FBI
entrapping Muslims in NY fake terror case
Tunes for Tolerance: Sufi Muslim Rock Star Salman
Ahmad
Islamic Cleric issues fatwa against dogs
Islamic Banking Begins Business In September
Witness to southern Philippine massacre shot
dead
Pak again plays Kashmir card, says look into it
first
India, Pak foreign secys meet to bridge trust deficit
Five US men convicted of Pakistan 'terror
plot'
Afghan strategy remains despite sacking, says
NATO
Pakistani Churches welcomed Sharia Law
Gujarat makes no headway in Modasa case, so NIA steps
in
Geelani, Mirwaiz detained in Kashmir
Defiant American 'Rambo' eager to finish his mission of killing
Osama
NATO chief says strategy for Afghanistan
unchanged
US will not tolerate any safe haven for terrorist:
Obama
June deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan
war
India, Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks begin in
Islamabad
Nothing dramatic expected from Indo-Pak talks:
Krishna
Pakistan Army a threat to India, not its people or
government'
Foreign Secretaries meet to work out measures to counter
terrorism
Brazil and Turkey prepare for next round of mediation on
Iran
Terror Alert Sounded About Strikes At SAARC
Can Nitish's stand win Muslim votes?
Latest AfPak crisis: McChrystal
Our borders follow us even in death
THE ROAD NOT YET TAKEN
One-point plan: Talk, more talk and still more talk
Lahore HC blocks Yahoo, Google
Obama calls Karzai; discusses Kandahar
operation
French parliament to debate burqa ban on July
6
BJP urges Prez to expedite Afzal hanging
Nazeer denies naming Madani
Pakistan predicts conviction in US terror
trial
KERALA TOP COP UNDER SCANNER FOR TERROR LINKS
Lal Masjid was NY plotter's turning point
The Fury of a General, Released by Volcano
SP Mookerjee Martyrdom Day observed in
Kashmir
Iran produces 17 kgs of further enriched
uranium
Indonesian police raid terrorist hide-out; 1
dead
Landmarks to lose elite status over lighting
row
Poverty, price hike, unemployment biggest issues:
Tarin
‘Pakistani not a danger to US community’
Jamaat calls for more provinces for better
governance
Six more NATO troops killed in Afghanistan
Spanish senate proposes ban on Islamic veils
Okara landlord ‘detains’ 43 Christians as
punishment
24 insurgents killed near Afghan border
Petraeus replaces McChrystal
13 countries slam Israeli raid on Gaza aid
flotilla
Denmark’s pullout hits NATO drone project
Pakistani-American woman buried in Jubail
Turkey detains 27 over Istanbul bus attack
Britain’s Muslims 5 years after 7/7
A victim of war on terror
Witness in Philippine massacre trial killed
Fighting terror at home and the blowback
Compiled by Asit
kumar
Photo: Dr. Zakir Naik
---------
Muslim leader moves HC against ban on UK
entry
N Ganesh
June 24, 2010
Furious at the United Kingdom for barring his entry, controversial
Muslim leader Dr Zakir Naik has decided to initiate legal proceedings in the
Bombay High Court to challenge the revocation of his visa and the 'maligning' of
his character by Britain's department of home affairs.
Dr Naik, accompanied by advocate Majid Memon and noted film maker
Mahesh Bhatt, made the announcement on Tuesday.
Dr Naik, a resident of Mumbai, was scheduled to leave for UK on June
18. A day before his departure, the British high commission hand delivered an
order revoking his visa that was valid till 2013, on the grounds that his
speeches were not conducive for the public.
The order had cited four extracts of his speeches, which, according
to him, were 'misquoted and out of context'.
Dr Naik alleged that the UK home affairs department's decision was a
political one. "The decision to revoke my visa was preceded by a news article in
The Sunday Times on May 30 titled 'Preacher of Hate'. The article had also
quoted me out of context," said Dr Naik.
The Sunday Times had reportedly quoted Dr Naik as saying that every
Muslim should be a terrorist.
"I said this in the context that when a robber sees a policeman, he
is terrified. So for a robber, the policeman is a terrorist. So in that context,
every Muslim should be a terrorist to the robber and anti-social elements," he
explained. He added that he had made this statement during an interview to a
newspaper in 2003.
The order of the British home affairs had quoted one more extract of
a speech in which he had made references to Al Qaeda [ Images ] chief Osama bin
Laden [ Images ]. The quotes sourced from You Tube and reproduced in the order
read as "Beware of Muslims saying Osama bin Laden is right or wrong, I reject
them, we don't know. But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is
fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don't know what he is doing. I am
not in touch with him. I don't know him personally. I read the newspaper. If he
is terrorising the terrorist, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, the
biggest terrorist, he is following Islam."
Dr Naik said that the order stated that the speech was made in 2006,
whereas it was actually made in 1996, when Osama was not very well
known.
"What I said about Osama was much before the terrorist attacks of
9/11 (in the United States), which I have condemned. My comments about Osama
made in the past cannot be linked to recent world events. I have always
condemned the killing of innocent people by terrorists," said Dr
Naik.
In the third extract, Dr Naik has been quoted criticising the killing
of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon in the same vein as the killing of
innocent persons in terror attacks in New York, London [ Images ] and Mumbai.
"Is the life of a person in the UK and United States more important than a
person dying in other parts of the world such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon?
How am I wrong in saying this," questioned Dr Naik.
Memon, a noted lawyer, pointed out that revoking Naik's existing visa
was a much more serious matter than refusing a visa. "I cannot digest the fact
that the entire home affairs department was blinded unwisely and rashly on this
matter. Interestingly, this decision cannot be appealed. I am afraid this is
terrorism," he said.
Film maker Mahesh Bhatt said that the Centre, which objected to actor
Shah Rukh Khan [ Images ] being frisked and detained at a US airport by security
officials, should support Dr Naik in this case.
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/22/muslim-leader-moves-hc-against-ban-on-uk-entry.htm
---------
Indian Muslim preacher to challenge ban
Hasan Suroor
June 24, 2010
LONDON: Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim preacher who has been banned
from entering Britain because of his alleged extremist views, said on Wednesday
that he intended to challenge the ban claiming that it was based on
“misrepresentation of the truth:. He denied he supported
terrorism.
In a statement emailed from Mumbai, Dr. Naik said he had spoken
against terrorism and condemned violence including the 9/11 attacks, the July 7,
2005 London bombings and the Mumbai bombings.
He said: “I've said on several occasions that these are cowardly acts
and completely unjustifiable by any standards. But I believe that the U.K.
government has acted on recent press reports in the U.K. which have portrayed me
as a ‘preacher of hate' and a ‘terror backer'. That is not just a warped view
but totally unjustified impression of my work. It appears these sensational
headlines have been based on some of my quotes that have been either used out of
relevant context or are completely wrong. It is clear from many of my talks that
in Islam, terrorism and killing of innocent civilians is completely forbidden
and as such I have unequivocally stated several times that no Muslim should be a
terrorist.”
Dr. Naik, who was due to give a series of lectures in the U.K. this
week, was barred on grounds that his presence here would not be “conducive to
the public good”. The British government took exception to his reported comments
that “every Muslim should be a terrorist: and that Osama bin Laden was “fighting
the enemies of Islam”.
Ordering the ban last week, Home Secretary Theresa May described his
behaviour as “unacceptable”.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/24/stories/2010062455451500.htm
---------
FBI entrapping Muslims in NY fake terror
case
Jun 24 2010
We are in the middle of another manufactured-terrorism case, this one
in Newburgh, and it was going very smoothly until last week, when the presiding
federal judge postponed the scheduled trial indefinitely, ordering the
government to turn over more evidence that might be helpful to the defense. The
defendants are four petty criminals, three black Americans and one Haitian, all
of whom converted to Islam in prison and upon their release took to frequenting
a mosque in Newburgh.
They were recruited into a fake terrorist plot by the same wretch who
a few years ago duped two Albany Muslims into an exchange of checks for cash
that could be sold to a jury as money-laundering in support of
terrorism.
The FBI is still working him. I had thought such efforts to create
terrorists in order to arrest them was an artifact of the Bush administration,
which seemed unable to distinguish between real enemies and imaginary, but I was
wrong. Here we are with a new, supposedly more enlightened, president and it’s
still going on.
The wretch is Shahed (or Shaheed) Hussain, a Pakistani who immigrated
to this country in the early 1990s and soon began making his living in the
Albany area by cheating on drivers license exams for immigrants who knew less
English than he did. He was supposed to interpret for them but actually took
their tests for them, for substantial fees.
He got caught and faced a string of felonies, to be followed by
deportation, when the FBI got hold of him and put him to work in exchange for
keeping him out of jail and allowing him to remain in this country. Undoubtedly
a great boon to us all.
A miserable liar and cheat who couldn’t distinguish truth from
falsehood even when he was under oath in the Albany trial of Yassin Aref and
Mohammed Hossain and was trying his best to make a good
impression.
In the Newburgh affair, he presented himself in a black Mercedes,
and, in a script apparently much favored by the FBI, let on to have a great deal
of money, which he was very free with. Also to be a radical jihadist, or at
least in league with radical jihadists.
He recruited these disaffected petty drug dealers and misfits with
promises of money and cars, according to the FBI’s own secret tape recordings,
some of which have become public through court filings by the
defense.
It took him a year to do it, but he did it. He got them to accompany
him to the Air National Guard base at Stewart International Airport and take
photographs, supposedly with a view to eventually shooting down airplanes with
surface-to-air missiles.
He got them to plant what they thought were explosives at a synagogue
and a Jewish community center in the Bronx.
There is no sign they would have done any of this on their own or
even imagined doing it. Shahed Hussain, acting not as an informant as the
government calls him but as an agent provocateur, coaxed them, urged them and
bribed them.
“I told you I can make you $250,000, but you don’t want it, brother,”
he said to his principal recruit, James Cromitie, a 45-year-old native of
Brooklyn with 27 arrests on his record, when Cromitie showed
reluctance.
At another point he told Cromitie he would pay lookouts $25,000 each,
to which Cromitie responded, “If you can assure them that they gonna see that
much money, they gonna go for it; They will do it for the money; they’re not
even thinking about the cause.”
Cromitie dreamed of a new car. “You’re getting your car, brother —
the Beamer,” Shahed Hussain told him.
A swell way for the government to protect us, no? Bribe some low-life
ex-cons to participate in a fake plot and then arrest them on charges of
terrorism and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Possible sentence:
life in prison.
After which Shahed Hussain will presumably ride off to his next slimy
assignment, and the government will bask in glory for having blocked a terrorist
attack.
Slimy?
“You should believe me, because I am your brother, I am your true
brother,” he told Cromitie regarding the promise of a new car. “I love you to
death, brother.”
Which is pretty much the approach he took when he was pressing money
on Mohammed Hossain, owner of a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop on Central Avenue in
Albany.
The difference: Back then his nomme de guerre was Malik; in Newburgh
it was Maqsood.
I shouldn’t be so hard on him, maybe. He’s trying to save his skin.
It’s the FBI that writes the script and puts him to work acting it, and it’s
U.S. attorneys who prosecute these cases.
How dangerous would this Cromitie character have been in Newburgh
without Shahed “Maqsood” Hussain to egg him on?
Apparently not very. The FBI agent running the operation, Robert
Fuller (who also ran the celebrated Fort Dix operation), wrote to officials at
Stewart Airport alerting them that Cromitie would be out there scouting for a
possible attack site but assured them he would pose no danger without
Hussain.
It was the revelation of a memo referring to that letter that
prompted Judge Colleen McMahon last week to call a halt to the proceedings until
the FBI produces all materials that might tend to exculpate the defendants, as
the law requires.
She also noted that “the Government has retreated from its original
position that the defendants had any connections to any international terrorist
organization.”
At this point the legal-minded reader might be asking, isn’t the
inducing of criminal activity forbidden? Isn’t it called entrapment, and isn’t
it grounds for acquittal?
To which your legal correspondent answers, yes, it’s forbidden, yes,
it’s called entrapment, and yes, it’s grounds for acquittal — except in cases of
alleged Muslim terrorism, and then all rules are suspended. Not as a matter of
law, of course, but as a practical matter.
I know this from the unhappy case of Aref and Hossain in Albany, who
were equally induced to do things they would not have done otherwise and which
they showed no previous inclination to do — like launder money, which they
didn’t even understand — and yet are now serving 15-year prison
terms.
The federal appeals court that reviewed their case dismissed the
entrapment argument without rebuttal but just with a wave of the
hand.
If a government agent cajoles an ordinary citizen into a robbing a
bank who had never robbed a bank before nor shown any inclination to rob a bank,
that citizen has a sturdy defense and can expect to be
exonerated.
But if a government agent cajoles a Muslim man into participating in
a terrorist plot, no matter how far-fetched, and no matter how little
inclination the Muslim man had previously shown for such activity, that Muslim
man is dead meat.
I wait to see if things turn out any differently in Newburgh. And I
also wait to see what Shahed Hussain’s next assignment will
be.
I hope it’s not me. My car is getting run down, and if he offered me
a new Beamer, heaven knows what I would do.
http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/trial-delayed-in-new-fake-terror-case/
---------
Tunes for Tolerance: Sufi Muslim Rock Star Salman
Ahmad
By ANISA BENMOKTAR
JUNE 24, 2010
Salman Ahmad may be the most well-known Sufi rock star of the
moment. A dedicated Muslim, who claims
his ponytail is a “gift from Allah”, he’s been described as Pakistan’s Bono. The
Guardian caught up with Salman in London, where he was promoting his
controversial new book, which counteracts extremism through music: aptly named:
“Rock & Roll Jihad.”
Rock and Roll Radical?
Sufi rock may not be everyone’s cup of tea – in fact, some deem
Salman’s music downright sinful. Still, he’s sold 25 million albums worldwide,
is a UNU goodwill ambassador for HIV/Aids, has helped to raise money for
refugees from Swat, and played at the Nobel peace prize ceremony in 2007. Not
bad, if you ask me…
“I love music,” Salman tells The Guardian. “I feel also that my
belief in Islam inspires my creativity, as it has inspired hundreds of thousands
of Muslim artists over the last 1,400 years. That cultural heritage has been
blurred by violence and fear.”
The Great Music-and-Islam Debate
Salman goes on to mention the competition between Salafi and Sufi
value systems, which represent a lot more than music alone. Individual Muslims’
view on music, it seems is just the tip of iceberg on a whole host of other
issues.
The London Muslim blog is less than impressed by Ahmad’s mission,
labelling it as a “discredited gimmick” – using “an ageing Muslim Pakistani rock
star to sing a few songs which apparently should do the trick and prevent any
tendency towards extremism”.
Nevertheless, the Sufi rock star remains faithful to his path: to
shed light for young Pakistanis on alternative ways of being a Muslim and
thereby illuminating choices they may not have previously
considered.
“There wouldn’t be such a thing as counterfeit gold if there were no
real gold somewhere.” - Sufi Proverb
http://www.lovehabibi.com/blog/2010/06/17/tunes-for-tolerance-sufi-muslim-rock-star-salman-ahmad/
---------
Islamic Cleric issues fatwa against dogs
JUNE 24, 2010
Filed under Iran, Islamic Supremacism, Islamic hypocrisy, Sharia
(Islamic Law) at June 23rd, 2010 - 3:30 pm
Unlike many Americans, I view Islam not as some honorable religion,
but as a 7th Century Arabic Imperialist Ideology. Wherever Islam goes it
destroys the local culture and imposes Arabic morals on the people. In all
honesty, Islam is evil and Totalitarian since it is a collectivist ideology that
suppresses individualism. Before the rise of the Progressive Ideologies like
Communism and Nazism, Islam was responsible for the majority of genocide
committed in human history.
In the latest example of the the evil nature of Islam, an Iranian
cleric has issued a fatwa against dogs. What most Americans don’t realize is
that Islam is anti-dog, since Muslim legends claims they chased the Pedophile
genocidal Arab warlord Muhammad and pissed in the first Mosque. Dogs sense evil
and obviously they knew the founder of the Islamic Imperialist movement was
demonic.
Full report at:
http://www.theblogmocracy.com/2010/06/23/islamic-cleric-issues-fatwa-against-dogs/
---------
Islamic Banking Begins Business In September
24-Jun-2010
The first micro finance company in the country to provide loans to
people at an interest free rate is set to begin operations in September this
year.
The company, Ghana Islamic Microfinance, the first of kind in the
country, is founded on the tenets of Islam and the Sharia law, which forbids the
receiving and paying of interest on loans. The company has set aside US$5
million as seed-money to begin its operations.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Islamic Microfinance, Kwaku
Yamoah Kyei, told B&FT in an interview yesterday that the company hopes to
recoup its investment according to profit or loss sharing between the company
and its clients.
Full report at:
http://business.peacefmonline.com/finance/201006/51182.php
---------
Witness to southern Philippine massacre shot
dead
Jun 24, 2010
A key witness to the massacre of 57 people in the Philippines last
year has been shot dead, a prosecutor says.
Suwaib Upham had admitted to being one of the gunmen who took part in
the Maguindanao attack.
He had agreed to testify against members of the Ampatuan family, who
are on trial for ordering the killings.
Since admitting his part in the murders, Mr Upham had repeatedly
asked for witness protection but had yet to receive any government
help.
Trial setback
Earlier this year Suwaib Upham, known publicly as "Jesse", had given
several media interviews detailing his role in last November's
killings.
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10400144.stm
---------
Pak again plays Kashmir card, says look into it
first
Jun 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has yet again raised the Kashmir issue as the
first round of Indo-Pak foreign secretary bilateral talks began on Thursday
between Nirupama Rao and her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir. India is
waiting to see whether Pakistan will walk the talk and bridge the trust deficit
between the two neighbours since the Mumbai attacks in 2008.
Foreign Secretaries of both India and Pakistan met in Islamabad
today; the meeting is aimed at setting the tone for the next round of talks
between foreign ministers in July. Efforts to rebuild trust and work out
measures to counter terrorism are on agenda.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pak-again-plays-K-card-says-look-into-Kashmir-first/articleshow/6086596.cms
---------
India, Pak foreign secys meet to bridge trust
deficit
Jun 24 2010
Islamabad : Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will address a
joint press conference later on Thursday after their talks aimed at bridging the
trust deficit between the two countries.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman
Bashir will address the joint press conference at 3 pm (local time) at the
Foreign Office here, sources said.
The decision was taken after their meeting this morning. Earlier,
there was no indication of the joint press conference, they sources
said.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, the first senior Indian official to
visit Islamabad since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, met her Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir for talks at the Foreign Office in
Islamabad.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-pak-foreign-secys-meet-to-bridge-trust-deficit/637592/
---------
Five US men convicted of Pakistan 'terror plot'
Jun 24 2010
Five Americans have each been sentenced to 10 years in jail by a
court in Pakistan after being found guilty of terrorism charges, prosecutors
say.
The five men - aged between 19 and 25 - were convicted of conspiring
to commit terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil and of funding banned jihadist
groups.
They were arrested in the north-eastern city of Sargodha in
December.
The case is one of several involving alleged "home-grown" American
Muslim militants linked to Pakistan.
The men have been identified as Ramy Zamzam, of Egyptian descent,
Waqar Khan and Umar Farooq of Pakistani descent, and Aman Hassan Yemer and Ahmed
Minni, who are of Ethiopian descent.
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/10400972.stm
---------
Afghan strategy remains despite sacking, says
Nato
Jun 24 2010
Nato's strategy in Afghanistan "remains on course", its top civilian
representative has said, despite the sacking of the top US military
chief.
Mark Sedwill said that "no-one wanted to see Gen Stanley McChrystal
go" but he was "much reassured" by the appointment of Gen David
Petraeus.
However, the Taliban said that the insurgency would go on until
"invading forces" leave.
Gen McChrystal was sacked after mocking top US officials in a
magazine article.
Civilian casualties
Mr Sedwill told the BBC: "No-one wanted to see Stan McChrystal go but
he made a bad mistake, as he acknowledged, and he has had to pay the price for
that mistake."
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10401329.stm
---------
Pakistani Churches welcomed Sharia Law
Jun 24 2010
Karachi: June 23, 2010. (PCP) Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of
Pakistan Christian Congress PCC said that Bishops of Catholic Church in Pakistan
and Church of Pakistan have been using blasphemy law to collect funds and
issuing substandard statements to condemn imposition of Islamic laws on
Christians in Pakistan while they were not and are not sincere to launch any
campaign to repeal blasphemy law because they welcomed Sharia
laws.
“It is on record that Bishops Conference of Catholic Church in
Pakistan and Bishops of Church of Pakistan welcomed Sharia Law during Zia-Ul-Haq
regime and participated in Jurist Conference of Nawaz Sharif during his tenure
as Prime Minister and termed Islamic laws to be only source of Justice for
minorities” said Nazir Bhatti.
Full report at:
http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/headlinenewsd.php?hnewsid=2069
---------
Gujarat makes no headway in Modasa case, so NIA steps
in
Jun 24 2010
Ahmedabad : With Gujarat police making no headway in the probe into
the September 2008 blast near a mosque in Modasa which killed a 15-year-old boy
and injured others, the Centre has asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA)
to take over the case.
Confirming that the NIA will now probe the case, Union Minister of
State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran told The Indian Express: “It is a
Central decision, it has been communicated to the Gujarat
government.”
This is the first Gujarat case to be handed over to the NIA. The
state had left the Modasa case to the local police and, unlike other blast
cases, had not turned it over to its Anti Terrorism Squad.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gujarat-makes-no-headway-in-modasa-case-so-nia-steps-in/637897/
---------
Geelani, Mirwaiz detained in Kashmir
Jun 24, 2010
SRINAGAR: As India and Pakistan opened talks on Thursday, Jammu and
Kashmir separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was detained under a tough law and
moderate Mirwaiz Umer Farooq was put under house arrest.
Geelani was booked under the Public Safety Act for making provocative
speeches inciting youths to violence, Srinagar District Magistrate Mehraj Ahmad
Kakroo said.
"We have booked him under the Public Safety Act. I have signed his
detention order," Kakroo said.
Geelani, who favours Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan and is
bitterly opposed to any talks with India, had been taken into preventive custody
with his associate Ashraf Sehrai June 20.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Geelani-Mirwaiz-detained-in-Kashmir/articleshow/6085938.cms
---------
Defiant American 'Rambo' eager to finish his mission of killing
Osama
Jun 24, 2010
NEW YORK: Ten days after he was apprehended from a jungle in
Pakistan's northern Chitral region, the American construction worker, who
claimed to be on a solo mission to hunt down and kill al-Qaida chief Osama bin
Laden, has arrived back in the US.
Gary Brooks Faulkner, 51, arrived at the Los Angeles International
Airport hours after he was freed by Pakistani agencies due to his deteriorating
health conditions.
According to the New York Post , a local television channel showed
Faulkner, who is said to have been suffering from severe kidney ailment, walking
out of the airport.
However, Faulkner appeared defiant, saying he would complete his
mission as soon as he gets fit.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Defiant-American-Rambo-eager-to-finish-his-mission-of-killing-Osama/articleshow/6085599.cms
---------
NATO chief says strategy for Afghanistan
unchanged
Jun 24, 2010
BRUSSELS: NATO will maintain its approach to Afghanistan after US
President Barack Obama on Wednesday relieved his top general in the country from
command, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
"I have taken note that General McChrystal is stepping down as
Commander of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. While he will no longer be the
commander, the approach he helped put in place is the right one," Rasmussen said
in a statement.
"The strategy continues to have NATO's support and our forces will
continue to carry it out."
Naming General David Petraeus to replace McChrystal, Obama also said
the shift did not reflect a change in policy. McChrystal's dismissal follows
remarks he and his aides made in a magazine article that disparaged the US
president and other senior civilian leaders.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/South-Asia/NATO-chief-says-strategy-for-Afghanistan-unchanged/articleshow/6084376.cms
---------
US will not tolerate any safe haven for terrorist:
Obama
Jun 24, 2010
WASHINGTON: Stating that US faces a tough fight with the Taliban in
Afghanistan, President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he would not allow safe
haven for terrorists who want to destroy Afghan society.
"Our nation is at war. We face a very tough fight in Afghanistan. But
Americans don't flinch in the face of difficult truths or difficult tasks. We
persist and we persevere.
"We will not tolerate a safe haven for terrorists who want to destroy
Afghan society from within and launch attacks against innocent men, women and
children in our country and around the world," Obama said.
Emerging from the Oval office, soon after his monthly situation room
meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan with his national security aide, Obama said
the goal is to break the momentum of the Taliban.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/US-will-not-tolerate-any-safe-haven-for-terrorist-Obama/articleshow/6084230.cms
---------
June deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan
war
Jun 24, 2010
KABUL: The deaths of another four NATO troops in an accident in
Afghanistan made June the deadliest single month for US-led foreign forces in
the nearly nine-year conflict, according to an AFP tally on Thursday.
The four troops died as a result of a vehicle accident in southern
Afghanistan on Wednesday, the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force
said in a statement that gave no further details.
The new deaths bring to 79 the number of foreign troops who have died
as a result of the conflict in Afghanistan so far this month, according to an
AFP tally based on statistics on the independent icasualties.org website.
The grim record eclipsed the previous most deadly month for NATO
troops last August, when 77 soldiers were killed.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/South-Asia/June-deadliest-month-for-foreign-troops-in-Afghanistan-war/articleshow/6085061.cms
---------
India, Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks begin in
Islamabad
Jun 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met here on
Thursday in their efforts to bridge the trust deficit and work out measures to
counter terrorism to bring on track the stalled peace process.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, the first senior Indian official to
visit Islamabad since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, met her Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir for talks at the Foreign Office here.
The talks began with a one-on-one meeting between Rao and Bashir to
be followed by delegation-level parleys.
Rao and Bashir have been tasked by Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and
Yousuf Raza Gilani to find ways to bridge the trust deficit and prepare the
ground for a meeting of the Foreign Ministers on July 15.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India-Pak-Foreign-Secretary-level-talks-begin-in-Islamabad/articleshow/6085549.cms
---------
Nothing dramatic expected from Indo-Pak talks:
Krishna
Jun 24, 2010
MUMBAI: Foreign minister S M Krishna on Wednesday said "nothing
spectacular or dramatic" was expected from a series of forthcoming high-level
political contacts with Pakistan because of the complexity of bilateral ties.
"I don't expect anything spectacular or dramatic because the Indo-Pak
relationship is so complex", Krishna told reporters here.
He said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's visit to Pakistan was
primarily "to prepare the ground for my visit to Islamabad next month".
Besides Krishna, Home Minister P Chidambaram is also scheduled to
visit Pakistan in July to attend a meeting of SAARC Interior Ministers.
Krishna was here to visit ailing cartoonist R K Laxman who is
undergoing treatment at Breach Candy Hospital here.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Nothing-dramatic-expected-from-Indo-Pak-talks-Krishna/articleshow/6085091.cms
---------
Pakistan Army a threat to India, not its people or
government'
SHUJAAT BUKHARI
June 24, 2010
The former Chief of the Army Staff, General (retired) V.P. Malik, on
Wednesday said the Pakistan Army, not its people or government, was a threat to
India, and that India was fighting a proxy war in Afghanistan, a country vital
to India's interests.
Gen. Malik was speaking at a seminar “Rising India: Challenges of a
Troubled Neighbourhood” at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre,
organised by the Dr. Syama Prasad Mookherjee Research Foundation here to
commemorate the death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookherjee. This was the first
time such a function is being organised here.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article482665.ece
---------
Foreign Secretaries meet to work out measures to counter
terrorism
June 24, 2010
Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met here on Thursday in
their efforts to bridge the trust deficit and work out measures to counter
terrorism to bring on track the stalled peace process.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, the first senior Indian official to
visit Islamabad since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, met her Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir for talks at the Foreign Office
here.
The talks began with a one-on-one meeting between Rao and Bashir to
be followed by delegation-level parleys.
Ms. Rao and Mr. Bashir have been tasked by Prime Ministers Manmohan
Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani to find ways to bridge the trust deficit and
prepare the ground for a meeting of the Foreign Ministers on July
15.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article483974.ece
---------
Brazil and Turkey prepare for next round of mediation on
Iran
Atul Aneja
June 24, 2010
DUBAI: Brazil has said that it would continue its participation in
efforts to ease tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear programme provided it
received explicit support from the West for its diplomatic
intervention.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Bulgaria, Brazilian Foreign
Minister Celso Amorim said France was ready for further mediation by Turkey and
Brazil to help defuse tensions with Iran. “If this is also the desire of Iran,
which I think it is, but also of the other two [in the Vienna Group], we will be
more than glad to help. But it has to be on the basis of a very clear expression
of interest,” he said. Apart from France, the United States and Russia are part
of the Vienna group that emerged following talks in October in the Austrian
capital among these three countries and Iran.
Full report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/24/stories/2010062455491500.htm
---------
Terror Alert Sounded About Strikes At Saarc
Jun 24th, 2010
Central security agencies on Wednesday sounded a terror alert in the
country warning of groups “inimical’’ to India-Pakistan talks planning strikes
to dislodge the dialogue on the sidelines of the Saarc interior ministers’
conference which began in Islamabad on Wednesday. Home minister P. Chidambaram
is leaving for Islamabad on Friday to attend the
conference.
Mr Chidambaram’s visit to Islamabad is critical as this will be the
first visit of the home minister to Pakistan since the 26/11 Mumbai terror
attack. The Indo-Pak talks had been suspended after Pakistani terrorists carried
out the Mumbai carnage and brought Indo-Pak ties to an all-time
low.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/india/terror-alert-sounded-about-strikes-saarc-873
---------
Can Nitish's stand win Muslim votes?
Jun 24th, 2010
Severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and publicly snubbing
leaders such as Gujarat Chief Minister Nare- ndra Modi and BJP MP Varun Gandhi
may not necessarily deliver more Muslim votes into the JD-U kitty when Bihar
goes to the polls in October.
There is a feeling among Muslim groups that Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar's snub could spark another round of the communalism debate betw-
een Hindus and Muslims and harden attitudes on both sides.
“Pitted against Modi, on whom the BJP future rides nati- onally, the
BJP could be forced into shriller Hindutva cam- paigns. This could put the com-
munity on the defensive for no reason,“ said a Muslim
scholar.
Full report at: Hindustan Times
---------
Latest AfPak crisis: McChrystal
Karen DeYoung & Scott Wilson
Jun 24th, 2010
The firestorm sparked by the general responsible for creating and
imple- menting President Barack Obama's Afghanistan strat- egy has further set
back US prospects in a war that was already on shaky
ground.
Combat delays, rising casualties and new reports of Afghan corruption
have led to growing skepticism in Congress and among the American public. The
weak- ening, and possible firing, of Gen. Stanley McChrystal over disrespectful
comments he made about Obama and his policy team has com- pounded the sense of
peril.
However the McChrystal crisis ends, “much is differ- ent going
forward,“ a senior administration official said.
“It's hard to brush past it.“
Full report at: Hindustan Times
---------
Our borders follow us even in death
Urvashi Butalia
Jun 24th, 2010
Afriend once told me a strange story about visas.Her uncle,an Indian
married to a Pakistani and working in a third country,died in a country he was
visiting on business.The question his family faced: where would he be buried.The
natural choice was India,his home country,but then his wife and son would be
unable to come.After many unsuccessful attempts to get them visas,the extended
family decided to take the only other option and bury the man in a neutral
country.Borders followed him,even in death.Another friend,Tanveer Ahmed,living
in London,discovered one day that his 80-year-old grandmother,once a Hindu,still
had a brother in their home village in Indian Kashmir.He thought he would try to
take his grandmother to Kashmir to meet her brother.He spent four years trying
to get her a visa.The reunion was spectacular.
Full report at: Times of India
---------
THE ROAD NOT YET TAKEN
Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali
Jun 24th, 2010
Nation-states and their borders are products of specific histories
and are shaped by political processes that need to be interrogated.On the Indian
subcontinent we need to understand this shared history and reclaim our political
imagination to transform the boundaries that divide us.
The highly restricted Indo-Pak border that we live with on the
subcontinent today was not created because of Indo-Pak wars over Kashmir.It has
a very different history.By separating the border from the Kashmir conflict,this
history may allow us to think about more open borders as the road not yet taken
the road that lies ahead when finding solutions through affinity rather than
difference.
Full report at: Times of India
---------
One-point plan: Talk,more talk and still more
talk
Mani Shankar Aiyar
Jun 24th, 2010
The quarrel between the two governments has had deleterious
consequences for precisely those crores of Indians and Pakistanis who have never
had anything but Aman ki Asha in their breasts.
It is they who have to suffer endless,tense waits to get visas to
visit friends and relatives and participate in family festivities.It is they
really poor people whom inland security authorities in both countries compel to
travel hundreds and often thousands of kilometres and sleep in ditches outside
visa offices.It is they who are the victims of strategies of one-upmanship that
are the staple of diplomacy and,worse,of the intelligence war between agencies
not famed for that particular quality.
Full report at: Times of India
---------
Lahore HC blocks Yahoo,Google
Omer Farooq Khan
Jun 24th, 2010
Islamabad: In a move that shows how easily internet can be restricted
in societies that arent open,the Lahore high court has directed the government
to block Google,Yahoo,MSN,YouTube and five other websites,accusing them of
publishing and promoting blasphemous material.The court also ordered the
chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to appear in court on June
28.
The order came from the Bahawalpur bench of the Lahore high court on
Tuesday.Justice Mazher Iqbal Sidhu,while hearing a writ petition,ordered
blocking of a total of nine websites including Hotmail,Islam Exposed,In The Name
Of Allah,Amazon and Bing.However,the sites have not been blocked so
far.
Last month,Pakistani authorities had blocked social networking site
Facebook for publishing caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
Full report at: Times of India
---------
Obama calls Karzai; discusses Kandahar
operation
June 24, 2010
Washington : US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart
Hamid Karzai today discussed the stabilisation effort in Afghanistan's restive
Kandahar province, the White House said.
"The two leaders focused primarily on plans to stabilize Kandahar
City and the close alignment between our two governments there," White House
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at his daily news
conference.
"They received a briefing from senior US and Afghan officials
detailing their plans to provide better security, improve governance and
increase economic opportunities," he said, adding that they had a productive
video teleconference. Obama and Karzai agreed on the need to make tough
decisions on a range of issues, including removing corrupt officials,
eliminating sources of corruption and providing the people of Kandahar better
access to government services, Gibbs said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/obama-calls-karzai;-discusses-kandahar-operation/637529/
---------
French parliament to debate burqa ban on July 6
June 24, 2010
Paris : French lawmakers will begin on July 6 to debate a government
proposal to ban the Muslim full-face veil from public spaces, a minister
said.
The lower house National Assembly will read the bill before it passes
to the Senate in September and it could be adopted into law soon after, said
Henri de Raincourt, the minister for parliamentary
relations.
The bill by President Nicolas Sarkozy's government proposes to ban
anyone in France from wearing a garment "designed to hide the face" -- a move
interpreted as targeting Muslim women who wear veils such as the niqab or
burqa.
Those who break the law would be fined 150 euros (180 dollars) or
sent on a course to learn the values of French
citizenship.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/french-parliament-to-debate-burqa-ban-on-july-6/637499/
---------
BJP urges Prez to expedite Afzal hanging
Jun 24th, 2010
The BJP on Wednesday demanded President Pratibha Patil to expedite
the execution of death penalty to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru after the
Home Ministry’s “no” to his mercy plea.
Describing Guru as “a symbol of treachery and terrorism”, BJP leader
M Venkaiah Naidu said whatever may have been the reasons for the delay, the
President should accept Government’s recommendation.
“The Home Ministry after so much delay and dilly-dallying seems to
have recommended that the Supreme Court verdict should be implemented. We hope
that the President will go by the recommendation,” Naidu said. He said that
Afzal deserved to be hanged. BJP has often alleged that the Congress-led UPA
Government and the Shiela Dikshit Government were delaying the hanging of Guru
for minority appeasement and vote-bank politics.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/264637/BJP-urges-Prez-to-expedite-Afzal-hanging.html
---------
Nazeer denies naming Madani
VR Jayaraj
Jun 24th, 2010
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba’s Thadiyantavide Nazeer, prime accused in the
Bangalore bombings, on Wednesday claimed he had not given any statement against
Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani, the 31st accused. Within hours, reports
quoting Nazeer’s signed statements to the police said Madani himself had advised
him on the modus operandi to be followed for the bombings.
“I haven’t given any statement against Madani. None of us has,”
Nazeer told the media while coming out of the Special CBI Court (NIA court) in
Kochi. “A lot of hypocritical campaigns are going on (in the media). You should
not try to create problems all around,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/264576/Nazeer-denies-naming-Madani.html
---------
Pakistan predicts conviction in US terror trial
Jun 24th, 2010
Prosecutors in the trial of five Americans accused of plotting
terrorist attacks in Pakistan say they are confident the men will be found
guilty when their trial concludes Thursday.
The five young Muslims from the Washington suburb of Alexandria,
Virginia, were arrested in December after their families reported them missing.
The case is one of several involving alleged “homegrown” American militants
linked to Pakistan, but the only one being tried in a Pakistani
court.
The men’s lawyers say they are innocent. In notes passed to
journalists by the men as they were driven to court, they have alleged they were
subject to torture. Pakistan authorities deny that.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/264661/Pakistan-predicts-conviction-in-US-terror-trial.html
---------
KERALA TOP COP UNDER SCANNER FOR TERROR LINKS
Jun 24th, 2010
Suspended Kerala Inspector-General of Police Tomin Thachankary faces
further action for his alleged links with operatives of terror outfits whom he
is reported to have met during recent visits to Persian Gulf countries,
including Qatar.
Kerala Chief Minister V.S.
Achuthanandan said on Wednesday that he had recei- ved a letter
demanding action against Thachankary from the home ministry and forwarded it to
the state's chief secretary.
The inspector general was suspended last month for mak- ing
unannounced visits to Persian Gulf countries after lying about his travel
plans.
The action followed a protest note sent by the Indian emba- ssy in
Qatar to the external affa- irs ministry, claiming the off- icer met “dubious
persons“ du- ring his visits and kept the mis- sion in the dark. It is manda-
tory for visiting officials to keep the local embassy in the loop. Reports said
Thachankary had met absconders from Kerala with links to terror out- fits, and
promised to help them if they returned to India.
Full report at: Hindustan Times
---------
Lal Masjid was NY plotter's turning point
Jun 24th, 2010
THE 2007 raid at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid was the triggering event that
drove Pakistani- American Faisal Shahzad to terrorism, culminating in the failed
Times Square bombing plot.
The mosque, believed to have become a hub of extremist activity, was
stormed by the forces of former President Pervez Musharraf in 2007 after days of
siege.
Nearly a 100 people died in the raid.
Lal Masjid was where he had offered prayers on his frequent trips to
Pakistan.
That was the triggering event, a person familiar with the case told
the New York Times , which pieced together bits of Shahzad’s journey on the
terror path from interviews with people who are currently involved in his
interrogation.
Full report at: Mail Today
---------
The Fury of a General, Released by Volcano
By JEREMY W. PETERS
June 24, 2010
Of all the questions surrounding the Rolling Stone article that
detailed Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s surprisingly blunt criticisms of the Obama
administration, few are as puzzling as this: Why would a top military commander
allow a journalist so much unfettered access to his inner
circle?
The answer, it seems, is a volcano.
Michael Hastings, the freelance journalist who wrote the bombshell
article about General McChrystal’s displeasure with the war effort in
Afghanistan, was with the general and his staff in Paris in April as the
Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in Iceland, forcing the closing of airspace
over most of Europe.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/world/23rollingstone.html
---------
SP Mookerjee Martyrdom Day observed in Kashmir
June 24, 2010
Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who had attained martyrdom in a Srinagar
jail on June 23, 1953 for demanding complete merger of Kashmir with the rest of
India, was remembered by selected intellectuals in Srinagar at a national
seminar dedicated to his memory. It was for the first time in many years that
such a function was organised in Srinagar.
The seminar, Rising India — Challenges of a troubled neighbourhood,
was inaugurated by former Army chief General VP Malik. Eminent editor MJ Akbar,
Prof Riyaz Punjabi, Vice Chancellor of Kashmir University, Ambassador TCA
Rangachari, Lt Gen Aditya Singh and Maj or General Vinod Saighal were the
participants.
A galaxy of leaders from various walks of life in Srinagar, faculty
and students from Kashmir University and Islamic University, intellectuals and
officers attended the seminar, according to a statement
here.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/264582/SP-Mookerjee-Martyrdom-Day-observed-in-Kashmir.html
---------
Iran produces 17 kgs of further enriched
uranium
June 24, 2010
Iran’s nuclear chief said on Wednesday his country has produced 17
kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 per cent, defying UN demands to halt the
controversial programme.
The 20 per cent level, needed to produce fuel for a medical research
reactor, is far below the more than 90 per cent required to build a nuclear
weapon, but US officials have expressed concern Iran may be moving closer to the
ability to reach weapons-grade level.
The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to acquire
atomic weapons. Tehran denies the charge, saying its nuclear programme is geared
toward generating electricity.
Iran has been producing the 20 per cent enriched material since
February.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/264684/Iran-produces-17-kgs-of-further-enriched-uranium.html
---------
Indonesian police raid terrorist hide-out; 1
dead
June 24, 2010
An elite anti-terrorism squad arrested Indonesia’s most wanted man
and two other suspects on Wednesday after raiding their hide-out on the
country’s main island of Java, police and witnesses said. At least one person
was killed and several weapons seized, including a bomb in a
backpack.
An investigator who asked not to be identified because of the
sensitivity of the case said among those taken alive was Abdullah Sunata. He
jumped to the top of the country’s wanted list after allegedly setting up a
network that was plotting a Mumbai-style attack in the world’s most populous
Muslim country and high-profile assassinations.
At least 60 members of that group have been arrested and 13 others
killed.
Several television stations quoted unidentified sources as saying
Sunata had been taken in, but Brig. Gen. Zaenuri Lubis, a spokesman for the
national police, told Metro TV he could not immediately confirm that because
“frankly, I have not yet been able to contact those in the
field.”
http://www.dailypioneer.com/264685/Indonesian-police-raid-terrorist-hide-out;-1-dead.html
---------
Landmarks to lose elite status over lighting
row
By Maneesh Pandey
June 24, 2010
QUTUB Minar and Humayun’s Tomb — the two monuments that characterise
Delhi — face the imminent threat of losing their prestigious World Heritage Site
status.
That will happen if the Archaeological Survey of India ( ASI) doesn’t
concede the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (
Unesco) demand that it tweaks its plan to illuminate the two iconic monuments
with the help of solar- powered panels.
The illumination project is part of the ministry of new and renewable
energy’s plan to light up 27 landmarks for the Commonwealth Games. The other
structures on the list include the Purana Qila, Safdarjung’s Tomb, Jantar
Mantar, Jama Masjid and the Lotus Temple.
Full report at: Mail Today
---------
Poverty, price hike, unemployment biggest issues:
Tarin
June 24, 2010
RAWALPINDI: Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin has revealed that
besides Rs250 billion losses in the public sector, the development programme of
the country was also facing Rs 300 billion losses
annually.
He said that every citizen will have to pay tax; the accountability
process in the government should start from the top and agriculture sector also
be brought in the tax net. Privatisation of the units in ICU will not be
beneficial. It was necessary that before privatisation all institutions and
departments first be restored and stabilised. Eight percent of the budget should
be allocated for the education and health sectors for the next 5 years, he
said.
Full report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=246914
---------
‘Pakistani not a danger to US community’
24 Jun, 2010
BOSTON, June 23: A federal official says a Pakistani man arrested on
an immigration charge during the probe into an attempted bombing in New York is
not a danger to the community. Mohammad Shafiq Rahman was one of the three
Pakistanis charged with immigration violations last month as authorities probed
the attempted car bombing.
During a bail hearing on Wednesday, the official said authorities
weren’t claiming Rahman was a “danger to the community.”
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/pakistani-not-a-danger-to-us-community-460
---------
Jamaat calls for more provinces for better
governance
By Aamir Yasin
24 Jun, 2010
RAWALPINDI, June 23: The Central Shura of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on
Wednesday called for necessary amendments to the Constitution to create more
provinces in the country for better governance.
“It also urged religious-cum-political parties to get united for
solving the problems being faced by the people,” Mian Muhammad Aslam, the
party’s naib amir for Punjab, said at a press conference here.
Mr Aslam, who was accompanied by JI Media Coordinator Hafiz Sajjad
Qamar and JI City spokesman Malik Muhammad Azam, said that uncertainty was
prevailing in the country and people were feeling insecure.
He said the Pakistan Army and civilians were fighting against each
other under a US conspiracy.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/jamaat-calls-for-more-provinces-for-better-governance-460
---------
Six more NATO troops killed in Afghanistan
24 Jun, 2010
KABUL: Six NATO soldiers were killed in attacks in Afghanistan on
Wednesday, alliance forces said, bringing to 75 the number of foreign troops who
have died in the troubled nation this month.
The deaths of one British marine and five other soldiers made it
nearly certain that June would be the worst month for NATO casualties since the
2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.
The British marine was killed in a small-arms fire in Helmand
province, the UK Defence Ministry said in statement. Four other soldiers died in
homemade bomb attacks – two in the south, one in the east and one in the west –
while one soldier died in an accident on patrol in western Afghanistan, NATO
announced in Kabul without giving details on their
nationality.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\06\24\story_24-6-2010_pg7_3
---------
Spanish senate proposes ban on Islamic veils
24 Jun, 2010
MADRID: The upper house of the Spanish parliament on Wednesday
approved a motion calling on Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s
socialist government to ban the use of face-covering Islamic veils in
public.
The motion was introduced by the main opposition conservative Popular
Party. It calls for a ban on the niqab, which covers the face but leaves the
eyes exposed, as well as the body-covering burqa. It was narrowly approved with
131 votes in favour and 129 against. There were no abstentions. “Today, a very
important step in favour of freedom and women’s equality was taken,” deputy
leader of Popular Party Maria Dolores de Cospedal told reporters after the vote.
Last week, Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said the government planned to
restrict use of the Islamic veils in public places under a proposed new law on
religious freedom.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\06\24\story_24-6-2010_pg7_5
---------
Okara landlord ‘detains’ 43 Christians as
punishment
By Afnan Khan Lodhi
24 Jun, 2010
* Demands family produces his daughter who allegedly eloped with
Christian boy or face death
* Warns of burning alive detainees in their
houses
LAHORE: A landlord based in Okara has allegedly detained at least 43
Christians of a family after his daughter eloped with a Christian boy a few days
back.
The landlord has threatened killing all the detainees if the couple
is not handed over to him.
One of the relatives of the detained Christians, Irshad Masih, told
Daily Times that the detainees were residents of village 11-1/L of Renala Khurd
tehsil. He said there are around 10 houses of Christians in a village in the
tehsil and the landlord, Muhammad Ashraf, has detained all of them in their
houses.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\06\24\story_24-6-2010_pg7_11
---------
24 insurgents killed near Afghan border
24 Jun, 2010
HANGU—At least one soldier and 24 Taliban militants were killed
Wednesday in Pakistan’s tribal region along the Afghan border, a security
official said.
The fighting took place in Dabori area of Orakzai tribal district,
where Pakistani forces are conducting an offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda
insurgents.
‘Our forces were carrying out a search operation when they came under
fire from the miscreants.
http://dailymailnews.com/0610/24/FrontPage/index.php?id=7
---------
Petraeus replaces McChrystal
By BARBARA FERGUSON
Jun 24, 2010
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama fired his top Afghanistan
commander on Wednesday over inflammatory comments that angered the White House
and threatened to undermine the war effort.
Calling it the “right thing for our mission in Afghanistan,” Obama
relieved Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command after a 30-minute meeting at the
White House and named Gen. David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, to
replace him.
Gen. McChrystal had been summoned by Obama to explain remarks he and
his aides made in a magazine article that disparaged the US president and other
senior civilian leaders.
“The conduct represented in the recently published article does not
meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general,” Obama said in the
White House Rose Garden.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article72229.ece
---------
13 countries slam Israeli raid on Gaza aid
flotilla
24 June 2010
ANKARA/BEIRUT: Turkey and 12 other southeastern European countries on
Wednesday denounced the recent Israeli raid on an aid flotilla headed to Gaza,
which left eight Turks and one Turkish American dead.
The countries said in a joint declaration at the end of a Balkan
summit that they want “an impartial, independent and internationally credible
investigation on this matter.” They also stressed the urgent need to improve the
humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Nine pro-Palestinian activists — eight Turks and an American-Turkish
teenager — were killed after a squad of naval commandos stormed a ship trying to
breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel says its soldiers began
shooting only after a mob of activists attacked them.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article72192.ece
---------
Denmark’s pullout hits NATO drone project
By DAVID BRUNNSTROM
24 June 2010
BRUSSELS: Denmark’s pullout from a NATO drone project has raised
questions about the future of the 1.3 billion euro ($1.7 billion) multinational
program involving big US and European defense contractors, NATO sources
said.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former Danish prime
minister, said he strongly regretted Denmark’s withdrawal from the Alliance
Ground Surveillance (AGS) project, which involves 14 other
nations.
“AGS is designed to make soldiers from all NATO countries safer and
more effective when they are deployed on operations,” he said in a statement on
Wednesday.
“Denmark’s withdrawal from the program sends the wrong signal to our
forces and to other allies.”
The project involves the off-the-shelf purchase of eight Rolls Royce
powered Global Hawk drones and will also make use of eight mobile ground
stations and a main base at Sigonella in Italy.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article72058.ece
---------
Pakistani-American woman buried in Jubail
By SIRAJ WAHAB
Jun 24, 2010
JUBAIL: A 38-year-old Pakistani-American woman who died in a road
accident on the busy Jubail-Dammam Highway was laid to rest on Wednesday
afternoon.
Rabia Qadir Baig and her three daughters were on their way to
Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport on Friday night for a flight to US
capital Washington when the vehicle she was in overturned four times near Qatif.
She was killed instantly.
Rabia’s husband, Mirza Qadir Baig, who received serious head
injuries, was driving the Toyota Fortuner. The couple’s daughters, 10-year-old
Maryam, six-year-old Sarah and three-year-old Fatima were also injured. Baig was
only informed of his wife’s death on Tuesday.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article72199.ece
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Turkey detains 27 over Istanbul bus attack
24 June 2010
ISTANBUL: Turkish police detained 27 people on Wednesday in
connection with a bomb attack against a military bus that killed five people in
Istanbul, state news agency Anatolian said.
Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for Tuesday's bombing, the
latest of a series of attacks on the Turkish military that has dashed hopes of a
quick end to Turkey's decades-long separatist conflict with the
guerrillas.
Kurdish separatists rebels have increased attacks on military targets
after accusing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government of not delivering on
promised reforms.
Erdogan, who faces a general election by July 2011, is under pressure
to crack down on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels, who have killed more than
50 soldiers over the last two months in some of the worst fighting in years in
the mainly Kurdish southeast.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, which have carried out bombings in the
past, claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, the worst in Turkey's largest
city in more than two years.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article72191.ece
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Britain’s Muslims 5 years after 7/7
Jun 24, 2010
Once Britain boasted of being the home of liberty, a haven for
refugees.
Nowadays it is only too quick to brand refugees as undesirable
aliens, especially if they hail from the Muslim world. The other day, the United
Kingdom Border Agency unceremoniously deported 42 Iraqi asylum-seekers,
manhandling them onto a plane back to Baghdad. It was an image that contrasted
starkly with the way Prime Minister Tony Blair presented Britain as the Iraqi
people’s staunchest friend, pledging to do everything in his power to help them.
The official British line is that, despite overwhelming evidence to
the contrary, Iraq is now much safer than it was; in other words, Iraqis simply
have no cause to seek asylum. In truth, the expulsions were dictated by crude
domestic politics. If Britain’s new Conservative-dominated coalition government
led by Prime Minister David Cameron is adopting a tough stance over immigration
and asylum-seeking, it is because much British opinion believes that under the
former Labour government Britain effectively ceded control of its borders,
extending indiscriminate hospitality to all manner of foreigners, not a few
Muslim fanatics among them. For all their vaunted commitment to human rights,
the Conservatives’ coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, do not seem
inclined to challenge Cameron’s stance.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article72061.ece
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A victim of war on terror
Jun 24, 2010
According to US State Department, Pakistan is the world’s fifth most
unstable country after Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sudan in that
order.
The department’s Global Peace Index just released reports that
Pakistan’s overall score deteriorated steadily for the second successive year
and it dropped three places into the bottom five. Pakistan’s overall rank now is
145 on a list of 149 countries. Frequent suicide bombings and attacks by
insurgents occurred throughout the year and across the country. Major offensives
by the army against Tehrik-i-Taleban Pakistan in Swat Valley and in South
Waziristan forced more than two million people to flee their homes and they are
living in miserable conditions.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/opinion/letters/article72065.ece
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Witness in Philippine massacre trial killed
24 June 2010
MANILA - A key witness in the
trial of a powerful Muslim clan accused of orchestrating the worst political
massacre in the Philippines has been shot dead, a prosecutor said
Thursday.
The witness, Suwaib Upham, claimed to have taken part in the November
killings of 57 people in a crime allegedly planned by his former employers, the
Ampatuan clan.
“He was supposed to be one of our strongest witnesses,” prosecutor
Harry Roque told AFP. “He saw, and participated in, the killings and could have
directly named in court those involved.”
Roque warned that Upham’s killing, which he was told occurred last
week in the southern province of Maguindanao, could potentially weaken the case
against the Ampatuan family.
US-based Human Rights Watch also said the killing raised doubts about
the government’s resolve in seeing justice done in the
case.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/June/international_June1021.xml§ion=international
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Fighting terror at home and the blowback Mark Hosenball?& Evan
Thomas
24 June 2010
The car bomb was a dud. But if Faisal Shahzad had taken just a few
more hours of lessons in the art of bomb making, available on the Internet,
there might still be a crater in Times Square. Law-enforcement officials are
worried that the next homegrown terrorist will be a little smarter and
luckier.
“Somebody’s going to get through,” says a former undercover cop who
has worked closely with counter-terror operations in New York (and, like other
police and intelligence officials quoted in this article, refused to speak for
the record). Since the beginning of 2009, at least 25 American citizens have
been arrested on federal charges related to extremism.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/June/opinion_June142.xml§ion=opinion&col=
5:28 AM
Sultan Shahin
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