Karachi blast death toll mounts to 43, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Karachi blast death toll mounts to 43

ISLAMABAD: Karachi was in mourning a day after the deadly suicide attack on a Muharram procession in which the death toll has now climbed to 43.

Despite the incidents of widespread arson following the bombing, the situation remained under control.

But until late into the morning, fire engines continued to battle flames in properties that were set ablaze by rioters after the bombing.

The provincial government declared on Tuesday a holiday and designated it as an official day of mourning for the dead.

Shops, businesses, schools and petrol pumps remained closed and there was no public transport as the city prepared for the funerals of those who were killed in the attack.

Hundreds of shops were burnt in Monday’s arson spree following the suicide attack. Interior minister Rehman Malik, who visited Karachi on Tuesday, said the incidents of violence were a “pre-planned” conspiracy to engulf the city in flames.

He said it was improbable the Shia mourners in the processions were carrying jerry-cans of petrol ready to torch properties.

Conspiracy

The fires began within minutes, and this, Mr. Malik said, pointed to a conspiracy against Pakistan.

He promised that the government would compensate traders for the losses, which may be run into billions of rupees.

http://newageislam.com/karachi-blast-death-toll-mounts-to-43/islamic-world-news/d/2305

The dark side of the Kashmir Valley, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

The dark side of the Kashmir Valley

By Tanveen Kawoosa

The culture of drug abuse is not entirely new to the region. From time immemorial, charas, a local plant used for getting a ‘high’ was popular. Charas is resin from the flowering tops of poppy plants. After a simple treatment, this was smoked generally through clay water pipe called chillum. Sometimes charas was smoked in tobacco cigars or cigarettes. According to old tales, especially in district Islamabad, charas takayas (den of charas addicts) were well entrenched.

Hermits and faqirs or wandering minstrels, who remained outside the ambit of formal religious bodies and exercised their ‘freedom’ to find oneness with eternity, also smoked hashish, another addictive substance. The state of illusion it produced was touted as the ‘realised state’ being pursued by its protagonists. They remained alienated from the material world and immersed in this self-defined ‘sacred’ state of existence. According to renowned educationist prof Madhosh, during 1970s and 1980s, at least 42 places were identified in the district Islamabad as a seat of charas takayas.

http://newageislam.com/the-dark-side-of-the-kashmir-valley/islamic-society/d/1802

The End of the Bush-Mush Affair, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

The End of the Bush-Mush Affair

By Dan Froomkin

August 19, 2008

Anwar Iqbal writes in Dawn, Pakistan's most widely read English-language newspaper: "Diplomatic sources in Washington described President Bush as Mr Musharraf's 'last holdout' in the US capital. Others in the Bush administration -- including Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- had long given up on Mr Musharraf. But Mr Bush remained faithful to the person he considered a close ally and a personal friend."

Iqbal writes that Bush finally faced up to the inevitable about three weeks ago, after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani flew to Washington for an intervention: "By the time Prime Minister Gilani met Mr Bush on July 28, Pakistani lobbyists were satisfied that they had neutralised the pro-Musharraf lobby in Washington.

"'President Bush was the last holdout,' said [a think-tank expert who worked with the Pakistani ambassador to Washington]. 'But after a good luncheon at the White House with people who had their hearts in the right place, Mr Bush also realised that he can no longer save Mr Musharraf'.

http://newageislam.com/the-end-of-the-bush-mush-affair/war-on-terror/d/611

Guilt by association for US Muslims, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Guilt by association for US Muslims

By Hussein Ibish

8 August 2008

Asbahi resigned on Monday, after just 10 days on the job, because in 2000 he served for a few weeks on the board of an Islamic investment fund with Jamal Said. Said has been allegedly linked to accused fundraisers for Hamas whose recent trial did not result in any convictions, but who remain under a cloud of suspicion.

This reflects an unreasonable and unfair climate of guilt by association. It is part of a familiar pattern that is one of the main forces hindering the political integration of these communities into American civic life.

Asbahi himself is not accused of any misconduct. Rather the issue is his fairly distant association with Said, who himself is disparaged because of the alleged activities of his own associates.

The problem is that almost anyone who has been engaged in Arab or Muslim political affairs can probably be somehow connected in some manner to someone else somewhere whose views, activities or associations can be called into question in the post-9/11 environment.

http://newageislam.com/guilt-by-association-for-us-muslims/current-affairs/d/472

WATCHING TV IN KABUL, Islamic Society, NewAgeISlam.com

Islamic Society

WATCHING TV IN KABUL

By Kristin Ohlson

New York Times Magazine,

July 20, 2008

While other foreigners remained cloistered in their compounds — some wistfully so, restricted by the rigid precautions of their employers — my new friends didn’t find Afghanistan intrinsically scary. They were dismayed by the increased wreckage, poverty and violence, but not afraid of the people. One night, when it seemed that every man in the city was on the dusty streets to shop the brightly lighted stalls, we had a flat tire. The tire blew out next to a stand selling watermelons, the hacked-open fruit red and glistening in the headlights. Crowds of curious men stopped to stare. I was certain we’d meet our death that night. My friends were just as certain that it was no big deal.

Later there were two terrible bombings, including one of a bus filled with young police recruits that killed at least 24 people. Some of the dead were civilians, but many were brave young men willing to defend the public order for the princely sum of about $70 per month. It was after that bombing that I decided to cut my visit short and made plans to go home.

http://newageislam.com/watching-tv-in-kabul/islamic-society/d/267