Nobel Peace prize awarded to 3 women’s rights activists
Don't view India as your 'mortal enemy': Obama to Pakistan
Radical Muslim groups in Pak demand Mumtaz Qadri release
Taliban cannot move a finger without Pak support: Karzai
Karzai says he let Afghans down
Daru Uloom Deoband passes fatwa on terrorism - and body waxing
Boko Haram sect unIslamic: Nasrullahi-il-Fatih Society of Nigeria
US and NATO 'far from goals' in Afghanistan
India studying NATO offer on joining missile programme
Terror shadow: US set to cut Pak ties
‘Outside force’ may be behind Muslim leader murder: Nepal PM
Fighting rages in 'final assault' on Gaddafi hometown
Syrian troops fire on protesters, killing 8; gunmen kill Kurdish opposition figure
Thousands flee fighting in Sudan border state: UN
Mahmud Abbas seeks support for UN bid in Latin America
Delhi HC blast a bid to stall hanging of Afzal, NIA told
Mimic behind graft drama: Omar Abdullah
Yasin Malik detained in Baramulla
‘Key conspirator’ held, NIA says his brother planted Sept 7 bomb
Victimised for loyalty to India, says family
PLA wanted to stitch alliance of Maoists, J&K militants, say cops
Ishrat case: Guj. HC asks SIT to submit final report by Nov 18
Seven killed in Iraq attacks
Liberian President, 2 Yemeni women win Nobel Peace prize
Once ridiculed, Israeli bags Nobel
Indian brothers shot dead by Saudi national
12 dead as army, deserters clash: Syria activists
Two killed in Dera Bugti landmine blast
France's Islamic suburbs are becoming 'separate communities in a divided nation'
NIA arrests Kashmiri medical student in Delhi blast case
Two top militants of People’s Liberation Army arrested in Delhi
Film festival comes to Kabul on war anniversary
Slain Qaeda militant's Anwar al Awlaq family hits out at US govt
Libya fighters loot Qaddafi tribe, showing divide
Qaddafi Urges Followers to ‘Rise Up’ and Fill the Streets
Qadhafi calls for civil disobedience campaign against new govt.
Pakistan Supreme Court accuses Pakistan coalition of Karachi murder role
India wants to 'create anti-Pak Afghanistan': Musharraf
Parties with ‘militant wings’ must be banned, says Nawaz Sharif
Pakistan must protect US interests, says Obama
Partial strike in Karachi on Sunni Tehrik’s call
Pakistani accused in US of spy links dies
‘Warning to Pakistan will hurt Afghanistan stability efforts’: Salim Saifullah
Ban Indian films, says Pak daily
Hamid Karzai admits to Afghanistan 'security failure'
Afghanistan marks 10 years since US-led war
More than 2,900 killed in Syria crackdown: UN
Palestinian anger at US rising over UN veto threat
Bahrain Youth Dies After Clash With Police
Islam content spurs FBI review of anti-terror training
Tawakkul Karman: ‘Mother of Yemen’s revolution’
Osama's family can leave country: Pak panel
Syrian army shoots dead man inside Lebanon
Bin Laden death: 'CIA doctor' accused of treason
Shoura members, scholars denounce Qatif, Jeddah, riots
No letup in Israeli bellicosity
Obama concerned over Pak military, intel. links with extremists
Eyeing an Afghanistan exit, US military resets strategy
Sanjiv Bhatt case: Order on remand revision plea adjourned till Oct 10
Al-Qaida still a 'threat' after Awlaqi death: FBI chief
Threats against UN in Lebanon: UN envoy
Arab Spring, Nobel fall?
Nobel winner’s wife says she’ll now understand his discovery
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-3/d/5639
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Nobel Peace prize awarded to 3 women’s rights activists
Oct 08 2011
Oslo : Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian campaigner against rape and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s autocratic regime won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of the importance of women’s rights in the spread of global peace.
The 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award was split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women’s rights activist Leyma Gbowee from the same country and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen — the first Arab woman to win the prize.
Tawakkul Karman is from Taiz in southern Yemen that is a hotbed of resistance against Saleh’s regime, and now lives in Sanaa. She is a journalist and member of Islah, an Islamic party.
Long an advocate for human rights and freedom of expression in Yemen, she has been campaigning for Saleh’s ouster since 2006.
Thorbjoern Jagland, who heads the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said it was difficult to find a leader of the Arab Spring revolts, especially among the many bloggers who played a role in energising the protests, and noted that Karman’s work started before the Arab uprisings.
“Many years before the revolutions started she stood up against one of the most authoritarian and autocratic regimes in the world,” he told reporters.
Liberia was ravaged by civil war for years until 2003. The drawn-out conflict that began in 1989 left about 2,00,000 people dead and displaced half the country’s population of 3 million. The country — created to settle freed American slaves in 1847 — is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of UN peacekeepers.
Sirleaf, 72, has held top regional jobs at the World Bank, the UN and within the Liberian government.
In elections in 1997, she ran second to warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, who many claimed was voted into power by a fearful electorate. Though she lost by a landslide, she rose to national prominence and earned the nickname, “Iron Lady.” She went on to become Africa’s first democratically elected female leader in 2005.
She is running for re-election this month and opponents in the presidential campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to campaign.
“This gives me a stronger commitment to work for reconciliation,” Sirleaf said Friday from her home in Monrovia. “Liberians should be proud.”
Buttons from her presidential campaign say it all: “Ellen — She’s Our Man.”
Gbowee, who organised a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia’s warlords, was honoured for mobilising women “across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections.”
Gbowee has long campaigned for the rights of women and against rape. In 2003, she led hundreds of female protesters through Monrovia to demand swift disarmament of fighters who preyed on women throughout Liberia during 14 years of near-constant civil war.
Gbowee works in Ghana’s capital as the director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa.
“I know Leymah to be a warrior daring to enter where others would not,” said Gbowee’s assistant, Bertha Amanor.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/peace-prize-awarded-to-3-womens-rights-
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Don't view India as your 'mortal enemy': Obama to Pakistan
Oct 7, 2011
WASHINGTON: In a lengthy pep-talk to Pakistan, US President Barack Obama has asked it not to view India as its "mortal enemy", shed its Afghan-India paranoia and realise that a "peaceful approach" towards New Delhi would be in everybody's interests.
"They see their security interests threatened by an independent Afghanistan in part because they think it will ally itself to India, and Pakistan still considers India their mortal enemy," Obama said on Thursday at a press conference at the East Room of the White House.
"Part of what we want to do is actually get Pakistan to realise that a peaceful approach towards India would be in everybody's interests, and would help Pakistan actually develop...," he said.
Obama's remarks came when he was asked whether he agreed with his former top military commander Mike Mullen's accusations that Pakistan's ISI has used the Haqqani network as a veritable arm.
The US President noted that one of the biggest problems facing Pakistan right now were poverty, illiteracy, a lack of development, civil institutions that are not strong enough to deliver for the Pakistani people.
"And in that environment you've seen extremism grow. You've seen militancy grow that doesn't just threaten our efforts in Afghanistan but also threatens the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people as well," he said.
"So trying to get that reorientation is something that we're continuing to work on; it's not easy," he said.
Obama said his administration will constantly evaluate its ties with Pakistan but warned that he will not be feeling comfortable with a long-term strategic relationship with Islamabad if it was not mindful of American interest as well.
"We will constantly evaluate our relationship with Pakistan based on, is, overall, this helping to protect Americans and our interests. We have a great desire to help the Pakistani people strengthen their own society and their own government," he said.
Obama said he would be hesitant to punish aid for flood victims in Pakistan because of "poor decisions" by Pakistani intelligence services. "But there is no doubt that we're not going to feel comfortable with a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if we don't think that they're mindful of our interest as well," he said.
With regard to Pakistan, Obama said that his No 1 goal was to make sure that al-Qaeda would not be able to attack America and its interests worldwide.
"I have said that my number-one goal is to make sure that al-Qaida cannot attack the US homeland and cannot affect US interests around the world. And we have done an outstanding job, I think, in going after, directly, al-Qaida in this border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said.
Though he took note of Pakistan's cooperation on a whole range of issues, he also pointed out the links between Islamabad and "unsavoury characters".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Dont-view-India-as-your-mortal-enemy-Obama-to-Pakistan/articleshow/10267902.cms
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Radical Muslim groups in Pak demand Mumtaz Qadri release
Oct 08 2011
Islamabad : Hundreds of members of radical Muslim groups rallied in cities across Pakistan on Friday to protest the death sentence given to Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who assassinated Governor Salmaan Taseer, and warned the government not to implement the verdict.
Workers of religious and hardline groups, including the Sunni Tehrik and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, joined protests, held after Friday prayers in Islamabad, Lahore and other cities.
The protesters shouted slogans in support of Qadri and demanded his release.
An anti-terrorism court gave two death sentences to Qadri on two counts of murder and terrorism on September 30.
The protesters, most of them madrasa students wielding sticks and iron rods, blocked the highway between Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
About 1,000 protesters gathered at Aabpara market in Islamabad. In Lahore, activists forced traders in parts of the city to shut their business to express solidarity with Qadri, witnesses said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Radical-Muslim-groups-in-Pak-demand-Qadri-release/857177/
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Taliban cannot move a finger without Pak support: Karzai
Oct 08 2011
London : Launching another broadside against Pakistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said the Taliban, that has launched some audacious attacks in his country will not be able to "move a finger without Pakistani support."
As Afghanistan marked 10 years of the overthrow of the Taliban government today, Karzai said his government and US led NATO have failed to provide Afghans with security.
Karzai said that it was a "serious shortcoming" that the Taliban were able to launch such spectacular attacks but also added that "these problems come from abroad" and pointed the finger at Pakistan's role in the Taliban insurgency.
"On the overall policy of Pakistan toward Afghanistan and towards Taliban, definitely, the Taliban will not be able to move a finger without Pakistani support," Karzai told the BBC.
In recent months Afghanistan has seen a string of brazen assaults on major cities and military targets as well high profile assassinations, such as the killing last month of Afghan peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, allegedly by Taliban-linked Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan.
Karzai also traced some of Afghanistan's current insecurity to military strategy in the early years of the war and the failure to tackle the Taliban sheltering in Pakistan's volatile tribal areas.
"NATO and the US and our neighbours in Pakistan should have concentrated a long time back, in the beginning of 2002 03, on the (Taliban) sanctuaries," he said.
In an outburst following the killing of Rabbani, Karzai had accused Pakistan of refusing to support investigation and playing a "double game" on terrorism.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/taliban-cannot-move-a-finger-without-pak-support-karzai/857122/
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Karzai says he let Afghans down
Oct 8, 2011
Kabul : Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an interview broadcast on the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the US military campaign, said his government and its foreign backers had failed to provide ordinary Afghans with security.
Karzai also said he had not ruled out talks with the Taliban insurgents believed to be behind last month's assassination of his top peace envoy, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, but would only negotiate if the Taliban named a representative.
We've done terribly badly in providing security to the Afghan people, and this is the greatest shortcoming of our government, and of our international partners, Karzai said in an interview with the BBC, broadcast on Friday.
Civilian casualties in the first half of the year were the highest since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, and security incidents in the first eight months of the year were 40 percent higher than in 2010, according to U.N. data.
Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since 2002, said he believed the country could still see an improvement in security as foreign troops head home. All foreign combat troops are due to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/karzai-says-he-let-afghans-down/857069/
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Darululoom Deoband passes fatwas on terrorism - and body waxing
October 7, 2011
DEOBAND: “Are women allowed to do a full body wax?” Just an everyday question for the “fatwa” desk at Dar ul Uloom Deoband, a famed cradle of conservative Islamic thought in north India.
Hundreds of queries seeking guidance on every aspect of social and religious life are posted to the school each week and dutifully noted in a green leather-bound register by Habibur Rahman, a 21-year-old student.
The answers issued in response are a far cry from the common western perception of fatwas.
But they are important.
“In the theological universe, our fatwa are equivalent to a verdict by a full constitutional bench of any top court in any country,” said Rahman, who spends much of his time translating queries in English or Hindi into Arabic and Urdu.
Founded 150 years ago in the city of the same name, Deoband has trained thousands of imams who have spread its conservative brand of Deobandi Islam across South Asia and beyond to Europe and North America.
Full report at:
http://news.yahoo.com/india-school-passes-fatwas-terrorism-041414170.html
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Boko Haram sect unIslamic: Nasrullahi-il-Fatih Society of Nigeria
Adebayo Waheed
07 October 2011
The Nasrullahi-il-Fatih Society of Nigeria (NASFAT) has condemned the activities of the Boko Haram sect, saying that it is unIslamic. The National Missioner of NASFAT, Alhaji Abdullahi Akinbode, while speaking in Ibadan, Oyo State, during the National Mission Board retreat of the society, noted that religion of Islam abhor violence, terrorism, wanton destruction of lives and property, saying that it was misinformation that they represent Islam.
While calling on the media to be mindful of what they write on the sect, the Islamic leader said Boko Haram could not be a Muslim sect, as there was no sectarianism in Islam. He called on the Federal Government to investigate the activities of the sect to determine its mode of operations, noting that this would give the government the insight into how to curb the menace of the group.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/islamic-news/29314-boko-haram-sect-unislamic-nasfat
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US and NATO 'far from goals' in Afghanistan
7 October 2011
After 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan, US and NATO allies remain far from reaching their goals, a former commander of coalition forces has said.
Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said the US began the war with a "frighteningly simplistic" view and still lacked the knowledge to achieve a successful end.
"Operation Enduring Freedom" aimed to track down Osama Bin Laden after 9/11 and eliminate the Taliban. The UN says more than 10,000 civilians have died in the past five years alone.
More than 2,500 international troops have been killed - most of them American.
The conflict has already surpassed Vietnam to become the longest war in US history.
'Superficial understanding'
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Gen McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 before being forced to resign after a magazine interview, said the US and Nato allies were "a little better than" half way to achieving their military goals.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15209793
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India studying NATO offer on joining missile programme
T. S. SUBRAMANIAN
October 07, 2011
DRDO is getting ready to launch Agni-II Prime
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) invitation to India in the first week of September to be a partner in its ballistic missile defence (BMD) programme is being analysed, according to V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.
“We are analysing the report. It is under consideration,” he said on September 30 after the successful launch of the Agni-II ballistic missile from the Wheeler Island on the Orissa coast.
India has so far conducted six interceptor missile tests as part of its quest to establish a credible shield against ballistic missiles launched from adversarial countries. Of these, five interceptor tests, including the first three in a row, were successful.
The first interceptor missile test took place in November 2006.
These six tests featured a missile launched from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on the Orissa coast, mimicking the path of a ballistic missile coming from an “enemy country” and an interceptor launched from the Wheeler Island destroying the incoming missile in mid-flight.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2515627.ece
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Terror shadow: US set to cut Pak ties
Oct 8, 2011
WASHINGTON: The United States has signaled that it is ready to part ways with Islamabad if Pakistan's military does not mend its ways of using terrorism as a policy tool.
Various US interlocutors have now gone public with allegations long suppressed about Pakistan's dalliance with terrorism, but president Obama himself led the charge at his White House press conference on Thursday with a public disquisition about Pakistani follies that reverberated across South Asia policy circles.
The US president stopped short of terming Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism but left no doubt about what he and his administration thought of a country only nominally regarded as an ally. After a token acknowledgement of its partnership and cooperation, Obama accused Pakistan of interaction with "unsavory characters" and "connection...with with certain individuals that we find troubling," - barely disguised euphemisms for consorting with terrorists.
The US president then delivered a telling message to Pakistan and its supporters who have long argued that Washington will never ditch Islamabad, saying, "there is no doubt that we're not going to feel comfortable with a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if we don't think that they're mindful of our interest as well."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Terror-shadow-US-set-to-cut-Pak-ties/articleshow/10274498.cms
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‘Outside force’ may be behind Muslim leader murder: Nepal PM
Oct 08 2011
Kathmandu : Nepal’s Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has hinted that the recent murder of Faizhan Ansari, general secretary of the Islamic Sangh Nepal, was carried out by “outside forces”.
Bhattarai reportedly said this to a delegation of Islamic organisations at his official residence on Friday.
“The Prime Minister told us that he knew which outside forces were responsible for instigating the murder of Ansari,” a member of the delegation said. Bhattarai had asked them not to speak openly on the “sensitive subject”, the delegate said, and agreed to meet them after keeping the media away.
“There is tremendous pressure on the government not to take the probe forward,” a delegate quoted the PM as having said.
“All that the Prime Minister hinted was that Faizhan’s murder was one more in the chain of Muslim leaders in the past,” the delegate said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/outside-force-may-be-behind-muslim-leader-murder-nepal-pm/857174/
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Fighting rages in 'final assault' on Gaddafi hometown
Oct 07 2011
Sirte : Sirte was rocked by deadly street fighting today in what troops from the new regime said was the final assault on Muammar Gaddafi's besieged hometown, with orders that they take it "today".
As ambulances continued to stream in to a field hospital on the west side of Sirte, an AFP reporter saw nine bodies, and quoted medics as saying another 115 people had been wounded.
There were no immediate casualty figures from the eastern side of the Mediterranean city, 360 kilometres east of Tripoli.
Street fighting and heavy bombardment was continuing from overnight at the Ouagadougou conference centre, a major stronghold of pro-Gaddafi forces, on the western edge of the city.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing up from several points in city, amid the sound of machine-gun fire and explosions.
NATO planes flew overhead, but there were no reports of air strikes.
National Transitional Council fighter Barak Abu Hajar told AFP he had been in action earlier at the Ouagadougou centre and had brought out a wounded comrade.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fighting-rages-in-final-assault-on-gaddafi-hometown/857056/
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Syrian troops fire on protesters, killing 8; gunmen kill Kurdish opposition figure
Oct 8, 2011
BEIRUT — Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters in several parts of the country on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding scores, while masked gunmen burst into an apartment in the predominantly Kurdish northeast and shot dead one of Syria’s most prominent opposition figures.
Another leading opposition figure was beaten up by pro-government gunmen and rushed to a hospital in Damascus, activists said.
The slaying of Mashaal Tammo, a 53-year-old former political prisoner and a spokesman for the Kurdish Future Party, was the latest in a string of targeted killings in Syria as the country slides further into disorder, seven months into the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Tammo, killed by unknown gunmen in the city of Qamishli, was also a member of the executive committee of the newly formed Syrian National Council, a broad-based front bringing together opposition figures inside and outside the country in an attempt to unify the deeply fragmented dissident movement.
Tammo’s son and another member of the Kurdish Future Party were wounded in the attack, said Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for an activist group called the Local Coordination Committees.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/activists-syrian-troops-cordon-off-
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Thousands flee fighting in Sudan border state: UN
Oct 8, 2011
UNITED NATIONS: Thousands of people are fleeing conflict in Sudan's Blue Nile state and the United Nations has opened a new refugee camp in western Ethiopia to cope with the influx, officials said.
More than 27,500 people have fled Blue Nile to Ethiopia and South Sudan over the past month, amid clashes between the Sudanese troops and rebel forces, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said in a statement on Friday that 533 of the refugees had already moved into the new camp at Tongo, just across the border from the Blue Nile regions of Kurmuk, Bamza and Almahal.
The camp can take up to 3,000 people and about 400 people a day are being moved from the border to the camp. Tongo was opened after the other main camp in the area, at Sherkole, reached its full capacity of 8,700 people on Tuesday.
The rebel Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N), which is loyal to the South Sudan government, has a stronghold at Kurmuk which Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir vowed recently would be taken.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Thousands-flee-fighting-in-Sudan-border-state-UN/articleshow/10275394.cms
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Mahmud Abbas seeks support for UN bid in Latin America
Oct 8, 2011
SANTO DOMINGO (Dominican Republic): Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas started a Latin America tour in the Dominican Republic to harness support for his government's bid to win a place at the United Nations.
Abbas met with President Leonel Fernandez yesterday and was also to address the Dominican Congress over the quest for statehood, which he formally presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 23.
"We don't hesitate to recognize the legitimate right of Palestine to be recognized as a free, independent and sovereign State," Fernandez said, underlining that his country also had "excellent diplomatic, commercial and cultural relations with Israel."
Abbas replied: "You're not big militarily but you're big in faith, peace and solidarity with the Palestinian people."
The Palestinian president is also due to travel to El Salvador and Colombia, where President Juan Manuel Santos has already pledged to abstain in any UN Security Council vote.
Colombia, a close ally of Washington, is a non-permanent member of the 15-member Security Council, which is expected to vote on the bid in the coming weeks.
The move is strongly opposed by both Israel and the United States, which say a Palestinian state can only emerge through bilateral negotiations.
Six Security Council members -- Brazil, China, India, Lebanon, Russia and South Africa -- have publicly indicated their backing for the Palestinian bid.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Mahmud-Abbas-seeks-support-for-UN-bid-in-Latin-America/articleshow/10274068.cms
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Delhi HC blast a bid to stall hanging of Afzal, NIA told
Oct 8, 2011
NEW DELHI/JAMMU: The September 7 bomb attack on Delhi high court was carried out in a bid to thwart the hanging of Afzal Guru who has been convicted for plotting the terror attack on Parliament.
According to sources, this was disclosed by Wasim Akram Malik who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Sources also claimed that Malik, who is from Kishtwar in J&K, had admitted to having plotted the attack. The choice of court was deliberate; a retaliation against the death sentence to Guru.
An MBBS student in a private medical college in Dhaka, Malik arrived here on Tuesday to face questioning from NIA investigators who contacted his family after his name figured during the interrogation of Amir Abbas and a juvenile who were arrested for sending the email after the blast from a cyber cafe in Kishtwar. The email had claimed that the attack was carried out by Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami.
Their statements implicating Malik was corroborated by a member of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, Azhar Ali, who is lodged in Jammu's Kotbalwal jail.
Malik's parents claimed that their son was innocent, stressing that they handed him over to NIA in Delhi after calling him from Dhaka.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Delhi-HC-blast-a-bid-to-stall-hanging-of-Afzal-NIA-told/articleshow/10271950.cms
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Mimic behind graft drama: Omar Abdullah
Oct 8, 2011
NEW DELHI: Embattled Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday conceded that he was aware of corruption allegations against his party worker, whose death has kicked up a furore triggering demands for his resignation, but the information slipped out of his mind.
Omar said allegations against Syed Mohammed Yousuf were brought to his notice about two months ago but it slipped out of his mind to act on those allegations. "I am only human (and) with the entire pressure of handing a peaceful summer, the Amarnath Yatra, governance and a whole host of other things, it just slipped my mind,'' he told a TV channel.
Yousuf died in a police hospital a day after Omar summoned him to his house to sort out the issue of corruption involving postings. The opposition People's Democratic Party has accused the CM of manhandling Yousuf before his death. Another NC worker Abdul Salam Reshi's allegation, that Yousuf was taking money on behalf of Omar's father, Farooq Abdullah, for legislative council and ministerial berths, has further embarrassed the Abdullahs. Reshi, who was also summoned by Omar, told media that Yousuf's condition worsened after he left the CM's house and that he vomited blood before his death.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mimic-behind-graft-drama-Omar-Abdullah/articleshow/10272013.cms
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Yasin Malik detained in Baramulla
Oct 8, 2011
JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and five of his associates were on Friday taken into preventive custody in Baramulla district when they were on their way to hold a protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Mr. Malik, along with JKLF vice-chairman Bashir Ahmad Bhat and four of his top aides were detained near Sangrama township on the National Highway 1-A while they were heading to north Kashmir’s Sopore town for the protest, a JKLF spokesman said.
Sopore is also the hometowm of Afzal Guru.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2518096.ece
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‘Key conspirator’ held, NIA says his brother planted Sept 7 bomb
Oct 08 2011
New Delhi : A day after The Indian Express reported the arrest of Wasim Akram Malik, a student of Unani medicine in Bangladesh, for his alleged role in the Delhi High Court blast, the National Investigation Agency said Wasim’s younger brother Junaid is a Hizbul Mujahideen militant who planted the bomb.
A Delhi court today remanded Wasim in 14 days’ NIA custody after the agency sought a chance to locate Junaid and nab the other conspirators.
The NIA described Wasim as the “main conspirator” of the attack on September 7 that killed 15 and left over 70 injured. Investigators are going through his mobile phone contacts and personal belongings. They have claimed that Wasim used two e-mail ids to communicate with co-conspirators while “planning and executing” the attack from his base in Dhaka.
NIA officials said that investigations suggest Wasim was contacted by Hizb cadres in Bangladesh to carry out the attack in coordination with HuJI and other Hizb operatives. Wasim’s arrest, they said, is a major breakthrough that could lead them to Junaid, believed to be in J&K. The agency believes Junaid turned to militancy in 2010, and both Wasim and he trained in a camp in PoK.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/key-conspirator-held-nia-says-his-brother-plant.../857227/
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Victimised for loyalty to India, says family
Oct 08 2011
Jammu : The parents of Wasim and Junaid Akram Malik today said that the younger of the brothers had been abducted by the Hizbul Mujahideen last year, and the older had been picked up by the NIA after the family called him to Delhi from Bangladesh to aid in the investigation into the September 7 Delhi High Court bombing.
The family complained that Wasim had been framed on the word of a jailed Hizb operative whom they had got arrested for kidnapping Junaid in November 2010.
Wasim, whose detention by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was first reported in The Indian Express on Friday, has been described as a “key conspirator” in the bomb plot. Wasim is the third suspect from Kishtwar in J&K to be picked up after Aamir Abbas and Abid Hussain.
In November-December 2010, Jammu and Kashmir Police smashed a Hizb recruitment module and arrested four operatives of the group. The police were tipped off by Riaz-ul Hassan Malik, a National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) employee, who complained that his youngest son, Junaid Akram Malik, had been abducted by the Hizb. The police operation could not, however, locate Junaid.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/victimised-for-loyalty-to-india-says-family/857223/
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PLA wanted to stitch alliance of Maoists, J&K militants, say cops
Oct 08 201
New Delhi, Ranchi : The Delhi Police have claimed that the two alleged members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who were arrested on October 1, have said their organisation had rented some land in Myanmar for joint training of Maoists and militants from Kashmir. The training camp was to be organised in 2012.
The two accused — N Dileep Singh, 51, and Arun Kumar Singh Salam, 36 — had reportedly provided “guerrilla training” to the Maoists at their camp in Jharkhand forest in 2009 and 2010. They also claimed to have met Maoist commander Kishenji who is evading security forces.
Police also claimed that the duo had supplied AK-47 rifles, pistols and grenades to Maoists at their training camp in Jharkhand.
“The PLA aimed to liberate Manipur through armed struggle and their intention was to form a ‘strategic united front’ against their ‘common enemy — the Indian government’. After we arrested them, Manipur Police arrested three persons in Imphal based on their inputs,” said P N Aggarwal, Special Commissioner.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/PLA-wanted-to-stitch-alliance-of-Maoists--J-K-militants--say-cops/857181/
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Ishrat case: Guj HC asks SIT to submit final report by Nov 18
Oct 08 2011
Ahmedabad : The Gujarat High Court today asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the encounter of Ishrat Jahan and three others, to submit its final report by November 18.
A division bench of justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari said that substantial progress has been made in the case, after SIT's new chairman R R Verma has taken over the investigations.
This is the second time that the court has directed the SIT to submit its final report. During the last hearing on September 10, the SIT was asked to give its final report by October 7. However, the team had submitted an interim report saying investigation into the case was not yet over.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ishrat-case-guj-hc-asks-sit-to-submit-final-report-by-nov-18/857107/
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Seven killed in Iraq attacks
Oct 8, 2011
Gun and bomb attacks in Baghdad and central Iraq have killed seven people, while a representative of the country’s top Shiite cleric was wounded, officials said.
In the deadliest attack that took place on Thursday, a magnetic “sticky bomb” attached to a car in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Utaifiyah was followed by a roadside bombing, killing five people and wounding 21 others, an Interior Ministry official said.
Four policemen were among those wounded in the attacks, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In the east Baghdad district of Zafraniyah, a roadside bomb at a football pitch killed two young boys and wounded 13 others, according to a police official and a doctor at Zafraniyah hospital.
And in the town of Al-Qassim, gunmen wounded a representative of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric as he was returning home from prayers on Wednesday evening.
Sheikh Karim al-Khalidi, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, was shot and seriously wounded in the centre of Al-Qassim, some 130 kilometres south of the Iraqi capital.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/11528-seven-killed-in-iraq-attacks.html
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Liberian President, 2 Yemeni women win Nobel Peace prize
7 October 2011
This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to three women - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.
They were recognised for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".
Mrs Sirleaf is Africa's first female elected head of state, Ms Gbowee is a peace activist and Ms Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement.
Announcing the prize in Oslo, Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said: "We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women achieve the same opportunities as men to influence developements at all levels of society."
"It is the Norwegian Nobel Committees hope that the prize... will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent."
Ms Karman was recognised for playing a leading part in the struggle for women's rights in Yemen during the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings "in the most trying circumstances".
She told the Associated Press she was dedicating the prize "to the youth of revolution in Yemen and the Yemeni people".
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15211861
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Once ridiculed, Israeli bags Nobel
October 07, 2011
STOCKHOLM: An Israeli scientist who suffered years of ridicule and even lost a research post for claiming to have found an entirely new class of solid material was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry on Monday for his discovery of quasicrystals.
Three decades after Daniel Shechtman looked with an electron microscope at a metal alloy and saw a pattern familiar in Islamic art but then unknown at a molecular level. Shechtman, 70, from Israel's Technion institute in Haifa, was working in the United States in 1982 when he observed atoms in a crystal he had made formed a fivesided pattern that did not repeat itself, defying received wisdom that they must create repetitious patterns, like triangles , squares or hexagons.
Quasicrystals are very hard and are also poor conductors of heat and electricity , giving uses as thermoelectric materials, which convert heat into electricity. They also have non-stick surfaces, handy for frying pans, and appear in energy-saving lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and heat insulation in engines.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Once-ridiculed-Israeli-bags-Nobel/articleshow/10252003.cms
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Indian brothers shot dead by Saudi national
Oct 07 2011
Dubai : Two Indian expatriate brothers have been shot dead by a Saudi Arabian national following an argument at a workshop in the kingdom's Taif region.
Mohammed Zakhir Ahmad (41) and Ahmad Yasin (46), hailing from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, died on the spot after being shot on Wednesday in Sail Al-Sagheer, a town about 200 kilometres from Jeddah, Indian Consulate General in Jeddah S D Moorthy said.
A third brother escaped unhurt.
The shooting took place at a small workshop where window grills and iron doors are made, Moorthy said.
The Saudi national was running a motel in the same town where the killing took place.
Moorthy said the attacker had given the workshop workers a job which they were unable to complete on time.
“On the fateful day, the Saudi had confronted them for not finishing the work as agreed,” Moorthy said.
The argument led to a brawl and the Saudi took out a gun from his car and shot both the brothers. He was overpowered by bystanders and handed over to the police.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indian-brothers-shot-dead-by-saudi-national/856957/
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12 dead as army, deserters clash: Syria activists
October 07, 2011
Twelve people were killed in clashes between soldiers and deserters in villages of Idlib province in northwest Syria today, a human rights group said. "Seven soldiers and five deserters or civilians were killed in the clashes in villages west of Jabal al-Zawiya," the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said, adding that dozens of people were wounded.
The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, an anti-regime activist network, said soldiers and security forces raided the villages backed by tanks.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/12-dead-as-army-deserters-clash-Syria-activists/Article1-754288.aspx
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Two killed in Dera Bugti landmine blast
7 October 2011
QUETTA: Two men were killed when a landmine exploded in Dera Bugti district on Thursday.
According to police sources, a motorbike going to Pehlawagh area ran over the mine. The two men on the motorbike were killed on the spot.
The names of the deceased, who belonged to the Bugti tribe, couldn’t be ascertained till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, two bullet-riddled bodies were recovered in Marghap area of Turbat district.
Local people informed the police about the presence of the bodies after which they were taken to the district hospital. The deceased were identified as Kareem Jan and Arafat, who were missing for some time.
The bodies were handed over to their relatives after autopsy.
In another incident, a power pylon was blown up on the Sabzal road on Thursday night.
Police sources said unidentified men planted an explosive device near the pylon and set it off. .
The explosion caused the suspension of supply of electricity to a vast area.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/two-killed-in-dera-bugti-landmine-blast.html
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France's Islamic suburbs which are becoming 'separate communities in a divided nation'
07 October 2011
France's run-down city suburbs are becoming ‘separate Islamic societies’ cut off from the state, a report has warned.
Arab communities are increasingly rejecting French values and identity to immerse themselves in Muslim culture and lifestyle, it was found.
Muslim pupils often boycott school dinners if the food is not halal and most Arabs oppose marriages to white French citizens, the study by respected political scientist Gilles Kepel revealed.
As a result, France – whose five million Muslims make up Europe’s largest Islamic population – was turning into a ‘divided nation’, the study called Suburbs of the Republic found.
Dr Kepel wrote: ‘In some areas, a third of the population of the town does not hold French nationality, and many residents are drawn to an Islamic identity rather than simply rejecting or failing to find a secular one.
Full report at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046202/Frances-Islamic-suburbs-separate-communites-divided-nation.html#ixzz1a68Z61KB
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NIA arrests Kashmiri medical student in Delhi blast case
Oct 7, 2011
NEW DELHI: NIA has arrested a Kashmiri medical student who is alleged to be a 'key link' in the conspiracy behind the Delhi high court blast last month that left 15 people dead and over 70 injured.
Wasim Ahmed, a student of Unani medicine in Bangaldesh, was being questioned by the NIA in connection with the blast, official sources said.
There was no official word on whether Wasim was arrested near the Indo-Bangla border or the authorities in Dhaka had handed him over.
Of the three people arrested earlier by the NIA in connection with the Delhi blast, one has been let off.
Wasim was also quizzed about the whereabouts of Hizbul Mujahideen operative Junaid Akram, believed to be one of the key conspirators in the Delhi blast, the sources said.
From the leads emerging in the case so far, the investigators suspect that it could be the handiwork of Pakistan-based terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and not Harkat-ul-Jehad-Islami (HuJI) as believed earlier.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NIA-arrests-Kashmiri-medical-student-in-Delhi-blast-case/articleshow/10265715.cms
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Two top militants of People’s Liberation Army arrested in Delhi
October 07, 2011
Two top militants of the outlawed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur were arrested in the national capital, the police said.
“We have arrested two high-ranking militants of the banned organisation,” a senior police official said.
The PLA was formed in 1978 comprising of ethnic groups such as Nagas, Kukis and Meiteis with the objective of liberating Manipur. PLA militants are equipped with sophisticated arms and involved in extortion and killings.
In January this year, Delhi Police had arrested a 28-year-old self-styled Lieutanant, Oinam Ibomcha Singh, of the banned outfit.
Singh had joined PLA in 1999-2000 and underwent training in handling of arms and ammunition in Myanmar in the camps of Maoists. His areas of operation were Delhi-Guwahati-Dimapur, police had then said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article2517505.ece
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Film festival comes to Kabul on war anniversary
Oct 7, 2011
KABUL: A father desperately searches for his son, who has been sent on a suicide bomb mission. After losing everything, he ends up homeless and insane on the dusty streets of Kabul.
Tragedy can seem all too common in war-torn Afghanistan, but fortunately, this time, the story of Yacoub is not true.
Instead it is the centre of a movie, one of 50 screened during the first Autumn Human Rights Film Festival. The event provides a central Asian stage for directors from Afghanistan and abroad who are tackling human rights issues, and a window for the public to explore challenges many have faced themselves.
"This film festival is special compared to other festivals I have attended, because it's about human rights," said Homayun Morowat, the Kabul-born director of the film about Yacoub, An Apple from Paradise.
The festival takes place at the tenth anniversary of the start of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, a time when the human rights achievements and abuses of the last decade are in sharp focus.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Film-festival-comes-to-Kabul-on-war-anniversary/articleshow/10264916.cms
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Slain Qaeda militant's Anwar al Awlaq family hits out at US govt
October 7, 2011
WASHINGTON: The family of a Pakistani-American al Qaeda propagandist who died in an air strike in Yemen hit out Thursday at the US government for killing their “law-abiding” son, local media reported.
Samir Khan, who was the editor of “Inspire,” al Qaeda’s English-language magazine, was killed alongside US-born Islamic cleric Anwar al Awlaqi six days ago in a suspected US drone strike.
But his family, who live in Charlotte, North Carolina, condemned the military operation and defended Khan in a statement released to a local newspaper and broadcasters after days of intense media scrutiny.
“It has been stated in the media that Samir was not the target of the attack; however no US official has contacted us with any news about the recovery of our son’s remains, nor offered us any condolences,” they said.
“As a result, we feel appalled by the indifference shown to us by our government,” added the statement.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/268793/slain-qaeda-militants-family-hits-out-at-us-govt/
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Libya fighters loot Qaddafi tribe, showing divide
7 October 2011
ABU HADI, Libya: After capturing this hamlet, a center for Muammar Qaddafi’s tribe, revolutionary fighters have gone on a vengeance spree, looting and burning homes and making off with gold, furniture and even automobiles.
Other fighters are trying to persuade them to stop and have sought to protect the tribesmen of the ousted leader. As a result, the rampage in Abu Hadi, a suburb of Qaddafi’s home city of Sirte, has underscored a geographical split among the forces loyal to Libya’s new interim government.
Most of those looting homes are unorganized, volunteer bands of gunmen from the city of Misrata, to the west, which was brutalized in a bloody siege by Qaddafi’s forces during the nearly 7-month uprising against his rule. Trying to rein them in are revolutionaries from eastern Libya, which shook off Qaddafi’s rule early and have since had time to organize their forces.
“The Misrata fighters came into the revolution with a sense of bitterness and anger,” Breiga Al-Maghrabi, an eastern fighter, said Wednesday. “They want revenge for what happened to them in Misrata.”
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article512535.ece
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Qaddafi Urges Followers to ‘Rise Up’ and Fill the Streets
By RICK GLADSTONE
7 October 2011
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the deposed Libyan leader now in hiding, broke more than a week of public silence on Thursday with a recorded message beseeching his followers to flood the streets of their country and “raise our green flags to the skies.”
Colonel Qaddafi’s message also denounced the Transitional National Council, the provisional government that succeeded him, as a charlatan regime with no popular support. “How did it get its legitimacy?” asked Colonel Qaddafi, who considered himself the king of kings of Africa. “Did the Libyan people elect them? Did the Libyan people appoint them?”
He asserted that the council’s appearance of authority would vanish once the warplanes of NATO end their operations against his supporters in Libya. “Make your voice heard against NATO’s collaborators,” Colonel Qaddafi said.
It was the first time since Sept. 27 that any word had been heard from Colonel Qaddafi, whose message was broadcast by Al Arrai, a Syrian television network.
Al Arrai has been the outlet for all his appeals for support since he was toppled from power in late August by a coalition of armed insurgents. The recording gave no hint of his location, but Transitional National Council officials say they believe he is still in Libya.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/world/africa/in-recording-qaddafi-urges-followers-to-rise-up.html?ref=global-home&gwh=3BD96C71484D2C07949F86F7AA156A93
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Qadhafi calls for civil disobedience campaign against new govt.
October 07, 2011
Muammar Qadhafi has called on Libyans to take to the streets and wage a campaign of civil disobedience against the country’s new leaders, the first word from the fugitive leader in just over two weeks.
In comments broadcast on Thursday, Mr. Qadhafi said the National Transitional Council, which has assumed leadership of the country since then-rebel forces swept into Tripoli in late August, has no legitimacy because it was not nominated or appointed by the Libyan people.
He called on his countrymen to “go out in new million-man marches in all cities and villages and oases.”
“Be courageous, rise up, go out in the streets,” he said. “Raise the green flag in the skies ... the conditions in Libya are unbearable.”
Mr. Qadhafi made the appeal in a poor quality audio recording and it was not possible to verify his identity, but it was broadcast on Syrian-based Al-Rai TV, which has become the mouthpiece of his resistance.
Revolutionary forces, aided by NATO airstrikes, have gained control over most of the North African nation and forced the leader and two of his sons into hiding.
Mr.Qadhafi has made several speeches on Al-Rai as he tries to rally supporters, who are still waging fierce resistance in his besieged hometown of Sirte, the town of Bani Walid southeast of Tripoli and pockets in the south.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2517456.ece
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Pakistan Supreme Court accuses Pakistan coalition of Karachi murder role
7 October 2011
Pakistan's Supreme Court has said that parties from the ruling political coalition are involved in the murder of civilians in the port city of Karachi.
At least 800 people have died in politically motivated attacks in Pakistan's largest city in 2011.
While the court held that all political parties were responsible, it stated that the party which controls Karachi, the MQM, was especially at fault.
The MQM has denied the allegations and says that it is being victimised.
It says that it is being singled out by the judiciary because of its liberal views.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan says that most of the observations made by the Supreme Court do not come as a surprise.
But our correspondent says they reaffirm the fact that senseless and increasingly brutal killings in the city have been carried out with official complicity.
The Supreme Court also maintained that large parts of Karachi had become no-go areas - even for the security agencies.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15206172
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India wants to 'create anti-Pak Afghanistan': Musharraf
Oct 07 2011
Washington : As concerns mounted over Pakistan's military and intelligence links with terror groups, the country's former military ruler Gen Parvez Musharraf has accused India of seeking to "create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan".
Describing Afghanistan as a proxy war between India and Pakistan, Musharraf claimed at a forum here that Afghanistan was sending its "diplomats, soldiers and intelligence staff" to India where they were being indoctrinated against Pakistan.
Without dwelling on recent charges by top US military officials that Pakistan's military intelligence was running terror groups like the Haqqani network, Musharraf said US needs to understand Islamabad's "sensitivities about Afghanistan's relationship with India".
"In Afghanistan, there is some kind of a proxy conflict going on between Pakistan and India," he said. "India is trying to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan," The ABC news reported.
Musharraf made the charges as part of the rolling panels at the Washington Ideas Forum taking place at the Newseum. It came as President Barack Obama voiced concern over Pakistan's military and intelligence links with extremists, observing the US finds this "troubling."
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-wants-to-create-antipak-afghanistan-
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Parties with ‘militant wings’ must be banned, says Nawaz Sharif
7 October 2011
KARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Friday said all political parties with militant wings must be banned, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to media representatives in Daulatpur village, Mr Sharif said everyone was fully aware of those political parties that have military wings.
“Parties involved in extortion have been revealed now…Karachi was a peaceful city and its peace was deliberately destroyed,” said the PML-N chief on Karachi’s law and order situation.
He further said that the government had all the resources to resolve most of the issues but those resources had been wasted. “It will be interesting to see how many excuses this government can come up with,” Mr Sharif added.
He moreover said that people who returned ‘black money’ were still holding key posts, adding that the government was spending people’s money on its luxuries rather than using the capital to eradicate their sufferings. “Rs 29 billion that the prime minister possesses must be spent on the public,” Mr Sharif suggested.
Homeless flood affectees must be given Rs 100 thousand rather than measly Rs 10 thousand, he added.
The party chief said 646 trucks loaded with flood relief goods had been sent from Punjab province for the flood affectees.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/parties-with-%E2%80%98military-wings%E2%80%99-must-be-banned-says-nawaz.html
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Pakistan must protect US interests, says Obama
7 October 2011
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama warned that the United States would not feel comfortable in a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if it did not protect US interests as well.
In a 90-minute news conference at the White House, the US leader focused mainly on domestic issues, chiding banks, showing irritation with the Wall Street and urging lawmakers to help him create jobs.
This was Mr Obama’s first news conference since his former military chief Admiral Mike Mullen told a Senate hearing two weeks ago that Pakistan was encouraging the Haqqani network of militants to attack US and Nato targets in Afghanistan.
A journalist pushed aside the domestic agenda and asked President Obama if he agreed with Admiral Mullen’s accusation that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI had used the Haqqani network as a virtual arm.
“And what, if any consequences, up to and including a cut-off of aid, would you be willing to consider?” the journalist asked.
“There’s no doubt that we’re not going to feel comfortable with a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if we don’t think that they’re mindful of our interests as well,” said the president.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/pakistan-must-protect-us-interests-says-obama.html
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Partial strike in Karachi on Sunni Tehrik’s call
7 October 2011
KARACHI: A partial strike was being observed in parts of Karachi on Friday after a strike call given by the Sunni Ittehad Council in protest against the conviction of Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, DawnNews reported.
Firing incidents were reported in Korangi, Landhi, New Karachi, Shah Faisal Colony, Gulistan-i-Johar, Samanabad and few other areas of Karachi late on Thursday night. Three public buses were set ablaze in the city’s Korangi and Orangi Town areas.
Moreover, a Sunni Tehrik activist was gunned down in Samanabad late on Thursday. According to police, the man was gunned down by his party fellows who were trying to force the shops in the area to shut down.
Separately, the Rangers cordoned off the central office of the ST in the old city area twice and arrested the central leader of the party Shahid Ghauri and a worker Mubeen Qadri on Thursday.
Rangers raided several ST offices, including the Jahangir Road and Soldier Bazar unit offices and arrested more than two dozen people.
A heavy contingent of Rangers had been deployed at the ST chief Sarwat Ejaz Qadri’s residence in Nazimabad. According to a Rangers’ representative, elements causing unrest would be handled with force during the strike.
People were facing difficulties in commuting as public transport was not easily available.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/partial-strike-in-karachi-on-sunni-tehrik%E2%80%99s-call.html
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Pakistani accused in US of spy links dies
7 October 2011
ISLAMABAD: A doctor charged in the United States with working for Pakistan’s spy agency to influence American lawmakers on their policy toward the disputed Kashmir region has died in Islamabad after suffering a stroke.
Dr Zaheer Ahmed was one of two people accused in the case, which has complicated strained relations between Pakistan and the United States.
Hospital spokesman Azmatullah Qureshi said Ahmed died Friday after a stroke on September 28.
US prosecutors accused Ahmed of recruiting people to act as straw donors who would give money to a pro-Kashmir group in Washington that really was coming from the Pakistani government.
Ahmed was not arrested in Pakistan and never commented on the allegations. He had dual US and Pakistani citizenship.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/pakistani-accused-in-us-of-spy-links-dies.html
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‘Warning to Pakistan will hurt Afghanistan stability efforts’
7 October 2011
ISLAMABAD: US President Barack Obama’s warning to Islamabad over suspected ties to militants will hurt efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and fuel anti-Americanism, the chairman of Pakistan’s Senate Foreign Affairs Committee said on Friday.
Pakistan is seen as critical to bringing peace to Afghanistan, but the United States has failed to persuade it to go after militant groups it says cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
“This is not helping the United States, Afghanistan or Pakistan,” Salim Saifullah told Reuters. “There will be pressure on the (Pakistan) government to get out of this war,” he said, referring to the US war on militancy.
Obama warned Pakistan on Thursday that its ties with “unsavoury characters” have put relations with the United States at risk, as he ratcheted up pressure on Islamabad to cut alleged links with militants mounting attacks in Afghanistan.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/warning-to-pakistan-will-hurt-afghan-stability-
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Ban Indian films, says Pak daily
Oct 7, 2011
A ban on Indian films in Pakistan's cinema houses would help the country's film industry "develop and thrive", a Pakistani daily said Friday.
An editorial in The Nation said the demand made by a group of artists, singers and directors in Lahore Wednesday to ban Indian films in national cinema houses ought to be met by the government.
"That would help the national film industry develop and thrive.
"There are lots of cinema houses which screen only Indian movies and do not show any interest in playing Pakistani movies. The result is a gradual decline of our own film industry," it said.
It warned that "by not banning Bollywood films being shown in every nook and cranny of the country, we would only be letting the Indians succeed in their ploy of invading us culturally".
The editorial, however, did not go into the details of what it described as cultural invasion.
It claimed that according to the group of Pakistan movie directors, "certain self-seeking individuals associated with Lollywood are reaping huge benefits by making huge investments in India".
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Ban-Indian-films-in-Pakistan-Pakistani-daily/articleshow/10264494.cms
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Hamid Karzai admits to Afghanistan 'security failure'
Oct 07 2011
President Hamid Karzai has said his government and Nato have failed to provide Afghans with security, 10 years after the Taliban were otherthrown.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Karzai also accused Pakistan of supporting the insurgency, saying sanctuaries there still needed to be tackled.
He vowed to step down in 2014 and said he was working on the succession.
His comments come as the ex-commander of coalition forces said Nato allies remain far from reaching their goals.
After a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, retired Army General Stanley McChrystal estimated that the coalition was "a little better than" half way to achieving its military ambitions, adding that the US began the war with a "frighteningly simplistic" view.
'Pakistani support'
In his interview with the BBC, President Hamid Karzai also traced some of Afghanistan's current insecurity to military strategy in the early years of the war and the failure to tackle the Taliban sheltering in Pakistan's volatile tribal areas.
"Nato and the US and our neighbours in Pakistan should have concentrated a long time back, in the beginning of 2002-3, on the [Taliban] sanctuaries," he said.
Although he was eager to emphasise achievements in education and health, President Karzai admitted that security was his greatest failing.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15213999
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Afghanistan marks 10 years since US-led war
Oct 07 2011
Kabul : Afghanistan marked 10 years since the start of the US-led war against the Taliban today, with security tight after a string of bold insurgent attacks that have diminished hopes for an enduring peace.
The anniversary will be marked in quiet fashion, with little to commemorate the long years of conflict that have cost thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.
On the front lines, it is likely to be business as usual for the 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including 100,000 from the United States, as they continue to battle the Taliban-led insurgency.
For many Afghans, the anniversary will be a time for reflection on what the war has meant for their country and the implications of the withdrawal of all foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
"I spent a year in the city of Kabul during the Taliban regime and they made life difficult as they banned everything. We were forced to flee the country and live in Pakistan," said Abdul Saboor, a 30-year-old cook in Kabul.
"I was very pleased when finally the dark era of the Taliban ended in our country."
But the anniversary will also heighten discontent over the long conflict that has left Afghanistan with a corrupt government, a widely criticised Western troop presence and only dim prospects for peace.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/afghanistan-marks-10-years-since-usled-war/857021/
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More than 2,900 killed in Syria crackdown: UN
October 07, 2011
GENEVA: More than 2,900 people have been killed in the six months since the beginning of a crackdown on anti-government protests in Syria, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
"According to the detailed list of names of individuals we've been keeping, the total number of people killed since protests began in Syria now stands at more than 2,900," Commission spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP in Geneva.
Colville said that figure could rise because "quite a lot more people" have been reported missing in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government in mid-March, and the UN has yet to verify their whereabouts.
Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a European-backed draft UN Security Council resolution that would have threatened possible action against Assad. Non-permanent members South Africa, Brazil, India, and Lebanon abstained.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/-More-than-2900-killed-in-Syria-crackdown-UN/articleshow/10259555.cms
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Palestinian anger at US rising over UN veto threat
7 October 2011
RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinians have long been skeptical of America’s ability to help them win independence. But low expectations have turned into frustration and in some cases outright anger after the US threatened to derail a bid for UN recognition of an independent state and Congress put a hold on $200 million in badly needed aid.
Protests have been small so far, from burning a few US flags and pictures of President Barack Obama to editorials blasting US policy and portraying Washington as beholden to Israel. On Tuesday, about 30 people accosted a US diplomatic convoy in the West Bank town of Ramallah, chanting “shame on you” and hurling a shoe outside a US-hosted reception at a local restaurant.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article512578.ece
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Bahrain Youth Dies After Clash With Police
7 October 2011
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Bahraini teenager was killed during clashes with police on Thursday night, opposition activists said, and the government of the restive Gulf Arab state said it was investigating the cause of death.
The island's Shi'ite majority are demanding more political rights and an end to discrimination from the monarchy, which put down a pro-democracy uprising earlier this year. Many Shi'ite areas are witnessing almost nightly clashes with police.
Ahmed Jaber died from severe respiratory and blood flow problems after he was received in hospital, an Interior Ministry statement said, without saying what caused this.
The government's Information Affairs Authority said the area where Jaber was from, Abu Saiba, west of Manama, saw clashes that evening. It said youths blocked roads and set fire to rubbish bins and police fired tear gas and sound grenades when they were attacked with rocks and petrol bombs.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/10/07/world/middleeast/international-us-bahrain-youth.html?ref=global-home&gwh=A4DAD60D7BA91529416FEC7D34C7F50B
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Islam content spurs FBI review of anti-terror training
By Shaun Waterman
07 October 2011
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the bureau is conducting a review of training programs after disclosure of materials that equated devout Muslims with a greater propensity for violent extremism.
Mr. Mueller said that one part of the training program disclosed in a press account was "inappropriate and offensive," but that the session was a "one-off" and not likely to be repeated.
"We have undertaken a review from top to bottom of our counterterrorism training," Mr. Mueller said. "I think these are isolated incidents, and in the course of that review, we've had outreach to academicians and others to assist us in reviewing the materials and assuring that that offensive content does not appear."
The comments came in response to questions from Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky, Illinois Democrat, during a hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, about leaked training materials from an FBI training session at its institute in Quantico, Va., in March.
The exchange prompted charges that Mr. Mueller was knuckling under to political correctness aimed at muzzling critics of Islam.
The materials, Mrs. Schakowsky said, stated of Muslims that "the more religious they get, the more violent they are And I understand that there's been training [sessions] where the Prophet Muhammad has actually been called a cult leader and [where] the Islamic practice of giving to charity [has been described as] no more than, quote, 'a funding mechanism for combat.'"
Full report at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/6/islam-content-spurs-fbi-review-of-anti-terror-trai/print/
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Tawakkul Karman: ‘Mother of Yemen’s revolution’
7 October 2011
Tawakkul Karman is known among Yemenis as the “iron woman” and the “mother of the revolution,” a mother of three who has long been an activist for human rights and whose arrest in January helped detonate a mass uprising against the authoritarian regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
For the past eight months, the 32-year-old has been at the forefront of the daily protests by hundreds of thousands in the streets of Sanaa and other Yemeni cities, demanding Saleh’s ouster and the creation of a democratic government.
She and other young activists have been insistent on keeping their protests peaceful even as Yemen seems to explode around them. Mr. Saleh, who has ruled the impoverished Arab nation for 33 years, has resolutely refused to step down and his security forces have repeatedly opened fire on protesters. Sanaa and other cities have turned into war zones as regime forces battle with dissident military units and tribal fighters opposed to Saleh.
“I am very, very happy about this prize,” Ms. Karman told The Associated Press. “I give the prize to the youth of revolution in Yemen and the Yemeni people.”
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2517920.ece
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Osama's family can leave country: Pak panel
October 07, 2011
A Pakistani commission investigating the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden has allowed his widows and daughters to leave the country, a media report said. The commission, headed by justice (retired) Javed Iqbal, said that it had finished recording their statements and they were no
longer required.
The compound in Abbottabad where Osama and his family members were living will be handed over to the local authorities, the Geo News on Thursday said quoting a notification from the commission.
On Tuesday, the commission held an "exhaustive interview" with Osama's three widows and daughters. Officials, however, refused to divulge further details.
Osama bin Laden was killed in a daring raid on his hideout in Pakistan's Abbottabad city by US special forces on May 2.
Following the raid, the authorities seized the building and arrested his wives and daughters who were living with him there, about 60 km from Islamabad.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan/Osama-s-family-can-leave-country-Pak-panel/Article1-754444.aspx
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Syrian army shoots dead man inside Lebanon
7 October 2011
BEIRUT: Syrian forces crossed into Lebanon and shot dead a Syrian man in the eastern Bekaa Valley, security sources said on Friday.
They said the shooting occurred on Thursday as the Syrian soldiers were pursuing Ali al-Khatib near the village of Arslan, where Syrian forces made a similar incursion two days earlier.
The frontier between the two countries is poorly delineated in some of the remote border areas, which are havens for smugglers bringing subsidised Syrian goods into Lebanon or arms across into Syria.
Lebanon’s army did not comment on the incident.
Syrian security forces have been cracking down on six months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations says 2,900 people have been killed and at least 3,800 Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups backed by foreign powers for the violence, and say they have caught large quantities of weapons being smuggled into the country.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/07/syrian-army-shoots-dead-man-inside-lebanon.html
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Bin Laden death: 'CIA doctor' accused of treason
7 October 2011
A Pakistani commission investigating the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden says a doctor accused of helping the CIA should be tried for high treason.
Dr Shakil Afridi is accused of running a CIA-sponsored fake vaccine programme in Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was killed, to try to get DNA samples.
He was arrested shortly after the 2 May US raid that killed the al-Qaeda chief.
The commission has been interviewing intelligence officials and on Wednesday spoke to Bin Laden family members.
Pakistan, which was deeply embarrassed by the raid, has described the covert US special forces operation as a violation of its sovereignty.
A government commission, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, has been charged with discovering how the US military was able to carry out the raid deep within Pakistan without being detected.
It is also investigating how Bin Laden was able to hide in Abbottabad, a garrison town, for several years.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15206639
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Shoura members, scholars denounce Qatif, Jeddah, riots
7 October 2011
JEDDAH: Saudi religious scholars and Shoura Council members have strongly denounced Monday’s Awamiya riots by a group of people in the Eastern Province city of Qatif, and urged the government to confront such troublemakers with an iron hand.
Suleiman Al-Zayedi, a member of the Shoura, urged the people of Awamiya not to engage in any activity that would undermine the Kingdom’s security and safety, incited by foreign forces.
“You should not work as tools of spiteful people and those who target our security, be they foreign individuals or organizations or governments,” Al-Zayedi said and urged citizens to prevent such riots.
“The reply for such excesses and violations should come from citizens before the government, because every citizen has a responsibility to protect their nation from harm,” he said and urged the government to punish the rioters in accordance with the Shariah law.
According to a Saudi Press Agency report, 14 people including 11 security officers were injured in the incident. Nine policemen were shot and wounded and two hurt by petrol bombs, the report said, adding that a man and two women were injured by gunfire.
The Interior Ministry said the troublemakers in Qatif were acting at the behest of a foreign country “which tried to undermine the nation’s security in a blatant act of interference.” The ministry urged the troublemakers in the city to prove their loyalty to the nation.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article512845.ece
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No letup in Israeli bellicosity
7 October 2011
RAMALLAH: Israeli authorities on Thursday demolished several structures in the West Bank under the pretext they were built without permits.
Mohammed Ayyad Awad, spokesman of Popular Committee Against the Wall in Hebron, said Israeli bulldozers backed by security forces and Israeli Civil Administration arrived at the village of Beit Kahel, to the northwest of Hebron, on Thursday and razed a 140-square-meter house.
Awad said the Israeli forces declared the area a closed military zone during the demolition process.
Meanwhile, the Israeli forces demolished 12 shacks and tents belonging to Palestinians farmers in the northern Jordan Valley area under the pretext that they were built in Area C without permits.
Aref Daraghmeh, head of Wadi Al-Maleh village’s council, said dozens of Palestinian farmers and their families are living in this area for decades whose businesses contribute to the Palestinian economy.
In a related development, Jewish occupiers uprooted some 200 olive trees in the village of Qosra.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article512874.ece
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Obama concerned over Pak military, intel links with extremists
October 07, 2011
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama voiced concern over Pakistan's military and intelligence links with extremists, observing the US finds this "troubling."
Obama also said that Pakistan should realize that a peaceful approach towards India would be in "everybody's interests."
Without naming the Haqqani network with whom Pakistan's spy agency ISI is suspected to be having links, Obama described the extremists as "unsavory characters".
"And there is no doubt that there's some connections the Pakistani military and intelligence services have with certain individuals that we find troubling," he told a White House news conference.
Obama said Pakistan saw its "security interest threatened by an independent Afghanistan, in part because they think it will ally itself to India and Pakistan still considers India their mortal enemy."
"Part of what we want to do is actually get Pakistan to realize that a peaceful approach towards India would be in everybody's interests."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Obama-concerned-over-Pak-military-intel-links-with-extremists/articleshow/10259685.cms
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Eyeing an Afghanistan exit, US military resets strategy
Oct 7, 2011
WASGHINGTON: The American military reinvented itself to fight shadowy insurgencies during the decade of war that began with an assault on the Taliban in Afghanistan. That was 10 years ago tomorrow.
But military leaders are now eager for change. They are ready to turn their attention to a wider range of threats, including potential conflict with China.
They will have less money at hand, but they do have a battle-seasoned force.
Looking ahead, US strategists foresee a different set of threats, particularly from a China that is modernising air and naval forces and posing a potential threat to US dominance in space.
A pivot to the threats of the future will require a reorienting of the way the military trains and plans, and maybe what it buys.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Eyeing-an-Afghanistan-exit-US-military-resets-strategy/articleshow/10261075.cms
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Sanjiv Bhatt case: Order on remand revision plea adjourned till Oct 10
Oct 7, 2011
AHMEDABAD: A local court on Friday adjourned the pronouncement of order on the maintainability of the remand revision application filed by the Gujarat government seeking custody of arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, till October 10.
Principal sessions judge G N Patel said he was unable to complete the order and it would now be pronounced on Monday.
The Gujarat government on October 3 had challenged in the sessions court, a magisterial court order denying remand of the suspended IPS officer, arrested for allegedly threatening and forcing a constable to sign a false affidavit.
During the hearing, Bhatt's lawyer I H Sayed had contended that the revision remand application of the state government was not maintainable in law.
Sayed had cited Supreme Court judgement which stated that granting or rejecting of bail was an interlocutory order and there cannot be revision of that order as per section 397(2) of the CrPC.
Arguing from the government side, public prosecutor Pravin Trivedi had stated that the state government has right to seek revision of the remand once it is rejected.
Bhatt had on October 4 refused to compromise on a proposal from a session judge that if he went on remand for three hours the court would later in the day have heard his bail application.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sanjiv-Bhatt-case-Order-on-remand-revision-plea-adjourned-till-Oct-10/articleshow/10265200.cms
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Al-Qaida still a 'threat' after Awlaqi death: FBI chief
Oct 7, 2011
WASHINGTON: The killing of US-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi has weakened al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, but the group remains a "significant threat" to the United States, the head of the FBI said on Thursday.
Awlaqi, the leader of external operations for AQAP and Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American who was the editor of al-Qaida's English-language magazine, were killed last week in a suspected US drone strike in Yemen.
"Despite this blow to their leadership, AQAP remains a significant threat to the homeland, and we must maintain our vigilance in responding to this threat," FBI Director Robert Mueller told the House intelligence committee.
"AQAP has proven its capability to direct attacks into the United States, and a strike against its leadership, even a significant one, does not eliminate the potential for retaliation or other action by AQAP."
Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counter terrorism Centre, agreed.
"We remain concerned about the group's intent to attack Western targets, as well as its propaganda efforts designed to inspire like-minded Western extremists," Olsen said in his testimony before the committee.
"And we are monitoring how the loss of Awlaqi and Khan will affect AQAP's propaganda machine."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Al-Qaida-still-a-threat-after-Awlaqi-death-FBI-chief/articleshow/10265060.cms
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Threats against UN in Lebanon: UN envoy
Oct 7, 2011
UNITED NATIONS: Threats have been made against the United Nations in Lebanon in recent weeks and the world body is stepping up security in the country, a UN envoy said.
Michael Williams, the outgoing UN special coordinator for Lebanon, gave no details of the recent threats but cited two roadside bombs targeting the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, one that injured six French peacekeepers on July 26 and one that wounded six Italian peacekeepers on May 27.
The attackers have not been caught and could strike again at the force or other UN targets, he told a news conference.
The Lebanese army also shared "some credible reports" with the UN "of potential threats in the past few weeks," Williams said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Threats-against-UN-in-Lebanon-UN-envoy/articleshow/10262866.cms
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Arab Spring, Nobel fall?
October 07, 2011
The award of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday has autumnal Oslo turning thoughts back to the Arab Spring, but Africans, from Liberia, or perhaps Sudan, offer a strong challenge in perennial speculation on who will win the global accolade.
With no woman winning the award for seven
years, there are a number of strong female contenders widely tipped for 2011.
The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who will announce the winner of the $1.5 million prize at 0900 GMT, gave little away in an interview with Norway's public broadcaster NRK late on Thursday, though he took care to seem to steer questions away from a single-minded focus on Arab pro-democracy demonstrators.
"There are many other positive developments this year that we have observed in the international community," former prime minister Thorbjoern Jagland said.
"I think it is little bizarre that researchers and others have not seen them."
Jagland, whose four fellow panelists are all women, said: "What is important for the Nobel Committee is to tackle the real important forces in the international community that contribute to encouraging societies to go in a positive direction."
For some observers, including Norway's often well-informed TV2, that could point to a woman winner.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/europe/Arab-Spring-Nobel-fall/Article1-
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Nobel winner’s wife says she’ll now understand his discovery
Oct 8, 2011
The wife of Israeli scientist Daniel Shechtman, who won the 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on quasi-crystals after fighting for nearly 30 years the scepticism about his findings, says she may now “finally understand” what her husband has discovered.
Prof. Shechtman’s win on Wednesday capped off a dramatic story of a scientist who was laughed at by colleagues within the scientific community over his observations, until he managed to convince them that all his findings were valid.
His wife Tzipi, a psychology professor at the University of Haifa, said that she always “had a bit of a problem” trying to explain exactly what his research was about.
She and other family members were on Wednesday listening avidly to media reports that were explaining the significance of his work.
“Maybe now I’ll finally understand what it is he discovered,” Ms. Tzipi said.
Prof. Shechtman first observed crystals with a pentagonal or five-sided shape, which most scientists considered “impossible”, on April 8, 1982.
“I told everyone who was ready to listen that I had material with pentagonal symmetry. People just laughed at me,” the scientist said.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/article2514884.ece
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-3/d/5639