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- By Charlotte Boitiaux, France 24

On the evening of March 28, a Muslim clothes trader watched as his warehouse was ransacked by an angry crowd of some 500 Sri Lankans. Buddhist monks among the attackers were filmed throwing stones at the Fashion Bug outlet in capital Colombo.

According to BBC reporter Charles Haviland, several people including a number of journalists recording the scenes were injured.

It was not an isolated incident. In the past few months, the number of attacks on the minority Muslim population (9 percent) in the Buddhist-dominated country has been growing.

As well as targeting shops, Muslims have reported vandalism against mosques as well as calls for a boycott on their products and services.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, a junior coalition partner in the government of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, has denounced the “hate campaign” being waged against Muslims which the authorities are blaming on a hard core of extremist Buddhist monks.

Islam ‘the invader’

The notion of hate campaigns goes against the grain of Buddhism’s image as a religion of peace and tolerance.

According to Raphael Liogier, a Buddhism specialist at the Aix-en-Provence Institute of Political Studies, Sri Lanka’s majority Buddhist community (70 percent) fears that Islam is muscling its way into the social and cultural fabric of the island.

“Sri Lanka’s entire identity is Buddhist,” explained Liogier. “Buddhism isn’t just a religion, it’s a profound cultural identity, a national identity.”

This identity is being undermined by Islam according to some hardliners, says Liogier.
“These fanatical Buddhist monks consider Muslims to be invaders who are threatening Sri Lanka’s soul,” Liogier said. “They believe they need to resist it.”

The epicentre of that resistance is radical political movement “Bodu Bala Sena” (BBS).
Considered an “ethno-religious fascist” group by Sri Lankan diplomat and political scientist Dayan Jayatilleka, BBS was created ten months ago and is experiencing “worrying success”, according to Liogier.

Collective paranoia

Exploiting an undercurrent of resentment within the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka, the BBS has extended its appeal into mainstream politics.

On March 11 the group’s political muscle was behind an order to remove the Muslim “halal” label from foods sold in the country – despite the fact that nearly all the meat in Sri Lanka is killed according to Muslim rules simply because it is the cheaper method.

For the Buddhist monks, being reminded every day that their meat was “halal” was an affront to their cultural identity.

The Muslim “All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama” organisation accepted the removal of the “halal” labelling from meat, stating that it did so to encourage religious harmony.

But despite the concession, Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority risks being put on the back foot by the growing Buddhist fanaticism in the form of the BBS.

“As with all religions, Buddhism has an extremist fringe that exploits collective paranoia,” said Liogier. “And in Sri Lanka it is the Muslim community that is bearing the brunt of this extremism.”

It remains to be seen if the tension in Sri Lanka is a flash in the pan or a sign of growing intolerance towards a persecuted religious minority that is spreading throughout Southeast Asia.

“What worries me is that we are seeing the same tensions and the same violence towards Muslims in Burma,” said Longier. “I worry that the Buddhist identity crisis affecting both Sri Lanka and Burma is deepening and that it will become a phenomenon seen across Southeast Asia in the coming decades.”

Source

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• “Muslim women should not be allowed to wear the Niqab in Sri Lanka”: Bodu Bala Sena (alhittin.com)
• Sri Lanka’s Buddhist group vows to destroy Masjid in Kuragala (alhittin.com)
• Fascist Sri Lanka? Beleagured Muslims give up Halal certification (alhittin.com)
• Buddhist group in Sri Lanka has called for the abolition of the halal food system and building of mosques (alhittin.com)
• Sri Lanka: Muslims threatened by rising Buddhist extremism (alhittin.com)

- By AFP, Islamabad

Hundreds of supporters of different religious and political parties take part
in an anti-U.S. and Indian rally organized by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council
in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (Reuters)

More than half of young Pakistanis believe democracy has not been good for their country and nearly 40 percent are in favor of having Islamic sharia rule, according to a survey published Wednesday.

Pakistan goes to the polls in a historic general election on May 11, but the report by the British Council found deep pessimism about the political system among voters aged 18 to 29.

An overwhelming 96 percent of those surveyed in the “Next Generation Goes to the Ballot Box” report said the country was heading in the wrong direction and almost a third said they would prefer military rule to democracy.

Just 29 percent chose democracy as the best system for Pakistan, a constitutional Islamic republic, with 38 percent favoring sharia, saying it was the best for giving rights and freedom and promoting tolerance.

But the report noted that none of those surveyed had any direct experience of living under a non-democratic system of Islamic government and some had “elevated views” of what such a setup could achieve.

“As a Muslim, I believe in Khalifa rule. Democracy is like giving your country and faith to America,” one respondent, Muhammad Usama, was quoted as saying.

A study commissioned for the report estimated there are more than 25 million registered voters aged 18 to 29 in Pakistan, or slightly more than 30 percent of the electorate.

The coalition government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) ended on March 16, paving the way for the country’s first democratic transition of power.

Analysts have hailed the event as an important milestone in Pakistan’s short but turbulent history, which has seen three periods of military rule. However, the PPP has been dogged throughout by allegations of corruption and incompetence.

Pakistan suffers crippling power shortages and gun and bomb attacks by Taliban and other militants are a near-daily scourge.

More than three-quarters of those surveyed for the report said the way the country was governed had worsened since the last election, while 58 percent disagreed with the statement “democracy has been good for Pakistan” in the past four years.

There was some support for a return to military rule, the most recent bout of which ended in 2008 when the PPP took power after nine years under General Pervez Musharraf, and the survey found high levels of support for the armed forces.

“Pakistan was developing and progressing well during the dictatorship. Now there is no electricity, no gas, no water and most important of all there is no law in this country,” student Waqas Razzaq, from Rawalpindi, told the survey.

Despite Islamist and sectarian violence that has claimed thousands of lives in Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the survey found inflation and unemployment were young people’s biggest concerns.

Only 10 percent of those surveyed rated terrorism as the most important issue facing the country.

The report was based on four commissioned studies, an online consultation and 5,271 in person interviews with people aged 18 to 29 around Pakistan, with a stated margin of error of less than 1.5 percent.

Source

Reports of what actually took place in the Central Myanmar town of Meiktila are still emerging. IDPs are beginning to speak out and tell the world of what they witnessed with their own eyes.

“They beat them in front of me. I was watching. I can still see it.” Noor Bi, is crying as she describes the moment when she saw her husband and brother murdered in front of her eyes as she fled Meiktila.

The mob out numbered the police and they were unable to protect the Muslim minority of the town. The 26-year-old is now a widow with a three-year-old son. As she told her story and what she witnessed, the people around her in the make shift IDP camp now set up in the grounds of a Muslim school in Yindaw, began to cry. Grown men sobbed at hearing her ordeal.

“They beat them and beat them, they were still alive when they threw my husband and brother in the fire. They were burnt alive.” Tears stream down her face as she continues to relay her account.

“Once they had finished, they told us to bow down to them. We bowed down towards Mecca, but they started to beat us.” Noor pauses and then seems reluctant to tell the next part of her ordeal.

“The police asked the monks and the mob to stop beating us and that they would ensure that we would bow down to the monks.” The faces of the other people listening clearly show their disgust at what she described.

“They made us worship them. That is why we lived on that day,” she looks to the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with me or anyone else. No one blames her; Muslims only bow down in prayer to God, but this was life or death, the IDPs around her, men and women, young and old, all of them Muslim, understand this more than anyone.

The monks that asked to be worshipped were young. Noor Bi was even beaten whilst she was holding her three-year-old son causing her to drop him. Her son was saved by a Buddhist woman who sheltered him and took him to safety.

The fifteen women were put on a police truck and taken to a police station. The police asked them to stay quiet, as they needed to go back and rescue others.

Noor Bi’s account is not isolated. Sixteen-year-old Muhammed (name changed for his safety) saw his friends killed in front of his eyes.

The violence started on the 20th March after an apparent dispute at a gold shop led to mob attacks against the Muslim minority in Meiktila. Muhammed and his fellow students went into hiding when Buddhist monks burnt down their boarding school. It was 9:30am the following morning when the police arrived in three trucks to escort the students to safety.

Muhammed and the students were asked by the police to get on the police trucks. There was only one problem though; they had to get to the trucks and a mob stood between them and safety.

“I felt sick the last time I recalled this.” His eyes look tired, he tells me he is not sleeping well and had a nightmare only last night. “The Buddhists refused to let us walk through their area, even with the police escort. We had to try and walk around, there were not enough police to protect us.” His eyes are full of pain.

“We had to put out hands over our heads and bow our heads and pay homage to the monks as we walked,” Muhammed raises his hands above his head joining his palms together to illustrate what they were forced to do. “They began to attack us. I saw my friends murdered.”

“They dragged Abu Bakr away as he attempted to get on the truck, and began to beat him, he was still alive when they threw him in the fire. He stood back up, and then they stabbed him in the stomach with a sword, twisting it whilst it was in him.” He takes a deep breath, his hands tensed and grasping each other.

“I can still see and hear it.” His family stands around attempting to give him support, his uncle rubs his hand down his back, trying to ease the suffering this young boy has had to endure. Muhammed told me that there were a few new faces within the mob; he described them as having long red hair.

100 people began that walk to the police trucks. By the end of it 25 students and four teachers were murdered, beaten, stabbed and burnt alive. 71 survived but mentally scared for life. There are pictures that corroborate the accounts.

There are many other eyewitness accounts of the horror that took place in Meiktila, they are slowly reaching the world. We must ensure they are not lost.

Source

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• Massacre in #Meiktila: That was my friend (alhittin.com)
• Police ‘rescue’ team handed over Muslims to Buddhist mob, says eyewitness #Meiktila (alhittin.com)
• How Do Buddhist Attacks on Muslims Help Burma’s Government?#Meiktila (alhittin.com)
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• Two killed as extremist Myanmar Buddhists torch mosques (alhittin.com)

- By Arif Shafi Wani

Srinagar, Apr 2: Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission (SHRC) Tuesday revealed that a teenager of Sopore was killed in 1997 a fake encounter in Handwara allegedly by Army and labeled as a militant. The Commission asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to order reopening and reinvestigation of the case by an upright officer not below the rank of a Dy SP and recommended action against then SHO Handwara for negligent approach in probing the case. It also recommended relief of one lakh rupees and benefit of SR0-43 to the deceased’s family.

In his complaint to the Commission, the family of an eight class student Showkat Ahmad Najar son of Ghulam Hassan Najar of Sir Syed Adab Sopore has stated that he was kidnapped by some unidentified gunmen on May 23, 1997 and later his body was handed over by police after a month. The Commission had sought a factual report from DGP.  In his report the DGP had stated that on June 23, 1997 an encounter took place between militants and personnel of 21 RR at Nagranar Handwara in which one person was killed who was identified as Showkat Ahmad Najar. The police report said that FIR no 3 of 1997 stands registered in Police Station Handwara which shows that even some arms and ammunition was also recovered from the possession of Showkat.

The family had rebutted the police statement and filed a rejoinder on July 20 last year. The Commission directed the SSP SHRC to get the matter investigated by a Dy.SP.

“In view of the facts and circumstances it has surfaced that no encounter has taken place but the boy might have been lifted by Army from Sopore area and killed in Handwara in a fake encounter. It is worthwhile to mention here that after the episode the police has not taken any cognizance in the case, no FIR has been lodged,” SSP SHRC states in his report.

“Police have completed only one formality…taken the body from Army and handed it over to his father,” the report adds.

Hearing the case today, the SHRC member Javaid Kawoos passed strictures against police for casual approach in the case.

“An 18 year old young boy lost his life in a fake encounter and till date nobody has either been booked or punished for the offence, rather other way round, the innocent boy, as per the investigation conducted by Dy.SP SHRC, is being wrongly projected as a militant,” the member observed in his order.

“Had the encounter been genuine some security personnel or civilians must have also sustained injuries during the same but the reports state that no one was injured in the incident. All these facts substantiate the findings arrived at by the Dy SP SHRC,” the member observed.

 Detecting loopholes in the police investigation, the member states, “I am shocked to note that the incident of death of a person has also been entered in a six months post dated FIR which primarily has been registered for fire and arson cases. This speaks about the inefficiency of the police officer concerned which needs to be evaluated because it has directly affected human rights of the citizen(s) of the State,” the member observed.

Elaborating the member states that the FIR was registered in the fire and arson case in which house of one Krishan Lal was burnt in a militancy-related incident. All of a sudden the said FIR regarding the fire and arson to the property has been changed and supplemented with the incident of death of Showkat Ahmad Najar. “This all is mockery of policing and blot on fair and impartial investigation,” the member observed.

The member recommended ex-gratia relief of one lakh rupees to the family of the deceased and benefit of SR0-43. “Regarding inaction of police concerned, it is further recommended that DGP J&K will reopen the investigation of FIR no 3 of 1997 and entrust the further investigation of the same under section 173 of CrPC to an upright officer not below the rank of a Dy SP,” the member stated in the order.

“It is further recommended that the careless, insensitive, inefficient and negligent approach adopted by the then SHO Handwara has clearly contributed to the commission of violation of human rights and negligence in prevention of the same. So proceedings under section 19 (1) of Jammu and Kashmir Protection of Human Rights Act 1997 be initiated against him,” the order states.

The member stated that the Commission would have been more powerful and in comfortable position had the State Government under Chapter V of the J&K Protection of Human Rights Act 1997 created human rights court or by notification under section 20 of the Act specified any court of Session to be a human rights court.

“This could have paved way for prosecution of the delinquent officer (s),” the member stated.

Source

Israel has been continuously violating the ceasefire since November with the first violation coming on the very second day after the agreement. The Jerusalem Fund has published an extensive list of ceasefire violations by Israel since November which is published as under.

- By Palestine Center

Israeli border policemen remove a Palestinian medic during clashes at a protest, held without a police permit, outside Jerusalem’s Old City April 2, 2013. (Reuters)

On 21 November 2012, Israel and Hamas came to a ceasefire agreement to end the 14 day attacks that had killed many and injured hundreds of innocent civilians starting 14 November.The terms of the latest agreement include ending all hostilities by Israelis and Palestinians, and facilitating the freedom of movement and transfer of goods within Gaza. Though mainstream media has been silent, Israel has violated these simple truce points continuouslysince they were agreed upon. Not only are the crossings still very restricted, but the fire into Gaza continues, with the first one occurring the next day after the truce agreement.

Here we list some of Israel’s breaches of the ceasefire agreement and will continue to update as events occur. We’ll keep track even as others look away.

11/22/2012

“Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip late Thursday after he approached a fence on the border, medics said.” (Read more)

11/23/2012

“A 20-year-old Palestinian was killed and 10 others injured by Israeli forces Friday, Palestinian medical officials told NBC News, despite the U.S.-brokered cease-fire declared Wednesday.” (Read more)

11/25/2012

“Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, lightly injuring one man, a Gaza medical official said.” (Read more)

11/26/2012

“Two people were shot by Israeli forces east of Rafah on Monday, a health ministry spokesman said, in the second consecutive day of shooting along Gaza’s border.” (Read more)

11/28/2012

“Israeli forces detained nine fishermen off Gaza’s north coast on Wednesday, a local official said. As part of a ceasefire to end Israel’s recent eight-day war on Gaza, Israel agreed to allow fishermen to sail six nautical miles off the coast of Gaza instead of three, which had been the limit under Israel’s siege” (Read more)

11/29/2012

“Israeli military vehicles crossed near the al-Qarara town northeast of Khan Younis on Thursday in a new breach of the Gaza ceasefire, a Ma’an reporter said.” (Read more)

“On Wednesday Israeli forces shot and injured seven Palestinians near the border in the central Gaza Strip, medics said. Seven people were shot at east of al-Maghazi and al-Bureij refugee camps and transferred to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. One man sustained serious injuries, medical officials told Ma’an.” (Read more)

“Earlier, 27-year-old Hassan Ahmad Nseir was shot by Israeli forces near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip while collecting iron and gravel, medics told Ma’an.” (Read more)

11/30/2012

“On Friday, 11 Palestinians sustained wounds by Israeli fire along the borders between the Gaza Strip and Israel.” (Read more) 

12/01/2012

“The Israeli navy on Saturday stopped 13 Palestinian fishermen and detained them off the coast, a Gaza official said.” (Read more)  

12/02/2012

“An unexplained explosion in the central Gaza Strip injured three people on Sunday morning, a medical official said.” (Read more)  

“A young Palestinian man died late Friday of wounds he sustained hours earlier by Israeli gunfire east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.” (Read more)  

12/03/2012

“Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian teenager on Monday near a border fence area of central Gaza, medics said.” (Read more)

12/10/2012

“Witnesses said Israeli military vehicles crossed the border into the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis on Monday morning.” (Read more)

12/14/2012

“A young Palestinian man was shot and injured Friday evening by Israeli soldiers east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, medical officials said.” (Read more)

12/16/2012

“A Palestinian man was shot in the chest by Israeli forces near the Gaza border on Sunday, witnesses said.” (Read more)

12/17/2012

“Israeli naval forces shot and wounded a Palestinian fisherman in waters off the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, sources on both sides said.” (Read more)

12/18/2012

“On Tuesday morning, a number of Israeli military vehicles invaded the eastern part of Khan Younis to the south of the Gaza Strip.” (Read more)

12/21/2012

“Israeli forces shot and injured five Palestinians on Friday in the northern Gaza Strip, a health ministry spokesman said. Ashraf al-Qidra said five Palestinians were hospitalized with moderate wounds after being shot near the border with Israel. “ (Read more)

01/03/2013

“Israeli military vehicles briefly entered the Gaza Strip borders on Thursday to level land, eyewitnesses told Ma’an.” (Read more)

01/05/2013

“Israeli soldiers shot and injured a man in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, a health ministry spokesman said. Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma’an said that Abdullah al-Zaneen, 32, was shot by Israeli forces east of Beit Hanoun. Al-Zaneen was employed by the Gaza government to work in a rubbish tip in the area.” (Read more)

01/08/2013

“Israel closed the Erez crossing with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, sources in Gaza said.” (Read more)

01/10/2013

“Israeli military vehicles crossed into northern Gaza to level land on Thursday morning, witnesses told Ma’an.” (Read more)

01/11/2013

“Israeli forces fired at the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, killing one man and injuring another, medics said.” (Read more)

01/14/2013

“Several Israeli military vehicles breached the border with the Gaza Strip on Monday morning, but no confrontations were reported.” (Read more)

“A man shot by Israeli forces in north Gaza died late Monday, Palestinian medics said.” (Read more)

01/18/2013

“A Palestinian man was shot and injured by Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said.” (Read more)

01/21/2013

“Israeli forces have shot and wounded a Palestinian in the besieged Gaza Strip, once again violating the ceasefire agreement of November 2012.” (Read more)

01/22/2013

“Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, as general elections take place across the country.” (Read more)

01/29/2013

“Israeli forces shot and injured a man in north Gaza on Tuesday, medics said.” (Read more)

02/01/2013

“Two Palestinians were injured Friday by cross-border gunfire from Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip.” (Read more)

02/05/2013

“Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, witnesses said.” (Read more)

02/14/2013

“Israeli military vehicles crossed into northern Gaza to level lands on Thursday morning, witnesses told Ma’an.” (Read more)

02/19/2013

“Israeli military vehicles on Tuesday briefly entered border areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, locals said.” (Read more)

“At approximately 10:15 on Monday, 19 February 2013, an Israeli gunboat attacked a Palestinian fishing boat, boarding 2 fishermen, sailing 1 nautical miles off al-Sundaniya shore in the northern Gaza Strip.” (Read more)

02/23/2013

“Israeli military vehicles entered the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday and leveled farmland near the border, witnesses said.” (Read more)

02/25/2013

“Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man Friday afternoon east of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip injuring him in the foot.” (Read more)

02/26/2013

“Israeli authorities closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday, after a rocket was fired from the coastal territory, a Palestinian border official said.” (Read more)

02/27/2013

“Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom crossing point in the Gaza Strip for a second day in a row Wednesday after a projectile fired from Gaza struck Israeli territory.” (Read more)

02/28/2013

“Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom crossing point in the Gaza Strip for the third day in a row Thursday after a projectile fired from Gaza struck Israeli territory Monday.” (Read more)

03/01/2013

“Israeli forces shot and injured three people in northern Gaza on Friday, a medical official said.” (Read more)

“Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom crossing point in the Gaza Strip for the fourth day in a row Friday, sealing traffic in Gaza until at least Sunday.” (Read more)

03/07/2013

“Israeli forces on Thursday conducted a limited incursion near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.” (Read more)

03/08/2013

“Israeli forces shot and injured a man in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said.” (Read more)

03/11/2013

“Israeli military vehicles crossed into an area southeast of Gaza City on Monday, locals said.” (Read more)

03/13/2013

“Israeli military vehicles crossed east of Khan Younis on Wednesday in a new breach of the Gaza ceasefire, a Ma’an reporter said.” (Read more) 

03/21/2013

“Israeli authorities on Thursday decided to close the Karem Shalom crossing a few hours after opening it on Thursday morning, officials said.” (Read more)

“Israel will reduce the Gaza fishing zone as punishment for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip following a rocket attack, the Israeli military announced Thursday.” (Read more)

03/23/2013

“Israeli forces opened fire at fishermen off Gaza’s coast on Saturday, forcing them to comply with a newly imposed reduced fishing zone following a rocket attack on southern Israel.” (Read more)

03/25/2013

“Israeli forces opened fire at fishermen off Gaza’s coast on Saturday, forcing them to comply with a newly imposed reduced fishing zone following a rocket attack on southern Israel.” (Read more)

03/26/2013

“Israeli authorities kept the Kerem Shalom crossing closed for a fifth day on Monday, after imposing a closure last week following rocket fire from Gaza.” (Read more)

Source

Flickr.com/ Diane M. Byrne

MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – A court in south Russia has banned as “extremist” a book entitled “How to Accept Islam,” officials said on Tuesday.

The Krasnoyarsk district court ordered all copies of the book to be confiscated and destroyed.

Investigators, citing linguistic experts, said the book, by Muhammad Suleiman Ashkara, encouraged religious hatred.

The court said the book was discovered during a May 2011 raid at the Krasnoyarsk home of a man suspected of links to an extremist Islamic organization.

The book had not, however, been added to the Justice Ministry’s extensive list of extremist materials as of Tuesday afternoon.

Russia’s laws aimed at countering extremism were originally passed in 2002 and later amended in 2007. Originally introduced in a bid to curb promotion of nationalism and religious and sectarian hatred by fringe political groups, critics say the laws are often misused to put pressure on religious minorities or those who criticize the establishment.

Source

Related articles

• Russia bans lecture by Sheikh Khalid Yasin (alhittin.com)
• Video: How could Britain ban books in the 21st century? The ban on Qutb’s Milestones, and the fear of Islam (alhittin.com)
• Forbidden Islam: British courts bans “Political” Islam in move to McCarthyism (alhittin.com)

The Pakistani authorities investigating the March 18 fidayeen attack on the Judicial Complex in Peshawar which killed four people and injured 50-plus others have reported to the Ministry of Interior that it was the second act of terrorism which has been attributed to the Aafia Siddiqui Brigade.

The first act was the March 20, 2012 bombing of a police van on the Peshawar Ring Road which had killed two policemen.

The law enforcement agencies investigating the Judicial Complex assault [which killed two policemen] have informed the Ministry of Interior that the responsibility for the fidayeen attack was claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying: “The attack was carried out by the outfit’s Aafia Siddiqui Brigade and it was meant to avenge the failure of Pakistani judiciary to protect an innocent Pakistani scientist, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who, is being held behind the bars in the United States. We pompously claim the Peshawar suicide attack. Our war against the ‘infidel’ government will continue. We had offered peace talks to the government but it did not reciprocate accordingly”, Ehsan added.

The Complex, which is located in the high security zone of Peshawar Cantonment on the Khyber Road, is surrounded by several sensitive buildings of the Central Prison Peshawar, the Peshawar High Court, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly, Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines, Civil Secretariat, Pearl Continental Hotel and the residences of the Corps Commander Peshawar and the Commandant of the Frontier Constabulary. It was for the first time in recent years that the TTP not only claimed a terrorist attack which directly targeted the Pakistani judiciary, but also attributed it to Aafia Siddiqui Brigade. Interestingly, many of those injured in the Judicial Complex attack were ladies, especially Additional District and Sessions Judge Kulsoom Azam who had a narrow escape after one of the bombers exploded himself inside her court room to avoid arrest. Both the suicide bombers were carrying six kilograms each of explosives in their jackets.

The law enforcement agencies have apprised the Ministry of Interior that the last terror attack attributed to the Aafia Siddiqi Brigade had taken place precisely a year ago – on March 20, 2012 – and that too in Peshawar when a police van was bombed near the Qamardin Gari Bridge, killing two policemen including an assistant sub-inspector. While claiming responsibility, a TTP spokesman [Mukaram Khurasani] had stated on March 21, 2012 that the van was ambushed by the Aafia Siddiqui Brigade of the TTP as part of its strategy of targeting the Pakistani security forces. He had further warned the Pakistan government to immediately release the arrested family members of Osama bin Laden, saying they were innocent children and women and they should not be handed over to the Americans. The terrorists had planted 10 to 12 kilograms of explosives to detonate the van.

Dr Aafia Siddiqui was arrested in Afghanistan by the US-led Allied Forces in 2003 for allegedly carrying two pounds of sodium cyanide and crumpled notes referring to mass casualty attacks targeting New York landmarks. The day after her arrest, she allegedly grabbed an M-4 rifle in her interrogation room and started shooting while yelling ‘death to America, the trial jury said. No US agents or soldiers were hit, but Aafia was shot and wounded in response. Her defence lawyers, who were paid by Pakistan government, argued that their client had shot at the US officials in panic and said the crime lacked any connection to terrorism. Aafia Siddiqui was subsequently sentenced by US District Judge Richard Berman in September 2010 on charges of attempted murder and armed assault. But Aafia persistently denied the charges.

The al-Qaeda as well as the Pakistani and the Afghan Taliban have often demanded her release in the past. In December 2010, top al-Qaeda ideologue Abu Yahya al Libi had released a propaganda tape calling on Muslims to wage jihad to avenge Aafia Siddiqui. The tape was titled ‘Aafia Siddiqui, captivity and oppression, where are the heroes?’ On July 31, 2011, the TTP’s deputy ameer Commander Waliur Rehman Mehsud said he had ordered the kidnapping of a Swiss couple in Balochistan which would only be released if the Americans freed Aafia Siddiqui. Waliur Rehman said that the Swiss have not been tortured. But he said that if Siddiqui is not freed, a Taliban court will decide the fate of the couple.

In a video released on September 10, 2012, al-Qaeda ameer Dr Ayman al Zawahiri had claimed responsibility for the abduction of a senior USAID official from Lahore, saying: “We, by the grace of Allah, announce that we will not release the American captive Warren Weinstein, Allah willing, until the Crusaders release our captives including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and Aafia Siddiqui”. In April 2012, it was the turn of the Afghan Taliban to demand $1 million and the release of 20 Afghan prisoners along with Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for the release of an American soldier Bowe Bergdahl who was taken hostage in June 2009 from the Paktika Province.

Source

- By Linah Alsaafin

Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah protest the death of
Maysara Abuhamdia in Israeli custody today. (Issam Rimawi / APA images)

Maysara Abuhamdia has died, shackled to his bed in Saroka Hospital. He was 64 years old.

This marks the second time in less than two months that a Palestinian prisoner has died in custody. Arafat Jaradat was tortured to death in Megiddo prison on 23 February.

Information on Abuhamdia’s life and resistance to the Israeli occupation, and details on how the Israeli prison authorities delayed treatment for his cancer for many months can be found in my article for The Electronic Intifada, published yesterday. Today, I woke up to an email message from Tariq Abuhamdia, Maysara’s oldest son currently studying in Virginia, who thanked me for highlighting his father’s cause.

When I reached my office this morning, I received the news that Maysara had passed away. It wasn’t altogether shocking, but it still was a kick in the stomach for me.

An article in the Ayyam newspaper today quoted the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Prisoner Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, as saying that there are 25 other prisoners who have cancer.  Ziad Abu-Ein, the deputy minister of prisoners, was quoted in a press conference today as saying, “Israel no longer is entrusted with the safety of the prisoners.”

Two sides of the same coin

As one friend commented, “The very thought of even having a ministry for prisoners is such a dirty idea.”

Twenty-one prisoners began a hunger strike on 31 March in Eshel prison, in support of Maysara Abuhamdia, according to Ayyam. They were attacked with batons and tear gas, and dragged off to solitary confinement by the prison authorities as a means of pressuring them to quit.

Another friend sarcastically tweeted, “Did the third intifada start yet?”

We’ve witnessed the protests fuelled by anger over Muhammad al-Salaymeh’s death in Hebron last year; he was killed on his 17th birthday (12 December) by an Israeli border official. We’ve seen the protests as they rippled mostly from Hebron when Arafat Jaradat was killed. These waves of anger — with protests closely monitored by Palestinian Authority security forces and intelligence officers — subside almost as quickly as they begin. And we find ourselves — those who are outside of the prison cells and “free” — shackled and mute. We utilize social media as a platform to furiously denounce the collaborative role the PA plays in ensuring Israel’s security at the expense of our people. Yet we remain silent on the ground, helpless and drowning in a sea of PA complicity.

Meanwhile the prisoners — who spend their youths locked up behind bars, banned from their loved ones, who use every weapon they have from hunger striking to disobedience to resist against their occupiers — seem more and more like the liberated ones.

There is no question that the road to liberation passes through the PA compound of themuqataa. The PA and the Israeli occupation are two sides to the same coin. They both must be annihilated.

“Not helpless”

On 15 March, Tariq Abuhamdia recorded a message directed at the Palestinian leadership.  It was one of the most eloquent and hard-hitting verbal attacks delivered to the PA. I have translated his message, with the help of Yasmine Hamayel:

Don’t you dare think that Maysara’s case is a humanitarian issue. Maysara is a national issue. Maysara is a national issue just like the Palestine cause. You will not feel that it will be solved unless the leadership is dissolved. Maysara is not an issue of a prisoner or a sick person. Maysara is the issue of a government and an authority that day and night say “we are helpless” — an authority helpless in front of every national topic. Every topic has a value. It is helpless in front of settlements. It is helpless in front of Jerusalem. It is helpless in front of refugees. It is helpless in front of the occupation. It is helpless in front of corruption.

Suddenly this leadership stops being helpless, when it comes to beating up people. Our state is incapable of liberating one prisoner, but it was not helpless to beat me up for being in one demonstration for Gaza. It is not helpless to send two security patrol cars to prevent people from getting angry at the occupation every time the occupation commits a crime. It is not helpless when it comes to uncovering weapon warehouses and tunnels and resistance cells. It is not helpless when it comes to getting permits for “his highness” or “his eminence” or “his excellency” (this governor or that security commander).

Maysara is the cause of a leadership which has sunk in humiliation. It is the leadership that has continued to bathe in corrupting wealth, and drowned in humiliation for so long to the point that it implements the Oslo accords from cover to cover in all of its details through the hanbali [strict] way. At the same time this leadership did not bother to intervene to free one officer of the many officers who have served this country. The issue of Maysara is thus very clear on one thing: all the talk on reconciliation is nothing but lies and fraudulence.

The PA security forces that Maysara served in left him in prison without even bringing him a lawyer because there was one word on his file: Hamas.

Maysara will die. And whether he dies on his prison bed, or during the bosta [a windowless vehicle with a metal corrugated interior used to transfer prisoners], or during the counting and standing of prisoners that take place five times a day in Israeli prison, he always knew from the start where his destiny would be. And he will die an honorable and dignified death. But his death shames those who call themselves the leadership; his death shames us all.

It is shameful to the point where you want to throw the books about the history of Islam in the sewers. It is a disgrace to the point where “Abdullah” [slave of God] has become “AbdelRateb” [slave of the salary] and is afraid to speak or show his face. He will listen to what I’m saying and swallow uneasily and turn away, afraid to speak out against them lest the government frowns on him.

It’s sickening. The official suits, the escorts and entourage, the convoys. The sycophantic prose…it is just sickening. The prisoners and especially the sons of Fatah are nothing more than propaganda for elections. And when the elections are over, you return back to your air-conditioned offices while the prisoner remains in his cell.

You have turned the prisoners detained by the security forces into doormats in an attempt to convince people that you are respectable beings after you arrest a patriotic youth or when you find yourselves in the middle of a scandal.

You will never face corruption charges, precisely because you represent the corrupt. You will never confront the occupation, because you have become part of the occupation. You will never be able to liberate not one prisoner, because you yourselves are not free.

Thank you. It is because of you that our dreams have shrunk from liberation and a homeland to giving a medicine pill to a sick prisoner in his cell. Thank you. Thank you for transforming Fatah into a mechanism merely for exploitative elections, festivals, and social gatherings. God is watching everything and knows what you do.

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