Posts Tagged ‘school’

Depp, Burton bring light comedy to ‘Dark Shadows’

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In this film image released by Warner Bros., actress Helena Bonham Carter, left, and director Tim Burton are shown during the filming of “Dark Shadows.” -AP Photo

LOS ANGELES: Working with director Tim Burton, Johnny Depp has played many eccentric characters in the movies, from lonely monster Edward Scissorhands to eccentric filmmaker Ed Wood and the Mad Hatter of “Alice in Wonderland.”

But there was at least one strange being they hadn’t tried – a vampire – and that’s about to change.

The odd couple of Hollywood can check that character off their list on Friday with the debut of comedic thriller “Dark Shadows,” based on the classic TV soap opera that ran from 1966 – 1971 about vampires, werewolves and witches populating a ghostly manor house in the countryside.

In an era that seems made for sexy bloodsuckers with six-pack abs – TV’s “True Blood” and “The Vampire Diaries” as well as the “Twilight” movies – Depp and Burton took an opposite approach. They hark back to the 1970s with a tongue-in-cheek homage to the original TV show that, among its many storylines, told of a vampire in a dark and never-ending search for his long-ago love, Josette.

“Tim and I talked early on: a vampire should look like a vampire,” Depp told reporters recently. “It was a rebellion against vampires that looked like underwear models.”

Depp plays well-dressed, well-heeled vampire Barnabas Collins who is turned into an otherworldly being in 1750 from a curse by spurned lover Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), a witch who then buries him alive.

He wakes up in 1972 to learn his family home has fallen into disrepair and the lives of his descendants – played by Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Lee Miller and Chloe Grace Moretz – are in disarray. He is determined to restore them all to their former glory when he learns his old nemesis, now named Angie, rules the town in which they all live.

Depp said he used to watch the TV show when he was a boy and always dreamed of bringing it to the big screen. It wasn’t until he and Burton worked together on the macabre musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” that Depp discovered Burton also was a fan of the show. There was no question that “Dark Shadows” would be yet another collaboration.

Yet rather than creating an updated version set in present day, Depp and Burton set their sights on the 1970s, and let the eccentricities of that era crash with Barnabas’ 18th Century comfort zone.

“I wanted Barnabas to come across as … this very elegant upper echelon, well-schooled gentleman who’s cursed in the 18th century and brought back to probably the most surreal era of our time – the 1970s – and how he would react to things,” said Depp.

“Not just with technology and automobiles and such, but actual items of enjoyment for people like pet rocks, fake flowers, plastic fruit, troll dolls, lava lamps and the macram owls.”

RETURN FROM THE DEAD    

Staying true to the original TV show was important, too. “Dark Shadows” screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith studied DVDs of the series, books written about the characters and the plot lines.

While it only lasted five years on TV, “Dark Shadows,” like other TV shows, developed a loyal following while it was on the air and played for years in re-runs. And a 1970 horror flick based on the show performed well in theaters.

At his first meeting with Depp and Burton, Grahame-Smith recalls Depp pantomiming the vampire’s movements, while Burton was suggesting that Barnabas’ fingers need be one joint longer.

“A lot was born in those early meetings,” he said. “What I needed to know about the tone, I relied on them because they were there watching the shows as kids and loving the show. They still have that knowledge of it and that love for it.”

So much love in fact, that as Depp began exploring different ideas for playing Barnabas, he decided “it had to be rooted” in original actor Jonathan Frid’s stoic portrayal of the vampire.

Depp called Frid’s version of Collins a “classic monster,” reminiscent of the types found in horror magazine Fangoria coupled with “a kind of rigidity to him – that pull up the back, this elegance that was always there.”

If anyone appreciated Depp’s take on Collins, it was Frid himself, who died last month at age 87. (He makes a cameo appearance in the film alongside original cast members Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and David Selby).

“He had written me a letter a couple of years before and signed a photograph to me – that sort of passing the baton to Barnabas – which I thought was very sweet,” said Depp, recalling that Frid also brought his original Barnabas cane for the cameo.

Burton described that day of shooting as “like having the Pope come visit … part of the reason we were there is because those people inspired us.”

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Via DAWN.com

Experts unveil stunning aspects of virus

FAISALABAD – Dengue is not a fatal disease rather only complexity and carelessness on the part of patients, suffering from other chronic diseases.
This was stated by speakers at an awareness seminar on “Dengue” arranged by the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to raise awareness among school-going students of the Laboratory Boys High School at Iqbal Auditorium, UAF. The seminar …

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Gurdaspuri laid to rest

BUREWALA – Maulana Muhammad Abdullah Gurdaspuri was laid to rest at local graveyard. His funeral was offered at the Government College ground here the other day.
He died after protracted illness. He was 100 years old and an activist of the freedom movement.
Thousands of people from all schools of thought and his followers attended the funeral.

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Gilani arrives in UK to boost trade, strategic ties

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani being received by a senior British official on arrival at airport in London on Tuesday. – Photo by APP

LONDON: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived here on Tuesday on a five-day visit to participate in the first Pak-UK summit level review of the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue and to work on the ambitious plan to raise bilateral trade to 2.5 billion pound sterling.

Prime Minister Gilani will meet his British counterpart David Cameron, besides having an in-depth interaction with members of the British cabinet, parliamentarians, prominent businessmen, investors and leading media persons.

Accompanied by a high level delegation including Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Ameen Faheem, Minister of Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Minister of State Raza Hayat Hiraj, Chairman Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwala, parliamentarians from PML-Q, MQM and PPP and senior officials, Gilani would further strengthen the multifaceted bilateral ties between the two countries.

At the airport, the prime minister and his entourage were received by Pakistan’s High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hassan and senior officials.

Gilani will also launch a Trade and Investment Roadmap to enhance trade to 2.5 billion pound sterling by 2015, set by British Prime Minister David Cameron last year.

The first annual review meeting on Enhanced Strategic Dialogue will provide an opportunity to the leaders of the two countries to take decisions for charting the way forward in five strands of cooperation.

The dialogue was formally launched during the official visit of the British prime minister to Pakistan in April 2011 and covers five areas of bilateral cooperation including trade and business, finance and development assistance, education and health, culture, and defence and security.

The United Kingdom is Pakistan’s second largest trading partner and largest development partner among the EU countries.

PM Cameron allocated 650 million pounds sterling for four million out-of-school children in Pakistan for receiving primary education.

Gilani will personally convey his gratitude to the UK for consistently advancing Pakistan’s case for enhanced market access to the EU, and supports Pakistan for GSP+ status.

He will also attend a function being arranged by British Pakistan Foundation, address a community gathering and lay the foundation-stone of the Consular Hall at the Pakistan High Commission.

A source at the Foreign Office termed Gilani’s visit hectic and with meetings lined up with the Duke of York, a reception for UK parliamentarians, launch of Conservative Friends of Pakistan group that would be attended by the British prime minister and Baroness Warsi.

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Via DAWN.com

Teacher torture fractures student’s hand

HASILPUR – A woman teacher beaten up a grade one student severely and fractured her left hand here on Tuesday.
According to detail, Mohammad Hanif, a resident of Mauza Ghafoor Waha near Ludan, told The Nation that his daughter Asma was 1st grade student at Government Girls Primary School, Majeedabad. He said that her teacher Fariha Fatima tortured her severely with a stick and left her with a …

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China’s Pakistani coach excited about team’s future

Khan said the women’s team has shown progress and the upcoming T-20 tournament would be a turning point. -Photo by AP

KARACHI: China’s coach Rashid Khan on Tuesday expressed high hopes for his women’s team at this year’s Asia Cup Twenty20, saying that they were outperforming the men.

The 52-year-old former Pakistan paceman has spent five years coaching China since the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International Cricket Council marked the country as one of the biggest new markets for the game.

Khan said the women’s Twenty20 tournament in October in Guangzhou, southern China, would be a turning point.

The Chinese women’s team “has shown more progress than their men’s team and I pin my hopes on the Asia Cup Twenty20 event… as the turning point where my team will create upsets,” Khan told AFP while on holiday in Pakistan.

Besides the hosts, formidable teams from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand will participate in the event.

Khan said the pool of women players in China was increasing.

“Chinese women are athletic and are showing interest in cricket. At present we have a pool of 150 players and with the introduction of the game in schools and colleges more and more women will come,” said Khan.

China finished fourth in the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010 before finishing runners-up in the ACC women’s Trophy the same year, losing to Hong Kong in the final.

China’s under-19 women’s team finished fifth out of nine teams in the ACC under-19 event held in Kuwait in February and Khan said these performances were encouraging.

He welcomed support from the Chinese authorities and said the ACC’s decision to send Chinese players on coaching courses had honed their talent.

“Without the ACC’s support the progress of Chinese cricket would not be possible and the recent initiative to send Chinese players to England and various other countries have helped groom them a great deal,” said Khan.

Top Chinese women players Huang Zhou, Zhou Haijie and Yu Miao will train in England and Khan hoped they would mature as a result.

Khan said his men’s team will feature in the ACC Trophy Challenge in Thailand in December, where they have a good chance against low-ranked teams like Bahrain, Iran, Myanmar, Qatar, Singapore and Thailand. – AFP

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Via DAWN.com

Zong’s football tournament creates history

LAHORE – Football Tournament 2012 was launched to great public excitement, simultaneously in five cities of Pakistan. The tournament was for the selection of 32 young boys who will get trained in Manchester United Soccer School, Abu Dhabi. The CCO of ZONG Sajid Mahmood kicked-off the ball in Pakistan Sports Complex to begin the tournament, says a press release.
A total of 128 Zong …

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The untold tales of Lyari

Lyari in the early 20th century. – File photo

Gang wars, poverty, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), football and, maybe, boxing are the notions usually associated with Lyari, one of Karachi’s oldest neighbourhoods. There is, however, more to Lyari than these stereotypes.

Historically, the inhabitants of Lyari were among the first settlers Karachi.

In her book “The Dual City: Karachi During the Raj,” renowned architect Yasmeen Lari writes: “By 1890 the population of Lyari had already reached 24,600.” These figures are indicative of Lyari’s high population rates even before the notion of partition emerged. Even today, the area remains among the most densely populated, with the highest ratio of inhabitants-per-square-kilometre.

Some of the most popular names to have been associated with Lyari include Hussain Shah (Olympic boxer), Umar Baloch, Ghulam Abbas and Ustaad Qasim (footballers), Waja Ghulam Muhammad Noor ud Din (educationist), Syed Sajjad Ali Shah (former Chief Justice), Waja Khair Mohammad Nadvi (scholar who translated Quran into Balochi language) and Sikandar Baloch (former Mr Pakistan in body building).

Lyari’s history, however, goes beyond these names.

Quaid-e-Azam and Lyari
In 1948, during the days of his illness, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was travelling near Lyari, when his car came to a sudden halt in the area. The inhabitants were quick to offer their services to the country’s founder. In those early post-partition days, Lyari was home to a sizable immigrant population, which was welcomed by the old settlers of the area despite their own financial woes.
Later that year, when Jinnah lost his life to prolonged illness, it was one of Lyari’s oldest sons Noor Mohammad Baloch, who performed his burial, as well as that of the country’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan.

After Jiinah’s death, government officials got in touch with Zulekha Bibi, who was in charge of Marwari Grave Yard to prepare for the burials. Zulekha instructed Baloch and others to finalise and carry out the services.

A certificate showing appreciation for the services of Zulekha Bibi – a resident of Lyari overlooked arrangements for the burial of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan. – Photo courtesy Ayoub Baloch

The literary Lyari
Apart from being home to sports greats, Lyari has also attracted one of the biggest names of Pakistan’s literary world. For Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Lyari was like a passion. In the early 1970s, Faiz frequented the Abdullah Haroon College, where he taught and served as principal (1972-73).

“We were very fortunate to have Faiz sahib at the college,” says Zafar Ali Zafar – a Balochi and Urdu poet from Lyari.

“He (Faiz) would travel from the Nursery area (in Karachi) to Lyari to offer his services because it was very close to his heart,” recalls Zafar.

Zafar says Faiz inspired him and his poetry. “He even selected a poem for me to recite at a Radio Pakistan mushaira (poetic symposium).”

Decades after Faiz’s death, Lyari still maintains a literary aura.

“The Abbas Ali Zehmi Academy remains an active hub for literary dialogue, with Ghani Bux and Hassan Ali Hassan among the most active poets.”

Muhammad Baig Baloch is another literary figure from Lyari. “He has written several books in Urdu, English, Sindhi and Persian in addition to translating major literary works into Balochi language.”

Lyari has also been central to the region’s politics. The Madressah Mazhar ul Uloom played a pivotal role in anti-British movements (including the Khilafat Movement) in the pre-partition era. Lyari-based Qadir Bux Rind Baloch (alias Kadu Makrani), an anti-British freedom-fighter met his death in the Chakiwara area in 1887, when he was hanged.

In the days of the martial law imposed by Ayub Khan, members of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) would meet at Lyari’s Kakri ground.

From Lyari to Australia
Lyari is commonly known for its passion for camel-cart racing. The area, however, was once the centre of camel trade to countries as distant as Australia.

Traders Dost Muhammad Brohi and Jorak introduced the camels of Balochistan and Afghanistan to Australia, via steam ships in the 1890s

Camel trade took Brohi, a Baloch born in 1870, to Australia in 1983, but it was his love for British girl Annie that made him settle down in the country and marry her in 1986.

Brohi, however, remained unsettled in the Australian lifestyle and after several brawls, his wife’s brothers killed Brohi in 1909.

,Annie was then invited by the Brohi family, to visit Karachi. Upon her arrival, Anne was murdered by Brohi’s brothers, who accused her for their brother’s death.

In 1993, Brohi and Annie’s granddaughter Jane Garnand landed in Karachi, in search of Annie’s grave, which she later found in the Clifton area.

Education on the streets
Lyari boasts a distinctive record of school systems, such as the ARM and Kiran Hasht Chowk and Baghdadi areas are, in particular, the hub of education. Here, local non-government organisations have been operating “street schools” for students of primary and secondary classes.

The educated youth of the area have launched the “Lyari Naujawan Tehrik” against the prevalence of drugs and crimes in the area. The movement came under threat from the drug mafia but also brought in other NGOs, which set up schools for informal education.

Despite the odds, street schools in Lyari offer hope to the people of Lyari, as they discourage the youth from falling prey to the gang wars.

“Financial problems are real ailment of Lyari, “according to M.Y Baloch a concerned local.

“Political parties have failed to meet our needs and even the ruling party made empty pledges, said Baloch.”

Lyari, can be called a mini-Pakistan, with colours of culture, sports, and traditions. The Lyari River was clean and a healthy habitat for fish, before the 1970s. It has now turned into a dirty stream. The sea breeze from Lyari cooled the other parts of Karachi, which has now been blocked by the Lyari Expressway.

Locals believe their miseries can be dealt with, if the government is sincere.

“The people of Lyari need love not force,” insists Zafar, as he recalls a Balochi proverb: “Hoo’n Go’n Hoo’na Shodag Nabet – you can’t wash blood with blood.”

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Via DAWN.com

Seven children killed in Shakargarh school roof collapse

At least seven children were killed and 15 others injured when roof of a private school collapsed here in Shakargarh on Monday.
According to rescue sources, dilapidated roof of a private school located in Shakargarh area of Narowal district suddenly came down at the time the classes were underway.
As a result of roof collapse, seven children were killed and more than 17 others sustained …

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Two more Fata schools blown up

PESHAWAR
Militants blew up two more schools in South Waziristan and Mohmand Agencies in tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Sunday. The militants destroyed the girls’ middle school in Kari Kot area, five kilometers away from Wana, headquarters of the South Waziristan. In the second incident, militants destroyed a primary school in Halimzai tehsil of Mohmand Agency by detonating explosives. …

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Taliban stronger than before troop surge: US lawmakers

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A Black Hawk helicopter of the US Army’s Task Force Lift “Dust Off”, Charlie Company 1-71 Aviation Regiment performs exercise at Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan. — Photo by AP

WASHINGTON: The Taliban is stronger now than before President Barack Obama ordered a surge of US troops to Afghanistan, two senior US lawmakers said on Sunday, contradicting the administration’s assessment of the insurgency.

“I think we both say that what we found is the Taliban is stronger,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein told “Fox News Sunday” in an interview that included House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who agreed with her statement. The two lawmakers returned last week from a trip to Afghanistan.

The Defense Department said last week in a report to Congress that its surge of 33,000 extra troops in Afghanistan ordered in late 2009 had weakened the Taliban but that the insurgency remained resilient.

The report said overall insurgent attacks declined in 2011 for the first time in five years, even though violence increased in areas surrounding the Taliban’s southern stronghold of Kandahar, a region where US efforts have been focused since 2009.

Feinstein, a Democrat, said radical Islamist religious schools in Pakistan were providing new recruits to the Afghan insurgency.

“So an insurgency which one can expect will burn itself out after a period of time will not necessarily burn out,” she said.

Obama traveled to Kabul last week to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The deal sets out a long-term US role in Afghanistan, including aid and advisers, after most American and Nato combat soldiers withdraw by the end of 2014.

Rogers said there was a danger that Obama’s announcement of a date of withdrawal of US combat forces in Afghanistan and Washington’s decision to hold talks with the Taliban could undermine the US objective of denying a safe haven to terrorists.

“The first priority is to deny safe haven and that means a strategic defeat of the Taliban and we have to also defeat the safe havens in the tribal areas of Pakistan,” said Rogers, a Republican.

The Obama administration is due to pull the last of its 33,000 surge troops from Afghanistan by this fall, leaving around 68,000 US soldiers there.

Rogers and Feinstein both said the United States should designate the Haqqani network, an Afghan insurgent group believed to be based in Pakistan, as a terrorist organization.

“They’ve killed nearly 500 US troops. They are based in Miram Shah (in Pakistan) … This is something we have to be very aggressive to put an end to,” Rogers said.

The United States has repeatedly urged Pakistan’s military to launch a major offensive in North Waziristan to go after the Haqqanis, which have links to al Qaeda. Pakistan says it is already stretched fighting homegrown Taliban militants elsewhere near the Afghan border.

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Via DAWN.com

Militants blast govt school in Mohmand Agency

Unknown miscreants blasted a government boys school with explosive material here in Mohmand Agency on Sunday.
According to official sources, anti-literacy militants had planted explosives with boundary wall of government secondary school in Nasati area of tehsil Haleemzai in Mohmand Agency which went off early Sunday morning.
The school building was partially damaged in the blast but no causality …

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Curtailing ‘immodesty’: Ex-lawmaker ‘decrees’ against female education

The nonagenarian, who was elected to the National Assembly from Kohistan on the now-defunct Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s ticket in 2002, also railed against non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the region in his Friday sermon, calling them ‘hubs of immodesty’.

Nestled in the Himalayas, the Kohistan district is picturesque, but also one of the least-literate and least developed in the country.

Fiery sermon

Maulana Haleem, who was an office-bearer of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl until recently, was delivering a Friday sermon, at Jamia Masjid Komila, on who is dayoos, or those liable to be condemned to hell.

“It’s beghairti (immodesty) to equip girls with secular education,” the cleric said, adding that those Kohistani parents who were sending their girls to schools were acting against ‘Islamic shariah’ and the local customs.

“The Kohistani culture does not allow parents to send their pardadar (modest) girls to schools,” the former lawmaker said.

He did not spare female NGO workers either.

“Some women from these NGOs visit our houses frequently, mobilising naïve Kohistani women to follow their agenda in the name of health and hygiene education,” he said, adding that this was ‘unacceptable to Kohistani culture’. He threatened them with ‘dire consequences’, saying that married female NGO workers will be sent back to their husbands, and the unmarried ones will be wedded to Kohistani men.

During his stint as a parliamentarian, Maulana Haleem had also declared poppy cultivation in Kohistan ‘in accordance with Islam’.

Keeping women at home

When approached for comments, the cleric stood by the contents of his sermon, and insisted that several Hadith books prohibit girls from receiving degrees and certificates in ‘secular education’.

He did not actually quote any reference though. Asked to explain how parents would be doomed for their daughters’ education, the cleric said that formal education paves the way for girls to enter the job market. “When they permit their women to work, they give them a free hand to mix with na-mehrum (men they are not related to by blood) – by doing so, the girl’s father, brother or husband become dayoos in the eye of the shariah,” he said.

Such people will never enter Paradise, he added.

The only responsibility men owe to women is their sustenance, and not education, he said. In return, the women should stay at home and look after their children and family members, he added.

Asked if Islamic states like Saudi Arabia and Iran were violating shariah by spending billions on women’s education, Maulana Haleem termed their steps un-Islamic.

If the government is serious about bringing development to Kohistan, it should utilise NGOs’ funding itself with the help of local men.

Men working for these NGOs can continue their work though, he said, saying that is not against the shariah and local culture.

He claimed that 97% of girls schools in Kohistan were closed and the few girls that were enrolled, only visited their schools to collect cooking oil which the education department was distributing with the support of foreign donors.

Standing up for women

Assistant District Officer Education Kohistan Saiful Malook Khan refuted Haleem’s claim. There are 255 primary, 13 middle-level, and one high school for girls in the district, Khan said.

While the number is not large, over 12,000 girls are enrolled in primary schools and are regularly attending their classes, he said.

Several girls from Maulana Haleem’s hometown are attending school while some women from the Maulana’s family are also working as teachers in the district, he added. The area’s current elected representative, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Abdul Sattar Khan assured full support to female students and teachers in Kohistan.

If the region is to progress, Kohistani girls should study at least up to the matric level, he said. Omar Hayat, a social activist in Hazara, also condemned Maulana Haleem’s statement barring female NGO workers from working.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2012.

Writers, artists vow to uphold dignity of people

LAHORE, May 5: Writers and artists of the country have always upheld the dignity of people, struggled for their rights and would keep on doing so.

It was the crux of writers and artists convention held at Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Tipu Block, New Garden Town, on Saturday. The event was organised by the HRCP.

In his opening remarks, HRCP Secretary I A Rehman said it was the first such convention organised by the Commission, adding such events should also be held in Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad.

He said the convention was held to assess the state of rights of literary figures and the freedom of expression they were being given. He said no issue could be properly addressed without having a discourse on it.

Veteran writer Intazar Hussain, in his keynote address of the first session titled ‘21st Century and Writers’, threw light on the role of writers in the 20th century and in present situation.

He said since 1947 Pakistani literature passed through a number of phases that gave birth to many movements. But, he said, literature for its growth did not rely on movements.

“Movements come and go but literature stays there,” he said. Dr Saadat Saeed, criticising the US, said it wanted to turn the world into a global village. He said the western theories being taught in local universities were designed to ‘poison the students’ minds’. Mr Saeed said writers and intellectuals should wage a war against capitalism.

Dr Qazi Asad from Multan said though it was not good to ape western literature, to discard good literature being produced in the West was also not wise. He said the writers had never been happy with their times and they kept writing against negative attitudes prevalent in society.

Dr Ravish Nadeem from Islamabad regretted that distorted version of history was being taught to the students at school level.

He said one could not help compare Pakistan in 21st century with the developed countries, adding the societies which were far ahead struggled for centuries to become civilised.

“Consciously or unconsciously we do follow the West because they (western nations) are models for us whether we accept it or not”, he added.

Veteran writer Masood Ashar, defending the Third World literature being written in English, said sensitive issues were also being highlighted through such writings.

He emphasised the need for introducing changes in syllabus, especially with regard to history. He regretted that students were being taught wrong history.

Poet and a former director general of Pakistan National Council of Arts, Kishwar Naheed, said Pakistani writers did not write on the issues of the society where they lived because western ideologies seemed more attractive to them.

Senior Lawyer and left-leaning politician Abid Hassan Manto in his keynote address for the second session titled, ‘The Role of Writers and Artists in the Struggle for Human Rights’ threw light on different phases of the history of human rights and efforts made by Progressive Writers Association in this regard.

Mr Manto regretted that ideological borders of Pakistan were being defended by fundamentalists. He said the country was under the hammer of capitalistic system. “What to talk of national independence, there was not even individual independence in this country,” he added.

Writer Rashid Misbah gave a sweeping statement saying 95 per cent of Pakistani writers were ‘hypocrites’ and they did not write truth.

Prof Razi Abidi said access to education was extremely important as educational rights should be given to everybody. He said women must get education to become economically independent.

Dr Arifa Syeda also pointed towards the wrong history being taught to students at the school level.

The third session, ‘Culture and Challenges of the Age’ was about performing and fine arts. It began with some melodious singing by Sara Zaman.

Dr Anwar Ahmed, in his address, threw light on the political and cultural situation of the country and how culture and cultural values were being treated by the authorities.

Prof Lala Rukh from Women Action Forum, through a slide show of photographs based on the journey of WAF, specially focusing Zia regime, refreshed memories of all those who were part of the struggle against dictatorship.

Prof Nazish Attaullah showed artworks by different artists created during the last 10 years with a special focus on Zia regime.

Writer Shahid Mehmood Nadeem threw light on the 28-year long journey of Ajoka Theatre and told the audience that it kept producing plays unflinchingly on social and political
issues of prime importance.

Screening of clips of some of the Ajoka plays was also part of Nadeem’s address. Writer Aqeel Ruby threw light on culture and cultural values. Shirin Pasha from NCA Film and Television Department briefly discussed the film history in Pakistan.

Architect Nayyer Ali Dada said culture could not be seen as an aspect of life as it was life itself. He said civility led to culture and then came poetry, art and literature. He said along with menace of intolerance, giant of terrorism was also staring us in the face.

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Via DAWN.com

‘Faith healer’ gunned down

LAHORE, May 5: A ‘faith healer’ was shot dead by unidentified people near Rohi Chowk in Nishtar Colony on Saturday.

The motive for the shooting remained unclear, with police suspecting the victim might have been shot by one of his clients.

Police said Syed Sultan Shah of Kacha Kamahan Road was riding a bike when two unidentified motorcyclists fired three shots at him. The assailants fled and Shah was transported to Lahore General Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds.

Police sent his body for an autopsy and started investigation.

DROWNS: A 12-year-old boy was feared drowned in the city canal near Dharampura on Saturday.

Mughalpura police said some schoolchildren informed the emergency police that they saw a child jumping into the canal and disappearing.

Police said rescue efforts had been started keeping in view witnesses’ statements, but nobody contacted the police for the missing child.

INJURED: Two women were injured at a wedding ceremony after relatives of the bridegroom resorted to jubilation fire outside a marriage hall in Gujjarpura Scheme on Saturday.

Gujjarpura police said the incident took place moments after Baraat reached the marriage hall and a brother and a cousin of the bridegroom resorted to aerial firing.

The firing left Rabia Faisal and Nadia, both relatives of the bride, injured and they were rushed to a nearby hospital.

The incident shook the participants of the ceremony and witnesses alerted the emergency police.

Quoting witnesses, police said the bride’s family refused to go ahead with the function and returned home without ceremony.

Tortured: Unidentified people tortured the watchman of a PPP MPA at latter’s residence in Shadman on Saturday.

Shadman police said Hamid Bashir was on duty outside the residence of Attock-based PPP MPA Malik Shayan when unidentified people covered his face with a cloth, subjected
him to severe torture and fled.

The injured was admitted to Services Hospital.

FIRE: A big fire broke out in a chemicals factory in Scheme-II of Salamatpur in Shalimar Town on Saturday, burning down valuables worth hundreds of thousands.

According to Rescue 1122, the fire erupted in the factory of Hasan Nawaz because of a short-circuit.

The fire engulfed the whole unit and it took firefighters at least two hours to control fire.

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Via DAWN.com

Normalcy returns to Lyari

After eight-day long operation against the suspected gangsters, the normalcy returned to Lyari on Saturday as the government halted operation for 48 hours.
According to the details, the business activities were seen normal while the schools were also opened.
It should be mentioned here that most of the people were stranded in their houses without electricity, water and food supply during the …

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In northern Nigeria, Islamic police play matchmaker

In a photograph taken on March 28, 2012, divorcees and widows wait to be called in for a meeting with a screening panel, as part of a marriage scheme for widows and divorced women, in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. The sharia police known as the Hisbah in the city has come up with a match-making project to marry off 1,000 divorcees and widows to interested suitors. A six-man panel was set up to screen the would-be brides and prospective suitors, and has screened the first batch of 100 men and women. – AFP Photo

 KANO: A line of women wait their turn at a building in northern Nigeria, ready to participate in a programme local officials hope will bring two results: marriage and peace. Love might have to come later.

The programme run by the Islamic sharia police in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, aims to match widows and divorcees with available men.

Officials hope it will in part help curb unrest in the north, which has been hit by deadly violence blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram, as well as reduce other social problems by providing a stable home for children.

Such a programme has the potential to raise obvious red flags, but local officials say the women participate strictly on a voluntary basis.

“With the current security situation in Kano, children with no proper parental guide and care are more likely to be influenced and fed with these extremist tendencies,” said Nabahani Usman, deputy head of the Hisbah, as the sharia police are known.

“It is very important they are saved from these destructive elements through this programme, where they can have stable family life with their mothers and step-fathers looking after them.”Analysts say unemployment and frustration among young people has helped feed the violence blamed on Islamists which has rocked Nigeria’s north, leaving more than 1,000 dead since mid-2009.

Whether marriage will have a positive effect remains to be seen, but for now women and men seem eager to participate. Arranged marriages are common across northern Nigeria, an impoverished region near the Sahara desert.

Health NGOs offer free HIV screening to the spouse-seekers, which the Hisbah has made mandatory to the applicants.

Radio announcements were aired in mid-February calling on men open to marrying selected widows and divorcees to come forward.

The women were located through an NGO called the Voice of Widows, Divorcees and Orphans of Nigeria (VOWAN).

On a recent day in Kano, 38-year old Amina Adamu clutched her handbag under her arm and walked toward a long table at the end of the hall to a bearded man for her screening interview.

She was among the first set of 100 women brought to the Hisbah headquarters in Kano for the programme.

Three other bearded men and two veiled women at the table called out names of dozens of applicants who sat on rows of plastic chairs

Broken homes

Questions include basic information, such as occupation, income and number of children. Men are asked why they want to get married again, among other things.

Those who qualify are then allowed to meet each other at the Hisbah office, choosing on their own among the participants who they might wish to marry.

A group wedding will be held later for participants, but those who prefer not to wait can also go ahead with their marriages.

“I need a mature, sincere and caring husband, which is why I want the Hisbah to be involved in my choice because I need security in my marriage,”Adamu told AFP shortly after being screened by the panel.

Outside in the courtyard, men in clusters waited to be called into the hall for the screening.

They included those who have been divorced or widowed, as well as bachelors and those looking for additional wives, as Islam allows a man to marry up to four women.

For the men, another important factor also plays a role: money.

Ismail Ibrahim, a 25-year-old bachelor and a school teacher, said he could not afford to get married since the dowry would be too expensive. The Hisbah programme takes care of that, paying the dowry and also providing a small grant to help them set up a home.

Officials have declined to say so far how much will be paid, though dowries in Kano typically range from 10,000 naira ($63) to 20,000 naira ($126).

“It is quite expensive to marry a young woman, which is why I want to be part of this initiative to enable me to marry the woman of my choice at low cost,” Ibrahim said.

Altine Abdullahi, head of VOWAN in Kano, also said divorce had become a problem in the city. Men who marry through the programme cannot divorce their wives without permission from the Hisbah.

“People change wives the way they change their wardrobes and we feel the best way to stop this and give security to our members is arrange marriages through the Hisbah,” she said.

She said the high number of divorces in Kano “leave (women) to fend for themselves and the children without any support from the fathers.””The children end up as menaces to society, which is why most teenage criminals here are from broken homes,” she said.

Hajara Adamu, a 48-year old widow, vowed to make the best of the programme.

“I will not make a hasty choice. I want a responsible, respectable and mature man and I’m confident I’ll get him here,” said Adamu.

The men involved in the programme ranged from the young to the not-so-young. Muhammad Tukur, 75, was looking for a third wife.

“I have not yet made my choice. I’m still waiting for the woman my mind is at peace with,”

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Via DAWN.com