Individual Counts

Iran has imprisoned a consultant for George Soros’s Open Society Institute programs. Kian Tajbaksh becomes the fourth dual U.S.-Iranian national to be incarcerated, detained or put under house arrest in recent weeks.Tajbakhsh was picked up around May 11.

Tajbakhshhas worked with the Open Society Institute in Iran since 2004 and also has done work for the World Bank in Iran. Tajbakhsh worked on health and urban policy issues, most recently on AIDS prevention and drug addiction in Iran.His Web site says he taught urban policy and politics at the New School for Social Research from 1994 to 2001.

We would like to request our readers to join us in calling for an immediate release of Kian Tajbaksh.

This is what I got in the mail from RAWA just now:

Sanobar, 11-year-old daughter of Gulsha, an Afghan widow, has been abducted, raped and then exchanged with a dog by warlords in Aliabad district of Kondoz province in North of Afghanistan.

The suffering mother, while crying, says: “a month ago at 11 o’clock of night armed men entered my house and after beating and threatening me by gun, abducted my only daughter.”

She accused the District chief Malom Zafar Shah and a powerful warlord Commander Mehmood to be responsible for this crime.

Gulsha says later it was found that her daughter has been raped and exchanged with a dog and a sum of money to another person but her whereabouts are still unknown.

Both Malom Zafar Shah and warlord Mehmood are from the Northern Alliance and members of Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan led by Burhanuddin Rabbani (currently member of the Parliament). They have a long record of such crimes and brutalities against people of Kondoz.

Last  night  had the  unpleasant  experience of  watching  Rodedad  Khan  on Geo TV.The gentleman  said  the  following,

I told  President Ghulam Ishaque Khan that  a conspiracy was being hatched against him by Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif and  Opposition Leader Benazir Bhutto. They were cooperating within the Parliament  and Nawaz Sharif even sent Benazir flowers when she  was  blessed with a daughter.”

If  our Presidents have advisors like  Roedad Khan ,no wonder  this is the state of affairs of the country. And now  Mr. Roedad Khan has the gall to  call himself  a democrat.

Got back from Karachi yesterday .Among other  meetings  there (all boring  yawn…….)  there was  one interesting meeting with  Ameena Syed of the Oxford University Press.

They have a  fantastic office and  was  told that  a group of local artists  from Lahore  actually  lived  and worked in the building  for over  two months. The roof , flooring and walls  etc  were treated as canvases for  brillant and detailed  art work. I wish I could have  taken photographs  of the place but  after being 30 mins  late for the meeting (thanks to Pakistan International Airlines!) I  could’nt ask her.

What I did  ask  was how many  copies of a  book the OUP Pakistan prints? The answer. 1000. Yes, one thousand.

In a country of  160 billion, the OUP prints  one thousand  copies  of a book. Disgraceful.

No ,I have’nt  died if you were  wondering  where  I was  since the last post. I’ve  just  been  busy. Very very busy. First  with the  re-designing  of  the Individualland website ,  constituting its  Board of  Advisors  and  getting   Individualland  registered. This  I still have not  been able to do.  : (

I’ve  also been having  fun. Yes, with young people! Organized the  First Young Leaders Workshop which  finished  two days back. It was glorious. Young people  from different corners of Pakistan. They  were full of wonder but informed. They were  eager to  experience but not be brainwashed. They were open to ideas but not to bull shit. They were  fun. I also  introduced them to  the world of blogging . Some of their  posts can be found at the FreedomGatePakistan  blog. Not  bad for a start. A bit formal  but  they’ll  ease up I think. Well I hope.

Year  2007  will  for sure see me  working  with more young people. You can count on it.