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Speech didn’t reflect personal opinion: Pope
London terror plotter was ‘hardened’ in
Musharraf siding with Bush against
Top Al-Qaida militant held in Iraqi city
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‘Al-Qaida hijacked plane to Kandahar’
Indian couple found dead in Dubai
Israeli Cabinet approves probe into war
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Speech didn’t reflect personal opinion: Pope
Castel Gandolfo (Italy), September 17 “These (words) were in fact a quotation from a medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thought”, Benedict told pilgrims at his summer palace outside Rome. He noted that the Vatican Secretary of State yesterday had issued a statement trying to explain his words, which Benedict had delivered on Tuesday in a speech during a pilgrimage to his native Germany. “I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.” Speaking about his pilgrimage last week, he said, “At this time I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims.” “While anger over the Pope’s (Regensburg) remarks is necessary, it shouldn’t last long, because while he is the head of the Catholic Church in the world, many Europeans are not following (the church) so what he said won’t influence them”, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, told The Associated Press. In an unusual step, the Vatican’s press office released translations into English and French of the Pope’s statement. Usually the Sunday remarks, delivered in Italian, are not translated by the Vatican. Benedict looked relaxed when he greeted the pilgrims who were standing in pouring rain in the palace courtyard. He smiled and said he hoped it would be better weather on Wednesday for his general audience when he planned to recount more of his pilgrimage to the faithful. Metal-detecting wands were waved across visitors — heightened Vatican security measures employed since September 11, 2001, terror attacks. But, in a sign of even more security following the furore over the remarks, some pilgrims were patted down by the Italian police, and some metal-tipped umbrellas and bottles of liquid were confiscated from faithful waiting to enter the courtyard.
— AP
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London terror plotter was ‘hardened’ in ISI camp
London, September 17 One of the main accused in the trial, Omar Khyam has made a few startling statements in his defence that clearly establish a growing merger of Al-Qaida and the Kashmiri militants under the aegis of Pakistan’s Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI). Khyam, 24-year-old British Muslim, told the court on Thursday about his radicalisation process after a visit to an ISI-backed Pakistani training camp for militants fighting in Kashmir and a trip to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban. Khyam was arrested along with six others including his brother Shujah Mahmood in 2004 after fertiliser explosives were found in a storage depot in west London. He and his associates, alleged to belong to terror cell of Al-Qaida, have been charged of plotting to bomb nightclubs and other places in United Kingdom. In his testimony, Khyam stated how he came to know of the fighting in Kashmir between India and Pakistan with the ISI recruiting and training irregular mujahideen. A Guardian report quoted Khyam as saying: “I wanted to dedicate myself to helping Kashmiri Muslims, and go to Pakistan for military training”. In January 2000 he ran away to Pakistan and joined an ISI-run training camp for militants in the mountains near Rawalpindi, when he was just 18-year-old. “They told me everything I needed to know for fighting guerrilla warfare in Kashmir. That included training with AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns as well as reconnaissance and sniper techniques,” he added. After his training, he visited Kabul where he was impressed by the Taliban. “They were soft, kind and humble, but harsh with their enemies”, Khyam told court. But after the defeat of the Taliban by the NATO forces who took over Kabul, Khyam and his colleagues decided to return to their native countries with an aim to “establish an Islamic State”. Khyam’s deliberations in the court, where he narrated about his transformation from an ardent fan of the English football team to a radical terrorist, who “was happy” when the twin towers of World Trade Centre collapsed on 9/11, have baffled many here. Narrating his ideological journey, Khyam said: “I was born here and felt allegiance” but later joined an ISI-training camp for mujahideens in Kashmir, since ‘I wanted to help Kashmiri Muslims”.
— ANI
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Musharraf siding with Bush against Muslims: Taliban
Islamabad, September 17 “We know he (Musharraf) has been siding with President George W. Bush against fellow Muslims. At the behest of the USA, he waged war against the Taliban in Waziristan and is now publicly proposing to Karzai to jointly fight the Taliban and Talibanisation,” Taliban military commander Mulla Dadullah Akhund said. He said “Pakistan Taliban, which stopped fighting in Waziristan tribal belt following the recent agreement with the Pakistan Government would be justified to retaliate if Musharraf broke the truce and went back on his word for peacefully resolving the conflict. “The violation of the terms of the recent peace agreement in Waziristan would cause problems and destabilise the area,” he was quoted as saying by The News.
— PTI
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Top Al-Qaida militant held in Iraqi city
Baghdad, September 17 The militant, whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested on September 13, the military said. “Intelligence indicates he is an extremely active weapons facilitator associated with vehicle bomb attacks on the Iraqi police,” a statement from the military said. It said reports also pointed to his “involvement in arranging an upcoming meeting of high-level terrorists.” On September 10, the security forces had also killed a top aide of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the group’s leader in Iraq. Abu Jaffar al-Lybi, a Libyan, was killed in an operation in Baghdad’s Karrada district. Lybi was reported to be the head of “Al-Qaida’s criminal operations” in Baghdad’s Rusafa and Karrada districts and the restive province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad. Masri took over as the chief of the Al-Qaida’s operations in Iraq after the slaying of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a US air strike on June 7 near Baquba, the capital of Diyala province. — AFP
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‘Al-Qaida hijacked plane to Kandahar’
Islamabad, September 17 Abu Jandal, a former guard of Osama, said this in a documentary aired on Al-Jazeera television, reports the Daily Times. According him, Osama welcomed Maulana Masood Azhar after his release following negotiations between the Indian Government and the hijackers. “After two or three days, he invited Azhar to a lavish party where I was introduced to him. I was astonished to discover that Azhar and Osama already knew each other,” Jandal said.
— ANI
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Indian couple found dead in Dubai
Dubai, September 17 The bodies of Jaffer, 38, and Salina Mansil, 26, who had been living together for the past six months in Hor Al Anz were discovered by neighbours last night. “Jaffer has been working in the UAE for 16 years,” family sources told Emirates Today newspaper. The duo belonged to the Palodu region of Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, in Kerala, sources were quoted as saying. According to social workers in the country, the rate of suicides among Keralites living in Dubai was very high, so much so that the Pravasi Bandhu, an expatriate welfare association, has recently started a telephone counselling service to help people with depression and suicidal tendencies.
— PTI
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Israeli Cabinet approves probe into war
Jerusalem, September 17 The Cabinet voted 20-2 with one abstention to establish the five-member probe panel headed by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, which will look at the decisions by political and military leaders during the 34-day conflict, official sources said.
— PTI
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