Muslim Parents face prosecution over school ‘Gay Week’ protest

By Majed Iqbal- Muslim parents who withdrew their children out of school to prevent them being taught about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender relationships are facing prosecution.



The East London primary, George Tomlinson School, has hit the headlines when around 30 pupils were absent from a week of special lessons to highlight non-heterosexual partnerships.

The row has once again bought the debate forward to the suitability of such explicit subjects, which were once introduced in the late years of High School some years back and are now being exposed and presented to young children at Primary Level.

As part of the ‘learning' process, students were planned to watch a special adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet retitled Romeo and Julian. Stories covered in the lessons at George Tomlinson School included a fairytale about a prince who turns down three princesses before falling in love with one of their brothers and the tale of Roy and Silo - two male penguins who fall in love.

Death is in the air

By New Blog writer Zaythoun Suleman- I completed this article four hours before Death came to take Jade Goody's life, hearing the news of her death this morning sent chills down my spine as I truly felt that Death was in the air when I clicked the send button at around 11.30pm. I had introduced this article with the question of not knowing how long she had left in this world...



Jade had prepared for death, by requesting that she be buried in her £3,500 ivory silk wedding dress worn at her wedding to Jack Tweed and having her funeral cortege travel through Bermondsey in South London. It makes me think how long we have and what preparations we are making for our own death.

We watch others dying every day. The harrowing pictures of innocent brothers, sisters and children from Gaza murdered by the Israeli army are still imprinted on the minds of many.

Quite recently, Natasha Richardson who starred in Parent trap lost her life after a skiing accident. Wendy Richard from Eastenders lost her life to cancer and Tony Hart from Take Hart and Hartbeat (The kids programme with Morph the movable plasticine figure who lived in a wooden pencil box!) helped many kids to draw, died from fading health after suffering strokes.

We hear songs about it, one of my favourites is Ahmad Bukhatir‘s chilling "last breath". It reminds me of the loss of loved ones that leaves us with an empty space. No matter how hard we cry they cannot return. We can almost visualise the soul flying from the body as the heart monitor makes its monotonous rhythm and all that remains is the outer case. We never forget the ones who leave us; we just learn to live without them. With the loss of parents, it feels like the shade that was once there is lifted and the rain falls directly onto our heads.

ASIAN LEADER ARTICLE- The Long March Episode- Democracy and Dictatorship- Two sides of the same coin?

The following article was published in the asian Leader newspaper which critically looked at the long march and the deepening problems and crisis that both Democracy and dictatorship has brought for Pakistan.



The article can be read here. The newspaper can be accessed on the Look Asia website.

ASIAN LEADER ARTICLE- Government document says you are an Extremist

The following article was published in the Asian Leader Newspaper which critically evaluated the new government plans for the Muslim Community in tackling Extremism.



The full article can be read here. The newspaper can be accessed on the Look Asia Website.

The Long March Episode- Democracy and Dictatorship- Two sides of the same coin?

By Majed Iqbal- The weekend in Pakistan saw the much awaited long march take its turn to add itself onto the list of the on-going Political crisis plaguing the country.



President Zardari had pledged to reinstate the deposed Chief justice Mr Chaudhry, who had been removed by Musharraf in the November state of emergency, within 30 days of taking office, but reneged on the promise, fearing the justice would re-open the case of alleged corruption by his late wife Benazir Bhutto and him over which immunity was granted by Musharraf in a potential power sharing deal.

The election of the PPP in power in January and the ‘in-house' move of Zardari to Presidency saw him back down on his promise during the elections of re-instating the deposed judges if the PPP won.

Whilst Musharraf was in power we saw parties rally around the message that dictatorship was bad for the country and that is should be removed to guarantee ‘real' progress. The message was not just for Musharraf but anyone with similar ambitions for dictatorial rule which had caused havoc in the country through the pursuance of the war on terror with no consultation from the national assembly, rasing juniors in army ranks above seniors who were more loyal to Musharraf, sending the heads of the two opposition parties into exile and sacking judges who could contest President Musharraf's authority as un-constitutional.

VIDEO- Why do Pakistanis resent America?

Pakistan has been at the crux of the War on Terror and has been described as an indispensable ally by the Americans. However, the Pakistani population has been distant from the government and showed signs of concern on the special relationship which the US enjoys. The following video questions America and its policies towards Pakistan and the Muslim World in general.



Will America allow countries like Pakistan to develop its own Political future? Watch the video further.

Leaked Government document “Contest 2” says you are an Extremist

By Majed Iqbal- The Muslim community has been taken back by a new leaked document by the government which plans to ban traditional Islamic ideas, equating them with extremism.



The document titled ‘Contest 2' was leaked to the press last month in the Guardian Newspaper and covered on a BBC Panorama episode where the classification of an extremist was broadened to include anyone whose views do not correspond to the ‘government' definition of shared British values.

The new proposals in the leaked document plan to tackle people who are not involved in violence or support terrorism. Under the current proposals, British Muslims would be considered "extremist" if they advocated non-participation in UK elections, called for the creation of a caliphate, promoted Shariah for the Muslim world and argued that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.

Additionally, extremist views would include supporting armed resistance by Palestinians against Israel as seen in the current Gaza conflict - and a failure to condemn the killing of British service personnel in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Lahore attack on the Sri-Lankan cricket team- Who did it?

By Majed Iqbal- Once again Pakistan is placed onto the international centre stage following the attack on the Srilankan cricket team. The immediate response from the international community and commentators seemed to implicate ‘extremists' operating in Pakistan without even a shred of evidence; an approach no different to the Mumbai attacks where India was the judge, jury and executioner in pointing the fingers at Pakistan and building a case of declaring it a failed state and a sponsor of Terrorism.



Both the US and India, helped by many other countries have actively used any semblance of any issue to declare Pakistan as an unstable state requiring international intervention.

India spearheaded a campaign to convince several countries to sever sports relations with Pakistan and put tremendous pressure on Sri Lanka not to send its cricket team to play here.

The latest attack on Pakistani soil raises many questions on who could be behind the attacks and why against sri-lankans? Pakistan has had conducive relationships with this country and was instrumental in bringing it to the international cricketing stage.

ASIAN LEADER Article- America uses Pakistani Airbases to strike at Pakistan’s Citizens

The following article was published in the Asian Leader newspaper exposing the collaboration of the Pakistani government with America in using Pakistani soil to launch strikes both within Pakistan and Afghanistan; something which the Pakistani government ha s been in denial about for years.



The article challenges the notion about the independance of the newly democratically elected government of Pakistan. Who is calling the shots? is is islamabad or Washington?

Read the full article on the blog here. Alternatively, access the newspaper online on the Look Asia Website

POEM- '3/3'

POEM- '3/3' By Poet 786

That was the day we shall remember forever
When they said the Giant will arise again never

When the skies over the Ummah became clouded
When the Qur'an was in a dark cloth shrouded

The light of the world was now extinguished
The darkness could no longer be distinguished

They claimed the sun shall never set in their Empire
They declared our defeat & fulfilled their evil desire

They had eventually rid themselves from the "Sick-man"
They began to carve out our land handspan by handspan

Our body ripped into pieces as the predators attacked
Awaiting like vultures our rulers watched and backed

America uses Pakistani Airbases to strike at Pakistan’s Citizens

By Majed Iqbal- What has been speculated by many and under denial for years by the previous Musharraf government and now the new Zardari government has now come to surface. Pakistani soil and airspace has and is still being used by America to launch strikes both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.



The US was secretly flying unmanned drones from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's south western province of Baluchistan as early as 2006, according to an image of the base from Google Earth.

The image, that is no longer on the site but initially obtained by The News, Pakistan's English language daily newspaper, shows what appear to be three Predator drones outside a hangar at the end of the runway. The Times also obtained a copy of the image, whose co-ordinates confirm that it is the Shamsi airfield, also known as Bandari, about 200 miles southwest of the Pakistani city of Quetta.