Heart-rending

By S. P. Seth, *VIEW: Will the Pakistani state prevail?* - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Monday, July 12, 2010

The most insidious result for Pakistan has been the growth of its own Taliban movement that seeks to subvert the Pakistani state and replace it with a Pakistani version of the Taliban government in Afghanistan

Things are happening thick and fast in Pakistan, though not for the good of its people. The recent bombing in Lahore at a religious shrine was heart-rending.

The sufi stream is the most heartening feature of Islam with a consensual subcontinental culture. To see this being attacked with such ferocity leaves one with a sense of utter helplessness. And coming as it does after senseless attacks on the Ahmedi community, it is felt as a terrible tragedy.

What is the agenda of these extremist elements? These are obviously disparate elements united in their common hatred for all those branded as the ‘enemies’ of Islam. These include domestic as well as foreign enemies. These enemies are seen everywhere by the militants. Inside the country, they constitute a majority of the people who have, by and large, stayed away from political parties aligned with religious extremism.

The electoral history of Pakistan will show that these parties have always been in a minority when it comes to voting, though they have lately gained some traction because of the volatility of the situation within Pakistan.

If that is the case, why have they not been isolated and dealt with accordingly? This has to do with the country’s political and economic development since its creation. Although Pakistan has made some economic progress, it has not filtered down in any appreciable way, if at all, to the mass of the people who need it the most. The feudal class still wields political power, with an added layer of industrial barons.

Indeed, a symbiotic nexus developed between them, with the new industrial class, at times, wielding the baton both as feudal lords and industrial barons. And on top are the military brass sharing power and, most often, sidelining the civilian political elite.

What this means is that the clerical establishment of the country has often felt left out of the political equation. That was not a bad thing since their electoral weight was minimal. But, as self-appointed guardians of the country’s Islamic character, they believe that Pakistan has lost its way.

As Pakistan made its way into the 1980s, two things happened. First, having gotten rid of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the late 1970s, General Ziaul Haq made his political base among the country’s religious orthodoxy. He promulgated ordinances to legitimise some outdated laws and won favour with the clerical establishment. This changed the character of Pakistan’s polity. It also started to introduce a certain religious fervour in the lower and middle ranks of the military.

These internal developments coincided with Pakistan’s induction as a US ally to beef up the Afghan mujahideen’s armed struggle to expel Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Pakistan became the conduit for funnelling US arms into Afghanistan. Apart from being a national struggle, the Afghan mujaheedin’s military campaign was also a crusade of sorts against the godless Soviet Union. And the US found its religious overtones quite useful as a motivating factor.

Ziaul Haq’s attempts to make Pakistan into a crypto-religious state mingled with the US’s anti-Soviet strategy in Afghanistan. With the US as Pakistan’s major ally and the source of its large military and economic aid, such intermingling of their interests gave Zia great latitude within the country. In other words, Zia’s internal and external policies were greatly influenced by the dictates of US prescriptions for Afghanistan.

The mujahideen’s armed struggle against Soviet occupation in Afghanistan seemed too successful, with the Soviet Union forced to withdraw. It emphasised that it was possible to defeat a powerful enemy by the deployment of irregular and highly motivated (especially with religious overtones) forces.

For Pakistan, the results of the Afghan War, and the subsequent civil war in the country, were mixed. On the positive side, the Pakistani establishment was happy to have a friendly Taliban government in power. This was supposed to give Pakistan an edge against a military threat from India.

Pakistani intelligence had also established close contacts with the Taliban at different levels, as well as (presumably) with foreign (mostly Arab) elements that had thronged to fight with the Afghan mujahideen. Another important segment of these volunteers were some Pakistani nationals fighting on the Afghan side. With the Soviets out of the picture and the Cold War coming to an end, all these elements suddenly found themselves deprived of their moral crusade.

Not long after, the Arab volunteers (with Osama bin Laden at the helm) found refuge with the new Taliban government in Afghanistan. And they started planning a global crusade against the US, encouraged by their successes against the Soviet Union. This led to the spectacular attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. It was a dramatic announcement of a global terror campaign against the US and its allies, with the avowed purpose of eventually creating an Islamic caliphate.

Instead of providing strategic depth in Afghanistan under a friendly Taliban government, Pakistan ended up being a frontline state of the US war against the Afghan Taliban.

However, the most insidious result for Pakistan has been the growth of its own Taliban movement that seeks to subvert the Pakistani state and replace it with a Pakistani version of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Reportedly, there are close links between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban, as a good number of them have been the product of the madrassas in Pakistan.

By encouraging extremist religious elements as a strategic tool in Afghanistan, and against India, Pakistan spawned the Taliban and other extremist elements. When the Pakistani state sought to dissociate itself from these elements and then turned against them under US pressure, the intricate linkages between them and some state and military instrumentalities were already too deeply embedded to make a clean break. There is a sense that these elements might still be useful after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The point though is that these forces have acquired their own momentum. Through terror they seem determined to make the state do their bidding rather than the other way around. In this tug of war, the Pakistani people are increasingly becoming hostage to both sides.

Will the state prevail? The problem is that the Pakistani establishment is not only fractious, but is given to adhocism. And though many people would like some semblance of security and economic opportunities, they are not enamoured of their rulers. Indeed, many people regard them as self-serving and corrupt, engaged in their own power games. There is, therefore, widely prevailing apathy. Against this backdrop, the Taliban alternative, invoking a state based on Islamic precepts and doctrines might not seem all that bad to the common man with deep faith in his religion.

Pakistan thus finds itself in a state of flux. And the state, such as it is, lacks the willpower and the unity of purpose to go after the militants.

The writer is a senior journalist and academic based in Sydney, Australia

The Root Of The Answer

By Marta Steele, *Dr. Akbar Ahmed's Journey into America* - Op Ed News - USA
Sunday, July 11, 2010

10 July 2010: Journey into America

In introducing his latest book "Journey into America" at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington this evening, Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, took us into the hearts and minds of Muslims throughout the world and the issues that face all of its citizens.

Ahmed is considered to be "the world's leading authority on contemporary Islam" by the BBC.

The book is based on a four-year project, a study of the Muslim community in America today.

Dr. Ahmed's primary calling is anthropology, and he put these skills to good use, spending a year of field work traveling the country to discover Muslims throughout the country, who number 7 million in total (including two recently elected Muslim Congressmen). With him went a group of students, to conduct a wide range of interviews everywhere from South Alabama to Utah, where he was surprised to receive a warm welcome from the Mormons.

The greatest amount of objectivity possible was necessary for them to draw any valid conclusions from their observations --a huge challenge for any group of humans or anthropologists, let alone those in an oppressed category.

He said that in South Alabama, in discussions about issues including terrorism, he was glad to have young, strong traveling companions. They were fed and sheltered by Muslim families throughout the country.

The study, Ahmed said, was the first of its kind, "rich in ethnography and international relations."

Since 9/11, as we all know, the Muslim community worldwide has suffered slings of misfortune, blamed by many others for that abomination --in the United States in particular where, he said, Muslims say that mistreatment of Jews and African Americans is condemned as a disgrace, while Muslims here are considered at a lower level.

(Strictly speaking, things are not all that black and white --those quoted should tour our prison system, from Bernie Madoff [no white-collar minimum security for him!] to the latest drug pusher to be thrown into the slammer --Jew and black-- with full support of the public, including Muslims.)

In that Muslims comprise 25 percent of the world's population, at 1.5 billion, in fifty-seven countries, it behooves us to follow the guiding light of the founding fathers, to whom religious freedom was paramount to a civilized society.

The challenge is to lift this particular linen curtain and draw Muslims, American citizens after all, into mainstream society, and then to create peace between Islam and the world. That this country donates $1.5 billion a year to Pakistan as well as aid to other developing Muslim countries, proves its generosity. The conundrum, said the professor, is the contradiction between this sincere generosity and the linen curtain [my term] of suspicion, mistrust, and prejudice that so hinders the religious pluralism the founding fathers dreamed of for the future.

Such a black and white us-against-them, evil versus good, Qu'ran versus Bible, the clash of civilizations, just doesn't frame the issue effectively. The question is how to integrate our cultures, and before this can occur, we must want to.

In a very interesting conversation after Dr. Ahmed's talk, a few of us spoke about the huge burden of issues we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren. It occurred to me that if the Earth somehow survives, they will be more than up to it. In high school my daughter's two best friends were a dark-skinned Hindu and a gay WASP. I called her wider circle of friends a rainbow coalition; she called me a racist.

Science is progressing by leaps and bounds in the fight against aging and ultimately death as well as the elimination of the most lethal illnesses. New discoveries are emerging daily to address other pressing issues, including global warming and environmental pollution.

We have so much to learn from a culture that participates in society as soldiers, police, lawyers, politicians, physicians, and more. "Some of the best Americans are Muslim," said Ahmed. We must go beyond our monolithic perspective that bunches all as one--Muslims from every corner of the globe, of every skin color from Aryan to black and contrasting in countless other ways, have immigrated here and their numbers are quickly increasing.

Some ironies suggest optimism: sales of the Qu'ran skyrocketed after 9/11 --were we seeking understanding in the proud American tradition or comprehension of motivations for the Attack on America? Among converts to islam in the United States, three-quarters are white women. The reason is explained in chapter 6 of Journey into America.

Asked if he was a Sufi, he answered that real Sufis do not reveal this identity. He suspects that his father was a Sufi, he said. He lamented the destruction last week of the beautiful Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan, which attracted adherents to all faiths, who were welcomed. Ahmed's Sufi orientation is explained in his preceding book, Journey into Islam.

Let the "American feast" lose its ambiguity. We have all to gain in the face of such a dynamic population, whose majority is predicted to be Latino by mid-century.

Becoming a true "melting pot" is the ultimate solution, in both the scientific and rational sense.

As my white southern history teacher answered my question about what to do about racism, "One night it should rain throughout the world," said Ms. Betsy Prim, then of Atlanta, Georgia. "And then, in the morning, we will all wake up the same color." She chose gray. I couldn't think far enough ahead, but today I imagine that color will be mestizo, the complexion of Latin Americans.

Unaware of the protocol for posing questions to the ambassador after his talk, I was unable to ask any on the list I had made, which included "What does the Muslim community think about Obama, whose attitude toward them, and hence part of his own genetic makeup, is ambiguous or, to put it another way, politically expedient? What does he personally think of Obama? What of the peoples so opposed to each other, including Palestinians and Israelis?" The animosity between them far exceeds the suspicion and mistrust he laments in the United States.

I chatted with a lovely woman from Kashmir after the event. That was the answer really. Her family hated Hindis. Mine hated Arabs. "Communicate!" I said to myself later. One on one, two on two, from small to large groups, from the DC ivory tower of interfaith activities to the world, from scholarship to the earth.

Dr. Akbar Ahmed believes in scholarship as the root of the answer. That, I might have replied, behooves scholars to step down from the podium into the world, following his splendid example. He said that the word that appears in the Qu'ran most often means "knowledge." "The ink of scholars is mightier than a martyr's blood," reads a verse in the Qu'ran. We say that the pen is mightier than the sword.

But if I had to choose in the Qu'ranic context, I'd opt for the blood in a genuinely altruistic venue that opposes the metonymy "sword," which implies nude, unambiguous violence, and re-express the above thought with another metaphor.

But obviously I have a ways to go --to breach the culture gap and understand the philosophy of peace that pervades the Islam holy book.

If there is violence there, take a quick refresher course in the Old Testament, which we can then follow with a realistic comparison of other aspects of both holy books, both of which, after all, aspire toward peace, love, and harmony.

The Sufi Festival

By Dawn Correspondent, *First Sufi festival in New York from July 20* - Dawn.Com - Pakistan
Friday, July 9, 2010

New York: Folk artistes from the four provinces of Pakistan will be part of an ensemble at the First New York Sufi Festival and will have their first public performance at New York’s Union Square Park.

The 50-member Sufi group headed by the Pakistani legend Abida Parveen will include Akhtar Channel Zehri from Balochistan, the Soung Faqirs from Sindh and Zeb & Haniya with their contemporary interpretation of Sufi music drawing from their Pakhtun heritage.

The Sufi festival is being held in the aftermath of Times Square attempted terrorist attack which has undermined Pakistan-American relations. It is an effort to present the softer side of Pakistan and to repair country’s tarnished image.

The highlight of the festival will be a free, public performance with several ensembles at Union Square Park on July 20. Associated partners, the Asia Society and Rubin Museum, will host events of their own. An “unplugged” concert by younger performers will also be held at the Rubin Museum as part of their Spiral Music Series on July 21.

Announcing the festival at a press conference, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Abdullah Husain Haroon said: “Individual acts or the violence espoused by any minority cannot be allowed to define us all. We need to urgently give voice to the true Pakistan by showing our peaceful human face and culture to demonstrate the tolerant moderate Islam practised by the overwhelming majority.”

Picture: The 50-member Sufi group will be headed by Abida Parveen in the festival.—Photo: File photo / Dawn.Com

A World Without Boundaries

By Muzaffar Ali, *Listen to the Sufi in you* - The Asian Age - India

Thursday, July 8, 2010

There has to be a meeting point between the heart and the mind. We all know that life is not all poetry and it is also not all practical. Yet poets who think with their heart are prophetic in what they put in words which come from their soul.

A year after the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1985, while reading a poem by Faiz Ahmad Faiz — Sheeshon ka Maseeha — I felt I was reliving this holocaust. This inspired me to visit Bhopal a year later and make a small film with the same name, a tribute to their grief.

When such calamities befall on innocent, helpless people we need to view the role of nations and corporations from the Sufi viewpoint which stands for compassion and universal harmony — both integral to our culture.

After World War II, world leaders striving to establish an international organisation to be known as the United Nations Organisation, decided to select a piece of literature that would epitomise their humanitarian charter and be inscribed on the main gate of its headquarters. Scholars of world languages deliberated for months and selected the following three couplets from Gulistan of Sheikh Saadi:

Bani Aadam azaye yek deegarand
Chun dar aafrinish ze yek jauharand
(Sons of Adam are like different parts of a human body,
They are the manifestation of that one way of creation)

Chu uzwi bedard awarad rozgaar
Na manad beazaaye deegar qarar
(If one part of the body is afflicted with pain,
Every other part in the body feels it)

Tu kaz ranj o gham e degarand be ghami
Na shayad ke namat nehand aadmi
(And if you are not pained by someone else’s pain,
Then it not befitting to call you a human being)

It is the same Saadi who was taught in every home in most villages of our own country till 1857 and even later, but before 1947, to impart moral ethics in human behaviour.

Nature is seeking balance, humanity is seeking equality and countries and corporations are seeking ways to present a human face to the world. As we evolve from the shameful past of colonial expansionism to a concept of a world without boundaries, the world is becoming open and transparent, and nations and their organisations are becoming accountable and increasingly vulnerable.

Images are no longer created by advertising but by word of mouth, the response of the heart; reactions to negative acts have huge fallouts which no amount of corporate image advertising and public relations can rectify. Don’t we have larger-than-life examples to show this!

Today, empowering your heart to control your mind is the essence of any education philosophy.

It is the driving spirit behind every corporate strategy, in designing products and services which are not just for one race but for the entire humanity. And internally to create a sense of brotherhood in a corporate culture, to inculcate a sense of commitment in the people who work for the organisation. Thus today, more than ever before, we need to think with our hearts.

Hopefully, we do not wish to repeat the machinations and strategies of the colonialists of not so distant past, when countries and corporations combined to perpetuate terror and oppression, like the Opium Wars or cutting off the thumbs of the weavers of Dhaka Muslin to promote their own products.

India’s cultural subjugation had begun even before the first war of Indian Independence in 1857.

In 1835, Lord Macaulay said about India in British Parliament: “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”.

This lead to a clear strategy that was implemented systematically.Today we are subjugated differently, as consumers. While Americans may not have a long history of continuity of a cultural sensibility, they certainly knew how to integrate politics, economics, technical, scientific innovations, superiority in weapons and warfare and whatever else hangs in their cupboards, including the skeletons of Hitler’s victims, as part of their communication strategy.

But the Sufi does not hold anything against anyone. The Sufi makes people dissolve differences to reach out. The Sufi makes the same English that was used to subjugate India, a language to reach out and connect with the heart; to universalise emotions and ideas.

Today the task of the Indian corporate sector is to establish a global product out of India and the multinationals to present an understanding of our markets — our people and culture. This has happened in our tourism sector which is being promoted by the Westerners’ passion for our philosophy, heritage and culture, presented to them through their own museum collections or by Indologists and art historians.

It’s the spirit of the Sufi who is looking for a bridge between the East and the West.

Unlike colonial writers like Mark Twain, who said “East is East, West is West, never the twain shall meet”, Rumi 800 years ago said, “I am neither of the East nor the West, no boundaries exist in my breast”.

The timeless wisdom of the Sufis is the only way to global peace, without which there is no democracy, no corporations, no trade.

Information on the Bhopal film is available on Twitter account SyedMuzaffarAli

— Muzaffar Ali is a filmmaker and painter. He is the Executive Director and Secretary of the Rumi Foundation. He can be contacted at http://www.rumifoundation.in/

Sufi-licious

By Upala KBR, *The Sufi influence in the Once Upon A Time In Mumbai soundtrack is all thanks to Ajay Devgn* - Mid Day - India
Thursday, July 8, 2010

People have Ajay to thank for Sufi-influenced tracks Pi Loon and Tum Jo Aaye in Ekta Kapoor's "Once Upon A Time In Mumbai" soundtrack.

The Sufi influence in the Once Upon A Time In Mumbai soundtrack is all thanks to Ajay DevgnPeople have Ajay to thank for Sufi-influenced tracks Pi Loon and Tum Jo Aaye in Ekta Kapoor's Once Upon A Time In Mumbai soundtrack.

First introduction
Says a source close to Ajay, "It was director Milan Luthria who introduced AJ to Sufi music during the last film they did together: Kachcha Dhaage. Since then, he has amassed a huge collection of his own. The two discussed the genre of music in between shooting Once Upon A Time."

The source adds, "During one such discussion, Ajay told Milan that he felt the film should have a couple of Sufi songs in Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. After that, Milan told the music director to incorporate some Sufi music into the soundtrack -- that's how Pi loon and Tum jo aaye were born. Ajay was one of the first to listen to the recording. Now the Once Upon A Time In Mumbai score has become one of Ajay's personal favourites."

Says Devgn, "I love both the songs in the film. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are my favorite Sufi singers. I've become a fan since discovering it during Kachche Dhaage. I find Sufi music very soothing. Milan made me hear the songs after Pritam had composed them and I loved them! I couldn't stop hearing them after that..."

Milan says, "The first time I made Ajay hear the two Sufi tracks at his Karjat farmhouse was when we just got the music. He was among the first to hear it and went on playing it over and over. We feel Sufi music halts the noise of the music of today, permeates our consciousness and titillates our senses. It commands good words and no one can fool around with it. It was a risk we took but now the music is a hit."

Picture: Ajay Devgn in Once Upon A Time In Mumbai

Let's Hope

By Claude Rakisits, *Pakistan's political cancer grows* - The Australian - Australia
Thursday, July 8, 2010

The government is under intense pressure to avenge the recent attack on a Sufi shrine.

Pakistan is once again in the headlines and, as is often the case, mainly for bad reasons. Last Thursday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at Lahore's Data Gunj Bakhsh, Pakistan's most famous Sufi shrine, killing 50 worshippers and wounding more than 200.

No one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack. However, the Pakistani authorities suspect it is the work of the Punjabi Taliban - a grouping of religious extremists based in Punjab - which is associated with the Waziristan-based Pakistani Taliban (known in Pakistan by its acronym TTP) and is known to have al-Qai'da links.

What makes this latest attack particularly significant is that the majority of Pakistanis adhere to Sufism, the softer, more mystical form of Islam. So this was a real blow to the cultural heart of Pakistan. Accordingly, the reaction to this devastating attack was profoundly different to previous attacks.

Forty religious leaders from different Islamic schools of thought issued a fatwa, declaring that suicide attacks were against the spirit of Islam and humanity and that whoever killed a Muslim had nothing to do with Islam.

Thousands of people took to the streets in several cities demanding that the government do something about this ever-growing terrorist threat.

The Pakistani government is getting worried, and rightfully so. President Asif Ali Zardari's spokesman has stated that Pakistan is a nation at war. Accordingly, the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, with the ostensible support of the main opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, agreed to convene an emergency security summit to try to hammer out a strategy to deal with this threat.

Let's hope they come up with a credible plan because this political cancer is growing fast and has infected the Punjab, Pakistan's heartland and most populous province. And that's the big worry.
As long as the terrorist attacks were limited to the northwest of the country and the tribal areas, the authorities could pretend that it was only a Pakhtun problem, which could be contained in a remote part of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the contamination has spread elsewhere.

Worryingly, many of the Punjab-based religious extremist groups - most of which have had the covert support of the military as proxy jihadists to fight the Indians in Kashmir - have increasingly turned their attention to the home front, targeting the pro-West army and government and anyone not toeing their strict version of Islam.

The Pakistan government will be under intense pressure to be seen to be doing something to avenge this latest attack. The Americans have been telling the Pakistanis they need to do something about this growing terrorist threat before it gets out of control. However, there will be limits as to what they can do.

Conducting military operations in highly populated Punjab would not be the same as the ones conducted in the sparsely populated tribal areas. Moreover, the army is not trained for counter-terrorism operations. As we have seen when it went into the Swat Valley to oust the TTP last year, the army's heavy-handed methods tend to cause a lot of collateral damage. In that case, more than 2.5 million people were forced to flee their homes, making it the world's worst sudden movement of refugees since the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The government doesn't want a repeat of that disaster.

Complicating the Pakistani government's options to manoeuvre is that the Punjabi government, which is headed by Nawaz Sharif's brother, is not at all keen to use force against these religious extremists. On the contrary, the Sharif brothers are advocating talking to the Punjabi Taliban instead.

The problem with that approach is that it doesn't work: all the peace agreements the Pakistani government has signed with the Pakistani religious extremists in the past have been broken by the militants.

But Nawaz Sharif doesn't care. He wants to regain power in Islamabad as prime minister from which he was ousted by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. So he wants Gilani to take all the blame for turning on fellow Punjabis, hoping to make it easier for him to win the next parliamentary election.

What is happening in Pakistan should deeply worry the international community.

It is a well-known fact that the key to victory in Afghanistan is Pakistan. That is why the Americans have been putting so much pressure on the Pakistan army to launch a fully fledged military operation against the Taliban's safe havens in North Waziristan along the border with Afghanistan. But a Pakistani government distracted and weakened by its internal troubles cannot focus on fighting in the tribal areas.

In the meantime, the US continues its drone attacks against the Afghan Taliban and the TTP. But these drone strikes have negative repercussions: they fuel rampant anti-Americanism, give a boost to the recruitment of new terrorists and result in more TTP attacks against ordinary Pakistanis.

They also weaken an already very weak and less than credible Pakistani president who is perceived as simply being a stooge of the Americans.

And here is the snag: the deeper Washington gets involved in Pakistan, the weaker the Pakistani government becomes and therefore the more difficult it becomes for the Pakistani leaders to deal effectively with an ever-expanding home-grown terrorist threat which has claimed the lives of 10,000 people in the past four years.

Claude Rakisits is a senior lecturer in strategic studies at Deakin University

Performing Sama

By AA Staff Reporter, *Iran women perform Sufi dance for the first time* - Al Arabiya - Dubai, UAE
Monday, July 5, 2010

Changing gender norms and the conventional

A group of Iranian women are to cross barriers by performing Sama, the ecstatic Sufi dance for the first time in Vahdat Hall, situated in one of Tehran’s most glamorous and important cultural areas.

The all-female band Ava-ye Mehrabani (The Call of Kindness) will be accompanied by 35 daf or frame drum players, and will take place on the 16th of July, the band singer and director Soheila Purgerami said in a press release on Sunday.

Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam and followers, also called dervish, attempt to discipline both the mind and body in order to directly experience God.

The Sufi dance is performed with the Sama, on which the dervish tries to reach the source of all perfection by abandoning the egos and all desires, and focusing on solely God while spinning, mimicking the repetitive circles of the solar system orbiting around the sun.

In addition to groundbreaking Sama dance by women, the band has also scheduled selections of Khorasani folk music part of Iran’s northeastern region’s heritage to be part of their repertoire.

In Iran solo female singing has been banned since 1979 but there are no offcial restrictions on female musicians performing in public.

During a 2007 all-men Sama performance that took place in an opening ceremony commemorating the 800th birthday of the Persian mystic poet Molana Jala ad-Din Rumi, criticism was drawn against the organizers for staging the performance.

In the past, certain Sufi groups in Iran have come into conflict with the authorities in Iran, causing concern among some clergy over the observance of practices that departed from the conventional religious rituals in the country.

Sufis look to their own spiritual leaders, while Iran's official version of Islam advocates the practice of following a Marja-e taqlid, or a cleric who is an expert in Islamic jurisprudence.

Reshuffle

By AFP, *Somali PM names new defence minister* - Agence France-Presse - Paris, France
Sunday, July 4, 2010

Mogadishu: Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke said he has appointed Abukar Abdi Osman Mardadi, a relatively obscure member of parliament, as defence minister.

Mardadi replaces Abdalla Boss Ahmed, who was named industry minister in the reshuffle.
Yusuf Hasan Ibrahim Dheg was named minister for foreign affairs, replacing Ahmed Jama Jengeli, who was sacked.

"After seeing the need for more effective government, after seeing the agreement the government signed with Somalia's Sufi sect, the prime minister announced a reshuffled cabinet list including new members from Ahlu Sunna," government spokesman Abdulkadir Walayo told AFP.

The new cabinet has 39 members, just like the previous one. It includes three new members from the moderate Sufi sect Ahlu Sunna.

The premier is expected to send the new cabinet list to the parliament for approval in the coming days.

To Live On

By Majid Sheikh, *Lahore lives up to the message of Data Sahib* - Dawn.com - Pakistan
Sunday, July 4, 2010

The bombing of the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh saw Lahore descend into shock.

There was, initially, an eerie sadness never experienced by the city before. Each person was contemplating how to react, the result of a disbelief that such a thing could happen to Lahore’s ‘Patron Saint’.

It really does not matter which religion or sect you belong to, every one has a deep respect for the patron saint of Lahore. Even seasoned agnostics were alarmed. How could anyone set off bombs inside these hallowed contemplation grounds?

Violence and Sufism do not mix. One is an aggressive manifestation of an inner need which hurts others. The other is peaceful introspection to understand such a need. So the silence that followed was a beautiful reaction.

This was Lahore at its very best. This was centuries of experience all coming good. There is absolutely no doubt that the people of this beautiful city follow their Sufi patron in letter and spirit.

There were violent utterances too, but from the ‘mullah’ class only who blamed the USA, India, Israel and a host of other perceived enemies. It is small wonder that they remain a despised class. They also blamed the powerful and they blamed weak minorities, especially a small sect that was brutally attacked just a few weeks earlier. This made me sad, for the message of the man they claim to follow was being violently violated.

This reminded me of a poem by that great Punjabi poet Sultan Bahu, himself a great Sufi and follower of Ali Hassan of Hajver. The poem starts with the line:

“Dil kale ton moonh kaalaa changaa,
je koee usnoon jaane hoo”

(Black skin is better than a black heart, provided you think about it). The poem ends with the line:

“Aalim chhorr maseetaan natthe,
jad lagge dil tikaane hoo”

(Scholars surely flee their mosques, O Bahu, when their hearts are touched by Allah’s love).

Through the ages the shrine of Data Sahib, as he is popularly referred to by his followers, has seen emperors and beggars alike humbled by his message, the message of Allah’s love for his humanity.

Inside, in safe vaults, hand-written versions of the Holy Quran written by rulers like Sultan Shamsuddin Altamesh and even Sultan Ibrahim Ghaznvi lie unread. Over the ages great Sufis like Khawaja Moeenuddin Chisthi of Ajmer and Khawaja Fareed of Pakpattan spent years in ‘chilla’ or meditation, before moving on to establish their own centres of learning and meditation.

Ali Hassan of Hajver came to Lahore in 431 AH and died in 465 AH. Just why has Data Sahib such a special place in the lives of the people of Lahore? The answer lies in the fact that almost every mystic Sufi who came to the sub-continent, or was born here, has visited and learnt a higher message at the shrine of Data Sahib.

He represents the first among the greats, of this there is no doubt. But who was this great man, the ‘Patron Saint’ of Lahore. We have never dwelt on the man, and so today a few words are needed to put him in his context.

The family of Abul Hassan Ali, ibn Usman al-Jullabi, belonged to Hajver in Afghanistan, though Abul Hassan Ali was born in Ghazni in 991 AD when the Ghaznavid Empire was expanding. He was attracted to the Sufi message early in his life and travelled to Iran, Iraq and Syria. In these journeys he met several Sufi mystics and seers.

He studied Sufism under Abu'l-Fazl Muhammad, through whom he was spiritually connected to Junaid Baghdadi. He settled in Iraq where he got married. Little is known about this aspect of his life. From here he was ordered by his spiritual mentors to proceed to Lahore, where on his arrival he experienced the funeral of Hazrat Zanjani, who lies buried on the premises of Lady Aitchison Hospital on Hospital Road next to Mayo Hospital. It was then that he understood that it was Allah’s will that he be the Patron Saint of Lahore.

However, there is another version to this trip to Lahore. One account says that he was made a prisoner of war in Iraq and that he was brought as a captive to Lahore. That is a story that needs exploration.

But no matter what brought him to this city, he spent the rest of his life here, where he compiled his epic book ‘Kashf Al Mahjoob’ in Persian. The book is one of the earliest treatises on Sufism. He died in Lahore in 1077 AD.

Hazrat Moeenuddin Chishti paid homage to Data Sahib through the immortal lines that still don the shrine’s front:

Ganj Bakhsh-e faiz-e aalam, mazhar-e Nur-i Khuda
Naqisaan ra pir-e kaamil, kaamilaan ra rahnuma

Abul Ali Hassan wrote a number of other books, some of which were stolen by other scholars. Many experts think that the Sufi book ‘Maghzin-e-Kashf-ul-Israr’ is also his book. His other books include ‘Deewan’, ‘Minhaj ud Deen’, ‘Kitabul Fanna wal Baqa’, ‘Israrul Kharq wal Moo'dabat’, ‘Kitab ul Biyan’ and ‘Riayat ul Huqooq Allah’.

But the enduring fame of Data Sahib lies in his mystical appeal to people of every class and faith. He remains the mentor of the great Sufis of the sub-continent till date, and the hope of the poor of almost every village in the country.

From scholars to those who know nothing about the man, especially the new emerging urban elite, he remains a source of solace. The respect he commands, for some reason, no one else does.

That is why when the ground where lies the Patron Saint were violated, Lahore was shocked. Over the centuries Genghis Khan, Taimurlane, Babar, Ranjit Singh and the British have all shown greater respect. Something fundamentally has gone wrong.

When scholarship and history are ignored, there has to be something fundamentally wrong. But Abul Hassan Ali Hajveri will continue to live on in the hearts of the people as Lahore ‘Data Sahib’.

Picture: The introspective silence that followed the attack was Lahore at its very best. This was centuries of experience all coming good. — Photo by Reuters

Sufiana Kalam

By KD Mainiis, *Religious And Cultural Tourism Across The LOC* - Eurasia Review - Madrid, Spain

Saturday, July 3, 2010

With upheaval and limitations on the movement of people across the LOC [Line of Control], there is a need to improve the cross-LOC interaction. The real Confidence Building Measure (CBM) between the two parts of Kashmir can be extended by strengthening the people to people contact and by opening up the spectrum for religious and cultural heritage of both the areas.

Despite a rift and break down in the dialogues after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, both the countries have continued with interactions and have taken initiatives to improve relations further.

With the recent visit of Home Minister P Chidambram of Pakistan on 26-27 June and the offer of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mohd Qureshi to fight against terror jointly, the bilateral dialogues have resumed. Now the stage is set for further CBMs on the LOC.

The tourism across the LOC can be an important CBM. There is a great potential for religious, scenic, adventurous, cultural and heritage tourism in both the parts of Kashmir. We can exploit this tourism for the betterment of the people and making the atmosphere more congenial. Such ventures can bring the people closer to each other, reduce the tension and create an atmosphere of trust and faith.

Religious Tourism:
The religious beliefs of people living across the LOC can bring in peaceful interaction between the people by encouraging religious tourism.

There are a number of Sufi Shrines in both parts of the J&K state which are equally respected by the people living across the LOC. These shrines can be made the symbol of composite cultural and religious heritage of both parts of J& K.

Ziarat Khari Sharief in Mirpur district of POK is a Shrine of Sufi Saint Peer Shah Gazi (Dammrian wali Sarkar) and his disciple and great Sufi poet Hazrat Mian Mohd Bakash; and the Shrine of Sayed Ghulam Shah Badshah Shahdara Shareif Rajouri and the great Gujjar saint and Sufi poet Hazarat Baba Ji Sahib Larvi of Lar Sharief Kangan Kashmir are considered the holiest places for the people residing in either part of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

These Shrines and Sufi poets have great followers among the masses in both the sides of Kashmir. Goodwill can be created by making travel across the border easier.

There is also a great Sikh Shrine Dera Sant Bhai Rocha Singh Ji located in Rawalakote town and a Hindu Shrine of Goddess Sharda in Muzafarabad district situated in the left side of Kishan Ganga on the bank of Madhumati stream in the base of Nanga Parbat in POK which is 170 kilometers away from Muzafarabad city. Originally it was known as Sharda Peeth (University) and fourth Buddist Council was conducted at this place in 141AD during the rule of Emperor Kanishka.

Alburani, who visited India in 1036AD writes in his book Indica that there is a great image of Sharda Goddess and devotees assemble here for the prayer. The long standing demand of Hindus of J&K for the Yatra of Sharda Shrine and the opening of the Sikh Shrine along with Gurudwara Chatti Pathshahi Muzafarabad to Sikh devotees for religious tourism can further strengthen the trust and confidence among the people and encourage the religious tourism.

Cultural Tourism:
There is a strong cultural affinity between the people of POK and Rajouri-Poonch-Uri and Karnah of this area. The similarity of the mother tongue Pahari and Gojri is the main binding factor. They have common folk songs, folk dances and folk music.

The Pahari folk songs like Jindah, Kainch, Dollan, Surma and marriage songs along with Ballod of Shamas Khan and the Gojri folk songs like Noora, Si-Harfies, Shopian, marriages songs and crop songs are very popular among the masses residing in both the sides across the LOC. The folk dances like Mengha, Lathbazi and Naach are the common cultural treasure of the people. They also have the common folk instruments like Tota, Jodi, and Sarangi.

Apart from this, the most binding cultural factor between the people of POK and Pir Panchal region of this side is Sufiana Kalam of Sufi Saints. The Sufi poetry of Mian Mohd Bakash of Khari Sharief, Chan Zaman of Kotli, Sain Fakar Din of Poonch and Sufi poet Baba Ji Sahib Larvi and Hazarat Nizam-ud-Din Larvi is most popular among Paharis, Gujjar and Bakerwals living in both the parts of Kashmir. These factors indicate that the cultural heritage of the people of both the parts of Kashmir is very similar. We can exploit these indicators for cultural tourism.

The exchange of folk cultural troops, Sufiana singers and folk musicians and conduct of folk shows of the artist of one side of Kashmir on the other part can create a friendlier atmosphere apart from the reunion of cultural heritage of the people.

Reviving this road will not only foster the relationship between India and Pakistan but will open up the road for people around the world, which will be mutually beneficial for both.

KD Mainiis is Editor, Peace and Relation, Poonch

IPCS
The Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies conducts independent research on conventional and non-conventional security issues in the region and shares its findings with policy makers and the public. It provides a forum for discussion with the strategic community on strategic issues and strives to explore alternatives. Moreover, it works towards building capacity among young scholars for greater refinement of their analyses of South Asian security.

Through close interaction with leading strategic thinkers, former members of the the Indian Administrative Service, the Foreign Service and the Armed Forces, the academic community as well as the media, IPCS has contributed to the strategic discourse in India.

Its Executive Committee reflects a mix of experience and expertise and is currently headed by Mr. Eric Gonsalves, former Indian Foreign Secretary to the Government.

Visit the Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies

[Picture: Kashmir Map with LOC. Photo: Wiki]

12 Suspects Arrested

By News Editor, *12 arrested over Pak Sufi shrine blasts* - The Hindu - India
Saturday, July 3, 2010

Lahore: Pakistani law enforcement agencies have arrested 12 suspects in connection with the twin suicide bombings at a famous Sufi shrine here and recovered sophisticated weapons and explosives from them, an official said on Saturday.

The suspects included “suicide bombers and their handlers,” a Punjab government spokesman said.

“They are key members of a number of gangs involved in major incidents of terrorism in the province,” the spokesman said.

Those arrested included terrorists and their accomplices who were allegedly involved in attacks on other places of worship and on a mosque at Parade Lane in Rawalpindi.

A huge quantity of sophisticated weapons and explosives as well as uniforms of various security agencies were recovered from the arrested persons, he said.

“Similarly, valuable information about various gangs of terrorists has been received,” he said.

The Punjab government believes the arrest of these “terrorists and saboteurs” is “a big achievement” that will help in curbing terrorism, he added.

More than 40 people were killed and over 200 injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday night in Data Darbar, the shrine of Persian Sufi saint Ali Hajweri, considered the patron saint of Lahore.

Meanwhile, police on Saturday said a resident of a village bordering India had mistakenly been identified as one of the suicide bombers.

Police had detained the relatives of Muhammad Rafiq alias Usman, aged about 20, in Hadyara village on Friday after coming to the mistaken conclusion that he was one of the attackers.

Rafiq’s relatives were freed after it was established that he was among the victims of the attack.
Rafiq’s kin said he visited the shrine every Thursday to offer prayers.

Picture: People gather for prayers on Friday at a mosque inside the Data Darbar, the shrine of Sufi saint Ali Hajweri, which was attacked by suicide bombers on Thursday night in Lahore. Photo: AP / The Hindu.

Deeply Frustrated

By Staff Reporter, *Somalia Government Accused of Dishonest Negotiating* - Voice Of America - Washington, USA
Thursday, July 1, 2010

A key military ally of the U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government in Somalia is accusing the government of negotiating in bad faith, describing a recent political agreement between the two sides as "broken".

The statement comes amid an offensive by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants in the capital.

A leader of the Sufi Islamic militia, Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a, says his group is deeply frustrated by the lack of progress on an agreement signed in March between his group and Somalia's U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government.

Sheik Mohamoud Hassan Farah says the accord has collapsed because the government has not fulfilled any of the promises it has made to Ahlu-Sunna.

The agreement, signed in neighboring Ethiopia, would have given the Sufi group key ministerial posts in the Somali government in return for military support to defeat al-Shabab, an al-Qaida proxy that is battling to overthrow the government in Mogadishu and consolidate its control throughout the country.

Ahlu-Sunna took up arms against al-Shabab in late December 2008, angered by al-Shabab's extremist and intolerant attitude toward Sufi Muslim traditions and practices. Since then, militias loyal to Ahlu-Sunna have been instrumental in stalling, and in some cases pushing back, al-Shabab's efforts to gain control over Ahlu-Sunna strongholds in central Somalia.

In recent months, Ahlu-Sunna fighters have also supported government and African Union peacekeeping troops defend against al-Shabab attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.

But disagreements between Somali President Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke over the make up of the new Cabinet have delayed implementation of the agreement.

VOA sources in Mogadishu say an announcement about the Cabinet reshuffle may come as early as Friday, but key officials of Ahlu-Sunna may not be on the list.

Sheik Mohamoud Hassan Farah has warned that his group would not accept Somali factional leaders - some of whom are fighting against al-Shabab under the Ahlu-Sunna banner - as Ahlu-Sunna representatives in the Transitional Federal Government.

The March agreement caused a split within Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a, with one faction rejecting the deal as an attempt by Ethiopia to control the group and its leaders. Nevertheless, the faction agreed it would not oppose the Somali government.

U.S.-based Somalia observer Michael Weinstein says the loss of Ahlu-Sunna as a military ally could be catastrophic for a government that is already dependent on 5,300 African Union peacekeepers for its survival.

For weeks, A.U. peacekeepers and Ahlu-Sunna militia have been struggling to help fend off al-Shabab advances into areas of Mogadishu under government control. On Thursday, President Sharif, dressed in military fatigues, accompanied African Union troops to the front lines to rally government troops.

In a recent article posted on the Puntland-based Garoweonline website, Weinstein warned that al-Shabab was on the verge of eliminating its major competitor, Hizbul Islam, by taking over all areas of southern and central Somalia in which the two groups have divided or shared since early 2009.

Once completed, Weinstein says he believes al-Shabab will move against the pro-government Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a militia that controls much of the central Galgadud region and has fighters deployed in Mogadishu.

"If the central region goes to al-Shabab, then there is a real crisis. Puntland is pressured," said Weinstein. "The TFG [Transitional Federal Government] is left without any effective allies," he said. "Is this going to force the hand of the donor powers? Is there going to be another Ethiopian invasion? Everything is on the table. There is no diplomatic political response that can stop al-Shabab anymore. I think it is only a military response that can stop them."

During a meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi last week, East African defense chiefs asked the United Nations to lift the ban on Somalia's neighbors sending peacekeepers to the war-torn country.

Picture: Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, prime minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, right, and Sheikh Mahmud Sheikh Hassan, spiritual leader of Ahlu Sunna Waljama (ASWJ), shake hands following the signing of an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: VOA File Photo - 15 Mar 2010.

Dacoits

By TCN News, *Indian Sufi Sunnis condemn Lahore blasts, ‘Talibani Jehad’* - Two Circles Net - Cambridge, MA, USA

Saturday, July 3, 2010

New Delhi: Indian Muslims and scholars have condemned the ghastly attack on innocent Sufi followers which killed around 50 people and injured about 200 at the shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Ali bin Usman Hajweri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, in Lahore on July 2.

Muhammad Saeed Noori of Raza Academy Mumbai, a representative body of Majority Sufi Sunnis said, “The Puritanical and Extremist approach of these terrorists and bunch of dacoits has caused a great divide among the Muslim Community. Today if Pakistan is unstable it is only due to these extremist Talibanis who are helping the Imperialist forces to get stable in the region.”

[Picture: Data Durbar, Data Ganj Bakhsh Shrine, Lahore. Photo: Wiki]

Savage To The Extreme

By Staff Reporter, *Qureshi condemns shrine attack* - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Saturday, July 3, 2010

Islamabad: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday strongly condemned the suicide attack on the shrine of renowned Sufi saint Abul Hassan Ali Ibn-e-Usman al-Hajvairy, known as Data Gunj Bakhsh, in Lahore late on Thursday night, resulting in several innocent lives.

In a statement issued here, the minister said that the attack at the shrine of a Sufi saint betrayed beyond doubt that these terrorists had no faith and no values, and they were savage to the extreme, and hell-bent to ruin everything civilised.

Qureshi said that the government and the people of Pakistan were determined to root out the menace of terrorism, and would never allow these violent extremists to succeed in their abhorrent designs.

He prayed for the victims and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.

[Picture: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Hussain Qureshi. Photo: Wiki.]

Wings Of Wisdom

By Terry Morris, *Yellow Springs youth to perform timeless fable of strength, unity* - Dayton Daily News - Dayton, Ohio, USA
Friday, July 3, 2010

What do you get when you combine kids, jazz, a 12th century Sufi fable and theater visionary Peter Brook?

If John Fleming is also involved, you get an original summer musical performed by young people.

The founder and director of Yellow Springs Kids Playhouse is staging “Wings of Wisdom,” an original jazz musical for YSKP, July 8-18 at the Antioch Amphitheater.

The story, based on Brook’s adaptation of the original parable, is about an arduous bird migration that leads to nothing more than the flock’s reflection in a lake. At least, that’s one way to interpret it.

Lyrics are by Fleming, with music by Neal Kirkwood. The band Gorilla My Love, featuring Harry Mann, will perform the music. Puppets by Tristan Cupp and Pierre Nagley will be used in the production.

Times will be 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. More information is available at www.yskp.org or (937) 767-7800

No Immediate Claim

By AFP / Agencies, *Pakistan suicide bombers may be a new force* / *Crowd protests Taliban attack* - The Age - Australia

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Lahore: Two suicide bombers have killed 42 people and injured more than 170 at the shrine of a Sufi saint in what could be the work of a dangerous new militant group, out to avenge a deadly army assault on a mosque in the nation's capital, Islamabad, three years ago.

Thousands of people were present at the shrine, dedicated to Hazrat Syed Ali bin Usman Hajweri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, at the time of the attacks on Thursday night.
''It was a suicide bombing and we have found the heads of two suicide bombers,'' said Lahore police commissioner Khusro Pervez, adding that ''we are looking into the circumstances around how the bombers penetrated the area despite strict security''.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but Pakistan has been hit by a wave of deadly attacks since its military started operations against Islamist militants in the country's north-west last year, along the Afghan border that Washington calls al-Qaeda's global headquarters.
There are now fears that deeply religious Pakistanis may also have been radicalised by the July 2007 decision to storm Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and that this new ''Ghazi Force'' may be behind several major attacks previously blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban denied any role in the attack.

''We condemn this brutal act. Our target is very clear and we only attack police, army and other security personnel,'' Azam Tariq, a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan said, speaking from an undisclosed location.

''We are not responsible for these attacks … you know we do not attack public places.''

The Lahore attack was the second assault on the tomb of a Sufi saint, after militants blew up the Rehman Baba shrine in Peshawar in March 2009.

In May, militants wearing suicide vests burst into two prayer halls of the minority Ahmadi sect in two neighbourhoods of Lahore and killed 82 worshippers.

On January 1 more than 100 people were killed at a volleyball game in Bannu, in Pakistan's north-west.

''Before the Lal Masjid, militants hadn't yet declared war on the state of Pakistan. That changed with Lal Masjid,'' said Zahid Hussain, author and terrorism expert.

The new group is said to be made up of relatives of students who died in the Red Mosque assault.

Private television stations broadcast vivid scenes of the 2007 assault, stunning the nation. Perhaps as a result, the Pakistani government is considering restricting media coverage of suicide bombings and military operations.

Under the changes, TV journalists could be jailed for up to three years and fined up to 10 million rupees ($A140,000) for broadcasting ''anything defamatory against the organs of the state''.

***

Crowd protests Taliban attack

Angry protesters have taken to the streets in Pakistan, burning tyres and condemning Taliban extremists, after two suicide attacks killed 43 people at a shrine in the eastern city of Lahore.

The carnage at the Sufi shrine on Thursday was caught on camera in dramatic CCTV footage showing the bombers and the blast which sent hundreds of panicked worshippers fleeing in all directions engulfed in clouds of white smoke.

Thousands of protesters in Lahore and other cities demonstrated on Friday against the attack on the shrine dedicated to Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Ali bin Usman Hajweri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh.

Close ally the United States said the "vicious" attack showed militants' disregard for Pakistani people.

"This senseless act of violence demonstrates the terrorists' blatant disregard for the lives of the Pakistani people and their disrespect for the sanctity of Pakistan's places of worship," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

The United Nations said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "strongly condemns the attack", adding: "The deliberate targeting of a crowded place of worship makes this particularly vicious."

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government is "committed to eradicate the menace of terrorism at all costs".

Lahore's administration chief Sajjad Bhutta told AFP that the death toll stands at 43 with 112 people in hospital.

Protesters burned tyres outside the shrine before noon prayers and more than 5000 people, mostly followers of the saint, later staged a rally in Lahore, while similar demonstrations were held in other cities across the country.

Participants at a rally in Multan wearing green caps and turbans accused Taliban militants of trying to destroy religious harmony in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Taliban, which has been instrumental in a wave of bloody attacks blamed on Islamist militants over the past three years, denied it was involved in the bombings.

The Sunni Tehreek movement announced a nationwide general strike for Saturday in protest against the attacks.

"It will be a complete and peaceful strike," senior party leader Hanif Tayyab told reporters after a rally in Karachi attended by more than 1000 people.

Most bazaars and markets remained closed on Friday and large numbers of police were on patrol in Lahore, considered a playground for Pakistan's elite and home to many top brass in the military and intelligence community.

More than 3400 people have been killed in a three-year bombing campaign by Islamist extremists to avenge Pakistani military operations and the government's alliance with the US over the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Thousands of people were at the centuries-old shrine when the bombers blew themselves up, engulfing the site in a huge cloud of smoke and leaving the white marble floor splattered with blood, body parts and people's belongings.

"I saw dead bodies and injured people lying on the floor in pools of blood," said one witness.
Authorities said they had found the heads of two suicide bombers, who wore the green turbans of Sufi followers, and were investigating how they had managed to penetrate the area despite strict security measures.

The CCTV footage showed a guard chasing one of the bombers just moments before he set off his explosives belt.

"We were searching everyone walking through the gate. One bomber crossed the gate and a security guard ran to catch him because he was suspicious but in the meantime he blew himself up," Rao Fazal-ur-Rehman, an administrator at the shrine, told AFP.

After escaping much of the bloodshed in other parts of Pakistan in recent years, Lahore has increasingly suffered, with around 265 people killed in nine attacks since March last year.

In May suspected Sunni Muslim militants wearing suicide vests burst into two Ahmadi prayer halls in Lahore and killed 82 worshippers.

Sufism is a mystical movement, which includes both Shi'ites and Sunnis, that spreads the message of Islam through music, poetry and dancing. Radical groups consider it un-Islamic.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague branded the attacks a "vicious and inhuman act".
"Britain stands alongside the people and government of Pakistan against those who commit such appalling atrocities," Hague said.

European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said the incident showed the scale of the extremist threat in Pakistan.

Picture: Pakistani Sunni Muslims shout slogans during a protest in Karachi against the suicide bomb attacks on the shrine of Muslim Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Ali bin Usman Hajweri. Photo: AFP

Heart Of Islam

By Hind Al Subai Al Idrissi, *Festival of coexistence and peace in Fez* - Middle East Online - London, UK
Thursday, July 1, 2010

Moroccan festival provides visitors with place to meet and discuss music, poetry, Sufism.

Rabat: Fez, the intellectual capital of Morocco, hosted a significant spiritual music festival from 4 to 12 June, based on a message of coexistence, peace and purity of soul.

According to its website, the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music “represents the spiritual heart of Islam – peaceful, pluralistic, generous and cheerful. It honours all the world’s spiritual traditions and it dissolves musical boundaries.”

The festival provides people with a place to meet and discuss music, poetry and Sufism at well-known historic locations throughout the city — as well as listen to amazing music.

Some of today’s most popular spiritual and religious music groups from around the world came together in Fez for the festival’s 16th annual celebration. Performances by musicians of different religions and nationalities accentuated the potential for openness and dialogue between people.

The Fez Festival was begun by the Moroccan anthropologist Faouzi Skali in the aftermath of the first Gulf War to help people from different spiritual traditions learn from each other without prejudice. Today, it is considered one of the most significant festivals aimed at instilling peace, security and dialogue between civilisations, according to the United Nations. It is organised primarily by the Message of Fez, an organisation which provides the festival with financial and material support.

This year’s theme was “Perfection in Purging the Soul”, coined by Ibn Arabi, a 13th century Arab philosopher. According to organisers, Ibn Arabi’s work represents the will to rid oneself from rigid, exclusive dogmatic beliefs and instead instil the principles of tolerance and mutual respect among civilisations, which the festival aims to do through music.

This spirit of coexistence is evident, with the musical traditions of different religious communities and nationalities highlighted throughout. This year, the festival celebrated Jerusalem as the city of three faiths. The audience listened to a live music performance, "Jerusalem, the City of Two Peaces: Heavenly Peace and Peace on Earth", which presented the history of this diverse city through music played by Spanish, Iraqi, Armenian, Moroccan and Greek musicians, highlighting different musical genres to showcase different eras of the city’s history.

The audience enjoyed a mixture of musical rhythms and compositions inspired by religion, the poetry of wisdom, African religious songs and religious folk music from Anatolia, Cambodia, Asia and America, as well as spiritual performances by major musicians, such as Jordi Savall, a Spanish Catalan viol player, composer and conductor, who presented the audience with a musical composition particular to the former Jewish community in Baghdad.

Festival-goers were also treated to Persian classical music by icon Shahram Nazeri, a contemporary Iranian Kurdish tenor. In addition, the festival featured Sufi music from Zanzibar and Christian gospel music by US African Americans, as well as a classical acrobatic troupe of boys, the “Young Gotipuas Dancers”, from the Hindu temples of Orissa in eastern India.

Several Moroccan Sufi musical groups also performed at the festival, including Gnawa Click, a very popular Gnawa band from Essaouira in southern Morocco.

Gnawa is a musical genre from North Africa, particularly Morocco, and is a unique mix of sub-Saharan African, Berber and Arabic religious songs and rhythms, played with various drums and flutes.

There were also other Sufi musical groups that performed, inspired by Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, a Sufi imam in 12th century Baghdad who taught his followers to lead spiritual lives and promote goodness in their communities.

The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music has become part of the core identity for Fez, always considered by intellectuals, poets, writers and musicians as a major cultural capital of the world. And the festival has helped shape Morocco’s image as a country that not only supports but actively encourages friendship and coexistence between people of all backgrounds and spiritual beliefs.

Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi is a Moroccan blogger (hindapress.canalblog.com) and journalist who participated in a Rabat-based workshop for bloggers organised by the international conflict transformation organisation Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Enemies Of Islam And Humanity

By Staff Editor/AFP, *Lahore bombers ‘enemies of Islam’: OIC* - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Jeddah: The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Saturday branded the attackers who blew themselves up at the shrine of Sufi saint Data Gunj Bakhsh in Lahore, killing 43, as “enemies of Islam”.

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu “strongly condemned the horrendous suicide attacks”, the pan-Islamic group said in a statement.

“Those who committed such deplorable terrorist acts are enemies of Islam and humanity and should be brought to justice,” Ihsanoglu said.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up among crowds of devotees at the Sufi shrine, leaving 43 dead and scores more injured on Thursday. No one has yet taken responsibility for the attack.

Visit the Organisation of Islamic Conference

An Erudite Scholar

South Asia Editor, *Lahore's Data Darbar shrine* - BBC News - UK
Thursday, July 1, 2010

A suicide bombing has struck the Muslim shrine of Data Darbar in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing dozens of people and wounding many more.

Data Darbar is one of the oldest Muslim shrines on the subcontinent.

It houses the remains of a Sufi saint, Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery. He is said to have lived on the site in the 11th Century.

He is one of the most well known and revered of the subcontinent's Muslim saints.

Reputed to have miraculous powers, he was an erudite scholar with several books to his credit.

Most are in publication today and have been translated into dozens of languages including English.

For centuries his tomb was visited by Muslims and Hindus in search of his blessings but since partition, most visitors have been Muslim, although people of all religions are welcome.

Pakistan's main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is a frequent visitor.

The shrine is located near the Bha'tee Gate into Lahore's Walled City. It was originally built by the Ghaznavi king Sultan Zakiruddin Ibrahim later in the 11th Century and has been expanded several times since.

There have been rising security fears in recent years after threats by Pakistan's Taliban militants.

The large size of the complex which houses the shrine and the fact that it is open at all hours to the public makes protecting it extremely difficult.

Mourning

By Press Trust Of India, *Thousands across Pakistan protest against Shrine bombings* - Hindustan Times - India
Saturday, July 3, 2010

Islamabad/Lahore: Hundreds of people Saturday joined protests across Pakistan against the suicide bombings of the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, even as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said militants were targeting cities to divert the people's attention from the war against terror.

Lahore remained in mourning for the second day for the terrorist attack on the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajweri, considered the patron saint of the city. Forty-five people were killed and over 200 injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves at the shrine on Thursday.

At some places in Lahore, protests turned violent as demonstrators marched through the streets, burning tyres and forcing traders to close their businesses.

Police used batons to disperse them and arrested over a dozen protesters who were demanding that authorities should take action against extremist elements involved in the desecration of the shrine.

Protests were also organised in cities across Punjab, including Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Faisalabad and Multan, and at several places in southern Sindh province, including Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana.

Life in many towns and cities were affected by strikes called by different organisations like the Sunni Tehrik and Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat.

Prime Minister Gilani, who visited the scene of the carnage amidst tight security, said that militants had been weakened by successful military operations and were now targeting cities to cause panic and divert the people's attention from the war against terrorism.

Military action is being launched wherever the government's writ is challenged, he said.

Terrorism is Pakistan's biggest problem and the federal and provincial governments must work jointly to tackle the menace, Gilani told reporters after meeting victims of Thursday's attack at Ganga Ram Hospital.

He said he had convened a special meeting on Monday to ascertain the causes of the latest attacks and to frame a strategy to counter them.

Gilani skirted questions about the need for an anti-militancy operation in southern Punjab and the provincial government's perceived failure to act against militants, saying a "blame game" should be avoided.

Major markets across Lahore remained closed to protest the terrorist attack and traffic on the city’s roads was thin. Lawyers boycotted courts across the province and the Sunni Tehrik organised protests in several cities.