20.03.2008 09:29

Author: Bahrom Mannonov

DUSHANBE, March 20, Asia-Plus  — The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has teamed with the Government of Tajikistan and the Government of Afghanistan in organizing Tajik-Afghan cross-border concerts to celebrate the Navrouz holiday.  Concerts are being held today in Khorog, the main town of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (Gorno Badakhshan or GBAO) and in neighboring Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.

Today, singers and musicians from Tajikistan will be crossing the border at the site of the Friendship Bridge in Khorog and performing traditional songs and dances for audiences on the other side of the Panj River.  Tomorrow, Afghan performers will hold a traditional concert program in Khorog.

Ms. Sitora Shokamolova. Communications Officer, AKDN Tajikistan, noted that a group of more than 20 musicians including Umar Timurov and Faizali Hasanov, national singers of Tajikistan, and the local Badakhshani Ensemble headed by Sohiba Davlatova will perform in the open-air area near the Teacher’s Training College in the village of Bashor, Afghanistan.  Afghan performers will join Navrouz celebrations in Khorog and perform their traditional program in an open-air area in the Shosh-Khorog neighborhood.

Despite a common linguistic and cultural heritage between inhabitants of the Tajikistan and Afghanistan, social and economic connections between them have been minimal for the past seventy years.  The Cross-Border Concert is an experience and culture sharing initiative intended to foster regional cooperation. Better understanding amongst the peoples of neighboring countries is seen as a cornerstone of future stability throughout Central Asia.  Cultural relations are regarded as a way of building confidence and trust that can in turn lead to wider cross-border cooperation on alleviating poverty and promoting economic growth.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a group of private, non-denominational development agencies working to empower communities and individuals to improve living conditions and opportunities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East.  The Network’s nine development agencies focus on social, cultural and economic development for all citizens, regardless of gender, origin or religion.  The AKDN’s underlying ethic is compassion for the vulnerable in society. Its annual budget for philanthropic activity is in excess of US$ 300 million.

Coastweek – - Members of His Highness Prince Aga Khan
Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Mombasa paid a courtesy
call on His Worship the Mayor, Ahmed Abubakar Mohdhar,
on Monday 10th March 2008. Seen standing [from left] is
Hafiz Mangalji, Rafik Jivraj, Zubeida Dadani, Karim Dawood,
Sahenila Kurji, Zaher Bhanji, His Worship the Mayor. Seated
is President of the Aga Khan Council, Mombasa Narmin Somji.

MOMBASA MAYOR COUN. AHMED
MOHDHAR INSISTS ON SERVICE

Coastweek – - H.H. Aga Khan Shia Ismaili Council of Mombasa has been asked by Municipal Council of Mombasa to help in employing graduates from teaching institutions in the town and other areas of Coast.

The appeal was made by the Municipal’s Education Officer (MEO), Mr. Francis Tsuma who said employing of extra teachers would help ease the burden of understaffing in several schools especially in Kongowea, Freretown, Concordia and Maweni areas.

“Employment of more teachers will help the council address the students to teacher’s ratio per class,” said Mr. Tsuma who added that some schools had up to 160 students per class, a number too high for a teacher to handle.

Fifty students are required per class.

Mr. Tsuma was speaking at the Mayor’s parlour during a courtesy call on Mombasa Mayor, Councillor Ahmed Mohdhar by the Aga Khan Shia Ismaili Council members.

The MEO lauded the Ismaili community for their effort of upgrading education standards in Mombasa through efforts to start an early grade reading project.

The project, which is earmarked, to start within the next three months is meant to sensitize teachers to lay strong foundations on reading and number work on nursery school students.

Members of the Aga Khan Council promised to keep up their beautification efforts of the town and if permitted undertake the lighting of the Jomo Kenyatta Avenue in Mombasa as a joint venture with the Municipal Council.

The Aga Khan Council’s President, Ms. Narmin Somji requested the council to speed up efforts of bringing down campaign posters as “they brought back sad memories and were an eyesore in their torn status,” she said.

Coastweek – - Mombasa Mayor Ahmed Abubakar
Mohdhar is seen with Aga Khan Council Mombasa
President Narmin Somji when Members of His High-
ness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for
Mombasa paid the Mayor a mid-week courtesy call.

Ms. Somji also informed His Worship that His Highness the Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee has been extended to December 2008 and was looking forward to maximum support from the Municipal Council.

As a concerned resident, the community’s Honorary Secretary Zaher Bhanji, noted the disfunctioning of traffic lights at the Kengeleni junction to which the Deputy Mayor, Cllr. John Mcharo promised to look into personally.

Mayor Mohdhar promised to cooperate with the Ismaili community in making Mombasa one of the best towns in the country.

“It is the duty of all of us to work together and make Mombasa a clean city,” he said.

Other members of the Aga Khan Council present were Mrs. Sahenila Kurji, Mr. Karim Dawood, Mr. Rafiq Jivraj, Mr. Hafiz Mangalji and Mrs. Zubeda Dadani.

Source: http://www.coastweek.com/3111-02.htm

Bush’s appointment to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
by Stephen Schwartz
03/06/2008 12:00:00 AM

ON MONDAY, MARCH 3, the first U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which brings together 57 Muslim countries, took up his duties. Named by President George W. Bush, America’s new diplomat to Muslims is Pakistan-born Sada Cumber of Austin, Texas. Cumber is the co-founder of an investment and wealth consultancy, CACH Capital Management, and some 10 other enterprises. Cumber’s official job at the OIC is “to promote mutual understanding and dialogue between the United States and Muslim communities around the world.”

Born in Karachi in 1951, he was educated in Pakistan, came to America in 1978, became a U.S. citizen in 1986, and has been prominent in Texas politics. But these details of his life–even his identification with the president’s home state–are of little interest compared with a remarkable fact that does not appear in his U.S. government biography. Sada Cumber is an Ismaili Muslim–a member of a small and historically suppressed branch of Shia Islam.

When President Bush announced last June that he would send a U.S. representative to the OIC, some observers wondered how an American Muslim would function in a body that has long been dominated by Saudi Arabia and Iran. Having selected an Ismaili for the post, President Bush proved to be astute and adroit. Because Ismailis have suffered discrimination at the hands of Sunnis, and especially Islamist bigots, to draw America’s observer at the OIC from their ranks represents a substantial challenge to the radicalism and conformism imposed on
global Islam. It affirms the rights of Muslim minorities including Sufis, or spiritual Muslims, as well as Shias, just as America has advocated for the freedom of non-Muslims in Islamic lands. Ismailis have been brutally mistreated in the Saudi kingdom, where they are few but, as elsewhere, well-educated and vocal in demanding respect.

Once the rulers of Cairo, Ismailis are distributed today in small communities across the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. They total about 25 million people, out of 1.2 billion Muslims. Their religious leader is Aga Khan IV, their Imam, a billionaire born in 1936, known for his family’s worldly ways as well as his own generosity in public good works. Aga Khan’s father Aly Khan was wed in 1949 to the actress Rita Hayworth, who had previously been romantically involved with another larger-than-life figure, Orson Welles. Aly Khan’s marriage to the movie star lasted only four years. But Aly Khan also became Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations, in 1958, when the Muslim world was less afflicted by fundamentalist extremism.

Ismaili theology is esoteric and almost as difficult to explain to ordinary Muslims as to non-Muslims. In the recent past, Ismailis were often seen as drifting away from Islam altogether, but Shia leaders now perceive a movement in the Ismaili sect back toward an established Shia tradition. Further, Aga Khan IV, as leader of the worldwide Ismaili community, has also demonstrated great intelligence in the use of his fortune. The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) operates a system of agencies that finance improvement of education, health, microcredit availability, agricultural technology, historic preservation, and cultural endeavors across Africa and Asia. But AKDN help is not limited to Muslims; rather, it benefits members of all religions who are found to be in need.

In addition to his work within the American Ismaili religious community, Sada Cumber, Bush’s OIC appointee, has represented the Aga Khan’s humanitarian programs in the southwestern United States. In sending an American Muslim to the OIC who stands for independence in Muslim theology, entrepreneurship as well as social responsibility in the use of Muslim wealth, and a strong pro-Western attitude, Bush has brought another small but positive change to relations between the West and the Islamic world. Throughout history, and especially in crisis zones, minor developments have had great consequences. Perhaps the appointment of a U.S. representative to the OIC in the person of Sada Cumber will prove to be another such decisive and meaningful action.

Stephen Schwartz is a frequent contributor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Source: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public
/Articles/000/000/014/835mgwfz.asp?pg=2