Islam and the West together again in Syria
New Age Islam News Bureau
20 Feb 2012
• Egypt’s Baha’is face
more attacks from Salafists
• Sunni Muslim Wakf
Committee Run Burqa-clad Student Now Turn Beachwear Designers
• Ban'' on juices made
by Ahmadi-owned firm in Pak
• U-turn: US says
doesn’t back Balochistan independence
• ‘Resolve the issue or lose Balochistan’: MQM
• Terror watch: UK to
store all phone, email records
• Maldives President
expands cabinet; inducts Gayoom's aide
• Iran ‘building up
nuclear site near Qom’: BBC
• Top Kashmir clerics
urge Muslims to stand behind Iran
• Obama to law
enforcement: Stop linking Muslims to terrorism
• Backed with court
order, India to seek extradition of Headley, Rana
• UAE grants citizenship
to 1,117 'foreign' children
• Hizb-e-Islami urges
role of all groups in endgame in Afghanistan
• Egypt In “Arab Winter”
Amid Postponed Ballot And Anti-Christian Violence
• Balochistan chapter of
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) rails at police, govt. for situation in Quetta
‘• Most Favoured Nation’ not same as ‘most friendly’ nation: Pak P M
• Pakistan FM to seek UK
help against drone raids
• Pervez Musharraf
planned Benazir Bhutto kill?
• Bomb blast kills 8
anti-Taliban militiamen in northwest Pakistan, says official
• Bomb blast in Suleja,
Nigeria again
• Nigerian Militant Sect
Boko Haram Suspected of Killing Two
• Syrian opposition sees
radicals at work for regime
• Ultraconservative
Islamists demonstrate in Tunisia
• Nuclear inspectors of
United Nations leave for key talks in Tehran
• Faltering peace talks
need rethink, says Karzai aide
• Taliban leaders
willing for peace talks are killed: Hamid Karzai
• Syrian forces fire on
anti-Assad crowd in capital
• Tel Aviv to get
missile interceptor system: army
• Jeddah to be Kingdom’s
first eco-friendly city
• Bangladesh PM urges
for Bangla practice at all spheres
• Pakistan military
joins tablet war with PACPAD Tablet
• Jewish writer gives
Modi a book on ‘atrocities’ against Hindus in Bangladesh;
• Will implement Sachar
report: Sonia to Muslims
Complied by New
Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: Islam
and the West together again in Syria
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/islam-west-together-again-syria/d/6681
--------
Islam and the West
together again in Syria
20 Feb 2012
Western interests
sometimes intersect with those of armed groups which operate under an Islamic
banner.
New York, NY - In Bosnia
in the 1990s, "Islamic militants" and "Western
humanitarians" fought on the same side.
Foreign Islamic fighters
formed some of the best units in the ragtag Bosnian army. Like Western leftists
in the Spanish Civil War, they had answered calls for assistance from
beleaguered comrades in another country.
Alongside UN peacekeepers,
with cover from NATO's air forces, and supported by legions of human rights
activists, the foreign fighters, the Bosnian army and their Croatian allies did
their best to hold off the Serbs.
The outcome in Bosnia was
ambiguous, in large measure because of the unwillingness of the West to fully
commit its forces to the fight against ethnic fascism. This unwillingness stood
in stark contrast not only to Westerners of an earlier generation who went off
to Spain to fight and drive ambulances, but also to the Muslim fighters from
faraway places who gave their lives in the cause of a free Bosnia.
"Many Muslims see
themselves as victims of the same kind of humanitarian crimes that so concern
Western human rights activists."
This same alliance between
a militant Western humanitarianism and Islamic fighters reappeared in Libya.
Gaddafi and his murderous regime were their common enemy.
Many may choose to see
such unexpected couplings as merely alliances of convenience, that really
Western humanitarians and radical Islamists have diametrically opposed goals.
This is to ignore a
significant dimension of the appeal of militant Islam, one that Faisal Devji
has sought to draw attention to in his provocative and illuminating book, The
Terrorist in Search of Humanity.
Many Muslims see
themselves as victims of the same kind of humanitarian crimes that so concern
Western human rights activists. Muslims have been the victims of dictatorships
and their secret police and death squads; they have been subjected to massacres
and extra-judicial proceedings; they are not treated with respect and dignity;
and they are persecuted for their beliefs.
These are precisely the
kind of causes that gave birth to the global human rights movement.
In circumstances of
oppression and injustice, Muslims appear as victims of crimes against humanity.
The militants are merely those who choose not to be victims and take up arms.
Many of us see no little justice in the militants' cause as they fight against
foreign occupation and murderous dictators, even if we do not always agree with
their methods or ultimate aims.
An unlikely alliance
This alliance between
Muslim militant and Western humanitarian, which is not as strange as it seems,
has reappeared in Syria. As the Western powers work alongside the Arab League
to impose sanctions and pass UN resolutions, Muslim militants have issued a
call to arms.
The Muslim Brotherhood of
Jordan announced a jihad against the Assad regime, as has al-Qaeda. A new Anbar
Awakening is underway as Iraqis now funnel arms to Syrian insurgents. Foreign
militants may have been responsible for the recent bombings in Aleppo and
Damascus.
Meanwhile, militant
Western humanitarians wish they too could have a jihad in Syria as they did in
Libya. All are agreed that a regime willing to kill its own people in such
numbers and to sow dangerous sectarian division in the cause of its own
survival must go. Basic human values should define the future for Syria.
Some analysts see in Syria
the danger of a regional sectarian war that was so narrowly averted in the
worst years in Iraq. They may well be right. Western leaders and militaries
fear the consequences of attacking yet another Muslim country, while their
citizens have tired of years of war amid broken economies.
Yet the potential alliance
of militant and humanitarian offers an opportunity an exhausted West, blinded
by its own righteousness, may fail to see, much less grasp. It is an
opportunity of global proportions that only enlightened and confident
statesmanship could hope to realise.
The War on Terror has been
fought to a costly, hurting stalemate. The West failed to achieve its aims in
Iraq and it will fail in Afghanistan. Yet, it has utterly decimated the ranks
of Islamic militants around the world and daily demonstrates its power to carry
on doing so.
Osama bin Laden failed to
achieve his goal of igniting a worldwide Muslim uprising. His self defeating
methods horrified Muslims and Westerners alike, while his dream of a Salafi
utopia turned Muslim against Muslim and did not offer an attractive political
goal to the masses.
Syria offers the
opportunity to find again the shared ground between Islam and the West, with
democracy, dignity and respect for human rights as the common goal.
The West should reach out
to the Muslim Brotherhoods of Jordan and elsewhere on the basis that "the
enemy of my enemy is my friend". On this same basis, militant Islam should
make common cause with Western humanitarians.
Such a surprising move on
the part of the West would earn the respect and appreciation of Muslims around
the world, reducing the anti-Western feeling that leads to terror. At the same
time, it would allow militant Islam to reshape its political objectives in ways
that are compatible with democracy and human rights and the near universal
support these principles command.
It is these goals, after
all, for which the Syrian people are fighting.
In this kind of way,
Islamic militants can turn themselves into "freedom fighters" rather
than "terrorists" in the eyes of the world. To do so, they must
commit to fight as ordinary insurgents in the Free Syrian Army. In so doing,
they would articulate themselves to a cause which has near-universal support
and to political goals shared by peoples everywhere.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012217122329230971.html
--------
Egypt’s Baha’is face more
attacks from Salafists
Joseph Mayton
19 February 2012
CAIRO: Egypt’s small
Baha’i Faith community has faced attack upon attack in its less than 200 year
existence in the country. The latest has come from prominent ultra-conservative
Salafist leader Abdel Moneim al-Shahat, who called on the government to
“protect itself” from the faith by denouncing the faith and calling its
followers “blasphemous.”
“We will prosecute the
Bahai’s on charge of treason,” said Shahat via telephone on Dream 2′s al-Haqiqa
TV program.
“We as Salafists refuse to
deal with Baha’is, because they do not exist by virtue of their faith.”
According to Shahat,
Bahai’s are not entitled to rights under Islam because they are not recognized
by the religion, and any new constitution should not include an amendment
protecting their rights.
He cited previous Al-Azhar
– the Sunni Islamic world’s most prestigious institution – rulings that said
Baha’is are blasphemous.
The world’s newest
monotheistic faith, and one that has been oppressed vehemently in Islamic
countries, including Egypt, where in the early years of Gamal Abdel Nasser,
Baha’i temples and places of worship were closed, and the Baha’i cemetery in
the country largely destroyed, continues to face such attacks by the likes of
Shahat and others in the country.
In 2009, the Egyptian
Baha’i community hoped they had ushered in a new era for identification cards
in the country after the first batch of the religious minority was granted new
ID’s without a religion written on them. The move came after years of
struggling against the state in order not to choose one of the “big three”
religions Judaism, Christianity or Islam.
The new ID’s came months
after an Egyptian court granted the Baha’i community the right not to list a
false religion on the paperwork, something the small minority community had
been pushing for in recent years after discrimination has been reported.
The lawsuit against the
government was filed by a married couple, Hussam Izzat Musa and Ranya Enayat
Rushdy, who wanted to add their daughters to their passports, which had listed
the Baha’i Faith as their religion.
The couple won the initial
case against the government, which granted them the ability to register their
children in schools, receive marriage licenses, birth certificates and proclaim
their faith on state identification cards.
“We were ecstatic about
the case that allowed our community to be fully accepted Egyptians,” one
married Baha’i man, after the initial court victory, told Bikyamasr.com.
His optimism was
short-lived, however, as the government appealed and won, leaving the community
struggling to find a place in Egyptian society.
Egyptians are forced to
have religion noted on their identity cards. Previously, Baha’is were forced to
choose between Islam, Christianity or Judaism in order to receive official
documents, including birth certificates and passports. Many of them took their
cases to court, claiming that they’d rather leave the religion slot blank than
choose a religion other than their own. The court, initially, agreed, and said
they could leave the category blank in a move widely praised by religious
advocacy groups in the country.
The Baha’i Faith is the
most recent, established in 1863, monotheistic religion. It originates from
Iran and believes in the progressive revelations of God. Baha’is believe that
all religions are true and from God, but that at different times throughout
human history, a new manifestation (prophet) is needed in order to adapt to the
changing times and cultural traditions.
The main conflict between
Muslims and Baha’is is in the idea that Mohamed is not the final prophet of
God, which has led to Muslims distrusting Baha’is.
In December 2003, Al Azhar
Research Academy, the most authoritative Sunni institution in the world, issued
a fatwa against the Baha’i Faith. It stated that Islam does not recognize any
religion other than those that the Holy Qur’an has asked to be respected. The
fatwa specified the Baha’i Faith, stating that the “Baha’i creed and its likes
are intellectual epidemics that should be fought and eliminated by the state.”
Now, one year on from an
uprising that left the country optimistic and hopeful, there still remains some
of that hope in the small community of the religious minority.
“We do feel that things
will get better in the coming months and years despite the rise of the
Salafists,” said teacher Kamal, also Baha’i. He told Bikyamasr.com between
drags on his shisha, or water-pipe, that “we are all Egyptians, whether we are
Christian, Muslim, Jewish or other, and when the military leaves power and we
have a government, it should be better because we can have honest and open
dialogue.”
His belief in the power of
the Egyptian population tends to be the majority among the Baha’i community,
who has long struggled against persecution and a lack of media awareness. They
argue that the revolution is continuing and if needed, Hossam said he would
join tomorrow any demonstration.
“But we need to have a
movement that is for all Egypt, not just one side. This is important. The
military must go, but we must all have our rights and the media needs to start
talking about all people in this country, including us Baha’is,” he argued.
http://bikyamasr.com/57761/egypts-bahais-face-more-attacks-from-salafists/
-------
Sunni Muslim Wakf
Committee Run Burqa-clad Student Now
Turn Beachwear Designers
Priya Adhyaru Majithia
TNN | Feb 20, 2012
AHMEDABAD: Wearing a
traditional Muslim headscarf, Farmana Sheikh, 18, has never been to a beach.
Yet, she designs brightly-coloured bikinis and beachwear. "Fashion sense
and firm will," says Farmana, who is learning basic fashion designing.
"I want to become self-reliant."
Farmana is among a bunch
of young Muslim students at the Sultan Ahmed Institute of Fashion Design (SAIF)
run by Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Wakf Committee. SAIF had only a handful of
students for its various courses till 2002. After the post-Godhra riots,
however, it saw a sudden spurt in Muslim men and women signing up to learn
computer technology, spoken English and fashion design. There was an urgent
need in the community to upgrade skills and show they were as mainstream as
anyone else.
Many men in the community
had also lost their jobs in the riots and these brave women decided to
supplement the family income with their new skills. Burqa-clad Farooki Nasima,
19, is specializing on newer versions of cholis and designer saris.
"While doing an
assignment for bridal and traditional wear, I realized I loved experimenting on
saris. I have created a giraffe print chiffon sari with a backless sleeveless
choli." "We don't aspire to wear these designs," says Memon
Aqsa, 17, another fashion design student who is working on creating crochet
beachwear with hat and beach shoes. "But we certainly aspire to sell these
creations at a good rate and aim to aid to our family income."
"The motto is to make
these youngsters self-sufficient," says managing director of the centre,
Rais Munshi. "Unemployment among Muslims reached to a new peak after 2002
riots. Many young Muslim girls and boys were forced to come out and develop
professional skills to earn a living."
After the riots, the
centre saw a 50% jump in boys students and a 30% rise in girls.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Burqa-clad-now-turn-beachwear-designers/articleshow/11956668.cms
--------
Ban'' on juices made by
Ahmadi-owned firm in Pak
M Zulqernain
20 February 2012
Lahore, Feb 18 (PTI) Days
after a lawyers'' group banned juices made by an Ahmadi-owned firm from court
complexes in Lahore, a "permanent ban" has been imposed on the drinks
by Punjab University, the largest varsity of Pakistan.
Shezan fruit juices have
banned in Punjab University, which has some 32,000 students. The Islami Jamiat
Tulba, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami has a strong presence on the
campus.
Owners of canteens in the
campus have stopped serving Shezan juices due to pressure from the students''
organisation, sources said.
A Punjab University
spokesman told PTI: "We cannot force the canteen owners to stock a
particular product or not as it is their prerogative."
Asked about the IJT''s
influence in such a matter, he said during Vice-Chancellor Mujahid Kamran''s
tenure, "we have stopped IJT from carrying out its political agenda".
Shandy Cola, a soft drink
made by a firm whose owner is considered close to the Jamaat-e-Islami, is
available in all canteens on the campus.
"IJT activists have
forced us to stock Shandy Cola in place of Shezan drinks. A group of IJT
activists inspects the canteens and hostels on a regular basis," said a
canteen owner who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of the IJT.
Farooq Ahmed, the owner of
several canteens at the Lahore High Court complex, said lawyers had told him
that a judge had passed an order to ban Shezan products.
"I have been told by
the lawyers� body to stop selling Shezan products, both juices and
soft drinks," he said.
Mujahid Mansoori, a
columnist and former teacher of Punjab University, said as long as there was a
strong presence of the IJT on the campus, Shezan''s products could not be sold
there.
"The Punjab
University is not the only such educational institution in Punjab. Where ever
the IJT has a stronghold, you will see similar things happening," he said.
Mansoori said when
educated communities like lawyers could resort to such radical acts, then
similar moves should be expect from "extremist elements".
The lawyers� "ban" on Shezan products triggered outrage across Pakistan.
In the past, lawyers� groups had been condemned for showing their support
for Mumtaz Qadri, the police guard who gunned down Punjab Governor Salmaan
Taseer last year for his demand for changes in Pakistan''s controversial
blasphemy law.
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5857125
--------
U-turn : US says doesn’t
back Balochistan independence
TNN | Feb 20, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Amid Pakistani
leadership's angry criticism of a bill moved in Congress seeking the right to
self-determination for people of Balochistan, the US on Sunday said it does not
support independence for the province.
"The US respects the
territorial integrity of Pakistan . Members of Congress introduce legislation
on numerous foreign affairs topics and these bills do not in any way imply US
government endorsement of any particular policy," US embassy spokesman
Robert Raines said in a statement.
The statement came a day
after PM Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the resolution moved in House of
Representatives by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher as an attack on Pakistan's
sovereignty.
"The department of
state does not typically comment on pending legislation, but it is not the
policy of the administration to support independence for Balochistan,"
Raines said.
Balochistan has witnessed
a spike in violence by nationalist groups that are seeking greater autonomy and
a say in the exploitation of the southwestern province's abundant natural
resources , including minerals and gas.
Baloch groups have alleged
that hundreds of their activists have been arrested without due process and
killed in the past two years.
Every week, bodies of the
"missing persons" or men detained without charge are found across the
province. Most allegedly bear marks of torture and bullet wounds.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/U-turn-US-says-doesnt-back-Balochistan-independence/articleshow/11957376.cms
--------
‘Resolve the issue or lose
Balochistan’: MQM
20 February 2012
KARACHI: Altaf Hussain,
the chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has said that wrong policies and
suppression of the voice of Baloch people have brought Balochistan to the verge
of separation from the country.
“If we fail to find a
solution we may lose Balochistan,” he said while addressing on phone a large
gathering of women at the Bagh-i-Quaid on Sunday.
Mr Hussain mainly focused
on issues of women and said the country could not be strengthened without
empowering them.
About Balochistan, he said
he had always raised the sensitive issue but no-one paid heed to it.
Referring to a recent move
in the US Congress, he said the situation had worsened to an extent that
resolutions were being tabled in parliaments of other countries for granting
the right of self-determination to the Baloch people.
He said he had repeatedly
asked the rulers to convene a conference on Balochistan, but “it appears to be
already late because Baloch leaders have lost trust in the rulers of Pakistan”.
He urged the authorities
concerned to give the people of Balochistan all their “legitimate rights”. “If
no solution is found then,
God forbid, Balochistan
may be lost,” he said.
The MQM chief said a new
chapter had been written in the country’s political history with the women’s
meeting.
Referring to recent
rallies held at Bagh-i-Jinnah, he said that although other parties had made
tall claims about massive shows of strength, the MQM had shown that only its
women could face the opponents’ challenge.
He claimed that the
gathering was the largest of its kind held anywhere in the world and ‘over a
million’ women filled the Bagh-i-Jinnah, adjoining roads and the premises of
the Mazar-i-Quaid.
He said the event itself
was “a revolution” and claimed that all other parties would not be able to
organise such a huge gathering even if they joined together to do so.
Mr Hussain said the MQM
had brought women in the mainstream of national politics and had organised its
first women’s meeting in 1988 and another in the Nishtar Park in 2005.
He said the MQM always
raised its voice against injustices against women. The party forcefully raised
its voice in favour of Shaista Almani, Dr Shazia and Dr Aafia Siddiqui .
The MQM chief demanded Dr
Aafia Siddiqui’s release on humanitarian grounds.
He said there were areas
in the country where women did not have the right to vote or contest elections.
He condemned customs like
karo-kari, honour killing, vani and marriage with the Holy Quran and said
incidents of gang rape, throwing acid on women, shaving their heads and cutting
off their limbs were extremely shameful.
He said the MQM was
against all evil customs, cruelties and injustices and wanted to emancipate women
and restore their dignity.
He said the Women
Protection Bill had been passed by parliament because of MQM’s efforts. The MQM
also introduced legislations in the Sindh Assembly about honour killing and
domestic violence.
Mr Hussain said that women
should be given an equal share in every sphere of life.
He said the MQM’s
manifesto was based on the last address of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) which
clearly stated that all people were equal.
He called for abolition of
feudal system and said educated people from the poor and middle classes should
also be given the right to take part in politics.
He said the MQM wanted to
end gender discrimination and give equal opportunities to women.
He also called for the
recovery of all ‘missing’ persons, including 28 workers of the MQM.
The speech was followed by
a fireworks display.
MQM’s decision to hold the
women’s gathering at the place where the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) and Difa-i-Pakistan Council had recently held their public
meetings appeared to be aimed at showing that the party still had a firm
grip on the city’s
politics.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/20/resolve-the-issue-or-lose-balochistan-womens-empowerment-key-to-progress-altaf.html
--------
Terror watch: UK to store
all phone, email records
PTI | Feb 20, 2012
LONDON: For the first
time, Britain plans to store details of all phone calls, text messages, emails
and websites visited online as part of the government's new anti-terror plans,
says a media report.
Landline and mobile phone
companies and broadband providers will be ordered to store the data for a year
and make it available to the security services under the scheme.
The databases would not
record the contents of calls, texts or emails but the numbers or email
addresses of who they are sent and received by, the 'Daily Telegraph' reported.
UK's security services
will have widespread access to information about who has been communicating
with each other on social networking sites such as Facebook. Direct messages
between subscribers to websites like Twitter would also be stored, as well as
communications between players in online video games, the report said.
It is certain to cause
controversy over civil liberties - but also raise concerns over security of
records.
The plan has been drawn up
on the advice of MI5, the home security,the home security service, MI6, which
operates abroad, and GCHQ, the government's 'listening post' to monitor
communications.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Terror-watch-UK-to-store-all-phone-email-records/articleshow/11957293.cms
--------
Maldives President expands
cabinet; inducts Gayoom's aide
Male, Feb 12,2012
Maldives' new President
Mohamed Waheed Hassan today inducted seven members into his expanded cabinet,
including the country's first woman Attorney General and an aide of former
dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, as he tries to cement his position as the head
of a 'unity government'.
Seeking to end a raging
political crisis that erupted after the dramatic resignation of first
democratic elected president Mohamed Nasheed last week, his former deputy drew
new members of his cabinet from different political parties.
Waheed also left key
portfolios like Foreign Affairs and Finance vacant, apparently to bring
Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on board. Nasheed has refused to
accept Waheed's legitimacy to rule the picturesque Indian Ocean island nation.
Nasheed refused to back
down from his demand for fresh elections and snubbed US calls for a compromise
and led yet another major rally last night here, demanding snap polls to
determine the genuine wishes of the people. "We want an election and we
will campaign for it," Nasheed told a large gathering of his supporters.
Among the new cabinet
ministers, is Azima Shakooru, the Attorney General of Maldives, who is the lone
woman to get a ministerial berth. Incidentally, she was appointed as the first
woman Attorney General way back in 2007 during Gayoom's regime.
Hassan also inducted into
his government Mohamed Husain Sharif Mundu, the spokesperson of Gayoom's
Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), which ruled the tiny nation for three
decades.
Asked if his appointment
confirms former president Mohamed Nasheed's allegation that the
"coup" was engineered by his party, Mundu replied, "I am not the
only party in the government."
Mundu pointed out that the
current President has left certain cabinet berths vacant and is keen to have
Nasheed's MDP on board. The government is yet to appoint Ministers for Foreign
Affairs, Finance, Housing and Fisheries. He is yet to announce his
Vice-President also.
Asked when Gayoom, who is
currently in Malaysia, will come back, Mundu said "soon".Meanwhile,
after over two days of lull about 200 MDP supporters today gathered outside the
'Majlis' (parliament) carrying banners, less than 100 metres from the Indian
High Commission. Anti-riot police arrived at the scene. The police has set up
barricades on the road leading to the Majlis.
Earlier in the day, the
Male city council in an emergency meeting passed a resolution declaring that
Waheed's government is illegal and he should step down. All but one of the
members of the city council have been elected on MDP ticket, in the first ever
elections that were held last year. Sources said, the passing of the resolution
is of little practical purpose as the council have only a few public buildings
and mosques under its control.
Both the police and the
army are out of their control. After the passing of the resolution by the
council, newly appointed advocate general Azima Shakooru was hurriedly made to
take oath as the member of the Judicial Service Commission.
Meanwhile, sources said,
fresh arrests were made in Addu Atoll, including the Deputy Mayor and two
councillors. Sources said Maldivian MP Mustafa has been taken to court in a
cheque bounce case, that has been pending for a long time. Sources said, cases
pending against few other MDP MPs were also being revived. The move seems to be
a strategy by the current regime to apply pressure on the MPs, either to defect
or be disqualified from the Parliament.
Some of the banners
outside the 'Majlis' read "terrorising of our MPs will not work."
Some other banners sought the release of MDP MP Mohamed Rasheed, who was
arrested in Addu few days back.
Protesters at the site
said the police extended his arrest remand for five more days today. The MDP
members today said that three councillors from Isdhoo, Laamu Atoll were picked
up by the police and assaulted. There were however no independent confirmation
of the said incident.
Earlier, replying to
another query on what will be Gayoom's role in the new government, Mundu said,
"Not a direct role...They did speak to each other over the phone. The
current president has said he would like to seek his advice when needed and the
former President has said he is always open to that advice."
Mundu was given Youth
Affairs and Sports portfolio. Incidentally, lawyer Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, also a
former member of Gayoom's regime, was made the Home Minister soon after Hassan
took over from Nasheed who resigned on Tuesday.
Other members of his new
cabinet Ahmed Jamshed (Health and Family), Ahmed Mohamed (Economic
Development), and Ahmed Shamshed (Transport and Communication).
Ahmed Adheeb was appointed
the Minister for Tourism and Asim Ahmed was appointed the Minister of
Education. The appointments came a day after US Assistant Secretary of State
for South and Central Asia Robert Blake met both the President and the former
president, and backed the government's proposal of a national unity government.
However, Nasheed who has
not accepted the legitimacy of Hassan's government, refused to back down from
his demand for a fresh election and snubbed US calls for a compromise.
He addressed a public
gathering last night outside his house and reiterated his stand that the
country needs a snap election to determine the genuine wishes of the people.
"We want an election
and we will campaign for it," Nasheed told a large gathering of his supporters
last night. Nasheed also repeated his accusation that the police and military
were detaining supporters of his Maldivian Democratic Party and called for an
independent investigation into what he insists was a coup.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/226534/major-cabinet-expansion-crisis-hit.html
--------
Iran ‘building up nuclear
site near Qom’: BBC
20 February 2012
LONDON: Iran may be preparing
to expand its nuclear programme at an underground plant near the city of Qom, a
diplomat has told the BBC, just days ahead of a visit by United Nations nuclear
inspectors.
Iran appears to be poised
to install thousands of new centrifuges at the underground site in the northern
city, a Vienna-based diplomat told the British broadcaster late Saturday.
The BBC said the
centrifuges could speed up the production of enriched uranium, which can be
used both for generating nuclear power and to manufacture atomic weapons.
Iran said on Wednesday it
had installed another 3,000 centrifuges to increase its uranium enrichment
abilities, but it was unclear Sunday whether these were the same as those
mentioned by the diplomat.
Inspectors from the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, are due to visit
Tehran this week.
Iran insists that its
nuclear drive is peaceful, but Western countries suspect the Islamic Republic
of trying to develop an atomic bomb.
Iran has been slapped with
four sets of UN sanctions and a raft of unilateral US and European Union
measures over its nuclear drive.
There has been feverish
speculation in recent weeks that Israel is preparing to mount a pre-emptive
strike on the country’s nuclear programme, though Israel has denied reaching
such a decision.
Britain’s Foreign
Secretary William Hague warned over the weekend that Iran’s nuclear ambitions
could spark an atomic arms race in the Middle East.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/19/iran-building-up-nuclear-site-near-qom-bbc.html
--------
Top Kashmir clerics urge Muslims to stand
behind Iran
20 February 2012
Top Kashmir cleric has
cautioned the Muslim Ummah against plots by enemies of Islam to destabilize
Iran and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to play its role
for unity among Muslim countries.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) -
Top Kashmir cleric has cautioned the Muslim Ummah against plots by enemies of
Islam to destabilize Iran and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) to play its role for unity among Muslim countries.
“Efforts are being made at
the international level to destabilize two prominent Muslim countries – Iran
and Pakistan – and there is an urgent need for all the Muslim countries to
stand united and to keep their enemies at bay,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told a
Seerah conference on Friday.
Mirwaiz, who is also head
of multi-party Hurriyat Conference, said the two most powerful Muslim countries
- Iran and Pakistan - were being seen as a cause of worry by anti-Islam
countries and vowed that the Hurriyat Conference would not remain unconcerned
over the changing world scenario. He said like any other country in the world,
Muslim nations too had a right to defend themselves.
“We urge the OIC and other
Muslim countries to help the Muslim countries iron out their difference and get
united to save Iran and Pakistan from the inhuman economic sanctions imposed by
the western powers against the two pillars of Ummah,” Mirwaiz told the seminar.
He said conspiracies were
being hatched to divide Kashmiri Muslims on sectarian lines, adding that such
efforts would be foiled at any cost.
Meanwhile, various
religious scholars and clerics addressed the conference and expressed
solidarity with the Iranian nation.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=297308
--------
Obama to law enforcement:
Stop linking Muslims to terrorism
Jim Kouri
Law Enforcement Examiner
FEBRUARY 19, 2012
In yet another curtsy to
the politically correct orthodoxy, President Barack Obama's White House plans
to tinker with federal police curriculums for counterterrorism training
classes, according to a Beltway public-interest organization.
The first bit of
"revamping" is the removal of all material that groups, such as the
Council on American Islamic Relations , or CAIR, find offensive or containing a
"negative" image of Muslims.
It’s a government-wide
call to end Islamophobia, according to a blog by a Washington, DC-based
watchdog group that investigates, exposes and prosecutes government corruption.
A few months after the
Obama White House ordered an investigation of government counterterrorism
training, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has destroyed instructional
material that characterizes Muslims as prone to violence or terrorism,
according to the Judicial Watch blog.
Advertisement
So far 700 pages of
documents from about 300 presentations given to agents since the 2001 terrorist
attacks have been purged, according to a new report published this week. The
White House order came after the same publication reported in late November
that the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ) and Pentagon taught employees that
mainstream Muslims embrace violence and compared the Islamic religion to the
death star.
And the purge of training
material regarding Islamic terrorism from law enforcement training is only the
beginning. Attorney General Eric Holder
told Congress that anti-Muslim instructional materials hurt the country’s fight
against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. As a result of this mentality, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff were asked to collect counterterrorism training materials
at all military academies and academic centers such as the National Defense
Intelligence College and the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center.
"The goal, evidently,
is to banish any material that could be viewed as offensive to Muslims,"
said the JW blog.
To fulfill this
politically-correct mission, the FBI enlisted the Army Combating Terrorism
Center at West Point to purge material that conflates terrorism with mainstream
Islam, according to inside information cited in the Judicial Watch report. The
cleansing also includes a White House review on any information related to
“cultural awareness” training for troops that were preparing to deploy to the
Middle East.
This appears to be part of
a wider Muslim outreach effort on the part of the Obama Administration and the
president’s allies in Congress. Last spring, for instance, the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee quietly scheduled a special hearing to better protect
Muslim civil rights in America. Organized by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin --
arguably one of the most sympathetic lawmakers to Islamic causes -- the event
came in “response to the spike in anti-Muslim bigotry” and marked the first ever
congressional hearing on Muslim civil rights.
It was Durbin who on the
floor of the Senate in 2004 called U.S. soldiers Nazis, and detention centers
such as Guantanamo Bay "gulags." He later apologized, but his
constituents were happy to hear him denigrating U.S. troops since his district has
a very large Muslim population, according to news reports.
According to the Examiner,
other Muslim outreach efforts under Obama included; Secretary of Homeland
Security Janet Napolitano meeting to discuss national security matters with a
group of extremist Muslim organizations including members of the Muslim
Brotherhood, the nation’s space agency (NASA) being ordered to focus on Muslim
diplomacy, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signing a special order to
allow the reentry of two radical Islamic academics whose terrorist ties long
banned them from the U.S.
http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/obama-to-law-enforcement-stop-linking-muslims-to-terrorism
--------
Backed with court order,
India to seek extradition of Headley, Rana
Vishwa Mohan
TNN | Feb 20, 2012
NEW DELHI: Armed with a
special court order, India will soon write to the US seeking extradition of
American citizen David Coleman Headley and his Canadian accomplice Tahawwur
Hussain Rana for their trial here for plotting with LeT and HuJI terrorists to
attack places of iconic importance in the Capital and other cities including
Mumbai.
Though Headley had entered
into a plea bargaining with US authorities and got immunity from being
extradited to India or any other country, New Delhi has to follow the legal
procedure by formally pressing for his extradition backed by the court order.
Taking cognizance of NIA's
chargesheet against Headley, Rana, Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed, the outfit's
key commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and five others, a special court here on
Saturday sought their presence before it for trial on March 13.
"We will write to the
US with reference of the court order. New Delhi will highlight that the
chargesheet against Headley and Rana is not restricted to the 26/11 Mumbai
terror attack case alone. It also covers the offences which do not come under
the 12 counts on which he had pleaded guilty and entered into the plea
bargaining," a home ministry official said.
Under the plea bargaining,
Headley had become prosecution witness in the trial against Rana, who was
acquitted by a US court in the 26/11 case but indicted for his role in a terror
plot against Denmark. Both are currently in jail in Chicago.
"Rana may be
acquitted in the Mumbai attack case, but he is an accused here in the case
which pertains to a criminal conspiracy with LeT and HuJI terrorists to carry
out attacks in New Delhi and other places in India," said the official.
He said New Delhi would
also write to Washington to take into account the fact that the US authorities
had agreed for Headley's plea bargaining without taking India on board despite
a pending case against the accused here.
A section within the home
ministry believes that though it is highly unlikely that the US will extradite
Headley and Rana, the move may see some legal wrangling between the two
countries -- especially if someone decides to approach an American court. Even
under the existing extradition agreement between India and US, Rana will have
to first undergo his sentence in an American jail if convicted for his role in
the Denmark plot.
"In any case, the
accused's appearance for trial through video link cannot be ruled out as a
compromise in future," the official said.
The NIA has, meanwhile,
begun the process of sending letter rogatory to Morocco for recording the
statement of Headley's estranged Moroccan wife Faiza Outalha for evidence
against him. She had visited India with Headley twice during the latter's
reconnaissance mission.
India, which has already
asked Pakistan for deportation of Saeed and Lakhvi, will again write to
Islamabad with reference of the court order. Lakhvi, who is in jail, is being
tried in a Rawalpindi court in the 26/11 case whereas Saeed and others
chargesheeted by the NIA remain scot-free.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Backed-with-court-order-India-to-seek-extradition-of-Headley-Rana/articleshow/11955649.cms
--------
UAE grants citizenship to
1,117 'foreign' children
AFP
DUBAI: Feb 20, 2012, The
president of the United Arab Emirates has issued a decree granting citizenship
to more than 1,000 children of Emirati women married to foreigners, the
official WAM news agency reported on Monday.
"President Sheikh
Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan has issued decrees granting citizenship to 1,117
children of UAE women married to foreigners who satisfied requirements for
citizenship," WAM reported.
The children will receive
full citizenship when they reach the age of 18, the agency said.
Most Arab countries link nationality
to blood relation from the father's side, disenfranchising women who face
various forms of gender discrimination across the region.
Tunisia had for a long
time been the only country that gave men and women equal nationality rights
with few other countries responding to continued campaigns for the regulation
to be changed.
But in 2005, Algeria
amended its nationality law, giving women the right to pass citizenship to
their foreign husbands and children.
In 2007, Morocco said the
children of Moroccan women will automatically get the nationality, while
foreign husbands can demand the citizenship after five years of marriage and
residency in the country.
Egypt followed suit giving
women the right to pass their citizenship to their children.
The campaign continues in
many other Arab countries. Home to a huge expatriate community, the oil-rich
UAE has an overall population of 8.26 million, with UAE citizens representing
around 11.47 per cent, according to official figures released last April.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/UAE-grants-citizenship-to-1117-foreign-children/articleshow/11963377.cms
--------
Hizb-e-Islami urges role
of all groups in endgame in Afghanistan
20 February 2012
ISLAMABAD: Peace efforts
in Afghanistan are likely to fail if they do not include all militant groups, a
senior member of one of the country’s militant factions said on Sunday.
“If any group is isolated
or ignored, that group then becomes the centre of the resistance, and can cause
problems,” Ghairat Baheer of Hizb-e-Islami told Reuters in Islamabad.
“To bring instability or
disturb the situation of Afghanistan is not difficult. It is very easy.”
Hizb-e-Islami shares some
of the Afghan Taliban’s anti-foreigner, anti-government aims and wants to oust
US-led forces from the country.
The group, led by Afghan
warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, claims to have thousands
of fighters in its ranks, based mainly in Afghanistan’s restive east and in the
north.
The US State Department
lists Mr Hekmatyar as a ‘terrorist’ for supporting Taliban and Al Qaeda
attacks, but US and Afghan officials have met Hizb-e-Islami representatives in
the last two months to help end the war, now in its eleventh year.
“There is communication,
and there is negotiation going on between Hizb-e-Islami and the American and
Afghan governments,” said Mr Baheer, Mr Hekmatyar’s son-in-law.
In the early 1990s, forces
led by Mr Hekmatyar opposed to the government of then president Burhanuddin
Rabbani took part in fighting in Kabul which is thought to have killed tens of
thousands.
Mr Hekmatyar left
Afghanistan in the mid-1990s and his whereabouts have been unclear since then.
The Afghan Taliban
announced last month they would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting
the group may be willing to engage in negotiations to bring peace to the
war-torn country.
While the Taliban are the
focus of media attention, there are a number of other militant organisations
that want a say in Afghanistan’s future.
They include the Al
Qaeda-linked Haqqani group, one of the most feared Afghan militant groups
blamed for many high-profile bombings against US and Nato-led forces in
Afghanistan.
While the Haqqani group
has pledged allegiance to the Taliban leadership, it also exercises significant
operational independence.
Failure to appease these
militant groups could bring prolonged instability, or even civil war, once
US-led Nato combat forces withdraw in 2014.
“There should be a
comprehensive solution involving all parties and groups,” said Mr Baheer, a
doctor by training.
Mr Baheer, who was held in
US detention at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul, for six years until his
release in 2008, said he had not seen enough progress in US-Taliban talks to
suggest they were any closer to formal negotiations.
“So far they have not been
able to agree on even minor issues that could be taken as goodwill gestures.
There’s no official inauguration of the (Taliban) office, there is no release
of prisoners and no one has been removed from the blacklist,” he said.
“Things are stuck. We are also
in a wait-and-see situation.”—Reuters
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/20/hizb-urges-role-of-all-groups-in-endgame.html
--------
Egypt In “Arab Winter”
Amid Postponed Ballot And Anti-Christian Violence
Sunday, February 19, 2012
By BosNewsLife Middle East
Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos
CAIRO/BRUSSELS
(BosNewsLife)-- Egypt's election commission failed Sunday to set a date for the
first presidential election since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, adding to
Western concerns about the plight of minority Christians as Islamists have
increased their influence.
The commission said in
published remarks that the problem lay in organizing the expatriate vote.
In comments to
BosNewsLife, a key member of the European Parliament, Peter van Dalen, warned
that Egypt was now "in the grip of the Arab Winter."
Van Dalen, who represents
the Dutch ChristenUnie (ChristianUnion) party, told a parliamentary debate on
human rights in Egypt that the "Arab Spring", a reference to last
year's pro-freedom protests, only lasted a short time.
"The Arab Spring has
now become the Arab Winter," he told parliamentarians earlier this week in
Strasbourg, France. He explained to BosNewsLife that he is particularly
concerned about the rise of the hard-line Salafist Muslims of the Nour Party,
who have become the second largest political force in the country.
STRONG PRESENCE
Anticipating a strong
presence in the new Egyptian parliament, they have outlined plans for a strict
brand of religious law, that critics say could limit personal freedoms and
steer a key U.S. ally toward an Islamic state.
Hardline Salafis espouse a
strict form of Islam similar to that practiced in Saudi Arabia, where security
forces are known to have raided underground church groups.
Salafis, who often wear
long beards and seek to imitate the life of the Prophet Muhammad, speak openly
about their aim of turning Egypt into a state where personal freedoms,
including freedom of speech, women's dress and art, are constrained by Islamic
law.
Van Dalen said the
"extreme Salafis" can further create an atmosphere of hatred in
Egypt's society, where at least dozens of Egyptian Christians, also referred to
as 'Copts', reportedly died in recent months in violence directed against them.
Rights and church groups have blamed the on Muslim mobs, in several cases
supported by security forces.
"There are many places where there is
more violence than there are rights, for instance Alexandria, where last year
many Cops were killed or [the capital] Cairo where people died in May when a
church was torched," Van Dalen explained.
Additionally, "in Al
Hammadi there seems to be peace, but in reality Copts are oppressed," the
politician added.
MORE ATTACKS?
Church leaders earlier
said they fear more attacks against Copts, who make up 10 percent of the
80-million-strong, mainly Muslim, population.
Van Dalen told BosNewsLife
in a statement that he urged the European Union's foreign policy chief,
Catherine Ashton to make clear that Europe expect respect from Egypt's rulers
for religious freedom and human rights. Europe, he said, "offers hundreds
of millions of euros in aid to Egypt" and shouldn't be afraid to threaten
with
withdrawing financial if
the country's human rights record does not improve.
Yet with apparently new
disputes about the date of a presidential election, it was not immediately
clear Sunday how Egypt planned the road towards full-fledged democracy, EU
style.
Confirmation of a date in
June had been expected but, analysts said that Sunday's delay suggested there
is a behind-the-scenes battle over the timing of returning from military to
civilian rule.
http://www.bosnewslife.com/20512-egypt-in-arab-winter-amid-postponed-ballot-and-anti-christian-violence
--------
Balochistan chapter of
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) rails at police, govt. for situation in Quetta
20 February 2012
QUETTA: The Balochistan
chapter of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) has held the administration and police
responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in Quetta. The JUI-F
is a partner in the provincial coalition government led by Nawab Mohammad Aslam
Raisani of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Addressing a rally at the
Bacha Khan Chowk on Sunday, the JUI leaders announced that the party would soon
expose the
elements behind the
kidnapping of JUI-F leader Sadiq Nurzai.
Maulana Nurzai disappeared
four days ago and returned home on Saturday night.
JUI city president Hafiz
Hamdullah, Mr Nurzai and Haji Khuda Dost in their speeches said the rally had
been organised to condemn growing incidents of abduction for ransom and said
the district administration and police were not interested in ensuring security
for citizens.
They said dozens of
incidents of abduction for ransom and vehicle snatching had taken place in
different parts of Balochistan, but the police performance was so poor that not
a single criminal had been arrested.
They called upon the
government to take effective steps to ensure the protection of people and said
leaving the innocent citizens at the mercy of criminals was great injustice.
The JUI leaders condemned
a resolution tabled in the US Congress on the Balochistan issue and said the
United States was in fact hatching a conspiracy to create disturbance in
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/20/jui-f-rails-at-police-govt.html
--------
‘Most Favoured Nation’ not
same as ‘most friendly’ nation: PAK P M
20 February 2012
PIR JO GOTH: Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said that granting a country the ‘Most
Favoured Nation’ (MFN) status was not the same as declaring it the most
“friendly” nation, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to reporters
after condoling with Pir Pagara VIII upon the demise of his father, PM Gilani
said that many other countries had also been declared most favoured nations in
the past.
Gilani said that the
government would consider Pakistan’s interests while trading with India, as it
is a step towards better trade relations with the neighbouring country.
The prime minister said
that, in his opinion, the government should be given a chance to complete its
tenure. He further said that Afghan people hold the solution for the Afghan
crisis.
When asked a question
about the contempt of court case against him, he declined to give an answer,
saying that only his lawyer could answer questions related to the case.
Gilani added that the
government had decided to call an ‘All Parties Conference’ to dicsuss the
Balochistan issue.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/19/most-favoured-nation-does-not-mean-most-friendly-nation-gilani.html
--------
Pakistan FM to seek UK
help against drone raids
Amir Wasim
20 February 2012
ISLAMABAD: Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar left for the United Kingdom on Sunday on an official
visit to hold wide-ranging talks with her British counterpart and other
officials to persuade them to use their influence on the United States to end
drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Ms Khar has undertaken the
four-day visit two weeks after an interview given by Pakistan’s High
Commissioner in London Wajid Shamsul Hassan to an English newspaper in which he
urged Prime Minister David Cameron to condemn drone attacks and help stop them.
Mr Hassan had admitted
that Islamabad’s relations with Washington were at their lowest ebb and
described the drone attacks as ‘war crimes’ and ‘little more than state
execution’.
“When we will begin talks,
every issue will come under discussion. We will definitely express our reservations
over it,” said Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit when asked if Ms Khar would
seek the UK’s help in getting drone attacks stopped as had
been indicated by the high
commissioner.
Mr Basit, who is part of
the official delegation visiting the UK, told Dawn by telephone from London
that the agenda of Ms Khar’s visit was to hold dialogue on ‘enhanced strategic’
relations with the UK and to enhance bilateral cooperation in economy, trade
and education.
The spokesman said the
foreign minister had a very busy schedule in the UK. She will meet Foreign
Secretary William Hague on Tuesday and she will address a gathering at the
prestigious Oxford University on Monday and will have an interaction with a
group of academics. The foreign minister, he said, would also meet members of
the UK Parliamentary Group on Pakistan, All Parties Foreign Affairs Committee,
members of parliament and some politicians of Pakistani origin.
The foreign minister will
also have meetings with the UK National Security Adviser Nigel Kim Darroch and
the trade minister besides a number of other officials.
During his visit to Davos
last month, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had stated that US drone attacks
were only fuelling insurgency in Pakistan.
He had said that Pakistan
was against “illegal and counter-productive” drone strikes along the areas
bordering Afghanistan and that Islamabad had already conveyed its concerns to
the US in this regard.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/20/khar-to-seek-uk-help-against-drone-raids.html
--------
Pervez Musharraf planned
Benazir Bhutto kill?
February 20, 2012
By Shafqat Ali
Former Pakistan military
ruler Pervez Musharraf orchestrated the assassination of two-time Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007, a probe ordered by the interior ministry has
revealed.
Television channel Waqt
News, claiming to have a copy of the probe report, said Musharraf used two
police officers and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mehsud.
It said the report, to be
submitted before the Sindh provincial Assembly, says a cell was established in
room number 96 of Haqqania madrassa in Akora Khattak to plan the murder and
students of the seminary were in contact with Mehsud.
“But the plot was
originally finalised in Waziristan, while Baitullah executed the al-Qaeda
orders on December 27, 2007, and assigned various groups the task to carry out
suicide bombings with the assistance of Pervez Musharraf and the two police
officers.”
The report further says
Bhutto did not enter into any deal with Musharraf, who tried to stop her from
flying back to the country. President Asif Ali Zardari was also asked to cancel
her return, it adds.
The report says 16
terrorists were involved in the assassination. Of these, five, including two
top cops, have been arrested, six have been killed and three are at large.
Musharraf’s All-Pakistan
Muslim League rejected the findings, saying the government spent Rs 600 million
on a baseless report.
'Mush offered no security'
The report also mentions
that Musharraf did not offer any security to Bhutto, which resulted in problems
during her visits to Rahim Yar Khan, Larkana and Sukkur, while the jammers
provided to her also went out of order.
It said Nadir Khan, alias
Qari Ismail, a close associate of Baitullah Mehsud, formed a cell at the
Haqqani Madrasa, comprising Nasrullah, alias Ahmed, Ibadur Rehman, Nauman,
Usman alias Farooq and Husnain Gul alias Ali. They met Baitullah in Waziristan.
Later, Husnain introduced
the bombers, Saeed, alias Bilal, and Ikramullah, to his cousin, Rifaqat
Hussain, who have them accommodation in Rawalpindi, before they were taken to
Liaquat Bagh.
The TV channel said on the
night between Dec. 27 and 28, 2007, Husnain and Rifaqat visited Nasrullah and
arranged lodging for the two bombers at Rifaqat’s house, where Abdullah alias
Saddam, Ibadur Rehman and Faiz Mohammad, alias Casket, provide suicide jackets to
them.
It says Saeed first fired
a gunshot at Bhutto and later caused an explosion, while Ikram was also ready
in case Saeed missed the target.
On the other hand, had
Bhutto left the venue from the other route, an extra group of attackers were
deployed there to assassinate the popular leader.
The report says Ibad and
Ikram fled after the attack and Mr Musharraf and the police officers provided
continuous help to them.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/asia/pervez-musharraf-planned-benazir-bhutto-kill-881
--------
Bomb blast kills 8
anti-Taliban militiamen in northwest Pakistan, says official
Feb 19, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A bomb
planted at a checkpoint manned by members of a Pakistani militia fighting a
radical group similar to the Taleban exploded Sunday and killed eight militia
members in northwest Pakistan, a government official said.
The blast in the border
region with Afghanistan shows the challenges that these militias and their
Pakistani government supporters face as they try to purge the volatile border
region of groups such as the Taleban and Al-Qaeda who have grown in strength
over the last decade.
Tribal agency official
Iqbal Khan said six more members of the militia were wounded in the incident
which took place in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal region.
The complex attack started
when a bomb planted at the checkpoint was detonated by a timer, Khan said. Then
as the militiamen were retrieving the bodies, the militants opened fired on
them. The militiamen escaped unhurt, but two of the militants were killed in
the retaliatory fire.
The militia was set up to
fight a local radical group known as Lashkar-e-Islam, the tribal official said.
Insurgents often target the militias, which they perceive as Pakistani
government supporters.
Pakistan has outlawed
Lashkar-e-Islam, which wants enforcement of a Taleban-style version of Islamic
law.
Lashkar-e-Islam is not
formally linked to the Pakistani Taleban. But it shares similar ideology with
the Taleban and other militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal regions along Afghan
border. The group sometimes shares manpower and resources with other militants.
The militia fighting
Lashkar-e-Islam is composed of local tribesmen frustrated with the growth of
Taleban-style groups in their territory. Such militias were started by the
Pakistani government in its campaign against Lashkar-e-Islam and the Pakistani
Taleban in the lawless Khyber tribal areas where the government has little or
no control.
http://arabnews.com/world/article577616.ece
--------
Bomb blast in Suleja,
Nigeria again
Written by Olawale
Rasheed, Adelowo Oladipo and Johnson Babajide
Monday, 20 February 2012
THE Christian community in
Niger State was again, on Sunday, thrown into confusion, following an early
morning bomb blast a few metres from the front of Christ Embassy Church in
Morocco area of the town, which left about five unidentified persons seriously
injured.
The latest bomb blast by
yet to be known persons came about eight weeks after a similar incident claimed
many lives on the premises of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church at Madalla, on the
boundary between Niger State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
At the time of filing this
report on Sunday, nobody had claimed responsibility for the bomb blast, but
operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), who moved to the scene were
quoted as saying that an improvised
explosive device (IED) was planted by
unknown people inside a vehicle parked some few metres away from the front of
the church.
The bomb blast was reported to have occurred at about 10.30
a.m near the church and a popular hotel on the busy street.
An eyewitness, who craved
anonymity, confirmed the bomb explosion,
claiming that no person was killed. He added that the damage from the bomb,
which was planted amidst five cars, was minimal.
According to the source,
among the injured persons, two were rushed to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital
while three others received treatment at Suleja hospital and had been
discharged.
Another witness said that
some people who were close to the scene saw a parked car without a number
plate. They became suspicious and started alerting people to stay away from the
car, before the explosive went off.
He said, “the most
fortunate thing was when the bomb exploded in the car, there was no fire from
the vehicle, though other parked vehicles by the side were affected because of
the impact of the explosive device.”
It was learnt that
military personnel that were deployed in the Suleja Local Government Area after
the declaration of the state of emergency early this year have taken over and
cordoned off the area.
Reacting, the
Director-General of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mohammad
Shaba, said he was mobilising his staff to the scene of the incident with a
view to taking over the treatment of the
injured persons and also to meet with those that lost their property.
When contacted, the state
Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim
Maishanu, confirmed the incident, saying that one person was injured and two
vehicles were affected in the blast.
He said, “one person was
injured and two vehicles were affected and as I am talking with you, I am on my
way to Suleja to further ascertain the situation.”
Meanwhile, four persons
suspected to be members of Boko Haram were, on Sunday, arrested at St Theresa’s
Catholic Church at High Level, Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
The Nigerian Tribune learnt that the four
suspects had attempted to gain entry into the church at the commencement of the
second mass around 10.00 a.m, when they were stopped by private security men.
The questions posed to the suspects, who were
said to have dressed in kaftan with rosary in their hands, were not answered
satisfactorily and the policemen attached to the church to beef up security
were said to have put a call to their colleagues who whisked them away.
Some members of the church and a security man
at the gate, who did not want his name in print, confirmed the report to
Nigerian Tribune, saying that the suspects claimed to have come from Kaduna
State and that they were in the church to see someone whose name was not given.
The security man said that the four suspects
were dressed in kaftan, adding that two of them held rosary in their hands,
pretending to be Catholic faithful, saying, “their answers to questions put to
them were not satisfactory enough.”
One of the members of the church, an
eyewitness who gave his name as Clement, told Nigerian Tribune that “the
dressing of the four suspects was different from those of us who worship here.
The rosary in their hands was not convincing enough. So, the police officers,
who were attached to this place, immediately put a call to their office and the
four suspects were taken away.”
Efforts to get information from the policemen
were rebuffed, as one of them who prevented Nigerian Tribune from seeing the
priest in charge said, “you newsmen like to disturb, where did you get your
information? How do you know whether the people (suspects) were members of Boko
Haram?”
Presiding minister, Reverend Father John
Tomdom said he was yet to be briefed on the arrest of any suspect, saying, “I
have just finished from the mass, I am yet to receive information and you know
that there is no way I could know what was happening outside while I was inside
the church.”
Confirming the arrest, the state Police Public
Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Alaribe Ejike, however, said that the people were
not members of Boko Haram.
It will be recalled that
following the rumour that Benue State is on the invasion list of the dreaded
sect, the state government and religious leaders in the state took measures to
beef up security in places of worship. Hence, some churches now have security
agents manning their gates every Sunday.
Also, the state governor,
Mr Gabriel Suswam, had recently raised the alarm, claiming that about 100
members of the Boko Haram sect had been arrested and detained in undisclosed
cells.
In another development, a
lull appears imminent in the frequent attacks by members of the dreaded Boko
Haram sect as the trans-border supply lines of the sect have been disrupted as
a result of a crisis rocking al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a
notorious terrorist group with a training camp in northern Mali.
Reports from the Sahel
Region, which is the boundary between the Sahara Desert and the dense interior
jungles of Africa, indicate that AQIM is embroiled in a major leadership crisis
between two leaders of the group- Mohammed Ghadir and Khaled Abass, who are
vying for the control of AQIM’s Sahara emirate.
A tripartite terrorist
groups namely, Nigeria’s Boko Haram, AQIM in the Sahara and al-Shabaab in
Somalia, receive material and infrastructural support from their parent body,
al-Qaeda.
It will be recalled that
Boko Haram recently confirmed its al-Qaeda link from which it draws
nourishment.
Military and intelligence
services are reported by Magharebia, an interactive news website covering the
Maghreb region, to have made serious advances in breaking the communication and
supply links among the trio, a development said to be positive for Nigeria’s
intelligence community in stopping the supply chain to the Boko Haram sect.
The leadership tussle is
said to have enhanced the capacity of the Sahel military and intelligence
agencies in disrupting the terror operations, leading to the recent large-scale
arrests and killings of members of the groups.
According to security analysts,
AQIM’s crisis has been complicated by the scaling up of military operations, as
well as intelligence penetration by the Joint Sahel Intelligence Centre and the
Joint Military Command, which are said to have sown panic among the leadership
of the group.
Sahel military groups, it
was gathered, were said to be conducting disruptive operations targeting the
three terrorist organisations, even as it was said to be reaching out to the
Nigerian government with the aim of preventing al-Qaeda and Boko Haram from
forging a closer alliance.
The clampdown on the
terrorist network was reported to have also led to the arrest of several Boko
Haram recruits on their way to AQIM training camps in northern Mali by the
Nigerian authorities, just as Libyan weapons destined for the camps were said
to have been intercepted.
“There is continuous
thinking about preventing this terrorist network, which tries to extend from
the eastern to central Africa, from communicating,” a Mauritanian Foreign
Ministry official confirmed to Magharebia.
Many within the nation’s
security circles are reported to have identified the stoppage of external
supply chain to Boko Haram from the Sahel region and other sources as a major
strategy in combating terrorism in the country.
A Sahel security analyst,
Handy Ould Dah, was quoted by the news agency as declaring that Algeria had
disrupted relations between Boko Haram and AQIM.
In addition, African
countries in the Sahel region were said to have been successful in convincing
the Tuareg communities across the region to join in the fight against AQIM in
return for accelerated development in their communities.
This was said to have led
to a notorious group, the National Movement of Azaouad (NMLA), disowning AQIM.
Meanwhile, France and
Britain will soon launch counter-terrorism operations in the north of Mali and
Niger Republic.
El Khabar, an Algerian
newspaper, reported that the move was aimed at further weakening the
coordination of the three terrorist groups.
According to the
newspaper, the two countries were collecting as much intelligence as possible,
through aerial reconnaissance missions, conducting tapping and monitoring
operations of some terror sites with operations reported to include killing of
terrorist leaders in what is known as “physical liquidations.”
The goal of the operation
was to put an end to the frequent abduction of Western nationals and prevent
AQIM from spreading its terror tentacles.
Experts in the Sahel said
the French-British efforts were proceeding in deliberate coordination with
regional countries in terms of collecting intelligence and setting the goals to
be focused upon.
Nigerian security
officials were, however, not ready to confirm or deny the development in the
Sahel and its effects on the nation’s battle against Boko Haram, as they
described security operations as “classified.”
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/36246-bomb-blast-in-suleja-again
--------
Nigerian Militant Sect
Boko Haram Suspected of Killing Two
By Gbenga Akingbule
Feb 19, 2012
A militant Islamic sect in
Nigeria, Boko Haram, was suspected in the deaths yesterday of a Muslim cleric
in Konduga, Borno state, and the district head of Geidam in Yobe state, police
officials said.
Police are investigating
the killings and no arrests have been made, spokesman Samuel Tizhe said by
telephone today from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno. Yobe police chief Tanko
Lawan confirmed the killing of the district head today by phone from Damaturu,
the capital.
Authorities in Nigeria,
Africa’s top oil producer, blame Boko Haram, which draws inspiration from
Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, for a wave of bombings and attacks targeting
security officials and government buildings in the mainly Muslim north and
Abuja, the capital, since 2009.
Boko Haram, which means
“Western education is a sin,” says it’s fighting to establish Islamic Sharia
law across the West African nation. The group claimed responsibility for
multiple blasts and attacks in the city of Kano on Jan. 20 that killed at least
256 people, according to the Civil Rights Congress.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-18/nigerian-militant-sect-boko-haram-suspected-of-killing-two.html
--------
Syrian opposition sees
radicals at work for regime
By Mona Alami
20 February 2012
BEIRUT – The Free Syrian
Army says terrorists are operating in Syria on behalf of the Assad regime as
its military forces continue to bombard opposition cities despite United
Nations condemnation.
A member of the Free
Syrian Army sits in the back of a pickup during a patrol Saturday in Idlib,
Syria.
A member of the Free
Syrian Army sits in the back of a pickup during a patrol Saturday in Idlib,
Syria.
Aref Hamoud, a colonel in
the Free Syrian Army, said his units are encountering a growing number of
radical elements in some parts of the country. He said the radicals are Syrians
and not foreigners from al-Qaeda.
"Up until now, the
al-Qaeda insurgency lacks local support of the population, which is an
essential element for its guerrilla warfare," he said. "A prolonged
crisis would breed a more fertile ground for the organization, which is why we
call for Arab and Western countries to provide military and financial
support."
"It is clear that
this regime will only be toppled by force," he said.
On Thursday, U.S. Director
of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress that al-Qaeda "is
extending its reach into Syria." Meanwhile, Iranian warships docked in the
Syrian port of Tartus, Iranian news agency Mehr reported Sunday.
On Saturday, Syrian troops
in Damascus fired on mourners at a funeral for a protester who died in a clash
during a march against the regime of Bashar Assad. On Sunday, Egypt recalled
its ambassador to Syria.
The Syrian regime released
more than a dozen members of Fatah al-Islam and al-Qaeda from prison several
weeks ago, according to al-Qaeda-linked websites. Fatah al-Islam is a
Palestinian terrorist organization.
Hamoud said that a more
troubling development is the alleged release of Abu Mussab al-Suri, a Syrian
citizen and longtime jihadist captured in Pakistan in 2005. The U.S. State
Department had issued a $5 million reward for his capture and he was turned over
to U.S. custody but eventually handed to the Syrians. An al-Qaeda-linked forum
said he had been released, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence
Group.
"The Syrian regime is
willing to take any risk to stay in power by playing up the West's fears,
especially those of the U.S. and Israel," Hamoud said. "They believe
such reckless measures will relieve some of the pressure."
The regime blamed recent
bomb blasts in Damascus and Aleppo that resulted in about 100 deaths on
al-Qaeda. Assad blames the uprising against him on terrorist groups and U.S.
and Israeli interference. The U.N. has said his troops have killed thousands of
people, most of whom were civilians protesting peacefully or in rebellious
cities hammered by Syrian artillery.
Several demonstrations
took place recently in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its biggest trading and
industrial center. Aleppo had been calm during months of uprisings. Home to
Syria's merchant class, Aleppo has generally supported the regime.
"The situation in
Aleppo was relatively calm due to the strong military presence of Syrian
security forces," Hamoud said. "However, this week, they seem to be
slowly losing their grip on the city."
Meanwhile, Syrian troops
continued their assault on the city of Homs, an operation that has gone on for
two weeks. The U.N. General Assembly last week approved a non-binding
resolution that condemned Assad's human-rights violations in Homs and
elsewhere.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-02-17/syria-terrorists-assad-regime/53160584/1
--------
Ultraconservative
Islamists demonstrate in Tunisia
Feb. 17, 2012
TUNIS, Tunisia -- Tunisian
police have used tear gas to disperse a demonstration of ultraconservative
Islamists protesting against the government in the capital.
Hundreds of Salafists took
to the streets after Friday prayers condemning comments by the president that
they were an insignificant minority.
The protesters carried
signs calling for Islamic law and chanted God is the greatest.
Tunisia was ruled for 23
years by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who espoused a secular ideology and imposed
strict limits on political Islam. Since his ouster in January 2011, there has
been a flourishing of Islamic groups.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/17/4271694/ultraconservative-islamists-demonstrate.html
--------
Nuclear inspectors of
United Nations leave for key talks in Tehran
AP | Feb 20, 2012
VIENNA: A senior UN
nuclear official said he hoped for progress in upcoming talks with Iran about
suspected secret work on atomic arms, but his careful choice of words suggested
little expectation that the meeting will be successful.
Sunday's comments by
Herman Nackaerts as his International Atomic Energy Agency team prepared to
leave for Tehran for the second time in less than a month appeared to reflect
IAEA reluctance to raise hopes that Iran will engage on an issue that it claims
has no substance.
Before the trip, senior
diplomats said that Russia and China _ strategic and economic partners which
Iran traditionally relies on to blunt Western pressure over its nuclear
activities _ were urging Tehran to cooperate with the IAEA team.
Moscow and Beijing are
"using some pretty high-level diplomacy" to persuade Iran, said one
of the diplomats, who asked for anonymity in exchange for discussing
confidential information coming from his capital.
Still hopes were slim. A
previous IAEA mission returned from Tehran on Feb. 1 without managing to dent
Iran's wall of denial. In comments to reporters at Vienna airport, Nackaerts
was at pains to avoid raising hopes.
"Importantly, we hope
that we can have some concrete results after this trip, and the highest
priority remains of course the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear
program," he said. "This is of course a very complex issue that may
take a while, but we hope it will be constructive."
Iran has refused to
discuss the alleged weapons experiments for nearly four years, saying they are
based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant
countries" _ a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the US and
its allies.
Faced with Iranian denial,
the IAEA summarized its body of information in November in a 13-page document
drawing on 1,000 pages of intelligence. It stated then for the first time that
some of the alleged experiments can have no other purpose than developing
nuclear weapons.
The IAEA team wants to
talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program. They
also hope to break down opposition to their plans to inspect documents related
to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future
visits.
But before the trip,
senior diplomats told the AP that Iran had made no commitments _ despite the
Russian and Chinese attempts at persuasion and a rapidly growing series of
international sanctions threatening to choke Iran's oil lifeline and financial
system.
The most recent squeeze on
Iran was announced Friday, when SWIFT, a financial clearinghouse used by
virtually every country and major corporation in the world, agreed to shut out
the Islamic Republic from its network.
Tehran remained defiant
Sunday, announcing has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, in an
apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed
sanctions on Iran's crucial fuel exports.
At the same time, it
appeared eager to show it was ready to talk. Even before receiving an answer on
its offer last week to meet with world powers on its nuclear program, Foreign
Minister Ali Akhbar Salehi on Sunday set Istanbul, Turkey, as the venue of
those negotiations.
Beyond concerns about the
purported weapons work, Washington and its allies want Iran to halt uranium
enrichment, which they believe could eventually lead to weapons-grade material
and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful
purposes _ generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat
cancer patients.
Its activities at its
plant at Fordo, near the holy city of Qom are of particular concern because it
is dug into a mountain and possibly impervious to attack _ an option that both
Israel and the United States refuse to rule out should diplomatic persuasion
and sanctions fail to stop Tehran's nuclear drive.
Reflecting growing jitters
that the Israelis are poised to strike, both US and Britain on Sunday urged Israel
not to attack Iran's nuclear program.
The US joint chiefs of
staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and British Foreign Minister William Hague said an
Israeli attack on Iran would have grave consequences for the entire region and
urged Israel to give international sanctions against Iran more time to work.
Dempsey said an Israeli attack is "not prudent," and Hague said it
would not be "a wise thing."
In interviews Friday and
Saturday, diplomats told the AP that Iran is poised to install thousands of
new-generation centrifuges at the cavernous facility _ machines that can
produce enriched uranium much more quickly and efficiently than its present
equipment.
While saying that the
electrical circuitry, piping and supporting equipment for the new centrifuges
was now in place, the diplomats emphasized that Tehran had not started
installing the new machines and could not say whether it was planning to.
Still, the senior
diplomats _ who asked for anonymity because their information was privileged _
suggested that Tehran would have little reason to prepare the ground for the
better centrifuges unless it planned to operate them.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Nuclear-inspectors-of-United-Nations-leave-for-key-talks-in-Tehran/articleshow/11957646.cms
--------
Faltering peace talks need
rethink, says Karzai aide
20 February 2012
KABUL: Government efforts
to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table are faltering and bold steps are
needed to ensure that a council spearheading the reconciliation process can win
the trust of militants, according to an adviser to President Hamid Karzai.
Assadullah Wafa on Sunday
also expressed concern that Afghans, subjected to one conflict after another,
were losing hope that peace was possible from a process that so far has been
shrouded in secrecy.
The government has made
some contacts with the Taliban, who have made a strong comeback after being
toppled by a US invasion in 2001, but there are no signs that full-fledged
peace talks will happen anytime soon.
US diplomats have also
been seeking to broaden exploratory talks that began secretly in Germany in
late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in the Gulf
emirate of Qatar, prompting demands for inclusion from Kabul.
“The talk about peace
talks is just futile,” said Wafa, an adviser to President Karzai and a former
governor in some of Afghanistan’s most volatile provinces.
Karzai set up a 70-member
High Peace Council two years ago, with Wafa as a member, to try and negotiate
an end to the war, now dragging into its eleventh year.
It is meant to represent
all ethnic and political alliances in a bid to reach out to the Taliban
leadership, as well as convince grassroots fighters to join the government.
Wafa, however, questioned
its effectiveness, and said its wide makeup actually made it difficult for the
government to reach out to militant groups. “I have told President Karzai and
he promised that there would be repair of the peace council. I am not afraid to
speak out, but it doesn’t much bear fruit. There must be a review,” he said in
an interview.
“I think genuine people
aren’t part of the peace council, or there are individuals who the Taliban
fought in the past or some communist baqaya (remains) in the council, because
of whom the Taliban aren’t interested in talks.”
Wafa, one of the Afghan
government’s most experienced bureaucrats, said a reorganisation of the council
could help kick-start talks in Qatar, where the Taliban have set up an office
to build contacts with the United States, or elsewhere.
The stakes are high.
Failure to lure the Taliban to the negotiating table could mean perpetual
instability, or even another civil war, once Nato combat troops withdraw in
2014.
Wafa accused Pakistan —
seen as critical to efforts to end the war — of playing a double game,
promising to work for peace while using the Taliban and other groups as proxies
to advance its interests in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is known to
want access to Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar, because they would be
the decision makers in any substantive peace negotiations.
“They (Pakistan) say one
thing and do another. There is no doubt that Taliban leadership and Mullah Omar
are in Quetta,” Wafa alleged.—Reuters
http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/20/faltering-peace-talks-need-rethink-says-karzai-aide.html
--------
Taliban leaders willing
for peace talks are killed: Hamid Karzai
Feb 19, 2012
Islamabad Afghan President
Hamid Karzai has told a top Pakistani cleric with ties to militants that key
Afghan Taliban leaders are either killed or arrested whenever they show
willingness to negotiate with his government."President Hamid Karzai told
me that certain powers kill and arrest important Afghan (Taliban) personalities
whenever they find an opportunity to talk to us (Karzai's government)," Maulana
Samiul Haq, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-S, said after a one-on-one
meeting with Karzai yesterday. "The Afghan President also mentioned the
arrest and killing of key Taliban leaders in Pakistan," Haq said, adding
that Karzai said he loses an opportunity for dialogue when the Afghan Taliban
personalities are removed from the scene.
"President Karzai
told me that he has sensed a positive change in the approach of Pakistani
leaders during his official talks," Haq said. "However, I told him
Pakistani leaders cannot play any role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation
unless they change their pro-US policy." Haq quoted Karzai as saying that
he was in contact with Taliban and that he holds talks with them "from
time to time". Karzai did not elaborate on the extent of his contacts with
the Taliban, he said.
Karzai met senior
religious and political leaders during his visit to Islamabad to attend a
trilateral summit with the Presidents of Iran and Pakistan. He sought their
help for peace and reconciliation efforts in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
An Afghan diplomat said
Karzai extended his visit by a day and wrapped up his trip yesterday.He had
earlier scheduled a two-day trip but extended it to complete talks with key
Pakistani politicians.
Media reports said an
angry and frustrated Karzai confronted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's
delegation during bilateral talks on Thursday and demanded that they produce
Afghan Taliban leaders for talks.
Karzai's "language
and tone flared to such an extent that Gilani briefly halted the meeting,
according to one report. In an apparent response to Karzai's demands, Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar subsequently said Mullah Mohammad Omar, the supreme
commander of the Afghan Taliban, was not in Pakistan and Islamabad could not ensure
his participation in peace talks.
Karzai's "language
and tone flared to such an extent that Gilani briefly halted the meeting,
according to one report. In an apparent response to Karzai's demands, Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar subsequently said Mullah Mohammad Omar, the supreme
commander of the Afghan Taliban, was not in Pakistan and Islamabad could not
ensure his participation in peace talks.
Khar said it was
"preposterous" to think that Pakistan could deliver Mullah Omar to
the negotiating table. She contended there was no "clarity" on the
role that Kabul wanted Islamabad to play in the Afghan reconciliation process.
When Mullah Baradar, next
in line in the Taliban hierarchy after Mullah Omar, was arrested near Karachi
in February 2010, a section of the media claimed he had been involved in talks
with the Afghan government.
The Taliban denied the
report. The Afghan government and Karzai have in the past sought access to and
the repatriation of Mullah Baradar, but the demand is believed to have not been
accepted.
The Afghan Taliban recently
confirmed for the first time that top leader and former Defence Minister Mullah
Obaidullah had died in a Pakistani prison.
They asked Pakistan to
provide information about his arrest, imprisonment and death. Afghan Taliban
spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Obaidullah was arrested in Baluchistan in
2009 and died in a Karachi jail the following year.
Other Pakistani leaders
who met Karzai yesterday included Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain
Syed of the PML-Q, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao of the PPP-S, and Haji Muhammad
Adeel, Afrasiyab Khattak and Zahid Khan of the Awami National Party.
Karzai stressed on the
exchange of parliamentary and political delegations. He further stressed the
need to set up an independent Pakistan-Afghanistan Jirga as a platform to
resolve outstanding issues between the two countries.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Taliban-leaders-willing-for-peace-talks-are-killed--Hamid-Karzai/914028/
--------
Syrian forces fire on
anti-Assad crowd in capital
Khaled Yacoub Oweis and
Angus MacSwan, Reuters
Saturday, February 18,
2012
AMMAN/BEIRUT, Feb 19
(Reuters) - Syrian security forces have fired on a huge protest against
President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, opposition activists said, shortly after
a Chinese envoy appealed for a halt to 11 months of violence.
The shooting took place on
Saturday at the funerals of three youths killed a day earlier in an anti-Assad
protest that was one of the biggest in the capital since a nationwide uprising
started.
"They started firing
at the crowd right after the burial," said a witness, speaking to Reuters
in Amman by telephone.
People tried to flee and
seek shelter in alleyways, he said.
The opposition Syrian
Revolution Coordination Union said the gunfire near the cemetery had killed one
mourner and wounded four, including a woman who was hit in the head. A
shopkeeper told Reuters many protesters were arrested.
The Local Coordination
Committees, an opposition activit group, said security forces had killed 14
people in Damascus and other parts of the country on Saturday, including five
in the opposition stronghold of Homs. None of the figures could be verified
independently.
Up to 30,000 demonstrators
had taken to the streets in the capital's Mezze district, near the headquarters
of Airforce Intelligence and that of the ruling Baath Party, witnesses said.
Footage of the funeral
broadcast on the Internet showed women ululating to honour the victims.
Mourners shouted: "We sacrifice our blood, our soul for you martyrs. One,
one, one, the Syrian people are one."
YouTube footage from
another Damascus suburb, Douma, showed several thousand protesters at the
funerals of two people said to have been killed there by security forces. The
bodies were carried though a sea of mourners waving pre-Baath Syrian flags.
Assad described the
turmoil racking Syria as a ploy to split the country.
"What Syria is facing
is fundamentally an effort to divide it and affect its geopolitical place and
historic role in the region," he was quoted by Syrian state television as
saying after meeting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun.
CHINESE SUPPORT
Zhai appealed for an end
to violence from all sides, including the government and opposition forces. But
his comments for the most part amounted to a show of support against world
condemnation of Assad's crackdown on the popular uprising.
The envoy said China
backed Assad's plan for a referendum on Feb. 26 followed by multi-party
elections to resolve the crisis. The opposition and the West have dismissed the
plan as a sham.
"China supports the
path of reform taking place in Syria and the important steps that have been
taken in this respect," he said.
The Chinese Embassy said
Zhai held separate meetings with moderate opposition figures Qadri Jamil, Louay
Hussein and Hassan Abdulazim, but gave no details.
"We told the Chinese
envoy that most of the opposition accept a dialogue if that dialogue is serious
and responsible, meaning that the Syrian authorities would implement what is
agreed. But the problem with dialogue is that the authorities have lost
credibility," Hussein told Reuters.
Beijing and Moscow have
been Assad's most important international defenders during the ferocious repression,
which has killed several thousand people and divided world powers. The United
Nations, the United States, Europe, Turkey and Arab powers want Assad to step
down and have condemned the crackdown.
Russia and China vetoed a
U.N. Security Council resolution on Feb. 4 calling on Assad to quit and also
voted against a similar, non-binding General Assembly resolution on Thursday.
In other strife across the
country, government forces bombarded the opposition stronghold of Homs on
Saturday.
A blanket of snow covered
Homs, strategically sited on the road between Damascus and the commercial hub
Aleppo, as rockets and artillery pounded mainly Sunni Muslim rebel districts.
The troops were close to
Baba Amro, a southern neighbourhood that has been target of the heaviest
barrages since the offensive began two weeks ago, activists said.
"There is no
electricity and communications between districts are cut, so we are unable to
get a death toll. There is no fuel in most of the city," activist Mohammad
al-Homsi said from Homs.
HAMA OFFENSIVE
The military has also
opened a new offensive in Hama, a city with a bloody history of resistance to
Assad's late father Hafez, who died in 2000 after 30 years in power.
Syrian forces killed
people in Homs, Hama, the northwestern province of Idlib near the border of
Turkey and in Aleppo, Damascus and the southern Hauran Plain, where the popular
uprising against Assad's rule started, the Local Coordination Committees said
in a statement.
Assad, who belongs to the
Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, in a majority Sunni country, says
he is fighting foreign-backed terrorists.
The uprising began with
civilian protests in March, but now includes a parallel armed struggle led by
the loosely organised Free Syria Army, made up of army deserters and local
insurgents.
Syria's other significant
ally is Iran, itself at odds with the West.
An Iranian destroyer and a
supply ship sailed through the Suez canal this week and are believed to be on
their way to the Syrian coast, a source in the canal authority said.
Iraq said on Saturday it
had reinforced security along its Syrian border to prevent arms smuggling after
reports that fighters and weapons were crossing into Syria.
"Necessary measures
have been taken to consolidate control over the borders with Syria which is
witnessing turbulence that encourages infiltration and all kinds of smuggling,
especially arms," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said.
Iraq's Shi'ites fear that
if Assad falls, hardline Sunnis could come to power, a shift that could
threaten their newly-acquired dominance since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=6175936
--------
Tel Aviv to get missile
interceptor system: army
20 February 2012
JERUSALEM: The Israeli
military will on Monday deploy a battery of rocket interceptors from its
"Iron Dome" system in the Tel Aviv region, a military spokesman said
on Sunday.
"Iron Dome is being
incorporated into the heart of the Israeli military. As part of this process,
the system is deployed in different sites and will be in the Gush Dan region
(of Tel Aviv) in the coming days," he said in a statement that clarified
the deployment would begin on Monday.
This deployment "is
part of the annual training plan for this system", he added.
The decision to site an
Iron Dome battery at Tel Aviv comes amid heightened regional tensions and
speculation about a possible Israeli attack targeting Iran's controversial
nuclear programme.
Israel has denied that a
decision has been taken to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear
facilities.
The first battery of the
unique multi-million-dollar Iron Dome system was deployed last March 27 outside
the southern desert city of Beersheva, after it was hit by Grad rockets fired
by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
On April 4, the system was
also deployed around the southern port city of Ashkelon.
The first of its kind in
the world and still at the experimental stage, it is not yet able to provide
complete protection, but it has successfully brought down several rockets fired
from Gaza.
Designed to intercept
rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between four and 70
kilometres (three and 45 miles), Iron Dome is part of an ambitious
multi-layered defence programme to protect Israeli towns and cities.
Two other systems make up
the programme -- the Arrow long-range ballistic missile defence system and the
so-called David's Sling, or Magic Wand, system, intended to counter
medium-range missiles. (AFP)
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-36091-Tel-Aviv-to-get-missile-interceptor-system:-army
--------
Jeddah to be Kingdom’s
first eco-friendly city
By DIANA AL-JASSEM
Feb 20, 2012
JEDDAH: Jeddah had been
announced as the first city in the Kingdom to apply environmental standards in
its schools, according to Minister of Education Prince Faisal bin Abdullah and
President of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) Prince Turki
bin Nasser.
This initiative comes as a
result of the National Program for Environmental Awareness called “Be’aty:
Green Flag, Green Country.” It was organized in cooperation with the Saudi
Environmental Society (SENS) and the heads of 14 Saudi municipalities.
“Schools in addition to
families will be able to create a sense of environmental responsibility in our
children,” he said.
“All strategies that could
help in saving the environment are going to be implemented in schools. For
example, we are looking to solve one of the main problems that increase
pollution such as traffic congestion. This will lead us to start a general
transportation system for both male and female students, which certainly
decrease the congestion around schools and decrease the car numbers.”
Prince Faisal confirmed
the Ministry of Education will join hands with SENS to launch several programs.
“Our aim is to provide the new generation with the knowledge and skills to work
individually and collectively to solve environmental issues and to avoid new
environmental problems,” he said.
Prince Turki stated that
SENS’ new plan is to create harmony in the Kingdom and to achieve the
objectives of implementing education for sustainable development.
“SENS will implement this
program in cooperation with a number of international bodies and experts, as
well as coordination with the Ministry of Education, in order to facilitate
practical experience and theory on environmental issues as part of this full
academic program. We are looking forward to finish implementing the program in
all schools in the Kingdom,” he said.
Prince Turki said he
expected the program’s output to match the aspirations of those involved.
“We are working with the
Ministry of Education to create environmental clubs in all schools to raise
environmental awareness,” he said.
Prince Khaled bin Saud,
general manager of projects management at the PME, said such programs would
raise awareness of local and regional environmental issues.
“We are looking to resolve
environmental problems and teach people how to develop a sense of environmental
management,” he said.
According to Prince
Khaled, these efforts are in line with promoting positive behaviors associated
with maintaining the environment for sustainable development.
SENS Deputy Executive
Director Majda Abu Ras, who also has a doctoral degree in environmental
biotechnology, said the society’s strategy is to create harmony in the Kingdom,
to achieve the objectives of education for sustainable development.
“This program will be
implemented within five years, where the first two stages will be launched
among primary school students. In the next two years the program will include
intermediate school students, where 240 schools will be involved.”
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article577712.ece
--------
Bangladesh PM urges for
Bangla practice at all spheres
20 February 2012
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina said Monday those who ignore the spirit of the Language Movement and
four principles of Liberation War are enemies of the country’s independence.
To face those enemies, the
prime minister said the spirit of Ekushey should be infused in the new
generation and Bangla language and literature should be practiced at all
national spheres as well as all levels of the society.
She said this while
distributing Ekushey Padak- 2012 at Osmani Memorial Hall in the capital on
Monday.
Hasina said the glorious
message and melody the immortal Ekushey now transcended across 193 counties
beyond Bangladesh boundary.
Today Ekushey is being
observed across the globe as a day for protecting the rights of languages of
different ethnic groups, she said.
This year Ekushey Padak,
one of the highest civilian awards of the country introduced in memory of the
martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952, was conferred to 15 distinguished
persons for their outstanding contribution in different fields.
The recipients are: Momtaj
Begum (posthumous) for Language Movement, artist Mobinul Azim (posthumous),
filmmaker Tareq Masud (posthumous), artiste Dr Enamul Haq and Mamunur Rashid
and Professor Karunamoy Goswami for art and culture, journalists Mishuk Munier
(posthumous), Ehtesham Haider Chowdhury and Habibur Rahman Milon for
journalism, Prof Ajoy Kumar Roy, Dr Monsurul Alam Khan and Professor AK Nazmul
Karim (postmous) for education, Professor Baren Chakraborty for science and
technology, Srimath Suddhananda Mohathero for social service, Professor Humayun
Azad (posthumous) for language and literature.
Minister for Information
and Cultural Affairs Abul Kalam Azad presided over the function while state
minister for cultural affairs Advocate Promode Mankin, secretary of the
ministry of cultural affairs Suraiya Begum spoke, among others.
Cabinet Secretary
Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan read out the citation of the Ekushey Padak recipients
and conducted the award giving ceremony.
Ministers, PM's advisors,
parliament members, foreign diplomats and high officials attended the meeting.
Prime Minister said the
spirit of Ekushey inspired us in our emergence as an independent state.
The Language Movement
turned into a movement for self- determination from the fifties, she said.
She mentioned her
government's initiative to make Bangla as one of the UN official languages and
said her government has already raised the point in the UN General Assembly and
is making constant stride to this end.
The prime minister said
the International Mother Language Institute has been established in Dhaka along
with enacting the International Mother
Language Institute Act for
preservation of the languages of different countries and ethnic groups and
carrying out research on languages and culture.
It has been made
compulsory for installation of Bangla keypad in the basic mobile hand sets of
all brands and steps have been taken to introduce .bangla rpt .bangla as the
second country coded top level domain side by side with .bd rpt .bd, she said.
Hasina said the Language
Movement had unfolded the secular conscience in the mind of Bangalee people,
and the Father of the nation beholding the spirit, accepted the secularism as
one of the basic principles of our constitution in 1972.
After the brutal killing
of Bangabandhu, she said the military regimes damaged the spirit and
rehabilitated the anti- liberation force.
The present government has
reinstated the glorious history of nation and spirit in the constitution
through an amendment, she added.
Referring to the speech of
Bangabandhu in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in Bangla in 1974, she said
Bangabandhu did this to introduce Bangla and Bangalee nation to the global
community. "I'm also following him while addressing the UNGA," she
said.
The prime minister said
Ekushey is a glorious history of making sacrifice by the Bangalee nation for
establishing their rights of mother language.
It's an endless source of
inspiration for us to preserve Bangalee literature, culture, customs,
nationalism and originality, she said adding, "Ekush is our pride and our
overall identity".
She paid her glorious
tributes to the language heroes Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar, Safiur and others
and also recalled the role of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, who served imprisonment times and again for his leadership in the
Language Movement.
The prime minister paid
rich tributes to Dhirendranath Dutta, who had raised the demand first in the
national assembly of the then Pakistan to make Bangla as one of the state
languages, and leaders of Tamaddun Majlish, Chhatra League and other student
forums of the Language Movement.
She called for preserving
the sensibility of the Ekushey to build a knowledge-based, prosperous, peaceful
and secular Bangladesh.
In this way we can build a
'Sonar Bangla' as dreamt by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, she said.
Sheikh Hasina extended her
best wishes to the Ekushey Padak recipients and said the award has redoubled
their responsibility to implement the spirit of Ekushey and they would play a
leading role in flourishing the Bangla language, literature and culture.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=35943
--------
Pakistan military joins
tablet war with PACPAD Tablet
20 February 2012
AP Mohammad Imran holds a
PACPAD tablet at his electronics store in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Inside a high-security Air
Force complex that builds jet fighters and weapons systems, Pakistan’s military
is working on the latest addition to its sprawling commercial empire - a
home-grown version of the iPad.
It’s a venture that bundles
together Pakistani engineering and Chinese hardware, and shines a light on the
military’s controversial foothold in the consumer market. It all comes together
at an Air Force base in Kamra in northern Pakistan, where avionics engineers
when they’re not working on defence projects assemble the PACPAD 1.
“The original is the iPad,
the copy is the PACPAD,” said Mohammad Imran, who stocks the product at his
small computer and cell phone shop in a mall in Rawalpindi.
The device runs on Android
2.3, an operating system made by Google and given away for free. At around
$200, it’s less than half the price of Apple or Samsung devices, with the bonus
of a local, one-year guarantee.
The PAC in the name stands
for the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, where it is made. The PAC also makes an
e-reader and small laptop.
Tech websites in the
country have shown curiosity or cautious enthusiasm, but say it's too early to
predict how the device will perform. Sceptics claim it’s a vanity project that
will never see mass production. Only a few hundred of each product has been
made so far, though a new batch will be completed in the next three months.
The tablet and other
devices are made in a low-slung facility, daubed in camouflage paint, near, a
factory that produces J-17 Thunder fighter jets with Chinese help.
“It’s about using spare
capacity. There are 24 hours in a day, do we waste them or use them to make
something?” said Sohail Kalim, PAC’s sales director. “The profits go to the
welfare of the people here. There are lots of auditors. They don’t let us do
any hanky-panky here.”
PAC builds the PACPAD with
a company called Innavtek in a Hong Kong-registered partnership that also
builds high-tech parts for the warplanes.
But basic questions go
unanswered. Maqsood Arshad, a retired Air Force officer, who is one of the
directors, couldn’t say how much money had been invested, how many units the
venture hoped to sell and what the profit from each sale was likely to be.
Mr. Arshad said a
second-generation PACPAD would be launched in the next three months, able to
connect to the Internet via cell phone networks and other improved features. He
said the Kamra facility could produce up to 1,000 devices a day.
During a brief test, the
tablet with its 7-inch screen appeared to run well and the screen
responsiveness was sharp.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2912414.ece
--------
Jewish writer gives Modi a
book on ‘atrocities’ against Hindus in Bangladesh; Activists question motive
18 February 2012
Vadodara: Human rights
activists have questioned a US-based Jewish leader Dr. Richard Benkin
presenting a book to Chief Minister Narendra Modi regarding alleged atrocities
on Hindus in Bangladesh. Benkin is reported to have met Modi on February 15.
In his book titled as `A
Quite Case of Ethnic Cleansing’, Benkin alleged that Hindus are being subjected
to forced proselytisation to Islam in Bangladesh, apart from sexual assaults
and massacre and several types of atrocities.
Benkin's meet was reported
by a popular website www.deshgujarat.com, which said Benkin wants “Indian and
American governments to come up with the policies to stop such serious
incidents to protect human rights in true sense.”
The website claims that
“Benkin regretted that the central government believes Hindus don’t have any
issues in Bangladesh. According to him (Benkin), the atrocities against Hindus
in Bangladesh can spark the sentiments of any humanitarian’’.
Reacting to it, Peoples’
Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) representative Dr. J S Bandukwala expressed
surprise that an American Jewish writer should appeal to Narendra Modi for help
on the condition of Hindus in Bangladesh.
“It would have been more
appropriate if he had urged Modi to introspect and apologise for the killings
of Gujarat Muslims in 2002’’, commented Bandukwala. “Incidentally Modi and
Benkin should know that the only places where Jews were safe during the Middle
Ages, right up to the First World War, were Muslim lands. No wonder they found
refuge in Spain after the Crusaders had destroyed Jerusalem in the eleventh
century’’, Bandukwala reminded the US Jewish leader.
“Yet as a true Muslim we
have to condemn any injustice done to Jews or Christians or anybody else,
whether it is in Iraq or Pakistan or Bangladesh. For that is against the basic
teachings of Islam’’, Bandukwala further pointed out.
NGO Sanchetna (Awareness)
representative Dr. Hanif Lakhdawala said that Benkin appeared to have come to
Gujarat with some hidden agenda, and that is, “trying to instigate Modi at a
time when the latter has just finished a month-long `sadbhavna’ (harmony)
campaign to improve relations between communities’’.
Lakdawala said that the
Jews had already undergone massacres and atrocities and Benkin must understand
this. “As Muslims, we don’t support violence against anybody, including Jews’’,
pointed out Lakdawala.
Doubting the intention of
Benkin, rights activist Jabir Mansuri said that Benkin appeared to have come to
Gujarat with a view to widening the gap between communities in India’s pluralistic
society. “The whole approach of Benkin appears to promote the sale of his book
among those Gujarati NRIs and others subscribing to the ideology of hate and
division among societies and don’t approve of the religious and cultural
pluralism in Gujarat, India and the world at large’’, points out Mansuri.
http://twocircles.net/2012feb18/jewish_writer_gives_modi_book_%E2%80%98atrocities%E2%80%99_against_hindus_bangladesh_activists_question_mo
--------
Will implement Sachar
report: Sonia to Muslims
TNN & Agencies
Feb 20, 2012
ALIGARH: The Congress is
determined to implement the Sachar Committee's recommendations, Sonia Gandhi
said here on Sunday. Soliciting Muslim votes, the Congress chief said the
Sachar panel was formed to understand how the community could be helped.
S h e trained her guns on
non-Congress parties alleging their successive governments in UP had failed to
develop infrastructure. The AICC chief targeted her attack on scamsters and
looters, who she said had denied people in UP gains from central funds and schemes.
In her 20-minute address at the Exhibition Ground here, she said the Centre was
giving huge amounts for development under various schemes, but because of
"luterey aur ghotale" (looters and scamsters ) people had not
benefited.
Sharing the dais with RLD
chief Ajit Singh here, she said : "The message which the city sends
reaches different corners of the world. You all should support the Congress-RLD
alliance."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Will-implement-Sachar-report-Sonia-to-Muslims/articleshow/11957783.cms
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/islam-west-together-again-syria/d/6681