According to the information received, the military officers of the DHA are not even allowing the inhabitants of the area to fish, claiming that the DHA holds the rights on the nearby sea as well. One old village was surrounded by military officials and the water and natural gas supplies were disconnected in March 2008 in an attempt to dislodge the 1,500 inhabitants. Through the illegal and totally unacceptable actions of the army officers some 2,000 fisher folks are under direct threat of hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

The Defence Housing Authority, an elitist residential section of military personnel in Karachi has prohibited fishing at Gizri creeks, a centuries-old fishing area, and to demonstrate the army’s strength the officers have burned several boats, arrested many people who they have kept in illegal detention centres at the DHA and severely tortured them. The fisher folk are not allowed to anchor their boats at the Gizri creek but more than 500 meters away from the creek.

The DHA authorities are patrolling the usual fishing locations and where ever they find persons fishing they attack and beat them. The fishermen moved to the Jamia Mosque in the premises of Gizri but the DHA also forced them to move from that area. From Jamia mosque they were forced to migrate to area close to Marina Club, an army officers club for recreation, and reclaimed area in the sea. From that location they were forced to leave for Gutter Bageecho. Since then the fishermen and their families have been harassed and threatened in an attempt to make them their village and sell their houses at low prices.

To date, the DHA has never entered into dialogue with the fishing community or its organization, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and claims that since it holds the rights to the land it also has the rights to prevent people from fishing in the adjacent sea and area around the defense housing area. On June 10, 2005, the DHA issued a notification that fishing would not be allowed in the night after 6pm and they wanted to enforce it but fisher folk resisted. In retaliation the DHA illegally arrested fishermen and tortured them in an illegal detention centre. The town Nazim (head of the town council) of Saddar, Karachi, is assisting the DHA officers by allowing them to extend their territories to other areas which are outside the DHA boundaries.

If the government does not take any action to rehabilitate the fisher folks in their ancestral villages and jetty more than 2000 persons will die due to hunger and loss of livelihood.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The Defence housing authority was formed in 1980 by the military dictator, General Zia ul Haq. Prior to this the DHA was a Defence housing society under the Sindh provincial government and residential land was acquired at throw away prices in the early 1970s, which incidentally have not yet been paid by the military. General Zia transferred the society into an Authority by a simple ordinance and made it a supra constitutional body, which does not come under the constitution of the Pakistan. No civil law can be applied on the DHA. After becoming a supra constitutional body in the name of security of the country the DHA has started reclaiming the land all around its territories. It has acquired vast area of the sea by landfills thereby destroying several centuries old fishing villages. The army has built recreation clubs, golf clubs, hotels, and commercialized the areas reclaimed. The fishermen have been left with nothing and deprived of their basic right to life and livelihood. The DHA has even bulldozed their graveyards and built commercial structures on them. At present the fishermen have to hire the bus at the cost of Rs. 3,000 (USD 44) to take the bodies of deceased relatives to the nearest graveyard. For that, they get financial help from different trusts and welfare organizations. All this was done to create an atmosphere which could render them helpless, hopeless and compel them to flee their centuries old villages and vacate the land for further construction of palaces for military elite and other rich people.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the government and concerned authorities urging them to stop the DHA to demolish old jetties of fishing and dislodging fisher folks from their villages.

Please be informed that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and Right to Food calling for intervention in this matter.

———————————-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
President’s Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
E-mail: (please see-> http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)

2. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
Prime minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House, Islamabad,
Pakistan
Fax: 92-51-9221596
Tel: +92-51-9206111
E-mail: webmaster@infopak.gov.pk

3. Mr. Farooq Naik
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk

4. Rehman Malik
Advisor on Minister of Interior
Room No. 404, 4th Floor, R Block,
Pak Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9202624
Tel: +92 51 9212026
E-mail: minister@interior.gov.pk

5. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk

6. Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan
Governor of Sindh province
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 5043
Tel: +92 21 920 1201

7. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister House
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000

8. Chief Secretary
Government of Sindh
Chief Secretariat,
Karachi, Sindh province,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9211946
Tel: +92 21 921950
E-mail: cs.sindh@sindh.gov.pk

9. Secretary
(Criminal Prosecution) SGA &CD Department
Government of Sindh
Sindh Secretariat,
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213873
Tel: +92 21 9213327-6
E-mail: secy.cpsd@sindh.gov.pk

10. Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Supreme Court Building
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9213452
Tel: +92 51 9213770
E-mail: registrar@supremecourt.gov.pk

11. Mr. Zahid Ali Bhurgari
Minister for fisheries
Government of Sindh
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack no 51,
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 21 9203651
Fax: +92 21 9203652
E-mail: syed_qzs@hotmail.com

12. Ms. Nadia Gabol
Minister for Human Rights
Government of Sindh,
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92,
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 21 9207043
Fax: +92 21 9207044
E-mail: lakshmil@yahoo.com

PLEASE PRAY!

This is a request for prayer for YWAM (Youth With a Mission) missionaries and their churches in Orissa, India. The request came from Mabel Hurst, an associate of HCJB Global. Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer.

Dear friends of Good News India,

We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage…. And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media. Let me explain: A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and ‘reconverting’ people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up, “Kill the Christians!” And the horror began… In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bea r the name of Christ. Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa–they are right in the middle of all this chaos.  In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and ‘finish the job.’ Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer.  More police have come to offer protection. In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty m ob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors, turned them  away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore. All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The anatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road–even women and children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind.   Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: ‘We stay with our kids…. we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.’ More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen.

This will continue for another 10 days, supposedly the 14-day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and  staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times. Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved–that is our heart’s cry. If we can take these thousands o f throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.

 What can you do?

First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer.

Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations… Prayer works!

Blessings,

Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2

Team Facilitators to YWAM Frontlines

UAE National Day Celebrated

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Zayed: Immortal Achievements Symposium Held

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An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and…..

Prof: So you believe in God?

Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?

Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?

Student: Yes..

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)

Prof: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?

Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?

Student:  From….God. ..

Prof: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, Correct?

Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?  (Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?  (Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son…Have you ever seen God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student:  No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your ‘GOD’ doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes, Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn’t. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat.. But we don’t have anything called cold.
We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t
go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it . (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: Yes… What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light….
But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality.
You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, science can’t even explain a thought..
It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.
Now tell me, Professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof:
If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student:
Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student:
Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)

Student:
Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: 
Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?
No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the established rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable. )

Prof:
I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student:
That is it sir… The link between man & god is FAITH.
That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

There was a young man who went overseas to study for quite a long time. 

When he returned, he asked his parents to find him a religious scholar or  any expert who could answer his 3 Questions.

Finally, his parents were able to find a Muslim scholar.

Young man: Who are you? Can you answer my questions?

Scholar: I am one of Allah (SubHana Wa Ta`ala )’s slaves and Insha-Allah (God willing), I will be able to answer your questions.

Young man: Are you sure? A lot of Professors and experts were not able to answer my questions.

Scholar: I will try my best, with the help of Allah( SubHana WaTa`ala).

Young Man: I have 3 questions:

1. Does God exist? If so, show me His shape.

2. What is thaqdir (fate)?

3. If shaitan (Devil) was created from the fire, why at the end he will be thrown to hell that is also created from fire. It certainly will not hurt him at all, since Shaitan (Devil) and the hell were created from fire. Did God not think of it this far?

Suddenly, the Scholar slapped the young man’s face very hard. Young

Man (feeling pain): Why do you get angry at me?

Scholar: I am not angry. The slap is my answer to your three questions.

Young Man: I really don’t understand.

Scholar: How do you feel after I slapped you?

Young Man: Of course, I felt the pain.

Scholar: So do you believe that pain exists?

Young Man: Yes.

Scholar: Show me the shape of the pain!

Young Man: I cannot.

Scholar: That is my first answer. All of us feel God’s existence without being able to see His shape… Last night, did you dream that you will be slapped by me?

Young Man: No.

Scholar: Did you ever think that you will get a slap from me today?

Young Man: No.

Scholar: That is takdir
(fate) my second answer…… .. My hand that I used to slap you, what is it created from?

Young Man: It is created from flesh.

Scholar: How about your face, what is it created from?

Young Man: Flesh.

Scholar: How do you feel after I slapped you?

Young Man: In pain.

Scholar: Thats it. this is my third answer, Even though Shaitan (Devil) and also the hell were created from the fire, if Allah wants, insha-Allah (God willing), the hell will become a very painful  place for Shaitan

Allah said:

‘If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you.’ If you are not shamed, pass this message on…only if you believe.

‘Yes, I love Allah. Allah is my fountain of Life and My Savior.Allah keeps me going day & night. Without Allah, I am no one. But with

Allah, I can do everything. Allah is my strength.’

By Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent

Among the many negative consequences of Gen Haq’s procreativity policy, however, was a sharp rise in the migration to urban centres of enlarged poor families, who were no longer able to survive as sharecroppers and artisans in strained village economies. A second was the unforeseeable creation of a nationwide gender imbalance, whereby females now outnumber males by a ratio of 1.1 to 1 in a population of about 170 million.

The investigation – conducted from 2001 to 2007 by me for research into a novel – concludes that the two factors have conspired to create the stereotype of a new generation of female sex worker: family migrates to Lahore or Karachi in the early 1990s; father is an ageing unskilled worker unable to support his six to eight children; daughters are maturing, but being sent out to work because the family cannot afford to meet the dowry demands of suitors who are increasingly scarce.

Faced with the dual drudgery of spinsterhood and poverty, and constantly harassed by a male society still largely unadjusted to the public presence of women, many seek a logical, if desperate, escape route.

The “fortunate” ones find their way to upmarket bordello madams, such as 46-year-old “Candy”, a living legend in Lahore’s social underworld. Hailing from the Kanjar clan, which claims descent from the courtesans of the Mughal Court, she is popular among new entrants – especially those pursuing dual lives – because of her reputation for grooming, fair dealing and political connections.

“I can’t figure out where all these new girls keep coming from,” she said, before her 2006 arrest for narcotics trafficking. “I keep getting calls from them, quoting one reference or another, but when they turn up at the doorstep, it’s obvious they aren’t from our line of work. They are just kids from regular families and I don’t want their virginities on my conscience, so I send them away. A few weeks later, they are back, saying it’s no longer an issue.”

Some of Candy’s graduates have gone on to earn underworld celebrity status: Neha, a 26-year-old from Lahore’s working-class Sanda district, has financed the illegal immigration of two brothers to the United Kingdom from the proceeds of her career as an erotic dancer – marketed through the sale of contraband DVDs – across Pakistan and in expatriate population centres in the Middle East.

“Before I got into this line, back in 2002, I used to make 2,000 rupees [about Dh150 at the time] a month working in an office. It was a dead-end situation. My parents were looking at me for money to raise my brothers and sisters, and this was the only way. I’ve done what I had to do,” she said, batting her eyelids to show off tiger’s-eye contact lens.

Neha is one of the clever few not to lose sight of the fact that careers are short in a sex industry being constantly restocked by poverty. She has kept her wits and invested her earnings in property and consumer-size 22-carat gold bars. Most of her contemporaries descend into a vicious circle of clinical depression and drug abuse, and fall off the radar. The hardened survivors emerge to find themselves back at square one.

“I’m too old to get regular work any more and am really struggling to pay the bills,” said Ghazal, a 36-year-old from Karachi with two children from a short-lived marriage to a client. “I’m trying to grow my team of girls, but they disappear and set up their own pimping operations as soon as they have a regular clientele.”