Hamid Abdullah

How to send mail from Ubuntu Server

2014-05-19T05:31:00.004-07:00

We have our own in-house dedicated web server at our company running Ubuntu Server 13.04. Recently we upgraded most of our websites to the content management systems and added the functionality of user interaction and eCommerce. We wanted to have email notification whenever a contact form or new eCommerce order is submitted. I tried a number of ways to enable send mail functionality on the Ubuntu web server but I am going to share here the simplest and easy way of doing this;

From Ubuntu Server Terminal windows;

Install ssmtp:
sudo apt-get install ssmtp

Edit the ssmtp config file :
nano /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
Enter the following contents in the file;
root=username@gmail.com
mailhub=smtp.gmail.com:465
rewriteDomain=gmail.com
AuthUser=username
AuthPass=password
FromLineOverride=YES
UseTLS=YES

Replace the username and password with your Gmail or Google Apps details.

Save the file and exit nano editor. You are done !

Now to test that everything is working fine. In the terminal window, enter the recipient's email address

ssmtp recepient_name@gmail.com

Now enter this:

To: recipient_name@gmail.com
From: username@gmail.com
Subject: Sent from Ubuntu terminal!
Your message goes here. Test Message from Ubuntu Server.

To send the email: Ctrl + D

10 reasons why I don't want Shari'ah in Pakistan

2014-02-12T10:51:00.001-08:00

Religion and how I choose to practice it is my business and not that of the State.
Enforcing Shari'ah will not make me a better Muslim nor will it make Pakistan a welfare state. The world's welfare states are all governed by secular governments.
I reject the idea that Shari'ah in any form can be enforced by those who have raped and plundered my country, blown up schools and mosques and beheaded soldiers. I will not give these criminals the right to dictate to me.
I will not give up my civil rights, including freedom of thought and expression, under the guise of Shari'ah.
I stand against acts like wife beating and the premise that rape requires 4 witnesses, all of which can be justified under Shari'ah law. Virtually anything can be justified by quoting religious scripture, and the context or interpretation of quoted text is usually not questioned. An example is a heinous crime like the Peshawar church blast being declared "in accordance with Shari'ah" by the TTP.
I abhor the notion that under Sharia law the State will be classifying its citizens into those who practice Islam and those who don't. There should be NO minority, and NO majority, everyone should be equal citizens with equal rights under the law.
I believe that draconian laws under the guise of religion will push Pakistan back socioeconomically and isolate it from the rest of the world. This must not be allowed to happen.
Imposing religion in a country that is already torn apart by religious extremism and sectarianism is like adding fuel to the fire.The criminals who are demanding Shari'ah are the ones who have taken responsibility for sectarian killings across the country.
We live in a modern world that uses rational thinking, information and science to frame laws which don't necessarily derive inspiration from religion or religious text. These laws can be amended according to the will of the people. Laws based on religion take away the freedom to choose, criticise or amend. An example is the relegation of scientific and forensic evidence as secondary in cases of rape.
10. I believe the actual reason for the demand for Shari'ah is to simply grab power and territory under religious pretense. I will not give up any part of my country to anyone for any reason.

History of Bagh

2013-03-29T18:27:00.003-07:00

From the end of seventeenth Century up to 1837 A.D. Poonch was ruled by the Muslim Rajas of Loran. It then fell in to the hands of Raja Fiaz Talab Khan of Rahuri. In 1846, this area was handed over to Maharaja Gulab Singh under the treaty of Amritsar. Before this transfer, Poonch was considered a district of Lahore. Maharaja Gulab Singh handed over Poonch and some other areas to his nephews, Jawahar singh and Moti Singh, with the condition that they would not make any administrative changes without the consent of Maharaja of Kashmir. Poonch was annexed and converted in to a Jagir by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1935-36 by the deposing Raja establish their rule in Poonch. In 1947 when Pakistan came in to being, the people of Poonch started on armed struggle afainst the Dogra and Indian Forces.

The political environ had further deteriorated in the State of Jammu & Kashmir after the unanimously passed and adopted resolution on 19th July 1947. This resolution firmly stated that “the state of Jammu and Kashmir should accede to Pakistan for geographic contiguity, religious and cultural reasons and ethnicity. In this meeting it was resolved that all party workers would work in there areas of influence with regards to the spirit of resolution. In Bagh, Sayyed Hussan shah gardezi who was president of Muslim conference of tehsil bagh with the other activists like Syed Khadim Hussain Shah, Secretary Muslim Conference Bagh, Sardar Dost Mohammad Khan and others were assigned the task to actively coordinate and further strengthen the objectives of the party.

During this period Dogra army victimized hundreds of Muslim and burnt several houses of Muslims to ashes. This situation made the activist to organize a clandestine action committee, to launch armed struggle, the only dispensable way to overthrow the problem. On knowing about this action committee, Dogra regime arrested Syed Hussain Shah Gardezi and many others. Section 144 was already imposed on this area and all the activist started violating it. Meanwhile Syed Sadiq Hussain Shah, Aadil Gardezi, Moulana Mazhar Nadvi and Syed Shamshad Hussain decided and worked for organizing a meeting with people at the central place of Bagh and also to hoist Pakistan flag on Bagh fort. This procession while marching towards Bagh was found by hundreds of Muslims and when it reached Neela Butt it had already turned into thousands.

Here under the leadership of Peer Ali Ashghar Shah the procession proceeded towards Bagh where it camped at Huda Bari because the Dogra army has encircled and targeted the whole area. On 26 Aug. 1947 when the grand meeting at Huda bari started the dogra opened fire. It was the time when Peer Ali Ashghar Shah had just stood at the stage to address the people. The first shot pierced to the chest of Qabil Khan a volunteer from Sohawa who was martyred while having raised an unfurled Pakistan’s flag. Approximate 80 people were injured. This cause serious anger throughout the whole state and Muslims of Bagh and Sudhanoti announce armed rebellion as the only solution to the problem.

After the liberation of Bagh, civil order was restored and Peer Ilyyas Shad Qazi Aalim din were appointed as the chief of Bait-ul-mall. Before 1947, Bagh was one of the four Tehsils of the state of Poonch. It was declared as district in 1988, before it was a part of district Poonch.

Fanna

2009-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

The movie, Fanaa, starts with Kajol saluting the Indian flag and this act sets the tone for the entire movie: of Kashmiris being patriotic Indians, of an Islamic movement being thrust upon them.

If all Kashmiris were patriotic Indians, there wouldn’t be the need of 0.7 million troops to ‘control them’ and a movement can not be thrust upon a people until and unless they are ‘fed up’ of the present regime.

Kajol is a part of Independence day celebrations choir representing Kashmir. Her parents see her off in Udhampur. So desperate to get some Kashmir in the movie, the movie makers made another mistake: Kashmiris never (almost) travel from Udhampur to Delhi on a train. The most convenient route is by bus to Jammu and onwards to Delhi. For a non Kashmiri, it does not seem to be a significant mistake. But, a Kashmiri will look at this scene and wonder how long it will take for India and Indians to understand him.

During Kajol's performance in Delhi, she quotes the famous words of Emperor Jehangir: ‘If there is a Paradise on earth, it is here [Kashmir], it is here, it is here.’ But, Kajol attributes these words to Shehjehan. It sounds so stupid when movies with huge budgets make such silly mistakes. She also claims that the words are true for entire India. It was the heat of Delhi that drove the Mughals to Kashmir. It sure is not true for entire India. Organized killings like the ones in Gujrat don't take place in a paradise. I do not need to mention that there was nothing Kashmiri about the song she sang or the dance she danced.

We also have Kajol pronouncing Srinagar as Shrinagar, as most Indians do, but no Kashmiri ever will. It is Srinagar, not Shri Nagar.

The movie creates a fictitious organization named IKJ. This abbreviation seems to have been inspired by JKLF (Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front) . Tabu, while describing IKJ, calls it an organization as professional and as well networked as the CIA, MOSSAD and KGB. I wish they were.

Organisation is the only problem with Kashmiri groups, be they political or militant.

The movie has played safe and potrays that both India and Pakistan are suffering because of being targeted by the Kashmiris militant organisations. JKLF has always demanded freedom from both India and Pakistan.

What makes Fanaa different than other movies based on Kashmir?

It has had at least the decency to make a Kashmiri girl fall in love with a Kashmiri boy. It has made a brave attempt to say that Kashmir was promised a plebiscite and had the right to choose between India, Pakistan and Independence. As Tabu utters these words, another character thunders back: Plebiscite was promised for the Kashmir under their (Pakistan) control as well. The way this character responds back is similar to how most Indians respond back. The reality is that Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir will never vote for India, they have never shown any inclination for India. They may want independence from Pakistan but they can't even imagine in their wildest dreams to be a part of India. There are 99% Muslims in Azad Kashmir and I am sure they don’t want to become a minority in India and become prey to a Gujarat like riots.

There are some other inconsistencies in the movie as well. Kajol’s father drinks heavily and has a bar in his home. Drinking is a taboo in Kashmir and having open bars in homes is unheard of, let alone seen. When Amir Khan calls his boss and claims that he has got the nuclear bomb device, the intelligence guys are able to intercept the message but are unable to locate the origin. When Kajol calls from the same set and asks for help, the intelligence guys are immediately able to locate the origin and they ask Kajol to stay put till morning as that’s how long they will take to get there. It’s actually giving Kajol and Amir enough time to fuse some life into an almost dead movie. There is not a place in Kashmir, where there are as grand houses as shown in the movie, that would take more than an hour by a helicopter to reach. Even ground forces can reaches pretty quick, the 0.7 Million troops are scattered all over the valley.

I was hoping that a movie in which Amir Khan stars would be a class apart. It should have dealt with the complexities of the Kashmir issue, but I guess no matter who the actor, no matter who the producer, speaking the truth about Kashmir is still an impossibility. Maybe more than the people, the producers are scared of the biased Indian media that will make a mince meat out of them if they attempt to do justice to Kashmir on the reel. In real no one can but the Kashmiris themselves.

Why at all does Bollywood make movies based on Kashmir?

Economics. Money. Bollywood is a setup for making money and for being famous. It does not care for beliefs and it does not have one. People indulged in glamor, power and money have very little time to think about causes.

Kashmir sells. This is the truth. From Salman Rushdie to MJ Akbar (Editor Asian Age) to Sheikh Rashid (Minister in Pakistan) all claim to be of Kashmiri descent. There are people whose great great great great grandfather had migrated from Kashmir and they think of themselves as Kashmiris. I can not digest that. A grandfather being from Kashmir is fine, even a great grandfather is fine. But, great great great grandfather is not fine at all. This is all happening because this ‘wretched’ word Kashmir creates a feeling of goodness, a sense of pride, an aura of magnanimity among people who are far far away from it. It is just fine for a guy in UK/USA to brag about being a Kashmiri, it doesn't hurt him. But, a real Kashmiri suffers from the pain of being a Kashmiri every single day. His goodness and cheer gets drowned in the tears, his pride is overshadowed by the pain, and his aura of magnanimity is cowed down by the guns that are pointed at him on every road junction, on every footpath, on every step that he takes.

Kashmir is all about money for Bollywood as it is so for many other things. Bollywood created Roja, Mission Kashmir, Sheen, Yahaan and Fanaa. Salman Rushdie created the Clown of Shalimar. Gandhi created the Ghosts of Kashmir. Personalities, movies, documentaries, books, newspapers have all been created using Kashmir. A Kashmiri creates joy in the painful paradox of his very existence.

Cross posted from: Kashmir.Wordpress.Com