Twirp : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Republic Pakistan

[Guest]

<b>Pakis worshipping Jinnah by adopting his haraam ways.</b>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEwORu2jyxk

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gilani will have his hands full of Sherry with Zardari behind him
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Don't forget "Sufi tradition". <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

<b>S & P keeps negative outlook on Pakistan</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<b>Pakistan's new PM is an Aishwarya fan</b>
Link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Islamabad, Mar 26 (PTI) Pakistan's new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani is a big fan of Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai and melody queen Lata Mangeshkar.

"While in prison, <b>I used to watch all of Aishwarya's movies on my laptop</b> besides listening to Lataji's songs. And let me admit that I am a great fan of Aishwarya Rai now," Gillani, a die hard romantic, told a private news channel.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What an laptop in an jail? <!--emo&:eager--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lmaosmiley.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lmaosmiley.gif' /><!--endemo--> Was he serving his sentence in jail or enjoying himself?

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gillani, who belongs to a family descended from a Sufi saint, became a Lata fan when he was jailed in 2001 after being arrested by Mushaarraf on charges of misusing his position as Speaker of the National Assembly to make irregular appointments.

The 55-year-old former minister chose prison over offers from President Pervez Musharraf's regime to be freed in exchange for cutting off ties with the Pakistan People's Party.

With the new Prime Minister's fondness for Bollywood's actresses and musicians, Pakistanis hope to see more Indian films making their way to their entertainment-starved country. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why does Pakisatanis need entertainment when they can watch daily live shows of suicide bombings and beheadings on paki tv?

[Guest]

Gilliani groping behavior came from Mumbai cinema or from Sufi tradition?

[Naresh]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Mar 26 2008, 09:50 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Mar 26 2008, 09:50 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gilliani groping behavior came from Mumbai cinema or from Sufi tradition?
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<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

The following two Articles go some way to explain the “Sexual Peccadillos” of not only Pakistani Men but also Women as well as Donkeys :

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>1. Desegregation of the sexes and promiscuity — Ishtiaq Ahmed</span></b>[/center]

<i>If women can be helped out of poverty and to earn a decent income by working alongside men and have an independent source of income to assert their freedom and equality, the vast majority will not sell themselves into prostitution. Neither ruthless capitalism nor medieval moralism is any help for the true emancipation of women from the fetters of exploitation</i>

Dr Saleem Ali’s essay ‘Sex and sensibility’ (Daily Times, June 17, 2006) is a rejoinder to my ‘Convoluted hypocrisy and extremism’ (Daily Times, May 30, 2006) although he does not mention me by name, preferring to talk about ‘liberal authors’ as if the plural form obviates a direct clash. I think this was unnecessary and might just confuse others who may start looking in vain for related articles. I always welcome debate and therefore this opportunity.

Let me state at the onset that he rightly points out that the $57 billion pornography industry is rooted in the West. But that is no news. Just as the Internet, telephone, video cameras, almost all new medicines to fight cancer, diabetes, strokes, most modern weapon systems and aircraft and so on are products of Western science and technology so is pornography.

However, my article was not about the supply side; it was about the demand side. I think the main point in Dr Ali’s article is that consumption of pornography is huge in the liberal West so how do I explain the connection between sexual segregation and browsing of sex-related websites?

There is a major fallacy in the argument that rather than thorough research I had based my article on an ‘obscure study’ by Google and relied on anecdotal evidence. Since pornographic films are not sold in the open anywhere in the Muslim world we are in no position to know how the market would behave if such material were sold freely. But we do know that out of 10 top scorers of nations whose citizens browse sex-related websites six happen to be Muslim countries. Since Google is one of the major search engines I have no reason to doubt the findings.

The more relevant question to pose is the following: given the huge demand for pornographic films and other material are sales of such products likely to be greater in sexually segregated societies or those in which men and women can meet freely? Dr Ali needs to develop his research strategy intelligently. It may lead him to some very interesting answers.

<b>Fatima Mernissi has demonstrated in her studies of Arab societies in general and Morocco in particular that sodomy and bestiality are widespread, especially in the rural communities because of the segregation of men and women. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>My younger brother, who worked for years in the Pakistan Agricultural Supplies and Services Corporation (PASSCO), told me that in southern Punjab, much of NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan sodomy and bestiality are common among rural youths. In fact, he caught two boys trying to rape a goat in the vicinity of the mazar of Hazrat Sultan Bahu. The punishment meted out to them was 10 blows with a chhittar (shoe) each on their butts. They protested however that in many rural areas having sex with an animal was considered a rite of passage on the way to becoming full members of the male society!</span>

Thus if pornographic films and websites are not accessible and men and women are socially segregated it does not mean that the sexual urge does not exist. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>It does and takes cruel and unnatural forms.</span></b> Before the international gay community fire a broadside at me for being homophobic let me say that I am not talking about homosexuality as the choice of some individuals but sodomy as perverted sexual behaviour men resort to in sexually segregated situations.

I wrote the article not with a view to preach sexual promiscuity but to advocate a relaxed and humane relationship between boys and girls in a desegregated society. It is by meeting each other and learning to know each other as human beings that they are more likely to behave responsibly than if they are kept away from each other as if in separate prisons.

It is most unfortunate that an educated person such as Dr Ali believes that if one speaks out against sexual segregation one is justifying sexual promiscuity. But I do understand where such thinking comes from. I believe there are some books of fiqh in which it is written that a brother and sister should not be left alone in a room. I wish Dr Ali had educated himself out of such a mentality.

The second point he has taken up is that of sex tourism and sexpatriates that infest Thailand and other poor Third World countries. Here Dr Ali has focused on the symptom and not the disease. There is a huge market for prostitution in Europe now because of hundreds of thousands of poor women from Eastern Europe being brought to the affluent West. The same is true of Thailand and other such countries.

Muslim conquerors routinely distributed among themselves the women captured in battle. Maulana Maududi has fixed the right to one woman per soldier (Al-Jihad Fi Al Islam, 1981, p. 254). The question to pose therefore is: what do men do when they have the power to sexually exploit women? Dr Ali makes a strong plea for monogamy, but there is no basis for it in dogmatic Islamic law. All the four Sunni madhabs as well as the Shia fiqh allow four wives plus concubines acquired in battle. Dr Ali needs to read his own father, Professor Shaukat Ali’s book, Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, to know how fiercely the ulema opposed any restrictions on the right to four wives that all Muslim men are entitled to under dogmatic Sharia.

The Shia fiqh even allows mut’a or temporary marriage. Moreover, all the fiqhs allow minor girls to be married. Therefore Dr Ali’s plea about Eastern values as source of his ideal of a monogamous marriage is a misleading though pious-sounding cliché; it has no support in classical Islamic law.

If women can be helped out of poverty and to earn a decent income by working alongside men and have an independent source of income to assert their freedom and equality the vast majority will not sell themselves into prostitution. Neither ruthless capitalism nor medieval moralism is any help for the true emancipation of women from the fetters of exploitation. The solution therefore is a society of free and equal men and women.

The author is an associate professor of political science at Stockholm University. He is the author of two books. His email address is Ishtiaq.Ahmed@statsvet.su.se

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>2. PAKISTANI LADIES AMOROUSLY AROUSE ABDUL BIN DONKEY</span></b>[/center]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Get your ass inside! Abdul Manan</span></b>[/center]

<b><i>With the Pakistani Males’ penchant for “Khushboo the Goat”, Donkeys are needed by the Vast Multitudes of the Frustrated Women whose Men leave them with an “Empty and Unfulfilled” Feeling as the Excerpts from the following Article bear Testimony :</i></b>

<b>LAHORE : On the complaint of a woman, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has asked the owner of a donkey to tie his animal inside his house, said an EPA official.

He said the woman had complained about the donkey spreading ‘obscenity and vulgarity’ in her neighbourhood and spreading ‘noise pollution’.

The official said that about two months ago Sajida Furqan, a resident of LDA Block D, kachi abadi, Gunbad Colony, had complained to the EPA about her neighbour Safder Hussain’s donkey. She had alleged that the animal was dirtying her street, was making a lot of noise and was acting ‘obscenely’, he said.</b>

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>THE OFFENDING DONKEY’S REACTION TO SAJIDA FURQAN’S COMPLAINT!</span></b>[/center]

EPA (North) director Mian Khalid Mahmood confirmed the complaint, saying the agency did not have sections/penalties in the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) 1997, to deal with such issues.

He said he had heard the complainant and the defendant on November 28. “The case will be decided on December 10, after EPA assistant director Ali Abbas Syed submits his report,” he added.

He said the EPA could have only directed the animal’s owner to tie it inside the house. He said the owner followed the EPA’s orders to tie the animal inside his house.

Sajida Furqan said she had also complained about the donkey to Sold Waste Management (SWM) district officer (DO) Dr Tufail Siddiqi three months ago. She said the DO had helped her, but that former provincial minister Arshad Lodhi had asked the DO not to take up the case. She alleged that Sheikh Amin, a union council nazim, had also been protecting the donkey’s owner.

<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The complainant said, “Our women can’t go outside because the donkey is right in front of our house and acts obscenely.” </span></b>The DO said he could not pursue the case because a former provincial minister had ordered him not to do anything about it.

He said the donkey’s owner had got a stay order from a civil court and made me party to the case. He said could not help the complainant after the stay order. The DO said the defendant had taken the plea that the animal was the only source of earning for his family. It was an attempt to deprive him of his source of income, he quoted the donkey’s owner as saying.

Siddiqi said, “Hussain has violated the fundamental rights of his neighbour by tying his donkey outside the complainant’s house.”

Muhammad Sufian, who runs a girls’ academy in the same street, said the donkey had been spreading ‘vulgarity’ in the street. He said the girls’ parents had also expressed their reservations about the donkey. He said the animal also made a lot of noise at night. He demanded authorities concerned shift the animal from the street.

Hussain, the animal’s owner, said he had been tying the donkey in the street for the past 22 years. He said the issue could only be resolved if Sajida sold her house to me or bought my house.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
There was a incidence on Jammu border when some paki fauji crossed Indian border to have sex with cows. It started riots in Indian region after they discovered what happened.

[Naresh]

Latest Economic News from the Land of the Pure, Blessed with Miracle Making Salwar Kameez :

<b>1. WB urges Pakistan for prompt action for economy</b>

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan must take immediate action to prevent its economy from collapse, the World Bank has warned.

It said "painful adjustments" would be needed to prevent a crisis sparked by high oil and food prices. Under President Pervez Musharraf, the country's economy flourished. United Nations predicts 2008 growth at 6.5% despite its political troubles.

But there are fears that growth, which has been led by consumer spending, could be hit by imported inflation. "This is not yet a crisis, but the economic picture for Pakistanis not good," said World Bank vice president Praful Patel.

<b>World Bank warned that the rising budget deficit, higher inflation, a growing current account deficit and sinking foreign exchange reserves could all threaten Pakistan's economy unless the new government took urgent action.</b>

"Growth can only continue if Pakistan adjusts to new global reality, which includes high prices for oil, commodities and foodstuffs such as wheat," Patel said.

The comments came after Bank officials met with representatives of new Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani. Bank noted there were some positive areas in economy, as foreign investment remained strong and stock market had posted gains.

World Bank said its team discussed changes in oil imports, taxation and prioritizing government spending in order to lower budget deficit while protecting the poor.

Subsidy programmes could include cash transfers, which were given to families affected by devastating October 2005 earthquake, to offer "an appropriate safety net for poor".

<b>2. Country’s foreign exchange reserves continue to diminish</b>

<b>KARACHI : The foreign exchange reserves have registered a further decrease of 345 million dollars during the last week, reflecting a continuous decline in the country’s foreign reserves.

After the said decline during the week ended March 22, the foreign reserves stood at 13.84 billion dollars, said the State Bank of Pakistan.</b>

Out of the total reserves the central bank holds 11.35 billion dollars while the 2.14 billion dollars are with the commercial banks.

Economic experts are of the view that the downward trend of the country’s foreign reserves could continue in the coming days because the import bill keeps on swelling compared to the exports.


<b>3. Current account deficit soars 44 per cent</b>

<b>KARACHI : The current account deficit surged by 44 per cent during the 8 months of the FY07-08.

The balance of payment turned further negative during the July 2007 to February 2008 pushing the current account deficit to 8.12 billion dollars compared to 5.18 billion dollars in the corresponding period last year, said the State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday.</b>

The total increase in current account deficit climbs by 2.564 billion dollars.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

<b>1. Water shortage may cause famine in Pakistan : STWC</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->LAHORE : Sindh Tas Water Council warned that the country may face acute shortage of food and that the famine situation may crop up owing to the decreasing water resources.

Talking to media on Friday, Sindh Tas Water Council Pakistan Chief Organiser M Yousuf Sarwar said the biggest issue between Pakistan and India after the Kashmir is river water, adding India is expediting the construction work of dams an barrages on the remaining rivers of Pakistan.

The past government of Pakistan did nothing in this regard to forbid India from doing this.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>2. Low water level in dams; power outages duration hit 12 hrs</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI : The duration of unannounced loadshedding has hit 10 to 12 hours due to rising mercury level across the country and diminishing water level in the dams.

Despite claims of Pakistan Electric Power Company, loadshedding for 6 to 9 hour is being witnessed in Lahore while in smaller cities and villages this duration has increased to 10-12 hours.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Water shortage may cause famine in Pakistan : STWC<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Two thing can happen
1) Sufiji is PM, everything will be solved. No problem for Pak now
2) Pakis are dying to be called or labeled as Arabia tribe, famine can expand Desert in Pakistan. It will be Arabia. Drink Camel Urine and grow dates. Follow Allah life style.

Whatever happen in Pakistan all due to Allah's wish.

[Naresh]

[center] <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--><b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>BHOOKHA-NANGADESH’S MAGNANIMITY SAVES NANGA-BHOOKHASTANI CRICKET</span></b>[/center]

[center]<b><span style='color:green'>Well, who wants us 170 million belligerent, illiterate ‘nanga-bhookas’? : Ardeshir Cowasjee</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Mar 29 2008, 04:12 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Mar 29 2008, 04:12 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Water shortage may cause famine in Pakistan : STWC<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Two thing can happen
1) Sufiji is PM, everything will be solved. No problem for Pak now
2) Pakis are dying to be called or labeled as Arabia tribe, famine can expand Desert in Pakistan. It will be Arabia. Drink Camel Urine and grow dates. Follow Allah life style.

Whatever happen in Pakistan all due to Allah's wish.
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<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

And India will be lumbered with :

[center]<b><span style='color:green'>170 million belligerent, illiterate ‘nanga-bhooka’ Islamic Terrorists </span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

Is that what India needs? <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Don't worry India is creating its own 150 millions and counting.

[Naresh]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Mar 29 2008, 11:19 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Mar 29 2008, 11:19 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Don't worry India is creating its own 150 millions and counting.
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<b>Mudy Ji :</b>

My point is that does India want to be lumbered with

[center]<b><span style='color:green'>170 million belligerent, illiterate ‘nanga-bhooka’ Islamic Terrorists </span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

<b><span style='color:red'>in addition!</span></b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<b>Dutch security raised in Pakistan after anti-Islam film</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI: Pakistan has stepped up security at the Dutch consulate and Dutch businesses in Karachi, fearing protests over the Internet-release of an anti-Islam film by a far-right Dutch MP, officials said on Sunday.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador to Pakistan on Friday and lodged a “strong protest” with him against Geert Wilders’ film, which defames Islam.

“We have stepped up security at the Dutch consulate and businesses in Karachi,” Sindh Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan confirmed.

“We have advised the consulate staff to keep a low profile and avoid unnecessary travel,” he added. The officials said that telecommunications authorities have been asked to block all websites that carry the blasphemous film.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A new dawn

Sir: <b>Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani has announced the lifting of the ban on student unions on campuses, following over two decades of official curbs on student politics imposed by Zia-ul Haq. Students, human rights activists and civil society groups are very happy with the move, which many hope will be integral to the establishment of genuine democracy in the country</b>. This move comes after several months of active participation of students across Pakistan in the fight for an independent judiciary and restoration of the judges illegally deposed on November 3, 2007. These students have shown that all students on Pakistani campuses are not ghundas and can conduct themselves peacefully for their political aims.

However, a word of caution: while it is a great thing for student politics to return in Pakistan, we must not forget the violence, bigotry and hooliganism that plagued student unions for decades and brought a bad name to campus politics. In order for the recent lifting of the ban on student politics to be fruitful, we must take a few steps to ensure peaceful conduct on campuses. First, guns must be taken off campuses, no one wants to see a repeat of the killings that have taken place in universities and colleges across Pakistan for decades. Second, groups that try to impose their own brand of morality and politics on other students via intimidation and the use of force must be prosecuted fully and given exemplary punishment, there must be zero tolerance for bullies. Third, political groups on campuses must not be allowed to influence the academic process. There have been countless cases of powerful political groups influencing and even threatening teachers, examiners and officials to ensure that their supporters and members pass an exam without even showing up. This has damaged the academic credibility of our institutions and is a practice that must be countered with the full force of the law.
BASIT CHAUDHRY
Lahore<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->link <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

<b>Punjab, Sindh face record food inflation</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI - Most of the cities in Punjab and Sindh have recorded very high and record food inflation ranging up to 22 per cent in February 2008.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

[center] <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--><b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Musharraf's capacity to bear indignities</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>President Musharraf's capacity to bear indignities, provided he is allowed to retain his office, seems to be unlimited. While he has repeatedly said he is willing to work with the new government, he continues to be conveyed through unambiguous gestures that he is not acceptable to the newcomers.</span></b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Men accused of suicide bomb plan</span></b>[/center]

<b>A group of men charged over an alleged plot to blow up passenger planes wanted to create deaths on an almost unprecedented scale, a court has heard.</b>

Prosecutor Peter Wright said the victims of the suicide attacks would be an "unwitting civilian population".

Homemade devices were to be smuggled on to the aircraft and detonated mid-flight, the court in London heard.

The eight men all deny conspiring to murder others and endangering aircraft bound for the US and Canada in 2006.

The trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London is expected to last eight months.

The defendants are Abdul Ahmed Ali, aka Ahmed Ali Khan, 27, of Walthamstow, Assad Sarwar, 24, of High Wycombe, Tanvir Hussain, 27, of no fixed address, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking.

Also charged, are Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Walthamstow, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Walthamstow, Waheed Zaman, 23, of Walthamstow and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young, 29, of High Wycombe.

<img src='http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44537000/jpg/_44537340_comp226_170.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<b>EIGHT ACCUSED MEN

TOP ROW OF PICTURE (L-R) :</b>

Abdul Ahmed Ali, 27 - Assad Sarwar, 24 - Tanvir Hussain, 27 - Mohammed Gulzar, 26

<b>BOTTOM ROW (L-R) :</b>

Ibrahim Savant, 27 - Arafat Waheed Khan, 26 - Waheed Zaman, 23 - Umar Islam, 29

After their arrests in August 2006, airport security was massively tightened in the UK, causing long delays at major airports.

On Wednesday, trial judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith oversaw the swearing-in of the jury.

Jurors were told they may not be able to serve if they have links to the police, security services or Heathrow airport, or if they had been a victim of a terrorist incident.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Forex reserves erode by $3.1b in 5 months</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KARACHI - The foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan have seen a record erosion of 3.10 billion dollars in just five months of the current financial year, reflecting the gravity of deterioration in the key fundamentals of the national economy of the country.

<b>State Bank of Pakistan has reported 13.27 billion dollars worth total foreign exchange reserves by March 29, 2008, which indicate a huge plunge of 3.10 billion dollars when matched with the record high 16.37 billion dollars reserves on November 2, 2007, The Nation learnt on Thursday.
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They claimed that the worst economic performance of the country in this fiscal would discredit the previous regime, led by President Pervez Musharraf and the new government would strive to improve the economic position in the coming financial year.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->