“Liberating” the Women of Afghanistan

August 10, 2010

by Huda Jawad, Dissident Voice,  August 9th, 2010

Time magazine must be experiencing a severe case of amnesia, judging by the cover of this week’s issue which asks, “What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan .” At best, this effort by Time is irresponsible slick journalism; at worst, it is one of the most blatant pieces of pro-war propaganda seen in years. The world owes Afghanistan’s women an honest answer as to why we apathetically allow their condition to deteriorate from horrible to simply unspeakable. Instead, Time is willingly deceiving readers into thinking that the condition of Aisha – the woman pictured on the cover – is a product of the Taliban 10 years ago. It is not. Aisha’s scarred face is a heart-wrenching reflection of the state of Afghan women today in the year 2010, and under the absurd assertion of democracy and the presence of thousands of US and NATO troops in the country.

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Pakistan: Death anniversary of radical activist Nazir Abbasi

August 10, 2010

Sohail Sangi , The Dawn/Pakistan, Aug 9, 2010

Sindhi youth and political activists have been observing Nazir Abbasi’s death anniversary each year in remembrance of the hardships he faced throughout his life and for the kind of inspiring leader he was. – File Photo

Nazir Abbasi was a courageous, intrepid student leader who was killed on August 9, 1989 during Zia-ul-Haq’s regime while under custody. According to Abbasi’s family, he was being held by secret agencies and it was a certain Colonel Imtiaz Ahmed who tortured him to death. Since then Sindhi youth and political activists have been observing his death anniversary each year in remembrance of the hardships Abbasi faced throughout his life and for the kind of inspiring leader he was.

Although Pakistan has witnessed democratic as well as military dictatorships, the investigations into Abbasi’s death have never taken off. Benzair Bhutto’s first government initiated the investigation into the death but till today, remains incomplete.

Abbasi was born in Tando Allahyar and joined politics of the Left during college. He used to work as a munshi (clerk) at the Tando Allahyar municipality at night while he studied and continued with political activism during the day.

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See also Nazir Abbasi – A legendary hero of Sindh

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Pakistan floods: disaster is the worst in the UN’s history

August 9, 2010
The United Nations has rated the floods in Pakistan as the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history with more people affected than the South-East Asian tsunami and the recent earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti combined.

By Neil Tweedie in Charsadda, Telegraph.co.uk, Aug 9, 2010

The United Nations has rated the floods in Pakistan as the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history with more people affected than the South-East Asian tsunami and the recent earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti combined.

Pakistani Army soldiers distribute food relief through helicopters in flooded areas near Muzaffargarh in southern Punjab Photo: REUTERS
A family takes refuge on top of a mosque while awaiting rescue from flood waters in Sanawa, a town located in the Muzaffar Ghar district of Pakistan's Punjab province

A family takes refuge on top of a mosque while awaiting rescue from flood waters in Sanawa, a town located in the Muzaffar Ghar district of Pakistan’s Punjab province Photo: REUTERS

Although the current 1,600 death toll in Pakistan represents a tiny fraction of the estimated 610,000 people killed in the three previous events, some two million more people – 13.8 million – have suffered losses requiring long or short-term help.

Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said: “This disaster is worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake.”

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US Congress allocates record amount for joint US-Israel military effort

August 9, 2010
author Saturday August 07, 2010 13:45author by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC News Report post

A committee of the US Congress designated $217.2 million of US tax money to a joint military venture between the US and Israel – this is in addition to the annual $3 billion in direct aid and $3 billion in indirect aid provided by the US to the Israeli government.

Israeli missile defense system (photo from Defence Talk)
Israeli missile defense system (photo from Defence Talk)

The Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives approved the measure earlier this week, which provides support for a joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense system known as ‘The Arrow’ and David’s Sling’. The missile defense systems are allegedly meant to repel potential Iranian missile attacks on Israel, though their effectiveness as defense systems has been questioned by military experts, some of whom say the project is destined for failure.

The amount designated by the US Congress for the project is $95.7 million more than the amount requested by US President Barack Obama for the project, and indicates the extreme support for Israel within the US Congress, that even at a time of budget cuts for health, education and welfare, the Congress would see fit to donate a record amount to military support for Israel.

Congressman Steve Rothman of New Jersey, who helped push the funding through, told reporters, “This is only the latest example that when it comes to defense, military, and intelligence cooperation

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Kashmir in Turmoil

August 9, 2010

By Akhila Raman, ZNet,  August 09, 2010

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Akhila Raman’s ZSpace Page

“Go India, Go Back”
“We’ll take bullets on our heads but we’ll not give up.”
– Tens of thousands of Kashmiris chanting slogans at a rally August

Kashmir Valley has been in turmoil over the past two months with tens of thousands taking to the streets in protest against killings of civilians by the Indian State which is seen as an occupying power by many of the people in Kashmir valley. Since the recent unrest started, at least 32 civilians have been killed and several hundreds injured, many of them due to Indian security forces firing into the unarmed crowd of civilian protestors. This review article examines the recent unrest and the historical roots of the present turmoil and argues that there is a genuine freedom struggle going on against the repressive Indian State by the Kashmiris who are alienated equally with India, Pakistan and the militants and whose grievances have their historical roots in the events of 1947.

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Iraq: It All Boils Down to Oil

August 9, 2010

U.S. won’t leave Iraq’s energy reserves untended after its troops pull out

by Eric Margolis, The Toronto Sun, Aug 8, 2010

Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama restated his vow to pull all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this month, and the remaining U.S. garrison by the end of 2011.

Has America’s long goodbye to Iraq really begun?

The 50,000 U.S. troops left until 2011 will supposedly “advise and assist” and perform “anti-terrorism” missions and training.

These troops will likely be six armor-heavy combat brigades, backed by warplanes from U.S. air bases in the Gulf.

A U.S. brigade withdrawn from Iraq will go to neighboring Kuwait. Most of the rest will transfer to Afghanistan.

No word about the 85,000 U.S.-paid mercenaries (a.k.a. “contractors”) in Iraq.

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Pakistan flood victims desperate as crisis worsens

August 8, 2010

In a televised address to the nation on Friday night, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani sought international help in mitigating thea worsening crisis.

  • By Naveed Ahmad, Correspondent, Gulf News, Aug  8, 2010
Temporary shelter

  • A woman sits in her makeshift tent made of plastic sheets in Azakhel near Pabbi.
  • Image Credit: AP
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Islamabad: As Pakistan awaits foreign assistance to deal with the mammoth flood relief challenge, Pakistanis desperate to get out of flooded villages threw themselves at helicopters on Saturday.

In the town of Muzaffargarh, near rivers bloated with rain and from as far away as Afghanistan and India merge with the Indus to flow south to the sea, army helicopters dropped packets of rice to people who had moved to higher ground to a cemetery.

Some latched on to helicopter skids as the aircraft took off.

An elderly man fought his way inside one. He looked down and wept.

“Things are getting worse. It’s raining again. That’s hampering our relief work,” said UN World Food Programme spokesman Amjad Jamal.

Dozens of villages have been flooded in Ghoki district on the left bank of the River Indus.

Over 5,000-year-old Mohenjo-Daro archeological treasures are at risk of being inundated by terrible flooding as protective embankments along the Indus continue to disintegrate.

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Fidel Castro voices nuclear warning in Parliament speech

August 8, 2010

Times of Malta, August 7, 2010

A lively and healthy looking Fidel Castro appealed to US President Barack Obama to prevent a global nuclear war in an emphatic speech today that marked his first official government appearance since emergency surgery four years ago.

The former Cuban leader’s speech before the country’s parliament, along with other numerous recent public appearances, raised questions about how much he will resume a leadership role.

Mr Castro, who turns 84 in a week, arrived on the arm of a helper, waving and smiling as the crowd applauded loudly in unison.

“Fidel, Fidel, Fidel!” the participants chanted. “Long live Fidel!”

Dressed in olive-green fatigues without military insignias, he immediately took the podium and delivered a fiery 11-minute speech on his fears of an impending global nuclear war. He implored President Obama and other wealthy nations to make sure such an event never happens.

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Kashmir burns again as India responds to dissent with violence

August 8, 2010

The hospitals are filling up with gunshot victims but angry protesters say the world is blind to their plight. Andrew Buncombe reports from Srinagar

The Independent/UK, August 7, 2010

Srinagar residents burn an effigy of Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
AP: Srinagar residents burn an effigy of Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir

From the end of the hospital corridor came frantic shouts, urgent voices that grew ever more desperate.
A dozen men appeared, gathered around a blood-smeared trolley, rushing its occupant towards the emergency surgery room. Abdul Rashid, said his friends, had been shot in the head by police who had opened fire on a peaceful gathering. “There was no stone-pelting, nothing,” yelled one of the 25-year-old’s friends, as medics pulled shut the doors to the surgery room. “There was no curfew … They fired indiscriminately.”

Once again, Kashmir is burning. Buildings and barricades have been set alight and its people are enflamed. The largest towns are packed with heavily-armed police and the hospital wards are full of young men with gunshot wounds. Around 50 people have been killed since June, more than 31 in the last week alone, and dozens more have been wounded. The dead include young men, teenagers and even a nine-year-old boy, reportedly beaten to death by the security forces after he tried to walk to the local shop.

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Kashmir death toll rises as India faces fresh protests

August 8, 2010
Women attend the funeral of Mohammad Iqbal, a Kashmiri youth, in Srinagar this week. Kashmiri separatist leaders have appealed for calm in the biggest anti-India protests in two years, which have killed dozens of people. Photograph: Fayaz Kabli/Reuters

RAHUL BEDI in New Delhi, The Irish Times, August 7, 2010

THE DEATH toll from the recent round of recurring clashes between demonstrators and the security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir province is now close to 50.

Most of the dead were shot by the security forces for defying a curfew.

Since the middle of June, the Kashmir valley has been rocked by violent agitation. Protesters, angry over decades of repressive Indian rule over their disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan province, have hurled rocks and set government buildings and vehicles alight.

The demonstrators, mostly young men, have been joined by thousands of women, some carrying sticks and stones and chanting: “We want freedom” and “Blood for blood”.

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