The blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut are a clear message by Saudi Arabia to Iran, as by targeting Iran it wants to spread chaos and war also inside Lebanon, political analyst Kevork Elmassian told RT.
RT: We know that a Lebanese group linked to Al-Qaeda has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. From your point of view, what would be their motive there?
Kevork Elmassian: The group is called Abdullah Azzam and it is affiliated to Al-Qaeda. This is a clear message by Saudi Arabia or it’s an act of war by Saudi Arabia against Iran, this is for the first time the Saudis are crossing the red line by targeting the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. I don’t agree with the Iranian Ambassador who pointed his finger to the Israelis. It’s true that the Israelis are beneficiaries of these explosions but who perpetrated these attacks? They are Al-Qaeda linked groups; their emir is Bandar “bin-Satan” [bin-Sultan] in Saudi Arabia.
We have to know that these explosions happened with two suicide bombers. The Israelis never do such operations, they can use their airplanes and other car bombs. But there were two people, one of them was on motorcycle, he came close to the embassy and tried to explode himself in order to open a route for the other car entering to the embassy, but the security was awake and they shot him. He was forced to explode himself outside the embassy. But in politics we have to understand that this message from Saudi Arabia has come after the war of the Al-Qalamoun mountains. We have to know that Hezbollah and the Syrian army are fighting side by side against Al-Qaeda groups in Syria and recently in Al-Qara area, this area links with Arsal area in Lebanon, where the thousands of militants from Al-Qaeda under the patronage of the Future Movement of Lebanon are having trainings and also smuggling arms into Syria. Also, this area links Homs to Damascus, it is in the center of Homs and Damascus, and most of the terrorists who are coming to the eastern Ghouta area in Damascus, the place where the chemical attack happened, are coming from this area.
RT: Why do you link Saudi Arabia to this case?
KE: Because the militants of the proxies of Saudi Arabia exist in the center between Damascus and Homs and they are spreading all this chaos and terrorism around the cities of Homs and Damascus. Most of the car bombs are coming from this area. When Hezbollah and Syrian army decided to crush the rebellion in this area, the Saudis wanted to send a very historical message to Iran. We have to remember the actions of Saudi Arabia in past few weeks: they refused the membership of the UN Security Council and then they said they were going to work to foil the peaceful negotiations in Geneva for peace in Syria. They are also trying to block any deal between the West and Iran. And the recent reports are saying that Saudi Arabia is going to buy a nuclear bomb from Pakistan, if a deal is reached between P5+1 and Iran. So these historical policies by Saudi Arabia are reflecting the desperation of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, and by targeting now the embassy of Iran it wants to spread chaos and war also inside Lebanon.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Beirut bombings are ‘a clear message by Saudi Arabia’
The blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut are a clear message by Saudi Arabia to Iran, as by targeting Iran it wants to spread chaos and war also inside Lebanon, political analyst Kevork Elmassian told RT.
RT: We know that a Lebanese group linked to Al-Qaeda has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. From your point of view, what would be their motive there?
Kevork Elmassian: The group is called Abdullah Azzam and it is affiliated to Al-Qaeda. This is a clear message by Saudi Arabia or it’s an act of war by Saudi Arabia against Iran, this is for the first time the Saudis are crossing the red line by targeting the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. I don’t agree with the Iranian Ambassador who pointed his finger to the Israelis. It’s true that the Israelis are beneficiaries of these explosions but who perpetrated these attacks? They are Al-Qaeda linked groups; their emir is Bandar “bin-Satan” [bin-Sultan] in Saudi Arabia.
We have to know that these explosions happened with two suicide bombers. The Israelis never do such operations, they can use their airplanes and other car bombs. But there were two people, one of them was on motorcycle, he came close to the embassy and tried to explode himself in order to open a route for the other car entering to the embassy, but the security was awake and they shot him. He was forced to explode himself outside the embassy. But in politics we have to understand that this message from Saudi Arabia has come after the war of the Al-Qalamoun mountains. We have to know that Hezbollah and the Syrian army are fighting side by side against Al-Qaeda groups in Syria and recently in Al-Qara area, this area links with Arsal area in Lebanon, where the thousands of militants from Al-Qaeda under the patronage of the Future Movement of Lebanon are having trainings and also smuggling arms into Syria. Also, this area links Homs to Damascus, it is in the center of Homs and Damascus, and most of the terrorists who are coming to the eastern Ghouta area in Damascus, the place where the chemical attack happened, are coming from this area.
RT: Why do you link Saudi Arabia to this case?
KE: Because the militants of the proxies of Saudi Arabia exist in the center between Damascus and Homs and they are spreading all this chaos and terrorism around the cities of Homs and Damascus. Most of the car bombs are coming from this area. When Hezbollah and Syrian army decided to crush the rebellion in this area, the Saudis wanted to send a very historical message to Iran. We have to remember the actions of Saudi Arabia in past few weeks: they refused the membership of the UN Security Council and then they said they were going to work to foil the peaceful negotiations in Geneva for peace in Syria. They are also trying to block any deal between the West and Iran. And the recent reports are saying that Saudi Arabia is going to buy a nuclear bomb from Pakistan, if a deal is reached between P5+1 and Iran. So these historical policies by Saudi Arabia are reflecting the desperation of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, and by targeting now the embassy of Iran it wants to spread chaos and war also inside Lebanon.
Russia-Led Bloc to Help Tajikistan Boost Afghan Border Defenses
A Russia-led regional military alliance of former Soviet states will help Tajikistan strengthen its border with Afghanistan by the end of this year, the organization’s head said Tuesday.
The situation on the border is deteriorating and is expected to become even worse after the withdrawal of the international troops from the war-torn country next year, said Nikolai Bordyuzha, head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
“The number of Afghan border guard outposts [on the Tajik border] has been cut in half recently. Large groups of bandits periodically show up on the border and the number of skirmishes doubled in the past 12 months,” Bordyuzha said at a meeting of Russia’s Public Chamber.
CSTO members, Russia in particular, will provide Tajikistan with armaments and military hardware for free by the end of this year, Bordyuzha said.
A targeted interstate program for creating relevant infrastructure on Tajik-Afghan border will be drafted soon, he said.
The CSTO, which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, signed a relative agreement on aiding Tajikistan on September 23.
Founded on October 7, 2002, the CSTO was registered with the UN in 2003.
One of its main objectives is to provide immediate military assistance to any CSTO member in the event of a military or terrorism threat.
Netanyahu: Islamists taking us back to the ‘Dark Ages’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech Tuesday contrasted progressive Israel with the “oppressive” aspirations of radical Islam, which he claimed was attempting to take humanity back to the “Dark Ages.”“What we see here today is the future,” Netanyahu said in introductory remarks at an event at Tel Aviv University that was also attended by French President Francois Hollande.“Radical Islam wants to take us to the past,” he said. “We march toward the future; they, to the Dark Ages. We aspire to open our society to everyone — men, women, minorities, to the right to be different. They want oppressive uniformity, rigid doctrine.
“And they want to support all this with weapons of mass destruction,” he added, alluding to Tehran’s alleged attempt to produce nuclear weapons. “We cannot allow them this. I think it would be a grave mistake to repeat the mistakes made with North Korea, another closed society with tough and aggressive doctrine.”
Further on in his speech, Netanyahu returned to the subject of Iran’s rogue nuclear program and his firm, oft-reiterated stance on the recently resumed talks between Tehran and the West. A new round of discussions is set to begin in Geneva on Wednesday.
“In the case of Iran, there is a great opportunity, and it would be a mistake to give up on Iran when they have every reason to respond to the pressure leveled against them,” he stated. “Instead of giving in to their charm offensive, it’s important that they surrender to the pressure exerted on them until they abandon the nuclear weapons program.”
Ambassador unveils secrets of education in Finland
Education in Finnish is world-renowned for its high-quality educational system. The secrets lie in equal learning opportunities and all well trained teachers with university degrees.
"Throughout years, Finnish government has always elevated education system. "The new Finnish ambassador to China, Mr. Jari Gustafsson told People’s Daily Online in the exclusive interview.
"Education system is something that Finland never try to cut down because of saving costs, instead, we kept enhancing education system all the time, even in the difficult years."
Basic education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 16. It includes tuition, books and supplies, the midday hot meal, and transportation in cases where the student lives more than 5 kilometers from the school.
Education in Finland offers a wide variety of educational programs, from short-term courses to full degree programs. The Finnish higher education system comprises two parallel sectors: universities and polytechnics.
"The key is that teachers have to be in good quality." Ambassador Gustafsson said in the interview, "Teachers in Finland are well trained and they all have university degrees."
"Unlike many other western countries," Ambassador Gustafsson said that teachers in Finland are allowed only to teach, not take care of things beyond curriculum. For example, sports games and communicating between families and schools.
"Teachers only teach. Once they focus on what they do best, also they get also better results."
Teacher’s social status is very high. Ambassador Gustafson said "In some towns, teachers get elected as municipal officials because they are respected by people."
"Schools and teachers can quite openly choose the material they used in teaching children." Ambassador told People’s Daily Online another mystery of Finnish education is that teachers have lots of say to curriculum of the young children.
Even given to the freedom, schools have narrower difference than any other counties in the world, Ambassador said.
Therefore, teachers in Finland have a personal and lifelong learning skill in self-graduating, in ambassador’s words, "They really are allowed to take care of improving own professionalism."
"This is one of big secrets in Finnish education system," Ambassador Gustafson told journalist that school hours are shorter than many other countries and students don’t have so much homework even.
Instead, schools and teachers in Finland have responsibilities to take care of students’ learning and are supporting children to study more and leanings more after school.
It is worth mentioning that the Finnish education is doing an interesting attempt according to Mr. Ambassador that Finnish universities is now try to bring together engineers, business people and arts students. They work, study and do different projects together. They inspire and communicate with each other and creativity helps make the find final products.
Ambassador also mentioned that, in recent years, more and more outstanding Chinese students has been to Finland for higher education. "Finnish universities welcome students from China and hopes to attract more" Ambassador said.
"Academic level of Chinese university is so high," Ambassador Gustafson sees China’s huge driving force to the world’s economic growth and he supports university-level cooperation with China.
There are 20 universities in Finland: ten multifaculty institutions, three technical universities, three schools of economics and business administration, and four arts universities. Their operations are based on academic and personal freedom. Each university defines its own regulations governing curricula and degrees, and sets its own annual admission limits.
And there are 29 polytechnics in Finland. The special feature of the polytechnics is their close link with working life and their aim of providing vocational skills in different sectors
However, gaining admission to college in Finland is not easy. In 2011, a total of 66,000 people applied for college and only 17,000 people were admitted. For the pol,technics, there were a total of 70,000 applicants but about 22,000 people passed exams according to ,he data provided by Finnish embassy on its website.
Some cyber security experts recommend shutting Obamacare site
President Barack Obama's HealthCare.gov site is riddled with security flaws that put user data of millions of people at risk and it should be shut down until fixed, several technology experts warned lawmakers on Tuesday.
The testimony at a congressional hearing could increase concerns among many Americans about Obama's healthcare overhaul, popularly known as Obamacare. Opinion polls show the botched rollout of the online marketplace for health insurance policies has hurt the popularity of the effort.
The website collects personal data such as names, birth dates, social security numbers, email addresses and other information that criminals could use for a variety of scams.
In a rapid "yes" or "no" question-and-answer session during a Republican-sponsored hearing by the House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee, Republican Representative Chris Collins of New York asked four experts about the security of the site:
"Do any of you think today that the site is secure?"
The answer from the experts, which included two academics and two private sector technical researchers, was a unanimous "no."
"Would you recommend today that this site be shut down until it is?" asked Collins, whose party is opposed to Obamacare and has sought to capitalize on the failures of the website since it opened for enrollment on October 1.
Three of the experts said "yes," while a fourth said he did not have enough information to make the call.
"The privacy and security of consumers' personal information are a top priority," White House spokesman Jay Carney said after the hearing.
"When consumers fill out their online marketplace applications they can trust that the information that they are providing is protected by stringent security standards."
HealthCare.gov allows consumers to shop for insurance plans under Obama's Affordable Care Act, which passed in 2010 and mandated that Americans have health insurance. It also created new marketplaces to buy and sell policies.
The portal has been bedeviled by technical glitches and reports of security bugs, although officials say they are making progress with repairs and that it should be accessible to the "vast majority" of consumers by November 30.
"The Obama administration has a responsibility to ensure that the personal and financial data collected by the government is secure," said Representative Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who chairs the House science panel.
"Unfortunately, in their haste to launch the HealthCare.gov website, it appears the administration cut corners that leaves the site open to hackers and other online criminals," he said.
CODE 'INDEFENSIBLE'
The experts said the site needed to be completely rebuilt to run more efficiently, making it easier to protect. They said HealthCare.gov runs on 500 million lines of code, or 25 times the size of Facebook, one of the world's busiest sites.
"When your code base is that large it's going to be indefensible," Morgan Wright, CEO of a firm known as Crowd Sourced Investigations, said in an interview after testifying at the hearing.
"Do you want to defend the Great Wall of China or a very small line?"
David Kennedy, head of computer security consulting firm TrustedSec LLC and a former U.S. Marine Corps cyber-intelligence analyst, gave lawmakers a 17-page report that highlights the problems with the site and warned that some of them remain live.
The site lets people know invalid user names when logging in, allowing hackers to identify user IDs, according to the report, which also warns of other security bugs.
Avi Rubin, director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on health and medical security, said he needed more data before calling for a shutdown of the site.
"Bringing down the site is a very drastic response," he told Reuters after the hearing.
But he would not use it because he is concerned about security bugs that have been made public, he said.
In written testimony, Kennedy said it would take a minimum of seven to 12 months to fix the problems with the site shut down, given the site's complexity and size.
In October, a September 27 government memorandum surfaced in which two Department of Health and Human Services officials said the security of the site had not been properly tested before it opened, creating "a high risk."
HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters said then that steps were taken to ease security concerns after the memo was written, and that consumer data was secure.
Peters said on Tuesday the government has been making improvements to the site as it has learned of specific problems. In late October technicians fixed a security bug in the password reset function, she said.
Key Issue Said to Be Resolved in U.S.-Afghan Security Talks
By ROD NORDLAND
American and Afghan officials said Tuesday that they had reached a tentative deal to overcome one of the last major hurdles to a post-2014 security agreement, allowing for American-run raids on Afghan homes but only in “extraordinary circumstances.”
Afghan officials said that a long impasse over the issue had been overcome during a phone call by Secretary of State John Kerry to President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday. As part of the agreement, President Obama would be expected to acknowledge past “mistakes” by United States military forces, and to promise such mistakes would not be repeated, according to Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi.
A spokesman for the American Embassy, Robert Hilton, would not comment on details of the negotiations.
Just days ago, Afghan officials said that the raids issue was holding up an overall deal on the so-called bilateral security agreement, which would establish a framework for the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan after the current 2014 deadline for Western troop withdrawal.
But even if both sides agree on a final wording, the Afghans have made their approval contingent on a vote this week by a loya jirga — a grand council of Afghan elders. And for weeks, analysts have said it was unlikely that the jirga would accept any American raids.
Those missions have long been an irritant in relations between the two countries. American commanders insist that they are critical to the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants hiding in Afghanistan. But the raids are deeply offensive to the Afghan public, and President Karzai has long insisted that only Afghan forces be allowed to conduct them.
The compromise negotiated on Tuesday would allow American troops to conduct raids and searches of Afghan homes but only in “extraordinary circumstances” in order to save American soldiers’ lives, Mr. Faizi said.
That caveat had been offered as an earlier compromise by American negotiators, according to United States officials. But one new factor was introduced on Tuesday during the phone call between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Karzai, Mr. Faizi said: Mr. Kerry proposed that he write a letter acknowledging Afghan suffering from past mistakes of American troops, and promising that such mistakes would not be repeated.
The spokesman said that Mr. Karzai then said he would accept that if the letter was signed by President Obama, and Secretary of State Kerry agreed to that requirement.
Now, one day remains for negotiators to finalize the proposed wording of the overall security agreement before the loya jirga meets in Kabul.
Khursheed Shah for NA session over Rawalpindi incident
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah Tuesday demanded of the government to convene a session of the lower house over Rawalpindi incident, Geo News reported.
“The opposition will submit a requisition for calling the National Assembly session in case the government failed to do so,” said Shah while talking to media persons here.
The opposition leader said that the Rawalpindi mayhem appeared to have been planned in advance and in which the local administration could also be involved.
He said if a foreign hand was behind the deadly incident then it gives rise to the question: “Where were the agencies?” The Rawalpindi carnage is a sensitive issue and it should be resolved by taking the religious clerics (Ulema) on board.
At least 10 people lost their lives and dozens others sustained injuries in a sectarian clash during Ashura procession last Friday in Rawalpindi.
Commenting on the November 3, 2007 emergency, Khursheed Shah described it as the continuation of a similar action taken on October 12, 1999.
He said Article-6 of the Constitution is not only applicable on Pervez Musharraf but also the associates. “If government wants to protect someone it should state things candidly,” he added.
The opposition leader asserted: “Pervez Musharraf’s cabinet was also on board in connection with the decisions taken on November 3, 2007.”
Pakistan's Shia Genocide: A Shia Muslim shot martyred in Quetta due to firing of Sipah-e-Yazid
www.shiitenews.comotorious Yazidi takfiri nasbi terrorists of outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba shot martyred a Shia Muslim in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan province on Tuesday. Shiite News Correspondent reported here that Mohammad Qasim was ambushed on Brewery Road Quetta near Hazara Town. He embraced martyrdom due to targeted firing. Shia parties and leaders have condemned the targeted murder of a peaceful law-abiding Shiite in Quetta. They demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and due punishment to them.
In Kabul, clinic funded by U.S. military closing because of lack of government support
By Kevin Sieff
By next month, there will be no more doctors at the clinic once deemed a model for Afghanistan. The shelves of the pharmacy are already empty. The modern X-ray and dialysis machines, rarities in one of the world’s poorest countries, sit unused in a building that was inaugurated by a top U.S. general.
The project, launched by the Pentagon in 2007, is closing — its funding depleted and the Afghan government unable to provide support. Earlier this month, a patient came to see a doctor but found the clinic nearly abandoned.
“They might as well turn it into a soccer field,” he said.
As the United States’ longest war winds down, hundreds of aid projects are being handed over to Afghan ministries, which sometimes lack the capacity or interest to sustain what foreign donors started. The Urgent and Primary Care Clinic in Kabul is a small but telling example: one of the few medical facilities in Afghanistan with state-of-the-art American equipment, a place that once saw nearly 5,000 patients per month and will soon see none.
The clinic was the brainchild of Asad Mojadidi, an Afghan-born doctor who moved to the United States in 1982 and practiced in Jacksonville, Fla. The doctor, who comes from one of Afghanistan’s most influential families (his brother was once president), decided to use whatever clout he had to improve the country’s failing health-care system.
He pitched his idea for the clinic to contacts at the Pentagon, who told him that they could commit $750,000. At the time, the military had billions to spend as part of its foreign assistance program, called the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP).
Buoyed by the Pentagon’s investment, Mojadidi secured hundreds of thousands of additional dollars from private donors and Western aid groups and embassies.
America’s Heart, a Florida-based nonprofit organization that provides medical assistance to developing countries, donated more than $100,000 in equipment. The World Health Organization donated vaccines. The Canadian government donated a refrigerated storage container.
The whole enterprise, like many development projects here, was predicated on the Afghan government’s promise to assume responsibility for the clinic once it was built and outfitted. In theory, that shouldn’t have been a problem. Thanks to international support, especially from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health has a budget of more than $300 million a year.
As a senior adviser at the Ministry of Public Health, Mojadidi thought he was in the right position to direct resources to the project. He estimated that keeping the clinic running at the standards envisioned by U.S. donors would cost about $100,000 per year. But that money never arrived. Mojadidi watched as the Afghan government refused to pay even for electricity.
Withered potential
When it opened, the clinic had 42 employees, including six doctors, six nurses, and several pharmacists and X-ray technicians. Soon after Gen. Karl Eikenberry, then the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, led the groundbreaking ceremony, patients flocked to the medical facility from across the country.
It became part of Afghanistan’s rapidly improving public health sector, where some of the most lauded assistance projects were having a noticeable effect. A 2011 USAID survey found that life expectancy in the country had jumped from 42 years — the second-lowest rate in the world — to about 62 years from 2004 to 2010.
Despite that improvement, the majority of Kabul’s clinics and hospitals that have modern equipment are private — and affordable only to the elite. Afghan government clinics are free but generally very basic. The Urgent and Primary Care Clinic’s directors and doctors hoped to use their donations — and their connection to the U.S. medical community — to provide quality care for Afghanistan’s massive underclass.
“We operated in a modern way, with a higher ethical standard than any other Afghan hospital,” said Habibullah Aini, a doctor, who will quit the clinic this month. He has not been paid since July.
Initially, Mojadidi and the Ministry of Public Health charged small fees to some patients, depending on their income, but decided not to seek any payment from those living in abject poverty, especially widows, people with disabilities and orphans. Such a system, they thought, would bring at least some money directly to the clinic — enough to pay for medicines, maybe.
The Afghan Justice Ministry nixed that plan a year later, arguing that the government could not accept money from patients. Still, Mojadidi thought, the Ministry of Public Health, which had expressed gratitude to the Pentagon for its initial donation, would have no problem filling the small gap in funds, given its pledge to support the clinic.
The hospital’s needs were modest: Doctors made $400 per month. Nurses made $150. Many of the medicines were donated. The clinic had all the equipment it needed.
Initially, the government contributed to the staff members’ salaries. But by 2012, most of the government’s funding had vanished. Mojadidi said he went to the public health minister and pleaded for money but was told that none was available. He resigned from his advisory position shortly thereafter.
Kanishka Baktash, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, denied that the clinic was on the verge of shutting down.
“The clinic is active,” he said. “We are providing financial support.”
But when a reporter visited the clinic this month, there was no sign of activity. Many rooms were locked. Baktash would not say how much money the ministry is providing, nor how it is being spent.
Out of options, Mojadidi went to President Hamid Karzai with a glossy brochure about the clinic, which described its “American standards,” but the meeting didn’t produce any concrete promises. He pleaded for more funds from visiting Pentagon officials but said he received no additional assistance.
After relying on small private donations for more than a year, Mojadidi acknowledged this summer that the clinic would have to close, even though patients continued coming for treatment. Aini, the last doctor at the clinic, had begun to apply for jobs at Western nongovernmental organizations in Kabul.
“There’s no money and medicine. What else can I do here?” Aini said. “Because of the mismanagement of the government, now nothing is possible.”
A fundamental problem
In September, the Office of the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that because of “financial management deficiencies” at the Ministry of Public Health, $236 million in USAID assistance was potentially subject to “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Although the Kabul clinic received funding from the military, not USAID, the fundamental problem is the same: How can U.S. officials ensure that their investment isn’t squandered as Afghan ministries take on more responsibility for the projects?
That’s a particular problem for the thousands of projects that received one-time U.S. military grants. In such cases, oversight often ends when troops leave a particular province. About $1.5 billion in CERP funds were spent from 2004 to 2011.
“We are not aware of any U.S. military programs in Afghanistan that require the monitoring and evaluation of a facility’s use once we have transferred it to the Afghan government,” said Jeffrey Hawk, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. “As a sovereign entity, the Afghan government determines how to budget and allocate funds for various needs and requirements, including staffing, operations and maintenance.”
Baktash said the Afghan government could not provide support to workers at clinics built by the U.S. military in areas torn by conflict. But the Kabul clinic is just a few miles from the headquarters of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force and close to the seat of Afghan power.
“There was so much potential, and look at what is left,” Mojadidi said this month, standing in the empty hospital. “Thanks to the government’s mismanagement, we lost everything.”
Spreading dissent: Anti-polio drive postponed in Nowshera as LHWs demand pay
The Express Tribune
The anti-polio campaign in Nowshera – earlier scheduled to be held from November 20-23 – will now begin from November 25.
The campaign was postponed after lady health workers (LHWs) refused to participate due to non-payment of salaries. LHWs said they would not attend their duties unless their salaries for the past few months were released. Some also demanded the provincial government regularise their services.
Nowshera District Coordinating Officer (DCO) Zakaullah Khattak told journalists the anti-polio drive has not been cancelled. He assured the issue surrounding salaries will soon be resolved and confirmed the campaign will commence from November 25.
Khattak added the provincial and federal governments deal with salaries, adding the district government has nothing to do with it. “It’s not a bad thing to delay the campaign as we will have more time to ensure tighter security measures and better planning.”
The DCO said he talked with the lady health workers and would hold another meeting with them. He was adamant they would take part in the upcoming campaign.
Anti-polio drives have also been postponed in Charsadda and Swat for the same reason. Though the drive in Swat is also expected to commence from November 25, medical experts remain skeptical over its effectiveness since LHWs have been replaced by educational staff.
عاشورہ فسادات: راولپنڈی کی دیوبندی مسجد غلام اللہ میں ہونے والی تقریر کا متن
http://lubpak.com/archives/291549خفیہ اداروں کو راولپنڈی کی دیوبندی مسجد و مدرسہ تعلیم القران المعروف مسجد غلام الله کے نائب خطیب مولوی امان الله دیوبندی اور مولوی شاکر دیوبندی کی تقاریر کی ریکارڈنگ موصول ہو گئی ہے – عربی کے خطبے میں کوئی قابل اعتراض بات نہیں ملی البتہ اردو کی تقریروں کو جان بوجھ کر ساڑھے تین بجے سہ پہر تک طوالت دی گئی جبکہ جمعہ نماز دو بجے تک ختم ہو جاتی ہے اس طوالت کا مقصد عاشورہ جلوس کا انتظار کر کے نفرت بھڑکانا تھا – مولوی امان الله دیوبندی اور مولوی شاکر دیوبندی کی تقریروں سے قابل اعتراض مواد درج ذیل ہے: ============== عاشورہ کے روز حکومت پاکستان نے شیعہ روافض اور سنی بریلوی قبر پرستوں کو امیر المومنین یزید رحمہ الله کی توہین کی کھلی چھٹی دے دی ہے جو پاکستان کے ستانوے فیصد دیوبندی اور اہلحدیث بھائیوں کے لئے نا قابل قبول ہے – عاشورہ اور میلاد کا جلوس بند کرو شیعہ کا کفر سب پر واضح ہے مولانا رشید احمد گنگوہیؒ ’’ہدایۃ الشیعہ‘‘ میں فرماتے ہیں کہ ’’شیعہ بے ادب ہیں، چند کلمہ توحید زبان سے کہتے ہیں اس کی وجہ سے وہ مسلمان نہیں ہوسکتے‘‘۔ علامہ ابن تیمیہ رحمۃ اللہ علیہ الصارم المسلول میں فرماتے ہیں کہ: ’’اگر کوئی صحابہ کرامؓ کی شان میں گستاخی کو جائز سمجھ کر کرے تو وہ کافر ہے، صحابہ کرامؓ کی شان میں گستاخی کرنے والا سزائے موت کا مستحق ہے، جو صدیق اکبرؓ کی شان میں گالی دے تو وہ کافر ہے، رافضی کا ذبیحہ حرام ہے، حالانکہ اہل کتاب کا ذبیحہ حلال ہے، روافض کا ذبیحہ کھانا اس لئے جائز نہیں کہ شرعی حکم کے لحاظ سے یہ مرتد ہیں‘‘۔ شیعہ عزاداری کی آڑ میں جید صحابہ کرام حضرت ابو سفیان، سیدنا حبشی، حضرت ہند، حضرت یزید رضی الله عنہم اجمعین کی شان میں گستاخی کرتے ہیں سید نا یزید رضی الله کی بیعت پر کبار صحابہ بشمول عبداللہ ابن عمر کا اتفاق تھا – حضرت حسین ہاشمی غرور میں آ کر خطا کر بیٹھے اور خلیفہ بروقت کی نا فرمانی کی شیعہ سبائی فرقہ نے حضرت حسین کو بہکا دیا آج کے نام نہاد سنی بریلوی بھی اپنے شرک کی آگ میں رافضیوں کی طرح محرم مناتے ہیں دونوں دوزخ کی آگ کا ایندھن ہیں یہاں پر مسجد میں موجود سپاہ صحابہ کے دیوبندیوں نے کافر کافر شیعہ کافر جو نہ مانے وہ بھی کافراور مشرک مشرک بریلوی مشرک کے نعرے لگوائے جو مسجد سے باہر سنی بریلوی اور شیعہ پر مشتمل محرم کے جلوس نے سنے دار العلوم دیوبند کے جید علما کے مستند فتویٰ کے مطابق حضرت یزید کو مطلق خلیفہ یا مسلمانوں کے امور کو انجام دینے کی وجہ سے امیرالموٴمنین کہہ سکتے ہیں چونکہ حضرت یزید تابعی تھے اس لیے ان کو امیر المومنین یزید رحمت الله علیہ کہنا چاہیے حوالہ کے لئے ملاحظہ کرو دارالعلوم دیوبند کے دار الافتا کے فتاویٰ نمبر 2257 اور 6134 – یہ ان کی ویب سائٹ پر بھی موجود ہیں http://darulifta-deoband.org/showuserview.do?function=answerView&all=en&id=6134 http://darulifta-deoband.org/showuserview.do?function=answerView&all=ur&id=2257 یہاں پر سپاہ صحابہ کے لوگوں نے یزیدیت زندہ باد، شیعہ کافر، سنی بریلوی مشرک کا نعرہ لگوایا جس کامسجد میں موجود کچھ لوگوں نے جواب دیا کچھ خاموش رہے ہم حضرت ابن تیمیہ، حضرت محمد ابن عبد الوہاب، حضرت حقنواز جھنگوی، حضرت ملا عمر ، حضرت اسامہ بن لادن، حضرت حکیم الله محسود شہید جیسے عظیم رہنماؤں کے نظریات کو لے کر چلتے رہیں گے اور پورے پاکستان میں درباروں، مزاروں، امام باڑوں کی آڑ میں کفر اور شرک کے اڈوں کو مسمار کرتے رہیں گے – ہمارا مطالبہ ہے کہ میلاد اور عاشورا کے کفریہ بدعتی جلوسوں پر پابندی عائد کی جائے ورنہ دیوبندی علما حق کی قیادت میں ہم کافروں اور مشرکوں کو خود جہنم رسید کریں گے - See more at: http://lubpak.com/archives/291549#sthash.kLlOmRO5.dpuf
LAHORE: Yazidi terrorists put 3 Imam Bargahs and houses of Shiites on fire in Lahore
https://www.shiitenews.com
Notorious Yazidi takfiri nasbi terrorists of outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba set three Imam Bargahs and houses of Shia Muslims in Lahore, provincial capital of Punjab province on Tuesday.
Shiite News Correspondent reported that Yazidi terrorists stormed into Bheep Pura area in Lahore and attacked three Imam Bargahs and houses of Shiites. Then, they set the buildings on fire.
The gory attack occurred under the nose of Punjab government whose Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has struck a deal with notorious Yazidi terrorists Ahmed Ludhianvi and Malik Ishaq.
Unfortunately, Punjab government has taken no action against the terrorists and surrendered to them by delaying the hanging of two notorious terrorists after the outlawed Yazidi terrorist outfit Taliban had threatened that they would kill bigwigs of the ruling PMLN in reaction to the hangings.
Shia parties and leaders have demanded of the United Nations and world human rights bodies to take notice of the brutalities being perpetrated to harm the Shiites. They said that in theory Shia Muslims have inalienable cultural and religious rights but they are forced not to enjoy those rights in practice. They said that for that purpose, Shia Muslims and their religious places have been under constant attacks under the PMLN government’s patronage.
Pakistan: Mullah and military
GETTING mad at Munawar Hasan for attempting to subvert the resolve of our soldiers to fight the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan by challenging the moral legitimacy of their mission is one thing. Learning lessons from the Jamaat-i-Islami’s hostile response to Hakeemullah’s death and taking corrective action is quite another.
If the text of the ISPR statement criticising Hasan and the JI’s reaction to it is anything to go by, what we are witnessing is not a break-up but an estrangement between lovers with a shared desire to woo the other back.
As a matter of principle, the ISPR had no business seeking an apology from a political party, even one as vile as the JI. Issuing a release putting on record the angst felt by families of martyrs and soldiers putting their lives at stake to defend us from the barbarians in our midst, and a restatement of continuing resolve to defend the country from national security threats within the framework of the Constitution would have been enough.
The JI deserved to be condemned and asked to apologise. But that demand should have come from political parties and civil society.
Condemnation of the JI has been significant. Our people have the good sense not to undermine the valiant sacrifices of our soldiers merely because our generals have continued to bungle. It was not our soldiers or a majority of our officers who decided that Pakistan would join the ‘good’ Afghan jihad alongside the Americans in the 1980s. It was not these soldiers and officers who decided that Pakistan would run with the hare and hunt with the hounds faced with the ‘bad’ jihad post 9/11.
It was not these soldiers and officers who decided that the army would employ non-state actors deliberately indoctrinated with violent religious ideology to pursue ill-conceived national security objectives.
It was not these soldiers and officers who forged the military-mullah alliance and decided to get into bed with the JI and other religious parties to manufacture bigoted and irresponsible notions of national interest and use morality derived from religious diktat as an alternative to legitimacy flowing from the law and the Constitution.
But highlighting the sacrifices of soldiers to distract attention from the toxic choices made by politically ambitious self-serving generals who sowed and cultivated the seeds of confusion that we now find in full blossom is not a sustainable strategy. The correction that we yearn for today cannot come about without unambiguous admission by the khaki leadership of the wrong choices made in the past and the resolve to undo them.
The mullah-military alliance is cemented by each partner’s belief in its ability to control the other. The content of ISPR’s release and the JI’s reaction suggests that such belief has survived Munawar Hasan’s vitriol. In celebrating Maudoodi’s ‘sacrifices’, the khakis seem to be signalling to JI leaders and followers that the current emir might have deviated from the path of the founder. And in reiterating historical support for the army (with references to 1971), the JI is suggesting that it is eager to stand with the army, but the latter must return to fighting only righteous wars.
Has our khaki leadership been woken up by the JI or is it in snooze mode? The JI and its jihadi cousins have not changed. The world has and so have our national security needs.
When the military first employed the mullah through state patronage it didn’t realise that as the national army continued its transition towards an ideological army, control and initiative would steadily shift from the military to the mullah. Today, the military labelling the JI as a traitor is of no consequence to the JI.
But the JI denouncing the army for becoming a mercenary force in service of infidels carries the potential of causing sedition within army ranks. When faced with the prospect of death every believer derives strength from God, whether in a tumbling aeroplane or in a war zone. In a country comprising 97pc Muslims, the army’s battle cry would always be ‘Allah-o-Akbar’. But what does our army primarily fight for — the cause of Islam or the cause of Pakistan?
When the two mean the same things, there is no confusion. But when self-appointed guardians of faith define the cause of Islam in a way that conflicts with what rational citizens would see as the cause of Pakistan (or even Islam), as presently in the face of the existential threat posed by the TTP, where does the army stand?
The idea that khakis can out-manoeuvre the JI and more violent takfiris such as Al Qaeda and the TTP in a battle over control of the ideological narrative is not only fanciful but a manifestation of the arrogance that itself qualifies as a national security threat.
Let’s make this not about blame but correction. The army’s self-perception must be that of a national army and not an ideological one that is vulnerable to internal discord caused by proclamations issued by our bigoted brigade.
The alliance between our national security apparatus and jihadis or non-state actors, however described, must end, and verifiably so. If we wish to put out of business those within Pakistan who have assumed the right to distinguish good Muslims from bad, the military must first get out of the business of distinguishing good jihadis from bad.
Fighting and talking are not either-or solutions. We must talk to those who can accept Pakistan as a Muslim state as opposed to a jihadi state. We will have to fight those committed to killing or getting killed in order to annex Pakistan as the next goal in their global jihad.
We need a jirga to calm our wild west. But it must not be with the TTP but the representatives of all tribes in Fata to agree on steps to empower our tribal citizens and redefine their responsibilities towards Pakistan and the world within the framework of our Constitution and the nation-state system.
We can do without JI, but Pakistan needs a strong national army. A clean break-up is often better than a bitter consumptive relationship between partners with divergent worldviews.
Pakistan: Jalozai IDPs decline to vaccinate children
Lady health workers on Monday boycotted polio campaign in Mardan district. The boycott comes in line with a decision of LHWs made during a meeting at the District Headquarters Hospital, Mardan. Leaders of LHWs, including Shahrukh Begum, Ara Begum, Hashmat Begum and Saira Begum, said they had not been paid salary for three months and therefore, their families were in distress. They also said most LHWs had yet to be paid for the May 11 election duty. The leaders of LHWs said the boycott of polio campaign would continue until their dues were paid and their services were regularised.
Pakistan's Shia Genocide: Gujrat University professor shot dead
The Express Tribune NewsStudent services director of the University of Gujrat Professor Shabbir Shah was killed by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday, Express News reported. Gunmen on motorcycles stopped his car outside the university and opened fire at the vehicle, shooting the professor and his driver Khadim Hussain. Both of them died on the spot. Police sources said that a search operation is underway. The motive behind the attack is not known as yet. On September 26, a professor of Islamia College was shot while driving his car in Karachi. According to the police two unidentified men on a motorcycle had fired on Professor Ghulam Nabi Wassan’s car. Wassan was immediately rushed to hospital. In June, Professor Azfar Rizvi, along with his driver, was gunned down by unknown assailants in Karachi. In March this year, poet and former principal of Liaquatabad College Professor Sibte Jafar was shot dead in Karachi. He too was gunned down by unidentified men riding a motorcycle.
Musharraf treason trial: not-so-brilliant diversion
Brilliant, sayeth anyone? This is downright pathetic and we are supposed to take it seriously. When other problems cry for attention, when the Taliban vow vengeance and the government (stricken by fear) knows not what to do, when breathtaking administrative incompetence leads to a complete breakdown of law and order in Rawalpindi on the 10th of Muharram and the army has to be called in and curfew imposed to restore order, what is the government’s answer to all this? With a straight face the interior minister announces the decision to prosecute Gen Pervez Musharraf for treason – for imposing emergency on Nov 3, 2007. Do we laugh or cry? If this is all the leadership we get, we might as well give up and entrust our fate to the stars. The former interior minister, Rehman Malik, was also given to saying pretty funny things, most of which required a generous sprinkling of salt before anyone could swallow them. But at least he had a sense of humour which, even under the most trying circumstances, he never lost. Nisar, his successor, has no sense of humour, at least none in public. He is solemn and expects you to take him seriously, even as he drones on and on, putting everyone’s intelligence and patience to a severe test. If he were only interior minister, it wouldn’t matter so much. But he’s a key figure in this government. If there was any politburo ranking here, like in the old Soviet Union or present-day China, he would be third in the PML-N’s pecking order, after the PM and talented brother Shahbaz. In George du Maurier’s 1894 novel Trilby, Svengali is a character with great powers of hypnosis. From the book the name has entered the English language to signify someone who manipulates and exerts excessive control over another. Who is the PML-N’s Svengali? When Bhutto chose Gen Zia as his chief of staff, and lived to rue his decision, he had no one to blame except himself. The decision was his. Gen Yahya was Ayub’s decision. But Musharraf was a choice sold to the Sharifs by Nisar. Was this the reason why after the coup and later exile to Saudi Arabia, Nawaz Sharif’s attitude towards his bright acolyte was a bit distant? After the 2013 elections Nisar was again under a bit of a cloud because of the PML-N’s relatively poor showing in Rawalpindi district and because Nisar himself lost two out of the four seats he was contesting. But he’s been in politics for a long time. The art of the comeback at least he seems to have mastered. His great political skills are evident even in the way he has tried to handle the aftermath of the recent flare-up in Rawalpindi. This was administrative bungling at its worst, the Pindi administration, from top to bottom, unable to control events, one thing leading to another before the situation went completely out of hand and the army had to be called in. Who was to blame? Primarily, the administration. But who was behind the administration? Musharraf was responsible for the ’99 coup but there was somebody responsible for his elevation to the position of army chief. Similarly, somebody is responsible for all the top appointments in the Pindi administration. I am not spinning a yarn; this is common knowledge. No top appointment or transfer in Pindi can be made without Nisar’s approval: commissioner, RPO, etc, etc, all his hand-picked choices, because Pindi district is his bailiwick, or at least he thinks it is. To be fair to Nisar, this happens not just in Pindi. Ministers and even influential MNAs/MPAs try to influence appointments and transfers everywhere, one reason why we’ve managed to wreck our administrative services. But in Pindi this practice is more pronounced. Other stalwarts have to lobby, or even abjectly entreat, the chief minister. Not Nisar whose closeness to the CM puts him above that necessity. So the standard excuse that law and order is a provincial subject does not really apply in this case. In Rawalpindi law and order is a provincial subject, making the CM ultimately responsible for it, but it is also, for reasons cited above, an interior ministry subject. Where does the buck stop then? Who’s really responsible? We have to hand it to Nisar, however, for playing his cards deftly by trying to deflect attention from the real issue on the table, the trouble in Pindi, to the bogey of Musharraf’s trial. Not that everyone is falling for his ploy. The morning after his hurriedly-called press conference there was no shortage of scepticism in the media about the motives behind this move. But if not the media’s attention, the government’s attention will be deflected. As if there was not enough on his plate already, when Nawaz Sharif returns from his foreign tour, in the form of Musharraf’s treason case he will have another mess to deal with. Who knows, he may welcome this distraction. After all, it is so much nicer and more comfortable thundering about treason and the sanctity of the constitution instead of figuring out how to deal with terrorism and the Taliban. So Nisar could well end up being congratulated for another smart move. But since we are on this subject consider for a moment the amazing selectivity we are bringing to this treason affair. So focused are we on November 3, 2007 that it almost seems as if the Musharraf era began on that date and not eight years before, on Oct 12, 1999. November 3 was a minor affair compared to the original sin of 1999 but the government doesn’t want to talk about it, the judiciary doesn’t want to talk about it, because the original sin was validated by the Supreme Court in 2000, in the so-called Zafar Ali Shah case. Irshad Hasan Khan was CJ, and on the bench, among others, sat My Lord Iftikhar Chaudhry. Not only did the SC give Musharraf’s action a clean chit it also empowered him to amend the constitution. This means the army and the judiciary were hand-in-glove, which has been the regular pattern of all our coups, Ayub Khan onwards. We cannot run away from our past, but shouldn’t a recognition of the past inculcate in us some modesty and humility? If we ourselves have sinned should we not pause a bit before casting stones at others? “Mein ne majnoon pe larak mein Asad, sang uthaya toh sar yaad aaya.” Kuch Ghalib se hee seekh lein. (By the way, Saigal singing this ghazal, it’s incomparable.) The restoration of the judiciary should have brought with it some humility. It has had just the opposite effect, leading to an explosion of self-righteousness. The judicial wheel is about to turn. Let us see what awaits us when that is done. Nisar also had another trick up his sleeve. He said a commission was to be set up to investigate the Asghar Khan case – relating to ISI money distributed to a long line of politicians in order to influence and steal the 1990 elections – elections which saw Benazir Bhutto comprehensively defeated. In that treasured list figure the names, among others, of Nawaz Sharif and talented brother Shahbaz. Only certified fools can think that the brothers or any of the others will be indicted. This is just the first step in another cover-up that will take care of the Asghar Khan case once and for all, consigning it to that limbo where dwell forgotten things. And there are 20-year-old bank loans of which not a penny has been returned. No one will ever ask what’s happened to them. But we’ll continue to talk of justice and accountability. But look at the sunny side of things. What if our problems are many and great? At least we have our talent for low and small cunning, and who one can take away that from us?Ayaz Amir
Pakistan: Musharraf’s fate
Uncertainty prevails despite lifting of curfew in Pindi
Daily TimesLife in the garrison city started limping back to normalcy on Monday, while activists of a sectarian outfit remained on their toes to protest against the tragedy that took place a few days ago.
Pakistan:‘MURDER, WHAT MURDER?’
http://newsweekpakistan.com/A PHANTOM BODY, CLUELESS COPS, AND BUSY SPIES: THE FALLOUT FROM THE SHOOTING OF A SENIOR HAQQANI NETWORK LEADER WILL DO LITTLE TO DAMPEN SUSPICIONS OF PAKISTANI COMPLICITY WITH ISLAMIST MILITANTS. Nasiruddin Haqqani, the chief moneyman for one of the most feared factions fighting U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, died in a hail of bullets outside a bakery on the edge of Islamabad on Nov. 10. After his death it has emerged that he had been living since 2010 in the suburb, Bhara Kahu, as a respected local figure known as “Doctor sahib.” But at Bhara Kahu police station, just 100 meters from the scene of the shooting, duty officer Khalid was adamant: “Murder, what murder? We have no information about a murder.” Like with the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011, there has been no plausible explanation from Islamabad as to how a man so wanted by the U.S. could live easily for years on the edge of the capital. What happened in the immediate wake of the shooting will do nothing to stem the accusation that Pakistan may be playing a “double game” by secretly helping militant groups it deems as favorable to its interests. According to witnesses, after the shooting at around 8:30 p.m. that Sunday, Pakistani agents came, collected all the bullet casings from the scene, and washed away the blood from the pavement outside the bakery. By then Haqqani’s body was already gone, taken away immediately by his driver to the nearby house where Haqqani had lived since 2010, a discreet one-story brick building. News of the death of “Doctor sahib” spread quickly through the area, but police seemed curiously unhurried, only arriving at the house at 11 p.m., according to neighbors. They found nothing, and it was hardly surprising. At least two hours earlier, Haqqani’s body had been taken for burial in North Waziristan. The journey of nearly 400 kilometers was hardly done discreetly—a source close to the Haqqani family said the body was carried in a convoy of seven vehicles, including four 4x4s. It was a substantial caravan to pass unchallenged through the countless police and military checkpoints that lie between Islamabad and North Waziristan. Haqqani was buried the next day in Dandey Darpakhel, the North Waziristan village where Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Nov. 1. The Pakistani Taliban blamed the spy agency ISI for Haqqani’s death, but others, including Afghan intelligence, have pointed to a potential rift in the jihadist movement. As the head of financial operations for the Haqqani network, it is also possible Nasiruddin Haqqani fell out with ruthless business contacts. For the Bhara Kahu police, the case is closed. “Officially only one person was wounded in the attack—the baker. We never saw a dead body and no one has reported one, so technically speaking, this ‘doctor sahib’ doesn’t exist for us,” duty officer Khalid said on Wednesday. He was quickly drawn away by intelligence agents who happened to be visiting the police station that day. The once-peaceful suburb has seen some worrying incidents in recent months, including an attempted suicide attack on a Shia mosque. Some residents complain of a “Talibanization” fed by an influx of Pakhtuns. “Two minutes from here, there are places where you don’t go out at night, where convoys of cars with blacked-out windows pass by regularly,” a shopkeeper said. After Haqqani’s killing, locals were astonished to learn who their neighbor had been. “Doctor sahib had an excellent reputation, he prayed five times a day, said hello to people,” said Nasir Abbasi, an estate agent living on the same street. Only once in recent years did the area mobilize to kick out an undesirable—a bachelor who dared to entertain female guests. “People thought, ‘this does not conform to Islam,’ and called the police and he had to move,” said Abbasi, who was still shocked by such behavior—far indeed from the spotless reputation of the peaceful and popular “doctor sahib.”
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