Pakistan continues to be among the top 10 failed states

A failure called Pakistan

29 Jun 2009, 0634 hrs IST, ET Bureau
 
NEW DELHI: Pakistan, one of the biggest exporters of fundamentalist terror and a basket case terriotory in terms of economic conditions,  continues to be among the top 10 failed states. A failed states index prepared by Foreign Policy journal, has put Pakistan in the tenth position.

The ranking is done on the basis of the following factors: demographic pressure, refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs), group grievance, uneven development, economic decline, delegitimisation of the state, public service, human rights, factionalised elites and external intervention. The top 10 failed states in the latest list are: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Guinea and Pakistan.

As there is linkage between failed states and terrorism, it is bad news for India. The situation in the neighbourhood is fast going out of control with the Taliban battling Pakistan army in the Swat borders and Lashkar e Taiba and its offshoots creating troubles within and outside.

Pakistan has been displaying its reluctance to act against terror by releasing Lashkar leaders jailed after the Mumbai outrage. In his meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave vent to New Delhi’s anger.

Foreign Policy noted that it is “a sobering time” for the world’s most fragile countries, what with the global financial meltdown, natural disasters, and government collapse. “Answering the question of which failed states demand attention might well come down to which are deemed to pose the biggest threat to the world at large. But even the widely presumed linkage between failing states and terrorism is less clear than many have come to assume since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks sounded the alarm about the consequences of governments not in control of their territory,” the journal said.

It also said some of the failed states are unmanageable for even outfits like al-Qaeda. “Take Somalia, once again the No. 1 failed state on this year’s index. A recent report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, drawing on captured al-Qaeda documents, revealed that Osama bin Laden’s outfit had an awful experience trying to operate out of Somalia, for all the same reasons that international peacekeepers found Somalia unmanageable in the 1990s: terrible infrastructure, excessive violence and criminality, and few basic services, among other factors. In short, Somalia was too failed even for al-Qaeda.”

The journal said countries such as Yemen may not yet be front-page news, but it’s being watched intently these days in capitals worldwide. “A perfect storm of state failure is now brewing there… Many worry Yemen is the next Afghanistan: a global problem wrapped in a failed state. It’s not just Yemen. The financial crisis was a near-death experience for insurgency-plagued Pakistan, which remains on IMF life support…All indications are that 2009 will bring little to no reprieve,” the journal said.

Deoband mulls fatwa against French goods protest the anti-burqa comments of French president Nicolas Sarkozy

Deoband mulls fatwa against French goods
25 Jun 2009, Manjari Mishra, TNN
 
LUCKNOW: The Islamic seminary of Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband is contemplating a fatwa against buying goods made in France to protest the anti-burqa  comments of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mufti Maulana Arshad Faruqui of Dar-ul-Ufba, the fatwa department of the seminary, said it would also call for a boycott of Sarkozy. “If necessary, an edict may be issued to all followers ordering them to shun French merchandise,” Maulana Faruqui said.

He said the comment was “one of the most shameful chapters of the mankind”. By labelling burqa, ‘naqab’ or ‘purdah’ as a symbol of female subjugation, the French president has “violated” the law of his own country, which guarantees its citizens the right to practice their religion unhindered, he added.

“The utterances are an evil ploy aimed at bringing disrepute to France.” Faruqui said the statement delivered in the French parliament reeks of a “conspiracy against Christianity too” as even Virgin Mary has always been painted or sculpted with her head covered.

Bangladeshi woman brutally whipped 200 times, critical

Fatwa: Bangladeshi woman brutally whipped
IANS 29 Jun 2009

DHAKA: A widow was whipped 202 times and a man 101 times following a fatwa by a religious leader for their alleged involvement in “anti-social activity” in a village in southeastern Bangladesh, prompting local protests and action by the police.

Piara Begum, a widow of 40, and Mamun Miah, 25, were whipped before hundreds of people at Khaiyar in Comilla district Saturday night.

The woman fell unconscious and was rushed to hospital. Doctors said she was critically injured and needed to be given intensive treatment.

Miah was whipped 101 times, The Daily Star newspaper said Monday.

Punishment under a fatwa is held illegal as per a high court ruling of 2001 in Bangladesh that has a predominant Sunni Muslim population.

The police arrested six people, including Moulana Mohammed Manirul Islam, a religious leader working in the local madrassa.

Piara Begum filed a case with the Debidwar police station under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

Muslim cleric arrested for alleged rape of minor Kashmir

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_cleric-arrested-for-raping-minor_1268710

PTI Friday, June 26, 2009

Jammu: A cleric was on Friday arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police official said. Mohmmad Farooq, who used to impart religious education to students in Mendhar area, allegedly raped the minor on Friday, they said.

The victim informed her parents, who registered a case against Farooq, they said. Medical examination of the girl was conducted report of which is awaited, they said, adding that Farooq has been arrested.

Cleric arrested for raping minor

PTI Friday, June 26, 2009

Jammu: A cleric was on Friday arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police official said. Mohmmad Farooq, who used to impart religious education to students in Mendhar area, allegedly raped the minor on Friday, they said.

The victim informed her parents, who registered a case against Farooq, they said. Medical examination of the girl was conducted report of which is awaited, they said, adding that Farooq has been arrested.

Sabarmati Express carnage was planned by Godhra Muslims

https://islamicterrorism.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Godhra was planned’

DNA Correspondent Saturday, June 27, 2009

Ahmedabad: The torching of coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002, was planned, said Gayatri Panchal (24), whose parents and two sisters were killed in the carnage incident.

In her statement in 2008 before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to probe the Sabarmati Express carnage and the ensuing riots, Panchal alleged that in March 2008 Sardarji Waghela had submitted a petition which said that the victims of the carnage had been served injustice and that “people from the minority community” had benefited from the help of NGOs working in this direction, which she said was true.

In the statement, annexed with the status report submitted recently by the SIT in the court of special judge PR Patel, who has been designated for the trial in the case, she said that she was travelling with her mother Nita, father Harshad and sisters Pratiksha and Chaya in coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express when it was torched.

“Godhra Muslim ghancio tolaa S-6 dabbo salgavel (Godhra Muslims burnt the S-6 coach),” in which everyone besides her had been burnt alive. She said she had given her statements in connection with the matter to various investigating officers earlier.

She further stated that the earlier investigating officer in the case had conducted a “fair and free investigation,” had arrested the accused and had put them behind bars, but “after the constitution of the team, the investigation officer was changed after the Muslim accused asked for it.”

She said that such an incident was sad and that the investigation officer should be handed the case. She has prayed that the victims of the carnage receive justice and that the accused receive harsh punishment.

When contacted, Panchal told DNA: “I stick to the statements that I have made before the SIT. I believe that such an accident cannot

be a mere accident, but a planned conspiracy. However, all we want is justice.”

Charges have been framed against 100 people accused in the case. The dates for the recording of evidence have also been fixed. Evidence in the case will be recorded on July 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Godhra was planned’

DNA Correspondent Saturday, June 27, 2009

Ahmedabad: The torching of coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002, was planned, said Gayatri Panchal (24), whose parents and two sisters were killed in the carnage incident.

In her statement in 2008 before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to probe the Sabarmati Express carnage and the ensuing riots, Panchal alleged that in March 2008 Sardarji Waghela had submitted a petition which said that the victims of the carnage had been served injustice and that “people from the minority community” had benefited from the help of NGOs working in this direction, which she said was true.

In the statement, annexed with the status report submitted recently by the SIT in the court of special judge PR Patel, who has been designated for the trial in the case, she said that she was travelling with her mother Nita, father Harshad and sisters Pratiksha and Chaya in coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express when it was torched.

“Godhra Muslim ghancio tolaa S-6 dabbo salgavel (Godhra Muslims burnt the S-6 coach),” in which everyone besides her had been burnt alive. She said she had given her statements in connection with the matter to various investigating officers earlier.

She further stated that the earlier investigating officer in the case had conducted a “fair and free investigation,” had arrested the accused and had put them behind bars, but “after the constitution of the team, the investigation officer was changed after the Muslim accused asked for it.”

She said that such an incident was sad and that the investigation officer should be handed the case. She has prayed that the victims of the carnage receive justice and that the accused receive harsh punishment.

When contacted, Panchal told DNA: “I stick to the statements that I have made before the SIT. I believe that such an accident cannot be a mere accident, but a planned conspiracy. However, all we want is justice.”

Charges have been framed against 100 people accused in the case. The dates for the recording of evidence have also been fixed. Evidence in the case will be recorded on July 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Why we should not listen to peaceful moderate Muslims – must read

Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant

by Paul E. Marek

History lessons are often incredibly simple.

I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War II. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.

“Very few people were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”

We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behea

The fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.

d, murder, or execute honor killings. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority,” and it is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war-mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians – most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt; yet, for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because, like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us, watching it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Adar 28, 5767 / 18 March 07

Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant

by Paul E. Marek

History lessons are often incredibly simple.

I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War II. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.

“Very few people were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”

We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behea

The fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.

d, murder, or execute honor killings. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority,” and it is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war-mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians – most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt; yet, for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because, like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us, watching it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Adar 28, 5767 / 18 March 07

42 operational Islamic terror camps in Pakistan, PoK

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/42-operational-terror-camps-in-Pak-PoK/articleshow/4673319.cms

42 operational terror camps in Pak, PoK

19 Jun 2009, Rajat Pandit, TNN

NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acted tough with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the full glare of television cameras this

week, he had solid reason to do so. There are still 42 terror-training camps directed against India alive and kicking in Pakistan and PoK.

The latest assessment of Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), the nodal agency for all terror-related intelligence under the home ministry, holds there are 34 `active’ and eight `holding’ camps operational across the border.

Both Pakistan/Northern Areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have 17 `active’ and four `holding or dormant’ camps each, says the MAC assessment, based on inputs from Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and National Technical Research Organisation, among others.

“It is estimated that around 2,200 militants are housed in these camps. After 26/11, many of these camps emptied out or relocated. Some are back to their original status now, while new ones have also come up,” said an official.

With the PM declaring India wants Pakistan to take “strong, effective and sustained action” against the terror networks targeting India from its soil before it decides on resuming the composite dialogue process, the fate of these camps as well as that of the masterminds behind the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai is being tracked closely.

India, of course, had rebuffed Pakistan’s calls for resumption of the dialogue process after 26/11. Even now, though India has signalled its interest in reviving the dialogue after the Singh-Zardari meeting in Yekaterinburg in Russia this week, New Delhi remains cautious about whether Pakistan will actually walk its talk.

While Pakistan is taking steps to crack down on the Taliban-al Qaida nexus, faced as it is with unrelenting heat from the US, the jihadi factory against India continues to run with impunity.

As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of “mixed” origins.

The “active” camps in PoK include those in Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Nikial, Sensa, Gulpur, Forward Kahutta, Peer Chinasi, Jhandi Chauntra, Bhimbher, Barnala, Skardu, Abdullah Bin Masud, Tattapani, Samani and Shavai Nallah, among others.

The North-West Frontier Province is another hotbed of jihadi activity, with the densely-forested hilly Manshera region, in particular, housing several madrasas, which also double up as training camps. These include Jangal Mangal, Andher Bela, Shinkiari and Jalo Gali, with other NWFP camps including Boi, Oghi and Attar Shisha.

The other camps in Pakistan and Northern Areas include Muridke, Sialkot, Beesian, Garhi Habibullah and Jalogali. “Many of these camps are makeshift, which can be translocated very quickly to evade scrutiny. Moreover, the real leaders of the various tanzims are based in cities like Islamabad and Lahore,” said another official.

As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of “mixed” origins.

42 operational terror camps in Pak, PoK

19 Jun 2009, Rajat Pandit, TNN

NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acted tough with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the full glare of television cameras this

week, he had solid reason to do so. There are still 42 terror-training camps directed against India alive and kicking in Pakistan and PoK.

The latest assessment of Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), the nodal agency for all terror-related intelligence under the home ministry, holds there are 34 `active’ and eight `holding’ camps operational across the border.

Both Pakistan/Northern Areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have 17 `active’ and four `holding or dormant’ camps each, says the MAC assessment, based on inputs from Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and National Technical Research Organisation, among others.

“It is estimated that around 2,200 militants are housed in these camps. After 26/11, many of these camps emptied out or relocated. Some are back to their original status now, while new ones have also come up,” said an official.

With the PM declaring India wants Pakistan to take “strong, effective and sustained action” against the terror networks targeting India from its soil before it decides on resuming the composite dialogue process, the fate of these camps as well as that of the masterminds behind the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai is being tracked closely.

India, of course, had rebuffed Pakistan’s calls for resumption of the dialogue process after 26/11. Even now, though India has signalled its interest in reviving the dialogue after the Singh-Zardari meeting in Yekaterinburg in Russia this week, New Delhi remains cautious about whether Pakistan will actually walk its talk.

While Pakistan is taking steps to crack down on the Taliban-al Qaida nexus, faced as it is with unrelenting heat from the US, the jihadi factory against India continues to run with impunity.

As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of “mixed” origins.

The “active” camps in PoK include those in Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Nikial, Sensa, Gulpur, Forward Kahutta, Peer Chinasi, Jhandi Chauntra, Bhimbher, Barnala, Skardu, Abdullah Bin Masud, Tattapani, Samani and Shavai Nallah, among others.

The North-West Frontier Province is another hotbed of jihadi activity, with the densely-forested hilly Manshera region, in particular, housing several madrasas, which also double up as training camps. These include Jangal Mangal, Andher Bela, Shinkiari and Jalo Gali, with other NWFP camps including Boi, Oghi and Attar Shisha.

The other camps in Pakistan and Northern Areas include Muridke, Sialkot, Beesian, Garhi Habibullah and Jalogali. “Many of these camps are makeshift, which can be translocated very quickly to evade scrutiny. Moreover, the real leaders of the various tanzims are based in cities like Islamabad and Lahore,” said another official.

Thailand’s Islamic terrorists using Islamic schools to recruit fighters

Thai insurgents recruit from Islamic schools-report

Jun 22, 2009

BANGKOK, June 22 (Reuters) – Militants in Thailand’s deep south are using Islamic schools to recruit fighters for an armed ethno-nationalist struggle against the Thai state, according to a report released on Monday.

In a 20-page study, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said the near-daily attacks in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces were part of a separatist struggle that had no links to radical Islamist groups or a global jihadi movement.

Nearly 3,500 people have been killed since 2004 in the region bordering Malaysia, which was an independent Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago. [ID:nBKK426738] [ID:nBKK190770]

“The classroom is the point of first contact,” the report said.

“Recruiters invite those who seem promising devout Muslims of good character who are moved by a history of oppression, mistreatment and the idea of armed jihad to join extracurricular indoctrination programmes in mosques or disguised as football training.”

The ICG study was compiled over 16 months and its release comes after an escalation of violence that has seen 38 people killed and more than 60 wounded in the past two weeks, among them soldiers, police, Buddhist monks and praying Muslims.

The report said the rebel movement was a fight to protect the identity of the region’s ethnic Malay Muslims, and human rights abuses by security forces had “fuelled secessionist fervour”.

“(Islamic schools) are central to the maintenance of Malay Muslim identity and many students are receptive to the call to take up arms against the state,” ICG said.

“This is not a struggle in solidarity with global jihad, rather an ethno-nationalist insurgency … aimed at reclaiming what was once the independent sultanate of Patani.”

The report said rebel movements relied heavily on teachers to recruit young fighters, who would swear an oath of commitment and secrecy before joining a clandestine, multi-cell network whose leadership has never been revealed.

It said the central government’s reluctance to work towards a solution at the local level was exacerbating the problem and it should avoid “quick fixes to what is a highly complex conflict”.

“Changing these policies is essential as the government tries to respond to the insurgents’ grievances in order to bring long-lasting peace to the region,” ICG said. (Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Alan Raybould and Dean Yates)

Three Muslims appointed to Amarnath panel, samiti objects

Samiti objects to three Muslims on Amarnath panel
Ishfaq-ul-Hassan / DNA Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra has appointed three Muslims to the 13-member Shri Amarnath Yatra Advisory Committee for a smooth conduction of the yatra. But the committee is yet to meet, as the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) has objected to inclusion of Muslims in the committee.

The samiti, which spearheaded the agitation for restoration of 39.88 hectares of forestland to the board last year, called the move “undesirable and unnecessary”. “The SASB Act clearly states that if a governor is non-Hindu, he has to nominate a Hindu to head the board. Taking it as a premise, how can a non-Hindu be part of Hindu religious body? Similarly no non-Muslim should be part of Muslim body,” said samiti convener Brig (retd) Suchet Singh.

This is the first time that the governor, who is also the board chairman, has nominated Muslims to the committee ever since the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) Act was passed.

The three Muslims are namely Lateef Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Jabbar Malik and Dr Mubeen Shah.

Lateef Ahmad Bhat heads the Kashmir Hotel and Restaurants Owners Federation while Dr Mubeen Shah is the chairman of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI). Mohammed Jabbar Malik represents the family of Buta Malik, a Muslim shepherd from Pahalgam credited with discovering the cave shrine in the mountains in 1850. Buta and his family were the shrine’s custodian till 2000 when the National Conference government formed the shrine board.

“We are looking forward to put across our views for conduct of the yatra. There have been no meetings of the committee so far,” said Dr Mubeen Shah, a member of the coordination committee that spearheaded the struggle against the economic blockade of Kashmir by radical elements in Jammu.

“There has been no meeting of the committee so far. We have heard that some people have raised objections in Jammu over our inclusion in the committee,” said Lateef.

The board’s additional CEO, Madan Mantoo, said the advisory committee members have met the divisional commissioner though there has been no formal meeting with the Board.

Now, Sri Lanka goes after jihadis

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Now,+Sri+Lanka+goes+after+jihadis&artid=aWHTcGhQQzk=&SectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&MainSectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&SEO=LTTE&SectionName=VfE7I/Vl8os=

Now, Sri Lanka goes after jihadis

P K Balachandran  22 Jun 2009

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government was moving against armed jihadis, a new menace in the Eastern part of the island country, which just ended a long drawn out war against the LTTE, claimed a front-page report in the weekly Lakbimanews on Sunday.

Official Indian sources told The New Indian Express that presence of jihadis had begun to cause concern to both Sri Lanka and India. India was glad that the Sri Lankan authorities had, at long last, begun a crackdown on the Tablighi Jamaat members, who were getting funds and ideological inputs from abroad especially Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the sources added.

There have been instances of the armed clashes between Jamaatis and Tamils, a community the Eastern Muslims have been at odds with over questions of land for the last two or three decades.

Lakbimanews quoted unnamed intelligence sources to say that there could be about 500 jihadis in the three districts in the Eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

Batticaloa alone is believed to have 250 of them.

SPURT IN CRIME USING FIREARMS: In recent months, Eastern parts have witnessed a spurt in crimes such as abductions and extortions. At first it was thought that the perpetrators were members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal, a breakaway group of the LTTE. Later, the LTTE itself was blamed. But investigations later revealed that jihadis were behind most of these crimes.

Last Friday, Security Forces commander (East) Maj Gen Srinath Rajapakse, the Security Forces and the police held a meeting with moulavis and Muslim politicians and civil society leaders at the Hisbullah Centre, Lakbimanews said.

While Lakbimanews said that the Muslim political leaders had been funding the jihadis for the past 15 years, Indian sources contended that local Muslim political leaders were not involved. They also noted that there has been a significant spurt in the establishment of Madrasas where the radical Wahabi ideology is inculcated. Lakbimanews reported that the police in Kanthankudi, a Muslim town in Batticaloa district, had recently seized seven T-56 rifles, SMGs, communication sets and anti-personnel mines.

The paper said that the Defense Ministry had given the jihadis time until July 2 to surrender their weapons. “Thereafter, we will have no mercy on them,” the paper quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying.

The Muslim dignitaries who had attended Friday’s meeting with the Security Forces had admitted that some Muslim youth were armed and promised to persuade them to give up their weapons.

MIDDLE EASTERN INDOCTRINATION: Meanwhile, employment opportunities in the oil-rich Middle East had facilitated religious indoctrination in Sri Lanka. The new Saudi-returned Wahabists began to take on the Sufiists.

Apparently, Pakistan also stepped in to give money and training to radical Islamists here. According to Indian sources, the South Eastern University at Oluvil in the district of Amparai has become a hotbed of radical Islamists.

Now, Sri Lanka goes after jihadis

P K Balachandran  22 Jun 2009

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government was moving against armed jihadis, a new menace in the Eastern part of the island country, which just ended a long drawn out war against the LTTE, claimed a front-page report in the weekly Lakbimanews on Sunday.

Official Indian sources told The New Indian Express that presence of jihadis had begun to cause concern to both Sri Lanka and India. India was glad that the Sri Lankan authorities had, at long last, begun a crackdown on the Tablighi Jamaat members, who were getting funds and ideological inputs from abroad especially Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the sources added.

There have been instances of the armed clashes between Jamaatis and Tamils, a community the Eastern Muslims have been at odds with over questions of land for the last two or three decades.

Lakbimanews quoted unnamed intelligence sources to say that there could be about 500 jihadis in the three districts in the Eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

Batticaloa alone is believed to have 250 of them.

SPURT IN CRIME USING FIREARMS: In recent months, Eastern parts have witnessed a spurt in crimes such as abductions and extortions. At first it was thought that the perpetrators were members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal, a breakaway group of the LTTE. Later, the LTTE itself was blamed. But investigations later revealed that jihadis were behind most of these crimes.

Last Friday, Security Forces commander (East) Maj Gen Srinath Rajapakse, the Security Forces and the police held a meeting with moulavis and Muslim politicians and civil society leaders at the Hisbullah Centre, Lakbimanews said.

While Lakbimanews said that the Muslim political leaders had been funding the jihadis for the past 15 years, Indian sources contended that local Muslim political leaders were not involved. They also noted that there has been a significant spurt in the establishment of Madrasas where the radical Wahabi ideology is inculcated. Lakbimanews reported that the police in Kanthankudi, a Muslim town in Batticaloa district, had recently seized seven T-56 rifles, SMGs, communication sets and anti-personnel mines.

The paper said that the Defense Ministry had given the jihadis time until July 2 to surrender their weapons. “Thereafter, we will have no mercy on them,” the paper quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying.

The Muslim dignitaries who had attended Friday’s meeting with the Security Forces had admitted that some Muslim youth were armed and promised to persuade them to give up their weapons.

MIDDLE EASTERN INDOCTRINATION: Meanwhile, employment opportunities in the oil-rich Middle East had facilitated religious indoctrination in Sri Lanka. The new Saudi-returned Wahabists began to take on the Sufiists.

Apparently, Pakistan also stepped in to give money and training to radical Islamists here. According to Indian sources, the South Eastern University at Oluvil in the district of Amparai has become a hotbed of radical Islamists.