Iran Ahl al-Bait Assembly Slams Wahhabi Fatwa to Destroy Churches
New Age Islam News Bureau
28 March 2012
• 400 women and girls held in Afghan jails for 'moral crimes'
• Lal Masjid chief
cleric solicits Pakistan SC to enforce Shariah law
• 133 women held
for outraging modesty of women in J&K
• Rights body seeks
international probe into Baloch murders
• US Congressman
calls Pakistan 'enemy' of US, freedom
• Can visit
Pakistan if something to cheer: PM Manmohan Singh
• French Jewish
school targeted by Toulouse killer Mohamed Merah receives anti-Semitic calls
and hate mail
• Vigilance call
after French Jews hit by new attacks
• After Killings in
France, Muslims Fear a Culture of Diversity Is at Risk
• The Hajj Comes to
London, Advancing Cultural Diplomacy
• U S Muslims call
new religious freedom appointee a ‘puppet’ for Islam foes
• Saudi religious
police ease up to improve image
• Pakistan:
University rocked by sex scandal again
• N-terrorism,
clandestine proliferation poses serious threats: Indian P M
• Israel Group Adds
a Softer Voice to Debate on Iran
• Pak arsenal may
fall into wrong hands: Obama
• India: Congress general secretary seeks NIA probe Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith chief's links with BJP leader
• Pakistan Right Activist appeals to CJ of India for Chishti release
• Iraqi Immigrants
in California Town Fear a Hate Crime in a Woman’s Killing
• 3 Syrian soldiers
die in clashes with rebels
• Russian forces
kill Islamist rebel leader
• 5 Lashkar
militants killed in a gun battle in Kupwara, J&K
• At least 50
people killed in south Libyan tribal clashes
• UN says more than
9,000 dead in Syria unrest
• Pak SC orders girl
to ponder fate for three weeks in conversion row
• Forced
conversions hike Pakistani minorities’ fears
• Assad Accepts
Cease-Fire; Opponents Are Skeptical
• Anti-Assad
Syrians Seek Unity as 70-Nation Istanbul Summit Nears
• Syria authorities
target children, says UN rights chief
• Saudi diplomat
Abdullah al-Khalidi kidnapped in Yemen
• Indian
politician-diplomat honoured for ‘special role’ in 1971 Bangladesh war
• Nuclear family of
First Wives provides the much needed picture of unity, assurance and
integration
• Al Qaeda suspect
met Sept 11 figure in Pak
• Indian poets
escape gunmen attack in Karachi 'mushaira'
• Annan says Syria
accepts peace plan, fighting enters Lebanon
• Walkouts spoil
Syrian opposition’s bid for unity
'• Actions must show Syria’s seriousness about peace'
• Medvedev says
Syrian people should decide own fate
• Hillary Clinton
asks Assad to pull back troops from populated areas
• Thousands rally
in Pakistan against cooperation with NATO
• Outlawed
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief dodges police in Pak capital to attend rally
• Yemen urges
Pakistan to release injured widow of Bin Laden
• Pakistan:
Lashkar-e-Islam promised justice, delivered violence
• Pakistan SC
orders action against jirga system
• Official: Killer
didn’t send French attacks video to Al-Jazeera
• Israel says Iran
attack not imminent
• Afghan war
strategy can't be guided by polls: Leon Panetta
• Terror threat
sparks 2-hour lockdown at Afghan defence ministry
• Nuclear talks
with world powers on April 13: Iran
• Taliban to answer
your questions online
• Israel says
sabotage may stretch Iran atom timeline
• Turkey ex-army
chief refuses to defend self on coup charges
• Asylum Claims
Rose 20 Percent Last Year, U.N. Refugee Agency Says
• Pilot creates
al-Qaeda emergency in flight
• Palestinian medic
gets Libyan jail compensation
• India’s
technological progress impresses Saudi delegation
• India: SIMI, IM
network under Babu Khan
• Indian President
refuses assent to Gujarat anti-terror legislation again
• India will not
apply for U.S. sanctions exemption on Iran
• Israeli embassy
attack: India to seek Iran help in probe
• 2006 Malegaon
blasts accused in civic poll fray
• India IM Chief’s aide
caught with explosives
• India: Terror
arrests, ATS says Hindu leaders were target
• JEDDAH: 6,000 new
jobs offered at women’s work expo
• Turkey Hitler
shampoo advert withdrawn
• Shaul Mofaz wins
leadership of Israel's Kadima party
Complied by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo:
(The image has
been used for representational purpose only. Reuters)
Iran Ahl al-Bait
Assembly slams Wahhabi fatwa to destroy churches
28, Mar 2012
Iran’s Ahl
al-Bait World Assembly condemns a recent fatwa (religious decree) issued by
Saudi Arabia's top religious official who has called for destruction of all
churches on the Arabian Peninsula.
The latest fatwa
by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh came in the context of a response
to a Kuwaiti civil society organization that proposed for the new Kuwaiti
constitution, approved by parliament last week, a new article that would forbid
the building of new churches in the country.
“First of all, Wahhabi
muftis are not representing Islam. The world should know that the religion
which is now being publicized in Saudi Arabia is not true Islam,” Ahl al-Bait
World Assembly said in a statement published by Ahl al-Bait News Agency (ABNA)
on Tuesday.
The statement
added that the content of the new fatwa was against the commands of God as well
as the tradition of Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH) and his descendants and
is, therefore, rejected not only by Shias, but also by Sunni Muslims.
Ahl al-Bait World
Assembly noted that throughout its history, Islam has coexisted with Christians
and Jews and such a fatwa has never been issued by the Prophet of Islam (PBUH),
his progeny, and subsequent Muslim caliphs.
“Therefore, the
grand mufti of Wahhabis has issued a fatwa which has no precedence in [Islamic]
jurisprudential circles…and has never been issued by great scientific centers
of Muslims…,” it said.
The Assembly
stated that the fatwa is also a clear intervention in the internal affairs of
other Muslim countries because the Saudi mufti has not confined his fatwa to
Saudi borders but has included the whole Arabian Peninsula.
The Assembly also
slammed the “deadly silence” of Muslim scholars in the face of such fatwas
which distort the image of Islam.
“Aren’t scholars
of various Islamic sects in Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, the
Arabian Peninsula and other parts of the world supposed to react to such
unprecedented fatwas which depict a distorted picture of Islam in the world?”
it asked.
The Assembly
criticized international human rights organizations as well as Western and
Christian governments for their support of Wahhabi terrorists saying, “If you
had not offered various forms of support to Wahhabi and Takfiri terrorists when
they martyred Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan and Iran, today you would not be
attacked in this manner.”
http://presstv.com/detail/233420.html
----------
400 women and
girls held in Afghan jails for 'moral crimes'
Mar 28 2012
London: More than
400 women and teenage girls are currently languishing in jails across
Afghanistan for "moral crimes", a new research has claimed.
The research by
Human Rights Watch found female inmates are being held for
"immorality", including running away from home to escape beatings or
forced marriage or violent husbands and parents’ in-law, a daily reported.
Virtually all
teenage girls held in prison are accused of immorality, either extramarital sex
or running away; In fact, in some cases, women had been charged with having
extramarital sex after being raped or forced into prostitution, according to
the research.
Kenneth Roth,
executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: "It is shocking that 10
years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned
for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage.
"No one
should be locked up for fleeing a dangerous situation even if it's at home.
President (Hamid) Karzai and Afghanistan's allies should act decisively to end
this abusive and discriminatory practice."
Running away is
not an offence under the Afghan penal code, but the Supreme Court said in 2010
that women and girls who flee their homes and don't immediately go to the
police or a close relative should be locked up as precaution against
prostitution and promiscuity.
The court has
declined to comment on the report.
The United
Nations has estimated around three quarters of marriages in Afghanistan are
forced and unmarried girls are also sometimes given, or exchanged, to resolve
disputes or stand in place of a dowry.
Few women are
able to gain divorces. If they run away instead, the husband's family often
press for a conviction of extramarital sex as well, as an extra punishment, the
research by the rights group, headquartered in New York, has claimed.
"Even the
most horrific abuses suffered by women seem to elicit nothing more than a shrug
from prosecutors, despite laws criminalising violence against women," Roth
said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929457/
----------
Lal Masjid chief
cleric solicits Pakistan SC to enforce Shariah law
Sohail Khan
March 28, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Lal
Masjid chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz Tuesday requested the apex court to take
suo moto action by ordering the enforcement of Sharia law across the country,
saying that if this was not done, Allah would take a suo moto of His own.
“Pakistan was
created in the name of Islam, however we are still the slaves of foreign
invaders, we are following the law of infidels,” Aziz argued, while appearing
before the Supreme Court in the Lal Masjid military operation case.
A three-member
bench, comprising of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji
Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, convened to hear the Lal Masjid and
Jamia Hafsa operation case, alongside a contempt petition filed by Maulana
Abdul Aziz.
During the
hearing, Iftikhar Gilani, counsel for the Wafaq-ul-Madaris, told the court that
despite its order the Islamabad police had still not initiated action against
those responsible for the Lal Masjid operation. Iftikhar Gilani asserted that
Umm-e-Hassan, the Lal Masjid chief clericís wife, herself had visited the
police station, but the police had refused to lodge the FIR against the
accused.
When the counsel
pleaded that the court issue directives to the police to register an FIR, the
chief justice responded by saying this was not the duty of the court. “You should
approach the High Court, we are not the police,” he suggested. The counsel then
pleaded that the apex court direct the Islamabad police and the federal
government to submit their respective reports on the implementation of the apex
court’s orders in the Lal Masjid case. The chief justice acquiesced and
accordingly directed both the police and the federal government to submit their
reports within the space of a week.
Maulana Abdul
Aziz requested the court to allow him to speak, as he had something he urgently
wanted to say. Upon this, the chief justice allowed him to speak, but when Aziz
began speaking, the chief justice asked him to present his arguments in the
court rather than making a long-winded speech. Aziz nonetheless said that
Pakistan was created on the basis of Islam, and that its constitution had
declared it to be a Muslim welfare state. He passionately appealed that the
Supreme Court take suo motu notice and direct Parliament to pass a bill for
imposing Sharia law in the country. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, in response,
crisply observed that policy-making was not the job of the court; rather it was
the job of civil society and the government.
Advocate Tariq
Asad, counsel for Maulana Abdul Aziz and Umm-e-Hassan, argued that while the
apex court in its 2007 orders had directed the federal government to pay
salaries to the teachers of Jamia Fareedia, the government had failed to act on
its orders. “The CDA is also creating hindrances in the construction of Jamia
Hafsa against the orders of the Supreme Court,” he contended.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-13504-Lal-Masjid-chief-cleric-solicits-SC-to-enforce-Shariah-law
----------
28 MARCH 2012
A total number of
133 women were arrested in Jammu & Kashmir for outraging the modesty of
same sex while 405 were booked for rioting in the last two years.
The Minister
incharge of the State Home Department on Monday informed the Lower House, “Out
of 2,177 women arrested under different substantive offences during the last
two years, 1,430 (65 per cent) fall in the age group of 26-45 years.
“In all 72 women
were arrested in year 2011 while 61 were arrested in 2010 for outraging the
modesty of same sex,” the Minister said.
In response to a
question of PDP MLA Shafi Ahmad Wani the Minister also informed the House that
out of a total number of 2,177 women arrested in the State, 769 fall in the age
group of 36-45 while 661 fall in the age group between 26-35.
In comparison to
Kashmir more women from the
Jammu region were
put behind the bars.
“Of them, 633
women were arrested from Kashmir province while 1,544 from Jammu province were
booked under different offences in the last two years.
During the same
period, 48 women were arrested for abetment to kidnapping/abduction, 55 under
charges of murder, 62 for attempt to murder, 122 for stabbings, 90 for cruelty
to husbands and other relatives,15 under charges of obscene act in public, 84 for
abetment to suicide and 15 under charges of abetment to rape, the Minister
said.
A small number of
three women, including two foreign nationals and one Indian, were detained
under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) 1978 during the same period.
The Minister
incharge of the State Home Department
also informed the House that 273 foreign nationals are lodged across
different jails in the State while 16 women were booked under Explosives Act.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/52868-133-women-held-for-outraging-modesty-of-women-in-jak.html
----------
Rights body seeks
international probe into Baloch murders
Mar 28 2012
Washington : A
Baloch rights body has urged the US House of Representatives' Speaker for an
international probe into alleged "cold blooded" murders of the
regions' nationalist leaders and violation of human rights.
"We request
that the House of Representatives (John Boehner) may push for a thorough and
independent international investigation into the cold blooded murders of the
Baloch nationalist leaders and other abuses of human rights and international
humanitarian law by the Pakistani Army in Balochistan," Britain-based
Baloch Human Rights Council said in a letter, released to the press yesterday.
Pointing out that
the right of self-determination was the "inalienable right of the Baloch
people," it called for "urgent help" from the US and the
international community.
"We believe
that US is in a position to pressurise the Pakistani State in order to save the
life of thousands of the Baloch," said the letter, written by council's
general secretary Samad Baloch.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929427/
----------
US Congressman
calls Pakistan 'enemy' of US, freedom
By Huma Imtiaz
March 28, 2012
WASHINGTON: US Republican
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on Tuesday said that the Government of Pakistan
was radical, and supported the Taliban, there by an enemy of the United States
and freedom.
Rohrabacher made
these statements while addressing a press conference on the subject of
Balochistan at the National Press Club. Reps. Steve King and Rep. Louie
Gohmert, who were co-sponsors of his house concurrent resolution on the right
of self-determination for Baloch, accompanied him at the press conference.
Rep. Rohrabacher,
who mispronounced Baloch as Bal-ook for the entirety of the press conference,
dispelled allegations that he was being paid by a lobby or an individual for
raising the cause of the Baloch people. He said that Pakistan was murdering
women and children in Balochistan. He said that his trips to the region came
from committee funds that were in turn financed by US taxpayers.
In response to a
question, he said that he has also raised the issue of human rights in Kashmir
in the past, and said that certain people were purposely raising the issue of
Kashmir to deflect attention from the issue of Balochistan.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/356251/us-congressman-calls-pakistan-enemy-of-us-freedom/
----------
Can visit
Pakistan if something to cheer: PM Manmohan Singh
Mar 28, 2012
ON BOARD AIR
INDIA ONE: Welcoming Pakistan's move to liberalise trade with India, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said he could visit that country if there is
"something solid" to celebrate.
On his meeting
with Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Nuclear
Security Summit in Seoul, Singh said he thanked him for the trade concessions
his government had made to India recently.
"I had a
good meeting with him. I thanked him for the trade concessions that they have
announced," the Prime Minister said on board his special aircraft while
returning from a four-day visit to South Korea.
Singh said Gilani
asked him when was he coming to Pakistan on an official visit.
"He (Gilani)
said when are you coming there (Pakistan). So, I said let us do something solid
so that we can celebrate," Singh said.
Pakistan had
recently announced its decision to liberalize trade with India by moving from
positive list to a shorter negative list of goods.
The Prime
Minister said Gilani also asked him if India could supply power to Pakistan
from Punjab.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Can-visit-Pakistan-if-something-to-cheer-PM-Manmohan-Singh/articleshow/12434790.cms
----------
French Jewish
school targeted by Toulouse killer Mohamed Merah receives anti-Semitic calls
and hate mail
March 28, 2012
TOULOUSE, France
— The French Jewish school where three children and a teacher were murdered
this month has received a wave of anti-Semitic hate mail and calls, the local
prosecutor said Wednesday.
Michel Valet said
he had received a complaint from the school and had ordered a police
investigation to discover the “origin of these calls and letters and the
identities of those behind them.”
The Ozar Hatorah
school was at the centre of a national drama on March 19, when self-declared
al-Qaeda operative Mohamed Merah pulled up on his scooter and attacked a crowd
of pupils and parents waiting for class.
After killing a
30-year-old religious studies teacher and his two sons aged four and five, the
23-year-old Islamic extremist pursued a seven-year-old girl onto the grounds,
grabbing her and shooting her through the head.
Full report at:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/28/french-jewish-school-targeted-by-toulouse-killer-mohamed-merah-receives-anti-semitic-calls-and-hate-mail/
-----------
Vigilance call
after French Jews hit by new attacks
Mar 28 2012
There has been a
call for vigilance in France after an assault on a Jewish boy, the latest
anti-Semitic incident reported since the Toulouse massacre.
Teenagers punched
the boy, 12, in the back of the head and beat him, calling him a "dirty
Jew" in the attack near a Jewish school in south-eastern Paris.
Jean-Paul
Amoyelle, head of the Ozar Hatorah network of Jewish schools in France, said he
feared further attacks.
The Jewish school
attacked in Toulouse has reportedly received hate mail.
Several emails
are said to have been sent to the school four days after the massacre on 19
March, when Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah shot dead three small children and a
teacher, as well as seriously wounding a schoolboy.
The messages
warned that the shooting was only "a beginning", the French newspaper
Le Parisien says.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17534308
----------
After Killings in
France, Muslims Fear a Culture of Diversity Is at Risk
By SCOTT SAYARE
Mar 28, 2012
TOULOUSE, France
— As near to the Spanish border as it is to the Mediterranean, this sunny
red-brick city has long been known as a place of welcome and diversity, far
removed from the divisive politics of Paris. In contrast to much of the French
south, the far right, with its virulent anti-immigrant stance, has little
presence here. Nor does radical Islam.
Toulouse is by no
means without racism, anti-Semitism, crime or the deep social segregation that
marks many French cities, but with a culture shaped by successive waves of
immigration, it is described by its inhabitants as a place of particular
tolerance.
Hundreds of
thousands of Spaniards fled the Franco dictatorship into France after the
Spanish Civil War, and many settled here. So, too, did the pieds noirs, the
French expelled from newly independent Algeria in 1962, as well as the harkis,
the Algerians who had backed the French colonialists, and thousands of Jews.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/world/europe/in-toulouse-muslims-fear-diversity-is-at-risk.html?ref=global-home
----------
The Hajj Comes to
London, Advancing Cultural Diplomacy
28, Mar 2012
LONDON ---
"Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam," the exhibition at the British
Museum that has drawn more than 80,000 visitors since it opened in late January
is a remarkable achievement. First, it is glitz-free, relying on its
intellectual content rather than the son et lumiere approach on which so many
museums today rely. It explains, in a straightforward way, the Hajj, the annual
pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken each year by about three million Muslims.
Participating in the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, required of
every Muslim who is able to make the trip.
The exhibition
also addresses the controversial topic of what Islam is about. Many people in
the non-Muslim world think that "Islam" means terrorism, and they
react to mentions of Islam with fear or anger. In doing so, they dismiss the
sanctity of one of the world's great religions, which has roughly 1.6 billion
adherents. The Hajj exhibition offers a straightforward explanation of a duty
that has nothing to do with politics but rather is an affirmation of religious
belief.
Full report at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-seib/the-hajj-comes-to-london-_b_1370681.html
----------
U S Muslims call
new religious freedom appointee a ‘puppet’ for Islam foes
By Lauren Markoe
28, Mar 2012
WASHINGTON — One
of two new members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
has Muslim civil rights groups crying foul.
Zuhdi Jasser, who
lauded a controversial New York City police surveillance program that targeted
Muslims and helped lead the opposition to an Islamic cultural center near
Ground Zero, has been appointed to the commission, which advises the president,
Congress and State Department on religious rights abuses internationally.
“It would have
been better to appoint someone who has some measure of credibility with Muslim
Americans,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
“He has long been
viewed by American Muslims and the colleagues in the civil liberties community
as a mere sock puppet for Islam haters and an enabler of Islamophobia.”
Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appointed Jasser and House Speaker John Boehner,
R-Ohio, appointed Robert P. George, a philosophy professor at Princeton
University and top adviser to the U.S. Catholic bishops.
Democrats appoint
five of the commission’s nine members, because they are the party in the White
House; the other four are appointed by Republicans. With the Jasser and George
appointments, three commission spots remain vacant.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/muslims-call-new-religious-freedom-appointee-a-puppet-for-islam-foes/2012/03/27/gIQAdH6meS_story.html
----------
Saudi religious
police ease up to improve image
March 28, 2012
JEDDAH: Saudi
religious police will stop car chases that have led to fatal accidents in the
past, local media said on Tuesday, in an attempt to soften the image of a force
that aggressively enforces Islamic Sharia laws.
Bearded members
of the religious police patrol the streets in Saudi Arabia to enforce strict
gender segregation laws and ensure that all shops close during Muslim prayer
times and that men and women are modestly dressed.
Formally known as
the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,
religious police officers arrest those who do not adhere to their rules.
Involvement in
violent incidents and lethal car chases has tarnished the reputation of the
force.
Full report at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Mar-27/168155-saudi-religious-police-ease-up-to-improve-image.ashx#ixzz1qOBBjA6T
----------
Pakistan:
University rocked by sex scandal again
28 MARCH 2012
ISLAMABAD: All
public and private organisations in the country are required to implement the
Sexual Harassment Act but a female university teacher could pick up the courage
of reporting her case only after reaching the safety of a foreign land.
Higher Education
Commission’s Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi confirmed to Dawn that a female
faculty member of the Hazara University, currently doing PhD in the United Kingdom,
has filed an application with the HEC that she suffered sexual harassment at
the university.
“It is a very
serious issue. We will take action if the university fails to investigate and
act on its own in a given time,” he said.
Initial
investigation has shown the charge was correct, according to an HEC official.
“There is a cult
in the university and some top officers in its management, deans and female
faculty members are involved in the racket,” he said requesting anonymity.
However, the
university management, instead of explaining its position, has sought
explanation from the complainant for “violating the procedure” by taking her
complaint directly to the HEC.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/28/university-rocked-by-sex-scandal-again.html
----------
N-terrorism,
clandestine proliferation pose serious threats: Indian P M
Mar 28, 2012
SEOUL: India on
Tuesday warned that nuclear terrorism and clandestine proliferation will
continue to pose serious threats as long as there are terrorists seeking access
to atomic material and technologies for malicious purposes.
"Nuclear
terrorism and clandestine proliferation continue to pose serious threats to
international security," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told world leaders
while addressing the second Nuclear Security Summit here.
He said an
India-piloted resolution on measures to deny terrorists access to weapons of
mass destruction had been adopted by consensus since 2002.
Singh said it
seeks enforcement of legal and regulatory measures against the proliferation of
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons to non-state actors.
"Nuclear
terrorism will remain a potent threat as long as there are terrorists seeking
to gain access to nuclear material and technologies for malicious purposes.
India is acutely conscious of this threat," he said, without referring to
any specific country.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/N-terrorism-clandestine-proliferation-pose-serious-threatsPM/articleshow/12429619.cms
----------
Israel Group Adds
a Softer Voice to Debate on Iran
By HELENE COOPER
Mar 28, 2012
WASHINGTON — Memo
to Congress: Not all American Jews support a military strike on Iran, either by
Israel or by the United States.
Members of J
Street, the dovish pro-Israel group formed four years ago in part as an
alternative to the more hawkish American Israel Public Affairs Committee, made
that point on Tuesday when they descended on Capitol Hill as part of an effort
to convince lawmakers that supporting Israel does not mean agreeing with
everything advocated by the country’s conservative prime minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu.
“There’s a myth
that the so-called Jewish vote is a monolithic vote in favor of a militaristic
position in support of Israel,” said Elaine Tyler May, a professor at the
University of Minnesota, who came to Washington for J Street’s annual
conference and met on Tuesday with Representative Keith Ellison and Senator Amy
Klobuchar, both Minnesota Democrats. Instead, Ms. May maintained, “the vast
majority of American Jews believe the United States should take a leadership
role on a peace agreement, even if it means disagreeing with the Israeli
leadership.”
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us/politics/j-street-pro-israel-but-against-iran-strike-takes-its-message-to-washington.html?ref=world&gwh=39854647B34098AB64FA37965BC4A292
----------
Pak arsenal may
fall into wrong hands: Obama
Mar 28, 2012
US President
Barack Obama on Monday voiced concern over safety of Pakistan’s nuclear
arsenal, saying the world cannot allow non-state actors and terrorists to get
their hands on the nuclear weapons and end up destroying cities.
“We can’t afford
to have non-state actors and terrorists to get their hands on nuclear weapons
that would end up destroying our cities or harming our citizens,” Obama told
reporters alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani before the two
leaders held private talks on the sidelines of the nuclear security summit
here.
The West is
concerned over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons as it remains
vulnerable because the atomic facilities are located in areas where “Taliban
and al-Qaeda are more than capable of launching terrorist attacks”.
In their first
meeting since the killing of Osama bin Laden in a covert US raid on Pakistani
soil last May, the two leaders tried to rescue a troubled anti-terror alliance
which has been full of mistrust and recriminations in recent times.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/52994-pak-arsenal-may-fall-into-wrong-hands-obama.html
----------
India: Congress
general secretary seeks NIA probe Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith chief's links with BJP
leader
Mar 28, 2012
BHOPAL: Congress
general secretary Digvijay Singh on Wednesday demanded a probe by the National
Investigating Agency (NIA) into the activities of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith's chief,
based in Jabalpur, and his alleged links with a senior BJP leader in Madhya
Pradesh.
Talking to
newsmen in the state assembly premises, Digvijay Singh released the media a
copy of a letter written by him to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in which
he alleged that Abdul Razak' also have close connection with organisations like
Student Islamic Federation of India (SIMI).
In his letter,
Singh alleged that the state police was reluctant to take action against Abdul
Razak as he enjoyed patronage and protection by senior BJP leader Ishwardas
Rohani. Rohani, who hails from Jabalpur, is now the speaker of Madhya Pradesh
Vidhan Sabha.
"Did
Digvijay Singh release to the media any evidences to substantiate his charges?
No, then the matter ends there", Spekaer Ishwardas Rohani told TOI when
his comment was sought over the AICC general secretary's charges that Abdul
Razak had close proximity with him.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Digvijaya-seeks-NIA-probe-Jamiat-Ahl-e-Hadith-chiefs-links-with-BJP-leader/articleshow/12441606.cms
-----------
Pakistan Right
Activist appeals to CJ of India for Chishti release
March 28, 2012
Islamabad:
Leading rights activist Ansar Burney has appealed to the Chief Justice of
India's Supreme Court to direct authorities to release Pakistani national
Khalil Chishti, saying it would be a "good gesture for peace".
In a letter to
the Chief Justice, Burney said an order to release Chishti, an 81-year-old
Pakistani national who has been detained in Rajasthan for 18 years, "would
be a good gesture for peace in the region" and to improve relations
between India and Pakistan.
He called for the
release of the ailing octogenarian in the "greater interest of human
dignity, justice and peace".
Burney, who
briefly served as Human Rights Minister in a caretaker government before the
2008 general election, has campaigned for the release of Indian and Pakistan
prisoners held in jails of the two countries.
Full report at:
http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/burney-appeals-to-cji-for-chishti-release_766704.html
-----------
Iraqi Immigrants
in California Town Fear a Hate Crime in a Woman’s Killing
By IAN LOVETT and
WILL CARLESS
Mar 28, 2012
EL CAJON, Calif.
— Shaima Alawadi’s family says they found the first note taped to the front
door of their house on a quiet suburban street here. It said: “This is my
country. Go back to yours, terrorist,” according to her 15-year-old son,
Mohammed.
Ms. Alawadi’s
husband, Kassim Alhimidi, says he wanted to call the police. But his wife said
no, insisting the note was only a child’s prank. Like many others in the
neighborhood, the couple were immigrants from Iraq. In 17 years in the United
States, they had been called terrorists before, he said.
But last Wednesday,
Ms. Alawadi was found in the family’s dining room by her 17-year-daughter,
lying unconscious in a puddle of blood with a severe head wound. Nearby lay
another threatening note, similar to the one the family found a week earlier.
Ms. Alawadi, 32,
died three days later. The police caution against jumping to conclusions,
saying they are still trying to determine whether she was targeted because of
her religion or ethnicity, calling that just one possibility.
“At this point,
we are not calling it a hate crime,” said Lt. Mark Coit of the El Cajon police.
“We haven’t made that determination. We are calling it an isolated incident,
because we don’t have any evidence of anything similar going on at this point.”
Whatever the
police eventually determine, the crime has shattered the sense of security for
Iraqi immigrants in El Cajon, exposing cultural tensions and distrust that have
often simmered just below the surface since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
Hanif Mohebi,
director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
said that many Muslim women in the area were worried that Ms. Alawadi had been
targeted because she wore a headscarf in public, as many observant Muslim women
do.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us/killing-of-iraqi-woman-leaves-immigrant-community-shaken.html?ref=global-home
----------
3 Syrian soldiers
die in clashes with rebels
Mar 28, 2012
BEIRUT: Three
Syrian soldiers died in clashes with rebels in the central province of Homs on
Wednesday, an activist group said, just a day after President Bashar Assad said
he has accepted a UN plan to resolve the country's crisis.
The Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting broke out when government
forces tried to enter the town of Rastan, which is in the hands of army
defectors. The activist group also reported clashes in the Deir el-Zour
province along the Iraqi border and said government troops had fired mortars at
the city of Homs.
The fresh
violence coincides with a new wave of international diplomacy seeking to end
the year-old conflict that the UN says has left more than 9,000 people dead.
Syria said
Tuesday that Assad accepted a peace plan put forward by UN-Arab League envoy
Kofi Annan. The plan calls for Damascus to immediately stop troop movements and
use of heavy weapons in populated areas and to commit to a daily two-hour halt
in fighting to allow humanitarian access and medical evacuations.
It also calls for
a full cease-fire to be supervised by the UN so that all parties can discuss a
political solution.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/3-Syrian-soldiers-die-in-clashes-with-rebels/articleshow/12440681.cms
----------
Russian forces
kill Islamist rebel leader
Mar 28, 2012
MOSCOW: Russian
security forces killed the regional leader of a rebel group fighting to carve
an Islamic state out of the volatile North Caucasus region, news agencies
quoted Russia’s anti-terrorism committee (NAK) as saying on Tuesday.
Alim Zankishiyev
died in a hail of bullets after a shootout with security forces. He had led the
Caucasus Emirate insurgency in Karachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria
provinces, which saw the largest increase in militant violence last year.
President Dmitry
Medvedev has called the North Caucasus separatist movement, which killed 37
people in a suicide bombing at Moscow’s busiest airport last year, Russia’s top
domestic security problem.
Russia’s
anti-terror body said Zankishiyev was hiding in a house in the regional capital
Nalchik, where police told him to put down his weapons and give himself up.
“In response he
showed resistance and was neutralized in the course of the assault,” said
Interfax, citing a statement from the committee.
The NAK statement
said Zankishiyev was responsible for more than 30 attacks over the past year in
the region.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article599041.ece
----------
5 Lashkar
militants killed in a gunbattle in Kupwara, J&K
March 28, 2012
The security
forces inflicted a major damage on the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) militant outfit
on Wednesday by killing its five militants in a daylong encounter in north
Kashmir's border district of Kupwara.
A joint operation
of the local police, the army and the CRPF was launched at 10
am on Wednesday
in a forest area near Laribal village, 90 km north of Srinagar.
Immediately after
making a contact with the hiding militant, the security forces threw a
water-tight cordon around them to ensure there is no escape route.
"The
militants were asked to surrender. However, they opened fire resulting in an
intense firefight," said Srinagar-based army spokesman Lt Col JS Brar.
During the
encounter, the militants got split into two groups. "Three militants were
killed inside the jungle area where as two were shot at in a house nearby the
forests," Handwara superintendent of police Muhammad Aslam told the
Hindustan Times.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Srinagar/5-Lashkar-militants-killed-in-a-gunbattle-in-Kupwara/Article1-832121.aspx
-----------
At least 50
people killed in south Libyan tribal clashes
Mar 28, 2012
TRIPOLI: A Libyan
health ministry official said on Tuesday that at least 50 people have been
killed in two days of tribal clashes in a southern city.
The battles
underlined the fragile nature of Libya after the fall of longtime leader
Moammar Gaddafi last year. The new government has been unable to impose its
authority, and Libya is ruled instead by squabbling tribes and militias.
Libyan health
ministry official Abdul-Rahman al-Hasnawy said on Tuesday most of the 50 died
from gunshot and shrapnel wounds. He said about 160 people have been wounded,
and some were transferred to other cities for treatment.
The clashes in
Sabha, about 650 kilometres south of the capital, Tripoli, erupted on Monday
after a man from the Tabu tribe allegedly killed a member of the Abu Seif
tribe.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/At-least-50-people-killed-in-south-Libyan-tribal-clashes/articleshow/12434267.cms
----------
UN says more than
9,000 dead in Syria unrest
Mar 28, 2012
UNITED
NATIONS/DAMASCUS: The United Nations on Tuesday increased its death toll for
the Syria unrest to more than 9,000.
Robert Serry, a
UN Middle East peace envoy, told the Security Council there were
"credible" estimates that the number of dead was now more than 9,000.
Assad tours Homs
Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday toured the former rebel stronghold of Baba Amr in
Homs, assuring residents that the battered neighbourhood would be rebuilt and
that normal life would resume.
"Baba Amr
will be much better than before," Assad told dozens of residents as he
surveyed the destruction wrought on the neighbourhood in a month-long assault
by regime forces.
The brief visit,
which was aired on state television, marked a rare public appearance by the
embattled head of state who is in the throes of an unprecedented revolt against
his regime.
Assad, standing
under a light drizzle, is seen during his tour discussing reconstruction
efforts with local officials and saying that a plan needed to be drawn up to
ensure residents can return home.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/UN-says-more-than-9000-dead-in-Syria-unrest/articleshow/12430195.cms
----------
Pak SC orders
girl to ponder fate for three weeks in conversion row
Mar 28 2012
Islamabad : Hopes
for the rapid resolution of a controversy over the conversion of a Hindu woman
to Islam that has seized the Pakistani public were dashed on Monday, when the
Supreme Court declined to decide the matter for at least three more weeks.
Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled Rinkel Kumari, a 19-year-old Hindu student who
converted under disputed circumstances last month, should spend three weeks
pondering her fate in protective custody, along with another Hindu Dr. Lata
Kumari, 29, in a similar situation.
During the
emotional and sometimes rowdy hearing, Chief Justice Chaudhry scheduled the
next hearing for April 18.
The case started
in Mirpur Mathelo, a town in Sindh, where in 12 hours on February 24, Kumari
left her family home, converted to Islam and married Naveed Shah, a Muslim
neighbour who said he had been courting her through Facebook and cellphone
contact. Kumari’s family and Hindu community leaders reacted angrily, alleging
she had been abducted at gunpoint and forced to convert by Mian Mitho, a
powerful conservative Muslim politician who sits in the national Parliament.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929211/
----------
Forced
conversions hike Pakistani minorities’ fears
Mar 28 2012
LAHORE: It was
barely 4am when 19-year-old Rinkal Kumari disappeared from her home in a small
village of Sindh province. When her parents awoke they found only her slippers
and a scarf outside the door.
A few hours later
her father got a call telling him his daughter, a Hindu, had converted to Islam
to marry a Muslim boy. Only days later, Seema Bibi, a Christian woman in the
province of Punjab, was kidnapped along with her four children after her
husband couldn’t repay a loan to a large landlord. Within hours, her husband
was told his wife had converted to Islam and wouldn’t be coming home. Seema
Bibi escaped, fled the village and has gone underground with her husband and
children. Hindu and Christian representatives say forced conversions to Islam
had become the latest weapon of extremists in what they called a growing
campaign against religious minorities. The groups are increasingly wondering if
they still have a place in Pakistan. “It is a conspiracy that Hindus and
Christians and other minorities should leave Pakistan,” says Amar Lal, the
lawyer representing Kumari in the Supreme Court. “As a minority, we feel more
and more insecure. It is getting worse day by day.”
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\28\story_28-3-2012_pg7_16
----------
Assad Accepts
Cease-Fire; Opponents Are Skeptical
By ANNE BARNARD
and RICK GLADSTONE
Mar 28, 2012
AL QAA, Lebanon —
Seeking to project an image of responsibility and reason, President Bashar
al-Assad of Syria formally accepted a United Nations envoy’s cease-fire
proposal on Tuesday and conducted a televised walking tour through the
shell-shocked city of Homs, a center of the year-old uprising against him.
But his actions
belied a new outbreak of bloodletting on the Syria-Lebanon border, where
government troops clashed with rebels who had taken refuge there. And his
political critics expressed strong skepticism that Mr. Assad, who has broken
numerous pledges before in the Syrian conflict, would now honor a cease-fire
with his opponents, whom he has described as terrorists and thugs.
Some of his
fractious opponents outside the country, meeting in Istanbul to seek a common
front, said late Tuesday they had agreed to reunite under the Syrian National
Council, whose Paris-based leadership projects itself as the main umbrella
group for exiled dissidents.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/world/middleeast/assad-accepts-cease-fire-opponents-are-skeptical.html?ref=middleeast&pagewanted=print
----------
Anti-Assad
Syrians Seek Unity as 70-Nation Istanbul Summit Nears
Mar 28, 2012
Syria’s
opposition is seeking to mend fences four days before a meeting with about 70
countries to trigger greater outside support in its bid to topple the
government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian
National Council met in Istanbul yesterday to unite all opposition movements
under the organization’s umbrella, said Anas Ayrout, a member of the council.
While most agreed, at least five factions postponed participation until the SNC
alters its executive committee, said Tariq al-Said, foreign- affairs attache of
one such group, the Liberation and Building Bloc. A member of the anti-Assad
groups inside Syria said they boycotted the meeting.
The opposition is
seeking agreement before the April 1 summit of the self-described Friends of
Syria group of Western and Arab countries following the Assad government’s
decision yesterday to support United Nations envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
Western governments have pressed for greater unity among those opposing Assad,
with British Foreign Secretary William Hague last month saying that his country
was providing assistance “to bring greater unity to the opposition in Syria.”
Full report at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/anti-assad-syrians-seek-unity-as-70-nation-istanbul-summit-nears.html
-----------
Syria authorities
target children, says UN rights chief
Mar 28, 2012
Syrian
authorities are systematically detaining and torturing children, the United
Nations' human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has told the BBC.
She said she was
deeply concerned about the fate of hundreds of children being held in
detention.
Ms Pillay said
President Bashar al-Assad could end the detentions and stop the killing of
civilians immediately, simply by issuing an order.
Syria has
accepted a peace plan, amid scepticism about its intentions.
The peace plan
was put forward by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Navi Pillay, in
an interview with the BBC before Syria accepted the plan, said the Syrian
leader would face justice for the abuses carried out by his security forces.
Asked if
President Assad bore command responsibility for the abuses, she said:
"That is the legal situation. Factually there is enough evidence pointing
to the fact that many of these acts are committed by the security forces [and]
must have received the approval or the complicity at the highest level.
"Because
President Assad could simply issue an order to stop the killings and the
killings would stop."
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17532966
----------
Saudi diplomat
kidnapped in Yemen
Mar 28, 2012
Saudi Arabia's
deputy consul in the southern Yemeni city of Aden has been kidnapped outside
his home.
Police in the
city's Mansoura district said gunmen abducted Abdullah al-Khalidi as he was
about to get into his car, escaping in another vehicle.
A security
operation is now under way in the city in an effort to find him.
Aden is the city
closest to Yemen's Abyan province where government forces have been struggling
to contain militant groups linked to al Qaeda.
In the past year
these groups have consolidated their control over several towns and villages in
the region, including Abyan's capital Zinjibar.
Kidnapping is
common in Yemen, with captives often being held as negotiating tools in
disputes between rival tribes or armed groups.
Earlier on
Wednesday Saudi Arabia announced it would provide Yemen with all its petroleum
needs for two months.
The official news
agency Saba announced the deal in its report of a meeting between King Abdullah
and the Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Attacks by armed
groups on pipelines have hit Yemen's small oil industry hard, with both
domestic and export production badly effected.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17534644
----------
Indian politician-diplomat
honoured for ‘special role’ in 1971 Bangladesh war
Mar 28, 2012
Indian
politician-diplomat DP Dhar was on Tuesday honoured posthumously by Bangladesh
for his “special role” in the country’s 1971 ‘Liberation War’.
“Sree Durga
Prasad Dhar is conferred with the Liberation War Friendship Honour (posthumous)
in recognition of his pioneering role in concluding the 1971 Indo-Soviet
Friendship Treaty, mobilising international support in favour of Bangladesh and
playing a special role in support of the Liberation War,” read the citation
honouring him.
Dhar was the
Chairman of Policy Planning in the Indian External Affairs Ministry and played
a crucial role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war leading to the creation of an
independent Bangladesh.
The award was
received by his son Vijay Dhar from President Zillur Rahman along with a
certificate and a replica of the National Mausoleum.
Dhar was among 83
other foreign dignitaries and international organisations honoured as “foreign
friend” at a grand ceremony in the capital attended by top political leaders,
including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Ahead of the
ceremony, 70-year-old Vijay Dhar, told PTI that it “is embarrassing for me to
review his role being his son...But I can recall how he persuaded Soviet Union”
to support the liberation movement.
He said like most
Indians, his father did not see it as an Indo-Pak war rather as a human
tragedy. Dhar, who passed away in 1975 at the age of 56, was India’s Ambassador
to the Soviet Union and subsequently became a top policy aide of the then
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/52978-dp-dhar-honoured-for-special-role-in-1971-bangladesh-war.html
----------
Nuclear family of
First Wives provides the much needed picture of unity, assurance and
integration
By Tanya Banon
Mar 28, 2012
ALL EYES are
fixed on the leaders of the world who are debating serious business at the
ongoing 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, but it is the first wives club
who provide the much needed picture of unity, assurance and integration.
The Convention
and Exhibition Center in Seoul might be where all the action is but it’s the
Presidential Blue House that portrays a vision of harmony and unity in
diversity.
Kim Yoon- Ok, the
wife of President of South Korea along with spouses of other leaders including
Gursharan Kaur, Ani, wife of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
Cecilia Morel Montes — First Lady of Chile and Hayrunnisa Gul from turkey to
name a few were present at the Presidential Blue House for an event.
Despite the
absence of the usual glamorous faces of Politics, including the likes of Carla
Bruni- Sarkozy of France, America’s Michelle Obama, Princess Rania of Jordan
and Syria’s Asma al- Assad, there was still plenty of style to boast off.
From matching
headgears to scarves and feminine accessories, all formed a part of these
ladies welldesigned and well put together attire.
Gursharan Kaur
matched shoulders with her counterparts, looking elegant in a simple cream sari
with colourful border that she teamed with a black overcoat, red shawl and
simple pearl accessories.
While the Korean
First Lady stuck to minimalism in neutral shades, wearing a simple white dress
with beige shawl; Indonesia’s Ani chose to flaunt printed pants and a bright
orange blouse.
In this gathering
of First Wives was Pakistan’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who’s still
single. She stayed true to her glamorous image at the event in a metallic grey
salwar- suit with a colourful shawl, black pearls and a signature black Birkin.
Denmark’s PM
Helle Thorning- Schmid, Australian PM Julia Gillard, Thailand PM Yingluck
Shinawatra, who attended the plenary session showed how power dressing is done
bang on trend.
Mail Today
----------
Al Qaeda suspect
met Sept 11 figure in Pak
Mar 28, 2012
A German-Afghan
man whose information prompted terrorism warnings across Europe in 2010 told a
court on Tuesday he received orders from a senior al Qaeda militant in
Pakistan, and met a key member of the Hamburg al Qaeda cell that included three
of the Sept 11 suicide hijackers. Ahmad
Wali Siddiqui,
37, concluded four days of testimony before the Koblenz state court by
admitting that he received orders from al Qaeda's Younis al-Mauritani, who was
apprehended in 2011 by Pakistani agents working with the CIA.
No pleas are
entered in the German legal system, and Siddiqui faces a possible 10-year
sentence if convicted of membership in a terrorist organisation. Courts often
reduce sentences, however, if suspects are seen as cooperative.
His testimony in
the opening days of the trial has given a rare glimpse into the operations of
al Qaeda along the Afghan border.
Siddiqui told the
court Tuesday that he and others met twice in mid-2010 with al-Mauritani in an
al Qaeda apartment in Mir Ali, one of the main towns in North Waziristan near
the Afghan border. He and a friend from Germany were told to return to Europe
"with the aim of weakening the economy."
He said there
were no concrete plans for a terrorist attack, but they were told to prepare
themselves and wait for orders, while blending in by wearing Western style
clothes and not otherwise attracting attention.
But he was
captured by US forces in Kabul in July, 2010, on his way back to Germany, and
his friend was captured in Pakistan, so neither made it home to find out what
they were to do, he testified.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Al-Qaeda-suspect-met-Sept-11-figure-in-Pak/Article1-831730.aspx
----------
Indian poets
escape gunmen attack in Karachi 'mushaira'
Mar 28, 2012
From Rezaul H
Laskar Islamabad, Mar 27 (PTI) Indian poets Manzar Bhopali and Iqbal Ashar were
among those who had a narrow escape when unidentified gunmen attacked a
'mushaira' in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, one of the poets
said today. "We were just outside the venue of the mushaira in Clifton
area of Karachi on Sunday night when the firing started. People began running
in panic and we had to take cover for some time before we were escorted to
safety by the organisers and the police," said Manzar Bhopali, a
well-known Urdu poet from Bhopal. At least one person was killed in the attack
that was carried out by about a dozen gunmen. Political rivalry is believed to
have been behind the attack, sources said. The mushaira was organised by a unit
of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a party that draws its power from
Urdu-speaking residents of Karachi. Bhopali told PTI on phone from Karachi that
he and Ashar had arrived at the venue of the mushaira at about 11.30 pm when
the firing began. They had to lie on the ground for about 10 minutes as the
gunmen and police exchanged fire. "However, the mushaira went ahead as
scheduled and the audience really appreciated our poetry. People in both
countries want peace and better relations," Bhopali said. "I have
been to Pakistan several times but this sort of incident never occurred
earlier," he added. Four Indian poets ? Wasim Barelvi, Rahat Indori,
Bhopali and Ashar ? had recently arrived in Pakistan to participate in
mushairas organised by the MQM. Barelvi and Indori had already returned and
Bhopali said he and Ashar expected to go back soon. In recent years, the
financial hub of Karachi has been rocked by sectarian and political violence
that has claimed hundreds of lives. The killing of a MQM leader and his brother
this morning triggered a fresh spell of violence in Pakistan?s largest
metropolis.
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/indian-poets-escape-gunmen-attack-in-karachi-mushaira/980151.html
----------
Annan says Syria
accepts peace plan, fighting enters Lebanon
28 March 2012
Syria has
accepted a cease-fire drawn up by UN envoy Kofi Annan, but the diplomatic
breakthrough was swiftly overshadowed by intense clashes between government
soldiers and rebels that sent bullets flying into Lebanon.
Opposition
members accuse President Bashar Assad of agreeing to the plan to stall for time
as his troops make a renewed push to kill off bastions of dissent. And the
conflict just keeps getting deadlier: The UN said the death toll has grown to
more than 9,000, a sobering assessment of a devastating year-old crackdown on
the uprising that shows no sign of ending.
Annan’s
announcement on Tuesday that Syria had accepted his peace plan was met with
deep skepticism.
‘We are not sure
if it’s political maneuvering or a sincere act,’ said Louay Safi, a member of
the opposition Syrian National Council. ‘We have no trust in the current
regime. ... We have to see that they have stopped killing civilians.’
Annan’s plan
calls for an immediate, two-hour halt in fighting every day to allow
humanitarian access and medical evacuations. The plan also outlines a complete
cease-fire, but that will take more time because Syria must first move troops
and equipment out of cities and towns, government forces and the divided
opposition must stop fighting, and a U.N.-supervised monitoring mission must be
established.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle11.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/March/middleeast_March610.xml§ion=middleeast
----------
Walkouts spoil
Syrian opposition’s bid for unity
28 March 2012
ISTANBUL - A
meeting of Syrian opposition groups on Tuesday that aimed to show they can
unite to form an alternative to President Bashar al-Assad, was marred when a
veteran dissident and Kurdish delegates walked out, saying their views were not
being heard.
Leading
opposition figures were invited by Turkey and Qatar, which holds the rotating
chair of the Arab League, to the talks in Istanbul to seek a common front in
their year-old uprising against Assad.
Criticism of both
the way the Syrian National Council, the main opposition umbrella group, was
being run and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood was rife among more than
300 dissidents attending the gathering at a seaside hotel in Pendik, a suburb
on the Asian side of the Turkish city.
Speaking on the
sidelines of a meeting dominated by the internal divisions, SNC spokeswoman
Basma Kodmani voiced support for a peace and ceasefire plan drawn up by U.N.
and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan, so long as it led to Assad’s removal.
“This is for us a
position that cannot change because thousands of Syrians have died for it,
Kodmani said.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/March/middleeast_March607.xml§ion=middleeast
----------
'Actions must
show Syria’s seriousness about peace'
Mar 28, 2012
WASHINGTON: The
US said yesterday that Syria’s reported acceptance of a peace plan by envoy
Kofi Annan is an “important step,” but the proof will be in the actions the Assad
regime takes.
“We certainly
view the fact that Kofi Annan reports that he’s had a positive response as an
important step,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
“But as with all
things with the (President Bashar) Assad regime, the proof will be in the
actual action that he takes,” Nuland said.
“We will be
looking for him to take immediate action to begin implementing Annan’s
proposals, starting with silencing his guns and allowing humanitarian aid to go
in,” Nuland said.
Annan aides said
the Assad government has accepted a six-point proposal by Annan, the UN-Arab
League special envoy, on halting more than a year of bloodshed in the
strife-hit country.
Meanwhile, a
draft resolution on Syria to be submitted to the Arab summit in Baghdad this week
urges “serious national dialogue” and calls on Syria to end violence, according
to copy obtained by AFP yesterday. The draft resolution urges the “Syrian
government and all opposition factions to deal positively with the (UN-Arab
League) envoy (Kofi Annan) by starting serious national dialogue.”
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article599363.ece
----------
Medvedev says
Syrian people should decide own fate
Mar 28, 2012
SEOUL: Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday the Syrian people, not foreign
powers, should decide their own fate.
International
peace envoy Kofi Annan said in Beijing he would make public a response from the
Syrian government to a six-point peace proposal, which calls for a cease-fire
and humanitarian aid, and hoped to translated Syria’s response into action.
Russia has said
Annan has its full support and that his mission could be the last chance to
avoid a protracted and bloody civil war but would need more time.
“I would like the
decision on the fate of the Syrian state, society, political system and people
to be taken not by the respected leaders of world powers, even by those acting
in good faith, but by the Syrian people themselves, by all the levels of the
Syrian society,” Medvedev said at the end of a nuclear security summit in
Seoul.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article598917.ece
----------
Hillary Clinton
asks Assad to pull back troops from populated areas
Mar 28, 2012
WASHINGTON: US
secretary of state Hillary Clinton has asked Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad
to demonstrate his willingness to peace by pulling back troops from populated
areas and accept a UN-brokered peace plan.
"Given
Assad's history of over-promising and under- delivering, that commitment must
now be matched by immediate actions. We will judge Assad's sincerity and
seriousness by what he does, not by what he says," Clinton told reporters
in joint press availability with Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet.
"If he is
ready to bring this dark chapter in Syria's history to a close, he can prove it
by immediately ordering regime forces to stop firing and begin withdrawing from
populated areas," she said.
Clinton was
responding to questions on joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's six-point
plan that calls for a UN-monitored ceasefire, access for humanitarian aid
workers and an inclusive, Syrian-led political transition to a democratic,
multi-party political system.
"He (Assad)
can also allow international aid workers unfettered access to those in need,
and he can release political prisoners, permit peaceful political activity,
allow the international news media unobstructed access, and begin a legitimate
political process that leads to a democratic transition," Clinton said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Hillary-Clinton-asks-Assad-to-pull-back-troops-from-populated-areas/articleshow/12437751.cms
----------
Thousands rally
in Pakistan against cooperation with NATO
Mar 28, 2012
ISLAMABAD:
Thousands of members of extremist groups rallied near parliament on Tuesday as
leaders of the right-wing Defa-e-Pakistan Council, including Hafiz Mohammad
Saeed, warned the government against reopening routes for transporting supplies
to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Saeed, the
founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, told a rally held at a ground a short
distance from parliament that the Pakistani people will never allow the
resumption of NATO supplies and there would be protests across the country If
the supply routes are reopened, "American agents will again sneak into
Pakistan and start killing innocent citizens", he claimed.
"Pakistani
leaders, including army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, should step down if
they think they cannot safeguard national interests," he said as
protesters shouted slogans in support of jihad.
Earlier in the
day, thousands of supporters of the Defa-e-Pakistan Council marched to the
ground from Aabpara and other parts of Islamabad.
Many of them
carried the black-and-white flags of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a front for the LeT.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Thousands-rally-in-Pakistan-against-cooperation-with-NATO/articleshow/12433720.cms
----------
Outlawed
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief dodges police in Pak capital to attend rally
Mar 28 2012
Islamabad:
Outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat
leader Ahmed Ludhianvi played a cat-and-mouse game for almost six hours with
police and paramilitary forces who were trying to prevent them from entering
the Pakistani capital.
Despite an order
barring their entry into Islamabad, Saeed and Ludhianvi sneaked into the city
yesterday and joined a rally organised by the Defa-e-Pakistan Council to
pressure the government not to reopen NATO supply routes which were shut down
last year.
While Saeed was
able to address a gathering of thousands of members of hardline and extremist
groups at a short distance from parliament, Ludhianvi was unable to speak due
to pressure from the security forces.
The capital's
"security apparatus" proved no match for Saeed and Ludhianvi, the
Dawn newspaper reported.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929466/
----------
Yemen urges
Pakistan to release injured widow of Bin Laden
28 MARCH 2012
SANAA: Yemen
urged Pakistan on Tuesday to free one of Osama bin Laden’s injured widows,
saying the Yemen-born Amal Al-Sadeh and her four children were not guilty of
any crime.
Pakistan’s
interior minister said earlier this month that bin Laden’s three widows,
including Sadeh, would be put on trial for entering and living in the country
illegally.
“The Pakistani
authorities retracted from their initial position to surrender Amal to the
Yemeni government,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told Reuters.
“We continue to
call on the Pakistani authorities to transfer her to her home country. We are
also concerned about the well being of her young children. The children should
not be punished for the mistakes of their father.”
Al Qaeda leader
bin Laden was shot and killed in May last year by US Special Forces who stormed
his house in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad after a decade-long
manhunt.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/356278/yemen-urges-pakistan-to-release-injured-widow-of-bin-laden/
----------
Pakistan:
Lashkar-e-Islam promised justice, delivered violence
28 MARCH 2012
PESHAWAR: At
first, locals in the Khyber region thought Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) would deliver
a fairer and more orderly system of governance in the region. They are now
wiser, as LeI has unleashed a reign of terror for four years.
Members of the
banned outfit are unapologetic and uncompromising in their outlook. “We believe
in terrorism and instilling fear in the hearts of the unbelievers and those
Muslims who do not follow the true Islamic way of life,” says Omar, an LeI spokesperson,
from an undisclosed location in Khyber Agency.
The rise of this
armed militia did not happen overnight. A mixture of sectarian violence,
control over key smuggling routes and an unfair system of justice gave the
initial impetus to LeI.
Omar boasts that
they have support beyond the tribal belt: from Peshawar through to Punjab. He
says he just came back from the troubled area of Tirah. Mangal Bagh, the
group’s leader, was reportedly killed in a suicide attack there earlier this
month. According to Omar, the news is false. “Our opponents are spreading
rumours about our leadership but I can assure you that he is alive,” he says.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/356186/inside-khyber-agency-v-lashkar-e-islam-promised-justice-delivered-violence/
----------
Pakistan SC
orders action against jirga system
28 MARCH 2012
ISLAMABAD: The
Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered the chief secretaries and inspectors
general of police (IGP) of all provinces and Islamabad to submit a report on
holding illegal jirgas/panchayats.
A three-member
bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry heard a petition in this regard. National Commission on the Status of
Women (NCSW) Chairwoman Anis Haroon filed the petition to declare jirga system
illegal and unlawful.
The court also
ordered the officials concerned to look into violation of Section 310A of the
Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The SC also said the officials concerned should keep
an eye on jirgas held in their jurisdiction where girls were given in
compensation to settle disputes.
The court also
ordered the officials concerned to take action against those people who hold
jirgas in their jurisdiction. All IGPs were ordered to submit detailed reports
about jirgas being held in their respective provinces.
The police have
also been ordered to submit comprehensive reports showing how many cases had
been registered under Section 310A of the PPC and how many cases have been
taken before the trial courts in this regard.
The court also
took serious notice of gang rape of a girl by five men. No action has been
taken against the culprits so far. An intermediate student was gang raped by
five men, including two police constables, in Sheikhupura four days ago. The
court ordered the Punjab IGP to probe the matter and arrest the culprits within
three days. The court also ordered the top police official to submit a report
to the SC registrar in this regard.
The SC
registrar’s office has been ordered to circulate the SC order dated April 24,
2006 to the registrars of all high courts and general secretaries of district
bars to assist the complainants in cases of Section 10A of the PPC.
The CJP said the
provincial and federal governments had become week, as lawlessness was on the
rise and “it seems that we are living in the Stone Age”. He said it was the
government’s responsibility to maintain law and order.
The petitioner
told the court that 87 cases of jirgas and 26 vani cases were reported in Sindh
in one year. She requested the bench to give a “strong decision”.
The court
adjourned the hearing until April 12.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\28\story_28-3-2012_pg7_1
----------
Official: Killer
didn’t send French attacks video to Al-Jazeera
28 MARCH 2012
PARIS: A video apparently
showing a Muslim gunman’s attacks on soldiers and a Jewish school was sent to
the Al-Jazeera news network, but not by him, French police said, raising the
spectre of a possible accomplice.
Al-Jazeera on
Tuesday decided not to air a video that seems to have been filmed from the
killer’s point of view and includes the cries of his victims. The decision came
after President Nicolas Sarkozy asked the network not to broadcast it.
While French
politicians describe gunman Mohamed Merah as a “lone wolf” terrorist, his
brother is behind bars on suspicion of helping in the attacks and police are
continuing to look for potential accomplices.
A French official
close to the investigation said the video was not sent by Merah, a 23-year-old
Frenchman who was killed in a shootout Thursday after a 32-hour standoff with
police at his apartment building in Toulouse.
Another official
said the envelope sent to Al-Jazeera contained a Wednesday postmark from a
large postal processing center for the area around Toulouse, meaning it was
unclear exactly where it was mailed from. He could not say anything about who
may have sent the video.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/28/official-killer-didnt-send-french-attacks-video-to-al-jazeera.html
----------
Israel says Iran
attack not imminent
Mar 28, 2012
Defence Minister
Ehud Barak said on Thursday an Israeli attack on Iran is not imminent but all
options remain open to stop what Israel sees as an Iranian bid to develop
nuclear weapons.
"We have no
intention, at the moment, of taking action, but the State of Israel is far from
being paralysed by fear," Barak told Israel Radio. "It must act
calmly and quietly – we don't need big wars."
Iran says its
nuclear energy programme is wholly peaceful.
The U.N. nuclear
watchdog, citing intelligence reports, said last month Iran appeared to have
worked on designing an atom bomb and may still be pursuing secret research to
that end.
Barak was
interviewed a day after the top U.S. military officer said he did not know
whether Israel would alert the United States ahead of time if it decided to
strike Iran, the Jewish state's arch-adversary in the Middle East.
General Martin
Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also acknowledged
differences in perspective between the United States and Israel over the best
way to handle Iran and its nuclear programme.
Full report at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8927613/Israel-says-Iran-attack-not-imminent.html
----------
Afghan war
strategy can't be guided by polls: Leon Panetta
Mar 28, 2012
OTTAWA: The war
in Afghanistan can't be determined by polls, defense secretary Leon Panetta
said on Tuesday, asserting that the US must continue with its strategy in the
decade-old conflict despite plummeting American confidence in the war.
Panetta said that
there is no question that the American people are tired of war. But, he said,
the public understands the US is engaged in Afghanistan because of the attacks
on Sept. 11, and to prevent al-Qaida from again finding safe havens there to
launch attacks.
"We cannot
fight wars by polls. If we do that we're in deep trouble," Panetta told
reporters at a news conference after a day of meetings with Canadian and
Mexican defense ministers here. "We have to operate based on what we
believe is the best strategy to achieve the mission that we are embarked on.
And the mission here is to safeguard our country by insuring that the Taliban
and al-Qaida never again find a safe haven in Afghanistan."
A New York
Times/CBS News poll found that 69 percent of those questioned believe the
United States should not be at war in Afghanistan, and roughly the same amount
say the fighting is going either somewhat or very badly. The numbers are up
sharply from four months ago, when a bit more than half said the US should not
be at war in Afghanistan.
The survey
reflects a growing frustration among the public and on Capitol Hill with the
war, even as the Obama administration tries to map out an exit strategy that
would shift the security lead to the Afghans by mid-2013.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Afghan-war-strategy-cant-be-guided-by-polls-Leon-Panetta/articleshow/12436046.cms
----------
Terror threat
sparks 2-hour lockdown at Afghan defence ministry
Mar 28, 2012
KABUL: The Afghan
defence ministry was locked down for two hours on Tuesday after an intelligence
report warned that the highly secured compound in the heart of Kabul was under
threat of attack. Afghan officials said later the report was false.
In Kabul, two
Afghan officials , who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the lockdown
at the ministry, said the threat emerged from faulty intelligence.
Several news
organizations reported that on Monday , nearly a dozen vests packed with
explosives were found, and more than a dozen suspects, including Afghan
soldiers, were arrested in connection with an alleged plot to attack the
ministry.
The ministry
issued two statements on Tuesday, both calling the media reports baseless. The
second statement said, "Sixteen people have not been captured. Eleven
suicide vests have not been recovered."
Taliban talkback:
Militants answer queries online
Want to know why
the Afghan Taliban opened talks with the US even though they have fought the
world's most advanced military to a virtual stalemateor prospects for girls'
schools if they regain power? Go online and post your question. The Taliban
have opened an online forum on their website, called "Your questions and
Zabihullah Mujahid's answers" where readers are invited to leave queries
for their spokesman to answer. The Taliban have made extensive use of the
Internet to spread their message. Mujahid told a questioner that the group kept
a close eye on Facebook, YouTube and scoured media for reports about them.
"We try to look at everything that gets published and then announce our
position."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Terror-threat-sparks-2-hour-lockdown-at-Afghan-defence-ministry/articleshow/12435607.cms
----------
Nuclear talks
with world powers on April 13: Iran
Mar 28, 2012
TEHRAN:
Long-stalled talks between Iran and world powers are to be revived on April 13
at a place yet to be agreed, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was
quoted as saying on Wednesday by official media.
Salehi announced
the date as he welcomed visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to
Tehran for a two-day visit focusing on Iran's nuclear programme and bilateral
ties, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
"The venue
will be announced in coming days," IRNA quoted Salehi as saying.
Salehi added that
Iran considered Istanbul -- the location of the previous round of talks, which
collapsed in January 2011 -- the "best place" but that options were
still being discussed.
Iran's principal
nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, would announce any agreement on where the
talks will take place, Salehi said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Nuclear-talks-with-world-powers-on-April-13-Iran/articleshow/12439446.cms
----------
Taliban to answer
your questions online
Mar 28, 2012
The Taliban have
opened an online forum on their website, called "Your questions and
Zabihullah Mujahid's answers" where readers are invited to leave queries
for their spokesman to answer.
Want to know why
the Afghan Taliban opened talks with the United States even though they have
fought the world's most advanced military to a virtual stalemate or prospects
for girls' schools if they regain power? Go online and post your question. The
Taliban have opened an online forum
on their website
(http://www.alemara1.com/index.php?option=com_phocaguestbook&view=phocaguestbook&id=3&Itemid=67),
called "Your questions and Zabihullah Mujahid's answers" where
readers are invited to leave queries for their spokesman to answer.
One of the burning
issues of the moment is the Taliban's secret dialogue with the United States,
their sworn enemy whose forces they have vowed to drive out of Afghanistan.
Questioner Ahmad
Ahsan said Taliban supporters had long trusted the leadership but a proposal to
open an office in Qatar for talks with foreigners was causing disquiet.
"We have
always believed in our leaders and elders. Now we are restless in our
minds," Ahsan wrote in the Pashto language.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/SocialMedia-Updates/Taliban-to-answer-your-questions-online/SP-Article1-831601.aspx
----------
Israel says
sabotage may stretch Iran atom timeline
Mar 28, 2012
JERUSALEM: Israel
on Tuesday played down the prospect of an imminent attack on Iran, saying its arch-foe’s
controversial nuclear program could still be set back by sanctions and
sabotage.
Six world powers
are expected to renew efforts next month to talk Tehran into curbing its
uranium enrichment, which can yield fuel for atomic warheads as well as for
civilian projects. Iran denies having any hostile designs.
Israel, widely
believed to have an atomic arsenal, sees a mortal threat in a nuclear-armed
Iran. It has caused international concern, and worried oil markets, by hinting
it could resort to military strikes if it deems diplomacy, including mounting
global sanctions, to be at a dead end.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article598908.ece
----------
Turkey ex-army
chief refuses to defend self on coup charges
Mar 28, 2012
Turkish ex-army
chief Ilker Basbug on Tuesday rejected terrorism charges against him and
refused to mount a defence in his trial for seeking to overthrow the
government, the Anatolia news agency said.
“I am astounded
at being accused of leading a terrorist organisation,” the retired general told
a court in Silivri, outside Istanbul, where his trial opened on Monday. Basbug
said the court did not have the jurisdiction to try him, and said he would not
present a defence or answer any questions. “To try and accuse a head of the
armed forces of crimes of this nature is the result of a comedy of
incompetence,” the 68-year-old career soldier said in his first statement to
the court. “The charge sheet has no credibility from my point of view.”
Basbug went on
trial on Monday on charges of leading a terrorist group dubbed the Ergenekon
network accused of plotting to overthrow the government led by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).Chief
of staff of the armed forces from 2008 to 2010, Basbug has been in custody
since January and risks life in prison if convicted in a case that has inflamed
tensions between the Government and the powerful military.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/52985-turkey-ex-army-chief-refuses-to-defend-self-on-coup-charges.html
----------
Asylum Claims
Rose 20 Percent Last Year, U.N. Refugee Agency Says
By RICK GLADSTONE
Mar 28, 2012
Escapees from new
uprisings in the Middle East and Africa, combined with a rising tide of people
fleeing chronic conflicts like those in Afghanistan and Iraq, contributed to a
20 percent increase in requests for asylum in industrialized countries last
year, the United Nations refugee agency reported Tuesday.
Its annual
report, Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2011, said 441,300
people requested asylum last year, compared with 368,000 in 2010. The report
surveyed 44 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.
The report said
that the region with the largest increase in claims for the year was southern
Europe, where 66,800 people sought asylum last year, most of them arriving by
boat in Italy and Malta, an increase of 87 percent from the year before.
“The large number
of asylum claims clearly shows 2011 to have been a year of great difficulty for
very many people,” Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, said in a statement from his Geneva office.
Together, the 38
countries of Europe registered 327,200 asylum claims, more than any other
region; the figure was a 19 percent increase over 2010. North America
registered 99,400 claims, a 25 percent increase.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/world/asylum-claims-up-20-percent.html?ref=global-home&gwh=2AF61BD74C293B0229C2072052F4CF52
----------
Pilot creates
al-Qaeda emergency in flight
Mar 28 2012
Houston : A Las
Vegas bound flight of a US airliner made an emergency landing in Texas when the
plane's pilot gave a mid-air scare to passengers about a possible attack by
al-Qaeda and had to be restrained.
"They're going
to take us down!" the captain of the plane screamed and rambled about
al-Qaeda as passengers pinned him to the floor yesterday while another pilot
took charge to make an emergency landing, JetBlue Airways said in a statement.
An off-duty
airline captain, who was a passenger on the flight, entered the cockpit, locked
the door and helped the aircraft land in Amarillo, Texas.
The original
pilot on flight 191 from New York's John F Kennedy airport had been taken to
hospital after suffering a "medical situation" on board, it said.
Passengers were
quoted by local media as saying that the captain seemed disoriented, jittery
and constantly sipped water when he first marched through the cabin. He then
began to rant about threats linked to Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and a bomb
following which crew members tried to calm him down.
Gabriel
Schonzeit, who was sitting in the third row, told the local media: "He
started screaming about al-Qaeda and possibly a bomb on the plane and Iraq and
Iran and about how we were all going down."
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929511/
----------
Palestinian medic
gets Libyan jail compensation
28 March 2012
THE HAGUE — A
Palestinian-born doctor who spent eight years in a Libyan jail on charges of
infecting children with HIV has got one million euros in compensation, his
Dutch lawyer said Tuesday.
Ashraf Juma
Hajuj, who now lives in the Netherlands, last year sued for compensation in a
Hague civil court.
The 41-year-old
and five Bulgarian nurses were sentenced to death in Libya for deliberately
infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood.
“A Dutch civil
court has awarded my client, a Palestinian doctor, one million euros ($1.3
million) on allegations of his torture and mistreatment while in detention in
Libya,” Liesbeth Zegveld told AFP.
The six were sent
to jail in 1999 after 56 children died in a hospital in Benghazi under the rule
of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Hajuj on July 27
last year sued 12 Libyan civil servants, saying they were involved in his
torture during his time behind bars.
“We chose to
focus on the individuals as we wanted to get as close as possible to those
responsible for his torture,” said Zegveld.
But the
defendants were not present during the case, with Zegveld admitting “we have no
idea where they are”.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/March/middleeast_March606.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
----------
India’s
technological progress impresses Saudi delegation
Mar 28, 2012
A 40-member Saudi
youth delegation visited the charitable Narayana Cardiac Hospital and Indian
Space Research Organization here Monday and talked to the hospital’s doctors
and senior ISRO officials.
A spokesman for
Narayana said the Saudi government is seeking the hospital’s help in setting up
a telemedicine center in Riyadh to provide remote health care to its citizens.
As a pioneer in
using telecommunications and information technology to provide clinical health
care remotely, the privately-run super-specialty cardiac hospital uses
telemedicine to administer affordable medical treatment in distant areas.
“Exposure to the
working of telemedicine at our facility and its multiple benefits impressed the
medical students in the delegation who discussed its operation with our
chairman Devi Prasad Shetty during an interactive session,” the official said.
The youth
delegation also went around the hospital’s sprawling health city and saw
firsthand its pediatric facility where children, including infants, are treated
for cardiac ailments.
“At the pediatric
ward, the Saudi youths interacted with doctors, house surgeons, nurses and some
young patients and enquired about the facilities and the nature of treatment
for heart ailments,” the spokesman said.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article599337.ece
----------
India: SIMI, IM
network under Babu Khan
Rajnish Sharma
Mar 28, 2012
The arrest of
Mohd. Abrar Babu Khan, 32, by Maharashtra ATS on Monday is being viewed as a
significant development by Central intelligence agencies here with
highly-placed sources claiming that the dreaded terrorist was controlling the
entire network of Indian Mujahideen and banned Simi in western and central
India.
What is also
significant is that the entire information on Khan and his two associates,
Mohd. Shakir and Khalil Qureshi, was developed entirely by the Maharashtra ATS
with little assistance from the Central intelligence agencies.
The Maharashtra
ATS has in a report sent to the Centre on the arrest has stated that Khan was
in constant touch with top leaders of Indian Mujahideen and Simi-like Abdul
Subhan Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/india/simi-im-network-under-babu-khan-675
----------
President
Pratibha Patil refuses assent to Gujarat anti-terror legislation again
28 MARCH 2012
Notwithstanding
repeated efforts by the Narendra Modi Government during the past eight years to
get the Centre’s approval for an anti-terror law for Gujarat, President
Pratibha Patil has once again refused giving assent to the GUJCOC Bill.
The President has
withheld her assent to the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime
Bill on January 22, 2012 on the ground that the State Government had not made
any amendments in clauses 16 and 20 in the Bill as directed by the Presidential
message on the earlier Bill.
This has been
conveyed to the secretary to Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal on February 2,
2012, Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran informed the Lok
Sabha on Tuesday.
The controversial
Bill was passed by the Gujarat Assembly in 2004 and despite Modi pushing for it
the President had first returned it to the Governor in 2009 asking the state
legislature to reconsider it. The ground for rejection at that time was that it
was not in line with the Central laws pertaining to terrorism like Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act.
However, the
Gujarat government remained firm and resubmitted the Bill without carrying out
any amendment. The Bill which was once again sent by the Governor to the
President was received in the Home Ministry on November 11, 2009.
Earlier, the
Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), which is similar to GUJCOC,
was given assent by the Centre in 1999 as it was in accordance with the then
policy of the Government.
However, later the
UPA Government changed its policy at the Centre and conveyed to Parliament that
all subsequent state Acts should be in line with the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Amendment Act, 2008, as approved by Parliament.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/53153-prez-refuses-assent-to-gujarat-anti-terror-legislation-again.html
----------
India will not
apply for U.S. sanctions exemption on Iran
NARAYAN LAKSHMAN
Mar 28, 2012
Even as the U.S.
steadily tightens the screws on the sanctions regime against Iran, energy-deficient,
rapid-growth nations such as India are finding themselves walking a tightrope
with their continued but declining reliance on Iranian oil imports.
Ten European
nations and Japan have already been given an exemption from punitive actions by
the U.S. for purportedly reducing their oil imports from Iran “significantly.”
Yet India in
particular would appear to be purposefully walking a line that sacrifices
neither its core interest, the need to meet the demands of more than 400
million Indians with no access to commercial energy, nor its commitment to
adhere to United Nations sanctions regimes.
Last week the
U.S. put out its most direct message on Iran yet — that India, along with other
importers of Persian oil, could face sanctions by July if it too did not reduce
such imports “significantly” — a term that has not been defined quantitatively
in the U.S. 2012 National Defence Authorisation Act (Section 1245), except to
allude, by comparison, to Japan's reduction of 15-22 per cent.
At this point India
remains in compliance with United Nations sanctions against Iran, yet it has,
however, refused to recognise any country-specific sanctions overlay above this
globally accepted level.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3251886.ece
----------
Israeli embassy
attack: India to seek Iran help in probe
Mar 28, 2012
NEW DELHI: As
investigations into the attack on Israeli diplomat picks up pace, India will be
using diplomatic pressure to get to the bombers. Delhi Police will send letter
rogatories (a formal judicial request for probe in other country) to three
countries - Iran, Thailand and Malaysia.
A senior
intelligence official said they will ask Iran for more details on bombers like
their address, occupation and family details. They will also seek details of
investigations and statements of arrested persons, including operation head
Sedaghatzadeh Masoud from Thailand and Malaysia. A questionnaire will also be
sent with the letter rogatories. This is the first time, India will be sending
a request for probe to Iran.
The three
bombers, Houshang Afshar Ali, Mohammad Reza Abolghasemi and Syed Ali Mahdian
Sadr, fled to Tehran after the attack. Another Iranian wanted in the Delhi
attack, Masoud, is now in Malaysian custody. Delhi Police wants to get his
statement and details of investigation through a letter rogatory.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Israeli-embassy-attack-India-to-seek-Iran-help-in-probe/articleshow/12434067.cms
----------
2006 Malegaon
blasts accused in civic poll fray
Mar 28 2012
Malegaon : Three
persons, who were arrested in connection with the 2006 bomb blasts in this
powerloom town, on Tuesday filed nomination papers for the April 15 election to
Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC).
Salman Farsi,
Shabir Masulla and Jahir Abdul Majid, all contesting as Samajwadi Party
candidates, filed their papers from civic wards no 28, 21 and 22 respectively,
local SP leader Chandrashekhar Devre said.
A total of 600
nominations have been received for the 80-seat civic body in Nashik district,
MMC sources said.
The three were
among the nine men who were granted bail by a Special MCOCA Court in November
last year. They all were accused in the 2006 Malegaon bombings in which 37
persons were killed and hundreds injured.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929445/
----------
India IM Chief’s aide caught with explosives
Mar 28 2012
New Delhi : A
suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist, an alleged aide of the outfit's elusive
chief operative Yasin Bhatkal, was arrested from north-east Delhi with one kg
explosives and a detonator, police said today.
Assadullah Rehman
alias Dilkash (20) was apprehended from Chandu Nagar in Karawal Nagar locality
yesterday on a tip off, a senior police official said.
Dilkash, who
hails from Darbhanga in Bihar, had allegedly escaped in November last year from
the arms factory run by Indian Mujahideen in west Delhi's Nangloi before the
police crackdown during which a number of suspected terrorists were nabbed by
police.
The official said
Dilkash had told police that he had recently taken on rent a premises at Chandu
Nagar from where investigators allegedly recovered one kg of explosive powder,
a detonator, a timer and a mobile phone.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929469/
----------
Terror arrests:
ATS says Hindu leaders were target
Mar 28 2012
Mumbai : The
alleged terror module busted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in
Aurangabad on Monday was apparently planning to assassinate some “Hindu leaders’’
in Maharashtra, ATS sources told The Indian Express on Tuesday.
While two members
of the module were arrested and a third was killed in an encounter in
Aurangabad on Monday, the ATS arrested two more alleged members of the group
from Chikli in Buldhana district early on Tuesday.
The two arrested
on Tuesday are Aqeel Khilji (45), who was allegedly SIMI’s chief in Madhya
Pradesh, and Mohammed Zaffar Hussain Qureshi (32). The police have recovered a
7.65mm pistol, five live rounds, a pen drive and jehadi literature from the
duo. They have also identified two bank accounts operated by Khilji.
Following
Monday’s encounter, the ATS said it had arrested Mohammed Abrar Babu Khan alias
Abrar Shaikh, a wanted accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. While
Qureshi was killed, a third, Mohammed Shakir, was injured and taken into
custody.
The ATS had
claimed the module was allegedly involved in bank robberies in MP for terror
financing, and that its members were trying to set up base in Maharashtra for
similar activities after a crackdown in MP.
“Besides
attempting to set up bases in Aurangabad, Jalna and Buldhana and recruit people
in the state, they were also planning to assassinate some prominent Hindu
leaders in Maharashtra. We suspect these leaders could be from the BJP, VHP or
RSS. This was revealed during the initial interrogation of Abrar and Aqeel.
However, they have not divulged any specific names yet, and they are being
interrogated for more information,” said an ATS source.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/929190/
----------
JEDDAH: 6,000 new
jobs offered at women’s work expo
Mar 28, 2012
A number of job
opportunities will be offered at the third women’s work exhibition, which
kicked off Monday at the Jeddah Exhibition Center.
Mazan Batterjee,
the vice chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI)
inaugurated the exhibition on women’s work, which was held under the
supervision of the JCCI, in cooperation with Jeddah municipality and Al-Eman
cancer patients care charitable society.
The five-day
exhibition will target 20,000 visitors with the participation of banks,
companies, businessmen in the gold market, car companies, tour operators and
owners of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Maya Halvavi, the
president of the organizing committee, said this exhibition would contribute to
the society’s development and help in promoting a culture of working women.
More than 100 companies participated in the exhibition to give a maximum amount
of opportunities to Saudi women to meet directly with employers, debate,
participate in question and answer sessions, and increase creativity and
knowledge.
“We have great
expectations. This is a family exhibition where families can come and see what
opportunities are available for women in the market. We are expecting around
6,000 new jobs for Saudi women this year and more than 25,000 individuals will
benefit from those,” said Halvavi.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article599338.ece
----------
Turkey Hitler
shampoo advert withdrawn
Mar 28, 2012
A Turkish TV
advert for men's shampoo, featuring Adolf Hitler, has been withdrawn following
complaints from the country's Jewish community.
The 12-second
advert shows footage of Hitler with a dubbed voice shouting that men should not
use women's shampoo if they do not wear women's clothes.
Turkey's Jewish
community threatened legal action over the "unacceptable" use of
Hitler to promote the product.
The advertising
firm behind the campaign said it was "misinterpreted".
On Monday, the
office of the chief Rabbi in Istanbul demanded a public apology from the
company "to repair the damage this commercial has caused to society's
conscience".
The US-based
Anti-Defamation League said it was "repulsed", calling it "a
disgusting and deplorable marketing ploy", Agence France Press reports.
The
Istanbul-based advertising firm, Marka, and the company that produces the
product, Biota Laboratories, both confirmed that, after just ten days on air,
the decision had been taken to withdraw the advert for Biomen shampoo.
"The Jewish
community seemed more upset than they were supposed to be," Beril Mardin,
account director with the Istanbul-based advertising firm Marka told the BBC.
"Hitler is
being made fun of to the utmost degree by making him star in a shampoo
commercial," she said.
"It is
indeed most upsetting, and also surprising, that people in Turkey and around
the world mistook this commercial and interpreted it very, very wrongly, as if
Hitler is being portrayed as the epitome of manhood, or as if the commercial is
trying to justify him or his ideology."
Around 20,000
Jews live in Turkey, mainly Istanbul, a city of some 14 million Muslims.
Most are
descendants of Sephardim who escaped the Spanish Inquisition and found refuge
in the Ottoman Empire some 500 years ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17527255
----------
Shaul Mofaz wins
leadership of Israel's Kadima party
Mar 28 2012
Israel's main
opposition party, Kadima, has elected former defence minister and army chief
Shaul Mofaz as its leader.
He defeated the
current party leader, Tzipi Livni, by a wide margin, winning 61.7% of the vote
in Tuesday's primary.
Both politicians
are former members of the governing Likud party of the Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu.
Kadima is the
biggest party in parliament, but recent polls suggest the number of seats it
holds could be halved in next year's election.
Despite the
polls, Mr Mofaz said in his victory speech that Kadima would lead the next
government and appealed to Israelis to have faith.
He also promised
to "lead a new social order", seek new peace talks with the
Palestinians, and "campaign for Israel's image and its future".
Mr Mofaz was born
in Iran and emigrated to Israel with his parents as a child.
He is a former
paratrooper who went on to be chief of staff and eventually defence minister
under Ariel Sharon.
'Uninspiring
contest'
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17533653