OPINIONS - 2012
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Strong mandate for fast-track judicial process for cases of sexual violence. By Bobby Ramakant

Gender-sensitive judiciary and police administration, stronger laws, faster legal process to give judgement within six months, protection and social support for those sexually violated, were among some of the key demands getting the mandate of key discussants at the open forum on 'what needs to chan

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Tribute to Braveheart. By Shobha Shukla

As her violent demise stuns us into silence, and as we hang our head in shame, it also awakens our dead instincts into a quiet but determined uprising, demanding what should have been rightfully ours—a respectable place in society where the dignity of women is not violated day in and day out. We do

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Awake Social Conscience To Stop Rape. By Father Anand Muttungal

It is said that the recorded history of incident of rape goes back to 508 BC where the Sextus the son of Roman King raped a noblewoman Lucretia , following which she is said to have committed suicide. From then on there have been numberless sexual crimes reported across the world. Rape has been defi

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Smoking Is A Big Health Risk For Women. By Dr Shoma A Chatterji

It is said that women who are addicted to cigarettes and other tobacco products are at increased health risks by reason of their biology. Since women biologically conceive and produce children, a coating of tar on their lungs, poisoning due to carbon monoxide or arsenic, or the chemicals that go int

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Musings on Liberation Day. By Eduardo Faleiro

On December 19, we celebrate the Liberation of Goa from colonial rule. With the Liberation of Goa, independent India became complete. Last year the Golden Jubilee of Goa Liberation was celebrated in both Houses of Parliament and a portrait of Dr. Tristao Braganza da Cunha, the Father of Goan Nationa

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Difficult Christmas for Asia Bibi and Younis Masih

This will be Asia Bibi’s fourth Christmas in prison. The mother of five was arrested for blasphemy in 2009 and has been in prison ever since. In November 2010 she was sentenced to death and two senior ministers who spoke in her defence – Salman Taseer and Shabhaz Bhatti – were assassinated by Isla

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High Time for the Church to introspect. By R. L. Francis

Five years ago, Christians and a large number of Tribals suffered heavy losses due to riots in Kandhamal. Thousands were displaced from their homes and had to migrate to safer places. Now, however, their lives are coming back on track.
Yet it is not only in Odisha that Christians lack cordial ties

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Rejoice For Giving Birth And Bringing Life To This Earth. By Shobha Shukla

A consultation, to draft a policy to correct the trend of declining sex ratio for the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was organized by ActionAid and Saajhi Duniya. UP has a dismal sex ratio of 908 and a child sex ratio of 899, which is even worse than the corresponding national average of 940 and 914

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Change The Old Order—Stop These Barbaric Acts. By Shobha Shukla

Even as the Delhi gang rape victim—a 23-year-old paramedical student--who was gang raped, tortured and thrown out from inside a moving bus on the night of 18th December, 2012--- lies in a critical condition on a ventilator support system and battles for her life at the Safdarjung hospital:
- TV ch

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TB Alliance to Develop Pediatric TB Drugs With Support From UNITAID

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading killer of children, particularly in resource-poor settings, though the true size of the problem is unknown. Estimates of the number of children who contract TB annually range from 300,000 up to 1 million; more than 60,000 die each year but many deaths go unreported, es

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If Jesus Is Born For You? (Church Restoration Series XIII) By Father Anand Muttungal

A meditation upon the memory of the birth of Jesus Christ is the need of the hour. It often surprises me that how the Anointed and Chosen one of God who asked His disciples to penetrate the spirituality into the daily life has been caged into a subjective spirituality. Lord Jesus was a spiritual rev

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Down With Formula Milk And Tobacco For A Healthy World! By Shobha Shukla

During the last three decades, the World Health Assembly (WHA) agreed upon two interventions, which can have far reaching and lasting impacts on global health, if implemented (and not merely endorsed) in their true spirit and letter by the member states. The first one is The International Code of Ma

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People Are Leading Longer But Sicker Lives. By Shobha Shukla

This is one of the main findings of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010) - a collaborative project conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington to quantify the trends in the world’s health problems. The report will be formally rele

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Inter Religious Harmony. By Eduardo Faleiro

Pope Benedict XVI is reported to have raised the question of religious freedom at a meeting with our Ambassador to the Vatican. At this meeting the Pope praised India's traditions of freedom and inter-religious harmony. Freedom of religion is the right to maintain one's religion or to change it with

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Fall of Dacca. By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

December 16 comes every year to haunt the nation, particularly those few remaining who were witness to the debacle. I had the misfortune to be one. On this day the Quaid’s Pakistan, which was considered an epitome of ‘Divided we Stand’, got actually divided by breaking lose all bonds of unity betwee

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Come Join The Fight... By Shobha Shukla

….to protect every feeding mother and her infant from man-made milk as babies need only the Mom-made one. This was the theme of the 1st World breastfeeding Conference 2012 which was hosted jointly in Delhi by the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), International Baby Food Action Network

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ANALYSIS: Can Uganda achieve zero new HIV infections and AIDS deaths by 2015? By Kakaire Ayub Kirunda

"Getting to zero: Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths," is the theme for World AIDS Days between 2011 and 2015, in line with a new global vision being spearheaded by UNAIDS. Whether all countries, regardless of the size of their epidemic and level of development,

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Operational strategy to stop TB despite tight purse strings. By Bobby Ramakant

As the rich countries are still recovering from the economic depression, health financing is surely one of the casualties. Everyone rightly wants most value for every penny spent and tuberculosis care and control is one of the smart investments countries can make when purse strings tighten. That is

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Meeting the targets: Are we doing better in HIV than in TB? By Shobha Shukla

Well, perhaps yes. While talking to Citizen News Service - CNS at the 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health in Kuala Lumpur Mark Harrington, Executive Director of Treatment Action Group (TAG), wondered why we are doing better in responding to HIV, which was discovered only in 1981 and for which

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Tuberculosis Control: Are We On Our Way? By Shobha Shukla

Dr Nils E Billo, has been Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) since 1992 when it was a very small organization with just about a dozen staff and consultants, who focused on tuberculosis. During this long stint, spanning over two decades, Dr

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Church as a Consolation of Old Age. By Ricardo Gutiérrez Ballarín

Life expectancy is growing, and in Europe, there will be more old people. Now, a person of 70 years can still do a lot of things. But it is clear that the body deteriorates over time. They say that aging begins to manifest in many ways at 50. For example, the muscular system atrophies and its force

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Spotlight on Tuberculosis control in Thailand. By Shobha Shukla

(Based on an exclusive interview Citizen News Service - CNS did with Dr Sirinapha Jittimanee, Public Health Officer, Tuberculosis Bureau, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand)
Thailand is one of the 22 TB high burden countries in the world. According to the WHO Global

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'When a virus (HIV) and bacteria (TB) can work so well together, why can't we?' 1st December: World AIDS Day. By BOBBY RAMAKANT

Words of UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Michel Sidibe which I heard first at the Stop TB Partners' Forum in 2009: 'When a virus (HIV) and a bacteria (TB) can work so well together, why can't we?,' still hold true as all countries where TB and HIV co-infection is setting off alarm bells haven't yet ful

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Top-five critical global priority actions on AIDS in 2013. By BOBBY RAMAKANT

World AIDS Day: 1st December
A new report argues that despite considerable advances in the fight against AIDS, the world is already falling behind pace in the effort to begin ending AIDS. But it doesn't have to be that way - according to the assessment in this report, the top-five critical actions

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Addressing The Double Burden of TB-Diabetes: Better Late Than Never. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

The association between tuberculosis - TB (a communicable disease) and diabetes (a non-communicable disease) and their synergetic role in causing human suffering has been recognized for centuries but recent studies have undoubtedly established a more direct link between the two. Realizing the gravit

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Civil Society Call For Urgency In TB Control. By Shobha Shukla

Kuala Lumpur: Some 100 TB activists marched through the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on the afternoon of 14th November 2012, landing at the opening ceremony of the 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health, just as delegates from over 120 countries were taking their seats in the Plenary Hall. The

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Bi-directional TB Diabetes Screening in India and China: World Diabetes Day, 14 November

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Diabetes Foundation in association with the Indian government conducted a pilot project this year screening more than 8,000 tuberculosis patients for diabetes, and over 10,000

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Despite the odds, countries adopt illicit trade protocol of global tobacco treaty

Today government delegates from across the world adopted the illicit trade protocol of the global tobacco treaty – the world’s first public health and corporate accountability treaty - but not without a fight from Big Tobacco. In the lead up to the Seoul negotiations, the World Health Organization,

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Uganda in plan to vaccinate 3 million children against pneumonia, World Pneumonia Day, 12th November, Lung Week: 12-17 November

Ms Mary Musoke of Kampala in Uganda is expecting to have her third born child in late March or early April 2013, making the delivery timely for the newborn to get its Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), which debuts in the Uganda public health system for free. Due to the high disease rates of the

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Call For A Comprehensive Approach To Childhood Pneumonia: Lung Week is 12-17 November

According to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), child pneumonia remains a major threat to children under 5 years of age despite the great potential of the pneumococcal vaccine. “Pneumococcal vaccine is an important intervention that is already in use and highl

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Patients Overturn First Ever Product Patent On Medicine In India. By Shobha Shukla

The growing trend by Asian countries to allow local production of cheap generic drugs got another feather in its cap recently in India. In a landmark victory for patients’ groups fighting against patents to ensure access to medicines, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), while holding t

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Preventing an epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis in India. By DR MADHUKAR PAI

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of India's oldest and perhaps most neglected public health challenges. It is a disease caused by bacteria that are spread from person to person through the air. Chronic cough (for more than 2 weeks) and fever are the most important symptoms of TB. When a person with TB cough

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TB and Diabetes Linkage Calls for An Integrated Response. By Chief K Masimba Biriwsha

With diabetes largely associated with over-consumption of sugar by many Zimbabweans, it is hardly surprising that its link to tuberculosis (TB) is hardly a public health matter. TB kills more than 3,500 people each day worldwide, leading to approximately 1.4 million deaths every year. One-third of t

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Beware: All Forms of Tobacco Are Harmful. By Shobha Shukla

The Smokeless Tobacco Association, the All India Kattha Factories Association and the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Ltd have suddenly assumed the responsibility to inform people about the relative merits of gutkha over cigarettes. Their bold and blatant advertiseme

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The Noble Peace Prize for 2012 is Unquestionable. By Dr. Stephen Gill

The peace prize awarded by the Nobel Committee to the European Union in 2012 has outraged and baffled many, and many more have derided it as shameful, absurd, satirical and a joke. The reason for derision of the European Union is its heavy debt and the dissatisfaction of some of its members who hav

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Health Programmes must collaboratively address TB–Diabetes. By Bobby Ramakant

With growing strong evidence on the dangerous communion between tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes in India, government health programmes must no longer delay implementing TB-diabetes collaborative activities. “Like the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the diabetes epidemic threatens to cause an escalation in TB inci

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The Dangerous Communion of Tuberculosis and Diabetes. By Shobha Shukla

In 2011 India had 61.3 million people living with diabetes (17% of the global incidence of 366 million) with 983,000 deaths (20% of the global figure of 4.6 million) attributable to the disease. India also accounts for 21% of the global incidence of tuberculosis (TB) with 1.98 million people develop

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How I can truly be saved? By Khalid Soomro

How can we be saved? What can we do to become guiltless in the sight of God after having committed countless sins? How can we escape the enslaving power of sin? Everyone of us needs answers to these questions, for we all have sinned and live far away from God our creator.
The teaching of the Bible,

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Playing with the fire in Pakistan. By SHAMIM MASIH

Pakistan's blasphemy laws may be used to punish Muslims suspected of ransacking a Hindu temple, an intriguing twist for a country where harsh laws governing religious insults are primarily used against supposed offenses to Islam, not minority faiths.
The blasphemy laws, sections of which carry the

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New Interventions To Treat Diabetic Foot Infections. By Shobha Shukla

In an exclusive interview given to Citizen News Service onsite at the Amrita Endocrinology, Diabetes and Diabetic Foot Conference (AEDFC 2012) held recently at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) in Kochi, two renowned and senior stalwarts of the institute’s Department of Endocrinology,

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Are Christians in Pakistan living in a healthy environment? By Olive Anees

Are Christians in Pakistan live in a healthy environment? Even a little kid can answer it. I leave answer to my readers in the light of facts and figures.
One of the facts is that, in Pakistan, our forefathers have been contributing a lot in the uplift of the community of Pakistan. Christian tod

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Mary, the Virgin, A Sign of Allah (A real Ayatollah)

Whoever reads the Qur'an carefully, finds in it unique verses and striking expressions about Christ and his mother:
"She guarded her virginity, so we breathed into her of our spirit and made her and her Son a sign to the worlds" (Sura al-Anbiya' 21:91).
In a sereis of Old Testament prophets, the V

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The Ten Miracles of Christ, In The Qur'an, How Can We Use What The Qur'an Says About Christ?

The miracles of Christ – a proof of his divine mission?
Muhammad wanted to win the Christians on the Arabian Peninsula for Islam. So he testified to them what he had heard about Jesus from Christian slaves, from delegations of the churches in North Yemen, from travelers from Ethiopia, and from his

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GANDHIAN WAY TO PRODUCE A SYMPHONY OF HEARTS. By Dr. Stephen Gill

The United Nations declared the Second of October as the International Day for nonviolence. This day is to remember also Mahatma Gandhi who was born on the second of October and also others who came into this world to write a new chapter in human era. As Moses, such persons lead the leaderless

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Human Rights and Human Wrongs. By Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

Our human civilization faces the great challenge of seeking to defend our inherent human rights, dignity, respect, safety, and lives for our brothers and sisters in humanity. We must defend these rights, lives, and dignity from those extremists who do not respect these universal human rights. But to

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MDR-TB, tobacco control, Lung diseases to be in focus at 2012 global meet. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

More than 3,000 lung health experts and advocates from countries around the world will come together at the 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to discuss the latest opportunities and challenges in the fight against lung disease. The conference organised by the Int

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Never Fall In Love With Technology... By Shobha Shukla

So said Dr Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, in an exclusive interview given to CNS onsite at the AIDS Vaccine 2012. Underlining the importance of understanding the complexities of science and community, he emphasized that, “None of the HIV/AIDS prevent

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Look At Your Feet And Listen To Them. By Shobha Shukla

A three day Amrita Endocrinology, Diabetes and Diabetic Foot Conference (AEDFC 2012) was recently held in Kochi at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). It brought together clinicians, surgeons and researchers from across the country and the world to re-energize the grey cells and deliber

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The Sinai Question could derail Egypt and Israel relations. By Pierre Leblanc and Lee Jay Walker

The new government of Egypt fully understands that the gIsraeli Questionh remains potent in this nation because of sympathy towards the Palestinian cause. At the same time the new government of Egypt faces many internal and external issues and for political leaders in Israel these are delicate tim

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PARENTING FOR PEACE. By Dr. Stephen Gill

*Legislation of parenting is for the sake of world peace. Those who think that procreation is every one’s birth right is wrong. As a result of this thinking, human population is growing much faster than the population of animals. In this age when crime is on the increase, along with poverty and popu

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People march against Ansar al-Sharia in Libya and demand an end to various militias. By Lee Jay Walker and Murad Makhmudov

The death of the US Ambassador Christopher Stevens, other American personnel and Libyans who tried to protect them continues to cause reverberations in this country. Many Libyans were genuinely shocked by the brazen Islamist attack which killed individuals who were supportive of the mixture of rebel

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Dagestan in the Russian Federation and Islamism: self-defense units on the agenda. By Jibril Khoury and Lee Jay Walker

The Russian Federation in the Caucasus region continues to be challenged by Islamism whereby two powerful forces are at play. One applies to the Islamist dream of dismantling parts of the Russian Federation in order to impose Sharia Islamic law and unify various different ethnic groups which are mai

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An open letter to the distinguished scholars of Islam. By Professor Salamat Akhtar, Chairman, All Pakistan Christian League

The film on the life of Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a black spot on the fair name of Humanity.
Dear distinguished scholars,
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord, the one true God.
We wish to notify to make the record straight that the Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, The Prince Of P

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Islamists and Chinese nationalists are using violence in order to intimidate. By Joachim de Villiers and Lee Jay Walker

The world appears to be going through a stage whereby blatant intimidation is being used in order to justify ignorance and hatred. Issues related to Chinese nationalism over a territorial dispute with Japan and Muslims killing mainly fellow Muslims over a minor video clip have both ushered in the fo

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Salafists killing Sufi leaders in the Russian Federation: Syria and the mosaic also threatened. By Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker

The conflict in Syria may appear to be distant from the lives of American nationals and the same applies to France and the United Kingdom. Yet the national governments of these nations are all tacitly supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA) against the government of Syria. However, for the Russian Fe

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Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision partially protects against HIV, HPV and Herpes. By Bobby Ramakant

Modeling based on a timeline where 80 percent coverage of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) of men age 15-49 is achieved by 2015 suggests that more than 20 percent of new HIV infections would be averted by 2025, with financial savings of an estimated USD 16.6 billion in future medical costs

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Historical Karachi to Islamabad Mohabbat-e-Sindh Train March and Sit in of Sindhis in front of Parliament house Islamabad. By: Kalavanti Raja

In continuity of several Mohabat-e-Sindh Rallies in all the districts of Sindh including Karachi, Dynamic Leader Rasool Bux Palijo led Awami Tahreek launched 03 days Mohabat-e-Sindh Train March started from Karachi with message of love to all people of Pakistan, awareness of Sindh issues and receive

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Avoid Amputation: Manage The Diabetic Foot. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

India is home to the second highest number of people living with diabetes in the world, after China. Today there are over 45 million people grappling with the disease, and the numbers show no signs of reducing. Amongst other health hazards, diabetes often leads to peripheral vascular disease, involv

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Combination Prevention: Can it turn the HIV tide? By Bobby Ramakant

If we really want to turn the HIV tide, we cannot afford to wait for a 'magic bullet', but do a better job with a broad range of HIV prevention and treatment tools and approaches at hand. The good news is that there is a growing list of evidence-based HIV prevention approaches that should be scaled

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Further Shia – Sunni bloodshed in Syria will immensely harm Islam. By Hem Raj Jain

Ref:- (i)- Christians, Chinese, Hindus will not take initiative to solve Syria problem. Muslims will have to take initiative on unconventional lines.
(ii)- Shia (Alawites) regular army and Rebels from 70 % Sunni population bound to make Syria civil war, most brutal.
(iii)- Another 10,000 to 20,000

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Indoor Air Pollution Not A Public Health Issue in Zimbabwe. Chief K Masimba Biriwasha

LOVING memories of my grandmother’s cooking hut in the backyard of Zimbabwe are still fresh inside me like morning dawn. Yet, I also remember how the hut would fill up with smoke that choked my throat and stung my eyes and how I sat through it all enjoying a meal or engaged in conversation with love

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Dalit Hindus in Peril in Pakistan. By Chander Kumar Kolhi,

Dalit community in Pakistan is the native on this land who are accommodating themselves for the last more than 5000 years. In actual in Pakistan Hindu community is considered as in minority but in Hindus the majority is that of Dalits i.e., more than 85% of the total population of Hindus is Dalit. T

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Pakistan blasphemes Islam. By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam

There is no Arabic word for blasphemy. Is that not interesting? English translators in their interpretative translations have translated the Arabic word kufr as blasphemy in several verses. There are twenty three verses in the Quran that contain the word blaspheme or its grammatical variants in Yusu

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“Faith in the Public Square” Sermon by The Very Rev. Canon P Augustine, D.Min., Rector

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 2, 2012, Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin
James 1: 17-27
Faith in the Public Square
LORD OF ALL POWER AND MIGHT, the author and giver of all good
Things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us

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The Sick House Syndrome: Indoor Air Pollution. By Shobha Shukla

Scene 1: A brick walled house in a narrow by lane of a typical urban slum of Lucknow. A small open veranda leads to two small, dingy and damp rooms, with no access to sunlight, and hardly any ventilation. One of the rooms doubles up as a kitchen, which has a chulha (mud stove) run on wood fuel. The

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An introduction of Deobandi sect and its branches (Part 1), By Ata Us Salam

Nowadays Khatm-e-Nabuwwat group of Deobandis is very active in the United Kingdom. A large popularity and financial strength has made them well active and organized in this country. This group was come into being with only one point agenda and that was to wipe out Ahmadiyya movement. Every day they

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Save Rimsha Masih; By Prof. Mobeen Shahid, Pontificia Università Lateranense, Italia

Rimsha is 13 years old and is the youngest in the family. She has a brother and a sister and both parents are alive but now, along with their two children, are forced to live in hiding.
Rimsha, who suffers from a mental disorder, was playing in the courtyard of their home when in the yard of their

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An infidel Pakistani: By T.G. Matthew

I believe that I love Pakistan because every day reading different Pakistani newspapers, watching Pakistani talk shows, writing E mails to columnists and talk show hosts; If this is not love to Pakistan then what should I call it?
I was watching a talk show on Dunya Tv with Zahra Naseem. The topic

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¿ Soluciones para el Pakistán ? Por el Dr. Gonzalo de Porras

Haciéndome eco del Congreso Cristiano de Pakistán (PCC) y de su Jefe el Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti , ante la ola de violencia islámica que sufren los cristianos de este país por parte del propio Estado y de las organizaciones islamista, se ha urgido al Secretario General de la ONU, Ban Ki Moon para que se

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A Truth about Allama Mashriqi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah

(A truth about both leaders one Nationalist Muslim and another Communal Muslim and their role in independence)
Allama Mashriqi (Inayatullah Khan) who was born in Amritsar on 25th August 1888) was an Islamic scholar and founder of the Khaksar movement.
Mashriqi was a noted intellectual who became a

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Egypt: August 24-25 Uprising against Muslim Brotherhood: Will this be the start Civil War? By Dr. Architetto Ashraf Ramelah

Egyptian revolutionaries of the youth uprising of January 2011 who succeeded in ousting Hosni Mubarak are once again organizing through social media and traditional media outlets (where allowed) to protest against the Morsi presidency and the Muslim Brotherhood. This time with the benefit of politic

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Growing fear and insecurity among oppressed religious minorities in Pakistan. By Salma Peter John

Rimsha Incident has once again opened the wounds of our Christian community and made us to shed the tears of blood, while strongly condemning the false allegation leveled against 11 years old girl, Rimsha Masih, accused of having burn the pages of Koran and the attack of unruly elements on Christian

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Teachings of Prophet Muhammad and Pakistan. BY: Professor Anjum James Paul

The Medina Charter, written and promulgated by Prophet Muhammad for the multi-religious ten thousand-strong citizens of the city-state of Medina in 622 A.D is truly a remarkable political-constitutional document. The claim made by Professor M. Hamidullah that it was the first written constitution (F

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Phasing out Canadian Studies program: By Dr. Stephen Gill

Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) has lately announced that it will phase out the funding for the International Canadian Studies program, which lasted for about forty years. I received this announcement with mixed feelings.
I strongly believe that instead of ph

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Iraq and Pakistan: Shia Muslims killed while preparing for Eid and convulsions from Syria. By Jibril Khoury and Lee Jay Walker, Modern Tokyo Times

In recent days well over one hundred mainly Shia Muslims have been killed by countless numbers of terrorists attacks in Iraq and Pakistan. The massacre in Pakistan was one major incident whereby Shia Muslims were slaughtered by Sunni Islamist based on their religious beliefs. Likewise, in Iraq Sunni

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“India under obligation to negate 'Partition'. By Hem Raj Jain

Ref:- (i)- Following should stop:-
(A)- Hindus insecure and some fleeing Pakistan
(B)- Riots between Bodo / Assamese and illegal immigrants from Bangladesh
(C )- Thousands of Assamese Hindus fleeing Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh etc to fight Bangladeshi Muslims in Assam
(ii)- India should not give

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Exodus of minorities amid rising extremism in Pakistan. By Asif Aqeel, Director Center for Law and Justice, Lahore, Pakistan

The Pakistani nation was baffled by the news on Thursday, August 9, that 250 Hindus had been debarred from crossing into India by the Interior Ministry despite these folks had valid Indian visas. Interior Affairs Minister Rehman Malik appeared on TV channels and stated that the Indian embassy had “h

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Women suffer more with rising trade globalization. By Shobha Shukla

In an increasingly globalised world, the impact of trade and investment liberalisation is an important area of policy focus. With the emergence of bilateral free trade and investment agreements and clamour for more and more foreign direct investment, all in the name of economic growth, the gender im

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‘Resurgent Islam’ in making. By Hem Raj Jain

Ref:- (i)- Fall of Assad regime without any State actor openly behind rebels, will strengthen fundamentalist forces in NAME countries.
(ii)- Assad regime bound to give way to democratic forces in Syria
(iii)- Election year inaction of USA in Syria will cost heavy for Israel.
(iv)- The way Sunnis

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Anal health is not just a gay issue: Women need rectal microbicides too. By BOBBY RAMAKANT

"It is high time that anal health and hygiene comes out of the closet" said Dr Ross Cranston from University of Pittsburgh, USA. Dr Cranston was referring to the multitude of anal health complications people practicing receptive anal sex are likely to be dealing with in their lives and very little q

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Why National Minorities Day? By Professor Anjum James Paul

Celebrating the National Minorities Day is discrimination with the religious minorities of Pakistan because this kind of day is not celebrated in any civilized and democratic country. This is a sort of discrimination with the minorities. The father of the nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah did

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Is it Birthday of Pakistan or Independence Day? By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

While 14 August is just around the corner, kindly allow me to share a thought with your readers once again as I have been doing so for the past many years. Should we celebrate 14 August as our Independence Day or the Birthday of Pakistan? Pakistan did not exist as a country before August 14, 1947 a

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49th Death Anniversary of a Freedom Fighter: Allama Mashriqi

Allama Mashriqi, a world-renowned mathematician, Islamic scholar, and founder of the Khaksar Movement (Khaksar Tehrik) died at Mayo Hospital in Lahore (Pakistan) on August 27, 1963. He was buried in Ichhra (located on Ferozpur Road between Gulberg and Mozzang), from where he launched his Khaksar Mov

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Nigeria and attack on Christian church leads to 19 dead: If Boko Haram then much to fear? By Omar Abdullah Ismail and Lee Jay Walker

Reports are still coming out of Nigeria that at least 19 Christians have been killed in central Nigeria. It is known that the dead includes a Christian pastor who was brutally murdered along with his flock. At the moment speculation is being put on the Islamist organization called Boko Haram but it

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Mother's Milk Is The Best Nutrition For The Child; World Breastfeeding Week, 1-7 August 2012. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

Mother’s milk is the ideal nutritionally perfect food for newborns and infants. It is like nectar for the infant and is aptly called the first vaccine that can be given to the child. During the initial post natal phase, breast milk is in the form of yellow viscous milk or colostrums which is packed

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“Miracle-The Real Deal” The Very Rev. Canon Patrick Augustine delivers Sermon in La Crosse

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, July 29th, 2012
Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin
The Very Rev. Canon Patrick P. Augustine, D.Min., Rector
John 6: 1-21
Miracle-The Real Deal
The Smithsonian Museum in Washington displays a leather-bound book in which Thomas Jefferson pasted all the pas

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Project ARM: Addressing HIV prevention needs of those practicing anal sex. By Bobby Ramakant

One of the clear messages from the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington DC is that HIV prevention research is progressing ahead with thrust to meet needs of most at risk populations such as sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender populations, injecting drug u

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Partners In Crime: MDR TB and HIV. By Shobha Shukla

India is a very high burden TB country, accounting for 21% of the global incidence. It is estimated that TB kills 300,000 Indians annually: one death every 2 minutes. The situation is no better when it comes to multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). India, with about 100,000 of its TB patients having drug

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Anti-HIV rectal microbicide research moves ahead. By Bobby Ramakant

It is indeed promising to note the momentum rectal microbicides research and development has attained, more so when there is a global call to end AIDS at the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012). Turning the tide of HIV is not possible unless we have safe and effective HIV prevention option

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Violation of Article 25 of the constitution of Pakistan. By Professor Anjum James Paul

I am trying to highlight a very important issue as there is violation of fundamental rights of the religious minorities in Pakistan which have been described in the constitution of Pakistan 1973. In this column only Article 25 which is about the equality of citizens will be discussed briefly,
25.

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AIDS-free generation is within reach. Ishdeep Kohli

The fight against HIV/AIDS is currently viewed with considerable more optimism than in the past years because powerful interventions have been developed, proven effective and refined. If these tools are made widely available to those who need them, an AIDS-free generation may be possible. Speaking o

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Uganda AIDS Activist Sees Hope in Rectal Microbicides

UGANDAN AIDS activist and medical doctor, Paul Semugoma, 42, said that rectal microbicides have a potential to save the unnecessary loss of lives among men who have sex with men in Uganda and across Africa. According to a study titled, "HIV Infection among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Kampala, Ugand

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Access to treatment – mapping the progress, seeing the gaps. Ian Hodgson

Here at the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) released an important report tracking progress in implementing policies, strategies and tools to roll out coverage of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) in 23 countries. Results suggest there has been criti

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'...And Lubes' in spotlight at AIDS 2012. By Bobby Ramakant

Most men, women and transgender people who practice anal sex use some kind of a lubricant (lube) ranging from expensive and commercially marketed branded lubes to saliva or oil. According to the United Nations joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), anal sex considerably increases risk of HIV acquisit

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Addressing the Challenges To Transform The HIV-TB Response. By Shobha Shukla

The dual HIV-TB epidemic has posed a challenge for both TB and HIV efforts at all levels. Although the number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) screened for TB increased almost 12-fold, (from nearly 200 000 to over 2.3 million people) and testing for HIV among TB patients increased 5-fold (from 470,

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Police refuse to arrest Muslims in miscarriage beating

We recently reported on a case where a 13 year old Christian girl was raped, and when she pressed charges against her attackers, her pregnant aunt was beaten very badly. She has miscarriage the twins. However, despite the fact that the courts have rescinded the interim bails of those responsible, th

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New Scientific Strategy In The Quest For An HIV Cure. By Shobha Shukla

A Global Scientific Strategy Towards an HIV Cure, developed by a group of 34 leading HIV scientists and clinicians on behalf of the International AIDS Society (IAS), was launched in Washington DC on 19th July, 2012, ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference amid renewed optimism that prospects

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Government should seriously consider repeal of blasphemy laws. By Nasir Amanual

The situation of Christians in Pakistan is often victims of violence. As especially in these days, Ms Bibi Asia and her family is suffering. Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian woman. She was arrested by police on June 19th of 2009 and charged Blasphemy. She is still in Jail. Asia Bibi was working on

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Integrating TB/HIV Services in Zimbabwe: A Key Public Health Priority. Chief K Masimba Biriwasha

In Zimbabwe, there is a wide recognition of the need to integrate TB and HIV services but for people living with HIV (PLHIV), it is not evident, said Martha Tholanah, Coordinator of the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) Zimbabwe Chapter. While Zimbabwe has made progress in imple

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Judiciary and government fail to restore democratic means in Pakistan. By Sher Gondal

Lawyers’ movement for restoration of judges met historical success resulting into end of military rule and establishment of democratic government that is almost completing its tenure by next year. People attached great hopes in the democratic government and judiciary. Unfortunately government and ju

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Fr. Anand Muttungal,s Book on Application of Special Constitutional Provisions on Minority Schools in India

To
Bishops/ Provincials / Principals / Managers
Of Schools Run by the Catholic Church, India
And All Well Wishers and Media Persons
Sub: - Book on Application of Minority Rights in Educational Right

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Bosnia Connection: Bill Clinton and Islamist ratlines in Bosnia assisted September 11. By Lee Jay Walker and Murad Makhmudov

Osama bin Laden wasn’t articulate and media savvy like Bill Clinton who was the leader of the United States between January 1993 and January 2001. After all, whatever Osama bin Laden was he did at least speak honestly with regards to his intentions. However, Bill Clinton had a host of special adviso

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Let Me Be Myself As I Walk Together With You. By Shobha Shukla

It has been three years since Section 377 of Indian Penal Code drafted in 1860, (which reads as 'Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished') was repealed by the Delhi High Court on July2, 2009, as the Division Bench of Jus

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Eradicate TB Through Public Awareness Campaigns: Educate The Public. By Shobha Shukla

As I speak to the emaciated bone forms, the golden rays of sunlight streaking across the well ventilated and very clean TB wards of the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) surprise me pleasantly and lift my sagging spirits. What I see here is very different from the generally filthy and unkempt

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Professor Anjum Paul leads seminar “The Promotion of Social Harmony through Schools”

Faisalabad: July 9, 2012. (Adeel Fraz) Teachers’ Teams Pakistan organized national seminar on the theme “The Promotion of Social Harmony through Schools” from June 15-19 in four various places of Pakistan. Professor Anjum James Paul (Chairman of the Political Science Govt. Postgraduate College Samun

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THE COEXISTENCE : FROM STYLE TO STRUCTURE AND MEANING. By Dr. Olimpia Iacob

The present paper deals with The Coexistence, the latest novel of Stephen Gill, in terms of (a) style, on the one hand, and (b) structure and meaning, on the other.
Generally, approaching a writer’s style is not at all an easy job. The difficulty comes from the fact that writing, as G.W.Turner

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Turn The Tide: Treat HIV and cure TB. Shobha Shukla

Despite the fact that TB is curable and HIV is treatable, an estimated 8.5 million new and relapsed TB cases were reported in 2010, and an estimated 1.4 million died, which included 350,000 people living with HIV and co-infected with TB. The two diseases are closely linked because TB is frequently t

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Jail inmates set to adapt holistic way of life. By Anjali Singh

Imagine a life confined to imprisonment for years and sometimes a life time in that predicament. A person is removed from society, cut off from family and friends and turns into a lonely soul made into a convict to repent for his actions. The very thought conjures up images of sad people living aiml

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HIV prevention needs more tools such as microbicides. By Somya Arora

Vaginal and anal sex continues to put millions of people at risk those who are unable to use or negotiate the use of existing HIV prevention options. Microbicides although currently under research, are being seen as an important new HIV prevention tool that will expand the range of prevention option

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Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Protects Against HIV. Bobby Ramakant

As world's largest AIDS conference (XIX International AIDS Conference) on the theme of 'turning the tide together' is about to open in US next month, CNS decided to share one of its interviews with noted expert on voluntary medical male circumcision and its role in HIV prevention. Voluntary medical

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Can I Trust God? Even When Life Hurts. Sermon by The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Patrick P Augustine

“Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 24, 2012, at Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin”
Mark 4: 35-41
CAN I TRUST GOD? EVEN WHEN LIFE HURTS
All of us experience adversity at different times and in varying degrees throughout our lives. Learning to trust God in adversity has been a slow

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The Noose Tightens Around The Private TB Sector In India. Shobha Shukla

Close to the heels of making tuberculosis a notifiable disease, the Government of India has now banned the import, sale, manufacture and use of serological test kits for diagnosis of tuberculosis (also known as blood test or antibody test for TB). A notification (no.X-11014/13/2011-DFQC) dated 7.6.

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Please Vote For Me… I Am So And So’s Wife! By Shobha Shukla

Sounds funny, does it? But these plaintive cries (nay wails) are reverberating in every nook and corner of Lucknow these days, whose citizens are going to elect their mayor and 110 corporators on June 23, 2012. As per newspaper reports, the city is divided into six zones and 110 wards. 10% (11) of t

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Sermon on Second Sunday after Pentecost by The Very Rev. Canon Patrick P Augustine at Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Mark 4: 26-34
Jesus loved teaching in parables. What is a parable? The Greek word is parabole which corresponds to the Hebrew word mashal as “an allusive narrative which is told for an ulterior purpose.” Or, the best of all, to adopt the words of modern poet, parables are imaginary gardens with

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Attack from Egypt Signals Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas Jihad against Israel. By Barry Rubin

A well-organized, well-equipped group of terrorists has attacked Israel from Egyptian territory Monday morning, possibly the second such Egyptian-assisted assault in a week.
An armed squad of two men—said to be Hamas, though this is not confirmed—crossed the border after travelling 30 miles from th

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Who is Jesus? A Sermon by Very Rev. Canon Patrick Augustine

Matthew 3: 20-35: Who is Jesus? “Why is this man so popular?” This question appeared on the cover of Time magazine beside a smiling picture of former President Ronald Reagan. The feature article went on to say that he was so popular especially because of the relative success of his presidency, beca

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'Phooti Kismat Nalayak Zindagi' - A Doomed Fate; A Useless Life! By Shobha Shukla

The National Hijra Habba (festival) held recently in Delhi brought out in the open the deep anguish and silent suffering of the transgender/hijra /kinnar population across the country. Although this issue is centuries old, yet the tolerance level of common people towards this community is very low.

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Blasphemy law and Kingdom of Kuwait. By Nazir S Bhatti

I just started reading a news item about first fruit of Arab Spring “Tunisia”, on June 7, 2012, which was very surprising for me because there was not any extra-judicial killing on basis of religion of any Tunisian during regimes of dictators but suddenly news flashed that an apostate beheaded in de

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The solution of Balochistan problem. By Dr. Wahid Baloch

Last week Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had a meeting in Islamabad to discuss the issue of Balochistan and suggested a 15 point resolution to the Balochistan conundrum, the most serious threat to the Pakistan state since the military crackdown and subsequent separation of Bangladesh

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A misleading article by Mr. Arturo Ramo: By Frank R. Eggers

Dear Dr. Bhatti:
A Mr. Arturo Ramo had a somewhat misleading article in your 9 June 2012 edition of your Pakistan Christian Post. He had an identical letter published in the Fiji Times, to which I have provided a link at the end of this e-mail.
It appears that Mr. Ramo's letter was written to sla

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Authority comes with responsibility (Church Restoration Series XI) By Fr. Anand Muttungal

In general sense authority means power or right to direct the actions or thoughts of others through control of their freedom or manipulation of situations or persuasion. But in religious sense, authority means power derived from God through the scripture. It is a matter of fact that the authority is

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Cameron should listen to demands of leaving EU and of giving Europe to Merkel. By Hem Raj Jain

Ref:- (i)- Mankind eagerly waiting for Europe to become one political entity from Portugal up to Turkey.
(ii)- Mankind will benefit immensely by solution of financial crises of Euro and also by single political authority of Unified Europe.
(iii)- With genuine federalism Europe can be a peaceful a

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A Medical Experiment. By Arturo Ramo

Dr. John Money, an American psychiatrist, conducted an interesting experiment in the 1960s around the nature vs. nurture debate, through which he sought to prove that nurture is everything in the makeup of male and female. As an ardent supporter of gender ideology, he wanted to eliminate natural dif

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Tobacco - a threat to human health. By Shikha Srivastava

Tobacco, the age old slow poison, takes a human life every eight seconds, which means approximately 6 million deaths annually. It is consumed in many forms, all of which are equally harmful. It could be smoked as cigarettes and cigars, or used in smokeless forms such as chewing tobacco or inhaling t

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The Third Gender Does Not Deserve A Third Grade Treatment. By Shobha Shukla

Raveena Bariha, the fire brand graduate tribal hijra activist from Chhattisgarh (a relatively backward state of India) is lovingly called the chhota bomb and chhota rocket. At the recently concluded National Hijra Habba Consultation and Cultural Event, which was organized by Pehchân project, in ass

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Islamic Sharia is a threat to Canadian society. Mark Harding

Last year I stood at Bay and Queen Streets in Toronto on Canada Day, to support Israel. But I also stood there in support of the Hudson Bay Stores whose head office is right there. The Hudson Bay Stores were given an ultimatum by Muslim groups in Canada that demanded the Hudson Bay Stores STOP carin

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Landmark meet on sexual minorities: National Hijra Habba Consultation. By Shobha Shukla

Pehchân, in association with India HIV/AIDS Alliance, recently organized a national consultation, aptly called Hijra Habba (Habba is a Kannada word meaning festival), in Delhi to draw attention to the current challenges facing the transgender (TG) and hijra communities of India and to develop an a

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Why Pakistan needs Israel. By Pirzada Hasaan Hashmi

We are so wrapped up in what is good for everyone else; that we are losing sight of what is good for us as a nation. GRAPHIC: ZAHRA PEER
Hatred towards Israel and the refusal to recognise or establish diplomatic relations with this country is no new phenomenon to Muslim countries in Asia. This abo

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Our Health Policies Cannot Be Decided By Tobacco Companies. By Shobha Shukla

On this World No Tobacco Day (WNDT 2012) it would be worthwhile to remember that ‘tobacco products are the only legally available products that can kill up to one half of their regular users if consumed as recommended by the manufacturer.’ The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseas

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The Cloud Of Tobacco Smoke Is Choking The World. By Shobha Shukla

Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today. Yet it kills nearly 6 million people each year, which includes some 600,000 non-smokers who die due to exposure to second-hand smoke. In 2004, children accounted for 31% of these deaths. Almost half of the world’s children (th

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Chewing Tobacco: A Lethal Menace On The Block. By Shobha Shukla

Jyoti (name changed) hails from rural Uttar Pradesh which has a high prevalence rate of smokeless tobacco. Two years ago she became addicted to paan masala (a popular form of chewing tobacco) of a particular brand, under the influence of her friends. She began with one or two pouches a day, but the

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The Need for Evangelism in Disregarded Areas of Pakistan. By: Shahzad Kamran

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Mathew 9:37-38) Jesus said this to his disciples, to make them aware of the need of Evangelism. It was not only for those twelve but for all who are known

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A Christian President of India, Not a Bad Idea! By Father Anand Muttungal

There has been a crowd of discussions regarding the new president of India to be elected. These discussions have to be seen with serious thoughts since they carry a lot of weight in the present political milieu where regional parties take the shots. It was not so surprising to read the recent propos

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Egypt’s Copts receive another guilty verdict. By Ashraf Ramelah

While the entire world watches and awaits the outcome of Egypt’s presidential election -- the first one of the new “democratic era” of Egypt -- Islamic law or Sharia plays a leading role in the post-Mubarak period.
The Sharia, formerly guaranteed by the 2nd amendment of the Mubarak constitution a

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Forms of Marriage. By Arturo Ramo

At a very crowded pro-family demonstration which took place in Madrid, one of the placards read, “Pedro y Antonio, no son matrimonio” [Pedro and Antonio make no married couple], but those who support the gender ideology insist on calling two same-sex persons, whether two men or two women, a married

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Poor People will foot the Bill for Nuclear white elephant. By Dr. Gerry Wolff

“There is absolutely no case for subsidising nuclear power” said Dr Gerry Wolff of the Energy Fair group, responding to the recently-published draft of the Energy Bill 2012. “The proposed ‘feed-in tariff with contracts for difference’ is a blank cheque to a nuclear industry that is already heavily s

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India’s tobacco challenge. Shoba John

India currently holds the dubious distinction of being the second largest producer and the second largest consumer of tobacco in the world. Not a particularly dignified title, considering that tobacco kills half of its dedicated users prematurely in their productive years! According to the Global Ad

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The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks: The First Academic Publication on the Greek Genocide. By Boutros Hussein and Lee Jay Walker

The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks (www.caratzas.com) is a book which digs deep into the deplorable actions of the dying embers of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of the Turkish Republic which systematically annihilated various Christian communities. These various Christian communities were th

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Report on Rights of Transgender people and HIV vulnerability. By Shobha Shukla

A study titled Lost in Transition: Transgender People, Rights and HIV Vulnerability in the Asia-Pacific Region was released in Bangkok to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. According to this research, which was jointly released by the United Nations Development Programme

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Failure of Christian Politicians. BY Riaz Anjum Advocate

Economic progress and social dignity of nations and communities has always been conditional with political strength of such nations. Only such nations and communities are victorious of economic fields who are politically strong and fore sighted. Christians are very weak in politics.
For instance t

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Shrinking Minority Rights in India. By Father Anand Muttungal

By the beginning of the 19th century, issues related to minorities began to be one of the major concerns of the leaders and rulers of India. In the beginning it was a problem based on religious diversification but in two decades the issues related to linguistic minorities too became a problem. The r

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Bishop John Joseph: A life that inspires beyond death. By Nasir Saeed

There is a good chance that you have never heard of Bishop John Joseph but in Pakistan, for the country’s Christians at least, he is a hero. On 6 May, Pakistani Christians reflected in their own quiet way the 14 years that have passed since this fearless defender of the faith shot himself in a final

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Farmers’ Unrest, A Problem of Plenty. By Father Anand Muttungal

The Bengal’s Famine of 1943 which claimed around four million people, till date it is recorded as the worst food disaster in the world. The historians believe that its impact haunted India even after Independence so food security and public distribution system was at the top priority in the free Na

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What does making TB a notifiable disease mean to us? By Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant

On one hand the Indian Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) needs to be complimented for making tuberculosis (TB) a notifiable disease, but on the other hand there are words of caution and oft-repeated list of actions RNTCP should consider to reach the unreached populations who need TB serv

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A Silent Struggle. By Nazir Siyal

Despite stiff resistance from orthodox people, some educated women in the Upper Sindh are silently struggling to bring about a significant social change in their area. Pursuing their goal of protecting women’s rights, women from conservative districts like, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, K

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Do Not Let Asthma Ruin Your Life. By Shobha Shukla

According to the The Global Asthma Report 2011, published by The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC): Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children and also affects millions of adult

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Politics of Concerns, By Fateh Ullah Khan Kundi

Politics is a legal mafia, as quoted by the schizophrenic Nana Patekar in one of his movies. I didn’t believe that in the start and instead always associated politics to the service of mankind but now after watching to the disastrous wash out of country’s possessions by the PPP government has impell

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Justification of Partition in Books & Educational Syllabi Breeds Hatred and Terrorism. By Nasim Yousaf

"The last remedy under the present circumstances is that one and all rise against this conspiracy [partition of India] as one man. Let there be a common Hindu-Muslim Revolution…it is time that we should sacrifice…in order to uphold Truth, Honour and Justice.” ¯ Allama Mashriqi, 1947
Repeated justif

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Teachings of God regarding “Hajj” and policy of Saudi rulers on it. By Ata Us Salam

Saudi Arabia is the holiest land for almost all Muslims and may be for some non-Muslims as well because many holy places including “Khana Kaba” are located there. Khana Kaba has a very long history. According to the Holy Quran, Khana Kaba is the home of God and it was built by the Prophet Abraham an

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Sharing Our Human Rights Values When Blindsided by Hate. By Jeffrey Imm

The ongoing trial of confessed Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik not only demonstrates the degree of hate that he had for others, as he justifies murdering over 70 children. It also draws attention to others who share his view. On April 18, Norwegian news media reported on a "pen pal" for Mr. Breiv

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Paving the Coptic Way to Jerusalem. By Ashraf Ramelah

Late last week Egyptian Copts in Cairo booked private airline flights to Jerusalem to celebrate Easter holy week. Soon after, the joy they anticipated turned to anger when they faced rejection by a Coptic priest at the door of Jerusalem’s Saint Helena Chapel on Coptic Palm Sunday. This unlikely deni

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Making Access to HIV prevention services a reality for all those in need. By BOBBY RAMAKANT

Despite safe and effective HIV prevention options such as male and female condoms among others, and considerable thrust on research and development of new HIV prevention technologies, new HIV infections continue to occur daily. Milly Katana from Wisdom Centre, who has been a noted AIDS advocate, had

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Be The Change You Want To See. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

A two days “State Level Convention of Women Leaders" of feisty rural women began at Gandhi Bhawan in Lucknow on 16th April 2012, bringing together over 650 women leader delegates (organizers were expecting not more than 500) from 9 districts of east UP, and proved once again that more changes can be

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The Miseries of Persecuted Christians of Pakistan. By JRS Gill

No one really knows the size of Pakistan’s Christian minority, nor of the entire population. The most recent census -- conducted in 1981 -- gave a rough count of 84 million people of whom not quite a million were Christian. The unofficial 1990 estimate is 108 million, with an explosive birth-rate of

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For how long will anal health and hygiene be neglected? By Bobby Ramakant

“It is high time that anal health [and hygiene] comes out of the closet” said Dr Ross Cranston, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, USA. Dr Cranston was referring to the multitude of anal health complications people practicing receptive anal intercourse are likely to be dealing with in th

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A Tribute to (Guppoo) Cecil Chaudhry: An Officer and a Gentleman! By Group Captain Ali Kazim(R)

Cecil Chaudhry, or Guppoo (for his treasure of anecdotes that never exhausted) as he was known to his friends, died on 13th April 2012. So ended my 53 year old relationship with him.
Cyril, his elder brother was my course mate when I joined P.A.F Academy Risalpur in 1957. I recall, during one wint

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Rev. Canon Patrick Augustine delivered sermon on “A Hopeful Faith” in CE Church in La Crosse, Wisconsin

Second Sunday of Easter, April 15, 2012. Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin, The Very Rev. Canon Patrick P. Augustine, D.Min., Rector
I John 1: 1-2:2, John 20: 19-31
A Hopeful Faith
If someone had said to any first century Jew, “so-and-so has been resurrected from the dead!” the respon

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Should Minority Run Educational Institutions Continue 25% Reservation? By Fr. Anand Muttungal

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which provides for free and compulsory education to children between the age of 6 and 14 years and mandates government schools and private schools alike even the aided minority e

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Syrian rebels impose Islamic tax on Christians in Homs like Pakistan Taliban

"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." -

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Sermon on “Good Friday” by Very Rev. Canon Patrick P Augustine at Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Particularity of the Cross of Jesus
Holy Week is the enactment of "Heilsgeschichte" the salvation history of humanity. It is always a temptation for us to ignore between Monday to Good Friday and move quickly to Easter Sunday. Good Friday reminds us of the Cross of Jesus Christ. All four gospels te

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Hello, This Is Nature’s Call From A Garbage Heap! By Shobha Shukla

- WORLD HEALTH DAY - Safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities are basic necessities of life and the likes of you and me perhaps have never faced the ignominy of trading our privacy for want of basic sanitary needs like proper toilets and clean drinking water. Yet, according to the 2011 C

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Better health increases age: World Health Day. By PROFESSOR (DR) SURYA KANT

Special on World Health Day: In India, population more than 60 years of age in 2001 was 6.9% which is now increased to 8.3% (2011) and is estimated to be 17% (30 crores) by 2050. If today’s young India is not made healthy then in future these would suffer from large number of diseases in their older

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Reining in Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar e Tayyeba: Pakistan Forced to Pass Through Another Stern Test. By Mujahid Hussain, New Age Islam

(Translated by Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam)
Harsh reactions are expected from Pakistanis after the announcement of bounty by American administration for information against Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Chief of JuD and its other executive office bearer Abdur Rahman Makki, as Defence of Pakistan Council (D

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A Caring Treatment Conquers All Odds: Story of Shanti. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

Shanti is a 38 year old semi-literate woman of slender means living in Mumbai. She has been living with HIV since the last 5 years and had developed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Her story is the story of the common person on the street for whom each day’s survival is an ordeal, even wh

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The Veil & Islam. By Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice, BHC

A member of the provincial assembly of the NWFP has introduced a resolution requiring that wearing a veil should be made compulsory for every girl above 12 years of age (Dawn, May 2). Without citing any Quranic text in support of the resolution, Pir Muhammad Khan of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal assumes t

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Tuberculosis: Ugly scar on beautiful childhood. By Shobha Shukla

Jugalkishore is a six year old boy whose impish smile hides the ugly germs of TB that are ravaging his health. He is the third child of Ramdulari - the charming, but uneducated, hapless wife of daily wage earner Shivprasad, who uses excessive alcohol and tobacco, and is also a former TB patient who

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INDIA: Immediately release journalist Syed Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi. William Gomes

March 29, 2012
Mr. Prabhu Dayal
Consul General of India
Consulate General of India
New York, NY 10065
Re:INDIA: Immediately release journalist Syed Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi
Dear Mr. Prabhu Dayal ,
I am writing to express my outrage over the recent arrest and detention of Syed Mohammad Ahm

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Rev. Alexander David writes an open letter to Canadian MP Joel Daniel on his visit to Pakistan

March 23rd, 2012
TO:
Member of Parliament Mr. Joe Daniel
(Don Valley East, Toronto)
La Promenade Building, Suite 850
House of Common
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

SUBJECT: VISIT TO PAKISTAN
Dear Mr. Daniel,
I have recently read an article printed in The Urdu Times newspaper dated Wednesday

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Syria: Obama supports the Pro-Islamist Syrian Opposition and the duplicity of Turkey. By Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker

The demise of Hosni Mubarak which was welcomed by President Obama remains to be a constant theme within the Obama administration towards other secular leaders. This applies to welcoming the demise of more liberal forces which have been replaced by the “radical Sunni Islamic Arab Spring.” Therefore,

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Forced Conversions in Pakistan. By Professor Anjum James Paul

No duress in matters of religion. (Koran)
Believers [Muslims], Jews, Sabaeans, or Christians whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right-shall have nothing to fear or to regret. Verse 69 of Sura 5 ‘The Table’.
Islam and Liberty, The Historical Misunderstanding, Mohmed Gharfi, p

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“Glory of the Cross of Christ” Sermon by The Very Rev. Patrick Augustine on Fifth Sunday in Lent at Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin

The Very Rev. Canon Patrick P. Augustine, D.Min., Rector
Jeremiah 31: 31-34, Psalm 51: 1-13, Hebrews 5: 5-10, John 12: 20-33
Glory of the Cross of Christ
Liturgical Note: (Formerly, this fifth Sunday in Lent was known as Passion Sunday. More recent liturgy assigns that name to the day that begins

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More than half of Canadians don’t trust Muslims.

More than half of all Canadians believe Muslims can’t be trusted and nearly as many believe discrimination against Muslims is mainly their fault, according to the results of a new national survey released ahead of Wednesday’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. (What ‘rac

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Plan to develop new vaccines could help stop TB in our children’s lifetimes. By Dr Lucica Ditiu

Some 10 million children have been orphaned by the death of a parent from tuberculosis (TB). That number is shocking, but it does not begin to account for the children, who must quit school to care for sick parents, or go to work to keep the family fed, or those who catch TB from a parent or another

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Children and TB: A Hidden Epidemic. By Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha

Tuberculosis (TB) among children is rarely discussed. Because children, more often than not cannot speak for themselves, not much about how they're affected by the disease ever hits the headlines. This is despite the fact that TB remains among the top ten killers of children worldwide. In spite of t

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Pakistan Remembers Shahbaz Bhatti on First Anniversary of Assassination. By ANTO AKKARA

Christians are a micro-minority in Muslim Pakistan. But the first anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti’s death has evoked unprecedented interest in the martyr.
Bhatti, a Catholic who served as federal minister for religious minorities, was assassinated on March 2, 2011, for opposing the country’s draconi

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 No toilets for 53 per cent population of world’s third biggest economy. By ALKA PANDE

In  India, virtually every second person is defecating in the open, every third person is drinking unsafe water and at least 1,000 children are dying every day due to a preventable disease like diarrhoea. This grim picture of the world’s third fastest growing economy was unveiled through the country

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TB - The ugly face of an innocent childhood. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

LOCATION: a typical urban semi slum area (in as much as the houses are not makeshift but permanent brick structures) of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which boasts of the state of art medical facilities.
 PLACE: A brick walled house in a very narrow by lane, carefully protected from the pry

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Tuberculosis Is A Women's Issue Too. Chief K Masimba Biriwasha

Today is March 8, and across the world the International Women's Day is being commemorated. Coincidentally, March is the global tuberculosis (TB) awareness month. The disease, which is caused by a mycrobatrium, has a major impact on women's sexual reproductive health and that of their children. For

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Kalavanti Raja issues report on plight of Dalits of Pakistan

International Dalit Soliderty Network was founded in March 2000 to advocate for Dalit human rights and to raise awareness of Dalit issues nationally and internationally. IDSN is a network of international human rights groups, development agencies, national Dalit solidarity networks from Europe, Asia

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TB Germs Thrive On Poor Nutrition. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

TB has been with us since times immemorial. In ancient India it was called Rajrog or the King’s Disease. A benevolent king would dole out gold coins to the poor, which raised their economic status, leading to improvement in their nutritional standards. This lead to a decrease in the number of new in

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Clergy-Laity Inclusive Leadership (Church Restoration Series X) By Fr. Anand Muttungal

Vatican Council defines Church as “the people of God”. It is the biggest leap towards lay empowerment in the history of the Catholic Church. It introduced the practical concept of parish council and pastoral council. The idea behind it is to make the laity integral part of the administration of the

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Legacy of US Iraq's invasion: Near extinction of Christians population. By Navaid Hamid

With the withdrawal of the US led forces from Iraq, Operation Iraqi freedom turns into Operation Iraqi Christians decimation.
Around fourteen months back, in November 2010, I had written about the pressures on the Christian minority community in Iraq and my fear about their extinction from their m

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Do not match Jondullah with Balochistan freedom movement. By Ahmar Mustikhan

It does not matter if one was Baloch and the other is an Arab. They both represent the violent face of wahabi sunni Islam. The Baloch must be extremely careful and do not look upon Jondullah as a lesser evil simply because it is comprised of Balochi-speaking sunni wahabis, warns intellectual and poe

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Polio eradication has a lesson for TB control. By BLESSINA KUMAR

A week back the doorbell rang and two ladies stood with vaccine boxes at my doorstep asking if there were children five years and below in the house as they wanted to give polio drops. Hearing a 'no' from me they went to the next door and then continued knocking on doors. India just completed a year

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Towards A More Enabling Environment For Effective HIV/AIDS Responses. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

A regional consultation, organized jointly by South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law (SAARCLAW), UNAIDS Technical Support Facility for South Asia (TSF-SA) and Maitri, was held recently in New Delhi. It was part of the UNDP funded project ‘Support to the development of enabling env

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Zero children dying from tuberculosis by 2015, is possible, if...By Hara Mihalea

I like to start by sharing a real story which I experienced in one of my visits in the field last year. I'm sure many of you working in the field have similar stories to tell. During a monitoring visit for our PPM program I came across a referral slip made out by a pharmacy staff referring a 36 year

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“THE COEXISTENCE’ another book by Dr. Stephen Gill

The Coexistence is a novel by Indo/Canadian writer Dr. Stephen Gill. We are pleased to announce that the Department of English of Indira Kala Sangeet University, Khairagarh, C.G. is bringing out an anthology titled ‘Asian Responses to The Co-existence, a novel by Dr. Stephen Gill, an Indo/Canadian w

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Is Religion Being Led By Irreligious? By Fr. Anand Muttungal

There are many religious leaders who do not fit into our concept of religious leadership but it is hard to question them due to the power they wield. A religious leader according to general concept is someone who is dedicated to a life that will help promote God experience in believers as per the se

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Transfiguration Sunday, February 19, 2012, at Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Sermon by The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Patrick P. Augustine, Rector

2 Corinthians 4: 3-6, Mark 9: 2-9
There is an ancient myth that lies behind our sermon theme for today. Helen, the wife of Sparta's king Menelaus, was acclaimed the most beautiful woman of Greece. The Greeks fought the Trojan War in order to get her back from Troy. In Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Fau

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Need and Importance of Christian Political Party in Pakistan. Riaz Anjum Advocate

Religion and politics are two separate things and they remain separate from each other in civilized societies and developed nations. Such societies and nations always remain powerful where religion does not have any concern with state affairs. Such societies produce extraordinary brains, creation an

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Who is a religious person? By Fr. Anand Muttungal

In general a religious person can be defined as someone who adheres to the set norms and practices of a particular religious tradition. He shows interest in expressing beliefs in the divine power through various rituals and rubrics. An analysis of the behaviour of such persons would reveal that some

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Childhood Tuberculosis: Act before it is too late. By Shobha Shukla

(Based on an interview given to CNS by Dr Soumya Swaminathan, at Chennai ART Symposium, 2012)
A significant proportion - about 15% to 20% - of all tuberculosis (TB) occurs in children in India, where paediatric TB is a serious, but under-recognized and neglected public health problem. "The reason i

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Persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia a Holy Land for Muslims. By Clarence Anthony

The behavior of the Saudi government with the Ethiopian Christians who were abused, beaten and jailed just for praying in a Christian way is inhuman. This act of Saudi police and government shows openly the hate and enmity they have for Christianity. We must strongly condemn the persecution of the C

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PAKISTAN: The courts and the government bear responsibility in extrajudicial killings in military torture cells. By Baseer Naveed

The disappearances, killings in military detention centers and dumping of bullet-riddled bodies including torture marks on the bodies of the victims, by the spy agencies particularly by ISI and military intelligence are no longer a secret. This was exposed during the case of Abdul Saboor (29), which

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Who is a Spiritual Person? By Fr. Anand Muttungal

Can we define a spiritual person? Many ask this question. Spirituality is a state of mind leading of a person to an ultimate reality; an inner path enabling to discover the essence of his/her being; or the deepest values and meanings by which one live. It can be developed through practicing meditati

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Deathly friendship of bacteria and virus: TB-HIV co-infection. By SHOBHA SHUKLA

The clinical course and opportunistic infections of HIV vary from patient to patient and country to country. In India TB is a major opportunistic infection in people living with HIV (PLHIV), with over 35% PLHIV co-infected with TB-HIV. There is an estimated 3.52% faster progression to death if a PLH

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From despondency to optimism: 25 years of HIV in India; By SHOBHA SHUKLA – CNS

The YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education, Chennai, recently organized with partners the Chennai ART Symposium (CART 2012), and The International Science Symposium on HIV and Infectious Diseases, to deliberate upon a wide range of aspects related to HIV infection and provide latest clinical upd

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A Legal Triangle around Srimad Bhagavat Gita. By Fr. Anand Muttungal

From time immemorial Hindus hold Bhagwat Gita in the highest regard as the Holy Scripture. It is believed to be the divine discourse by the Supreme Lord Krishna Himself. It is believed to be the most popular scripture among all the sacred scriptures of Hindu religious traditions and even among the f

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Kosovo: Orthodox Christians fear to walk because of America and Albanian nationalism. By Lee Jay Walker and Murad Makhmudov, Modern Tokyo Times

In history books you can read about the Armenian genocide where Armenian Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians, Assyrian Christians, and other minorities, were massacred in the millions in 1915 and the following years. They were slaughtered because of Turkish nationalism and religious hatred but of

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Pakistani Christians deserve equal rights. By Clarence Anthony

A sad incident occurred in Karachi in which a church was under attack by a group of Muslims. The reality is that the people from both the religions have to understand that, if they are born in a Muslim house it is from God and if they are born in Christian house that is also from God.
Our Muslim b

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Rights of Minorities in Pakistan. By Ifrah Siddique

“We live in such an ideologically, insecure country hell-bent on maintaining our brand as Islamic Republic that we undercount and under-report the percentage of Minorities in our census. There is a barrier, the size of the Great Wall of China that prevents Minorities from becoming successful citizen

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“The Kingdom of God” By The Very Rev. Canon Patrick P Augustine, D.Min., Rector

Sermon on Third Sunday after the Epiphany, January 22, 2012, at Christ Episcopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Matthew 1: 14-20
The Kingdom of God
What did Jesus mean when he said the Kingdom of God was at hand? The Jewish people longed for the day when the Messiah would come and bring the kingdo

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Who Owns Church Property? (Church Restoration Series IX) By Fr. Anand Muttungal

We are living in an era where ‘Gods’ own a considerable amount of wealth! The Church is no exception! Church as an organization holds a great amount of wealth in the name of its poor. In the case of the Catholic Church, “property belongs, according to canon law, to the juridic person that lawfully a

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The Conspiracies against Turi Bangash Tribes of Parachinar. By Naseer Hussain

Parachinar is the capital of Pakistan’s tribal area Kurram Agency and has become famous by the name of Pakistan’s Gaza, has been become a victim of terrorism from last continuously 5 years and more than 50.0 million of its population has become besieged. Turi Bangash tribes of Kurram Agency were the

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Khaksar Movement Weekly “Al-Islah’s” Role Toward Freedom

The Khaksar Tehrik’s weekly “Al-Islah” was started by Allama Mashriqi in 1934 from Lahore. Distinguished Scholar and Historian Nasim Yousaf’s article entitled “Khaksar Movement Weekly ‘Al-Islah’s’ Role Toward Freedom” has recently been published in “Pakistaniaat” (Vol. 3, No 3, year 2011, Autumn Iss

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Change the Pedagogy of Formation! (Church Restoration Series VIII) By Fr. Anand Muttungal

Restoration of the Church is a matter of great concern for every devout follower of Christ. It can be achieved through a new pedagogy of formation for the diocesan clergy totally distancing from the religious orders. The members of the religious orders are trained to work as per their charism (a par

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Christians ignored by British Rulers of India. By Riaz Anjum Advocate

It is fact that ideology whether it is religious or political is always accepted by lower class in its beginning. This situation completely changes when a religion is adopted by rulers of that area. When rulers of a country adopt a religion, upper class, influential people and feudal class of that c

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Critical And Creative Thinking! By Fr. Anand Muttungal

The creative thinking is intertwined with critical thinking. Encouraging creativity means a departure from society’s existing norms and values. The Latin word creatio was solely used to highlight the deeds of God. In the Renaissance Period people first recognized their own ability to create somethi

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Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto: The legacy goes on. By Farzana Raja

The Pakistani Nation today is marking 84th birthday anniversary of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of the country and a great statesman of the world. It is not just an historic day but an occasion to invigorate our hopes and aspirations in democracy and to reaffirm our

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What’s Cooking In The Kitchen: Peace or Conflict? By Shobha Shukla

I recently read about an innovative takeout restaurant in Pittsburgh, called Conflict Kitchen, which only serves cuisine from countries that the United States of America is in conflict with. This landmark eatery was begun by three Pittsburgh artists - Jon Rubin, Jon Pena and Dawn Weleski - who aptly

"Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" By Nazir S Bhatti

On demand of our readers, I have decided to release E-Book version of "Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" on website of PCP which can also be viewed on website of Pakistan Christian Congress www.pakistanchristiancongress.org . You can read chapter wise by clicking tab on left handside of PDF format of E-Book.

nazirbhattipcc@aol.com , pakistanchristianpost@yahoo.com