President Barack Obama praises killing of al-Qaida cleric al-Awlaki
Maldives Islamic Minister resigns from chairmanship of Religious Council
US reassure Pakistan amid anti-American protests
Editor of Al Qaeda Magazine “Inspire” also killed in strike
Anwar al-Awlaki, American-Born Qaeda Leader, Is Killed in Yemen
Pak Child marriage: 11yr. old girl bartered off to satiate father’s lust
Pak, US need to work as partners in Afghanistan: Hina Rabani Khar
Hamid Karzai abandons peace talks with the Taliban
Europe drops ‘sanctions’ word in Syria resolution
Convoy attacked with concrete blocks, iron bars: US envoy in Syria
Rezwan, Mass terror suspect asked to leave mosque because of radical
views
Afzal Guru clemency: Violent protests in Srinagar after JKLF chairman's arrest
US squeezes Haqqani group, puts five associates on terror list
Blast kills 17 at Iraqi funeral
19 die as Syrian forces battle deserters, protesters
Bomb claims Afghanistan’s first female police victims
Drone strike kills 3 in S Waziristan
Pak parties snub US, hint at talks with Jihadis
Where there’s smoke there’s fire: Nawaz Sharif questions Pak Army role
Anwar al-Awlaki: From voice for jihad to leading terror figure
Omar Abdullah hands over ‘fixer’ to cops, he dies in custody
HM P Chidambaram trashes NIA claims in HC blast case
Little hope of justice for Pune blast victims
India knows where Dawood lives in Pakistan: P Chidambaram
Gaddafi diehards force Sirte retreat by NTH fighters
How the terrorist-in-the-making Rezwan Ferdaus was nabbed
Int’l community prepared to press Israel, Palestine for talks
Turkey, France Set To Sign Anti-Terrorism Agreement
Gujarat riots 'whistleblower' cop Sanjeev Bhatt arrested
India not surprised at US discovery of ISI link with terror groups: HM P Chidambaram
India-led UN body seeks adoption of ‘zero tolerance' to terrorism
Palestinians have 8 votes in Security Council
Beirut multi-faith summit stresses importance of Christians in Middle East
Pak rejects US Haqqani allegations, backs military to defeat 'threat to national security'
Pakistan never backed Haqqani network: ISI chief
MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed behind bars, petition in court
Pakistan must eliminate militant safe havens, says Clinton
US woos Pakistan with jazz
Bin Laden’s bodyguard freed by Pakistan
4 million children at risk of hunger, disease in Pakistan
Pakistan: Forty-eight Indian fishermen arrested
Lawyer optimism for Iranian death-row Christian cleric
Blast in hotel building injures six in Islamabad
Thirty-four labourers kidnapped from Khyber tribal region
Omar Abdullah apologises for disclosing names of rape victims
Kyrgyzstan parliament bans gambling
Morocco cafe bombing: Eight deny Marrakesh attack
Activists in Arab World Vie to Define Islamic State
Let us get rid of the border: Ansar Burney
Philippine Muslim rebels cut ties with renegade commander
Seven Syrian troops die as armed resistance emerges
Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to step down
India warns against hurry in troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
Shehla Masood's murder still remains a mystery
Intellectuals protest deportation of U.S. broadcaster-writer
Egypt parties threaten boycott over election law
George Weigel: five years after Pope Benedict’s controversial remarks about Islam
Jamia Millia Islamia launches study programs on China and Afghanistan
A Look at the Life of Al-Qaida Cleric Al-Awlaki
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/president-barack-obama-praises-killing/d/5587
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President Barack Obama praises killing of al-Qaida cleric al-Awlaki
Oct 1, 2011
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama declared the killing of a fiery American-born cleric a "major blow" to al-Qaida's most active affiliate and vowed on Tuesday a vigorous US campaign to prevent the terror network and its partners from finding a haven anywhere in the world.
Anwar al-Awlaki and a second American, Samir Khan, were killed by a joint CIA-US military air strike on their convoy in Yemen early Friday. Both men played major roles in inspiring attacks against the United States, and their killings are a devastating double blow to al-Qaida's most dangerous franchise.
Seeking to justify the targeted killing of a US citizen, Obama outlined al-Awlaki's involvement in planning and directing the murder of innocent Americans.
"He directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009. He directed the failed attempt to blow up US cargo planes in 2010," Obama said. "And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda."
After three weeks of tracking the targets, US armed drones and fighter jets shadowed al-Awlaki's convoy before armed drones launched their lethal strike early Friday. The strike killed four operatives in all, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.
Al-Awlaki was targeted in the killing, but Khan, who edited the slick Jihadi internet magazine, apparently was not targeted directly.
Al-Awlaki played a significant operational role in plotting and inspiring attacks on the United States, US officials said on Friday. Khan, who was from North Carolina, was not considered an operational leader but had published seven issues online of Inspire Magazine, a widely read Jihadi site offering advice on how to make bombs and the use of weapons.
Obama praised Yemen's government and security forces for their close cooperation with the US in fighting Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, arguably the terror networks most dangerous affiliate. With al-Awlaki's death, Obama said AQAP remains "a dangerous but weakened terrorist organization."
The US and counterterrorism officials all spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.
Al-Awlaki was killed by the same US military unit that got Osama bin Laden on May 1. Al-Awlaki is the most prominent al-Qaida figure to be killed since then.
US word of al-Awlaki's death came after the government of Yemen reported that he had been killed Friday about five miles (8 kilometers) from the town of Khashef, some 87 miles (140 kilometers) from the capital, Sanaa.
The air strike was carried out more openly than the covert operation that sent Navy SEALs into bin Laden's Pakistani compound.
Counterterrorism cooperation between the United States and Yemen has improved in recent weeks, allowing better intelligence-gathering on al-Awlaki's movements, US officials said. The ability to track him better was a vital factor in the success of the strike, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
Al-Awlaki's death is the latest in a run of high-profile kills for the Obama administration. But the killing raises questions that the death of other al-Qaida leaders, including bin Laden, did not.
Al-Awlaki is a US citizen, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, who had not been charged with any crime. Civil liberties groups have questioned the government's authority to kill an American without trial.
Al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al-Awlaki, had sued Obama and other administration officials 13 months ago to try to stop them from targeting his son for death. The father, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, argued that international law and the US Constitution prevented the administration from assassinating his son unless he presented a specific imminent threat to life or physical safety and there were no other means to stop him.
US District Judge John Bates threw out the lawsuit in December, saying a judge does not have authority to review the president's military decisions and that Awlaki's father did not have the legal right to sue on behalf of his son. But Bates also seemed troubled by the facts of the case, which he wrote raised vital considerations of national security and for military and foreign affairs. For instance, the judge questioned why courts have authority to approve surveillance of Americans overseas but not their killing and whether the president could order an assassination of a citizen without "any form of judicial process whatsoever."
US officials have said they believe al-Awlaki inspired the actions of Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the attack at Fort Hood, Texas.
In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt said he was "inspired" by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet.
Al-Awlaki also is believed to have had a hand in mail bombs addressed to Chicago-area synagogues, packages intercepted in Dubai and Europe in October 2010.
Al-Awlaki's death "will especially impact the group's ability to recruit, inspire and raise funds as al-Awlaki's influence and ability to connect to a broad demographic of potential supporters was unprecedented," said terrorist analyst Ben Venzke of the private intelligence monitoring firm, the IntelCenter.
But Venzke said the terror group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula will remain the most dangerous regional arm "both in its region and for the direct threat it poses to the US following three recent failed attacks," with its leader Nasir al-Wahayshi still at large.
Al-Awlaki wrote an article in the latest issue of the terror group's magazine justifying attacking civilians in the West. It is titled "Targeting the Populations of Countries that Are at War with the Muslims."
Al-Awlaki served as imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, a Washington suburb, for about a year in 2001.
The mosque's outreach director, Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, has said that mosque members never saw al-Awlaki espousing radical ideology while he was there and he believes al-Awlaki's views changed after he left the United States.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Barack-Obama-praises-killing-of-al-Qaida-cleric-al-Awlaki/articleshow/10188914.cms
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Maldives Islamic Minister resigns from chairmanship of Religious Council
By Ahmed Nazeer
1 October 2011
A day after he was asked by the Adhaalath Party to resign from the position of Islamic Minister, Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari has resigned from the chairmanship of the party’s Religious Council.
In a statement issued on the party’s official website, Adhaalath said that the resignation letter was today sent to the party’s President Sheikh Imran Abdulla.
The statement mentioned no further information about his resignation or what was in the letter.
The Adhaalath Party decided this week to break off its coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), after the party’s consultation council voted 32 to 2 to approve a resolution to leave the government.
Dr Bari and current State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Hussein Rasheed Ahmed are both appointed to the government under the coalition agreement.
Along with Dr Bari, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed, who was the former President of the party, was also asked by Adhaalath to resign, but replied he was under no obligation to do so.
Former State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, who earlier resigned from the government after expressing unhappiness with the current government’s religious policy, today told Minivan News that Dr Bari’s resignation was not an issue and that he would not comment on the matter.
Dr Bari and Sheikh Imran did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
http://minivannews.com/politics/islamic-minister-resigns-from-chairmanship-of-adhaalath-partys-religious-council-26292
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US reassures Pakistan amid anti-American protests
1 October 2011
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON - The United States moved to ease tensions with Islamabad on Friday, telling Pakistan it would not send ground troops to attack militant positions in North Waziristan even as anti-American protests flared around the country.
The demonstrations by religious parties broke out in several Pakistani cities just a day after political leaders joined in rejecting U.S. accusations that Islamabad was supporting militants.
A senior U.S. official told Reuters on Friday that “there will be no boots on the ground” in Pakistan, a message he said “has been communicated to them (the Pakistanis).”
Charges by Admiral Mike Mullen, President Barack Obama’s top military adviser, that Pakistan’s spy agency had supported this month’s attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul triggered a diplomatic fusillade over the past week.
Mullen, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, softened his rhetoric on Friday, telling a ceremony marking the end of his tenure that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan was “vexing and yet vital.”
“I continue to believe that there is no solution in the region without Pakistan, and no stable future in the region without a partnership,” said Mullen, who sometimes referred to himself as Pakistan’s best friend in the U.S. military.
Obama on Friday said the United States would continue to push Pakistan to do more to curb militants based in its border regions while maintaining intelligence cooperation with Islamabad.
“There’s no doubt that the relationship is not where it needs to be and we are going to keep on pressing them to recognize that it is in their interest — not just ours — to make sure that extremists are not operating within their borders,” he told a radio interview.
The diplomatic flare-up has added to anti-American sentiment in a country where a poll in June showed that almost two-thirds of the population considered the United States an enemy.
“The prevailing view in Pakistan is that because of our alignment with the United States, our problems have increased,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and military analyst.
“America’s view is the opposite: ‘Because you are not aligning yourself with us, your problems are increasing.’”
“This is the whole dilemma at the moment,” he said.
In Hyderabad, about 900 people from an anti-Shi’ite group whose militant arm has been accused of killing thousands of Pakistani Shi’ites since the 1990s, burned an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama and chanted “America is a murderer.”
In Lahore, at least 800 people protested at the headquarters of the Jamaat Islami (JI), Pakistan’s biggest religious party. “Go, America, Go!” rose from the angry crowd.
Another protest by JI in Peshawar, northwest of Islamabad, drew around 200 people. They walked a donkey over an American flag laid on the road, and chanted “America’s Graveyard - Waziristan, Waziristan,” referring to the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan that is a hotbed of militant groups.
Give peace a chance
Dozens of political parties emerged from a conference on Thursday to condemn Mullen’s accusations of state links to violent militants as “baseless allegations.”
They also pledged to seek a political settlement with militants on both sides of the border.
“There has to be a new direction and policy with a focus on peace and reconciliation,” their declaration read. “Pakistan must initiate a dialogue with a view to negotiate peace with our own people in the tribal areas.”
A military official said the army, which has lost 6,500 troops in the 10 years since Pakistani allied with the United States in the war on militancy following the Sept. 11 attacks, supported this policy.
“Our approach to this is that since we are operating against our own people, success isn’t defined by how many people you kill or what area you clear but if the ultimate goal of peace and stability is being achieved or not,” he said.
The United States has long pressed its ally Pakistan to pursue the Haqqani network, one of the most lethal Taliban-allied Afghan groups fighting Western forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies it supports the Haqqanis and says its army is too stretched battling its own Taliban insurgency to go after the network, which has an estimated 10,000-15,000 fighters.
The group says it no longer has havens in Pakistan, feeling secure enough to operate in Afghanistan. Pakistani military officials say “no more than 10 percent” of the thousands of fighters operate in Pakistan and the rest are in Afghanistan.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/October/
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Editor of Al Qaeda Magazine “Inspire” also killed in strike
Oct 01 2011
Washington : Yemen’s official news agency, citing a defence official, said Samir Khan, the young web-savvy American thought to be behind the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, was also killed in Friday’s strike.
Khan, born in 1986, was an enthusiast of jihad who lived with his parents in North Carolina before leaving for Yemen in 2009, where he is thought to have started Inspire. He had served as a Western conduit for the multimedia productions of violent Islamic groups. At the time, he was not thought to have had terrorist ties. Khan grew up in middle-class US and wrestled with his parents about his religious fervour. “I will do my best to speak the truth. Even if it annoys the disbelievers, the truth must be preached,” Khan had said in an interview.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Editor-of-Inspire-magazine-also-killed-in-strike/854132/
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Anwar al-Awlaki, American-Born Qaeda Leader, Is Killed in Yemen
Sep 30, 2011
The US-born radical Islamist cleric and suspected al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed in Yemen, the country's defence ministry has said.
A statement said only that he died "along with some of his companions".
Awlaki, of Yemeni descent, was on the run in Yemen since December 2007.
The US has named him a "specially designated global terrorist" for his alleged role in a number of attacks and US President Barack Obama is said to have personally ordered his killing.
The defence ministry gave no further details of his death, which could not be independently verified.
But tribal sources told AFP news agency Awlaki was killed in an air strike in the eastern Marib province, said to be an al-Qaeda stronghold.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15121879
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Pak Child marriage: Eleven-year-old girl bartered off to satiate father’s lust
Sep 30, 2011
SUKKUR: In a woman’s complaint cell, barefooted, but decked up like a bride, 11-year-old Nadia told The Express Tribune of how her father had bartered her off in ‘marriage’ to a boy almost twice her age.
Late on Wednesday, a woman came to the New Pind police station claiming that her husband had forced her daughter into marrying a 20-year-old boy.
She directed the police to a house in Islam Colony, from where they arrested her husband, Mohammad Yasin Shaikh, her new son-in-law, Shakeel Shaikh, and his brother Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh along with Maulvi Noor Ahmed Chachar. Nadia and her mother, Ghulam Zuhra, were sent to a women’s complaint cell.
On Thursday, Nadia and the four men came before the second civil judge and judicial magistrate, Sukkur, Rajab Ali Shar, who, after recording their statements, promptly sent all four of them to jail for a14-day judicial remand.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/263516/child-marriage-eleven-year-old-girl-bartered-off-to-satiate-fathers-lust/
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Pak, US need to work as partners in Afghanistan: Hina Rabani Khar
September 30, 2011
Pakistan and the US need to work as "responsible partners" in Afghanistan's peace process and the three nations should not question each other's intention, Foreign Minister Hina Rabani Khar has said. Khar, who today addressed the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, said Pakistan is
firmly committed to promoting stability and peace in Afghanistan while noting that the road ahead for peace in the country and the region is "full of challenges." "The complexity of the situation and the ground dynamics need to be analysed objectively and carefully. Clarity and strategic coherence, especially among Afghanistan, United States and Pakistan is of utmost importance," she said. "Given the volatility of the situation, it is perhaps understandable that there is a high level of anxiety and emotions. But we must not lose sight of the goals. We must work closely and as responsible partners together in a cooperative manner and not rush to judgments or question each other's intentions," Khar said. Khar's comments comes in the backdrop of escalating war of words between the US and Pakistan over ISI and its links with the deadly Haqqani network.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/world/Pak-US-need-to-work-as-partners-in-Afghanistan-Khar/Article1-751090.aspx
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Hamid Karzai abandons peace talks with the Taliban
1 October 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said his government will no longer hold peace talks with the Taliban.
He said the killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani had convinced him to focus on dialogue with Pakistan.
Former Afghan President Rabbani was negotiating with the Taliban but was killed by a suicide bomber purporting to be a Taliban peace emissary.
US President Barack Obama has renewed calls for Pakistani action against militants of the Haqqani network.
Mr Karzai, speaking to a group of religious leaders, said there were no partners for dialogue among the Taliban. It was not possible to find the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, he added.
"Where is he? We cannot find the Taliban Council. Where is it?" he said.
"A messenger comes disguised as a Taliban Council member and kills, and they neither confirm nor reject it. Therefore, we cannot talk to anyone but to Pakistan," Mr Karzai told the meeting.
"Who is the other side in the peace process? I do not have any other answer but to say Pakistan is the other side in the peace talks with us."
A statement by members of the nationwide council of religious scholars praised Rabbani's efforts to bring peace to the country, and condemned his killing in the strongest terms.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15134128
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Europe drops ‘sanctions’ word in Syria resolution
1 October 2011
UNITED NATIONS — European nations on Friday dropped the word “sanctions” from a proposed UN Council resolution on Syria as they played a diplomatic word game to temper Russian opposition.
France, Britain, Germany and Portugal instead called for “targeted measures” in their draft text in a bid to keep up the threat of action against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad over his deadly crackdown on opposition protests.
Russia and China have threatened to veto any resolution calling for punitive measures against the Syrian government. Russia has proposed its own rival draft resolution with no threat of action.
The European nations are pressing for a vote early next week as the Security Council has still not passed a resolution on the seven-month-old Syrian troubles, which the UN says has left 2,700 dead.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin did not comment on the change but said the two sides were working to merge their rival resolutions.
The Europeans and Russia are also at loggerheads over whether opposition violence in Syria should be given the same weight as the government crackdown.
Europe insists that any resolution should put more stress on Assad’s action. It has dropped demands for immediate sanctions against Assad and his entourage in an effort to get a resolution passed.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/October/international_October7.xml§ion=international
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Convoy attacked with concrete blocks, iron bars: US envoy in Syria
Oct 01 2011
In a post on his Facebook page, the American ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, said the attack on his convoy was more violent than previously reported.
Supporters of President Bashar al-Assad threw “concrete blocks at the windows and hit the cars with iron bars,” Ford wrote. On Thursday, many news sites, including The Lede, reported that the ambassador’s car had been set upon by protesters with eggs and tomatoes.
“Look at the photos of the US Embassy vehicles — eggs and tomatoes do not do such damage,” he said.
A video posted online late Thursday showed a cracked windshield and at least one protester attacking the back of the car with a metal rod.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/convoy-attacked-with-concrete-blocks-iron-bars-us-envoy-in-syria/854150/
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Rezwan, Mass terror suspect asked to leave mosque because of radical
views
1 October 2011
BOSTON — A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol was asked to leave a Boston mosque because of his radical views.
An official with the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center says Rezwan Ferdaus of Ashland was suspected of sympathizing with al-Qaida and criticized the mosque’s participation in interfaith efforts and politics.
Atif Harden, director of institutional advancement at the mosque, tells The Boston Globe (http://bo.st/ojW4kf ) that Ferdaus disapproved of the mosque’s policies that allowed men and women to eat together in its cafe and was hostile toward women he thought dressed inappropriately or who talked to men.
Harden called Ferdaus “very disaffected, very disturbed. Just a bitter, angry guy.”
The 26-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/official-mass-terror-suspect-has-been-asked-to-leave-mosque-because-of-radical-views/2011/09/30/gIQA2w4e9K_print.html
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Afzal Guru clemency: Violent protests in Srinagar after JKLF chairman's arrest
Sep 30, 2011
SRINAGAR: Violent protests erupted in Maisuma locality of the city on Friday after police detained Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and some of his supporters for taking out a rally against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Carrying posters and banners, Malik and JKLF activists took out a rally from Maisuma towards Budshah Chowk demanding that Guru should not be hanged, official sources said.
As soon as the protestors reached Budshah Chowk, a posse of policemen detained Malik and 15 activists and took them to a nearby police station, they said.
Irate protestors started pelting stones at police and paramilitary personnel at Masiuma, prompting law enforcing agencies to resort to cane-charge and tear smoke shelling, they said.
The clashes were going on till reports came in afternoon, they said, adding that there were no reports of anyone getting injured in the clashes.
On Thursday, Malik had warned that Afzal Guru should not be hanged as it could push the Kashmiri youth to violence.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Afzal-Guru-clemency-Violent-protests-in-Srinagar-after-JKLF-chairmans-arrest/articleshow/10183265.cms
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US squeezes Haqqani group, puts five associates on terror list
Sep 30, 2011
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on five members associated with the Haqqani network, turning the heat on Pakistan's terrorist proxies even as Islamabad played tough and virtually rejected Washington's calls to abandon ties with the group it believes protects Pakistan's national interests.
The five individuals designated were named as Hajji Faizullah Khan Noorzai, Hajji Malik Noorzai, Abdur Rehman, Abdul Aziz Abbasin, and Fazal Rahim. "These financiers and facilitators provide the fuel for the Taliban, Haqqani Network and al-Qaida to realize their violent aspirations," treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David Cohen said in a statement, a day after secretary of state Hillary Clinton had indicated the administration would bear down on the terrorist outfit which US and India say attacked their respective embassies in Kabul with support from Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI.
It wasn't immediately clear why Washington did not sanction the group itself or its eponymous father and son leaders who the US reportedly once patronized. Washington has long held off such designation, buying into the Pakistani plea that they (Haqqanis) need to have a key role in any reconciliation in Kabul, essentially representing Islamabad's interest.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-squeezes-Haqqani-group-puts-five-associates-on-terror-list/articleshow/10174945.cms
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Blast kills 17 at Iraqi funeral
1 October 2011
A car bomb has killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens more at a funeral near the Iraqi city of Hilla.
The blast took place at about 17:30 (14:30 GMT) outside the Nabi Ayub Shia mosque in the town of al-Khafaji, security officials told AFP.
Hilla, about 100km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, is on a route for pilgrims visiting Shia holy sites in the south.
Violence in Iraq has declined since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks have continued.
The explosion hit mourners who had gathered at a funeral of a local sheikh, witnesses said, damaging vehicles.
"I was standing on the other side of the funeral tent, and suddenly the place turned into hell, all my relatives were cut down and their bodies were burned," Haider Qahtan, 37, who was injured in the blast, told Reuters news agency.
'Hit by glass'
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15129451
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19 die as Syrian forces battle deserters, protesters
1 October 2011
DAMASCUS — Clashes between Syrian forces and deserters killed 11 people in a village in Hama province Friday, while another eight died during a crackdown on protests in flashpoint Homs, rights activists said.
The killings came as thousands of protesters took to the streets on the Muslim weekly day of prayer that is a lightning rod in the six months of anti-regime protests in which the UN says 2,700 people have been killed by a fierce crackdown.
The activists said those killed in Homs province were shot dead by security forces who opened fire on protesters, even as around 250 tanks and armoured vehicles entered Rastan, a major city in the province where there have been intense military operations against army defectors for days.
“Five civilians and six military and security agents have been killed today in the village of Kafar Zita during clashes between soldiers and agents on one side and deserters on the other,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“Eight civilians were killed Friday in Homs province” by security force fire, added the Britain-based Observatory.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/October/middleeast_October3.xml§ion=middleeast
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Bomb claims Afghanistan’s first female police victims
Sep 30, 2011
HERAT/KABUL: Two Afghan policewomen and a civilian were killed by a bomb blast in western Afghanistan on Thursday, the first female police casualties since the conservative Muslim country began recruiting women officers four years ago, officials said.
The bomb was placed on a motorcycle and detonated as a police vehicle driving to an airport passed by in the Enjil district of Herat province, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Interior Ministry Spokesman Sediq Seddiqqi confirmed to Reuters that the two officers were the first policewomen killed in action in Afghanistan, although others had been wounded.
Herat city airport police commander Sharif Mohammadi said the attack targeted five policewomen riding in a police vehicle on their way to their jobs at the airport. He said the explosion also wounded 10 people - the other four female police officers riding in the police vehicle, its driver and five civilians who were near the blast.
Herat central hospital official Rafiq Shirzai said a civilian was also killed in the attack, and six others wounded, including a child.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\09\30\story_30-9-2011_pg7_28
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Drone strike kills 3 in S Waziristan
By Iftikhar Firdous
September 30, 2011
PESHAWAR: A US drone killed three suspected militants near the Pak-Afghan border in South Waziristan on Friday.
A vehicle was targeted in the Baghar Cheena border area which resulted in the death of three suspected militants.
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the militants were not locals.
The CIA operates a covert drone programme which targets suspected militants in Pakistan.
It’s possibly the United States’ worst-kept secret even though it has opened up a debate about the legality of international state-sponsored killing of adversaries.
The United States is essentially deploying aerial robots to wage war along the inaccessible border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The drones conduct intelligence and reconnaissance missions and fire missiles at the enemy.
Drone “pilots” at CIA headquarters in Virginia move joy sticks around as they watch live video feeds of militants entering compounds, moving along winding mountain roads or planting bombs in northwest Pakistan, which President Barack Obama has called “the most dangerous place in the world”.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/263901/drone-strike-kills-3-in-s-waziristan/
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Pak parties snub US, hint at talks with jihadis
Oct 1, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani politicians have called for a dialogue with "our own people" in the country's restive tribal northwest in defiance of the US that had been pressing Islamabad to expand its military operations against terror groups in the region along the Afghan border.
A declaration issued after an all-party meeting to discuss American allegations about ISI's links with Afghan insurgent Haqqani network and perceived threats of an offensive on Thursday night asked for "a proper mechanism" to be put in place for the dialogue.
The dialogue call is seen as an apparent reference to some engagement with Pakistani Taliban.
But history is not on the side of cutting deals with them. The militia had taken advantage of a peace agreement and seized control of Swat due to the disastrous policy in February 2009. Pakistan army drove the Taliban out of the region three months later under immense public pressure.
The offensive was later expanded to the tribal areas with considerable success. Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had called the meeting. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani were among those who attended it.
The declaration sought a political settlement on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "There has to be a new direction and policy with a focus on peace and reconciliation," it said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-parties-snub-US-hint-at-talks-with-jihadis/articleshow/10191573.cms
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Where there’s smoke there’s fire: Nawaz Sharif questions Pak Army role
Oct 01 2011
Islamabad : PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif raised “tough questions” for the military leadership during a meeting to discuss Pakistan-US tensions, saying the country had increasingly become isolated and there must be some reasons for this.
Sharif made the remarks during Thursday’s in-camera meeting convened by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to forge national consensus on a response to US accusations that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was backing the Haqqani network and waging a proxy war in Afghanistan, media reports said Friday.
During the question and answer session of the meeting, Sharif asked military officials why the entire world was pointing fingers at Pakistan’s conduct vis-à-vis its role in Afghanistan, the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
Sharif asked military leaders at the meeting to explain the security situation of the country with regard to recent US allegations.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/where-theres-smoke-theres-fire-sharif-questions-pak-army-role/854148/
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Anwar al-Awlaki: From voice for jihad to leading terror figure
Oct 01 201
Sanaa : The heavy black beard spoke of Islamic piety, the fashionable wire-rim glasses of Western style.
Anwar al-Awlaki, American-born, a gifted Muslim preacher and savvy Internet operator, became a powerful al-Qaeda tool for recruiting in the West, its English-speaking voice spreading a terrorist credo via a blog, social media posts and email exchanges.
Al-Awlaki’s East-West cross-appeal was seen as a potential model for the next generation of al-Qaeda leaders. But his rise to prominence also drew the attention of the CIA, and landed him on its capture-or-kill list, the first American so targeted.
According to American officials, the 40-year-old had over the years moved from being an influential mouthpiece for al-Qaeda’s ideology of holy war against the US to become an operational figure, helping recruit militants.
Born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, he had been in the US crosshairs since his killing was approved by US President Barack Obama in 2010. At least twice, airstrikes were called in on locations where he was suspected to be, but he wasn’t harmed.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-voice-for-jihad-to-leading-terror-figure/854144/
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Omar Abdullah hands over ‘fixer’ to cops, he dies in custody
Oct 01 2011
Srinagar : A 61-year-old retired teacher and National Conference (NC) “sympathiser” who allegedly took money from two party leaders on the promise of getting them a ministership and a legislative council seat through union minister Farooq Abdullah, died in custody after he was handed over to the Crime Branch by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
The family of the man, Haji Syed Mohammad Yousuf, has alleged he was killed by the police because he knew “too many secrets”.
The chief minister told The Indian Express that the police had told him that Haji Yousuf had died after a heart attack this morning. The police told this paper that Haji had died in the police hospital where he was taken after he complained of “nausea”.
The government today transferred three officers of the Special Security Group, including a long-time personal security officer (PSO) of the chief minister, DSP Shabir Ahmad, but said the transfers were not related to the incident.
But it ordered a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge, and asked the chief justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court to nominate a colleague to carry out the probe.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/omar-hands-over-fixer-to-cops-he-dies-in-custody/854219/
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HM P Chidambaram trashes NIA claims in HC blast case
By Aman Sharma
1 October 2011
CONTRARY to the National Investigation Agency’s ( NIA) claim that the two persons they arrested from Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar region were the conspirators in the Delhi High Court blast, home minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said no one has been confirmed either as an accused or a suspect so far.
This holds true for the 13/ 7 Mumbai serial blast case as well, Chidambaram said, which seemed opposite to what Maharashtra police DGP Ajit Parasnis said last week that the group behind the Mumbai blasts had been identified.
Chidambaram, too, had hinted in the past that a home- grown terror module could be behind the blasts.
The home minister’s admission on Friday makes it clear that the NIA is far from nabbing the planters or the bomb- makers involved in the high court blast. It comes in the wake of the NIA arresting three persons from Kishtwar with regard to the blast.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Little hope of justice for Pune blast victims
1 October 2011
Botched probe hits chance of conviction as trial begins
THE trial in Pune’s German Bakery blast case begins on Saturday with the filing of affidavits of witnesses.
The families of the victims wait for the guilty to be convicted.
But their hope for justice may never get fulfiled as the probe has been botched up beyond redemption.
Even the investigators are not willing to bet if there would be any conviction in the case.
Though the Maharashtra antiterrorism squad ( ATS) claimed to have “ solved” the case, it could nab only one of the seven accused named in the chargesheet — Mirza Himayat Inayat Baig.
And even against him, the ATS has not been able to produce credible evidence. In fact, its chargesheet, filed on December 3, 2010, does not accuse him of procuring explosives or assembling the bombs or planting them.
Full report at: Mail Today
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India knows where Dawood lives in Pakistan: P Chidambaram
Oct 1, 2011
NEW DELHI: Home minister P Chidambaram on Friday said India knew where underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was but no one would allow it to go to the place and point out his house even as Pakistan consistently denied his presence in the country.
The home minister also said India was not surprised that the US had discovered Pakistani intelligence agency ISI's links with terror outfits, including the Haqqani network.
Asked about Dawood's presence in Karachi as claimed by the don's brother Anis Ibrahim in telephonic conversations with the media, Chidambaram said, "This is not new either. I think we know more than what Dawood Ibrahim's brother told you. We know where he is but surely no one is allowing, no one will allow me to go to the place and point out his house."
He said the matter was raised with Pakistan on several occasions. "We have raised it with Pakistan. I have raised it with my counterparts. They are in flat denial. They deny that Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan. What is there we can do from India except some day or the other that it will be exposed as a lie," the home minister said.
After escaping from India following the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Dawood has been hiding in Pakistan under the ISI's protection. The US had in 2003 declared him a "global terrorist" due to his close links with the al-Qaida.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-knows-where-Dawood-lives-in-Pakistan-Chidambaram/articleshow/10190412.cms
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Gaddafi diehards force Sirte retreat by NTH fighters
Sep 30, 2011
Ferocious attacks by Gaddafi diehards forced fighters of Libya’s new rulers to retreat from the ousted strongman’s birthplace Sirte, where a tank shell killed three in a “friendly fire” attack.
Equally fierce resistance from loyalists in the desert town of Bani Walid, Muammar Gaddafi’s other remaining bastion of support, has stalled a final assault by National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters, said commanders, who called on NATO to increase its air support.
While the fugitive Gaddafi’s whereabouts remain unknown, Libya’s Defence Ministry spokesman Ahmed Bani said in Tripoli one of his sons, Seif al-Islam, was in Bani Walid and another, Mutassim, in Sirte.
Along with his father and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, Seif is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
An NTC commander in eastern Sirte told AFP that fighting which raged into Wednesday night was the fiercest yet since new regime forces launched their assault on the Mediterranean port city on September 15.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/10029-gaddafi-diehards-force-sirte-retreat-by-nth-fighters.html
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How the terrorist-in-the-making Rezwan Ferdaus was nabbed
NARAYAN LAKSHMAN
Sep 30, 2011
The dramatic arrest of Rezwan Ferdaus (26) by the FBI on Wednesday was the strongest signal yet that the Obama administration is going to great lengths to stamp out the menace of home-grown terror.
The case against of Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen bent on wreaking havoc upon the Pentagon and Capitol using C-4 explosives and a ground assault team, was built up through the deployment of undercover officers in a sting operation.
The multi-agency operation of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force picked up Ferdaus on its radar when he said, back in 2010, that he began planning to commit a violent “jihad” against the U.S.
Revealing a bloodthirsty intent from that early stage, Ferdaus apparently got to work on modifying mobile phones to act as electrical switches for an Improvised Explosive Device. When undercover officers of the FBI, who Ferdaus believed were recruiters for al-Qaeda, reported back to him that his devices had killed three U.S. soldiers and injured four or five others in Iraq, Ferdaus responded, “That was exactly what I wanted.”
After this June 2011 encounter with the terrorist-in-the-making Ferdaus made several more deliveries of his home-made “IED switches” and, according to an FBI affidavit, “was anxious to know how well each of his detonation devices had worked and how many Americans they had killed.”
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2497814.ece
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Int’l community prepared to press Israel, Palestine for talks
Sep 30, 2011
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the international community is prepared to put pressure on Israel and Palestine to bring them to the negotiating table for initiating peace talks.
“We have to urge the parties to put aside their reluctance or their distrust and begin the hard work of negotiating,” Clinton said.
“And Egypt, the US, the Quartet, everyone will stand prepared to put pressure on both sides to try to move toward a settlement of the outstanding issues,” Clinton told reporters in a joint media availability with the visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr.
Last week, US, Russia, Britain and the EU had asked Israel and Palestine to resume direct peace talks within a month and commit to seeking a deal by the end of 2012.
“The Quartet statement that came out last week referred President Obama’s May speech, where he clearly said, there needs to be negotiations about territory that he said had to be reflective of the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps; there had to be negotiations on security so that there could be an agreement about how you could transition security,” Clinton said.
One of the most important parts of the Camp David Accords was an agreement on security, she said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/10022-intl-community-prepared-to-press-israel-palestine-for-talks.html
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Turkey, France Set To Sign Anti-Terrorism Agreement
Sep 30, 2011
Five soldiers were injured in a roadside bomb attack in the southeastern province of Tunceli, the daily Hürriyet reported Wednesday.
The soldiers were responding to a kidnapping and arson attack by alleged members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, near the Pülümür district in Tunceli when the bomb went off.
PKK members barricaded the road between Tunceli and Erzincan provinces near Pülümür district and kidnapped a village guard named Ismail Gürbüz. The militants also took two petrol tankers to a nearby avalanche tunnel and set them on fire, causing extensive damage to the tunnel.
The report said the PKK members also stole numerous vehicles that could be used in possible attacks in the future.
Around 10 militants wearing military uniforms forced two trailer trucks to stop near the village of Suveren in Igdir by shooting at their tires. The two truck drivers, Adem Yilmaz and Yusuf Demir, were forced to leave the vehicles, after which the militants set fire to the trucks. The militants eventually released the two drivers who made their way to a gendarmerie post by hitchhiking. The two trucks were carrying a load of beans from Uzbekistan to the southern province of Mersin.
Full report at:
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2461/turkey-france-set-to-sign-anti-terrorism-agreement
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Gujarat riots 'whistleblower' cop Sanjeev Bhatt arrested
Sep 30 2011
Ahmedabad : Senior IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, who has been locked in a public confrontation with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was arrested Friday in connection with an FIR filed against him by a police constable.
Constable K D Pant in his complaint at the Ghatlodia police station has alleged the officer forced him to sign an affidavit to say he was present in the meeting at Modi's residence on February 27, 2002.
Bhatt has accused Modi of misusing state machinery during the post-Godhra riots. The IPS officer said he was present at a meeting on February 27, 2002, in which Modi had told officials to let Hindus vent their ire soon after the Sabarmati Express deaths.
The Gujarat government had suspended Bhatt in early August. Bhatt's six-page suspension order chiefly cites “unauthorised absence’’ from duty as ground for the action.
After the suspension, Bhatt had said: “It is another self-goal by the state government,’’ he had said, adding he took authorised leave on personal grounds.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gujarat-riots-whistleblower-cop-sanjeev-bhatt-arrested/853964/
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India not surprised at US discovery of ISI link with terror groups: HM P Chidambaram
Sep 30 2011
New Delhi : India today said it was not surprised that the US has now discovered Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI's links with terror outfits including the Haqqani group, saying this was always known.
"We are not surprised that US lately discovered ISI's link with a number of other terrorist groups. We always knew that ISI has links with terrorist groups," Chidambaram said on the latest US assessment that the ISI had links with Haqqani network in Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
The relations between US and Pakistan has come under strain recently after the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said that Haqqani network is closely linked to and sometimes acts as an agent for Pakistan's ISI.
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly accused the ISI of colluding with the Haqqani network in the September 13 attack on the American Embassy in Kabul.
On underworld don Dawood Ibrahim wanted in India, Chidambaram said there was very little that this country can do to counter Pakistan's denial about presence of the global terrorist there.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-not-surprised-at-us-discovery-of-isi-link-with-terror-groups-hm/853967/
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India-led UN body seeks adoption of ‘zero tolerance' to terrorism
Sep 30, 2011
An India-chaired Counter Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council has come out with a document asking member nations to ensure “zero-tolerance” towards terrorism by denying safe haven to terrorists and bring to justice perpetrators of terror acts.
The document calls on member states to take urgent action to prevent and combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
It was released at a special meeting here on Thursday commemorating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.
The meeting also marked 10 years of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), adopted in response to the 9/11 attacks.
Addressing the meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said a decade after 9/11, terrorism still remains a “potent threat”, with thousands losing their lives and repeated attacks destabilising regional harmony.
India’s Permanent Representaitve to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri, who chairs the counter-terrorism committee, said the Security Council resolution “brought increasing solidarity and intensified dialogue among states concerning the threat posed by international terrorism and the means to confront it effectively.”
Puri later told reporters that from only two states that were signatories to all the 12 UN conventions relating to terrorism as of September 11 2001, the number has now grown to 111.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/10023-india-led-un-body-seeks-adoption-of-zero-tolerance-to-terrorism.html
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Palestinians have 8 votes in Security Council
Sep 30, 2011
RAMALLAH: The Palestinians have secured eight Security Council yes votes for their UN membership bid, just one short of the nine they need, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Riyad Al-Malki said he had received assurances from two additional nations — Nigeria and Gabon — that they would vote in favor of the Palestinian bid for full state membership at the UN.
“We have eight states that will vote for Palestine in the Security Council,” he said. “We are working hard to have a ninth and a tenth.”
Al-Malki said the Palestinians have assurances of “yes” votes from Lebanon, Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, in addition to the new confirmations from Nigeria and Gabon.
“We are working on Bosnia, Colombia and Portugal,” he added, saying he was scheduled to visit Bosnia shortly, and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will make stops in Colombia, Portugal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic in October.
Abbas will also deliver an address in Strasbourg on Oct. 6, he said.
The Palestinians need to secure at least nine Security Council votes in favor of their membership bid for it to be approved and advanced to the General Assembly.
Even with the requisite nine votes, the United States has pledged to use its veto to block the request, but the Palestinians hope they can at least claim a diplomatic victory by securing a majority in the Security Council.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article508935.ece
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Beirut multi-faith summit stresses importance of Christians in Middle East
By Nafez Qawas
Sep 30, 2011
BEIRUT — Muslim, Christian and Druze religious leaders emphasized the need to maintain the Christian presence in the Middle East during a summit held in Beirut Tuesday.
The importance of strengthening Muslim-Christian coexistence and emphasizing Christian existence in the Middle East were the main points of a statement released at the end of the three-hour meeting at the headquarters of Dar al-Fatwa, Lebanon’s highest Sunni Muslim religious authority.
“The conferees stressed [the need to] strengthen national coexistence and Christian-Muslim interaction based on their Arab affiliation,” said the closing statement read out by the secretary-general of the Christian-Muslim committee for dialogue Mohammad al-Sammak.
The participants also emphasized that “Christian presence in the Levant is historical and their role is essential and necessary in their homelands.”
http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/09/27/beirut-multi-faith-summit-stresses-importance-of-
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Pak rejects US Haqqani allegations, backs military to defeat 'threat to national security'
Sep 30 2011
Islamabad : A marathon meeting of Pakistan's top political leaders has rejected as “baseless” US assertion that the ISI is using the Haqqani network to wage a proxy war in Afghanistan and backed the military in defeating “any threat to national security?.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani convened the meeting of political and religious parties yesterday against the backdrop of growing tension with the US and threats of unilateral American military action against militants holed up in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
Without naming the US, a resolution adopted at the end of nine-hour meeting said the political leadership had “rejected the recent assertions and baseless allegations made against Pakistan” as they were “without substance and derogatory to a partnership approach”.
The resolution called for a “new direction and policy with a focus on peace and reconciliation”, saying Pakistan “must initiate dialogue with a view to negotiate peace with our own people in the tribal areas”.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-rejects-us-haqqani-allegations-backs-military-to-defeat-threat-.../853866/
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Pakistan never backed Haqqani network: ISI chief
Sep 30, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s intelligence chief on Thursday denied US accusations that the country supports the Haqqani network, an Afghan militant group blamed for an attack on the American embassy in Kabul.
“There are other intelligence networks supporting groups who operate inside Afghanistan. We have never paid a penny or provided even a single bullet to the Haqqani network,” Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha told Reuters after meeting political leaders over heavily strained US-Pakistani ties.
Pasha, one of the most powerful men in the South Asian nation, told the all-party gathering that US military action against insurgents in Pakistan would be unacceptable and the army would be capable of responding, local media said.
But he later said the reports were “baseless”.
Pakistan has long faced US demands to attack militants on its side of the border with Afghanistan, but pressure has grown since the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, accused Pasha’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate of supporting a Sept. 13 attack on the US mission in Kabul.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/30/pakistan-never-backed-haqqani-network-isi-chief.html
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MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed behind bars, petition in court
By Zeeshan Mujahid
September 30, 2011
KARACHI: The furore over the extended detention of Afaq Ahmed of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi continued on Thursday with a petition challenging it in court, a party press conference threatening passive reaction and a police explanation of why it happened.
On Monday, Afaq, who has been in jail since 2004, was granted bail in the last remaining case against him, for the 2009 murder of a rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker. He was supposed to be released on Wednesday but then came the orders that he was being detained for another month as there were fears violence would break out upon his release.
“If Afaq Ahmed is not released by Monday, we will direct our party activists who are living [away from their neighbourhoods] to go to their homes in groups of five to 10 people,” said MQM-H vice chairman Shamshad Ahmed Khan Ghauri in a press conference on Thursday. “And if anything happens to any one of them then the government will be responsible.”
He chose to blame the additional chief secretary for the home department, Waseem Ahmed, for the authorities’ decision to detain Afaq another month under the Maintenance of Public Order rules.
The Sindh police attempted to deflect the allegations, with Inspector General Wajid Ali Durrani saying that they recommended delaying Afaq’s release.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/263339/another-month-mqm-h-chief-behind-bars-petition-in-court/
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Pakistan must eliminate militant safe havens, says Clinton
Sep 30, 2011
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday renewed calls on Pakistan to eliminate safe havens that militants use to launch attacks into Afghanistan, while calling for better US-Pakistani ties.
“We’re certainly making clear that we want to see an end to safe havens and any kind of support from anywhere for terrorists inside Pakistan,” Clinton told reporters.
“And we also want to continue to work to put our relationship (with Pakistan) on a stronger footing,” the chief US diplomat said as US-Pakistani ties appeared worse than ever.
The Pakistani government and opposition leaders on Thursday closed ranks against increasing US pressure for action against the Haqqani network, refusing to be pressured into doing more in the war on terror.
The group, allegedly based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, was founded by former CIA asset Jalaluddin Haqqani and is run by his son Sirajuddin. It is blamed for attacks on US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Despite the “serious questions” that Washington has about Pakistan’s support for militants, Clinton said, “we have a lot of interests that are in common, most particularly the fight against terrorism.”
http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/30/pakistan-must-eliminate-militant-safe-havens-says-clinton.html
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US woos Pakistan with jazz
Associated Press
September 30, 2011
Carrots haven't worked with Pakistan. Neither have sticks. Now the US has enlisted the power of jazz music to improve relations with Pakistanis at a time when the important alliance has hit rock bottom.
The Ari Roland Jazz Quartet certainly faced a daunting task. The US has spent billions
of dollars over the past 10 years to win Pakistan's support in fighting al Qaeda and Taliban militants and turn around rampant anti-American sentiment in the country. Now, Congress is threatening to cut off funding given the lack of results.
The performances are part of a recent stepped-up effort by the US Embassy to sponsor cultural events in Pakistan. Already this year, an American director has staged Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple. The embassy also plans to bring over a country rock band and a hip hop group as well as American documentary filmmakers who will give workshops to Pakistanis.
The jazz quartet from New York City arrived in Pakistan about two weeks ago for a series of concerts and music classes with local musicians. The trip culminated with a live recording of a "friendship song" with a Pakistani rock band during a concert Tuesday night.
But relations between the two countries have been anything but friendly during their trip.
Only two days before the musicians got here, militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the US Embassy and Nato headquarters in Afghanistan, killing seven Afghans in an attack that the top US military officer said was carried out by fighters supported by Pakistan's main spy agency.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan/US-woos-Pakistan-with-jazz/Article1-751825.aspx
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Bin Laden’s bodyguard freed by Pakistan
Sep 30, 2011
LAHORE: Pakistan has freed a senior al Qaeda commander, who served as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, according to a senior security source, raising fresh questions about the country’s commitment to tackling terrorism
Amin al-Haq, who escaped from Afghanistan with the al Qaeda leader in 2001 and went on to become a key financial aide, was detained in Lahore three years ago by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
A senior security source in Peshawar, where he had been held, said the ISI had passed al-Haq on to the police before he was released earlier this month.
“Amin al-Haq had been arrested mistakenly, therefore, the police failed to prove any charge of his association with Osama bin Laden and the court set him free,” he told The Daily Telegraph. Pakistan has a poor track record of convicting terrorists, blamed in part on an ill-equipped police force and an overstretched judicial service. However, critics accuse elements of the security services of turning a blind eye to extremist groups. Al-Haq, who is thought to be 51, has a long history with armed groups. He fought Soviet forces during the 1980s and was part of the Afghan delegation, which travelled to Sudan in the 1996 to bring bin Laden to Afghanistan The US froze al-Haq’s assets after the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\09\30\story_30-9-2011_pg1_4
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4 million children at risk of hunger, disease in Pakistan
Sep 30, 2011
ISLAMABAD: At least four million children are at risk of hunger and disease in Sindh as funding fatigue from rich nations continues to fuel the desperation faced by families, a recent report of Save the Children warned.
Pledges to help aid agencies meet the massive needs of displaced communities has been sluggish with only 3 percent of the $357 million UN appeal received so far.
It said that up to eight million people have been affected by the flooding again this year after torrential rains caused riverbanks to burst and overflow in late August.
Some villages were drowned by rainfall in just one day, forcing people to flee to roadside, railway tracks, schools and higher ground in search of shelter.
Save the Children started delivering food rations to 5,000 families in the Sanghar district where a total of 900,000 people have been affected by flooding, according to local authorities. It said that children and families are drinking from floodwater contaminated with sewage.
The aid agency has launched a $30 million flood response appeal for lower Sindh. Save the Children aims to provide support to 1 million people, including 600,000 children in four of the worst hit districts: Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and Tando Allahyar.
Save the Children has been working in Pakistan for more than 30 years and is already supporting nearly seven million people in the country.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\09\30\story_30-9-2011_pg7_2
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Pakistan: Forty-eight Indian fishermen arrested
Sep 30 2011
KARACHI: The Maritime Security Agency (MSA) has arrested 48 Indian fishermen and seized eight boats for fishing illegally in Pakistani territorial waters.
A spokesman of MSA told APP here on Friday that the agency took action against Indian fishermen late on Thursday night.
He said the fishermen were interrogated and later handed over to the Docks police.
It was the fourth such seizure by the MSA in the month of September as a total 94 fishermen were arrested and 21 boats were seized, he added.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/30/forty-eight-indian-fishermen-arrested.html
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Lawyer optimism for Iranian death-row Christian cleric
Sep 30, 2011
The lawyer for an Iranian Christian cleric sentenced to death for apostasy says he is optimistic that his client will be acquitted.
The lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, said there was a 95% chance Yusuf Naderkhani would be freed.
Iran's Supreme Court has said that Naderkhani's sentence may be annulled if he renounces Christianity. His lawyer says that he refuses to do so.
There have been international appeals for clemency for Naderkhani.
Now in his early 30s, he converted to Christianity at the age of 19. He was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to death the following year by a court of appeals.
The former Anglican Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, said he could not advise Naderkhani to recant.
"As a Christian I can't do that," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.
"In a much lesser way I have faced these questions myself, and I would ask for myself for strength in this situation and courage, and that is what I would ask for him.
"But at the same time to ask that understanding and compassion and clemency be exercised by those who are in authority."
Dr Nazir-Ali, who is working for the UK charity Release, said there was concern in Iran about the growth of house churches, and it "may be that someone is seeking to make an example".
He said it was the first time the death penalty had been handed down in such a case since 1990.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15116650
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Blast in hotel building injures six in Islamabad
Sep 30, 2011
ISLAMABAD: A blast ripped through the top floor of a hotel building in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, injuring at least six people late Thursday, police officials said.
City police chief Bani Amin said the cause of the blast “appears to be a gas cylinder” as gas was still leaking at the Citi Hotel in the Blue Area, a normally bustling district of shops and restaurants.
Another police official at the scene told AFP at least six people were injured.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/29/explosion-reported-at-islamabad-hotel.html
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Thirty-four labourers kidnapped from Khyber tribal region
Sep 30, 2011
PESHAWAR: Thirty-four labourers were kidnapped from two different locations in the Khyber tribal region, DawnNews reported on Friday.
According to security officials, dozens of armed men picked up 30 labourers working in a coal mine in Bara’s Akkakhel area. In a separate incident, four labourers working on a roadside were also kidnapped in the tribal region.
All the abducted labourers were shifted to an unknown location, sources added.
Panic gripped the locality and security forces started a rescue operation after cordoning off the area.
No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings so far.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/30/thirty-four-labourers-kidnapped-from-khyber.html
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Omar Abdullah apologises for disclosing names of rape victims
Sep 30, 2011
Under Opposition attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday tendered an unconditional apology for revealing the names of rape victims in the last five years in the State Assembly.
“I tender an unconditional apology. There is a deep sense of shame over revealing the names of the victims,” Mr. Abdullah told the Assembly.
The issue was raised by Opposition leader Mehbooba Mufti, who accused the government of stigmatising the victims by revealing their identities in the Assembly. She said it was in contravention of section 228 (A) of the IPC and Supreme Court ruling on the matter.
CPM MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also supported Ms. Mufti on the issue.
The Chief Minister assured the House that such incidents will not be repeated. He said the Supreme Court ruling should not have been violated. “Under what circumstances these details have been revealed, I will look into it and will come back to the House,” he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had on Wednesday made public the names of hundreds of rape victims in the State. The list of names and residential details of the victims were made available by the Home Ministry, headed by the Chief Minister, in the Legislative Council. The details were given in reply to a question by MLC Subash Chander Gupta.
The CPI(M) had on Thursday criticised the State government for disclosing the identity of rape victims and termed the move as “secondary victimisation” of the women.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2499855.ece
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Kyrgyzstan parliament bans gambling
Sep 30, 2011
Kyrgyzstan's parliament has voted to ban gambling, meaning casinos will close throughout the country.
The bill was passed with almost no opposition, following repeated warnings from politicians that gambling has become a major social problem.
The new law allows a single gambling zone to be designated, but no location has yet been identified.
Thousands of casino workers took to the streets to protest against the passage of the law.
Opponents said Kyrgyzstan cannot afford the ban as casinos are both a major employer and source of tax revenue.
One of the deputies opposing the bill, Shirin Aitmatova of the Socialist party, said: "You should provide people with the work before prohibiting casinos."
But Baktybek Dzhetigenov of the conservative Fatherland Party said: "We are talking about the fate of many families who are losing everything because of casinos."
Gambling debts
Other gambling businesses and gambling machines will also be outlawed.
It is the smaller establishments that have caused the biggest concern to the authorities.
Residents tell stories of poor people getting into debt or teenagers stealing from home to fund their gambling addictions.
Thousands of casino workers picketed the parliament building in Bishkek as deputies considered the bill.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15116452
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Morocco cafe bombing: Eight deny Marrakesh attack
Sep 30, 2011
Eight men accused over the deadly bombing of a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh have all denied involvement in the attack.
As the trial resumed, some of the accused told the court they had been threatened to make them confess.
The blast at the Argana cafe in April killed 17 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Chief suspect Adel Othmani denies murder and making explosives while seven others deny playing lesser roles.
At the last hearing on 22 September, Mr Othmani said his earlier confession and participation in a re-enactment of the attack were performed under threat of torture.
He said he had never set foot in Marrakesh.
When the trial resumed on Thursday, his fellow accused also denied involvement.
Defendant Abdessamad Battar said he had been threatened into confessing.
"I didn't read the deposition drawn up by the police, they made me sign it and I did so out of fear," he told the courtroom in Sale, near Rabat.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15119949
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Activists in Arab World Vie to Define Islamic State
By ANTHONY SHADID and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Sep 30, 2011
CAIRO — By force of this year’s Arab revolts and revolutions, activists marching under the banner of Islam are on the verge of a reckoning decades in the making: the prospect of achieving decisive power across the region has unleashed an unprecedented debate over the character of the emerging political orders they are helping to build.
Few question the coming electoral success of religious activists, but as they emerge from the shadows of a long, sometimes bloody struggle with authoritarian and ostensibly secular governments, they are confronting newly urgent questions about how to apply Islamic precepts to more open societies with very concrete needs.
In Turkey and Tunisia, culturally conservative parties founded on Islamic principles are rejecting the name “Islamist” to stake out what they see as a more democratic and tolerant vision.
In Egypt, a similar impulse has begun to fracture the Muslim Brotherhood as a growing number of politicians and parties argue for a model inspired by Turkey, where a party with roots in political Islam has thrived in a once-adamantly secular system. Some contend that the absolute monarchy of puritanical Saudi Arabia in fact violates Islamic law.
A backlash has ensued, as well, as traditionalists have flirted with timeworn Islamist ideas like imposing interest-free banking and obligatory religious taxes and censoring irreligious discourse.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/world/middleeast/arab-debate-pits-islamists-against-themselves.html?ref=world
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Let us get rid of the border: Ansar Burney
Sep 30, 2011
Burney pleads for release of Pakistani virologist Dr. Chishty from Ajmer jail
Pakistan's human rights crusader Ansar Burney has asked both India and Pakistan to stop exchanging bodies, and consider sending people alive back home. “The real goodwill would be in exchanging people live and not their dead bodies,” Mr. Burney, who visited the mausoleum of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer on Thursday, said.
The activist-lawyer, instrumental in creating a lot of goodwill between India and Pakistan in the past few years, could not meet Pakistani virologist Khaleel Chishty who is in Ajmer jail after a court sentenced him for life this January, though the main purpose of his visit this time appeared to be that.
“It is time that Pakistan and India do away with the borders dividing both the nations,” Mr. Burney told journalists at Ajmer Dargah.
“They should learn from the experience of the European Union countries and allow visa-free entry for their citizens,” Mr. Burney said. The nations in EU too were fighting detrimental battles in the past but now they co-exist in peace, he noted.
“Why don't we have a South Asia Union through which all the nations could exist in peace and prosper,” he asked. “Let us get rid of the border and grow roses there as mark of love and affection for each,” he suggested.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2498047.ece
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Philippine Muslim rebels cut ties with renegade commander
Sep 30, 2011
MANILA: A leader of the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines says it has formally severed ties with a renegade guerrilla commander who led attacks against Christian communities after a proposed peace pact was scuttled three years ago.
Ghadzali Jaafar, vice chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said Thursday that the rebels’ central committee made the decision in light of Ameril Umbra Kato’s declaration in August that he has left the rebel group and formed his own.
Jaafar says the rebels’ cease-fire agreement with the government will no longer cover Kato’s Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Movement.
Presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles says she is withholding comment until the rebel leadership has officially informed the government of its decision.
http://arabnews.com/world/article508721.ece
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Seven Syrian troops die as armed resistance emerges
Sep 30, 2011
AMMAN: Syria said on Friday that seven of its soldiers and police were killed in an operation against terrorists in the central town of Rastan, where armed resistance has emerged after months of mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar Al-Assad.
The state news agency reported the deaths in the first official comment on a three-day government offensive to recapture the area from army defectors.
“The units responsible have inflicted big losses on the armed terrorist groups,” the agency said, quoting a military spokesman. “The confrontation resulted in the killing of seven personnel, among them two officers, and the injuring of 32, including seven officers, from the army and security police.”
Syria’s army and security forces have remained mostly loyal to Assad during the six months of protests demanding his overthrow in which the United Nations says 2,700 people have been killed.
But army deserters, many of whom defected because they refused to shoot at demonstrators, have formed rebel units mostly in farming areas around Rastan, a town of 40,000 people which lies 180 km (110 miles), north of Damascus.
One army defector operating in the province of Idlib, northwest of Rastan, said the defectors in the town were using guerrilla tactics against the heavily-armed loyalist forces.
“Rastan has been churning out army officers for decades and there is a lot of experience among the defecting soldiers. Assad is mistaken if he thinks that he can wrap up the attack quickly,” he said, adding that agricultural terrain made it difficult for the regular army to seal off the area.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article509067.ece
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Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to step down
Sep 30, 2011
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he will not step down if those who have taken up arms against him are allowed to stand in elections.
Saleh, who returned to Yemen last week after a three-month absence, warned of civil war in an interview with Time and The Washington Post.
He faces a widespread protest movement as well as an insurrection by renegade army units and tribal fighters.
He has refused to sign a transition deal brokered by Gulf states.
Under the deal, he would hand over to Vice-President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.
"If we transfer power and they [rival forces] are there, this will mean that we have given in to a coup," Saleh said in his first interview since returning to Yemen.
"If we transfer power, and they are in their positions, and they are still decision makers, this will be very dangerous. This will lead to civil war."
Saleh spent three months in Saudi Arabia for treatment after his presidential palace was shelled in June.
Journalists said Saleh's face was marked by "deep scars" and he had trouble hearing. No Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15121110
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India warns against hurry in troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
Sep 30, 2011
UNITED NATIONS: Expressing concern over the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, India today warned against any "hurry" in withdrawing troops from the country, saying such a move should be done keeping in mind the ground realities and not just to meet any deadline.
"For peace, stability and security in Afghanistan, it is imperative that the ongoing transition must be linked to the ground realities rather than rigid timetables. This, the international community in its hurry to withdraw from a combat role in Afghanistan, will ignore at its own peril," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said.
Pointing out that extremist groups continue to attack high-security targets and assassinate important political figures such as former president Burhanudin Rabbani, Puri said gains on the security front cannot be consolidated unless the international community is able to firmly deal with safe havens for terrorist groups outside Afghanistan's borders.
He said the "syndicate of terrorism" including al-Qaida, LeT and other extremist groups operating from within and outside Afghan borders must be rooted out for stability in the country.
"For security and stabilisation of Afghanistan, it is important to isolate and root out the syndicate of terrorism which includes elements of the al-Qaida, Taliban, Laskar-e-Taiba and other terrorist and extremist groups operating from within and outside Afghanistan's borders," Puri said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/India-warns-against-hurry-in-troop-withdrawal-from-Afghanistan/articleshow/10182046.cms
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Shehla Masood's murder still remains a mystery
Sep 30 2011
Bhopal : Almost a month after CBI took over investigations into the murder Madhya Pradesh RTI activist Shehla Masood, her killing is still shrouded in mystery as the probe agency continues to look for answers, remaining tight-lipped about the progress in the case.
"We are not in a position to share any details about the case looking at the sensitivity associated with the murder of the RTI activist," CBI's Bhopal Unit Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Hemant Priyadarshi said.
The sensational murder took place on August 16, in front of Masood's house in the posh Kohe-E-Fiza locality when she was shot dead while entering her Santro car to leave for an anti-corruption rally which was being organised here as part of Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption movement.
Following this a case was registered and the CBI took over the probe on September 3. As parts of its investigations, the agency recreated the scene of the crime in front of her house and probed all possible angles to get to the bottom of the case.
Groping in dark for clues, the CBI on September 16, announced a reward of Rs five lakh to the person who provides reliable information to arrest those involved in the activist's killing.
The issue also took a political turn in view of Shehla's association with BJP's Rajya Sabha member, Tarun Vijay, with whom she had worked on a number of projects.
She had also filed several RTI applications against many powerful persons including forest, police and culture department officials besides mining department persons.
The RTI activist was also a tiger conservationist and had filed applications on the issue of dwindling population of big cats in the country.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shehla-masoods-murder-still-remains-a-mystery/853867/
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Intellectuals protest deportation of U.S. broadcaster-writer
Sep 30, 2011
Immigration authorities told him he was “banned'' from entering the country
Noted authors, journalists, academicians, lawyers and filmmakers have strongly protested against the denial of entry into India to David Barsamian, a U.S.-based broadcaster and writer.
He has been a frequent visitor to the country since the 1970s and has written extensively about various facets of India and its people.
Mr. Barsamian was deported from Delhi's international airport on September 23 by the immigration authorities, who told him that he was “banned'' from entering the country but refused to divulge the reasons.
“The deportation of David Barsamian unfortunately mirrors the manner in which Professor Richard Shapiro was arbitrarily stopped from entering India in November 2010. We are dismayed that this power to send people back from the airport is slowly becoming a weapon, used to discipline and silence people who draw any kind of attention to uncomfortable truths about India,” eminent intellectuals said in their protest letter on Thursday.
“A year later, Professor Shapiro still has no formal response on why he was stopped, and when he can regain his right to travel to India, where he has family.''
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2497779.ece
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Egypt parties threaten boycott over election law
Sep 30, 2011
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, tipped as favourites in the nation's first free elections, has threatened to boycott the upcoming parliamentary polls, along with other groups, demanding scrapping of reservation of one third of the seats for non-party candidates.
A political bloc of over 50 parties or groups led by the Brotherhood has sought an amendment to the country’s recently announced electoral law, as they fear this would lead to the return to parliament of loyalists of the Hosni Mubarak regime.
Egypt’s military rulers recently announced the timetable for the nation as first parliamentary elections since the fall of the Mubarak regime, but the electoral law governing the process prompted immediate expressions of concerns.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the groups set a deadline of Sunday for their demands to be met, a report in Al Jazeera said.
The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) had announced that the parliamentary elections would begin on November 28 and would be held over a period of four months.
The objections stem from Article Five of the electoral law, which bans political parties from running in a third of the seats, that are reserved for independent candidates.
The statement by the group said the changes proposed by them to the electoral law would effectively bar many supporters of Mubarak from running for office.
“We reject participation in the elections unless the article is changed,” said the statement, also signed by the coalition of The Democratic Alliance, which includes 37 parties along with the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party (FJP).
In the post-Mubarak era, the FJP is the largest and best organised political party in Egypt, widely believed to be a major political force.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/10026-boycott-threat-as-parties-reject-electoral-law.html
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George Weigel: five years after Pope Benedict’s controversial remarks about Islam
Sep 30, 2011
In the flood of commentary surrounding the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I found but one reference to a related anniversary of considerable importance: the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Lecture. That lecture, given the day after the fifth anniversary of 9/11 at the pope’s old university in Germany, identified the two key challenges to 21st-century Islam, if that faith of over a billion people is going to live within today’s world in something other than a condition of war. On the fifth anniversary of Regensburg, therefore, it’s worth reviewing what the Pope proposed, not least because the 9/11 anniversary commentary assiduously avoided the question that the Holy Father courageously confronted: the question of what-must-change in Islam in the future, to prevent an ongoing global war of Islam-against-the-rest.
Benedict XVI made two proposals at Regensburg.
Islam, he suggested, must find a way to affirm religious freedom as a fundamental human right that can be known by reason and that includes the right to change one’s religion—and it must find this “way” from within its own religious, legal, philosophical and theological resources. The question is not one of surrender to certain secularist conceptions of public life, any more than it was when Catholicism confronted political modernity and found a solution in the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom. The solution has to come from within, in what Christian theology would call a “development of doctrine.”
http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/09/28/george-weigel-five-years-after-pope-benedicts-
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Jamia Millia Islamia launches study programs on China and Afghanistan
Sep 30, 2011
New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia will soon establish a China Studies Centre and an Afghanistan Studies Centre. These centres have been sanctioned by the UGC under the scheme of Area Study Centres. The objective of establishing these centres is to promote an Indian understanding of China and Afghanistan in a historical framework as well as from a contemporary perspective.
The centres will encourage interdisciplinary research focussing on the history, sociology, politics, economics and languages of these two countries. The centres will develop a pool of scholars and expertise on China and Afghanistan besides networking with similar institutions engaged in the study of these two countries. The activities of the centres would be designed to stimulate debate in public spheres for public policy making.
Jamia already has studies programmes on Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
http://twocircles.net/2011sep29/jamia_launches_study_
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A Look at the Life of Al-Qaida Cleric Al-Awlaki
September 30, 2011
The Yemeni government said U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in an airstrike Friday in the eastern province of al-Jawf.
Here are the most prominent dates in the life of al-Awlaki:
— April 22, 1971, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents.
— In 1978, family returns to Yemen where father serves as agriculture minister, professor at Sanaa University.
— In 1991, al-Awlaki returns to U.S. to study civil engineering at Colorado State University, then education studies at San Diego State University and later does doctoral work at George Washington University in Washington.
— In 2000, al-Awlaki starts preaching in San Diego mosque where he met two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
— Al-Awlaki becomes preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, outside Washington.
— After Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, al-Awlaki was interviewed at least four times in two weeks about his dealings with three of the hijackers aboard the flight that slammed into the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 Commission report said al-Awlaki was also investigated by the FBI in 1999 and 2000. None of the investigations led to criminal charges against him.
— Returns to Sanaa in 2004.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/09/30/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Yemen-Al-Awlaki-
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/president-barack-obama-praises-killing/d/5587