Diya - A Hero's Daughter

Text & Photos by Fauzia Minallah

Diya with her father Pervez Masih's photograph

Diya 3 and her mother Shaheen

Diya is only three, she is lost and has many questions about her father Pervez Masih. Pervez was a janitor at the International Islamic University. On the fateful day when IIU was attacked by suicide bombers, he was the hero who stopped the terrorist from entering the cafeteria for female students. Pervez lost his life, while saving the lives of more than 300 students.
He will always be remembered as a true hero by us. Diya will always be remembered as a hero’s daughter.

The Minister of Interior, Mr Rehman Malik, publicly announced that his family will recieve a compensation of approximately $10,000. So far, the family has not been contacted by anyone from his office. The IIU administration helped the family with Rs. 10.000 for the burial costs, employed his widow Shaheen as a sanitory worker and promised to help with Diya’s education. Other than that there has not been any help from anyone for Pervez’s family. The only person who has helped this hero’s family so far is a young student of Behria University, Maham Ali . She motivated her friends to donate funds for Pervez's family. She collected Rs. 52,500 and bought toys and clothes for Diya.

Maham and Diya.

We might be going through tough times, but even in this darkness there is hope. And for me that hope is in young people like Maham. She was our pillar of support by collecting funds for our effort in helping the internally displaced Pakistanis.

As a society we need to recognise our heroes, we need to rise above our prejudices and name streets, buildings and squares after Pervez Masih. So what if he was a poor Christian sanitory worker, he saved the lives of 300 Muslim students. Atleast on November 16th on the 'International Day of Tolerance', Maham was there to cheer Diya- a hero's daughter.

Here is a CNN story on Pervez Masih:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/11/pakistan.hero/

--
Fauzia Minallah

www.funkorchildart.com
http://funkornews.blogspot.com/

Suspected 'Suicide bomber' caught after Lahore blasts

Pakistani police arrested a suspected suicide bomber Friday after at least six people were injured in a series of explosions in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, police told CNN.

At least four explosions occurred around 8.45 p.m. local time in the busy Mall Road district of the city, CNN's Reza Sayah reported, quoting police sources.

He said the suspected suicide bomber was arrested by police as he tried to blow himself up after throwing grenades from a rooftop near the Al-Falah theater.

'Suicide bomber' caught after Lahore blasts - CNN.com

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Bomb found in Beaconhouse school, Defence, Lahore

Geo News (News Alert) and a personal source confirmed that there was a bomb found and defused at Beaconhouse school Y block DHA Lahore.  The bomb disposal squad has defused the bomb and cleared the school building.

Is this the start of a brand new episode?

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Guess the country

Source: Dawn

Have a look at the pics n guess the country in comments section....


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A visit to the victims of 'GPO Blast'

Xani Amin

We visited the Mayo Hospital today evening to ask after the blast victims. All along the way, I was thinking what to expect and how to express my feelings; condemnation for the blast and empathy for the victims. My thoughts dispersed and the words failed me when I met the victims and their families. Stricken by poverty and pain, they sat by the bed sides of their near and dear ones whose limbs were broken and bodies burnt. We sat with them, held hands and comforted them. They thanked us for being there to share their grief. It was a humbling experience and the one I will remember for a long time.We stayed for one hour, met about 26 victims and their families, passed on small gifts to them and left the hospital with eyes gleaming with tears but a heart full of promise to visit again. I would request all of you to go and see the victims. In these testing times they need all the support and comfort that your visit can give them.

A Page from the Diary of a Student

Aai aye haath uthain hum bhi...

Earlier today, as we sat down in our Contracts law class, a terrified girl rushed into the class, quite late and looking baffled. The next moment we realized that she wasn't just appearing baffled to get her late entry excused. "Please call up you dad to check if he's fine. There's been explosion outside the Lahore High Court. Many deaths and injuries"

There was a moment of silence. Then, the instructor spoke: "No my dad's else where. Actually... emm." Our lawyer-teacher then instructed his teaching assistant to call up the teacher's father so as to enquire his well being, while the class returned to the labyrinthine world of Contracts Act 1872. I have never had a wonderful time with the intricacies of contract law, but this session became particularly distasteful so I began to think about rivers of blood, and black coats and other evocative images and many other things and very soon the class was over. The instructor's dad was reported to be safe and sound, and he looked quite relieved.

Back at LUMS, things looked just fine. It was a cloudy winter afternoon and the breeze was blowing beautifully. I thought about how the same wind blows all around the country, all around the globe, and brings on its wings, news from distant places. What it does not bring is the smell of blood, even when blood has been spilled just a few miles away.

Later, at around 7:30, a few dozen students gathered in front of the dining hall, in response to the Student Council's call. Many times in the afternoon, recently viewed pictures from the TV screen kept popping up in my mind. Bodies of humans, piled up outside the picturesque High Court building, dressed up in khaki trousers and dark grey shirts, unmistakable members of the dreaded Punjab police. Memories retured from another day, more than two months ago, when tall and strong men, dressed up in similar attire were chasing us like rats in that very premises. They beat up our friends, humiliated us and made us walk with our hands held high, just like prisoners of war in our own country.

But that moment in the cold evening, sitting on the ground, amongst a sober gathering of students, as I raised my hands for fatiha, this is not what I was thinking about. I thought about the families of the deceased and what they must be going through. Nothing should waver us in our resolve to battle every oppressive move made by the state, but that resolve must also not blind us to the plight of human beings on both sides. Our battle is not against innocent human beings; it is against a system that pits some of us against the others, exploiting everyone in the process. It is a battle of ideas of justice against ideas of injustice. More than anything else, those who were killed today were fellow human beings, brothers in Islam, killed unjustly. They deserve all our prayers, all our regards, and the maximum of our support.

The students dispersed after enlisting their names for blood donation and making contributions to the fund that the Student Action Committee has promply set up to support the families of the deceased.

Video captures assasination attack on Benazir Bhutto

1: A Video captures assasination attack on Benazir Bhutto. The moment a gun is fired from crowd on her and onwards.


2: The Getty photographer John Moore took what is believed to be the final picture of Benazir Bhutto before her assassination. Listen to his eyewitness account, accompanied by his photos of the attack and its aftermath.



source: Both videos were acquired by "The Guardian"