Afghan Peace Council Head Rabbani killed in Attack
Bloodbath in Yemeni capital as toll rises to 60
28 Shia Muslims shot dead by LeJ militants in Pak
Terror has silenced powerful voice of peace: Indian FM
Rabbani: The man who sought to bridge Afghan divide
Al-Shabab radio gives weapons prize to Somali children
Maldives: Three men accused of Hoarafushi hostage murder face terrorism charges
Rabbani: Sought to bridge divide, became its victim
Taliban ally Haqqanis behind killing of Rabbani
Bharatpur killings: Cong admits govt failure, police excess
Blair’s money talk with buddy Gaddafi
Pak govt will not extend legal aid to JuD’s Hafiz Saeed
Mullen asks Pak's ISI to end ties with terrorists
Pakistan, Enemy within: Suicide bomber is one of us
Indo-US panel agrees on N-exigency plans on Pak
A shadow war and its victims
Iran hangs convicted murderer in public
China building fast attack craft for Pak
Despite threats, Palestinians to submit U.N. membership letter
PM Manmohan Singh pledges 'full support' to Palestine's statehood bid
22 Iranian drug dealers hanged
21 militants, soldier killed in Orakzai clash
At least 6 people killed in Yemen, rockets hit camp
Car bomb kills 3, wounds 34 in Ankara
Bomb in Turkish capital kills at least 2 people
Baghdad jail blaze kills nine prisoners
Death toll in Syria protests rises to 2,700: UN rights office
Bharatpur Police Carnage ‘Every eye-witness said there was no death before the police intervened’
Turkey: Life terms sought in journalist Killing
Egypt: Islam-Based Party Is Banned
Hillary tells Hina: Act against LeT, Haqqani men
Fugitive Gaddafi Taunts NATO in Audio Broadcast
Gadhafi Says His Regime Still Alive in Libya
LAHORE: WWO meeting held, protection for women stressed
Monday violence: Hundreds Bangladesh Jamaat men sued
Maldives: Former Adhaalath Party leader criticises new leadership
Hillary still hopeful of Palestinian compromise
India to focus on terrorism and SC reform at UNGA meet
Saudi Arabia: 41 Accused of Terrorism
Caught spying in India, Pak national Irfan Kausar jailed for 6 years
Muslim leaders, King Abdul Aziz to address new challenges at Makkah Conference
Nigeria UN bomb: Video of 'Boko Haram bomber' released
Bombers Strike Government Offices in Iraq's Ramadi
Abbas presses Palestinian UN bid despite warnings
More than 3,500 Syrian refugees in Lebanon: UN
France slams UN silence over Syria
King Abdullah calls for a stable Yemen
Pak refuses to hand over ex-ISI chief to Bosnia tribunal
U.S. Is Quietly Getting Ready for Syria without Assad
Interlocutors complete year-long process of interaction in J-K
Islamic Development Bank wants to explore India
Pak govt. not considering Sarabjit clemency
Praise for Gujarat CM fuels Omar & Mehbooba face- off
Mehbooba denial: ‘Would die before praising Modi govt’
Bharatpur to Batla, BJP reaches out to Muslims
Due process: SC asks top lawyer to defend Kasab
Block access to Facebook: Pak court
Uphill battle against Afghan cross-border strikes
Mehbooba Mufti denies Modi praise, calls Sushma Swaraj a 'liar'
Wary of Jinnah fiasco, Modi refuses skull cap
Egypt bans palm frond exports for Jewish holiday
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/afghan-peace-council-head-rabbani/d/5515
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Afghan Peace Council Head Rabbani killed in Attack
Sept. 20th, 2011
Emergency services responded quickly after the bomb blast
The chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, has been killed with several other people in a bomb attack in Kabul, officials say.
Mr Rabbani was killed at his home by a suicide attacker who officials suspect had concealed a bomb in his turban.
He was meeting members of the Taliban at the time. The council leads Afghan efforts to negotiate with the Taliban.
Mr Rabbani is a former president of Afghanistan and also led the main political opposition in the country.
A senior advisor to the peace council, Masoom Stanakzai, is also thought to have been seriously wounded in the attack.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai heard the news on his way to the US for the UN General Assembly in New York . He decided to cut short his visit and is now returning to Kabul. He briefly met US President Barack Obama.
'Special message'
Mr Rabbani's residence is in a prosperous district of Kabul, on the edge of a high security area close to the US embassy and the district where the Taliban launched a 20-hour attack last week, leaving 25 dead.
Burhanuddin Rabbani
Senior figure in the mujahideen who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s
President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 and then again in 2001
Senior member of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance from 1996 to 2001
Made leader of Peace Council constituted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai tasked with negotiating with the Taliban
The attack is likely to fuel concerns over security in the capital. Security forces have closed off a number of streets in the district and the police are out in force, reports say.
Speaking to the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul, counter-terrorism officials described the sequence of events leading up to the killing.
They said two Taliban commanders had come to meet Mr Rabbani. The two men arrived with Mr Stanakzai and as one of them went to embrace the former president, he detonated explosives concealed in his turban.
"No-one was checked. Shortly after that we heard an explosion. Everyone started shouting: 'They killed Ustaad Ustaad [a term of respect]'," a member of Mr Rabbani's household said.
One report from AFP news agency, also citing intelligence officials, says the two men arrived saying they had "special messages from the Taliban".
When the High Peace Council was set up in October 2010, Mr Karzai described it as the greatest hope for the Afghan people and called on the Taliban to seize the opportunity and help bring peace.
Mr Rabbani (centre) had been overseeing efforts to persuade the Taliban to give up arms
But many members of the council are former warlords who spent years fighting the Taliban and their inclusion led to doubts as to whether it could succeed in its mission.
He was ousted as president by the Taliban in 1996. After that he became the nominal head of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, made of mostly non-Pashtun ethnic groups.
When they swept back into Kabul, backed by US forces, and toppled the Taliban in 2001, he was still recognised by the UN as the official president of Afghanistan.
Series of assassinations
But he was a controversial figure who had many enemies, including the Taliban, the BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says. Many were surprised when Mr Rabbani was put in charge of peace talks.
In the 1970s it was Mr Rabbani who founded the parties that ended up becoming the Afghan mujahideen who took on the Russians and many blame him and his friends for the death and destruction of the civil war days.
Although people will mourn his violent death, there are also many who will celebrate it, our correspondent adds.
However, analysts say, his death will not necessarily prevent peace talks from continuing.
The killing is just the latest in a series of assassinations of senior politicians and security commanders across the country.
In July, President Karzai's brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was killed at his home in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, by his own head of security. Two months earlier, General Daud Daud, the top police commander in northern Afghanistan was killed in a suicide bomb attack.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for most of these killings.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14985779
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Bloodbath in Yemeni capital as toll rises to 60
Sep 21 2011
GUNFIRE and shelling rocked Sanaa for the third day on Tuesday as the toll from the worst outbreak of violence in Yemen’s capital in months spiralled to 60 dead with hundreds wounded.
The violence has hampered attempts by regional and international mediators to clinch a power transfer deal between political rivals, with the opposition saying it will not negotiate while blood is flowing in Sanaa.
Fighting between dissident military troops and those loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh broke out at dawn and raged into the morning, leaving seven people dead, medics and witnesses said.
Four civilians and three soldiers from the First Armoured Brigade were killed, a medical official said, referring to Ahmar’s troops. A brief lull that lasted only a few hours during the night was followed by fierce battles involving automatic gunfire and shelling, witnesses said.
Republican Guard troops, commanded by Saleh’s son Ahmed, shelled posts held by Ahmar’s troops around Change Square, the epicentre of the anti- regime protests that have shaken Yemen for months, witnesses said.
Change Square was targeted by mortar rounds and anti- aircraft fire, with one witness describing it as the heaviest shelling yet and saying it lit the sky over the square.
A shell also hit Al- Iman University near the square, killing one and wounding three others, university spokesman Ayed al- Zindani said. Mortar rounds, meanwhile, fell near the field hospital set up at Change Square in which six people were wounded, activist Walid al- Amari said.
Later on Tuesday, according to witnesses, snipers and security forces opened fire on demonstrators who tried to march towards the Kentaky crossroad, where the office of Ahmed Saleh is located.
Medics at the Change Square field hospital said dozens were wounded in the attack but could not provide specific figures yet.
The latest violence was sparked when demonstrators on Sunday, vowing to escalate their protests, took off from Change Square — where they have camped since February — and marched southwards along Al- Zubair Road towards Kentaky crossroad in central Sanaa.
They were met by security forces and armed civilians who opened fire on them, leaving 26 dead, according to medics. Dissident army troops intervened in defence of the protesters, who managed to drive out Saleh’s loyalists and security forces before setting up their own tents along the road.
On Monday, 27 died in similar clashes, organisers of the protests said.
Mail Today
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28 Shia Muslims shot dead by LeJ militants in Pak
Sep 21 2011
Islamabad : On Tuesday, banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants shot dead 28 Shia Muslims in two back-to-back attacks that also left several injured in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan.
In the first incident, gunmen forced the pilgrims going to Iran out of a bus, lined them up and sprayed bullets killing 26 of them on the spot and leaving six more seriously injured.
This is was one of the most brutal attacks on the minority community in the recent past.
The bus was going from provincial capital Quetta to the border town of Taftan.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Quetta, located about 40 km from Mastung.
Shortly after the attack on the bus, militants ambushed a vehicle carrying Shias at Akhtarabad on the outskirts of Quetta, killing two men. Several others were injured.
The Shias were on their way to Mastung to collect the bodies of their kin.
The militants who carried out both attacks escaped.
The banned LeJ claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus in calls made to newspapers in Quetta.
Mastung is considered a hub of the LeJ, a notorious sectarian group that has carried out numerous attacks on Shias across Pakistan.
Khushal Khan, the driver of the bus, told reporters that the attackers blocked the road with a pick-up truck and ordered passengers to get out of the vehicle.
"The attackers were carrying Kalahnikovs and rocket launchers. After they opened fire, some of us escaped by running away," Khan said.
Though security cover is usually provided to vehicles carrying Shia pilgrims, Balochistan Home Secretary Naseebullah Bazai said the pilgrims had not informed the Home Department about their journey or sought security.
Khan, the bus driver, said about 45 people were in the vehicle.
He said security forces arrived at the site an hour after the attack.
The Shias were travelling to Taftan, a border town from where they intended to cross over to Iran for a pilgrimage.
Members of the minority Shia community have been repeatedly attacked in Balochistan, including in the provincial capital Quetta.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack on the bus, describing it as an inhuman and brutal act of terrorism.
He said such cowardly acts could not dent the government's resolve to fight terrorism to the finish.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/28-shia-muslims-shot-dead-by-lej-militants-in-pak/849321/
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Terror has silenced powerful voice of peace: Indian FM
Shubhajit Roy
Sep 21 2011
New Delhi : Hours after former Afghanistan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading the reconciliation process with the Taliban, was assassinated on Tuesday, India said that the forces of terror have silenced a “powerful voice of reason and peace”.
Expressing “shock”, External Affairs minister S M Krishna said, “I fondly recall my meetings with him in Kabul and again in New Delhi last July, when he had shared his vision of a harmonious and prosperous Afghanistan. Tragically, the forces of terror and hatred have silenced yet another powerful voice of reason and peace in Afghanistan. We unreservedly condemn this act of great brutality.”
Krishna, while offering his condolences to Rabbani’s family, reiterated India’s “steadfast support” to Afghanistan in its “quest for peace and its efforts to strengthen the roots of democracy”. The assassination has set off alarm bells in New Delhi, ahead of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to India next month.
Strategic affairs experts termed the incident as a “striking setback” and said the perpetrators were sending a signal that they were “not interested in negotiations”. Former Foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said that Rabbani was of certain political standing and Karzai was backing him so that the country would move in the “right direction”.
Lalit Man Singh, another former foreign secretary, said, “This is a big blow to Karzai. Even though the reconciliation process hadn’t made much of a headway, Rabbani brought a lot of prestige to the position and the process. This is sending a message that the Taliban can strike at will.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/terror-has-silenced-powerful-voice-of-peace-s-m-krishna/849513/
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Rabbani: The man who sought to bridge Afghan divide
Sep 21 2011
Kabul : Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani sought to bridge Afghanistan's divide, but instead ended up one of the conflict's many victims. The former leader, fighter and finally peace envoy, whose shifting fortunes and loyalties matched the complexity of his splintered nation, was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Tuesday. He was about 70 years old.
The assassination marked another dark chapter in a war that the US-led coalition is preparing to exit, with international troops set to leave Afghanistan by 2014. For the past year, Rabbani had been in charge of a government peace council that tried to facilitate contacts with Taliban insurgents. But the council failed to make headway as warring sides and disparate groups maneuvered for an edge in the long-running conflict.
Rabbani was assassinated on Tuesday by a suicide bomber concealing explosives in his turban, a tactic that has been used with lethal effect against other Afghan officials.
He was president from 1992-1996, heading the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban rule. After he was driven from Kabul in 1996, he became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, mostly minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, who swept to power in Kabul after the Taliban's fall. Rabbani is an ethnic Tajik.
The soft-spoken Rabbani used to spend most of his time translating poetry before assuming political power in Afghanistan, with its trappings of heavily armed bodyguards and armored vehicles with tinted windows. In 1996, as leader of a country contested by nearly a dozen factions, he vowed to resist the Taliban even as the Islamic fundamentalist force closed in on the capital.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rabbani-the-man-who-sought-to-bridge-afghan-divide/849599/
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Al-Shabab radio gives weapons prize to Somali children
20 September 2011
A radio station run by Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist group has awarded weapons to children who won a Koran-reciting competition.
Andulus radio, based near Mogadishu, gave the group which won first prize in the Ramadan contest an AK-47 rifle and the equivalent of $700 (£450).
The second prize-winners received an AK-47 and $500, while the third prize was two hand grenades and $400.
Al-Shabab, linked to al-Qaeda, controls much of southern and central Somalia.
It recently withdrew from the capital, Mogadishu, where the UN-backed government is in charge.
Four children, aged 10-17, were chosen to represent each district in the competition held during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in August.
"Children should use one hand for education and the other for a gun to defend Islam," senior al-Shabab official Mukhtar Robow told the prize-giving ceremony in Elasha, 20km (12 miles) from Mogadishu.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14985549
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Maldives: Three men accused of Hoarafushi hostage murder face terrorism charges
By Ahmed Nazeer
20 September 2011
The Prosecutor General (PG)’s Office today pressed criminal charges against three persons accused of murdering 61 year-old Hussain Mohamed after taking him hostage and robbing him on Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu Atoll.
Hussain, a prominent businessman known as ‘Hussainbe’, was found dead inside an abandoned house in September last year.
The PG’s lawyer told the judge that the three of them stole more than Rf 100,000 and US$1000 in cash but the three denied the charges, according to local media.
Police at the time said they believed that year-old Hussain Mohamed may have been murdered.
An official from the island office had told Minivan News that the body was discovered by the caretaker of the building that night.
“There were no injuries on the outside his body,’’ said the island official. ‘’He is from another island but has lived in Hoarafushi for a long time.’’
Local media reported that Manik’s hands were tied behind his back with rope, and that the body was lying on the ground in a prone position when discovered.
The island official said that it had rained heavily the previous evening, and that “nobody goes out in the rain. The streets would probably have been empty.”
The sale of oil in Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu ceased following the death of the prominent businessman.
http://minivannews.com/society/three-men-accused-of-hoarafushi-hostage-murder-face-terrorism-charges-25794
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Rabbani: Sought to bridge divide, became its victim
Sep 21 2011
Kabul : Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani sought to bridge Afghanistan’s divide, but instead ended up one of the conflict’s many victims. The former leader, fighter and finally peace envoy, whose shifting fortunes and loyalties matched the complexity of his splintered nation, was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Tuesday. He was about 70 years old.
For the past year, Rabbani had been in charge of a government peace council that tried to facilitate contacts with Taliban insurgents. But the council failed to make much headway.
He was president from 1992-1996, heading the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban rule. After he was driven from Kabul in 1996, he became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, mostly minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, who swept to power in Kabul after the Taliban’s fall. Rabbani is an ethnic Tajik.
The soft-spoken Rabbani used to spend most of his time translating poetry before assuming political power in Afghanistan. In 1996, as leader of a country contested by nearly a dozen factions, he vowed to resist the Taliban even as they closed in on Kabul.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sought-to-bridge-divide-became-its-victim/849515/
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Taliban ally Haqqanis behind killing of Rabbani
Sep 21 2011
Kabul: Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was assassinated at his residence in Kabuls heavily guarded diplomatic enclave. A police source said Masoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, was also badly injured in the attack.
The attack is believed to be the work of the Haqqani network,a Taliban-allied insurgent faction, based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
One senior diplomat in Kabul said the death of Rabbani, head of the High Peace Council,dealt a blow to the attempts by Karzais government to work towards a political end to the war.The killing of Rabbani is a serious blow against president Karzai and the governments peace and reconciliations efforts.It also underscores the inability of government to protect even the most prominent Afghan politicians, the diplomat said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack outside the residence of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani. Yes, we carried out the attack on Rabbani but will provide you other details shortly, he said.
The assassination comes a week after a 20-hour gun and grenade attack on Kabuls diplomatic enclave by insurgents, and three suicide bomb attacks on other parts of the city, the longest-lasting assault on the city.
Times of India
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Bharatpur killings: Cong admits govt failure, police excess
Sep 21 2011
New Delhi, Bharatpur : In a clear indictment of the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, a delegation of Congress MPs who visited riot-hit Bharatpur on the instructions of party president Sonia Gandhi, have held the police responsible for “excesses” including firing “inside the mosque”, it is reliably learnt.
Noting that all the eight who were killed were Meo Muslims, the delegation is said to have reported that the mosque walls had bullet marks and bloodstains. Their report was submitted to Sonia this evening.
Over 20 were injured on September 14 at Gopalgarh in Bharatpur after a faceoff over a disputed tract of land between Muslim Meos and Gujjars. The Congress delegation, which visited Bharatpur on Monday, included Vijay Bahuguna, Rashid Alvi, Viplov Thakur and Deepender Hooda.
They met members of both communities and district officials. Citing statements of local residents, the delegation is learnt to have said that some bodies had been thrown into a well and burnt in the fields.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bharatpur-killings-cong-admits-govt-failure-poli.../849524/
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Blair’s money talk with buddy Gaddafi
Sep 21 2011
TONY BLAIR sent a gushing personal letter to Colonel Gaddafi — after yet another visit to Libya — offering to help the dictator identify African projects to invest in.
Correspondence unearthed in war- torn Tripoli has revealed details of two secret trips by the former UK prime minister Blair to see Gaddafi in the months before the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
Now details of a third visit have emerged in a ‘ Dear Muammar’ letter in which the former Labour leader thanks Gaddafi for his hospitality and tells him he knows of “ good, worthwhile projects for investment”. The disclosure that Blair was twice flown to Libya on a Gaddafi private jet — in June 2008 and April 2009 when the regime was threatening to cut all business ties with Britain if Abdelbaset al- Megrahi stayed in a Scottish jail — enraged relatives of the Lockerbie victims and further fuelled suspicions that the bomber was freed in return for lucrative oil contracts.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Pak govt will not extend legal aid to JuD’s Hafiz Saeed
Sep 21 2011
Lahore : The Pakistan government today informed a court that it would only defend the incumbent and former ISI chiefs in a US lawsuit filed by relatives of victims of the Mumbai attacks and that it would not extend legal aid to Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
Deputy Attorney General Nasim Kashmiri conveyed the federal government's stance in a reply submitted to the Lahore High Court in response to a petition filed by Saeed seeking assistance in defending himself in the US lawsuit.
The Foreign Ministry's reply stated that the government would not provide legal aid to any private individuals, including Saeed, who have been summoned by a US District Court in Brooklyn in connection with the lawsuit filed last year.
A K Dogar, the counsel for Saeed, argued that all Pakistani citizens had equal rights under the Constitution and that the government was constitutionally bound to protect the rights of its citizens and defend them against "baseless allegations" levelled in another country.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-govt-will-not-extend-legal-aid-to-juds-hafiz-saeed/849371/
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Mullen asks Pak's ISI to end ties with terrorists
Sep 21 2011
Washington : Asking Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI to severe ties with terrorist organisations, in particular the "Haqqani network", top US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen has said America was prepared to take all appropriate measures to protect its people in the region.
"The ISI has been doing this – working for – supporting proxies for an extended period of time. It is a strategy in the country and I think that strategic approach has to shift in the future," Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in response to a question at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.
"It's my own view, it's going in the wrong direction in addition to those that they they're proxy issues associated with Haqqani and others. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Haqqani was behind the attack on the American embassy the other day. Haqqani was behind the truck bomb attack which injured 77 US soldiers, killed five Afghans.
"The Taliban have an atrocious record for killing Afghan citizens. And that should never be lost. So we're very focused on that. The Haqqani piece of this has got to be reversed," he said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mullen-asks-paks-isi-to-end-ties-with-terrorists/849600/
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Pakistan, Enemy within: Suicide bomber is one of us
Sep 21 2011
You wouldnt know anything had happened in Karachi on Monday morning if you looked at the papers this morning. There was this warning: India battles poliovirus from Pakistan. To be fair,there was news of an attack in Bara,the gun capital of the tribal region where 15 anti-Taliban crusaders died.
But I was in search for a news report on Karachi. Things got off to a bad start that morning, when I discovered that a bomb had gone off on 32nd Street in Defence House Authority, the equivalent of Delhis Nizamuddin East.It wasnt just that a suicide bomb went off in Defence but that it went off on the same street where my mother, brother and sister-in-law live.I felt weak with fear, considering the possibility that the bombers target,a senior police officers home on 32nd Street, could be any one of my mothers SUV-driving, tinted-windows boasting neighbours.
So you can imagine my relief when I heard my mothers voice, strong and steady,at the other end. The officers house was some distance away on the eastern edge of the long street that runs parallel to our version of Marine Drive. Eight people died,six of them police officers guarding the top cop, Chaudhury Aslams house. The other two were collateral damage,a mother taking her 12-year-old son to school.
Full report at: Times of India
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A shadow war and its victims
Sep 21 2011
The death of Lashkar top gun Abdullah Uni in Sopore is linked to the killing of Moulvi Showkat, head of the Ahl-e-Hadith sect, reports Randeep Singh Nandal
Daredevil artist undone by love, screamed one headline. Master of disguise finally trapped, said another, announcing the death of 25-year-old Lashkar commander in north Kashmir, Abdullah Uni, who was on the most-wanted list of Kashmir police.He was credited with reviving militancy in Sopore, the ideological heart of insurgency in Kashmir. On September 13,Uni walked out of a house a scene straight out of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid charging the massed guns of Rashtriya Rifles from the house of his wife and young daughter, armed with only a pistol.
But like many stories in Kashmir, the events of September 13 have variations. One version from Sopore speaks of a fierce encounter with the Lashkar commander. The gutted house where Unis body was found is just 100 yards from the camp of 22 Rashtriya Rifles.
Full report at:
Times of India
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Iran hangs convicted murderer in public
20 September 2011
TEHERAN - Iran on Tuesday publicly hanged a convicted murderer at a square in the capital Teheran, local media reported.
The convict, Sajad Karimi, had confessed to shooting a doctor outside his practice in a populous eastern neighbourhood of Teheran a year ago.
The doctor, a cardiologist and university lecturer, died shortly afterwards of his wounds.
Karimi had said he planned the revenge attack on the cardiologist, who had been his mother’s surgeon, following her death.
‘I believed the doctor had made a mistake,’ Karimi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency moments before going to the gallows.
The hanging brings to 201 the number of executions reported in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on media and official reports.
Iranian media reported 179 hangings last year but international human rights groups say the actual number was much higher, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people it executed in 2010.
Teheran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/September/
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China building fast attack craft for Pak
Sep 20 2011
Beijing : Launching a fast attack craft being built by China, Pakistan's navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir on Tuesday said the induction of the vessel equipped with advanced weaponry and sensors will supplement his country's combat potential.
The vessel is equipped with advanced weaponry and sensors including the C802A surface-to-surface missile, and has stealth features.
“The environment around us warrants Pakistan navy to be prepared to counter the forces challenging our sovereignty as well as regional peace and security,” he said at the launch of the missile-armed vessel at Xingang shipyard at Tianjin in China.
The missile craft construction project represents a “quantum leap, not only in defence production in the maritime sector of Pakistan, but also addresses a long-standing operational requirement of the Pakistan Navy,” an official statement said.
The vessel will be the first of the Azmat class fast attack craft, which is scheduled to be delivered to the Pakistan navy by April next year.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/china-building-fast-attack-craft-for-pak/849271/
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Despite threats, Palestinians to submit U.N. membership letter
20 September 2011
The Palestinians brushed aside heated Israeli objections and a promised U.S. veto on Monday, vowing to submit a letter formally requesting full U.N. membership when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the General Assembly.
As the Palestinians edged closer to seeking statehood recognition from the United Nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Mr. Abbas to meet with him in New York. The Israel leader said he wanted to resume peace talks, upping the pressure on Mr. Abbas and building on the frenzied diplomacy swirling around the Palestinians’ bid.
Regardless, Mr. Abbas said he had not been swayed by what he called “tremendous pressure” to drop the bid for United Nations recognition and instead to resume peace talks with Israel. Senior aides to the Palestinian leader said Mr. Abbas was undaunted by threats of punitive measures.
Nabil Shaath, senior aide to Mr. Abbas, told The Associated Press that the Palestinian leader informed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during their meeting on Monday that he would present him with a letter requesting full membership on Friday, ahead of Mr. Abbas’ speech to the General Assembly. Mr. Abbas also met with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2469949.ece
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PM Manmohan Singh pledges 'full support' to Palestine's statehood bid
Sep 20 2011
New York : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assuring him of India's “full support” for his country's bid for statehood at the UN.
“India has always supported the Palestinian people in their pursuit of legitimate goals and for development with dignity and self reliance. I assure you of India's full support in the United Nations,” Singh wrote in the letter to Abbas.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri read out the one-page letter at a briefing with Indian reporters.
The letter, written today, was in response to an August 21 communication by Abbas to the Prime Minister “regarding the initiative to seek full membership for Palestine in the UN”.
“India's relations with Palestine are historic and firmly rooted in our national ethos. India has been unwavering in its support for the Palestinian people's struggle for a sovereign, independent, viable and united state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognisable borders side by side and at peace with Israel” as endorsed in the Arab peace initiative quartet road map and the relevant UN Security Council resolution, Singh said in the letter.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pm-manmohan-singh-pledges-full-support-to-
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22 Iranian drug dealers hanged
Sep 20, 2011
TEHRAN: An Iranian state-owned newspaper says authorities have hanged 22 people convicted of drug trafficking.
The report by IRAN daily says the executions were carried out Sunday in Tehran Evin prison as well as a prison in the city of Karaj, some 45 km west of the capital, Tehran.
It says all the men, who were only identified by their first names, had previous criminal convictions.
While Iranian authorities do not publish the number of executions in the country, human rights groups say scores of people have been hanged in Iran since the start of the year. Crimes that are punishable by death penalty in Iran include drug trafficking, murder, rape, armed robbery and kidnapping.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article503885.ece
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21 militants, soldier killed in Orakzai clash
20 September 2011
Taleban gunmen stormed a Pakistani checkpoint in the country’s lawless tribal belt, killing one soldier and sparking clashes in which up to 20 militants died, officials said.
Five soldiers and five civilians were also wounded after the militants attacked the Dabori post manned by paramilitary troops in the tribal district of Orakzai, the officials said.
‘At least 20 militants have been killed in the pre-dawn clash,’ a military official told AFP by telephone. Their bodies were spotted during a search carried out by helicopter gunships, he said, requesting anonymity.
There was no independent confirmation of the death toll because neither journalists nor aid workers are allowed free movement within the semi-autonomous tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
Local administration official Ehsanullah Khan told AFP that around 100 Taleban loyalists attacked the checkpoint.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/Septembe
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At least 6 people killed in Yemen, rockets hit camp
Sep 20, 2011
SANAA: At least six people were killed on Tuesday in a third day of violence in Yemen’s capital, medics said, and Reuters reporters saw snipers positioned on the upper levels of buildings as protesters took to the streets.
Four soldiers, part of a defected brigade which supports the demonstrators, were killed in fighting with government forces, medics at a field hospital said. Two people had died earlier on Tuesday when at least three shells hit a protest camp.
Violence has shifted from a crackdown on protesters seeking an end to the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to a military confrontation between government troops and soldiers who have defected to the opposition.
It was not immediately clear who were the snipers who appeared on buildings. Pro-Saleh snipers had shot several protesters on Monday. Soldiers loyal to defected General Ali Mohsen were also on the streets.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article504129.ece
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Car bomb kills 3, wounds 34 in Ankara
Sep 21 2011
Ankara : A car bomb went off near a high school in the Turkish capital on Tuesday, igniting other vehicles and killing three people in a nearby building, authorities said. The blast also wounded 34 people.
The prosecutor’s office said the blast was a terrorist attack. “The explosion occurred in a place where car and people traffic is intense. It looks like the intension was to inflict as much harm to people as possible,’’ Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said.
The parked car was purchased a week ago but it was not yet registered. Police detained a woman at the scene who shouted “long live our struggle!’’, Dogan news agency video showed.
Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey have recently escalated their attacks on Turkish targets. Islamist and leftist militants have also carried out some bombings in this NATO member and US ally.
Kurdish rebels were blamed for a small bomb attack in the Mediterranean resort town of Kemer that wounded 10 people, including four Swedes on August 28. Turkish warplanes bombed suspected rebel hideouts in northern Iraq last month in response to the escalation of attacks by the guerrillas.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/car-bomb-kills-3-wounds-34-in-ankara/849508/
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Bomb in Turkish capital kills at least 2 people
Sep 20 2011
Ankara : A powerful explosion killed two people and left several injured in the Turkish capital Ankara today, NTV television reported.
The blast blew out windows of shops and offices in the surrounding area and sparked a fire which was later put out by firefighters at the scene, NTV said, adding that the cause of the explosion was not yet known.
Television images showed several parked cars ablaze in front of a local state authority's offices, while a plume of thick smoke rose over the area.
The explosion happened in front of the Cankaya local administrator's office close to Ankara's downtown Kizilay square, the Anatolia news agency said.
Police feared a second explosion and sealed off the area, it said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bomb-in-turkish-capital-kills-at-least-2-
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Baghdad jail blaze kills nine prisoners
Sep 20, 2011
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi prison fire sparked by an electrical fault killed nine prisoners and injured more than a dozen others on Monday, security officials said.
“Nine prisoners were killed and 14 were injured by a fire caused by electrical problems in a prison in Baladiyat, eastern Baghdad,” Justice Ministry spokesman Haidar Al-Saadi said in a text message. He did not give any more details about the nature of the electricity problems.
At least 31 other inmates were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries from the blaze that broke out at dawn in an Interior Ministry jail in Baladiyat, a mostly Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad.
Lawmaker Hakim Al-Zamili, who represents the nearby Sadr City area, said the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. He confirmed the death toll.
Al-Zamili called on authorities to speed up the investigations of some of the inmates, many of whom he said have not yet been charged and may be innocent. He also sought to quell speculation that the inmates may have started the fire in an attempted prison break.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article503896.ece
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Death toll in Syria protests rises to 2,700: UN rights office
Sep 20, 2011
GENEVA: Syrian security forces have killed 2,700 anti-government protesters since an uprising against President Bashar Assad started in March, including at least 100 children, the United Nations human rights office said on Monday.
Kyung-wha Kang, deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said her office was prepared to send its confidential list of 50 suspects linked to alleged crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court, if the Security Council refers the situation in Syria to the Hague-based court.
She called on Assad's government to cooperate with an international inquiry into the bloodshed so as to ensure accountability for all violations and to "break the culture of impunity in the country.”
"As of today, 2,700 people, including at least 100 children, have been killed by military and security forces since mass protests erupted in mid-March," Kang said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council.
"Let me conclude by emphasizing the importance of holding perpetrators of crimes against humanity accountable. The office has found that such crimes may have been committed in Syria," she said, citing a UN report issued in August.
Kang, in response to questions about the office's list of 50 alleged perpetrators, said of the ICC: "Should the court be engaged and request the office's assistance at any stage of its investigation into violations in Syria, the office will be ready to provide them with the information, including the confidential list of names as appropriate."
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article503859.ece
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Bharatpur Police Carnage ‘Every eye-witness said there was no death before the police intervened’
Shivam Vij
Sep 20 2011
Gopalgarh (Bharatpur, Mewat) Police Firing Incident
Preliminary Findings of the Fact Finding Team released in the Press Conference on 19th Sept, 2011
This preliminary report of the PUCL team pertains to the incident of the police firing in Gopalgarh, district Bharatpur, Rajasthan. As per the media reports, the police resorted to firing to quell rioting mobs. The government has acknowledged eight deaths and 23 injured in this incident. Following this, the PUCL, Rajasthan constituted a Fact Finding Team to conduct independent inquiry into this incident. The team comprised Kavita Srivastava, National Secretary, PUCL, Professor Shail Mayaram (Delhi), Professor Yogendra Yadav(Delhi), Ms. Nishat Hussain (Vice President, PUCL, Rajasthan) Mr. Sawai Singh (Organising Secretary PUCL, Rajasthan), Mr. Noor Mohammed (PUCL, Alwar), Mr Virendra Vidrohi (PUCL, Alwar), Adv. Ramjan Chowdhary (PUCL, Mewat district, Haryana), Mr Gaurav Srivastava(PUCL intern). Mr. Neelabh Mishra, Editor, Outlook (Hindi) and a section of progressive members of the Gurjar and Meo community also accompanied and assisted the fact finding team.
The team visited Gopalgarh and nearby villages on the 16th and 17th of September and, spoke to victims and their families, eyewitnesses and locally informed persons. The team also spoke to the District Magistrate, SP on duty (before they were transferred), the SHO of the Gopalgarh Police Station and senior police and administrative officials.
The government version, widely reported in the media, is that this was an outcome of rioting between two communities. It is said that since the mobs had turned violent, the police was left with no option except to open fire.
Full report at:
http://kafila.org/2011/09/19/bharatpur-hindu-muslim-gujjar-meo-violence-riots-pucl-fact-
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Turkey: Life terms sought in journalist Killing
Sep 20, 2011
ANKARA: Turkey's state-run news agency says a prosecutor is demanding life imprisonment for seven men accused of involvement in the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist.
Hrant Dink was shot outside his office in 2007, a killing allegedly motivated by ethnic tensions.
In July, a juvenile court sentenced a now 21-year-old Turkish nationalist hard-liner to nearly 23 years in prison for killing Dink.
Nineteen other people are on trial separately, accused of instigating the killing.
The Anatolia agency says the prosecutor on Monday recommended seven suspects serve a life term, arguing the murder was based on "ideology" and amounted to an act against "the Turkish state and its order." He said five suspects should serve three years in prison, while seven others should be acquitted.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article503863.ece
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Egypt: Islam-Based Party Is Banned
September 20, 2011
Egypt has prohibited the formation of a political party by Al Gamaa al-Islamiyya, an Islamist group that was once involved in a bloody insurgency against the government. Egypt’s state news agency said the Political Parties’ Affairs Committee rejected the request because the proposed party would be based on “religious grounds in violation of the law” and advocated a strict interpretation of Islamic law under which thieves can be punished by cutting off their hands and murderers can be beheaded. Al Gamaa al-Islamiyya waged an insurrection in the 1990s but has since renounced violence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/middleeast/egypt-islam-based-party-is-
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Hillary tells Hina: Act against LeT, Haqqani men
Sep 20, 2011
WASHINGTON: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has pressed her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar to take strong action against terrorist groups especially LeT and the Haqqani network, during their 3-1 /2 hours of "very candid" meeting.
The meeting in New York, which was earlier scheduled for only 30 minutes, was dominated by counter-terrorism issues. "Obviously, the issue of counter-terrorism was both the first issue and the last issue on their agenda," state department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said about the meeting that took place on Sunday. Both Clinton and Hina Rabbani Khar are in New York to attend the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Khar has come in place of PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, who cancelled his trip to the US at the last minute, after reportedly failing to seal a meeting with US President Barack Obama. US officials said Clinton sought specific action from Pakistan against the Haqqani network, which the US now believes was behind the September 13 attack on its Embassy in Kabul.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Now-Hillary-tells-Hina-Act-against-LeT-
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Fugitive Gaddafi Taunts NATO in Audio Broadcast
20 September 2011
CAIRO (Reuters) - Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi taunted NATO in a speech broadcast by a Syria-based television station on Tuesday, but the station gave no new clues as to his whereabouts or when the recording was made.
"The bombs of NATO planes will not last," Gaddafi said in the recording, played by Arrai television, which supports the ousted leader and has emerged as his sole outlet for recorded messages since he was toppled a month ago.
"The political system in Libya is a system based on the power of the people ... and it is impossible that this system be removed," Gaddafi said.
Arrai has broadcast several messages from Gaddafi since his Tripoli headquarters was overrun on August 23. The channel did not say when or where the latest speech had been recorded and there was no direct evidence from the text indicating it was new.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/09/19/world/africa/international-us-
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Gadhafi Says His Regime Still Alive in Libya
Sep 20, 2011
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Moammer Gadhafi says his regime is still alive in Libya and is calling his opponents' takeover of all but a few pockets of the country a charade.
Gadhafi got the message out on a Syrian-based satellite station that has become his main mouthpiece. Al-Rai TV released written excerpts of his remarks on Tuesday.
The deposed leader says what is happening is a "charade" imposed on Libyans through NATO airstrikes that will not last forever. There was no accompanying audio of his voice, but he has used the channel numerous times to put out messages urging his supporters to fight on.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/09/20/world/middleeast/AP-ML-
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LAHORE: WWO meeting held, protection for women stressed
20 September 2011
LAHORE: A meeting of Working Women Organisation (WWO) was held in Lahore under the chairmanship of Robina Jamil. Town committee members and office-bearers of the organisation including Robina Jamil, Hafiza Nisar, Atia Nasir, Uzma Ijaz, Khalida Ashraf and Sajida Karamat were present.
In her address, Robina said that ever since the inception of the organisation, we have been striving hard to end sexual harassment and violence against women. WWO has always expressed concern over the issue. She also said that political governments advocating equal rights for women have failed to formulate a policy to end crimes against women. Statistics show that 8,000 cases were registered in 2010 for violence including 2,236 cases of abduction, 486 cases of domestic violence, 633 cases of suicide and 557 cases of honour killing. However, 928 cases of gang-rape and many other crimes were excluded as these were not registered. Statistics also show a 13 percent increase in cases of violence against women as compared to 2009.
WWO is educating women to demand severe punishment to the culprits involved in crimes against women, including sexual harassment and violence.
Robina said that WWO will start a 16-day campaign in collaboration with the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation from November 25 to December 10, 2011.
She also said that the government should make laws to protect women and award severe punishments to the culprits involved. She further said that WWO would continue its struggle to end these crimes.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\09\20\story_20-9-2011_pg7_19
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Hundreds Bangladesh Jamaat men sued
20 September 2011
Several hundred activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami have been sued in four cases on charge of Monday’s violence in the capital.
Police filed two cases each with Ramna and Paltan police stations on Tuesday, said Ashrafuzzaman, senior assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Of the cases, two were filed under the Speedy Trial Act while two others on charge of vandalising vehicles during the Monday’s clash between police and Jamaat activists in Kakrail, Bijoynagar and Shantinagar areas.
Of the cases filed under the Speedy Trial Act, one each was filed with the two police stations.
Jamaat activists clashed with police on Monday after law enforcers obstructed their prescheduled rally at Bijoynagar.
During the clashes, the party men set fire to at least 28 vehicles, smashed around 200 others and vandalised dozens of roadside shops.
Following the violence, police arrested 80 Jamaat members including Azharul Islam, Tasneem Alam, publicity secretary, and Mohammad Ijjat Ullah, central working committee member.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=32428
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Maldives: Former Adhaalath Party leade Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmedr criticises new leadership
By Ahmed Nazeer
20 September 2011
Former President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed has strongly criticised the new leadership of “acting dictatorially” and issuing press releases without consulting either the heads of party organs or Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari.
In a statement published on his official website this week, Sheikh Rasheed wrote that “the biggest change” he brought to the Islamic Ministry’s functions after being appointed State Minister in December was to “change the dictatorial policy of the ministry’s former senior officials” to ensure that important decisions were not made without “direct instruction from the minister.”
“The rule of granting permission to make sermons based on a person’s face was abolished. Work being done that conflicted with government regulations and policy in a way that could facilitate corruption was reformed and brought into line,” he said.
Sheikh Rasheed, a founding member of Adhaalath, condemned a press statement issued by the party on September 5 regarding the controversy surrounding Qunooth (an invocation recited during prayers) and reciting Bismillah out loud as “very irresponsible.”
The press statement argued that the invocation was not compulsory except during periods of adversity.
Full report at:
http://minivannews.com/cmsMUIH10/../files/2011/09/justice-building.png
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Hillary still hopeful of Palestinian compromise
20 September 2011
The Obama administration insisted Monday there was still time to avert a divisive showdown over Palestinian statehood, ignoring President Mahmoud Abbas’ defiant pledge to take his government’s case to the United Nations and reaching out to Western allies in the hopes of a last-ditch compromise.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was engaged in “extremely intensive” diplomacy with Israel, the Palestinians and the other governments gathered in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting. A statement from the U.S. and other key Mideast peace negotiators on a possible path forward appeared to be starting to take shape, officials said.
Mr. Abbas said he was under “tremendous pressure” to drop his bid, which the U.S. and Israel see as counterproductive to resuming moribund Middle East peace efforts. But even as international diplomats were meeting across New York, no clear alternative path had emerged that might advance peace talks.
“We continue to believe and are pressing the point that the only way to a two-state solution, which is what we support and want to see happen, is through negotiations,” Ms. Clinton told reporters at a New York hotel as she was about to start a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba.
“No matter what does or doesn’t happen this week, it will not produce the kind of result that everyone is hoping for,” she said.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2469882.ece
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India to focus on terrorism and SC reform at UNGA meet
September 20, 2011
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to the UN General Assembly will articulate India's priorities on key areas of terrorism, Security Council reform, inclusive growth and poverty eradication. Singh will attend the UNGA after a gap of two years. He was last here in
2008.
Briefing a group of Indian journalists here ahead of Singh's visit, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said: "we are very pleased that the Prime Minister has chosen to lead the delegation. It is important that our national priorities are articulated at the level of the Prime Minister as that has a much better resonance."
Singh would arrive here on September 22 and will address the 193-member UN General Assembly on the 24th.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/world/India-to-focus-on-terrorism-and-SC-
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Saudi Arabia: 41 Accused of Terrorism
September 20, 2011
Saudi Arabia will put 41 suspects on trial on accusations that they formed a cell linked to Al Qaeda that planned to attack United States forces in Kuwait and Qatar, the state news agency SPA said on Monday. The suspects are also accused of financing militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, recruiting for Al Qaeda, and plotting to smuggle militants and weapons between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, SPA said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-41-accused-of-
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Caught spying in India, Pak national Irfan Kausar jailed for 6 years
Sep 20 2011
New Delhi : A Pakistani national caught staying in New Delhi illegally and spying for his country has been sentenced to six years in jail by a Delhi court, which let off his two other accomplices for lack of evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta convicted 33-year-old Irfan Kausar after it was proved that he was a Pakistani national and was found in possession of several sensitive military documents.
"The accused Irfan Kausar has collected the 'offending documents' for the purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state," the court said, while jailing Irfan.
Irfan was arrested by the Crime Branch of the city police on September 7, 2005 from Takshak Cyber Cafe at Mohammadpur village near Bhikaji Cama Place in south Delhi while sending out through e-mail some sensitive military information.
During probe into the case, he was found to be a native of village Uggu Chuck in Gujrawala district of Pakistan. The police told the court that he had sneaked into country through Nepal and was living in Mohammadpur village under the assumed name of Ashok Kumar.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/caught-spying-in-india-pak-national-jailed-for-6-
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Muslim leaders, King Abdul Aziz to address new challenges at Makkah Conference
Sep 20, 2011
JEDDAH: More than 300 Muslim leaders, scholars and academics are expected to participate in the annual Islamic conference organized by the Muslim World League (MWL) in Makkah during the Haj season this year to discuss major Muslim issues.
“We are holding this conference during the Haj season, following a tradition introduced by King Abdul Aziz who had instructed Muslim scholars to meet in Makkah to discuss contemporary Muslim issues and problems,” said MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Turki.
This is the 12th annual conference organized by MWL during the Haj, he said, adding that it would discuss the status of Islamic dawa activities in various parts of the world to come up with proposals to make them more successful.
The conference would set out effective dawa programs for different countries. “We have sent invitations to a number of scholars, university professors and heads of Islamic centers to take part in the conference and present papers,” Al-Turki said.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article503916.ece
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Nigeria UN bomb: Video of 'Boko Haram bomber' released
20 September 2011
A video message has emerged in Nigeria purportedly featuring a suicide bomber alleged to have carried out the attack on the UN headquarters last month.
Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed the attack, in which 23 people were killed and more than 80 injured.
The authenticity of the video, obtained by AFP news agency, cannot be verified.
It shows the alleged bomber asking his family to understand his action, which he said was meant to send a message to the US president "and other infidels".
In the 26 August attack, the bomber drove his vehicle through the Abuja headquarters' two security barriers, then crashed into the reception area before detonating the explosives.
The blast was powerful enough to bring down parts of the structure, where about 400 UN personnel work, and blow out the windows of nearby buildings.
'International'
AFP said it had obtained two videos which included 25 minutes of speeches by the alleged UN bomber.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14964554
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Bombers Strike Government Offices in Iraq's Ramadi
20 September 2011
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Bombers hit municipal government offices in Ramadi in Iraq's mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding 15 others, a provincial official said.
Mohammed Fathi, a spokesman for the Anbar governor, said two of the attackers, wearing suicide vests, blew themselves up at the municipal government building as a car bomb blew up on the opposite side of the complex.
He said three of the wounded were police officers.
"The death toll could increase because some of the wounded are seriously wounded," he said.
The vast desert Anbar was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq since the peak of sectarian fighting in 2006-07 but bombings and other attacks still occur daily as the army and police battle Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite Muslim militias.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/09/20/world/middleeast/international-us-iraq-
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Abbas presses Palestinian UN bid despite warnings
20 September 2011
President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN chief he would seek full membership for a Palestinian state at the United Nations, a move the United States and Israel warn could dash hopes of resuming peace talks.
Abbas told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon he would press ahead with plans to ask for a Security Council vote on Friday on Palestinian membership. Washington has threatened to veto any such move.
Ban told Abbas he would send any application submitted to the Security Council and called for the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume talks ‘within a legitimate and balanced framework,’ UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
The Palestinian crisis has overshadowed this week’s meeting of the UN General Assembly and sparked hectic talks aimed at averting a confrontation that carries risks for the Palestinians, Israel and the United States.
Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — the Quartet of Middle East mediators — are meeting throughout the week in hopes of finding a way forward.
The Quartet has for months been trying to put together guidelines for future peace talks, thus far without result.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/September/
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More than 3,500 Syrian refugees in Lebanon: UN
20 September 2011
More than 3,500 Syrian refugees fleeing a military crackdown against pro-democracy protests have registered with the United Nations in neighbouring Lebanon, a UN report said, with more than 600 new arrivals in the past two weeks.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) report, published on Friday, said 3,580 displaced Syrians have registered in north Lebanon since protesters first took to the streets to demand the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in March.
“Most Syrians who have been displaced from their villages in recent weeks enter Lebanon at official border crossings since unofficial crossing points are reportedly heavily guarded by Syrian authorities,” the report said.
“Some have expressed concerns that the reduced number of accessible crossing points may prevent persons from leaving Syria for fear of having to provide their names to the Syrian authorities at the official points which have remained open.”
Wadi Khaled, the mountainous region in northern Lebanon where the refugees stay, is known as a base for smuggling as petrol and certain food items are cheaper in Syria.
Residents have told Reuters that unofficial movement across the border was fluid before the crisis but some Syrian refugees complain of being stuck in Wadi Khaled where they are visible to the Syrian military across the border. Many say they fear arrest if they attempt to return.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/September/
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France slams UN silence over Syria
Sep 20, 2011
NEW YORK: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe accused the Syrian regime Monday of “crimes against humanity” and slammed the UN Security Council for failing to take a strong stand on the unrest.
“Crimes against humanity are committed in Syria. The silence of the Security Council is unacceptable,” Juppe told the Council on Foreign Relations, at a talk held on the sidelines of a week of UN summits.
Juppe warned of the risk of an “explosion of violence” if the Palestinian situation is not resolved, saying the status quo was “neither acceptable nor tenable.” “The relaunch of the peace process is needed,” Juppe said.
Syrian forces shot dead at least six villagers and two rebel soldiers in a sweep on the countryside north of the city of Homs on Monday as the opposition scrambled to organize against the regime, activists said.
The assault on Houla, a collection of villages just north of Homs, which is 165 km north of Damascus, followed a large protest the night before demanding the removal of President Bashar Assad.
Around 12 government soldiers manning rural checkpoints had defected, activists said.
Since the anti-regime protests erupted in mid-March, several opposition groups have emerged united in their call for the ouster of Assad’s autocratic regime but have been divided about how to go about achieving it.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article503887.ece
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King Abdullah calls for a stable Yemen
Sep 20, 2011
RIYADH/SANAA: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah received Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh at his palace on Monday and emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to a stable, secure and unified Yemen.
“During the meeting Saleh commended Saudi Arabia’s efforts to help Yemen overcome the present crisis, realizing the higher national interests of the Yemeni people,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
The meeting was the first since Saleh came to Saudi Arabia for treatment after being wounded in an attack on his Sanaa compound in June. Saleh thanked the king for providing medical treatment for him and top Yemeni officials at Saudi hospitals.
“King Abdullah reiterated Saudi Arabia’s stand in support for a stable, secure, and unified Yemen,” the SPA said, adding that the king hoped the Yemeni people would overcome the crisis.
Saudi Arabia is one of the signatories to a Gulf Cooperation Council initiative that aims for a peaceful transition of power in Yemen.
In the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, soldiers opposed to Saleh exchanged heavy gunfire with government troops on Monday, as violence spiraled during the deadliest crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations since they began eight months ago.
Yemeni security forces, including snipers, killed 28 people in the city on Monday, raising the death toll to 54 over two days.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article503939.ece
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Pak refuses to hand over ex-ISI chief to Bosnia tribunal
Sep 20, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has refused to hand over a retired general, who headed the spy agency ISI, to an international tribunal investigating war crimes in Bosnia, according to a media report.
The Pakistan government cited medical grounds as its reason for not handing over former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen (retired) Javed Nasir to the International Tribunal of Hague, official sources were quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.
The tribunal had demanded custody of Nasir for his alleged support to Bosnian Muslim fighters despite an embargo by the United Nations. The Bosnian Muslims were fighting against the Serbian army in the 1990s.
Pakistan has informed the international court that Nasir "lost his memory" following a recent road accident and was unable to face any investigation into the issue.
Nasir himself was unavailable for comment. His son, Omer Javed, said the former general was not in service during the Bosnian war of 1993-95 as he had been "removed from the army" by then.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-refuses-to-hand-over-ex-ISI-chief-
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U.S. Is Quietly Getting Ready for Syria Without Assad
By HELENE COOPER
September 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — Increasingly convinced that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria will not be able to remain in power, the Obama administration has begun to make plans for American policy in the region after he exits.
In coordination with Turkey, the United States has been exploring how to deal with the possibility of a civil war among Syria’s Alawite, Druse, Christian and Sunni sects, a conflict that could quickly ignite other tensions in an already volatile region.
While other countries have withdrawn their ambassadors from Damascus, Obama administration officials say they are leaving in place the American ambassador, Robert S. Ford, despite the risks, so he can maintain contact with opposition leaders and the leaders of the country’s myriad sects and religious groups.
Officials at the State Department have also been pressing Syria’s opposition leaders to unite as they work to bring down the Assad government, and to build a new government.
The Obama administration is determined to avoid a repeat of the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq. Though the United States did not stint in its effort to oust Saddam Hussein, many foreign policy experts now say that the undertaking came at the expense of detailed planning about how to manage Iraq’s warring factions after his removal.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/americas/us-is-quietly-getting-ready-for-a-
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Interlocutors complete year-long process of interaction in J-K
Sep 20 2011
Srinagar : The Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir today completed the year-long process of interactions with a cross-section of people to find a solution to the political issues of the state.
The team -- comprising eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former Information Commissioner M M Ansari -- interacted with people from all walks of life in north Kashmir's Kupwara district today.
During the current visit to the state, which is their last before they submit their report to the Central Government, the interlocutors also visited Samba district in Jammu region and Shopian and Baramulla districts in the Valley.
"We had not visited these four district headquarters so far. This has concluded the interaction part for us," one of the interlocutors said.
The team has submitted interim reports to the Centre after every visit and will now begin work on their final draft upon their return to New Delhi tomorrow.
They have maintained that they will submit their final recommendations to the Centre before their term expires on October 12 this year.
With this, the Centre's interlocutors have visited all 22 districts of the state since their appointment on October 13 last year. The team was appointed at the fag end of last summer's unrest in the Valley and assigned the task of finding a solution to the political problems of the state.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/interlocutors-complete-yearlong-process-of-
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Islamic Development Bank wants to explore India
Akbar Ponani
Sep 20, 2011
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Jeddah based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has expressed its keenness to cooperate with India to uplift the conditions of Indian Muslims.
K Rahman Khan, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, met senior bank officials including its president Ahmad Muhammad Ali in Jeddah. Khan said that the bank officials are eager to explore new fields of co-operation with India.
He said that the bank is ready to work in three areas: "Development of interest-free Islamic banking, preservation and development of the Wakhf properties in India and activating Haj management."
The IDB authorities have recognized the prevailing misunderstanding and misconception about the bank in Indian society. The bank will hold a conference in India on the Islamic banking as soon as possible, said consul general Faiz Ahmad Kidwai.
"We have 200,000 hectares of Wakhf land in India and IDB is willing to help develop it." said Khan. A proposal to establish Wakhf development co-operation is currently under serious consideration of India government. It also proposes utilization of Wakhaf income for the social and educational well-being of the Muslims.
The IDB officials have proposed to Indians to adopt "Tabung Haji", a Haj management system initiated by Malaysia. It is a comprehensive Haj management system that takes care of selection of pilgrims, their accommodation during the Haj, transportation in the holy cities.
Another topic of bilateral consideration is the proposal to construct multi-storey buildings for Indian pilgrims in Makkah.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/Islamic-Development-Bank-wants-to-
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Pak govt not considering Sarabjit clemency
Sep 21 2011
Lahore : The issue of clemency for Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh is neither under consideration nor his mercy petition is pending with the Pakistan President, the government informed a court today.
The federal government's position was conveyed to Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Chaudhry in a reply filed by Deputy Attorney General Nasim Kashmiri.
The Chief Justice was hearing a petition asking the court to restrain President Asif Ali Zardari from pardoning Sarabjit. The Chief Justice subsequently dismissed the petition filed by a lawyer named Ilamuddin Ghazi.
Ghazi said Sarabjit had been given the death sentence by a trial court and the verdict had been upheld by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court.
He pointed out that even the former President Pervez Musharraf had dismissed his mercy petition.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-govt-not-considering-sarabjit-clemency/849362/
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Praise for Gujarat CM fuels Omar & Mehbooba face- off
By Naseer Ganai
Sep 21 2011
SIX DAYS ahead of the state assembly session, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and Opposition leader Mehbooba Mufti have taken off the gloves, leading to a rise in the political temperature in the state.
The sparring began over the issue of praising Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the backdrop of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Going all out in this war of words, the two leaders did not spare even each other’s parents.
Omar said then home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s action in ordering the release of L. K. Advani was “ ostrich- like”. Mehbooba countered that Farooq Abdullah was the only Muslim leader who had defended the Gujarat riots and now sees “ Allah in the eyes of Modi”. The punches started soon after senior BJP leader Sushma Sawraj claimed on Monday that PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had sought a favour from the Gujarat chief minister. She made the claim while addressing the gathering on the occasion of Modi breaking his three- day sadbhavna fast in Ahmedabad.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Mehbooba denial: ‘Would die before praising Modi govt’
Sep 21 2011
Srinagar : BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s speech at the venue of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘sadbhavana’ fast in Ahmedabad has created ripples in Jammu and Kashmir.
The speech — in which Swaraj claimed that People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti had praised Modi at a recent meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) in Delhi — has given ammunition to J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to fire at his political rival. Mufti, however, denies praising Modi.
“I’m not surprised Mehbooba praised Modi. She can praise whoever she likes,” Omar tweeted on the micro-blogging site. “I am surprised she’d deny it knowing others heard her speech.”
Speaking at Modi’s fast venue on Monday, Swaraj had said: “Mehbooba Mufti ji said her Muslim friend wanted to set up an industry and sought time from the Gujarat CM. She said he got immediate appointment and when he went to meet him (Modi) he was surprised to see all related officials in the CM’s cabin. The friend is now setting up his unit in Gujarat.”
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mehbooba-denial-would-die-before-praising-modi-
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Bharatpur to Batla, BJP reaches out to Muslims
Sep 21 2011
New Delhi : Narendra Modi is not alone in the BJP when it comes to reaching out to the Muslims.
The BJP on Tuesday sent a party delegation to Bharatpur where eight Muslims were killed in police firing a week ago and accused the “Congress government’s police of perpetrating atrocities”. Not just that, a senior party functionary who is in charge of the BJP’s minority cell appeared at an Ulema Council function here and asserted that the demand for an inquiry into the Batla House encounter was “genuine”.
J K Jain’s speech at a function organised by the Rashtriya Ulema Council, which has been campaigning for a judicial inquiry into the encounter, has left the party squirming. “The demand for a correct probe is not an ingenuine demand,” Jain said at the function organised to mark the third anniversary of the encounter.
The party’s youth wing is set to bring his remarks to the attention of the party chief.
The BJP had gone hammer and tongs against Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh when he visited Azamgarh and met the families of alleged Indian Mujahideen activists.
Jain said, “It is going to be three years, but the government is not prepared to accept a genuine demand.” He said there was nothing illegal for people to demand justice in a democracy.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Bharatpur-to-Batla--BJP-reaches-out-to-Muslims/849550/
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Due process: SC asks top lawyer to defend Kasab
Seema Chishti
Sep 21 2011
New Delhi : Sending a strong signal of the supremacy of due process, the Supreme Court has approached senior advocate Raju Ramchandran to defend Ajmal Kasab in his death row appeal as amicus curiae of the court.
Kasab is the lone terrorist arrested for the Mumbai attacks that killed 164 people. His application for stay of execution of the death sentence is expected to come up in the apex court any time now.
The Bombay High Court had upheld the trial court’s award of death sentence in February.
Ramachandran, when contacted, confirmed the development.
The defence of accused in terror cases has been fraught with emotion and politics with groups of lawyers, most recently in UP and Maharashtra, protesting against any defence being provided to defendants.
Incidentally, several lawyers refused to defend Kasab. A lawyer of a co-accused of Kasab (Fahim Ansari), Shahid Azmi, was killed in February last year. It was last June that two counsel, Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah, were appointed to defend Kasab in the Bombay High Court.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/due-process-sc-asks-top-lawyer-to-defend-kasab/849527/
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Block access to Facebook: Pak court
September 20, 2011
The Lahore High Court has directed Pakistani authorities to block access to all websites, including Facebook, that are involved in "spreading religious hatred" and to submit a compliance report by October 6. In an order issued yesterday, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed directed the Information
Technology Ministry to "deny access to all websites in Pakistan involved in spreading religious hatred".
However, the judge directed the ministry that access to Google or other search engines should not be denied.
He directed the authorities to submit a report on the implementation of the court’s order by October 6.
The judge issued the order in response to a petition seeking a permanent ban on US-based Facebook for hosting a competition on blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.
Lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique, who had filed the petition, said Islamic values were being insulted in the name of access to information and this was hurting the feeling of billions of Muslims across the world.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan/Block-access-to-Facebook-Pak-
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Uphill battle against Afghan cross-border strikes
20 September 2011
Combat Outpost Monti, Afghanistan — Perched high in a twisting Hindu Kush valley with distant views of Pakistan, Combat Outpost Monti is an idyllic spot. But it is also one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous corners and frequently peppered with mortars.
The remote US base with sweeping mountain views in the northeastern province of Kunar is on the frontline of the fight to stop insurgents crossing from Pakistan, 13 kilometres (eight miles) away, to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
The US embassy in Kabul was last week victim of one strike which Washington blamed on the Pakistan-based Haqqani network. Both the secretaries of defence and state demanded Islamabad act against the Taleban-allied militant group.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/
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Mehbooba Mufti denies Modi praise, calls Sushma Swaraj a 'liar'
Sep 20, 2011
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday denied the claim that she had praised or supported Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi at a recent National Integration Council meeting.
In her speech after Narendra Modi broke his 3-day 'Sadbhavana fast' at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Sushma Swaraj had said that Mehbooba Mufti, at a recent meeting of National integration council in New Delhi had praised Modi.
Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha had further claimed that a friend of Mehbooba Mufti had sought a favour from the Gujarat chief minister which was granted immediately.
The BJP leader said : "A Muslim friend of hers wanted to invest in Gujarat and was astonished to be quickly granted an appointment, and that when he did meet Modi, had a decision in half an hour."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mehbooba-denies-Modi-praise-calls-Sushma-
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Wary of Jinnah fiasco, Modi refuses skull cap
September 20, 2011
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s refusal to wear the skull cap offered by a Muslim cleric on Sunday is being interpreted by party men as a shrewd political reflex. According to some BJP leaders, Modi, does not wish to repeat the “mistake” LK Advani made during his visit to Pakistan related stories Narendra Modi hard sells new face, but is stuck in the past
as deputy prime minister in 2005. Advani had offered a chadar at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and described the founder of Pakistan as a “secular” man and an “ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity”. A BJP minister said, “That episode ended Advani's credibility, so obviously Modi would not repeat such a mistake.”
Maulavi Sayed Imam, a cleric of a small dargah in Pirana village on the outskirts of the city, had got on to the stage to greet the CM, at Gujarat University Convention hall here. When he took out a skull cap from his pocket and offered it to Modi, the latter's expression changed in a flash.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ahmedabad/Wary-of-Jinnah-fiasco-Modi-
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Egypt bans palm frond exports for Jewish holiday
Sep 20, 2011
JERUSALEM: A major Jewish holiday appears to have become the latest victim of strained Israel-Egyptian ties.
Israel’s Agriculture Ministry says Egypt has banned the export of palm fronds to Israel and Jewish communities abroad. The fronds are used in prayer services during the upcoming Succoth festival.
The ministry says it was notified by Egypt this week. Egypt supplies about 700,000 of the fronds to Israel each year. It says no reason was given. There was no immediate comment from Egypt.
The ministry says more expensive Israeli fronds are expected to fill the void.
Israel’s relations with Egypt have deteriorated since a popular uprising ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February. Earlier this month, an Egyptian mob stormed the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and forced Israeli diplomats to be evacuated.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article503897.ece
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/afghan-peace-council-head-rabbani/d/5515