Christian community protests burning of the Holy Quran

GAINESVILLE: The Christian community in Lahore protested against the proposal of a Florida church to burn copies of the Holy Quran.

Hundreds of Christians gathered outside the Lahore Press Club on Thursday and staged a protest against the plan.

They raised slogans against the authorities of the church and burned an effigy of the pastor.

Addressing the protestors, leaders of the Christian community said the Holy Books have descended from God and show the right path to humanity, it is the moral duty of every person to protect the Holy Books and pay respect to them.

The leaders said they will support Muslims in raising their voice for the honour of the Holy Quran.

Church defiant

The Church shrugged off global outrage and vowed to go ahead with a Quran burning ceremony amid growing fears it will ignite a wave of Islamic rage.

Condemnation rained down from top US officials, the military, the Vatican and other religious and world leaders, but the church refused to halt plans to torch the Islamic holy book on Saturday’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“As of this time we have no intention of canceling,” Pastor Terry Jones told a press conference here Wednesday, adding his evangelical church, the Dove World Outreach Center, had received numerous messages of support.

Jones had indicated he was praying for guidance on whether to go ahead with the incendiary event after warnings from US Afghanistan commander General David Petraeus that US and allied troops could be targeted in revenge.

“We understand the general’s concerns and we are still considering it,” Jones said, but swiftly added he had been contacted by a special forces soldier who told him “the people in the field are 100 percent behind us.”

I have always found women superior: Anil Kapoor

Actor and filmmaker Anil Kapoor is happy to see that women are finally getting their due in male-dominated Bollywood. And one girl in particular is making him proud – his younger daughter Rhea who has just wrapped up her first production, Aisha.

“I have always believed that women and men have different qualities and I have found women to be superior to men. If you see, my children have grown up so well, that’s because of their mother and not because of me,” said Kapoor.

Kapoor tied the knot in 1984.  He has a son called Harsh and two daughters – Sonam and Rhea.  “The way girls are coming up; taking charge, holding situations, calling the shots … at the age of 23, Rhea has made the whole film. I am very happy, not only for Sonam and Rhea, but for all girls,” he said.

Sonam Kapoor made her debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya in 2007 and also worked with the filmmaker on Black. She was next seen in Delhi-6 with Abhishek Bachchan and stars in the recently released I Hate Luv Storys.

Rhea, who worked as an assistant on the 2009 Ranbir Kapoor film Wake Up Sid, decided to remain behind the camera as a producer.

A supermodel prepares for Bollywood

Just what does it take a supermodel who is only part Indian, has lived in Australia and the US to get her act right in Bollywood? For Lisa Haydon, who stars in Aisha, the answer is “learning to speak Hindi minus an accent!”

“Well I had to work a lot on my diction. I had to speak dialogues in Hindi, something I wasn’t comfortable with. So when I grabbed the role in Aisha, I started taking Hindi classes,” Haydon says.

“I am still continuing with my Hindi classes because I am still learning to speak it fluently minus an accent,” she said.

Apart from these classes, the model-turned-actor is also watching Bollywood movies to increase her knowledge of Indian cinema and, of course, to improve her fluency in the language.

“I grew up watching films like Taal, but these days I have been watching Hindi movies religiously to brush up my cinema knowledge and learn it as well,” she said.

Jane Austen’s influence lives on

The author of novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma, Austen’s influence lives on till this day, given the number of adaptations that keep popping up.

The adaptations have become a part of popular culture, most notably, the Colin Firth ‘wet shirt’ scene from the BBC’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that has made millions swoon since it was first aired in 1995. The Guardian called the scene ‘one of the most unforgettable moments in British TV history’. Colin Firth’s wet shirt and the BBC adaptation, even features in Helen Fielding’s books Bridget Jones’ Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, as Bridget Jones and her friends are obsessed with the plotline and Firth’s role as Darcy.

Other prominent adaptations include Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, which had Emma Thompson, Rupert Everett, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant in the cast.

Bollywood hasn’t been immune from Austen’s influence either. A heavily critiqued desi adaptation of her work was Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice which starred Aishwarya Rai. The other major adaptation releases this August, called Aisha, which stars Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol. The film is an adaptation of Emma and is based on the lives of the upper crust in Delhi.

India claims, Pakistan denies that drill at Wagah toned down

While the Indian media said that the daily display of choreographed aggression by Pakistani and Indian soldiers at the Wagah border has been toned down because of knee injuries to the participants, the Pakistan Rangers denies the report.

The Hindustan Times quoted a senior Indian Border Security Force officer, Himmat Singh, as saying “We had proposed a lowering of the aggression in the gestures during the daily parade, and subsequently took a unilateral decision to implement that.

“Now, the Pakistan Rangers have also agreed to the proposal, and toned down their drill.”

However, spokesperson for Pakistan Rangers, Punjab chapter, DSP Nadeem Raza said that while it was agreed that Pakistani soldiers would refrain from aggressive staring and fist gesture, they would continue with the familiar boot stomping and “professionalism”.

The exaggerated boot-stomping that was a major feature of the ceremony had, Singh said, resulted in guards on both sides suffering “mild-to-severe” damage to joints, particularly the knees.

Collaborative cinema

Bollywood has spent the past few years capitalising on Pakistani talent. Whether its singers or actors, Pakistani artists have found success in India. Jawad Ahmad’s Virsa, which released this year, was a collaborative project. Up next for cross-border productions is Humayun Saeed’s joint venture Daag, with Bollywood veteran Mahesh Bhatt.

What sets their film apart is that unlike all previous India-Pakistan collaborations for which shooting took place abroad even when the story was set in Pakistan, Daag will be shot in the streets of Lahore and Karachi.

Initially titled Balla, the film Daag is being produced by Shahzad Naseeb and Samina, Saeed’s wife. The shooting of the film is set to kick-start soon and the script has been finalised. Written by Shagufta Rafique, the writer of Woh Lamhe and Jashnn, the film tells the story of a rape victim. It focuses on how she survives being rejected by society and the changed behaviour of friends and family.

The film will also mark Rafique’s debut as a film director.

“Humayun Saeed is a very famous Pakistani actor. He approached me to write a script. While I was working on the script, I realised that no one else would be able to express it (on screen) than me, because no one would be able to bring out the soul of this film better than I can. So I told Humayun that I want to direct it and he was kind enough to agree,” Rafique told IANS. She used to work in a bar and was discovered in Mumbai by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

When asked why she chose Pakistan as a backdrop for her directorial debut, Rafique said it was not planned.

India, Pakistan tone down high-kicking border show

NEW DELHI: A daily, goose-stepping display of choreographed aggression by soldiers on the India-Pakistan border has been toned down because of knee injuries to the participants, a report said Wednesday.

For years, the military flag-lowering ceremony that takes place every evening at the Wagah border post has drawn crowds of partisan tourists who cheer every hostile strut and stare traded by the border guards on both sides. Despite the ritualised hostility, the show and the atmosphere surrounding it is one of good-natured rivalry and, according to the Hindustan Times, the two sides have now reached an agreement to take things a little easier.

“We had proposed a lowering of the aggression in the gestures during the daily parade, and subsequently took a unilateral decision to implement that,” a senior Indian Border Security Force officer, Himmat Singh, told the Times. “Now, the Pakistan Rangers have also agreed to the proposal, and toned down their drill,” Singh said.

Musharraf’s political party launched

KARACHI: With self-exiled retired General Pervez Musharraf as its chief, the All-Pakistan Muslim League was launched by his close aides here on Tuesday.

Equating the present situation with that of 1906 when the All-India Muslim League was launched, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, a central leader of the new party, said that as the AIML overcame hurdles on its way to success, “God willing, ours would also become a popular political party and play its role in Pakistan’s progress.”

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club with retired Major-General Rashid Qureshi, another central leader of the party, Mr Saif said the party was against hereditary politics and would carry out its politics in a democratic manner to serve the people.

China likely to go ahead with nuclear deal

BEIJING: China is likely to go ahead with financing the construction of two nuclear power reactors in Pakistan despite concerns from certain quarters, Chinese experts have said.

A plan to build the reactors would be unveiled during a meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) being held in New Zealand, said an article published in the China Daily on Wednesday.

“This is not the first time China has helped Pakistan build nuclear reactors, and since it will be watched by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the deal is not going to have any problems,” said Zhai Dequan, the deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.

He said the US would not pressurise China too much because it has struck a nuclear deal with India. In 2008, the NSG, which represents 46 countries that control the world’s atomic trade, made an exemption allowing Washington to sell civil nuclear technology to New Delhi.

What’s wrong with this picture?

The vehement denials that have lately been pouring out of Islamabad with reference to Matt Waldman’s controversial discussion paper on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate’s embroilment with the Afghan Taliban offer little cause for surprise. Even a relatively milder indictment of the ISI’s role in Afghanistan would have been greeted with a dismissive counter-offensive.

At the same time, however, even a cursory perusal of the report demonstrates that what’s disconcerting about it goes well beyond the striking allegation that President Asif Zardari (whose name is consistently misspelt as ‘Zadari’ in the discussion paper) actually visited incarcerated Afghan Taliban in a Pakistani prison and harangued dozens of them for half an hour.