tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25041551293807864252024-02-20T04:05:04.891-08:00Mahjabeen's MusingsA COMMENTARY ON LIFEMahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-86931195177869884552024-01-29T21:56:00.000-08:002024-01-29T21:58:00.456-08:00Toledo City Council should join national ceasefire chorus<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;">The Toledo Blade is on a
streak of writing misplaced editorials. On January 14<sup>th</sup>, 2024, it
dissuaded Toledo City Council from passing a Gaza ceasefire resolution. </span><span face=""Aptos",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yet Toledo City Council
represents our Toledo community, which was classified as a Compassionate
Community in 2014. How can our representatives be silent when they witness
genocide? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">There were 32 hospitals
in Gaza; Israel has destroyed most of them and, most importantly, provided the
world </span><i style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">no evidence</i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;"> for the claim that the tunnels underneath
the hospitals harbored Hamas. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">Israel has killed 25,000
civilians and has provided </span><i style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">no evidence</i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;"> of having captured or
killed Hamas fighters that were using the 25,000 as human shields. Besides this
massive death toll by incessant bombardment of civilian sites, Israel has
stopped and retarded food and water supply to Gaza, threatening 2.3 million
Palestinians with famine. Active and passive decimation, following Israel’s
ethnic cleansing agenda, publicly verbalized by its ministers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">As though the death toll
was not heart-rending enough, human rights groups report that Israeli soldiers
have looted $25 million of Gaza’s cash, gold, laptops and mobile phones. Hebrew
language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has acknowledged these crimes, publishing
news reports on the so-called “loot unit” in the Israeli army’s technology and
logistics branch. It confirmed that, since the ground incursion began, the
Israeli army had seized the shekel equivalent of $1,320,000 and called it “the
systematic theft of money of Gazans”. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">Pillage is prohibited
under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and amounts to a war crime
under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">More disturbingly, human
rights groups report the theft of body parts of Palestinians as well as the
desecration of graves. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">As a Compassionate
Community, Toledo City Council should join the growing number of city councils
across the nation that have, mostly unanimously, passed Gaza ceasefire
resolutions. Richmond, Detroit, Atlanta, San Francisco, Oakland, Akron,
Providence, Minneapolis, Iowa City, Seattle, Cudahy, Chicago, Albany, Long
Beach and Hastings are some of the names. Wilmington, Delaware, President’s
Biden’s hometown, passed the resolution as well. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">We are so grieved at the
daily, grisly massacre of children, and years from now, we will all face the
question about what it was that we did to stop it. And Toledo City Council in
passing the ceasefire resolution will be remembered for being on the right side
of history. And sending a nationally orchestrated message: ceasefire now!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Aptos",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-9420488449955838312023-12-02T16:01:00.000-08:002023-12-02T16:13:36.678-08:00Speech at Gov. Mike Dewine's visit to Islamic Center of Greater Toledo<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">
December 1, 2023 <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">15,000 Palestinians killed. Over 5000 children dead and the world let it happen. How did the descendants of Holocaust victims become war criminals? <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hitler’s information minister Joseph Goebbels had a philosophy, that if you repeat a lie often enough, people believe it to be the truth and after a while you yourself believe it to be the truth. And this is the power of propaganda. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 2012, Randy Linn was continually listening to Fox News and one day, overcome, intoxicated, and armed he entered the Islamic Center and set fire to the prayer area. Ten minutes before he entered, three ladies had just left the Center. He said in court that he had never known a Muslim and was angry with what he had heard on Fox News. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Political scientist and son of Holocaust survivors, Prof. Norman Finkelstein was asked about what happened on October 7th and he said it was a slave revolt. When you steal the land of a people and imprison them in the largest open-air prison in the world for 75 years, you get a slave revolt. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">What is happening in the war on Gaza, is savage power hunger using the two methods of supremacy and dehumanization. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m sure you’ve heard of the missing White woman syndrome, in which disappearances of young attractive, White women gets a lot of attention, but the disappearance of Brown or Black women does not. This is White supremacy in action. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">This supremacy premise was in full action when President Biden said about hostage Abigail Edan that “what she had endured was unthinkable”. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">I want to ask President Biden why Palestinian children half-alive under the rubble of Israeli savagery, funded by the American taxpayer, don’t classify as enduring the unthinkable. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">I don’t have to ask because I know. Zionists, and the self-professed Christian Zionist that Biden is, believe that an Israeli life is more precious than a Palestinian one. They want to wallow in the Chosen People premise, when the major world religions, and even secular democracies recognize that all people are created equal. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">The world was in an uproar at the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the loss of civilian life. But more women and children have been killed in Gaza in 50 days than were killed in Ukraine in two years. But the supremacy premise preaches that White Ukrainian life is more precious than brown Palestinian life. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">The image of a hand waving under the rubble in Gaza is etched in my mind and stops me from sleeping at night. So how do you unleash the barbarity of killing 15,000 innocents? By dehumanizing them, calling them vermin, calling them human animals. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Israel, with the United States in faithful tow, does not get to making the rules. The world must not let the maniacal political ambition of Netanyahu continue the genocide in Gaza. <br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Chapter 4, verse 135 in the Quran is my favorite: Stand firmly for justice and testify to the truth, even if it goes against yourselves, your parents, or your relatives. The great monotheistic faiths are embedded in justice.
My request: don’t side with the oppressor and injustice. Be faithful to your faith.</span></span></div>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-9699473469299158082023-12-02T15:40:00.000-08:002023-12-02T15:40:30.513-08:00Editorial ignored Israeli atrocities<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px;">Your editorial "Release the hostages," Nov. 7</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px;">has some significant inaccuracies.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">We wish President Biden wanted a cease-fire.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">Mr. Biden only wants humanitarian pauses, which is a different concept from a cease-fire and is an oxymoron, for a pause in the bombing of civilians cannot be labeled humanitarian.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">You label the 250 Israelis “defenseless hostages” and make no mention of the 11,000 unarmed Palestinian civilians that Israel has killed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">Pirates take hostages you say, in reference to Hamas. What do you label a people who occupy Palestinian land, dehumanize them so it is easier to kill them, and indiscriminately bomb hospitals, shelters, and schools?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">War criminals?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">You call for an unconditional release of hostages, but even Israeli families of the hostages demonstrating in front of Israeli war headquarters recognize the injustice and nonviability of that demand.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">“All for all” are their chants and placards — 250 hostages for 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t budge.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">Mr. Netanyahu invoking Amalek from the Hebrew Bible raises this to a holy war, justifying the killing of women and suckling children.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">The U.N. Charter, secular democracies, and journalistic ethics recognize that all human beings are created equal.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;">Israel needs to shed the Chosen People supremacy premise, and the consequent impunity with which it is killing Palestinians, so that peace can prevail.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">MAHJABEEN ISLAM</em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Monclova Township</em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The writer is vice president Islamic Center of Greater Toledo</em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(17, 85, 204); color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline;">https://www.toledoblade.com/</span><wbr style="caret-color: rgb(17, 85, 204); color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline;"></wbr><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(17, 85, 204); color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline;">opinion/letters-to-the-editor/</span><wbr style="caret-color: rgb(17, 85, 204); color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline;"></wbr><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(17, 85, 204); color: #1155cc; 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font-size: large; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline;">0vSgbS48iXRH</span></em></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-88753406043447773592023-06-24T19:06:00.003-07:002023-06-24T19:08:51.937-07:00Zindagi: Allama Iqbal's poem translated<p> <span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;">I’ve always felt that the majority of great Urdu poets of old spun out their work in the midst of a major depression. They are wonderful to read when you’re lonely or going through a rough patch. Sadness sometimes has to go through that wallowing, immersive phase and Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Daagh Dehlavi to name a few, validate your grief.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Years ago, I approached Allama Iqbal’s poetry with the same mindset, only to find that he is motivational, logical and upbeat. The only barrier in reading him is his profound philosophy, and dense language, which require close study and interpretation. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Fortunately for us we have an Allama Iqbal class every Sunday at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, and it is essentially a spiritual and emotional rejuvenation that we go through afterwards. One of his poems Zindagi, is my mainstay. And I translated it and read it and remind myself of it, both when things are great and especially when life turns tough. It is quite the tonic, you will agree. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Zindagi</span></i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Life <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Bar tar az andesha-e-sood-o-ziyaan hai zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Hai kabhi jaan aur kabhi taslim-e-jaan hai zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Life is beyond the concern for gain and loss<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">At times it is living at others it is sacrifice<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Tu isey paimanaey imroz o farda say na naap<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Javidaan paiham dawaan har dam jawaan hai zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Don’t measure it with the mundane passage of day and morrow<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Life is eternal; it is in perpetual motion and forever youthful<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Apni dunya aap paida kar agar zindoan main hai<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Sirr-e-adam hai zameer-e-kun fakan hain zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Create your own unique world if you are among the truly alive<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">The secret of being human is to reflect the Divine essence: “be and it is”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Zindagani ki haqeeqat kohkan key dil sey pooch<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Joo-e-sheer or teeshaey sang-o-giraan hai zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Ask Farhad, the mountain digger, what the reality of life really is<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Life is creating the river of milk by digging and pulverizing granite<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Bandagi mein ghut ke reh jati hai ik joo-e-kam aab<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Aur azadi mein behrey bai karaan hai zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Enslavement strangles you like a static stream which grows toxic<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">And a life of true freedom acquires the quality of a limitless ocean<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Aashkara hai yeh apni quwatey taskheer sey</span></i><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Garchey ik mitti kay paikar mein nihaan hai zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Humans manifest themselves with their power to conquer<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Even though life remains latent within the structure of clay<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Qulzamey hasti sey tu ubhra hai manind-e-hubab<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Is ziyan-khaney mein tera imtihaan hain zindagi<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">You have surfaced from the ocean of life like a bubble<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">The mortal universe is a test for life to move beyond it<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Khaam hai jab tak to hai mitti ka ik ambar tu<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Pukhta ho jaey to hai shamsheer-e-bey zinhaar tu<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Undeveloped, you are but a mound of clay<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Self-developed you become a fearless blade<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Ho sadaqat key liye jis dil mein marney ki tarap<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Pehley apney paikar-e-khaki mein jaan paida karey</span></i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">If one’s heart is burning to sacrifice for the sake of integrity<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Then one must first create <i>life</i> in one’s own embodiment of clay<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Phoonk daley ye zameen-o-asmaaney musta’ar<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Aur khakistar sey aap apna jahan paida karey<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Discard borrowed existence and throw away false glory <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">And then create your own unique world from the ground up<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Zindagi ki quwat-e-pinhaan ko kar dey aashkar<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Taa ye chingari farogh-e-jawidaan paida karey<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Make the power of inner life rise and manifest<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Till this spark creates an everlasting momentum<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Khaak-e-mashriq par chamak jaaye misaal-e-aftab<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Taa Badakhsaan phir koi laal-e-giraan paida karey<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Like the sun, brighten the horizon of the East<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Till Badakhsaan produces those rare rubies (Muslims) again<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Soo-e-gardoon nala-e-shabgeer ka bhejey safeer<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Raat key taaroan mein apney raazdaan paida karey<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Send your emissaries of lamentation to the heavens in the late night<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">And make the stars your confidantes <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Yeh ghari mehshar ki hai tu arsa-e-mehshar mein hai<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Paish kar ghafil amal koi agar daftar mein hai<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">This is a moment of reckoning and you are in an apocalypse<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light", sans-serif">Present deeds if you have any in the record of your lifetime<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-65306642874317391522022-01-24T19:36:00.003-08:002022-01-24T19:37:01.669-08:00Orphaned<p> </p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><i>And from the glamor of the diplomatic corps, my mother and I were suddenly left with a paltry pension and provident fund in patriarchal Pakistan</i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Being biologically orphaned carries much pain. Yet to think that I could be metaphorically orphaned, twice, and that the hurt would carry the same quality is hard to accept.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>Biologic<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I was 17 when my father died of a heart attack while playing tennis. Our family was still reeling from the loss of my teenaged brothers to a car accident five years previously. And from the glamor of the diplomatic corps, my mother and I were suddenly left with a paltry pension and provident fund in patriarchal Pakistan. The recommendation of the Quran in the treatment of orphans (4:8-10) is particularly tender when you live it. And sadly, not much has changed in 1400 years; the treatment by family, friends and society ranged from inhibitive to cruel. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>Pakistan<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber">Pakistan of the late seventies and early eighties was safe and fun. Society had not been transformed by the heroin and Kalashnikov culture that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan brought. Neither had Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabization reached the common man. Our identity was Pakistani, and we remained a devout people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber">We were not taught addiction medicine in Dow Medical College and didn’t see its fallout in our clinical years and internships, neither were there any rehab centers in Pakistan. The heroin and crystal meth (also known as ice) epidemic has transformed Pakistan’s youth, and educational institutions. Responding to this crisis, rehab centers dot Pakistan’s major cities. And Wahhabization created a literalism that left its own practitioners awkward and confused. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber">The most alarming, and, sadly enduring, change has been of our value system, in which the acquisition of money, lawfully or dishonestly, is now a national preoccupation. This in turn occurred due to the massive economic mess that a burgeoning population, diminishing resources, lack of democracy and legal recourse, and embedded corruption in the government, judiciary, and media. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoPageNumber">This is where I feel I was orphaned by Pakistan. In face of desperate and <i>visible poverty</i> are the pursuits of the elite. Where a practicing physician from the United States feels decidedly poor. Of name brands I haven’t heard of and (disgusting) luxury I have never seen. I feel so out of place that a two-week vacation becomes onerous. That the <i>azaan,</i>and twittering of the birds at </span>dawn, remain my only attraction to going to Pakistan is such sad commentary. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>United States<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Distressed at the corruption and lack of health care resources for patients in the government funded Civil Hospital, I left Pakistan during my internship. My intention was to complete a residency in the US and return to Pakistan. And perhaps this is why my estrangement with Pakistan happened; too much time went by, and I could not adjust to what was Pakistan’s new reality. America then was awesome too. People were friendly and said hi to strangers jogging in the neighborhood. There was value for education, respect for others, legal recourse and diversity. Societal values of good manners and tolerance prevailed. I would go grocery shopping in a <i>shalwar kameez</i> and no one stared. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The unbridled greed of the Sacklers, owners of Purdue Pharma, unleashed the opioid epidemic in the 1990s, and the 2008 election of Obama, the first Black president of the United States set in motion the rise of White supremacy, the Proud Boys and QAnon. This unfortunate confluence of factors has changed the character of America. Hatred and violence are published creeds of White supremacists and the Proud Boys. Gone are the days of careless <i>shalwar kameez</i>wearing in the grocery store. Even dressed in jeans and a shirt I get glared at, sometimes unblinkingly, and clearly only for being brown. I again feel orphaned and out of place. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The Black Lives Matter movement in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic added fuel to the fire of White supremacy. The January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection made for a sickening similarity between Pakistan and the United States. And seems to have cast a near-mortal blow to the greatest democracy in the world. So much so that US military leaders are now concerned of a military insurrection after the result of the 2024 presidential election.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Republicans are very focused on the two symbols of their freedom: masks and guns. Not wearing one but assuredly carrying the other. Economic stress created by Covid-19, conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and its vaccination, perpetuating the big lie of Biden not winning the election, high gas prices and daunting inflation, make for a powder-keg type of scenario. Road rage is essentially a daily occurrence. I make sure I don’t look at the driver that overtakes me after riding my tail under the delusion that he has a flying car. Who knows he might be armed and I would become a statistic? <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>Solution<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">For both Pakistan and the United States, we need to return to the raison d’etre of both nations. Muhammad Ali Jinnah founded Pakistan due to the economic and educational disempowerment of Muslims in India, and Pakistan was to be a haven for Muslims and all its minorities. The creed of the United States is democracy, equal rights, and liberty. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In both Pakistan and the United States enduring change can only occur if it starts at an individual level, goes to the family and community and is thereafter legislated nationally. You can’t be corrupt or racist, or condone it when you see it, and expect that things will spontaneously improve. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I know I cannot get my father back. But I frequently, and wistfully, dream of getting my Pakistan and America back<i>. Insha’Allah</i>. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i>Mahjabeen Islam MD FAAFP FASAM practices addiction and family medicine in Toledo, Ohio. Her email is mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></i></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-79043468086131576442021-05-16T10:44:00.004-07:002021-05-16T10:51:57.397-07:00End Israel's Apartheid<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Israel’s intoxication with power has reached its pinnacle. And unlike any other time, public opinion against Israel is also reaching a crescendo. Even within Israel it is said that this is breaking the moral fiber of Israelis</i></span></p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;">It’s been Heartbreak Hotel, no kidding. The 500,000 Covid deaths in the US, the Covid death of my classmate’s husband, and the near-death of my best friend just reached in and took a sliver of my soul it seemed. This happening in the sleep-deprivation environment of Ramadan forced me to take a week off to prevent complete burnout.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Al-Aqsa attack<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But it didn’t work out as planned. On the holiest night of the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, Israeli forces barged into the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets, killing 13, including children and wounding 300. I awoke to images of Israeli soldiers walking into Al-Aqsa Mosque with boots on, billowing smoke, chaos, pushing, shoving and a man laying blinded in both eyes. That is seared in my mind and makes me cry. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Facts versus peddled fiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There’s a lot of stimuli we deal with in our lives. But it is important for us to get our timeline, facts, and verbiage right. Netanyahu has failed to form a coalition government and is facing criminal charges. From the hackneyed playbook of power-intoxicated rulers, he used the diversionary tactic of evicting Palestinians from East Jerusalem and then attacking the Al-Aqsa worshippers. The plan for the following day was to do a ground assault and a 3000-strong settler march into Gaza. This was prevented by rocket fire from Hamas. So the rockets came <b><i><u>after</u></i></b> the Israeli attack. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">A brief history<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After the horrors of the Holocaust, Jewish refugees came to Palestine in 1947 with boats emblazoned with banners saying, “The Germans destroyed our families and homes-don’t you destroy our hopes”. The map of Palestine radically changed, and the Israelis dispossessed the Palestinians of their homes and established a Jewish state with rights only for Jews and not for Palestinians. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This so reminds me of the ironic story of the Arab and the camel. So an Arab was in his tent and the camel said that he was cold and could he put his head into the tent. The Arab said yes. Then the camel said his body was cold could he come in a bit more. And this happened successively and pretty soon the camel was in the tent and the Arab was out. Palestinian citizens of Israel do not have the same rights as their Jewish counterparts and the Occupied West Bank and Gaza are an open-air prison. 95% undrinkable water, 45% unemployment, 4 hours of electricity per day, 46% children have anemia, 50% children express no will to live and 2 million are denied freedom of movement. With checkpoint after checkpoint and a sickening penchant of Israeli soldiers to want to kill children. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Derek Chauvin chokehold that killed George Floyd was perfected by Israelis on Palestinian necks and thereafter exported to the United States police departments. <span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">A tiger and a bunny<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Supported by 3 billion a year US taxpayer-funded dollars Israel has the fourth most powerful military in the world and the Iron Dome technology, a missile defense system that inactivates rockets coming into Israel. Important to remember that Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza before Hamas existed as part of the Zionist expansion project. Hamas has rockets that fizzle when they touch the Iron Dome. And of course, rocks. Don’t forget the rock-throwing terrorist Palestinian teenager. The imagery is good huh? A tiger versus a bunny or better yet an elephant versus an ant. Just like a spry bunny could aggravate a tiger or an ant could get into an elephant’s trunk, some rockets do get into Israel and cause the population to flee to underground shelters. Injury and killing are reprehensible, regardless of ethnicity or religion; but the death toll in Palestine is easily ten times that of Israel. The <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/15/palestinian-death-toll-in-gaza-occupied-west-bank-mounts-live-news" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">current death toll</a> <span> </span>is 145 Palestinians including 41 children. And ten Israeli casualties. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Call it what it is-apartheid<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The word apartheid is rooted in Afrikaans and means separateness or apart-hood, based on any discriminating factor be it ethnicity, national origin, religion, or gender. The apartheid in S. Africa began in 1948 and lasted until Nelson Mandela’s election win in 1994. 46 long years of barbarianism. The dehumanization of the Palestinians is a mirror image of the intense suffering in apartheid S. Africa. So why does the world shy away from calling it what it is? Is it that the United States government and many states of the European Union, as well as Hollywood and the media are controlled by Zionists?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">US House of Representatives echoes with the word apartheid<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/14/progressive-us-congress-members-speak-up-to-back-palestinians" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">US Congresspersons</a> Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Ayanna Presley, Andre Carson and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez spoke emotionally and eloquently about Israel’s apartheid policies. If the House walls could speak, they’d first shudder.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The wrong side of history<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">President Biden may well have taken millions from AIPAC-the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee and is thus soul-obliged to them. And as much as he is such a reprieve from Trump-trauma, his statement that the US stood with Israel for its right to self-defense, with no mention of the Palestinians whatsoever, is beyond reprehensible. His steady hand and impressive work with the Covid vaccine rollout, will be wiped away when history inscribes him as an enabler of the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people. These are war crimes, and the enabler is as much incriminated as the perpetrator. Israeli apartheid will end but Biden’s will be a sick legacy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Grassroots manipulation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Several years ago, I gave a talk at our local synagogue related to the commonalities between Jews and Muslims and creating an atmosphere of cooperation and understanding. In that process I was befriended by this lovely Jewish lady who was charmed with my writing skills. We would hang out and discuss writing and publication. I was invited for dinner with Jewish friends, which included a rabbi, and we had fun discussions in person and on an email group. One day I mentioned the horror of Palestinian women, unable to make it to hospitals and delivering at checkpoints. The emails suddenly got very hot. <span> </span>And I was told to apologize as I was “talking to people who broke bread with the Congresswoman”. That logic is foreign to me. I wondered why I had to apologize for what was a fact. And so, it continued till they threw me out of the email group. Very influenced with Quranic verses (4:9 and 33:70) which say to be mindful of God, to speak in a direct fashion and for justice, I had no regrets. A year or so later I ran into my Jewish friend and she apologized for the harassment and intimidation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In retrospect, those months feel eerie to me and very choreographed and deliberate. Didn’t work for them like they had planned but they probably do with a lot of people; intimidation in academic, professional, and business circles are well known. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The Goebbels Method<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hitler’s Information Minister perfected a form of propaganda in which lies repeated often enough became the truth to the masses and the perpetrator themselves. We have been fed these “Israel has a right to self-defense” and “Hamas is a terrorist organization” type phrases till they have become internalized. The regular American has learned to not consider Palestinians human or worthy of acknowledgement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Heads I win, tails you lose<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Israel does not want a one-state solution for the Palestinians will outnumber Jews in less than 20 years. Giving equal rights to Palestinians, while it is the democratic and right thing to do, is not acceptable to the concept of Jewish supremacy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The two-state solution is also not acceptable to Israel as it involves giving up land that Israel has acquired by forced displacement and dispossession of Palestinians since 1948. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Occupation, an open-air prison and the brutalization of the Palestinians is Israel’s sole focus. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The end of oppression<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A beautiful couplet from a poem by Sahir Ludhianwi a famous Pakistani poet:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Zulm phir zulm hai barhta hai to kat jaata hai <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Khun phir khun hai tapkey ga to jam jaye ga<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Oppression is but oppression and when it reaches its peak it is destroyed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Blood is but blood, when it drips, it congeals to always be a testament to oppression<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Solutions<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Moral pressure and the tide of public opinion:</b></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Like Sahir Ludhainwi said it appears that Israel’s intoxication with power has reached its pinnacle. And unlike any other time, public opinion against Israel is also reaching a crescendo. Even within Israel it is said that this is breaking the moral fiber of Israelis. In the past Israeli brutalization happened in pervasive silence. But now Peter Beinart’s New York Times article speaks of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/opinion/israel-annexation-two-state-solution.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">one state solution</a>, Senator Bernie Sanders wrote that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/opinion/bernie-sanders-israel-palestine-gaza.html?searchResultPosition=1" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">Palestinian Lives Matter</a>, Ali Velshi spoke courageously of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIVtKKsPs0" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">Israel's apartheid and ethnic cleansing</a> and Trevor Noah of The Daily Show explained <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeZ4yXyzUG0" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">the power inequality between Israel and Palestine</a><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">BDS: Boycott, Divest, Sanction</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> bdsmovement.net</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Boycotts </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242c2e;">involve withdrawing support from Israel's apartheid regime. Divestment campaigns urge banks, pension funds and universities to withdraw investments from Israel and all Israeli and international companies that sustain Israeli apartheid. Sanctions campaigns pressure governments to fulfil their legal obligations to end Israeli apartheid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #242c2e; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242c2e;">Boycott Israeli products, bar code 729</span></b></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242c2e; font-family: arial;">A bar code beginning with 729 on any product indicates that it is made in Israel. This can be our individual effort so we can rest the gnawing of our consciences and not keep feeling this intense helplessness. The BDS movement and the boycott of Israeli products can have an intense cumulative effect. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Suspension of trade and diplomatic ties with Israel</b></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Until a firm and equitable solution is found. Be it a one-state or a two-state solution. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Filing war crimes cases against Israel in the International Criminal Court</b></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/world/middleeast/icc-israel-palestinians-war-crimes.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">The ICC is watching the current escalation</a> </b>in Palestine. Israel is not a member of the ICC and says the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the West Bank and Gaza but the main ICC prosecutor Ms. Bensouda says the ICC does have jurisdiction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">American solutions</b></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Americans in general and Muslim Americans in particular, must do their due diligence and work to elect candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andre Carson, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, Keith Ellison and Rashida Tlaib. Our hard-earned money must not go for photo ops or favors with candidates servile to Israel.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The apartheid in S. Africa ended after 46 years. The Gaza and West Bank occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing began in 1967. Israel expected the extinction of Palestinians and is frustrated that they still exist. The world must end 54 years of Israeli apartheid. Free Palestine-it is more than time. </span><o:p></o:p></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-51195769040388635242020-11-29T16:39:00.004-08:002020-11-29T16:39:45.504-08:00Bhang cultivation endangers Pakistan's youth<p><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">In this bhang situation the benefit of cultivation is the $1 billion over three years. The risks are worsening of the addiction crisis in Pakistan, psychosis developing in the vulnerable, driving while impaired and thus increased traffic fatalities, progression of use from marijuana to hard drugs and individual and family financial devastation.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </span> </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Amid the Covid confusion and the Karachi rains came the curious news that Pakistan plans bhang cultivation. Pakistan’s addiction treatment professionals were not consulted. And we are very concerned about the fallout of this decision on the mental health of Pakistan’s youth. And how <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21109040/" style="color: #954f72;">adolescent cannabis is associated with the development of psychosis and schizophrenia</a> at a later age. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/Control-of-Narcotic-Substances-Act-XXV.pdf" style="color: #954f72;">The Control of Narcotic Substances Act</a> of 1997 defines the cultivation of bhang as illegal, but Pakistan’s 2020 Cabinet, noting the potential influx of $1 billion in three years, the strength of hemp rope and the medicinal uses of cannabidiol has agreed to the industrial cultivation of cannabis. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Bhang is an edible mixture of the buds, leaves and flowers of the marijuana plant and has been used in the Subcontinent since 1000 BC. Hemp is also derived from the marijuana plant, and has industrial uses in making rope, clothes, shoes, paper. THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in bhang, is addictive, helps relieve pain, increases the appetite, and reduces nausea and vomiting. Cannabidiol is a low-potency THC product with multifarious claims of reducing pain to controlling seizures. The only FDA approved indication for cannabidiol is for two rare types of childhood seizures. All the other claims for cannabidiol are not borne out by research. And it is unregulated and frequently contains high doses of THC. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In my addiction practice I am able to help patients achieve sobriety from a variety of addictive substances, from heroin to amphetamines. But cannabis addiction is usually very resistant to all forms of treatment. Cannabis causes relaxation and euphoria, but in the acute stage can cause a violent psychosis, especially when used in a pure form, which is what is easily found in Pakistan. Long term use in teenagers results in psychosis at a later age, and use in adults causes slowed reflexes, sleepiness, memory loss and cognitive issues, presenting the picture of dementia. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In June 2020 the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association published my article on <a href="https://www.jpma.org.pk/article-details/9967" style="color: #954f72;">Pakistan's alcohol, opioid and methamphetamine crisis</a>. The neurobiology of addiction is explained in the article and it is basically all a matter of receptors. If your endocannabinoid receptor enjoys marijuana, you are likely to become addicted. Per capita Pakistan is the most heroin-addicted country in the world! And the crisis of alcohol, opioids and methamphetamine, or Ice, is ravaging society, especially our young. For the longest time we have known that marijuana is the gateway drug. And it becomes a matter of progression from marijuana to Ice and heroin. The article also details how little Pakistan spends on addiction treatment.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">Medical marijuana has been approved in some states of the US only because of the powerful marijuana lobby and the US Congress being itself on sale to the highest bidder. In my research for this article, it appears that there are is a powerful and persistent marijuana, I mean, bhang lobby, in Pakistan. And it has clearly succeeded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">As addiction specialists we practice evidence-based medicine, relying on scientific studies to guide our management. This, combined with years of experience, allows us to make both individual and national recommendations. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cannabis use is widespread in Pakistan, true. And everyone does not develop psychosis with cannabis use. The neurobiology of addiction, as well as its consequences, are not completely known, and it appears that there is a vulnerability to the serious adverse effects of cannabis. We are unable to tell who has this vulnerability and who does not. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">The claim is that this bhang cultivation will be tightly regulated and overseen by the government. In Pakistan’s environment this is a delusional claim at worst and an optimistic one at best. The message that goes out loud and clear to Pakistanis is that cannabis is being officially cultivated and its use is really not an issue. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">For every condition in Medicine we weigh the risk-benefit ratio of each management option. So, in this bhang situation the benefit of cultivation is the $1 billion over three years. The risks are worsening of the addiction crisis in Pakistan, psychosis developing in the vulnerable, driving while impaired and thus increased traffic fatalities, progression of use from marijuana to hard drugs and individual and family financial devastation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">Pakistan has a very youthful population. Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry and Prime Minister Imran Khan while salivating over the billions from bhang, need to clearly understand that they will have consigned some of Pakistan’s youth to a terrible future. We should in fact work toward a university-affiliated addiction center that can be the national repository of statistics and research, guide addiction treatment and participate in health care policy as related to addiction. Even with this bhang issue, there is more to it than just money. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-39047799956196673162020-08-09T21:48:00.050-07:002020-08-12T18:43:59.325-07:00The Shower of Shoes<p> <i><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Personal issues and struggles are one thing; for them to be partnered up with a national and global fiasco feels like Bugs Bunny flattened out by a truck.</span><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></p><p><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">My first major trauma was at age 12 when I lost my brothers to a car accident. I remember thinking that life would be a cakewalk thereafter. How could it possibly get worse? But it did. Five years later my father died while playing tennis. My tack changed suddenly, and thereon, I have waited for the other shoe to fall. And life has delivered. Again, again and yet again. Personal issues and struggles are one thing; for them to be partnered up with a national and global fiasco feels like Bugs Bunny flattened out by a truck.</span><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>Witnessing a pandemic<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We would read about pandemics in books of history and medicine. To see it unfold before our eyes, and to live in the richest country in the world with five million infected and over 160,000 deaths is surreal. And if masks are not worn there could be <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/08/06/900000671/300-000-deaths-by-december-9-takeaways-of-the-newest-covid-19-projections" style="color: #954f72;">300,000 deaths by December 2020</a>. How wearing a mask infringes on one’s liberty is still difficult for me to comprehend. What I do know is that this refusal is bare selfishness. I did telemedicine with a patient who called with classic Covid-19 symptoms. “We went to a winery and all the people that went there are Covid-19 positive”. I asked if they had been wearing masks. “Of course not!” she said, a touch derisively. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">My little neighborhood will contribute to the 300,000 deaths also. Two houses down, they’ve brought a portable swimming pool and the children are squealing as they jump in the water. And the adults enjoy their beers sitting in clusters. Masks you ask? Duh! <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>A pandemic of dysphoria<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I was never into parties and used to create excuses not to attend. This strange time brings the aphorism that man is a social animal into painful focus. That I cannot jump up and even go for lunch with a friend, only serves to deepen this strange dysphoria. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/michelle-obama-admits-shes-suffering-low-grade-depression/story?id=72217346" style="color: #954f72;">Michelle Obama</a> has been frank about her low-grade depression. In each patient visit I make sure I ask about an increase in anxiety and depression. It is remarkable that the reply is essentially always in the affirmative and I have to determine whether my advice, professional counseling and/or medication are needed. Perhaps this state of being dispirited is the result of tackling the assault at us at so many levels-social, emotional, financial and physical. After my father’s death, I followed the textbook and dutifully suffered a major depression. And have always lived in fear of a recurrence. I recognize that this dysphoria is different and that I am not alone. Perhaps that is what adds to it. It is so rare to come across people who are loving this leisure; if there were more of them, perhaps they could do a collective yank and the blues would disappear. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>Backyard chai <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Utilizing her vacation, a cousin who lives in Philadelphia decided to visit family in Ohio. I hastily put together chai on our patio and felt this great mood change after she and her husband left. And now my backyard chais are a wonderful treatment option for the Covid blues. Just need cloud cooperation; sometimes “taking a raincheck” becomes literal. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>An epidemic within a pandemic<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Addictions in general, and opioid use disorder in particular, are greatly worsened by social isolation. And these strange times call for social isolation. <a href="https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2020-07-16-cdc-drug-overdose-deaths-46-2019" style="color: #954f72;">Opioid overdose deaths</a> were over 70,000 in 2019 and over the last several years we have recognized that opioid use disorder was an epidemic in the US. The shameful governmental response to Covid-19 has had a downstream effect on the epidemic of opioid use disorder. The greatest obstacle to recovery has been access to treatment and during the lockdown and subsequent scaling back of activity at treatment centers, the epidemic within the pandemic got a lot worse. People are also using alcohol to treat the multiple struggles that have suddenly surfaced. Unemployment, social restrictions, financial stringency, isolation, family dysfunction, illness/infection, depression, anxiety push people for the reprieve that alcohol gives. The health care system is so flawed and overwhelmed that the opioid epidemic is necessarily taking a backseat to the Covid-19 pandemic. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>The year of death<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I do not recall a single year in which every other day brought the news of deaths of people that we knew, the way that 2020 has. A classmate and another classmate’s wife died of Covid-19. My best friend’s mother died of natural causes. A classmate’s 32- year old daughter died recently, leaving a 17 month and a three- year old child. And the volley continues reliably. I have a momentary fear of checking my phone, for fear of having to write “To God we belong and to Him is our return”, again. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b>Recognizing racism<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Perhaps the only good part of 2020 has been the Black Lives Matter Movement. While the mind rages against the brutal murder of George Floyd, the heart knows that his blood was not in vain. And that of innumerable innocents through decades of police brutality and institutionalized racism. But the road is long. And we must see this through. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">With the weird dysphoria that Covid-19 has created and the repeated assaults one has had to suffer; I don’t have to wait for the other shoe to fall. They're falling one after another; a veritable shower of shoes. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-23573496912408360332020-04-26T13:28:00.000-07:002020-04-26T13:28:40.749-07:00Keep Throw Change<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Many years ago I was talking to a physician colleague who is also in solo practice. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I asked her how she made it, as she only worked in the office, and didn’t do hospital rounds. Her response has stayed with me and I dredge it up when the going gets tough. She said: my needs are not that many.</span></i><br />
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I coined the KTD acronym and Marie Kondo became the millionaire. Decades ago yielding to my near-OCD clutter-phobia, I created a method to deal with organizing rooms. It is simple and works well: you start from one corner of the room and for each item ask the question of whether you should keep, throw or donate it. Marie Kondo has the exotic Japanese twist to basically the same premise. And I certainly don’t identify with the rolling up of clothes instead of regularly folding them that she does. <o:p></o:p></div>
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With the Covid-19 crisis we can extrapolate the KTD practice to what has suddenly become a massive individual, national and global issue. And the KTD can become KTC, keep, throw, change.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Individual<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I want to keep the breakfasts with my mother with no background pressure of things to do. Also the drives with my family in which the conversations are deeper and more spiritual as the content has shriveled, being that interaction with friends has gone down, and mundane stuff has exited. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Health and time<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that the two most valuable things we have are health and time. And I want to treasure these. I had a schedule before Ramadan and now that fasting is here, the schedule has to change a bit but productivity, contentment and joy lie in creating another schedule and then dutifully following it. Being near-OCD, multitasking, female and physician have been assets to me. And though time now does not run away from me like it used to, I want to keep valuing it and harnessing it, and keep it front and center, as life slowly returns to normal. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Rushing around<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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We’ve got to get rid of the rushing around. A lot of us realize that all we were doing was jogging on the spot. We’ll need to choose how we will fill our day. A conscious, perhaps a written plan, is vital to reintroducing items in our schedule. Life has this bad habit of descending into automatic chaos unless you rein it in, train it. Whether it is office or house work, it is essentially endless and can swallow you whole if you’re not careful. We must be controllers of our time, not let it control us. Which reminds me of another Mahjabeenism: if you don’t lead life, it tends to lead you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>My needs are not that many<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Many years ago I was talking to a physician colleague who is also in solo practice. We were discussing the challenges of practice and not wanting to be bought out by hospitals and dealing with practice finances. I asked her how she made it, as she only worked in the office, and didn’t do hospital rounds. Her response has stayed with me and I dredge it up when the going gets tough. She said: my needs are not that many. Cloistered at home we realize that our needs are really not that many, and as we return to normalcy, not immediately expanding our needs is paramount. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Life trajectory<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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All this time has afforded us a unique, albeit forced, opportunity to assess the trajectory of our lives. Professionally and personally we can assess and decide what combination of keep, throw, change we should use. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Quran immersion<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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For years I have wanted to reach a point of understanding the Quran when it is recited or read. Even before the Covid-19 crisis, I’ve been working with the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quranic-quran-arabic-learning/id1381145375" style="color: #954f72;">Quranic</a> app and it is amazing in the way that it teaches Quranic Arabic. The current cloistering situation lends another unique opportunity for Quran immersion. Previously in Ramadan iftar parties and taraweeh prayer really ate into the already chopped up day. I’ve discovered another great book that takes each Quranic Arabic word and places the English meaning below it <a href="https://archive.org/stream/TheGloriousQuranWordToWordTranslationInEnglish/TheGloriousQuran#page/n15/mode/2up" style="color: #954f72;">The Glorious Quran Word to Word translation</a>. Hopefully when Ramadan ends I will continue to have a daily relationship with the Quran. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>National<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Daily condolences<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Pre-Covid I would write a condolence message once a month or maximally every two weeks. Muslims write the Quranic text of “to God we belong and to Him is our return”. Last week I had pasted it in Arabic calligraphy to someone. This week I have sent condolences twice each day. It first started with deaths narrated on television, then of relatives of friends, then distant relatives. I dread how it is closing in. This has to stop. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Social inequity<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The tales are harrowing. “I used to earn $250,000 a year and now it is zero” said a radio interviewee. “Thank you for donating to our fitness club” is gratitude from a business owner who needs donations to get through this crisis. Seeing the miles-long car lines in Texas to get donated food is difficult to process in our minds. Is this America? A Mercedes in the line gets its turn. The owner can get his car payment deferred for a month or two but has clearly run out of money for groceries. It seems people have become paupers overnight. The factors that have led to the tremendous inequality in our society need to be redressed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Stampede through the eye of a needle<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The CARES Act 2020 through the Paycheck Protection Program was intended to help small businesses across America. But appears that no safeguards were put in place and the stampede through the eye of the needle got sharks across America, with slick lawyers and smooth relationships with bankers, to run it dry within a week. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2020/04/20/seventy-one-publicly-traded-companies-got-paycheck-protection-funding-before-money-ran-out/#68930a225087" style="color: #954f72;">71 publicly traded companies</a> received $300 million of the $346 billion that was allocated to help small businesses leaving many small businesses out in the cold. Even though payroll documentation has to be provided, and the assistance was meant for companies with less than 500 employees, the loophole that Shake Shack used was of having less than 500 employees in one location. Due to public condemnation, Shake Shack has returned the $10 million assistance it got, but the other billionaires are enjoying the money. This ever-widening gap between rich and poor also needs to be addressed urgently, and quickly become a thing of the past. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The great equalizer<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Covid-19 takes the rich, famous, regular and poor, and its humiliation of America is hard to process. Regression to the status of a developing country, and the dubious distinction of being the world’s Covid hotspot is ignominious. Americans deserve better than the performance of the federal government having essentially no stockpile of ventilators and personal protective equipment and the lack of an integrated federal and state response to tackle the pandemic. Our disaster response needs urgent and intense overhaul. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Medicare for all<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The first domino has fallen. <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2020-04-09/more-than-16-million-americans-filed-for-unemployment-the-past-three-weeks" style="color: #954f72;">More than 16 million Americans have filed for unemployment</a> which terminates their health insurance. Our health care system was already very flawed, leaving large segments of the population uninsured due to the ridiculously high monthly insurance premiums. That flaw is now going to involve a large swath of the population. Medicare for all is the only way that the sequelae of Covid-19 can be addressed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Trump’s tyranny<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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If a person in any organization had suggested that disinfectant be inhaled, ingested and injected, they would have been fired on the spot. There is a rise in emergency department visits of people that have done exactly what Trump suggested three days ago and the number of calls to Poison Control have skyrocketed. Perhaps there should be a class-action lawsuit against Trump for aggravated assault or attempted murder. Whether we use the T for throw or the C for change, Americans must act in November to remove the embodiment of lies, the spectacle of stupidity and the epitome of incompetence that Trump is. We should try to retain a smidgeon of respect in the world community. Four more years is akin to a death sentence especially after our Covid suffering. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Tariq Jameel too<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Tariq Jameel is a Pakistani preacher a’la Billy Graham. He is charismatic and has a large following in Pakistan. His lectures have been attempts at humor, with superficial and distorted religious teachings. The fake-crying really gets me. As does the fact that seemingly educated people, including Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, just love him. His latest edict is that the Covid-19 pandemic occurred because women are shameless and not properly clothed. Religion in Pakistan, as elsewhere, is a multimillion-dollar industry and especially in Ramadan, the money really flows. Revolutionary poet Habib Jalib has a beautiful verse: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Muflis jo agar tan ki qaba baich raha hai<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Waiz bhi to minbar pey dua baich raha hai<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Doanoan ko hai darpaish sawaal apney shikam ka<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Ik apni khudi, aik khuda baich raha hai<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The poverty stricken is selling his clothes<o:p></o:p></div>
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And the preacher sells prayers at the altar<o:p></o:p></div>
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Both are faced with the question of hunger<o:p></o:p></div>
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One is selling his self-respect, the other is selling God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There is no priesthood or confession in Islam; it is entirely deeds based. On the Day of Judgement we will be presented with a pictorial representation of our worldly life and our accounting will be individual, with no parents or preachers intervening. The accounting of religious clerics however will be a notch, or many, above the simple individual accounting that we will endure, because they have the ability to guide or misguide large groups of people. Previously the flock was restricted to the mosque and its surroundings; with the advent of technology, it now is millions at a time worldwide. It behooves the likes of Tariq Jameel to remember that frank misguidance of millions of people will be an insurmountable obstacle on the Day of Judgement. Pakistanis would be well served to listen to the calm, logical, scientific and current-day applicable lectures and interpretations of <a href="https://javedahmedghamidi.org/#!/" style="color: #954f72;">Javed Ahmad Ghamdi</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Global<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Climate change<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The videos and photos of the skyline of cities around the world since the Covid-19 quarantine are quite stunning. The clarity of the air and the chirping of the birds is such a balm in these troubling times. As the pandemic subsides the world must actively decide on what industries it will re-allow and the massive polluters it should not. Passivity in this regard should be avoided. We have damaged the planet enough; it is now a time of introspection and revision. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Cooperation<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Cooperation among world health bodies such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations, The World Bank etc. are vital so that we truly work together as we are all in this together. Trump’s bullying and threats first to the United Nations and then to the World Health Organization should cease. If it is one thing that Covid-19 has demonstrated is that it will attack nations of all stripes and the best response is a concerted and not divided one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are taught that after fasting in the month of Ramadan, or after Hajj the Muslim pilgrimage, one should work toward and notice a change in ourselves. Similarly we should keep the valuable, discard the unnecessary, and change some issues/people as we emerge from our Covid-19 quarantines. And as documented in world history and known individually, if we don’t learn from our mistakes, we are made to repeat them. The price next time might be incalculable. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-68114223336359623772020-04-09T10:45:00.000-07:002020-04-09T10:45:12.133-07:00COVID-19 Cloistered Syndrome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Even though we are cloistered in luxury, it feels like incarceration. The human mind takes a while to process trauma but knowing this does not seem to reduce its impact. My mind goes through these cycles of dread.</i></span><br />
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I am terrified of, and at the same time fascinated with, blindness and imprisonment. Only because I know I couldn’t handle either. Thus 48 Hours, Forensic Files and 20/20 are my favorite shows. The point when the murderer is sentenced has a particular impact on me because of the essential impossibility, in my mind, of spending 30 years or life in prison without the possibility of parole. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The cycles of dread<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Even though we are cloistered in luxury, it feels like incarceration. The human mind takes a while to process trauma but knowing this does not seem to reduce its impact. My mind goes through these cycles of dread. Starts with the morning when the bed is a magnet and I am steel. Email’s been checked, Whatsapp’s been checked, articles have been read. And then the mental persuasions begin: “come on get out of bed, it’s gonna be ok” and variations of the same. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Each day is more onerous than the last, because the case-rate and fatalities are so much higher. On March 1<sup>st</sup> 2020 there were 89 Coronavirus cases in the US. By March 7<sup>th</sup> there were 446, by March 14<sup>th</sup> 2,776, by March 21<sup>st</sup> there were 23,432 and by March 31<sup>st</sup> 186,258 people were infected! And as of April 2<sup>nd</sup> there were 243,134 cases in the US and 5,864 deaths, and on April 8<sup>th </sup>427,824 cases and 14,721 deaths. We used to casually use the word exponential, now we see it every day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So one option is not to watch or read anything related to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t work for me. And this week it is people we know who are in the ICU; statistics are so different from when a disease hits home like that. And as the days go on, those episodes of paralyzing dread become sickeningly familiar. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sunlight the savior<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Even a twenty-minute walk does wonders. “I can do this” and “this too shall pass” become fulfillable mantras. Just the pre-walk is like a one-hour vacillation of the fight between the “go” and “don’t go” voices in my head. And the sinking realization that it has come to this; an activity and numerous others that were automatic in the past are actual projects now. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Bankruptcy<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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A physician colleague just posted something hilarious and horrid: “if this saga continues, I will have something in common with Donald Trump, Chapter 11”. And speaking of Trump there is first the specter of small businesses going out of business and then suffering Trump’s press briefings and manifest incompetence. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Small businesses are seeing a <a href="https://prospect.org/economy/imminent-small-business-collapse-coronavirus/" style="color: #954f72;">70-80% reduction in activity</a>. And this applies to a large swath of businesses from manufacturing to medicine. A bipartisan CARES Act 2020 was passed but has run <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/07/business/ap-us-virus-outbreak-small-business-relief.html" style="color: #954f72;">into all kinds of snafus</a>, and the immediate provision of $10,000 to small businesses and the Payroll Protection Program seem like they may not materialize or will arrive when irretrievable damage has been done. The consequences of this are not just small businesses filing bankruptcy, but millions of people losing their health insurance. Which in turn make a recession a definite, and the Second Great Depression a probability. Scaling back, pre-retirement or retirement plans are so much more palatable when they are done on our time; having them shoved in your face just worsens that cycle of dread. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Tyrannical Trump<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Never fails that when I am trapped in the kitchen cooking dinner, Trump’s press briefings are on and all channels carry them. Piled on top of the cloistered blues is the tyranny of Trump. It is hard to comprehend that the President of the United States would bully reporters, call the World Health Organization names, peddle hydroxychloroquine repeatedly, lie blatantly, fight with all things Democrat, alter facts whimsically and be altogether rude, grandiose and delusional. With the reverberant theme of “it is this way because I say it is”. And the citizenry has no recourse. “The <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/cdc-recommends-masks-trump-says-he-wont-wear-one-because-he-meets-presidents-prime-ministers-1496064" style="color: #954f72;">CDC recommends face masks</a> but I won’t be wearing them” is Trump’s typical of “do as I say and not as I do”. The cycles of dread are fueled with the sickening realization that a petulant teenager has the lives of millions on his narcissistic little hands. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>All this time<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Time was that vacations and staycations were just so awesome. Now time hangs heavy and the voices that propel to action feel shrill. I used to dream of a sabbatical when I would write my book. That the day is filled with telemedicine, cleaning, napping, cooking, the news and bed makes my self-worth tank. And I re-read those self-affirming memes that soothingly forgive you for essentially becoming a lump of lard. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Fat on the other side<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I’m very fat-phobic and my children accuse me of wanting to commit fat-icide. My mother and aunts were fabulous cooks; and round and rolly to prove it. And it was so plain that most, if not all, famous chefs are obese. So I figured I would dislike cooking and that would take care of any roundness that might threaten me. One of the memorable things of this cloistering will be that I discovered the joys of cooking. The family appreciating the meal every evening, is truly one of the greatest joys I have ever felt. Fortunately for me, I don’t have a sweet tooth and am not a stress eater; quite the South Beach lo-carb diet queen. That I have never been skin-and-bones is all my mesomorphic build, genes and metabolism-as rationalized by all overweight folks. Used to weigh myself once a week, now it is every day. The cycles of dread, my molasses like inertia, the specter of a financial fall, the disgust of governmental corruption and incompetence, the sadness of the national and global death toll and the fury of how this pandemic could have been handled differently will all be there. But at least I won’t be fat on the other side. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-794981684499971132020-03-22T00:38:00.000-07:002020-03-22T09:52:26.701-07:00The World on Reboot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2504155129380786425" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2504155129380786425" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2504155129380786425" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">On one fine day in Wuhan China the novel Corona virus traveled from bat to human and then between humans. And in that sentinel event, God conveyed, again, that He was in control. </i><br />
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Like in a bad chapter of a sci-fi novel, the Corona virus pandemic will kill many and leave many in sudden poverty. It is indeed surreal to comprehend that in our lifetimes we will have seen a pandemic and likely The Second Great Depression. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“These pandemics are on a one hundred-year cycle, almost like clockwork” said Dr. Nasir Husain, an infectious disease consultant. This piqued my curiosity, so I looked it up, and he is right. The Great Plague or <a href="https://www.history.com/news/6-devastating-plagues" style="color: #954f72;">The Black Death</a> in 1347 killed an estimated 75-200 million. The world got a bit of a respite until the Italian Plague of 1629 which killed 280,000. Then the plague of Marseille in 1720 killed 100,000. The Spanish Flu, or the influenza pandemic in 1918, is estimated to have killed 17-50 million people. And in 2020 the Coronavirus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At the time of this writing there were 307,725 <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/" style="color: #954f72;">Covid-19</a> cases and 13,054 deaths worldwide. Sadly by the time you read this, you will note that that the cases are exponentially higher. </div>
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<b>The slow unfold<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The WHO vacillated a bit before it called the Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. And after it did, instead of our government going on overdrive and doing a national clampdown, the country got split between people calling it overblown (Trump fans) and others demanding immediate action (labeled the liberals). At the time of this writing, only three states, California, Illinois and New York have gone into lockdown and it feels like this is a developing country, with the government’s focus on censoring the news and not wanting to face the rising numbers. There is a shortage of ventilators, ICUs, personal protective equipment and even masks. We have a defense budget to invade and destroy other countries, but we cannot protect our own. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/politics/us-intelligence-reports-trump-coronavirus/index.html" style="color: #954f72;">Trump was informed</a> of the Covid-19 threat in January 2020 but did nothing about it. Instead our <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/congress-insider-trading-problem/608488/" style="color: #954f72;">corrupt Congresspersons</a> sold and bought shares on the stock market, feared the Coronavirus threat in private and denigrated it in public and boasted of our preparedness to tackle it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Every day my strategy of medical practice changed. On Friday, March 13, we worked on advising people observation when they called in with respiratory symptoms, and examined some that came for unrelated visits but had respiratory issues. By Monday March 16, we converted to telemedicine, except for having to physically see some patients who I cannot prescribe medication to without a urine drug screen. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Second Great Depression?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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America has slowly closed down. The <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-dow-is-on-pace-for-its-worst-month-since-the-great-depression-but-heres-why-all-hope-isnt-lost-amid-the-coronavirus-stock-rout-2020-03-21" style="color: #954f72;">Stock Market is reminiscent of the Great Depression</a>. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/21/21188529/initial-unemployment-claims-goldman-sachs" style="color: #954f72;">Unemployment claims are surging</a> and it is predicted that they might reach an unprecedented territory of 2.25 million. How does a country recover from that? My private practice has been scaled down to the point that survival beyond 30-45 days at this pace is difficult to envision. I’m trying to hold on to my employees because starting from scratch when all this is over, is not a good move. Other small businesses in America cannot do this. To come to terms with the sudden change in our fortune-with little work and the stock market crash-just adds to this one word that my mind keeps churning up. WHAT?! Seems we will spend the next couple decades getting out of this medical and money mess. Which looks like the Second Great Depression to me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Stages of Grief<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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To think that the entire world is going through <a href="https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/" style="color: #954f72;">Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief</a> is also weird. For a few seconds in the morning while the brain is still half asleep there is respite. And then it suddenly hits; and for me it is mainly denial/disbelief at what just got unleashed, and anger at our government for its incompetence and the deaths of thousands. Hopefully, not millions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Individual and national arrogance<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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All those aphorisms of “we’re in this together” and “it’ll never be the same again” suddenly stop being corny. When we go away on vacation, almost invariably, we reboot, we reflect. From existential questions to simpler ones like where am I headed or should I consider a career change. With this Covid-19 induced forced vacation, the world is on reboot; our questions multiply and the answers seem to hide. We took so much for granted: parties, concerts, travel, shopping. If I dare plan a quick grocery stop now, the yelling chorus from my daughters is enough for me to want to jump off the cliff instead. Groceries must be delivered. <o:p></o:p></div>
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All of us have had varying levels of arrogance and have doled out injustice. As we are cloistered in our homes a personal inventory is very much in order. This is the time to repair relationships and ask for forgiveness. And most of all, put down the smartphone and just sit and talk to your family. Indulge them. Especially if you are a parent, realize the anxiety, however camouflaged, that your children are going through and alleviate it. Reassure your parents and friends and keep the conversation positive. Arrogance in Islam is akin to <i>shirk</i> or the sin of association, for arrogance can only belong to God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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National arrogance, especially the arrogance of American leadership, appears to have not even been lightly dented by the massive catastrophe that the Coronavirus pandemic is.<br />
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In the war and devastation in her country, the very young Syrian child, just before her death said "I will tell Allah every thing". It seems that Allah listened. <br />
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No one speaks of the American killing of one million Iraqi civilians on the basis of the lie of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. The incarceration and torture of millions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang China is not spoken of, even by Muslim countries, for fear of Chinese trade reprisal. Israeli apartheid and the daily brutalization of Palestinians is presented to the world with a switch of victim and aggressor. The world, even Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both hungry for Indian trade and money, looks away as India continues the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and has kept Kashmiris in lockdown for nine months now. Iran has suffered a significant Covid-19 toll but America refuses to lift sanctions, and innocent Iranians suffer the lack of basic medical care. Even the desperation of our own citizens doesn’t return us our humanity and compassion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Who’s in control?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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On one fine day in Wuhan China the novel Corona virus traveled from bat to human and then between humans. And in that sentinel event, God conveyed, again, that He was in control. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jawad Ahmad, a Pakistani singer, introduces one of his songs with <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">a</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-DjhdNBWc" style="color: #954f72; font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">poetic representation of the Quran and Hadith</span></a> in the form of a conversation between God and us, in which God says:<br />
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<i>Oh son of Adam</i><br />
<i>There’s something you want and something that I want<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>But what <b>will </b>happen is what I want<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>So submit yourself totally to what I want </i></div>
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<i>And perhaps I will give you what you want</i></div>
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<i>But if you are disobedient and rebellious with what I want<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>I will tire you out in your pursuit of what you want<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>And in the end it will always be what I want<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b>Submission<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The only sanity is in submission. Entirely to God’s will. Stay at home, be kind to your family, strengthen your spirituality, learn new skills, wash your hands, take every precaution and stop panicking. God’s got this. <i>Wa uffawidu amri ilallah inallaha baseerun bil ibad</i>: I entrust all my affairs to God; indeed God is aware of His servants. (Quran 40:44)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-88802836114572749862018-10-24T13:58:00.001-07:002018-10-24T13:58:49.604-07:00China's pre-genocide of Uyghur Muslims<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was a wonderful start to Imran Khan’s ascent to premiership that the Dutch cartoon contest was cancelled. Appears Foreign Minister Qureshi was convincing in his dialogue with the Dutch and a crisis and killings were averted. This foreign policy winning streak is continuing, at least in some sensitive issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“China is treating Islam like a mental illness” is the title of an article in a recent issue of <i>The</i><i>Atlantic</i>. And the deeply nationalistic, hardline rule of President Xi Jinping looks at Islam like the diseases of depression or addiction. He has interned one million Uyghurs in internment camps, called “re-education camps” to “cleanse” the mind of Islam which is likened to an ideological illness, akin to a virus in their brain. Here they are brainwashed to praise the Communist Party, sing nationalistic songs all day, study President Xi’s vision of China, confess to and apologize for praying. They are also forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. For resistant subjects there is torture, solitary confinement and death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Qing Dynasty reasserted control of Xinjiang in the 19<sup>th</sup>century. Xinjiang, population ten million, is in northwest China and borders Pakistan’s Gilgit Baltistan to the south. The Uyghurs are Turkic people, linguistically, culturally and ethnically close to Central Asia, despite a long history of Chinese rule. In 1933 and again in 1944, ETIM or East Turkestan Islamic Movement, tried to secede and China responded ruthlessly. Chinese officials deny the existence of the internment camps, and have hinted at terrorist activity in Xinjiang, but there is no evidence of this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Many of the Han, the predominant Chinese group, have migrated to Xinjiang in another effort toward Sinification of Xinjiang. This Sinification was proceeding at a languid pace until a couple of years ago when Chen Quanguo arrived. Quanguo had created an intense surveillance system in Tibet from 2011-2016 and was so successful in crushing dissent there, that his system has been implemented in Xinjiang. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is this century’s new Gulag. And is considered pre-genocidal. Reminiscent of the Rohingya genocide by Myanmar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Teachers ask children to spy on parents and report their praying or reading the Quran, neighbors spy on neighbors, the entire population is monitored through GPS technology and DNA-sampled. Men are sent to internment camps, and satellite images show expansion of the internment camps, and in some villages men cannot be seen, only women and children. There are ghost towns where no one talks to others. Women are sent to internment camps also. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ramadan is banned, no beards or veils can be publicly visible, passports have to be surrendered and saying salam-alaikum can send you to an internment camp. Qurans have been burned and mosques have been closed down. Factories and hospitals are converted into re-education camps. When they come a black hood is placed over the head, and in the internment camps prison uniforms, shaved heads and political indoctrination begin. Baths are rare and washing of hands and feet is not allowed, as it resembles ablution. If the prisoners comply they are released, if they do not, insanity or death await. Those who have left the internment camps and then China itself have told the same story of conditions in Xinjiang. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Assimilation into the Chinese mold takes the form of internment camps and orphanages, both of which are overflowing. Communistically called “child welfare guidance centers” these massive orphanages house Uyghur children separated from their parents, where they are locked up like farm animals in a shed. Sinification of these children, needless to say, is easy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uyghur Council said: “the real intent is to eliminate Uyghurs as a distinct ethnic group”. Turkey and Malaysia have protested but the most vocal protest has been from the most unlikely places: US Vice-President Mike Pence called on the Chinese government to release the one million prisoners that it is holding in re-education camps for political indoctrination and denunciation of religious beliefs. US Senator Marco Rubio and American UN representative Nikki Haley have been similarly excoriating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">China has arrested 50 Uyghur women married to Pakistani men in Gilgit-Baltistan. And Pakistan has done nothing in response. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #121212; font-size: 12pt;">Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, recently said that strict regulations and laws fuel rather than counter extremism. To promote religious harmony, China should exercise patience, the minister told China’s ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing. He also suggested that a delegation of Pakistani scholars should visit Xinjiang to help. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Canceling the Dutch cartoon contest was important, and kudos to Religious Affairs Minister Qadri for protesting to China. Seems Pakistan is trying to be the voice of the Muslim world. These efforts are a good start but have not continued with the war in Yemen. More on that travesty another day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-50763270829052206382018-10-09T22:37:00.001-07:002018-10-09T22:37:28.350-07:00Mindsets, Mercy and the Qatra effect<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We might be witnessing a tectonic shift in Pakistan’s socio-politics. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to the nation was so ambitious that some think he has promised the nation the moon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In individual lives and those of nations, idealism is a good thing, particularly when it is backed up with a solid action plan. In goal setting you shoot for the stars, and settle for an average or slightly above average result. Cynicism and supercilious criticism only perpetuate the status quo. And if there is one nation on earth that cannot survive the status quo it is Pakistan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Imran Khan had an exhaustive list and dealt with education to agriculture, corruption to climate change. His reading glasses are testimony to the fact that he had a thought out plan of action for each item. As an aside, I must say, that his reading glasses have to go. During his oath taking, it was hugely awkward to see him flip out his sherwani and dig out his glasses. He needs a quick visit to an ophthalmologist who will fix him up with trifocals so when he talks and then reads, he doesn’t have to go from handsome to grandma; he would just keep the trifocals on and rest his arm from the back and forth, and sport a scholarly look all at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The changes that Imran Khan lists are only possible with a change of mindset. Seventy-one years of explosive population growth, an imploding economy topped with baffling corruption has served to fashion the Pakistani psyche. Time was that the middle class, the classic perpetuators of morality, maintained integrity and faced adversity with the rules they grew up with. But who can live on love and fresh air? Especially over the last thirty years or so, you see survival of the fittest on full display. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first brush with corruption was in 1982 when the clerk in Dow Medical College’s office demanded money for release of my mark sheet. But 2016 will go down in my family’s history as giving all of us PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. My mother, my daughter and I had traveled to Karachi so that Ammi could collect my late father’s pension. In current day Pakistan, your two options to get anything done are doling out money or applying influence. Those government servants know how to break you. I chose influence application to greasing palms. And my distress was worsened at the plight of the many desperate faces roaming those halls that didn’t have the connections I did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The trend <b><i><u>is</u></i></b>set at the top. Everything, small or substantial, matters. To his credit Imran Khan knows this. His ill-fitting sherwani caused a buzz on social media and it seems a regular tailor stitched it. Brave to wear a Peshawari chappal at his inauguration. Wearing that chappal, Imran Khan gives many messages; he is thumbing his nose at Western culture, showing pride in our own and underscoring simplicity. When there is no fear of retribution and the Whistleblower Law comes into effect, there will be a nationwide movement to self-correct. Or else get turned in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That Islam insists on honesty and principles becomes an empty lecture when leaders drive away in bullet and bombproof Mercedes and BMWs, not one but fifteen at a time, into mansions with 500 servants and food to feed a squadron. A three-bedroom home with two cars is a great start! Changing that mindset that has been groomed and nurtured for decades is the challenge. Except for the elite one senses a national enough-is-enough frustration. How and why is life so difficult at every step from the time one gets up till the day is done? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is in fact a danger of the pendulum swinging the other way and the elite and corrupt getting street justice. Imran Khan assiduously avoided vengeance. And it is important to maintain this. A mindset change has to happen but it must be modulated to achieve results and not revenge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was very touched by his repeat explanation of creating <i>rahm </i>or mercy in our hearts. One really notices its absence in Pakistan. How do people live with themselves spending millions of rupees on a wedding outfit and the many wedding functions, when all around them are starving children begging on the streets? Mercy has been squashed out of our hearts and we’re blind to the misery around us. I was looking through clothes at a boutique on M. M. Alam Road in Lahore in July 2013; most of the outfits were Rs. 25,000 and above. The power went out and the generator quickly hummed in. Under his breath the salesman said that the power outage didn’t matter to him for his six children sweated in the day and studied by candlelight at night. I asked him how much he made and he said Rs. 25,000 a month. I left the store and cursed our nation’s inequity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Qatra qatra darya ban jaata hai</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-drops coalesce to form a river. The cost of the Bhasha Dam is estimated to be Rs. 1450 billion. The small Rs. 10 SMS donation created by the Supreme Court, and then larger donations from Pakistanis and Overseas Pakistanis, can be the drops that can easily coalesce to give us the dam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of us, within and outside Pakistan should do at least one thing to change things. Plant a tree, clean your street, educate a child; the opportunities are limitless. Imran Khan has great minds in his cabinet and advisers. In five years if we achieve even half of his “lofty” goals, we will easily see Naya Pakistan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-8702394240131828252018-08-14T19:17:00.000-07:002018-08-14T19:17:02.727-07:00Pakistanis bailing out Pakistan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Any ray of hope for Pakistan seems quickly clouded by its dire financial straits. Not handled wisely the State Bank of Pakistan’s minuscule reserve of $9billion can pose an existential threat for Pakistan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In May of 2018 the State Bank of Pakistan’s external debt was $91.8 billion, a whopping 50% increase over the last four years. Servicing this debt keeps us in the rewind and repeat cycle. An urgent and multipronged approach will be needed to yank Pakistan out of this quagmire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In his somber and statesmanlike speech after the July 25 election, Imran Khan called overseas Pakistanis “our biggest asset”. Harnessing the financial power of overseas Pakistanis might be a very effective part of the urgently needed multipronged strategy to heal Pakistan’s financial crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is something mysterious and magical about love for Pakistan. My American born children don’t understand it. You’ve got to feel it to know that there is a lot you would do for Pakistan. Many expatriate Pakistanis, like me, are deeply grateful to Pakistan for making us all that we are today. I can never completely repay Pakistan, Civil Hospital Karachi and Dow Medical College for making me a physician, essentially for free. In its time of desperate need, Pakistan should capitalize on this love-guilt-debt emotion that numerous expatriate Pakistanis feel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I came to the United States for residency training with plans to return on its completion. When the time came to return, there was a spate of killing of Shia doctors in Pakistan. My former husband is Shia and we thought it wise to not endanger the family. Till today I remember how I wilted inside. And, outside, dropped roots that ensured that returning would not happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">According to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, there are 7.6 million Pakistanis who live abroad. In 2017 they sent remittances to Pakistan totaling $20 billion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Political commentators Rauf Klasra and Amir Mateen have come up with a brilliant idea that can Band-Aid Pakistan, at least for the present. Each overseas Pakistani is urged to transfer $1000 to their families’ or their own accounts in Pakistan, with instructions to not draw it for at least one month. Considering 7.6 million overseas Pakistanis are members of families, if we were to take one third of the 7.6 million and persuade them to send $1000, it amounts to over $2 billion. This could go toward debt servicing, so the chasing-our-tail phenomenon with regard to the external debt stops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition to the average expatriate Pakistani, there are the billionaires. Like Pakistani-American Shahid Khan who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars an American professional football team, as well as the Fulham Club a British football team and an automotive company. His net worth is $8.5 billion. British-Pakistani Anwer Pervez is owner of Bestway and United Bank and has a net worth of $3.8billion. Pakistani-American Ashar Aziz is owner of FireEye, a cyber security company, and has a net worth of $1billion among many other very wealthy overseas Pakistanis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Omar Aziz, the future finance minister of Pakistan, has not ruled out any measures to deal with Pakistan’s debt, including reaching out to the IMF. Perhaps reaching out to overseas Pakistani billionaires and multimillionaires to donate to reduce Pakistan’s debt, or lend money at no interest, is doable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis ought to create two departments; one called “Donation for Debt Reduction” and another called “Loans for Business Development”. Legal framework should be created quickly to protect the overseas donor and lender. If overseas Pakistanis are assured that their donations or their loans will be assiduously protected and channeled appropriately, we just might have an ongoing stream of money that will bolster Pakistan quickly and effectively. The loans for business development should be based on the micro-financing concept of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Low interest or interest-free loans to families to start businesses will reduce unemployment and raise people out of the poverty that Imran Khan spoke of repeatedly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“There’s a tide in the affairs of men, which when taken at its flood leads onto fortune” said Shakespeare. There is a Naya Pakistan fervor in Pakistan and among expatriate Pakistanis; we should pivot quickly to capitalize on this. That magical love for Pakistan is at its peak, full of hope and yearning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is little that we overseas Pakistanis want in return. The right to vote in Pakistan’s election-not traveling to Pakistan-but where we live and in a Pakistan embassy or consulate. Eliminating red tape, politics and competitiveness when we try to bring our talent to Pakistan. We don’t want to usurp jobs, we just want to help, for instance in creating addiction centers, with the latest technology, to combat Pakistan’s drug epidemic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finger pointing is now pretty pointless. We can all take the responsibility to redress the havoc wreaked by past misgovernance. Instead of international banks or the Chinese always bailing out Pakistan, the average, wealthy or super-wealthy overseas Pakistani could really help. Our guilt will be assuaged and our hopes realized. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-19858326384114576702017-10-30T19:06:00.000-07:002017-10-30T19:06:02.287-07:00Treatment choices in opioid addiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">TREATMENT CHOICES IN OPIOID ADDICTION<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Mahjabeen Islam MD FAAFP FASAM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">More than 50,000 people die of opioid overdoses every year and now
more people are killed by opioids than traffic accidents or guns. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">All of us know someone with the disease of opioid addiction and
everyday we either personally deal with the devastation that opioids cause, or
read or hear about it. Opioids are taking lives the way that the AIDS epidemic
did when it was at its peak in the 1980s and early 1990s. We were able to
control the AIDS epidemic and if the government, the health care system, law
enforcement and actually each and every one of us decides that we are going to
defeat this epidemic, we will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">First things
first: it’s a chronic disease<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of people think that
opioid addiction is a weakness, a personal failure or a character flaw. Society
and people like to feel stronger by making others feel weak. But we know from
medical research that opioid use disorder is a chronic disease, much like
diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. And like these diseases it has no
cure, the same relapse rates, and, if you want to follow it, excellent and
successful treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If you take diabetes as an example you know that some people have
a “touch of sugar” and others are insulin dependent diabetics. In mild
diabetes, some patients only need to watch their diet and exercise regularly,
others take pills to lower their blood sugar, and some have to inject high
doses of insulin every day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So everyone who is prescribed or tries an opioid doesn’t get
addicted. We have receptors in our brains called mu receptors, which opioids
latch onto and we experience an opioid high. Everyone’s brain is different and
many factors like our genes, the age at which drugs are tried, the dose used,
the potency of the drug, whether it is eaten or injected, our social and family
condition, our psychiatric issues all control the mu receptor and whether we
don’t get a high, get a bit of a high or a very intense one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Before determining the right treatment for opioid use disorder it
is vital to understand that this is a chronic disease. If you don’t understand
and accept this, treatment is probably not going to work for you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There ain’t
no motivation pill<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For any treatment to be successful the patient has to be
motivated. Families, courts, jobs or a society pushing a person to get sober
doesn’t work. The motivation has to come from within the person. I like to tell
patients that I don’t have the motivation pill, and if I did, my face would be
on the cover of Time magazine!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Patients who have been through treatment multiple times know that
that the times it worked, they had been motivated themselves. The times it
didn’t they were either half-hearted or had been pushed by other people or
factors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As physicians we try to give the best treatment we can for the
patient, but we are not always able to judge the strength of a patients
motivation and dedication toward recovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is very easy to see through the patient who is half hearted and
trying to dupe the system. Because of the large number of people that need
treatment, we have no patience, or room, for people that are either not ready
for recovery, or are trying to use the system, or both. We want to save the
life of someone who really wants sobriety, not play games with patients. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Counseling
is essential/Customizing treatment to each patient<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">With every kind of treatment, patients are more successful with
sobriety when they go through group and individual counseling. These sessions
help the patient understand what started their addiction, what their relapse
triggers are, what to do in case of a crisis, the importance of sober support
and getting back to school or work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How often a patient should get counseling has not been scientifically
established; all we know is that counseling helps a lot with recovery. We
assess each patient and try to determine how severe their addiction is, as well
as their family and social situation, and come up with an individualized
service plan to best help the patient. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Some patients do well with once a week group therapy, while others
have to start with three to five times a week counseling sessions. Yet others
need to be in an inpatient facility or in residential treatment. It is
important to customize or tailor the treatment to each patient instead of
adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Treatment
choices<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Abstinence-based treatment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Methadone maintenance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Buprenorphine-naloxone: Suboxone,
Zubsolv, Bunavail<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone pill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone injection: Vivitrol<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Abstinence-based
treatment: you’re kinda on your own<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The phrase “cold-turkey” comes from opioid withdrawal because when
opioids are stopped suddenly the person feels cold, has goose bumps, sweating,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, anxiety, irritability and muscle and bone
pain. While the patient may feel that they are going to die; opioid withdrawal
does not kill and usually after two to five days, the severe withdrawal
symptoms go away and the patient may just be left with some cravings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the old days, all we could do was help patients through the
withdrawal with medications like Zofran for nausea/vomiting, Imodium for
diarrhea, Motrin for pain, Flexeril for muscle pain and clonidine for cravings.
And we counseled patients and hoped for the best. This form of treatment
doesn’t work well for all patients, in fact only a minority maintains sobriety
with this and relapse rates are high. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It remains a choice for those patients who don’t want any
medication-assisted treatment and there are patients that maintain long-term
sobriety with this and counseling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Methadone
maintenance: the original treatment<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Methadone is a long-acting opioid and in the 1970s methadone
clinics started in cities across the United States. The government tightly
regulates methadone clinics because methadone is a very powerful, long acting
and dangerous opioid and can kill easily. In a methadone clinic a physician
evaluates the patient, and calculates their methadone dose, mainly based on
their opioid use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The patient drinks
liquid methadone in the presence of a nurse and has to come every day to take
the liquid methadone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Advantages </span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">of methadone maintenance:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Potent opioid; takes away all
opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Proven to reduce opioid overdose
death rates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Very close monitoring of patient,
so is good for complicated patients who have used high dose opioids for a long
time with little sobriety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Disadvantages </span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">of methadone
maintenance:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Daily visits to clinic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Difficult to hold down a job or
go to school. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Unfortunately very high methadone
doses are typically used. Some patients are therefore high on methadone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Difficult to wean off as
withdrawal from methadone is particularly severe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Buprenorphine-naloxone:
Suboxone, Zubsolv, Bunavail<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(For ease of understanding I will be using Suboxone to represent
buprenorphine-naloxone)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Active ingredient is buprenorphine and not naloxone</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A lot of people think that Suboxone works because it has the
opioid blocker, naloxone, in it. This is not true. Suboxone, Zubsolv and
Bunavail’s active ingredient is buprenorphine, which is an opioid.
Buprenorphine is not a powerful opioid and has just enough of an effect on the
mu receptor to treat withdrawal symptoms and take the craving for opioids away.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When Suboxone is used under the tongue, the buprenorphine is
absorbed and becomes active. The naloxone does not work when it is taken under
the tongue. Naloxone only becomes active when it is injected and if Suboxone is
liquefied and injected the naloxone in the Suboxone places a patient in
immediate and severe withdrawal. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">So the
reason that naloxone is placed in Suboxone is to prevent patients from
liquefying Suboxone and injecting it. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A great medication</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Buprenorphine-naloxone is a great medication and has been
successful in turning millions of lives around. Eight to sixteen milligrams per
day is a common dose. The lowest dose should be used which keeps the patient’s
withdrawal symptoms away, especially the cravings. At sixteen milligrams the mu
receptors are saturated and when a higher dose is given it is only the bad side
effects that the patient notices, not necessarily an improvement in cravings or
withdrawal symptoms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Stages of treatment</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 38.75pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Induction<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 38.75pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Stabilization<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 38.75pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Maintenance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 38.75pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Weaning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Induction:</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> This is the first stage. The patient is requested to present in
opioid withdrawal so the Suboxone can be started immediately. The lowest
possible dose of Suboxone that will take care of withdrawal is given to the
patient and they are rechecked in two to three days. If the urine drug screen
in the next visit is negative, and a dose increase is requested, we do raise
the dose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Stabilization</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: in the next few visits we focus on stabilizing the Suboxone
dose. Sometimes the dose is too much and the patient feels that they are
nodding during the day, and thus the dose is reduced. Others feel that the dose
is insufficient. If the urine drug screen is negative and the patient is
compliant with counseling, the Suboxone dose is increased. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Maintenance</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This is the phase when the patient is comfortable with their dose
and typically is the longest of all the phases of buprenorphine treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Weaning</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Depending on the dose of Suboxone that the patient is on, it can
take one to four months for a patient to be weaned off Suboxone completely. The
dose of Suboxone is lowered very gradually and the patient advised that they
will feel opioid withdrawal symptoms for two to five days, and after that, they
are pretty much fine. Essentially all patients realize that they had been
unnecessarily nervous about dose reduction, and indeed they felt a little achy
and have a bit of insomnia for a couple days, but that after that they were
fine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Duration of treatment</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This is different for different people and we try to customize the
treatment to each patient. Some patients are on Suboxone for a few months, some
for a few years and others indefinitely. Just like they had with their choice
of opioid, patients get very attached to Suboxone and some become very
resistant to dose reduction. Patients want to reduce their doses by one-quarter
films and I reassure them that, just the way they had gotten attached to their
drug, they have now latched on to Suboxone and we reduce the dose by half a
film, or four milligrams, every two to four weeks (when the patient is on eight
to sixteen milligrams of Suboxone). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Side effects</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Suboxone can cause drowsiness, constipation, weight gain and leg
swelling. And of course dependence as it is an opioid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How long Suboxone?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Research does not guide us regarding the duration of treatment
with Suboxone. To best treat patients I have divided patients into three
categories with regard to duration of Suboxone use:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo5; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Short term treatment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo5; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Medium term treatment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo5; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Long-term or indefinite treatment<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Short-term treatment</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The patient is on Suboxone for a few weeks and is rapidly weaned
to zero and placed on naltrexone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Medium-term treatment</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This treatment is for one to two years and ideally
I prefer the dose of Suboxone to be eight milligrams or below. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Long-term or indefinite treatment</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I reserve this for patients who have
concurrent psychiatric illnesses, such as not well- controlled bipolar disease
or schizophrenia. If treatment is going to be indefinite, I prefer the dose to
be eight milligrams or less. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We try to use the lowest Suboxone dose
possible, as patients themselves realize they do not need more than eight
milligrams and some then decide to sell or share it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Switched one addiction with
another”</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">People unfamiliar with current research,
those stuck in the abstinence-based model and fans of the 12-step program,
claim that treatment with Suboxone is switching heroin for Suboxone, an illegal
drug with a legal one. This is entirely untrue. And a typical attempt to make
oneself look good and the opioid addicted patient feel bad. We have research
that shows that Suboxone has a healing effect on the brain and is an excellent
bridge from opioid addiction to a life of sobriety. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone pill and injection (Vivitrol)<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone is a long-acting opioid antagonist
and it was initially FDA approved in 2006 for the treatment of alcohol use
disorder. In 2010 it was approved for opioid use disorder. Unlike Suboxone,
naltrexone does not have an opioid in it and can be prescribed by any
physician. To prescribe Suboxone a physician has to be specially trained in
prescribing it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Suboxone and methadone have a lot of research
data proving their great outcomes in maintaining sobriety, and reduction in
opioid overdoses. Studies show that naltrexone works well in patients who are
very committed toward their sobriety. In maintaining sobriety and preventing
opioid overdoses, Suboxone and methadone are far superior to naltrexone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Some patients don’t want to be on an opioid
like Suboxone and this is understandable. But it is important to remember that
comparing Suboxone to the naltrexone pill or the shot, Vivitrol, is like
comparing apples to oranges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Certain professions like pilots or truck
driving do not allow Suboxone and in that situation naltrexone is a good
choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone cannot be given when an opioid is
present in the system, as it will immediately put the patient in severe
withdrawal. Naltrexone is started either at the start of addiction treatment or
after Suboxone has been weaned down to zero. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltreone pill</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The naltrexone pill is prescribed at 50mg
daily and is inexpensive and approved by essentially all insurance companies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone injection/Vivitrol</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Vivitrol is a monthly injection and lately
has been heavily promoted by its manufacturer Alkermes and its use is
skyrocketing across the United States. It costs about $1200 per injection and
380 milligrams is injected once a month intramuscularly. Several court systems
across the country are also concentrating on Vivitrol. It is important to
understand that both the naltrexone pill and the Vivitrol injection work, the
only difference being that the pill can be stopped by the patient but once the
Vivitrol is injected it obviously cannot be removed, and its effects last one
month. And even though use of an opioid while on Vivitrol will place the
patient in withdrawal, patients have been known to relapse while on Vivtrol.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The intense marketing of Vivitrol has led to
its indiscriminate prescribing by physicians and its recommendation by the
justice system and this is placing a terrible burden on our health care system.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Vivitrol
is not a cure-all and the naltrexone pill is just as good as the injection. <o:p></o:p></u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Side effects of naltrexone</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The main side effects of naltrexone, both
oral and injection, are fatigue, headache and nausea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So what should you do?<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I’ll list out some options of what you can do
when you enter a program:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Option 1</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If the patient has not used
opioids for at least three days and the urine drug screen is negative the naltrexone
pill can be started. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If opioids are present in the
urine, a return appointment can be made after three days and naltrexone can be
started then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Naltrexone pill can be continued
indefinitely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If taking the pill everyday is a
problem and the insurance company covers Vivitrol, it can be tried. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Option 2</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Start on Suboxone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In return visits try to stay on
the lowest dose of Suboxone that takes care of opioid withdrawal and cravings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After four to six months of
treatment, start weaning process to zero. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After Suboxone has not been taken
for one week and the urine drug screen is negative for it, naltrexone can be
started. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Option 3</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Start on Suboxone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Have regular discussions with
your doctor about the duration of treatment and if it is mutually decided that
you need to stay on Suboxone indefinitely, make sure you are on the lowest dose
that would control opioid cravings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Option 4</span></u><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Go through opioid withdrawal and
go with abstinence-based therapy. Meaning no Suboxone and no naltrexone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am not in favor of this option
as the patient is unprotected in dealing with a disease and because oral
naltrexone is cheap and effective in the motivated patient. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The lives of millions of opioid addicted
patients have been transformed after their entry into programs that treat
opioid use disorder. And being the instrument of such a massive change in
people’s lives has been, by far, the most humbling and gratifying experience in
my life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Dr. Islam is medical director of UMADAOP of Lucas County and is
board-certified in Addiction and Family Medicine. She has over twenty-five
years experience in Addiction Medicine and has worked in all phases of
treatment, from inpatient to intensive outpatient, residential and ambulatory
treatment. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>This article was originally published in the UMADAOP magazine in October 2017</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-70680325528987696362017-09-02T08:05:00.000-07:002017-09-02T08:05:05.010-07:00Trump and Nawaz Sharif parallels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b><i>What the media in the West does not realize is
that in Pakistan the fox is guarding the henhouse. </i></b></span><!--EndFragment--><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Democracy and corruption are supposed to be inversely related. The
transparency inherent in a democratic system reduces the perpetuation of
corruption. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Immediately upon Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification by the Supreme
Court, mainstream Western media, almost uniformly, condemned his ouster calling
it an attack on Pakistan’s democracy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate
the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia and the handling of Nawaz Sharif by
the Joint Investigative Taskforce provide interesting parallels at many levels.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">On May 9, 2017 Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey,
apparently after Comey refused to end the criminal investigation into the Trump
campaign’s collusion with Russia. Trump demanded Comey’s loyalty but Comey
would only promise honesty. On May 17, 2017 the Justice Department appointed
Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the Trump campaign’s collusion
with Russia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">On April 4, 2014 the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalism published the Panama Papers, exposing tax evasion by the world’s
elite through offshore accounts and shell companies. Nawaz Sharif and his family
were also named. Nawaz Sharif denied wrongdoing and set up a judicial committee
to investigate the charges. Opposition parties rejected the judicial commission
and on November 1, 2016 the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. On April 20,
2017 in a split 3-2 verdict the Supreme Court ordered the formation of the JIT.
The PML-N labeled this a victory and Nawaz Sharif and Saad Rafiq promised to
abide by the decision of the JIT. Sweet celebrations followed, as did PML-N
exerting pressure on the JIT. The intimidation and pressure on the JIT became
so intense that ex-CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry demanded security of the JIT, the
Supreme Court justices and their families. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">On July 28, 2017 in a stunning unanimous verdict the Supreme Court
disqualified Nawaz Sharif and despite his promise to abide by the JIT decision,
Nawaz Sharif left kicking and screaming. And will now face contempt of court charges
for thumbing his nose at the Supreme Court and continuing as PML-N party chair.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Trump-Sharif parallels continue. Trump calls the investigation
a witch-hunt and Sharif cries hoarse-literally-about not knowing why the
Supreme Court disqualified him. Goebbels, Hitler’s information minister,
employed the same tactics: repeat an untruth ad infinitum to the point that you
yourself believe it to be true. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Journalist Adam Davidson has published an article for the August
21 edition of the New Yorker in which he traces Trump’s business association
with Kazakhstan banker Mukhtar Ablyazov who was indicted in 2009 of £3 billion
bank fraud as chairman of BTA bank. In 2005 Ablyazov gave loans to shell
companies in neighboring Georgia through the Silk Road Group. In 2012 then
property developer Trump was paid $1 million for opening the Trump Tower
Batoumi seaside resort in Georgia. A simple Google search at the time would
have revealed the extensive money laundering and fraud connected with the Silk
Road Group and BTA Bank, but this was not done. Now, though, charges can be
filed against Trump under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for an American
associating with fraudulent individuals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Worse yet for Trump the Kazakh and Russian governments have huge
dossiers about people, local and foreign, with the ability to easily blackmail
them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">On the Pakistan front, there are reports of cronyism by the Sharif
family in CPEC contracts. Additionally, the Prime Minister of Pakistan had a
work permit, and consequent bank accounts, as a resident of the UAE. Much like
the money laundering by Mukhtar Ablyazov, bank accounts in a foreign country
make tracing the money trail of devious business deals a great deal more
difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A plethora of individuals in the US government, legislative and
judicial branches have been indicted and punished for corruption. The only
difference between the Sharif ouster and the process in the US is that a Senate
panel decides governmental cases. So why was the Western media bemoaning Nawaz
Sharif’s fall? Like Pakistanis the world over, the media too was shocked at the
Supreme Court verdict. Everyone pretty much expects that the billion-dollar
corruption in Pakistan will never cease. Zardari’s ten percent commission,
MQM’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bhatta</i> system and Sharif’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lifafa</i> politics would continue unabated.
Though the military has not interfered with the democratic process, it is being
blamed for the ouster. Activist judges are being blamed as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What the media in the West does not realize is that in Pakistan
the fox is guarding the henhouse. Expecting Sharif’s judicial commission to be
impartial or for the JIT to present its report to the PML-N dominated Parliament
and expect an unbiased verdict would be the epitome of delusion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And who said democracy had been attacked in Pakistan? No martial
law was declared. Democracy in Pakistan remains as dysfunctional as it was in
the Nawaz Sharif premiership, with un-parliamentary displays of Sharif’s photo
in Parliament and use of taxpayer money for his travels down GT Road. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Trump is panicked because the Mueller investigation is getting
very close to what is now an obvious conclusion, further perpetuating the
Trump-Sharif parallel. And for a Pakistani-American it will indeed be double
the pleasure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-73370730052417381722017-08-05T22:58:00.001-07:002017-08-05T22:58:45.830-07:00Sickening Servility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Indeed you can take a Pakistani
out of Pakistan but you cannot take Pakistan out of him. The attachment, love
and allegiance to Pakistan are the wonderful side of this aphorism. The
servility and colonial mindset among a plethora of other things, is the
downside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The United Muslim Association of
Toledo does a great job of socio-political activism. The mayor, congressional
representatives and law enforcement officials in the city attend its annual
Ramadan iftar dinners. Commendably it is working on a Ramadan iftar to be held
at the city government level. This last time however, one of its office bearers
in typical hands folded, slightly leaning over stance repeated what is his
mantra in essentially all events: “thank you for protecting us and thank you
for letting us practice our religion”. My fasting hunger quickly turned to nausea
and I toyed with the idea of walking out but logistic, read food issues, and
not wanting to make a scene kept me there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We are the third wave of
immigration to the United States but we are as much citizens as the first
immigrants that docked here. <b><i>The right and freedom to practice our religion
does not come from the protection of the local sheriff, or the generosity and
indulgence of our neighbors, but the constitution of the United States.</i></b> When
the arson occurred at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in 2012, law
enforcement and the US Attorney’s office did a great job and we are very
appreciative. This must not be the narrative, all the time though, of, “thank
you, thank you, thank you”. They are after all doing their jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This obsequiousness arrogates to
us automatic second-class citizenship. And then we fret and fume that we are
being treated unfairly and there is so much Islamophobia around. A
Mahjabeenism: “the world treats you the way you make it treat you”. So lets
drop the servility and behave like the equal citizens that we are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">APPNA, Association of Physicians
of Pakistani-Descent of North America in its annual convention this July had a
Pakistani-American oil company owner as one of the keynote speakers. His
rags-to-riches story was touching until he gushed over his adoptive country,
belittled Pakistan and called us “Mozlims” and “Pack-istanis”, and not so
subtly accused Pakistani-Americans of not keeping a close enough eye on their
youth to ensure that they didn’t transform into terrorists. I’d paid a lot of
money for that event, and a real live comedian was to follow, so I again didn’t
leave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It isn’t just desi-Americans but
Arab-Americans as well who have this penchant for calling a white person an
American. If it is an African-American they are referring to, they will call them
black. But if you are desi and an American citizen for decades, you are still
Pakistani or Arab. In the minds of desi and Arab-Americans, Caucasians have
monopoly on being called American. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At the same APPNA convention I
attended a presentation on APPNA Free Clinics. The first two presentations were
very informative. The third presenter was a Muslim-American psychology Ph.D.,
invited to share his experience with setting up free clinics. At the inception
of his talk he asked the roughly 50-person audience the question that “if
something happens on the road, who is more likely to help the person, an
American or a Muslim?” Five or six people raised their hands to American and
the same to Muslim. I was so done by now. I hated to interrupt, I said, but
this comparison was invalid as Americans can be Muslim just as Muslims can be
American. Momentarily the presenter was embarrassed and admitted his mistake,
but proceeded in the same self-hating rant that he had come prepared with,
ignoring the interruption of the moderator to stay on point. I had reached the
end of my tether and this time did walk out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The classism of color and
socio-economic status rampant in Pakistan has taken root and proliferated among
Pakistani-Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The assimilation
spectrum goes all the way from left to right. The ultra-left with its
uncomfortable American twang, peppered with Mozlim and Pack-istani, has fully
adopted the larger American culture. The ultra-right live in Muslim ghettos,
either physical or virtual, and have zero interaction with their neighbors and
minimal with their co-workers. Though the majority lies between these two
extremes, it is still trying to find its niche and has many confused folk
within it. As though answering this angst, Azhar Azeez former president of
ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America, gave a succinct Juma khutba during
the APPNA convention. With the confidence that comes from control of the facts,
Azeez persuaded the congregants to be proud of being Muslim-American, relishing
our history and the lives of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b><i>To be treated equally and to be
taken seriously, Muslim-Americans must shed their cowed-down, ingratiated,
yes-man attitude. We have not rented American citizenship; we own it. </i></b>With all
its rights and responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Dr. Mahjabeen Islam practices addiction and family medicine in Toledo,
Ohio. Her email is </span></i><a href="mailto:mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-32907798273109899252016-01-17T11:34:00.001-08:002016-01-17T11:34:43.868-08:00Mahjabeen Islam Washington Post article on Hajj<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Washington Post</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Saudi Arabia-and the world-must take steps to make hajj safer for Muslims</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">By Mahjabeen Islam</span></b><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;"> </span><span style="color: #9a9a9a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">January 1 2016</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">Mahjabeen Islam is former president of the
Islamic Center of Greater Toledo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">It has become clear that <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/hajj-stampede-death-toll-rises-to-2177-a6700971.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">thousands</span></a>
of hajj pilgrims died Sept. 24 in Mina, Saudi Arabia, but the Saudi government
is sticking to its story of 769 fatalities — the number released two days after
the disaster. The combined numbers reported by various Muslim governments far
surpass this total — Iran alone reported more than <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/world/middleeast/death-toll-from-hajj-stampede.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">460 deaths</span></a>
— and counts made by the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse news
agencies exceed 2,000, with hundreds more unaccounted for. Less than a week
after the tragedy, the Saudi vice minister of health stated that the death toll
had reached <a href="http://217.218.67.231/Detail/2015/09/29/431233/Saudi-Hajj-Mecca-Mina-"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">4,173</span></a>,
but the figure was later retracted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">An inquiry was promised, but the prognosis for
a speedy and fair investigation is poor. Transparency and accountability are
not Saudi strong suits. Still, more than enough is known to draw one important
conclusion: Muslims planning to take part in the annual five-day pilgrimage to
Mecca should be aware that until better crowd-control measures are put in place,
they will be putting their lives at risk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">The hajj is a journey of a lifetime for Muslims
and a transformative experience for many people. I, too, had some dramatic
experiences during my one hajj and two umrahs (minor pilgrimages), and I
treasure those memories. But I wouldn’t go again. Saudi arrogance and hostility
toward visitors, especially women, are too great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">Poor preparations of the pilgrims, along with a
language barrier, are significant problems. Far too many of the Saudi <a href="https://www.saudiembassy.net/files/PDF/Publications/Magazine/1996-Summer/boyscout.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">boy scouts</span></a>
and soldiers who monitor and guide pilgrims speak only Arabic, so the majority
of pilgrims from the Muslim world are out of luck. Travel agencies in the various
countries are supposed to guide their clients through the steps of the hajj.
But a handful of people cannot accompany hundreds each step of the way. And
instructions can be misunderstood or forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">During my hajj in 2004, we had been repeatedly
admonished to avoid attempting to retrieve lost sandals during the stoning of
the devil, or Jamarat, ritual, but I saw my friend do exactly that. She was
being swallowed up by a vortex of people, and we extricated her just in time
from a deadly crush. The <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/02/hajj.stampede/"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">death toll</span></a>
was more than 240, and the moment is forever stamped in my memory. Two years
later, during the same ritual, 345 people were killed in a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4606002.stm"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">similar stampede</span></a>.
Afterward, international outrage forced the Saudis to reconstruct the entrance
and exit to the area, and there were no more incidents. Until September’s
catastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">What’s known about what happened is that a
panic broke out on narrow streets near the entrance to the Jamarat site, about
three miles from Mecca, but reports have been contradictory. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/world/middleeast/mecca-stampede.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Iran</span></a>
and many other countries blamed Saudi mismanagement. The Lebanon-based
newspaper Ad-Diyar, citing witnesses, reported that a convoy escorting Prince
Mohammed bin Salman played a role in the incident by making some pilgrims turn
against the flow of the crowd. Saudi authorities denied this report and instead
blamed pilgrims for not following instructions. Other witnesses said closed
exits touched off the panic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">It’s clear that some simple, workable steps
need to be taken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">The administration of the hajj should be a
fully international effort. All Muslim countries should send a large contingent
of guides to Saudi Arabia months in advance. These guides should receive ground
training at each of the sites where the hajj rituals occur, especially with
regard to crowd control. During the hajj, they could then be stationed at
important locations wearing colored jackets denoting the country they represent
or the language they speak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">Each Muslim country should be responsible for
training its pilgrims. A training course on hajj rituals and crowd
responsibility should be created by Saudi Arabia and translated into the
various necessary languages. Formal hajj training sites should be established
in all countries with significant Muslim populations, and a hajj visa should be
issued only if a certificate of training is attached to the passport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">The hajj is a pillar of Islam and must be
completed once in our lives. But why would any Muslims make the pilgrimage
knowing that they risk injury or death? Muslims will not announce that they are
boycotting the hajj, for that seems blasphemous and could invite retribution.
But as parents and breadwinners with responsibilities to their families, they
simply will refrain from making travel plans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">The Saudis have a strong incentive to act. It
would be naive for them to think that Muslims won’t think twice before making
the hajj until definite, credible arrangements are made to ensure their safety.
According to the <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2012/11/saudi-arabias-pilgrimage-season-economic-gains-and-unharvested-potential.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Al-Hayat
newspaper,</span></a> Saudi Arabia received $16.5 billion from Muslim
pilgrimages in hajj in 2012. Saudi Arabia’s main source of revenue is oil.
Falling oil prices have contributed to a Saudi budget deficit of <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015-12-28/saudi-arabia-projects-87b-deficit-amid-low-oil-prices"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">$98 billion</span></a>
this year, with a projected shortfall next year of $87 billion. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-arabia-cant-find-its-way-out-of-yemens-messy-war/2015/11/12/4d70ce26-84e1-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Saudi
intervention</span></a> in Yemen is costly. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-power-struggle-between-king-salman-and-mohammed-bin-salman-could-bring-down-the-a6706801.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Discontent in
the royal family</span></a> and rumors of a possible palace coup have been
reported. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-saudi-arabia-unemployment-and-booming-population-drive-growing-poverty/2012/12/02/458e648c-3987-11e2-a263-f0ebffed2f15_story.html"><span style="color: #24598b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">High
unemployment</span></a> remains a problem. And now a horrific tragedy has
struck the hajj. Riyadh can no longer afford complacency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">Muslim countries and Saudi Arabia badly need to
conduct a transparent inquiry into the cause of September’s hajj crowd collapse
and make swift arrangements for a detailed, international orchestration of hajj
for the future. The survival of pilgrims is not all that is at stake. The Saudi
monarchy may be as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/saudi-arabias-deadly-pilgrimages/2016/01/01/593f66a6-b00e-11e5-b711-1998289ffcea_story.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-12046749928822598602016-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:002016-01-17T11:21:03.620-08:00APPNA A Financial Powerhouse With a Mission<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Written June 20, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">APPNA was founded as a professional organization but has morphed
into more than that, most of it unintended, reminiscent somewhat of a
rudderless ship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Along the way, and in some areas, we have achieved a great deal.
From a few hundred members we now are in the thousands. But our potential is
huge and largely untapped. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At the risk of dating myself I will report that time was that when
you rounded at a hospital, you were pretty much the only Pakistani/Muslim on at
least five floors of the hospital. Now, rounding on even one patient has you
run into at least four Muslim doctors, half of them Pakistani. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Many mornings I awaken to National Public Radio talking about a particular
medical subject and many a time the physicians interviewed are
Pakistani-American. How do I know? Some names are unequivocally Pakistani, even
if some accents are second-generation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Many Pakistani-American physicians are not APPNA members. While it
is great fun to see friends at the summer meeting and enjoy the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mushaira</i>, the banquet and lately
Pakistan Day celebrations, we need to change the culture of APPNA and make it
relevant and attractive to more physicians. It is estimated that there are more
than 15,000 physicians of Pakistani descent practicing in the United States;
APPNA’s membership usually stays at around 3000. So less than a third of
Pakistani-American physicians are APPNA members. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There may be efforts within APPNA to increase its membership, I
just don’t know of them nor see the same old figure of 3000 members increasing.
APPNA has a reputation of being the bhangra-Bentley-boasting club and while
that holds appeal to a certain segment of Pakistani-American physicians, it has
gotten old very quickly to very many.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Perhaps if we change APPNA’s course just a bit, we can achieve
much at many levels. If APPNA can become a professional organization
concentrating on medical issues and charitable projects here in the United
States we can get our Pakistani-American colleagues to jump on our bandwagon.
And celebrate the fraternity and commonality of purpose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">APPNA clinics all across the nation, catering to the poor and
uninsured, would create a legacy that numerous physicians would want to be a
part of. Some free clinics in the United States, run by Pakistani-American
physicians are superbly organized and with creation of a business plan, these
clinics can be templated and exported to many US cities. With the broad
spectrum of physician specialties among Pakistani-American physicians, staffing
these clinics should not be a problem. A core of primary care with specialty
representation and small pharmacies within the clinics is a totally viable
model. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">APPNA homeless shelters dotting the nation are another project we
can create, sponsor and run. APPNA women’s shelters for victims of violence can
be easily planned as well. With retiring Pakistani-American physicians, APPNA
senior living communities should be actively worked on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am a first-generation Pakistani-American and one of those whose
hearts are stuck in Pakistan, and who cry and bleed in sync with it. We are
however not as effective in Pakistan as we are and must be here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I have proposed the Qatra Fund before, based on the saying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">qatra qatra dary ban jaata hai:</i> drops
coalesce to form a river. If all 3000 APPNA members contributed $100 per month
to APPNA we would have $3.6 million every year. Dinner at a fancy restaurant
for a family of four easily costs $100. And the wonderful foodies that we are,
we eat out more than once a month. So the $100 is entirely affordable. If not
all the membership and just half contributed $100 to the Qatra Fund, we would
have $1.8 million every year. And the millions are cumulative through the
years. And with our American projects we would attract more physician members
as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I have talked to many presidential candidates over the years about
this. Some don’t get it. Others want to but while you can see the wheels
turning, you hear “it’s really difficult, people don’t even want to pay annual
membership”. Which may well be true, we are, after all, a people that have
fought over <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mithai</i> at annual
banquets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We need to vote in executive committee members that want to
eliminate the status quo and then help them start and sustain the arduous, but
achievable, process of making APPNA a financial powerhouse. And a remarkable,
relevant and revered organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">xxx<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-86297068692247975082015-01-25T22:55:00.000-08:002015-01-25T22:55:37.067-08:00Rigidity of the two extremes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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class="survey_option_text">Repetitive</span></div></label></div></div><div id="mtadmac" style="display:none"><div class="feedback_title">Thanks for the feedback! <a id="mtadmback" href="javascript:void(0)">Back</a></div><div class="feedback_description">We’ll review this ad to improve your experience in the future.</div><div class="feedback_description">Help us show you better ads by updating your <a href="http://www.google.com/settings/ads?hl=en" target="_blank">ads settings</a>.</div><div id="ad-feedback-closing" style="display:none" class="feedback_closing"></div></div><div id="mtadmpc" style="display:none"><div class="feedback_title">Thanks for the feedback! <a id="mtadmpundo" href="javascript:void(0)">Undo</a></div><div class="feedback_description">We’ll use your feedback to review ads on this site.</div><div class="feedback_description">Help us show you better ads by updating your <a href="http://www.google.com/settings/ads?hl=en" target="_blank">ads settings</a>.</div><div id="pub-feedback-closing" style="display:none" class="feedback_closing"></div></div><span id="feedback-closing-template" style="display:none">Closing ad: %1$d</span><div class="feedback_logo"><img src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/images/google-logo.png"/></div></div></div><style>.ddmc{background:#ccc;color:#000;padding:0;position:absolute;z-index:9020;max-width:100%;box-shadow:2px 2px 3px #aaaaaa;}.ddmc.left{margin-right:0;}.ddmc.right{margin-left:0;}.ddmc .tip{border-left:4px solid transparent;border-right:4px solid transparent;height:0;position:absolute;width:0;font-size:0;line-height:0;}.ddmc.bottom .tip{border-bottom:4px solid #ccc;top:-4px;}.ddmc.top .tip{border-top:4px solid #ccc;bottom:-4px;}.ddmc.right .tip{right:3px;}.ddmc.left .tip{left:3px;}.ddmc .dropdown-content{display:block;}.dropdown-content{display:none;border-collapse:collapse;}.dropdown-item{font:12px Arial,sans-serif;cursor:pointer;padding:3px 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The reason that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was created human was for us to emulate him in everything we do and understand what perfection in a human being looks like.</div>
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<!-- Image Caption --> The Charlie Hebdo magazine killings have had an immediate fallout and promise to make many serious and enduring changes, none of which will be positive for anyone. I remember the time that the Satanic Verses came out and how deeply hurt and offended I was. A liberal Muslim friend, in full condescension and pity mode, told me to read the Satanic Verses for I would realise how much “a work of art” the book was. I politely declined; reading the excerpts in my local paper was enough to make my stomach turn. Trash cannot be a work of art and I was not contributing to Rushdie’s millions.<br />
<br />And then came the Danish cartoons. I protested by writing a letter to the editor of The Toledo Blade and explained how Muslims love God and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) more than their parents. And satirizing Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is like slugging someone in the solar plexus, and worse. Non-Muslim US friends appreciated the elucidation and empathised with my distress. I am certain I was a whole lot more effective with that one letter than the many threats that I could have sent to Jyllands-Posten. People respond to persuasion, not intimidation.<br />
<br />Muslims on the extreme right as well as the ignorant ones forget that respect for God and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is enjoined upon Muslims. Non-Muslims are free to do what they desire: “There is no compulsion in religion” (Quran 2:256). But we got provoked and instead of Rushdie and the Danish cartoons dying their natural deaths, they rocketed to persistent fame. The reason that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was created human was for us to emulate him in everything we do and understand what perfection in a human being looks like. In every arena of living, especially in difficult times, Muslims should pause, reflect and use Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) life and sayings as a guide. “What would Muhammad (PBUH) have done?” is a vital question that we must articulate within and it is amazing how the answer is immediate, unequivocal and deeply comforting.<br />
<br />We must also go with stories of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) life that have a strong chain of narration. Even the ones that we grew up with that are well established. How the old lady would throw garbage on him every day and when, one day, there was no garbage he went to find out what had happened and found her ill. His kindness totally won her over. He could have killed her on day one. Or the story of the man who decided to urinate in the mosque. The companions of the Prophet (PBUH) rushed toward the man but Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stopped them and advised them to let him finish. He then, without cursing or scolding the man, told him that the mosque was a place for the remembrance of God and asked his companions to clean the area the man had defiled.<br />
<br />Justice and its accurate dispensation are vital concepts in Islam. Evidence is mandated in all contentious issues. Vigilantism and unilaterally taking the law into one’s hands is not accepted. Undoubtedly, Charlie Hebdo crossed many lines and offended Muslims, Christians, Jews and pretty much anyone whenever they wanted to. However, Muslims should have taken the “dogs bark and the caravan moves on” tack. Prior to the killing of the 17 people at Charlie Hebdo, the magazine had a circulation of 30,000. In the printing after the attack, five million copies of the magazine were printed and swooped up the same day. People who might have been neutral or inclined towards Muslims previously, despise us now.<br />
<br />The most tragic part is that, again, Islam has been pulled into a situation that has little to do with it. Columnist Gwynne Dyer writes that the Charlie Hebdo killings are representative of a larger Muslim civil war. Thirsting for power, political extremists who call themselves Muslim, mess with the hearts and minds of economically and socially marginalised Muslims, get them to injure, kill and maim, and fool them into believing that this madness is mandated by Islam. Destabilising Muslim governments and gaining power is their aim. This is borne out by the fact that most victims of this kind of terrorism have been Muslim.<br />
<br />Columnist Robert Fisk also has a captivating take on this. The French colonisation of Algeria and the subsequent massacre of protesting Algerians have bred a seething anger in French-Algerians, whose lot is worsened by their economic situation. The French prime minister alluded to this when he said that there was social, economic and ethnic apartheid in France. Young people marginalised this way are fertile breeding grounds for the planting of extremist ideology and hanging it on Islam.<br />
<br />All this is not to say that the sickening disrespect by the Charlie Hebdo magazine is condoned. What I found even more offensive was the printing of a front-page cartoon after the killings. And this displays the madness of the ultra-liberals. As though satire toward the sacred personalities of all major religions was like oxygen to them and without these hits in very poor taste, the satirists could not go on. The Pope encouraged respect toward all religions and alluded to the sentiment of Muslims who love Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) more than their parents: “If my assistant curses my mother, he can expect a punch in return.”<br />
<br />The loss of one million Iraqi civilians in a war that found no weapons of mass destruction and the decimation of Baghdad, the seat of Islamic civilization, most certainly fuel deep resentment in the Muslim psyche. But more violence is not vindication.<br />
<br />The innocents between the two extremes take the brunt from both sides. Muslims all over the world have to apologise for what they have nothing to do with and reiterate that satire does not deserve death. If Muslims unequivocally condemn the killings per their understanding of Islam, they risk being targeted by the handlers of the Kouachi brothers. Charlie Hebdo remains undeterred by the killings and will serve insult after insult, and the Kouachi types will continue to kill. No wonder Islam promotes taking the middle path and avoiding extremes (Quran 2:143). Whenever a discussion became contentious or futile, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would leave it and say <em>“Wa khairun salama”</em> (Upon you be the best of peace). I am certain he would have treated all of this in the same manner.<br />
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Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-7380537007210835642014-12-18T21:19:00.000-08:002014-12-18T21:19:47.086-08:00The impetus of shock and sorrow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Children
are the Achilles’ heel of nations. Like parents, countries deal with tragedy
but if it involves children, the issue becomes a catastrophe. And so it is for
Pakistan and the loss of the 134 children killed by the savage Taliban in the
attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
government was busy conferring with the Taliban and detangling the good from
the bad <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when there was an audacious
attack on the cargo terminal of Karachi airport on June 8, 2014. Embarrassed
the government began Operation Zarb-e-Azb and to date 1800 terrorists have been
killed and many of their hideouts in North Waziristan destroyed. The Taliban
had repeatedly vowed revenge; perhaps its brutality and its young, innocent
victims were not something regular folk could have anticipated. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young mother lost all of her four children
that day. One of the victims didn’t want to go to school for he had knee pain;
his mother convinced him to go and not skip school for small reasons. My heart
aches for her torment. One of the students describes being in the auditorium
and seeing children running in the hallway; one of them had been shot in the
face. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">16-year old Shahrukh Khan recounted: </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“One of them shouted: ‘There are
so many children beneath the desks go and get them’”. Shahrukh said he felt
searing pain as he was shot in both his legs. He decided to play dead: “I
folded my tie and pushed it into my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream. The man
with the big boots kept on looking for students and killing them. I lay as
still as I could and closed my eyes, waiting to get shot again. I will never
forget the black boots approaching me – I felt as though it was death that was
approaching me.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The carnage is beyond
comprehension. The school walls look like sieves from the spray of bullets.
Broken glass and pools of blood belie that this was once a school. A couple
students’ notes are heart-rending. Finished homework has the words “THE END”
written in large all caps. Another student wrote: “hum rahein na rahein, yeh
gulshan salamat rahey ga” (whether we live or not this world will live on). </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Defense Minister Khawaja
Asif said: “The smaller the coffin, the heavier it is to carry it. And we’ve
been carrying smaller coffins today, more than a hundred small coffins.”</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The outrage
in Pakistan and internationally has been deep. During a prayer vigil prominent
civil rights lawyer Asma Jahangir said “those who refer to the Taliban as
brothers are one of the Taliban”. She has cause to say this. For decades
various governments have waffled in their approach to the Taliban lending a
blind-eye to numerous attacks solely to shore up their own power bases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Pakistan has
paid a heavy price for participating on the war on terror: at least 50,000
Pakistanis, civilian and military have been killed since 2001. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Pakistan’s army is one of the
most competent in the world but fighting an invisible or chameleonic enemy is
very difficult. Terrorist attacks at airports and military institutions require
a good deal of inside information, and that was evident in essentially all the
high-profile attacks of the Taliban. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There are
numerous political and religious hues in Pakistan with a very troubling
radicalization of a segment of the population. Economic disenfranchisement,
anti-Americanism, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the killing of one million
Iraqi civilians in the war on terror, the WMD propaganda and brain-washing all
contribute to this turn to extremism. This radicalized segment orchestrates
terrorist attacks or carries them out. Their relative anonymity makes their
identification difficult if not impossible. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The sit-ins
of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri were perfect crucibles for a terrorist attack
and I remember the sick feeling that I would get worrying about the destruction
that could be wreaked. The fact that this did not occur shows that a vigilant
population can be a very effective preventive force. If you have new neighbors
that seem to be hoarding weapons, please alert the authorities. If foreigners
are willing to rent your house for an outlandish amount of money, be on your
guard.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The 1979
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan brought the Kalashnikov and heroin culture to
Pakistan. The easy availability of guns and a series of corrupt governments
have armed and addicted a population. De-weaponization of the population,
proper gun licensing and a money-for-guns exchange program should be an immediate
priority of the government. A few minutes must be devoted in each Friday sermon
to condemn terrorism and remind people that suicide is a ticket to hell and
taking someone with you a confirmed reservation. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Catastrophic
events can serve ironic purposes. All the political parties finally see that
terrorism is Pakistan’s arch enemy. Imran Khan has decided to terminate the
sit-ins. He was rapidly backing into a wall and shutting down Karachi was bad
enough for him to lose credibility; closing Pakistan down would have destroyed
it. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In 2008
Zardari had introduced a moratorium on the death penalty for terror-related
cases. After the Peshawar massacre Nawaz Sharif has lifted this moratorium and
also announced that they will not be differentiating between the good and the
bad Taliban. I have been personally opposed to the death penalty due to
numerous wrong convictions. But in the state that Pakistan is, we need speedy
trials and convictions and the institution of the death penalty for enabling,
orchestrating and committing terrorist acts. I am certain there will be a sharp
decline in terrorism in Pakistan. Death by hanging can send out a chilling
reverberant message. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">December 16,
1971 was a dramatic point in Pakistan’s history when its army signed the instrument
of surrender and East Pakistan ceased to be. December 16, 2014 has shocked and
numbed all of Pakistan and if 180 million people unite in the fight against
terrorism, we can create unprecedented peace in a nation full of potential and
promise. We owe this to the blood of 145 innocents. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i></div>
</div>
Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-68731823278792032142014-11-28T21:56:00.001-08:002014-11-28T21:56:48.091-08:00A crash course on civil rights<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Black lives
don’t matter. That seems to be the message that the grand jury verdict in
Ferguson, Missouri gives. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Officer
Darren Wilson was not indicted for the killing of unarmed black teenager
Michael Brown. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Legal and police
experts concur that Prosecutor Robert McCulloch could have decided on his own
authority to prosecute Officer Wilson. But he decided to punt it to a grand
jury. Had the races of aggressor and victim been transposed and a black police
officer had killed a white teenager, I think he would be awaiting trial. This
is borne out by an incident in July 2014 in the same county. The same
prosecutor Robert McCulloch pressed felonious assault charges on black police
officer Dawon Gore for striking a white light-rail passenger with a baton after
an argument. He was jailed on a $3500 cash-only bond. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sadder yet is the composition of the grand
jury. St. Louis County has a population of 21,000 and is 67% African-American
and 29% white. The grand jury was made up of nine whites and three blacks of
supposedly randomly picked citizens. All they needed to decide was whether
there was probable cause to indict Officer Wilson and send the case to trial.
Nine votes were needed to indict him. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like it or not there is a hierarchy of color in our country. Highest on
this list is a white child. And going downwards come brown people and lowest
are young black males. The country was convulsed with grief with the
Connecticut school shootings in which the victims were largely white children.
But no one really talks about the daily victims of gun violence in Chicago; the
majority is impoverished black children. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Michael Brown had stolen a bunch of
cigarellos from a store in Ferguson and when challenged by Officer Wilson was,
according to Officer Wilson’s testimony, aggressive and full of expletives. Wilson
testified that he tried to move Brown’s arm and felt that he was like “a
five-year old holding onto Hulk Hogan”. Wilson shot Michael Brown twice while he
was pushing into the police car with his body. Brown then started to run and Wilson
gave chase. When Brown turned around Officer Wilson fatally shot him in the
head, well aware that he was not armed. Why would a police officer escalate a
theft to shooting an unarmed person? Whatever happened to disabling a felon by
shooting at an extremity rather than the trunk? Are cigarellos cocaine?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately this situation is a very
tangled web. Every 28 hours a black person is killed in the United States
either by a police officer or a vigilante. As a doctor, I understand this
frequency to qualify for what we define as an epidemic. This is not a new
statistic. Young black males have been on our endangered species list for
decades. But being on the bottom of that hierarchy, racked with poverty,
addiction and crime, society seems to be smug that young black felons are
self-selecting out. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Police and legal experts also report a
symbiotic relationship between police and prosecutors. Prosecutors protect
police witnesses in court and the police influence the prosecutor’s decisions. It
is true that situations such as the Wilson-Brown incident happen very fast and hindsight
is always 20/20. But we have not enshrined accountability in police culture,
and thus granted them impunity. The parents of Michael Brown want the Michael
Brown Law passed in which police officers would wear body cameras. There is a
move toward this in some police departments already. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is also an entire mindset that we must
change: from individuals and families recognizing that all of us are created
equal, to communities and the nation being color-blind in their protection. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Racism is rife in the Greater Toledo area as well. In a previous office
location in Perrysburg, one of my middle aged African-American patients decided
to bide his waiting time and enjoy the sunny day by sitting in a chair next to
his car and working on his phone. Suddenly the police showed up, wondering
whose new Chrysler he was sitting next to. “It’s my car” he said. Unable to
charge him with anything, the police left. I remember I was more outraged than
he was. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ferguson businesses have been burned to the
ground, and protests are picking up all across the nation and internationally. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prosecutor McCulloch has deeply undermined our
justice system and brought segregation in our country into sharp focus. Officer
Wilson should have been charged and gone through an open public trial. It would
have been wise and visionary to let justice take its course and to have learned
from the Rodney King and Trayvon Martin cases. And suddenly the entire nation
is being given a crash course on civil rights. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-72767830277102385762014-11-05T10:23:00.001-08:002014-11-05T10:23:43.007-08:00The tipping point in Pakistan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><strong>Pakistan owes its creation to the vision of Allama Iqbal, the tenacity of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the blood, sweat and tears of the muhajir .</strong></em></span><br />
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Sharif coterie is suddenly
irrelevant. Khatir Ghaznavi wrote so famously: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">go zara si baat par barsoan ke yaraaney gaye laykin itna to hua kuch
loag pehchaney gaye:</i> years of friendship dissolved over a minor incident
but served to expose some people. Dragging on this disrepute for another three
and a half years does not seem possible; the nation’s contempt for the Sharifs
is almost palpable. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Interestingly freedom of the
press was given to Pakistan by a dictator, Pervez Musharraf. Freedom of the
press is an integral part of a democracy. Despite all the indignant claims of
safe-guarding of democracy by the Islamabad menagerie, also known as the
Parliament, the Sharif government has swooped down on freedom of the press by
closure of the ARY television channel. The blame is passed around; the Lahore
High Court did not order ARY’s closure, PEMRA ordered it but PEMRA<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>does not have a legitimate chief etc., but
the fact remains that ARY remains closed in Pakistan. Various television
anchors tend to pull down their employers. And when the conversation gets very
pointed, Hamid Mir is attacked and GEO is shut down. If Mubashir Lucman goes
overboard, which he does more often than not, ARY is reduced to television
snow. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And this is what exposes the
self-serving Sharifs. If patriotism was paramount, or democracy dear, why would
they strangle the press? But how many fires can they put out? If I get
vicarious for a few minutes, their paralysis gives me a panic attack.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Zardari and the Sharifs excel
in verbal embellishments of their intentions and accomplishments. While history
will record their pillage of Pakistan as their primary “achievements”, their
secret pact for political musical chairs, with power alternating between them,
lies exposed and tattered. Bilawal Zardari can be credited for improving his
Urdu and introducing transparent tele-prompters to Pakistan. His speech seemed
extemporaneous but was read right through. Which in and of itself is not a
problem; except for its disastrous content. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pakistan owes its creation to
the vision of Allama Iqbal, the tenacity of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
and the blood, sweat and tears of the muhajir (immigrants from India). An Aligarh University graduate, my
father would speak of Quaid-e-Azam’s speeches and how they followed all he said
to a tee. An Indian Civil Service officer, my father migrated to Pakistan by
train, his belongings in a wagon that was completely looted en route. Millions
of others were not that lucky, entire trains full of muhajir were massacred. Pakistan
was largely a rural society with little infrastructure and the looting and
burning had left it without even pen and paper in offices. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My father joined the Civil
Service of Pakistan; and it was the education, talent and hard work of muhajir
like him that put together a Pakistan that slowly but surely became viable. He
loved to recount how Jawaharlal Nehru had claimed that Pakistan would last five
years. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">67 years later Kursheed Shah
calling the word muhajir a slur is so egregious and overwhelming that it
shouldn’t be dignified with comment. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As though Khursheed Shah’s
inflammatory statement were not enough, Bilawal’s un-parliamentary attack on
Altaf Hussain caused a fall-out of MQM resignations from parliament and
provincial assemblies. Zardari, the king of secret pacts, had one going with
the MQM as well, and just like the fake PPP condemnations by the PML-N and vice
versa, Altaf Hussain would also engage in frothing-at-the mouth lambasting of
the PPP, but within all was well. Bilawal’s thunder seems to have changed all
that and Zardari will need to go on overdrive to fix this one. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The end of seventy days of a
sit-in by Dr. Tahirul Qadri appears overtly to have been for naught, but it must
be acknowledged that in a very short time, Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan have
achieved a dramatic change in the mindset of Pakistanis. And this change is
what will carry Pakistan. Not just in the removal of the Sharif government but
in resetting Pakistan’s compass. In making corruption, self-aggrandizement and
usurping others’ rights criminal. And justice, employment, education and a
progressive economy a given. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Sharifs seemed to be the
only ones that calculated the power of Tahirul Qadri accurately. Their high
anxiety caused the Model Town massacre and containers all over Lahore. Like
many Pakistanis I was deeply skeptical of the “crazy cleric” but with his
tenacious sit-in I too realized the vitality of the PAT. How organized and
disciplined it is and how it has educated the underserved for decades. It has
now transformed from a religious organization into a political party with a
very impressive following. The persona of Allama Tahirul Qadri is a notable
one. He is schooled in religion as well as constitutional law. <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">On 2 March 2010, Tahirul Qadri issued a 600-page <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fatwa on Terrorism</i> in which he said that
"Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in
Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it”.</span><span lang="EN"> </span>This is in stark contrast to the various maulanas and moulvis
in the JUI and other religious parties who, overtly and covertly, support
terrorism and view the US and the <em>yahood-hunood </em>(Jews and Hindus)
as enemies, rather than the Al-Qaeda and Taliban that have destroyed Pakistan
in so many ways. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Post the Pakistan Awakening
forged by Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan, especially with the concepts of
economic justice and banishment of corruption, the lifestyle simplicity of
Tahirul Qadri must be noted. The royalties of the many books that he has
authored go to Minhajul Quran. He does not live extravagantly, tinker with
billions, and enjoy gourmet foods, palatial homes or four wives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does not banish the females of the PAT
behind several partitions; in fact the participation of women in his sit-in is
beyond impressive. Pakistan is in desperate need of politicians and governance
that has individual and institutional integrity. Much to my own surprise I must
say that Tahirul Qadri may well be the one that fits that bill. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The crowds galvanized by PTI
and PAT only grow larger. The aerial view of the rallies is awe-inspiring. And
they promise more and more. Novel cases of individual courage are seen in
Arjumand Husain and his co-passengers preventing Rehman Malik and Ramesh Kumar
from boarding the PIA flight and tolerating the repercussions of employment
termination. The movement of the Sharif family is severely curtailed by that
annoying “go Nawaz go” chant. The moral pressure of the millions in PAT and PTI
rallies could steamroll the Sharifs. But before that something trivial may well
become the tipping point<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. Go zara si baat
par</i> could make Nawaz history.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br /></div>
Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-52403940435427552202014-10-24T23:34:00.000-07:002014-10-24T23:34:00.644-07:00The polio and jalsa viruses in Pakistan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not only have the polio and
jalsa viruses paralyzed Pakistan, there are no credible plans to control them. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pakistan has this curious
penchant to get chalked up in the various lists of infamy. The Global Polio
Eradication Initiative was started in 1988 and was based on vaccination and
surveillance. Progress was tracked through surveillance of cases of acute flaccid
paralysis with testing of stool samples and sewage for the polio virus in the
area of the acute case. The results have been dramatic. In 1988 polio was
endemic in 125 countries and paralyzed 350,000 children every year. By 2011 the
number of polio cases had been reduced to 650. By 2012 only three countries
remained where the polio virus had not been interrupted: Afghanistan, Nigeria
and Pakistan. And Pakistan is the only country showing an increase in the
number of detected cases. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The polio virus is transmitted
through fecal-hand-oral contamination. It can result in weakness of the leg
muscles or quadriplegia, respiratory failure and death. There are no effective
treatments for the paralysis caused by polio, so the mainstay is immunization.
The protection from immunization with the injectable and the oral polio
vaccines is around 90%.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pakistan had almost eradicated
the polio virus in 2012 but the fake CIA hepatitis immunization program to gain
information about Osama bin Laden brought efforts to a screeching halt. The
Taliban banned all immunizations as they felt that immunization programs were
being used for spying. Some radicals also believe that immunization programs
will be used as a cover for sterilization of Muslim children. Since 2012 at
least 40 health workers have been killed because of their participation in
immunization programs. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The highest incidence of polio
was in Taliban controlled areas in North and South Waziristan. With Operation
Zarb-e-Azb there have been fears that polio would spread across Pakistan with
the exodus of IDPs. But we can use this as an opportunity to immunize; about
100,000 IDP children had been immunized <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by June 2014; the aim is to vaccinate 200,000
children. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But the bad news has not
stopped. In September 2014 the polio virus was detected in the sewage of some
major cities: <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta and Jacobabad. Very
surprisingly Islamabad and Peshawar sewage samples tested negative for the
polio virus. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Instead of spending
from the public treasury to protect, actually over-protect, the prime minister,
the president, the cabinet, parliamentarians as well as children of former
prime ministers, we need to provide fool-proof security to immunization health
workers. Bullet proof vests, traveling with a cordon of soldiers and security
of their homes are a compelling need. And if nothing else matters, perhaps we
should be ashamed that India has eradicated polio; and most certainly, if India
can, so can we. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A massive health
education program needs to be initiated as well as infomercials repeated over
all television stations, highlighting the importance of hygiene, immunization
and population control. Unlike India and Bangladesh, Pakistan has no population
control programs in place and a good amount of its misery is the population
rapidly outstripping its already meager resources. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dharnas (sit-ins) are
more difficult to continue and make a success of, compared to jalsas (large
public gatherings). Tired of the stalemate with his D-Chowk dharna, Imran Khan
figured he’d branch out into the jalsa business. Karachi was treated to a
mammoth jalsa as were Lahore and Mianwali. Noticing his dharna had gotten a bit
old, Tahirul Qadri has planned a jalsa. And like the polio virus the jalsa
virus is spreading. Bilawal Bhutto has taken some intensive Urdu lessons so he
can scream at the Karachi PPP jalsa soon. Bilawal still needs to work on his
genders, something his mother also struggled with. And the MQM need never
worry; they have the corner on the market on jalsas. It never fails to amaze me
that people from all walks of life sit for hours listening to alternately
roaring and hissing Altaf Hussain, manic or somnolent, singing, reprimanding,
praising or blackmailing a sea of his supporters. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As though high unemployment,
hunger and disease were not enough to paralyze Pakistan, Eid brings five days
of leave from work. Political leaders call for Day of Sorrow or Day of Fury
type strikes for a minimum of two days and Pakistan seems to be a nation on a
perpetual vacation. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was in Karachi when
Benazir Bhutto was killed. The city’s paralysis defied the mind. Many citizens
get groceries on a daily basis and they suddenly faced hunger for days. The
Islamabad dharnas have paralyzed governmental functioning and Pakistan is
losing billions of rupees in numerous ways. The jalsas in various cities
compromise the functioning of an already oppressed population even more. Opposition
parties always do what they do best: oppose. The responsibility for government
lies with the party in power. And the onus of resolution for the sake of the
nation also lies with the ruling party. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prime ministers and
presidents sometimes begin to live in a severe and serious state of disconnect
with the people. It appears that the Sharifs are deaf and blind, evidenced by
the statements of the brothers as well as the tweets of Maryam Nawaz. For her
to tweet that security has been ordered to beat citizens who shout “go Nawaz
go” is as ridiculous as Queen Marie Antoinette allegedly saying “let them eat
cake” when she was told that the French people did not even have bread to eat. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Enough is really
enough. The Sharifs should try to resolve this, not just for the sake of
Pakistan or the PMLN but primarily for themselves. An interim government, a
thorough and rapid election investigation as well as mid-term elections are
compelling needs. The backlash against VIP culture and the steadily rising
frustration and fury of the people might be a trailer for bloody civil
disorder. We must avoid that at all costs. Even the cost of the crown. </span></span></div>
</div>
Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504155129380786425.post-84807611034707187042014-09-27T21:44:00.001-07:002014-09-27T21:46:02.231-07:00Energy, political terrorism and Twitter power<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Bilawal Bhutto can yank himself from the uncles and aunties crowd and tweet #EnoughIsEnough and get his party to sponsor a no-confidence motion in parliament based on the Election Commission Report</em></strong></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></em></strong></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A major event can hold public
attention for a maximum of two weeks. After this point people get bored and
irritated and tend to move on. Pakistanis have been held hostage to a staring
contest that shows no signs of anyone blinking. For six torturous weeks now. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In even small personal
projects or efforts, people tend to have a plan B. Pros and cons, plan A and
plan B get written down. It appears that Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri went
gung-ho with freedom and revolution with little other than their characteristic
bluster and rhetoric. The age of technology gave them an audience of millions
and their complaints against the Sharif clan resonate with a large segment of
the population and a wave of furious discontent currently sweeps Pakistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Within a week of the sit-ins
the government was willing to set up a judicial commission for investigation of
electoral rigging but Imran Khan had set out for the prize of Nawaz Sharif’s
resignation and he ignored the offer. He probably thought that he had gotten to
this point with such difficulty he might as well stay for the kill. But this,
like so much of life, is a gamble which Kenny Rogers sang about so well: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;">You've got to know when to
hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run”. </span></i></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Interestingly the same premise applies
to the Sharifs. One expose’ after another, embarrassment after embarrassment,
but the king and all his men just strut around in blissful ignorance. The
electricity bill scandal is shocking in its stupidity. No meter readings were
done, bills were simply written up with an over 500% markup, and the due date
was written as the date that the bill was sent. Burning electricity bills is
conduct unbecoming Imran Khan and sets up a bad example for his fans and other
Pakistanis. But opening the envelope of the electricity bill and reading an
amount that could be higher than 2 months of one’s salary is nothing short of
terrifying. The electric supply corporations now say that people should pay
their bills and their refund, after meter reading and correction, would show up
after two billing cycles. Seriously? Have they heard of that saying: getting
blood from a turnip? </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nawaz Sharif’s private-jet journey,
Islamabad-London-New York and his stay at the presidential suite of New York’s
Waldorf Astoria at over $1000 per night financed by the Pakistani taxpayer and
a nation of shelter-less millions may well be his last hurrah. I often wonder
about how many sleeping pills it must take to quiet that wretched thing called
a conscience. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Kenny Rogers’ song is very instructive
here. How long can Nawaz be the cloistered prime minister? That tiresome “go
Nawaz go” is ubiquitous: chanted, written, painted, posted. His own party
chanted it, instead of “go Imran go”! It followed him to London and New Yorkers
will join in too. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sit-ins have changed the Pakistani
mindset and awakened it to massive Sharif corruption and misrule. MPAs and
senators removed from flights by angry passengers could be prefaces for a great
deal worse. The careless display of power and wealth as well as uncompromising
arrogance by the Sharif clan is actually asking for the public to unleash
violence. Though this is the course of events in civil disorder, it is unwise
for Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan to scream about the potential of a bloody
revolution. Hunger, unemployment, disease, floods, crushing poverty, rampant
drug use and religious and sectarian intolerance is a ticking time-bomb. Responsibility
and not rhetoric is what Pakistan needs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Video tapes of provincial law minister
Rana Mashood and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif demanding money and allegiance
from Asim Malik and his wife MPA Zubia Rubab Malik, leave you open-mouthed.
Pretty terrifying to have to fork over Rs. 20 lakh, arrange for your children
to quickly leave the country, completely lose your business and have your home
with all its possessions occupied by Mashood’s lackeys. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">All that aside what we were arguing
about arrived quite unannounced. The Election Commission of Pakistan released
its report of the 2013 elections. According to the report the integrity and
character of the candidates were not properly or completely verified and loan
and bill defaulters slipped in. Trained staff at election booths was replaced
with non-trained individuals. Ballots were stamped en bloc. Elections were
conducted in a substandard manner and now UNDP, the Commonwealth and the
European Union have also expressed their dissatisfaction. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even more interestingly election
records stored in the basement of a school have been burned beyond recognition.
Former law minister Babar Awan facetiously called this not the beauty of
coincidence but the beauty of organization. And the report has also been burned
off your computer screens, for it has been removed from the Election Commission
website. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Joint sessions of parliament witness
much chest thumping in favor of democracy and self-righteous claims to
strengthen it. Now’s the chance for every parliamentarian to do just that. The
PPP, MQM and even members of the PML-N should latch onto the Election
Commission report and demand a re-election under a caretaker government after a
consensus on electoral reforms. We must drop this personality rather than
processes culture. The Election Commission Report makes the current parliament
unelected. The army will most likely stay out of this fiasco. Relying on the Supreme
Court to intervene will be circuitous and protracted and serve to further
bankrupt Pakistan; the economic cost of the sit-ins is massive. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bilawal Bhutto can yank himself from
the uncles and aunties crowd and tweet #EnoughIsEnough and get his party to
sponsor a no-confidence motion in parliament based on the Election Commission
Report. You’ve worked on your Urdu and I was so proud to see you wade through
knee deep water even though it was for a photo opp with the flood victims. This
would give you a place in history. You will redeem the Bhuttos: Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto’s breaking of Pakistan, your mother’s mis-governance and your father’s
massive corruption. A 24-year old and a simple tweet. How very awesome!</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br /></div>
Mahjabeen Islamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00320613927213922863noreply@blogger.com