Sharia law surprise for secular-minded Libyans
Worrying trend: Hindu trader abducted from Quetta
Pakistan ties with US, India improving: FM Khar
Man tries to hurl shoe at Musharraf
Russia and Kazakhstan Prioritize Multilateral Cooperation
Yemeni protesters rally, bury their dead
Bomber dies in failed Quetta suicide attack
Crossfire: Militant commander killed in Swat, accomplice arrested
Israeli troops 'kill two in Gaza'
Nigeria bomb attacks 'kill dozens' in Damaturu
Pak 'trying to hide' n-weapons from US spy agencies: report
Radical Muslim sect grows more dangerous in Nigeria
Pakistan must be included in Afghanistan talks: Pak PM
Muslims gather on Arafat for peak Haj day
Army opposes revoking of Kashmir law
India says better trade with Pakistan to take ‘some time’
Attack outside judge’s house: Rickshaw blocking street aids arrests
No going back on MFN: Pakistan
US general relieved of duty over remarks on Karzai
India not granted MFN status, says Gilani
No U-turn on MFN status, says Pak envoy
U.S. Congress urged to re-think Pakistan relationship
Pakistan's nuke weapons vulnerable to theft: Report
Syria announces amnesty for weapons surrender
'New setback' for Palestinian hopes on UN membership
Benazir Bhutto murder case: Seven indicted
Iran hits back, goes ballistic against US
Rehman 'Baba' beyond control: Pak PM on Minister's wisdom
Former top cops among 7 indicted in Benazir Bhutto murder case
Iran slams US ‘plot’ claims
Israel navy intercepts Gaza-bound ships: army
Pakistan aid should continue: Clinton
Syria: Homs military attacks continue, say activists
Israel boards protest boats taking medical aid to Gaza
Group formerly known as ‘Sipah-e-Sahaba’ issues warnings Attack outside
Pakistan 'shame' over fixing cricket spot-fixing scam
Music legend Bhupen Hazarika dies
Compiled By New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/sharia-law-surprise-secular-minded/d/5840
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Sharia Law Surprise for Secular-minded Libyans
MARY FITZGERALD,
Mon, Oct 24, 2011
ANALYSIS: The role of Islam could prove to be a contentious issue in the new Libya
LIBYA’S INTERIM authorities formally declared liberation yesterday with soaring speeches that praised their revolution’s victory over tyranny, paid tribute to the fallen and offered clues as to what kind of state might emerge from the ashes of Muammar Gadafy’s idiosyncratic rule.
The long-awaited declaration, made in front of tens of thousands of jubilant Libyans gathered in Benghazi, the eastern city where the uprising against Gadafy began in February, came more than two months after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces, allowing them to seized control of most of the country.
It ushers in a process agreed by the interim body known as the National Transitional Council which will see the NTC move its headquarters from Benghazi to Tripoli and form a transitional government within 30 days. A 200-member national assembly is to be elected within 240 days, and this will appoint a prime minister a month later who will then nominate a cabinet. The national assembly will also be given deadlines to oversee the drafting of a new constitution – none existed under Gadafy – and the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections.
Already the process of forming a united and representative government promises to be fraught. With Gadafy dead, the fissures that always existed within the revolution, whether along regional or tribal lines or between Islamists and secular liberals, threaten to widen.
Even the fact that liberation was declared in Benghazi, rather than Tripoli, points to friction between leadership figures in the two cities – many of the NTC’s members, especially those from eastern Libya, have remained in Benghazi, the second-biggest city.
The question of who did what, whether during the war of the last eight months or during the four decades Gadafy was in power, will also determine much in the new order.
On Saturday, the de facto prime minister Mahmoud Jibril said progress would hinge on two things. “First what kind of resolve the NTC will show in the next few days, and the other thing depends mainly on the Libyan people – whether they differentiate between the past and the future,” he said. “I am counting on them to look ahead and remember the kind of agony they went through in the last 42 years.” Jibril also warned that Libya needed to swiftly find another source of income because the country had already consumed 62 per cent of its oil under Gadafy.
Those seeking hints as to what the new Libya may look like seized on particular sections of NTC head Mustafa Abdel Jalil’s speech in Benghazi yesterday, in which he went into some detail about the place of Islam in the post-Gadafy scenario.
“This revolution was blessed by God to achieve victory,” Jalil, who is considered devout but moderate, told the crowd. “And we must go on the right path.”
Libya, he said, would be a state where Sharia law would be the “fundamental source” of legislation and any existing legislation that contradicted Islamic principles would be immediately annulled.
It was not the first time Jalil had made such statements, and many other Arab countries have similar constitutional provisions, but Libyans of a more liberal bent may have baulked at what came next.
The new state “will not disallow polygamy” Jalil said, and charging interest will be forbidden. Some Libyans point out that polygamy was practised discreetly under Gadafy, while others interpreted Jalil’s remarks as a practical measure to address the issue of the thousands of women left widowed during the war.
These declarations, though met with cheers from the crowd, will have raised eyebrows among more secular-minded Libyans who would prefer to have such matters decided through a democratic process rather than presented almost as a fait accompli at such an early stage.
The Islamist tint to Jalil’s speech could be interpreted in different ways: it may have been an attempt to undercut the influence of more hardline elements while Libya finds its feet after Gadafy, or a bid to keep the grassroots on board as one of North Africa’s most conservative societies enters what will be a challenging period.
Either way, it shows that questions over what role Islam should play promise to be among the most pressing in the new Libya. (Reuters)
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1024/1224306387238_pf.html
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Worrying trend: Hindu trader abducted from Quetta
5 November 2011
An FIR was registered at the Saryab police station against unidentified persons.
“The police are investigating the matter and cannot comment on the motive behind the abduction,” said Saryab SHO Raja Qayyum. However, he added, it will be premature to term the case “kidnapping for ransom”.
In a separate incident the same day, armed men robbed several shops in Dadhar. Protesting against the spate of kidnappings and robberies targeting their community, Hindu traders observed a complete shutter-down strike in Dadhar, the district headquarters of Kechi District.
At least four Hindu traders have been kidnapped in the past 30 days, Balochistan Minorities Minister Basant Lal Gulshan told The Express Tribune, adding, “Hindu traders are soft targets and the criminals believe they are easy ransom targets.”
However, the government is trying to prevent similar occurrences in the future, he said.
Several Hindu traders were set free after they paid off ransom to their kidnappers.
A sub-engineer from the Hindu community was recently freed by his captors after his family members paid Rs600,000 in ransom. “The local administration and influential people of the province are patronising the kidnappers. I was in the captivity of kidnappers for over two weeks. The area wasn’t far from my hometown in Jaffarabad district,” he said.
The Hindu community is helpless before the influential people. “Almost all well-off Hindu traders are either kidnapped or are forced to pay extortion money.”
Asked whether any Hindu trader had been recovered by law enforcing agencies, Gulshan simply put up a ‘do-not-know’ front.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/287945/worrying-trend-hindu-trader-abducted-from-quetta/
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Pakistan ties with US, India improving: FM Khar
Nov 5, 2011,
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, in an exclusive interview with Reuters, said negotiations to normalise trade with India would allow progress on other issues between the two South Asian rivals.
“I think it’s broadly agreed that we need to make some simultaneous progress on these issues,” she said.
Trade has long been tied to political issues between the neighbours, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
The hope is that an increase in trade will feed into wider trust between the two countries and help them resolve major flashpoints, like the disputed Kashmir region, although a solution to this problem has proved intractable for decades.
“But there has been a great improvement in the environment,” she said. “I think we can move forward.”
She strongly denied that Pakistan was not committed to finalising Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for India, as alleged by an unnamed Indian government official on Friday, who said Islamabad was “backtracking” on the issue in the face of domestic opposition.
“There is absolutely no question of backtracking of cabinet approval of trade normalisation with India,” she said. “I want to completely dismiss any indication that there’s any retraction on what we said.”
Pakistan announced it would upgrade India to a most favoured nation on Wednesday, a move that would help normalise commercial ties by ending heavy restrictions on what India is allowed to export across the border.
Wednesday’s announcement was trumpeted on both sides as a milestone in improving relations shattered by attacks by allegedly Pakistan-based militants in Mumbai in 2008. Formal peace talks, known as the “composite dialogue”, resumed in February.
har said the two countries’ commerce secretaries would meet in mid-November to hammer out the details of the trade agreement, but that there was no lack of commitment to the agreement itself.
“The cabinet very clearly gave them a way forward, which is trade normalisation with India,” she said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also rejected the charges of backtracking in comments to reporters in Lahore on Saturday.
Less than one per cent of India’s merchandise exports are sold to Pakistan, in terms of dollar value, but in September a joint statement pledged to double bilateral trade flows within three years to about $6 billion.
Lasting peace between the two countries is seen as key to stability in the South Asian region and to helping a troubled transition in Afghanistan as Nato-led forces plan their military withdrawal from that country in 2014.
Khar said relations with the United States were also on the mend, with “a complete convergence of stated interests” on Afghanistan.
“Nothing would make us happier than a strong government in Afghanistan,” she said.
“I look at the last few weeks, and relations with the US have been generally positive. It’s basically the operational details to agree on.”
The United States and its allies in Afghanistan have been pressing Pakistan for years to tackle the Haqqani network, a powerful insurgent group which says it owes allegiance to the Afghan Taliban, but has traditionally been seen as close to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Pakistan denies supporting the Haqqani network and attributes its lack of action against the group to the fact that its army is already overstretched fighting Pakistani Taliban militants and others.
At an Istanbul conference in early November focusing on stabilising Afghanistan, a senior US official said that Pakistani action against the Haqqani network did not necessarily need to be military.
Instead it would include “ensuring that intelligence doesn’t go to the Haqqani network” and “that they don’t benefit from financial resources or flow of finances.”
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/05/pakistan-ties-with-us-india-improving-fm-khar.html
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Man tries to hurl shoe at Musharraf
Nov 5, 2011,
ISLAMABAD: A man tried to throw his shoe at Pervez Musharraf when he was addressing a gathering in London, a media report here said Saturday. It was the second such attempt on the former Pakistan president.
The attempt was made when Musharraf was addressing the Kashmiri community in Luton, reported Geo News. Security personnel promptly caught hold of the man and took him out of the venue.
Another man raised slogans against Musharraf. This is not the first time that an attempt was made to throw a shoe at Musharraf.
In February this year, a man threw a shoe at Musharraf when he was addressing a gathering in Britain. The shoe didn't hit the former military dictator.
Musharraf ruled Pakistan for nine years after taking power in a bloodless coup in 1999. He stepped down in 2008 and left Pakistan. He now lives in London.
An Iraqi journalist, Muntazar al Zaidi, threw his shoes at US president George Bush in 2008, sparking a string of copy-cat attacks.
Later, shoes were tossed at Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Man-tries-to-hurl-shoe-at-Musharraf/articleshow/10616911.cms?prtpage=1
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Russia and Kazakhstan Prioritize Multilateral Cooperation
5 November 2011
In an apparent departure from earlier promises to develop their bilateral energy partnership, Russian and Kazakh leaders plan to re-focus on multilateral cooperation within the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space (CES).
On October 22, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev held telephone talks to discuss the Customs Union and the CES issues. On October 26, Medvedev, Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka held trilateral telephone discussions on their upcoming summit meeting in the second half of November that is due to approve further economic integration between the three nations (Interfax, ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, October 22-26).
Dmitri Medvedev and Nursultan Nazarbayev
While the Customs Union focuses on international trade matters, the CES, to be launched from the beginning of 2012, envisages closer economic ties between its member states. Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia already approved Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Customs Union. Moscow has also been keen to convince neighboring Ukraine to join the Customs Union.
For Full Report :
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2802825/posts
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Yemeni protesters rally, bury their dead
Nov 5, 2011,
Protesters on Friday held massive demonstrations in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and in Taez as they buried 19 people killed by government forces over the past two days in both cities.
A smaller number of the president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s loyalists staged a counter rally on the capital’s Sabiin Avenue in support of the embattled leader, witnesses said.
Under the slogan ‘Remaining Peaceful is Our Choice,’ anti-regime protesters gathered in Sittin Road in Sanaa’s northern district chanting: ‘Peaceful peaceful, no to civil war,’ witnesses said.
‘The Yemenis’ voice is one: we will bring corrupt Saleh to justice,’ they said as the veteran leader clings to power despite protests that have rocked the country since January, and international pressures urging him to step down.
The crowds took part in the funeral of three people killed in clashes between tribesmen and security forces in the northern Al-Hasaba district, the same sources said.
In central Sanaa, around 2,000 people who protested there against Saleh’s regime clashed with government loyalists using rockes and batons, witnesses said. No casualties were reported.
A massive protest was also held in the second-largest city Taez as demonstrators took part in the funeral of 16 people killed in deadly clashes that have rocked the city over the past two days, organisers there said.
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/39220.html
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Bomber dies in failed Quetta suicide attack
5 November 2011
The bomber’s explosives went off as he was heading to a target in the Shia dominated Hazara Town, on the outskirts of Quetta, police said.
“It was a failed suicide attack, the bomber was heading to Shia population area in Hazara town,” Hamid Shakeel, a senior police officer, told AFP.
“A Shia mosque is also located in the area. Apparently Shia were the target but the explosive went off before time.”
Balochistan has become an increasing flashpoint for sectarian violence.
The province is also rife militancy and a regional insurgency waged by separatists who rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region’s wealth of natural resources.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/288090/hazara-town-one-killed-in-quetta-explosion/
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Crossfire: Militant commander killed in Swat, accomplice arrested
5 November 2011
According to official sources, the clash started early in the morning when both the militants were trying to trespass Ningolai area to enter into Bara Bandai.
The security officials surrounded them in an attempt to detain them but the militants opened fire at them. The security forces retaliated and killed militant commander Qari Gul Rehman.
“We wanted to arrest them but they opened fire at us,” said a security official.
Officials said that the arrested accomplice was shifted to an undisclosed location where he would be investigated, adding that a search operation has also been launched in the area.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/288066/crossfire-militant-commander-killed-in-swat-accomplice-arrested/
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Israeli troops 'kill two in Gaza'
4 November 2011
Israeli security forces have killed two people in a clash on the border of the Gaza Strip, local medics say.
Palestinian sources said Israeli troops had crossed over into northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike after a routine patrol came under attack. It said "hits" were confirmed, but said it had no information on casualties.
The incident came after a brief lull in the worst violence to affect the area for months.
Palestinian emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya told AFP news agency those killed were farmers who were working the land when they were targeted.
One person was injured, he said.
The Israeli military said its troops had been attacked on its side of the border.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15578719?print=true
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Nigeria bomb attacks 'kill dozens' in Damaturu
Nov 5, 2011,
Witnesses said the bombs hit several targets, including churches and the headquarters of the Yobe state police.
Gunfire lasted into the night and residents were said to be fleeing, our Nigeria correspondent says.
It follows attacks on security forces in the nearby city of Maiduguri blamed on the Islamist Boko Haram group.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, says people visiting morgues have reported seeing 92 bodies.
An unnamed local government official in Damaturu was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that hundreds of wounded people were being treated in hospital.
The state police commissioner said the attacks caught the town by surprise and he was still trying to establish the number of casualties, our correspondent reports.
For Full Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15605041
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Pak 'trying to hide' n-weapons from US spy agencies: report
Nov 05 2011,
Washington : Pakistan has begun moving its nuclear weapons in low-security vans on congested roads to hide them from US spy agencies, making the weapons more vulnerable to theft by Islamist militants, two US magazines reported.
The Atlantic and the National Journal, in a joint report citing unnamed sources, wrote that the US raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May at his Pakistani compound reinforced Islamabad's long-standing fears that Washington could try to dismantle the country's nuclear arsenal.
As a result, the head of the Strategic Plans Divisions (SPD), which is charged with safeguarding Pakistan's atomic weapons, was ordered to take action to keep the location of nuclear weapons and components hidden from the United States, the report said.
Khalid Kidwai, the retired general who leads the SPD, expanded his agency's efforts to disperse components and sensitive materials to different facilities, it said.
For Full Report :
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/871210/
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Radical Muslim sect grows more dangerous in Nigeria
Nov 05 2011,
Maiduguri (Nigeria) : The imam's insistent, lecturing voice comes right to the point over the scratchy audio recording: "Holy war is the only way to bring change for Muslims in Nigeria."
Abubakar Shekau urges followers of his feared Boko Haram sect to carry out more assassinations and bombings. The group's violent campaign already has left more than 240 people dead this year. On Friday, a suicide bomber hit a military base while explosives detonated around Maiduguri -- attacks that bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram.
''Whomever we kill, we kill because Allah says we should kill and we kill for a reason,'' Shekau says in a recording of a sermon obtained by The Associated Press.
Boko Haram, which in August bombed the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria, is the gravest security threat to Africa's most populous nation and is gaining prominence despite efforts by the military and police to stamp it out. A security agency crackdown, which human rights activists say has left innocent civilians dead, could be winning the insurgency even more supporters.
For Full Report :
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/871260/
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Pakistan must be included in Afghanistan talks: Pak PM
5 November 2011
When asked about the trilateral summit on Afghanistan, recently held in Turkey, Gilani said that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would brief the media on Saturday (today). He did, however, emphasise that Pakistan wanted a stable, prosperous, sovereign and peaceful Afghanistan.
“Pakistan has given sacrifices and is directly affected by Afghanistan so if whosoever tries to exclude it (Pakistan), we will not accept them,” the PM said. Gilani added that all stakeholders, including the military, political forces and the whole nation, are on same page in this regard.
For Full Report :
http://tribune.com.pk/story/287977/pakistan-must-be-included-in-afghanistan-talks-pm/
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Muslims gather on Arafat for peak Haj day
Nov 5, 2011,
Swarms of pilgrims who had spent the night in Mina, some 10 kilometres northwest of Arafat, surged through the roads leading to the mountain after midnight.
“I am responding to your call, God,” they chanted in unison.
Many went on buses, while others set off on foot from Mina, a tent-village that comes to life only during the five-day pilgrimage.
Others took the Mashair Railway, also known as the Makkah Metro, to go to Mount Arafat and its surrounding plains, where the Prophet Mohammad is believed to have delivered his final sermon.
The Chinese-built railway is operating for the first time this year at its full capacity of 72,000 people per hour to ease congestion and prevent stampedes in which hundreds have been killed in past years.
For Full Report :
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/05/muslims-gather-on-arafat-for-peak-haj-day.html
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Army opposes revoking of Kashmir law
Nov 5, 2011,
Afp, Srinagar
A top Indian army official says harsh emergency laws in Indian Kashmir should not be revoked until Pakistan ends its "interference" in the revolt-hit region.
India has long accused Pakistan of fuelling the insurgency in its part of Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed rivals each hold part of the scenic Himalayan region in part but claim it in full.
The draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was introduced in 1990 to give the army and paramilitary forces sweeping powers to detain people, use deadly force and destroy property.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=209329
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India says better trade with Pakistan to take ‘some time’
Nov 5, 2011,
Earlier in the week, Pakistan’s cabinet announced it had approved a proposal giving India the status of “most favoured nation” in a move towards normalising trade relations between the two rivals.
The Pakistan cabinet’s decision was seen as a breakthrough in thawing relations between the South Asian neighbours who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
But later Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was quoted by Pakistani media as saying the commerce ministry had only been tasked by the cabinet to move forward on the issue in bilateral trade negotiations.
Indian media reports said Pakistan was backtracking on granting India most favoured nation (MFN) status.
For Full Report :
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/05/india-says-better-trade-with-pakistan-to-take-some-time.html
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Attack outside judge’s house: Rickshaw blocking street aids arrests
5 November 2011
Zainul Abideen was 32 years old and lived in the street next to the Jafris, in Block 5 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He was a banker by profession but ran a private business.
He was friends with Jafri’s son, Sarfaraz. They were going for Friday prayers together when he was shot dead.
According to Sarfaraz, as soon as Zainul Abideen got out of his car and sat in theirs, to leave for an imambargah, around seven men, in a silver Suzuki Cultus and a motorcycle, opened fire at them. “Abideen was sitting in the front while we were at the back,” he said. “Our guard also fired and the men tried to run away.”
But the timely arrival of the police enabled them to arrest two men after a brief encounter.
According to witnesses, a rickshaw blocked the street and prevented the attackers from escaping.
For Full Report :
http://tribune.com.pk/story/287901/attack-outside-judges-house-rickshaw-blocking-street-aids-arrests/
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No going back on MFN: Pakistan
Anita Joshua
Nov 5, 2011,
Pakistan on Friday clarified that there was no backtracking on granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. This clarification came in the wake of confusion generated in the media over the Cabinet decision taken on Wednesday.
The confusion stemmed primarily from the “history of rollback of India-specific decisions” and absence of specific mention to MFN in the Cabinet meeting statement released to the media. Two statements on the meeting posted on the Press Information Department's (PID) website made no mention of MFN status while stating that Ministers were apprised about steps being taken for normalisation of trade with India and to bring it in line with Pakistan's international obligations.
However, a statement posted on the Commerce Ministry's website said: “The Cabinet fully endorsed the efforts of Ministry of Commerce to complete normalisation of trade relations and directed to implement in letter and spirit the decisions taken in this regard. The Cabinet gave Ministry of Commerce the mandate to take the process of normalisation forward, which would culminate in the observance of MFN principle in its true spirit.”
For Full Report :
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2598607.ece?css=print
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US general relieved of duty over remarks on Karzai
Nov 5, 2011,
US General John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, relieved Fuller as deputy commander of the effort to train Afghan security forces after Fuller told the Politico newspaper that Afghan leaders were “isolated from reality,” the official said.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters earlier on Friday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was aware of the remarks and Fuller had been speaking for himself and not the US Defense Department.
“The secretary has full trust and confidence in General Allen’s judgment with respect to his decision in this case,” Little said in response to Allen’s decision to relieve Fuller of his duties.
Speaking in a Politico interview that ran on Thursday, Fuller depicted Afghan officials as detached and unappreciative of American sacrifices and financial contributions to Afghanistan after 10 years of war.
For Full Report :
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/05/us-general-relieved-of-duty-over-remarks-on-karzai.html
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India not granted MFN status, says Gilani
Nov 5, 2011,
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has made it clear that Pakistan has not granted the Most Favoured Nation status to India, saying the Commerce Ministry has only been tasked to move forward on the issue in bilateral negotiations.
“The Cabinet has only given its approval in principle to move forward on the issue (of MFN) and permitted the Ministry of Commerce, which is actively engaged in trade talks with New Delhi, to negotiate with it trade-related issues,” Mr. Gilani told reporters at his home in Lahore on Friday night.
“We will give it the go-ahead if the situation is quite favourable and in the national interest. Otherwise, proceedings on it would be withheld,” the Premier was quoted as saying by the media.
For Full Report :
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2600583.ece?homepage=true
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No U-turn on MFN status, says Pak envoy
Nov 5, 2011,
Pakistan on Friday said it is not taking any “U-turn” on normalising trade relations with India and granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status is a part of that process.
“The process of normalisation is already underway and the grant of MFN status is part of that normalisation process. There is no question of U-turn about it,” Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said here. He was talking to reporters after meeting Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
After announcing on November 2 that its Cabinet has decided to grant the MFN status to India, Pakistan issued several conflicting statements on Thursday.
Though Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart, New Delhi has not received any formal communication from Islamabad.
Mr. Malik said, the Pakistani Cabinet had mandated the Ministry of Commerce to carry forward the process of normalisation of bilateral trade relations.
For Full Report :
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2598081.ece
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U.S. Congress urged to re-think Pakistan relationship
NARAYAN LAKSHMAN
Nov 5, 2011,
There is deep concern within the United States Congress about the Obama administration’s strategy of relying on Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to broker a deal with various militant groups in the Af-Pak region, it emerged at a Congressional hearing this week.
In a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday titled “2014 and Beyond: U.S. Policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Congressmen discussed the thorny question of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, particularly in the context of the impending U.S. troop drawdown and its implications for regional stability.
In that regard Representative Steve Chabot, Republican of Ohio, cautioned, that although working with the ISI might make sense in the context of reconciliation, it risked rewarding the very elements responsible for sheltering insurgents who kill Americans and Afghans alike.
For Full Report :
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2598539.ece
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Pakistan's nuke weapons vulnerable to theft: Report
Nov 5, 2011,
Pakistan has begun moving its nuclear weapons in low-security vans on congested roads to hide them from US spy agencies, making the weapons more vulnerable to theft by Islamist militants, two US magazines reported yesterday.
The Atlantic and the National Journal, in a joint report citing unnamed sources, wrote that the US raid that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May at his Pakistani compound reinforced Islamabad's longstanding fears that Washington could try to dismantle the country's nuclear arsenal.
As a result, the head of the Strategic Plans Divisions (SPD), which is charged with safeguarding Pakistan's atomic weapons, was ordered to take action to keep the location of nuclear weapons and components hidden from the United States, the report said.
Khalid Kidwai, the retired general who leads the SPD, expanded his agency's efforts to disperse components and sensitive materials to different facilities, it said.
But instead of transporting the nuclear parts in armoured, well-defended convoys, the atomic bombs "capable of destroying entire cities are transported in delivery vans on congested and dangerous roads," according to the report.
The pace of the dispersal movements has increased, raising concerns at the Pentagon, it said.
For Full Report :
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=209346
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Syria announces amnesty for weapons surrender
Nov 5, 2011,
The interior ministry announced an amnesty on Friday for Syrians who surrender their weapons by November 12 in a concession to mark the Eid al-Adha feast, state television reported in a news flash as Syrian troops killed five civilians in protest centres.
‘The interior ministry invites those who carry arms, who sold them, distributed them, bought them or financed their purchase and who have not committed any murder to turn themselves in and surrender their weapons to the nearest police station in their district ... from Saturday, November 5 to November 12,’ the report said.
Those who heed the call ‘will walk free ... and receive an amnesty,’ it added.
Syrian authorities have used forced to crush almost daily anti-regime protests since mid-March, and more than 3,000 people have been killed according to UN estimates.
Pro-democracy protesters insist their campaign is peaceful while the government says it has been battling ‘armed terrorist groups’.
Troops opened fire from tanks in several residential neighbourhoods of Homs, a city of some one million people that has been one of the main focuses of the protests raging since mid-March, a human rights group said.
For Full Report :
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/39223.html
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'New setback' for Palestinian hopes on UN membership
By Barbara Plett
4 November 2011
A UN diplomat says the UK, France and Colombia have told Security Council members they would abstain in any vote on Palestinian membership.
None of these countries have officially confirmed this yet.
But their decision is a setback for the Palestinians, who have been trying to win support from European states.
A Council committee is considering a Palestinian application to become a UN member state and is expected to present its report next week.
Violence fears
The UN diplomat said Britain, France and Colombia stated their positions in a private meeting of the Security Council committee dealing with the Palestinian application.
The diplomat said Germany also declared it could not support the Palestinian bid, without clarifying whether it would abstain or vote against.
In real terms this does not matter, because the Americans have already made it clear they would veto the Palestinian request.
But in political and moral terms it does: the Palestinians were hoping to show they could isolate the Americans by getting majority support on the Security Council. That looks unlikely now.
For Full Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15587250?print=true
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Benazir Bhutto murder case: Seven indicted
Nov 5, 2011,
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court hearing the Benazir Bhutto assassination case today indicted seven people, including two former top police officers responsible for providing security to the ex-premier.
Former Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and ex-superintendent of police Khurram Shahzad were indicted by the court along with five alleged members of militant groups who were identified as Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rasheed. The two former police officers have been accused of negligence in providing security to Bhutto.
Prosecution lawyers said the indictments of the suspects were of varying nature. Details were not immediately known.
Following the indictment, the judge of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court adjourned the case till November 19.
Bhutto was killed by a suicide attacker shortly after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
She was attacked weeks after she returned to Pakistan after spending several years in self-exile.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Benazir-Bhutto-murder-case-Seven-indicted/articleshow/10619037.cms?prtpage=1
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Iran hits back, goes ballistic against US
Nov 5, 2011,
TEHRAN: Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy on Friday with burning flags and chants of "Death to America", escalating its anti-US rhetoric ahead of the release of a pivotal UN report on its nuclear programme. Thousands of students burned the Stars and Stripes, an effigy of Uncle Sam and pictures of President Barack Obama outside the leafy downtown Tehran compound that once housed the US mission.
The embassy was stormed by hardline students on Nov 4 1979, shortly after Iran's Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed shah, and 52 Americans were held hostage there for 444 days. The two countries have been enemies ever since. Tehran has raised the volume of its anti-American rhetoric since October when the United States accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington.
Iran calls the accusations false, complains of US 'plots'
Tension between Iran and the West is particularly high ahead of the publication next week of a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, expected to suggest Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed at peaceful generation of electricity, but its failure to allay suspicions that it is seeking a bomb has prompted the United Nations to impose four rounds of economic sanctions on Tehran.
For Full Report :
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iran-hits-back-goes-ballistic-against-US/articleshow/10613813.cms?prtpage=1
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Rehman 'Baba' beyond control: Pak PM on Minister's wisdom
Nov 5, 2011,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has expressed his helplessness to "impart any wisdom" to his interior minister, saying "Rehman Baba" is beyond his control.
Gilani made the remarks while interacting with a group of reporters last night when he was asked about the wisdom behind Rehman Malik's statement that Pakistan would send an investigation team to Britain to probe the spot-fixing affair in which three Pakistani cricketers have already been convicted by a London court.
The Premier was quoted by The News daily as saying at his home in Lahore that nobody could question the wisdom of "Rehman Baba" as he "is beyond our control".
In several recent interactions with the media, Gilani has referred to the interior minister as Rehman Baba.
Gilani said the three players – former cricket captain Salman Butt, Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif – had brought a bad name to Pakistan, and everybody, including himself, was "badly hurt" by the spot-fixing scandal.
During an interaction with Parliamentarians last month, Gilani had spoken out about interior minister Malik's desire to be in the headlines.
For Full Report :
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/765107.aspx
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Former top cops among 7 indicted in Benazir Bhutto murder case
Nov 05 2011,
Islamabad : A Pakistani anti-terrorism court hearing the Benazir Bhutto assassination case today indicted seven people, including two former top police officers responsible for providing security to the ex-Premier.
Former Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and ex-Superintendent of Police Khurram Shahzad were indicted by the court along with five alleged members of militant groups who were identified as Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rasheed.
The two former police officers have been accused of negligence in providing security to Bhutto.
Prosecution lawyers said the indictments of the suspects were of varying nature. Details were not immediately known.
Following the indictment, the judge of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court adjourned the case till November 19.
For Full Report :
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/871259/
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Iran slams US ‘plot’ claims
Nov 5, 2011,
Thousands of Iranians chanting ‘Death to America’ marked the anniversary on Friday of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy with symbolic actions and speeches condemning US allegations of an Iranian assassination plot.
The annual celebration in front of what Iranians call ‘the den of spies’ was also used this year as a platform to hail the Arab Spring — termed the ‘Islamic awakening’ here — and to denounce Israel.
Some of the mainly young crowd taking part burnt US and Israeli flags and a picture of the US president Barack Obama. Effigies of Israeli and US political figures were held aloft.
Saeed Jalili, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told the demonstrators the government had ‘irrefutable’ evidence of the United States ‘backing, training terrorists’ against Iran.
For Full Report :
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/39221.html
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Israel navy intercepts Gaza-bound ships: army
Nov 5, 2011,
The Israeli navy on Friday intercepted two international ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to break the blockade on Gaza, a military statement said.
A short while ago, Israel navy soldiers boarded the vessels which were en route to the Gaza Strip, attempting to break the maritime security blockade that is in place in accordance with international law, it said.
An Israeli security source said were no injuries during the boarding operation.
The 15 activists aboard the Irish Saoirse (Gaelic for Freedom) and the 12 aboard the Canadian Tahrir (Arabic for Liberation), who had set sail from Turkey on Wednesday, were being towed to Ashdod port in southern Israel, it said.
On arrival, those on board would be transferred to the custody of the police and immigration authorities in the interior ministry, the army said. Five of those on board the Tahrir are journalists, organisers said.
The Israel navy soldiers operated as planned, and took every precaution necessary to ensure the safety of the activists on board the vessels as well as themselves, the statement said.
Activists had organised a major attempt to break the Israeli blockade in May 2010, when six ships led by the Turkish Mavi Marmara tried to reach Gaza.
Israeli troops stormed the Marmara, killing nine Turkish activists and sparked a diplomatic crisis with Ankara, which expelled the Israeli ambassador and has cut military ties with the Jewish state.
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/39218.html
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Pakistan aid should continue: Clinton
Nov 5, 2011,
Secretary Clinton’s message to Congress accompanies a status report on Pakistan and Afghanistan from the State Department, which also strongly endorses America’s continued engagement with both countries.
“In Pakistan, it means leveraging the resources provided by the landmark Kerry Lugar-Berman legislation to address major economic challenges that threaten Pakistan’s stability,” the secretary said.
“Our civilian efforts were never designed to solve all of Afghanistan’s development challenges or to completely turn around Pakistan’s economy. But they do aim to give Afghans and Pakistanis a stake in their countries’ futures and undercut the appeal of insurgency,” she noted.
Secretary Clinton reminded US lawmakers that this strategy was rooted in a lesson “we have learned over and over again — lasting stability and security go hand in hand with economic opportunity”.
That’s why, she added, it was critical that civilian assistance continued in both Afghanistan and Pakistan as “disengaging now would undermine our military and political efforts and the national security interests of the United States”.
The report — “Afghanistan and Pakistan civilian engagement” — reaffirms the Obama administration’s “intent of the KLB authorisation in its commitment to providing robust, multi-year civilian assistance to Pakistan”.
In the report to Congress, the Obama administration insisted that it would continue to provide civilian aid to Pakistan, which has fallen from $1.5 billion in the 2010 fiscal year to $1.1 billion this year. The US media, however, noted that next year’s levels were uncertain, as American lawmakers seek to reduce foreign assistance, particularly to Pakistan.
In a bid to dissuade the lawyers from doing so, the State Department reminded them that “a positive and productive relationship with Pakistan” was necessary to achieving the “core goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al Qaeda”.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/05/pakistan-aid-should-continue-clinton.html
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Syria: Homs military attacks continue, say activists
Nov 5, 2011,
Tanks have been shelling parts of the city, and medics at the main hospital told the BBC more than 100 bodies had arrived in the past two days.
Activists say at least 19 people were killed in protests in Homs and other cities on Friday.
Wednesday's Arab League deal had called for an end to suppression of protests.
On Friday, Syrian state TV announced an amnesty for anti-government fighters.
"The interior ministry invites those who carry arms, who sold them, distributed them, bought them or financed their purchase and who have not committed any murder to turn themselves in and surrender their weapons to the nearest police station," it said.
'Machine-gun fire'
oms has been a focus of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against him began in March.
For Full Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15588250
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Israel boards protest boats taking medical aid to Gaza
4 November 2011
The Israeli navy has intercepted and boarded two boats which were trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The Canadian and Irish boats with 27 activists from the US and eight other countries on board had set sail from Turkey on Wednesday.
They were carrying medical supplies for the coastal enclave.
The navy said no-one was hurt in the operation and the boats would be towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, north-east of Gaza.
The Irish Saoirse (Gaelic for freedom) and the Canadian Tahrir (Arabic for liberation) were about 50 nautical miles from the Gaza shoreline when they were contacted by the Israeli navy and told to turn back, the flotilla organisers told the AFP news agency.
The navy said it "advised the vessels that they may turn back at any point, thereby not breaking the maritime security blockade" or could sail to Ashdod or an Egyptian port.
"The activists refused to co-operate," AFP quoted the navy as saying.
'Safety ensured'
The navy ships then approached the boats and boarded them before towing them towards Ashdod.
For Full Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15591860?print=true
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Group formerly known as ‘Sipah-e-Sahaba’ issues warnings Attack outside
5 November 2011
Their occupants were not, however, government VIPs but the leaders of the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), formerly known as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) that was banned in 2002.
ASWJ’s chief in Karachi, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqui, stepped out of one vehicle, only to be mobbed by activists who stepped up to shake his hand and take photographs courtesy cell phone cameras.
One activist couldn’t help but marvel to a friend. Referring to one of the ASWJ speakers, he murmured, “Fayyaz bhai used to have one police guard. Now he has three!”
By the end of the one-hour protest against the recent murders of seven activists, a crowd of at least 400 people had amassed on the street outside the press club.
Amid calls proclaiming another sect as apostates, the ASWJ leaders expressed outrage at the deaths of its seven men, including a division in-charge, and asked that the chief justice of the Supreme Court take notice of what it said was a resurgence in target killings.
For Full Report :
http://tribune.com.pk/story/287906/one-hour-protest-group-formerly-known-as-sipah-e-sahaba-issues-warnings-over-activist-killings/
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Pakistan 'shame' over fixing cricket spot-fixing scam
4 November 2011
Newspapers and commentators across Pakistan have poured scorn on three cricketers jailed on Thursday for a spot-fixing scam during last year's Test match against England.
Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt, fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and their agent Mazhar Majeed were each handed prison terms.
Newspaper commentaries on Friday condemned the actions of the four men.
There have also been calls for new laws targeting corruption in sport.
"While the players can be prosecuted under existing laws governing gambling and fraud, it is time the parliament should consider legislation specifically targeting corruption in sports," lawyer Zahid Hussain Bukhari told BBC Urdu.
'Sad day'
The sentences for the three cricketers has dominated the newspaper headlines and media output in Pakistan, with little sympathy expressed for the cricketers.
"They were once the darlings of Pakistan, immensely talented and wildly popular but on Thursday, they cut a sorry figure of shame," Murtaza Ali Shah of The News wrote on Friday.
The youngest of the cricketers, Mohammad Amir, spoke to the paper's correspondent and asked for a message to be sent to Pakistani fans seeking forgiveness.
All commentators were united in calling Thursday a black day for Pakistani cricket.
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif told the AFP news agency that "they deserved this punishment, they had it due."
He added that the Pakistan government and Pakistan cricket board should also take action against them.
For Full Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15588307?print=true
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Music legend Bhupen Hazarika dies
05 NOV 2011 1
Legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika, who wove a magical tapestry out of traditional Assamese music and lyrics, died here today following a prolonged illness.
"It was a multi-organ failure. The end came around 4.30 pm," Jayanta
Narayan Saha, in-charge of media relations at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital here, told PTI.
The 86-year-old Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner was undergoing treatment at the hospital since June 29, after he complained of breathlessness.
Since then he was confined to the hospital bed.
He had an infection and was on medical support and dialysis.
Hazarika's health deteriorated on October 23, after he developed pneumonia. He had to undergo a minor surgery whereby doctors placed a food pipe into his system.
The balladeer who composed his own lyrics and music last lent his voice to the film "Gandhi To Hitler", where he sang Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan 'Vaishnav jan'.
Hazarika was regarded as one of the greatest living cultural communicators of South Asia. He had been a poet, journalist, singer, lyricist, musician, filmmaker and writer.
The Padma Bhushan awardee had celebrated his birthday this year in the ICU of the hospital on September 8 when he cut a cake and fans sang his favourite numbers.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/top-story/18147-music-legend-bhupen-hazarika-dies.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/sharia-law-surprise-secular-minded/d/5840