Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday stated that Pakistan would retaliate if India launched an attack against them.
We do not intend to go into the geopolitical debate that has haunted the Indo-Pak borders for many decades, but interestingly enough, this warning reminds us of the ever-rising defence budget of Pakistan which is now above one trillion rupees per year; far higher than combined budgets of key sections like health and education.
“Pakistan is a security state whose parliament never debates the defence budget. The military’s expenditure does not even go through a parliamentary audit,” says Muhammad Ziauddin, former editor of the Express Tribune English newspaper.
A country where more than 20 million children are deprived of schools and most of its citizens lack basic health facilities, just around 0.8 percent of the total GDP is spent on health and 1.8 percent on education which shows the seriousness and sincerity of the government towards its citizens.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih Vaa, has on many occasions drawn the attention of state leaders towards the fact that everything else comes second; what comes first is the wellbeing of the human population of the world. He has also warned that neglecting human wellbeing will eventually only increase global unrest.
Details can be read at www.alislam.org/pathway
Muslim Integration in the West
One of the remarkable developments of globlisation is the flow of people crossing borders, ending up in new environments and having to resort to different cultures.
According to The Economist, “30 million Muslims living in Europe and America are gradually becoming integrated”. Muslims gather once a week, every Friday in Washington’s Church of Epiphany and offer prayer. The Economist, on 14 February, published an article on how Muslims are trying to integrate in the Western society.
Defining integration is a challenging task, as integration is the process by which immigrants become accepted into a society, therefore the requirements for acceptance can vary from country to country.
American Muslims are seemingly far more integrated in their society than the European Muslims in their respective societies as, to some, the relationship of Islam and Europe is full of conflict since the time of the Ottoman Empire.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has long been integrated across the globe, especially in Europe, with Ahmadi missionaries arriving in the West as early as 1913.
On 11 May 2016, the Supreme Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih Vaa was interviewed by Sveriges Television (Swedish TV) at the Mahmood Mosque in Malmo, Sweden. During the interview, Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa was asked how he saw the surge of immigrants from the Muslim world to Europe and the integration of immigrants potentially giving rise to terrorism and youth radicalisation.
Regarding the issue of integration of immigrants into the Western society, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmadaa said:
“For me, true integration is to love the country in which you live and to be completely loyal to it. Thus, all immigrants should be loyal to their adopted nation; they should truly love it; they should honour it; they should be law abiding and work for its prosperity and progress. This is integration.”
Pursuit of Space
Israel is aiming to launch an unmanned spacecraft – nearly the size of a typical washing machine – on the moon, and it is to be called Beresheet or Genesis.
While half the world population is living on $2.50 a day, wealthy countries are busy funding their space projects.
Ahmad Faraz, a famous Urdu poet, very rightly said:
بستیاں چاند ستاروں كى بسانے والو!
كرّۂ ارض پہ بجھتے چلے جاتے ہیں چراغ
“As you populate the moon and the stars; Forget not that lights on Earth are becoming extinct.”
Billions of dollars are spent on space projects every year around the world. How beneficial does this investment prove for the general betterment of humanity?
We do not mean to contest any space ventures here, nor do we intend to challenge the pursuit of intelligence and knowledge, but we do however like to ponder over the question whether every state should be joining this race, sspecially the states that can play a pivotal role in bringing about peace in the world