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n a r I : r a e l c u n n No retreat o lose

Muslims divided again over moon sighting for Ramadan & now Eid

C n a Ir n o k c a tt A l e a r Is UN Report ‘Brings

Eid-al-Fitr 2012?

Saturday 18th or Sunday August 19th, Fasting on the two days of `Eid is Haram

for many everyday Muslims. As in previous years, the reason for the dismay amongst UK’s Muslims was the disagreement in the application of the Islamic methodology used to determine the birth of the new End the Siege, End the Occupation, End the Israeli moon signaling the start of the Apartheid...’ if these words are ever going to become blessed month of Ramadan, the a reality we have to stand united for the Palestinian ninth month of the Islamic lunar cause. calendar. t Tehran is on since a UN watchdog report tha s pon Join IHRC’s annual Al Quds Day Demonstration on wea The questions learthat reverberated of developing a warhead. programme has developing nuc mic Ato al Friday 17 August from Portland Place (assemble near n attack by Israel on Iran’s nuclear tion rna in people’s minds were: Do we use Iran’s president criticises Inte ad strongly chided closer to reality. aditonej Ahm Mr. at brink of on Broadcasting House) 3pm Grosvenor Square lurched from doomsday scenario isBBC the calculation method that fi xes ran Teh s say it r afte ncy Energy Agency, rgy Age al Atoofmic rnation Inteplace there are plans to get Enethe where a rally will take in support Palestine, guest date based on scientifi c data d hea war Whitehall sources have denied lear developing nuc itself by siding with “abs g John itin red disc is Iran on speakers including Lauren Booth, Rees national ck atta regarding when the moon ise born? nuclear Britain involved in an retreat “on iota” fromOffiits ’tlocal, won usation Iran accthe inst Iran cer of Wars.Coalition and Massoud aga ns Do we use physical sightings ctio ms Stop san claithe fer by stif led for mis call g es bein is ld wor European stat the g IAEA repor but m dam gra n toout proto first rea Shadjareh of IHRC willctio speak in nin support In determine its birth? Do we follow oud nt MahmChairman side Pre report to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among s, A together, pon “And hold fast, of you ngallIAE wea owi mic foll ato ks t it see of the oppressed Do we use physical yourselves”. Surah al-’Imran, Ayah 103 – Yusuf Ali her Translation reaction people of Palestine. sanctions thaglobal sightings?

Continued on page 3 >> e furt said Wednesday in his first ad nej adi France, Germany and UK urg Ahm sightings from countries to our east on worked Iranofhad Another lunar year and an ongoing end dates Ramadan have differed as IAEA finds evidence that moon sighting dispute fogs the due to the different methodologies or north that share a significant part clarity of illumination in the hearts used to determine the beginning of our night? Was Shabban 29 or of those seeking Divine Grace in the of the lunar month, the start of 30 days? Do we just follow Saudi Great Britain. Unfortunately, but Ramadan was a time of anguish, Arabia or Turkey or Lebanon or… like most years when the start or confusion and sadly even hostility Continued on page 2 >> Full report on page 15 >>

A

‘Al Quds’ Ad Campaign t in the name of Islam no , ct pe es sr di t ea gr Sparks Outrage in London of t ac An

r Poppy-burning plan new ‘Hell fo 11 er b m ve o N n o n o ti ra st n o em d ’ Heroes Game?

Inside Burma’s A forbidden camps

: Another British Intelligence

Muslims against the Crusades

njem Choudhary symbolically burned a poppy on Remembrance Day last year, for which he was in fined £50.00. He and his other do to s plan s slim Mu the name of up so again this year, with his gro es. sad Cru Muslims Against t Earlier this year in the eas er Tow of As members of Burma’s Muslim Rohingya minority are forced into camps after violentLon clashes, hs don boroug the government bans international observers - but Exclusivly Channel 4 News gains Ham access. lets, Waltham Forest and suddenly posters , There is a part of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine recently, you will not find much to lookNew at. Inham fact laring: dec ets outed in the stre State in Burma, that people still refer to as Narzi. this substantial section of town, untilspr recently Continued on page 02 >> But if you travel there, as Channel 4 News did Continued on page 4 >>

A destroyed Mosque to a village completely destroyed

London Stude tuition fees prot

housands of students have taken to the streets in a in new protest against the hike university tuition fees. n Four thousand police have bee nds rou deployed and baton

T

authorised for u erupts. as demon to voice their ang cuts and plans to

Continued on

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Islamic states set to suspend Syria from OIC despite Iranian objections

Leaders of Muslim countries are expected to suspend Syria’s membership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at a summit in Mecca on Wednesday, despite the vocal objections of President Bashar Assad’s main ally Iran.

Leaders of Muslim countries are expected to suspend Syria’s membership of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at a summit in Mecca on Wednesday, despite the vocal objections of President Bashar al-Assad’s main ally Iran.

The decision by the 57-member organisation, which requires a two-thirds majority, exposed the divisions within the Islamic world . The draft statement says Syria should be suspended over “the obstinacy of the Syrian authorities in following the military option” to solve the crisis and the failure Publisher Salah Bu Khamas (UAE) Sabha Khan (UK) UK Office 10 Courtenay Road, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 7ND UK Phone: +44 20 8904 0619 Fax: +44 20 8181 7575 info@satribune.co.uk India Office Satya Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. C/O Satya Group.

1st Floor, Avenue Appt., Near Sheth. R. J. J. High School, Tithal Road, Valsad - 396001 Gujarat, India United Arab Emirates Office S.K. Group of Companies P.O. Box 9021, Karama Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 2659970, 3359929; Fax: +971 4 2659971, 3341609 www.sk-groupofcompanies.com Managing Editor & CEO Mohammad Shahid Khan Group Editorial Managers Gulzar Khan (India) Abdul Khalique (Pakistan) Editorial Board UK Frances Brunner FYI Tribune team Adrian Fellar Misbah Khan Reema Shah Rohma Khan Keziah-Ann Abakah Marketing & Sales Andrew Klugman (Manager) Art Department UK Ali Ansar (Art Director) Mohammad Reazul Islam

of a UN-Arab League peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan.

It demands that Assad’s regime “immediately end all acts of violence” while defending Syria’s

Tehran meanwhile accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of arming and financing the mainly Sunni rebels against Assad, who leads a regime dominated by

gesture, Saudi state television showed King Abdullah welcoming leaders to the summit with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at his side. Abdullah

offshoot of Shi’a Islam. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Iran is adamantly opposed to Syria’s suspension from the 57-

“unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.” But foreign ministers meeting ahead of the summit agreed to suspend Syria “based on consensus with an absolute majority” and forwarded the decision to heads of state for final approval, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.

Sources close to the meeting said that only Iran and Algeria were against the recommendation.

Syria had no representative at the meeting.

Saudi Arabia, which hosts the OIC’s headquarters in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, has openly called for arming Syrian rebels.

members of his Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam.

In an apparent conciliatory

and Ahmadinejad were shown talking and laughing together, and Abdullah seated the Iranian leader at his side.

“It was a message to the Iranian nation and, I assume, to the Saudi people, that we are Muslim and we have to work together and forget about our differences,” said Abdullah al-Shammari, a Saudi political analyst.

Syria’s mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are backed by Sunniruled Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as Turkey, while Shi’ite Iran supports Assad, a member of the Alawite minority sect, an

member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has been recommended by a number of the group’s foreign ministers.

Eid-al-Fitr 2012?

Continued from page 01 >>

(insert your country of choice)?

Muslims in the United Kingdom (UK) celebrate Eid al-Fitr on the first day of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar. It marks the end of the monthlong fast of Ramadan and the start of a feast that lasts up to three days in some countries.

Britain Muslims have divided in two groups over the issue of moon sighting and they are observing the holy month of Ramazan separately in UK. The Deobandi and Ahle Hadith School of thoughts followers observed the first of Ramazan on Friday and they started fasting according to Saudi Arabia.

The followers of both sects also offered Taraweeh on Thursday night. Meanwhile the followers of Jammat-e-Ahle Sunnat have announced that they would observe first of Ramadan today (Saturday) as visibility of moon neither scientifically possible nor was witnessed anywhere in UK. Some 40 Ahle Sunnat Islamic centers including Shahjehan Masjid Surrey, Harrow, Hounslow Masjid and other Ahle Sunnat mosques in England are observing Ramadan from Saturday. The Markazi Jamat-eAhl-e-Sunnat said in a statement that “ The British Muslim Forum, Markazi Jamat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat UK and Europe and other Sunni organizations have announced due to invisibility of new moon throughout in Europe, Africa and Asia, we will be completing 30 days of Shaaban and the first

of Ramazan started on Saturday , July 21”. There were hustle and bustle being seen in the Muslim areas in London including South Hall, Surrey, East London and other parts.

The biggest issue with regards to dispute of moon sighting not only brings disunity among Mulims but also it become a cause of great loss to achive the Lailatul Qadr .

So valuable is Laylatul Qadr (The Night of Power) that the Quran devotes a special surah to it “Lailatul Qadr is better than a thousand months” [97:3] There is no way we can afford to miss out on such a blessed night!

According to authentic narrations it can be found in any of the last 10 nights of Ramadan, most likely the odd numbered nights of the last 10 nights of Ramadan: Which are the 21st night, 23rd, 25th, 27th & 29th nights. Most scholars say that it is likely to be on the 27th night but there is no guarantee of this and so to catch this night we must worship all the odd numbered nights or as many as we can manage.

If one has started Ramadan from 20th July than The dates for Laylatul Qadr in the UK are: 21st night - Wednesday 8th August from Maghrib until Fajr 23rd Night - Friday 10th August from Maghrib until Fajr.

25th Night - Sunday 12th August from Maghrib

Speaking at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Mehmanparast said even though certain OIC member states made the proposal at a meeting held ahead of the August 14-15 OIC summit in Mecca, Iran will never agree to the proposal.

Muslim countries have not been paying attention to Israeli plots in the Middle East and this has led to the proposal to suspend Syria from the OIC, he noted.

until Fajr.

27th Night - Tuesday 14th August from Maghrib until Fajr.

29th night - Thursday 16th August from Maghrib until Fajr.

Fasting and the `Eid do not mix. If it is `Eidul-Fitr, the fast-breaking feast, how could one celebrate the ending of the annual fast period with a fast? Fasting on the two days of `Eid is haram (forbidden), as indicated by the hadith of Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade fasting on the day of Al-Fitr and [the day of] AnNahr [Sacrifice]” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim). The scholars are unanimously agreed that fasting on these two days is haram.

In a hadith related by Umar bin Al-Khattab (RAA), he said: “The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) prohibited fasting on these two days: on the day of fast-breaking, because you have just broken your fast of Ramadan; and on the day of sacrifice you are supposed to eat from your sacrifice.” Abu Huraira (Allaah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade to observe fast on these two days. ‘Id-ul-Adha bi and ‘Id-ulFitr. (Muslim, 2534).

So what if the moon sighting was wrong ? Not only we will miss Laylatul Qadr as we will be finding in last ten days or last nine day! Also we will end up Fasting on Eid day which is prohibited. And who should we blame for missing Laylatul Qadr. Saudia ? Iran, UAE? OR OURSELVES.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

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Israel may have to destroy parts of Lebanon to stop rockets’: former Mossad head

Former Mossad chief Yatom discusses possibility of rockets raining down following possible Israeli attack on Iran, says rockets from Lebanon, Gaza “can cover all of Israel, and that is the main problem.”

Israel may need to destroy parts of Lebanon and Gaza if Hezbollah and Hamas rain missiles upon the country in response to an Israeli attack on Iran, former Mossad head Danny Yatom said Monday.

Yatom, in an interview on Israel Radio, warned against presenting an apocalyptic picture of how Iran will respond if Israel takes military action against its nuclear program.

Yatom, warned against presenting

Ahmadinejad Arrives in Saudi Arabia for OIC Meeting

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Monday in the holy city of Medina, Saudi Arabia to attend the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which is held in the holy Mecca on August 1415.

Upon his arrival, President Ahmadinejad was warmly welcomed by several highranking Saudi officials at the Medina airport.

President Ahmadinejad is taking part in the event at the official invitation of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

President Ahmadinejad is accompanied by Supreme Leader’s Advisor for International Affairs Ali-Akbar Velayati, President’s senior advisor Mojtaba SamarehHashemi, Head of Presidential Office Esfandiar Rahim Mashaee, and a number of ministers.

an apocalyptic picture of how Iran will respond if Israel takes military

action against its nuclear program.

While acknowledging that Iran

has a few hundred missiles that can reach Israel, and that the price

would be horrible if those missiles were equipped with either nuclear or chemical warheads, Yatom said the central concern are the tens of thousands of rockets in Hezbollah and Hamas storehouses in Lebanon and Gaza.

Those rockets, he said, can “cover all of Israel, and that is the main problem.” To do this, he said, Israel would have to “act with great force against infrastructure in Lebanon and Gaza, and it is possible that the price that Lebanon and Gaza will pay will be horrible. We are liable to destroy, or likely to destroy, parts of Lebanon, and parts of Gaza, so that our citizens will not suffer and be killed.”

Saudi Prince Al Waleed escapes crash, recovering

Accident occurred over the weekend on the Jeddah-Makkah highway.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundations, said he was fine after the car he was traveling in was involved in an accident on the AlHaramain Expressway.

“Let me assure everyone that it was a minor accident and I’m doing fine, thanks to Allah the Almighty,” said Prince Alwaleed in a statement released to Okaz newspaper.

Prince Alwaleed expressed his thanks to those who inquired about

his health and said following the accident, he continued his trip to Makkah and returned to Riyadh on the same day.

The Prince was accompanying the convoy of King Abdullah bin Abed Al Aziz as it made its way from Jeddah to Makkah and the car was almost completely destroyed by the accident.

Princess Ameera Al Taweel, wife of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abedel Aziz, has confirmed her husband is ‘doing well’ post a horrific car crash over the weekend.

The princess confirmed the same on her official Twitter account in Arabic, posting that her husband is safe and praised God for preserving him from evil.

According to reports, Prince Al Waleed escaped certain death when his car, a black Range Rover, flipped over three times of the Jeddah-Makkah highway.

The Prince was accompanying the convoy of King Abdullah bin Abed Al Aziz as it made its way from Jeddah to Makkah, where the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques planned to spend the last 10 days of

Ramadan. The car was completely destroyed by the accident.

However, the Prince walked away unharmed and is reportedly in very good health according to his wife.

Meanwhile, images of a crash vehicle claiming to be the car Prince Waleed was travelling in have also emerged on the microblogging site, which is placed on a tow truck.

Considered the richest man in the Middle East is the CEO of Kingdom Holding Company, as of Q1 2012, his personal wealth is estimated to be $18 billion.

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EDITORIAL

US funded Al Qaeda….. The War on Terror is a War against Humanity The war drums have been beating – again – in Israel. The latest alarm was started by two usually well-briefed journalists, Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer, who wrote that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could come in weeks, rather than months, and before the US presidential election in November. Israel has not yet decided whether to strike Iran over its suspect nuclear program, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, as Tehran dismissed the threat of an imminent attack. Iran Tuesday said it is dismissing Israeli threats of an imminent attack against it, explaining that even some Israeli officials realised such a “stupid” act would provoke “very severe consequences”. “In our calculations, we aren’t taking these claims very seriously because we see them as hollow and baseless,” American and Israeli officials are working to arrange a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which the White House will assure Israel that the US will use force to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons drive by next June at the latest if the Islamic Republic has not halted its program by then, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported on Tuesday night.

The meeting will take place in New York or Washington at the end of September or the very beginning of October, the report said. David Axelrod, senior strategist in Obama’s re-election campaign, is coordinating arrangements for the meeting, the report said.

The key formulation being discussed for Obama to assure Netanyahu is that the US “will attack Iran

by June 2013″ if the Iranian nuclear weapons drive has not halted by then, the report said.

Meanwhile, the Americans presented an Intelligence report to Israel detailing the progress made by Iran in its nuclear program [President Obama received this week the latest National Intelligence Estimate on the Iranian nuclear program. It emerges that, for the most part, the report is identical to the Israeli Intelligence findings, while on certain items, it is even more severe. According to the American report, in the past four months the Iranians made [significant] headway in the [uranium] enrichment process, producing 170 kilogram of uranium at 20% enrichment level. They have at present 11,000 active centrifuges and they have made marked progress in the development of their military nuclear capability.

The Americans say, it will take Iran two years to achieve nuclear weapons (the term used by the Americans to describe the process by which nuclear capability is materialized and nuclear weapons acquired is “weaponing”). Israel estimates that it will take Iran a year and a half to obtain the nuke.

Syria The Assad regime was dealt its first blow from the Muslim world when it was suspended from the Arab League last year, over what the league labeled a brutal crackdown on Arab Spring protesters. This week (OIC) leaders of Muslim world are expected to suspend Syria from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, despite objections from Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday said his country was opposed to suspension of Syria’s membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

“I’m openly against the suspension of the membership of any country, any organization,” Salehi told reporters in Jeddah. “By suspending the

membership, this does not mean you are moving towards resolving an issue. By this, you are erasing the issue,” he said.

Irani President warned of the plots hatched by the enemies and the NATO to dominate the Muslim nations. US accused Tehran yesterday of setting up a militia in Syria and urged the Islamic republic to stay out of the conflict.

“It is obvious that Iran has been playing a larger role in Syria in many ways,” US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said.

He said the US had evidence that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards were “trying to develop, trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime”.

Russia said on Wednesday it would not let Western powers sabotage Geneva accord to end the escalating conflict in Syria. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western states of fomenting violence by openly supporting the armed opposition and said Russia expected a formal answer within a matter of days on whether they backed the accord wich was reached by international countries in Geneva at the end of June.

Last week, the press reported that American President Barack Obama had signed a secret document authorizing aid to the Syrian “rebels.”

This document authorizes the American secret services to arm and supply the anti-Assad forces and guide their ground forces. The press reported that the CIA and its allies—the Saudis, the Turkish army and the European powers—were sending into Syria Islamist fighters linked to al Qaeda, who aimed to fight Assad’s secular regime. Some rebel checkpoints in Syria are currently flying the black flag of al-Qaida. Western intelligence agencies report that the al-Qaida network, has “up to 1,500 combatants” participating in the Syrian civil war. In response to an inquiry from the German parliament, the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, stated that, in the first half of 2012, it had counted about 90 attacks “that can be attributed to organizations or jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaida.” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is apparently referring to similar analyses when he says that the presence of the terrorist organization in the region has created “very serious problems.”

“Al-Qaida,(sic) literally ‘the database,’ was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians,” admits former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, whose Foreign Office portfolio included control of British Intelligence Agency MI-6 and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), in a column published by the UK Guardian newspaper.

In other words, the so-called “Al Qaeda,” which was misnamed and misreported by Government/ Media as “The Base” (not the “database”) and then promoted by the Government/ Media Cartel as the cause of all bombings and terrorism since the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, is simply a database of CIA trained “terrorists” (or “freedom fighters,” depending on your perspective) which has become a convenient Global Boogeyman for the 21st Century.

So now the CIA trained Al Qaeda or a database of CIA trained “terrorists” is effectively destroying another Muslim Country after Libya, Iraq , Afghanistan and Pakistan as well.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Inside Burma’s forbidden camps

Continued from page 01 >> the bustling home of 10,000, no longer exists.

Instead, you will find a post-apocalyptic world of rubble and burnt-out tree trunks. Personal effects are left scattered on the ground. It seems an incongruous scene in a country that claims to be remaking itself as modern, democratic state. Spend five minutes in Narzi, however, and you start to wonder whether Burma has really changed at all.

Until a month ago, Sittwe was home, in almost even proportions, to two different ethnic groups – the Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.

There have long been tensions between the two, and the recent violence started with an allegation that three Rohingya men had raped and killed a young Buddhist woman. After the distribution of inflammatory pamphlets, ten Muslim pilgrims were pulled out of a bus and beaten to death. The immediate consequence was chaos. Hate-filled mobs from both communities went on the rampage, burning

time called them “one of the most persecuted groups in the world”. They are subjected to restrictions on marriage, employment and education, and they were denied in citizenship in 1982.

We’re living on rice and beans. It’s not enough.

We haven’t got blankets. When we were in town, we could buy food for the kids, but now we can’t. Rohingya camp resident Now they are in the camps, another weighty constraint has been added – they can’t leave.

Sittwe is now off-limits, and it seems unlikely its former residents will be able to return.

It is the cause of great anxiety here, for few people here can support themselves. One woman told us: “We have no jobs and our kids can’t work. I use to run a shop in Sittwe, but I came here in the rain with nothing but my bare hands. No money, nothing.”

International NGOs and the United Nations are struggling to provide assistance to the camps, with their efforts hindered by a determined campaign of obstruction by local Buddhists. Aid workers have been threatened

homes and settling scores. ‘Resettlement’ Narzi and many other communities were lost in the storm. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) estimate that some 100,000 people were displaced in the fighting. The government puts the death toll at 78, a figure human rights groups call “a gross underestimate”.

In an effort to regain control, Burma’s government sent in nine military regiments to Rakhine and implemented a policy of strict separation. In Sittwe, this meant moving 60,000 Rohingya out of the city, and “resettling” them in a series of camps located some distance from the city.

We were told by humanitarian agencies that conditions in these camps were “desperate”, but access is strictly controlled, even to aid workers. Through our contacts however, we managed to reach several of these sites.

The camps were located on soggy pastures, squeezed between paddy fields. When our vehicle stopped, we were surrounded by residents desperate to communicate. The adults looked thin and many of the children were clearly malnourished. I asked a woman with three children how much food she was getting. “We’re living on rice and beans,” she said. “It’s not enough. We haven’t got blankets.

When we were in town, we could buy food for the kids, but now we can’t.”

Restrictions Young men in the camp told me they were dreaming of escape. One young man told me: “I am from Sittwe, but I don’t want to stay (in the camp). I want to go to Bangladesh. We are really suffering here.”

In truth, he has few options. The Bangladeshis do not want the Rohingya - and they have long been treated with indifference and hostility in Burma. The United Nations has for some

and some shipments have been blocked.

Local doctors have refused to treat Rohingya and businessmen have declined to provide humanitarian organisations with services like warehouse space – crucial for the storage of food, for example.

‘Favouritism’ When we sought the views of local Buddhists, they told us that the UN and International NGOs engage in favouritism. Much sought after jobs with the agencies “always” go to the Rohingya, we were told. When I put these complaints to one NGO official, he was unapologetic however. “We go to where the need is greatest,” he said.

Burma’s government has been accused by international human rights organisations of doing little to stop the violence after the first clashes took place - and of siding with the local population when troops and military policemen were moved in. The UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Quintana, told Channel 4 News that he had received allegations of mass arrests, torture and killings and the hands of the security forces on a recent visit there.

There is much justified excitement with the reforms currently being undertaken by Burma’s new government. But the president, Thein Sein, has offered little on the issue, other than to suggest that a third country may be persuaded to take in the Rohingya. The opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has also said, and done, little. When asked about the situation by one Muslim during the initial period of violence, she replied: “Yes, I understand, but I am not the government. I can’t do anything. Only the government [can] do something.”

There are many Rohingya Muslims – like the former residents of Narzi - who would beg to differ with that.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

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Modern Madness: Saudi Arabia Building Women-Only Cities – Wahhabism For The 21st Century No men allowed: Saudis construct women only city

Second city of its kind will help promote ambitions of Saudi Arabia’s career minded women without contradicting Islamic country’s tough sharia laws Saudi-Modon plans to establish women-only industrial cities …

Efforts are under way to establish the Kingdom’s first women-only industrial city in the Eastern Province city of Hofuf. Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has initiated works for planning and development of the city. “We are now working on a second industrial city for women,” said Saleh Al-Rasheed, acting director general of Modon. “We have plans to establish a number of women-only industries in various parts of the Kingdom,” he added. Al-Rasheed said Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Mansour bin Miteb, has already allocated land for the first women-only industrial city in Hofuf. – Arab News The Saudis have begun construction of a women only city, the second in the Islamic country, with the purpose of combining tough sharia laws and the wishes of women seeking a career.

It’s truly a no man’s land! Saudi Arabia is planning to build a city exclusively for women to encourage career oriented females within its strict Sharia law.

The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has been

asked to bring the country at par with the rest of the modern world by building the all women city,

crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet,

women to play a more active part in the development of the country.

Among the stated objectives are

Director-General, Saleh AlRasheed, said.

“We are now working on a second

with construction to begin next year, according to a Saudi media report.

The new city will allow women’s

prayer, and fasting.

Although Saudi Sharia law does not prohibit women to work, figures show that only 15 per cent

to create jobs, particularly for younger women.

“I’m sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency

desire to work without defying the country’s strict Islamic laws.

Sharia Law is the moral code and religious law of Islam dealing with

of women are represented in the workforce.

The plan coincides with the government’s ambitions to get

in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suits their interests, their nature and their ability,” Modon’s Deputy

industrial city for women.

We have plans to establish a number of women-only industries in various parts of the kingdom,” the ‘Daily Mail’ quoted Rasheed, as telling Saudi daily newspaper al-Eqtisadiah.

There will be women-run firms and production lines for women.

As part of a mass overhaul of its workforce and its bid to get women into work, the state is also attempting to replace foreign salespeople with Saudi women.

This summer, women started replacing staff in cosmetics and perfume shops, only half a year after they replaced male sales staff in lingerie stores.

Last September, King Abdullah announced that women will be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections.

children across 9 States and 19 locations. Her aim was to raise 3,000 pounds, however, with her dedication to the cause and with the help of others she was able to raise over

6,400 pounds enough to feed 640 children for a whole year.

The walk took place on 5th August, the same day that The Akshaya Patra foundation fed its billionth meal, and was joined in by many neighbors and friends. Sabina made t-shirts with a picture of school children eating meals given by the Akshaya Patra foundation and with the NGO’s logo for the walkers to wear.

Fellow walkers were: Rami & Renu Ranger, Sabina’s Parents, along with Reena Ahuja and Amita Sabharwal, her two sisters, friends, Gopal and Meena Gupta, Sneh and Anil Sharma, Neetika Hora, Babli Nayar, a mother and daughter duo Asha and Angela Khanna and Dipika Khaitan , the president of The Akshaya Patra Foundation UK .

Sabina Ranger, a second year university student, organised a 5K walk for The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO in India that provides food for 1.3 million school

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Russia slams new US sanctions on Iran New US sanctions on Iran ‘overt blackmail

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday harshly criticized new U.S. sanctions on Iran, calling them “undisguised blackmail” and warning that relations between Washington and Moscow would suffer if Russian companies were affected.

On Friday, President Barack Obama signed into law new sanctions on Iran’s energy, shipping and financial industries as part of an effort to pressure Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program. The new sanctions would hit foreign companies that mine uranium with Iran or help it export oil by providing tankers, insurance or banking services.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that while Russia supports U.N. sanctions, it opposes U.S. efforts to spread its legislation throughout the world and “rejects methods of undisguised blackmail used by the U.S. against the companies and

Shock 6.2% Rise In Rail Fares From January

Rail travellers in England face a greater-than-expected 6.2% hike in average fares from the New Year after official figures revealed a surprise jump in the inflation rate.

Train fares could rise by more than ten per cent at the start of next year, passengers were warned today, leading to fears that poor people are being priced off the railways.

Fares will rise on 1 January 2013 by three percentage points above the July’s inflation figure which was announced today. An unexpected rise in inflation to 3.2 per cent means train fares will increase on average by 6.2 per cent. But with train operators allowed to raise some fares by an additional 5 per cent, some commuters could be paying 11.2 per cent more for their tickets next year. Transport Unions warned that some people

travelling into London from the home countries will have to spend more than £100 a week from the new year just to get to work.

They joined campaigners and rail passenger groups in a day of action to protest at “massive” fare increases and cuts to jobs and services. According to passenger groups, commuters to London routinely spend 15% of their salary on getting to work.

Rail minister Theresa Villiers told repoter: “Obviously where we can we take action to relieve pressure on family budgets but there is a limit to what we can do given we inherited a huge deficit.

“But passengers are already seeing the benefits of the railway expansion service.”

Transport secretary Justine Greening added that the Government was “keen to see what

we can do to keep rail fares down to something affordable.”

Protests were being held today at more than 40 stations Tuesday, including Waterloo, Euston and Kings Cross in London, Birmingham New Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Liverpool Lime Street, Crewe, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley.

Campaigners held up a huge banner at London’s Waterloo station, which read: “Cut rail fares, not rail staff.”

banks of other countries.”

The new sanctions build on previous penalties that U.S. officials say have reduced Iran’s oil exports, costing Tehran more than $60 million daily.

Russia, however, argues that the unilateral sanctions undermine international diplomatic efforts and risk harming U.S.-Russia relations.

“Those in Washington should understand that our bilateral relations will seriously suffer if Russian companies working with Iranian partners in strict accordance with Russian law and U.N. Security Council resolutions are affected by the American restrictions,” Zakharova said.

Thai Senator accidentally kills cousin with Uzi

Thailand’s Mae Hong Son eyalatinde senator, 55-year-old Boonsong Kowawisarat, secretary of the 46-year-old in a restaurant in the province of Phrae Detkard’ı Chanakarn a submachine gun and killed him.

A Thai senator accidentally shot his cousin dead as he tried to put away the 9mm sub-machine gun that he had placed on the table during a family meal, police said Monday.

Boonsong Kowawisarat fatally injured Chanakarn Detkard, 46, when he mistakenly fired the Uzi at a private dining area of the Garden Resort, in Phrae province, northern Thailand, on Sunday evening. While waiting for food, Mr Boonsong took out a 9mm Uzi submachine gun.

He told police the gun accidentally discharged and his secretary was shot in the stomach.

Mr Boonsong said he was so shocked by the tragedy that the owner of the restaurant had to take Chanakarn to hospital, where she succumbed to the gunshot wound, Pol Lt Choosak

Poonsawat said.

It was not known whether Mr Boonsong knew the gun was loaded before the shooting.

Police have yet to arrest the senator as he is protected by parliamentary privilege.

Chanakarn, who worked as a secretary for the senator, suffered a bullet wound to the stomach and died on the way to hospital, according to local police, who said around five family members were at the hotel dinner.

Police said 56-year-old Boonsong, who is the senate representative for northern Mae Hong Son province, will be charged with causing death by negligence. He faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a 20,000 baht ($636) fine.

Officials said it was unclear why the senator was armed at the meal. “From our initial inquiry, the secretary’s family will not sue because they were relatives and it was an accident -- he did not mean to do it,” a local police officer told.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

NEWS

Israel and Iran War imminent in weeks?

The global oil price spiked upwards yesterday as fears grew of a looming conflict between Israel and Iran and constraints on supply started to bite.

Brent crude rose in trading by $2.16 to hit $115, the highest since May. Israeli newspapers reported at the weekend that the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is close to ordering a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and on Sunday the country’s deputy foreign minister said the diplomatic effort to halt the Tehran regime’s enrichment of uranium should now be declared dead. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 per cent of the seaborne world’s oil supplies pass, if it is attacked by Israel.

Classified war games conducted by the Pentagon have sketched a scenario in which an attack by Israel on Iran’s suspected nuclear facilities would lead to Tehran launching a counter-strike against a US ship in the Gulf. That in turn would drag a reluctant US into a fresh war in the Middle East.

The war games were completed earlier this in March 2012 under a long-standing programme called Internal Look to test the readiness of the Pentagon, Central Command in Florida and military resources in the Middle East to respond to any fallout from an Israeli strike.

Israeli leaders are again talking about possible military action against Iran. This is, at best, mischievous and, at worst, irresponsible, especially when diplomacy has time to run. There is still time for intensified diplomacy.

It would be best served if the major powers stay united and Israeli leaders temper loose talk of war. It is impossible to know what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning or why he has ignored American entreaties to give diplomacy a reasonable chance.

There is, however, persistent speculation in Israel that Mr. Netanyahu wants to attack in the coming weeks in the belief that President Obama will be forced to support the decision because of his political needs in his re-election campaign. Such a move would be outrageously cynical. Wrote New York Times in Tuesday Editorial.

Iran: Israel won’t launch ‘stupid’ attack Foreign Ministry spokesperson says ‘even if some officials in the illegitimate regime want to carry

out such a stupid action, there are those inside who won’t allow it because they know they would suffer very severe consequences’ Iran on Tuesday said it is dismissing Israeli threats of an imminent attack against it, explaining that even some Israeli officials realized such a “stupid” act would provoke

it takes to endure Iran’s might and will.”

He called the Israeli threats “a sign of weakness” by “brainless leaders” adding that they derive from Israel’s internal problems such as the social crisis.

Israeli speculation over Iran strike reaches fever pitch

military action. The date is the opening of the UN general assembly in New York, and also the eve of Yom Kippur, one of the most significant dates in the Jewish calendar.

The implication is that, in the absence of a public declaration, Israel will press on with its own

“very severe consequences.”

“In our calculations, we aren’t taking these claims very seriously because we see them as hollow and baseless,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in a weekly briefing.

“Even if some officials in the illegitimate regime (Israel) want

The talk is now of a timetable of weeks, rather than months, and before the US elections in November In the past few days, the Israeli public has been hit by a blizzard of speculative articles suggesting a military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites is imminent.

plans to strike at the Iranian nuclear programme.

But it was two articles last Friday that kicked off the current storm.

Writing in Israel’s biggest-selling daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, Nahum Barnea and Simon Shiffer, both senior commentators, said: “Insofar as it depends on

However, persistent speculation in Israel that Mr. Netanyahu wants to attack in the coming weeks in the belief that President Obama will be forced to support the decision because of his political needs in his re-election campaign. Such a move would be outrageously cynical.

Wrote New York Times in Tuesday Editorial. to carry out such a stupid action, there are those inside (the Israeli government) who won’t allow it because they know they would suffer very severe consequences from such an act,” he said.

Iranian Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying that Israel “definitely doesn’t have what

The talk is now of a timetable of weeks, rather than months and some observers believe that Israel will act in the runup to the US presidential .

On Tuesday, an article in Ma’ariv suggested that Netanyahu and Barak have set a deadline of 25 September for Obama to clearly state that the US itself will take

Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, an Israeli military strike on the nuclear facilities in Iran will take place in these coming autumn months, before the US elections in November.”

But, it pointed out: “There is not a single senior official in the establishment – neither among the [Israeli Defence Forces] top brass

7

nor in the security branches, or even the president – who supports an Israeli strike at the moment.”

Nevertheless, Netanyahu and Barak are determined, according to the authors. Despite US assurances that Obama is committed to stopping the Iranian nuclear programme, “Netanyahu assessed that this was empty talk. That Obama will not take action. Barak was less confrontational, but his conclusion was similar. He said that Israel could not entrust its security in the hands of a foreign state … The US can live with a nuclear Iran. Israel cannot.”

On Monday morning, Barnea reported that he and Shiffer had been “bombarded with phone calls from people who asked if it was time to hide in the bomb shelters” over the weekend.

Barak is also widely assumed to be the “decision maker”, the anonymous key figure whose views were spread over two pages of Haaretz’s weekend magazine on Friday. This thinly disguised figure said time was running out to act against the Iranian nuclear programme, and the “immunity zone” - the point when key components of the programme are beyond reach in deep bunkers was approaching.

For Israel: “As the Iranians continue to fortify their nuclear sites and disperse them and accumulate uranium, the moment is approaching when Israel will not be able to do anything. For the Americans, the Iranians are not yet approaching the immunity zone – because the Americans have much larger bombers and bombs, and the ability to repeat the operation a whole number of times.

Added into the mix was a muchquoted comment, made by Mossad chief Ehraim Halevy, to the New York Times the week before, in which he said: “If I was an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks.”

Also Aharon Zeevi Farkash, former head of military intelligence in the IDF, who said: “It seems to me that [an Israeli attack] could come in the near future,” that is, weeks or a couple of months.”

There are still those who believe Netanyahu and Barak are playing a dangerous game of bluff aimed at forcing America’s hand. But, for now, those who believe Israel is heading towards war are speaking with louder voices.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Muslim Brotherhood seizes control of Egyptian military

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Sunday stunned the region and caused grave concern in Israel when he dismissed all of Egypt’s top generals and installed commanders loyal and subservient to his Muslim Brotherhood.

Following the ouster of former dictator Hosni Mubarak, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces headed by former Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi had held de facto power, and had placed certain limitations on the presidency when it became clear the Muslim Brotherhood would the election.

For instance, the Tantawiled council had introduced a constitutional amendment that forbade the president from declaring war without the council’s approval.

In addition to firing Tantawi, the Egyptian chief-of-staff, and the heads of the navy and air force, Morsi also rescinded all of the council’s constitutional amendments, effectively granting his office outright control of military matters.

So long as Tantawi and the other older generals were largely in control of military matters, Israeli leaders were more or less certain that Egypt’s revolution would not lead to armed conflict with the Jewish state. But with the Muslim Brotherhood seizing control of the armed forces, previous assessments are now void.

Israeli commentators said they do not expect a sudden “call to arms” in Egypt, but are concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood-appointed

Norwegian ‘Peace researcher’ suspended after claiming that Jews control US media

generals will not cooperate with Israel like the old generals did. That will ultimately result in a situation similar to Lebanon, where Israel is forced to act on its own in foreign territory to stop terrorist threats.

And the Egyptian Sinai is fast becoming a regional hotspot of terrorist activity, making it all but inevitable that Israel would have to launch military incursions should Morsi’s forces stop preventing

attacks on the Jewish state.

As a demonstration of why Israel is so concerned by the Muslim Brotherhood’s power-hungry moves, last week Arab television stations around the region broadcast a recent interview with Egyptian-born cleric Salah Sultan, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the interview, Sultan stated that people he has met all over Egypt and the Middle

East “thirst for the blood of the Jews.”

Sultan operates an Islamic teaching center in the American state of Ohio.

Speaking of America, the Washington Post reported that the Obama Administration is not at all concerned by Morsi seizing control of the military, and that it has “confidence” in the newly installed generals.

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The Swiss World Peace Academy has suspended Norwegian ‘peace researcher’ Johan Galtung for claiming that Jews control the US media.

In an email to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, a leading Israeli expert on Norwegian anti-Semitism, said, “Orwell wrote in 1942 that pacifism was objectively pro-fascist, because of its hampering the war efforts of the allies. The ‘peace scholar’ Galtung uses a different method to help Israel’s totalitarian and murderous enemies.

“Without any proof, he associates the Mossad with the Norwegian mass murderer Breivik, he falsely suggests

that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are genuine and so on. His attitude fits that of significant parts of the Norwegian cultural elite. Galtung has merited his place in textbooks of 21st century anti-Semitism.”

The Humanist magazine printed Galtung’s remarks. Galtung wrote in one of the exchanges that Jews control the American media.

“Six Jewish companies control 96% of the media,” he wrote, including the names of journalists, publishers, TV networks and movie studios that he claims are controlled by Jews.

He also wrote that “70% of the professors at the 20 most-important American universities are Jewish.”

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 09 August 2012

NEWS

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Independence Day Celebrated at Pakistan High Commission, London

To celebrate the Independence Day of Pakistan, a flag hoisting ceremony was held at the Pakistan High Commission in London today.

Pakistan High Commissioner for UK Mr Wajid Shamsul Hasan hoisted the national flag and the messages of the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan for this occasion were read out. Both the leaders felicitated the Pakistanis living in Pakistan and abroad on this occasion and paid fulsome tribute to the heroic struggle of the Muslims of the Sub-continent under the leadership of Quaid-iAzam Muhammad Ali Jinnah for an independent homeland.

of countless sacrifices in blood, toil and tears of the masses who remained steadfast in their commitment to pursue the destiny

democratic ideals before them.

The school children presented beautiful national songs on this occasion. Begum Zarina Wajid

In his address the High Commissioner said that Pakistan came into existence as a result

chosen for them by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and those great leaders who always kept the

Hasan distributed the prizes among children.

Besides officials of the High

Commission and their families, a large number of Pakistani Diaspora and media attended the ceremony.

Similar events were held at all the four consulates of Pakistan in Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Glasgow.

Pakistan High Commission in London on 14 August 2012.

The 66th Independence Day of Pakistan was celebrated today at Consulate of Pakistan Glasgow with traditional zest and zeal and a renewed commitment to make the motherland prosperous and impregnable.

A Flag Hoisting Ceremony was held at the Consulate to celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner.

Syed Sumsam Ali Shah Bukhari, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, on the invitation of Mr. Shehryar Akbar Khan, Consul of Pakistan, hoisted the national flag and addressed Pakistani community in Scotland.

It was for the first time ever that a Ministerial level delegate graced

Pakistan High Commissioner for UK Mr Wajid Shamsul Hasan hoisting Pakistani flag on the Independence Day ceremony at

the Independence Day Flag hoisting ceremony at the Consulate in Glasgow which was greatly appreciated by the community.

Model files complaint against Scientists develop ‘bionic eye’ which Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf could restore sight to the blind A breakthrough in understanding how the eye sends visual information to the brain could soon lead to “bionic” implants that restore almost

Leena Kapoor claims that Asad Rauf, who has officiated in more than 100 international cricket matches, sexually exploited her after promising marriage Renowned cricket umpire Asad Rauf has been caught on the back foot following allegations by an Oshiwara-based model that the former Pakistan first-class cricketer sexually exploited her for several months after promising marriage.

The Versova police on Wednesday registered the statement of model Leena Kapoor after she forwarded an application alleging that International Cricket Council (ICC) elite panel umpire Asad Rauf had had a relationship with her but denied the same later on. The model had submitted an application to the zonal deputy commissioner of police Pratap Dighavkar on Monday stating the same following which the Versova police was directed to record her statement.

Meanwhile, Kapoor claimed that she had

received several threat calls since Tuesday after she first approached police.

“Since Tuesday, I received at least 12 calls from two different numbers of Mumbai and Delhi. The unknown person threatened to bump me off if I don’t stop pursuing the case. The person claims to be Rauf’s friend,” she said. Kapoor has alleged in her statement that Rauf had also claimed that he would buy a flat and car for her. Rauf stopped taking her calls a few weeks back and refused to recognize her, following which she submitted an application to the DCP. Rauf admitted that the photographs of the two were real, but denied having a relationship with her.

“I am 56 and happily married with two kids and at my age how can I promise to marry anyone else? I don’t know why she is doing this but if she continues to defame me and cause my family pain, I will take legal action against her,” Rauf said in Lahore.

perfect vision to millions of blind people, scientists have announced.

Researchers have dramatically boosted the performance of retinal implants by cracking a “code” that communicates visual signals to the brain.

The code consists of specific patterns of electrical pulses. By incorporating it into their device, the scientists came close to restoring normal vision in totally blind mice lacking any light-sensitive cells.

Tests showed that the animals were able to discern facial features and track images with their eyes.

A reconstruction based on electrical signals from the implant showed recognisable features of a baby’s face.

In contrast, a standard retinal implant without the new encoder produced a confused pattern of bright and dark spots.

The results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could pave

the way to life-changing retinal prosthetics, the scientists believe.

Even the best retinal implants currently restore only very limited vision, allowing patients to see spots of light and high-contrast edges.

The US team led by Dr Sheila Nirenberg, from Cornell University in New York, wrote: “Our results show that incorporation of the code dramatically increases prosthetic performance, well beyond what can be achieved just by increasing resolution.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

London 2012: This closing ceremony was a raucous pageant of popular culture

As the London 2012 Olympic Games ends with a spectacular closing ceremony, Lord Coe says Britain “did it right”, while Jacques Rogge declares the Games “happy and glorious”.

The great festival that began with the stirring resonances of Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony came to a poignant end with a light-hearted pageant of British popular culture.

A world-wide audience was treated to a celebration of British music during the closing ceremony before the flame was extinguished to officially close the curtain on the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The skies above the Olympic Stadium were then lit up by a glittering firework display as the arena’s packed stands joined in with a rousing rendition of The Who’s My Generation.

As International Olympic Committee boss Jacques Rogge declared the 2012 Olympics closed, he said: “These were happy and glorious Games.

“We will never forget the smiles, the kindness and the support of the wonderful volunteers, the muchneeded heroes of these Games.

“You, the spectators and the public, provided the soundtrack for these Games. Your enthusiastic cheers energised the competitors and brought a festive spirit to every Olympic venue.

“You have shown the world the best of British hospitality.”

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: “On the first day of these

Games I said we were determined to do it right. I said that these Games would see the best of us.

“On this last day I can conclude with these words: When our time

heading to London’s airports to return to their home nations.

The majority joined last night’s final hurrah to celebrate their achievements, parading through the

acclaimed.

As the world bade farewell to London, the host city gave the concert of a lifetime, marking the end of British sport’s most

silvers and 19 bronze.

Some of the biggest names in British pop past and present, including the Spice Girls, Take That, Queen and Madness, performed during a night

came, Britain, we did it right. Thank you.”

Describing the 17-day event as “a wonderful Games in a wonderful city”, he added: “We lit the flame and lit up the world.”

US president Barack Obama echoed that view, called David Cameron to “congratulate him and the people of the United Kingdom and London on an extremely successful Olympic Games”, the White House said.

Many of the 10,000 sportsmen and women who competed in the Games are leaving the Olympic Village and

80,000-seater stadium and taking with them their own memories of a Games which has been universally

successful Olympic Games in more than a century which saw a final medal tally of 64 - 29 golds, 16

of thrilling British eccentricity which culminated with a glimpse of the carnival that awaits in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

A final theatrical flourish saw a flaming phoenix rise above the Olympic cauldron while ballerina Darcey Bussell flew from the roof.

The 204 petals of the Olympic cauldron then descended to the ground and the flame was extinguished, signalling the close of the 30th Olympiad.

London 2012 Olympics: the best moments of a golden Games.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

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Illuminati Occult Symbolism in London’s Olympic Closing Ceremony

And out of the ashes of defeat will rise a triumphant Phoenix—their New World Order?

What was the most obvious and oldest occult symbol in the ceremony was the Phoenix rising from the flames.

“The Phoenix … is believed to be a divine bird going back to Egypt …

This Phoenix destroys itself in flames and then rises from the ashes. Most occultists believe that the Phoenix is a symbol of Lucifer who was cast down in flames and who they think will one day rise triumphant.” [Bill Schnoebelen, quoted by Dr. C. Burns, “Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated”, p. 123] “According to the Egyptian Satanic Mysteries, the Phoenix Bird lives for hundreds of years, and then deliberately kills itself; its body immediately catches fire and is burned to a heap of ashes.

Immediately, a new Phoenix Bird arises out of the ashes to live again.

The rising of the phoenix bird also symbolizes the New Age idea that the “Divine Cosmic Plan” that the highly evolved Great Masters have for our Earth Civilization is going to come into effect soon. Earth will “rise from its ashes” and begin anew, its inhabitants having the new Cosmic Consciousness. It is like a “rebirth” of the Ancient Occult Mystery Religions in our World.

The following quotation is from an Occult site, regarding the Phoenix bird: “Ovid tells the story of the Phoenix follows: “Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, or on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon, and spikenard, and myrrh, and of these ‘materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst odours. From the body of the parent bird, a young

Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor.

When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent’s sepulchre), and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the

the symbol to an American Bald Eagle, afraid that the public would recognize the Phoenix as the Satanic symbol it truly was — and is!

America was established in 1776, a year that adds to a ’21′, to begin her national life, at the conclusion of which she was to physically return

–Don Croft (From an Illuminati insider) The Phoenix: this is one of their highest military and spiritual symbols. If you see a German eagle, too, this is a huge sign. Certain companies will use a phoenix as their logo, especially red on black, or the

Sun.”

Obviously, we can see that the Phoenix bird has to do with Ancient Egyptian Sun Worship!

to ashes. Out of these ashes the new Phoenix was to arise, producing the final form of government, the global New World Order.”

reverse, this is a huge sign, since the Illuminati use many resuscitation rituals in their training, where the person is brought into a death, or

Freemasonry is in reality built upon the Ancient Mystery Religions of Egypt and Babylon!

Did you know that the Guiding Spirits of our occultic Founding Fathers insisted to them that America’s national bird was to be a Phoenix Bird? The first drawings these Founding Fathers produced were of the occult Phoenix Bird.

However, they later changed

Here’s more researchers’ takes on the Phoenix symbolism: The death of the world odor will be the death of usury, again–perhaps the final death of that ‘phoenix’ which is characterized by the masonic symbolism of the US dollar bill. Did you think it was an eagle on the Great Seal of the United States?

It’s a phoenix and it symbolizes the flaming vitality, until now, of usury.

near death state, then “resuscitated” and told that Baal, or some other entity, “gave them life” and they owe their new life to him and the group.

Thus, the phoenix is a huge trigger and symbol. Svali At the origin, a phoenix was used for the seal instead of the eagle.

The phoenix amongst other things symbolizes rebirth. Because the Phoenix stands for being destroyed

in flames and then rising from the ashes, for the Illuminati it symbolizes Lucifer. -David Icke.

Barbara Walker, in her occult book, Now Is The Dawning , p. 281.

Egyptians believed that the Phoenix was the representative of a god who “rose to heaven in the form of a morning star, like Lucifer, after his fire-immolation of death and rebirth ...”

The Phoenix is one sign of the secret orders of the ancient world and of the initiate of those orders, for it was common to refer to one who had been accepted into the temples as a man twice-born, or reborn. Wisdom confers a new life, and those who become wise are born again.” [p. p.

176-77] Horus (called Phoenix or Falcon) To prevent most people from associating the Masonic Eagle with the ancient Phoenix, Freemasons changed the Phoenix to an Eagle, and began to refer to it as an Eagle.

However, two Masonic authors blow the lid off that change in symbolism.

Manly P. Hall, in his book, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry , states, “These were the immortals to whom the term ‘phoenix’ was applied, and their symbol was the mysterious two-headed bird, now called an eagle , a familiar and little understood Masonic emblem .” [p.

108; Emphasis added] Albert Pike, in Magnum Opus, writes, “... the Eagle was the living Symbol of Egyptian God Mendes ... and the representative of the Sun ...” [p. xviii] In one sentence, we see the admission that the Phoenix Bird of Ancient Satanic Egypt was changed into the Masonic Eagle and then Pike admits that the Eagle is the Symbol of the Sun God and of the God of Mendes, both symbols being common Satanic symbols of Satan/Lucifer !

“DEUS MEUMQUE JUS.” This is a typical Satanic Latin phrase, meaning, “... Masons are saying that they are ‘using occult methods,’ through Lucifer, to achieve their Rights and Justice.”

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Olympics: Sushil Kumar wins silver for India in wrestling

India’s Sushil Kumar won India its sixth and final medal of the 2012 London Olympics after settling for silver in the final of the Men’s 66kg Freestyle Wrestling event on Sunday.

Sushil, who reached the final after defeating Tana Tarov of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals, was beaten by Japan’s Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu 3-1 in a short and swift final bout at the ExCel Arena.

The Japanase took the first period 1-0 and midway through the second clinched gold by virtue of a strong throw that sent Sushil to the mat.

Sushil has created history by becoming the first Indian to win two individual Olympic medals.

The 29-year-old Indian demolished Akhzurek Tanatrov of Kazakhstan 3-1 in an engrossing semi-final contest to achieve the memorable feat and provide the late spark to India’s Olympic campaign.

Apart from Sushil’s silver, India have so far bagged one silver and four bronze medals in the 30th edition of the Games, surpassing the one gold and two bronze medals they won in Beijing four years ago.

Sushil, a bronze medallist in the Beijing Games and the flag bearer

of the Indian contingent here, kept his reputation intact with a stunning display of skill, stamina and power as he wriggled out of some difficult positions to fashion victories.

Backed by vociferous Indian spectators, Sushil wrapped up the first period 3-0 in the high-voltage semi-final clash against Tanatrov but lost the second by an identical score.

5-3 and then, with just seconds left in the contest, he sealed his victory by lifting his rival on to his shoulders and throwing him down on the mat to win the third period 6-3 to enter the finals.

Earlier, Sushil disposed of defending champion Ramazan Sahin of Turkey and then prevailed over Uzbekistan’s Ikhtiyor Naruzov 3-1.

a 1-0 scoreline. He played it safe in the third round and did not take too many risks but managed to get one point to get the better of the Beijing Olympic gold medallist.

In the quarter final, Sushil showed his aggressive instincts a little more as he tried to rattle the Uzbek opponent by trying out different grips.

The Indian wrestler bagged the first

In the crucial third round, the Indian was lagging 0-3 behind but he showed his class and strength to fightback and level the score after pegging him down by his legs with the vociferous Indian contingent egging him on.

With 34 seconds left, the Indian scored two more points to move to

The Indian appeared a little rusty in the first period of his bout against Sahin in the pre-quarter finals but found his mojo to tilt the scale in his favour from the second onwards.

Sushil lost the first period 0-2 and then took advantage of the click to scrape past in the second round with

period quite comfortably with a 3-1 margin but conceded two points late in the second to lose 1-2.

With scores tied at 1-1, Sushil went for an all out attack and relied on his experience to secure two points and romp into the semi-finals much to the delight of the hordes of flag-waving

Continued from page 32 >>

Cricket: Yuvraj Singh included in World Cup squad

Laxman, who was doubtful to get the nod has been selected into the Test squad for the series against New Zealand.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee, which met at the Cricket Centre, Mumbai, earlier on Friday picked the Indian teams for the Test series against New Zealand, and the T20 International series against New Zealand and ICC World T20 2012 in Sri Lanka.

I have proof that Kamran Akmal is corrupt: Zulqarnain

league when contacted, refused to comment on Haider’s latest outburst. “I have been selected in the Pakistan team and my focus right now is on just performing for my country,” said Akmal. Haider, in November 2010, had created a huge controversy in Pakistan cricket when he fled from the team hotel in Dubai and flew to London where he claimed political asylum. The wicketkeeper had later said that he was forced to flee the hotel after being threatened by a bookmaker who wanted him to fix matches of the One-day series against South Africa in which he featured. In early 2011, Haider returned to Pakistan on the assurances of interior minister, Rehman Malik who said he and his family would be provided all security in Pakistan. The PCB also after fining him, cleared him to play domestic cricket and last season he resumed his first class cricket career.

Indian spectators who cheered him lustily.

Sushil had defeated Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan in the repechage round to win the bronze medal in the Beijing Games four years ago.

Yogeshwar Dutt wins bronze in 60kg freestyle wrestling Yogeshwar Dutt put up a brilliant display of power-packed freestyle wrestling in the Olympic Games and won a bronze medal at the ExCel Arena to give a late spark to India’s campaign here today.

The 29-year-old experienced grappler from Sonepat in Haryana showed tremendous fighting spirit and exhibited excellent technique against three very strong rivals in the repechage rounds to clinch India’s fifth medal of the Games.

Dutt clinched the bronze as he staged a brilliant rally after losing the opening round to North Korea’s Jong Myong Ri on his way to recording an emphatic 3-1 victory in the 60kg freestyle play-off.

It was India’s third wrestling medal at the Olympics after Kashaba Jadhav’s bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Games and a similar feat by Sushil Kumar four years ago in Beijing.

Olympics taekwondo: Afghanistan hero Rohullah Nikpai wins bronze

Afghanistan taekwondo hero Rohullah Nikpai matched his achievement at the Beijing Olympics winning bronze in the men’s -68kg category at London 2012.

Nikpai overcame Britain’s Martin Stamper 5-3 in the bronze medal match. The 25-year-old became a national hero after winning Afghanistan’s first ever Olympic medal four years ago.

“Of course, getting a medal is very important to all the countries in the world but especially for Afghanistan,” Nikpai said. “I’m very happy because this medal is very important for my country.”

He lost out to Iran’s Mohammad Bagheri Motamed in the quarter-finals in London but took advantage of a second chance through the repechage.

He beat David Boui of the Central African Republic 14-2 before beating Stamper in the semi-final. Nikpai

was greeted by thousands at Kabul’s Ghazi stadium when he returned from Beijing four years ago.

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Sonia meets Assam camp inmates

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi said here on Monday that inmates of relief camps in Kokrajhar and nearby districts wanted to return home, but it might take a little while for the situation to become a little calmer.

She assured the inmates that the government would make sure that they were able to return to their homes.

“Naturally all refugees want to go back home,” she told journalists after visiting a relief camp at Titaguri in Kokrajhar district.

“Once feelings are assuaged, the Chief Minister and others will make sure that the inmates are able to go home.”

The death toll in the violence in Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Bongaigaon districts has gone up to 78 with gunmen killing a migrant

construction worker from West Bengal and injuring two others at Datgiri market near India-Bhutan border in Chirang district on Monday.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) L.R. Bisnoi told The Hindu that the incident occurred around 3.30 p.m when a group of workers were returning from their work in Bhutan’s border

Mumbai violence rocks Parliament; Prithviraj Chavan meets PM

The issue of violence in Mumbai over Assam riots stalled proceedings in the Lok Sabha for the second consecutive day this morning as opposition members stormed the well demanding dismissal of Maharashtra government.

This comes on a day when Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is in Delhi. He met PM Manmohan Singh this morning and briefed him about the violence in Mumbai and the investigation into the incident.

As soon as the House met, Shiv Sena and BJP members from Maharashtra trooped into the Well demanding dismissal of the Maharashtra government and a statement from home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

The BJP members were also on their feet supporting them by raising slogans and demanding a statement

on Assam riots from Shinde, who visited the strife-torn areas on Monday. Speaker Meira Kumar tried to take up the Question Hour, but as opposition members were unrelenting she adjourned the House till noon.

Yesterday, the Lok Sabha had been adjourned for the day after uproar over violence in Mumbai over Assam riots.

In Rajya Sabha, opposition BJP and Shiv Sena members raised the Mumbai violence issue the moment chairman Hamid Ansari took his seat.

They, however, relented for a short while to enable the House to mourn the death of 250 people in twin earthquakes in Iran. Soon after, they stood up and displayed photographs of Mumbai violence and did not heed to Mr Ansari’s plea to members not to display posters or photographs.

town Gelephu. The injured were admitted to the Bongaigaon Civil Hospital. .

Ms. Gandhi said people in the relief camp told her that they were getting ration regularly. Two children were unwell and a doctor was treating them. Later, she visited a camp at Debargaon in Kokrajhar district and interacted with the inmates.

About 1.6 lakh displaced people

have so far returned to their homes while over three lakh are still taking shelter in camps.

Ms. Gandhi was accompanied

by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita. In Dhubri, Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Shinde visited two relief camps. Ms. Gandhi underlined need to decongest the camps and

provide more food for children.

Meanwhile, members of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Shinde, Mr. Gogoi, Assam Accord Implementaion Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma across the State to protest against the “nonimplementation of the Assam Accord.”

Assam riots protest: We had inputs about trouble in Mumbai, cops say

Mumbai Police had intelligence inputs about possible trouble at Saturday’s Azad Maidan rally and prevented the violence from spiralling by deploying in advance a large number of cops at the spot, Mumbai Police commissioner Arup Patnaik said on Monday.

“We had intelligence inputs that there would be about 20,000 people during the demonstration and possibility of some trouble at that place ... That was the reason why a joint police commissioner, additional police commissioner and four deputy police commissioners were deployed with over 700 men in uniform,” Patnaik said.

Because of these inputs, the fast worsening situation could be contained by police in just 35

minutes, he said.

The city police chief said a special investigating team (SIT) has been formed to probe the violence while a magisterial inquiry has been ordered to look into the police firing and how the situation went out of control.

Patnaik was speaking to media after holding a meeting with police officers on security issues arising out of the August 11 incident, the upcoming festival season and the two-day scheduled visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh beginning from August 17.

According to an officer, the prime minister is likely to visit the site of violence in South Mumbai.

Two youths were killed and at least 52 people, including 44 policemen,

were injured when a protest being held at Azad Maidan to condemn Assam riots turned violent, with protesters going on a rampage by torching vehicles, pelting stones and damaging buses, forcing police to fire in the air and use batons to disperse the unruly mob.

Explaining the Saturday’s course of events, the police commissioner said, “There were some groups outside the Azad Maidan ground which triggered the violence first and not the 20,000 demonstrators.

“Within six to seven minutes, the unruly mob torched some vehicles and attacked police vans. When I learnt about it after speaking to my colleague, I immediately rushed to the spot and contained the situation,” Patnaik said.

52 die as bus falls into gorge in Himachal

Tragedy struck the hills of Chamba early on Saturday, when 52 people, were killed and 46 others injured as an overloaded private bus swerved off the road and fell into a 250-feet-deep gorge in this remote district of Himachal Pradesh.

The accident took place near Rajera, 8km from Chamba town, when the driver lost control of the bus due to a tyre burst

and the vehicle went down the gorge at around 9am, police said.

The 42-seater bus was carrying over 100 passengers on a link road from Dulera to Chamba with many passengers sitting on the roof of the bus. As Himachal Road Transport Corporation was not plying on this route, the villagers had boarded the private bus to reach Chamba for their

weekend shopping.

“Around 65 passengers were sitting inside while the rest were on the rooftop,” Chamba SP Kuldeep Sharma said. “It is not possible for a bus to carry around 100 passengers on this route, we are now investigating whether the injured include passersby also,” said the SP. The accident spot was 3km from the

police lines, where cops were holding rehearsals for the Independence Day parade. They reached the spot immediately and started rescue operations with the help of ITBP. Police said the injured were shifted to the government hospital in Chamba.

Including the driver, 39 died on the spot, while 13 died in the hospital.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Iran raises quake death toll to 306

Iran raises quake death toll to 306 as officials warn of possible disease outbreak Number of Injured People in Saturday Quake Rises to 4,500

The twin quakes which struck parts of Northwestern Iran on Saturday have claimed the lives of 306 people and injured more than 4,500 others, medical officials announced Monday.

“Evacuation and transferring the injured people in East Azarbaijan (province) ended in just 24 hours,” Head of the State Emergency Center Gholam Reza Masoumi told FNA on Monday.

“From the overall 4,500 people injured in the incident, 1200 have been transferred to hospitals, mostly in Tabriz,” he said, and added, “The other 3,300 injured people have been registered as outpatients.”

Iran’s Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi told the parliament earlier today that the two quakes have killed 306 people.

“The total number of those killed

in the recent quakes in the East Azerbaijan province stood at 306,” Dastjerdi told the Iranian lawmakers in an open session of the parliament here in Tehran on Monday.

She further added that 116 aftershocks have been registered in the area in the last few days.

An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted Ahar in East Azerbaijan province at 16:00 hours local time (1130GMT) Saturday. The epicenter of the quake was located in an area 46.8 degrees in longitude and 38.4 degrees in latitude.

Almost an hour later another quake with magnitude 6 on the Richter scale jolted Varzaqan at 17:04 hours local time (1234GMT) in the same province. The epicenter of the quake was located in an area 46.7 degrees in longitude and 38.4 degrees in latitude.

Iran ends earthquake rescue

Mourning begins as Two earthquakes kill more than 250, injure 2,000 in Iran

Iran today wrapped up rescue operation in hundreds of villages flattened by twin earthquakes the day before in its northwest . Iran’s Coroners Office announced Sunday that the death toll of Saturday’s twin quakes in northwest of the country has approximately reached 250 to 300 at the time expert teams were dispatched to the quake-stricken areas in the East Azarbaijan Province in northwestern Iran, according to Iran’s state agency IRNA. It added that the teams were searching for further victims of the strong earthquakes which rocked provincial cities of Ahar, Varzaqan and Haris Saturday afternoon, but rescue operations ended as of Sunday.

About 1,380 were injured in the disaster.

“Search and rescue operations have ended and we are now working to ensure survivors’ needs in terms of shelter and food,” Interior Minister Moustafa Mohammad-Najjar told state television.

The quakes were, respectively, measured 6.2 and 6.0 on Richter scale followed by 55 aftershocks, the strongest of which was measured 4.8 Richter.

While the biggest city in the region, Tabriz, and nearby towns escaped with only relatively minor damage, scores of outlying villages made of more flimsy mud and concrete bricks were decimated.

Mohammad-Najjar said around half the 600 villages located in the zone were damaged or destroyed. He said

small.

But still there were many stories of tragedy.

Zeinab, a 13-year-old girl seen outside a Red Crescent tent in the village of Mirza Ali Kandi told AFP how she saw her eight-year-old brother and 16-yearold sister die before her eyes.

“I was outside my home playing when it

“I was working on my farm, on my tractor, and I felt the earth shake and I was thrown off the vehicle,” a 40year-old farmer in one hamlet, Qanbar Mehdizade, told reporters.

His family, who had been working with him, survived.

A journalists in the zone saw many exhausted residents mourning their

Emergency workers from 14 provinces around Iran arrived to help overnight, drawing on services and resources built up through the country’s long experience in dealing with seismic instability.

Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.

that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had given orders on Sunday for home reconstruction to begin immediately because of the harsh winter the region will experience at the end of the year.

An estimated 16,000 people were left homeless by the quakes.

The rapid rescue operation highlighted the fact that in the villages residents knew each other well and knew where to look, and collapsed buildings were

(the first quake) happened. I ran inside looking for my brother and found him under a big pile of rubble. I tried to get him out. And then I heard my sister cry out and I turned and she has a big stone in her head, and I ran out,” she said, sobbing.

“I wish it had been me, too, I wish I hadn’t run out,” she yelled, prompting her uncle to try to console her.

Others were more fortunate.

loved ones. Grieving women wailed over the bodies of the dead, many of whom were women and children.

“This village is a mass grave,” said Alireza Haidaree, an emergency worker who supervised a bulldozer working in the village of Baje Baj, where 33 of the 414 inhabitants died.

“There are so many other villages that have been completely destroyed,” he added.

The deadliest was a 6.6-magnitude quake which struck the southeastern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people -- about a quarter of the population -- and destroying the city’s ancient mud-built citadel.

Even into Sunday, the earth trembled from time to time from one of more than 50 aftershocks, jarring the nerves of those who had spent a terrified night sleeping in the open.

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

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How to Aid Iran Quake Victims

The deadly double earthquakes in Iran over the weekend, the first natural disaster there since the United States imposed onerous financial sanctions , have raised worries among Iranian-Americans about where to send donations — and whether such aid is even legal.

American officials said Monday that humanitarian aid for victims of the disaster, which left more than 300 people dead and thousands homeless in a Turkish-speaking region of northwest Iran, was exempt from sanctions. But the National Iranian American Council, a Washingtonbased advocacy group representing Americans of Iranian descent, said that given the severity and scope of the sanctions, “there are serious concerns that humanitarian relief will be hindered.” At the same time, the Iranian government has sent conflicting signals about whether it is accepting aid and which countries

would be acceptable donors.

Many countries, including Iran’s

neighbors as well as the United States, have expressed condolences

and offered emergency relief supplies. “We stand ready to offer

assistance in this difficult time,” the White House said Sunday on its Web site.

Pooya Hajian, a spokesman for Iran’s Red Crescent Society, said Iran would not accept aid from any country, only from other Red Cross organizations. “There are no exceptions in this,” he answered specifically about the offer from the United States. “We have thanked Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia for their offers for help, but our domestic capabilities are sufficient.”

But the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi as saying at a news conference in the northwestern city of Tabriz on Monday that “in these circumstances, we are ready to receive assistance from various countries for the earthquakestricken people.”

quakes, which have been followed by scores of aftershocks.

The quakes hit the towns of Ahar, Haris and Varzaqan in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. At least 12 villages were totally levelled, and 425 others sustained damage ranging from 50 to 80%. The area has a population of about 300,000.

Many roads and other infrastructure were heavily damaged.

For two days after the quakes, Tehran insisted it needed no foreign assistance to handle the situation.

Iran’s Red Crescent on Monday sent back a rescue team from Turkey that arrived without advance co-ordination. The head

of Red Crescent Society of in the quake-struck province also said international aid was not needed.

The US said despite economic sanctions on Iran, Americans could provide food and medicine to victims of the disaster without needing a special licence.

Vice-president Rahimi said: “Now and under the current circumstances, we are ready to receive help from various countries.”

His remarks followed what appears to have been scathing criticism at home. MPs attacked the government over what they called its “slow reaction,” Iranian newspapers reported.

Iran accepts foreign quake help

Iran has appealed for foreign help to deal with the aftermath of the deadly twin earthquakes that hit it last weekend after initially claiming it was not needed.

The move indicates it is still struggling to cope amid growing criticism that it failed to react quickly and help the region along the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia, where 306 were killed and more than 3,000 injured.

Vice-president Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran was now welcoming assistance from abroad for the quake victims.

The government said it has provided shelter for about 50,000 people who lost their homes during the

IHRC starts pro-Palestine campaign as Al-Quds Day ‘Al Quds’ Ad Campaign Sparks Outrage in London

An advertising campaign on London buses for a pro-Palestinian rally inspired

by Iran has angered Jewish groups but Transport for London (TfL) has refused to remove the posters.

The groups said that while the ad campaign on more than 400 London buses described the annual Al-Quds Day march as an event about “the freedom of the Palestinians”, the organisation founding the event posted anti-Israel comments on its website.

Jewish groups have expressed outrage over an advertisement campaign for an “Al Quds” rally that has appeared on hundreds of buses running in London.

Despite objections, though, Transport for London (TfL) has refused to remove the posters, but claims it is reviewing its advertisement policy.

The London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) who launched its London bus campaign ahead of the Friday’s Al-Quds Day, aiming to highlight the ongoing human rights abuses in Palestine and Bahrain. “You can ban me from the US but we cannot be banned from campaigning on Human Rights and justice for all,” said the chair of IHRC, Massoud Shadjareh, at a bus depot in the

northwestern London borough of Brent.

The main cause and goal of the Muslim nations is to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and to free Jerusalem, an Iranian defense official was quoted as saying by Iran’s Fars News Agency on Wednesday.

Gholam Reza Jalali, the head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, was speaking ahead of International Quds Day,

scheduled to be held throughout the Muslim world on Friday. “Today, freedom of the holy Quds (Jerusalem) has became a cause for Muslims and a motto in their uprisings,” he said referencing the Arab Spring.

“The Quds day … is a demonstration of the fact that resistance is the only way to put a complete end to the Israeli aggression and the only way to its annihilation.

The Muslim nations of the world should support the oppressed people of Palestine on the path towards the liberation of Palestine,” Fars quoted Jalali as saying.

Last year, the annual Al-Quds Day march in London, which started near BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place and ended in Trafalgar Square, was hailed as the biggest congregation of human rights advocates in support of Palestine in the UK in as many years, with an estimated 6,000 people.

Meanwhile, moves to tighten a boycott grip on the Israeli regime have gained momentum in the UK since April, when Britain’s fifth-largest food retailer, the Co-operative Group, extended a boycott of goods from illegal settlements that have been produced on occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 10 November 2011 South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Israel’s Ultimate Goal?

It’s not Iran, ‘Israel aims to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque’ From the Torah that G-d, who commanded to Israel, “build for Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them,” (ibid 25:8)

Now it is time to build the Holy Temple!

According to Jews religious writings The temple was built in 3 phases (Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod) and was destroyed by the Romans. The temple was never rebuilt again by the Jews, and replaced by the Muslim shrines in the 8th C AD which stand there today over the ruins of the base of the Roman period temple.

According to Jews religious writings The Israel is only permitted to construct a Temple on the top of Mt. Moriah. For them bible tells that Israel will build the Temple. Once the “Dome of the Rock” is removed, only then could a Jewish Temple be built. For the Dome of the Rock to be removed a significant event must take place. This event will pit the Islamic world against Israel. Israel will vanquish the armies of Islam in a coming battle foretold in the Bible. Prerequisite of Daniel’s 70th Week Before the “70th Week” of Daniel can begin two events must happen to the Jewish people.

• They must be gathered into the Land of Israel • Israel must have the desire to rebuild the Jewish Temple Continued on page 29 >>

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The Mummy Returns: Aishwarya Rai sheds in stunning new pics Second series of post-baby images will have Ash silencing her critics

Say hello to a sparkling, slimmer Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, back doing what she does best - facing the camera.

She has been busy playing mother to daughter Aaradhya Bachchan, now almost 9-months old.

Now the mother is sparkling in an ad campaign for a jewellery brand.

Aishwarya is promoting a princess wedding jewellery collection by the brand.

Wearing a heavily embroidered pink and orange ethnic Indian dress, she draped herself with an off-white long scarf. She wears the jeweller’s latest designs for a tiara, necklace and bangles in the shoot.

Aishwarya Rai will be seen exhibiting almost 15 new brands of the jeweller’s gold and diamond jewellery in the yet-to-be released advertisement.

The print ad made a statement, but again the photographs veered to her post-delivery weight gain issue.

Eyebrows were raised about her clear-cut profile and finely-chiseled face.

Though her face was almost perfect, she covered herself with layers of long scarf that hid her lower body mass.

The quarter-sleeve blouse running till her waist covered the actress’ not-yet-toned arms.

Not long ago Aishwarya faced the wrath of media for being over-weight. Her 65th Cannes Film Festival outing in May was marred with criticism.

But did she really care? She went, she smiled, waved her hand without caring and sent the message loud and clear - Ash doesn’t want to be a ‘mannequin’.

Well, she does become a mannequin only

when work beckons as a brand ambassador and being paid a whopping Rs10 crore (Dh10m, approx).

She did not lose weight to please her detractors but did so on her own terms.

Photoshop or no photoshop, Ash does look stunning and sounds the bell for everyone that the “world’s most beautiful woman” is staging a comeback.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Want to Bring Aaradhya Up ‘As Normally As Possible’

Just a few weeks after she was born he was a guest on a local radio show and couldn’t resist showing off his daughter’s photo to the host. And he was caught sharing pics with Madhuri Dixit as well when he appeared as a guest judge on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. And he’s been happy to share little details of his family life in interviews as well, which is in stark contrast to Aishwarya, who almost never speaks about her daughter (save for a brief interview at Cannes and an occasional

comment about how much she enjoys motherhood).

Abhishek is proving himself to be a pretty adorable dad, especially when he commented that “I am sure we all want her to look like her mom. I mean looking like [me] would be a bit scary for a girl!” And who wouldn’t want to look like Aishwarya—her recent work proves she’s still one of the world’s most stunning beauties.

Abhi also revealed how he and Aishwarya plan on raising their daughter. Recalling his own upbringing, Abhishek stated that he and Aish want to raise Aaradhya “as normally as possible.” Whether or not that will be possible remains to be seen!

Abhishek Bachchan is still in ‘proud papa’ mode. Just recently he revealed how amazed he is at his daughter’s constantly changing appearance, as well as joked that he hopes Aaradhya ends up looking more like Aishwarya Rai than him.

Abhi has always been the more chatty and open of the two when it comes to Beti B.

Bollywood Superstar Akshay Kumar Launches New Film Trailer For OMG on the Finale of ‘Dance India Dance Lil Masters’

Come August 19, Sunday mornings will never be the same again! In an exciting revival of the once-popular phenomenon of Sunday morning TV viewing for the whole family, Zee TV, World’s leading Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC), will premiere the country’s most revered mythological series, Ramayan, at 11am.

A timeless classic based on Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas, Ramayan shows viewers a way of life … it is rich in the core values, ideals and principles that form the crux of Indian culture and upbringing. Centuries after the original epic was first written, its relevance in contemporary times remains unquestioned. The jet-setting, smartphone-toting denizens of the Twitter age can benefit immensely from applying its

learnings to their lives!

Virad Kaul, Territory Head, Zee Europe said, “Ramayan is a way of life to most Indian families. The cultural roots of Indian families across Europe have the teachings of Ramayan engraved in their lives. By bringing Ramayan to our European audiences we endeavor to recreate the exuberance along with the subtleties of the mythology closest to our hearts.

By showcasing Ramayan on a Sunday morning, we wish to engage the entire family, right from grandparents to the young in the house, in a joint TV viewing experience.”

Zee TV’s Ramayan will be a grand recreation of the original epic and will thrive on authenticity of representation. Neil Bhatt, who played the lead in Zee TV’s 12/24 Karol Bagh, will be seen as the

devoted brother Lakshman while Shikha Swaroop, the former beauty queen-turned-actress will reveal shades of grey as Kaikeyee. Actor Rishabh Shukla will step into the shoes of King Dashrath, Lord Rama’s father.

In a most unique innovation in the digital space, Zee TV is all set to create a virtual temple on its official website that will let devotees perform an online aarti at the click and drag of a mouse. Ramayan will also have interactive apps on social networking websites to ensure a good connect with the younger demographics.

Two of India’s favourite passions – actor Akshay Kumar and the love of dance - came together recently when superstar Akshay launched the official trailer for his forthcoming new film ‘OMG Oh My God’ on the finale of the hit show Dance India Dance Lil Masters.

The delighted studio audience cheered, whistled and clapped when Akshay emerged through the screen doors. The timing of the trailer launch couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time, as India had just celebrated the auspicious festival of Janmashtami, and in the film Akshay plays a modern day Lord Krishna.

Akshay laughed, joked and danced with the excited contestants. He even found time to surprise dance hopeful Soumya when he presented her with the holy flute as held by Lord Krishna in the film.

OMG Oh My God, which is based on the hit Gujarati play, is Akshay Kumar and Ashvini Yardi’s maiden

venture under the banner of their production company Grazing Goat Pictures and is directed by Umesh Shukla (Dhoondte Reh Jaoge). The film features comedy kingpin Paresh Rawal in the lead role of a beleagured shopkeeper, who doubts the existence of God. Thus enters Akshay in a cameo role as Lord Krishna.

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Thursday, 16.08.12

international

15th Aug: India’s 66th 14th August: Pakistan celebrates 66th Independence Day Manmohan formally announces Independence Day India’s Mars mission

Cautioning that lack of political consensus on many issues was impeding rapid economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said time has come to view development processes as matters of national security.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of 66th Independence Day, he hoped that all political parties will help the government in passing the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill in Parliament.

“We will continue our efforts to bring more transparency and accountability in the work of public servants and to reduce corruption,” Singh said.

While doing so, steps will be taken to see that the morale of public functionaries taking decisions in public interest is not affected because of baseless allegations and unnecessary litigation, he said.

On economic growth, the Prime Minister said that lack of political consensus was coming in its way.

Making the first formal announcement on the country’s Mars mission, Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said India will send a mission to the Red Planet that will mark a huge step in the area of science and technology.

“Recently, the Cabinet has approved the Mars Orbiter Mission. Under this Mission, our spaceship will go near Mars and collect important scientific information,” he said addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of the 66th Independence Day. “This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology,” Dr. Singh said.

India will be the sixth country to launch a mission to the Red Planet after the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and China.

If the mission is successful, India will be the first Asian country to do so as probes sent

by China and Japan had to be abandoned en route.

As per the proposal drawn up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Rs. 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission is expected to be launched in November next year with a 25 kg scientific payload.

Pakistanis have taken part in a day of celebrations to mark their country’s 66th Independence Day. There was a ceremonial change of the guard at the tomb of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi, and political and military leaders visited the mausoleum to pay homage to the man they call “the father of the nation”.

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf used his independence day speech to call for unity, and support for neighbouring Afghanistan.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Afghan brothers at every critical juncture, playing the role of a flag bearer in the efforts to maintain peace in Afghanistan,” he said.

“We want a durable solution to the Afghan issue which should have the full backing of the Afghan people.”

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has used the day to call for an end to militant violence.

“The militants pose the greatest threat to the country,” he said.

“The great challenge that we are faced with is defeating the militant mindset.

For this, we must defend democracy and promote tolerance, discussion and debate.”

Pakistan Independence Day Demands National Solidarity Pakistani nation has celebrated its 65th Independence Day on 14 August, Continued on page 20 >>

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India: Yoga guru Swami Ramdev held over protests at corruption

An anti-corruption campaign by a controversial guru who believes yoga can cure Aids created drama and chaos yesterday after police arrested the holy man and thousands of his supporters.

Swami Ramdev was led away by police as his supporters blew conch shells and yelled chants after he tried to lead them to the Indian parliament in the centre of Delhi. He and many of his supporters were subsequently released

and last night they had gathered in a sports stadium.

The arrests are the latest in a series of confrontations between the Indian government and activists demanding greater action against corruption. Another activist, Anna Hazare, recently called off a hunger strike designed to pressure the government to establish an anticorruption ombudsman.

Curfew continues in Bareilly for third consecutive day

The district administration will give relaxation in curfew during the day in Bareilly on Tuesday after no untoward incident was reported from the city during the last 24hours while the Ganga Maharani procession also passed off peacefully on Monday.

Inspector General (Law & Order) BP Singh claimed here on Monday evening that curfew was implemented strictly in all the trouble-prone areas of Bareilly on Monday. He

said that heavy police force has also been patrolling to avert any further clash while more arrests were made regarding the violence which erupted for the second time on last Saturday. all schools and colleges remained closed in the region.

There will be no relaxation in the curfew, District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash said. All schools and colleges will remained closed, while government offices will function normally, he said. Shoot-at-sight

orders for those violating curfew are in place, he said.

Meanwhile, an impersonator moving in a vehicle with blue beacon was arrested by police here. On Saturday last trouble broke out in Baradari area when two groups clashed after a Janmashtami procession deviated from its fixed route and was stopped by some persons in Jagatpur Panwaria locality leading to heavy brick batting and firing in which three persons, including a mother-son duo

were injured. In Kalibari area also, people went on rampage when route of another procession was changed and clashed with police.

While police resorted to lathicharge and fired tear gas shells, the mob indulged into brick batting and firing in which around 15 people, including three policemen were injured.

In the wake of clashes, curfew was clamped in Baradari, Prem Nagar, Qila and Kotwali areas of the city and all schools and colleges

were closed till further orders.

Senior Superintendent of Police Satyendraveer Singh has suspended two sub-inspectors Asharam and Babu Ram have been suspended and inspector Baradari has been removed.

This is the second time when curfew has been clamped in the city. Earlier curfew was clamped on July 22 following clashes between two groups which claimed four lives and was lifted completely on August 7.

14th August: Pakistan celebrates 66th Independence Day

Continued from page 19 >>

2012 with full enthusiasm. Every Independence Day always infused new spirit in me. Last midnight of 13-14 August, rounding up of Lahore city with the family in the company of 82 years old Squadron Leader, Retired Abdul Ali Shaukat (my uncle) has also turned out another unforgettable moments of my life. In fact, due to the job compulsion, my uncle shifted to Lahore a month earlier or so. He received the family that had migrated from India to Pakistan.

The visit of Lahore, which has freshened up the memories of the old veteran but also created touchy and aspiring effects in me and my family as well, after listening the unfolding of events from an eye witness of Independence Day. He narrated that most of families migrated with

empty hands and faced multiple crises but the spirit of sacrifices, determination and happiness of freedom do reflect from their faces.

He further expressed that although they left their property behind, yet they never lost the hope of moving forward and forward.

Zardari pitches for dialogue on Pak independence day Stressing upon the importance of a “high-level” dialogue to resolve bilateral issues with India, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated the need of a peaceful resolution to all disputes through a ‘sustained and productive dialogue’, which he said would bear fruit.

Zardari’s statement was read out during a seminar, ‘In Pursuit of Shared Destiny in the Subcontinent’, organised by South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) on the eve of Pakistan’s

65th Independence Day here on Monday.

“The present democratic government and the people of Pakistan wish to see peace

security to focus on social and economic development of their population,” he added.

Mukherjee greets Zardari on Pakistan’s Independence Day

and cooperation flourish in the subcontinent. I hope endeavours

by SAFMA will encourage taking ‘bold steps’ to make South Asia an economic power house, to benefit its over a billion people. The two countries need durable peace and

President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday greeted the people and the government of Pakistan on their Independence Day and said the progress in their bilateral dialogue was a reflection of the desire of the peoples of the two countries for

peace and harmony.

In a message to his Pakistan counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, Mukherjee said the success of their sustained efforts would result in mutually beneficial cooperation.

Pakistan frees 55 Indians for Independence Day Pakistan on Wednesday released 55 Indian fishermen, 15 of them teenagers, as a “goodwill gesture” to mark independence day in India.

The release is part of an understanding between the nuclear-armed rivals to free citizens who mistakenly stray into each other’s waters.

“Some 55 Indian fishermen have been released from our jail on the instructions of the government,” said Nazeer Husain Shah, superintendent of Malir district prison in Karachi.

“Those released include 15 teenage boys,” he told reporters

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS

Afghan attacks with some 14 suicide bombers more than 50 killed

Police say a motorcycle bomb outside a crowded bazaar in northern Afghanistan has killed at least 10 people, including several children.

The blast brought the death toll to at least 46 in a bloody day for Afghanistan, after as many as 14 suicide bombers were involved in attacks in a southwestern city.

District police chief Hamid Agha says the motorcycle bomber struck in the early evening in the northern province of Kunduz as shoppers were rushing home for the meal ending the daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He said five children

were among the dead and at

least 25 people were wounded.

The police chief of southwestern province of Nimroz said the death toll in the earlier multiple suicide attacks there has risen to 36.

Three suicide bombers killed at least 28 people on Tuesday in a usually peaceful city in southwestern Afghanistan, an official said.

The triple bombing in Nimroz province was the latest incident in a month of violence, during which Taliban insurgents and their allies have ratcheted up attacks as international troops increasingly hand over responsibility for security in the country to Afghan police and soldiers.

In the first explosion on Tuesday, a bomber detonated his explosives in the heart of the city. At almost at the same time, police opened fire at two other attackers in other parts of the city, accidentally setting off their explosives, Barawi added.

Most of those killed were civilians rushing to buy food to break the daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan.

Nimroz is one of Afghanistan’s relatively peaceful provinces but has seen an increase in violence recently. On Saturday, an Afghan police officer killed 11 of his fellow officers in the remote Dilaram district of the province.

Afghanistan mosque bombing injures 9 United Kingdom face

Attacks continue on civilians after 50 killed day before Two grenades exploded inside a mosque compound during morning prayers in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, wounding at least nine worshippers, just a day after a series of deadly attacks in the country.

The attack in eastern Khost province came a day after several explosions around the country killed at least 50 people in the deadliestday for civilians this year as Taliban insurgents and their allies ramp up violence across the country.

The Taliban summer offensive this year coincides with Afghan police and soldiers taking on more responsibility for security while international forces start

to withdraw.

Three grenades were thrown into the mosque compound in Baghi Sara area, Khost police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai said. One exploded inside the mosque itself, and one in the courtyard outside. The third failed to detonate.

Zazai blamed Taliban insurgents for the attack. “This was the work of the enemy,” he said. “It cannot be a private dispute.

Why would anyone be so angry to throw

grenades in a mosque while people are praying?” He said many of those praying were Afghans who work at the nearby U.S. base, Forward Operating Base Salerno.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid issued a statement that did not acknowledge the mosque attack but claimed an insurgent suicide bomber had attacked a U.S. base in Khost, causing several American casualties.

A spokesman for the NATO military coalition said Wednesday that there was no attack on the Salerno base, which is close to the mosque in Baghi Sara. Lt. Col. Hagen Messer said the American personnel at the base reported hearing gunfire from the mosque but that Afghan police were investigating.

Afghan officials met key Taliban figure in Pak

Afghan officials have held secret talks with the Taliban’s former second in command who is in detention in Pakistan in a move which could help rekindle stalled peace talks with the insurgents, according to senior officials from both countries.

Rangin Spanta, the national security adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and an architect of peace-building efforts, said an Afghan delegation had met Mullah Baradar in Pakistan two

months ago.

Baradar has been in detention since he was captured in Karachi in 2010.

“We have met Mullah Baradar,” Spanta told Reuters in Kabul. “Our delegation has spoken to him to know his view on peace talks.”

Afghan officials have publicly been demanding access to Baradar, the Taliban’s top military commander until he was captured in Karachi, but Spanta’s revelation shows preliminary contact has already

been made.

Rehman Malik also said that Pakistan had granted Afghan officials access to Baradar.

“They had access at the required and appropriate level,” Malik told Reuters.

“We are fully cooperating with Afghanistan and whatever they are asking for the peace process, for developing peace in Afghanistan.

We are giving every kind of help.”

Afghan officials hope Baradar could play a key role in any negotiations to end the Afghan conflict, acting as a go-between with senior Taliban leaders including Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed last month to resume regular talks on Afghanistan’s peace process, with the new Pakistani prime minister promising to help arrange meetings between Afghan and Taliban representatives.

legal challenge over Afghanistan ‘kill list’

Britain’s role in supplying information to an American military “kill list” in Afghanistan is being subjected to legal challenge amid growing international concern over targeted strikes against suspected insurgents and drug traffickers.

An Afghan man who lost five relatives in a missile strike has started proceedings against the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and the Ministry of Defence demanding to know the UK’s involvement in the joint integrated prioritised target list (JIPTL).

Rahman, who lost two brothers, two uncles and his father-in-law in the attack on September 2, 2010, is demanding to know the extent of Britain’s involvement in what his lawyers say is a list of people designated as targets by military forces in Afghanistan, including whether it is legal. “Our client’s case suggests that the establishment and maintenance of the ‘killing list’ is not in line with the UK’s duties under international

humanitarian law,” said Rosa Curling, a solicitor with Leigh Day and Co. Legal letters sent to Soca and the MoD state the involvement of UK officials in these decisions “may give rise to criminal offences and thus be unlawful”.

They say Britain’s contribution raises several concerns, particularly in cases where international humanitarian laws protecting civilians and noncombatants may have been broken.

According to Rahman, the attack happened while they were helping his cousin Abdul Wahab Khorasani, a former parliamentary candidate, as he campaigned in the Rustaq district of Takhar province, Afghanistan.

Ten civilians were killed and several more injured, most of whom were election campaign workers and relatives of Mr Rahman, he said.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said at the time the attack was “a precision air strike” which killed or injured “eight to 12 insurgents”, including a Taliban commander.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS

Rohingya issue :Ask Myanmar to settle it

PM tells UK, other countries not to put pressure on Bangladesh over Rohingya issue

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged countries, including the United Kingdom, which are concerned about the Rohingya issue, to talk to the Myanmar government instead of putting pressure on Bangladesh.

Hasina made the call at a meeting with British Secretary of State for International Development Affairs Andrew Mitchell at her hotel suite in London on Sunday evening, reports BSS. After the meet, PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters.

Hasina told Mitchell that Bangladesh, despite being an overpopulated country, was already hosting over 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two camps in Cox’s Bazar.

In June, as sectarian violence broke out in Myanmar, hundreds of Rohingyas tried to enter Bangladesh

by crossing the river Naff in Teknaf.

The BGB and coast guard men sent them back despite repeated pressure from some foreign countries and international agencies to accept them as refugees.

Hasina said her government was providing the Rohingyas with food, medicine and even financial assistance before repatriating them.

Additionally, in an interview with a foreign television channel last month, she said Bangladesh was already an overpopulated country so it could not take in any more Rohingyas.

This time, too, she explained to the British secretary of state the context of Bangladesh and why her government had to deny entry to Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar in June.

The Rohingyas are a centuriesold minority Muslim population

Any foreign interference won’t be tolerated: Hanif

The Awami League acting general secretary, Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif, has said Bangladesh will not tolerate any foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs.

‘Grameen Bank and Nobel laureate Yunus are our internal matter.. we would not tolerate any foreign interference in this issue,’ Hanif said while speaking a discussion meeting in the city Sunday.

Jatiya Bidyut Sramik League

organised the discussion as part of the national mourning day programme.

Held at the Motijheel WAPDA Bhaban, Sramik League president Shukkur Mahmud presided over it.

Executive committee president Fazlul Haq Mantu, Krishak League vice-president MA Karim, labour leaders M Quayum, BM Zafar and K Azad Khasru, among others, addressed it.

Speaking at the discussion Hanif said, ‘Are the Nobel Prize winners above the law’? ‘So far I know two Nobel laureates were sentenced to imprisonment,’ he added.

‘We are not putting our Nobel laureate on the dock… only steps have been taken to investigate whether there were any irregularities in Grameen Bank but for this, no foreign power can raise eye-brow,’ Hanif added.

of Myanmar. But they have been “stateless” since Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Act undid their citizenship status in 1948.

Last month, Amnesty International also called on Myanmar’s parliament to amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law to ensure that Rohingyas were no longer stateless.

“Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left

or rendered stateless. For too long Myanmar’s human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar researcher.

Bangladesh first allowed Rohingyas in as refugees in 1978. Some 2,50,877 Rohingyas took shelter at the time

as registered refugees in dozens of camps across Cox’s Bazar. After this influx, Bangladesh could send back 2,36,599 refugees till 2005, officials statistics show.

At present, there are around 30,000 registered Rohingya refugees at two camps in Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar. But roughly about half a million of them unofficially live in Cox’s Bazar and other areas of the Chittagong region.

PM Sheikh Hasina for steps to protect and spread Islam

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Friday urged all to continue their efforts so that more people could be attracted to Islam and adopt the religion.

‘It’s the holy duty of all to protect and spread this religion (Islam),’ she said at a function marking the inauguration of a website ‘Al Quran: Digital’ at Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

She also inaugurated the website www.quran.gov.bd.

Hasina urged everyone to follow the life of Prophet Muhammad (SM) as a moral beacon and encourage people from other religions to accept the teachings of Islam.

Terming Islam a religion of peace, the prime minister said those who had indulged in militancy and terrorist activities had, in fact, no religion. ‘They [terrorists] have no border; they have no religion either.’

Hasina said that killing people by bomb attacks in the name of Islam had become a common phenomenon in Bangladesh during the rule of BNP-Jamaat alliance.

She said the present government had undertaken programmes to engage the ulema and religious leaders in campaigns against militancy to free the country from the stigma.

The prime minister said there was no militancy in the country now and urged all to work with utmost sincerity to ensure welfare of the common people by following the spirit of Islam and Holy Quran and Sunnah.

‘Let’s dedicate ourselves to the welfare of people and establishing peace in the society forgetting vendetta. Let’s unite irrespective of caste and creed for the sake of the country,’ she said.

The ministry of religious affairs organised the function with the state minister for religious affairs, M Shahjahan Mia, in the chair. Secretary to the ministry, Kazi Habibul Awal, gave the welcome address. Khatib of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Moulana Md Salahuddin, was also present.

Hasina hoped that with the digitalisation of the website of

the Holy Quran, it would be possible to reach the message of peace of the Almighty Allah to the people of all walks of life.

She said the age of advent of the holy Quran to Prophet (SM) was called Dark Age. Many religious communities used to bury their baby girls alive after birth. The Holy Quran prohibited it establishing the dignity of women in society.

‘The Prophet in his last Hajj address made a fervent call on the Muslims to follow the Quran and Sunnah saying as long as Muslims would go by the two, they would not deviate from the right path,’ she said.

She said her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding president of the country, had made immense contribution to the promotion of Islam in the country.

He established the Islamic Foundation and the Madrasa Board, allotted land for Kakrail mosque and Biswa Ijtema in Tongi, Hasina said. She said her father had attended the OIC summit to establish Bangladesh’s ties with the Muslim world and project the country’s positive image.

‘We are following the path of Bangabandhu,’ she said, adding that her government had arranged Mosque-based and masseducation programmes for millions of children to learn Quran, which was closed by the BNP-Jamaat government.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS

India ‘decisive’ factor in solving China-Bhutan border dispute

India’s influence over Bhutan would be a “decisive” factor in resolving border dispute between Beijing and Thimpu, a Chinese expert said.

“India has tremendous influence over Bhutan,” Fu Xiaoqiang, a researcher with the state-run China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations told the Global Times newspaper referring to the close Indo-Bhutan ties.

If Bhutan can settle border issues with China, the result will certainly create norms that will likely be followed in the border talks between China and India,” he said.

His comments came as Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying made a rare visit to Bhutan last week to take part in the 20th round of boundary talks between the two countries.

Fu’s visit took place in the backdrop of a surprise meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Bhutanese counterpart Jigmi Y Thinley on the sidelines of a UN meet in Rio de Janeiro in June, where the two expressed their desire to establish diplomatic ties.

Though neighbours, the two countries have not yet established diplomatic relations as Bhutan, a strongly ally of India, had remained aloof since 1951 from China after

promising to ‘Maintain Peace and Tranquillity on the Bhutan-China Border Areas’ in 1998.

Any settlement of the Bhutan-China border is regarded as significant

Singye Wangchuck.

Fu appreciated the importance the King attached in developing ties with China and his commitment to resolve the border issues, Chinese

Beijing took firm control of Tibet, which shared borders with Bhutan.

Relations between Beijing and Thimpu remained traditionally strained following their border dispute.

The two countries shared about 470km long contiguous borders and held 20 rounds of talks to resolve the dispute and inked an agreement

for India as Chumbi Valley, a vital tri-junction between Bhutan, India and China border is just 500 km from Siliguri corridor.

Known as “Chicken Neck” it connects India’s land links with its North Eastern states as well as Nepal and Bhutan.

Fu who visited Bhutan on 10 August also met Bhutan’s King Jigme

Foreign Ministry said.

The King, according to the ministry, said China has become Bhutan’s third largest trading partner and he “believes that a rising China will play a wise and balanced leadership role in the world”.

“Border talks have become the perfect platform for both sides to boost exchanges and cooperation.

As long as the bilateral relations continue to move forward along the established track, the two countries will achieve the goal of solving the border issues and establishing formal diplomatic relations at an early date,” the ministry said.

The 20th round of talks were held between Fu and acting Bhutanese Foreign Minister Khandu Wangchuk in Thimphu.

“China hopes to make joint efforts with Bhutan on the basis of previous talks, continue to seek fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions through friendly consultations and make the border line a bridge of friendship and cooperation between the two countries,” the Chinese minister said.

“Bhutan firmly pursues the oneChina policy, thinks highly of China’s long-term foreign policy of treating all countries as equals, no matter large or small and goodneighbourly friendship and is willing to strengthen coordination with China on the international arena,” Wangchuk said.

Bhutan seeks China’s help President lauds Bhutan’s for a seat at UN high table development policy

Bhutan has sought China’s support for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for the term 2013-14. This was revealed by the Bhutanese government after its leaders held border talks with a visiting Chinese delegation in Thimphu on Friday.

“The talks were held in a warm and friendly atmosphere,” the Bhutanese foreign ministry said in a statement. “It will provide the opportunity for the two nations

to better understand each other’s positions, which will facilitate an early and just settlement of the boundary issues.”

The meeting discussed Bhutan’s aspiration to serve as a nonpermanent member of UNSC, elections for which are scheduled for October this year, said Bhutan’s leading English daily, Kuensel.

An eight-member Chinese delegation led by vice foreign

minister Fu Ying participated in the border talks just six weeks after the two countries established diplomatic ties for the first time. China is expected to bargain hard before helping Bhutan achieve its international ambitions in the form of a nonpermanent seat at UNSC. Beijing might ask Thimphu to reduce its dependence on India, and discourage any future visit by the Dalai Lama to the country.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday lauded the efforts of neighbouring Bhutan in maintaining a balance between environment and development.

During his meeting with probationers of the Indian Forest Service (2011-13 batch) which comprised two Bhutanese students as well, the President asked the officers to contribute their services through commitment and dedication.

Mukherjee extended a special welcome to the two officers from Bhutan and lauded the efforts of the neighbouring country in maintaining a balance between environment and development, President’s Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said in a statement.

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday lauded the efforts of neighbouring Bhutan in maintaining a balance between environment and development.

During his meeting with probationers of the Indian Forest Service (2011-13 batch) which comprised two Bhutanese students as well, the President asked the officers to contribute their services through

commitment and dedication.

Mukherjee extended a special welcome to the two officers from Bhutan and lauded the efforts of the neighbouring country in maintaining a balance between environment and development, President’s Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said in a statement.

The new Constitution in 1950 retained it as a State subject and subsequently through an amendment it was brought into the concurrent list, the President said.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS

Rahul always welcome to join govt: PM

With no clarity yet on whether Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will join the government as part of his greater involvement in the party and UPA matters, PM Manmohan Singh said he would welcome such a development.

“I have always said I would welcome Rahul’s entry into government,” Singh told the media after the swearing in of vice-president

Hamid Ansari for a second term.

There has been a fresh spurt in speculation after the Congress general secretary last month confirmed that he will play a more “proactive” role in the party. On whether this will mean being in government, he said the precise role will be defined by his “two bosses” — Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Hamid Ansari sworn in as India’s vice president

Hamid Ansari took oath as India’s vice president for a second consecutive term at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday. Ansari was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee at a function attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and several

ministers, besides leaders from the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and other political parties.

Before taking oath, Ansari paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.

UPA candidate Ansari had defeated National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee Jaswant Singh by a margin of 252 votes in the vice presidential election Aug 7 to secure another term in office.

Ansari is the second vice president after Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan to get two successive terms.

Ansari, who has served as the country’s vice president since 2007, is a scholar and a seasoned diplomat.

A former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, Ansari was also the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and chairman of the National Minorities Commission.

Navy to buy 56 utility helicopters for $1bn India has set the ball rolling for another mega defence deal, worth close to $1b, for the acquisition of 56 helicopters customized for surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, anti-terror, electronic intelligence gathering and search and rescue operations.

The armed forces are looking to induct as many as 900 helicopters in the coming decade, including 384 light-utility and observation, 90 naval multi-role, 65 light combat, 22 heavy-duty attack, 139 medium-lift and 15 heavy-lift, among others, as was first reported by TOI earlier.

The new tender or RFP (request for proposal) for the 56 naval helicopters was issued to all top global aviation majors — ranging from Boeing, Bell and Sikorsky to Kamov, Eurocopter and AgustaWestland — last week.

"The naval utility helicopter are planned for induction from 2016 (onwards)," said Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma.

As per the RFP, the project involves induction of the 56 choppers, three simulators, 28 spare engines and associated equipment within eight years of the inking of the contract.

The twin-engine helicopters, with a 4,500-kg maximum "all up" weight and capable of operating from warship decks, will be armed with 70mm rocket launchers and 12.7mm guns as well as lightweight torpedoes and depth charges.

With a "modern airframe design,

proven fuel-efficient engines and fully-integrated advanced avionics", these new helicopters will replace the existing fleet of Chetaks inducted over three decades ago.

This is Navy's second major

after the trials last year but the complaint has delayed the opening of commercial bids. It is being examined," said an official.

Another big project facing similar problems is the one for 197 light helicopters for over Rs 3,000

"rotary wing" project. The first is for around 90 multi-role helicopters in the 9 to12.5tonne class, with potent combat capabilities as well as customized for amphibious assaults and commando operations, at a cost of over $2.5 billion to replace ageing Sea King helicopters.

But the first contract for 16 such multi-role helicopters — to be followed by the main one for over 75 choppers — has run into some trouble. European NH Industries, which deployed its NH-90 helicopters for the extensive field trials, has filed a complaint against the other contender, the American Sikorsky-70B. "Both met the NSQRs (naval staff qualitative requirements)

crore, with Russian Kamov Ka226T pitted against Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec after the technical evaluation.

Acquisition of these 197 helicopters is to be followed by the indigenous manufacture of 187 similar ones by Hindustan Aeronautics to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak fleets of Army and IAF. The second contract for 71 more Russian medium-lift and weaponized Mi-17 V5 helicopters for around $1 billion, 59 for IAF and 12 for BSF, is, however, going ahead. This comes after deliveries of the first 80 Mi-17 V5s to IAF, under a $1.34-billion deal inked in 2008, began last September.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS

Independence day: SAFMA peace delegation heads to India

The South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) has arranged exchange visits of peace delegations from Pakistan and India for August 14 and 15, the independence days of the two countries,

Amritsar on Monday to take part in a seminar and candle vigil. Meanwhile, a Safma India team of parliamentarians, businessmen and journalists arrived here for a seminar, titled ‘In Pursuit of

Pakistan committed to better relations with India: Zardari

said a Safma press release.

“We have been celebrating the Independence Days of both countries for several years in collaboration with Hind Pak Dosti Manch,” Safma Secretary General Alam told the Pakistani delegates on Sunday. The exchange visits aim at promoting better neighbourly relations, he said.

A 33-member delegation of journalists, artists and politicians led by MNA Tehmina Doultana left Lahore for

the Shared Destiny of the Subcontinent’, a poetry recital and the vigil at the Wagha border crossing on the night between August 14 and 15. The vigil is in memory of the people who died while fighting for independence from British rule.

Alam urged the governments of both countries to continue talks and relax the visa regime. “Improved relations between both countries could boost growth in the region and solve common problems such as energy crises and poverty,” he said.

President Asif Ali Zardari said the government is committed to better relations between Pakistan and India and he hopes that search by the two countries for peaceful resolution to all disputes through sustained and productive dialogue will bear fruit.

In a message on the occasion of a SAFMA seminars on August 13, he said, “I wish to felicitate SAFMA and its Secretary General Imtiaz Alam for organizing seminars simultaneously in Lahore and Amritsar on “In Pursuit of Shared Destiny in the Sub-Continent” on the eve of Independence Day. The President said SAFMA has been making systematic and concerted efforts for promoting peace and cooperation in the subcontinent.

Apart from the seminar it has also organized exchange of delegations and Candle Vigil on both sides of Wagah/Attari border on the eve of Independence Day to share the happiness of freedom on the one hand and to pay homage to all those who sacrificed their lives in the

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Saturday said that Kabul is more important for Pakistan than Washington.

In an interview with Aljazeera TV, Hina does not hide the fact that other capitals around the world are just as important to her as Washington DC. The foreign minister said she wanted better relations with Iran, that it was ‘always a delight to meet with the Russians’ and that it is time to stop fighting and start building with New Delhi.

“We are more concerned about what is in the long-term and medium-term interests for Pakistan than we are about what is popular,” she maintained.

“Instead of typically undermining the importance of the democratic process and what we are trying to achieve in Pakistan we should try and recognise, if not celebrate, the change that is taking place in Pakistan.”

To a question, Hina ascertained fate of Pakistan was attached to Afghanistan being a neighbour and Pakistan always seeks friendly and close relations with its neighbouring polities.

She said anything happens in Afghanistan it directly influence affairs of Pakistan, adding that on daily basis at least 53,000 people travel on PakAfghan border.

She claimed it was a fact that if Taliban came into power, it would not be in the best interest of Pakistan. She said the

Afghan elders are well aware of their interests in the region, adding “We cannot dictate or inform them that what should be their interests.”

an operation is launched in North Waziristan,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. Without protecting the porous,

To a question regarding India, the minister expressed that the relations between Pakistan and India have improved and moreover the trust level has also developed between both the countries.

AFP adds: Pakistan has told Washington that US forces must seal the Afghan border in the event of any offensive against the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan, an official said Saturday.

The Haqqanis, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan, is one of the thorniest issues between Islamabad and Washington.

“The Americans have been repeatedly told that they will have to seal off the border on the Afghan side whenever

mountainous border, militants would simply escape into Afghanistan, where Pakistan has no writ, the official explained.

He claimed that Americans have “never been encouraging on this point” and accused them of failing to seal the border when operations were planned twice before in North Waziristan.

On August 3, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pakistani and US officials were considering joint counter-terrorism campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Haqqanis and Taliban fighters who attack Pakistan.

The paper said the campaigns would mark an upturn in cooperation after more than a year of rancorous

file

cause of freedom on the other, he added.

He said SAFMA deserves to be commended by all those who wish to promote peace and cooperation in the region. The present democratic government and the people wish to see peace and cooperation flourish in the subcontinent, he added. He expressed hope that the endeavors

by SAFMA will encourage taking of bold steps to make South Asia an economic powerhouse that will benefit its over one billion people.

The two countries need durable peace

and security to focus on the social and economic development of their peoples, President Zardari said adding, “On this occasion I wish to express my full support to the endeavors of SAFMA to bring the peoples of the two countries closer together and help build bridges of understanding, cooperation and trust.”

“I wish its efforts to bring the two peoples to come closer together and become the building blocks of the architecture of durable peace and cooperation in the region,” the President concluded.

Kabul more important than Washington: Pakistan relations and stamp out major threats facing each country.

Pakistani officials later denied any agreement with the United States for a joint operation in North Waziristan, and said “routine” actions on each side of the border “should not be mistaken for ‘joint operations’”.

Washington has long demanded that Pakistan take action against the Haqqanis, whom the United States accused of attacking the US embassy in Kabul last September and acting like the “veritable arm” of Pakistani intelligence.

Pakistan has in turn demanded that Afghan and US forces to do more to stop Pakistani Taliban crossing the Afghan border to relaunch attacks on its forces.

The senior official told AFP that Pakistan had been able to “speak their heart and mind” on the issue during last week’s visit to Washington by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief.

Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, in the first such visit for a year, and CIA director David Petraeus discussed some of the most intractable issues on both sides that have fractured the anti-terror alliance.

“The Americans were clearly told that Pakistan will not allow American boots on its soil for any operation and whenever an offensive is launched, it will be done by us,” the official told AFP. “We told the Americans that it is

simply not possible for Pakistan to launch a fresh offensive in North Waziristan at the moment because it will have a very negative impact,” he added.

Some analysts question to what extent Pakistan can win a fullon battle against the disciplined Haqqani faction, particularly when its troops are already over-stretched against local Taliban elsewhere in the northwest.

Islam gave the CIA in Washington “two loud and clear messages,” said the official — no American boots on Pakistani soil and that US drone strikes on militants, which Islamabad brands a violation of its sovereignty, must stop.

Many in Pakistan accuse the Americans of demanding a Pakistani offensive to mask their own failings in the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

“I will be surprised if Pakistan agrees to a joint operation,” said political analyst Hasan Askari.

There are also reports in media, that the military establishment has categorically spurned the possibility of joint Pak-US operations against Haqqani Network in North Waziristan.

Pakistan’s top spymaster, during his recent visit to Washington, clearly told his US counterpart that “US boots on Pakistani soil will never be conceded.”

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS

Dialogue on resuming Majlis to begin Tuesday

Tuesday has been set to hold dialogue in establishing a stable environment to recommence the currently suspended Parliament sessions.

Government Spokesperson Abbas

Adil Riza said that the discussions held upon request of the Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid, will be held at the President’s Office at 11.00 Tuesday morning.

Abbas said that the government

does not wish the Parliament to be in recess and that the government will cooperate in the dialogue.

“Yet, there still are conditions. This is to abstain from talks until the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) stops its harassment through their protests.” Abbas said.

The talks are to be held among the Parliamentary group leaders of the political parties and the VicePresident Mohamed Waheed Deen will be representing the government at the sit-down.

The Parliament sessions were indefinitely suspended citing an unsafe and hazardous environment on July 31, after the MDP Parliamentarians repeatedly attempted to impede its sessions over the issue of Aasandha (Universal Health Care) Scheme.

Will participate in the talks if peace is restored- President President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has said that he is ready to participate in the all party talks if the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) ceases to cause unrest in the country and peace is restored.

The President said this meeting the local media at the Official Jetty prior to his departure to Saudi Arabia, to attend the fourth extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, on the invitation of King Abdulla Bin Abdul Azeez.

He said that he will partake in the negotiations once the unrest on the roads and the harassment of government officials and employees ceases.

“It should be stopped. Once it is stopped I will partake in the talks,” he said.

In addition to this, President Dr.

Maldives Opposition Suspends Street Protests

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Wednesday announced it was suspending street protests against

the government which had continued since February this year.

MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told Xinhua the MDP had decided to suspend the demonstrations in order to facilitate meaningful political dialogue to end the political crisis in the country.

The MDP has been staging protests on the streets since the resignation of Mohamed Nasheed as president after what his party claims was a coup d’etat in February orchestrated by elements in the police and military services.

“The National Executive Council (NEC) of MDP unilaterally decided to halt all the demonstrations including street protests. The demonstrations have been focused on calling for that authorities to hold elections as early as possible to legitimize the

presidency, end violence perpetrated against civilians by the police and to prosecute those officers seen to be involved in police brutality,” Ghafoor

We hope leaders of political parties take this time to seriously engage in dialogue,” Ghafoor said.

Last week the MDP Parliamentary

said . Ghafoor said the MDP strongly believes unless there is political dialogue and agreement at a political level, the Maldives will not be able to come out of the current political crisis.

“We are committed to ensure an environment conducive to

Group also expressed their willingness to cooperate with the administration of President Mohamed Waheed and leaders of all political parties to meaningful talks to agree on a way forward from the current crisis.

MNDF doctor removed from post after alleging brutality

Thahsyna Ibrahim has been removed from her post as Deputy Commander of Medical Services, after she expressed outrage on social media about alleged brutality by security forces against demonstrators.

Dr Thahsyna’s 61-year-old father, Ibrahim Abubakur (Kottafaru Dhonthu), was allegedly struck on the head by an MNDF officer during an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest on August 2.

Videos surfaced on social media showing Abubakur emerging from the crowd holding his bloodied head while MNDF officers pushed protesters back to the Chandanee Magu junction. The Republic Square area was cordoned off by MNDF officers while former President Mohamed Nasheed was attending police headquarters.

Following the incident, Dr Thahsyna – who was the first female MNDF

hold political talks at the highest level. Therefore the MDP decided unilaterally to halt the demonstrations.

against demonstrators Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Captain Dr Fathmath

doctor – took to Facebook alleging that her father was “hit by an MNDF personnel.”

Waheed said that he has appointed a representative on his behalf to the Peoples’ Majlis on the request of the Speaker Abdulla Shahid to hold talks with the leading members of the Majlis. He expressed hoped that these talks would be initiated this week.

President said that the unrest has simmered down then in the past and he thanked MDP for this. However he said that the harassment of the government employees still continued. He said that it has to stop.

Neighbourhood troubles may cancel SAARC meet this year

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit is unlikely to take place this year. The internal political developments in Maldives and Nepal have delayed the processes, which leads to the summit.

Maldives is the current chair of the SAARC and the next summit was to take place in Nepal.

There have been instances in the past when there were gaps of 18 months between the two summits.

The first female SAARC secretary general Dhiyana Saeed from Maldives resigned in January this year, following political upheaval in her country. It took a while before seasoned Maldives diplomat, Ahmed Saleem, was named as the secretary general of the grouping.

Nepal, the host for the summit is also undergoing major political churning.

The ministerial meet to review the progress of the SAARC has also been delayed. Various meetings of the SAARC that are stalled now set to resume in September.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS

Protect women‚ don’t ban them working in Gulf: HRW

The Human Rights Watch on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over Nepal’s decision to impose a ban on women under 30 from working in the Gulf countries, and asked the government to revoke the decision saying the latter should improve protections so domestic workers can migrate safely – such as by ensuring full monitoring and accountability of recruitment agencies in Nepal.

The New York-based watchdog further said that the governments in the Gulf should adopt long overdue labour protections and immigration reforms, including ending the discriminatory treatment of domestic workers, to combat abuse of Nepali and other migrant workers.

Citing widespread sexual abuse and exploitation, the Cabinet decided on August 9 to put a restriction on the women under 30 to travelling to the Gulf countries to work.

“Nepal is right to be concerned about its migrant domestic workers, but imposing a ban on women under 30 from traveling to the Gulf does not solve the problem and discriminates against young

women”, said Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher at the HRW. “A better strategy would be to crack down on abusive recruitment

trafficking, it said.

The rights watchdog further advised the Gulf to adopt long overdue labour protections and immigration reforms, including

Nepali women committed suicide in Lebanon in 2010 while two to three domestic helpers a week seek refuge in the Nepali embassies in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

It urged the Nepali government to improve training of migrant workers, to monitor recruitment agencies rigorously, and to ensure migrant women know where to get

practices, ensure that women migrate with an enforceable contract in hand, and equip embassies to respond quickly to complaints of abuse.”

A ban on work in the Gulf may drive women desperate for work to migrate through irregular channels, putting them at greater risk of exploitation and

ending the discriminatory treatment of domestic workers.

Nepali women have been allowed to go to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar since 2010, when authorities lifted a 12-year ban imposed after the suicide of a Nepali domestic worker who had been abused in Kuwait.

According to some reports, 15

following abuse from their employers.

Instead of a blanket ban on young women that denies them important employment opportunities, Nepal’s government should work with other labor-sending governments to demand stronger protections for migrant workers in the Gulf, the Human Rights Watch said.

help if they need it.

“Governments in the Gulf should heed the concern about abuse against domestic workers in their countries,” said Varia. “They should move quickly to include domestic workers in labor laws, prosecute abusive employers, and improve cooperation with labor-sending countries.”

Nepal transport services resume after two-day strike

Life returned to normal in Nepal yesterday at the end of a two-day nationwide public transport strike, as the agitating transport associations and the government reached a 14point deal incorporating provisions.

One of the provisions include formation of a separate ministry for the sector.

After the talks held on Saturday at the ministry of physical planning, works and transport management (MoPPW) with the agitating transport entrepreneurs, the government

agreed to look into most of their demands, after which the transport associations agreed to resume their services from yesterday.

There were no taxis, three-wheelers, micro-bus, mini-bus and public buses

on the roads for the two days, Friday and Saturday causing inconveniences to the general public.

“We have formed a task force to devise a framework on the authority of the traffic police and fines to be set for the motorists who violate traffic rules,” Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, secretary

at the ministry of transport said.

The transporters had demanded that the government revoke the authority given to the traffic police to fine the motorists.

The government had earlier decided that the traffic police could slap fines ranging from Rs200 to Rs1,000 to drivers violating rules and claim 15% of the fines as a reward.

Following yesterday’s agreement, traffic police will not be entitled to such incentives now.

“We have withdrawn our strike after the government agreed to address most of our demands,” Ajay Kumar Rai, chairperson of Nepal Yatayat Workers’ Association said.

“We hope that this deal will put an end to the hassles faced by the transporters from the traffic police,” he said.

The government has agreed to form a new ministry to look after the transport sector within a month and committed to unveiling a policy for providing social security to transport labourers as per the deal.

Protesters block government offices in Nepal’s capital to demand prime minister’s resignation

Hundreds of supporters of opposition political parties have gathered outside the main government offices in Nepal’s capital to demand Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai step down.

The protesters on Friday blocked the area around the complex in the heart of Katmandu that houses the prime minister’s office and the main government offices, chanting slogans against Bhattarai.

Government officials were not able to reach their offices because of the protest. Riot police kept close watch on the protesters, but there were no reports of violence.

Bhattarai has been running a caretaker government since May, but the opposition parties want a new government with representation from all the major political parties to conduct elections scheduled for later this year.

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WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS

Sri Lankan smuggled into Canada on MV Ocean Lady accepted as refugee due to possible danger

A Sri Lankan migrant has been accepted as a refugee on the grounds that, as a passenger on a smuggling ship that Canada has publicly linked to Tamil rebels, he might be tortured or killed in his homeland.

The 24-year-old ethnic Tamil arrived in Canada in 2009 aboard the MV Ocean Lady, which federal officials have identified as a rebel arms smuggling ship. Officials have also claimed a third of the 76 migrants on aboard were Tamil rebels.

But the Immigration and Refugee Board has now turned those statements against the government, ruling that widespread publicity about the ship’s rebel ties had made one of the passengers into a refugee.

A government official said the decision was still being reviewed.

The ruling could signal a path for the hundreds of other Sri Lankans smuggled to Canada aboard the Ocean Lady and the MV Sun Sea,

which the government had also linked to Tamil rebels.

But as the second anniversary

of the Sun Sea’s arrival passed on Monday, the vast majority had not yet been recognized as refugees. According to the latest count released by the IRB, only four Ocean Lady migrants had been accepted as refugees, while

15 had been rejected. One other has withdrawn his claim. Just 15 of the Sun Sea passengers have

been granted refugee status, while another 15 have been rejected.

Twenty have also been ordered deported over their links to the Tamil rebels or involvement in human smuggling.

At his Toronto refugee hearing in

January, the Tamil shopkeeper — who cannot be named due to a publication ban imposed by the Refugee Board — said his family was repeatedly uprooted by Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war.

Hundreds of Sri Lankan asylum seekers have boarded unseaworthy smuggling ships since the country’s long-running civil war ended in 2009, crushing aspirations of statehood for the island’s ethnic Tamil minority.

While many are seeking asylum in

Australia, the Ocean Lady was the first to reach Canada. The following year, the MV Sun Sea followed a similar route to British Columbia carrying 492 Sri Lankans.

The smugglers charged their human cargo fees of $20,000 to $50,000 for the illicit sea voyage to Canada. The scheme was organized out of Bangkok. The RCMP has arrested the suspected organizers of both smuggling operations. Those charged include two Canadians.

Wheels move for higher education development

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday decided to appoint a commission to look into the present situation in the higher education sector and submit a report on remedial measurers to him.

A press release issued by the

members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Graduates’ Association at Temple Trees yesterday.

Education authorities should create quality graduates who could contribute to the country’s economy, President Rajapaksa

President’s Media Division said the government intends to look into the present situation in the higher education sector, including the university system, and draw up a plan for the development of the higher education sector.

President Rajapaksa also decided to offer an opportunity for graduates recruited to the public service under the graduate recruitment programme, implemented from 1994, to sit for competitive examinations in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service.

He has also decided to introduce a new promotion scheme for the graduates and to grant employment opportunities in the public sector for graduates who passed out in 2010 and 2011. The President took these decisions at a meeting with

said.

The government has granted employment opportunities to a number of graduates and measures have been taken to strengthen the public service as well, he said.

“Leadership training programmes are very important for university students. These programmes help create graduates with good qualities including personality development,” the President said.

President Rajapaksa also pointed out the importance of correct and quick decision making in the public service as well.

Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Hambantota district MP Namal Rajapaksa and Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry Secretary P B Abeykoon were also present at the meeting.

Govt awaiting TNA’s response to PSC invite The government is ready to proceed on the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) to arrive at a consensus on the national issue no sooner the TNA is ready to take part in this round table, External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris said.

Responding to a question by a journalist at a press conference at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday, the minister said the government representatives have been

nominated and the terms of reference of PSC have already been formulated.

He said the delay is on the part of TNA and not on the part of the government.

He said the President has clearly stated that the PSC is the most

effective mechanism to proceed on this matter reminding of the past endeavours which failed, since they came from the highest political level with inadequate participation

of people. The President has stressed that lessons must be learnt from the failures of the past and that he prefers to listen to various opinions by people before deciding on the final solution.

He stated the TNA’s attempts to take local issues to the outside world are of no use and have no sense. He stressed the domestic problems must be solved within the country, adding that the government elected by people must be first consulted on such internal matters.

The minister said he instructed the Sri Lankan representative to the UN in Geneva to inquire and submit a full report on the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s meeting on Sri Lanka to be held by the end of this month as reported through the media. He said the Sri Lankan government has not been officially informed or invited for such a meeting. He said he only came to know of such a meeting through media reports.

Research and Technology Deputy Minister Faiszer Mustapha also participated.

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Persecuted Burmese tribe finds no welcome in Bangladesh Bangladesh turns away and bans aid to thousands of displaced Muslim Rohingya.

Mohammad Hanif is still trying to piece together the night his life changed for ever. One minute he was sitting down for dinner with his family. The next a mob wielding long knives and nail-studded clubs had burst through the door. Within minutes, two family members were dead. Within days the clan was separated, destitute and in flight.

“They were our neighbours,” said 65year-old Hanif of the attackers who killed his son and son-in-law. “They cut them down in front of my eyes hacked at them the way knives slice through cabbage. We ran for our lives.”

Hanif, his wife and two daughters made for the jetty where they knew a boat was tied.

“We waited for them. But as the mob came nearer, we had to leave. It’s been a month and I haven’t heard from them. Maybe they’re dead, maybe they’re lost.”

Such tales are familiar in the remote fishing villages of south-eastern Bangladesh, where thousands of ethnic Rohingya people, driven from their homes in neighbouring Burma, have been arriving since violence between the predominantly Buddhist Rakhine and the Rohingya

— a Muslim minority with South Asian features — broke out in Arakan in early June.

Most refugees carry horrifying accounts of murder, arson and rape perpetrated by Rakhine mobs, they say, with direct support from the administration.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates 80,000 people

have pushed back boatloads of Rohingyas.

Last week, Dhaka ordered three international charities helping Rohingya refugees with food and medicine — France’s Doctors without Borders (MSF) and Action Against Hunger (ACF) as well as Britain’s Muslim Aid UK — to stop operations immediately, arguing that they were creating a “pull factor” for refugees.

fish trader he befriended two years ago, said he was sent to Bangladesh by his mother mid-July after police started rounding up young Rohingya men.

Much of northern Arakan state is a no-go area for journalists and independent observers. But the refugees’ claims are consistent with reports by human rights organisations such as Amnesty

have been displaced by the violence in Arakan.

Although both the Burmese and Bangladeshi governments say the violence has abated, fleeing refugees claim mass arrests and arson attacks aimed at driving out the Rohingyas continue.

Bangladeshi authorities have refused to accept the refugees and

On the run from the Bangladesh police and without any legitimate means of livelihood, Rohingyas face a bleak future on the Bangladesh side of the border. But that hasn’t prevented Shah Noor, 23, from the Akyab area of Arakan state, from making the perilous trip along the Bay of Bengal to Teknaf.

Noor, sheltering with a Bangladeshi

International and Human Rights Watch that say security forces have targeted Muslim-inhabited areas following the riots. Rohingyas have been beaten, raped and killed by security forces and Rakhine Buddhists, according to Amnesty.

Burma declared a state of emergency on June 10, deploying troops to quell the unrest. But Human Rights Watch

Israel’s Ultimate Goal?

Continued from page 16-17 >>

Before Israel can rebuild the Temple they must first occupy the land of Israel and Jerusalem.

And before the Temple can be rebuilt the “Dome of the Rock” must be demolished and the Temple mount area must be purified.

Hanukkah: Jews will start the eight-day Festival of Lights, which recalls the Maccabee’s victory over the Syrians, at sundown on Dec. 20. Could this be the date when Israel will demolish the Dome of Rock?

Before a Jewish Temple could be rebuilt Islam must be defeated. Its threat to Israel must be eliminated. In Order for the Jewish Temple to rebuilt the Dome of the Rock must be removed.

In the Muslim world, a Jewish Temple on this location is an unthinkable event. Islamic councils have already threatened world war if Israel attempts to construct a Jewish Temple. So its not without a war such an event will take place.

There are several scenarios that could lead to a conflict with Israel and her Muslim neighbors.

Jews have already been arrested for attempting to blow up the “Dome of the Rock”. Earthquakes or missiles off course could easily destroy the building. As Israel becomes more religious and move to the right the Temple Mount will take on a greater importance. This will lead to a potentially explosive situation. The coming conflict will result in Israel rebuilding the Temple. This Islamic conflict with Israel is foretold in the book of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

To achieve construction of Third Temple they need a war , A war which can give them way

to destroy Al Aqsa. The United States and Great Britain are promoting yet another world war, which would be the third world war, and Israel is at the heart of it all, with its hypocritical calls for nuclear disarmament of its neighbours while it does not sign upto the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty and has the only nuclear arsenal in the region. An Israeli attack would also likely spark retaliation from local Iranian proxies, the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip to Israel‘s south and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon along Israel’s northern border. And as its already expected that Hizbullah’s military force prepared for war with Israel

“Missiles on Tel Aviv”: Hezbollah’s Plans for Israel

According to Israeli report On 27 October 2011 the Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria reported that in recent weeks the leader of Hizbullah, Hasan Nasrallah, held a series of meetings with the organization’s highest level military command, as well as field commanders and operational-level commanders responsible for preparing Hizbullah’s military force for war with Israel According to a source close to Hizbullah, Nasrallah’s operational directive to the commanders was to prepare for the fact that in the next military conflict with Israel, Hizbullah will hit Tel Aviv with missiles at the outset of the war, while also dispatching forces to conquer the Galilee. The source stressed that this is an operational directive and not a matter of psychological warfare.

On another front of Syria President Bashar

Assad said in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Western powers risk causing an “earthquake” that would burn the Middle East if they intervened in Syria, “Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region,” Assad said.

Iran ‘is ready for war’: Tehran vows to retaliate if Israel and the West attack nuclear plants Iran’s foreign minister, said the regime was ‘ready for.

He said: ‘We have been hearing threats from Israel for eight years. Our nation is a united nation. Such threats are not new to us.

‘We are very sure of ourselves. We can defend our country.’ He warned of retaliation a day after Iran’s chief of staff said Israel and the West would be ‘punished’ for any attack on its nuclear sites.

Iran’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hassan Firouzaadi has warned Israel and the US that any attack will elicit a heavy price.

We’ll have to see if Israel’s western sycophants consider it a price worth paying.

Western and Israeli analysts have warned that an Israeli attack on Iran could draw Hezbollah retaliation . So Hezbollah will respond to attack on Iran. Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has said Hezbollah will destroy Tel Aviv if Israel attacks Iran.

So if Hezbul Alalh destroy Tel Aviv or Iran retaliate or Syria bring an Earth Quack there are strong possibilities that Israel will come up with any of the missiles targeted to Israel that Al Aqsa is Destroyed and by Muslims own attack……

has accused the government of mounting a “brutal and biased police response”. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the international community had been “blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change” in Burma.

Rohingyas accuse the government of fomenting the massacre by urging Rakhines to kill the Rohingya “Kala” (blacks) an overtly racist strategy that turned neighbours into killers.

They point out that many of the victims of the riots died of gunshot wounds, though the rioters were mainly armed with machetes and clubs. “It was the government,” Shah Noor said quietly. “Without the military backing, the Moghs would never dare attack us. The government wants to drive us out.”

On July 11, Burmese President Thein Sein suggested that the country could solve the problem by expelling all of its Rohingyas or by having the United Nations resettle them a proposal that a United Nations official quickly rejected.

Burma considers the Rohingya Muslims as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Bangladeshi officials say the geopolitical reality of the region makes that improbable.

Visas to Pakistani Hindus: India rejects conspiracy

India Saturday rejected Pakistan’s charges of a “conspiracy” about giving so many visas to Pakistani Hindus, saying due process and diligence was exercised in accordance with a decades-long visa pact.

“We have exercised visas after due diligence and followed due process in accordance with the India-Pakistan visa pact which regulates travel between the two countries,” government sources told IANS. “Pakistan has an exit control policy which empowers them to detain any traveller if the visas were not issued in proper categories and following the prescribed system,” said the sources.

They were reacting to Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s accusation alleging a “conspiracy” by India against Pakistan and demanded to know why the Indian High Commission in the Pakistani capital had issued so many visas to Hindus.

Malik refused to let the Hindus proceed beyond Jacobabad, Sindh, unless he was satisfied they would not take asylum in India citing religious persecution -- as some Pakistani Hindus had done earlier.

Eventually, after some hours, the Hindus were allowed to go after their representatives pledged to return to Pakistan.

About 250 Pakistani Hindus have moved to India after promising authorities here that they will return after completing their pilgrimage.

Many of them complained of ill-treatment and persecution in Pakistan.

Over 200 Hindu families were allowed to cross into Amristar on Friday on their scheduled pilgrimage after a brief detention by Pakistani authorities in Lahore following reports that they were planning to migrate to India to escape from abductions and attacks on their businesses in Upper Sindh.

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Mumbai violence: Police probe underworld link

More than a thousand people who sparked the violence at Azad Maidan here on Saturday were not a part of the protest groups, but probably came from the suburbs to cause riots, stated the internal police report accessed by The Hindu on Sunday. It said the mob of around 1,000 people was armed with petrol cans, plastic bottles filled with inflammable liquids, hockey sticks, iron rods and bamboos. The police, who have the CCTV footage and footage shot by camerapersons from different television channels with them, are in the process of identifying the perpetrators of the violence and are investigating claims of the riots being a planned conspiracy.

According to the report, at around 3 p.m., when Maulana Gulam Abdul Kadri was giving a provocative speech, a mob of around 3,000 became agitated and came out of the Azad Maidan with banners, flags and bamboos in their hands and raised slogans.

They were joined by a group of 1,000 young men who came out of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station. They raised slogans, used abusive language, and soon turned violent despite the police’s appeals for peace, the report stated. It is believed that the mob too wanted to join the protest.

Senior police officials said they were in the process of ascertaining if any provocative speech was made from the dais that instigated

the mob.

Official sources said 17 speakers were on the dais during the protest. Only five had finished

allegedly stopped by a policeman.

The speeches made by Maulana Niyamat Noori, Guddu Bhaiyya, Maulana Akhtar Ali, Maulana

their speeches. When the fifth speaker — Maulana Kadri — was giving a provocative speech, he was

Amanullah Barkati and Maulana Gulam Abdul Kadri are under the police scanner. The police said

that if their speeches were found to be provocative, they would be arrested and booked under Section 153(a) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the report, the rioters allegedly molested women constables on duty, snatched two Self-Loading Rifles and one service revolver, 160 live rounds of cartridges, including 150 rounds of SLR and 10 rounds of service revolver. They also desecrated the ‘Amar Jawan’ memorial at CST and tried to burn down police vans with policemen in them.

“It was sheer luck that we were able to rescue the policemen from the vans. The mob had locked them in and was not allowing them to come out,” a senior police officer told The Hindu.

On Sunday, the police recovered 19 of the 150 missing rounds of SLR cartridges abandoned in the neighbouring Thane district’s Mumbra area.

The rest of the cartridges are yet to be recovered.

No terror angle Senior police officials, however,

denied any terror angle to the incident. They also denied there was intelligence failure. But according to sources, the Mumbai Police Cyber Crime Cell had information, two days ago, about objectionable and provocative pictures being uploaded on Facebook about “atrocities” against Muslims in Myanmar. Senior officials denied the reports. “We did not have any such information,” an officer told The Hindu.

The police also claimed that adequate forces were present to control the mob. While the police had estimated that no more than 5,000 protesters would turn up, the organisers had given an estimate of 1,500 people.

Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said police were in control of the situation by 3.50 p.m, half an hour after the violence broke out.

Arrests Meanwhile, the police on Sunday arrested 23 people on charges of arson, rioting, outraging the modesty of a woman, damaging public property and causing grievous injuries to people. They claimed that they were caught redhanded during the riots. None of the organisers have been arrested yet. The police will scrutinise the role of the organisers who belonged to the Madina Tulam Foundation, Raza Academy and some other Muslim organisations.

The accused were remanded to police custody till August 19.

Muslim groups Raza Academy apologise for violence Thousands of people thronged the demonstration, which commenced at high noon and was organised by the Raza Academy – a Sunni Islamic group that claims to represent the interests of the city’s Muslims – and several other Muslim bodies.

The green-and-white “Law and Order, Do Not Disturb” sign flapping outside the gates of the city’s Azad Maidan could not have been more ironical as Maximum City was brought to the edge of a full-scale riot on Saturday by a group of violent agitators ostensibly demonstrating against atrocities inflicted on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

At 3:15 p.m., following the closing speeches of a maulvi, the meeting inexplicably exploded into an orgy of wanton vandalism and arbitrary violence. A mob, which gathered outside the gates, started pummelling media and police personnel, destroying cameras and equipment.

The scale of violence steadily peaked and continued to grip the area around the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus for a full half hour, as police and media vehicles were set ablaze and Municipal Corporation buses were smashed to smithereens.

Two people lay dead while 54 people, including more than 40 policemen were badly injured.

But even as questions fly thick and fast in the aftermath of the violence and the police’s preparedness to combat it, the Raza Academy and other Muslim groups in the city tendered

appear to be people from outside. This is a most un-Islamic manner of registering a protest. We ask the people of this city to forgive us,” founder of the Raza Academy

an unconditional apology to the police, the media and people on Sunday.

“What happened was shameful. The agitators had nothing to do with the academy…They

Mohammed Saeed Noori told The Hindu.

Ex-policeman Shamsher Khan Pathan, who recently floated the Awami Vikas Party (AVP) said the violence clearly was instigated by a

section of outsiders. The AVP was one of the bodies that took part in the agitation.

Groups and leaders further refuted suggestions that the mobs were incensed and targeted the media owing to “lack of coverage of the Assam riots and the violence against Muslims in Burma” – one of the theories bandied about in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

“The inflammatory speeches, which provoked the outrage against the media personnel, were only targeted at the UPA-II government’s handling of the Assam riots. Only one maulvi said the media had under-reported events.

Now, this is no reason to provoke a riot,” said Mr. Pathan.

Most of the minority groups have condemned this incident. The first order of the day is to restore peace. Most of the agitators were in the 18-25 year age group. A time-bound inquiry would reveal everything, said Arif Naseem Khan, Guardian Minister (Mumbai suburbs).

Meanwhile, headlines, declaiming a “Jihad being called by hardliner Muslims in Mumbai” were splashed across Saamna – mouthpiece of the Shiv Sena.

The BJP has demanded the resignation of Home Minister R.R. Patil and the Police Commissioner, accusing them of handling the riot-like situation in “a most inept manner.”

Saarc international I Thursday 16 August 2012

SAARC

31

66th Independence Day of Pakistan: Challenges

On the 65th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, the best homage to the Muslims of the subcontinent who sacrificed all they had for the creation of a separate homeland under the dynamic leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah would be to sincerely rededicate ourselves as a nation to the ideals of the founding fathers.

Pakistan was established as a nation-state with democracy as its polity in which people of Pakistan were to be the sole arbiters of power to be exercised through an elected sovereign parliament. All other institutions were to be subservient to the dictates of parliament. None could over-ride the general will of the people as manifested in the sovereignty of the parliament.

Today, Pakistan stands at crossroads of history once again after having established an electoral democracy and supremacy of the parliament.

It is a defining moment in its chequered history. The sovereignty of the parliament is being challenged by forces that have been in cahoots in the past in derailing democracy whenever they found it taking firmer roots.

Any independent student of Pakistan’s history would bear witness to the fact that what is happening in the country is much more of the same that it has suffered since its inception - an unending conspiracy not to allow Pakistan to become a progressive liberal democracy ensuring empowerment of the masses as sole arbiter of power expressed through an elected sovereign parliament not subservient to any other state institution.

Our history has been a catalogue of intrigues, conspiracies and extra-constitutional interventions sanctified by the judiciary to convert Pakistan into a security state rather than allow it to get established as a social welfare nation-state.

Pakistan was pushed into a rollercoaster existence by the dismissal of the mother parliament by dementiaafflicted Governor General Ghulam Mohammad upheld as legal by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan late Justice Munir when Sindh High Court had declared it illegal and unconstitutional. Same was repeated by Chief Justice Munir when he sanctified first Martial Law under General Ayub Khan.

Successive dictators were supported by the Supreme Court for their acts of treason in subversion of the Constitution. The overthrow of the elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by General Ziaul Haq in

July 1977 was once again endorsed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan with Justice Anwarul Haq as Chief Justice.

While democracy was in the blood of our people, the Praetorian conspirators receded some what following the awakening of the masses to fight for their democratic rights. As such a new approach was adopted for elimination of popular leaders through judicial support.

Its first victim was ZAB who was judicially murdered through a Supreme Court conviction on the basis of 4-3 judgement-four judges from Punjab upholding the conviction while three from the smaller provinces rejecting it.

The abuse of judiciary continued ever after. The most popular leader spearheading the movement for the restoration of democracyBenazir Bhutto and her husband-were embroiled in fabricated cases of corruption and twice PPP government was dismissed through judicial-establishment staged coups against Bhutto.

Strangely for the first time the Supreme Court-in the absence of substantive evidence-- accepted as admissible plethora of allegations unleashed by the media at the behest of its invisible wire-pullers and upheld her unconstitutional dismissal by the then President. As a consequence of this orchestrated campaigning against her, rigorous persecution and long incarceration of her husband on unproven charges-she had to spend long years in exile including the long dictatorship of General Musharraf once again sanctified and supported by the apex judiciary.

Only civilian exception was former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif who was declared guilty for hijacking and given life imprisonment by the court. He was pardoned by

President General Musharraf on foreign intervention and released on ten-year agreement that he would not return to Pakistan. The Supreme Court remained a silent witness to it and did not question General Musharraf’s action. His Presidential power to pardon a convicted person was recognised by the Supreme Court on the age-old concept of “King can do no wrong”.

Despite odds and threats to her life by the dictator, Benazir Bhutto returned to lead the democratic movement. She made a historical return home welcomed by millions of people only to be assassinated by the perpetrators of dictatorship.

Benazir’s assassination set the entire country on fire. It was saved from sure disintegration by President Zardari when he defused the violent masses by telling them that Benazir Bhutto had laid down her life for saving Pakistan and not destroying it.

It was in most challenging circumstances that President Zardari was elected and entrusted with the responsibility of saving Pakistan.

He brought the emotionally charged nation back onto a course that was to culminate in the achievement of the cherished destiny of democracy as envisioned by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.

President Zardari translated into action the essence of the Charter of Democracy by adopting a policy of national reconciliation and sharing power with all the stakeholders so that there was no room for discontent that provided opportunities for extra-constitutional forces to intervene. This was Bhutto legacy which had spelled that Pakistan could only survive as a democracy ensuring just resolution of the thorny issue of provincial autonomy that had been responsible for the division of the subcontinent in 1947 and break up of Pakistan in 1971.

Ever since return of democracy, anti-people forces got into action to derail it. It had a unanimously elected prime minister who had survived a rollercoaster existence with parliament reposing confidence in him on several occasions, including the passage of five budgets as well as standing by him through thick and thin only made to exit what was described by the Wall Street Journal as a “judicial coup”. The President, his party PPP and his coalition partners -in order to sustain democracy under threataccepted the decision of the apex court.

In UK and abroad there has been mixed reaction to all that has been happening since. Some leading lawyers and experts have described it as an ominous development not good for the country. The Wall Street Journal called disqualification of Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani “unnatural death of another civilian government. While less dramatic than the military variety, this judicial coup...perpetuates the cycle of unelected institutions “rescuing” Pakistanis from their

to act above self interests. It says: “Having stepped in to overthrow so many civilian Presidents, the judiciary and military view coups as their prerogative and even duty.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this time democratically elected leaders managed to stay in power for an impressive four years...” with “coup-makers felt constrained by public revulsion at a return to military rule.”

All through since 2008 all machinations to derail the electoral system were countered effectively by democratic forces who have made it clear that they would not be a party to any extra-constitutional intervention nor would they accept a judicial coup. After all Pakistan had suffered an irreparable loss by the judicial murder of a prime minister and Praetorian coups in the past. They were opposed tooth and nail to repetition of the previous mistakes to avoid being condemned by history.

At this defining moment the existing Parliament-having to its credit 18th, 19th and 20th amendments-should not allow to go in vain untold sacrifices in blood in thousands at the hands of dictatorial forces. It must pass yet another amendment prohibiting criticising democracy as a failed system much in the manner constitution protects the armed forces and judiciary.

The nation has had enough of extra-constitutional interventions initiated by the Praetorian, civilian and judicial bureaucratic troika that had constantly played foul with the Quaid’s vision of a democratic and egalitarian Pakistan. The best tribute to martyrs of freedom movement would be for all the democratic forces to unite and oppose all ongoing conspiracies to derail democracy, challenging the supremacy and sovereignty of parliament.

own chosen leaders.”

The Wall Street Journal’s conclusion should serve as food for thought for the democratic forces

By Wajid Shams ul Hassan Pakistan High Commissioner in the UK

32

South Asia Tribune I Thursday 16 August 2012

Cricket: Yuvraj Singh included in World Cup squad

Singh, who recovered from cancer has been picked for the event despite doubts whether he will be fit enough to play top class cricket Yuvraj Singh has been selected for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20

World Cup 2012 in Sri Lanka.

Singh, who recovered from cancer has been picked for the event despite doubts whether he will be fit enough to play top class cricket.

Meanwhile, VVS Continued on page 12>>

SAT

Sports

I have proof that Kamran Akmal is corrupt: Zulqarnain Zulqarnain questioned Akmal’s selection and the basis on which he was cleared by the PCB.

PCB. Kamran was picked in the Pakistan squad last month for the Twenty20 matches. And on last Monday the selectors also included him in the One-

Pakistan’s discarded wicketkeeper, Zulqarnain Haider has once again threatened to make some revelations about the alleged involvement of a few Pakistani players in spot-fixing.

In a message posted on his Facebook account, Haider criticised the selection of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in the national team for the series against Australia and the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

“The fact is that Kamran has not yet been cleared by the ICC of wrong doing and has only been cleared by the national selectors and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB),” Haider claimed.

“If he has any clearance letter from the ICC he should show it publicly and if he doesn’t do that then I will be forced to come out with the truth,” he added.

Haider, who scored 84 on his Test debut against England in 2010 when Kamran was injured, said he would make some startling revelations about the involvement of some players in spot-fixing if Kamran didn’t show his clearance letter.

Stating that he was forced to post his feelings as he wanted Pakistan cricket be clean and clear of corruption, Haider said: “I have said what is in my mind and until now I have kept quiet

in the hope that the Pakistan board will not allow players with question marks surrounding their performances to play again.”

Haider also told a Pakistani television channel that chief selector Iqbal Qasim headed the same department (National Bank) for which Kamran played.

“That is why he has recalled Kamran and this should be investigated,” Haider added.

Pakistan’s three banned players -- Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif -- who were jailed for spot-fixing last year have also played for National bank in domestic cricket.

Meanwhile, according to sources, the PCB was looking into the latest statement by Haider and was not happy with him.

“It had told him to refrain from making statements while pardoning him last year and some disciplinary action could be taken against him,” the source said.

The PCB Chairman, Zaka Ashraf had claimed in a television interview that Kamran was picked in the team after the board sought advice from the ICC on his clearance.

The ICC, however, made it clear that it had issued no clearance for Kamran and his selection was purely an internal matter of the

day squad in place of Sarfraz Ahmed.

The experienced keeper was sidelined from the national team for about an year and a half after last appearing in the 2011

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World Cup. His name was also mentioned in the spot-fixing trial held in London last year.

Kamran, who is currently in Sri Lanka playing in the country’s premier Continued on page 12>>

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