fijisun usa sept 2015

Nitin Mukesh per-formed into the weehours of Saturday

morning at the IndianCultural Center before apacked audience churningout all the top numbers of latefather and Indian playbacksinger Mukesh. This time Nitinwas full of action and move-ments and got off stage tomeet and mingle with thecrowd as he sang some of thepopular numbers.

VOLEUM-25 NO. 6 September-2015 PHONE-510-677-4488 WWW.FIJISUN-USA.COM Email : [email protected]

COMMUNITY ROUND UP: WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND USNitin Mukesh was in the Bay Area for his show sponsored by INSTANT KARMA

Read about Mr. Cheapo on page 5

Diwali Celebration at Hayward High School ground

MAJOR SPONSOR AND CHIEF GUEST ATTORNEY ASHWANI BHAKHRI( SEE PHOTOS BY SUMMET AND RAJESH NAND ON PAGE 4)

Dr. Japra puts Fiji right on the map at FOG FestivalSurprises Fiji movie actors with awards and recognition on stage at the Red Carpet Awards Night held at Center

of Performing Arts, San Jose. Adwin Awadh, Vijay Kumar and Satish Rai were the awarde recipients at the event.

Made in the style ofIndian movies,HTS is packed

with Bollywood masala,action and entertainment.

Produced and directedby Melbourne, Australia-based Vimal Reddy,HIGHWAY TO SUVA hasbeen shot entirely in Fijiwith local star cast.

Two young lovers facea stiff opposition from theirrespective parents fromgetting married due cul-tural differences althoughboth are of same ethnicity.

They leave theirhomes to escape theopposition from the par-ents. In the course of theirescape, they are kid-napped by a gang ofunderground criminals asthe heroine of the moviecomes to possess a par-cel given her by astranger belonging to thegang. Unfortunately sheloses the parcel in thebus. The criminals do notbelieve her story and isbent on recovering it fromher anyway.

In the meantime policeare alerted. Two CIDoperatives played by VijayKumaran and RatuRakuita Tawake mount amassive search withpolice dogs to scan sus-pected areas.

Saved by a mysteryperson the young loverscome out of the grips ofthe gang and decide toreturn to their parents whohave changed them-selves due to the suddenkidnapping. Amicably,they now agree to have

their children married.The police crackdown

on the gang when theyare enjoying a cabaretdance at a night club.

The story is retold on abus trip from Lautoka toSuva – HIGHWAY TOSUVA – sounds likeBombay to Goa but notquite like that.

The two young loversdo an adorable job. Thelead actor is stylish in allsongs. Despite someloose ends in the story,the movie is well doneand is sufficiently enter-taining. Police officers doa good job and pose likeCID officers. AdwinAwadh is good who playsa side role as visitor fromAustralia with his family.Other supporting cast dojust as well.

Cinematically, themovie is shot in greatlocales in Fiji has greatcamera work with crispclear scenes that arerefreshing to see appar-ently using a cinema qual-ity camera like Black

Magic or Red Camerathat can easily achievesame results.

Music and backgroundsound are comfortableand editing is fine withsome clever transitions.

There were goodopportunities for conflictsin the movie which iswhere more time shouldhave been spent to create

intensity and climax.Overall HIGHWAY TOSUVA is a good entertain-ment and is capable ofopening doors for bettermovie making in Fiji.Nominated by FIJI SUNUSA for SFOMOVIEFEST at Festival of Globe,Fremont, CA- HIGHWAYTO SUVA was screenedfor public at Camera 21

theater downtown SanJose. Two actors AdwinAwadh and VijayKumaran who flew in fromAustralia for the festivalreceived excellenceawards at the Red CarpetAwards Night held at theCenter of Performing Artsin San Jose.

dvd is available atwww.highwaytosuva.com

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H. Koya (Phd)editor-Publisher

robbie

Michaelson contributing writer

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Is it a depiction ofSALMAN’S affinity to theHindu God Hanuman JIfor which - a few yearsago he earned edict ofKUFR from an IndiaMuslim cleric for dancingin the street with a statueof his favorite god, or aslick directorial by KABIRKHAN transitioning intothe Muslim faith as depict-ed in the Qawali “BhardeJholi Meri YaMuhammad …” sung andperformed by SALMAN’Sclose Pakistani friendADNAN SAMI or is it sim-ply the saga of a lost

Pakistani girl who foundher way to India?

Kind of a twisted fanta-sy in which both ends arebeing sought and perhapsmerged as is often seen inIndia to appease, appealand entertain if not re-enforce a sense of toler-ance an respect betweenthe two neighbors .

While the viewers raiseand debate these ques-tions, Salman is said tohave played a muchcalmer role in his own pro-duction BAJRANGI BHAI-JAN. The movie became abox office hit and rake in

millions of dollars acrossthe globe. “ Chal beta TuSelfie Lele Re” becamean instant hit and by nowmay be a chartbuster onseveral radio stations asthe song fits the style ofthe time with the selfiefuture of today’s smartphones.

As a superstarSALMAN maintains hisstatue but the relative-newcomerand generally aserious guy NAWAZUDINsteels the show playingreal life role of a PakistaniTV news reporter with asense of humor. He islikely to be cast in thistype of light hearted rolemore frequently whichmight lead him to greateracclaim and audience.

BAJRANGI BHAIJAN

MY ONE LINE SYNOPSYS OF HINDI MOVIE COURT NEEDED IN A MURDER CASE

Having surren-dered my post ofa prosecuting

officer in LABASA tosomeone who manipu-

lated his way to get thejob through his closerelative, I was not tooexcited to write this forhim.However, he suc-

ceeded in persuadingme to write because hewas not movie personand never saw themovie. Plus,he had hard

time writing.Here’s what I wrote:“A wheelchair bound

man torn between hiswife and his lover is

seized with anger andjealousy shoots hislover to death.”

Any guesses on themovie?

FIJI MOVIE “HIGHWAY TO SUVA” GRABS AWARDS FORTWO ACTORS AT FESTIVAL OF GLOBE, SILICON VALLEY

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DIWALI IN AUGUST BY NORFOLK SOCCER

HAYWAD HIGH SCHOOL- More than two thou-sand people thronged to the Diwali Festivalheld here Saturday 22, 2015. Dominated by

soccer matches the festival featured on stageentertainment with music by Melody Makers.

The organizers also recognized four senior cit-izens on stage. Grand sponors MR. ASHWANI

BHAKHRI of Law Officers of Bhakri handed outsvereal awards to people. For their contribu-

tion to the community.

GALLERY

PAGE sPonsorEd BY sAT nArAYAn

FiJisun 5local newS September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

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Cheapo FAnA official sneaksinto Fog hospitality suite forfood and fought for Vip pass

Instead of getting the wholeFANA team to the AwardsNight, the cheapo did not

make any effort to bring anyoneand yet he was there free with afraudulently obtained VIP Pass.When he saw me at the red car-pet event, he said the pass wasgiven to him by Kapil. I calledKapil and questioned him. Kapildenied giving the cheapo anyVIP Pass. Kapil also verified thatthe cheapo was not on his l vol-unteer list. The cheaper neverattended any of the committeemeetings so he could not qualifyto be on the list all of a suddenunless some behind the backdeal took place. Compare this

cheapo with the FOG team thatrented a booth at the Fiji Festivaland were at there and full num-bers to entertain the crowd. Itwas all my effort to get the FANAleadership and FOG teamtogether for the first but this Mr.Cheapo is something else. He iseverywhere for his own personalpopularity and free pass to pres-tigious events. While the cheaporan about frantically to get a VIPseat inside the CPA, CaliforniaPerforming Arts Center, his girl-friend was reportedly freelanc-ing as a TV reporter in the hotsun. Beware of this cheap, slyand cunning person in our com-munity.

FAnA oFFiCiAls ABsTenionConsidered as thedarling of thou-sands of Fiji

Indians, this sly, sneaky,cheapo and publicityseeker official liedthrough his teeth toobtain media pass to geton the red carpet and mixwith celebrities.

That Saturday, he madea dozen frantic calls beg-ging to sell him a $75ticket for $25 only.

For over a week hewent behind FOG offi-cials and made directcontacts with Fiji moviemakers and actors withunder the shadow of hisgirl friend – a Bay Arearadio jockey who wastipped to be a majorannouncer at FOG butnever got the job.

The cheapo –hidingunder his girlfriend’sshadows-posed as a newsreporter without zero anyradio, TV radio, or jour-nalistic capability andskills. The cheapo cannotwrite a good newsworthyline leave aside being amedia guy. Whenexposed on social media,the cheapo sent emailblast but as a coward didnot copy to the personconcerned. This is thesame official who wasrecently rumored for hav-ing detained a Miss FijiFestival contestant at hishome but te story wasmoussed up so no onegot to the bottom of it. Hisattire is always out offashion and on the redcarpet he had no tie and

had his shirt unbuttonedas usual as is he wasgoing to bathroom. It wasinsisted at the FOG meet-ings that all must dress upfor the occasion prefer-ably tuxedo. The cheapodoesn’t have it and wouldlook so clumsy if tried toclad him in one.

He has a habit of call-ing a dozen times whenhe wants to get informa-tion to get somewherewithout having to pay. Hewill praise you sky highlike a hypocrite. Like hecalled me called me doc-tor may be two dozentimes and once atCamera 12 at the screenof Fiji movies, said: “ Youare beyond a doctor Mr.Koya.” Wow! Haw crazy isthat?

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A MEDICAL doctor by pro-fession, GunasagaranGounder was new in politics.He had contested the 1999general election on a FijiLabour Party ticket and hedefeated the then Leader ofthe Opposition and NationalFederation Party leader, JaiRam Reddy in theYasawa/Nawaka OpenConstituency.

The victory resulted in himbeing appointed the assistantminister for health in thePeople's CoalitionGovernment. Going downmemory lane, the People'sCoalition Government con-sisted of members from theFiji Labour Party, FijianAssociation Party and theParty of National Unity Sincethe Fiji Labour Party had wonthe majority seats in the elec-tion, its leader MahendraChaudhry was chosen as theprime minister, being the firstFijian of Indian descent tolead the country. But therewere some disgruntled peo-ple who did not want MrChaudhry as the prime minis-ter and protests were alsoheld to this effect. ThePeople's CoalitionGovernment had been inpower for one year and aParliament sitting was sched-uled for May 19, 2000, whichwas a Friday.

Dr Gounder said therewere rumours that somethingwould happen on that day butas usual, he got ready andmade his way to Parliament.While the Parliament was insession, some armed menwearing balaclavas stormedinside and declared that itwas a civilian coup. TheOpposition members were

told to leave the parliamen-tary complex while those fromthe government side wereheld back. It was the start ofthe hostage crisis inParliament — the first timethat such a thing had hap-pened in the country's history.Dr Gounder said it was a ter-rifying, shocking and humiliat-ing experience when armedmen stormed into Parliamenton that day and took over.

"There were rumours ofsomething happening. Wewent to Parliament on thatday and this happened," hesaid. "It's something that I tryto forget but I can't. It wasalso a learning experience ina sense and we never knewwhat would happen next.

"Different people react dif-ferently in such situations.Some were depressed, somegot sick and some remainedstrong."

Dr Gounder said as dayspassed, some governmentparliamentarians werereleased while he and othersremained as the rebels'hostages. He said the Fijiansof Indian descent parliamen-tarians were kept together inthe parliamentary chamber bythe rebels. "One night, thelights suddenly went off andsome guys came inside androbbed the Fijians of Indiandescent parliamentarians."They were let loose on usand all MPs who had valu-ables with them were robbedoff their cash, watches andother things. "I was fortunateas being an assistant ministerat that time, I didn't carry anymoney with me. I was wearinga gold chain but I had sent itto my family a few daysbefore the robbery incident in

Parliament."Dr Gounder said he sent

the gold chain to his familythrough the then director gen-eral of Fiji Red Cross, JohnScott (now deceased).

"Mr Chaudhry was alsowearing a good watch and afew days after I had sent mineto my family, he also sent hisaway before the robbery inci-dent. "We were totally cut offfrom the outside world andJohn Scott's visits wereeagerly awaited by ushostages as he brought usmessages from outside. "Healso brought us letters fromour families but these werecensored by the rebels beforethey reached us. The wordsused to be smudged orcrossed off." Dr Gounderrecalled Mr Chaudhry beingtaken outside by the rebelsone night and bashed up,saying it was a Friday.

He said Mr Chaudhry wasin great pain after beingbashed by the rebels."Somehow, I had my stetho-scope and blood pressuremachine in my bag as when Iwas coming to Suva fromNadi, a friend had asked me

to check him up. "I examinedMr Chaudhry after he wasbrought back inside by therebels and he was in severepain. "I told the rebels that MrChaudhry needs X-ray imme-diately as he could be bleed-ing inside if there were someinternal injuries.

"But they didn't do any-thing and for two days nothinghappened. A doctor from out-side came after two days andexamined Mr Chaudhry."Since I was the only medicaldoctor inside Parliament dur-ing the crisis, the rebels toldme to sleep next to MrChaudhry so that I could keepassessing his condition."

Dr Gounder said anotherterrifying experience was see-ing young people standingguard at doors of the parlia-mentary complex with guns,as anyone not trained to han-dle guns was a big risk."Another observation from thewindows was seeing peoplemoving outside with carcass-es.

"They also used to comeand peep at us through thewindows as if we were speci-mens in the zoo or aliens.

"The food was not goodand whatever was sent by thehostages families did notreach inside as the rebelstook many things out. "Wehardly got that quantity andquality of food and whateverthat we could not eat wasquickly taken away by therebels."Dr Gounder said thehostages remaining inParliament were unaware ofthe signing of the MuanikauAccord which resulted in theirrelease.

He said there was a newsblackout for the hostages,who did not have the slightestidea of the developments out-side the parliamentary com-plex. "We were told all of asudden that we may bereleased. It was a big reliefwhen I walked out of theParliament on the 57th daywith my colleagues. "Themoment you lose your free-dom, then you realise whatfreedom is. I went back to myfamily and I was visited by amilitary doctor for counselling."It took me a bit of time toadjust and I had nightmaresat times. But I was strong spir-itually and being the only doc-tor in the group, I used tocounsel my colleagues during

the hostage crisis."Dr Gounder said late FLP

MPs Muthusami andMohammed Latif Subedarwere heart patients and healso had to keep a closewatch on their health. He saidthere were some asthmaticparliamentarians too and oneof them was released by therebels much earlier."Whatever happened issomething that I try to forgetbut I can't.

"Even if I live for 100years, the experience issomething I'll never forget.

"It's probably there deepdown in my subconsciousmind but I'm strong. "I wentinto Parliament after beingelected to serve the peopleand not for myself. I'm servingpeople in a different capacitynow as a doctor for a charita-ble organisation in Nadi. "Butwhatever happened in 2000didn't deter me and I contest-ed the 2001 and 2006 generalelections." Dr Gounder wasthe curative health minister in2006 when he experiencedhis second coup while being agovernment member.

But this time, the coup wascarried out by the military andthere was no hostage crisis.

FIJISuN6 Fiji newSSeptember-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com

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Fiji oppositionMP in courtcharged withsedition

The Fiji oppositionMP, MoseseBulitavu, has

appeared in court todayhaving been chargedwith sedition. Heappeared before a judgein Suva with four others,accused of writing sedi-tious comments in publicin 2011. Mr Bulitavuapplied for bail variationto attend an overseasmeeting at the end ofSeptember, to which theState has objected. Thecourt will rule on MrBulitavu's variationrequest on Monday.Meanwhile, the totalnumber of people cur-rently charged with sedi-tion in Fiji in separatecases sits at 68. Dozensof people have appearedin court in the past fewweeks amid allegtions ofrebel groups trying toform a breakaway stateand military-style train-ing. The military hasdeployed 140 soldiers inthe west and north of VitiLevu to help police intheir investigations.

Exchanging of informa-tion by Fiji and other coun-tries is important as it canhelp in combattingtransnational crimes in Fiji.

Minister for Defence,National Security andImmigration Timoci Natuvasaid the ministry hasdeveloped a working rela-tionship with stakeholderswithin Fiji and worldwideagencies like INTERPOL.

He mentioned this in

parliament after FijiFirstMP Alexander O’Connorasked Natuva on what theFiji Police Force and hisministry are doing to com-bat the recent influx ofdrug importation into orthrough Fiji. Natuva saidcollaboration with local andoverseas law enforcementresulted in the confiscationof a container that con-tained about $100 millionworth of drugs. Opposition

MP Salote Radrodro thenasked Natuva about theproblems or weaknesseswith the FRCA border con-trol capabilities and howdoes the ministry intend toenhance border protection.Natuva said they are buy-ing new equipment. Headded that they are in theprocess of trying toimprove on what they haveat the border as they can-not control everything.

Exchanging of information helps in combatting transnational crimes - Natuva

The doctor who was a hostage

Dr Gunasagaran Gounder. Picture: Jai Prasad

Abuse of Womenand DomesticViolence and ChildProtection is alsocovered in thenew Code ofConduct for theM e t h o d i s tChurch in Fijiafter it waspassed during theAnnual Conferencetoday. The code ofconduct on this issuestates that church leaders shallchallenge any words and actionsthat perpetrate violence against

women and children. Italso states that church

leaders shall encour-age victims ofdomestic violence toreport the abuseand hold perpetra-tors accountable fortheir actions.Secretary General

Reverend Dr EpineriVakadewavosa said the

Code of Conduct pro-vides clear guidelines to the

behaviour expected of churchleaders and for the protection andwellbeing of those they serve.

Vakadewavosa said any personmay report an alleged breach of theCode of Conduct to the DivisionalSuperintendent or to the Headoffice. The reviewed and revisedMethodist Church constitution wasalso passed today. Vakadewavosasaid the review of the whole consti-tution helps organise the Church inFiji as it moves onto the next 50years.

He said it also help the Church intrying to meet the standard of thecall of the church in this modernage. The Code of Conduct and theRevised Constitution will be imple-mented from January 2016.

New Code of Conduct for the Methodist Church40 prefects takepart in RestorativeJustice Workshop

40 prefects from 10 schoolsaround Suva are taking part in athree day Restorative Justice forstudents workshop organized byPacific Centre for Peace Building.Suva Muslim College studentTailasa Vue said the workshop hashelped him in understanding sensi-tive issues such as bullying and howhe as a school prefect can controlthis. Vue said by using skills taughtin the workshop such as proper wayof counseling and resolving issuesrather than punishing studentsstraight away, many students whomake mistakes in schools are givenanother chance rather than beingsuspended or expelled.

FIJISUN 7fiji news September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

Nadi, Fiji – When floodsclosed Fiji’s main interna-tional airport for the onlytime in its history, econom-ic shockwaves rippledthrough the tourism-dependent country.

Nadi airport, built in the1940s, is Fiji’s gateway toand from the world andwhen Cyclone Evan forcedit to suspend flights in2012 the tourism industryas well as many other sec-tors took a big knock.

Ms. Molly Murphy,Senior Risk Manager atAirports Fiji Limited, saidthe experience revealedhow much of an economiclifeline the airport was andhow its reliability was cru-cial to the country’s inter-national reputation.

The Sendai Frameworkfor Disaster RiskReduction, adopted thisyear by the internationalcommunity, has curbing

disaster damage to criticalinfrastructure as one of itsseven targets to strength-en sustainable develop-ment.

The Cyclone Evan dis-aster prompted Airports FijiLimited to revisit itsalready extensive busi-ness continuity and contin-gency plans. Nothing wasleft unquestioned: Is thereenough water on site? Arethe current partnershipswith the transport andtourism authorities goodenough? Does the emer-gency airspace transferagreement with NewZealand need updating?

One of the main find-ings was the importance ofmaintaining clear drainagesystems on and off site toprevent another closureafter future cyclones.

“There are three mainelements that underpin ourapproach to risk manage-

ment. First, have the rightstructure, the right peopleand the right reportinglines. Second, back this upwith the right technology,up to date equipment andknow-how. Third, system-ize the collection of yourdata and use it to revealtrends and inform yourdecision making,” said Ms.Murphy.

“The ExecutiveChairman of our company

(Mr. Faiz Khan) has reallyencouraged staff toembrace a culture of safe-ty in everything we do. Wenow have ownership ofhazard risk by frontlinepersonnel. This enables usto continually review riskand change the allocationof resources to managethat risk.”

Ms. Murphy was speak-ing at a two-day ‘MakeYour Business Disaster

Resilient’ workshop inNadi. The forum steered32 managers through astep-by-step review of theircurrent approaches to dis-aster and climate risk man-agement identifyingstrengths and gaps.

The managers camefrom a cross-section of theFiji economy, including thePort Authority, variousmanufacturers, transportand logistics, tourism,banking, insurance and theGovernment’s taxationdepartment.

Cyclone Evan causedUS$40 million in directeconomic costs. Indirectlosses, such as businessclosures, reduced touristnumbers and job losses,are estimated to havebeen considerably higher.The cyclone affected750,000 people, almostFiji’s entire population.

The strengthening of

Fiji’s infrastructure hasemerged as a priority ofgovernment policy. “Wehave invested heavily toimprove our infrastructure– ports, highways, commu-nications, airports and hos-pitals,” Prime MinisterVoreqe Bainimarama saidin a recent interview withthe Fiji Sun.

The ‘Make YourBusiness DisasterResilient’ workshop wasconvened by the FijiEmployers and CommerceAssociation and facilitatedby UNISDR’s GlobalEducation and TrainingInstitute, which is based inIncheon, Republic ofKorea.

It is part of UNISDR’sincreased engagementwith the private sector,which is identified as a keypartner in the implementa-tion of the 15-year SendaiFramework

Fiji: airport closure highlights need for resilient infrastructure

CENSUS AND SURVEY TRAINING FOR AGRICULTURE STAFFThe Census and Survey

Processing System (CSPro) Training was conduct-ed for staff of Ministry ofAgriculture yesterday atthe Salvation Army officeas part of continued effortsto enhance data collectionand data keeping withinthe Ministry. CS Pro is asoftware package devel-oped by the US Bureau ofCensus for entry, editing,tabulation and dissemina-tion of Census and SurveyData.

The Census and SurveyData processed on thesame software and plat-form ensures great com-patibility between datasources where data couldbe easily shared, extractedand accessed betweenorganisation and Datausers.

Opening the training,Acting PermanentSecretary for Agriculture,Uraia Waibuta said this isan opportune time forlearning as the Ministrybeginning with theStatistics team will beusing the CSO program.

“I want to show the level

of commitment from theMinistry on this level ofexercise, it is so importantfor us, we know where weare, where we were andwe know some of theweaknesses in regards todata in the Ministry ofAgriculture. This particulartraining is part of theMinistry’s intention ofachieving its long termgoals on data collation andupdating. We know howrich in data agriculture isand we have a lot of datascattered in province, dis-tricts and the most in

Divisions that is not storedand shared well. Thisworkshop will surely buildstaff capacity for data pro-cessing to ensure goodquality data is capturedand disseminated as wellas to assist in proper plan-ning for the Ministry’sPublic Sector InvestorProgrammes (PSIP),” MrWaibuta said.

He said the Ministrylooks forward to using thissoftware package as it willnot only collect data for thenumber of farmers, num-ber of crop planted or live-

stock in Fiji but it will alsobe a means to quicklysearch information on thenumber of equipment theMinistry has, the number ofvehicles and even findingrelevant information onstaff performance.MrWaibuta acknowledged theefforts by the Secretariat ofthe Pacific Community andthe European Unionthrough the PacificAgriculture Policy Program(PAPP) for providing sup-port for this training. TheFood and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) hasalso been an ardent sup-porter of improving statis-tics within the Ministry.Apart from representativesfrom various divisions ofthe Ministry of Agriculture,two staff from the Ministryof Rural ad MaritimeDevelopment and twoStatistics staff from theFederated States ofMicronesia also participat-ed in the training. Thetraining would be conduct-ed for the next two weeksand is being facilitated byresource personnel fromSPC Mr Toga Raikoti.

The Chairman of theGoverning Council of theCentre on Integrated RuralDevelopment for Asia and thePacific (CIRDAP) and Fiji’sMinister for Agriculture, Rural& Maritime Development andNational DisasterManagement, Hon. IniaSeruiratu has announced theappointment of, Fiji’sPermanent Secretary forLands and Mineral ResourcesMr Tevita Boseiwaqa as thenew Director-General CIR-DAP with effect from July

2016. Mr Boseiwaqa will beresponsible for the implemen-tation of the GoverningCouncil decisions and theadministrative running of CIR-DAP. He will be also respon-sible for the overall strategyand increase partnerships forCIRDAPs engagement withexisting and new partners.Minister Seruiratu saidBoseiwaqa brings valuableknow-how to the organizationand will be an asset to thedecision making body of CIR-DAP.

LANDS PERMANENT SECRETARY APPOINTED

DIRECTOR-GENERAL CIRDAP

Fijian HighCommissioner to PNGand non-resident HighCommissioner to VanuatuEsala Teleni today pre-sented his credentials tothe President of VanuatuHis Excellency WomteloRev. Baldwin Londsdale.

High CommissionerTeleni commended thesteadfastness, calmness,solidarity and spirit of con-fidence displayed byVanuatu and its peopleduring and after cyclonePam.

He said that Fiji andVanuatu share manythings in common such as

our geographical location,our sea rights, our land,our people and our histo-ries.

"We also have longstanding diplomatic tiesand cooperation on bilat-eral and through existingmulti-lateral and regionalmechanism," he said.

He thanked theVanuatu Government forits understanding andsupport during Fiji’s transi-tion to democratic rule.

High CommissionerTeleni is looking forwardto some good and con-structive years during histerm.

His Excellency RevLondsale thanked the

Fijian Government for thesupport and assistance

rendered to the people ofVanuatu.

He said the relationsbetween the two countriesdated far back when peo-ple from Vanuatu weretaken to work in Fiji’ssugar cane plantations aswell as those Vanuatunationals who attendedschools in Fiji.

He also discussedregional peace and secu-rity and believed that as aregion we needed to pro-vide a united front to bringsecurity issues to theattention of global powers.

President RevLondsale also acknowl-

edged the assistanceoffered by Fiji afterCyclone Pam.

He commended thesacrifices by the Fijian sol-diers who assisted inrehabilitation work andsaid that their work did notgo unnoticed by the peo-ple and the government ofVanuatu.

High CommissionerTeleni later reviewed aguard of honour.He wasaccompanied by Fiji’sHonorary Consul inVanuatu Mr CharlesValentine and SecondSecretary Mr VilikesaNaivalucava.

HIGH COMMISSIONER TELENI PRESENTS CREDENTIAL IN VANUATU

FIJISUN08 INDIA NEWSSeptember-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com

Gujarat bandh: Three 'killed' inAhmedabad violence; police, Patels clash

There have beenunconfirmed reports thatthree people were killed inAhmedabad in the latenight violence following thearrest of Hardik Patel, whois spearheading a cam-paign demanding OBC sta-tus for the Patel communi-ty. In north Gujarat mobsset fire to the offices of aminister and two MLAs. Mr.Hardik Patel was releasedlater.

A few areas inAhmedabad, Surat,Mehsana, Visnagar, andUnjha were placed undercurfew on Wednesday,while in other places para-military forces have beendeployed to ensure lawand order situation in thestate as Gujarat remainedclosed for the day.

Internet services wereagain suspended inAhmedabad. Meanwhile,

incidents of group clashes,clashes between Patelsand police were reported.Two Bank ATMs have beenset on fire. Chief MinisterAnandiben Patel briefedUnion Home MinisterRajnath Singh, who hasagreed to provide addition-al companies of paramili-tary forces to take the con-trol of the situation aftermassive violence acrossthe State. "Situation istense but under control,"said a police officer moni-toring the situation.Meanwhile, Gujarat'sLeader of the OppositionShankarsinh Vaghelademands resignation ofMs.Patel for failing to con-trol the law and order situa-tion.According to policesources, more than 50buses were torched, whilemany government proper-ties were targeted by the

angry mobs, who wereupset with the police crackdown on agitators.

"I have asked for thereport regarding policelathicharge on the crowdsat GMDC ground wherethe agitators were on fastunto death after the rally,"said Chief MinisterAnandiben Patel, whileappealing the people toremain calm and maintainpeace. "I will take actionagainst the policemen whoresorted to violence. It'sshameful," saidAhmedabad PoliceCommissioner ShivanandJha. "We have ordered aninquiry immediately when itcame to our notice that thepolice dealt with heavyhands," said Gujarat’sMinister of State for HomeRajni Patel, whose ances-tral house was set on fire bythe angry mobs. "The anger

was against the police,"said a member of HardikPatel-led Patel AnamatAndolan Samiti (PAAS).

The state governmenthad also withdrawn buseson BRTS in Ahmedabad,Surat and Rajkot whilemobile internet serviceswere also suspended inorder to prevent rumoursbeing spread on socialmedia. After his releasefrom the custody, Mr. HardikPatel also appealed forpeace but slammed thepolice for brutal crackdownin which several media per-sons were also beaten up.Mr. Hardik Patel, subse-quently, announced that theentire State would observebandh on Wednesday. Allschools and markets wereclosed on Wednesdaywhile no untoward incidenthas been reported sincemorning.

A bus set on fire in Surat on Tuesday, following the arrest of Hardik Patel,convener of 'Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti. He was released later

PAtel Power rocKS AhmedABAd

Patidars or members of Patel community wear masks of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as they participate in a rally in Ahmedabad.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday called forcalm in Gujarat as fresh vio-lence rocked parts of the stateforcing the Centre to rush addi-tional paramilitary forces as anagitation by the Patel commu-nity demanding reservationtriggered overnight arson inkey cities. In a brief televisedappeal, a solemn-looking Modiappealed for peace in hishome state and said violencedoes not benefit anybody. “Wecan reach a solution throughnegotiations,” Modi said inGujarati in his first reaction tothe agitation which turned vio-lent after the leader of the com-munity Hardik Patel was brieflydetained by police on Tuesday.

Modi’s appeal came a day afterchief minister AnandibenPatel’s similar call for peacefailed to stop violence fromspreading. 22-year-old HardikPatel had addressed a rally ofthe Patels, also known as thePatidars, in Ahmedabad whichwas attended by an estimatedhalf-a-million people.

Patel has also called for astate-wide shut-down onWednesday to press for thecommunity’s demand seekingreservation in government jobsand colleges under the otherbackward class category(OBC). Official sources saidauthorities clamped prohibitoryorders in several cities andshut down educational institu-

tions after violent protesterstorched police stations, burntgovernment and private vehi-cles and pelted stones at secu-rity personnel. As many as 100buses were torched and prop-erty damaged in the violence inAhmedabad, Surat andMehsana cities and the townsof Unjha and Visnagar, officialssaid. Incidents of stone-peltingwere also reported onWednesday morning fromAhmedabad. “The agitatorsclashed with the police andmembers of the lower castes.They have burnt down ninepolice stations and over threedozen buses,” PC Thakur,Gujarat director general ofpolice said.

Gujarat on the boil over Patelagitation, PM Modi urges calm

A US appeals court hasaffirmed a district judge'sorder to dismiss a humanrights violation lawsuit filedagainst Congress chiefSonia Gandhi in connectionwith the 1984 anti-Sikh riotscase, ruling that the petitionlacked merit.

The three-judge panelof the US Court of Appealsfor the Second Circuit ruledthat it found the argumentspresented by Sikhs forJustice (SFJ) in its caseagainst Gandhi "withoutmerit". The bench of circuitjudges Jose Cabranes,Renna Raggi and RichardWesley affirmed the districtcourt's order of June 9,2014 in which the judgehad dismissed the humanrights violation lawsuit filed

by SFJ against Gandhi.US district judge Brian

Cogan had grantedGandhi's motion to dismissthe complaint due to "lackof subject matter jurisdic-tion" and failure to state aclaim. "Upon due consider-ation..., it is herebyordered, adjudged, and

decreed that the judgementof the District Court isaffirmed," the three-judgebench said in its orderissued on Tuesday.

Gandhi's lawyer eminentIndian-American attorneyRavi Batra termed theappeals court ruling as "his-toric" and said the judgeshave upheld a nation's sov-ereignty by declaredGandhi free of any fault -despite SFJ's "reprehensi-ble defamatory efforts".Batra told PTI in a state-ment that SFJ should "pub-lically apologise" to Gandhiand to every leader it hassued without just cause orany legal right or standingto do so, and state that itwill no longer hurt genuinevictims of 1984 by selling

false hope that only re-vic-timises them. "SFJ makingfalse, reprehensible anddefamatory allegationsagainst India's leaders isthe wrong recipe," headded. SFJ legal advisorGurpatwant Singh Pannunsaid the group will file apetition for a "rehearing enbanc" with the appealscourt challenge the orderwithin 14 days of the order.SFJ had filed a lawsuit in2013 against Gandhiaccusing her of allegedlyshielding and protectingCongress party leaders inthe anti-Sikh riots that haderupted following theassassination of formerPrime Minister and hermother-in-law IndiraGandhi.

US court dismisses case against Sonia 1984 SIKh rIotS

UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressedregret over the calling-off of theplanned NSA-level talks betweenIndia and Pakistan on Tuesdayand hoped that the leaders of thetwo countries will use "all oppor-tunities" to resume talks soon."The Secretary-General regretsthat the planned meetingbetween the National SecurityAdvisors (NSA) of Pakistan andIndia did not take place on 23-24August "The Secretary-Generalreiterates his call to both coun-tries to continue to address theirdifferences through dialogue. Hesincerely hopes that the leadersof the countries will use allopportunities to resume talks atan early date," Ban's Associate

Spokesperson Eri Kaneko toldPTI. Pakistan had called off thetalks at the last moment afterExternal Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj had virtually given an ulti-matum to Islamabad to give acommitment that it would notmeet Kashmiri separatist lead-ers. The UN Chief had last weekwelcomed the talks between theNSAs and hoped that the dia-logue would lead to positive out-comes.

UN chief Ban Ki-moonregrets cancelled

India-Pak NSA-talks

An army officer was killedwhen Pakistani troops resortedto unprovoked firing on theLine of Control (LoC) inKashmir's Kupwara district onTuesday amid an escalation intensions between India andPakistan.

The Indian Army retaliatedafter Pakistani troops startedintermittent firing on the Badalpost two days after the col-lapse of planned talks betweenthe national security advisersof India and Pakistan overincluding Kashmir in the agen-da and Pakistan’s insistenceon meeting Kashmiri sepa-ratists. The army said the sol-dier was a junior commis-sioned officer. "It was an aimedkilling. Effective retaliation alsostarted from the Indian side aswell," said an official. Thedeceased JCO was hit by aPakistani sniper and later suc-cumbed to injuries, an armyspokesperson said. Thespokesperson said the identityof the slain JCO and otherdetails of the incident will follow

in due course. On August 15,five civilians were killed and atleast 20 were injured whenPakistani troops violated theceasefire for the seventh con-secutive day by firing at sever-al Indian posts and civilianareas along the LoC in Poonchdistrict. Ceasefire violationsalong the border jumped afterIndia and Pakistan decided toresume talks after the Ufaagreement in Russia in July,with the intensity increasingafter the dates for the NSAlevel talks were decided.

FIJISUN 09INDIA NEWS September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

The share of Hindusin India’s total popu-lation has shown a

marginal decline between2001 and 2011, while thatof Muslims has increasedslightly in the same period,according to census dataon the country’s religiousprofile released by thegovernment on Tuesday.

Hindus now make up79.8% of India, a slightdecline of 0.7 percentagepoints, while Muslims, thelargest minority, make up14.2% of the country, up0.8 percentage points.

While the Muslim sharein population hasincreased, their 10-yeargrowth rate has shown asharp decline. In fact, thedecadal growth rate of allcommunities has sloweddown, suggesting a stabil-ising trend for fertility rates,the data showed.

The religion-based datawas ready to be releasedin January 2014 but thethen UPA governmentchose not to make it publicahead of the general elec-tions that year. The NDAgovernment’s decision tomake it public comesweeks before crucialassembly elections inBihar. Tuesday’s releasecame after home ministerRajnath Singh’s approval.

In absolute numbers,the country’s Hindu popu-lation stands at 96.63crore and Muslims at17.22 crore. There are2.78 crore Christians, 2.08crore Sikhs and 0.45 crore

Jains.The share of Sikhs fell

by 0.2 percentage pointsto 1.7% of the populationin the 2001-11 decade,while Buddhists showed adecline of 0.1 percentagepoints to 0.7% of the popu-lation. There was no signif-icant change in the propor-tion of Christians andJains, who make up 2.3%and 0.4% of the popula-tion, respectively.Muslims have historicallywitnessed a higher popula-tion growth rate than othermajor communities. Butthis rate has been on thedecline for the past threedecades. The Muslimgrowth rate was 34.5% inthe 1991 census, whichslowed down to 29.5% in2001 and furthermore to24.6% in 2011.

Earlier, the governmentused to provide religion-wise break-up of popula-tion data. The practice wasdiscontinued in 2011because of a controversythat followed the 2001Census, which showed arelatively high growth ofMuslim population primari-ly on account of the inclu-sion of Jammu andKashmir. The comparisonwas skewed because themilitancy-hit state was notcovered in the headcountfor 1991.

Data released onTuesday show Assam andWest Bengal witnessedthe sharpest increase inthe Muslim population dur-ing the 2001-2011 decade,

a change that is beinglinked to the illegal migra-tion from Bangladesh.

Incidentally, Tuesday’sstatistics give the religious

composition down to thesub-district level for allstates but does not giveany idea about the socio-economic status of various

communities.“In the absence of

cross-tabulation of the reli-gion data with, say, litera-cy, sex ratio and work par-

ticipation, the debatearound this census reportwould be very limited,” agovernment official said.

Census 2011 data

Muslim population grows marginally faster

Over 8.5 lakh people in984 villages are affectedas Assam continues to reelunder the impact of floodseven as the governmentsaid it has given all help tothe state government tominimize casualties andflood damages. The del-uge has hit 8.33 lakh peo-ple in 984 villages inLakhimpur, Dibrugarh,Bongaigaon, Sonitpur,Barpeta, Jorhat, Goalpara,Morigaon, Dhubri,Kamrup, Golaghat andNagaon districts, said aflood bulletin from theAssam State DisasterManagement Authority.

The current spate offloods has claimed 13 livesso far and nearly 50,000hectares of farmland wassubmerged.

With the Brahmaputraand its tributaries flowingover danger mark due torains in upper reaches ofArunachal Pradesh andBhutan, the overflowing

flood waters have dam-aged roads in Dibrugarh,Sonitpur, Goalpara andNagaon, while two bridgeswere damaged in Sonitpurdistrict, the report said.

Even as the state gov-ernment sought an interimamount of Rs 500 crore forrelief, rehabilitation andrepair works in the floodaffected areas, the DoNERMinister visiting floodaffected areas of

Bongaigaon district said"The Centre is giving allpossible help to the stategovernment from the firstday of the floods inAssam." "Due to immedi-ate and prompt responsefrom the Government, thedamages and causalitiesrate could be minimised,"he said. "As a result of thatmore than six hundredpeople were evacuated tosafer places," he added.

Over 8.5 lakh people affected inAssam as floods sweep the state

Indian soldier killed inPak firing in J-K's Nowgam

Rahul in J-K, meets

people affected by

paKistan shelling

Congress vice presidentRahul Gandhi began athree-day visit to Jammuand Kashmir onWednesday with a visit toBalakote, where six peoplewere killed and dozenswounded in Pakistani firingearlier this month.

The visit came againstthe backdrop of high ten-sions along the border withPakistan and the collapseof bilateral talks over theweekend. Footage on tele-vision showed Gandhimeeting people living inBalakote area of Poonchdistrict who have beenaffected by incessant firingand shelling by Pakistaniforces in recent weeks. Heinteracted with men andwomen and listened totheir problems.

He will also meet repre-sentatives of different sec-tions of society andaddress a panchayat con-ference. During his trip,Gandhi will travel to allthree regions of the state –Jammu, Kashmir Valleyand Ladakh.

FiJisUn10 HINDUISUMSeptember-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com

Janmashtami alsoknown asG o k u l a s h t a m i

marks the celebrationof the birth of Lord SriKrishna. Sri Krishnawas born in the'Rohini' nakshatram(star) to KingVasudeva andDevaki Devi on theeighth day of thedark fortnight in themonth of Sravana.This festival is alsoknown as Sri KrishnaJayanti and Krishnashtmi.The actual day of celebrationcan be on two different days asthe star 'Rohini' and Ashtamimay not be on the same day.These days correspond to theAugust and September monthson the Gregorian calendar.

Sri Krishna is considered asthe eighth avatar (incarnation)of Lord Vishnu's, (one of threemajor Hindu Gods) on earth. Heis considered to be the Lord'smost glorious incarnations. It issaid that his remembrance trueheart brings extreme joy andpleasure because Sri Krishnahimself was a manifestation ofjoy at all levels and in all walksof life. No other God in theHindu pantheon, or for that mat-ter in any other religion, is asso-ciated with so many romantictales and so fully radiating withall the divine attributes as SriKrishna.

Since Sri Krishna lived in lux-ury throughout his life, SriKrishna Jayanti is celebratedwith pomp and splendor. Plentyof sweets are made on this day.Among these are laddus (yelluoonde), chakli, cheedai,payasam (kheer), and so on. Inaddition, plenty of milk productsespecially butter, which was SriKrishna's favorite childhoodfood, is given in offerings. Awide variety of fruits are alsooffered. The most commonsweets made laddus andpayasam.

Great indeed are his manyLeelas and the way in which hecharms one and all. Severalsages and seers have paidhomage to him. Narada, SriKulashekara Azhwar, Andal,Tirumangai Azhawar,Nammazhwar have sung glori-ous verses in praise of LordKrishna who embodies ShuddaSatvam. The Bhagavad Gitacoming from the Lord is theabsolute truth which has with-stood the test of time and hasformed the basis and inspiration

for many Acharyas andAzhwars.

The life and messageof Sri Krishna is the most

stirring saga of one ofthe greatest saviourand profounder ofDharma. Born in thedungeons of Kansawho was out to killhim at the verymoment of hisbirth, SriKrishna's lifeis replete with

many suchmortal dangers

which he successfully tri-umphs over. He was theunchallenged hero of histimes both in terms of hisbodily prowess and his intel-lectual brilliance.

Sri Krishna Jayanti, there-fore, signifies not merely thebirth of a great and Divineteacher of mankind in some dis-tant past but the lighting of thespark of the Divine Power inevery one of us, which spurs uson to play our dynamic part inthis world of practical and hardrealities with a sense of highspiritual purpose. Krishna repre-sents the total power of attrac-tion (Aakarshna Shakti) like amagnet of infinite rise. HenceKrishna is the source of joy.The cultural aspects are repre-sented by the traditionallydressed devotees. The raas ordance is also done with devo-tees taking part with spiritualfervor. Sri Krishna who mani-fests all levels of joy, is also thesource of spiritual joy, whichoverrides mental or emotionaljoy, just as emotional joy over-

rides physical joy. If all the threeare integrated and interdepen-dent, then the observance of thefestival takes on the full mean-ing of Sri Krishnaarpanamastu -let everything be offered to SriKrishna.

Janmashtami festival is cele-brated with great zeal by Hindusall over India. The festival,

which falls on the eighth day(Ashtami) of Savan month,marks the birth of Lord Krishna,one of the favorite deities ofHindus. Lord Krishna was bornunder extraordinary circum-stances on the day. Peopleenjoy in the merrymaking at themidnight of ashtami, by singingdevotional songs and dancing to

the tune of bhajans. Apart fromhonoring the day with a specialpuja, people relish on lip smack-ing delicacies that are preparedespecially for the festival.Cultural programs are also partof the celebrations. Go throughthe following lines to know moreabout the celebrations ofJanmashtami.

Krishna Janmashtami

Sri Krishna was born in a prison in the custody of Kansa. Vasudev, His father immediatelythought of his friend Nand and decided to hand

over his child to him to save Krishna from theclutch of Kansa. Krishna grew up in Gokul and

finally killed his uncle, King Kansa.

Janmashtami is a two-daycelebration in many parts ofIndia. The first two days arecelebrated colorfully and themerrymaking reaches its peakat midnight of the first day,when Lord Krishna was born.To mark the birth of the deity,the idol of the infant Krishna isbathed and is cradled in themidnight time. Conch shell isblown and the devotees cele-brate the birth of the LordKrishna by singing devotionalsongs and by dancing withgreat joy. Thereafter, mouthwa-tering sweets and dishes areserved to the devotees. LordKrishna temples situated at

Vrindhavan, Mathura, Dwarakaare the most popular for thecelebrations of Janmashtami,as it is believed that LordKrishna lived there. In somepart of the North India, KrishnaJanmashtami is celebrated forthree days. The first two daysare celebrated in a colorfulmanner. Dance drama, knownas Raslila, is performed.Incidents from Sri Krishna's life,especially his childhood, aredepicted in the drama. On thesecond day of the festival, apopular ceremony known as'Dahi Handi' takes place where-in the pot containing curd orbutter or milk is broken by the

youth. The ritual of Dahi Handiis carried out with religiousobservance, in the northernparts of India. Maharashtra isespecially popular for the ritual,wherein human pyramid tries tobreak the Handi (earthen potfilled with buttermilk) that issuspended from top, with thehelp of a rope. Onlookers throwwater on the pyramid of boys inorder to stop them from reach-ing the earthen pot. Theprocess involves a lot of excite-ment. During Janmashtami,every other street of Mumbaiorganizes the Dahi Handi, as apart of the celebrations of thefestival.

Janmashtami Celebrations

FIjISUN 11PAKISTAN NEWS September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

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Pakistan on Tuesday exe-cuted a death row prisonerconvicted of killing four police-men in 1997, taking the num-ber of convicts executed to211 since the country lifted itsmoratorium on the deathpenalty in March this year.Zulfiqar was executed inBhawalpur central jail. He wasconvicted by a district courtand his all appeals againstsentenced were turned downby the higher courts. Pakistan

lifted its moratorium on thedeath penalty in all capitalcases on March 10.Executionsin Pakistan resumed inDecember last year, ending asix-year moratorium, afterTaliban fighters gunned down154 people, most of them chil-dren, at a school in Peshawar.

Hangings were initially rein-stated only for those convictedof terrorism offences, but inMarch they were extended toall capital offences. According

to interior minister Nisar AlKhan so far 211 convicts havebeen executed. More than8,000 prisoners are on deathrow in Pakistan and about 160convicts have been executedsince the Nawaz Sharif gov-ernment lifted moratorium ondeath penalty. Pakistan hasrefused to stop hangingdespite criticism by the UnitedNations, the European Union,Amnesty International andHuman Rights Watch.

Pakistani security agencieshave arrested a Taliban terror-ist allegedly involved in the kid-napping of an American aidworker who was accidentallykilled in a U.S. drone strike tar-geting al-Qaeda. Police alongwith intelligence agency offi-cials raided a house inLahore’s densely-populatedChungi Amar Sidhu area onMonday and arrested RameezYasin, Punjab chapter leader ofTahreek-i-Taliban, a seniorpolice official said. Police

claimed that Yasin wasinvolved in the kidnapping of73-year-old Warren Weinsteinfrom Lahore’s Model Town in2011 and he took the Americanaid worker to tribal belt of thecountry with the help of hisaccomplices. Five handgrenades and weapons werealso recovered from him duringthe raid, police said, claimingthat he had plans to targetsome sensitive places in thecity. The Taliban leader hasbeen shifted to undisclosed

location for investigation.Weinstein and one Italian whohad been held hostage by al-Qaeda in the border region ofPakistan and Afghanistan werekilled in a U.S. counterterror-ism operation in January, theWhite House had announcedin April. The hostages werekept at an al-Qaeda compoundwhich was struck by a U.S.drone. The operation alsoresulted in the death of anAmerican al Qaeda leader,Ahmed Farouq.

Despite the recent esca-lation in diplomatic tensionsbetween India andPakistan, Najam Sethi, asenior official with thePakistan Cricket Board(PCB), expressed hope ofthe series between the twonations coming through inDecember, saying the situ-ation would be clear bynext month.

Hopeful of the Indo-Pakseries coming through inDecember despite theescalation in diplomatictensions, Pakistan CricketBoard's senior officialNajam Sethi said the situa-tion would be clear by nextmonth. "I am not botheredby political statementscoming from India or the

fuss in the media aroundthe series. I see it happen-ing because they are highsand lows in Indo-Pak rela-tions all the time and thesituation is still not that seri-ous to say there will be nocricket series inDecember," Sethi said. "Ithink the situation will bemuch clearer in Septemberwhen the prime ministers ofboth countries and theother officials of the foreignministries are likely to meeton the sidelines on the UNsession in New York," hesaid in an interview.

Sethi, who was PCBchief when the MOU wassigned between the twoboards to play six seriesbetween 2015 and 2022

with four of them beinghosted by Pakistan, saidthe document was signedin an ICC meeting and it is

on record that BCCI said itwill not back out.

"There are millions ofdollars involved in this

MOU and we stand to gaina lot financially by hostingIndia in December. Moreimportantly, the Indo-Pakseries is even bigger thanthe Ashes in cricket and weneed to remain cool andnot panic and get worriedthat the series will not beheld," Sethi added.

BCCI secretary AnuragThakur said on the GeoSuper channel on Mondaynight that the series will notgo ahead if the political ten-sions do not subside."There are three monthsand the series can be held.The BCCI wants the seriesto happen but our stance isclear that you can't havebullets and cricket together.The existing outstanding

issues between the twocountries have to beresolved but it is wrong tosay we don't want to playthe series againstPakistan." Seth admittedthat government permis-sion and clearance for theseries was a must. "Whenwe were to tourBangladesh earlier thisyear there was anti-Pakistan sentiment thereand we were advised to nottour. But we convinced ourgovernment that our teamshould go and play and wedid that without any inci-dent. So it is also not nec-essary that all boards willdo what the governmentdoes but yes you can'tignore the government."

Status of Indo-Pak series will be clear in September: PCB

The Asian DevelopmentBank announced on Tuesdaythat it has approved a new assis-tance programme for Pakistanworth an annual sum of USD 1.2billion aimed at improving infra-structure and creating jobs. TheManila-based bank saidPakistan, which has sufferedsluggish growth in recent years,was on track to meet targets forcutting poverty. But it said overalldevelopment was below poten-tial and further institutionalreforms were needed.

Tax collection in Pakistan istiny, severely hampering the gov-ernment's ability to manage itsfinances. A chronic crisis in thepower sector -- made worse by

poorly targeted subsidies -- isalso a major brake on growth.

"The main challenge inPakistan was to deliver higher,sustained and inclusive growthto cut poverty and create produc-tive jobs for the growing labourforce," ADB Pakistan countrydirector Werner Liepach said in astatement. The new programme,which runs until 2019, will targetsix sectors including energy,transport and public sector man-agement, the ADB said. Thefunds will support improvementsto highways and provincialroads, as well as to power gener-ation and transmission and busrapid transit schemes in Karachiand other cities.

ADB announces $1.2 billion package for Pak

"The police have detained one sus-pect after raid on his home inQuaidabad's Daud Chowrangi locali-ty," said DIG Karachi-East Zone.

Pakistani police has arrested a manin connection with the road rage inci-dent in which an unidentified personopened fire at cricket legend WasimAkram. “The police have detained onesuspect after raid on his home inQuaidabad’s Daud Chowrangi locali-ty,” DIG Karachi-East Zone MunirAhmed Shaikh was quoted as sayingby Dawn News. He said the arrestedsuspect is the driver of the vehiclewhich hit the legendary cricketer’s caron the busy road of Karsaz area inKarachi on Wednesday that resulted inan exchange of words and the report-ed shooting. The shooting incidenttook place after the minor accident

when the shooter’s car hit Akram’sMercedes. When the former left-armpacer asked the driver to pull over, aheated discussion took place and afterstepping out of his vehicle, the mansitting at the back of the car openedfire. The 49-year-old Akram, one of thebest left-arm fast bowlers ever to play

the game, was on his way to theNational Stadium where he was toconduct a training camp for young fastbowlers. Akram escaped unhurt andthe shooter fled the scene as a crowdbegan to gather. In his initial probe, thearrested suspect told investigators thatafter the accident, a short exchange ofheated words took place, followed bythe gunshot fired at Akram’s vehicle.The DIG East said that the main sus-pect who opened fire has been identi-fied and would be arrested soon.Akram is continuing with his trainingcamp for young fast bowlers. “WasimAkram is in trauma but all right. He isstaying in Karachi and will continuesupervising the camp for fast bowlersat the National Stadium,” a PakistanCricket Board (PCB) spokespersonsaid.

Pakistan police arrest man inWasim Akram shooting incident

Pak executes man convicted for killing policemen

Pakistan arrests terrorist involvedin kidnapping U.S. aid worker

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only 0.3% ofPakistan’s popula-tion of about 170

million pays income tax,compared to 3% for Indiathat has a greater percent-age of people in poverty,according to a reportreleased on Wednesday.

About 500,000 people inPakistan are filing incometax returns though thecountry’s revenue collec-tion has remained flat since2003-05 and expenditureshave continued to grow totackle challenges such asinternal security, naturaldisasters and a globalcommodity price shock. “Toput this further in perspec-tive, there are more peopleflying globally in airplanesat any point in the air thanthere are direct tax payers

in Pakistan,” said a state-ment from Research andAdvocacy for theAdvancement of AlliedReforms (RAFTAAR),which released the report.Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratiois 9.4%, which is close tothe bottom of countriesworldwide in terms of rev-enue generation, and itsbudgetary deficit is filled bydebt because it does notcollect enough revenuesthrough taxes.

The report highlightedthat Pakistan’s debt isexpensive because onlyone-third of it is foreign.Foreign debt has an inter-est rate of 1.9% while theinterest rate for domesticdebt is10.7%, it said. Till2009-10, Pakistan’s foreignand domestic debt were

about equal. “Foreign debtis cheaper, but access to itfor Pakistan is harder. Thecost of interest on our debtis Rs 1.3 trillion, of which92% goes to domesticcreditors, and 8% to inter-national lenders,” said astatement from RAFTAAR,which is backed byBritain’s Department forInternational Development.Referring to the loomingand silent debt crisis,RAFTAAR said Pakistan’spublic debt has increasedthree-fold from Rs 6.3 tril-lion in 2008 to Rs 17 trillionat present. “This will con-tinue to increase unless thestate can increase rev-enue, otherwise it will con-tinue to finance throughdebt,” it said.

The debt is also eating

into Pakistan’s current rev-enue, with interest pay-ments alone accounting for44% of the country’s taxrevenue. The interest pay-ment per person is Rs6.684 while the healthexpenditure per person isRs 1009.

The report said Pakistancannot depend on theinternational community,whose role is “overstated”.Over the past eight years,foreign project assistancein the development budgethas been 15% and overallexternal assistance hasfinanced just 4% of thebudget.

“Pakistan’s ability to per-severe through unexpect-ed crises is also dependentupon improving taxation;there is very little flexibility

in our budget. Right now,60% of the federal budgetis earmarked to interestpayments, wages, pen-sions and defence,”RAFTAAR said.

While 12% of the budg-et goes to subsidies andgrants, only 28% isadjustable and any unfore-seen event gives Pakistanlittle fiscal room. Despiteonly 0.3% of the populationpaying income tax, peoplefeel they are taxed a lot.The government resorts toindirect taxation, whichgenerates 68% of tax rev-enues, because it hasbeen unable to collectdirect taxes.

“The problem with indi-rect taxation is that forsome items, it penalizesthe poorer more than those

with higher incomes, forexample tax on a loaf ofbread will be the same forthe rich and the poor.Without improvements inthe direct taxation systemand more compliance therewill be continued pressureto levy indirect taxes onconsumption,” the state-ment said. Pakistan hasnot been compelled todevelop its tax systembecause of non-revenuesources of funds such asloans and foreign aid that ithas historically generated.

“As a result, there is notax-culture in Pakistan.There are now significantgroups with great politicalclout who oppose taxreform (traders, business-es seeking exemptions,etc),” RAFTAAR said.

Only 0.3% of 170 million Pakistanis pay income tax

Ahead of the crucialdirector general-leveltalks between the

Border Security Force (BSF)and Pakistan Rangers inNew Delhi from September9, both the border guardingforces formally exchangedthe agenda for the high-pro-file meeting at the Attari-Wagah joint check post onTuesday. BSF soldiers andPakistan Rangers during aBeating the Retreat ceremo-ny at the Attari Border.

Though the details of theagenda were kept underwraps, it is learnt that vari-ous border issues, frequentceasefire violations by thePakistan Rangers along theLine of Control (LoC) andthe recent Gurdaspur terrorattack were on the list. Also,the BSF is likely to take up indetail the infiltration bidsalong the (LoC) and theInternational Border. TheBSF has already prepared alist of infiltration bids and

sources claimed that an 11-point agenda was handedover to the PakistanRangers at the joint checkpost on Tuesday. The meet-ing between the two borderforces has assumed impor-tance after the nationalsecurity adviser-level talksbetween the two nationswere called off recently. BSFIG, Punjab Frontier, AnilPalliwal told HT: “I cannotshare details, but the agen-da includes all importantissues pertaining to bordermanagement between thetwo guarding forces.”

BSF-Pak Rangers talksstart from September 9

AttAri-WAgAh border

Attock suicide AttAck

Pak police arrest two for spyingon slain minister khanzada

Pakistan counter-terror-ism officials on Fridayclaimed to have arrestedtwo men from a banned out-fit for spying on the slainPunjab home minister ShujaKhanzada. A retired colonel,Khanzada, 71, was killed onAugust 17 when two suicidebombers attacked him whilehe was meeting people athis political office in Attockdistrict of Punjab. The sus-pects were arrested by theC o u n t e r - T e r r o r i s mDepartment (CTD), whichKhanzada helped to set upto counter militancy in theprovince.

A police official said thatthe two men belonged to abanned outfit and were shift-ed to a secret location forinterrogation. The suspectshad been followingKhanzada over the pastcouple of weeks before ter-rorists targeted him in a sui-

cide attack, he added. Thebombing killed 19 peopleincluding DeputySuperintendent of Police,Hazro Police Shaukat Ali

Shah and Pakistan govern-ment had vowed to expeditethe crackdown on militantsand their facilitators. Thebanned outfit Lashkar-e-

Jhangvi (LeJ) has reportedlyclaimed responsibility for thesuicide attack on Khanzada,to avenge the killing of LeJchief Malik Ishaq.

People attend a candlelit vigil to pay tribute to Punjab Provincial Home Minister ShujaKhanzada, who was killed on Sunday, August 16 in suicide attacks.

Pakistan Prime Ministersays that any discussionwith India, minus theKashmir issue, would befutile. Asserting thatKashmiri separatist leadersare not a “third party”,Pakistani Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has said thatany dialogue process withIndia which does not includethe Kashmir issue will befutile.

“Kashmiri leaders are nota third party, but an impor-tant party to this issue. Anydecision on their future can-not be made without theiropinion and consultation,”

he said at a Cabinet meet-ing on Monday. The PrimeMinister told the Cabinetthat any dialogue with Indiawithout taking up theKashmir issue would befutile, the Dawn reported.Mr. Sharif’s commentscame just days after

Pakistan called off talksbetween the NationalSecurity Advisers of the twonations at the last minuteafter India asked it to give acommitment not to meet theKashmiri separatist leaders.Pakistan’s National SecurityAdviser Sartaj Aziz briefedMr. Sharif and his Cabinetcolleagues about the can-cellation of talks. TheCabinet discussed the secu-rity situation in the country.Mr. Aziz was scheduled totravel to India on August 23for talks with his counter-part, Ajit Doval, but hecalled off the visit.

Kashmir not a third party, it isintegral to dialogue : Sharif

4 LeJ miLitantsgunned downin PaK

At least four militantsbelonging to banned outfitLashkar-e-Jhangvi, includingone of its commanders, wereshot down during anexchange of gunfire betweenthem and security officialslate last night in Quetta’sMian Gundai area. “OneFrontier Corps official wasalso injured in the exchangeof fire when the securityforces intercepted a convoyof LEJ militants goingtowards Mastung,” a seniorpolice official said. The fourkilled included a top com-mander of the LEJ, which hasbeen involved in sectariankillings of Shia Muslims andattacks on government andsecurity officials, he said.

FIJISUN 13GALLERY September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

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Permission to build Mandir in

the heard of the Muslim land

Prime Minister Modi winshands down in Dubai

Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was accord-ed a Royal welcome by

Crown Prince of Dubai. TheCrown Prince promised toinvest 4.5 crore, stand with

Indian in the fight against ter-rorism and permission to builda Mandir in the heart of theMuslim land. PM will be hereto address technology semi-nar Sept 27 in Silicon Valley.

FIJISUN 19September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com�


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FIJISUN 21iSlam today September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

by John Gilchrist

AbrAhAm And the

SAcrifice

Islam celebrates two great festivalsannually - Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha.The first is the great festival that followsthe month of Ramadan when the fast isbroken. The second occurs about twomonths later during the month of Zil-Hajjwhen an animal is sacrificed in commem-oration of Abraham's sacrifice of his son.This festival is incorporated in the greatpilgrimage to Mecca which should prop-erly be made during this month but it isalso observed all over the Muslim worldat the same time. The underlying impor-tance of this festival is the spirit of sacri-fice (qurbani) in memory of Abraham'sgreat act of faith many centuries ago.

Eid-ul-Adha is, according to Islamicteaching, a time for Muslims to learn thevalue of self-denial by making a sacrificeof something living to God. It is stringent-ly denied by most Muslim theologiansthat the sacrifice has any further signifi-cance and it is especially denied that reli-gious sacrifice has any atoning or propi-tiatory value. Abraham's great act of sub-mission is thus regarded solely as anexample of genuine surrender to the willof God and is to be followed as such.

In this booklet we shall examine insome detail this great event in Abraham'slife and will study all the circumstancesaround it to decide whether the Islamicnegations of any propitiatory value orrepresentation in the sacrifice of his sonare justified, or whether there was notreally some great underlying revelation init.We shall begin by making a study ofAbraham's faith for it is very rarelyrealised just how considerably God test-ed his belief in his faithfulness and trust-worthiness.

1. the fAith Of

AbrAhAm.

The story of Abraham and the sacri-fice of his son is of profound significanceand the best way of obtaining the deep-est knowledge of its meaning is to gothrough the life of Abraham from the verytime that this son was promised to him tothe end when this son became the pro-genitor of a great nation.

When Abraham was seventy-fiveyears old, God spoke to him and said:

"Go from your country and your kin-dred and your father's house to the landthat I will show you. And I will make ofyou a great nation, and I will bless you,and make your name great, so that youwill be a blessing. I will bless those whobless you, and him who curses you I willcurse; and by you all the families of theearth shall bless them selves". (Genesis12.1-3). The Quran confirms that Godgave this great promise toAbraham thathe would be the father of many nations:

"Lo: I have appointed thee a leaderfor mankind". (Surah 2.124). As Abrahamleft his country and was travelling throughthe land of Canaan (subsequently knownas Palestine and Israel), God againspoke to him and said "To your descen-dants I will give this land" (Genesis 12.7).Later, when Abraham again came to theland of Canaan, God spoke to him andsaid: "Lift up your eyes, and look from theplace where you are, northward andsouthward and eastward and westward;for all the land which you see I will give toyou and your descendants for ever. I willmake your descendants as the dust ofthe earth; so that if one can count thedust of the earth, your descendants alsocan be counted". (Genesis 13.14-16).

Abraham must have marvelled atthese awesome promises. He must havewondered very deeply about the futuregenerations and have pondered at greatlength as to why he should be the fatherof so many descendants and why theyshould be blessed through him.Presently, however, he was concernedabout the fact that he had no offspring ofhis own. His nephew Lot had parted fromhim and his only heir at the time was aslave named Eliezer of Damascus.

Therefore, when God spoke to him again,Abraham said:

"'0 Lord God, what wilt thou give me,for I continue childless, and the heir of myhouse is Eliezer of Damascus? Behold,thou hast given me no offspring; and aslave born in my house will be my heir. "(Genesis 15.2-3).

Immediately, however, Godanswered him and spoke these comfort-ing words to him:

"This man shall not be your heir, yourown son shall be your heir". (Genesis15.4).

After giving him the tidings that hewould have a son, God made him comeout of his house and said:

"Look toward heaven, and numberthe stars, if you are able to numberthem". (Genesis 15.5).

As Abraham stared in awe at themyriads of stars above him on a clearnight, God said to him: "So shall yourdescendants be". (Genesis 15.5).

God had promised him that he wouldgive him a son-even in his old age - andthat through this son he would give himoffspring as many as the stars he couldsee in the sky. Now Abraham knew that itwas not naturally possible for him to havea son because his wife was barren and "ithad ceased to be with Sarah after themanner of women" (Genesis 18.11).Furthermore he himself was to all intentsand purposes too old to bear offspringthrough her. Abraham knew, therefore,that God's promise could only be fulfilledif God himself supernaturally broughtabout the conception and birth of the sonby the power of his Spirit. Abraham nev-ertheless trusted him whom he consid-ered faithful to bring this about in his ownwonderful way. "And he believed theLord; and he reckoned it to him as right-eousness". (Genesis 15.6).

Why did Abraham believe God? Washe the kind of man who did not reasonabout difficult matters and preferred justto leave them to God to achieve thoughhe could neither understand nor compre-hend them in any way? Was fatalistic res-ignation Abraham's concept of surrender-

ing to the will of God? No - this manAbraham is set forth in the Bible as thegreat figurehead of faith in a human crea-ture whose example should be followedby all men (Galatians 3.9). He consideredthe promise, reasoned about it, came to aconclusion it was true, and then believed.We have a fine summary of his thoughtsin this passage:

"Abraham is the father of us all, as itis written, 'I have made you the father ofmany nations' - in the presence of theGod in whom he believed, who gives lifeto the dead and calls into existence thethings that do not exist. In hope hebelieved against hope, that he shouldbecome the father of many nations; as hehad been told 'So shall your descendantsbe'. He did not weaken in faith when heconsidered his own body, which was asgood as dead because he was about ahundred years old, or when he consid-ered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.No distrust made him waver concerningthe promise of God, but he grew strong inhis faith as he gave glory to God, fullyconvinced that God was able to do whathe had promised. That is why his faithwas 'reckoned to him as righteousness'."(Romans 4.16-22).He reasoned carefullyabout the promise. He questionedwhether it could be fulfilled. He could notnaturally have a son but he knew thatGod was faithful and if God had promisedto give him a son, then because of thefaithfulness of God to his own word, thepromise must come true. Abraham beganwith this precept firmly fixed in his mind:

"Every word of God proves true".(Proverbs 30.5).

Knowing this he believed that Godwould fulfil his promise. But he did notstop there - he reasoned further as tohow God could bring this about. Godwould have to intervene in the naturalorder. He would have to cause somethingto happen which otherwise could not nat-urally take place. He believed, as Paulput it to the Roman Christians, that God"calls into existence things that do notexist" (Romans 4.17). Because of thisexercise of faith, because he reasoned

carefully about the matter and did not justaccept the promise fatalistically, he cameto understand how the son would be con-ceived and in so doing gained a greaterunderstanding of the mind and will of Godas well. God highly commended him forthis exercise of faith. Abraham did notbelieve, as some men foolishly do, thatGod can just do anything he pleasesaccording to his arbitrary will and that noone can question his acts - even whenwhat purports to be an act of God is alto-gether morally questionable. Abrahamdid not have such a low concept of God.

He believed that God is absolutelyrighteous and that he would never dosomething which human consciencewould con-firm to be unrighteous. Heknew that God, whatever he did, wouldalways act within the bounds of his ownabsolute moral holiness and perfection.Some consider that this attitude limits thepower of God to do as he chooses - notso Abraham. He believed in a God ofeternal righteousness who was all themore exalted and glorified by his ownrefusal to choose to do anything thatwould go against his own love of right-eousness and holiness. As he said onanother occasion, "Shall not the Judge ofall the earth do right?" (Genesis 18.25).He knew that God's will is always goodand acceptable and perfect.

He knew that it was within the moralholiness of God, coupled with hisomnipotence, to bring about the son hehad promised. So, as Paul said,

after he had reasoned about this, "nodistrust made him waver concerning thepromise of God, but he grew strong in hisfaith as he gave glory to God, fully con-vinced that God was able to do what hehad promised". (Romans 4.20). Thisprocess of reasoning strengthened hisfaith so that he did not just believe thepromise through blind, uncomprehendingacceptance of God's word, but rather sawby his faith what was behind that word -God's ability to bring "into existencethings that do not exist" and when he sawthis, he understood the promise, hegained knowledge of the ways of God,

and because he obtained this better com-prehension of the nature of God and hisworks, he was able to believe with soundreason (and not blind resignation) thepromise he received. He was justifiably"fully convinced that God was able to doas he had promised".

God commended him for thisprocess of faith - and because he dis-played his faith by carefully reasoningabout the promise in the light of God'sown righteous character, God "reckonedit to him as righteousness". Such is thefaith God requires from us. Such was thefaith of Abraham - and therefore he is setbefore us as the ideal example of a manwho had true faith in God.

2. the reJectiOn

Of iShmAeL.

Ten years after God had first givenhis great promises to Abraham, his wifeSarah complained to him of her barren-ness. So she suggested to him that heshould bear offspring through her maidHagar. (Genesis 16.2).

When Hagar had conceived a child,however, instead of remembering the cir-cumstances in which she was able tobear it, she looked on Sarah with con-tempt and Sarah, grieved by this betrayalof trust, drove Hagar away into thewilderness. (Genesis 16.6). Neverthelessthe Lord, in his perfect justice and mercy,commanded her to return to Sarah and atthe same time promised that her descen-dants would be multiplied into a greatnation as well. Then the Lord said to her:

"Behold, you are with child, and shallbear a son; you shall call his nameIshmael; because the Lord has givenheed to your affliction. He shall be a wildass of a man, his hand against every manand every man's hand against him; andhe shall dwell over against all his kins-men". (Genesis 16.11-12). When thechild was born, Abraham did as the Lordhad commanded and called the sonIshmael (meaning "God hears") and asfar as he was concerned, this was the ful-filment of the promise God had givenhim. Accordingly he temporarily aban-doned his belief that the promised sonwould be born of his wife Sarah. Helooked on Ishmael with extreme favour,

persuaded that he was the child ofthe promise. For thirteen years Abrahamlooked on as Ishmael grew up. Ishmaelhad by this time almost reached adult-hood and Abraham looked forward toseeing the beginning of the offspring helonged for who would herald the fulfil-ment of God's promise that he would givehim descendants as many as the stars inthe sky. But the first of a number ofshocks, designed to really test his faith in

the faithfulness of God, was about to con-front him. After thirteen silent years dur-ing which Ishmael grew to the thresholdof manhood, God again spoke toAbraham and said these words: "I amGod Almighty; walk before me, and beblameless. And I will make my covenantbetween me and you, and will multiplyyou exceedingly". (Genesis 17.1-2).Once again God renewed his promisethat he was to be the father of kings andnations (Genesis 17.6). With Ishmaelnow approaching adulthood, Abraham nodoubt eagerly anticipated what God stillhad to say to him. But he was in for a sur-prise. God said to him of Sarah his wife:

"I will bless her, and moreover I willgive you a son by her. I will bless her, andshe shall be a mother of nations; kings ofpeoples shall come from her". (Genesis17.16). At first Abraham marvelled at thispromise. Both he and his wife were nowtwenty three years older than they werewhen God first promised him that hewould have a son. Was Sarah now tobecome the mother of nations? Was Godto make his covenant with the son of hiswife rather than the son of her maid afterall? Abraham took surprise now that heshould bear a son through Sarah his wifeand said to the Lord:

persuaded that he was the child ofthe promise. For thirteen years Abrahamlooked on as Ishmael grew up. Ishmaelhad by this time almost reached adult-hood and Abraham looked forward toseeing the beginning of the offspring helonged for who would herald the fulfil-ment of God's promise that he would givehim descendants as many as the stars inthe sky. But the first of a number ofshocks, designed to really test his faith inthe faithfulness of God, was about to con-front him.

After thirteen silent years duringwhich Ishmael grew to the threshold ofmanhood, God again spoke to Abrahamand said these words:

"I am God Almighty; walk before me,and be blameless. And I will make mycovenant between me and you, and willmultiply you exceedingly". (Genesis 17.1-2).

Once again God renewed his prom-ise that he was to be the father of kingsand nations (Genesis 17.6). With Ishmaelnow approaching adulthood, Abraham nodoubt eagerly anticipated what God stillhad to say to him. But he was in for a sur-prise. God said to him of Sarah his wife:

"I will bless her, and moreover I willgive you a son by her. I will bless her, andshe shall be a mother of nations; kings ofpeoples shall come from her". (Genesis17.16). At first Abraham marvelled at thispromise. Both he and his wife were nowtwenty three years older than they werewhen God first promised him that hewould have a son. Was Sarah now tobecome the mother of nations? Was Godto make his covenant with the son of hiswife rather than the son of her maid afterall? Abraham took surprise now that heshould bear a son through Sarah his wifeand said to the Lord: "Shall a child beborn to a man who is a hundred yearsold? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old,bear a child?" (Genesis 17.17).

But then, overwhelmed by his longexpectancy of the fulfilment of God'scovenant through Ishmael and struck byGod's word that the son he had promisedwas to come from his wife Sarah,Abraham said to the Lord: "0 that Ishmaelmight live in thy sight.'"(Genesis 17.8). 0that Ishmael may be the apple of youreye, the child of your favours, he plead-ed. But God said to him: "No, but Sarahyour wife shall bear you a son, and youshall call his name Isaac. I will establishmy covenant with him as an everlastingcovenant for his descendants after him".(Genesis 17.19). This must have been abitter pill for Abraham to swallow. Hishopes for Ishmael vanished like a mist.God promised that he would makeIshmael the father of a great nation afterthe flesh (Genesis 17.20), but hiscovenant - a richly spiritual one - was tobe made through Isaac after the Spirit.

Continues on page-22

Eid-ul-Adha

Abraham &

the Sacrifice

FIJISUN22 iSlam todaySeptember-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com

Continues from last page

However deeply this might haveaffected Abraham, he was a deeply spiri-tual man and he was, as a man of truefaith, concerned only about spiritual mat-ters. Maintaining his faith without waver-ing, he again believed the Lord andbegan to look forward to the child whowas to be born of the Spirit by the will ofGod. Accordingly he dismissed from hishopes the child who was born of the fleshthrough the will of himself, his wife andhis mistress. From now on he anticipatedthe day when Isaac would be born tohim. God was so determined that hispromise should be properly fulfilled thathe ensured that Ishmael should notappear to be the child of his spiritualcovenant. He had said to Hagar: "Heshall be a wild ass of a man, his handagainst every man and every man's handagainst him; and he shall dwell overagainst all his kinsmen". (Genesis16.12). He shall be a "wild ass of a man",God said, meaning that he would be athoroughly unspiritual man, a man offlesh and blood alone and born of theflesh alone. In every way he would besharply contrasted with Isaac who was tobe a deeply spiritual man, born of theSpirit by the special will of God.

3. THE BIRTH OF ISAAC.

God had not promised the birth ofIshmael to Abraham -he spoke of Isaacwhen he first promised that he would giveAbraham a son through whom all thenations of the earth in the coming ageswould bless themselves.

The Quran confirms that no tidingsof the birth of Ishmael were given toAbraham but that Isaac alone was theson who was promised to him. The prom-ise of the birth of Isaac is recorded in theQuran in these words: "And we gave himtidings of the birth of Isaac, a Prophet ofthe righteous". (Surah 37.112).

The Quran says nothing of any tid-ings being given about the birth ofIshmael but whenever it does speak ofsuch tidings it always refers to Isaac orspecifically names him as the son whowas promised (See also Surah 11.71 aswell where Isaac is again named as thepromised son). It is wise at this stage tonote that the Quran takes no issue withthe Bible on the chain of events we havethus far considered and that, when itdoes refer to them, it plainly endorsesthem as we have seen.

God fulfilled his promise and Isaacwas duly born when Abraham was a hun-dred years old. (Genesis 21.1-3).Nevertheless Ishmael took exception toIsaac and the favour of God upon himand began to trouble him while heplayed, envious of the blessings that hadbeen promised to his offspring. (Genesis21.9). The Bible says of Ishmael's treat-ment of Isaac: "He who was born accord-ing to the flesh persecuted him who wasborn according to the Spirit". (Galatians4.29). God's warning that Ishmael's handwould be against every man was comingtrue. He was seeking for his offspringafter the flesh the blessings promised toIsaac's offspring after the Spirit. Sarahperceived this and said to Abraham:

"Cast out this slave woman with herson; for the son of this slave woman shallnot be heir with my son Isaac". (Genesis21.10). Because Ishmael was born of theflesh and only of a slave woman at that,whereas Isaac was born of the Spiritaccording to the promise of a freewoman, God commanded Abraham tohearken to the voice of his wife and topart from Hagar for Ishmael was not histrue son, being born only of a slavewoman (Genesis 21.12). Isaac, however,was the only son of his wife Sarah, thefree woman, and God had promised"through Isaac shall your descendants benamed". (Genesis 21.12). So from thatday Abraham bid Hagar and Ishmael

farewell and remained with Sarah and hisonly son by her, Isaac. The years went byand Abraham lived in the land of thePhilistines. (Genesis 21. 34). Gradually,however, the intense anticipation of thefulfilment of God's promise began to pos-sess Abraham again as he saw his sonapproach adulthood. Presently heexpected to see some of those descen-dants God had promised him. As he haddone many years before, Abrahameagerly awaited the fulfilment of hispromise.

But if the rejection of Ishmael cameas a shock to him, far worse was to follownow. God was nowhere near finishedwith testing and proving the intensity anddegree of his faith. The final and greattest was about to confront him.

4. THE COMMAND TO

SACRIFICE.

After living for some time in the landof the Philistines, Abraham heard againthe voice of God calling him by name"Abraham.'" (Genesis 22.1). Immediatelyhe responded "Here am I". Filled withexcitement at the prospect of knowingmore of the effective realisation of God'spromises to him, he eagerly awaited themessage God was to give him. Was hisson now to become the forefather ofmany nations?

With keen anticipation he expectedsome indication of the fulfilment of God'spromise that he was to have descen-dants as many as the stars in the sky. Buta sword was about to pierce his soul. ForGod immediately said to him: "Take yourson, your only son Isaac, whom you love,and go to the land of Moriah, and offerhim there as a burnt offering upon one ofthe mountains of which I shall tell you".(Genesis 22.2).

What a command this was: Ishmaelhad left him and Isaac alone was withhim. With great awe and wonderAbraham received this command to sac-rifice Isaac his son.

The Quran confirms the Biblicalaccount of the sacrifice and also plainlysupports the clear statement in the Biblethat it was Isaac who was to be sacri-ficed. We read of Abraham:

"My Lord! Vouchsafe me of the right-eous. So We gave him tidings of a gentleson. And when his son was old enough towalk with him, Abraham said: 0 my dearson, I have seen in a dream that I mustsacrifice thee". (Surah 37.100-102).

It is quite obvious that the son whowas to be sacrificed was the same sonwhose birth was foretold. We have seenfrom other passages in the Quran thatthe birth of Isaac alone was foretold toAbraham and it is clearly this son whowas to be offered up. Secondly in thesame Surah (37), we find a lengthyaccount of various significant incidents inthe lives of the prophets of old who are allmentioned by name. In the case ofAbraham, after the narration of the tid-ings of the birth of the son and the visionto sacrifice the same son, we read: "AndWe gave him tidings of the birth of Isaac,a Prophet of the righteous. And Weblessed him and Isaac". (Surah 37.112-113). These verses are clearly a summa-ry of the narrative about the sacrifice ofIsaac by his father Abraham as a test oftheir mutual faithfulness to God through-out the whole ordeal until God provided aram in Isaac's place. Clearly the Quranhere agrees with the Bible in makingIsaac the son who was to be sacrificed.Ishmael is mentioned elsewhere in theQuran by name (particularly in the pas-sage about the construction of theKa'aba where he is named as Abraham'shelper - Surah 2.125) but is nowherementioned in this passage about the sac-rifice wherein Isaac is expressly men-tioned twice by name.

Accordingly it must be concludedthat the Quran supports the Bible in mak-

ing Isaac the object of the sacrifice.Certainly no fair and impartial expositionof Surah 37. 100-113 can produce theconclusion that it was Ishmael who wasto be sacrificed in the vision thatAbraham saw.

Abraham must have been struckwith bewilderment when he first heardthis command to sacrifice his son Isaac.If we suggested that he received thisorder without any emotional shock orimmediate repulsion in his heart at whathe was commanded to do, we would dis-honour Abraham as a real man of God.We cannot believe that such a father wholoved his son so much could automatical-ly respond to the command with unaffect-ed resignation to it or with a straightfor-ward complacency with the divine will.

The very wording of the commandshows that God did not expect it to bereceived without heart-rending astonish-ment but rather that he intended thatAbraham should be shocked to the coreof his great human soul. God deliberatelyplaced emphasis on the nature of theprice Abraham was to pay to fulfil thisdemand and quite clearly determined totest him to the extreme of his affectionsand love for his son and for God: "Takeyour son, your only son Isaac, whom youlove, and go to the land of Moriah, andoffer him there as a burnt offering".(Genesis 22.2).

What a tremendous trial of faith thiswas for Abraham. God put him to asevere threefold test - firstly to show hisoverriding love for God by giving thatwhich was dearest to his heart and whichcould not be replaced, even his only son;secondly to maintain his trust in theabsolute moral holiness and trustworthi-ness of God who he had hithertobelieved would never will something thatwas evil or morally questionable; andthirdly to persevere in his faith in thesteadfast faithfulness of God to his ownpromise that he would yet give himdescendants through this son as manyas the stars in the sky.

For some real faith implies anunquestioning resignation to whatappears to be the will of God, no matterhow improbable or morally suspect theexercise of that will may appear to be.Abraham was not such a man. He couldnot summarily abandon himself to thecommand to sacrifice his son withoutconsiderable reflection on its implicationsand circumstances. God confronted himwith this awful test of his faith becauseGod knew that this man would never gothrough with the command unless, as inthe case of the birth of Isaac, he was fullyconvinced both of the moral excellenceof the order and its thorough consistencywith the promise that God would give himdescendants as many as the stars in thesky. The greatness of this man's faith isfound in his refusal to believe anythingunless it was credible - no matter whocommanded it - and his determination tounderstand and recognise the credibilityof that which appeared to be overpower-ingly incredible - when the One who gavethe command was the God in whoseabsolute holiness and faithfulness hehad always trusted, the "Holy God whoshows himself holy in righteousness".(Isaiah 5.16).

God would have been most unim-pressed with Abraham's attitude if he hadsimply resigned himself to the divine willthat his son should be sacrificed withoutany serious consideration of what wasinvolved in the matter. God wanted him toexplore at length the conciliationbetween the apparent horror of the com-mand and the transparent eternal trust-worthiness of the God who gave it-because through this he intended toreveal to him the glory of his salvation forall mankind which flesh and blood couldnever show to him.

5. ABRAHAM'S CONTEM-

PLATION OF THE COM-

MAND.

Abraham had reasoned very careful-ly about the promise that his wife wouldbear him a son. With this same inspiredreasoning this man, who sought earnest-ly to gain as much understanding andknowledge as he could of the God heloved, through the commands and prom-ises he was given, thought through thecommand to sacrifice his son accordingto the test God had set in a threefold formbefore him.

The first test - too often consideredto be the only one before his eyes - wasfor this man the easiest of the three. Hewas required to prove that his love forGod was unsurpassed by his love foranything else by giving up that which wasdearest to his heart - his son Isaac. Goddid not require his possessions, goods ormaterial wealth - he required that whichAbraham could neither replace nor sub-stitute, something of his very own being,his only son. Because he, as a truefather, loved his son so much, it musthave been a heart-breaking ordeal topart with him. But Abraham had alreadyendured the command to part withIshmael, his son by the slave woman.And because of his deep love for God, heresolved to obey God again and in doingso give up even his only son by his wifeSarah.

The other two tests were moresevere, however. The first had relatedonly to the nature of Abraham's love forGod. The other two related to the natureof God himself! Firstly, in his time,Abraham witnessed with moral abhor-rence and repulsion the manner of wor-ship which his contemporaries offered tothe idols they had created. To him theworship of idols was really offered todemons - and the formalities of this wor-ship confirmed his beliefs about it. Theworst idolaters offered their own sons upas sacrifices to their idols - and toAbraham this was the last word in humandegradation and wickedness.

Now he was confronted with a simi-lar order to sacrifice his own son to theGod he worshipped in spirit and in truth.How could he reconcile this commandwith his belief that God was absolutelymoral and holy? Abraham did not havethe low concept of God that some menhave. To these God's omnipotenceallows him to do anything arbitrary as hepleases. To them any suggestion thatGod can only do what is morally andproperly right is a restriction on his powerto do anything he chooses. To Abrahamsuch arbitrary acts, far from being proofof God's power, would be evidence of alamentable weakness in his moral char-acter.

Abraham had a high concept of God.He believed that God was absolutely holyand righteous and that he bound himselfaccordingly to do only that which wasmorally right and proper at all times. Inthe circumstances he was constrained toreconcile in his mind the moral holinessof God and the apparent contradiction ofit that confronted him in the command tosacrifice his son.

Secondly he had to consider thiscommand in the light of God's promisethat he would have descendants asmany as the stars in the sky. How couldGod fulfil his promise if his son was to dieand be cremated before he could bearany offspring and descendants?Abraham was confronted with a com-mand which at face value was morallyquestionable and which made the earlierpromise apparently devoid of any possi-bility now of fulfilment. But as he setabout considering all this, he was des-tined to resolve this whole matter in sucha way that he was to find the significanceof the sacrifice far more astonishing thanits immediate implications.

He began by presuming that "Every

word of God proves true" (Proverbs30.5). Therefore that which appeared tobe morally questionable must in someway be morally excellent -and he wasdetermined to find out what that excel-lence was. Secondly that which nowappeared to be beyond the possibility offulfilment must in the providence of Godyet be fulfilled -and with these reasoningsAbraham sought out the meaning of thecommand he had been given.

God at first had promised him a sonthrough whom he was to have innumer-able descendants. The promise consist-ed of two extremes - the birth of Isaac byGod's intervention at the beginning, andcountless descendants by his will andpower at the end. In between these twosuddenly came the command to sacri-fice. Abraham could not believe that itwas contrary to or destructive of the ear-lier promise he had received. God gavethe promise - the same God gave thecommand to sacrifice. Because of hisknowledge of God's total consistency inhis acts, Abraham believed that the com-mand to sacrifice, rather than violatingthe promise, was inseparably linked to it.He concluded that the miraculous birth,the sacrifice and the descendants wereall linked together and that somehow thepromise of descendants was dependentupon and was to be fulfilled through thesacrifice of Isaac.

There was only one way that Isaaccould beget offspring after he was sacri-ficed - by God raising him from the dead.Abraham had realised earlier that Isaaccould only be born through the power ofGod who could cause things to exist thatdo not exist. Therefore he concluded thatif God could create Isaac out of nothing,he could also raise him from the ashesafter he was sacrificed as a burnt offer-ing. As Paul said of Abraham, hebelieved in God "who gives life to thedead and calls into existence the thingsthat do not exist" (Romans 4. 17). (TheQuran confirms, in Surah 2.260, his faiththat God could give life to the dead). Or,as another writer put it:

"By faith Abraham, when he wastested, offered up Isaac, and he who hadreceived the promises was ready to offerup his only son, of whom it was said.'Through Isaac shall your descendantsbe named'. He considered that God wasable to raise men even from the dead;hence, figuratively speaking, he didreceive him back". (Hebrews 11.17-19).

Abraham believed that God wouldraise Isaac from the dead. This resolvedthe apparent impossibility of the fulfil-ment of the promise. It also led toAbraham resolving the moral issue aswell. Abraham considered that the Isaacwho was to beget all these descendantswas to be a risen Isaac - one who could,in a resurrected body, fulfil the promise ofGod. When Abraham reasoned that theremarkable promise of descendants wasdependent upon the renewed, remark-able condition of the son who was tobeget them, he saw at last the moralexcellence of the command. Somehow,only through a resurrection and a bodywhich had overcome death, could thepromise be fulfilled. Abraham rejoicedbefore God as, in a wondrous triumph offaith, he resolved in his mind the moralexcellence and consistent nature of thecommand he had received - and the Godwho had given it. But although he nowsaw its practical nature, he was yet todiscover its ultimate significance.

6. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF

THE SACRIFICE.

Abraham, as we have seen, dis-counted the idea that faith was a baresurrender to the will of God. He believedthat it required an exercise of reasoningso that the will of God could be under-stood and justifiably followed. But he alsobelieved that such enquiring faith should

seek out the mind and purpose of Godbehind his will and promptly proceededto do this in respect of the command tosacrifice his son. Such is true, discerningfaith and for such faith Abraham wasdeeply commended by God.

He began by considering what Godhad said to him "I have made you thefather of many nations". (Romans 4.17).Because of his faith, God had made himboth the prime example of true faithamong men and also the father of thefaithful. God approved both his faith andtrust and accordingly decreed that thosewho had faith like Abraham were tobecome his sons and be blessed withhim. (Romans 4.11-12, Galatians 3.7).

Because of his faith Abrahambecame the father of many nations. But,he reasoned, surely God is truly theFather of the faithful? And were not hisfaith and trust motivated purely by God'sfaithfulness and trustworthiness? Heconsidered that his faith in God was likethe reflection of the sun's light by themoon. For all its brilliance, the moonmerely reflects the light of the sun, butthe sun generates its own light. Abrahamconsidered that his faith and trust weremerely reflections of God's inherent faith-fulness and eternal trustworthiness.

He saw his high status, therefore,merely as a reflection of God's greatglory in heaven. He saw that, as father ofthe faithful, he was merely a type of thetrue Father in heaven. He then realisedthat if he was only a reflection and a type,then so were his son, the unusual birth,the sacrifice, the resurrection and thephysical descendants. The wholeprocess issued from a man who wasmerely a type of the real Father in heav-en. Abraham was merely the physicalreflection of the spiritual reality in heav-en.

Abraham put it all together. Thefather was to have a son in this worldborn wonderfully of a woman by the Spiritand this son was to be a decidedly spiri-tual man all his days. Before he couldhave any descendants he was to be sac-rificed as an offering to God, struck downby the hand of his own father. But hewould rise from the dead and the risenson would beget descendants of greatnumber through whom the nations of theworld would be blessed.

By searching out the meaning of allthis as he moved away from the reflec-tion to the reality, Abraham was able tooutline in his mind a glorious process ofsalvation that was to fill him withunspeakable joy. God, the true Father,was to send his own Son into the world,born miraculously of a woman by thepower of his Holy Spirit, to be a man whowould live solely by the Spirit he was tobe born by- a man who spiritually wouldbe the image of his eternal Father inevery way. By his own eternally spiritualnature, he would transform men of allages and in all nations from sinners ofmere flesh and blood into saints of truespiritual dignity and would ultimatelybring these offspring of the Spirit to eter-nal glory in the kingdom of God he hadcome to make available to them. But firsthe was to be sacrificed as an offering forsin. He was to burn within as he enduredthe wrath of God on behalf of sinners ofevery nation and in every age. He was tobe struck down, not only physically at thehand of man, but spiritually by the handof his own Father as he endured hiswrath against the sins of men so that hemight make a full atonement for them.

The Son of God was to rise from thedead, however, and the risen Son was tomake available to men of true faith theSpirit of God so that they might becomenot only children of Abraham through themanner of their faith but spiritually chil-dren of God through the saving reality ofthat faith. To put it plainly, in one gloriousflash of inspiration and revelation,

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Eid-ul-Adha: Abraham and the Sacrifice

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Abraham saw the whole of theChristian Gospel. By a faithful considera-tion of nothing more than two apparentlycontradictory divine statements, heworked out the whole of God's plan of sal-vation. When Isaac asked him where thesacrifice was, Abraham answered himwith joy in his heart: "God will providehimself the lamb for a burnt offering, myson". (Genesis 22.8). As he spoke to hisson, he knew that God's Son was tobecome "the Lamb of God, who takesaway the sin of the world" (John 1.29).But as Isaac was one of those who was tobecome one of the objects of the atoningwork of the Son of God, he could not ulti-mately be slain as his type. God onlywanted a full shadow and reflection of thework of his Son to be formed inAbraham's mind. But for the perfection ofthe type, it was necessary that somethingfiguring the work of the Son of God shouldbe sacrificed instead of (and indeed inplace of) Isaac. So a lamb without blem-ish, caught in the thicket, was slaininstead as God stopped the human sacri-fice and deeply commended Abraham forhis steadfast faith, love and trust.(Genesis 22.11-13). For the Lamb of Godwas to be caught in the thicket of sin ashe died as a sufficient offering once for allfor the sins of God's true people. But,while he beheld by the eye of faith theredeeming work of the Son of Godthrough whom all the nations of the worldwould be blessed, Abraham once againwas reminded of the great blessings Godhad promised to his descendants. Whenthe sacrifice of the lamb was over, Godsaid to him:

"Because you have done this, andhave not withheld your son, your onlyson, I will indeed bless you, and I will mul-tiply your descendants as the stars ofheaven and as the sand which is on theseashore. And your descendants shallpossess the gate of their enemies, and byyour descendants shall all the nations ofthe earth bless themselves because youhave obeyed my voice". (Genesis 22.16-18).

Abraham realised that those whowere to be redeemed by the work of the

Son of God were in some way to be hisdescendants as well. Abraham was prom-ised that all the nations would be blessedthrough his son - and, although he hadseen that Isaac was only a physical typeof the true Saviour, yet he knew that thereal, effective outworking of the promisehad been made to his descendantsthrough his son. Abraham realised thatthe Son of God according to the Spiritwas to become his son according to theflesh - and that his real descendants wereto be those who would obtain the bless-ings promised through faith in his greaterson yet to be born. Abraham saw that histrue offspring were not to be his sons bythe flesh but his students by faith:

"It is not the children of the flesh whoare the children of God, but the children ofthe promise are reckoned as descen-dants". (Romans 9.8).

From that day Abraham looked for-ward with joy to another age when hisgreater son would be born to redeem theworld. In the fullness of time this greaterson was born. As Isaac had been born ofthe Spirit of a barren woman, so JesusChrist was conceived and born of theSpirit by a virgin woman. The true Son ofAbraham had been born. But althoughIsaac had Abraham for his immediatephysical father, Jesus had no humanfather, being descended from Abrahamonly through his mother and her line fromAbraham. God was the Father of Jesus inan eternal and spiritual sense and where-as Jesus was the promised Son ofAbraham, he was the real Son of God.Abraham knew that the Son of God wasto be the real Redeemer of his manydescendants and that which Abrahamhad looked forward to with great longingand joy had now come into the world.

When some of the Jews, arguinghotly with Jesus in later years, appealedto their status as the physical sons ofAbraham in support of their claim thatthey were the heirs to God's blessings,Jesus reminded them that Abraham hadvested his hopes, not in his immediate

physical offspring, their forefather Isaac;but in his greater son after the flesh,Jesus himself, the Son of God accordingto the Spirit:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced that hewas to see my day; he saw it and wasglad". (John 8.56).

Abraham looked forward to the com-ing of Jesus, his greater son, to redeemthe world from sin. It is for this reason thatone of the first titles Jesus is given in theGospels is "the Son of Abraham".(Matthew 1.1). He is the ultimateRedeemer -the one who was to reallybring about that which was prefigured inthe sacrifice of Isaac many years earlier.Both Jesus and Isaac were properlydescended from Abraham according tothe promise but as Isaac was really onlythe son of Abraham, the reflection, soJesus is ultimately the Son of God, thetrue Father of the faithful, the reality.

Abraham, who exercised his faithand reasoned deeply in his heart aboutthe command to sacrifice his son, saw thesalvation of God in one glorious compre-hension of the significance of the sacri-fice. He foresaw the crucifixion of Christand knew that it was to be the Son of Godwho was to be made a sacrifice for sin sothat the blessings promised to Abrahamand his descendants might become realto men in all nations who would turn tofaith in Jesus:

"That in Christ Jesus the blessing ofAbraham might come upon the Gentiles,that we might receive the promise of theSpirit through faith". (Galatians 3.14).

God revealed to Abraham that hewas to send his own Son Jesus Christinto the world, born of Abraham's seed ashis greater son, so that the blessings hehad promised to all nations might takereal effect through the saving death of hisSon on the cross and his subsequent res-urrection to glory and honour at the righthand of God: "And the scripture, foresee-ing that God would justify the Gentiles byfaith, preached the Gospel beforehand toAbraham, saying 'In you shall all the

nations be blessed'. So then, those whoare men of faith are blessed withAbraham who had faith". (Galatians 3.8-9).But there remains one more thing toconsider. God said to Abraham "Takeyour son, your only son Isaac, whom youlove" (Genesis 22.2). This called for thegreatest manifestation of the love ofAbraham for God - there was nothinggreater that he could sacrifice to prove hissurpassing love for God in heaven. Hehad to sacrifice something living that hadcome from him - something that wouldcost him far more than all his materialpossessions put together. There is ulti-mately only one reason for this - God didnot ask him to sacrifice his son just to testhis love for him-rather it was through thisthat God desired to impress on Abrahamhow great his love was for him and allmankind. He was to send his only Soninto the world to become a sacrifice forAbraham and all mankind as a gloriousmanifestation of his infinite, undying lovefor wayward sinners. "For God so lovedthe world that he gave his only Son, thatwhoever believes in him should not perishbut have eternal life". (John 3.16).

What greater sacrifice could a manmake for God than to give his own son forhim? What greater proof of God's love forman can be found than this - that he gavehis only Son to die for our sins? And Godonly required that Abraham should con-template the sacrifice. But God himselfactually went right through with his lovefor men by giving his Son to die for oursins so that we may obtain the opportuni-ty to possess eternal life through faith inhim. "In this the love of God was mademanifest among us, that God sent hisonly Son into the world, so that we mightlive through him". (1 John 4.9).

Just as Isaac willingly showed com-placency with the will of God, so Jesuswillingly of his own free will laid down hislife for us. If God had redeemed usthrough anything he had created, it wouldhave cost him nothing for he created it outof nothing. But God never asked any man

to do more for him than he was preparedto do for men. He commanded Abrahamto give up his own son who came from hisown body. So God gave his own Son forus - one who was not created but whoseblessed presence the Father hod enjoyedfrom all eternity. What a wondrous proofof God's love we have in this -that hegave his own Son to die for our sins.Abraham's exercise of love for Godthrough the sacrifice of his only son was amagnificent shadow of God's love for usbeing made manifest through the sacrificeof his only Son. Could God have testedAbraham's love for him any more deeplythan he did by commanding him to givehis own son as a proof of his love? Couldthe deep love of God for us be proved inany way greater than this - that he gavehis Son to save us from our sins? "Hewho did not spare his own Son but gavehim up for us all, will he not also give usall things with him?" (Romans 8.32). "Inthis is love, not that we loved God but thathe loved us and sent his Son to be theexpiation for our sins". (1 John 4.10).

7. THE ElD SACRIFICE

RECONSIDERED.

Once a year the Muslim world com-memorates the deep, wondrous love ofAbraham for God in being willing to sparenot even his own son to give a full, effec-tual proof of that love. Every day of theyear, however, the Christian worldremembers the deep, magnificent love ofGod for men in being willing also to sparenot even his own Son to prove once for allhis eternal love for us and his desire thatwe should not perish but, through faith inJesus his Son, obtain eternal life.

With deep compassion we view theEid sacrifice as an unwitting reminder ofthe revelation God gave Abraham of hissalvation to come through his Son JesusChrist which was to be fully foreshad-owed in the sacrifice of Isaac. When wereflect on the sacrifice, should we remindourselves of a man and his love for God,

or should we not really see this wholematter in its true perspective and look toGod and remind ourselves of his undyinglove for men? When Eid-ul-Adha comesagain, will it once again be the love andfaith of a man that impresses you, or willit be the transcendent love and faithful-ness of God towards men that movesyour heart to wonder and joy?

By exercising deep, penetrating faith,Abraham saw that God was to send hisSon into the world to die as a sacrifice forour sins so that we might be redeemed toGod. When he foresaw the coming ofJesus, he rejoiced with great joy in hisheart at the redemption he was to achieve(John 8.56). Today we look forward withexceeding joy to the return of JesusChrist whom God has made the Saviourof the world. (1 John 4.14). We are thetrue sons of Abraham because we followthe example of the faith which he had bylooking unto Jesus for our salvation fromsin and its consequences to righteous-ness and a place in the kingdom of God.We are assured that the blessings whichGod promised him will be ours whenJesus comes again. As it is written:

"If you are Christ's, then you areAbraham's offspring, heirs according topromise". (Galatians 3.29).

Will you not also share these bless-ings with us by turning and putting yourwhole faith in Jesus, the Son of God, sothat you too may enjoy forever theunspeakable riches of his grace and kind-ness towards us? Or will you continue toreject the love of God fully manifestedbefore your eyes and become insteadone of those with whom he is not pleased,those, who by refusing to put their faith inhis Son, have incurred his anger andhave gone astray?

The Muslim Eid sacrifice is a frankreminder of the great expression, not onlyof Abraham's love for God, but of God'sgreat love for hell-bound sinners in givinghis only Son to die for the sins of the worldso that some, by forsaking their sin andby trusting in the Son, might be redeemedfrom the awful wrath of God and becomeinstead the heirs of his grace. Such menalone are partakers of the life of God - allother men are the objects of his wrath.

Eid-ul-Adha: Abraham and the Sacrifice

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FIJISUN24 September-2015 www.fijisun-usa.comBANGLADESH NEWS

Dhaka, Bangladesh: A magistratein northeastern Bangladeshaccepted charges against 10 menand issued arrest warrants forthree alleged fugitives on Mondayin the beating death of a 13-year-old boy that stunned a nation usedto violent crime because a video ofhim being tortured was postedonline.

Magistrate Shahedul Karimdecided to accept the policecharges and fixed August 31 forthe next hearing, prosecutioncounsel Misbahuddin Siraj said.More hearings will be neededbefore the accused are formallyindicted and the final phase of thetrial can begin, Siraj said. The boy,Samiul Islam Rajon, died of inter-

nal bleeding after being attacked inthe northeastern city of Sylhet. Theattackers allegedly were punishinghim for stealing a bicycle, an alle-gation his family and police say isunfounded. The alleged fugitivesinclude the main suspect, KamrulIslam, who has been detained in

Saudi Arabia and is awaiting repa-triation. Ten men are behind barsafter being arrested with the helpof local residents, who were saidto have caught some of the attack-ers when they tried to dump thebody. Some of the accused mensaid they were innocent. The

charges include murder or helpingthe alleged attackers. Defendantsconvicted of murder could face thedeath penalty.

Siraj said the magistrate atMonday's hearing also asked theauthorities to confiscate propertyof the fugitives. The chilling, 28-minute video went viral online, trig-gering protests in the South Asiancountry, where such incidents arenot rare. His body bore at least 64injury marks, according to anautopsy report.

In the cellphone video, the boyis heard screaming in pain andpleading with his attackers: "Don'tbeat me, please, will die, will die."The attackers laughed at the boywhen he asked for water.

DHAKA : A commander ofthe Razakars, an armedauxiliary force of Pakistanitroops during Bangladesh's1971 liberation war, washanded down the deathpenalty today while anotherfrom the notorious militiagroup was sentenced to lifeby a court here for genocideand war crimes. SheikhSirajul Haque alias 'SirajMaster' was given the death

penalty with Chairman ofthe three-memberInternational CrimesTribunal 1 Justice EnayeturRahim pronouncing the ver-dict.

Haque would be hangedto death or shot down as hewas found guilty on twocharges of genocide andthree of crimes againsthumanity, the judge ruled.

Lawyers and legal

experts said according toBangladesh's penal code,convicts sentenced todeath are hanged by theneck but the special tri-bunals could also order warcrimes convicts to be exe-cuted by firing squads sincethey are being tried under aspecial law.

Justice Rahim said fiveof the six charges broughtagainst Haque was proved

beyond doubt and hedeserved no punishmentother than the death penal-ty for the gravity of crimeshe had committed.

The tribunal also sen-tenced fellow convict KhanAkram Hossain, a memberof the Razakar force underHaque's command, toimprisonment until death forhis role in the killing ofabout 50 people in south-

western Bagerhat district in1971.

Haque and Hossain,both in their 70s, faced thetrial in person and werepresent in the dock as thejudgment was read out.

A third accused was alsobeing tried along with theduo but charges againsthim were dropped as hedied a natural death mid-way into the trial. Since

Bangladesh launched thewar crimes trial, the twospecial tribunals, set up byPrime Minister SheikhHasina's secular govern-ment in 2010, have handeddown death penalties toover 15 people. Aboutthree million people werekilled by the Pakistani armyand their Bengali-speakingcollaborators during thecountry's liberation war.

Bangladesh court sentences two Razakars for 1971 war crimes

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gious belief," inspector gen-eral of police AKM ShahidulHoque said as investigatorsstruggled to nab the killersof secular blogger NiloyChakrabarty Neel who washacked to death at his flathere on Friday. The "free-thinkers" should keep inmind that hurting someone'sreligious sentiment is a

criminal offence, Bdnewsquoted Hoque as saying.On the killing of bloggerNeel, he said police wereinvestigating it "with top pri-ority".

He is the fourth bloggerto have been killed sinceFebruary this year. Hoursafter the gruesome attack,Ansar-Al -Islam, the

Bangladesh chapter of al-Qaeda in the Indian subcon-tinent, claimed responsibilityfor killing 40-year-old Neelbut police said involvementof the banned outfit cannotbe confirmed yet. Apart fromNeel, other bloggers killedthis year are Avijit Roy,Washiqur Rahman andAnanta Bijoy Das.

Meanwhile, a team of theFederal Bureau ofInvestigation (FBI) of the USmet local detectives inDhaka to share their techni-cal expertise in investigatingsuch cases, deputy com-missioner (DetectiveBranch) Mahbub Alam ofDhaka Metropolitan Policetold reporters after the

meeting. Alams said theyalso talked about theprogress of investigationinto the murder of secularwriter Avijit Roy, a natu-ralised US citizen. Policehad primarily ascertainedthat the email claimingresponsibility for Niloy'smurder was sent from insideBangladesh, Mahbub said.

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DHAKA: Six Bangladeshiactivists, including threepoets, have been allegedlythreatened by al-Qaida-linked extremists onFacebook, days after afourth secular blogger washacked to death byIslamists in the country.'Ansar BD', issued thethreat on its Facebookpage on Monday with pic-tures of six men associat-ed with GanajagaranMancha — a groupdemanding capital punish-ment for the 1971 warcriminals. "There are threeanti-Islamic poets & threeorganisers of blogs. Theyare the enemy of Islam.We should do what will ouraim (sic)," the Ansar BDpost read.

The six persons havebeen identified as poetHenry Swapan, sculptor

Charu Tuhin, poet SyedMehedi Hasan, organiserNazrul Biswas, poet Tuhin

Das and Chhatra Union'sBarisal unit general secre-tary Pritom Chowdhury.

The threat comes threedays after the al-Qaida-linked group claimedresponsibility for the mur-der of blogger NiloyChakrabarty Neel. Neelwas also the member ofGanajagaran Mancha.Purported militant groupAnsar Al Islam, al-Qaida's'Bangladesh branch',claimed credit for Neel'skilling last week. SaibalKanti Chowdhury, Barisal'ssuperintendent of police,told bdnews that he hadheard about the Facebookpost but no-one lodgedany complaint so far. "I'vespoken to several of themand advised them to lodgepolice complaints," hesaid. Apart from Neel,other bloggers killed thisyear are Avijit Roy,Washiqur Rahman andAnanta Bijoy.

6 Bangladesh activists threatenedby Qaida-linked Islamists on FB

DHAKA: Bangladesh'selite security forceTuesday arrested threesuspected Islamist mili-tants including a Britishcitizen who police saidwas the "main planner" ofthe murders of two promi-nent atheist bloggers.Rapid Action Battalion(RAB) spokesmen saidthey had arrestedTouhidur Rahman, 58,and two other "active

members" of AnsarullahBangla Team, which wasbanned in May over aspate of killings of blog-gers. "We've arrestedthem in the capital today.We can confirm thatRahman is a Bangladeshorigin British citizen. He isthe main planner of theattacks on Avijit Roy andAnanta Bijoy Das," MajorMaksudul Alam of theRAB told AFP.

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Court bans RanaPlaza movie becauseof terrifying scenesB

angladesh’s highcourt has imposed asix-month ban on a

film about a garment workerwho was rescued from therubble 17 days after a five-storey factory complex col-lapsed, killing more than1,000 people. A two-mem-ber panel of judges orderedthe ban on the film RanaPlaza after a writ petitionwas submitted. It said thatthe movie included scenesof horror, cruelty and vio-lence that could affect work-ers in the country’s garmentindustry. The director,Nazrul Islam Khan, hadargued that the real-lifestory of Reshma Begumdepicted courage amid thetragedy. The disaster on 24April 2013 left 1,135 peopledead. Thousands morewere rescued from the ruinsof the illegally built complexwhich housed five factoriessupplying garments to inter-national companies.

When the collapse start-ed, Begum said she raceddown a stairwell into thebasement, where shebecame trapped in a pocketof space that allowed her tosurvive. She found somedried food and bottles ofwater to sustain her untilshe was rescued. She nowworks in a hotel. The col-lapse triggered an outcry athome and abroad. Therehave been efforts to reformBangladesh’s garmentindustry to improve safetyand working conditions.

Investigators say severalfactors contributed to thebuilding’s collapse: it was

overloaded with machinesand generators, constructedon swampy land, and theowner added floors in viola-tion of the original buildingplan. On Monday, the highcourt also asked the coun-try’s film censor board toexplain in four weeks whythe clearance certificate toshow the movie should notbe cancelled. Sirajul IslamRony, the writ petitioner anda trade union leader, said hewent to court because thefilm’s producer had notremoved some scenes ofhorror as instructed by thecourt in March. Bangladeshearns about $25bn annuallyfrom garment exports, main-ly to the US and Europe,although the country hasone of the lowest minimumwages in the world – about$72 (£45) a month.

The industry employsabout 4 million workers,mostly women who comefrom rural areas.

Reshma Begum speaks to themedia from hospital after shewas rescued from the rubble ofthe Rana Plaza building.

Police charges 10 for allegedly beating boy to death

FIJISUN 25NATIONAl NEWS September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

WASHINGTON: PresidentBarack Obama is caughtbetween the White Houseaspirations of two of hisclosest advisers: VicePresident Joe Biden andformer Secretary of StateHillary Rodham Clinton.

For months, WhiteHouse officials expectedClinton to be theDemocratic nominee in the2016 election. Some ofObama's top politicaladvisers moved to NewYork to run her campaignand Obama appeared togive his tacit approval,saying she would be an"excellent president.''

But that bet on Clintonsuddenly looks less cer-tain. With Biden weighinghis own presidential runmore seriously amid signsof weakness in Clinton'scampaign, the WhiteHouse faces the prospectof a family feud over whowill become heir toObama's legacy.

"Certainly he's gotsomething at stake here,''

White House spokesmanJosh Earnest said Mondayof Obama's interest in the2016 election.

Biden's recent over-tures to donors andDemocratic officials haveled to palpable awkward-ness in the West Wing asaides _ many with closeties to Clinton, the vicepresident or both try tomaintain impartiality.

Earnest raised theprospect that Obama couldendorse a candidate in theDemocratic primary,though others close to thepresident say it's unlikelyhe'd publicly put his thumbon the scale if Clinton andBiden were locked in aclose contest.

In picking betweenBiden and Clinton, Obamawould be making a choicebetween two of the mostinfluential members of hisadministration.

Obama and Clintonlong ago turned their politi-cal rivalry from the 2008primary into an alliance.

Clinton left the administra-tion in early 2013 after fouryears as Obama's secre-tary of state, but she andthe president still gettogether for occasionalmeetings. They bothattended a birthday partyin Martha's Vineyard lastweek for Democraticpowerbroker VernonJordan, and Obamaplayed golf on the tonyMassachusetts island withformer President BillClinton.

However, some WhiteHouse officials were irked

by revelations that Clintonsidestepped administrationguidelines by using a pri-vate email account on herown computer server to doState Department busi-ness. Privately, someObama allies also saythey're miffed at Clinton'shandling of the email con-troversy, which continuesto dog her campaign.

Meanwhile, Obama andBiden appear to havedeveloped a genuinefriendship during their six-and-a-half years in theWhite House. When

Biden's son, Beau, died ofbrain cancer earlier thisyear, Obama delivered amoving eulogy in which hereferred to the vice presi-dent as a ``brother.'' In theweeks after the youngerBiden's death, Obamamade sure the vice presi-dent was by his side forhigh-profile administrationannouncements.

Earnest said Obamaviewed his selection ofBiden as a running mateas the smartest decision ofhis political career.

``I think that should giveyou some sense of thepresident's view of VicePresident Biden's aptitudefor the top job,'' Earnestsaid. On Monday, Obamaand Biden met for theirweekly lunch in the presi-dent's private dining room.Both men spent much ofAugust on family vacationsand their lunch markedtheir first in-person meet-ing since Biden stepped uphis deliberations and out-reach about a possible

campaign. People familiar with

Biden's thinking say he'syet to make a final deci-sion, but is likely toannounce his politicalfuture within a month. Thevice president is consultingwith a close circle of long-time advisers, thoughthere are said to be divi-sions within that groupabout whether he shouldrun. Those close toObama and Biden insistedon anonymity becausethey were not authorizedto publicly discuss the vicepresident's deliberations orthe White House's view ofthe 2016 race. Of course,what's at stake for Obamain the 2016 election ismore than just his personalrelationships with Clintonand Biden. Much of hislegacy is contingent on aDemocratic presidentmaintaining his policies onimmigration, health careand climate change, aswell as the nuclear agree-ment with Iran.

Obama caught between Clinton, Biden ambitions

WASHINGTON : TheUnited States soon willdeploy F-22 Raptors inEurope, sending thestealth fighter jets toreassure NATO partnersconcerned aboutRussia's actions inUkraine, a Pentagon offi-cial has said.

Air Force SecretaryDeborah Lee James didnot offer specifics aboutwhere or when the sin-gle-seat jets would bedeployed, citing opera-tional security reasons.James also would notsay how many of theplanes would bedeployed. The deploy-ment comes at therequest of commandersin the region, she said

yesterday, adding that F-22 pilots will train withNATO partners. The F-22 was designed for air-to-air combat - attackingother warplanes - butalso is capable of groundattacks. The US AirForce has about 180 F-22s, which became oper-ational in 2005. Theyhave been used in US-led coalition strikes onthe Islamic State group inIraq and Syria.

US to deploy F-22 Raptorfighter jets in Europe

S A C R A M E N T O ,California: Three youngmen who disarmed a gun-man on a high-speed trainbound for Paris will get aheroes' welcome in theirhometown in California, themayor of Sacramento saidon Monday.

"Big news!" SacramentoMayor Kevin Johnsontweeted. "We are throwing aparade for our 3 hometownheroes!" He used the hash-tag "#Sacramento Proud."

The state capital willstrike up the bands for stu-dent Anthony Sadler, 22,Spencer Stone, a 23-year-old U.S. airman, andNational Guardsman Alek

Skarlatos, 22. The mengrew up in the Sacramentoarea, attended middle andhigh school together andhave remained friends.They were touring Europe,partly to celebrate Skarlatos'return from a tour of duty inAfghanistan, when they sawthe gunman, who wasarmed with a box cutter, apistol and a KalashnikovAK-47 assault rifle. Whenthey saw him cocking therifle, they said they had nochoice but to react.Sacramento, parts of whichare still suffering from thefinancial crisis, has beenbuzzing with pride for theAmericans ever since.

"I hope it's a parade toend all parades, Mr. Mayor,"Bill Bird, a spokesman forthe senate's top

Republican, Bob Huff,tweeted in response toJohnson, a Democrat.

"Finally," tweeted anoth-

er conservative, who usedthe name LVN Nancy."Something to be proud ofin California."

Johnson's chief of staff,Daniel Conway, said theparade was being organ-ized and details would soonbe announced.AtSacramento StateUniversity, where Sadler is asenior, president Robert S.Nelsen said he looked for-ward to thanking the kinesi-ology major in person whenhe returns to class. FrenchPresident FrancoisHollande bestowedFrance's highest honor onMonday on the threeAmericans along with a

Briton who helped disarmthe suspected Islamist mili-tant. Stone, whose thumbwas almost severed by theattacker, has also beencredited with saving the lifeof another passenger whohad been shot and wasbleeding profusely.

Air Force SecretaryDeborah James saidStone's unit was nominatinghim for the Air Force's high-est medal for non-combatbravery. California GovernorJerry Brown tweeted onSaturday, "Proud of thebrave Californians whohelped prevent yesterday'sattack in France & savedcountless lives."

California to organize parade to honour heroes who thwarted France train attack

French President Francois Hollande (C) poses with (LtoR) Britishbusinessman Chris Norman and off-duty US servicemen AnthonySadler, Spencer Stone, and Alek Skarlatos during a reception in theirhonour at the Elysee Palace. (AFP photo)

WASHINGTON: The WhiteHouse on Mondayacknowledged that vice-president Joe Biden is stillweighing a possible run forthe top job, amid controver-sy surrounding Democraticfrontrunner Hillary Clinton.Biden, President Obama'sdeputy for nearly sevenyears, has previously saidhe would make a decisionon entering the 2016 raceby the end of the summer."I would assume that thatmeans he's got a anothermonth or so to think aboutthis and announce a deci-sion," said White Housespokesman Josh Earnest.Obama has so far beencareful not to pick amongthe Democratic candidates.

But several close aideshave jumped from theWhite House to Clinton'scampaign in recent months.Her struggles to explainwhy she used a private

email server to conductstate business has raisedquestions about her statusas presumptive nominee.

Democrats have longbeen concerned about theprospect of a half-heartedprimary race leading toClinton's nomination.Biden would provideClinton with stiff competi-tion, but his path back tothe White House is notentirely clear. He has beena presidential candidatetwice and twice lost badly.

Earnest did not rule out thepossibility that Obamawould ultimately chosebetween his vice presidentand his former secretary ofstate. "I wouldn't rule outan endorsement," he said.

Speculation aboutBiden's plans were fueledby reports over the week-end that he had met pri-vately with SenatorElizabeth Warren, an influ-ential voice in theDemocratic Party's leftwing.

WH admits Joe Biden mulling 2016 runChina, the Fed andObama: US presidentialcandidates lay blamefor stocks rout

WASHINGTON: As China's stock-market plunge spread to theUnited States, presidential candi-dates on Monday laid on blameand pushed their policy ideas fromthe sidelines, with RepublicanDonald Trump saying he hadwarned about US exposure toChina. "I've been talking aboutChina for years. Because China'sgoing bad it's going to bring usdown, too, because we're so heav-ily coupled with China," said real-estate mogul Trump on Fox News."I'm the one that says you betterstart un-coupling from Chinabecause China's got problems."Trump also pointed a finger athedge funds and said that if hewere elected president in 2016 hewould raise taxes on the wealthyand specifically target those work-ing in high-stakes finance. Therhetoric was reminiscent of thefinal months of the 2008 presiden-tial election, when Republicannominee John McCain suspendedhis campaign in reaction to themassive financial crisis.

FIJISUN26 Career Guide For 2015September-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com

SAGITTARIUSNOV 23-DEC 22

Confident and optimistic, you shall beginthe month on a good note. You maystumble a bit, as the month progress-

es, but strive ahead, and you shall manageto make suitable progress. Family andfinances shall largely top your priority, thismonth. At home, your involvement with yourkids, yours or a sibling's, or younger relativesmay increase. You may find yourself gettingincreasingly worried about them, or a situa-tion revolving around them. Be supportive,says Ganesha. This may also help youspend quality time with your loved ones athome, including your spouse. If you are mar-ried, possibility of your in-laws visiting (or youvisiting them) is also high in August. Work-wise, things shall be quite busy too, especial-ly in the month's latter half. You may feel thatyou are not getting due support from yourseniors and colleagues. This may be true toquite an extent, but don't let this leave youdisillusioned. Ganesha also foresees thepossibility of unexpected expenditures, allthrough the month. The retrograde Venusshall be posited in Leo this month, whichindicates that you will need to special care inhealth matters, especially if you suffer from alifestyle or age-related disease.

CAPRICORNDEC 23-JAN 20

Love roller coasters? You better do, asthis month looks set to offer you onehell of a ride—thankfully, largely

pleasant and pleasurable, even if some-what bumpy, at times. You will feel luck ison your side, as the month begins. Thingswill suddenly seem quite possible, fillingyour otherwise skeptic and conservativeself with plenty of nerve and verve. Greatgoing! But, sadly this happy ride may soonhit a bump, especially given the unduepressure from seniors at work. Don’t letstress affect your performance. And, stayalert, or you may miss out on a goodopportunity. The phase shall be favourablefor students opting for higher studies, andfreelancers who are looking for new andlucrative assignments to work on. On thehome front, the rising expenses may both-er you. Working in unison, along with yourloved ones, specifically your spouse,towards a common cause will yield fruitfulresults, assures Ganesha. Health, asusual will be average.

CANCERJUNE 22-JULY 23

Abuzzing month, bustling withactivities, awaits you. Socialising,partying, love, possibly beginning

of a new relationship, misunderstanding,professional challenges—all shall keepyou on your toes. And, happily, the starshelp you stay prepared to deal with it all.You may come across a new person, asyou step out dressed to hilt, one of thenights. Even if this doesn't turn out to bea romantic involvement, you can expectit to be useful for your future progress. Ifmarried, expect happiness. However, asthe month wanes, stars become a littletesty, leaving you stressed. Refrain fromheated verbal exchanges and pointingfingers. Or else, the relationship stressmay adversely affect your health. Work-wise, gear up for handling some troubledprojects. Multitasking and struggle mayexhaust you. But, being slow or incom-petent is not be an option, saysGanesha.

LEOJULY 24-AUG 23

Agreed that you are brimming withenergy, as the month begins.But, don't take this as a reason

to try to do too many things, at a go.Focus and concentrate, even as yougo about impressing all and sundrywith your eloquence and ability. Youmay be entrusted with a prestigioustask. Explore new avenues and brushup your skills. For businessmen, it willbe a good time to venture into a newterritory. Mid-month, if you find yourselftoo challenged by the looming dead-lines, speak up. Get in touch with yourteam and seniors to try and find amutually agreeable solution. And, youwill! If you are a fresher, you may getlucky, adds Ganesha. However, allmay not be hunky dory on the homefront. Arguments and verbal spats, ifthey happen, may take an ugly turn.Be careful, or circumstances may spoilyour image. Two major planets -Jupiter and Sun - posited in the 2ndHouse from your Sign, though, indicateguests, friends and relatives. Talking,chatting and gossiping shall keep youhappy, but you will need to stay alert.

VIRGOAUG 24-SEPT 23

Issues related to family and career willretain the prime slot in your priority list.You are likely to be more confident than

before, ready to take up challenges headon. The Ruler of the 10th and the 1stHouse for your Sign – Mercury – shall bewell placed, for a better part of the month.Hence, you can expect progressive timesahead. Getting distracted, however, maycost you heavily. At work, discontent andurge to take up something new may forceyou to look for a suitable change. It is agood time to switch, says Ganesha.However, consider all the pros and consbefore taking the major decision, suggestsGanesha. Business fraternity has a reasonto rejoice, but with booties shall come thetruck-loads of work. Financially, you mayfind it difficult to manage to rising expens-es. Exercise due care and caution, whilespending money. Also set your prioritiesright! If married, be ready to encounterphases, albeit brief, through the month thatmay not allow you to breathe easy.

TAURUSAPR 21-MAY 21

You shall pledge to remain on thetop of your game, by being yourorganised best, as the month

begins. However, despite your bestefforts, you may see many of yourendeavours hitting unexpected hurdles.Well, try not to get too agitated. Handlepersonal matters with utmost care andtact. Be open, friendly and diplomatic.With the Stellium of four planets in the4th House from your Sign, you may plana major change on the home front, buthere too you may encounter delays. Trypostponing certain decisions, for the timebeing, suggests Ganesha. Also, work toiron out the differences in relationships—for a better and conducive home envi-ronment. Work, as usual, shall bedemanding, what with deadlines loomingand superiors making the going tough foryou. Do not let the stress affect yourhealth, in any way. Rather, find time torest and relax, whenever you can.

AQUARIUSJAN 21-FEB 19

You shall see yourself shifting gearsto work at a faster pace to accom-plish your goals on the 1st, 2nd

and 3rd. Highly determined and confi-dent, you may be willing to take up chal-lenges like never before! However, hur-dles may be strewn onto your path bySaturn. On 7th and 8th, you may be in arebellious mood, specifically concerninga work matter. Say what you have to,but also understand that no one is out tocurb your freedom. So, refrain from mak-ing angry comments. Partnerships, inbusiness or personal life, may see atough time, mid-month. You may evenbe tempted to take a legal freeway,against which Ganesha cautions youwell in advance. Domestic matters maydemand your attention. You may feelworried and down, on account of a lovedone/ spouse being somewhat indifferenttowards you. Avoid verbal spats, and ifthey happen, refrain from taking themoral high ground. Stay practical andflexible. You may plan a small family tripto lighten the mood. Finances, however,may remain a concern, often becomingthe bone of contention.

PISCESFEB 20-MAR 20

Staying focused shall not be too easyfor you, as the month begins, giventhe diversions. There may also be

delays and obstacles, especially in thefirst 10 days, which may make you con-fused. Take a deep breathe, and proceedahead slowly, albeit steadily, saysGanesha. You can bank on your family'ssupport. Spend time with your loved onesto unwind. There may be some tiffs; emo-tions may run high on 15th, 16th and25th, but it won't be anything unavoidable.Money-wise, you will choose to be wisenow, which is commendable. However,you may feel the planets are not support-ing you. Work-wise, this may be an excel-lent month, given you refuse to get dis-tracted. You may not expect a new joboffer or a raise. In business, try revivingsome lost and old contacts. Although, arise in revenue is foreseen, expenses toomay rise alongside. In domestic matters,you may end up spending behind an eld-erly member's failing health.

ARIESMAR 21-APR 20

Heavy workload may not allow youmuch of a breather, all through themonth. On your own, you would

wish to concentrate on your ambitions.However, you may get distracted by yoursurroundings. This, eventually, may affectyour performance, and you may find ittough to manage everything. Stay politeand alert. Household and incidentalexpenses rise. Given your busy schedule,taking care of everyone and everythingmay seem like a task! Freshers lookingfor employment may remain in a dilem-ma, over too many options. Things mayremain a little tense on the home frontWith the Ruler of your Sign Mars debilitat-ed and malefic Ketu posited in your Sign,you may feel upset or irritable. Venus, theruler of the 7th Sign from yours, shall bemoving in a retrograde motion, where theNorth Node is already placed. This mayadd to troubles in your marital heaven, oreven in a business partnership.

SCORPIOOCT 24-NOV 22

Handling life goals, personal andcareer struggles all together at thesame time may leave you breath-

less! But, your peculiar trait of dynamismwill help you handle this period gracefully.Plus, do keep finding ways to de-stressand mingle in good company, as thesepursuits shall relieve you of your stress.The mid-month may bring a phase, whereyou may suddenly be confronted withground-realities and practical aspects oflife. Relax! Try to cut down on dependenceon others, as this will help you fly, sug-gests Ganesha. Keep your temper in con-trol, at all times too, lest you hurt your per-sonal and professional relationships.Financially, things shall remain good.Thank the well-placed Jupiter for this.However, being over-confident about yourfinances, or anything is a strict no. Venus,the Ruler of the House related to spouseand partnership shall be in a retrogrademode for a part of the month. Naturally,this is not good news. Career related activ-ities may take up most of your time andenergy, leaving you with little else to spend

LIBRASEPT 24-OCT 23

Well, well, control your urge to goall out with your anger, as themonth begins. Plus, distractions,

of any sort, including tiffs, conflicts andangry exchanges, shall derail you fromyour path to success. And, indeed becareful in forming (or maintaining) friend-ships. Your friends may be your lifeline,but this won't be a good time to give in totheir undue demands, says Ganesha.Avoid the ones who are friends just fornamesake, as they may lure into shallow,pleasure-seeking activities. For a betterpart of the month, the matters related tocareer and finances are likely to remain inthe forefront. Of course, there will behighs and lows, but the influence of Marsshall keep your confidence shining. Atwork, expect new responsibilities. Thismay stress you. Talk it out with your boss;he/ she will be helpful, assures Ganesha.At home, things may be stressful. Blameit on Ketu being in the House ofPartnerships/ Marriage.

GEMINIMAY 22-JUNE 21

This looks set to be a favourablemonth, on many accounts. Jupiter-Mercury conjunction shall boost

your efficiency, helping you win overeveryone at professional and personalfronts. Besides, the Moon posited in yourSign, as the month begins, shall help youstrive ahead intelligently. Given the sup-port from your loved ones at home, youmay plan to initiate a home renovation/makeover plan. If you are a parent,Ganesha advises you to take it easy withyour kids, who may be a little moredemanding now. Monetarily, things remainfine. A few unexpected monetary gainsmay leave you surprised. Health-wise too,things look set to be quite satisfactory. Inrelationships, do not give evasiveanswers, or over commit. Professionalmatters look set to remain largely sorted.You will manage to maintain cordial rela-tions with your boss, and their guidanceshall help you perform better.

FIJISUN 27afghan newS September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com

Two men wearing Afghansecurity force uniform shotdead two Nato personnel insidea military base in southernAfghanistan, before they weregunned down on Wednesday,the foreign forces said.

Nato offered few detailsabout the shooting inAfghanistan's southernHelmand province, whichappeared to be the latest so-called "insider attack" to targetforeign troops or contractors inthe country. Afghan officialssaid they had no immediatedetails about the attack. In astatement, Nato said the twomen in Afghan uniforms openedfire on a vehicle with interna-tional troops inside it. Bothshooters were killed when Natoforces returned fire, it said. Natodid not elaborate, nor did it

identify the nationalities of theinternational troops killed northe base the attack took place.It said the attackers wore"Afghan National Defense andSecurity Forces uniforms,"which include the country'spolice, military and borderpatrol. The motive for the attackwas not immediately known andno group claimed responsibilityfor the assault. In past attacks,Taliban insurgents have beenknown to wear Afghan police ormilitary uniforms to stageattacks on the internationaltroops. Others have opened fireapparently on the own accord,like an Afghan soldier who lastyear killed Major GeneralHarold J Greene, the highest-ranked US officer to be slain incombat since 1970 in theVietnam War.

2 Nato personnel killed by menin Afghan military uniform

The Afghan-Pakistan strate-gic relationship is deterioratingby the day as the former accusesthe latter of meddling in its affairsand prolonging a 14-year war byaiding Taliban militants in a cyni-cal quest for influence. Pakistan,which hosts masses of Afghanrefugees, denies the charge andsays it cannot be expected tomonitor the movement of Afghanmilitants back and forth acrossborder regions barely under thecontrol of Islamabad. This hasbeen a longstanding issuebetween the two neighbors but arecent uptick in stridency is strik-ing - and dangerous at a timewhen the Taliban seem to growmore militant and NATO haspulled its combat troops fromAfghanistan. It also represents areversal of the relatively opti-mistic outreach that AfghanPresident Ashraf Ghani launchedwhen he took office a year ago.

The relentless continuation ofTaliban attacks - and the surge inviolence that followed the trans-fer of security control from NATOto Afghan forces at the end of2014 - seems to have exhaustedGhani's patience.

After a series of deadlyattacks earlier this month in theAfghan capital, Ghani accusedPakistan on live TV of being thesource of the violence in hiscountry. "The decisions thePakistani government will bemaking in the next few weeks willsignificantly affect bilateral rela-tions for the next decades,"

Ghani said at the time. "We canno longer tolerate watching ourpeople bleeding in a war export-ed and imposed on us from out-side."

Amid the rhetoric, the basicfacts are not in dispute: leadersof the Taliban have been basedin Pakistan - in Quetta,Peshawar and Karachi - sincethe US-led invasion in 2001 top-pled their regime and forcedthem to flee. Recent events alsohave made clear the extent ofPakistan's influence over thegroup. Taliban leaders direct thewar from Pakistani soil, and sendgunmen and suicide bombers,weapons and money across theborder every year for the Talibansummer offensive. This year, thewarm-weather offensive hasbeen particularly ferocious, fol-lowing the NATO drawdown.

On Tuesday, Pakistan'sambassador to Kabul, SyedAbrar Hussain, was summonedto hear a complaint about bordershelling, Afghan Foreign Ministryspokesman Ahmad ShekibMostaghni confirmed. A day later- on Afghan Independence Day -Afghan Ambassador JananMosazai was summoned byPakistan's foreign ministry,where he heard a protest about a"recent spate of Afghan govern-ment's allegations and mediacampaign to malign Pakistan," aministry statement said. The"allegations undercut mutualconfidence and affect the envi-ronment of bilateral relations that

both countries had been workinghard to improve," said Pakistan'sforeign secretary, Aizaz AhmadChaudry. Earlier, Ghani had toldKabul-based ambassadors thatPakistan "has three options:freeze, deep freeze or hostility" ifit failed to reign in the Taliban,according to three people whowere present at the meeting,including two ambassadors. Allspoke on condition of anonymitybecause they were not author-ized to talk to the media. "We areat 'freeze'," said one of theambassadors. "Relations couldstill go down - for instance, ifthere is a new bombing inKabul." The diplomat said thatunless the Pakistanis "deliverwhat they are saying they arewilling to do, to combat terrorismand extremism," Afghanistan'sallies could ask the UnitedStates and the world to classifyPakistan as a provider of "sanc-tuary to terrorists." Such a classi-fication could lead to diplomaticand financial isolation forPakistan and complicate its rela-tionship with other partners, likeChina, as well as global lendersand credit rating agencies.

Ghani's recent harsh rhetoricappeared to have been sparkedby the apparent failure of a high-level delegation sent last week toIslamabad to work out an "actionplan" for ending the war. Thegroup returned empty-handed.

Earlier this year, Ghani sentPakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif an eight-point proposal,

extracts of which have beenseen by The Associated Press,in which he said that both coun-tries were engaged in an unde-clared war. The letter also calledon Islamabad show its commit-ment to peace by placing Talibanleaders under house arrest, with-drawing rights extended toTaliban figures - such as free-dom of movement and accessfor fighters to medical care - andcurtailing the activities of theHaqqani network, arguably oneof the most brutal terror groupsin the region.

Mostaghni, the Afghanspokesman, said Kabul is stillhoping to receive a response tothese points "very soon."Pakistani political analystMahmood Shah said thatIslamabad "must address theconcerns and frustration" ofGhani and better explain that"some elements want to disruptthe fledging peace process."

The tensions come at a par-ticularly volatile time, as leadersof the Afghan Taliban grapplewith leadership turmoil that hasengulfed the group since lastmonth's revelation that the insur-gents' one-eyed leader MullahMohammad Omar has beendead for over two years.

The Taliban are underdiverse pressures - on one hand,they are trying to cement ties toal-Qaeda and other militantgroups, and on the other,respond to the challenge assome radicals become increas-

ingly seduced by the even morebrutal tactics and clear aims ofthe Islamic State group, which istrying to extend east from itsbase in Syria and Iraq.

In this environment, leadersrepresenting different degrees ofTaliban militancy are strugglingto emerge supreme - and theinsurrection inside Afghanistancontinues unabated, with almost5,000 civilian deaths so far thisyear.Taliban leaders have beenmeeting in the Pakistani city ofQuetta, with some members ofthe group saying that more than1,000 loyalists, including battle-field commanders, have gath-ered to see the dispute resolu-tion through, with expecteddeadlines being pushed furtherand further back.

This, too, has angered Kabul,which accuses Pakistan of failingto take action against "thosegroups holding gatherings inpublic and declaring war againstthe Afghan people," said Ghani'sdeputy spokesman ZafarHashemi.

Analysts say Pakistan's moti-vation in harboring insurgents isto influence its strategicallylocated neighbor, and to keepIndian and Iranian interests out.

Mullah Akhtar Mansour,named as successor to MullahOmar, has been endorsed by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri,cementing links between the twogroups. One of Mansour'sdeputies is Sirajuddin Haqqani, aleader of the Haqqani network,

which is also linked to al-Qaeda.An Afghan security official,

who spoke on condition ofanonymity because he is notauthorized to talk to reporters onthe topic, said agents from thePakistan's Inter-ServicesIntelligence, the military-backedspy agency, are also in Quetta toensure that Mansour - who doesappear to be consolidatingpower - retains the post despiteopposition from Mullah Omar'sfamily. Pakistan has made nocomment on the allegation.

Observers say Mansour hasbeen in charge all along, playinga double game - entering into aputative and largely unofficialdialogue with Kabul, somebelieve at the behest of thePakistanis, while also intensify-ing the fighting insideAfghanistan.

After a first round of official,face-to-face Kabul-Taliban talkswere held in Pakistan in earlyJuly, the process has beenshelved indefinitely following theannouncement of Mullah Omar'sdemise. In Islamabad, foreignministry spokesman QaziKhalilullah told reporters onThursday that Pakistan was stillcommitted to supporting andfacilitating an Afghan-led andAfghan-owned peace and recon-ciliation process with the Taliban."It it is up to Afghans to decideabout further steps in thisregard," he said. "In our view,wisdom lies in the continuation ofthe peace process."

Members of security forces stand at the site of the attack. A Taliban suicidebomber and six gunmen attacked the Afghan Parliament, wounding at least 19

people and sending a plume of black smoke across Kabul.

Taliban strikes Afghanistan again

Afghan-Pakistan ties sour as Taliban gains strength

It is extraordinary for a head ofstate to issue a terse statement anddisaggregate it into 20 tweets direct-ing them at a neighbouring state likeAfghanistan President Ashraf Ghanidid on Monday, when he vented hisfrustration about dealing withPakistan. The provocation for thereproach was the attacks that theTaliban has unleashed inAfghanistan in recent days, begin-ning with the three suicide blasts inKabul on August 7, which killed morethan 60 people and injured over 300others. This was followed by

Monday’s car bomb attack on KabulAirport that killed five people. MrGhani’s sharp remarks have takenmany by surprise, given his effortsover the last year to build a closerrelationship with Pakistan even at theexpense of India. Kabul has beendrawing closer to Islamabad, assum-ing that only a cooperative equationwith the latter can pave the way for asettlement with the Taliban, whoseleadership is either based inPakistan or was under the sway of itsmilitary establishment. Mr Ghani isclearly outraged by the recent

attacks but a part of his fury perhapssprings from being kept in the darkby Pakistan about Taliban leaderMullah Omar, who has been report-edly dead for two years. The Afghanpresident spoke about “lies and fabri-cations” about Omar and said the lat-ter’s death reaffirmed the fact thatthe war in Afghanistan is “fought forand by others”.

Mr Ghani spoke of a war beingdeclared from Pakistan and askedsearching questions about the lat-ter’s Afghanistan policy, especiallyabout tolerating the existence of “sui-

cide training camps and bomb-mak-ing facilities” used to target civiliansin his country. He asked Pakistanileaders what their reaction would beif groups based in Afghanistan wereto stage such a dastardly attack inIslamabad. He warned that whatPakistan decides in the next twoweeks will affect relations over thenext decades. Mr Ghani has used atragic moment to hold out a mirror tothe devastation that Pakistan’sstrategic artifices have wrought. ThePakistan Army should know that itstactics fool no one

Why Afghan prez Ghani is angry with Pakistan

Al Qaeda leaderZawahiri pledgessupport to AfghanTaliban chief

Al Qaeda leader Aymanal-Zawahiri, in an onlineaudio message, pledgedallegiance to the recentlyappointed head of theAfghan Taliban,Mohammad AkhtarMansour, in a move thatcould bolster his accessionafter the death of Talibanfounder MullahMohammad Omar. "Wepledge our allegiance ... (tothe) commander of thefaithful, Mullah MohammadAkhtar Mansour, may Godprotect him," said Aymanal-Zawahiri, believed to behiding in a border areabetween Afghanistan andPakistan that is a militantbastion.

FIJISUN28 bollywoodSeptember-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com

on the setDoggies’ day out

August 26 is celebrated as Dog Dayand actress Tanishaa Mukerji, whoowns two Cocker Spaniels and twoLhasa Apsos, plans to indulge hercanines. Though in the midst of thepreparations for the upcoming AnnaHazare biopic, she has lined up a spaouting for her pets as well as a specialtreat by ordering customised cakesand cookies for her pooches. Tanishaaprides on being a dog lover. Cute!

Prabhu Dheva avoids doing choreography in the films hedirects. He feels it is better to focus on one aspect of thefilmmaking process than multitask. He has followed his self-imposed rule in his upcoming directorial venture, SinghIs Bliing, as well. Instead, Vishnu Dheva choreographs in hisfilms. Most people feel he is Prabhu Dheva’s brother, but he isnot. Vishnu Dheva considers Prabhu Dheva and GaneshAcharya as his mentors. Vishnu is married to GaneshAcharya’s sister.

So real men do cry. AamirKhan was trending on Twitteryesterday for his recent tearshedding spree. Memes on himwent viral. There were severalhilarious tweets about whatmakes Mr Perfectionist misty-eyed. Last month, Aamir couldnot stop tears streaming downhis cheeks after seeing hisbuddy Salman Khan’s film,Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Now the50-year-old star could not stopsobbing after seeing hisnephew Imran Khan’supcoming film, Katti Batti. He’sseen the film thrice and criedbuckets at every screening.Earlier, Aamir shed tears on hisTV show Satyameva Jayate.Some memes that did therounds yesterday:� Aamir Khan hates walking in

the rain because nobody cansee him crying.

� Legends say that the onionsthemselves starts crying whenAamir Khan cuts them.

� Air Hostess: Sir, would youlike to have anything? Tea?Coffee? Juice? Aamir Khan: Tissues

� Seems like Sensex slipped onwet floor. Sources arepointing fingers towardsAamir Khan.

� Aamir Khan cried watchingRohit Sharma’s batting whenhe reached double digit score.

� Little-known fact, AamirKhan cried after watchingHera Pheri.

Every teardrop is a waterfall

Being there

Emraan Hashmi is currentlyshooting for theAzharuddinbiopic inEngland. Thecricketer wasspotted atMumbaiairport takinga flight toLondon tocheck on theshoot and provide hisinputs. The makers were keenthat Azhar be around duringthe filming.

Aamir Khan wipes off his tears after the screening of BajrangiBhaijaan

Glowing in the darkThe Burmawalla brothers (filmmakers Abbas and Mustanand editor Hussain) are known to dress only in white. On theset of their upcoming film Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon, they hadtheir film’s hero Kapil Sharma as well as choreographerAhmed Khan don their favourite colour. Not wearing whitesignalled a no-entry on the set of their comic caper.

From left: Ahmed Khan, Mustan, Kapil Sharma, Abbas and HussainBurmawalla

In dad’smemoryPriyanka Chopra, who isshooting for her televisionshow Quantico in the US,got nostalgic rememberingher late dad Ashok Chopraon his birthday (August 23).She took to Twitter to say:“Happy birthday papa.Want to wake you up atmidnight by jumping on the bed and scaring youwith cake. Miss u everymoment of every day. Got ur favourites on looptoday. Where words fail,music speaks.” Truly, she’s daddy’s li’l girl.

Priyanka Chopra

PrabhuDheva withAkshayKumar and(right)Vishnu Dhevaon the set ofSingh IsBliing

The two Dhevas of dance

Tanishaa Mukerji with her pet dog

Emraan Hashmi and (inset) Mohammad Azharuddin

Cake faceArjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoorwere in the mood for some fun on the set of Ki and Ka. The stars yesterday cut a

huge chocolate cake and liberally smeared theicing on their faces. Arjun put up the snapshot

on Twitter saying, “Forget Dubsmash we got Monday morning Cakesmash...cake fest.” Looks like they were shooting for a birthday sequence in R Balki’s film.

Arjun Kapoor (left) and Kareena Kapoor

When director KabirKhan first narratedthe plot of his upcom-

ing film "Phantom" to KatrinaKaif, her immediate concernwas whether it would be safe tomake the movie. "Phantom", anaction-thriller on the aftermathof the 26/11 Mumbai attacks,has been banned in Pakistanmuch before its release due toits controversial subject.

"Kabir's experience as a docu-mentary filmmaker and workingin conflict zones, travelling todifferent areas like Pakistan andAfghanistan enables him tocome up with a perfect setting."Whether it was 9/11 in 'NewYork' or the strained Indo-Pakrelation in 'Ek Tha Tiger'. To dothat you need to be wellinformed, which he is becauseof his experience. So when he

told me about the film, I immedi-ately asked him 'Are you sure it

is safe to make the film?' Hesaid yes, and then explained

more about the film," Kaif toldPTI. The 32-year-old "BangBang" actress said Kabir bringsa certain grounding on the tablewhich makes his films, especial-ly "Phantom", credible and rele-vant. "He likes to give his films acertain grounding and likes tosee them as 'Why not'. Whenyou have such relevant topics inthe world today, and which aredramatic, why would you not

use it as a backdrop for yourfilm?." "Phantom" is based onHussain Zaidi's book "MumbaiAvengers" and stars Saif AliKhan opposite Katrina. Theactress, however, said the filmwill be slightly different from thebook. "In the book there are fivemain characters, but in themovie we kind of combinedthem into two. That's the pri-mary difference.

Katrina Kaif: Had asked Kabir if it is safe to make 'Phantom'

FIJISUN 29September-2015www.fijisun-usa.com bollywood

RIA [email protected]

THERE has been a signifi-cant rise in the number of TVprogrammes beaming inIndia which have either beencompletely adapted fromWestern shows or taken a bitof inspiration from them.Adding to this long list isSumit Sambhal Lega, theHindi version of the popularAmerican sitcom, EverybodyLoves Raymond. The chan-

nel, which has bagged

the rights to the adaptation,has even managed to rope inone of the original writers ofthe series, Steve Skrovan.

The story goes like this:Flippant and whiny Sumit doesn’t take life veryseriously and finds amuse-ment in the mundane, a laclassic Raymond. As theIndian audience awaits thispromising series to premiere,hitlist takes a look at otherIndian adaptations and howthey fared on our entertain-ment meter…

tweet talk

Mahesh Bhatt@MaheshNBhatt

“If everyone demanded peace insteadof another television set, then there'dbe peace.” - John Lennon18 hitlist

tuesday, august 25, 2015, mumbai, web www.mid-day.com, twitter @mid_day

AKASH SHARMA, co-founder and executive

producer, Bulldog Media &Entertainment

Adapted shows like KaunBanega Crorepati, JhalakDikhhla Jaa and Indian Idolhave been running for severalseasons while new ones likeThe Voice India, India’s NextTop Model have had asuccessful start due to theanticipating audience. Theseshows are moulded on thebasis of the Indian viewers’preferences while retainingthe original format with anaim to intrigue new viewersalongside existing fans of theirinternational counterparts

industryspeak

SAURABH YAGNIK, executive vice president and

business head, Sony PIX and AXN

The same format beingavailable for consumption inthe original English languageand local languages aresynergistic and help theoverall promotion of theformat and show across the entire diaspora ofaudiences. Shows on ourchannel like The Voice, 24,Fear Factor, etc. have all beenadapted into Hindi andcontinue to do exceedinglywell in both genres

Jhalak Dikhhla JaaAdapted from: STRICTLY COME DANCING(2004 onwards)Report Card: The British dance-based realityshow saw an American spin-off titled Dancing With TheStars in 2005 and a year later, dance enthusiasts closer homegot their dose of entertainment in the form of Jhalak… It hasall the elements that makes a reality show stick — stars, moneyand competition. What it lacks, though, is the veracity and gritof the original show. The on-stage histrionics tend to over-shadow what should otherwise be a show laced with talent andfights. However, it has managed to bring to the fore some gift-ed choreographers.

8/10RATING

Blast from the past

Hello friendsAdapted from: FRIENDS (1994-2004)Report Card: Many are the whims of man,but remaking a legend like FRIENDS has tobe among the top few. A short-lived TV series bythe name of Hello Friends, starring names like NikhilChinapa, Simone Singh, Cyrus Broacha, Maria Goretti,

Mandira Bedi and AnilDambri, hit our screensover a decade and a halfago. However, since ittakes a lot to capture theessence of what theoriginal TV show was allabout, the Indian depic-tion fizzled out after just26 episodes.

Ek Hasina ThiAdapted from:REVENGE(2011-2015)Report Card:The Americansoap opera was allabout edge-of-the-seat thrills,but did the desi version makethe cut? Quite a bit. The showbecame moderately popularand Simone Singh’s perform-ance was much appreciated.However, the show, which ranfor eight months, lacked thetinge of thrill and drama of theoriginal series.

The Voice India Adapted from: THE VOICE OF HOLLAND(2011 onwards) Report Card: The recently-launched Indianversion of the hugely successful singing reality show that has been adapted by manycountries in their local languages has SunidhiChauhan, Himesh Reshammiya, Mika Singh

and Shaan on the hunt for budding musicians. Once dis-covered, the contestants aretrained under the respectivejudges. While not as enormouslypopular as The Voice USA as yet, the show seems to be quite on the right track when it comes to nurturing raw musical talent.

India’s Next Top Model Adapted from: AMERICA’S NEXTTOP MODEL(2003 onwards)Report Card: The licenced localversion of a supermodel huntoriginally designed by Tyra Banks hasa bunch of stunning youngsters competingfor the title of India’s Next Top Model. Hostedand judged by Lisa Haydon along with DabooRatnani and mentored by Anusha Dandekar, thefirst few episodes of the show have generated alot of buzz.Consideringthe size of theshoes thatneed to befilled, it sure ischallenging.The show, sofar, has donepretty well.

7/10RATING

The Voice of HollandStrictly Come Dancing

3/10RATING

Friends

6/10RATING

6.5/10RATING

RevengeAmerica’s Next Top Model

24Adapted from: 24(2001-2010 and2014)Report Card: Anil Kapoor,who played an Islamic leader in theeighth season of the American espi-onage drama, bought the rights to itand featured in the main role - Anti-Terrorist Unit chief Jai Singh. Justlike the original series, the adaptedshow employed real-time narrationcovering 24 hours in Singh’s life andwas packed with thrill. So successfulwas its run in 2013 that the audienceclamoured for a re-run. A season twois in the offing.

9/10RATING

A touch of IndiannessA touch of Indianness

With the Indian adaptatin of American sitcom EverybodyLoves Raymond all set to premiere,we avaluate how

local spin-offs of international shows have fared

Foreign Soapsdesi forth

The quirky star-cast of 'Everybody Loves Raymond', whichaired between 1996 and 2005'; (right) a snapshot of the centralcharacters of 'Sumit Sambhal Lega' in which Namit Das (cen-

tre, standing) will play the titular role. The show will mark formerIndian cricket captain Kapil Dev's television debut

FIJISUN30 gallerySeptember-2015 www.fijisun-usa.com


TISI SANGAM OBSERVE KUPPUSAMI DAY & SENIOR APPRECIATION NIGHT

World renowned astrologer Pt. Siri Giri main guest speaker impresses the audience with charm! CASTRO VALLEY About 100 guests participated in the

Appreciation night held on Saturday August1, 2015 at the Castro Valley Community Center. The program included coconut breaking ceremony by founding member Krishna Reddy, religious dances, kirtan and a very highly persuasive speech by world renown Pandit Siri Giri. In an inspiring speech the world renowned astrologer Pt.

contributions of the late Sadhu Kuppusami and praised him for leading the launching of TISI Sangam in Fiji. Pt. Siri Giri ,originally from India, lived in Fiji for the past 15 years practicing astrology. He said he was proud to have been closely involved with the South Indian community in Fiji. The astrologer has travelled worldwide and has met many leaders and prime ministers in his life. He applauded SANGAM for undertaking a huge responsibility and encouraged

them to follow the example of late SADGHU KUPPUSAMI JI. Pt. Siri Giri has a large following among the Fiji Indians and is also a close friend of Krishna Reddy. The crowd gave him a rousing applause for a highly motivating speech. Preceding his speech, Krishna Reddy told the audience how he and his family founded the TISI SANGAM in USA and held the first SADHU KUPPUSAMI DAY at his residence 20 years ago.

fijisun usa sept 2015

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overall highway tosuva

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