| Islamic World News | |
| 04 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com |
| FIR lodged; Shoaib can't leave India: cops | ||
 Twenty held for tearing and burning Sania Mirza's pictures After gurudwara, Pak mafias target temples 7.2 magnitude quake hits California; rattles LA Iraqi capital rocked by blasts that kill 30, injure 160 Mardin anti-terror conference sparks debate over fatwas Hizbul Islam spokesman invites bin Laden to Somalia Somali Islamist group bans music on radio stations Somalia: ban on music denounced Al-Qaeda urges UK fanatics to build DIY cruise missiles A Muslim yogi, who wears saffron during performance Muslims will achieve reservations at any cost: Maulana Mahmood Madani Muslim lady officer target of communal forces in Jharkhand, India Batla House "fake" encounter: Muslim delegates meet the PM PPP carrying out anti-CJP campaign Pakistan to seek Red Corner Notices against Ajmal, Ansari Mardin anti-terror conference sparks debate over fatwas Fatwa helps in keeping peace The hub of jinns in the 'city of jinns' 'Israel closer to death if it attacks Gaza': Ahmedinejad Israel to allow cement into Gaza for UN project Hyderabad: Curfew relaxed for 6 hours in two phases Nawaz Sharifs PRO resigns over salary controversy Vatican Priest Likens Criticism Over Abuse to Anti-Semitism In Call, Karzai Tries to Clarify a Diatribe Irish Catholic Church 'lost all credibility' JihadJane 'friend' held in US "Too much representation, too little democracy" VHP gets ready to hype Ram temple issue Discourse on India-Pakistan water sharing hots up 'Shoaib faces jail if he doesn't comply with Pak's family laws' Indian woman held in Saudi Arabia for husband's 'murder' Brotherhood in Yemen call for ending the state of emergency in the south Photo: India's tennis star Sania Mirza (L) plans to wed Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, two months after she broke off her engagement to a childhood friend, the couple announced Compiled by Aman Quadri | ||
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FIR lodged; Shoaib can't leave India: cops
05 march 2010
Hyderabad: In the latest googly to Shoaib Malik, an FIR has been lodged against the cricketer by the Siddiqui family in Hyderabad. Now Shoaib may not be able to leave the city with his new bride, until the police says so.
The father of his alleged former wife Ayesha Siddiqui, filed a police complaint against him on Sunday, charging him with attempting to buy the Siddiqui family's silence, apart from cheating and dowry harassment.
The Pakistani cricketer may now not be allowed to leave India until the matter is settled.
"In his complaint, Ayesha's father has said that Shoaib offered them one million dollars to end the controversy. Shoaib has also been accused of cheating, dowry harassment, and criminal intimidation," said the city police Commissioner.
Earlier, Shoaib had claimed that his relationship with Ayesha is a case of mistaken identity. He said he never met the woman he thought Ayesha was. He also denied the validity of any nikahanama, claiming it was he who was cheated. This even as the alleged first wife went on air seeking justice.
"I want justice. Shoaib has been lying since beginning. I have lot of evidences other than nikahanama to prove that I was married to him. Shoiab's met me lot of times. He changes his statement on his marital status everyday. How can one trust him," asks Ayesha.
The latest twist in the Shoiab saga will be a spoilsport in the run-up to the Shoaib-Sania wedding planned for April 15 here even as Shoiab maintains Sania will be his first wife.
But with the Siddiqui family not backing down, Shoiab and Sania continue to be controversy's favourite children for now.
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Twenty held for tearing and burning Sania Mirza's pictures
April 4, 2010
Madurai: Twenty members of the Hindu Youths Federation were arrested for allegedly tearing and burning pictures of Tennis star Sania Mirza to protest against her proposed marriage with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.
The members held a demonstration earlier condemning Sania Mirza for choosing a Pakistani, and demanded that she should instead marry an Indian Muslim.
They were arrested as they tore and burnt the pictures in the middle of the road disrupting road traffic, police said.
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After gurudwara, Pak mafias target temples
05 march 2010
New Delhi: Reacting to the CNN-IBN expose of how temple land is being grabbed in Pakistan after gurudwaras, India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the govt is looking into the issue and has sought details on it.
Rao has promised to take action.
CNN-IBN had earlier reported how the leader of a radical organisation demolished a Lord Krishna temple in Karachi and grabbed 20 acres of land surrounding it.
Not just that, the owner of the land was attacked and acid thrown on her, when she resisted building of boundary walls around the temple.
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7.2 magnitude quake hits California; rattles LA
05 march 2010
Washington: An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the Mexican peninsula of Baja California on Sunday afternoon, the US Geological Survey said.
The depth of the strong quake was reported at at 10 km, Xinhua reported quoting the the USGS.
The epicentre of the earthquake is located in Baja California, the northernmost state of Mexico that boarders US state of California.
The tremor was felt in southern California and sent high-rises in major cities like Los Angeles and San Diego rocking back and forth.
There was no immediate report of casualties or damage.
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Iraqi capital rocked by blasts that kill 30, injure 160
4 April 2010
Three car bombs have hit the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in quick succession, killing at least 30 people.
The attacks, which injured about 160 people, appear to have been aimed at foreign embassies.
One bomb struck right near the Iranian embassy. The Egyptian, Syrian and German missions, in the Mansour district, were also affected.
One bomb struck near the offices of a leading pro-Iranian political figure, Ahmed Chalabi.
The bombings shatter a period of relative calm after last month's parliamentary elections.
No-one has said they organised the attacks.
Gunshots were heard as emergency services rushed to the scene.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says Sunday's the explosions went off within a few minutes of each other shaking the whole of central Baghdad and sending plumes of smoke into the sky.
Our correspondent says the insurgents want to send a message to the outside world that Iraq remains an unstable place.
A spokesman for the political group headed by Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi National Congress, said that its headquarters close to the Syrian embassy had been targeted by a suicide car bomber, and that many of its guards and employees were among the casualties.
There was a similar series of three attacks in January, aimed at big hotels. Last year, in August, October and December, much bigger bombs were detonated close to government buildings, killing hundreds of people.
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Hizbul Islam spokesman invites bin Laden to Somalia
By BILL ROGGIO
April 3, 2010 7:00 PM
The leader of an Islamist terror group widely considered to be a nationalist insurgent organization has invited al Qaeda's top leader to Somalia.
During a press conference held in Mogadishu today, Moallim Hashi Mohamed Farah, the top leader for Hizbul Islam in Banadir province, welcomed Osama bin Laden and other foreign fighters to visit Somalia, Mareeg reported. While inviting bin Laden and jihadists from around the globe to fight alongside his forces against the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government, Farah also said the media was wrong to refer to jihadists as foreign fighters, and that the term should be used instead for African Union forces fighting alongside the Somali government.
Hizbul Islam and Shabaab are considered the two top Islamist insurgent groups in Somalia. While Shabaab is widely recognized as having close ties to al Qaeda, many counterterrorism analysts and African experts consider Hizbul Islam a domestic, nationalist insurgency with no links to foreign terror groups.
But Hizbul Islam is a radical Islamist group whose top leader has ties to al Qaeda. The group is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is wanted by the US for his links to al Qaeda. He is also on the United Nations terrorist sanctions list, again for his ties to al Qaeda.
Aweys co-led the Islamic Courts in 2006 until the group was ousted from power during the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006. Last September, Aweys advocated for more suicide attacks in the country, just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu.
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Somali Islamist group bans music on radio stations
4 April 2010
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Somali extremist group is ordering radio stations to stop broadcasting music and has invited foreign fighters to the Horn of Africa nation.
Hizbul Islam's Moalim Hashi Mohamed Farah says the group will file an Islamic lawsuit against radio stations that do not comply within 10 days. He said late Saturday the order affects all stations in the capital, including the state-run station. The group believes the airing of music is religiously forbidden.
He also offered to issue a Somali visa to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and described Ugandan peacekeepers as "infidels."
Islamic insurgents control much of Mogadishu and have tried to topple the fragile government for three years. Somalia has not had an effective government for 18 years.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Somalia: ban on music denounced
4 April 2010
Somaliweyn – Mohammed Omar Hussein
The Somali transitional federal government has strongly condemned instructions given out by Hizbul-Islam an armed rival Islamist faction in Somalia.
Sheikh Abdirizak Mohammed Qeylow the spokesman of the Ministry of information of the Somali transitional federal government has strongly condemned the instructions released by Hizbul-Islam against the local radio stations operating in Mogadishu.
"The so called Hizbul-Islam is now like a drowning man who clinches to straw, they are having no other options other than oppressing the media, they are ordering the radio stations not to air any sort of song may it be the national anthem I know very well what they want to fill the gap of the songs they are bringing the songs of Al-Qaida, and why they are doing all this is just because they are envious of Al-Shabab" said Qeylow.
Qeylow added that this is a way of eliminating the pious Somali traditional, and a way of convincing Al-shabab by saying that the foreigner fighters on the ground cannot be called foreigners, but brothers in Islam.
Eventually Qeylow has said that the statements from Hizbul-Islam will have no effects on the Somali media.
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Al-Qaeda urges UK fanatics to build DIY cruise missiles
April 4, 2010
London, Apr 4(ANI): Fears of a terror attack during the UK General Election have been further fueled by reports that the Al-Qaeda has urged British fanatics to build DIY cruise missiles to attack passenger jets.
According to reports, an Al-Qaeda website explains how to build missiles with solid fuel engines using operating manuals for the Russian 107mm Katyusha rocket. Numerous links are also available for guides to make explosives, including C4 plastic explosive, acetone peroxide and TNT.
The same site was used to explain how to bring down a jet before former London student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit on last year's Christmas Day.
Another recent posting shows a sophisticated computer-designed plan for a two-stage missile that would drop an explosive device on to a target by parachute.
"Isn't it ironic that the two capitals of the war against Islam, Washington DC and London, have also become among the centres of Western Jihad?" The Daily Express quoted Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical on the run in the Yemen, as saying on the website.
"Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea," he added.
Meanwhile, UK's counter-intelligence and security agencies M15 and M16 are closely monitoring the site, after statistics suggested that the website's "ask the experts" section contains more than 800 questions and answers about bomb-making and has been viewed 19,000 times. (ANI)
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A Muslim yogi, who wears saffron during performance
Paramita Ghosh
April 04, 2010
For 10 years, they shut me up and now you want me to sing," says Durga Kasim plucking the strings of his sarangi while his wife glowers in the background. For a Muslim yogi, who wears saffron during performance and sings songs of Yogi Gorakhnath in a communally sensitive town, there are many pressures. The little domestic scene we witness on request of a song is the least of them.
For years, says Gorakhpur-based historian Ramkrisnamani Tripathi, the cult of Gorakhnath (the 11th century mystic who is the patron saint of Gorakhpur), counted this tribe of wandering minstrels in as believers. "From the time of Mahant Digvijaynath, the town, till then an example of religious harmony, became a focus of Hindutva politics," says Tripathi. Digvijaynath joined the Hindu Mahasabha; Avaidyanath, Adityanath's (present-day head of the order known for his anti-Muslim views) mentor joined the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. The Muslim yogis also faced social boycott from hardliners among Muslims especially after the Babri incident.
So, for the past 15 years, there has been no place for them in any kind of tradition — social, economic or artistic. What art can be produced anyway by men who tend to a patch of land "fit only for growing garlic", asks Phul Mohammed, another artiste. Durga helps him tie his turban while his family fidgets. Durga's nephew Salahuddin, a B.A. student, is sniffy. "Why should they sing? It seems like begging," he says. "No wonder aunt had locked his sarangi away."
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Muslims will achieve reservations at any cost: Maulana Mahmood Madani
By New Age Islam correspondent, April 3, 2010
Bijnor (UP): Maulana Mahmood Madani, the leader of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind reiterated the demand for the reservation for Muslims in a conference on the Protection of madrasas and Muslim Reservation in Bijnor.
The Maulana said that the Muslims would achieve reservations at any cost as it alone could guarantee the progress and development of the Muslim minorities. Referring to the Sachar Committee findings, he said that the Muslims were more backward than the Dalits and deserved reservations to pull them out of the mire of backwardness.
He further added that the Jamiat-e-Ulema had been demanding reservation for Muslims for a long time but the government had been cold shouldering it.
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Muslim lady officer target of communal forces in Jharkhand, India
By New Age Islam correspondent
Hazaribagh: According to reports in the Urdu media, a lady Muslim officer Farhana Khatoon has become the sore of the eyes of the communal forces in the state thanks to her honesty and sincerity. Recently she has been transferred to from Godda DSE to Ranchi for not dancing to the tunes of her political masters. According to the reports, it is not the first time that she has been given the transfer orders. She had been transferred to Hazirabagh in 2001 as well because of her acts saving Urdu schools in the state. At that time, there were anomalies in the appointments of teachers in both Hindi and Urdu medium schools. She regularised them by appointing Urdu and Hindi teachers in their repective schools. Moreover, she also foiled the conspiracy to close Urdu medium schools by appointing Hindi medium teachers there. That made her the target of he communal forces like the BJP.
The Muslims of Godda have expressed their anger and resentment at her overnight transfer and have demanded that she be reinstated in Godda. The President, minority cell of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, Mr Nazrul Hasan Hashmi alleged that Shibu Soren led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government was acting under the diktats of the saffron parties and demanded immediate reinstatement of Ms Farhana Khatoon, failing which they would start a movement.
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Batla House fake encounter: Muslim delegates meet the PM
By New Age Islam correspondent
April 3, 2010
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has assured a Muslim delegation that he would talk to the Home Minister P. Chidambaram and seek a complete report about the alleged fake Batla House encounter in the light of the report of the Human Rights Commission, According to reports in the Urdu Press, some quoting UNI Urdu news service.
This assurance was given to the delegation of the Muslim Majlis-e-Amal headed by Maulana Syed Ahmad Bukhari in a meeting on April 3, 2010. Maulana Bukhari presented to the Prime Minister the detailed list of the fake encounters issued by the National Human Rights Commission.
The list consists of 1224 alleged fake encounters in which the Batla House encounter is listed on No. 1155. Maulana also presented to the PM the photographs of the dead bodies of the two Muslim youths, Sajid and Atif and told him that during an encounter, bullets could hit any part of the body of the victim but not in that part which received bullets in Batla House encounter. Maulana Bukhari also presented to him the post mortem report which clearly corroborated these points.
Surprisingly, Dr Manmohan Singh expressed his ignorance of the fact that NHRC had included the Batla House encounter in the list of alleged fake encounters and said that if it was so, he would talk to the Home Minister and seek a complete report. Maulana Bukhari apprised him of the conspiracies of various agencies to frame Muslims in terrorist activities and the series of fake encounters that continued unabated. The Prime Minister assured the delegation that no injustice would be tolerated with minorities including the Muslims and the fundamental rights of the minorities guaranteed to them by the Constitution would be upheld at any cost.
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PPP carrying out anti-CJP campaign
Sunday, April 04, 2010
News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is carrying out propaganda campaign against Chief Justice of Pakistan and media cell of PPP is supervising this campaign.
This has been revealed in a report of a sensitive institution. Some leaders and government officials have been informed about this report.
It was stated in the report that advertisements were published in some newspapers on behalf of a nationalist party with the title "Appeal to Chief Justice of Pakistan" which throws light on the past of the chief justice and tried to create negative impression against CJP.
It was said in the report that some nationalist leaders, backed by PPP, are launching political campaign against chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Specially an in charge of PPP media cell and an MPA is active in this regard.
The report said that the purpose of providing this 'information' is to caution the concerned departments about it.
It is to be noted that a call to stage sit-in (dharna) outside the Supreme Court on April 9 has also been given by a nationalist party.
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Pakistan to seek Red Corner Notices against Ajmal, Ansari
Anita Joshua
Apr 04, 2010
Federal Investigation Agency to move Interpol
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to approach Interpol — which facilitates cross-border police cooperation — to issue Red Corner Notices against Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari, who are undergoing trial in India for their involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008.
This information was provided by the Special Prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to the anti-terrorism court that is conducting the trial of seven persons accused in the same attack. The seven undertrials here include Lashkar-e-Taiba operations chief Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.
According to defence lawyer Malik Mohammad Rafiq Khan, the hearing was adjourned till April 17 when the prosecution will apprise the court of the progress and developments with regard to the Red Corner Notices.
During the day's proceedings in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi — where Judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan is hearing the case because of security considerations — defence challenged the FIA Special Prosecutor's contention that Interpol was being approached to bring Kasab and Ansari to Pakistan.
Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/04/stories/2010040460830100.htm
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Mardin anti-terror conference sparks debate over fatwas
04 April 2010, Sunday
ROBERTA DAVENPORT
Days after drawing to a close, a conference to discuss the interpretation of a 14th century Islamic legal verdict continued to be the focus of discussion over ancient and modern Islamic opinion.
The "Mardin: Abode of Peace" conference held at Mardin's Artuklu University last weekend featured the participation of renowned Muslim scholars from around the world -- including places like Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Indonesia -- and considered the topic of a fatwa, or legal verdict, given by famous Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah. The 14th century legal opinion, known as the "Mardin fatwa," addresses the question of whether the city of Mardin fell into the classical categorization of either dar al-harb (abode of war) or dar al-Islam (abode of Islam). The answer to this question was of critical importance when it came to the issue of jihad as warfare, including the determination of legitimate versus prohibited targets. The two-day conference culminated with the issuance of a declaration condemning violence in Muslim and non-Muslim societies and declaring that Ibn Taymiyyah's fatwa could not be interpreted as granting permission to kill Muslims or non-Muslims.
Full report at: www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-206347-100-mardin-anti-terror-conference-sparks-debate-over-fatwas.html
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Fatwa helps in keeping peace
April 3rd, 2010
Hyderabad, April 2: Friday prayers passed off peacefully in the riot-hit areas of the old city.
The fatwa issued by religious heads asking people to pray in their homes helped in maintaining pea-ce. Most people stayed indoors and prayed while those who attended prayers at the Macca Masjid returned without any problem, thanks to the security.
The commissioner of police, Mr A.K. Khan, Mr Khan said curfew will be relaxed in 25 police station limits on Saturday. Curfew will be relaxed for two hours in eight police stations of West Zone, Central Zone and East Zone and for three hours in South Zone.
All fair price shops, shops that sell essential commodities and medical halls would remain open during the period. The AP Dairy Development Corporation will supply the milk and rythu bazaars will be open.
Only adults, women and people above 50 years would be allowed to venture out to buy essentials, Mr Khan said.
Mr Khan undertook a nine-km padayatra in the troubled areas and spoke to affected people. "The situation is absolutely peaceful on Friday," he said.
"I just started walking from Mallepally to Char-minar." Mr Khan explained.
Meanwhile, the special investigation team and Central Crime Station officials began raids on the houses of the rioters. "All rioters will be arrested. No one will be spared, however big they are," Mr Khan said.
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The hub of jinns in the 'city of jinns'
Amitava Sanyal
April 04, 2010
On one side is Delhi's floodlit cricket stadium. Another side is rimmed by the Ring Road and an indoor stadium that's being readied for the Commonwealth Games. In the middle, among the ruins of Firoz Shah Kotla, is the hub of jinns in the 'city of jinns'. This is where a large number of them are believed to 'live'. And it's the place to which thousands of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs flock every week seeking rough justice and ready remedies.
Who are these jinns? According to Islam, Allah made jinns out of smokeless fire before he made humans out of clay. Unlike ghosts, jinns are shapeless beings who can marry and have children. Unlike humans, they are formless and can 'live' for centuries. But like humans and ghosts — and unlike farishtey (angels) — they can be bad or moody. Legend has it that when Iblis, a jinn, refused to bow before Adam, Allah cast him out as Shaitan, not unlike Lucifer who was castigated as Satan. And as among humans, there are Muslim as well as non-Muslim jinns.
In her article 'Of Children and Jinn', Naveeda Khan, assistant professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, says that while there's a large body of academic literature projecting jinns as a figment of cultural memory, mental illness, individual subjectivity or political strategy, to the believer, they are as much a matter of faith as god.
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'Israel closer to death if it attacks Gaza'
Apr 4, 2010
TEHRAN: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday warned Israel against launching a fresh assault on the Gaza Strip, saying such action would bring it "closer to certain death".
Ahmadinejad's comments come a day after Israel's deputy prime minister Silvan Shalom warned of a new offensive by the Israeli military on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory unless militant rocket attacks are halted.
"They are looking for an excuse to attack Gaza. I want to tell the Zionists and their backers that enough crime has been committed already," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television. "The new adventure will not save you, but will bring you closer to certain death," said Ahmadinejad, who has drawn international condemnation for repeatedly saying the Jewish state is doomed to be wiped off the map.
Ahmadinejad also rejected a renewed call from the US to engage diplomatically to overcome the nuclear standoff, saying he saw no change in Washington's hostile policy. Speaking at a factory inauguration, Ahmadinejad said a message by President Barack Obama last month contained "three or four beautiful words" but nothing new of substance. agencies
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Israel to allow cement into Gaza for UN project
04/04/2010
JERUSALEM — Israel will allow a rare shipment of cement into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to be used in a UN sewerage project in the blockaded territory, a military official said on Sunday.
"In the coming days we will allow some trucks carrying cement to pass for a specific project to rebuild a wastewater unit which is being handled by the United Nations," the official said on condition of anonymity.
He said the decision by Defence Minister Ehud Barak "does not mark a change in policy" towards the Palestinian Hamas movement which rules the impoverished territory and is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Israel and the West.
"Israel will not allow the reconstruction of Gaza, which we regard as a terrorist entity because it is controlled by Hamas and the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still held captive," he said.
Full report at: Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved
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Hyderabad: Curfew relaxed for 6 hours in two phases
04 April, 2010.
The indefinite curfew, clamped in 25 police station limits in Hyderabad has been relaxed for six hours in two phases, providing much needed relief to the people reeling under restrictions for the seventh day on Sunday.
Relieved over the return of peace to trouble-torn areas, the Hyderabad Police first relaxed curfew for three hours from 0700 hrs in eight Police Stations of Tappachabutra, Asifnagar, Mangalhat, Kulsumpura, Shahinayathgunj,Habeebnagar, Begumbazar and Afzalgunj in West-East-Central zones.
Curfew was then relaxed for another three hours from 1000 hrs in 17 Police Station limits in Charminar, Hussainialam, Kamatipura, Bahadhurpura, Kalapathar, Falaknuma, Chatrinaka, Shahalibanda, Moghalpura, Bhavaninagar, Dabeerpura, Mirchowk, Reinbazar, Madannapet, Santhoshnagar, Kanchanbagh and Chandrayangutta, in the communally sensitive South Zone.
Thousands of young and old came rushing from their homes and queued up to buy milk vegetables and groceries. Long queues were also seen in front of medical shops.
City Police Commissioner A K Khan told mediapersons that if the present situation continued, they would consider lifting curfew during daytime on Monday. Police continued heavy deployment of central para-military forces, besides the state forces including the elite OCTOPUS personnel.
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Nawaz Sharifs PRO resigns over salary controversy
04 Apr 2010
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharifs public relations officer (PRO) has resigned from the post following media reports which said that the former Prime Ministers personal staff were on the payroll of the Punjab government.
While the PML-N has claimed that Rai Riyaz was working as a consultant in the office of the Directorate General of Relations (Punjab), sources said that he has been serving as Sharifs PRO and was responsible for issuing official statements of the PML-N chief to the media, The Dawn reports.
Earlier, a private television channel had claimed that Riaz, Sahrifs secretary, and his cameraman and the photographer were being paid by the Punjab government.
While Riaz and Sharifs personal secretary drew a hefty package of 75,000 rupees per month, the photographer and cameraman were being paid 35,000 rupees each, the report said.
However, PML-N Senator, Pervaiz Rasheed, has denied the report regarding Sharifs personal staff being paid from the provincial exchequer.
None of them are part of Nawaz Sharifs personal team and they are employees of the DGPR. I am Nawaz Sharifs PRO, said Rasheed.
Copyright Asian News International (ANI)
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Vatican Priest Likens Criticism Over Abuse to Anti-Semitism
By DANIEL J. WAKIN and RACHEL DONADIO
April 2, 2010
ROME — A senior Vatican priest, speaking before Pope Benedict XVI at a Good Friday service, compared the world's outrage at sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of the Jews, prompting angry responses from victims' advocates and consternation from Jewish groups.
The Vatican spokesman quickly distanced the Vatican from the remarks, which came on the day Christians mark the Crucifixion. They underscored how much the Catholic Church has felt under attack from recent news reports and from criticism over how it has handled charges of child molesting against priests in the past.
The pope and his bishops have denounced abuses in the church, but many prelates and Vatican officials have lashed back at news reports that Benedict failed to act strongly enough against pedophile priests, once as archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1980 and once as a leader of the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Vatican has denied that he was at fault, and Vatican officials have variously described the reports as "deceitful," an effort to undermine the church and a "defamatory campaign."
Speaking in St. Peter's Basilica, the priest, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, took note that Easter and Passover fell during the same week this year, and said he was led to think of the Jews.
"They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence, and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," said Father Cantalamessa, who serves under the title of preacher of the papal household. Then he quoted from what he said was a letter from a Jewish friend he did not identify.
"I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole world," he said the friend wrote. "The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism."
Good Friday has traditionally been a fraught day in Catholic-Jewish relations. Until the liberalizing Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, Catholic liturgy included a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and Catholic teaching held Jews responsible for the Crucifixion.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, stressed that Father Cantalamessa's sermon represented his own thoughts and was not an official Vatican statement.
Father Lombardi said the remarks should not be construed as equating recent criticism of the Catholic Church with anti-Semitism.
"I don't think it's an appropriate comparison," he said. "That's why the letter should be read as a letter of solidarity by a Jew."
Full report at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/world/europe/03church.html
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In Call, Karzai Tries to Clarify a Diatribe
By MARK LANDLER and PETER BAKER
Published: April 2, 2010
WASHINGTON — A day after he delivered a scorching attack on the West for its conduct in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai telephoned Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday to express surprise that his comments had caused such a stir, administration officials said.
Mr. Karzai, the officials said, told Mrs. Clinton that he had not meant to criticize the United States but rather Western news coverage of Afghanistan. In a speech on Thursday, Mr. Karzai accused the news media of spreading reports characterizing last year's presidential election as fraudulent "to pressure me."
Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Karzai, " 'We're prepared to stay focused on the work ahead,' " said the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley. In a 25-minute exchange that officials described as forceful but not angry, Mrs. Clinton spoke about America's commitment to Afghanistan and told Mr. Karzai that the United States had no control over American news coverage.
Earlier on Friday, the White House called the speech "troubling" and said it was seeking clarification through the State Department, which is diplomatic code for expressing annoyance and even anger.
"He initiated the call after learning there was great consternation in Washington," a senior official said.
Full report at: www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/world/asia/03karzai.html
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Irish Catholic Church 'lost all credibility'
03 APRIL 2010
London: The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost all credibility because of the scandal over children abused by priests, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of more than 70 million Anglicans worldwide, said the Irish Church's disarray was a "colossal trauma", the Times reported, quoting a BBC radio interview to be broadcast next week.
The comments risk creating tensions with the Vatican ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain in September.
Archbishop Williams said: "I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it's quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now. And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility — that's not just a problem for the Church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland."
Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country, has been rocked by two reports in the last year detailing child sex abuse stretching back decades and Church leaders' complicity in covering it up.
As allegations of abuse mount in other countries, the Pope's personal preacher used the Good Friday observance to liken criticism of the Roman Catholic Church over paedophilia scandals to anti-Semitism. —AFP
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JihadJane 'friend' held in US
03 APRIL 2010
A US woman has been charged over plotting to attend a terror camp in Europe with another US woman known as "JihadJane," after returning and surrendering to US authorities.
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, a blonde nursing student from Leadville, Colorado, had been reportedly arrested in Ireland in March on suspicions she planned to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made a drawing of Prophet Mohammed that outraged many Muslims.
Paulin-Ramirez was later freed without charge. She then returned voluntarily to the US and was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday, the justice department said without detailing the reason for her return.
She was charged with "material support to terrorists." The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The department said Paulin-Ramirez had travelled with Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvania woman who dubbed herself "JihadJane" online, "to and around Europe to participate in and in support of violent jihad."
It said LaRose invited Paulin-Ramirez in 2009 to attend a "training camp" in Europe with her. Paulin-Ramirez accepted the invitation and asked to bring along her six-year-old boy "with the intent to live and train with jihadists," according to the charges. The day she arrived in Europe, on September 12, Paulin-Ramirez married another plot participant with whom she had only corresponded online, the indictment said.
Full report at: www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7738:jihadjane-friend-held-in-us&catid=36:international&Itemid=61
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"Too much representation, too little democracy"
Narayan Lakshman
Apr 04, 2010
Democracy and free market have fused into single predatory organism: Arundhati Roy
oUs with transnational firms resulted in tribals moving out of their lands: Arundhati Roy
The problem of market externality posed systemic risks: Chomsky
Washington DC: "What happens, now that democracy and the free market have fused into a single predatory organism with a thin constricted imagination that revolves almost entirely around the idea of maximising profit," asked author Arundhati Roy at a discussion with Noam Chomsky, professor of Linguistics and Philosophy, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In the discussion, which focussed on the threats to democracy in the United States, India, and worldwide, Ms. Roy said asking such questions about "life after democracy" did not mean we should lapse into earlier discredited models of authoritarian or totalitarian forms of governance. "It is meant to say that in the system of representative democracy too much representation with too little democracy needs some structural adjustment."
Environmental concerns
As an example of some of the inherent risks within democratic systems, Ms. Roy touched upon environmental concerns. She asked the audience: "Could it be that democracy is such a hit with modern humans precisely because it mirrors our greatest folly, our near-sightedness, our inability to live entirely in the present, like most animals do, combined with our inability to see very far into the future, makes us strange in-between creatures, neither beast nor prophet?"
Full report at: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/04/stories/2010040455031100.htm
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VHP gets ready to hype Ram temple issue
Neena Vyas
Apr 04, 2010
Verdict in main title deed case expected by year-end
Witnesses being examined in related demolition case
NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is getting ready to once again raise the Ram temple issue to fever pitch against the backdrop of an expected verdict by year-end from the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the main title deed case related to the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex.
Champak Rai, RSS point man for overseeing the legal battle, confirmed that at a scheduled meeting in Haridwar in July a decision could be taken to revive the temple issue.
Muslim parties to the dispute have already completed their arguments before a three-judge Bench. The other parties are expected to conclude their arguments by July. And a judge has already announced that the ruling could come within three-four months of the conclusion of arguments.
Zafaryab Jilani, one of the prominent lawyers fighting the case on behalf of Muslims, told The Hindu: "We expect a verdict by year-end. We expect and hope it would be unbiased, based on evidence and according to law." As for the VHP trying to whip up religious sentiments all over again, he said that since 2002 the BJP and the rest of the sangh parivar have not been able to get any response from Hindus. "The response they expect will come only if we [the Muslims] react. And we are determined not to react."
Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/04/stories/2010040463090900.htm
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Discourse on India-Pakistan water sharing hots up
Anita Joshua
Apr 4, 2010
ISLAMABAD: As public discourse on the water component of India-Pakistan relations takes on a shrill note with charges like "stealing water" and "water wars" being levelled against India, High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal on Saturday said India had never hindered water flows into Pakistan even during the 1965 and 1971 wars.
Describing the allegations as "preposterous," Mr. Sabharwal used the platform provided by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations and Pakistan-India Citizens Forum to counter the "apprehensions, misconceptions, misinformation and allegations pertaining to India that characterise the debate on water scarcity in Pakistan."
Of the view that the Indus Waters Treaty had served the two countries well, the High Commissioner said those who questioned its fairness should note that it assigned 80 per cent share of water of the Indus system of rivers to Pakistan.
Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/04/stories/2010040463561200.htm
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'Shoaib faces jail if he doesn't comply with Pak's family laws'
Apr 4, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, who is all set to marry Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza, could face the music back home as that country's family laws do not allow a man to take a second wife without divorcing the first one or, at the very least, taking her consent.
The Hyderabad girl Ayesha Siddiqui, who says Shoaib had a telephonic nikah (marriage) with her in 2002 and that she possesses documents to prove this, has sued Shoaib and asked him to "formally divorce" her before marrying Sania. She also circulated copies of her nuptial agreement to reporters and spoke about her relationship with Shoaib.
The Siddiquis' lawyer in Pakistan, barrister Farooq Hassan, said Shoaib could face imprisonment if he doesn't comply with the country's family laws. "According to the Family Law Ordinance (1962), under Section 6, a man can't take a second wife without fulfilling the conditions of divorcing the first one or taking her consent," he said, and added,
"Shoaib is liable to imprisonment, as the Siddiquis have corroborative evidence against Malik." Hassan said he had examined the marriage document. "It's authentic and the marriage did take place. I also spoke to (former Pakistan cricketer) Inzamam-ul-Haq, who said that the marriage did happen."
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Indian woman held in Saudi Arabia for husband's 'murder'
Vinod Sharma
April 04, 2010
An Indian doctor in Saudi Arabia has been in solitary confinement with her infant child for nearly 18 days pending investigations into her husband's suspected murder, after he allegedly converted to Islam.
Traumatized by the ordeal of the young mother and her children, including a two-year-old daughter, the family is hoping against hope. Her husband, also a doctor in Najran, died on January 31. Suspicion that he was poisoned was raised a month later despite certification by a legal medical specialist under the health ministry that cause of death was "myocardial infarction" (heart attack). The spanner came while the family was preparing to leave for India with the body following clearance by the Indian Consulate General in Jeddah.
HT is withholding the identity of the deceased and his wife on the request of their extended Delhi-based family.
On March 1, the doctor was summoned to a local police station and told that her husband had embraced Islam before his death and for that reason she could not carry the body to India. A fortnight later, she was again made to report to the police and put in solitary confinement with her infant son, born to her on February 18.
According to family members, she had no inkling of her husband having changed or planning to change his religion. He even now remains a Hindu in his travel papers and documents with his employer.
A section of the Saudi media has attributed his wife's detention to another autopsy report stating that her husband died of poisoning.
Full report at: www.hindustantimes.com/indian-woman-held-in-saudi-arabia-for-husband-s-murder/h1-article1-526839.aspx
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Brotherhood in Yemen call for ending the state of emergency in the south
pril 4,2010
The Yemeni Reformist Association held authorities responsibility for the crisis the country is facing as a result of its policies.
The Yemeni Reformist Association, (Muslim Brotherhood offshoot) in Yemen, rejected the continued state of Emergency and the incitement of the authorities used against the political partners in the joint meeting. It held the authorities responsibility for the crisis the country is facing as a result of its policies.
The Shura Council of the brotherhood called for ending the oppression practiced against the peaceful political movement and unjust decisions against citizens, especially in the south and in Aldalea city, stressing it is a flagrant violation of rights and freedoms and a violation of the Constitution
The Association highlighted the importance of developing and activating the means of mass communication and described this phase as the era of popular solidarity and peaceful struggle. It asserted the necessity and legal duty to protect rights and fight corruption which resulted from tyranny, chaos, economic and security corruption and organized crimes.
The association denounced the restrictions imposed on public freedoms and journalists and the repression of peaceful protests referring to 11 March 2010. It also called for holding those responsible accountable, stressing that dialogue and compromise is the only solution to ending this situation, opposed to repression, terrorism and militarization of cities.
Full report at: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=24006
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Asadullah Syed
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