“Missing” Guantanamo returnee back at home: family

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – An Algerian repatriated from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay was resting at home on Monday, his family said, ending a week-long search for him that prompted rights groups to say he could be suffering abuse.

Uncertainty over the whereabouts of Abdul Aziz Naji had fueled allegations from rights campaigners that U.S. President Barack Obama’s push to close Guantanamo Bay was leaving former detainees at risk of mistreatment once they were sent home.

Naji, who had been held at Guantanamo since 2002, had told his lawyers he did not want to return to Algeria under any circumstances because he feared persecution from the Algerian government and Islamist militants there.

“He is back home, tired, but he is free,” his brother Hamza told Reuters by telephone from the town of Batna, 500 km (300 miles) east of the Algerian capital.

“He did not say that he had been abused during his detention,” he said.

Earlier, Algerian justice officials said a judge on Sunday had ordered Naji’s release after a period of detention — which they said was completely lawful — following his July 18 return from Guantanamo Bay to Algeria.

“Contrary to what has been falsely reported, this person’s case has been dealt with in the most complete transparency and in respect for the law, whether in terms of procedure or the length of his detention,” the Algiers prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

COURT APPEARANCE

The statement said Naji had been held in detention in Algeria in accordance with legislation allowing terrorism suspects to be held for up to 12 days before appearing in court.

It said he was freed after appearing before a judge on Sunday who put him under judicial control — which means he has to report regularly to police pending a decision on his case.

“He is at home in Batna,” said a judicial source who did not want to be identified. “He just needs to go every week to the local police station to sign a form.”

Obama has made a pledge to close down Guantanamo Bay, which has been condemned by civil liberties advocates since it was opened by the Bush administration in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

But resettling inmates from the U.S. base on Cuba has proved difficult, and any evidence that former detainees are mistreated after being sent home could make it harder for Obama to meet his commitment.

U.S. rights groups said last week they were worried because Naji’s lawyers and family had been unable to locate him since his return. They said they believed he could be in secret detention in Algeria.

Algerian officials deny abusing prisoners. Rights groups say that before Naji’s return, 10 Algerians had been repatriated from Guantanamo Bay. Western diplomats say none of them has been mistreated since they came back.

(Writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Andrew Roche)

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Factbox: Afghan women after the Taliban

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Critics accuse the government of squandering millions in foreign aid, but President Hamid Karzai says most waste occurs on development projects outside official control, and he wants direct access to more of the $13 billion pot.

One of the pillars of the conference is social development for women, a key issue after a rights group last week warned last week that they risked sacrificing hard-won freedoms as the government seeks peace with the hardline Islamist Taliban.

Following are some facts about women in Afghanistan:

RIGHTS AFTER THE TALIBAN

For five years under the Taliban’s Islamist regime, women were banned from education and work. Since the Taliban’s 2001 fall, women’s rights have improved.

But it is often still taboo for women and girls to go to school or work in rural areas. Forced marriage, often of young girls, is still common.

Afghan women are among the world’s worst off, and violence and rape are a “huge problem”, according to the United Nations.

A law for Afghanistan’s minority Shi’a Muslims caused international outcry because one of its articles was seen as permitting marital rape. U.S. President Barack Obama called the law “abhorant” and it was changed by President Hamid Karzai.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Karzai’s first cabinet after his 2004 election contained three female ministers and a female vice president. The current cabinet has a woman Minister for Martyrs and the Disabled, while two others are acting in women’s’ affairs and public health roles after permanent appointments were blocked by parliament.

The Afghan parliament uses a quota system to ensure at least 25 percent of seats go to women. While affirmative action is seen as necessary by many, some have complained that in many provinces women get seats based on gender rather than voter support.

Outside urban centers like Kabul and Herat, where Afghanistan’s only female chief prosecutor works, Afghan women are poorly represented in local government. The first female city mayor was appointed in Daikundi province last year.

HEALTH

Afghanistan has the second worst maternal mortality rate in the world, after Sierra Leone. For many women becoming pregnant is akin to a potentially fatal illness, the U.N. says. For every 100,000 live births, 1,600 women die in labor.

Poverty, rugged terrain and a shortage of female medical staff have contributed to the high maternal mortality rate. In remote northeast Badakhshan province, the rate is the world’s worst with 6,500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

Although midwife numbers have increased over the past few years, it is still well under the 8,000 needed to help bring down the level of maternal mortality, the U.N. says.

EDUCATION

The number of girls and women in education has soared since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001, but is still poor by world standards. Just 24 percent of girls were in secondary education by 2007, with drop-outs highest among older students.

Cultural and religious practices still keep many girls from school, especially in rural areas. Even in Kabul, girls are often harassed and bullied by young men for attending school.

According to the ministry of education between January 2006 and December 2008, there were 1,153 attacks on schools, from small arms explosions to death threats. The majority of attacks, 40 percent, were against girls’ schools.

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Iraq combat mission on track for August end: Biden

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq was on schedule for August and would not be delayed if the country failed to form a new government by that deadline.

“There is a transition government. There is a government in place that’s working. Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance. We’re going to have — still have 50,000 troops there,” Biden told ABC News’ “This Week” program in an interview.

Iraq’s political parties have been deadlocked since an inconclusive March election over who should form the coalition government and serve as prime minister and president.

“I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq,” Biden said.

U.S. troops intend to end combat operations on August 31 before a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Iraqis had hoped the election would lead to stability and economic recovery seven years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But coalition talks could last several more months, exposing Iraq to a risky vacuum as it emerges from sectarian war but struggles to contain a stubborn insurgency.

The sectarian war between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi’ites that kicked off after the 2003 invasion has largely subsided but a Sunni Islamist insurgency persists.

Suicide bombers killed 43 people on Sunday in two separate attacks against government-backed Sunni militias, Iraqi security sources said.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Biden: Iraq combat mission on track for August end

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 18 (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq was on schedule for August and would not be delayed if the country failed to form a new government by that deadline.

“There is a transition government. There is a government in place that’s working. Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance. We’re going to have — still have 50,000 troops there,” Biden told ABC News’ “This Week” program in an interview.

Iraq’s political parties have been deadlocked since an inconclusive March election over who should form the coalition government and serve as prime minister and president.

“I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq,” Biden said.

U.S. troops intend to end combat operations on Aug. 31 before a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Iraqis had hoped the election would lead to stability and economic recovery seven years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But coalition talks could last several more months, exposing Iraq to a risky vacuum as it emerges from sectarian war but struggles to contain a stubborn insurgency.

The sectarian war between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi’ites that kicked off after the 2003 invasion has largely subsided but a Sunni Islamist insurgency persists.

Suicide bombers killed 43 people on Sunday in two separate attacks against government-backed Sunni militias, Iraqi security sources said. (Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Israel failed in ship interception planning-reports

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

JERUSALEM, July 12 (Reuters) – Israel’s military failed to prepare adequately for what turned into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, according to findings of a military inquiry quoted by the Israeli media on Monday.

The official report into the May 31 incident, in which nine pro-Palestiniam Turkish activists were killed, was set to be released later in the day by a military commission led by Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general.

A civilian panel is conducting a separate investigation into the interception that triggered an international outcry and severely strained Israel’s relations with its once-close Muslim ally Turkey.

Quoting from what it said were portions of the military commission’s report, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said the findings pointed to “flawed preparation (in intelligence) prior to the arrival” of the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara.

The “battle guidelines” issued to commandos who raided the vessel were flawed as was the intelligence.

Israel said the troops acted in self-defence in opening fire on passengers who attacked them with metal rods and knives as the Israelis boarded the ship.

PAINTBALL GUNS

Some of the commandos, the military said at the time, were armed with paintball guns — but also carried pistols — in anticipation of only light resistance.

Yedioth Ahronoth and other Israeli media reported that the Eiland commission’s report would not call for any military personnel to resign. But the findings raised speculation that senior officers’ careers could be affected.

Israel has said its commandos were enforcing a naval blockade necessary to prevent weapons from reaching the Gaza Strip’s Hamas Islamist rulers.

In response to Western criticism, including from its biggest ally, the United States, Israel has since eased a land blockade of the enclave where 1.5 million Palestinians live, allowing most civilian goods through, while continuing to enforce the naval embargo.

Eiland’s report is the first to be published in the affair.

The separate civilian panel is led by a former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel and includes two international observers.

Its narrow mandate does not include an examination of the political decision-making process behind the launching of the raid, although Turkel said it would call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to testify.

Instead, it focuses on whether the naval blockade and the flotilla’s interception conformed with international law. The panel also will investigate the actions taken by the convoy’s organisers and participants.

Turkey called the bloodshed Israeli “state terrorism”, withdrew its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises. (Editing by Matthew Jones)

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Gaza aid convoy ignores Israel order to turn back

May 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

* Turkish-led convoy carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid

* Israel vows to prevent cargo from reaching Gaza * Israel says convoy can dock at Ashdod port

JERUSALEM, May 31 (Reuters) – Pro-Palestinian activists aboard a six-ship convoy sailing for the Gaza Strip have ignored orders by the Israeli navy to turn back, an Israeli official said on Monday.

The official, who declined to be named, said Israeli naval vessels told the activists by radio that their only other option was to head for the Israeli port of Ashdod to unload the some 10,000 tonnes of aid, which Israel would then transfer to Gaza.

“We communicated with them using the radio, clarifying that they are heading towards an area that is closed to maritime traffic,” the official said.

The convoy, led by a Turkish vessel with 600 people on board, set off in international waters off Cyprus on Sunday in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip and warnings that it would be intercepted.

“We told them that they are welcome to dock in Israel where all their humanitarian goods will be transferred to the Gaza Strip,” the official said. “The flotilla ignored the warnings.”

Live video footage from one of the boats showed activists wearing life vests and one said he could see Israeli naval vessels in the vicinity. He said the Israeli navy had contacted the ship’s captain and ordered him to turn back.

Three Israeli naval vessels set out from Haifa to meet the convoy, a journalist aboard one of the ships said.

Israel has said it would prevent the convoy from reaching the Gaza Strip, which is run by the Islamist Hamas group.

Hamas has been preparing to receive the convoy at the small harbour in the city of Gaza.

The activists face arrest and deportation, and their cargo will be confiscated and examined before a possible transfer by Israel to Gaza, Israeli military officials have said.

Israel has set up a holding camp for the activists at the coastal city of Ashdod.

The flotilla was organised by pro-Palestinian groups and a Turkish human rights organisation. Turkey has urged Israel to allow it safe passage and says the 10,000 tonnes of aid the convoy is carrying is humanitarian.

Israel and Egypt tightened a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took over the territory in 2007. Israel launched a devastating military offensive in Gaza in December 2008 with the aim of halting daily rocket fire towards its cities.

Most of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza rely on aid, blaming Israel for imposing restrictions on the amount and type of goods it allows into the territory.

The United Nations and Western powers have urged Israel to ease its restrictions to prevent a humanitarian crisis. They have been urging Israel to let in concrete and steel to allow for postwar reconstruction.

Israel denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying food, medicine and medical equipment are allowed in regularly. It says the restrictions are necessary to prevent weapons and materials that could be used to make them from reaching Hamas. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr, Jihan Abdallah and Alastair Macdonald in Jerusalem, Michele Kambas in Cyprus and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Joseph Nasr)

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Turkey reforms give top brass over to civilian court

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A Turkish constitutional reform package to be submitted to parliament on Tuesday will make it possible for military top brass to be tried by a civilian court, media reported late on Monday.

There was no immediate government confirmation of the reports, but such last minute changes to the draft amendments would likely boost tensions between the Islamist-rooted AK Party and the traditionally powerful military which sees itself as the guarantor of Turkey’s secular order.

The main focus of the constitutional reform package has been changes to the way judges are appointed and making it more difficult to ban political parties.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says the changes will boost democracy in line with criteria laid down by the European Union for eventual membership.

But critics say the ruling AK Party has steadily increased the number of its sympathisers within the civil service since it came to power in 2002 and the new reforms would make it easier for it to ensure its supporters enter the judiciary too.

Making it harder to ban political parties, critics say, would also help Erdogan’s AK Party against any future legal threat after it only narrowly escaped closure on charges of being a focus for Islamist activities in 2008.

Turkish markets are sensitive to tensions between the government and the military, especially after the detentions of dozens of retired and active officers late last month in an investigation into an alleged coup plot.

The final draft of the reform package would allow the chief of staff and top military commanders to be tried by a top state court, broadcaster CNN Turk reported, without citing a source.

Media reports said the AK Party had made an appointment with Parliamentary Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin to submit the package at 11:00 a.m. (0800 GMT).

But parliament is unlikely to start debate immediately on the measures and voting is not expected until late April.

Financial markets have been unsettled by concern that political instability could result from a battle over the reforms, which are rejected by opposition parties in parliament as well as the judicial establishment.

Erdogan has warned he will call a referendum if the government fails to get the two-thirds majority needed in parliament to amend the constitution. That could further inflame political tensions and give the markets more jitters.

Strains have been building for weeks between the AK Party, whose roots lie in political Islam, and Turkey’s old secular elites in the judiciary and military.

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Thomas Grove

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At least 34 killed in Moscow metro blasts

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Two blasts ripped through packed Moscow metro stations on Monday during rush hour, killing at least 34 people and wounding 18, Russian officials said.

Russian prosecutors said they suspected “terrorists” were responsible and they had opened an investigation.

No group immediately took responsibility for the blasts but suspicion is likely to fall on groups from Russia’s North Caucasus, where Moscow is fighting a growing Islamist insurgency.

The first blast tore through the second carriage of a train as it stood at the Lubyanka metro station, close to the headquarters of Russia’s main domestic security service (FSB), at 0756 (0356 GMT), killing 22 people.

Another blast wrecked the second carriage of a train waiting at the Park Kultury metro station at 0837 (0437 GMT), killing 12 more people, an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said.

“The blast hit the second carriage of a metro train that stopped at Lubyanka, at 0756 (0356 GMT),” ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova told Reuters.

She said there were killed both inside the carriage and on the platform. The stations were packed with rush hour commuters.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Factbox: Key facts and figures about Afghanistan

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Barack Obama arrived unannounced in Afghanistan on Sunday, his first visit to the war zone that could define his presidency since his election as commander-in-chief.

Barack Obama

Following are key facts and figures about Afghanistan:

PROFILE

* Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia which shares borders with Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

* Hamid Karzai has led the country since 2001, when U.S.-backed Afghan militia ended the five-year rule of the austere Islamist Taliban movement. He was re-elected for a second term in October 2009 after a highly contested vote which was mired in allegations of fraud.

* Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its population is almost 30 million. Life expectancy for both men and women is about 45 years.

* Some 42 percent of Afghans are Pashtun and 27 percent are Tajik. Hazaras and Uzbeks each account for 9 percent.

* There are two national languages, Pashto and Dari. Pashto, the language of the Pashtuns, is spoken in many parts of the south and east. Dari, a Persian language, is spoken mainly in the north and center.

* Only 28 percent of Afghans are literate.

SECURITY AND VIOLENCE

* Violence has escalated in the past year as tens of thousands of additional foreign troops, mainly Americans, have been deployed in response to an escalating Taliban insurgency.

* Last month a United Nations report said the number of civilians killed in the war increased by 40 percent last year to a record 2,118 deaths — 1,160 were killed by insurgents and 828 were killed by foreign forces.

* Violence is concentrated in the south and east of Afghanistan — Helmand, one of the deadliest provinces, has been the target of two major U.S. Marine-led operations since U.S. President Barack Obama was elected. The latest, Operation Moshtarak, was launched last month to push the Taliban out of the town of Marjah.

* A total of 1,703 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war started in November 2001. A record 520 were killed in 2009, the deadliest year so far in the war.

* The United States has lost 1,029 servicemen, Britain 278 and other NATO contributors 396, according to the iCasualties website (www.icasualties.org).

INTERNATIONAL FORCES

* There are nearly 120,000 foreign troops from 42 countries working under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), established in December 2001.

* The United States has by far the most troops, with about 80,000, rising to 100,000 by the end of this year, triple the number when Obama took office.

* Other NATO allies have about 40,000 troops in total. Some countries have pledged thousands more, but some are withdrawing, including the Netherlands and Canada with about 5,000.

* Britain, with 9,500 troops, is the second largest ISAF contributor. Germany is next with 4,335 and France with 3,750, according to the most recent NATO figures.

* Last year, Obama said he wanted U.S. forces to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan from July 2011. U.S. officials say the withdrawal will be gradual, with the pace determined by conditions on the ground.

ECONOMY

* According to the United Nations Human Development rankings for 2009, Afghanistan is ranked 181st out of 182 countries.

* Devastated by 30 years of conflict, Afghanistan’s economy is dependent on foreign aid. International donors contribute seventy percent of the government’s operating budget, which itself has been dwarfed by billions in aid spent directly by the donor states.

* Afghanistan’s economic growth has also been stunted by high levels of corruption, which prevents aid from reaching ordinary Afghans.

* Public sector corruption in Afghanistan is seen as more rampant than any other country except Somalia, according to Transparency International.

DRUGS

* Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world’s opium, a thick paste from poppy used to make heroin, according to the latest U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime report.

* Helmand province in southern Afghanistan produces most of Afghanistan’s opium poppy crop.

* About two thirds of the opium is turned into heroin before it leaves Afghanistan and goes on to feed some 15 million addicts, mainly in Russia, Iran and Europe.

* Opium cultivation in Afghanistan is directly linked to the Taliban insurgency. Since 2005, the Taliban have made up to $160 million a year from taxing cultivation and trade of the crop.

Sources: NATO, U.S. Forces, Reuters reports, U.N., World Bank, iCasualties.org; CIA World Fact Book, Transparency International.

(Compiled by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Militants kill five in Manshera

March 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Oghi (Manshera, Pakistan), Mar.10 (ANI): At least five people were killed here after suspected Islamist militants attacked the office of a U.S.-based Christian aid agency on Wednesday.

Media reports said the gunmen burst into the office of the World Vision agency in Mansehra district, 65 km north of Islamabad, at about 9 a.m. local time.

The town of Mansehra has served as the hub for relief efforts following the October 2005 earthquake that killed 73,000.

The area has been generally peaceful although there have been occasional incidents of violence.

The town is located east of the Swat region, where the army launched an offensive a year ago to clear Pakistani Taliban. (ANI)

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Osama declares decades of war on ‘powerless’ Obama

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep 14 (ANI): Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has said that US President Barack Obama is “powerless” to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a transcript of a tape released by the terrorist organization’s media wing.

Al Qaeda’s As-Sahab Media released a video featuring a still image of Osama and audio statement entitled “A statement to the American people,” said the organisation IntelCenter.

SITE Intelligence Group, a terrorist-monitoring firm that translated the address, says Osama blames the wars on the “pro-Israel lobby” and corporate interests.

IntelCenter, another company that monitors terrorist propaganda, reports that the 11-minute video is an address to the American people, two days after the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The group described the release as an address to the American public. Osama usually releases a statement around September or October each year, The Times reports.

In his last previous known message in June, Osama said US President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of “revenge and hatred” towards the United States in the Muslim world and warned of decades of conflict to come.

That audiotape aired on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera news channel less than an hour after Obama landed in Saudi Arabia.

Obama “has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonizing Muslims… and laying the foundation for long wars,” Osama said in the June release, referring to deadly clashes in Pakistan between the US-backed government and Islamist militants.

“He gave his orders to (Pakistani President Asif Ali) Zardari and his army to prevent the people of Swat from applying Sharia (Islamic) law,” he said.

“Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America. Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades,” said the Al-Qaeda leader. (ANI)

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‘Osama’s handshake was limp, like shaking a wet fish’

September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sep 12 (ANI): The handshake by world’s most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden has been described as limp, and like shaking a wet fish by a producer of CNN who met the terror mastermind.

CNN producer Peter Bergen, who wrote The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al-Qaeda’s Leader, met the most dreaded terrorist in March 1997 when he went to film his first television interview.

Bergen narrates about the extra security around bin Laden and how they were taken to his hideout at night changing vehicles blindfolded.

The interview took place near the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan where Bergen and his crew were electronically swept for tracking devices, and had to pass through three groups of guards armed with sub-machineguns.

“Bin Laden made no effort at small talk, wanting to get the interview done as soon as possible. Peter Jouvenal, our British cameraman, remembers that bin Laden’s handshake was limp, like shaking a wet fish,” The Times quoted him, as saying.

“I don’t recall shaking his hand but I do remember that he took frequent sips from a cup of tea, giving him an air that was more feline than fierce, and his blistering diatribe against the US for its policies in the Middle East was delivered in a barely audible whisper. After an hour he was gone, as suddenly as he had arrived,” he adds.

He also narrates Abdel Bari Atwan, a London-based Palestinian journalist who interviewed him in Afghanistan in 1996, as saying that Bin Laden, it seems, had prepared for life as a fugitive for years, adopting a monk-like detachment from material comforts.

Zaynab Khadr, whose family lived with the al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan during the late 1990s, was quoted by the author as saying that he did not even allow his children to drink cold water because he wanted them to be prepared for the day when there’s no cold water.

He quotes Bin Laden as once instructing his followers: “You should learn to sacrifice everything from modern life like electricity, air-conditioning, refrigerators, gasoline. If you are living the luxury life, it’s very hard to go to the mountains to fight.”

In a tape posted to Islamist websites in February 2006, he says bin Laden confirmed his willingness to be martyred: “I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don’t want to die humiliated or deceived.” (ANI)

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Pakistan Government’s record in handling return of refugees is not good

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 14 (ANI): The Pakistan Government’s record in handling the return of refugees is not good, and Islamabad is unprepared for the influx of people in the Swat Valley which can result in a loss of public opinion if the delivery of services is no better than before the Taliban’s seizure of the region, analysts have said.

Pakistan on Monday began returning more than two million refugees who were displaced by a government offensive against Taliban elements to the Swat Valley. The process will be closely watched by foreign governments, including in the United States, for signs of Pakistan’s ability to reverse a growing Islamist militancy.

Southeast Asia analysts and humanitarian-aid experts say that Pakistan’s heavily centralized government is unprepared for the massive return, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

“The Pakistani Government does not have a good track record when it comes to returning displaced populations, so this will be an important test,” says Patrick Duplat, a services advocate with Refugees International in Washington.

“If they once again send families back to areas that remain insecure and lack basic government services, the door will be open to more of the loss of public confidence that is so important for the government,” he said.

The specter of a nuclear-armed Pakistan destabilized by Islamist extremists who are allied with their brethren next door in Afghanistan prompted the US to encourage the government’s offensive in Swat in the first place, the CSM report says.

That gives the US not just an interest in seeing the Pakistani government succeed with its own people, but a “special responsibility” in assisting with a successful refugee return process, Duplat says.

He notes that after a similar displacement of residents in the northwest tribal areas last fall was followed by a “hasty” and “poorly planned” return, the same residents had to flee their homes a second time – a disruption that resulted in a precipitous loss of faith in the government.

Still, the Pakistani government may have reason to be more successful in the case of the Swat Valley. For one thing, Swat, which is north of the capital of Islamabad, is a long-settled area as opposed to the remote and semiautonomous tribal areas.

“So there’s reason for a certain amount of confidence that the government has a good read on the region,” says Lisa Curtis, a South Asia expert with the Heritage Foundation in Washington. (ANI)

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Jama’atul Mujahideen militants receive military training in Pakistan

June 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Dhaka, June 25 (ANI): Some key members of banned Islamist militant organisation Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are now in Pakistan for military training.

The Daily Star quoted a senior official of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) as, saying that at least two militants wanted by his organisation had fled to Pakistan and were staying there.Both of them could be actively assisting the Taliban who are currently fighting the Pakistan security forces,” he added.

The JMB has close links with terror groups in Pakistan.

Its chief, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, was hanged after trial and conviction in a murder case in 2007. He too had made many trips to Pakistan to receive training and coordinate flow of arms and funds, the official said.

Bangladeshi sleuths are currently interrogating JMB’s explosives expert Zahidul Islam alias ‘Boma Mizan’.

The Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh aims at establishing the rule of Islam in Bangladesh through an armed struggle. The outfit is opposed to the establishment of democracy and calls for the conduct of government under Islamic law. (ANI)

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Gordon Brown to appoint Britain’s first cyber security chief

June 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 24 (ANI): The British Prime Minister is set to announce the appointment of the nation’s first cyber security chief who will be responsible to protect the country from terrorist computer hackers and electronic espionage.

Brown’s decision comes amid fears that the computer systems of government and business are vulnerable to online attacks from hostile countries and terrorist organisations.

Neil Thompson, a senior civil servant, will be charged with protecting the national computer network, The Independent reports.

Just a month back, US President Barack Obama had declared that he was making it a “national security priority” to protect the US computer network from attack, and that he would set up a “cyber security office” in the White House.

Brown’s plans were endorsed by the Cabinet on Monday, after a presentation by the Security minister, Lord West of Spithead.

Concern has grown in Whitehall that hackers are targeting its computer systems, and those of Britain’s largest companies.

In August 2008, the Government’s first national risk register highlighted Britain’s vulnerability by cyber spies.

“The UK does remain subject to high levels of covert non-military activity by foreign intelligence organisations. They are increasingly combining traditional intelligence methods with new technical attacks,” it said.

The security services are also fighting a constant war in cyberspace against extremist Islamist Internet sites, that attempt to radicalise young people or co-ordinate attacks.

Officials have said the biggest threat comes from China, but they have also expressed worries about the activities of criminal gangs based in Russia.

Britain has discussed ways of boosting computer security with foreign allies including the US. (ANI)

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Pak only ‘orchestrating terrorism’ by blaming India for every terror attack: Editorial

June 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, June 19 (ANI): While terror strikes across Pakistan continues unabated, authorities have not spared a single opportunity to blame India for creating havoc inside Pakistan, but an editorial carried out in Pakistan’s leading daily highlights the fact that Islamabad must introspect on its own deeds before putting the blame on its neighbour.

Recently, Lahore police nabbed one Zubair alias Naik Muhammad, allegedly involved in the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team.

Zubair is a member of the Punjab Taliban, an offshoot of the banned terror organisation Lashkar-e Jhangvi, which has strong ties with Al Qaeda, the editorial said.

While announcing the arrest of Zubair, and his nefarious links with several militant groups, the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) of Lahore, Pervaiz Rathore, forgot that it was him who had held India responsible for the terror strike on the islanders immediately after the brazen incident on March 3, it added.

How many times we have seen Pakistan denying links with extremists, or providing safe haven to terrorist organizations? Innumerable, the editorial opined.

However, Pakistan, by denying the world known fact, is actually orchestrating terrorism, which is now even threatening its own sovereignty, it went on to add.

It feared that what was really disturbing was the involvement of militias based in South Punjab in different terror acts.

“Mumbai was attacked from South Punjab. Most of the suicide-bombers have been from this region which is characterised by large feudal holdings in the countryside and extreme poverty in the cities,” the editorial said.

It quoted the famous US writer, Selig Harrison, as also having raised fears about the increasing threat perception emanating from the region which stretches from Jhang to Bahawalpur, and is dotted with madrassas.

“The danger of an Islamist takeover of Pakistan is real. It comes from a proliferating network of heavily armed Islamist militias in the Punjab heartland and major cities, directed by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a close ally of Al Qaeda, which staged the terrorist attack last November in Mumbai,” said Harrison.

Apart from the madrassas, which are categorised by the people as jihadi and non-jihadi, there are mosques that supply fighters and suicide-bombers to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the editorial said.

The trend had started during the Taliban rule in Kabul in the 1990s and has continued after the establishment of Lal Masjid as an entrepôt of warriors moving between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the editorial concluded. (ANI)

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Taliban melting into local population in Swat to fight another day : Report

May 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 23 (ANI): Even though the Pakistan Army has claimed that it has regained control of some of the major areas of the Swat Valley by flushing out the Taliban from the region, experts believe that it is a daunting task for the Army to quell the insurgents completely, as they are using the local population as their shield and dissolving amongst the civilians, only to resurface later.

Pakistan commanders, who visited a base camp recently situated in the Valley, also admitted that regaining full control of Swat will probably take months and involve intense battle with the ‘well-trained and well-funded’ militants,’ The Washington Post reports.

They believe that the Taliban is melting back into the civilian population so that they can emerge later and fight once again, as they have been doing for the past 18 months.

“You cannot distinguish between a Talib and a normal citizen. The area is densely populated, and it’s very easy for the terrorists to hide,” Major General Sajjad Ali, who commands troops in the northern Swat, said.

The Taliban had violated the peace norm earlier, and there is not even a slightest of chance that it would accept a cease-fire this time around.

However, the Army appears pledged to root out the insurgents from the country, much to the relief for the international community.

“The army will pursue its operation until ‘the logical end’, which is when all the terrorists and militants are eliminated in Swat,” Major General Ali said.

The Swat offensive has taken a heavy toll on civilians, resulting in exodus of thousands of people, but it has also bolstered hopes in Pakistan and foreign countries that the government will not allow fundamental Islamist forces to expand their writ in the country that posses nuclear weapons.

But residents who have been forced to flee their home have claimed that the army’s promises to restore peace in the Valley is a mere hog wash, as the security forces have failed to target the top commanders of the Taliban who are actually leading the insurgents.

“No top commander has been killed. They are alive, but they are underground,” said one of the displaced Swat resident, Badsha Syed. (ANI)

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Aid to Pak must be stringed: US Senators

May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 22 (ANI): The proposed US military assistance to Pakistan must come with certain benchmarks which were missing in the aid provided to Islamabad in the past.

Several US Senators are pressing the Obama administration to impose conditions on the aid being provided to Pakistan, primarily aimed for counter-insurgency operations against the Taliban and other Islamist militants.

Several Democrat members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, that since no accountability was put in place for the aid provided to Pakistan by the previous administration, the assistance could have been misused.

“There is a significant unease here in Congress over what has happened previously in the transfer of our funds. Many of us did not learn until last year some time that for those six or seven years that the prior administration was transferring very significant sums of money to Pakistan, we didn’t have a clue where it was going,” said Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry.

Kerry said that he and other members of the committee are of the view that ‘adequate levels of scrutiny and accountability’ must be stringed with the proposed assistance.

Senators also expressed their concerns over the reports about a rapid expansion of Pakistan’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, The News reports.

An amendment that would prohibit the billion of dollars from being used to support the development or deployment of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons was also introduced by Senator Jim Webb. (ANI)

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Radical insiders, not Taliban real threat to Pak nukes: Experts

May 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 16 (ANI): There has been a persistent tension in the international community regarding the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and fears about it falling into the hands of the Taliban and other extremists has kept the world on tenterhooks.

If concerns of experts are anything to go by, the real danger to Pakistan’s nuclear establishments does not comes from extremists but from radical insiders within the government.

Head of the Physics Department at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy believes that the radicals among the educated,potential insiders, are in a more realistic position to abscond with nuclear material .

They are far more threatening than the extremists as they also know how to use the weapons, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

“The threat comes not from the ‘mountain barbarians’, but from Al Qaeda, together with their Islamist allies within the Pakistani state and society. These are urban people, engineers, technicians, people in fairly high offices,” Prof. Hoodbhoy said.

The United States has spent over 100 million dollars to help Pakistan beef up its nuclear security, but question still looms large over how safe these establishments are.

Former head of nuclear intelligence at the US Department of Energy, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen said there was not much transparency over how and where such a huge sum was spent.

“There’s not a lot of transparency into it, and going into it I think the US felt like that was acceptable,” Larssen said.

Larssen also believes that the real threat was from the insiders rather than outsiders snatching a usable warhead.

“My big concern is the insider threat combined with outsiders,” he said. (ANI)

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Taliban issues three-day ultimatum to Pak MPs to resign

May 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 14 (ANI): The Taliban has given members of parliament representing Pakistan’s Malakand Division three days to resign, or else their families will be kidnapped.

“All national and provincial parliament members from the Malakand Division must resign within three days, otherwise, we will arrest all their families, and we will destroy all their buildings,” Taliban spokesperson Muslim Khan told CNN

In a separate directive, Muslim Khan urged Pakistan’s Islamist political parties to publicly show support for Taliban militants.

“All these parties must help the Taliban. They must give a press conference to show the people that we need Sharia in the Malakand Division,” The Nation quoted him, as saying.

Recently, the Jamaat-i-Islami has spoken out against the military’s offensive in the Swat Valley.

The gray-bearded Khan, in an earlier phone interview with CNN, had revealed that he had spent four years in the United States working as a painter in Boston.

On Wednesday, Khan denied reports that Taliban militants had carried out a campaign of violence and intimidation in the region for the past two years.

“We are killing the people who are only no good for society, like thieves and people who are making problem for the poor people, like people who are working for army,” he said.

Several refugees have described how insurgents kidnapped and killed their critics, beheaded government informers and blew up girls’ schools.

Earlier, Khan claimed that only 12 Taliban fighters had been killed in the on-going military operation in the region, and government’s claims of killing Taliban in large numbers were unsubstantiated.

“Mingora, the main town of Swat Valley, is still under Taliban control, and our fighters are battling with security forces at every point,” Khan had said. (ANI)

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