U.N. Halts Vaccine Work in Pakistan After 2 More Killings

A health care worker administered polio drops to an infant on Wednesday in Islamabad.

By DECLAN WALSH

Published: December 19, 2012

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The United Nations suspended all polio-related field activities in Pakistan on Wednesday after more attacks on public health workers trying to immunize children. Two people were killed and another wounded around the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The shootings followed a day of violence on Tuesday in the port city of Karachi during which four female health workers were killed. The attacks Wednesday brought the death toll from the three-day polio immunization campaign to eight people, most of themwomen.

The World Health Organization and Unicef ordered their staff members off the streets in response to the latest shootings, although some provincial governments continued to immunize children.

The shootings represent the most direct assault yet on an urgently needed public health program in one of the world’s last remaining reservoirs of the polio virus. Pakistan is one of three countries were polio remains endemic — the others are Nigeria and Afghanistan — and it has made strong progress against the disease after a disastrous rate of infection last year.

So far in 2012, officials say, Pakistan has recorded 56 new polio cases, compared with 192 at the same point in 2011. The turnaround is due to a series of nationwide immunization drives targeting children under 5, which can involve up to 225,000 public health workers.

But the unprecedented series of attacks targeting female health workers in recent days threatens to hinder future immunization efforts.

The attacks Wednesday were concentrated in the districts around Peshawar. North of the city, a gunman riding a motorcycle killed a female health worker and her driver. Another driver was seriously wounded in a second episode close to the city center. And in Nowshera, east of Peshawar, four female health workers reported being shot at but not hit.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility for the attacks, although the insurgents have a history of threatening polio eradication programs, claiming they are a cover for American espionage activities.

But the police in Peshawar said that Taliban fighters based in Mohmand tribal agency, north of Peshawar, were involved in at least two of the attacks in the Peshawar area.

One woman who came under fire described the attack, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “Two people were riding a motorbike,” she said. “The one wearing a mask pulled out a gun and fired four shots. We shouted. The bullets whizzed past us, but luckily we were safe.”

The Taliban’s suspicions about vaccination workers were aggravated by the case of Shakil Afridi, a doctor from the tribal areas who was paid by the Central Intelligence Agency to run a bogus hepatitis vaccination campaign near Osama bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad in the run-up to the May 2011 American commando raid that killed the Qaeda leader. Dr. Afridi has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason.

But the Taliban have also used the polio campaign — a rare effort by the government to extend its authority into the tribal belt — for raw political purposes. In North Waziristan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a major Taliban-affiliated warlord, has banned polio vaccination until America halts drone strikes in the area.

In contrast, the Taliban in Afghanistan have taken a more enlightened approach to polio vaccination, in some cases actively sponsoring the campaign, said Shahnaz Wazir Ali, asenior Pakistani polio official.

“What’s happening here is much, much more sinister,” she said. “And it’s happening right in the heart of our cities.”

Vaccination rounds in Pakistan take place many times each year, with teams of health workers visiting homes and public spaces to deliver polio immunization drops to children.

The three-day vaccination round under way this week, which began on Monday, targeted parts of the country worst hit by the virus — the northwest, the tribal belt, and Karachi — and was due to involve an estimated 135,000 health workers, according to the government.

The lower house of Parliament adopted a unanimous resolution Wednesday condemning the attacks on polio campaign volunteers.

“We cannot and would not allow polio to wreak havoc on the lives of our children,” Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said on Tuesday.

Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/world/asia/un-suspends-immunization-work-in-pakistan.html?ref=asia&_r=2&

 

Women Whom Men Should Not Marry

Most Muslims know the famous saying of Prophet Muhammad (S) in which he mentioned that a woman can be married for wealth, status, beauty, or her religion and that her religion (piety) was the most important factor to consider.

Scholars have expounded upon this by adding to the understanding of the types of women a man should not marry. The great jurist of the last century Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al-Uthaymeen taught Muslim men that seven types of women should not be married:

1) Al-Annaanah: The woman who whines, moans, and complains and ties a band around her head all the time meaning that she complains of a headache or some illness but in reality she is feigning illness.

2) Al-Mannaanah: The woman who bestows favours and gifts upon her husband then in the future reminds him “I did such and such for you or on your behalf or because of you”.

3) Al-Hannaanah: The woman who yearns for her former husband or children of her former husband.

4) Kay’atul-Qafaa: The woman who has a brand mark on the nape of her neck meaning she has a bad reputation or doubts about her.

5) Al-Haddaaqah: The woman who casts her eyes at things meaning she is always looking at something to purchase, then desires it, and then requires her husband to buy it no matter what.

6) Al-Barraaqah: The women who spends much of her day enhancing her face and beautifying it to such an extent that it will seem like it was manufactured.

7) Al-Shaddaaqah: The woman who talks excessively.

His eminence outlined this advice to the men of the Muslim nation and for that the nation is much obliged. To that I can add the following modern phenomenon that requires careful consideration:

1) Twitterer: A woman who uses a twitter account for anything that is not related to keeping in touch with her relatives or for professional work (e.g. a gynecologist tweeting child birth advice). Our advice is to stay clear from twitter users who use it for non-family or non-professional reasons. Some women use twitter to stay connected to Islam and Islamic knowledge but they quickly fall into useless conversation and openly flirt with and/or praise their Shuyookh/teachers on twitter. If a woman does not have a Twitter account move her up your list.

2) Facebookers: Facebook is now one of the leading conduits of the break-up of marriages. Any woman who has pictures of herself displayed on her Facebook page should be automatically disqualified. If she is not shy to have millions of men feast their eyes on her then groom beware! If she is using Facebook for strictly business or for staying in touch with only her female friends and her relatives then an exception can be made. If a woman does not have a Facebook account move her up your list.

3) Professional/Career types: Muslim scholars of classical times and contemporary times have explained that a woman has no need to go outside the home to earn a living. Her father, brother, grandfather, husband, son are all there to provide for her. Career Muslim women will say Khadeejah bint Khuwaylid (RA) worked. In fact she hired men to work on her behalf. She was not out in the markets bartering and trading. Even speakers such as Yasir al-Qadhi have stated that women should not work except in a couple of professions such as teaching girls and gynecology. Muslim women marriage counselors have stated that a major cause of disruption in marriages is the inflexibility of the career wife. Avoid career women who go out to corporate offices and intermingle with men in the course of their work. If a woman loves home making, cooking, cleaning, and raising children move her up your list.

4) Temperamental types: Any woman who cannot check her emotions and is prone to frequent angry fits over little things should be avoided at all costs. If a woman’s temperament is cool as a cucumber move her up your list.

5) Non-virgins: Do not marry a woman who lost her virginity outside marriage or even engaged in any sexual exploits such as kissing and such outside marriage. According to psychologists these women have attachment issues, tremendous baggage, and may compare you to her previous lover(s). If she was previously married or widowed or if she is a convert then there is no harm in marrying her. If a woman did not lose her virginity to anything except a marriage then move her up your list.

6) Truculent types: The last thing you want is a woman who argues with you about every insignificant thing. There are women who know when to back off from an argument to keep peace in the home and there are those that will want to have their way. Avoid at all costs the truculent types. If a woman is wise and non-argumentative move her up your list.

7) Non-hijabis: Do not marry non-hijabis. Too many men have married a non-hijabi because she promised she’ll wear a hijab afterwards but that never materialized and he’s left in embarrassment as his friends can see his wife’s hair and the shape of her bosoms and hips. Just don’t fall into that trap. If a woman wears hijab, move her up your list.

8) Non-haya types: You can spot these women easily. They may even be wearing hijab. But they do not have any shyness when talking to a man. They will ease into a conversation with a stranger man in her college class or work or public just as easily as she would ease into a conversation with a woman. This is not her fault. She was raised in an inclusive environment where men and women are ‘equal’ and so her dealings with men and women are also identical. If the woman you are talking to for marriage blushes or lowers her eyes instinctively when you say “Salaam” to her then move her to the top of your list.

9) Daughters of men who are in haram professions: If a woman’s father is a banker, loan officer, pork farmer, gas station owner who sells lottery tickets and alcohol, brothel owner, night club owner, pays interest on his house or pays interest on business loans then avoid marrying his daughter if she sees nothing wrong with those professions/transactions. Your wife will be the mother of your children and will teach your children what is acceptable and what is not. If she deems nothing wrong with those professions steer clear. If a woman is the daughter of a man who is in a halal profession then move her up your list.

10) Contemptuous feminist types: While feminism in general has died a protracted death in America, Muslim feminism is currently riding a wave. If a woman you are talking to for marriage shows signs that if she were asked to make a sandwich and tea for you on a Saturday morning she would not do so except as a chore or begrudgingly then steer clear. In fact you shouldn’t even have to ask her. It should come naturally. Just as naturally as you go to work 40 hours a week for the family. There are two types of women. Those who consider home making a humiliating chore and those who love to please their man by making him dinner and soothing conversation after a long day or after a long week. There are niqabi women who have come on CNN and proudly boasted that they make their husbands do the dishes. If you are an impuissant man and can deal with that then all clear. If you cannot then steer clear of the women who wear the pants in the family because our Prophet Muhammad (S) has stated that the man is the leader of the family. The leading cause of American Muslim men going abroad to marry brides is the high percentage of contemptuous feminists in the marriage pool in America. If a woman feels happy about the thought of pleasing her husband then move her to the top of your list.

There are a lot of other considerations and guidelines provided in the Sunnah and the eager bachelor is urged to add to his knowledge by researching further. I pray that Allah grants you a beautiful pious home maker(s) who will be the delight of your eyes and the coolness of your soul.

Also checkout Men Whom Women Should Not Marry.

http://muslimspice.com/women-whom-men-should-not-marry#.UM4yaeTWLXD

Islamist Egypt: Cairo court prosecutes atheist for blasphemy on eve of constitutional vote.

Pakistan is terriorist state .Stop sending missionary in Pakistan.Swedish missionary dies after Pakistan shooting

Birgitta Almeby

Sveriges Television (SVT) reported that 71-year-old Birgitta Almeby died at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm late on Wednesday.

She was receiving treatment after having been flown home to Sweden for specialist medical care for her injuries.

Niclas Lindgren, director of the missionary wing of the Pentecostal church in Sweden, said it was hard to come to grips with Almeby's killing.

“Birgitta worked with social issues like education and health care. If she’d worked with political issues, it may have been understandable why she got murdered,” he told The Local.

“There was no indication that there was a threat to her life. It was very unexpected. As it is now, we don’t know what the motive was or why she was killed.”

Lindgren added that it was "too early to say" whether the murder will affect the missionary's work in Pakistan.

Speaking with Christian newspaper Dagen, a representative from the Pentecostal church in Köping said Almeby's injuries had resulted in serious brain damage, leaving little hope that she would ever fully recover.

Almeby was attacked in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, on the eastern border with India last Monday.

"She was returning from her office and was attacked when she arrived in front of her home in the Model Town neighbourhood," Awais Malik, a senior police official told AFP.

She was working in Lahore for the US-founded Full Gospel Assemblies, which describes itself as a "church fellowship" with congregations all over the world.

The woman had lived in Pakistan for almost forty years.

Malik said on Monday that the culprits had not yet been identified.

The missionary wing of the Pentecostal church in Sweden still has one family in Pakistan, according to press officer Noomi Lind:

“But they are safe at the moment, as far as we can see. So they are going to stay for the time being,” she told The Local.

Lahore, a city of eight million, suffered a string of high-profile bombings blamed on Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants in 2010.

In August 2011, US development worker Warren Weinstein was kidnapped after gunmen tricked their way into his Lahore home. Pakistani officials believe he is being held by al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Pakistan's lawless
northwest.

In April, a British Muslim Red Cross worker was beheaded nearly four months after being kidnapped in the southwestern city of Quetta..

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article15924302.ab
http://blog.hirschi.se/2012/12/swedish-missionary-killed-in-action.html

Monitoring of emails, calls to start within 90 days .

ISLAMABAD: All emails, telephone calls and other communications with the rest of the world will begin to be monitored within 90 days at a cost of million of dollars, according to a deadline given by the government to operators including PTCL.

The government has assigned PTCL and other operators to install monitoring equipment by the end of this year for checking voice and email communications from abroad and the services of the country’s spy agency will be used basically to check and curb blasphemous and obscene websites on the Internet.

“The regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has assigned 14 LDIs, including PTCL, to install this monitoring equipment,” senior executive vice president of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Sikandar Naqi toldThe News on Thursday.

He said the PTA had installed a monitoring system to check 15 gigabytes (GB) traffic coming from international routes at a cost of $10 million in 2008. Now this international traffic from abroad has increased to 275 GB so the cost of monitoring could be higher.

He dispelled the impression that after placing International Clearing House (ICH), the rate of incoming calls from abroad especially from Europe, US and Canada had gone up to unprecedented levels, claiming that in the pre-ICH the approved termination rate stood at 6.25 cents which went up to 8.80 cents from October 1, 2012.

The termination rates of other countries showed that the rate being charged by Pakistan was not unusual as it stood at 8 to 10 cents in European Union, 16 cents in Afghanistan, 21.5 cents in Oman, 10 cents in Indonesia, 15 cents in Norway, 15 cents in Qatar, 9.5 cents in Sri Lanka, 10.5 cents in Saudi Arabia, 13 cents in UAE and 8 cents in UK Mobile.

“So far the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has collected $40 million in the first 15 days of October after placing ICH mechanism and the government expects $1 billion in the whole financial year.”

Mama Qadeer Baloch is like a candle which burns itself but give light to others.

 Opinion:

Translated by Rakshani Baloch

Abdul Qadeer [Mama Qadeer Baloch] may seem alone; perhaps that loneliness is his power and friend. Every morning without feeling any exhaustion he goes to his [protest] camp which is decorated with the bouquets of the pictures of enforced-disappeared and martyred Baloch activists. He leaves for home as the sun sets. He dignifiedly sits on his mat as if a 22 grade officer is seated on his chair.

Many people turn their weakness to a power that can move mountains such a Himalaya. For some loneliness is their assembly, they talk to it; they laugh and make it laugh with them. Resolute people like Mama Qadeer number few. When passersby see him, different questions cross their mind – some think he is mental whereas some might feel sorry at his condition. But, people like Mama Qadeer cannot be discouraged by the history in fact they make history – a gold history!

The body of Qadeer’s young son Jalil Reki was found in Mand area of District Kech in Balochistan. He did not mourn the death of his son. There was a general perception that after losing his son, Mama might no more be interested is struggle for recovery of enforced-disappeared Baloch. They though he [Mama] will now struggle to feed himself and his family, but Mama Qadeer consider all forced-disappeared Baloch persons as his children. It is not necessary that everyone in this world lives only for their personal gains; in fact there are lot of people who live to serve others – such as Mama Qadeer.

Mama is like a candle which burns itself but give light to others. He is like a seed which is buried in the ground but it has grown up to become a tree and provides shade and fruits to others. Whether it is cold, scorching heart, cloudy, strong wind or heavy rain; Mama Qadeer Baloch’s journey never stopped. Neither an unfavourable circumstance nor an unexpected weather can become an obstacle in his way or break his will – at his old age he is as passionate as a young man.

Quetta is a big city and it is the capital of Balochistan; here people are struggling to make a living like people in other cities. People are struggling for a comfortable life and better future; they worry about their bank balance; they want news cars, beautiful Bungalows, postings and transfer. In this race of life and future there are many who snatch the happiness of others to make their own life comfortable and colourful and call it ability to survive. They destroy other’s families and future to fulfil their personal gains. They are struggling to provide comfort and tranquillity to their sex feet body – it is said, “Everything is fair in love and war” but I would like to add a new saying which is, “Everything is also fair for personal gain.”

People are busy to build their beautiful world but Mama Qadeer Baloch is unfamiliar with this whole saga – for him his protest camp is his world. He is busy building his camp and these pictures at his camp are his total asset. His bank balance (his reputation) is growing, today his protest camp entered 455th day – today his protest for human rights reached to 933rd day – this is Mama Qadeer’s bank balance. He is not from those selfish people who snatch other’s happiness to please themselves. He is sacrificing his own happiness for others. He is sacrificing his desires, needs, personal life, and social life and buried his future dreams. He risked his today for a better tomorrow for others. He fighting against the whole system. He carrying on this struggle alone, empty-handed but with dignity and bravery because his mind is not empty, there is power within his mind. He uses this power but it is invisible.

Initially people would glance at him when passing by his camp but now they seem confined to their own world or perhaps they are tired of staring at him anymore but he [Mama Qadeer] never get tired. After travelling a long journey, still there are no signs of tiredness on his face, every dawn refreshes the circle of blood in his body and gives him more courage, and then he picks up his pictures and goes to the protest camp. It is not just a protest camp but it is a battlefield where Mama Qadeer Baloch is fighting against an entire army.

He sits alone at his protest camp but his loneliness is self-crowded. There is melody in the silence of his camp – a melody that rules the heart. It is our false imagination that we say he is alone. We wrongfully think he might become hopeless and abandon his struggle. He, however, feels surrounded in an environment of festivity – he sees happiness all around him and sees a world beyond what we see today. He sees a bright tomorrow. People think Mama Qadeer is insane but Mama Qadeer considers the world as crazy.

When one’s characteristic is strong, then a lonely person makes his personal life a struggle and fights against the whole system. Mama Qadeer is a character; he is the main character of a novel.

Mama Qadeer’s protest camp is only few yards away from ‘Balochi Academy’, I wish, any Baloch writer writes a novel about this living character and preserve this novel for coming generations because future is going to be proud of him and history is witnessing his struggle. Mama Qadeer has become a movement which is recording history – a bright history and history of a new dawn.

This article was first published in DailyTawar, an Urdu newspaper in Balochistan. Translation edited by Balochwarna news for precise reading. 

The seven countries where the state can execute you for being atheist

Posted by Max Fisher on December 10, 2012 at 1:23 pm

  

Data source: International Humanist and Ethical Union (Max Fisher/Washington Post)

The annual “freedom of thought” report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union, an advocacy umbrella group that represents and seeks to protect non-religious people, details laws and practices around the world that punish or restrict atheism. The group presented the report to the United Nations today.

The report tracks, among other things, which countries have laws explicitly targeting atheists. There are not many, but the states that forbid non-religiousness – typically as part of “anti-blasphemy” legislation – include seven nations where atheism is punishable by death. All seven establish Islam as the state religion. Though that list includes some dictatorships, the country that appears to most frequently condemn atheists to death for their beliefs is actually a democracy, if a frail one: Pakistan. Others include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, the West African state of Mauritania, and the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. These countries are colored red on the above map.

Earlier this year, a 23-year-old Saudi man named Hamza Kashgari tweeted in commemoration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday that, while he found the Islamic holy man inspirational, he did not believe in his divinity. When Kashgari was accused of blasphemy, he attempted to flee the country for his life, it turns out rightly. He was arrested while changing flights in Malaysia, deported back to Saudi Arabia, and is now awaiting charges that could include his execution for blasphemy and atheism.

Though atheists are rarely handed death sentences in these countries, the threat of punishment can stifle religious freedom. As this interview with an atheist in Saudi Arabia showed, the laws have a chilling effect, enforcing cultural taboos against atheism and pushing non-religious citizens to keep their beliefs secret out of fear of retaliation.

Some countries, according to the report, also codify possible prison sentences for atheists (these countries are indicated in orange on the map). These laws, however, can be difficult to distinguish from restrictions against “religious incitement,” which are common in much of the world, including in atheist-friendly Western Europe. But the report indicates that, in countries such as Egypt or Indonesia, the laws appear to be used to specifically target citizens who, for example, publicly profess their own atheism.

Other countries, colored yellow on the map, restrict rights for atheists, for example by limiting marriage rights or public service.

The United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Bielefeldt accepted the report, according to Reuters, noting that there is little global awareness that atheism is protected by international human rights law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/10/the-seven-countries-where-the-state-can-execute-you-for-being-atheist/