AI crash: Sharjah man
loses 7 relatives
Saudi police arrest 10 ‘emo’ girls
The call of Babylon: Why some travelers are braving
Iraq
Fighting in Somali capital kills 20
Massachusetts governor : ‘Yours is a peaceful
faith’
US Drone
Strikes, Pak Ops Kill 37 Militants
‘Pakistan, US determined to win terror war’
Abbas
says ready to swap land with Israel
A Muslim response to 'Draw Muhammad Day'
‘Iran to
Go Ahead With Turkey N-Swap Deal’
Eight major world religions meet up in a
book
Promoting moderation everyone’s responsibility, says Prince
Turki
The protests, the ban and the faithful!
Taliban funded plot, reveals Shahzad
Of Gods and Men: a meditative film on faith in the face of
violence
Afzal
Guru's hanging won't be expedited: Home secretary
Israel: Winds of war
'Walking
in the path of fascism'
Pak blocks 800 URLs over Facebook cartoon
row
U.S. facing ‘tough fight' from Al-Qaeda in
Af-Pak
Cong
seeks to renew its Jamiat links
Battling
odds, Urdu schools score 88%
Uncertain future as Rehana waits to hear from Centre
Times Sq plot: Caterer, Major held
Facebook
Page That Led To Pak Ban Removed
Google chief suspects ulterior motive in Pak
Babri
Panel: Appeal Against Court Order
Pak Yet To Ask Interpol for Notice
3 Nato soldiers among 16 killed in Afghan
violence
Death of 10 people in drone strikes
protested
The way
out for Afghanistan
Compiled by: Asit Kumar
Photo:
Site of crash of AI flight at Mangalore,
India
Muslim leader: find wives in Britain not Pakistan and
India
Jasper Hamill
23 May 2010
Muslim
men have been told to marry women born in Scotland rather than import wives from
Pakistan and India.
Shaykh
Amer Jamil, a Glasgow-born Islamic scholar, warned that Asian women who have
grown up in Scotland are being left on the shelf in favour of wives from outside
the country.
Parents
often prefer their sons to have arranged marriages with women who grew up in the
Indian sub-continent, as they are seen as better partners. But this means there
are increasing numbers of British women unable to find a
husband.
Islamic
dating events have been set up to try and address the situation, but the balance
is so heavily weighted towards women that few marriages result from these
events.
Shaykh
Jamil, an Islamic scholar who set up a family counselling service called Unity
Family Services, said: “I would say the situation is at a critical level. There
are many well-educated women up and down the country who want to get married but
are not finding the right match. There is an acute shortage of suitable male
options and the ones who are available are getting married from back
home.
“Consequently, this leads to many women reluctantly having to bring
someone over from south Asia and that can lead to problems. The men coming over
have a different mentality and are not used to seeing a female working or having
a life outside of the home. It makes sense to marry from within the UK as both
partners will speak English and will be familiar with British culture. This will
also make raising children much easier.”
There
are also community cohesion implications to the trend, as women come over from
Pakistan who cannot speak English and are unused to the
culture.
Arranged
marriages are often facilitated by an informal matchmaking network of women
called Aunty Gees. Shaaista Yousaf is one of these women and she has been
arranging marriages for more than a decade. Currently, she knows 30 eligible
males and 80 females.
She
explained: “There are mothers who insist their daughters only marry within a
specific caste. They don’t like them getting married outside of the biraderi
[extended clan affiliation]. Such an issue automatically narrows their
choice.
“There
are also girls who are not prepared to stay with the in-laws. They want their
own home, their own privacy. Girls brought over from Pakistan know how to live
with the extended families and the family politics that come as a result of
that. Girls from here are not used to that.”
Naseem
Khan ran Muslim marriage events in Glasgow for five years. She said that
attitudes are changing amongst the younger generation, who want different things
from a relationship.
She
said: “Our mothers came here and brought with them some cultural baggage that
led them to get their daughters married within the family, within the same caste
or someone who they had given their word to back in Pakistan. Such attitudes are
not prevalent amongst me or my friends. We are more
flexible.”
Figures
from the Home Office show that 12,700 husbands or fiances were admitted in 2008,
a 16% reduction from 2007. Almost twice the number of wives or fiancees were
admitted, with 24,100 in 2008, although this still represents a 14% decrease
from 2007. A high proportion of these partners were from
Asia.
CASE
STUDY
Amina is
a 38-year-old single woman from Glasgow. She is currently unemployed, but worked
in accounts before retraining with a degree in music. Amina (not her real name)
then worked in London’s music industry for five years before returning to
Glasgow.
“People
ask questions if you don’t have a partner by my age,” she says. “They realise
I’ve had a career and done other things, rather than brought up
children.
“Parents
want men to marry from back home – it is one of the biggest problems in the
Asian community. Mothers think the girls [here] are not good enough; they don’t
have the attributes of girls back home, who will be better wives. They think
girls here are too independent.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/muslim-leader-find-wives-in-britain-not-pakistan-and-india-1.1029860
-----
AI crash: Sharjah man loses 7 relatives
Dubai:
The crash of the ill-fated Air India Express flight in Mangalore has left
Sharjah-based Mohammed Farhan totally shattered as he lost as many as seven
relatives, including young children and women, in the
tragedy.
"There
is virtually no one left in my family now. It is just fate that they all decided
to take the same flight," said 23-year-old Farhan.
He said
the victims from his family included young children, women and older
men.
"They
were travelling to Mangalore for various reasons," Farhan
said.
His
cousin Irshad Ahmed, Ahmed's wife Neha Parveen and their son were going on
annual leave while his uncle and other distant relatives were going to attend a
funeral.
"We were
a big, happy family together. It's all over now," Farhan was quoted as saying by
The National newspaper.
Last
night, the remaining family members were frantically trying to take the next
available flight to India.
"Most
flights, including those arranged by Air India are full now. We are going
through different flights and will somehow try to reach Mangalore," Farhan
said.
According to Farhan, some of his other family members, who were also
attending the funeral, took another flight instead of Air India
Express.
"I thank
God for that now," he added.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ai-crash-sharjah-man-loses-7-relatives/115999-2.html
-----
Saudi police arrest 10 ‘emo’ girls
23 May,
2010
RIYADH,
May 22: Saudi Arabia’s religious police have arrested 10 “emo” women for
allegedly causing a disturbance in a coffee shop, Al-Yaum newspaper reported on
Saturday.
The
coffee shop owner in the eastern city of Dammam called the Commission for the
Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to complain after the young women,
dressed and made up in the “emo” fashion, apparently began disturbing other
clients.The religious police then called their parents to come and collect the
women, and to sign pledges that the girls would not repeat their ostensibly
offensive un-Islamic behaviour and dress.
According to recent reports, growing numbers of urban young Saudi
women are latching on to the emo fashion popular from Japan to Europe and the
Americas. The trend is characterised by wearing skinny black jeans, tennis
shoes, colourful T-shirts bearing the names of emo bands, heavy make up and
sharply chopped and sometimes radically coloured hair-dos.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/saudi-police-arrest-10-emo-girls-350
------
The call of Babylon: Why some travelers are braving
Iraq
By Mark Tutton for CNN
London,
England (CNN) -- International airlines are once again landing in Iraq, the
conflict-wracked home to some of the ancient wonders of the
world.
Ongoing
conflict has overshadowed Iraq's place as the "Cradle of Civilization," housing
extraordinary sites like Babylon, just outside Baghdad.
But, an
improving, if fragile, security situation means that, after years of isolation
intrepid travelers can now fly directly to Iraq from Austria, Germany, Greece,
Norway, Sweden and the UK as well as numerous cities in the Middle
East.
Specialist tour operators are now stepping into the tourism void,
catering to the smattering of tourists with an approach more Indiana Jones than
package tour.
In June,
French company "Terre Entiere" will lead its first tours of the ancient city of
Ur in southern Iraq, with plans to take tours every three weeks from
September.
While
these could be the first signs of an emerging industry, tourism in Iraq is very
much in its infancy. Iraq's Ministry of Tourism told CNN that last year just 73
tourists visited Iraq's archaeological sites.
As long
as Iraq remains dangerous, and lacking any kind of tourist infrastructure, it is
unlikely to appeal to the package-holiday masses. But for some, that's the
attraction.
Sean
Tipton, of the Association of British Travel Agents, told CNN: "You do find with
some countries that were recently war zones, certain segment of travelers see it
as attractive. Some people see it as off the beaten track. They view it as an
experience."
Known as
the "Cradle of Civilization", Iraq is a trove of treasures from the ancient
world. The country currently boasts three UNESCO World Heritage sites, with
another nine locations on the "tentative" list.
UNESCO's
Veronique Dauge told CNN: "Iraq is a gorgeous country. It is probably one of the
most pristine and extraordinary places in terms of history and remains. And it
has huge potential in terms of tourism."
Not
tempted yet? Here are four historical sites that might entice the most intrepid
of travelers to visit Iraq.
1.
Babylon
This
ancient city on the banks of the Euphrates River is more than four thousand
years old and was once the home of Nebuchadnezzar, who built the Hanging
Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
"Babylon
is definitely impressive," Dauge told CNN. "It's known throughout the
world.
"Even
the casual tourist has some collective memory of a place like Babylon, when you
talk about people like Nebuchadnezzar."
Located
88 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad, Babylon was extensively reconstructed
by Saddam Hussein, meaning little of the original city is
visible.
But
travelers who make the journey can also stay in one of Saddam's old palaces that
is now a hotel .
2.
Hatra
About
112 kilometers (70 miles) south-west of Mosul in northern Iraq, the ruined city
of Hatra is a picture postcard of sand-colored pillars and arches that recall
ancient Greece and Rome.
The
capital of the first Arab Kingdom, it became a major religious center of the
Parthian Empire and withstood attacks from the Romans in the second century
A.D.
3.
Ashur
Also
known as Assur, this is a truly ancient city, dating back to the third
millennium BC, making it more than four thousand years old. It's located about
97 kilometers (60 miles) south of Mosul and was the first capital of the
Assyrian Empire and a center of international trade.
There's
not much left of Ashur -- hardly surprising given its age -- but the mud-brick
foundations of temples and palaces offer a tantalizing glimpse of the dawning of
the Assyrian Empire.
The
ruins lie in a beautiful landscape by the side of the Tigris
River.
4.
Samarra Archaeological City
Samarra
was capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, which once ruled an empire stretching from
Tunisia to Central Asia.
Situated
129 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, the site spans 40 kilometers (25
miles) in all. Highlights include the largest palaces in the Islamic world and
the ninth-century Great Mosque, with its famous spiral Malwiya
minaret.
The site
has suffered since the 2003 invasion, while an explosion damaged the winding
ramps of the Malwiya minaret in 2005, Dauge said.
But
remember the risks ...
Especially as the region between Mosul and Samarra is still one of
the more dangerous parts of the country.
That
serves to remind us why so few tourists travel to Iraq: The ancient land may
have a wealth of archaeological attractions, but there's no denying it's a
dangerous place.
The U.S.
Department of State warns that "numerous insurgent groups remain active
throughout Iraq" and "recommends against all but essential travel within the
country."
And some
of Iraq's biggest attractions are in dangerous regions. Babylon, Samara and
Ashur are all located in areas where the British Foreign Office advises against
travel.
Tipton
told CNN: "If you travel to parts of the country where the Foreign Office
advises against travel, quite apart from putting yourself at risk, your
insurance would not cover you if you were to have some kind of
incident."
Until
security improves, Iraq will remain a fringe destination. But where the
trailblazers dare to travel, the camera-toting hordes often
follow.
But
Dauge said Iraq's development as a tourist destination could help rebuild the
country's economy.
"It has
to be very carefully controlled," she said. "It can create disasters, but it can
also be very good in terms of economic development and improving the living
conditions of the communities."
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/21/tourism.vacation.iraq.sights/index.html
------
Fighting in Somali capital kills 20
By Abdi Sheikh And Mohamed Ahmed
MAY 23, 2010
MOGADISHU — Fighting between Islamist al Shabaab rebels and Somali
troops in the capital Mogadishu has killed at least 20 people and wounded 30
this weekend, a human rights group and medical officers said on
Sunday.
Residents said al Shabaab insurgents have sought to advance towards
the presidential palace for the past four days but government troops and African
Union peacekeepers have been trying to repel them.
"More
than 20 people died and scores of others were injured on Saturday and Sunday,"
Ali Yasin Gedi, the vice chairman of Mogadishu-based Elman rights group, told
Reuters.
"The
government and Islamists are engaged in heavy shelling and mortars have landed
in residential areas in the city."
The
fragile Western-backed transitional government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed
only controls a small pocket of Mogadishu, with the help of African Union
troops, and faces near daily attacks from Islamist rebels.
Residents in the north of Mogadishu said government troops and rebels
fought fiercely in Shibis neighbourhood and that both sides suffered several
defeats in back and forth shelling.
Ali
Muse, an ambulance service co-ordinator, told Reuters at least 30 people had
been wounded in the past two days of clashes. "Most of the people were wounded
in and around Bakara market," he said.
RED
LINE
A
spokesman for the AU AMISOM force in Mogadishu said they would attack if al
Shabaab, which Washington says is al-Qaida's proxy in the region, came too
close.
"If the
rebels cross the red line we'll act and they should know that," Major Barigye
Ba-hoku told Reuters.
"The red
line means any situation that can bring insecurity to the government
institutions or our troops, and that is our mandate. We shall chase them if they
come close," he said.
Sheikh
Ahmed is currently at an international UN-backed conference in Turkey at which
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said international support for the government
was the only chance to stabilize the chaotic country.
The
fighting has killed at least 21,000 people in the failed Horn of Africa nation
since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes,
triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian
emergencies.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Fighting+Somali+capital+kills/3063336/story.html
------
Massachusettes governor to Muslims: ‘Yours is a peaceful
faith’
By Jonathan Saltzman and Travis Andersen
May 23, 2010
Governor
Deval Patrick told more than 1,100 Muslims at a Roxbury mosque yesterday that he
knew many have encountered discrimination and racial profiling since Sept. 11
and that he would do everything in his power to combat those
problems.
Speaking
at what Muslim activists described as the first such forum with a Massachusetts
governor, the 53-year-old Democrat pledged to take seven steps to help Muslims
in the state.
The
measures ranged from urging businesses and governments to allow Muslims to take
time off to attend Friday afternoon prayers to publicly denouncing
discrimination and racial profiling against believers of
Islam.
Although
he responded “yes’’ when asked pointedly whether he was committed to each
measure requested, Patrick sometimes broadened his pledges to recognize that
other religious and ethnic groups deserved the same protections and
accommodations.
“Yours
is a peaceful faith, and I know that, and I know you are worried [about whether]
others know that,’’ Patrick said after several Muslims joined him on the
platform at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center to recount stories of
epithets hurled at them on Boston streets and FBI agents visiting their
houses.
“I know
that people have been afraid and angry, and sometimes that fear and anger is
randomly directed at you,’’ he said.
The
audience, which comprised Muslims from across the state, including many women
who wore hijab head coverings and men who wore kufi caps, frequently interrupted
Patrick with cheers and chants of “Allahu Akbar!’’ which means “God is
great!’’
Patrick,
who noted that he has lived in Sudan and northern Nigeria and spent considerable
time with Muslims, greeted the gathering upon his arrival with “Assalamu
alaikum,’’ meaning “peace be upon you.’’ He drew loud cheers when he spoke a bit
of Arabic.
The
governor, who could not personally attend the official opening of the $15.6
million Roxbury mosque last year and was fulfilling a promise to visit, has
appointed a liaison to the Muslim community. Patrick introduced the liaison, Ron
Bell, one of his advisers for community affairs.
Patrick
also promised to try to visit two more Muslim institutions by the end of the
year, encourage public schools to be more sensitive to the needs of Muslim
students, foster sensitivity training for law enforcement officials, and
regulate banks that ignore the state’s usury cap law.
Attorney
General Martha Coakley sent a representative who promised to use a $50,000 grant
to increase sensitivity training for law enforcement
officials.
Organizers of the forum said it was designed to get Muslims more
involved in politics, repudiate extremism, and educate other Massachusetts
residents, too many of whom hold negative stereotypes about
Muslims.
“In
general, we’re only recognized as terrorists,’’ said Dr. Syed Asif Razvi, a
surgeon who is president of the Islamic Council of New England, in an interview
before the event began.
He said
recent news stories about the arrests of three New England men on immigration
charges as part of the investigation of an attempted car bombing in Times Square
has made many law-abiding Muslims feel “here we go
again.’’
“We work
very hard to build bridges, and it kind of wipes out all we’ve done for a period
of time,’’ he said.
While
some Muslims at the event said they have been harassed since 9/11, others said
the problems they face are subtler, such as hiring
discrimination.
“When
[employers see] Muslim names, we don’t think we’re getting an equal chance to
compete for jobs,’’ said Sameer Abu-Alsaoud of Cambridge. Abu- Alsaoud, 49, said
he has been jobless for at least a year, even though he holds a master’s degree
in management from Cambridge College.
Bilal
Kaleem, executive director of the Muslim American Society of Boston and one of
the organizers of the gathering, said beforehand that Patrick generally has been
viewed as sensitive to the concerns of Muslims in
Massachusetts.
Kaleem
attributed that in part to the governor’s experience as an assistant attorney
general for civil rights in the Clinton administration. “He comes from a civil
rights background, so he understands the issues at a deeper level,’’ Kaleem
said.
Patrick
met with organizers of the event several weeks ago at the mosque and appeared to
be well-prepared for the commitments sought by the
community.
Patrick,
who is running for reelection this year, has attended similar forums with people
of different faiths, including Christian and Jewish residents, his spokesman
Kyle Sullivan said Friday. A number of attendees yesterday belonged to other
faiths, including Christianity and Judaism.
The
1,100 Muslims at the event represented at least 25 Muslim institutions across
the state, including 15 mosques. Many also came from a wide range of
backgrounds, including Somali, Moroccan, Sudanese, African-American, Indian,
Pakistani, Syrian, Palestinian, and West African.
The
event came at the end of a three-month campaign during which activists held more
than 15 community meetings that solicited the opinions of at least 500
Muslims.
The
activists found that the community’s biggest concerns included the treatment of
Muslims by law enforcement officials and a lack of awareness of Muslim customs
and culture in public schools.
There
are conflicting numbers about the size of the state’s Muslim population, but
various national religious-interest groups put the figure at about
70,000.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/23/at_muslim_forum_patrick_vows_action_to_combat_prejudice/
------
US Drone Strikes, Pak Ops Kill 37 Militants
Shafqat Ali
23 May,
2010
At least
36 militants were killed on Saturday in Pakistan forces’ operation and US drone
strikes.
“Twenty-seven militants were killed while two security personnel
injured during an armed clashes in upper Orakzai agency,” a security official
said. “The security forces were attacked during the patrolling in upper Orakzai
agency in which two security personnel were injured. In countermove, security
forces killed 27 militants,” he added.
Separately, an overnight US missile strike killed two foreign
militant suspects and eight Pakistanis near the Afghan border, two intelligence
officials said on Saturday. The attack late on Friday targeted the house of a
local resident in Boya village near Miran Shah, the main town in North
Waziristan.
US
drones often hit suspected hide-outs of militants in troubled Pakistani tribal
region, which Washington considers a centre for the remnants of Taliban, Al
Qaeda and Pakistani insurgents. The intelligence officials said a Filipino
suspect was believed to be among the slain men. They said their agents were
still trying to get details about the second foreigner killed in the
attack.
The
Asian Age
-----
‘Pakistan, US determined to win terror war’
23 May,
2010
Commander of international security assistance forces in Afghanistan,
General Stanley A. McChrystal, on Saturday said that Pakistan and the US are
destined to win the war on terror.
During a
meeting with Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, he said
the Pakistani forces have been successful in defeating the Taliban in the tribal
areas.
Gen.
McChrystal said that the purpose of his visit is to consult Pakistan on matters
of professional interests, adding that the Nato and US will continue to extend
their cooperation to Pakistan in defeating the extremist
elements.
The
Asian Age
-----
Abbas says ready to swap land with Israel
May 23, 2010
RAMALLAH: The Palestinians are ready to swap some land with Israel,
although differences remain over the amount of territory to be traded,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday, after two rounds of indirect,
US-led peace talks.
The
negotiations began earlier this month, with US envoy George Mitchell shuttling
between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Abbas' comments
marked the first time a participant has provided details about the
talks.
Abbas
said the first round dealt with borders and security arrangements between Israel
and the state the Palestinians hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel
wants to annex major Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In
previous negotiations, the two sides agreed that Israel would swap some of its
territory to compensate the Palestinians, but gaps remained on the amount of
land to be traded.
Abbas
dismissed recent media reports that the Palestinians are willing to trade more
land than in the past, saying: "We did not agree about the land area, but we
agreed on the principle of swapping land (equal) in quality and
value."
In 2008,
the Palestinians offered to cede 1.9 percent of the West Bank to Netanyahu's
predecessor, Ehud Olmert.
Olmert
sought a 6.5 percent swap.
It is
not clear whether Netanyahu accepts the idea of a land swap, and if so, how much
of the West Bank he wants to keep. Israel has moved nearly half a million of its
citizens into dozens of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
since the 1967 Mideast War.
A land
swap would be crucial to any final agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians. Talks resumed in early May after a 17-month
breakdown.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article56568.ece
-------
A Muslim response to 'Draw Muhammad Day'
23 May, 2010
I will
be the first to defend anyone's right to express their opinion, no matter how
offensive it may be to me. Our nation has prospered because Americans value and
respect diversity.
But
freedom of expression does not create an obligation to offend or to show
disrespect to the religious beliefs or revered figures of
others.
In
reaction to the recent controversy over a depiction of Islam's Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) in an episode of Comedy Central's "South Park," a Seattle
cartoonist apparently declared May 20 to be "Everybody Draw Muhammad
Day."
I say
"apparently" because cartoonist Molly Norris — the creator of the cartoon
showing many objects claiming to be a likeness of the prophet — now says she
never intended to launch "Draw Muhammad Day."
On her
website, she has since posted a statement that reads in part: "I did not
'declare' May 20 to be 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.'...The cartoon-poster, with
a fake 'group' behind it, went viral and was taken seriously...The vitriol this
'day' has brought out, of people who only want to draw obscene images, is
offensive to the Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in
the first place...I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this 'day'
be called off."
Norris
even visited a mosque at the invitation of the local Muslim
community.
The
creator of a Facebook page dedicated to the day also repudiated the
"inflammatory posts" it inspired. He said, "I am aghast that so many people are
posting deeply offensive pictures of the Prophet...Y'all go ahead if that's your
bag, but count me out."
Despite
the cartoonist's and the Facebook page creator's seemingly sincere attempts to
distance themselves from the fake event, Muslim-bashers and Islamophobes made
sure the call to "Draw Muhammad" went viral on the Internet. They are hoping to
offend Muslims, who are generally sensitive to created images of the Prophet
Muhammad or any prophet.
[The
majority of Muslims believe visual representations of all prophets are
inappropriate in that they distract from God's message and could lead to a kind
of idol worship, something forbidden in Islam.]
So how
should Muslims and other Americans react to this latest attempt by hate-mongers
to exploit the precious right of free speech and turn May 20 into a celebration
of degradation and xenophobia?
Before I
answer that question, it must first be made clear that American Muslims value
freedom of speech and have no desire to inhibit the creative instincts of
cartoonists, comedians or anyone else.
The
mainstream American Muslim community, including my own organization, has also
strongly repudiated the few members of an extremist fringe group who appeared to
threaten the creators of "South Park." That group, the origins and makeup of
which has been questioned by many Muslims, has absolutely no credibility within
the American Muslim community.
I, like
many Muslims, was astonished to see media outlets broadcasting the views of a
few marginal individuals, while ignoring the hundreds of mosques and Muslim
institutions that have representatives who could have offered a mainstream
perspective.
Next,
one must examine how the Prophet Muhammad himself reacted to personal
insults.
Islamic
traditions include a number of instances in which the Prophet had the
opportunity to retaliate against those who abused him, but refrained from doing
so. He said, "You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with
them with forgiveness and kindness."
Even
when the prophet was in a position of power, he chose the path of kindness and
mercy. When he returned to Makkah after years of exile and personal attacks, he
did not take revenge on the people who had reviled him and abused and tortured
his followers, but instead offered a general amnesty.
In the
Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, God states: "Invite (all) to the way of your Lord
with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best
and most gracious: for your Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and
who receive guidance." (16:125)
Another
verse tells the prophet to "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the
ignorant." (7:199)
This is
the guidance Muslims should follow as they express concern about an insulting
depiction of the prophet, or of any other prophet of God.
Instead
of reacting negatively to the bigoted call to support "Draw Muhammad Day,"
American Muslims — and Muslims worldwide — should use that and every other day
as an opportunity to reach out to people of other faiths and beliefs to build
bridges of understanding and respect.
The best
and most productive response to bigoted campaigns like "Draw Muhammad Day" is
more communication, not less communication — including not restricting the free
flow of ideas with measure like banning Facebook.
Research
has shown that anti-Islam prejudice goes down when people interact with ordinary
Muslims and have greater knowledge of Islam.
Therefore, the best reaction to those who would mock the Prophet
Muhammad (or the religious symbols of any faith) might be a mosque open house
for the local interfaith community, a community service activity organized by
Muslims and involving people of other faiths, or a newspaper commentary
describing the life, legacy and personal character of the prophet, which is the
opposite of the calumny some people fabricate about him. This should be of
concern to all decent and objective people.
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article56652.ece
------
‘Iran To Go Ahead With Turkey N-Swap Deal’
May 23rd, 2010
Iran
intends to go ahead with a deal reached with Turkey and Brazil for a nuclear
fuel swap despite a new sanctions resolution against Tehran pending at the UN,
an Iranian parliamentarian said on Saturday.
“Iran is
committed to the vows that it made and wants to make them operational and will
submit its letter to International Atomic Energy Agency,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi,
head of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee, was quoted
as saying by semi-official news agency ISNA. “The Americans’ propaganda will not
have any effect on Iran’s decision ... We advise those countries who want to
issue this resolution against Iran not to be manipulated by
America.”
Iran’s
official news agency IRNA said on Friday Iran will hand an official letter to
the IAEA’s chief on Monday with details of the fuel swap agreement with Brazil
and Turkey.
The IAEA
brokered the basis of the deal in October 2009 in talks involving Iran, France,
Russia and the United States, but it soon unravelled amid Iranian demands for
amendments. Turkish and Brazilian representatives at the IAEA will accompany
Iran’s envoy during the meeting with the IAEA chief on Monday, a communiqué from
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council published on Saturday in the daily
Hambastegi said. Leaders of the three countries announced the agreement on last
Monday under which Iran will send 1,200 kg of its enriched uranium stocks,
reducing its supply of potential atomic bomb material, to Turkey in exchange for
fuel rods for a Tehran medical research reactor. But the five permanent members
of the UNSC, after months of negotiations, brushed off the deal with a draft
resolution on a new set of sanctions against Iran that Washington handed to the
Security Council. A prominent Iranian legislator, Mohammed Reza Bahonar, had
suggested Iran could scuttle the deal if the sanctions resolution is
approved.
The
Asian Age
------
Eight major world religions meet up in a
book
May 23, 2010
When
Akasha Lonsdale was a child in London, her agnostic family prohibited her from
participating in religious services at the Church of England school she
attended. Required to sit at the back of a Hebrew class for the school's Jewish
students, she befriended a girl whose family invited her to the Friday night
Sabbath meal.
"I found
it an enriching experience," says Lonsdale, who years later became a therapist
and then an interfaith minister. "Even from age 4, I was aware there was
something more than this earthly life. I was on a spiritual quest from that
age."
Now
Lonsdale, 57, has published "Do I Kneel or Do I Bow?," a concise guide to the
ceremonies of eight major world religions. The 336-page soft-cover book is
divided into sections on the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox Christian,
Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist faiths.
"There
are many gateways to God and truth," she said. "Spirituality can exist
independently of religion, but the core of all religions is
spiritual."
Lonsdale
describes her book as a labor of love, and says it is aimed at those moments
when we find ourselves outside our comfort zones, wanting to do the right thing
and not offend, while venturing into religious settings we know little
about.
In our
multicultural society, a Sikh may invite a Muslim colleague to a family wedding.
A Jew may invite a Catholic neighbor to a bar mitzvah. Or a Protestant raised in
America may visit an Eastern Orthodox Church while
traveling.
According to the book, which was vetted by clerics of all eight
faiths, it would be offensive for a man to take his hat off in a Sikh temple or
a synagogue, but the opposite could be true in some churches. One should not
bring flowers to a Jewish or Muslim funeral, whereas they would be welcomed by
Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.
Each
section of the book contains a summary of the religion's tenets. Then there are
descriptions of holidays and rituals, and user-friendly boxes titled "What
Happens?" and "What Should I Do?"
In
Britain, an Anglican bishop might kneel and wash the feet of parishioners on
Maundy Thursday before Easter. But it would be deeply offensive to direct the
soles of one's feet toward the religious leader in a mandir, a Hindu place of
worship.
"This
means you won't be able to stretch your legs out if you are uncomfortable
sitting cross-legged," writes Lonsdale. "If you feel unable to hold this
position for about an hour, you can sit on a chair at the
back."
Those
seeking the reasons behind all the rituals and practices will have to consult
more comprehensive tomes.
"I had
to really discipline myself and rein it in. It was very easy to go off on a
tangent," Lonsdale said. "The book could have been twice the size. But my focus
was to have it be about ceremonies, from the perspective of the
guest."
She also
knows that there are many different streams of thought within the religions and
it would be impossible "to get the pitch right" for
everyone.
"There
are going to be people who don't agree. There will be many different
interpretations," she said. Still, she believes a baseline understanding of the
major religions is a matter of daily life these days, not just something for
those taking world religion classes.
For
Lonsdale, the guidebook is the culmination of a lifelong search for spiritual
meaning, which ultimately led her to an interfaith ministry. She began in
adolescence to read about the various spiritual traditions but never felt
comfortable with dogma or choosing the "right" version.
"Each
time I came to a door of a particular faith, I hesitated because it was
presented as the one way," she recalls.
At the
same time, Lonsdale developed a great respect for religious traditions. She did
not feel the need to reject religion, as do many people who become disaffected
with mainstream, institutional forms of worship.
Eventually, she discovered that Hinduism takes one of the more
liberal approaches to spiritual life and so she incorporates chanting and
meditation into her own spiritual practice.
Two
decades ago, Lonsdale took the spiritual name Akasha, Sanskrit for "eternal
wisdom," but kept it largely private as she built her therapy practice and wrote
a self-help book with pointers for living powerfully.
It
wasn't until 2004 that Lonsdale became aware of London's Interfaith Foundation
and entered its two-year seminary program to become an ordained interfaith
minister. By 2005, Akasha had become her legal first name, replacing her given
name Perry.
Now, in
addition to her spiritually oriented therapy practice, Lonsdale creates
personalized ceremonies for those who seek sacred services for birth, marriage
and death, but do not feel comfortable with the mainstream approach. Her clients
incorporate as little or as much traditional faith ritual as they
like.
"Last
year, I did a Hindu-Christian marriage that honored both backgrounds," she said.
"Particularly the younger generation, those in their mid-30s and younger, have
grown up in a multicultural society and have friends of all
faiths."
Hence
the guidebook, which she hopes will be viewed much like a dictionary that each
home should possess.
As for
kneeling, Jews don't do it, but Catholics do, and Muslims kneel and prostrate
themselves. When it comes to bowing, Hindus put their palms together for the
namaste bow of reverence and thanks, whereas Buddhists bow with hands cupped —
just fingertips and palms touching -- to emulate the shape of the lotus
bud.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs-kneel-20100515,0,4133336.story
-------
Promoting moderation everyone’s responsibility, says Prince
Turki
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI
May 23, 2010
JEDDAH:
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former ambassador to the US, said Saturday in a speech
at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz University that extremism should be fought by the
entire society working to promote moderation.
“It is a
joint responsibility with society and individuals,” he
said.
Prince
Turki, who is chairman of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies,
explained how King Abdul Aziz contained extremism during the formation of Saudi
Arabia. He said the founder of the Kingdom had asked extremists in power to step
down and select someone else from their families or tribes to replace
them.
He
pointed out that Saudi Arabia has been negligent in realizing the importance of
presenting its true face to others in the world.
“The
Kingdom has been facing this problem since its formation,” he said. “There are
some reasons for that. Firstly, we don’t boast before others about our
achievements.”
He
emphasized the need to master the art of presenting “ourselves to
others.”
Prince
Turki expressed his happiness over the emergence of several private media
organizations in the Kingdom. “The media can play a vital role in promoting
moderation inside and outside Saudi Arabia.”
He
underscored the media’s courageous role in highlighting many social issues,
which was hitherto considered taboo. “Our handling of those issues has given us
self-confidence,” he added.
Prince
Turki said the Ministry of Information used to be jokingly called the Ministry
of Denial. “The main reason for this nickname is that whenever news about Saudi
Arabia was reported, the ministry would deny it the following day,” he said,
adding that there is good progress now in the Kingdom’s handling of news and
issues.
The
prince commended the initiatives taken by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King
Abdullah to deepen the policy of moderation and openness. “The establishment of
King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center is one of his major initiatives,” he
pointed out. He also commended the king’s educational, economic and judicial
reforms.
Prince
Turki noted the king’s endeavors to silence takfiris who brand their opponents
as infidels. “The moderate policies adopted by the government were instrumental
in destroying those saboteurs.”
He
commended the king’s call for interfaith and cultural dialogue, adding that it
contributed to moderation. “King Abdullah believed that moderation begins from
within and he urged Muslim brethren to agree on our message before addressing
others … I also believe in the saying that people are in the religion of their
kings. Here we follow the king in our daily practices, inspired by his kindness,
maturity and good morals.”
Regarding educating Saudis abroad, Prince Turki urged the Higher
Education Ministry to provide Saudi students with proper orientation before
sending them to Western countries for higher studies.
“Our
students who are sent abroad on foreign scholarship are the real ambassadors of
their country as they interact directly with people,” Prince Turki
added.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article56723.ece
------
The protests, the ban and the faithful! –Junaid
Zuberi
23 May,
2010
We have
left no stone unturned to prove that we are indeed a community that believes in
violence and that does not have an iota of tolerance and
forgiveness
The
Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered a temporary ban on Facebook and the Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) went several steps ahead by first announcing
complete blockage of the popular networking site for an indefinite period
followed by a ban on YouTube.
The
nation is swimming in the ocean of ignorance characterised by unchecked
emotions. In our quest to prove our righteousness and moral superiority, we are
prepared to go to any length. And we have shown this many times. If a western
country publishes objectionable material, zealots here burn their own buildings,
vehicles and property. Perhaps the decision to ban the website altogether was
taken to pre-empt a replay of these horrific examples from the past. The PTA had
already blocked the link to the group accused of holding the highly
objectionable contest on Facebook. But the petitioner lawyers brimming with hate
in the name of religion were not ready to settle for anything less than a
complete ban. And while the matter was sub judice, the religio-political parties
and their militant student wings had started raising their voice and instigating
fear of violence in case immediate action acceptable to them was not
taken.
We have
become slaves of this wave of intolerance that is increasing by each passing
day. We are deeply entangled in this web that has overpowered our sense of
reasoning and rationality. What do we achieve out of these bans and protests and
whom do we actually serve? Certainly not the perpetrators and the targets of our
anger and anguish.
We
ascribe our violent reaction and protest to the love of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)
but do our actions really display love and affection? I assume the righteous and
the pious who take on streets have all read the various accounts of the
Prophet’s (PBUH) life. The exalted man they claim to love set a very different
example of dealing with criticism. Reading various accounts of Seerat, one comes
across incidents where the Prophet (PBUH) was criticised, threatened and jeered
at. One even finds an incident where a woman would throw garbage at him as a
mark of extreme hate. However, the reaction of the Prophet (PBUH) to such
mockery was that of forgiveness. If he wanted to convey that a prophet cannot be
criticised and questioned, he would have taken the critics head on and asked his
companions to silence all the opponents. However, he wanted to convey to the
people that he believes in tolerance and forgiveness and his message is the
message of love and humanity. If I am wrong, the staunch believers and
self-proclaimed custodians of faith may correct me please. If indeed the example
we have is of violence, intolerance, vindictiveness, malice and retribution,
then I will take back my words.
The
Muslim community today has a very negative image the world over. If we do not
look within and continue to point fingers at others, we would never be able to
change our image. The world looks at us suspiciously. And we never fail to
disappoint them. Do we realise how much damage we ourselves are causing to our
community? We have left no stone unturned to prove that we are indeed a
community that believes in violence and that does not have an iota of tolerance
and forgiveness. Our own conduct defies all that we claim.
I am not
building an argument to justify anti-Islam acts. I only want the angry
protestors and critics, many of whom can be found online on various blogs and
forums, to analyse the reasons behind the West’s antipathy towards us with an
open mind and instead of pushing the gap further, use their energies, talent and
examples from history to narrow it. We have totally forgotten the message of
love that many revered Sufis spread on our soil. They were epitomes of love who
drew people towards our religion while we are epitomes of hate repelling people
away from our religion.
In the
complex and shrinking world that we live in today, ban on means of information
and technology will neither function nor be appreciated. People will always find
alternate routes to information. There are millions of websites promoting hate
and anti-religion material targeting all faiths. Likewise, porn and other
similar type of undesirable stuff is spread all over the cyberspace. Does that
mean we ban the internet altogether? What about e-mail then? People may start
sending undesirable and ‘immoral’ e-mails, so let us ban that also. What if the
people switch to cell phones and text messaging? Put a ban on that too. Is there
an end to it?
If we
simply ignore these sites and exercise self-control, we would save ourselves
from a lot of unnecessary trouble and backlash. The believers who take the
Prophet’s (PBUH) name should go back to take lessons from his life. While he was
most forgiving, we are most vindictive and bigoted. Our chequered history
carries many such examples of hate crimes and violence where the followers of
majority faith have targeted minority faith communities. When the zealots killed
many Christians and targeted their sacred sites in Gojra last year, the western
world dominated by the Christian faith did not take to the streets demanding a
ban on Pakistan, Pakistani products and so on. They registered protests with
dignity, using the available diplomatic channels. If everyone resorts to
violence, the world will become an even more stifling place to live in. And that
would be a much bigger disservice to our children. But is anyone
listening?
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\23\story_23-5-2010_pg3_4
------
Taliban funded plot, reveals Shahzad
May 23,
2010
NEW
YORK: The Times Square bomb suspect claimed during his lengthy interrogation
that he received financial support from the Pakistani Taliban for his failed
one-man operation, two US law enforcement officials close to the probe said.
Investigators believe funding for Faisal Shahzad in the United States
was channeled through an underground money transfer network known as "hawala",
the officials said. But, one official said, "there's a belief that no one in the
US who got him the funds was aware of what they were for."
The
investigation's main asset has been Shahzad. After he waived his right to an
initial court appearance and agreed to cooperate after his May 3 arrest, a
special interrogation team of FBI, CIA and Defense Department investigators was
brought in to grill him in a Brooklyn hotel room, an official said.
The team
of investigators was there to "build his trust", the official said. "But he was
never really worried about talking. It was clear from the start, he wanted to."
Shahzad
told the investigators he was "supported" by the Pakistani Taliban, which
initially claimed responsibility for the bombing in three separate videos, then
later denied any role.
For
Shahzad, the underground series of cash transfers in the United States "was like
his Western Union," an official said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/Taliban-funded-plot-reveals-Shahzad/articleshow/5963946.cms
------
Of Gods and Men: a meditative film on faith in the face of
violence
May 22, 2010
Directed
by Xavier Beauvois, Des Hommes et de Dieux “Of Gods and Men” – a meditative film
based on actual gruesome events – won a prize at the Cannes film festival for
works fostering inter-religious understanding. Judged by an ecumenical jury, the
pic recounts the lives and deaths of a group of French monks who were massacred
and beheaded in a Cistercian monastery Algeria in events that remain mysterious
and controversial.
The
film’s plot centers on the Catholic monks as they wrestle with whether to flee
during a bloody conflict between Algeria’s army and Muslim jihadi insurgents, or
to remain in their monastery from which they had ministered to their Muslim
neighbors. The statement of the jury declared that "The deep humanity of the
monks, their respect for Islam and their generosity towards their village
neighbors make the reason for our choice." Moreover, wrote the jury, “This movie
of great artistic value benefits from a remarkable group of actors and follows
the daily rhythm of work and liturgy." The jury also commended two other films
in competition for Cannes’ main prize, "Poetry" by South Korean director Lee
Chang-Dong and "Another Year" by Britain's Mike Leigh.
A
fratricidal war ensued in Algeria in 1992 when it became clear that a national
election would usher in an Islamist government. The army intervened and
cancelled the election; the ensuing war claimed the lives of over 200,000 people
in a country of 27 million people. Whole villages and families were wiped out by
the army and the Islamist insurgents, with each side blaming the other for
excesses. In the case of the monks, the insurgents first claimed responsibility
for the massacre of the six priests, but a later claim by a former French
military attaché that the Algerian army may have been responsible has since made
the tragedy much more mysterious.
The film
focuses on the daily lives of the monks as they face the possibility of deadly
violence. Featuring prominent French actors Lambert Wilson (The Matrix) and
Michael Lambert, directed Beauvois said of the film "What interested me was the
story of these men, who they were, and the rest, well, we don’t really know," at
a news conference. Beauvois, who also co-wrote the script with Etienne Comar,
theorized that the monks’ deaths were the result of a blunder by the Algerian
military. "The monks insisted on being extremely neutral, on not taking sides,"
Comar averred, "They called the terrorists ‘the brothers from the mountain’ and
called the people from the army ‘the brothers from the plain.’ … It seems
totally coherent for the movie to adopt their point of
view."
Beauvois’ chief concern according to reviewers is on the monks’ own
inner struggles, rather than the politics surrounding their deaths. Of the film
Toronto Star reviewer Peter Howell Of Gods & Men "a beautifully acted and
directed work of uplift and inspiration." However, Kirk Honeycutt of The
Hollywood Reporter called the film "ponderous."
The
movie does not shy away from the violence of the conflict. Indeed, the opening
scenes depict Islamist terrorists slitting the throats of Croatian construction
workers - friends of the monks. The precariousness of the monks' lives is
obvious and lends poignancy to their struggles over their faith as they remain
at their monastery to help local villages keep both the Algerian military and
Islamist terrorists at bay.
The men
debate and pray, and cry out to God to help them keep their faith to accept
their eventual decision to stay in Algeria even as their fate becomes clear.
Finally, the camera zooms in on their eyes, those windows of the soul where
their moral dilemma plays out.
The film
was shot in neighboring Morocco, and the director rebuilt a monastery near a
town called Meknes to resemble the one that witnessed the murders of the monks
in 1996. In Algeria, the security situation remains tense as Islamist terrorists
linked to Al Qaeda remain active in the hills. "Some news stories have said that
I filmed in Morocco because of security reasons, but in fact, I did not at all.
I never had any intention of shooting anywhere else," Beauvois said. Even so,
just this week a roadside bomb killed two Algerian soldiers and seriously
wounded 18 in an attack blamed upon the Al Qaeda
terrorists.
The film
conjures up the austerity and peace of the Cistercian monastery where the French
monks prayed and contemplated a world that finally consumed them. So closely did
Beauvois conjure the life and spirituality of the monks that went on a
monastic-like retreat himself in order to get closer to "the beauty of their
faith." The actors, led by Lambert Wilson and Michel Lonsdale, also went on
retreats to prepare for their roles. Said Wilson, "We sang the liturgical
chants, we even became united in this aspiration toward something higher; we
felt together as brothers. We even had a monastic consultant." He continued,
saying that the film attempts to mirror the monastic life. "Monks live at this
rhythm. It's exhausting, and they work, too." Wilson also plays another
religious role, a 16th century Huguenot, in a second French film in competition,
Bertrand Tavernier's "La Princesse de Montpensier."
Beauvois
and Comar said they conducted extensive research into the slayings but
intentionally avoided going into too much detail in the movie."We wanted the
story to be as universal as possible," Comar said. "References to Algeria are
clearly there, but we tried to open the film the most we could." Said Comar, "I
had decapitated bodies, models made, but then I knew that was ridiculous. Then
unexpectedly, it snowed." The snow provides a metaphor in the final scenes, that
moved Comar to say “It happened just at the right moment. It was a state of
grace."
In 1996,
following the tragedy, Pope John Paul II spoke to the Cistercians (also known as
Trappists) while reflecting on the words from the Gospel – “He who loves his
life will lose it, while he who hates his life in this world, will keep it for
eternal life. If someone wishes to serve me let him follow me, and where I am
there also will my servant be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."
(John 12:24-26). Said the pontiff at Tre Fontane in Rome, "At the end of the
second millennium, the Church has become once again a Church of martyrs."
(Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 37) The witness of the Trappists of Our Lady of
Atlas takes its place alongside that of the Bishop of Oran, His Excellency
Pierre Lucien Caverie, and of not a few other sons and daughters on the African
continent who, during this period, have given their lives for the Lord and for
their brothers and sisters, beginning with those who persecuted and killed them.
Their witness is the victory of the Cross, the victory of the merciful love of
God, who saves the world.”
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=31&idsub=115&id=33436&t=Of+Gods+and+Men:+a+meditative+film+on+faith+in+the+face+of+violence
------
Afzal Guru's hanging won't be expedited: Home
secretary
May 23, 2010
NEW
DELHI: The government has no plans to jump the queue on the clemency petition of
parliament attack convict Afzal Guru or fast track the decision on his
execution, says home secretary G.K. Pillai.
"Afzal
Guru is in the queue (of mercy petitions in the president's office). Nobody will
be expedited," Pillai said, denying reports that the government may consider a
fast-track decision on Guru's fate.
Asked
about the hectic activity on Guru's clemency petition that has been moving back
and forth between the home ministry and the Delhi government, Pillai said: "We
have sent 20 reminders, but these are general reminders we keep sending to the
state governments. This is all a media hype."
The case
of the 40-year-old convicted Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist and one of the key
plotters of the 2001 attack that killed 13 people in the high-security Indian
parliament hit the spotlight after the death punishment awarded to Ajmal Amir
Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist caught alive after the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
Guru, a
medicine and surgical instrument dealer in Kashmir, was sent to the death row in
2002. His sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court a year later. The sentence
was scheduled to be carried out on Oct 20, 2006, but his execution was stayed
after his wife sought clemency from the President of India. The petition is 28th
in the list of mercy applications before President Pratibha Patil. As per
procedure, the president has sought the views of the home ministry, which in
turn has asked the Delhi government to give its views.
The
issue is once again spiralling into a major political controversy.
Demanding that Guru's execution be not delayed any further, the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put up hoardings in several parts of the city
seeking an explanation from the Delhi government on why it was withholding the
mercy petition. Congress leader Digvijay Singh said the Supreme Court's order
should be followed. "There should be no problem in hanging him."
Chief
minister Sheila Dikshit has said the final decision on the execution or mercy
rested with the lieutenant governor of Delhi and the home ministry.
"The
Supreme Court's order to hang him will prevail. On the mercy petition filed by
the wife of Afzal Guru, the final decision rests with the home ministry and the
LG," Dikshit said Friday.
The
Delhi government had earlier this week cautioned that there was a need to
examine law and order implications while sending Guru to the gallows. The Jammu
and Kashmir government has also warned about possible law and order turmoil in
the state in case Guru was hanged.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Afzal-Gurus-hanging-wont-be-expedited-Home-secretary/articleshow/5965416.cms
------
Isrel: Winds of war
May 23, 2010
What is
the meaning of Israel’s withdrawal of its special forces from its border patrols
in the south of the country, and transferring them to “more heated fronts,” as
an Israeli military spokesperson described it?
One can
view the matter as a logical redeployment of the Jewish state’s army. However,
one could also see the winds of war blowing in the Israeli army's movement.
Replacing specially trained forces with reserve forces along the Egyptian and
Jordanian borders, with the stated justification that there are more pressing
borders to be defended (Syria and Lebanon), could be a sign that Israel is
preparing for war.
Add this
to the Israel and America’s escalating rhetoric against Iran, Syria and
Hezbollah and you can see an attempt to create a climate suitable for a war the
scope of which we cannot predict. What is certain, however, is that a direct
confrontation with Iran is one of the scenarios the Israeli and American
militaries expect.
Look how
the United States has handled the supposed transfer of Scud missiles from Syria
to Hizbullah. Consider that alongside its ongoing escalation with Tehran and its
insistence on imposing a new round of sanctions. Look at how Washington has
succeeded in convincing Iran’s principal allies, most notably Russia and China,
to support sanctions. This all points to one thing: The Israeli army’s troop
movements are a prelude to war.
Also
note that Egypt’s surprising defense of Syria and Hizbullah during the Scud
missile affair reveals the depth of the apprehension among typically
conservative Egyptian diplomatic circles over Israeli and American preparations
to ignite the region with a new conflict. This fear reached so deep that Egypt’s
Foreign Ministry had no choice but to act to contain the danger and show its
clear opposition.
Iran
realized this, along with numerous regional and international powers, leading it
to accept the offer from Turkey and Brazil to exchange nuclear fuel following
exhaustive negotiations in an effort to delay an Israeli strike. Doing so also
gives Russia and China the opportunity to reject sanctions, and allows Iran to
present itself to the world as the more flexible party, giving the West hope
that additional negotiations will be fruitful.
Perhaps
you, like myself, believed that Barack Obama’s presence in the White House was a
guarantee that the specter of war would be kept far from the region,
particularly due to his rigid position toward Israeli settlement activity in the
Occupied Territories. However, it is clear that he has failed to translate his
conciliatory speech into action and place pressure on Israel. Such failure leads
one to doubt Obama’s ability to contain the hawks, whether in his own
administration or in Congress, or restrain Israel as it watches Iran edge closer
to achieving its nuclear dream. War looms. Can you not see which way the wind
blows?
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/opinion/winds-war
------
'Walking in the path of fascism'
Khaled Amayreh
May 23, 2010
Israel's
denial of entry to Noam Chomsky is but the latest in a long list of attempts to
silence critics of Zionist oppression and violence.
Fearing
that he would further expose Israel's anti-peace stance and its oppression of
the Palestinian people, the Israeli government this week barred Noam Chomsky
from entering Israel-Palestine.
Chomsky,
a world-renowned intellectual and linguist, was detained briefly at the
Palestinian side of the Allenby Bridge on Sunday 16 May. There he was told by
Israeli authorities that the Israeli government didn't like his writings and
that he was viewed as persona non grata.
Chomsky,
81, had been scheduled to lecture at the Birzeit University in the West Bank.
Following his deportation, the non-conformist American Jewish intellectual told
reporters that he concluded from the questions of the Israeli official at the
border terminal that the fact that he came to lecture at a Palestinian and not
an Israeli university led to the decision to deny him
entry.
"I find
it hard to think of a similar case in which entry to a person is denied because
he is not lecturing in Tel Aviv. Perhaps only in the Stalinist
regime."
The
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor of linguistics and
philosophy is a well-known critic of the Israeli occupation of Arab lands. On
many occasions, Chomsky compared Israeli policies and practices in the West Bank
with those of the defunct white minority apartheid regime in South
Africa.
Chomsky
also castigated the genocidal Israeli onslaught on Gaza last year along with the
ongoing blockade of the coastal enclave's 1.7 million people initiated by Israel
more than three years ago for the purpose of pushing Gazans to rise up against
Hamas. Hamas won a landslide victory in the 2006 general elections, which
infuriated Israel and its guardian-ally, the United States, prompting them to
impose draconian sanctions on Gaza.
"The
young man [the Israeli border official] asked me whether I had ever been denied
entry into other countries. I told him once, to Czechoslovakia, after the Soviet
invasion in 1968," Chomsky said, adding that he had gone to visit ousted
Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubcek, whose reforms the Soviets
crushed.
According to Haaretz newspaper, Chomsky, who was accompanied by his
daughter and several other friends, was questioned on the nature of his
lectures, whether he was going to criticise Israeli policies and whether he had
spoken with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He was further asked why he
didn't have an Israeli passport since he was Jewish. He reportedly answered, "I
am an American citizen".
Chomsky
supports the two-state solution but he rejects the Israeli concept of the
two-state solution strategy: namely, ceding the Palestinians some isolated
cantons cut off from each other and that could never be a "viable and
territorially contiguous state".
In
recent years, especially with the rise to power in Israel of religious and
rightwing anti- democratic parties, the Israeli political establishment became
more sensitive to criticisms of Israeli policies abroad, especially from such
Jewish intellectuals such as Chomsky.
In 2008,
Israel refused entry to Richard Falk, an American Jewish academic, for comparing
the Israeli occupation with Nazi crimes against Jews. In 2007, Falk, a Princeton
University professor of international law, was quoted as saying that Israel's
blockade on the Gaza Strip was "a Holocaust in the making". Falk was later
appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied
Palestinian territories.
Israel
defended its decision to deport Falk, arguing that he indulged in "shameful
comparisons to the Holocaust".
Similarly, nearly, two years ago, Israeli security services deported
Norman Finkelstein, another American Jewish intellectual and critic of the
Israeli occupation. The Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, said that
Finkelstein was not permitted to enter Israel because of suspicious involvement
with hostile elements in Lebanon, and because "he didn't give a full account to
interrogators with regards to these suspicions".
Finkelstein remarked on that episode, saying: "I am confident that I
have nothing to hide. Apart from my political views, and the supporting
scholarship, there isn't much more to say for myself -- no suicide missions or
secret rendezvous with terrorist organisations."
Finkelstein, 57, had accused Israel of exploiting the holocaust for
political ends and in order to justify its crimes against the Palestinian
people. In 2000, Finkelstein wrote The Holocaust Industry on the exploitation of
Jewish suffering.
Mounting
international criticism of the repressive Israeli treatment of Palestinians, as
well as the extensive havoc and destruction wreaked on civilians in the Gaza
Strip and southern Lebanon, generated strong reactions by intellectuals and
human rights activists around the world. Such criticisms seemed to push the
political class in Israel towards stonewalling with the Israeli government
resorting to deportation as a method to silence vocal critics of Israeli
practices.
In 2008,
Israel refused Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu entry while on a UN
fact-finding mission in the Gaza Strip. Israel apparently feared that Tutu would
file a damning report, indicting Israel for committing war crimes and crimes
against humanity, as did Judge Richard Goldstone a year and a half later,
following the Israeli blitzkrieg against Gaza that killed and maimed thousands
of Palestinian civilians and inflicted widespread
destruction.
Subsequently, Israel and its supporters repeatedly accused Goldstone
of being biased against, and hostile to, Israel. Some "Israel-Firsters",
especially in North America, have gone as far as calling Goldstone an "anti-
Semite" and "self-hating Jew".
The
abovementioned intellectuals are mere examples of how Israel, which claims to be
the only democracy in the Middle East, is drifting towards Jewish fascism. On 18
May, one Israeli journalist wrote, commenting on the deportation of Chomsky:
"Denying Noam Chomsky entry to Israel puts an end to the myth that Israel is a
democracy. It is a state where the police arrest demonstrators protesting the
expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and expel a pregnant non-Jewish woman
so that she won't give birth to her child in Israel. I will not argue whether
Israel is fascist or not. But in reality, Israel is walking in the path of
fascism."
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2010/05/23/walking-in-the-path-of-fascism
-------
Pak blocks 800 URLs over Facebook cartoon
row
23 May, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have blocked 800 URLs that feature
"blasphemous" and "sacrilegious" content in the wake of the ban on Facebook and
YouTube, a representative of the country's association of internet service
providers said on Saturday.
Acting
on an order of the Lahore High Court, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
initially banned popular social networking website Facebook over a page
featuring a contest for "blasphemous" cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.
The ban
was later extended YouTube and other links. The move also affected access to
Wikipedia and Twitter, internet users said.
"So far,
two sites and about 800 URLs have been blocked to prevent access to blasphemous
and sacrilegious content," Wahaj-us-Siraj, a spokesman for the Internet Service
Providers Association of Pakistan said.
URL or
Uniform Resource Locator is the global address of documents and other resources
on the World Wide Web.
Siraj
said that since the author of the page on Facebook featuring the blasphemous
cartoons had been removed, the PTA "probably needs to go back to the Lahore High
Court, and then the court could lift the ban".
The
final decision in such matters would have to be made by the PTA, he said. PTA
spokesman Khurram Mehran said the authority would lift the ban only after
receiving instructions from the government.
The
competition for the caricatures triggered angry protests in Pakistan though
internet users in bigger cities expressed disappointment at the blanket ban on
popular websites.
Islam
strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and Muslims all
over the world staged angry protests over the publication of satirical cartoons
of Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers in 2006.
Pakistan
briefly banned YouTube in February 2008 over blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet
Mohammed.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-blocks-800-URLs-over-Facebook-cartoon-row/articleshow/5963588.cms
-------
U.S. facing ‘tough fight' from Al-Qaeda in
Af-Pak
Narayan Lakshman
23 May,
2010
Washington: In a speech that unmistakably underscored the roots of
numerous terror acts and networks in South Asia, particularly Pakistan,
President Barack Obama on Saturday said “We need intelligence agencies that work
seamlessly with their counterparts to unravel plots that run from the mountains
of Pakistan to the streets of our cities; law enforcement that can strengthen
judicial systems abroad, and protect us at home.”
Speaking
to cadets at the United States military academy at West Point, New York, Mr.
Obama said that even as the war in Iraq came to an end, he had announced “a new
strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” which recognised that the U.S. faced “a
tough fight,” in the region.
Noting
that militants fighting the U.S. there were turning to new tactics he said that
the Taliban had exemplified this through its use of “assassination,
indiscriminate killing, and intimidation”.
He also
said to the cadets that in the war against Al-Qaeda there would be “no simple
moment of surrender to mark the journey's end — no armistice or banner
headline.
Rather,
he argued, Al-Qaeda “will continue to recruit, plot, and exploit our open
society. We see that in bombs that go off in Kabul and Karachi. We see it in
attempts to blow up an airliner over Detroit or a SUV in Times Square, even as
these failed attacks show that pressure on networks like Al-Qaeda is forcing
them to rely on terrorists with less time and space to
train.”
He said
that while the Al-Qaeda threat would not go away soon, the terror group and its
affiliates were “small men on the wrong side of history,” leading no nation or
religion.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/23/stories/2010052357091800.htm
--------
Cong seeks to renew its Jamiat links
Zia Haq
23 May, 2010
NEW
DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday met influential Muslim leaders,
led by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind's Mahmood Madni, sending out signs of granting
minorities reservation nationally, a key demand.
Congress
chief Sonia Gandhi, too, met the delegation, saying the party would “certainly“
fulfill its promise of granting Muslims and other minorities some share in jobs
and educa- tion, a political hot potato.
The two
meetings signal growing proximity between the Congress and the Jamiat
Ulama-e-Hind, the country's largest Muslim organisation.
Singh
told the leaders that the government would soon kick-start the process of
arriving at a consensus in his cabinet for granting reservation to minorities.
He also assured of having “loopholes“in an upcoming legislation -- the communal
violence Bill -- reworked.
The
Congress, in its manifesto, had promised to extend the quota available to
minorities in some Congress-ruled states to the national
level.
“I feel
there is sincerity in the prime minister's approach, “Madni told Hindustan
Times.
The
Congress is clearly seek- ing to revive its historical, insti- tutional ties
with the Jamiat for the first time since infighting broke out within the Jamiat
in 2007. The succession battle in the Jamiat began with the demise in 2006 of
Maulana Asad Madni, a veteran Congress MP. A large section wanted his son,
Mahmood, a Rajya Sabha MP, to succeed him. However, there was some significant
opposition.
The
Congress then steered clear of a two-way relationship with the Jamiat. With the
reins of the influential Jamiat slipping back into Madmood's hands, the Congress
is being seen reviving its Jamiat connection.
Two
weeks ago, Congress leader Digvijay Singh was at the Jamiat's headquarters in
Delhi.
If
Madni, who has a mass following, throws his lot behind the Congress, it will
help the party regain its foothold among Muslims -- particularly in Uttar
Pradesh where party scion Rahul Gandhi is seeking an expansion programme. The
party, a major force in the state till the 1980s, saw its Muslim base erode
after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
Hindustan Times
-------
Battling odds, Urdu schools score 88%
23 May, 2010
New
Delhi: Braving all odds, students of Urdu medium schools in the city are doing
well in academics. The CBSE class XII results declared on Friday are a pointer
towards that. Even as the number of students has been dwindling across
half-a-dozen Urdu medium schools in the city and the schools themselves are
struggling to stay afloat, the likes of Atiya Zabeen offer a ray of
hope.
According to officials from the directorate of education, the overall
pass percentage for the Urdu medium schools is over 88%,while schools like
Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Pataudi House, scored yet another 100% pass
percentage, the sixth in a row.
This
despite students of Urdu medium fighting for basic amenities such as sample
papers, textbooks and teachers. That is why, although the pass percentage is
improving every year, the overall quality is being questioned. According to
principal of the Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Pataudi House,
Jameel-ur-Rehman, the students are weak in subjects like English and this is due
to teachers coming from rural backgrounds. His school has been running without
an English teacher for over a year.
But
factors like this did not deter Atiya Zabeen, a student of SKV Jama Masjid Urdu
Medium No 2,who scored 89% with distinctions in all five subjects. She is one of
the toppers among Urdu medium students of the city.
I
studied a lot, but there are no sample papers in Urdu.In fact,I studied Hindi
sample papers for the political science subject. Of the 57 students in my
schools,54 passed,while three managed a compartment. Had our schools and Urdu
medium received due importance and had been given facilities, it would have been
easily 100%, said Atiya.
Atiyas
father, Jamil Ahmed, is a tailor and dreams of sending his daughter to college.
His elder daughter, Subiya, is a final year student of BA (honours) political
science in Zakir Hussain College. But for Atiya, the family is now looking for
financial help. Do you know anyone who can help my sister financially for her
DIET (District Institute for Education Training ) admission. I managed my
education through scholarship. Now I hope we get some help for Atiya, said
Subiya.
I want
to apply for DIET and be a school teacher. To be a college teacher, I will have
to wait for a long time till I complete my PhD. And my father may not be able to
finance my higher studies in future, said Atiya.
Times of
India
------
Uncertain future as Rehana waits to hear from Centre
Shreya
Roy Chowdhury
23 May, 2010
Muzaffarnagar: Rehana Perveens deportation has been put off,at least
for a few days. Her peculiar predicament she is Pakistani, married to an Indian
and mother to four children,all Indians has moved district authorities at
Muzaffarnagar to make a plea to the government for permission for her to
stay.Till they hear from the Centre, Perveen stays put.
Perveen,29,married Kairana-based construction worker, Mohammad Saeed
in 1999.In the following 11 years, not only the three-month visa on which shed
come to India but even her Pakistani passport expired.Ignorant of the
regulations involved, she stayed at Kairana without applying for long-term visa
till May 17 this year.
Not that
applying would’ve helped a great deal. Neighbours assuring her that she’ll get
it soon state in the same breath that someone they know waited 12 years. On
Thursday, she was ordered to leave the country by May 23.
The
question mark doesn’t hang over just her future. The futures of her four
children, aged between two and eight, must also be factored in. The older ones
have been out of school since the turmoil started and Perveen is waiting for a
decision before trying for their admission again.
Times of
India
------
Times Sq plot: Caterer, Major held
Omer
Farooq Khan
23 May, 2010
Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have arrested an army officer and
the co-owner of a catering company that often served meals at the US embassy in
Islamabad, in connection with the failed Times Square bomb plot, the New York
Times reported.
The
arrests were made as a crackdown on Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzads
contacts in Pakistan, where he spent several months starting last year and
received training from local militants in North
Waziristan.
The army
officer of the rank of Major whose name has not been disclosed, was arrested
from his house in Rawalpindi. His father had filed a petition in a court that
his son was missing. Military spokesman confirmed that the major was sacked from
the army on disciplinary grounds last month and has been detained for
questioning. But the spokesman denied that it had any link with the Times Square
investigation. He appeared to have been disaffected, and his involvement with
Shahzad did not signal the involvement of the Pakistani army in the attack,
according to intelligence official.
The
co-owner of the Hanif Rajput Catering Service, Salman Ashraf Khan, was recruited
because two other suspects wanted him to help bomb a big gathering of foreigners
whose event his company was catering, the Pakistani intelligence officer said.
Rana Ashraf Khan, founder of the catering company and father of Salman, denied
any links to terrorist groups.
The US
embassy in Islamabad warned Americans on Friday that terrorist groups might have
established links with the catering company and instructed its personnel to
avoid using its food.
The
other suspects arrested by Pakistan included an employee of the local unit of
Norwegian telephone company Telenor Group and a man who owned a computer shop in
Islamabad.
Times of
India
-------
Facebook Page That Led To Pak Ban Removed
CHRIS
BRUMMITT
May 23rd, 2010
A
Facebook page that was considered offensive to Islam and led to a Pakistani ban
on the site has been removed, possibly by its creator.
Facebook
said on Friday it has not taken any action on the page, which had attracted more
than 1,00,000 users and encouraged users to post images of Islam’s Prophet
Mohammed, purportedly in support of freedom of speech.
Most
Muslims regard any depiction of the prophet, even favourable ones, as
blasphemous.
Mr
Najibullah Malik, the secretary at Pakistan’s information technology ministry,
said earlier on Friday that the government had no option but to shut down
Facebook on Wednesday after a court order to do so.
“We know
some people are suffering because of this blockade, but we have to obey the
court order in letter and spirit,” Mr Malik said.
Pakistan
said it would consider restoring Facebook and other sites with related content
only if they took down pages considered offensive to
Islam.
There
was no immediate word on whether the government was lifting the
ban.
The
Facebook page, called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!,” had declared on Thursday
as the day to draw Mohammed, so it was possible the creator took it down on
Friday because the page had served its purpose.
The
Facebook page encouraged users to post images of the prophet to protest threats
made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the American TV series
“South Park” for depicting Mohammed in a bear suit during an episode earlier
this year.
The
Asian Age
-----
Google chief suspects ulterior motive in
Pak
May 23rd, 2010
San
Francisco, May 22: Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has said he suspects
suppressing political criticism is a factor behind the move to block YouTube and
Facebook in Pakistan in the name of Islam.
“I’m
always suspicious of these broad bans,” Mr Schmidt told a gathering at
non-profit public policy institute New America Foundation. “In every case we
looked at, there is an official reason then another reason. There is an awful
lot of political criticism they are blocking at the same
time.”
The
Asian Age
---------
Babri Panel: Appeal Against Court Order
Amita
Verma
23 May, 2010
In an
expected turn of events, the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) has asked the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to approach the Supreme Court against the
high court decision of granting reprieve to the senior BJP leaders accused in
the Babri demolition case.
“If the
CBI wants to take the case to its logical conclusion, it must appeal against the
high court order and this will also prove whether the Congress-led UPA
government is genuinely interested in punishing the demolition accused or not,”
said BMAC convenor Zafaryab Jilani.
Mr
Jilani said that after getting reprieve in the criminal conspiracy case, BJP
leaders, including L.K. Advani, Dr M.M. Joshi and Vinay Katiyar had virtually
been let off the hook. “The charges pending against them are comparatively mild
in nature and will not entail suitable punishment. This implies that those
responsible for inciting the mob to demolish the Babri mosque have been allowed
to go scot free,” he explained.
The BMAC
has also revived its demand for a fresh notification to be issued by the state
government in the Babri case. It may be recalled that in 2001, the court had set
aside a petition for clubbing of two FIRs in the Babri case on “technical
grounds” and the court had observed that if the state government wanted, it
could issue a fresh notification in the matter.
The
Congress, which does not wish to be seen having an anti-minority posture, has
also asked the Mayawati government to issue a fresh notification in the
matter.
According to Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari, “The
Mayawati government still has the option to issue a fresh notification and pave
the way for trial of the accused. The state government must examine the legal
issue and remove the technical flaw. The state government enjoys majority on its
own and cannot be said to be under pressure from allies this time,” he
said.
UP chief
minister Mayawati is said to be weighing the political ramifications of the
issue. “If she sits over the issue, she will find favour with the BJP which
still remains her potential ally at the Centre and in the state. If she decides
to issue a fresh notification, she will succeed in finding favour with the
minorities,” said an analyst.
The
Asian Age
------
Pak Yet To Ask Interpol for Notice
May 23rd, 2010
Pakistani authorities were on Saturday caught on the wrong foot as an
anti-terror court hearing the 26/11 case was told that Interpol was yet to be
approached for a Red Corner notice for Ajmal Kasab, weeks after they claimed the
matter had been taken up with the Paris-based agency.
The
Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of LeT’s operations
chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects in the Mumbai attacks
adjourned the case till June 5.
Judge
Malik Mohammed Akram Awan adjourned the trial after hearing arguments by the
prosecution and defence on whether Kasab and Fahim Ansari could be made part of
the trial. Kasab was given death penalty by a Mumbai court earlier this month
while Ansari, who was also an accused, was acquitted for want of evidence.
Defence lawyers argued in the Rawalpindi court that persons like Ajmal Kasab and
Fahim Ansari, who had been convicted or acquitted, could not be tried again for
the same offence.
They
said that section 403 of the Indian and Pakistani Penal Codes did not permit the
fresh trial of persons who have been convicted or
acquitted.
The
Asian Age
-------
3 Nato soldiers among 16 killed in Afghan
violence
May 23,
2010
KABUL:
Three foreign soldiers and one civilian working with Nato’s International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in two separate incidents in
southern Afghanistan Saturday, the alliance said, while at least a dozen of
people were killed Saturday south of the Afghan capital after US troops spotted
two militants trying to plant bombs, an Afghan official
said.
“Two
ISAF service members and a civilian working with ISAF died following an
insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan today,” ISAF said, without disclosing
the soldiers’ nationality, in keeping with Nato policy.
“In a
separate incident, also in southern Afghanistan, another ISAF service member
died following an IED attack,” the statement said. — AFP
Reuters
adds: Two foreign soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed by an
improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, the French government said Saturday.
A French
and Dutch
soldier
died along with the Afghan and four other Dutch soldiers were wounded, a
statement said, without specifying where or when the attack took
place.
Taliban
militants fired rockets and mortars at Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan
on Saturday, wounding Nato troops, officials said.
Meanwhile, Afghan police unearthed a cache of hundreds of rockets on
the outskirts of the capital, officials said Saturday, weapons they believed
were earmarked for use against a traditional peace meeting, or jirga, next
week.
AP adds:
At least a dozen of people were killed Saturday south of the Afghan capital
after US troops spotted
two
militants trying to
plant
bombs, an Afghan official said.
The two
were shot dead in Paktia province, district chief Gulab Shah said. Troops saw
comrades drag the two bodies away and called in a gunship helicopter, which
killed 10 more people, whom US officials said were all militants, Shah
said.
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=240793
------
Mushtaq Yusufzai & Malik Mumtaz Khan
23 May, 2010
PESHAWAR/MIRAMSHAH: The killing of 10 people, mostly women and
children, in US missile strikes on Saidabad village of North Waziristan late
Friday night triggered strong protests in the volatile tribal region
Saturday.
The
CIA-operated spy aircraft had fired five missiles that struck house of an
elderly cleric, Maulvi Tor Khan, and two other adjoining houses at Saidabad in
Dattakhel tehsil — 35 kilometres west of Miramshah — the principal town of
militancy-stricken North Waziristan.
“Besides
elderly Maulvi Tor Khan, his nine family members were also killed in the
strikes,” stated a government official based in Boya town close to
Saidabad.
Besides
Maulvi Tor Khan, those killed included his two sons, five grandchildren,
including three girls and two boys, and two women.
Officials and tribesmen said that 10 other people, who suffered
multiple burn injuries in the missile attack, were all local people including
women and children.
The
neighbours were injured after their houses caught fire in the missile strikes,
said the villagers.
Doctors
at the ill-equipped Agency Headquarters Hospital in Miramshah said 10 injured,
including five children and as many women, were brought to the hospital early
Saturday.
“Most of
them had suffered burn injuries and are in critical condition as we don’t have
medicines for them in the hospital,” said a doctor at the Miramshah
Hospital.
Pleading
anonymity, the doctor said there was no fund for purchase of medicines. He said
owners of private drugstores were then requested to open their facilities that
enabled relatives and attendants of the victims to purchase medicines for the
injured.
“The
annual health budget for North Waziristan was already very meagre but that too
has been reduced now from Rs3.6 million to Rs2.2 million due to reasons best
known to those sitting at the heavily-guarded Fata Secretariat in Peshawar,”
explained a seemingly upset physician at the Miramshah
Hospital.
The
angry doctor also said that the health budget for North Waziristan was less than
the price of a vehicle being purchased for an officer of Fata
Secretariat.
“There
is an army of officers and employees in Fata Secretariat consuming millions of
US aid meant to be spent on welfare of the people of underdeveloped tribal
areas. They have no concern with sufferings of the poor people living in the
tribal areas,” complained the protesting doctor.
Thanks
to military authorities deployed in the region and local political
administration for their timely cooperation in lifting night-time curfew from
the Miramshah-Dattakhel Road that helped the villagers shift the injured women
and children to Miramshah hospital for treatment.
“On
request to the political administration, the military officials immediately
lifted curfew and informed the soldiers manning various checkpoints on
Miramshah-Dattakhel Road to let the villagers shift their injured to Miramshah
and extend them all possible help,” said an official of the political
administration in Miramshah.
He said
the injured would have died of burn injuries, had they not been shifted to the
hospital on time.
The
authorities declared emergency at Miramshah hospital and called the doctors and
other staff at night to attend the drone victims.
Several
villagers also came along with the injured people from Saidabad and Boya
villages to Miramshah for donating blood to the victims.
Meanwhile, tribal elders and religious scholars in North Waziristan
condemned the killing of innocent women and children in the drone attacks and
demanded of the United Nations to send a team to the area to probe the killing
of tribesmen in continuous missile strikes by the CIA-operated
planes.
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=240785
-------
23 May 2010
Governing Afghanistan is getting difficult
with each passing day. The Kabul-confined government of President Hamid Karzai
is in a fix as insurgents go on a rampage countrywide. The series of attacks
that took place in the last few days from the capital to one of the largest and
most-heavily fortified US bases in Bagram are any indication, the country is
slipping into the hands of Taleban and their like.
This new
wave of suicide attacks has badly impacted the coalition’s plans to launch
military offensives in Helmand, Kandahar and Paktika provinces. Top US and ISAF
military commanders seem to be groping in the dark in finding a way out of the
mess. Resultantly, their focus has turned towards Pakistan asking Islamabad to
do more in the controversial war against terrorism, and to ensure that
infiltration of insurgents across the Durand Line is checked, come what
may.
This is
a serious moment for the region. Warfare and repression strategies are not
working any more. The Taleban and the like who form more than sixty per cent of
Afghan population are at odds when it comes to issues of war and peace. Analysts
worldwide are openly questioning military doctrines of Brussels and Washington.
With an overwhelming population out of the scheme of things, be it
nation-building or rapprochement, peace remains a distant cry in the region.
President Karzai, who widely plays to the gallery while lambasting the Coalition
of the Willing, seems to have consolidated his presence in office after his
recent visit to the United States. Thus his earlier calls for reaching out to
the Taleban and convening a grand jirga of tribal elders are up in the air. What
is incomprehensible to believe is the insistence of foreign forces in
Afghanistan to attain a military solution! The war-weary country is inevitably
posing severe dangers to the entire region. Its ramifications are bound to
spread as long as it is denied a lasting political
solution.
The
insurgents spring offensive against foreign troops and the Afghan government,
codenamed Al-Fatah (conquest), speaks high of their comeback with renewed
enthusiasm. Karzai and US President Barack Obama may have reasons to be
skeptical in dealing with the Pakhtoon militants, but at the end of day they
will have to take such a course. After all, the silent majority of the
dispensation at work in Kabul comprises of warlords and drug-barons, but
politics of exigency blesses them with recognition. This myopic strategy at work
is in need of a change. What is instantly needed is a consensus among the ruling
allies and the Taleban on how to achieve the goal of nation building and restore
peace. The proposed grand jirga can be a big success if the coalition forces
take a back seat, and let the affairs be managed by locals. Karzai’s stroll at
Arlington cemetery can keep him in power, but couldn’t help gain legitimacy. The
only way is to reach out to the living-dead in Paktika and Urgun
districts.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2010/May/editorial_May42.xml§ion=editorial&col=
9:55 PM
Sultan Shahin
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