Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Myra Imran
Islamabad
Mystery shrouds the circumstances under which a couple declared Kari by their local community for marrying of their own will was taken to their native District Gothki from Islamabad in one day.
In hiding in the capital for the past six months to seek help from the Chief Justice and human rights groups, Ameer Abbas Mehar and Rukhsana Bibi disappeared mysteriously from Sector G-9, Islamabad, on Saturday. The couple is now in the custody of police in Gothki, an area known for Karo Kari traditions.
Their counsel advocates Aftab Alam and Omer Farooq were finally able to contact Rukhsna who was found to be at the Gothki Police Station. She told the lawyers that their life was in grave danger and the Gothki Police took them to Gothki. She said that they would appear before the Supreme Court in Karachi today.
On the other hand, the Margalla Police Station in Islamabad has no knowledge of any such activity having been undertaken by Gothki Police. “No such action can be under taken by the police of any other city in the jurisdiction of Islamabad Police without its permission,” said SHO Margalla Police Station Muhammad Hussain Lasi. Lasi said that it was good that the couple was in police custody.
Advocates Aftab Alam and Omer Farooq have filed a complaint about the disappearance of the couple with Margalla Police Station. “They never wanted to go to Sindh as they knew that they will get killed,” said Aftab. When contacted, in charge Gothki Police Station Alher Khan Abbasi came up with another mysterious story. He said that they caught the couple in Gothki and never went to Islamabad. When asked if they caught them from their homes, he said that “no we caught them from outside their homes.” He said that he had no idea how the couple arrived in Gothki. “We caught them only to obey the orders of the Supreme Court to produce them before the court.”
When asked to let ‘The News’ talk to Rukhsana, Alher Khan said that the couple was already in Karachi where they will appear before the Supreme Court. Munchee Ramazan at Gothki Police Station also confirmed that the couple was with them. “The whole area was on the verge of a big fight only because of a girl,” he said while talking to ‘The News’ on telephone. He said that they also have a case filed against the couple by Ameer’s brothers. “Rukhsana’s family is not letting Ameer’s family to harvest their crops or even come out of their houses only because of what the girl has done,” said Ramazan.
Rukhsana Bibi and Ameer Abbas Mehar belong to village Milan Mehar in Sindh’s District Gothki. Their community declared them ‘Kari’, as they decided to marry against the decision of the Sardars taken about 20 years ago. ‘Karo Kari’ or false allegations of illicit relationship, is the worst form of honour killing that prevails in interior Sindh.
According to statistics collected by Aurat Foundation, there were 475 cases of honour killing reported in 2008, of which 244 took place in Sindh. The story behind the marriage has its roots in another inhuman practice prevalent in the under developed parts of almost all provinces in which a girl is given in marriage contract to the aggrieved party to settle disputes.
In a similar exchange, Rukhsana’s hand was given to an already married member of another family in exchange of a murder committed by one of Rukhsana’s uncles. She was only three at that time. The decision taken by the then Sardar, Ali Gohar, had helped stop fighting between rival groups. Later, when Rukhsana got educated and was able to understand what happened to her, she asked her family to cancel the marriage. As expected, her brothers refused and forced her to obey the decision of the Sardar. Rukhsana was determined to take matters into her own hands. Her case became so famous in that area that no one dared propose to her, because everyone was aware of the consequences.
In one of their interviews with ‘The News’, the couple mentioned that in their area there is no law but only what the sardars want. “Even the police station follows their directives,” they said. Ameer Abbas said the lives of his family members are in grave danger and that they have stopped stepping out of their homes. “I proposed to Rukhsana because I knew that no one else was going to marry her,” he said pointing out that marrying her simply meant putting lives in danger.
When Rukhsana came to Bahawalnagar to attend a marriage in November 2008, the two went for court marriage. Later, they returned to their village where Rukhsana tried to convince her brother to accept their ‘nikah’ but they never took her seriously. Last Ramazan, they decided to marry her as per the orders of sardars. Rukhsana told ‘The News’ that they had no choice but to run away.
In Islamabad, the couple kept on moving from one hiding place to the other just to hide from the community people who, they alleged, were staying at the residence of Sardar Muhammad Buksh Meher in Islamabad. First they stayed in G 6 from where they had to run away after they were traced. They said that people from their area were continuously following them. The two approached the Women Crisis Centre but these centres only cater to women.
Rukhsana decided to stay with Ameer saying that his life was equally in danger. Despite knocking every possible door, the couple failed to receive any help or protection from the government during their stay in Islamabad. Their financial condition went from bad to worse. They kept contacting ‘The News’ to give updates on their condition. One of the senior correspondents tried to initiate mediation for the couple through an influential MNA from Sindh, but he said that it was almost impossible keeping in mind the strict tradition.
The last message ‘The News’ received from Rukhsana reflected the couple’s desperation. She said that she saw no solution but to commit suicide. The couple also met Federal Minister for Human Rights Syed Mumtaz Alam Gillani to seek protection but it turned out to be a disappointment as the ministry officials said that they could not even ensure their own security, how could they provide them protection, a source told ‘The News.’
Their counsels Aftab Alam and Omer Farooq told the scribe that Ameer visited them a day before their disappearance. He told them that their life was in grave danger. “Ameer said that the opposing party has filed a case against them in the Karachi Supreme Court bench alleging that Ameer has killed Rukhsana. “He said that the case has been filed so that they could be taken to that area on legal grounds to produce them before the court,” said Aftab Alam. The same day, the lawyers received a message from the couple informing them that their community had traced them. “Since then, there was no trace of the couple until regional news channels aired the news that Gothki police had caught them,” he added.
Now when the influential sardars have managed to win the first stage by bringing the couple to the areas they wanted under the protection of the police station they virtually run, lives of Ameer and Rukhsana is in the hands of the protectors of this centuries-old tradition. It seems the tradition will prevail yet again.
Source
==========
I think their tradition is so strong.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Mystery surrounds Poe-based play
By Robyn Bradley Litchfield • April 9, 2010
Magic, betrayal, forbidden love, tragedy, secrets and familial bonds -- you'll find it all in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's latest Southern Writers' Project world premiere.
"The Fall of the House" by Robert Ford previews today and Saturday, opens Sunday and runs through April 25.
Ford has said that "The Fall of the House," a play haunted by the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe, grew out of his fascination with "the secrets in our soil, our walls and our DNA, with how the past quietly shapes the present, with how the gross indecencies of that past still haunt us, and with how theater -- uniquely -- just might help run off the demons."
Sound mysterious?
There is a mystery, but ASF's artistic team is keeping it under wraps until the show opens and audiences can experience it for themselves.
ASF's producing artistic director, Geoffrey Sherman, was primarily drawn to the playwright's sheer literacy.
"His command of the language is quite extraordinary," Sherman said. "I was reminded of plays by the likes of Tom Stoppard immediately. Then, when we met, I discovered that he had based the play on some of Stoppard's work."
ASF associate director Nancy Rominger is directing this SWP production, and the cast is divided into two groups, the Past and the Present & Recent Past.
The Past comprises Erika LaVonn as Munny, Gerritt VanderMeer as Edgar Allan Poe, Margaret Loesser Robinson as Eliza Poe and Jonathan C. Kaplan as David Poe.
The Present & Recent Past comprises Angela K. Thomas as Janice Berry, Kaplan as Cage and Jack, Robinson as Wilson and Lucy, VanderMeer as the judge and social worker and Ta'Myia Narcisse-Cousar as young Janice and Linney. (Ta'Myia, by the way, is a 10-year-old Montgomery resident who attends Dozier Elementary School.)
Before rehearsal a few days ago, LaVonn said, "This is a fantastical piece that journeys over time. It explores loves lost and missed connections."
LaVonn spent more than three years on Broadway in "The Lion King" and recently appeared in ASF's production of "Nobody" by Richard Aellen.
Source
========
It's fun to read these great literary works with some mysteries and twist and turns involved.
Magic, betrayal, forbidden love, tragedy, secrets and familial bonds -- you'll find it all in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's latest Southern Writers' Project world premiere.
"The Fall of the House" by Robert Ford previews today and Saturday, opens Sunday and runs through April 25.
Ford has said that "The Fall of the House," a play haunted by the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe, grew out of his fascination with "the secrets in our soil, our walls and our DNA, with how the past quietly shapes the present, with how the gross indecencies of that past still haunt us, and with how theater -- uniquely -- just might help run off the demons."
Sound mysterious?
There is a mystery, but ASF's artistic team is keeping it under wraps until the show opens and audiences can experience it for themselves.
ASF's producing artistic director, Geoffrey Sherman, was primarily drawn to the playwright's sheer literacy.
"His command of the language is quite extraordinary," Sherman said. "I was reminded of plays by the likes of Tom Stoppard immediately. Then, when we met, I discovered that he had based the play on some of Stoppard's work."
ASF associate director Nancy Rominger is directing this SWP production, and the cast is divided into two groups, the Past and the Present & Recent Past.
The Past comprises Erika LaVonn as Munny, Gerritt VanderMeer as Edgar Allan Poe, Margaret Loesser Robinson as Eliza Poe and Jonathan C. Kaplan as David Poe.
The Present & Recent Past comprises Angela K. Thomas as Janice Berry, Kaplan as Cage and Jack, Robinson as Wilson and Lucy, VanderMeer as the judge and social worker and Ta'Myia Narcisse-Cousar as young Janice and Linney. (Ta'Myia, by the way, is a 10-year-old Montgomery resident who attends Dozier Elementary School.)
Before rehearsal a few days ago, LaVonn said, "This is a fantastical piece that journeys over time. It explores loves lost and missed connections."
LaVonn spent more than three years on Broadway in "The Lion King" and recently appeared in ASF's production of "Nobody" by Richard Aellen.
Source
========
It's fun to read these great literary works with some mysteries and twist and turns involved.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Honeybee Die-off Continues
Fast forward nearly two years and the problem has not abated. In fact, according to this just published article, it's gotten worse.
Honeybees are essential for pollinating huge swaths of agricultural farmland, including the tracts that sit in California's Central Valley. The bees are trucked in by the hundreds of thousands to pollinate the crops, then trucked off to another part of the country to do the same thing. Apparently this year, beekeepers had trouble finding enough viable hives to fill pollination requests in the San Joaquin Valley.
Not good news; no pollen = no food.
Now, a new study just out points to pesticide use as the most likely culprit. The researchers discovered that over 800 samples of wax and bee pollen contained 121 different types of pesticides within the samples. Bee experts worry that hive exposure to multiple pesticides--coupled with things like viruses, weather and poor nutrition--is the likely cause.
At a scientific conference held in San Francisco on Thursday, chemists hope to scrutinize the study findings and take a look at the bee die-off problem. They join U.S. federal, state and local agencies and environmental groups who are all scrambling to figure out why it's happening, and how it can be fixed.
We hope they figure it soon...for everyone's sake.
Source
===========================================================
Honeybee die-off is not a really a mystery, it's like the environment is talking to us that there is something and we must do something about it.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Mysterious Monkeys of Tampa Bay is A Facebook Phenomenon
Since then, the local media has latched onto the case, with the St Petersburg Times devoting a microsite to the primate. In recent days, the story has garnered national attention, and the most recent update to a Facebook Page for the creature indicates that there have been 15,000+ new fans added in the past day thanks to coverage on the Today Show and in USA Today.
Like other infamous Facebook fugitives, fans are posting wall comments in droves, encouraging the elusive monkey to continue to fight the good fight when it comes to evading authorities. There are also the requisite mock campaign posters and lolcats knock-offs. Of course, this is all made considerably more humorous by the fact that the subject of the Fan Page is, after all, a monkey.
Facebook’s favorite primate lists his personal interests as, “Bananas, swinging through trees, messing with the popo, flinging feces, screeching at the top of my lungs, and basically hanging out with my peeps. I am also interested in the theory of relativity, and post modern art. I also like the warm sun, a cold cervesa, and a nice grouper sandwich.”
Source
============================================================
Theses mysterious monkeys was really a phenomenon, having thousands of Facebook fans is one of the evidences.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Mystery continues | 'Your Story' heroine recognizes old farmhouse
Published: March 19, 2010 01:24 pm
Editor’s note: The introduction to “Your Story,” Volume II, takes place in an empty farmhouse in eastern Centre County, where the heroine and her husband are doing a walk-through with a real estate agent.
The heroine isn’t interested in the house until she comes upon a mysterious door at the back of the stairway landing.
No one had mentioned the door or what could possibly lie behind it, so the heroine turns the doorknob to find a cramped hallway with an oval window. A window that hadn’t been visible from the outside of the house.
The heroine ventures into the hallway, which has small, bare rooms on either side – possibly servants’ quarters from another time.
Outside the mysterious oval window, the heroine sees snow falling, not on the trees and fields outside the house, but on a city street.
Not able to believe what she is seeing, the heroine looks again and realizes she is looking upon Johnstown, where she had grown up.
In Chapter 1, Melissa, the heroine, is looking upon the Johnstown scene through the secret window she has discovered when she sees a bank sign flashing Feb. 20, 1975.
Intrigued, she rips the window open and climbs into her past to find that no one can see her – no one but an eerie young girl who tells her this place isn’t real.
This strange world isn’t from Melissa’s memory, but the past comes to unnatural life.
The girl tells her there is something she must see before even thinking of buying the Centre County farmhouse that seems a universe away now.
Melissa shakes her head and turns to go back to her own world, but the window has disappeared.
Chapter 2
BY SHANE MCGREGOR
Melissa wheeled back around, fearing the worst from her creepy new acquaintance.
She was surprised, however, to find those wide, icy eyes blankly looking back at her.
“Come on,” she beckoned. “I’ve got something to show you.”
They walked side by side in silence, the little girl one step ahead of Melissa so as to guide the way across the gray landscape of the Flood City.
The occasional passersby offered not even a wink in their direction.
The dirty soup of melting snow and laying gravel crackled on the sidewalks beneath their feet.
The silence became too much for Melissa.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
The little girl paused before answering.
“Oh … not too far away,” she replied.
“Just right … up … there.”
Her thin, icy finger stretched out in front of her, pointing toward the upcoming intersection a half block away.
“Cedar and Sparrow. The last place I ever saw in Johnstown.”
The words barely entered Melissa’s head before she froze at the sight in front of her.
A mirror image of the little girl strolled up to the intersection, pausing diligently to look both ways before crossing the street.
But the closer the little girl came, the more Melissa noticed something different about her.
Her floral-printed blouse and jumper were brighter, more lively, than the gloomy aura of Melissa’s temporary tour guide.
The cheery little girl was half-skipping down the sidewalk, smiling and humming a sing-song tune under her breath, when the van pulled up.
Dark gray, rusted, and creaking, the large van rubbed against the curb as it pulled up to the little girl and a window rolled down.
A scruffy voice, barely loud enough for Melissa to hear, called out to the little girl on the sidewalk.
“Sweetheart, I think I’m lost. Could you help me with some directions?”
The little girl paused, carefully surveying the situation, before telling the man she could.
“Oh, why thank you, sweetheart. I’m looking for Franklin Street …”
“That’s easy, mister – just keep going over the bridge,” the little girl piped up in response.
“What’s that you say?”
“Just keep going over the bridge, mister, it’s right over the –”
“I’m sorry, honey, my hearing is bad in my right ear – I’m an old man, you see. Would you mind stepping a bit closer?”
But the two little black shoes didn’t even make it to the curb before the passenger door swung open and a large, powerful hand grabbed the little girl by her tiny arm and yanked her into the van.
Melissa yelped in surprise just as a blood-curding scream unfurled from the little girl’s throat. The passenger door shut just as quickly as it opened, and the gray van sped off through the intersection.
Mortified, Melissa turned to the gloomy little girl still standing on her left.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What did they do –”
But the little girl beside her did not jump, did not scream, and did not panic at the sight – a moviegoer who has already seen the film.
“Take my hand,” the girl replied calmly.
She led Melissa over to the closest house on the street, an old brown box of a thing that had been abandoned for years.
Her pulse couldn’t help but quicken as the little girl cracked open the creaky door with one twist of the doorknob.
“Don’t be afraid,” said the little girl, expressionless.
“Just come in.”
Melissa closed her eyes as the little hand pulled her into the musty darkness.
Still shaken from the sight she had just witnessed, she wasn’t sure she could handle what might be waiting inside this house.
But the creaky, splintered floor that she expected to step onto never appeared.
“Is this grass?” Melissa opened her eyes at once, and the brightness of the scene surprised her.
This wasn’t a creaky old house in Johnstown.
Fifty yards ahead of her, a ramshackled farmhouse stood in the fading light of the sunset.
The house looked rundown and rustic – but familiar. Melissa turned to the little girl, hand still locked with hers, and was just about to speak when she recognized the house in front of her.
And just as she and her husband had done a few hours ago, an old, gray van rolled down the gravel driveway and parked next to the old farmhouse.
Writing Chapter 3
The Tribune-Democrat and the Centre Daily Times of State College are collaborating to bring another “Your Story” to the region’s writers.
To submit an entry, pick up the story thread where it ends today and take the story forward.
Submit your entry for Chapter 3, up to 700 words, by noon Friday.
Entries can be e-mailed to Renée Carthew, Features Editor, at rcarthew@tribdem.com; sent by fax to 539-1409; or mailed to The Tribune-Democrat, 425 Locust St., P.O. Box 340, Johnstown, Pa. 15907-0340.
Judges at each paper will pick two finalists each week and send them to an independent panel of judges that will pick the winner.
The winning chapter and a short story about the author will be published in both papers on April 4, and then the process will begin again.
The goal is a five-chapter story, and how it proceeds is up to you, the readers.
The ongoing story will appear on The Tribune-Democrat’s Web site – www.tribdem.com.
Source
==========================================
Maybe bit not satisfied and want more of this story, just go to the source and enjoy reading.
Editor’s note: The introduction to “Your Story,” Volume II, takes place in an empty farmhouse in eastern Centre County, where the heroine and her husband are doing a walk-through with a real estate agent.
The heroine isn’t interested in the house until she comes upon a mysterious door at the back of the stairway landing.
No one had mentioned the door or what could possibly lie behind it, so the heroine turns the doorknob to find a cramped hallway with an oval window. A window that hadn’t been visible from the outside of the house.
The heroine ventures into the hallway, which has small, bare rooms on either side – possibly servants’ quarters from another time.
Outside the mysterious oval window, the heroine sees snow falling, not on the trees and fields outside the house, but on a city street.
Not able to believe what she is seeing, the heroine looks again and realizes she is looking upon Johnstown, where she had grown up.
In Chapter 1, Melissa, the heroine, is looking upon the Johnstown scene through the secret window she has discovered when she sees a bank sign flashing Feb. 20, 1975.
Intrigued, she rips the window open and climbs into her past to find that no one can see her – no one but an eerie young girl who tells her this place isn’t real.
This strange world isn’t from Melissa’s memory, but the past comes to unnatural life.
The girl tells her there is something she must see before even thinking of buying the Centre County farmhouse that seems a universe away now.
Melissa shakes her head and turns to go back to her own world, but the window has disappeared.
Chapter 2
BY SHANE MCGREGOR
Melissa wheeled back around, fearing the worst from her creepy new acquaintance.
She was surprised, however, to find those wide, icy eyes blankly looking back at her.
“Come on,” she beckoned. “I’ve got something to show you.”
They walked side by side in silence, the little girl one step ahead of Melissa so as to guide the way across the gray landscape of the Flood City.
The occasional passersby offered not even a wink in their direction.
The dirty soup of melting snow and laying gravel crackled on the sidewalks beneath their feet.
The silence became too much for Melissa.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
The little girl paused before answering.
“Oh … not too far away,” she replied.
“Just right … up … there.”
Her thin, icy finger stretched out in front of her, pointing toward the upcoming intersection a half block away.
“Cedar and Sparrow. The last place I ever saw in Johnstown.”
The words barely entered Melissa’s head before she froze at the sight in front of her.
A mirror image of the little girl strolled up to the intersection, pausing diligently to look both ways before crossing the street.
But the closer the little girl came, the more Melissa noticed something different about her.
Her floral-printed blouse and jumper were brighter, more lively, than the gloomy aura of Melissa’s temporary tour guide.
The cheery little girl was half-skipping down the sidewalk, smiling and humming a sing-song tune under her breath, when the van pulled up.
Dark gray, rusted, and creaking, the large van rubbed against the curb as it pulled up to the little girl and a window rolled down.
A scruffy voice, barely loud enough for Melissa to hear, called out to the little girl on the sidewalk.
“Sweetheart, I think I’m lost. Could you help me with some directions?”
The little girl paused, carefully surveying the situation, before telling the man she could.
“Oh, why thank you, sweetheart. I’m looking for Franklin Street …”
“That’s easy, mister – just keep going over the bridge,” the little girl piped up in response.
“What’s that you say?”
“Just keep going over the bridge, mister, it’s right over the –”
“I’m sorry, honey, my hearing is bad in my right ear – I’m an old man, you see. Would you mind stepping a bit closer?”
But the two little black shoes didn’t even make it to the curb before the passenger door swung open and a large, powerful hand grabbed the little girl by her tiny arm and yanked her into the van.
Melissa yelped in surprise just as a blood-curding scream unfurled from the little girl’s throat. The passenger door shut just as quickly as it opened, and the gray van sped off through the intersection.
Mortified, Melissa turned to the gloomy little girl still standing on her left.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What did they do –”
But the little girl beside her did not jump, did not scream, and did not panic at the sight – a moviegoer who has already seen the film.
“Take my hand,” the girl replied calmly.
She led Melissa over to the closest house on the street, an old brown box of a thing that had been abandoned for years.
Her pulse couldn’t help but quicken as the little girl cracked open the creaky door with one twist of the doorknob.
“Don’t be afraid,” said the little girl, expressionless.
“Just come in.”
Melissa closed her eyes as the little hand pulled her into the musty darkness.
Still shaken from the sight she had just witnessed, she wasn’t sure she could handle what might be waiting inside this house.
But the creaky, splintered floor that she expected to step onto never appeared.
“Is this grass?” Melissa opened her eyes at once, and the brightness of the scene surprised her.
This wasn’t a creaky old house in Johnstown.
Fifty yards ahead of her, a ramshackled farmhouse stood in the fading light of the sunset.
The house looked rundown and rustic – but familiar. Melissa turned to the little girl, hand still locked with hers, and was just about to speak when she recognized the house in front of her.
And just as she and her husband had done a few hours ago, an old, gray van rolled down the gravel driveway and parked next to the old farmhouse.
Writing Chapter 3
The Tribune-Democrat and the Centre Daily Times of State College are collaborating to bring another “Your Story” to the region’s writers.
To submit an entry, pick up the story thread where it ends today and take the story forward.
Submit your entry for Chapter 3, up to 700 words, by noon Friday.
Entries can be e-mailed to Renée Carthew, Features Editor, at rcarthew@tribdem.com; sent by fax to 539-1409; or mailed to The Tribune-Democrat, 425 Locust St., P.O. Box 340, Johnstown, Pa. 15907-0340.
Judges at each paper will pick two finalists each week and send them to an independent panel of judges that will pick the winner.
The winning chapter and a short story about the author will be published in both papers on April 4, and then the process will begin again.
The goal is a five-chapter story, and how it proceeds is up to you, the readers.
The ongoing story will appear on The Tribune-Democrat’s Web site – www.tribdem.com.
Source
==========================================
Maybe bit not satisfied and want more of this story, just go to the source and enjoy reading.
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