Woman hanged by terrorists in Kashmir

[candypreet]

SRINAGAR: Suspected terrorists kidnapped and hanged a woman in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir and shot and wounded three other people including a ruling party worker, police said TuesdayThe suspected militants abducted and hanged the 45-year-old Muslim woman in northern Baramulla district overnight, a police spokesman said.

In other violence, suspected terrorists barged into the homes of three Muslims in a village in southern Pulwama district and opened fire, wounding them. No rebel group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police said they did not know why the woman or two of the three people who were wounded had been targeted as they had no political links but said they believed the attacks were carried out by rebels.

The third person injured was an activist of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).Terrorists often target politicians as well as people they suspect of working for Indian security agencies.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1120067.cms

[candypreet]

Bookmark
US silence over Kashmir terrorism
(This is excerpted from the updated 7th edition of the highly acclaimed book titled My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir by Shri Jagmohan)

My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir; Jagmohan; Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1/13-14, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-2; Rs. 475


THE need of the hour, is that the entire international community should brace itself and mobilise all its resources—financial, military and diplomatic—to target terrorism in all its hues and colours. Lapses of the type that occurred in the past, when the phenomenon was viewed from a selfish and narrow angle, should not be repeated. When terrorism in Kashmir was being confused, intentionally or otherwise, with human rights or fight for freedom, whoever thought that the same forces that fed that terrorism would one day attack the World Trade Centre, New York, and cause deaths of over 3,000 innocent persons! The present-day terrorism is like a plague which should be eradicated from every nook and corner of the world. If it is allowed to remain anywhere, it could erupt any time at any place and move in any direction to engulf even those who are watching the beastly show from the sidelines.

Apart from ensuring that President Musharraf´s declarations are translated into deeds, the aid of the United States and international agencies to Pakistan must be linked with its commitment to destroy extremism from its roots. In this regard, the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission are sound: “The United States should support Pakistan´s government in its struggle against extremists with a comprehensive effort that extends from military aid to support for better education, so long as Pakistan´s leaders remain willing to make difficult choices of their own.” The Commission has also pointed out that what President George W.Bush´s administration has so far done to eliminate terrorism is not enough. “What is most striking to us is that the size of the problem still totally dwarfs the policy response.”

Action on other Fronts
While the members of the international community, particularly the United States, United Kingdom and Russia should put their best foot forward to obliterate the menace of terrorism from the globe, in the shortest time, the need for action on a few other equally significant fronts should not be lost sight of.

War of Ideas
First, the war on terror should not be restricted to financial, diplomatic and military means. It must be extended to incorporate a more fundamental war, a war of ideas, which is rooted in a positive and reformative outlook and which draws its strength from a creative and dynamic interpretation of Islam with a view to presenting its humane and enlightened face. Such a presentation, if disseminated effectively by governments in Muslim countries, would act as a bulwark against the tide of fundamentalism. It would also highlight values that are common to humanity and pave the way not for a clash but for convergence of civilisations.

Unfortunately, so far, the international community and the forward looking groups in Islamic countries have not realised the importance of formulating a liberal Islamic ideology and waging a war of ideas against orthodoxy and bigotry with that ideology as a weapon.

The proponents of liberal Islamic ideology should also expose the Jehadi leadership which has acquired a deep vested interest in terrorism. This leadership brainwashes young recruits to kill and get killed but itself remains in the background, accumulating in the process substantial wealth which flows as donations and alms. “It is quite certain”, says the noted political analyst of Pakistan, Khalid Ahmed, “that at the level of the Jehadi leadership, the Jehad was motivated by financial gains. Almost all the Jehadi leaders came into possession of considerable wealth.” From a recent Conference on counter-terrorism, held at Riyadh in December 2005, a clear message has emerged for the first time: “Money launderers, drug traffickers, makers of light weapons and other interests groups, including organisations that promote destructive thoughts and ideologies, are the main beneficiaries of terrorism. They exist on the blood of an unstable and divided world.” Such a message needs to be repeated not only to expose the vested interests involved in terrorism but also to ensure speedy victory of liberal Islamic ideology in the war of ideas.

Redressal of ImbalancesM
Secondly, serious attention needs to be paid to the economic social and political order of the present-day world. This order is creating vast disparities in every sphere of life. “Fantastic fortune has been accumulated by a few as poverty in which many live has deepened.” World unemployment, according to Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, is at the highest level ever, particularly among the youth. More than one billion people are unemployed or under-employed.

The power structure of the world, moreover, is dominated by the West. The noted American intellectual, Samuel Huntington, has rightly observed: “The West in effect is using international institutions, military power and economic resources to run the world that will maintain Western predominance, protect Western interests, and promote Western political and economic values.” Earlier, it was said: “Whatever is good for General Motors is good for the world.” Now, this saying has been replaced by a new one: “American homeland is the planet”.

Clearly, in the overall environment which is determined by current social and economic inequities, and unfair political dominations, frustrations and alienation would continue to grow and express themselves in irrational and inhuman behaviour like that of the militants. As early as 1968, the Pearson Commission had warned: “The world could not survive, half rich, half poor.” Unfortunately, no one is listening to such warnings, not even after 9/11. “The American Self”, it has been pertinently observed, “abdicates responsibility for contributing to the economic and political ‘malaise´ that has plagued the Middle East or, more specifically, the funding and training of those who now arm against us. In not recognising this complicity, we are doomed to reproduce the same conditions for murderous hatred that motivated 9/ 11. Instead, we propagandise ‘globalisation´ or ‘regime change´ when, in fact, America treats the world like a backyard, confusing others for our servants or acolytes”. It is time that the international community takes effective steps to redress the imbalances and aberrations which are rendering our world a dangerous place to live in.

New Era
Thirdly, in the new era and fast globalisation of the world in which the borders are becoming increasingly irrelevant, both India and Pakistan need to have a fresh look at their relationship. Pakistan must shed its obsession with Kashmir and understand that neither terrorism nor subversion nor military action can bring the Kashmir problem anywhere near solution. President Clinton, in his television and radio address on March 25, 2000, gave a clear message to the government and people of Pakistan:

The era does not reward those who struggle in vain; who redraw borders with blood.... I share your concerns about Kashmir. But a stark truth must also be faced—there is no military solution to Kashmir.... I hope you will be able to meet the difficult changes. If you do not, there is danger that Pakistan may grow even more isolated, draining even more resources away from the needs of the people, moving even closer to a conflict no one can win.

The only sensible way to end the current conflict is to first end terrorism in all its forms and then enter into extensive dialogue to consider in-depth various proposals that have been made from time to time by those who are engaged in what has been called ‘back channel diplomacy´. As long as terrorist´s net-works remain and the culture of violence prevails , no solution would be implementable in practice. Over the years, Pakistan authorities have created a ‘Frankenstein´. Under its dreadful shadow , no move in the right direction can be made.

New Response
Once the monster is done away with and militancy and the accompanying bloodshed end, a congenial atmosphere would emerge. The borders could be made virtually non-existent. Tourism and culture exchanges could replace terrorism and exchanges of gun-fire. Economies on both sides could get a big boost. Unemployment could abate. Instead of being amongst the 15 largest spenders on defence, India and Pakistan could become the biggest investors of the world in programmes for poverty-removal.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=121&page=22

[candypreet]

SRINAGAR: A Pakistani militant belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba was killed by security forces in Bandipora area of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir.

BSF troops laid a cordon at waterpoint in Nehru Park at Bandipora last night following specific information that militants were to pass from the area, BSF officials said on Monday.

Noticing the movement of an ultra, security forces challenged him but the militant opened fire, they said adding he was killed in retaliatory fire.

The slain militant hailed from Pakistan. One pistol and two rounds were recovered from him, the sources added.

Meanwhile, militants shot at and seriously injured a civilian in Bijbehara area of Anantnag district last night, police sources said.

The ultras barged into the house of 60-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Ganaie at Hassanpora in Bijbehara area and opened fire.

Ganaie was moved to a hospital for treatment in a critical condition, the sources said adding the motive behind the attack was not immediately know

[candypreet]

NEW LIES, OLD THINKING

Recent comments on Kashmir by Pakistan’s dictator have been canonised in the media as ‘new thinking’ that marks a significant departure from previous stances. Addressing a visiting delegation of Indian MPs, General Musharraf commented, “borders are irrelevant”, and that religious trifurcation cannot be a solution to the Kashmir conflict. He also added that demilitarisation and international guarantees in Kashmir could help resolve the dispute with India. He also made the usual ambiguous statements about “self-rule” and Kashmiri public opinion being kept in mind while carving out a final solution.
Just as the gullible Indian press swallowed Hu Jintao’s nebulous commitment to India’s UN Security Council permanent membership bid, Musharraf’s above-mentioned statements have been hailed as a major shift in Pakistan’s position and a way toward lasting peace. No sooner had Hu’s visit ended, PLA units made deep forays into Arunachal Pradesh (still claimed by China, though Sikkim has finally been recognised as Indian territory), and Pakistan triumphantly claimed Beijing’s assurances that the latter had not committed to accepting India’s permanent membership bid. The rising tide of terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in the valley are likewise belying the hyped ‘new thinking’ of the Pakistani establishment.

How often have India’s liberal media fallen for the bait and then bitten the bitter reality? If Musharraf has indeed changed his mindset, why have the media not critically explained the reasons for his tergiversation? How did the architect of Kargil now become a peacenik for whom “borders are irrelevant”? One pressing question is what role the Americans have played in pushing the General into making these seemingly conciliatory statements? Is a military attack on Iran on the cards, especially in light of Musharraf’s own confessions that the Bush administration has Iran high on its agenda? If Iran is going to be invaded, it means that US troops will be not only on Pakistan’s northwestern border (Afghanistan) but also on its southwestern border (Iran). Is this the pressure that is working on Musharraf’s mind?

Terrorist activity in Kashmir valley has not fallen significantly. Musharraf’s call for more ‘demilitarisation’ as a way to peace is clearly in contradiction to rising jihadi violence. As to borders becoming irrelevant, Musharraf is hard-selling the bus and train diplomacy that allow ‘people-to-people’ contacts between PoK and the J&K. As infiltration across the LoC is increasingly under the scanner, Islamabad is keen to promote ‘legal’ channels of infiltration and ex-filtration like ‘Sada-i-Sarhad.’ Self-rule is, of course, old wine in Kashmir. The General is at his usual chore- hunting with the hounds and hiding with the hares.

There can be no qualitative change in J&K as long as Pakistan stokes Islamic fundamentalism through mujahideen and ‘moderate’ stooges like Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Hurriyat Conference. Once these two forms of rabid intolerance are plugged, the first steps toward rehabilitation of the valley’s battered Hindu minorities can begin. After that, one can imagine a genuine peace.



http://www.kashmirherald.com/main.php?t=E&st=D&no=1

[candypreet]

Schools accused of extremist links
9th October 2006, 10:00 WST

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=29&ContentID=9116


Charities linked to jihadist groups have been using humanitarian aid operations to extend their influence over children orphaned by last year’s earthquake in north Pakistan.

Contrary to government rules that earthquake orphans must be cared for only by the state or relatives, many have been taken into care by religious charities and Islamic schools, or madrassas.

Senior cleric Qazi Mahmood-ul Hassan, who runs the Jamia Dar-Uloom al Islamia madrassa in Muzaffarabad, said that he had taken 55 orphans into care after the earthquake last October.

He said that hundreds of other orphans had been taken into care by other madrassas and Jamaat-ud Dawa, proscribed by America as a front for Lashkar-i-Toiba, which is held responsible for terrorist attacks in India.

“These people have taken orphans,” Mr Hassan said.

“They have a target of convincing people to accept their ideology.”

A senior professional who works with Jamaat-ud Dawa in Muzaffarabad said that most of the members he worked with had fought in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

He said the head of security at one of its hospitals was called “Dr Bomblast” because he was reputed to be a bomb-maker for terrorist operations.

A spokesman for Jamaat-ud Dawa denied that his organisation had taken care of any orphans and had any links to Lashkar-i-Toiba.

[Tony Z]

SRINAGAR: Suspected terrorists kidnapped and hanged a woman in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir and shot and wounded three other people including a ruling party worker, police said TuesdayThe suspected militants abducted and hanged the 45-year-old Muslim woman in northern Baramulla district overnight, a police spokesman said.

Ban hanging ropes!!!

[candypreet]

Ban hanging ropes!!!

funny.very funny

[Tony Z]

funny.very funny
Not meant to be funny. Just a swipe at anti-gun peoples.

[koban]

Ban hanging ropes!!!



Hanging ropes don't kill people, people kill people!

[candypreet]

Hanging ropes don't kill people, people kill people!

good point:) :)

[candypreet]

and a bump for the new year

[keith]

and a bump for the new year

I'm starting to notice a trend (as I inevitably bump this :) ).