Charsadda was a political center of Pakhtuns and will remains so: CM Hoti

We are committed for eradication of terrorism from the motherland and establishment of peace and we have paid a heavy price for it. All other kind of sacrifice will be rendered for this purpose. The Pakhtuns are fighting for endurance of humanity not only their survival. ANP has achieved its manifesto within two and a half year despite challenging circumstances. He said eight to ten departments will soon shift to provinces from federation under provincial autonomy and the province has got its identity and sovereignty as per aspirations of our ancestors and leaders. He said provincial autonomy, NFC Award, net hydel profit and restoration of constitution of 1973 in its original shape are greater achievements of the government. Our opponents are scared of successes attained under red flag.

Charsadda,[ANP Online desk] Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti has said we are committed for eradication of terrorism from the motherland and establishment of peace and we have paid a heavy price for it. All other kind of sacrifice will be rendered for this purpose. The Pakhtuns are fighting for endurance of humanity not only their survival. ANP has achieved its manifesto within two and a half year despite challenging circumstances. He said eight to ten departments will soon shift to provinces from federation under provincial autonomy and the province has got its identity and sovereignty as per aspirations of our ancestors and leaders. He said provincial autonomy, NFC Award, net hydel profit and restoration of constitution of 1973 in its original shape are greater achievements of the government. Our opponents are scared of successes attained under red flag.
He expressed these views while addressing a huge gathering at Sherpao Charsadda on Saturday. The chief minister announced developmental projects worth millions on the occasion which includes 31 crore rupees for reconstruction of 12 roads in Charsadda and announcement of two crore from his personal special package for developmental schemes in PF-21 Charsadda two union councils comprising 10 transformers of 100KV, installation of 40 double hand pumps, sanitation schemes and construction of two additional rooms in Government Primary School Mosa Khel Sherpao. He excludes Union Council Zaim from all sorts of taxes. The chief minister also approved construction of bridges in Munda Head and Doaba Dildar Garhi costing million. Prominent political figure Haji Alam Zeb Khan along with his family and hundreds companions announced inclusion to ANP. The chief minister offered red caps to the new party members and said charsadda was a political center of Pakhtuns and will remains so. Provincial ministers, MPAs and other political figures were also present.

The chief minister said hundreds of ANP workers have rendered sacrifice of their lives for rooting brutality and violence in Swat and the government has followed path of political dialogues for resolving terrorism from day one but unfortunately, anti state elements sabotaged it adding when this fire spread to Bouneer, Charsadda, Mardan and Peshawar, the government has decided the use of force then, he maintained. He said the provincial government has gone to the extreme limit for establishment of peace and even dialogues have been take place in the presence of suicide bombers.

The chief minister said the present government has enforced Nizam-e- Adl in Malakand division as per aspirations of the people. He said there is no limit of sacrifices for elimination of the menace of terrorism. The chief minister threw detailed light on performance of the government during the last two and a half year and said unanimous endorsement of NFC Award, restoration of 1973 constitution in its original shape, provincial autonomy and attainment of net hydel profits are such achievements of the government which are matchless. He said new developmental program worth 17 billion has been freezed and preference has been given to rehabilitation of flood affectees.Assistance to owners of damaged houses through watan cards after compensation to flood victims and injured is in progress and billions will be distributed among flood affectees,he was quoted as saying.

Addressing the gathering, Provincial Information Minister Main Iftekhar Hussain said peace in the whole world is linked to peace in this region and establishment of peace in Afghanistan will result in establishment of peace in tribal areas adding peace in tribal belt means peace in Pakistan and peace in Pakistan ensure peace in the whole world, he maintained. He said ANP has lost more than 450 workers in this gorilla warfare and the terrorists want to subdue us but we will not bow our heads. He said the terrorists will be fought till the last and Bacha Khans Ideology will sustain.

Earlier, presenting the welcome address, special assistant to chief minister Syed Masom Shah Bacha said challenges confronting the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa demand strengthening of the present government and ANP and the present government is committed for fighting terrorism and flooding. Syed Masom Shah Bacha welcomed new party members and assured that ANP will fulfill brotherhood at all cost.
Earlier the chief minister has been warmly greeted upon reaching Sherpao.

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pukkhtoon

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pukhto ghazal

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Professor Ajmal Khan video

Professor Ajmal Khan, a locally-renowned academic and a close ally of the ruling Awami National Party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was kidnapped on September 7.
In the video tape, aired by number of private TV channels, Khan is shown wearing a traditional Pakhtun cap with a beard, and with two masked men holding Kalashinkov assault rifles standing behind him.
“I am a heart patient and cannot live here any longer. The government should do something for me and should negotiate with the Taliban,” Khan said in the video recording.
“The government should solve their problems (with the Taliban), if they have any,” he added.
An intelligence official in Peshawar said the professor was being held hostage in one of the lawless tribal areas where authorities have no access.
Security officials said Taliban insurgents have been using kidnapping as ransom tool, and to bargain for the release of their militants being held by Pakistan authorities

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dr najib , bacha khan (badshah khan , khan abdul ghaffar khan)

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corrupt politicians

Angelina Julie is not at all happy with her visit to Pakistan..... The philanthropist, soft-hearted world’s number one female actress, Angelina Julie is not at all happy with her visit to Pakistan to see the flood victims. She came here, held the hands of... the victims, made donations, stood up with the miseries of the pe...ople, denied any photo sessions, met with the aid agencies, but then she talks about the darker side of the things. She is not happy with the attitude of the authorities and the government, who were more interested in toeing her line, watching her make movements, trying to please her while pushing the flood victims. She was also perturbed at the Prime Minister’s wish that his family wanted to meet him. Prime Minster’s family was especially flown down all the way from Multan to Islamabad and they presented expensive gifts to Jolie and had a sumptuous meal with her. She said that she was feeling awful at that time to see so much food at the table, suffice for hundreds of flood victims who were fighting like crazy to get a small bag of flour and a small bottle of water. She was ill at ease when she saw the interior of lavish Premier house and some of the government buildings and the chartered planes and other such luxuries, when there was so much misery outside. In her report to the United Nations, she has recommended UN to ask Pakistani government to first cut down on their expenses and to first cut down their luxuries before asking the aid from the world. How true she is.

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shereenyar yousafzai

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pashto ghazal (pakhto ghazal,pukhtu ghazal,pukhtu ghazal)

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Rahman Baba in English

Rahman Baba is a towering giant.
Although dead for over 300 years, the insights and statements of this remarkable man are still quoted and enjoyed up and down the khyber-pukhtoonkhwa .
Now for the first time all of Rahman Baba's poems have been translated into English. You can buy them in a coffee table edition, or as a sampler of his best loved poems, or study the whole diwan in a single, fat volume with English and Pushtu texts side by side.

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UN delivers nearly 170,000 tons of food to flood-hit people

UNITED NATIONS: UN agencies and their partners have delivered almost 170,000 tons of food to millions of people affected by the severe July floods, and are preparing to distribute seeds and fertilizer ahead of the planting season to enable 4.2 million people to feed themselves again, the world body said Friday.

An estimated 8 million flood-affected people are meanwhile expected to receive food aid this month, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

To date, organizations providing health care have delivered enough medicines to cover the health needs of more than 5 million people. More than 6.7 million health consultations have been recorded.

In addition, over 260,000 tents and 413,000 tarpaulins have been provided, enough to accommodate almost 467,000 households 25 per cent of those in need of shelter material.

The water, sanitation and hygiene cluster is now providing clean water for daily use to 3.7 million people, and almost 1.5 million people have benefited from distributions of hygiene kits.

Meanwhile, OCHA and the global humanitarian logistics cluster, led by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), today launched an interactive web-based tool dubbed Global Mapping of Emergency Stockpiles, which displays information on emergency relief warehouses managed by international humanitarian organizations.

The aim of the tool is to help affected countries and aid agencies identify and send emergency relief items in response to crises. It is the only existing central platform that emphasizes who has what where by region, sector, organization and organization type, OCHA and WFP said in a joint statement.

Information has so far been provided by UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and a number of governmental entities. OCHA is in discussion with other stockpile owners to expand the content of the database.

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Gunmen torch 29 Nato oil lorries in Mithri

At least 29 fuel-carrying lorries, meant for Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan, caught fire after unidentified armed men opened fire here in Mithri area in Balochistan on late Friday,
This attack is the fifth of its kind since October 1st. “27 oil containers for Nato supplies were heading to Afghanistan from Karachi when some unknown gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on those in Mithri locality of Bolan district in Balochistan”, official from Levies Forces said.

He said: “Firing resulted in eruption of fierce ablaze which engulfed 27 oil tankers in no time.”

“Fire fighting crew has been called in from Sibi district to bring raging blaze under control”, he told media.

Meanwhile, Levies Forces have surrounded the locality and have commenced search operation, he said.

This attack on Nato supplies is the fifth in a row since October 1st. Also, miscreants have torched Nato supply containers in Shikarpur, Islamabad, Quetta and Nowsehra before this.

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Terrorists attack Shah Ghazi’s Shrine; four dead in karachi

Four people have been killed and several others injured in two blasts near the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Clifton.
The twin blasts occurred within minutes of each other at the shrine’s gate, sources said.

A large number of poor and deserving people as well as others gather at Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine everyday and the number grows manifold, particularly, on Thursday.

Rangers and heavy contingents of police have arrived at the blasts site where rescue activities are being carried out by emergency services.

Sindh Home Minister Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza also arrived immediately after the blasts.

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Musharraf admits to training militants

LONDON: Former president Pervez Musharraf has told a German magazine that his forces trained militant groups to fight in Indian-held Kashmir.

He told the Der Spiegel the Nawaz Sharif government turned a blind eye because it wanted to put pressure on India to enter talks.

Mr Musharraf said in the interview that militant groups “were indeed formed” in part because of the international community’s “apathy” over the Kashmir dispute.

The retired general also indicated that he did not regret the Kargil intrusion that led to skirmishes with India in 1999.

“It is the right of any country to promote its own interests when India is not prepared to discuss Kashmir at the UN and resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner,” he said.—Agencies

(article by dawn news)

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Minister Sports and CUlture Syed Aqil Shah with Singer Zarsanga

Minister Sports and CUlture Syed Aqil Shah with Singer Zarsanga and her six sons at Aza Khele, Nowshehra, where this family live in tent. Aqil Shah had given financial assistance as well as he announced the construction of home for her.

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sifwat ghayur pictures

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Assassination of Swat varsity VC widely condemned

A large number of activists of human rights organisations and political parties on Sunday staged protest demonstration to condemn the assassination of Dr Mohammad Farooq, the Vice-chancellor of Swat University.

Dr Farooq was assassinated in his clinic on Saturday along with his assistant in Mardan.

The protest was held outside Peshawar Press Club under the auspices of Amn Tehrik. The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans against militancy and in favour of peace in the region. They also chanted slogans against the target killing.

Amn Tehrik convener Idrees Kamal, National Party provincial president Sayed Mukhtar Bacha, Aimal Khattak, Shahab Khattak, Fazal Raziq of Awami Party, Zar Ali Khan, Amir Khan of Pakhtun Democratic Council, Dr Said Alam Mehsud of Peoples Awareness Movement, Shakeel Wahidullah, Tariq Afghan and Hassan Buneri of Azad Pakhtun Students Federation led the protesters.

Addressing the protesters, Mr Bacha condemned the killing of Dr Farooq. “He was killed for his liberal views and anti-militants vision,” he said. He lashed out at the government for its failure to provide security to its peace loving masses.

Mr Kamal said that conspiracy had been hatched against Pakhtuns and they were being killed on different pretexts.

Dr Mahsud said that Dr Farooq was a profound and brilliant reformer. “He was a not a traditionalist like many religious scholars. It is our bad luck that some forces are at work trying to turn Pakhtunkhwa into a den of warriors,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malgari Doctoran, an association of doctors affiliated with Awami National Party, expressed grief over the assassination of Dr Farooq Khan and demanded arrest of his killers at earliest.

According to a press release issued by Malgari Doctoran information secretary Dr Hamid Bangash, an emergency meeting was held with its president Dr Shaukat Jamal Amirzada in the chair to show anguish over the murder of Dr Farooq. The meeting asked the government to scale up its efforts to crush perpetrators of terrorism.

The meeting said that the slain psychiatrist rendered matchless services by helping poor people suffering from psychological, mental and psychiatric ailments.

MANSEHRA: The vice-chancellor and faculty members of Hazara University condemned the killing of Dr Farooq and demanded arrest of his killers.

In this connection an emergency meeting, attended largely by staff and faculty members, was held with Vice-chancellor Dr Sakhawat Shah in the chair, according to a press release issued on Sunday.

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Cash disbursement to flood-hits will take 3 months: Bashir bilour

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Senior Minister, Bashir Ahmed Bilour Monday said the process of disbursement of funds among the people affected by floods will be completed within the next three months.

Speaking at KP Assembly, Bilour said 230,000 houses were washed away by the floods in which, he pointed out, 1065 people were killed. Now the provinces needs Rs4.5 billion for their reconstruction, he added.

Initially, the Federation and the province have issued Rs1 billion each and that the process of giving away the cash to the affectees will be completed within the next three months.

He said strict notice will be taken against the irregularities in the distribution of relief goods.

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28 Nato oil tankers set ablaze in Islamabad

Unidentified gunmen killed at least three people and set 28 Nato oil tankers on fire carrying fuel for Nato and US forces in Afghanistan in Islamabad on Monday.

Many tankers caught fire during the attack. Rescue sources said at least three people died. The sources added that seven others were injured in the attack.

A vital land route for Nato supplies for Afghanistan that has been blocked for three days will reopen "relatively quickly," Pakistan's ambassador to Washington told a US news channel on Sunday.

Pakistan halted the Nato convoys on Thursday after Nato helicopters killed three Pakistani soldiers.

"I think the supply line will be open relatively quickly," he said, adding that he expected it would take "less than a week."

"It's not a blockade. It's just a temporary suspension of the convoys moving through," Haqqani added.

Officials say nearly 70 per cent of Nato supplies and 40 per cent of its fuel requirements are shipped via Pakistan for some 160,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan.

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Two more schools bombed in Pakistan tribal belt

Insurgents, using explosives, blew up two schools in Mohmand and Bajaur agencies bringing the tally of schools destroyed by militants to 97
The militants bombed Government Boys Middle School in Masood Ziarat, Tehsil Safi, Mohmand Agency, according to political administration.

On the other hand, a Boys Primary School was destroyed using explosives in Mandan area, Tehsil Salarzai, Bajaur Agency.

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CIA steps up drone campaign in Fata: report

The US military is secretly diverting aerial drones from Afghanistan to escalate a CIA-led campaign against militants in neighboring Pakistan, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The military has lent Predator and Reaper drones to Central Intelligence Agency operatives to target and bomb militants on the Afghan border, the report said, citing unnamed US officials.

CIA drone strikes in September in Pakistan rose to an average of five per week, up from an average of two or three per week, the Journal said.

Increased strikes in September were partially aimed at disrupting a suspected terror plot against European targets, which was believed to target multiple countries, including Britain, France and Germany.

Unnamed US officials told the paper that a successful terrorist strike against the West coming from Pakistan could result in US forces taking unilateral military action.

According to the Journal, factories cannot produce aerial drones fast enough to satisfy the increased demands of the Pentagon and the CIA.

Pakistani officials have reported that at least 21 US drone attacks have killed around 120 people in September, the highest monthly tally of attacks.

The overwhelming majority of the attacks took place in North Waziristan, considered Pakistan's most notorious bastion of Al-Qaeda-linked and Taliban commanders opposed to the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Most of the strikes have targeted the Haqqani network, one of the strongest US foes in Afghanistan whose leadership is based in North Waziristan.

But local tribesmen claimed the US missiles were killing civilians.

Washington has classified Pakistan's tribal belt on the Afghan border as a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.

A covert US drone war in Pakistan has killed around 1,140 people in about 140 strikes since August 2008, including a number of senior militants, but the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim country.

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taliban killed dr farooq vice chancellor swat university

پاکستان کے صوبہ خیبر پختونخوا کے ضلع سوات کے طالبان نے سوات یونیورسٹی کے وائس چانسلر اورمذہبی سکالر ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق کے قتل کی ذمہ داری قبول کی ہے۔

سنیچر کے روز ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق کو مردان میں نامعلوم مُسلح افراد نے فائرنگ کرکے ہلاک کر دیا تھا۔
پشاور سے ہمارے نامہ نگار رفعت اللہ اورکزئی نے بتایا کہ سوات کے طالبان کے ترجمان عمر حسن اعرابی نے ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق کی ہلاکت کی ذمہ داری قبول کی ہے۔
عمر حسن نے فون پر ذمہ داری قبول کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ڈاکٹر عمر فاروق طالبان کے خلاف پروپیگنڈا کر رہے تھے اور طالبان مخالف کتابیں بھی لکھی تھیں۔
’وہ طالبان کے خلاف پروپیگینڈا کر رہے تھے اور وہ ایک جدید اسلام پھیلا رہے تھے۔‘
یاد رہے کہ سنیچر کی دوپہر ایک بجے کے قریب ملاکنڈ روڈ پرگرلز کالج کے سامنے سوات یونیورسٹی کے وائس چانسلر اور مذہبی سکالر ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق کو نامعلوم مُسلح افراد نے اُس وقت فائرنگ کرکے ہلاک کردیا جب وہ اپنے کلینک میں کھانا کھا رہے تھے۔
انہوں نے بتایا کہ فائرنگ سے اُن کا ایک محافظ بھی زخمی ہوئے جنہیں مردان کے سول ہسپتال منتقل کردیاگیا ہے۔
ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق کا تعلق صوبہ خیبر پختون خوا کے ضلع مردان سے تھا۔ سوات یونیورسٹی کا وائس چانسلر مقرر ہونے سے قبل وہ اسلامی یونیورسٹی سوات کے وائس چانسلر تھے جو فوجی آپریشن سے پہلے طالبان کے سربراہ مولانا فضل اللہ کا مرکز تھا اور امام ڈھیرئی کے نام سے مشہور تھا۔
ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق جماعتِ اسلامی میں ایک سرگرم رہنماء بھی رہے لیکن بعد میں انہوں نے جماعتِ اسلامی سے علیحدگی اختیار کر لی تھی۔
ڈاکٹر محمد فاروق نے خیبر میڈیکل کالج سے ایم بی بی ایس کی ڈگری حاصل کی تھی اور وہ پشتو چینل اے وی ٹی خیبر پر اسلامی تعلیمات کے پروگرام بھی کیا کرتے تھے۔
دوسری جانب سوات طالبان نے سوات کے علاقے شکردرہ میں ایک کارروائی کے دوران چار ایف سی اہلکاروں کو ہلاک کرنے کا دعویٰ کیا۔ تاہم اس دعوے کی آزاد 
 ذرائع سے تصدیق نہیں ہو سکی۔

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Who was Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan Shaheed?

Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan was recognized as a writer, columnist, and intellectual throughout the country. He was also known as a religious scholar and competent TV compare. He was born at a village, in the district of Swabi. He obtained his elementary education at his hometown. Then he joined Cadet College, Hasanabdal, and later on the Cadet College, Kohat. After having acquired the degree in medicine, he decided to specialize in psychiatry. He established his private practice in Mardan. Some of his works include “Pakistan and the Twenty First Century (Urdu)”, “The Struggle for Islamic Revolution”, and “What is Islam”. God has bestowed upon him the quality of presenting his propositions in simple language and clarity of style.

Dr. Farooq Khan was an enlightened religious scholar and he served Islam well and he wanted to take Muslims out of the present and prevailing quagmire. He had a feeling for the Muslims and wanted to bring them at par with other nations of the world. His services for the Muslims will be remembered for a long time to come. He was a vice chancellor of the Swat Islamic University and had started to rehabilitate those children who were suffered from the menace of extremism and terrorism.

Dr Mohammad Farooq, along with his gunman were killed in an assassination attempt on Saturday. Dr Farooq, Who was always a rocky mountain against the provokers for insurgency, extremism, terrorism, fundamentalism in Pashtun Afghan watan and in the World, had nice knowledge of peace, love, religion, history, culture, democracy. He will be always in our ...memory. How many of us will be killed by our enemy on the name of Islam and strategic depth and how long the our so called leaders and the world will remain silent on the ongoing genocide of Pashtun intellectuals, and moderate political workers on both side of the border?

His death created a vacuum which will take a long time to be filled. We demand of the government to arrest the culprit and punish them for their such heinous crime against humanity. Dr. Farroq khan was a true son of this soil and his martyrdom exposed the true faces of terrorists who have only one agenda to kill.


(Dr. Farooq Khan’s mission in his own words)

My Vision and Mission

I am humanist, Muslim, Pakistani and a Pakhtun. To strive for the well being of the whole humanity, to uphold the cause of Muslim Ummah and to exalt the dignity of Pakistan and Pukhtoons is my mission. There is no contradiction between their interests, provided every issue is seen with justice and fair play.

In my opinion there are ten basic values which should be honored by every individual, community, country and the whole mankind. These essential and fundamental values are:

• Human equality and democratic culture
• Justice
• Honesty
• Merit
• Hard work and thorough struggle
• Law abiding mentality
• Wisdom and patience
• Education
• Health
• Strong and well-coordinated welfare institutions for the down trodden classes.

It is not possible for me to address the whole humanity so I address Muslim Ummah, Pakistan and Pukhtoons. In my opinion the degraded and helpless position of all the above three communities is because of the lack of the above ten fundamental values. We lagged behind in fulfilling and abiding all these values. Without honoring these values, we will not be able to survive as prestigious communities and nations.

The Muslims usually blame others for their plight, but in my view the internal factors are much more important than the external factors and once we overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings then the external world will become favorable slowly and steadily.

Development and dignity of Pakistan and the Ummah is based on the efforts to achieve these ideals and standards. It is very clear that a thorough struggle is needed in this regard. This struggle should be totally free from any kind of violence, sentimentalism and provocative rhetoric.

I always strictly follow the teachings of Quran, Sunnah, and my conscience in pondering over all the collective issues and problems facing us. In my opinion, the Muslim Ummah needs a comprehensive discussion and consensus on the following issues:

• Status of Women in Islamic Society
• The real instructions of Islam regarding Jihad and Qital
• The true perspective of Islamic teachings in crimes and punishment
• Islamic instructions regarding relations between Muslims and Non-Muslims

I have written a few books on these Issues e.g.:

• Jihad, Qital aur Aalam-e-Islam (Urdu)
• Islam Kya hai?(Urdu)
• Islam and Women (Urdu & English)
• Dialogue with the West (English)
• Kashmir Issue (Urdu & English)
• Ikkisween Saddi aur Pakistan (Urdu)
• Jadeed Zehan Kay Shubhat Aur Islam Ka Jawab (Urdu)
• Hudood aur Qisas wa Diyat Ordinance Ka Tanqeedi Jaiza (Urdu)

In my opinion Muslim states must proceed according to the following four important points.

• To bring democratic culture in Muslim states.
• To resolve all the disputes and conflicts through peaceful means.
• To dominate and inculcate the above mentioned ten basic collective values in their states.
• To make a serious and conscious advance in the field of science and technology.
• I have written extensively on the above issues.

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Swat University Vice Chancellor killed

Renowned Islamic scholar Dr Farooq Khan Vice Chancelloer of Swat Islamic University was killed in firing incident in Mardarn.

Dr Farooq Khan’s assistant was also killed in the attack.

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Pentagon says Pakistan border closure hasn't affected Afghanistan mission

U.S. Defense Department on Friday said U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan haven't been affected by Pakistan's closure of a major supply route a day before.
The closure of the crossing at Torkham Gate along the border of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan came after U.S. helicopters "unknowingly killed several Pakistani border guards," said Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.
"It is still the case, at last reports, that Torkham Gate remains closed," Lapan said. "We are still discussing with the Pakistan government that Pakistanis resolve this and get it re- opened, but in the meantime, there is still no immediate impact on our operations in Afghanistan."
About 50 percent of coalition forces' non-lethal supplies, such as water, food and fuel come into Afghanistan from Pakistan's Torkham and Shaman gates, he said.
The incident was not the first such attack this week where American aircraft killed Pakistanis that were not insurgents. Lapan said rising tensions among Pakistanis along the border prompted Pakistan's decision to close the gate.
"What the Pakistani military described to us was that the closure of the gate was due to their concerns over rising tensions, " he said. "It was to them a security issue; tensions in the area due to these incidents."

Such tensions led to a militant attack on a NATO convoy this morning in southern Afghanistan. The convoy was carrying fuel, traveling about 250 miles north of Karachi when militants torched more than two dozen trucks. Pakistani officials are investigating that attack.

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Signaling Tensions, Pakistan Shuts NATO Route

Pakistan angrily closed the crossing to protest the strikes on its side of the border, leaving American officials to use meetings and phone calls to try to soothe relations and get the route reopened. Both sides indicated that they might be able to resolve the dispute with a joint investigation.
But the border closing, and the exceptional series of strikes by piloted aircraft, as opposed to drones, signaled a general increase in tensions between Pakistan and the United States, already uncomfortable allies that are pursuing competing interests in the Afghan war.
The C.I.A. carried out a record number of drone attacks inside Pakistan last month, and new reports surfaced this week of unlawful executions by the Pakistani Army in areas where it has opened operations against Taliban forces threatening the government.
The Pakistani offensives have not extended to North Waziristan, the prime stronghold of the insurgents who infiltrate Afghanistan, a growing source of frustration for American officials who face a deadline this year to show progress in the Afghan war.
“We are clearly in the phase of our relationship where we’re trying to tell them we’re being diddled,” said Teresita C. Schaffer, director of the South Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
But, she added: “We have been trying for a couple of years to decrease our logistical dependence on Pakistan, and have only managed to get it to 80 percent from 90 percent. So, no, we clearly don’t have anyplace else to go.”
The border closing was a clear demonstration of the leverage Pakistan holds over the American war effort. It coincided with a previously scheduled visit by the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, who met Thursday with the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, part of a stream of American officials who have come to alternately cajole and coerce Pakistani cooperation.
On Friday, unidentified assailants in Pakistan attacked and set fire to tankers carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, officials told Reuters, apparently in retaliation for the incursions into Pakistani territory. No one was wounded, an official said.
After the border closing on Thursday, Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, trying to calm the tensions. That conversation followed a telephone call several days ago between Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Kayani, about the previous strikes.
The border closing signaled the limits of Pakistan’s tolerance for intrusions on its sovereignty and for the pressure it was willing to absorb from American officials on any range of issues, despite receiving nearly $2 billion a year in military aid from Washington.
The Pakistani government indicated Thursday that the cross-border strikes were more than it could bear without protest. “We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies,” said the Pakistani interior minister, Rehman Malik.
At the same time, Pakistani officials tried to contain the damage from a video that came to the attention of American officials in recent days showing the execution of six young men, bound and blindfolded, by Pakistani Army soldiers.
Responding to questions from American officials, Pakistani officials acknowledged Thursday that the video had not been faked, as they had first contended, an American official said, and that they had identified the soldiers and would take appropriate measures.
It is in both the American and the Pakistani interests to keep the relationship going, the official said. The Pakistanis, facing economic collapse after the devastating floods of the summer, need American military aid — some $10 billion since 2001 — which could be cut off from units committing atrocities, the official said.
American commanders are eager to continue C.I.A. drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas that have focused on militants from the Taliban and Al Qaeda who cross the border to attack NATO and American troops. The Pakistani government has agreed to the drone campaign, but could always suspend its permission or shrink the area in which the strikes are allowed.
The country is also the prime supply route for the Afghan war, a fact Pakistani and American officials are both keenly aware of. The vast majority of nonlethal supplies — water, food, vehicles — for the coalition forces in landlocked Afghanistan must travel the length of Pakistan, from the southern port of Karachi to the Afghan border.
Along that route, trucks and fuel tankers have at times been hijacked and attacked by Taliban forces. Pakistani authorities have closed the border crossings only occasionally, however, usually citing security concerns.
But they have rarely appeared to hold up supplies in retaliation for NATO or American actions. In 2008, the Pakistanis closed the border crossing for several days after American aircraft bombed a Pakistani paramilitary post in Mohmand, another tribal area. Eleven Pakistanis were killed in the attack.
American commanders in Afghanistan, long fearful that Pakistan could choke off the supply route more permanently, have been seeking alternate paths through Central Asia, but with little success.
On Thursday, Pakistani officials gave them a glimpse of how much harder they could make the Afghan war. Trucks and oil tankers bound for coalition forces sat idle at the border post of Torkham, just north of Peshawar, with no word on when the post, one of two major land crossings to Afghanistan, would reopen, a Pakistani security official said.
But American officials noted that Pakistan had shut only one of several supply routes to Afghanistan, a sign that the Pakistani government wanted to minimize the episode’s fallout.
“We have many different capabilities, routes, ways to resupply, so there’s no immediate impact,” Col. Dave Lapan told reporters in Washington. The blocked route, the Khyber Pass, connects the frontier city of Peshawar to Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan.
Colonel Lapan said American military officials were also looking into whether all procedures had been followed properly in the cross-border incidents. The Pakistani government took no similar action and made no such public protest after the earlier coalition airstrikes, even though they killed an estimated 55 people inside Pakistan.
Those strikes, on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, took place on the border separating Khost Province in Afghanistan from North Waziristan. Coalition helicopters fired into Pakistan three times, with one helicopter briefly breaching Pakistani airspace, according to Maj. Sunset Belinsky, a NATO spokeswoman.
In the airstrike on Thursday, a NATO helicopter attacked a border post at Mandati Kandaw, a town close to Parachinar, in the Kurram tribal area, the Pakistani security official said. Three soldiers of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps were killed and three were wounded, he said.
Another border post, at Kharlachi, also in Kurram, was struck a few hours later, the official added. The two posts are about 15 miles apart and border Paktia Province, in Afghanistan.

Jane Perlez reported from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Helene Cooper from Washington. Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan; Eric Schmitt from Washington; and Alissa J. Rubin from Kabul, Afghanistan.

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Dr. Aafia is an alleged Al Qaeda, CIA agent: Marvi Memon

A prominent, vocal Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Marvi Memon has said that Dr. Aafia is an alleged Al Qaeda and CIA agent; till she is proven innocent in Pakistani courts, she can not be called as the daughter of Pakistan or a national hero.

Marvi, talking to SAMAA, has said that the reality about Dr. Aafia is being hidden and all political leaders and government representatives are trying to gain political mileage and applause from the people by expressing popular sentiments about her.

She added that she and many others did not participate in the parliamentarians' walk out staged on Monday, so it can not be called as an unanimous walk out in favor of Dr. Aafia. She continued to say that she has the courage to speak her heart out, while others who avoided the walk are afraid of people’s anger and have chosen to remain silent.

Memon further added that apart from the US allegations, she has come to know through other sources that Dr. Aafia has been accused of being an agent of Al Qaeda and CIA.

“She is also allegedly a US citizen and I want to know the reality; she must be brought back and put under trial within the country to expose the reality and the truth behind the allegations leveled against her,” she added.

“I demand that the real facts be brought in front of the nation. Real leaders only speak the truth and do not follow wrong sentiments of the masses. Those who are claiming to be well-wishers of Dr. Aafia are dared to solemnly say that they really convinced of her innocence - or are they just following the popular mood of the masses of Pakistan,” she demanded.

“Earlier she was a citizen of Pakistan; she later acquired US citizenship. She must be brought back as she has broken Pakistani law. She must be probed within the country to expose the real truth. An alleged CIA and Al Qaeda agent can not be called a daughter of the nation or national hero until she is cleared of all the allegations. I can not share the truth told by the others as I personally want to be sure of it,” Marvi Memon commented.

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