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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Muslim guards Hindus in stereotyped Pakistan

By Amar Guriro in Karachi, Pakistan, for Silent Heroes, Invisible Bridges.

It may not sound unusual that Murad Bukhsh Baloch takes pride in his religion and work, both.

Baloch is a unique Muslim who serves as caretaker of Hindu cremation ground and graveyard, depicting harmonious coexistence in a heavily stereotyped country like Pakistan.

Gujjar Hindu Cremation Ground, around 150-year-old burial-and-cremation facility for Sindhi Hindus located in Pakistan’s southern-most metropolis Karachi, is significant for half-million followers of the religion here.

Just inside huge main entrance gate, Murad has been watching the dead Hindus pouring in to the ground for a quarter of his life.

A mixed gathering of Hindus on the eve of a dear ones demise. Such ceremonies can be held at home as well as at cremation ground and graveyard. – Photo by Amar Guriro

Located in thickly populated Lyari town, the stronghold of late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, which she had chosen for her wedding party, Baloch is not only looking after this 22-acre graveyard and cremation ground but also arranging woods and other items required for cremation since 1990.

He passionately cleans and maintains statues lying in small temples inside the premises. He also lights up lamps inside the temple, an important religious rites.

“It’s pleasure to serve the alive and the dead,” he says, adding, “Islam teaches me co-existence and peace.”

With 3 million population as per 1998 national census, Hindus are the biggest religious minority of Pakistan.

Majority of Pakistani Hindus are living in Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur regions of southern Sindh province. Majority of them belong to lower castes, they work as landless peasants, ironsmiths or construction labour.

Besides looking after the arrangements, Baloch guards this prime land in the heart of the city. Like other Asian urban centers, Karachi is a rapidly growing city where land grab for high-rise buildings is the biggest challenge.

‘Targeted killings’ claimed thousands in recent years, some of them fell prey to land grabbers. Sprawling land of Gujjar Hindu Cremation Ground remains seriously vulnerable.

He smilingly remarks, “The Balochs known to be warriors and even before Pakistan’s creation, we have served the Hindus for decades in Karachi.”

Once Karachi was a Hindu dominated city and most businesses belonged to them.

In creation of Pakistan and modern day India in 1947, most of these Hindus migrated to the Hindu majority cities in Maharashtra state across the newly-carved border.

According to official data, today Karachi is home to over half a million Hindus. Except a few, Hindus mostly are poor and belong so-called lower castes. The poor ones bury their dead, while the rich and upper-caste Hindus cremate their deceased dear ones.

Besides performing a role of traditional pundit (religious leader) in the temple, guarding the land and taking care of other religious rites, Baloch also serves warden for ashes, which were kept in this graveyard.

Hindus burn their dead and preserve the ashes in a cremation ground. Each of 130 earthen pots or plastic jars here is tied with red-and-white cloth, wrapped in flower wreaths and tags carry various identification details in Sindhi, Urdu, Hindi or English language.

The facility is not exclusive to the Hindus as Buddhists, Japanese and Chinese communities also preserve ashes of their dead here.

Ironically, when family members of the deceased wanted to take their ashes to immerse them in holy water of Ganges in India, the Pakistani Hindus were denied such religious rites across the border after 1971.

After India actively patronized Pakistan’s Bengali to break from the country, bitterness soared to the highest point. Both India and Pakistan tightened visa procedures for each other.

Only recently, the Pakistani Hindus won this right from India and ashes Baloch had been guarding for the last 21 year were taken there to immerse in the holy Ganges.

While talking to this correspondent, he was continuously directing some men to keep an eye on the workers, as construction was underway in the cremation ground.

When he was a child, his family lived near the historical cremation ground where people used to spend their evening as there were not many public parks around back then.

As a child, Baloch witnessed several bodies being cremated in the ground.

“I used to wonder why Hindus burn their dead,” his elders used to tell him that it is an important rite of Hindu religion.

He still remembers image of Maharaj Durga Bharati, a Hindu pundit and caretaker of the cremation ground, who used to perform religious rituals during the funerals.

“Bharati was a nice man who distributed candies and toffees among the children and greeted everyone, even Muslims in this Hindu graveyard-cum-cremation,” recalls Baloch.

Nostalgic Baloch says those were good times when nobody discriminated on the basis of religion. People were indentified with their respective profession.

He doesn’t have any problem working here, thus he wants his son Ayaz Baloch to succeed him.

Dr Govind Ram Dheerani, secretary general of Pakistan Hindu Foundation, says, “I am happy to find Baloch as caretaker of the graveyard as only a Muslim can work properly here in a country like Pakistan.”

Though religious extremism is on the rise in Pakistan, since the partition in 1947, inter-communal relations in Sindh remained generally peaceful, and the province has never witnessed any major anti-Hindu violence. Knee-jerk reaction to extremist Hindus’ demolition of Babri Masjid in Indian city of Ayodhya in 1992 is the only incident of its kind.

The Hindus and Muslims of Sindh enjoy a shared cultural heritage besides common Sufi influences.

Though in recent years some of Pakistani Hindus migrated to different countries, but rarely Sindhi Hindus have left the country as majority of Sindhi Hindus still enjoy living in Pakistan.

Pandit Panch has a message for KPs :Return Home, There’s No threat in Valley: Asha Ji

Wussan (Kunzer), May 11: There is a batch of joyous villagers including women sitting in the courtyard to get a glimpse of the lady. Media men are anxiously waiting for her to get an interview. The otherwise silent house has become a centre of buzz, reports Wasim Khalid in Greater Kashmir.

Asha Ji, 52, grabbed spotlight in this tiny hamlet of north Kashmir by becoming first Kashmiri Pandit woman Panch in the ongoing Panchayat polls. Her win was being celebrated by the villagers on Tuesday. And her message was clear- the migrant Pandits should return to Kashmir as there was no security threat or vicious atmosphere as being projected.

“I want the Pandits living outside Valley to return immediately to their homeland,” Asha told Greater Kashmir. “There is no threat as such. I am a living example of that. Our family never left the Valley, neither we were harmed by anybody in the past 20 years. They should come home, not to the camps or colonies set up by the Government.”

She said both Muslim men and women encouraged her to file for the Panch post.
“I was not sure of my win. But it happened. All the votes which were cast in my favour belonged to Muslims,” Asha said. “I have no words to describe my happiness.”

Wusan village lying in the foothills of Pirpanchal range houses 295 families. Ten were Pandit families.
“Five families left,” she said. “However, we along with five others stayed back. The Muslim brethren did not allow all the Pandits out of the village to leave.”

In 1990s life was not easy in Wussan. Crackdowns, raids and violence went on unabated. The top three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commanders- Muhammad Ahsan Dar, Shams-ul-Haq and Ashraf Dar belonged to nearby Kalipora village.

“The Pandits never even got a scratch. Even in last three agitations of 2008, 2009, 2010 we were not touched,” Asha said. “Life was tough, but Muslim brothers and sisters were with us.”

Asha actually belonged to Baderwah area of Jammu and was married to Radhakrishan in 1984. She has two sons, Suresh Kumar Bhat, a police constable, and Ashok Kumar. Apart from doing domestic chores, she works as a peon in a nearby school.

After the news of her becoming Panch came out, the entire village became jubilant. The villagers including women and men gathered at her house to congratulate.

“She is a good woman,” Abdul Qadir, a villager said. “And we wanted to vote for her.”
Asha said she would come to the expectations of the village and help in its progress. “Through Panchayat system many things can be resolved. We have no electricity, water or good roads. We can work in that direction.”

Asha belonged to Ward 5 of Wusan village, but she contested from Ward 4 as it was reserved for woman. Out of 98 votes polled in her Ward, she got 54 votes while her opponent Sarwah Begum got 43. One vote was rejected.
Sarwah Begum, the defeated candidate, however complained that there was bungling in voting.

“Asha belongs to (Agriculture Minister) Ghulam Hassan’s Mir’s party. They in connivance with administration and local polling officers were involved in rigging and bungling,” Begum said. “How is it possible that Ganaie Mohalla which was backing me and has largest number of votes will vote for Asha? I was not allowed to enter polling station but Asha was allowed during voting and as well as during counting. I demand re-polling for the post.”

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Jammu and Kashmir armed struggle expands

Shri VT. Rajsshekar
Bangalore: Look at the big changes.Muslims masses are gradually joining Dalit and OBC parties led by Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Parsad, Sharad Pawar etc. Muslim leadership is dying.

Remember, how Shahabuddin was once called the "Second Jinnah" by the Brahminical media as though Jinnah sahib, the greatest leader, was bad. Remember how some Hindu MPs had shouted "Jai Shri Ram" in Indian Parliament soon after the Babri Masjid demolition. Muslims of the whole country were shocked at this but the Muslim MPs of Kashmir shouted back saying Allaho Akbar.

This was the turning point. Muslims were being slowly driven to the wall. They had no further space to go. Since the Cashmiri Muslims lost all hopes and were forced to turn violent. The got the support of the Muslims from Azad kashmir, Pakistan itself and also from Afghanistan. Each organisation formed its own independent fighting front and launched armed resistance. The J&K Police, Ikhwan  Renegades,  and security forces, all muslims, were forced to fight their own brothers. Then the Indian security forces were sent from Delhi. They also met with fierce resistance. After killing many and getting killed in large numbers, they realised athat those whome they were killing were Dalits and shudra sepoys and jawans, whose brothers inside India were themselves vistims of continuous Hindu atrocities.
About the author: Shri V.T. Rajshekar, its Editor and founder, Dalit Voice, the English fortnightly, has become the country's most powerful "Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied Human Rights".

A veteran journalist, formerly of the Indian Express, powerful and fearless writer, V.T. Rajshekar, had to face the wrath of the ruling class, arrested many times, several jail sentences, passport impounded and subjected to total media boycott.

Published in several Indian languages including Hindi, Dalit Voice has become the sole spokesman for the entire deprived, dehumanised lot of India. Besides the Dalits, it looks after the interests of Backward Castes (35%) and the country's three persecuted religious minorities — Muslims 15%, Christians 2.5%, and Sikhs 2.5% — all victims of the Aryan Brahminical racism. Plus the women of all sections including the Hindu women.

In the course of the last 25 years, DV has become India's largest circulated journal of the oppressed, fighting against mainstream dailies and periodicals which have totally ignored the plight of the original inhabitants. Hence DV is rightly hailed as a new experiment in Indian journalism.

Only DV has diagnosed the disease of India which is an exception to all other countries in the world. If others have only "classes", India has not only the "class" but the world's most unique institution of caste system, which is the other word for racism. Here lies the success of DV. It goes to all world famous libraries, universities and invited many Afro-American delegations to India.

Its Editor is hailed as India's most original thinker, scholar and also philosopher. As India's most famous Dalit writer, he has authored over 60 world-famous books dealing with the problems of caste, ethnicity, Muslims, Christian, Sikhs, Marxism, Brahminism, Racism, Gandhism, Fascism etc.

Over 100 books have been published by the Dalit Sahitya Akademy, its sister organisation, also headed by the Editor.
His book, Dalit - The Black Untouchables of India, published from the USA (Clarity Press, Inc., Suite 469, 3277 - Roswell Rd NE, Atlanta, GA.30305, ISBN 0-932863-05-1 , 2003 - 2nd print), has gone into several reprints uniting for the first time the Blacks of the world with the Black Untouchables of India.

His most important book, Caste — A Nation Within the Nation, which has gone into second print, is a marvellous thesis offering an ingenious weapon of "caste identity" to defeat Brahminism, the destructive ideology of the ruling class. In the latest Parliament election, the oppressed castes of India used this weapon and defeated the country's Brahminical party (BJP).

DV becomes the future media of India where its dailies and periodicals are slowly dying. Because only DV offers a lasting solution as the authentic voice of the country's tallest titan, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Father of India.

Shri V.T. Rajshekar, 
Editor,
Dalit Voice
#101, Shiv Deep Residency, Shivbagh, Kadri, Mangalore- 575 002
Mobile No: 0-776 044 0596
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com


Monday, May 9, 2011

US War on terrorism turned war against Islam and Muslims

Srinagar, May 9: Muslims Worldwide Seething with Anger at West and their own rulers. States Sri Lankan journalist at Islamabad gathering

“The United States led west has unleashed a global crusade against Islam and Muslims under the guise of fighting a war on terrorism” was the theme of a speech by Sri Lankan journalist and author Latheef Farook at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute-IPRI.

Addressing the gathering of researchers and others Latheef Farook explained how this carefully planned and ruthlessly implemented anti Muslim campaign strikes at the very root of the political, economic, religious, social and cultural survival of Muslims worldwide.

He added that “never in the fascinating and inspiring more than 14 century history of Islam has such a vicious campaign been undertaken jointly by the Zionist Jews, regarded as the architects, Evangelical Christians and RSS Hindu extremists.

He explained that this conspiracy, commenced in the aftermath of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1989, was unleashed with all its ferocity following the controversial 9/11 events at the World Trade Centre in New York. Islam was associated with barbarity and evil despite Islam being a religion of peace.

For example, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, all Christian  east bloc countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechhoslavokia, Bulgaria and others were  allowed to go free and join the  European union. However this generosity was not extended to the Central Asian Muslim republics such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kirgizstan.

Instead all these central Asian Muslim republics were quickly brought under the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent states,CIS, to ensure continuous Russian control over them.

In 1991 Chechen Muslims declared independence and Russia unleashed its military might and committed medieval style massacres causing horrific scenes of death and destruction everywhere. The war killed more than 20,000 Chechens and around 100,000 Russian soldiers. Chechen refugees returned home and started to resume normal life when Russia  bombed an apartment building in Moscow in 1999, blamed Chechens and launched its second military strike which virtually emptied Chechnya of its people under its scorched earth policy.Grozny,the Chechen capital,was reduced to a ghost city and the people ended up as refugees in neighboring Ingushetia.

In an April 1992 referendum predominantly Muslim Bosnia Herzegovina declared independence and emerged as a separate state. Responding with extreme violence Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic arrested Bosnian Muslims, detained them in warehouses, starved and tortured them before killing them en masse.This carnage continued uninterrupted for three long years under the watchful eyes of the champions of human rights in Washington. London and Paris where then President Jacques Chirac openly declared that “France will never allow a Muslim entity in Europe”. These atrocities climaxed when Serbs committed the largest ever genocide of about 10,000 Muslims who were under United Nations custody in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica.

The United Nations Security Council imposed arms embargo on the victims, Bosnian Muslims who are as blue eyed as rest of the Europeans while no such embargo was imposed on the perpetrators of the genocide- the Serbs.

In the autonomies Yugoslavian province of Kosovo, where more than 90 percent of the population were Muslims, Serbs committed similar massacres such as in Bosnia.

Somalia with a population of about 4.5 million Muslims descended into anarchy due to the failure of the United Nations. In fact the US wanted to use Somalia as an experimental laboratory for regime change and turned this once peaceful nation into a lawless killing field. It is today a wasteland.

In the December 1991 Parliamentary elections in Algeria the Islamic party, FIS, won with a large majority. However the military backed by most Arab dictators and France, installed a dictator, crushed the peoples’ dream and triggered off a civil war which turned this oil rich peaceful country into yet another killing field.

We also know how US former US President George Bush Senior tricked Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, blackmailed the world and formed a coalition, mobilized the military might of the west, got the UN to legalize military strikes and attacked Iraq, killed innocent Iraqis, destroyed cities and virtually pushed Iraq, as pointed out by former US President Jimmy Carter, into the middle ages. Subsequent US sponsored UN economic sanctions, described by UN officials as genocide, killed more than half a million children alone.

The true purpose of this engineered war was revealed when George Bush Sr said “that Israel is safe in the region and oil flows uninterrupted”.

In India Hindu extremists led by L.K.Advani destroyed the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992 and triggered off violence which killed thousands of Muslims. Ten years later on 27 February 2002 yet another Hindu Saffron terror leader  Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, bombed a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, blamed innocent Muslims under a well organized conspiracy, killed thousands of Muslims, destroyed Muslim owned properties and virtually reduced the Muslims into refugees to languish in camps in appalling conditions.

In the process of this global campaign, the legitimate freedom struggle of Muslims all over such as the Palestinian struggle against brutal Israeli oppression and continuous killings, Indian atrocities in Kashmir and the like have been overlooked while the Western media, an integral part of the Western war machine, continues to demonize Islam and Muslims and mislead the world to justify this evil design.

This campaign climaxed in the aftermath of the 9/11 events in New York in 2001. Within hours, former US President turned warmonger George Bush Junior, together with disgraced former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, accused Al Qaeda of destroying the WTC without any proper inquiry. Exploiting the mood of the country in its wake, Bush blackmailed the shocked and confused world, created a coalition and invaded within 27 days the war battered and impoverished Afghanistan where he slaughtered innocent and poverty stricken Afghans in one of the most barbarous military ventures of its kind in modern history.

Killing innocent  men, women, children and the aged has become common in Afghanistan which continues to bleed to ensure the agendas of neo cons and corporate war mongers.

In an act described by late British playwright and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter as “banditry”   Bush and Blair, illegally invaded Iraq in 2003 and virtually turned this once almost developed country into a waste land. Around 1.4 million innocent Iraqis were killed, hundreds of thousands of innocent men and women were tortured and killed, women indiscriminately raped, infrastructure destroyed and birth, marriage, death, land and vehicle registration offices burnt causing chaos in the society.

Around four million Iraqis who lived in peace were forced into refugee camps in neighboring countries to languish in sub human conditions. More than two million Iraqis were made refugees in their own country.   Shiites and Sunnis were put against each other turning Iraq into a killing field where, with the help of a puppet government, western oil companies started looting the country’s oil wealth while the Iraqis starved.

In Palestine the periodic slaughter of Palestinians continues uninterrupted by the Israelis with the complete backing of the US and Europe.

And now they have turned their attention on Pakistan. These are the champions  of human rights who accuse small countries of human rights violations.

The frightening situation today is such that every Muslim with a beard and a head cap and every Muslim woman with a Hijab have been branded as terrorists and humiliated. The tragedy is that most Muslim countries, ruled by mostly lackeys of   the West, openly and secretly collaborate with these Western crusaders against their own people to ensure their own survival.

Today Muslims worldwide pass through their most critical period in their history. Muslims have been attacked and killed all over under various pretexts. Muslim refugees walking in sheer desperation in search of shelter with their meager belongings have become a common sight worldwide.

Helpless Muslims worldwide are seething with anger at the west and their own rulers. No one knows what would be the outcome. The situation is so frightening that Wolfram Richter, the Economic Professor of the University of Dortmund, has expressed fears that “the next holocaust would be against Muslims”; thus concluded Latheef Farook.

The meeting, followed by a stimulating question and answer session, was chaired by IPRI Chairman Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri.

“The United States led west has unleashed a global crusade against Islam and Muslims under the guise of fighting a war on terrorism” was the theme of a speech by Sri Lankan journalist and author Latheef Farook at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute,IPRI, on Thursday 18 March 2010.

Addressing the gathering of researchers and others Latheef Farook explained how this carefully planned and ruthlessly implemented anti Muslim campaign strikes at the very root of the political, economic, religious, social and cultural survival of Muslims worldwide.

He added that “never in the fascinating and inspiring more than 14 century history of Islam has such a vicious campaign been undertaken jointly by the Zionist Jews, regarded as the architects, Evangelical Christians and RSS Hindu extremists.

He explained that this conspiracy, commenced in the aftermath of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1989, was unleashed with all its ferocity following the controversial 9/11 events at the World Trade Centre in New York. Islam was associated with barbarity and evil despite Islam being a religion of peace.

For example, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, all Christian  east bloc countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechhoslavokia, Bulgaria and others were  allowed to go free and join the  European union. However this generosity was not extended to the Central Asian Muslim republics such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kirgizstan.

Instead all these central Asian Muslim republics were quickly brought under the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent states,CIS, to ensure continuous Russian control over them.

In 1991 Chechen Muslims declared independence and Russia unleashed its military might and committed medieval style massacres causing horrific scenes of death and destruction everywhere. The war killed more than 20,000 Chechens and around 100,000 Russian soldiers. Chechen refugees returned home and started to resume normal life when Russia  bombed an apartment building in Moscow in 1999, blamed Chechens and launched its second military strike which virtually emptied Chechnya of its people under its scorched earth policy.Grozny,the Chechen capital,was reduced to a ghost city and the people ended up as refugees in neighboring Ingushetia.

In an April 1992 referendum predominantly Muslim Bosnia Herzegovina declared independence and emerged as a separate state. Responding with extreme violence Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic arrested Bosnian Muslims, detained them in warehouses, starved and tortured them before killing them en masse.This carnage continued uninterrupted for three long years under the watchful eyes of the champions of human rights in Washington. London and Paris where then President Jacques Chirac openly declared that “France will never allow a Muslim entity in Europe”. These atrocities climaxed when Serbs committed the largest ever genocide of about 10,000 Muslims who were under United Nations custody in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica.

The United Nations Security Council imposed arms embargo on the victims, Bosnian Muslims who are as blue eyed as rest of the Europeans while no such embargo was imposed on the perpetrators of the genocide- the Serbs. In the autonomies Yugoslavian province of Kosovo, where more than 90 percent of the population were Muslims, Serbs committed similar massacres such as in Bosnia.

Somalia with a population of about 4.5 million Muslims descended into anarchy due to the failure of the United Nations. In fact the US wanted to use Somalia as an experimental laboratory for regime change and turned this once peaceful nation into a lawless killing field. It is today a wasteland.

In the December 1991 Parliamentary elections in Algeria the Islamic party, FIS, won with a large majority. However the military backed by most Arab dictators and France, installed a dictator, crushed the peoples’ dream and triggered off a civil war which turned this oil rich peaceful country into yet another killing field.

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We also know how US President George Bush Senior tricked Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, blackmailed the world and formed a coalition, mobilized the military might of the west, got the UN to legalize military strikes and attacked Iraq, killed innocent Iraqis, destroyed cities and virtually pushed Iraq, as pointed out by former US President Jimmy Carter, into the middle ages. Subsequent US sponsored UN economic sanctions, described by UN officials as genocide, killed more than half a million children alone. The true purpose of this engineered war was revealed when George Bush Sr said “that Israel is safe in the region and oil flows uninterrupted”.

In India Hindu extremists led by L.K.Advani destroyed the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992 and triggered off violence which killed thousands of Muslims. Ten years later on 27 February 2002 yet another Hindu extremist Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, bombed a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, blamed innocent Muslims under a well organized conspiracy, killed thousands of Muslims, destroyed Muslim owned properties and virtually reduced the Muslims into refugees to languish in camps in appalling conditions.

In the process of this global campaign, the legitimate freedom struggle of Muslims all over such as the Palestinian struggle against brutal Israeli oppression and continuous killings, Indian atrocities in Kashmir and the like have been overlooked while the Western media, an integral part of the Western war machine, continues to demonize Islam and Muslims and mislead the world to justify this evil design.

This campaign climaxed in the aftermath of the 9/11 events in New York in 2001. Within hours, former US President turned warmonger George Bush Junior, together with disgraced former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, accused Al Qaeda of destroying the WTC without any proper inquiry. Exploiting the mood of the country in its wake, Bush blackmailed the shocked and confused world, created a coalition and invaded within 27 days the war battered and impoverished Afghanistan where he slaughtered innocent and poverty stricken Afghans in one of the most barbarous military ventures of its kind in modern history.
Killing innocent  men, women, children and the aged has become common in Afghanistan which continues to bleed to ensure the agendas of neo cons and corporate war mongers.

In an act described by late British playwright and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter as “banditry”   Bush and Blair, illegally invaded Iraq in 2003 and virtually turned this once almost developed country into a waste land. Around 1.4 million innocent Iraqis were killed, hundreds of thousands of innocent men and women were tortured and killed, women indiscriminately raped, infrastructure destroyed and birth, marriage, death, land and vehicle registration offices burnt causing chaos in the society.

Around four million Iraqis who lived in peace were forced into refugee camps in neighboring countries to languish in sub human conditions. More than two million Iraqis were made refugees in their own country.   Shiites and Sunnis were put against each other turning Iraq into a killing field where, with the help of a puppet government, western oil companies started looting the country’s oil wealth while the Iraqis starved.

In Palestine the periodic slaughter of Palestinians continues uninterrupted by the Israelis with the complete backing of the US and Europe.

And now they have turned their attention on Pakistan. These are the champions  of human rights who accuse small countries of human rights violations.

The frightening situation today is such that every Muslim with a beard and a head cap and every Muslim woman with a Hijab have been branded as terrorists and humiliated. The tragedy is that most Muslim countries, ruled by mostly lackeys of   the West, openly and secretly collaborate with these Western crusaders against their own people to ensure their own survival.

Today Muslims worldwide pass through their most critical period in their history. Muslims have been attacked and killed all over under various pretexts. Muslim refugees walking in sheer desperation in search of shelter with their meager belongings have become a common sight worldwide.

Helpless Muslims worldwide are seething with anger at the west and their own rulers. No one knows what would be the outcome. The situation is so frightening that Wolfram Richter, the Economic Professor of the University of Dortmund, has expressed fears that “the next holocaust would be against Muslims”; thus concluded Latheef Farook.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Osama saw India as enemy, wanted to join jihad in Kashmir

US  UMAV attackes in Pakistan/Afghanistan
Srinagar, May 8 :  While India was spared of any attack directly masterminded, or even aided by Osama himself, it did find mention in his messages suggesting that the jehadi ideologue looked upon India as an enemy and a potential target. The alliance between al-Qaida and Kashmiri freedom fighters, India's main threat, suggests that Osama had evolved into more than being just an inspirational figure for several Kashmiri freedom fighter groups targeting India.

The links between anti-India  groups and Osama's jihadis have been known at least since 1998 when members of  Harkat-ul-Ansar, AL-Jehad, Hizb, Jamiata  fighter group focused on Kashmir, training alongside al-Qaida members in Afghanistan were killed in a US missile attack. In fact, the very first reference to India by Osama came in May 1998 when he said in a press conference at Khost in Afghanistan that he would love to join the jihad in Kashmir if the Pakistani authorities allowed him. Osama's answer came in response to a question from a Pakistani journalist. In the same conference, he announced the formation of International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the US and Israel.

Pakistan's ISI Chief personally threatens CIA Islamabad station chief Mark Carlton during a meeting last night: "We will declare we are out of your war on terror and ask you to move all your assets out of from Pakistan, CIA is penetrating Pakistan government"

TX INTEL : Pakistan's ISI Chief personally threatens CIA Islamabad station chief Mark Carlton during a meeting last night: "We will declare we are out of your war on terror and ask you to move all your assets out of from Pakistan, CIA is penetrating Pakistan government"

China sees a role amid Pakistan-U.S. rift : China for global support to Pakistan

BEIJING, May 8: Renewed strains in relations between Pakistan and the United States following last week's killing of Osama bin Laden have been seen in China as opening the door for closer engagement with Islamabad, reports The Hindu.

According to officials and analysts here, China is keen to further tighten its already close relationship with its long-term strategic ally, driven by the view that the country is going to play a crucial, even defining, role in Afghanistan, amid declining U.S. influence there.

With the expected withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan from July, coupled with widely-held perceptions that the death of the al-

Qaeda leader will inevitably see a toning down of the so-called “war on terror”, officials and analysts here see Pakistan as providing a crucial foothold for China in the region. Even if the U.S. decides to scale back assistance to Pakistan, they said, China would be prepared to step up financial and economic assistance to back its strategic ally.

“We see that Pakistan is going to play a very important role in Afghanistan, going forward,” said Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. “If Pakistan does not cooperate with the Afghan government, or with the U.S. for that matter, a political solution is not going to be achieved,” he told The Hindu.

Even before bin Laden's death, U.S. media reports claimed that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had called on Afghan officials to engage with China more, with increasing criticism of U.S.-led efforts for a military solution. Now, while Chinese officials publicly say they expect the U.S. and Pakistan to tide over current differences, they are also growing increasingly critical of Washington's pressure on Islamabad.

“Cooperation between the United States intelligence and Pakistan has often led to a lot of disputes over the last couple of years,” said Mr. Zhao. “The U.S. accuses Pakistan of taking irresponsible actions, and not fully devoting itself to the U.S. campaign against terror.”

In recent days, Chinese officials have made clear they are fully backing Pakistan amid its differences with Washington, rejecting criticism from the West — and India — of its failure to crack down on terrorist groups operating on its soil.

While other Chinese analysts have downplayed the current strains between Pakistan and the U.S., they have also pointed to the contrasting solidity of Sino-Pakistan ties. “I don't think Pakistan-U.S. relations will be troubled so much,” said Hu Shisheng, a South Asia scholar at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). “The Americans still need Pakistan, for regional stabilisation and counterterrorism.”

But China, he said, did not carry suspicions about the Pakistani military. “We believe fully the Pakistani military's positions,” he said. “But what the Americans believe is a different question altogether.”

List of research based books, reports & booklets available

The Psychopathic Criminal Enterprise Called America
Finian Cunningham (USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

No Violations of Air Space. "If ordered, the PAF can shoot down the US drones"
Pakistan Air Force
Contact : pafdpr@paf.gov.pk




"The President Who Became an Actor": And This Year’s Oscar Goes To… Barack Obama
Finian Cunningham (USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

Osama and the Ghosts of September 11: "Proof that Obama is Lying"
Michael C. Ruppert -, USA
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

War and the Global Economic Crisis: Collapse of the American Standard of Living
Bob Chapman, USA
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

America: "The beautiful" or "The mother-in-law with the booming voice"?
Mike Whitney (USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

Why Does America Go to War?
Prof Michel Chossudovsky (USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

West losing war on Muslims
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Muslim failure to embrace Dalits
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

How America got defeated in "war on terror"
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Jews & Jews if India are brothers
Mleccha (USA)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

HINDU SERPENT versus Muslim mongoose
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Dalits and Muslims AS  Blood BROTHERS
Dr.B. R. Ambdkar's Praise forr Islam
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

What is wrong with Muslims
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

London 7/7 Bombing: Islamist Who Trained Was US Informant
Shiv Malik (India)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

Hindu mind vs. Muslim mind
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Libearyion from Brahminism
Joseph D' Souza (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Looting Social Security To Wage War
Sherwood Ross (USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

Drone missile attacks conducted by the CIA killed in the neighborhood of 1,000 people in Pakistan since  last 4 years
Sheikh GULZAAR (Kashmir)
Address: Writer-South Asia, POB: 667 GPO Srinagar SGR JK 190001 (Via New Delhi-India)
Ph: 01933-223705, 09858986794
e-mail: writerasia@in.com
home: http://writerasia.blogspot.com

Horrors if Hinduism
Dr. D.A. Master (UK)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

The Destabilization of Pakistan
Shiv Shankar (India)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

"Jews of India" getting closer to Jews
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Brahminism in India & zionisim in West
V.T. Rajshekar (India)
Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

New War Rumors: U.S. Plans To Seize Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal
Rick Rozoff , USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

Shifting the "War on Terror" to Pakistan: The Real Target is Pakistan’s Nuclear Potential
A R Jerral  (Canada)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

U.S. And NATO To Wage 15-Year War In Afghanistan And Pakistan
Rick Rozoff (USA)
Contact: http://www.globalresearch.ca

For more details:-
Mr. V.T. Rajshekar, 
Editor, 
Dalit Voice, No.101-Shiv-Deep Residency, shivbagh, Kadri, Mangalore- 575 002
Karnataka, India

Web : http://www.dalitvoice.org
e-mail: dalitvoice@rediffmail.com

Indian attack will trigger nuclear standoff : (CIA) can’t achieve success in war against terror without ISI’s support. Pakistan

Lahore, May 8: Pakistan has told United States that any surgical operation carried by India on the pattern of Abbotabad operation will lead to nuclear stand-off between the two countries.

Pakistan’s leading newspaper, The Nation quoted sources as having revealed that the top hierarchy in the country’s establishment has straightforwardly told the United States to “inculcate into the minds of Indians” that any type of misadventure could lead to an all out nuclear standoff between the two South Asian neighbours.


“The US violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty has set a very dangerous precedence, which hostile powers and particularly India can try to follow the same pattern. India needs to understand that such a transgression will be treated as an act of war by Pakistan,” sources said.


They said US needs to ensure that India gets this message loud and clear and doesn’t embark on an misadventure, which may plunge the region into a nuclear standoff’.


Another official, requesting anonymity, said that the US victory was made possible only due to the support of the ISI, the country’s premier intelligence agency.


He also made it clear that major victories against al Qaeda have been made possible only due to the efforts of the ISI and any future successes could only be achieved if there is a ‘close and meaningful cooperation’ between CIA and ISI.


‘They (CIA) can’t achieve success in war against terror without ISI’s support. Failure to unearth Osama’s presence at Abbottabad should not be allowed to tarnish a sterling performance by the ISI in the past nor be made a measure of its performance in the future’, a senior Defence Ministry official involved in counter-terrorism planning in post Osama scenario said.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Kashmir: Funeral prayers in absentia for Sheikh Osama

SRINAGAR, May 7: Large number of people offered funeral prayers in absentia (Gaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza) for Osama bin laden at  a number of places in Kashmir valley after Friday prayers today, reports Kashmir Times (6/5)

The appeal for the prayers was made by Syed Ali Shah Geelani chairman Hurriyat Conference (G) yesterday. He himself participated in the Gaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza at Batamaloo in which large number of people participated.

Senior Hurriyat (M) leader and president of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah also joined the Gaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza of Osama  at Saraibala Srinagar.

Reports of offering prayers in absentia were also received from other parts of Srinagar city including Samandar Bagh,, Nowhatta, Shalimar, High Court Complex, Iqbal Park areas. The prayers were also offered at Sopore, Anantnag, Kulgam, Bandipora Shopian and Baramulla.

Addressing people in Batamaloo, Geelani said that Osama achieved martyrdom while fighting against the tyranny of American and its allied countries.

“Osama bin Laden left his entire wealth and joined the Jihad against the policies of America and its allied countries as they started killing Muslims in the world. He (Osama) did not tolerate the American terrorism and started fighting against it. He (Osama) and his supporters are well wisher of the Muslim world and it is the responsibility of the Muslim world to respect his martyrdom,” he said.

The Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman also said that burying the body of Al-Qaeda leader in sea has exposed the real designs of the Americans and its allied countries against the Muslims.

“Throwing a body of a Muslim in sea under mysterious circumstances is against the Muslim values. These kinds of actions will only increase hatred towards America among Muslims and it will intensify resistance against that country,” he said.

Describing Muslims as the peace loving people in the entire world, the Hurriyat (G) chairman said, “Every Muslim loves peace, every Muslim wants prosperity but if they fight against the tyranny of government atrocities they should not be called as terrorists  From Palestine to Kashmir, from Iraq to Afghanistan, people are fighting against polices of the government and foreign aggression. The struggle of Muslim in these countries and other parties of the world will succeed one day as the entire Muslim world is supporting their cause,” he said.

Geelani maintained that Osama was representing right thinking which opposes the foreign occupational forces and gave up his life of comfort to fight for their cause of ending foreign occupation. Earlier, Geelani was placed under house arrest and later released.

The Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) leader Shabir Ahmad Shah after joining the Gaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza of Osama at Saraibala addressed the people and  said he was one among richest man in the world.

“He (Osama) left his wealth and joined the jihad against those countries, who had started terrorism against the Muslim. His mission was to end foreign occupation of America in entire world. The policies of America and its allied countries are being criticized all around the world as is being treated as anti Muslim. One day the supreme sacrifice of Osama will achieve the result and foreign occupation will end,” he said.

Shah also said that Osama was the well wisher of the people of Kashmir and people of Kashmir will remember his sacrifices for ever.

Later, after the Gaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza  anti- America demonstrations were held at various places. The protesters later dispersed peacefully, however, stone pelting started in Batamaloo area after the demonstration.  Cops resorted to lathi-charge.

The Assassination of Sheikh Osama bin Laden

Whose gain, whose loss?
THE MISSION OSAMA
BUT THE BIGGER QUESTION IS THIS. WAS OSAMA WORTH TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS US SPENT ON TRACKING HIM DOWN AND THOUSANDS OF INNOCENTS KILLED IN THE PROCESS, reports SHOAIB SHAH

Obama announces Osama dead. Congratulations America, Congratulations Obama. You have done it. Good Job. And here does the American and others celebrate the death for most of the people of the world this day marks as an end of the terrorist activities to a very significant level. All accepted, but do we realize what Americans have lost and what exactly they have gained. The US president applauded his team who were involved in the killing of Osama Bin Ladin but here should we not understand that Osama was just an ordinary man, an individual whom the US itself projected as the world’s most wanted and the number one threat to the American race inspite of the fact that no concrete proof was established for his involvement of the September 11 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Opinion Research Business published an update to the survey on 28 January 2008, indicating the death figures in Iraq Conflict crossing 1,033,000 and an estimated cost of three Trillion Dollars. The result of the three Trillion dollar war is just a mere assassination of an individual called Osama. Was Osama’s life worth killing millions of innocents and spending trillions of dollars? Similar persons who are involved in the killing of innocents through fake encounters wander freely here in the Kashmir and they are no other than the top officers of the Indian army and paramilitary persons, whom the government have given medals and mementos for the killings and when the government acquire the proof for their involvement in the innocent killings, the officials are either retired as top brass commanders and majors enjoying a luxurious life in some foreign country or are either dead. No doubt that these officials are not involved in such huge magnitude of slaughter as that of the Sep 11 2001 massacre but Islam says if a person kills even a single innocent; it amounts as to the murder of the entire mankind.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 resulted in 2,996 deaths, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims. To seek revenge, the US adminstration started tracing Osama and ultimately started a massacre by entering into war with Afghanistan and Iraq. Every conscious human might be aware of the fact that when the US entered into the war, the super power had not known its trajectory before they launched the attack. The Iraq War, referred to as the Second Gulf War, a military campaign began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States under the administration of President George W. Bush and the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Tony Blair and till this date there seems to be no end to it. The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) got access by Iraq under provisions of the UN resolution but found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that the US had claimed to be in procession of the Iraq. Notwithstanding the verification, ultimately US entered in war with Iraq and killing innocents under the cover of tracing the WMD, which till date the US has failed to locate any. Accusing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, with no evidence of a meaningful connection resulted in the most inhuman act of violence and terrorism, when lacs of innocent, including Saddam Hussain and family got killed ruthlessly. This is how the US refers to their efforts of protecting innocent lives. Finally Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for combat forces, but with approximately 50,000 troops remaining in the country on the pretext of advising and training Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance after claiming that the security and economic indicators had began to show signs of improvement, again a mere statement that till date has not been achieved. Instead of the stiff opposition to the initiation of the war with Iraq, the US and the NATO country officials ignored the call and start the bloody massacre. Not contended with the bloody massacre the US simultaneously started yet another fresh brutal carnage of the innocents by the infliction of the war in Afghanistan in an effort to dismantle Al-Qaida and the end to the Taliban Regime. The George W. Bush administration dared to state that, as policy, it would not distinguish between terrorist organizations and nations or governments that harbor them, thereby giving his uniformed men open access to start homicide of the innocent poor illiterate public of the Afghanistan. The war inflicted on poor helpless Afghans rendered thousands homeless, in addition to the hundreds and thousands of people being slaughtered at the hands of the force. Not contended, Barack Obama announced in dec 2009 a deployment of an additional 30,000 soldiers over a period of six months apparently, I guess in order to complete the massacre that the former US president had given birth to.  He also set a withdrawal date for the year 2014, envisaging that the Afghan race would have been erased out by then thereby safeguarding the people of America. An estimated cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as per the Center for Defense Information is tabled below.

Spending such a huge amount of dollars on arms and armies is purely inherently undesirable and unwarranted. Even if it seems necessary, it constitutes a misappropriation of already scarce resources. America has been diverting social capital from productive to destructive purposes, war and the preparation for war deplete, rather than enhancing its strength. Assertion of military necessity might camouflage the costs entailed, but the US can never negate them altogether. The amount that the US had spend on these wars could have been utilized in a constructive purpose rather than destructing the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. Every artillery or firearm that is made, every warship launched, every missile fired signifies, in the concluding sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed and as such any nation that diverts its treasure into the purchase of weaponry is ultimately spending more than mere money. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, and the dreams of its children. As a matter of fact, the cost of one modern heavy bomber equals to that of constructing a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. For a single destroyer that the US fires, it spends more money than that could have constructed new homes catering more than 8,000 people. Americans face a sustained period of 10% unemployment nationwide, and still the US administration wasted $100 billion and probably more on an un-winnable war. Can Obama afford to spend on building more prisons and bases, or occupy another country by bombarding Libya or Syria. Rather should it focus on investing in America’s future? Inspite of all these facts, the US admin thinks that getting Osama was its priority and a hurdle in the achievement of a peaceful America.

In addition, there have been other incalculable costs: the death and trauma of U.S. soldiers and Afghan civilians and similar hidden costs. The costs are too high, and the mission had never been clear enough. Senior security personals of America, who have served for their country and spend sufficient time in these countries, believe that they (Al-Qaida) have only a few people in Afghanistan. A recent assessment on veteran suicide rates demonstrated that for the second year in a row, the U.S. military lost more troops to suicide in 2010 than it did to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The services reported 468 suicides by personnel on duty in 2010 which exceeds the total number of personnel lost in combat (462). These statistics do not only draw attention to the alarming inflating rates of suicides in the military, they demonstrate something more and Obama should have the answer for them. He thinks he has given America something to celebrate, but in real sense he has brought a huge loss to his own people.
Author can be reached at : shoaibshah19@gmail.com

Friday, May 6, 2011

The Lowdown on Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo plant available at: http://jkmpic.blogspot.com

This popular herbal supplement may slightly improve your memory, but you can get the same effect by eating a candy bar.

The ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) is remarkable in many ways. Although indigenous to Korea, China and Japan, Kashmir, Pakistan the tree can be found in parks and along city sidewalks around the world. It may grow as high as 40 meters and live for more than 1,000 years. Ginkgo fossils have been dated as far back as 250 million years ago, and Charles Darwin referred to the tree as "a living fossil."Nowadays, however, the ginkgo's primary claim to fame is the extract obtained from its fan-shaped leaves.

The use of ginkgo leaf extracts can be traced back for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine. Today ginkgo biloba is perhaps the most widely used herbal treatment aimed at augmenting cognitive functions--that is, improving memory, learning, alertness, mood and so on. Ginkgo is especially popular in Europe; officials in Germany recently approved the extract for treating dementia. In the U.S. the National Institute on Aging is currently supporting a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of ginkgo in treating the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

Osama bin Laden DEAD: The one time that he mentioned Kashmir

Srinagar, May 6: Though no attack on India has been directly tracked back to Osama bin Laden, the motley group of Al-Jehad everywhere who united under the Al-Qaeda umbrella might have supported terror attacks on Indian soil.

Even though the dreaded self-proclaimed holy warrior only once mentioned India in his televised addresses, he was regarded a credible threat to the country, as a terrorist with the means to galvanise and support various groups working against the state.

In a statement aired by Al Jazeera on April 23, 2006, bin Laden spoke of India and Kashmir for the first time directly and claimed there was a Zionist-Hindu conspiracy against Muslims.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

UAE issues stapled visa to Kashmir residents

Srinagar, 05 May:The United Arab Emirates has begun issuing "stapled visas" to Kashmir  residents, including its "Prime Minister" Sardar Attique Ahmed, a media report said on Thursday.

The practice of issuing "stapled visas" is new and previously visas were stamped as usual on the passports, the Pakistan Observer newspaper reported on Thursday.

PaK "Prime Minister" Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, who holds a Pakistani diplomatic passport, was issued a stapled visit visa by the UAE Embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday, the report said.

China had sparked a diplomatic row with India last year by issuing stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

Geelani asks people to offer funeral prayers in absentia for Osama bin Laden

Srinagar, 5 May: Chairman of Kashmir based Hurriyat Conference-APHC  has urged Imams and people to hold funeral prayers in absentia for Sheikh Osama bin Laden after Friday prayers tomorrow afternoon, a APHC spokesman said in a statement.
 
Meanwhile, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant outfit has paid rich tributes to its slain commanders including Gazi Naseeb-ud-Din on their anniversaries. In and emailed statement a spokesman of Hizb said, “An obituary meeting of Hizb Command Council was held in Muzafferabad under the chairmanship of Syed Salah-ud Din where glowing tributes were paid to Gazi Naseeb-ud-Din, Engineer Firdous Kirmani, Commander Manzoor Khan alias MK and Abdul Majeed Wani alias Gazi Illyas on their 14 martyrdom anniversary.”
 
The Hizb commanders were killed allegedly in custody after their arrest on March 6, 1997. “The commanders were martyred in custody after they refused to divulge secrets of the organization. They were given third degree torture,” he alleged.

A Canadian newspaper, which reported the Hizb link to the house, said Pakistan was hushing up the issue of ownership of the place.

Quoting an unnamed police source in Pakistan, Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail reported that the mansion where bin Laden lived belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen. "But the authorities have asked us not to share any information about the exact ownership," the paper said.

Land-registry officials in Abbottabad were summoned to a meeting on Tuesday and urged to keep quiet. "They are being instructed not to say anything about the land-ownership issue."

American officials have described the owners as 'brothers', and neighbours recalled seeing a pair of men, possibly ethnic Pashtuns from the rugged western frontier, who largely kept to themselves. Their names were reported in the local media as Bada Khan and Chota Khan.

A Pakistani official said the mystery surrounding the two men has deepened with the discovery that their national identity cards were fake. Demands grew louder on Tuesday for an investigation that would determine what support bin Laden received inside Pakistan.

Hizb, the biggest Cashmerian group in J&K, has a large local component of young Cashmiris. It was formed in 1990, at the initiative of the  Jamaat-e-Islami by merging nearly a dozen small  organisations of J&K and Pakistan-administered Kashmir-PAK. The outfit headed by Syed Salahuddin has several camps across the LOC in PK.

If the ownership is traced to Hizbul Mujahideen, it would mark an unusual example of co-operation between the militant group and its more extreme cousin, Al-Qaeda, the report said. HM has maintained a narrow focus on removing Indian forces from Kashmir, while al-Qaeda pursues global ambitions.

"This is the first time I've heard of links between Hizbul Mujahedeen and Osama, but its members would probably admire him," Stratfor's South Asia regional director Kamran Bokhari said.

Like other groups fighting Indian troops in the borderlands, HM's membership has never been rounded up by Pakistani forces, said the report, noting that some analysts say that Islamabad covertly supports the group.

Pakistan has denied any collusion with Cashmerian groups, saying that its leading intelligence service had been sharing information with US counterparts since 2009 about the compound where bin Laden was found.

Still, in the wake of the raid, Islamabad scrambled to ensure that precise ownership of the compound would not become public knowledge, and any link to HM would deepen Pakistan's embarrassment over bin Laden's death.

According to media reports, Hizbul Mujahideen, a cashmirian active in disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, owns the mansion that sheltered Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

Osama Bin Laden in Kashmir

Kashmiri Hindu militant Manoj Kumar who now are in jail, Kashmir, India

Srinagar, May 5: Asharq Al-Awsat - A Hindu militant commander from Hizbul Mujahideen and another militant were killed in the early hours of  Thursday morning during clashes with Indian security forces in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kuldeep Sharma, otherwise known as KK or Kamran was killed in the Kulhand area when security forces raided his hideout in Khilandi village after a receiving a tip-off.

Mr. Sharma, an active militant since 1988, has been involved in the killings of several Indian security personnel.

Last August, 26-year-old Uttam Singh, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander was killed in Tharolan, a remote village in Doda. Singh alias Sayfullah became a militant six years prior to his death and was originally a member of the anti-insurgency village defense committee but was eventually pulled into Hizbul Mujahideen.

According to former Jammu and Kashmir police chief, Gopal Sharma, the police have identified several Hindu militants as part of Hizbul Mujahideen.

In 2000, Indian security forces for the first time had killed a Hindu militant called Kuldeep Singh as well as other seven others. His elder brother Randeep Singh is still a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen.

In 2001, Bharat Kumar was arrested in Jammu City in possession of arms and ammunition. He had received military training for four years in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In November 2004, a Hindu militant from AL-Jehad, Manoj Kumar Manhas was amongst the 47 militants who as reported  arrested by the Indian army. Manoj Kumar, 20, had revealed that he had been introduced to Kashmir freedom movement by his cousin, Baldev Singh, also a Hindu, who is still on the run.

Sr. Police officer stated that Hindus are involved in militancy for money and power, just like Muslim militants. "There is no more jihad and now local youth irrespective of their religious affiliations are turning to guns as it is an easy way to get money and women. Unemployment and poverty especially in remote areas are catalysts for involvement of the Hindu youth in militancy," he said.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea as a “barbarous and evil act” Lashkar-e-Taiba

Srinagar, May 4: While Islamic scholars worldwide condemned the burial at sea given to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh seemed to be criticising the US over the action.

Muslim clerics on Tuesday said that Osama bin Laden's burial at sea was a violation of Islamic traditions that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.

A wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Makkah. Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship.

 "The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don't think this is in the interest of the US administration," said Omar Bakri Muhammad, a radical cleric in Lebanon.

The Lebanese cleric called it a "strategic mistake" that was bound to stoke rage. In Washington, CIA Director Leon Panetta warned that "terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge" the killing of the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.

"Bin Laden is dead," Panetta wrote in a memo to CIA staff. "Al-Qaeda is not." According to Islamic teachings, the highest honor to be bestowed on the dead is giving the deceased a swift burial, preferably before sunset. Those who die while travelling at sea can have their bodies committed to the bottom of the ocean if they are far off the coast, according to Islamic tradition.

"They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam," Muhammad al-Qubaisi, Dubai's grand mufti, said about bin Laden's burial. "If the family does not want him, it's really simple in Islam: You dig up a grave anywhere, even on a remote island, you say the prayers and that's it."

"Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances," he added. "This is not one of them."

Geelani Tuesday paid tributes to the slain Al-Qaeda founder for standing up against “oppression and injustice”.

“This cowardly act has no moral or legal justification. Burying the enemy according to his or her religion and with due respect is an accepted custom in every civilized society, but it (Osama’s burial at sea) has revealed the extent of moral degradation to which a person or State can stoop to under the intoxication of power,” said Geelani.

In an apparent reference to United States, he said the self-proclaimed champions of human rights and democracy have brought shame to the entire humanity through this “barbarous and evil act”.

“This contemptuous treatment of dead bodies is a reminder of Stone Age and a so-called superpower has put question mark over its civilization and moral traditions,” the veteran leader said.

Geelani described Mr. Sheikh Osama as a “brave man who didn’t act as mute spectator to oppression and injustice even though one could disagree with his methods”.

“When he was young, Osama saw how Muslims across the globe were being subjected to oppression and how Muslims from Palestine to Kashmir had been enslaved. The path Osama chose for himself needs to be understood in this context. He didn’t give up a life of wealth and comfort for the sake of some hobby. He saw Muslim women, children and men drenched in blood from Kashmir to Iraq and reacted to state-sponsored terrorism.”

Geelani said the resistance against foreign occupation was a natural reaction and if any powerful nation like America, Israel, Britain or India occupied other nations and killed innocent civilians, the reaction would be no different.

“As long as the foreign occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir continues, resistance would surface in different forms and manifestations, and until the foreign powers recall their forces back from these regions and adopt the policy of live and let live, we cannot realize the dream of making the world a peaceful place,” he said.

During prayers on Monday, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, paid tribute to bin Laden, stating that, "Osama bin Laden was a great person who awakened the Muslim world. Martyrdoms are not losses, but are a matter of pride for Muslims. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has rendered great sacrifices for Islam and Muslims, and these will always be remembered." Meanwhile, hundreds of citizens in Quetta protested in the streets on Monday against the killing of the al Qaeda leader. The demonstrations were led by members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and federal lawmaker Maulvi Asmatullah. Organizers estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 people participated in the rally, however, witnesses projected that thousands  were in attendance. Dawn reports that a U.S. flag was set on fire and the participants chanted “death to America.

Pakistan criticizes US raid on Osama bin Laden

By NAHAL TOOSI and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan criticized the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden as an "unauthorized unilateral action," laying bare the strains the operation has put on an already rocky alliance.

U.S. legislators along with the leaders of Britain and France questioned how the Pakistani government could not have known the al-Qaida leader was living in a garrison town less than a two-hour drive from the capital and had apparently lived there for years.

"I find it hard to believe that the presence of a person or individual such as bin Laden in a large compound in a relatively small town ... could go completely unnoticed," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters in Paris.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also demanded that Pakistani leaders explain how bin Laden had lived undetected in Abbottabad. But in a nod to the complexities of dealing with a nuclear-armed, unstable country that is crucial to success in the war in Afghanistan, Cameron said having "a massive row" with Islamabad over the issue would not be in Britain's interest.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. is committed to cooperating with Pakistan.

"We don't know who if anybody in the government was aware that bin Laden or a high-value target was living in the compound. It's logical to assume he had a supporting network. What constituted that network remains to be seen," Carney said.

"It's a big country and a big government and we have to be very focused and careful about how we do this because it is an important relationship."

A day after U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaida leader following a 10-year manhunt, new details emerged Tuesday from Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency and bin Laden's neighbors in Abbottabad.

Residents said they sensed something was odd about the walled three-story house, even though bin Laden and his family rarely ventured outside and most neighbors were not aware that foreigners were living there.
"That house was obviously a suspicious one," said Jahangir Khan, who was buying a newspaper in Abbottabad. "Either it was a complete failure of our intelligence agencies or they were involved in this affair."
Neighbors said two men would routinely emerge from the compound to run errands or occasionally attend a neighborhood gathering, such as a funeral. Both"men were tall, fair skinned and bearded.

"People were skeptical in this neighborhood about this place and these guys," said Mashood Khan, a 45-year-old farmer. "They used to gossip, say they were smugglers or drug dealers. People would complain that even with such a big house they didn't invite the poor or distribute charity."

U.S. officials have suggested Pakistani officials may have known where bin Laden was living and members of Congress have seized on those suspicions to call for the U.S. to consider cutting billions of aid to Pakistan if it turns out to be true.

Western officials have long regarded Pakistani security forces with suspicion, especially when it comes to links with militants fighting in Afghanistan. Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly said she suspected that some members of Pakistan's government knew where bin Laden was hiding.

However, within Pakistan criticism has been focused on the U.S. breaching the country's sovereignty. The Obama administration has said it did not inform the Pakistanis in advance of the operation against bin Laden, for fear they would tip off the targets.

A strongly worded Pakistani government statement warned the U.S. not to launch similar operations in the future. It rejected suggestions that officials knew where bin Laden was.

Still, there were other revelations that pointed to prior knowledge that the compound was linked to al-Qaida.
Pakistani intelligence agencies hunting for a top al-Qaida operative raided the house in 2003, according to a senior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the spy agency's policy.

The house was just being built at the time of the raid by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, and Abu Faraj al-Libi, al-Qaida's No. 3, was not there, said the officer.

U.S. officials have said al-Libi once lived in the house and that information from him played a role in tracking the al-Qaida chief down. Al-Libi was arrested by Pakistani police after a shootouô in 2005 and he was later handed over to U.S. authorities.

The Pakistani officer said he didn't know why bin Laden would choose a house that already had been compromised.

He also insisted the ISI would have captured bin Laden if it had known he was there, and pushed back at international criticism of the agency.

"Look at our track record given the issues we have faced, the lack of funds. We have killed or captured hundreds" of extremists), said the officer. "All of a sudden one failure makes us incompetent and 10 years of effort is overlooked."

Al-Qaida has been responsible for score of bloody attacks inside Pakistan, so on the face of it would seem strange for Islamabad to be sheltering bin Laden. Critics of Pakistan say that by keeping him on the run, Islamabad was ensuring that U.S. aid and weapons to the country kept flowing.

The Pakistani government said that since 2009 the ISI has shared information about the compound with the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies, and that intelligence indicating foreigners were in the Abbottabad area continued until mid-April.

In an essay published Tuesday by The Washington Post, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denied suggestions his country's security forces may have sheltered bin Laden, and said their cooperation with the United States helped pinpoint him.

The raid followed months of deteriorating relations between the CIA and Pakistan's intelligence service. Those strains came to a head in late January after a CIA contractor shot and killed two Pakistanis in what Washington said was self-defense.

In a statement, the Pakistani government said "this event of unauthorized unilateral action cannot be taken as a rule."

"The government of Pakistan further affirms that such an event shall not serve as a future precedent for any state, including the U.S.," it said, calling such actions a "threat to international peace and security."

The statement may be partly motivated by domestic concerns. The government and army has come under criticism following the raid by those who have accused the government of allowing Washington to violate the country's sovereignty. Islamabad has also been angered at the suspicions it had been sheltering bin Laden.
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Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt, Munir Ahmed and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report from Islamabad.