Current affairs

28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

SAIBABA AND OTHER GODMEN
	Understanding functioning of godmen requires understanding sociological, psychological and political factors. Human behaviour is of very complex nature and all these factors play important role. The entire phenomenon cannot be explained with reference to ‘blind faith’ alone as rationalists tend to do. ,,, Thus, as against rationalists, I believe, human behaviour as it is, needs godmen very much even in 21st century (though I myself do not approve of it). Asghar Ali Engineer

SAIBABA AND OTHER GODMEN

By Asghar Ali Engineer Saibaba’s death a couple of days ago has brought thousands of people from India and abroad to have his last darshan (glimpse) and many of them were even crying that Baba’s divine soul has left them forever. On the other hand rationalists are challenging his miraculous powers once again and maintaining that he was man like others and man being mortal, he also died. Many are pointing out that his own forecast that he will die at the age of 96 proved to be wrong and he died at the age of 86. It should not be very surprising if thousands of people are flocking to his funeral but what is indeed surprising is that the Prime Minister of a secular country, along with Sonia Gandhi, also went to pay his homage. Mrs. Gandhi is free to do so as she does not hold any office in Government but Shri Manmohan Singh holds the highest office and should have refrained from going there. It is not clear whether he went there in his personal capacity or as head of the Government. If he went in his personal capacity who bore his expenses and if he went as Prime Minister, according to which protocol? The Prime Minister of a secular country should not go for funeral of a divine personality. What I am going to write here is not to condemn but to understand what is happening in our so called post-industrial and post-modern society? I always maintain that it is easier to condemn but difficult to understand and unless we understand we cannot bring about change. Thus understanding an event is of primary importance. Understanding functioning of godmen requires understanding sociological, psychological and political factors. Human behaviour is of very complex nature and all these factors play important role. The entire phenomenon cannot be explained with reference to ‘blind faith’ alone as rationalists tend to do. Human interests too, along with other factors, play an important role and human interests constitute an important part of human behaviour. Thus, as against rationalists, I believe, human behaviour as it is, needs godmen very much even in 21st century (though I myself do not approve of it). I am just trying to explain the phenomenon as a social scientist. First of all we should understand the structure of our society and also education system it needs. Our society is structurally unjust and is based on exploitation of some by others. Thus the very nature of our society promotes injustices, uncertainties and feeling of insecurity Our education systems not only promote it but also justify it. The poor and exploited feels helpless and begins to believe in destiny. Those who cannot face uncertainties either tend to resort to irrational religious beliefs or even commit suicide as many peasants in our country are doing. Also, there are ways and ways of believing in religion. For some with proper understanding religion is a source of morality and ethics whereas for many others religion is a source of superstitions. It is in this sense that Marx called religion an opium i.e. pain killer. Thus religion helps the victims of our social system (exploited and oppressed) to bear the pain of their suffering. It gives them great solace and inner peace. Only the sufferers know the value of this role of religion. Many people flock to godmen and babas in search of this inner solace. In our world which is full of oppression, exploitation and corruption, religion has become source of such peace and solace, in other words it has become only ‘opium’. Religion, in fact, should be a great source of inspiration to fight against what is wrong and oppressive, it should create inner urge for believer to achieve what is best in human beings and fight against all that is beastly – anger, revenge, lust and greed. In our own times Gandhi took religion in this sense. Thus taken in this sense religion can inspire us to combat all that is oppressive and exploitative and to establish truth and justice in the world. If religion does not inspire us to do this it is nothing more than opium. Babas and godmen are required because of this nature of our society. Had there been a society just and truthful we would not have needed them. These Babas make this world livable for the victims of justice and oppression in various ways. To achieve for real success, success achieved in a just way, not through fraud and cheating, is very difficult and one has to work very hard indeed. And many of us do not want to work hard and look for miracles as a short cut. A truly religious person would not look for miracles but face all trivial of life. These Babas try to win over our hearts and minds by exploiting this weakness of ours for miracles. And not only the victims but rich and powerful also look for such miracles and hence they too flock to such Babas. It is not easy for us to overcome this weakness and look for miracles. Also, many people suffer from certain diseases for which modern medicine has no easy cure and so we tend to incline towards miracles and in this category we have both weaker as well as powerful and rich sections of our society. Earlier at least in this matter there were no classes i.e. there used to be one saint or baba to whom all will go rich or poor. But now in our country there are saints and babas who cater to poor and those who cater to the rich and powerful. The Sai was one among them. Through his miracles he would produce golden rings and Seiko watches and usually the rich would flock to him. Even powerful politicians need babas for various reasons. Earlier people would go to these saints and babas for spiritual purposes but now rich or poor, politicians and other professional, all go to them for personal and mundane reasons. Hardly anyone goes for any spiritual development. The modern world is too complex for inner peace. Generally, and specially the rich and powerful experience lot of tension and insecurity and they need such external props which babas readily provide. Also, in this globalized world a successful baba is supposed to have many foreign (specially American) disciples and then argument would go look even foreigners come to him and so he must be really delivering baba. Generally these babas are not very educated. They often happen to be semi-literate but Rajnish, who at one time, was as popular as Sai Baba, was intellectually accomplished. He also catered to upper class professionals. Rajnish attracted high end professionals for certain reasons. He came into existence in a society where industrialization was taking place and professionals with high income were proliferating. These professional needed lax moralities with spiritual cover (what I call MATERIAL SPIRITUALISM) and that is what Rajnish provided. Rajnish even believed in free sex gratification rather than controlling it as traditional saints did. Thus Rajnish became very popular in these classes of people, especially among the neo-rich. According to him one should enjoy pleasures of life to accomplish ones spirituality. There was hardly any from lower class among his clientele or with rural background. Sai Baba, one must say had no such pretensions of sophisticated philosophy, was illiterate and even catered to the poor and rural folk. Rajnish did not perform miracles nor did he believe in them. His miracle was his knowledge and his sophistry. Sai Baba needed ‘miracles’ (which was nothing but tricks and sleight of hand) precisely because he was illiterate and could not attract sophisticated clientele by philosophizing. He was a simpleton with rural background. People flocked to him not to listen to philosophical sermons or moral and spiritual discourses but as a man of miracle and hence ‘divine ‘. He also claimed to be an avatara and to carry conviction with people began to perform miracles. Once he succeeded he began to attract more and more people and more people he attracted, more he succeeded. Thus success has its own dynamics – ‘nothing succeeds like success. But then he had to meet challenges also. Kovvor, a rationalist from Sri Lanka, and others challenged him to perform miracles under controlled conditions. Kovvor even deposited one lakh of rupees in the bank as a reward. He asked Sai Baba to produce pumpkin instead of ring or watch (which could be hidden under loose garment but pumpkin obviously could not be). Sai Baba failed to take challenge but changed the track. His miracles had already rewarded him and he could do without them now. He began to render socials service, bringing water to water starved areas, building schools and universities and hospitals and this endeared him to another section of people. Thousands really benefited from amongst the poor. He also began to talk of love, love which conquers hearts. Also, modern day Babas are turning into land mafias and develop megalomania for huge empires. Sai is also reported to have left empire worth some say 40,000 to 1 lakh crore. Building such empires is, in fact beginning of failure of the mission as now there will be fight for succession to control the establishment. A real religious person is not builder of empire but subvert it. Whosoever built empire failed in spiritual sense and whosoever subverted established empires became great. Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai. URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamCurrentAffairs_1.aspx?ArticleID=4536

Urdu Section 28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com Uproar in Urdu Media: Denigration of Prophet Muhammad by a Delhi Publisher
	On numerous occasions blasphemous acts have been performed and toughest possible actions have been taken by Muslims in all such cases. … Everybody knows, these kinds of activities are not forgiven by the followers of Islam and the blasphemers are either killed or the followers of Rasool (SAW) sacrifice their lives for maintaining the Prophet’s dignity. Even after so many incidents of such nature if somebody does the same thing, it will not be taken as a mistake committed unconsciously. These things are consciously done to fire up the passions of the followers of Prophet (SAW). -- A report in Hindustan Express, New Delhi (Translated from Urdu by New Age Islam Edit Desk)
	Uproar in Urdu Media: Denigration of Prophet Muhammad by a Delhi Publisher A report in Hindustan Express, New Delhi Edit Desk, NewAgeIslam.com On numerous occasions blasphemous acts have been performed and toughest possible actions have been taken by Muslims in all such cases. In this series of events Danish cartoonist has been the latest who had sketched an imaginary cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which had attracted worldwide condemnations from every section of society. Everybody knows, these kinds of activities are not forgiven by the followers of Islam and the blasphemers are either killed or the followers of Rasool (SAW) sacrifice their lives for maintaining the Prophet’s dignity. Even after so many incidents of such nature if somebody does the same thing, it will not be taken as a mistake committed unconsciously. These things are consciously done to fire up the passions of the followers of Prophet (SAW). Such an incident has come in to light and this time it has not happened in any European country rather it has been done in India by a well known publication “Diamond Comics Samooh” in New Delhi. In its latest Comic World Volume 78 on Page no. 70 it has published two imaginary photos of Prophet (SAW). The words used to describe Prophet’s life, most of them imaginary or without any scholarly investigation, are in themselves highly disrespectful and blasphemous. The phrase “ran away” has been used for ‘migration’. It further says, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was called to preach the message of God by Jibreel (Gabriel) (AS) when the truth is that Hazrat Jibreel (AS) did not even use to enter his house without permission and Prophet(SAW) had not gone anywhere taking the message of God but his followers had travelled to far and near countries. No Respectful words have been used before and after the names of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Hazrat Khadija (RA). Their names have been used as that of any common person. The said Comics writes, prophet (SAW) married Hazrat Khadija (RA) who was 15 years older to him, a widow and a businesswoman. This has been described in such a way as to give an impression that the marriage was solemnized only because Hazrat Khadija (RA) was a wealthy woman hence Prophet (SAW) did not bother for her being a widow and older to Him. It is very easy to come to the conclusion that the whole article has been published with a view to defaming Rasool (SAW). Had the writer studied any religious book on the topic this blasphemous act would not have been committed. The editor and publisher of the said Comics is Mr. Gulshan Rai and its Head office is in Dareeba Kalan, Old Delhi. URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamUrduSection_1.aspx?ArticleID=4537

War on Terror

28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

The New Great Game in West Asia?
	It is perhaps too late to soften the Shia-Sunni, Iran-Saudi tensions. Even if the Sunni-ruled states satisfy the demands of their Shia populations to some extent, Iran will continue to press home the advantage that has come its way recently, consolidate and build on it. The Americans will certainly not watch this game passively. It will be fascinating to watch how this new great game plays out. We in India do not have much to worry about its implications domestically, since we are the most inclusive multicultural and multireligious society in the world, bar none. But externally, this great game will demand an agile foreign policy approach, which might demand a new form of non-alignment or dual alignment.-- Chinmaya R. Gharekhan

The New Great Game in West Asia?

By Chinmaya R. Gharekhan With Saudi Arabia regarding itself as the leader of Sunni Muslims and Iran considering itself the protector of Shias, the game has geo-political as well as religious overtones. A new great game seems to be on. The locale is West Asia and the principal protagonists are Saudi Arabia and Iran. Unlike the original great game of the late 19th-early 20th century, the current great game has geo-political as well as religious overtones. Saudi Arabia regards itself as the leader of the Sunni Muslim community and Iran is the self-appointed protector of Shias. The Umma technically applies to the entire Muslim fraternity but, in practice, the two branches of Muslim faith do not regard themselves as belonging to the same Umma. They might do so when dealing with or confronting non-Muslims, but between themselves they are antagonistic. The two powers are also engaged in a bitter and determined struggle for dominance in the region. The Arab-Persian divide cuts across, at least partially, the Shia-Sunni rivalry. At the risk of slight oversimplification, it can be said that as a general rule, an Arab Shia is likely to be more loyal to his Arab identity than to the Shia faith if the latter would imply acting against the interests of his country. This was conclusively demonstrated when the Shias of Iraq fought alongside their Sunni brethren in the war against Iran for eight years. There are a billion-plus Muslims in the world. Indeed, Islam is the fastest growing religion. Sunnis are in a majority by far; Shias might constitute no more than 15 per cent though most Sunnis would place the figure much lower. Every Sunni majority country has a Shia minority and vice-versa, but the size of the minority varies. There are four Shia majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan. The rest are Sunni majority states, with some having significant Shia minorities. In Pakistan, 20 per cent of the population is Shia, Kuwait has about 25 per cent Shias, and Yemen slightly more. In Lebanon, Shias form 35-40 per cent of the total population, while in Egypt the percentage is negligible. Afghanistan has a significant Shia population in its western part, along the border with Iran. The differences between the two schools emerged soon after Prophet Muhammad's death in 632 over his succession. One group, later known as Sunnis, wanted an elected successor and chose Abu Bakr; the other group, which eventually came to be called Shias, insisted that the succession pass through the Prophet's bloodline and wanted his nephew and son-in-law Ali to be the successor. The two parted company after the death of Ali who became the fourth caliph, more particularly after Hussein, Ali's grandson, was killed by the Sunni caliph of Baghdad. Ever since, the hostility amounting to enmity between the two groups has claimed many lives. In several Sunni majority countries, Shias may not even be recognised as Muslims. This was the case in Saudi Arabia until a few years ago. In Pakistan, Shias are regularly targeted and killed by Sunni extremists. Even today, the sub-sects of the Shias, such as Ismailis (Seveners) and Ithnasharis (Twelvers), are considered heretics. In Tehran, a city of 16 million, the small Sunni population does not have a single place of worship of its own; there are differences in the rituals of the two groups. When this writer visited Iran some time ago, the locals invariably referred to fellow Shias as Muslims and the others as Sunnis or Sunnas. The tensions between the Shias and the Sunnis got greatly exacerbated after the American intervention in Iraq in March 2003. The majority Shia community had been repressed since the state of Iraq came into existence in 1932. This continued during Saddam Hussein's reign though he did place some Shias as well as Christians — Tariq Aziz being the most well-known example — in prominent positions. The Shias suddenly found themselves in power for the first time ever and decided to take their revenge on the Sunnis. The result was a bitter and bloody sectarian strife which claimed thousands of lives. Entire neighbourhoods were ethnically, or rather communally, cleansed and people changed names. Most of those who sought refuge in Jordan and Syria were Sunnis. But the most significant consequence of the American intervention, not intended by any means but anticipatable, was the increased space it created for Iran to interfere in the affairs of the region and to become a significant regional player. The situation today is that Iran has a major voice in Iraq, Lebanon through its proxy Hezbolla which is a predominantly Shia group, and Palestine through its support to Hamas which is a 100 per cent Sunni movement. In Afghanistan, Iran has vital interests as well as influence, and any solution to the Afghan problem would need Iran's cooperation which it is willing to offer but only on its terms which have a lot to do with its dispute with the U.S. and others over its nuclear programme. Ever since the Islamic Republic was born in 1979, it has boldly pronounced its policy of exporting the Islamic revolution. When the Egyptians poured into the Tahrir Square in January-February this year, Iran claimed the phenomenon as success for its revolution, but clamped down sternly on its own people wanting to demonstrate in Tehran's Azadi Square. The ‘Arab Spring' of 2011 has opened up fresh opportunities for Iran in its neighbourhood, especially Bahrain. Bahrain's ruling family is Sunni, while the Shias account for 65-70 per cent of the population. When the Shia community protested peacefully at the Pearl Square, there were credible reports that Iran was not involved in the beginning. Once external forces, primarily from Saudi Arabia, entered the scene and used significant force to suppress the protests, Iran made its intentions clear. Although it continues to deny any involvement, it is entirely believable that Iran is doing its best to help fellow Shias in Bahrain by whatever means, short of physically sending its militia. It is noteworthy that many Iraqi voices are expressing strong disapproval of the crackdown of the Shia population in Bahrain, especially the Saudi intervention. Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has warned that the Saudi action could launch wars of religion in the Middle East. Ayatolla Ali Shistani, the most powerful leader of the Shia community in Iraq and beyond, has demanded that the Bahrain authorities not use force against the protesters and has called for a dialogue. In the years immediately following its attack on Iraq, the U.S. tried to cobble together a coalition of ‘moderate' Sunni states to contain Iran's growing influence in the region. Israel could not obviously be a part of this grouping but it fully supported the effort. During the visits by this writer to the countries in the region, it was made clear to him that Iraq's neighbours would not remain silent and inactive if the Sunnis there came under serious danger. The situation did not escalate to that level; neither of the regional powers wanted to risk war. The interesting point is that it is Iran, the lone Shia superpower which does not have the economic clout of Saudi Arabia, which has adopted an aggressive posture whereas the Sunni states seem to be on the defensive. Iran feels isolated, encircled and threatened by hostile American forces as well as by what it might perceive as antagonistic Sunni states. It is this which perhaps makes the Iranian regime more motivated and forceful in its diplomacy and actions. The feeble attempts by the Americans to discourage Saudi Arabia from sending its troops into Bahrain not only did not succeed but also led the Saudis to the conclusion that they must be on their own when it came to defending their regime and checking Iran's growing influence. If Bahrain's Shias succeed in gaining a share in the power structure, the Saudis will feel truly threatened, given that its Shia community, accounting for about 10 per cent of the population, is concentrated in its eastern territory where its oil assets are located. Any prospect of Iranian influence on the mainland of Saudi Arabia will be a nightmare to its ruling dynasty. It is perhaps too late to soften the Shia-Sunni, Iran-Saudi tensions. Even if the Sunni-ruled states satisfy the demands of their Shia populations to some extent, Iran will continue to press home the advantage that has come its way recently, consolidate and build on it. The Americans will certainly not watch this game passively. It will be fascinating to watch how this new great game plays out. We in India do not have much to worry about its implications domestically, since we are the most inclusive multicultural and multireligious society in the world, bar none. But externally, this great game will demand an agile foreign policy approach, which might demand a new form of non-alignment or dual alignment. Source: The Hindu URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?ArticleID=4532

Islam and the West

28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

War As Opportunity in Libya
	“Doing something” is, of course, a difficult endeavor in a highly volatile political season in Washington. As miscalculations can be decisive factors in winning or losing elections, the Obama administration is trying to play its cards right, moving toward more tangible involvement in Libya, but with much caution. What is clear, however, is that the involvement will be more visible than before. -- RAMZY BAROUD

War As Opportunity in Libya

By RAMZY BAROUD US now appears to be moving toward more tangible involvement The brutality of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, and his refusal to concede power, is costing Libya much more than innocent lives. The country is now also facing a possible loss of future independence and sovereignty. From its early days, the Libyan revolt seemed to take a difference course than those of other Arab countries. It represented a window of opportunity for the United States and its Western allies to reposition themselves, slowly but surely, around a conflict that promised grueling and bloodier times ahead. A visit by Republican Sen. John McCain to Benghazi on April 22, was described by a CNN online report as “a major morale boast” for the Libyan rebels. His arrival followed a US decision to deploy predator drones to Libya, thus promising a greater American role in the war. According to McCain, drones are not enough, and more will be needed to break the “significant degree of stalemate.” He described Benghazi as a “powerful and hopeful example of what a free Libya can be.” A small crowd chanted as the US senator met with members of the Transitional National Council: “Thank you John McCain! Thank you Obama…Thank you America! We need freedom! Qaddafi go away,” according to the same report. This decidedly American push has already inspired many neoconservative ideologues who unfailingly endorse war against any Arab or Muslim country that fails to tow their line. A major hub for US intervention — most often in support of Israeli interests — is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), credited for introducing many suspicious characters to Iraq following the ouster of Saddam Hussein. AEI scholar Michael Rubin said that the visit by McCain “brings more limelight to the rebels.” But Rubin wants even more than this. “If McCain can meet the people for whom we are fighting, why not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Why not Vice President Joe Biden?” There are many indications to suggest that the US is upgrading its involvement in the Libyan war, following a brief period of political and military vacillation. Much talk of a pending stalemate in the unfair fight between poorly armed rebels and Qaddafi’s forces preceded the actual standoff on the ground. With no meaningful Arab action, and NATO’s choosy military involvement proving to be largely ineffective, the US is now being urged to “do something”. “Doing something” is, of course, a difficult endeavor in a highly volatile political season in Washington. As miscalculations can be decisive factors in winning or losing elections, the Obama administration is trying to play its cards right, moving toward more tangible involvement in Libya, but with much caution. What is clear, however, is that the involvement will be more visible than before. McCain’s visit is significant, not just because of his political seniority, but also owing to his former “war hero” status. In Washington, military men are more trusted than politicians. As he ushered in greater American involvement in Libya, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was contributing to the built up of rhetoric from Baghdad. The situation in Libya is “certainly moving toward a stalemate,” he told US troops during a visit. “Qaddafi’s gotta go…(and coalition actions)…are going to continue to put the squeeze on him until he’s gone,” he said, according to Reuters (The Washington Post, April 22). Qaddafi’s brutal treatment of civilians made their protection a top priority for the country’s rebels. Benghazi-based rebel-spokesman, Abdul Hafidh Ghoda, told Aljazeera: “There’s no doubt that (the US decision to send unmanned drones) will help protect civilians, and we welcome that step from the American administration.” But since the destruction of “somewhere between 30 and 40 percent” of Qaddafi’s ground forces (according to Mullen’s estimation) achieved very little in protecting civilians, more steps are expected from the Obama administration. Now we are witnessing a jubilant return of previously muted calls for interventionism and regime change in favor of US-style democracy. While Libya may not have specifically fallen under the Washington radar, it now presents an opportunity too good to miss. This realization might challenge President Barack Obama and force him to revise an earlier claim that the US’ goal was not regime change in Libya. In a televised speech on March 29, Obama said, “If we tried to overthrow Qaddafi by force our coalition would splinter. We would likely have to put US troops on the ground to accomplish that mission or risk killing many civilians from the air.” But yet again, a stalemate might end up splintering Libya itself. The US and its allies would either accept a divided Libya — and exploit this division whenever possible — or raise their involvement to break the deadlock. If they opted for the latter, there is already much rhetoric to support an upgrade in the military mission. “Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different, and as president I refuse to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action,” Obama said. A US victory over Qaddafi may be seen as an opportunity to boost Obama’s faltering reputation just in time for the 2012 presidential elections. But history has repeatedly shown the high cost of political and military arrogance. Obama himself admitted that in Iraq, “regime change…took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly $1 trillion. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya.” Since the military plunder in Iraq, the US has resorted to softer and increasingly clandestine methods to destabilize “unfriendly” countries. Recent WikiLeaks revelations show that Syria was always positioned as one of these targets. Libya seemed too stable and somewhat too distant from recent US foreign policy estimations. However, the ongoing violence in the country, and fear of the long-term repercussions of a military stalemate, could change all of that. In Washington, mood swings occur too quickly and too often. Political opportunists know well how to turn a challenge into an opportunity, and an opportunity into an all-out war. Source: Palestine Chronicle.com URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamAndWest_1.aspx?ArticleID=4534

Current affairs

28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

The Arab Gyre
	This year has seen a dramatic acceleration of history in the Arab world, the falling apart of a rotten order; an unraveling that has birthed the “rough beast” of new societies where people will have a say in how they are governed rather than being trampled by Paleolithic tyrants. Just what the embryonic beasts will turn into – whither they slouch – is impossible to say for now. But no foul volley of bullets from Syria’s Bashar Al Assad can stop the convulsive movement of the gyres. Technology and demography have ushered Arab societies into a new age as the once vast information gap between ruler and ruled has narrowed. -- Roger Cohen

The Arab Gyre

By Roger Cohen 28 April 2011, W.B. Yeats, the Irish poet, had a theory of history that centered on the movement of gyres. It was a confused and mystical idea that inspired some great lyrical verse, so the confusion doesn’t really matter. What matters are lines like: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer.” His vision involved the notion that at any moment forces were ravelling and unravelling, forming and disintegrating in Yin-Yang polarity, an idea Yeats represented through two conic helixes – “gyres” superimposed on each other with the apex or narrowest point of one at the centre of the other’s base. Moments of crisis occurred as history shifted from the outer to the inner gyre. That was when, for Yeats writing in 1919, soon after the end of World War I, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” This year has seen a dramatic acceleration of history in the Arab world, the falling apart of a rotten order; an unraveling that has birthed the “rough beast” of new societies where people will have a say in how they are governed rather than being trampled by Paleolithic tyrants. Just what the embryonic beasts will turn into – whither they slouch – is impossible to say for now. But no foul volley of bullets from Syria’s Bashar Al Assad can stop the convulsive movement of the gyres. Technology and demography have ushered Arab societies into a new age as the once vast information gap between ruler and ruled has narrowed. With information, transmitted by pan-Arab TV networks and Facebook, has come the demand among young Arab populations for representation and an end to the profiteering of leaders convinced their countries were fiefdoms – playthings for their kids’ enrichment. Gyres reflect deeper forces. These revolutions are post-Islamist in the sense that they are driven not by young Muslims seeking an authentic identity and escape from perceived Western humiliation through political identification with Islam – as in Tehran in 1979 – but by young Muslims demanding freedom, representation and the rule of law. These are Western values. But the revolutions are also anti-Western. They constitute an Arab demand for escape from a Western trap. That trap consisted of saying to Arabs that the only option open to them if they were not to be controlled by radicals was to be suppressed by Western-backed rulers. This binary definition of the Arab world, more than 30 years after the eruption of militancy, had become a shameful artifice, a lie based on self-serving intellectual feebleness in Western capitals. Its cover is now blown. The best way the West can help democratic ideas spread is by not making a fetish of radicalism, which will be a force, but not a determining one, in the new Arab societies. The West cannot dictate what a post-autocratic, post-Islamist Arab order will look like. But the gyres are moving toward openness. Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen tried bullets. Now he’s eyeing the exit. Ben Ali and Mubarak tried bullets; they’re gone. Gaddafi is cornered. Assad’s attempted rerun of his father’s “Hama rules” is the shameful consummation of a failure. Great upheavals often need only small sparks because the objective conditions for them already exist. The tea dumped into Boston harbour in 1773, the shot from Gavrilo Princip that felled an archduke in Sarajevo in 1914, the 1916 executions of Connolly and MacBride, the defiance of Rosa Parks in 1955 – these were not acts that would have led to the birth of a nation, the Great War, Irish independence, or the transformation of US society if they had not come as historical gyres widened toward crisis. So it was with the unlikely Arab spark. In January, I visited Sidi Bouzid, the small Tunisian birthplace of the Arab revolutions. Myths had already flowered a month after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. This uneducated young man with a vegetable cart had morphed into a university graduate. Bouazizi exploded at the indignity of having his vegetable cart confiscated. He exploded at humiliation. He could not tolerate being a pawn – and a penniless one. His act was small but he gave as much as anyone can give – his life. And because of his times, because Facebook and Al Jazeera exist, his death reverberated. His demands are the same demands now heard in Douma, Barza, Sanaa, Misurata, Benghazi, Cairo, for Arab dignity to be asserted. With apologies to Ireland, the emerald isle, and its poet, I note that Yeats wrote that it was “Wherever green is worn” that all is “changed, changed utterly” and “a terrible beauty” born. Source: The International Herald Tribune URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamCurrentAffairs_1.aspx?ArticleID=4535

Islam and Politics

28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

	What After the Jasmine Fades?
	The painful truth is that the path to Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen emerging as western-style democracies could be torturous and long. And even worse for places like Bahrain and other rich Emirates where civil society has suddenly discovered it has a political mind. … But that's not an outcome that's going to follow if in a vacuum, political space is usurped by religious hardliners with a conservative Islamic vision of civil society. -- Ranjan Roy

What After the Jasmine Fades?

By Ranjan Roy 20 April 2011, Images of democracy in motion make for intoxicating television. The kid next to the soldier with his tank at Tahrir Square, the exhausted rebel in a Libyan desert and women and children out in Bahrain's Pearl Square. Next stop, democracy, the footage suggests as anchors hurtle to keep pace with the compelling images and churn out the two-minute revolution theory. The painful truth is that the path to Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen emerging as western-style democracies could be torturous and long. And even worse for places like Bahrain and other rich Emirates where civil society has suddenly discovered it has a political mind. A look at the map of West Asia shows many straight lines drawn across the barren deserts by European powers and civil servants in London to create nations that suited the post-colonial foreign policy needs of colonisers. Little heed was paid to the demographic heterogeneity of the region where an artificial nationality negotiated with the local satrap was imposed on the people. Since then, most countries have lived under autocratic rulers at best and tyrannical at worst. Nasser in Egypt was anti-imperial but not a democrat. By far the most peaceful and educated civil society in the region is that of Egypt's. But even there, few institutions exist. The heads of state have donned military colours and have exterminated critics and opposition with the help of an all-powerful secret police and perpetrated a regime of fear. Corruption is endemic, made evident by the baksheesh culture that permeates all layers of officialdom; courts are arranged to favour the powerful and the upper middle class lives in negotiated comfort with the military. Will all this disappear in one fell swoop? Unlikely. Too many vested interests are entrenched, the biggest among them, the politico-military. Egypt is the best place to make the transition, though. It does have a parliament, a body of legislative rules and a set of laws that the courts can use. Take the case of Libya, where US intervention looks menacingly like George Bush's regime change war in Iraq. Barack Obama has taken care to broaden Nato involvement but the first few rounds of US attacks muddied the waters and gave Muammar Gaddafi international oxygen to breathe fire against 'American Imperialists'. It's hard to sympathise with Gaddafi, but lifting all forms of control, undemocratic as they may be, will push Libya into violent chaos and reopen tribal faultlines. That the anarchy could be taken advantage of by Islamic extremists isn't unlikely, and dismantling the military overnight will remove a bulwark against mushrooming of terror outfits. The removal of the dictator will create a political vacuum in a country where no political elite barring Gaddafi loyalists has been allowed to flourish. Unlike Syria, where thanks to the Ba'ath Party, the political base is a tad wider, Libya has no second-rung of leadership to fall back on barring tribal leaders and military commanders. In Syria, where tens of thousands are sitting in for Bashir Assad's ouster, the topography is even more complicated. Despite being overwhelmingly Sunni, Syria is a mosaic of competing faiths and cultures that have been papered over by a socialistic-sounding political system represented by the Ba'ath Party. If the order crumbles, it would expose chasms between the Christians, the Alawis, the Druze, the Ismailiyas and even the Greek Orthodox group. Flux in Syria could also lead to regional complications. The Damascus regime is viewed by many as a cat's paw for Iranian interests. Help to the Hezbollah in Lebanon, locked in a protracted war with Israel, also comes from Damascus and the Assads have a fair amount of clout in how the political structure in the fractured neighbour is arranged. It's insane to predict how things would shape up if Assad falls but violence is a fair certainty. It's a shame that Bashir Assad didn't loosen up the political system fast enough to prevent this. The breakneck pace at which protests seem to be spreading won't leave him room for gradual change. That apart, the worst fear is that these regimes will fall in the hands of Islamic hardliners. That may or may not happen but the ground is fertile for such an outcome. In countries where regimes have been traditionally repressive, the mosques tend to transform into political arenas where dissidents and critics meet. That apart, the separation of the church and state isn't obligatory even in Islamic democracies. Lastly, where the legitimacy of the existing ruler is destroyed by a public upsurge and there isn't any clear political succession in the works, clerics could assume leadership roles where none existed for them previously. Human societies crave order, and in situations of strife, clerics promising stability, whatever the terms of such an order are, could gain a mass following. In Indonesia, when the 1997 Asian economic turmoil eroded dictator Suharto's credibility and finally caused his downfall, the leader of the tolerant Muslim country's largest religious movement, the Nahdnatul Ulama, Abdurrahman Wahid, was nominated as the successor. That Gus Dur, as he was popularly known, was a moderate leader with great respect for the minorities, helped Indonesia complete a transition to a modern parliamentary democracy that subsequently elected liberal leaders like Megawati Sukarnoputri as president. But that's not an outcome that's going to follow if in a vacuum, political space is usurped by religious hardliners with a conservative Islamic vision of civil society. Source: The Times of India URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamAndPolitics_1.aspx?ArticleID=4533

Islamic World News

28 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

25 killed in drone attack in North Waziristan
	Eight NATO troops killed as Afghan pilot opens fire Blast hits Pakistan navy bus, several casualties Gaddafi has become liability for Libya: Britain 'Give up war or face assassination', Liam Fox warns Gaddafi Pak tries to outflank US and India in Kabul with China card US, Pak cannot allow security ties to unravel: Mullen Pak admits majority killed in drone strikes are terrorists Wiki files: 9/11 mastermind Khalid defied Qaida, killed Daniel Pearl Taslima Nasreen advises Sachin not to pray for Sai Baba Gaddafi unharmed despite NATO's heaviest attack US asks Turkey to halt Bank Mellat’s operations, freeze Gahdafi’s assets Thousands of Syrian troops raid rebellious city Hasina to meet panel on Islamic references in Constitution 9/11 mastermind Khalid killed Pearl despite being told not to do so: WikiLeaks ‘Q’ officials have authorised possible inclusion in govt: Pakistan Muslim League Pentagon lists mosques where Al-Qaeda recruited Militants Imams hold demonstration in 'secular' Egypt Indonesian leader warns Islamic radicalism rising Huji boss captured: Bangaldesh Gadhafi, al-Assad cooperated with CIA, says agency's ex-chief Rebels push back Kadhafi forces in Zintan NATO jets stop attack on rebel-held port in Libya Deadliest days for Nato in Afghan campaign US court to arraign Rana in 26/11 case on May 4 Yemenis start civil disobedience campaign 11-member apex court bench to hear Bhutto reference: Pak US town sued over denial of mosque proposal Saudi woman calls for Royal Court intervention to end ordeal Kingdom seeks proof of Al-Makhlafi’s death in Afghanistan Four alleged Mumbai attack plotters face justice in Chicago Cairo students demonstrate against Israel Turkey to help guide Syrian democratization process Explosion rocks Egypt gas terminal near Israel Iran welcomes, Israel rejects Hamas-Fatah deal Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau Photo:Twenty one people were killed in a US drone

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25 killed in drone attack in North Waziristan

Omer Farooq Khan, Apr 22, 2011,

ISLAMABAD: Despite Pakistan's differences with the US over the CIA-driven drone operations in its tribal areas, two unmanned aircrafts fired four missiles on a large compound in North Waziristan on Friday, killing at least 25 people.

The fresh strikes came two days after Pakistan's army chief, Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, told the US military's top official, Admiral Mike Mullen, that such strikes complicated Pakistan's war against the militants. On Wednesday, Mullen also expressed his country's concern in Islamabad over the continuing links between Pakistan's main spy agency, the ISI, and militants attacking US-led forces across the border in Afghanistan.

According to intelligence officials, four missiles were fired on a large compound in the town of Spinwam in North Waziristan on Friday.

"At least 25 people were killed in the attack, including five women and four children in a nearby house," officials said. The compound was occupied by supporters of local militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

The US considers the area as safe haven for al-Qaida and Taliban militants. A similar attack in North Waziristan on March 17 killed more than 50 people, 40 of them tribal elders who had gathered to attend a tribal meeting for resolution of land dispute. Gen Kayani, in a rare public condemnation, called the attack "intolerable and unjustified".

The United States has been using drone attacks to target al-Qaida-linked militants since 2004 in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas but such strikes recently became a source of concern for the country, which says civilian casualties stoke public anger and bolster support for extremists. Since the US president Barack Obama took office, the attacks had intensified in the tribal areas. More than 100 raids were reported in 2010. Many militants, including their senior leadership, have been killed in drone strikes, but hundreds of civilians have also lost their lives.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/25-killed-in-drone-attack-in-North-Waziristan/articleshow/8058022.cms

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Eight NATO troops killed as Afghan pilot opens fire

April 27, 2011 AFP KABUL

Eight NATO troops and a contractor were killed when an Afghan pilot opened fire on Wednesday after a row at a Kabul training centre in one of the deadliest such attacks since the US-led invasion in 2001.

The killings appeared to stem from an argument rather than terrorism, but served to highlight the prevailing insecurity in Afghanistan, 10 years after foreign troops ousted the Taliban from power.

They were also likely to raise questions over a massive NATO-led effort to expand and train Afghanistan's military and police so they can take over when foreign combat operations are scheduled to end in 2014.

The NATO-led training mission in Afghanistan confirmed that eight international troops and a contractor died in the shooting but did not reveal the nationality of the troops killed in line with policy.

Afghan defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi earlier gave further details of the clash, which is now over.

"At around 11:00am (0630 GMT) within the air force compound, an argument took place between an (Afghan) air force officer and foreign colleagues," he said. "An exchange of fire followed. A number have been killed and injured."

The Afghan pilot was shot dead by Afghan soldiers following the killings, which took place at a site shared by Kabul's military and civilian airports, he added.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident in a text message to AFP, although the militants are known routinely to exaggerate their claims.

But an Afghan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the gunman as a 50-year-old pilot from a well-respected Kabul family, and said the shooting was the result of an argument and was not a terrorist act.

The pilot is thought to have used a pistol in the shooting, the source added.

The deaths are thought to represent the highest number of foreign forces killed in a single incident since September, when nine ISAF troops were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan.

It is also thought to be the deadliest incident for NATO troops at the hands of an Afghan dressed in military uniform.

There is a history of Afghan forces attacking foreign soldiers who have been mentoring them ahead of limited foreign troop withdrawals due in July.

NATO efforts to train and equip local forces so they can take responsibility for security across Afghanistan by 2014 have been hit by a string of attacks by militants who have apparently infiltrated the armed forces or who attacked while wearing unauthorised uniforms.

Last November, six US troops were shot dead during a training session in eastern Afghanistan, apparently by a member of the Afghan border police.

The defence ministry in Kabul was targeted last week by a gunman in army uniform wearing a suicide vest, in an attack that left three people dead.

Earlier this month, another attack at a military base in the east killed nine including five foreign troops and four Afghan soldiers, while the police chief of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan was also assassinated.

Monday's killings took place at NATO's Air Training Command Afghanistan centre, according to a spokesman for NATO's training mission in Afghanistan.

The mission's commander, Lieutenant General William Caldwell, has called 2011 a "pivotal" year in which the total number of Afghan military and police should rise to over 300,000. The figure currently stands at over 180,000.

He has said that the overall cost of the mission is some 40 billion dollars.

There are around 130,000 international troops serving in Afghanistan, the bulk of them from the United States, although Afghan forces are in control of security in Kabul.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/middle-east/eight-nato-troops-killed-afghan-pilot-opens-fire-647

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Blast hits Pakistan navy bus, several casualties

28 April 2011

KARACHI - A blast hit a bus carrying Pakistani navy officials in the southern city of Karachi, on Thursday, causing some casualties, a security official said.

“Till now we have reports that 15 people have been injured,” said Sharfuddin Memom, a spokesman for the Sindh provincial government. Karachi is capital of Sindh.

Two bombs hit buses carrying navy personnel on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding 56.

Karachi is Pakistan’s biggest city and commercial hub. It is also home to the main base of Pakistani navy.

Militants linked to Al Qaeda and Taliban have carried out several attacks in the sprawling city since Pakistan joined the US-led war against terrorism in 2001.

Experts say the navy may have been targeted because it is seen as less well-defended than the army and the air force which are leading the fight against militants.

In 2002, 11 French engineers and technicians working on the construction of submarines for the Pakistan navy were killed along with three Pakistanis in a suicide bombing outside a hotel in Karachi.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April1210.xml&section=international

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Gaddafi has become liability for Libya: Britain

April 28, 2011

Lalit K Jha

Libyan leader Muammar Al Gaddafi has become a “liability” for his people and the sooner he recognises his “game is up” it is better, British Defence Secretary Liam Fox has said.

“The sooner that Colonel Gaddafi recognises that the game is up, however, today or shortly, the better. He is a liability for his people and his country, and the sooner that he gets this message, the better,” Fox told Pentagon reporters at a joint media availability with his US counterpart Robert Gates.

“It is also appalling for us to see the sight of young mercenary soldiers being pushed to the front of lines in places like Misurata, and it’s a sign of desperation from a regime that they resort to these sorts of tactics,” he said.

In a meeting that lasted for three hours at the Pentagon, the two leaders discussed the situation in Libya.

“We’ve seen some momentum gained in the last few days. We’re very grateful to the United States for making the armed Predators available and for the difference that makes in helping us to be able to hit more ground targets. We’ve seen some progress made in Misurata, and it’s very clear that the regime is on the back foot,” Fox said.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/334844/Gaddafi-has-become-liability-for-Libya-Britain.html

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'Give up war or face assassination', Liam Fox warns Gaddafi

April 26, 2011 ANI London

British Defence Secretary Liam Fox has warned Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his loyalists to give up their fight against civilians in that country or face possible assassination.

“If the regime continues to wage war on its people, those who are involved in those command-and-control assets need to recognise that we regard them as legitimate targets,” the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying while leaving for the US.

Full report at:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/europe/give-war-or-face-assassination-liam-fox-warns-gaddafi-268

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Pak tries to outflank US and India in Kabul with China card

Chidanand Rajghatta

Apr 28, 2011

WASHINGTON: The diplomatic form book shows that every time Pakistan is hauled up by its longtime patron United States, its leaders hare off to Beijing or Riyadh for solace and stash, comfort and cash. Small change in the script this time.

Shortly before the top American military official Mike Mullen virtually called Pakistan a terrorist state last week, a charge compounded by Wikileaks cables showing Washington's profound distrust of Islamabad, Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani hotfooted it to Kabul. There, flanked by his military supremo Ashfaq Kiyani and chief spook Shuja Pasha, he is said to have made an audacious pitch to the beleaguered Afghan President Hamid Karzai: Let's both ditch US and hitch our stars to China.

Full report at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Pak-tries-to-outflank-US-and-India-in-Kabul-with-China-card/articleshow/8103858.cms

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US, Pak cannot allow security ties to unravel: Mullen

Omer Farooq Khan

Apr 20, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The shuttle diplomacy has been underway to calm the lingering differences between the US and Pakistan on a number of issues as the Afghan imbroglio heads towards the start of the so-called endgame.

To accommodate each other's strategic concerns, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday, met the country's military leadership.

Last week, Pakistan's foreign secretary Salman Bashir had flown to Washington to meet the American officials on Thursday and Friday.

These high-profile meetings are the latest in efforts to overcome the differences which broke into the open since a CIA contractor, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani men in Lahore in January. The subsequent drone strikes that killed 40 tribal elders in North Waziristan a day after Davis was released brought the relations between the two countries to its lowest ebb.

Despite the stalemate, the two countries recognize their importance for each other at this critical phase when the US authorities will start preliminary withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan in July.

Full report at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/US-Pak-cannot-allow-security-ties-to-unravel-Mullen/articleshow/8039059.cms

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Pak admits majority killed in drone strikes are terrorists

Mar 9, 2011,

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan army has admitted that most of those killed in the CIA-operated drone strikes in northwest Pakistan were "hardcore al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists" notwithstanding the government's public posture that such attacks were causing civilian deaths.

In a rare public briefing on the attacks by pilotless aircraft in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, the Pakistan Army a fairly large number of those killed were of foreign origin including Arabs and Uzbeks.

Maj Gen Ghayur Mehmood, General Officer Commanding of the 7 Division, presented the Pakistan Army's official version of the US drone attacks for the first time during a briefing held at Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal region, yesterday.

"Myths and rumours about US Predator strikes and the casualty figures are many, but it's a reality that many of those being killed in these strikes are hardcore elements, a sizeable number of them foreigners," Mehmood was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.

"Yes, there are a few civilian casualties in such precision strikes but a majority of those eliminated are terrorists, including foreign terrorist elements."

Full report at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-admits-majority-killed-in-drone-strikes-are-terrorists/articleshow/7662291.cms

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Wiki files: 9/11 mastermind Khalid defied Qaida, killed Daniel Pearl

Apr 28, 2011,

BOSTON: The mastermind of 9/11 attacks Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was warned by a senior al-Qaida military commander not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and that he should be "freed" but the American was killed anyway, according to leaked WikiLeaks documents. The 38-year-old Pearl, who was the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, was beheaded by his Pakistani captors in February 2002 after being abducted.

Full report at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Wiki-files-9/11-mastermind-Khalid-defied-Qaida-killed-Daniel-Pearl/articleshow/8103850.cms

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Taslima Nasreen advises Sachin not to pray for Sai Baba

Bharati Dubey, Apr 24, 2011,

MUMBAI: Taslima Nasreen, the controversial writer of Bangladeshi origin, has advised the cricketing world's god, Sachin Tendulkar, not to pray for Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away on Sunday morning. Sunday, April 24, was Tendulkar's birthday, but the cricketer, who is an ardent devotee of Sai Baba, had said on Saturday that he was cancelling his birthday celebrations and praying for Baba.

Nasreen, who is known more for the controversies chasing her than her literary skills, has been retweeting comments poking fun at Sai Baba. She retweeted a comment: "why shud somebody be sad abt his death. he was 86, shud b allowed to die. i was so dissappointd with sachin praying. crazy!"

Earlier in the day, Nasreen tweeted a cheeky remark: "Satya Saibaba died. He said he would die in 2022. But he died too early."

"Hope no one will try to conceal small pellets of ashes at the base of their fingers. Then use their fists to powder the pellets and produce the flow of ash," went her next tweet.

Many of the retweets were attacks on Sai Baba, calling him a cheat and trick master. There were some that poked fun at godmen in general. Some of the comments Taslima retweeted were:

Full report at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Taslima-Nasreen-advises-Sachin-not-to-pray-for-Sai-Baba/articleshow/8073838.cms

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Gaddafi unharmed despite NATO's heaviest attack

April 26, 2011 Tripoli

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi today bombarded the besieged western city of Misurata with rockets and extended their campaign in Berber towns as the government said the strongman was 'unharmed' in NATO's heaviest attack on his compound.

State run television showed a defiant Gaddafi meeting people in a tent after NATO bombarded his compound in the capital city of Tripoli yesterday.

Offering details of bombing raids, NATO said it struck an intelligence complex in Tripoli, one tank, three surface-to-air missile launchers, infantry fighting vehicles, a rocket launcher and a vehicle depot.

A meeting room facing Gaddafi's office apparently scored a direct hit in the air attack and was left badly damaged in what NATO command described as a 'precision attack' on his communication centre.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi's son Saif ul-Islam said the Libyan government would not be cowed down.

Full report at:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/africa/gaddafi-unharmed-despite-natos-heaviest-attack-387

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US asks Turkey to halt Bank Mellat’s operations, freeze Gahdafi’s assets

28 APR 2011

The United States has asked Ankara to halt the operations of Iranian Bank Mellat in Turkey and to freeze the assets of Libya’s leadership so as to support international efforts to impose financial pressure on the regimes.

“The most significant existing relationship between Iran and the Turkish financial system is through the Bank Mellat branches in Turkey,” David Cohen, acting undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Tuesday.

Bank Mellat has three branches in the country located in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

Cohen held meetings in Ankara with government officials on Tuesday and convened with banking officials in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The undersecretary’s visit was the third of its kind since last August and focused on the full implementation of sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council against Iran, whose nuclear program has caused international controversy.

Turkey’s growing trade and economic ties with Iran have resulted in closer financial relations between the two countries – a development that concerns the international community.

Full report at: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=us-asks-turkey-to-halt-bank-mellat8217s-operations-freeze-gahdafi8217s-assets-2011-04-27

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Thousands of Syrian troops raid rebellious city

April 26, 2011

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers moved in before dawn to the city where Syria's anti-government uprising began, causing panic in the streets when they opened fire indiscriminately on civilians and went house-to-house rounding up suspected protesters. At least 11 people were killed and 14 others lay in the streets — either dead or gravely wounded, witnesses said.

The military raids on the southern city of Daraa and at least two other areas suggested Syria is trying to impose military control on the centers of protests against President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades. Residents and human rights activists said the regime wants to terrify opponents and intimidate them from staging any more demonstrations.

The offensive was meticulously planned: Electricity, water and mobile phone services were cut. Security agents armed with guns and knives conducted house-to-house sweeps, neighborhoods were sectioned off and checkpoints were erected before the sun rose.

"They have snipers firing on everybody who is moving," a witness told The Associated Press by telephone. "They aren't discriminating. There are snipers on the mosque. They are firing at everybody," he added, asking that his name not be used for fear of retribution.

The massive assault on Daraa appeared to be part of new strategy of crippling, pre-emptive strikes against any opposition to Assad, rather than reacting to demonstrations. Other crackdowns and arrest sweeps were reported on the outskirts of Damascus and the coastal town of Jableh — bringing more international condemnation and threats of targeted sanctions by Washington.

Razan Zeitounia, a human rights activist in Damascus, said the widespread arrests — including of men along with their families — appear to be an attempt to scare protesters and set an example for the rest of the country.

As the Syrian government stepped up its crackdown, the U.S. State Department urged Americans to defer all travel to Syria and advised those already in the country to leave while commerical transportation is still available. It also ordered some nonessential U.S. embassy staff and the families of all embassy personnel to leave Syria. It said the embassy would remain open for limited services.

The attack on Daraa, an impoverished city on the Jordanian border, was by far the biggest in scope and firepower. Video purportedly shot by activists showed tanks rolling through streets and grassy fields with soldiers on foot jogging behind them.

Witnesses said busloads of troops poured in before dawn and snipers took up positions on the roofs of houses and high buildings while other security agents searched houses for suspected protesters.

"They are entering houses. They are searching the houses," said one witness. "They are carrying knives and guns." He said people were crying out over mosque loudspeakers for doctors to help the wounded and there was panic in the streets.

Full Report:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/middle-east/thousands-syrian-troops-raid-rebellious-city-257

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Hasina to meet panel on Islamic references in Constitution

April 27, 2011 IANS Dhaka

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will on Wednesday appear before a parliamentary committee examining whether to retain or remove Islamic religious references in the country's constitution. Political parties are so far divided on the issue. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has declined to participate, saying the entire debate was "motivated". Its chief and former prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, refused to appear before the committee. The panel is reviewing the constitution in the light of a Supreme Court verdict in 2010 that annulled several amendments brought about during 1975-90 when Bangladesh was a military-led nation. The constitution was originally drafted in 1972 with ‘secularism’ as one of its basic pillars. A country with 90 per cent plus Muslim population, Bangladesh was declared an Islamic Republic with 'secularism' being replaced by references to Allah. Hasina, who is also chief of the ruling Awami League, "is likely to clarify her party's stance on some crucial issues including state religion and caretaker government system", The Daily Star said on Wednesday. Jatiya Party, a major component of the Hasina-led ruling alliance, has proposed retaining Islam as state religion, keeping the phrase "Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim" above the preamble of the constitution and imposing no ban on religion-based political parties.

Full report at:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/asia/hasina-meet-panel-islamic-references-constitution-603

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9/11 mastermind Khalid killed Pearl despite being told not to do so: WikiLeaks

April 27, 2011 PTI Boston

9/11 attacks mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was warned by a senior Al-Qaeda military commander not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and that he should be ‘freed’ but the American was killed anyway, according to leaked WikiLeaks documents.

38-year-old Pearl, who was the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, was beheaded by his Pakistani captors in February 2002 after being abducted.

"A senior Al Qaeda military commander strongly warned Khalid Shaikh Mohammed not to kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, cautioning him 'it would not be wise to murder Pearl' and that he (Pearl) should 'be returned back to one of the previous groups who held him, or freed,’a report in the Los Angeles Times said.

Quoting US military documents posted by WikiLeaks, the report said Mohammed told his US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay that he cut off Pearl's head anyway.

Former top Al Qaeda military commander Sayfal-Adl was 'outspoken in cautioning Mohammed against killing the reporter,' the report said. Mohammed, however, turned for guidance to another Al- Qaeda leader, identified as Sharif al-Masri, the group's chief financial officer, and the two of them 'disagreed with Adl on this point.'

Next, ‘Pearl was taken to the house of Al Qaeda's finance chief in Pakistan, Saud Memon, and murdered’ there.

Full report at:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/north-america/khalid-killed-pearl-despite-being-told-not-do-so-wikileaks-593

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‘Q’ officials have authorised possible inclusion in govt: Pakistan Muslim League

28 APR 2011

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Thursday said his party office-bearers had authorised the possibility of the PML-Q’s inclusion in the federal government, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives in Lahore, Elahi said the PML-Q wanted to bring all political parties into the fold of the national agenda.

He further said that the PML-Q was also in consultations with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl).

Elahi said he had no interest in ministries and that his party office-bearers had authorised over a possible inclusion in the government.

Full report at:

http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/28/pml-q-officials-have-authorised-possible-inclusion-in-govt-elahi.html

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Pentagon lists mosques where Al-Qaeda recruited Militants

28 APR 2011

Al-Qaeda recruited and trained militants at mosques and Islamic centres in cities around the world from Montreal to Karachi, according to a Pentagon list leaked Tuesday.

The document used by American interrogators in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, lists among them the Al-Sunna mosque in Montreal, Abu Bakr International University in Karachi, the Dimaj Institute in Sadah (Yemen), the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, the Islamic Cultural Institute mosque in Milan (Italy), Laennec mosque in Lyon (France), and the Wazir Akbar Khan mosque in Kabul.

Full report at:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=183528

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Imams hold demonstration in 'secular' Egypt

28 APR 2011

Imams held a large demonstration Tuesday in front of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, demanding the ancient place of worship and Islamic education institution be released from government control.

The protest took place the same day that Egypt’s minister of religious endowments announced that the country is a “secular state with a religious reference,” according to reports in the Egyptian media.

Full report at:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=imams-hold-demonstration-in-8216secular8217-egypt-2011-04-27

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Indonesian leader warns Islamic radicalism rising

Apr 28, 2011

Indonesian's President on Thursday warned that the world's most populous Muslim-majority country was confronting a rising tide of Islamic radicalism, after a spate of hate crimes and bombings.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the sprawling archipelago's cherished reputation for tolerance and pluralism was under attack by extremists bent on turning the nation of 240 million people into an Islamic state.

The country — praised by US President Barack Obama in November as a "model" of tolerance for the world — has been shaken by bloody assaults on religious minorities and persistent attacks by homegrown terror groups.

"I have witnessed that there has been a radicalisation movement in this nation with religious and ideological motives," Yudhoyono said in a speech at a national development conference in Jakarta.

Full report at:

http://www.asianage.com/international/indonesian-leader-warns-islamic-radicalism-rising-644

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Huji boss captured: Bangladesh

28 APR 2011

Rapid Action Battalion has trapped one of the most wanted leaders of banned Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) Rahmatullah alias Sheikh Farid who is an accused of different terror attacks including Ramna Batamul carnage.

Farid was playing a vital role to reunite Afghan war participants with some other top leaders of Huji for the last few years, sources in law-enforcement agencies say.

The elite force arrested him in Tongi Railway Station area around 8:00pm on Tuesday. He was returning to the capital from his Cox's Bazar hideout to see his ailing wife, said Rab at a press briefing at its Uttara headquarters yesterday.

Farid, also known as Shawkat Osman, has been developing an orchid project under the pseudonym of Rashid in a remote hilly area in Cox's Bazaar for the last one and a half years, Rab said.

Full report at:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=183512

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Gadhafi, al-Assad cooperated with CIA, says agency's ex-chief

28 APR 2011

The former chief of the CIA on Tuesday praised Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s past cooperation and said his downfall could complicate U.S. interests in the short term.

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who led the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, said that restive Syria also helped U.S. intelligence but only in selective areas.

Speaking at a conference of the Marine Corps University, Hayden said the CIA had worked well with Gadhafi and Moussa Koussa, the foreign minister who defected last month as Libyan forces moved against rebels.

Full report at:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=gadhafi-al-assad-cooperated-with-cia-says-agency8217s-ex-chief-2011-04-27

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Rebels push back Kadhafi forces in Zintan

Thursday, April 28, 2011

ZINTAN: Libyan rebels defending Zintan southwest of Tripoli on Wednesday pushed back forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi who had blasted the town with rockets, wounding three people and damaging the local hospital.

After intense fire between the two sides in the afternoon with anti-aircraft guns being used, the insurgents moved toward the pro-Kadhafi lines on neighbouring hills and the government forces finally withdrew to a village held by a friendly tribe.

At least 20 Grad rockets struck Zintan, three of which crashed near the hospital, damaging the parking area, the main gate and the entrance to emergency services as well as four nearby houses, a witness said.

Full report at:

http://thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=14794

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NATO jets stop attack on rebel-held port in Libya

By BEN HUBBARD

Apr 27, 2011

MISRATA, Libya: NATO warplanes pounded forces loyal to Libyan leader Moaamar Qaddafi attacking the rebel-held city of Misrata, blasting fighting vehicles advancing on the port that serves as the besieged city’s sole lifeline, a NATO spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The battle for Misrata has become the focal point of the uprising against Qaddafi’s regime, and the near-constant shelling of the city by government troops over the past two months has spurred calls for more forceful international intervention to stop the bloodshed.

The alliance airstrike, which took place Tuesday night and sent giant plumes of smoke into the air, helped repulse Qaddafi’s forces attack on the city’s vital port complex, alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.

Full report at:

http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article374955.ece

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Deadliest days for Nato in Afghan campaign

28 APR 2011

Eight Nato troops and a contractor were killed when an Afghan pilot opened fire yesterday after a row at a Kabul training centre in one of the deadliest such attacks since the US-led invasion in 2001.

The killings appeared to stem from an argument rather than terrorism, but served to highlight the prevailing insecurity in Afghanistan, 10 years after foreign troops ousted the Taliban from power.

They were also likely to raise questions over a massive Nato-led effort to expand and train Afghanistan's military and police so they can take over when foreign combat operations are scheduled to end in 2014.

The Nato-led training mission in Afghanistan confirmed that eight international troops and a contractor died in the shooting but did not reveal the nationality of the troops killed in line with policy.

Full report at:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=183526

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US court to arraign Rana in 26/11 case on May 4

April 28, 2011

US-based Pakistani Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana will be formally arraigned in a US district court in Chicago on May 4 for his role in the Mumbai terror attack. His trial is set to commence on May 16.

Rana, who owns First World Immigration service, is charged with providing material help to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba by giving the cover of his business to his associate David Coleman Headley, who scouted targets in Mumbai.

While ruling that Rana be present in court on May 4 for the arraignment, US District Judge Harry Leinenweber informed that there are 75 jurors so far to examine the case. Unlike his associate Headley, Rana has pleaded not guilty. With the federal prosecutors having come up with a second superseding indictment that charges four more Pakistani conspirators as well, the stage is now set for the arraignment and trial.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/334835/US-court-to-arraign-Rana-in-26/11-case-on-May-4.html

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Yemenis start civil disobedience campaign

April 28, 2011

Yemeni residents in scores of cities and towns across the nation launched a civil disobedience campaign on Wednesday to bring down the country’s long-serving president, activists said. The campaign is the latest in Yemen’s uprising that started in early February, inspired by revolts across the Arab world. Massive near-daily protests have called for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s ruler of 32 years.

According to Opposition activists, residents in at least 18 cities and towns got involved in the disobedience campaign, with shops and schools closed and Government offices shuttered.

Full report at:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/334841/Yemenis-start-civil-disobedience-campaign.html

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11-member apex court bench to hear Bhutto reference Afzal Khan

28 April 2011

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry has constituted an 11-member larger bench to take up on May 2 the Presidential Reference seeking its opinion on fairness of trial and execution of former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The bench comprises the Chief Justice, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Mohammed Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

Full report at:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2011/April/theuae_April800.xml&section=theuae&col=

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US town sued over denial of mosque proposal

By SAMANTHA HENRY

Apr 28, 2011

NEWARK, New Jersey: An Islamic group has sued a suburban town it says engaged in religious discrimination by abruptly changing zoning regulations to prevent the opening of a mosque.

Members of the Al Falah Center and local residents filed suit Tuesday in federal court against Bridgewater Township’s mayor, council and planning officials.

The lawsuit says the sudden zoning changes thwarted plans the group had been working on, with the township’s knowledge, to convert a closed banquet hall in a mostly residential area into a mosque and community center. It accuses town officials of bowing to pressure from protesters and an anti-mosque Internet campaign.

The Bridgewater protests were reminiscent of opposition to an Islamic center and mosque planned in New York City near the World Trade Center site. Developers have envisioned an Islamic center, a large health club, a day care center and a cultural gallery built over a subterranean mosque just blocks from where Islamic extremists used hijacked airplanes to destroy the twin towers and kill thousands of people on Sept. 11, 2001. Supporters say allowing the center to be built would reflect American values of tolerance and religious freedom, while opponents argue locating a mosque so close to the attack site would be insensitive to the victims’ memories.

The Al Falah Center, according to court papers, is a nonprofit group formed by local Muslim residents of different ethnicities, backgrounds and professions who said they had been renting out various locations around Bridgewater for 10 years as they searched for a suitable place to build a permanent mosque to serve Muslims in and around the central New Jersey suburb.

Full report at:

http://arabnews.com/world/article375386.ece

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Saudi woman calls for Royal Court intervention to end ordeal

By MUNEERA AL-MATROUK

Apr 27, 2011

JEDDAH: A Saudi woman has sent an urgent message to the Royal Court describing her suffering at the hands of her former brother-in-law while she attempts to secure a power of attorney from her imprisoned husband.

The woman appealed to higher authorities to urgently intervene and put an end to her suffering, allowing her and her children lead a normal life.

She alleged that the man, who had divorced her sister, had been interfering in her married life.

“The man always tries to interfere in my affairs and forces me to return to the house of my husband who has been behind bars at a Makkah prison while awaiting a verdict in a criminal case. My husband was accused of torching five vehicles belonged to my relatives,” she said.

According to the woman, her tormentor is an infamous criminal and sexual pervert.

“It is astonishing that the man, a government employee, was able to secure permission from the concerned authorities to travel abroad in dubious circumstances. He managed to get paid on time despite his continuous absence from duty,” she said while expressing hope that the new National Commission to Combat Corruption would examine this case.

The 34-year-old woman also recounts the suffering of her children when the man was their guardian.

Full report at:

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article375132.ece

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Kingdom seeks proof of Al-Makhlafi’s death in Afghanistan

By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI

Apr 27, 2011

JEDDAH: The Interior Ministry is seeking physical evidence to prove the death of Saleh Naif Eid Al-Makhlafi, one of 85 wanted terrorists who were on a list published by the ministry, Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the ministry told Arab News.

Al-Turki’s statement comes after NATO announced on Wednesday that an air strike in eastern Afghanistan on April 14 killed Al-Makhlafi, a wanted Saudi Al-Qaeda commander who was responsible for suicide bombings and attacks on the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops. He was one of ISAF’s most wanted targets in Afghanistan.

The 29-year-old Saudi national regularly crossed the border into Pakistan and met with senior Al-Qaeda leadership, ISAF claims.

Full report at:

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article375107.ece

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Four alleged Mumbai attack plotters face justice in Chicago

Apr 28, 2011

WASHINGTON: New indictments were issued by US Justice Department officials in Chicago this week, charging four Pakistanis with played a role in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai which killed 166 people, six of them Americans.

The indictments, filed Monday, do not cite press news reports that directly tie the defendants to Pakistani security forces, nor do the charges claim that the Pakistan government was officially involved in the attacks in India three years ago. However, the legal action serves as a diplomatic landmark because of the close — and frequently uneasy — alliance between Washington and Islamabad in the war against global terrorism.

One of the defendants charged in the indictment, a man known only as “Major Iqbal,” is said to have paid David Coleman Headley to set up a reconnaissance operation several months before the November 2008 attacks. Headley, a Pakistani-American businessman who at one time worked as an undercover intelligence agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, was arrested October 2009, and is serving as a material witness in the case.

This week’s indictment characterizes Major Iqbal as “a resident of Pakistan who participated in planning and funding attacks by (the Pakistani terror goup) Lashkar.” Press reports, citing Indian and American counter-terrorism officials, say that Iqbal was an officer in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate at the time of the attacks. According to similar indictments handed down last month in India, Iqbal was Headley’s main handler, “one of at least three ISI officers who are suspected of being involved in recruiting, training and directing Headley in terrorist activities.”

Full report at:

http://arabnews.com/world/article375189.ece

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Cairo students demonstrate against Israel

28 APR 2011

In response to news spread about a statement made by Israeli President Shimon Peres to Israeli Radio, asking the Middle East youth — and particularly that in Egypt — to revive relations with Israel, hundreds of Cairo University students demonstrated, demanding Egypt cut all ties with Israel.

The demonstration was called by several university student groups including the Socialist Students, the Haqy Movement (My Right), Tahrir Movement, Amal Students (Labour), the Coalition of Democratic Students, and Egyptians Against Zionism. The demonstration’s ad read: “Shimon Peres has asked for normalising relations with Israel and this is how we will respond to his call in front of Israel’s embassy”.

The students gathered on Wednesday in front of Cairo University’s central dome from which they started marching through the streets of Giza towards the Israeli embassy. At the Israeli embassy the students shouted slogans, demanding an end to the Camp David Accords and against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

A vast red banner read: “Long live the resistance … Down with complicit Arab governments,” signed by the Socialist Students. The students chanted: “The people’s first demand is to close the embassy and send back the ambassador,” and “Bring down the flag,” referring to the Israeli flag hanging from the 15-story building where the Israeli embassy is located on the last floor.

Full report at:

http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/1/64/10929/Egypt/Politics-/Cairo-students-demonstrate-against-Israel.aspx

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Turkey to help guide Syrian democratization process

28 APR 2011

A Turkish delegation is expected to visit Syria on Thursday as part of an effort to contribute to the reform process of Syria’s administration and to guide President Bashar al-Assad toward democratic changes.

“The delegation includes high-level officials such as political and economy experts in order to brief Syrians on Turkey’s reform experience especially on public administration,” a senior Turkish diplomat told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

"Of course the lifting of the state of emergency is a good start, but this is not enough. Syria must take many other steps," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Wednesday, announcing that he would send a Turkish delegation to Damascus to discuss the crisis.

"We don't want an authoritarian, totalitarian regime" in Syria, he said. "We hope the process of democratization will be rapidly pursued. Our representatives will present to him some of our preparations."

Although Ankara has been disappointed by the slowness of Syrian authorities as they “played with time to launch the reform process” when Turkey urged immediate action on democratic steps just after the first protests, “it is not too late if reforms are initiated immediately,” Turkish diplomatic sources said.

President Abdullah Gül revealed Ankara had begun to pressure Assad to initiate reforms back in January when Tunisia's leader was forced from power in the first of revolts across Arab countries.

"Some never accept change – they don't have any chance at all. Others are playing for time, but time will outpace them," Gül told the daily Hürriyet in remarks published Wednesday.

Full report at:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-stepped-in-to-guide-syrian-democratization-process-2011-04-27

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Explosion rocks Egypt gas terminal near Israel

28 APR 2011

An explosion rocked a natural gas terminal near Egypt's border with Israel on Wednesday, sending flames shooting into the air in the early hours of the morning and forcing the shutdown of the country's export pipeline.

It was the second attack in just the past month on the al-Sabil terminal near the town of El-Arish just 50 kilometers from Israel. On March 27 gunmen planted explosives at the terminal, which failed to detonate.

The flow of gas from the main terminal in Port Said on the Mediterranean coast was shut down to stifle the 20-meter flames, cutting gas exports to Israel, Jordan and Syria. The fire continued to rage well past dawn.

"Those who carried out the explosion have harmed the people of Sinai more than any others," The Associated Press quoted Abdul-Wahab Mabrouk, the governor of North Sinai, as saying while inspecting the site. He said the explosion also damaged the local power plant and gas leaks forced people to evacuate their homes.

He complained that the security situation was still weak and there were not enough police.

Maya Etzioni, a spokeswoman for Israel's Infrastructure Ministry, confirmed to AP that the gas supply was cut off early Wednesday. However, Agence France-Presse reports that Israel's National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told Israeli army radio there would be no immediate impact on supply and that Israel was stepping up efforts to find alternative gas supplies.

Asked if he expected a shortage that would result in electricity cuts, he said: "No. There is still a certain amount of gas in the pipeline that we can use. After that, the electricity board must find alternatives by using gas from Yam Tethys or by using coal or fuel oil," he said, referring to Israel's existing gas field, which is on the verge of being depleted.

Bedouin tribesmen in the area have attacked the pipeline in the past, including on Feb. 5 when a different section was blown up, disrupting exports to Israel and Jordan until March 16. They also attempted to sabotage the pipeline in July 2010.

Egypt supplies about 40 percent of Israel's natural gas, which is used to produce electricity

Egypt's gas exports to Israel have long been controversial for a population that overwhelmingly views Israelis in a negative light and in a recent poll more than half of all Egyptians suggested the peace treaty be annulled.

On April 13, after the ouster of Mubarak, the Egyptian military council which is running the country, ordered a review of all gas supply agreements, including a 2008 deal with Israel which the opposition criticized for its sale of Egyptian gas for far below market rates.

Several former members of Mubarak's ousted regime, including two ministers, are to be tried for allegedly selling gas at prices below market to Israel.

Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also questioned last week over their role in gas supply deals with Israel.

Landau said that allegations Israel has underpaid for natural gas supplies were "not at all" true.

Full report at:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=explosion-rocks-egypt-gas-terminal-near-israel-2011-04-27

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Iran welcomes, Israel rejects Hamas-Fatah deal

April 28,2011

Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmad, right, and Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzoug look on during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday. (AP)

TEHRAN: Iran hailed Thursday a reconciliation deal reached by rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah to set up a transitional unity government and hold elections, while Israel rejected the deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi whose nation staunchly backs Islamist movement Hamas said he “welcomed” the agreement.

“This is the first triumph of the great Egyptian people concerning Palestine after the developments in Egypt, and the effort of Egyptian government is appreciated,” Salehi was quoted as saying by the state television website.

Relations between Tehran and Cairo, turbulent for more than 30 years, have seen some improvement since a popular uprising ousted Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in February.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Nabil al-Arabi, announced Wednesday that he would meet his Iranian counterpart next month to discuss how to open a new chapter in relations between the two nations.

“This deal will lead to the speeding up of developments in the Palestinian arena and the gaining of great victories in facing the [Israeli] occupiers,” Salehi said.

He added that he hoped the soon opening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza “will be among the results of this agreement.”

Hamas and Fatah reached an “understanding” in Cairo Wednesday to reconcile and set up a transitional unity government.

Iran supports Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and has been at odds with the Fatah government of president Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank, saying that it lacks legitimacy to represent all Palestinians.

Full report at:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/Apr/28/Iran-welcomes-Hamas-Fatah-reconciliation-deal.ashx#axzz1Knh75MVc

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicWorldNews_1.aspx?ArticleID=4539