Peace and Justice Post

The lion sleeps tonight

By Sameer Bhat, Kashmir Currents, September 8, 2012

No other topic bisects Kashmiris right down the middle as much as the legacy of one man — six foot and four inches tall. Commonly referred to as the ‘Lion of Kashmir’ by most National Conference wallas, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah is considered something of a male Lady Macbeth by countless others. A complex character, he attempted to climb Mt Greatness (and did reach quite high) but sadly stumbled somewhere along the trek to the summit. While lions are not known to live for more than a decade in the wild, Sher-i-Kashmir survived several jungles and jails. His cubs continue to live in a nice little den under the foothills of Zabarwan to this day. No, they didn’t become lions.

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Stirling Observer, Sep 7,  2012

A parliamentary proposal to prosecute Tony Blair for “waging aggressive war against Iraq” has been backed by Scottish nationalists.

Independent MSP Margo MacDonald lodged a motion at the Scottish Parliament seeking “a simple amendment making illegal the waging of aggressive war with the intention of regime change so that Tony Blair could be brought to trial in Scotland”.

It gained early support from SNP backbenchers Annabelle Ewing, Gordon MacDonald, John Finnie, Chic Brodie and Jim Eadie.

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It is not easy to escape from one’s skin, to see the world differently from the way it is presented to us day after day. But it is useful to try. Let’s take a few examples.

The war drums are beating ever more loudly over Iran. Imagine the situation to be reversed.

Iran is carrying out a murderous and destructive low-level war against Israel with great-power participation. Its leaders announce that negotiations are going nowhere. Israel refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow inspections, as Iran has done. Israel continues to defy the overwhelming international call for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region. Throughout, Iran enjoys the support of its superpower patron.

Iranian leaders are therefore announcing their intention to bomb Israel, and prominent Iranian military analysts report that the attack may happen before the U.S. elections.

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• Jack Shenker
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 September 2012 20.28 BST

The British government has allowed key members of Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship to retain property and assets in the UK. Photograph: Cristiano Laruffa/Rex Features

Britain has allowed key members of Egypt‘s toppled dictatorship to retain millions of pounds of suspected property and business assets in the UK, potentially violating a globally-agreed set of sanctions.

The situation has led to accusations that ministers are more interested in preserving the City of London’s cosy relationship with the Arab financial sector than in securing justice.

Hosni Mubarak, the ousted former president, was sentenced to life in jail in June. A six-month investigation, conducted by BBC Arabic and released in conjunction with the Guardian and al-Hayat, a pan-Arab newspaper, has identified many valuable assets linked to his family and their associates that have not been frozen.

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Pakistan is known in the international community and declared in the country’s Constitution as an Islamic nation where Islam is glorified as the superb religion and its followers are pious Muslims. There is no doubt that Islam teaches tolerance, love, respect for other religions, and that life and death are in the hands of Allah. The killing of any human being is forbidden and in the Quran it is the highest form of sin.

But how Islam is defined in practice is yet a big question in Pakistani society. In the absence of any clear definition about the implementation of Islam a strong perception has been widely spread that it can be implemented only through the violence and exemplary punishment to those who do not properly follow its precepts. Saudi Arabia, being the role model of Shariah and a real Islamic country, demonstrates its commitment every Friday by handing down death sentences that are then carried out by beheading. At the same time thieves have their hands removed.

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Some nonpartisan commentators finally recognize that current US foreign policy continues to escalate militarily as though on steroids. It has become evident that use of deadly force by a US-dominated NATO is not only outside the parameters of international and constitutional law, but also in some cases outside basic legal principles that have stood the test of time not only for decades, but for centuries.  One explanation, however, for why American civil society, in general, has not pushed back is the “better rhetoric” now being used to sell war. 

What is this better rhetoric and newly minted impetus for US-NATO’s same dumb (actually insane) war agenda, what used to be blurted out as “We must bomb the village to save it”? Constantly flitting through the revolving doors of their official appointments, foreign-policy think tanks and directorships of “human rights” organizations, proponents of  ”Smart Power” make their compelling case for more (endless) war in successfully urging us to “recast the fight against terror and nuclear proliferation… from a dark, draining struggle into a hopeful, progressive cause aimed at securing an international system of liberal societies and defeating challenges to it.”

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A mini documentary on Al Saud’s systematic destruction of Mecca and Madina.

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John Pilger, Aug. 23, 2012

The British government’s threat to invade the Ecuadorean embassy in London and seize Julian Assange is of historic significance. David Cameron, the former PR man to a television industry huckster and arms salesman to sheikdoms, is well placed to dishonour international conventions that have protected Britons in places of upheaval. Just as Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq led directly to the acts of terrorismin London on 7 July 2005, so Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague have compromised the safety of British representatives across the world.

Threatening to abuse a law designed to expel murderers from foreign embassies, while defaming an innocent man as an “alleged criminal”, Hague has made a laughing stock of Britain across the world, though this view is mostly suppressed in Britain. The same brave newspapers and broadcasters that have supported Britain’s part in epic bloody crimes, from the genocide in Indonesia to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, now attack the “human rights record” of Ecuador, whose real crime is to stand up to the bullies in London and Washington.

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Editor’s remarks:  When Pakistan was transformed into a gutter of barbarism by the ignorant mullahs in the name of pure ‘Islam’ and their political bosses, both old and the new ones, the people of Pakistan have been killing each other on sectarian grounds. The seeds sown by Maududi have wrought havoc in Pakistan. In this vicious cycle of violence and inhumanity, the Sunnis have specially targeted Shias, Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, etc.

The Christians of Pakistan have been the most oppressed and marginalised socially, economically and politically. They are also the most vulnerable people in Pakistan and they become an easy prey of the rage of ignorant Muslim masses, who are always provoked by their preachers and mullahs to commit crimes against the Christians. Now in the name of the so-called blasphemy laws, any Muslim mischief-monger can accuse a Christian of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, the Quran or Islam. As a result, innocent Christians are victimised and penalised by the Muslims. It is high time for the democratic forces and all people of good-will in Pakistan to stand for the equal rights of all religious communities in Pakistan and call for the abrogation of the blasphemy laws. Instead Pakistan should have laws against those people who preach hatred against any religious sect or religious minorities and provoke violence in the name of a pure ‘Islam’. What is happening in Pakistan in the name of pure ‘Islam’ has nothing to do with Islam; it is barbarism, pure and simple.

                                                           Nasir Khan, Editor

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11 Years old Pakistani Christian Girl Falsely Accused of Burning 10 Pages of The Quran

We have received news of another very unfortunate event in Pakistan. A 11 year old Christian girl with Down syndrome named Rimsha daughter of Misrak Masih, resident of Umara Jaffar, sector G12/0 Islamabad, has been falsely accused of burning 10 pages of the Quran. She was arrested on August 17 by the women police station with the FIR no as 303/12 at 6:45 pm. The complainants name is Alsyed Muhammad Ummad.

The whole community is now threatened by extremists wanting to burn down the village. 2-300 people have left their homes and are in hiding due to threats from mobs declaring that they will soon attack the village. APMA has been providing for their food expenses since many have left their residence. Dr. Paul Bhatti along with APMA members have so far controlled the situation by reporting the incident to the police.

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Gareth Porter, truthout, Aug 17, 2012

An aerial drone launches from the guided-missile frigate USS Thach. (Photo: U.S. Navy / Flickr)

Detailed information from the families of those killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and from local sources on strikes that have targeted mourners and rescue workers provides credible new evidence that the majority of the deaths in the drone war in Pakistan have been civilian noncombatants – not “militants,” as the Obama administration has claimed.

The new evidence also shows that the statistical tally of casualties from drone attacks in Pakistan published on the web site of the New America Foundation (NAF) has been systematically understating the deaths of large numbers of civilians by using a methodology that methodically

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