Peace and Justice Post

Nasir Khan,

Today’s cold-blooded massacre of 12 people was a deeply shocking, reprehensible and horrible massacre of journalists and employees of Charlie Weekly. The misguided killers have committed the most despicable crime in the name of a great religious figure.

But countless millions of ordinary, peace-loving and hard-working Muslims around the word have nothing to do with these criminals and murderers. There is also the danger of inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions because many neo-Nazis, political extremists and right-wingers in Europe will use the tragic killings to stir hatred against Muslim communities living in European countries, put the blame on Muslims and provoke people against them.

Let’s hope and pray that all people with religious and non-religious affiliations and identities stand united and condemn the Paris murders and uphold the banner of freedom of expression and speech for all, everywhere. No religious maniacs, hoodlums or murderers should be allowed to dictate and impose their barbaric views on free and secular people and societies.

Nasir Khan, January 6, 2015

There has been not tangible move to resolve the Kashmir issue that had started at the partitioning of India in 1947 when the British raj came to an end there. Soon military hostilities started between the two new neighbours, India and Pakistan, over the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. It was only through the UN mediation that the hostilities between the two countries were brought to an end and the parties occupying the areas were accepted as de facto powers. The temporary border-line between these powers was demarcated as the Line of Control.

Editor’s remarks:   In this article eminent scholar and peace activist Richard Falk shows the delusional side of the liberal Zionism and debunks all the claims made by its vocal advocates. His penetrating analysis cuts across the deception and misleading projections that are tossed around as a way forward in the present situation. Diverse views and opinions offered by the liberal Zionists are meant to cover-up the designs of the Israeli government and facilitate the expansionist policies in the West Bank by illegal settlements and marginalising the Palestinians to the extant that they have nothing left but to accept what the occupier decides for them. It is easy to see that the ‘two-state solution’ has been a useful tool in the hands of Israel while expanding its illegal settlements and thus making a viable Palestinian state virtually impossible if it didn’t relinquish the land it occupied in 1967. We have to keep in mind that Israel has not planted 600,000 militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank with the idea of dislodging them at some time. On the contrary, they have been put there as an essential part of the colonisation of the occupied Palestine. Their numbers are increasing and new settlements are expanding. The Palestinians have hopes and aspirations for self-determination and creating a sovereign state in their own land. But Israel has the military power and the backing of the United States to impose its will on a captive people.

Nasir Khan, Editor

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Richard Falk, MWC News, January  5, 2015

Editor’s comment: Salman Taseer was the governor of the Punjab Province, Pakistan. He stood for justice, religious toleration and the protection of the rights of religious minorities. He voiced his opposition to the victimization of innocent Christians who were falsely accused of insulting Islam and the Qur’an by some goons and were tried under the Blasphemy Laws of Pakistan. The governor’s bodyguard, a religious fanatic, killed him. While thousands of people were appalled by this ghastly assassination of a noble person, hundreds of thousands of fanatic people and mullahs in Pakistan openly supported the murderer and held demonstrations in his favour. Such is the social and political reality of Pakistan where dogmatic indoctrination has paralysed people in the last few decades. Gone are the days of humane thinking and respect for other peoples’ differing views or outlook.

Nasir Khan, Editor
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http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/20417/why-should-we-remember-salman-taseer/

Salman Taseer was certainly not a leader of the masses. He didn’t have the charisma of Bhutto or the populist support of Benazir. He was, however, a man who believed in a liberal Pakistan. PHOTO: FILE

January 4 and 5 are two days that every PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) supporter will remember, but for two very different reasons. January 5 is the birthday of their enigmatic party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. January 4, on the other hand, remains one of the darkest days in our history of political murders – a day that is, surprisingly, not spoken of enough.

January 4, 2011, was the day when the serving Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by his guard, because the guard was in disagreement with Taseer’s opposition to the blasphemy law. Salman Taseer’s assassin was a man called Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, reportedly a member of Dawat-e-Islami.

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Editor’s comment: The rejection of the Palestinian resolution in the Security Council was expected because of the role of American power in the world and also in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). There was hardly any indication of any change in the US policy in the UNSC. But in case of more favourable voting in favour of the resolution, the US would have vetoed it. Such has been the standard US practice in the UNSC on numerous occasions when any matter came up regarding Israel’s violations of human rights or violence against the Palestinians in the occupied land. In any case, the US has been pivotal in supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine for many decades and it will continue to do so because of the power of Israel and Israeli lobby on the US Governemnt and the US Congress. Therefore, America is the main hurdle to the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, the guarantor of the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine and its firm supporter for the oppression, suppression and enslavement of the people of Palestine.

Nasir Khan, Editor