100 killed in Syria tank assault during the last 24 hours
'Baloch madrasa students cultivating poppy in Afghanistan'
Saudi Women Must Ask Salesmen in Lingerie Store for Intimate Wear
Libya Denies Report Gaddafi's Son Khamis Killed by NATO
Kenya drought: Starvation claims 14 lives in Turkana
Syria violence: 'At least 2,000 killed', says US
China vows to show no mercy in restive Xinjiang
Bali bomb suspect to be repatriated from Pakistan ‘soon’
UNSC meet, chaired by India, condemns Syria crackdown
Norway attacker got help to purchase equipment: Lawyer
Hunt for the “fifth column” could be the beginning of the end for Libya’s rebels
Gaddafi seeks Islamist allies, rebels nab fuel tanker
CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Iowa Mosque Vandalism
Muslim Countries Financing Jihad in Spain
Visiting Jamaat chief blames US for Pakistan’s woes
China to boost ‘anti-terrorism’ forces after attacks
Israel to limit Al-Aqsa access Friday
Fearing attack, Pak moves away warships from Karachi
Two Bahraini female prisoners on hunger strike: Amnesty
Egypt press gasps at images of fallen ‘Pharaoh’
Chris Christie slams fear mongering over Shariah law
Islamist parties in Bangladesh accuse teacher of blasphemy
Italian Hijab fashion online soon!
How Islamic punk went from fiction to reality
Indonesia expects Bali bomb suspect home ‘soon’
Turkey appoints military heads aftershock resignations
BBC journalist Shaimaa Khalil released in Cairo
Amnesty International 2011 Report on Yemen
Arab awakening and western media: Time for a new revolutionary discourse
Israeli police deploy in force for Ramadan
Arabs move to drum up UN support for Palestinians
Philippine President Benigno Aquino meets Muslim rebels
Saudi prince wins libel damages over Independent story
Mubarak's 'not guilty plea' becomes hit ringtone in Egypt
Indo-Pak talks are encouraging: Mullen
Mullah Omar, al-Zawahiri not hiding in Balochistan: Pak CM
Afghanistan ready to include Pakistan in Taliban dialogue
Chacha Pakistani reaches Sukkur, but no one welcomes him
Terror tag for dowry killings
Embattled Syrian Prez opens door for oppn. political parties
Virginia Tech issues lockdown after ‘gunman’ seen on campus
US gears up to fight home-grown jihadis
13/7 blast suspect held in W Bengal
FIA’s anti-terror wing to grill Karachi suspects: Malik
Iraqi security forces harassing media: watchdog
Shoura member wants minimum wage for Saudis fixed
Hamas lawmaker, 770 Palestinian prisoners freed
Prosecutor says Norway terrorist holding back info
Aspects of Islamic faith — 111: Fasting has its own special level
650,000 children acutely malnourished in Somalia
12 Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh militants acquitted
Al-Qaida still remains a threat to US: Panetta
Survivor says around 100 died on Libya refugee boat
Pallone introduces resolution on Kashmiri Pandits in US House
Haqqani Network Growing Stronger at the Expense of the Tehrik-e-Taliban
Mauritania Confronts Structural Problems as It Steps Up Counterterrorism Efforts
Afghan Taliban statement seeks legitimacy for Islamic emirate
A History of Islamist Militancy in Pakistani Punjab
Syrian siege of Hama raises humanitarian concerns
What the Qur’an teaches: God in heaven and on earth
Translator of the Qur’an in English, French and German
What the Qur'an teaches: Concerning the truth about Jesus
Nepalese Muslims pray for tolerance during Ramadan
‘Malays less sensitive on corruption than Chinese’
Clinton Islamic group reports vandalism
Foreign states host Iran Qur'anic week
Razavi Festival Spreads Islamic and Shia Culture
Sharjah Museums Dept hosts over 750 students
Tolerance and diversity: America’s Achilles heel
Dargah Jihad o Shahadat president dies of heart attack
Jordanian woman Files against Israel’s ambassador
Turkish groups cancel iftar programs to send aid to Africa
With Arab Spring in full bloom, Jordan’s jihadists look to turn new leaf
Pakistan, US headed for showdown over n-arms, warns daily
Every effort to be made for Karachi’s law and order: Malik
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/100-killed-syria-tank-assault/d/5192
---------
100 killed in Syria tank assault during the last 24 hours
New York Times
Aug 05 2011
Beirut : The Syrian military forces that rolled into the city of Hama and occupied its central square have killed more than 100 people over the past 24 hours, according to rights activists in satellite communication with people in the city.
The military’s assault on the city, a linchpin of the five-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, represents one of the fiercest efforts yet to crush the uprising and a signal of Assad’s defiance in the face of international condemnation.
With foreign journalists barred from the country, activists have been the main source of information on the crackdowns and casualties.
Landlines, cellphones, Internet, electricity and water remained cut for the second consecutive day. Satellite connections offered perhaps the only route to get information. Activists said they feared the near total media blackout would allow the military to pursue an unrestrained assault. Their fear was deepened by the painful legacy of Hama, where Assad’s father Hafez crushed an uprising in 1982 out of sight of the world, leaving 10,000 people dead and parts of the city leveled.
Other activists spoke of a critical shortage in basic food staples and medical equipment. Hama has been surrounded since Sunday, and cars trying to carry food into the city have been attacked, according to reports.
Saleh al-Hamawi, an activist with the Local Coordination Committee which helps organise and document protests, said via satellite phone that forces started shelling the city in the early hours of Thursday and that it has been sporadic since then.
“We are facing a food and medical crisis,” said Hamawi. “People are borrowing food from neighbours.”
A Thursday morning post on the official Syrian Revolution Facebook page said heavy gunfire could be heard across the city and armed men loyal to the government had occupied private hospitals and snipers took positions on their rooftops. It also said that hospitals were suffering from shortages of basic supplies including fuel for generators.
Activists also said that at least 1,000 families had fled Hama since Sunday.
In a further sign of Assad’s deepening isolation abroad, the president of Russia — a close Syria ally — criticised him in unusually blunt terms. The criticism by Dmitri A Medvedev, in an interview with Russia radio and television from the resort of Sochi, came a day after Russia joined with other members of the UNSC in rebuking Assad.
“He needs to urgently carry out reforms, reconcile with the opposition, restore peace and set up a modern state,” Medvedev said. “If he fails to do this, he will face a sad fate.” NADA BAKRI
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/100-killed-in-syria-tank-assault/827393/
---------
'Baloch madrassa students cultivating poppy in Afghanistan'
Aug 05 2011
Kabul : Hundreds of madrassa students from Chaman and the adjoining tribal regions of Balochistan are reportedly being engaged by Afghan farmers for poppy cultivation in the two major heroin-producing provinces of Helmand and Kandahar for the past three months.
Local sources said these Pakistani madrassa students make a beeline for Taliban strongholds to make some money during their summer holidays, which start from the first week of June.
“It is a source of easy money for madrassa students,” a local social worker of Ziarat who is well acquainted with many in the poppy harvesting workforce, said, adding: Each student makes around15 to 20 dollars a day. They are being paid in the local Afghani currency which has gained strength against the Pakistani rupee in recent months.”
“Most students returned home with 1,500 to 2,000 dollars after the harvesting season last year,” The Express Tribune quoted him, as saying.
Reports suggest that Afghanistan was the largest illicit opium producer of the world as of March 2010, ahead of Burma, and Pakistan has a clinical role to play in this statistic.
In 2007, Afghanistan produced an extraordinary 8,200 tonnes of opium (34 percent more than in 2006), becoming the exclusive supplier of the world’s deadliest drug (93 percent of the global opiates market), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed in the 2007 Afghanistan Opium Survey.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/baloch-madrassa-students-cultivating-poppy-in-afghanistan/827712/
---------
Saudi Women Must Ask Salesmen in Lingerie Store for Intimate Wear
5 August 2011
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - According to workers in the country, the new regulations will create staff problems and would leave to a loss of customers.
However, women in the country have told Bikyamasr.com that it is important to meet the needs of women.
“We don’t like to go in and have men tell us what kind of intimate wear we should be getting. It is demeaning and this new regulations will make our shopping experience much better,” said Sarah, a 29-year-old married woman who was recently in the United Arab Emirates on a shopping vacation with her husband.
The Saudi ministry of labor on July 11 threatened that lingerie shops that have not replaced all their male staff within 6 months could be shut down.
“We read about the order in newspapers but we did not receive any instructions (from management)… This plan can work but not at the speed they are expecting. The women have to be trained from scratch,” said Tarek, a store manager at a lingerie shop in Jeddah, in comments published by Reuters news agency.
Large department stores will be excluded from the decision based on the separation of males and females in the concerned departments. Saudi female workers will have to register with the labor office and their employers will have to register their pay role of each month.
Male workers currently are employed at lingerie and underwear shops in the conservative Persian Gulf kingdom.
The move specifies workers’ age to be a minimum of 20-years-old and maximum 35-years-old.
The ministry also added new regulations concerning female workers at factories. The regulations specifies that a woman cannot begin work before 6 am and to not stay after 5pm.
Saudi women face many obstructions in their daily lives including most notably the fact that they are not allowed to drive by law, are only allowed to start a small number of businesses, besides the dress restriction that prohibits women from publicly appearing without the head scarf (Hijab).
Saudi women rights activists have fought in the past to change these laws but Saudi’s patriarchal society gives little weight to their voices, yet it seems that social networking websites have given Saudi women a much needed space to express their views that usually clashes with the conservative nature of Saudi society.
Saudi activists launched a campaign titled “I will drive myself” on the social networking website Facebook on June 17. The campaign brought about a debate within society. The campaign was fueled by the arrest of a Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, who was detained for driving her car in the Saudi city of al-Khabar. Al-Sharif was detained for 9 days and charged with inciting women to drive after she posted a video online encouraging women to take the wheel. 7,000 women had joined the online call and a larger number of men joined in opposing the campaign to stop women from driving.
Women who tried to follow on the lead of al-Sharif were also arrested.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=257736
---------
Libya Denies Report Gaddafi's Son Khamis Killed by NATO
5 August 2011
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The government of Muammar Gaddafi denied a rebel report on Friday that a NATO air strike had killed the Libyan leader's powerful son Khamis, commander of one of the government's most loyal and best-equipped units.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the report of Khamis Gaddafi's death was a ploy to cover up the killing of a civilian family in Zlitan, a battlefront city where Gaddafi forces are trying to halt the rebel advance on Tripoli.
"It's false news. This is a dirty trick to cover up their crime in Zlitan and the killing of the al-Marabit family. They invented the news about Mr Khamis Gaddafi in Zlitan to cover up their killing," he told Reuters.
A rebel spokesman said the air strike had killed 32 Gaddafi loyalists in Zlitan, where Khamis Gaddafi's elite 32nd Brigade is believed to have been leading the stand to defend the approaches to Tripoli, 160 km (100 miles) away.
"We have information that in Zlitan, a leadership building was attacked by NATO and 32 Gaddafi men were killed, among them his son, Khamis," the rebel spokesman said.
NATO was not able to confirm the report of Khamis Gaddafi's death. NATO said on Thursday that it had struck at a command-and-control target in the Zlitan area.
"We cannot confirm anything right now, because we don't have people on the ground," an alliance official said. "But we are trying to find out what we can."
If confirmed, the death of Khamis would be a severe blow to his father's campaign to resist a six-month-old uprising and remain in power.
His brigade of around 10,000 men is described by analysts as Libya's most effective unit and a central part of the security apparatus. In embassy cables released last year by WikiLeaks, a U.S. diplomat wrote: "the Khamis Brigade is considered the best equipped and most capable of defending the regime."
It was not the first time Khamis has been reported killed in the conflict: Arab media reported in March that he had died in a kamikaze crash by a disaffected Libyan air force pilot. Libyan state television showed footage at the time of a man resembling Khamis, which it said disproved reports of his death.
Khamis would be the second of Gaddafi's sons reported killed since the uprising against his 41-year rule began in February. The government said earlier this year that a NATO strike in Tripoli had killed Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, who unlike Khamis did not have a high public profile or a major leadership role.
STRIKES HIT ZLITAN
On Thursday, on the western side of Zlitan, pro-Gaddafi officials showed journalists the bodies of two children they said had been killed in a NATO air strike earlier in the day. It was impossible for journalists to confirm that account.
An official at NATO operational HQ in Naples said on Thursday: "We did hit a military target at around 6:30 this morning and it was a command-and-control site".
"We always take seriously allegations of civilian casualties and are looking into it, but we have no evidence at this stage that this was caused by an air strike."
Britain said it carried out air strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday against buildings, staging posts and a tank being used by Gaddafi forces near Zlitan.
Gaddafi has so far remained in control of the capital despite severe fuel shortages and rebel advances backed since March by Western air strikes.
The rebels face their own problems, from stalling battlefield momentum to internal splits, exposed starkly last week when military chief Abdel Fattah Younes was assassinated in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.
Rebels who cleared Gaddafi's forces from Libya's third-largest city Misrata after weeks of intense fighting have been trying to push westwards and take Zlitan, which would open the coastal road toward his Tripoli stronghold.
Near the capital, they also control the Western Mountains southwest of Tripoli. A rebel official there, Colonel Juma Ibrahim, told Reuters they had set an ultimatum to the surrounded town of Tiji to surrender or face attack on Saturday.
Rebels were using loud-hailers to appeal to a tribal chief close to Gaddafi to evacuate civilians from Tiji and broker the withdrawal of pro-Gaddafi forces.
"If he does not comply, we will attack," said Ibrahim.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/08/04/world/africa/international-us-libya.html?gwh=58EE6616763C54C889339D871703D6E1&ref=world&pagewanted=print
---------
Kenya drought: Starvation claims 14 lives in Turkana
5 August 2011
At least 14 people have died in Kenya's north-eastern Turkana region - the first hunger-related Kenyan deaths in the current regional drought.
The MP for Turkana, John Munyes, said the deaths were in three remote villages after the government failed to transport food to drought victims.
The UN says more than four million Kenyans are threatened by starvation in the region's worst drought in 60 years.
Other countries affected are Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
The BBC's Odhiambo Joseph in Turkana says he visited a village where hundreds of people - most of them old and weak - were queuing for food.
The 14 people who died were Kenyan adults, but children are also severely malnourished, our reporter says.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14417545
---------
Syria violence: 'At least 2,000 killed', says US
5 August 2011
The Syrian government is responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in its crackdown against protests, says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She spoke as an army assault against protest hub Hama was reported to have killed dozens of people in recent days.
Residents of the city say snipers and tanks are firing on civilians and food and medicine are running low.
Activists have dismissed a government decree to allow opposition parties after decades of Baath party rule.
Multi-party rule was a key demand of protesters who have been taking to the streets in large numbers across Syria since mid-March to call for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
Mrs Clinton repeated an earlier statement that the United States believed Mr Assad had lost legitimacy in Syria.
"We've seen the Assad regime continue and intensify its assault against its own people this week," she said on Thursday.
"We think to date the government is responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people of all ages."
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14413680
---------
China vows to show no mercy in restive Xinjiang
Aug 05 2011
Beijing : China is ordering a new security clampdown in the restive western region of Xinjiang following recent deadly attacks blamed on fundamentalist Muslim militants.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu is vowing to show no mercy to those who commit acts of terrorism or who seek to overthrow Chinese rule over Xinjiang. He told officials at an anti-terrorism conference on Thursday to mobilize all available resources and manpower to create a high-pressure environment under which to battle and contain terrorism.
The conference follows a trio of recent attacks blamed on militants among the region's native Turkic Muslim Uighur population. At least three dozen people were killed, including the alleged attackers, despite a massive security presence.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/china-vows-to-show-no-mercy-in-restive-xinjiang/827556/
---------
Bali bomb suspect to be repatriated from Pakistan ‘soon’
5 August 2011
JAKARTA: An alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people will be repatriated soon to Indonesia from Pakistan where he was arrested this year, the foreign minister said Friday.
The most wanted Islamic extremist in Southeast Asia, Umar Patek, was arrested in March in Abbottabad in Pakistan, the same town where US special forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden just weeks later.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the alleged coordinator of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people would be extradited to Indonesia “soon rather than later”.
He told journalists the government wanted to ensure the process “proceeds smoothly” and did not give the alleged terrorist a stage to rally his supporters.
“We do not want to create self-fulfilling, self-creating attention to a person who doesn’t deserve publicity,” Natalegawa said.
Authorities are continuing to investigate Patek to “ensure that he is held accountable for the crime,” which he allegedly committed before Indonesia had a specific anti-terrorism law on its books.
Born in 1970, Patek is a suspected member of the al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
In addition to the Bali bombings, he is also suspected of involvement in a series of deadly attacks targeting Christians and Westerners in Indonesia dating back to 1999.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/05/bali-bomb-suspect-to-be-repatriated-from-pakistan-%E2%80%98soon%E2%80%99.html
---------
UNSC meet, chaired by India, condemns Syria crackdown
5 August 2011
A key meeting of the UN Security Council, chaired by India for the first time in 19 years, condemned Syria’s military crackdown to crush the pro-democracy movement, resulting in a large number of deaths.
A presidential statement, read out by India’s UN envoy Hardeep Singh Puri, called for an immediate to all violence and urged all sides to act with utmost restraint and to refrain from reprisals.
“The Security Council expresses its grave concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria, and expresses profound regret at the death of many hundreds of people,” it said, adding the council “condemns the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities”.
The statement called on the Syrian authorities to fully respect human rights and comply with their obligations under applicable international law, stressing: “Those responsible for the violence should be held accountable.”
Taking note of the commitments made by the Syrian authorities, the council regretted the lack of progress and called upon the Syrian Government to implement its commitments.
While reaffirming its strong commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, the statement called for resolution of the crisis through an inclusive, Syrian-led political process.
It asked the authorities to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the population, allowing the full exercise of fundamental freedoms, including that of expression and peaceful assembly.
The council also called for unhindered access for international humanitarian agencies and workers to alleviate the humanitarian situation in crisis areas. It also sought Syria’s full cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/358400/UNSC-meet-chaired-by-India-condemns-Syria-crackdown.html
---------
Norway attacker got help to purchase equipment: Lawyer
5 August 2011
Anders Behring Breivik said he received help abroad to purchase the equipment needed to carry out his deadly July 22 attacks, but will not say more until his political demands are met, his lawyer was quoted as saying on Thursday.
“He obtained abroad almost all the materiel he used” to carry out the attacks, the rightwing extremist’s defence lawyer Geir Lippestad said in comments published today in the Verdens Gang (VG) daily.
He added his client had visited some 20 countries in his planning.
“He said that he met people and that he obtained equipment during those trips. He said many people helped him obtain the equipment,” he said following a third police interrogation of his client yesterday.
The lawyer did not tell the paper if the alleged helpers shared Behring Breivik’s views or if they were aware of his goal.
The 32-year-old has confessed to carrying out the twin attacks of July 22 which left 77 dead.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/358391/Norway-attacker-got-help-to-purchase-equipment-Lawyer.html
---------
Hunt for the “fifth column” could be the beginning of the end for Libya’s rebels
5 August 2011
The brutal and as yet unexplained murder of General Abd al-Fatah Yunis and two of his aides on July 28 has left Libya’s Benghazi-based rebels eyeing their comrades with suspicion as rumors circulate of deception and betrayal in the rebel ranks. The hunt is on to uncover regime loyalists operating within the rebel movement at the same time tribal rivalries threaten to shatter the rebel cause. The search for “Fifth Columnists” could have disastrous results for the unity and effectiveness of the rebel forces, whose leadership is dominated by individuals closely and recently tied to the Qaddafi regime.
At the time of the murders, General Yunis was mysteriously separated from his usual security detail and was accompanied only by two officers in his command. After being shot and possibly tortured, the bodies of General Yunis and his two aides were burned and dumped on the outskirts of Benghazi. Without reliable information on the killing from the Transitional National Council (TNC), rumors regarding the cause of the general’s death continue to spread in Benghazi. Some suggest General Yunis was acting as a double agent to sabotage rebel efforts, others claim he was actually murdered by “Fifth Column” Qaddafi loyalists or by rebels (possibly Islamists) seeking revenge for activities carried out while he was Qaddafi’s Interior Minister. Several days before the killing, Yunis claimed to have documents providing “conclusive evidence” Algeria was providing arms to Qaddafi’s forces (al-Sharq al-Awsat, July 25), adding another element of intrigue to the case.
Demonstrations by the late general’s Obeidi tribe followed the murder, many demanding justice, others calling for retribution against the TNC, which they blame for the killings. The Council has promised an investigation, but the slow pace and lack of information on its progress has only served to further infuriate many Obeidi tribesmen, who for now are being held in check by tribal elders.
Full report at: The Jamestown Foundation
---------
Gaddafi seeks Islamist allies, rebels nab fuel tanker
5 August 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya - Muammar Gaddafi’s son has made a bid to divide the fractious Libyan rebellion, telling a newspaper he was forging an alliance with rebels against their liberal allies.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s comments, in an interview with the New York Times, were a sign that the Libyan leader’s camp hopes to exploit divisions among the rebels revealed by the assassination of their military commander last week.
The newspaper quoted an Islamist rebel leader who confirmed contact with Gaddafi’s son. However, he pledged continued support for the opposition and denied a split with the liberal wing of the six-month-old rebellion.
The rebels scored a victory on Thursday, bringing a ship with a seized cargo of government-owned fuel into their port.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/August/international_August188.xml§ion=international
---------
CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Iowa Mosque Vandalism
5 August 2011
The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-IA) today called on the FBI to investigate recent vandalism at a mosque in that state as a possible hate crime. An official with the Islamic Society of Clinton County in Clinton, Iowa, told CAIR that vandals threw more than a dozen rocks at the mosque sometime prior to evening prayers on July 23. A police report indicates that the vandalism shattered glass in the facility, resulting in an estimated $350 damage. Authorities are investigating the incident as "criminal mischief." A previous incident of vandalism reportedly targeted the mosque's sign.
"Given the number of rocks thrown at the mosque and the rising level of anti-Muslim sentiment in our society, we urge the FBI to investigate a possible bias motive for this incident," said CAIR-IA Executive Director Miriam Amer.
Last week, CAIR called on the FBI to probe a Tennessee road rage incident in which a Muslim mother and son were allegedly targeted with death threats and anti-Muslim slurs by a knife-wielding driver.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-asks-fbi-to-probe-iowa-mosque-vandalism-126735788.html
---------
Muslim Countries Financing Jihad in Spain
Soeren Kern
5 August 2011
Muslim countries in the Persian Gulf and North Africa are funnelling large sums of money to radical Islamic groups in towns and cities across Spain in a competing effort to exert control over the estimated 1.5 million Muslims in the country.
A newly leaked secret report prepared by Spain's National Intelligence Center (CNI), excerpts of which were published by the Madrid-based El País newspaper on July 31, says the Spanish government is struggling to stop the flow of tens of millions of dollars to Islamic groups in Spain from Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and above all Saudi Arabia.
The CNI report states: "The financing is having negative consequences for [multicultural] coexistence in Spain, such as the emergence of parallel societies and ghettos, Islamic courts and police that operate outside of Spanish jurisprudence, removing girls from schools, forced marriages, etc."
Full report at:
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2320/financing-jihad-in-spain
---------
Visiting Jamaat chief blames US for Pakistan’s woes
By SIRAJ WAHAB
5 August 2011
DAMMAM: The visiting head of one of Pakistan's prominent religious and political parties has blamed the United States’ stinging defeat in Afghanistan for the current chaos in his country.
“What we are witnessing today in Pakistan is a direct result of America’s defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of the brave Afghans,” said Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan chief Syed Munawar Hasan.
Speaking at well-attended programs organized by well-known Pakistani expatriates in the Eastern Province, he said: “America is not able to swallow this defeat and, therefore, it is out to wreak havoc in Pakistan. All these acts of violence that we are witnessing in our country are the work of American agents.”
The Jamaat chief was in Saudi Arabia on a 12-day visit and was a prominent invitee at the Muslim World League’s just concluded conference in Makkah on “Issues and Challenges of the Muslim World.”
Afghanistan, he said, has lived up to its historic reputation of being the graveyard of superpowers.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article483212.ece
---------
China to boost ‘anti-terrorism’ forces after attacks
5 August 2011
BEIJING: China will deploy more “anti-terrorism forces” to its far northwest Xinjiang region following a series of deadly attacks there, state media said Friday.
Public security minister Meng Jianzhu told officials in Xinjiang that stability in the remote region was important for China’s “overall security and unification,” according to comments carried by the Global Times newspaper.
Meng said more “anti-terrorism forces” would be sent to Xinjiang to boost security, although no details were given.
There is already a heavy armed police presence in Kashgar, a famed city on the ancient Silk Road in Xinjiang, following two attacks on a busy restaurant and a night market last weekend that authorities said left 13 people dead.
Eight of the alleged attackers were also killed.
Chinese authorities blamed one of the attacks on “terrorists” trained in camps in neighbouring Pakistan, and have pledged to “crack down on religious extremists”.
However some experts say there is little evidence of any foreign involvement, blaming instead local ethnic tensions for the violence.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/05/china-to-boost-%E2%80%98anti-terrorism%E2%80%99-forces-after-attacks.html
---------
Israel to limit Al-Aqsa access Friday
5 August 2011
JERUSALEM — Israeli police said it will restrict entry to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City for the first Friday weekly prayers of the Ramadan holy month to prevent any disturbances.
An army spokeswoman told AFP on the eve of the weekly prayers that entry to the compound was being limited to men over the age of 50 and women over 45.
Married men aged 45 to 50 years old who have a special permit to enter Israel will be allowed to pray at Al-Aqsa, she said, while Palestinian women under the age of 35 will be barred from the compound.
The measures are aimed at preventing any possible outbreak of violence, the military said.
In 2000, a visit to the compound by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become prime minister, sparked the so-called Al-Aqsa Intifada, a bloody Palestinian uprising in which thousands of people were killed.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious and charitable.
The sprawling esplanade containing the Al-Aqsa mosque and the adjacent Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’s historic Old City is the third holiest site in Islam after Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina.
It is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/August/middleeast_August125.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
---------
Fearing attack, Pak moves away warships from Karachi
Aug 05 2011
Islamabad : Claiming there were "all time high security threats," Pakistan navy has moved away its main battleships out of its Mehran naval base in Karachi to the Makran coast in Balochistan.
The navy sent its warships away from its main base in Karachi to Ormara in Balochistan as a "precautionary measure" after the 16-hour terrorist siege of its main naval airbase, PNS Mehran, on May 22, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
The move has come two months after the commando-style gun and rocket-propelled grenade attacks on Mehran, that resulted in the destruction of two P3C Orion airplanes – which were key naval assets – and the killing of 10 security personnel.
Since that attack, the main battleships have been stationed in Ormara, sources told the daily.
The navy chief ordered the immediate movement of the entire fleet after the attack on PNS Mehran in view of the "all-time high security threats, which continue to loom even today", an unnamed person familiar with the matter said.
The attack on the naval airbase was carried out just weeks after three navy buses were bombed in Karachi on April 26 and April 28. However, another unnamed senior navy official said not
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fearing-attack-pak-moves-away-warships-from-karachi/827658/
---------
Two Bahraini female prisoners on hunger strike: Amnesty
5 August 2011
DUBAI: Two Bahraini women activists jailed for their alleged involvement in anti-regime protests have launched a hunger strike demanding to be released, rights group Amnesty International has said.
Roula al-Saffar, head of the Bahrain Nursing Society and Jalila al-Salman, deputy head of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association, were tortured in detention and have been held for several months near the capital, the London-based group said in a statement received by AFP on Thursday.
The hunger strike “is a desperate attempt to protest against their imprisonment and the way they have been treated,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “Amnesty International is concerned that they are being held solely because they took part in protests, in which case they would both be prisoners of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally,” he added.
Amnesty did not say when the two women began the hunger strike but said it learned that the activists started it to protest their continued detention, while others have been released on bail. At least 500 people have been detained in Bahrain since month-long protests demanding democratic reforms broke out in the Gulf kingdom in mid-February, Amnesty International said.
Almost 2,000 people have been dismissed or suspended from their jobs, it added. Security forces in the archipelago ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty cracked down on the mostly Shiite protesters in mid-March after being backed by troops that rolled in from neighbouring Sunni Gulf monarchies. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\08\05\story_5-8-2011_pg4_3
---------
Egypt press gasps at images of fallen ‘Pharaoh’
5 August 2011
Egypt’s press on Thursday captured the nation’s incredulity at seeing Hosni Mubarak on trial for murder, hailing the fall of the “Pharaoh” as a triumph for the revolution that ended his 30-year rule.
Pictures of Mubarak lying on a stretcher and dressed in a white prison suit blanketed the front pages of newspapers, six months after the mere mention of his health could have landed an editor in jail.
It was an epic downfall, with the once absolute ruler now a caged invalid, a scene unthinkable before the January 25 revolution.
“The Pharaoh is in the cage,” said the independent daily Al-Masry al-Youm, while the state-owned Al-Ahram weekly gasped at “Mubarak’s unthinkable end.”
“Mubarak in the cage, now the revolution has won,” trumpeted the state-owned daily Al-Akhbar, long known for publishing fawning editorials and flattering images of Mubarak.
“Egypt’s revolution has won,” gloated the independent daily Al-Dustur, whose former editor Ibrahim Eissa was sentenced to six months in jail in 2008 for speculating on Mubarak’s health. He was later pardoned.
On Wednesday, Mubarak was flown to Cairo from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he had been in custody in hospital being treated for a heart condition.
He is accused of ordering the killing of protesters during the January-February uprising that toppled his regime.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/August/middleeast_August109.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
---------
Chris Christie slams fearmongering over Sharia law
By Chris Moody
5 August 2011
New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie defended his decision to nominate a Muslim judge to the state Superior Court against conservative critics who warned that the new judge will implement Sharia law. The notoriously blunt-spoken Christie calling their fears "crap" and "crazy."
The appointee, Sohail Mohammed, is an American attorney who offered legal aid to New Jersey residents who were suspected after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but were later found innocent of any crimes.
Opponents of Mohammed's nomination have issued warnings, with no evidence, that Christie's nominee, if approved, would base his rulings on Islamic law. Christie was having none of it.
"Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all. It's crazy. It's crazy," Christie said at a press conference Wednesday. "The guy's an American citizen who has been an admitted lawyer to practice in the state of New Jersey, swearing an oath to uphold the laws of New Jersey, the constitution of the state of New Jersey, and the Constitution of the United States of America . . . .This Sharia law business is crap. It's just crazy. And I'm tired of dealing with the crazies."
You can watch the exchange after the jump:
Several Republican presidential candidates have warned of a Muslim plot to force American courts to rule by the religious code. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum recently called it "an existential threat" to the United States; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty shut down a program in his state that would allow practicing Muslims to pay for mortgages without violating their religious teachings against borrowing with interest; businessman Herman Cain said he would require Muslims to take an extra loyalty oath to serve in his administration; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for a federal law to ban Sharia from U.S. courts.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/chris-christie-slams-fearmongering-over-sharia-law-210648303.html
---------
Islamist parties in Bangladesh accuse teacher of blasphemy
5 August 2011
The protesters accuse the teacher, who is a Hindu, a minority religion in majoritarian Sunni Muslim nation for his blasphemous comments regarding Muhammad, whom Muslims venerated as last prophet.
A coalition of pro-Sharia Islamic parties in Bangladesh has threatened the government with a country-wide shutdown if a Hindu teacher is not arrested and tried for blasphemy.
Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, chief of the Islamic Sharia Law Implementation Committee charged that the teacher could allegedly make "such blasphemous remarks" because “Bangladesh has become a fear-free place for the enemies of Islam."
The Islamist leader demanded that Madan Mohan Das, an assistant headmaster at the Dhanmondi Government Boy's High School, be arrested by Sunday or they would be forced to call a country-wide strike, he said Wednesday from his headquarters in Dhaka.
Hundreds of students, parents and teachers joined street protests in the capital on Wednesday against Das.
The protesters accused the teacher, who is Hindu, a minority religion in the largely Sunni Muslim nation, of making blasphemous comments regarding Muhammad.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said that Das had been suspended for his derogatory comments and had been transferred to a remote town.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90056202?Islamist%20parties%20in%20Bangladesh%20accuse%20teacher%20of%20blasphemy#ixzz1U8JT3Fwx
---------
Italian hijab fashion online soon!
5 August 2011
Muslim women around the world will be able to buy fine Italian clothing in the first Islamic fashion store to be launched online on Tuesday.
The site is being launched by a young Italian Muslim convert who runs her own fashion business near Verona in the country’s north.
“I make clothes based on the Islamic model that respects Muslim demands based on the (Islamic) Sharia law and also compatible with Italian fashion,” said Giorgia Caliari, in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
“By doing this, I intend to fulfill the needs of the sisters that live in Europe,” said Caliari, now known by her Muslim last name Afnan after converting to Islam seven years ago.
Afnan said that she is designing long coats that reach the knee, as well as dresses that go with the hijab, or Islamic headscarf.
“Right now I do not sell the Niqab (veil that covers the face) for a problem of practicality. I personally do not use it because I use the hijab, and thus I do not know about its suitability.”
Afnan runs her own small business in the northern Italian town of Caselle di Sommacampagna near Verona. A local tailor in her in town produces the clothes to her specifications.
“Mine is the first Islamic clothing store produced in our country, and I hope this gives rise to other entrepreneurial initiatives like mine, that have as an aim, to help Muslims live their lives in respect of their faith, compatible with the rules of this country,” said Afnan. Read full article here.
Girls, I’m excited to see how this will turn out. Do you think it will be a success or a failure? I hope she got her taste right, as many islamic clothing sites lack of it.
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=107287
---------
How Islamic punk went from fiction to reality
Sanjiv Bhattacharya
5 August 2011
Islamic punk was just an idea in a novel by a disaffected Muslim convert – but for the bands he inspired around the world the scene became real. Now, as The Taqwacores is about to be released, has the scene has already betrayed its ideals?
There was a time when the words "Muslim radical" painted a clear enough picture – a young man strapped with explosives, perhaps, or a bearded cleric calling for Sharia law from Land's End to John O'Groats. But things have changed. The protestors of the Arab Spring are both Muslim and radical, as are the bungling jihadis of Chris Morris's movie Four Lions. And now a new film, The Taqwacores, attempts to further stretch the definition.
The film's set up sounds familiar enough – a meek Muslim student named Yusef joins a hardcore Islamic commune in upstate New York and becomes radicalised. But this time, "hardcore" refers to punk rock. This is a commune where one Muslim, Jahangir, sports a red mohawk and announces morning prayers with an electric guitar. Another member is gay and wears a skirt and makeup.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/aug/04/islanic-punk-muslim-taqwacores
---------
Indonesia expects Bali bomb suspect home ‘soon’
5 August 2011
JAKARTA - An alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people will be repatriated soon to Indonesia from Pakistan where he was arrested this year, the foreign minister said on Friday.
The most wanted extremist in Southeast Asia, Umar Patek, was arrested in March in Abbottabad in Pakistan, the same town where US special forces killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden just weeks later.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the alleged coordinator of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people would be extradited to Indonesia “soon rather than later”.
He told journalists the government wanted to ensure the process “proceeds smoothly” and did not give the alleged terrorist a stage to rally his supporters.
“We do not want to create self-fulfilling, self-creating attention to a person who doesn’t deserve publicity,” Natalegawa said.
Authorities are continuing to investigate Patek to “ensure that he is held accountable for the crime,” which he allegedly committed before Indonesia had a specific anti-terrorism law on its books.
Born in 1970, Patek is a suspected member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
In addition to the Bali bombings, he is also suspected of involvement in a series of deadly attacks targeting Christians and Westerners in Indonesia dating back to 1999.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/August/international_August200.xml§ion=international
---------
Turkey appoints military heads after shock resignations
5 August 2011
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has approved the appointment of the country's four top military leaders, after the resignation of their predecessors last week.
As expected, army chief Gen Necdet Ozel is promoted to chief of general staff.
This is the first time a civilian government has been able to decide who commands the powerful armed forces.
The four generals resigned over the arrest of officers accused of plotting to undermine the government.
Gen Isik Kosaner and the chiefs of the army, navy and air force quit just hours after a court charged 22 suspects, including several generals and officers.
The new appointments come at the end of a four-day promotions meeting chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The BBC's correspondent in Turkey, Jonathan Head, says Mr Erdogan used the resignations to promote commanders more likely to accept civilian supremacy, though all are career officers with unimpeachable records of loyalty.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14401661
---------
BBC journalist Shaimaa Khalil released in Cairo
5 August 2011
The BBC journalist Shaimaa Khalil has been released after being detained while reporting in Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
The circumstances of her detention on Monday remain unclear, but it came after soldiers, backed by riot police, moved to clear a three-week sit-in.
She was held for 20 hours at a military base, and then taken to the military prosecutor's office before being freed.
It is not yet clear whether she faces further action by the authorities.
Witnesses in Tahrir Square - the focal point of the pro-democracy protests which forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down in February - said activists were beaten and had their phones broken. Anyone taking photographs was targeted, they added.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says Ms Khalil was arrested along with about 80 other people, including journalists.
The military authorities, in power since Mr Mubarak left office, have been criticised for the harassment of journalists, but until Monday had not arrested an accredited foreign reporter.
Earlier, the BBC called on the authorities to release Ms Khalil immediately, saying it was "very concerned" about her detention.
"She is a fine journalist, simply doing her job. We are doing all we can to secure her release," a statement said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14372794
---------
Amnesty International 2011 Report on Yemen
5 August 2011
SANA’A, — The latest report by Amnesty International on Yemen painted a gloomy picture of the issue of human rights in the country throughout 2010 and into 2011. It reported that human rights were subordinated to security challenges posed by al-Qa'ida as well as by armed conflict in the northern Sa'dah province and protests in the south. Thousands of people were detained. Most were released quickly, but many were held for prolonged periods. Government repression increased in the face of continuing protests in the south against perceived discrimination by the northern-based government; security forces used excessive force against some demonstrations and several people were killed in targeted attacks. The media faced repressive laws and practices; several journalists were prisoners of conscience. Women continued to face discrimination and violence.
Mass protests were held across the country against the worsening economic situation and substantial rises in fuel, electricity, water and food prices.
A presidential amnesty announced on 21 May appeared to apply to all political prisoners, including journalists, but the government did not give details about those it covered or the timeframe for releases. Later that month, 117 people detained on suspicion of taking part in the Sa'dah conflict and the protests in the south were released under the amnesty, as were four journalists. However, hundreds of other political prisoners remained held at the end of 2010.
Full report at:
http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=36411
---------
Arab awakening and western media: Time for a new revolutionary discourse
Ramzy Baroud
5 August 2011
When President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried desperately to quell Yemen’s popular uprising, he appealed to tribalism, customs and traditions. All his efforts evidently failed, and the revolution continued unabated.
When Saleh denounced women for joining men in demonstrations in Sana’a — playing on cultural sensitivities and a very selective interpretation of religion — the response was even more poignant.
Thousands of women took to the streets, denouncing Saleh’s regime and calling for its ouster.
The immediate popular response was notable for its level of organization and decisiveness. It was also interesting because most of the women protesting did so while wearing the Niqab. Fully covered Yemeni women have continued to inspire — if not fuel — the revolution which started in February. Without their active participation and resilience in the face of violent attempts to quash the uprising, one wonders if Yemen could have held on for so long.
The role of Yemeni women in the revolution should significantly challenge any ideas of Arab women that are based simply on statistical or superficial criteria. In 2010, the Freedom House report on women in the Middle East had already determined that Yemen made no significant progress on women’s rights in the preceding five years. Most international reports examining the standing of women in Yemen - - whether in education, health or any other field — have consistently been bleak. Yet, in revolutionary.
Full report at:
http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=36418
---------
Israeli police deploy in force for Ramadan
5 August 2011
JERUSALEM - Israeli police deployed in force in Jerusalem’s Old City after limiting access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound ahead of the first Friday prayers during Ramadan.
“More than 2,000 police and border guards were deployed in Jerusalem,” said a police spokesman, adding access was blocked to the esplanade for Muslim men under the age of 45.
“Among those aged 45 to 50 years, only the fathers of families with a permanent entry permit for Israel will be allowed to go on the esplanade,” he said.
Access to the complex was also denied for West Bank Palestinians under the age of 35, the spokesman said, adding the measures were imposed as a precaution due to the risk of violence.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious and charitable.
The sprawling esplanade containing the Al-Aqsa mosque and the adjacent Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’s historic Old City is the third holiest site in Islam after Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina.
It is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/August/middleeast_August131.xml§ion=middleeast
---------
Arabs move to drum up UN support for Palestinians
5 August 2011
RAMALLAH, West Bank - A Palestinian negotiator says an Arab delegation is setting out to drum up support for the Palestinians’ bid for U.N. recognition.
Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat says a meeting of Arab officials this week in Qatar decided to dispatch the delegation to meet individual Security Council members to “urge them to accept Palestine as a full member state” in September.
Representatives will also meet with African and Islamic states. Erekat said late Thursday that the Arab committee would meet again in September for final preparations for the vote.
With peace talks deadlocked, the Palestinians want U.N. recognition without negotiating with Israel.
The move faces a U.S. veto in the Security Council and its practical ramifications are unclear.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/August/middleeast_August132.xml§ion=middleeast
---------
Philippine President Benigno Aquino meets Muslim rebels
5 August 2011
Negotiating a peace deal was one of President Aquino's election pledges
Philippine President Benigno Aquino has met the chief of the country's main Muslim separatist group, the government has said in a statement.
Mr Aquino met Murad Ibrahim, of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in Tokyo with the aim of pushing forward the peace process.
"Both agreed to fast track the negotiations," the statement said.
The MILF has fought for self-rule in the predominantly Catholic country's southern Mindanao region since 1977.
An estimated 120,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has almost been resolved on several occasions.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 2003.
The government said it was the first time a Philippine president had met with the MILF chairman in 14 years of on-and-off peace negotiations.
Delegates from Mr Aquino's peace panel met MILF representatives in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur in February.
One of Mr Aquino's key pledges ahead of his election last June was to try to negotiate peace with the country's various insurgencies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14415512
---------
Saudi prince wins libel damages over Independent story
5 August 2011
The Independent said the decision to refer to the order was made in 'good faith'
Saudi Arabia's interior minister has accepted undisclosed damages over an article in The Independent newspaper accusing him of ordering police to shoot and kill unarmed protesters.
The newspaper accepted the "order" it reported was in fact a fake.
Its publishers, Independent Print Ltd, also offered "sincere apologies" to Prince Nayef Bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud at London's High Court.
Prince Nayef has said he will give the "substantial" damages to charity.
The article was written by the Independent's Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, who also offered his apologies, and published on 15 April.
Rupert Earle, appearing for the prince, told Mrs Justice Nicola Davies the untruthful allegations arose after Saudi Shia activists sought to organise a demonstration on 11 March.
It was described as the "Hunayn Revolution" after a battle fought by the Prophet Muhammed in 630 AD.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14390301
---------
Mubarak's 'not guilty plea' becomes hit ringtone in Egypt
Aug 05 2011
Washington : The few words uttered by Egypt’s dethroned president Hosni Mubarak at the start of his trial have now turned into hit ringtones in the country.
Three different versions of the ringtones of the few low, growly words the deposed leader spoke are now available for download, thanks to a website, reports ABC News.
The first ringtone records the judge’s voice calling on Mubarak by his full name -- Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, to which Mubarak responds, “I am here, your honour.”
Another records Mubarak’s response to the charges of corruption and complicity in the butchery of around 850 protesters during the 18-day revolution that led to his own denouement.
“I completely deny all these charges,” the 83-year-old said as he lay on a hospital bed inside a cage of mesh and iron bars in a Cairo courtroom on the first day of his trial on Wednesday.
According to reports, the ringtones have already become popular among Egyptians.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mubaraks-not-guilty-plea-becomes-hit-ringtone-in-egypt/827610/
---------
Indo-Pak talks are encouraging: Mullen
Aug 05, 2011
Terming the recent talks between India and Pakistan as encouraging, a top Pentagon official has expressed hope that the discussions will continue.
“I’m actually encouraged very specifically with the discussions between Pakistan and India in recent weeks and months,” Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a news conference here.
Mullen was referring to recent talks held between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New Delhi on July 27.
“At least if I understand both governments, those are going to continue, and I hope that they do. I consider that to be a very positive step,” Mullen said.
http://www.asianage.com/international/indo-pak-talks-are-encouraging-mullen-753
---------
Mullah Omar, al-Zawahiri not hiding in Balochistan: Pak CM
5 August 2011
The Chief Minister of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Thursday said Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri were not hiding in the region.
Chief Minister Aslam Raisani made the remarks during a meeting with US Ambassador Cameron Munter in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. Raisani also denied the existence of the Quetta Shura, a grouping of Afghan Taliban leaders that the US believes is based on the outskirts of the provincial capital.
Following the killing of Osama bin Laden in a covert operation by American special forces in the garrison city of Abbottabad on May 2, the US has called on Pakistan to take steps to capture or kill several other top terrorists, including Mullah Omar, al-Zawahiri and Ilyas Kashmiri.
In recent weeks, Balochistan has witnesses a spike in sectarian and militant violence. Nearly 20 members of the minority Shia community were gunned down in the province. Raisani contended ‘some elements’ wanted to incite sectarianism in Balochistan and claimed there were no differences between the ethnic Baloch and Pashtuns.
He backed a policy of reconciliation to avert confrontation. In an earlier meeting with provincial assembly speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhotani, Munter said Balochistan is important for the US and solving the problems of the province was a priority.
He told the media that the US will continue to provide financial aid for ongoing projects and new dams in Balochistan.
http://www.asianage.com/international/mullah-omar-al-zawahiri-not-hiding-balochistan-pak-cm-655
---------
Afghanistan ready to include Pakistan in Taliban dialogue
By Tahir Khan
August 5, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan has agreed to include Pakistan in the US-led dialogue with Taliban in its efforts to move forward on the national reconciliation process aimed at stabilising the Afghan society and ensuring peace in the region.
Talking to The Express Tribune on Wednesday, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Janan Musazai said that Kabul needs Pakistan’s urgent support and wants Islamabad to take “practical steps” in supporting the reconciliation process in the war-torn country, especially in view of the withdrawal of foreign forces, which US officials say is scheduled to take place by around 2014.
Musazai, who was in Islamabad as part of an Afghan delegation for a trilateral meeting, denied media reports speculating that little progress had been made in the talks. “Many issues with Pakistan have been resolved. Both the countries have reached a better understanding of the matter,” he said.
The spokesperson said that matters concerning the whereabouts of Taliban chief Mulla Omar or other militant leaders are no more an obstacle in the strengthening of ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/224808/peace-initiative-afghanistan-ready-to-include-pakistan-in-taliban-dialogue/
---------
Chacha Pakistani reaches Sukkur, but no one welcomes him
By Sarfaraz Memon
August 5, 2011
SUKKUR: Jawed Akhtar alias Chacha Pakistani was unhappy with the Sukkur administration, because nobody was there to welcome him when he reached the city, on his motorcycle late Wednesday night.
Chacha Pakistani departed from Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Mausoleum in Karachi on August 1, he visited Hyderabad and other cities and then decided on a two-day stop in Sukkur. He will leave for Rahim Yar Khan on Friday morning and will pass through many big and small cities. Chacha Pakistani’s final destination is the mausoleum of Allama Mohammad Iqbal; he hopes to arrive there on August 14.
Chacha Pakistani told The Express Tribune that he has been taking this tour for the last nine years, on his own expense. He works as a driver in a private firm and lives in a rented house in Korangi. “The objective of my motorcycle tour is to preach peace and love for Pakistan, because nowadays people have lost their love for our homeland,” he explained.
Chacha Pakistani used to live in Hyderabad where he observed that cinema houses would play the national anthem before starting any movie and the entire audience, irrespective of their religion and language, would stand up in respect. “Nine years later, my wife and I went to watch a movie in Hyderabad’s New Majestic cinema. The cinema administration played the national anthem,” he recalled. “But nobody stood up.”
The patriotic Chacha said that he was unable to sleep that night, and the very next morning he decided to undertake a tour from Karachi to Lahore on his motorcycle to promote love for Pakistan among the younger generation.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/224480/love-pakistan-tour-chacha-pakistani-reaches-sukkur-but-no-one-welcomes-him/
---------
Terror tag for dowry killings
5 August 2011
DESCRIBING dowry as a “ terrorist”, a Delhi court sentenced a 24- year- old man to 10 years in prison for driving his wife to suicide over persistent demands for money.
Additional sessions judge Sunita Gupta also slapped a fine of ` 10,000 on Punjabi Bagh resident Nafis Khan after he was found guilty under the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
“ In- laws are characterised to be outlaws for perpetrating terrorism which destroys the matrimonial home. The terrorist is dowry, and it is spreading its tentacles in every possible direction,” she said.
Khan had married the deceased three years back.
According to the prosecution, he began harassing her for dowry soon after marriage.
The woman’s mother testified that her son- in- law would argue and even beat up his wife demanding ` 20,000 in her presence.
On October 4, 2009, Khan’s wife set herself on fire and had to be rushed to GTB Hospital with 99 per cent burns.
Although the prosecution claimed that the woman had given a dying declaration that Khan had bought kerosene and told her to set herself on fire, the court discarded this testimony because of contradictions.
Mail Today
---------
Embattled Syrian Prez opens door for oppn political parties
5 August 2011
SYRIA’S president has decreed a law allowing opposition political parties, state media said after the UN condemned his regime’s deadly crackdown on democracy protests.
President Bashar al- Assad on Thursday issued legislative decree 100 for 2011 on parties law and decree 101 for 2011 on general election law, the official SANA news agency said in a brief report.
The law allows political parties to be established and function alongside Assad’s Baath party, in power since 1963 with the constitutional status of state and society leader.
Political pluralism has been at the forefront of demands by pro- reform dissidents. Assad’s regime has sought to crush the movement with brutal force, killing more than 1,600 civilians and arresting thousands, according to human rights activists.
A witness said 30 people were killed in Hama on Wednesday, while an activist reported four deaths the same day when security forces opened fire on protesters in Damascus and Palmyra.
Demonstrators have vowed to protest every night of Ramadan despite the assault on Hama and the killing of over 160 people across Syria on the eve of the Muslim holy month.
Thursday’s decree comes after the Syrian government adopted a draft law on political organisations last month. At the time, SANA reported the legislation was aimed at enriching political life and allowing for a change in political power. The bill stipulates the essential objectives and principles governing the activities of parties, conditions for their establishment ... and rules relating to their financing, rights and obligations, SANA said.
It prohibits parties founded on the basis of religion, tribal affiliation, regional interests; professional organisations as well as parties which discriminate on the basis of race, sex or colour, the report said. France has slammed the new multiparty proposal.
In its first pronouncement on the Syrian crisis, a UN statement said: “ Those responsible for the violence should be held accountable.” A White House spokesman said the US viewed “ Assad as the cause of instability”.
Mail Today
---------
Virginia Tech issues lockdown after ‘gunman’ seen on campus
Aug 05 2011
Blacksburg : Virginia Tech was locked down Thursday when three children attending a summer camp said they saw a man holding what looked like a gun on the campus where a 2007 massacre left 33 dead.
The university issued an alert on its website at 9.37 am on Thursday telling students and employees to stay inside and lock their doors. University spokesman Larry Hincker said at a news conference later in the morning that the campus alert remained in effect and that people should stay indoors until further notice.
The university posted the alert on its website and its official Twitter account. The Roanoke Times also reported that the university sounded its emergency sirens and issued an emergency alert by phone and email.
Hincker said he was not certain when the lockdown might be lifted. “That’s the $64,000 question,” he said. “You get this report of a sighting that someone might have had a weapon. Then you’ve got this one-square-mile campus, 150 major buildings with several million square feet of space to search.”
The school posted an update on its website around 1 pm, saying authorities were combing through the buildings. Classes were cancelled for the day, and the school said searching the buildings would be a long process. A composite sketch was posted on the school’s website.
The children told police they saw the man quickly walking toward the volleyball courts, carrying what might have been a handgun covered by some type of cloth. State and local police swarmed the area but said they could not find a gunman matching their description.
An alert on the school’s website said the gunman was reported near Dietrick Hall, a three-story dining facility steps away from the dorm where the first shootings took place in 2007. A student from South Korea, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 30 more students and faculty and himself. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/virginia-tech-issues-lockdown-after-gunman-seen-on-campus/827387/
---------
US gears up to fight home-grown jihadis
Scott Shane
5 August 2011
Washington: Rolling out a new strategy for combating radicalization,White House officials on Wednesday warned that casting broad suspicion on Muslim Americans is counterproductive and could backfire by alienating a religious minority and fueling extremism.
The administration also promised to identify accurate educational materials about Islam for law enforcement officers,providing an alternative to biased and ill-informed literature in use in recent years,including by the FBI Denis R McDonough,president Obamas deputy national security adviser,told reporters that al-Qaida and those it inspired remained the biggest terrorist threat inside the United States.
But McDonough said the bombing and shootings in Norway last month,carried out by a right-wing,anti-Muslim extremist,were a reminder that the government could not focus exclusively on any single brand of radicalism.
McDonough said that al-Qaida had a bankrupt ideology, but that accusing the entire Muslim community of complicity in terrorism could feed the sense of disenchantment and disenfranchisement that may spur violent radicalization. Instead,he said,Muslim Americans should be treated as a crucial ally of the government to combat terrorism.
In an introduction to the document,Obama wrote that communities especially Muslim-American communities whose children,families and neighbors are being targeted for recruitment by al-Qaida are often best positioned to take the lead in countering radicalization.NYT NEWS SERVICE
Times of India
---------
13/7 blast suspect held in W Bengal
Kabita Chowdhury
5 August 2011
Behrampore: National Investigation Agency sleuths have arrested a man from Suti in Murshidabad district of West Bengal for allegedly supplying explosive-grade ammonium nitrate to the July 13 Mumbai serial blasts bombers.
The local police had no clue to the operation until two NIA officers arrested Jiarat Sheikh from his village and produced him in court for transit remand.
A Jangipur court granted the NIA a three-day transit remand to take Jiarat to Delhi for interrogation.
Jiarat,in his early 30s,believed all long that he was dealing with two terror operatives,who would buy explosives in bulk.The NIA sleuths arrived in Murshidabad a few days ago,following a lead given by a suspect arrested earlier for the blasts that killed 26 people.
On Wednesday,they reached Notun Chandra village in Suti police station area and passed the word that they were looking for ammonium nitrate.They were told to contact Jiarat,who has experience in such matters.Jiarat was only too eager to show them some high quality samples.Happy to have got such customers who promised to pay just about anything for the right stuff,Jiarat reappeared on Thursday with explosives-grade ammonium nitrate and was handcuffed.
Full report at: Times of India
---------
FIA’s anti-terror wing to grill Karachi suspects: Malik
5 August 2011
KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday that anti-terrorist wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been shifted here to conduct proper interrogation of arrested suspects and maintain a complete record with the support of evidences. Malik was talking to the media after attending a high-level meeting at the Crisis Management Cell of the Ministry of Interior. This wing also has forensic experts and interrogators.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\08\05\story_5-8-2011_pg1_2
---------
Iraqi security forces harassing media: watchdog
5 August 2011
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces are harassing journalists, especially television crews, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Thursday, calling for such actions to stop.
“Reporters Without Borders is concerned about repeated harassment of media personnel, especial TV crews, by the Iraqi security forces,” a statement said. “Physical attacks on journalists, confiscation of their material and orders preventing them working are all common despite Reporters Without Borders’ appeals to the Iraqi government,” it said.
The watchdog expressed “growing concern about a deterioration in the media’s ability to operate freely in Iraq,” citing several recent incidents.
Haidar Abid Hassan, a cameraman for Salaheddin TV was detained by security forces in Tikrit while covering an explosion on July 28, it said. “He was forcibly taken to a military vehicle and beaten by soldiers. Then he was subjected to psychological harassment in connection with his work as a journalist,” RSF said.
It also cited the case of Saad Allah al-Khaledi, whom it said was detained while covering a July 22 demonstration in Baghdad, beaten and threatened with summary execution. And RSF also said security forces attacked an Al-Baghdadia TV crew on July 17, injuring a soundman and destroying their generator.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\08\05\story_5-8-2011_pg4_7
---------
Shoura member wants minimum wage for Saudis fixed
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR
5 August 2011
JEDDAH: A Shoura Council member has called for changing some of the articles of the Labor Law and forming a national committee to combat unemployment in the country.
Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abusaq, a member of the council’s security committee, said measures should be taken to cut the number of expatriate workers and reduce their impact on the Kingdom’s demography.
“The number of foreign workers should be brought down to a reasonable level so that they do not pose any danger to national security,” Abusaq said.
He cited the lack of a minimum salary as one of the reasons for growing unemployment among Saudis as expatriates offer their services to private companies for lower wages, thus reducing the chances of citizens to get work.
“The lack of a suitable working atmosphere is another problem facing Saudi jobseekers. We also lack systems that ensure job security for Saudis,” a local Arabic newspaper quoted Abusaq as saying.
Many companies demand their employees work long hours, a requirement that has put off most Saudis from working for them. Moreover, Saudi women are not allowed to apply for many available jobs due to existing regulations.
“A lack of proper training and educational programs is another reason for unemployment,” he said.
Abusaq also spoke about the danger posed by unemployed foreigners who walk around looking for jobs. He also pointed out that many expatriate workers are not qualified to do certain jobs.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article483197.ece
---------
Hamas lawmaker, 770 Palestinian prisoners freed
By MOHAMMED MAR’I
5 August 2011
RAMALLAH: The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) on Thursday released 770 Palestinian prisoners including a Hamas lawmaker.
The Israel’s Radio said that the “570 criminal and 200 security prisoners” were released through several checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank.
“Security prisoners” is a term Israel uses to refer to prisoners who were convicted of resisting the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees said that the 770 prisoners, from West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab cities inside Israel, were released from the Israeli prisons of Ketziot and Nafha (Rimon) after serving their terms.
The ministry said that the prisoners were not released according to an Israeli law which allows the directors of Israeli prisons to reduce the sentence by one or two months in accordance with the prisoner’s humanitarian condition. The law was suspended after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to take away Palestinian prisoners’ privileges in order to pressure Hamas into releasing kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article483176.ece
---------
Prosecutor says Norway terrorist holding back info
By BJOERN H. AMLAND
5 August 2011
OSLO, Norway: A Norwegian prosecutor said Thursday he is concerned that the confessed perpetrator of last month’s attacks that killed 77 people is declining to give information that could determine if he had accomplices.
Anders Behring Breivik has confessed to the July 22 shooting massacre at a youth camp conducted by the governing party, in which 69 people died, and the car bombing hours earlier in Oslo’s government quarter that killed eight.
Breivik, in a manifesto issued shortly before the attacks, denounced Norway’s left-leaning government and its tolerance of Muslim immigration. In the manifesto, he claimed contact with extremists elsewhere.
“We still think he was alone, but we cannot conclude about that. He holds back some information, and that worries us,” prosecutor Christian Hatlo told The Associated Press.
Hatlo also said Breivik has been questioned about his travels to 10 other countries and about equipment bought for the attacks. He declined to elaborate on either thread of inquiry.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article483122.ece
---------
Aspects of Islamic faith — 111: Fasting has its own special level
5 August 2011
The month of Ramadan is the time when Muslims all over the world fast from dawn to dusk, refraining from eating, drinking and sex. They enjoy observing the fast which appears to others difficult to understand, since hunger and thirst are by no means enjoyable. What makes things worse, at the superficial level, is that Ramadan occurs this year at the height of the summer, when the weather is exceptionally hot and the days are at their longest. How come Muslims willingly fast, and keep at it for a whole month, and enjoy it?
The answer is fully provided in the following sacred, or qudsi, Hadith which means that it is God’s own words quoted by the Prophet (peace be upon him) but it is not part of the Qur’an: “All actions done by a human being belong to him except fasting; it belongs to Me. I shall reward it accordingly.”
The Hadith is longer than this, but only this part is in God’s words. The remainder is in the Prophet’s words, and it goes as follows: “Fasting is a means of protection. When any of you are fasting, they must not engage in any quarrel or shouting. Should anyone verbally abuse you or fight you, you should only say: ‘I am fasting’. By Him who holds Muhammad’s soul in His hand, the mouth of a fasting person smells, in God’s sight, better than musk. Fasting people rejoice twice: once when it is time to break the fast and once when they meet their Lord.” (Related by Al-Bukhari)
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/islam/article483207.ece
---------
650,000 children acutely malnourished in Somalia
Allan Jacob
5 August 2011
5 August 2011 DUBAI — Frail children are bearing the full force of the drought and famine in Somalia, with 650,000 of them acutely malnourished in the south, the United Nations said on Thursday.
UN relief officials, speaking to Khaleej Times, said the worst famine-hit region received 653 metric tonnes of Corn Soya Blend in July, enough to feed 65,000 children, and 230 metric tonnes of therapeutic food to treat 16,000 severely malnourished children.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is feeding 1.5 million people in Somalia and is working to reach a further 2.2 million in the south. Jens Laerke, of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the emergency response must be stepped up to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.
‘‘Tens of thousands of Somalis have already died and hundreds of thousands more are facing starvation. A famine — which is a technical term for the worst possible situation of hunger in an area — has been declared in two regions in Somalia, and unless there is a massive increase in the humanitarian response, the famine will spread to five or six more regions. Food, drinking water and special nutrition for children is therefore on top of the requirements. But also medicines and health equipment are urgently needed,’’ he said.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/August/middleeast_August122.xml§ion=middleeast
---------
12 Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh militants acquitted
5 August 2011
A Rajshahi court yesterday acquitted 12 militants of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in a case filed for torturing a teenage boy in Bagmara during the rise of militancy in 2004.
Victim and plaintiff of the case, Manik, rejected the verdict and said he would appeal against it with the High Court soon.
A gang of JMB militants on April 6, 2004 beat up Manik, an SSC examinee, and ransacked his house after his parents refused to pay Tk 1 lakh toll. As a means of exerting pressure for the money, Manik was then taken to a JMB camp set up at Ramjan Kaya's house at Hamirkutsa and tortured overnight. He was released next morning only after a payment of Tk 50,000 ransom by Manik's family.
In yesterday's verdict, Afzal Hossain, judge of the first court of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, said the charges against the accused could not be proved.
Public Prosecutor Sayeda Morjina Khatun said, "Most of the witnesses seemed afraid to testify against the militants." Yet some of the statements of the witnesses were strong enough where the judge could use his judicial mind to give a verdict against the accused.
About five years after the incident, Manik lodged the case with a Rajshahi court accusing 34 militants but police pressed charges against 12 of them in December 2009.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=197260
---------
Al-Qaida still remains a threat to US: Panetta
Aug 5, 2011
WASHINGTON: Despite the fact that the al-Qaida has been badly damaged, the global terror outfit still poses a threat to the US, Pentagon said.
"Even though we've badly damaged al-Qaida and their ability to conduct attacks in this country, the fact is that they still remain a threat," Leon Panetta said at his maiden Pentagon news conference as US defense secretary.
The fundamental issues needed to deal with are identifying threats and making sure that US is prepared to confront those threats. "That's what national defense is all about," he said.
"And clearly, terrorism and the terrorism networks still remain a threat out there. A threat coming out of Yemen. A threat coming out of Somalia and elsewhere. And that means that we have to continue the pressure to deal with the threat of al-Qaida," he said in response to a question.
In addition, US is fighting two wars - in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We have a responsibility to try to bring those wars to a stable conclusion, and that's what we're trying to do," Panetta said.
"We have the threats that come from Iran and North Korea, and the need to continue to watch them closely, with the danger being that they could achieve some kind of nuclear capability," he said.
The defence secretary said: "Then the responsibility is, obviously, to be able to project our power in the world, in order to make sure that rising powers understand that the United States still has a strong defense. All of those areas are important national defense areas that we have to pay attention to."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Al-Qaida-still-remains-a-threat-to-US-Panetta/articleshow/9488112.cms
---------
Survivor says around 100 died on Libya refugee boat
Aug 5, 2011
ROME: Around 100 refugees fleeing the unrest in Libya died on an overcrowded refugee boat that arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa, a survivor said, but coast guard officials did not confirm the toll.
"We were 300, but around 100, especially women, did not survive, and the men were forced to throw their bodies into the sea," a Moroccan female survivor was quoted by Italy's ANSA news agency as saying.
The woman's claim contradicted information provided earlier by Italian coast guard officials, who said 300 badly dehydrated refugees were rescued from the boat after it was discovered 167 kilometres south of Lampedusa yesterday.
But Antonio Morana, the commander of the Lampedusa port, said rescue speedboats sent out to assist the refugees "saw clothes floating in the sea in the area where they were operating and maybe also corpses."
Morana said rescue workers were not able to check whether there were in fact bodies floating in the water.
"We had to leave to quickly transport the 300 migrants that were in a precarious state of health," he said, adding that poor visibility made it equally difficult to scan the water for bodies.
The female survivor was among a group of four women and a man taken by helicopter to a hospital on the island to receive emergency treatment for dehydration and shock following their harrowing journey.
ANSA earlier cited survivors as saying that "dozens and dozens of people" had died of thirst and hunger and were thrown overboard, but coast guard spokesman Vittorio Alessandro did not confirm the report. (AFP) ASR 08050249 NNNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Survivor-says-around-100-died-on-Libya-refugee-boat/articleshow/9487442.cms
---------
Pallone introduces resolution on Kashmiri Pandits in US House
Aug 5, 2011
WASHINGTON: Influential Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives, condemning the extremist violence against the Kashmiri Pandits since 1989.
The resolution condemns the extremist violence, lack of religious freedom, and human rights violations committed against Kashmiri Pandits, which they have endured for more than two decades.
It also insists that terrorist infrastructure in the region must be dismantled and terrorists should be held accountable for their actions.
Noting that Kashmiri Pandits are the original inhabitants of Kashmir, tracing their heritage and culture back several millennia; the resolution says that Kashmiri Pandits have been the victims of documented human rights violations resulting in the severe curtailment of their religious freedom for more than two decades.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pallone-introduces-resolution-on-Kashmiri-Pandits-in-US-House/articleshow/9492348.cms
---------
Haqqani Network Growing Stronger at the Expense of the Tehrik-e-Taliban
Arif Jamal
5 August 2011
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) seems to be slowly disintegrating as various commanders try to pull it in different directions. A clear indication of this process came when the TTP Commander in the Kurram Agency, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, announced that his group had seceded from the TTP (for Fazal Saeed Haqqani, see Militant Leadership Monitor, July 2011). Fazal Saeed Haqqani also announced the formation of a new group called Tehrik-e-Taliban Islami Pakistan (TTIP) (Dawn [Karachi] June 28). Haqqani said his group was not happy with the TTP’s policy of attacking civilian targets, a major reason for the split. However, Haqqani and his group have been involved in the murders of innocent Shi’a Muslims. In the very first statement to dissociate his new group from the TTP, Haqqani announced that his group would not carry out any attacks on the Pakistani security forces (The News [Karachi] June 28). He also announced that the United States is the TTIP’s “main enemy” (Daily Times [Lahore] June 28).
Full report at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13196d23627b7f7d
---------
Mauritania Confronts Structural Problems as It Steps Up Counterterrorism Efforts
Anouar Boukhars
5 August 2011
The past six weeks have seen an escalation of hostilities between Mauritanian troops and the forces of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The first signs of this escalation occurred on June 24, when Mauritanian forces raided, with Malian help, an al-Qaeda camp in the Wagadou forest in Northeastern Mali, killing fifteen militants (see Terrorism Monitor Brief, July 7). Unlike its sanctuaries in the remote desert of Mali and Algeria, AQIM’s decision to establish a forward operating base (a mere 70 km away from Mauritania) was a bold move that put the group within striking distance of Mauritania’s urban centers (Jeune Afrique, July 6). The make-up of the AQIM contingent (half of its members were Mauritanians) also raised alarms in Mauritanian circles, as it confirmed accounts of the rising number of Mauritanians in AQIM. Mauritania’s military operation in Mali was therefore necessary to signal resolve and demonstrate an ability to dismantle sanctuaries from which the country can be attacked.
Full report at: The Jamestown Foundation
---------
Afghan Taliban statement seeks legitimacy for Islamic emirate
5 August 2011
Statements from Afghanistan’s Taliban movement have begun taking on a more diplomatic tone as the movement grows ever more confident of an eventual victory over foreign forces that are beginning to question the value of extending their deployments. A July 28 statement entitled “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: Rethinking Afghanistan” took the opportunity to jab at American fiscal sensitivities by reminding the United States that the cost of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had precipitated a “head-long descent into financial meltdown” (alemarah.net, July 28).
America’s reputation as a world leader in human rights has similarly suffered through the “gross human rights violations by American interrogators in the Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and Bagram jails,” as well as drone attacks and night raids “in which thousands of innocent men and women have lost their lives.”
Despite the great financial cost and the blows to America’s international reputation, the Taliban insists the American intervention in Afghanistan has succeeded only in destabilizing the region and imposing a corrupt government of former warlords who ship foreign aid funds through the Kabul airport to “clandestine bank accounts.”
Full report at: The Jamestown Foundation
---------
A History of Islamist Militancy in Pakistani Punjab
Arif Jamal
5 August 2011
Pakistan’s Punjab Province is home to some of the world’s most insidious terrorist groups and Islamist political organizations. Islamist and jihadist groups, organized under different Islamic sects, have flourished in Punjab and among Punjabis elsewhere. The roots of Islamist militancy in the Muslim Punjab can be traced to the Muslim revolt against the Hindu Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in July 1931. The revolt gave birth to the Majlis-Ahrar-Islam (Ahrars for short) in the British Punjab. The Ahrars have served as a model for all subsequent Deobandi, and arguably Salafist, Islamist/jihadist groups that give and take lives in the name of religion. The rise of Deobandi Islamist/jihadist groups since the foundation of the Ahrars has continued unabated. However, their rise became steep after the Pakistan army started raising militias to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. The United States has given billions of dollars to the Pakistan army, but failed to break its alliance with the jihadists. Neither the intensification of the jihadists’ war on the Pakistan army nor the increase in military aid to Pakistan by the United States is likely to convince Pakistan to go after the Islamist terrorists indiscriminately. Hence, the war on terror cannot be won without a resolution to the Kashmir conflict.
Jamestown Foundation
---------
Syrian siege of Hama raises humanitarian concerns
By ZEINA KARAM
5 August 2011
BEIRUT: Gunmen in plainclothes are randomly shooting people in the streets of the besieged Syrian city of Hama and families are burying their loved ones in gardens at home for fear of being killed themselves if they venture out to cemeteries, a resident said Thursday.
Military forces on Sunday launched an offensive against anti-government dissent in Hama and at least 100 people have been killed since, according to human rights groups. Phones, Internet and electricity have been cut or severely hampered for days. The resident told The Associated Press people are being forced to ration food and share bread to get by during the holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims fast from dawn to dusk then celebrate with large, festive meals after sundown.
“People are being slaughtered like sheep while walking in the street,” said the resident, who spoke by phone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “I saw with my own eyes one young boy on a motorcycle who was carrying vegetables being run over by a tank.” He said he left Hama briefly through side roads to smuggle in food supplies.
The resident said around 250 people have been killed since Sunday. Hozan Ibrahim, of the Local Coordination Committees which tracks the crackdown on protesters, said up to 30 people may have been killed in Hama Wednesday only based on reports from fleeing residents. But neither of those numbers could be immediately verified.
Families have resorted to burying their loved ones in home gardens or roadside pits “because we fear that if we go to the cemetery, we will end up buried along with them,” the resident said.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article483132.ece
---------
What the Qur’an teaches: God in heaven and on earth
5 August 2011
In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful
Say: ‘If the Lord of Grace had a son, I would be the first to worship him.’ Limitless in His glory is the Lord of the heavens and earth, the Lord of the Throne: He is far above their false descriptions. Leave them to indulge in idle talk and play until they face the Day they have been promised. It is He alone who is God in heaven and God on earth; He alone is the Wise, the All-Knowing. Blessed is He to whom sovereignty over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them belongs, and with whom the knowledge of the Last Hour rests, and to whom you shall be brought back. Those whom they invoke besides Him have no power of intercession, unlike those who know the truth and bear witness to it. Yet if you ask them who created them they are sure to answer, ‘God.’ How is it, then, that they are so misled? And (the Prophet) says: ‘My Lord, these are people who will not believe.’ Still, bear with them and say, ‘Peace,’ for in time they will come to know. (Gold; Al-Zukhruf: 43: 81-89)
In this final passage, the surah directs the Prophet (peace be upon him) to say something to them and to leave them to face the destiny which has already been described to them: “Say: ‘If the Lord of Grace had a son, I would be the first to worship him.’ Limitless in His glory is the Lord of the heavens and earth, the Lord of the Throne: He is far above their false descriptions. Leave them to indulge in idle talk and play until they face the Day they have been promised.”
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/islam/article483205.ece
---------
Translator of the Qur’an in English, French and German
By ABU TARIQ HIJAZI
5 August 2011
Muhammad Hamidullah, the world famed scholar who knew 24 languages and wrote 170 books in 22 languages, lived in France for about 50 years.
His greatest contribution is the translation of the Holy Qur’an into three languages — English, French and German.
He was an authority on Islamic and international law, which he taught at Osmania University in Hyderabad for a decade. He wrote over 1,000 articles in seven leading languages — English, French, German, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and Persian.
Hamidullah came from a very learned and respectable family of Hyderabad. His ancestors migrated from Arabia few centuries ago. His great grandfather Maulvi Mohammed Ghauth was a well-versed scholar of Islamic sciences and wrote 30 books in Arabic, Persian and Urdu.
His maternal grandfather Qadi Mohammed Sibghatullah was an accomplished scholar who wrote a commentary of the Holy Qu’ran alongside many other books.
His father Mufti Abu Mohammed Khalilullah (died 1943), also a noted scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, was appointed as director of revenue in the government of Nizam Hyderabad. He was the pioneer in instituting the first interest-free banking system in Hyderabad.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/islam/article479557.ece
---------
What the Qur'an teaches: Concerning the truth about Jesus
5 August 2011
In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful When Jesus came with clear signs, he said: ‘I have come to you with wisdom, and to make clear to you some of that on which you differ. Therefore, fear God and follow me. God is my Lord and your Lord: so worship Him alone. This is a straight path. Yet are the sects at variance among themselves. Woe, then, to the wrongdoers for the painful suffering that will befall them on a grievous day. (Gold; Al-Zukhruf: 43: 63-65)
The surah now speaks about Jesus, stating the truth about him and what he preached, and how his people differed about him, both before and after his time: “When Jesus came with clear signs, he said: ‘I have come to you with wisdom, and to make clear to you some of that on which you differ. Therefore, fear God and follow me. God is my Lord and your Lord: so worship Him alone. This is a straight path.”
Thus, Jesus came to his people with clear signs, whether miracles God granted him or teachings that lead along the right way. He said to his people: ‘I have come to you with wisdom’. Whoever is granted wisdom is indeed granted much of what is good, and he is safe and assured of his way. Jesus’ mission also clarified for them some of the questions over which they differed. Indeed, they differed on many aspects of the law of Moses, allowing their variances to split them into hostile factions.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/islam/article475911.ece
---------
Nepalese Muslims pray for tolerance during Ramadan
5 August 2011
Islamic leaders preach respect for other religious communities. The country still debates choice of a secular state or a return to a Hindu monarchy.
Kathmandu – Ramadan, the month of fasting and prayer for Muslims began on 2 August, called Roza in Nepal. In the country this month, the 9 th of the Muslim calendar, is also a time of prayer for minorities and for religious tolerance.
Nazrul Hussein, President of the Islamic Federation of Nepal and the Secretary General of the Interreligious Council of the country, told AsiaNews that "the Muslims of the country have decided to offer prayers for minorities and for religious tolerance during our holy month." "Nepal is changing to secularism and the religious transition is very important, even over the protests of those who demand the restoration of the Hindu monarchy, which we find unacceptable." "Minority groups are expected to generate unity and religious tolerance, it is necessary to unify [the country]. So we decided to pray for minority rights and religious tolerance. "
Full report at:
http://www.speroforum.com/a/58101/Nepal---Nepalese-Muslims-pray-for-tolerance-during-Ramadan
---------
‘Malays less sensitive on corruption than Chinese’
Teoh El Sen
5 August 2011
PETALING JAYA: PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu said many Malays do not seem to know that it is part of the Islamic teachings to have zero-tolerance for corruption.
Instead, the Chinese seem to be more sensitive and concerned about corrupt practices of the nation’s leaders.
“The second Qaliph Umar Al Khattab had a large country under his rule and when he often wore new shirts, the people would ask where he got his money from to buy them.
“That is what Islam asks of you, to be critical and check your leaders,” said Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, during a live interview on FMT RAW yesterday.
“But now when we mention to the Malays that Rosmah (Mansor) has a ring costing RM24 million, they are not stunned. But the Chinese are. In that sense the Chinese seem to be practising Islamic culture more than the Malays,” he said.
Mohamad said Malays need to change their mindsets.
Full report at:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/08/04/malays-less-sensitive-on-corruption-than-chinese/
---------
Clinton Islamic group reports vandalism
5 August 2011
CLINTON, Iowa — Clinton police are investigating an act of vandalism at the Islamic Society of Clinton County.
Anis Ansari, a physician in Clinton who is president of the Islamic Society, said during the afternoon or early evening of July 22, someone threw 16 or 17 rocks through a window.
“The window is hidden from the neighbors,” Ansari said. “There was quite a bit of damage. We’re having the window replaced at a cost of $1,200.
“It happened during broad daylight,” Ansari said. “When people came for evening prayer at 8:30 p.m., they discovered this act of vandalism. We called the police right away.”
The Islamic Center, at 1500 2nd Ave. S., is located in the former Lutheran Church of the Atonement building. The church was sold for the center, which opened in March 2006. Two months later, someone threw a boot through the center’s sign.
“We are very peace-loving people,” Ansari said. “All of our activities are open to non-Muslims.
“Most of the people know us and they recognize our good work in the community,” he added. “When things like this happen, we are at a loss at what the person would be thinking.”
The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday asked the FBI to investigate, but Ansari said he has not been contacted by anyone from the agency.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call the Clinton Police Department at (563) 243-1458 or Clinton County Crime Stoppers at (563) 242-6595 or (800) 462-6530.
http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_27a5c01a-be35-11e0-9e63-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1U9O9kJS2
---------
Foreign states host Iran Qur'anic week
5 August 2011
The Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) have scheduled to hold a series of Qur'anic weeks in a number of countries during the Muslims' fasting month of Ramadan.
The organization planned to introduce the Holy Qur'an to other nations by performing various programs at the occasion of Ramadan, regarded as the spring of the Qur'an, Mehr News Agency quoted ICRO director Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad as saying.
Canada, Britain, Sweden, France, Russia, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Tunisia are among the countries to host the Qur'anic weeks, he added.
The event has been slated to present Qur'an recitation along with calligraphy, photography, and illuminations with the theme of the Qur'an.
The cultural weeks in Indonesia and Malaysia is going to be a distinct program, in which a rare hand-woven Qur'anic carpet will be put on show, Khorramshahi stated.
A number of religious preachers will also attend the program, in order to answer to any religious questions. Furthermore, several software and computer games with Qur'anic concepts will also be distributed during the event.
The Muslims consider Ramadan, being the month in which the first verses of the holy Qur'an were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), as an auspicious month.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/192228.html
---------
Razavi Festival Spreads Islamic and Shia Culture
5 August 2011
A member of the policy-making council of the Razavi Festival said the festival fosters the pure Islamic and lofty Shia culture.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A member of the policy-making council of the Razavi Festival said the festival fosters the pure Islamic and lofty Shia culture.
Behzad Parvin Ghods also said the event is a good opportunity for those active in art and cultural fields to showcase their works.
“The Razavi International Festival is the only one about Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) that is held coherently in the country and abroad. This necessitates more precision and deeper approach on the part of the organizers,” he remarked.
Mr. Parvin Ghods stressed that the Islamic Revolution has institutionalized the culture of Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) in the country.
The 9th edition of Razavi (AS) Art-Cultual Festival is planned to be held on the occasion of Imam Reza (AS) birth anniversary in Iran and 22 other countries.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=257602
---------
Sharjah Museums Dept hosts over 750 students
5 August 2011
SHARJAH - The Sharjah Museums Department (SMD), in partnership with various government authorities, organizations and individuals in the UAE, recently hosted visitors from a number of summer camps and groups with the aim to enhance the national and historical culture of the UAE’s people.
As part of this initiative, more than 150 students – who are participating in the military training course at the Dubai Police Academy – visited Sharjah Aquarium.
Commenting on the occasion, Colonel Rashid Khalifa bin Darwish Al Falasi, Director of the Training Institute and Coordinator of the Military Course at the Dubai Police Academy, said: “Through this summer training program we were keen to translate the directives of the Dubai Police General Headquarters in spreading cultural and environmental awareness among students with the aim of improving their cultural and educational level, and familiarizing them with the heritage and crafts of their parents and grandparents”.
The Fujairah Tourism and Antiquities Authority arranged for 30 of its summer camp (Our Heritage Summer 2011) participants to visit the Sharjah Archaeology Museum, where they were able to learn about the emirate’s past through displays of artefacts, films and interactive computer games, as well as realistic models of burial sites, houses and tombs. People have lived in Sharjah for at least 7000 years and the visitors were able to learn how their ancestors adapted to the environment, what food they ate, the houses they built, and the weapons, jewellery and everyday objects they made.
Full report at: Khaleej Times
---------
Tolerance and diversity: America’s Achilles heel
By Frosty Wooldridge
5 August 2011
Every major terrorist attack on the Western world from slaughtering Jewish athletes at the 1972 Olympics to 9/11 served humanity with a warning. Islam, whether peaceful and prolific birthrates or treacherous terrorism, marches forward with one prime directive: dominate all cultures and countries. It’s been a slow boil since 9/11 when Muslim terrorists drove airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York City. Out of the ashes, Islam expects to build a massive mosque honoring its religion within a block of the devastation that its adherents perpetrated.
Mosques in America, much like the forts that dotted the American west, serve as markers for Islam. With over 1,208 of them thus far, Islam “marks” its new territory with minarets and growing numbers. European settlers did the same thing to the Native Americans in an invasion that destroyed their languages, customs, cultures, religions and ways of life. Europeans conquered by organized violence and relentless settlers.
Today, tolerance and diversity crumble the fabric of America.
Writer David Solway said, "What we are really witnessing in Europe, the U.S., and its outriders in Canada and Australia—the synoptic West—is the doleful spectacle of a civilization in denial, a myopic civilization that in most of its cultural and political centers will not recognize it is under attack and that seems haplessly incapable of mounting meaningful resistance, let alone launching a counter-attack against an apocalyptically-inspired Islamic enemy to ensure preservation."
Full report at:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty685.htm
---------
DJS president dies of heart attack
5 August 2011
HYDERABAD: Shaik Mahaboob Ali, president of the Dargah Jihad-O-Shahadat, an Old City-based fundamentalist outfit, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. He was unwell for the last several months.
Mahaboob Ali, known for his high voltage speeches, especially during protest rallies he organised on December 6 every year, Babri Masjid demolition day, was always on the radar of city police.
In fact, his grandson, Najiullah, who has been missing since the last few years, is alleged to have joined hands with Pakistan-based militant groups. Mahaboob Ali resided in the communally sensitive Saidabad area.
In 2004, violent protests were organised allegedly by DJS members after Gujarat police shot dead one mujahid, during protests outside the DGP’s office following the arrest of Maulana Naseeruddin.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/djs-president-dies-of-heart-attack/172841-60-121.html
---------
Jordanian woman Files against Israel’s ambassador
5 August 2011
The Jordanian public prosecutor has launched an investigation after a Jordanian woman has filed a lawsuit against Israel’s ambassador in Jordan after she was detained and criminally abducted.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - According to the indictment, excerpts of which have been published by Jordan’s Al-Ghad newspaper, several of the embassy’s employees detained the woman, also an employee, for 24 hours and used psychological pressure to elicit confessions on a former female employee at the embassy who was involved in a corruption scandal.
The prosecutor has confirmed that the woman endured psychological pressure while detained and questioned and was also threatened to be abducted.
‘’No one in Jordanian soil may abuse or restrict its citizens’ freedoms,’’ Shakir al-Abadi, the woman’s lawyer, stated, citing the Jordanian constitution.
It marks the first time a lawsuit has been filed against the Israeli embassy in Amman since the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace was signed in 1993.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=257740
---------
Turkish groups cancel iftar programs to send aid to Africa
5 August 2011
Organizations and businesses across Turkey have decided to give up their traditional iftar (fast-breaking dinner) programs and send aid to drought-afflicted Africa instead.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Organizations and businesses across Turkey have decided to give up their traditional iftar (fast-breaking dinner) programs and send aid to drought-afflicted Africa instead.
Bartin Active Businessmen Association (BAKIAD) announced that it will also share iftar with those starving in Africa this year. The association members decided to donate TL 10,000 to Kimse Yok Mu which will send it to people in Africa.
BAKIAD President Birol Dikyurt said that it is not possible to remain indifferent to the human tragedy in Africa with 10 million people in peril of starvation.
Dikyurt said that BAKIAD traditionally organizes iftar dinner services in Turkey for its members and leaders. Last year, however, the association decided to dedicate its iftar budget to those less fortunate in Pakistan.
"This year we decided to share iftar with Africa, which is facing the most severe drought in its history. As industrialists and businessmen, together with our members in Africa, we have decided to provide aid to Somalia."
Full report at:
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=257745
---------
With Arab Spring in full bloom, Jordan’s jihadists look to turn new leaf
By Taylor Luck
5 August 2011
AMMAN - Holding sit-ins, raising banners and marching arm-in-arm with pro-reform protesters - aside from the long beards and black flags, Jordan’s salafists barely resemble the jihadists of old.
From Maan to Amman, followers of the jihadist movement are taking a more peaceful approach to promote their demands, the implementation of a strict interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law).
The group is distinct from, and at loggerheads with the mainstream Salafism in that preach against violence and reject as a breach to Islamic teachings revolts to topple existing regimes as long as rulers declare themselves as Muslims and embrace Islam as a source of legislation and the official religion of the state.
Jihadists are also called Takfiris, after takfir, which is their tendency to label as non-Muslim individual and groups who do not follow their interpretation of Islam.
Inspired by the Arab Spring, Takfiris are resorting to 21st century tools such as Facebook and Twitter as part of their drive to become more mainstream than their extremist reputation.
Full report at:
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=40119
---------
Pakistan, US headed for showdown over n-arms, warns daily
5 August 2011
Islamabad, Aug 5 (IANS) The US and Pakistan are headed towards a confrontation over nuclear arms, warned a Pakistani daily.
An editorial in the News International Friday said the US plans to force Pakistan to sign the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty and halt the production of nuclear bombs material.
'This has understandably caused much alarm in Pakistan.'
While noting that Pakistan and the US are heading towards confrontation yet again, 'this time over nuclear arms', the editorial observed: 'The US-Pakistan relationship has challenges but remains strategically vital: this about sums up the relationship as it stands now...'
It said it seems that 'Pakistan's ultimate worth to the US - despite all posturing to the contrary - is becoming increasingly clear'.
'The Americans would rather have assistance from Pakistan - in the fight against terror in Pakistan and beyond in Afghanistan - than have that assistance cut off. It would rather that its spooks were allowed to do their work in Pakistan than that they were eased or pushed out,' it added.
It went on to say that 'all this talk of ties reaching a fever pitch and threatening to explode eschews the fact that the US values its leverage over Pakistan and also realises...that leaving Pakistan now would mean a much bigger headache later'.
'Yes, Pakistan worries the Unites States. But for precisely that reason, the United States isn't going to be able to ignore Pakistan's interests anytime soon.'
http://in.news.yahoo.com/pakistan-us-headed-showdown-over-n-arms-warns-052458328.html
---------
Every effort to be made for Karachi’s law and order: Malik
Aug 05 2011
KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday ruled out any compromise to restore law and order in Karachi.
He was speaking to media representatives after presiding over high-level meetings with officials dealing with the city’s security situation. Mr Malik also met with Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan.
“We will not spare anybody,” he said, adding that action against criminals would be taken without any discrimination.
He said that soon those arrested would be brought before media representatives to tell their modus operandi and also on whose directions criminal actions took place.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr Wassan said all efforts were being made to bring normalcy in Karachi and other parts of Sindh with the help of the federal government.
“About 800 people have been the victims of violent shootings in the last seven months,” Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told AFP.
The HRCP previously said 490 people were killed in the first six months of the year and on Friday that another 300 people died in July.
“The figures compiled by our staff and the death toll for the last month confirmed by the police shows the number of victims of violence was not less than 300,” Yusuf said.
The government has campaigned to end the clashes and deployed hundreds of additional police and paramilitary forces in the city, but the killings have continued with 58 people reported dead in five days alone this week.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/05/every-effort-to-be-made-for-karachi%E2%80%99s-law-and-order-malik.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/100-killed-syria-tank-assault/d/5192