Now, a fatwa against cycling by Muslim girls
New Saudi panel to regulate fatwa publicationForty-two militants killed in Orakzai, Kurram
Hillary in Pak with bagful of sops
5 Pakistanis among 20 held for Uganda blasts
Qureshi deals fresh blow to India-Pak talks
Kayani Behind Breakdown?
Waqf Amendment Bill will have no effect on Babri Masjid title case: Salman Khurshid
Impose ban on the RSS: Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi
Encouraging talent is our motto: Suhaib Ilyasi
Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Condemns RSS Attack on Media
EU calls for open borders with Gaza, asks Israel to end blockade
Kabul meet to toe India line on Taliban
J&Ks dependency on Centre alarming
Pak cant blackmail us on Siachen, Kashmir
Curfew imposed in parts of Valley again
NATO says intercepts Mulla Omar’s letter
Kill traitors: Mullah Omar to jihadis
Spain closer to burqa ban as ruling MPs may back oppn
Gurkha soldier beheads dead Taliban, in dock
3 hikers for Iran N-scientist : US wanted spy swap,says Amiri
Suicide bomber targets Shia worship hall in Pak, kills one
Macchil: Army to again plead for court martial
Leopold Cafe was not on Lashkar hit list, Headley had it added later
Malik tweets: Indo-Pak talks shouldn't be judged as '2+2=4'
Minister rules out veil ban in Britain
Hamas bans women from smoking Hookah in cafes
Dhaka court sends ULFA leaders to three-day custody
Advani Blogs On Hinduism In Indonesia
NHRC seeks report on Kashmir youth killing
Two Killed, 11 Escape In Brazen Afghan Jailbreak
‘Hundreds Of Osama-Hunters In Pak Waiting To Act’
Accomplices of woman who stormed into school with AK-47 sentenced
Iran accuses US forces for bombings in Iran
Syria, Lebanon sign economic agreements
Malaysia nabs terror network’s recruiter
Egypt says Israel needs to do more for direct talks
Schooling compulsory till age 18 for nationals Afshan Ahmed
Afghan govt wants donors to support its priorities
Gunmen kill 16 Shia Muslims in Pakistan
War crimes trial rules framed
Govt asked to stop corporal punishment in schools
Veil empowers women, says British minister
Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia?
Iranian prosecutor urges Islamic dress checks
Legislator's proposal would ban use of Sharia law
Over 2.5 million Muslims threaten to leave Facebook: Report
Football growing in Kashmir, defying all odds
Jihadists find new ways to 'inspire'
Somalia: How Al Shaabab Became Al Qaeda's Incidental Stepchild
Lack of critical thinking root of terrorism, says Muslim author
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: A Muslim girl learns cycling in London
Now, a fatwa against cycling by Muslim girls
Sanjay Pandey
July 19, 2010
Notwithstanding sharp criticism over its issuance of a spate of “fatwas” (religious decrees) on women’s issues, the Deoband-based Islamic seminary Darul Uloom has issued a new decree banning cycling by Muslim girls above 13 years.
The fatwa, issued in response to a query, says that Muslim girls above the age of 13 should not ride cycles as it then becomes difficult for them to remain under the veil.
Arshad Farroqui, chairman of the seminary’s Darul Ifta (department of fatwa), said it would not be possible for the girls to wear “burqa” while they were cycling. “According to the Shariat (Islamic laws), purda (veil) is essential for Muslim girls,” Farooqui said. “Any action which creates an obstacle to wearing the veil is prohibited in Islam. Besides, cycling also has an adverse effect on their (girls) physique.”
Reacting to the fatwa, All Indian Muslim Women Personal Law Board chairperson Shaista Ambar said Muslim girls, especially from the rural areas, would find it extremely difficult to go to schools if cycling was to be banned.
Muslim girls also opposed the fatwa saying cycling by girls was a common thing nowadays. “To ask Muslim girls not to ride cycle is rubbish,” quipped Shazia, a student. “Issuing fatwas has become a fashion these days...the clerics must carefully deliberate over the matter before issuing releigious decrees,” said another girl.
The seminary had issued several fatwas on women’s issues in the past. Earlier, it had decreed that wearing jeans was “un-Islamic.” It had also said Muslim women must not do modelling.
The seminary had come in for sharp criticism after it issued a fatwa that barred Muslim women from working in government or private sector and freely mingling with men without “hijab” (veil) and also terming women’s earnings as “haram” (unlawful in the eyes of Islam).
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/82002/now-fatwa-against-cycling-muslim.html
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New Saudi panel to regulate fatwa publication
19 July 2010
JEDDAH - The Board of Senior Ulema (religious scholars) has set up a new committee to regulate the publication of religious fatwas (edicts) in a bid to prevent the haphazard issuing of edicts by unauthorised scholars.
The move, decided at a recent meeting in Riyadh to introduce a new organisational structure for the Board, will see fatwa offices opened across the country and the appointment of certified muftis to assist the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta.
Many enquiries concern Islamic issues related to divorce, and it is hoped that the new committee, to be chaired by Sheikh Saleh bin Muhammad Al Luhaidan, will take the strain off the Permanent Committee, which has only seven members and is chaired by the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al Sheikh. It will also assist spouses seeking rulings on aspects of divorce for which a fatwa can only be issued after the appearance of the couple before the Permanent Committee.
The Grand Mufti has stated previously that edicts should only be released by the official Permanent Committee which, he said, would stop any authorised or unqualified persons from issuing fatwas.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/July/middleeast_July300.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
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Forty-two militants killed in Orakzai, Kurram
19 Jul, 2010
KARACHI: Forty-two militants were killed on Monday in Kurram Agency and Orakzai Agency when fighter jets bombarded the region.
According to official sources, fighter jets targeted various militant hideouts in Upper Orakzai. As a result of the bombing, 20 militants were killed and 15 injured. Four militant hideouts were also destroyed.
Forces also targeted militant hideouts in Kurram Agency where they destroyed five hideouts. Twenty-two militants were also killed in the operation, in which 11 were also injured.
After the military operation in Orakzai, militants moved towards Kurram Agency in large numbers and set up their hideouts in the lower and central parts of the agency.
Over 1,500 militants have been killed in the military operation in Orakzai Agency since the past three months.
Security forces have gained control over the lower Orakzai but the operation is still continuing in the upper parts of the agency.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-forty-two-militants-killed-in-orakzai-kurram-ss-02
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Hillary in Pak with bagful of sops
Mark Landler
Jul 19, 2010
ISLAMABAD: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad on Sunday for high-level deliberations with Pakistani leaders, the latest in a series of encounters that the Obama administration hopes will chip away at decades of suspicion between Pakistan and the US.
Hillary's two-day visit will include talks with top military and civilian leaders as well as pledges of economic aid which Washington hopes will demonstrate to a sceptical public that the US is a trustworthy partner in the struggle against Taliban insurgents on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
She will announce a raft of initiatives to help Pakistan in public health, water distribution and agriculture, to be funded by $500 million in American economic aid. Among other things, the US will build a 60-bed hospital in Karachi and help farmers export their mangoes.
Yet these projects, however beneficial to this economically fragile country, do not disguise several nagging sources of friction between the two sides. American officials still question Pakistan's commitment to root out Taliban insurgents in its frontier areas, its motives in reaching out to war-torn Afghanistan and its determination to expand its own nuclear program.
Pakistan plans to buy two nuclear reactors from China — a deal that alarms the United States because it is cloaked in secrecy and is being conducted outside the global nonproliferation regime. Administration officials said they did not know if Hillary planned to raise the purchase.
Relations could be further tested if the Obama administration decides to place a major Pakistani insurgent group, the Haqqani network, on the state department's list of terrorist organizations. Islamabad maintains ties to the group through its intelligence service, and it is seeking to exploit those connections as a way to extend its influence over Afghanistan. For all that, tensions between the two sides have ebbed since Hillary's last visit in October, when she was peppered with hostile questions in public meetings and bluntly suggested people in the Pakistani government know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.
"We needed to change the core of the relationship with Pakistan," said Richard Holbrooke, the special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The evolution of the strategic dialogue, and the fact that we are delivering, is producing a change in Pakistani attitudes."
Holbrooke conceded that public-opinion polls toward the US had yet to show much of a change. Hillary may receive more criticism on Monday at a meeting in Islamabad. Her visit is being conducted under tight security. Vali Nasr, a senior advisor to Holbrooke, said it was unrealistic to expect "to change 30 years of foreign policy of Pakistan on a dime." But he said, "On foreign policy issues, we're seeing a lot more convergence."
Hillary has brought a bag full of commitments for Pakistan, drawn from the $7.5 billion in non-military aid, over five years, pledged by Congress last year. The emphasis is on basic services like electricity and water, politically-charged issues in this country, particularly during the hot summer.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Hillary-in-Pak-with-bagful-of-sops/articleshow/6185023.cms
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5 Pakistanis among 20 held for Uganda blasts
Jul 19, 2010
KAMPALA: Security forces have arrested more than 20 people, including five Pakistanis, for two bombings last week that killed at least 73 people in the Ugandan capital, the police chief said.
"In terms of those who are in custody, certainly it is more than 20," Kale Kayihura told reporters. Among them were five Pakistanis who had a shop in a Kampala suburb, Kayihura said. "They are being questioned.... They have to explain themselves," the police chief said.
The July 11 bombings at a restaurant and a crowded bar where people were watching the football World Cup final held in South Africa were claimed by the al-Qaida-inspired al-Shabab insurgent group in Somalia.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/5-Pakistanis-among-20-held-for-Uganda-blasts/articleshow/6185007.cms
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Qureshi deals fresh blow to India-Pak talks
Jul 19, 2010
NEW DELHI: Any suggestion of even a semblance of a climbdown by Pakistan, after the heat generated by its foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's outburst on Friday, was cast aside by Qureshi himself who said he was not going to go to India "for a leisure trip".
With this, the fate of the talks now hangs in the balance as Indian officials interpreted the remark as a euphemism for Pakistan's insistence on making its action against India-specific terror groups subject to finding solutions to issues like Kashmir and Siachen.
Qureshi also said he was referring only to a member of the Indian delegation, and not foreign minister S M Krishna, when he spoke about Indians talking to Delhi on phone during the dialogue but he quickly dispelled any notion about Pakistan reaching out to New Delhi in the wake of what has happened in the past few days with his 'leisure' trip remark.
"I will not visit India for a leisure trip. I will only go if India is ready for meaningful, result-oriented and constructive talks and the environment is conducive for the parleys," he said. India had extended an invitation to Qureshi to visit Delhi later this year.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Qureshi-deals-fresh-blow-to-India-Pak-talks/articleshow/6185087.cms
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Kayani Behind Breakdown?
Jul 19 2010
Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Ashraf Parvez Kayani met President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the afternoon of July 15, just hours before India and Pakistan resumed extended talks in the evening that soured badly, well informed sources said here. After two days of bitter slanging match, sources with access to
the government see the hand of the Pakistan Army, widely considered the real power centre in Islamabad, in the hardening of posture on Pakistan’s part at Thursday’s talks that ended in mutual recrimination without any roadmap for future engagement. Although the purpose of Gen. Kayani’s meeting was to brief the civilian leadership about his recent visit to Australia and the security situation in the country, the India-Pakistan foreign minister-level discussions figured prominently in the discussions, the sources said.
The meeting assumes significance as both sides in the morning struck an optimistic note about the talks between external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/india/kayani-behind-breakdown-718
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Waqf Amendment Bill will have no effect on Babri Masjid title case: Salman Khurshid
July 19, 2010
New Age Islam News Bureau
New Delhi: The Minister for Minority Affairs Mr Salman Khurshid said that the Wakf Amendment Bill would not affect the Babri Masjid ownership cases. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha this year. Addressing a seminar on the bill, Mr Khurshid said that the proposed amendments for the bill had been prepared after hectic parleys between the Parliametary Standing Committee, Muslim Personal Law Board and a number of Muslim jurists. Muslims have several apprehensions about the amendment bill fearing that it may affect the Babri Masjid title case. Mr Khurshid said that he had talked to a number of Muslim ulema and he could assure them that the proposed amendments would have no effect on the Babri Masjid case. In contrast, the bill had been brought in order to strengthen the management and maintenance of Waqk properties. He said that the bill would ensure that the Waqf property cannot be sold, encroached upon or gifted. He added that once a property became Waqf property, it would remain so forever and would help the poor.
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Impose ban on the RSS: Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi
July 19, 2010
New Age Islam News Bureau
Kishan Ganj: Condemning the attack on media freedom, MP Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi said that it was necessary to crush the evil designs of the RSS for the security of the country. Speaking to the press here Mr Qasmi said that the attack on the office of a news channel in Delhi by the goons of the RSS had once again proved that the Sangh Parivar did not believe in democracy and secularism and wanted to establish dictatorship promote communalism in the country. He said that a ban on the RSS was the need of the hour as it was damaging the secular fabric of the country.
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Encouraging talent is our motto: Suhaib Ilyasi
July 19, 2010
New Age Islam News Bureau
New Delhi: In a colourful ceremony jointly organised by Bureaucracy Today and Azad News in Hotel Ramada last evening, the journalists associated with Bureaucracy Today, the personnel of its marketing division and the Chief Managing Director of Neville Lignite were felicitated for their outstanding performances in their respective fields. Awards were given away by the President of the IAS Wives’ Association, Ms Jaya Chandrashekhar. The Group Editor of Rashtriya Sahara Aziz Burney attended the ceremony as Chief Guest. The Channel Head of Azad News Ms Tania Walia was also awarded for being the youngest head of a TV channel.
The Chief Editor of Bureaucracy Today Mr Suhaib Ilyasi introduced the awardees while the renowned poet Nawaz Deobandi was the Master of Ceremony.
A musical programme titled Mehfil-e-Mausiqi was also held on the occasion in which an IAS officer and Secretary for Urban Development in the Maharashtra government, MR Manu Shrivastava and the CEO of an Ice-cream company of Mumbai Pankaj Chaturvedi spellbound the audience with their beautiful songs. The IPS officer Vishvas Mehta also presented the song Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein.
Speaking on the occasion Mr Suhaib Ilyasi said that the purpose of holding this programme was to appreciate and felicitate the investigative journalists for their outstanding performance as well as encouraging those working in the organisation who were doing their job honestly and diligently.
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Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Condemns RSS Attack on Media
July 19, 2010
New Age Islam News Bureau
Dhubri (Assam), 18 July: The president of the AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) and Lok Sabha MP fromDhubri, Assam, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal has strongly condemned the recent violence of the extremist RSS workers at a news channel in Delhi and called it an attack on the freedom of the press and an attempt to pollute the atmosphere. In recent times some of the terrorist attacks were shown by the investigative agencies to be linked with the extremist elements of the RSS and its cohorts. When the media tried to depict their wrongdoings they resorted to unnecessary violence.
Maulana Ajmal also clarified that in a secular and democratic country everyone has the right to air his views peacefully but no one has the right to disturb the peace and rent the democratic fabric of the country. So we demand that the government take a serious view of the matter and after identifying the culprits give them severe punishment so that no one dares to take such steps again. The protection of the media and its outlets is the responsibility of the government and the police there should not play laxity in upholding the rule of law, said Assam MP Ajmal.
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EU calls for open borders with Gaza, asks Israel to end blockade
Jul 19, 2010
GAZA CITY: The European Union's top diplomat Catherine Ashton called for the further easing of Israel's four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip during a visit to the impoverished Hamas-run enclave on Sunday.
"The answer here is opening the crossings," Ashton told reporters on her first visit since Israel's deadly May 31 seizure of a Gaza-bound aid fleet sparked international demands to lift the closure.
"People here recognise and understand the security needs of Israel," she said at a news conference held at a UN-run school for Palestinian refugees.
"But that should not prevent the ability to be able to see the free flow of goods into and out of Gaza in order that houses can be rebuilt, children can go to fully functioning schools and businesses can flourish."
She said the European Union was willing to send monitors to help operate the crossings, but they would have to have a clear role and work alongside the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which Hamas drove out of Gaza in 2007.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/EU-calls-for-open-borders-with-Gaza-asks-Israel-to-end-blockade/articleshow/6185279.cms
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Kabul meet to toe India line on Taliban
Indrani Bagchi
Jul 19, 2010
New Delhi: The contours of a reconciliation programme with the Taliban and the first steps for a withdrawal of US troops will be taken during the forthcoming peace conference in Kabul on Tuesday.For India,it will be an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to stay in the country,but equally,India is likely to feel reassured that the Taliban would not be allowed a free ride into Kabul that easily.
A communique that will be issued at the end of the meet is likely to say that only those Taliban leaders who have not engaged in violent activities against the international community or Afghans,and are willing to renounce violence and abide by the Afghan constitution may be worked on for reconciliation after the UN Security Council takes their names off the Res 1267 sanctions list.But this will happen only on a case-by-case basis,and not in the nature of a blanket amnesty.
Full report at: Times of India
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J&Ks dependency on Centre alarming
Subodh Varma
Jul 19, 2010
While Jammu & Kashmir continues through an endless cycle of calm-confrontationcurfew,it is facing a disastrous financial situation.Recently released Reserve Bank of India data on state finances shows how highly dependent J&K is on the central governments support.
In 2009-10,J&K received Rs 13,252 crore as grants from the Centre,which constitutes nearly 60% of the states total expenditure.In fact,for the past two decades since the separatist movement spread in the Kashmir valley,the centre has been propping up the state through similar doles.In all,J&K has received grants amounting to Rs 94,409 crore between 1989-90 and 2009-10.
For over a decade,from 1994-95 to 2005-06,the state received 10-12 % of all grants disbursed by the central government to the states.In 2009-10,this proportion had dipped slightly to about 8%.This is way above J&Ks share of Indias population,which is a mere 1%.
Is the Centre providing similar support to the other hotspot of insurgency in India the northeast Not quite.According to the RBI report,in 2009-10,the eight northeastern states received grants and loans worth Rs 29,084 crore from the Centre,which was 44% of their combined total expenditure,which is significantly lower than in J&K.These figures raise two questions about J&K : one,how is this money being spent,and two,why is it not helping in soothing the discontent that is obviously so widespread
Full report at: Times of India
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Pak cant blackmail us on Siachen, Kashmir
Jul 19, 2010
New Delhi: Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi quickly reverted on Sunday to his hawkish stance on talks with India after offering a hint of a climbdown the previous day.I will not visit India for a leisure trip.I will only go if India is ready for meaningful, result-oriented and constructive talks and the environment is conducive for the parleys, he said. India had extended an invitation to Qureshi to visit Delhi later this year.
As expected, the remark further exacerbated the situation with officials in India, stating that it was Islamabad which seemed intent on damaging the process of dialogue by not doing enough to address Indias concerns over terrorism.
Qureshis remark has been seen in India as Pakistans insistence on a timeframe for solutions to issues like Kashmir and Siachen, one of the main reasons for the collapse of the talks on Thursday. There are certain issues which have been there for decades and it is impossible to stipulate a time period for their solution.
Full report at: Times of India
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Curfew imposed in parts of Valley again
Jul 19, 2010
Srinagar: Authorities imposed curfew in parts of the Valley on Sunday to prevent protests after residents of north Kashmirs Baramulla town alleged that a teenager drowned after the cops chased him a day earlier.
Hundreds of troops patrolled streets and erected barricades to impose restrictions on the peoples movement as hardline Hurriyat faction had called for a shutdown.
Officials said the local administration was looking for Faizan Rafiq Buhroos body when the reports last came in.He was a class XII student at Baramullas Guru Nanak School.A police officer said restrictions , were also imposed in Srinagars old city,Maisuma,Batmaloo and Humhama to prevent violence.
The Valley has been on the boil for more than a month over the killing of 15 people,including a 9-year-old boy and 25-year-old woman,in security forces firing.
The trouble started on June 11 when a 17-yearold boy was killed after a teargas shell hit him in his head as he was caught in a clash between protesters and the cops.
Meanwhile,security forces defused an IED planted along Srinagar-Baramulla national highway.
Times of India
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NATO says intercepts Mulla Omar’s letter
Jul 19, 2010
KABUL: NATO said on Sunday it had intercepted a letter from fugitive Taleban leader Mulla Omar in which he called for any Afghan supporting their country’s government to be captured or killed.
Omar had issued the directive in June, NATO spokesman Brig. Josef Blotz said, adding that the Taleban chief was believed to be in hiding in neighboring Pakistan.
“The message was from Mulla Omar, who is hiding in Pakistan, to his subordinate commanders in Afghanistan,” Blotz said. He said the order to Taleban fighters was to fight coalition forces to the death, and to capture and kill any Afghan civilian supporting or working for coalition forces or the Afghan government.
It also encouraged the recruitment of any Afghan with access to NATO or US bases in the country, Blotz told reporters.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/world/article86353.ece
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Kill traitors: Mullah Omar to jihadis
Jul 19, 2010
Kabul: Nato said on Sunday it had intercepted a letter from Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar,who is hiding in Pakistan,in which he called for any Afghan supporting their countrys government to be captured or killed.
Omar had issued the directive in June,Nato spokesman brigadier Josef Blotz said,adding that the Taliban chief was believed to be in hiding in neighbouring Pakistan.The message was from Mullah Omar,who is hiding in Pakistan,to his subordinate commanders in Afghanistan, Blotz said.
He said the order to Taliban fighters was to fight coalition forces to the death,and to capture and kill any Afghan civilian supporting or working for coalition forces or the Afghan government.It also encouraged the recruitment of any Afghan with access to Nato or US bases in the country,Blotz told reporters.
The letter,if genuine,appears to be a departure from an earlier directive that had urged Taliban not to harm captives.Many analysts and diplomats have long believed Omar is in Pakistan,although Islamabad has denied his presence.
Times of India
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Spain closer to burqa ban as ruling MPs may back oppn
Jul 19, 2010
Madrid: Spanish lawmakers will debate barring burqas in public,joining other European countries considering similar moves on the grounds that the body-covering garments are degrading to women,the leading opposition party said on Sunday.
Top officials of the ruling Socialist Party have indicated they will support the proposal by the opposition Popular Party,making a ban likely unless the countrys highest court rules it unconstitutional.A debate in Spains lower house has been set by the Popular Party for Tuesday or Wednesday,the party said.
Justice minister Francisco Caamano said garments like the burqa are hardly compatible with human dignity.
Head-covering veils would not be included in a ban as they form a part of traditional Spanish dress,with women often covering their heads with a garment called a mantilla during church services in southern Spain.AP
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Gurkha soldier beheads dead Taliban,in dock
Jul 19, 2010
London: A young Gurkha soldier,who allegedly decapitated a dead Taliban commander with his kukri to prove the militants identity,has been flown back to the UK to face court martial,a media report said.
The soldier,who is in his early 20s,from 1st Battalion,Royal Gurkha Rifles,was involved in a fierce firefight with insurgents in the Babaji area of central Helmand province when the incident took place earlier this month.His unit had been told that they were seeking a high value target, a Taliban commander,and that they must prove they had killed the right man,Daily Mail reported.
The Gurkhas had tried to take the Taliban leaders body away from the battlefield.But they came under heavy fire as they tried to do so.
Military sources said that in the heat of battle,the Gurkha took out his curved kukri and beheaded the dead insurgent.
Full report at: Times of India
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3 hikers for Iran N-scientist : US wanted spy swap,says Amiri
Jul 19, 2010
Tehran: An Iranian scientist,who returned home last week charging he had been held by US agents for more than a year,has said that they had pressed him to agree to be exchanged in a spy swap for three US hikers in custody in Tehran.
In a lengthy interview aired by state television on Saturday,Shahram Amiri claimed that the US agents had acknowledged that the three Americans,detained on the Iran-Iraq border in July last year,were indeed spies.Challenged by the interviewer about the agents description of the trio,who have consistently maintained that they were on a hiking holiday,Amiri insisted: That is the term they used.
Washington has repeatedly called on Tehran to release Shane Bauer,27,Sarah Shourd,31,and Josh Fattal,27,insisting they were holidaymakers who had innocently strayed across an unmarked border.Amiri said in the interview that the spy swap offer emerged after US agents holding him discovered he had been in touch with Iranian agents while in the US.
Times of India
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Suicide bomber targets Shia worship hall in Pak, kills one
Jul 19, 2010
Lahore : A suicide bomber targeted a Shia worship hall at Sargodha in Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday, killing at least one person and injuring over 20 others.
The attacker entered the "imambargah' and detonated his suicide vest near a spot where worshippers perform ablutions, witnesses said.
Scores of people had gathered at the imambargah for evening prayers at the time of the attack.
Sargodha district police chief P A Nasir told reporters the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
"The guards of the imambargah tried to stop the bomber but he managed to enter the hall," he said.
At least one of the injured succumbed to his injuries, officials said.
The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals. The condition of three of them was described by officials as serious.
Full report at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/suicide-bomber-targets-shia-worship-hall-in-pak-kills-one/648306/
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Macchil: Army to again plead for court martial
Mir Ehsan
Jul 19 2010
Srinagar : The Army is filing a revision plea against a Sopore court order, rejecting its request to court martial its men accused in the Macchil fake encounter case.
“I have already moved an application seeking the verified copy of the order in the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sopore rejected the option of a court martial trial in the fake encounter case,” Army’s lawyer Karnail Singh Wazir said.
Wazir said the CJM had observed that the commanding officer cannot exercise the option under section 69 and 70 of the CrPC since the offence came under section 302.
“The services in Kashmir are declared as active services so commanding officer has every jurisdiction to go for a court martial and exercise the option under Army Act 125, read with section 459 of CRPC,” he said. “The plea has been posted for hearing on Monday.”
Full report at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/macchil-army-to-again-plead-for-court-martial/648398/
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Leopold Cafe was not on Lashkar hit list, Headley had it added later
Sagnik Chowdhury
Jul 19 2010
Mumbai : Leopold Cafe, the popular watering hole and restaurant frequented by foreigners in South Mumbai’s Colaba area, was not among the original targets of Lashkar-e-Toiba bosses who planned the 26/11 terror attack. The bar and restaurant on Colaba Causeway, where Lashkar gunmen killed 11 people and injured 28, was scouted and added to the list only as an afterthought by Pakistani-American Lashkar operative David Headley.
Headley told his FBI interrogators in Chicago that he was asked by his Pakistan-based bosses to survey and gather information about the Colaba police station across the road from Leopold, the nearby Maharashtra Police headquarters, the Jewish Nariman House down the road and the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Towers.
The FBI had shared this information with Indian agencies, sources told The Indian Express. “According to the information that has been passed on recently, Headley has told interrogators that Leopold Cafe was not an original target for the 26/11 attack.
Full report at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/leopold-cafe-was-not-on-lashkar-hit-list-headley-had-it-added-later/648532/
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Malik tweets: Indo-Pak talks shouldn't be judged as '2+2=4'
Jul 19 2010
Islamabad : With India and Pakistan engaging in war of words post-July 15 parleys between their Foreign Ministers, Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday tweeted that the talks should not be judged "mathematically like 2+2=4" but should be seen as a "positive step".
"It is time for exchange of hearts. Let us sow seeds of love and peace, so that future generations have only the option to reap love, and noting but love....Let us save our future generations from the disease of hate and terrorism," Malik, who has nearly 3,500 followers, said in his latest Twitter posting.
His soothing comments came amid exchange of barbs between External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi following their meeting here on Thursday last.
Malik, who had a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram on the margins of the SAARC Interior Ministers' conference here last month, said that they both "will move forward in terms of delivery of commitments based on what we agreed."
Full report at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/malik-tweets-indopak-talks-shouldnt-be-judged-as-224/648250/
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Minister rules out veil ban in Britain
Jul 19 2010
London : Britain was "very unlikely" to introduce a ban on Muslim women wearing face-covering veils despite widespread public support for such a move, Immigration Minister Damian Green said.
He told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that a ban similar to that approved in France, and which a poll on Friday showed was backed by 67 per cent of Britons, was a "rather un-British thing to do".
A fellow Conservative lawmaker had earlier said he refused to meet female constituents who wore the face veil and had proposed a law to ban the practice.
However, Green said: "Telling people what they can and can't wear, if they're just walking down the street, is a rather un-British thing to do. We're a tolerant and mutually respectful society."
Full report at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/minister-rules-out-veil-ban-in-britain/648175/
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Hamas bans women from smoking Hookah in cafes
Jul 19 2010
Gaza City : Gaza's Hamas rulers are banning women from smoking water pipes in cafes, claiming it violates tradition and leads to divorce.
Plainclothes security officials handed out the ban order to Gaza City cafes over the weekend.
Police spokesman Ayman Batneiji said today that officers are enforcing Gazan traditions. He said husbands often divorce women seen smoking in public but offered no evidence to support that claim.
The pipes are popular with both men and women in Gaza.
Since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, the Islamic Hamas has been trying to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on residents.
Schoolgirls, for example, have been ordered to wear modest attire and male hair stylists are banned from women's salons.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hamas-bans-women-from-smoking-hookah-in-cafes/648254/
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Dhaka court sends ULFA leaders to three-day custody
Jul 19 2010
A Bangladeshi court remanded two leaders of the banned separatist group ULFA in a three-day police custody after they were arrested in a pre-dawn raid in northern Kishoreganj district on Saturday.
Ranjan Chowdhury (45) and Pradip Marak (55) were placed in a three-day remand by Kishoreganj Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Ali Ahsan in an illegal firearms possession case, The Daily Star newspaper said on Sunday.
The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) filed four separate cases, including one for possessing illegal firearms, with Bhairab Police Station against them under the arms, explosives and anti-terrorism acts, Shahjahan Kabir, officer-in-charge of the police station, was quoted as saying by the Bangladeshi daily.
Full report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/270038/Dhaka-court-sends-ULFA-leaders-to-three-day-custody.html
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Advani Blogs On Hinduism In Indonesia
Jul 19 2010
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and its parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani on Saturday said he was impressed with the influence of Hinduism in Indonesia, a Muslim dominated country.
In the latest entry in his blog, the senior BJP leader, who was in Indonesia recently to attend a World Sindhi Conference, said that though Hindus made only two percent of Indonesia’s 202.8 million population, it was “impressive” and “surprising” to see the Hindu influence in the country.
The BJP leader said that he was surprised to see Lord Ganesha imprinted on the currency note of Indonesia and said: “In Indonesia, the names of places, of people, and the nomenclature of institutions also give one a clear impression of a benign Sanskrit influence.”
He has also mentioned how people in Indonesia have thorough knowledge about characters of both Ramayana and Mahabharata
http://www.asianage.com/india/advani-blogs-hinduism-indonesia-714
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NHRC seeks report on Kashmir youth killing
Jul 19 2010
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Ministry of Home Affairs on the alleged firing by CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Sopore town on June 27 in which a youth was killed.
Issuing a notice to the Union Home Secretary, the Commission asked him to submit a report on the incident within four weeks. “On default, the commission may proceed to take such action as it deems proper,” it said.
The NHRC took cognisance of the matter on basis of a complaint filed by a human rights activist and lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy. In his complaint, Tripathy asked the commission to take steps to ‘immediately stop’ such incidents and recommend monetary relief to the kin of Wani, saying he was the only son of Maqbool Wani.
A youth Bilal Wani was killed after CRPF personnel allegedly fired rubber bullets on a stone-pelting mob that had defied curfew in Sopore town on June 27, two days after a similar incident left two civilians dead sparking protests in the Valley.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/270078/NHRC-seeks-report-on-Kashmir-youth-killing.html
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Two Killed, 11 Escape In Brazen Afghan Jailbreak
Jul 19 2010
A guard and a prisoner were killed and 11 inmates escaped on Sunday after explosives were smuggled in and detonated at a prison in western Afghanistan.
The blast went off shortly after 2 am (local time), destroying a gate that allowed 19 prisoners to escape, Farah province's deputy governor Yonus Rasouli said.
One prisoner died and three were wounded in an ensuing gun battle with guards. Eight inmates were recaptured.
Gen Abdul Makhtar, deputy for Afghanistan's prison department, said one seriously wounded guard later died.
Rasouli said 347 prisoners were being held in a building meant for only 86. He acknowledged that conditions were poor at many prisons around the country, but said there was no money to build better facilities.
The Taliban staged a sophisticated jailbreak that freed nearly 900 prisoners in June 2008 in the southern city of Kandahar.
Full report at: http://www.asianage.com/international/two-killed-11-escape-brazen-afghan-jailbreak-829
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‘Hundreds Of Osama-Hunters In Pak Waiting To Act’
Jul 19 2010
July 18: The American construction worker, who was caught while on a solo mission to hunt down and kill Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in June, had warned during his interrogation that there were hundreds like him waiting to kill bin Laden. Gary Brooks Faulkner, 51, who was detained in northern Pakistan while trying to sneak into Afghanistan’s Nooristan province claimed during his interrogation that he was on a one-man quest to find and decapitate bin Laden in revenge for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Faulkner, who has been dubbed “Rambo” and the “American Ninja,” was arrested with night-vision goggles, a pistol, dagger and 40-inch sword that may have been intended for use on Osama. According to the Daily Times, the American Rambo had told one of his Pakistani interrogators that he was not alone in his mission, but many others were also trying to catch the dreaded terror warlord.
Full report at: http://www.asianage.com/international/%E2%80%98hundreds-osama-hunters-pak-waiting-act%E2%80%99-856
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Accomplices of woman who stormed into school with AK-47 sentenced
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI
Jul 19, 2010
JEDDAH: A court in Hail sentenced on Sunday a 35-year-old Saudi woman to 30 days in jail and 100 lashes for accompanying another woman who stormed an elementary school in the Kingdom’s north-central region carrying an assault rifle.
Sentenced to 15 days in jail and 50 lashes was a 16-year-old boy who drove the car used by the two women.
The court is expected to sentence the woman who was carrying the Kalashnikov in the next few days.
The 40-year-old Saudi mother walked into the school, located in the village of Al-Thekra close to Hail, with an AK-47 assault rifle and demanded teachers hand over her son.
She was, however, overpowered by the teachers and handed over to the police.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article86386.ece
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Iran accuses US forces for bombings in Iran
19 July 2010
TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday accused US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan of backing the bombings such as the two suicide attacks which killed almost 30 people in southeast Iran.
“If (US President Barack) Obama is unaware of actions of American forces, then we tell him that American forces based in Afghanistan and Pakistan back such actions,” he told a cabinet meeting, referring to Thursday’s bombings in the restive city of Zahedan.
NATO and US forces back “terrorists” with equipment and funds to launch such attacks in Iran, he said, quoted by the state news agency IRNA. “Despite this support, the US president sends a message of sympathy.”
Full report at: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/July/middleeast_July322.xml§ion=middleeast
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Syria, Lebanon sign economic agreements
By KHALED YACOUB OWEIS
Jul 19, 2010
DAMASCUS: Syria and Lebanon signed economic agreements on Sunday, signaling improving ties, but did not resolve a border demarcation issue the Lebanese government views as central to its sovereignty.
The deals, signed by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri with his counterpart in the Syrian capital, were the first since the 2005 assassination in Beirut of his father Rafik Hariri.
The elder Hariri was a member of Parliament and a former premier whose killing heralded international pressure that forced Syria to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon.
“We want the ties between Syria and Lebanon to form a model for an Arab common market,” Hariri said at a news conference with Syrian Prime Minister Naji Al-Otri.
The agreements included investment protection, pharmaceutical products, shipping, tourism and taxation.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article86348.ece
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Malaysia nabs terror network’s recruiter
Jul 19, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities arrested a Malaysian accused of recruiting university students for the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah, human rights activists and a news report said on Sunday.
Mohamad Fadzullah Abbul Razak was taken into custody at his home in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday under the Internal Security Act, which provides for indefinite detention without trial, said Nalini Elumalai, a rights activist who monitors arrests under the act.
The Star newspaper, citing unidentified security officials, described the 28-year-old engineer as one of Malaysia’s most wanted terror suspects. He had recently returned from a trip to Thailand, but the reason and length of his visit were not known, Nalini said.
Police had been hunting for Mohamad Fadzullah since 2007 because he allegedly persuaded students at various Malaysian universities to join Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for attacks in Southeast Asia including the 2002 bombings on Indonesia’s Bali Island, The Star added.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/world/article86356.ece
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Egypt says Israel needs to do more for direct talks
Jul 19, 2010
CAIRO: Egypt pressed Israel Sunday to take steps that will demonstrate the Jewish state’s willingness to engage with Arabs, while the Arab League flatly said the Palestinians could not resume direct talks with Tel Aviv without guarantees.
In an effort to sound out the prospects for a move to direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Mideast envoy George Mitchell and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
None of the leaders — nor the US envoy — spoke after the meetings, but Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, told reporters there is still work to be done before the parties could engage in direct talks.
“There must be a strong Israeli strategic move that would deepen Palestinian trust in Israel's intentions, so we can move from indirect to direct talks,” Aboul Gheit said.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article86406.ece
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Schooling compulsory till age 18 for nationals Afshan Ahmed
19 July 2010
The Ministry of Education (MoE) could raise the compulsory education age to 18 by next year for UAE nationals to check high dropout rates in schools, Khaleej Times has learnt.
At present, education is compulsory for UAE citizens up to the age of 15, that is till Grade 9 in the country.
A majority of the dropouts have been recorded at the high school level by the education authority. According to latest ministry figures, more than 10,000 secondary public school students have dropped out while Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) placed the dropout rate in the emirate at 22 per cent among boys and 14 per cent among girls.
“We are working on increasing the compulsory education age and by the beginning of next year it will be announced,” said Shaikha Al Shamsi, chief executive for educational affairs at the ministry.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2010/July/theuae_July459.xml§ion=theuae
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Afghan govt wants donors to support its priorities
19 July 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan - At an international conference on Tuesday, the Afghan government will ask donors to put 80 percent of aid money behind programs that the Afghans — not foreign capitals — deem important to development.
It’s a high-stakes meeting for the Kabul government, which wants to show the world leaders attending that it’s making strides toward running its own affairs.
Displaying a new streak of independence, Afghan officials are seeking to take the driver’s seat to guide their nation out of three decades of conflict. Having spent billions and lost so many troops in nearly nine years of war, the international community remains uneasy about letting go of the wheel. Still, the U.S. and other donor nations believe that strengthening the Afghan government is the only way to end their military involvement in Afghanistan.
“If after the Kabul Conference, we do not embark on the delivery of the things that we promised to deliver, then the donors as well as everybody else has every right to complain about us and tell us we are not serious,” said Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal.
Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan who is co-chairing the meeting, said there is much work to be done to increase the capacity of the Afghan government. “The ministers know it ... we all know it,” he said. He called the conference a historic opportunity for the Afghan government to renew its commitment to the people of Afghanistan. Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/July/international_July751.xml§ion=international&col=
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War crimes trial rules framed
19 July 2010
The International Crimes Tribunal, formed on March 25, has framed rules for the trial of crimes against humanity committed during the country’s war for independence in 1971 empowering the investigation officer to arrest any suspect on a warrant issued by the tribunal.
The tribunal, popularly known as war crimes tribunal, framed the International Crimes Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2010 on July 15 and disseminated the copy of the gazette notification at a briefing in its office on Sunday.
‘With the framing of the rules, the tribunal is now ready for the trial of the crimes against humanity,’ the registrar of the tribunal, Shahinul Islam, said at the briefing.
Rule 29 of the rules says, ‘The tribunal shall take cognisance of an offence against any accused upon examination of the formal charge.’
Full report at:
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/jul/19/oped.html
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Bangladesh: Govt asked to stop corporal punishment in schools
19 July 2010
The High Court on Sunday ordered the government to stop corporal punishment such as canning, beating and chaining students in schools.
The bench of Justice Md Imman Ali and Justice Obaidul Hasan asked the education ministry to immediately instruct all primary and secondary educational institutions by issuing a circular to stop such incident of corporal punishment of any child.
The court also asked the ministry and all education boards to report to the court in two months on the measures taken to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of such incidents of corporal punishment.
The court passed the interim orders after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisations Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Ain o Salish Kendra.
Full report at:
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/jul/19/oped.html
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Veil empowers women, says British minister
Jul 19, 2010
LONDON: As debate intensifies across Europe on banning the Islamic full-body veil at public places, a British minister has defended a Muslim woman's right to wear the burqa and says it is empowering.
Environment secretary Caroline Spelman said women were "empowered" by the freedom to wear the face coverings.
Her comments came after her colleague, immigration minister Damian Green, resisted demands from within the Tory party to ban the burqa, according to Daily Mail.
Green said a ban would be "rather un-British" and run contrary to the conventions of a "tolerant and mutually respectful society".
This is despite a YouGov survey which found that 67 percent of voters wanted the wearing of full-face veils to be outlawed in Britain.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Veil-empowers-women-says-British-minister/articleshow/6186248.cms
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Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia?
Jul 19, 2010
Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.
A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia and her Queen at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his Ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown. Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state, and its laws were made by parliament. “If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you”, he said on National Television
“I’d be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia : one the Australian law and another Islamic law that is false. If you can’t agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country, which practices it, perhaps, then, that’s a better option”, Costello said.
Full report at:
http://yaov.com.ru/muslims-who-want-to-live-under-islamic-sharia-law-were-told-on-wednesday-to-get-out-of-australia.html
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Iranian prosecutor urges Islamic dress checks
Jul 19, 2010
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's prosecutor called on Sunday for tighter checks on women who fail to observe Islamic dress code in public, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Under Iran's Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Violators can receive lashes, fines or imprisonment.
"Unfortunately the law ... which considers violation of the Islamic dress code as a punishable crime, has not been implemented in the country in the past 15 years," said general prosecutor Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei.
"Under the law, violators of public chastity should be punished by being sentenced to up to two months in jail or 74 lashes."
Strict dress codes were enforced in the years after the revolution but in recent years clamp downs have tended to last just weeks or months in summer, when women wear lighter clothing such as calf-length trousers and colored scarves.
Full report at:
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE66H12O20100718
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Legislator's proposal would ban use of Sharia law
By BILL SHERMAN
Jul 19, 2010
A proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would ban Sharia law in the state court system is either a pre-emptive strike against encroaching Islamic law in the U.S. or an expression of Islamophobia, depending on who you ask.
State Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, authored State Question 755, which requires state courts to rely only on federal and state laws when deciding cases, and forbids courts to consider international law or Sharia law. It will appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
Duncan said he proposed the constitutional change because federal judges are increasingly embracing the idea that federal courts should look to international law to settle U.S. cases.
"I find that offensive," he said.
As he looked into it, he said, he found some U.S. courts also are relying, to a lesser degree, on Sharia law, the Islamic law system.
He said he was unaware of any Oklahoma cases based on either international law or Sharia law.
Full report at:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20100718_18_A1_Viewsd561266
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Football growing in Kashmir, defying all odds
July 19, 2010
Srinagar: The beautiful game is defying all odds as, despite the continuing trouble in the state, it has been turning into an all consuming passion for the youth of both sexes given that some have established themselves at the national stage.
Jammu and Kashmir Football Association (JKFA), formed in 1964, claims to have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of youngsters interested in the sport in the last 10 years, with a sudden jump in the number of football teams from all the districts of the state.
"The sport, which is rightly called the traditional sport of the state, is coming back on track. In 10 years, there is a tremendous rise in the number of people interested in the sport. When we came into existence, we had just four clubs in the entire state. Now it is around 500. Young people, both men and women from all around the state are playing not just as amateurs but professionals for the state, nationals and internationals," JKFA general secretary, S A Hameed said.
The oldest football club of the country, Mohun Bagan has named Ishfaq Ahmad from the state as its captain for the coming season, making him the first footballer from Jammu and Kashmir to be named skipper of any national-level club.
Full report at:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/sports/football-growing-in-kashmir-defying-all-odds-38298
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Jihadists find new ways to 'inspire'
BY GIUSEPPE VALIANTE
JULY 19, 2010
An English-language jihadist publication released online this month is another sign that al-Qaeda or copycat groups are becoming increasingly adept at packaging their message for a young western audience, experts say.
The magazine, called Inspire, includes content that advises young people of what to expect when joining a jihad, or holy war, instructions on how to make bombs with household ingredients, messages from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and even delves into the debates on the Muhammad-cartoon controversy and the banning of the niqab face veil in France.
The message is not new -- most of the magazine's content has been online for years. What's impressing scholars is how well the magazine relates to young Muslims who think through a western paradigm. Aside from the glossy, high-quality production value of the publication, heavy religious themes are absent and violence is justified through political, moral and legal arguments.
Full report at:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Jihadists+find+ways+inspire/3294845/story.html
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Somalia: How Al Shaabab Became Al Qaeda's Incidental Stepchild
Murithi Mutiga
19 July 2010
Nairobi — The difference between Al Qaeda and Al Shabaab, two terror organisations that have dominated the news in the past week, lies in their origins.
Al Qaeda was the product of a highly structured and coherent planning programme in the 1980s.
It was borne of the writings of Egyptian scholar and cleric Sayyid Qutb, whose calls for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate found enthusiastic support in the group of militants who poured into Afghanistan to end the Soviet occupation.
There was great method in the manner Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahiri and their followers set out to establish Al Qaeda.
They created a hierarchical structure with a committee at the top and various cells operating semi-independently from the centre.
They took minutes at all their meetings and had a clear -- if overly ambitious -- goal.
They aimed to draw the Americans into an attritional war that would lead to the withdrawal of US troops from the Middle East, the collapse of the superpower's economy and the installation of a Muslim caliphate across the Middle East.
Al Shabaab's evolution was entirely different. The movement is essentially an accident of history.
Full report at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201007190194.html
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Lack of critical thinking root of terrorism, says Muslim author
Dicky Christanto
19 July 2010
Some point their finger to poverty, others the hostility of US troops in several Muslim countries, but for security analyst and former journalist Noor Huda Ismail, terrorism is mainly caused by the people’s failure to think critically.
“The culture that has been ingrained within the Jamaah Islamiyah [JI] environment is that members should be subservient to clerics.
As a result, members cannot think critically about clerics’ advice and teachings,” said Noor Huda during the launching of his first book last week.
Titled My Friend the Terrorist, the book provides first hand information on how a close friend of Noor Huda, who graduated from the Al-Mukmin Islamic traditional boarding school in Ngruki, Surakarta, in 1991, became a radical and joined militant groups such as JI.
Al-Mukmin, led by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, has been under the public spotlight after some of its alumni, both teachers and students, were found to be involved in a number of terrorist activities throughout the country.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/19/lack-critical-thinking-root-terrorism-says-muslim-author.html
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Sultan Shahin
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