“East-West Strings: Sufi Musical Fusion Evening” Where strings of East meet West to create Rhythm to remember

ISLAMABAD: The National Library Auditorium was charged on Friday night with sound of classical music being played by Pakistani and Hungarian musicians. They were singing the duet tunes for Sufi fusion music and the audiences cheered and clapped on the sound of the music.

The Diplomatic Insight, University of Gujrat and Inter University Consortium for the Promotion of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts arranged an exclusive concert “East-West Strings: Sufi Musical Fusion Evening” featuring Katalin Burns from Hungary and Qurban Niyazi from Pakistan at National Library Auditorium.

Both artists did a duet fusion Sufi music to promote the cultural diplomacy between East and West to bring the nations closer together. The Sufi musical evening was arranged to make strings of East (Pakistan) will meet West (Hungary) to make the rhythm to remember.

Prior to their performance, young students from University of Gujrat did an act on a famous Sufi Song. The audience cheered and encouraged the talent of young ones.

Both the artist enthralled the audience with their upbeat performance.

Katalin Burns is an artist with a mission to build bridges between cultures through (mostly vocal) music. She has been experimenting and studying various vocal techniques from all over the world, but of course, she has been most faithful to her own Hungarian roots. She is also a flutist and a traditional storyteller in the Hungarian vocal musical form.

On the other hand Qurban Niyazi is a prominent Pakistani folk singer with a vision to promote local Sufi Music to the world. Keeping the beautiful musical legacy of his late brother Tufail Niazi, who has mesmerized the people around the globe for years till his sad demise. Qurban has been associated with Radio and Television for more than 45 years. He won many prestigious awards from Private Government Institutes and performed not only nationally but also thrilled the audience internationally.

The concert had a clear message that Pakistan is a secure land and there is nothing to be terrorized about what is being portrayed by International media. This also reflected that Pakistan and people of Pakistan are meant to develop deep rooted linkages with outside world keeping their traditions

and heritage alive.

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Music can bridge the gap between East and West: Katalin Burns

ISLAMABAD: Katalin Burns a famous singer from Hungary is in the town to spread the message of peace and love. She shared her experience of visiting Pakistan in an exclusive interview with Daily Patriot; she talked about the rich music culture and hospitality of the people of Pakistan. She said that Hungarian Embassy arranged her visit. She is visiting Pakistan for the second time and she would perform in various cities of the country.  She said that before traveling to Pakistan people warned her about the lawlessness and insecurity in Pakistan but after coming to Pakistan she found people are living happy lives, singing songs, roaming here and there. She said that international media should also promote the soft and real image of Pakistan as people are very loving, open hearted and great appreciator of music.

Katalin Burns said that music has no boundaries and limits, it can spread peace everywhere. She said that she is highly impressed with the legend singers Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Perveen. She said that although she could not understand the lyrics of their songs but power of their voices and charm of the tunes come out with combination of musical instruments kept listeners in grip. She said that she was learning Urdu but she would be performing in Hungarian language with local music bands in Islamabad, Faisalabad and Lahore.

She said that last time she performed in Islamabad couple of years back but she could not forget the love and appreciation given by the audience, which motivated her to visit and perform again in front of music lovers of Pakistan. She said that she had performed in various other countries with famous musical bands. When asked for her views on ' music is food of souls' she said yes as she believes music have the power to give inspiration and motivation and to unite the people.

She said that she is the ambassador of the peace and she is here in Pakistan to strength the relationship of Hungary and Pakistan. In her message to the people of Pakistan she said that they are lovely people and have great sense of music and she wants everyone to spread the message of peace through music and songs.

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Continuing legacy of Jinnah, Imran promises to make Pakistan ‘Islamic Welfare State’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) announced its manifesto Tuesday which  ensuring justice and equal opportunities to all segments of the society, making Pakistan an Islamic welfare state as envisioned by Quaid and Iqbal, uprooting of all sorts of injustices and exploitations, introducing an sovereign foreign policy

PTI President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umer, Shafquat Mahmood, Jahangir Tareen, Dr Shireen Mazari, Imran Ismail, Naeem-ul-Haq, Dr Israr Shah, Faisal Javed Khan and others were also present on the occasion.

Imran Khan said that PTI’s manifesto gives the solutions of all the issues like how to deal with them but other political parties only remain with the parts ‘ what to do’. He said that other political parties remained in power several times but did nothing for the people but PTI would fulfill all the promises made in the manifesto.

Imran Khan said “No other party has made any such policies; if you want you can compare our manifesto to theirs”.  He announced that local government elections schedule within the first 100 days of coming into power.

Imran Khan said that corruption has become the major issue of the country and the PTI would wipe out this curse within 90 days after coming into power, adding that the PTI’s manifesto was not base on slogan but it was formulated after case to case study, so there should be no ambiguity about its implementation. He added that power outages would be brought to end within two to three years.

He said that the defense spending would be rationalized and the defense Budget would be debated in Parliament, with in-camera sessions according to the sensitivity of the issue. He said that the PTI would eliminate the railway ministry and the departments like Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) would also be made autonomous. He said that the PTI would reduce the number of ministries because other parties have used this tool as political bribe, adding that his party would also depoliticize the bureaucracy and police. Imran Khan said that the Pakistan Television (PTV) would also be made an autonomous body during the tenure of PTI. "PTI also recognizes the scourge of terrorism and its devastating effect on Pakistan in the form of intolerance, fear and hate, hence, it stands committed to fought for the betterment of Pakistan," he added.

Khan said that in order to make Pakistan a welfare state, one system of education for all its citizens would be ensured besides equal opportunity and healthcare and a social safety net for the unemployed. In addition, primary healthcare for the poor and elderly will be free," he added.

He said PTI has focused on policies for the Minorities, Labour (including agricultural), Youth, Women, and Persons with Disabilities to ensure no discrimination. PTI also recognizes the Overseas Pakistanis as a valuable asset for the country and has outlined a policy for improving their access to Pakistan and its development. He said "Economic policy will be governed in a way to promote fast-paced industrial growth and ensure job creation.  It will ensure that minimum wage of labor is commensurate with the inflation level in the country. To fast track development within the first 100 days, PTI's will take full advantage of the natural resource of the country like copper and coal".

Imran Khan said that for the first time in history any political party has formed a detailed policy on the basic issues being faced by the country, adding that other political parties have no match with our policy. He said that the PTI has fulfilled all its promises made with the public. "For the first time in country's history, PTI hold fair intra party elections. “PTI has not been doing politics for the sake of power whereas the other parties were taking every step just to come in power again,” said PTI Chairman.

Imran Khan said that the PTI was not depending upon electables whereas the other major parties are dependent on electables who always blackmail these parties by making forward blocks. He made it clear that PTI have unveiled its manifesto after thorough study. “We have thoroughly studied the topic of corruption after which we announced that after coming into power PTI will wipe out the corruption within 90 days,” he said. Replying to a question, Imran Khan said that PTI’s popularity graph has gone up after the public gathering of March 23rd.

The manifesto also outlined that the budget of the defense sector will be rationalized and promised to put an end to load shedding two to three years after they come to power.

The party policy further avowed that railway ministry will be abolished and Pakistan International Airline (PIA) will be removed from defense ministry’s supervision and will become directly accountable to the public. Prior to Imran Khan, Shireen Mazari also addressed the press conference said that according to the party manifesto, justice will be made equal for all. “There will be no difference between the rich and the poor,” said Mazari.

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Youth to play vital role for PTI success in general polls: Syed Wajid Bukhari

ISLAMABAD: Youth are the soul of PTI and they would play a significant role in the success of PTI to sweep in the upcoming general elections, huge number of new voters would cast votes in next elections and majority of them would like to vote for PTI.

This was stated by a prominent leader of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf  Syed Wajid Bukhari in an exclusive interview to the Patriot, he said that although Punjab government tried to give lollypop to the students in shape of laptops, scholarships, and helmets etc but like people of all age groups youth of the country have gained political maturity to elect the sincere leadership and they see a sincere leader in Imran Khan.

Answering a question he said Shia killings continued since a long time but law enforcement agencies have been failed to combat this ongoing barbarism against innocent people. He said that all the political stakeholders must condemn openly all the factors responsible for this inhumanity. He appreciated the courage of Imran Khan Chief of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf for condemning Lashkare Jhangvi in a press conference, while bashing Punjab government he said that banned outfits have been shown a soft corner by the leaders of Punjab government.

Answering a question regarding intra party election at a very crucial stage when all the other political parties are busy for election campaigns, Syed Wajid Bukhari said that “Imran Khan wants to make PTI as a democratic institution; Imran Khan believes that only transparent intra party elections can make PTI a strong democratic institution and he is ready to pay any price for that”. He said that it could be very easy for Imran Khan to allot party tickets to the people of his choice but he believed that in this way there would be no difference left between PTI and other political parties which most of them have become inherited political parties.

Answering another question to control corruption in 90 days which seems a hard task, he said that if the head of an institute is honest, it could become almost impossible for the subordinates to do corrupt practices. He said that accountably in every institution would start from up to downwards as it is the matter of fact that only weak and less responsible people were made scapegoats and big fishes remain uncaught.

Describing the preparation of next general elections and alliances with other political parties he said that at the moment all the efforts are being utilized to held transparent intra party elections and on 23^rd March almost 80,000 elected representatives of PTI along with other supporters would be together at Minare Pakistan Lahore. He said that preparations are underway but PTI would accelerate election campaign in the coming days. He said that PTI Chief has made it clear that no alliance with the status quo political parties which are opportunist and can be seen in almost every government. He said that seat adjustment could be considered with the political parties having almost same manifesto as PTI.

     

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Shia killings: Genocide not sectarian violence

Almost 90 innocent Shia Muslims were killed in a brutal exploded attack when powerful bomb in a water tanker ripped through a packed bazaar in Hazara town Quetta, in less then 40 days when another incident of the same nature had taken lives of almost 100 innocent Hazara people. Hazara people staged sit in and denied to bury their dead ones until their demands were not listened. People from all walks of lives condemned attacks on innocent people, Shia Muslims all over the country staged protests and sit-ins in solidarity with Hazaras of Quetta. 

This scribe learnt that while reporting and commenting on this tragic incident few media reporters were frequently using the term ' sectarian violence'. This term is very frequently used in our society. I am not comfortable with this term and in order to explain that ongoing Mass killings of innocent people can be included in the category of 'genocide of shia Muslims' and not in 'sectarian violence' let me present definition of sectarian violence according to some research centers.

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, sectarian violence traditionally implies a symmetrical confrontation between two or more non-state actors representing different population groups. For any reader, anywhere in the world, sectarian violence may mean incidents involving two or more sects of a religion violently confronting one another. In Pakistan two main sects of Muslims are living, Shias and Sunnis. Majority is dominated by Sunnis as Shias are slightly over one fifth of the total population. 

As any news appears that certain number of Shia Muslims were gunned down or blown up in a suicide attack, in an act of “sectarian violence”, it pops up to the minds that there must have been a similar attack by Shia Muslims on the Sunni Muslims prior to this incident. But when one tries to search in this regard mostly fails to find any incident.

How this could be termed as ' sectarian violence' when a banned outfit accepts the killings, which consists of few individuals those hardly represent any majority Sunni groups. By using term sectarian violence, we are not doing justice with the Sunni Muslims as well, because it hints that they are supporting killings of Shias which they are not, infect they participate in the protests in huge numbers along with Shia Muslims. 

Considering these facts question comes into mind, why are those incidents not reported where the Sunni Muslims were the victims and the Shia Muslims were the alleged perpetrators or they had accepted the blames. It is hard to find any, just because there were none incidents of this kind. So, why is all this massacre of Shia Muslims labeled as sectarian violence? As a matter of fact, there is no sectarian violence going on in Pakistan. It has never been the mainstream Sunni Muslims who turned against the Shia Muslims and engaged in their killings. It is not sectarian violence that the Pakistanis are experiencing. It is “gradual genocide” of Pakistani Shia Muslims being carried out by a fraction of militants like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who are quite frequently disowned by majority of Sunni Muslims. 

What is genocide? Genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group" therefore genocide if continued against shias as hundreds of Shia professionals like teachers, professors, doctors, surgeons, intellectuals, businessmen were killed in various target killing attacks across the country from Peshawar to Karachi, just battle field changes from one city to another. As part of the Shia genocide, at least 20,000 Shia Muslims have been killed in Pakistan since 1986. For example, Two days before an eye specialist Syed Ali Haider along with his 10 years old son was killed by unknown terrorists, a silent war against shias continued in Pakistan since Zia regime by militant banned outfits.

Pakistan has never before been in the need of harmony and unity between the Shia and the Sunni as much as now. Shia clergymen and other Shia leaders in Pakistan have so far urged their followers to exercise restraint in order for preventing the real sectarian violence from happening. Different organizations of Shia Muslims in Pakistan usually keep their responses to only peaceful protests. This is also a fact that almost all the Shia Muslims of Pakistan believe in unity, harmony and brotherhood with their fellow Sunni Muslims. Sunnis also condemn the attacks on innocent Shias but still some believe they need to echo their voice a bit more because united we stand and divided we fall, and may we fall as a nation if tragic situation continued. We all must discourage the term of “sectarian violence” because instead of objectively describing a reality, the using this term may worsen the situation as it suggests that both Shia and Sunni Muslims have a share in it which obviously they do not. 

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Hussaniat teaches to stand against injustice, oppression: Hamid Moosavi

ISLAMABAD: Hussiniat taught the ways to humankinds to stand against all sort of inhuman acts and injustices, to put an end of all kinds of tyrannies. No power on earth can stop the processions of Rabiul Awal and Muharam Ul Haram, these processions give strength and unity to the Muslim Ummah.

These views were expressed by the head of Tehreek-e- Nifaaz e Fiqah Jafaria Agha Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi  while talking to media persons on Saturday here at Markazi Jamaia Murtaza G9/4, he was leading ‘Azadari Protest’ against the killing of innocent Muslims including shia pilgrims and against demolishment of holy shrines.

The TNFJ chief demanded from the government to take action against the culprits of all incidents of terrorism including the assassins of member of the Sindh Assembly in Karachi, Mastung incident, Alamdar Road Quetta incident, Dhoke Syedan Rawalpindi incident and to immediately announce financial compensation for the bereaved families of the Shuhada of these incidents.

He said that in the name of expansion of the holy cities of Mecca and Madina, rulers of Saudi Arabia have destroyed the signs attributed to the holy family of Holy Prophet (PBUH), the pious wives and his pious companions, while expansion could be carried out while keeping these signs intact.

Talking about the Indian aggression on line of control he said that at first India commit violations later started crying at the international media to gain sympathies “this is the continuation of Bombay drama to create hatred among the masses” he added.  

He said that internal and external enemies are combined to tear Pakistan’s solidarity apart and the patriotic forces should take care of survival of the motherland instead of involving themselves in long marches and dharnas. He expressed concern that despite imposition of Governor’s Rule in Balochistan the situation has not improved there and incidents of terrorism were still going on.

Agha Moosavi said under a well-thought conspiracy, the colonial powers are trying their utmost to prove Islam and its followers as terrorists despite the fact that those who are crying hoarse of terrorism are the ones who have patronised terrorists. Agha Moosavi said that the colonial power is not only targeting Pakistan but it is a conspiracy against Islam. “We cannot be scared of suicide attacks; bomb blasts and similar evil tactics neither can deviate us from the real path. We want to let everyone know that even if we are cut into pieces, those pieces burnt to ash, then even this ash will spread through air and in every particle there will be a voice of Labaik Ya Hussain (PBUH)”.

He expressed his grieves over the division of Muslims all over the world, “ Muslims are brothers of each other and like single entity or a body, if one part of the body is in pain the whole body gets affected”. Muslim countries are being targeted and destroyed but Muslims are being further divided, we must strength OIC and take firm stand against any aggression on any Muslim country”, he added. He said that if one Muslim country is attacked other remain silent spectators, colonial powers are busy to divide Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Bahrain, Tunis, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt and spreading hatred among Muslims for each others.

The Quaid-i-MillatJafariya Agha Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi called upon the Azadaraan Imam AaliMuqaam to give priority to Azadari over all other matters till 8thRabiulAwwal and avoid taking part in all types of political activities because the Gham-e-Hussain is top of our all other grieves.

On this occasion TNFJ stages mourning protest where noha khawani and matamdari held against the desecration of holy Islamic sites all over the world and in Saudi Arabia particularly.

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A kidnapped, raped sold girl seeks justice, looking towards CJ to take suo muto notice

ISLAMABAD: A 13 years grade six-school girl was on her way back when she was kidnapped latter raped and sold and now receiving life threats, Police is reluctant to arrest culprits.

According to details, Shazia Asghar a 13 years old girl along with her old father Muhammad Asghar residents of Burewala District Wiharri, is protesting in front of National Press Club against the life threats and to get the speedy justice because local police was reluctant to arrest the influential culprits. She was rapped and sold, raped and sold, raped and sold, it’s not a writing error its true that she was rapped and sold multiple times and still getting life threats in search to get justice.

While talking to this scribe she was very hesitant and frightened so her father told that, she was on her way back from tuition when she was kidnapped and did not reach home, late night he reached to police station Burewala Saddar to lodge complaint.      " Latter I came to know that she was kidnapped from the tuition center with the help of a woman Aleema Bibi and Zamaan who run the tuition center and they sold my daughter to unknown people for Rs 2 lakh".

When I told all the details to police they were reluctant to register complaint and then after many days they registered my complaint but did not arrest any accused culprit. He said that after three months my daughter was able to call me from unknown place and told that she was in Gujrat in the custody of a person Ali Raza. Muhammad Asghar told all the details to police and then he gave Rs 15000 to get the details of the sim her daughter called from and after finding the details police arrested that person and recovered her daughter. With tears in his eyes, he told this scribe that now police has freed the arrested persons and putting pressure on him to fix the matter with the culprits as culprits were offering some amount for compensation, “ Police investigator Anwar asked very humiliating questions regarding rape of my daughter that a father can not answer. After judicial orders culprits were arrested and later they were escaped from police custody. He said that he was constantly receiving life threats and life of his daughter and of his entire family member wre in danger. Shazia and her father appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharef, to the PM and President of the country and the entire social rights NGO.s to take steps in order to provide them justice. 

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