The Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) brought a vibrant slice of South Asian heritage to Texas this weekend as families from across Dallas–Fort Worth gathered to celebrate Sindhi Cultural Day.

What unfolded inside a packed community hall was more than a cultural programme; it was a reaffirmation of identity for a diaspora thousands of miles away from its ancestral soil.

The event drew notable attendees, including Texas State Representative Salman Bhojani, Farhan Ahmed, Vice Consul at the Consulate of Pakistan in Houston, SANA’s Central Vice President Asghar Pathan, Central General Secretary Asad Shaikh, and several community leaders who added stature to the celebration.

Addressing the audience, Rep Bhojani described Sindh’s culture as “a living symbol of peace, love, and tolerance,” adding that Dallas had paid respect to that legacy by gathering in such large numbers. Vice Consul Farhan Ahmed noted that the Sindhi topi and ajrak are not merely garments but “icons of Pakistan’s cultural identity,” and said that Sindhi Cultural Day strengthens a positive image of Pakistan around the world.

SANA leaders Asghar Pathan and Asad Shaikh emphasised that Sindhis carry their traditions wherever they go, calling it their pride and their inheritance. Other speakers highlighted that Sindh is not just a geographical region but a civilisational idea grounded in human dignity, poetry, music, and centuries of coexistence. Ajrak, topi, literature, and folk arts, they said, are living testaments to a culture that refuses to fade.

The programme was elegantly steered by SANA Dallas President Amir Memon, while Suhail Khaskheli, Sarfaraz Abbasi, Shehryar Arshad, Ghulam Nabi Kalwar, Imran Pirzada, Muhammad Shafi, and Fahad Junejo welcomed guests with traditional ajraks and caps.

Among the attendees were prominent Pakistani American community members, including Barkat Basria, Democratic candidate Attorney Sofia Anwar, and Nadeem Akhtar of Pak Pack Group.

One side of the hall showcased hand-crafted Sindhi arts. On the other hand, children performed with a joy that felt like an emotional bridge between generations. Many attendees remarked that for a moment, Dallas felt like Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Larkana, or Khairpur — places where identity is woven into daily life and where culture is lived, not displayed.

The evening concluded with the traditional “Ho Jamalo” dance, as women, men, youth, and children joined in a circle, celebrating not only the past but the resilience of a culture carried proudly across continents.

• Meteorological agency records two 40-centimetre tsunami waves.
• Tsunami expected to hit Japan’s Pacific coast, say meteorologists.
• Footage shows shattered glass fragments scattered across roads.
  

A major earthquake rocked Japan’s northern coast on Monday, with the country’s meteorological agency recording two 40-centimetre tsunami waves and local media reporting injuries.

The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.6 quake struck at 1415 GMT off Misawa on Japan’s Pacific coast, at a depth of 53 kilometres (33 miles).

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, with a first wave hitting a port in the northern region of Aomori, where Misawa is located, at 11:43 (1443 GMT).

At 11:50 pm, another wave reached the town of Urakawa town in the Hokkaido region, the agency said.

Both waves measured 40 centimetres (16 inches), it added.

Public broadcaster NHK cited a hotel employee in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori as saying there had been some injuries, with live footage showing shattered glass fragments scattered across roads.

The quake was also felt in the northern hub of Sapporo, where alarms rang on smartphones to alert residents.

A reporter for NHK in Hokkaido described a horizontal shaking of around 30 seconds that made him unable to keep standing as the earthquake struck.

The meteorological agency earlier warned a tsunami of up to three metres (10 feet) was expected to hit Japan’s Pacific coast.

Japan sits on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is one of the world’s most tectonically active countries.

The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, experiences around 1,500 jolts every year.

The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and depth below the Earth’s surface.

LONDON: The UK High Court has ordered YouTuber Major (retired) Adil Raja to make a public apology and pay around £310,000 in damages and legal costs to Brigadier (retd) Rashid Naseer in relation to the defamation case that Adil Raja lost in October this year.

Judge Richard Spearman KC made the order after a hearing in the London High Court, where Raja had sought to make an appeal against the original judgment.

Naseer asked the court to proceed with making the order following the judgment he obtained in his favour in October this year.

After hearing the arguments of Raja’s lawyer Simon Harding, Judge Richard Spearman KC refused to entertain Raja’s application for permission to appeal before him. The Judge was critical of Raja’s lawyers, who did not engage with Naseer’s lawyers in dealing with consequential matters.

The Judge has made the following orders to Raja: he must make a public apology for his defamatory statements towards Brig (retired) Naseer; this apology is to be posted for 28 days on Raja’s Twitter, Facebook, YouTube accounts and the main page of his website; Raja has been ordered to pay £50,000 in damages and £260,000 costs upfront (and the rest to be assessed later) all to be paid by 22 December 2025; Raja has been issued an Injunction order not to repeat the defamatory statements; and permission to Appeal was not granted by the Judge.

In October this year, the UK High Court Judge ruled against Major (retd) Raja in the defamation case filed by Brigadier (retd) Naseer at the London High Court that Raja defamed Naseer, without any factual basis and evidence, made false allegations and therefore the court awarded £50,000 in damages to Naseer, an injunction restraining Raja from repeating his baseless and false allegations ever again and ordered Raja to publish a summary of the judgement confirming that Naseer had won the case and that the allegations were defamatory.

Brig (retd) Naseer attended the trial in July this year, he also attended the court when the judgment was delivered and he was also present in the court on Monday when the final orders were made. Raja attended the court remotely, and his lawyers attended the court during the trial. Raja was not present during the hearing on Monday.

Raja told Geo News in a statement: “We are appealing the judgement at the Court of Appeal.”

Naseer had started his defamation claim against Raja in August 2022 over ten publications — published between June 14 and 29, 2022, on Raja’s Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

The court found that nine of these publications were seriously defamatory to Naseer and caused him serious harm.

The judge stated that he was not persuaded that the allegations that Raja published came from his “sources” because (i) when observing Raja give oral evidence, he was unable to determine whether Raja’s evidence was reliable or a case of mistaken recollection or exaggeration; and (ii) Raja produced no contemporary record of any kind which supported his evidence.

Raja was unable to satisfy the judge that his source(s) provided him with information to support the allegations that he made against Naseer; therefore, his public interest defence failed.

Naseer was represented by Barrister David Lemer of Doughty Street Chambers and Ushrat Sultana and Sadia Qureshi of Stone White Solicitors. Raja was represented by Barrister Simon Harding.