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Shiite radicals ready to cease fire
Militant cleric’s
movement gains steam |
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Experts fear Iran-style
regime in Iraq US Muslims concerned at bombing of mosques Abductions plunge Japan Govt into crisis Explain role of contractors, Rumsfeld told Bombs explode in southern Thailand New status won’t affect ties with China: Kasuri Indian curry in Britain’s military food packs Man forces daughter to lick floor, jailed Pak releases 3 officials Window on Pakistan
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Shiite radicals ready to cease fire Karbala, April 10 “We announce a halt to all military operations against Polish and Bulgarian troops in Karbala until the end of the pilgrimage for the 40-day memorial at midnight Monday,” militia commander Sheikh Hamza al-Tai said. He said the ceasefire would only hold if coalition troops stayed away from the tombs of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas in the city centre and did not interfere with armed groups positioned around Karbala to secure the safety of pilgrims.” The ceasefire was “aimed at giving a chance to a political solution” to the confrontation between Shiite militiamen and coalition troops which started a week ago. Thousands of Shiite faithful have been flocking to Karbala for the 40-day memorial of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammed and one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures. “Coalition forces are prepared to implement a ceasefire with enemy elements in Falluja commencing at noon today (0800 GMT),’’ Brig General Mark Kimmitt, a US military spokesman, told a conference. The US military had announced a unilateral ceasefire at noon (0800 GMT) yesterday, but fighting appeared to resume almost immediately, with US forces saying they had reserved the right to defend themselves if under attack. US forces have been battling Sunni insurgents in Falluja and the nearby town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, for the past week in some of the most intense fighting since the launch of the war that overthrow Saddam Hussein a year ago. Iraqi politicians on Saturday urged US forces and the Sunni and Shi’ite rebels to stop fighting. US forces clashed with militiamen in a Sunni Muslim district of northwestern Baghdad today, a witness said. Dozens of militiamen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles shot at US troops from alleyways in Adhimiya district of the capital. Yesterday, fierce clashes took place in Abu Ghraib, about 10 km west of Baghdad. NAJAF:
Abdel Karim Mahud al-Mahamadawi said on Saturday he had suspended his participation in Iraq’s interim Governing Council after a meeting with insurgent Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr. “I suspend my participation in the Governing Council and I will not go back because we have failed the Iraqi people after what happened,” he said in a statement. “I call on everybody to start a constructive dialogue to resolve the crisis with peaceful means and to reach a solution which satisfies the Iraqi people,” he said. Coalition officials earlier announced the resignation of interim human rights minister Abdel Basit Turki. He was not available for comment.
— AFP, Reuters |
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Militant cleric’s
movement gains steam Baghdad, April 10 Aided by hundreds of young seminary students, the 30-year-old cleric and his supporters have in recent days boasted of widening support after mass protests and fighting this week with US and other coalition troops. “Our movement is stronger today than it was a week ago,” said Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior al-Sadr aide. “But most important of all is that God is on our side,” he said yesterday after prayers in Sadr City, the movement’s Baghdad stronghold. Al-Sadr, whose slain father was one of Iraq’s top Shiite clerics, has over the past year mixed street politics, the lure of religion and the pent-up anger of a community oppressed for decades to build a base among mostly young and poor Shiites.
— AP |
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More nations may send troops Washington, April 10 “We have, I think, regular and ongoing contacts not only, obviously, with the members of the coalition currently in Iraq, but possible new countries that might want to contribute. These include India and Bangladesh,” State Department deputy spokesman J. Adam Ereli said yesterday.
— PTI |
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Experts fear Iran-style
regime in Iraq Amman/Cairo, April 10 Arab strategists and academics say if the ongoing insurgency by militia forces loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gains the upper hand, Iraq may become an Islamic republic similar to neighbouring Iran. Mr Qadri Saeed, head of the military department at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Strategic Studies Centre, said the current U.S. army strategy was likely to incite rather than quell violence. He called the U.S. tactics of retaliatory operations and “collective punishment” tactics “naive”. “I am inclined to believe the current operations by coalition troops will draw more Iraqi resistance,” Mr Saeed said, adding that coalition tactics could “prompt even moderate Shiite groups to join Al-Sadr’s revolt ... Otherwise they stand the chance of being accused of betraying the Moslem cause”. U.S. Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer has allocated the majority of seats at the 25-member Iraq Governing Council to representatives of moderate Shiite groups, particularly the Iran- backed Higher Council of the Islamic Revolution. However, Mr Saeed regards the recent escalation in violence as having been “inevitable”, given that the Shiite devotion to religious values was from the outset on a collision course with coalition attempts to introduce a western-style secular administration. Mr Saeed said the United States “has no choice but to go ahead with plans to increase its forces in Iraq”. “I believe even western powers that are still at loggerheads with the United States will not permit coalition troops to leave Iraq in such circumstances,” Mr Saeed added. “The United States committed a strategic mistake when it toppled the secular regime of President Saddam Hussein just to pave the ground for the erection of a theologian regime,” said Gahzi Rababaa, Professor, Political Science, at the University of Jordan. He pointed out that such an administration in Iraq would be unlikely to allow the U.S. access to Iraqi oil reserves.
— DPA |
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US Muslims concerned at bombing of mosques
New York, April 10 After their weekly Friday service at the Islamic Center of Long Island, 200 worshippers signed a petition to President George W. Bush. It not only condemned military actions at mosques, but urged the President to “bring home our boys and girls.” New York City area mosque was one of many where American Muslims were talking about the situation in Iraq on Friday. Over the past week, the conflict there has increased significantly — with heavy fighting around a mosque compound in Fallujah that was hit with a US missile and bomb. US military officials have said insurgents were using the mosque as a base of operations, making it a legitimate target under international rules of armed engagement. Copies of the Westbury petition, written on Thursday night by Ghazi Khankan, Regional Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, will be sent to 150 other mosques in New York City area for more signatures. “President Bush misled us to war in Iraq. He lied to us,” said Salahuddin Khwaja, an area businessman. “Iraqis and innocent soldiers are sacrificing their lives.” Khankan’s petition, which also condemned Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, said the United States should only work through the United Nations. Meanwhile, with the war in Iraq getting complicated and economy failing to pick up, President Bush’s approval rating has dipped to a new low with 49 per cent Americans surveyed approving and 47 per cent disapproving the way he is handling the job as President. Only 44 per cent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, down from 51 per cent in the last week of March. The new poll shows that 51 per cent now disapprove, the Time/CNN poll shows. But a majority of 55 per cent approve of the way President Bush handling terrorism while 39 per cent disapprove. Only four in 10 or 41 per cent approve of the President’s handling of economy while 54 per cent disapprove. But half of those surveyed believe that things are going very well or fairly well. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 per cent.
— PTI |
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Abductions plunge Japan Govt into crisis
Tokyo, April 10 Ruling party officials vowed not to give in to terrorists and reiterated that Japanese soldiers would continue their humanitarian mission in Iraq. Yesterday, Mr Koizumi denounced as “cowardly” the Iraqi captors’ threat to burn the three civilian hostages alive unless Tokyo gives in. About 1,000 anti-war activists rallied in the capital and more protests were planned for major cities across the country in support of captive aid workers Noriaki Imai (18), Nahoko Takato (34) and photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama (32). The demonstrators also sought to pressure the government to bow to the kidnappers’ demands. “Free the hostages! Withdraw self-defence forces!” activists shouted, using the official name for Japan’s military, as a crowd gathered in front of the Prime Minister’s official residence. Others held placards saying “Bring them home now!”
— AP |
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Explain role of contractors, Rumsfeld told
Washington, April 10 The letter follows the killing and mutilation of four US security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, on March 31. In a letter to Mr Rumsfeld dated April 8 — but released yesterday — the senators expressed concern about “private armies operating outside the control of governmental authority.” The letter also questioned if there were adequate numbers of US troops in Iraq. The signatories included Senate minority Leader Tom Daschle, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Mr Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts as well as Mr Carl Levin of Illinois. “The shocking deaths of four American security contractors in Fallujah have revealed the growing role that private security contractors are playing in Iraq,” the letter read. It said contractors — often former soldiers — operated in a fashion similar to special forces, but were not under US military control and not subject to rules governing the conduct of the American forces.
— AFP |
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Bombs explode in southern Thailand Bangkok, April 10 There were no casualties. The first bomb was planted in a garbage bin near a police officer’s house in Narathiwat province, damaging a mortorbike, the police said. The bomb was kept in the bin about 10 metres (30 feet) from the residence of Waeng district police chief Sunthorn Chalermkiat. It exploded at around 1145 GMT yesterday. The second explosion occurred about an hour later in Takbai district at the iron gate of a housing complex where 200 families of police and officials live. Police Maj-Gen Thanee Thawitchsri, top police commander in the south, said. “They were the act of a group of people who want to create turmoil and defy the government.” The blasts were the latest in a series of violent attacks. Thai security officials blame Muslim separatists, renegade officials and local gangs for the violence in which have killed more than 60 people since January. The Thai police said intelligence reports pointed to possible attacks by militants during Songkran, the Thai New Year holiday from April 13 to 15.
— Reuters |
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New status won’t affect ties with China: Kasuri
Beijing, April 10 “This is a unilateral decision that we have welcomed. It is neither a military alliance nor will it affect our relations with any other country,” Mr Kasuri was quoted as saying by the state-run China Daily today. The US has also given this status to Israel, Egypt, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Jordan, Argentina, New Zealand, Bahrain, the Philippines and Thailand, the paper noted. “The purpose of this decision by the US administration is to facilitate the purchase of military equipment by Pakistan from the US, particularly to assist us in the fight against terrorism,” Mr Kasuri, who concluded his first official visit to China yesterday, said. “Pakistan does not have any plans to hold joint military exercises with the US at the moment,” he added. However, the paper noted that Mr Kasuri did not rule out the possibility of this in the future. Joint military exercises are just “normal exchanges” between countries, he said. But he reiterated that Pakistan will not allow any foreign troops on to its soil. Mr Kasuri’s visit to Beijing comes a fortnight after Mr Powell announced during a visit to Islamabad that Washington had decided to designate Pakistan a major non-NATO ally which would allow Islamabad access to sophisticated American weaponry. Though China has downplayed the significance of the US move, analysts here fear that it may affect Beijing’s status as Islamabad’s main arms supplier in the long run. —PTI |
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Indian curry in Britain’s military food packs
London, April 10 The menu itself has been changed for the first time in 40 years. Instead of fish and chips or steak, most troops, it is said, would prefer to have the chicken tikka masala in place of Lancashire hotpot and dumplings now. The packs in the future will include various kinds of curries, particularly minced meat curry, and chocolate and a wider range of stews and steamed puddings to provide the targeted 4000 calories. The Indian curry has apparently passed the nutrition test, because the Ministry of Defence planned the radical changes in the menu after consultations with nutritionists. It also sought the opinion of its men and women. Most said it was time to move on from casseroles and stews introduced in the 1960s. About 60,000 new packs are scheduled to be sent out over the next few months, including to troops in Iraq. “We need to give them food that they recognise and is a comfort to them in testing times-such as curry and chocolate,” a Brigadier with the Defence Catering Group was quoted as saying. — UNI |
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Man forces daughter to lick floor, jailed Singapore, April 10 The 50-year-old man, who also punched and beat up the girl over a period of three years, pleaded guilty to seven charges of child abuse and seven charges of causing hurt, The Straits Times said. The daughter is now 18 and a polytechnic student. The father told the district court that he resorted to the punishments when she failed exams, was tardy, untidy or lied. The police was informed on August 16, 2001, after the girl told a counsellor at school that she wanted to kill herself. She was admitted to a psychiatric ward for depression. Judge Mavis Chionh noted the teenager suffered severe emotional trauma because her father subjected her to “great humiliation and shame”, the newspaper said. The first beating came when she was 14 with a plastic pipe, the court heard. Over the years, her father forced her to lick the floor, hit her with a belt, punched her for failing exams, rammed her head against a door for forgetting exam dates, and struck her on the head and knuckles with a ruler. The court barred publication of any information that could lead to the identification of the daughter.
— DPA Islamabad, April 10 Brig. Iqbal Tajwar(retd) and Naseemuddin Ahmed of the Khan Research Laboratory (KRL) and local businessman Aizaz Jaafery, who were taken into custody a few months ago, have been released, defence spokesman Major-General Shoukat Sultan said. Brig Tajwar was in charge of the Sports Department at KRL, while Nasmimuddin was quality controller. Maj-Gen Sultan said four scientists of the KRL were still under investigation.
— PTI |
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Window on Pakistan Somewhere General Pervez Musharraf has a streak to see that Pakistan gets modernised. It should be a country like Malaysia with fast industrial growth and modern state apparatus and yet remains an Islamic State. Often he says unbelievable things. For example the kind of Islam the mullahs preach and what the Madarsaas teach to the young would only add to bigotry. He has been making efforts to modernise the school curriculum by taking away the fundamentalist streak from history books and secularise the syllabus besides reforming Madarsaas. But as expected the religious political parties, which have thrived on bigotry, are opposing it. Dawn reported: “The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal has been joined by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) to resist the changes being made in the educational syllabus and launch a movement against ‘secularisation’ of society. MMA Deputy Secretary-General Liaquat Baloch and a senior PML-N leader, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, have declared that they will not accept any attempt to change the Islamic character of education or anything that affected the ideology of Pakistan.” They rejected government’s offer of sending the curricula issue to the House’s standing committee and demanded constitution of a special committee. Mr Baloch cited some changes including omission of Islamic teachings from the textbooks published recently by the textbook boards of Punjab and Sindh. Dawn also revealed: “A phased programme had been initiated to secularise the educational curricula by removing Quranic verses in the first stage describing them unnecessary and in the later altogether removing them by terming them as controversial. MMA mentioned removal of Quranic verses supporting various lessons from the Ist year book of biology published by the Sindh Text Book Board.” It is strange for the moderate Muslim league led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to join hands with the hardcore six-party Islamic outfit and ditch Benazir Bhutto’s PPP. Writing in Nation, Hasan Masud detailed the way history rewriting was being used worldwide to push particular ideologies. He wrote: “History is very much in debate these days. Yet again the curriculum of Pakistani schools is at the heart of the matter. Critics believe that history in Pakistan has been used to promote chauvinism. This question has gained critical importance ever since Pakistan has become the frontline state against terrorism. The world now realises the importance of the curriculum in Pakistani schools. Remember the Taliban! They were the products of our own religious school network. Many of them were fed on a bigoted version of history, which shaped their inverted worldview. The paradigm, which resulted, was catastrophic for the region.” Masud stated: “Pakistan is no different in that respect. Governments have tried to use history for nation building aims. Pakistani historians have been for decades producing narratives about South Asian history from a Muslim particularist perspective. Americans promoted the concept of ‘manifest destiny’ while the imperial propagandists espoused the theory of ‘white man’s burden’ to justify colonialism. The Soviets presented history as class struggle between the rich and the poor nations. The French fancy that they have some kind of a historical ‘mission’ to promote their values of liberty. Britain still tries to relive in the glory of the past by calling itself ‘Great’.” Masud mentioned the case of India: “Where the Indian right wing has used history for its narrow ends. For instance they have tried to eliminate from their textbooks that Aryans were invaders from the north. Despite repeated denials by independent historians the right wing insisted that the Babri Masjid was built on the site of a Ram Mandir. What is even more disturbing is the fact that attempts have been made to bring changes in the curriculum on these lines.” Moshin advocated a clear approach by saying: “History as a state-sponsored discipline is a kind of learned collective consciousness. It shapes the minds of our people and ultimately and our destiny. The choice before us is clear. We can continue teaching our children what we have for decades and create another generation of ill-informed people. Or we can move out of the web of clichés and untruths. Curriculum reform is only the first step.” |
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PLANE NEAR BUSH RANCH FORCED
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