| Islamic World News | ||||||||||
16 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
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Somali militants' decree: Bells won't toll in schools
Apr 15, 2010
Somalia's al Shabaab militants have ordered schools in Jowhar town to stop using bells to signal the end of classes because they sound like those of Christian churches, teachers said on Thursday.
Al-Qaida-linked al Shabaab is Somalia's most powerful insurgent group and controls large parts of the south and the capital Mogadishu. It is battling the western-backed government for control of the Horn of Africa nation.
Teachers and a school headmaster in Shabaab-controlled Jowhar town said an al Shabaab member had ordered schools to silence their bells because the sound was too similar to those in Christian churches.
"We were called by Sheikh Farah, the head of Al Shabaab's education, and he told us that we can't use bell sounds from now on. He said any school heard using bell sounds after now will be brought to Islamic justice," a school teacher said.
A local headmaster added al Shabaab had informed his school it would begin explaining to students the significance of Islamic Jihad.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Somali-militants-decree-Bells-wont-toll-in-schools/articleshow/5813846.cms
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All-clear for bill clipping Zardari powers
Apr 16, 2010
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari was stripped of his sweeping powers to dissolve a democratic government after the Pakistan parliament passed a landmark constitution reform bill with the Senate on Thursday approving it.
The legislation which also undid changes made to it by former military dictators was today passed by two thirds majority by the members of the Senate or the upper house of parliament.
It approved amendments, including several that will transfer powers from the office of the president to the prime minister. The Senate unanimously approved the amendment with 90 out of the hundred members voting for it and none opposing.
The verdict by the lawmakers ensured that the reforms package received a parliamentary approval after it was overwhelmingly backed by the National Assembly last week. Zardari has already announced he would sign the legislation.
"It is a victory of democracy today," a jubilant prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani declared after the runaway vote. "Approval of this amendment is a landmark in the constitutional history of Pakistan," he said.
The bill transfers the vital powers of the president including the power to dismiss the prime minister and his cabinet, appoint military chiefs and judges.
Addressing the Senate, Gilani said several changes made by dictators to the constitution had left Pakistan with a government that was neither parliamentary nor presidential. The new bill would remove this ambiguity, Gilani said.
The bill will now be sent to Zardari to be signed and made part of the constitution.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/All-clear-for-bill-clipping-Zardari-powers/articleshow/5813906.cms
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Osama’s son denied visa for Europe book fair
16 Apr, 2010
PARIS: Osama bin Laden’s son Omar has been denied a visa to promote his new book in France and elsewhere in Europe, his French publisher said on Thursday.
The Qaeda chief’s fourth eldest son had planned to travel to Paris for the release on Friday of “Osama bin laden: A Family Portrait”, which denounces his father’s murderous ways.
The book was co-written with his mother Najwa, a 51-year-old Syrian woman and the first of Osama’s five wives, and American journalist Jean Sasson, said a spokesman for the publishers Denoel.
“The countries of the (25-country) Schengen zone decided to reject his request for a visa,” said the spokesman for Denoel.
“As of Tuesday night, France had not decided whether to grant him a visa that would be valid on its territory. Since then, there has been no word,” he said.
“This is taking much longer than usual and the book is due out in bookshops on Friday.” In his book, the 29-year-old Omar chronicles life in the family of the world’s most wanted man, as one of 20 children.
Najwa and bin Laden were married in Saudi Arabia in 1974 and the family then moved to Sudan and later Afghanistan where Al Qaeda was headquartered before the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. Liberation newspaper reported that Omar was currently in Qatar after being turned back from Spain and deported from Egypt, all in the same week.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/osamas-son-denied-visa-for-europe-book-fair-640
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Dancing girls of Swat back in business
16Apr, 2010
MINGORA: Their cousin was kidnapped and killed in a hail of bullets — her body dumped at a roundabout, dripping blood.
That was 15 months ago when the Taliban roamed Swat with impunity.
Today, Shabana and her sister Shabnam are back in business, proffering their favours and their dancing skills to gentlemen with cash to spare on such extravagancies, now that the Islamist extremists have been pushed back by the Pakistan Army.
Business starts towards dusk. As the sun dips in the sky, Shabnam is already with a client.
“We used to receive death threats earlier, but not now,” she says, a year after the army offensive began and nine months since commanders declared the valley free of the Taliban.
The people of Swat suffered encroaching Muslim conservatism for years and in July 2007, radical cleric Fazlullah launched a Taliban insurgency to impose a harsh brand of Islamic law.
Dancing, music, art and films were outlawed by the Taliban and the punishment for violation was death or flogging, particularly for those associated with prostitution.
The mere fact that they are back in their meticulously clean quarters on the first floor of a house tucked away in a back street, attests to the success of the military campaign against the Taliban.
“The Taliban earlier threatened this whole street over their FM radio, telling us to stay at our homes like all the other women,” said Shabana.
After their cousin’s murder, they fled terrified to Peshawar, struggling to eke out an existence among clients they did not know and wondering if they would ever be able to return home.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\16\story_16-4-2010_pg7_12
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Abu Ghraib again?
April 16, 2010
Allegations assembled by the BBC that the Americans are still carrying out torture at a secret prison on Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan have been denied by the US military.
Unfortunately such a protestation of innocence must bear on its shoulders the weight of the proven mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Even though large organizations like the BBC have been duped in the past, history suggests that what the former inmates of this undeclared prison told its reporters, about their mistreatment by US jailers is very probably correct.
Indeed in the old prison on this air base, two Afghan suspects died in 2002 after being suspended from beams and heavily beaten by interrogators. Prisoners have since been moved to a new prison on the base called the Detention Facility in Parwan where their treatment seems hardly more humane. Visitors have seen inmates being pushed around shackled into wheel chairs, with their vision blocked by blacked-out glasses and their hearing cut off by ear defenders.
This may not be torture in the classic sense but it is undignified, intimidating and humiliating to detainees, who whether guilty or innocent of any connection with the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, deserve better treatment from the country which styles itself "the Land of the Free".
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/opinion/editorial/article43851.ece
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9/11-style terror plot foiled in Iraq
Apr 16, 2010
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces have disrupted a 9/11-style plot by al-Qaida in Iraq to fly hijacked planes into Shia religious shrines, Iraqi and US officials said.
Iraqi security officials said they temporarily shut down at least two airports and have arrested two men — one of the intended pilots and an airport worker — suspected in the plot, which appeared aimed at undermining the country's stability while US troops prepare to go home.
Airports in Baghdad and Najaf were shuttered last week as intelligence officials said they learned of the plot. The airport in Najaf remains closed because of its proximity to the gold-domed Imam Ali shrine, one of the most revered Shia religious mosques in the world, one of the officials said.
Officials said al-Qaida planned to hijack flights as they were leaving Iraqi airports, prompting PM Nouri al-Maliki to order tighter screening — including searches of security forces and background checks of pilots and airline crews. Passengers and airport workers also will undergo more rigorous searches, and VIP lanes that let officials breeze through lines will be discontinued.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/9/11-style-terror-plot-foiled-in-Iraq/articleshow/5813862.cms
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UN blames Musharraf govt for Benazir Bhutto’s murder
16 Apr, 2010
NEW YORK: A three-member United Nations commission investigating the events and circumstances surrounding Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has blamed the government of former president Pervez Musharraf for the murder, saying it failed to provide adequate a security cover to the former prime minister.
Although no functionary of the former government has been accused of complicity in the murder, the 65-page report has blamed Pervez Musharraf’s government, particularly its police and security network of negligence.
It said the present government was free to carry out further investigations and bring those responsible for the crime as well as negligence to justice.
The three-member panel, headed by Chilean ambassador Heraldo Munoz, submitted its report to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon on Thursday afternoon. He immediately handed it over to Pakistan’s UN envoy Hussain Haroon. However, at the eleventh hour Islamabad decided against making its content public before the findings were studied by senior government officials.
Senior officials of Pakistan’s mission had earlier indicated that on receiving the UN Commission’s report Ambassador Hussain Haroon would share its findings at a news conference.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/un-blames-musharraf-govt-for-bb-murder-640
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‘Iran could build N-bomb in a year’
April 16, 2010
General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said yesterday that Iran could build a bomb in a year, although it would probably take three to five years.
Iran announced on Wednesday at the UN discussions in New York that it has produced five kg of 20 per cent enriched uranium, defying security council demands to stop enrichment. Iran says it needs the enriched uranium to make medically useful isotopes, but western governments fear the achievement will enable Tehran to develop the capacity to make weapons-grade fuel.
Despite this, China has deepened economic ties with Iran, boosting direct sales of petrol to the Islamic republic as the Chinese government negotiates new sanctions at the UN security council, it has emerged.
China has argued that the issue is not as urgent as Washington claims, and that there is still time for diplomacy.
A Chinese state oil company has sent two recent shipments of petrol to Iran, according to Reuters news agency.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/world/Iran-could-build-N-bomb-in-a-year/Article1-531770.aspx
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Daily marriages between Malaysian man and Indonesian woman
April 15, 2010
MEDAN: An average of one Malaysian man and an Indonesian woman from Sumatra have been getting married everyday for the past five months, with 80% of the brides being taken as second wives.
This statistic is based on records at the office of the Malaysian Consulate General here.
Its vice-consul (consular and immigration division), Ismail Ali, said an average of 30 Malaysian men, most of them Muslims, got married to Indonesian women from Sumatra every month during the said period.
He believed that there could be more such marriages which were not reported to the consulate.
“One of the the reasons could be that they did not have permission from the Syariah Court to marry abroad or to practise poligamy,” he said.
Malaysians intending to marry Indonesian women are required to obtain certain documents, such as verification of citizenship, from the consulate.
Prior to arriving in Sumatra, they are also required to obtain documents like verification of their marriage status, permission to marry abroad and to practise poligamy from Islamic religious authorities from their state.
Ismail said most of the couples got to know each other in Malaysia when the Indonesian women were working either as maids, factory workers or cleaners.
“Many of the women are divorcees with children and married the Malaysian men for a better life,” he added.
He said there were also non-Muslim Malaysian men who chose to marry Indonesian women but the numbers were small.
“For the non-Muslims, they were required to obtain permission from the National Registration Department to marry overseas,” he added.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/15/nation/20100415132727&sec=nati--------
Five militants killed in Orakzai blitz
April 16, 2010
HANGU/KALAYA: Five militants were killed and two others sustained injuries when security forces targeted their hideouts in lower parts of Orakzai Agency on Thursday, official sources said.
The sources said security forces, backed by gunship helicopters, carried out search operation in Goyen, Shireen Darra and adjacent hilly areas by targeting the hideouts of militants. As a result, five militants were killed and two others wounded. Security forces also destroyed two hideouts of militants in Shireen Darra, the sources said.
KHAR: Security forces arrested eight militants during search operation in various areas of Bajaur Agency, official sources said on Thursday. The sources said security forces carried out search operations in different areas of Nawagai, Khar and Mamond subdivisions and apprehended eight militants.
They added that search and clean-up operation was carried out in Damadola, Tangi, Nawagai Khas and Sadiqabad areas. The forces also recovered huge quantity of weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, hand-grenades and explosives, from the militants’ possession.
They also set ablaze the houses of six militant commanders in Tangi and other areas. Security forces also recovered a huge quantity of weapons, explosives and bomb making equipment during the operation.
In Mandal, three militants laid down their arms and surrendered to security forces. Meanwhile, the forces established security checkposts in the mountainous Kaga Pass and Bar Mukha in Mamond for the first time after flushing out militants from the area. Residents hailed the arrival of security forces and setting up of checkpoints.
The political administration has beefed up security on almost all the entry and exit points in the tribal agency and intensive checking of vehicles and frisking of individuals was being carried out to foil any sabotage act.
Meanwhile, the political administration arrested 29 tribal elders for not shouldering collective responsibility to maintain law and order in Ghundo area of Bajaur Agency. The elders of Ghundo area, Khar Tehsil, had assured the political administration of their full support in maintaining law and order. However, the elders and their respective tribes, according to officials, did not keep their word and the situation worsened in the area.
GHALLANAI: Militants blew up two government-run schools in various areas of Ambar Tehsil in Mohmand Agency, tribal sources said on Thursday. The sources said militants had planted explosives in the buildings of Government Boys’ Primary School in Wara Kor and Government Girls’ Primary School in Ghaljo Darra in Ambar subdivision, which triggered blasts early in the day. As a result, the structures of both the schools were completely destroyed.
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234548
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Illiteracy drops significantly, says Al-Fayez
By HAYAT AL-GHAMDI
Apr 15, 2010
ABHA: Illiteracy in Saudi Arabia has declined from approximately 60 percent in 1980 to 13 percent in 2009, according to Deputy Education Minister for Girls’ Education Norah Al-Fayez.
Speaking at the opening of a conference on adult education in Abha on Tuesday, the deputy minister underscored the importance of continuing education.
“Adult education is the key to sustainable development,” she said during her opening remarks.
Al-Fayez, the Kingdom’s first woman minister, was appointed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah under an initiative to advance girls’ education in the country. This was her first visit to Asir province as deputy minister of education.
Abdul Rahman Al-Humaidi, professor of adult education at King Saud University, said in a working paper before the conference that 45 percent of teachers involved in adult education believed that society looks at their work as a “marginal activity.”
The professor urged the local media to spread awareness about the important role of continuing education into adulthood, and the importance of teachers in this field.
Al-Fayez refused to answer questions by journalists about the shortage of women teachers in adult education and the lack of incentives extended to them by the ministry.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article43517.ece
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Afghan attacks: Foreign civilians, four German troops killed
16 Apr, 2010
KANDAHAR, April 15: A suicide car bomber killed at least three foreigners and their Afghan guards in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Thursday, while four German soldiers were killed in a separate attack in the north.
The blast in Kandahar came hours after another large car bomb in the centre of the city, which has been the scene of numerous attacks in recent weeks, ahead of a major planned offensive by U.S. troops expected there in coming months.
“The attack was on a security company. There are some casualties. Some foreigners were injured and killed; some security guards were killed,” Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council, said.
He said preliminary reports indicated at least three foreigners had been killed and nine wounded.
A police official, Mohammad Nabi, said seven foreign workers, believed to be British, had been killed in the blast, however other tolls were lower. Two other security sources said there were six dead, including three foreigners.
A doctor at a central Kandahar hospital, Farhad, who uses only one name, said one dead foreigner had been brought to its morgue. Sixteen wounded Afghans and one wounded foreigner had been treated there, he said.
The attack came hours after another car bomb exploded near a hotel, destroying shops and cars. Nabi said six people were wounded in that first attack.
Separately, in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, four German soldiers were killed and five wounded when they came under insurgent fire on Thursday in the deadliest single attack for foreign troops this year.
Insurgents apparently carried out a rocket attack on a group of soldiers, some of whom were in an an armoured car, close to Pol-i-Khomri camp, the German Defence Ministry said in a letter to members of the lower house of parliament.
While military commanders have largely focused on the south and east of the country where most of the violence is concentrated, insurgents have been seizing parts of the north over the past couple years.
The commander of US and Nato forces, General Stanley McChrystal is expected to send 2,500 US troops to the north in coming months to try and beat back the Taliban’s advance.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/afghan-attacks-foreign-civilians,-four-german-troops-killed-640
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The Plight of Muslims in India
15 April 2010
Karnataka Assembly has passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2010, which provides for stringent punishment for violators and makes the offence cognizable and non-bailable. In other words the bill has imposed ban on cow slaughter, which would bring the Karnataka government and Muslims in direct confrontation with each other. Although, the bill is unconstitutional and a clear violation of Agreement between India and Pakistan over protection of minorities but despite all understandings, once against Muslims have been forced to realize that have to give up their religion, culture and traditions in order to become Indians.
Ironically, the same Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa who assured the Muslims in case of blasphemous publications of Bengali writer that his government will not tolerate the publishing of articles against any religion gave a further below to Muslims by defending the Bill, saying it was aimed at protecting cows and preserve cattle in Karnataka. Such incidents which have increased with the passage of time have forced the Muslims to consider violators of Muslims’ rights as anti-Muslim forces. One wonders that the Congress rule in 1937-39, under the patronage of British Imperialists, forced the Muslims to believe that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together and should live separately. The enemies of India are once again striving hard to create an atmosphere to disintegrate Indian into independent states.
Full report at:
http://www.markthetruth.com/terrorism/459-the-plight-of-muslims-in-india.html
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Anti-Jinnah remarks spark uproar in Senate
16Apr, 2010
* Saleem Saifullah claims Haji Adeel said Jinnah would ‘eat pork, drink wine’
* Adeel ‘casually’ denies claims, apologises later
ISLAMABAD: Senators from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and the PML-Nawaz walked out of the House after uproar erupted over a senator’s “insulting” remarks about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Senator Saleem Saifullah claimed that Haji Adeel had stated during a TV show on Wednesday that Jinnah used to “eat pork and drink wine”. Adeel denied the claims, but in a “defensive and confused way”.
Adeel’s casual reaction aggravated the situation and the PML-Q and PML-N members criticised him for his insulting remarks. In response, Adeel blamed a female PML-Q member for casting aspersions on his party’s leadership and claimed, “I said those words but did not mention Quaid-e-Azam. Rather, a PML-Q member blamed our leadership for being allies of the Hindus.” However, his argument was not enough to bring the temperature down and the members continued protesting despite the chairman saying that Adeel had presented his clarification. Some members also demanded action against Adeel, but the chairman said he could not be deprived of his right to vote. Dissatisfied over the response, PML-Q and PML-N senators walked out of the House. However, Leader of the House Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Raza Rabbani and Abdul Ghafoor Haideri convinced them to return.
Later, Adeel apologised for the remarks attributed to him, saying, “I did not mean Quaid-e-Azam when I made that statement. I apologise if anybody felt my statement hurt their feelings.”
Assurity: Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured the Senate of equal compensation to the victims of terrorism. Malik said, “There should not be any discrimination in compensating terrorism victims.”
Earlier, Adviser to the Prime Minister Raza Rabbani assured the FATA members of taking up the issue of their rights with the president and the prime minister.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\16\story_16-4-2010_pg7_20
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‘Very rare' Tipu Sultan sword fetches record price
Apr 16, 2010
LONDON: Tipu Sultan's majestic sword has fetched a record price of £5,05,250 at an auction at Sotheby's, 10 times its estimated price.
The sword was estimated to fetch £50,000 to £70,000. In 2003, the more than 200-year-old sword was bought with much fanfare by liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Sotheby's described the item as: “A very rare sword with tiger-form hilt, from the Palace Armoury of Tipu Sultan, India, circa 1782-99, with 19th Century silver-mounted scabbard.”
Sotheby's said there was a very small number of sword hilts such as Tipu Sultan's auctioned sword that have a pronounced tiger theme that was a mark of his ownership.
Another highlight of the auction was a rare Indian bronze cannon cast at the Mysore King's royal foundry. This artefact from around 1790 AD was bought by an anonymous buyer at £3,13,250.
The collection
The Tipu Sultan collection, comprising seven lots, included weaponry and other rarities captured after the British stormed the erstwhile ruler of Mysore's palace in Srirangapatnam in May 1799. An applique and gilt metal thread-embroidered shamiana, from the cloth of gold suite used by Tipu Sultan in the royal toshkhana, which was estimated to sell for £30,000 to £40,000, went for £21,250. The auction fetched £15.4 million, compared to the £1.2 million earned at the first part of the Tipu Sultan auction in 2005.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/16/stories/2010041663852200.htm
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Dawood's D-Company provided logistic support for 26/11: Report
April 6, 2010
Washington, DC: Karachi-based D-Company of the fugitive Indian underworld don Dawood Ibrahim possibly had an important role in 26/11 carnage by providing logistic support to the LeT-operatives to carry out the deadly operation, adding a new dimension to the Mumbai terror attacks.
The involvement of the D-Company in the Mumbai attacks has come out in a report on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) released by the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College, the Department of Defence, which says that the D-Company is now closely tied with LeT activities in India.
According to the report, Dawood Ibrahim is believed to have resided in Pakistan since 1993 and now owns malls, luxury homes, and shipping and trucking lines that smuggle arms and heroin into India.
In exchange for his refuge in Pakistan, the report said a percentage of D-Company's profits were diverted to
ISI-supported Islamic militant groups such as LeT.
"Evidence demonstrates that these links were formed in late 1993 or early 1994. Photographs of Tiger Memon posing with leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) at an ISI safe house in Muzaffarabad surfaced and served as the first proof of the involvement of mafia money in Kashmir," the report said.
The report authored by Ryan Clarke says the D-Company has now extended its base to Saudi Arabia too.
Full report at:
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dawood-s-d-company-provided-logistic-support-for-26-11-report_1368030
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Sania-Shoaib host glitzy Hyderabad reception
Prajwal Hegde
Apr 16, 2010
HYDERABAD: Tennis, they say, is all about coordination of one kind or another. To say the least, Indian star Sania Mirza and her Pakistani groom Shoaib Malik were wonderfully coordinated on the day — colour, cast, cut.
In the last of her wedding celebrations in India, Sania swept into the regal splendour of the reception hall on Thursday in a red-and-gold khara dupatta set against cream background. The elaborate costume is traditionally worn by Hyderabadi Muslim brides. The groom's cream sherwani worked as a fair set piece with Sania's glittering get-up.
The guest list at Taj Krishna grand ballroom and lawns, where the reception was held, had a fair mix of politicians like TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu, corporate heavyweight Subrata Roy, the who's who of Hyderabad society and friends from the sporting community, including Davis Cuppers, Jaideep Mukherjea and Akhtar Ali and Pak cricketer Sohail Tanveer. Pakistan federal minister for population and welfare Firdious Ashiq Awan came bearing several gifts, one of which was a crown studded with jewels. The minister greeted Sania and put the crown on her head.
Congratulatory messages from netas including the Prime Minister, sportsmen and celebrities poured in from India and around the world.
The thrust of the cuisine was Hyderabadi, with some tasteful additions like a variety of salad trays and several vegetarian options. Sania and Shoaib or Shoania as the couple have come to be called, are expected to leave for Pakistan late next week. The reception will be held in Lahore. Asked what would Sania's welcome be like in Pakistan, she said: "You wait and see how we welcome our bahu."
Shoaib said: "The last few days have been peaceful, more so after the storm after my arrival in India. I'm happier now than I have ever been in my life. I'm looking forward to introducing Sania to my people at our reception in Pakistan.
Sania, who competed in Pakistan as a junior, said: "I'm looking forward to visit Pakistan. Shoaib has told me a lot about Pakistan as I tell him a lot about India."
Sania will return to India by the end of the month as she has prior commitments to keep. Shoaib and Sania have planned their honeymoon to the Maldives, but are still looking for time to fit it into their schedule.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sania-Shoaib-host-glitzy-Hyderabad-reception/articleshow/5814290.cms
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Ansar Burney calls for formation of new provinces
April 16, 2010
ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Ansar Burney Trust International and former Federal Minister for Human Rights, Ansar Burney Advocate, has urged upon Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, former Prime Minister and Muslim League (N) leader Mian Nawaz Sharif, MQM leader Altaf Hussain and all other national and provincial politicians to listen the voice of millions of people and fulfil their demands for new provinces as Karachi, Hazara and Saraiki, says a press release on Thursday.
Ansar Burney said this is the political, democratic and constitutional right of the people to demand for their rights as prescribed in the Constitution. Ansar Burney said that the people of southern Punjab, Hazara, and Karachi/Hyderabad had the full right to give effect and register their interest with their relevant leadership for the demand and establishment of Karachi, Hazara and Southern Punjab (Saraiki belt) as separate provinces.
He suggested Karachi and Hyderabad as one province and Seraiki belt in southern Punjab as another province with Karachi and Bahawalpur or Multan respectively as provincial capitals. Ansar Burney further said that it was the constitutional right of those killed in pursuit of demanding separate provinces in a democratic political system, which is a clear violation of human dignity and human rights.
Ansar said, “if the government fails to fulfil the demand of creating three provinces then the people of those areas should at least not be denied their basic civil and constitutional rights to voice their concern against hypocrite politicians.
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234551
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Muslim cleric ordered out of US in subway plot case
April 16, 2010
NEW YORK: A federal judge on Thursday ordered a Muslim cleric to leave the United States for lying to the FBI in connection with a probe into a plot to blow up New York City subways, a US justice official said.
In a sentencing hearing in Brooklyn, US District Judge Frederic Block told Ahmad Afzali, 39, he must leave within 90 days or be deported to his native Afghanistan, said Robert Nardoza, spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn.
Afzali faced up to six months in prison.
An imam in the New York City borough of Queens, he was arrested in 2009 as part of an investigation into what US attorney general Eric Holder called one of the most serious security threats to the United States since the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.
Afzali was accused of tipping off Najibullah Zazi that he was under investigation, forcing authorities to bring Zazi in for questioning sooner than planned. Earlier this year Zazi admitted he had received weapons and training from al Qaeda and plotted a suicide attack on the city''s subways in rush hour.
The cleric, a self-proclaimed pro-American imam who cooperated with police in previous investigations, lied about the tip-off when questioned by the FBI, prosecutors said.
Afzali pleaded guilty last month to charges of lying to law enforcement officials in a deal with prosecutors who agreed to drop a more serious charge of obstructing a terrorism investigation. He agreed to waive his right to appeal.
His defence team sought to portray him as an unwitting suspect, who had no knowledge of what Zazi was planning, but the prosecution contended that the cleric was deliberately misleading law enforcement.
"Afzali is many things, but naive is not one of them. He knew that what he did was wrong, and that is the reason why he hid it from the NYPD (New York Police Department) and later lied about it to the FBI," prosecutors said in a recent court document said.
Zazi, who moved to Queens from Afghanistan as a teenager and attended a mosque led by Afzali, will be sentenced in June.
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_muslim-cleric-ordered-out-of-us-in-subway-plot-case_1371955
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Ex-envoy to Pak shoots self in Delhi
Apr 16, 2010
New Delhi, April 15: A former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, K.D. Sharma, who served in Islamabad during the Zia-ul Haq regime, allegedly shot himself dead at his East Delhi residence Thursday morning. Sharma, 79, wrote in a suicide note he was “not able to cope with his deteriorating health”.
He was found lying in a pool of blood at his 117 Madhuban Apartments residence in Preet Vihar by domestic help Ravinder at around 10.30 am.
Ravinder informed Sharma’s relatives, including his former in-laws, who soon arrived and called the police. “He used his licensed revolver to shoot himself in the head,” a police official said.
He was married to a Spanish woman, Antonio, now travelling in Spain. His former wife Veena, 69, living in Defence Colony, was one of the first to arrive. His two sons, Vikram and Gautam, both work abroad.
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9155:ex-envoy-to-pak-shoots-self-in-delhi&catid=34:top-story&Itemid=59
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Protesters rally in Indonesia after deadly clash
By CHRIS BLAKE
Apr 16, 2010
JAKARTA: Hundreds of demonstrators descended Thursday on City Hall to demand that Jakarta’s public security force be disbanded following bloody clashes over a Muslim tomb that left three dead and 156 wounded near a key seaport.
The protesters chanted “God is Great” and some threw rocks at a billboard bearing the photo of Jakarta’s governor. More than 1,000 police were deployed to the area, which is near the US Embassy in the central part of the capital, city spokesman Cucu Kurnia said.
On Wednesday, protesters wielding machetes, sticks and petrol bombs clashed with city security officers and riot police in running battles near the port outside the city center. Police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and batons to beat back the demonstrators.
The protesters believed the city security officers were trying to remove the tomb of an Arab cleric who helped spread Islam in Jakarta in the 18th century. The tomb is on land owned by the state-run seaports operator Pelindo II, and the area is home to many squatters.
Kurnia said the city had no intention of demolishing the tomb and had wanted to evict illegal settlers living nearby. The protesters believed otherwise and attacked the city security officers, sparking running battles that lasted several hours and later involved the national police.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article43897.ece
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Syria fears Israeli strike after Scud accusation
16Apr, 2010
DAMASCUS—Israel might be preparing a military strike against Syria by accusing Damascus of supplying Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with long-range Scud missiles, the Syrian government said on Thursday.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of sending Hezbollah long-range Scuds. The United States said on Wednesday it was “increasingly concerned” about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Islamist group that fought a war with Israel in 2006.
“Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The Syrian Arab Republic denies these fabrications.” Hezbollah hit Israel with shorter range rockets during the 2006 war as at that time it lacked a longer-ranger missile capability.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled to Hezbollah in the past two months. The United States said the move would have a possible “destabilizing effect” on the region. The presence of more advanced missiles in Lebanon could raise the prospects of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0410/16/FrontPage/FrontPage10.php
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Killings, harassment mar last day of Sudan vote
Apr 15, 2010
JUBA/KHARTOUM: Sudan's ruling party said on Thursday that the southern army had killed nine people, including at least five of its officials, stoking tensions during voting in the first open elections in 24 years.
Sudan entered the last of a five days of presidential and legislative polls that mark a key test of stability for Africa's largest country, emerging from decades of civil war and preparing for a 2011 southern referendum on independence. Voting has been largely peaceful, despite logistical problems and reported harassment of independent and opposition candidates.
Agnes Lokudu, head of the northern-dominated National Congress Party (NCP) in semi-autonomous south Sudan said the region's separate army had targeted and murdered at least five of its party officials and four other people earlier this week.
South Sudan's Army said it was an individual crime of passion by one of their soldiers who had found the local NCP chief in bed with his wife.
"At night some (southern army) soldiers came to the home of the president of the National Congress Party in Raja, and killed him and eight other people, Lokudu said.
Raja county is in Western Bahr Al-Ghazal state in a remote part of south Sudan. The attack was earlier this week.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article43906.ece
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Airspace shut down due to volcano fury; Westbound travelers from the Kingdom affected
By K.S. RAMKUMAR
Apr 16, 2010
JEDDAH/LONDON: Ash clouds from a volcanic eruption in Iceland have severely disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of passengers flying from Saudi Arabia to various European destinations on Thursday.
Huge clouds of ash and smoke from the volcano moved south, emptying the skies of aircraft across much of northern Europe and grounding planes on a scale unseen since the 9/11 terror attacks.
All flights in and out of the UK and several other European countries were suspended from Thursday midday. London’s Heathrow airport was closed from noon on Thursday until Friday. As a result all incoming flights were diverted and outgoing flights canceled.
Meanwhile, Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, has issued directives to provide hotel accommodation for all Saudi passengers, who were unable to leave Britain. “Prince Sultan has issued orders to provide urgent accommodation to all stranded Saudis in London hotels at his own expense,” said Prince Muhammad bin Nawaf, ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article43942.ece
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The secret war – and the hidden lair of the Taliban
16 April 2010
Patrick Cockburn investigates the insurgents' mountain hideaway – and a little-known conflict that has killed thousands
The Pakistani army has fought successfully to control mountainous frontier areas once ruled by the Pakistani Taliban, but it remains reluctant to attack the cross-border safe havens of the Afghan Taliban despite American pressure.
Pakistani soldiers in Bajaur district on the Afghan frontier are eager to demonstrate what they have already achieved, showing off captured tunnels dug into the hillside by the local Taliban to protect their fighters against air and artillery attack. On display are some rockets and shells and a broken sign put up outside a building serving as a court house in the last days of Taliban rule reading: "Don't bring any more cases."
In Bajaur, a heavily populated area of mountains and well-watered terraces and valleys, the Pakistani army is once more very much in charge. Col Nauman Saeed, commander of the 3,500-strong Bajaur Scouts, said: "I want to end the misconception that our frontier areas are the most ungovernable in the world."
Full report at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-secret-war-ndash-and-the-hidden-lair-of-the-taliban-1946387.html
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Can lessons from other nations show way forward in Afghanistan?
April 15, 2010
Zieba Shorish-Shamley offers a history lesson to people who say a peace settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan is possible.
She asks them to remember how the Taliban massacred thousands of Afghans, beat women who walked alone in public, stoned to death women accused of adultery and tried to bend everyone to their fanatical form of Islam.
That is how she remembers life under the Taliban. Only force can stop the leaders of such a brutal movement, says Shorish-Shamley, a native of Afghanistan.
In early May, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government will invite a group of people, including tribal elders and parliament members, to discuss ways to reconcile with the Taliban.
Full report at:
http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/16/can-lessons-from-other-nations-show-way-forward-in-afghanistan/
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Halal, Haram, and Negis
Jahanshah Rashidian
April 16th, 2010
If you randomly walk in a Muslim district in the West especially in western Europe, you will certainly find somewhere, at least in one corner, an Islamic butchery with the word ”halal” written on its shop-window. For the products of meat, the word “halal” is a badge of Islamic quality.
Muslims believe that since blood is not ritually a pure substance, slaughter is necessary to inhibit the thorough draining of all of the animal’s blood. Furthermore, the verse” Bismillah al Rahman Al Rahim”, in the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful, is necessary to render the meat halal or lawful to eat.
The word halal refers, here, to meat killed and prepared in line with Islamic dietary laws. Jewish and Islamic religions demand that slaughter is carried out with a cut to the neck or throat, rather than the more widespread method of stunning with a bolt into the head before slaughter.
Generally, halal means anything permissible under Islamic law, in contrast to haram, that which is forbidden. This includes behaviour, speech, dress, conduct. The term halal is also used to judge the right of sexuality after marriage, even temporarily marriage that is a Shiite tradition called “Sigheh” which is blamed by other sects of Islam as a “legalised” prostitution. Vaginal intercourse or rape of his own female slave, a married woman whose husband has been killed by Muslim invaders, and a non Muslim prisoner of war is halal — in this light, many political female prisoners of the Islamic Republic of Iran who were considered “non-Muslims”, were ”legally” raped by their guards before being executed.
Full report at:
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/04/16/halal-haram-and-negis/
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Ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev quits Kyrgyzstan
Apr 16, 2010
BISHKEK: Ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Thursday resigned and left for neighbouring Kazakhstan, in a surprise move coordinated by Russia and the United States to ease flaring tensions, officials said.
Bakiyev made the dramatic exit by plane from his stronghold of Jalalabad in south Kyrgyzstan, the first time he quit the country since the unrest that killed 84 people and swept him from power last week.
"This evening Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew out of Jalalabad on a plane to Kazakhstan," an official in Kyrgyzstan's interim government told AFP.
Ilias Omarov, spokesman for the Kazakh foreign ministry, said Bakiyev had landed at Taraz, a city in southern Kazakhstan on the border with Kyrgyzstan. It was not clear what Bakiyev's next movements would be.
A Kyrgyz interim government spokesman said that Bakiyev had also submitted his resignation. "Now the new authorities have complete legitimacy," the official said.
An interim government statement described the departure as a "deportation" and said it would seek his transfer to a Kyrgyz or international court for trial.
The new authorities immediately started operations to arrest Bakiyev's closest political allies and senior members of his family.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Ousted-president-Kurmanbek-Bakiyev-quits-Kyrgyzstan/articleshow/5814082.cms
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Let Women's Reservation Bill pass as it is: Muslim activists
Apr 16, 2010
New Delhi : A group of Muslim women leaders and activists on Thursday asked the UPA government to get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the present form, saying the demand for sub-quotas will only delay it further.
In a statement issued by leaders and activists of 15 organisations, "some of those opposed to the Bill in the name of sub-quotas also say that if reservation for women is reduced from 33 per cent, they will support the bill."
"This exposes the hollowness of their demand for sub-quotas for minorities and Dalits," the statement said.
Subhashini Ali, President of AIDWA, said Muslim women support the 33 per cent reservation and the the bill must not be opposed since reservation on the basis of religion is yet to be settled in the Constitution and stopping the Bill from getting passed in the Lok Sabha will only delay the process further.
Alleging that opposition to the Bill was of patriarchal nature, Ali said statutory position on reservation remains the same.
"If the Women's Bill is passed the number of men in Parliament will decline to approximately 300 from the 432 seats that men enjoy. This is something unacceptable to those opposing it," Ali added.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/let-womens-reservation-bill-pass-as-it-is-muslim-activists/606910/
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Nigerian police to pay compensation over killing
Apr 15, 2010
Abuja : A court in Nigeria has asked authorities to pay USD 70,000 in compensation for the extra-judicial killing of a relative of a leader belonging to a Islamic militant group.
Baa Fagu -- the father-in-law to the slain leader of Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf -- was killed last year while in detention.
Barely 10 months after his death, a court said yesterday that the Borno State government and the Nigeria Police must compensate the family for felling their bread winner without trial in a court of law.
The High Court judge, Mohammed Mustapha in his ruling said Fagu had been killed simply because he was the father-in-law of Mohammed Yusuf.
"The detention and subsequent extra-judicial murder of the deceased by the respondents for being an in-law to the Boko Haram sect leader violated his right to life," Mustapha said.
According to him, his murder did not allow him to get fair hearing which is part of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nigerian-police-to-pay-compensation-over-killing/606831/
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Foreign forces can't stay in Afghanistan in perpetuity: Obama
April 16, 2010
Melbourne: US president Barack Obama today said his forces had blunted the momentum of Taliban in Afghanistan and his plans to withdraw American forces next year are on track.
Defending his troop surge strategy, Obama said though the war in Afghanistan remained a difficult task, but their had been a positive trend recently.
Asserting that foreign forces would not be needed "in perpetuity" in Afghanistan, the president in a rare interview to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV recorded in Washington said Karzai was a strong partner with the US in the fight against al-Qaeda.
Obama's comments apparently seek an end a war of words between Kabul and Washington. The president said, "Karzai is capable of leading his country into the 21st century and stabilising it."
Full report at:
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_foreign-forces-can-t-stay-in-afghanistan-in-perpetuity-obama_1371806
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Iran bars Khatami from leaving country: website
April 16, 2010
MANAMA/NEW YORK: A senior Iranian official said on Thursday that world powers oppose new sanctions on Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme, and that they will not be applied.
First Vice President for Economic Affairs Ali Agha Mohammadi told a news conference in Bahrain with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa that “international powers oppose sanctions against Iran” and that US policy toward Iran is “unacceptable”.
“We are convinced that these sanctions will not be applied,” Mohammadi said without elaborating.
For his part Prince Salman counseled Iran to “avoid international isolation”. He called on Tehran to act with “moderation, level-headedness and rationality” in its nuclear programme.
The UN Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment programme, which the West says masks a bid to acquire nuclear arms.
Full report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234530
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Qatar Islamic Bank to finance more projects
Zawya Dow Jones
April 16, 2010
Dubai: Qatar Islamic Bank, or QIB, said yesterday it would continue to finance government projects in the gas-rich state and grow its business regionally and internationally.
"QIB has strived to consolidate its participation in the national economy through its funding of macro-companies in a new trend intended to further consolidate its leading role in financing national projects," chairman Shaikh Jasem Hamad Jabor Al Thani said in an e-mailed statement.
QIB, Qatar's second-largest lender by market value, signed in the first quarter a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, with South Korean broker Woori Investment & Securities and said it would have 30 domestic branches by the end of year, after adding four more to its existing network in 2010, the bank said in the statement.
"During this first quarter, Qatar Islamic Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with Woori Investment and Securities Inc. with the aim of facilitating mutual cooperation between the two parties in the search for suitable financial and investment opportunities in the Korean, Asian and Qatari markets," QIB said.
Shares in QIB yesterday closed down 3.36 per cent at 77 riyals (Dh77.60) in a negative market.
http://gulfnews.com/business/banking/qatar-islamic-bank-to-finance-more-projects-1.613023
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‘Prevalent interest and global banking system is erroneous’
April 16, 2010
FAISALABAD, (SANA): It is need of the day to prove that the prevalent concept of interest and existing global banking system is erroneous, said the President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sh. Abdul Qayyum.
He was addressing during a session held at FCCI in collaboration of SBP on “Islamic Banking Awareness Campaign Orientation,” on Thursday.
He said that the existing international recession started because of American sub prime debts which badly affected the conventional banking system.
According to a press release, he said that the Islamic Banking system, however, maintained its utility hence people are now rushing towards the Islamic Banking.
He said that Pakistan was having a bright potential for the growth of Islamic Banking System adding the role of Islamic Banking was increasing in Pakistan gradually and a large number of financial institutions are utilizing interest free banking.
Mr. M. Ayub Mughal, senior vice President FCCI, said at this juncture that many industrial institutions initiated practical steps towards adoption of Islamic Banking System and abolishing interest system.
Full report at:
http://www.sananews.net/english/2010/04/16/%E2%80%98prevalent-interest-and-global-banking-system-is-erroneous%E2%80%99/
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Obama, this ain't a video game
April 16, 2010
It is the season of apologies all over again.
It began with a confession from Golf superstar Tiger Woods for his fascinating encounters off the field. While most sporting icons are forgiven for their feet of clay and an occasional adventure or two, the black kid who broke the white man's monopoly over the richest and most elitist sport was hauled over the coals for his escapades.
Then it was the turn of Pope Benedict XVI to apologize for the long years of clerical abuse of children. Now some solitary voices in the US media are debating whether President Barack Obama should apologize for the spectacular massacre of 15 Iraqi civilians including two children and two Reuters employees by the US forces way back in 2007 when our good ol' friend Bush had been in the White House. The horrific carnage, captured on tape in chilling detail and released last week by WikiLeaks.org, has shaken the US government and shocked the Americans and rest of the world. The 38-minute long video has been seen by tens of millions of people around the world in the space of the last few days. The chilling footage showing America's finest and bravest indiscriminately firing at a group of totally unarmed civilians once again underscores the utterly evil nature of this war and the mindless bestiality of modern warfare. The "action" was captured by the highly sensitive camera fitted in the belly of the US Army gunship. The video is accompanied by excited commentary of US soldiers on the apparently ludicrous scenes of human beings dying and dropping like flies on the ground.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article43834.ece
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Time not on Mideast’s side Claude Salhani
April 16, 2010
16 April 2010 Traditionally, time has been an asset in the Middle East, where the region has lived under very different constraints from the Western world. But the world is changing rapidly and time may be running out unless Middle Eastern leaders come to grips with these changes.
As vast deposits of oil and natural gas recently discovered in former Soviet Central Asian republics begins to impact the energy markets around the world—and if the Middle East remains in a perpetual state of crisis—it is very likely that United States and other Western countries will gradually begin to rethink their foreign policies in the coming decade.
That change will likely be to the detriment of the Middle East as the US and other developed nations will begin to establish closer and tighter relations with the countries of Central Asia. Assuming the former communist countries manage to emulate other former Soviet satellite states, such as the Baltics, and adopt truly democratic systems of government they stand to overtake the countries of the Middle East.
Full report at: khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/April/opinion_April93.xml§ion=opinion&col=
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Commodifying drinking water
Ahmad Rafay Alam
April 16, 2010
A few months ago, the Lahore High Court had taken suo motu notice of the quality of water served up by bottled-water companies. I happened to be in court that morning, and overheard the judge say something that has stayed with me since: when he was growing up in Lahore, it was unthinkable that water was something that could be sold. This is true even for my lifetime. I have seen drinking water in my city of Lahore go from being a common resource to a commodity. There is much to make of such a radical change.
It was the colonialist who first tapped Lahore's underground water resources for the purposes of domestic consumption, that is, drinking and for sanitation. The old water pipe that sucked water from the ground still stands behind the Paani wala Talaab in the Walled City. The management of the water resource lay in the hands of the municipality, which laid out water and sewerage pipes throughout the old city, as well as the rapidly sprawling rest of the city. Water was thus available to those who were served by the municipality and who paid their water dues on time. It was clean, readily available and, importantly, considered "free."
Full report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234392
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Parallel worlds beginning to collide
Shafqat Mahmood
April 16, 2010
The disconnect between different layers of Pakistani society has never been more visible than today. The political elite and intelligentsia are celebrating the passage of the 18th Amendment. The people are angry and on the streets, rioting.
The elite have good reason to be happy. The virtues of democracy need advertising in a state that has seen frequent interruptions of military rule. And what better commercial than a broad political consensus that has endorsed a National Finance Commission Award and now the 18th Amendment.
The people have good reason to be angry. Inflation, particularly of basic food items, has decimated their savings. Without electricity, the summer heat is boiling their bones. And there is no care in hospitals, no education in their schools, no security, no justice, and no relief, anywhere.
Full report at: http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234394
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9:14 PM
Sultan Shahin
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