Archive for September, 2008

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Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: We Muslims who despair of terrorism

September 22, 2008

The Independent, Monday Sep 22, 2008

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The admired Scots-Pakistani novelist Suhayl Saadi and his wife, Alina Mirza, who runs a Pakistani film festival in Glasgow, are dear friends. They got married at the Marriot in Islamabad, just bombed by Islamicist murderers who sent in a delivery of lethal explosives in a lorry, during Ramadan. Nice work, guys. Allah will surely reward you aplenty for the slaughter of the blameless, sent off with less ceremony than goats and chickens who, at least, are prayed for as their throats are cut. Ah but they only razed a temple of Western decadence, and many Muslims who worked or went there weren’t “real” Muslims, only Shias and disobedient women, reprobates and sinners for sure.

The couple are devastated, rendered hopeless – for the first time that I can remember. For years, in spite of Pakistan’s many failures, they have kept up a fierce optimism, as if heartfelt belief would, one day, drive away the evil forces that circulate and in parts overrun their ancestral homeland.

There are many more like them, Pakistani-Britons who are proud of the culture of Pakistan, its creative movers and shakers, and millions of extraordinary, generous people. But their pride and idealism are fast draining away.

My father came from Karachi. He fled the place in the 1920s and went back only once, a fortnight before he died in 1970. He never recovered from the experience. It was as if his heart gave up. The country was in the grip of the military again and savagery ruled. It still does. I have never felt the desire to go look for cousins, aunts and uncles.

The newly elected President, Asif Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto, new best friend of the United States, is one of that nation’s dodgiest characters. He replaced a military dictator, who replaced another allegedly corrupt politician, Nawaz Sharif, now a big player in the latest political configuration.

Armageddon is on its way as Pakistan dissolves at its north-western borders into that lawless territory that is Afghanistan. American interventions, demands and military incontinence in the region bolster Islamic reactionaries and guerrillas.

India meanwhile, with many similar endemic problems and ruthless governance in Kashmir, nevertheless flowers economically and still holds on to democracy and fundamental freedoms. Sadly Pakistan “proves” what the rest of the world believes, and not without reason, that Muslims are incapable of decent leadership or progressive politics and move instinctively to political and personal tyranny.

Look around and the evidence punches you in both eyes. Saudi Arabia, Iran and various nations in the Middle East and most “Islamic” states elsewhere are failing entities where the people are either afraid or oppressing others. I, a Muslim who fights daily against the unjust treatment of Muslims in the West, have to face the blinding truth that although we have serious external enemies, more Muslims are hurt, wounded, killed and denied by other Muslims who feel themselves to be virtuous.

Lest our detractors rub their hands with satisfaction, I tell them loud and clear, this is not exoneration of Guantanamo Bay, the destruction of Iraq, Belmarsh, Israel’s criminal treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, the fascists in Cologne who tried this week to run an anti-Islam rally, the viciously anti-Muslim BNP and the many ways Europe humiliates us Muslims.

But I am saying that Muslims enthusiastically participate in “rendition”, torture co-religionists in prisons, bomb fellow-worshippers from Iraq to Pakistan and beyond, subjugate their women, cut off hands and necks, keep their young cowering or brainwash them to the point when they are unfit to inhabit this century. If we respect and care for our own so little why should the rest of the world give a damn?

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Kashmir Countdown

September 21, 2008

Source:  Kashmir Watch

Anil Raina chronicles the recurrence of Kashmir’s freedom cries from generation next

Protestors pelting stones at policemen in down town Srinagar


Till last summer, Kashmir had managed to reclaim its status of a tourist’s hub. Hotels were booked till year end, business was picking up after years of turmoil and it seemed that good times were returning to the Valley.

People were coming to terms with the pain of loss and getting over the fatigue of being hapless victims of 19 years of strife. At the time, no one knew that the situation would change so dramatically and so soon. Today, the state resembles the days of early militancy. The air is once again rent with calls for Azadi and the baton of freedom struggle has once again been passed from one generation to the other, with even children participating in the movement.

AN AUGUST MARCH

The march in Srinagar’s Muzaffarbad Road on August 22 looked like an ocean of people covering the highway from Pattan to Sheeri: a generation of young men, who were toddlers in 1990 when Kashmir exploded with massive public demonstration, was leading the procession. The security forces had withdrawn after failing to halt this march at 10 different places. Hurriyat leader Sheikh Aziz was killed on August 11, which lent fuel to the movement. Aziz’s killing during the Muzaffarbad Chalo march organized by the Kashmir based separatist groups and supported by People Democratic Party (PDP) made the situation volatile. People in the valley came out on the streets and started demanding instant Azadi (freedom) angered by what they called a cold-blooded murder by the security forces.

Burned CRPF bunker in Srinagar


Following this, all of Kashmir had erupted; dozens of people were killed in police firing and soon the Valley took on a different hue from what it was two months ago when the only buzz in the air was of election rallies, a pleasant spring and thousands of tourists. The People’s March at Srinagar’s Muzaffarbad Road changed all that. “We will not stop. We have to cross the LoC. We have to re-unite Kashmir,” said Abdul Rasheed Dar, a peace-loving businessman until now. “Kashmir has woken up. The movement is alive again.”

UNITED THEY STAND

For the first time, a million Kashmiris assembled in Eidghah last month at the call of the Hurriyat to conduct a rally to voice their demand for a free Kashmir. The rally lasted for 12 hours. Earlier it was a fight for leadership and ideology between the several extremist groups such as JKLF, People League, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and others, but following the Amarnath land row, they have melted their differences and become united with a single point agenda of making Kashmir an independent country. The stage was shared by hardliners such as Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and the merger was named the Co-ordination Committee. Hurriyat Chirman Syed Ali Shah Geelani wanted an end to the dialogue with the Centre, demanding trilateral talks involving Pakistan. The hardliner wanted the moderate faction to launch an active boycott campaign in the forthcoming assembly elections and stop offering a resolution proposal on Kashmir to the Centre. “We cannot let go of the opportunity. If we fail to rise up to people’s expectations, they will never forgive us,” said a senior Hurriyat leader on condition of anonymity. “Only a united Hurriyat will be in any position to lead and maintain the current momentum.

More than 10 lakh people responded to the Eid Ghah Chalo call sent out by the Hurriyat


“We have seen the beginning of militancy in our Valley through the ’90s. We have seen the crisis during the first elections in 1996 and as members of the minority community we still survived by sheer determination of not abandoning our heaven but now we shall pay the price for being on the other side of extreme militancy engineered by own brethren in our own land,” says a distraught Pran Nath Koul, a school teacher, who managed to stay in the Valley despite decades of militancy, but could not stand the threat caused by the mobilization of erstwhile lower heads of extremist Jehadi groups in the wake of Amaranth land row. Koul did not sleep at night just to guard his wife and three children from those who protected him even in adverse crisis. Koul’s family is one of the over 1,500 Hindu families who were not targeted by extremist Islamic Militants even through that time in the last 20 years.

BUSINESS FIRST

Koul’s sentiments are seconded by several Hindu families in the Valley who feel that their own Hindu brethren have left them fighting a cause that was never their own. Had their brothers in Jammu for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir not blocked the economy of Kashmir after the Amaranth land row, they would still continue to live in peace.

Protestors torch a police van in Srinagar


“Whatever the people are doing is the manifestation of their anger against the government of India,” said senior Hurriyat Leader Bilal Lone. Sahil-ul-Islam, political advisor to Hurriyat chairman Merwaiz Umer Farooq said, “We have repeatedly informed Delhi about the anger in the new generation. The Kashmir issue remains unaddressed but they can’t take every Kashmiri for a ride as they did before. Mobilization is the only answer.

“Unity is the need of the hour and that is why the leadership is united once again and we just want to channelize it and carry out a peaceful, non-violent movement, keeping the aspiration of the people of Kashmir in mind. The bandage approach of the people of India is no longer needed and we want the issue to be resolved for once and for all,” said Hurriyat chairman Merwaiz Umer Farooq. The 32-year-old is considered a moderate Kashmiri separatist leader  and has a strong base in the Bakra community. The Bakras are traditionally well-to-do people based in Srinagar, and have been at the forefront of anti-India politics in Kashmir.

(L) Unity among pro-freedom leaders: Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Shabbir Shah (R) About 3 lakh people gathered for the UN rally at TRC ground at Srinagar


Sajad Bhat, an apple supplier whose business was hit by the blockade on the highway because of which his produce could not be transported for 10 days and suffered great loses said, “So far it was a battle between Jammu and Kashmir and with rest of India, but now it has become too personal. My driver, who was delivering fruits to a Delhi market, was beaten so badly that I had to compensate their family despite incurring huge loses in business. I do not believe in massacring those responsible for the economic blockade, but in future if this continues, I have no option but to support the cause of fellow businessmen who for no fault of theirs have become victims of vote bank politics.”

However, the point in question is not about individuals gains or loses, says Riyaz Khan a chemist in Srinagar who has been in business since 10 years. “I never used to visit religious meetings since I believe that the protector is bigger than the destroyer; I would not even have participated in rallies until my business got hampered. I have got six people to feed from the profits that I earn from the shop. I used to get adequate supplies from the distributors before the road was blocked. I could not support my family for those 10 days when my people were dying for the medicines that could have saved their lives,” he says.

CRPF personals in action


The political leadership of all hues in the Valley is in a dilemma. Rendered ineffective by the mass upsurge, they are unsure about the way out of this situation which most of them felt was too serious. A senior leader said that dialogue was the only way out. But he has no clue where and how to get started. “If India and Pakistan fail to include Kashmiris in the dialogue process, we will be forced to launch non-violent agitation in Kashmir,” rounded off JKLF Chief Yasin Malik.

[Mumbai Mrror]

Posted on 21 Sep 2008 by Webmaster

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UK: Thousands march at Labour conference against war

September 21, 2008

Socialist Worker online, Sep 20, 2008

by Ken Olende

More than 5,000 people marched through central Manchester today against the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the spread of war to other countries.

The demonstration was timed to coincide with the start of the Labour Party conference. As marchers passed the conference venue many held their palms up towards it, shouting “blood on your hands”.

Falak, a young woman from Liverpool, said, “If you don’t speak up nothing’s going to change. The threats to Iran and the trouble in Pakistan show this war isn’t over.”

At a rally at the demonstration’s end Tony Woodley, the joint general secretary of the Unite union, called on marchers to remember the “many thousands of innocent victims of the lunatics that have taken us to war”.

Lindsey German, the convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, said, “In the middle of this economic crisis Gordon Brown should be helping the people struggling to pay the bills, not spending £3 million a day on the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Rose Gentle of Military Families Against the War said she was disgusted how the government treats its own soldiers. “They leave them to rot once they get back,” she said.

The demonstration was diverse and good spirited. There were banners from Stop the War groups from around the country and trade union banners from Bristol Health Service Unite to Kirklees Unison.

The march was called by Stop the War, CND and the British Muslim Initiative.

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Exposing the fallacy of anti-Zionism equaling anti-Semitism

September 21, 2008

lobby18.jpeg

Khaled Amayreh | Uruknet.info, Sep 21, 2008

Influential Zionist circles around the world have been bullying western governments to promulgate legislations that would incriminate critics of Israel on the ground that anti-Zionism is actually anti-Semitism in disguise.

The Zionist efforts have not been a complete failure as some western politicians and lawmakers are shamelessly parroting the Zionist canard, ignoring the huge chasm between the pathological hatred of Jews, commonly known as anti-Semitism or Judeophobia, and the moral rejection of Israel’s manifestly criminal policies toward the Palestinian people.

In recent years, a famous French author was found guilty of displaying “anti-Semitism” for writing a book on Zionist mythology with regard to Palestine.

In Austria, a British historian was dumped in jail for questioning the Israeli-Zionist narrative regarding the holocaust.

And in the United States, the country of the First Amendment, a major British Publishing House has been “ousted” because it publishes books the world-wide Jewish lobby considers “anti-Israeli.”

Fortunately, there are many conscientious Jews who courageously reject the Zionist claim that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same coin.

The small but increasingly active group, known as Natori Karta (guardians of the City) represents the most pronounced Jewish opposition to Zionism and Israel.

The group believes that Zionism is inherently immoral and antithetical to true Judaism.

In light, one is almost innately prompted to ask how can a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who include Torah sages of impeccable credentials be anti-Semites?

Well, the classical Zionist answer is that Jews who reject Zionism are self-hating Jews!!!

This explanation, however, is as valid as claiming that Germans who rejected the Third Reich were self-hating or incomplete Germans.

I am making this analogy because there is really more commonality between Zionism and Nazism than there is between Zionism and Judaism.

What do they want?

But what do the Zionists hope to achieve by trying to outlaw criticisms of and public opposition to Israel and Zionism, especially in the West?

Well, their ultimate goal is clear. They want the rest of the world to recognize and acknowledge that Israel is a special nation since Jews are said to be a special people.

They want the world to acknowledge that the rules and norms that apply to the rest of the world, e.g. the rule of international law, doesn’t apply to Israel.

They want me and you and the entire humanity to acknowledge that while war crimes and crimes against humanity may be condemned when perpetrated by the “goyim” (the non-Jewish world), the same crimes must be tolerated and even accepted as legitimate when perpetrated by Jews.

And when the world speaks up against such crimes when committed by Zionist Jews, the ready-made charge of “anti-Semitism” will be unleashed in the face of Israel critics.

And if the critics happen to be Jewish, the disgusting mantra of “self-hating Jews” will be invoked to silence and intimidate the Jewish critics.

Well, the world must never succumb to Zionist intimidation and bullying. We are supposed to be living in an ethical universe where right is right and wrong is wrong.

And if we allowed these self-worshiping megalomaniacs, God forbid, to have their way, then at one point we would be forced to morph ourselves into robot-like slaves in the service of a universal satanic power that is hell-bent on controlling the peoples of the world by controlling the governments of the world.

Hence, we must never allow ourselves to succumb to this monstrous “Jewish power” that is trying to bastardize universal morality and corrupt human conscience. We must continue to call the spade a spade even if we see it in the hands of the strongest of men.

Israel is not hated because it is Jewish

It is important though to make it abundantly clear that Israel is no more hated for being “Jewish” than Nazi Germany was for being Aryan or German.

Israel is hated because of her evil ideology and equally evil practices. A country whose birth and survival were and continue to be at the expense of another people is an evil country and has no right to exist.

A country that is dedicated to the destruction and obliteration of another people is an evil country regardless of how many admirers its has around the world.

Israel is hated because of its systematic, institutionalized oppression, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, home demolition, apartheid, racism and slow-motion genocide of non-Jews as is the case in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is hated because it oppresses people and discriminates against them in ways reminiscent of the Nazi era because the victims don’t belong to the “holy tribe”!!!

In short, Israel is hated because of its evil acts, not because of its Jewish identity. Claiming that it is hated because of its religion or “race” is a canard amounting to a Big Lie.

Anti-Zionism highest moral obligation

There is no doubt that anti-Semitism, like Islamophobia and other forms of racism, must be fought relentlessly and uprooted, although this may well be an impossible task, given the human nature.

However, anti-Zionism is a different thing, since Zionism represents evil in is ugliest form. Yes, Zionism produced many scientists and made some technological advancements. But so what? Nazi Germany, too, produced many scientists and made technological advancement.

In the final analysis nations, like individuals, are primarily judged according to their moral credentials not scientific achievements, especially if these achievements are utilized to further injustice toward fellow human beings. This is why a given scientist who does and supports evil should be viewed as an evil man no matter how many prestigious awards he has won.

For all these reasons, I believe that standing against Zionism is a high moral obligation upon the entire humanity.

In the final analysis, combating Zionism also serves the best interests of the Jewish people.

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Former Israeli military and intelligence officials active in Arab countries

September 20, 2008
International Middle East Media Center, Sep 19, 2008
by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported on Thursday that dozens of former Israeli military officers and a large number of Mosad (Israeli Intelligence) and Shabak (Israeli secret service) members are active in cooperation with the Israeli Security devices in several Arab countries in the Gulf.

shabak.jpeg

The countries in question have outstanding relations with the United States, and the Israeli security services are active there through specialized foreign security agencies.

The Haaretz report added that the security officials are carrying wide range of security activities in the Arab Gulf and are spending tens of millions of US Dollars.

There activities include training Arab security personnel on operating advanced weaponry, intelligence equipment, border protection techniques, techniques to counter kidnapping attempts, coups, and attempts to occupy strategic facilities such as Oil refineries.

The report mentioned several names of senior Israeli security officials who are participating in these programs such as Giora Island, the former head of the Israeli National Security Council, and General Doron Almong.  In addition, several companies and the Air Force Development Agency are active in the Arab Gulf under the direct supervision of the Israeli Security Ministry.

The Swedish AGT international company, which was formed by the Israeli-American businessman, Mani Kochavi, won a contract worth hundreds of millions of US Dollars to construct a project which belongs to the Israeli Internal Security  in one of the Arab gulf Emirates.

Haaretz added that Al Zawiya newspaper based in the Arab gulf reported on the issue in March 2008.

Kochavi is also the head of the Sentry Technology Group (STG) which is of the corporations which managed to garner fast growth in the security arena in the United States.

The STG was also a partner with the Israeli Air Force Industries which sells equipment and the required technologies specialized in airport security in the United States and other countries, including countries in the Middle East.

Recently STG purchased equipment worth tens of millions of US Dollars in Israeli companies which specialize in developing monitoring and control programs.

The former Israeli Air Force leader, Etan Bin Elyahu, said that he left STG several years ago, after it started operating outside the United States.

Kochavi is hiring dozens of officers who previously worked in the Israeli army, in addition to hiring several senior officials of the Israeli army and the air force industries, and officials who worked with the Shabak and the Mosad.

A spokesperson for  Kochavi stated that all company’s operations are conducted under the supervision of the Israeli security agency and all of its branches.

Kochavi is an Israeli who moved to live in the United States and collected his fortune in the real estate business. In Recent years, and especially after the September 11 attack, he got involved with the Homeland Security and developed relations with Israeli security agencies. He then started hiring former senior security officials.

The Israeli security agencies are very active in encouraging security industries and weapon manufacturing and are active in exporting them to several Arab Countries, especially the countries that have good relations with the United States and could find themselves threatened by Iran.

category arab world | israeli politics | news report author email saed at imemc dot org

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Thousands protest Indian rule in Kashmir

September 20, 2008

REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service

Sep 19, 2008 05:37 EST

SRINAGAR, India, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Shouting anti-India slogans, thousands of Muslims marched in Kashmir’s main city on Friday, part of an ongoing campaign against New Delhi’s rule that has become an embarrassment for the Indian government.

The current round of protests are some the biggest since a separatist revolt broke out in the disputed Himalayan region in 1989, a conflict that has killed thousands of people.

Thousand of policemen and soldiers were deployed across the region ahead of protests called by Muslim separatists after Friday prayers.

“Go India go, we want freedom,” shouted protesters led by separatist leader Yasin Malik in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital.

At least 37 protesters have been killed by government forces since last month in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. More than 1,000 people have been injured.

The protests were sparked by a government decision to grant land to build shelters for Hindu pilgrims travelling to Kashmir, one of the world’s most militarised regions.

Shops, businesses and schools were closed on Friday and streets in the strife-torn region wore a deserted look. Only security patrols were on the roads.

“I appeal to people to protest peacefully,” Malik told the protesters, many of them carrying his picture.

The protests come at a time when violence involving Indian troops and separatist guerrillas has declined significantly after India and Pakistan, who claim the region in full and have gone to war over it, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

But people are still killed in shootouts and occasional explosions. (Reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Sanjeev Miglani)

(For the latest Reuters news on India see: in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in)

Source: Reuters North American News Service

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Iraqis Protest US Raid That Kills Displaced Family of Eight

September 20, 2008

Antiwar.com, September 19, 2008

Early this morning US forces surrounded a home in a small village near the Iraqi town of Tikrit and destroyed it with an air strike, killing eight people. According to Iraqi police and neighbors, all those killed were civilians. One of the neighbors reported his home was also raided during the operation and that American forces “ordered people not to leave their homes” during the attack.

Large crowds of angry Iraqis reportedly marched through the streets after morning prayers, condemning the attacks and chanting “America is the enemy of God”. The new civilian deaths are likely to further complicate the already stalled Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq. The Iraqis have insisted on jurisdiction over US contractors and military personnel largely because of the number of civilians being killed by the forces.

The US forces issued a statement after the incident, and as is so often the case their story contradicts the reports from the scene. According to the US the raid targeted a “suspected al-Qaeda operative,” and he and three other militants were killed, along with three women. They also claimed to have rescued a child from the rubble.

The US said the deaths of the women they killed in the air strike were further proof of al-Qaeda’s willingness to “repeatedly risk the lives of innocent women and children to further their evil work”.

compiled by Jason Ditz [email the author]

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Chalabi: U.S. wants secret bases in Iraq

September 20, 2008

Middle East Times,  September 19, 2008

BAGHDAD, Sept. 19 (UPI) — Former Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmad Chalabi told Iranian state-owned media Friday the United States is seeking to establish secret military bases in Iraq.

In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, Chalabi, once a Washington favorite, said U.S. officials are trying to inject agreements for secret bases in Iraq as part of the long-term security contract slated to govern U.S.-Iraqi relations when the U.N. mandate there expires at the end of this year.

“Within the framework of the security pact, the United States does not wish to merely have open military bases (in Iraq), rather secret military bases (there),” he said.

He said negotiations on the deal were ongoing following the acceptance of a formal draft agreement in August but noted there were still contentious issues surrounding legal authority over U.S. military forces and the use of Iraq as a staging ground for the broader counter-terrorism effort.

Chalabi, who also served as the oil minister in 2005, said heightened diplomatic tensions between the United States and Russia made securing the deal a top priority for U.S. officials.

“If a security deal is not signed … by Dec. 31, regarding the recent U.S.-Russia row over Georgia and the Iraqi government’s decision not to extend the U.S. forces’ presence in Iraq for another year, the U.S. presence in Iraq will come across with difficulty in terms of the law,” he said.

A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a convoy carrying Chalabi in early September, killing six of his bodyguards.

© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

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Myanmar activist at risk of torture

September 20, 2008

Amnesty International, 16 September 2008

An anti-government activist leader in Myanmar remains at risk of torture following her arrest last Wednesday.Nilar Thein went into hiding more than a year ago after leading some of the initial anti-government protests in August 2007.  She was taken to Aung Tha Pyay Detention Centre in Yangon (Rangoon, Myanmar’s largest city) for interrogation after her arrest and is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Nilar Thein was arrested on her way to visit the mother of Ant Bwe Kyaw, another detained activist, in a suburb of north eastern Yangon. Ant Bwe Kyaw and Kyaw Min Yu, Nilar Thein’s husband (also known as Ko Jimmy), were among 13 anti-government activist leaders from the “88 Generation Students Group” who were arrested on 22 August 2007.

A total of 35 activists from the “88 Generation Students Group” appeared before a court inside Yangon’s Insein prison on 9 September to face a range of politically-motivated charges. Several of the charges they are facing are made under vaguely-worded security laws routinely used to criminalise peaceful political dissent.

The “88 Generation Students Group” is made up of anti-government activists who took part in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising against the then 26 years of military rule.

The day after the 13 anti-government activist leaders of the group were arrested on 22 August 2007, Nilar Thein led around 500 people in a demonstration in Yangon. The demonstration demanded the release of fellow activists and continued the protest against the sudden increase in fuel prices that had been imposed by the state on 15 August 2007.

When authorities began a hunt for the leaders of the protests, Nilar Thein went into hiding. After considering the unhealthy and dangerous conditions of living in hiding, she decided to leave her baby daughter behind in the care of her family.

Rumours began to circulate three weeks after her husband’s arrest on 22 August 2007 that he had died in police custody. The rumours turned out to be false and are believed to have been planted by the government to bring Nilar Thein out of hiding.

Whilst in hiding, Nilar Thein continued to appeal to the international community to take action in resolving the grave human rights situation and the abuses that women suffer under the military regime in Myanmar.

A year after the violent crackdown on anti-government protests of September 2007, the military leaders in Myanmar are showing no signs that they will relent in their efforts to silence all political dissent. Nearly 300 individuals have been arrested for their peaceful political activities so far in 2008.

Nilar Thein has been imprisoned twice before for her pro-democracy activities. She was detained for two months in 1991. She was arrested in December 1996 for participating in the student demonstrations in Yangon that of that year. She was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and was released in 2005.

Amnesty International is urgently calling on the government of Myanmar to stop making further arrests and to release all those detained or imprisoned merely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, including both long-term and recent prisoners of conscience.

Read More

No moving backwards for Myanmar (Feature, 8 August 2008)
Imprisoned for giving water to monks (News, 31 March 2008)

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Palestinian Unity: Goal or Mantra?

September 20, 2008

By Ramzy Baroud | Information Clearing House, Sep 18, 2008

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa used exceptionally tough language during a Cairo news conference 9 September, when he lashed out at Palestinian factionalism, saying that the League is going as far as studying the possibility of imposing sanctions on quarrelling Palestinians.

“I am extremely angry with the Palestinian organisations… We are studying the measures to be taken in the face of the current Palestinian chaos,” he said, after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers. He added, “the sanctions would not be against anyone in particular. They would be against the party which obstructs reconciliation and maybe against everyone or against the organisation which obstructs Egyptian efforts.”

Considering Moussa’s devoted efforts in the past aimed at solidifying a Palestinian front and generating a semblance of a Arab unity in its support, one can only sympathise with the head of the League’s frustration and indeed “extreme anger”.

Palestinian disunity, and political — if not, geopolitical — fragmentation is eroding the Palestinian cause more than all Israeli efforts, walls and military incursions combined. The painful-to-watch televised bickering between representatives of various Palestinian factions has led to confusion among traditionally pro-Palestinian groups worldwide. The political objectives — once agreed upon as “constants” — and symbols that once united Palestinians everywhere are now wide open for extreme interpretation.

In fact, “respecting the sanctity of Palestinian blood”, which for long served as the lowest possible denominator agreed on by every Palestinian grouping, has been violated many times in recent months and years; too many times to count. Repeating the slogan is, at this point, an empty mantra, joining the numerous other mantras that have for long served as a sedative for the hapless masses, whether Arabs, Palestinians or both.

That said, a reality check is also in order. It might be easy for the Arab League to pass a measure or two to sanction Palestinian groups who might be perceived as the ones jeopardising the Cairo talks, whether the ones underway or the larger gatherings scheduled for October. Not even Palestinians would dare criticise the League for practising some brotherly tough love for the sake of the cause of Palestine, which is supposedly the main overriding priority for every Arab state — another mantra. Nonetheless, it is incumbent on the Arab League, as it mulls over the issue of sanctions, to consider the role that some of its own members have played in instigating Palestinian infighting.

Continued . . .

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