| Islamic World News | ||||||||||
19 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
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Use of nuclear arms 'haram', says Khamenei
Apr 18, 2010
TEHRAN: Use of nuclear arms is "haram" (religiously forbidden) and it is necessary for all to protect mankind from the grave disaster, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said.
"Any use or even threat to use nuclear weapons is a serious and material violation of indisputable rules of humanitarian law and a cogent example of a war crime," Khamenei was quoted as saying Saturday by IRNA news agency.
The Iranian supreme leader said: "There is no winner in a nuclear war and entering such a war is irrational and inhuman."
He stressed the need to find "sensible and practical ways and solutions to counter the threat of nuclear weapons against humanity."
The Ayatollah also urged participants at the First International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, which began here Saturday, to take "serious steps towards protecting world peace and stability."
Officials and ministers from 60 countries are taking part in the conference.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Use-of-nuclear-arms-haram-says-Khamenei/articleshow/5828507.cms
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Bomb in Pakistani city of Peshawar; 23 dead: police
Apr 19, 2010
A suicide bomber attacked Pakistani police guarding a protest rally against power cuts in the city of Peshawar on Monday killing 23 people, police and government officials said.
Islamist militants fighting the government of nuclear-armed Pakistan have launched a string of bomb attacks in Peshawar, which is the gateway to Afghanistan, killing hundreds of people over the past year.
The latest blast went off in an area of the old city known as the Storytellers' Bazaar as a protest against power cuts organized by a religious party was breaking up, officials said.
"A man blew himself up when policemen were sitting in their vehicles after the rally," said provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
Several officials of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) party, which organized the protest, were among the dead, said members of the party which has a record of sympathizing with Islamists.
Police officer Imran Kishwar said 23 people had been killed and 29 wounded.
Ambulances with red lights flashing raced through the streets as dusk settled on the city.
"We were returning to our police station when the blast went off," a slightly wounded policeman, Riaz Khan, told Reuters. "I saw bodies and limbs scattered all about when I turned around."
It was the second blast in the city on Monday.
Earlier, a six-year-old school boy was killed and five boys and two other people were wounded when explosives went off outside their school in the city, doctors said.
Security forces have made significant gains against the militants in offensives over the past year, clearing the fighters from strongholds in the Swat valley and in the regions of South Waziristan and Bajaur on the Afghan border.
But the militants have demonstrated time and again they have the capacity to strike back with gun and bomb attacks.
"THEY WILL TRY TO HURT US"
City police chief Liaqat Ali told reporters his men had found the bomber's head. Bombers often strap explosives to their bodies and their heads are cut off by the blast.
The militants were trying to destabilize cities across the country after largely lying low for several months, he said.
"Now they've reorganized, regrouped, and they will try to hurt us, hit us, but nonetheless, we're ready," Ali said.
Separately, two oil tankers carrying fuel to Western forces in Afghanistan were destroyed in a bomb blast in the Khyber region, security officials said.
Supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan are shipped into the Pakistani city of Karachi and trucked into landlocked Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. Militants have been attacking the supply convoys but have failed to block them.
The government forces have in recent weeks stepped attacks in Khyber and the neighboring Orakzai and Kurram regions where officials say militants have taken refuge from earlier sweeps.
The violence came as President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law constitutional amendments stripping him of his main powers and handing them to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
The reforms, earlier passed unanimously by both houses of parliament, should go some way to disarm Zardari's many critics and contribute to political stability.
Army successes against the militants and hopes for political stability have encouraged investors in Pakistani stocks.
The main index is at levels not seen since 2008, supported by foreign buying. Net foreign inflows were $113 million in March, the second highest monthly inflow ever.
Stock markets were closed for the day when the suicide bomber struck in Peshawar.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Kamran Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6364J320100419
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Bangalore Stadium attacks herald new Indian Mujahideen offensive
Praveen Swami
19 APRIL 2010
BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: Investigators believe Saturday's bombings at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore were executed by an Indian Mujahideen cell led by Mohammad Zarar Siddi Bawa, police sources told TheHindu.
Karnataka-born Bawa—also known as ‘Yasin Bhatkal'—is allegedly a key figure in a series of urban bombings executed by the Indian Mujahideen between 2005 and 2008 that claimed hundreds of lives.
Bawa, police say, was the organisation's key-bomb maker and his devices were used in the attacks.
Earlier this year, during investigations, he emerged as a key suspect in the bombing of the German Bakery in Pune. Police informants had identified the fair, slight Bawa, dressed in a loose-fitting blue shirt and a rucksack slung over his back, in closed-circuit footage recorded by a camera placed over the cashier's counter at the German Bakery. Witnesses also identified Bawa from photographs shown to them by Pune investigators.
The police sources say there was credible intelligence that he was planning further attacks, but insist there was no information suggesting the M. Chinnaswamy stadium was to be targeted.
The timer-activated improvised explosive devices were similar in design to the devices used in Bangalore. “High humidity in Bangalore because of recent rains may have degraded the ammonium nitrate used to manufacture the bombs, lessening their lethality,” a senior police official told TheHindu. Similar problems had led the nine improvised explosive devices planted in Bangalore in July, 2008, to malfunction.
Bawa was allegedly recruited into the Indian Mujahideen by his childhood friends, Islamist ideologue Iqbal Shahbandri and his brother Riyaz Ismail Shahbandri. Karnataka Police sources say Bawa was a key figure in a meeting held in the summer of 2004 on the beachfront in Bhatkal, where key Indian Mujahideen operatives met for the first time to discuss their operational strategies.
Police in several States have sought Bawa ever since October, 2008, when he escaped a police raid on an Indian Mujahideen safe house near Chikmagalur. Police recovered laboratory equipment, precision tools and five complete improvised explosive devices during the raids.
For at least a year, it has been clear that the Indian Mujahideen has been rebuilding its networks in India. In his testimony to the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pakistani-American jihadist David Headley spoke of what he called the ‘Karachi Project': a Lashkar effort to raise new networks of Indian jihadists.
Police say Hyderabad-based jihadist Sheikh Abdul Khaja, who was arrested by the Indian authorities in January, had met with key leaders of the Indian Mujahideen in Karachi, including Bawa, the Shahbandri brothers, and gang-lord-turned-jihadist Amir Raza Khan.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/19/stories/2010041958120100.htm
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29 militants killed in fighting in N Afghanistan
19 APRIL 2010
At least 29 militants, including two commanders, have been killed over four days of fighting including the outskirts of the provincial capital, 190 kms north of Kabul. Insurgents had stepped up attacks in the formerly calm province as part of efforts to disrupt a key northern overland supply route for international forces. NATO air strikes bombarded insurgent positions, killing 29 and wounding 52, said Zemeri Bashary, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the Afghan police force. At least three Afghan police and four German soldiers have been killed in the fighting. Bashary said the operation was continuing on Sunday.
Among the Taliban killed were two important commanders, Bashary said, without giving their names or other details. He said he had no information on deaths or injuries among civilians. “The goal of the operation in Baghlan is to bring peace and stability where it was under the threat of the militants,” Bashary said. Authorities were working to free five Afghan workers for the UN Office of Project Services who were taken hostage on Thursday in Baghlan.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/250001/29-militants-killed-in-fighting-in-N-Afghanistan.html
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14 dead in Somali violence
19 Apr, 2010
MOGADISHU: A landmine blast in the Somali capital Mogadishu killed eight people, and mortar rounds fired by insurgents at the city airport as the president returned killed six, eyewitnesses and medics said on Sunday. Al Shabaab Islamist fighters fired the mortar rounds shortly after President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and the parliament speaker landed late on Saturday. Government troops and African Union (AU) peacekeepers responded by shelling rebel strongholds.
“All the mortar rounds missed the airport but landed in civilian areas,” Ali Muse, coordinator of ambulance services, told Reuters. He said five of the six people killed died in the bustling Bakara market from where al Shabaab often launches its attacks. Four of them were women. On Tuesday, the United Nations urged Somali security forces, AU troops and Islamist militants not to indiscriminately shell densely populated areas, saying this was a blatant violation of the laws of war.
“They have massacred our people, they don’t care for our people, our flag and sovereignty,” wept Fadumo Abdi, whose son was killed in the blast. Somalia’s parliament had been expected to convene on Sunday for the first time since December after repeated setbacks, but the meeting was postponed for four days for “technical reasons”. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\19\story_19-4-2010_pg4_2
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Pak Army stages massive drill in Cholistan desert
Rezaul H Laskar
19 APRIL 2010
As Pakistan’s armed forces on Sunday staged a massive drill in the Cholistan desert, close to the Indian border, the country’s civil and military leadership said Islamabad’s defence strategy is based on credible minimum deterrence and had “no offensive design” against anyone.
Addressing a gathering that witnessed manoeuvres by tanks, combat jets and helicopter gunships, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan’s military strategy is based on “credible minimum deterrence”. Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in his address, said, “Pakistan harbours no offensive design against anyone but self-defence is our inherent right. We will protect and defend Pakistan at all costs.”
The drill in the desert was part of the Azm-e-Nau (New Resolve)-3 exercise, Pakistan’s largest ever wargame for which the military has mobilised nearly 50,000 troops, tanks, artillery and jets.
Officials have said the aim of the exercise is to train troops for the threat of a conventional war with India.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/250007/Pak-Army-stages-massive-drill-in-Cholistan-desert.html
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Is Pakistani military exercise a message to India?
By Hamid Mir & Muhammad Anis
April 19, 2010
BAHAWALPUR: In an unprecedented move, the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) exhibited their professional capabilities by targeting a drone in front of not only the prime minister, many federal ministers and parliamentarians belonging to different parties but also more than 30 military attaches of different countries, who witnessed the heavy firepower of the Pakistani armed forces on Sunday afternoon in the desert of Khairpur Tamewali near Bahawalpur.
The presence of the country’s top political leadership in a very hot desert boosted the morale of Army troops, who have been engaged in a six-week-long Azm-e-Nau-III military exercise for the last few days.
More than 50 parliamentarians watched the joint attack of the Pakistan Army tanks and the PAF fighter planes against an imaginary enemy for more than two hours. There was lot of excitement when it was announced that a drone with the name of Shahbaz appeared in the sky. Within seconds, this drone was successfully destroyed by anti-aircraft guns. All the politicians and military officials happily clapped with signs of new confidence on their faces. This whole event gave three clear messages.
The first message was about the unity of civilian and military leadership. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar arrived in the exercise area around 10:30 am. Parliamentarians from the PPP, the PML-N, the ANP, the JUI-F, the PML-Q, many retired generals and media persons were also there at the same time but Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived at around 11:00 am. General Kayani saluted him and gave him full respect in front of national and international media. The message was very clear that the military leadership is firmly standing behind the civilian leadership.
Full report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28379
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‘1973 Constitution restored to its original shape’
19 Apr, 2010
KARACHI: The Constitution of 1973, which had been framed by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the poor and labourers, was restored to its original shape. This was said by the Central Deputy Secretary General, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Senator Mian Raza Rabbani on Sunday while he was addressing party activists, who gathered at Karachi airport on his arrival from the federal capital after the passing of the 18th amendment by the National Assembly (NA) and Senate.
Upon arrival at the airport, the PPP leader accompanied by Federal Ministers, Naveed Qamar and Khursheed Ahmed Shah was accorded a very warm welcome by the PPP leaders and activists. A large number of PPP activists enthusiastically raised slogans in favour of PPP leadership.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\19\story_19-4-2010_pg7_17
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Geelani meets Afzal Guru in Tihar jail
19 APRIL 2010
Chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani recently met Parliament attack case convict Mohammad Afzal Guru at the Tihar jail in New Delhi.
Geelani, who was the first separatist leader to visit Guru whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004 for his role in the Parliament attack in 2001, also met six other Kashmiri prisoners last Thursday.
Afzal's wife Tabasum and his son Ghalib had a few years ago met the then President A P J Abdul Kalam and sought pardon for him. The mercy petition is still pending before the President.
Geelani, who hails from Sopore which is also the hometown of Guru, told a public gathering after his return from New Delhi yesterday, that he believes that "Guru is innocent".
"State terrorism is worst as it uses all its machinery... against innocent people. What can we expect from judiciary that has acquitted innocents after 14 years of jail term," Geelani said referring to the release of four Kashmiris early this month by a Delhi court.
The court had on April 8 convicted six out of ten suspected militants of Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front in the Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/249971/Geelani-meets-Afzal-Guru-in-Tihar-jail.html]
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On Pakistani-Afghan border, some join Taliban to settle scores with relatives
By Griff Witte
April 19, 2010
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN -- Yar Dad Khan sleeps with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in his bed, primed for the day his cousin returns.
His cousin is a local Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan. Khan is a pro-government tribal leader. The two men do not get along.
In the rough borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the global war against the Taliban often boils down to a family feud, pitting tribe against tribe, son against father, brother against brother.
While the Taliban leadership professes devotion to a 7th-century interpretation of Islam, many insurgents have far more parochial interests. They want revenge for an old grievance against their neighbors, or to settle a score with relatives.
The local passions enveloped in the broader conflict help to explain why the United States and its allies have struggled for more than eight years to end the insurgency, without success. The tribal and familial infighting is not new, but now it has the veneer of a civilizational clash, with more weapons, money and recruits to keep the enmities fresh.
"There are so many factors that contribute to Talibanization," said Saad Muhammad, a retired Pakistani general who directs a conflict-oriented think tank in this frontier city. "But by and large, it's just a young person getting an idea and signing up."
Khan, the pro-government tribal leader, told the story of his struggle with the Taliban from the relative safety of a house that his family has rented in Peshawar, about 20 miles south of their native tribal area of Mohmand.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/18/AR2010041803711.html?hpid=topnews
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Police: Blast hits next to school in NW Pakistan
By RIAZ KHAN
April 19, 2010
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- An explosion struck Monday near a school run by a police foundation in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, police said. There was no immediate word on casualties.
The nature of the blast was not clear, police official Haroon Khan said. However, several suicide attacks have hit the Taliban-riddled regions near the Afghan border in recent days, including two attacks in the Kohat area that killed around 50 people over the weekend.
The Police Public School was in session when the explosion went off. The school is run by a police welfare foundation, which tries to raise money to help families of police officers.
Also Monday, suspected Taliban militants in the northwest detonated two bombs that destroyed a pair of oil tankers along a vital supply route used by NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
No one was wounded, but the fire also engulfed a flatbed truck and nearby shops in the Takhta Beg area of the Khyber tribal region, local official Iqbal Khan said
Alleged Taliban militants and ordinary criminals frequently attack vehicles along the supply route that runs through the famed Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. The U.S. and NATO say their Afghan operations have felt limited impact, but they are establishing alternate routes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041900821.html
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Afghan police arrest nine in plot for Kabul attacks
19 Apr, 2010
KABUL: Afghan security forces arrested nine members of a terrorist cell and seized nearly a quarter-ton of explosives, foiling a plot to stage suicide bombings and other attacks in Kabul, the country’s intelligence service said Monday.
The arrests mark the second time in recent weeks that the security services claim to have prevented major attacks on the capital, a result they say of better training and use of informants.
Intelligence service spokesman Saeed Ansari said four of the suspects were arrested while traveling in a vehicle in the city's eastern district, while five others were picked up at an Islamic school in Kabul.
He said security forces also confiscated six rifles, two machine guns, two rocket-propelled grenades, 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of explosives, six suicide bomb vests and a vehicle. The dates of the arrests were not disclosed.
The suspects, one of whom was a Pakistani citizen, ranged in age from 16 to 55 and had been given specific responsibilities within the group such as for arranging accommodation or transporting arms, Ansari said. Three militants from the group were identified as would-be suicide bombers, although Ansari said the cell possessed enough explosives and vests to equip up to six suicide attackers.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/21-afghan-police-arrest-nine-in-plot-for-kabul-attacks-sk-03
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Bin Laden, a voracious reader, who loves volleyball: Book
Apr 18, 2010
LONDON: Apart from plotting terror attacks, Osama bin Laden is passionate about volleyball and football, and he's also a voracious reader who often enjoys quoting from the memoirs of two top World War II strategists, a new book has claimed.
According to the book, the world's most wanted man is an extremely useful presence on the volleyball court. "He's so tall that he doesn't need to jump up to do a smash," Britain's 'The Sunday Times' quoted author Nasser al-Bahri, one of the al-Qaida leader's former bodyguards, as saying.
The book, titled 'In the Shadow of Bin Laden', also claims that bin Laden likes playing football, preferably at centre forward, but he never takes off his turban; he's passionate about race horses too.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Bin-Laden-a-voracious-reader-who-loves-volleyball-Book-/articleshow/5828828.cms
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Osama can quote Montgomery, De Gaulle’
19 APRIL 2010
London, April 18: Apart from plotting terror attacks, Osama bin Laden is passionate about volleyball and football, and he’s also a voracious reader who often enjoys quoting from the memoirs of two top World War II strategists, a new book has claimed.
According to the book, the world’s most wanted man is an extremely useful presence on the volleyball court. “He’s so tall that he doesn’t need to jump up to do a smash,” Britain’s the Sunday Times quoted author Nasser al-Bahri, one of the Al Qaeda leader’s former bodyguards, as saying. The book, titled In the Shadow of Bin Laden, also claims that Bin Laden likes playing football, preferably at centre forward, but he never takes off his turban; he’s passionate about racehorses too. Moreover, the Al Qaeda leader is an avid reader who loves quoting from memoirs of Britain’s Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, one of the most inspirational military commanders of the Second World War, and former French President General Charles de Gaulle, the 38-year-old bodyguard says.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9508:osama-can-quote-montgomery-de-gaulle&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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Behind the scenes of a Pakistani suicide bombing
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
Apr 19, 2010
LAHORE, Pakistan: Abdul Baseer sent the grenades and explosive vest ahead, then boarded a bus that would take him to his target, accompanied by the 14-year-old boy he had groomed as his suicide bomber.
But before they could blow up their target, a luxury hotel in Lahore where they believed Americans would be staying, the two were arrested and are now in jail - Baseer unrepentant about having plotted to send a boy to his death, and the boy saying he never knew what was in store for him.
The story that unfolded in an interview with The Associated Press offers a rare insight into the world of a Pakistani militant, from his education at hard-line Islamic schools, through his professed participation in an attack on a US patrol in Afghanistan, up to his arrest by Pakistani police along with the the boy, Mohi-ud-Din.
His tale shares much with that of the thousands of other foot soldiers who make up the Taleban-led insurgency that is ravaging Pakistan, experts say. It also shows how the wars here and in neighboring Afghanistan bleed into each other.
The Associated Press, after several requests, was allowed to interview the two detainees, with police present for most of the meeting at a police interrogation center in Lahore, a political and military power center in eastern Pakistan.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article44811.ece
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Ahmadinejad: Iran’s armed might enough to deter attack
By NASSER KARIMI
Apr 19, 2010
TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extolled Iran's military might during an annual army parade on Sunday, saying the country is so powerful today that no one would dare attack it.
The parade in Tehran showcased Iran's surface-to-surface Ghadr, Sajjil and Shahab-3 missiles, which have a range of up to 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers), putting Israel and US bases in the region within Iran's reach.
The Shahab-3 missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, adding to the concerns of the United Sates and other nations that fear Iran's uranium enrichment program masks ambitions to produce an atomic bomb.
“Today, our armed forces have so much power that no enemy will harbor evil thoughts about laying its hands on Iranian territory,” Ahmadinejad said at the parade marking National Army Day. The speech was broadcast live on state TV, which also showed segments of the parade.
Ahmadinejad urged the US to stop supporting Israel and to dismantle the American military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Tehran sees American troops on its doorstep in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf as a threat, and Ahmadinejad reiterated his allegations that the US presence is the source of the region's instability.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article44720.ece
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Gates says memo on Iran was not sounding nuclear alarm
By Glenn Kessler
April 19, 2010
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged Sunday that in January he sent a memo to the White House outlining the "next steps in our defense planning process" for Iran.
But, in a statement issued by his press secretary, Gates said that a New York Times article that revealed the existence of the memo "mischaracterized its purpose and content" when it suggested Gates has despaired that the administration lacked a strategy for dealing with Iran's nuclear program.
Iran has refused to abide by international demands to halt enriching uranium, saying it is not developing a nuclear weapon. The Obama administration initially tried to engage Iran but has now spent months pressing for a new round of U.N. Security Council sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/18/AR2010041802963.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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Israeli president: Iran threatens whole world
By MARK LAVIE
Apr 19, 2010
JERUSALEM: Iran is a danger to the whole civilized world, not just Israel, President Shimon Peres warned Sunday, setting an especially somber tone for his nation's annual memorial day for soldiers and civilians killed in wars and terror attacks.
Alluding to Iran's nuclear program, Peres said the country threatens to annihilate Israel. “On no account must we underestimate these threats,” he said. “Nor should our enemies underestimate our capabilities.” Israel has been urging the world community to impose stiff sanctions on Iran to force it to abandon its nuclear program, but Israel has not taken the option of a military strike against Iran off the table.
Israel, the US and others believe Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article44725.ece
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Netanyahu: Israel extends one hand in peace, the other in defense
By Jonathan Lis, Liel Kyzer and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz
19 April 2010
"We are a peace seeking nation who prays for peace," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday at the opening of the national Memorial Day ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
The prime minister addressed Israel's efforts to achieve peace with its neighbors, saying that "our one hand is extended in offering peace to our willing neighbors, while the other wields a sword to protect ourselves against from those who seek to destroy us."
"On this day," Netanyahu continued, "the entire nation is embracing the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, the sons, daughters and wives of the great big bereaved family," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
"Our loss is greater than we can bear," he added. "Our only comfort is to continue our loved ones' path and to keep their memory alive."
Netanyahu, who lost his own brother Yoni in a military operation in Uganda in 1976, addressed the bereaved families in attendance saying "my brothers and sisters, members of bereaved families, every family has its own way of dealing with the loss. I remember once when I saw my mother sitting in an armchair in the living room of my parents' house staring off into the distance when suddenly a smile passed over her face. I asked her 'what are you thinking about?' and she said 'I'm thinking about Yoni. I have only good memories.'"
Israelis across the country stood in silence for two minutes on Monday morning to remember the 22,684 soldiers and civilians who were killed in Israel's wars and terror attacks since the beginning of modern Zionism up until today.
Following the two minute siren at 11 A.M., Memorial Day ceremonies began in military cemeteries across the nation. Some 1.5 million visitors were expected to attend the various ceremonies Monday.
Full report at:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1164114.html
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Student activist flees Iran to escape jail sentence
19 April 2010
Student activist Ali Kanturi has jumped bail and fled Iran after a two-year struggle against his country's legal system.
Ali Kanturi says he was tortured and beaten into making a confession
Last month he learned that he had been sentenced to 15 years in jail after being found guilty of abduction and extortion. His lawyer describes the charges as "astonishing" and Kanturi says he is innocent.
He had already been given a 32-month jail term for the lesser charge of acting against national security. The BBC's Persian language service caught up with Kanturi the day after he reached the city of Van, in eastern Turkey.
When my lawyer told me I'd been sentenced to 15 years in jail, my head began to swim. Then my family rang saying the order to carry out the other court decision [the 32-month term] had also arrived.
So, it suddenly became clear they were going to imprison me for both sentences. I realised I should leave. With the charges they'd brought against me, I had no other option.
I fled across the border to Turkey.
I can't tell you all the details of my escape, but what I can say is that a man whose number I'd been given met me in Urmia, an Iranian city near the Turkish border.
He took charge of me and four others whose language I didn't understand. Apparently they were Bangladeshis.
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8570533.stm
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Ousted Kyrgyzstan leader Bakiyev 'leaves Kazakhstan'
The interim government has said Mr Bakiyev must stand trial
The ousted leader of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has left Kazakhstan, officials there say.
Mr Bakiyev had fled to the neighbouring country after being overthrown in a violent uprising earlier this month.
Kazakh Foreign Ministry officials in the capital, Astana, gave no indication of where Mr Bakiyev had gone.
An interim government is now in charge in Kyrgyzstan, after more than 80 people were killed in the anti-government protests.
"As far as I know Kurmanbek Bakiyev has left the territory of Kazakhstan," ministry spokesman Askar Abdarakhmanov told a news conference in Astana.
"It is not known in which direction he is flying."
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8629640.stm
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American Colonialist Agenda: Taliban
19 April 2010
The current war in Afghanistan is in all its shapes and manifestations a liberation struggle by indigenous people against foreign invaders and their internal surrogates. The Afghans have proved their mettle as a free and independent people throughout their history by never bowing to foreign aggressions. Though America paints this war as a fight against terrorism but in fact it is a colonialist slogan by Washington, aimed at extending its own tentacle over Asia and, by extension, all over the world. In 1992, when the former Afghan president Najibulla’s regime fell, the Americans embarked on a colonialist policy, indirectly encouraging domestic war in Afghanistan. On the one hand, they stopped the annual assistance the Afghans in the shape of humanitarian relief and weapons to the tune of $600 million which they used to give to the Afghan Mujahideen and refugees but on the other hand they insisted on inclusion of the remains of the former communists of Halq and Parcham in the new dispensation . They called it a broad-based set-up. Washington also did not insist on dissolution of some notorious militia groups of the Najibulla regime like Dostum militia, General Momin, Babajan and Naderi militias. These militias had key role in turning Afghanistan into bloodbath and perpetrating atrocities, killing and looting innocent people and committing crimes that were unprecedented in the Afghan history. They should have helped to bring these criminal to justice but instead of supporting a clean, independent , efficient government in Kabul, Washington indirectly ignited the flames of war. Pentagon strategist wanted to discredit the Mujahideen, weaken their manpower as a result of a war of attrition and get rid of the weapons that had amassed from the previous years. They began to call Mujahideen as warlords while previously they preferred to call them as freedom fighters. They provoked some unscrupulous elements inside the former Mujahideen groups to commit some heinous crimes against their own people because Washington believed it would end people’s enchantment with an Islamic government in Afghanistan. In 1994, the Taliban Islamic Movement emerged to foil the American conspiracy and establish an Islamic government in the country. But Washington tended from day one to oppose the young Islamic government, until in October 2001 when America attacked Afghanistan under the spurious pretext of fighting terrorism.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/19-Apr-2010/American-Colonialist-Agenda-Taliban
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Sudan elections short of standards: Vote monitors
Apr 18, 2010
KHARTOUM: International monitors said Saturday that Sudan's first multiparty elections in more than two decades failed to meet international standards, an assessment that diminishes hopes the voting would set the nation on the road to peace and democracy.
The conclusions also boosted fears that a flawed vote could fuel violence in the conflict-strewn country, where some opposition parties challenging the fairness of the process boycotted all or some of the local and national races.
However, the observers did not call for a revote, and instead recommended that lessons drawn from the process be applied to next year's crucial referendum on southern independence.
Another setback for the vote came Saturday from a prominent opposition party, which said it would not recognize the election results, citing allegations of vote rigging by President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party.
The five days of voting, which ended Thursday, were the first multiparty presidential, parliamentary and local elections in 24 years in Sudan. They were a key requirement of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the country's predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south. The conflict left some 2 million people dead.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Sudan-elections-short-of-standards-Vote-monitors/articleshow/5826829.cms
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Taliban looking for Kandahar comeback
April 19, 2010
Taliban are moving fighters into Kandahar, planting bombs and plotting attacks as Nato and Afghan forces prepare for a summer showdown with insurgents, according to a Taliban commander with close ties to senior insurgent leaders.
Nato and Afghan forces are stepping up operations to push Taliban fighters out of the city, which was the Islamist movement’s headquarters during the years it ruled most of Afghanistan. The goal is to bolster the capability of the local government so that it can keep the Taliban from coming back.
The Taliban commander, who uses the pseudonym Mubeen, told AP that if military pressure on the insurgents becomes too great “we will just leave and come back after” the foreign forces leave.
Despite night raids by NATO and Afghan troops, Mubeen said his movements have not been restricted. He was interviewed last week in the centre of Kandahar, seated with his legs crossed on a cushion in a room. His only concession to security was to lock the door.
He made no attempt to hide his face and said he felt comfortable because of support among Kandahar’s 500,000 residents, who like the Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s biggest ethnic community.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Taliban-looking-for-Kandahar-comeback/H1-Article1-533055.aspx
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Condition of Kohat blasts’ victims miserable
April 19, 2010
PESHAWAR: Recollecting the twin suicide bombings at a registration centre for IDPs in Kohat that left 41 persons dead, desperate attendants of the injured persons at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) said life and death had lost its meaning in the tribal region.
A visit to the LRH on Sunday revealed that a number of the wounded including a boy were struggling for life in various wards. The 13-year-old boy, Minhad, having sustained critical injuries in one of the blasts, was in such a critical state that he was shifted to the general intensive care unit. Minhad went to the registration point established in the Kacha Pakha Union Council on the outskirts of Kohat for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) along with his mother.
He was near the spot when the first bomber detonated suicide vest near the queues of the IDPs waiting for registration, his cousin Ashfaq Ali said. He added that the mother of Minhad remained unhurt but he received fatal injuries.
He said most of the blast victims belonged to the Manikhel tribe displaced from lower part of Orakzai Agency and now settled in Hangu district. Expressing grief over the incident, he said: “The blood of innocent tribesmen has become the cheapest thing in the tribal areas as we do not know the reason and our fault for which we are killed.”
When asked about the condition of Minhad, Dr Mustafa in the ward said he was still in a critical state. In the Neurosurgery Trauma ward, there were two other victims identified as Ashfaq, a schoolteacher, and Kamran Ali, a wage earner.
Full report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234963
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3 Italians released in Afghanistan
19 Apr, 2010
KABUL: Three Italian charity workers who were arrested in Afghanistan and accused of plotting to kill a governor have been freed, the UN’s representative in the country said on Sunday.
“It is over,” UN representative Stefan Dimastura told reporters, explaining that the three were at the Italian embassy and doing well following their release.
Matteo Dell’Aria, Marco Garatti and Matteo Pagani are members of the Milan-based non-governmental organisation Emergency.
They were arrested earlier this month in the southern city of Lashkar Gah and were accused by the governor of Helmand province, Gulab Mangal, of being part of a Pakistani Taliban-funded plot to kill him.
He also accused the Italians of being behind the death of Ajmal Naqshbandi, an Afghan interpreter who was seized by the Taliban with an Italian journalist in April 2007.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/3-italians-released-in-afghanistan-940
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\19\story_19-4-2010_pg7_17
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Dirty dictators, with regrets
Tariq Mahmood Butto
9 April 2010
All gloomy I went to the web to get a list of all the dirty dictators of the world. To my surprise, the word dirty has been used so extensively that I felt better. In Punjabi culture (American as well), a bigger abuse depicts a greater personality, affiliation and relationship
The word dirty implies unclean, grimy, filthy, soiled, foul, sullied, polluted and grubby. Were General Zia and General Musharraf all that? Gosh, we had almost 19 years and nine months of all that. Irk...that is really depressing.
I looked towards the collage on my wall and found that many of my army career pictures, which I once cherished to see and share with pride, were suddenly filthy. I started hallucinating manure pouring out of my once dearly held memories. A group photo with General Zia on my passing out parade. Really good photos with General Musharraf on exercises and a commendation on my book of poetry. Damn, I even got my promotion at his hands not to mention the encrypted Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
Correct me if I am wrong. Does filth produce filth? Well, if that is true, at least two major shareholders of today’s parliament are products of Zia and Musharraf respectively. Can they deny it? It is all part of history, but wait, there is a lot of talk nowadays on rewriting and abolishing certain portions of South Asian history. The other day I read an article titled ‘Revisiting Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman’ by someone named Javed Qazi. The author argued for rewriting South Asian history.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\19\story_19-4-2010_pg3_6
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King Abdullah to Bahrainis: We are one nation
Apr 19, 2010
MANAMA: Bahrain honored Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah by giving him the historic Ajrab sword of Imam Turki bin Abdullah, which the country has been keeping for 140 years, and conferred on him the Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa Medal during a colorful ceremony at Al-Sakhir Palace here Sunday.
King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, who presided over the function, welcomed King Abdullah and his delegation to Bahrain and thanked him for the landmark visit. “On this occasion, I have the pleasure to give you the sword of your grandfather Imam Turki bin Abdullah, on behalf of the entire Al-Khalifa family,” he said.
In his short crisp speech, King Abdullah emphasized the historic relations between the two GCC neighbors. “Our visit today is not to add anything new, but to tell others that we are one nation and one people in good times as well as in bad times,” said King Abdullah drawing applause from the gathering.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article44772.ece
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Dammam: ‘Bachelors are time bombs’
Apr 18, 2010
DAMMAM: The problem of singles living in family neighbourhoods is an issue that bothers many families in Dammam.
For many families, bachelor men living in their areas are simply time bombs waiting to explode. These families allege such men are social, environmental, moral and security threats.
According to municipality law, singles are required to live in buildings on main streets and away from residential neighborhoods. However, many real estate offices are cheating the system by renting out residential units to bachelors in the middle of neighborhoods.
There are three types of bachelor workers in the Kingdom. The first are professionals who work in high paid jobs as doctors and engineers. They rarely pose problems and have a clean reputation. This group is disciplined, and prefers living in family buildings to avoid living among singles.
The second group consists of singles in middle-income jobs. These types of people usually live in old apartment buildings, which are generally tatty and lack security.
The last group is the undesired group of singles in low-paid jobs. Most of these people are expatriates and live in crowded apartments, which are filthy and lack basic services. These types of workers generally tend to share their accommodation with other single men.
University students tend to rent furnished apartments for singles. They find this better than renting a new home and buying furniture. Other students however, cannot afford furnished apartments and are forced to live in rough areas.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article44679.ece
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The Vatican, the Beatles and peace
A letter to the editor of Arab News
19 April 2010
This is regarding the report, “The Vatican makes peace with the Beatles” (April 13) — a welcome bit of news in our conflict-driven world.
That you published this news shows that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an isolated locale as far as global cultural facets are concerned — something too many people wrongly believe.
The rift between the Vatican and the Beatles is thankfully now really healed, outliving the youthful indiscretions of the Beatles years ago! The extraordinary legacy of the contribution to global culture made by the Beatles in their music is what counts! Today, Sir Paul McCartney of the “Fab Four” Beatles is contributing toward transcending diversities among cultures. Sir Paul’s courageously supporting Palestinian self-determination — right on the ground in Palestine and Israel in the recent past — is a very good example.
Sir Paul’s efforts to facilitate peaceful dialogue between Palestinians in the Middle East and Israelis are matched by his efforts in Kiev, Ukraine to transcend diversities between Ukrainians and Russians in the Slavic world. His efforts are obviously in harmony with the sage efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to initiate and foster a climate of nonviolence, dialogue, and compromise throughout our troubled planet. These efforts out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia certainly merit a Nobel Peace Prize for the king, something with which I am sure Sir Paul McCartney would concur because of the core spiritual and temporal values he so evidently shares with the Saudi ruler.
http://arabnews.com/opinion/letters/article44625.ece
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Bomb in Pakistani city of Peshawar; 23 dead: police
9:38 PM
Sultan Shahin
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