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South Asia
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Thursday, 12.07.12
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Terror and the Olympic Games
False flag in preparation?
Muslim convert Richard Dart one of six arrested over ‘terror plot’ in UK
The hate preacher and demoniser of Islam
Anjem Chaudhry links from UK – Holland & India Anjem Choudary The Leader of Terror Group?
Abu Qasim (Holland) released on bail till 11th July 2012, Richard Dart (UK): Arrested In West London
47 international terrorist organisations were proscribed under the 2000 Terrorism Act, including the forerunner of Muslims Against Crusades which was proscibed in 2006 under new powers preventing the “glorification of terrorism”. The decision to ban the group was made in Parliament by Home Secretary Theresa May who said that Muslims Against Crusades
was “simply another name for an organisation already proscribed under a number of names.” Anjem Chaudhry had his home raided that night just hours after Theresa May made supporting his extremist group a criminal offence and now Anjem Chaudhry emerged in Holland as mind behind Sharia 4Holland . British Muslim Anjem Choudary is one of the people behind the
Sharia4Holland group and was present at press conference in Amsterdam,
In May Police in Amsterdam have arrested Abu Qasam the spokesperson of the Islamist
group Sharia4Holland on charges of making death threats against the Dutch Freedom Party leader,
Continued on page 26 >>
NEWS
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‘I could do it again’: Anuj Bidve’s killer Kiaran Stapleton admits gunning down Indian student Anuj Bidve on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denies murder. A gunman who shot dead a stranger said he feared he ‘could do it again’, a court heard. Kiaran Stapleton, 21, gunned down Indian student Anuj Bidve, 23, in the early hours of Boxing Day at Ordsall Lane, Salford. Stapleton, of Regent Square, Ordsall, denies murder in a Manchester crown court trial, but admits manslaughter, saying he was not in
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
control of his actions. Psychologist Dr Sanya Krljes interviewed Stapleton. Questioned by Mark Monaghan, defending, she said the killer had shown no insight and a ‘striking lack of emotional response’ to what he had done, telling her ‘there’s nothing to feel about’. Dr Krljes described how he
life – I feel nothing, not sad or bad.” Brian Cummings QC asked him during cross examination if he had hoped the psychiatric reports considering the issue of diminished responsibility would be in his favour. ‘To be honest, I’m not bothered,’ he said to the court. ‘I love prison.
Stapleton claims a ‘killer’ teardrop tattoo he had inked on his face was not referring to the Boxing Day shooting but the death of a fish. Last week the jury was played a telephone call in which Stapleton asked for the cardigan in which he ‘murdered’ Anuj Bidve to be bought for him to wear, as the original
went on to say: “People think I’m a monster. I was working, a normal boy, had money. I had no drugs in my system. This is why I hope something is wrong with my brain and it’s treatable – I could do it again to someone else.” The court heard that when he was asked how he felt about Mr Bidve, he told Dr Krljes: “I have not thought about him. Somebody has lost their
I watch Coronation Street. I have got a fat canteen. Lock me up for 65 years.’ Looking to the jury from the witness box, he added: ‘Does this face look bothered? I have even got a new rug and bedding coming for my cell. I’m not bothered.’ Earlier he had been accused of mocking his trial with a remark about his goldfish.
garment was seized by police as evidence. The M.E.N. reported the conversation, describing how his mother seemed concerned that all the clothes he was asking for could cost up to £500. In a new phone call played the jury yesterday Stapleton describes reading the M.E.N. behind bars and says to his brother Kyle: “They said mam can’t afford a
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Flooding Risk To Half A Million UK Properties The risk of flooding for many English homes and businesses could increase fourfold by 2035. More than half a million homes and businesses will be at “significant” risk of flooding in the future without more investment in flood defences, the Government’s advisers on climate change have warned. The bad weather could continue for at least a couple more weeks, according to forecasters, and experts are predicting that
Marketing & Sales Andrew Klugman (Manager) Art Department UK Ali Ansar (Art Director) Mohammad Reazul Islam
cardigan for £50 – what they on about? We got cannabis farms all over and more guns than the police.” Stapleton told court that the remarks were a joke. Brian Cummings QC, prosecuting, questioned Stapleton’s claim that he cannot say why he shot Mr Bidve, suggesting it was because he had ‘wanted to’. Stapleton said: “No, why would I want to kill an innocent person?” Mr Cummings concluded his cross-examination by suggesting to Stapleton: ‘You simply wanted to be the killer who got away with it?’ ‘No,’ he replied. A defence psychologist told the court Stapleton had difficulties in expressing his emotions. Dr Sanya Krljes said he had also experienced behavioural problems at school where he was expelled on a few occasions and had got into fights. She said Stapleton had explained to her how his mind had gone blank when he became involved in a road rage incident in 2011 and when he threw a bucket of boiling water over a fellow inmate three months ago. Dr Krljes said he had no idea or insight into what had caused him to shoot dead Mr Bidve. The trial continues.
flooding is likely to become more common in the future. Recent floods have had
a devastating impact on communities across the UK after steady rain began before the
Jubilee weekend and resulted in the wettest June since records began in 1910. But the jet stream blamed for the wet conditions shows no sign of moving, meaning that the heavy rain could continue. The risk of flooding for many English homes and businesses could increase fourfold by 2035 if more action to deal with the impact of climate change is not taken, government advisers said on Wednesday. As severe floods continue to batter parts of Britain after the wettest June since records began, the climate advisers said more investment and better planning for new housing in flood plains was needed.
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
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Saudi princess claims asylum
Saudi princess ‘physically abused by authorities’ Saudi princess who is niece of country’s ruler seeks political asylum in UK after claiming she was ‘assaulted and persecuted by her own family’ • Princess Sara bint Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud staying in UK due to political row with family and Saudi authorities • She claims Saudi officials have made ‘baseless’ accusations that she is supporting country’s political opponents • Mother-of-four also says attempts have been made to abduct her children • UK ministers must decide if she is allowed to stay in the country Sarah Bint Talal, niece of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, whose extended stay request has been rejected by the Saudi Arabian embassy in London in coordination with British authorities, has applied for asylum in the UK. On Friday, Princess Sara’s lawyers notified the Home Office of her intention to seek asylum. The political asylum request, which came weeks after the death of her uncle and main supporter Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who was an opponent of her father, offers an insight into the tensions
within the Saudi royal family. Political analysts have predicted that the kingdom will experience instability in the near future as the poor health among the aging royal family augments the power vacuum amid a wave of protests over the persisting brutal crackdown on the Saudi people. She has lived in Britain since 2007 after she fell out with her 80-yearold father, Prince Talal, once known as ‘’the Red Prince’’ for his support for Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Among her 14 brothers and sisters is Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, who runs the country’s sovereign wealth fund and is the second-largest shareholder in News Corp. She currently occupies a suite and several rooms in a five-star London
hotel with her four children and two dogs, guarded by a private security team. Saudi Arabian sources told AlAlam News Network that despite Saudi Arabian princess’s good relationship with the King, her application for extension of legal stay in Britain was refused by the embassy of the Southwest Asian country, as Chief of the Saudi royal
court Khaled Bin Abd Al-Aziz AlTuwaijri tried to indirectly return Sarah back to Saudi Arabia at her father’s request. “I’ve been physically abused. I’ve been mentally abused. My assets have been frozen,” she said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph at a secret location in London. She said that she was assaulted outside the Saudi embassy in London by an official, who tried to grab her arm. “I am very scared right now,” said the princess. “They know I can’t go back now. There is a threat. That’s a slap in the face of the Kingdom.” Mujtahid webpage on the social
site tweeter, whose one of its major administrators is a Saudi prince and has revealed many secrets of the Saudi royal family in the last year, announced in its latest post that one of the Saudi princes has escaped to London. The webpage stated that one of the famous Saudi figures has applied for asylum in Britain, whose name would be revealed in coming days and then the news of her asylum would be published by the British newspapers.
Sara Bint Talal, a ‘People’s Princess’ Saudi Princess aims to serve people as she contributes to charities ‘without discrimination’.
The revelation comes as after the death of Saudi Arabia’s Crown prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz,
tension and split have greatly increased between Al Saud princes to achieve power. Sara bint Talal was raised in Riyadh’s royal family, in the liberal, more progressive branch
of Prince Talal. Her mother is Moudie bint Abdul Mohsen Alangary and she has a fullbrother Turki bin Talal. She was nicknamed “little Barbie” because of her beauty and her
material well being, but educated by a strict English caretaker. After studies at the King Saud University in Riyadh, she married a royal cousin, but divorced in her twenties. Furthermore, political analysts in Saudi Arabia’s affairs have predicted that the Southwest Asian country will experience instability in near future.
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EDITORIAL
False Flag Alert: London 2012 Olympics
Arrested Muslim converts Linked to Anjem Chaudhry 7am on Thursday. A friend of the arrested men named
A Norwegian man who received terrorist training in Yemen is “operational” and is likely awaiting instructions to attack Western targets, according to a report by The Associated Press, which was confirmed by an ABC News intelligence source. The sources quoted in The Sunday Times, a Norwegian citizen in his mid-30s and who names himself Abu Abdul Rahman converted to Islam in 2008, and has in recent months been undergoing training at AQAP bases in Yemen. The intelligence services believe that AQAP will try and take advantage of the fact the Norwegian has a “clean” criminal record and can travel throughout Europe with few restrictions. The man is married to a diplomat’s daughter and has a family member who works within a ministry. He is also known to have visited the Rabita mosque in Oslo. The mosque is run by the Islamic association and is one of the most famous in Norway. Lone gunmen similar to Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik pose the gravest danger to the Olympics, defence experts have warned. Islamic extremists, independent of al-Qaeda, may be the most likely source of such an attack but dissident Irish republican groups should not be discounted, according to a briefing reported. However, risks remain high on several fronts, according to a report due to be published tomorrow. Will Hartley, of defence specialists IHS Jane’s, said Breivik showed the impact ‘lone wolves’ can have. He added: ‘By definition, they are unpredictable and could be potentially motivated by any number of causes.’ Londoners have long lived with the threat of terrorism. Since the 1970s, the city has seen deadly attacks by Irish militants, by a far-right extremist who targeted gay people and ethnic minorities, and by so called al-Qaidainspired suicide bombers who killed 52 commuters on the transit system in July 2005. British Muslim extremists labelled ‘main threat’ to London 2012 Olympic Games The BBC released inside information that a security official has suggested the Olympic Stadium would be the “most sensitive terrorist target in the world” According to the BBC there has also been a rise of terror suspects arrested in east London. A former Met Police commander who specialises in terrorism, Roy Ramm, told the BBC, “This has got to be an intelligence-led operation.” “They’ve got to identify cells which will be plotting to do something. False Flag Alert: London 2012 Olympics Muslim converts held over ‘Games plot’ Two Muslim converts have been arrested in East London on suspicion of plotting an attack against the London 2012 Olympic Games canoeing venue. Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests were based on a tip-off after men were seen behaving suspiciously close to the venue in Waltham Abbey, Hertfordshire on Monday. Hertfordshire police officers began combing the banks after three men were seen in a dinghy on the River Lea. The two men, aged 18 and 32, were arrested at separate residential addresses in east London, by officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command, at
the 18-year-old as Jamal ud-Din and said the older man was someone he knew only as “Zakariya.” Mizanur Rahman, 29, said the arrests “might have had something to do with the fact that they recently went canoeing” on the River Lea, a branch of which runs through the Olympic site in east London. “It’s just people trying to get into the Olympic spirit,” he said, but he believed the authorities would try “painting it as jihad training.” High-profile Muslim convert Richard Dart has been named as one of the six people arrested in a counterterrorism operation across east and west London, according to Sky News. This white British 29-year-old from Weymouth, Dorset, converted to Islam in 2009 by MI6 asset Anjem Choudary of Islam4UK. According to Telegraph Anjem Choudary said he had converted Mr Dart but had not been in contact with him for more than a year. Dart, of Bow, east London, was renamed “Salahuddin” , told the Daily Mail in 2009 that he would be happy to fight - and die - for the cause and that Islam had to defeat Western aggression. Another convert Abu Qasim was arrested after a speech he gave in Amsterdam’s central Dam Square on May 25, when he warned that Wilders would be “dealt with” once the Netherlands became an Islamic state. Qasim, a 29year-old Islamist who lives in the central Dutch city of Woerden, is now scheduled to appear in court on July 11. In December 2011, the Dutch Intelligence Service AIVD said it was concerned about the rapid radicalization of Sharia4Holland. AIVD issued the advisory after Sharia4Belgium released a video in which the Belgian Islamist Sheik Abu Imran (aka Fouad Belkacem, who is Sharia4Belgium’s main spokesman) declared that the black flag of Islamic Jihad will “soon be flying on top of all the palaces in Europe.” Anjem Choudary and Omar Muhammad Bakri – both former leaders of British jihadist organization Al-Muhajiroun and UK-based Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamaah– have launched another new organization called Shariah for Hind (India) to advance their agenda for reestablishing Islamic rule in India. The group has planned a major public event in New Delhi on March 3, 2012, which marks the end of the Turkey-led Islamic caliphate 88 years ago. Currently the web site for Sharia for Hidn is down. Videos and pictures available to scribe confirm, converts from Holland, Belgium or UK they are linked with Terror and demonizing Islam and they all are also linked with Anjem Chaudhry or Omer Bakri known Intelligence Assets. Why hasn’t Anjem Choudary been arrested?
And why innocent Babar Ahmeds and Talha Ahsan are still in prison?.
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Arafat’s widow to bring case in France over death The controversy was reignited by an Al Jazeera expose last week in which the Swiss Radiophysics Institute said it found “surprisingly” high levels of polonium-210 on Arafat’s clothing - the same substance used to kill former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. The Swiss institute said, however, that the symptoms described in the Palestinian president’s medical reports were not consistent with the radioactive agent.
the United States regarded him as an obstacle to peace. Allegations of foul play - and of Palestinian involvement in it - have long marked factional fighting among Palestinians. The latest revelation coincides with renewed tensions within Arafat’s Fatah movement, now headed by his successor President Mahmoud Abbas, and between Fatah and Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip Tunisia has called for a ministerial meeting of the
“Madame Arafat hopes that the authorities will be able to establish the exact circumstances of her husband’s death and uncover the truth, so that justice can be done,” lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sud said in a statement. The exact nature of the legal complaint by Arafat’s 48-yearold widow, Suha, is yet to be determined but it is expected to be presented before the end of this month, the lawyer said. It would be presented against a person or persons unknown, the lawyer said in a statement. The Palestinian Authority agreed last week to a request from Suha Arafat - who lives in Malta and France - to exhume her husband’s body from a limestone mausoleum in the West Bank city of Ramallah for an autopsy. “I want the world to know the truth about the assassination of Yasser Arafat,” Suha Arafat told Al Jazeera, without making any direct accusations, but noting that both Israel and
Arab League to meet to discuss Arafat’s death. Last weekend, Abbas met French President Francois Hollande and asked him to help form an international investigative committee through the U.N. Security Council, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Al Jazeera. Confined by Israel to his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah for three years after a Palestinian uprising erupted, an ailing Arafat collapsed in October 2004. Looking weak and thin - and telling aides “God willing, I will be back” - he was airlifted to a military hospital in France, where he slipped into a coma and died on November 11, 2004. Rumours circulated that he had died from anything from stomach cancer to poisoning to AIDS. French officials, citing privacy laws, refused to give details of the nature of his illness.
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
NEWS
Is your portfolio ready for next crash
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US economist warns of tough times for economy
American investors need to prepare for an upcoming stock market crash that will be worse than 2008, a noted US economist has warned. The stock market collapse we experienced in 2008 “wasn’t the real crash. The real crash is coming,” American businessman, investment broker, author and financial commentator Peter Schiff said.
Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, said that Federal stimulus,
have to realize that banks are going to fail.” He points out that today’s ‘safe haven’ investments, the US dollar and Treasuries, are anything but safe.
or quantitative easing, never works and that it just makes the economy sicker in the end. Schiff’s solution is to raise interest rates, but he acknowledges that it would bring a huge downside risk with it.
Calls to Destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids Begin
“In America, the problem is that interest rates are too low. They have to go up. We can’t have an economy with interest rates at zero. If the Fed lets interest rates go up, we have to realize that we will have a deeper recession, we
“There are a lot of people who don’t understand what is going on. Look at how many people are buying the dollar. Look at people buying Treasuries. That makes no sense either. The risk lies in the
dollar. The risk lies in Treasuries and other currencies being printed into oblivion.” The US economy is in the middle of a “phony” recovery according to one economist, and the government printing more money isn’t going to help get it healthy. Comparing the economy to a drug addict, Peter Schiff, said that all of the money the government is printing to boost the economy is “like you are trying to keep a drug addict high.” And every time the drug wears off, if you want him to stay high, you have to give him more. But he’s not going to get healthy if you keep him on drugs.” What the economy needs, according to Schiff, is to swallow some “real bitter-tasting medicine” in the form of higher interest rates.
Four Gulf States amongst the world’s 10 fattest
Half of world’s fattest countries are Arab Kuwait fattest in Arab world
According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids— or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi‘i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.” This is a reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641. Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity. While most Western academics argue otherwise, according to early Muslim writers, the great Library of Alexandria itself—deemed a repository of pagan knowledge contradicting the Koran—was destroyed under bin al-As’s reign and in compliance with Caliph Omar’s command. However, while book-burning was an easy activity in the 7th century, destroying the mountain-like pyramids and their guardian Sphinx was not—even if Egypt’s Medieval Mamluk rulers “de-nosed” the latter during target practice (though popular legend still attributes it to a Westerner, Napoleon). Now, however, as Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sheikhs” observes, and thanks to modern technology, the pyramids can be destroyed. The only question left is whether the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt is “pious” enough—if he is willing to complete the Islamization process that started under the hands of Egypt’s first Islamic conqueror.
Kuwait was reported to be the heaviest country in the Middle East, and second globally behind the United States. The new report from online in journal BMC Public Health said Kuwait was the most obese Arab country. Qatar came in fourth on the list, followed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 10th position, showing that the Arab world was gaining, in weight. The data published on Sunday, reported scientists have calculated it to be 3.9 million tons, or 3.5 million metric tons. According to researchers, all that extra bulk adds up, and could have “the same implications for world food energy demand as an extra half a billion people living on the earth.” To reach their national estimates, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used World Health Organization data from 2005. According to the BBC, the scientists worked out that the average global body weight was 137 lbs, but there were large regional differences. Asian countries were the lightest in the world, and experts said this was due to their better diets. Perhaps not surprisingly, the United States, home of the Big Mac and supersize fries, is the heaviest country in the world. What is surprising is that it is closely followed by Kuwait. The average person in Kuwait weighs 77.5 kilograms, which is 15.5 kilograms heavier than the average around the world. Kuwait is followed by Qatar, with the UAE in fifth place. Rounding out the top ten heaviest nations is Bahrain. “We have to educate people on the importance of a healthy diet and exercise,” Mark Botha, sales and marketing director for Fitness First Middle East, a chain of fitness clubs across the Middle East, told The Media
Line. “The climate is also a challenge, as people tend to stay indoors.” Summer temperatures in the Gulf can exceed 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit). Fitness First has 31 clubs around the Middle East, including some where all of the staff and all of the members are female. “The ladies really enjoy our fantastic environment,” Botha said. “It’s a chance for them to take off their abaya (the traditional long black cloak worn out of modesty) and just have a great time.” The upcoming month of Ramadan, when many Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, which is expected to begin July 20, presents unique challenges. Although one might think that fasting is a good way to lose weight, people tend to actually eat more total calories as they make up for lost time during the iftar, or break-the-fast meal that is held after dusk. These also tend to be family celebrations which continue for hours into the night, and where hosts offer a range of tempting dishes.
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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Shafilea mother reveals ‘violence’
Shafilea Ahmed’s mother admits she saw husband attacking daughter in ‘significant development’
Shafilea Ahmed’s father denies murder
Taxi driver Iftikhar Ahmed says the ordeal of a murder trial has been devastating for him and his wife, Farzana. Iftikhar Ahmed, accused of killing his daughter because she brought shame on the family, breaks down in court A father accused of murdering his daughter because he believed she had brought shame on his family broke down in court as he denied the charge. Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, have been on trial at Chester crown court for eight weeks charged with killing their daughter Shafilea, 17, in 2003. Farzana Ahmed has always denied murder, but this week the jury of seven men and five women were told she had changed her account and said she witnessed her husband beat Shafilea on the night of the alleged murder. She also claimed he had threatened to kill her and their other children if she ever asked him what had happened to Shafilea. But on Wednesday, Ahmed denied ever hurting his daughter or having anything to do with the murder. Asked by Tom Bayliss QC, defending, how he felt about his wife, Ahmed said: “I love her to bits.” He said his feelings had not changed, even after she changed her story. Bayliss said: “Have you ever caused any harm to your daughter Shafilea?” Ahmed said: “No.”
Bayliss said: “Were you responsible for the death of your daughter?” He replied: “No.” Ahmed added: “We were devastated to find out that she had left home in the first place.” When he was asked how he felt when his daughter’s body was found, he struggled to respond, before adding in a strained voice: “We couldn’t believe it when we heard.” Before he gave evidence, Ahmed was asked to read a statement made by his wife and co-accused. His wife changed her story earlier this week, saying that, contrary to what she had told police, she did see her husband beating Shafilea on the day she went missing. Despite the new statement, Ahmed said he “stilled loved her to bits”. He said the trial had made him and his wife closer because they were “fighting for justice for Shafilea”. “We want to know what has happened to her as we have from day one,” he said. Earlier in the trial, another of the Ahmed’s daughters Alesha told the jury she had seen her parents pin Shafilea down on a settee and push a plastic bag into her mouth. Both deny murdering Shafilea. The case is continuing.
A mother accused of killing her daughter has dramatically changed
her defence to admit that she had found her husband attacking the teenager on the night she disappeared.
denied any knowledge of her murder. But, in a dramatic twist, Mrs Ahmed changed her defence case and admitted that an “incident of violence” towards Shafilea did occur in the family home on September
FARZANA Ahmed has accused husband Iftikhar of threatening to kill his other children if she revealed the truth of what happened the night Shafilea was allegedly murdered. Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, stand accused of murdering their 17-year-old daughter Shafilea at their Cheshire home in September 2003. The couple, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, have been on trial at Chester Crown Court for the last eight weeks and have continually
11 2003 - an allegation she has previously denied. Henry Riding, prosecuting, told the jury the new defence case statement from Mrs Ahmed alleges that she came downstairs to discover her husband attacking Shafilea at around 9.30pm. She says her husband was “very angry” and was hitting and slapping Shafilea around the face. Mrs Ahmed claims she tried to intervene but was told to “shut up”. She says she tried to “protect” her daughter but was pushed away and
then “punched with a clenched fist”. Mrs Ahmed says only one other child - Mevish Ahmed - was there to see what was happening and she “anticipated” that she could also be harmed by her husband, so she took her upstairs and stayed with the other children in a bedroom. Mrs Ahmed says she was “extremely scared” and stayed in the room for some 20 minutes when she heard a car leaving. When she went back downstairs Shafilea and her husband were gone. When Mr Ahmed returned she claims she asked him where Shafilea was, and he responded: “If you care for your dear life and that of your children, don’t ever ask me this question again.” The jury at Chester Crown Court yesterday (mon) learned of the “significant development in the case” during an address by the trial judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans. Both Farzana Ahmed and her husband, Iftikhar, have been on trial since May accused of murdering their 17-year-old daughter. Both have pleaded not guilty. The jurors were told they would be given Mrs Ahmed’s new defence case statement later today (Tues). This would provide more details of her account. Legal arguments took place Tuesday with the defence case due to begin on Wednesday. Iftikhar, aged 52, denies murder.
UK govt. to axe pensioners’ benefits
Tory MP Nick Boles is to propose plans to exclude British better-off pensioners from universal benefits. Better-off pensioners in Britain are to lose universal benefits including winter fuel payments, free prescriptions, bus passes and television licenses, as part of the Coalition government’s plan to cut an additional £10.5bn from the welfare budget by 2016-17. Today on July 10, Tory MP Nick Boles, a close ally of the British Prime Minster David Cameron, will urge the
UK government to get rid of universal benefits for pensioners at the next general election. This is while Cameron had opposed such cuts during the 2010 election campaign, vowing that a Conservative government would retain benefit schemes, which are estimated to cost £5bn a year. In a controversial speech to the independent think tank the Resolution Foundation, he will outline a series of cuts that will have to be made in order to eliminate the budget deficit by 2016-17.
While the British Chancellor George Osborne, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Work and Pensions
Secretary Iain Duncan Smith seem to be prepared to bring in changes before 2015, Downing Street has blocked the move. “We need to acknowledge now that we will not be able to continue the protection of these other benefits for better-off pensioners after 2015,” Boles will say. “If we are to achieve stability in our public finances and make crucial investments in improving productivity and competitiveness, we must find further savings from the welfare budget.”
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
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NEWS
Three Birmingham men charged with terrorism offences
Men were arrested by counter-terrorism police officers last week during operation in which firearms were found in car on M1 Three men appeared in court today charged with terrorism offences after a cache of weapons was allegedly found in a car stopped by police on the M1. Jewel Uddin 26, Omar Mohammed Khan, 27, and Mohammed Hasseen, 23, faced Westminster Magistrates’ Court accused of preparation for an act or acts of terrorism, under Section Five of the Terrorism Act 2006. They were arrested after a routine stop of a Renault Laguna by police on the M1 motorway near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on Saturday June 30. Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it had authorized the charges against the men but declined to comment on a possible target, attack, or at what stage any alleged plans had been.
The men - Jewel Uddin, 26, Omar Mohammed Khan, 27, and Mohammed Hasseen, 23 - will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in
Taking the plunge off the fiscal cliff and the rise of global tensions
More and more Asian nations — led by China and Russia — have ditched the dollar for bilateral trade (out of fear of dollar instability). Tension rises between the United States and Asia over Syria and Iran. The Asian nations throw more and more abrasive rhetoric around — including war rhetoric. And on the other hand, both Obama and Romney — as well as Hillary Clinton — seem dead-set on ramping up the tense rhetoric. Romney
seems extremely keen to brand China a currency manipulator. In truth, both sides have a mutual interest in sitting down and engaging in a frank discussion, and then coming out with a serious long-term plan of co-operation on trade and fiscal issues where both sides accept compromises — perhaps Asia could agree to reinvest some
of its dollar hoard in the United States to create American jobs and rebuild American infrastructure in exchange for a long-term American deficit-reduction and technologysharing agreement? So the future, I think, will more likely involve both sides jumping off the cliff into the uncertain seas of trade war, currency war, default-by-debasement, tariffs, proxy war and regional and global political and economic instability. As Xinhua noted the last time America faced the fiscal cliff: “The U.S. has long been facing the same problem: living beyond its means. At present, the country has debts as high as 55 trillion U.S. dollars, including more than 14 trillion U.S. dollars of treasury bonds. Economists agree that as the United States’ largest foreign creditor, China should contemplate ways to pull itself out of the “dollar trap,” as the U.S. economy is faltering with its debt piling up and its currency on the brink to depreciate. China must make fuller use of the non-financial assets in its foreign reserves, as well as speed up the diversification of investing channels to resist a possible long-term weakening of the dollar, said Xia Bing, director of the Finance Research Institutes of the Development Research Center under the State Council. Zheng Xinli, permanent vice chairman of China Center for International Economic Exchanges, has suggested that Chinese companies boost overseas investment as a way to absorb trade surpluses and fend off the dollar risk. -Zero Hedge
London on Tuesday. All are from Birmingham in central England. Police said four other men arrested in relation to the same investigation remain in custody. Over the past week, 14 people have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism activity. Police insist none of the cases are linked to plots against the upcoming London Olympics, which run July
27-Aug. 12. Britain’s terror level is currently ranked as substantial - the third highest point on a five-point scale - and means an attack is a strong possibility. Intelligence officials say there has been an expected increase in chatter among extremist groups ahead of the Olympics, but there are still no specific or credible threats targeting the games.
New UK visa step to detect bogus Indian students
Britain today announced a targeted interview system for student visa applicants from India and other non-EU countries to prevent abuse and to ensure that they are refused visas if immigration officials have doubts about their genuineness as students. The new measure follows a pilot scheme carried out in India, Pakistan and 11 other countries, which revealed that some applicants could not answer basic questions in English without an interpreter, but had claimed in forms that they had the ability to study at UK universities. During the pilot, over 2,300 interviews were conducted at application stage between December 2011 and February 2012. It revealed that almost half (45 per cent) of applicants from Myanmar would have been refused visas if they had been interviewed. The figure for India was 29 per cent, and 38 per cent for Bangladesh, the Home Office said. “Under the current system UK Border Agency officers are unable to refuse some applications even if they have serious concerns over the credibility of the student - we are toughening up the system to ensure genuine students benefit from our country’s excellent education sector,” Immigration Minister Damian Green said. “Britain is open for business to the brightest and the best migrants but the message is clear if you lie on your application form or try to hide your true motivation for coming to the UK then you will be found out and refused a visa.” The pilot analysis mentions case studies of three Indian applicants whose responses during interviews raised doubts about their credibility and genuineness. The Home Office said that the new system will run for a year, and concentrate on high-risk students in India and other non-EU countries. Nearly 14,000 student applicants are expected to be interviewed during the year. Green said: “With more interviews and greater powers to refuse bogus students we will weed out abuse and protect the UK from those looking to play the system”.
The Home Office also announced that news restrictions announced recently applicable for non-EU spouses and other family migration categories came into effect today. From today, family visit applicants in India and other non-EU countries refused visas will not have the right to appeal. The change, announced in June, comes into effect today. An appeal will only be allowed on human rights or race discrimination grounds, the Home Office said. The controversial changes to British citizens and residents bringing Indian and other nonEU spouses to the UK include higher income thresholds and longer qualifying periods (from two to five years) for permanent settlement. Under the new rules, a minimum income threshold of 18,600 annual salary is required for “sponsoring the settlement in the UK of a spouse or partner, or fiance(e) or proposed civil partner of non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationality, with a higher threshold for any children also sponsored; 22,400 pounds for one child and an additional 2,400 pounds for each further child,” the Home Office said. Adult and elderly dependants of British citizens will be allowed to settle in the UK only where they can demonstrate that, as a result of age, illness or disability, they require a level of longterm personal care that can only be provided by a relative in the UK, and requiring them to apply from overseas rather than switch in the UK from another category, for example as a visitor.
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Saudi police arrest prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric
Prominent Saudi Shiite cleric and critic of the Saudi government, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was arrested in the Sunni-ruled kingdom’s eastern province on Sunday, a Saudi official said. Interior ministry spokesman Mansur Turki, cited by the official SPA news agency, said “one of the instigators of sedition, Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, was arrested in AlAwamiya after being wounded while resisting the security
forces.” The man was transferred to hospital and is due to be interrogated, the spokesman said. Last week, al-Nemr had warned that his possible detention would intensify the protests in the Eastern Province, the center of rallies for over a year now. Hussain al-Alk, a human rights activist, told Al Jazeera, “The speeches of Sheikh Nimr were very hot, and he’s always attacking the government.” A statement from an Interior Ministry spokesman said the
deaths followed a protest in the village of Awamiya over the arrest of Nimr, but said there was no clash between protesters
and police. Saudi protest crackdown leaves two dead Activists said Akbar al-Shakuri
and Mohammed al-Filfil were shot by police while attending a demonstration in Qatif, a city in Eastern Province. Police in Qatif use live bullets to disperse protesters after arrest and shooting of prominent Shia cleric and activist. Saudi Arabia said on Monday that two men have been killed after protests in a Shia Muslim area in the eastern part of the world’s top oil exporter, following the arrest of a prominent Shia cleric. The cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, is an outspoken Shia cleric and anti-government activist.
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international
Thursday, 12.07.12
Govt to defer response in NRO implementation case Government decided on Wednesday to delay the submission of response to the Supreme Court pertaining to the NRO implementation case. The response would be submitted to the apex court after the approval from the federal cabinet, report . Replying to questions of media representatives during a press briefing held after the cabinet meeting here, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had already sacrificed one prime minister. Now the cabinet’s approval would be sought before taking future decisions. The cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, discussed about the NRO implementation response to be submitted in the SC. Kaira told the media representatives that Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek was not prepared for the briefing on the case. Naek has asked additional time to prepare for the response, the minister added. He said, the letter written by Registrar Supreme Court was sent to Law Ministry on Monday and the minister saw it on
Tuesday. The law minister during the cabinet meeting told that he has just taken charge of the ministry and needs more time to get background information about the whole matter. Kaira said that Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf directed the law minister to give briefing to the cabinet on this issue as early as possible as it was very important issue. The minister said that there was a chance of “one-point agenda meeting” on the issue. He said that the court has sought reply from the prime minister and cabinet will discuss the matter in its meeting as it was question of continuation of the system. Moreover, Kaira said that amending constitution and legislation is right of only the
Parliament, adding that during the process of amending the constitution to restore it in its original form, 103 clauses of the constitution have been amended by the parliament. About contempt of court legislation, he said that nothing new has been added in the law and right to appeal was genuine right of the concerned parties. He said that even the Supreme Court in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case had admitted that the government had the right to legislate on the issue and right of legislation is the right of the parliament. Kaira said that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified on the issue of writing letter and the PPP despite having reservations accepted the verdict for the sake of continuation of the system. Continued on page 10 >>
Nawaz, Imran Khan assured me of a pro-US government: Munter
US envoy Cameron Munter, when asked by the BBC regarding the possibility of an anti-US govt in Pakistan in case Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan get elected in 2013 elections, said that he has met both the leaders who have assured a pro-US govt. During an interview with the BBC Urdu on Tuesday, Munter said that the US is not against Pakistan, rather it wants Pakistan to be independent, so it can efficiently take action against the militants hiding in tribal areas along the Afghanistan and Pakistan border. “By independent, I mean that the Pakistani leadership, along with the Pakistan Army, should have complete control over its territories… It is important that Pakistan’s political and military leadership defeats these terrorists. And, we want to help Pakistan with it,” said Munter. The Ambassador who is set to retire early from his post, said that the reopening of Nato supply routes is not the end and the US still needs to deal with terrorists in Pakistan. He stressed that Pakistan needs to be a part of the solution, not the problem. When reminded that the US is against the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline, Munter said, “if you talk to Pakistani leaders, you will get to know that there is no shortage of electricity in the country. It only needs good management, improvements and new rates.”
Munter “misquoted my interaction India is investment-friendly: PM tells Singapore with him,” says Imran ‘Indian business environment complicated’: Lee United States Ambassador in Pakistan Cameron Munter “either misunderstood or misquoted my discussion with him on PakistanUS relations,” says Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday. Continued on page 10 >>
India is an “investment-friendly” country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong who had earlier complained of “complicated” Indian business environment for investors who want policy stability. India and Singapore also inked three pacts, including one in the field of defence and security after the comprehensive and Continued on page 10 >>
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Saarc international I Thursday 12 July 2012
Channel 4 Turns Spotlight on Kashmir
In the most militarised place on earth, one man is standing up to the armed might of the world’s largest democracy. Kashmir’s Torture Trail follows a Kashmiri lawyer as he uncovers India’s best kept secret.
The mass graves of Kashmir
Channel 4 says it’s turning its attention on Kashmir, where separatists and Indian forces have battled for almost a quarter century, because the issue is in danger of becoming a “forgotten conflict,” overshadowed by Syria and the euro-zone debt crisis. It appears the dark secrets in the documentary are the unmarked graves of thousands of Kashmiri civilians that were unearthed by local human rights activists in 2008 and
were forced to concede that they had lodged 2,683 cases for the covertly interred in just three districts. And a new deposition submitted by Imroz’s field workers covering two more districts, Rajoori and Poonch, mapped 3,844 more unmarked and mass graves, taking the total number to more than 6,000. There are still another 16 districts yet to be surveyed, leaving Imroz to wonder how many violent deaths and surreptitious burials have been concealed
petrol into anuses. This work suggests that the statewide ratio for Kashmiris who have experienced torture is one in six the statewide ratio for Kashmiris who have experienced torture is one in six. “For the 50 villages, in this small snapshot, we located 50 centres run by the army and paramilitaries in which torture had been practised,” Imroz said. Kashmir’s Torture Trail, Tuesday 10 July at
We appreciate their work, and commend the unstinted sacrifices of Kashmiri people for their cause. We demand that a Full report must be commissioned by the UN Human Right Commissioner and depositions must be recorded & must be shared with the world. A UN reporter on Human Rights abuses must be allowed to visit Kashmir and meet the local residents to report back their plight. In UK,
acknowledged in a report last year by the official State Human Rights Commission. A story Monday in The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper, which linked to the Channel 4 documentary, also focused on the mass graves. For 22 years this contested region has endured a regime of torture and disappeared civilians. Now a local laywer is discovering their unmarked graves and challenging India’s abuses Human Rights Watch called on India to “protect Parvez Imroz, an award-winning human rights lawyer” and his case was raised in the European parliament. His family pleaded for him to quit. “I was terrified,” the lawyer conceded. “I was starting to have horrible dreams. But being silent is a crime.” Imroz and his team redoubled their efforts, spreading their net across 55 villages in three districts, Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara. An ad-hoc inquiry run by volunteers and funded by donations saw the number of unmarked and mass graves mapped rise to 2,700. Inside them were 2,943 bodies; 80% of them unidentified. “These were hellish images from a war that no one has ever reported,” said Imroz. The SHRC finally agreed to an inquiry. Soon, it had its work cut out. Using RTI laws, the police
across Kashmir. Finally, last September, the SHRC made an announcement, stating that Imroz’s discovery was correct: “There is every possibility that unidentified dead bodies buried in various unmarked graves … may contain the victims of enforced disappearances.” The UN weighed in this year, a report to the Human Rights Council warning India of its obligations under human rights treaties and laws. Kashmiri families had a “right to know the truth” and that “when the disappeared person is found to be dead, the right … to have the remains of their loved one returned to them, and to dispose of those remains according to their own tradition, religion or culture”. This year, Imroz and his field workers widened the research to commence the first state-wide inquiry into the use of torture. Their findings will go to the UN and to Human Rights Watch later this summer but a draft seen by the Guardian suggests that not only is torture endemic, it is systemic. In one cluster of 50 villages, more than 2,000 extreme cases of torture were documented, any of which would kick-start an SHRC inquiry, and all of which left victims maimed and psychologically scarred. Methods included branding, electric shocks, simulated drowning, striping flesh with razor blades and piping
11:10pm on Channel 4 Next on 4Seven Fri 13 Jul, 12.05AM “We condemn mass graves in Srinagar” Association of Pakistani Lawyers, a team of Pakistani origin lawyers, Solicitors, Barristers, Judges in the UK has taken a serious note of British media reports on ‘enforced disappearances’ and ‘mass graves’ in Indian held Kashmir, and we strongly condemn it. APL feel that British Media though late but has taken a bold stand to show the other side of the story in Kashmir when UN is quiet on the subject. The International Community must seek compliance with basic human rights of the individuals duly protected by the Geneva Convention 1951 and European Convention on Human Rights 1950 so that Kashmiris are given their due right to protest, express their will, and continue a political activity to demand what is fair for them. Intl community can at least ensure their safety and basic human rights. We feel that Kashmiris are keeping their struggle alive with their sacrifices and activist like Pervez Amroz by exposing 8000 people buried extra judicially are doing a great service to humanity risking their life, livelihood and safety of their families.
member of Parliaments are engaged to raise the subject in House of commons on public demand, and parliamentary delegations must be allowed to visit occupied Kashmir to learn more on the atrocities and to end the sufferings in silence. Indigenous Kashmiris around the globe must take lead to expose further the attitude of Indian Armed Forces who are trying to nip the political voice with brutal force. We express full solidarity with the just cause of Kashmiri people as mandated by United Nation’s Resolution. Its sad painful and highly intolerable that international community is keeping quiet on mass grave issue. APL looks forward a statement from both British Premier David Cameron and Indian Prime Minister ensuring that a high powered judicial enquiry on the allegation(s) which has substance will be made in a fair, transparent and judicious manner.
Continued from page 9 >>
NRO implementation case
He said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government has never said that it will never write a letter to Swiss authorities, it said that as per constitution, the letter cannot be written. He said that the PPP has trust in superior judiciary and respects the institution and will continue to seek relief from the courts.
Munter “misquoted my interaction with him,” says Imran
Speaking to media representatives at Karachi airport, Khan said PTI is neither “pro nor against the US, it takes a position based on its policies. Thus, the PTI has consistently opposed American war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s partnership in it. Events have proved the party’s stand to be correct,” he said adding because after associating with the US and providing it help in Afghan war, Pakistan has suffered immensely. Khan said that he told the US envoy that the PTI would react to US policies that it disagrees with, but would seek to build an enduring relationship with it, based on shared interests and mutual respect. “It is this part of interaction that has been highlighted by media and not the fact that I had candidly told Munter that the PTI cannot support reopening of Nato supply routes or any other activity that furthers US war efforts in Afghanistan,” Khan added.
Barrister Amjad Malik Chair & Members of the Executive Association of Pakistani Lawyers (UK)
India is investment-friendly: PM tells Singapore
“fruitful” discussions on international, regional and bilateral issues between the two prime ministers. Noting that Singapore was not only India’s foremost trading partner in Asean but also a major sources of FDI inflows, Singh said, “We agreed to expedite the conclusion of the ongoing second review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement that would further facilitate trade in goods and services and investment.” “In this context, I assured Prime Minister Lee of India’s commitment to reinforce its status as as investment-friendly country and expressed my hope that Singapore companies would look at India as a valued investment destination in the current scenario,” Singh said at a joint press event. Earlier, during a meeting, organised by the business chambers here, Lee said, “I think India’s environment is complicated.” The Singapore prime minister, who is on a three-day visit to India, also said when investors take a decision they want
stability and “they want to have reliable partner. They look at the prospect and possibilities. That’s the way all businesses happen”. He was answering a question on how to improve business climate in India. The pact on Cooperation in Vocational Education and Skills Development to provide the framework for cooperation in the field, MoU to renew the bilateral arrangement between the air forces on joint training and exercises and the deal to facilitate the setting up of a Greenfield World Class Skills Development Centre (WCSDC) in Delhi to provide state-ofthe-art facility for skills development were the three pacts inked between India and Singapore. Once operational, the WCSDC will train 15,000 annually in various fields, including manufacturing and merchandising, Lee said. “Prime Minister Lee and I have decided to step up bilateral cooperation and exchanges in the fields of defence and security,” Singh said while referring to the MoU in this field.
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN NEWS
The continuing Afghanistan failure
The last two days have been a very bad spell in Afghanistan, with bombings that killed seven U.S. troops along with Afghan soldiers, police and civilians. But then, are there ever good days in Afghanistan? Dexter Filkins’ piece in the July 9 & 16 New Yorker presents a bleak picture: “After 11 years, nearly 2,000 Americans killed, 16,000 Americans wounded, nearly $400 billion spent, and more than 12,000 Afghan civilians dead since 2007, the war in Afghanistan has come to this: The United States is leaving, mission unaccomplished.” Heaven knows we have tried, and we continue to try. American troops are working hard
educating, training and equipping Afghan security personnel, at a cost of $11 billion a year. But there is really no evidence that our allies will be ready to take over as planned in 2014. Without the Americans, one Afghan commander told Filkins, “we cannot hold off the Taliban.” Why not? The thing that often gets overlooked in Afghanistan is that the Taliban manage
to muster such a capable and durable fighting force with equally raw human material and without a superpower’s help. Americans in Afghanistan fear the Afghan forces will desert en masse once we leave for fear of losing. But the insurgents don’t seem to get discouraged quite so easily. They’ve hung on for 11 years and they show no sign of going away.
What all this suggests is that the other side simply has far greater motivation than our allies do. I’m not sure why that’s so, but I suspect it’s very important and
beyond our capacity to change. We can’t win the war for the Afghans, and we can’t give them what they need to win it for themselves.
$16 billion in civilian aid pledged to Afghanistan, with conditions
At a major donor conference this weekend in Tokyo, the international community linked its hefty financial aid for Afghanistan over the coming years to concrete progress in reforms by the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Countries pledged to provide a generous $16 billion (€12.9 billion) in reconstruction aid for Kabul for the coming four years. But that money is only supposed to flow if swift and tangible improvements are made in governance, in the fight against corruption and in the strengthening of civil rights -- especially for women. “We are giving, we are helping,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said, summarizing the results of the summit in Tokyo. “But we are also monitoring.” It may sound absurd, but with these firm commitments, the international community is actually seeking to pave the way for its own exit from Afghanistan. More than two years ago, members of the NATO alliance, which currently has more than 100,000 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, agreed to a withdrawal of the ISAF security force by the end of 2014. However, Westerwelle and his counterparts fear that Afghanistan would fall into a state of chaos after the pullout if the country does not get further support. To address those concerns, donors pledged in May to provide around $4 billion a year for local military and police forces. That has now been followed by the reconstruction budget. The two measures are meant to ensure at least a tolerable amount of security and economic stability in the country.
Warnings of Relapse to the Taliban Era
For his part, Karzai has warned of a potential horror scenario in the event that the country does not receive continued support, saying Afghanistan could return to the conditions of the Taliban era. Without aid, he said, his country would remain “vulnerable.” He told politicians and diplomats at the conference that Afghanistan could once again become a base for terrorists and extremists. Karzai said: “The region as a whole, and the world beyond, will not be secure for as long as the
tone, Karzai said he would double efforts for better governance and to fight corruption. Germany played an important role in the organization and focus of the meeting in Tokyo. Since the Afghanistan conference in Bonn in 2011, Germany has sought to attract donors for the mega aid package that has now been agreed to. And with an annual contribution of around €430 million, Germany is one of the largest providers of aid to Afghanistan. Westerwelle and German Development Minister Dirk Niebel, who also traveled to
menaces of terrorism and extremism persist, enjoying sanctuaries and support in some corners of the region beyond Afghanistan’s borders.” Then, reading from his script in a somewhat uninspired
the summit in Japan, announced that Berlin intends to maintain that level of support in the coming years. Indeed, the United States and Japan are the only countries that have committed to larger
contributions. In his speech at the summit, Westerwelle emphasized that Berlin would directly link its aid to “government reforms.” Germany, like the other 60 or so countries represented in Tokyo, hopes the conditions attached to the funding will spur Kabul’s still dysfunctional government into action. It wants the country to finally counter rampant nepotism in Afghanistan and fulfill promises of democracy. For weeks, the international community and their Afghan counterparts wrangled over the wording of the conference’s 14-page final declaration. The paper stresses that the international community’s ongoing support hinges on the Afghans fulfilling their own commitments. It sends an unusually direct message for a diplomatic document.
Karzai Must Comply with 16 Points
The document shows that Kabul has made big promises. In 16 points, the diplomats have listed “joint commitments” which Karzai should tackle in his final two years in office. These include organizing free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015, improving controls on financial markets and tackling rampant corruption. Some points are tied to specific dates, such as the implementation of a law condemning violence against women or establishing a fixed time frame for the upcoming elections by early 2013. Although the paper remains vague in many aspects, diplomats secured some achievements. Their plans include a regular external review of Kabul’s reforms. At least once a year,
countries’ senior representatives will gather to take stock of Afghanistan’s progress. By 2014 there will be a follow-up conference in Britain to reassess the financial aid. The hope is that the fixed schedule will push Afghanistan to fulfill its obligations. However, speaking in Tokyo, Westerwelle warned against inflated expectations. “We’re not talking about European standards,” he said, referring to corruption. “We’re talking about making things a bit better.” It remains to be seen whether the strategy of indirectly threatening Kabul will work. For a number of years, experienced diplomats have heard the Afghan government promising to do a better job, but little progress was made in the aftermath of conferences similar to the one in Tokyo. At the end of the day, the international community has no real alternative than to continue to support Karzai and his associates: Despite the many doubts, he remains the only game in town for the West. In addition, capping aid flows would be an inadequate political tool to punish the government. Instead, it would hurt the many projects seeking to help the country’s poverty-stricken population. Afghan negotiators were quite satisfied with the outcome of the Tokyo summit. Despite the conditions attached to the aid, they managed to incorporate their demand that half of the international funding will go directly to the Afghan government. Niebel, however, insisted that “clear requirements” had been agreed on in Tokyo. He stressed that Berlin would only release tranches of aid step by step, and only if Kabul fulfils its obligations.
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Saarc international I Thursday 12 July 2012
WEEKLY REVIEW OF BANGLADESH NEWS
Padma bridge to be built with domestic funding: PM
No more request now to WB for Padma fund: Cabinet
PM Hasina, on Sunday rolled out a road map for construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge and told parliament that work on the mega project would begin soon by mobilising internal resources and with assistance from the people of the country. Winding up the 13th session of parliament, she said the government would spend a total of Tk 22.55 thousand crore on the project as global lender World Bank had pulled out of its loan commitment recently over perceived corruption. Hasina also blamed the World Bank for wasting time over the Padma Bridge project and asked the finance minister to explore ways for realising compensation from the bank for delaying the project by more than one and a half years. The prime minister said the government might be forced to drop some other development projects to build the bridge that would connect the south-west and
central regions with capital Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong. It will also contribute about 2 per cent to the gross domestic product. The government is planning to issue sovereign bonds worth $750 million and impose surcharge like that of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, she said. The prime minister said the government had Tk 1,500 crore under Infrastructure Development Fund and Tk 3,000 crore in the Private-Public Partnership fund while the finance minister had set aside a fund for the project in the current budget. Referring to her making public her mobile phone numbers,
Hasina said she had already received numerous phone calls from home and abroad assuring her of support in different ways to help implement the project. ‘Many Bangladeshi expatriates, who are currently remitting $12 billion annually, have said they would send more money,’ Hasina said adding that many schoolchildren had also expressed
their willingness to donate their lunch money to support the project. ‘Their assurances have made me confident about implementation of the project and we do not want to waste time as much time has already been wasted because of World Bank’s dilly-dally,’ the prime minister said amid cheers from her deputies in the house.
The lawmakers told Hasina that they would donate their one month’s salary to the Padma Bridge fund. A visibly confident Hasina criticised the World Bank’s policies saying almost all of their prescriptions had proved counterproductive in Bangladesh. The prime minister requested international donors not to obstruct Bangladesh’s development programmes. ‘We will implement our development projects with our own strategies,’ Hasina said urging the people to assist her government to implement the bridge project. It is not acceptable that the World Bank would cause such a great harm to Bangladesh on a lame excuse, Hasina said, adding that when the bank had brought the allegation against SNCLavalin, she repeatedly asked it to float fresh tender since an allegation was brought against the company.
‘Pak troops escorted US foreign policy not pleasant for Bangladesh: speakers by SQ Chy killed 5’
A war crime victim on Monday told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that he witnessed his family members to be murdered brutally in a raid of Pakistani Army escorted by BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury in the 1971 liberation war. Advocate Nirmal Chandra Sharma, 67, the sixth prosecution witness in a war crimes case against the BNP leader, lost his mother, brother, uncles and nephew in the
raid. His father Joyonto Kumar Sharma, whose left hand and leg were riddled by bullets, died after suffering for 5-6 years. Nirmal who was also in the line of fire managed a narrow escape and later joined the liberation war against the Pakistani occupational forces. In his about 100 minutes long deposition, the witness often burst into tears while narrating the incident of the day.
Speakers at a discussion here said on Saturday that the experience of the people of Bangladesh about the foreign policy of the USA is not pleasant. However, they said Bangladesh should maintain good relations with the USA without sacrificing its dignity and self-respect. Forum for Peoples Voice, an NGO hosted the roundtable session on ‘US foreign policy and Bangladesh’ in the city. Former foreign minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, MP of Jatiya Party, a partner of the AWMI League-led ruling coalition, said that Bangladesh should maintain good relations with the USA without sacrificing its sovereignty and keeping in mind its policy of friendship to all and malice to none. Simultaneously, he said, Bangladesh should reconsider its ‘Look East policy.’ Anis said there is a misconception that Bush was a war monger. He
said that Bush waged wars in the energy interest of his country. Anis said that the foreign policy of a country is usually guided by two factors, national security and economic security. ‘Foreign policy of no country is static. It is ever changing with the changed scenario of the world,’ he said. ‘The USA wants Bangladesh as a partner and wants to have a foothold in the region due its strategic geographic location. However under no circumstances Bangladesh should side with any hegemony’, added Anis. Dr Harun A Khan, professor of
political science at Henderson State University, USA in his keynote paper said that foreign policy of a country is influenced by domestic politics, nature of its political system and the international environment. Terming the foreign policy of the Obama administration as pragmatic liberalism, Harun said that Obama has been progressive where possible but a pragmatist when necessary. Harun said that the US foreign policy towards Bangladesh is also influenced by pragmatic liberalism. He said that the USA is interested in overall political and economic development of Bangladesh. He said that under its geopolitical strategy the US would like to consider Bangladesh as a partner in fighting terrorism and in promoting nuclear nonproliferation. Dr Manjur Ul Amin Chowdhury chaired the session.
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF BHUTAN NEWS
Downpour in China, Bhutan & Arunachal piles misery downstream One reason for the flood fury in Assam is the more than 30% excess rainfall the state has received since monsoon hit the Northeast on June 6. The Central Water Commission said the situation was aggravated by heavy rainfall in China, Bhutan and Arunachal, from where many of Assam’s rivers, including the Brahmaputra, originate. Water resources minister Rajib Lochan Pegu said Arunachal alone, through which the Brahmaputra flows, received 22% excess rain. A study by Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said the frequency of floods and flashfloods in Assam had increased in the last 20 years. The study said indigenous coping strategies were proving ineffective . Studies have warned that the Brahmaputra basin is likely to experience more serious flooding in future. The Brahmaputra originates from Tibet’s Jima Yangzong glacier. The ICIMOD study says water flow in the Brahmaputra will increase because of accelerated glacier melting and a rise in mean rainfall upstream of
the river basin by about 25%. “The Upper Brahmaputra basin (in Tibet) lost roughly 20% of its water reserves bound in glaciers between 1970 and 2000. This is equivalent to 175 cubic km of glacial mass loss per year,” said the study.
Bhutan cited as model for Scotland’s independence Amidst high profile campaigns for and against the case for Scotland’s
opposed to the idea and favouring status quo within the UK ?
drawbacks of leaving the UK. Stewart Stevenson, a minister
independence, a Scottish minister has cited Bhutan as an example of how a small country can remain independent, yet influence others. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which is in power in the Scottish Parliament (c), launched a campaign favouring independence in May, while those
Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats launched their ‘Better Together’ campaign in June. The Scottish government is planning a referendum on the question of independence in the autumn of 2014, with both sides making their pitch in detail, including the benefits and
considered close to First Minister Alex Salmond, last week surprised many by comparing an independent Scotland to Bhutan. He made the comparison in a statement to the Scottish Parliament after meeting Bhutan’s ambassador during the recent Rio conference.
Sankosh to start mid next year
The country’s biggest hydropower project with the capacity of generating 2,560MW of power at Sankosh River is being readied for constructions to begin by mid next year. Downsized it might be, the project will still be the biggest. Economic affairs minister Khandu Wangchuk said preconstruction infrastructure works that involves building access bridges and roads about 12km north of Lhamoizingkha under Dagana dzongkhag are to start in August this year. “Similar infrastructure works, mainly upgrading of existing roads and bridges on the Indian side will be taken up by the Government of India separately and at present they are looking for an agency to take up the works,” he said, adding that on the Bhutanese side infrastructure works would be fully carried out
by roads department. “For the main works such as dam and power house construction, an authority will be appointed to allot the works, expected to start mid next year,” he said. Undertaken as an intergovernmental project like Punatsangchhu and Mangdechhu projects, the total hard cost of the project is estimated at Nu 97.62B of which, Nu 85.95B is for the main dam. Cost for pre-construction works in the country, however, is estimated at Nu 1.7B. Present plan include Nu 3.30 per kWh to be levied for the supply of power with Nu 4.07 levied for the first year. The Sankosh project was initially planned with capacity of 4,060MW with irrigation component but the empowered joint group comprising of high officials from both the governments decided to downsize it to 2,560MW with
the project cost lowered by more than Nu 100B from initially estimated Nu 210B, which was found economically unviable. Regarding the mitigation measures for the environment, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk said that like in the Punatsangchhu project everything would be carried out in a similar manner like afforestation, establishment of nursery conservation of wildlife species and construction of fish rearing tanks. “Environment conservation is a high priority and we will be very sensitive to protect the flora and fauna,” Lyonpo Khandu told Kuensel. “Nothing will be compromised.” Including the 2,560MW Sankosh project, four other hydropower projects of 600MW Kholongchhu, 770MW Chamkharchhu, 180MW Bunakha and 570MW Wangchhu is expected to start by this year.
Bhutan’s Drukair Orders Airbus A319 with Sharklets at Farnborough
Bhutan’s national airline, Drukair, has signed a firm order for an Airbus A319 aircraft equipped with Sharklet fuel saving wing tip devices to complement its existing fleet of two A319s. The order announced at the UK’s Farnborough International Airshow, follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in February. Landlocked and surrounded by a wall of the world’s tallest mountains, Bhutan is one of the world’s most pristine locations and one of the world’s most challenging destinations for air services. At over 7,000 feet above sea level, Drukair’s base at Paro airport is only possible using Visual Flight Rules (VFR) for approach. This means the crew can only fly by vision, which requires a high performance and responsive aircraft. “We are delighted to be ordering the Airbus A319 equipped with fuel saving Sharklets,” said Dasho Sonam Tshering, Drukair Chairman. “The addition of a third A319 will enable us to increase capacity and open up new direct routes and to welcome even more visitors to our landlocked country where aviation really is our gateway to the world. Its economic importance cannot be overestimated.” The A319 with Sharklets will allow Drukair to expand services on existing routes and adding new ones to international tourist crossroads like Singapore and Hong Kong.
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF INDIA NEWS
Mamata’s votes not India finalizing mega stealth frigates’ project for over Rs 50,000 crore needed for VP poll
Congress says even without her, it has over 60 percent votes With Mamata Banerjee keeping silent on the role of Trinamool Congress in the Presidential elections, her party has been excluded by the Congress in its calculations for the vice-president’s election on August 7. “Even without her, we have over 60 percent votes that may go up with others’ support and hence we are not counting on Trinamool,” a Congress functionary said. This stand runs counter to the public posturing of continuing to appeal to Mamata to support Mukherjee in the President’s election. It explains why she has not been even approached while the consultation process for the vice-president’s election is in an advanced stage and while the Prime Minister took into confidence even insignificant players like former premier H D Deve Gowda whose Janata Dal(Secular) has just three votes of himself, son Kumaraswamy and Mandya MP N Chaluvaraya Swamy as against Trinamool’s 25 in the electoral college of 790.
Ready to talk to Mamata: Pranab
UPA Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said he will talk to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to seek support for his candidature when she is ready to talk to him. “I am ready to talk to her as and when she is ready to talk to me,” Mr. Mukherjee, whose candidature has been opposed by the West Bengal Chief Minister, told reporters here. Mr. Mukherjee said since his candidature for the Presidential poll was announced by the UPA, he had expressed the desire to get the support of all the partners in the ruling alliance.
“I understand they (Trinamool) have not yet taken a decision and that they will take a decision at an appropriate time,” said Mr. Mukherjee, who is in Kolkata to campaign for the July 19 election. He said he has been visiting state capitals to thank leaders and members of all the parties who have extended support to him. Mr. Mukherjee said all the UPA partners, except one, have endorsed his candidature and he has also received support from the SP, BSP, RJD, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, JD(U), Shiv Sena and some regional parties.
India’s mammoth over Rs 50,000 crore plan to construct seven advanced stealth frigates, with all weapon and missile systems under the hull for a lower radar “signature’’. Project is finally gathering some momentum now in tune with the overall strategy to build a futuristic blue-water Navy indigenously. This major plan, codenamed “Project17A’’, will be a strong booster dose for defence shipyards since it will be shared between Mazagon Docks (MDL) at Mumbai and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) at Kolkata. The CNC (contract negotiation committee) is currently underway for P-17A, which has already been approved by the defence ministry. The contract will be awarded after the final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security. While MDL will build four, GRSE will construct the other three,’’ said a source. This comes even as the third and the final stealth frigate INS Sahyadri built by MDL, under the longdelayed ``Project-17’’ at a cost of Rs 8,101 crore, is now all set to be commissioned on July 21. Defence minister A K Antony will be travelling to Mumbai to commission the frigate, commanded by Captain S Vatsayan, like he did for the first two INS Shivalik and INS Satpura in 2010 and 2011. The seven new frigates will be ``longer, broader, faster and stealthier’’ than the three 6,100-tonne Shivalik-class frigates that have a range
of 5,000 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 18 knots. ``The new frigates will also have the 290-km BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, apart from other advanced weapons and sensors, for a greater offensive punch in all the three dimensions (air, surface and underwater),’’ said the source. Both MDL and GRSE are undergoing modernisation, with new modular yards and 250-300 tonne goliath cranes, to enable ``integrated modular construction’’ of the P-17A frigates in ``compressed shipbuilding time-frames’’. ``The shipyards will also tie-up with a foreign knowhow provider,’’ he said. The Navy is increasingly turning ``stealthy’’ since surprise and deception are crucial in modern-day warfare. The three Talwar-class stealth frigates (Talwar, Trishul and Tabar) inducted from Russia in 2003-2004 as well as the Shivalik-class warships have already boosted the Navy’s combat capabilities due to their ``vastlyreduced’’ radar, infra-red, noise,
frequency and magnetic ``signatures’’ to beat enemy detection systems. The force, of course, has also recently inducted another stealth frigate, the 3,970-tonne INS Teg, with two more (Tarkash and Trikhand) to follow in 2012-2013, under the $1.15 billion contract inked with Russia in 2006. These three frigates and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov), to be inducted from Russia in early-2013 under a revised refit cost of $2.33 billion, in fact, are the only warships among the 50 already ordered by Navy that will come from abroad. All the rest are being manufactured in India, with naval designers here also achieving proficiency in designing stealth warships. With the ``Maritime Capability Perspective Plan for 2012-2027’’ pegging the number of major warships required at about 150, contracts for another 45 warships are in the pipeline to add to the 50 already on order.
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India-Pakistan relations in better shape now
There could be the occasional road bump, but the bigger picture of the blueprint must not be lost India and Pakistan must keep up the dialogue and focus on mutual confidence-building measures irrespective of changing political scenarios. The foreign secretaries, Ranjan Mathai of India and Jalil Abbas Jilani of Pakistan, agreed to find ways and means to repair ties, thus echoing the promises made by the foreign ministers of the two countries earlier. This was against the backdrop of important arrests made by India of key perpetrators who had allegedly initiated the Mumbai
attacks in 2008. Trade and other important links between the two countries have since been restored. With Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his former Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani having decided that the only way
forward was through peaceful negotiations, relations between the two neighbours are in better shape. There could be the occasional road bump, but the bigger picture of the blueprint must not be lost. The future must be approached
Northeast India floods kill 121 and displace 6 million The death toll from heavy monsoon rains which have caused massive flooding in India’s northeast has risen to more than 120, with six million forced to flee their homes, officials said Saturday. The weather office forecast that more rains during the next 24 hours would lash
million people have been forced to leave their homes to escape the floodwaters and find higher ground, a separate Central Water Commission bulletin said. The monsoon, which sweeps across the subcontinent from June to September, is crucial for India’s farmers but also claims many
the region, which is suffering from its worst flooding in recent years. Assam state has been hardest hit by the annual rains with the mighty Brahmaputra river overflowing its banks, while flooding has also struck the nearby states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya. “So far a total of 121 people have died in separate incidents in which 105 were drowned while trying to escape the gushing waters and 16 more
casualties from flooding every year. Assam state officials were struggling to cope with the huge number of people displaced by the flooding, with makeshift relief camps sheltering some of those forced to leave their homes. Twenty-six of the 27 districts in the tea-and-oil-rich state have been hit by flash floods since June 24 as a result of the torrential rains while the Brahmaputra River has breached its banks in at least nine places. The
were killed in landslides caused by heavy rains,” an Assam government statement said. An estimated six
flooding has also devastated the Kaziranga National Park, famous for its tigers, one-horned rhinos and
with more purpose and resolve. Major confidence-building measures by the two countries must be continued to take the negotiations a step further. A joint and impartial investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks could be a vital first step. Trust is
the key and without it all the gains attained so far could be lost. Stability in the region is crucial for the two countries. At a time when both the countries are grappling with the scourge of terrorism, mutual differences and political divisions cannot be allowed to surface. There must be a sense of collective responsibility as both seek to assist each other in reducing the threat of terror. Trade, commerce, people-topeople contact and cultural relations are important stepping stones. These must be laid out and trod upon with care as they pave the way for larger issues to be smoothened.
Pak Senate approves contempt bill
elephants. The Press Trust of India quoted officials as saying more than 540 of the park’s animals, including 13 rhinos, had died. In the adjoining states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya, monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding but there have been no reported deaths.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toured the Assam region by helicopter earlier in the week to view the effects of the rains. “The people of Assam are facing one of the worst floods in recent times that have inflicted considerable damage,” Singh said afterwards. While India’s northeast has received too much rain, the monsoon has been late arriving in other parts of the country. The monsoon is dubbed the “economic lifeline” of India, which has a population of 1.2 billion and is one of the world’s leading producers of rice, sugar, wheat and cotton. Millions of Indian farmers still rely on monsoon rains to water around 60 percent of the country’s farmland. This year, the monsoon rainfall is running at 31 percent below the normal annual average. But the weather office has forecast heavy rains in the key planting months of July and August to make up for the shortfall.
A bill aimed at shielding top Pakistani leaders from contempt charges and curbing the apex court’s efforts to push Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf into reopening graft cases against the president has been approved by the lower house of parliament. Law Minister Farooq H Naek moved the Contempt of Court Bill of 2012 in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament Monday night. It was subsequently passed after a brief debate amidst protests from the main opposition party the PML-N, which was opposed to the Bill. President Asif Ali Zardari had convened a special session of parliament to introduce the Bill. It will also be moved in the Senate, where it is expected to be passed as the ruling Pakistan People’s Party has a majority. The government intends to get the Bill passed by both houses before the apex court takes up the issue of reviving the corruption cases against Zardari on July 12. The Contempt of Court Bill provides blanket immunity to top government functionaries for executive actions. It can also be used to launch disciplinary proceedings against a
judge without such a move coming under the ambit of contempt. Ashraf became the premier last month after his predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was disqualified by the Supreme Court for refusing to approach Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against Zardari. Speaking in the National Assembly after the Bill was passed, Ashraf said the proposed law was not aimed at creating obstacles for the judges or making someone a “holy cow”. The Bill was primarily aimed at protecting the right to appeal in contempt of court cases as this is a right guaranteed to every citizen, he said. The vice president of the National Party, Hasil Bizenjo said the contempt bill should be sent to the standing committee for debate. The Contempt of Court Bill, 2012 has already been approved by the National Assembly. The bill excuses holders of public office from contempt proceedings. If approved in the Senate the bill will require a formal presidential assent to become law, which will repeal the existing contempt law. Meanwhile concern over the bill was also voiced by PPP Senators Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani.
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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Islam: Signs of the Last Hour - Tall Buildings
Among the signs of the Hour mentioned by the Noble Messenger of Allah - Allah bless and greet him and his Family and Companions - in Sahih al-Bukhari is “when the destitute (al-buhm) camelherds compete in building tall structures.” Another version in al-Bukhari has: “when the barefoot and the naked are the top leaders (lit. “heads”) of the people.” In Sahih Muslim: “you shall see the barefoot, naked, indigent (al`âla) shepherds compete in building tall structures.” There is name Ibn commentthe hadith in It was said naked,” are their of hypercoarse they did not use sight in antheir Relithey are sound hammad’s “The heads people” the kings earth. Abu was’ narnames the explicitly. is meant them is people of desert country, as
a Muslim by the Hajar that said in ing this passage of Fath al-Bari: that “bare-foot and “deaf and dumb” attributes by way bole, showing how are. That is, they their hearing or ything concerning gion even though of perfectly senses. Muwords: of the means of the Farration kings What by the the was
made explicit in Sulayman al-Taymi’s and other narrations: “Who are the barefoot and naked?” He answered: “The Bedouin Arabs.” Al-Tabarani relates through Abu Hamza, on the authority of Ibn `Abbas from the Prophet Muhammad, sallahu alayhi wa sallam, that “one of the signs of the change of the Religion is the affectation of eloquence by the rabble and their betaking to palaces in big cities.” Al-Qurtubi said: “What is meant here is the prediction of a reversal in society whereby the people of the desert country will take over the conduct of affairs and rule every region by force. They will become extremely rich and their primary concern will be to erect tall building and take pride in them. We have witnessed this in our time as well as the import of the hadith: “The hour will not rise until the happiest man will be the depraved son of a depraved father (lukka` ibn lukka`),” and also “if the leadership is entrusted to those unfit for it, then expect the hour,” both found in the authentic collections.” The events taking Saudi Arabia , Qatar into Islamic prophit should make us minute and think may be taking place. these are Islamic and should be such, meaning should really be them not as a prophetic word God Almighty as
place in and Dubai fit ecy so well pause for a about what Again, prophecy taken as that we taking true from much
as an occurrence of something that may or may not have end time significance.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed a Billionaire is going to break the existing record of the tallest building in the world. The future skyscraper will be twice as tall as Buri Khalifa the project will be completed by 2016.The building’s design will cost 1.2 billion US Dollars. The company Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture are responsible for the design of the building with the height more than 1 kilometer. This tower is going to be a centerpiece of a sprawling Kingdom City. According to news report Al Burj, a high-rise planned in Dubai by Nakheel, will reach 1,200 meters. According to some rumors the initial height was 1,600 meters, but was scaled back. Apparently two other similar projects exist in the Gulf region: Mubarak alKabeer Tower (Kuwait, 1,001 m) and Murjan Tower (Bahrain, 1,022 m). Burj Khalifa — The World’s Tallest Tower At over 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records: • Tallest building in the world • Tallest free-standing structure in the world • Highest number of stories in the world • Highest occupied floor in the world • Highest outdoor observation deck in the world • Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world • Tallest service elevator in the world
The Shard An obelisk made of glass
The Shard (also referred to as Shard London Bridge, the London Bridge Tower or the Shard of Glass is a skyscraper in London, England. Standing 309.6 metres (1,016 ft) high, it topped out on 30 March 2012. The Shard is the tallest building in Europe, and is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the 330-metre (1,083 ft) concrete tower at the Emley Moor transmitting station. The Shard replaced Southwark Towers, a 24-story office block built on the site in Southwark in 1975. Renzo Piano, the Shard’s architect, worked with the architectural firm Broadway Malyan during the planning stage. The tower has 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck – the UK’s highest – on the 72nd floor, at a height of 245 metres (804 ft). The Shard was designed with an irregular pyramidal shape from the base to the top, and is clad entirely in glass. Its structure was completed in April 2012. The tower was inaugurated on 5 July 2012, and is scheduled to open to the pub-
lic in February 2013. The developers – CLS Holdings plc, Sellar Property Group, and CN Ltd (acting for the Halabi Family Trust) – secured an interim funding package of £196 million in September 2006 from the Nationwide Building Society and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. This enabled them to pay off the costs already incurred and to buy out the Southwark Towers occupational lease from the tenants, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Vacant possession of the site was secured a year later, after PricewaterhouseCoopers completed the relocation of their operations. Funding In late 2007, the gathering uncertainty in the global financial markets sparked concerns about getting the Shard’s construction started. The project was almost cancelled, but in January 2008, it was announced that a consortium of Qatari investors had paid £150 million to secure an 80% stake and take control of the project. The new owners promised to provide
the first tranche of finance, allowing construction of the tower to begin. The consortium included Qatar National Bank, QInvest, Qatari Islamic Bank and the Qatari developer Barwa Real Estate. The deal involved a buyout of the Halabi and CLS Holdings stakes, and part of the Sellar Property stake. Since the Shard’s construction was financed by Sharia-compliant investment, which forbids earning money through interest payments, the tower’s tenants are subject to certain conditions. For example, most banks and companies connected to either the gambling or alcohol industries are unlikely to receive permission to lease space in a building which is backed by Islamic finance. According to one of the tower’s developers, the Shard and its neighbouring building, the Place, may together be worth up to £2.5 billion when they are fully leased. The Obelisk you see was brought from Egypt and erected at the Vatican.
Egyptian Obelisks
What is an obelisk and what is its purpose? Obelisk Definition: An obelisk is a monumental tapering column carved from a single block of stone (a monolith), with a square (or rectangular) cross-section and capped with a pointed top called a pyramidion. The word Obelisk is derived from the Greek word obeliskos meaning “needle”. Obelisks were set in pairs, at the entrances of temples, and to some Old Kingdom tombs and closely related to the cult of the Sun God Ra also known as Atum. Obelisks symbolized the stability and the creative force of Atum. Obelisks were believed to act as magical protection to the monuments such as temples and tombs. A symbol of the highest sacredness, rising above the mortal remains of the king, to greet the Sun, whose offspring the Pharaoh was. There are 30+ obelisks at present, which are large-size ones standing outdoors. Out of 30, only 7 obelisks are still remaining in Egypt, and 13 are in Rome, Italy. Other obelisks are - in Paris, London, New York, Istanbul, Florence, Urbino (a small town in Italy), Catania (Sicilia), Wimborne (a small town in Southern England), Arles (Southen France) and Caesarea (Israel), one obelisk respectively. The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world’s tallest stone structure and the world’s tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 51⁄8 inches (169.294 m). Obelisks in Britain have a long history, which began when English travellers saw and admired in Rome the obelisks which the emperors of old had pillaged from Egypt. The shape of the four sided tapering stone upright, with a pyramidion at its peak, was unforgettable. The first obelisk to arrive was of marble, brought by a courtier to Nonsuch Palace in England in about 1570 and, with it, a line of lesser obelisks to form a balustrade. The feature was copied at Montacute House and around Jacobean church tombs. The obelisk was a chosen memorial to British soldiers in numerous wars, from the Crimean to the Boer, a flow which became a torrent with The Great War. After 1919, nearly a thousand were raised throughout Britain in town squares and village greens, from the Dover Patrol obelisk to the red granite marker in Papa Westray. Although not connected with death, the obelisk was a suitable memorial, an ancient emblem of the sun’s rays and powers of regeneration. Others were raised in the 20th century: a pair by Edwin Lutyens, others as milestones, and more memorials from the 2nd World War. Close to the Imperial War Museum, a Peace Garden containing three obeliscal uprights of white stone was opened in 1999 by the Dalai Lama. What is an obelisk and what is its purpose? Obelisk Definition: An obelisk is a monumental tapering column carved from a single block of stone (a monolith), with a square (or rectangular) cross-section and
capped with a pointed top called a pyramidion. “Among the ancient nations, not only were statues of the gods and goddesses in human form made, other objects with a hidden or mystery meaning such as obelisks, were a part of heathen worship. In Babylon Mystery Religion, we are told also the true meaning of the obelisk: “Originally, the obelisk was associated with sun worship. The ancients, having rejected the knowledge of the true creator, seeing that the sun gave life to plants and to man, looked upon the sun as a god, the great life giver. To them upright objects such as the obelisk also had a sexual significance. Realizing that through sexual union life was produced, the phallus was considered (along with the sun) a symbol of life. These were beliefs represented by the obelisks. Books of Freemasonry, Theosophy and other mystery religions state that it is not intended that the “uninitiated” or lower orders understand occult symbols, but it is important that they ignorantly venerate and even worship them. It is further believed by esotericists that the obelisks and other monoliths hold the sacred mysteries which were known to the ancient religions. Throughout the ages, these mysteries or secret doctrines have been entrusted only to the adepts -- the sages or “elect” -- nevertheless, they will be revealed to the world at the end of the age. MASONIC SYMBOLISM According to Madame Blavatsky, the deeper mysteries of sun-worship are not known to the uninitiated, but only to the adepts and initiates of the secret societies... “In times of antiquity, those who had been initiated into the arcane knowledge taught by the hierophants (highest adepts) of the Mysteries; and in our modern days those who have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious knowledge, which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on earth.” 11. Madame Blavatsky laments the debased condition of Freemasonry in her day (c. 1875) whose “perjured members” were guilty of exposing the secrets of the order, which have subsequently been “hawked about the world.” 12. One perjured member, James Shaw was among the more recent highest ranking adepts to renounce the Masonic Order, having been initiated into the 33rd degree. THE KABBALAH A primary source of Masonic doctrine is the Kabbalah: “a medieval book of the occult, a highly mystical and magical interpretation of the Bible, and important sourcebook for sorcerers and magicians.” 15. In her Theosophical writings, H.P. Blavatsky repeatedly refers to the Jewish Kabbala as an important aid to understanding the Hebrew Bible, especially the Pentateuch. According to the Kabbalistic interpretation of Genesis, the word Adam does not refer to one specific man but to four Adams who emanate from the first perfect Adam and represent four consecutive races. The Masonic book titled Obelisks provides much information on the ancient Mystery religions from
which Masonic rites of initiation are derived. One example, the second degree of a Hindu initiation rite, involved preparation through fasting and the first stage of initiation proceeded as follows: “After an invocation to the sun, an oath was demanded of the aspirant of implicit obedience to superiors, purity of body, and inviolable secrecy.” 39. Although the Masonic rites of initiation bring men into spiritual bondage to Satan, the grand matron of Theosophy, Mme. Blavatsky complains that they fall short of the ultimate rites of passage which were practiced in ancient times. Should an obelisk be set up in the Holy Place, in metaphysical wisdom, this would signal the process of initiating mankind into the deep mysteries of Satan and thereby bring God’s judgment on planet Earth. Like the Heaven’s Gate cult, the candidates of this global initiation would be told that a “death experience” precedes resurrection to the state of Nirvãnã or the Sabbath rest. New Age mystics past and present have written books proclaiming that the world is be-
ing prepared for a large scale initiation rite or union with “the Christ.” And what is the gospel according to David Spangler? “Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness, and as we move into a New Age…each of us in some way is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic Initiation, the particular doorway through which the individual must pass if he is to come fully into the presence of his light and wholenesss. Lucifer prepares man in all ways for the experience of Christhood… The light that reveals to us the presence of the Christ…comes from Lucifer. He is the light-giver, he is aptly named the Morning Star because it is his light that heralds for man the dawn of a great consciousness… He stands…as the Great Initiator, the one who hands the soul over to the Christ.”
COMMENT
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Saarc international I Thursday 12 July 2012
Do Pakistanis vote like Indians? above region, caste and religion. But even Congress is forced to pick candidates on the basis of caste because Indians stubbornly vote for their own rather than for issues. Do Pakistani’s vote only on the basis caste like Indians? Now let’s look across the border. Pakistan has not had many proper elections so there is limited data on its pattern of voting. I don’t know of any psephologists on Pakistan’s television channels who have the expertise that Indian
sell-out at Tashkent), and against military rule. Bhutto won because he owned all three issues. He represented Punjabis and Sindhis against these threats. This is why the Baloch and the Pashtun, who are unconcerned about these things, did not vote for Bhutto. As Nadeem F Paracha has pointed out, he swept Lahore but not Karachi in that election. This is because the Mohajir goes his own way. I believe Pakistan continues to vote on the basis of identity, and this will create a problem for Imran Khan, who is from the small
clerics) are also all regional identity parties. The Karachi vote of the ANP is the Pashtun vote, which it gets because the violent rivalry of Karachi is between migrants from India and migrants from the frontier province. Asif Zardari‘s PPP is the only national party in that sense. It resembles the Congress in that it is a dynastic party of martyrs, with an agenda that is pro-poor and non-militaristic. This makes the PPP reach out of Sindh and the north into the Seraiki area, culturally like Sindh, but not the Punjabi heartland. The MQM, ANP, the Baloch
was preferred by only 14 per cent. Indians have long been familiar with the utter meaninglessness of opinion polls. There is zero chance that those polled will also vote in this fashion. The Punjabi will vote for another Punjabi and faced with two Punjabi candidates will then vote for his caste, and then his jati. Imran’s popularity in the media on the basis of issues like corruption, blocking the Nato supply lines to Afghanistan and drone attacks will not result in votes. Corruption is not an issue in India, except in the media, and I suspect the same conditions obtain in Pakistan.
Pakistan different? We’ll discuss that later, but first let’s demonstrate the assertion. The BJP is seen as an ideological party, but it isn’t. It is the party of Lingayats in Karnataka, Patels in Gujarat and Rajputs in Rajasthan. The votes of these castes keep it in
psephologists have. Certainly none have the experience. In its first general election, 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto won in west Pakistan and Mujib-ur-Rehman swept the east. The Bengalis clearly voted for identity, but what about
community of Niazis. Today in the National Assembly, Nawaz Sharif’s PML (N) has no legislators from Sindh or Balochistan. The number of seats it won even in the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies is zero. It
leaders, the JUI and the party whose current version is PML-Q (former Musharraf loyalists) are oppportunists who align with those in power. They resemble the regional parties in India, like those run by Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi
His best option is to lure established community leaders, like he has done with former PPP foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi and former PML (N) minister Javed Hashmi. It is likely, given the ease with which
power. Its voters in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the upper castes, who are few. This puts BJP behind the more numerous caste formations. the peasant Yadavs and Muslims in Mulayam Singh’s and Laloo Yadav’s parties, and the Dalits in
Punjabis and Sindhis? I would say that they voted for identity too. 1971 is the only time that a party won a plurality of seats in both Sindh and Punjab. Why? This was an election fought in West
is a party of Punjabis. It would be interesting to see what the division of votes is in the Punjab assembly elections where the voter does not see himself as Punjabi but as Rajput, Arain or Jat. I will be very surprised if the voting pattern is in
and Mamata Banerjee, who will join any government for ministries. Imran can depend on their support if his party, the PTI manages to eclipse Nawaz Sharif’s PML (N) and the PPP. That’s all he needs
the Sharifs let him go, that Hashmi is electorally unimportant. Only turncoats with votebanks will bring victory to Imran in a free election. Not loyal party workers, not media favourites and certainly not issues.
Mayawati‘s party. No caste is more than a fifth of the population and so alliances are necessary. The Congress is India’s only ecumenical party. It is genuinely
Pakistan on three issues: Against the Bengali’s separatism, against Hindu India (Bhutto’s popularity in Punjab came from his opposition to what Pakistanis saw as Ayub’s
the least bit different from India’s. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (migrants from UP and Bihar), the ANP (Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s party of Pashtuns) and the JUI (Pashtun
to do, not win a majority on his own. Can he do this? A recent Pew opinion poll showed that Imran was popular with over 70 per cent of Pakistanis, while Asif Zardari
That is, assuming Pakistanis are like Indians and will vote like Indians. It will be fascinating if Imran Khan can prove this to be untrue.
Aakar Patel India’s democracy functions because of caste. The basis of voting is not issues or ideology, as in European democracies, but the preference for one’s own. Is
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Pakistan Islamists march against NATO supply routes
Pakistani Islamists who oppose their country’s anti-terror alliance with Washington began Sunday a “long march” to Islamabad to protest over the reopening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. Thousands of people joined a convoy of buses, trucks and cars, many carrying the black and white striped flags of the Defence of Pakistan coalition, on the 275-kilometre (170mile) journey from the eastern city of Lahore to Islamabad. Pakistan reopened overland routes to NATO convoys on Tuesday after closing them in protest at a US air raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November. “Some 25,000 people have joined us at the start of (the) long march and many more would join on the way, while we have 3,000 people with us who are performing security duties,” the organisers’ spokesman Yahya Mujahid told AFP. Police, however, estimated up to 8,000 people were taking part. “This is the beginning of our struggle. We want the USA to not only leave Afghanistan, but Pakistan also,” Defence of Pakistan coalition chairman Maulana Samiul Haq said at a rally before the convoy set off. “This movement will continue till the government severs all contacts with United States and NATO,” Haq said.
The Defence of Pakistan coalition has attracted large turnouts at recent rallies across the country, which some see as a build up to the formation of a political party to contest the next general election, widely expected within the next year. The convoy is scheduled to reach Islamabad by Monday evening. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Islamist group Lashkar-eTaiba blamed for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, urged Pakistanis to join the protest. “All the people who believe that (the) US should leave Afghanistan and Pakistan, they should come out of their homes and join us,” he said. “Our aim is not just withdrawal of US from Afghanistan, but US stooges
and slaves in Pakistan should also leave.” The prime minister’s advisor on interior affairs Rehman Malik said an elaborate security plan had been put in place for the security of the protestors. “Four helicopters would do surveillance and two others would be on standby for rescue, while closed circuit cameras have been installed for the security of the participants,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad. “They are patriotic Pakistanis and they want to register their protest and we have given permission to them to do it peacefully,” Malik said. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar meanwhile Sunday
hailed the reopening of the supply routes, saying the allies were putting past tensions behind them. “We are both encouraged that we have been able to put the recent
difficulties behind us so we can focus on the many challenges ahead,” Clinton said on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan held in Tokyo.
Thousands of Pakistanis protest opening of NATO supply route alliance of religious political parties and organisations campaigning for a break in ties with the United States and India. One of the group’s main leaders is Hafiz Saeed, whom India suspects of masterminding attacks on India’s financial capital Mumbai and its parliament. Saeed denies any involvement in the attacks.
Thousands of supporters of hardline religious groups gathered in the Pakistani capital on Monday to protest their government’s decision to re-open supply lines for US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan. The protest was the largest so far against the reopening of the routes. Shops closed early in Islamabad and police set up barricades and cordoned off roads. Pakistan suspended NATO supply routes to Afghanistan last November after a cross-border Nato air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
They were re-opened last week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologised for the strike. A survey by the Pew Research Center last month found that three out of four Pakistanis consider the US an enemy, up from 69 per cent last year and 64 per cent three years ago. Relations have been hurt by a series of events – the border strike, the killing of Osama bin Laden in a unilateral US raid on Pakistani soil, and the fatal shooting of two armed Pakistanis by a CIA contractor. The march was organised by the Defence of Pakistan Council, an
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF PAKISTAN NEWS
Judiciary faces criticism by legislators in NA session
Pakistan’s top judges were criticised by the ruling coalitions’ lawmakers in the National Assembly Tuesday while a bill was tabled proposing a provision of review against the Supreme Court’s decisions. Awami National Party (ANP) leader Bushra Gohar said that justice was not being served to the public and the country is practically running on suo motu notices. She said that before deciding on increasing the judges’ pension, their performance should also be reviewed. The Pakistan People’s Party’s Noor Alam Khan on a point of order questioned why the case of the the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz’s (PML-N) attack on the judiciary was not taken up by the court. The PPP’s Jamshed Dasti complained that he was metted with unfair treatment by the courts in the case on fake degrees. Dasti further questioned why the apex court did not take suo motu notice when several patients in Punjab
had lost their lives due to the strike by young doctors in the province. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Dr. Abdul Kadir Khanzada introduced the “Curative Jurisdiction (by the Supreme Court) Bill, 2012” during Tuesday’s session of the NA as a private member bill. Khanzada said that there should be a provision of curative review against any decision of the apex court even after the review appeal. The NA also took up as five other private members bills on the private members day while the treasury did not oppose to any of the bills presented either from treasury or opposition benches. Nosheen Saeed, MNA from the PML-Q, introduced the “Injured Persons (Medical Aid) Amendment Bill” to amend the Injured Persons (Medical Aid) Act, 2004. Explaining the rationale for her amendment bill, Nosheen said that injured persons were being denied emergency treatment in government and private hospitals
and the doctors seek registration of criminal cases with police and seek hefty amounts before emergency treatment, leading to deaths of many on a daily basis. She said every citizen must be given emergency treatment, which is a basic human right, and that all procedures must be adopted later. Nosheen Saeed also introduced the “Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012 (Insertion of new section 377A)” to further amend the Pakistan Penal Code and the Code
of Criminal Procedure, 1898. She said the bill aimed at giving severe punishment to those criminals who raped or committed unnatural crimes against minors. “The Defamation (Amendment) Bill, 2012” was introduced by Hamid Saeed Kazmi of the PPP to further amend the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. He said that his bill would help redress the grievances of persons targeted by malicious and false propaganda. He said
the amendment would help plug gaps in the defamation law to save people from defamation. Moreover, he said this would also help the media increase its credibility and bring an end to the blame game in politics. Nosheen Saeed introduced a third bill, the Pakistan Telecommunication (ReOrganization) Amendment Bill, 2012, to amend the Pakistan Telecommunication (ReOrganization) Act, 1996. She said that this legislation would help curb crimes committed through unregistered SIMs. Naseer Bhutta of the PML-N introduced a bill proposing an amendment to Article 260. He said that he wanted to add the word “life” in the constitution, as was also included in the Indian constitution. He said that this would help the citizens get the provision of basic human needs of daily life. The session was subsequently adjourned until 5 pm Wednesday evening.
428 Pakistani nationals Zabiuddin, 26/11 dominate in Indian jails: Pakistan Krishna-Khar meeting
A total of 428 Pakistani nationals, including 85 fishermen, are being held in Indian jails, according to information provided by the
the repatriation of prisoners who had completed their sentence at the earliest, he said. Whenever the Foreign Ministry
government in the Parliament. The detained Pakistani nationals included 81 prisoners currently detained in jails in Jammu and Kashmir. Eighteen Pakistani prisoners had completed their sentences, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad Khan said during question hour in the National Assembly or Lower House of the Parliament. The Foreign Ministry has taken steps for securing the early release of Pakistani prisoners from Indian jails, he said. The Foreign Ministry, through the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, has requested India’s External Affairs Ministry to arrange
receives information regarding the arrest of Pakistani nationals, it immediately takes up the case with Indian authorities and requests immediate consular access. All cases are “vigorously followed up and raised with the Indian side at all levels”, Khan said. The two countries exchange lists of prisoners twice a year in January and July. Officials of the Pakistani High Commission have visited Indian prisons to seek consular access and to alleviate sufferings of Pakistani prisoners. Liaison is being maintained with rights activists and lawyers to facilitate the release of prisoners, Khan said.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar on Sunday during which he strongly raised the issue of anti-India activities being carried out from the Pakistani soil, maintaining that New Delhi has given additional concrete evidence of the same. Mr. Krishna, who met Ms. Khar on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan in Tokyo, asked Pakistan to take steps to check terror activities directed against India. During the meeting, Mr. Krishna asserted that India has provided additional concrete evidence of such activities. Official sources said that recent revelations by Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, the LeT operative who allegedly handled those involved in the 26/11 carnage in Mumbai, the continued anti-India propaganda by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and release of Sarabjit Singh were among the important issues that figured in the Krishna-Khar talks, which came two days after their Foreign Secretaries’ meeting in New Delhi. During the Secretary-level talks, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai had shared with his counterpart
Jalil Abbas Jilani the information gathered from Ansari who revealed that he, along with Saeed, was in the control room in Pakistan during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Mr. Mathai also shared the information on Pakistani passport and Pakistan’s domestic identity cards issued to Ansari in the name of Riyasat Ali, indicating the involvement of Pakistan’s state
agencies in the Mumbai attacks. India also asked the Pakistani side to find out how such crucial national documents were issued to Ansari and to find out who were behind providing the passport and the two ID cards to him. However, Mr. Jilani had rejected the role of any Pakistani state agency in the Mumbai carnage in which 166 people were killed.
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF MALDIVE NEWS Maldives launches first social media campaign
A global Twitter trending attempt is being employed by the Maldives as its first social media promotional campaign. Twitters users will be encouraged to tweet their experiences of the destination from Thursday (July 12). The Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation aims to make the hashtag slogan #SunnySideofLife a recognisable catchphrase associated with the country. MMPRC - @myvisitmaldives hopes the Twitter campaign will create a strong networking system for the travel and marketing industry involved with the destination. The campaign ties in with the Maldives’ 2012 tourism objective to attract one million visitors, up from 931,000 last year. There was a 3.3% rise in arrivals in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2011.
Maldives opposition demands release of its members
The Maldives opposition has called for the immediate release of its members who were arrested during protests held over the past two days. Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesperson Hamid Abdul Gafoor told Xinhua on Tuesday that 25 members of the party led by former President Mohamed Nasheed were arrested during protests calling for early presidential elections.
President’s political agenda will resolve political issues- US Ambassador of the United States to the Maldives Patricia Butenis has said that the political agenda of President Dr. M. Waheed will resolve the current difficulties specifically the political issues in the country. This agenda includes the all party talks and the investigation of the national inquiry commission. Speaking at the function held at Traders Hotel to mark the 236th Independence Day of the US, Ambassador Butenis underscored that it is important that all political parties work for the betterment of the nation and give importance to what is best for the country over their own needs. She stressed that that although democracy can be established in a country, it is difficult to maintain it unless all political parties cooperate to strengthen democracy and the media is given true freedom and independence. Ambassador Butenis who has spent the last three years as the
ambassador of US for Sri Lanka and Maldives further said that if all political parties give importance to the welfare of the country above their own welfare then all the political problems that are witnessed in Maldives and even in other parts of the world can be cured. She said that the US supports the initiative taken by the President with the assistance of the Commonwealth to form a Commission of National Inquiry to investigate the events of the transfer of power. She said that US supports this initiative because the government is trying to resolve the issues by consulting all major political parties.
The police cracked down on a few hundred people who took part in the protest on Sunday and Monday at Republican Square in Male. In an official statement, the police said that the arrests were made after some people broke through police barricades and obstructed officers from carrying out their duties. The police also alleged that the protesters had damaged the car
of Maldives Attorney General Azima Shukoor. Gafoor said that those arrested included a number of the MDP’s elected National Council members, and ordinary members. He said the protesters rallied at various points in Male to call for elections and to mark five months since the brutal crackdown on unarmed civilians by the police and military officers
who mutinied and overthrew the Maldives’ first democratically elected Government. Nasheed resigned as president in February this year but later he said he was forced to resign in order for Mohammed Waheed Hassan to be appointed as president. The MDP said it was concerned over the government’s flagrant disregard for the constitutionally given rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
Decision not reached on resuming All Party Talks: Mujthaba
A sit-down of the political party representatives in the All Party Talks during the three day retreat held in Bandos Island Resort. No meetings of the Talks have been held since the retreat ended in deadlock nearly a month ago. FILE PHOTO
Ahmed Mujthaba, mediator of the All Party Road Map Talks initiated by President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has said no consensus has been reached pertaining to the continuation or recommencement of the negotiations. In response to a question by Haveeru regarding the stalled Talks or lack of sessions held after
one month since the retreat held in Bandos Island Resort and Spa Mujthaba said that a decision can be reached “after talking with the
party representatives,” and that following the retreat individual meetings have not been held with the party representatives. “I want to meet the party representatives individually, and I can only inform anything afterwards,” he said. The three day retreat held in Bandos Island Resort concluded with not much headway. The only item on the agenda which was discussed was on a way to resolve the ongoing strife, but that also had ended with no conclusive result. When the Talks resume, discussions would again begin with the first item on the agenda.
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF NEPAL NEWS
Progress on resumption of military supplies to Nepal: India
India today said that progress is being made on the issue of resuming military supplies to Nepal, which were suspended in 2005 when former king Gyanendra assumed absolute power. “Yes, given the policies of both the governments we are moving ahead and it is making progress,” Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh, who is here on a five-day visit, told reporters when asked whether India would resume military supplies to Nepal. The comments of Indian Army Chief, who is here on his first foreign trip since assuming office last month, came after he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister
Baburam Bhattarai. Asked why he chose Nepal as the first country to visit just a month after his appointment to the top Indian army post, Gen Singh said, “this signifies that Nepal is very special to all
of us.” Gen Singh, who is also scheduled to call on President Ram Baran Yadav, said he brought with him “greetings from the Indian army and the people of India.” Gen Singh, who is visiting
Govt yet to gear up for elections
The government is yet to make any preparations to create an environment for the polls. Though the government decided to go for the election of the Constituent Assembly on November 22 more than a month ago, following the CA dissolution on May 27, the said election still remains in the backburner as the government is yet to make any preparations to create
an environment for the polls. Even the Election Commission (EC) had written to the government a month ago to amend the Interim Constitution and election related laws, without which the election is not possible. The EC had told the government that the elections would be feasible only if the constitution and the laws are amended before 120 days since the election date, which is July 22. However, the government is yet to come out with any solutions to create an environment for the polls. “We are yet to receive any instruction from the government for amending the Interim Constitution and other election-related laws,” senior officials at the Prime Minister´s Office (PMO) and Council of Ministers and Ministry of Law, Justice and
Constituent Assembly Affairs told Republica on Sunday. “No work has yet been started in responding to the demands of the Election Commission,” a senior official at the PMO said. The EC has sought the amendment to the constitutional provision that requires re-drawing of the election constituencies on the basis of the new census of 2010.
The EC has also asked the government to amend the provision related to the term of the Constituent Assembly, which says the term of the CA will be four years. In addition, the constitutional body has also demanded the government to amend the constitutional provision related to adult franchise as it says only those citizens who turned 18 by November 2006 will be eligible for voting. It has also asked the government to amend election related other laws by July 22 if the elections were to be held on November 22. “The issue of amending the constitution requires consensus among political parties,” a government secretary said, adding, “That is why the government has not taken any initiatives as of now.”
The government, however, has not been able to make any preparations due to lack of political consensus, and chances are slim that it would be able to meet the EC´s deadline with the opposition parties demanding for prime minister Baburam Bhattarai´s caretaker government. With no consensus in sight, the EC is now gearing up to actuate the government and the political parties for the election. The EC has called the prime minister and members of the cabinet for discussions on Monday, according to Sharada Prasad Trital, spokesperson of the EC. Another meeting with the head of the parties represented in dissolved CA is being held on Tuesday. Trital said the commission will discuss all the issues related to the election, including the constitutional and legal issues that need to be resolved in the next two weeks. As there is no parliament to amend the constitution and the statute cannot be amended through ordinance, all the eyes are now with the president who has power to remove constitutional difficulties. But senior government officials at the prime minister´s office and law ministry point out difficulty in excercising that power as well. According to them, the Article 158, which relates to power to remove constitutional difficulties, says that the power can be invoked only if there is a parliament. The provision requires that any move by the president to remove constitutional difficulties requires to be ratified from the parliament within one month. However, Dr Bhimarjun Acharya, an expert on constitutional affairs, says, “Even this difficulty requires to be removed by the president.”
Nepal at the invitation of Nepal Army chief Chhatraman Singh Gurung, had held bilateral talks with his counterpart yesterday during which they discussed ways to enhance bilateral military cooperation. He also visited Panchkhal in the east of Kathmandu, where the Birendra Peacekeeping Operations
Training Centre of the Nepal Army is located. On Friday, Gen Singh will travel to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, situated in western Nepal and also inspect the Indian Army Pension Camp and Nepal Army’s Western Divisional Headquarters in Pokhara before flying back to Delhi on Saturday.
CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal ruled out any possibility of single ethnicity-based federalism in the country. Speaking at a press meet in Parbat’s Kusma, Nepal accused that UCPNMaoist’s conspiracy to federate the country along the single ethnic lines was to blame for CA’s debacle to promulgate the new statute. “As most of the people and party cadres are against the single identitybased federal structure, the country will be federated on the multiple ethnicities,” he added. Coming down heavily on the prime minister, UML leader urged Baburam Bhattarai to give up the lust for power and give a way out to the country. He warned that opposition parties would protest if he stuck to the chair. He said the environment for consensus
could not be created unless Baburam Bhattarai steps down. Reminding that Baburam Bhattarai had pledged to put in paper if he failed to work within 45 days of the government formation, Nepal accused the incumbent PM of plunging the country into crisis. “This is the brazen example of PM’s lust for power,” Nepal added. On a different context, Nepal warned the government not to bring the full-budget.
Nepal says no to single ethno state
Politics should not be taken as industry : Yadav
President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has said the politics, at present, was being taken as an industry. Addressing a programme organised to confer the Pushpalal National Award at the Presidential Residence Shital Niwas, on Sunday President Dr Yadav said, “The trend of taking politics as an industry is increased of late though it was thought earlier as a platform to contribute the nation and its people.” He blamed that the political parties, especially the major four political parties, were responsible for dissolving the Constituent Assembly without bringing constitution. The government should have become more responsible for the national consensus after the dissolution of the CA but it did not. As a result, the nation was in a condition of political deadlock, said President Dr. Yadav. He drew the attention of the government that nothing could be done without political consensus at a condition budget has been imperative. On the occasion, former prime
minister and Chairman of the Pushpalal Memorial Foundation, Madhav Kumar Nepal, said it was essential to put into practice the policy the late Pushpa Lal adopted. Similarly, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Post Bahadur Bogati, said the cooperation and consensus among the parties was the need of hour to institutionalise the achievements of the janaandolan. The Pushpalal National Award was conferred on former parliamentarian Govinda Raj Gyawali in the politics, while on the late Kedarnath Pradhan in history, and Ananda Dev Bhat in literature for this year. The Award carries the purse of Rs 200,000 in politics while Rs 50,000 each in history and literature.
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WEEKLY REVIEW OF SRILANKA NEWS
Sri Lanka opposition claims Central Bank unwisely invested public monies in collapsing economies Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) today accused the Central Bank of investing public monies in collapsing economies without heeding to Auditor General’s advice. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference today that a report by the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has revealed that the country has lost 3.4 billion rupees (US$ 25 million) due to the Central Bank’s investment in Greek bonds. He said that the Central Bank has admitted to investing and losing monies by investing in Greek bonds saying it was aimed at increasing the country’s revenue. He added that the Central Bank’s flippant statement that the monies lost through the Greek bonds would be recovered through other investments meant the authorities were spending public funds according to their whims. “The Central Bank says the loss is a simple matter, but it is the public monies that have been lost,” Attanayake said.
The Central Bank in a statement last week said the investments in Greek Bonds were a small fraction of the Central Bank total Europe portfolio and the loss of the Greek bonds was comfortably offset by higher returns from other investments.
The Bank said the overall investments of country’s reserve money in a diversified portfolio have gained above average returns earning US$430 million in 2011 at a 6.56% rate. Attanayake, however, noted that the
Auditor General had clearly advised against the investment in Greek bonds as it was ‘risky,’ but the Central Bank had ignored the advice. According to Attanayake, it is surprising to see the Central Bank invest in Greek bonds when the country’s economy has been in crisis from the past few years. “The Central Bank has invested in risky Greek bonds to increase its revenue while asking the people not to invest monies in unlicensed financial institutions in the country. This whole episode is like a Sakvithi scam,” he said. The Central Bank has explained that a wide portfolio, which includes all types of financial instruments such as fixed income, money market and treasuries, will incur fluctuations in real-time. Despite significant challenges the investments have managed to deliver above average returns and value growth of its reserves in the past, said the Bank adding that it is confident that the bank can do so in the future as well, in keeping with its policy guidelines.
Stars come alive at Dengue mosquito expands breeding pattern Ranaviru Real Star
The Health Ministry yesterday warned the public to be extra vigilant on the dengue epidemic following more evidence showing the dengue mosquito had taken to breeding in ice-cream, yoghurt and margarine cups, drinks cans. It has also taken to all kinds of containers used to pack foods in addition to its normal breeding sources of used receptacles, overhead gutters,domestic wells and discarded tyres. The ministry found the largest dengue mosquito breeding source to be discarded receptacles. “Mosquitoes are mostly using discarded food packs and containers to lay eggs,” a Health Ministry spokesman said. According to entomological surveys conducted by the Health Ministry from February to April, used receptacles accounted for
67 percent of the total mosquito breeding places in the North Western Province, 50 percent of the total mosquito breeding places in Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, 56 percent in the North Central Province, 49 percent in the Western Province, 43 percent in the Eastern Province, 30 percent in the Uva Province and 29 percent in the Northern Province. The Health Ministry informed food producers not to use plastic receptacles to pack foods and requested them to use alternative material such as cardboard packs to mitigate the dengue risk. They urged them to introduce eco-friendly food packs to the public as well. The Ministry also requested the public to purchase food packed in cardboard containers and destroy used receptacles after use. The Health Ministry also cautioned
the public that the dengue mosquito is said to be more active from 6am to 10am and from 4pm to 6.30 pm and has extended its stinging period to 11pm. Entomological surveys have also revealed the dengue mosquito is a double breeder and is the most powerful of all mosquitoes. According to sources there are more than 2,500 species of mosquitoes worldwide and Sri Lanka is home to 250 such species. Mosquitoes belong to a group of insects that require blood to develop fertile eggs. All, except the dengue mosquitoes, take the blood of all animals and humans. But the dengue mosquito only draws on human blood to help develop fertile eggs. Dengue mosquitoes have a life span of one month and lay eggs four times during their lifetime. They sting humans more than once.
The glittering finale of the world’s first military reality show’s second mission was held on a grand scale at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday. Commander in Chief President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Guest of Honour at the finale of Ranaviru Real Star (RRS) mission 2. The five finalists for RRS Mission 2 were Sergeant Asela Manukulasuriya, Lance Corporal Kavinda Dumindaraj, Ayomi Perera from the Sri Lanka Army, Gayan Arunapriya of the Sri Lanka Navy and Imali Anuruddhika of Sri Lanka Air Force. The panel of judges comprised Visharada Edward Jayakody, Jackson Antony and Yashodha Wimaladharma. The Defence Ministry set off on this historic journey on November 5, 2010 on a concept of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and was made
into reality with the sponsorship of Dialog. The second mission of RRS commenced on October 21, 2011. The winner of Ranaviru Real Star Mission 2 received a brand new house worth Rs 17 million while the runner up received a car worth Rs 4 million. The third place winner received Rs 1 million. The fourth and fifth place winners received Rs 500,000 each. First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Ministry Seva Vanitha Unit Chairperson Ioma Rajapaksa, Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasooriya, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Somatilake Dissanayake, Air Force Commander Air Marshal Harsha Abeywickrema and Media Centre for National Security Director General Laksman Hulugalla also participated .
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India has brighter prospects-UN
The global corporates and United Nations have some cheering words for Indian economy. A stabilization of the economy is possible and FDI will continue to flow in to India despite some lurking fears of downslide in the Eurozone. The optimistic outlook for India has been painted by United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its World Investment Report (WIR). India has also emerged as one of the significant countries with higher outflow of investment. At least eight large Indian companies have made large investments abroad. It reached $ 15 billion. There has been a rise in overseas greenfield projects, particularly in attractive industries, metal, metal products and business services. The FDI inflows in India reached $ 32 billion against $ 24 billion a year ago – almost an increase of 33 per cent. India is emerging as the third most preferable investment destination, after China and US, as per a survey of 179 global companies. India, the report states, has changed the outlook of South Asia. Larger flows of FDI are noticed to Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh as well.. The only other countries that have attracted significant volumes of FDI are Australia and New Zealand. Inflows to Europe which had declined until 2010, showed a turnaround while robust recovery of flows to the US continued. Global FDI flows exceeded the precrisis level in 2011, reaching $ 1.5 trillion despite turmoil in the global economy. However, it still remained about 23 per cent below the 2007 peak of $ 2 trillion. Overall the global outlook is considered more positive. It is not the worst scenario as it was being
predicted in some quarters, Unctad says. A severe European crisis, however, can change this prospect. But there is relief for India. A Euro
crisis can dent its growth but not the overall stability and outlook. The perception of corporate is that despite the present problems, India is poised to grow. The country in 2011 received investments for 600 greenfield projects against 422 it had received a year back. Some of the big companies like Ikea, Coke and others have also
Air India plane makes emergency landing in Pakistan
Relieved Air India passengers back in Delhi
A New Delhi-bound Air India airplane made an emergency landing at Nawabshah in southern Sindh on Monday after developing a technical problem with its hydraulic system, an official spokesman said. All 122 passengers and crew members on board the plane are safe. The captain of the Airbus aircraft, going from Abu Dhabi to New Delhi, contacted Pakistani authorities and sought permission for an emergency landing after detecting the problem with the hydraulic system, Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervez George told PTI. The plane landed at Nawabshah airport in southern Sindh province at 3. 37 a.m.
In New Delhi, an Air India spokesperson said: “The aircraft was flying over Pakistan air space when the pilot saw a warning light in the cockpit and sought permission to land at the nearest airport which was Nawabshah.” The captain preferred to have the passengers remain on board the aircraft though Pakistani authorities had offered to allow them to disembark, Mr. George said. In Pakistan, officials also offered refreshments for the passengers and invited them to use the lounge at the airport, but the pilot preferred to keep them on board. Mr. George said Air India could send another aircraft to take the stranded passengers and crew to India. It was also possible that the private Shaheen airline, which has a tie-up with Air India, could provide an aircraft to ferry the passengers and crew to the nearest Indian airport, he said.
announced some big investment proposals. Nagesh Kumar, chief economist UNEscap, says that the momentum that was there in 2011 should continue in 2012. His surmise is based on the first quarter trends of Indian economy. India has higher potential for investment. The most positive aspect is its market size – considered one of the largest, gaps in development and the way it is growing. The WIR
calls for an enabling atmosphere to achieve this potential. It finds that Indian efforts are in the positive direction as it continues to negotiate for free trade agreements and reginal trade agreements. Another positive aspect for India is that at the height of the 20008 global crisis, it did not impose curbs
or restrictions of any sort. Most countries of the world in Europe and US announced many restrictions. The US took steps to withdraw big investments that it had made beyond its shores. Besides, the banking crisis, like latest Braclays in UK, is also sending ripples through many economies. Indian banks have found to be doing better. India has found to be reviewing many bilateral treaties. These are fraught with risks as some of the companies like the tobacco giant Philip Morris have demanded compensation from Uruguay and Australia in billions of dollars claiming the steps taken by these companies had hit its business. Another Swedish company has demanded similar compensation from Germany for its decision to close down nuclear plants. Indian bid to review bilateral treaties are being seen in the positive light. A balanced framework as being adopted by India is being to strengthen its development dimension. The proposed FTA with European Union is also fraught with risks. There are many questions that it raises for the pharmaceutical sector. This may affect affordability of drugs and medicines in India. There are similar concerns for the automobile industry. India’s quest for safeguards is taken favourably by global corporate. The efforts of Reserve Bank of India to check short-term speculative foreign institutional investments is being considered as a safeguard against portfolio investment. Such short-term measures cause upheaval in the local markets and lead to uncertainties. In this light, what is being termed as the crisis at stock market in India is being viewed as a step to stabilize the economy. This has created the relative attractiveness for FDI. It is expected that during the next two years the
present trend would continue for India. Another reason for such optimism is the holding of large cash by the corporate all over the world and particularly in US and Europe. If the crisis in the West continues for some more time, these companies may look for more avenues to invest in a freer economy of India. Though it is feared that China with a more aggressive posturing might bag a sizeable party of the global kitty. The West has also the problem of trust deficit in corporate governance. Since 2008, a number of large conglomerates have exposed it. This will remain the challenge of 2012. As some more skeletons are coming out of the cupboard, it shakes confidence of the people and gives jitters to the economy. The G 20 discussions, where India has taken a lead, to regulate financial institutions is expected ensure international discipline. Such financial profligacy adds to long-term costs, damage to economy and consequent decisions on FDI. Indian scenario is considered to be better than many western countries and as such in the coming years many global players may look towards it. It is believed India is in a better situation so far its capacity to address many inter-governmental problems is concerned. India it is also hoped would gain from its Look East policy. Many future investments may come from South East Asia – ASEAN region, and East Asia. Overall the prospects for India are bright. However, it needs to address some of the critical issues like inflation, high and multiple taxes and agriculture. If it can address these issues, the growth would not be a problem. It also has to empower the people with more purchasing power. Some policy changes are required and reforms should take a new meaning.
South Asian countries to review regional trade, cooperation
Commerce Secretaries from eight South Asian countries meet next week to review current status of all committed regional cooperations and ways to enhance trade integration and cooperation under South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation initiative. “The meeting will be held in the Maldives from July 14 to 15,” China’s Xinhua news agency quoted Lal Mani Joshi, commerce secretary, who will represent Nepal in the 15th meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation (CEC) under the Kathmandu-based SARRC secretariat, as saying. “It will also review the implementation of trade facilitation measures,” he was quoted by the Republica daily’s report on Friday. Though regarded as crucial body, the CEC is meeting after a gap of three years.
During the meeting, the commerce secretaries are scheduled to discuss a range of issues including regional agreement on investment protection, avoidance of double taxation and SAARC trade fairs, among others. The top commerce officials of SAARC, including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan will also discuss the drafts of different agreements being worked out to promote investment and trade in the region.
“Fundamentally, the meeting will review progresses achieved so far and also develop new action plans for further improving the implementation of commitments made by the SAARC Summit,” Joshi shared. Among others, the agendas of the meeting is shortening the “ sensitive list”, which include items on which the SAARC member countries have refused to trade at zero tariffs under South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) pact. The working group of SAFTA that met in Kathmandu last month to shorten the list had failed to make any headway after the countries remained divided over the modalities of reducing the items from the list. “The upcoming meeting of the CEC will also touch on that matter since it aims to further liberalise trade on services and goods,” Joshi was quoted by the daily as saying.
Saarc international I Thursday 12 July 2012
ENTERTAINMENT
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Naomi Watts plays Princess Diana
The first image of Naomi Watts playing Diana, Princess of Wales, has been released by film company Ecosse. The British-born actress is starring in a film that portrays the last two years of Princess Diana’s life. Principal photography started this week. The film is due out next year. Speaking from the set, Watts said: “I’m excited and honoured to be playing the role of a truly remarkable woman, who had such a positive and profound impact in so many ways.” Since being announced in February, the film has changed its name from “Caught in Flight” to the simpler “Diana”.
fame, it is believed to explore the princess’ relationship with the heart surgeon Hasnat Khan. The pair had a discreet romantic affair that began in 1995 and ended a few months before her death in August 1997. Ecosse said the biopic “charts how finding true personal happiness allowed her to achieve her defining successes, as she evolved into a major international campaigner and humanitarian”. Dr. Khan will be played by Naveen Andrews, from “The Buddha of Suburbia” and “Lost”, with other cast members including Douglas Hodge and Juliet Stevenson. It is rumoured the film will also touch upon the princess’ relationship with Dodi Al Fayed, and her death following a Paris car crash. Ecosse directors Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae have moved to quash any criticism of the film, saying that “everyone’s aim [was] to produce a truly insightful and compassionate study of Diana’s later years”. Watts rose to fame in Australian soap opera “Home and Away” before enjoying big-screen success in “King Kong”, “21 Grams” and “Mulholland Drive”. Aged 43, she is six years older than Diana was when she died.
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel of “Downfall”
SHANKAR EHSAAN LOY Kal Ho Na Ho…
Friday 6th July saw over 1,000 people flock to the City Pavilion in Romford, to experience one of the most exciting and intimate events that the Bollywood industry has hosted in the UK. The undisputed kings of Bollywood music, Shankar Mahadevan, Eshaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa took to the stage to entertain the crowds in a unique one-off show. Introduced by BBC Asian Network’s Noreen Khan, the talented trio and their full band and back-up singers, took to the stage to perform some of their bestloved tracks from Blockbuster films including: Kal Ho Na Ho; Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; Houseful; Don and Don 2; Dil Chata Hai, Wake Up Sid; Salaam eh Ishq; Tare Zameen Par; Bunty aur Babli and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. The response from the crowds was so amazing that the planned two hour show took on a life of its own, and in an unprecedented and spontaneous reaction to the audience, the trio continued singing to requests and the show
But London Gig Was Amazing!
went on into the early hours of the morning! Shankar Mahadevan said: “The night was absolutely mind-blowing. We were looking forward to playing in a new environment, but I don’t think any of us expected the reaction we received. It was great to just go with the flow and be able to play to the mood of the audience. Everyone was dancing and singing along – it was truly a night we won’t forget.” Zaf Mughal, of Autograph Entertainment and the man behind the intimate event, said: “What a night! In all the years that I have worked in the film industry, even I
have never experienced this kind of rapport and spontaneous reaction from artists – they just kept going… whatever the audience wanted they played!” Rishi Lakhani of the Millennium Group said: “What can I say but, ‘Thank you SEL’. 1,000 fans have left with the most positive experience they could have hoped to have had. The guys were true professionals and really did City Pavilion proud.” The Kings of Bollywood concert was supported by B4U Music as official TV partners and the BBC Asian Network as official radio partners.
I don’t belong in the Khan league: Saif Afsana Ahmed, Hindustan Times
Why Saif Ali Khan thinks colleagues Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh are more successful than he is. Do you aspire to be in the coveted Rs. 100-crore club? Of course. You need to make a certain type of film for that. But I also want to make successful films that will appeal to everyone, including me. Following trends can be dangerous. What if the trend dissipates in the middle of the making? Then you are jacked as you’ve invested so much money. You should make what you feel is right. My attitude will always be: let’s make a good film, and hope it makes it to the Rs. 100-crore club. Do you think you belong in the revered Khan club? Just because I share the surname doesn’t mean I belong to that league. Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan are much more successful than I am and have iconic films to their credit. I don’t. I’m a successful actor who is good and saleable. We are the results of our own capabilities. Please explain. I do not have a fixed regimen. I don’t consciously follow a lifestyle or work out every day. I get bored with routine. I do what I wish to. If I want to watch TV, leaving behind other stuff, I’ll do that. If I want to indulge, eat food of my taste, I’ll eat for days. If I want to relax and go on a
holiday, I’ll do that. Sounds very nawabi! My grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, and dad, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, were good examples of what nawabs are like. Very disciplined and proper. I’m nowhere close to them. I think of them as international stars. The Marylebone Cricket Club commissioned a trophy in Pataudi’s name, to be competed for in the Test series between India and England, and recently a memorial lunch in my father’s name was organised at the Lords, London. I mean, that’s how I wish to be. But you have a certain standing in your chosen field. I’m well-paid and enjoying what I have in my career. But my conscience tells me there’s more to it. I want to go international in my field, like my father and grandfather. But I don’t mean taking my films to a festival. I want to do something big. Who shares a better chemistry with you in Cocktail? Deepika or Diana Penty? This is my first film with Diana, so I can’t say much about it. Deepika and I share good chemistry on-screen.
Continued from page 1 >>
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NEWS
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Muslim convert Richard Dart one of six arrested over ‘terror plot’ in UK
The hate preacher and demoniser of Islam
Anjum Chaudhry Guru of Dart
Geert Wilders. Amsterdam’s multiculturallyminded police initially refused to intervene in the case. Although making death threats is a criminal offense in Holland, police instead arrested a passer-by who tried to challenge the Sharia4Holland speaker. Qasim was not arrested until three days after the event, after local politician Robert Flos, speaking on AT5 television, asked Amsterdam’s left-wing mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, why city police did not intervene when Qasim threatened Wilders with death. Qasim, a 29-year-old Islamist who lives in the central Dutch city of Woerden, is now scheduled to appear in court on July 11.
Again Anjem Choudary is one of the people behind the Sharia4Holland group and was present at Friday’s press conference in Amsterdam . According to analyst Islam4UK is a British Intelligence psyop and Anjem Choudary is an intelligence asset. Sharia4Holland -- and its Siamese twin Sharia4Belgium -- is a radical Muslim movement that wants to impose Islamic Sharia law in the Netherlands, Belgium and the rest of Europe. The group is led by Anjem Choudary, an unemployed Islamist and protégé of exiled firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed. It recent years it has been behind a series of publicity grabbing protests against British foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan that have generated public outrage and led to condemnation from mainstream Muslim organisations who fear that their tactics feed Islamophobia. The ban makes it a criminal offence for anyone to be a member or fundraise for Muslims Against Crusades although critics say Mr Choudary and his followers will simply avoid publicity for a few months before resurfacing under a new name. In ten years from 2001, only 15 people have been convicted of proscription related offences. Shaynul Khan, the deputy diorector of East London mosque, which has previously clashed with Muslims Against Crusade, said opinion was divided over the proscription of Mr Choudary’s latest group. “Our humble opinion would be that MAC has contributed towards
nothing but distress for the British public, whether Muslim, people of other faith or none,” he said. “Their ideology only contributes towards creating separatism and creating community disharmony.” He added: “Proscribing them means there is recognition of their separatist agenda and we look forward to news reports
and discussions without them being the ‘representative’ voice of Islam. We hope we can go some way in also proscribing the English Defence League.” Mrs May said MAC was the latest incarnation of earlier banned organisations
linked tothe outspoken cleric, including al Muhajiroun, Islam4UK and Al Ghurabaa. The hate preacher and demoniser of Islam then pledged to start up a new group with his fellow fanatics,
Man charged with ‘planning to car bomb London’s Olympic Park during Games’
• Javed Aktar, 42, will appear in court on Friday charged with a terrorism offence • He is one of more than a dozen suspected terrorists arrested in the last week Anti-terrorism officers are grilling a man accused of planning to blow up the Olympic Park during the Games using a car filled with explosives. Specialist police from London are in Blackpool, Lancashire, to speak to Javed Aktar who has been charged with making the deadly threat. He is one of more than a dozen suspected terrorists arrested in the last week as security services try to ‘clear the decks’ before the Olympics start later this month. Britain’s top expert on terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC, also said police and MI5 are ‘defending further up the field’ to avoid any 7/7 or 9/11-style attacks when London hosts the Games. 42-year-old Aktar is currently being held in custody and will appear before magistrates in Blackpool on Friday. Five men arrested
last week in connection with the same plot, including British Muslim convert Richard Dart, can also be held until tomorrow after Westminster magistrates granted a series of warrants of further detention, police said. Dart, 29, who changed his name to Salahuddin al-Britani after converting, was one of the six people arrested over the suspected terror plot last Thursday. Police didn’t identify the suspects, who range in age from 18 to 30. However, Mizanur Rahman, who is involved with a Muslim activist group, said all those arrested were British Muslims. A 21-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were held at a nearby home in Ealing, West London. And in Stratford, East London, former community cop Jahangir Alom, 26, was held along with
his brothers Mohamed Alomgir, 24, and Moybur Alom, 18. Smoke grenades were used in the raid and a man was tasered. The home is less than a mile from the Olympic site, but Scotland Yard denied there was a plot to attack the Games. The group had been under MI5 surveillance for several months and, according to The Times, the location of the house - close to the Olympic Park - encouraged the security forces to act. For years, Dart - the son of teachers drifted from job to job, working at one point as a security guard at the BBC’s
Broadcasting House. He drank heavily and did not know what to do with his life, it has been reported. Then he met a member of Choudary’s circle while studying carpentry at a west London college. “Salahuddin” told the Daily Mail in 2009 that he would be happy to fight - and die for the cause and that Islam had to defeat Western aggression. Richard Dart came under pressure and was branded a hypocrite after it emerged that he draws welfare benefits off the same state he claims to despise and lives in a luxury neighborhood next to a picturesque canal. Anjem Choudary The Leader of Terror Group ? So what DOES he have to do to get
arrested? Exiled cleric Omar Bakri’s right-hand man Anjem Choudary came to public attention in 1999, when the Sunday Telegraph identified him as playing an instrumental role in the recruitment of Muslim trainees
leaving Britain to fight abroad. He told the newspaper “before they go abroad to fight, the volunteers are trained in Britain. Some of the training does involve guns and live ammunition” this individual has for 10 years been appearing on every news channel and been quoted in every newspaper. Totally IMMUNE from prosecution. Choudary, a former solicitor, runs the militant group Islam4UK which has been banned in Britain and has been involved in efforts to set up ‘sharia areas’ in parts of Britain. He is as much of an actor as the ‘Muslims’ on eastenders. The mention of Muslims Against Crusades and its leader, Anjem Choudary, should set off alarm bells. Choudary founded Islamic group, alMuhajiroun, with Omar Bakri Muhammed, who admitted in 1998 he shares a special relationship with British intelligence. “I think now we have something called public immunity,” he said during an interview. On the occasion of British royal wedding, the corporate media rolled out sensational information on links between MI5, MI6, and CIA and Muslim militants in the United Kingdom. According to Sky News police were concerned about two extreme groups which were planning protests during the Royal Wedding. Muslims against the Crusades, headed by Anjem Choudry , who founded another Islamic group, al-Muhajiroun, with Omar Bakri Muhammed, who admitted in 1998 he shares a special relationship with British intelligence. It should be noted that authors Sean O’Neill and Daniel McGrory have documented a special relationship between Islamist leaders, including Abu Hamza al-Masri and Abu Qatada, and British intelligence. The British Secret Service, MI6, protected Haroon Rashid Aswat, the alleged Continued on page 27 >>
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
mastermind of the 7/7 London bombings, according to counterterrorism expert John Loftus. Aswat was affiliated with al-Muhajiroun. In 2004, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed said British intelligence handles all Islamist groups of note in the United Kingdom including the Muslim Brotherhood, the UK Islamic Mission, alGama’a al-Islamiyya, Iranian opposition groups, and the Iranian Ahlul Bait groups in Britain.
NEWS
The Muslim Brotherhood was corrupted early on by British intelligence, and later by the CIA. According to CIA agent Miles Copeland, the agency began working with the Brotherhood in the 1950s. This signaled the beginning of an alliance between the traditional regimes and mass Islamic movements against Arab nationalism. Three more men face terror charges A further three men from the West Midlands are due in court charged with terrorism offences. The men, two aged 22 and one 24, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London. Three men were accused in a British court Tuesday of building a makeshift bomb and making other preparations for a terrorist attack against
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the far-right English Defense League. Hours later, police charged three other men arrested in the same case with the same terrorism offenses. The charges follow a series of arrests made last week by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, assisted by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit. The trio, who have been charged under section 5(1) of the Terrorism Act 2006, are accused of preparing an act, or acts of terrorism between May 1 and July 4 this year, West Midlands Police said. Their alleged conduct includes the manufacture of an improvised explosive device, the acquisition of firearms and other weapons, and the purchase of motor vehicles connected with the charges. Three other terror suspects appeared at parties, with pictures of Manmohan Singh, LK Advani, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi displayed on the front page, ostensibly their prime targets. A war cry has been issued calling for the axe to be laid on Bollywood in 2012. The slide show ends with a ‘beheaded’ statue of Lord Shiva, with the warning: Islamic destruction of Indian idols and
This year in March , MI6 Assets Anjem Chaudhry and Omer Bakri were also announced to Implement so called Sharia law, Islamizing India, destroying idols of Hindu deities, Fatwa against Indian political parties, and axing Bollywood: the agenda on shariah4hind. com is clear. The website splashes a slideshow depicting Fatwa against Indian political
the same court on Tuesday charged with similar offences after shotguns, a nail bomb, machetes and a note addressed to a right wing group were found in a car stopped by police on the M1 motorway. Jewel Uddin 26, Omar Mohammed Khan, 27, and Mohammed Hasseen, 23, were arrested after a routine stop of a Renault Laguna by police near Sheffield on Saturday. It was alleged that a cache of weapons was found in the vehicle along with a note addressed to the “English Drunkards League”, an apparent reference to the far right English Defence League, which was planning a rally in South Yorkshire that day. The three men, all from Birmingham, face an allegation that between May 1 and July 4 they took part in activities including the manufacture of an improvised explosive device, the acquisition of firearms and other weapons, and the purchase of motor vehicles connected with the charges. They were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on July 31. Police said a 43-year-old man from Kirklees, West Yorkshire, who was arrested last week has been released without charge. statues. The website also refers to Father of Indian nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as tyrant Mohandas Gandhi. The website calls for the implementation of these aspects on a gathering scheduled on 3 March, 2012. Anjem Choudhary, the founder of the website is a British Islamist and is the head of numerous radical Islamic groups in Britain, which includes Islam4UK. He has openly stated that he is a close ally of Osama bin Laden. Even though the UK government proscribed the organizations headed by him in 2010, he manages to carry on his agenda unperturbed. Currently web site is not available perhaps as Anjem Chaudhry is busy in UK and Holland , recently a terror suspect was arrested in UK and one in Holland.
COMMENT
URGENT STATEMENT ON SYRIA
We are about to witness what we long anticipated, to wit: a Turkish-led NATO attack on Syria to remove the present Syrian regime and replace it, Libyan-style, with another so-called Islamic regime. How else will Israel be able to claim that a ‘rising Islam’ now menaces that country, and that Israel is being surrounded by that menacing Islam and must wage pre-emptive war in order to survive? How else will Israel be able to replace USA as the next ruling State in the world unless she wages great wars – particularly against her Arab neighbors who surround the Zionist State? Turkey’s pro-NATO and hence pro-Zionist Government seems about to commit the ultimate act of foolishness in claiming the shooting-down of a Turkish
warplane by Syria as causus bellum that justifies a Turkish military invasion of Syria. Such a Turkish military invasion of Syria would of course, have nothing to do with avenging the loss of an airplane and two pilots. Rather, it would have nothing less than Syrian regime-change as its primary objective. That military adventure would be an act of supreme foolishness for the following reasons: Syria has been on a high alert for some time now expecting external intervention (Libyan-style) in support of a Zionist-engineered armed insurrection that has so far failed to take-over the country. A Turkish warplane that enters into Syrian airspace cannot expect, in such circumstances, to be treated as an innocent intruder.
1. If Russia and China respond to a Turkish military invasion of Syria by coming to the
Shiekh Imran Hossein
Tribune Comment support of that country, that will eventually provoke the Malhama (great war) prophesied by Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). That Malhama will be so great that it will make the first and
second world-wars look like a fight over peanuts. 2. The Turkish government should remember that the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) also prophesied that the Malhama or great war will lead to the conquest of Constantinople. It should not take Turkish Muslims long to realize that the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Muhammad Fatih had nothing to do with the prophecy. Turkish Muslims will then wake up to the monstrous betrayal of their proZionist government and prepare for the civil war that will fulfill the prophecy. 3. Thus a Turkish military invasion of Syria will eventually lead to Turkish civil war and to the liberation of the city of Constantinople from NATO’s
venomous control. 4. Since Russia will inevitably enter in the war in defense of Syria, the Turkish military invasion of that country will lead to yet another prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) being fulfilled, to wit: “that you (Muslims) will make an alliance with Rum (pronounced as ‘room’).” Rum in the Qur’an referred to the Eastern Christian Byzantine Empire. But after Constantinople was conquered in 1453, the capital city of Rum eventually became Moscow. This statement is issued to so guide Muslims that they may not be brainwashed by Protestant Islam’s Zionist Jihad, and by the inevitable CNN/Al-Jazeerah-led propaganda barrage that will now inundate mankind.
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NEWS
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Did Israel Nuke Arafat?
Since we now have conclusive evidence that Arafat was poisoned by radioactive polonium 210 and since Israel is the prime suspect in Arafat’s 2004 assassination, surely it is time to point the finger at Israel and its leadership and to demand explanations. Already in 2004, Silvan Shalom, at the time Israeli Foreign Minister, rejected as “scandalous and false” the idea that his country had a role in Arafat’s death. However, this is despite the facts that Israel had earlier threatened Arafat, blaming him for Palestinian violence and, after losing 15 citizens to suicide bombings in September 2003 and had decided to “remove” Arafat – though without elaborating publicly precisely how this might be achieved. As if this were not enough, an Israeli newspaper quoted Avi Dichter, at the time Shin Bet director as saying that ‘it would be better to kill Arafat than exile him. This week we learned that a Swiss institute, which recently examined Arafat’s clothing, had found “surprisingly” high levels traces of polonium-210, the same substance which killed former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. Surely such findings should also encourage MI5 to re-examine Litvinenko’s
death and his close ties with Israel and the Russian Oligarchs. Is it possible that polonium -210 was, at the time, the lethal method of choice amongst Israeli assassins? But a positive answer to this question leaves me only confused. What could have led Israel to the peculiar decision to nuke its prime enemies by planting polonium in their food? What could they have in mind when they decided to use a substance that can be provided by only a very few states and would leave radioactive traces forever? Do they really think that the Goyim and the Arabs are that stupid? I am afraid that the answer may as well be in the af-
I am afraid that the answer may as well be in the affirmative. Israel knows, and exults in the fact, that it gets away with murder – and quite easily too. firmative. Israel knows, and exults in the fact, that it gets away with murder – and quite easily too.
Still, we must here note that Israel has all along denied any involvement in Arafat’s death. On Wednesday, Avi Dichter, said that it was for Palestinians to investigate: The body is in their hands. It is in Ramallah, and really, all the keys are in their hands. Meanwhile Israel Army Radio confirmed that introducing polonium into food was the only way to kill someone with that particular poison and asked Dichter, whose agency had overall responsibility for monitoring the Palestinians, whether
it would have been possible with Arafat. You’re asking me as his cook? was Dichter’s jocular answer. Actually, it’s no joke. Israel certainly wasn’t the cook but is clearly in the frame for being the chef in this gastronomic debacle. Dichter continued: “We were focused on more serious things. Arafat’s food did not interest us. I think it interested those around him, in order, really, to keep his health up, as he was indeed known to be unwell. But the Shin Bet, or the State of Israel, was not involved in Yasser Arafat’s food.” I agree with Dichter. It is more than likely that Israel wasn’t directly involved in the preparation Arafat’s final hummus, but we, nonetheless, should be concerned here with the strong possibility that Israel may have, probably thorough a third party, found a way to pepper Arafat’s food with the radioactive substance. Pressed on the poisoning scenario, Ditcher said: Yasser Arafat had many enemies, domestically and abroad. But let them investigate … The Palestinians know well how to investigate what goes on in their house. Let them investigate and find out. Dichter is obviously correct, Arafat indeed had many enemies, but the obvious question here is how any of his enemies could put their hands on a radioactive substance available to just a few states. And I guess that we all know of one possible suspect – and so does Dichter
“Boxing fans know my fight is bigger. There’s a world title on the line,” Amir Continued from page 32 >> There’s been a lot of trash talk—mainly from the Garcia side. Khan will look to make them eat their words, while Garcia will try to back it up in the ring. Amir Khan says he’s not worried that his world light-welterweight title bout with Danny Garcia may be overshadowed by the grudge match between David Haye and Dereck Chisora. Khan’s contest at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas this weekend falls on the same day as the two British heavyweight rivals settle their differences at Upton Park. Haye and Chisora have grabbed their fair share of headlines in recent months after brawling in February following the latter’s WBC title loss to Vitali Klitschko. Two months ago, Khan was scheduled to face Peterson, the man who took Khan’s 140-pound titles in a scrappy (and controversial) contest last December. It was a well promoted, highly anticipated grudge match. Then Peterson tested positive for an illegal substance -- he later admitted to taking synthetic testosterone before the first fight, though insists that it was for a legitimate medical reason -- and the show fell apart. “What got to me a little bit was just not having the chance to win my titles back and to kind of [set] things straight,” Khan said. “The [truth] is I fought someone who was on illegal substances.” It’s true, and Khan has unabashedly made sure everyone knows it. Unless you live in a cave, one devoid of a television, radio or
an Internet connection, you know Khan’s feelings on Peterson. Khan has branded him a cheater, one that, in his opinion, should be banned from the sport for life. Khan’s frustrations stem not only from a desire to avenge his loss, but also because the loss -- and the subsequent cancelation of the rematch -- disrupted his plans. Peterson was supposed to be a tuneup, one final fight at junior welterweight before Khan moved up to 147 pounds, where a lucrative fight with Floyd Mayweather likely was waiting. Khan may still get a Mayweather fight. Outside of Manny Pacquiao, Khan represents the biggest money fight in the division. But it won’t be on his timetable and the dissatisfaction of not getting a chance to take it out on Peterson lingers. “I would have preferred to settle the score properly and gone in there and fought him,” Khan said. “Even when he got caught, I thought there was still a chance of fighting him. But I’ve just got to put it behind me.” On Saturday night Khan will get a chance to win a pair of 140-pound titles when he takes on WBC titleholder Danny Garcia (11 p.m. ET, HBO). The WBA belt will also be on the line
after the sanctioning body stripped Peterson of his title in the aftermath of the positive test result. Garcia doesn’t have the profile of Peterson, but he is one of the hottest junior welterweights in the world, unbeaten with wins over Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt and Erik Morales in the last 15 months. “It’s always tough when you fight an undefeated fighter because he has never tasted defeat before and they come into the fight confident,” Khan said. “[But] sometimes they can make mistakes because coming into a fight too confident makes you make mistakes [that] you think you can get away with. It’s different [for Garcia] now. He is at a world class level. Every little mistake Garcia makes, I’m going to jump on it.” Khan admits there is some concern about overtraining. After the Peterson fight was scrubbed, Khan took three weeks off before getting back into the gym. Khan says he tried to prevent overtraining by bringing his new conditioning coach, Ruben Tabares, who replaced the deposed Alex Ariza, back to England with him during his break. “We have been very professional in the way we
have done things,” Khan said. “I think having more time in training camp [has made] me a better fighter because it has given me more time to work on my diet, my nutrition, my condition. It’s like a full-time job.” If Khan needed more motivation, Angel Garcia, Garcia’s father and trainer, provided it, saying recently that he “never met a Pakistani who could fight” and that “Khan’s God is a punishing God, my God is a loving God.” Khan, a British Pakistani and Muslim, has taken the high road. “At the end of the day, Danny’s father is not the one who is going to be in the ring fighting,” Khan said. “I let my fists do the talking in the ring because the only people that are going to be in the ring are me and Danny. We can sort things out [there].” At 25, Khan is just entering his prime. And though bitterness about the Peterson fight remains, Khan believes there are positives to take from the experience. “It was a great learning curve for me because it made me realize that I need to be more professional,” Khan said. “I made a lot of mistakes in there. Sometimes, that’s a good wake-up call.”
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
NEWS
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Are Muslim Journalists Cut-off from mainstream Media? By Kaleem Kawaja
Reading India’s mainstream English language newspapers and magazines, and viewing the electronic media one realizes that news reports and columns by Muslim journalists are rare. If we go by our population, the authors of about 10 percent or more of reports and columns should be Muslims. But in reality only about 1 % of reports and columns are authored by Muslims. At the national level there are just about half a dozen English language Muslim journalists whose reports appear in the national dailies. In the whole of India, 65 years after independence there are only two small English language biweekly newspaper (Milli Gazette, Madhyam) and three online electronic websites (Two Circles News, Indian Muslim Observer, Ummid.com) that are operated by the Muslim community. There are quite a few Urdu language newspapers that are operated by the Muslim community. But their readership is limited entirely to Muslims and generally they confine themselves to happenings in the Muslim community. Thus whatever is published in Urdu newspapers has hardly any chance of reaching mainstream India that comprises of a large number of secular Hindus. That brings us to the question as to why there are so few English language Muslim journalists in India and why Muslim journalists are not writing for mainstream Indian media (Times of India, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Hindu, India Today, Sunday, IBN, NDTV etc). A review of the few English language Muslim outlets that exist, indicates that these outlets spend most of their space in writing about Muslim community’s complaints of injustice from the Indian government authorities, complaints against injustice to Muslims from Western governments, the rabid pronouncements of the extremist Hindu groups and coverage of personalities and events in other Muslim countries. Thus their readability for secular Hindus who may want to feel the pulse of India’s Muslims, is very small; and there is very little material of national interest there that non-Muslims want to read in a newspaper, whether print or electronic.
The Urdu media aside from being in a language that Hindus can not read is also full of the internal politics of Muslim groups and individuals and the internecine conflicts of
- print and electronic - are some of the major weapons in today’s public relations war to change the policies of the Indian state. The first step is to change the perceptions of secular
mainstream Indian media, and remain preoccupied in our narrow world of complaints, internal politics, other Muslim countries, mutual appreciation etal; and if Muslim journalists’ reports about the community’s ground realities
various Muslim religious leaders and sects. All in all their utility in communicating the community’s issues and situation to mainstream India is almost non-existent. The Indian mainstream media writes about the Muslim community only when major events happen, eg the recent UP and west Bengal elections where Muslim votes swung the election, or if a major HinduMuslim congflagration takes place, eg Gujarat genocide. That news too lasts just a few days. The coverage of the Muslim community’s recent vociferous and continuing demands for implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations and reservation has received only infrequent coverage in the mainstream media. The reports on the Batla House conflagration and the plight of Azamgarh’s Muslim youth lasted a few days and then disappeared. A few Indian Muslim journalists write in some Arab newspapers like Arab News, Khaleej Times etc. But those reports almost always appear to be either about the social events of the NRI Muslims in those countries, or about the oil-rich Muslim countries, or about the past glory of Muslim nations in the centuries gone by, or writeups on global Muslim politics. Again, not much for nonMuslims who are looking to learn about the present state of affairs of the Muslims of India. The question remains that if the Indian Muslim community has to bring improvement in its very backward condition, it has to influence the large number of secular Hindus and together with them the major political parties and the government. Journalists and media
H i n d u s who are the majority of India’s Hindu population about Muslims. If Muslims remain cutoff from
are not being published in adequate numbers in mainstream media, then we are missing a golden opportunity. We simply can not be happy talking
about the past glory of Muslims, or the glory of oil-rich Muslim countries or complaining that the world is against us. Because communicating with and influencing India’s secular Hindus in a democracy and a country where Hindus are 80% of the population, is an essential need of our community’s national strategy. Indian Muslim journalists can fill this essential need of the community. Thus it is incumbent for Muslim journalists in India to redouble their efforts to find a place in the mainstream English media more frequently. Only a handful of successful mainsteeam Muslim journalists like MJ Akbar, Saeed Naqvi, Seema Mustafa cannot do the job. Of course there is a big need for more quality English language Indian Muslim journalists who are in very short supply. [Kaleem Kawaja is a community activist based at Washington DC. He can be contacted at: kaleemkawaja@ gmail.com]
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SPECIAL FEATURE
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Shahbaz Qalandar Urs celebrations Syed Usman Marwandi or known as Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177–1274)
The 760th three-day urs celebrations of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (R.A) commenced from July 9 after the formal inauguration by Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in Sehwan. The Speaker laid a Chaddar and offered Fateha at the shrine around 8 am in the morning on Monday. More than 1.5 million people are expected to attend the 3-day urs. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Jamshoro Agha Suhail Pathan, the Shahbaz Mela Committee had put in place security, entertainment and other arrangements for the urs. He informed during a recent interaction with the media that around 7,000 personnel including 800 of Rangers would perform the security duty.
The real name of “Lal Shahbaz Qalandar” was Syed Muhammad Usman who was born in 1177 AD in Marwand , Iran . His father, Syed
leanings. He learnt the Holy Quran by heart just at age of seven, and at twenty embraced the Qalandar order of Sufism. “Qalandar” is a type of dervish who is generally dressed in beggarsâ€tm clothes, likes poverty and austerity and has no permanent dwelling. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar wandered throughout Middle East and came to Sind from Baghdad via Dasht-i-Makran. In 1263, he arrived in Multan , which at that time was at the height of glory and splendor. The people of Multan besought him to stay but he continued his journey southward and eventually settled down in Sehwan, then a famous
hill, and nearby lie the ruins of a huge fort believed to have been founded by Alexander the Great. Some coins of Alexander’s time are reported to have been found here. Sehwan was the capital of a Buddhist ruler who was brother of Chandragupta II, the third of the Guptan dynasty in the 4th century AD. From the time of Arab invasion in 712, Sehwan was very important in the history of Sind since it commanded the route from the Upper to the Lower Indus , through which all invaders from either north or south had to pass. And possession of the fort was essential to the success of every campaign.
boundless heavens and “Qalandar” since he belonged to Qalandria order of Sufism and was saintly, exalted and intoxicated with love for eternal being of God. The legend goes that the incumbent fakirs in Sewhan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that there was no room for anything more. But surprisingly, he returned the bowl with a beautiful flower floating on the top. This legend spread far and wide by the time of his death in 1274, after living a good span for 97 years. The shrine around his tomb, built in 1356, gives a dazzling look with its Sindhi kashi tiles, mirror work and
sticks), are rows of diyas (small oil lamps) lighted by Hindu devotees. The Hindus regarded him as the incarnation of Bhartihari, the saintly brother of King Vikramaditya, who is believed to have worshipped Shiva at the venue where Lal Shahbaz’s shrine is situated with all its grandeur and glory. Thousands of devotees flock to the tomb while every Thursday their number stands multiplied. Especially at the time of his “Urs” (death anniversary) being a carnival as well a religious festival and celebrated every year on the 18th day of Shaban, Sehwan springs to life and becomes the
Ibrahim Kabiruddin, was a virtuous and pious dervish, and his mother was a high-ranking princess. His ancestors migrated from Iraq and settled down in Meshed , from where they again migrated to Marwand. During the Medieval period, Meshed
center of learning and popular place of worship for Hindus, in the southern part of Sindh, where he lived in the trunk of a tree on the outskirts of the town. He stayed at Sehwan for six years and during this period he disseminated the
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is an overwhelmingly popular patron saint cherished and adored alike by Hindus and Muslims of Sind. He was a great missionary, mystic, scholar, philologist and poet. Several books in Persian and Arabic on philology
two gold-plated doors - one donated by the late Shah of Iran, the other by the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The inner sanctum is about 100 yards square with the silver canopied grave in the middle. On one side of the marble floor is
and other cities of that region were renowned centers of learning and civilization. Even as a young boy, Shahbaz Qalandar showed strong religious
light of Islam, providing guidance to thousands of people. Sehwan is probably the town with the oldest continuous existence in Sind.It rises on the top of a conical
and poetry are attributed to him. He was “Lal” (red) because of his red attire, “Shahbaz” due to his noble and divine spirit that soared like a falcon higher and higher in the
a row of about 12 inch high folding wooden stands on which are set copies of Quran for devotees to read. On the other side, beside a bundle of burning agarbattis (joss
focal point of more than half a million pilgrims from all over Pakistan. On each morning of the three day feast, the narrow lanes of Sewhan are packed to capacity as thousands and thousands of pilgrims, fakirs and devotees make their way to the shrine to commune with the saint, offer their tributes and make a wish. Most of the people present garlands and a green chadar (a cloth used to cover a tomb) with Qurâ€tmanic inscriptions in silver or gold threads. Humming of verses, singing and dancing in praise of the saint continues till late at night. A devotional dance known as “dhamal”, being a frenzied and ecstatic swirl of the head and body, is a special ritual that is performed at the rhythmic beat of the dhole (a big barrel-shaped drum), some of them being of giant size and placed in the courtyard of the shrine. Bells, gongs, cymbals and horns make a thunderous din, and the dervishes, clad in long robes, beads, bracelets and colored head-bands whirl faster
The mosque that is built in the hearts of the saints Is the place of worship for all, for God dwells there (Jalaluddin Rumi)
Continued on page 31
South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
NEWS
31
Roger Federer wins 7th Wimbledon title Andy Murray loses Wimbledon final, but wins fans
Murray ‘will be back’ after losing Wimbledon final
Andy Murray was hoping to become the first male champion since Fred Perry in 1936. But he was beaten in an electric final by Swiss veteran Federer, who won the match 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 to equal Pete Sampras’s record with his seventh Wimbledon title. The crowd rose as Federer took match point, applauding for both players, who hugged, Murray appearing to congratulate his rival. Murray broke down as he paid tribute to his team, as well as the crowd, in an emotional interview on centre court. His girlfriend Kim Sears and mother Judy Murray were also reduced to tears by his unusually emotional words. “I’m going to try this and it’s not going to be easy,” the 25-year-old said, to deafening applause. “First I would like to congratulate Roger, I was getting asked the other day after I won my semi-final, is this your best chance, Roger is 30 now? He isn’t bad for a 30-year-old. “He played a great tournament, he had some struggles early on with his back and showed what a fight he still has in him, so congratulations, you deserve it.” Speaking about “Team Murray”, he said: “I’m going to try and not look at them because I’ll probably start crying again but everyone who is in that corner over there, who has supported me...we did a great job,
so thank you. “And last of all to you guys,” he said to the crowd. “Everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, how difficult it is. “It’s not the people watching, they make it so much easier to play. “The support has been incredible,” he added, breaking down, as his mother Judy was also seen dissolving into tears. Tennis Scotland’s Vice President Ian
cries of “come on Andy”, “you can do it Andy” rang out around the historic court. After winning his service game to take the set to 5-4, during the break the court rang out with chants and applause as a large part of the 15,000-strong crowd willed the Scot to battle back. Even the Duchess of Cambridge joined in from the Royal Box, watched by her sister Pippa Middleton. But the support was to no avail as Murray
Conway, who knows Andy Murray, told Channel 4 News that the Scot “would be back” and that “the nation will be behind him”. ‘It feels amazing’ Murray had started well, taking the first set to rapturous applause. But despite deafening support from a partisan crowd, he lost the second set, then the third - which was interrupted by rain for the roof to be put on Centre Court, and went on to lose a fourth set. As it looked like he would lose the match,
lost the final. Federer, whose wife Mirka was watching with their twins Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, congratulated his rival, joking: “He will at least win one grand slam.” Of his seven Wimbledon title record, equalling Pete Sampras, he said: “He is my hero and it feels amazing.” Andy Murray loses Wimbledon final, but wins fans Andy Murray may have failed in his attempt to become the first British man since 1936 to win Wimbledon, but he has finally
succeeded in capturing Britain’s heart, the country’s press said Monday. Murray’s valiant defeat to Roger Federer and his emotional post-match interview exposed sides of the Scot not often displayed in public, and suggests that he may not have to wait long to break his grand slam duck, the papers argued. The nation’s collective bottom lip wobbled when Murray broke down in tears after the match, with watching girlfriend Kim Sears and the Duchess of Cambridge both succumbing to the emotion. “Don’t cry girls, he did us proud’’, splashed the Daily Mail across its front page, reflecting a shift in the nation’s complex relationship with its leading tennis player. The centre-right Mail has not always offered its unreserved support for Murray, and he has often been accused of being dour and emotionless on court. He also generated unwanted headlines when he jokingly said his favourite football team was any one which was playing England. He has since had to endure a well-worn joke that he is only British when he wins and Scottish when he loses. Times columnist Matthew Syed said that the positivity shown in defeat meant he had shaken off the traditional British tag of “plucky loser’’ and had now become “a winner in waiting’’. “His tennis was, at times, sublime,’’ he wrote.
Continued from page 30 >> and faster in a hypnotic trance, until with a final deafening scream they run wildly through the doors of the shrine to the courtyard beyond. Not only the people congregating from all over Pakistan but also the tourists and the foreigners are enthralled at this fascinating scene and aspire to enjoy it time and again. Such were the persons who really attained the lofty mystical experience. Through their transcendence, their relation to God is such that in them the Divine personality seems to reflect itself and through them is revealed to his followers, and the grace of God is dispensed to those who invoke God in his name. In Iqbalâ€tms inspirational poetry we find so many verses about who is Qalandar and what are the attributes of a Qalandar. A few instances are as below: Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s journey to Sehwan Shareef Miracles: As it has been stated in the biography section, Lal Saeen(RA) was originally from Marwand Shareef; that is now in part of Afghanistan , near the border of Iran . However, we couldn’t find ample material in the course of Lal Saeen’s spiritual journey to Sehwan Sharif. However, we can identify from history (-) that he visited several places in Indian subcontinent, parts of Iran , Iraq and Hijaz ( Mecca and Medina ). Many historians believe
“He started fast, got quicker, and was reeled in only when his opponent started reaching levels of genius rarely seen on Centre Court.’’ The Mail’s Martin Samuel wrote “he did not lose because he choked. He did not lose because he moaned. He did not surrender to injury, or mislay his focus under the incredible weight of history bearing down on him.’’ Instead, Samuel added, he was merely victim of being born in the same generation as the greatest players ever to grace a court. Simon Barnes of the Times also said he “can’t find it in my heart to blame a guy for coming second to the greatest tennis player that ever swung a racket.’’ The Guardian’s Kevin Mitchell called Murray “a champion without a crown’’. Reflecting on his public popularity, the columnist argued it was a shame that “love for him may never be universal’’. “For those who wish him ill it is also their loss, because one day they may have to stand up and cheer him,’’ he added. The Daily Telegraph noted that “Murray has at times endured a difficult relationship with the wider sporting public who have accused him in the past of being surly. “However, anyone who witnessed the outpouring of emotions today could be left in no doubt as to how much the pursuit of a grand slam meant to him and the respect he held for those who gave him their support,’’
Ke Sag e Koo e Sher e Yazdanam! Translation: I am Haideri (relating to Haider, a second name for Ali ibn e Abu Talib), Qalandar and Mast (intoxicated with inspiration) I am a slave of Ali Murtaza I am leader of all saints Because I am a dog of the lane of “Allah’s Lion” (referring to Ali) that he paid a holy visit at the Shrine of Hazrat Imam Ali Reza (AS) the son of Hazrat Imam Musa-e-Kazim (AS). He performed pilgrimage in Mecca and visited Medina Munawwara: the holy shrine of Holy Prophet’s (SAW). During this course he visited Karbala Mualla: Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS)’s holy shrine and came to Baghdad Shareef (current capital of Iraq ); and met Hazrat Ibrahim(R.A) by whom he took Baiat (Reference). In other words Hazrat Ibrahim R.A)became his Shaikh. By his spiritual guidance Lal Saeen came to Sindh, spread the message of love, equality and truth; and met several saints of that time. One thing we forgot to mention is his companion from Baghdad was Hazrat Ali Sarmast (RA), a holy saint whose shrine is in Sehwan Sharif besides the shrine of Hazrat Lal Saeen (R.A). He accompanied him during the holy journey and in every step served him with devotion. From Baghdad , he travelled to Makran and stayed sometime in Panj-Kor (area near/in Makran).
Because of Lal Saeen’s blessings and holy stay, he becamse renowned and people started knowing his presence, many became Mureeds. That place is still renowned of his stay, even the name of the town is known as “Dasht-e-Shahbaz”. During his time in Panj-Kor, many people became enlightened and embraced Islam by his teachings, and life style. Every year in the eve of annual death anniversary (Urs Mubarak), caravan of people from Makran visits Sehwan Shareef and pay respect with deep devotion, and great zeal perform holy Dhamal (Sufi Dance). After coming to Sindh Hazrat Lal Saeen’s first destination was Multan , where he met Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria Multani (RA) and stayed sometime there. Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria (RA) was one of three friends of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA). With respect to his visit at the Shrine of Hazrat Sadruddin Badshah (RA): I must quote very important event that he was on way to Sehwan in Sukkur, travelling by means of his
miracle of flying in air (Parwaaz), and came across the shrine of Hazrat Sadaruddin Badshah (RA). Hazrat Sadaruddin (RA)’s is holy saint and his shrine is situated between Sukkur and Rohri in Sindh. Hazrat Lal Saeen (RA) was spiritually ordered from Allah (SWT) to stay sometime at his Shrine. Some people believe that he was about to fly over the holy shrine, and because of the high spiritual level of the Hazrat Sadruddin (RA) Allah (SWT) ordered Lal Saeen (RA) to meditate there. He stayed there for 40 days there and then by the will of Allah (SWT) continued his holy journey to Sehwan. The place where Lal Saeen(RA) meditated (Chilla Gah) is still preserved as a holy place; people use to visit there, and use to make Dua. Shahbaz Qalandar’s famous Persian verses showing his love and honour for Hazrat Ali are engraved on his shrine: Haiderium Qalandram Mastam Banda e Murtaza Ali Hastam Peshwa e tamam Rindanam
Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s Genealogy (Shujra-Nasb) In arabic the word Genealogy means Shujra-Nasb. This page presents the Shujr-Nasb of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar(R.A). There are many books written on the life of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz (R.A) and each presents shujra-nasb with some difference, but in every book it is evident that his lineage links to Hazrat Imam Jafar Sadiq(R.A) who is fifth descendent of Hazrat Syedena Ali (A.S). The genealogy below has been taken from Tarikh Tohfatul-Karam. Syed Usman (Lal Shahbaz Qalandar) (R.A) Syed Kabeer-u-Din (R.A) Syed Shams-u-Din (R.A) Syed Noor Shah (R.A) Syed Mehmood (R.A) Syed Ahmed (R.A) Syed Hadi (R.A) Syed Mehdi (R.A) Syed Ghalib (R.A) Syed Mansoor (R.A) Syed Ismail (R.A) Syed Imam Jafar Sadiq (R.A)
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South Asia Tribune I Thursday 12 July 2012
Roger Federer wins 7th Wimbledon title
ROGER Federer shattered Andy Murray’s dream with his seventh Wimbledon win, but the Briton’s best may be yet to come. Andy Murray loses the Wimbledon men’s
singles final to Roger Federer, but Tennis Scotland’s vice president tells Channel 4 News that Murray “will be back”. Continued on page 31 >>
SAT
Sports
3rd Test: Pakistan 299-8, lead Sri Lanka by only 188
Shafiq hangs on with Sri Lanka on top the Pakistan batsmen struggled to perform collectively. Azhar Ali’s solid, determined century was the glue that held their innings together, but even he, despite having batted over six hours and taken the lead past 150, was not immune against a seemingly Pakistan 226 and 299 for 8 (Ali 136, Shafiq 55*, Hafeez 52) lead Sri Lanka 337 by 188 runs on the fourth day of the final Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Wednesday. It should be a good final day’s play on Thursday. Asad Shafiq was unbeaten on 55 and Adnan Akmal had yet to score, with Pakistan 188 runs ahead with two wickets in hand. Sri Lanka lead the series 1-0, having won the first Test in Galle by 209
harmless delivery that got him out. On a day that began with Pakistan needing to bat positively to set a competitive target, Sri Lanka surged ahead with a good chance of winning the series 2-0, though a test against a strong bowling attack awaits them.
runs. The second Test in Colombo was drawn. But Sri Lanka remain favourites to win or draw the match and clinch their first series victory in three years since beating New Zealand at home in 2009. Pakistan showed how tough a challenge coming from behind in a Test can prove. Even though they erased the deficit of 111 runs with relative ease, their position in the match was never secure. Even in conditions in which the assistance to bowlers had reduced drastically,
“Boxing fans know my fight is bigger. There’s a world title on the line,” Amir
This Saturday in Las Vegas, Amir “King” Khan will take on “Swift” Danny Garcia for the WBA and WBC light welterweight titles. It’s a great matchup featuring two young fighters who throw a lot of punches and are both in their prime. It should be an awesome fight and will definitely be entertaining. Continued on page 28 >>
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