New Pakistan Extremist Movement Leaves Government Powerless to Act as it Chants ''Death to America''
New Age Islam News Bureau
26 Feb 2012
• Activists decry
violence against Kashmiri Christians, seek help
• Saudi Arabia, The
Hidden Uprising
• US apology fails to
appease angry Afghans
• Foreign ‘hands’
attacking Islam, region, says Saudi King
• Afghan police
officer sought over Kabul NATO killings
• Gujarat Riots 2002:
Indian-American Muslims mourn victims, demand justice
• Qur’an burning is a
political, not a theological, issue
• Official: Suicide
car bomber targets major church in restive central Nigeria, killing 3
• Governments spar,
but people of Pakistan, India want to connect
• US preacher demands
Obama act on Muslim war against Christians
• Delhi, Dhaka on
trade train
• As Syria prepares
to vote on new constitution, some still support Assad
• Kingdom will work
with G20 for global recovery
• Afghan scene is
turning volatile
• Pakistan demolishes
Osama bin Laden’s compound
• Pakistan PM asks
all Afghan warring groups to join peace
• No threat to
Pakistan, its defence in strong hands: Gilani
• Despicable actions
in Iran and Afghanistan: A double feature
• Group to protest at
Iranian embassy in Ottawa over jailed Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour
• Hillary Clinton
Urges Patience With Pace of Change in Tunisia
• Syrian Conflict
Poses the Risk of Wider Strife
• ‘New Order
Threatens Racial Amity In India’
Complied by New
Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: Leaders of Difa-e-Pakistan (Defence of
Pakistan) Council attend an anti-US rally in Karachi Photo: EPA
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/new-pakistan-extremist-movement-leaves/d/6729
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New Pakistan
extremist movement leaves government powerless to act as it chants 'Death to
America'
By Rob Crilly,
Islamabad, 26 Feb
2012, It was the kind of gathering that, had it been held in Pakistan's tribal
heartlands, might well have invited an American drone or missile strike.
A who's who of
Pakistan's jihadi movements, leaders who were central to the rise of the
Taliban or with links to terrorist groups, gathered on a platform to heap scorn
on the country's leaders and excoriate the United States.
At their head was
Sami ul Haq, known as the spiritual father of the Taliban because of his
position as director of a madrassah in northwestern Pakistan that counts key
militant leaders among its alumni.
Sitting alongside
him was Fazlur Rehman Khalil, who was once leader of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen a
banned Islamist group with links to al-Qaeda. He was among the signatories to
Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa that declared war against the West.
Hafiz Abdur Rehman
Makki, the deputy leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a UN blacklisted group believed to
be a front for Lashkar-e-Taibi, blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, was also
among the speakers, who roused an angry audience to chants of "Death to
America".
"We will fight
to the last drop of our blood. Pakistan cannot be taken for granted,"
bellowed Abdullah Gul, son of a former head of the country's powerful ISI
intelligence agency - itself often accused of assisting the Taliban.
Yet this meeting
was not in the badlands of Waziristan, nor even in the Islamist-minded cities
of Quetta or Peshawar, but in Pakistan's capital, barely two miles from the
country's parliament and the US embassy at whose diplomats much of the rhetoric
was directed.
And the audience
was not a handful of tribal hotheads but about 5,000 people, young and old, all
united in hatred of the West.
It was the most
visible example yet of the rapidly-growing movement, little noticed outside
Pakistan, that now threatens the country's fragile democracy and aims to end
all co-operation with the West.
The Defence of
Pakistan Council (DPC), which has been holding rallies around the country since
it was founded three months ago, is alarming Pakistani moderates and western
diplomats who fear a possible Islamist takeover of the nuclear-armed country.
Yet the government
seems powerless to prevent it: constrained both by the limits of the law, since
most of the banned groups have renamed themselves to evade restrictions, and by
fears of a political backlash if it intervenes.
But that cannot
erase their history. "It seems extraordinary that they are allowed to
address crowds right in Islamabad like that," said a Western observer.
"But this is Pakistan and it is politically awkward to take a stand
against them."
Key figures in the
DPC's creation are two men whose fathers were once the president of Pakistan
and his intelligence agency chief - and who, more than 30 years ago, funnelled
arms and cash to the Mujahideen fighting Soviet occupation in Afghanistan.
Their campaign was so successful it brought down a superpower.
Muhammad
Ijaz-Ul-Haq, the son of General Zia-Ul-Haq who ruled Pakistan until his death
in an air crash in 1988, and Abdullah Gul, the son of General Hamid Gul, now
have another superpower in their sights, as they head the campaign to oust the
US from Pakistan.
The group is now
discussing plans to field its own candidates in the general election that could
come later this year - at which the country's moderate and western-leaning
government could be thrown out.
Speaker after
speaker at the rally in Islamabad demanded an end to CIA drone strikes and
promised violence against Nato supply trucks if the government were to end a
blockade imposed after US aircraft killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
In his own address,
Abdullah Gul roused the crowd to a frenzy, reminding them they were close to
both the capital's diplomatic enclave and to the Red Mosque, an iconic site for
militants since it was stormed in 2007 by security forces ending a siege.
Standing before a
sea of black and white flags, the symbol of his Jamaat-ud-Dawa group, Hafiz
Abdur Rehman Makki declared: "Both the US and our spy agencies know how
many Jihadis have been trained during the past decade and who will defend the
country in case the military fails in its job."
Hafeez Saeed, the
founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taibi group, was asked to stay away, but he
has addressed previous rallies. Also absent was Malik Ishaq, head of the
sectarian terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who was released from arrest last
year and appeared at a rally in Multan last month.
Many Pakistanis
detect the hand of the army behind the movement, flexing its muscles and
challenging the stuttering civilian administration of President Asif Ali
Zardari, which is already under fire from the courts.
The coalition could
not have emerged at a worse time as Mr Zardari's Western-leaning government has
come close to collapse several times in the past year and US involvement in
Pakistan - supposed to be an ally in the battle against terrorism - has become
deeply unpopular.
Rows over the
apparent impunity with which American diplomats have broken laws and the
incursion of special forces to kill Osama bin Laden, undetected by the
Pakistani military, have only increased the appetite for a break in ties with
the US. There is also strong support for the group's second goal, an end to
warming relations with India.
Central to the
group is General Gul himself, long a campaigner against what he regards as US
meddling in the region.
He was picked by
General Zia to head the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in 1987 as the war
against the Soviet Union was taking a decisive turn, with US weapons and cash
delivered to the resistance movement by Pakistan.
Despite retiring in
1989 he is frequently named as one of the former generals used by Pakistan to
liaise with militants, a claim which he denies.
Instead, he said
the DPC was only interested in protecting Pakistan from manipulation by the US
as it disengages militarily from Afghanistan - and from being blamed for
harbouring the Taliban fighters that have forced the US withdrawal.
"As the
endgame approaches they are going to play havoc with Pakistan. They are already
targeting and unleashing propaganda. They want to paint us as the source of
trouble, just as they say Cambodia was to Vietnam," he told The Sunday
Telegraph.
As evidence he
pointed to the Nato air strike in November. "Now they want to come and
kill us," he said. "That means they are actually advancing towards
Pakistan with very vicious motives."
Mr Ijaz tried to
play down such talk. "We are not saying we will attack America, although
'Down With America' is one of our slogans," he said. "We want an
honourable existence for ourselves as a country. We want to define the
sovereignty of Pakistan and we don't want people interfering in our internal
affairs."
The US State
Department has expressed alarm that such figures are coalescing in an
anti-American alliance.
"The US
Government is concerned about the recent public appearances of Jamaat-ud-Dawa
leader Hafeez Saeed, including at a recent rally in Karachi," it said.
"Lashkar-e-Taiba, and its front group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is internationally
sanctioned because of its associations with al-Qaeda."
But with suspicions
that the army is protecting or even encouraging the growing movement,
Pakistan's civilian rulers seem impotent to intervene as the self-proclaimed
defenders of the country continue their noisy campaign.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/9106142/New-Pakistan-extremist-movement-leaves-government-powerless-to-act-as-it-chants-Death-to-America.html
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Activists decry
violence against Kashmiri Christians, seek help
Ashley D'Mello, TNN
MUMBAI: Feb 26,
2012,,Former Bombay High Court judge and human rights activist Michael Saldhana
has called upon the Union government to step in and protect the rights of
Christians in Jammu & Kashmir.
Speaking at a joint
press conference with Joseph Dias of the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), Saldhana
decried the rising violence against minorities in J&K . The press meet was
attended by Kashmiri lawyer Iftikar Bazmi and two Kashmiri Christians, who had
covered their faces fearing retaliation by militant groups. "First, it was
Kashmiri Pandits who were being attacked. Later , Sikhs became targets of
violence and now Christians are being attacked," said Bazmi, who pointed
out that small groups in the valley are behind the violence and do not have the
support of the state's majority Muslim population.
"In November
2006, Bashir Ahmed Tantray, who had accepted the Christian faith, was shot dead
by Islamist extremists in Baramullah district," said Bazmi. "In
September 2010,the All Saints'Church was burnt for the second time. The same
year, a mob torched a school and a church in Tanmarg district," he added.
"These
militant groups are not getting any money from the Indian government or groups.
So, who is funding them? Obviously, they are getting help from outside the
country," Bazmi said.
Dias said there
seemed to be a race on between politicians to be more Islamic in the valley.
"Religious fanatics are now asking Christian families to convert to
Islam," he said and pointed out the case of pastor Rev C M Khanna who is
being harassed under false charges.
Dias said that
there were only a few hundred Christians in Kashmir but some politicians have
been claiming that the valley has thousands owing to conversions . "There
are a few who have embraced Christianity, but they did not do so due to
force," he said. "The Centre and the state government must ensure the
safety of Rev Khanna and dozens of families whose lives and property are in
danger. The affected persons should be rehabilitated, given government jobs and
loans to restart their lives."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Activists-decry-violence-against-Kashmiri-Christians-seek-help/articleshow/12039437.cms
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Saudi Arabia, The
Hidden Uprising
February 25, 2012
Saudi journalist named Hamza Kashgari made the
mistake of opening a Twitter account. Several tweets that he posted are liable
to cost him his life. What aroused the anger of the masses and the fury of the
palace are the comments he made about religious “values” of Islam and its
prophet Mohammed.
Saudi sheikhs,
self-appointed defenders of God and guardians of the prophet, convened and
discussed the burning issue. After a “profound discussion” they decided that
the journalist’s tweets were words of “heresy” and that he must be tried
according to the laws of Islam practiced in the kingdom. In such cases, as we
know, the accused can expect the death penalty.
The issue was even
placed on the table of the Saudi king himself. He ordered the arrest of the
journalist, who tried to get to New Zealand. Kashgari was arrested at a
stopover at the airport of the Malaysian capital. The many protests to the
Malaysian government against the arrest made by international organizations
were to no avail. Malaysia handed Kashgari over to Saudi security people, who
flew him back to Saudi Arabia.
An prominent
activist says the Saudi monarchy is abusing and torturing people in the
country’s Eastern Province who are justified in their pursuit of self-determination.
Press TV has
conducted an interview with Syed Ali Wasif, president of the Society for
International Reforms & Research, to further discuss the issue.
The following is a
transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Religious
dignitaries as well as other influential people have called on the monarchy to
stop the violence. How likely is it that the monarchy will listen to this plea?
Ali Wasif: Well,
it’s very unlikely. It’s next to impossible because this is a matter of
habitual control of the government there in Saudi Arabia. Looking at the
history of the Saudi regime, Saudi monarchy, this seems nearly impossible.
Basically an
absolute monarchy, they do not care about the civil rights and liberties, about
human rights, about democracy, all those norms which are contrary to the
democratic and well accepted norms in Western society especially in the United
States.
This case of Saudi
Arabia and the restive eastern province, actually you can equate that case to
East Timor, the case to Pakistan-Balochistan, the case to Bosnia-Herzegovina
and a recent case to South Sudan. They all had similar problems.
In fact, south
Sudan was a case in point where you had similar problems where you demanded the
right to self-determination. They were crushed according to UN and Western
sources, the EU and the United States, that they were being persecuted.
So is the case with
eastern Saudi Arabia. Same is the case with east Timor.
The United Nations
intervened in South Sudan. The United Nations intervened in Bosnia and they
gave them the right of self-determination. So what about east Saudi Arabia? Why
not a right to self-determination to those people who are being crushed, being
suppressed and are being denied of their basic rights?
The entire oil
resources of Saudi Arabia, the entire earning of Saudi Arabia is dependent upon
the oil of the eastern province. And these are the people who are being
deprived of the basic necessities of life. These are flagrant violations of
human rights and other international legal norms, civil rights and liberties
and, of course, Western values.
So where is the
Congress of the United States and the European Union to [give] the right of the
self-determination to the eastern province of Saudi Arabia? Why don’t they
intervene in this case? Where are the United Nations Security Council and the
United Nations General Assembly?
Where is the
[judge] of the Spanish human rights court, and the Belgium human rights to
indict the Saudi Interior Minister Nayef [bin Abdul Aziz] and other Saudi
princes, those involved in atrocities against those oppressed people of the
eastern part of Saudi Arabia?
They should be
indicted and controlled with international legal norms just as the Spanish
court indicted the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, and he was put behind
bars.
Same was the case
with the Israeli former leaders indicted by the Belgium court of human rights
for human rights violations.
So where is the
Belgium court of human rights, where is the Spanish court of human rights, the
European court of human rights and the American Congress which looks for
people… looking for their rights and they support them? Now what is the problem
with them for supporting the eastern part of Saudi Arabia?
This is a case in
point under international legal norms, a case in point for a right to
self-determination. The Eastern province of Saudi Arabia should be equated with
East Timor of Indonesia, with South Sudan and with Bosnia-Herzegovina…
Press TV: It
baffles the mind, does it not, as to how much courage it takes for these people
to come out on the streets in countries like Saudi Arabia where police
brutality and torture is the status quo. Taking that into account, how
significant is the holding of any demonstrations inside Saudi Arabia however
small or large?
Ali Wasif: Well, I
think that is totally dependent upon the people and the leadership there who
are on the streets. It is very significant for the people to remain on the
streets, to defy the absolute monarchy which is in contradiction with the
Islamic principles, Sharia law, and in contradiction with the European law with
international principles and human rights norms.
Whatever they are
doing is totally under the umbrella of international legal norms. They should
remain on the streets and they should demand their rights, their right to
self-determination and the right to demand their own government and human
rights and civil rights there.
http://www.livetradingnews.com/saudi-arabia-the-hidden-uprising-63806.htm
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US apology fails to
appease angry Afghans
By DEB RIECHMANN |
AP
KABUL: Feb 25,
2012, A gunman killed two American military advisers with shots to the back of
the head Saturday inside a heavily guarded ministry building, and NATO ordered military
workers out of Afghan ministries as protests raged for a fifth day over the
burning of copies of the Qur’an at a US army base.
The Taleban claimed
responsibility for the Interior Ministry attack, saying it was retaliation for
the Qur’an burnings, after the US servicemen — a lieutenant colonel and a major
— were found dead on the floor of an office that only people who know a
numerical combination can get into, Afghan and Western officials said.
The top commander
of US and NATO forces recalled all international military personnel from the
ministries, an unprecedented action in the decade-long war that highlights the
growing friction between Afghans and their foreign partners at a critical
juncture in the war.
The US-led
coalition is trying to mentor and strengthen Afghan security forces so they can
lead the fight against the Taleban and foreign troops can go home. That
mission, however, requires a measure of trust at a time when anti-Western
sentiment is at an all-time high.
Afghan Defense
Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak called US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to
apologize for the shooting and offer his condolences, Pentagon press secretary
George Little said in a statement released in Washington.
This act is
unacceptable and the United States condemns it in the strongest possible
terms,” Little said.
Security is tight
in the capital, which is covered in snow, and foreigners working at the US
Embassy and at international organizations have been banned from leaving their
compounds.
US officials said
they were searching for the assailant, who has not been identified by name or
nationality.
The two American
service members were found by another foreigner who went into the room,
according to the Afghan official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details about the
shootings. They were shot in the back of the head, according to Western
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized
to disclose the information. Authorities were poring over security camera video
for clues, the Afghan official said.
Taleban spokesman
Zabiullah Mujahid identified the shooter as one of their sympathizers, Abdul
Rahman. He said an accomplice inside the ministry helped Rahman get inside the
compound to kill the Americans in retaliation for the Qur’an burnings.
After the attack,
Rahman informed us by telephone that he was able to kill four high-ranking
American advisers,” Mujahid said. The Taleban often inflate death tolls and
sometimes claim responsibility for killings they did not conduct.
Little, the
Pentagon press secretary, said Wardak indicated that President Hamid Karzai was
assembling religious leaders and other senior Afghan officials to take urgent
steps to protect coalition forces.
US Gen. John Allen,
the top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, met with Afghan
Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi, who offered both his condolences to
the families of the victims and his apologies, Little said.
Afghanistan’s
interior and defense ministers are expected in Washington next week.
Allen said he
recalled all NATO personnel from the ministries “for obvious force protection
reasons” but also said the alliance remains committed to its partnership with
the Afghan government. NATO forces have advisers embedded in many Afghan
ministries. The advisers are helping to develop the ministries so that Afghans
can take the lead by the end of 2014, when foreign combat forces are to
transfer control of security to Afghan security forces.
At least 28 people
have been killed and hundreds wounded since Tuesday, when it first emerged that
Qur’ans and other religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to
burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a large US base north of Kabul.
President Barack
Obama and other US officials have apologized for what they said was a mistake,
but their regrets have not quelled the deadly protests.
An Afghan soldier
turned his gun on foreign troops, killing two American soldiers, during one
riot outside a US base in Nangarhar province on Thursday. It was the latest in
a rising number of incidents where Afghan soldiers or policemen, or gunmen
wearing their uniforms, have killed NATO forces. Last month, France suspended
its training program and threatened to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan a
year ahead of schedule after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French
soldiers on a base in the east.
Karzai has said
that the Afghan people have a right to protest the Qur’an burnings, but he
urged them to demonstrate peacefully and refrain from destroying property. In a
statement on Saturday, Karzai urged Afghan security forces to be patient with
the protesters.
Hundreds of
demonstrators staged peaceful protests in Afghanistan, but ones in Laghman,
Kunduz and Logar provinces turned violent.
The culprits of the
burning of the holy Qur’an should be arrested and hanged to death in public,”
said Mohammad Karim, one of 1,000 protesters who burned tires and threw stones
at Afghan police in Mohammad Agha district of Logar province, south of Kabul.
“We don’t accept it when they say ‘We apologize. We apologize.’ We don’t want
Americans here at all.”
Laghman provincial
police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said about 1,000 protesters threw stones at
Afghan security forces, smashed windows of government buildings and tried to
attack the nearby governor’s house in the provincial capital of Mehterlam.
In Kunduz, the
capital of Kunduz province in northeastern Afghanistan, more than 1,000
protesters threw rocks at government buildings and a UN office, said Sarwer
Hussaini, a spokesman for the provincial police. He said the police fired into
the air to try to disperse the crowd. Dr. Saad Mukhtar, health department
director in Kunduz, said at least three protesters died and 50 others were
injured in the melee.
In a statement, the
UN mission in Afghanistan said the UN had deep respect for the Islamic faith
and understood why Muslims were upset about the desecration of their holy book,
but urged the demonstrators to exercise self-restraint and not let militants
use the protests to foment violence.
http://arabnews.com/world/article579636.ece
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Foreign ‘hands’
attacking Islam, region, says Saudi King
Bikya Masr Staff
CAIRO: 25 February
2012, Foreign and unnamed hands are targeting Islam, the Islamic world and
Arabs in the recent events in the region, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said.
The king, who was
giving a televised address Friday night to a conference of prominent Saudis,
did not name any country in particular.
But Saudi officials
have used similar terms in recent weeks to suggest a connection with Iran, a
Shia country at odds with Sunni Saudi Arabia.
There were hands
that are known to you all behind what
has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he
said.
Sunni Saudi Arabia
is wary of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in nearby Bahrain,
where a Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from its Sunni rulers.
owever, the king
said that the kingdom strongly backs the uprising in Syria and supports all
action against Syria’s President Bashar Assad.
It is not the first
time leaders in the region have referred to unnamed hands being behind events
on the ground. In Egypt, the military junta has numerous times accused
“invisible hands” of being behind the violent clashes in the country in recent
months.
http://bikyamasr.com/58561/foreign-hands-attacking-islam-region-says-saudi-king/
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Afghan police
officer sought over Kabul NATO killings
26 February 2012
The shooting took
place inside one of the highest security buildings in Kabul
Afghanistan's
interior ministry has said one of its own employees is suspected of the killing
of two senior US Nato officers inside the ministry.
Officials earlier
named police intelligence officer Abdul Saboor from Parwan province as the main
suspect behind Saturday's attack.
Nato withdrew all
its personnel from Afghan ministries after the shooting.
The crisis comes
amid deadly protests in the country over the burnings of copies of the Koran by
US soldiers.
At least 29 people,
including another two US soldiers, have been killed in the past five days, and
further violence was reported on Sunday.
A grenade was
thrown into a Nato base in northern Kunduz province during a protest, killing a
US soldier, Afghan officials said.
Nato said there was
an explosion outside one of its bases, and that more information would be
released "as appropriate."
Some 4,000 people
took to the streets in Aybal, northern Samangan province, attacking a police
station and a US base.
Provincial governor
Khairullah Anooash told the BBC several protesters had been hurt, one
critically. Other officials said one person had died.
At a news
conference in Kabul earlier on Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed
for calm.
He said the
protests had proved that Afghans were prepared to die for their religion but
that they could not allow "enemies of peace" to misuse the strong
sentiment.
The suspect, if
guilty, would have been the ideal assassin. He was above suspicion and a
trusted insider. He worked in the interior ministry, had access to top security
intelligence briefings and also has a walkie-talkie on a secure channel. He
would have known the most sensitive information that was passing through the
ministry. According to officials, he even knew those who were killed on
Saturday.
President Karzai
said he was going to discuss the issue with US President Barack Obama and also
called for the American soldiers who burned the Koran to be punished, but did
not say what that punishment would be.
It is only today
that President Karzai has come out publicly and called for calm. Many feel he
should have done days ago. We now wait to see whether it has had an impact. But
the critical damage done by yesterday's killings remain - the Nato military
advisers are out of all the government ministries where they had been trying to
assist and train Afghan officials. We're not sure how long that will continue.
He also condemned
the killings of the two US officers but said it was still not clear who was
responsible.
Security clearance
The identities of
the dead Nato officers have not been confirmed, but they are believed to have
been an American colonel and major.
Reports said the
gunman opened fire in a secure room in the ministry - one of the highest
security buildings in the capital - at close range.
Nato spokesman Brig
Gen Carsten Jacobsen said it was "concerning" that no clear picture
had emerged of what happened.
"The interest
is as big on the side of the Afghans in the Ministry of the Interior as it is
on our side to quickly find out the real circumstances behind this
incident," he said.
In a statement, the
interior ministry said: "An employee has been identified as a suspect and
he has now fled. The interior ministry is trying to arrest the suspected
individual."
The ministry did
not give a name, but other officials said Mr Saboor, 25, was being sought.
He had served in
several Afghan ministries and had worked at the interior ministry for some time,
with responsibilities for security arrangements and access to top level
intelligence briefings and secure radio communication channels.
His family home in
the Salang valley area of Parwan province, north-east Afghanistan, was raided
overnight and his relatives in Kabul detained, said officials.
There have been
angry protests across the country over the Koran desecration
"The fact that
he is missing and we assume he fled, makes Abdul Saboor the main suspect for us
in this case," said senior interior ministry officials.
One senior Afghan
general told the BBC: ''The virus of infiltration has spread like a cancer and
it needs an operation. Curing it has not helped."
Nato's commander in
Afghanistan Gen John Allen said the attack had been carried out by "a coward
whose actions will not go unanswered".
He said that for
"obvious force protection reasons" all International Security
Assistance Force (Isaf) personnel were being withdrawn from ministries in and
around Kabul.
The BBC's Bilal
Sarwary in Kabul says the withdrawal will paralyse important areas, such as
technical support, intelligence sharing and many ongoing security operations.
It disconnects the
co-ordination of the Afghan government with Isaf, says our correspondent, and
could not have come at a worse time, with attacks taking place on police and
army positions across several provinces.
At least 29 people,
including two US soldiers, have died across the country in protest over the
Koran burning.
US personnel
apparently inadvertently put the books, which reports say had been confiscated
from terror suspects, into a rubbish incinerator at Bagram air base, near
Kabul.
Muslims consider
the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
US President Barack
Obama has apologised to Mr Karzai for the incident, saying the religious
material had been "inadvertently mishandled".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17169823
------------
Gujarat Riots 2002:
Indian-American Muslims mourn victims, demand justice
By TCN News, 25
February 2012
Washington DC: On
the eve of the tenth anniversary of the horrible genocide of Muslims in Gujarat
in February 2002, the Association of Indian Muslims of America, Washington DC,
an NGO of Indian-American Muslims has lamented the prolonged delay in the
Indian government's action against the perpetrators of that horrible crime.
In these ten years
the mainstream media, a large number of NGOs and the Supreme Court in India
have often stated that plenty of testimonies including eye-witness accounts
from a variety of citizens in Gujarat support the often stated fact that the
then government of the state of Gujarat and chief minister Narendra Modi were
responsible for that murderous mayhem. Yet for ten long years the Indian
government has refused to institute either an official government enquiry or
legal proceedings against the known culprits,” the AIMA said in a statement.
Gujarat is a state
from where many illustrious advocates of justice and non-violence including
Mahatma Gandhi have risen and have preached the message of peace. Yet in the
same state the mass crime occurred in which over two thousand innocent Muslims
were killed and the houses of about 100,000 Muslims were destroyed, rendering
them homeless.
The genocide
against Muslims of Gujarat is a dirty stain on the face of secular and
democratic India. “Today we Indian Muslims who live in North America mourn the
hapless victims of that gory violence and once again appeal to the President
and Prime Minister of India to institute legal action against the criminals and
bring them to justice,” said AIMA.
http://twocircles.net/2012feb25/gujarat_riots_2002_indianamerican_muslims_mourn_victims_demand_justice.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Twocirclesnet-IndianMuslim+%28TwoCircles.net+-+Indian+Muslim+News%29
-----------
Qur’an burning is a
political, not a theological, issue
By Haroon Siddiqui
Sorry, it was a
mistake, an inadvertent one due to
ignorance, not malice, really. We apologize, profusely. It won’t happen again,
ever. We will punish the people responsible for it, promise.
That’s been the
line from Barack Obama, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and the American
commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan General John Allen to calm the furor
caused by the burning of the Qur’an near an American military base north of
Kabul.
The crime is not
the burning per se. The first burning of the holy book was done officially
during the seventh century reign of Islam’s third caliph Uthman.
According to Muslim
tradition, the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (570-632) by
Archangel Gabriel over two decades. Not being literate, he dictated the
received words to scribes who wrote it on bark, bones, stones, hides and date
palm leaves. His successors saw the need to compile one correct version. That
done, Uthman ordered the parchments burnt.
Supervised burning
remains a prescribed way of disposing of old copies or print-runs with typos,
the others being burying or, lately, shredding and recycling.
So, why the outcry
again over Qur’an burning? For several reasons.
To Muslims, the
Qur’an, the words of God, and the Messenger who conveyed them are not abstract
matters.
Such is their
devotion to the holy book that they are rarely far from it, physically or in
spirit. They give it pride of place in homes. Most kiss it before and after
every reading. They instinctively reach for it on both happy and sad occasions,
for blessings or comfort. Many commit all its 86,430 Arabic words to memory — a
feat with no parallel in other religions or in the secular realm.
As for the love of
Muhammad, it runs like blood in the veins of his community, in the famous verse
of the great Indian philosopher/poet Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938).
To desecrate the
Scripture or to insult the Prophet is to scar the soul of a Muslim. This is
especially so when done by non-Muslims whose motives are suspect and who may,
in fact, be acting out of malice, like the Florida pastor who burnt a copy of
the Qur’an last year.
In 2008, George W.
Bush apologized after a U.S. serviceman in Iraq shot a Qur’an in target
practice. In 2005, a military investigation confirmed four cases of the
desecration of the Qur’an at Guantanamo Bay, as a tool of punishment against
prisoners.
This is what seems
to have transpired in Afghanistan as well. The Qur’ans came from a detention
facility, where the detainees were deemed to have been using the books to send
secret messages. Even if they were, why couldn’t the books have been removed
rather than consigned to trash?
Gen. Allen has
ordered every NATO soldier to immediately undergo a sensitivity session in “the
proper handling of religious materials.” Shocking, isn’t it, that after a
decade in Afghanistan, foreigners still don’t have a clue about what is or is
not acceptable to the locals and, more pragmatically, what might backfire on
the mission?
Cultural illiteracy
continues to hobble Americans. Their nighttime raids violate one of the most
dearly-held Afghan traditions, that of the privacy of their homes, especially
women. Equally offensive is to have dogs sniff at their possessions, especially
food and clothing.
There has also been
the desecration of the dead, in violation of the Geneva Conventions. In 2010,
some Americans posed with corpses of Afghan civilians gunned down by rogue
soldiers. This year, a video emerged of Marines in combat gear urinating on
three Afghan corpses.
Afghans also know
that some of the scandalous tactics of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were used in
Afghan detention camps.
There’s the
desecration of Islam as part of the cultural warfare on Muslims in the
post-9/11 period.
The 2006 Danish
cartoons were designed to defame Muhammad, as per the self-admission of their
creators.
That same year,
Pope Benedict made demonstrably false assertions about the Qur’an and Muhammad,
statements he later apologized for, in language not all that different from
what we’ve heard in the last few days. His Holiness was sorry, he had not meant
to utter those unholy words, had not meant to offend anyone, etc.
It is not an
accident that the biggest and most violent protests against perceived
anti-Islamic insults occur in Afghanistan. Afghans see themselves under foreign
occupation, a sentiment duly exploited by the Taliban. This would not have been
the case if the NATO mission had ended when it should have, about 10 years ago,
or at least not been botched as badly as it has been.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1136661--qur-an-burning-is-a-political-not-a-theological-issue
-----------
Official: Suicide
car bomber targets major church in restive central Nigeria, killing 3
By Associated
Press,
JOS, Nigeria
February 26,, 2012, A suicide car bomber
detonated his explosives outside a major church Sunday, killing three people
and wounding 38 others in a restive central Nigerian city that has seen
hundreds die in religious and ethnic violence.
The explosion
struck the main headquarters of the Church of Christ in Nigeria during its
early morning service, Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba said. The attack
killed a woman, and a father and his child near the explosion, Ayuba said.
The bomber
apparently ran down the woman while racing his car toward the church compound,
said Mark Lipdo, a coordinator for a Christian group called the Stefanos
Foundation. The blast left shattered glass all over the church compound, as an
angry crowd of youths began smashing the windows of cars passing by the scene,
witnesses said.
Emergency officials
took 38 people to hospitals for treatment, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman with
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.
Police officials in
the city could not be immediately reached for comment. A military spokesman for
the area said officials would brief journalists late Sunday.
No group
immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, though a radical Islamist
sect known as Boko Haram has launched increasingly bloody attacks across
Nigeria, including attacks on churches. A Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic
church that left at least 44 dead was claimed by the sect in Madalla, a town
just outside the country’s capital of Abuja.
The group also
claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on Christmas Eve that struck Jos,
killing as many as 80 people.
Jos and surrounding
Plateau state have been torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its
different ethnic groups and major religions — Christianity and Islam — against
each other. Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in
communal clashes around Jos in 2010.
The violence,
though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local
politics, economics and rights to grazing lands.
The government of
Plateau state is controlled by Christian politicians who have blocked Muslims
from being legally recognized as citizens. That has locked many out of prized
government jobs in a region where the tourism industry and tin mining have
collapsed in recent decades.
Meanwhile,
authorities said Saturday that suspected sect gunmen killed two police officers
in separate attacks in Kaduna and Maiduguri, areas previously targeted by the
sect.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/official-suicide-car-bomber-targets-major-church-during-service-in-restive-central-nigeria/2012/02/26/gIQA2dADbR_story.html
------------
Governments spar,
but people of Pakistan, India want to connect
Karachi, Feb 26,
2012, (IANS)
It was around 11 pm. Being hungry, I was
looking for food at the Port Grand food street, a newly developed food and
entertainment complex along the seaside of Pakistan's commercial capital.
The complex, spread
over 13 acres, has nearly 50 outlets that serve popular Pakistani dishes -- the
aroma is alluring with pot roast beef fillet, kebabs, tandoori chicken, naan,
and delicacies prepared with Basmati rice and much more.
I was looking for
some vegetarian food but unfortunately, there was none at the complex,
developed with an investment of around Rs.1 billion. Not on menus at least. But
that is where the warmth of the people of Pakistan stood out!
When a restaurant
owner discovered I was from India, he said: "Just give me 15 minutes. I
will get some vegetarian food for you." Although there was no vegetarian
food listed on his restaurant's menu, he served me a delicious meal, within the
promised time.
This kind of
hospitality was amply visible during the recent Pakistan visit by an Indian
team led by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. Be it Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad,
people were hospitable, going out of their way to make their Indian guests feel
at home.
When you move
around Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad, the look and feel is no different from
Indian cities. Karachi looks like Mumbai. Lahore resembles old Delhi, with the
famous Anarkali Bazaar looking no different from Chandni Chowk.
The people -- it is
difficult to say whether they are from India or Pakistan.
"We look
similar. Our language is almost the same. Our cultures are similar. Then why is
so much distrust and hostility? When will things change?" wondered one
shopkeeper at Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore.
"We want to
re-discover our roots. Our grandparents were from Delhi. We want to visit
there. But it's very difficult. I am unable to get a visa to travel to
India," added Israr Hussain, a restaurant owner at Fort Road in Lahore.
"I am really
impressed by the Pakistani hospitality; however, a lot needs to be done to
improve trade and business relations. Businesspersons should be allowed to move
freely," said Sunil Kant Munjal, chairman, Hero Corporate Services.
Despite the
cultural and geographical proximity, people-to-people contact between the two
countries is very low. And citing security reasons, both the countries also
don't allow roaming facilities on mobile phones. Visa regulations are amongst
the strictest.
According to the
World Bank, South Asia is the least-integrated region -- only seven percent of
international phone calls are regional against 71 percent for East Asia.
Intra-region trade is below two percent of gross domestic product, against 20
percent for East Asia.
When we consider
the figures between India and Pakistan, the two largest and influential
countries in the South Asian region, it is far more dismal. Only 0.5 percent of
India's $750 billion foreign trade is with Pakistan and there is no bilateral
investment.
For Full Report:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/230178/governments-spar-people-pakistan-india.html
------------
US preacher demands
Obama act on Muslim war against Christians
Joseph Mayton
CAIRO: 25 February 2012, American preacher Franklin
Graham called on US President Barack Obama to act on the “war on Christians” in
the Islamic world being conducted by Muslims.
Graham, the son of
famous evangelist Billy Graham, made the comments in response to the ongoing
case against a 34-year Iranian pastor who is threatened with execution for his
conversion to Christianity when he was 19-years-old.
There’s millions of
Muslims out there that don’t agree with this
they’re wonderful people, Greta — but they’re under the system of Sharia
law [that] they can’t get out from under because the law — the Quran — demands
if a person leaves Islam, they are to be killed,” Graham told Fox News’ Greta
Van Susteren.
They’re given a
chance to recant . . . but if they don’t recant, if they don’t denounce their
faith, like this man was told to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, but he
refused to do it. And so therefore, they’re going to hang him.
According to the
court records, what we can determine, he never was a Muslim his parents were Muslim and he [became] a
Christian — I think it was at age 19 — and what they have charged him on is
apostasy under Islamic law,” Graham said. “But since he hadn’t been a Muslim,
they are going hang him anyway because his parents were Muslim.”
The Fox News host
then said that Obama and the US administration is unlikely they could do much
to intervene in the pastor’s situation. Graham, however, disagreed.
The president could
call for a prayer meeting at the White House. He could make a statement. We
apologized to the Afghans because a Qur’an was mistakenly burned . . . and he
apologizes to the Afghans after an Afghan soldier killed two Americans,” Graham
said. “But why doesn’t he speak out? He could. He could use the power of the
White House to call pastors together at the White House and have a prayer
meeting for this guy, but he hasn’t done it.”
The statements
haven’t gone over well in Egypt, where Christians continue to struggle to
ensure full citizenship in the country.
Farid Zaky, a
22-year-old university student and Coptic Christian, told Bikyamasr.com that
“these statements are just missing the point and the reality. The entire
Islamic world is not Iran and there is not a war against Christians.”
He continued to say
that Graham only listens to certain voices and those people who give a wrong
impression of Egypt and Muslims. We have problems, but we are working them out
and getting dialogue going.”
http://bikyamasr.com/58591/us-preacher-demands-obama-act-on-muslim-war-against-christians/
-----------
Delhi, Dhaka on trade
train
Sidhartha &
Surojit Gupta, TNN , Feb 25, 2012
Kotak Mahindra Bank
is the latest Indian firm to line up to be part of the growing India-Bangladesh
trade and investment story. The private sector lender has sought permission
from the authorities across the border to set up a joint venture with Abdul
Mehtab Ahmed, a local businessman.
A Kotak Mahindra
spokesperson told ToI that the move is in line with the bank's growth strategy.
But any banking analyst would tell you that banks typically follow companies to
meet their funding requirements. What they leverage is their existing ties.
With over 100
Indian companies already in Bangladesh, it is not surprising that the country
is on the banking radar. From Bharti Airtel, which has invested close to $1 billion,
to the AV Birla Group, Arvind Mills and Sun Pharma and even smaller players who
make fans, plastic products and garments, several Indian players are sensing an
opportunity across the border.
After all, trade
ties have improved, which is evident in better trade numbers. In the first six
months of the current financial year trade has increased to around $1.7 billion
from $1.56 billion in April-September 2011. Although exports from India have
increased marginally to $1.4 billion, imports have gone up 85% to $290 million
from around $160 million a year ago. The target is to increase trade to $1
billion this year.
"The terms of
trade are still tilted in India's favour but we expect this to improve
significantly in the coming years," says an official.
Within this it is
textiles and raw jute imports that have seen a steep rise. Raw jute imports
from Bangladesh rose over 500% to $54 million, while readymade garment imports
rose nearly three-fold from $8 million in the first half of 2010-11 to $22
million during April-September 2011. Import of made-ups of textiles also
increased to $27 million.
India had offered
tariff concessions as well as dutyfree import quotas to Bangladesh to boost
trade ties. Numbers indicate that cotton fabric and yarn exports from India
rose around 22% to $350 million, indicating that ties with garment makers
across the border were improving.
The concessions
given on export of textiles are beginning to have an impact and there is
already a clamour for protection from Bangladesh, which is now among the
largest textiles exporters. Indian officials, however, dismissed suggestions
that import of textiles from Bangladesh were affecting the local industry,
saying the local market was worth nearly $35 billion (Rs 1.82 lakh crore).
But officials from
both sides recognize that there are several bottlenecks, starting with the
pile-up of trucks at the border.
Anyone who has
visited the Petrapole or the Akhaura border with Bangladesh would tell you that
a long queue of trucks on either side of the border is a common sight.
"India has
worked on improving the border but we need to upgrade the customs facility.
There are very few officers to clear the consignments," says a Bangladesh
government official. There are other irritants too such as the absence of money
changers at the border.
For Full Report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi-Dhaka-on-trade-train/articleshow/12027901.cms
----------
As Syria prepares
to vote on new constitution, some still support Assad
By Alice Fordham,
BEIRUT February 25,
2012, Syrians are set to vote Sunday in a referendum on a proposed new
constitution, part of a process of purported political reform that President
Bashar al-Assad’s opponents have derided as cosmetic and irrelevant in the face
of violence by government security forces and a growing armed insurrection.
Despite the
11-month-old uprising and calls for Assad’s departure by the United States,
European countries and many Arab nations, however, numerous observers report
that the president maintains substantial support in Syria.
A significant
portion of the population is likely to vote in favor of the draft constitution,
in a show of support for Assad, said Fawaz A. Gerges, director of the Middle
East Center at the London School of Economics.
I think one of the
major mistakes that many of us have made is that we have underestimated the
power base of Assad,” Gerges said. “I think he has at least 30 percent solid
support.”
Among members of
the president’s minority Alawite Muslim sect, Assad’s influence remains strong,
Gerges noted, in many cases because of a fear of violent retribution at the
hands of the largely Sunni opposition if the president were to be ousted. A
report by a U.N.-appointed commission last week documented instances of the
armed opposition groups known as the Free Syrian Army torturing and executing
members of the mostly Alawite pro-government “shabiha” gangs and killing their
relatives in revenge for shabiha attacks.
Assad has
cultivated good relationships with some tribal leaders within the Kurdish
ethnic minority, Gerges added, as well as with leaders of the Druze religious
group, who, despite influential Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt’s support
for the opposition, fear they, too, could be victimized under a new and more
religious regime.
For Full Report:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/as-syria-prepares-to-vote-on-new-constitution-some-still-support-assad/2012/02/25/gIQAve7wZR_story.html
-----------
Kingdom will work
with G20 for global recovery
By MD RASOOLDEEN
Feb 25, 2012
Saudi Arabia will
work with the G20 countries and international financial and monetary
institutions to find the most effective ways to help the global economy
recover, Shoura Council Chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh said in Riyadh on
Saturday.
Al-Asheikh was opening
the third G20 Speakers Consultation meeting.
The chairman was
speaking on behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah at the
meeting, where all member countries were represented.
Describing the
meeting as one of the most important international gatherings, Al-Asheik said
the world is undergoing developments at various levels, especially the global
economic crisis, requiring concerted international efforts to find appropriate
solutions to reduce its negative effects.
He said there was
need to focus on ways of resolving sovereign debt dilemmas and aggravation,
fluctuations in exchange rates and increasing unemployment rates.
There is a close
link between the environment and development which led to the emergence of the
concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development is the process of
development and exploitation of resources, without prejudice to future
generations’ capabilities. It requires attention to environmental protection to
achieve sustainable development. And energy plays an important role in building
mutual relations between global economies; energy is the base engine for any
economic growth and sustainable development.”
He added that it is
important to facilitate international cooperation to create markets for energy
that enjoy transparency and stability, and serve the interests of both producer
and consumer with the need to support research and investments aimed at the
diversification of energy sources and reduce environmental impacts.
The Kingdom will
spare no effort in this area to work with the international community to
stabilize energy markets and support the dialogue of producers and consumers
for the sustainability of global economic growth.”
For Full Report:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article579692.ece
----------
Afghan scene is
turning volatile
Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, February 26 2012
Some signs have
been discernible in direct and indirect contacts among the warring parties of
the Afghan tangle, raising hopes, very scant though, about a negotiated
settlement of the long-drawn war. But an unexpected issue seems to have queered
the pitch of such a relatively favourable environment. The burning of the holy
Quran at a NATO army base in Afghanistan has drawn sharp reactions in the
embattled country and protests to the incident are spreading fast to several
other nations. Even as the United States president Barack Obama sought to
assuage the feelings caused by the incident by offering apology, there appears
to be little let-up in the angry demonstrations that are continuing unabated.
The development has come at a wrong time of the Afghan crisis since efforts
have otherwise been intensifying for a solution of the tangle, even though the
task is quite complex and the war is also very much there with full fury.
The copies of the
holy Quran were burnt at an US base at Bagram, north of capital Kabul, and
anger and commotion, centering the potentially dangerous incident, tend to
spread like a wild fire in the whole of Afghanistan. Eight persons, including
two American soldiers, have been killed in the skirmishes with the protestors
and security forces while the demonstrations spread to several other countries
in the Muslim world. Afghans in thousands, chanting "Death to
America" and "Long live Islam," marched towards the presidential
palace in Kabul while president Obama lost no time in offering his apology to
president Hamid Karzai on the unfortunate incident which he said was not
deliberate. The movement of all Westerners all over Afghanistan has been
restricted, amid enforcement of strict security to help avoid public wrath.
Evidently, the situation stemming from this incident is adding new complexities
to the seemingly intractable Afghan tangle.
In recent times,
some interesting reports have appeared in the media, centering the Afghan war.
On one hand, "Taleban" leader Mollah Omar is in contact with the
United States over the crisis while Pakistan is encouraging Afghan Talebans
for, at least, some backstage negotiations with the Kabul regime for a possible
settlement of the tangle. Additionally, the election year in the US is also
likely to produce some unexpected developments on the crisis as the strongest
nation in the world is less keen about keeping itself engrossed in an unending
conflict in Afghanistan, albeit it is also in no mood to capitulate in any
form. All these indicate some kind of a new picture emerging in the year, 2012,
but much depends on the pattern of the developments that are being talked about
in the changing scenario. The "Quran burning issue" has come at a
critical time in the war-torn country.
For Full Report:
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=121376&date=2012-02-26
----------
Pakistan demolishes
Osama bin Laden’s compound
PTI
Islamabad:
26/02/12, The compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden
was killed by US special forces last year was demolished by Pakistani
authorities late on Saturday amidst tight security, local residents said.
Heavy machinery and
cranes were moved to the compound, located about 800 yards from the elite
Pakistan Military Academy, this evening as security agencies closed all roads
leading to the house in Bilal Town, local residents told the media.
Powerful spotlights
were put up and a large number of security personnel, including army soldiers,
were deployed in the area before the demolition began at around 9 pm.
"Osama
compound at Bilal Town in Abbottabad city has been dismantled," state-run
Radio Pakistan announced on Twitter.
The private Geo
News channel reported that authorities first tore down the room on third floor
where the world's most wanted man was gunned down by US Navy Seals.
Local residents and
reporters said authorities had directed people living in houses near the
compound not to go out on their rooftops.
Dunya News channel
aired grainy footage of a section of a balcony of the three-storey building
being demolished.
The Pakistani
military had taken control of the compound shortly after the al Qaeda chief was
killed in a pre-dawn raid by US troops on May 2 last year.
There were rumours
on at least two occasions in the past that the compound would be demolished so
that it did not become a shrine for jihadists.
The media was given
limited access to the compound after it was briefly handed over to local police
by the army for a few days in May last year. However, soldiers were redeployed
at the site and people were barred from approaching it.
Pakistani
intelligence agencies had thoroughly searched the compound before giving
American officials limited access to it last year.
Media reports had
said that the CIA maintained a safe house for a small team of spies who
conducted extensive surveillance on the compound over a period of months.
In the past,
Pakistani security agencies had demolished Jamia Hafsa, a seminary affiliated
to the radical Lal Masjid in Islamabad, after a military operation in the
mosque in 2007.
The walls of bin
Laden's compound were higher and thicker than those of every house in Bilal
Town.
The compound
consisted of three portions ? a big open area for farming, a built up structure
and a lawn on the north side that was smaller than the farming area.
There was no other
compound of the same size in the area. The land for the compound was bought by
Arshad Khan, one of two Al Qaida couriers killed with bin Laden.
The house's gas and
electricity connections too were in his name. Arshad Khan and his brother Tariq
Khan were tribesmen and belonged to the Wazir tribe of South Waziristan Agency
bordering Afghanistan.
Noor Mohammad, the
contractor who built the compound in 2005, said Arshad Khan had paid him Rs
750,000 for the project.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/WOR-TOP-pakistan-demolishes-osama-bin-ladens-compound-2908313.html
-----------
Pakistan PM asks
all Afghan warring groups to join peace
(AFP)
ISLAMABAD, February
26, 02 2012 Pakistani Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday he had appealed to all Afghan warring groups
including the Haqqani militant network to join national reconciliation.
The Haqqani network
is known to have carried out some of the deadly attacks in Afghanistan,
including a September 13 siege of the US embassy in Kabul.
The group was
founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former mujaheddin fighter during the Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
He has now handed
over leadership to his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is wanted by the US.
Some US and Afghan
officials have accused Pakistani intelligence of helping the Haqqani network.
Gilani on Friday
called on the Afghan Taliban and other insurgent groups including the Hezb-i-Islami
of hardline militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to take part in a peace process
to end 10 years of war in Afghanistan.
At a news
conference at his official residence late Saturday he said he made the appeal
in "good faith" following his talks with Afghan President Hamid
Karzai in Islamabad last week.
Asked if his appeal
included Haqqani network, he said: "We have appealed to all Afghans,
across the board, they should all join peace and reconciliation process."
"We want peace
in Afghanistan and we want stability in the region."
He said Karzai
wanted Pakistan to use its "good offices" in facilitating the process
in Afghanistan, as US-led combat troops prepare to leave by 2014.
Taliban
representatives have begun contacts with US officials in the Gulf state of
Qatar designed to build confidence and pave the way for a prisoner exchange,
but the militia has publicly refused to talk to Karzai's government.
Pakistan says it
will do anything required by Kabul to support an Afghan-led peace process, but
there is a wide degree of scepticism in Afghanistan and the United States about
the sincerity of the former Taliban ally.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5isV1-4nwjCV-JercunQFoX3aVLZw?docId=CNG.2ff270d6401d539b5e8cb3a161e0d59f.c41
---------
No threat to
Pakistan, its defence in strong hands: Gilani
By: APP February 25, 2012,
Prime Minister Syed
Yusuf Raza Gilani Saturday said there is no threat to Pakistan as it is strong,
stable and powerful country and its defence is in strong hands. Talking to
newsmen here at Prime Minister House, he said, “There is no threat to Pakistan,
no danger to Pakistan as it is a stable and strong country.”The Prime Minister
said Pakistan is a responsible state and an important member of the
international community. Replying to a question on Balochistan issue, the Prime
Minister said a committee has been constituted to contact political leadership
of the country to convene All Parties Conference on the issue. Gilani said he
will meet with the Governor and Chief Minister of Balochistan very soon to
consult with them to engage all the stakeholders in the consultations for the
improvement in Balochistan. He said the government has already initiated
“Aghaz-e-Haqqoq-e-Balochistan” which is a first step to ensure the rights of
the people.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/islamabad/25-Feb-2012/no-threat-to-pakistan-its-defence-in-strong-hands-gilani
-----------
Despicable actions
in Iran and Afghanistan: A double feature
SAN DIEGO, February
25, 2012―While a 34 year old Christian pastor awaits execution in Iran for the
“crime” of converting to Christianity from Islam, other Muslims demonstrate
their holiness in Afghanistan.
After all, only a
devout follower of God would kill those mean and nasty Americans for an
accidental burning of Koran copies. Never mind that America liberated
Afghanistan from an oppressive Taliban rule.
Speaking of Taliban, they responded rather predictably to President
Obama’s apology, offered to Afghanistan's president and people:
The error was
inadvertent,” Obama wrote in a letter to his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai,
according to Karzai’s office. “I assure you that we will take the appropriate
steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible”
(ABC News, February, 23, 2012)
These beautiful, heartfelt
words did not exactly bring a tear to the eye of the Taliban:
We should not be
satisfied with mere protests and empty slogans but the military bases of the
invaders, their military convoys and their troops should become a target of our
courageous attacks,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement directed
to Taliban fighters and the “zealous and faithful people of Afghanistan.
Kill them, beat
them, take them as prisoners and teach them such a lesson that they never
summon the courage to abuse the Holy Qur’an again,” he said” (CNS News, February 24, 2012).
And so, Obama’s
apology is working about as well as his diplomatic gestures toward Iranian
President Ahmadinejad, who was asked nicely to stop developing a nuclear
bomb. Just as Iran’s smiling public
servant seems more interested in extinguishing Jews than extinguishing nuclear
development, the Taliban and other Afghani citizens find their own way to
express appreciation for Obama’s olive branch.
Such thankfulness
expresses itself with guns, bricks, and flag burnings. In all fairness, they are not the first to
showcase their gratitude in a somewhat eccentric fashion. Palestinians thanked
Israel for the Gaza Strip by burning down Jewish synagogues and firing missiles
into Israel. Missiles, synagogue burnings, flag burnings, and dead American
soldiers do not concern radical Muslims.
Burning a book by
accident? That concerns them!
For Full Report:
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/forbidden-table-talk/2012/feb/25/despicable-actions-iran-and-afghanistan-double-fea/
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Group to protest at
Iranian embassy in Ottawa over jailed Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour
By Sheila Dabu
Nonato
OTTAWA, Feb 25,
2012, A group of Canadian activists hopes to put pressure on the Iranian
government to commute the death sentence of a Canadian resident, who is being
held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, by staging a protest in Ottawa on Sunday.
Maryam Nayeb Yazdi,
a Toronto-based human rights activist, told Postmedia News that the protest is
necessary because Saeed Malekpour is at risk of being executed at any time.
Malekpour, a
36-year-old web programmer, was arrested in 2008 while visiting family in Iran.
He is charged with “corrupting the Earth” and “insulting and desecrating Islam”
after a program he developed for uploading photos online had been used to post
pornographic image without his knowledge.
Malekpour was
sentenced to death on Oct. 19 of last year, by the Revolutionary Court, a
sentence that recently was confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court.
Related
avid Frum: The
Iranian leadership’s precarious grasp on power
Senators call for
release of Canadian resident condemned to death in Iran
ittle hope for
release of Canadian resident facing Iranian death sentence: expert
The group Free
Saeed Malekpour will be leading the event in front of the Iranian Embassy in
the nation’s capital. Among the groups scheduled to participate are: Muslims
for Progressive Values Canada, Raging Grannies and Amnesty International.
A group of
supporters gathered Saturday afternoon in front of the Islamic Republic of Iran
offices in Washington, D.C.
Yazdi said
prisoners have been executed without the knowledge of their lawyers or family,
she said, with the news being delivered to them afterward.
In March 2010,
Malekpour wrote an open letter recounting torture through beatings,
electrocution, threat of rape and forced confessions while he was held for more
than a year in solitary confinement in Evin prison.
According to
Amnesty International, Malekpour did not have legal representation for much of
his detention.
Iranian state
television aired Malekpour’s confession. However, in a March 2010 open letter,
Malekpour said this “confession” was extracted after “prolonged torture
following orders by Revolutionary Guard interrogators,” Amnesty said in a
statement.
Yazdi said the
group Free Saeed Malekpour is in touch with Malekpour’s lawyers in Iran who
provide updates on his case and condition.
For Full Report:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/25/group-to-protest-at-iranian-embassy-in-ottawa-over-jailed-canadian-resident-saeed-malekpour/
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Hillary Clinton
Urges Patience With Pace of Change in Tunisia
By Nicole Gaouette
- Feb 25, 2012
U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton urged patience with the pace of change in Tunisia and
warned that the needs of young people in North Africa and the Middle East must
be met by providing economic opportunity.
Clinton’s second
visit in a year to Tunisia, where the Arab Spring protests first began more
than a year ago, marked the second phase of U.S. support for the movements that
have toppled long-entrenched leaders here as well as in Libya, Yemen and Egypt.
In meetings with
Tunisia’s president, prime minister and young people, Clinton emphasized the
Obama administration’s message that economic opportunity must be a priority if
those revolutions are to succeed. The breakdown of economic systems and a lack
of opportunity is “a recipe for frustration and instability that can be
exploited by extremists and criminals around the world,” Clinton said.
We are making
progress politically but more needs to be done economically,” Clinton told
students in Tunis. “Young people around the world are bearing the brunt of the
global economic crisis -- but you also can help lead the recovery.”
The U.S. has
announced several trade, investment and entrepreneurship programs, as well as
expanded English language training, as part of an aid package to help support
the Arab Spring. One program involved sending business leaders to Tunisia,
Algeria and Morocco last year to advise young entrepreneurs.
Clinton was in
Tunisia for a ‘Friends of Syria’ meeting to seek ways to oust President Bashar
al-Assad, whose forces have killed more than 8,500 people, according to the
Arab Organization for Human Rights. She will visit Algeria and Morocco today
and tomorrow for talks with leaders.
Youth Bulge
Clinton noted the
youth bulge of more than 3 billion people worldwide under 30 years old, 90
percent of them in the developing world. She cited estimates that North African
and Middle Eastern countries will have to create 50 million jobs over the next
decade to meet the demands of young people.
Just as you led the
way in the revolution here in Tunisia, so too must young people lead the way in
building vibrant economies,” said Clinton.
She also urged the
students gathered at Baron d’Erlanger Palace, a center dedicated to musical
conservation and Tunisia’s musical heritage, to be the “guardians of your
democracy.”
The Islamist
parties that won elections in Tunisia have promised to embrace freedom of
religion and full rights for women,” Clinton said. “Tunisians will have to hold
them to their word.”
Clinton urged the
crowd to show that Islam and democracy are compatible. That means not just
talking about tolerance and pluralism, it means living it,” Clinton said.
Distrust of U.S.
Asked by one
audience member about deep distrust of the U.S. and its intentions among young
people of the U.S., Clinton said she and President Barack Obama are aware and
“regret” it.
The United States
has spent an enormous amount of blood and treasure trying to secure other
people’s freedoms,” Clinton said in making the case for her country’s
commitment to the Arab Spring. She mentioned U.S. support for democracy
movements across the world, including in the Soviet Union and Indonesia,
another Muslim democracy.
Noting that her
questioner was a lawyer, Clinton told him she used to practice law as well. “I
think we can make a very strong case and that’s one of the reasons I’m here to
do it in person,” she said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-25/hillary-clinton-urges-patience-with-pace-of-change-in-tunisia.html
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Syrian Conflict
Poses the Risk of Wider Strife
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PARIS February 25,
2012, More than a year after it began, the Arab awakening has had its seasons.
After a world-shaking spring, then on through summer, autumn and winter, one
country after another — Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen — has toppled autocrats,
with varying amounts of blood. Some governments have stamped out revolts, like
Bahrain. Others have tried modest reforms, like Morocco, or idled on the
sidelines (think Algeria and Saudi Arabia).
Now it is nearly
spring again, and there is Syria.
As the dead pile up
and diplomacy fails to stem the violence, it is clear that this conflict is
unique in significant ways, difficult to predict and far riskier to the world.
Unlike Libya, Syria is of strategic importance, sitting at the center of
ethnic, religious and regional rivalries that give it the potential to become a
whirlpool that draws in powers, great and small, in the region and beyond.
Syria is almost the
only country where the so-called Arab Spring could change the geostrategic
concept of the region,” said Olivier Roy, a French historian of the Middle
East. He offered as a counterexample Egypt and Tunisia, where new leaders
seemed to be keeping similar alliances and geopolitical positions. “But in
Syria,” Mr. Roy said, “if the regime is toppled, we have a totally new
landscape.”
Many consider the
conflict another inevitable revolution that will eventually overthrow President
Bashar al-Assad. But in the months since Syrians revolted — and as Mr. Assad
has unleashed his army against them — the country has already become a proxy
fight for larger powers in the region and beyond.
For decades, Syria
was the linchpin of the old security order in the Middle East. It allowed the
Russians and Iranians to extend their influence even as successive Assad
governments provided predictability for Washington and a stable border for
Israel, despite support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian
territories.
But the burgeoning
civil war in Syria has upset that paradigm, placing the Russians and Americans
and their respective allies on opposite sides. It is a conflict that has
sharply escalated sectarian tensions between Shiites and Sunnis and between
Iran and Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf nations. And it has left Israel
hopeful that an enemy will fall, but deeply concerned about who might take
control of his arsenal.
For Full Report:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/middleeast/syrian-conflict-poses-risk-of-regional-strife.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
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‘New Order
Threatens Racial Amity In India’
‘Expats In Kuwait
Fortunate’
KUWAIT CITY, Feb
25, 2012: Ever since 9/11 the political and social climate in India has grown
much vitiated and become pointedly anti-Muslim, says noted Indian journalist,
Ajit Sahi, who was in Kuwait Friday to attend the third anniversary of Youth
India, Kuwait.
Ajit Sahi works for
the weekly news magazine Tehelka that was at the center of several earthshaking
exposes in India through sting operations, Sahi himself whipped up a storm
unearthing a spate of false cases targeting people from the minority community
from investigations he conducted in 11 states in his country.
As the key note
speaker at the event organized at the Integrated School in Abassiya, Sahi said
he did his investigation into the treatment of Muslims in the wake of the
global war against terror three years ago.
Sahi spent four
months doing a detailed study of the imprisonments of alleged terrorist
suspects in states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and New Delhi.
I found that in the
name of counter terrorism the police in these states were targeting young and
old Muslim men, keeping them in jail for years and years on fabricated cases.”
Sahi rubbished the
oft-traded allegations of terrorism against student organizations like SIMI and
other outfits. He chased the SIMI Tribunal’s trail and succeeded in exposing
what he claimed to be a big lie.
Sahi noted that he
is not a Muslim, and that as a true Hindu he felt duty-bound to fight against
the injustices meted out to his Muslim brothers in India.
He added that
Indian expatriates living in a multi-cultural society like Kuwait, where people
from more than 120 countries live in harmony and friendship, are fortunate.
Because this harmony is at a premium in India, though it’s a multi-cultural
society.’
Sahi painted a grim
picture of the socio-political fabric of India, accusing the mainstream media
there of clouding the truth.
For Full Report:
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/180072/reftab/36/Default.aspx
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/new-pakistan-extremist-movement-leaves/d/6729