45 Crore Crown for Tirupati Lord

On June 12, 2009, Karnataka tourism minister and Bellary mine baron Gali Janardhan Reddy offered a diamond-studded crown worth Rs 45 crore to Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati.

The 20-kg stunner was a “thanksgiving’ ‘ gesture, the minister said. 

The 32kg of `aparanji (pure)’ gold went into its making, besides 70,000 diamonds weighing 4,000 carats.

The 2.5-ft crown has a huge 890-carat emerald from Africa engraved in the centre which alone costs around Rs 10 crore.

The crown was earlier kept in the Vaibhavotsava Mandapam in Tirumala and special pujas were performed.

After a ritual called Sahasra Deepalankara seva, it was taken around on a procession along with the deity, Lord Malayappa Swamy. Around 7pm, the crown was taken inside the sanctum sanctorum.

Keertilal Jewellers of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu took nine months to fashion the crown.

There are no records of more expensive donations to the temple and Gali’s donation is considered as the costliest gift offered to the Lord after the Vijayanagara kings in the 16th century. The Vijayanagara kings ruled from Hampi not far from modern day Bellary …

With this offering, the total number of crowns placed with the Lord has gone up to seven. This precious crown has been added to the jewel treasury of Lord which holds over 11 tonnes of gold ornaments and vessels.

“I am in this position only with the blessings of Lord Venkateswara. This is only a small offering to the Lord. I believe in Madhava seva (service to the Lord),” said Gali, who owns several iron ore mines.

The minister said his Brahmani Steels, once it starts operation, would employ 25,000 people. “This I consider as manava seva (service to mankind),” he said.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy’s son Jagan has a large stake in Brahmani Steel that is coming up in the Andhra chief minister’s home district.

It is a pity that such expensive offerings have been made while millions continue to starve to death, and suffer from lack of proper health care. One can only wish that the corrupt minister had invested to build hospitals out of this money, and named them after the deity.

Nisar Baloch Accuses Karachi Nazim of Murdering Him

Human rights defender names his alleged murderers shortly
before his death

Mr. Nisar Baloch, aged 46, was shot dead on November 7, 2009 in Karachi by motorbike riders.

Police have refused to mention the names of the murderers in
the First Investigation Report (FIR), owing to the fact that the
accused persons belong to ruling political party, MQM.

On November 6, the day before his murder, Nisar Baloch addressed members of the press at a press conference and clearly stated that the City’s Nazim (mayor) Mr. Mustafa Kamal, as well as the Town Nazim of the SITE town, had the intention to murder him. He stated further that he would be murdered the next day by the above people and by activists of the MQM Altaf Hussain group. He blamed the party in ruling alliance for their encroachment onto the land of Gutter Baghicha, an amenity plot of 1017 acres.

His death is the second incident in the victimization of housing
rights defenders in the past five years in Karachi.

During both incidents, the MQM was in power. The son of Baseer Naveed, radio broadcaster and leader of the resistance movement against the construction of the Lyari Express, was abducted on November 8 2004 and his body was found with torture marks on the wall of Naveed’s radio station, two days after his abduction. Nisar Baloch was another activist in the movement against the construction of the Lyari Expressway, through which more than 300,000 people were supposed to be displaced.

Mr. Nisar Baloch was a well-known figure who worked against the
grabbing of amenity plots by the government and other such powerful people. The land of Gutter Baghicha, a park, was declared to be an amenity plot in 1972. However, when the MQM took control of the city’s mayorship in the early 1990s, parts of the Gutter Baghicha were illegally allotted to officers of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). The local people of trans-Lyari resisted, and refused to allow the KMC to encroach upon the park. The Karachi NGO Alliance, (through which Mr. Nisar Baloch was running the people’s movement against the grabbing of this parkland) got a stay order from the Sindh High Court against construction in this park. However, the MQM, which has remained in power since 1989, (whether the ruling government was civilian or military,) did not respect the court’s order. The details of other land-grabbing incidents by the MQM can be read about below:

 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/16-ardeshir-cowasjee-i-own-karachi-and-can-sell-it-ii-759-hs-05

 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/16-ardeshir-cowasjee-i-own-karachi-and-can-sell-it-3-159-hs-06

 http://dawnnews.tv/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/ardeshir-cowasjee-i-own-karachi-and-can-sell-it-4-ts-03

Clearly, the values which uphold law and order in this country have deteriorated to a state of abjection. When a man says in a press conference that he will be killed the following day by the mayors of Karachi and the SITE town, and the police fail to provide protection to him because of the political pressure they are under, it is clear that the situation is deplorable. Even the journalists present at the press conference did not take Baloch’s apprehensions seriously, and did not give coverage of his concerns to the public. Furthermore, the police at the Soldier Bazar Police Station, in whose jurisdiction this murder occurred, have refused to put the name of murderer on the FIR.

Housing and resettlement policies in Pakistan are unclear and
ambiguous, leaving room for manipulation by those in ruling political parties, and the opportunity to grab land and convert it into commercial plots.

About half of Pakistan’s population lives in slum communities, and often in a state of squalor. Judicial negligence, combined with the inaction and ineffectiveness of the courts in dealing with the housing needs of the people and matters of land-grabbing, has benefited the land-grabber tremendously.

The government of Sindh should act immediately to arrest the culprits on these murder charges including, Mr. Mustafa Kamal, City Nazim and Mr. Izhar Uddin, Town Nazim of SITE town, (the name of the latter was stated by Mr. Nisar Baloch during his press conference, one day before his death,) and the high officials of the Karachi Police, including the Chief Police Officer and Station Head Officer (SHO) of the Soldier Bazar Police Station. A thorough inquiry should be conducted into the extra-judicial killing of Nisar Baloch.

Hindustan Unilever Limited Sued for the Inability to Attract a Single Girl

Unable to attract even a single girl Frustrated man sues

In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for ‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’.

The plaintiff has cited his failure to attract any girl at all even though he’s been using Axe products for over seven years now.

Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women.

Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used, unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes, shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the brand managers of Axe.

Vaibhav was pushed to take this step when his bai (maid) beat him with a broom when he tried to impress her by appearing in front of her after applying all the Axe products.

 No girl ever asked Vaibhav to call her

“Where the **** is the Axe effect? I’ve been waiting for it for over seven years. Right from my college to now in my office, no girl ever agreed to even go out for a tea or coffee with me, even though I’m sure they could smell my perfumes, deodorants and aftershaves. I always applied them in abundance to make sure the girls get turned on as they show in the television. Finally I thought I’d try to impress my lonely bai who had an ugly fight with her husband and was living alone for over a year. Axe effect my foot!” Vaibhav expressed his unhappiness.

Vaibhav claims that he had been using all the Axe products as per the company’s instructions even since he first bought them. He argued that if he couldn’t experience the Axe effect despite using the products as directed, either the company was making false claims or selling fake products.

“I had always stored them in cool and dry place, and kept them away from direct light or heat. I’d always use a ruler before applying the spray and make sure that the distance between the nozzle and my armpit was at least 15 centimeters. I’d do everything they told. I even beat up my 5-year-old nephew for coming near my closet, as they had instructed it to keep away from children’s reach. And yet, all I get is a broom beating from my ugly bai.” Vaibhav expressed his frustration.

Vaibhav claims that he had to do go a lot of mental suffering and public humiliation due to the lack of Axe effect and wants HUL to compensate him for this agony.

An advocate in Karkardooma court, who happened to mistake Vaibhav for some deodorant vendor when he entered the court premises with all the bottles, has now offered to take up his case in the court. HUL has been served a legal notice in this regard.  

 HUL has officially declined to comment on the case citing the subject to be sub judice, but our sources inform that the company was worried over the possible outcomes of the case. The company might argue that Vaibhav was hopelessly unattractive and unintelligent and didn’t possess the bare minimum requirements for the Axe effect to take place.

Officially HUL has not issued any statement, but legal experts believe that HUL could have tough time convincing the court.

 “HUL might be tempted to take that line of argument, but it is very risky. There is no data to substantiate the supposition that unattractive and unintelligent men don’t attract women. In fact some of the best looking women have been known to marry and date absolutely ghoulish guys. I’d suggest that the company settles this issue out of court.” noted lawyer Ram Jhoothmalani said.

What is Shaheen Sehbai’s Game?

 Shaheen Sehbai or ‘Mouse’ Sehbai

Mr Shaheen Sehbai (former correspondent of Daily Dawn; former editor of The News; ex Director News of ARY ONE TV Channel; former director of GEO News Network; and presently one of the many editors of the News), escaped from Pakistan to save himself from the so-called wrath of the establishment headed by General Musharraf, after the controversy surrounding his story about the murder of Daniel Pearl. It was apparently simply to obtain the Green Card for himself, and his family in the United States. 

Mr Sehbai then started to run a web based news service, i.e., South Asia Tribune, funded through dubious sources, but he suddenly reappeared and closed his website. During his self-imposed exile in the USA, he used to raise hue and cry against the military establishment that he and his family members’ life was in danger, but the so-called danger suddenly vanished after the whole family getting the Green Cards.

He then returned to Pakistan and that too under the same Musharraf regime, and joined ARY TV channel, then GEO, and then the News, where he is presently working. 

Upon Zardari coming to power, he suddenly became active, and started writing almost a daily column in order to be noticed by Zardari. He was hoping to be appointed High Commissioner to Canada as he was competing with Haqqani. When this could not materialize, and he realized that Zardari does not read newspapers, he has gradually gone into his Green Card cocoon. 

The people like Shaheen Sehbai are never sincere to this soil. When he was not noticed by Zardari he started yelping against him. 

Not only this Mr. Sehbai also tried to betray COAS and sat in his feet urging him to intervene before the installation of political set up. The situation would be quite different if Mr. Sehbai was made ambassador to Canada, he would be praising Govt but alas the greedy dog could not get and now woofing madly.

Shaheen Sehbai, the current Group Editor of daily English newspaper The News International, and his two team members Ansar Abbasi and Rauf Klasra are extremely unhappy with the PPP-ANP-JUI Government in Pakistan, particularly with President Asif Zardari.

Does any one know, why?

Here is the list of various demands by this group presented to President Zardari:

1. Removal of a criminal case against Shaheen Sehbai which was registered against Sehbai in 2001. The person who filed the complaint with the Rawalpindi police on 21 August is Khalid Hijazi, who is the former husband of a cousin of Sehbai. The complaint alleges that Sehbai carried out an “armed robbery” in his home on 22 February 2001. Sehbai was told by President Zardari that he must face these charges in a court of law.

2. Sehbai tried to approach Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar for ‘settlement’ of this case but his request was turned down.

3. Shaheen Sehbai’s team members (Ansar Abbasi in particular) are vehement supporters of Jamaat Islami and the Taliban. They are upset with President Zardari because of his decision to fight terrorist of Taliban and Al Qaeda.

4. On February 16, 2002, Sehbai let a story run that “exposed” government Pakistani ties with terrorist bombings in India (a story that also ran in The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune by the work of the reporter, not Sehbai). The government immediately stopped its advertisements in The News, and put inordinate pressure on the company to fire those involved in the creation and publishing of the story.

5. Mr. Sehbai returned to America and started a web based newspaper, The South Asian Tribune, in which he produced many false stories against Pakistan. Obviously he became bitter towards Musharraf because of Musharraf’s tough stance on war on terror and also because Musharraf had decided to weaken ties between ISI and Jihadis/Talibans. In 2005, Sehbai, announced that he was closing The South Asian Tribune after three years of service.

6. Invitation to the Army Chief General Kayani to intervene in politics: In his highly controversial article in Daily The News on 2 September 2008, Shaheen Sehbai states that the very fact that Asif Zardari is about to become the head of the state of Pakistan proves how big a mess Musharraf made. He says thus it is the army’s duty to fix it as the political parties certainly are not capable of doing it. “Risking the charge that will instantly be thrown at me that I am inviting the Army to intervene again”, he offers a seven-step plan for General Kiyani.

Extremely shameful articles by Shaheen Sehbai. He is asking for a new Martial Law. What a shame. This person has gone nuts.

by faisal.ahameed@gmail.com