Inciting Intolerance- source dawn blog

Hypocrisy it is.. The sentence ‘Congratulations, Michael Berry your message of hate resonated all the way back to Lahore’ hits the nail. He confessed how low his mind and soul can go to prove his point but didnot acknowledge that he is insensitive enough to fall low just to earn ratings for his show.

Inciting Intolerance

“I’ll tell you this — if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up. I hope the mosque isn’t built, and if it is, I hope it’s blown up.”

Those comments aired live on the radio, less than 36-hours before half-a-dozen terrorists armed with automatic weapons, grenades and suicide jackets stormed into two Ahmadi places of worship in Lahore, killing at least 95 people and injuring over a hundred worshipers.

But that message of hate wasn’t aired in Lahore or even in Pakistan. It was aired live across Houston, Texas.

The man behind the comments was Michael Berry, a former Houston City Council member and an award-winning radio talk show host with KPRC-950 AM.

In fact, the Michael Berry Show, which the comments were made on, was recently named the #1 talk show at 5 pm in the state of Texas. The show also won first place in the Houston Press Club Awards for best radio talk show in 2008.

Berry’s audacious comments were made to a live caller named Tony, who wanted to respond to the host’s opening comments in the show about how plans to build a mosque near Ground zero in NYC would be ‘disaster.’

Michael Berry: Tony on the West side I see you’re a big fan!
Tony: Hey Michael, I’m wondering if you are a bigot or..
Michael Berry: What’s a bigot?
Tony: Let me just get my point and then you can talk all you want because that’s what you do
Michael Berry: Okay…
Tony: Now you so eloquently put it that they were terrorists in 9/11, that’s fine everyone agrees with it, then you beautifully go on to say they are building a mosque. Who is this they? Who is this ‘they,’ you are talking about? I’m an American Muslim, so I’m not an American? I can’t build a mosque where I want to? How are you attaching criminals who flew planes, terrorist, murders who flew planes in 9/11 and linking them to building a mosque in New York?
Michael Berry: Is Tony your real name?
Tony: It is my real name. It’s my real name because people have called me Tony since I was born. That’s why. But what difference does it make what my name is?
Michael Berry: You just don’t sound like a Tony. Alright, well here’s the deal
Tony: Uh huh
Michael Berry: No! No Tony, you can’t build a mosque!
Tony: Why not?
Michael Berry: At the site of 9/11
Tony: Why not?
Michael Berry: No you can’t…and I’ll tell you this if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up!
The complete live call can be heard here.

The caller Tony responded to Berry’s comments by saying, “Good for you! That puts you right in the category of the people who flew the planes.”

And then the following conversation took place:
Michael Berry: really?
Tony: Yes, you people are exactly the same as those terrorists who flew those planes.
Michael Berry: Who is you people?
Tony: What?
Michael Berry: Who is you people? Whatever your name is.
Tony: You people, you right-wing nut jobs. That’s who you are.
Michael Berry: Let me tell you something Tony. It’s the right wing nut jobs that are going to keep this country safe from people like you.
Tony: Hold on, saving from who? Who are you saving us from ? Saving from me?
Michael Berry: No. Listen. You are in a building box. Its right wing radicals like me that are going to keep this country safe for you and everyone else from the people that are flying the planes from the countries that you fled from. Okay? If you want to identify with those people, go live with them. If you want to live in countries where they are practicing radical Islam: if you want to live there and be a part of that, Then by all means, whatever your real name is go do it. If you feel offended that we don’t want a mosque on top of 9/11. Then you have no shame or you are full of audacity.

Comments like that coming from a popular radio host in the city I live in aren’t just hurtful, they are scary. He clearly had no problem equating the 9/11 terrorists with ALL Muslims. And he had no problem making a call for “bombing a mosque” live on the airwaves in a city with 17 mosques and close to 200, 000 Muslims.

People like Michael Berry are killing the spirit of liberty and civil rights that define the United States of America.

Berry actually had the guts to say to the caller, “Is Tony your real name? You just don’t sound like a Tony.”

The irony is his own wife of 17 years, Nandita Berry, goes by “Nandy”. According to his about Michael Berry page she “was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. They are the proud parents of 3-year-old “Michael T”, who was born in Ethiopia.”

So while this white right-wing public rep cum radio host boosts of his diversity ‘by being married to an Indian immigrant and having adopted baby from Africa’ he also calls for a mosque to be blown up.

What kind of hypocrisy is that?

As the caller named Tony put it “you are exactly the same as those terrorists who flew those planes.”
‘They’ say they are fighting in the name of Islam and then they storm into places of worship and kill 95 God-fearing Ahmadis.

Congratulations, Michael Berry your message of hate resonated all the way back to Lahore.
PS: Michael Berry graciously issued a half-baked apology on the KPRC-950’s website:

“While I stand by my disagreement of the building of the mosque on the site, I SHOULD NOT have said ‘I hope someone blows it up.’ That was dumb, and beneath me. I was trying to show “Tony” how much I opposed his opinion, but I went too far. For that, I apologize to my listeners.”

But the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is not satisfied. As the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the US, they are demanding action from the FCC (the American version of PTA). In a press release the National Executive Director Nihad Awad has said:

“Calls for acts of violence against houses of worship must never be tolerated or excused. We ask the FCC to demonstrate that incitement to violence is never acceptable on our nation’s airwaves.”

Sahar Habib Ghazi is a Houston-based journalist, who also blogs at www.outsideislamabad.com

Shocking!!

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/17-smoking+toddler+highlights+indonesias+tobacco+addiction-ek-05

DAWN.COM | Sci-Tech | Pakistanis create rival Muslim Facebook

DAWN.COM | Sci-Tech | Pakistanis create rival Muslim Facebook

After all expression is free!

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis outraged with Facebook over “blasphemous” caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed have created a spin-off networking site that they dream can connect the world's 1.6 billion Muslims, reports AFP.

A group of six young IT professionals from Lahore, the cultural and entertainment capital of Pakistan, Launched www.millatfacebook.com on Tuesday for Muslims to interact online and protest against blasphemy.

The private venture came after a Pakistani court ordered a block on Facebook until May 31, following deep offence over an “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” page considered “blasphemous” and “sacrilegious”.

“Millatfacebook is Pakistan's very own, first social networking site. A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome,” the website tells people interested in signing up.

Dubbed MFB, after Facebook's moniker FB, its founder says professionals are working around the clock to offer features similar to those pioneered by the wildly popular California-based prototype.

Each member has a “wall” for friends to comment on. The site offers email, photo, video, chat and discussion board facilities.

The Urdu word “Millat” is used by Muslims to refer to their nation. The website claims to have attracted 4,300 members in the last three days — mostly English-speaking Pakistanis in their 20s.

The number of aficionados may be growing, but the community is a drop in the ocean of the 2.5 million Facebook fans in Pakistan and there have been some scathing early reviews of the start-up.

Neither has Facebook been immediately reachable for comment.

“We want to tell Facebook people 'if they mess with us they have to face the consequences',” said Usman Zaheer, the 24-year-old chief operating officer of the software house that hosts the new site.

“If someone commits blasphemy against our Prophet Mohammed then we will become his competitor and give him immense business loss,” he told AFP, dreaming of making “the largest Muslim social networking website”.

Once signed up, members are a click away from debate on the bulletin board.

For example, “Enticing Fury” wrote: “The reason is that this forum must be reserved for ALL MUSLIMS OF THE WORLD and not only Pakistan. So using the word MILLAT is very good!

“Well done guys. You have made a great alternative for the whole Muslim ummah (nation)!”

But the nascent quality of the work-in-progress website has preoccupied and dismayed some, as well as drawn at least one damning newspaper review.

One member wrote: “they need 2 have more info”.

Another posted a mournful: “need games here as well. I miss cafe world” referring to the popular Facebook page where members can run their own virtual cafe.

“It was a good idea... as it can give us a forum to connect, but its reach is too limited,” Mohammad Adeel, a 31-year-old pharmacist told AFP in Karachi, who joined to keep up with friends he missed due to the Facebook ban.

Local newspaper was crushing. “The quality of user experience is so abysmal that it does not merit the humble title, 'Facebook clone',” it wrote online.

“To sum up, MillatFacebook is a bold effort... but it is unlikely to capture a large audience, judging by the online experience it offers currently.”

But Zaheer is pleased with his handiwork, saying the site has already attracted members living in Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Pakistani law student Rana Adeel, 21, signed up to MillatFB in Lahore after receiving invites through SMS and email from friends.

“In two days, I got more than seven friends. If the Facebook ban is lifted, I'll keep networking on both,” he told AFP.

To go by the Book or follow the soul..

Young professional Pakistanis, have so much less to share, experience and learn when it comes to seeing the world from a step ahead of what is presented to us in print and electronic media. Reason is simple. We are accustomed to go by the book from our initial childhood years and unfortunately, the book in literal meaning as well as the mentors, have very less to share about the changes in real world. How many of us have the opportunity of being guided to read or listen about various causes, creative innovations and change makers during our years as student? I see parents, sp those that are professionals scanning up to date schools and end up appreciating schools that tend to celebrate Muslim and 'international' festivals, including the utterly useless festival of Halloween. But how many of them question if the school management have ever have opted to celebrate change makers, arranged awareness campaign for various causes, how many of the students know about grameen, how many have ever been told that people in Africa die of malaria, how many of the Internet savvy kids have been directed to visit UN Volunteering or Bankers without Borders websites, how many of the parents have encouraged the spirit of charity?
It is for this reason that I feel that children are growing up nowadays with loads and loads of information and exposure but lack depth. They are handicapped before the words of book when it comes to critical analysis, exposure of real world issues, their role in the society/ family/ community, their priorities and unfortunately the concept of being content.
I was moved by reading a story of one of very young graduate who spend three days with family in Africa on Dollar 2 per day. How many of us know about it. Her experience changed her views/ perception towards life. It not about knowing the pains of poverty but its about sharing the bliss of being blessed and satisfied.
If the process of awareness and exposure starts earlier it helps in grooming of an individual and a balanced society. Its a loss to see parents treating a child like delicate glassware, self centred instead of making the child strong and encouraging responsibility sharing towards community and society.
I do wish that parents understand and question the their own attitude towards life and the attitude being made part of their child's personality by these expensive 'branded' schools.

Avoiding a crisis

Avoiding a crisis

There’s nothing new about the fact that the response of authorities in Pakistan to emergency situations is habitually delayed . We let the water rise way above our heads before even trying to do something about it. In simple words, every problem is ignored until it becomes chaotic and we have a crisis at hand.

So there is nothing surprising about the fact that the plea of the people of Hunza went unheard for months. On January 4 , an artificial lake emerged as a result of a massive landslide, blocking the Hunza River. The landslide killed 20, and left about 25,000 people stranded. According to a report :

Some local experts are of the opinion that early use of powerful water pumps to ejaculate the water at the blockade site and subsequent start of work to make spill way across the debris could have saved Gojal from turning into a water bomb. As the situation deteriorates, the people are left in psychological trauma as they see their houses, properties, crops and plants getting submerged. Desperately they wonder why the authorities declared the disaster a minor issue in the first place. After outburst of the lake, will the people of Gojal survive along with remnants of their properties or would it be a desperate battle for survival?

The report aptly summarises the Hunza crisis and the authorities’ indifference that has resulted in creating mayhem. The government response is now that of sympathy. But is sympathy enough after months of indifference and exposure to psychological and financial trauma?

For over five months, the people of Hunza have waited for the authorities to respond to the deteriorating situation, to save their property and to rehabilitate them, but to no avail. Now, over 40,000 people are at risk of being displaced as a result of the flood. Adding insult to injury, the Hunza IDPs will now join ranks with the millions of internally displaced people who have had to leave their homes due to militancy in the past year. The striking figures presented in this report suggest that in 2009 over three million Pakistanis were displaced as a result of the ongoing offensive in the country’s tribal belt; the most in the world and three times more than the Democratic Republic of Congo, which falls in second place.

Despite these shocking, painful, and distressing revelations, the authorities remain apathetic to displacement crises. Instead energies and attention have been focused on political games and power tussles. The voice of a common man is too often snubbed or only heard when the damage is irreversible. On Saturday, hundreds of people in Hunza held a 20-hour long protest against the government’s apathy toward the situation. Most of them chanted anti-government slogans after being disappointed by Prime Minister Gilani’s failure to announce relief for the affected people.

The Hunza disaster is yet another failure of the civilian, popularly elected government. Once again, the army and international relief organisations have been requested to step in. This tendency to pass the buck makes one wonder whether there is any sense of crisis management in the country, or if the government even feels remotely responsible or is aware of its role in such a situation.


If we look at the history of crisis management before this, whether the crisis was caused by war or natural disaster, the government’s role lacks transparency. The Hunza crisis is a ticking time bomb both in terms of the unpredictable flood and the bottled up anger of the people. If the government does not take this opportunity to address the pending issues of crisis management now, it is only a matter of time that we witness yet another exodus.

Source: Dawn news Blog

Game of corruption and deception

Deceptive promises

The leaders of PML (N) have expressed solidarity with the suffering people of Hunza Valley. Speaking with journalists at the Gilgit Airport Nawaz Sharif said that the Pakistani nation stands with the affected people in their hours of grief. He said that all out efforts will be made to ensure suffering of the people.

Addressing the IDPs at Hunza Shehbaz Sharif, chief minister of the Punjab, announced 10 crore rupees for rehabilitation of the people displaced from Attabad, Hunza. They also announced that 5 lac each will be paid to families who lost their dear ones in the landslide disaster. CM Punjab further said that children of the affected families will be provided free education and accommodation in the cities of their choice in Punjab.

He, however, did not openly support the demand of the local people for judicial inquiry into the alleged delay in excavation of the spillway.

Ground reality

Provincial government of Punjab is facing a deficit of Rs25 billion in tax collection. It demands money every month from the federal government, which contradicts provincial government’s claims of good governance. During year 2009-10, Punjab government requested Rs 37 billion from the federal government. SBP expressed grave concern over the overdraft amount, asking the Punjab government to take “remedial measures” on an urgent basis.

People seem to forget the 'Mulk Sunwaro' scheme fraud by Nawaz Sharif and now the political gimmick of Sasti Roti scheme.

Arrogant, ignorant, self-serving Leader of Hunza

http://tribune.com.pk/story/13405/hunza-lake-speaker-comes-down-hard-on-%E2%80%98rumour-mongers%E2%80%99/

And for the government, PPP is habitual of churning money and power by cashing in on corpses of their dead leaders. They have deliberately ignored the plight of hunza to direct billions of aid with comfortable help of the local representatives.

I just hope there is no catastrophe and the self-help oriented people of hunza shine out courageously as is their tradition.

Keep you thoughts

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

~Henry David Thoreau

PAK Ministers diagnosed with viral Conceit disease!!

“Conceit is the weirdest disease in the world. It makes everyone sick except the one who has it.”

It is now confirmed that the present government of Pakistan and the higher ups (esp. Chief Minister gigit baltistan and elected representatives) have fallen victim to the disease known as 'Conceit'.

Symptoms: It is a contagious disease that spreads by eyeing for power, handshakes with people in power and ignoring people without power. The patient suffers from memory loss and self denial from his own statements, desires to listen to music of misstated self-praise, addicted to gaining attention through false statements at press conferences, loves to move around uselessly under brigade of protocol, steals resources from national en chequer due to physchological disorder and evades all duties assigned.

Moment of self respect:
I am genuinely proud to belong from Hunza. Not for the sake of some identity crisis but today the courageous people of hunza showed that they are different, utterly refusing to accept charity from conceit stricken politicians and ministers who loomed above in their helicopters like bats and then shamelessly announcing that there is nothing but their 'moral' support for devastated families and flood prone area.

This is the reward that the land of hunza gets for presenting the ownership of their land to Pakistan after fighting off off dogra, after sacrificing lives in 1965 and 1971 wars and their red sacrifice for Kargil (not to mention when the NLI soldiers were left alone upfront to fight while other brigade 'chickened out'). The land which generates gold and silver through tourism and fruits is not entitled to compensation because PM announces that there is economy faces financial crunch?? What about millions spend on SUV, protocol, helicopter safari rides and perquisites? I am disgusted to see how indecisive and incomprehensible the PM is to even think of coming to hunza to announce such an absurd statement.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Villagers blast govt's response to Hunza flood

All this was enough to boil the blood when the 'dethroned and self proclaimed' Rani of Hunza jumps in the scene like mowla-jutt to show support and launch a protest campaign, sitting in Islamabad. Also giving a hilarious statement calling for 'whatever' commission for inquiry!!

Just to remind that Hunza is not asking for charity (sick idea of Bait-ul-Maal chief of distributing rice biryani and equally attention seeking PM to inaugurate the 'daigh' by cutting a ribbon, so what is next a chicken inauguration ceremony). People need compensation, land for themselves and some infrastructure support. Hunza people can handle the rest!