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Pakistan: New Bill paves way for Islamic fascism

President appeals against the Bill

Shehzada Gustasip, opposition leader in the assembly of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), called it the "blackest day in the history of the province". On 15 July, the Assembly passed with 68 to 34 votes the Hisba Bill - a replica of the Taliban regime's notorious Department of Vice and Virtue - and paved the way for the rule of Islamic fascism. Strong protest from provincial opposition and central government could not stop it. Provincial governor Khalil-ur-Rehman declared he would not allow the province to be "Talibanized" and vowed to take every constitutional step to stop the implementation of the Bill, which clashes with the Constitution of Pakistan in many ways. The Attorney General filed an appeal on behalf of President Musharraf in the Supreme Court, Karachi Bench.

Bordering Afghanistan, the NWFP is a birth place of the Taliban and a traditional hotbed of fundamentalism. Since October 2002, it is ruled by a democratically elected fundamentalist coalition government. The new law empowers the chief minister of the province to establish a clerical guardian system and appoint Mohtasib mullahs, who have extraordinary judicial and executive powers and are in command of the newly created armed Hisba police, to enforce "Islamic values".

Some details about the new Hisba law:

According to the Consitution of Pakistan, "every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion" [article 20(a)]. In violation of this, the Mohtasib mullahs have powers to regulate the private lives of citizens, to enforce dress codes and gender segregation, praying and fasting at public places. They also punish children, who disobey their Islamic parents.

Spying and anonymous denounciation are encouraged: any citizen can complain to the Mohtasib mullah against any other person for not observing 'Islamic values' (section 10). Strict censorship on the media is implemented to ensure that they "promote Islamic values in the society" (section 10-c). Mohtasib mullahs are even in control of the assembly secretariat. Mohtasib mullahs have the powers of judges to superrior courts to punish anyone obstructing them or bringing the system in contempt (section 14). While there is the possibility of appealing to the high court for those condemned for contempt, there is no appeal possible against any other order of the Mohtasib mullahs (section 13). However, upon a written complaint to the chief minister, he "shall have the powers to pass any order as he deems appropriate" (section 13-4).

A special Provincial Islamic Advisory Council according to the model of Iran's all powerful Guardian Council will be created to guide the Mohtasib mullahs (section 15).

No court and no government authority, federal or provincial, can question the proceedings pending before the Mohtasib mullah or issue a stay order against it (section 21).

The Hisba police is bound to follow the orders of the Mohtasib mullah and is responsible only to him, not to the provincial police chief. (section 26). The creation of these new armed forces violates the Constitution [article 256].

The Hisba law overrides all other laws in force (section 31).

Pakistan's black Blasphemy Laws have to be eliminated

Dr. Younus Shaikh

In a message to the Friends of Rationalist International, Dr.Younus Shaikh, founder of the Pakistan rationalist organization Enlightenment and prominent victim of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, called for "elimination of these and of all other dreadful, draconian, religiously-motivated laws" in Pakistan. Dr. Shaikh, who had been sentenced death for alleged blasphemy and kept in jail for three years, was acquitted under the pressure of international protest. After fundamentalist threats to his life, he had to take asylum in Europe.

"Happy though I am to be free, I cannot forget that as long as the Blasphemy laws are on the statute books, they will continue to be misused", he said. "At this very moment there are at least 100 innocent people, victims of these black laws, languishing in various jails and lock-ups in Pakistan awaiting an uncertain future. It is a sad reflection on the state of society in Pakistan that even when individuals are exonerated, their lives may still be threatened by the fundamentalists and many will be forced to flee Pakistan. The state seems unable to provide us protection."

Dr. Shaikh also called for attention for the alarming developments in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, where the "political vision of brainwashed Islamic zombies" threatens to become reality.

Vatican gets ready for Evolution war

The Vatican seems to prepare its entry into the Christian fundamentalist war against Darwin's Theory of Evolution, which is raging in the USA and other countries. Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, archbishop of Vienna, fired the starting shot with an op-ed article in the New York Times on 7 July, in which he wrote candidly:

"Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not."

The article does not have the formal approval of the Vatican, Schoenborn said in an interview. But he got green light from the Pope himself, who is "angry" since many years about those Catholic writers and theologians, who "misrepresented" the position of the Church as endorsing the idea of evolution as a random process. In a meeting in March, the Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger, encouraged him to go ahead. Schoenborn is also in close contact with Mark Ryland, vice-president of the Discovery Institute in Seattle, who had urged him to write the article. The Discovery Institute is spearheading the aggressive campaign for the idea of "intelligent design", which argues the complexity of life could not be explained except through the intervention of a creator god. They try to drive the Theory of Evolution out from the biology curricula.

Cardinal Schoenborn is the right man to lead a Catholic attack on the foundation of modern biology. He is on the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic education. The office, he said, had no plans to issue new guidance for teachers in Catholic schools on evolution. In his opinion, students should simply be taught that evolution is "just one of many theories".

According to Darwin's Theory of Evolution, the history of life is driven by accidental mutation and natural selection of the fittest - a theory, which does not face any credible scientific challenge and is recognized as the foundation of modern biology.

Russia: Astrologer sues NASA

Russian astrologer Marina Bai has sued the US space agency for ruining her horoscope, reports the daily Izvestia.

On 4^th July 2005, NASA's spacecraft Deep Impact had punched a crater into comet Temple 1 and ejected a cloud of debris. Examining the eject, scientists hope to get clues about the formation of our sun system. The astrologer claims the comet crash "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe" and upsets her predictions. Her lawyer Alexander Molokkov sued NASA for damages totaling 8.7 billion rubles ($300 million) for Bai's "moral sufferings". The hearings in the case are expected to start by the end of the month.

Indian astrologer predicts collapse of US economy by August 2005

Of course, it will be Saturn again! Casting an evil spell over the USA, UK, India, Iran and Japan during July and August, the trouble maker planet will cause new and sensational catastrophes, predicts Lachman Das Madan, 82, well-known political astrologer in India. He sees another 9/11-type attack on the USA that will damage the country's major economic projects and cause the collapse of US economy by August 2005.

Madan and Saturn are not always to be believed. It was only last September that the octogenarian astrologer, who has been guiding the steps of top politicians including several Indian prime ministers, committed an embarrassing blunder by loudly predicting split and fall of the new Indian coalition government, caused by "Saturn in the ascent".

Back in 1995, Sanal Edamaruku exposed Madan in a popular TV talk show, documenting some of his major flops. Soon followed the "Great Astrology Challenge" in the talk show Question Forum, during which Edamaruku put the astrologer's prediction skills to a fool-proof test. Madan failed miserably. But he never stopped making great claims.

A few days after the London bomb blasts, Madan claimed also that he has predicted the terror attacks in May. As a proof, he produces an issue of his self-published magazine Baba Ji, in which one can read in black and white that Saturn, changing his position on June 6, would cause "serious transport accidents in London within one month". As always, when Madan "proves" his timely forecast of a major world event with some backdated issue of his magazine, there is nobody who remembers to have seen this issue before.

[Click here to read more about the "Great Astrology Challenge" in the TV show Question Forum.]