Pakistani Father Loses Daughter in Poker Game.

I never thought about kids as property but then again I am not Muslim. I guess to be fair this is a step up from honor killing. This guy is properly up for Muslim father of the year.

Feb 26, 2007 — HYDERABAD (Reuters) – A teenage girl in southern Pakistan, whose late father lost her in a poker game when she was 2 years old, has asked authorities to save her from being handed over to a middle-aged relative.
Rasheeda, 17, said she has filed applications with the police and a local councillor asking them to prevent Lal Haider, 45, from taking her to his home.
Her mother, Nooran said her husband racked up a debt of 10,000 rupees ($151) to Haider playing cards.
“My husband didn’t have money to pay, and instead he told Lal Haider that he could take Rasheeda when she grows up,” she said.
Despite being paid his money last year, she said Haider still insisted the girl should be given to him because of tribal customs.
While both families live in Hyderabad, a city 160 km (100 miles) north of the southern city of Karachi, they belong to the same tribe in Baluchistan province.
The girl’s uncle, Dur Mohammad said Haider apparently wanted to marry the girl to his son.

British Council Shifts Focus To Muslim States

Ok, although I don’t think you can buy Muslim loyalty you can rent it. At least someone in the UK is willing to try to turn this mess around. I don’t hold any hope for this program because it doesn’t address the real problem. The Muslim population inside the UK is the problem not some kid in Kazakhstan. Still I wish them luck.

LONDON, Feb. 26: The British Council, which promotes British culture and education overseas, plans to close down half of its offices in Europe by March next year to shift its focus on Muslim countries in the Middle East and Central Asia including Pakistan and Bangladesh. The only non-Muslim country where the Council plans to increase its activities is Nepal, a predominantly Hindu state.
The state-funded body, founded in 1934 to promote national culture, education, science and technology, will divert 7.5 million pounds ~ nearly a third of the public money it spends in Europe ~ to countries stretching east from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan so that it can play its part in the war on terrorism. It will scrap traditional arts activities on the Continent, such as orchestral tours and artistic commissions, in favour of projects designed to prevent Muslim youths from being indoctrinated by extremists sympathetic to Al-Qaida.
Director-General designate of the British Council Martin Davidson told The Times that part of his mission was to build and repair cultural relations with Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia. Iraq and Afghanistan are two of the fifteen countries that will receive a 50 per cent increase in funding, he said.
“We started a year ago to ask the question, given the gap in trust that is becoming increasingly well-documented between Britain and the Muslim world, what are we going to do to react to that,” Mr Davidson said.
The new initiatives include a 20 million pounds scheme to combat radicalisation of Muslim youths in Pakistan and other predominantly Muslim states.
The Statesman

Pakistan kite festival ‘kills 10’

Only a Muslim could turn a simple object like a kite into a weapon. Are you ready for Kite Jihad? Using sharp twine is not an accident. They probably used it to cut other kite flyers line and didn’t mean it to be a weapon but then again this was identified as dangerous and given the Muslim tendency toward violence it does make you wonder. I have run across “celebratory fire” a few times. Here is a hint-if it goes up it will come down. Kite flying is an old custom among Muslims. Probably because looking up to the heavens is as close as they will ever get to a visit.

26 February, 2007 BBC
At least 10 people, a number of them children, have been killed during a kite-flying festival in the Pakistani province of Punjab, police say.

Stray bullets and sharp twine were among the causes of the deaths during the annual Basant festival.
The Pakistan Supreme Court banned kite-flying in 2005 after nine people were killed during festivities in 2004.
But the ban was lifted for 15 days in 2007 after the Punjab government promised to take preventive measures.
More than 700 people were arrested over the past two days for using illegal weapons and sharpened twine during the festival, police officials in Lahore told the Associated Press news agency.
While the Supreme Court had lifted the ban between 24 February and 10 March, the Punjab government only allowed the festival to be celebrated on 24 and 25 February.
Lahore Mayor Mian Aamer Mahmoud told AP that permission ended on Sunday and the ban would then be reapplied.
Despite this, there were numerous incidents in which people were killed or injured during the two-day long celebrations.
Dozens of people had been hurt in addition to at least 10 people killed, Lahore’s police chief Malik Iqbal told the BBC.
Fatalities included an 11-year-old boy, who had his throat slashed by sharpened twine, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper, Dawn reported.
A 16-year-old girl also suffered a similar fate, AP reported.
The youngest victim was a six-year-old boy who was struck in the head by celebratory gunfire outside his home in Lahore, the Dawn newspaper said.
Celebratory firing and use of sharpened twine had been strictly prohibited by the Supreme court in its conditional repeal of the ban on the festival.
They remained the principal cause of the deaths and injuries, which were also caused by electrocution and falls.
Police chief Iqbal said deaths caused by gunshots would be treated as murder.
Basant, which means saffron, is usually celebrated on rooftops and the fierce competition has led to the use of twine with metal and glass to have the extra edge.
The festival, an annual low-key tradition to herald the approach of spring in the Punjab, has become a high-profile money spinner involving celebrities, corporate sponsorships and much media attention.