Taliban militants attack Afghan capital, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Taliban militants attack Afghan capital

• At least 10 killed in series of Kabul attacks

• Up to two dozen militants target ministries

• Hamid Karzai says security restored to city centre

A series of co-ordinated attacks by presumed Taliban militants in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed at least 10 people and injured 32. Seven of those responsible were among the dead.

Explosions and gunfire rocked several parts of the city during sustained attacks against ministries and other targets including shopping centres.

After more than three hours of fighting, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said security had been restored to the capital. He accused "enemies of Afghanistan" of "trying to spread fear among Kabul citizens". Searches were continuing for the attackers, officials said. Reports of casualties remained confused.

It is the most serious attack on the city for years and rated by some as the biggest since the Taliban were ousted. Militants initially struck around the presidential palace and several government ministries. At least three blasts shook the district.

Gunfire echoed through the streets as Afghan police and soldiers tried to track down what a Taliban spokesman said was a force of 20 armed militants. Some reports put at the number higher. Security forces evacuated a large part of the city centre, forcing back traffic and pedestrians and closing shops and schools.

The attack, the most significant in Kabul since militants stormed the justice ministry and other government buildings in February last year, took place on the day Karzai was to swear in several members of his new cabinet following his re-election in August in a vote heavily criticised for fraud. The country's parliament has twice rejected many of Karzai's cabinet nominations.

Zemerai Bashary, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said eight suicide bombers were involved in the attack. Four targeted the central Kabul shopping centre and two or three were found in another building nearby.

http://newageislam.com/taliban-militants-attack-afghan-capital/islamic-world-news/d/2394

Pakistan: A hard-pressed president, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Pakistan: A hard-pressed president

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

With his amnesty against corruption charges set aside and powerful forces impatient with his deeds and misdeeds, Asif Ali Zardari stands on shaky grounds today.

TOUGH TALK: President Zardari's emotional and, in part, reckless speech while observing his wife Benazir Bhutto's second death anniversary in Naudhero December 27 may well upset the presidential apple cart

Pakistan is again facing political instability triggered by a legal battle in the apex court. This could compound the country's problems at a time when it is suffering from economic depression, combating an insurgency in Balochistan and fighting a costly and protracted battle against militants linked to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The federal coalition government, headed by late Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), appears to be going on the back foot after initially showing some defiance over the Supreme Court judgement that declared the controversial amnesty law, the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), null and void.

Led by Bhutto's widower and now President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the government was earlier showing unhappiness over the court verdict and labelling it as selective. But after getting some saner advice, President Zardari is now saying that the government respected the court's judgement and supported independence of the judiciary.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan--a-hard-pressed-president/islam-and-politics/d/2435

Bodies of gunmen in Mumbai attacks remain unburied, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Bodies of gunmen in Mumbai attacks remain unburied

The bodies of nine gunmen killed during attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai a year ago are still awaiting burial.

The unclaimed bodies are lying in a local government hospital and Mumbai police say they have still to take a decision about their future.

Muslim clerics had denied permission to bury the bodies in Mumbai graveyards, saying the actions of the gunmen had "defamed" their religion.

Ten men attacked Mumbai on 26 November 2008, killing more than 170 people.

Only one gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, survived and he is currently facing trial.

'Un-Islamic'

The bodies are being kept in the morgue of Sir JJ Hospital. Officials say the area is secluded and guarded around the clock. The seal is checked every day.

The question of what should be done with the dead militants arose soon after the attacks.

Pakistan flatly refused to take them despite India's argument that they should go back to the country from which they originated.

http://newageislam.com/bodies-of-gunmen-in-mumbai-attacks-remain-unburied/islamic-world-news/d/2118

Where communal harmony is a way of life, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Where communal harmony is a way of life

By Luv Puri

Villagers have come to know of a group of militants who have entered the belt. Mohammad Aslam, a Village Defence Committee member says, “Our sources have pointed out that a fresh group of militants have made their way in the hills. At the moment they are silent but we apprehend they would strike when they have sufficient mobilisation.” To cope with the lingering danger the committee has a pattern of multiple tier security cover.

Security officials hold the view that one must understand the terrain and the risk to the local population. “It is simply impossible to provide security cover to every family in this difficult terrain where some villages are located seven hours from the nearest road. Abnormal conditions demand abnormal steps but with due regard to the laws of the land. The village elders keep an effective check over the activities of the men so that guns are not used to settle personal disputes. Every bullet fired by the men is counted for,” a security official said.

http://newageislam.com/where-communal-harmony-is-a-way-of-life/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/467

The Stiff Upper Blip: Taming The Islamic Shrew, By Farzana Versey, NewAgeIslam.com

The Stiff Upper Blip: Taming The Islamic Shrew

By Farzana Versey

27 July, 2008

Countercurrents.org

Why is Islam being singled out? One of the spokespersons of the group said, “We need to encourage and create safe places for sensible debate around issues that extremists can seek to exploit and make sure that young British Muslims recognise their faith teaches shared citizenship values.”

Extremists, of the Islamic persuasion or of any religion and ideology, do not follow the dictates of that faith or ideology to further their agenda. And if they knew their faith then they would not need to be taught what is there. Predictably, there has been a reaction from an Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, whose spokesman Taji Mustafa stated, “It is a supremacist war that aims to force one system, capitalism, and secular liberal values on the whole world.” As someone rightly pointed out, this is a “transparent ploy to create a British state-sponsored Islam”.

There is cockiness in such transparency. It is almost as militant in its motives as any terrorist activity. Is this merely an attempt to ensure that a radical version of Islam does not reach these people or is it exclusionist in its intent? And what is Britain’s idea of “hate-filled teaching”? That it is designed to destroy the Western “way of life”, as has been reported.

http://newageislam.com/the-stiff-upper-blip--taming-the-islamic-shrew/islam-and-the-west/d/314

Bombings in Indian cities may threaten India-Pakistan relations: A Western Perspective,

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Bombings in Indian cities may threaten India-Pakistan relations: A Western Perspective

Islamic militants claim to be targeting Indian cities to stoke communal tensions.

By Mian Ridge

Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

From the July 28, 2008 edition

Often, no one claims responsibility for the attacks. But officials in New Delhi routinely point fingers at Pakistan, or at militants backed by Islamabad.

Such accusations of cross-border terrorism are a legacy of the cold war between India and Pakistan, during which Pakistan has used militancy as a tool to destabilize India.

Many believe that Islamabad retains links to militant groups, although the degree to which it remains operationally in control is unclear, especially at a time when Pakistan itself is suffering from an upsurge of Islamic militancy. Pakistan, meanwhile, denies backing any Islamic militants, including those operating in the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir.

The recent bomb attacks come at a time when the Pakistan-India peace process is under strain. Amid one of the sharpest exchanges between the neighbours since they launched peace talks in 2004, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said that "elements" in Pakistan were behind a resurgence in militant activities, including the recent bomb attack at the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed 58 people, including two Indian diplomats.

http://newageislam.com/bombings-in-indian-cities-may-threaten-india-pakistan-relations--a-western-perspective/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/320