporting a light beard and wearing white shalwar kamiz, was arrested from the cafeteria while filming the devastation under the nose of the security personnel.

The man, believed to be an accomplice of the suicide bombers, told police that he lived in a nearby slum. But he had no answer when asked why he was making the video.

Another suspect, said to be in his 20s, was also arrested near the Imam Abu Hanifa Block. He is said to be a resident of Sargodha.

The police said that both of them had failed to come up with convincing explanations about their presence at the scene.

Three other suspects were picked up from a slum in I-11 sector.

Investigators said that the chairman of the Imam Abu Hanifa Block was the attackers’ prime target because he was ‘known for his liberal views’, but he was not present in his office at that time. Interior Minister Rehman Malik faced humiliation for the second time in a week when students compelled him to leave the campus with a hail of stones.

The minister was accompanied by senior officials of the interior ministry and local administration.

Pakistan’s Higher Education Reform Experiment

The latest issue of Nature (Volume 461 Number 7260, September 3, 2009) published an article as well as an editorial on Pakistan’s higher education reform experiment and on the Higher Education Commission (HEC). We are sharing editorial and for article please click here (Pakistan's reform experiment). This article is jointly contributed by Athar Osama, Adil Najam, Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, Syed Zulfiqar Gilani & Christopher King

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Editorial

Nature 461, 11-12 (3 September 2009) doi:10.1038/461011b; Published online 2 September 2009

Cash costs

Massive funding for Pakistan's ailing universities holds many lessons for other developing nations. Eight years ago, a task force advising Pakistan's former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, laid out a bold plan to revitalize the country's moribund research system: initiate a fivefold increase in public funding for universities, with a special emphasis on science, technology and engineering. The proposal was a radical departure from conventional wisdom on the economics of developing nations, which favours incremental investments. Sudden surges of cash are held to be dangerous in poorer countries, which often lack the institutions or the calibre of people required to make the most of such a windfall, and the money can easily be wasted or fall prey to corruption.

Nonetheless, Musharraf agreed to the proposal. The reforms began in 2003. And the results, which have now earned a qualified thumbs-up from a group of experts in science and education policy..., offer some valuable lessons for other developing nations.

First, conventional wisdom isn't always right. Despite early doubts that Musharraf's autocratic regime could allocate the new funds effectively, the experts cite initiatives such as a free national digital library and high-speed Internet access for universities as examples of success, as well as new scholarships enabling more than 2,000 students to study abroad for PhDs — with incentives to return to Pakistan afterwards. And they acknowledge that the years of reform have coincided with increases in the number of Pakistani authors publishing in research journals, especially in mathematics and engineering, as well as boosting the impact of their research outside Pakistan.

Second, human capital matters. One concern raised by the report published in this issue is that the 3,500 candidates for Pakistan's new domestic PhD programmes have had lower qualifications than the candidates going abroad. But that is a situation that should correct itself over time as Pakistan's schools improve. For the time being, the more important point is that Pakistan has opened up the chance of a research degree to many more people than in the past — including those who do not have wealthy families, or access to influential people, or good skills in European languages. Harnessing those reserves of talent is an integral part of any nation's development.

Finally, accountability is essential. This was not a priority for the architects of Pakistan's educational reform, partly because they were working for an autocratic regime, and partly because they were in too much of a hurry. The government seemed to be living on borrowed time, Musharraf's science adviser, Atta-ur-Rahman, has recalled. On the one hand, politicians, judges and lawyers were pressing for a return to democracy; on the other, the influence of the Pakistani Taliban was increasing. Suicide bombers twice tried to assassinate Musharraf — once by blowing up his motorcade as he returned from making a speech to scientists. If the reformers didn't get their programme in place quickly, they feared they might not get it in place at all.

The result, however, is that the body created to implement the reforms, the Higher Education Commission, has operated with minimal oversight by academics, parliamentarians or anyone else. There has been some waste, although no one has yet accused the commission of egregious abuses of power. But it has exhibited blind spots that an outside influence might have corrected — notably a total lack of investment in the social sciences and policy research, disciplines that encourage the asking of questions that autocratic regimes frequently dislike answering.

This must change. Pakistan is no longer a dictatorship. The elected government, under President Asif Ali Zardari, has expressed cautious support for continuing Musharraf's education reforms. It therefore has an opportunity to build on their successes and correct their shortcomings — starting with an independent review of the commission's performance.

IIUI Signs MoU with the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA

Islamabad. The International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, United State of American (SBU) in reconginition of their common interests in developing bilateral relations and cooperation between institutes of higher learning contributing to cultural enrichment, scientific progress, and the consolidation of friendship, have signed an MoU for Exchange of students, faculty and administrative staff. Both sides decided that instructional and cultural programs, specific mechanisms for the implementation of cooperative and collaborative activities shall be established.

The agreement shall be valid for a period of five years and at the end of each term, this agreement will be automatically renewed by mutual agreement for an additional term of five year. The MoU was signed by Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, President of the International Islamic University Islamabad and Samuel Stanley, Jr., M.D, President, Stony Brook University, New York, during recent visit of Dr. Siddiqui to the USA. Meanwhile Dr. Mohammad Sher, of the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) has been gives best university teacher award by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for playing an important role in enhancing the academic atmosphere during the year 2008.

7th Convocation of the Islamic International University, Islamabad, (IIUI)

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s popularity rose a notch higher in the student community as he, in a generous mood, interacted with them after conferring doctorate degrees on graduates and decorating 34 of them with gold medals at the seventh convocation of the International Islamic University (IIU) on Sunday.

Employment opportunities were foremost in the mind of a fresh women graduate as she raised the question of availability of jobs after leaving the institution.

Prime Minister Gilani answered that jobs would become available in the market with the improvement in the law and order situation. ‘Jobs are linked with peace and tranquility,’ he said. There was an indication here that after things settled down in Swat and Malakand, and peace returned to the area, there would be a run on jobs.

The premier also implied that peace and job availability were the products of the constitutional governments and good governance.

Prime Minister Gilani also announced a grant of Rs450 million to build a students’ hostel at the International Islamic University (IIU). He also said he believed 100 per cent in the autonomy of the Higher Education Commission. ‘Health and education is government’s priority,’ he said, adding that after the US law providing $1.5 billion to Pakistan, more money would be made available to Pakistan, meaning that gradually the allocation to the education sector would increase to five per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). HEC Chairperson Shahnaz Wazir Ali was sitting beside him as he made the announcement.

The prime minister had a good word for the university’s new direction in setting up more departments and departments for study of science and technology as well as in setting up the Allama Iqbal Centre for Research and Dialogue, because ‘education is a religious duty, and it was an extension of change and progress.’

Prime Minister Gilani, in his speech, concluded that he wanted the IIU to develop into a great institution of learning which would serve students from all over the world.

IIU Rector Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik drew the prime minister’s attention to the university’s stride in making advancements. In this regard, he particularly mentioned the Iqbal Institute of Research and Dialogue, which had organised significant seminars with the participation of a number of eminent scholars such as Karen Armstrong, and others.

IIU President Anwar Husain Siddiqui pressed for autonomy for the Higher Education Commission as well as more funds to implement the 15 per cent raise in pay for the faculty as provided in the new budget.

He said the IIU was the largest university in northern Pakistan, with enrolment of 17,000 students, of which 1,500 are 47 countries, with 560 students from China.

As many as 2,285 students were awarded graduate degrees in the convocation ceremony.
Prime Minister Gilani conferred gold medals on Samina Yasmeen and Hafiz Mohammad Haroon (Arabic); Maria Sabir, Arooj Wais, Hina Mahmood, Mehwish Huma, Saeed Afzal, Syed Mohammad Ali Shah, and Altaf Ghafoor (basic and applied sciences); Mohammad Asad(engineering); Younis Hussain, Faiza Zafar and Sania Batool (economics); Mohammad Anas and Ayesha Quratul Ain (Islamic studies); Khola Majeed, Maryam Waqar Qazi and Aminullah Sahrai (literature); Mohammad Tajul Malook, Waheeduz Zaman and Ayesha Rashid Lone, Sidra al-Hassan, Sumayya Shaheen, Shadia Noor, Sara Shuja and Shahe Naveed (management sciences); Aneesa Khatoon, Tayyaba Anwar, Maqzia Hafeez, Rukhsana and Saira Urooj (social sciences); Asim Murtaza Cheema, Hafiz Mohammad Waqas and Nadia Khanam (Shariah and law).

Good Governance

It is once again established that IIUI is a little Pakistan where “President” and “Prime Minister” are struggling with their powers and the rolling stone is as usual our university! If you have any doubts about this characterization then please go through the following two notifications which were sent within a time span of 2 days about IIUI Convocation 2009. We wonder that why it is always crucial for our administration to specify for their humiliation that “This issues under the instructions of Rector, IIU” and then “This issues under the instructions of President, IIU” After all face-saving is also something! We hope that our new Rector, Dr. Malik, must have learned a hard lesson of living within his limits. Bravo Dr. Siddiqui!

Our Shame: HEC Published Research Output of Pakistani Universities

Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has published and analysis of research publications from Pakistani Universities, which appeared in e-reviewed journals indexed by Thomason Reuters, ISI Web of knowledge during the years 2007-08. The databases of ISI Web of Knowledge used SCI-Expended, SCCI and A& HCI. GC University Lahore got 6th position among all public and private universities of Pakistan. Please click here for details. (Courtesy to: GCU Website)

See where IIUI stands in the list:

1. Quaid-e-Azam University: Publications in 2007: 409 and publications in 2008: 544
2. University of Karachi: Publications in 2007: 276 and publications in 2008: 419
3. Aga Khan University 186 and 311
4. University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 252 and 310
5. University of The Punjab 162 and 278
6. Govt. College University 97 and 154
7. COMSATS Institute of Information Technology 92 and 149
8. University of Sargodha 38 and 115
9. University of Sind, Jamshoro 59 and 105
10. University of Peshawar 77 and 97
11. Bahauddin Zakariya University 50 and 92
12. National University of Science & Technology 48 and 92
13. University of Arid Agriculture 49 and 87
14.University of Engineering & Technology,Lahore 38 and 55
15. DOW University of Health Sciences 11 49
16.GIK Institute of Engineering Science &Technology: 16 and 46
17. University of Baluchistan 28 and 40
18. Islamia University 22 and 40
19. NWFP Agricultural University 20 and 29
20. Lahore University of Management Sciences 19 and 27
21. University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences 11 and 26
22. Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology 07 and 26
23. Gomal University 12 and 24
24. Ziauddin Medical University 07 and 24
25. King Edward Medical University 12 and 23
26. Kohat University of Science & Technology 06 and 23
27. Baqai Medical University 11 and 22
28. International Islamic University: Publications in 2007: 05 and Publications in 2008: 21

For full list, please follow the link provided above. The list is pretty much revealing. We stand far behind in research and publications and IIUI faculty members generally don’t publish. One can argue that our faculty members do publish but largely in non-ISI indexed journals. The point is well taken but then IIUI administration should take up this matter with HEC stating the factual position and asking them to rationalize their criteria of developing such lists. This list is now almost an annual feature of HEC’s quality control procedures to identify hardworking-good guys from sluggish-bad guys. According to this list, we clearly fall in the latter category. Is anybody listening?

Karachi University Takes Action Against Plagiarism!

Can we expect such an active role from our BoG?