Lawyer files contempt
plea on 26/11 judge
JEDDAH: Another child marriage
victim
Gurdwara land sold to Pak's Defence Housing
Authority
Quash charges against policemen
in Shopian case: CBI tells HC
10-year-old raped,
strangled
Delhi's Lajpat Nagar blast: Three get death
sentence
Activists Claim Free Speech Victory As ‘Leaving
Islam’ Ads Return to Buses
Case against Sania, Shoaib for ‘hurting’
Muslims
South Park creators warned over Muhammad
depiction
‘Jewel of Muscat’
reaches Lankan port of Galle
Not responsible for Benazir Bhutto's
assassination, says Musharraf
Quebec Burqa Ban? Province Moves to Prohibit the
'Total Veil'
Burqa bans infringe women's rights, say
Indonesian clerics
India, Most Favoured Nation: Pak
panel
India resigned to ‘holding pattern' with
Pakistan
Taliban militants threaten to kill ‘kidnapped’
ISI men, scribe
Pakistani media spitting blood on book:
Fatima
Overcome cynicism
in Pakistan, says Khaleej Times
Israel releases Hamas minister; 7,500
Palestinians remain
Rockets strike Jordan near Israel
border
Coolness to Israel won't warm up peace
prospects
First the sorrow, now the
fear
‘Loha
Khoar - Loha Toar’ opens today
Obama to host Muslim business
leaders
Tunisia's antics should give the West
pause
Obama Appeases U.S.
Muslims
US, India holding discussions on access to
Headley
Pak inaction over captive militants to hit war on
terror efforts: US
Ankara in transition seeks closure on troubled
past
Somalia clashes kills 11, five headless bodies
found
Iraqi testifies he was beaten by U.S.
troops
The world must not forget
Darfur
What's Happening With
Israel?
Art lovers treated
to Raza's masterpieces
Poland's snap presidential election on June
20
Chaos in Kabul continues Faryal Leghari
No peace without US withdrawal:
Taliban
Iran lobbies to keep off UN
security
B'desh court asks police to submit BDR mutiny
report by May 19
Nigerian governors
approve more than 300 executions
UN Bhutto probe team interviewed
Musharraf’
Obama's Syria outreach under fire amid Scud
reports
Body of soldier killed in 1982 found in
Lebanon
A brewing conflict in Middle
East
Compiled by
Asit
Kumar
Photo: Scene of blast in Islamabad University
last year
-------
Now, Islamic terror
strikes Pakistan’s top university
Sabrina
Tavernise
Apr 22,
2010
LAHORE: The professor was working in his office
here on the campus of Pakistan’s largest university this month when members of
an Islamic student group battered open the door, beat him with metal rods and
bashed him over the head with a giant flower pot.
Iftikhar Baloch, an environmental science
professor, had expelled members of the group for violent behavior. The
retribution left him nearly unconscious, and it united his fellow professors,
who protested with a nearly three-week strike that ended on Monday.
The attack and the anger it provoked have drawn
attention to the student group, Islami Jamiat Talaba, whose morals police have
for years terrorized this graceful, century-old institution by brandishing a
chauvinistic form of Islam, teachers here say.
But the group has help from a surprising source —
national political leaders who have given it free rein, because they sometimes
make political alliances with its parent organization, Jamaat-e-Islami,
Pakistan’s oldest and most powerful religious party, they say.
The university’s plight encapsulates Pakistan’s
predicament: an intolerant, aggressive minority terrorizes a more open-minded,
peaceful majority, while an opportunistic political class dithers, benefiting
from alliances with the aggressors.
This is the University of the Punjab, Pakistan’s
premier institution of higher learning, with about 30,000 students, and a
principal avenue of advancement for the swelling ranks of Pakistan’s lower and
middle classes.
The battle here concerns the future direction of
the country, and whether those pushing an intolerant vision of Islam will
prevail against this nation’s outward-looking, educated class.
That is why the problem of Islami Jamiat Talaba
is so urgent, teachers say. The rhetoric of the group is strongly anti-West,
chauvinistic and intolerant of Pakistan’s religious minorities. It was a vocal
Taliban supporter, until doing so became unpopular last year. Its members block
music classes, ban soft drinks and beat male students for sitting near girls on
the university lawn.
“It’s fascist,” said Shaista Sirajuddin, an
English literature professor, of the Islamic student movement. “Every single
government has averted its eyes.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Now-Islamic-terror-strikes-Pakistans-top-university/articleshow/5841852.cms
--------
Kazmi files
contempt plea on 26/11 judge
22 APRIL
2010
Mumbai , April 21: Abbas Kazmi, the lawyer who
defended Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Aamir Kasab for several months, has filed a
contempt petition in the Bombay high court against special judge M.L.
Tahiliyani, who is hearing the 26/11 trial.
In his petition, Mr Kazmi has stated that the HC
should take suo-moto action against judge Tahiliyani.
Mr Kazmi had been appointed by Mr Tahiliyani in
April 2009 after the first defence advocate, Ms Anjali Waghmare, was removed on
grounds of conflict of interest. Mr Kazmi conducted a major part of the trial by
examining 271 witnesses. However, matters took a different turn in November 2009
when Mr Tahiliyani fired Mr Kazmi after he refused to accept evidence given by
the witnesses through affidavits.
Mr Kazmi has said in his petition that he was
“hurt” by what transpired in court. “The petitioner as an officer of court was
humiliated, disgraced and ordered to leave the court immediately,” Mr Kazmi’s
plea before the high court states.
Mr Kazmi has argued that there has been “no other
case” where a trial judge removed a defence advocate for opposing a prosecution
plea.
He has also claimed that he was humiliated by the
prosecutor who called him a “terrorist’s
lawyer.”
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9757:kazmi-files-contempt-plea-on-2611-judge&catid=35:india&Itemid=60
--------
Another child
marriage victim
By WALAA
HAWARI
Apr 22,
2010
JEDDAH: Shareefa is in hospital suffering from
depression as well as a renal infection, said her mother in reply to Arab News’
query about her health.
The 21-year-old girl is the latest, and
definitely not the last, example of the suffering resulting from child marriages
in the Kingdom.
Her father married her off to an 80-year-old man
when she was only 10 in return for money, depriving her of the right to a normal
childhood, education and a more suitable
marriage.
Shareefa then discovered by chance she had
actually been divorced ten years ago after six months of marriage, despite not
being notified at the time.
After suffering at her husband’s hands and living
with his two other wives, children and grandchildren, who were about her age, at
his house in the Jazan region for six months, the old man took her back to her
family’s area in Dammam and left her in the street so she could go
home.
“Many long agonizing years passed, and there was
no news from him. Whenever I talked to my father about my situation, he would
just ignore me,” says Shareefa, swallowing her
tears.
She added that she accepted her situation as she
was too young to comprehend her rights.
Her mother had tried all possible ways to stop
Shareefa’s marriage, but neither the father nor the husband, who she begged to
wait until she was a few years older, listened to
her.
The mother also went to court to file a suit
against the father for failing to register or complete any identification papers
for her six other children, which resulted in them not being enrolled at
school.
The father then divorced her five years ago and
took all the children away where she could not reach them, including Shareefa
who was already suffering.
Yet Shareefa’s life was about to get more painful
after her father’s death two years ago.
“I was able to be finally reunited with my
children and we started on a journey to reclaim Shareefa and my other children’s
rights,” says the mother.
They then went to a court in the Eastern Province
to seek Khola (an enforced divorce based on a woman’s demand), as they had
finally received identification papers for Shareefa based on her father’s death
certificate, only to receive more shocking
news.
They discovered that Shareefa had been divorced
ten years ago, but was not informed and, therefore, did not receive any divorce
documents.
“Shareefa is now 21, she has lost more than 10
years of her life, her chance for an education, a decent marriage and normal
life. Who is going to take responsibility for what she has gone through?” asks
the heartbroken mother, adding that they are determined to push for compensation
from those responsible for her daughter’s
suffering.
The mother also claims that the father was taking
advantage of Shareefa’s situation by promising her hand in marriage to other men
and asking them to bribe her husband into divorcing
her.
“Her father would then take the money and flee to
another city,” says the mother.
Shareefa is now swallowing her pain and dreaming
of a better life that has been ripped from her hands, despite facing a dark
future devoid of any hope.
“I am struggling to maintain a home with six
children on only SR800 a month” says Shareefa’s mother, pointing out that the
Social Affairs Department is only providing benefits for her as her children do
not have legal documentation.
The family’s lawyer Faisal Al-Otaibi is pursuing
legal action against Shareefa’s husband who abandoned and divorced her without
informing her 10 years ago, as well as against the court that also did not
notify her.
Al-Otaibi described the family’s circumstances as
desperate, from their ramshackle house to the legal battle they now face over
their right to education and healthcare.
“Her legal guardian was always absent, even when
he was alive. The guardian should be a responsible person, and her father
wasn’t,” says Al-Otaibi.
“We are still waiting for our living conditions
to get better, although Shareefa’s lost years will never come back,” says the
mother.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article45891.ece
--------
Gurdwara land sold to Pak's Defence Housing
Authority
Apr 22,
2010
Islamabad : A secret probe conducted by Pakistani
authorities after the Indian government protested against the sale of a Sikh
gurdwara's land to the Defence Housing Authority in Lahore has confirmed that
the deal was "less than clean", according to a media report
today.
The 575 kanals of land was sold by the Evacuee
Trust Property Board, the body that administers the shrines and properties of
Pakistan's minority communities.
The sale had triggered protests in the Indian
parliament last year.
The probe by the federal ministry for minority
affairs revealed that the land belonged to gurdwaras and could not be sold under
The Sikh Gurdawara Act of 1925.
The inquiry also revealed that the land was sold
at rates lower than those prevailing in the
market.
The findings of the inquiry are being kept secret
as the "confirmation of massive irregularities in the questionable deal... might
land certain top guns of the ETPB in big trouble", The News daily
reported.
The probe was launched after the Indian
government sent a letter dated December 29, 2009 in which it asked its Pakistani
counterpart to investigate the sale of land attached to gurdwaras and other Sikh
shrines.
The newspaper's report contended that the inquiry
resulted in ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi's "dramatic" decision to announce his
resignation during an official function in Lahore on
Monday.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gurdwara-land-sold-to-paks-defence-housing-authority/609422/
--------
Quash charges against policemen in Shopian case:
CBI tells HC
Apr 22,
2010
SRINAGAR: CBI has again approached the Jammu and
Kashmir High Court seeking to dismiss criminal charges against four policemen,
including then Shopian Superintendent of Police Javed Mattoo, arrested for
alleged destruction of evidence in connection with death of two
women.
Submitting a fresh affidavit in the High Court
recently, the CBI gave details about the lie-detector test conducted on the four
police officials and said "no deception was found on their part in reply to any
of the questions put to them."
Besides Mattoo, the three others who continue to
be suspended since July last year are Deputy Superintendent of Police Rohit
Basgotra, Station House Officer Shafiq Ahmed and Head Constable Gazi Abdul
Kareem.
"Further, no criminality could be attributed to
anyone of them and as such they have been sought to be discharged from this
case," the CBI affidavit said.
CBI had approached the High Court in March this
year seeking an end to the monitoring of the case by the High Court as the
agency had already filed a chargesheet against 13 people including doctors and
lawyers.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Quash-charges-against-policemen-in-Shopian-case-CBI-tells-HC/articleshow/5844476.cms
--------
10-year-old raped,
strangled
By Faraz
Khan
April 22,
2010
KARACHI: The beauty of a 10-year-old girl turned
against her when some degenerates raped her before strangling her on Wednesday
noon in Taimuria police precincts. This unpleasant incident occurred in the
slums of KBR Society in North Nazimabad
Town.
Majority of the population in the area belongs to
the lower class and such incidents have previously occurred in the locality, but
they often go unreported. However, the case of ‘X’ was brought to the notice of
the authorities almost five hours later, according to which the child was raped
when she was alone at home.
Initially, X’s murder was shrouded in mystery as
the suspects tried to mislead the police. However, police detained Shehnaz -
owner of the house where the victim lived with her parents and three younger
siblings - and her daughter Sonia, 13, who was later discovered to be six-month
pregnant.
North Nazimabad Town Superintendent of Police
(SP) Asad Raza told Daily Times, “Sonia’s pregnancy raised a number of
questions. Therefore, we thought better to first detain her and her mother.
Sonia has confessed that her cousin had impregnated
her.”
The officer said a police team had been carrying
out raids to arrest Sonia’s cousin and her other relatives because they might be
involved in X’s rape and murder.
Quoting Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Medico-Legal
Officer (MLO) Dr Yasmin Qamar, the officer said X was subjected to rape more
than once.
The officer also said the victim’s father Yasin
was in his hometown in Punjab due to wheat-threshing
season.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\22\story_22-4-2010_pg12_1
-------
Delhi's Lajpat Nagar blast: Three get death
sentence
Apr 22,
2010
NEW DELHI: Fourteen years after a blast rocked
Lajpat Nagar market killing 13 people and injuring 39, a session court on
Thursday awarded the death sentence to three convicts. The fourth person
convicted in connection with the blast was given the life sentence.
Mohd Naushad, Mirza Khan and Ali Bhat were
sentenced to death by the court today.
Earlier this month, the court had convicted six
accused in the case, all belonging allegedly to a Kashmiri militant group.
The court also acquitted 4 others involved in the
case due to lack of evidence against them. Out of six convicted persons, four
have been held guilty for murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy. The
two others have been convicted for lesser offences like possession of
explosives.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhis-Lajpat-Nagar-blast-Three-get-death-sentence/articleshow/5843924.cms
---------
Activists Claim Free Speech Victory As ‘Leaving
Islam’ Ads Return to Buses
By
Patrick
April 22,
2010
A public
transit authority in Florida has reversed a decision to take down banner
advertisements on buses that offer help to Muslims wanting to leave their faith.
Activists are hailing the move as a victory for free speech and religious
freedom.
Not only will the ten originally planned ads
appear on Miami-Dade Transit buses in coming days, but an additional 20 ads will
be run at no extra cost.
The
decision came after the group initiating the ad campaign threatened a lawsuit,
claiming breach of contract and violation of First Amendment
rights.
It was
confirmed in an agreement signed on Wednesday, according to lawyer David
Yerushalmi, whose firm prepared a federal complaint together with the Thomas
More Law Center.
The bus
company pulled the ads last week less than 48 hours after they had gone up,
after a controversial Islamic pressure group complained that they promoted
“anti-Islam bigotry.”
Produced
by an organization called Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), the ads
alluded to the difficulties faced by Muslims wanting to leave
Islam.
Under
Islamic law, or shari’a, any Muslim who abandons his faith is guilty of
apostasy, an offense that leading scholars have taught is punishable by
death.
Full report at:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64527
--------
Case against Sania, Shoaib for ‘hurting’
Muslims
Apr 22,
2010
HYDERABAD: In fresh trouble for newly-wedded
couple, Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza, who are planning to leave for Pakistan to
host a wedding reception in Sialkot on April 26, a local court on Wednesday
directed the police to register a case against the duo and 12 others for
allegedly hurting Muslim sentiments.
Based on a Hyderabad-based Muslim organization’s
complaint, the court referred the matter to the police and asked it to submit a
report by May 26.
The complainant and Mazlumeen-e-Ummatay
Mohammediya founder Moullim Mohsin Bin Hussain Al-Kasary approached the court
and named Shoaib, his divorced wife, Ayesha Siddiqui, Sania, her father Imran
Mirza, former Indian cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin and two qazis among others
for allegedly playing with Muslim sentiments. The families of Sania, Ayesha and
the qazis responsible for the Sania-Shoaib marriage were all made respondents in
this case.
"Initially, Shoaib said he never married Ayesha,
but later divorced her. There is no official divorce, but the 14 accused
declared that divorce proceedings are over and got the public, particularly
Muslims, confused and insulted their religious feelings," Al-Kasary alleged.
"Two government-appointed qazis misused their
official position and got the divorce registered and also played with the
beliefs of Muslims even as the documents carried two different names of Shoaib’s
father."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Case-against-Sania-Shoaib-for-hurting-Muslims/articleshow/5841927.cms
--------
South Park creators warned over Muhammad
depiction
April 22,
2010
Islamists have warned the creators of TV show
South Park they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet
Muhammad in a bear suit.
A posting on the website of the US-based group,
Revolution Muslim, told Matt Stone and Trey Parker they would "probably wind up
like Theo Van Gogh".
The Dutch film-maker was shot and stabbed to
death in 2004 by an Islamist angered by his film about Muslim
women.
A subsequent episode of the cartoon bleeped out
references to Muhammad.
Drug-snorting
Buddha
The posting gave details about a home Stone and
Parker reportedly co-own.
It also listed the addresses of their production
office in California and the New York office of South Park's broadcaster, Comedy
Central.
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are
doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing
this show," warned the posting, written in the name of Abu Talhah
Al-Amrikee.
"This is not a threat, but a warning of the
reality of what will likely happen to them," it
added.
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8636455.stm
--------
‘Jewel of Muscat’ reaches Lankan port of
Galle
22 April
2010
MUSCAT — The ‘Jewel of Muscat’, a
traditionally-made Omani ship that is making a historic voyage from here to
Singapore using ancient maritime techniques, has arrived in the Sri Lankan port
of Galle where the crew was given a festive welcome. It reached Lanka after a
ten-day journey from Kochi in India, its first stop after setting sail from
Muscat.
The 60-foot-long vessel is expected to arrive in
Singapore, one of Oman’s oldest trading partners, in June after a third halt in
Malaysia. In Singapore, it will be officially handed over as a gift from the
sultanate, and displayed there to promote awareness of the old trading routes
between the two countries.
The welcoming party in Galle consisted of Ahmed bin Yousuf al Harthy, Under-secretary
for Diplomatic Affairs at Oman’s Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister of Galle
District, the Mayor of Galle, Sheikh Humaid bin Ali Al Ma’ani, Sultanate’s
Ambassador to India and non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka, senior officials
and local dignitaries.
Hundreds of local Sri Lankan school children
waving Omani flags joined a dance troupe and the Sri Lankan Naval band to
celebrate the historic visit of the Jewel of Muscat to
Galle.
“The arrival of the Jewel of Muscat celebrates
the cultural ties that have existed for hundreds of thousands of years of
antiquity and the melting pot of culture that we have all thrived in,” Ma’ani
said, adding:
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/April/middleeast_April301.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
--------
Not responsible for Benazir Bhutto's
assassination, says Musharraf
Apr 22,
2010
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan president Pervez
Musharraf has said he could not be held responsible for Benazir Bhutto's
assassination as he was neither the head of the government nor the army chief at
the time of the Dec 27, 2007 incident.
Musharraf was of the view that those who headed
the government at the time should be questioned about the security lapses that
led to the former prime minister's killing, The News said on Wednesday in a
despatch from Washington, quoting a close aide of the former president.
Shaukat Aziz was the prime minister at the time
but Musharraf was all-powerful, enjoying sweeping powers that have only now been
taken away from the presidency and transferred back to the prime minister's
office.
A UN commission has blamed Pakistani authorities
for their failure to protect Bhutto, saying security arrangements were "fatally
insufficient and ineffective" and subsequent investigations into her death
involved a whitewash.
In its devastating report, the three-member panel
headed by Chilean Ambassador to UN Heraldo Muñoz, reached no conclusion as to
the organisers and sponsors behind the attack as Bhutto left a political rally
in the adjacent garrison town of Rawalpindi.
But the 65-page report released on April 15 notes
that Musharraf's government was quick to blame local Taliban commander Baitullah
Mehsud and al-Qaida although Bhutto's foes potentially included elements from
the establishment itself.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Not-responsible-for-Benazir-Bhuttos-assassination-says-Musharraf/articleshow/5841589.cms
--------
Quebec Burqa Ban? Province Moves to Prohibit the
'Total Veil'
April 22,
2010
Early last month, an Egyptian immigrant was
banned from her French classes in Quebec. At issue was neither grades nor bad
behavior but dress. Naema Ahmed, 29, refused to remove her niqab, the full veil
that covers all but the eyes. The school, which helps integrate immigrants into
French-speaking Quebec through language immersion, said that having Ahmed's
mouth covered impeded her teacher's ability to correct pronunciation. Further,
they couldn't guarantee that Ahmed's teacher would be a woman, which she
requested. Ahmed was asked to either remove her veil or not return to class. She
opted for the latter.
Already well acquainted with the mores of the
West, Ahmed filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. The move
backfired. "There is no ambiguity about this question," Quebec's immigration
minister, Yolande James, told the press. "If you want to integrate into Quebec
society, here are our values. We want to see your face." Further, Quebec Premier
Jean Charest took a cue from Belgium, France and the Netherlands, pushing
forward a bill that bans women wearing a burqa, niqab or any sort of full-face
veil from receiving or applying for government services, including non-emergency
medicine and day care. In other words: The ban applies pretty much everywhere
but the street itself.
"This is a symbol of affirmation and respect --
first of all, for ourselves, and also for those to whom we open our arms,"
Charest told reporters. "This is not about making our home less welcoming, but
about stressing the values that unite us. . . . An accommodation cannot be
granted unless it respects the principle of equality between men and women, and
the religious neutrality of the state."
Full report at:
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/22/quebec-burqa-ban-province-moves-to-prohibit-the-total-veil/
-------
Burqa bans infringe women's rights, say
Indonesian clerics
April 22,
2010
France
and Belgium will be guilty of abusing women's rights if they follow through on
plans to ban the wearing of burqas in public, Indonesia's top Islamic body said
Thursday.
The Ulema Council in the country with the world's
biggest Muslim population, amounting to around 200 million people, said
religious beliefs should be respected even if there were security concerns about
the face-covering garment.
"We're clearly against the proposed ban. If it
becomes law, it will mean Belgium and France are restricting the rights of
Muslim women to fulfil their religious obligations," council chairman Amidhan
told AFP.
"If it's for security reasons, the fears are
excessive. It's unfair to consider all veiled women a
threat."
Although Indonesian female Muslims do not
generally wear naqibs or burqas, Muslims in other parts of the world had
different interpretations of Islamic scripture and their beliefs should be
respected, he said.
"Interpretation of the Koran is different in
different countries. Indonesian Muslim women don't have to cover their faces
with veils, unlike Muslim women in some countries in the Middle East. But we
have to respect their beliefs," said Amidhan, who like many Indonesians has only
one name.
Full report at:
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/38077
---------
India, Most Favoured Nation : Pak
panel
Apr 22,
2010
Pakistan government should consider granting
India the 'Most Favoured Nation' status to exploit the huge trade potential as
free trade relations with it will enable the country to achieve higher and more
equitable GDP growth, an official panel has
recommended.
The recommendation was made by the Panel of
Economists, constituted by the Planning Commission, in its final
report.
The report said as a first step, trade relations
between the two countries should be normalised by trading on the Most Favoured
Nation (MFN) status.
As a second step, policymakers should address
problems related to information exchange, trade facilitation, banking,
non-tariff barriers, visas and
communication.
The third step is to enable environment for
investment has to be created so that India and Pakistan can enter into joint
ventures, the Business Recorder daily reported on
Tuesday.
The panel asked the government to allow the
import from India of raw materials not available
locally.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/250695/India-Most-Favoured-Nation--Pak-panel.html
--------
India resigned to ‘holding pattern' with
Pakistan
Siddharth
Varadarajan
April 22,
2010
New Delhi: With the Thimphu SAARC summit only a
week away and India and Pakistan still unable to agree on talks about talks,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with his Pakistani counterpart on the
sidelines will have the limited but important aim of preventing further
deterioration in an already fraught relationship, Indian officials
say.
“What we are really looking at is a holding
pattern,” a senior official told The Hindu, using the aviation industry phrase
to refer to an aircraft circling around an airport at a fixed altitude awaiting
clearance to land. “It is clear that they are not ready to move forward. Nor,
quite frankly, are we, until we see some movement on the issues we have
raised.”
Pakistan wants nothing short of the resumption of
the composite dialogue. It has refused to invite Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao
to make a return visit to Islamabad nearly two months after its Foreign
Secretary, Salman Bashir, came to Delhi, unless India accepts this condition. On
its part, India says resumption will not be possible till more is done on the
terrorism front but is willing to discuss “humanitarian and other issues.” Under
the circumstances, said the official, the best Dr. Singh can hope for from his
Bhutan meeting with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is to keep alive the idea
of engagement, even if Islamabad is not in a position to deliver on terrorism or
discuss the possibility of incremental steps
forward.
Full report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/22/stories/2010042263271200.htm
--------
Taliban militants threaten to kill ‘kidnapped’
ISI men, scribe
Apr 22,
2010
A little-known pro-Taliban militant group that is
holding two former ISI officers and a British journalist of Pakistani-origin has
threatened to execute them if its demands are not met within 10 days. The group
calling itself the Asian Tigers recently released a video of former ISI
officials Colonel Imam alias Sultan Amir Tarar and Khalid Khwaja and journalist
Asad Qureshi.
An email sent by the group to the Pakistani media
demanded the release of top Afghan Taliban leaders Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,
Mullah Mansoor Dadullah and Maulavi Kabir.
The group has also reportedly demanded US $10
million as ransom for Qureshi. The Asian Tigers said in the video that the
hostages would be killed if its demands were not met within 10
days.
The group said the former ISI officials were “in
Taliban custody” and described them as “enemy of Islam and Muslims”.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/250754/Taliban-militants-threaten-to-kill-%E2%80%98kidnapped%E2%80%99-ISI-men-scribe.html
--------
Pakistani media spitting blood on book:
Fatima
Apr 22,
2010
Islamabad : Fatima Bhutto, whose book on the
Bhutto dynasty was released recently, says Pakistani media is ‘spitting blood’
over the tome.
Some Pakistani critics have dismissed Fatima's
book ‘Songs of Blood and Sword’ as being one-sided and full of glaring
half-truths. "Pakistani media is spitting blood over it - which is to be
expected..." Fatima, tweeted to a Pakistani woman politician who claimed to be
reading her book.
"The good news is that they still hate me in
Pakistan!" reads another tweet by Fatima, who has been actively promoting her
book on the social networking website
Twitter.
However, Fatima is elated that her book is doing
well in India. "Thank you! Very strange that I'm slated at home but feted in
India...politics, I tell you," she tweeted
recently.
Fatima also celebrates the fact that her book is
selling more than Jaswant Singh's book on Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali
Jinnah.
However, Fatima's memoirs are yet to beat former
President Pervez Musharraf's memoirs "In The Line Of
Fire".
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pakistani-media-spitting-blood-on-book-fatima/609410/
--------
Overcome cynicism in
Pakistan
22 April
2010
Political
and law and order situation is getting messier in Pakistan. A new spate of
suicide attacks in the last couple of days has unnerved the local
administrations.
Coupled with this is the alarming fact that many
of the attacks, from Quetta to Kohat, have been claimed by outfits considered
relics of spent forces. To make the situation more complex is the United Nations
report on the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, pointing
fingers at many of the bigwigs in the government for their negligence. The
deteriorating situation can have a cascading effect at a time when the nation is
trying to restore the constitution and parliamentary democracy. This goes to
prove that much remains to be done while taking the war against terrorism to its
logical end, and there are many a slip between the lip and the
cup.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2010/April/editorial_April37.xml§ion=editorial&col=
--------
Israel releases Hamas minister; 7,500
Palestinians remain under detention
By MOHAMMED
MAR’I
Apr 22,
2010
RAMALLAH: Israel on Wednesday released a Hamas
minister after three years of imprisonment. Hamas said in a press statement that
that Wasfi Kabaha, minister of state for separation wall and settlements
affairs, was released from the southern Israeli prison of Negev and returned to
his home in the West Bank village of Barta’a near
Jenin.
“I bear an important letter from prisoners in
Israeli jails that the Palestinian national unity is the shortest way to uproot
the occupation,” Kabaha said after his
release.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics (PCBS), 7,500 Palestinians, including 270 under the age of 18, are
currently held in 10 prisons and 3 detention camps in Israel and in the West
Bank. Three of them are in jail for more than 30 years and 315 for more than 15
years.
Around 9,000 Palestinians are detained every year
by Israel for either armed resistance or acts of civil
disobedience.
Om Osama, Kabaha’s wife, said that the “joy will
only complete if all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are
released.”
Kabaha was arrested on May 2007 and was sentenced
to six-month administrative.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article45901.ece
--------
Rockets strike Jordan near Israel
border
Apr 22,
2010
AMMAN: Two military-grade rockets early on
Thursday struck in and near Jordan's port of Aqaba, one slamming into a
warehouse and the other splashing into the Red Sea, a Jordanian security
official said.
No injuries were caused and there was only
minimal damage to the warehouse, other Jordanian officials told AFP.
"The preliminary investigation determined that
the explosion in the port of Aqaba on Thursday morning was due to a Katyusha
rocket," the security official said, citing sources close to investigators.
"A second Katyusha rocket was found in Jordanian
territorial waters" of the Red Sea, he added, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
Jordanian information minister Nabil Sharif
confirmed there had been an explosion at a refrigeration warehouse in northern
Aqaba "causing no casualties and minimal damage" and said an investigation had
been launched.
Israeli media had reported that a Katyusha rocket
splashed into the Red Sea off the Israeli resort of Eilat, less than 10
kilometres (six miles) from Aqaba, and that another had exploded on the
outskirts of the Jordanian port.
Channel 10 initially said the rockets were fired
from Jordan but later said it was also possible they were launched from Egypt's
Sinai peninsula.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Rockets-strike-Jordan-near-Israel-border/articleshow/5844557.cms
--------
Coolness to Israel won't warm up peace
prospects
BY VICTOR DAVIS
HANSON
April 22,
2010
Current American relations with our once-staunch
ally Israel are at their lowest ebb in the past 50
years.
The Obama administration seems as angry at the
building of Jewish apartments in Jerusalem as it is intent on reaching out to
Iran and Syria, Israel's mortal enemies. President Barack Obama himself,
according to reports, has serially snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. A new narrative abounds in Washington that Israel's intransigence
with its Arab neighbors now even endangers U.S. troops stationed in the Middle
East. Obama is pushing Netanyahu's Likud government to make concessions on
several fronts, from supplying power and food to Gaza, to hastened departure
from the West Bank.
These tensions follow the Obama administration's
new outreach to the Muslim world. Obama gave his first interview as president to
the Middle East newspaper Al Arabiya, in which he politely chided past U.S.
policy on the Middle East.
In his June 2009 Cairo address, the president
again sought to placate the Islamic world - in part by wrongly claiming that
Islamic learning had sparked the European Renaissance and
Enlightenment.
Full report at:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2010/04/22/coolness-to-israel-wont-warm-up-peace-prospects.html?sid=101
-------
First the sorrow, now the
fear
By Asad
Kharal
April 22,
2010
LAHORE: The mere thought of the murderer of
twelve of his kin being acquitted is enough to send a ripple of fear up his
spine. Fida Hussain Ghalvi’s thoughts revert to the time when 13 years ago, he
and three other men had boldly testified against Malik Ishaq – the formidable
founding member of the banned terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Malik Ishaq, the man who Ghalvi and other victims
of his killing spree believed would never see the light of day, is all set for
release from prison. Ishaq was arrested in 1997 for involvement in sectarian
murders – almost all of his victims were members of the minority Shia community.
Police charged Ishaq with murders of 70 people in 44 different cases but he
escaped conviction in each case due to “lack of evidence” against him.
Ishaq’s associates in LJ unleashed a violent
campaign when he stood trial for the deaths of 12 people at a gathering of the
Ghalvi family in 1997.
“When Ishaq was arrested in 1997, he unleashed
his broad network against his opponents, killing witnesses, threatening judges
and intimidating police, leading nearly all of the prosecutions against him to
collapse eventually,” Ghalvi told Daily Times while narrating a blow-by-blow
account of LJ’s bloodthirsty hatred – and of Ishaq’s.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\22\story_22-4-2010_pg1_6
-------
‘Loha
Khoar - Loha Toar’ opens today
By Ameer H
Ahmad
April 22,
2010
KARACHI: Amin Rehman’s selected works titled
“Loha Khoar - Loha Toar” is opening on Thursday (today) at the VM Art
Gallery.
The title that literally translates into “Iron
Eater - Iron Breaker” is a visual representation of the exploitation of cheap
labour in South Asia used for ship-breaking.
There was a time when ship-breaking took place in
the port cities of industrialised countries such as the United Kingdom and the
United States.
However, due to cheap labour and less stringent
environmental laws, the majority of ship-breaking is now carried out in South
Asia in places like Alang, India; Chittagong, Bangladesh; Aliaga, Turkey; and at
the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, which is located in Gadani,
Pakistan.
In this exhibit, Rehman’s mission was to
highlight the massive health hazards threatening both the workers and the
environment. Improper disposal and little or no safeguard make asbestos, lead,
polychlorinated biphenyls, and dangerous vapours and fumes from burning
materials a huge threat to ship-breakers, the local population and the wildlife
of the area.
Rehman uses encaustic painting technique to
depict ships both before and during the ship-breaking
process.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\22\story_22-4-2010_pg12_5
--------
Obama to host Muslim business
leaders
22 April
2010
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will lay a
key plank of his strategy to mend ties with the Islamic world next week when he
hosts a summit to boost economic development in Muslim
nations.
In a step the White House hopes will help shift
relations beyond decades of talk about terrorism and conflict, a senior official
said Obama will bring entrepreneurs from 50 countries to Washington on Monday
and Tuesday to spur economic ties.
The president pledged to host the summit in a
landmark speech in Cairo last June, when he also called for a “new beginning” to
relations between the United States and the Islamic
world.
“One of the principal goals of that vision was to
broaden our relationship, which has been dominated by a few different issues, a
small set of issues, for at least the last decade, and going back further than
that,” the official told.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/biz/inside.asp?xfile=/data/business/2010/April/business_April431.xml§ion=business
-------
Tunisia's antics should give the West
pause
By Sarah Leah
Whitson
April 22,
2010
The Tunisia most outsiders see is a small,
peaceful, modernizing country with beautiful beaches and a GDP well ahead of its
non-oil-producing neighbors. It has a well-trained workforce and a moderate
Muslim population.
But Tunisian citizens see another side of the
country: a repressive state obsessed with maintaining the ruling party's
monopoly on power. My Human Rights Watch colleagues and I came up against
Tunisia's harsher side last month when we traveled to Tunis, the capital, to
release a report critical of the country's
authoritarianism.
The report documented government harassment,
surveillance and arbitrary measures that severely constrain the daily lives of
former political prisoners. Many are required to sign in weekly or even daily at
police stations, are denied passports and are confined to their hometowns — one
was banished to a village he'd never lived
in.
These measures continue despite years of appeals
and court verdicts in the former prisoners' favor. In some cases, the government
reportedly has even blocked them from finding jobs, warning potential employers
against hiring them.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100422/OPINION01/4220305/-1/NEWSMAP
---------
Obama Appeases U.S.
Muslims
by
Robert Spencer
April 22,
2010
The New York Times reported Monday, with no hint
that it understood the implications of what it was reporting, that Barack Obama
is reaching out to Hamas-linked groups in the United States, while hamstringing
our response to the terror threat by making obfuscation of the ideology of jihad
terrorists official U.S. policy.
Times reporter Andrea Elliott says that “Muslim
and Arab-American advocates” have met with top White House officials, including
Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder. They’ve discussed, among other things,
“counterterrorism strategy.”
Their influence has been felt. White Houses sources say they had a hand in
Obama’s scrapping a policy that subjected airline passengers from 13 Muslim
countries to greater security scrutiny.
According to Elliott, “That emergency directive, enacted after a failed
December 25 bombing plot, has been replaced with a new set of intelligence-based
protocols that law enforcement officials consider more effective.”
Which ones?
On what grounds? More effective
for what? How can it be ineffective to
subject people who come from areas where there actually are terrorists to
greater scrutiny?
The Times also mentions that Hillary Clinton this
month allowed controversial Muslim spokesman Tariq Ramadan, who had been barred
from the U.S. by the Bush Administration, to enter the country. It did not deem fit to print, however,
Ramadan’s contribution to a charity that was funneling money to Hamas—which was
one of the reasons he was barred in the first
place.
Full report at:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36639
-------
US, India holding discussions on access to
Headley
Apr 22,
2010
CHICAGO: The US and Indian authorities are
holding discussions on providing New Delhi access to LeT operative David Coleman
Headley who has confessed to his role in the Mumbai terror attacks and agreed to
be interrogated by foreign agencies.
"Those discussions (of providing Indian
investigators access to Headley) are going on between our government and the
Indian government at this time. It is part of the plea agreement that Headley
would cooperate with Indian authorities," Pakistani-American Headley's lawyer
John Theis told PTI.
Theis would not comment on how much more time it
would take before Indian investigators are finally given a date to quiz Headley
and said "those kind of discussions will happen without the media knowing the
specifics of time and place".
Theis said he is not part of the discussions
going on between the US and Indian governments but expects to be present when
Headley is quizzed.
"I would expect to be present anytime that my
client is interviewed by law enforcement officials, be it from India, US or any
other country," he said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/US-India-holding-discussions-on-access-to-Headley/articleshow/5842850.cms
-------
Pak inaction over captive militants to hit war on
terror efforts: US
22 Apr
2010
The holding of thousands of suspected militants
by the Pakistan Army for an indefinite period could not only sway public
sentiment towards their movement, but also impact US military and financial aid
to Pakistan, officials have revealed.
The extremists are being held captive by the
military on the plea that Pakistan’s civilian justice system does not have the
power and is too weak to prosecute the largenumber of alleged militants, and
that they cold walk free if handed over to the civilian
set-up.
Pakistan Army spokesman, Major General Athar
Abbas, stressed that the military is “extremely concerned” that the detainees
will be allowed to go free if they are turned over to the civilian
government.
“More than 300 suspected militants who had been
detained in the military's 2007 operation in the Swat Valley were later released
under a peace deal. Many returned to the Taliban, making the army's task harder
when it again rolled into Swat last spring,” Abbas
said.
However, U.S. officials said they are worried
that the arrests could further inflame local sentiment thereby creating sympathy
for the militants.
Full report at:
http://www.littleabout.com/news/93813,pak-inaction-captive-militants-hit-war-terror-efforts-us.html
--------
Ankara in transition seeks closure on troubled
past
By SIMON
AKAM
Apr 22,
2010
ISTANBUL: In Court Number 6 in Diyarbakir, the
main city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, Turkey is examining its recent
history. Along with six others, Colonel Cemal Temizoz stands accused of at least
20 killings during his time as a paramilitary commander in Cizre, a town in
Sirnak province on the Syrian border, between 1993 and
1995.
Never before has such a senior uniformed figure
faced trial for crimes committed during Turkey’s bloody counter-insurgency
campaign against ethnic Kurdish separatists. Lurid testimony has been given of
severed ears threaded as prayer beads and corpses disposed of in wells of acid.
The web of evidence includes jailhouse testimony from a brother of Cizre’s
former mayor and the discovery of human
remains.
For over 25 years the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or
PKK, a group designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union
and the United States, has fought an armed struggle in pursuit of a separate
Kurdish state.
The conflict has cost tens of thousands of lives
and led to a stream of internal migration away from the affected
areas.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article45902.ece
--------
Somalia clashes kills 11, five headless bodies
found
By MOHAMED AHMED & ABDI
GULED
Apr 22,
2010
MOGADISHU: The beheaded bodies of five builders
have been found in Somalia's capital Mogadishu and at least 11 people were
killed in fighting in the central region, residents and moderate militia
fighters said on Wednesday.
Mogadishu residents said they suspected
Al-Shabaab insurgents executed the builders for helping to construct Somalia's
new Parliament, an institution seen by the insurgents as home to stooges of the
West.
No group has claimed responsibility for the
killings.
"We have seen five beheaded men," one resident
who gave his name only as Ali for fear of repercussions told Reuters. "Their
bodies were covered with a little soil, except for their
legs."
Al-Shabaab, which controls vast tracts of
southern and central Somalia, has previously executed Somalis its accuses of
spying for the foreign-backed government as it fights to impose a harsh version
of Shariah law on the nation.
Fighting erupted in the central Somali towns of
Gal'ad and Masagawa when Al-Shabaab rebels clashed with militiamen from the Ahlu
Sunna Waljamaca, a moderate Sufi Muslim group which has signed a power-sharing
pact with the government.
"We have seized the town of Gal'ad," said
Al-Shabaab’s spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud
Rage.
Ahlu Sunna confirmed the territorial loss and
said it had killed 15 Al-Shabaab insurgents and Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article45679.ece
--------
Iraqi testifies he was beaten by U.S.
troops
BY LARA
JAKES
April 22,
2010
BAGHDAD- An Iraqi prisoner suspected of
masterminding an attack that killed four American contractors testified
Wednesday at a court-martial of a Navy SEAL that he was beaten by U.S. troops
while hooded and tied to a chair.
But defense witnesses for Petty Officer 1st Class
Julio Huertas on the trial's opening day cast strong doubt on the testimony by
the terror suspect and that of a fellow sailor who claimed he saw the
assault.
The trial stems from an attack on four Blackwater
security contractors who were driving through the city of Fallujah west of
Baghdad in early 2004. The men were killed and then crowds dragged two of the
burnt bodies through the streets and hanged them from a bridge over the
Euphrates River - pictures that became iconic of the U.S.-led war in
Iraq.
The images drove home to many the rising power of
the insurgency and helped spark a bloody U.S. invasion of the city to root out
the insurgents. Two of the Blackwater guards were former SEALs, the Navy's elite
special forces team.
Ahmed Hashim Abed was arrested in the early hours
Sept. 1 during a raid on his home by U.S. and Iraqi security forces on multiple
terrorism charges. He was the subject of a yearslong U.S. manhunt for the
Blackwater killings.
He testified Wednesday that he was sitting in a
chair with his hands bound behind him and hood over his head when he was hit
from behind on the shoulder and back, fell to his knees and was then picked back
up and struck in the stomach.
Full report at:
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2187344,042210IraqSEALTrial.article
--------
The world must not forget
Darfur
MICHAEL
DANBY
Apr 22,
2010
The World Movement for Democracy took place in
Jakarta on April 11-14. The conference is a tribute to Indonesia, which in the
12 years since the resignation of President Suharto has become South-East Asia's
most successful and stable democracy.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who made such
a powerful impression when he addressed the Australian Parliament earlier this
year, is the leader of the world's largest Islamic democracy, a position which
gives him enormous influence. I hope he will use that influence to further the
cause of democracy and human rights in the Islamic world.
The war-torn region of Darfur in western Sudan
has received less publicity over the past year or so than in earlier years.
That's mainly because the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir has
expelled most reporters and aid organisations from the country, so less news is
getting out. But that doesn't mean that the bloodshed and suffering in Darfur
has ended.
Since 2003 there has been continuing conflict
between the Sudanese government - a military dictatorship which overthrew an
elected government in 1989 - and resistance groups such as the Sudan Liberation
Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The people of Darfur
are Muslims, but as Black Africans they have always suffered discrimination at
the hands of Arab-dominated regimes in Khartoum. The present crisis erupted
because of the prolonged drought in the region, which led to conflicts over land
and water.
Full report at:
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2879814.htm
--------
What's Happening With
Israel?
by Victor Davis
Hanson
April 22,
2010
Current American relations with our once-staunch
ally Israel are at their lowest ebb in the last 50
years.
The Obama administration seems as angry at the
building of Jewish apartments in Jerusalem as it is intent on reaching out to
Iran and Syria, Israel's mortal enemies. President Obama himself, according to
reports, has serially snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A new
narrative abounds in Washington that Israel's intransigence with its Arab
neighbors now even endangers U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East. Obama is
pushing Netanyahu's Likud government to make concessions on several fronts, from
supplying power and food to Gaza, to hastened departure from the West
Bank.
These tensions follow the Obama administration's
new outreach to the Muslim world. Obama gave his first interview as president to
the Middle East newspaper Al Arabiya, in which he politely chided past U.S.
policy on the Middle East.
In his June 2009 Cairo address, the president
again sought to placate the Islamic world -- in part by wrongly claiming that
Islamic learning had sparked the European Renaissance and
Enlightenment.
Full report at:
http://townhall.com/columnists/VictorDavisHanson/2010/04/22/whats_happening_with_israel?page=full
--------
Art lovers treated to Raza's
masterpieces
Apr 22,
2010
AHMEDABAD: For the first time, art connoisseurs
in the city were treated to works of eminent artist Syed Haider Raza which are
in high demand internationally.
This exhibition is a series of visual and
performing art organised by L & P Hutheesing Visual Art Centre and began on
Wednesday to celebrate the commemoration of Swarnim Gujarat Jayanti and 600
years of foundation of Ahmedabad.
The centre along with Akar Prakar Gallery of
Kolkata brings together this exposition through an array of events, which
include display of the paintings, interactive talks and discussions, film
screenings, dance and musical performances.
In a press release, Raza said, "I feel happier
showing my works in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Kolkata rather than New York, London
or Paris."
Bishakha Shome, visiting faculty at CEPT
University, said, "The exposition has been conceptualised with a series of
creative expressions which interpret the essence that is in Raza's art and
vision. Raza's excellence will be on display, not only through his paintings,
but also through other mediums of visual and performing expressions in form of
cinema, music and discussions about the artist and his art."
This series of small format paintings are the
recent expressions of Raza, created specially for this travelling exhibition.
Managing trustee of Hutheesing Centre Umang Hutheesing said, "Raza's paintings
have taken Indian art to international level of recognition and I have always
been inspired by his flamboyant expression of Indian philosophy."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Art-lovers-treated-to-Razas-masterpieces-/articleshow/5841785.cms
--------
Poland's snap presidential election on June
20
Apr 22,
2010
WARSAW: The first round of Poland's snap
presidential elections to elect a successor to Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in
a plane crash, will be held on June 20, the parliament's press service announced
Wednesday.
"The president of the Diet (lower house of
parliament) Bronislaw Komorowski has taken the decision to call elections for
the president of the republic of Poland on June 20," it said in a statement.
Under Polish law, a possible run-off second round
would be held on July 4.
Parliamentary speaker Komorowski has been acting
president since Kaczynski and his wife were killed along with 94 others when the
presidential jet crashed on April 10 near Smolensk, western Russia. The
presidential delegation was on its way to ceremonies marking the 70th
anniversary of a Soviet World War II massacre of Polish officers in the nearby
Katyn forest.
The late president and his wife were buried
Sunday in Krakow's Wawel castle cathedral, the ancient seat of Polish kings.
A presidential ballot had been due by October
with Komorowski, a liberal, expected to run and win in the first round against
the conservative Kaczynski, whose popularity has flagged since his 2005 victory.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Polands-snap-presidential-election-on-June-20/articleshow/5839320.cms
--------
Chaos in Kabul continues Faryal
Leghari
22 April
2010
Come May,
Kabul and Washington will have to bury the hatchet deep, recently brandished by
President Hamid Karzai. For the Afghan president is to visit the US and later
host a follow-up conference in July to review the progress made towards
achieving the objectives, outlined for his government ?by the
US.
Some signs that Karzai is easing on his recent
defiant position came when he recently visited the International Security
Assistance Forces (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul. It was his first operational
briefing and owes its significance to the fact that it propels Afghanistan as a
strategic partner. It is indeed ironic that Kabul is now accorded that position,
nine years after the launch of the offensive.
Obviously the shift implies strategic responsibility and partnership—the
new golden term. It was evident in the
increased role of the Afghan security forces in the ?Helmand offensive.
Full report at: khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/April/opinion_April125.xml§ion=opinion&col=
--------
No peace without US withdrawal:
Taliban
April 22,
2010
The Taliban in Afghanistan has rejected British
media reports that the outfit had called for reconciliation talks with the
United States and demanded “unconditional withdrawal of all invading forces from
the country”.
No peace talks would begin until there was a
complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, a statement from the
militant outfit said, adding that Mullah Omar would not resign as its
leader.
The Taliban also said the US presence in
Afghanistan was the main reason for “instability” in the
region.
“So any deal under the name of negotiation is a
betrayal of the Islamic aspirations of the people of Afghanistan,” it
said.
The Taliban was reacting to reports in the
British newspaper, The Sunday Times, which said the outfit was ready to take
part in peace talks.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/No-peace-without-US-withdrawal-Taliban/H1-Article1-534332.aspx
--------
Iran lobbies to keep off UN
security
Thomas
Erdbrink
April 22,
2010
Facing increasing momentum behind a US-backed bid
for new sanctions against it, Iran is launching a broad diplomatic offensive
aimed at persuading as many UN Security Council members as possible to oppose
tougher punishment for its nuclear program.
Iran wants to focus on reviving stalled talks
about a nuclear fuel swap to build trust on all sides, according to politicians
and diplomats in Tehran.
But leaders of Western nations say that unless
Iran alters its conditions for the deal, they will refuse to discuss it again.
Under the arrangement, aimed at breaking an impasse over Iran’s
uranium-enrichment efforts, Tehran would exchange the bulk of its low-enriched
uranium for more highly enriched fuel for a research reactor that produces
medical isotopes.
As Iranian diplomats fly around the world to
discuss the swap, they are lobbying some of the Security Council’s rotating
members to vote against a fourth round of sanctions proposed by the US,
officials said.
“In the coming 10 days, the Islamic republic’s
delegations will travel to the capitals of Russia, China, Lebanon and Uganda to
pursue talks,” Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki said. “Other countries will be visited in the near future.”
He said that “nuclear issues” will be on the
agenda.
Iran also plans to try to rally support during an
international conference to review the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Iran-lobbies-to-keep-off-UN-security/H1-Article1-534324.aspx
--------
B'desh court asks police to submit BDR mutiny
report by May 19
April 22,
2010
A court on Wednesday set May 19 deadline for
submission of the crucial investigation report on the bloody Bangladesh Rifles
mutiny last year which left 57 army officers
dead.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A K M Enamul Haque
asked Criminal Investigation Department of police to submit the charge sheet to
start the trial of suspected carnage culprits under the tough Speedy Trial
Tribunal, which prescribes the capital punishment for the
convicts.
"The CMM asked chief investigation officer of the
case CID's special superintendent Abdul Kahar Akand as he failed to submit the
report on Wednesday as stipulated earlier," a court official
said.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/bangladesh/B-desh-court-asks-police-to-submit-BDR-mutiny-report-by-May-19/Article1-534063.aspx
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Nigerian governors approve more than 300
executions
April 22,
2010
Nigeria's state governors have backed the
execution of more than 300 prisoners on death row to clear space in the
overcrowded jails of Africa's most populous
country.
"It was agreed that those people who have been
condemned should be executed accordingly," said Theodore Orji, governor of the
southeastern state of Abia, after a meeting of the 36 state governors in the
capital Abuja on Wednesday.
A total of 330 prisoners are on death row in a
country where capital punishment remains on the statutes despite rarely being
implemented.
The last official execution dates from 2002, but
Amnesty International, which campaigns against the death penalty, said it has
found evidence of ongoing secret executions in
prisons.
The governors, who have the power to sign
execution orders, said also that 80 per cent of Nigeria's prison population is
awaiting trial and efforts should be made to "leave go" those serving lengthy
remands, according to Orji.
Koyode Odeyemi of the Nigerian Prisones Service
said that 36,000 of the 40,106 inmates are awaiting
trial.
Human rights activist Chidi Odinkalu of the Open
Society Justice Initiative said that instead of clearing a death-row backlog,
the governors should probe the methods used by the police to tackle
crime.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/africa/Nigerian-governors-approve-more-than-300-executions/Article1-534230.aspx
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UN Bhutto probe team interviewed
Musharraf’
Apr 22,
2010
The United Nations team that probed Benazir
Bhutto’s assassination had met former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
during its investigations, the commission’s head, Chilean Ambassador to the UN
Heraldo Muñoz, says. This meeting was subject to the condition of
confidentiality, Online news agency quoted Munoz as telling a private TV channel
in an exclusive interview.
Munoz also said that the commission was initially
told that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and Army were “off limits”. It was
only after the commission’s insistence that Army and intelligence officials
agreed to be interviewed.
In another revelation, Muñoz termed as
“inexcusable and irresponsible” the disappearance of the bulletproof black
Mercedes that was to be Bhutto’s back-up vehicle after she left the December 27,
2007 political rally in Rawalpindi at which she was
killed.
The UN commission’s report detailing the probable
causes of Bhutto’s death contradicts President Asif Ali Zardari’s claim that it
had absolved the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of any
blame.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/250761/%E2%80%98UN-Bhutto-probe-team-interviewed-Musharraf%E2%80%99.html
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Obama's Syria outreach under fire amid Scud
reports
By ANDREW
QUINN
Apr 22,
2010
WASHINGTON:
US President Barack Obama's outreach to Syria came under fire on
Wednesday as a congressional panel questioned the rapprochement amid charges
that Damascus has sought to arm Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas with Scud
missiles.
Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
grilled the Obama administration's top diplomat for the Middle East, saying
Syria's threatening behavior threw doubt over efforts to put relations on a
better track.
"Do we actually have a policy toward Syria, and
is it in our best interest? What are we doing?" Democratic Representative Eliot
Engel asked, urging a tougher US stance against Syrian President Basher Al-Assad
over weapons transfers and other issues.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said the United States was seeking answers on the
missile charges and took the issue extremely
seriously.
"All options are going to be on the table looking
at this," he said - while repeating the need to expand diplomatic dialogue with
Damascus.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article45957.ece
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Body of soldier killed in 1982 found in
Lebanon
By BASSEM
MROUE
Apr 22,
2010
BEIRUT: The body of what appears to be a Syrian
soldier killed in a 1982 battle with Israel was found in eastern Lebanon, an
army official said Wednesday, and a search is under way for the remains of more
missing soldiers.
A man digging foundations for a house on a plot
of land near the village of Mdoukha in eastern Lebanon unearthed the remains
Monday night, the senior Lebanese officer
said.
The body was in a military uniform and helmet,
and had a Syrian military identity card his pocket, the official
said.
Mdoukha and the nearby village of Sultan Yacoub
in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley were the site of heavy fighting in June 1982 between
Israeli forces and Syrian troops and their Palestinian guerrilla allies shortly
after Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article45956.ece
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A brewing conflict in Middle
East
22 April
2010
The
alleged Syrian Scud missile row seems to have acquired a life of its own.
Washington has summoned Syria’s deputy chief of mission in Washington, Zouheir
Jabbour to protest the alleged transfer of long-range ballistic missiles to
Lebanese militia Hezbollah—a charge levelled by Israel and vehemently rejected
by Damascus.
While accusations and counter-accusations fly
thick and fast, alarm bells are ringing, or rather war drums are being heard,
across the Middle East.
A UN resolution (1701) imposed an arms embargo on
Lebanon in 2006, restricting all weapon transfers unless authorised by the UN or
the Lebanese government. Given their
shared history, Israel has lost no time in jumping up and down over Hezbollah
allegedly acquiring advanced weaponry. On the other hand, Hezbollah chief
Nasrallah’s rhetoric has only helped Israel’s
cause.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2010/April/editorial_April41.xml§ion=editorial&col=
12:46 AM
Sultan Shahin
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