Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
A pretty entertaining ride indeed!!!!
Traveling on Saudi Airlines is always an experience and a half.. Either the trip is super smooth sailing or its a disaster.Having a plane load of South African Muslims on board is an even more interesting experience. My trip yesterday was super smooth sailing with just a hiccup or two along the way. Not really a train smash. On arriving at the airport check in counter we were instantly upgraded to business class due to my Al Fursan membership. However, once we boarded the flight in Jeddah, we realised that my seat was double booked. The confusion started when an agent from South Africa block booked the whole plane the day before and issued boarding passes randomly. This led to double booked seats and also families scattered in the plane with the husband, wife and the kids all sitting miles apart. This created lots of problems and of course bikkering. As for me I made mom take the business class seat and I simply moved to the back. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I landed up sitting next to a Bangladeshi lady who was disabled after falling from the roof of her double storey home in Bangladesh. She was unable to have full use of her hands and so whilst sitting next to her I had the opportunity of assisting her with her meals thereby taking her duaas and prayers in return. Whilst moving to the back of the plane I noticed a group of men quarrelling over a wiindow seat and then I noticed two women quarrelling over an aisle seat with the one claiming that her ticket was more expensive and thus she deserved the aisle seat.Please take note that these were Muslims returning from Umra who should be returning with better character and qualities...If you ever visit a plane toilet to find that it is flooded with water to the extent that the toilet paper is also drenched, the person before you was definitely a MUSLIM...Cleanliness is half of faith and yet in any function where there are MUSLIMS you would find dirty flooded toilets.I guess some people feel that its not their property so its very much ok to use and abuse other peoples property...and the most interesting part of the trip was the gang of gossiping women who sat a row away from the lavatory. You would think that if you gossiping about someone that you will be a little soft and secretive about it but they were so loud that I heard everything they said. In typical South African Indian Muslim fashion they were perturbed about me wearing make up whilst assuming that I was returning from Umra...So its a case of how dare she wears make up after pilgrimage...Errrr excuse me....For a start where is it written that a woman can not adorn make up after pilgrimage and even if I'm wearing make up its pretty much my own business. It shouldn't be bothering anyone else... On returning from the horrific toilet experience, I went up to the women, greeted them and then said instead of talking about me you can ask me questions directly....Please do not assume that I am returning from Umra....I am traveling from another city and simply using Jeddah as a transit airport.....Their faces turned red with embarrassment...To top it up all on returning to my seat I noticed two "holy" men back mouthing the air hostess for she could not serve them sandwiches or tea due to turbulence as everyone needed to be seated..At the end of the plane ride one thought ran through my mind, what is the purpose of performing a hundred and one pilgrimages if there is no change in character. Have we lost the purpose and the aim of a pilgrimage. Has it not become more of a holiday and shopping expedition with one family being more dramatic than the other one regarding the amount of goods they purchased....I must say though it was a pretty entertaining ride....!!!!!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
ARE WE STILL LIVING IN THE TIME OF JAHILIYYA?
This shocking story just wiped the smile right off my
face. Until the entire world reacts against governments who have no
respect for women, such attacks will go on and on and on. Her husband
should have acid thrown on him to feel for himself how his wife
suffered.
By Chris Parsons
A Pakistani former dancing girl left fighting for life by a ‘horrific’ acid attack has committed suicide a decade after being heavily facially disfigured.
Fakhra Younus, 33, leapt to her death from a sixth floor building in Rome 12 years after the acid attack which she said left her looking ‘not human’.
At the time of her attack in May 2000, her ex-husband Bilal Khar was the man accused of entering her mother’s house and pouring acid over Younus’s face as she slept.
Life-changing: Fakhra Younus, pictured left before the horrific acid attack in May 2000, was left heavily facially disfigured after having acid thrown in her face
The attack, which took place in front of Younus’s then five-year-old son, left her unable to breathe and fighting for life.Her nose was almost completely melted and she has since undergone 39 separate surgical procedures to repair her disfigured face over the past decade.
The horrific attack also burned off her hair, fused her lips, blinded her in one eye, destroyed her left ear and melted her breasts.After being rushed to hospital she said, ‘My face is a prison to me’, while her distraught young son said at the time, ‘This is not my mother’.
Disfigured: Younus, left, pictured with supporter Tehmina Durrani,
has undergone 39 separate surgical operations to repair the damage done
to her face
The mother-of-one moved to Italy after the incident to live in Rome and continue her treatment.
But on March 17 she took her own life, after leaving a message saying she was committing suicide over the silence of law on the atrocities and the insensitivity of Pakistani rulers.
Cleared: Younus’s ex-husband Bilal Khar, the son of a wealthy
Pakistani governor, was cleared in 2003 of charges relating to the
attack
Bilal Khar was arrested in 2002 and charged with attempted murder following the attack, only to be released on bail after five months.Khar, an ex-parliamentarian and son of a wealthy Pakistani governor, was eventually cleared of the attack, though many believe he could have used his family connections to escape conviction.
After Younus’s tragic suicide emerged earlier this month, Khar continued to deny having any part in the attack – claiming in a television interview a different man with the same name had carried out the crime.Khar claimed his ex-wife killed herself because she didn’t have enough money, not because of her horrific injuries.More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization.The Pakistani government introduced new laws last year criminalizing acid attacks and stating that convicted attacks would serve at least 14 years in jail.
Tehmina Durrani, the ex-wife of Bilal Khar’s father, had become an advocate for Younus after the attack, and said the acid attack victim had pledged to bring her attacker to justice when she had recovered.
Mourning: Fakhra Younus’s body is carried through Karachi airport in her
native Pakistan after her body was returned to the country from Italy
Durrani said: ‘She said, ‘When I come back, I will reopen the case, and I’ll fight myself,” and she was a fighter.’
Durrani said Younus’ case should be a reminder that the Pakistani government needs to do much more to prevent acid attacks and other forms of violence against women, and also help the victims.
‘I think this whole country should be extremely embarrassed that a foreign country took responsibility for a Pakistani citizen for 13 years because we could give her nothing, not justice, not security,’ said Durrani.
Further reading:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17676542
By Chris Parsons
A Pakistani former dancing girl left fighting for life by a ‘horrific’ acid attack has committed suicide a decade after being heavily facially disfigured.
Fakhra Younus, 33, leapt to her death from a sixth floor building in Rome 12 years after the acid attack which she said left her looking ‘not human’.
At the time of her attack in May 2000, her ex-husband Bilal Khar was the man accused of entering her mother’s house and pouring acid over Younus’s face as she slept.
Life-changing: Fakhra Younus, pictured left before the horrific acid attack in May 2000, was left heavily facially disfigured after having acid thrown in her face
The attack, which took place in front of Younus’s then five-year-old son, left her unable to breathe and fighting for life.Her nose was almost completely melted and she has since undergone 39 separate surgical procedures to repair her disfigured face over the past decade.
The horrific attack also burned off her hair, fused her lips, blinded her in one eye, destroyed her left ear and melted her breasts.After being rushed to hospital she said, ‘My face is a prison to me’, while her distraught young son said at the time, ‘This is not my mother’.
The mother-of-one moved to Italy after the incident to live in Rome and continue her treatment.
But on March 17 she took her own life, after leaving a message saying she was committing suicide over the silence of law on the atrocities and the insensitivity of Pakistani rulers.
Bilal Khar was arrested in 2002 and charged with attempted murder following the attack, only to be released on bail after five months.Khar, an ex-parliamentarian and son of a wealthy Pakistani governor, was eventually cleared of the attack, though many believe he could have used his family connections to escape conviction.
After Younus’s tragic suicide emerged earlier this month, Khar continued to deny having any part in the attack – claiming in a television interview a different man with the same name had carried out the crime.Khar claimed his ex-wife killed herself because she didn’t have enough money, not because of her horrific injuries.More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization.The Pakistani government introduced new laws last year criminalizing acid attacks and stating that convicted attacks would serve at least 14 years in jail.
Tehmina Durrani, the ex-wife of Bilal Khar’s father, had become an advocate for Younus after the attack, and said the acid attack victim had pledged to bring her attacker to justice when she had recovered.
Durrani said: ‘She said, ‘When I come back, I will reopen the case, and I’ll fight myself,” and she was a fighter.’
Durrani said Younus’ case should be a reminder that the Pakistani government needs to do much more to prevent acid attacks and other forms of violence against women, and also help the victims.
‘I think this whole country should be extremely embarrassed that a foreign country took responsibility for a Pakistani citizen for 13 years because we could give her nothing, not justice, not security,’ said Durrani.
Further reading:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17676542
Sunday, May 20, 2012
ARE YOU A SUCKER FOR BRANDED CLOTHING???
Ever so often I come across women who brag about their endless collection of branded items."I only wear Levi's jeans and no no no, only a designer branded handbag will do for me."said Mrs. M whilst at the dinner table.I simply nodded my head with a grin on my face and wondered how can anyone be so gullible to purchase a handbag for a few thousand riyals or a jeans for a few hundred riyals considering that most of the worlds branded items are manufactured in China, Greece and India and then returned to Paris or America where a stamp or logo is simply placed on all the items and then marketed to the silly public with a hefty price tag.Whilst Mrs. M was bragging about her Levis jeans that she had purchased for probably US$40 which is equivalent to Rs2100...I on the other hand adorned the exact same jeans that was purchased directly from the manufacturing plant in India for Rs250 (US$3). The only difference was that my jeans did not have the logo on it....
Whilst visiting India a few years ago I had the opportunity of visiting the manufacturing plant for Levis jeans. I was quite shocked and perturbed to see teenagers and many, many poor people working at the plant and earning less than US$1 a day.So it is pretty obvious that these branded companies are making huge profits at the expense of these poor labourers. Of course these branded companies then utilize excellent marketing and advertising tools to make the product an item of prestige and before you know it every Tom, Dick and Harry in town is trying to snap up the item. After all if Tom Cruise wears it, I must have it too.Right????
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