Muslim Brotherhood set to get another blow
Cairo, September 6
Egypt’s army-backed authorities have decided to annul the Muslim Brotherhood as a registered non-governmental organisation, an official said on Friday, widening a drive to neutralise the movement behind deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

Peshawar, September 6
A senior leader of the Haqqani network was among six militants killed when a US drone targeted a compound in Pakistan’s lawless North Waziristan tribal region, officials said today.

Mullah Sangeen Zadran, described by the US as the shadow governor of Afghanistan’s Paktika province, was killed when the CIA-operated spy plane fired rockets at the compound in Darga Mandi village late last night. Zadran was blacklisted as a terrorist by both the US and the UN.

Some foreign fighters, including Zubair Muzi, Mohammad Abu Bilal al-Khorasani and Abu Dogan al-Khorasani of Jordan, were among the dead, officials said. Four militants were also injured in the strike.

The funeral prayers of the militants was held at the Tableeghi Markaz in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, at 3 pm. Announcements regarding the funeral were made on loudspeakers of mosques in Miranshah.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said such strikes set “dangerous precedents in the inter-state relations”.

“The government of Pakistan strongly condemns the US drone strike. These unilateral strikes are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Pakistan has repeatedly emphasised the importance of bringing an immediate end to drone strikes.” On August 31, a US drone strike killed at least four militants at a compound in a village located 35 km from Miranshah.

The US has not stopped its drone campaign despite repeated protests from Pakistan, which describes the attacks as counter-productive for the war on terror. US officials say the strikes have eliminated a lot of senior Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

According to reports, some 565 militants have died in around 400 drone strikes in Pakistan. However, rights groups say many non-combatants have also been killed. — PTI

Who was Sangeen Zadran? Sangeen Zadran was the operational commander in Pakistan's tribal areas for the Haqqani network, which regularly attacks US forces in Afghanistan from its mountain hideouts in Pakistan He also served as the Taliban's shadow governor of Afghanistan's Paktika province. The US placed Zadran, 45, on its list of global terrorists in 2011 He was accused of planning bomb attacks and assaults on US bases in eastern Afghanistan, planning movements of foreign Taliban fighters and orchestrating kidnappings of Afghan and foreign nationals in border areas His death will be a temporary blow to the Haqqani network, said Saifullah Mahsud of the FATA Research Center, a Pakistani thinktank that works in tribal areas

Male, September 6
Eighteen months after its first democratically elected President Mohamed Nasheed stepped down, Maldives will go to polls tomorrow under the watchful eyes of 102 international observers, which include a high-level team of former election commissioners from India.

Official sources here said preparations for the elections have so far been satisfactory but the real test will be tomorrow when polling begins in the island nation, which has witnessed a series of unsettling political events since Nasheed’s resignation in February 2012.

Over 2,229 local observers, 102 international observers, 1,343 representatives of political parties besides 1,642 local and 225 international journalists are keeping a hawk’s eye on the developments in this young multi-party democracy.

Over 2.39 lakh voters would cast their franchise to elect new President from among four candidates - incumbent Mohamed Waheed, former President and Maldivian Democratic Party candidate Nasheed, brother of ex-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Progressive Party of Maldives candidate Abdulla Yameen and Jumhooree Party candidate Gasim Ibrahim.

With such international attention, Election Commission of Maldives is trying hard to conduct free and fair polls and has involved NGOs like Transparency Maldives among the observers.

Nasheed, who won the first multi-party elections in 2008 and resigned after remaining in power for four years, termed the elections as a chance to restore democratic values. — PTI

Cairo, September 6
Egypt’s army-backed authorities have decided to annul the Muslim Brotherhood as a registered non-governmental organisation, an official said on Friday, widening a drive to neutralise the movement behind deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

The move applies to the non-governmental organisation registered by the Brotherhood in March, and stems from accusations that it used its premises to store weapons and explosives. The decision has yet to be formally announced, the official said.

The army-backed government is waging the toughest crackdown in decades on the Islamist group, which says it has a million members. Security forces have killed hundreds of its supporters and rounded up thousands more since Mursi was deposed by the army on July 3 after mass protests against him. Although short of a ban, dissolving the NGO will strip the Brotherhood of a defence against challenges to its legality.

Egypt’s then army rulers formally dissolved the Brotherhood in 1954. Social Solidarity Minister Ahmed el-Boraie has now decided to dissolve the Brotherhood’s NGO, ministry spokesman Hany Mahana said. The move will be announced once the minister returned from an overseas trip. “Dr el-Boraie has decided to dissolve the organisation. The decree has not been issued yet,” he said.

The General Federation of NGOs wrote to the ministry on Thursday consenting to the dissolution of the Brotherhood NGO after its leaders missed a deadline to answer the accusations. These relate to violence that erupted after Mursi was deposed, when armed men were seen firing on protesters outside the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo. — Reuters