Muslims
greet Kashmir’s Hindus on Khirbhawani festival
Iran’s Karroubi vows to keep protest alive
Turkish troops enter Iraq after Kurd rebel
attacks
Egypt: Islam suppresses Christian doctrine on
marriage
You're no longer popular as you once were: Al-Qaida's Adam Gadahn to
Obama
Pakistan needs to do more in war against terror:
Holbrooke
Israel reserves right to stop Lebanon-Gaza
flotilla
Books: Death threat fails to silence Hirsi Ali's criticism of
Islam
Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam
Isn’t
Saudi bus crash kills 10 Pakistani pilgrims
Baghdad suicide bombers kill 26 in crowded
street
Fresh assault kills 13 ‘militants’ in Orakzai
War on terror to be won with popular support:
PM
MNAs demand abolition of Islamic Ideology Council, Shariat
Court
Ideology needed to fight Abu Sayyaf, says military officer
First wife’s allegations puncture credibility of Rukhsana’s
marriage
Osama, Omar hiding near Pak-Afghan border:
Holbrooke
Hurriyat leader Geelani detained over provocative speech in
J&K
Iraqi son kills father for working with US
troops
One killed in CRPF firing in Srinagar
Rs 35,000 to hush up child's murder, rape?
J&K POLICE BUST SEX RACKET, 8 ARRESTED
Seraiki schools of
terror
Azad to showcase Assam healthcare scheme in U.S
Pak wants good relations with India: Gilani
LeT surveyed 100 targets, I covered almost one-third: Headley to
Indian investigators
Love, sex change and dhokha in Srinagar
Poles decide Presidential successor
Security in Afghanistan has not improved: UN
chief
New rabbi for Chabad House revival
Hindus spit fire against Geelani’s Amarnath
rant
Taliban spin doctor’s take
Firing from Pakistan kills two civilians
Jundullah militants storm court in Karachi, two
killed
Pandits Throng Jammu Fair
Anti-graft body declares assets to provide
transparency
PML-Q calls for disbanding CII
Compiled by Asit kumar
Photo: Abdolmalek Rigi, head of the Sunni rebel group Jundollah, was
hanged early Sunday
----------
Iran: Leader of militant group Jundollah
executed
June 20, 2010
Abdolmalek Rigi, head of the Sunni rebel group Jundollah who waged a
deadly insurgency in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, was
hanged early Sunday, state news agency IRNA reported.
"After the decision of the Tehran revolutionary tribunal, Abdolmalek
Rigi was hanged on Sunday morning in Evin prison," IRNA
said.
It quoted a court statement as saying: "The head of the armed
counter-revolutionary group in the east of the country ... was responsible for
armed robbery, assassination attempts, armed attacks on the army and police and
on ordinary people, and murder."
Rigi was captured in February while on a flight from Dubai to
Kyrgystan. His hanging on Sunday comes less than a month after his brother
Abdolhamid was hanged on charges of "terrorism".
A Tehran Revolutionary court sentenced Rigi to death and the Supreme
Court upheld the sentence, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency
said.
Rigi led the shadowy Sunni militant group called Jundollah (Soldiers
of God) that had waged a deadly insurgency in southeastern Iran killing
civilians as well as military officials.
Iran says the group was backed by the United
States.
IRNA, quoting the court statement, said Rigi's group was "responsible
for the killing of 154 members of security forces and other innocent people and
wounding of 320 people since 2003."
It said Jundollah was "linked to members of foreign intelligence
services, including members from U.S. and Zionist regime's intelligence services
under the cover of NATO."
It was also linked to intelligence services of some Arab countries
and counter-revolutionary group People's Mujahedeen, the statement
said.
Rigi himself was charged with forming the "terrorist group Jundollah
which was fighting the Islamic republic."
"He collaborated and ordered 15 armed abductions, confessed to three
murders, and ordered the murders of tens of citizens, police and military
personnel through bombings and armed actions," the statement
added.
IRNA said he had been sentenced to be hanged in front of the
relatives of some of the victims of his attacks, but the report did not specify
whether he was actually executed in their presence.
A new leader
Rigi's arrest was reportedly a spectacular operation, with Iranian
warplanes forcing the flight carrying the militant from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan to
land in Iran.
Soon after his arrest, the Jundollah group claimed it had appointed a
new leader Muhammad Dhahir Baluch, the SITE monitoring agency
reported.
According to SITE Jundollah said in its website posting: "Let the
(Iranian) regime know that it will face a movement that is stronger and much
more solid than ever before and one whose existence it has not been aware
of.
"It will see what our believing heroes among our Baluch children can
do to the occupiers, the aggressors and the unjust. The falsehood of the senior
leaders of the regime will soon be exposed."
Jundollah says it is fighting Tehran's Shiite rule to secure rights
for Sunni Baluchis who form a significant population in
Sistan-Baluchestan.
A few days after Rigi's arrest Iranian state media alleged that the
United States had offered to provide the militant aid to battle the Islamic
regime.
"They (Americans) said they would cooperate with us and will give me
military equipment," Rigi said in a taped statement broadcast on Iran's
state-run English-language Press TV.
Tehran has long accused the group of being trained and equipped by
American and British intelligence services as well as the Pakistanis in a bid to
destabilize the government. Washington denies the charges.
Rigi's brother Abdolhamid was hanged in Zahedan, the capital of
Sistan-Baluchestan, on May 24 in front of the families of the victims, state
media had reported.
Abdolhamid was convicted of "Moharebeh" (armed opposition to the
state) and being "corrupt on earth by membership in a terrorist
group."
Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan is an impoverished
area near Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bombings and clashes between security
forces, ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents and drug traffickers have increased in
recent years in the area.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/06/20/111797.html
----------
Muslims greet Kashmir’s Hindus on Khirbhawani
festival
Jun 20th, 2010
Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus from across the country on Saturday
thronged the Khirbhawani temple in north Kashmir’s Ganderbal district for an
annual festival. Local Muslims greeted them with sweets as part of a centuries’
old practice in the State where the two religions have traditionally lived in
harmony.
The temple in Tullamulla village, about 25 km from here, is dedicated
to Ragnya Devi, an incarnation of Goddess Durga.
Muslims lined up outside the temple Saturday with ‘kheer’ in earthen
potsfor their Hindu brethren.
Legend has it that Lord Rama worshipped Ragnya during his entire
14-year exile. When this ended, Lord Rama asked Hanuman to relocate the shrine
of the goddess. Hanuman relocated it to Shadipora in Kashmir. But the deity
appeared in a local priest’s dream asking him to relocate the shrine at its
present location.
Devotees of all ages throng the shrine each year and engage in
prayers and meditation to seek the blessings of the deity.
The spring water inside the temple complex bears special significance
as it is believed that the colour of water on the festival day foretells the
year’s future for the State.
“The colour of the spring water is milky white which foretells a
prosperous year for the State,” said Radhakrishan Bhan, 56, who came here all
the way from Pune.
After majority of the Hindus migrated out of the State in the 1990s
in the wake of separatist violence here, hundreds of them have been reaching
here each year this day from different parts of the country.
“We look forward to the time when we can return to our roots in
Kashmir,” said Shiban Krishen, 47, who came from the Jammu to pray at the
temple.
Tight security arrangement was put in place in and around the temple.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/263834/Muslims-greet-Kashmir%E2%80%99s-Hindus-on-Khirbhawani-festival.html
----------
Iran’s Karroubi vows to keep protest alive
June 20, 2010
Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi on Sunday vowed to continue fighting
the presidential "vote scandal" which rocked Iran, a year to the day after the
death of a young woman at a Tehran protest rally.
Karroubi's latest salvo comes 12 months after a deadly demonstration
in the capital against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led to
the killing of 10 people, including Neda Agha-Soltan.
A mobile phone video posted on the Internet showing the young woman
bleeding to death in the street during the June 20, 2009 rally became the symbol
of the uprising against Ahmadinejad's re-election.
" Your stolen votes and the right which was unjustly taken away is a
scandal which will not be wiped out at all "
Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi
In an open letter to Iranians posted on his Sahamnews.org website,
Karroubi criticized supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and attacked the
authorities for jailing protesters and "filling cemeteries" with those killed in
the unrest.
"Your stolen votes and the right which was unjustly taken away is a
scandal which will not be wiped out at all," said the cleric who has refused to
accept Ahmadinejad's re-election.
"I once again declare in all honesty that I will be committed to my
pact with you until the end."
Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters poured onto the
streets of Tehran soon after last year's presidential election result returned
Ahmadinejad to office for a second term.
The opposition movement claims that the poll was massively rigged in
Ahmadinejad's favor, and has continued to reject his government ever
since.
Dozens of people were killed in the clashes between protesters and
security forces, and thousands were jailed in a crackdown launched by the
authorities to quell the demonstrations that rocked the pillars of the Islamic
regime.
Different view
" The authority and domain of Velayat-e Faqih has been expanded so
much, it is unlikely that God could have granted so much authority to the
prophets and Imams. I don't even think God would have considered such a right
for himself in dealing with his people "
Karroubi
On Sunday Karroubi, a former parliament speaker who was defeated in
the election, said the people viewed the result differently from
Khamenei.
"The leader declared his view about the election, but we saw that the
people, with all due respect to him, thought differently by claiming back the
votes they had cast," he said.
He was referring to a June 19, 2009 Tehran Friday prayers sermon by
Khamenei in which he openly backed Ahmadinejad's re-election and called for an
end to street demonstrations.
Opposition supporters continued to protest for several weeks after
Khamenei's call.
Karroubi accused Khamenei and the authorities of using ideology to
expand their powers beyond those allocated by the
constitution.
Khamenei has proved to be a rock-solid advocate of revolutionary
leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's ideology of the Velayat-e Faqih, the notion
that religious authority is the supreme political authority in an Islamic
republic.
"Why have they resorted to Velayat-e Faqih to undermine the
constitution and the Islamic republic which depends on people's votes?" Karroubi
questioned.
"The authority and domain of Velayat-e Faqih has been expanded so
much, it is unlikely that God could have granted so much authority to the
prophets and Imams. I don't even think God would have considered such a right
for himself in dealing with his people."
Karroubi accused the authorities of "depriving people of their right
to question by sending them to Kahrizak and filling
cemeteries."
During last year's unrest several protesters were sent to Kahrizak
detention centre, south of Tehran. It was later ordered closed by Khamenei after
reports that inmates there had been widely abused.
Officials have acknowledged that at least three protesters died while
in custody at Kahrizak.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/06/20/111832.html
----------
Turkish troops enter Iraq after Kurd rebel
attacks
June 20, 2010
Turkish forces pushed into northern Iraq on Sunday, killing four
people, including a 15-year-old girl, as they retaliate against hideouts of
Kurdish rebels who killed 12 soldiers in the deadliest spell of violence in two
years.
The ground incursion into Iraq came after Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to fight the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) "to the
end" in response to what he called the "cowardly" assault by its
fighters.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Kurdish
militants would "drown in their own blood" as he lead political and army chiefs
in paying respects to troops killed in a clash with the
rebels.
" Kurdish militants would drown in their own blood
"
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
PKK spokesman Ahmed Denis hit back with a threat to take the rebels'
campaign of violence to cities across Turkey if the army did not halt its policy
of confrontation.
By morning, the troops had advanced 10 kilometres into Iraqi
territory in the Qandil mountains where the rebels maintain a network of rear
bases in their 26-year-old armed campaign for self-rule in southeastern Turkey,
the Iraqi Kurdish security official said.
Turkish fire killed a 15-year-old girl and wounded her mother and
two-year-old brother in Khwakurq village, Sidikan district commissioner Ahmed
Qader told AFP.
As Turkish forces crossed the border and advanced into Iraqi
territory during the night they killed another three people, a security official
said, without specifying whether the dead were civilians or PKK
fighters.
Inside Turkey, the rebels kept up their attacks during the night,
killing one soldier and wounding another, bringing the military's losses over
the past two days to 12, Turkey's Anatolia news agency
reported.
Clashes broke out between troops and PKK fighters after the rebels
attacked a barracks near the eastern town of Palu, Anatolia
said.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/06/20/111841.html
----------
Egypt: Islam suppresses Christian doctrine on
marriage
June 20, 2010
It is not enough that the Egyptian government facilitates persecution
of the Copts, Egypt’s indigenous Christian minority. Now the government is
interfering directly with the church’s autonomy concerning doctrine. According
to the Assyrian International News Agency:
The head of the Coptic Church in Egypt has rejected a court ruling
that orders the church to allow divorced Copts to remarry in the church. In a
press conference held on Tuesday June 8, Pope Shenouda [III], reading from the
statement issued by the Holy Synod’s 91 Bishops, including himself, said: “The
Coptic Church respects the law, but does not accept rulings which are against
the Bible and against its religious freedom which is guaranteed by the
Constitution.” He went on to say “the recent ruling is not acceptable to our
conscience, and we cannot implement it.” He also said that marriage is a holy
sacrament of a purely religious nature and not merely an “administrative act.”
Though little reported in the West, this issue is rapidly boiling
over. There is even talk that, if he does not submit to the court’s ruling, the
pope will (once again) be imprisoned. What is behind such unprecedented
governmental interference with the Coptic Church’s autonomy?
Reading Egypt’s national newspaper, Al Ahram, one gets the impression
that, by trying to make divorce and remarriage easier for Copts, the Egyptian
government is attempting to “liberalize” Coptic society — only to be challenged
by an antiquated pope not open to “reform.” It quotes one Copt saying that the
“pope’s limiting divorce and remarriage to cases of adultery is unfair. It is
against human nature.”
Even the manager of the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance
claims that his position “exposes Pope Shenouda’s desire to impose his will over
the Christian community” (a curious statement, considering that some 10,000
Copts recently demonstrated in support of the pope, and that the Catholic and
Orthodox churches — which guide some 1.5 billion Christians — hold similar views
on divorce and remarriage).
At any rate, lest the reader truly think that the Egyptian government
is becoming more “liberal,” there are a few important facts to remember:
Orthodox rabbis denounce 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on gays in
military
First, according to the Second Article of the Egyptian Constitution,
Sharia law — one of, if not the most draconian law codes to survive the Medieval
period — is “the principal source of legislation.” This means that any number of
measures contrary to basic human rights are either explicitly or implicitly
supported by the Egyptian government, including polygamy, the obstruction of
churches, and institutionalized discrimination against non-Muslims and females
in general. Put differently, Sharia law can be liberal — but only to male
Muslims, who (speaking of marriage and divorce) can have up to four wives, and
divorce them by simply uttering “I divorce you” thrice (even via “text
messaging”).
Moreover, the Egyptian government — again, in accordance to Sharia
law — prevents Muslims from converting to Christianity. Mohammad Hegazy, for
instance, tried formally to change his religion from Muslim to Christian on his
I.D. card — yes, in Egypt, people are Gestapo-like categorized by their religion
— only to be denied by the Egyptian court. (Many other such anecdotes abound.)
In other words, while the Egyptian government portrays itself as “modernizing”
the church’s “archaic” position on divorce and remarriage, it — the government,
not Al Azhar, nor some radical sheikhs, nor the Muslim mob — prevents (including
by imprisonment and torture) Muslims from converting to Christianity.
As for those who accuse Pope Shenouda of behaving no better,
consider: he is not enforcing a totalitarian law that Copts must accept; he is
simply saying that, in accordance to the Bible (e.g., Matt 5:32), and except in
certain justifiable circumstances (e.g., adultery), Copts cannot remarry in the
church: “Let whoever wants to remarry to do it away from us. There are many ways
and churches to marry in. Whoever wants to remain within the church has to abide
by its laws.”
If this still sounds a tad “non-pluralistic,” know that at least
Copts have a way out: quit the church. No such way out for Muslims: Sharia law —
Egypt’s “primal source of legislation” — mandates death for Muslims who wish to
quit Islam.
Nor has the inherent hypocrisy of the government’s position been
missed by Egyptians: “The pope evaded answering a question presented by a
reporter in the press conference on whether the court would dare order Al Azhar
[Egypt’s highest Islamic authority] to agree to a Muslim marrying a fifth wife
and not only four, comparing it to the interference of the Court in the Bible
teachings through its recent ruling.” A good question, indeed.
Finally, the grandest oddity of this situation is the fact that, for
all its inhumane practices, Sharia law does, in fact, permit dhimmis to govern
their communities according to their own creeds, a fact not missed by the pope
himself, who “pointed to Islamic Law, which allows religious minorities to
follow their own rules and customs.”
In short, the Egyptian government is behaving even more intolerantly
than its medieval Muslim predecessors who, while openly oppressive of
Christians, at least allowed the latter to govern their own, personal affairs
according to Christian doctrine. As Pope Shenouda declared at the emergency Holy
Synod, “the ruling must be reconsidered, otherwise this will mean that the Copts
are suffering and that they are religiously oppressed.”
Indeed, when Copts are violently persecuted by Muslims, the
government claims that it cannot control the actions of a minority of
“extremists.” However, now that the Egyptian government is personally tampering
with the church’s ability to live according to Christian doctrine, what more
proof is needed that it seeks to subvert Coptic society and is an enabler of
Coptic persecution?
Raymond Ibrahim is the associate director of the Middle East Forum,
the author of The Al Qaeda Reader, and a guest lecturer at the National Defense
Intelligence College. He writes at his website and at Pajamas Media.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only,
not of Spero News.
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&idsub=158&id=35133&t=Egypt:+Islam+suppresses+Christian+doctrine+on+marriage
----------
You're no longer popular as you once were: Al-Qaida's Adam Gadahn to
Obama
Jun 20, 2010
CAIRO: Al-Qaida's American-born spokesman has repeated the terror
group's conditions for peace with America, calling on President Barack Obama to
withdraw his troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, end support for Israel, stop
intervening in the affairs of Muslims and free Muslim prisoners.
In the second, 24-minute part of a video released in March and posted
on militant websites on Sunday, Adam Gadahn said the Democrats' loss in January
of the Massachusetts Senate seat underlined Obama's falling popularity.
In white robes and turban, Gadahn told Obama: "You're no longer the
popular man you once were, a year ago or so."
Gadahn is wanted by the FBI since 2004 with a $1 million reward for
information leading to his arrest or conviction. He is also known as Azzam
al-Amriki, Arabic for American.
Times of India
----------
Pakistan needs to do more in war against terror:
Holbrooke
Jun 20, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan needs to do much more in the war against
terrorism in a planned manner, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke has said.
"In regard to the war itself, Pakistan has made progress, but it
doesn't mean that we've reached the end of the road. This is a tough, long
struggle and much more needs to be done," Holbrooke told a joint press
conference on Saturday after a meeting with Pakistani foreign minister Shah
Mahmood Qureshi.
The US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said
al-Qaeda's network had been "severely degraded" by joint US-Pakistani efforts.
"The al-Qaida network has been severely degraded in recent years in efforts that
both our countries work on," the Daily Times quoted Holbrooke as saying.
The visiting envoy reiterated the US' commitment and assurance to
extend more financial help to Pakistan in energy, education, health and the
anti-terror war.
To a question on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Holbrooke
said, "it is Pakistan's own decision on the project," adding that the US had no
concerns on the project.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-needs-to-do-more-in-war-against-terror-Holbrooke/articleshow/6070497.cms
----------
Israel reserves right to stop Lebanon-Gaza
flotilla
Jun 19 2010
United Nations : Israel told the United Nations on Friday it reserved
its right to use all necessary means to stop ships that it said planned to try
to sail from Lebanon to bring aid to Gaza, blockaded by the Jewish
state.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to the Security
Council, Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev also called on the Lebanese
government to prevent the ships from leaving.
An international furor erupted after the Israeli navy stormed a
six-ship aid flotilla heading for Gaza on May 31, killing eight Turks and a
Turkish-American on board. Israel said its commandos acted in self-defense after
being attacked.
Following the outcry, Israel said on Thursday it was easing its land
blockade of the Gaza Strip, which for the past three years has been controlled
by Palestinian Hamas militants. But it said the sea blockade would
continue.
Shalev said it appeared a small number of ships planned to sail from
Lebanon and that while the organizers said they wished to take aid to Gaza, the
true nature of their actions remains dubious.
Organizers had said they wished to become martyrs and there was a
possible link to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan
Nasrallah had called on Lebanese citizens to take part in such flotillas, Shalev
said.
As a result, Israel cannot exclude the possibility that terrorists or
arms will be smuggled onboard the ships in question, the Israeli envoy
wrote.
Given the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the state of
hostility between Lebanon and the Jewish state, Israel reserves its right under
international law to use all necessary means to prevent these ships from
violating the existing naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, she
said.
There were appropriate mechanisms for sending aid to Gaza, Shalev
said, calling on Lebanon to demonstrate responsibility and to prevent these
boats from departing to the Gaza Strip.
She also called on the international community to use its influence
to stop the boats departing and to discourage their nationals from taking part
in the action.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/israel-reserves-right-to-stop-lebanongaza-flotilla/635933/
----------
Books: Death threat fails to silence Hirsi Ali's criticism of
Islam
By Carole Zimmer
June 20, 2010
Ayaan Hirsi Ali travels with security ever since a Muslim radical
murdered the filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam and vowed she would be next.
Her views on women's rights are anathema to Islamic
fundamentalists.
Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Hirsi Ali is now based in Washington,
where she is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. The Netherlands, where she was a member of the Dutch
Parliament, proved to be an unenthusiastic guarantor of her
safety.
I spoke with Hirsi Ali at Bloomberg headquarters in New York about
her new book, "Nomad," which describes the consequences of a life in which she
"wandered rootless" and publicly disavowed Islam.
Why are so many young Muslim men susceptible to Islamic
radicalism?
I'm not implying that all Muslims are terrorists or dangerous or bad
and cruel to women. Fortunately, most Muslims are not. But we see an increasing
number of people who are finding in Islamic scripture justifications for cruel
behavior toward women.
Increasingly, we also see a number of individuals who find
justifications for killing other people by identifying the U.S. and other
countries as enemy countries open for war. That is something unfortunately that
is inherent in Islam and Islamic scripture.
In the Koran itself?
Well, I can't say that it's the Koran that causes a husband to beat
his wife, but when I was a translator
in Holland and we condemned some men for beating their wives, they
would pull out the Koran and say, "Look here, Chapter 4, Verse 34, gives me a
reason, and in fact even obligates me, to beat my wife if she's
disobedient."
The imam in the mosque is reminding and actually telling a lot of men
who do not even know what's in the Koran, "Did you know that you have a right to
discipline your wife?" I think it's time we started talking about the
rightfulness and wrongfulness of the moral framework that Mohammad left behind,
and that's taboo.
Is the problem that there is no tolerance for anyone who questions
Islam?
There are individual Muslims who want to reform the faith and the way
it's practiced, but those people have always been labeled heretics, apostates
and have been persecuted.
I try to explain in my book that the silent Muslim majority have a
hard time condemning fellow Muslims who are violent because they feel they can't
criticize the Koran. When I was growing up as a Muslim, we were all
indoctrinated with the idea the prophet Mohammad is infallible, he can do no
harm, he has done no harm, he was a pure man. He's out of bounds and that's the
predicament.
I became estranged from my family as a result of my questioning of
Islam, and my plea to not let scripture prevail over human rights. I believe
things will change and I am inspired, encouraged by the evolution that
Christians have gone through, that Jews have gone through.
I believe Muslims can do the same thing. And the first step is by
teaching young children, both boys and girls, to learn the skill and the art of
self-reflection. Don't just swallow something because an authority figure tells
you this is the truth.
You say Western countries need to take action. What kind of action do
you mean?
We need to compose an alternative message and compete with the agents
of radical Islam for the hearts and minds of young Muslims. Offer an alternative
theology -- give them a concept of God that is friendly and
tolerant.
I don't believe in God. Atheists should get together and compose a
message of enlightenment and say let's replace a belief system that is not only
outdated and primitive but also very violent, with something new and humanistic
and tolerant. The way to do it is to compete.
http://www.sltrib.com/arts/ci_15325904
----------
Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam
Isn’t
June 20, 2010
Christianity or Islam: which is the real “religion of
peace”?
Almost any liberal pundit will tell you that there’s a religion bent
on destroying our Constitution, stripping us of our liberties, and imposing
religious rule on the U.S. And that religion is . . .Christianity! About Islam,
however, the Left is silent–except to claim a moral equivalence between the two:
if Islam has terrorists today, that’s nothing compared to the Crusades,
inquisitions, and religious wars in Christianity’s past.
But is this true? Are conservative Christians really more of a threat
to free societies than Islamic jihadists? Is the Bible really “just as violent”
as the Qur’an? Is Christianity’s history really as bloodstained as Islam’s? In
Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t, New York Times
bestselling author Robert Spencer not only refutes such charges, but also
explains why Americans and Europeans must regain an appreciation of our
Christian heritage if we ever hope to defeat Islamic supremacism. In this eye
opening work, Spencer reveals:
* The fundamental differences between Islamic and Christian teachings
about warfare against other religions: “Love your enemies” vs. “Be ruthless to
the unbelievers”
* The myth of Western immorality and Islamic puritanism and why the
Islamic world is less moral than the West
* Why the Islamic world has never developed the distinction between
religious and secular law that is inherent in Christianity
* Why Christianity has always embraced reason–and Islam has always
rejected it
* Why the most determined enemies of Western civilization may not be
the jihadists at all, but the leftists who fear their churchgoing neighbors more
than Islamic terrorists
* Why Jews, Christians, and peoples of other faiths (or no faith) are
equally at risk from militant Islam
Spencer writes not to proselytize, but to state a fact: Christianity
is a true “religion of peace,” and on it Western civilization stands. If we are
not to perish under Islam’s religion of the sword–with its more than 100 million
active jihadists seeking to impose sharia law–we had better defend our own
civilization.
http://www.belief411.com/religion-of-peace-why-christianity-is-and-islam-isnt/
----------
Saudi bus crash kills 10 Pakistani pilgrims
20 Jun, 2010
RIYADH: Ten Pakistani Muslim pilgrims were killed and 25 injured,
including women and children, when their bus crashed north of the holy city of
Makkah, Saudi media reported on Sunday.
The bus carrying the pilgrims overturned on the highway between the
holy cities of Makkah and Medina near Khulais, about 80 kilometres north of
Jeddah, according to reports.
The group was on an umrah, or minor pilgrimage, to the holy
cities.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/04-10-pak-pilgrims-die-qs-11
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Baghdad suicide bombers kill 26 in crowded
street
20 Jun, 2010
BAGHDAD: Suicide bombers in two cars killed 26 people and wounded 53
in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday when they drove down a crowded street and
blew themselves up simultaneously, security officials
said.
The morning bombings, which came hot on the heels of attacks late on
Saturday that killed seven people and wounded 20, underlined the dangers of a
resurgence of violence amid a persistent political vacuum more than three months
after a general election.
The bombers struck outside a bank in a major thoroughfare in the
mainly Sunni Arab Mansur district that provides access to the fortified Green
Zone government and embassy compound in the city centre from western
Iraq.
“The report of the bomb disposal team confirmed that the two attacks
that happened in Mansur today were carried out by suicide bombers who drove the
car bombs,” the capital’s operations command said.
“Each car was loaded with 80
kilogram’s of ammonium nitrate,” the command said in a
statement.
“They were detonated
simultaneously. They targeted the Iraq Bank for Commerce.”
The bank is the conduit for
much of the government's foreign exchange transactions and its dealings with
investors.
“The bank branch was
seriously damaged,” a security official told AFP.
Among the casualties were
women and children, as well as traffic police based
nearby.
The street was also busy with
people queuing to renew passports or visas in adjacent government offices, the
official added.
The twin blasts marked the
deadliest day in Iraq since May 10 when four bombs in the mainly Shia central
city of Hilla and other attacks killed more than 100 people -- the highest toll
of this year.
US and Iraqi officials had
warned of the dangers of an upsurge of violence if negotiations on forming a new
governing coalition dragged on too long, giving insurgent groups an opportunity
to further destabilise the country.
On Saturday evening, three
roadside bombs planted in Hurriya, a Shia neighbourhood in the north of Baghdad,
killed four people and wounded 16, a security official told
AFP.
Fire from a Katyusha multiple
rocket launcher killed three people and wounded four in Al-Obeidi, an anarchic
Shia slum district in the far east of the capital beyond the sprawling Shia
bastion of Sadr City, an official said.
And in the Zayouna
neighbourhood of central Baghdad, police found the bodies of five women. A
security official said they were believed to have been killed two or three weeks
ago.
Government figures showed
that 337 people were killed as a result of violence in May, the fourth time this
year that the overall death toll has been higher than in the corresponding month
of 2009.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/22-twin-baghdad-car-blasts-kill-26-wound-53-aj-01
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Fresh assault kills 13 ‘militants’ in Orakzai
20 Jun, 2010
PESHAWAR: A fresh assault by security forces killed at least 13
suspected militants and wounded 10 others in the Orakzai tribal region, DawnNews
reported.
Official sources said the insurgents were killed when fighter jets
attacked militant hideouts in Orakzai's Torsmad and Khotak
areas.
Four of the militant hideouts were also destroyed during the
attack.
Separately, five insurgents were killed when ordnance exploded in one
of their hideouts in Orakzai's Samar bazaar area.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-orakzai-assault-13-killed-qs-17
----------
War on terror to be won with popular support:
PM
20 Jun, 2010
MULTAN: The war against terrorism cannot be won without the people's
support, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday, DawnNews
reported.
The reason why Musharraf was not successful in fighting terrorism was
because he did not have popular support, Gilani told reporters in
Multan.
He further said that the government has also invited PML-N chief
Nawaz Sharif to the parliament and that the PPP has always promoted the politics
of reconciliation.
Regarding corruption allegations against politicians, he said that if
corruption is endemic in society then "only politicians should not be the target
of such allegations".
"While corruption allegations are mounting on the political
government, no one talks about accountability when it comes to military
dictators," he said.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-pm-waronerror-multan-qs-16
----------
MNAs demand abolition of Islamic Ideology Council, Shariat
Court
By Tahir Niaz
June 20, 2010
* PML-Q’s Riaz Pirzada terms suicides due to poverty ‘will of
God’
* Lawmakers continue debate over 2010-11 budget
ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers continued their discussion on the 2010-11 budget
on Friday in the National Assembly, where some members called for the abolition
of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and the Federal Shariat
Court.
During the debate, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) MNA
Riaz Hussain Pirzada termed the recent suicides in the country due to poverty
“God’s will”. “Those who come to this world must have to leave it one day, and
this is God’s will,” he said.
Referring to reports that Maulana Sherani has been appointed as the
head of CII, Pirzada said that “a representative of terrorists” was being
appointed as the new head of the ideology council.
He said CII and Shariat Court should be abolished, as “these
institutions had never issued a decree against the killing of non-Muslims”.
“They have contributed nothing to the interpretation of Islamic
principles and in delivering verdicts according to Islamic injunctions,” he
said. He further stated that it was not the duty of the court to “paralyse the
government”.
Bushra Gohar of the Awami National Party (ANP) also supported
Pirzada’s stance on the CII, saying Maulana Sherani should not be appointed to
head the council.
During the discussion, when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Information
Secretary Fouzia Wahab tried to speak without permission of the deputy speaker,
her microphone was switched off.
However, she managed to continue her speech and urged the US and
international monetary institutions to write-off Pakistan’s loans as an
acknowledgement of Pakistan’s role in the war against
terror.
She also supported the imposition of the Value Added Tax, saying
everyone in the country should pay their taxes to enhance government revenues.
She said this would enable the government to allocate more funds for poverty
alleviation.
Participating in the debate, Malik Ibrar Ahmed said that it was not a
pro-poor budget, as the government claimed. “No significant measure has been
proposed in the budget to overcome price hikes and other issues confronting the
masses,” he said.
During the speech, Member National Assembly (MNA) Dr Araish Kumar
demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate alleged
corruption in the Evacuee Trust Board. He also urged the government to increase
seats for minorities in the National Assembly.
Ayub Sheikh said that the government should review the Afghan Transit
Trade policy, which had increased smuggling in Pakistan.
Usman Khan, Saira Afzal Tarar, Qudsia Arshad, Umar Sohail Butt,
Manwar Lal, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Sardar Bahadar Ahmad Khan, Malik Azmat Khan,
Jamshed Dasti, Kashmala Tariq and Mian Abdul Haq also participated in the
debate.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\06\19\story_19-6-2010_pg7_16
----------
Ideology needed to fight Abu Sayyaf, says military
officer
By Marlon Ramos
June 20, 2010
After spending billions of pesos in armaments and losing the lives of
hundreds of soldiers and innocent civilians, a senior military official said
Saturday the government must rethink its militarist approach to ending the Abu
Sayyaf’s reign of terror in the country.
Brigadier General Francisco Cruz, the Armed Force’s Civil Relations
Services chief, pointed out that “a glaring weakness” in the government’s
anti-terrorism program was the lack of an “ideological response” to the
problem.
“(The) war on terror is a war of ideas and, therefore, the strategy
to defeat Abu Sayyaf and radical Islam… requires an ideological counterforce
that would compete with the enemy’s ideology,” Cruz said in an e-mailed
statement.
Despite its notoriety, Cruz said, the Abu Sayyaf can be considered as
“a politico-religious terrorist group” as shown by its previous attacks,
including the bloody Valentine’s Day bombings in 2006.
“(W)hat keeps the Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim extremist forces alive
in this country is radical Islam or the waging of jihad by violent means,” he
said.
These observations were contained in a paper, titled “Defeating Abu
Sayyaf: The Strong and Urgent Need for an Ideological Response,” which he
presented at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in
Singapore.
According to Cruz, the Abu Sayyaf’s use of “radical Islam” to justify
its lawless activities have been very effective in recruiting members and
obtaining financial support from foreign Islamic groups such as the Jemaah
Islamiyah and the Al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
Along with other state agencies, he said, the Armed Forces must take
on proactive policies to put an end to the perceived bias and mistrust between
Muslims and Christians.
By doing this, he said, the government would “destroy the enemy
spirit and promote moderation.”
“Where the main thrust is ideology for ideology, the government
should promote the culture of peace and non-violence to counter the extremism
espoused by the Abu Sayyaf and the violent Muslim groups through community-level
peacemaking,” he said.
He also criticized the government’s "National Plan to Address
Terrorism and its Consequences" for its failure to recognize “terrorist
motivation and mindset.”
Crafted by the Anti-Terrorism Task Force, Cruz argued, the program
was not a holistic approach to address terrorism “as it focuses only on
operational counterterrorism targeting terrorist cells and attack
plans.”
“A military-based response is not enough to destroy Abu Sayyaf and
other Muslim extremist groups in the country,” he said, adding, “It would need a
comprehensive approach to confront an enemy whose roots have political, social,
economic and psychological dimensions.”
Cruz also dismissed the AFP’s earlier pronouncements that the Abu
Sayyaf was already a “spent force,” noting that the terrorist group still has
nearly 400 members who were trained in making explosives.
He said the bandits were also known to have “varying degrees of
influence” in about 164 villages in Sulu, Basilan and
Zamboanga.
“Abu Sayyaf’s kidnapping business, which seem unstoppable, provides
them funds to sustain the organization,” he said.
The Army official also stressed the important role of the media in
the existence of terrorist group like the Abu Sayyaf.
He said the group has “skillfully used the media to gain domestic and
international attention.”
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100619-276485/Ideology-needed-to-fight-Abu-Sayyaf-says-military-officer
----------
First wife’s allegations puncture credibility of Rukhsana’s
marriage
By Arjun Sharma
Jun 20 2010
AT A time when they should be enjoying their honeymoon, Rukhsana
Kausar and her husband are busy battling allegations that their one- month- old
marriage was built on a foundation of half- truths and
lies.
Rukhsana had shot to fame after gunning down a terrorist who attacked
her parents. She hit headlines again last month when she married her bodyguard
Kabir Hussain against her parents’ wishes.
Kabir had then claimed that he was marrying Rukhsana with the consent
of his first wife Parveen Akhter. He had also claimed that he had only one child
from his previous marriage.
But things went awry on Saturday when Parveen visited the office of
the senior superintendent of police ( SSP) in Rajouri to file a complaint
against Kabir.
She alleged that Kabir had started beating her up — to force her
consent — after he and Rukhsana decided to get married.
“ Kabir wanted me to permit his second marriage. When I refused, he
started beating me up. He finally married my permission,” she
said.
“ Kabir and I had got married 13 years ago and we were
happy.
But everything went wrong after he fell in love with Rukhsana,” she
added.
Parveen also said Kabir has five children — three daughters and two
sons — not one. His youngest child, Mohammed, is only nine months
old.
“ Kabir has asked me to take Rs 50,000 from him and return to my
parents’ home without the children. Rukhsana also called me up one day to make
the same request. She said she was willing to pay me more money,” she
said.
While Rukhsana couldn’t be contacted, Kabir has denied the
allegations. “ I never beat her up. Parveen is lying to defame Rukhsana and me,”
he said.
Mail Today
----------
Osama, Omar hiding near Pak-Afghan border:
Holbrooke
Jun 19, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and leader of the Taliban
in Afghanistan Mullah Omar were hiding somewhere along the Pakistan-Afghan
border, US special representative for the region Richard Holbrooke said
Saturday.
Holbrooke, who is on a two-day visit to Pakistan, said this after
meeting Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
He said that the US did not only increase aid to Pakistan's military
but also extended its support in other sectors as well, Dawn reported.
"People all over the world should be more aware of the sacrifices
Pakistani people and the army have made in pushing back militants in Swat, South
Waziristan and other northwestern regions," Holbrooke told a joint news
conference.
"In July I'm expecting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit
Islamabad for a second session of the strategic dialogue," Qureshi
said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Osama-Omar-hiding-near-Pak-Afghan-border-Holbrooke/articleshow/6068821.cms
----------
Hurriyat leader Geelani detained over provocative speech in
J&K
Jun 20, 2010
SRINAGAR: Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was on
Sunday detained by police for making a "provocative" speech, minutes after he
gave a call for a bandh in Kashmir tomorrow against the killing of two youths in
Kupwara district.
Police said the 80-year-old separatist leader was detained as a
"preventive measure" after Geelani addressed a religious gathering in Salkote
area of Kupwara, 120 km from here.
"His (Geelani's) statements during the address seemed to be
provocative and we feared it might prompt violence. So as a preventive measure,
we detained him to avoid law and order problem," Senior Superintendent of
Police, Kupwara, Uttam Chand said.
Geelani and the Hurriyat's moderate faction headed by Mirwaiz Umer
Farooq had given separate calls for Kashmir bandh tomorrow.
Violence broke out in various parts of old city this morning during
the funeral procession of 25-year-old Mohammad Rafiq Bangroo who succumbed to
injuries last night after being allegedly beaten up by CRPF personnel on June
12.
A mob tried to torch a mobile bunker of CRPF in Noorbagh locality,
prompting the paramilitary force personnel to open fire which left Javid Ahmad
Malla and injuries to four others.
Hurriyat Conference spokesman Ayaz Akbar, however, termed as
"baseless" police's charge that Geelani had made a provocative speech.
"It was a peaceful religious gathering. His speech wasn't provocative
at all. These allegations are totally baseless," he claimed.
General Secretary Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Ashraf Sehrai who was
accompanying Geelani was also detained, official sources said.
Geelani, addressing the religious gathering, alleged that the forces
have been ordered "shoot at sight".
"We cannot remain mute spectators to the ongoing killings. The need
of hour is to lodge a strong protest which will shake the Indian institutions,"
he said.
He asked the leaders of mainstream parties to resign from the
assembly.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Hurriyat-leader-Geelani-detained-over-provocative-speech-in-JK/articleshow/6071611.cms
----------
Iraqi son kills father for working with US
troops
Jun 20, 2010
BAGHDAD: An al-Qaida-linked insurgent shot and killed his own father
as he slept for refusing to quit his job as an Iraqi interpreter for the US
military, police said, a rare deadly attack on a close family member over
allegations of collaborating with the enemy.
Hameed al-Daraji, 50, worked as a contractor and translator for the
US military for seven years since after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam
Hussein in 2003. He was shot in the chest about 3am while sleeping in his house
in Samarra, a former insurgent stronghold 95km north of Baghdad, police Lt Emad
Muhsin said.
Authorities arrested the son and his cousin, saying the young men
apparently were trying to prove their loyalty after rejoining the insurgency.
Police were also looking for another son who allegedly took part in the attack.
Citing confessions, police said the son whom they arrested,
Abdul-Halim Hameed, 30, was a former member of al-Qaida in Iraq who quit the
terror network in 2007. But Hameed, his 19-year-old cousin and 24-year-old
brother remained committed to extremist causes.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest-of-World/Iraqi-son-kills-father-for-working-with-US-troops/articleshow/6069719.cms
----------
One killed in CRPF firing in Srinagar
Jun 20, 2010
SRINAGAR: One person was killed and four were injured as CRPF
personnel opened fire on a group of youths who tried to storm their camp in
Noorbagh area of the old city on Sunday morning, officials said here.
The paramilitary force opened fire when some agitated protesters made
an attempt to barge into their camp after the burial of 25-year-old Mohammad
Rafiq Bangroo, who was allegedly beaten up by CRPF personnel at Safakadal on
June 12 during a clash between stone pelters and security forces, they said.
Bangroo succumbed to his injuries last night at a local hospital
after battling for life for a week.
The five youths were injured in the firing today and were taken to a
hospital where Javed Ahmad succumbed to his wounds, the officials said.
Fearing trouble after Bangroo's death, authorities had imposed
restriction on the movement of people in the old city this morning.
Despite the tight security arrangements, residents held protest
demonstrations as Bangroo's body reached Safakadal, demanding action against the
officials who allegedly beat him up.
They insisted that his body be allowed to be taken to Eidgah martyrs
graveyard, which was not allowed by the authorities.
They buried the body at a graveyard in Noorbagh. The protestors also
raised slogans against the administration.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/One-killed-in-CRPF-firing-in-Srinagar/articleshow/6070253.cms
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Rs 35,000 to hush up child's murder, rape?
Smriti Singh
Jun 20, 2010
NEW DELHI: Was the murder and gangrape of a 10-year-old girl ‘covered
up’ by Delhi Police for a mere Rs 35,000? In yet another instance of police
corruption, a trial court recently received the unusual confession of a man who
alleged police demanded he pay to settle a two-year-old kidnapping, rape and
murder case against him.
If the confession of Riyazat Ali who was arrested on June 11 is to be
believed, the police took Rs 35,000 from him, promising they would close the
case. In a letter to metropolitan magistrate Jitender Mishra, Ali also alleged
the police took two mobiles from him and the other two accused and demanded
still more money to hush up the matter.
Startled by the revelation, Mishra ordered initiation of FIR against
seven officials of the Delhi police special staff. On Friday, when Ali was
produced before the court, he moved an application against the seven officials.
The court has now sought a compliance report on the registration of
the FIR against the police officials by August 2, 2010.‘‘A complaint in writing
has been moved by accused Riyazat Ali through his counsel, wherein allegation of
illegal gratification has been made by the applicant...The concerned SHO is
directed to register an FIR under the relevant section of law and order and get
the matter investigated,’’ the court said.
It all started in 2008 when a minor girl was picked up by the accused
from Pragati Maidan and raped by him and two other men near Yamuna Bank.
Initially, an FIR was registered by the police for kidnapping of the girl and no
mention of rape or murder was made. On the testimony of a witness, the police
was able to nab the accused. However, after preliminary investigations, they
were let off.
Two years later in June 2010, the matter was given to the special
staff of Delhi police, where on the basis of a confession by the accused, the
police got to know that the girl was not only raped but was also killed and
buried by them.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rs-35000-to-hush-up-childs-murder-rape/articleshow/6069341.cms
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J&K POLICE BUST SEX RACKET, 8 ARRESTED
Jun 20 2010
The J&K police on Friday
busted an inter-state sex racket with the arrest of eight people, including five
women.
On a specific information, a police team raided a house in Bhatindi
area of the city on Friday and arrested three youths, four alleged sex work- ers
and a woman pimp, officials said here on Saturday.
A woman from Himachal Pradesh was running the bawdy-house. She had
taken the place on rent a few months ago and used to contact cus- tomers on her
mobile phones.
The police said two (includ- ing the head of the vice ring) of the
five women belonged to Himachal Pradesh, two are locals, and one is from West
Bengal. However, no officer was willing to come on record.
One of the two women from Himachal Pradesh is the only member in her
family to be in a position to earn. Sources said that her father was paralytic,
the only brother is behind bars and her husband is no
more.
The woman from West Bengal was married to a per- son from Kashmir but
her hus- band divorced her some years ago. She is now staying with her two
children here and she too was piped into the trade.
The two local women com- plained of frequent torture by their
husbands and in-laws.
Now, the police are investi- gating how the kingpin roped in these
women and who else is associated with this racket.
The arrested youths have been identified as Sandeep Magotra, a junior
engineer, Vijay Sharma, a contractor, and Rajiv Kumar, a
shopkeeper.
Hindustan times
----------
Seraiki schools of terror
Jun 20 2010
Pakistan's attempts at Madrassa reform have largely ended in failure,
more so because of the half-hearted attempts of the gov- ernment and less
because of resist- ance from religious quarters.
One can gauge how serious for- mer President Pervez Musharraf was in
reforming madrassas, also said to be the incubators for extrem- ists, from the
fact that the person overseeing the process was Ejaz-ul Haq, the son of former
dictator General Ziaul Haq.
This military strongman was credited with helping set up these
madrassas in the first place.
Ejazul Haq was the religious affairs minister in Musharraf's gov-
ernment.
Once again there is talk of madrassa reform, especially in the South
Punjab area, from where it is believed that the latest wave of extremists are
being produced.
The President Asif Ali Zardari government has come to agreement with
various religious education boards, who have agreed to allow revision of their
syllabus in exchange for financial help.
It is a difficult path for Zardari to tread. This is because most of
the more rabid religious organisations and extremist groups have political
alliances with the PML-N party headed by Nawaz Sharif.
This week it was revealed the the Punjab government, which is a PML-N
government, gave a grant of Rs 82 million for schools run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawah
(JuD), after it was banned.
PPP politician Sherry Rehman comments “giving a grant to the JuD
tells us there are elements with- in the Punjab government that are still not
committed to the idea that outfits like the LeT and the JuD must be rooted
out.“
The on-ground situation in South Punjab reveals that there has been a
mushroom growth of madrassas in the past couple of years. Many of these are
affiliated with extremist organisations.
“The numbers are sizeable. And they take advantage of the poverty of
this region to recruit young men who are willing to take on the chal- lenge in
exchange for food and accommodation,“ says analyst Aisha
Siddiqa.
In many of these madrassas, which are found off highways and in
isolated rural locations, entry is severely restricted. Local journal- ists who
tried to enter some of the camps were roughed up and threat- ened with dire
consequences.
Much of the money for these camps comes from Arab countries say
locals in Multan and Bahawalpur. At the same time, there seems to be little or
no effort by the Punjab government to put in money here to jump start economic
activity. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer says that per capita development
expenditure for Lahore stands at Rs 30,000 while in districts of South Punjab it
is not over Rs 400.
As a result, once vibrants towns have turned into economically
deprived cities. Lack of government funding and neglect have meant a poor
education system, producing young men and women who end up remaining unemployed
-- and frus- trated. It is not a coincidence that the first women suicide
bombers -- employed by the sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhagvi, came from this
area. So far there are no indications that any efforts will be made to change
things.
Interior minister Rehman Malik has hinted at an army operation here
with locals expecting the gov- ernment to follow this up with a eco- nomic
package for the region.
At the same time, there is also no indication that the government
will stop patronising some of the mili- tant
organisations.
National Party leader Mukhtiar Bacha says that the number of
madrassas in Punjab is three times the official figure of 20,000. “Most of these
madrassas are allogned to militant organisation which enjoy official
patronage.“
These analysts say that a mili- tary operation in South Punjab will
come to nought if the government continues to support some of the militant
organisations, particular- ly those it sees as anti-India. “They will just move
away and then re- group,“ says Bacha.
Said Alam Mehsud of the nation- alist Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party
takes this one step further.
According to him, Punjab “is the hub of extremist elements in
Pakistan“ And “no militant organi- sation operates on its own. They are all
connected and at the end of the day some of them are connected to state
patronage.“ For him, the madrassas are not the problem. Like Sherry Rehman, the
issue is official attidtudes and sympathies. Until this does not change, the
problem will not go away, he adds. MILITANT OUTFITS JAISH-E-MUHAMMAD: MASOOD
AZHAR -- renamed KHUDDAM-E-ISLAM. Focus of interest in Kashmir but South Punjab
is recruiting ground.
HARKATUL MUJAHIDEEN: Renamed JAMIAT UL ANSAR.
Offshoot or organisation fighting the Afghan Jihad, HuM is active in
Kashmir but also recruits from Punjab.
JAMAAT-UD DAWAH: HAFIZ MUHAMMAD SAEED -- Militant wing of
LASHKAR-E-TAYYEBA.
Active in South Punjab.
SIPAH-E-SAHABA: Violent Sunni supremacist organisation formed by Haq
Nawaz Jhangvi in 1985.
Active in South Punjab.
Headquartered in Central Punjab.
LASHKAR-E-JHANGVI: Formed in 1996, is a violent terrorist
organisation which broke away from the SSP.
Very active in South Punjab.
Is associated to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. MADRASSAS AND VIOLENCE
AFTER THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 attacks, American television commentators widely
associated madrassas with violence.
FORMER PAKISTANI PRESIDENT Gen. Pervez Musharraf tried to bring them
under his regime's control just because of American pressure which resulted in
failure.
TWO LAWS WERE PASSED: one to create state-controlled madrassas; the
other to register and control them (2002). THE FIRST HAD MODERATE SUCCESS, as
some religious institutions registered in 2003 with the Pakistan Madrasah
Education Board it created.
HOWEVER, THE THREE ALTERNATIVE institutions it created suffer
organisational difficulties.
THE SECOND WAS UNPOPULAR with the madrassas, but the government has
been putting the obstacles for foreign students to come in and get benefits from
the madaris education.
Hindustan times
----------
Azad to showcase Assam healthcare scheme in
U.S.
Jun 20 2010
GUWAHATI: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad
has said he will showcase an innovative healthcare scheme of the Assam
government at a conclave of 61,000 doctors of Indian origin in the United
States.
Help to the poor
The scheme helps to keep the homes of the poor running even when the
breadwinner of a family is hospitalised, as he will be paid Rs. 75 a day every
day during the period of his hospitalisation.
Birthday celebrations
Mr. Azad was speaking at ‘Immunity 2010,' a seminar organised here by
the National Students' Union of India to celebrate the birthday of AICC general
secretary Rahul Gandhi and to highlight the performance of the United
Progressive Alliance government in health care in the north eastern
States.
Special concessions
to 11 States
Mr. Azad said his Ministry had given special concessions to 11
States, including Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern States, for
establishing new medical colleges.
One such concession was that 25 acres on one plot required for
opening a medical college was reduced to 20 acres on two plots over a 10-km
radius.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announced a new scheme, Rajiv Gandhi
Student Healthcare Scheme, which will cater for students of the
State.
The State government will allocate Rs. 10
crore.
Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government would
take 300 children suffering from congenital heart ailment to Bangalore for
treatment.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/20/stories/2010062062010900.htm
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Pak wants good relations with India: Gilani
Jun 20 2010
Islamabad : Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that
his government wants good neighbourly relations with India and the peaceful
resolution of all outstanding issues between the two countries, including the
Kashmir issue.
Gilani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting US Special
Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke on
Saturday.
Referring to the upcoming visits to Pakistan by Indian Foreign
Secretary, Home Minister and External Affairs Minister, Gilani reaffirmed
Islamabad's "keen desire to have good neighbourly relations with India through
peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues between the two countries,
including the core issue of Kashmir (and) the water
dispute".
According to an official statement, Gilani said Pakistan had "all
along strived for restoration of the composite dialogue with India in the larger
interest of peace in this region and the world at large".
Holbrooke welcomed the restoration of dialogue between Pakistan and
India and said the US would watch the forthcoming meetings between the two
countries "with a sense of anticipation".
He agreed with Gilani that Pakistan and the US should coordinate
their positions and help the Afghanistan government in its peace
process.
Gilani also said public support for the war on terror is vitally
important and it can only be kept intact if the world community, particularly
donor countries, start delivering on their pledges to help Pakistan provide
relief to the people and to undertake infrastructure and social sector projects
in militancy-hit areas.
While time was fast running out for the government's rehabilitation
and reconstruction efforts in areas cleared of militants, the aid committed at
the Tokyo Donors Conference held over a year ago is yet to be delivered by donor
countries, he said.
This delay had accentuated the economic and energy crisis in Pakistan
and extremist elements were taking advantage of that situation, Gilani
said.
Holbrooke also met President Asif Ali Zardari and the two leaders
discussed bilateral ties, the security situation in the region, the shared
terrorist threat, the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, reimbursements by US from
the Coalition Support Fund and strengthening of Pakistan's law enforcing
agencies.
Zardari said militancy and terrorism is the common enemy and the
existing cooperation between the two countries must continue to fight the
menace.
Pakistan valued a long-term, multifaceted and durable relationship
with the US and no isolated incident should be
able to adversely impact on this relationship, he
added.
He also emphasised on early reimbursement of arrears from the CSF of
over USD 1.5 billion which was rising every month.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-wants-good-relations-with-india-gilani/636176/
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LeT surveyed 100 targets, I covered almost one-third: Headley to
Indian investigators
Ritu Sarin
Jun 20 2010
New Delhi : Sketchy details are emerging from the seven-day access
that a team from the National Investigating Agency (NIA) got to Lashkar-e-Toiba
operative David Coleman Headley last week.
While non-disclosure of precise details of the almost 40 hours of
interrogation conducted at an unspecified location in Chicago was a precondition
for the access, the NIA team has returned to the Capital and has briefed top
government officials. A formal report on the revelations made by the LeT’s
globetrotting operative who conducted surveillance of the 26/11targets is
expected to be prepared by the NIA shortly.
Headley is understood to have emphasised that around 100 targets in
India have been identified, listed, surveyed and photographed by different
agents, including himself. He said he did not know the identities and
nationalities of other agents enlisted for reconnaissance since his “handlers”
in Pakistan were careful not to reveal the details.
Headley has reportedly confessed to having done videography and
photography of around 30 of these targets in several Indian cities during his
nine visits to the country between 2006-2009. These include the 26/11 targets
for which he said he had done a detailed survey, along with the identification
of landing points and escape routes to be used by the 10 trained
terrorists.
Officials in the Home Ministry said that while members of the NIA
team did not either tape or videograph the interrogation sessions (they only
took notes), this may have been done by US authorities in Chicago and that if
required, the tapes could be requested for at a later
stage.
During his interrogation, Headley is believed to have revealed more
LeT targets than those already shared by the American agencies with their Indian
counterparts. These targets include the residence of the Vice President as well
as North Block, South Block and the Defence Headquarters in New
Delhi.
Besides these targets, sources said, Headley has confirmed his
reconnaissance of Chabad houses in Pune, Pushkar, Goa and Mumbai though he said
he was not aware of the German Bakery in Pune being a
target.
Headley’s interrogation sessions resulted in reconfirmation of some
aspects of the probe the NIA had earlier conducted including the identities of
his friends in Mumbai. He admitted to have dated a woman who runs a bakery in
South Mumbai (The Indian Express, January 27, 2010) and that he had used his
friends such as Rahul Bhatt and Vilas Varak, trainers in the gym he frequented
in Mumbai, as useful “covers” to roam around freely in hotels and malls in the
city. They were among the 200 persons the NIA questioned prior to travelling to
Chicago and according to Headley himself, none of them were aware of the
sinister design of his visits to India.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/let-surveyed-100-targets-i-covered-almost-onethird-headley-to-indian-investigators/636153/
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Love, sex change and dhokha in Srinagar
Muzamil Jaleel
Jun 20 2010
Srinagar : They met and fell in love. One was a 40-year-old tourist
from Germany, the other a 25-year-old man from Srinagar’s posh Nishat
neighbourhood. They spent time together and the tourist underwent a sex-change
operation to become a woman. There was a promise to be together for life.
The tourist transferred money, Rs 15 lakh in three years, to help the
Kashmiri boyfriend construct his house, buy a Mitsubishi Lancer and start a
travel agency.
But then the story took a turn. On June 15, the tourist, accompanied
by two lawyers, arrived at the Nishat Police Station with a complaint that “she”
was duped of Rs15 lakh, sexually exploited in the name of love and the promise
of marriage.
Though the tourist didn’t mention it in the complaint, the policemen
were in a fix once they learnt that she had been a man till recently. “Once we
were told about the sex-change operation, we consulted our seniors. We have
never come across such a case here,” said an officer.
The police told her that she needed to undergo a medical examination
for them to proceed with her charge of rape but she declined. The police,
however, have filed a case of cheating and rape against the
boyfriend.
The tourist identified herself as Sarwait Patarachokchai, daughter of
Manite Patarachokchai. Sarwait was born as a boy in Thailand but now lives in
Berlin, Germany. Sarwat told the police that she was enthralled by the beauty of
Kashmir’s landscape and came for a vacation in March 2007. “I was staying in a
houseboat owned by Aslam Bangola near Nehru Park. He took me to Shaw Art palace
at Dalgate and while we drove back towards Lalchowk, he introduced me to a young
man, Mohsin Shah,” Sarwait told the police. “We became close and fell in
love.”
The details of their courtship are, in fact, spread over several
pages of the complaint together with the details of the money transferred to
Shah’s account . In fact, Sarwait has produced receipts of each transaction,
most through Western Union. “Mohsin
promised me that he loved me and would marry me. I kept sending money—he wanted
money for the construction of his house, for a car. He told me that he lost his
job because the owner disapproved of our relationship and asked for money to
start his own travel agency. I kept giving him money,” Sarwait told the
police. Finally, Shah started avoiding
her and stopped taking her calls. “On May 13, Mohsin started avoiding me on the
phone. This is when I thought something was wrong,” Sarwait told the police. “On
May 25, he (Shah) called me saying he was calling from Chennai. I checked the
number and it was a Dubai number. This confirmed my suspicion that he had duped
me and exploited me. He (Mohsin) has ruined my life”.
Sarwait told the police that she went to Dubai looking for him but
couldn’t find him. She then came to Srinagar went to his house in Nishat. “His
(Shah’s) family too gave me a very cold response,” Sarwait told the
police.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, Javaid Riyaz told The
Indian Express that the police have initiated a probe into the case. “The duping
issue is easier especially as the tourist has all the receipts of transactions.
The man (Shah), however, is away in Dubai,” he said. “Regarding the sexual
exploitation, we had asked her to undergo a medical test which would have helped
us to move ahead. Medical test is
voluntary. And as we were told that there has been a sex-change operation, it
has added another dimension to the case.”
The Shah family is tight-lipped and the police say they are trying to
get in touch with Shah to get his side of the story. Police sources say Shah is
now engaged to a girl from a rich Srinagar family and the girl’s relatives have
approached them to find out about the case.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/love-sex-change-and-dhokha-in-srinagar/636144/
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Poles decide Presidential successor
Jun 20 2010
More than two months after Poland's president was killed in a plane
crash, Poles are voting on Sunday to choose his successor -- and polls show that
his surviving twin brother faces an uphill battle in defeating the favourite
despite a recent surge in sympathy for him.
The outcome is expected to shape the European Union member's stance
on issues such as the adoption of the euro, welfare reform and Poland's mission
in Afghanistan. Poland is the only European Union country to have avoided
recession during the global economic downturn. The election will also determine
how it fares amid the new debt crisis.
The front-runner, Bronislaw Komorowski, is a pro-EU, moderate member
of the governing Civic Platform party. He has pledged to work closely with the
government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk to adopt the euro in about five years,
end the unpopular military mission in Afghanistan and promote pro-market
reforms.
Polling in second place is Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the identical twin
brother of the late president, Lech Kaczynski. He is a social conservative whose
main goals are to fight crime and corruption, scale back market reforms in order
to preserve a strong welfare state and promote Roman Catholic values in public
life. He is more sceptical about the European Union and adoption of the euro,
saying it's too early to set a timetable for giving up the Polish currency, the
zloty.
Kaczynski, a former prime minister, is known for his nationalism and
his combative tone. But he has struck a more moderate tone since his brother's
death. Many Poles are unsure of whether the change is permanent or a strategy to
win over middle-of-the-road voters.
Lech Kaczynski and his wife were among 96 people killed when their
plane crashed while trying to land in heavy fog in Smolensk, Russia, on April
10. The delegation included many high-ranking civilian and military leaders, and
the loss of so many high-ranking people provoked deep grief across the nation.
Many officials have called it the worst tragedy to strike the country since
World War II.
More than 30 million of Poland's 38 million citizens are registered
to vote in nearly 26,000 polling stations across
this eastern European country. Voting takes place from 6 am to 8 pm
(local time). The first exit polls will be released when the polls close, and
official results will come in later in the evening
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/poles-decide-presidential-successor/636203/
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Security in Afghanistan has not improved: UN
chief
Jun 19 2010
Kabul : The UN chief says security in Afghanistan has not improved
and that roadside bombings soared 94 per cent in the first four months of this
year compared with the same period in 2009.
The findings come in a quarterly report by Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon to the UN Security Council. The UN mission in Kabul released the report
today.
In addition to roadside bombings, the report says suicide attacks
occur at the rate of about three a week, half of them in the ethnic Pashtun
areas of the south.
Assassinations of Afghan officials also rose by 45 per cent in the
first four months of the year compared with the same time in
2009.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/security-in-afghanistan-has-not-improved-un-chief/635951/
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New rabbi for Chabad House revival
Jun 20 2010
NEARLY 19 months after Chabad House, the Jewish community centre in
south Mumbai, was targeted by Pakistani terrorists in the 26/ 11 terror attack,
two new religious officials will soon arrive to revive the
centre.
Rabbi Chanoch and Leiky Gechtman, an Israeli couple with connections
to Mumbai’s Jewish community, have been appointed as the first permanent Chabad-
Lubavitch emissaries since the terror attack, according to a statement on www.
chabad. org . The announcement was made in Washington on Wednesday night, at a
function attended by the ambassadors of more than 40 countries, including
India’s Meera Shankar.
During the terror attack, the then Mumbai Chabad House director Rabbi
Gavriel and his wife Rivky Holtzberg, besides four Jewish guests, were killed by
the attackers.
Their two- year old son, baby Moshe, and his nanny Sandra Solomon,
managed to escape and are now safe in Israel.
“ Now, there’s a rabbi who has got his visa for India and would soon
go there to revive the Mumbai Chabad House,” Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice-
chairman of the educational arm of Chabad- Lubavitch, told the
gathering.
Gechtman, 25, had first come to Mumbai in 2006 to assist the
Holtzbergs with the birth of Moshe, and studied rabbinical law under
Holtzberg.
He lived in Mumbai for five months and spent most of his time
teaching the Torah to Israeli backpackers who visited the centre
regularly.
After the 26/ 11 attack, the Gechtmans have visited Mumbai several
times and interacted with the tiny Jewish community here in preparation for
their new mission.
Their names were suggested for the Mumbai posting by Rabbi Nachman
Holtzberg, father of the late Holtzberg, Gechtman, who enjoyed a close
relationship with the late rabbi, said he hadn’t come to terms with the fact
that the Holtzbergs are no more.
“ It seems like they are people who live forever, that something like
this cannot happen to them,” he said during the appointment
ceremony.
Mail Today
----------
Hindus spit fire against Geelani’s Amarnath
rant
By Arjun Sharma
Jun 20 2010
KASHMIRI separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s demand that the
annual Amarnath pilgrimage be restricted to 15 days has outraged Hindu
organisations, which asked him to “ keep his mouth shut”. Geelani on Friday gave
a call to “ save the environment and the state’s culture” and said the duration
of the Amarnath Yatra should be reduced from two months to 15 days. He even
threatened an agitation in the Valley if his demand was not
met.
“ If it can be done in Gangotri, where you have a limit of 150
pilgrims per day, why can’t it be done here ( Amarnath)?” he asked. He said
extending the pilgrimage for two months had an adverse impact on the environment
and Kashmir’s culture.
Hindu organisations responded by saying Geelani tried to inflame
communal tensions every year by interfering in their religious affairs at the
time of the pilgrimage.
They said Geelani was not the authority to dictate terms to the
government or to the people of Kashmir.
“ Why is Geelani dictating to the government that the yatra be
curtailed?” asked Brigadier ( retd) Suchait Singh, who spearheaded the Shri
Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti movement in 2008.
On Geelani’s agitation threat, Dimpy Kohli, president of Shiv Sena (
Hindustan), said: “ If there is an agitation in Kashmir over the yatra , then
there would be a counter agitation by Hindu organisations in
Jammu.”
Mail Today
----------
Taliban spin doctor’s take
By Manoj Joshi
Jun 20 2010
Mullah Zaeef’s account of the Afghan Taliban and the arguments he
marshals to support its actions only show how hard it will be for the US to get
Afghanistan to land on its feet
IT IS not often that you get to read the memoirs of those who belong
to the losing side of the war, especially if they have been written in another
language.
But it is because the Taliban, whose regime was toppled by the US-
led attack in October 2001, is resurfacing, that this book has probably seen the
light of day.
The United States has spent a fortune trying to stabilise Afghanistan
after removing the Taliban and replacing it by a government that was formed
after a western- style election. It is now on the cusp of a process through
which it seeks to break the power of the Taliban in the Kandahar region, its
birthplace, and leave the country. In the meantime, it hopes that it will have
given enough time to Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government to set up a national
army and police to secure the country.
The problem in Kandahar typifies the challenge that the US faces
across the country. Assassinations, beheadings, suicide attacks and assaults by
small squads are the order of the day. Mullah Zaeef’s life and times tell you a
great deal about why America’s task is so difficult. The all- pervasive
corruption in Afghanistan and the inefficiency of the Karzai team are the big
factors coming in the way of greater public support for the government, but
there are people like Zaeef, who was born in the province — poor, deeply
religious, and firmly xenophobic — who have been brought up on a diet of war,
half- baked knowledge of religion and strife.
Zaeef is no black- turbaned, gun- toting mullah, though he is a
veteran of the war against the Russians. Under the Taliban, he was a civil
servant who was in the ministries of defence and mines, and was later the
ambassador to Pakistan. The portrait that Zaeef draws of the Taliban government
is, not surprisingly, is quite different to the one we are accustomed
to.
For one, he reveals the processes throu - gh which the Taliban
leadership operated, as well as the deep sense of loyalty that he has for Mullah
Omar, the amir- ul momineen ( leader of the faithful) who remains at large,
probably in Pakistan, despite a massive US- led manhunt for
him.
Like all autobiographies, Mullah Zaeef’s book is self- serving and
somewhat mendacious.
The anger against Pakistan and America are obvious and
understandable; the latter sold him out, an accredited ambassador, to the US,
which imprisoned him without charges at Guantanamo Bay.
The mendacity comes in re- writing the Taliban’s founding narrative
to claim that it was part of the original struggle against the Soviet invaders.
In actual fact, it was created, not without some assistance from Pakistan, after
the Soviet withdrawal and civil war had wracked the land. Zaeef also minimises
the role Islamabad played in the Taliban’s military planning and
leadership.
Mullah Zaeef’s retrospective claim in the book that the Taliban were
open to handing over Osama bin Laden for trial in the wake of Nine Eleven must
be taken with a pinch of salt. There is nothing to indicate that the Taliban
were serious about that offer and this is one of those things which some
liberals swallow hook line and sinker because they do not want to believe that
anything that the US did in Afghanistan is right.
Anyone who will read the account will come away with a sense of alarm
for the future of Afghanistan. Mullah Zaeef may have been wronged by the
Pakistanis and the Americans, but he remains, under house arrest in Kabul, a
committed fanatic who sees nothing wrong in the manner in which the Taliban
ruled the country. He insists that the destruction of the sixthcentury Bamyan
Buddhas in 2001 “ was well within the bounds of shari’a law ”. Personally,
though, he views the obliteration of the statues as “ unnecessary and a case of
bad timing.” This kind of a perspective doesn’t bode well for India. In other
words, the Taliban’s world view is that of a Muslim extremist outfit — that too,
a fanatical Sunni one. In this scheme of things, countries such as Saudi Arabia
and Pakistan are the only ones that can truly be in its “ friendly” category.
Not surprisingly, Zaeef does not refer to the brutal manner with which the
Taliban treated the Hazaras, a Shia minority in Afghanistan. The Taliban do not
consider the Shia as Mulim and in their regime, thousands of Hazaras were
massacred, the worst atrocity taking place when the Talibs captured Mazar- e-
Sharif in 1998.
Most of us have forgotten our own brush with the Taliban — Mullah
Zaeef most certainly has. In December 1999, when Indian Airlines flight IC- 814
was hijacked, it was taken to Kandahar. The Taliban government played a cat and
mouse game with a gullible New Delhi while all the time it was backing the
hijackers. The aim of the hijack was to obtain the freedom of Masood Azhar from
an Indian jail, and the Taliban backed the efforts because Azhar and Mullah Omar
were pir bhais — they owed allegiance to the same guru — Mufti Nizamuddin
Shamzai of the Binori Madarsa in Karachi, who was “ martyred” in 2004 when a
gunman in a motorbike shot him dead.
This is an extremely well- brought- out book that is thoroughly
annotated and cross- referenced, and is certainly a mustread for anyone
interested in Afghanistan.
Mail Today
----------
Firing from Pakistan kills two civilians
Jun 20th, 2010
Two civilian porters were killed and two Indian soldiers injured
Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir in firing from Pakistan, officials
said.
"There was firing from the Pakistani side between 7 to 8 in the
morning. Two porters have been killed and two soldiers injured," an official
said.
"It appears to be a ceasefire violation but can also be firing by
infiltrators," the official said.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/263851/Firing-from-Pakistan-kills-two-civilians.html
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Jundullah militants storm court in Karachi, two
killed
Jun 20th, 2010
Heavily armed gunmen on Saturday brazenly stormed a court in the
southern Pakistani port city of Karachi and freed four members of the banned
Baloch group Jundullah after opening gunfire in which at least two people were
killed.
Three attackers entered the city court complex, lobbing grenades and
firing from their automatic weapons in which a constable was killed, Deputy
Inspector General Iqbal Mehmood told reporters.
The incident which happened at 3.15 pm local time triggered panic in
the area as shopkeepers downed the shutters and ran for their lives. “The men
emerged from the mosque inside the city court premises and attacked the police
party who were escorting the four activists of the banned outfit. They resorted
to indiscriminate firing and also threw three hand grenades causing explosions
as they escaped from the court,” an eye witness said.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/263732/Jundullah-militants-storm-court-in-Karachi-two-killed.html
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Pandits Throng Jammu Fair
Jun 20th, 2010
Thousands of Kashmiri Pandit expatriates and other devotees turned up
at the annual Kheer Bhawani mela at Tulla Mulla, 27-km north of here, on
Saturday.
Kheer Bhawani is the most revered place of worship for Kashmiri
brahmins and the fair marks the annual pilgrimage to the sacred spring to seek
the blessings of G
oddess Ragnya Devi. The spring is on an island and there is a small
marble temple in the centre of it. The occasion is the eighth day of the full
moon — ashtami shuklapaksh. According to legend, the goddess changes the colour
of the spring water to rosy, various shades of green, diluted milky and light
blue. The devotees wash their clothes and abstain from eating meat. They offer
milk, candy sugar raisins, clarified butter and candles amidst chanting vedic
and tantaraic hymns.
A battery of politicians visited Kheer Bhawani during the day. Among
them was chief minister Omar Abdullah, who described “kashmiriyat” as a unique
characteristic of Jammu and Kashmir’s traditional brotherhood and harmony, said
that Kashmiri pandits are integral part of Kashmir. “Many attempts have been
made in the past to damage this trait, but people foiled the ill designs time
and again exhibited their firm faith in kashmiriyat,” he
asserted.
The chief minister said his government was determined to nurture
amity, love, brotherhood and mutual trust between various sections of the
societies and the people of different faiths. “We have to join hands to restore
and bloom kashmiriyat and help equitable and faster development of the state,”
the chief minister said.
http://www.asianage.com/india/pandits-throng-jammu-fair-292
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Anti-graft body declares assets to provide
transparency
June 20, 2010
Afghan president Hamid Karzai earns just $525 a month, has less than
$20,000 in the bank and owns no land or property, according to a declaration of
his assets on Sunday by an anti-graft body.
Although his modest remuneration is five times the national average,
it contrasts sharply with salaries of leaders in the West, where U.S. President
Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron rake in around $400,000 a
year.
Karzai's assets were published by the High Office for Oversight and
anti-Corruption Commission as part of a decree aimed at providing greater
transparency among officials.
Although the Taliban insurgency remains the greatest threat to
Afghanistan's stability, graft at almost every level of society remains a major
complaint of ordinary Afghans and anyone doing business with the
country.
The anti-graft body is registering the assets of at least 2,000
officials -- including ministers, members of parliament, senior military and
police officers and provincial leaders -- and will start publishing them this
week.
"This covers assets held by officials, their wives and children below
the age of 18," Mohammad Yasin Usmani, the commission's chief, told Reuters on
Sunday.
Any official found to have withheld information risked prosecution,
he said.
Senior current and former Afghan officials -- including two of
Karzai's deputies -- are believed to own buildings and assets worth tens of
millions of dollars -- at home and abroad.
Some have also been involved in major contracts awarded by foreign
forces, and police have been questioning 17 current and ex-ministers on
suspicions of graft.
Exaggerated by media
While Karzai has acknowledged a corruption problem, he says it is
exaggerated by Western media and insists the biggest source of graft is poor
oversight of billions of dollars in aid contracts that dwarf Afghanistan's
budget.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates conceded in March that Washington
needed to do more to clean up its contracting procedures.
The declaration of assets, signed by Karzai, said he earned $525 a
month and had €15,635 ($18,762) and $134 in cash two Commerzbank accounts in
Germany.
While it listed no land or property, it said Karzai -- who is married
to a stay-at-home physician and has a young son -- had jewellery and other
valuables worth $11,036.
The list makes no mention of assets held by Karzai's brothers and
other relatives -- several of whom run businesses at home and
abroad.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/06/20/111819.html
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PML-Q calls for disbanding CII
By Zia M Khan
June 20, 2010
ISLAMABAD: A senior opposition lawmaker has called for disbanding the
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for its “failure” in the ideological warfare
against Talibanisation.
“Close down the CII…it is of no use,” PML-Q legislator Riaz Pirzada
said during the ongoing debate on the federal budget for fiscal year 2010-11 in
the National Assembly on Friday.
“Did the CII ever come up with an edict (fatwa) against suicide
bombings or the Taliban,” he said. Pirzada questioned the role of an institution
former military ruler General Ziaul Haq had established to Islamise Pakistan’s
constitution and criminal justice system.
Pirzada’s demand appears to be first public call by lawmakers to do
away with the CII.
Bushra Gohar of the Awami National Party (ANP) was quick to support
Pirzada’s viewpoint, saying that the CII has never been an effective institution
to block the spread of Taliban’s radical interpretation of
Islam.
These calls coincide with a reported government plan to appoint a
JUI-F man as head of the council – a move aimed at saving the fragile ruling
coalition from falling apart.
The decision to appoint Senator Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani as CII
chief was taken by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani last week to allay the
JUI-F’s concerns.
Bushra Gohar termed the proposed arrangement as a
politically-motivated move and warned the government against going ahead with
the “controversial” plan. Pirzada was also critical of the expected
appointment.
For him, there was also no justification to have a Shariat court
because it doesn’t serve either the religion or the state. Rather, he added,
such institutions are adding to the spread of
fundamentalism.
In an apparent reference to a recent rift between the government and
the Supreme Court, Pirzada argued: “Courts have nothing to do with running the
government. Their responsibility is to administer
justice.”
Pirzada, who hails from South Punjab, urged the PPP to show what he
called a national character.
He saw the party as being obsessed with its Sindhi nationalist
outlook, saying that such a mentality could lead to a political disaster similar
to the one that led to the fall of Dhaka in 1971.
Taking part in the debate earlier, PPP lawmaker Fauzia Wahab said
Pakistan should seek a waiver of multinational and bilateral loans it owes to
Western allies for Islamabad’s services as a frontline state in the “war on
terror.”
As a lackluster and poorly attended debate headed for conclusion,
lawmakers from urban and feudalistic background continue to put forward
arguments in favour of and against taxing the agriculture
sector.
Jamshed Dasti of the PPP claimed that former premier Nawaz Sharif was
aware of a “secret deal” under which former military ruler Pervez Musharraf
relinquished the presidency back in 2008.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/22357/pml-q-calls-for-disbanding-cii/
9:16 PM
Sultan Shahin
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