14 Sep 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
How Pakistan protected Taliban against US post 9/11
Salman Rushdie supports mosque near Ground Zero
200,000 Palestinians helped by UAE group
Threat to Hasina's life, warn intelligence agencies
Iran releases woman held for waging anti-God war
Ten killed in North Waziristan drone attack
Hyderabad: Many survivors ‘celebrate’ Eid on empty stomach
Six die as roadside bomb goes off in Kurram
Iranian diplomat defects, says seeks asylum in Norway
Women under Jewish and Islamic Fundamentalism
Oz lawyer smokes pages of Bible, Quran
Geelani slams arson, calls for restrain
China, not Pak, a long-term threat
US condemns attacks on church, school
Blundering Omar responsible for spiral in violence
BJP mobilises support ahead of Babri verdict
‘Any jihadist rule in Kabul will hurt India’
Mandela was “furious” with Blair over Iraq
UN warns over growing threat from Somali militants
Imam: NY mosque site not hallowed ground
Turkey backs constitutional reform
Musharraf raises Rs250m for flood-hit: news channel
Democracy strong and functioning well: PM
52 journalists killed this year: watchdog
French lawmakers to take final vote on full veil ban
Imran for more int’l aid to Pakistan
Israel divided on deporting migrant children
Women's sections in our mosques
IAEA and Tehran clash over barred inspectors
Experts discover novel ways to tackle Egypt water crisis
Israel grants Mumbai nanny citizenship for bravery
Israeli aggression continues
Iran Quran protesters scuffle with police
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: Salman Rushdie
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How Pakistan protected Taliban against US post 9/11
Chidanand Rajghatta
14 September 2010
WASHINGTON: As "Taliban's primary sponsor" Pakistan protected and promoted its client every inch of the way in the immediate days after 9/11 resulting in undermining the US war on terror, newly declassified documents detailing exchanges at that time between Washington and Islamabad reveal.
As current US strategy increasingly pursues policies to reconcile or "flip" the Taliban, the document collection released on Monday show Washington's refusal to negotiate with Taliban leadership directly after 9/11 and Pakistan's insistence of the relevance of group it nurtured in order to push for strategic depth in Afghanistan and thwart Indian influence.
According to the documents, on September 13, 2001, US Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin "bluntly" told Pakistani President Musharraf that there was "absolutely no inclination in Washington to enter into a dialogue with the Taliban. The time for dialog was finished as of September 11."
Pakistan, as the Taliban's primary sponsor, disagreed. Pakistani Intelligence ( ISI) Chief Mahmoud told the ambassador "not to act in anger. Real victory will come in negotiations... If the Taliban are eliminated... Afghanistan will revert to warlordism." Pakistan's primary concern was that the Northern Alliance, backed by other foreign powers in the region, including India, would return to power in Kabul.
Pakistan also backed off from hunting down Osama bin Laden, with Mahmoud, who was present in Washington on 9/11 and later turned out to be a frontman for Taliban, telling the Americans it was "better for the Afghans to do it. We could avoid the fallout."
As a result, Pakistani tribal areas where Osama bin Laden found refuge, which were momentarily open to the Pakistani Army when "the tribes were overawed by US firepower" after 9/11, quickly again became "no-go areas" where the Taliban could reorganize and plan their resurgence in Afghanistan, a commentary by the national Security Archive that accompanied the documents, notes.
Consequently, according to US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann, the 2005 Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan was a direct product of the "four years that the Taliban has had to reorganize and think about their approach in a sanctuary beyond the reach of either government." This had exponentially increased casualties as the Taliban adopted insurgency tactics successful in Iraq, including suicide bombings and the use of IEDs.
Neumann, the documents reveal, warned Washington that if the sanctuary in Pakistan were not addressed it would "lead to the re-emergence of the same strategic threat to the United States that prompted our OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom] intervention" in 2001.
The policy to protect Taliban reached the highest levels of the Pakistani establishment, the documents show. In exchanges between September 14 and November 16, 2001 – Pakistan's military strongman Pervez Musharraf asks the US to clarify if its counterterrorism mission is against the Taliban or just al-Qaida and repeatedly asks the US not to let the Northern Alliance take over Kabul.
The declassified documents also show that the state department, then headed by Colin Powell, batted hard for Pakistan despite suspicions in the US establishment about its bonafides in the war on terror. In a memo to President Bush, Powell notes that Musharraf's decision to ally with the US comes "at considerable political risk," as he has "abandoned the Taliban, frozen terrorist assets [and] quelled anti-Western protests without unwarranted force, " all dubious assumptions.
Regarding Afghanistan, the secretary appears to push Islamabad's agenda, telling the president that Pakistan will want to protect its interests and maintain influence in Kabul. "Musharraf is pressing for a future government supportive of its interests and is concerned that the Northern Alliance will occupy Kabul," Powell notes.
The disclosures came even as the White House began yet another review on Monday of its Af-Pak policy which has so far been based on several questionable premises, including undue sensitivity to Pakistan's extra-territorial ambitions and concerns mainly relating to its existential insecurity vis-à-vis India.
In a read-out of the meeting presided over by President Obama, the White House indicated that reports of overtures to the Taliban may be overstated. Additional forces deployed in Afghanistan are now at the highest operational tempo to date, and are focused on challenging long-established Taliban strongholds, targeting Taliban leadership, training Afghan Security Forces, and supporting Afghan-led reintegration and local policing initiatives, the White House cited General Petraeus as emphasizing.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Pakiban-How-Pakistan-protected-Taliban-against-US-post-9/11/articleshow/6550329.cms#ixzz0zToJCXTV
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Salman Rushdie supports mosque near Ground Zero
14 September 2010
NEW YORK: Controversial Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie has spoken out in support of a mosque near Ground Zero, an issue that has sparked a religious row in US amid opinion polls suggesting that majority of Americans oppose it.
"It's just a stupid argument," Rushdie said at the Brooklyn Book Festival in New York.
"Of course they should be able to build a mosque there," he was quoted as saying by the New York Post.
The writer also noted that the controversy regarding the proximity of the mosque near the World Trade Centre made no sense, since the mosque was inside the World Trade Centre itself.
Rushdie also spoke against the burning of Qurans, which had been planned by Florida Pastor Terry Jones.
Rushdie was speaking a day after massive pro and anti-mosque rallies were staged near Ground Zero on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Both rallies had speakers from religious groups, civil society organisations and local community leaders.
While the Muslims have the constitutional right to build a mosque in that spot, a large group of people insist that it is "insensitive."
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York today, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, the main mosque developer, said all options were on the table, when asked if he would consider halting the project.
"Our advisers have been looking at every option -- including that," Rauf as quoted as saying by the New York Post, while underlining that a solution needed to be agreed by all sides.
"I need a space where the voice of the moderates can be heard. We need a platform where the voice of modern Muslims can be amplified...This is an opportunity that we must capitalise on," he added.
Meanwhile, Pastor Terry Jones from Florida finally called off his plans to burn Qurans.
""Not today, not ever. We are not going to go back and do it, he told NBC's 'Today' show, just ahead of the 9/11 anniversary on Saturday.
"It is totally cancelled," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Salman-Rushdie-supports-mosque-near-Ground-Zero/articleshow/6548569.cms#ixzz0zV02Ml7Z
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200,000 Palestinians helped by UAE group
14 September 2010
Abu Dhabi, Sep 13 (IANS/WAM) A humanitarian organisation in the United Arab Emirates helped about 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during Ramadan.
The Khalifa bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation (KZHF), in cooperation with UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, distributed food supplies for more than 13 thousand family living in 19 Palestinian refugee camps.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100913/896/twl-200-000-palestinians-helped-by-uae-g_1.html
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Threat to Hasina's life, warn intelligence agencies
14 September 2010
Dhaka, Sep 14 (IANS) Intelligence agencies at home and abroad have warned of a threat to the life of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that could take place between September and November, a media report said.
The intelligence agencies warned that simultaneous multiple sabotage might be carried out by 'the anti-liberation war forces, in collaboration with an Indian separatist organisation and different local militant outfits', The Daily Star newspaper said.
Sources said that the warning came following information from different intelligence agencies at home and abroad that an attempt on the prime minister's life might be carried out between this month and November.
The Hasina government has taken measures to neutralise Indian militant groups operating on Bangladeshi soil. It has detained and facilitated the hand-over of several top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
There have been several attempts on Hasina's life in the past. Mahbubul Alam Hanif, a special assistant to the prime minister, said her life 'is under threat at all times'.
Indian intelligence agencies had warned of a threat to Hasina's life in November 2008 when Bangladesh was preparing for the parliamentary elections.
A minister, who attended the weekly cabinet meeting and was quoted by the newspaper, said that Hasina herself alerted her cabinet colleagues that the opposition parties might try to 'destabilise the country within the next couple of months' through violent protests and subversion.
She linked these attempts on her government holding the trial of 'war criminals'. Those who targeted unarmed civilians during the 1971 freedom movement are referred to as war criminals.
The top brass of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist ally of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has been detained.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100914/876/twl-threat-to-hasina-s-life-warn-intelli_1.html
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Iran releases woman held for waging anti-God war
Sep 14, 2010
TEHRAN: Iran released on bail a female activist who was jailed last year on various charges including waging war against God, the Arman newspaper reported on Monday.
Shiva Nazar Ahari was arrested in December 2009 when traveling to Iran's holy Shia city of Qom to attend the funeral ceremony of top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, pro-reform Sahamnews website reported. "She was released on a $500,000 bail on Sunday," the daily said.
Under Iran's Sharia law, the crime of waging war against God, known as "moharebe" , is punishable by death. Her lawyer Mohammad Sharifi said on Monday that Ahari was also charged for having ties to the Mujahideen Khalq Organisation, an exiled opposition group that is also listed as a terrorist group by the US.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iran-releases-woman-held-for-waging-anti-God-war/articleshow/6550948.cms#ixzz0zVQtxuAO
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Ten killed in North Waziristan drone attack
14 Sep, 2010
MIR ALI: Suspected US missiles hit a house in North Waziristan early Tuesday, killing 10 alleged militants in the 10th airstrike in the region this month, intelligence officials said.
The two officials said the missiles from an unmanned plane destroyed the home in the northern part of Shawal village, which is dominated by the Haqqani and Hafiz Gul Bahadur networks of militants fighting US troops across the border in Afghanistan.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the press. They say Taliban militants dug 10 bodies from the rubble of the house.
A unrelenting series of US missile attacks this month have pounded North Waziristan.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/19-us-drone-strike-in-north-waziristan-several-killed-hh-02
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Many survivors ‘celebrate’ Eid on empty stomach
By Mohammad Hussain Khan
14 Sep, 2010
HYDERABAD, Sept 13: For homeless and penniless survivors of flood, hunger became synonymous with Eid.Elderly people remained interested in cooked food or rations while children wanted Eidee, but there were few to distribute money among them.
None among survivors had imagined last year that they would have to celebrate Eid in the wilderness. While men had strong nerves to give vent to their feelings, women could not speak more; they failed to control their emotions.
One such middle aged woman was Mumtaz Umrani who could not fight back her tears which started rolling down her cheeks. And, ironically, there was no one to reassure her that situation would improve and she would return to her home in Jacobabad.
She was cooking a small quantity of chicken for her children on a handmade stove consuming wood as fuel and constantly trying to protect her eyes against smoke. By offering curry to her children, she, with a pinch of salt, tried to give them a feel that they are celebrating Eid.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/many-survivors-celebrate-eid-on-empty-stomach-490
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Six die as roadside bomb goes off in Kurram
14 Sep, 2010
PARACHINAR, Sept 13: A roadside bomb blast killed six persons and wounded four others in Kurram Agency on Sunday, local people said.
A pickup truck was heading from Sadda to Wacha Darra in Parachemkani area when an improvised explosive device planted on a dirt track exploded with a bang. Six people died on the spot while four others received injuries. The wounded were shifted to hospital in Sadda.
MARDAN: A policeman was critically injured, when an explosive device, allegedly planted by unknown miscreants near the main gate of the Lotharan Sarhadi Church here, went off with a bang on Sunday night, police said.
Mian Mazhar Shah, the SHO of the concerned police station told Dawn he along with a police party was on routine patrol in the area on Sunday night when he heard sound of an explosion.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/six-die-as-roadside-bomb-goes-off-in-kurram-490
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Iranian diplomat defects, says seeks asylum in Norway
Sep 14, 2010
OSLO: An Iranian diplomat based in Belgium on Tuesday said he had defected and would seek political asylum in Norway, making him the third Iranian diplomat to defect in Europe this year.
"I'm seeking political asylum with all my family," Farzad Farhangian, a press attache at the Iranian embassy in Brussels, told reporters in Oslo, adding that he intended to join the opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"I'm apologising to the Iranian people. During the last 30 years I was of service to the Iranian people, but the deviation that the Iranian republic has reached leaves me no choice. I hope to be the voice of the opposition," he said.
Farhangian is the third Iranian diplomat this year to resign and seek protection in a Nordic country.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Iranian-diplomat-defects-says-seeks-asylum-in-Norway/articleshow/6553430.cms
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Women under Jewish and Islamic Fundamentalism
By Kaberi Gayen
September 13, 2010
There is a growing gap between secular and religious Jews in Israel, and there is a high degree of overlapping between positions on religion and the nation, observes Yuval-Davis (2004). In a very recent article O’Loughlin (2008) mentions that the Haredi sect has launched an aggressive campaign against the secular lifestyle of women in Jerusalem. Self-appointed moral guardians, dubbed the ’modesty police’ through Israel’s modern secular media, roaming through Jerusalem’s ultra-religious neighbourhoods, enforcing the voluminous and ever growing list of rabbinical laws such as the recent decree banning the sale of MP4 players.
Inside the Haredi neighbourhoods separation between the sexes is becoming increasingly strict. Husbands and wives socialise separately and during Jewish holidays men and women walk on opposite sides of the street. With the demographics skewed in their favour, government authorities are acquiescing to the growing demands of the ultra-orthodox. The transport ministry, has allowed operators to provide ’kosher’ or ’pure’ routes, where women are required to sit at the back and cannot board unless ‘appropriately’ dressed.
Full report at:
http://www.e-bangladesh.org/2010/09/13/women-under-jewish-and-islamic-fundamentalism/
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Oz lawyer smokes pages of Bible,Quran
14 September 2010
Melbourne: An atheist Australian lawyer has smoked pages torn from the Quran and the Bible,and posted the video on YouTube,drawing widespread criticism,a report said on Monday.
Queensland University of Technology employee Alex Stewart has taken leave from his non-academic position as a commercial contracts lawyer.The university is investigating the video in which Stewart appears to smoke marijuana rolled in pages from the religious texts,before rating which burns better,the Syndey Morning Herald reported.
In a 12-minute clip entitled Bible or Koran which burns best Stewart holds up the two religious texts before ripping them apart and lighting the rolled up pages.At one stage he inhales deeply from one of the roll-ups before blowing out the smoke and commenting: Holy.
The video has drawn widespread criticism from both Islamic associations and Christian groups.
Times of india
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Geelani slams arson,calls for restraint
14 September 2010
Srinagar: Kashmir suffered its highest single-day civilian toll on Monday since the spate of street protests began in mid-June.Security forces fired on demonstrations against civilian killings and over telvision reports of the Quran being desecrated in the US a day earlier.
North Kashmirs Tangmarg town witnessed the worst violence as mobs torched a Christian missionary school,the office of the social welfare department and a police vehicle.
Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani denounced the torching of the missionary school and called for calm. People should exercise restraint over the alleged desecration, said Geelani and blamed vested interests for the attack on the school.
The octogenarian leader said the Quran did not approve of attacks on minorities and urged Kashmiris to protect members of the minority community and their religious places. We should maintain age-old communal harmony for which Kashmir is known, he said.
However,cops blamed Geelanis group for organizing the violence.DGP Kuldeep Khoda said Imtiyaz Haider of Geelanis Hurriyat faction was fuelling the protests and presented audio and video clips at a presser,linking hardliners to the violence. Our idea is to present audio and video evidence of how people are being instigated, said Khoda,adding that most people arrested for rioting belonged to the Hurriyat.
Times of India
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China,not Pak,a long-term threat
14 September 2010
New Delhi: Defence minister A K Antony on Monday echoed PM Manmohan Singhs recent remarks on an increasingly aggressive China.Beijings massive build-up of military infrastructure along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control,its strategic moves in Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and rapid modernisation of the Peoples Liberation Army were red-flagged as worrisome during the annual combined commanders conference on Monday,attended by PM Manmohan Singh,finance minister Pranab Mukherjee,home minister P Chidambaram and NSA Shivshankar Menon,among others.This comes in the backdrop of the increasing Chinese footprint in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.
Pakistan and its proxy war in J&K,Afghanistan and the Pakistan-sponsored Taliban,Naxalism and coastal security,all figured during the conference.The PM said India needed to develop border infrastructure,for both land and sea,with a sense of urgency because it was an integral part of the countrys defence preparedness.
Full report at: Times of India
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US condemns attacks on church, school
September 14, 2010
The US on Monday expressed dismay following reports of a school and a church in Kashmir and Punjab having been attacked by rioters in the wake of news of a misguided individual desecrating the holy Quran in the US by tearing pages of the book.
US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer termed the act of tearing pages of Quran on September 11 in the US as “disrespectful, intolerant, divisive, and unrepresentative of American values”. He also said, “The destruction of any holy book is an abhorrent act.”
Roemer said, “News reports have stated that on Saturday, September 11, one misguided individual in the United States desecrated the Holy Quran by tearing pages from it. The acts of this one individual are not representative of America and American values. These acts are well outside of the American mainstream and offend millions, including myself.”
http://www.dailypioneer.com/282868/US-condemns-attacks-on-church-school.html
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Blundering Omar responsible for spiral in violence
By Naseer Ganai
14 September 2010
IN JANUARY 2009 when Omar Abdullah became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, he was hailed as an agent of change.
Armed with his development plans for the state, Omar challenged separatists to end the plight of the people. But little did he realise then that some 19 months down the line, his plans would get obscured under the flurry of stones from angry protesters.
Today, the situation has spiralled out of control and the Valley has descended into an abyss.
“ There is nothing he can offer to the people. This government has discredited the whole spectrum of mainstream politicians,” said Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti.
“ In a situation where the chief minister had to take a helicopter to cover a distance of 5 km, you can imagine the mess in which the state is,” she added, referring to the chopper ride that Omar took to meet victims at a Srinagar hospital.
Full report at: Mail Today
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BJP mobilises support ahead of Babri verdict
14 September 2010
THE BJP is mobilising its grassroots cadre for a “ mass campaign against the Centre’s failure to arrest price rise” from September 18.
However, political observers are viewing the move as a concerted effort by the party leadership to rally support around it in the run- up to the Allahabad High Court’s Babri Masjid- Ram Janmabhoomi judgment scheduled for September 24.
BJP national vice- president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi detailed the party’s plans in Delhi on Monday. “ The party will organise jan panchayats in all tehsils, blocks and district centres to protest against price rise. The jan panchayats will comprise five prominent locals from different sections of the society. Party MPs, legislators and leaders, too, will participate in these panchayats as members of the public and listen to the problems of the people,” Naqvi said.
Full report at: Mail Today
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‘Any jihadist rule in Kabul will hurt India’
14 September 2010
INDIA WILL be affected the most if jihadist Islamism gains impetus in Afghanistan, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger has warned.
Neighbours of Afghanistan should join hands to chart out the future of the war- torn country, rather than depend on unilateral US efforts, he said.
Countries in the region, including China, India, Pakistan and even Iran could be adversely hit if Afghanistan were to end up with a fundamentalist regime, he added.
The 87- year- old statesman said in a keynote address at a conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies ( IISS) in Geneva last Friday that while he has supported the Barack Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, it will have to “ merge at some point into some kind of political end game”. “ A unilateral American role cannot be a long- term solution. A long- term solution must involve a combination, a consortium of countries in defining, protecting and guaranteeing a definition of a statehood for Afghanistan,” he said.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Mandela was “furious” with Blair over Iraq
Hasan Suroor
14 September 2010
LONDON: Nelson Mandela was so upset by Britain's decision to invade Iraq that he made an angry telephone call to a senior Cabinet Minister and told him that Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister, had made a “very, big mistake”.
Peter Hain, who was Welsh Secretary in Mr. Blair's Cabinet and has written a biography of the South African leader, said Mr. Mandela was “breathing fire down the phone”.
“He rang me up when I was a Cabinet Minister in 2003, after the invasion. He said: ‘A big mistake, Peter, a very big mistake. It is wrong. Why is Tony doing this after all his support for Africa? This will cause huge damage internationally'. I know Nelson Mandela quite well. He was virtually breathing fire down the phone on this and feeling a sense of betrayal,” Mr. Hain said ahead of the launch of the book.
Full report at:
'http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/14/stories/2010091458672000.htm
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UN warns over growing threat from Somali militants
Sep 14, 2010
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations warned that the Somalia insurgents Shebab are a serious international security threat, as it made a new appeal Monday for the nation's transitional government to end its squabbling.
Somalia will be in the UN spotlight with a debate on the strife-torn African country at the Security Council on Thursday and a top level ministerial meeting on the conflict at the UN General Assembly summit next week.
In a report to the Security Council, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that "horrific" suicide bomb attacks by followers of the Al-Qaeda inspired militant group in Uganda in July had shown the growing threat from Al-Shebab.
Seventy-six people were killed and Ban said: "The attacks demonstrated that Al-Shebab remains a serious security threat for Somalia, the sub-region and the wider international community."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/UN-warns-over-growing-threat-from-Somali-militants/articleshow/6550633.cms#ixzz0zToO2kmr
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Imam: NY mosque site not hallowed ground
14 September 2010
New York: The imam leading the controversial plan for an Islamic center near Ground Zero on Monday rejected arguments from 9/11 survivors that he was seeking to build on hallowed ground.
Its absolutely disingenuous ... that that block is hallowed ground, imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said,noting that the immediate area,a busy commercial district,contained a strip club.
Opponents to the planned Islamic center two blocks from the epicenter of the 9/11,2001 attacks say that a Muslim presence there would be offensive to the memory of the 2,752 people killed in the World Trade Center.
Many critics go further,claiming the positioning of a mosque so close to Ground Zero desecrates sacred ground and would celebrate terrorism.
Abdul Rauf,speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York,said that radicals had hijacked the debate and spread deliberate misinformation and harmful stereotypes.
The imam refused to say whether he might move the center further from Ground Zero,as opponents demand,but indicated that he is considering this.
Times of india
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Turkey backs constitutional reform
Atul Aneja
14 September 2010
DUBAI: Turkish voters have backed a package to reform the Constitution, which so far has favoured the military, the self-proclaimed guardian of Turkish secularism.
The results of a referendum held on Sunday showed that 58 per cent of the voters approved the constitutional reform package mooted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The amendments include 26 articles, which aim to curtail the powers of the military by making the armed forces more accountable to civil courts. Besides, it lifts the immunity over the plotters of the 1980 military coup, following which Turkey's current Constitution was drafted. The approval of the package will also open the door for key judicial reforms, including the restructuring of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors.
Full report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/14/stories/2010091457090900.htm
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Musharraf raises Rs250m for flood-hit: news channel
14 Sep, 2010
KARACHI: In what may be described as a noteworthy turn of events, former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who resigned just over two years ago after facing threat of impeachment, joined hands with a private television channel on Sunday night to seek and then garner pledges of hundreds of millions of rupees for the relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected people.
Taking part from London in a three-hour live “telethon” on Dunya TV, Gen (retd) Musharraf appealed for funds and people from all over the world responded generously, collectively pledging upwards of Rs250 million, the news channel claimed.
The people who phoned in to the television show to pledge donations for the Pervez Musharraf Foundation which, according to the former president has already been registered in the UK, also asked the retired general about his future plans. Gen (retd) Musharraf told them he planned to return to Pakistan to take part in the next general election.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/musharraf-raises-rs250m-for-floodhit-news-channel-490
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Democracy strong and functioning well: PM
14 September 2010
MULTAN: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday said that democracy was strong and functioning well in the country.
He said this while talking to reporters after visited the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi to inquire about his health.
“Democracy is strong, the judiciary is functioning independently, political parties are active and parliament is taking decisions with consensus in the country. Such thinking (that there is still any possibility of martial law) is undemocratic and criminal,” the PM said.
“PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the judiciary and all others are in support of democracy and no negative thinking exists in the country,” Gilani added.
Responding to a question about former president Gen (r) Musharraf’s return to the country, the PM said he did not know when Musharraf would return. “However, I do know that there are many cases against him (Musharraf) and whenever he does return, the chief justice will be there to give him a warm welcome,” the PM said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\09\14\story_14-9-2010_pg1_1
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52 journalists killed this year: watchdog
14 September 2010
* IPI says the Americas represent most dangerous region with 20 deaths
VIENNA: Fifty-two journalists lost their lives in the first eight months of this year because of their jobs – four fewer than during the same period of 2009, a global media watchdog said.
Mexico led the so-called Death Watch with 10 fatalities through the end of August, followed by Honduras with nine and Pakistan with six, the International Press Institute (IPI) said on Sunday.
“Journalists continue to systematically lose their lives to conflict, terrorists, paid thugs, governments, drug dealers, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous security officers and others,” the group’s interim director, Alison Bethel McKenzie, said at an IPI meeting in Vienna that has drawn more than 300 media staff from around the globe.
The Vienna-based institute’s list includes journalists killed on the job or targeted because of what they did for a living. During all of last year, 110 journalists perished due to their profession, IPI said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\09\14\story_14-9-2010_pg7_8
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French lawmakers to take final vote on full veil ban
14 September 2010
* France’s highest legal body could overturn law before it is enforced
* Only 1,600 women out of 6m French Muslims wear veils
PARIS: French lawmakers take the final vote today (Tuesday) on a law banning face-covering veils in public spaces, although the constitutional court may yet strike down the controversial measure before it comes into force.
The Senate vote follows one in the National Assembly that passed the law making wearing the garment in public illegal in July by 335 votes to one, with several other European countries mulling similar bans.
But opponents of the ban in its proposed form worry that it will eventually be overturned by the judges of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal body.
While President Nicolas Sarkozy’s determination to ban the niqab and the burqa has won enough political support to carry it, opponents argue that it breaches French and European human rights legislation.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\09\14\story_14-9-2010_pg7_25
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Imran for more int’l aid to Pakistan
14 September 2010
LONDON: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan has said the world has failed to understand the true extent of the flood catastrophe in Pakistan and warned the West that the stability of the country could be under threat if enough aid was not provided.
In an interview with The Times the cricketer-turned politician said there are 20 million hungry people and with the Pakistan Army busy in relief and rehabilitation, the state will not be able to maintain 40,000 troops to fight the war on terror. “The situation could lead to famine. It could lead to hyper-inflation. It could lead to our currency breaking down. Our national cash crop, cotton, is already 20 to 30 percent gone. In the floods, 80 percent of those worst hit were subsistence farmers. The loss is devastating to our agricultural-based economy.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\09\14\story_14-9-2010_pg7_32
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Israel divided on deporting migrant children
14 September 2010
A decade ago, Israel began bringing in foreign workers in an effort to reduce its dependence on cheap Palestinian labourers. Now tens of thousands of migrants from Asia and Africa who entered the country legally but have since overstayed their visas have developed strong ties to Israel and have no intention of returning home
ISRAEL will begin deporting families of illegal migrants in coming weeks, officials say, as an emotional debate rages over the ballooning numbers of foreign workers that some fear could threaten the country’s Jewish identity.
A decade ago, Israel began bringing in foreign workers in an effort to reduce its dependence on cheap Palestinian labourers. Now tens of thousands of migrants from Asia and Africa who entered the country legally but have since overstayed their visas have developed strong ties to Israel and have no intention of returning home.
How to deal with the migrants hits on two of the most charged issues in Israel. On one hand the fear is that their growing numbers will dilute Israel’s Jewish majority, while others warn that deporting them from a country born partly as a refuge for Jewish victims of the Holocaust is immoral.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\09\14\story_14-9-2010_pg4_10
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Women's sections in our mosques
14 September 2010
I agreed to go to a mosque for taraweeh prayer during Ramadan when my daughter insisted that I should go with her. I have been keeping myself away from mosques for several years not only because of my belief that it is better for women to pray at home but also because of the poor and sickening condition of the women’s sections.
Mosque authorities make a lot of arrangements at women’s sections, but people do not use the facilities properly. It begins from the haphazard way of leaving footwear at the entrance of the mosque, despite the presence of special shelves to keep them.
I have noticed a number of negative aspects at women’s sections of mosques that I wanted to share with you with the hope people would change their ways to improve the situation.
First, many women sit in groups to chit-chat and gossip, forgetting the whole purpose of their visit to the mosque. I had overheard slanderous comments at the mosque, which makes me sick considering the sinful act is taking place in the house of God.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article136920.ece
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IAEA and Tehran clash over barred inspectors
14 September 2010
VIENNA: The head of the UN atomic watchdog said on Monday Iran’s barring of experienced nuclear inspectors was hampering the agency’s work in the country, but Tehran flatly rejected the accusation.
Signaling a desire for continuity at the International Atomic Energy Agency at a time of strained ties with Tehran, Director-General Yukiya Amano named a senior Iran expert and IAEA insider as its new top investigator, diplomats said.
Herman Nackaerts, who now oversees inspections in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East as well as South Asia and Africa, will succeed former boss Olli Heinonen as head of the IAEA division which verifies that nuclear work in member states worldwide is not being diverted for military use.
“There was no dissent,” a diplomat said on the sidelines of a closed-door meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation governing board, where Amano earlier criticized Iran over the barred inspectors.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article137004.ece
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Experts discover novel ways to tackle Egypt water crisis
14 September 2010
CAIRO: Egypt suffers from some of the greatest water problems in North Africa and the Middle East. Classed as a water scarce country, its citizens receive less than 1000m3 of fresh water per capita each year. As Egypt’s population grows, so does the problem of adequate water resources.
Considering the nation’s population is forecast to grow to 95 million by 2025, this would mean an annual amount of fresh water of less than 600m3 per person.
The country’s historical source of water, the River Nile, continues to supply the bulk of Egypt’s water but has struggled to retain its water quality under the stress of a growing population. Wastewater, treated water for reuse, is being increasingly used in agriculture and crop cultivation in Egypt’s desert landscapes and farm areas alike. The national government has recognized the importance of this resource and has embarked upon a massive effort to transform the local industry.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article137010.ece
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Israel grants Mumbai nanny citizenship for bravery
14 September 2010
JERUSALEM: Israel granted honorary citizenship Monday to an Indian woman who braved gunfire to save an Israeli boy from the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed both of his parents.
Sandra Samuel rescued 2-year-old Moshe Holtzberg from a Jewish center targeted by Islamic militants. She found him by his parents' bodies and rushed him to safety.
Samuel has been caring for him in Israel since then. He is in the custody of his extended family.
Spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Interior Minister Eli Yishai personally presented the certificate in recognition of Samuel's bravery. She was also granted permanent residency status.
Full report at:
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Israeli aggression continues
14 September 2010
GAZA CITY | RAMALLAH: Several Israeli tanks rolled into eastern Al-Bureije refugee camp in central Gaza on Monday, witnesses said. Five tanks accompanied by three bulldozers — backed by warplanes — rolled into the area and the soldiers began a combing operation while the bulldozers started to destroy farms. No one was injured during the attack.
Earlier on Monday, Palestinian militants fired a rocket at Israel without wounding anyone hours after three Palestinians were killed by tank fire near the tense border of the Hamas-ruled territory.
The rocket landed in an empty field near Sderot, no one was wounded in the attack. Shortly after the attack, Israeli army warned that it will escalate its military operations against Hamas movement.
The recent violence comes as the second round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians which restarted in Washington this month is to take place on Tuesday in Egypt. Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article137002.ece
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Iran Quran protesters scuffle with police
14 September 2010
TEHRAN - Iranian students and members of the Basij militia scuffled on Monday with riot police outside the Swiss embassy during protests over a US pastor’s threat to burn copies of the Holy Quran.
Iran does not have diplomatic ties with the United States and US interests in Tehran are handled by the Swiss embassy.
About 1,000 protesters, chanting “Death to America” and “US pastor must be killed”, threw stones at the building and scuffled with 300 riot police guarding the embassy.
Although pastor Terry Jones dropped his plan to burn copies of the Islamic holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the plan sparked outrage around the world and triggered violent protests in Afghanistan and Indian Kashmir.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday called the plan to burn the Holy Quran “an insane and hateful” act and blamed “the Zionists working within the American government” for masterminding it.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/September/middleeast_September285.xml§ion=middleeast
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicWorldNews_1.aspx?ArticleID=3432
9:58 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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