Apologies from Denmark.

FYI Readers - Time to get over it and start finding solutions. Here's a start...

There are three independent apologies with regards to the cartoon issue (Courtesy of Danske Jens - warofvalues.blogspot.com):

1. Another Denmark - 14,800+ Danes

2. Jyllands Posten Newspaper

3. Prime Minister of Denmark

I suggest everyone circulate this information. The faster we spread positive changes towards a remedy for this situation, the quicker we can re-establish order and discipline in the Muslim world.
Who knows, it might even prevent the Pakistani protestors from burning themselves and everything around them.

Yours,
Zohare

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Let’s talk about it

So now the issue on my blog is the question of whether the cartoon publishing is impeding on the respect of other people.

To contend the last comment: Whoever said the thing about you not liking it if Muslims made fun of Jesus, well he should wake up and look around to see how much of a joke Jesus has become in the western world. Take Jesus Christ Superstar for example. It is a pure parody of the life of Christ and his image. Since some western societies, usually synonymous with Christianity, have found it reasonable to jest about Christ does not provide them the liberty to involve other religions. Frankly, I personally believe that no one has the right to impede on another and presume it is ok. I really think it would be reasonable to say that in any country, even Denmark, walking into someone else’s house, moving things around, sleeping in their bed, sharing their wife, using their shower, eating their food, driving their car and taking things they like without permission would be quite unacceptable and insulting, especially if it is someone you DO NOT know.

If that example is not vivid enough, let’s take African Americans, a race the Dutch know very well from past experience. If one was to draw images of them in shackles and publish them for the purposes of humor, it may seem funny to some but in reality it is quite humiliating and, well, rouses some buried sentiments that took many centuries to forgive, let alone forget. It is not about being able to do something; it is really about respecting others place alongside yours on this planet and not disrespecting them.

I believe it is one of the 10 commandments that say: Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. Think about that and then think about what is ok and how you can group an insult to an entire religious group (the 2^nd largest in the world) and say that it is in the name of Freedom of Speech, knowing full well that image depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are strictly forbidden and punishable by death in Islamic Countries. There must be a good reason for that. This is not a social taboo one unearths by exposing in a public forum type fashion, hoping for a global catharsis. This is burning the principles of a belief because you have the physical ability to do so with complete disregard for the value it has to others.

I appreciate that a few Danish folks have taken the time to provide some insight on how religion is perceived in Denmark, and yes it certainly clears certain misconceptions about the intentions behind the publication. However, since they are now out in the open and the issue has obviously gone well out of hand, it is clear to presume that it was not a mistake, it was a miscalculation based on very unintelligent and careless judgment.

The question now is how to fix this. Since it is done, can the Muslim community forgive the Danes? I suppose the first step would require the Danes to be a little more ashamed of this, the government specifically, and plea for the Global Muslim leaders to engage in some conciliation, since it is obvious we cannot spend the next few generations burning down things. Or if you take the incidents in Pakistan and consider burning down your own house in protest (how effective that would be!), we would really be left with ashes and hatred. The thing that upsets me, other than the inexplicable act itself, is the sheer disregard and lack of common sense applied to this situation. By publishing it in a Danish newspaper, Christian Danes are not the only ones who will see the images. Are you so negligent of the fact that this is world is a global village now and that so many varieties of cultures and societies are integrated for the greater good, a common western belief and tolerance for others is in fact a necessity for a nations survival in today’s world. If it wasn’t, Hitler would have been the least of the world’s problems; he would have just been one of the many.

What is the next step; any insight, Denmark? You started this…it would only be fair to presume an extra effort from your part to remedy this. You know how they say, don't break what you can't fix...

Bad ideas go to print - undone

It is a terrible predicament the Danes have gotten many other western countries dragged into. Unfortunately for many countries that did not endorse the printing act, they are now suffering.

Here is an idea for those of you who are keen upon rioting and protesting; in New York City, around the time of New Years (2005-2006), the Metropolitan Transit Authority (aka MTA) went on strike for various reasons, mostly pertaining to their livelihoods and their survival with increasing living expenses and stagnant salaries. They protested by staying home. Not a bad way to force your employer to give you sometime off work and have more to spend with the family. The point is that by spending time at home, they were protesting their dislikes towards their employers in a peaceful and harmless manner. Now the interesting part: MTA suffered extreme financial damage during the week or so that the MTA workers were on strike.
Now for all you number crunchers, here are some figures that might help you understand the devastation a peaceful strike / boycott may have: The 33,000 MTA workers that did not show up for work the first day cost the city of New York approximately $400 Million, that is 400,000,000 US Dollars just for the first day. The following two days cost approximately $300 Million per day in losses ranging from ticket sales to cancelled events and transportation congestion, overtime payment to workers and police officers. The pre-strike estimates suggested $1.6 Billion in loss to the city of New York.

Think about it hard, I am not suggesting you strike against your respective cities...for those of you who missed the point. I am merely suggesting that even a peaceful strike can have harsh repercussions, if not harsher than violent and destructive demonstrations. The latter only suggests that we are, in fact, as backwards and under-developed as the West may portray us in the media. Much of the damage Muslims incur today is essentially due to their own mistakes in the past that are now coming back. We have done much of this to ourselves. Why are European countries banding together, despite their differences in economics, politics and global affairs, just to mention a few? Simply because even disagreements between nations can also be solved by unifying resources. The EU is a strong entity today and the EURO is a strong currency today because they managed their policies and people jointly and for the greater good. Why do countries, such as Turkey, want to join the EU today? Because they delivered on their promise of becoming a unity which spreads better living standards and controls essential needs for people's survival such as security, foodstuff, employment (with the exception of Germany today).

Lesson is, protest peacefully, if you want to cause harm, don't crack your own skulls, and instead boycott Danish products in your country. Financial loss bears heavily on the target, more than aggression. Think about it, what is the difference between aggressors breaking and burning buildings in the streets and monkeys? There is a good chance the latter won't show such aggression upon themselves.

Going back to the issue, this has caused massive amounts of panic amongst the leaders of the Muslim world and now the OIC will convene and this will be a hot topic on their plate full of discussions. The last thing we need now is counter-productive measures of taking all the years of hard work done by countries to bring peace and betterment to developing countries and flushing them down the toilet, bring about a global religious war. Terrorism is already synonymous with Islam; the Danish newspaper certainly could not have been so ignorant as to not know the potential consequences of their irresponsible act. Now they will reap what they sew. I only hope that all parties involved directly will tread cautiously.

Lesson learnt: Don't put your finger in a pot unless you know how hot it is...

Way to go Denmark

As you may all know, the Danes have recently been involved in a heinous act of incalculable proportions. To be more specific, some Danish folks thought it would be funny to throw a match in a drum full of gasoline and stand around to watch the flame grow on its own like a wildfire. Interestingly enough, what puzzles me is that people in Pakistan are having the time of their lives acting out their Neanderthal-like fantasies by burning bank buildings, throwing rocks at cars, burning passenger buses, among many other absolutely exhilarating activities.

I got a text message today from a friend in Peshawar which said “If Jews wish to destroy Muslims and Pakistan; it is quite easy for them. They just need to publish a few more cartoons and Pakistanis will burn themselves and everything else around. Pass this on for awareness” The message; while full of fantastic truth considering all the riots and protests are doing is taking us back to the stone ages, it is very specific to target the Jews as the perpetrators of this “cartoon” incident. How do we even know the person / people involved in the drawings were even of a religious affiliation? For all we know they may be atheists.

To fill you in, some Danish newspaper published some cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam, depicting him in a very insulting way. I think that there is an unspoken limit to everything we do. No matter how bad something seems, there is always something worse. That imaginary limit never gets crossed because it’s always a step ahead of whatever is happening. Unfortunately, what the Danish newspaper did was to lift up the standard for limit-pushing acts, push it over the imaginary line and drop it to set a new standard for lowest, most despicable acts.

There are some things you just don’t do, no matter how bad you want to be. Danes just don’t understand that. Even though I am not religious, I do maintain some respect for religions, be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and so forth. I doubt that when the newspapers published those images, they had even an inkling of an idea what would result in Muslim countries. Pakistan is full of eccentric people who antagonize situations and manipulate them to create any kind of trouble they can then. Qazi Hussain Ahmad is one of those people; a religious fundamentalist troublemaker who foments social upheavals and then denies any involvement. These days he is instigating the emotions of young students allover Pakistan, especially of the extreme religious nature, and probing their respect and faith in Islam so that they go and burn and destroy their own country.

Please keep in mind that I am not generalizing and grouping all Danes under one umbrella. There are many who disagree very seriously with what happened and that is just as much a right as agreeing with the act itself. Burning a flag may be inciting as much trouble as publishing pictures of the Prophet (PBUH). Keep things in perspective, keep your pride above, don't lower yourself beneath people who try to antagonize you.

What no one seems to understand is that by burning down a foreign bank or burning up 19 passenger buses, we are not harming anyone but ourselves? Simply because they belong to foreigners, we cannot just presume any old foreigner is involved. You want to target someone, be specific, but then again don’t be violent. Your violence only makes the Danes laugh at us saying “look at those monkeys Helga; they are beating themselves up because we insulted their prophet. This is fun, let’s insult another prophet and see if we can stir up world war III.”

Protest peacefully, show them that we are, in fact, civilized people and that we are willing to do things that will hurt them such as boycotting Danish dairy products. When you destroy foreign owned businesses, think about the things we don’t destroy, the things we wouldn’t think of destroying because we can’t live without them. All the imported goods we consume in Pakistan, the things that keep local prices at a low because of international product competition, you only bring financial burden upon yourselves. Unfortunately, the people who can and will read this are not the people who need to, it is the ones who cannot read this or are unable to that need the guidance and direction of civilized people.

Shame on us…we are only proving to the Danes what they set out to test. We are savage, whatever the cost, we don’t think about the consequences of the decisions we make, especially when we cloud our judgment with emotion.

Shame on you Denmark, for claiming to be a democracy with no signs of being a democratic nation. You are despicable. Any harm that comes your way, even if it is not something I personally agree with as the means to solve this issue, it is because of your own miscalculated error. You cannot rouse the emotions of the millions of Muslims in the world and expect to ask for calm. Your Prime Minister is obviously not using his intellect when addressing a very severe and sensitive issue that has disrupted any and all relations Western countries have with Islamic ones, especially in the Middle East and Pakistan. I hope the people of Denmark have more sense, although though your PM is elected as a representative of the people's wishes.

In the News

Some articles about my involvement in relief efforts

Cyberspace comes to aid of Kashmir quake survivors

13:44 30 Nov 2005
Repeats story first sent on Nov 30.

NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - As Pakistan and India were still floundering to respond in the early hours after the Kashmir quake, a convoy laden with supplies snaked its way along the debris-cluttered road to one of the worst-hit areas in Pakistan.

The mission of mercy began with a simple SMS in Islamabad.

The armies and emergency services of India and Pakistan were caught largely off guard by the Oct. 8 quake that killed more than 73,000 and made millions homeless, but new technology is allowing ordinary people to step in and help in a major way.

"The authorities appear to have been very inefficient and poor with their response and efforts," said Zohare Haider, a project coordinator at Nortel in Islamabad who helped organise that early convoy and has been arranging more support since through his Web log, or blog, SHAKETHEQUAKE (http://zohare.blogspot.com).

"The Sunday after the quake, a friend sent an SMS saying we should get together and help out," wrote Haider, replying to an Internet message. ""We all met at his house ... and that's when things just went out of control."

Haider has now quit Nortel to work for a relief agency.

Within hours, the group had scraped together 12 truckloads of food, blankets, medicine and supplies and about 1.7 million Pakistani rupees ($28,000) and were on their way to Balakot in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.

DONATIONS BY SMS

Spurred by the success of blogs on the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, bloggers have opened up new sites to raise and channel donations, coordinate efforts on the ground and match volunteers and donors with aid groups and projects.

SMS, or text messaging, has also been used for everything from coordinating aid to letting people in the United States make donations a few cents at a time and have it added to their monthly cellphone bill.

Blogs such as Quakehelp (http://quakehelp.blogspot.com) have had tens of thousands of hits, many in the early days of the Kashmir disaster. Postings range from NGOs calling for volunteers and doctors to discussions on the best material for winter shelters and appeals for more supplies.

Contributors include aid groups and ordinary Net surfers. Because they act in a way like community noticeboards, putting people in touch with each other, bloggers say they have no way of knowing how much aid they raise.

It is not the first time blogs have helped in the wake of a major disaster. They were prominent after the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Many of those behind Kashmir quake blogs also blogged the tsunami, Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

Mumbai-based writer Peter Griffin, one of a loose group from around the world that set up Quakehelp, said their Katrina blog drew more than a million hits a day at its peak.

"I'd put that down to the much higher Internet access in the USA," he said.

The sensitivities involved in Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, where both armies are faced off over a ceasefire line, have made aid work harder, bloggers say.

"The information hasn't been easy to find," said Griffin. "It's a sensitive area politically and a remote, almost hostile land."

Quake survivors in Indian and Pakistani Kashmir complain official aid was slow to reach them in the critical early days and some say their armies were too slow to respond.

But the armies were also hopelessly short of resources for dealing with a disaster on such a colossal scale, as well as being badly hit by casualties themselves, and have been praised by aid agencies for the way they have built up their efforts.

($1 = 59.8 Pakistani rupees)

((SOUTHASIA-QUAKE-BLOGS; Editing by Simon Denyer and Sanjeev Miglani; Reuters Messaging: terry.friel.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:44:31RTRS [nDEL75887 ] {C}ENDS

To find out more about Reuters visit www.about.reuters.com

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of Reuters Ltd.

Emergency Appeal

EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR CGI DONATION

This is an emergency appeal for donations towards the purchase of Corrugated Galvanized Iron Sheets, commonly known as CGI sheets. These are metal sheets used as roofs in the earthquake affected areas.

If you have seen any photographs of the affected areas, you will notice that the roofs are generally made of a curvy shaped tin top, that is a CGI sheet. It usually takes about 8-10 to make a complete roof, housing about 7-10 people.

The cost of one CGI sheet is approximately $16-18 dollars per sheet (970-1100)

The specifications are:

Each sheet will be 10 ft X 34 inches
24 gauge
.55 MM thickness

The cost in the open market is:
Rs. 70,000 / ton
72 Sheets / ton

Any amount of donations submitted will be used for purchasing CGI sheets. You can use the donation link along the right menu area, below the archives section to donate using PayPal.

We desperately need your help! Please remember that the winter is worse than we anticipated and it is progressively getting more difficult to help on our own, we urge you to donate!

Remembrance Week - 26th December, 2005 - 1st January, 2006

Last year, on the 26th December, an earthquake, and then a tsunami, killed, wounded, or impoverished hundreds of thousands of people in South Asia.

During the course of the year, other disasters took their toll too. Most devastating of them: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the South-East coast of the USA; and another enormous earthquake near Pakistan's border with India.

These disasters took their immediate toll, and, each time, the world tried to help. But as calamity piled upon calamity, there has been a certain amount of fatigue. Perhaps people's stock of goodwill has run low. Perhaps seeing too much suffering hardens us.

But, the fact is, the suffering from those disasters has not ceased. Parts of South Asia have still not recovered from December 26th, 2004. In the USA, normalcy hasn't returned to New Orleans. In Pakistan, thousands are still homeless, and may not survive the harsh Himalayan winter.

They need your help.

Last December and this January, the online community came together as never before to help in the aid efforts in South-East Asia. The lessons learned there were put to use, and improved upon, when the other tragic events of the year unfolded.

Can we harness that goodwill, that togetherness, that willingness to help once more?

The WorldWideHelp group would like you to join us in Remembrance Week. Here's what we suggest you do.

Use your blogs, your home pages, your wikis, your newsletters. Link to your favourite charities and NGOs, write a paragraph about them and the work they are doing, and ask your readers to make a donation. (If you'd like to find some more charities and NGOs, please take a look at this page on our TsunamiHelp wiki, this one on our KatrinaHelp wiki, or this one on our QuakeHelp wiki.)

Please link back to this page to help pass the word. You can use the image above.

Please use this Technorati Tag: Disaster Remembrance Week.
Here's the code:
<a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/disaster%20remembrance%20week" rel="tag">Disaster Remembrance Week</a>

In this post, we have a few more banners and buttons, with intructions on the code you must post to use them.

Disaster Remembrance Week

Hi all! First, i wish you and your families have a wonderful Christmas. Strangely, although I never celebrated Christmas as a religious holiday, just kinda freeloaded off my friends and never got to see santa. Sad innit:?!

Anyway, i hope that you are having fun holidays and are getting ready for the jump into 2006.

Now, If we look back into retrospect and try to understand what this year has brought for us, each of us will have a different thought, some may share thoughts and those who don't have any thoughts are probably busy planning someone else's thoughts.

As you all know, the world over has suffered tremendous loss, damage and destruction with the help of Katrina, the tsunami and just recently the quake in Pakistan and neighboring countries. The important thing is to move on, learn from the loss and create mechanisms that allow for less loss of life in the future. Look at the Japanese. They get hit by approximately 800 earthquakes a year. Incidentally, the quake in Pakistan has caused about 2000 tremors and quakes since Oct 8th, but thats cause the plates are still in motion.

A friend of mine has a theory that Mother Nature is pissed off and, well, i'm sure you could all imagine the ramifications of that, if you believe it. I don't have an opinion, I think the things that have happened this year and even in the last five years have happened out of human control but are the cause of our negligent living and thoughtless decisions made towards improving our own lives. We can get into that another time, just remember to be kind to people around you, you never know who you will bump into and what they have suffered from.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone and try to be a little naughty, I think santa has got a kinky side too ;)

P.S. Please visit this blog and spread the word for Remembering and honoring the victims of 2005 Disasters and those who have given up their lives trying to save others.

Jobs at RSPN

Hello you readers, you! Things have been quite busy in the relief world. Firstly, a quick update on this avid R&R guy's life...

Just finalized some new contracts for relief and rehab for AJK and NWFP, which will commence in the coming days and will be implemented in Rawalakot (AJK) and Mansehra and Battagram (NWFP)

Going to the US tomorrow for a little break. Since October 8th, the quake has been my life pretty much and I have not even had time these last few weeks to update this blog. I can tell that the readers have slowly faded...tis sad, but oh well.

Anyway, since I will be officially MIA, you can definately not expect any updates until i get back (4th of Jan - My bday)

Here are some job openings at my organization if anyone is interested, kindly follow the procedure:

RURAL SUPPORT PROGRAMMES NETWORK

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

The Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) is seeking dynamic, creative and committed professionals for the following positions. The RSPN provides strategic support, policy linkages and programme stopping services to its ten member RSPs. RSPN works closely with government and NGOs in order to mainstream ‘social mobilisation’ into poverty reduction initiatives in Pakistan.

1. Chief Operating Officer

• Act on behalf of and represent the CEO in his/her absence
• Assist the CEO in providing strategic guidance to the RSPN team
• Oversight of RSPN Special Projects
• Resource mobilisation for RSPN sustainability, in consultation with the CEO
• Oversee Finance, Administration and Human Resource Management at RSPN

Specific criteria: Ten years experience in development programmes. Sound management and team leading abilities. A minimum of a Masters degree, preferably in the Social Sciences.

2. Specialist Policy Research and Advocacy

• Undertake a strategic assessment of key public policies in order to work towards strategic alliances between government and RSPs
• Foster linkages with government and non-government agencies in order to promote social mobilisation as a critical tool for poverty alleviation, based on hands-on experience of the RSP best practice
• Bring in intellectual input from reputable learning institutes and identify new areas of research collaboration for input into public policy for poverty alleviation programmes
• Build working partnerships with international and national academic institutions and the private sector for research
• Facilitate policy dialogues, workshops and seminars between RSPs, government, donors, elected representatives, other NGOs and the private sector
• Build a repository of policy research documents of a high caliber at the RSPN

Specific criteria: Ten years experience in development programmes. Sound management and team leader abilities. Public sector experience is an added advantage. A minimum of a Masters degree, preferably in the Social Sciences.

3. Rural Economist

• Design baseline and impact assessment studies to assess Rural Support Programme impact
• Manage data analysis of baseline and impact studies through specialised computer programmes and ensure high quality analysis and documentation.
• Identify, with the M&E Specialist, research areas relevant to RSPs and supervise studies in the field.
• Train RSP M&E staff in M&E skills
• Ensure documentation of studies and organise their dissemination both within and outside the RSPs.
• Conduct special evaluation studies for RSPs through third party validation and ensure completion on time and proper dissemination
• Plan and organise workshops and seminars to dissemination documented work on baselines, impact assessments, research studies and special evaluations
• Any other assignments given by the Specialist M&E of RSPN

4. Manager Governance & Decentralisation

• Provide policy level input to identify and strengthen linkages between RSPs and local
• government structures
• Identify areas of policy dialogue between RSPN, the RSPs and organisations and government
• agencies working directly on devolution.
• Explore and identify linkages between Local Support Organisations (clusters of Community
• Organisations) and local government structures
• Analyse and assess the role and linkages of Community Organisations with local government
• structures.
• Explore linkages between CCBs and RSP-fostered community organisations and their cluster
• bodies
• Identify capacity building needs of RSPs and local governments in order to strengthen linkages between RSPs and local governments.
• Provide inputs to the RSPs for their work with district governments ie new and effective
• partnerships and modes of service delivery (social sector and other services)
• Document and disseminate best practices in the area of community governance mechanisms and
• their linkages with governments

Specific criteria: A Master degree in the Social Sciences. 4-5 years of work experience in a development agency or NGOs or as a consultant in work related to devolution. Familiarity with the local government system. Excellent oral/written communication skills in English.

5. Manager Human Resources

• Review and modify procedures for management of RSPN’s human resources
• Determine and enforce through functional groups – legal, regulatory and safety requirements in accordance with current regulations
• Assist member RSPs in reviewing and updating their human resource departments, rules and regulations
• Ensure administrative support to all the programme sections of RSPN.
• Supervise and administrate the support and RSPN auxiliary staff
• Maintain and update required documentation of personnel employed in RSPN
• Work with employees to ensure conformity with quality human resource management systems.
• Any other assignments given by the Supervisor

Specific Criteria: Applicants should have a degree in Human Resources Management with at least five years experience in managing human resources personnel and activities and a minimum of three years in human resources management.

6. Two Programme Officers Social Sectors (One for Education & One for Health)

• Assist the Specialist for Social Sectors in strategic planning, programme development and resource mobilisation for education, health and family planning programmes for RSPs

• Plan advocacy initiatives related to social sector programming with government and other specialised social sector agencies
• Assist the Specialist Social Sectors in coordination with government for special initiatives between government, other agencies and the RSPs
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with relevant government ministries, district/local governments, NGOs (technical, academic and professional groups), international NGOs and agencies UN agencies, and other partners for programme development and policy-relevant research
• Establish partnerships nationally and internationally with reputed technical and research institutions for assistance in RSP social sector programme development and government-RSP linkages
• Documentation, evaluation and dissemination of RSP special initiatives in the social sectors
• Promote effective programme learning through technical input into RSP programmes
• Identify and contribute to training opportunities for RSP social sector staff

General Requirements

• Computer proficiency is essential for all the posts.
• Strong team work skills and abilities are essential
• Extensive travel is a requirement of all posts

Candidates fulfilling the above criteria may send their applications to The Rural Support Programmes Network, House # 7, Street 49, F-6/4, Islamabad or through email to: info@rspn.org.pk latest by 20^th December, 2005. Only short-listed candidates will be called for interviews. Applicants who have applied previously need not reapply.

RSPN is an equal opportunity employer.