India: SIMI-Backed Party Alarms NIA
New Age Islam News Bureau
19 Feb 2012
• Faith Ends at Temple Door: UK Rights Chief
• Outrage at UN as 56 Islamic States Slam Gays
• NYPD
monitored Muslim students all over Northeast
• The
deportation of Hamza Kashgari: A sad day to be Malaysians and Muslims
• Pakistan
torture case shows how courts are working to claim power
• Palestinian’s
Trial Shines Light on Military Justice
• Israel
will make own decision on Iran: army chief
• Al-Qaida
links with Southeast Asia fraying
• India's
3.5 crore Tehran lobby
• Suicide
attacks hit Baghdad and Baquba
• Taliban
commander held in Pakistan
• Iran
'halts oil sales to France and Britain'
• Pakistan's
Punjab CM urges Ulema to work for tolerance in society
• Obama to
Ali: 'You shocked the world'
• 'CIA
shares Intel information on Delhi blast'
• Pakistan
Bar Council condemns abductions by spy agencies
• New FEMA
rules may allow Pakistani investment in India
• Pakistan
braces for diplomatic offensive to counter US Congress moving a resolution on Balochistan
• ‘Denmark wants stronger ties with Pakistan’
• Pakistan
and Qatar clinch deal to import 500mcfeet LPG daily
• Pakistan’s
failure in science
• Iran
poised for big nuke jump: Report
• Syria
'disintegrating under crippling sanctions'
• First
Islamic Museum in Australia inaugurated
• An
insight into the Islamic craft
• Islam
Reaches Out Through Telephone
• Election
in U P an Indian States: Farangi Mahal issues fatwa to not vote BSP
Complied by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: UK Rights Chief
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/india-simi-backed-party-alarms/d/6673
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India: SIMI-Backed Party Alarms NIA
19 FEBRUARY 2012
SIMI-backed Popular Front of India is fast becoming a major internal
security headache for the Government. The National Investigation Agency (NIA),
which is tracking the outfit, has specific information on its efforts to
mobilise Muslims for seeking a “state within state” to address the community’s
woes.
What has alarmed Government is the outfit’s rapid growth among Muslims
and Dalits and its alliances with certain regional parties. “This could make it
the biggest internal security threat by 2014 parliamentary polls if its growth
is unchecked,” top NIA sources said.
The radical outfit recently shifted its headquarters from Kerala to
Delhi. It has held a secret meeting recently “in a bid to garner support for
its separate Muslim state agenda”.
The demand for a separate state for the community, sources said, has
prompted rattled agencies to step up surveillance on the outfit’s leaders. They
did not elaborate on the venue of the secret meet or the leaders who attended
it. They said specifics could endanger the moles planted in the outfit’s ranks.
The possibility of PFI’s role in the Israeli diplomat terror attack case
was also being looked into. Sources said NIA teams had also fanned out to Uttar
Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Bhatkal and Udupi districts of Karnataka to
generate leads, if any, in this regard. These two districts are considered to
be hotbeds of SIMI/Indian Mujahideen radicals.
Though NIA has not been formally entrusted with the Israel diplomat
terror attack case, the agency is simultaneously carrying out investigations so
that it has all the evidence and leads just in case the agency is handed over
the probe into the incident at a later stage.
More so, since at the National General Assembly (NGA) of PFI held
between January 21 and 22 this year, the outfit had demanded scrapping all
ties, including international coordination with Israel. It claimed, “It is
after establishing diplomatic ties with Israel that our country has witnessed a
series of mysterious terror attacks. The recent decision to open an Israeli
consulate in Bangalore is another sign of growing impact of the Zionist state
in our policy making.”
The NGA passed a resolution against Indo-Israel friendship claiming the
same to be “a very alarming sign for the future of the country (India)”.
Using vitriolic language against Israel, a Press release issued by the
outfit said, “Israel, the number one terrorist state in the world, which openly
exhibits and justifies violence against Palestinians for the past six decades,
is receiving red-carpet welcome in each front by the UPA Government.”
As things stand, PFI’s political ambitions too are on display. It has
fielded candidates in the UP elections under the banner of Social Democratic
Party of India, NIA sources said.
“The outfit overtly claims to work for empowering Muslims and other
marginalized communities like the Dalits across the country but has linkages
with banned Students Islamic Movement of India. It has also gained expertise in
fabrication of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and organising secret camps
for imparting training to its cadres in the use of sharp-edged weapons,” the
sources maintained.
“Top IB officials and Kerala police officers have also raised alarm over
the activities of the suspect terror group but the Centre is yet to initiate
measures to ban the outfit so that its vitriolic campaign and subversive agenda
against the state is arrested in time,” NIA officials pointed out.
On Batla House encounter in which young but educated terrorists were
liquidated in a police encounter, the outfit said, “The Congress party itself
seems to be divided on the issue of handing over the Batla House encounter case
to the CBI. The Batla House fake encounter case was a horrible instance where
innocent Muslim youths were killed in cold blood by the Delhi Police.”
“It (Batla House encounter) was not just an encounter but also a serious
attempt of stereotyping Muslims especially the students. None of the political
parties seem to be serious in providing justice to the victims and are only
competing with each other in lip service. The NGA demanded the Central
Government to take immediate steps for handing over the case to CBI and punish the
culprits involved in this inhuman act,” the outfit said in a statement.
The NIA is also probing the chopping off of hands of a Kerala-based
Christian professor by PFI cadres in 2010 for alleged blasphemy to Islam.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/43821-simi-backed-party-alarms-nia.html
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Faith Ends at Temple Door: UK Rights Chief
CAIRO, 18 February 2012 – The UK human rights chief is facing a storm of
criticism following his comments that that faith rules should end at the door
of the temple and if Christian groups seek exemptions from equality laws then
Muslims should be allowed Shari’ah application in parts of Britain.
"Trevor Phillips in the past has argued for respect for Christian
conscience,” Rev Nazir-Ali told the Daily Mail on Friday, February 17.
“I am very surprised that here he seems to be saying there should be a
totalitarian kind of view in which a believer's conscience should not be
respected."
Phillips, chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, said
religious rules should end 'at the door of the temple' and give way to the
'public law' laid down by Parliament.
He said Catholic adoption agencies should drop their opposition to
accepting gay couples – even if it conflicts with their religious beliefs –
because they were providing a public service.
"The law stops at the door of the temple as far as I'm concerned,”
Philips said at a debate in London on diverse societies.
"Once you start to provide public services that have to be run
under public rules, for example child protection, then you has to go with
public law.”
Christian adoption agencies and hotel owners have fought legal battles
against rules requiring them to treat gay and straight people equally.
Catholic adoption agencies have objected to legislation which requires
them not to discriminate between gay and straight couples when considering
applications.
Phillips backed the new laws, which led to the closure of all Catholic
adoption agencies in England, adding those who provide a public service must
abide by the public law.
"Institutions have to make a decision whether they want to do that
or they don't want to do that, but you can't say 'because we decide we're
different then we need a different set of laws'," he said.
"To me there's nothing different in principle with a Catholic
adoption agency, or indeed Methodist adoption agency, saying the rules in our
community are different and therefore the law shouldn't apply to us.
"Why not then say Shari’ah can be apply to different parts of the
country? It doesn't work."
In Islam, Shari`ah governs all issues in Muslims’ lives from daily
prayers to fasting and from, marriage and inheritance to financial disputes.
The Islamic rulings, however, do not apply on non-Muslims, even if in a
dispute with non-Muslims.
Sharia councils have been working in the UK for several decades with the
key areas being family law, finance and business - although they have no legal
powers to impose penalties.
Religion Role
Phillips’ comments were also criticized by religious figures in UK,
calling his comparison "strange" and ridiculous".
“It is a strange comparison,” Dr Philip Giddings, chairman of the Church
of England’s public affairs council, said, The Daily Telegraph reported on
Friday.
Yet, Phillips dismissed the criticism, insisting his comments should not
be seen as controversial.
“You would have to really work hard to make what I said 'inflammatory',”
he said.
The comments made by the UK human rights chief threatened to add to
controversy over the role of religion in Britain.
His comments came a few days after a High Court ruling outlawed formal
acts of prayers before council meetings last week.
The ruling immediately pitted the Government against the courts as
ministers urged councils to defy the ban.
Bideford council in Devon decided last night to appeal against the
decision.
Last June 2011, Philips said that Muslims are better integrating into
the British modern, multi-ethnic, multicultural community than many Christians.
Philips praised Muslim integration in the modern, multi-cultural British
society, accusing Christians, particularly evangelicals, of being more militant
than Muslims in complaining about discrimination.
He also warned that people of faith in general were “under siege” from
atheists.
Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2 million who
have taken full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 attacks.
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/455847-faith-ends-at-temple-door-uk-rights-chief.html
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Outrage at UN as 56 Islamic States Slam Gays
for "Abnormal Sexual Behaviour,"
Warning UN to Ignore Anti-Gay Violence
Rights group urges Hillary Clinton to speak out
Contact: media1@unwatch.org
Tel: +41 22 734 1472
GENEVA, Feb. 17 – A Pakistani spokesman for the UN's Islamic bloc
sparked outrage today after telling the UN's top rights body that its 56 member
states would ignore a scheduled UN rights panel on anti-gay violence, saying
they were “disturbed" at the "attempted focus on certain
persons" on the grounds of their "abnormal sexual behaviour,” which
"have nothing to do with fundamental human rights."
The Islamic announcement, obtained by the Geneva-based human rights
group UN Watch and posted on its website, is provoking sharp reactions from
human rights activists.
UN Watch director Hillel Neuer today called on US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton to condemn the "scandalous assault on the right of gays
not to be put to death in countries like Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan
and Yemen. Human rights are universal and there is no religious exemption for
barbaric violence against innocent human beings anywhere." Neuer lauded
Clinton for her previous leadership on this issue at the UN.
Diplomatic sources have also reported to UN Watch that the Islamic
states are considering a walk-out during the March 7th panel.
The letter by Pakistan's Geneva envoy Zamir Akram on behalf of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation—comprised of 56 Islamic UN member states
and the Palestinian Authority—was sent on Valentine's Day to UN Human Rights
Council president Laura Dupuy Lasserre and UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay. Click here for
letter.
The OIC declared its unequivocal opposition to the upcoming March 7th
panel discussion concerning a new UN report on discriminatory laws and
practices and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation
and gender identity. The OIC will “will not accept its considerations and
recommendations.”
The unprecedented panel and report were mandated by the council's
historic June 2011 resolution, which passed by a slim majority of 23 to 19,
with 3 abstentions.
The OIC letter said the panel on anti-gay violence addresses
"controversial notions” that have “no legal foundation in any
international human rights instrument," “misinterpreting the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights."
The OIC warned the debate would “seriously jeopardize the entire
international human rights framework," and “shift the focus from the real
issues that deserve the attention of the Council.”
“The Panel will discuss issues that relate to personal behavior and
preferences, and have nothing to do with fundamental human rights,” said the
OIC.
To justify its position, the OIC cited UN language, seemingly giving
exemptions to universal rights laws, that “historical, cultural and religious
backgrounds must be borne in mind. From this perspective, the issue of sexual
orientation is unacceptable to the OIC.”
The OIC letter comes on the heels of Wednesday's Libyan speech to the UN
this week accusing gays of threatening the continuation of the human race.
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NYPD monitored Muslim students all over Northeast
By CHRIS HAWLEY
The Associated Press
NEW YORK, February 19, 2012 — The New York Police Department monitored
Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far
beyond the city limits, including the Ivy League colleges of Yale and the
University of Pennsylvania, The Associated Press have learned.
Police talked with local authorities about professors 300 miles away in
Buffalo and even sent an undercover agent on a white-water rafting trip, where
he recorded students' names and noted in police intelligence files how many
times they prayed.
Detectives trawled Muslim student websites every day and, although professors
and students had not been accused of any wrongdoing, their names were recorded
in reports prepared for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Asked about the monitoring, police spokesman Paul Browne provided a list
of 12 people arrested or convicted on terrorism charges in the United States
and abroad who had once been members of Muslim student associations, which the
NYPD referred to as MSAs. Jesse Morton, who this month pleaded guilty to
posting online threats against the creators of "South Park," had once
tried to recruit followers at Stony Brook University on Long Island, Browne
said.
"As a result, the NYPD deemed it prudent to get a better handle on
what was occurring at MSAs," Browne said in an email. He said police
monitored student websites and collected publicly available information, but
did so only between 2006 and 2007.
"I see a violation of civil rights here," said Tanweer Haq,
chaplain of the Muslim Student Association at Syracuse. "Nobody wants to
be on the list of the FBI or the NYPD or whatever. Muslim students want to have
their own lives, their own privacy and enjoy the same freedoms and
opportunities that everybody else has."
In recent months, the AP has revealed secret programs the NYPD, built
with help from the CIA, to monitor Muslims at the places where they eat, shop
and worship. The AP also published details about how police placed undercover
officers at Muslim student associations in colleges within the city limits;
this revelation has outraged faculty and student groups.
Though the NYPD says it follows the same rules as the FBI, some of the
NYPD's activities go beyond what the FBI is allowed to do.
Kelly and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg repeatedly have said
that the police only follow legitimate leads about suspected criminal activity.
But the latest documents mention no wrongdoing by any students.
In one report, an undercover officer describes accompanying 18 Muslim
students from the City College of New York on a white-water rafting trip in
upstate New York on April 21, 2008. The officer noted the names of attendees
who were officers of the Muslim Student Association.
"In addition to the regularly scheduled events (Rafting), the group
prayed at least four times a day, and much of the conversation was spent
discussing Islam and was religious in nature," the report says.
Praying five times a day is one of the core traditions of Islam.
Jawwad Rasul, one of the students on the trip, said he was stunned that
his name was included in the police report.
"It forces me to look around wherever I am now," Rasul said.
But another student, Ali Ahmed, whom the NYPD said appeared to be in
charge of the trip, said he understood the police department's concern.
"I can't blame them for doing their job," Ahmed said.
"There's lots of Muslims doing some bad things and it gives a bad name to
all of us, so they have to take their due diligence."
City College criticized the surveillance and said it was unaware the
NYPD was watching students.
"The City College of New York does not accept or condone any
investigation of any student organization based on the political or religious
content of its ideas," the college said in a written statement.
"Absent specific evidence linking a member of the City College community
to criminal activity, we do not condone this kind of investigation."
Browne said undercover officers go wherever people they're investigating
go. There is no indication that, in the nearly four years since the report, the
NYPD brought charges connecting City College students to terrorism.
Student groups were of particular interest to the NYPD because they
attract young Muslim men, a demographic that terrorist groups frequently draw
from. Police worried about which Muslim scholars were influencing these
students and feared that extracurricular activities such as paintball outings
could be used as terrorist training.
The AP first reported in October that the NYPD had placed informants or
undercover officers in the Muslim Student Associations at City College,
Brooklyn College, Baruch College, Hunter College, City College of New York,
Queens College, La Guardia Community College and St. John's University. All of
those colleges are within the New York City limits.
A person familiar with the program, who like others insisted on
anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it, said the NYPD also had a
student informant at Syracuse.
Police also were interested in the Muslim student group at Rutgers, in
New Brunswick, N.J. In 2009, undercover NYPD officers had a safe house in an
apartment not far from campus. The operation was blown when the building
superintendent stumbled upon the safe house and, thinking it was some sort of a
terrorist cell, called 911.
The FBI responded and determined that monitoring Rutgers students was
one of the operation's objectives, current and former federal officials said.
The Rutgers police chief at the time, Rhonda Harris, would not discuss
the fallout. In a written statement, university spokesman E.J. Miranda said:
"The university was not aware of this at the time and we have nothing to
add on this matter."
Another NYPD intelligence report from Jan. 2, 2009, described a trip by
three NYPD officers to Buffalo, where they met with a high-ranking member of
the Erie County Sheriff's Department and agreed "to develop assets jointly
in the Buffalo area, to act as listening posts within the ethnic Somalian
community."
The sheriff's department official noted "that there are some Somali
Professors and students at SUNY-Buffalo and it would be worthwhile to further
analyze that population," the report says.
Browne said the NYPD did not follow that recommendation. A spokesman for
the university, John DellaContrada, said the NYPD never contacted the
administration. Sheriff's Departments spokeswoman Mary Murray could not
immediately confirm the meeting or say whether the proposal went any further.
Another report, entitled "Weekly MSA Report" and dated Nov.
22, 2006, explained that officers from the NYPD's Cyber Intelligence unit
visited the websites, blogs and forums of Muslim student associations as a
"daily routine."
The universities included Yale; Columbia; the University of
Pennsylvania; Syracuse; New York University; Clarkson University; the Newark
and New Brunswick campuses of Rutgers; and the State University of New York
campuses in Buffalo, Albany, Stony Brook and Potsdam, N.Y.; Queens College,
Baruch College, Brooklyn College and La Guardia Community College.
"Students who advertised events or sent emails about regular events
should not be worried about a 'terrorism file' being kept on them. NYPD only
investigated persons who we had reasonable suspicion to believe might be
involved in unlawful activities," Browne said.
But such assurances seem to offer little comfort to some former
students.
One University at Buffalo student, Adeela Khan, did end up in a police
report after receiving an email on Nov. 9, 2006, announcing an upcoming Islamic
conference in Toronto. The email said "highly respected scholars"
would be attending, but did not say who or give any details of the program.
Khan says she clicked "forward," sent it to a Yahoo chat group of
fellow Muslims and promptly forgot about it.
"A couple people had gone the year prior and they said they had a
really nice time, so I was just passing the information on forward. That's
really all it was," said Khan, who has since graduated.
Khan was a board member of the Muslim Student Association at the
University at Buffalo at the time. She says she never went to the conference,
was not affiliated with it and had no idea who was speaking at it.
But officer Mahmood Ahmad of the NYPD's Cyber Intelligence Unit took
notice and listed Khan in his weekly report for Kelly. The officer began
researching the Toronto conference and found that one of the speakers, Tariq
Ramadan, had his U.S. visa revoked in 2004. The U.S. government said it was
because Ramadan had given money to a Palestinian group. It reinstated his visa
in 2010.
The officer's report notes three other speakers. One, Siraj Wahaj, is a
prominent but controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of
authorities for years. Prosecutors included his name on a 3 ½-page list of
people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993
World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged.
The other two are Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir, two of the nation's most
prominent Muslim scholars. Both have lectured at top universities in the U.S..
Yusuf met with President George W. Bush at the White House following the 2001
terrorist attacks.
The post about the academic event was enough to get Khan's name
mentioned in the weekly MSA report, which was stamped "SECRET" in red
letters and sent to Kelly's office.
There is no indication that the investigation went any further, or that
Khan was ever implicated in anything. But she worries about being associated
with the police report.
"It's just a waste of resources, if you ask me," she said.
"I understand why they're doing it, but it's just kind of like a Catch-22.
I'm not the one doing anything wrong."
The university said it was unaware its students were being monitored.
"UB does not conduct this kind of surveillance and if asked, UB
would not voluntarily cooperate with such a request," the university said
in a written statement. "As a public university, UB strongly supports the
values of freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion, and a reasonable
expectation of privacy."
The same Nov. 22, 2006, report also noted seminars announced on the
websites of the Muslim student associations at New York University and Rutgers
University's campus in Newark, N.J.
Browne, the police department spokesman, said intelligence analysts were
interested in recruiting by the Islamic Thinkers Society, a New York-based
group that wants to see the United States governed under Islamic law. Morton
was a leader of the group and went to Stony Brook University's MSA to recruit
students that same month.
"One thing that our open source searches were interested in
determining at the time was, where do Islamic Thinkers Society go - in terms of
MSAs for recruiting," Browne said.
Yale declined comment. The University of Pennsylvania did not
immediately respond to requests for comment. Other colleges on the list said
they worried the monitoring infringed on students' freedom of speech.
"Like New York City itself, American universities are admired
across the globe as places that welcome a diversity of people and viewpoints.
So we would obviously be concerned about anything that could chill our
essential values of academic freedom or intrude on student privacy,"
Columbia University spokesman Robert Hornsby said in a written statement.
Danish Munir, an alumnus adviser for the University of Pennsylvania's
Muslim Student Association, said he believes police are wasting their time by
watching college students.
"What do they expect to find here?" Munir said. "These
are all kids coming from rich families or good families, and they're just
trying to make a living, have a good career, have a good college experience.
It's a futile allocation of resources."
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/nypd-monitored-muslim-students-1354037.html
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The deportation of Hamza Kashgari: A sad day to be Malaysians and
Muslims
By Aliran, 18 February 2012
The deportation of Hamza Kashgari despite a High Court order preventing
it is clearly a show of disrespect and contempt of court, says the Islamic
Renaissance Front.
The Islamic Renaissance Front strongly condemns the deportation of Hamza
Kashgari over his allegedly offensive tweets.
Due to the irresponsible and cowardly actions of the Malaysian government
in enabling the deportation, Mr Kashragi now faces the possibility of the death
penalty in his home country of Saudi Arabia for the simple act of demanding his
right to practise the most basic human rights – freedom of expression and
thought.
Since the Syari’ah Law that is practised in Saudi – just like any other
Muslim countries that implement Syari’ah – is subject to individual
interpretation by the clerics, and Saudi is known to have a very poor record in
ensuring fair trials compounded by a history of denial of rights to lawyers and
clients; we do not feel that Hamza Kashgari will stand a fair trial.
More importantly, Mr Kashgari has already removed the tweets and
apologised for his statements. We believe no further punishment is necessary
upon the trauma he had already endured being on the run for such an innocuous
act what more while facing the risk of punishment by death.
In this, we wish to remind Muslims of the importance of forgiveness in
Islam. The importance accorded to forgiveness in Islam is very much tied to
another key value of the deen which is the freedom of speech and conscience.
This can be seen clearly in verse 256 of Al-Baqarah which states that “There
shall be no coercion in matters of faith. Distinct has now become the right way
from [the way of] error…”
Humans were created as subjects of freedom, divinely endowed with the
rational faculties needed to be able to determine what is right and wrong on
their own accord without the threat or imposition of external forces. The
development of character depends on our ability to make that journey towards
the good on terms we can relate to and understand most.
This is the core of any ethical system whereby meaningful choices and
virtuous acts find their meaning on the basis that they have been willed freely
by the person. For if coercion is what is needed most to ensure good conduct,
then notions of love, solidarity, genuine trust or sincerity lose their
meaning.
In appealing for the humane treatment of Mr Kashgari, the Islamic
Renaissance Front once again points to the values of freedom, justice and
democracy in Islam.
We are also deeply disappointed with the complicity of the Malaysian
government for succumbing to pressures to deport Mr Kashragi. As a member of
the United Nations Human Rights Council, Malaysia could have used this
opportunity to set an example to the region, if not the entire Muslim world, of
what responsible governance based on human rights could be.
Instead, with barely a pause in its conscience, the Malaysian government
saw no problems deporting someone accused guilty for the supposed crime of
tweeting his opinions.
The Islamic Renaissance Front adjures that the Malaysian government
should just step down from the Human Rights Council so that the world would no
longer be led to believe that Malaysia somehow stands for something it actually
does not. The reality is that beneath the proliferation of malls and
skyscrapers, we are still of an administration that does not understand basic
human compassion.
This will save everyone’s time.
The deportation of Hamza Kashgari despite a High Court order preventing
it is clearly a show of disrespect and a contempt of court. The Home Minister
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein must be held responsible for this wicked and
egregious act. Considering that Malaysia has no extradition treaty with Saudi
Arabia, the deportation is a clear insolent and uncivil act and in breach of
international laws.
There is nothing to be proud of being a part of the so-called Global
Movement of Moderates. It is just another superficial and manipulative
evocation of democracy and rights. Today is indeed a very sad day to be
Malaysians and Muslims.
Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, Ahmad Fuad Rahmat, Edry Faizal Eddy Yusuf and
Muhammad Nazreen Jaafar from the Islamic Renaissance Front sent the above
article.
http://aliran.com/8177.html
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Pakistan torture case shows how courts are working to claim power
By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times
February 18, 2012,
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan— Before Abdul Majeed was swept away
by intelligence agents a year and a half ago, he weighed 154 pounds. Now he
weighs 88.
Shuffling out of Courtroom 1 at Pakistan's Supreme Court clutching a
catheterized urine bag in his hand, he sobbed as he described his secret
detention. His only food every day was a small serving of boiled lentils. Lack
of water left him severely dehydrated. He says he never saw a doctor, not even
when his kidneys began to malfunction.
"All of these health problems happened to me while I was in
custody," he said.
Majeed, 24, is one of 11 men hauled away by intelligence agents after
being acquitted of charges connected to terrorist attacks on military
installations. Four of the men died in custody. The remaining seven appeared in
the Supreme Court last week, after Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry
ordered the country's powerful spy agency to bring them in.
Pakistan's military and intelligence community, the dominant power since
the country's independence in 1947, had long been above the reach of the
judiciary. In recent weeks, however, the Supreme Court has staked out its claim
on a more powerful role in Pakistani society, setting its sights on a civilian
government widely seen as corrupt and ineffective, and also on the country's
security establishment.
Still unclear is how far the court is willing to intensify its scrutiny
of the military and intelligence agencies, and whether the court risks damaging
blow-back from the security establishment. What is apparent, however, is the
court's intent to significantly raise its profile.
"It is determined to establish itself as a player to be feared and
respected," Cyril Almeida, a columnist for the English-language Pakistani
newspaper Dawn, wrote last week.
For years, human rights activists have claimed that Inter-Services
Intelligence, or ISI, and other security agencies in Pakistan routinely abduct
men without legal justification. Sometimes the bodies of men who had
disappeared months earlier are found dumped on roadsides or in ditches.
Neither Pakistan's weak civilian government nor its judiciary had ever
taken any serious steps to look into the security agencies' involvement in the
disappearances. The Supreme Court's aggressive investigation of the
circumstances behind the detention of the 11 men marks a radical shift that
human rights leaders hope will bring scrutiny of disappearance cases that they
say number in the hundreds.
"This is a turning point in the disappearance issue," says
Amina Janjua, a human rights activist who has been championing the cause of the
11 men. Her husband disappeared in 2005 and has turned up again. "Enough
is enough. Every week there are 10 or 15 new cases. It's high time."
The exact number of men abducted by Pakistani intelligence and security
bodies is unknown. A report by Human Rights Watch last year chronicled the
cases of 45 men who disappeared in Baluchistan, a province where the military
has been grappling with Baluch nationalists for years.
In all of the cases that the New York-based group investigated,
detainees had been tortured, many subjected to beatings or prolonged food and
sleep deprivation. The group, which investigated disappearances mostly from
2009 and '10, estimates that hundreds of Baluch men have been abducted by
security personnel since 2005.
In the case of the 11 detainees, the Supreme Court on Monday forced the
ISI to bring into court the seven surviving men to assess their physical
condition. Afterward, the justices ordered that the men undergo medical
examinations, and demanded an explanation for the deaths of the other four.
The justices also have ordered the ISI to prove that the men were
legally detained and explain what happened to them during their detention. An
attorney representing the ISI, Raja Muhammad Irshad, declined to comment on the
case. But the ISI previously has said the men were detained in accordance with
a law that allows the military to hold terrorism suspects or anyone deemed a
danger to the state. According to Pakistani state media, military officials say
that the 11 men were terrorists involved in the planning of attacks on military
facilities in 2007 and '08.
If the court believes the men were illegally detained or were tortured,
theoretically, ISI agents involved in the detentions could be held criminally
liable, said Tariq Asad, the lawyer for the detainees. The court would also
release the men from custody.
Asad added, however, that criminal sanctions against the ISI were
unlikely. "Nobody has ever dared to do that." Asad said he is only
seeking the release of the men.
Asad was present when the men were hauled away May 29, 2010, the day
they were scheduled to be released from a Rawalpindi jail. As Asad and
relatives of the men watched, he said, three cars pulled up to the jail
entrance. The men were brought outside, handcuffed and put into the cars.
"Where they were taken to is a mystery," Asad said. Last
September, relatives were allowed to visit the men, but the family members were
blindfolded en route. Relatives told Asad that the detainees were too sick to
stand up.
In the case of Mohammed Amir, one of the four men who died while in
custody, there was evidence of torture, Asad said. Drill holes were found in
one of his knees and in his torso and back.
The body of another man who died, Abdul Saboor, was found by relatives
Jan. 20 in an otherwise empty ambulance parked at a gas station in the
northwestern city of Peshawar, said Abdul Baes, who is a brother of both Saboor
and Majeed as well as a second surviving detainee, Abdul Basit.
On Jan. 31, Pakistani authorities allowed Baes a five-minute visit with
Majeed and Basit at a hospital in Peshawar. "When I saw them, there seemed
to be no flesh on their bones," Baes said. "They were in a very
terrible state."
Basit, who had weighed 176 pounds before being abducted, was down to 74
pounds, Baes said. His left leg was severely weakened. When Baes asked the men
about what happened during their detention, he said they pointed to what they
perceived were intelligence officials at their bedsides.
Baes said Saboor, Basit and Majeed all worked at a firm that publishes
editions of the Koran. They are from Kohat, a town perched on the edge of
Pakistan's tribal areas that serve as a stronghold for a host of militant
groups. The lawyer said the cases built against them were fabricated.
At Monday's hearing, relatives sobbed as they embraced the men. Rohaifa,
the brothers' mother, stood up in court and told Chaudhry, "You can see
how they have tortured my sons!"
Outside the courtroom, Basit, 26, talked about his ordeal.
"We have faced so much suffering, so many hardships," Basit
said. "The mental torture was the worst. But we got through it."
On Tuesday, the brothers faced more misery, Asad said. A day after
seeing her two ailing sons in court, Rohaifa died of a heart attack.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-detain-20120219,0,1970806.story
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Palestinian’s Trial Shines Light on Military Justice
By ISABEL KERSHNER
NABI SALEH, West Bank, February 18, 2012 — A year ago, Islam Dar Ayyoub
was a sociable ninth grader and a good student, according to his father, Saleh,
a Palestinian laborer in this small village near Ramallah.
Then, one night in January 2011, about 20 Israeli soldiers surrounded
the dilapidated Dar Ayyoub home and pounded vigorously on the door. Islam, who
was 14 at the time, said he thought they had come for his older brother.
Instead, they had come for him. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and whisked away
in a jeep.
From that moment, Islam’s childhood was over. Catapulted into the
Israeli military justice system, an arm of Israel’s 44-year-old occupation of
the West Bank, Islam became embroiled in a legal process as challenging and
perplexing as the world in which he has grown up. The young man was
interrogated and pressed to inform on his relatives, neighbors and friends.
The military justice system that overwhelmed Islam has come under
increasing scrutiny for its often harsh, unforgiving methods. One Palestinian
prisoner has been hospitalized because of a hunger strike in protest against
being detained for months without trial. Human rights organizations have
recently focused their criticism on the treatment of Palestinian minors, like
Islam.
Now, as a grass-roots leader from Nabi Saleh stands trial, having been
incriminated by Islam, troubling questions are being raised about these methods
of the occupation.
It is the intimate nature of Islam’s predicament that makes this trial
especially wrenching for the young man, his family and his community. Most of
Nabi Saleh’s 500 residents belong to the same extended family. The leader on
trial, Bassem Tamimi, 44, was Islam’s next-door neighbor. Islam was close
friends with Mr. Tamimi’s son, Waed, a classmate. And Mr. Tamimi’s wife is a
cousin of Islam’s mother.
“This case is legally flawed and morally tainted,” said Gaby Lasky,
Islam’s Israeli lawyer. Islam is traumatized, she said, “not only because of
what happened to him, but also what happened to others.”
After he was pulled from his home at night, Islam was taken to a nearby
army base where, his lawyer said, he was left out in the cold for hours. In the
morning, he was taken to the Israeli police for interrogation. Accused of
throwing stones at Israeli soldiers inside the village, he was encouraged to
identify other youths and the adult organizers of weekly protests here.
In a police videotape of Islam’s five-hour interrogation, the teenager
is at times visibly exhausted. Alone and denied access to a lawyer for most of
the period, he was partially cautioned three times about his rights but was
never told directly that he had the right to remain silent.
Full Report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/world/middleeast/palestinians-trial-shines-light-on-justice-system.html?_r=1
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Israel will make own decision on Iran: army chief
AFP
JERUSALEM, Feb 19, 2012: Israel will ultimately decree on an Iranian
strike on its own, its military chief of staff said in an interview broadcast
Saturday, as a senior US official arrived for talks on the Islamic Republic.
"Israel is the central guarantor of its own security; this is our
role as army, the State of Israel should defend itself," Lieutenant
General Benny Gantz told state-owned Channel One TV.
"We must follow the developments in Iran and its nuclear project,
but in a very broad manner, taking into account what the world is doing, what
Iran decided, what we will do or not do," he said.
In recent weeks, there has been feverish speculation that Israel was
getting closer to mounting a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear programme,
though Israel has denied reaching such a decision.
Tensions between Iran and Israel have been simmering with Iranian
warships entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal in a show of
"might", a move Israel said it would closely monitor.
On Wednesday, Iran said it had installed another 3,000 centrifuges to
increase its uranium enrichment abilities and was stepping up exploration and
processing of uranium yellowcake.
And Israel blamed a recent wave of attacks targeting Israeli diplomats
on agents of Tehran, allegations Iran denies.
US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will on Sunday begin talks with
Israeli officials on a range of issues including Iran, two weeks ahead of a
Washington visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for White House
talks with US President Barak Obama on the same topic.
A recent article in the Washington Post said that US Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta thinks Israel may strike Iran's nuclear installations in the
coming months.
According to Gantz, whose interview was conducted prior to the Saturday
developments, Iran was not only an "Israeli problem", but also
"a world and regional problem".
On Saturday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called on the world to
tighten sanctions on Iran before the country enters a "zone of
immunity" against a physical attack to stop its nuclear programme.
Iran has been slapped with four sets of UN sanctions and a raft of
unilateral US and European Union measures over its nuclear drive, which Tehran
maintains is peaceful but which much of the international community suspects
masks a weapons programme.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Israel-will-make-own-decision-on-Iran-army-chief/articleshow/11945627.cms
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Al-Qaida links with Southeast Asia fraying
AP
JAKARTA: Feb 19, 2012, A top Indonesian terrorist suspect captured in
the Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was later killed insists he was
unaware of the al-Qaida leader's presence there, according to the video of his
interrogation obtained by The Associated Press.
Alleged bomb maker Umar Patek also describes his frustration in
re-establishing militant ties in his quest to go to Afghanistan. He had to make
his own arrangements to fly to Pakistan and then waited there for months before
a years-old militant contact finally got back to him.
His remarks, if true, would further bolster evidence that Southeast
Asia's Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist movement, responsible for the 2002 Bali
nightclub bombings, is now largely cut off from its long-standing al-Qaida
sponsorship.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/al-Qaida-links-with-Southeast-Asia-fraying/articleshow/11948528.cms
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India's 3.5 crore Tehran lobby
MOHAMMED WAJIHUDDIN,TNN
DELHI, 19 FEB, 2012: Mumbai's sea-facing Islam Gymkhana Club is no match
for the expansive Azadi Square in Tehran But last week, during the 33rd
anniversary celebrations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the speeches heard
at the club's auditorium could well have been relayed straight from Azadi
Square Punctuated with powerful poetry - part of Shia culture since the fateful
martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson Imam Hussain at Karbala, Iraq, in the 7th
century - the stirring speeches hailed Iran as the answer to the "usurpers
of power in the West".
Iran is home to 40% of the world's 18 crore Shias. For many Indian
Muslims, especially the country's 3.5 crore Shias, Iran and its leader
Ahmadinejad symbolize the David who is ready to take on Goliath. Despite years
of Western sanctions, many Muslims believe that Iran alone can thwart America's
hegemony in West Asia and keep Israel under control.
Often, the language used against the US and Israel by Muslim groups is
vituperative, the tone strident. "An attack on Iran will be tantamount to
an attack on the entire Muslim world," says senior Shia cleric Maulana
Zaheer Abbas Rizvi. He adds that Muslims are not against all Jews, but only
hate the Zionists who have displaced Palestinians from their own home land. A
powerful speaker, Maulana Rizvi, like other Muslim clerics both Shia and Sunni,
often cites the Koran to assert that even Allah is displeased with the Jews.
How might this sentiment impact India's options? Moderate Muslim
scholars say New Delhi will have to walk a tightrope as the West ups the ante
against Iran "India showed maturity when it did not approve of sanctions
against Iran. It didn't endorse the Israeli accusation that Iran and the
Hezbollah were behind the terror attack on Israeli embassy staff in Delhi. We
cannot have double standards and India has certainly said it very
clearly," says Akhtarul Wasey, who teaches Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia
Islamia.
After the America-led war in Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslims predictably
see Iran as the next target. Many even think the Delhi attack was part of an
Israeli con spiracy to shore up support for an assault on Iran's nuclear
installa tions. "Mossad is capable of carry ing out such attacks. They
could have done it to sabotage India's friendship with Iran," says Maula
na Rizvi, who is also secretary of the All India Shia Muslim Person al Law
Board.
No one, of course, knows how much the Indian Shias' support for Iran
will influence New Delhi's Te hran policy. "I welcome India's pru dence to
keep its friendship with Iran intact despite American pres sure," says
ex-MP Akhtar Hassan Rizvi, a prominent Shia leader who also heads educational
institutions in Mumbai. "Iran has a right to lead a life of respect."
Ahmadinejad will be happy to hear that.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/indias-3-5-crore-tehran-lobby/articleshow/11947074.cms
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Suicide attacks hit Baghdad and Baquba
19 February 2012
At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide attack in the Iraqi
capital Baghdad.
A bomber wearing a suicide vest blew himself up near the entrance to the
Iraqi Police Academy in the east of the city. 21 were injured in the attack.
Also on Sunday, deadly attacks were reported in and around the city of
Baquba, to the north of Baghdad.
Four police informants were killed by suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in the
centre of Baquba, local police told AFP.
Gunmen also attacked a checkpoint in Abu Khamis, north of Baquba,
killing one policeman and two members of the Sahwa (Awakening) militia,
according to AFP.
'Cars set ablaze'
The attack at the Iraqi Police Academy is the deadliest attack in the
capital for weeks.
Most of the dead are believed to have been new recruits to the police
force.
"I can see body parts scattered on the ground and boots and berets
covered with blood," a policeman working at the academy told Reuters.
"Many cars were set ablaze," he added.
The academy has been targeted in two previous attacks, in 2005 and 2009.
Al-Qaeda said it had carried out both attacks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17089398
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Taliban commander held in Pakistan
Islamabad, Feb 19, 2012, (IANS) A Taliban commander named Commander
Bakht Rawan has been arrested in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region bordering
Afghanistan, Geo News reported.
Swat district police Saturday arrested the Taliban leader from Namal
area, police said.
Bakht Rawan is the uncle of another Taliban commander named Ibne Amin.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Momin Khan raided the
suspect’s hideout and arrested the wanted outlaw.
http://www.inewsone.com/2012/02/19/taliban-commander-held-in-pakistan-2/110239
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Iran 'halts oil sales to France and Britain'
19 February 2012
Iran has halted oil sales to British and French companies, the nation's
oil ministry has said.
A spokesman was reported as saying on the ministry's website that Iran
would "sell our oil to new customers".
European Union member states had earlier agreed to stop importing
Iranian crude from 1 July.
The move is intended to pressure Tehran to stop enriching uranium, which
can be used for civilian nuclear purposes but also to build warheads.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17089953
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Pakistan's Punjab CM, urges Ulema to work for tolerance in society
Our correspondent
LAHORE, February 19, 2012: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif
said on Saturday that Ulema were the intellectual guides of Islamic society and
they should play their role for promotion of religious harmony, tolerance and
Muslim brotherhood so that the country could get rid of menace of sectarianism
and intolerance.
According to a handout issued here, the Punjab chief minister was
talking to a delegation of Ulema who called on him at the Arfa Software
Technology Park. Shahbaz Sharif asked the Ulema to promote message of religious
harmony and unity through their sermons and prove to the world by their word
and deeds that Islam is a religion of solidarity and peace.
Time has come that serious steps should be taken for setting up
Ittehad-Bain-ul-Muslimeen and a message of brotherhood, mutual respect and
tolerance be given by following a unanimous agenda so that our motherland could
become the haven of peace in the real sense, he said.
Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, the secretaries of Home, Schools,
Higher Education and Auqaf and Inspector General Police and the Lahore
commissioner also attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif expressed deep anger and resentment over the
US resolution on Balochistan, warning those who had prepared the resolution
that Pakistan should not be considered a state of America. Rather it was a
sovereign and an independent country, he said and added that explanatory
statement by American Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding this resolution was
not sufficient.
The chief minister said that the resolution, based on prejudice and
malafide, had salted the hearts of Pakistanis who were already hurt by drone
attacks. He said that problems of Balochistan and Balochis were the problems of
Pakistan and we would not allow any county to challenge our sovereignty under
the garb of these problems.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=93493&Cat=2
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Obama to Ali: 'You shocked the world'
AP
LAS VEGAS: Feb 19, 2012, Muhammad Ali turned 70 last month, but the
world's most famous people are still wishing the boxer known simply as ``The
Greatest'' a happy birthday.
President Barack Obama told Muhammad Ali through a video message on
Saturday night that he shocked and inspired the world, and continues to do so
today.
Obama's message was one of dozens celebrating the icon, delivered to
2,000 people attending a swanky dinner gala to honor Ali and raise funds for
brain research.
Ali's wife, Lonnie Ali, told the crowd her husband's greatest wish has
always been to inspire and help others through a life that he feels really
began after he retired from the ring.
Football great Jim Brown says Ali is a great part of an American
history.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Obama-to-Ali-You-shocked-the-world/articleshow/11947805.cms
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'CIA shares intel information on Delhi blast'
PTI
WASHINGTON: Feb 19, 2012,The CIA is believed to have shared information
with its Indian counterparts on the last week bomb attack in New Delhi on an
Israeli diplomatic car, including on alleged Iranian links.
Informed sources claimed that the Indian intelligence agencies have
confirmed and corroborated the intelligence information on the bombing shared
by the CIA.
Told to PTI on the condition of anonymity, the sources expressed
"surprise" that despite the alleged Iranian links, India has kept mum
on it, which they claimed is mainly due to its diplomatic implications and its
impact on India-Iran ties.
They, however, did not comment on how credible the information is.
The CIA did not respond to the e-mail sent by the PTI on this issue
earlier in the day.
Lisa Curtis, a former CIA analyst and now a Senior Research Fellow at
the conservative Heritage Foundation, says that last Monday's attack on the
Israeli diplomat in New Delhi has shined an uncomfortable spotlight on
Indo-Iran ties.
"If evidence revealing an Iranian hand in the attacks builds, the Indian
government will have no choice but to condemn it. India would likely limit its
reaction to condemnations, however, and stop short of taking other actions like
expelling Iranian diplomats from the country," Curtis told PTI.
"India will find it increasingly challenging to balance its
interest in maintaining cordial relations with Iran and avoiding tensions with
the US over the Iranian nuclear stand-off as the situation intensifies,"
Curtis said, adding that there are no easy solutions for New Delhi.
The US State Department, so far, has maintained that it is awaiting the
results of the Indian investigations, but has observed that it would not be
surprised if the attacks are traced to Iran.
"We wouldn't be surprised if the fingerprints and the trail lead back
to Iran but we're not in a position to assess until the investigations of the
host governments are complete," State Department spokesperson, Victoria
Nuland, had said Friday.
Notably, soon after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, had blamed Iran.
"Iran is behind these attacks; it is the largest exporter of
terrorism in the world," Netanyahu had said.
"The Government of Israel and the security services will continue
to act together with local security forces against such acts of terrorism. We
will continue to take strong and systematic, yet patient, action against the
international terrorism that originates in Iran," he had said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/CIA-shares-intel-information-on-Delhi-blast/articleshow/11948284.cms
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Pakistan Bar Council condemns abductions by spy agencies
By: Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, February 19, 2012 - The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on
Saturday strongly condemned the abduction of citizens by the government and the
intelligence agencies and said keeping such persons missing and untraced is
against the due process of law.
In a resolution, passed by the Council members in its 192nd meeting,
held at Council’s Office, Supreme Court building, Islamabad, demanded of the
judiciary to strictly deal with the missing persons’ issues. Earlier, the PBC
members elected its new Vice-Chairman and Chairman Executive Committee. Akhtar
Hussain from Karachi and Syed Ayaz Zahoor from Quetta were the two candidates
for election of the Vice-Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council for the
year-2012. But Akhtar was declared successful candidate.
He secured 12 votes, while Zahoor obtained nine 9. The attorney general
acted as returning officer. The Pakistan Bar Council also elected M Burhan
Moaazzam as Chairman of its Executive Committee for the year-2012. The PBC also
condemned callous torture committed on the missing persons who have been
admittedly in the custody of intelligence agencies.
The members of the bar council hoped that Judiciary will strictly deal
with the persons responsible for such torture and award exemplary punishment to
these persons.
The PBC also condemned mysterious deaths and murders of the abducted
persons who are found dead in various parts of Baluchistan and demands that
those responsible for such murders be severely dealt with.
The Council members also resolved that Free Legal Aid Committee of the
Pakistan Bar Council will afford free legal aid for conducting cases of
abducted/missing persons if it is approached and provided necessary material by
interested relatives of missing persons.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/islamabad/19-Feb-2012/pbc-condemns-abductions-by-spy-agencies
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New FEMA rules may allow Pakistani investment in India
New Delhi— February 19, 2012, In a major step forward towards
normalizing business ties, Indian government plans to bring changes in Foreign
Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to allow investments from Pakistan, a senior
government official said. “Commerce ministry has sent a proposal to the Finance
ministry for change in FEMA rules to allow investments from Pakistan,” a senior
Indian official who is accompanying Commerce & Industry Minister Anand
Sharma on his official trip to Pakistan was quoted as saying by
manaoramaonline.com. Pakistan is the only country from where investment is not
allowed in India.
An Indian Commerce & Industry ministry official, who does not want
to be named, said investments from Pakistan could be allowed by a change in the
FEMA regulations. “It can be done by simply issuing a notification,” he was
further quoted as saying. All foreign exchange transactions in India are
governed by FEMA regulation, which came into force in 2000. This is a civil
legislation and Reserve
Bank of India can make changes to allow Pakistani investment after
taking approval from Finance ministry. Asked whether investments would be
sector-specific, official said: “Our FDI policies are not country-specific.
Once there is a change in FEMA regulation, they can invest in whatever sector
it is allowed.”
To address security concerns, official said, once FEMA regulation is
changed, all foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals from Pakistan would have
to be cleared through Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a department of
Finance ministry. Bilateral trade between India and Pakistan was $2.7 billion
in 2010-11, but there is no two-way investment so far. Sharma said two
countries were mulling an agreement to promote and protect cross border
investments.
India & Pakistan, whose relations have been marred for decades by a
host of issues, including Kashmir and terrorism, have announced several
measures in recent months to normalize business and economic ties. The two
countries agreed to normalize visa regimes and move from “positive list” to a
short “negative list” trade regime by end of this month, a major step forward
to ease trade norms and facilitate movements of people.
Business leaders are also enthused by recent increase in ties between
two countries. “It’s a very good beginning. Things should move step by step,”
said Sudhir Jalan, co-chairman Kolkata-based Rieter India Private Ltd.
President Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry FICCI R.V.
Kanoria said businesses of both countries would be happy to invest in
cross-border business if proper policies were put in place.—NNI
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=140983
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Pakistan braces for diplomatic offensive to counter US Congress moving a
resolution on Balochistan
Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
February 19, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Taking serious exception to the moving of a resolution about
Balochistan in the US Congress, Pakistan has decided to undertake an
international diplomatic offensive against the reckless move.
Pakistan’s missions in the important world capitals have been asked to
establish contact with the host governments and explain Islamabad’s position
and anger regarding the thoughtless act. Pakistan has already conveyed its
condemnation to the United States that has expressed its indifference towards
the move but the traditional friendly capitals of the world are being posted
pertaining to the position Pakistan has taken on the issue. Most of the
countries have responded in a sympathetic and friendly manner.
It is likely some important capitals of the world will come out in
public by issuing strong rejoinders in a day or two on the subject. The
response from several capitals is very encouraging as most of them have termed
the move as a gross violation of international law and norms.
Well placed diplomatic sources told The News that the diplomats posted
in Islamabad have mailed Pakistan’s response on the subject on an emergency
basis to their respective capitals since the Foreign Office has responded to
the queries by the diplomats posted here promptly and it has asked them to
dispatch the view of Islamabad to their capitals on immediate basis.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, who is relinquishing his post early
next month on attaining of superannuation, spent his whole day in the office on
Saturday despite being a closed holiday. He personally contacted some capitals
in the day. Pakistan is not interested in expressing any knee jerk reaction and
it doesn’t want to demonstrate panic on this account but it will not allow its
adversary to exploit the occasion for its nefarious objectives.
Well placed diplomatic sources told The News that Prime Minister Syed
Yusuf Raza Gilani has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evolve a
comprehensive strategy to deal with the situation. Some significant diplomatic
actions would be taken very soon.
The prime minister will chair a high level meeting tomorrow (Monday) and
later he will take the parliament into confidence about the development when he
will give a policy statement in the Senate, the sources said.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar who has gone to Lahore has been asked
to return to the federal capital to attend the high-level meeting being called
by the prime minister, the sources added.
In the meanwhile, US embassy has asked its diplomats to take extra
caution in their movement and avoid unnecessary movement since the tempers are
high about the move in Pakistan.
The US administration has already given its view about the move made at
the Capitol Hill but it has failed in pacifying the sentiments of the people of
Pakistan. The view has been made clear to the US government through diplomatic
channels.
Prime Minister Gilani is mulling to convene the All Parties Conference
(APC) on Balochistan at the earliest and for the purpose he has already
initiated consultations. Gilani had already announced to host the APC when he
interacted with senior journalists in Islamabad last week.
He is extremely satisfied with the initial contacts with the political
leadership of the country since all the political groups/parties are firmly
supporting the national sentiments on the question, the sources said.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12561&Cat=13
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‘Denmark wants stronger ties with Pakistan’
JAVED MAHMOOD
KARACHI, Feb 19, 12 - The Danish government wants good and strong
relations with Muslim countries, particularly Pakistan, Ambassador of Denmark
in Pakistan Uffe Wolffhechel said at a recent gathering of the English Speaking
Union of Pakistan (ESUP).
“We want very friendly ties with Pakistan and our international partners
through the European Union which is a very strong economic block. We would be
happy to work with Pakistan and contribute to various sectors including
education, health and energy,” he added.
“My country has different educational programmes and Pakistani students
can benefit from them and better contribute to their country’s economic
prosperity and development.”
The Danish envoy said Pakistan would have to take initiatives in
different sectors. “We only can help Pakistan and further its agenda at larger
platform of the EU,” he remarked.
He said Pakistan has a lot of economic potential in various sectors.
“Denmark has enough capability to support Pakistan in energy sector. Pakistan
needs good management of available energy resources besides exploring new
avenues,” he added.
Wolffhechel said Danish companies are interested in investing in
Pakistan. “There is good space for increasing bilateral trade. Pakistan has
great importance in the region,” he pointed out.
He emphasised that freedom of expression is very essential for
strengthening of democracy in a country and also praised the active role being
played by media in Pakistan.
“My country has strongly supported democratic values in the world
including Pakistan. The media here is very open and even contentious issues are
discussed fairly,” he added.
He said for strengthening the media in Pakistan, Denmark has initiated
different training programmes for Pakistani journalists, especially female
ones.
He also said his country has been contributing towards women empowerment
in Pakistan. “My country has significantly contributed to the relief and
rehabilitation of the people affected by the earthquake and the floods in
Pakistan,” he noted.
He said that the Denmark embassy has been providing its best services to
Pakistanis including the easy and timely issuance of visas.
“We are also presenting a wider and positive image of Pakistan in
Denmark. We want a stable Pakistan and want to strengthen our bilateral ties
further,” he added.
He informed the gathering that around 21,000 Pakistanis are living in
Denmark and their first generation is integrating with the Danish society.
“They are ambassadors of Pakistan and Denmark,” he added.
To a question, the ambassador said friendly ties between Pakistan and
India are very important for peace and prosperity of the region. “It is highly
welcoming to see India and Pakistan supporting each other’s membership in the
United Nations Security Council,” he added.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/02/%E2%80%98denmark-wants-stronger-ties-with-pakistan%E2%80%99-%E2%80%98denmark-wants-stronger-ties-with-pakistan%E2%80%99/
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Pakistan and Qatar clinch deal to import 500mcfeet LPG daily
KARACHI, February 19, 12 - Pakistan has signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the government of Qatar for the import of 500 million
cubic feet of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) per day.
This was said by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani while inaugurating
the Rs 2.55 billion LPG terminal at Port Qasim on Saturday.
“I am happy to inform you that during my recent visit to Qatar, Pakistan
concluded a memorandum of understanding with the government of Qatar for the
import of 500 million cubic feet of LNG per day,” the prime minister said at
the inaugural ceremony.
To be imported through SSGC-LPG Terminal, the imported LNG would be
provided to power houses to generate 2,500 megawatts of power, Gilani said.
Criticising the previous successive government for their failure to give
due focus to the energy sector, the prime minister said key mega projects
undertaken by his government to meet the energy demands included Diamer-Basha
Dam, Thar Coal Power Project, TAPI project and CASA-1000 in addition to dozens
of small and medium-sized dams across the country.
Pakistan was also committed to Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, which
would help the country overcome its energy problem to a large extent.
“The implementation of these mega projects will not only enhance overall
energy supplies, provide energy diversity but also lead to a greater energy
security,” he said.
Despite economic constraints imposed by natural disasters, energy
deficits, global recession and the war on terrorism, the fundamentals of
Pakistan’s economy were showing positive signs, he said.
The prime minister said given the size and diversity of Pakistan’s
economy, the country’s total energy requirements were expected to grow
substantially during the next decade.
“It is in this context that achieving self-sufficiency is a key factor
to keep the engine of economy running as well as meeting the future demands of
the economic growth.”
According to the PM, Pakistan was meeting 53 percent of its total energy
requirements through indigenous oil and gas production, whereas other
indigenous resources further meet 19 percent of the country’s energy needs.
The remaining 27 percent of the energy needs were currently being met
through imports, he said. “The energy imports are likely to increase as
domestic gas production and supply presently fails to meet the demand of the
domestic users, the industrial sector and power generation,” he said, adding
that due to their all-pervasive use by these sectors, the country’s gas
reserves may be insufficient to meet the rising demand.
“Such a situation will force the country to resort to importing large
volumes of gas at international prices to feed the domestic market if local
production is not enhanced in relation to demand,” the PM said.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/02/pakistan-and-qatar-clinch-deal-to-import-500mcfeet-lpg-daily/
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Pakistan’s failure in science
Dr Zafar Altaf
February 19, 2012
Science has failed Pakistan and not only Pakistan but the entire Islamic
world. Why is it that the required scholarship is not found in the Pakistani
mind? The reasons are complex but the majority of the students that were sent
abroad under the WB scholarship loan scheme were not scholarly enough. Was
there some kind of collusion between the persons selected and the managers that
were in decision making authority? Did they have an eye for the talent that
they were seeking to put forward? My crib against the selectors is and will
always be that they were not suited to do the job that they undertook. My own
PhD was from British University and the selection process was done by them and
not by any obscure individual in Pakistan. I had the guts to go and have myself
interviewed by them. Earlier the same was the case when London Business School
interviewed despite the fact that they would only admit on the basis of the
Princeton Business School test.
The entire exercise according to them, at the MBA and PhD was one of
ethical considerations. If the ethics is right then the results would flow and
they paid the highest category to persons who were involved in sports [both
times as manager of the Pakistan cricket team touring England]. Then the
ethical status had to be upheld. One was mindful of the requirements and the
culture of sports that went forward.
Full Report at:
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=140917
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Iran poised for big nuke jump: Report
Vienna, February 19, 2012: Iran is poised to greatly expand uranium
enrichment at a fortified underground bunker to a point that would boost how
quickly it could make nuclear warheads, diplomats tell a news agency.
They said Tehran has put finishing touches for the installation of
thousands of new-generation centrifuges at the cavernous facility — machines
that can produce enriched uranium much more quickly and efficiently than its
present machines.
While saying that the electrical circuitry, piping and supporting
equipment for the new centrifuges was now in place, the diplomats emphasised
that Tehran had not started installing the new machines at its Fordo facility
and could not say whether it was planning to.
Still, the senior diplomats — who asked for anonymity because their
information was privileged — suggested that Tehran would have little reason to
prepare the ground for the better centrifuges unless it planned to operate
them. They spoke in recent interviews — the last one on Saturday.
The reported work at Fordo appeared to reflect Iran's determination to
forge ahead with nuclear activity that could be used to make atomic arms
despite rapidly escalating international sanctions and the latent threat of an
Israeli military strike on its nuclear facilities.
Fordo could be used to make fissile warhead material even without such
an upgrade, the diplomats said.
They said that although older than Iran's new generation machines, the
centrifuges now operating there can be reconfigured within days to make such
material because they already are enriching to 20 percent — a level that can be
boosted quickly to weapons-grade quality.
Their comments appeared to represent the first time anyone had
quantified the time it would take to reconfigure the Fordo centrifuges into
machines making weapons-grade material.
In contrast, Iran's older enrichment site at Natanz is producing uranium
at 3.4 percent, a level normally used to power reactors. While that too could
be turned into weapons-grade uranium, reassembling from low to weapons-grade
production is complex, and retooling the thousands of centrifuges at Natanz
would likely take weeks.
The diplomats' recent comments came as International Atomic Energy
Agency inspectors are scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday. Their trip — the
second this month — is another attempt to break more than three years of
Iranian stonewalling about allegations that Tehran has — or is — secretly
working on nuclear weapons that would be armed with uranium enriched to 90
percent or more.
Diplomats accredited to the IAEA expect little from that visit. They
told the agency that — as before — Iran was refusing to allow the agency
experts to visit Parchin, the suspected site of explosives testing for a
nuclear weapon and had turned down other key requests made by the experts.
Iranian officials deny nuclear weapons aspirations, saying the claims
are based on bogus intelligence from the US and Israel.
But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has said there are increasing indications of
such activity. His concerns were outlined in 13-page summary late last year
listing clandestine activities that either can be used in civilian or military
nuclear programs, or "are specific to nuclear weapons”.
Among these were indications that Iran has conducted high explosives
testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as
computer modelling of a core of a nuclear warhead. The report also cited
preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test and development of a nuclear
payload for Iran's Shahab 3 intermediate range missile — a weapon that could
reach Israel.
Full Report at:
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/iran-poised-for-big-nuke-jump-report_759264.html
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Syria 'disintegrating under crippling sanctions'
19 February 2012
The 11-month uprising against Mr Assad has claimed thousands of lives
One of Syria's leading businessmen says its economy is being crippled by
foreign sanctions and that the government is slowly disintegrating.
Faisal al-Qudsi, the son of a former Syrian president, told the BBC the
military action could only last six months and then there would be
"millions of people on the streets".
But he said President Bashar al-Assad's government would fight to the
end.
The 11-month uprising against Mr Assad has claimed thousands of lives.
Human rights groups have put the figure at more than 7,000, while the
government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed
combating "armed gangs and terrorists".
The violence continued on Saturday, when Syrian troops fired on mourners
during a funeral that turned into a mass demonstration in Damascus. Activists
say at least one person was killed there and some 20 across the country.
Catch 22'
Speaking to the BBC's Weekend World Today programme, Mr Qudsi said the
economy had been crippled by sanctions and that although Iran was sending
money, it was not enough.
Mr Qudsi now chairs a London-based investment banking firm and has been
heavily involved in private sector investment in Syria.
He said the uprising had destroyed tourism and the sanctions on exports
of oil and other products had dramatically reduced the gross domestic product.
"So, effectively the foreign exchange reserves of the central bank
have come down from $22bn (£14bn) to about $10bn and it is dwindling very
rapidly," Mr Qudsi said.
He said the military phase against protesters could only last another
six months "because the army is getting tired and will go nowhere".
"They will have to sit and talk or at least they have to stop
killing. And the minute they stop killing, more millions of people will be on
the streets. So they are in a Catch 22."
He added: "The apparatus of the government is slowly disintegrating
and it's almost non-existent in trouble spots like Homs, Idlib, Deraa. Courts
are not there; police are not interested in any sort of crime and it is
affecting the government very, very badly."
But Mr Qudsi said Mr Assad would fight to the end because he and his
supporters think there is "a universal conspiracy against the government
of Syria".
Meanwhile activists say government forces continue to build around the
city of Homs, with shelling of the district of Baba Amr resuming on Sunday,
targeting hundreds of opposition fighters holed up there.
Our correspondent, Jim Muir, says human rights groups fear a massacre
there if a full ground assault is launched.
Also on Sunday, the Sana news agency reported that gunmen had opened
fire on a car carrying two key officials in the northern state of Idlib,
prosecutor Nidal Ghazal and judge Mohammed Ziadeh, killing both of them and
their driver.
Activists said state security forces had opened fire on the car.
Meanwhile UK Foreign Secretary William Hague again called for President
Assad to step down.
Full Report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17088270
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First Islamic Museum in Australia inaugurated
Hameed Shaheen
Islamabad— February 19, 2012,The first Islamic Museum outside Asia has
been set up in Melbourne, the Australian continent, to help Aussies understand
the highly humanizing contribution of Islamic civilization in crucial phases of
history.
The Museum was inaugurated by the OIC Secretary General Mr Ekmeleddin
Ihsanoglu Saturday in an impressive ceremony urging better bridging between
Islamic and other global civilizations as an important milestone in forward
progress in advancing tolerant values. The ceremony participated by Premier of
Victoria State, Minister for Regional Development & Local Government and
Special Australian Envoy to the OIC Mr Ahmed Fahour besides large number of
officials,community members and representatives was formally addressed by SG
Ihsanoglu.
Mr Fahour is the co-founder of Museum, says an OIC emessage to Pakistan
Observer here Saturday. The Museum will symbolize Muslims’ history, culture and
contributions in Australia and civilization in general. It is seen as a space
to reflect, learn and assist in building cohesiveness of the multicultural
community the Australian State of Victoria, particularly the city of Melbourne,
is widely known for. In his remarks as the guest of honor, the Secretary
General observed that Islamic civilization has generously contributed to other
civilizations, its art and culture which are rich, diverse and unbiased founded
on the principles of tolerance, peace and embracing mutuality.
He added that the Museum will enhance Australian’s understanding of Islam
and help build bridges of intellectual communication and exchange. OIC supports
this important initiative and will provide financial and cultural support
through its organs at a later stage. The Museum is expected to be completed in
two years, the message adds.
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=140948
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An insight into the Islamic craft
Sarah MacDonald
MUSCAT, Feb 19 2012 : The Muscat Festival’s International Congress on
Innovation in Arts and Crafts showcases the work of 150 artists and craftsmen
from 25 different countries. The task of choosing them is left primarily to one
man — Nazieh Taleb Maarouf.
Maarouf is the director of the crafts development programme, the
Organisation of the Islamic Conference Research Centre for Islamic History, Art
and Culture (IRCICA), which plans the international craft market at Qurum Park.
“We are encouraging these kinds of handicrafts. We are promoting them
and supporting the craftspeople so they are getting known and their work is
known. We are happy to see the results,” says Maarouf, sitting at a booth
filled with Turkish carpets at the Muscat Festival.
The IRCICA, based out of an old palace in Istanbul, Turkey, is involved
in studying and preserving the Islamic culture and the cultures of Muslim
people all over the world. The IRCICA has organised similar festivals all over
the world, including in Morocco, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.
“Each country has its own craft. Each country specialises in a different
skill, but here we have a cultural village. You will see the local varieties in
an international setting,” Maarouf says.
The IRCICA organised a craft fair here for the first time last year. The
Muscat Festival organisers requested that he choose new artists this year so
that the visitors to the festival would have more variety and be exposed to new
crafts and cultures.
“Oman is trying to make this international, not just including Islamic
art,” Maarouf explains. “Most of the artisans are new,” he added.
Though the IRCICA is a centre which aims at preserving and promoting
Islamic arts and crafts, not all of the booths at the Muscat Festival are from
countries with majority Muslim populations. For example, Spain, a country which
had strong Islamic influence on it in the past but is now dominated by Catholicism,
has a booth at the festival.
“We invited member countries of the IRCICA and observers. But some are
from countries with Muslim minorities. The people from Ukraine are from the
Crimean part, which has Muslim communities there also,” Maarouf explains.
The IRCICA approaches its member countries and invites artists to apply
to be a part of the Muscat Festival craft fair. Once the organisation gets a
response, it corresponds with the artists and craftspeople so it can see their
work.
“Some of them are known to us, since we’re involved in the field, and
others we meet for the first time. Then we decide who to include,” says
Maarouf.
The ministries of culture in different countries also recommend certain
artists and craftspeople whose work accurately represents each region.
“You can see the variety of work. For example, in Uzbekistan you can see
excellent miniatures. In Dagestan (a region of Russia) you can see wooden work,
excellent wooden work,” says Maarouf.
Because this is an international craft fair, there isn’t an Omani booth,
but Maarouf says Omani craftspeople have been involved in fairs in other
countries and other programs hosted by the IRCICA.
For Maarouf, coming to the Muscat Festival is also a personal pleasure,
because he says he finds Oman beautiful. He says the landscape around Muscat,
such as the drive to Shangri-La, is incredible.
“I like Oman! In all the regions of Islamic countries, I can say that
Muscat is number one. I enjoy it!” he adds.
http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.asp?detail=129
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Islam Reaches Out Through Telephone
R Vasundara, TNN | Feb 19, 2012,
It's No Longer Necessary To Meet The Imam To Clarify Doubts About
Religious And Personal Issues - They Take Calls And Answer Emails
Asma Mohammed (name changed), a third year BCom student, attends college
during the day and spends her spare time reading translated interpretations of
the Quran, Hadith and other sacred Islamic texts that are available on the
world wide web as well as in books. "Someday I hope to read the original
Arabic version," she says. "But my Arabic is poor and I must contend
with English and Tamil translations." Mere translations, however, are not
enough to understand the sayings of the Prophet. "My mother helps me
sometimes but there are many queries that she cannot clear," says Asma.
"Sometimes, I call up the publisher or the imam of our mosque to clarify
certain passages. It is helpful as approaching them in person is awkward."
Asma is not the only one doing so. With the advent of technology, it is no
longer necessary to personally approach the imam of the local mosque to clarify
doubts. Queries are often made over phone or through email. As many of them
involve family issues and personal problems, the anonymity of the phone is
vastly preferred to a personal tete-a-tete . This accessibility is part of the
efforts of the clergy and scholars to demystify the Quran and inform Muslim
society, particularly youngsters, that solutions to problems are possible
without deviating from the principles of Islam and within the framework of
sharia, the Islamic law.
Scholar Mufti Omar Sharif, who runs a publishing house, Dar-ul-Quda ,
which publishes translated religious Islamic texts, gets such calls on a
regular basis. "My number is printed in all my publications," he
says. "In many cases, the person seeks solutions to personal problems. If
it's family problems, we ask them to come over as we also provide counselling.
It wouldn't do to give such advice over the phone as it may be
misunderstood."
Full Report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11945690.cms
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Election in U P an Indian States:
Farangi Mahal issues fatwa to not vote BSP
18 February 2012
By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: On the eve of polling in Lucknow, a fatwa has been issued by
Darul-Ifta, Farangi Mahal stating not to vote for parties which have desecrated
the pictures of religious shrines.
The fatwa was in reference to a question asked regarding the
advertisement issued by UP Tourism Department in Lucknow's Heritage Walk where
pictures of Tilewali Masjid, Imambara were depicted in the footprints.
In the fatwa issued by Shaher Qazi Maulana Mufti Abul Irfan Mohammad
Naimul Haleem Qadri Razzaqi Farangi Mahli on Saturday, voting for such parties
who have desecrated the pictures of religious shrines is not allowed. Muslims
should stay away from such parties till they seek forgiveness and guilty are
punished.
Surprisingly, the fatwa even mentions Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya
Janata Party and RSS for pursuing divisive politics.
The fatwa dated February 18, 2012 also mentions that as per Islamic
Shariah such act should be done. It even mentions that Islam respects the
religious places of other religions. The fatwa also states that Muslims should
not undermine the sanctity of religious months, animals who are being
sacrificed and those heading for Mecca.
The cleric Farangi Mahli who issued the fatwa is different from more
prominent Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli.
http://twocircles.net/2012feb18/farangi_mahal_issues_fatwa_not_vote_bsp.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Twocirclesnet-IndianMuslim+%28TwoCircles.net+-+Indian+Muslim+News%29
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/india-simi-backed-party-alarms/d/6673