ELEVATING the HUMAN SOUL - Becoming Holy

A journalist highlights Islam, the Quraan and the season of Ramazan (Ramadan), a scholar's work and all true spirituality/religion at core. She describes a spirituality of faith, vision and becoming holy illuminated by Ramazan (Ramadan) and the Yusuf (Joseph) story.

"Allama Yousuf Ali explains in one of his many commentaries that Islam as a non-racial, non-ethnic, non-biased code of life. It simply requires undisputable faith in the Almighty; a determination to live right and to see that justice and truth prevails. It requires us to stay away from wrongdoings, to fight injustice and to stay clear of deceit. And as I see it that is the main code by which all decent humanity abides and all religions have preached just that. So where is the dispute amongst religions? Don’t they all speak the same language?"

The photo of Scholar Kharrum Ali Shafique Sahib is in Nawabshah where he was teaching (LEFT) shaking hands with local official (posted on August 29th)



Akhtar Wasim Dar Sahib said about the photo:
"Today’s comment must start from the vivid photograph of KAS and must also end with that. This MAN OF LETTERS is for us the symbol of hope, source of inspiration and the guiding light...where the modernity of KAS meets his traditions." Under that photo, I also added "...There is joy and vision in the faces and the meeting of hands - an inspiration for me as well on the other side of the world!"

BECOMING HOLY By Maheen A. Rashdi - for Sunday September 13, 2009

The past three weeks of Ramazan have induced me to take stock of the twists that the holy month brings into the lives of us Muslims each year. While it requires us to show our better sides, it inevitably turns us into short-tempered, work shirking, lethargic individuals. While at the one hand divine proclamation intends to promote abstinence and restraint in all matters of worldly things during Ramazan, we end up fully unleashing our gluttonous desires and zero tolerance for fellow beings.

And for some, it is almost a swapped existence. I have seen confirmed alcoholics kick the bottle for precisely these thirty days, shed their tailored suits for the white, starched, shalwar kameez (not forgetting the topi on top) and frequent the mosque five times a day as opposed to their daily late-night binges in non-Ramazan days. Well, whatever makes people tick, who am I to comment on personal choices.

When a dear friend posted a beautiful commentary on the Surah Yusuf from the Quraan last week on his blogspot to ‘honour the holy month of Ramazan,’ I was surprised that the Ramazan season had had that effect on him too. For I had always stereotyped him – for no logical reason at all -- as someone who was far removed from all things pertaining to religion. And here I pride myself on being non-judgemental.

Anyway, I discovered that Khurram Shafique is not only an historian/scholar/philosopher and the only one I personally know who may be qualified to be called a genius with indefatigable mental energies, but he is also as well-versed in Quranic text and sub text.

In his commentary, Khurram captures the description of the Surah which is about Hazrat Yusuf (Joseph), his dream, his brothers’ deceit and his revelation besides the all too famous story of Zuleikha (wife of Potiphar) and her seductive overtures towards Yusuf. Retelling a tale about one of the most detailed stories from the Quraan, Khurram Shafique has structured his analysis along Aristotle’s six ‘elements of drama’.

When I marveled at his work, he confessed that he would not have expostulated on Quraanic verses as these have a magic of their own which should not be polluted by mere human descriptive, but that he was compelled to do so.

Why? “Because there’s a danger lurking on the ‘intellectual horizons’ which promotes literature that debases the human soul and runs down literature of dignity,” he explained. He feels that an esoteric school of thought now dominates the frontier of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion which is bent on defiling all credible voices on religion.

I however, do not feel that any such threat has the power of taking over established values or eradicating worthy literature. And as far as the Quraanic words are concerned, these are the most accepted religious writings by scholars of all faiths besides Islam. No amount of loose talk from naysayers has the power to dull or negate its magic.

Allama Yousuf Ali explains in one of his many commentaries that Islam is a non-racial, non-ethnic, non-biased code of life. It simply requires undisputable faith in the Almighty; a determination to live right and to see that justice and truth prevails. It requires us to stay away from wrongdoings, to fight injustice and to stay clear of deceit. And as I see it that is the main code by which all decent humanity abides and all religions have preached just that. So where is the dispute amongst religions? Don’t they all speak the same language?

But alas, being also the most potent tool for power, religion has been twisted to become the cause for every war as well. That is also why it has been complicated and high-jacked by clerics, dogmatic preachers and political players.

It took a lot of will power for me to pick up the Quraan’s translation the first time and find out for myself what exactly are God’s words which have filtered to us in many versions – sometimes even distorted for fearful effect. And because my grade two teacher’s words of how Quraan describes the details of hell had stuck in my mind, my fear was quite tangible. She of course failed to convey the overwhelming kindness of the Almighty contained therein perhaps to maintain a perverse fear factor and her own authority. Before starting, I never knew that I would actually be reading a story book with multiple components – history, jurisprudence, health guidelines, biology, geography and rules for decent civilized living.

Islam is neither complicated, nor terrifying nor unbending and unmindful of human vulnerability, and that is my last word for my believing, practicing, non-practicing and non-believing readers and friends.

Forgive me if I have been too dogmatic, for I too have been swept by the season.

Maheen.rashdi@yahoo.ca

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GO OFTEN to the official website - memorize it and be glad. There is great JOY here!

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Photo is of Ms. Maheen Rashdi, author of the article above. Sent September 12, 2009 to Khurram Ali Shafique. The author is a renowned journalist whose regular column is featured in the Sunday Magazine of Dawn dot com - a large well-known Pakistani newspaper.

Also come back and look for a few related Comments coming soon below and add your own. Thanx for stopping by! May our Ramzan and our other sacred practices for reflection, prayer and spiritual readings be lived out in joy and may our daily lives and hours bring us all into the most Holy!

US Plans for "Imperial" Presence in Pakistan

"Barack Obama may be poles-apart from Bush on so many other things but shares his perception of fighting the enemy on its terrain..."

"Those who have followed the American adventure in Iraq know what havoc mercenary American defence contractors wreaked there. Blackwater was a principal mercenary outfit to which the State Department outsourced its obligations in Iraq. Its gung-ho mercenaries raped and murdered Iraqis at will to such an extent that even the supine government of Noori Al-Maliki was forced to impel Washington to pull Blackwater’s notorious murderers out of Iraq.

The same Blackwater is now getting ready to replicate its Iraqi tactics in Pakistan and some of its operatives are already believed to be in action in Peshawar and its environs."

by Karamatullah K. Ghori

Pardon the Pakistani news media going gaga over Washington’s plans to beef up, extraordinarily, its diplomatic presence in Pakistan. The plans are staggering and stupendous, for want of more descriptive adjectives. But they are, for the record, just geared to Washington’s diplomatic stake in Pakistan, lest the Pakistanis routinely clobbered in the ‘civilised western world’ for their outbursts of emotions over supposedly petty little things.

‘The Americans are coming, and coming big,’ according to media pundits in Pakistan. And none should blame them for going over the top because the figures being bandied about are, to say the very least, flabbergasting.

What’s on the drawing boards in Washington and Islamabad are the blue prints for vastly increasing the number of American personnel manning one of the most important diplomatic presence in the 21st century for the Americans in Pakistan. Apparently, Washington feels that its battery of 750 men and women stocking the American Embassy in Islamabad is far too inadequate to cope with the job on their hands. They need to be given a big injection to inflate their muscles. The magic potion said to be brewing would add at least another thousand people on what’s being described as a ‘war footing.’ That would take US diplomatic presence in Islamabad way above the current largest American diplomatic mission in Beijing, China; the number there stands at a paltry 1450.

The US Congress agrees with the mandarins at the State Department and has allocated 940 million dollars for the embassy in Islamabad and a number of American consulates, particularly those in Karachi and Peshawar. The fortress-like new consulate on Karachi’s Arabian Sea is spread over six acres of prime land, given to them at a throw-away price, of course. What are friends for, after all, and the Americans, don’t forget, have powerful friends in very high places in Pakistan.

(Meanwhile, US ambassador Anne Patterson, reacting to media reports, has said that the number of Marines in the new embassy would be less than 20. They would be accommodated in a bomb-proof facility. At present the embassy has 250 regular staff, 200 visiting American staff and 1,000 local personnel. Another 500 would be added in next three years.)

The government of Pakistan is obviously chipping into these plans with a magnanimity that our ruling elite is so well-known for, as far as their overseas ‘friends’ are concerned. They may be tight-fisted and niggardly to their own people but for minders and mentors from the world beyond Pakistan, sky is the limit.

Little wonder, therefore, that a huge parcel of 18 acres of prime land in Islamabad’s exclusive diplomatic enclave has been ‘sold’ to the American Embassy for just one billion rupees, a fraction of its market worth. What is 18 acres between friends; peanuts when you think of how magnanimously Pervez Musharraf presented the whole of Pakistan to his American mentors over just a phone call from Colin Powell. It was a friendly transaction between two soldiers.

So the fortress in Islamabad, when built, will dwarf the mini-fortress of Karachi. It will be a city in its own right, a typical American enclave on Pakistan’s soil, with its own residential colony for the staff and all the requisite paraphernalia of entertainment and security to convey the American sense in spades to its denizens.

But wait. The Pakistani pundits have nothing to grudge the Americans their plans to replicate their America on a little patch of Pakistan. What worries them is what’s at the core of these huge plans of expansion, and what kind of people are coming in droves to Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar with the obvious intent to cover all the bases in Pakistan.

Pakistan can’t seem to get rid of its perennial problem of being hyphenated with this or that of its neighbours in Washington’s esteem. It was India until not too long ago when American relations with India were taken to another, high, pedestal, with Pakistan left in a limbo to search its own station in American evaluation.

For a moment Pakistan thought it had jettisoned, for good, its hyphenated syndrome. But that feeling didn’t last long. The US is immersed deep into its Afghan adventure and Pakistan is back in its role of a key, front-line, ally. Hence Pakistan can’t be separated from Afghanistan; hence it must play out to the hilt its role of a soldier in a forward trench whose mission is to pull Washington’s chestnut out of the Afghan fire.

It doesn’t matter how Pakistan got involved in the Bush war on terror, or how Musharraf succumbed to the pressure. The ground reality, no matter how tart or unpalatable to a lot of Pakistanis, is that Pakistan is up to its eyeballs into America’s war and must pay the price of the follies of its rulers, past and present.

The US drew a seminal lesson from its involvement in World War II and that’s that America can best be protected, if not insulated from the outside world, by drawing its lines of defence in far off lands, in places wherever a threat to US security or its quest for global dominance may occur and must be pre-empted with maximum force.

The American wars in Korea and Vietnam were triggered by this policy of offence-being-the-best-defence. George W. Bush, an ardent practitioner of Pax Americana couldn’t be more articulate than coining the shibboleth of ‘taking the war to the enemy.’ The invasion of Afghanistan, on the heels of 9/11 was justified on this premise, besides being a prop to Bush’s dream of an imperial America holding the world in its thrall.

Barack Obama may be poles-apart from Bush on so many other things but shares his perception of fighting the enemy on its terrain. Add to it his own vision of winning the war in Afghanistan at any cost. So no price is too high once you commit yourself to achieving a goal; and Obama has his heart set on ferreting out victory of any sort in Afghanistan after having lost the one in Iraq.

But wars can’t be won cheap. They require elaborate logistics. Pakistan has become a cockpit of conflict and chaos spawned by its involvement in the Afghan imbroglio. So Pakistan must be primed to deliver according to Washington’s expectations. Logistics must be so arranged as to deal with Pakistan’s chaotic and turbulent scenario according to Washington’s master-plan for the area.

The logistics involve the building of fortresses bristling with hi-tech gadgetry that keeps the troublesome Pakistanis, or the Pakistani Taliban and their ilk, at a safe distance. That’s an essential tool of 21st century imperialistic reach. In the olden days of imperialism they used to occupy whole countries and convert them into colonies. Technological sophistication and advancement has offered better alternatives, dispensing with the archaic practice of outright colonies to intimidate the locals. Hence the logic and imperative for modern-day fortresses like the ones springing up from one end of Pakistan to another.

Those who have followed the American adventure in Iraq know what havoc mercenary American defence contractors wreaked there. Blackwater was a principal mercenary outfit to which the State Department outsourced its obligations in Iraq. Its gung-ho mercenaries raped and murdered Iraqis at will to such an extent that even the supine government of Noori Al-Maliki was forced to impel Washington to pull Blackwater’s notorious murderers out of Iraq.

The same Blackwater is now getting ready to replicate its Iraqi tactics in Pakistan and some of its operatives are already believed to be in action in Peshawar and its environs. The word has gone out that the Americans are keen to buy Peshawar’s lone 5-star hotel in order to accommodate the likes of Blackwater in luxury for special operations within Pakistan and beyond, in Afghanistan, of course.

The State Department has obviously drawn no lessons from its skewed Iraqi operations and seems willing to retry them in Pakistan. One shudders to think of the fallout of a lethal confrontation between the rogues of Blackwater, running berserk across the troubled North West Frontier Region just as they did in Iraq, and the trigger-happy Pakistani Taliban to whom these provocative aliens would be like red rag to an enraged bull.

The US is a global power charged with a self-anointed mission to fight wherever necessary to keep the terrorists away from its shores. Its history of such messianic adventures not only justifies war by any means but also sanctifies its actions. The question troubling the Pakistani minds is why should their rulers be so blind to this deadly game being played out on the Pakistani turf?

K_K_ghori@yahoo.com

Courtesy: DAWN.COM

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’(,DAWN or oneheartforpeace blog). The contents of this article too are the sole responsibility of the author(s). WoP will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this post.

Teachings on Love, Law, Community and Peace

FIRST EFFORT (The Beginning of a Series)
"Flame Within" courtesy of Joanne Warfield

There have been some illuminations for me in fairly recent personal readings of Islam from a variety of sources. This is just a small effort to share a few insights and quotes with perhaps the most poignant ones to be posted later as more studied and LIVED expressions. Perhaps I should wait until I know much more about these topics. Yet I sense such joy in this discovery I want to get the word out to others as soon as possible!

Henry Bayman writes the following upon the death of his beloved mentor. There are many other such mentors and teachers. Perhaps this will be a humble little bridge from and to the West from Bayman's years of experience with his Master:

I have been asked to describe the late Sufi Master, Ahmet Kayhan. This leaves me in something of a quandary. I, who am rarely at a loss for words...all language presupposes a common base of human experience....(Ahmet Kayhan) was unique--one of a kind, even among Sufi masters--and so, incomparable... The Master's aversion to exposure (allowed him to) remain free to cultivate his garden--themselves--in peace. And it can happen if they consider everything connected with him as a different reality, an enchanted realm that is simultaneously in this world and out of it. The humility of Grandpa (as those who loved him called him) is the reason why he did not like to advertise himself. He could have become world-famous, had he so wished...

Many are the gurus and enlightened masters, of whatever religion, who ceaselessly labor to make the world a better place to live in, and to them all I extend my best wishes--may they see the fruits of their efforts. Many of them are in the public eye. It appears, however, that the greatest masters always remain hidden from view, and are deciphered only after they pass away...

...the Master was basically unschooled. He learned to read and write only...in his twenties...But what about the warts, the feet of clay? All right, the Master, being human, was prone to the afflictions of humanity. He was sick most of the time in his old age...But... blemishes of the human personality? In...fifteen years, I saw him really angry only once, and his only response was the softly spoken word, "Quiet."

Suppose, then, that you had had the good fortune to meet the Master face to face, and I or someone else had elected to take you there. What would you have encountered?

...We would have been ushered in by a person opening the door and led into a large living room. In no time at all, if he wasn't resting or otherwise occupied, you would have had the audience of the Master. Of all gurus and masters, he was the most accessible.

Even if you were an ant, he would treat you like a king. Pleasantries would be exchanged over a cup of tea. Whether or not you had arrived in the middle of a serious discussion with other people present, you would slowly realize a peculiar sensation. It was as if all your troubles and sorrows were ebbing away, and you were being filled with a quiet joy. ...And, regardless of whether you had only engaged in small talk, you would leave the apartment with a great feeling of elation. And this would continue to occur each time you visited him. Many were those who dropped in for five minutes to investigate, and stayed a lifetime.

If you continued your visits, you would have come to the conclusion that the Master had the uncanny ability to read minds. This was alarming to some; others took it for granted. The Master never laid claim to such an ability, of course, and he was always discreet in such matters. But suppose you went to visit him with a specific question in mind. And suppose others were present, so that you weren't able to voice your question. As he talked, you would by and by realize that he was answering your question without even speaking to you. It goes deeper. I have seen people tell me that on some occasion when they were alone together, Effendi told them the innermost secrets of their lives, memories never disclosed to anyone and known only to themselves.

The best years of his life were spent in stark poverty. Not that he earned badly, for he worked harder than anyone else...(Then) from the sixties onward, Grandpa conducted the activity of enlightening the people. Since he was retired, he was able to devote his full time to this effort. I once counted 47 visitors on an average day, but in recent years this number increased substantially as more people came to know him.

...With him there was no distinction between Moslem, Christian, Jew, or Buddhist... For him there were only human beings, and to all he counseled the same teaching: God exists, and God is One. Abide by the Divine Law. Work for the establishment of peace on earth, love one another, and devote yourself to serving your fellow-(wo)men. Feel compassion for all creatures... As you can see, his teachings were independent of time, space or geography, and so, truly universal... If he had survived longer, his intention would have been to continue to call men to peace on earth. He was against all weapons of mass destruction, because these are against all forms of life.

..."LAW and JUSTICE exist," he said, "because of CONSCIENCE, and conscience exists because of LOVE. If you love someone, you cannot violate that person's rights. And that's what the Divine Law is all about. It gives you the guidelines of how to behave as you would if you loved that person..."

Methodology
The methods of the Master in teaching his students varied, yet there were discernible trends. He would not tax a pupil beyond the latter's capacity. In accordance with the saying of the Prophet, he would speak to the level of understanding of his listeners. He had the knack to explain the most complicated things in the simplest terms. If, despite this, the person didn't understand, he would repeat what he said. He would keep at it until the listener had understood, and once he saw he had communicated his message successfully, he would say no more about it. From then on, it was the listener's responsibility to heed the contents of the message.

What was outstanding about the Master's use of teaching-stories, however, was his ability to string them together in the appropriate order to achieve exactly the desired result. In this respect, he had the virtuosity of a composer with them.

He would quickly discover the forte--the strongest virtue--of a person. He once told me that only a moment was enough for a true guru to take the snapshot of a person--I'm inclined to call it a kind of spiritual X-ray. He would then cultivate that virtue of the person, also supplementing this with whatever "vitamins" were deficient in a student's constitution.

...The analogy has been suggested to me that the Master was giving each one of us a handful of seeds. It was our duty to plant these seeds, cultivate them, and see them through to maturity until they bore fruit. Another analogy is that he was giving us keys to unlock the secret chambers of our brains. We all know that a human being utilizes, say, 2 or 3 percent of the capacity of his brain. Suppose an Einstein uses 10 percent. What, then, are we to call those who utilize 50 percent, 75 percent? What are we to call a person who utilizes it to the full? That question is left as an exercise for the reader.

Formal Organization
...there were ad hoc discussion groups, which came into existence on the spur of the moment with whomever might be present at that time. Visiting the Master and participating in these discussions were very important. A leaflet or pamphlet distributed by the Master might be read, which he might interrupt at any time in order to clarify or emphasize a certain point. Even this might not be necessary... If love can be defined as "giving without receiving--or asking for--anything in return," then the Master loved his following...A group could include people from widely diverse backgrounds, and the Master would find their lowest common denominator. In addressing one, he would address all. When everyone left, that was the end of that group.

The Mystery of Effendi and the "Perfect Man"
...What inspired love in the thousands of people who knew him? What caused university professors to be the humble students of this unschooled man? He was not rich, so the reason was not economic. He was not a politician, so the reason was not political. Yet he knew things no one else knew, saw things no one else saw...

The existence of a person like Ahmet Kayhan forced those who knew him to reconsider and redefine what it means to be human. Just as a single white elephant is enough to prove that not all elephants are gray, the existence of a human being like Effendi forces us to stop the presses and rewrite the books...

All these years, we've been talking about human potentials and possibilities. But what are they, really? What are their limits? In order to describe the phenomenon of the total spiritual transmutation of a human being, the Sufis have developed the concept of the Perfect Human (al-insan al-kamil). One could also use the Nietzschean concept of the Superman, or the Chinese concept of the superior man or true man. I hasten to add, however, that Nietzsche failed at precisely the point where he succeeded, for he predicated his superman on Godlessness. To put it simply: no God, no Superman...

(How do) we make ourselves a window unto God's light (?) If you're familiar with the computer term, "user-transparent," we have to make ourselves transparent to God. Only then will we be invested with the qualities that will cause others to regard us as a superior human being. The slightest arrogance, and God will strip from us the qualities He had invested us with. For they are not ours, but on loan from God. The highest point of achievement, the Station of Praise which belongs only to the Prophet, is achieving perfection in being a humble servant of God--easier said than done...(On mysterious happenings, he taught that) the focus should be, not on the miraculous, but on the ETHICAL.

The Lessons for Us All
Perhaps the first, the most significant, lesson for us from the Master's example is a message of hope. If he, a human being, could achieve this, any human being can do it. Perhaps not to the fullest extent. But to the limits that our individual constitution will allow. Every human being is born as an incredible gift, as a stupendous potential. So pacified have we become by the doldrums of everyday mundane life that we do not even stop to consider what business we have here on earth. Why weren't we created as birds? Or butterflies? If we were created as human beings, what role does a human being play in the vast design of the universe? What, for heaven's sake, are we here for?

If we can shake off the hibernation that has us in its grip, we will realize that a more magnificent destiny can be ours than are dreamt of in our philosophies. Perhaps not everyone can achieve it to an equal degree, just as not everyone can win the Olympic medal. But everyone can do something better than where they're at. If we've spent our lives in suspended animation to this day, at least from now on let us try to wake up.

(Ethics and) Morality was what set him apart from other gurus. This was the foundation on which all else rested; meditation techniques, exercises, specialized knowledge all came later, and were useless without morality. This, of course, brings in the Sufi notion of "courtesy"...which is a refinement of salutary conduct.

...A person in control of his hand and his lust, and who in addition performs the Formal Prayer has, according to the Master, all the makings of a Sufi saint (a friend of God). From that point onwards, it would be the individual efforts of the seeker which would dictate the outcome.

I have only one more thing to say. LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Love even an ant. END

MORE TEACHERS TO COME in this blog-series!

"Dr Siddiqui begins her journey as an innocent person under the laws of our country."

Blogger's quick note: Of course we who've been watching this case know that the journey so far has been far removed from the US laws.

EXCERPT from article below:
New team of three lawyers say they are confident Pakistani neuroscientist, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui has harmed no one and was innocent of the charges levelled against her.

Lawyer Linda Moreno, reading the statement on behalf of her colleagues said: ‘We look forward to representing Dr Siddiqui in her struggle for justice...‘We ask those who report this case and those fair Americans who will eventually sit in judgment of her, to remember that this is a criminal case, and that Dr Siddiqui begins her journey as an innocent person under the laws of our country.’

‘We are confident that the evidence in this case will show that Dr Siddiqui harmed no one...and is not charged with any crimes of terrorism."

Excerpts and article below here
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Aafia’s lawyers to visit Pakistan By Masood Haider See Dawn.com

NEW YORK: Two of the three new lawyers engaged by Pakistani government to defend
Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist accused of firing on US soldiers, will travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan to gather facts to bolster their case in the court.

The new team of lawyers — Charles Swift, Linda Moreno and Elaine Sharp — were approved by US Judge Richard Berman at a hearing in the US District Court in New York on Wednesday. The case is scheduled to begin on Nov 2.

Although Dr Siddiqui had rejected the appointment of the team, Judge Berman felt interests of Dr Siddiqui were best served by a team of lawyers who would better plead her case in the US court.

According to Pakistani diplomats, Attorney Elaine Sharp will travel to Pakistan to meet with Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s family members and others who could shed light on Dr Siddiqui’s life.

Lawyer Charles Swift is expected to travel to Kabul where Dr Siddiqui allegedly fired upon US soldiers while she was in their custody in July 2008.

According to the Pakistan consulate here, Fakir Asif Hussain, a senior diplomat at the Pakistan Embassy, is coordinating efforts aimed at seeking her release.

The new defence team has already said that it is confident that the Pakistani neuroscientist had harmed no one and was innocent of the charges levelled against her.

Lawyer Linda Moreno, reading the statement on behalf of her colleagues said: ‘We look forward to representing Dr Siddiqui in her struggle for justice and restoring her to home in Pakistan where she belongs.

‘We ask those who report this case and those fair Americans who will eventually sit in judgment of her, to remember that this is a criminal case, and that Dr Siddiqui begins her journey as an innocent person under the laws of our country.’

‘We are confident that the evidence in this case will show that Dr Siddiqui harmed no one. To the contrary this 90-pound mother of three was shot and wounded herself, the alleged circumstances of which are not supported by evidence. It is also important to note that Dr Siddiqui is not charged with any crimes of terrorism.’

For a detailed analysis of the case go here

Islamabad: No Blackwater in Pakistan? Opinion

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Regardless of exact details on Blackwater (or any other clone or offspring or US Contracting group used by US military) there is plenty of evidence to show that they or some version of them is in Pakistan. US NEEDS TO GET THEM ALL OUT OF PAKISTAN NOW! Pakistan needs to say NO to US contracting groups. There is plenty of recent history to show they have been counter-productive, illegal and immoral wherever they go: New Orleans, Iraq, Afghanistan. So why PAKISTAN too? They are undercutting diplomatic and other helpful relationships US and Pakistan have had and will not help restore respect for the US in world at large. As far as US sources go, keep reading Jeremy Scahill who has continual articles out on Blackwater and versions of the same. Watch at this post for more UPDATES. (some may be added under COMMENTS)

From Sat, 05 Sep 2009 06:36:36 GMT

Islamabad has rejected reports that the US Blackwater security contractor, which has gained ill-fame in Iraq, has now expanded its activities to Pakistan.

“Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan, we have our own system, rules and regulations and will not allow any body to operate from here," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday, Press TV's correspondent reported from Islamabad.

Malik's comments came after sources from among the Pakistani intelligence agencies, citizens and political parties reported that Blackwater USA was present in the country.

Pakistani Defense Analyst Sheerain Mizari says that the notorious security firm is now not only operating the Northwest Frontier Province but also in the capital Islamabad.

She believes that the Blackwater operators are also active in Peshawar and Quetta. According to Mizari, two Blackwater men were among those who died in the recent attack on Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar.

The US embassy, however, has refused to comment on Blackwater's presence in Pakistan.

“We don't discuss security, issues related to the security that include the contractors, who are assigned the security tasks,” said embassy spokesman Richard W Snelsire.

Reports of company's presence in Pakistan follow a strange decision by Islamabad to allow an employee of Blackwater, who was deported for establishing illegal contacts with pro-Taliban militants, back into the country.

Craig Davis was found guilty of engaging in secret discussions with pro-Taliban militant leadership without taking any branch of the government into confidence.

Although Blackwater continues to work for the US government in Iraq under the disguise of its new name, Xe Services LLC, it is still under investigation in the US for the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad almost two years ago.

Five former Blackwater guards have already been indicted for their roles in the massacre.

This is while the firm's owner could face murder charges over the disappearance of individuals cooperating with US federal authorities in charge of the probe.

In sworn statements filed on August 3 in a Virginia federal court, a former employee and a former US marine testified that company owner and CEO Erik Prince murdered or arranged the murder of those planning to provide information against them.

In a seventy-page motion, they also accused Prince of a list of other criminal activities such as smuggling weapons into Iraq, using child prostitutes, and deploying mentally ill recruits.

MJ/DT

Various News/Opinion Services - Press TV

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Also see the following sites for more information from Jeremy Scahill and others concerned about the crusader group Blackwater's cowboy and worse actions which have the potential of creating even havoc across the globe.

Jeremy Scahill?

Here are some sites for connections and his own "take" on Blackwater:

Rebel Reports (Jeremy's own site)
here

The Nation magazine directory of Jeremy Scahill's work published on this periodical:
here

Obama's Blackwater in Iraq/Israel? Triple C here

Here are some other groups/sites you may want to contact? Contact email:
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here NORTH CAROLINA Active group!

UPDATE From DN on Doctor's Role in Torture: Liberty at Last for Mohamed Jawad!

Democracy Now! on health professionals’ complicity in CIA torture
Democracy Now! had on Steven Reisner today discussing the new Physicians for Human Rights report on health professionals’ involvement in CIA torture. You can watch or listen here [Transcript below]:

Physicians for Human Rights: Doctors’ Role in CIA Waterboarding “May Amount to Human Experimentation”

A new report by Physicians for Human Rights has found that physicians and psychologists played a greater role than previously known in designing, implementing and legitimizing the Bush administration’s torture program. The recently declassified CIA Inspector General’s report detailed how medical professionals collected data on the reaction of prisoners to interrogation methods in order to help the CIA assess and refine the use of waterboarding and other techniques. The group says this “may amount to human experimentation.” [includes rush transcript]

Guest:

Dr. Steven Reisner, co-author of the report “Aiding Torture.” He is the adviser on psychological ethics for Physicians for Human Rights. He is an adjunct professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and a clinical assistant professor at NYU.

AMY GOODMAN: A new report by Physicians for Human Rights has found that physicians and psychologists played a greater role than previously known in designing, implementing and legitimizing the Bush administration’s torture program.

A team of doctors analyzed the details of the CIA’s Inspector General report on prisoner interrogation that the Justice Department released last week. Among other revelations, the report detailed how medical professionals collected data on the reaction of prisoners to interrogation methods in order to help the CIA assess and refine the use of waterboarding and other techniques. Physicians for Human Rights found this data collection and analysis, quote, “may amount to human experimentation” and calls for further investigation.

JUAN GONZALEZ: The group is calling for health professionals who have violated ethical standards or the law to be held accountable through criminal prosecution, loss of license and loss of professional society membership.

Dr. Steven Reisner is the co-author of the report, titled “Aiding Torture.” Dr. Reisner is the adviser on psychological ethics for Physicians for Human Rights. He’s also an adjunct professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and a clinical assistant professor at NYU.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Thank you for having me.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Summarize your findings of that report.

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Well, what we found is clear evidence of the role of health professionals in every aspect of the Bush administration’s torture program, from devising the program to implementing the program and to monitoring the program in a way attempting to justify it according to the Bush administration Justice Department’s narrow reading of the laws against torture. The Bush administration argued that if it doesn’t cause organ failure or death or prolonged psychological harm, it’s not torture, and therefore health professionals were present at every moment during these torture sessions to ostensibly validate that the prisoner wasn’t about to die or have organ failure.

AMY GOODMAN: Human experimentation?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Well, what happened is that the Office of Medical Services of the CIA didn’t have any data to go on to assess how dangerous to the life of the prisoner waterboarding actually was. So what they decided to do, according to the report, is to gather data through each session of the waterboarding in order to better assess how you implement waterboarding in the future. So they asked for data on the amount of water that was issued, how frequently the sessions were, whether there was a seal, you know, a nasal seal, making sure the water entered the cavity or didn’t enter the cavity, how many sessions per day, etc., etc. So, gathering of data in order to improve the functioning of a technique seems to us to come very close to, if not crossing the line, of experimentation on prisoners.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And presumably that data was then collected into scientific reports, right, that exist somewhere?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Well, presumably. We don’t have any documentation of that at this point, but that’s why Physicians for Human Rights is calling for a thorough investigation.

AMY GOODMAN: The eleven techniques, Dr. Reisner?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: The eleven techniques—well, the main thing about that is that we’ve discovered that there were techniques that we didn’t know about before: diapering—

AMY GOODMAN: What’s diapering for?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Diapering is for humiliation. You put a diaper on the detainee, and especially with—they combine that with a purely liquid diet, so that the detainee was likely to lose control of his bowels and experience this terrible regressive humiliation. The aim of all of these techniques primarily was psychological regression.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Reisner, can you put this in the context of what’s happening at the American Psychological Association? I mean, we’ve had you on a number of times. You ran for president of the APA. You didn’t win, though you got the most nominating votes for your candidacy. And you’ve led this movement, along with a few other psychologists, supported by thousands within the APA, to challenge its allowing psychologists to participate in coercive interrogations. You just came out of a meeting in Canada, the APA’s annual meeting. What has come of this movement?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Well, the protest against the APA’s position has been pretty widespread. And the APA has been claiming that they’re against torture, just like the Bush administration claims that it’s against torture. But when it comes to actually putting teeth into their proposals, into their policy, they have yet to implement their own policy.

We got the—we forwarded a referendum. The APA membership voted overwhelmingly to keep psychologists out of environments that violate Geneva Conventions or the UN Convention Against Torture. That’s APA policy.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, has stated, and wrote a letter to the president of the APA, that Guantanamo still violates the Geneva Conventions and violates the UN Convention Against Torture, but the APA continues to refuse to implement its own referendum policy and ask for the withdrawal of psychologists from that site—at that site and other similar sites.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And have any of the—I assume that the report did not identify any of the medical professionals who participated, but have any of the medical professionals who participated in these programs been identified or come forward at all?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: Well, a number of them have been identified. The two psychologists that created the CIA’s torture program, oversaw it, implemented the waterboarding with a number of high-value detainees, Mitchell and Jessen, these were private contractors who had their own corporation. On the board of that corporation was a former president of the American Psychological Association. The Obama administration has terminated their contract, but so far there have been no ethical investigations. There have been no conclusions drawn for any of the psychologists or health professionals that were involved.

AMY GOODMAN: In your report with Physicians for Human Rights, the group is calling for health professionals who have violated ethical standards or the law to be held accountable through criminal prosecution, loss of license and loss of professional society membership. Do you see that happening right now?

DR. STEVEN REISNER: I don’t see it actually yet happening. And we’ve been pushing state licensing boards. We’ve been pushing the professional associations. And the way to really hold the professional associations to their own standards is to see whether they successfully investigate the ethical violations of their members. And so far, they have not.

AMY GOODMAN: We will leave it there. Dr. Steven Reisner, co-author of the report “Aiding Torture,” adviser on psychological ethics for Physicians for Human Rights, an adjunct professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and a clinical assistant professor at New York University.

Go to Democracy Now! to see Comments September 3rd, 2009

Also google: Guardian: Doctors and CIA human experiments

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SEE Andy Worthington dot co dot uk for COMMENTS after the following...and more...

EXCERPT from originally posted article: President Hamid Karzai, who offered to help the former refugee readjust to his new-found freedom by providing him with a house. The Associated Press reported that “Turbaned men, many who had traveled to Kabul from villages in a nearby province, greeted him with a flurry of hugs and wide smiles,” and added that Jawad, standing in a courtyard surrounded by family members, stated, “I am bursting out of my clothes."

Reflections On Mohamed Jawad’s Release From Guantánamo By Andy Worthington
2.9.09

Long-time readers of my work will know that I championed the cause of Mohamed Jawad, the Afghan prisoner released from Guantánamo on August 24, for nearly two years, from the moment that he was, ludicrously, put forward for a trial by Military Commission in October 2007. Jawad was charged with throwing a grenade that wounded two US soldiers and an Afghan translator in a marketplace in Kabul in December 2002, even though it was clear from his testimony alone that he was a teenager at the time of the attack, that he had been duped into joining an insurgent group, that he was drugged at the time of the attack, and that a confession had been coerced out of him while in Afghan custody. His case was also, at the time, the most obvious example of how the Bush administration, in its “War on Terror,” had warped existing war crimes legislation, and was attempting to claim that anyone who opposed US forces in a wartime situation was engaged not in legitimate warfare, but in a criminal enterprise.

Since then, I have assiduously covered the various twists and turns in his story, including, in particular, the crisis in the Commission system that was precipitated in September 2008, when his military prosecutor, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, resigned, declaring that the Commission system was unable to deliver justice, and explaining how he had gone from being a “true believer to someone who felt truly deceived,” the incidents in October and November 2008, when his military judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, refused to accept the confessions made by Jawad shortly after his capture (both in Afghan and US custody), because they had been extracted through threats of torture, an explosive statement by Lt. Col. Vandeveld in January this year, to accompany Jawad’s habeas claim, in which the former prosecutor delivered an even more comprehensive denunciation of the Commissions’ systemic failures, his lawyers’ discovery in May that Jawad may have been as young as 12 when he was first seized, the savage denunciation of the government’s case that was delivered by Judge Ellen Segan Huvelle during his habeas corpus hearing in July, when she condemned the Justice Department for its persistent obstruction, and repeatedly stressed that the government did not have a single reliable witness, and that the case was “lousy,” “in trouble,” “unbelievable,” and “riddled with holes,” and statements to a Senate and House Committee in July by Lt. Col. Vandeveld and by Jawad’s military defense attorney, Lt. Col. David Frakt.

These not only provided the final word on the whole of the sordid story of Jawad’s imprisonment and ill-treatment, but also provided — in Frakt’s electrifying testimony, in particular — a comprehensive account of the fatally flawed genesis and development of the Commissions, which should have convinced the administration and the politicians that their proposal to revive the Commissions in a revised form is doomed to failure, and that they should be consigned to the scrap heap of history, along with every other innovation dreamt up by former Vice President Dick Cheney and his close advisors.

I extend my belated congratulations to these brave and principled men and women for securing Mohamed Jawad’s release and for defending the values on which the United States prides itself, and am delighted to note that, on Jawad’s return, he was reunited with his family, and was even granted an audience with President Hamid Karzai, who offered to help the former refugee readjust to his new-found freedom by providing him with a house. The Associated Press reported that “Turbaned men, many who had traveled to Kabul from villages in a nearby province, greeted him with a flurry of hugs and wide smiles,” and added that Jawad, standing in a courtyard surrounded by family members, stated, “I am bursting out of my clothes. I spent a long time in prison and now I am very happy to be back with my family.” The London Times also reported that the Defence Minister, Abdul Rakhim Wardak, “offered to pay for him to study overseas,” following a statement by Jawad, in which he announced that he would like to study to become a doctor...

Read the rest at Andy Worthington's amazing site! GO here

KEY Documents Witheld and more on Torture Cover-Ups

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Current News - FIND all the items below and more here

9/1, Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent, As Expected, CIA Continues to Withhold Key Documents

9/1, G.W. Schulz, MinnPost, Assessing RNC police tactics: missteps, poor judgments and inappropriate detentions

9/1, Jaclyn Belczyk, Jurist, Federal judge denies Al Odah Guantanamo habeas petition

9/1, Jeffrey Kaye, Public Record, Torture Cover-Up: The Real Reason for the Psych Evaluation of Abu Zubaydah

8/31, Jason Leopold, Public Record, How a Health Benefits Law Formed the Basis For the 'Torture Memo'

8/30, Leonard Pitts, Jr., Miami Herald, Luster is off Obama's `high moral ground'

8/28, Associated Press, Tents + Tortillas + Tecate = Trouble: Feds

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"America's programs of extraordinary renditions and harsh treatments for prisoners have not, when considered strategically, been weapons AGAINST terrorism...Ultimately these are tactics that ENCOURAGE terrorism and help lose the war. Ignoring human rights helps recruit terrorists, justifies terrorism, and defeats the best thing we have going for us -- the fact we stand for something better: for freedom, tolerance, and laws that protect all." Stephen Grey September 2006 End of his book -Ghost Plane- St. Martin's Press