Religious Hindus get together to donate for Muslim girl’s treatment
New Age Islam News Bureau
11 May 2012
India
• Religious Hindus get together to donate for Muslim girl's treatment
• Traders dubbed Lashkar operatives ‘never left Pak’
• Kashmir University spices hands for A ranking
• CBI registers case in defence land sale in Kashmir; raids on
• Pakistan, India to talk Siachen on June 11, 12
• Convert Sarabjit's death penalty to life, Burney tells Zardari
• SIT says Ehsan Jafri ‘provoked’ murderous mob
• Indian maid in Malaysia found dead with burns on body
• Haren Pandya suspect, not witness
• India bungles Pak laughs
Pakistan
• Mortar attack kills five of a family in Khyber
• Pakistan’s postponement of Sir Creek talks to gain leverage on Siachen?
• Red Cross suspends aid projects in Pakistan
• Gilani denies Pakistan sheltering Zawahiri
• Chisti's family celebrates apex court verdict
• Pak closure of NATO route costing $38 mn extra per month
• Pakistani designers on visit to Ludhiana
• Gilani says Pakistan not ‘complicit’ in sheltering Osama
• Three shot dead as violence continues in Karachi
• Mumtaz Bhutto reinvents himself, acts to strengthen anti-PPP front
Mideast Asia
•
• Egypt rivals trade barbs in historic debate
• Iraqi Prime Minister says Turkish remarks do not show respect
• Folk troupe preserves children’s games in Saudi Kingdom
• Yemen: Airstrike kills 5 Al-Qaeda militants
• Syria bombers want to foil UN mission-Arab League
• Hunger strikers close to deal with Israel
• Iranian interference pushes young Yemenis towards jihad
• Iranian cartoonist's conviction condemned
North America
• US military course taught officers 'Islam is the enemy'
• NATO plans to upgrade nuclear weapons 'expensive and unnecessary'
• Agent in underwear bomb plot 'was British'
• US doing all it can to find prisoner of war in Afghanistan
• UN envoy: Libya unstable but moving to democracy
• US will go after al-Qaida wherever they are: Leon Panetta
• Pakistan not invited to Chicago summit: NATO chief
•
South Asia
• Flash flood in north Afghanistan kills at least 27
• Maldivian President to discuss Maldivian issues in Delhi
• Civilian deaths in Afghanistan fall 20%, says UN
• NATO Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army Uniform
• Afghan Police In Spotlight After Foiling Taliban Strike
• Afghan Refugee Children Perish in Harsh Winter
• Afghan swimmer dreams of London Paralympics
Africa
• Islamic extremists say goal is Sharia law in Mali
• Widow of 7/7 suicide bomber 'financed Kenya tourist terror attack'
• Ethiopian troops battle Somali rebels blocking supplies
• Sudan and S. Sudan at odds over talks after fighting
• Govt and Islamists Dominating Algeria Results
• Man Hurls Shoe at Killer Breivik during Norway Trial
Complied by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: Islamic extremists Ansar Al-Din
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India:
Religious Hindus get together to donate for Muslim girl's treatment
May 11, 2012
SANGRUR: When a young man Nitesh disrupted a Hindu religious congregation at Lehragaga and appealed to the devotees to donate for the medical treatment of a poor Muslim girl, few were astonished. Nitesh and his aides in a little time were able to collect a sum of Rs 1.20 lakh as most of the participants had come prepared to donate for the girl.
Nitesh, Puneet Garg, Rajesh Kumar, Bunty and a few others had distributed pamphlets in the town, making an appeal to the residents to gather at Sanatan Dharam temple on Wednesday night for Jagran(prayer congregation) and donating for Muskan's treatment.
Three-year-old Muskan is battling for her life for more than a month at CMC hospital in Ludhiana. Daughter of blacksmith Mushtaq, Muskan met with an accident on April 3 on her very first day to a nearby school at Sangrur.
"We had very happily sent Muskan to school, on April 3, near my house on Uppli road. The school auto driver dropped her on the wrong side and a tempo hit her when Muskan tried to cross the road. She was badly hit by the speeding tempo. Her leg was fractured and she got severe injuries in her stomach and other body parts. I could not pay for her treatment but many individuals who rose above religious considerations are paying for my poor daughter," said Mustaq with moist eyes.
Nitesh said that when a few days ago he and his aides came to know about Muskan, they collected a small token of money from friends and handed it over to Muskan's father at CMC. "But seeing her serious condition and knowing that CMC doctors had estimated the cost of treatment at more than Rs 5 lakh, we decided to collect more money. Therefore, we organized a religious gathering at the temple and collected Rs 1.20 lakh," he said.
Till a few days ago, the chances of Muskan's survival were remote but thanks to a few philanthropists who paid for her initial treatment, Muskan is now out of danger. She went through plastic surgery on Wednesday.
A remarkable example of secular humanism, set by Lehragaga residents, has inspired many. More Hindus and Sikhs are coming forward to the rescue of the ailing girl. Sangrur based individuals have donated Rs 50,000. Sunam based philanthropists led by Jatinder Jain too have started collected money for Muskan. Jatinder said his group would soon hand over the collected donations to the CMC authorities.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Religious-Hindus-get-together-to-donate-for-Muslim-girls-treatment/articleshow/13080752.cms
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India bungles Pak laughs
By Aman Sharma
May 11, 2012
Pak shopkeepers & guard among ‘ LeT’ men in IB’s terror alert
A TERROR alert a week ago brought back chilling memories of the 26/ 11 multiple strikes that saw Mumbai coming under siege in 2008.
The Intelligence Bureau ( IB) input stated that five Lashkar- e- Tayyeba ( LeT) operatives, in the age group of 25- 30 and armed with fake identity cards, had supposedly sneaked into the country to carry out audacious attacks on several sensitive installations in Maharashtra as well as Gujarat.
The tip- off appeared even more credible because colour photographs of the five youths were circulated, though without the details of their identities. Security agencies were predictably in the finger- on- the- trigger mode and the electronic media flashed pictures of the ‘ deadly’ five.
On Thursday, however, leading Pakistani newspapers such as Dawn and The Express Tribune took potshots at the Indian security establishment, claiming that two of the men being projected as terrorists were small- time shopkeepers and one a guard in Lahore, and that none of them had ever ventured out of the country.
The comedic turn of events suggests that the IB had issued a false alarm. What is worse, the entire exercise threatens to weaken India’s case on cross-border terror against Pakistan. But former IB chief Ajit Doval said it would not be right to call the alert a hoax and raised doubts about Pakistan. “What is the guarantee that Pakistan is not telling a lie? There are some parameters of issuing an alert – it is issued after reliable information is gathered. How do you describe a goof-up? It would have been a goofup if there was action or arrest of innocent people.
A mere alert is not a goof-up,” Doval said. The alert circulated to various states last Thursday spoke of a terrifying conspiracy in the making. It said the five highly trained men were planning to target the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the National Defence Academy in Pune, prominent oil installations in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the Bombay Port Trust, naval installations and even a bridge on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. The IB input also spoke of the five terrorists trying to hire a ferry to attack Mumbai from the sea route akin to the 26/11 modus operandi.
The photographs of the five were distributed to all police stations in the states concerned as Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat and Delhi were put on high alert on Wednesday. Security was beefed up at all sensitive installations, including NDA. But the trio highlighted by the Pakistani print media apparently turned up at a police station in Lahore for “protection” after seeing their own photos on TV. They told the police there that far from slipping into India, they had never set foot outside Lahore and were peace-abiding Pakistani citizens.
MHA says no goof up
This gave the dailies in the neighbouring country ample fodder to engage in India-bashing. Dawn and The Express Tribune lambasted the Indian government for a “false alert”. They stated that Atif Butt and Mehtab Butt sold mobile phones in a Lahore market and Baber Shabbir was a security guard who did not even have a passport. These three panicked on Wednesday night after seeing their photographs being flashed on Indian TV channels and being depicted as hardened terrorists. A fortnight ahead of Union home secretary R.K. Singh’s visit to Pakistan for bilateral talks, the home ministry vehemently denied any goof-up, claiming that its operation to nab the five dangerous LeT terrorists whose photographs had been circulated was still on. Singh said: “The advisory was based on credible information. We stand by that. As far as the contents of the advisory are concerned, we do not comment on ongoing matters.”
Top home ministry sources insisted that it may be a case of the trio turning up at the Lahore police station bearing a strong resemblance to the men in the photographs. They were of the view that the actual terrorists could very much be hiding in India, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
But The Express Tribune sought to rubbish such explanations. “Atif Butt has been running a mobile phone business for the last 10 years under the banner of Sun Mobiles in Shop number 25 at Lahore’s popular electronic market, Hafeez Centre. Mehtab Butt has been running a mobile phone business in shop number 25 in the same market for the last 12 years. Baber Shabbir says he has been employed as a security guard at the shopping plaza for the past five years,” it reported on Thursday.
Dawn described it as anti-Pakistan propaganda and quoted the additional superintendent of police of Gulberg in Lahore as saying that the matter had been forwarded to the cyber-crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan to ascertain how Indian media had access to the Pakistani nationals’ photographs.
C. Uday Bhaskar, a leading strategic affairs expert, said it was a complex development. “This is a learning curve which calls for establishment of protocols between the intelligence agencies of two countries with whom information can be shared to avoid such situations,” he pointed out. Union home ministry officials, meanwhile, claimed they saw the episode as a tactic on the part of Pakistan to put pressure on India before the talks scheduled for May 24-25 in Pakistan. The ministry has strong reasons to defend the alert.
Just last Saturday, both home minister P. Chidambaram and Singh had cited this tip-off before chief ministers and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to justify the need for a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). But the ministry’s record is far from perfect. Last April, when home secretaries of both countries had met in India, it handed over a list of 50 most wanted terrorists to Pakistan.
Red-faced
India said it believed these men were hiding in Pakistan. However, it was later revealed that two of the wanted men — Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan and Khan Wazhuk Kamar – were, in fact, present in India. Firoz was cooling his heels in an Indian jail, while Kamar had been arrested but was out on bail. A revised list was later submitted to Pakistan after deducting these names but the home ministry blamed the CBI for the lapse.
WHAT THE IB ALERT SAYS
Colour photographs of five LeT terrorists enclosed who have entered India from Pakistan through Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat. Names now known but they are carrying fake Indian identity cards
Key installations on their target are the National Defence Academy in Khadakwasla (Pune), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay near Mumbai, naval installations, the Bombay Port Trust, the oil refineries in Gujarat (Reliance and Essar have refineries in Jamnagar while the Indian Oil Corporation operates a pipeline), and a bridge between Mumbai and Pune
The terrorists are expected to attack from the sea by hiring a ferry, in a repeat of the 26/11 Mumbai attack
Mail Today
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Traders dubbed Lashkar operatives ‘never left Pak’
By Badar Alam
May 11, 2012
MEHTAB Butt, a middle- aged trader at Lahore’s largest cellphone and computer accessory market, thought it was a joke when his friend told him that his photo was appearing on a TV channel.
“But then I saw it myself. I was shocked to see the report that claimed that I was a terrorist and had sneaked into Mumbai,” he said over the phone from his shop at Hafeez Centre, a busy shopping complex in the city’s upscale Gulberg area.
That was late in the afternoon on Wednesday. “ I contacted the head of the traders’ association at Hafeez Centre, took him into confidence and then along with other traders, went to the nearby Liberty police station to bring it on record that I was present in Lahore and not in Mumbai, as being falsely reported,” Mehtab said.
He has been running his shop for the past 14 years and has never travelled to India, he claimed, and added: “ I don’t know who took my photo that appeared in the Indian media and when.” Atif Butt, a young man in his twenties who also runs a cellphone shop at the Hafeez Centre, and Babar Shabbir, a private security guard at the complex, are also similarly puzzled as to how their photos reached India and why they were linked to the terror alert.
“ I don’t have any enmity or a conflict with anyone.
I also do not remember having posed for the picture that has appeared in the Indian media,” Atif said. “ I want to tell the entire world that I am living and working in Lahore and am not in Mumbai.” He said linking innocent, ordinary citizens with terrorism was tantamount to putting their lives at risk.
“ Why should somebody link me to terrorism is beyond my comprehension, but I certainly fear for my safety now,” he added.
Officials and analysts in Pakistan are also worried at the false alarm. “ We have always asked India to not speak to us through the media. We have so many channels for interaction open now and they ( the Indians) should use them before going public with information that later turns out to be false or unsubstantiated,” said a senior interior ministry official in Islamabad.
He added that “ false and unsubstantiated allegations lead to perpetuating the public perception in Pakistan” that India has always levelled baseless allegations against it. “ We need to be careful when handling a sensitive subject like terrorism,” he said.
Dr Abid Suleri, an Islamabad- based analyst, said exchanging allegations through the media always vitiated the atmosphere between India and Pakistan. “ And when these allegations fall flat on their face, people come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories and hate- mongering,” he added.
Mail Today
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Kashmir University spices hands for A ranking
By Naseer Ganai
May 11, 2012
KASHMIR University officials say the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) minutely scrutinises nearly a thousand parameters before it gives its seal of approval to a particular institution.
But they will never tell that the “thousand parameters” include expensive gifts and extraordinary hospitality to the accreditation council’s members when they call in for a ground check or random quality evaluation.
The university showered a NAAC team last summer with high- end Pashmina- mixed Tosha shawls, a dozen intricately designed Samawars ( Kashmiri tea pots) and Kesar ( saffron) — the world-famous emperor of spice grown by Kashmiri farmers.
For the record, pure saffron comes at a prohibitive price of around ` 235 per gram and the university shelled out ` 12,028 on this exclusive herb- spice.
Full report at: Mail Today
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CBI registers case in defence land sale in Kashmir; raids on
May 11, 2012
NEW DELHI: CBI has registered a case against Defence Ministry officials and others as part of its probe into alleged irregularities in the sale of military land near the high-security Srinagar airport.
Immediately after registering the case, the agency carried out searches at various places in Jammu, Srinagar, Patna, Delhi and Chandigarh, official sources said.
The agency had registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) into the matter last year during which it claimed to have found evidences that No Objection Certificates (NOCs) were granted to private persons for this prime and strategic piece of land arbitrarily.
The CBI has named Ajay Chowdhary, a 1997-batch Defence Estates official, and others in the FIR registered under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency had also conducted enquiry into the records of the Directorate General of Defence Estates and the local revenue, following a request from the Defence Ministry to probe the sanction of the NoC for sale of this land in Kashmir valley.
Defence Minister A K Antony had last year informed Parliament that on receipt of complaint, a preliminary enquiry was conducted during which it was found that prima-facie there have been irregularities in the issuance of NOCs which may have wider implications.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CBI-registers-case-in-defence-land-sale-in-Kashmir-raids-on/articleshow/13092452.cms
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Pakistan, India to talk Siachen on June 11, 12
May 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India will hold discussions on the Siachen glacier row on June 11 and 12, less than a month after army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani sought talks with New Delhi to demilitarise the world's highest battleground, authorities here said.
The next round of India-Pakistan defence secretaries' talks on Siachen will be held June 11-12 in Islamabad, reported Dawn on Friday.
The announcement came after Pakistan sought postponement of talks on Sir Creek that were to be held in New Delhi next week.
The Foreign Office said the new dates would be decided through diplomatic channels.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistan-India-to-talk-Siachen-on-June-11-12/articleshow/13093655.cms
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Convert Sarabjit's death penalty to life, Burney tells Zardari
May 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Leading rights activist Ansar Burney on Friday appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to convert the death sentence of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, facing gallows on charges of involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan, to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.
Noting that Sarabjit had been on death row for nearly 21 years, Burney said in a letter sent to the President that the Indian national's possible hanging should be halted and his death sentence converted to life imprisonment "in the greater interest of humanity, human dignity, justice and human rights".
Burney noted that he had submitted several mercy petitions on Sarabjit's behalf to the President.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Convert-Sarabjits-death-penalty-to-life-Burney-tells-Zardari/articleshow/13092774.cms
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SIT says Ehsan Jafri ‘provoked’ murderous mob
VIDYA SUBRAHMANIAM
May 11, 2012
After Modi, it's Raghavan's turn to see riots as ‘action-reaction'
In its closure report filed in the Zakia Jafri case, the R.K. Raghavan-led Special Investigation Team says Ms. Jafri's husband and former MP Ehsan Jafri was killed because he provoked a “violent mob” that had assembled “to take revenge of Godhra incident from the Muslims.” Ehsan Jafri fired at the mob and “the provoked mob stormed the society and set it on fire.” Around 70 Muslims perished in the massacre at the Gulberg Society compound along with the ex-MP on February 28, 2002.
Ironically, the SIT makes this assertion even as it clears Narendra Modi of the charge that he had invoked the Newtonian theory of ‘action and reaction' to justify the post-Godhra anti-Muslim violence. Yet, in trying to absolve Mr. Modi, the SIT fully implicates the Chief Minister and itself. Not once but twice.
The SIT first insists that Mr. Modi saw the firing by Ehsan Jafri as “action” and the “massacre that followed as ‘reaction'.” It follows this up by quoting the Chief Minister as saying the Sabarmati carnage was a “heinous crime, for which ‘reactions' were being felt.”
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3405416.ece
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Indian maid in Malaysia found dead with burns on body
May 11, 2012
A 25-year-old Indian maid was found dead with 90 % burns on her body in Malaysia's Penang state in what appeared to be a suicide case.
Ratwinder Kaur from Punjab was found dead in a shared storeroom of an apartment block, a few metres from the 18th floor apartment unit where she had
worked in George Town area, police said.
Although initial investigation showed she could have set herself on fire as she had suffered 90% burns, police have not ruled out the possibility of murder.
She was said to have started work with her Malaysian employers, a bank manager and a school teacher, about two months ago.
A police official said they had received a distress call at about 9.50 am local time on Thursday from one of the employers and found a matchbox and a bottle with oil residue near the body.
"There are no signs of struggle in the apartment or the storeroom. Nothing was taken from the apartment as well," the official said.
He added that police were still waiting for the post-mortem report to determine whether the victim had consumed anything.
"She told her employers that she missed her family in India and wanted to go home," he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/RestOfAsia/Indian-maid-in-Malaysia-found-dead/Article1-854106.aspx
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Haren Pandya suspect, not witness
May 11 2012
Ahmedabad : The SIT has dismissed late minister Haren Pandya’s May 13, 2002, testimony before the Concerned Citizens Tribunal, which itself had dismissed his deposition. On the other hand, the SIT has picked out excerpts from the tribunal report implicating Pandya in the riots.
Pandya was murdered in 2003. He reportedly alleged that Narendra Modi had instructed officials not to take action against Hindu rioters. Tribunal members P B Sawant and Hosbet Suresh, retired judges, told the SIT that his deposition had not been recorded.
The SIT concluded in the preliminary report of 2010: “In view of the version of all senior officials of the home and police departments, the testimony of late Haren Pandya before the tribunal becomes unreliable.”
The SIT probed IPS officer R B Sreekumar’s entry about a supposed secret inquiry on the minister. This is backed up by the testimony of then DSP (intelligence) S M Pathak. The SIT final report says, “Pathak has also confirmed having conducted secret inquiries, which revealed that Pandya had deposed before them and that this fact was reported to R B Sreekumar orally.”
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pandya-suspect-not-witness/947872/
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Pakistan
Mortar attack kills five of a family in Khyber
May 11, 2012
PESHAWAR: Two women and three children of a family were killed when a mortar shell hit their vehicle in Bara Tehsil’s Shalobar area on Friday, DawnNews reported.
One person was also injured in the mortar strike.
Security forces have been preparing for a grand operation against militants in the area and the locals in this regards were directed by authorities to vacate the area, the deadline for which expired on Thursday.
The vehicle was leaving the area when it was struck by the shell fired by security forces. Security forces were engaged in an exchange of gunfire with supporters of militants in the area when the attack took place.
Security forces have been trying to clear the area of militants for three years. Two to three thousand people have fled the area and those left behind are considered to be militants’ supporters.
Exchange of gun-fire occurs frequently between alleged sympathisers and security forces.
http://dawn.com/2012/05/11/mortar-attack-kills-five-of-a-family-in-khyber/
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Pakistan’s postponement of Sir Creek talks to gain leverage on Siachen?
May 11, 2012
NEW DELHI: Pakistan's latest move of rescheduling talks on Sir Creek is intended to put pressure on Siachen, said sources. This week, Pakistan, after announcing Sir Creek talks with India on May 14 - unilaterally announced that it would not hold the discussions on that date - and later pushed the dialogue to June 22.
Although the official reason from Pakistan is the non-availability of a key negotiator, Indian officials are not buying this argument. With Siachen talks scheduled to be held on June 11-12, the postponement is being seen as trying to pressure India to concede ground on Siachen.
Officials said that India's position on Siachen had neither hardened nor softened for years. But Pakistani Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani has now said twice in a month that Islamabad wants the Siachen issue to be solved and India had "toughened" its stand asking for a demarcation. Defence minister A K Antony rubbished Kayani's statement about a tougher Indian stand, instead saying there should be no expectation of anything "dramatic" from the forthcoming talks.
Sources here said Pakistan may be thinking they can leverage the Sir Creek resolution for an Indian concession on Siachen. A resolution on Sir Creek is believed to be "doable", and can be used by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to justify a visit to Pakistan later this year.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistans-postponement-of-Sir-Creek-talks-to-gain-leverage-on-Siachen/articleshow/13089523.cms
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Red Cross suspends aid projects in Pakistan
ANITA JOSHUA
May 11, 2012
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has suspended most of its major aid projects in Pakistan and recalled international staff to Islamabad following the kidnapping and murder of Quetta health programme manager Khalil Rasjed Dale late last month.
Immediately after Dale's beheaded body was found by the roadside in Quetta on April 29, ICRC stopped its operations across Balochistan and has now followed it up by suspending its other two main programmes in Peshawar and Sindh. The only ICRC project that is continuing is one it conducts in collaboration with the Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir in Muzzafrabad.
Having called back its staff to Islamabad, the ICRC is now in the process of reviewing its presence and activities in the country. “The recent attack against the ICRC compels us to completely reassess the balance between the humanitarian impact of our activities and the risks faced by our staff,'' ICRC's head of operations for South Asia Jacques de Maio said in a statement.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3404999.ece
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Gilani denies Pakistan sheltering Zawahiri
HASAN SUROOR
May 11, 2012
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday rejected American claims that the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was hiding in Pakistan and mockingly said that if the CIA knew his whereabouts “please tell us''.
He also reiterated Pakistani denial that it had been “complicit'' in sheltering Osama bin Laden and blamed universal “intelligence failure'' for the fact he was able to live undetected in Pakistan for so long.
“There is no complicity. I think it's an intelligence failure from all over the world,” Mr. Gilani told The Guardian rejecting suggestions that elements within Pakistan's military may have been aware of Osama's hideout.
“Why should we do that? We have suffered the most,” he retorted.
Asked about U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's suggestion during her visit to India recently that Zawahiri was hiding “somewhere in Pakistan”, he said: “If there is any credible information please share it with us, so we can be quick and achieve our targets.”
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3405240.ece
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Chisti's family celebrates apex court verdict
May 11, 2012
The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted 82-year-old Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khalil Chisti to return home temporarily.
Chisti, who is serving life term in a 20-year-old murder case, had come to Rajasthan to visit his ailing mother in 1992 when he got embroiled in a brawl and
was held guilty for his neighbour's death.
Born in Ajmer to a family of caretakers of the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti shrine, Chisti was studying in Pakistan at the time of partition and had chosen to stay back.
After hearing about the verdict, Chisti said, "I am a heart patient and this excitement is not good for me but I will not let it affect my heart."
The first person Chisti wants to meet on his return to Pakistan is his elder brother. "I want to go and offer my 'salaam' to him."
In Ajmer, his younger brother Jamil and his family distributed sweets and congratulated each other.
The SC, however, imposed certain conditions on Chisti's Pakistan stay. Giving him the liberty to stay in Pakistan till October end, the court directed Chisti to deposit R5 lakh with the apex court registry within two weeks, and his passport at the Indian High Commission once he reached Pakistan.
The SC has set November 20 as the date of final hearing of his appeal.
Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari had taken up the issue of Chisti's release with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month during a meeting in New Delhi.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Chisti-s-family-celebrates-apex-court-verdict/Article1-853915.aspx
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Pak closure of NATO route costing $38 mn extra per month
May 11 2012
Washington : An alternate supply route being used by the US to transport goods to its troops in Afghanistan following Pakistan's closure of ground lines of communication is costing Pentagon an additional USD 38 million per month, a top Senator has said.
"We have learnt the Department of Defence will face at least a USD 1.3 billion bill as a result of the rise in fuel prices. This price increase has been exacerbated by the continued closure of the Pakistan border, forcing supply convoys for our force in Afghanistan to use the Northern Distribution Network at an increased expense of about USD 38 million per month," Senator Claire McCaskill said.
The Northern Distribution Network is a series of commercially-based logistical arrangements connecting Baltic and Caspian ports with Afghanistan via Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
McCaskill's comments on the issue at a Congressional hearing on current readiness of US troops yesterday came in the wake of Pakistan shutting down the NATO supply routes following a cross-border air raid that killed 24 of its soldiers in November last year.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/948154/
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Pakistani designers on visit to Ludhiana
May 11 2012
Ludhiana : To bring Pakistani designs for Ludhiana women, Pakistani designers Gul Ahmed and Asif Mohammad were in the city at Nilibar store. The exhibition of Pak designs would be on display at the store from May 10 to 12 and it is a first of its kind individual effort by a store to bring Pakistani designs. The designers were also available for giving individual advice to customers at this store. Pak brands like Bareeze, Gul Ahmed and Five Star Int were seen at the store.
Sunil Dhody, agent appointed by Five Star Int for the Indian market, was also present at the store. He told Newsline, “As of now, the customs duty imposed by India on unstitched suits for women’s wear ranges from 18 to 28 per cent, varying from fabric to fabric. However, on stitched clothes it ranges from 20 to 40 per cent. If this import duty is reduced, trade between India and Pakistan can flourish a lot in this segment because Indian women love to wear Pakistani designs. However, the high duty is hampering traders’ efforts to bring more goods.”
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/948045/
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Gilani says Pakistan not ‘complicit’ in sheltering Osama
May 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday insisted that Pakistan had not been “complicit” in sheltering Osama bin Laden and said the fact the late al Qaeda leader was able to live undetected for so long in Pakistan was down to a universal “intelligence failure”.
In an interview with the Guardian, Gilani rejected claims Pakistan had secretly known Osama was living in Abbottabad.
“There is no complicity. I think it is an intelligence failure from all over the world,” Gilani said, who is in London on a five-day official visit to the UK.
He denied that elements within Pakistan Army might have been aware of bin Laden’s hideout. He also said, “Why should we do that? We have suffered the most.”
Gilani said that he didn’t know whether al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was in Pakistan. “If there is any credible information please share it with us, so we can be quick and achieve our targets,” he said.
Asked if Taliban leader Mullah Omar might be in the country, the premier replied, “I don’t know. Please tell us. The CIA is far more powerful than Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, and would have a better idea.”
Gilani said Pakistan was “part of the solution, not part of the problem” when it came to the global issue of fighting terrorism.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\05\11\story_11-5-2012_pg7_9
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Three shot dead as violence continues in Karachi
May 11, 2012
KARACHI: Three youngsters were shot dead allegedly over sectarian bias in separate areas of the metropolis here on Thursday.
Two men were shot dead in Korangi 6 within the limits of Awami Colony police station. Unidentified men riding three motorcycles reached Petrol Pump Street and yanked two youngsters off their bikes before shooting them multiple times. Both youngsters died on the spot while the culprits escaped from the scene at ease.
Later, police reached the scene and moved the bodies to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities. Victims were identified as 24-year-old Mohabbat Khan, son of Sarwar Khan and Samiullah alias Sona, son of Mohammad Taj. SHO Javed Brohi said victim Khan received two bullets in his head, while Samiullah three in his head and neck, adding that Khan was a resident of Manghopir and used to work in a marble factory. He further told, “Samiullah was a resident of Qasba Colony and an employee of a towel factory situated in Korangi. He further informed that both victims had been missing since Wednesday. Both men were unmarried and hailed from Peshawar.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\05\11\story_11-5-2012_pg7_27
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Mumtaz Bhutto reinvents himself, acts to strengthen anti-PPP front
By Javed Soomro
May 11, 2012
KARACHI: When former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s government was dismissed in 1996 on charges of corruption and bad governance by her erstwhile party loyalist, the late president Farooq Leghari, the establishment chose Mumtaz Ali Bhutto as caretaker chief minister of Sindh. The establishment’s plan was to manipulate the general election in a manner that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) remained out of power.
The plan was executed successfully and the PPP lost the elections. Nawaz Sharif came to power at the centre and Mumtaz Bhutto grudgingly gave way to Liaquat Ali Jatoi to form the government in Sindh.
The situation, however, is different now. Mumtaz Bhutto’s decision to merge his Sindh National Front (SNF) with the Pakistan Muslim League-N might actually propel him into the power corridors.
Had the ruling PPP’s performance not been so pathetic and downright contrary to the wishes of its voters in the province, Mumtaz Bhutto’s merger with the PML-N wouldn’t have had any major impact on the political scenario in Sindh.
But after four years of the so-called policy of reconciliation, rampant corruption, unprecedented bad governance, combined with the absence of the dynamic leadership of Benazir Bhutto, many analysts believe that this is the best chance for the Sharifs to make an impact on Sindh’s political landscape, and for Mumtaz Bhutto to make a comeback.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2012/05/11/mumtaz-bhutto-reinvents-himself-acts-to-strengthen-anti-ppp-front/
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North America
US military course taught officers 'Islam is the enemy'
11 May 2012
Pentagon suspends course after study materials posted online suggested that Mecca and Medina may have to be obliterated
A course for US military officers has been teaching that America's enemy is Islam in general and suggesting that the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths, following second world war precedents of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima or the allied firebombing of Dresden.
The Pentagon suspended the course in late April when a student objected to the material. The FBI also changed some agent training last year after discovering that it, too, was critical of Islam.
The teaching in the military course was counter to repeated assertions by US officials over the past decade that the US is at war against Islamic extremists, not the religion itself.
"They hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you, unless you submit," the instructor, Army Lt Col Matthew Dooley, said in a presentation last July for the course at Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. The college, for professional military members, teaches mid-level officers and government civilians on subjects related to planning and executing war.
Dooley also presumed, for the purposes of his theoretical war plan, that the Geneva conventions that set standards of armed conflict, are "no longer relevant".
He adds: "This would leave open the option once again of taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable to the Mecca and Medina destruction decision point …)"
His war plan suggests possible outcomes such as "Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation ... Islam reduced to cult status".
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/11/us-military-course-islam-enemy
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NATO plans to upgrade nuclear weapons 'expensive and unnecessary'
Richard Norton-Taylor
11 May 2012
Proposals to modernise nuclear arsenal will heighten tensions with Russia, warns think-tank backed by ex-ministers
Nato's plans to upgrade the US's estimated 180 tactical nuclear weapons in western Europe are unnecessary, expensive and likely to exacerbate already difficult relations with Russia, according to a report.
The alliance is preparing to replace "dumb" free-fall nuclear bombs and ageing delivery aircraft with precision-guided weapons that would be carried by US F35 strike aircraft, according to a report from the European Leadership Network (ELN), a thinktank supported by former UK defence ministers including Lord Des Browne and Sir Malcolm Rifkind.
The report, Escalation by Default?: the Future of Nato Nuclear Weapons In Europe, is by Ted Seay, who until last year was arms control adviser to the US mission at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
The plans to upgrade significantly the US's stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons would increase its ability to reach targets in Russia at a time when Nato and Russia are already locked in a tense standoff over missile defence, warns the report.
Nato possesses 180 B61 free-fall tactical nuclear bombs in Europe stored at bases in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Turkey. The bombs, relics of the cold war, have no guidance systems and are regarded as having no real military purpose or value, says the report. The aircraft tasked with delivering them are also in need of replacement.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/11/nato-nuclear-weapons-upgrade
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Agent in underwear bomb plot 'was British'
Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Richard Norton-Taylor
11 May 2012
Claims that British passport holder played central role in mission that led to death of top al-Qaida operative in Yemen
A British citizen played a central role in foiling the latest "underwear" bomb plot hatched in Yemen to attack a US-bound plane, as well as in the assassination of a top al-Qaida operative at the weekend, according to various sources in Washington on Thursday.
CNN reported that the agent involved was a British citizen of Saudi origin who had been recruited about a year ago by Saudi intelligence.
MSNBC, which also reported that the agent was a British passport holder, said that British intelligence was "heavily involved". Other US media outlets gave the Saudi intelligence service most of the credit for the successful running of the operation. The Guardian independently confirmed British involvement.
The agent was recruited by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which operates in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and asked to carry a bomb aboard a US-bound plane.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/11/underwear-bomber-agent-british-al-qaida
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US doing all it can to find prisoner of war in Afghanistan
May 11, 2012
WASHINGTON - Defense leaders say the military and the intelligence community are doing everything possible to find 26-year-old Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was taken prisoner in Afghanistan three years ago.
Army Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says there is a poster of the Hailey, Idaho, soldier, inside US Central Command's operations center as a constant reminder that he is missing in action.
Bergdahl's parents went public this week with secret US attempts to trade their son for Taliban prisoners in US hands. They say they are frustrated by what they believe are stalled efforts to free him.
Officials believe Bergdahl is being held by the Haqqani network, insurgents affiliated with the Taliban, probably in Pakistan.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/US-doing-all-it-can-to-find-prisoner-of-war-in-Afghanistan-Pentagon-says/articleshow/13087529.cms
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UN envoy: Libya unstable but moving to democracy
May 11, 2012
UNITED NATIONS: The top UN envoy in Libya said Thursday there are positive signs that the country is moving toward democracy but longstanding tensions have escalated into armed conflicts, detainees are still being tortured, and there is rising discontent among former revolutionary fighters.
Less than seven months after the end of Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year dictatorship, Libyans are increasingly exercising their freedom of speech and have a strong desire to be consulted on national issues and a determination to hold their leaders accountable, Ian Martin told the UN Security Council.
But he said that as the country prepares for the election of a National Congress next month - the first election in 45 years - the interim government is still trying to impose rule of law, and there is "a sense of instability in an already fragile system."
Martin reported progress in preparing for the election, noting that since registration began on May 1, over one million people have signed up to vote which "is no small achievement," though only 36 percent are women.
He said another positive sign are local elections starting in Misrata in February, which are being followed by a number of other cities, some in the coming weeks.
"Libyans are increasingly exercising their freedom of speech: free media is developing at a rapid pace and civil society organizations, many of them led by youth and women, are being established across the country," Martin said. "One can clearly sense that for the first time in a generation, people are unafraid to speak out."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/UN-envoy-Libya-unstable-but-moving-to-democracy/articleshow/13089252.cms
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US will go after al-Qaida wherever they are: Leon Panetta
May 11, 2012
WASHINGTON: Following a failed attempt by al-Qaida to attack a US-bound plane, defense secretary Leon Panetta has said the United States would go after the terror group "wherever they are and wherever they try to hide in this world."
"As I've said time and time again, that we will go after al-Qaida wherever they are and wherever they try to hide. And one of the places that they clearly are located is Yemen," Panetta told reporters at a Pentagon news conference on Thursday.
"The United States' both military and intelligence communities have gone after al-Qaida, and we continue to go after al-Qaida," he said in response to a question when asked about recent threats that emanated from Yemen.
On May 8, an attempt by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to blow up a US-bound passenger plane was foiled. An explosive device bearing the hallmarks of the 2009 underwear bomb was seized.
"The recent threat that concerned all Americans about the possibility of another effort to take down an American airliner has come out of Yemen. It's for that reason that we will continue to take all of the steps necessary to try to go after those who would threaten our country and threaten the safety of American people," Panetta said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-will-go-after-al-Qaida-wherever-they-are-Leon-Panetta/articleshow/13093006.cms
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Pakistan not invited to Chicago summit: Nato chief
May 11, 2012
KARACHI: Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has urged Pakistan once again to reopen Nato ground supply routes to Afghanistan, DawnNews reported.
However, Rasmussen also said on Friday that Pakistan had not been invited to the crucial 25th Nato summit to be held in Chicago.
The May 20-21 two-day summit, with over 60 heads of state and governments expected to be in attendance, will be the biggest Nato summit in history.
The Nato chief said Pakistan’s name was not in the list of countries invited to the conference. Moreover, countries including Russia, China and India had also not been invited to the event.
Qatar, Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Jordan are among a few of the countries to be attending the conference.
All eyes will be on Chicago later this month as crucial developments regarding Afghanistan’s future and the role of Nato forces in the region are expected to come out of the conference.
Earlier in April, diplomatic sources had told Dawn that the US hopes Pakistan will reopen supply routes before President Asif Ali Zardari arrives in Chicago to attend the summit.
The US would welcome Pakistan’s “potential participation” in the Nato summit, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes had said.
“And obviously, the United States expects Mr Zardari to reopen the supply routes before the summit as it would be too embarrassing for him to attend a Nato meeting while his forces are blocking Nato supply lines,” said an official dealing directly with the summit.
http://dawn.com/2012/05/11/pakistan-not-invited-to-chicago-summit-nato-chief/
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Mideast Asia
12 bodies found near Indonesia jet crash site
May 11, 2012
Search teams found at least 12 bodies on Friday on the steep slope of an Indonesian volcano, where a Russian-made jetliner crashed while demonstrating the plane for potential buyers from airlines, an official said.
All 45 aboard the Sukhoi Superjet-100 that crashed on Wednesday are feared dead.
“Today we have discovered 12 victims, all dead,” Rear Marshal Daryatmo, head of the national search and rescue agency, told reporters on Friday.
The search team used ropes to climb up to the wreckage through jungle on the near-vertical slopes of Mount Salak, search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. The bodies they found are being prepared to be transported from the crash site by helicopter.
Local television showed what appeared to be the plane’s tail with the blue-and-white Sukhoi logo, part of a wing and bits of twisted metal scattered along the slope like confetti.
The jetliner slammed into the dormant volcano at nearly 800 kph during drizzle. The ill-fated Superjet was carrying representatives from local airlines and journalists on what was supposed to be a 50-minute demonstration flight. Just 21 minutes after takeoff from a Jakarta airfield, the Russian pilot and co-pilot asked for permission to drop from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet. They gave no explanation, disappearing from the radar immediately afterward.
It was not clear why the crew asked to shift course, especially since they were so close to the 7,000-foot volcano, or whether they got an OK, officials have said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3407580.ece
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Iranian interference pushes young Yemenis towards jihad
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Aden
11 May 2012
The 'Guevara of south Yemen' describes how activists fighting for independence have become pawns in a larger power struggle
Jemajem is a young, dark-eyed militant leader who bears the self-important nom de guerre of "the Guevara of south Yemen". Based in the impoverished port of Aden, he belongs to the Hirak group of activists, who have been calling for south Yemen to be allowed to secede from the north for half a decade.
It's not hard to see why he thinks an independent future for the south would be better than its current situation. Sadness and poverty settled on Aden many decades ago. The streets are littered with piles of rotting fish and festering rubbish, while haggard men sit on pavements chewing qat to stave off the boredom of unemployment. Cliffs of volcanic rock are crowded with migrants' illegal shacks made of breeze blocks and corrugated iron.
But beneath this layer of grime is a tale of outside interference in Yemen that is likely to bring further conflict and exacerbate the divisions within the country. Shortly after the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was toppled last November in the Arab spring, Jemajem was approached by an intermediary working on behalf of what the man described as a "friendly country" known for its international support for revolutionary causes.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/10/yemen-jihad-iran-saudi-interference
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Iranian cartoonist's conviction condemned
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
11 May 2012
Mahmoud Shokraye given a sentence of 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of a local MP that was deemed insulting
Cartoonists have condemned the conviction of an Iranian colleague sentenced to 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of an MP that was deemed insulting.
Mahmoud Shokraye was put on trial after an Iranian MP, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, took offence to a cartoon he drew of the parliamentarian in Nameye Amir, a city newspaper in Arak, the capital of Iran's central province of Markazi.
The Ilna semi-official news agency reported that a media law court in Markazi had found Shokraye guilty of insulting the MP, handing down the unprecedented punishment.
In the cartoon, Ashtiani is depicted in a football stadium, dressed as a footballer, with a congratulatory letter in one hand and his foot resting on the ball. The MP's forehead has a dark mark, said to be the sign of a pious Shia Muslim, caused (supposedly) by frequent prostration during prayer. The cartoon contains little exaggeration and Ashtiani's forehead has a prayer mark in reality.
Shokraye drew Ashtiani following widespread criticism in Iranian society towards a number of politicians who have been accused of interfering in the country's sports.
His sentence has sparked an outcry among cartoonists, with some calling on their colleagues to draw new caricatures of the MP in condemnation of the court's decision. Iran's online community has taken to social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook to express anger.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/10/iranian-cartoonist-mahmoud-shokraye-conviction
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Flash flood in north Afghanistan kills at least 27
May 11, 2012
KABUL: A flash flood swept through villages in a mountainous area of northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 27 people, authorities said.
It was the second major flood reported this week in the north. Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the governor of Takhar province, said flood waters broke through a dam early on Friday, washed down a valley and damaged several villages in Ishkamish district.
"It was a very powerful flood. It hit around midnight," Taqwa said. "Dozens of villages have been hit. I'm worried that the death toll will go up."
Rescuers have been trying to reach the site, but vehicles can only be driven to within a six-hour walk of the area, he said.
"It is a disaster," he said. "Unfortunately, we don't have enough aid. The only way to access the area is by helicopter."
On May 6, another flash flood swept through Dhy Marda village in Sari Pul province, killing 21 people, many of them members of a wedding party.
Sayed Jahangir Kramat, the deputy police chief for the province, said about 45 homes were destroyed and another 150 were damaged in that flood as heavy rains caused floodwaters to rush down the mountains.
Other minor flooding earlier this week in two other districts of Sari Pul province killed three people.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Flash-flood-in-north-Afghanistan-kills-at-least-27/articleshow/13093629.cms
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Maldivian President to discuss Maldivian issues in Delhi
R. K. RADHAKRISHNAN
May 11, 2012
A host of complex issues will come up for deliberations as Maldivian President Waheed Hassan Manik, arrives in New Delhi on Friday, soon after the successful visit of the former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed to India.
Dr. Waheed, the former Vice-President, who stepped in after Mr. Nasheed vacated office on February 7, is a political lightweight, who will be unable to categorically assure New Delhi on issues that are high on the agenda. The issues include the problems confronting Indian investments in the Maldives, the open hostility of some sections of the new government towards India, and the fate of projects that have been approved by the Nasheed dispensation.
But the most important agenda will be the political issues that have been flagged by Mr. Nasheed during his visit to New Delhi. The Waheed government has neither shown the urgency, nor the persistence to engage all shades of opinion to arrive an early election date. While the main supporters of the new administration, including India, the United States and the European Union, wanted early elections – by the end of the year – this now appears remote.
Dr. Waheed’s main backers in Maldives want elections closer to the date that the elections would normally be conducted – late next year. There have been some discussions on fixing July 2013 as the election month, but this too has not found favour with Dr. Waheed’s backers – including the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, one source said.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3407452.ece
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Civilian deaths in Afghanistan fall 20%, says UN
May 11 2012
Kabul : After five years of rising deaths, civilian casualties in Afghanistan dropped 20 per cent in the first four months of the year, the United Nations said, a rare piece of good news as foreign combat forces prepare to pull out by the end of 2014.
The killing of civilians has soured the feelings of many ordinary Afghans towards foreign forces and has been a constant strain on ties between the Afghan government and its Western backers in the increasingly unpopular war.
There are several elements behind this... there was perhaps less fighting in the first four months, Jan Kubis, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, said late on Thursday.
Secondly, indeed, the pro-government forces and notably the international military are taking efforts to reduce civilian casualties. Unfortunately there have been, but they take measures, the former Slovakian foreign minister told Reuters.
Kubis declined to give the number of people killed and injured in the January-April period but said the figure would be published before a meeting in Chicago later this month when NATO leaders discuss funding for the Afghan security forces.
The 20 percent decline was from the same period a year earlier.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/948153/
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NATO Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army Uniform
By GRAHAM BOWLEY
May 11, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan — An attacker wearing an Afghan Army uniform opened fire on coalition soldiers in remote eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing one NATO service member, NATO said in a statement.
Afghan officials said the shooting took place in Kunar Province on the Pakistan border and that the attacker had escaped. Following NATO policy, the coalition statement did not disclose the nationality of the dead soldier.
NATO only said that the killing was under investigation but that the incident appeared to be the latest in a recent string of so-called green-on-blue assaults on coalition soldiers by their Afghan partners this year.
Wasiefullah Wasifi, a spokesman for the governor of Kunar Province, said the shooting happened Friday morning in the Ghaziabad district of the province. Attaullah, the police chief of Ghaziabad, also confirmed the shooting.
The Taliban claimed one of its own fighters was responsible.
The shooting followed an attack on Sunday when a NATO soldier was shot to death by an individual wearing an Afghan Army uniform in Helmand Province in the country’s south. In that shooting, the attacker was killed when coalition soldiers returned fire.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/world/asia/nato-soldier-killed-by-assailant-
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Afghan Police In Spotlight After Foiling Taliban Strike
By GRAHAM BOWLEY
May 11, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan — An attack by six Taliban infiltrators in the eastern province of Paktika on Thursday killed three police officers but was put down before it reached the government offices that were its target, Afghan officials said.
The fighting again put the spotlight on the Afghan Local Police force, which is trained by American Special Operations personnel and is seen as a critical hedge against the Taliban as Western forces begin withdrawing. The Afghan Local Police force, which was part of the response to the Paktika attack, has been the focus of intensified Taliban assaults as the annual fighting season has gotten under way.
The attack began when six gunmen wearing explosive vests under Afghan Local Police uniforms tried to pass through a security checkpoint near the district governor’s building. Police forces stopped the men to question them, and a gun battle broke out, eventually stretching to two hours before the last attacker was killed.
Two attackers detonated their explosives during the fight, but no civilians were hurt. Two members of the Afghan Local Police and one member of the national police force were killed.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/world/asia/afghan-police-forces-deflect-taliban-attack-on-governor.html?ref=world&gwh=5832C79F5DDC24A39345F0A2A7F0EABF
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Afghan Refugee Children Perish in Harsh Winter
By ROD NORDLAND
May 11, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan — After a harsh winter killed children in refugee camps around the Afghan capital and brought attention to poor conditions there, a new study by a French aid agency said the disaster was more extensive than originally thought, with at least 100 young children claimed by the cold.
The study, carried out in March by the French aid group Solidarités International, sought to collect information from families at all of the 45 camps in or near Kabul, according to Julie Bara, who conducted the survey for the group, one of few international relief agencies that have long been active in the camps.
The group’s survey came to light on Wednesday, as a result of a visit by Valerie Amos, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator, who toured one of the camps, officially known as the Kabul Informal Settlements. In all, they have more than 35,000 residents, mostly refugees from rural areas hit hard by the war.
Visits to the camps during February by The New York Times found 28 cases of children younger than 5 whose parents said they had died of exposure to the cold in the previous month, when there was unusually severe weather with heavy snows and nighttime temperatures in the low teens. Since residents typically bury their dead quickly, in line with Afghan custom and Islamic practice, precise details on the deaths have been difficult to compile. In addition, most do not take their children to hospitals because they cannot afford the cost.
At the end of the winter, Solidarités went from camp to camp, asking parents who had lost children to sign declarations giving details of the loss, including apparent causes of death, Ms. Bara said.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/world/asia/winter-killed-at-least-100-afghan-refugee-children-study-estimates.html?ref=asia&gwh=B16FC748BAB7522F57D090D7F5A35BD2
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Afghan swimmer dreams of London Paralympics
May 11, 2012
KABUL: Afghan teenager Malek Mohammad balances on his hands, readies his stumps, then dives perilously into the water. The 18-year-old, whose legs were blown off by a Soviet landmine, dreams of swimming for Afghanistan in the London Paralympics.
“I hope they select me to participate in the London Games. So I am just praying,” he told AFP at the small pool where he trains in Kabul, in a nation known better for a deadly Taliban insurgency than international sporting prowess.
“If I get a medal from the Olympics that will be good for my country, for my people. Disabled people will be proud of me, my family, everyone.”
Malek is one of tens of thousands of Afghan amputees, victims of three decades of war—10 years of fighting against Soviet troops in the 1980s, civil war and the current Taliban insurgency—that have made Afghanistan one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
In January, the United Nations estimated that in 20 years it had dismantled more than 500,000 anti-personnel mines, 22,000 anti-tank mines and 15 million unexploded munitions.
Such weapons killed or wounded 375 people in 2011, according to the United Nations.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2012/05/11/afghan-swimmer-dreams-of-london-paralympics/
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African Countries
Islamic extremists say goal is Sharia law in Mali
By Katerina Nikolas
May 11, 2012
It is over a month since Islamic extremists took a tentative hold on northern Mali, causing widespread fleeing by the local population. Militant Salafist group Ansar Al-Din has now declared "Our goal is the implementation of the Islamic Sharia."
World Analysis conducted an interview with Ansar Al-Din's media official Sanda Ould Bouamama, providing a fascinating insight into their plans. The group is vying for control with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), with whom they joined to to take control over northern Mali.
The Mauritanian president has been attempting to broker some dialogue with the MNLA but refuses to open negotiations with Al-Din, which he regards as a terrorist organization. Bouamama counters this claim by saying if "establishing the religion of Allah Almighty is terrorism then we are terrorists." He denies the group has links to Al-Qaeda, but it is known to have involvement with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Full report at:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/324604#ixzz1uXyLMkW1
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Widow of 7/7 suicide bomber 'financed Kenya tourist terror attack'
May 11, 2012
The widow of one of the London suicide bombers was financing a terrorist attack in Kenya, it has been claimed.
The allegation was made as Jermaine Jhon Grant, a Briton, appeared before a court in Mombasa, accused of plotting a bomb attack. Jacob Ondari, for the prosecution, said the Muslim convert had been helped by Samantha Lewthwaite, the 28-year-old widow of Germaine Lindsay.
"It is our belief that she [Ms Lewthwaite] is connected with Grant and that they were working together. She is believed to be the financier of the whole thing," Mr Ondari said.
She has been implicated in the alleged plot by several witnesses who claim they saw Grant and a woman they believe was Ms Lewthwaite in Mombasa in November and December last year. It is thought that others may have also been involved, though it is unclear whether they were also British. The money she provided is thought to have paid for the rent of various safe houses used by the group while they were allegedly conspiring to carry out their attack, sometimes paying months in advance.
Grant sat in silence as he appeared in court yesterday. The 29-year-old is accused, with three Kenyan co-defendants including his wife, Warda Breik Islam, 19, of plotting an explosion aimed at killing civilians. All the defendants deny all the charges.
The east Londoner was arrested in December after police raided the house where he was staying and found hydrogen peroxide and ammonium nitrate, as well as batteries and switches – ingredients, the prosecution claims, for a bomb.
The first witness, Hassan Mohammed, said he helped the Briton to find a Kenyan wife, adding that Grant had lied to him about his identity and nationality. Grant is already serving a jail term for being in Kenya illegally.
Ms Lewthwaite, whose husband blew himself up on the London Underground Piccadilly line on 7 July 2005, killing 26 people, is wanted by the Kenyan authorities after disappearing last year.
Full report at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/widow-of-77-suicide-bomber-financed-kenya-tourist-terror-attack-7734763.html
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Ethiopian troops battle Somali rebels blocking supplies
May 11, 2012
MOGADISHU: Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces killed 17 Al-Shabab rebels on Thursday after the Islamist militants blocked a road in southern Somalia and stole goods, a regional official said.
Mohamed Abdi Mayow, the governor of Bakool region, said the Al-Qaeda-linked militants had been blocking trucks carrying supplies to Hudur for seven weeks and had unloaded goods from at least five lorries.
“They blocked all supplies and unloaded goods. This led to the fierce fighting and we swept Al-Shabab from the area, Mayow told Reuters by telephone from Hudur.
Ethiopian forces pushed into southern Somalia in November to open up a third front against the militants, who are also fighting Ugandan and Burundian troops around Mogadishu and Kenya’s military along its southern border.
While they have squeezed Al-Shabab out of some areas, the militants hold large chunks of central and southern Somalia and pose the biggest threat to efforts to stabilize the country after two decades of civil conflict.
Al Shabab routinely extorts taxes and loots food to sustain its five-year insurgency against the Western-backed government.
Al Shabab withdrew from Hudur under Ethiopian military pressure in March, calling their exit a tactical retreat.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article631693.ece
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Sudan and South Sudan at odds over talks after fighting
May 11, 2012
JUBA/KHARTOUM: South Sudan said on Thursday it was ready to reopen negotiations “any time” on a range of disputes with its northern neighbor Sudan after a spasm of fighting, but Khartoum said there could be no such talks unless the two sides settled security issues.
The two countries have been at loggerheads over oil, security and frontier disputes that ignited border clashes last month and for a while raised fears of full-blown war in one of Africa’s most significant oil regions.
South Sudan Minister of Cabinet Affairs Deng Alor told reporters that his country, which became independent from Sudan last year, was committed to complying with a UN Security Council resolution last week that called on both countries to negotiate their differences peacefully or face sanctions.
“We are ready to go for negotiations any time ... I expect negotiations to resume any time from now,” Alor told a news conference in the South Sudanese capital Juba.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article631668.ece
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Govt and Islamists Dominating Algeria Results
May 11, 2012
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Political parties released preliminary estimates for Algeria's parliamentary election on Friday indicating strong showings by the historic government party and an Islamist alliance.
Final results are expected later Friday, but based on tallies from individual polling stations across the country, the former ruling party, the National Liberation Front, known by its French initials FLN, will take over 100 seats, while the Islamist "Green Alliance" will get slightly less in the 462-seat assembly.
The people of Africa's largest country by area voted for a new parliament Thursday, in an election authorities billed as a response to the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement sweeping the region. The contests, featuring international observers, are believed to have been the freest in years in this oil-rich North African nation.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has spent the past several months urging Algerians to come out and vote, alternating promises of bold post-election reforms after elections with warnings that foreign powers might invade Algeria if there is a low turnout.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/05/10/world/middleeast/ap-ml-algeria-elections.html?ref=global-home&gwh=B6C6E8221B991A934AC96DC234210E2C
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Arab Countries
'Saudi clerics use social media to spread hate'
By OREN KESSLER
May 11, 2012
Saudi clerics have toned down calls for violence in the decade since the September 11 attacks, according to a new report on social media in the kingdom, but still regularly use web technology to disseminate religious rulings hostile to women, non-Muslims and the West.
The report, titled “Facebook Fatwa,” examined some 40,000 online postings written by or about Saudi religious figures. The study, conducted over six months around the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, was released this week by the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Working in conjunction with the technology company ConStrat, authors Jonathan Schanzer and Steven Miller examined some 40,000 online entries from Arabic and English web forums and social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The findings show a relative improvement in Riyadh’s willingness to clamp down on religious extremism, but also the alarming persistence of deeply conservative, intolerant views aired by both state-sponsored and unsanctioned clerics.
“Of the information we pulled for this study, we found only 5 percent were outwardly calling for violence. The jihadi factor is down, and that’s good news,” Schanzer told The Jerusalem Post. “The bad news is that 75% of them [in Arabic] were xenophobic, misogynist and intolerant of other religions and minorities.”
English-language entries were generally less antagonistic, with about half of all postings airing views categorized as conservative or radical.
Full report at:
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=269523
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Egypt rivals trade barbs in historic debate
May 11, 2012
Egyptian presidential hopefuls Amr Moussa and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh traded barbs about their past in a debate that captured the historic moment facing a nation preparing for its first real election for head of state.
Viewers tuned in across the Arab world for a spectacle unthinkable before Hosni Mubarak was swept from power by a mass uprising 15 months ago. The election gets under way in two weeks, the climax of an army-led transition to civilian rule.
One a veteran diplomat who once served as Mubarak's foreign minister and the other an Islamist who was jailed by his administration, Abol Fotouh and Moussa have emerged as two of the leading contenders to replace the deposed president.
Facing off for more than four hours in a show broadcast on two privately owned television networks, Moussa and Abol Fotouh sought to trip each other up on questions ranging from their perspective on Islamic sharia law to their views on Israel. They repeatedly accused each other of distorting the facts.
A former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abol Fotouh portrayed Moussa as a member of the Mubarak government that had corrupted Egypt. "There is a rule that says the that one who created the problem cannot solve it," said the 60-year old.
Moussa, who was head of the Arab League at the time of the uprising, defended his record as Egypt's foreign minister but added that he had left the post in 2001. "The regime that fell, fell with Moussa outside of it," said the 75-year old. "I say, you too were silent. You used to defend the positions of the Muslim Brotherhood and not Egyptian interests."
Egyptians are due to vote on May 23 and 24 in the first round of the election that is expected to go to a June run-off between the top two candidates from the field of 13.
Full report at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/11/us-egypt-election-idUSBRE84A04A20120511
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Iraqi Prime Minister says Turkish remarks do not show respect
May 11, 2012
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki criticised Turkey on Thursday for remarks he said did not show “mutual respect”, in the latest bout of a weeks-long spat between the two neighbours.
Maliki’s comments came as Turkey said it would not extradite fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is accused of running death squads and is the subject of an Interpol international Red Notice.
“We do not have any problems with Turkey,” Maliki told NRT, a Kurdish satellite channel, according to a statement issued by his office that included quotes from the yet-to-be broadcast interview.
“We do not want to antagonise Turkey, or Iran, or America, or Saudi Arabia, or any other country, but what happened and the remarks issued by Turkey do not show mutual respect.”
His remarks come after Iraq and Turkey last month summoned each other’s ambassadors to express their displeasure over a worsening row.
At the time, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Maliki, a Shiite, of stoking sectarian tensions between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, and of monopolising power.
Maliki fired back, saying such comments “will damage Turkey’s interests and makes it a hostile state for all.”
The Iraqi premier’s latest comments came as Turkish deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag said on Wednesday that Ankara would not extradite Hashemi, whose trial in Baghdad is due to begin on May 15 after two delays.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=/data/middleeast/2012/May/middleeast_May135.xml§ion=middleeast
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Folk troupe preserves children’s games in Saudi Kingdom
May 10, 2012
The Bab Tarhan Folk Troupe dedicates itself to keeping alive traditional games played by the Kingdom’s children. They are distinguished for their simplicity and for creating a spirit of competition among the players. Most games demand quick movement and maneuvers and the making of intelligent observations and decisions.
“These games have played a big role in strengthening social bonds and promoting friendly relations between children living in the same neighborhood and helping them enjoy their spare time in good spirits,” a report carried by the Saudi Press Agency said.
These games, inherited from previous generations, have been instrumental in preserving the Kingdom’s culture and heritage.
Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al-Hawass, manager of the troupe, said most of the traditional games were played during important occasions such as marriages, Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha celebrations and weekend holidays.
“These days, the games are also played at summer and winter festivals.”
Al-Hawass said his troupe presents a variety of these ancient games to an audience of senior citizens in Mudnib. “Some of them correct our team members while they play different games,” he pointed out.
According to him, there are about 30 traditional games, some exclusively for girls.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article631806.ece
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Middle East
Turkey’s PM, generals unite in anger at writer’s Aesop fable
May 11, 2012
ISTANBUL: A journalist’s fable portraying the Turkish military as a spoiled, overfed dog has provoked a rare show of unity by top generals and the Prime Minister seen by many as their nemesis.
“This is an individual whose pen always drips with filth,” Erdogan said of columnist Bekir Coskun, whose account of a privileged military that puts comfort and security before freedom drew on a fable from ancient Greek writer Aesop.
Erdogan has radically cut back the power of a military that toppled four governments in the last five decades. Hundreds of serving and retired officers face accusations of coup plots in trials unthinkable only a few years ago for a long-privileged army that kept politicians on a short leash.
Writing in the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper at the end of April, Coskun retold the ancient Greek story with a twist by naming the tame dog “Pasha,” the honorary Ottoman title given to generals and to secular state founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
“I think the Pashas should now seek legal redress over this matter,” said Erdogan, who himself once sued a cartoonist who had depicted him as a cat.
Some 100 journalists are currently in jail in Turkey, attracting international criticism of the European Union candidate’s record on freedom of expression. The government says few of them are in jail due to what they have written.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article631674.ece
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Yemen: Airstrike kills 5 Al-Qaeda militants
May 11, 2012
SANAA, Yemen: An airstrike killed five Al-Qaeda militants in the south of Yemen on Thursday, officials said, days after details emerged about a Saudi mole within the network who reportedly provided information allowing the CIA to target one of its key leaders.
There was no immediate word from Washington on whether it was behind the latest pre-dawn strike, which completely leveled a house in which the five were staying on the western outskirts of the town of Jaar.
Jaar, along with the nearby town of Zinjibar, has been held by Al-Qaeda militants for a year.
The identity of the five militants was not immediately known, but the officials said one of them might have been a senior member of the terror network in charge of armament.
The United States has usually used drones to strike Al-Qaeda in Yemen. The security officials did not specify whether it was carried out by piloted planes or drones. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The US and Yemen are resuming cooperation in the fight against Al-Qaeda, which has taken advantage of the political turmoil in the country to capture territory and plot attacks against US targets. Cooperation was suspended nearly a year ago during the popular uprising against the authoritarian regime of former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article631662.ece
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Syria bombers want to foil UN mission-Arab League
May 11, 2012
CAIRO: The Arab League chief said Thursday’s suicide bombings that killed 55 people in Damascus were intended to undercut a UN mission to monitor a Syria truce brokered by envoy Kofi Annan.
Nabil Elaraby said those behind the attacks, the deadliest since an uprising against President Bashar Assad began 14 months ago, sought to sabotage the work of the UN observers sent to verify a much-violated cease-fire declared on April 12.
“This shouldn’t be ignored and carries dangerous implications for the future of Kofi Annan’s mission,” he said in a statement.
The UN-Arab League envoy is struggling to keep alive his six-point peace plan and avert full-scale civil war in Syria. He has said the government has yet to implement the agreement properly, while opposition forces have also broken the truce.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday 849 people — 628 civilians and 221 soldiers, of whom 31 were defectors — had been killed since the truce was declared, not including those who died in the latest Damascus bombings.
The Arab League sent its own monitors to Syria late last year to check compliance with an earlier peace plan, but withdrew them in January when violence intensified.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article631686.ece
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Hunger strikers close to deal with Israel
May 11, 2012
JERUSALEM: Israel’s prison service has offered to ease restrictions on Palestinian prisoners in a bid to end a mass hunger strike that has left several detainees close to death, sources told AFP on Thursday.
Just under 1,600 Palestinian prisoners are currently refusing food in a wide-ranging protest against solitary confinement, detention without charge and restrictions on family visits, education and other privileges.
The strike has drawn international attention, with the European Union and United Nations expressing concern. Two of those protesting, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, marked their 72nd day without food on Thursday. But an official with Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer told AFP on Thursday that negotiations between prisoners and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) appeared to be making progress.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\05\11\story_11-5-2012_pg4_5
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Europe
Man Hurls Shoe at Killer Breivik During Norway Trial
May 11, 2012
OSLO (Reuters) - A man identified as the older brother of one of the victims of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik threw a shoe at him during his trial on Friday, the first time the proceeding has been interrupted by a public outburst.
"Go to hell, go to hell, you killed my brother," the man, who was seated in the second row of the public gallery, screamed as he threw the shoe at Breivik from a few meters (yards) away, newspaper VG reported on its website.
The shoe missed Breivik but struck his co-defense lawyer, Vibeke Hein Baera, who was seated closest to the public gallery, during the presentation of an autopsy report.
Norwegian media said the man was a brother of one of the victims of Breivik's rampage, but his name was not immediately available. VG said people attending the trial applauded, after which the man was removed from the courtroom by police.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/05/11/world/europe/11reuters-norway-breivik.html?ref=global-home
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