Author: Sultan Mehmood Hali

9/11 was a catastrophe. On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.

The independence of Pakistan and India has been fairly well chronicled, both with accuracy and biases. For instance, the renowned book Freedom at Midnight (1975) authored by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre, famous historians/writers, for a major part, revolves around the incidents that took place from the time Lord Mountbatten reluctantly accepted his posting as the last Governor General of India till Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

Beirut was rocked by a port explosion on August 4 that killed 154 people, injured 5,000, destroyed a swathe of the Mediterranean city and sent seismic shockwaves around the region. There are speculations regarding the perpetrators of the bloody detonation, which has taken a massive toll of lives. This article is not about ”whodunnit“ or the conspiracy theories emerging; nor about the ”day of judgment“ protest rallies for Lebanon ’s leaders to take responsibility for the deadly blasts.

· The BJP is ruthlessly exploiting religion for political ends. The ominous date of August 5, 2019, Narendra Modi and his fascist regime illegally annexed Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and Ladakh and converted it into Indian Union Territories, is being celebrated as Ram Mandir bhoomi-poojan where a Ram Temple is set to be constructed in Ayodhya. Readers may recall that in 1992, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) parcharaks (activists) including LK Advani, Narendra Modi, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, along with RSS Karsevaks (workers) members of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, had demolished the historic Babri Masjid.