Taliban using poison gas on Afghan schoolgirls?, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Taliban using poison gas on Afghan schoolgirls?

KUNDUZ: More than 80 schoolgirls in northern Afghanistan have fallen ill after a suspected poison gas attack on their school, local authorities said on Sunday, blaming the incident on the Taliban who oppose education for girls. Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahbobullah Sayedi said the latest case occurred on Sunday when 12 girls fell ill at school.

Officials said 47 complained of dizziness and nausea on Saturday, and another 23 got sick last Wednesday. None of the illnesses have been serious.

Sayedi blamed the sickness on "enemies" who oppose education for girls. Provincial police chief Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi also accused the Taliban of orchestrating the attack.

"I was in class when a smell like a flower reached my nose," said Sumaila, 12, one of the girls hospitalised after the alleged attack.

"I saw my classmates and my teacher collapse and when I opened my eyes I was in hospital," she said.

Azizullah Safar, head of the Kunduz hospital, said many of the girls were still suffering from pain, dizziness and vomiting.

The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and it remains a disputed issue in much of Afghanistan.

Similar attacks have been carried out in other parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, including areas where there is little presence of the dreaded Taliban.

http://newageislam.com/taliban-using-poison-gas-on-afghan-schoolgirls?/islamic-world-news/d/2760

Tutsis and Hutus from Rwanda: Living with the Enemy, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Tutsis and Hutus from Rwanda: Living with the Enemy

By Fatima Najm

17 Aug 2008

Just before the genocide began in April 1994, national radio broadcast pumped listeners with vitriol, claiming the Tutsis were denying economic prosperity to the majority Hutus, and urging Hutus to show no mercy to them when the time came to "wipe out the Tutsi cockroaches who will take the food from Hutu children's mouths". Kassim Ndayambaje, 28, cannot forget the horror of that April when his countrymen traded the blood in their veins for venom. "My father begged his killers to use bullets," he recollects. "He had a little cash put away so that he and his family could die a quick and dignified death." His killers considered his request for a few minutes while he grovelled at their feet. They then took the money and proceeded to hack him to pieces with a machete in front of his children.

The killers had lists, says Kassim. "Teachers would register pupils by ethnicity. Catholic priests would hand over lists of the Tutsis who came to their church to the Hutu Power leadership. The people that you turned to for protection were the one who turned you over to be killed. The radio called for all Hutus to rise and kill the Tutsis," he says. "The politicians went on the radio and told Hutus to take power back from the Tutsis."

http://newageislam.com/tutsis-and-hutus-from-rwanda--living-with-the-enemy/islam-and-pluralism/d/570