Pakistan: Islami Jamiat Tulaba’s hooliganism needs to be checked
Somalia:
Mogadishu mosque blasts kill 39
Pakistan
wastes 1/3rd of Indus water it gets, admits Qureshi
India
keen to engage ‘empowered' Gilani
Kashmiris
welcome Indo-Pak dialogue
Suicide
bomber in Pakistan's Swat kills 5: officials
Somali
feminist under a fatwa tells of her ‘complicated’ affair
A
temple where upper castes bow to Dalits
Muslim
headscarf sparks heated debate in Spain
U.S.
support allowed Muslim Brotherhood to expand
Hurdles
to Headley access cleared
Lashkar
intercept puts Delhi on alert
Capital
put on high alert after intelligence reports
Brain
behind Ajmer blast identified
Musharraf
eyes Pak President’s slot again
Hindutva
terror again
Kasuri
should table document supporting statement over Kashmir resolution: JUI-F
chief
Baghdad
cafe waitresses break down barriers in Iraq
Obama
orders deployment of US drones to target Yemeni
terrorist
Madhuri
Gupta picked up packet for Pakistani handler in Jammu
'Gurdaspur
terrorists were planning 26/11-like strike in Punjab'
Four
Indians convicted in Bangladesh were militants: Police
Arab
League backs resumption of Mideast peace talks
People
misunderstood my views, says Haia official
'Information
an effective weapon against terror'
Kurdish
rebels kill 4 Turkish soldiers, wound 7
Militant
turncoat leads Iraqis to Al-Qaeda chiefs
Ties
with Pakistan ‘absolutely vital’: US
Father,
son among 3 shot dead in Pasni
Afghan
feminists battle for rights
Bombs
kill one, injure 100 in north Iraq: police
Jashn-e-Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa’ today
Talibanisation
of Balochistan: Two wrongs never make a right
Belgium
burqa ban: More EU nations may follow suit
Bodo
chief handed over by Dhaka
'Barbaric'
killing of murder suspect by Lebanese mob
Compiled
by Akshay
Kumar
Photo:
Hooligans of Islami Jamiat Tulaba
manhandle Imran Khan on Nov 14, 2009
-------
Pakistan: Islami
Jamiat Tulaba’s hooliganism needs to be
checked
02
May, 2010
Enough is enough. The hooliganism of the Punjab chapter of the Islami
Jamiat Tulaba needs to be checked forthwith and immediate efforts are required
to rein in the elements inclined towards violence that call the shots in that
student organisation.
Friday’s
incident at Punjab University, which saw IJT activists thrashing security
personnel, cannot be viewed in isolation. In April, IJT students attacked a
professor, Iftikhar Baloch, but the principal accused managed to evade arrest,
possibly on account of his political connections. Almost at will, IJT members
disrupt any function at Punjab University that features music and intimidate
people who choose to mingle with the opposite sex. They are dominating the
campus with their obscurantist views and the administration looks the other way
more often than not. Why is that? Are they scared of the Jamiat? Or could it be
that the Zia era and the rule of the Sharifs saw the induction of faculty and
non-teaching staff that shares the bigoted views of the
IJT?
Campuses
in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, isolated incidents
notwithstanding, are not held hostage in this way. For all their faults, student
organisations there somehow manage to counterbalance the influence of people
opposed to progressive thought. In Punjab, however, the IJT does what it deems
fit in any given situation and usually gets away with it. It would be unfair to
say that the free rein enjoyed by the IJT in Lahore and elsewhere in the
province is indicative of a Punjabi mindset. What is more likely is that the
political elite of the Punjab endorses the same ‘conservative’ views espoused by
the IJT. The student wings of the various incarnations of the Muslim League seem
to be no match for the IJT, but that raises yet another question. Do they share
a common cause or is the muscle of the IJT, built up over the decades with the
patronage of the politically insecure, simply too intimidating to confront? The
Punjab government needs to step in here and stem the rot. Otherwise it will be
seen as a party to a cause that no right-thinking person can
support.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/19-jamiats-hooliganism-250-hh-08
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Somalia:
Mogadishu mosque blasts kill 39
By
ABDI GULED
May
2, 2010
MOGADISHU:
Two explosions at a mosque in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday killed 39
worshippers, wounded scores more and hurt a senior member of the Al-Qaeda-linked
Al-Shabaab rebels.
It
was the second attack this week on a mosque in Bakara Market, an area of
Mogadishu dominated by members of the country's two main rebel groups,
Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.
Saturday's
attack was at the Abdalla Shideye Mosque, which is used by Al-Shabaab officials
to deliver speeches. Most of the dead were said to be members, officials and
commanders of the hard-line rebel group.
Relatives
bent over dead bodies in a corner of the mosque below walls pockmarked by
shrapnel. Outside, sheets of cardboard covered other victims and the wounded
were pushed on wooden wheelbarrows to awaiting ambulances.
Some
witnesses said a senior leader of Al-Shabaab, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, was the
target. Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, is on a list of people in Somalia
subject to UN sanctions because of their involvement in the
conflict.
"Thirty-two
people died and more than 70 were wounded in the attack," Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim
Bilaal, a senior Al-Shabaab member, said. "Sheikh Fuad suffered wounds on the
hands. The rescue workers are still taking people to
hospitals."
Nurses
at Daynile Hospital said seven of the badly wounded subsequently died, taking
the death toll to 39.
According
to the UN Security Council, Khalaf, who also has Swedish nationality, has raised
funds for Al-Shabaab and was involved in two car bomb attacks in the capital in
April 2008.
The
mosque hit on Saturday is near the Abu Hureya Mosque where a land mine killed
one person on Tuesday.
The
mosque attacks are a new phenomenon in the Horn of Africa nation that has been
plagued by violence and anarchy since a dictator was ousted in 1991. It was not
clear who was behind the latest blasts. Residents suspected they could be the
result of infighting between the insurgent groups, both of which are trying to
topple the Western-backed government.
Information
Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle denied any government involvement, telling Reuters
it would not attack the rebels where many other people were
gathered.
Al-Shabaab
has been fighting the Western-backed government of Somalia since the start of
2007. It now controls much of southern and central Somalia and has hemmed the
government into a few blocks of the capital.
Hizbul
Islam is also fighting to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's administration.
While the two groups have fought together against government troops in
Mogadishu, they have clashed on numerous occasions in the south of the country.
The government has been promising for months to launch an offensive against the
rebels to regain control of Mogadishu.
Some
residents said they feared the strikes were just the latest tactic copied by
Somali insurgents from Iraq, where Sunni and Shiite insurgents often target each
others' mosques.
Al-Shabaab
has also used suicide bombers to devastating effect over the past two years,
killing five government ministers and dozens of African Union peacekeeping
troops.
http://arabnews.com/world/article49118.ece
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Pakistan
wastes 1/3rd of Indus water it gets, admits Qureshi
May
2, 2010
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan, which has often accused India of stealing its share of Indus waters,
has said the authorities within this country have a tendency to "pass the buck"
and exaggerate differences with New Delhi on the issue.
The
mismanagement in Pakistan is resulting in the loss of 34 million acre feet of
water, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said. Qureshi made the remarks
on Friday when asked whether Pakistan had taken up the issue of India trying to
block the flow of rivers in Thimphu.
Pakistan
had taken up the issue but Pakistani authorities have a "tendency to exaggerate"
and "pass the buck" in this regard, Qureshi said.
The
average supply of water that reaches Pakistan is 104 million acre feet while the
water that is consumed is 70 million acre feet. "Where is the 34 million acre
feet of water going? Is India stealing that water from you? No, it is not.
Please do not fool yourselves. We are mismanaging that water," Qureshi
said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pakistan-wastes-1/3rd-of-Indus-water-it-gets-admits-Qureshi/articleshow/5882058.cms
-------
India
keen to engage ‘empowered' Gilani
Siddharth
Varadarajan
02
May, 2010
New
Delhi: The recent empowerment of Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and
his favourable disposition towards peace were important factors in India's
willingness to put the dialogue process back on track.
Providing
the first detailed account of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan and
Mr. Gilani in Thimphu on April 28, senior officials said the question of ‘who
India should talk to' had been answered by the 18th amendment to the Pakistani
constitution which enhanced the authority of the Prime
Minister.
But
personal equations between the two principals also mattered. “They do manage to
communicate well with one another,” an official said. “There is a certain
chemistry.” Last year, when Dr. Singh was under fire following the Sharm
el-Sheikh summit, Mr. Gilani batted for him by telling reporters that what the
Prime Minister had said in Parliament about the controversial joint statement
‘is what we agreed.' Dr. Singh had put an Indian spin on the terror-dialogue
delinking issue but the Pakistan Prime Minister chose not to score points. “We
remember that,” an Indian official told The Hindu. “He seems to be favourably
disposed towards peace.”
Full
report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/02/stories/2010050259810100.htm
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Kashmiris
welcome Indo-Pak dialogue
Shujaat
Bukhari
02
May, 2010
SRINAGAR:
The recent meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani
counterpart Yusuf Raza Gillani has been widely hailed by Kashmiris who say that
this will a be movement forward in the process of resolving all issues,
including Kashmir.
Both
mainstream and separatist parties have termed the breakthrough in Thimphu
positive.
Jammu
and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik welcomed the
meeting.
“We
want to impress upon the leadership of India and Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir
is not a border dispute between two countries but is the question of the life
and freedom of over one crore Kashmiris,” he said adding that the talks had been
subservient to change of mood and relations between these
countries.
Full
report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/02/stories/2010050256670700.htm
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Suicide
bomber in Pakistan's Swat kills 5: officials
By
Junaid Khan
02
May, 2010
MINGORA,
Pakistan (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed five people in Pakistan's Swat
Valley on Saturday, police said, fuelling fears of a Taliban comeback in the
area a year after a major army offensive routed the group.
Pakistan
says a series of security crackdowns that began in Swat hurt militants fighting
to topple the government, which is under pressure from Washington to help
stabilize Afghanistan.
Renewed
violence in Swat over the last few weeks has raised concerns that militants are
regrouping in the area while the army tries to consolidate gains in other parts
of the northwest and return displaced people to their
homes.
Saturday's
attacker blew himself up in a hostel after being surrounded by government forces
near Sohrab Khan market in the town of Mingora, 130 km (80 miles) northwest of
the capital Islamabad, Swat police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq told
Reuters.
He
said the bomber killed himself, three civilians and two militants who had been
apprehended and lead government forces to the location. Another militant was
shot dead by security forces in a raid at the site.
"The
Taliban may be trying to come back. But there is no way we will allow it. We
will catch them everywhere," Farooq said.
The
Swat operation last year involved 30,000 troops backed by airstrikes. Some 4,000
Taliban had taken control of Swat.
The
scenic valley has witnessed a spate of killings of tribal elders in the past few
weeks. Security officials said they appeared to be aimed at frightening the
local leadership, which is supporting the army's
operations.
People
have expressed fears the Taliban will return and impose their harsh version of
Islamic rule -- including public floggings and destruction of girls' schools --
if the army leaves and entrusts the underfunded police force with
security.
The
military, Pakistan's most powerful institution, says offensives have destroyed
Taliban bases, killed hundreds of fighters and driven many others from
strongholds.
Those
successes have eased fears that nuclear-armed Pakistan, vital ally for the
United States, was sliding into chaos, but unabated bombings are still a
concern.
Taliban
militants often melt away during security crackdowns and retain the ability to
stage suicide bombings and bomb attacks on security forces and civilians across
the country.
A
roadside bomb attack on a police van wounded a senior police official and five
others, including three passers-by in a town in the southwestern Baluchistan
province on Saturday.
Separatist
militants have waged a low-key insurgency for decades in Baluchistan on the
Afghan border to demand more political and economic rights, but Taliban
militants have also been active in the region.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100501/wl_nm/us_pakistan_violence
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Somali
feminist tells of her ‘complicated’ affair
By
JAMES TAPPER
2nd
May 2010
The
mistress of multi-millionaire historian and TV presenter Niall Ferguson has
revealed that she intends to start a family with him.
Speaking
for the first time about their affair, Ayaan Hirsi Ali revealed that she is
‘enormously in love’ with the 45-year-old Harvard professor and hopes to become
a mother ‘soon’.
Ms
Hirsi Ali also confirmed that Mr Ferguson is now involved in divorce proceedings
with his wife of 16 years, Susan Douglas, a former newspaper editor who is one
of Tory leader David Cameron’s closest friends and a leading light in the
Conservative party.
Mr
Ferguson left her for the Somali-born feminist – a former Dutch MP who is in hiding under
police protection after criticising Islam. They live together in the United
States under police protection.
They
met at a party for Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People In The World’
issue in New York in May, 2009.
The
affair was revealed by The Mail on Sunday in February and since then the
academic, who earns an estimated £5million a year for his books, TV programmes
and role as a hedge-fund adviser, has lavished gifts on his lover, including
spending £30,000 on her 40th birthday party in a five-star Manhattan
hotel.
She
spoke about their relationship for the first time in upmarket Dutch women’s
magazine Libelle.
‘Recently
I have found new love – Niall Ferguson,’ she wrote. ‘He is a British historian
and TV presenter. It is a complicated love affair. I am enormously in love with
him.
‘It
is the best feeling in the world. I would love to become a mum soon. I have
turned 40 and I hope it is still possible for me to have a
baby.
‘But
he is involved in divorce proceedings and there are children involved. We are
also both travelling a lot for our jobs. We have to put in a lot of effort to
make sure we see each other.
‘I
am happier than ever. I feel so much better in my life after all the things I
have gone through. ’
Ms
Hirsi Ali fled the Netherlands in 2006 after writing the script for the
controversial movie Submission, which criticised Islam.
The
film’s director, Theo van Gogh, was shot dead in a street in Amsterdam and a
death threat against Ms Hirsi Ali was pinned to his chest.
She
had claimed political asylum in Amsterdam after fleeing Somalia in 1992 and
became a Dutch MP with a reputation for holding strident opinions.
Her
attacks on Islam have caused a rift with her family,she
said.
‘My
life has become very complicated since I turned my back on religion.
'My
mum is begging me to return to Islam. She claims the Western world has stolen
her daughter.’
Mr
Ferguson is said to have cheated on his wife eight times during the past five
years.
Ms
Douglas is said to have been prepared to overlook his
betrayals.
She
was the editor of the Sunday Express and a senior executive at Vogue publishers
Conde Nast before joining the PFD talent agency as a consultant.
In
2006 she suffered serious head injuries in a riding accident, and turned her
attentions to her husband and their two sons, aged 14 and nine, and 13-year-old
daughter.
Meanwhile
Mr Ferguson was building his career as a historian, writing books such as The
Ascent Of Money, which became a Channel 4 series, and Empire And Colossus, about
the rise and fall of Britain and America as global powers.
He
sits on the board of Right-wing think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, and
gives lectures to hedge-fund managers for up to £60,000 an
hour.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1270275/Somali-feminist-fatwa-tells-time-complicated-affair-millionaire-TV-historian-Niall-Ferguson.html
Muslim
headscarf sparks heated debate in Spain
By
Sinikka Tarvainen
02
May, 2010
Madrid
- If a woman is free to exhibit her body, why should she not be free to cover
it?
The
question is one among the many points that are being raised in Spain as the
country debates the use of the Islamic headscarf (hijab) in
schools.
The
case of Najwa Malha, a 16-year-old Muslim girl who was expelled from school
because she refused to take her headscarf off, sparked a heated
debate.
The
issue has been discussed in many other European countries, such as Spain's
neighbouring France, which banned all religious symbols in schools. But it had
largely eluded Spain so far.
There
have been several cases like that of Malha, but the government allowed schools
to decide individually how to handle them, without defining a nationwide policy
on the hijab.
The
issue has become increasingly pressing as Spain's Muslim population has grown
rapidly over the past decade. The country now has 1.3 million Muslims. The vast
majority of them are of Moroccan origin, like Malha's
family.
About
60 per cent of schools in the Madrid region allow pupils to wear the hijab.
Others - such as Malha's school in Pozuelo de Alarcon - ban all headgear,
including the hijab and the baseball cap, which can act as an identifying sign
for members of Latin American street gangs.
Malha's
family on Monday announced she would leave her school, making it appear that she
accepted an offer to place her in another school allowing headscarves, while the
controversy raged on.
Her
case has sparked shows of solidarity from her fellow Muslims. Several of her
schoolmates briefly put on headscarves, while an internet support forum
collected hundreds of signatures.
Muslim
associations pledged to take the case to court, urged imams to defend the hijab
in the upcoming Friday prayers, and secular intellectuals to help them prevent a
politicization of the issue.
Several
human rights or immigrants' rights groups also sided with Malha, with Amnesty
International saying people had the right to wear religious symbols without
being discriminated against.
'We
are working for a moderate Islam, but cases like this favour radicals, who take
advantage of them,' said Mohammed Ali of the Spanish Federation of Religious
Islamic Units (FEERI).
Far-right
groups also took advantage of the situation, placing anti-Islamic stickers on
the gates of Malha's school.
Prime
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government took a cautious stance on the
issue, calling for tolerance and dialogue.
The
conservative opposition was slightly more critical, with some of its
representatives openly criticizing the hijab as symbolizing the subjugation of
women, while others called for a law on the issue.
The
government is preparing a legal reform to increase the rights of minority
religions in predominantly Catholic Spain, but the law is not expected to deal
with details such as the hijab.
Even
if every school will be allowed to set its own rules for the time being,
Spaniards are becoming more conscious of the complexity of the hijab issue as
the country grapples to come into terms with its new multicultural
identity.
About
200,000 of Spain's Muslims were born in the country, but many of them feel that
prejudice against them prevents them from becoming fully integrated into the
general culture.
Some
Muslim women put on the hijab as a sign of rebellion against such a society.
Some of them describe the headscarf as a feminist symbol freeing women from
being viewed as sex objects.
Others
- such as Malha - follow their religious conviction or a family tradition, while
a few bend to pressure from their fathers or boyfriends.
Whatever
the reasons for wearing the hijab, the woman who puts it on needs guts, as she
exposes herself to constant stares and discrimination on the labour
market.
If
women are free to wear sexy clothes, why are they also not free to cover their
bodies, many young Muslim women ask, while stressing that wearing the hijab
should always be the woman's own decision.
If
Spain bans the hijab, it should also prohibit Catholic nuns from covering their
heads, remove crucifixes from public places and stop using the Catholic liturgy
at state funerals, journalist and author Javier Valenzuela
argued.
Those
opposing the hijab, on the other hand, say European countries are over-sensitive
about the rights of Muslims while Muslim countries often do not grant comparable
rights to their Christian minorities.
'Many
people think that Islam is against women, and that is not so,' concluded Fatima
Elidrissi, the woman whose hijab first ignited the debate on headscarves in
schools eight years ago.
'But
many Muslim men think so too,' she added.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1551058.php/Muslim-headscarf-sparks-heated-debate-in-Spain-News-Feature
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U.S.
support allowed Muslim Brotherhood to expand
Davis
Daycock
1/05/2010
MONTREAL-BORN
Pulitzer Prize-winner Ian Johnson's new book is the stuff of high drama. It is
also a meticulously researched work that demonstrates first-rate investigative
journalism and historical inquiry.
Here
is the story of how an obscure mosque and Islamic teaching centre in Germany
came under the control of "the Muslim Brotherhood," an organization that
promotes a modern political, and radical interpretation of
Islam.
The
Brotherhood is explicitly anti-secular, anti-Semitic and hostile to western
involvement in the Muslim world.
It
looks with favour on such militant organizations as Hamas and Hezbollah, and, as
Johnson shows, the mosque in Munich was an important source of inspiration for
some of the most desperate of the Islamic jihadist
militants.
Full
report at:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/entertainment/books/us-support-allowed-muslim-brotherhood-to-expand-92574489.html
---------
Hurdles
to Headley access cleared
Dhananjay
Mahapatra
May
2, 2010
NEW
DELHI: US has agreed to provide Indian investigators "unqualified access" to
26/11 accused David Coleman Headley, who has pleaded guilty on 12 counts nine of
which relate to the terror attack on Mumbai, in bargain for a promise that he
would not be given death sentence or extradited to India.
Solicitor
General Gopal Subramaniam told TOI about this development after what he
described as an "overwhelmingly successful" trip to US where he met several
officials and convinced them to allow investigators to question Headley in
connection with the Mumbai attack and alleged conspiracies he had hatched during
his several visits to India putting many places under terror threat.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Hurdles-to-Headley-access-cleared/articleshow/5880911.cms
Lashkar
intercept puts Delhi on alert
Diwakar
& Vishwa Mohan
May
2, 2010
NEW
DELHI: The security agencies in the Capital spent a sleepless Friday night after
electronic surveillance intercepted a specific instruction from Pakistan-based
Lashkar commanders to attack a crowded place in the city on Saturday.
The
task was assigned to a Lashkar cell drawn from Kashmiri terrorists and the
real-time threat led the Centre to put Delhi Police on a full scale alert. And
even though the threat passed off, the intercept with its deadly intent has
underlined the continued menace emanating from Lashkar.
Sources
in the government said the intercept stood out because of the precise nature of
the task. The assessment of Indian agencies about an impending attack was
endorsed by western intelligence as well with US, UK and Australia renewing
warnings to their nationals in India. In fact, US spoke clearly of an "imminent
attack" by terrorists in Delhi.
While
authorities here issued an alert on Friday evening, the US, UK and Australian
missions issued advisories on Saturday morning, warning their citizens against
terror threats lurking in market places like Connaught Place, Greater Kailash
and Chandni Chowk and near government offices.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Lashkar-intercept-puts-Delhi-on-alert/articleshow/5881042.cms
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Capital
put on high alert after intelligence reports
02
May, 2010
NEW
DELHI: The Delhi police were put on high alert on Saturday after intelligence
reports indicated possible terror strikes at public places, including busy
markets and malls, here during the weekend. Nearly 10,000 additional personnel
have been deployed across the city.
The
security was intensified after an alert issued on Friday night by the Union Home
Ministry and a travel advisory issued by the United States Embassy on Saturday
stating there were increased indications of “imminent” terrorist
attacks.
Official
sources said both the U.S. and India were monitoring the different ends of the
same intelligence chain. “We issued alerts last night [on Friday night]
following electronic intercepts involving specific tasking to terrorists to do
something today [Saturday],” an Indian official said. Following the same
intelligence chain, the U.S. embassy here issued the advisory on
Saturday.
Full
report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/02/stories/2010050262521200.htm
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Brain
behind Ajmer blast identified
02
May, 2010
JAIPUR:
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of Rajasthan is working on the theory that there is a
link between the group which carried out the bomb blast at Ajmer Dargah in
October 2007 and the forces behind the Malegaon blast almost a year later as
well as the explosions at the Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad. It has identified the
contacts and after their recent arrests is in hot pursuit of the person who
manufactured the bomb used in the blast at Ahat-e-Noor on the Dargah
premises.
“The
mastermind behind the Ajmer blast, the bomb maker, has been identified. He is
yet to be arrested,” said Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal talking to The
Hindu here on Saturday.
Full
report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/02/stories/2010050255750500.htm
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Musharraf
eyes Pak President’s slot again
Shafqat
Ali
02
MAY 2010
Islamabad,
May 1: While the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led government is considering to
try him for two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, former
military ruler Pervez Musharraf has some other plans — to become President once
more.
Sources
close to the ousted dictator say that Mr Musharraf is hopeful of winning back
the post he lost in 2008 to restart the “reforms” process.
“Pervez
Musharraf thinks the PPP government has done nothing for the poor and if he is
voted back to power, he will change the destiny of the nation,” a close aide of
the former military ruler told this newspaper. The aide, who met Mr Musharraf
recently, said the ex-military ruler will come to Pakistan after registration of
his party — the All Pakistan Muslim League.
Full
report at:
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10992:musharraf-eyes-pak-presidents-slot-again&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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Hindutva
terror again
02
May, 2010
THE
most significant outcome of the arrests made in connection with the Ajmer blasts
is that the near synonymous association of terrorism with Islam stands belied.
Our immediate reaction to every terror attack in the country is to blame
Pakistan- sponsored jihadi groups and the Ajmer blasts were no exception. The
arrest of Devendra Gupta on Friday and his alleged links with Malegaon blast
accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh have revealed the sinister network of Hindutva
terror outfits such as Abhinav Bharat and Sanatan Sanstha. These outfits are
said to be behind the low intensity blasts in Margao, Thane, Parbani, Nanded and
Kanpur.
This
is reason for us to move beyond labels such as ‘ Hindu’ or ‘ Islamic’ in our
understanding of terrorism. Terrorism should instead be understood in terms of
the acts perpetrated and means employed, rather than the religious motivations
behind them.
Their
ideology involves a politicisation of religion for the achievement of their
devious but essentially political ends. The Ajmer blasts were solely aimed at
terrorising Indian citizens, promoting communal violence and thereby affecting
our security and freedoms.
Though
they claim to be nationalist, they are as much a national enemy as Ajmal Kasab
and need to be brought to justice.
Mail
Today
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Kasuri
should table document supporting statement over Kashmir resolution: JUI-F
chief
May
2nd, 2010
Islamabad,
May.2 (ANI): Rubbishing former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri’s claims
that the long pending Kashmir issue is near a solution during his reign, Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal Group) (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said Kasuri
should table documents supporting his statement in
parliament.
Interacting
with media persons at Multan Airport, Rehman said if Kasuri has any evidence
supporting his claim, he should come out with it.
He
also denounced the Gilani government for taking dictations from the US, saying
peace cannot be restored in the country unless Islamabad sever its ties with
Washington and refuses to accept its dominance.
Full
report at:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/kasuri-should-table-document-supporting-statement-over-kashmir-resolution-jui-f-chief_100357255.html
Baghdad
cafe waitresses break down barriers in Iraq
By
Aseel Kami
02
May, 2010
BAGHDAD
(Reuters) - Hind al-Bidairi's dream of owning a cafe with an all-female waiting
staff haunted her for years while Iraq was gripped by sectarian
violence.
Islamic
fundamentalists would most likely have slaughtered her and her employees had she
dared.
But
now, as Iraq struggles free from widespread bloodshed and the Islamist militia
and insurgents who once sowed terror by killing women they considered
inappropriately dressed have retreated to the shadows, her dream has come
true.
"I
stand behind every woman trying to change the pattern of our society, to show
that women are strong and have the right to get involved in all kinds of
business," Bidairi said.
Full
report at:
http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-48160420100502
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Obama
orders deployment of US drones to target Yemeni terrorist
02
May, 2010
Washington:
Armed US drones have been deployed to target radical Muslim cleric Anwar
al-Awlaki,one of the world’’s most wanted Islamist terrorists, following reports
that he was involved in last week’’s failed suicide bomb attack against
Britain’’s ambassador to Yemen.
A
Sunday Telegraph said US President Barack Obama has authorised al-Awlaki’’s
assassination after he was also linked to last year’’s Fort Hood massacre and
the attempt in December to blow up a Detroit-bound jet by a man wearing
explosives in his underpants.
Senior
US intelligence officials say they have stepped up their efforts to target
al-Awlaki following new evidence that the American-born cleric is taking an
increasingly operational role in the operation of al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, the terror group held responsible for the failed suicide bomb attack
against Tim Torlot, 52, the UK envoy to Yemen.
Torlot
was unhurt in the attack, which left the bomber dead and three others injured,
and was said to be recovering from the experience at the ambassador’’s official
residence.
Al-Awlaki,
who is regarded as one of al-Qaeda’’s most inspirational preachers and whose
sermons regularly appear on radical Islamist websites, came to prominence last
year after it emerged he had communicated extensively by e-mail with Major Nidal
Hassan, the army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood,
Texas.
http://www.duniyalive.com/?p=120877
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Madhuri
Gupta picked up packet for Pakistani handler in Jammu
May
2, 2010,
JAMMU:
Madhuri Gupta, the Indian diplomat arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan's
ISI, had picked up a packet for her Pakistani handler during her visit to Jammu
on March 30, intelligence sources here say.
Gupta,
who was sent to 14-day judicial remand by a Delhi court on Saturday, had picked
up the packet in Raghunath Bazar area of Jammu city, the sources said.
However,
who handed over the packet to her could not be ascertained, the sources added.
Gupta,
a second secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, had hired a local
driver while doing shopping in Jammu city. She had travelled across the border
in her official car with the diplomatic number plate of the Indian High
Commission to the home of a doctor couple in Sunderbani, 120 km north of Jammu.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5883035.cms?prtpage=1
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'Gurdaspur
terrorists were planning 26/11-like strike in Punjab'
May
2, 2010
GURDASPUR:
Security agencies probing a shootout with two trained intruders from Pakistan in
Punjab's border district of Gurdaspur last month say the terrorists had come
prepared for a major strike, probably like the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.
Security
agencies say there is a similarity between the terrorists killed and those who
carried out the Nov 26-29, 2008, Mumbai carnage in which 166 people were killed.
The
two Pakistani intruders, killed in Gurdaspur district's border belt in the
Bhamial sector April 24, had on them US manufactured equipment, used by the US
security forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places.
Security
agencies recovered from the killed fidayeen two AK-47 assault rifles,
ammunition, a US-made military compass, two pistols, grenades and military
jackets to carry things.
The
seized pistols, believed to be from the Pakistan Army with a star marking, had
its embossed manufacture origin tampered with.
Besides
the weapons, the Pakistan link is hard to ignore.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gurdaspur-terrorists-were-planning-26/11-like-strike-in-Punjab/articleshow/5883433.cms
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Four
Indians convicted in Bangladesh were militants: Police
May
2, 2010
SHILLONG:
Four Indians convicted of arms smuggling and imprisoned for 17 years in
Bangladesh last week are members of the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council
(HNLC), a militant outfit in Meghalaya, a senior police official said on Sunday.
"Sketchy
reports from various networks confirmed that the four convicted Indians in
Bangladesh are members of the outlawed HNLC," said Additional Director General
of Police (Special Branch) S K Jain.
The
HNLC, a Khasi separatist outfit that carries out hit-and-run operations from its
hideouts in Bangladesh, has been demanding a sovereign Hynniewtrep homeland in
Eastern Meghalaya.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Four-Indians-convicted-in-Bangladesh-were-militants-Police/articleshow/5882916.cms
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Arab
League backs resumption of Mideast peace talks
02
May, 2010
CAIRO:
The Arab League on Saturday said it backed indirect peace talks between the
Palestinians and Israelis, despite what it called a lack of Israeli conviction
in the process.
Top
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told a Cairo news conference that a final
decision to resume indirect talks with Israel would be taken by the Palestine
Liberation Organization's executive committee.
The
Arab League decision to endorse so-called proximity talks was taken by a
committee of foreign ministers after "guarantees" by US President Barack Obama
in a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"Despite
the lack of conviction of the Israeli side in achieving peace, the committee
affirms what was agreed on the 2nd of March 2010 in regards to the time period
for the indirect negotiations," a statement by the 22-member League
said.
Full
report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article49130.ece
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People
misunderstood my views, says Haia official
By
BADEA ABU AL-NAJA
May
2, 2010
MAKKAH:
Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue
and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) in the Makkah Province, said many people had
misunderstood his views on the mingling of sexes and congregational prayer
(Salat Al-Jamaa), and that as a result he and his family are being threatened
and verbally abused.
Last
Thursday a young man rebuked Al-Ghamdi's son in front of his house in Makkah by
telling him to bring out his family to mingle with. The son then blocked the
youth's car and called the police. Meanwhile, the youth called his brothers who
came with light weapons. The youth ran away when they saw the
police.
The
young man who sparked the confrontation was then arrested by police, who were
also able to arrest his brothers after giving chase. Officials from the
Investigation and Public Prosecution Commission are currently questioning the
five.
Full
report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article49162.ece
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'Information
an effective weapon against terror'
02
May, 2010
WASHINGTON:
Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubeir reiterated on
Friday the Kingdom's call for increased global cooperation, including exchange
of information, in the war on terror.
"Information
is the most effective weapon against terror and so the countries committed to
fight terror should make extra efforts to exchange information to ensure general
safety," Al-Jubeir said in a press statement issued by the embassy in
Washington.
The
Kingdom, which has been consistently supporting the global fight against
terrorism, took the initiative to organize an international conference to fight
terrorism in Riyadh in February 2005. Sixty countries attended the
conference.
Full
report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article48892.ece
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Kurdish
rebels kill 4 Turkish soldiers, wound 7
May
2, 2010
ANKARA:
Kurdish rebels killed four Turkish soldiers and wounded seven others in eastern
Turkey in the largest attack on troops in several months, authorities said
Saturday.
The
rebels attacked a remote military outpost with rocket propelled grenades and
automatic weapons in foggy weather late Friday, private CNN-Turk and NTV
televisions said. The commander of the outpost was killed along with three other
soldiers, authorities said. Two of the seven wounded were in serious condition,
according to media reports.
Turkish
troops launched a man hunt but helicopter gunships remained grounded due to fog
near the outpost, close to the town of Nazimiye in the eastern Tunceli province,
television reports said Saturday morning.
Full
report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article49192.ece
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Militant
turncoat leads Iraqis to Al-Qaeda chiefs
By
QASSIM ABDUL
02
May, 2010
BAGHDAD:
Leery of using a mobile phone, the militant tasked with directing some of
Baghdad's deadliest recent bombings would get his orders from Al-Qaeda in Iraq's
leadership by meeting a go-between near a grocery store named Mr.
Milk.
So
after Iraqi security forces nabbed the militant, Munaf Abdul-Rahim Al-Rawi, it
was to Mr. Milk's store that he led investigators. That was the first step
culminating in what Iraqi and American officials called a devastating blow to
the terror group: the killing of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's secretive two top leaders in
a raid last week.
In
an interview this week with The Associated Press, Al-Rawi offered a rare insight
into the shadowy terror group that continues to plague Iraq after years of
deadly attacks aiming to push the country into civil war.
Full
report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article48797.ece
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Ties
with Pakistan ‘absolutely vital’: US
May
02, 2010
WASHINGTON:
The US partnership with Pakistan is “absolutely vital” but it extends beyond
Washington’s security interest in the region to wide-ranging areas, including
support for Islamabad’s key energy and water requirements, a top American
official told Congress.
“We
have been extremely responsive to their needs in funding and other support. I
think they are starting to believe that we are committed to the greater security
of the region and that extends their willingness to work with us,” said Michele
Flournoy, undersecretary of Defence for Policy.
She
was testifying on Capitol Hill in support of long-term funding for Pakistan’s
counter-insurgency operations, along with Marine Corps Lt-Gen John M Paxton Jr,
director of operations for the Joint Staff.
Full
report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28589
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Father,
son among 3 shot dead in Pasni
02
May, 2010
QUETTA,
May 1: A firing incident in the coastal town of Pasni on Saturday claimed the
lives of three people, a father and a son among them.
According
to police sources, Mir Asa, his son and two other relatives were travelling in a
pick-up when unidentified people opened fire on them near a small river.
Mir
Asa, son Dad Mohammad and relative Abdul Rehman died on the spot. Dad Bakhsh was
injured.
After
receiving information, police rushed to the site and took the bodies and the
injured to Pasni civil hospital.
Police
said the cause of the attack was Mir Asa’s old enmity with his opponents over a
land dispute.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/father,-son-among-3-shot-dead-in-pasni-250
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Afghan
feminists battle for rights
By
Jon Boone
02
May, 2010
KABUL:
As a committed feminist, there are few symbols of restrictions on women that
Parween hates more than the burqa.
But
compromises are necessary in a country where fighting for women’s rights can be
a controversial and dangerous business, and she is not above donning the
all-concealing garment if it helps her to stay one step ahead of the
authorities.
“I
don’t like the burqa, but sometimes I have no choice when I’m moving around
Kabul — it’s a great disguise,” she says. Parween, who is in her mid 20s, is not
using her real name. The only personal information she reveals is that she spent
much of her life growing up in a refugee camp in Pakistan, attended Kabul
University, and is a member of one of the country’s most intriguing and
secretive organisations: the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan, or Rawa — regarded as a dangerously subversive outfit by the
authorities.
Full
report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/afghan-feminists-battle-for-rights-250
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Bombs
kill one, injure 100 in north Iraq: police
02
May, 2010
MOSUL:
Two bombs killed one person and injured 100 others in northern Iraq on Sunday,
police said, in what appeared to be an attack on the country’s Christian
minority.
A
car bomb and a roadside bomb went off near buses carrying university students
close to the turbulent and ethnically diverse city of Mosul, 390 km north of
Baghdad.
The
dead man was a Christian shop owner near the blast scene, police
said.
The
buses were transporting the students from the mainly Christian town of
Hamdaniya, 40 km east of Mosul.
“All
of them were Christian students. They go in buses like that to Mosul’s
university after the troubled times when Christians were targeted in the past,”
Nissan Karoumi, mayor of Hamdaniya said.
Full
report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/22-bombs-kill-one-injure-100-in-north-iraq-police-aj-03
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Jashn-e-Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa’ today
By
Faraz Khan
02
May, 2010
KARACHI:
In order to avoid any untoward incident, as many as 1,500 officials of security
forces in collaboration with over 5,000 volunteers of the Awami National Party
(ANP) have been assigned for the security of ANP’s ‘Jashn-e-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’,
which will be held today (Sunday), police officials and ANP leaders informed
Daily Times on Saturday.
These
security measures have been taken in light of targeted killings, bomb blasts and
suicide attacks, which claimed many precious lives in the past.
ANP’s
Jashn-e-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is being organised at the main Sea View, Clifton,
which will start at 3pm and continue till midnight to celebrate the renaming of
NWFP with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Besides, cultural dances, Pukhtoon’s party song
and fireworks, leaders would address the celebration.
Full
report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\02\story_2-5-2010_pg12_1
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Belgium
burqa ban: More EU nations may follow suit
Nandini
Jawli
02
May, 2010
The
first European ban on wearing of the Islamic burqa in public is poised to come
into force in Belgium. A parliamentary vote on a Bill has been passed
unanimously.
Belgium’s
lower House of Parliament has passed the law that would ban women from wearing
burqa, the full Islamic face veil in public. The measure now has only to be
rubber-stamped by the Senate after June general elections to become a
law.
France
is already considering “emergency legislation” to ban the burqa and niqab before
politicians go on holiday in August. Some members of European Parliament are
also demanding that the provision should be adopted across the
EU.
Full
report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/252995/Belgium-burqa-ban-More-EU-nations-may-follow-suit.html
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ATS
seeks permission for narco-test on Ajmer blast suspect
May
2, 2010
AJMER/JAIPUR:
Rajasthan Police has moved a court here for permission to conduct a
narco-analysis test on alleged Hindu right-wing activist Devendra Gupta,
arrested in connection with the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast which left three dead
and over 30 injured.
"We
have sought permission from the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ajmer, to conduct
narco-test on Gupta and a decision on it will be taken in the next hearing
tomorrow," Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) sources said today.
The
ATS has arrested three persons in the blast case -- Devendra from Ajmer and
Chandrashekhar and Vishnu Patidar from Madhya Pradesh. Gupta and Chandrashekar
are on police remand and being interrogated by the ATS in Jaipur while the
Patidar, who was apprehended yesterday, has been brought here.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/ATS-seeks-permission-for-narco-test-on-Ajmer-blast-suspect/articleshow/5882709.cms
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Pak
unearths smuggling racket exploiting the NATO supply route
May
2, 2010
KARACHI:
Authorities here have unearthed a major smuggling racket involving
transportation of contraband goods into Pakistan in containers used by NATO
troops in Afghanistan.
A
senior official of the Customs Intelligence Directorate did not rule out the
involvement of customs officials in the smuggling racket.
"We
have impounded around 30 containers registered in the name of NATO which
contained alcohol, expensive spices and other contraband items," the official
said.
The
contraband items were being smuggled into Pakistan in containers shown to be
registered for the use of NATO troops in Afghanistan, he said.
Full
report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pak-unearths-smuggling-racket-exploiting-the-NATO-supply-route/articleshow/5882984.cms
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Talibanisation
of Balochistan: Two wrongs never make a right
Mir
Mohammad Ali Talpur
02
May, 2010
The
state and media in Pakistan seem to suffer from the ‘Gaza syndrome’, in which a
single homemade rocket fired by the Palestinians has to be brought to world
attention while the bombing of Gaza is glossed over
The
killing of non-combatants in any conflict is reprehensible and deserves to be
unequivocally condemned; the condemnation, however, has to be even-handed. You
cannot condemn infringements of the rights of one group and neglect the travails
of others. At the risk of being misunderstood, I have ventured to write about
the sad and unnecessary killing of Assistant Professor Nazima Talib and condemn
it. I, however, want to make it clear that my sympathies have always been and
will always be with the struggle for Baloch rights.
Full
report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\02\story_2-5-2010_pg3_4
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Bodo
chief handed over by Dhaka
Manoj
Anand
02
May, 2010
Guwahati,
May 1: The Bangladeshi authorities handed over Ranjan Daimary, alias D.R. Nabla,
the chairman of the proscribed National Demo-cratic Front of Bodoland and main
accused in the Assam serial blasts of October 30, 2008, to the BSF at the Daowki
border area in Meghalaya on Saturday.
Daimary
was kept in confinement the past few days in Bangladesh and evicted after
intense negotiations between New Delhi and Dhaka. Dhaka was initially reluctant
to hand him over.
The
Indian government has sought the eviction of at least seven top Northeast rebel
leaders (including Daimary) who are carrying out subversive activities from
Sherpur and other Bangladeshi districts.
Full
report at:
http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10942:bodo-chief-handed-over-by-dhaka&catid=34:top-story&Itemid=59
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'Barbaric'
killing of murder suspect by Lebanese mob
02
May, 2010
Lebanese
officials are investigating the lynching by angry villagers of an Egyptian man
accused of killing a local couple and their two
grandchildren.
The
suspect was with police re-enacting the crime when he was seized by a mob in a
village south of Beirut, according to Lebanese media
reports.
The
mob stabbed him to death and then hanged him with a butcher's hook from a pole
in the village square.
Officials
condemned the action by villagers as "barbaric".
Interior
Minister Ziad Baroud ordered an investigation and said such vigilante action was
"extremely dangerous".
'Army
intervention'
Full
report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8654604.stm
8:01 AM
Sultan Shahin
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