In an interesting article published recently in the Pakistani newspaper The News International (part of the Jang group), Ayaz Amir seems to imply that a common religion does not automatically build a sense of shared nationhood.
“Pakistan was a wholly new invention and it was a reflection of the difficulties besetting the idea of Pakistan that our leading figures declared, very early on, that Islam was the basis of our nationhood.
"Indeed, we made religion a fallback position, seeking refuge in its dialectics when more attention should have been paid to temporal problems. The discontent arising in East Pakistan [now Bangladesh] was proof that temporal problems needed a temporal solution. Today it is the same in Balochistan whose grievances are crying out for something more than the usual palliatives.”
Amir suggests that the fight agaist the Taliban, which Pakistan avoided for so long, is putting the country through a “formative experience” by forcing Pakistanis to recognize that “Talibanism” is alien to Pakistani soil. Amir does not spell this out, but presumably what he means is that not every idea or movement that identifies itself with Islam – rightly or wrongly – is somehow Pakistani, or acceptable to Pakistan. And, conversely, not everything about being Pakistani (or Punjabi, Baluchi, Sindhi etc) is limited to being Muslim.
Read the full article: Reversing 800 years of history, The News International, Sept 25, 2009.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Mahatma Gandhi on Serving Others
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.-- Mahatma Gandhi
An apt quote for those of us in a position to help others in the Philippines, Indonesia, Samoa, or anywhere else in the world.Oct 2, 2009 marks Mahatma Gandhi's 140th birth anniversary.
"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." Albert Einstein on the Mahatma ("great soul")
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Typhoon Relief in Manila - How to Help
Manila and the island on Luzon were battered by a typhoon and incessant rain on Saturday (Sept 26), claiming close to 60 lives and flooding many people out of their homes.
Sunday morning dawned bright – and dry – in Manila, but many, many families are still coping with their loss. We cannot bring back their loved ones, but we can at least help them get through the next few difficult days.
For those living in Metro-Manila, the blog PH Best Deals provides useful information that will help them find a centre close to their home to drop off food, medicines, blankets and other relief items.
Sunday morning dawned bright – and dry – in Manila, but many, many families are still coping with their loss. We cannot bring back their loved ones, but we can at least help them get through the next few difficult days.
For those living in Metro-Manila, the blog PH Best Deals provides useful information that will help them find a centre close to their home to drop off food, medicines, blankets and other relief items.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Short-cut posting...
Suddenly, life is so hectic there's little time to post to my blogs. Ideas aplenty, but time in short supply. So, I've decided to post my own stories published elsewhere. Better than posting nothing, I hope!
Here are a couple now:
My encounter with a Filipino mystic
Can the frequency of our brain waves really alter our physical reality?
published in Tickled by Life
BANGLADESH
Microcredit to End Poverty
published on the website of the Asian Development Bank
And, no, there's no real link between the two stories - except for the author, of course. :)
Here are a couple now:
My encounter with a Filipino mystic
Can the frequency of our brain waves really alter our physical reality?
published in Tickled by Life
BANGLADESH
Microcredit to End Poverty
published on the website of the Asian Development Bank
And, no, there's no real link between the two stories - except for the author, of course. :)
News from the Terataii Centre, Manila
Sept 5 and 6, Makati, Metro-Manila (Philippines).
Reiki Level 1 – The First Step of the Journey
When you learn Level 1 Reiki, you take your first step on a journey of holistic, integrated health and well-being. Once you are attuned and trained at this first level, you will be able to do hands-on healing for yourself and others. The attunements will bring your own energies into better balance and the teachings will open your mind to new possibilities.
Something about the teacher
I am a certified Reiki Master, initiated into all three degrees of the Usui system of Reiki healing. I have been practising Reiki for 10 years. My Reiki Master’s training at the SoulCentre in Singapore included the required attunements and 6 months learning about holistic health and spirituality. I was initiated into the highest Reiki Master’s level by Reiki Master Sally Forrest of the U.K. and instructed in the spiritual aspects of Reiki practice by Indian spiritual master Vikas Malkani of the spiritual tradition of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. I am also a Shiva-Shakti and Pranic healer; and a counsellor.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Terataii newsletter, July-September 2009
Email terataii@gmail.com for your copy of this electronic newsletter on Reiki, holistic health and spiritual growth.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Guest Column: Hong Kong Vigil for Tiananmen Anniversary
By N. Jayaram
Hong Kong-based journalist and human rights reporter N. Jayaram wrote this on June 4, which marked the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown against protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Hong Kong, June 4.
I got back a while ago from Victoria Park, the sprawling open air space in the midst of one of the prime shopping areas of Hong Kong, where more than 150,000 people gathered for a candlelight vigil to commemorate those killed on the night of June 3-4, 1989 in Beijing in the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
The turnout was amazing. This was the second time that the Hong Kong people have made me sit up and take notice of their political attitude and their firm support for democratisation and for basic freedoms. The first occasion was on July 1, 2003, when more than half a million people, perhaps more than 600,000, marched to oppose the government's attempt to adopte an anti-sedition bill that would have choked off dissent.
It is said that the numbers were boosted this time, not only because it was to mark 20 years after Tianananmen but also because Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive, Donald Tsang, recently angered the city's residents by saying critics have to take into account the progress China has made and that his views represented those of the general public.
Whatever the reasons behind the huge numbers who attended today's vigil in none too salubrious conditions following a blisteringly hot and muggy day, the commemoration represents Hong Kong people's aspirations for a greater level of freedom for their 1.4 billion compatriots on the mainland and a profound regret that a great opportunity was missed because of the 1989 massacre.
In many parts of the world, blood has been shed on perhaps more massive scales than on June 4, 1989. But few have been the occasions when the full force of an army that labels itself "The People's" mowed down so many of the people from among whom its ranks were recruited, in order to preserve in power a small elite fattening on capitalist policies while invoking dead communist icons.
Hong Kong-based journalist and human rights reporter N. Jayaram wrote this on June 4, which marked the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown against protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Hong Kong, June 4.
I got back a while ago from Victoria Park, the sprawling open air space in the midst of one of the prime shopping areas of Hong Kong, where more than 150,000 people gathered for a candlelight vigil to commemorate those killed on the night of June 3-4, 1989 in Beijing in the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
The turnout was amazing. This was the second time that the Hong Kong people have made me sit up and take notice of their political attitude and their firm support for democratisation and for basic freedoms. The first occasion was on July 1, 2003, when more than half a million people, perhaps more than 600,000, marched to oppose the government's attempt to adopte an anti-sedition bill that would have choked off dissent.
It is said that the numbers were boosted this time, not only because it was to mark 20 years after Tianananmen but also because Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive, Donald Tsang, recently angered the city's residents by saying critics have to take into account the progress China has made and that his views represented those of the general public.
Whatever the reasons behind the huge numbers who attended today's vigil in none too salubrious conditions following a blisteringly hot and muggy day, the commemoration represents Hong Kong people's aspirations for a greater level of freedom for their 1.4 billion compatriots on the mainland and a profound regret that a great opportunity was missed because of the 1989 massacre.
In many parts of the world, blood has been shed on perhaps more massive scales than on June 4, 1989. But few have been the occasions when the full force of an army that labels itself "The People's" mowed down so many of the people from among whom its ranks were recruited, in order to preserve in power a small elite fattening on capitalist policies while invoking dead communist icons.
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