Working Muslim women, don’t talk to male colleagues: Deoband Fatwa
100 killed
in Iraq serial bomb blasts
Mali imam living in fear after backing women's
rights
Interfaith dialogue: Coalition preaches mutual
respect
SIT quizzes Hindutva icon Togadia on Gujarat
violence
Hindutva leader threatens Zakia, Setalvad with
‘action’
Old mosque demolished in Madinah
Some Pakistan officials know where Osama is: Hillary
Clinton
New girl gets elected to AMU old boys’ body
Paris fears losing clientele to burqa ban
Pak militants spread roots
Saudi Arabia: NON-MUSLIMS MAKE SMALL STEPS INTO
MEDINA
Faisal was told to not leave paper trail
Shahzad’s father to be quizzed
35,000 troops out, Valley sees spike in
violence
Mass grave of Kosovo victims found in
Serbia
The Times Square scare
PESHAWAR: 26 journalist bodies demand terrorists stop bombing
civilians
Assassination of US Muslim Cleric is Illegal, Immoral and
Unwise
US drone attack kills 14 in Pakistan: Officials
Times Square suspect went to Pakistan for Taliban's help:
US
U.S. may be passing up chances to stop terrorist
plots
Pakistan needs to do more to combat terror:
US
Should Muslim Countries Adopt a More Western Attitude Toward
Curiosity?
More Proof of How Jihad is Funded
Israel’s plan for East Jerusalem clouds
talks
Muslim leaders warn against Jerusalem
settlements
Two Israeli Arabs suspected of spying for
Hezbollah
Against honour killing but just a messenger: Naveen
Jindal
Romp with MP caught on tape, Turkish leader
quits
UP ‘honour killing victim’ held for abducting
girlfriend
Iran to let mothers visit three US detainees:
Mottaki
My mother and her secrets, Jasmin Darznik
London: Acid revenge attack men sentenced
Constructive student dialogue on the Middle
East
Compiled by Asit Kumar
Photo: The largest Muslim seminary in India, Darul Uloom of Deoband,
has issued a fatwa against working Muslim women
-------
Working Muslim Women, Don’t Talk To Male Colleagues: Deoband
Fatwa
May 11, 2010
Kashish
The largest Muslim seminary in India, Darul Uloom of Deoband, has
issued a fatwa against working Muslim women, saying working with men is not
Islamic.
The fatwa says it is unlawful for Muslim women to do any job in
government or private institutions that entails men and women working together
and women having to talk to men without the veil.
The Deoband clerics say it is clearly mentioned in the Shariat that
women should wear the veil in office and should not mix with male
colleagues.
The fatwa has been endorsed by Muslim clerics of other schools of
thought.
Sunni Muslim cleric Maulana Abul Irfan Firangimahli says, "Those
women who are following their careers may get great success in this life...but
they have to be accountable and answerable for this in their afterlife and then
they will regret their career choices."
Expectedly, the fatwa has not gone down well with women. For
well-known Lucknow fashion designer Asma Hussain, the fatwa has no significance.
Asma makes her living dressing up women against whom this fatwa has been issued.
For more than 10 years she has had dozens of men working for her and points out
that their livelihoods depend on her continuing to work.
"If I stop working, then more than me those men will suffer who
depend on me for their living. And so I feel that perhaps Allah may not accept
my prayers, but he may accept me for trying to contribute to society," Asma
says.
Then there is Wajeeda, an entrepreneur who runs a beauty parlour in
Lucknow. She has both male and female clients. "These fatwas are issued so
frequently, and are so regressive, that it only ends up creating hurdles for
Muslim women to move forward. In fact, I think every Muslim woman should
work.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/fatwa-to-working-muslim-women-dont-talk-to-male-colleagues-24731.php?u=1254
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100 killed in Iraq serial bomb blasts
May 10, 2010
BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a textile factory
on Monday in a crowd that gathered after two cars bombings at the same spot in
the worst of a series of attacks killing nearly 100 across Iraq, the deadliest
day this year.
The government blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for violence in Baghdad,
saying the terror group is stepping up its attacks now to exploit political
instability. More than two months after the March 7 elections, it is not clear
who will control the next Iraqi government and the US is planning to pull out
half of its 92,000 troops over the next four months.
In the latest in a series of attacks that killed 99 people, three
bombs hit the southern Shiite port city of Basra in the evening. At least one
exploded in a marketplace, killing at least 15, hospital and police officials
said.
The violence began in the capital where at least 10 people were
killed in what appeared to be coordinated attacks against police and army
checkpoints across Baghdad. Both Shiites and Sunnis were targeted in attacks
around the country.
The most deadly incident was an afternoon bombing in the Shiite city
of Hillah, the capital of Babil province 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of
Baghdad. A suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his belt blew himself up
among a crowd trying to help victims of two car bombs that went off earlier
outside a textile factory, said Babil provincial police spokesman Maj. Muthana
Khalid.
At least 45 were killed and 140 wounded in the triple blasts, Khalid
and al-Hillah hospital director Zuhair al Khafaji said.
Witnesses said they saw blood pooled and pieces of flesh on the
ground outside the factory.
``Terrified people were running in different directions,'' said
Jassim Znad Abid, a taxi driver who lives in Hillah. ``I saw dead people, some
burned and crying, wounded people on the ground that was covered with pools of
blood. Dozens of wounded people asking for help were laying on the ground.''
Khalid said the two car bombs parked outside the factory about 25
yards (meters) apart exploded first as workers were leaving the factory around
1:30 p.m. They were believed to be detonated by remote control.
Then as rescuers and workers were trying to help the injured, the
suicide attacker struck.
Babil provincial Gov. Salman Nassir al-Zargawi ordered flags lowered
to half-staff and a three-day mourning period. In an interview with Iraqi state
TV, al-Zargawi said he was informed Sunday that the factory was under threat,
but cited too many security gaps across Babil to protect all sites he feared
could be targeted.
``There are many fragile places especially in the north of Babil...
and there are a lot of security gaps there,'' al-Zargawi said. ``So we are
facing a daily challenge in Babil.''
The day's violence began in Baghdad with the checkpoint attacks. Most
of the incidents were drive-by shootings in which assailants wearing uniforms of
city government employed cleaners used weapons fixed with silencers to spray
checkpoints and patrols with bullets.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for Baghdad's security
operations center, said Iraqi security forces arrested one suspect and seized a
pistol with a silencer.
The violence delivered a chilling reminder that insurgents are still
able to stage large scale operations despite security gains by Iraqi and US
forces over past years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But al-Moussawi
blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the Baghdad attacks, saying the terror group is
attempting to exploit Iraq's political instability.
``Al-Qaida is trying to ... use some gaps created by some political
problems,'' the Iraqi security spokesman told Arabiya TV. ``There are well-known
agendas for the terrorist groups operating in Iraq. Some of these groups are
supported regionally and internationally with the aim of influencing the
political and democratic process inside Iraq.''
U.S. Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza, the top military spokesman in Iraq,
said the attacks show ``there is a threat out there that we have to be concerned
about, and the threat is still capable.''
Violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically since the height of the
insurgency in 2006 and 2007. But the political vacuum in the wake of the
inconclusive election has raised the risk that sectarian violence will pick up
again.
Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition, a secular
group heavily backed by the Sunni Arab minority, edged out Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's religious Shiite bloc by two seats in the parliamentary election but
neither won an outright majority, forcing them to seek partners to form a ruling
coalition.
Last week al-Maliki's State of Law coalition formed an alliance with
the religious Shiite Iraqi National Alliance believed to have strong backing
from Iran, a deal that put them four seats short of a majority in parliament and
did not include Allawi. The pact could lead to four years of another
Shiite-dominated government much like the current one.
Sunni anger at Shiite domination of successive governments was a key
reason behind the insurgency and if Allawi is perceived as not getting his fair
share of power, that could in turn outrage the Sunnis who supported him.
In other attacks on Monday the small town of Suwayrah, 25 miles (40
kilometers) south of Baghdad, was hit by a pair of bombs -- one in a parked car
and the other planted along a road -- that killed 11 passers-by and wounded
dozens, an Iraqi police official and a hospital worker in the nearby city of Kut
said.
In Tarmiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Baghdad, city Mayor
Mohammed Jassim was injured when bombs in parked cars targeted his convoy. In
all, five people were killed and 18 injured in the attack, said a city police
official.
At least six people were killed west of Baghdad in the city of Abu
Ghraib by three different bombings , Iraqi officials said.
Seven more were killed in four separate attacks stretching from the
northern city of Mosul to the Shiite city of Musayyib south of
Baghdad.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Middle-East/100-killed-in-Iraq-serial-bomb-blasts/articleshow/5913039.cms
-------
Mali imam living in fear after backing women's
rights
11 May 2010
An imam in Mali is living in fear after backing a new family law
which no longer obliges wives to obey their husbands, angering Muslim
groups.
He has received threatening phone calls and local Muslim leaders have
tried to dismiss him.
The new law is currently being given a second reading in parliament
after Mali's president refused to sign it because of the Muslim
protests.
More than 90% of Mali's population is Muslim.
In April, the imam of Kati, 15km (9 miles) north-west of the capital,
Bamako, wrote a letter to Mali's High Islamic Council stating he saw nothing in
the new family law which infringed the country's social values, much less Islam,
the BBC's Martin Vogl in Mali says.
The High Islamic Council has said imams can only be dismissed by
their congregation and it is unclear what weight the decision by local Muslim
leaders to sack the imam will have, our reporter explains.
But the incident has highlighted the intense feelings among Muslims
towards the new family law.
Its most contentious provisions give more rights to
women.
For example, under the law husbands and wives owe each other loyalty
and protection rather than obedience, women get greater inheritance rights and
the minimum age for girls to marry in most circumstances is raised to
18.
When the law was introduced in August 2009, the parliament building
was attacked and it was difficult to find anyone to defend the law in public,
our reporter says.
Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure said he was sending the law
back to parliament for the sake of national unity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8672618.stm
-------
The interfaith dialogue: Coalition preaches mutual
respect
May 11, 2010
The interfaith dialogue initiated by Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques King Abdullah to build bridges of understanding between Islam and the
West has been well received by religious leaders worldwide. This was evident at
the community outreach program that was organized by the Council of Saudi
Chambers of Commerce and Industry's Committee of International Trade (CIT) on
the sidelines of the US-Saudi Business Opportunities Forum April 28-29 in
Chicago.
US President Barack Obama's vision of interfaith harmony as expounded
in historic June 2009 address to the Muslim world from Cairo is now beginning to
unfold, and I could notice the positive developments that are taking place in
the United States.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article51866.ece
-------
SIT quizzes Togadia on Gujarat violence
May 11 2010
PRAVIN Togadia, the international general secretary of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad ( VHP), was on Monday quizzed by the Special Investigation Team (
SIT) probing the conspiracy angle in the 2002 communal riots in
Gujarat.
The SIT had been set up by the Supreme Court after Zakia Jaffri,
widow of former congress MP Ehsan Jaffri, sought its intervention seeking
justice.
Togadia, who arrived at the SIT office with a retinue of ‘ monks’ and
supporters, spent three hours fielding questions and later threatened to teach
Zakia and activist Teesta Setalvad a lesson at an appropriate
time.
Full report at:
Mail Today
-------
Will take action against Zakia, Setalvad:
Togadia
May 11 2010
Gandhinagar : VHP leader Praveen Togadia on Monday said he would take
action against Zakia Jaffery and Teesta Setalvad, on whose complaint he was
called for questioning by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection
with Gujarat riots.
"I too, at an appropriate time, will take action against Zakia
Jaffery and Teesta Setalvad, who have dragged me before the SIT," Togadia told
reporters outside the SIT office here after deposing before the Supreme
Court-appointed agency.
Togadia was today questioned for over four hours by the SIT in
connection with Zakia's complaint in which she alleged that Chief Minister
Narendra Modi and 62 others, which include his cabinet colleagues, police
officials and senior bureaucrats aided and abetted post-Godhra riots in
Gujarat.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/will-take-action-against-zakia-setalvad-togadia/616920/
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Old mosque demolished in Madinah
May 11, 2010
MADINAH: A 19th century mosque in Madinah's Al-Zahidiah district that
was the subject of a dispute lasting several years has finally been demolished
and is to be rebuilt 200 meters away from its original location, Al-Madinah
newspaper reported.
The Al-Katibiyyah Mosque , built by Sharif Muhammad bin Ali Al-Sanusi
Al-Kabir around 1834 , has been demolished following deliberations lasting
several years .
The mosque was thought to be standing over or close to the grave of a
famous Companion of the Prophet Muhammad
( peace be upon him ), Sayyiduna Ra'fi bin Malik Al-Zurqi ( may Allah be pleased with him
).
In May 2006 , the mosque , along with other old buildings leading to
Quba Mosque , was marked for demolition as part of a regeneration project to
improve the Central Zone , the area around the Holy Mosque. ?However , local
residents protested and asked Madinah Gov. ?Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed to investigate the matter and suspend the
decision . A committee was subsequently set up to verify the claims
.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article52247.ece
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Some Pakistan officials know where Osama is: Hillary
Clinton
Chidanand Rajghatta
May 10, 2010
WASHINGTON: In a blistering attack on Pakistan’s long and covert
association with terrorism, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused
some government officials there of harboring Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar,
and warned that the US ''cannot tolerate'' attacks emanating from that country.
Clinton’s stunning accusation against Washington’s ally came in
course of a CBS 60 Minutes profile of the Secretary of State, and constituted
the most direct charge of supporting terrorism against Pakistan by Washington to
date. Clinton appeared to be pointing to Pakistan’s military and intelligence
officials while absolving the current civilian leadership.
''I am not saying they are at the highest level...but I believe
somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and
al-Qaida and where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Taliban are,'' Clinton
said, adding, ''We expect more cooperation (from Pakistan) to help us bring to
justice capture or kill those who brought us 9/11.''
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Some-Pakistan-officials-know-where-Osama-is-Hillary-Clinton/articleshow/5912567.cms
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New girl gets elected to AMU old boys’ body
Saba Rahman
May 11 2010
New Delhi : For all its worldwide repute, the Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU) has always lived with an uncomfortable charge — that of
excluding its women from public spaces. Interestingly, the gender lines are
drawn even beyond the campus. By university passouts, for instance, who continue
to call the over-a-century-old alumni body, AMU Old Boys’ Association
(AMUOBA).
So, late on Sunday night, when journalist Arfa Khanum was elected the
vice-president of AMUOBA, Delhi Chapter, she became only the second woman to
make it to the post after social activist Azra Sultana, who held the post four
years ago. No other woman was in the fray for any of the association’s 12 posts
this time — like almost every time earlier, ever since the Delhi Chapter was
formed in 1972. AMUOBA was formed in 1899 at Aligarh and has branches in many
cities in India as well as Dubai and London.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-girl-gets-elected-to-amu-old-boys-body/617165/
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Paris fears losing clientele to burqa ban
Matthew Campbell
May 11, 2010
The Avenue Montaigne in Paris is a magnet for wealthy shoppers. This
summer, though, the Saudi princesses often to be seen browsing in black robes
among the Chanel handbags and La Perla lingerie may stay at home — or shop
elsewhere.
Under a proposed French law banning women from wearing the burqa in
public, they could be fined. Their husbands, often potentates in their home
countries, could end up in jail. "A lot of our customers come from the Gulf,
especially Qatar," said a public relations officer at the exclusive Hotel Plaza
Athenee, a stone's throw from Chanel. "There is some concern about this law."
The law is expected to be approved by parliament this week and to
come into effect by September, when women offenders could be liable to a £130
penalty and be invited to attend "citizenship classes". Men found guilty of
forcing women to wear burqas could be jailed for a year and fined £13,000.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Europe/Paris-fears-losing-clientele-to-burqa-ban/articleshow/5914988.cms
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Pak militants spread roots
May 11 2010
Terrorism suspect Faisal Shahzad's alleged path to Times Square
reflects what experts say is a militant support network that spans Pakistan and
is eager to shepherd aspiring terrorists from around the
globe.
In this teeming southern metropolis, authorities are focusing on a
domestic militant outfit that might have escorted Shahzad to distant northern
peaks where US investigators allege he received training with the Al
Qaeda-affiliated Pakistani Taliban. In Pakistan's heartland, extremist
organisations freely build compounds and campaign with politicians, while their
foot soldiers fight alongside the Taliban in the borderlands, intel- ligence
officials say.
Full report at:
Hindustan Times
-------
NON-MUSLIMS MAKE SMALL STEPS INTO MEDINA
By Adam Gonn
11 May 2010
Saudi Arabia considers the entrance of non-Muslims into a new area
outside Islam’s second holiest city.
Saudi Arabia plans to build a new neighbourhood on the outskirts of
Medina where non-Muslims may be permitted to take up
residency.
The ‘Knowledge Economic City’, set to be located three miles from
Medina’s central mosque, will be Saudi Arabia’s first so called smart city, as
all the buildings in the area will be connected via data, video and voice
links.
“We want to develop a knowledge based industry and to attract major
universities from all over the world,” Wafim Paffier, a business developer for
the Knowledge Economic City, told The Media Line. “We want to create an economic
platform that will reverse the emigration from Medina and attract Muslim
scientist to come and work.”
Full report at:
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=28810
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Faisal was told to not leave paper trail
11 MAY 2010
Washington, May 10: Pakistani-American terror suspect Faisal Shahzad,
arrested for the Times Square bombing plot, had been instructed by the Pakistani
Taliban to always pay cash and not to leave a “paper trail” in transactions, a
media report said on Monday.
“He was told to be very careful about not letting anything track back
to him. No receipts, and no paper. No nothing,” an official source close to the
investigation was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles
Times.
The Pakistani Taliban had instructed Shahzad to always pay cash and
never ask for or receive receipts for his transactions.
“He was told to leave no paper trail at all,” it said. The paper said
Shahzad had paid in cash for his gun, as also for the van he bought from a
Connecticut-based teenager.
Full report at:
http://beta.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12068:faisal-was-told-to-not-leave-paper-trail&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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Shahzad’s father to be quizzed
Shafqat Ali
May 10: The FBI team is set to quiz Baharul Haq, the father of Faisal
Shahzad, accused of the failed New York bombing plot.
“The US investigative team of FBI officials have demanded access to
investigate the father of Faisal Shahzad. They will soon be quizzing him,” a
security official told this newspaper on Monday.
Earlier, the civilian authorities refused the demand of the FBI team
to investigate the retired Air Force official, as it was necessary to seek the
permission of Army sources beforehand.
“The father of the arrested Faisal Shahzad is in safe custody and is
not under arrest,” said the official.
Full report at:
http://beta.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12067:mass-grave-of-250-kosovo-victims-found&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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35,000 troops out, Valley sees spike in
violence
May 11 2010
“It's going to be a hot summer in Kashmir,“ Gurmeet Singh, brigadier
general staff of the army's 15 Corps, had pre- dicted in
March.
But it was not the rising mer- cury he was worried
about.
The Valley was witnessing a resurgence of militancy since the
government began with- drawing 35,000 troops from the state late last
year.
“Without creating any hype, we have reduced 35,000 army personnel and
also decreased the number of CRPF and BSF men from internal duty,“ Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah had told the assembly on March 18.
But with troops moving out, militants seem to be back in the
Valley.
Full report at:
Hindustan Times
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Mass grave of Kosovo victims found in Serbia
May 10, 2010
BELGRADE: A mass grave containing bodies of ethnic Albanians killed
during 1998-99 war in Kosovo has been discovered in Serbia, officials said on
Monday.
Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office said the grave is located in
Rudnica, near the town of Raska, about 180 kilometers (108 miles) south of
Belgrade, Serbia's capital.
The prosecutor's office gave no other details, but planned to hold a
news conference about the discovery later on Monday.
The independent B92 Television reported that the mass grave contains
about 250 bodies of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo who were killed during the
1998-99 Kosovo war.
It is the sixth mass grave discovered in Serbia since 2001. Hundreds
of bodies of slain ethnic Albanians have been exhumed in the past several years
and returned to Kosovo.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Europe/Mass-grave-of-Kosovo-victims-found-in-Serbia/articleshow/5913352.cms
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The Times Square scare
May 11 2010,
Iª New York” T-shirts are back on sale for $2.99, just steps away
from where Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born American citizen, allegedly
attempted to detonate an improvised bomb inside a car in the heart of Times
Square on May 1st. On discovery of the smoking vehicle New York’s police (NYPD)
quickly evacuated the area. In a New York minute, Times Square bounced back.
Soon after the bomb squad had defused the device, traffic returned and throngs
of people again filled its sidewalks and packed into its shops and
theatres.
Just over 53 hours after the smoking SUV was discovered, Mr Shahzad
was arrested at Kennedy airport as he tried to leave the country on a flight to
Dubai. Ray Kelly, New York’s police commissioner, compared the speedy arrest to
the work of Jack Bauer, a fictional counter-terrorism agent who repeatedly saves
the world in 24 hours. But the fact that Mr Shahzad nearly got away (the plane
had closed its doors before it was stopped, because the authorities had earlier
lost track of their suspect) is embarrassing, to say the least. And it was not
expensive technology or highly-sensitive intelligence that alerted authorities
to the SUV on Saturday night. Street vendors, ordinary New Yorkers, did
that.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-times-square-scare/617042/0
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26 journalist bodies demand terrorists stop bombing
civilians
By Iqbal Khattak
May 11, 2010
PESHAWAR: Twenty six journalist organisations from around the world
on Monday called on the Taliban, al Qaeda and other jihadi organisations in
Pakistan to stop targeting civilians with their attacks, wherein journalists
also lost their lives in the line of duty.
“We appeal with the utmost urgency to the leaders of the Taliban,
jihadi movements and al Qaeda in Pakistan to put a stop to all further suicide
bombings on public gatherings,” the appeal from the organisations that included
the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders
said.
“As journalists, we have to cover official events first hand but that
does not mean that we support this or that politician or public figure. By
targeting large gatherings, the organisations are endangering the lives of
innocent civilians and reporters. This is not acceptable. We can no longer
accept the loss of lives of our fellow journalists,” the appeal
said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\11\story_11-5-2010_pg7_37
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Assassination of US Muslim Cleric is Illegal, Immoral and
Unwise
Bill Quigley
May 11, 2010
Agents of the United States are openly trying to assassinate Muslim
cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen, while he is in hiding in Yemen. Despite
what the apologists for assassination argue this is illegal, immoral and
unwise.
Assassinating Awlaki in the US would be murder, a capital crime,
punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty. Morally, few would argue
that agents of the FBI or the CIA could murder the cleric in the US. If it is
illegal and immoral to kill a Muslim cleric in the US why would it be legal,
moral or wise to do so in Yemen?
The Imam, who lived in the US for more than two decades, is accused
of using his powerful speaking and teaching skills on behalf of terrorism.
Authorities say he was in e-mail contact with the Army Major arrested for
killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. He is loosely linked to the Nigerian
Christmas bomber. The Times Square SUV bomber is reported to have listened to
the cleric's online lectures.
Full report at:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/10-1
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US drone attack kills 14 in Pakistan: Officials
May 11, 2010
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: US drones fired a barrage of 12 missiles,
destroying a training camp for Islamist fighters in Pakistan's tribal belt and
killing 14 militants on Tuesday, security officials said.
It was the second strike in the same mountainous area close to the
Afghan border since Sunday, when the United States accused the Pakistani Taliban
of being behind a plot to detonate a car bomb in Times Square 10 days ago.
The training camp was run by militants attached to Taliban-linked
Afghan warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is reputed to control up to 2,000 fighters
who attack US-led forces over the border in Afghanistan, officials said.
The compound was in the Lowara Mandi area of North Waziristan
district, seen as a fortress of Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants in
Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal badlands.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/US-drone-attack-kills-14-in-Pakistan-Officials/articleshow/5915780.cms
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Times Square suspect went to Pakistan for Taliban's help:
US
May 11, 2010
WASHINGTON: Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, accused of planting
the failed car bomb at Times Square, last travelled to Pakistan to get help from
the Pakistani Taliban in carrying out a bomb attack, CNN reported citing a
senior US official.
"The question is: Did he go there looking for help or did he fall in
their lap? It seems the former. It appears he went seeking help for this
attack," the unnamed senior administration official was quoted as saying.
"He had an attack in mind when he went there," he told CNN as state
department spokesman PJ Crowley on Monday said the Pakistani Taliban "provided
him (Shahzad) with material support that obviously helped him execute the
attack."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Times-Square-suspect-went-to-Pakistan-for-Talibans-help-US/articleshow/5916000.cms
-------
U.S. may be passing up chances to stop terrorist
plots
By Marc A. Thiessen
May 11, 2010
Did a captured Taliban leader know about the Times Square plot and
withhold this information from his interrogators?
On Sunday, Obama administration officials, including counterterrorism
chief John Brennan, declared that the Taliban was behind the attack and that
Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber, had "extensive interactions" with
Taliban leaders in Pakistan. Yet just a few months before Shahzad attempted to
blow up a car bomb in the heart of Manhattan, U.S. and Pakistani officials
captured the highest-ranking Taliban leader ever detained in the war on terror
-- Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. This raises a critical question: Could Baradar
have warned us about the Times Square attack?
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051002174.html
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Pakistan needs to do more to combat terror: US
May 11, 2010
MUMBAI: The US on Tuesday said it is cooperating at the highest level
to provide India access to 26/11 accused David Headley even as it maintained
Pakistan has to do more to fight terror.
"We work together in historic ways on providing access to people like
David Headley where the US is cooperating at the highest level to eventually
provide access to this person who helped pull off the savagery of the attack on
Mumbai on 26/11," US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer told reporters after
paying tributes to the 26/11 attack martyrs at Marine Drive here.
"We have been providing indirect access to sharing intelligence for
months about that acquired information and now the door is open. The opportunity
is there for India in the weeks ahead to get direct access in the appropriate
way and appropriate time to David Headley," Roemer said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Pakistan-needs-to-do-more-to-combat-terror-US/articleshow/5917831.cms
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Should Muslim Countries Adopt a More Western Attitude Toward
Curiosity?
Jim Al-Khalili
11 May 2010
I think the short answer, which is gradually gaining acceptability
within the Muslim world, is yes, absolutely. To qualify this, I think the
question should rather be, “Should Muslim countries reclaim the attitude of
curiosity about the world and the workings of nature that was so prevalent
during the Islamic Golden Age 1,000 years ago?”
That period was, like the time of the Greeks a millennium earlier,
dominated by a spirit of rational inquiry that led to many advances in
mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, and chemistry. Scholars in the great
centers, such as Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, and Samarkand, questioned everything
they inherited from the Greeks, having translated the great works of Aristotle,
Galen, Euclid, Ptolemy, and others into Arabic, and then produced many original
works themselves that would later be translated into Latin and feed into the
European Renaissance. That spirit gradually died away as the Islamic empire went
into decline.
Full report at:
http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2010/05/11/should-muslim-countries-adopt-a-more-western-attitude-toward-curiosity-jim-al-khalili-answers/
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More Proof of How Jihad is Funded
Shariah Finance Watch
11 May 2010
One of the most popular web sites among American Muslims is Islam
Online, which was founded by Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, a man we have written
about extensively on SFW.
Qaradawi is perhaps best known in the Western world for being banned
from travel to the USA and the UK because of his ties to Jihadist terrorist
organizations. Qaradawi also served as the chair of the Shariah Advisory Board
for Bank al-Taqwa, a bank shut down by the US Treasury Department several years
ago because it was funneling millions of dollars to several Jihadist terrorist
groups.
In 2008, Qaradawi called for Islamic finance and economics to replace
capitalism.
Despite all this baggage, Qaradawi is considered the most prominent
Sunni Shariah scholar in the world and one of the ideological leaders of the
Muslim Brotherhood, which is the political wing of the global Jihadist
insurgency.
Full report at:
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.6187/pub_detail.asp
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Israel’s plan for East Jerusalem clouds talks
AMY TEIBEL
11 MAY 2010
JERUSALEM , May 10: Israel said on Monday it will press forward wi-th
construction of new housing for Jews in East Jerus-alem, drawing Palestinian
accusations that the plans could undermine newly-relaunched peace talks. Cabinet
secretary Zvi Hauser’s statement illustrated the balancing act that Israeli PM
Benjamin Netanyahu faces as he conducts peace talks in the coming months.
His hawkish government wants construction in East Jerusalem, the
section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians, to continue.
But American mediators and the Palestinians want the building halted.
“Building is expected to begin soon in Har Homa and Neve Yaakov, where
(construction) bids have been issued,” Mr Hauser told Army Radio, referring to
two East Jerusalem neighbourhoods.
Full report
at:
http://beta.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12070:israels-plan-for-east-jerusalem-clouds-talks&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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Muslim leaders warn against Jerusalem
settlements
May 11, 2010
ISTANBUL: Muslim leaders warned on Monday the establishment of new
Israeli settlements in Jerusalem would push the region to "the brink of an
abyss,” a day after Palestinians declared the start of indirect talks with
Israel.
Palestinians say the US-mediated talks will become direct if Israel
announces a complete halt to settlement building on occupied land. Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a strong critic of Israel, stressed the importance of
such a move.
"Jewish settlement activities, which represent the biggest obstacle
to the peace process, must be halted," he told a meeting of Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) nations.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article52240.ece
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Two Israeli Arabs suspected of spying for
Hezbollah
May 11, 2010
JERUSALEM: Israel has arrested two Israeli Arabs suspected of spying
for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, police and security services said Monday,
partially lifting a gag order on the case.
Websites flouted the gag order and made the arrest of political
activist Amir Makhoul into a rallying cry for critics of Israel's treatment of
its Arab minority.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the gag order was
imposed to avoid harming the investigation.
Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency said in a statement that the
men were arrested for “severe security offenses including contacting a Hezbollah
agent.” Additional details of the case are still subject to the gag order, the
statement said. The two men have not been charged.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article52241.ece
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Against honour killing but just a messenger: Naveen
Jinda
May 11, 2010
Congress MP from Kurukshetra Naveen Jindal, in the eye of the storm
for supporting khap panchayats notorious for sanctioning honour killings, spoke
exclusively to Manveer Saini and endorsed their sentiments against same
gotra/village marriages. The 40-year-old politician was non-commital on the khap
demand of amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to ban such marriages, merely
saying that he will convey the wishes of khap elders to the party high command
and government. Excerpts:
What prompted you to talk with khap panchayats and attend their
meeting?
I attended the meeting as the Lok Sabha representative of the area.
They wanted to discuss certain issues. They have every right to be heard. I
listened to them and came to know about their grievances.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Against-honour-killing-but-just-a-messenger-Naveen-Jinda/articleshow/5915297.cms
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Romp with MP caught on tape, Turkish leader
quits
May 11, 2010
ANKARA: The veteran leader of Turkey's main secular opposition party
resigned on Monday, saying he was the victim of a conspiracy following the
release of a videotape on the internet purporting to show him and a woman in a
bedroom.
The resignation of Deniz Baykal, a fierce critic of the ruling
Islamist-leaning AK Party, comes as his secularist Republican People's Party
(CHP) has pledged to bloc plans by the government to hold a referendum on
constitutional reforms.
Baykal accused the AK Party, whose roots lie in political Islam, of
having knowledge of the videotape.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Middle-East/Romp-with-MP-caught-on-tape-Turkish-leader-quits/articleshow/5914997.cms
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UP ‘honour killing victim’ held for abducting
girlfriend
May 11 2010
THE UTTAR Pradesh police are in a spot over the reported ‘ honour
killing’ of Ajit Saini.
Having earlier booked Anuj Tomar — whose sister Anshu had eloped with
Ajit — for the murder, the police did a U- turn and arrested Ajit on Monday
after the couple resurfaced a day earlier.
Ajit, who is from a lower caste, is in love with Anshu. The fear of
caste panchayats and the recent spate of honour killings forced the couple to
flee Muzaffarnagar a week back.
While they were in hiding, the police booked Anuj for Ajit’s murder
after a body was recovered not far from the latter’s residence. The police also
claimed Anuj had confessed to killing Ajit.
Full report at:
Mail Today
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Iran to let mothers visit three US detainees:
Mottaki
May 11, 2010
TEHRAN: Mothers of three American hikers detained in Iran since July
will be allowed to visit them, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said
on Monday.
Intelligence Minister Haidar Moslehi said last month Tehran had proof
that the three Americans, detained on espionage charges, had links to
intelligence services.
Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, were detained
after they entered Iran from northern Iraq, a case that has further complicated
poor relations between Tehran and Washington.
"It was decided... to issue visas for these three mothers so they can
come to Iran and visit their children," the semi-official Fars news agency
quoted Mottaki as saying.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article52239.ece
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My mother and her secrets Jasmin Darznik
11 May 2010
Some years ago, when I was in my early 20s, I found a photograph of
my mother as a bride. That the man beside her was not my father, that she’d kept
this marriage a secret from me, that she had been disturbingly young — none of
this unsettled me as much as her expression.
Eyes downcast and lips pouted, she looked as if the next shot would
have shown her crying.
In that moment I thought: That is not my mother. My family left Iran
during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. My parents bought a roadside motel in
California and set out to make new lives for us. Immigration baffled, then
broke, my father, and so it was my mother who took charge of the motel, my
mother who sat behind the plastic window of the manager’s suite answering the
phone, my mother who cleaned the rooms on weekends and all the other days when
the maid didn’t show up.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/May/opinion_May66.xml§ion=opinion&col=
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Acid revenge attack men sentenced
11 May 2010
Three men who stabbed a man and doused him with acid over an online
affair have been jailed at the Old Bailey.
Awais Akram, 25, was disfigured after being attacked in Leytonstone
last July for a relationship with Sadia Khatoon.
Her brother Mohammed Vakas, 26, of Walthamstow, was given a 30-year
sentence for conspiracy to murder.
Mohammed Adeel, 20, of Walthamstow, and Fabion Kuci, 17, of
Harlesden, got 13 and eight-year sentences for conspiracy to cause grievous
bodily harm.
A ban on naming Kuci because of his age was lifted after the
sentencing.
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8675040.stm
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Constructive student dialogue on the Middle
East
Alexander Goldberg
11 May 2010
The "campus conflict" over the problems in the Middle East has been
going on for almost 40 years. That's right, 40 years. But it does not have to be
that way: there is no reason why there can not or should not be a place for a
discourse on the Middle East conflict without the need for conflict here in
Britain.
What's more, there needs to be a place for Jews, Muslims and
Christians to build relations. The three Abrahamic faiths have much in common
and do work together to build a better society. We have a shared sense of moral
and social responsibility. Our common cause is to develop the societies in which
we live and to ensure social justice.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/11/campus-conflict-universities-middle-east
9:18 PM
Sultan Shahin
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