Gujarat riots: Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi get life term in Naroda Patia case
New Age Islam News Bureau
31 Aug 2012
India
• Gujarat riots: Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi get life term in Naroda Patia case
• DRDO junior scientist and 10 others held for terror plot
• Rights body petition urges DNA tests of bodies at unmarked J&K graves
• Only Indian Muslims will get rehabilitation: Tarun Gogoi
• Inimical forces at play in Assam: Islamic civic organisation
• ‘Proper atmosphere’ needed for Pak visit: PM
• What would have Jinnah thought of Ajmal Kasab and gang, wonders SC
• Ajmal Kasab's hanging will cost Maharashtra govt only Rs 50
• Raj Thackeray strikes a bitter note on Pak singers
• India urges Pak to expedite 26/ 11 trial
• India takes middle path on Syrian uprising
• Raj Thackeray slams Asha Bhosle, slaps killer Ajmal Kasab link on her
Pakistan
• Lost heritage: SC moved for reconstruction of Jain Mandir
• School curricula: ‘Hate content in textbooks has increased since 2009’
• 919 Pakistani Hindus eligible for Indian citizenship: Report
• Chief of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi arrested in Pakistan
• Human Rights Commission of Pakistan: Fact-finding mission finds Balochistan worse off
• Abducted VC pleads for help in video released by Pak Taliban
• Red Cross cuts back in Pakistan over security fears
• Abdul Qadeer Khan mulls politics, urges youth to bring change
• Lahore lawyers boycott court proceedings over judge’s killing
• MQM being targeted for standing against sectarian violence: Raza Haroon
South Asia
• Two Afghan children beheaded in separate events
• Maldives leader says he’s not resigning after inquiry finds he came to power without a coup
• China to launch Islamic cultural pageant in Turkey
• Kyrgyzstan intelligence agencies detain a citizen declared jihad against the country’s President
• Integrating Islam The Key To “Modern Culture” In Xinjiang
• WUC Calls for Redress on the UN International Day for the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
• Afghan insider attacks roil Nato
• Afghans among 54 rescued from asylum boat
• Bangladeshis Arrested, Minorities Detained in Manipur
Mideast Asia
• Iran doubles underground nuclear capacity: UN agency
• 'PM tells US 'time has run out' on Iran diplomacy'
• Sharia banking: Germany to see its first Islamic Bank
• Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spells out Iran's N-ambitions
• Iran study: Water pipes as dangerous as cigarettes
• 'Israel must alter strategy to stop Gaza terror'
• Iran showcases “nuclear martyrs” at NAM summit
• When Iran "ambushed" the good doctor
• Nuke use a ‘sin’, but Iran won’t blink on N-power
• Turkey demands Syria safe havens as UN meets
Arab World
• Over 8,000 regime forces killed in Syria: Military hospital
• Over 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria
• Constituent Assembly to vote on sharia in Egyptian constitution
• Bahrain settles compensation for 17 victims of last year unrest
• Iraq asked to put a stop to death penalty
• Egypt leader said to reach out to Sinai radicals Islamists
• Eight children among Idlib airstrike victims
• US reporter held by Syrian forces: employers
• West mulls military action amid UN inaction on Syria aid crisis
• A Syrian army deserter tells his story
• Rebels, Syrian troops clash in Aleppo: Activists
North America
• US imposes sanctions on 26/11 mastermind, 7 other LeT leaders
• Islamophobes discover “DNC Muslim Prayer Jihad”?
• USA sick and tired of enduring freedom in Afghanistan
• Pentagon threatens legal action over SEAL's Osama bin Laden book
• Sajid Mir linked to transcontinental LeT strikes
• MN Seeks Probe of Suspicious Fire at Minneapolis Mosque
• End NYPD's dubious spying on Muslims
• Federal judge allows Murfreesboro mosque opponents to intervene
• The Imam and the Forty Thieves… from Bank Robber to Jihadist
• Islamist Group Sparks Controversy With Event Preceeding Democratic Convention
• Man who trained for 'violent jihad' in Central Florida pleads guilty
• Three dead in New Jersey supermarket as gunman opens fire
South America
• Brazil Allows Men to Marry Multiple Wives
Europe
• France's suburbs "separate Islamic societies"
• Nazism to 'Salafism': Islamists Threaten Germany
Africa
• Mali's rebel Ansar Dine says ready for talks on northern town Kidal rule
• Unesco urges end to attacks on Libyan Sufi mosques, graves
• Tunisia democratic activists fear a tilt toward militant Islam
• Mali crisis blights children's lives, more aid needed
• South Africa charges 270 miners with murder of fellow workers
Southeast Asia
• Haj preparations for Filipino pilgrims stepped up
• Jakarta Sees Continued Decline in Newcomer Arrival After Idul Fitri
• Densus 88 Arrests Suspected Terrorist in Raid
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: Gujarat riots: Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi get life term in Naroda Patia case
URL:
-----------
India
Gujarat riots: Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi get life term in Naroda Patia case
Aug 31, 2012
AHMEDABAD: A Special Investigation Team ( SIT) court has awarded life term to BJP leader and former minister Mayaben Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi in the Naroda Patia massacre case.
The sitting Naroda MLA Mayaben Kodnani was sentenced to 18 year of imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and murder, while Babu Bajrangi was sentenced for life imprisonment till death.
The court also sentenced Mayaben to 10 year imprisonment for arson. The court observed that this imprisonment of 10 years will not run concurrent with the main sentence of 18 years, which means Kodnani will spend 28 years in prison.
The court in the order pronounced on Friday sentenced 22 accused to life imprisonment (14 years). Other seven were sentenced to imprisonment for 21 years. The quantum of punishment was not announced for one of the accused Suresh alias Shahjad Nekalkar as he was not present in the court.
The court also also sentenced the 31 accused to 10 years imprisonment for arson. The sentence would run prior to the main sentence and would not be concurrent.
The court observed that Maya Kodnani was the kingpin in the case and she along with Babu Bajrani were the key conspirators. The other seven who were sentenced 21 years of imprisonment included Naresh Chara, Morli Sindhi, Haresh Rathod, Suresh Langado, Premchand Tiwari, Manojbhai Sindhi Kukrani and Bipin Panchal.
The special court also observed that the incident was a black chapter in the secular democratic history of India. On Wednesday, the court had convicted 32 people and acquitted 29 in the biggest post-Godhra killings.
On February 28, 2002, 97 persons were killed in Naroda. As many as 94 bodies were found, of which 84 were identified. Three people are still missing.
Former Gujarat minister Kodnani and Bajrangi have been convicted under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, amongst others.
Special public prosecutor sought capital punishment for the convicts, during the hearing for quantum of punishment. He argued that as the court had upheld the aspect of murder and criminal conspiracy, this was a fit case to be termed as "rarest of rare" and court should award capital punishment to the convicts. If the court wanted to be lenient then at least it should award minimum of 20 years of imprisonment to each of the convicts, he argued.
Opposing his contention, defense advocate Niranjan Tikani appealed to the court to show leniency towards the convicts, keeping in mind their family background and financial condition.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gujarat-riots-Maya-Kodnani-Babu-Bajrangi-get-life-term-in-Naroda-Patia-case/articleshow/16064717.cms
-----------
DRDO junior scientist and 10 others held for terror plot
August 31, 2012
A research fellow at the DRDO and a journalist of a leading English daily were among 11 people arrested in Bangalore and Hubli for allegedly plotting to kill leading Hindu politicians, leaders and top journalists.
Allegedly linked to terror outfits LeT and HuJi, six of them were arrested from Bangalore, and the rest were apprehended in Hubli on Wednesday.
“ A catastrophe has been averted in Karnataka following the arrests,” DGPIGP Lalrokhuma Pachau said on Thursday. Police said the suspects were “ handled” by LeT and HuJi operators in Saudi Arabia.
“ We were able to lay our hands on crucial evidence.
Investigations are on and we cannot reveal much at this juncture,” Bangalore City police chief B. G. Jyothiprakash said.
Shohib Ahmed Mirza alias Chotu, 25, an MCA student, Abdulla alias Abdul Hakeem Jamadar, 25, Ejaz Mohammed Mirza, 25, a DRDO junior research fellow, Mohammed Yousuf Nalaband, 28, an electrician, Riaz Ahmed Byahatti, 28, and Muti- Ur- Rehman Siddiqui, 26, a reporter with an English daily, were arrested from their room in Munireddy Palya near JC Nagar in Bangalore.
Obedullah Imran Bahaddur alias Sameer, 24, Mohammed Sadiq Lashkar alias Raju, 28, Wahid Hussain alias Sahil, 26, Baba alias Mehbub Bagalkot, 26, and Dr Jaffer Iqbal Sholapur, 27, were arrested from Hubli.
They have been booked under sections 120B ( criminal conspiracy), 153A ( promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 307 ( attempt to murder), 379 ( theft) and under the Arms Act.
Police said the journalist Muti- Ur- Rehman Siddiqui was in touch with radical Islamic groups on a daily basis and they found “ incriminating literature” from his home.
They did not reveal much about the DRDO scientist. The police said the suspects were arrested after six months of surveillance. The police suspected planned attacks during Ganesha festival in September.
THE ARRESTED
Shohib Ahmed Mirza alias Chotu, 25 ( MCA student)
Abdulla alias Abdul Hakeem Jamadar, 25
Ejaz Mohammed Mirza, 25 ( DRDO junior research fellow)
Mohammed Yousuf Nalaband, 28 ( Electrician)
Riaz Ahmed Byahatti, 28
Muti- Ur- Rehman Siddiqui, 26 ( Reporter with English daily)
Obedullah Imran Bahaddur alias Sameer, 24
Mohammed Sadiq Lashkar alias Raju, 28
Wahid Hussain alias Sahil, 26
Baba alias Mehbub Bagalkot, 26
Dr Jaffer Iqbal Sholapur, 27
Mail Today
-----------
Rights body petition urges DNA tests of bodies at unmarked J&K graves
Aug 31, 2012
SRINAGAR: The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) on Thursday petitioned the J&K Human Rights Commission to direct authorities to carry out investigations into the unmarked graves discovered across the Valley through DNA testing and other forensic methods.
The APDP sought prosecution of those "involved in this heinous crime of enforced disappearances irrespective of their backgrounds or posts they hold" on the eve of the international day of the disappeared.
Nearly 500 cases have been filed before the commission seeking directions to the state government for DNA tests of the remains found in the unmarked graves. Initially, the state government refused to exhume the bodies. But chief minister Omar Abdullah last year asked the members of the association to give their blood samples for DNA tests.
APDP program coordinator Khurram Parvez accused the government of using delaying tactics. "Had the chief minister been serious about the issue, he would have by now directed the authorities to conduct the process of the identification of the unmarked graves and also asked them to get in touch with the APDP for investigation and DNA tests as well," Parvez said.
APDP spokesperson Tahira Begum told TOI that they submitted 132 fresh cases of enforced disappearances from Banihal in December 2011, regarding which the investigations are continuing.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rights-body-petition-urges-DNA-tests-of-bodies-at-unmarked-JK-graves/articleshow/16031209.cms
-----------
Only Indian Muslims will get rehabilitation: Tarun Gogoi
Aug 31, 2012
GUWAHATI/KOKRAJHAR: On a day Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi put an end to Bodos' biggest fear — infiltration by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants during rehabilitation — by announcing that only those Indian Muslims who fled Bodoland during the clashes would be settled in Bodoland Territorial Council area, BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary met Muslim leaders to take forward the rehab process jointly initiated by the Assam government and BTC.
"They (Bodos) feared that illegal migrants would sneak into BTC area when rehabilitation starts. Only those with documents (of land ownership) will be re-settled. There will be assessment of land records for rehabilitation. There's no room for illegal migrants," Gogoi said. His announcement came after the state government and BTC arrived at a consensus on Wednesday to allow the return of only those Bengali-speaking Muslims who own land in BTC area.
The Bodos have also been expressing concern that not all Bengali-speaking Muslims in relief camps were displaced from BTC area. Gogoi said, "Only the genuinely displaced people will be rehabilitated."
BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary met Muslim leaders in a bid to instill confidence among the panic-stricken people of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District. He also met local Bodoland People's Front (BPF) workers belonging to both Bodo and Muslim communities in Fakiragram and Gossaigaon.
Mohilary was accompanied by Kokrajhar BPF leaders, central executive member Baktar Ali Ahmed, assistant professor of Bodoland University Dr Ismail Hussain, Md Abdus Samad Sheikh, Nur-Islam Poramanik, Md Jannan Sarkar, Md M R Mollah and other senior citizens of the Muslim community of Kokrajhar district.
Sources said the initiative will instill confidence among people affected by ethnic violence that saw four lakh people displaced within a week. Saying that such a situation cannot be allowed to continue, Mohilary appealed to leaders of both the communities to stop the violence.
Dildar Hussain, a Muslim youth said, "The people are happy that the BTC chief personally interacted with minority community leaders after the violence to know what measures should be taken according to them. It is indeed a good sign and a good beginning as one should also discuss with the affected people what they want from the BTC administration." Interestingly, majority of Muslims in BTC area had voted for BPF, headed by Mohilary. The BPF is also a ruling coalition partner in Assam.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Only-Indian-Muslims-will-get-rehabilitation-Tarun-Gogoi/articleshow/16030778.cms
-----------
Inimical forces at play in Assam: Islamic civic organisation
Aug 29 2012
Guwahati : Expressing concern over continuing violence in BTAD area and its spread now to other parts of the state, a prominent umbrella Islamic civic organisation today said forces inimical to the Assamese society were working against its traditional unity among religions and ethnic communities in the state.
"We do not think we are separate from the Assamese society. The indigenous Islamic people are very concerned with this new development ... We will not allow any force to spoil the Assamese society," spokesman of Brihattar Guwahati Islamic Samaj, Nekibur Zaman told reporters here.
Accusing the state government of failing to protect the life and property of the people and maintaining peace despite the presence of ministers and security forces in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts, he urged the people not to be influenced by such forces and instead maintain peace in the state and its age-old communal harmony.
The government had also failed to uphold the Gauhati High Court ruling of not allowing bandhs to be held in the state, Zaman said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/inimical-forces-at-play-in-assam-islamic-civic-orgn/994913/
-----------
‘Proper atmosphere’ needed for Pak visit: PM
August 31, 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he was keen to visit Pakistan but for this a “proper atmosphere” has to be created and a “crucial test” for Islamabad is to bring to book the perpetrators of the heinous Mumbai attack.
“I am very keen to visit Pakistan and I am grateful for the invitation. But I also mentioned to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari that we have to create a proper atmosphere,” he told reporters accompanying him on his way back home from Tehran.
His remarks came a day after he met President Zardari on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in the Iranian capital during which he pushed Pakistan to act against India-directed terrorism and said that expeditious conclusion of the Mumbai terror attack trial in that country will be a “major” Confidence Building Measure in bilateral relations.
Mr. Zardari also renewed his invitation to Dr. Singh to visit Pakistan.
During his on board interaction, the Prime Minister, who responded to a range of questions, said there has to be a “genuine feeling” that Pakistan was doing its best to stop terror acts against India from its soil.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3844217.ece
-----------
What would have Jinnah thought of Ajmal Kasab and gang, wonders SC
Aug 31, 2012
NEW DELHI: In the wanton spilling of blood and mindless destruction during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Pakistani terrorists had scant regard to places, including the iconic Taj Hotel, which were once close to the heart of Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Mohd Ali Jinnah.
"One wonders what Quaid-e-Azam would have thought of the terrorist attack on his favourite city in the subcontinent and especially on Taj Mahal Hotel, which he had a personal relationship of a very intimate kind," the Supreme Court said in its judgment on Wednesday while upholding death penalty to the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
The bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad recalled, "At the Taj Mahal Hotel ballroom on February 20, 1918, at her 18th birthday party, Ruttie had accepted Jinnah's hand in marriage while the band was playing the Chopin tune 'So Deep is the Night'."
It is also reported that Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and Sarojini Naidu often held court at Taj Hotel, the court said in the judgment.
It went on to describe the special relationship Jinnah had with Mazgaon, where a bomb planted by the terrorists in a taxi killed three people and injured 19. "It is reported that Jinnah devoted Thursday afternoons to visiting the grave of his wife Ruttie at the Khoja Shiite Isna'ashri Cemetery situated at Mazgaon, Mumbai," said Justice Alam, who authored the judgment for the bench and dug into the archives to come across Jinnah's innate connection with Mumbai.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/What-would-have-Jinnah-thought-of-Ajmal-Kasab-and-gang-wonders-SC/articleshow/16029576.cms
-----------
Ajmal Kasab's hanging will cost Maharashtra govt only Rs 50
Aug 31, 2012
MUMBAI: To keep him safe, the state has already spent more than Rs 50 crore. In his execution, the budget permitted by an archaic law is only Rs 50.
Not just this, the confirmation of death sentence for Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, for his role in the 26/11 attacks in the city that left 166 dead, has turned the spotlight on other quirks of a set of rules framed well over a century ago.
The course to be taken and interpretation of the rules is further mired in a fog as their use is rare. The last execution in Maharashtra was in Pune's Yerawada jail when Sudhakar Joshi was sent to the gallows in August 1995 in a murder case.
Now 17 years later, the hanging ropes are likely to measured and tested again whenever the execution date is set for the terrorist after a few more legal procedures are completed. The jail superintendent has to inform Kasab that he has seven days to make a written mercy plea. Then the ball will be in the Maharashtra governor's and, further on, the President's court.
If the pleas are turned down, the execution goes ahead. Meeran Borwankar, inspector general (prisons), told TOI that there is no execution fee or payment to be made to the hangman. (More in box)
Executions in India, one of the 96 countries that still allow death penalty, are governed by laws that date back to 1894. The Prisons Act in India, though amended from time to time, is the principle Act which empowers states to make rules for execution.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Ajmal-Kasabs-hanging-will-cost-Maharashtra-govt-only-Rs-50/articleshow/16022823.cms
-----------
Raj Thackeray strikes a bitter note on Pak singers
By Krishna Kumar
August 31, 2012
THEY say music transcends all barriers and is the ultimate vehicle for peace. But try telling that to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ( MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who along with other “ nationalists” of his ilk is on a relentless pursuit to get Pakistani artistes banned from performing in India.
Recently, Thackeray requested legendary songstress Asha Bhosle to desist from judging a reality television show that features aspiring Pakistani singers.
The film wing of the MNS, the Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena ( MNCKS), had written a letter to Asha asking her not to get involved in the show that would be aired, in a first for the Indian TV industry, on two rival channels – Colors and Sahara.
The party had issued a similar directive to the channels, with a threat that its workers would disrupt the show if it was not scrapped.
“ Do they allow our artistes to go there? Then why do we always get them here, our request is that the channels cancel the show or we would have to protest in the only way we know,” Akhil Chitre, secretary of the MNCKS, said.
Full report at: Mail Today
-----------
India urges Pak to expedite 26/ 11 trial
BY GAURAV C. SAWANT
August 31, 2012
TALKING tough, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday told Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that expeditious action in the 26/ 11 Mumbai attack trial in that country would be a major confidencebuilding measure and would help build bridges between the two nations.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in Tehran.
During the half- an- hour meeting, the Prime Minister told Zardari that action against the 26/ 11 perpetrators would help remove the trust deficit between the two countries.
Zardari and Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik raised the issue of sending a judicial commission again to India to cross- examine the witnesses in
the 26/ 11 trial.
Full report at: Mail Today
-----------
India takes middle path on Syrian uprising
Aug 31, 2012
TEHRAN: The Syrian conflict sharpened divisions saw the NAM summit's first walkout on Thursday, with the Syrian delegation rising in protest against the Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi's characterization of the crisis there as an uprising against an "oppressive regime".
In his first address to the NAM summit, Morsi openly expressed solidarity with the Syrian opposition. "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty as it is a political and strategic necessity," Morsi said. "The bloodshed in Syria is hanging over all of us. It is our responsibility... to actively intervene to stop the killings," he added.
This being any Egyptian leader's first visit to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Morsi's forthright comments set the tone for discussions on Syria, and an embarrassment to host nation, Iran.
Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem was quoted by Syrian TV as saying the delegation withdrew "in rejection of the incitement in the speech to continue the shedding of Syrian blood", and returned after Morsi's address was over.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the middle line by expressing support for "popular aspirations", while cautioning against "external intervention". In his statement, Singh said, "India supports popular aspirations for a democratic and pluralistic order. Nevertheless, such transformations cannot be prompted by external intervention, which exacerbate the suffering of ordinary citizens." While thus far, India has stressed on non-intervention by external forces, this was a clear articulation by the PM that India also supported "Syrians' aspirations". Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/India-takes-middle-path-on-Syrian-uprising/articleshow/16029329.cms
-----------
Raj Thackeray slams Asha Bhosle, slaps killer Ajmal Kasab link on her
Aug 31 2012
Mumbai : Launching a blistering attack against veteran singer Asha Bhosle, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray today slammed her and said that she should have rejected the offer of working with Pakistani singers.
"Asha Bhosle says 'atithi devo bhava'. Why did she not say this when Ajmal Kasab was arrested? She should have refused the offer of working with Pakistani singers," he said, addressing a party office bearers meet here today.
"Pakistan and Bangladesh are aiming to destroy our country and she makes artistes from Pakistan big," he said.
Saying that he respects Asha Bhosle, Raj said, "She should be guiding us, but instead, she is making us guide her. She should tell us the real reason (for signing for the TV reality show), whether it is 'atithi devo bhava' or 'paisa devo bhava'," Raj said.
He questioned the need to pamper Pakistani artistes when India had talented artistes. "There is no dearth of talented artists in India. Pamper them and make them big," he said.
Raj also criticised Colors TV channel for broadcasting the show and said, "Colors channel is doing this for increasing its TRPs".
Warning Colors and other television channels to avoid including Pakistani artistes in their TV shows, he said, "If any channel goes ahead with such programmes and if anything happens to their offices, the government will be responsible for it," he stated.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/raj-thackeray-slams-asha-bhosle-slaps-killer-ajmal-kasab-link-on-her/995924/
---------
Pakistan
Lost heritage: SC moved for reconstruction of Jain Mandir
By Rana Tanveer
August 31, 2012
LAHORE: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking elucidation of the rights of minorities and the reconstruction of Jain Mandir, which was demolished in 1992 after Hindu extremists tore down the Babri Masjid in India.
Petitioners Pir Ali Imran Sahir Israpheel, Syed Shamhurash Rizwanul Murtaza and Barrister Muhammad Javed Iqbal Jaafri submitted that they had written several applications to government officials over the last 35 years asking that the area known as Jain Mandir along Lytton Road be cleared of illegal occupants, but they had been ignored.
They said the land was occupied gradually starting during the rule of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. They said that the temple building was destroyed in 1992 following the demolition of Babri Masjid. They submitted that the destruction of the worship places of non-Muslims was a manifestation of the state’s failure to protect their rights.
The petitioners submitted that at the time of Partition, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jews made up about 20 per cent of the total population. Discrimination against minorities had resulted in their number dropping to 3-4 per cent of the population. They said that there was no tolerance for minorities in Pakistan and many Hindu families were currently seeking to leave.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/428871/lost-heritage-sc-moved-for-reconstruction-of-jain-mandir/
-------
School curricula: ‘Hate content in textbooks has increased since 2009’
By Aroosa Shaukat
August 31, 2012
LAHORE: Hate content in textbooks used in the Punjab has increased from ‘45 lines in 2009 to 122 in 2012’, a content analysis report published by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) said on Thursday. The report titled Education or Promotion of Hatred was distributed at a conference, Biases in Textbooks and Education Policy, organised by the NCJP on Thursday.
The study examined 22 textbooks for the academic year 2012-13 in the Punjab and Sindh from classes 1 to 10.
The report says that one of the 30 chapters in the general knowledge textbooks for class 1 has content advocating intolerance. It says there has been a ‘marked increase’ in hate content in the curricula of classes 7 to 10.
In 2009-2011, it says, 12 chapters in various textbooks at these levels contained hate material. The number of such chapters has increased to 33.
As many as seven lessons with hate content are part of the 8th class Urdu curriculum for 2012-2013, compared to none in 2009, it says. It also says said that the number of such lessons in the Pakistan studies textbooks for classes 9 and 10 had increased to three in 2012 from none in 2009. It says that hate lessons that were part of the class 6 social studies and class 7 Islamiat books in 2009 had been excluded from the 2012 curricula.
Speaking at the launch Dr Mehdi Hasan, the School of Media and Communication dean at the Beaconhouse National University, said Muslims posed a greater danger to their fellow Muslims then to non Muslims in Pakistan.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/428876/school-curricula-hate-content-in-textbooks-has-increased-since-2009/
-----------
919 Pakistani Hindus eligible for Indian citizenship: Report
August 31, 2012
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has initiated a process to grant Indian citizenship to 919 Pakistani Hindus who migrated to India before December 31, 2004, the Deccan Chronicle (DC) reported on Friday.
The administration has asked such migrants to submit relevant documents and other details for this purpose.
The DC report quoted additional magistrate of Jodhpur Rajendra Singh Rathore as saying: “As per our record, these 919 Pakistani Hindu nationals have completed seven years of their stay in India, the basic eligibility to apply for citizenship.
“We have asked them to follow the procedure and if they fulfil all conditions, including fees, they will be granted citizenship,” Rathore added.
The step comes weeks after many Hindus from Balochistan and Sindh have reportedly migrated to India due to lack of security and persecution of their community.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/429124/919-pakistani-hindus-eligible-for-indian-citizenship-report/
-----------
Chief of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi arrested in Pakistan
August 30, 2012
Pakistani police on Thursday arrested Malik Ishaq, chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, as he returned to the country after performing the Umra pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia by violating his bail, officials said.
Ishaq was taken into custody at Lahore airport on his return from
Saudi Arabia, officials said.
"We were ordered by our superiors to take a large contingent of police to the airport with an armoured vehicle to arrest Malik Ishaq on his arrival from Saudi Arabia," a senior officer of Punjab Police told PTI.
"We arrested Ishaq in connection with a case registered against him at Model Town police station for making a speech some time ago that spread sectarian hatred. Ishaq has been taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation," said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Security sources told PTI that Ishaq had violated his bail by travelling to Saudi Arabia about a week before the Eid-ul-Fitr festival.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Chief-of-Lashkar-e-Jhangvi-arrested-in-Pakistan/Article1-922039.aspx
-----------
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan: Fact-finding mission finds Balochistan worse off
By Peer Muhammad
August 31, 2012
ISLAMABAD: For the country’s largest and most-volatile province, there is little respite.
A recent fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Balochistan reveals that Talibanisation is growing in several areas of the province and, as Quetta becomes a haven for militants, there is palpable fear that security forces are patronising the militancy.
The observations were noted by the mission in a report launched on Thursday.
The HRCP mission visited the province from May 15 to 19 to assess the impact of recent measures taken by the government with respect to the province, and to hear suggestions from stakeholders on a way out of the lingering crisis.
Findings
Talibanisation is growing in several areas and, unlike in the past, religious fanaticism is not merely being exported to the province from elsewhere – it is now being bred in Balochistan, the report notes.
-----------
Abducted VC pleads for help in video released by Pak Taliban
August 31, 2012
A university vice-chancellor abducted by the Pakistani Taliban from the country's troubled northwest nearly two years ago has appealed to his colleagues and student groups to pressure the government for his release in a new video issued by the militants.
Ajmal Khan, vice-chancellor of the Islamia College University in Peshawar, is seen in the six-minute video asking vice-chancellors of universities and student groups to push the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to take measures for his release.
The video was released by the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan led by Hakimullah Mehsud.
Khan, a cousin of Asfandyar Wali Khan, the head of the Awami National Party that rules Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, was abducted on September 7, 2010.
In the video, he says he had spent five Eid festivals in custody of militants as the government has failed to meet the demands of those who are holding him hostage.
The video features Khan speaking in Pashto, Urdu and English and weeping while reminiscing about his children.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Abducted-VC-pleads-for-help-in-
-----------
Red Cross cuts back in Pakistan over security fears
ANITA JOSHUA
August 31, 2012
After suspending most of its major aid projects in Pakistan in May following the murder of a staffer, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has now decided to cut back operations in view of the prevailing security situation.
In an announcement made simultaneously at its Geneva headquarters and here, the ICRC said it had decided to terminate all activities in Balochistan; Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa; the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; and Sindh.
However, it will continue its physical rehabilitation services in Peshawar and Muzaffarabad in partnership with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society. The Muzaffarabad project — which ICRC runs in collaboration with the government of “Azad Jammu & Kashmir” — was the only programme that survived ICRC’s earlier decision to suspend all activities in Pakistan.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3840474.ece
-----------
Abdul Qadeer Khan mulls politics, urges youth to bring change
August 31, 2012
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani scientist who sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya, may try his hand at politics to rescue a country he says has become worse than a banana republic.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, still lionised as the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb despite his fall from grace in 2004, may have some appeal ahead of elections due next year.
Many Pakistanis are deeply frustrated with their leaders over everything from chronic power cuts to their strategic ties with the United States, and they might welcome someone seen as a national hero on the political stage.
“I want to bring change and help the people of Pakistan, like I did back in 1974, when India test fired its nukes,” Khan told Reuters in an interview at his heavily guarded Islamabad home. “Now, today, once again this country needs my help.”
Khan’s new movement, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Pakistan, or Movement for Protection of Pakistan, is urging the South Asian nation’s youth to be heard through national elections and break the stranglehold of traditional political dynasties.
The 76-year-old scientist says Pakistan’s young people should stop wasting time watching “useless” current affairs talk shows which dominate the airwaves every night and purge the country of corrupt politicians through the ballot box.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2012/08/31/disgraced-father-of-pakistan-nuclear-bomb-mulls-politics/
-----------
Lahore lawyers boycott court proceedings over judge’s killing
August 31, 2012
LAHORE: Lawyers boycotted proceedings in Lahore’s subordinate courts on Friday on the call of the Punjab Bar Council over the killing of Additional District and Sessions Judge Zulfiqar H. Naqvi in Quetta, DawnNews reported.
The judge was going to his office from the Government Officers Residence Colony in Quetta at around 8am on Thursday when the gunmen waiting for him at a railway crossing in the Chalam housing society opened fire on his car. The judge’s security guard and driver had also died in the shooting.
Friday’s boycott came after Vice Chairman Punjab Bar Council Ghulam Abbas Nissoana appealed the province’s lawyers to ensure they registered their protest over the judge’s killing.
He said that the government had completely failed to provide security to judges and lawyers.
The boycott has been ongoing while the judges have been seated in their chambers to hear important cases.
http://dawn.com/2012/08/31/lahore-lawyers-boycott-court-proceedings-over-judges-killing/
-----------
MQM being targeted for standing against sectarian violence: Raza Haroon
By Ema Anis
August 31, 2012
KARACHI: The workers and office-bearers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are being targeted in Karachi because of the party’s stand against rising sectarian violence, said party leader Raza Haroon during a coordination committee press conference on Friday.
Haroon said that it was only MQM chief Altaf Hussain who had raised his voice against all sorts of violence, extremism and terrorism taking place across the country and also helped the victims. “He was the only leader who condemned the genocide of Shia community and stood against it,” Haroon said.
The party leader maintained that criminal elements in the country who are set to destroy Pakistan did not approve of MQM’s stance against sectarianism and therefore, started targeting its workers and office-bearers.
Citing incidents from the past week in which MQM workers were killed, Haroon questioned what their crime was for being targeted. “Their only crime was that they were going door to door spreading Altaf Hussain’s message of peace and promoting Sunni-Shia harmony,” Haroon said.
He added that the city has been given at the mercy of criminal elements, who are openly carrying out killings on the roads and no one is catching them. “It seems that it is not the responsibility of the government to protect the lives and properties of the citizens… Police, Rangers and law enforcement agencies are always patrolling every area of the city, then how is the violence rising?”
Appealing to the president, prime minister, interior minister, governor Sindh, chief minister Sindh and all other government officials, Haroon requested them to take action against the criminals in order to restore peace in Karachi.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/429134/mqm-being-targeted-for-standing-against-sectarian-violence-raza-haroon/
-----------
South Asia
Two Afghan children beheaded in separate events
08/31/2012
Recent massacres raise fresh concerns about Taliban leaders' commitment to forging peace with the Afghan government.
KABUL - An adolescent boy and a young girl have been beheaded in two separate incidents in Afghanistan, local officials and police said on Friday, in the latest brazen attacks that have raised fresh questions about a splintering Taliban.
A 12-year-old boy was kidnapped and killed in southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, his severed head placed near his body to send a warning to police, said provincial governor spokesman Jawid Faisal.
The brother of the boy, neither of whom were named by officials, was a member of the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a US-trained militia charged with making Afghans in Taliban strongholds, like Kandahar, feel more secure, Faisal said.
"It's a Taliban warning to the ALP and to others who support the government," Faisal said of the killing, which happened in Kandahar's Panjwai district.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf denied the group was involved.
Separately, a 6-year-old girl was beheaded in eastern Kapisa province on Thursday, said provincial police chief Abdul Hamed.
Full report at:
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=283375
-------
Maldives leader says he’s not resigning after inquiry finds he came to power without a coup
August 31, 2012
MALE, Maldives — The president of the Maldives says that he won’t resign because an internationally-backed commission has concluded that his rise to power in February wasn’t the result of a coup.
President Mohammed Waheed Hassan said Friday that questions over the legitimacy of his government are now over and that he will serve his full term until November next year.
A five-member domestic commission was set up to investigate allegations that mutinying police and soldiers forced former President Mohamed Nasheed to step down. The commission said Thursday that Hassan’s succession was constitutional.
Nasheed has rejected the report and called for early elections.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/maldives-leader-says-hes-not-resigning-after-inquiry-finds-he-came-to-power-without-a-coup/2012/08/31/f4595f92-f352-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html
-----------
China to launch Islamic cultural pageant in Turkey
2012-8-30
China will launch an eight-day Islamic cultural pageant in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, on Friday as part of China's efforts to enhance its bilateral relations with Turkey, a Chinese official said Wednesday.
Guo Wei, director general of Foreign Affairs Department of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, said at a press conference that the Chinese Islamic Cultural Expo would introduce China's Islamic history and unique Muslim culture to Turkey.
She expressed her hope that the Islamic cultural pageant, which involves more than 100 people from China, will deepen the mutual understanding and enhance the cooperation between Chinese and Turkish Muslims.
"2012 China-Turkey Islamic Cultural Expo and Performances" will start from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 at Istanbul's Ali Emiri Culture Center. It is jointly organized by China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, the Islamic Association of China (IAC) and Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs to mark the China-Turkey Cultural Year.
During the Islamic Cultural Expo, Chinese Muslims will exhibit Chinese Islamic culture, Quran chanting, a symposium on China- Turkey Islamic exchanges, and Islamic singing and dancing shows.
Full report at:
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/730015.shtml
-----------
Kyrgyzstan intelligence agencies detain a citizen declared jihad against the country’s President
28/08-2012
Kyrgyzstan intelligence agencies detained a citizen who had declared jihad against the country’s President. The State National Security Committee (GKNB) reports.
Recall, the information that was published by unknown people appeared on the Internet on June 2, 2012. It contained a video message in Russian entitled “Declaration of Jihad against President Almazbek Atambayev”. The authors publicly declared jihad against the head of state and accused him of violating the rules of Sharia, expressed in worship of folk hero Manas and fixing up his monument,” recalled in the GKNB, “ Kyrgyz citizen D.B. born in 1990 was found and arrested in the course of complex investigative work on August 24”.
According to the investigation, the suspect being in Egypt spread thought the Internet extremist materials, lectures inciting inter-confessional and religious strife. He is directly relevant to the preparation and placement of video messages with the threat to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic on the Internet.
A criminal case on Article 297 (Public calls for violent overthrow of the constitutional order) and 299 (Incitement of national, racial, religious or inter-regional hatred) of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic was filed. The arrested person was put in the GKNB pre-trial centre.
Investigative and operational activities are being conducted at the moment.
http://eng.24.kg/investigation/2012/08/28/25424.html
-----------
Integrating Islam The Key To “Modern Culture” In Xinjiang
08/27/2012
By Dr. Liang Zheng
July 5, 2009, was a watershed to the history of contemporary Xinjiang, which locates in China’s far west frontier region. That black Sunday witnessed the worst inter-ethnic violence in the history of the PRC, and as a result, 197 people were killed and thousands were injured. In the aftermath of the deadly riot, the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee appointed Zhang Chunxian as the new Party secretary in charge of the region in 2010. One year after his arrival, Zhang proposes, “modern culture leads the development in Xinjiang” as his policy statement and has convened a series of conferences to discuss his notion of “modern culture.”
Location of Xinjiang in China
According to Zhang, modern culture must conducive to “social production, social justice, and personal development,” and the aim of building a modern culture is to promote “modern rationality, national identity, and civil rights.” Zhang’s notion hits the spot in many ways, but he failed to include one key element of the region’s culture: Islam. The modern culture in Xinjiang must be, on top of other features of modernity, a culture fully integrates Islam, which is expected to play a positive and progressive role in social and economic development.
Traditionally, modernization was generally considered as equal to Westernization. However, in the last thirty years, the emerging economies in Asia have successfully localized modernization and built their own unique form of modernity. China’s quest for modernity started with “self-strengthening movement” in the 1860s. This long journey of “trial-and-error” pursuit for modernity reached its new height in the 1980s when the CCP initiated “reform and opening-up” policy, which eventually and completely embraced the capitalism and modernization. Today, modernity is still a debatable idea, and the CCP, for instance, labels its modernity as “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Full report at:
http://uyghuramerican.org/article/integrating-islam-key
-----------
WUC Calls for Redress on the UN International Day for the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
30 August 2012
On the United Nations International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) continues to be deeply concerned for the growing trend to forcibly disappear Uyghurs who voice their legitimate political opposition to the deterioration of their freedoms and fundamental human rights. The international community must take stock of the numerous cases of enforced disappearances of Uyghurs in East Turkestan by using this day as an opportune platform to press China on this crime against humanity through diplomatic avenues and dialogue, including at the upcoming 21st Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
The 30 August was declared by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 65/2009 to be the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. It was established as a timely initiative to raise awareness of those who have been forcibly disappeared amidst increasing use of this crime against humanity, something has been systematically used against Uyghurs, in particular since a peaceful protest was brutally suppressed on 5 July 2009 in Urumqi.
On the same day as the inception of the International Day, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances came into force following the required number of signatures was reached. China has not ratified nor shown any interest in signing this vital human rights treaty which enshrines into international law the accepted standards states should adopt in regards to preventing such a human rights violation. Signing or ratifying the Convention would go some way towards showing the international community that China is serious in wanting to address and provide redress for the widespread use of enforced disappearances, as well as to illustrating a meaningful willingness to upholding the highest standards of human rights.
In March 2012, China's National People's Council passed a variety of widely-criticised amendments to its Criminal Procedure Laws, which will have drastic consequences for Uyghurs when they come into effect on 1 January 2013. WUC President Rebiya Kadeer said that, “some of these Amendments, notably Article 73, will in effect legalise the already widespread of enforced disappearances of Uyghurs. Many Uyghurs have attempted to uncover the whereabouts, condition and fate of their forcibly disappeared loved ones, but continually find their requests for information being rejected or ignored, leading to a stubborn culture of impunity.”
Although China has not signed nor ratified the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, it is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which contains many of the provisions in the Convention on Enforced Disappearances. China is also bound by international law to not undertake any measures that would run contrary to the purpose and objective of the ICCPR as a result of its signature. The passing of these Amendments to its Criminal Procedure Law is therefore in contravention to its obligations under international law.
The WUC recently published a report aiming to raise awareness of enforced disappearances of Uyghurs since the 5 July incident in Urumqi. The incident was sparked by the deaths of 17 Uyghur migrant workers in Shaoguan, South China, at the hands of their Han Chinese colleagues. The WUC noted 23 cases of Uyghurs who have been forcibly disappeared in the aftermath of the 5 July incident. Human Rights Watch reported 43 other cases in October 2009, though its Asia Director, Brad Adams, asserted that HRW's figure was “likely to be the tip of the iceberg.”
The fear of being forcibly disappeared often results in violations of other human rights due to the interconnectedness of such a human rights violation with other fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to humane conditions of detention, the right to a legal personality, right to a fair trial, right to a family life and in certain cases the right to life.
One of the cases mentioned in the WUC's report is that of Imammemet Ali, who disappeared a week after the protest commenced. Sources have come forward claiming that Imammemet has been repeatedly interrogated and tortured to the point of not being able to stand, in addition to eye-witness accounts in which a serious deterioration to his health was confirmed. the authorities have placed his family under surveillance after they sought information on his whereabouts, which remain unknown. This is one case of many that have been reported, and the WUC therefore calls on China to respond to the cases of these individuals and to provide reparation and redress to all those effected.
About the WUC
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is an international umbrella organization that represents the collective interest of the Uyghur people both in East Turkestan and abroad and promotes Uyghur human rights and a peaceful and non-violent solution based on rule of law for the conflict in East Turkestan.
-----------
Afghan insider attacks roil Nato
August 31, 2012
KABUL: The scale of insider attacks by Afghan troops against their Nato allies is unprecedented in modern warfare and threatens to derail the West’s carefully laid withdrawal plans, analysts say.
August has been the worst month for so-called green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan in more than 10 years of war, with nearly one in three international coalition deaths caused by Afghan allies.
Most of the dead are Americans, but the latest to die were three Australian troops killed by a member of the Afghan security forces in southern Uruzgan province on Wednesday.
The assaults have spiked this year, with more than 30 incidents claiming the lives of 45 coalition troops, making up about 14 per cent of the overall death toll in the war for 2012.
Analysts and officers agree that no other modern war, including those in Vietnam and Iraq, has seen so many cases of allies turning their weapons on international troops, but wrestle with the reasons for the phenomenon.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2012/08/30/afghan-insider-attacks-roil-nato/
-----------
Afghans among 54 rescued from asylum boat
August 31, 2012
MERAK: Afghans were among the 54 survivors from an asylum-seeker boat that disappeared two days ago off the Indonesian coast, but hopes of finding about 100 more missing were fading fast on Friday.
An AFP reporter on a rescue boat said he saw four Afghan survivors and a bodybag on board. They had been in the water for at least 24 hours when they were plucked to safety.
“All survivors, including three with injuries, will be taken to Merak, Indonesia, for medical attention,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.
The Australia-bound wooden boat carrying about 150 people including children sent a distress signal early on Wednesday morning. It was about eight nautical miles from the main Indonesian island of Java.
Alerted by Australia, Indonesia sent out a rescue team but 10 hours later abandoned the search. Australian authorities took it up again, and by late Thursday said 55 people had been pulled from the water.
Australian authorities revised the number of survivors down to 54 after learning one of those recovered was dead. They were handed over to Indonesian rescue teams and would be taken to the port of Merak.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2012/08/31/afghans-among-54-rescued-from-asylum-boat/
-----------
Bangladeshis Arrested, Minorities Detained in Manipur
AUG 30, 2012
At least 43 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested and over 300 minorities rounded up today during a massive combing operation in Manipur's Thoubal and Imphal East districts, police sources said.
The combing operations since the early hours at minority-dominated Lilong area in Thoubal district and Hatta area in Imphal East district under the supervision of Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) L Kailun followed reports of movement of armed ultras, the sources said.
The 43 Bangladeshis who included women and small children and entered the state in the last 15 days or between 2 to 10 years, were arrested, the sources said.
Some of the Bangladeshi nationals had married Manipuri Muslim girls and had children, they said.
A senior police officials said most of the arrested Bangladeshis told interrogators that they entered Manipur for a livelihood as they earned only Rs 2 or Rs.3 per day in their homeland.
Also rounded up were over 300 minorities from West Bengal, Silchar in Assam and Bihar from Lilong and Hatta areas during the combing, the sources said.
The minorities who entered Manipur from Indian states would be subjected to verification, they said.
They said that the Bangladeshis as well as the minorities from other Indian states were being kept at the ground of the 2nd Maniur Rifles battalion here.
Official and civil organisation sources said that many outsiders including illegal migrants might have infiltrated into Manipur following the recent violence in lower Assam, but exact figures would be known only after verification.
http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=773667
---------
Mideast Asia
Iran doubles underground nuclear capacity: UN agency
Aug 31, 2012
VIENNA: Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment machines it has in an underground bunker, a UN report said on Thursday, showing Tehran continued to defy Western pressure to stop its atomic work and the threat of Israeli attack.
In the weeks and months when Israeli politicians increased their talk of air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, the Islamic Republic was rapidly increasing the enrichment capacity of its Fordow site, buried deep underground to withstand any such hit.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its quarterly report on Iran that the number of centrifuges at Fordow, near the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Qom, about 130 km (80 miles) from the capital Tehran, had more than doubled to 2,140 from 1,064 in May.
The new machines were not yet operating, it said. Iran's supreme leader repeated this week that Iran's nuclear programme was entirely peaceful. "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a developing nations summit in Tehran.
But the expansion in enrichment infrastructure and the increasing in stockpiles of potent nuclear material revealed in the report will do nothing to allay fears or reduce the diplomatic and sanctions pressure on Iran.
The report showed that Iran had produced nearly 190 kg (418 pounds) of higher-grade enriched uranium since 2010, up from 145 kg in May.
Iran says it needs this material - which is much purer than fuel needed for electricity generation - for a medical research reactor, but it also takes it significantly closer to making potential bomb material.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iran-doubles-underground-nuclear-capacity-UN-agency/articleshow/16024826.cms
-----------
'Israeli PM tells US 'time has run out' on Iran diplomacy'
8/31/2012
Source tells 'Yediot Aharonot' that Netanyahu initiates shouting match with US Ambassador Shapiro on Obama's Iran policy. PHOTO: GPO / AMOS BEN-GERSHOM
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu got into a diplomatic shouting match with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro over US President Barack Obama's handling of Iran's nuclear program, saying "time has run out" for diplomacy, Yediot Aharonot cited a source as saying on Friday.
According to the report, which the Jerusalem Post could not independently verify, the showdown took place as Netanyahu met with Shapiro and Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, who visited Israel earlier in the week.
A source that participated in the meeting said that a particularly angry and stressed Netanyahu began a tirade against the US president, attacking him for not doing enough on Iran. "Instead of pressuring Iran in an effective way, Obama and his people are pressuring us not to attack the nuclear facilities," the source quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Angered about continued US rhetoric that diplomacy needs more time to work, Netanyahu said flatly: "Time has run out," Yediot reported.
The American ambassador is said to have responded politely but firmly, telling Netanyahu that he was distorting Obama's position. Obama promised not to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, he explained, and left all options on the table, including military options.
At that point, diplomatic sources told the paper, "sparks flew" in an escalating shouting match between Netanyahu and Shapiro as the stunned congressman watched.
Netanyahu and Obama may meet face-to-face on the sidelines of September's United Nations General Assembly meeting.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=283353
---------
Sharia banking: Germany to see its first Islamic Bank
30 August, 2012
Turkey's Kuveyt Turk investment fund, which operates under the principles of Islamic sharia law, plans to open its first German branch in October.
The first branch in Germany will be opened in Frankfurt with the assistance of Ernst & Young and the Norton Rose law firm. More branches are due to open in the near future in other German cities, particularly Berlin, the Financial Times Deutschland reported.
Sharia law bans a fixed or floating payment or acceptance of specific interest or fees on loans. The bank also buys houses and then resells it to clients for a higher price. Such banks already operate in Britain, where the Muslim community nears 3 million people.
Germany has one of the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. About 3.5 million Muslims live in Germany with 70% of them originally from Turkey.
http://rt.com/business/news/islamic-bank-open-germany-938/
-----------
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spells out Iran's N-ambitions
IAug 31, 2012
TEHRAN: The NAM summit may try to steer clear of contentious issues and even its outcome document is fairly benign. But Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei more than made up for this in his inaugural speech on Thursday morning. He said that Tehran would not seek nuclear weapons, but would not give up its quest for nuclear energy. But his emphasis on the nuclear issue and silence on the Syrian conflict might be a signal on its own.
In a blood-guts-and-gore speech Khamenei thundered, "The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical and similar weapons as a great and unforgivable sin. We proposed the idea of 'Middle East free of nuclear weapons' and we are committed to it. This does not mean forgoing our right to peaceful use of nuclear power and production of nuclear fuel. On the basis of international laws, peaceful use of nuclear energy is a right of every country."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Supreme-leader-Ayatollah-Ali-
-----------
Iran study: Water pipes as dangerous as cigarettes
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
08/30/2012
Israel Cancer Association says the tobacco for 'hookah' water pipes is irrigated with sewage water. PHOTO: BEN HARTMAN Water pipes – hookahs or nargilas – are thought by users and even many physicians to be “less dangerous” than cigarettes to the respiratory system.
They think that forcing the smoke to go through water before it reaches the lungs filters out the toxins.
But Iranian researchers at Mashhad University of Medical Science – who have just published a study on the matter in the journal Respirology – have found that nargilas are just as harmful to lung function and the respiratory system as conventional tobacco products.
Asked to comment, the Israel Cancer Association noted that most nargila tobacco is imported (or smuggled in) from Arab countries, where the tobacco crops are watered with sewage water. There is also no supervision of tobacco production by the authorities there.
The ICA added that smoke from nargilas contain tar – benzoapyrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon found in coal tar that causes mutations and is highly carcinogenic – arsenic, chromium and lead, as well as the addictive nicotine. The byproducts are mutagenic and highly carcinogenic.
Full report at:
http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=283234
---------
'Israel must alter strategy to stop Gaza terror'
08/31/2012 11:56
Home front defense minister says a new, complete deterrence strategy needed after rocket hits home in Sderot.
Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter on Friday said that Israel will have to alter its deterrence strategy vis-a-vis Gaza-based terrorism.
Dichter's comments came during a visit to the house in Sderot hit by a rocket fired from Gaza earlier in the day.
Israel cannot tolerate rockets being rained down on it, he said, stressing that Israel needs to initiate at a time of its choosing a process of devising a "complete deterrence strategy to stop the terror."
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel struck a house in the Sderot area on Friday morning.
The house sustained some damage and one person was suffering from shock as a result of the attack.
An additional rocket set off the red alert warning system in the area and is believed to have fallen in an open field in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. On Thursday night a rocket landed in the Ashkelon Coast Council area, causing no injuries or damage.
The attack marked the second time that the same Sderot home had been damaged in a rocket attack, according to Israel Radio. Security forces arrived on the scene to remove the remains of the rocket.
Full report at:
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=283358
---------
Iran showcases “nuclear martyrs” at NAM summit
SANDEEP DIKSHIT
August 31, 2012
Banners claim that three Iranian scientists’ cars were blown up by Mossad agents
Iran which is under pressure from Israel for allegedly attempting to kill one of its diplomats in New Delhi by attaching a magnet bomb to her car attempted to turn the tables at the ongoing Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit by showcasing three shattered cars in which its nuclear scientists were killed by the same modus operandi.
As one approaches the conference hall, where the summit of 120 nations is taking place, attention is instantly drawn to three pillars draped in red cloth on top of which sit the three cars alongside which banners claim that the scientists driving to work in them were blown up by Mossad agents.
Describing them as “nuclear martyrs,” an Iranian official said they had decided to adopt this approach because there was hardly any mention in the discourse on global terrorism about Israel’s attempt to derail his country’s peaceful pursuit of nuclear energy through “terrorist means.”
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3841230.ece
-----------
When Iran "ambushed" the good doctor
Aug 31, 2012
Tehran: Prime minister Manmohan Singh and his group of officials had worked hard to set up bilateral "pull-asides" with leaders of Nepal and Egypt. Certainly Egypt was very important with a new Islamist government in power after the revolution. PM was scheduled to speak only in the late afternoon.
But the Iranians had other plans. At the inaugural, they, very politely, manoeuvred him to sit at a select circle of heads of state and government, to listen to the Supreme Leader's speech that was a diatribe against the various injustices against Iran.
Then, before the Indians knew what was happening, the Iranian protocol people shepherded the PM to the dais, to sit with Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Morsi and Ban ki Moon. From the Iranian point of view, the picture was perfect. It doesn't matter what the NAM outcome document said, or the stern message the PM delivered to the Iranian leadership on the nuclear issue or on Syria.
The picture, which spoke a thousand words, had Manmohan Singh and Ahmedinejad at the same table. For a government beleaguered by international pressure, this may be a picture to treasure, a way of showing that Iran was not isolated. For the Indian side, the incident showed a couple of things -- first, that Singh continues to have a great deal of international acceptance, second, that India, for all it's non-aligned stance, is seen to be of some consequence with the west, so India's apparent "endorsement " of Iran mattered.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/When-Iran-ambushed-the-good-doctor/articleshow/16056102.cms
-----------
Nuke use a ‘sin’, but Iran won’t blink on N-power
Indrani Bagchi
Aug 31, 2012
TEHRAN: The NAM summit may try to steer clear of contentious issues and has even kept its outcome document fairly benign.
However, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei more than made up for it in his inaugural speech on Thursday morning. e said that Tehran would not seek nuclear weapons, but would not give up its quest for nuclear energy. But his emphasis on the nuclear issue and silence on the Syrian conflict might be a signal on its own.
In a blood-guts-and-gore speech Khamenei thundered , "The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical and similar weapons as a great and unforgivable sin. We proposed the idea of 'Middle East free of nuclear weapons' and we are committed to it. This does not mean forgoing our right to peaceful use of nuclear power and production of nuclear fuel. On the basis of international laws, peaceful use of nuclear energy is a right of every country."
Khamenei has maintained this position for a while, which often leads observers to believe that he and the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad are at odds with each other. But the battle for Iran's nuclear ambitions has become more than Iran seeking energy. In a country, which has the world's second largest gas reserves and is one of the top oil-producers , the quest for nuclear energy is difficult sell to the outside world.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Nuke-use-a-sin-but-Iran-wont-blink-on-N-power/articleshow/16036269.cms
-----------
Turkey demands Syria safe havens as UN meets
August 31, 2012
UNITED NATIONS: War-torn Syria’s frustrated neighbor Turkey demanded on Thursday that world powers set up refugee camps within the country to stem the massive outflow of refugees fleeing the fighting.
Syrian rebels, meanwhile, claimed to have downed a regime jet, underlining the mounting ferocity of the civil war as ministers met at the United Nations to seek ways to deal with a looming humanitarian catastrophe.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the UN Security Council to act “without delay” to set up safe havens, warning that 80,000 Syrians are already in camps in Turkey, with 4,000 crossing the border each day.
“How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?” demanded Davutoglu, slamming the Security Council’s failure to agree action on Syria.
“Let’s not forget that if we do not act against such a crime against humanity happening in front of our eyes, we become accomplices to the crime.”
The opposition Syrian National Council also renewed its call for the Security Council to impose no-fly zones on Syria to even the odds on the battlefield, where only the regime has access to air power.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/429087/turkey-demands-syria-safe-havens-as-un-meets/
---------
Arab World
Over 8,000 regime forces killed in Syria: Military hospital
Aug 30, 2012
BEIRUT: More than 8,000 members of Syria's security forces have been killed since an anti-regime uprising broke out in March 2011, the director of the Syrian capital's Tishrin military hospital said on Thursday.
"I estimate that at least 8,000 soldiers and members of the security forces have been killed since the beginning of the crisis," the director, a doctor who also holds the rank of general, told AFP on condition of not being named.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Over-8000-regime-forces-killed-in-Syria-Military-hospital/articleshow/16000639.cms
---------
Over 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria
31 August 2012
The UN Security Council said here on Thursday that more than 2.5 million people are ‘in great need ‘ of humanitarian assistance and protection inside Syria.
Soon after the Security Council meeting, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the press that this is more than double the number (UN) Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos reported earlier in March this year.
The council meeting was called by France, which holds the rotating council presidency for this month. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and British Foreign Minister William Hague attended the meeting.
Foreign ministers from Syria’s neighboring countries—Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, which were not the council members, also attended the open council meeting.
‘There are now more than 220,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey,’ This weighs heavily on local authorities and communities and risks having serious destabilizing effects’, Eliasson said.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-
-----------
Constituent Assembly to vote on sharia in Egyptian constitution
28 Aug 2012
Disputes over Article 2 of Egypt's constitution will be resolved by a vote in the Constituent Assembly, as Salafists push for a more radical interpretation of the clause
Salah Abdel-Maqsoud, member of both the Constituent Assembly which is responsible for drafting Egypt's new constitution and the Salafist Nour Party, revealed on Tuesday that the issue of Article 2, the constitutional article related to sharia, will be resolved by taking votes within the general committee of the assembly drafting Egypt's constitution.
Article 2 of Egypt's 1971 constitution states that "the principles of sharia [Islamic law]" should constitute the "principal source" of legislation in Egypt.
During the process of drafting Egypt's post-revolution constitution, this article provoked conflicts within the various formations of the Constituent Assembly, as Salafists and other Islamist voices demanded the removal of the word "principles", to make sharia the primary source of Egyptian law.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/51484/Egypt/Politics-/Constituent-
-----------
Bahrain settles compensation for 17 victims of last year unrest
30 August 2012
MANAMA — Bahrain has settled compensation for 17 victims of last year’s unrest, while cases of more than 35 others are pending until procedures are completed.
Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs and Endowments Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa told a local newspaper here that the process to compensate the victims’ relatives is in its final stages.
The country has opted to compensate families of protesters who lost their lives in clashes with security forces during unrest in February and March 2011 to bring stability back, especially in disturbed villages witnessing daily rioting and blocking of roads.
The Civil Settlement Office was created at the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments on March 18. The initiative is part of the government’s desire to award appropriate compensation to injured parties without delay.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-
-----------
Iraq asked to put a stop to death penalty
31 August 2012
Amnesty International called on Thursday for Iraq to issue a moratorium on its use of the death penalty and commute all death sentences after Baghdad said it had executed 26 people this week.
The executions, which brought to at least 96 the number of people executed this week, were a “significant and worrying increase compared to the previous year” when at least 68 people were executed, the London-based rights group said in a statement.
“Many trials of those sentenced to death failed to meet international standards for fair trials, including that ‘confessions’ obtained under torture or other ill-treatment had been used as evidence against them,” it said. “Some Iraqi television stations continue to broadcast self-incriminating testimonies of detainees even before the opening of a trial, undermining the fundamental right of defendants to be considered innocent until proven guilty.”
“Amnesty International is urging the Iraqi authorities to refrain from using the death penalty, commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment and declare a moratorium on executions,” the statement said.
Iraq executed 21 people, including three women and one Saudi national, on Monday, and five more people, including a Syria national, on Wednesday, a justice ministry spokesman said.
The country has carried out several other mass executions this year, including one in which 14 people were put to death on February 7, and another in which 17 were executed on January 31.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed shock earlier this year at the number of executions calling for an immediate suspension of the death penalty.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-
-----------
Egypt leader said to reach out to Sinai radicals Islamists
By Maggie Michael
August 31, 2012
CAIRO – Egypt's Islamist president is using former jihadists to mediate with radical Islamists in Sinai, trying to ensure a halt in militant attacks in return for a stop in a military offensive in the lawless peninsula, participants in the talks say.
The move marks a dramatic change from the iron fist policy of heavy crackdowns and waves of arrests under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, which critics say only fueled support for militancy among Sinai's Bedouin population by subjecting them to torture and other abuses. But the dialogue and any possible truce could raise concerns in neighboring Israel, which has been targeted in cross-border militant attacks and has urged Egypt to stamp out the groups.
The dialogue also raised concerns among some in Egypt that it would give a de facto recognition to some of the most hard-core, fringe Islamist movements, which have gained followers in Sinai and in other parts of the country. The mediation attempt shows a willingness by President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood figure who became Egypt's first freely elected leader, to use his Islamist credentials to deal with such groups in hopes of keeping them away from violence.
Full report at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-08-28/egypt-sinai-islamists/57379832/1
-----------
Eight children among Idlib airstrike victims
31 August 2012
AMMAN: Eight children and nine women were among at least 20 people killed as government forces bombarded the Idlib region of northwest Syria yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The monitoring group said troops shelled the Abu Zohur area of Idlib after the opposition's claims of having seized control of its airport and shooting down a MiG warplane in fierce clashes with the military.
Activists posted videos online showing people combing through rubble for bodies.
Fighters earlier seized control of part of the airport, which they say has been used to bomb local areas, according to the Observatory.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/eight-children-among-idlib-airstrike-victims
-----------
US reporter held by Syrian forces: employers
31 August 2012
WASHINGTON: An American freelance journalist whose whereabouts in Syria were unknown for more than two weeks is being held by the Syrian government, his employers said Thursday.
The Washington Post, citing diplomatic sources, said that Austin Tice, 31, was detained near the Damascus suburb of Daraya, where activists say forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad massacred hundreds of people last week.
Czech Ambassador to Syria Eva Filipi, who has overseen US interests in Syria since the US embassy was closed in February, told a Czech television station on Monday that the reporter was “detained by government forces on the outskirts of Damascus, where the rebels were fighting government troops.”
Tice wrote for the Post and McClatchy Newspapers, among other publications, and both outlets called for his prompt release.
“We’re investigating reports that Austin Tice is in the custody of Syrian authorities,” Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli said in a statement.
“If the reports are true, we urge these authorities to release him promptly, unharmed. Journalists should never be detained for doing their work, even — and especially — in difficult circumstances.”
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/us-reporter-held-syrian-forces-employers
-----------
West mulls military action amid UN inaction on Syria aid crisis
31 August 2012
UNITED NATIONS: A UN Security Council meeting on Syria’s aid crisis achieved nothing new on Thursday except to highlight global paralysis on the 17-month conflict as western powers warned that military action to secure civilian safe zones was still an option.
While the Security Council impasse between western nations and Russia and China means a resolution to approve such a move appears impossible, countries could act outside the authority of the world body and intervene, as happened in Kosovo in 1999.
“How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu asked the Security Council.
“I was expecting this meeting to produce tangible solutions to the suffering of the Syrian people,” he said. “We don’t have anything new to say to thousands of Syrians who suffer at the hands of the regime as the UN is entrapped by inaction.”
The meeting produced neither a resolution nor a statement approved by the 15 Security Council members.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/west-mulls-military-action-amid-un-inaction-syria-aid-crisis
-----------
A Syrian army deserter tells his story
31 August 2012
REYhanli, Turkey: From a safe house in Turkey, working his way through one cigarette after another, Hassan Abu Ali told how he escaped from Syria — and his conscripted post as a junior army officer.
“It was a miracle!” he said, in perfect French.
Hassan, 37, owes his French to an eight-year stay in France, where he studied literature in Paris and in Clermont Ferrand, central France, where he completed a doctorate in literature.
“Eight years of freedom,” is how he recalls it.
On his return to Syria in 2009, however, despite his age and his position as an assistant professor at Aleppo University, in the north, he could not escape the obligatory period of military service.
After six months of training — “extremely hard,” he said — he was assigned to the army’s Third Reserve Infantry Brigade, based in Damascus and under the orders of the presidential office.
Its main mission, he said, was to protect the capital.
“It was nothing but bullying and ill treatment,” he said.
“We lived in appalling conditions, with disgusting food, non-existent medical care,” said Hassan.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/syrian-army-deserter-tells-his-story
-----------
Rebels, Syrian troops clash in Aleppo: Activists
August 31, 2012
Activists say rebels are attacking several security compounds in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one of Friday’s attacks targeted a compound in the neighbourhood of Zahraa, killing and wounding a number of troops. It gave no figures.
Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said rebels are attacking four security buildings around Syria’s largest city, using rocket launchers and machine guns.
Rebels took parts of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, last month. Since then, government forces have been trying to recapture them.
Activists estimate more than 20,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime began more than 17 months ago, turning into a civil war.
There has been fighting all over the country, including the capital, Damascus.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3844253.ece
-----------
North America
US imposes sanctions on 26/11 mastermind, 7 other LeT leaders
Aug 31, 2012
TAMPA(FLORIDA): The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba's top eight commanders, including 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack mastermind Sajid Mir and its founder Hafiz Saeed's son.
Announcing the sanctions , the US said LeT, despite being designated as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2002, continues to "operate in Pakistan" and throughout the region and engage in terrorist activities worldwide.
"LeT has conducted numerous terrorist acts against Pakistani, Indian, Afghan and US interests and is responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans, and the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 180 people," the department of treasury said.
Besides Mir, other LeT leaders slapped with sanctions are Abdullah Mujahid, Ahmed Yaqub, Hafiz Khalid Walid, Qari Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, Amir Hamza, Abdullah Muntazir, and Talha Saeed, the son of LeT leader Saeed. The sanctions forbid US individuals and companies from undertaking any transactions with the eight and freezes any assets they may have in the US.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-imposes-sanctions-on-26/11-mastermind-7-other-LeT-leaders/articleshow/16036526.cms
-----------
Islamophobes discover “DNC Muslim Prayer Jihad”?
Sheila Musaji
August 29, 2012
A group called the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA) http://muslimbureau.com/ is hosting an event prior to the DNC called Jumah at the DNC: A Message to the Grassroots on Friday August 31, with other events over the week-end. The Jumah prayer will be at Marshall Park near the convention center. Imam Siraj Wahhaj will lead the prayer, and later there will be an Islamic Leadership Banquet featuring Sh. Muhammad Adly and Captain James Yee as speakers. The organizers of the event are Imam Siraj Wahhaj and Jibril Hough.
Here is the information from the BIMA site:
The Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs, (BIMA) as a non-profit organization is designed to serve and facilitate the efforts of Islamic organizations and Institutions in their endeavors as well as spread awareness about Indigenous Muslim issues. BIMA is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey and also operates a Da’wa and Resource Center in Brooklyn, New York at Masjid Kawthar. BIMA also provides numerous services to the Muslim community and support groups in areas of education, counseling and social services.
Full report at:
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/jumah-at-the-dnc/0019322
-----------
USA sick and tired of enduring freedom in Afghanistan
30.08.2012
The situation in Afghanistan has completely gone out of control of the coalition forces. Taliban fighters organize public executions of the locals; the trafficking of human organs is flourishing in the country; the drug trafficking is breaking all records. It was said that foreign forces would be withdrawn in 2014. Experts assure us that it will be beneficial for both the U.S. and Afghanistan.
It has been announced recently that the Pentagon decided to bring to justice the soldiers who took part in the burning of the Quran and filmed the abuse of the bodies of killed Talibs. American servicemen burnt the Quran and other religious texts in February 20, 2012. The video that shows the desecration of the bodies of Talib fighters, was uploaded on YouTube in January of 2012. Now it became known that the soldiers involved in the above-mentioned incident were brought to disciplinary action.
Full report at:
http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/30-08-2012/122028-
-----------
Pentagon threatens legal action over SEAL's Osama bin Laden book
Aug 31, 2012
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon warned on Thursday that it was considering legal action against a former US Navy SEAL for material breach of non-disclosure agreements with his first-hand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
In a letter obtained by Reuters, and subsequently released by the Pentagon, the Pentagon's top attorney said the Department of Defense was also considering legal action against anyone "acting in concert" with the author. It hinted that the book's royalties might be subject to government claims.
The letter, addressed to "Mark Owen," the pseudonym under which the book was written, identified two separate non-disclosure agreements he signed with the Navy that legally committed him to never divulge classified information, which is a crime.
"You are in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements you signed," said the letter by Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon's General Counsel.
"The Department of Defense is considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us in light of this situation."
The author may have hoped to publish the book anonymously but his identity as Matt Bissonnette was quickly revealed and confirmed independently by Reuters. It was unclear how many others the Pentagon may consider legally culpable, given the broad language in Johnson's letter.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Pentagon-threatens-legal-action-over-SEALs-Osama-bin-Laden-book/articleshow/16049254.cms
-----------
Sajid Mir linked to transcontinental LeT strikes
PRAVEEN SWAMI
August 31, 2012
He recruited 4 Virginia-based operatives to monitor U.S. target sites’
The U.S. Treasury statement, announcing sanctions on eight top Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders, including Sajid Mir, recalls his long association with transcontinental LeT strikes.
“After September 11, 2001, Mr. Mir recruited four Virginia-based operatives, cleared them for LeT’s militant training, and directed them to monitor and research U.S. target sites.”
Ahmad Yakub, head of the Lashkar’s maritime operations unit and one of the former handlers of the incarcerated Pakistani-American jihadist David Headley, has also been sanctioned. Mr. Yakub, the Treasury states, served until last year as the Lashkar’s chief for operations run through Nepal and Bangladesh — among them, a 2009 plot to ship 60,000 rounds of ammunition into India.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3841234.ece
-----------
MN Seeks Probe of Suspicious Fire at Minneapolis Mosque
August 30, 2012
(MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 8/30/12) – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a suspicious fire outside a mosque in South Minneapolis.
On Tuesday, August 21, a car owned by a Somali Muslim parked outside the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center was set on fire. Mosque leaders say that video surveillance shows that the arsonist spent an hour throwing burning material in the direction of the mosque before setting the car on fire.
“In light of recent hate incidents nationwide, we urge law enforcement officials to review the surveillance video and determine whether the mosque was the intended target of the arson,” said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya.
She noted that in 2006, arsonists set fire to the same mosque, causing smoke damage and burning religious texts stored there.
Full report at:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/cair/cair-mn-seeks-probe-of-suspicious-fire-at-
-----------
End NYPD's dubious spying on Muslims
August 29, 2012
New Yorkers recently learned how many terrorism investigations have resulted from the controversial NYPD surveillance operation that included spying in neighborhoods where Muslims live, eavesdropping on their conversations and infiltrating mosques: zero. If the New York Police Department is going to engage in practices that potentially trample civil liberties, the information gathered should at least be useful in preventing terrorism.
The NYPD Demographics Unit has been monitoring Muslim communities in the city, on Long Island and elsewhere for years. But a June 28 deposition by NYPD Assistant Chief Thomas Galati, which was unsealed last week, provided the first official glimpse of the secretive operation. Galati was questioned in a lawsuit challenging the spying as a violation of a 1985 court-monitored agreement that set federal guidelines prohibiting the surveillance of political activity when there is no indication of unlawful activity.
Police had hoped the demographics unit would become an early warning system for terrorism. But Galati conceded that in the six years he has commanded the NYPD Intelligence Division, he never got a single lead from a demographics unit report and none of the conversations the officers overheard has ever led to a terrorism investigation.
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorial-end-nypd-s-dubious-spying-on-muslims-1.3936104
-----------
Federal judge allows Murfreesboro mosque opponents to intervene
Aug 30, 2012
A federal judge in Nashville ruled Wednesday to allow opponents of a Murfreesboro mosque to have a say in the religious freedom case involving the building.
Judge Kevin Sharp decided the group of neighbors has a legitimate interest in the case. An emergency ruling by a different federal judge last month overruled the neighbors’ victory in Chancery Court that would have halted construction of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.
Sharp put strict limits on the issues the mosque opponents will be allowed to address in court.
They can address whether the Chancery Court’s order violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. They cannot address unproven accusations that mosque members have ties to terrorists.
Neighbors fought the Islamic center in state court for two years. During that time construction was ongoing and last week the mosque received its final certificate of occupancy and opened for services.
Full report at:
http://www.tennessean.com/viewart/20120830/NEWS01/308300046/Federal-judge-allows-
-----------
The Imam and the Forty Thieves… from Bank Robber to Jihadist
Daniel Greenfield
Aug 29th, 2012
Like a lot of Muslim convert Jihadis, Imam Abu Taubah is one of the most colorful terrorist characters around. Formerly known as Marcus Dwayne Robertson, he was a leader of a Muslim gang of Brooklyn bank robbers known as the Forty Thieves.
Now, via Jihad Watch, there’s more on the Imam of the Forty Thieves.
New court documents show a central Florida Imam is suspected of being involved in a travel network to send people overseas to commit violent jihad or holy war.
He’s a former prayer leader of the Masjid Al-Ihsaan mosque in East Orange County. Federal agents said the Imam is really convicted felon Marcus Dwayne Robertson.
According to documents, during a recorded call, Jimenez told a confidential government source that Robertson told him “it was permissible or obligatory to kill members of the armed forces, specifically generals” and that Robertson showed him what a general’s stars look like.
Jimenez also was recorded saying Robertson told him suicide bombings were “permissible,” according to documents.
And here’s a little more background on the Imam and the Forty Thieves.
The “Forty Thieves” robbed more than 10 banks, private homes, and post offices at gun point, and members shot three police officers, attacking one officer after he was shot with an improvised explosive device constructed from PVC.
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/the-imam-and-the-forty-thieves-from-bank-robber-to-jihadist/
-----------
Islamist Group Sparks Controversy With Event Preceeding Democratic Convention
29 AUGUST 2012
BY FERN SIDMAN
According to the published itinerary of the upcoming Democratic National Convention to be held next week in Charlotte, North Carolina, 20,000 Muslims are expected to an event in advance of the convention itself, called “Jumah at the DNC” that is being sponsored by the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA).
BIMA is a national Muslim-American non-profit group that seeks status with the United Nations as a recognized non-governmental organization (NGO).
The Charlotte Observer reports that the event will kick off on August 31 with a Friday afternoon jumah prayer service (Friday is traditionally a day for special communal prayers in Muslim communities) in Marshall Park in uptown Charlotte, followed by an Islamic issues conference that will address such topics as “Islamophobia,” “Anti-Shariah,” “Middle Eastern Crisis,” “The Patriot Act,” “The National Defense Authorization Act” and more. The gathering will be capped off with the Islamic Regal Banquet and an Islamic cultural festival. The purpose, according to BIMA, is to attract national and international attention to the plight of American Muslims and to hold political parties accountable for issues that affect them.
At a press conference early this month, Jibril Hough, the spokesman for BIMA and a local activist said, “Thousands of Muslims are going to perform the Friday ritual prayer. We hope our people will leave feeling rewarded about who they are and what their issues are and have a candidate checklist.”
Full report at:
http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1861:islamist-
-----------
Man who trained for 'violent jihad' in Central Florida pleads guilty
By Amy Pavuk and Jeff Weiner
August 28, 2012
A man accused of moving to Central Florida so he could train to commit acts of radical Islamic terrorism told a federal judge Tuesday he never intended to carry out plans of violence he discussed with an informant.
Jonathan Paul Jimenez, a 28-year-old with a ninth-grade education, is accused of participating in a "travel facilitation network" that sends people overseas to commit "violent jihad."
He and co-defendant Marcus Dwayne Robertson were indicted by federal prosecutors in Orlando earlier this year on charges of falsifying income tax documents. Jimenez was also indicted on a count of lying to federal authorities.
On Tuesday, Jimenez pleaded guilty to both charges.
"I'm willing to accept full responsibility for my actions, sir," Jimenez told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Kelly.
Full report at:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-08-28/news/os-terrorist-plot-orlando-plea-20120828_1_informant-guilty-plea-jihad
-----------
Three dead in New Jersey supermarket as gunman opens fire
August 31, 2012
OLD BRIDGE, NEW JERSEY: Three people, including a gunman, were killed following a shootout in a supermarket in New Jersey on Friday.
A law enforcement official was quoted as saying by The Associated Press that the shooting happened early Friday inside a Pathmark grocery store in Old Bridge, a suburb about 25 miles from New York. The store was closed at the time.
http://dawn.com/2012/08/31/three-dead-in-new-jersey-supermarket-as-gunman-opens-fire/
-----------
South America
Brazil Allows Men to Marry Multiple Wives
Tom McGregor
Aug 28, 2012
Apparently, Sharia Law (Islamic rules) has spread to the predominantly Catholic country of Brazil. A Brazilian judge has ruled that men are legally permitted to marry more than one woman at a time.
The BBC News reports that, “a notary in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has sparked controversy by accepting a civil union between three people.”
Claudia do Nascimento Dominques, public notary, has declared the man and his two wives deserves entitlement to family rights. She contends that there is nothing in the law to prevent and arrangement of Sharia Law.
According to the BBC, “but the move has angered some religious groups, while one lawyer described it as ‘absurd and totally illegal.’”
Globo TV disclosed that the union had been formalized three months ago, but only became public this week.
To read the entire article from the BBC News, link here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19402508
http://www.dallasblog.com/201208281009348/dallas-blog/brazil-allows-men-to-marry-multiple-wives.html
---------
Europe
France's suburbs "separate Islamic societies"
AUGUST 27, 2012
France's decrepit city suburbs are becoming 'separate Islamic societies' cut off from the state, according to a major new study that examines the spread of Islam in France.
Muslim immigrants are increasingly rejecting French values and identity and instead are immersing themselves in Islam, according to the report, which also warns that Islamic Sharia law is rapidly displacing French civil law in many parts of suburban Paris.
The 2,200-page report -- that's equal to at least five books, and must have kept dozens of think tankers off the dole for a year -- seems to describe the situation candidly.
? The authors of the report show that France, which has between five and six million Muslims (France has the largest Muslim population in European Union), is on the brink of a major social explosion because of the failure of Muslims to integrate into French society.
? Seine-Saint-Denis, which the report describes as a "wasteland of de-industrialization," is home to more than 600,000 Muslims (primarily from North and West Africa) out of a total population of 1.4 million.
"In some areas, a third of the population of the town does not hold French nationality, and many residents are drawn to an Islamic identity," the report says.
? Islamic values are replacing those of a French Republic which has failed to deliver on its promise of "equality," the report says, and the residents of the suburbs increasingly do not see themselves as French.
Full report at:
http://reflight.blogspot.in/2012/08/report-frances-suburbs-separate-
-----------
Nazism to 'Salafism': Islamists Threaten Germany
By Erick Stakelbeck
August 30, 2012
MUNICH - From Nazism to communism, Germany has seen its share of radical ideologies over the years. Now the nation faces a new threat: Salafism.
It's an extreme brand of Islam that preaches hatred of Christians and Jews. As CBN News discovered recently, Salafism is growing in Western Europe's most populous country.
The Salafist Movement
In June, 1,000 police fanned out across Germany. They targeted the homes, schools, and mosques of Salafi Muslims.
Salafis model themselves after Islam's prophet, Mohammed, and his followers and strictly follow Islamic sharia law.
Their ideology encourages violent jihad and is shared by al Qaeda and many other Islamic terror groups. It's now taking hold among a small but growing number of Germany's 4.3 million Muslims.
"We have a really dynamic growing Salafi scene," German journalist Franz Feyder said. "Some of the security officers tell us that we have about 5,000 Salafis in Germany."
Feyder follows Germany's Salafi scene closely.
"The Salafi movement in Germany is creating an environment for violence and radicalization," he told CBN News. "Not every Salafist is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Salafist."
That includes the gunman who murdered two U.S. soldiers and injured two more in an attack in Frankfurt last year, not to mention dozens of other German Muslims that have been arrested on terrorism charges since 9/11.
Full report at:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/August/Nazism-to-Salafism-Islamists-Threaten-Germany/
--------
Africa
Mali's rebel Ansar Dine says ready for talks on northern town Kidal rule
2012-8-30
BAMAKO, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Mali's rebel Ansar Dine says it is ready to talk with the government over the administration of Kidal, one of the key northern towns seized months ago after a military coup in the West African country.
The speaker of Kidal regional assembly, Homeny Belco Maiga, told Xinhua on Wednesday that currently, "the main demand of Ansar Dine is to discuss with the Malian government on the kind of administration that is supposed to be set up in northern Mali's Kidal region."
Belco Maiga was the head of a delegation of the Coalition for Mali which visited Kidal on Aug. 17-24. The coalition also went to Gao and Timbuktu, the other two key towns which fell into the hands days after the March 22 military coup.
"The Ansar Dine officials have requested to hold talks with the government and they insisted that they had never refused to engage in dialogue. According to them, this was the first time that Malians had come to really engage them as brothers," he said.
"Their main demand is to discuss with the current Malian government on a number of parameters: the kind of administration to be set up in Kidal, the kind of a judicial system that takes into account sharia (Islamic law) which should be used in the region and the developmental needs for Kidal," he said, noting that in the opinion of his coalition, Ansar Dine officials did not have separatist ideas.
Regarding the application of sharia law, the head of the Kidal regional assembly said Ansar Full report at:
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=92206
-----------
Tunisia democratic activists fear a tilt toward militant Islam
By Jeffrey Fleishman
August 30, 2012
Fundamentalist Islamists in Tunisia try to exert influence on the country as it moves unsteadily toward democracy.
SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia — Bearded and sweaty, they pressed in, their faces shining in the shadow and light beneath billowing tunics hanging for sale outside a mosque. The sun edged higher. A veiled woman hurried past and a boy stepped closer to listen to men complain about no jobs in fields or factories, no water in thousands of homes.
"I didn't trust the old government and I don't trust the new one. They lie. I trust in another revolution," said Khalid Ahmedi, his disgust sharpening as shopkeepers slipped past him to pray. "The constitution must be based on the Koran and our prophet. I say to the enemies of Tunisia: We are the sons of Osama bin Laden."
In this town where a fruit seller set himself on fire and inspired uprisings that swept the Arab world, men quote scripture to ease the ills around them. Tunisia has been regarded as a model for its relatively smooth shift from generations of autocratic rule toward democracy. But even as the downfall of President Zine el Abidine ben Ali in 2011 revived political discourse, it roused deep-seated strands of puritanical Islam that are challenging civil freedoms.
Full report at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tunisia-transition-20120831,0,2582445.story
-----------
Unesco urges end to attacks on Libyan Sufi mosques, graves
Aug 30, 2012
PARIS: The United Nations cultural agency Unesco has urged Libyan authorities to protect Sufi mosques and shrines under repeated attack by hardline Islamists who consider the traditional mystical school of Islam heretical.
Unesco director-general Irina Bokova said late on Tuesday the attacks, which have wrecked mosques in at least three cities and desecrated many graves of revered Sufi scholars, "must be halted if Libyan society is to complete its transition to democracy".
Libya's interior minister said on Tuesday he would not risk a clash with the armed men carrying out the sectarian assaults, in an unusually candid admission of the scale of the security challenge facing the country.
The League of Libyan Ulema, a group of more than 200 Muslim scholars, on Tuesday evening blamed the attacks on a son of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Saadi, and his Libyan Salafi allies it said were inspired by radical Saudi preachers.
"This group has repeatedly attempted to undermine the stability of our country," it said. Niger, where Saadi Gaddafi took refuge after his father was overthrown, has refused to extradite him despite requests from Tripoli.
Sufi theologian Aref Ali Nayed said Libya had not seen such attacks for centuries. "Even Mussolini's fascists did not treat our spiritual heritage with such contempt," he said, referring to Italy's occupation of Libya from 1911 until World War II.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Unesco-urges-end-to-attacks-on-Libyan-Sufi-mosques-graves/articleshow/16004792.cms
-----------
Mali crisis blights children's lives, more aid needed
30 Aug 2012
By Megan Rowling
LONDON (AlertNet) - Children in Mali are at growing risk of severe hunger, disease and recruitment by militant groups amid drought-induced food shortages and widening conflict, aid experts are warning.
Valerie Amos, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the international community has not yet donated enough to ease the emergency in the West African country.
“Children's lives are being blighted by a nutritional crisis which we have the knowledge and capacity to address, but we lack the funds to do everything that is needed,” said the U.N. aid chief, who is visiting Mali. “We are saving lives here, but we must do more.”
The United Nations has appealed for $213.8 million for the humanitarian response in Mali, but has so far received only 46 percent of what it needs, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Activities to provide clean water, hygiene, sanitation, education and healthcare are severely under-funded, it added.
Aid workers say 4.6 million Malians are affected by the hunger crisis, including 175,000 children who face life-threatening severe malnutrition.
Millions more people across the Sahel region of West Africa are also experiencing food shortages, brought on by a drought last year that reduced harvests. Parts of some countries, including Mali, Niger and Senegal, have also been hit by destructive floods in recent weeks.
At the same time, Mali is mired in conflict and political turmoil, which has uprooted almost 443,000 people.
Full report at:
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/mali-crisis-blights-childrens-lives-more-aid-needed-agencies
-----------
South Africa charges 270 miners with murder of fellow workers
AAug 31, 2012
JOHANNESBURG: Some 270 miners were charged on Thursday with the murders of 34 striking colleagues who were shot and killed by South African police officers, authorities said, a development that could further infuriate South Africans already shocked and angered by the police action.
The decision to charge the miners comes under an arcane Roman-Dutch common cause law, and it suggests President Jacob Zuma's government wants to shift blame for the killings from police to the striking miners.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Frank Lesenyego said that "it's the police who were shooting but they were under attack by the protesters, who were armed, so today the 270 accused are charged with the murders" of those who were shot.
More than 150 of the arrested miners have filed complaints that they have been beaten up in police cells by officers, the Independent Police Complaints Directorate reported earlier this week.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/South-Africa-charges-270-miners-
----------
Southeast Asia
Haj preparations for Filipino pilgrims stepped up
31 August 2012
The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) in Manila has stepped up efforts to ensure smooth pilgrimage for Filipino Muslims who are performing Haj in the Kingdom this year, according to Consul General Uriel Norman Garibay of the Consulate General in Jeddah.
“The NCMF wants to ensure that everything will be smooth when the pilgrims come to the Kingdom to perform Haj. We expect some 6,000 pilgrims to come,” Garibay told Arab News on Wednesday. He said the number was up 50 percent from 4,000 last year.
NCMF Secretary Mehol Sadain is the head of the Philippine delegation (amirul haj) this year.
Last year, Filipino pilgrims encountered problems including unavailability of visas, overcrowding in accommodations, and the fact that accommodations were far from Haram (Grand Mosque) in Makkah.
Garibay said that NCMF Commissioner Edilwasif Baddiri is currently in the Kingdom to meet with the service provider Al-Makarem, owned by Nayef Al-Arif, to make sure that Filipino pilgrims will have sufficient food and comfortable accommodations. He arrived on Monday and is scheduled to leave on Sept. 6.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/haj-preparations-filipino-pilgrims-stepped
----------
Jakarta Sees Continued Decline in Newcomer Arrival After Idul Fitri
Lenny Tristia Tambun | August 31, 2012
The Jakarta administration said this year’s number of post Idul Fitri newcomers to the capital dropped slightly from last year, representing a decreasing trend that officials say is the result of growing industrialization outside of Jakarta, and anti-migration campaigns.
There was almost an 8 percent decrease in newcomers to Jakarta this year — an additional 47,832 people returned with this year’s mudik, or holiday exodus, a common pattern of migration where Jakartans presumably bring relatives back to the capital with them.
Last year the figure stood at 51,805 newcomers.
Purba Hutapea, the head of the Jakarta population agency, said on Friday the recent figure was calculated from the difference between those who left the capital before Idul Fitri, which was 6,004,344, and the number arriving after the holiday, which was 6,052,176.
“We obtained the data from exit and entrance points of passengers, such as bus terminals, train stations, ports, airports and toll gates. We’ve partnered with the Jakarta Police for this,” Purba said.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/jakarta-sees-continued-decline-in-newcomer-arrival-after-idul-fitri/541502
----------
Densus 88 Arrests Suspected Terrorist in Raid
Yuli Krisna & Farouk Arnaz | August 31, 2012
Bandung. National Police counterterrorism unit Densus 88 raided a home in Bandung on Thursday and arrested a suspected terrorist, police said.
The raid, which occurred at 12:30 a.m., took place at a home that doubles as an office belonging to software company Jagadata Informatika, located at the Binamarga housing complex in the Arcamanik subdistrict.
Arcamanik Police chief I Ketut Adi Purnama identified the suspect arrested in the raid as Maman Kurniawan, said to be a computer expert from Karawang, West Java.
“We have reason to believe it is part of a terrorist network,” Ketut said.
Ketut said investigators seized two computers belonging to the suspect and a book titled “Perang Akhir Jaman,” or “End of Days War.”
A Densus 88 source told the Jakarta Globe that Maman, who also goes by the name Ashaburayatisud, is linked to terrorism suspect Rizki Gunawan.
“We suspect that [Maman] is a hacker,” the source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/densus-88-arrests-suspected-terrorist-in-raid/541344
--------
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/gujarat-riots-maya-kodnani,-babu/d/8500