Over 4,800 feared dead as quake jolts Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan: More than 4,800 people were feared dead and around 10,000 made homeless following a severe earthquake late Monday at 8:00 pm in northern Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

The quake measuring up to 6.0 on the Richter scale wiped out five villages completely, reports said.

According to the Minister for Water and Natural Resources Haji Mangal Hussein: "The earthquake caused devastation in the eastern parts of Baghlan province, particularly in Nahrin district."

The quake was also felt in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and in Dushanbe, the capital of the Tajikistan.

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Akhbarnama launched on www.tnfj.org.pk

By: Salman Alvi

www.tnfj.org.pk has launched first ever urdu audio news service on internet, TNFJ AKHBARNAMA.

You can listen Akhbarnama at www.tnfj.org.pk

You can send your news, reports and announcements on this address akhbarnama@tnfj.org.pk because its your own free news service.

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Annan to meet Iraqi FM for arms inspections

By: Jafariyanews

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will hold two-day talks with Iraq's foreign minister next month, urging the return of arms inspectors, who left Baghdad in December 1998 ahead of US and British air strikes.

According to a spokesman for UN chief, Annan and Naji Sabri will meet on April 18th and 19th in New York, US.

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EU urges Israel on Arafat trip to Beirut summit

By: Sultan Ahmad

CAIRO, Egypt: The European Union has stressed Israel to allow Palestinian President Yasser Arafat travel to Beirut, where a 2-day Arab League summit is to take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

A European Commission spokeswoman said EU leaders had made very clear at a summit this month that Arafat should be given full freedom to travel to Beirut or anywhere else and without preconditions.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said his government had not made up its mind on whether Arafat will be allowed to attend the meeting.

Meanwhile Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak advised Arafat not to go to the summit because Israel might not let him back.

Monday, US publicly prodded Israeli Premier Sharon to lift a travel ban on Yasser Arafat and allow him to attend Beirut summit.

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China refuses permission to US ship

By: Khadija Chinese

BEIJING, China: China has barred a US warship from making a routine port call in Hong Kong in April, US officials confirm.

According to a spokeswoman for American Consulate in Hong Kong, China did not give a reason for denying a request for the USS Curtis Wilbur to visit the territory next month.

But Beijing has been angry over a Washington decision to let defense minister of Taiwan to attend a private summit in Florida earlier this month.

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Elegiac poetry about Imam Hussein (AS)

By: Hassan Ali

Once Jafar bin Affan came to the 6th successor of holy prophet Muhammad (PBUH & HP) Hazrat Imam Sadiq (PBUH)'s residence and seated himself next to him.
Imam (PBUH) said: "Ja'far, I have been told that you recite poetry for Hussein, peace be upon him, and that you do it well." "Yes, and may God make me a sacrifice for you!" replied the poet. "Recite, then", said Imam Sadiq (PBUH), and Jafar recited: 

He who weeps for Hussein might well weep for Islam itself,

For the principles of Islam have been destroyed, and used unlawfully: 

On the day when Hussein became the target of spears,
When swords drank from him, busy with their work.
And corpses, scattered, were abandoned in the desert.
Great birds hovering over by night and by day ... 
Upon this Hazrat Imam Sadiq (PBUH) wept and those around him with him, until his face and beard were covered with tears. Then he said, "By God, Jafar, the angels closest to God are witness here and they hear your words; they have wept as we have." [Hibat al-Din al-Husseini al-Shahristani, Nahdat al-Hussein (Karbala, 1388/1969)] 

Marsiya of the imam al-Shafi'i: 
My heart sighed, for my innermost being was in dejection; 
Sleep no longer came, and sleeplessness was bewildering. 
O who shall be the bearer of a message from me to Husayn, 
(Though the hearts and minds of some may disapprove!)
Slaughtered, though without sin himself, 
His shirt as if dyed through with crimson. 
Now the sword itself wails, and the spear shrieks,
And the horse, which once only whinnied, laments.
The world quaked for the sake of the Family of Muhammad;
For their sake, the solid mountains might have melted away.
Heavenly bodies sunk, the stars trembled,
Oh veils were torn, and breasts were rent! 
He who asks blessing for the one sent from the Tribe of Hashim,
But attacks his sons; truly, that is strange!
And if my sin is love of the Family of Muhammad:
Then that is a sin, which I do not repent. 
[Adab al-Taff]

Poet Sana'i says:
How excellent Karbala'! and that honour it received,
Which brought to mankind the odour of Paradise as if on a breeze;
And that body, headless, Iying in clay and dust,
And those precious ones, hearts rent by the sword.
And that elect of all the world, murdered,
His body smeared with earth and blood;
And those great oppressors, those doers of evil, 
Persistent in the evil they do.
The sanctity of religion and the Family of the Prophet
Are both borne away, both by ignorance and inanity; 
Swords are red like precious ruby with the blood of Husayn,
What disgrace in the world worse than this! 
And Mustafa, his garments all torn, 
And 'Ali, tears of blood raining from his eyes.
A whole world has become insolent in its cruelty;
The cunning fox has become a roaring lion.
But still unbelievers at the start of the battle,
Were reminded of the stroke of Dhu'l-Fiqar.
Yes, from Husayn they sought satisfaction for their rancour, but that was not to be;
They had to be content with their own malice and disgrace.

[Hadiqat al-Haqiqa] 

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