Monday 4 November 2013

Another day of happiness by Waqas Khan

One can spot many rag pickers in the crowded market of Batamaloo near its cesspools, trashcans and public dumps; picking rags, used paperboards and discarded plastics bottles. Hamida, 13, is in same work for three years. The nose pin was eye-catching on her oil and sweat smeared face. Her attire looked shabby, but the jasmine flower print on her frock and pink veil was striking. She dwells here with her parents and two brothers-Mohammad Junail Mian, 11, and Mohammad Shoboz Mian, 10. They are from Bangaon, a village in Kolkata. The three siblings were carrying rag filled plastic sacks.
A day is not lost when the happy memories are created, ‘We only remember the days of Eid and Basakhi Mela (in Kolkata) for they only make us joyful,’ Hamida said. ‘The other day of happiness was with Abu (my father) when he took us to Makhdoom Sahib Shrine. We offered prayers in the mosque and had fritters. Later, when my brothers and I walked around, I came across a pond, which had plenty of coins in it. I just wished that moment to get them. The shine of those coins never goes off from my memory,’ Recalled Hamida smilingly. 



Monday 9 September 2013

Caught in encounter by Waqas Khan



Caught in encounter
by Waqas Khan
“Every second person in Kashmir has a story to narrate.” This was the last statement our teacher made in his lecture that day, March 18th.... After the lecture finished, I and my classmates were given an assignment by our teacher to find a story on the road or to look for those ‘second’ persons who could narrate us a story. We as usual took more happiness in going out together then to find a story to submit as our assignment. We went to our well fixed Chai Walaa on Bund to have tea first. Long time before, the spot was decided to be a place to discuss issues of high significance like Kashmir conflict, geo politics, religion and so on… But, the meeting only served the purpose of stimulating our brains with tea; filling our bellies with samosas; and mostly jeering over our classmates’ peculiar attitudes.
After we finished tea we reluctantly scattered to find story for our assignment. I talked to many people but didn’t get any respond. Then I did realize how hard it is finding that ‘second person’ and I shouldn’t have taken teacher’s saying so religiously. I finally took some rest on an iron bench in Jehlum view Park at the Bund. There was another boy sitting on the same bench. I started talking to him and fortunately he was chatty. His name was Mohammad Arif. 28 years old. He was from Chadoora. He had a fistful of beard and trimmed moustache. His face had dark skin tone. He was robust. He was wearing dark blue jeans and hooded upper. He said that he deals with the sale and service of computers. I asked him directly in a weary tone, “Does he remember any incident related to conflict?” He said, “Many.”
I got my spiral note-book and Pen passionately as if I was induced with some steroid. He narrated a personal episode.
‘I would go to my friend’s house to relish some puffs of cancer. Their cowshed used to be a safe place for whipping cigarettes.’ He said it jokily, smoking a king-size Gold Flake cigarette.
He said, ‘It was early January in 2000 or late December 1999, when one of the fierce encounters, between the armed insurgents of Kashmir and Indian troops, stroke Wathoora in district Budgam. I was going to Mushtaq’s house for smoking cigarettes as usual. We spent the time together in the cowshed that day till noon. Mushtaq and I went back to his home for having food. When we entered into the house, we saw an armed man entering after us. He was a Kashmiri rebel. He asked for other exit. Mushtaq showed him the way through kitchen veranda. When he left we peeped through the window. We saw the Indian military forces were some 200 yards away. They were speedy in their moves. It took them no time to enter into the house. They yelled and started banging everything inside the house and left after some time. And after few turns of second hand of the clock, we heard a shot fired. We went upstairs eagerly to see the scene. It was appalling for us. I had never seen death of a person so close to my eyes. It was agonizing.
‘Few hours later we heard that the area had been cordoned by the army. The army had reliable information about the presence of few foreign and Kashmiri armed insurgents. It was 5 pm I remember; when around 30 civilians- mostly old men and children, were taken by the army out of their houses. Mushtaq and I were among them. We (30 civilians) were grouped then for their respective sets of forces. I and Mushtaq were put in different groups. Meanwhile, the others assemblage of troops had cordoned the whole village. It was a big village comprising of more than 300 houses. We were made a brilliant shield by army men. They would break into the houses bringing us in front. They used to tell us to recite something from the Qur’an or some Kalimah. They were sure that the insurgents would not kill us. And through our help they would come to know about the insurgent’s whereabouts to confront them easily.
‘After a while, I and an old man of that village were directed inside the house by army to search for the rebels. In one of the room, we saw a stout man with long beard reciting Holy Quran. I stammered to him that army had sent us to disclose their location. Even today, I can recollect that smile on brave man’s face. I can undoubtedly tell you that no one except those who love and fear their lord, have clean consciences have that charm. Meanwhile, I heard the old man sobbing. The beard man told him robustly that he should not fear death, ‘for death is not to be feared but to be accepted with a smile.’ He then told us to reveal the truth to the army men about him, for if we would not do it, they would even slaughter us. We did the same. He managed to escape from the house, but he was chased and killed
‘For next two days, we would only hear the sporadic gunshots, mine blasts and dreadful laments of women. My family informed me later that the troops provided media with incorrect information. As per the troops twelve houses were gutted instead of 94 and few cowsheds out of twenty.
‘Among my group mates, I was much close to captain Kathoj (from Punjab). He used to manage all our essentialities. He would tell our group that the act of armed insurgents was not courageous rather filled with cowardice, for when they have had insurgency in Punjab, the rebels used to send letters to forces to battle in the open grounds or fields, and not making common people shelter for them. I couldn’t ask him that time who is actually making us a shield?
‘The forth day of siege became terrible. Two young girls were shot dead when they went outside for the call of nature. Later it was reflected in media as a cross firing incident. When Siege was lifted on the forth day, I went to my home- a kilometer away from the scene. I remember I was caressed by family and the people of my village.’
Muhammad Arif was waiting for a person from J&K bank, whom he had to handover an Income Tax Report.

Feeling (Ehsaas) with reality (Haqeeqat)



Feeling (Ehsaas) with reality (Haqeeqat)

Keeping self-interested feeling and attributing it to bring peace in Kashmir is futile, until one feels the reality of the vale of Kashmir which continues to bleed peace. The factual stories of Innocent killings, enforced disappearances, fake encounters are the ‘symphonies’ to understand the actuality of the perpetrators and the sufferings of the oppressed. It distresses a common Kashmiri more when the feeling for Kashmir is thought to be created with an alien language and merely for those who couldn’t and don’t understand in their own tongue.
The parallel concert- Haqeeqat e Kashmir (Reality of Kashmir), organized by the civil society of Kashmir to protest Zubin Mehta’s concert proved it today after hundreds of Kashmiris came to witness the concert in the municipal Park near Lal chowk, despite hundred others were restricted by police to enter. The protest concert was held at the same moment in the park when music Director of Israel Philanharmonic orchestra Zubin Mehta was playing western classical symphonies in the Shalimar Garden. The multi facet parallel concert organized by the civil society determined that acquainting with the reality (Haqeeqat) of Kashmir prioritizes for having the real sense (Ehsaas) of bringing peace in Kashmir. The protest concert (Haqeeqat e Kashmir); packed with poetry recitation, stage dramas and folk art attained triumph today. For they had neither big light to illuminate the stage nor remarkable music system; not even any big artists to perform, but they had the soul, a shared aim- a feeling with reality. 

Introduction and origin of Public relation



Introduction
Public relation is an inter-disciplinary study involving human psychology, anthropology, sociology, mass media modern communication, and scientific management. It can be called as a human skill in its core definition. Public relation is a developed study in social science, focusing on social communication. This field of social science emphasizes on creating a consensus among different assemblages for maintaining the social relations primarily. The objective of this discourse is to keep equilibrium between the stake holders and the related public to the organizations. The process begins with examining and analyzing the subjects- the organization or an individual; and the objects- the public, internal as well as external. In other terms, it can be said that it tries to develop an agreed opinion among the people of the organization and outside institutions. Further,it builds deliberate and researched plans and executes these plans in accordance with the management with the efficient use of communication techniques and tools. Most significantly, media is the source of disseminating of the information for the public relation bodies.
Origin of Public relation
 The origin of public relation is as aged as the society itself. For example, according to Cultip et al. (2000: 102), “The communication of information to influence view points or actions can be traced from the earliest civilizations. Archaeologists found a farm bulletin in Iraq that told the farmers of 1800 B.C how to sow their crops, how to irrigate. Public relations was used many centuries ago in England, where King’s maintained lord Chancellors as ‘keepers of the King’s conscience.”  PR started as a practice of human skills very early in the history, soon after the tribal system of governance changed to societal.  The PR in our understanding today, began in the last years of the 19th century and in the early 20th century. Early practitioners were known as publicists. The fundamental illustration is found in the career and practice of two PR’s most influential figures-Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934) and Edward Bernays (1891-1955). Lee and Bernays were contemporaries but differed in the practice and idea of the PR. Lee considered it more of an Art where in creativity, innovation and soft skills are critical whereas Bernays influenced by the Psychological ideology of his uncle Sigmund Freud, considered it more of a scientific practice. The conditions and the ambiance under which the PR came out as a developed discourse and practice is found during the First World War and making its bases in USA. The development of PR practice and study evolved in the countries having close links to USA. For example Brazil developed in PR very early in the 20th century. And china which had not much close ties with US developed very late in the public relations.

Tuesday 3 September 2013

State of mind… 02/09/2013





I know not what came out today through the 'pen'… something I know not who was writing… me or who??? I may laugh tomorrow for what I wrote today... as I only heard the inside of me and saw only my thumb moving on the keypad of my mobile phone... here it is...

I sat today on the river side under the dark sky. There was neither any friend nor a star to accompany me. I crossed my arms as I felt cold. It was not for the weather but the cold inside me. My heart was eager to question my identity what chapter of life it is. I feel in it like I am losing my ability or at times I am growing. I feel like a child whose toy has been snatched by an adult. I feel no solace in the room of my house. Is it a curse of the walls or the books around me? I feel like a boatman whose boat is holed and water sinking the boat. I become positive at occasions as if I am the change maker in the world and at moments negative feeling that I am not sufficiently expert to control my mind. Is it that my mentors don’t inspire me anymore or teachers underrate me? I feel myself surrounded by the multiple thoughts of who I am becoming and who I had intended to become. I feel myself losing the strength. I am seeing the light falling on the dark river flowing in front of my eyes giggling at me. I know not what will become of me when I fall down or rise up. I see people and places of different thoughts, why don’t their opinions resemble with me. Immediate decisions are coming out, perhaps as a result of extreme nuisance. I feel every small thing in the world talking to me. Sharing their tales and making me witness to that. I wander in the unknown vale with them. A thought asking for my existence in the universe and another of the meager concern like the tablet one should take for severe headache. I feel my words failing and the nib of the pen broken… I feel my heart crying now; my identity losing; my self alone; my eyes weary ; my hands paining ; my limbs stopping; my heart sleeping; my world artificial. I wish my heart yell out and ask my creator to have his hand over his tired, irritated and ungrateful servant now…

Sunday 9 June 2013

Speech by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia to the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference Putrajaya, Malaysia, October 16, 2003 Prime Minister Mahathir

Speech by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia
to the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference
Putrajaya, Malaysia, October 16, 2003

Prime Minister Mahathir

Alhamdulillah, All Praise be to Allah, by whose Grace and Blessings we, the leaders of the Organisation of Islamic Conference countries are gathered here today to confer and hopefully to plot a course for the future of Islam and the Muslim ummah worldwide ...
 The whole world is looking at us. Certainly 1.3 billion Muslims, one-sixth of the world's population are placing their hopes in us, in this meeting, even though they may be cynical about our will and capacity to even decide to restore the honour of Islam and the Muslims, much less to free their brothers and sisters from the oppression and humiliation from which they suffer today.

I will not enumerate the instances of our humiliation and oppression, nor will I once again condemn our detractors and oppressors. It would be an exercise in futility because they are not going to change their attitudes just because we condemn them. If we are to recover our dignity and that of Islam, our religion, it is we who must decide, it is we who must act.

To begin with, the Governments of all the Muslim countries can close ranks and have a common stand if not on all issues, at least on some major ones, such as on Palestine. We are all Muslims. We are all oppressed. We are all being humiliated. But we who have been raised by Allah above our fellow Muslims to rule our countries have never really tried to act in concert in order to exhibit at our level the brotherhood and unity that Islam enjoins upon us. ...

From being a single ummah we have allowed ourselves to be divided into numerous sects, mazhabs and tarikats, each more concerned with claiming to be the true Islam than our oneness as the Islamic ummah. We fail to notice that our detractors and enemies do not care whether we are true Muslims or not. To them we are all Muslims, followers of a religion and a Prophet whom they declare promotes terrorism, and we are all their sworn enemies. They will attack and kill us, invade our lands, bring down our Governments whether we are Sunnis or Syiahs, Alawait or Druze or whatever. And we aid and abet them by attacking and weakening each other, and sometimes by doing their bidding, acting as their proxies to attack fellow Muslims. We try to bring down our Governments through violence, succeeding to weaken and impoverish our countries. ...

With all these developments over the centuries the ummah and the Muslim civilisation became so weak that at one time there was not a single Muslim country which was not colonised or hegemonised by the Europeans. But regaining independence did not help to strengthen the Muslims. Their states were weak and badly administered, constantly in a state of turmoil. The Europeans could do what they liked with Muslim territories. It is not surprising that they should excise Muslim land to create the state of Israel to solve their Jewish problem. Divided, the Muslims could do nothing effective to stop the Balfour and Zionist transgression.

Some would have us believe that, despite all these, our life is better than that of our detractors. Some believe that poverty is Islamic, sufferings and being oppressed are Islamic. This world is not for us. Ours are the joys of heaven in the afterlife. All that we have to do is to perform certain rituals, wear certain garments and put up a certain appearance. Our weakness, our backwardness and our inability to help our brothers and sisters who are being oppressed are part of the Will of Allah, the sufferings that we must endure before enjoying heaven in the hereafter. We must accept this fate that befalls us. We need not do anything. We can do nothing against the Will of Allah.

But is it true that it is the Will of Allah and that we can and should do nothing? Allah has said in Surah Ar-Ra'd verse 11 that He will not change the fate of a community until the community has tried to change its fate itself.

The early Muslims were as oppressed as we are presently. But after their sincere and determined efforts to help themselves in accordance with the teachings of Islam, Allah had helped them to defeat their enemies and to create a great and powerful Muslim civilisation. But what effort have we made especially with the resources that He has endowed us with.

We are now 1.3 billion strong. We have the biggest oil reserve in the world. We have great wealth. We are not as ignorant as the Jahilliah who embraced Islam. We are familiar with the workings of the world's economy and finances. We control 57 out of the 180 countries in the world. Our votes can make or break international organisations. Yet we seem more helpless than the small number of Jahilliah converts who accepted the Prophet as their leader. Why? Is it because of Allah's will or is it because we have interpreted our religion wrongly, or failed to abide by the correct teachings of our religion, or done the wrong things? ...

Today we, the whole Muslim ummah are treated with contempt and dishonour. Our religion is denigrated. Our holy places desecrated. Our countries are occupied. Our people starved and killed.

None of our countries are truly independent. We are under pressure to conform to our oppressors' wishes about how we should behave, how we should govern our lands, how we should think even.

Today if they want to raid our country, kill our people, destroy our villages and towns, there is nothing substantial that we can do. Is it Islam which has caused all these? Or is it that we have failed to do our duty according to our religion?

Our only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry people cannot think properly. And so we find some of our people reacting irrationally. They launch their own attacks, killing just about anybody including fellow Muslims to vent their anger and frustration. Their Governments can do nothing to stop them. The enemy retaliates and puts more pressure on the Governments. And the Governments have no choice but to give in, to accept the directions of the enemy, literally to give up their independence of action.

With this their people and the ummah become angrier and turn against their own Governments. Every attempt at a peaceful solution is sabotaged by more indiscriminate attacks calculated to anger the enemy and prevent any peaceful settlement. But the attacks solve nothing. The Muslims simply get more oppressed.

There is a feeling of hopelessness among the Muslim countries and their people. They feel that they can do nothing right. They believe that things can only get worse. The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews. They will forever be poor, backward and weak. Some believe, as I have said, this is the Will of Allah, that the proper state of the Muslims is to be poor and oppressed in this world.

But is it true that we should do and can do nothing for ourselves? Is it true that 1.3 billion people can exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and oppression inflicted upon them by a much smaller enemy? Can they only lash back blindly in anger? Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people?

It cannot be that there is no other way. 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategise and then to counter attack. As Muslims we must seek guidance from the Al-Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Surely the 23 years' struggle of the Prophet can provide us with some guidance as to what we can and should do.

We know he and his early followers were oppressed by the Qhuraish. Did he launch retaliatory strikes? No. He was prepared to make strategic retreats. He sent his early followers to a Christian country and he himself later migrated to Madinah. There he gathered followers, built up his defence capability and ensured the security of his people. At Hudaibiyah he was prepared to accept an unfair treaty, against the wishes of his companions and followers. During the peace that followed he consolidated his strength and eventually he was able to enter Mecca and claim it for Islam. Even then he did not seek revenge. And the peoples of Mecca accepted Islam and many became his most powerful supporters, defending the Muslims against all their enemies.

That briefly is the story of the struggle of the Prophet. We talk so much about following the sunnah of the Prophet. We quote the instances and the traditions profusely. But we actually ignore all of them.

If we use the faculty to think that Allah has given us then we should know that we are acting irrationally. We fight without any objective, without any goal other than to hurt the enemy because they hurt us. Naively we expect them to surrender. We sacrifice lives unnecessarily, achieving nothing other than to attract more massive retaliation and humiliation.

It is surety time that we pause to think. But will this be wasting time? For well over half a century we have fought over Palestine. What have we achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before. If we had paused to think then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory. Pausing and thinking calmly is not a waste of time. We have a need to make a strategic retreat and to calmly assess our situation.

We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.

We may not be able to do that. We may not be able to unite all the 1.3 billion Muslims. We may not be able to get all the Muslim Governments to act in concert. But even if we can get a third of the ummah and a third of the Muslim states to act together, we can already do something. Remember that the Prophet did not have many followers when he went to Madinah. But he united the Ansars and the Muhajirins and eventually he became strong enough to defend Islam.

Apart from the partial unity that we need, we must take stock of our assets. I have already mentioned our numbers and our oil wealth. In today's world we wield a lot of political, economic and financial clout, enough to make up for our weakness in military terms.

We also know that not all non-Muslims are against us. Some are welldisposed towards us. Some even see our enemies as their enemies. Even among the Jews there are many who do not approve of what the Israelis are doing.

We must not antagonise everyone. We must win their hearts and minds. We must win them to our side not by begging for help from them but by the honourable way that we struggle to help ourselves. We must not strengthen the enemy by pushing everyone into their camps through irresponsible and unIslamic acts. Remember Salah El Din and the way he fought against the so called Crusaders, King Richard of England in particular. Remember the considerateness of the Prophet to the enemies of Islam. We must do the same. It is winning the struggle that is important, not angry retaliation, not revenge.

We must build up our strength in every field, not just in armed might. Our countries must be stable and well administered, must be economically and financially strong, industrially competent and technologically advanced. This will take time, but it can be done and it will be time well spent. We are enjoined by our religion to be patient. Innallahamaasabirin. Obviously there is virtue in being patient.

But the defence of the ummah, the counter attack need not start only after we have put our houses in order. Even today we have sufficient assets to deploy against our detractors. It remains for us to identify them and to work out how to make use of them to stop the carnage caused by the enemy. This is entirely possible if we stop to think, to plan, to strategise and to take the first few critical steps. Even these few steps can yield positive results. ...

The enemy will probably welcome these proposals and we will conclude that the promoters are working for the enemy. But think. We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also.

Of late because of their power and their apparent success they have become arrogant. And arrogant people, like angry people will make mistakes, will forget to think.

They are already beginning to make mistakes. And they will make more mistakes. There may be windows of opportunity for us now and in the future. We must seize these opportunities.

But to do so we must get our acts right. Rhetoric is good. It helps us to expose the wrongs perpetrated against us, perhaps win us some sympathy and support. It may strengthen our spirit, our will and resolve, to face the enemy. ...

There are many things that we can do. There are many resources that we have at our disposal. What is needed is merely-the will to do it, As Muslims, we must be grateful for the guidance of our religion, we must do what needs to be done, willingly and with determination. Allah has not raised us, the leaders, above the others so we may enjoy power for ourselves only. The power we wield is for our people, for the ummah, for Islam. We must have the will to make use of this power judiciously, prudently, concertedly. Insyaallah we will triumph in the end.

I pray to Allah that this 10th Conference of the OIC in Putrajaya, Malaysia will give a new and positive direction to us, will be blessed with success by Him, Almighty Allah, Arahman, Arahirn.