My Views on News

Pakistani Cricketer Muhammad Asif who had been detained at the Dubai Airport after the authorities discovered an illegal substance in his wallet, has been released. Dubai authorities have dropped a drug investigation against him. It is said that he will soon be deported to Pakistan.

This release has been secured with the help of Pakistani embassy in Dubai otherwise it would have taken a long time. The drug laws are very strict in Dubai and if charges had been pressed against Muhammad Asif, he could have faced a long sentence.

Pakistani authorities must not deal leniently with Muhammad Asif this time. Pakistan Cricket Board must also take action against him according to its rules and regulations. No one should be allowed to bring the name of the country in disrepute.

The piolotless plains of the United States are coming to Pakistani territory as often as they like. The government has not been able to protest against this violation of airspace and sovereignty of the country with the US government.

These drones not only fly over the Pakistani territory but also fire missiles on suspected targets in which innocent people have lost their lives. Such attacks go against the objectives of the war on terror. It creates hatred in the minds of the people their anger results in more violence.

I think that the government of Pakistan must lodge serious protest with the US government against such unauthorized flights in its airspace. Interestingly the political parties had been very critical of President Pervez Musharraf for giving in to the demands of the US government, but now that the affairs of the country are in their own hands, the previous policies continue without any change.

According to news report the Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrullah has vowed for the destruction of Israel and has also said that it was destined to disappear.

I think that Israel is a hard reality which the leaders of the Arab World must realize. They must also realize that they lack the power to undo Israel. Israel has unmatched firepower and has the open backing of the United States. It is a wishful thinking that Israel is destined to disappear. I do not see any such thing even in the remote future.

It would be better to find out ways of peaceful co-existance. I do not mean to say that I support Israel in whatever it is doing. I want the Muslim world to be united. Unity is their only option for survival in the present world.

The Middle East Times has reported that the escalating rhetoric between the feuding politicians of Beirut proved too much for the Arab League chief who has been trying to broker a deal to arrive at a settlement.

 

It is unfortunate indeed that the political crisis in Lebanon has not been resolved so far and we don’t see any amicable solution in the near future. The election to the office of the president which fell vacant after the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud stepped down in November 2007. The presidential election has been postponed thirteen times as the politicians continue to fight over cabinet representation.

 

The entire Muslim world is plagued with internecine disputes which are a hindrance to peace and prosperity. I fail to understand that why is it so that we Muslims are not being able to solve such petty disputes. The Muslims in general and their leaders in particular must realize that they must show unity and rise above petty political disputes and think for the betterment of our people.

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There are times when you need small amount of money in order to meet some urgent expenses. A large number of websites are offering payday advance loan and at times it becomes confusing to make a good decision.

 

I would recommend you to visit the website of Perfect Cash Advance if you need money for some of your immediate needs for which you cannot wait for your next paycheck day. They say that they are known for their easy-to-use form process and their ability to find a lender. If the lender approves your application the money will be made available to your for use the very next working day.

 

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Caught in the wrong job? Monster can help. I recall this from a TV ad. I had no idea about the scope of their work. It was only when I visited their websites only recently that I came to know that they have a comprehensive database for job listings which can be searched very easily. If you are looking for a job or you want to change your job for a better one in Canada I would recommend you to visit their website.

 

Their search tool enables you to find jobs in different categories and you can find jobs at a particular place according to your qualifications. I think the first thing you need to do at Monster is to become a member by registering yourself and posting a resume. You either upload your resume or build one online using their tool. You resume will be seen by a large number of people; therefore you need to prepare it with care. You will get useful information about writing a good resume here.

 

They also help you in preparing for your job interview and let you know as to how to crack difficult interview questions. At times we are caught unprepared which does not leave a good impression. You need to be precise and too the point in your interview. You will find good information about the type of questions which might be put to you during the interview.

According to press reports a least one million people have been killed so far in Iraq after the US forces invaded to find the weapons of mass destruction. How many more people will be killed  before it will be realized that enough is enough. It was claimed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that Saddam Hussain could use them against western interests. When nothing was found after hectic search it was shamelessly told that the intelligence reports were deliberately falsified in order to find a pretext to attack Iraq.

Saddam was a despot, he was a cruel leader. I do not deny this. I think he has been outdone in cruelty and tyranny. Innocent people are being killed and their blood does not lie heavy on the world consciene. If only the Muslims could realize that their survival is hidden in thier unity.

A small business sometimes needs funds to continue their business activity. If you are running a small business and need money to support it or expand you can avail Small Business Credit Line from EZUnsecured.

 

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You can check their website for any additional information.

The President of Pakistan Mr. Pervez Musharraf has once again assured that elections will be held in the country on 18th February 2008 as announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan. He was asked several questions regarding the imminent elections during his visit to European Union countries. He rejected the propaganda done by some political parties in Pakistan that the government has made arrangements to rig the coming elections.

Mr. Pervez Musharraf explained the steps which have been taken to remove the 'bugs' from the election process and gave assurance that the elections would be free, fair and above all peaceful.

I am sure that Mr. Musharraf will once again come true to his words and that free, fair and peaceful elections will be held according the announced schedule. Pakistan is passing through difficult times and it is very necessary to ensure stability in the country that there is a smooth transfer of power to the new government. A smooth transfer of power will end the prevailing uncertainty and confusion.

It has been known for months that the Bush-Cheney administration and its allies have been manuevering to strengthen their political control of Pakistan, paving the way for the expansion and deepening of the “war on terrorism” across the region. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto does not change this agenda. In fact, it simplifies Bush-Cheney’s options.

Seeding chaos with a pretext

“Delivering democracy to the Muslim world” has been the Orwellian rhetoric used to mask Bush-Cheney’s application of pressure and force, its dramatic attempt at reshaping of the Pakistani government (into a joint Bhutto/Sharif-Musharraf) coalition, and backdoor plans for a military intervention. Various American destabilization plans, known for months by officials and analysts, proposed the toppling of Pakistan's military.

The assassination of Bhutto appears to have been anticipated. There were even reports of “chatter” among US officials about the possible assassinations of either Pervez Musharraf or Benazir Bhutto, well before the actual attempts took place.

As succinctly summarized in Jeremy Page’s article, "Who Killed Benazir Bhutto? The Main Suspects", the main suspects are 1) “Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge”, and 2) the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, a virtual branch of the CIA. Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari directly accused the ISI of being involved in the October attack.

The assassination of Bhutto has predictably been blamed on “Al-Qaeda”, without mention of fact that Al-Qaeda itself is an Anglo-American military-intelligence operation.

Page’s piece was one of the first to name the man who has now been tagged as the main suspect: Baitullah Mehsud, a purported Taliban militant fighting the Pakistani army out of Waziristan. Conflicting reports link Mehsud to “Al-Qaeda”, the Afghan Taliban, and Mullah Omar (also see here). Other analysis links him to the terrorist A.Q. Khan.

Mehsud’s profile, and the reporting of it, echoes the propaganda treatment of all post-9/11 “terrorists”. This in turn raises familiar questions about Anglo-American intelligence agency propaganda involvement. Is Mehsud connected to the ISI or the CIA? What did the ISI and the CIA know about Mehsud? More importantly, does Mehsud, or the manipulation of the propaganda surrounding him provide Bush-Cheney with a pretext for future aggression in the region?

Classic “war on terrorism” propaganda

While details on the Bhutto assassination continue to unfold, what is clear is that it was a political hit, along the lines of US agent Rafik Harriri in Lebanon. Like the highly suspicious Harriri hit, the Bhutto assassination has been depicted by corporate media as the martyring of a great messenger of western-style “democracy”. Meanwhile, the US government’s ruthless actions behind the scenes have received scant attention.

The December 28, 2007 New York Times coverage of the Bhutto assassination offers the perfect example of mainstream Orwellian media distortion that hides the truth about Bush/Cheney agenda behind blatant propaganda smoke. This piece echoes White House rhetoric proclaiming that Bush’s main objectives are to “bring democracy to the Muslim world” and “force out Islamist militants”.

In fact, the openly criminal Bush-Cheney administration has only supported and promoted the antithesis of democracy: chaos, fascism, and the installation of Anglo-American-friendly puppet regimes.

In fact, the central and consistent geostrategy of Bush-Cheney, and their elite counterparts around the world, is the continued imposition and expansion of the manufactured “war on terrorism”; the continuation of war across the Eurasian subcontinent, with events triggered by false flag operations and manufactured pretexts.

In fact, the main tools used in the “war on terrorism” remain Islamist militants, working on behalf of Anglo-American military intelligence agencies---among them, “Al-Qaeda”, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, the ISI. Mehsud fits this the same profile.

Saving Bush-Cheney’s Pakistan

In an amusing quote from the same New York Times piece, Wendy Chamberlain, former US ambassador to Pakistan (and a central figure behind multinational efforts to build a trans-Afghan pipeline, connected to 9/11), proudly states: “We are a player in the Pakistani political system”.

Not only has the US continued to be a “player”, but one of its top managers for decades.

Each successive Pakistani leader since the early 1990s---Bhutto, Sharif and Musharraf---have bowed to Western interests. The ISI is a virtual branch of the CIA.

While Musharraf has been, and remains, a strongman for Bush-Cheney, questions about his “reliability”, and control---both his regime’s control over the populace and growing popular unrest, and elite control over his regime---have driven Bush-Cheney attempts to force a clumsy (pro-US, Iraq-style) power-sharing government. As noted by Robert Scheer, Bush-Cheney has been playing “Russian roulette” with Musharraf, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif---each of whom have been deeply corrupt, willing fronts for the US.

The return of both Bhutto and the other former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has merely been an attempt by the US to hedge its regional power bets.

What exactly were John Negroponte and Condoleeza Rice really setting up the past few months?

Who benefits from Bhutto’s murder?

The “war on terrorism” geostrategy and propaganda milieu, the blueprint that has been used by elite interests since 9/11 to impose a continuing world war, is the clear beneficiary of the Bhutto assassination. Bush/Cheney and their equally complicit pro-war/pro-occupation counterparts in the Democratic Party enthusiastically support the routine use of “terror” pretexts to impose continued war policies.

True to form, fear, “terrorism”, “security” and military force, are once again, the focuses of Washington political rhetoric, and the around-the-clock media barrage.

The 2008 US presidential candidates and their elite campaign advisers, all but a few of whom enthusiastically support the “war on terrorism”, have taken turns pushing their respective versions of “we must stop the terrorists” rhetoric for brain-addled supporters. The candidates whose polls have slipped, led by 9/11 participant and opportunist Rudy Guiliani, and hawkish neoliberal Hillary Clinton, have already benefited from a new round of mass fear.

Musharraf benefits from the removal of a bitter rival, but now must find a way to re-establish order. Musharraf now has an ideal justification to crack down on “terrorists” and impose full martial law, with Bush-Cheney working from the shadows behind Musharraf---and continuing to manipulate or remove his apparatus, if Musharraf proves too unreliable or broken to suit Anglo-American plans.

The likely involvement of the ISI behind the Bhutto hit cannot be overstated. ISI’s role behind every major act of “terrorism” since 9/11 remains the central unspoken truth behind current geopolitical realities. Bhutto, but not Sharif or Musharraf would have threatened the ISI’s agendas.

Bhutto, militant Islam, and the pipelines

Now that she has been martyred, many unflattering historical facts about Benazir Bhutto will be hidden or forgotten.

Bhutto herself was intimately involved in the creation of the very “terror” milieu purportedly responsible for her assassination. Across her political career, she supported militant Islamists, the Taliban, the ISI, and the ambitions of Western governments.

As noted by Michel Chossudovsky in America’s “War on Terrorism”, it was during Bhutto’s second term that Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and the Taliban rose to prominence, welcomed into Bhutto’s coalition government. It was at that point that ties between the JUI, the Army and the ISI were established.

While Bhutto’s relationship with both the ISI and the Taliban were marked by turmoil, it is clear that Bhutto, when in power, supported both---and enthusiastically supported Anglo-American interventions.

In his two landmark books, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia and Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid richly details the Bhutto regime’s connections to the ISI, the Taliban, “militant Islam”, multinational oil interests, and Anglo-American officials and intelligence proxies.

In Jihad, Rashid wrote:

“Ironically it was not the ISI but Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the most liberal, secular leader in Pakistan’s recent history, who delivered the coup de grace to a new relationship with Central Asia. Rather than support a wider peace process in Afghanistan that would have opened up a wider peace process in Afghanistan, Bhutto backed the Taliban, in a rash and presumptuous policy to create a new western-oriented trade and pipeline route from Turkmenistan through southern Afghanistan to Pakistan, from which the Taliban would provide security. The ISI soon supported this policy because its Afghan protégé Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had made no headway in capturing Kabul, and the Taliban appeared to be strong enough to do so.”

In Taliban, Rashid provided even more historical detail:

“When Bhutto was elected as Prime Minister in 1993, she was keen to open a route to Central Asia. A new proposal emerged backed strongly by the frustrated Pakistani transport and smuggling mafia, the JUI and Pashtun military and political officials.”

“The Bhutto government fully backed the Taliban, but the ISI remained skeptical of their abilities, convinced that they would remain a useful but peripheral force in the south.”

“The US congress had authorized a covert $20 million budget for the CIA to destabilize Iran, and Tehran accused Washington of funneling some of these funds to the Taliban---a charge that was always denied by Washington . Bhutto sent several emissaries to Washington to urge the US to intervene more publicly on the side of Pakistan and the Taliban.”

Bhutto’s one mistake: she vehemently supported the pipeline proposed by Argentinian oil company Bridas, and opposed the pipeline by Unocal (favored by the US). This contributed to her ouster in 1996, and the return of Nawaz Sharif to power. As noted by Rashid:

“After the dismissal of the Bhutto government in 1996, the newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his oil minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan, the army and the ISI fully backed Unocal. Pakistan wanted more direct US support for the Taliban and urged Unocal to start construction quickly in order to legitimize the Taliban. Basically the USA and Unocal accepted the ISI’s analysis and aims---that a Taliban victory in Afghanistan would make Unocal’s job much easier and quicken US recognition.”

Her appealing and glamorous pro-Western image notwithstanding, Bhutto’s true record is one of corruption and accommodation.

The “war on terrorism” resparked 

Every major Anglo-American geostrategic crime has been preceded by a convenient pretext, orchestrated and carried out by “terror” proxies directly or indirectly connected to US military-intelligence, or manipulated into performing as intelligence assets. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is simply one more brutal example.

This was Pakistan’s 9/11; Pakistan’s JFK assassination, and its impact will resonate for years.

Contrary to mainstream corporate news reporting, chaos benefits Bush-Cheney’s “war on terrorism”. Calls for “increased worldwide security” will pave the way for a muscular US reaction, US-led force and other forms of “crack down” from Bush-Cheney across the region. In other words, the assassination helps ensure that the US will not only never leave, but also increase its presence.

The Pakistani election, if it takes place at all, is a simpler two-way choice: pro-US Musharraf or pro-US Sharif.

While the success of Bush-Cheney’s 9/11 agenda has met with mixed results, and it has met with a wide array of resistance (“terroristic” as well as political), there is no doubt that the propaganda foundation of the “war on terrorism” has remained firm, unshaken and routinely reinforced. 

As for Nawaz Sharif, who now emerges as the sole competitor for Musharraf, he, like Musharraf and Bhutto, is legendary for his accommodation to Anglo-American interests---pipelines, trade, and the continued US military presence. As Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie noted in the book Forbidden Truth, the October 1999 military coup led by Musharraf that originally toppled Sharif’s regime was sparked by animosity between the two camps, as well as “Sharif’s personal corruption and political megalomania”, and “concerns that Sharif was dancing too eagerly to Washington’s tune on Kashmir and Afghanistan”. 

In other words, Bush-Cheney wins, no matter which asset winds up on the throne.

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: A British customs agent who investigated the nuclear smuggling network of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has himself become the target of a British criminal probe after being prominently featured in a book by American researchers, according to an article published in The Washington Post on Sunday.

Atif Amin’s house and car were searched last week by British authorities with warrants alleging violations of the country’s Official Secrets Act, according to legal documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The action came less than two months after the publication of “America and the Islamic Bomb,” which chronicles Amin’s efforts to uncover the Khan network in 2000, more than three years before US and British intelligence officials broke up the smuggling ring.

The book’s authors, David Armstrong and Joseph Trento, contend that Western intelligence agencies knowingly allowed the smuggling ring to operate for years before moving to shut it down. During this interlude, Khan passed nuclear parts and know-how to Iran, North Korea and Libya, the authors contend.

Smuggling network: “It’s a story Washington and London do not want out,” said Armstrong. “If Amin can be discredited, it would distract the public from the fact that the US and Britain prevented the most dangerous nuclear smuggling operation in history from being shut down when the opportunity existed.”

In the book, Amin is described as the director of Operation Akin, a customs investigation that in 2000 began targeting Persian Gulf-based companies allegedly involved in the trafficking of militarily sensitive technology. While working on the investigation in Dubai, Amin began tracing the flow of nuclear-related equipment through companies with ties to Dr Khan, the article said. In the spring of 2000, as Amin closed in on Khan at the centre of the smuggling operation, he was ordered to quit the case and return to Britain, the authors state.

The reason given to Amin for the abrupt change was that British and US spies who were monitoring the network were worried that his questioning would disrupt their operation and expose informants, the article said. Amin complied with the orders, but, according to the book, complained bitterly about what he says was a missed opportunity to crush the smuggling ring early.

“They knew exactly what was going on all the time,” Amin is quoted as saying. “If they’d wanted to, they could have blown the whistle on this long ago.”

President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency despite American opposition and threats. He suspended the constitution and removed the Chief Justice Iftiqar. He has appointed a new chief and high court justices of the provinces. It is shocking to know none of these justices opposed him and took oath under new PCO.

Critics are saying he has angered Americans and will face suspension of the billions of dollars of military and economic aid.

In opinion, he imposed the American rule after consultation with the Bush Administration. Officially, Americans gave statements showing displeasure over his actions.

Americans were also unhappy with the Chief Justice Iftiqar because had released many high profile al-qaeda suspects. Recently he had ordered the government to release all the missing persons by November 13.

July 27, 2007

BERLIN --  Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary has warned against the spread of Islam in the West in an interview with a German newspaper published Friday.

"We cannot deny the attempts to spread Islam in the West. And we should not be too understanding and let this blind us to the threat to Europe's identity," Georg Gaenswein told the weekly magazine of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "The Catholic Church sees it clearly and is not afraid to say so," he added.

Gaenswein described as "prophetic" the highly controversial speech that the Pope made at the University of Regensburg when he visited Germany last September in which he seemed to link Islam to violence.

"The speech was precisely meant to counter a kind of naiveté. It is clear that there is not only one Islam and the Pope does not know anybody who speaks with binding authority to all Muslims," he said. "The concept groups many different schools ... some of whom use the Koran to justify reaching for a gun," he said.

In the speech at the University of Regensburg in his native Germany, Pope Benedict quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticized some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman."

The lecture sparked days of sometimes violent protests in Muslim countries, prompting the pontiff to say that he was "deeply sorry" for any offense and to attribute Muslim anger to an "unfortunate misunderstanding."

But he stopped short of apologizing for the remarks.

The Vatican Web site posted an annotated version of the speech, in which Pope Benedict wrote that the offending phrase "does not express my personal opinion on the Koran, for which I feel the respect that is due to the holy book of a great religion."

On a lighter note, Gaenswein revealed in the interview that the Pope always wears white, even in private, but declined to confirm reports that he wears shoes by the Italian luxury brand Prada.

via Munaeem's Blog : 

The White House homeland security adviser, Frances Townsend, told Fox News Television that the United States would strikes against militant targets within Pakistan's tribal territories.

Pakistan strongly reacted to his statement. Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told press that this ill-conceived action would undermine Pakistan’s efforts and would generate resentment in the tribal area.

Mr. Townsend’s irresponsible statement has generated anger among Pakistanis. They are of the opinion that Pakistan should stop supporting US in war on terror.

The US does not have any evidence that al-qaeda is operating in Pakistan’s tribal. These officials are making assertions to justify their illegal activities of NATO action in Afghanistan.

Look at the statement of the US director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell. He said :

"My personal view is that he's alive, but we don't know because we can't confirm it for over a year," he told NBC television on Sunday. "I believe he is in the tribal region of Pakistan."

It is evident from his statements that US officials are only making false claims about re-emergence of al-qaeda in the tribal belt of Pakistan.

The deputy chief of Lal mosque Abdul Rasheed Ghazi has been killed in operation silence lunched against the militants holed up in the Lal mosque, the reports said on Tuesday.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a militant Islamic cleric who had vowed to die with his students inside an Islamabad mosque rather than surrender to Pakistani forces, once had a relatively moderate lifestyle.

Ghazi, the deputy leader of the Red Mosque, was holed up in a basement with several women and children on Tuesday after troops raided the compound, officials said. At least 58 people have died in the assault.

The bespectacled, articulate 43-year-old -- who attended a madrassa in his youth -- was remembered as a moderate pupil by a professor at the moderate Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

"He was a normal, moderate student who was well adjusted to a co-educational system," Naim Qureshi, one of Ghazi's history professors said.

Ghazi did a master's degree in history in 1987-88. A photo of him and his classmates still hangs on the history department's wall.

"In studies he was okay but I don't remember his grades. I remember that he had a normal beard," Qureshi said, comparing it with the bushy, grey, Islamist-style beard that Ghazi now sports.

Ghazi married into a moderate family and lived a relatively westernised life. He got a government job in the education ministry and also worked with UNESCO, the UN's culture organisation.

"Ghazi used to share jokes, often spoke in English, moved in mixed company and was an active student," said a university friend who asked not to be named.

His father, Abdullah Aziz, who founded the Red Mosque, was so angry about his lifestyle that he handed over his property to his brother, current mosque leader Abdul Aziz.

Abdul Aziz was caught last Wednesday trying to flee the compound in a burqa.

Ghazi completely changed after his father was shot dead inside the mosque by a lone gunman, thought to be from a rival Islamic group. He joined his brother Abdul, who took over the mosque in 1998 and nominated him as his deputy.

Ghazi also established links with Pakistani intelligence services, who earlier had used his father and brother to help foster Islamists who would support the anti-Soviet "jihad" in Afghanistan and the subsequent rise to power of the Taliban.

When the 9/11 attacks took place in the United States, friends said no trace of the "old", westernised Ghazi remained. But he also began to move away from his state sponsors.

Security sources said he had close links with pro-Taliban militants and agitated against President Pervez Musharraf's decision to back the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Colleagues said that in 2004 he survived an attempt on his life and since then had always carried a Kalashinkov with him. "You always find an AK-47 in his car, with him in the madrassa and even at his bedside," one colleague said.

By 2007, Ghazi and Aziz had become entirely committed toward turning Pakistan into a Taliban-style Islamic state.

Their students raided music stores and brothels, and kidnapped people allegedly involved in "vice", including seven people from Pakistan's closest ally and biggest military supplier, China.

Since the mosque came under siege a week ago, Ghazi has repeatedly said that he would rather be "martyred" than give in to the government.

Rasool Bakhsh Raees, a professor of political science at the Lahore University of Management and Sciences, said Ghazi was foolish to take on the government in the first place.

"No sane person could think of doing that," he said.

Update : Interior Ministry confirmed his death.

Saud Memon, a merchant who owned the plot from where US journalist Daniel Pearl’s body was found, died Friday at Liaquat National Hospital in Karachi. Memon was the first on the list of Pakistan’s most wanted and carried head money of Rs 3 million.

Saud’s name first surfaced when the police recovered Pearl’s remains on May 17, 2002 on the pointation of his servant Fazl Kareem who was arrested three days earlier.

When Daily Times visited Memon’s house in Nazimabad No. 4’s Pakhtoon-dominated Mujahid Colony before the burial Friday, his eldest son Fahad was not present. Fahad had been sent away but Daily Times was able to confirm on the phone the death at the ICU, declared by doctors at 2:30 p.m. The scared family was exceedingly hostile and reluctant to allow interviews but told the media there was no dying declaration.

According to family sources, when Memon returned home April 28, he was well enough to feed himself but could not recognize anyone. While the family source was narrating these details someone shouted from behind. “They killed him by injecting him with Cortisone!” The person was immediately hushed up. “When the family returned from Friday prayers at 2:30 p.m., the doctors told us he had died,” family sources said.

Memon’s brother Mahmood said Saud died 20 days after being admitted to hospital. Mahmood had appeared before the Supreme Court on May 14 in the forced disappearances’ case along with his brother who was unable to speak as a result of alleged torture by an intelligence agency during an undeclared confinement that lasted an estimated three years, one month and 21 days. Memon’s arrest was never brought on the record. According to Mahmood, his brother left for South Africa after the police recovered Pearl’s remains from his plot in Ahsanabad, Gadap Town. He was apprehensive of his likely arrest in the high-profile murder case and fled the country. The FBI arrested him from S. Africa on March 7, 2003, kept him at Guantanamo Bay for more than two years and then handed him over to the Pakistani authorities.

An intelligence agency then secured his custody for investigation. He subsequently lost his contact with the family. The family heard about his alleged detention last year through a man who was released by the same agency sometime ago. The name of the agency was not revealed. On April 28, some men in plainclothes, claiming to be Memon’s friends, dropped him at his doorstep. His condition was such that no one recognized him even though he had become well known in the neighbourhood. Thinking he was a homeless person, people took him to a nearby madrassa where he was eventually identified. Mahmood denied his brother had any links with the Pearl murder. Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in January 2002 and his body was recovered in May the same year, sparking Al-Qaeda-link arrests in Pakistan. He acknowledged, however, that Memon used to donate funds to the Al-Akhtar and Al-Rashid trusts. “My brother knew nothing about Daniel Pearl or his killers. If he had killed Pearl, he would certainly have not buried him in his own plot,” he said.

Source : Daily Times

“Tarek Heggy is one of the most creative and prolific writers in the Arab world. His writings probe the political and social limits and present a refreshing message of self-reliance that challenges the prevailing sense that regional ills are largely made abroad”.

(Professor Shibely Telhami, Maryland University, USA). 

 

"For the average European or American… it is easy to believe that Islam, violence, and terrorism go hand in hand. But those who have a more thorough grasp of the issue know that this perception of Islam has taken hold only because a puritanical, fundamentalist model of Islam, which was marginal and ineffectual before oil wealth put it on the map, has managed, thanks to petrodollars, to make the world believe that its interpretation of Islam is Islam. The doctrinaire version of Islam propounded by the Wahabbis had no followers among the Muslims of the world before the expansion of Saudi influence following the oil boom.

Millions of Muslims in Egypt, Turkey, the Levant, Iraq, Indonesia, and throughout the world remained immune to the appeal of the fanatical, violent, and bloody message of what was a small and obscure sect bred in the intellectually barren landscape of the eastern Arabian Peninsula. All that changed with the massive influx of petrodollars into the coffers of Saudi Arabia, which used its new-found wealth to propagate the message of its home-grown Wahhabi sect with missionary zeal. Hence the emergence of militant Islam as a force to be reckoned with on the world stage, a force that now represents a dangerous threat to world peace, to humanity, and to Islam and Muslims."

“Tarek Heggy is one of the most creative and prolific writers in the Arab world. His writings probe the political and social limits and present a refreshing message of self-reliance that challenges the prevailing sense that regional ills are largely made abroad”.

(Professor Shibely Telhami, Maryland University, USA).

Enlightened thinking, according to Heggy, is a basic tenet of Islam. However, he says, "a religious culture based on strict orthodoxy, or the textual reading of holy scriptures, was one of the reasons for the failure of the concept of compromise to catch on in our culture." In one of his articles, Heggy addresses this discrepancy in the approach to Islam:

"I spent years trying to understand why the Muslims had chosen to follow the line advocated by Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, the proponent of orthodoxy and tradition for whom knowledge meant only knowledge of religion and who cancelled the role of the mind altogether by denying the possibility of acquiring knowledge through intuition, over the line advocated by Ibn Rushd, who upheld the primacy of reason and sowed the seeds of a renaissance we chose not to reap. Why were Al-Ghazali's ideas so readily accepted while Ibn Rushd's were rejected? I believe the answer to this paradox can be summed up in one word: despotism. At a time despotism in our part of the world was at its height, it is not surprising that Muslim rulers should have found Al-Ghazali's ideas more appealing than those of Ibn Rushd. The orthodox line was also more appealing to their subjects who, under the yoke of tyranny, found it safer and less demanding to go along with the views of those who required nothing more from them than a suspension of their critical faculties. In Europe, where the forces of enlightenment were locked in a confrontation with the clericalism that stifled intellectual initiative and rational thought, despotism was in retreat…"

Heggy also distinguishes between what he describes as the Turkish-Egyptian and the Bedouin models of Islam: "While the former cannot claim to have attained the level of enlightenment, progressive thinking and freedom that characterizes the ideas of Ibn Rushd, it was nevertheless a gentle and tolerant Islam that could and did coexist with others… Although this model of Islam can in no way be described as secular, it adopted an enlightened approach to religion, dealing with it as a system of spiritual beliefs rather than as a system that ruled all aspects of life and governed the affairs of society."

via Daily Times, Pakistan : HRCP says no action in Jamia Hafsa case shows military-jihadi link

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) discussed the “dysfunctional government”, growing anarchy, rising religious militancy, the “disappearances” of citizens and the current judicial crisis in its annual general meeting on Sunday.

The commission then issued the following statement:


I agree with them.

Jewish and Christian leaders are helping Muhammad Masood, brother of Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and head of Jamaatud Dawa, ease the financial burden he is reportedly facing. The former Boston imam was arrested last year as part of an ongoing investigation into a vast visa fraud scheme.

Three weeks ago, some of them turned up to form a campaign to raise money for “humanitarian assistance” to the beleaguered imam, according to the Friday issue of the newspaper, The Jewish Advocate.

Imam Masood is the former “spiritual director” of the Islamic Centre of New England at Sharon, Massachusetts. He and his son were arrested in November 2006 along with 33 other individuals who were questioned about the immigration ploy, which allegedly helped large numbers of illegal aliens fraudulently obtain religious worker visas to enter or remain in the United States, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Imam Masood is living in a house situated over an estate of 52 acres with free gas and electricity. Daily Times has learnt that on March 24, there was a fund-raiser for him at which he collected $40,000 in Burlington, Massachusetts, from the Muslim community. Quipped one disgruntled Boston Muslim, “How much in grocery supplies does the holy family need, unless he is feeding jinns? And how can one forget that a couple of adults in Masood’s family are earning members?”

Two of the clerics, Rabbi Barry Starr and Rev Deborah Cayer, will not say how much money they have raised for Masood. They have appealed to their congregations to make tax-deductible donations to the rabbi’s discretionary fund at Temple Israel. The two consider Masood a good man and they say they are concerned about him and his family, as well as his “spiritual community”.

Masood told The Jewish Advocate that times are tough for his wife and eight children and that his inability to lead prayers is “killing” him and his community. He said he has received support from the community and he recently used the donations to buy groceries and clothing for his children, thee of whom are US citizens.

Masood and his family, according to his lawyer, William Joyce, are facing deportation. There is a hearing next week, which is a preliminary proceeding that will determine what avenues of relief are available to Masood. The case will review the denial of his 2001 application for a religious worker visa and his alleged failure to return to Pakistan in 1991, that he was required to do, having come to the US on a student visa he used to enrol at the Boston University in 1998.

Masood may have his supporters but there are also those who are critical of his actions and motives. Two bloggers, ‘Solomonia’ and ‘Miss Kelly’, have created an online petition supporting the immigration authorities. One of the bloggers said, “People are coming here illegally and circumventing the system. Who cares how nice they are. Why should they get blanket support?”

Janet Penn, who has organised interfaith support for Masood, disagrees. According to her, Masood is a “man I know to be a kind human being and as Jewish person, I feel it’s important to help someone in need”.

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