| Islamic World News | ||||||||
13 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
------- 'New Muslims' led by a woman Woman leader seeks to change image of Muslims in Europe By BRUCE MUTSVAIRO | AP Apr 13, 2010 AMSTERDAM: Yassmine El-Ksaihi doesn't see herself as a feminist rebel. She covers her head and wears modest clothing. She learned to read the Qur'an at age 5 and promotes traditional Muslim values. Yet there is something pioneering about her nonetheless: At age 24 she is the administrator of a large mosque, an unusual position of authority for a young woman in the world of Islam, even in Europe. In a first for the Netherlands, men and women pray together in the Polder Mosque -- albeit segregated, with the women praying in the back of the red-carpeted prayer hall. Sermons are in Dutch rather than Arabic. Non-Muslims are welcome. Across Europe, Muslims are seeking a formula that lets them fit into their country while maintaining loyalty to their faith, and El-Ksaihi's mosque, which melds some Western secular values with deep attachment to Islam, is one solution toward resolving such tensions. Experts say it's part of a European trend: many young Muslims on the continent are staying away from traditional mosques and meeting in more casual settings for prayer and study groups. Fitting into European society while remaining rooted in Islam is no easy task among native populations that often resent the growing number of Muslims, and -- many Muslims feel -- discriminate against them in jobs and education. Across Europe, conservative politicians are pushing to limit further immigration or to compel Muslims to abandon foreign ways. In the Netherlands, where Muslims comprise 6 percent of the country's 16.5 million people, an anti-Islam party has become the country's fastest growing political movement. Its leader, Geert Wilders, complains that Muslims reject European liberalism, that they deny women equal rights and that they are intolerant of alternative lifestyles like homosexuality. The Polder Mosque tries to find middle ground between radicalism and rightwing xenophobia. And it may be at the forefront of the effort to find grounds for coexistence with European norms. El-Ksaihi seeks to make Islam more accessible to young Muslims born in a secular nation and make Muslims more acceptable to their neighbors. She wants congregants to embrace the religion and culture while extracting it from the homeland of their immigrant parents. "We choose Dutch as the main language because we focus on the young people. Most of them can only speak Dutch," she said. "If non-Muslims enter the mosque, they will hear what we are discussing. There is nothing scary about what we do." As administrator, El-Ksaihi is in charge of finances and hires the imams who lead the prayers and deliver sermons. She says she finds imams that reflect the diversity of the Amsterdam Muslim community, including preachers from Malaysia and Indonesia as well as from Morocco and Turkey where most Dutch Muslims come from. The mosque is a cultural center as much as a house of worship. "This is a traditional model of Islam. It's not new," she said. "We are going back to the roots. There is only one Islam." Mona Siddiqui, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow, says the Amsterdam mosque is part of wider movement that is just beginning to be felt in Europe. "The mosque does stand for something -- namely that Muslims in Europe are carving out new ways of addressing their own communities away from traditional and sometimes oppressive structures," she said in an e-mail. "That is a good thing in my opinion, but I am not sure that it is a defining moment. There are a huge variety of different Muslim communities in Europe and women have been making and continue to make their voices heard in all kinds of ways, even if this journey is a struggle sometimes," she wrote. Europe has an estimated 20 million Muslims, making Islam the continent's second largest religion. "Many young people have moved away from traditional mosque settings and organized their own ways of conducting worship," said Siddiqui. That "bears witness to the changing pattern of worship in Europe." Financing is another departure from the European norm for Amsterdam's Polder Mosque, which refuses to accept foreign money. "That is one of our main pillars," El-Ksaihi said. "It's a Dutch initiative so we have to keep it 100 percent Dutch." Slotervaart, the neighborhood where the mosque is located, was the first district to benefit from the government's $38 million grant in 2007 to combat radicalism through education and dialogue. El-Ksaihi's mosque is a one-story former community center set amid tall apartment buildings in an overwhelmingly Muslim neighborhood, but it has no minarets. Young men, some with long beards and robes and some in Western garb, mingle together at the mosque entrance ahead of the Friday prayers. It takes its name from a uniquely Dutch feature: A polder is an area of land that has been reclaimed from the marsh or sea and often turned into rich farmland. Historically, it is a symbol of cooperative effort. Apart from fighting entrenched discrimination against women, which she considers an affront to Islam, El-Ksaihi says her mosque provides a platform for interfaith dialogue. A non-Muslim Dutch woman, Marloes Kuijer, is a member of the board of directors. "I am not religious," said Kuijer. "I feel at home here because it's a meeting place for everyone, young or old, Muslim or non-Muslim." It also invites Muslims of all views. "We don't discriminate," said El-Ksaihi. "You have to let everyone in, regardless of their views. You can only help someone if you understand their views." That all-embracing policy may have a positive impact, says Jean Tillie, a University of Amsterdam political scientist, who conducted a six-year research project on the radicalization of Muslim youths in Amsterdam. "The chance that they will become more moderate is bigger than the chance that if you exclude them they will become extremists," he said. Momamed Choupi, an imam who preaches at the Polder Mosque, says the people who brought Islam with them to Holland from Turkey and Morocco must adapt to the local context and find "a Dutch way of experiencing Islam." ------ Muslim nurses allowed to wear long sleeves to protect modesty in UK Nandini Jawli Apr 13, 2010 Britain's Department of Health has decided to allow Muslim doctors and nurses to wear long sleeves to protect their modesty, while treating patients. The decision is getting a lot of flak from a number of groups, who see it as yet another example of granting preferential treatment to the minorities. Campaigners have warned that the NHS is putting lives at risk by allowing long sleeves. It goes against the earlier NHS guidance that all staff should be 'bare below the elbow', which was introduced after long sleeves were blamed for spreading MRSA, a bacteria responsible for some serious infections. Full report at: dailypioneer.com/248654/Muslim-nurses-allowed-to-wear-long-sleeves-to-protect-modesty-in-UK.html -------- Indian PM Warns Nukes could fall into the hands of non-state actors Siddharth Varadarajan All states have obligation to act responsibly, says Manmohan Pakistan calls for strategic restraint regime in South Asia, talks with India India announces Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership Washington: With the spectre of A.Q. Khan and his clandestine smuggling ring still haunting India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told world leaders that there should be "zero tolerance for individuals and groups which engage in illegal trafficking in nuclear items." He was speaking at the Nuclear Security Summit convened by the United States to address international concerns that lax national attitudes towards the physical protection of nuclear material could allow terrorists to acquire nuclear weapons or 'dirty bombs.' But if India could not resist the opportunity of reminding the world of the failings of its neighbour, Pakistan was also true to form, equating the problem of nuclear security to one of "strategic restraint" in the subcontinent. Forty-seven countries attended the two-day meet. The next Nuclear Security Summit will be held in South Korea in 2012, they decided. In a national statement delivered to the summit on Tuesday, Dr. Singh said India was deeply concerned about the danger of nuclear explosives or fissile material and technical know-how falling in to the hands of non-state actors. The primary responsibility for ensuring nuclear security rested at the national level, he said "but national responsibility must be accompanied by responsible behaviour by States. If not, it remains an empty slogan." Dr. Singh's words were so sharply in contrast to what Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told the summit working dinner on Monday night that they almost seemed to have been drafted in response. "Nuclear security within a state is a national responsibility," Mr. Gilani had said. In an implicit dig at Pakistan and those European states whose nationals were involved in the A.Q. Khan network, Prime Minister Singh said all countries should scrupulously abide by their international obligations. "It is a matter of deep regret that the global non-proliferation regime has failed to prevent nuclear proliferation. Clandestine proliferation networks have flourished and led to insecurity for all, including and especially for India. We must learn from past mistakes and institute effective measures to prevent their recurrence." In his remarks, Mr. Gilani said the "democratic government of Pakistan" was committed to ensuring nuclear security. Pakistan's objective is to "enhance nuclear security, in its holistic sense, and reduce nuclear risks," said Mr. Gilani, adding that its proposals on "a strategic restraint regime in South Asia will go a long way in making our region secure and stable." Pakistan had already worked with India on several nuclear confidence-building measures, he added. "This effort must continue. More than ever before, our two nations need to hold a sustained dialogue to address all issues." The Pakistani Prime Minister also made a renewed pitch for access to nuclear technology for peaceful uses "in a non-discriminatory manner." Though Dr. Singh dwelt at length on India's approach to nuclear security, the highlight of his remarks was the announcement of the Indian decision to set up a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, "visualised to be a state-of-the-art facility based on international participation from the IAEA and other interested foreign partners." President Barack Obama responded to Dr. Singh's offer, saying "We welcome the announcement of the setting of the centre by India. This will be one more tool to establish best practices." Providing details of the new initiative, Dr. Singh said the centre would consist of four schools dealing with Advanced Nuclear Energy System Studies, Nuclear Security, Radiation Safety, and the application of Radioisotopes and Radiation Technology in the areas of healthcare, agriculture and food. "The centre will conduct research and development of design systems that are intrinsically safe, secure, proliferation resistant and sustainable. We would welcome participation in this venture by your countries, the IAEA and the world to make this centre's work a success," Dr. Singh said. A four-page brochure prepared by the Department of Atomic Energy and distributed at the summit contained an outline of the programme modules to be offered at each of the four schools. ------ Pakistan 'military air strike kills 73 civilians' Apr 13, 2010 At least 73 civilians were killed when an army jet bombed a remote village in Pakistan's tribal region of Khyber, a local official has told the BBC. He said the incident took place on Saturday but news was slow in being reported because of the inaccessibility of the region. The jet was involved in operations against Taliban militants in the nearby Orakzai tribal region. Hundreds of people have been killed in air strikes across the tribal regions. The military says most of them are militants, but independent sources say many civilians have also been killed. Gagging order "All those killed were innocent civilians," the local administration official told the BBC. "The dead include women and children. Dozens of people were also injured." The official said he could not speak on the record as the military had put a "gagging order" on him to limit the fallout. He said that initial information suggested that the jet had strayed away from the conflict zone and mistook the village for a militant compound. The injured have been moved to hospitals in the nearby city of Peshawar. They are being treated under strict guard. Police prevented a BBC correspondent from interviewing the injured at the Hayatabad medical complex in Peshawar. Other reporters have also been denied access. ------- Security forces kill 15 terrorists in S Waziristan Apr 13, 2010 ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 15 terrorists during a clash in the Jandola sector of South Waziristan Agency on Monday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the forces killed around 15 terrorists, including Qari Usman and some foreigners, during the exchange of fire. It said a group of militants launched an attack on an army position in the Jandola sector and troops repulsed the attack effectively. A soldier was also killed in the gunbattle. ------- Shooting by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan fuels Karzai's anger By Joshua Partlow April 13, 2010 KABUL -- Twelve days before President Hamid Karzai denounced the behavior of Western countries in Afghanistan, he met a 4-year-old boy at the Tarin Kowt civilian hospital in the south. The boy had lost his legs in a February airstrike by U.S. Special Operations forces helicopters that killed more than 20 civilians. Karzai scooped him up from his mattress and walked out to the hospital courtyard, according to three witnesses. "Who injured you?" the president asked as helicopters passed overhead. The boy, crying alongside his relatives, pointed at the sky. The tears and rage Karzai encountered in that hospital in Uruzgan province lingered with him, according to several aides. It was one provocation amid a string of recent political disappointments that they said has helped fuel the president's emotional outpouring against the West and prompted a brief crisis in his relations with the United States. It was also a reminder that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have political reverberations far beyond the sites of the killings. Full report at: ------- Over 200,000 flee military offensive in Pak April 13, 2010 More than 200,000 people have fled Pakistan's latest offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest, the United Nations said on Monday, as fresh clashes in the remote region killed 41 insurgents and two soldiers. The military has pounded the Orakzai tribal region with airstrikes and artillery in an attempt to rout insurgents from the rugged, mountainous area near the Afghan border. Many Taliban fighters fled to Orakzai last year to escape a separate army offensive in their tribal stronghold of South Waziristan. The exodus of civilians from Orakzai adds to the more than 1.3 million people driven from their homes by fighting in the northwest and unable to return. The U.N. warned Monday it faces a severe shortfall in funding needed to aid those displaced, saying it has only received about $106 million, or 20 percent, of the $538 million appeal it launched in February for the next six months. Last year, the U.N. had received 40 percent of its appeal by this time, it said. "Already some of our NGO partners ... providing a humanitarian response are canceling lifesaving projects and laying off their well-trained and well-experienced staff who are able to implement these projects efficiently in the affected areas," said Martin Mogwanja, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan. The projects affected include those providing water, food, health care and sanitation for the displaced, said Mogwanja. Almost 210,000 people have fled Orakzai since the fighting first started at the end of last year, including nearly 50,000 people who have left in the last month as the military has intensified its offensive in the area, said the U.N. Full report at: ------- 41 militants, two soldiers killed in Orakzai Apr 13, 2010 Heavily armed Taliban fighters staving off an offensive by paramilitary forces on Monday attempted to storm two security checkpoints in Pakistan's troubled northwest triggering an intense battle which left 41 militants dead and two soldiers losing their lives. The clashes in the restive Orakzai tribal region came as the paramilitary Frontier Corps stepped up their offensive to flush out the Taliban fighters. Over 300 Taliban fighters have been killed in three weeks of intense push by the security forces who have used helicopter gunships and heavy artillery. Security forces, officials said, repulsed the attack against the checkpost in Shireen Darra and Sangrana villages in lower Orakzai. Full report at: ------- India, Pak PMs meet briefly during Nuclear Security Summit 13 April 2010 WASHINGTON - The prime ministers of rivals India and Pakistan met briefly on Monday at a summit on nuclear security in Washington, exchanging pleasantries but not entering substantive discussions, officials said. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani walked up to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and chatted with him for a few minutes, Indian embassy spokesman Rahul Chhabra said. Pakistani embassy spokesman Nadeem Kiani gave a similar account, saying that the two leaders conversed at a reception hosted by US President Barack Obama during the 47-nation summit. Full report at: khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/April/international_April667.xml§ion=international ------- Lashkar-e-Taiba flourishes on Facebook Praveen Swami Apr 13, 2010 NEW DELHI: Days after a 10-man death squad attacked Mumbai in November 2008, the Lashkar-e-Taiba's Internet portal disappeared into thin air: part of an effort to persuade the world that Pakistan was indeed serious about shutting down the operations of jihadists operating from its soil. Now, the Lashkar has returned online using a Facebook page run by its parent religious body, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The Jamaat-ud-Dawa Facebook page is nowhere near as elaborate as were the web portals it hosted prior to the Mumbai attacks, but it still contains a wealth of propaganda intended to rouse supporters. In a poster for a March 23, 2010 rally, held to mark the anniversary of the 1940 resolution which led to the formation of Pakistan, the Jamaat refers to a "debt that has yet to be honoured." Slogans superimposed over an image of the burning Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai explains what the "debt" is: "free Kashmir, Pakistan's lifeline, from the enemy;" work for the "freedom of the Muslims of Gujarat, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and the rest of India;" to "save Pakistan's parched rivers." Ambitions Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/13/stories/2010041362731200.htm ------ Don't have visa: Pak curbs movement of Sikh pilgrims Apr 13, 2010 Pakistani authorities have imposed a ban on the travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to places for which they do not possess a visa, as 1,400 devotees arrived here to take part in celebrations marking the Baisakhi festival. The Home Department of Punjab province banned such travel by issuing an official circular, official sources said on Monday. The circular was sent to the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) which looks after shrines of minority communities and organises pilgrimages to such sites, and to law enforcement agencies. The circular stated it was the duty of authorities "to provide all facilities and protection to the Sikh yatris (pilgrims). But it is important for their (Sikhs') protection to disallow them to visit places for which they are not issued visa by the Pakistan High Commission in India." Law enforcement agencies and the ETPB were asked by the Home Department to enforce the ban at any cost. The circular said Pakistanis found taking the pilgrims to cities for which they had not been issued visas would be strictly dealt with. ------- 'HuJI planning suicide attacks in India' Pramod Kumar 13 APRIL 2010 New Delhi, April 12: The latest inputs with the Central intelligence agencies reveal that Pakistan-based militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) has prepared a set of suicide bombers who will soon launch attacks in different parts of the country. A decision to this effect was taken at a recent meeting attended by top HuJI leaders, including Ilyas Kashmiri, at Kotli in PoK. According to sources Kashmiri, chief commander of the 313 brigade of HuJI, recently wrote a letter to his Pak-based handlers and informed them about the preparedness of the suicide bombers' attack in India. Sources further said that Kashmiri along with other HuJI commanders held a meeting at outfit's office located at main Madina 14/113, 17 Kotli, in PoK and instructed them to carry out terror attacks in India. "The group, which is a Pakistan-based militant outfit with an affiliate in Bangladesh, is closely linked with several Pak-based militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. The available inputs suggest that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) plans the anti-India operations of HuJI. Ilyas Kashmiri has also been indicted in a US court in connection with a plot to target a Danish newspaper which had allegedly published offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammed," sources said. The US authorities have already asked Pakistan to hunt down and extradite the HuJI top commander, sources added. Besides, Pakistani-American LeT operative David Coleman Headley, who was arrested by the FBI in October 2009, allegedly conspired between October 2008 to October 2009 with Kashmiri, Abdur Rehman, Tahawwur Rana and others to plan and carry out terror attacks against the Danish newspaper's editorial staff. ------ Khaleda Zia's lawyers threaten judges April 13, 2010 Dhaka High Court judges threatened to call the police after former prime minister Khaleda Zia's lawyers shouted slogans in a courtroom and threatened them, calling them "agents" of the government, media reports said on Monday. Pleading for their safety, the judges were Sunday forced to adjourn proceedings of the case pertaining to Zia "illegally" occupying a house in Dhaka Cantonment where she has lived for nearly 30 years. The group of junior lawyers, believed to be Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters, said they did not expect the court to dispense justice to their client, The Daily Star said. The house was allotted to her by the government in 1982 as a gesture to her husband, slain former president Ziaur Rahman. But the present government says she "manipulated" the allotment. Hasina has publicly asked Zia to quit the house. The judges urged senior lawyers appearing for Zia, including former minister Moudud Ahmed, to restrain the 100-odd errant juniors or ask them to leave. However, Ahmed said the case before the high court was "political" and the lawyers, as members of public, had a right to be present. Full report at: hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/bangladesh/Khaleda-Zia-s-lawyers-threaten-judges/Article1-530208.aspx ------- Islamabad, Lahore under terror threat Shafqat Ali 13 APRIL 2010 Islamabad, April 12: Pakistan's Islamabad and Lahore cities are under threat of a major terror attack in the coming days, an official announcement said. An unknown militant group "Fidain Jihad" is planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Lahore and the federal capital, says a circular issued by the crimes investigation department of Punjab. It said the militant group belonging to Darra Adamkhel has assigned its trained fighters to target foreign nationals, offices and foreign missions in Islamabad and Lahore. According to the circular, the code names of four alleged terrorists are Qari Nasrullah, Alamzeb, Sardar Khan Mujahid and Hidayatullah. It further disclosed that one suicide bomber of this group will particularly target the minorities. The law enforcement agencies have been directed to make foolproof security arrangements to foil the terror plot. Meanwhile, in Gujranwala, interior minister Rehman Malik said that 1.5 million Afghanis are unregistered in the country and all the investigations in terrorism lead to the Afghan refugee camps. Full report at: ------- US in talks with Pak on nuclear security, tackling al-Qaida Apr 13, 2010 WASHINGTON: The US today said it is in talks with Pakistan about the safety and security of nuclear weapons in that country. "Our engagement with Pakistan runs the full gamut as far as what al-Qaida's trying to do, whether it be to kill innocents or to carry out other types of attacks and objectives that really threaten our national security and the Pakistani national security," said John Brennan, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Counter-terrorism and Homeland Security. "I'm not going to get into the details of the bilateral discussions that may have taken place (between US and Pakistan), but today's event is a seminal one as far as nuclear security is concerned," he said. But also, it is part of a process that was started, at least in this administration, where we've had regular and ongoing conversations with a number of nations, to include Pakistan, addressing the goals and objectives that we know that al-Qaida is after and what types of threat they pose to our interests and to the interests of other countries, Brennan said. Full report at: ------- Pak rebuts US study, says its nuke weapons are safe Apr 13, 2010 Press Trust of India, Tuesday April 13, 2010,Hours after a US study warned of a "very real possibility" that deadly warheads could be stolen by extremists singling out Pakistan as a likely source, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said his country's "nuclear weapons are safe and well-guarded". Trying to allay misgivings, Gilani said "Islamabad has taken effective steps for nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation through extensive legislative, regulatory and administrative framework". Harvard University released a study warning that four terror groups -- Al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Chechnya-based separatists and Japanese extremist group Aum Shinnko, were hunting for warheads. The study, 'Securing the Bomb' conducted by the Belfer Centre of the University, and released today said that Al-Qaida was in the hunt for nuclear weapons for the last 10 years and had twice attempted to buy fissile material in black market. It said Pakistan faces a greater threat from Islamic extremists seeking nuclear weapons than any other country on Earth. The new report from Harvard nonproliferation experts found that Pakistan's stockpile is the world's least secure from theft or attack. Full report at: ------- Threat of 'dirty bomb' has global dimensions: Gilani April 13, 2010 WASHINGTON: Terming the threat of terrorist acts involving 'dirty bombs' more real and having global dimensions, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday called for additional measures by the world to combat tis threat. "The threat of terrorist acts involving dirty bombs is more real and it has global dimensions. We should take additional measures to combat this threat," Gilani said in his intervention at the dinner session of Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Barack Obama here. Prime Minister Gilani, who was one of the eight leaders invited by President Obama to speak at the dinner, assured that the democratic government in Pakistan is fully committed to ensuring nuclear security. "So far, reported incidents of illicit trafficking of direct use of nuclear material have been low. But there is no room for complacency here. We need strong national actions and greater international coordination to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear materials," he emphasized. The Prime Minister said Pakistan, as a nuclear weapon state, attaches highest importance to the security of nuclear materials and facilities and for this purpose it has put in place multi-layered mechanisms and processes. "We have done so, first and foremost, in our own national interest and to protect our strategic assets", he added. Full report at: ------- Salafists laying roots in Gaza: Hezbollah is enemy Apr 13, 2010 Last summer Jund Ansar Allah organization went head-to-head with Hamas, and now, World Jihad-affiliated Jaish al-Umma challenges regime in Gaza Strip. Abu Abdullah al-Ghazi, one of movement's heads, says has 200 fighters, thousands of supporters Roee Nahmias "Fatah, the Popular Front, and Hezbollah are enemies that must be fought. The first two are secular, and the third is operating to spread Shia among Muslims. But we will not fight them now – we will only fight the Jews." This, in short, is the doctrine of Abu Abdullah al-Ghazi, spokesman of the radical Islamic movement "Jaish al-Umma" (Army of the nation). According to reports in Arab media, the new organization, which is affiliated with the Salafist stream of fundamentalist Islam, is currently operating in the Gaza Strip, where it is laying its rots. Al-Ghazi claims that the organization already has over 200 fighters and thousands of supporters. Full report at: ------- Next Indo-Pak war could be fought over water: Hafiz Saeed Apr 13, 2010 LAHORE: Lashker-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed claimed the next war between India and Pakistan could be fought over water if India does not stop what he described as "water terrorism". Saeed, who currently heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, made the remarks while addressing a gathering at a mosque in Chowburji area of Lahore. He claimed India was diverting the flow of rivers in Jammu and Kashmir by building dams and tunnels in a bid to turn Pakistan into a desert and to "spoil the regional situation". Saeed, who remained out of the public eye for over a year following the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by the LeT, called on the people of Pakistan to stand united against India and to oppose the construction of dams that allegedly rob the country of its share of river waters. Full report at: ------- Pakistan fears isolation, looks to China Anand K. Sahay 13 APRIL 2010 New Delhi, April 12: At the two-day nuclear summit underway in Washington, Pakistan worries about being isolated on account of its past nuclear smuggling activities. Islamabad hopes, however, that its all-weather friend China will bring it safely home. Anticipating "isolation", a pre-summit Washington datelined news report in prestigious Pakistani daily Dawn spoke of the likelihood of the "reassuring" presence of Chinese president Hu Jintao at the summit. President Barack Obama was able to secure President Hu's personal attendance after an hour-long telephone call recently. The nuclear summit is designed to outline broad international goals — possibly focusing on Full report at: ------- Pakistan: front line in war on terror April 13, 2010 The south Asian country of Pakistan has been the front line in the war against terror ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 when Western countries, the United States in particular, first launched the war on terror. A huge challenge Over the past eight years, Pakistan has suffered bitterly in the war against terrorism. The year 2009 was the bloodiest, with more than 2,500 killed and hundreds more injured. Although the armed forces are one of the most important sources of stability for Pakistan, the army itself also faces grave security problems, which casts a pall on the future of anti-terror operations in Pakistan. Its unique geographical location, mountains, gorges and rivers that form most of its border with the neighboring countries, especially with Afghanistan, make it extremely difficult to monitor cross-border movement. In addition to ethnic affinity, tribal and traditional gun cultures, as well as divided villages along the borders, its north and northwest borders have been plagued by terrorist and extremist activities. Full report at: ------- In South Asia, Obama juggles tactical, strategic considerations Siddharth Varadarajan Apr 13, 2010 Washington: In holding virtually back-to-back meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, U.S. President Barack Obama symbolically underscored the delicate nature of the balancing act his administration is attempting to perform. The exercise involves doing whatever it takes to keep the strategic partnership with India ticking along – a relationship that is of enormous long-term strategic value to the U.S. – while extracting maximum cooperation on the Afghanistan front from Pakistan and the Pakistani military establishment, a tactical, short-term necessity of the highest order for both the Pentagon and Mr. Obama's Democratic Party as they seek to draw down the Afghan war. Briefing reporters about the Obama-Manmohan meeting on Sunday, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao quoted the U.S. president as saying there was no country in the world where the opportunities for a strong, strategic partnership are greater and more important to him personally or to the United States, than that with India. Taken at face value, these words are a throwback to the George W. Bush era, whose strategic embrace of India from 2004 onwards produced the Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement. Indian officials present in the meeting told The Hindu it was reassuring to hear the U.S. President speak directly and warmly about the importance of the bilateral relationship at a time when inter-agency differences on Pakistan and Afghanistan — particularly between the Defence and State departments — have created the impression in New Delhi that Washington no longer considers its partnership with India to be important. Full report at: ------- Obama lauds India's Afghan role, to monitor Pakistan aid April 13, 2010 Rejecting any disconnect between New Delhi and Washington on regional issues, US President Barack Obama has lauded India's role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and assured that the US will strictly monitor military aid to Pakistan. "There was absolutely no disconnect. The president (Obama) was very appreciative of India's contribution to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and enormous sacrifices made by India," India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told journalists in Washington on Sunday. Rao was briefing journalists after 50-minute talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Obama on the eve of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit that begins Monday. "Obama understood and showed deep appreciation for India's contribution in Afghanistan and expressed support for continuing aid to it," Rao said amid sustained Pakistan's propaganda offensive to get the US to influence India to scale down its presence in Afghanistan. Full report at: ------- A Jihad Against Terrorism April 13, 2010 Terrorism on the name of Jihad, has enveloped the whole World in its fear and trauma. One person has now decided to stand against this practice. A top Muslim scholar has released a 600-page document arguing against violence in the name of Islam. Qadri, the scholar, who is based in Toronto, believes his attempt to make people aware of the do's and don't of Islam and reveal the true meaning of Jihad will save American lives. He hopes this book will stop the terrorist attacks. "This is my jihad against terrorism. It will take some time but gradually it will work, and, it will bring very positive results in changing the mind of the youths, in America, in Britain, in the western world and in the Arab world too," said Qadrri His book says that no human beings has the right of kill. This is against Islam and against every religion and against the values of humanity. Pakistani-born Qadri, believes in the success of his book. He trusts that this book will save many Muslim youths from the extremists' grip. ------- Allawi's secularism may not fly in today's Iraq By HAMZA HENDAWI & QASSIM ABDUL Apr 12, 2010 BAGHDAD: In a nation where religion and politics have become nearly inseparable, can a secular politician be prime minister of Iraq? The question has moved to the heart of Iraq's complex politics after a coalition led by secular Shiite Ayad Allawi emerged as the biggest vote winner in last month's elections, winning 91 of the legislature's 325 seats, edging out a bloc led by the incumbent, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, by only two seats. Allawi served as prime minister in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, but that was only because he was hand-picked by the Americans when they formally ended their occupation of the country in June 2004. It's a different story now. Both of the post-Saddam prime ministers who came to office through elections — Ibrahim al-Jaafari and al-Maliki — were members of a religious Shiite party. Now religious parties and even top clerics maneuver to try to ward off a leader they see as not Shiite enough. Full report at: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article42189.ece ------- Six killed during protests in Abbotabad 13 Apr, 2010 ABBOTTABAD: Six people were killed and more than 200 people injured on Monday when furious mobs, protesting plans to rename Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, clashed with police, officials said. Several hundred ethnic Hazara people gathered in Abbottabad chanting slogans against the government and demanding a separate province for their community, local administration chief Muneer Azam said. Angry protestors burnt two police mobiles, one Edhi ambulance and also set on fire the Cantt Police Station. The protestors also damaged a number of billboards on the main Karakuram High Way. Police fired tear gas shells and opened fire to disperse the crowd as the authorities had banned public gatherings in the city, said a senior police official. Meanwhile, spokesman of the Anti Pukhtoonkhawa movement Naseer Khan Jadoon said that they were carrying out peaceful protest when the police started shelling and opened indiscriminate fire. Full report at: ------- Four killed, 37 wounded in Iraq attacks Apr 13, 2010 MOSUL: A suicide bomber blew up a car in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Monday killing a policeman and a civilian, as two soldiers were killed near Baghdad, security and medical officials said. A total of 37 people were wounded in the attacks, the first of which struck around 2pm (1100 GMT) in the centre of Mosul, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of the capital. "Two people were killed, a policeman and a civilian, and 22 people wounded, including five police, when a suicide car bomber targeted their patrol," Mosul police Major Hussam Aldeen Mohammed told AFP. Dr Abdul Latif al-Juburi, from Medical City Hospital in Mosul, confirmed the casualties. ------- Ahmadinejad urges Ban to probe 9/11 attacks April 13, 2010 TEHRAN: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, asking him to launch an investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, news reports said on Monday. "The minimum expectation from your excellency is to set up an independent and trusted fact-finding group to comprehensively investigate the real factors behind September 11," Ahmadinejad said in the text of the letter carried by official news agencies. They did not say when the letter was sent. The president, who in March dismissed 9/11 as a "big lie," said in the letter that the attacks "were the main pretext for attacks" by NATO on Afghanistan and Iraq. Several times Ahmadinejad has questioned the accepted version of the Al-Qaeda strikes on New York and Washington which killed nearly 3,000 people.In January, he branded September 11 "a suspicious affair" similar to the Holocaust, which he dismissed as a "myth" in 2005, drawing widespread condemnation. ------- Drone attack kills five Apr 13, 2010 MIRANSHAH: A US drone fired two missiles into a Taliban compound in the Tribal Areas near the Afghan border late on Monday, killing at least five militants, security officials said. The compound, located in the mountainous Boya village about 20 kilometres west of Miranshah, belonged to a Taliban commander. "The compound was owned by local Taliban commander Tariq Khan," a security official told AFP, adding that the unmanned aircraft fired two missiles. "We have confirmation of five people killed," an administration official said, adding that the death toll may rise. Only two militants were believed to have been wounded. ------- Lebanon seeks death penalty for three Israeli spies US, Jordan want ME talks April 13, 2010 WASHINGTON/BEIRUT: President Barack Obama and Jordan's King Abdullah II called on Monday for proximity peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians to take place "as soon as possible" despite the current deadlock. The White House said in a statement that the two leaders discussed the impasse in US efforts to launch indirect peace talks when they met on the sidelines of a 47-nation nuclear security summit here. "Both agreed that Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks should begin as soon as possible, and transition quickly to direct negotiations," the statement said. "They also agreed that both sides should refrain from actions that undermine trust during these talks." The statement, which also said the two leaders discussed Iraq, the Iranian nuclear confrontation and Afghanistan, did not however spell out how Obama and the king thought the current deadlock could be resolved. Full report at: ------- Was the war on terrorism contrived? Apr 13, 2010 George Bush's "war on terror" isn't discussed much nowadays, which has enraged more than a few right-wing Republicans who accuse President Barack Obama of being soft on terrorism. "Doesn't he know we're at war," grumbled a furious guest on Fox News last week. It may have been given a lower profile but in reality, it's still ongoing. Obama has reauthorized the Patriot Act until February next year, which means the American people are still vulnerable to telephone wiretaps and to having their records seized by authorities. Moreover, for the first time ever, a US president has blessed "the targeted killing" of American terrorist suspects under a Congressional Act passed a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Currently in the CIA's sights is Anwar Al-Awlaki, a US-born former imam of Yemeni extraction. Al-Awlaki, thought to be hiding in Yemen, is a "senior recruiter for Al-Qaeda and a spiritual motivator," according to the FBI. Full report at: ------- Indo-Pak nikah not a rarity in city Sudipta Sengupta Apr 13, 2010, HYDERABAD: Sania-Shoaib's Indo-Pak alliance might have grabbed millions of eyeballs and led to numerous debates across the country, but news of the marriage did not surprise the Hyderabadi. For them, such cross border marriages have never been a rarity, especially with the city still being the former abode of several (now) Pakistani families. While the numbers might not be telling, Hyderabadis point out that the city has been witness to many "happy marriages" in the past where the bride or groom were Pakistanis. City's old timers explain that if the Sania-Shoaib alliance is different, that's only because the two sportspersons come from culturally different families, with one being a quintessential Hyderabadi family and the other a 'theth' Punjabi. In most cases, marriages are fixed within families and close relations that share a similar background and are culturally in sync with each other. The geographical borders then no longer count, they say. Take for instance Aliya Shehzad, a Pakistani by birth who has been married to a Hyderabadi for the last 29 years. While hers was a love marriage that was faced with initial hiccups from both families, Shehzad says she had little trouble in adjusting in this 'alien' land, which she now calls home. Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Indo-Pak-nikah-not-a-rarity-in-city/articleshow/5790777.cms | ||||||||
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Asadullah Syed
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