Khuda Kay Liye Movie Night at UC Berkeley

by on 05. Oct, 2008 in Events, Islam, Issues, Movies, News, Pakistan, U.S

Recently UC Berkeley’s PakSA (Pakistani Student Association) has become quite active and they have decided to have a movie night coming Wednesday, October 8th, to screen the best Pakistani movie ever made (in my opinion).

Khuda Kay Liye is about the turmoil currently rampant in Pakistan where the seculars are up against the Talibanization of Pakistan and the takeover of the Pakistani culture in the name of Islam. The film showcases Pakistan in a post 9/11 era and how it has affected Pakistanis and Muslims in general.

From Facebook’s event page, here are the details:

Time and Place Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Time: 6:45pm – 10:00pm
Location: 2040 VLSB (Valley Life Sciences Building) UC Berkeley Campus
City/Town: Berkeley, CA

Tickets are $4 for members (to become a member go to http://groups.google.com/group/cal-psa)

$5 for non-members, Pizza and drinks will be served.

If you are interested, there will be a discussion after the movie (time permitting)

Everyone is welcome!! The movie is in Urdu but will have English subtitles….

For those of you who don’t know about the movie, here is the link, check it out! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068956/

Last but not least, you don’t have to be a Pakistani to attend this event!

My wife who is pretty much responsible for making sure this event is a success has asked me to convey to my friends that they RSVP on Facebook’s event page so that they don’t run low on Pizza and Drinks.

Trailer

My favorite song from the movie….

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The Marriott Plot

by on 20. Sep, 2008 in Islam, Issues, News, Pakistan, Politics

A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan Saturday evening, right after the Iftaar, killing at least 60 people and wounding scores of others.

The tally will climb up as more and more bodies are found, the Marriott Hotel now looks like a war zone with a huge crater in front of its gates. The fire has engulfed the entire hotel, just imagine hell and you will get the picture.

Terrorists like Islamabad because of its high foreigner concentration being the capital of Pakistan. Hitting Islamabad is like hitting the very core of Pakistan because Islamabad is considered to be the most secured place in Pakistan according to inhabitants of other cities.

At least 10 suicide bombers have targeted Islamabad since 1995 — claiming more than 200 lives and injuring scores of others. Last night was the second time the Marriott Hotel was targeted.


Picture courtesy of NY Times.

Here is the Ten Year Timeline, courtesy of OhMyNews:

Nov. 19, 1995
A suicide bomber blasts a truck loaded with ammunition at the main gate of Egyptian embassy, killing 14 people. The embassy building was severely damaged.

May 27, 2005
A decade later, a suicide bomber detonates a bomb in the courtyard of Imam Bari shrine. In this gory incident at least 24 were killed.

Jan. 26, 2007
This was the first time a suicide bomber tried to sneak into the Marriott hotel, using the back entrance. During the brawl, a bomber and a hotel guard were killed and five other hotel employees were injured.

Feb. 6, 2007
One bomber was killed in the parking area of Islamabad International Airport and five security guards were injured.

July 18, 2007
A suicide bomber attacked a rally of lawyers during a procession to city courts where deposed Chief Justice Iftkhar Muhammad was about to deliver a speech. Twenty people were killed, including political workers and lawyers.

July 27, 2007
A gory incident at the Red Mosque was on the minds of citizens of Islamabad, where during the three week long military operation thousands were caught up in fighting between paramilitary Rangers and religious students. On the eve of the re-opening of the Red Mosque there was fierce fighting between these two groups. The brawl led to a suicide attack at nearby AabPara Market that claimed the lives of 22 people, including seven police guards.

March 15, 2008
A suicide bomber attacks an exclusive French restaurant — Lana Capers — where two FBI agents were dining. Two persons were killed and 15 others were injured.

June 2, 2008
The Danish embassy was targeted by a powerful car bomb that was rammed into the embassy’s main gate. Six people were killed and 25 were injured.

July 6, 2008
In the vicinity of the Red Mosque, another suicide bomber targets a civilian crowd and policemen. Twenty people were killed and the city was put in an emergency lock down with tight security. A convention of religious scholars was going on in the mosque when all this happened.

Sept. 20, 2008
A blast at the Marriott hotel jolts the whole of Pakistan. It was the worst kind of blast, totally devastating the five star hotel. More than 100 people are feared dead and 200 were seriously injured. There was a pit 50 meters in diameter and 100 meters deep.

As you can see, majority of the attacks have taken place after 2005. This I believe has been due to the increasing rift between the Taliban factions of the tribal areas and the Government.

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Britain Now Part of The Muslim World

by on 19. Sep, 2008 in Islam, Issues, News, Politics, U.S, World

Maybe Britain wasn’t ready, maybe it was and even if it wasn’t, they have willingly or unwillingly become part of the Muslim world. Let me say something here, it is not a publicity stunt when you become a part of the Muslim world, it just puts you down even more.

Britain has officially adopted the Sharia law, no I am not kidding. In Britain, Sharia courts have been given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases which comprise of legal matters concerning finance, marriage, child custody, divorce, violence and abuse. There is a network of five Sharia courts and the rulings are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system. What changed is that before the Sharia courts, rulings could not be enforced and Muslims were voluntarily allowed compliance or non-compliance without a legal recourse.

You ask, how did all this happen? Apparently there is a clause in the UK Arbitration Act 1996 which classifies the Sharia court as arbitration tribunal. The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case.

In other words, I could decide if I want to go to a Sharia court or the Real court. It would be interesting to see who gets to decide when both parties cannot seem to make an agreement. I would go to the court which has the most favorable ruling for me, won’t I? This will result in a deadlock and one party will definitely be a loser.

There is no question that Islam tends to look at men in a more favorable way than women and that will make the Sharia courts very interesting because the side that loses will always want to pursue second opinion from traditional courts if they believe that the Sharia court was unjust.

According to TimesOnline:

“In a recent inheritance dispute handled by the Sharia court, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons. The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with Sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts.”

As you can see, there is already a problem. That’s not it, the article goes on to say:

“In the six cases of domestic violence, Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment. In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.”

It doesn’t really make sense that the law that has been shunned in Muslim countries is now being adopted in non-Muslim country so that a relatively small part of the population can be appeased. Here in the U.S. it is all about separation between church and state and this happens to be the strength of this country. I am in no way implying that the U.S. is not a Christian country but at least I am not treated inferiorly or superiorly in the eyes of law when it comes to legal system. I am not asked to swear on the bible in front of jury and that’s how it should be in the court of law. Having a Sharia court and a Regular court is like going “opinion hunting”, it has nothing to do with jsutice.

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