Russian authorities warned the FBI in early 2011 that suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been a follower of “radical Islam,” a revelation that raised new questions in Congress on Saturday about whether the Boston Marathon attacks that killed three and wounded more than 170 could have been prevented.
A senior congressional aide privy to the Boston Marathon terror investigation confirmed Saturday that the FBI received the warning after Tsarnaev’s apparently suspicious activities caught the attention of Russian authorities keeping close surveillance on militant Islamist groups in the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union.
The FBI acknowledged Friday that it had investigated Tsarnaev in 2011, even interviewing him and his family, but “did not find any terrorism activity,” either domestic or foreign.
“The FBI had this guy on the radar and somehow he fell off,” said the congressional aide, who said oversight committees on Capitol Hill are seeking answers from counterterrorism officials. “We heard for several days leading up to this there was no intelligence. Now we know there could have been intelligence.”Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a firefight with police in Watertown early Friday morning, had traveled from Boston to Russia several times in recent years, including an extended stay in 2012, according to multiple US officials who have reviewed his passport file.Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, are ethnic Chechens who came to the United States from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in central Asia.
The bureau declined to answer questions Saturday about whether it revisited its 2011 investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev after the Marathon attack, or why the bureau was unable to identify the suspects in race day security footage two years after interviewing him and his family.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was searched by law enforcement officers in Watertown, seconds after his capture on Friday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured by police Friday night in Watertown after eluding a manhunt for more than 20 hours. He is in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in “serious but stable” condition and not yet able to communicate, Governor Deval Patrick told reporters Saturday.
As questions mounted over the FBI’s prior experience with the alleged bomber, Greater Boston reveled in the capture of the alleged terrorist and took another step to returning to normal.
Friday’s Boston Red Sox game was canceled while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was on the loose, but Saturday’s game was held as scheduled, the team’s first home game since last Monday’s bombing.
Members of law enforcement who pursued the alleged bombers were honored on the Fenway infield before the game. Fans cheered Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis as if he had just shut out the Yankees.
Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, in the lineup for the first time this season after an injury, took the microphone and shouted: “This is our [expletive] city, and nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”
While the return of the Red Sox brought some sense of normalcy to the city, 52 people hurt in the bombing remained in Boston hospitals on Saturday, and the heart of Back Bay, where the bombings took place, remained closed for the continuing investigation.
The dramatic encounter that led to the death of one of the brothers and the capture of the other followed a decision Thursday by the FBI to release video and photographs of the suspects, in an effort to have the public help identify them.
The images showed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a dark cap and carrying a backpack — believed to have held a bomb — on Boylston Street.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is pictured in a white cap, also carrying a backpack.
The decision to release the photos came after two days of silence from the FBI, during which they tracked down thousands of tips without making an arrest.
But hours after the images were released, the suspects allegedly unleashed a wave of shocking violence, fatally shooting Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier in Cambridge, then carjacking a motorist and engaging in a gun battle with Watertown police in a residential neighborhood. MBTA transit officer Richard H. Donohue Jr. was shot in the groin and hospitalized.
Davis conceded in a Globe interview Saturday that “releasing the photos may have led to the further attack” against Collier, which Davis has called an assassination. But he added: “We don’t know that.”
Releasing the photos after hours of behind-the-scenes deliberation “was a turning point in the investigation, no doubt about it,” said Davis. “It forced them out of their hideout and they decided to commit further violent acts. But it’s my belief that they were already manufacturing explosive devices; further violent acts were inevitable.”
DARREN MCCOLLESTER/GETTY IMAGES
Investigators worked on Saturday around the boat where Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding afteramassive manhunt.
The suspects “were not making those explosives for nothing,” said Davis. “There was a plan there, and I believe that tragically [Collier] lost his life, but he was truly protecting the citizens of the city.”
Security experts said the relatively high quality of the photos and the state of the investigation gave law enforcement no choice but to put to go public.
Dean C. Alexander, director of the homeland security research program and an associate professor at Western Illinois University, called it “a Catch-22.”
“But the stink would have been even bigger if the FBI had these photos and didn’t release them. These guys could have gone on to something even bigger,” Alexander said. “It seems pretty basic if you’re trying to find the perpetrators.’’
Mitch Silber, an executive of K2 Intelligence in New York and the former director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department, said that as the investigation stalled, the argument for the photos’ release became more compelling.
“I think it was a calculated decision by them because they had run into a bit of a dead-end,’’ Silber said. “They felt the traditional means of identifying them using high-end software wasn’t bearing fruit, so let’s put them out and maybe the public will identify them.’’
US Representative Stephen Lynch, whose district includes parts of Boston, said Saturday that he has a number of questions for US and Russian officials about what they knew about the brothers, and when.
“These are two relatively young men who don’t seem to have the ability to finance what I see going on,” Lynch said in an interview. “They seem to be very well supplied. How do these type of individuals like that get the training and resources to conduct an operation like this?”
Lynch, who sits on a congressional oversight panel on terrorist financing, says another key question is how the alleged terrorists became radicalized in the first place.
“Did that happen with direct foreign assistance, or were there mentors who guided them in this operation and inspired them?” he said.
Lynch, a Democrat who is running in the special election for a Senate seat, said investigators are also scrambling to learn more from the Russian government about why Tamerlan Tsarnaev gave them concern in 2011.
“What was the source of their inquiry? What suspicions drove that? It might have been his associations with individuals there. Were [Russian authorities] forthcoming with the FBI?”
Lynch added that he believes Congress must ultimately play a role in getting more answers and determining if the attack could have been stopped.
In response to written questions, Lynch’s primary opponent, Representative Edward J. Markey, whose district includes Watertown, said he has similar questions, including “whether the bombers had help in their deadly plans, why they struck our country, and what we can do to thwart future attacks.”
“As we saw on Patriots Day, terrorists are now turning their attention to targets that are more difficult to secure,” said the Malden Democrat, who has previously served on the House Homeland Security Committee.
President Obama convened the National Security Council on Saturday for 90 minutes in the Situation Room on the Boston attacks, including an update on the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The president “underscored the need to continue gathering intelligence to answer the remaining questions about this terrorist attack going forward,” according to the White House.
The alleged bomber’s uncle, Alvi Tsarnaev, said in an interview with the Globe that the elder nephew, Tamerlan, visited his father in the restive Russian province of Dagestan, which neighbors war-torn Chechnya.
But Alvi Tsarnaev said he did not know who else his nephew may have been involved with while overseas.
The FBI acknowledged Friday night that a foreign government had asked US officials for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, based on information that he was “a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow and Russian embassy in Washington did not return calls seeking comment.
The FBI and White House pointed reporters to the bureau’s Friday statement.
Also Saturday, federal authorities swept through the same New Bedford residence that they had searched the day before in relation to the manhunt for Tsarnaev. But this time, they left with two men in custody.
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement would only say, “ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested two foreign nationals this afternoon in New Bedford, Mass. These individuals were arrested on administrative immigration violations.” No other information was released.
As Watertown, the scene of Friday’s firefight and manhunt, began returning to normal Saturday, more details filtered out about the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was discovered bleeding and hiding in a boat in a backyard on Franklin Street.
Just moments after State Police wrapped up an afternoon news conference on Friday and lifted the order to stay inside, acknowledging they did not know where the suspected terrorist was, a 911 call came in to Watertown police.
The caller said someone was in a boat in a backyard, bleeding and moving.
Watertown police rushed to the scene, followed quickly by hundreds of Boston police officers, federal law enforcement officials, and officers from other agencies still in Watertown.
Boston tactical teams made up of dozens of SWAT officers led by Sergeant Jack Mahoney swarmed the house, setting up a perimeter around it.
Dozens of officers and federal officials moved into the backyard on foot and as they neared the boat, Tsarnaev suddenly moved from his hiding place and raised his hand. He looked to be holding something.
Immediately, officials opened fire. Officers backed off, keeping a distance of about 30 feet from the boat.
Worried that Tsarnaev might be wearing an explosive device, police brought in an armored vehicle, equipped with a robot that could peel back the wrap covering the boat for the winter.
The standoff lasted nearly two hours, as officers watched the boat closely. “No movement,” they would report occasionally.
Then, Tsarnaev stirred. He held his hands up. He was covered in blood.
Not taking any chances, officers began to hit the boat with flash grenades, which emit a loud blast and a bright light designed to disorient suspects.
They used at least a dozen of the devices, trying to ensure as much as possible that Tsarnaev would be too stunned to fight back. SWAT officers then swarmed the boat.
Watertown police Chief Edward Deveau said yesterday that the name of the boat was the Slipaway II.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Russia alerted US about Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Russian authorities warned the FBI in early 2011 that suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been a follower of “radical Islam,” a revelation that raised new questions in Congress on Saturday about whether the Boston Marathon attacks that killed three and wounded more than 170 could have been prevented.
A senior congressional aide privy to the Boston Marathon terror investigation confirmed Saturday that the FBI received the warning after Tsarnaev’s apparently suspicious activities caught the attention of Russian authorities keeping close surveillance on militant Islamist groups in the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union.
The FBI acknowledged Friday that it had investigated Tsarnaev in 2011, even interviewing him and his family, but “did not find any terrorism activity,” either domestic or foreign.
“The FBI had this guy on the radar and somehow he fell off,” said the congressional aide, who said oversight committees on Capitol Hill are seeking answers from counterterrorism officials. “We heard for several days leading up to this there was no intelligence. Now we know there could have been intelligence.”Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a firefight with police in Watertown early Friday morning, had traveled from Boston to Russia several times in recent years, including an extended stay in 2012, according to multiple US officials who have reviewed his passport file.Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, are ethnic Chechens who came to the United States from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in central Asia.
The bureau declined to answer questions Saturday about whether it revisited its 2011 investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev after the Marathon attack, or why the bureau was unable to identify the suspects in race day security footage two years after interviewing him and his family.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was searched by law enforcement officers in Watertown, seconds after his capture on Friday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured by police Friday night in Watertown after eluding a manhunt for more than 20 hours. He is in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in “serious but stable” condition and not yet able to communicate, Governor Deval Patrick told reporters Saturday.
As questions mounted over the FBI’s prior experience with the alleged bomber, Greater Boston reveled in the capture of the alleged terrorist and took another step to returning to normal.
Friday’s Boston Red Sox game was canceled while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was on the loose, but Saturday’s game was held as scheduled, the team’s first home game since last Monday’s bombing.
Members of law enforcement who pursued the alleged bombers were honored on the Fenway infield before the game. Fans cheered Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis as if he had just shut out the Yankees.
Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, in the lineup for the first time this season after an injury, took the microphone and shouted: “This is our [expletive] city, and nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”
While the return of the Red Sox brought some sense of normalcy to the city, 52 people hurt in the bombing remained in Boston hospitals on Saturday, and the heart of Back Bay, where the bombings took place, remained closed for the continuing investigation.
The dramatic encounter that led to the death of one of the brothers and the capture of the other followed a decision Thursday by the FBI to release video and photographs of the suspects, in an effort to have the public help identify them.
The images showed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a dark cap and carrying a backpack — believed to have held a bomb — on Boylston Street.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is pictured in a white cap, also carrying a backpack.
The decision to release the photos came after two days of silence from the FBI, during which they tracked down thousands of tips without making an arrest.
But hours after the images were released, the suspects allegedly unleashed a wave of shocking violence, fatally shooting Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier in Cambridge, then carjacking a motorist and engaging in a gun battle with Watertown police in a residential neighborhood. MBTA transit officer Richard H. Donohue Jr. was shot in the groin and hospitalized.
Davis conceded in a Globe interview Saturday that “releasing the photos may have led to the further attack” against Collier, which Davis has called an assassination. But he added: “We don’t know that.”
Releasing the photos after hours of behind-the-scenes deliberation “was a turning point in the investigation, no doubt about it,” said Davis. “It forced them out of their hideout and they decided to commit further violent acts. But it’s my belief that they were already manufacturing explosive devices; further violent acts were inevitable.”
DARREN MCCOLLESTER/GETTY IMAGES
Investigators worked on Saturday around the boat where Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding afteramassive manhunt.
The suspects “were not making those explosives for nothing,” said Davis. “There was a plan there, and I believe that tragically [Collier] lost his life, but he was truly protecting the citizens of the city.”
Security experts said the relatively high quality of the photos and the state of the investigation gave law enforcement no choice but to put to go public.
Dean C. Alexander, director of the homeland security research program and an associate professor at Western Illinois University, called it “a Catch-22.”
“But the stink would have been even bigger if the FBI had these photos and didn’t release them. These guys could have gone on to something even bigger,” Alexander said. “It seems pretty basic if you’re trying to find the perpetrators.’’
Mitch Silber, an executive of K2 Intelligence in New York and the former director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department, said that as the investigation stalled, the argument for the photos’ release became more compelling.
“I think it was a calculated decision by them because they had run into a bit of a dead-end,’’ Silber said. “They felt the traditional means of identifying them using high-end software wasn’t bearing fruit, so let’s put them out and maybe the public will identify them.’’
US Representative Stephen Lynch, whose district includes parts of Boston, said Saturday that he has a number of questions for US and Russian officials about what they knew about the brothers, and when.
“These are two relatively young men who don’t seem to have the ability to finance what I see going on,” Lynch said in an interview. “They seem to be very well supplied. How do these type of individuals like that get the training and resources to conduct an operation like this?”
Lynch, who sits on a congressional oversight panel on terrorist financing, says another key question is how the alleged terrorists became radicalized in the first place.
“Did that happen with direct foreign assistance, or were there mentors who guided them in this operation and inspired them?” he said.
Lynch, a Democrat who is running in the special election for a Senate seat, said investigators are also scrambling to learn more from the Russian government about why Tamerlan Tsarnaev gave them concern in 2011.
“What was the source of their inquiry? What suspicions drove that? It might have been his associations with individuals there. Were [Russian authorities] forthcoming with the FBI?”
Lynch added that he believes Congress must ultimately play a role in getting more answers and determining if the attack could have been stopped.
In response to written questions, Lynch’s primary opponent, Representative Edward J. Markey, whose district includes Watertown, said he has similar questions, including “whether the bombers had help in their deadly plans, why they struck our country, and what we can do to thwart future attacks.”
“As we saw on Patriots Day, terrorists are now turning their attention to targets that are more difficult to secure,” said the Malden Democrat, who has previously served on the House Homeland Security Committee.
President Obama convened the National Security Council on Saturday for 90 minutes in the Situation Room on the Boston attacks, including an update on the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The president “underscored the need to continue gathering intelligence to answer the remaining questions about this terrorist attack going forward,” according to the White House.
The alleged bomber’s uncle, Alvi Tsarnaev, said in an interview with the Globe that the elder nephew, Tamerlan, visited his father in the restive Russian province of Dagestan, which neighbors war-torn Chechnya.
But Alvi Tsarnaev said he did not know who else his nephew may have been involved with while overseas.
The FBI acknowledged Friday night that a foreign government had asked US officials for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, based on information that he was “a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow and Russian embassy in Washington did not return calls seeking comment.
The FBI and White House pointed reporters to the bureau’s Friday statement.
Also Saturday, federal authorities swept through the same New Bedford residence that they had searched the day before in relation to the manhunt for Tsarnaev. But this time, they left with two men in custody.
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement would only say, “ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested two foreign nationals this afternoon in New Bedford, Mass. These individuals were arrested on administrative immigration violations.” No other information was released.
As Watertown, the scene of Friday’s firefight and manhunt, began returning to normal Saturday, more details filtered out about the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was discovered bleeding and hiding in a boat in a backyard on Franklin Street.
Just moments after State Police wrapped up an afternoon news conference on Friday and lifted the order to stay inside, acknowledging they did not know where the suspected terrorist was, a 911 call came in to Watertown police.
The caller said someone was in a boat in a backyard, bleeding and moving.
Watertown police rushed to the scene, followed quickly by hundreds of Boston police officers, federal law enforcement officials, and officers from other agencies still in Watertown.
Boston tactical teams made up of dozens of SWAT officers led by Sergeant Jack Mahoney swarmed the house, setting up a perimeter around it.
Dozens of officers and federal officials moved into the backyard on foot and as they neared the boat, Tsarnaev suddenly moved from his hiding place and raised his hand. He looked to be holding something.
Immediately, officials opened fire. Officers backed off, keeping a distance of about 30 feet from the boat.
Worried that Tsarnaev might be wearing an explosive device, police brought in an armored vehicle, equipped with a robot that could peel back the wrap covering the boat for the winter.
The standoff lasted nearly two hours, as officers watched the boat closely. “No movement,” they would report occasionally.
Then, Tsarnaev stirred. He held his hands up. He was covered in blood.
Not taking any chances, officers began to hit the boat with flash grenades, which emit a loud blast and a bright light designed to disorient suspects.
They used at least a dozen of the devices, trying to ensure as much as possible that Tsarnaev would be too stunned to fight back. SWAT officers then swarmed the boat.
Watertown police Chief Edward Deveau said yesterday that the name of the boat was the Slipaway II.
Checkpoints in Peshawar fail to deter militants
There are around 40 security checkpoints and scores of Rider Squad personnel in the capital city’s rural and urban areas but still, acts of terrorism are on the rise exposing the inefficiency of law-enforcement agencies.
There is no check on movement of suicide bombers and target killers and they can reach their target very easily when and wherever they want.
The suicide bombings of Judicial Complex and the commandant of Frontier Constabulary, planting of a magnet bomb at a passenger van in Mattani area and the recent terrorist attack on an Awami National Party rally in Yakatoot area are enough to prove that the law-enforcement agencies are a failure by and large.
In the city, putting up security checkpoints across the city may be an effective way to counter terrorism in the eyes of the government but in actual fact, they have miserably failed to live up to the people’s expectations.
Law-enforcement agencies are increasing the number of checkpoints in the city, but ironically so is the case with terrorist
attacks.
Road users have to wait for a long time to cross checkpoints, especially during in the morning and evening. Long queues of vehicles are seen on key roads, especially those in cantonment areas, due to these checkpoints, where every motorist or motorcyclist has to prove his/her identity.
Until March 29 this year, there was no metal detector at security checkpoints but only one scanner was installed for pedestrians at Fakhr-i-Alam Road following the March 29 suicide attack on a vehicle of Frontier Constabulary Commandant Abdul Majeed Marwat. The commandant remained unhurt, however.
On the rest of checkpoints, personnel of security forces and police check identity cards and seldom carry out bodysearch.
In the past, these personnel had manual metal detectors to find weapons and explosives. But the device is no more with them.
And perhaps that is the reason why these checkpoints are unable to stop terrorists from reaching their targets even in well-guarded areas.
A footage of closed-circuit television camera shows that the bomber, who attacked the FC commandant, was wearing white clothes and standing along Fakhr-i-Alam Road who blew himself up when the vehicle of Mr Marwat came close to him. The footage does not show who brought the bomber to the spot or from where he arrived there.
Had there been some metal detectors with security personnel, the bomber would have not succeeded in his mission.
A police official said the bomber, who attacked Mr Marwat, had reached there in the garb of a man selling fruit on a pushcart.
When contacted, officials of various police stations in limits of Peshawar cantonment confirmed they had neither arrested any high-profile terrorist during the last one year nor had they seized explosives on these checkpoints as they had to take action on basis of information.
“How a terrorist can cross security checkpoints. There are many other entry and exit points for such people,” an official of East Cantonment police station said.
He, however, suggested that some powerful metal detectors should be given to personnel manning security checkpoints on Khyber Road, Mall Road and University Road so that the people carrying explosives or weapons could be held and as a result,
road users would not suffer in long queues.
On the other hand, these checkpoints have made lives of the people miserable.
The worst sufferers are those using checkpoints in the limits of Michini Gate, East Cantonment and West Cantonment police stations.
The checkpoint on University Road (Gora Qabristan) is very difficult for motorists to cross as sometimes, queue of vehicles is seen up to KFC outlet.
Also, checkpoints near Peshtakhara police station and near provincial assembly building are very irritating for road users.
An official of the Michini Gate said all suspected people were dealt with by security forces and that police had no access to them.
The people coming from Hayatabad to cantonment usually avoid these security checkpoints by using Ring Road but that road, too, often sees traffic jams at some points.
During the last few days, at least five new checkpoints manned by police and security forces were set up on different roads, including Sir Syed Road, the Mall Road, Fakhr-i-Alam Road. The checkpoint near Peshawar Press Club also stresses out motorists and motorcyclists.
Meanwhile, police criticise the local government department and cantonment board for failure to register pushcarts.
“We have time and again asked them to register pushcarts and issue them some code numbers or licences, but to no avail,” the official said.
There are complaints that police manning checkpoints in rural areas mint money from people.
As put by a road user, had policemen checked the movement of suspected people, the incidents like attack on Shaikh Mohammadi grid station would have never happened.
On some roads, police have built walls outside police stations hindering flow of traffic.
By doing so, police may have secured themselves against terrorism to some extent but what is unfortunate that the move has left the people in distress.
Pakistan: Explosion rocks rally in Turbat
A blast was reported on Sunday in Turbat (Balochistan) at a rally organized by the National Party. Firing was also heard afterwards.
The rally was led by Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch of the National Party. Secretary General of the party Mir Tahir Bizenjo said that there was no loss of life in the incident and that the National Party chief and other leaders were safe. - See more at: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/04/21/news/national/explosion-rocks-rally-in-turbat/#sthash.H1MsASEE.dpuf
Over 1,000 vulnerable female prisoners in Pakistan: HRCP
The Express TribuneOut of 75,000 prisoners in jails across Pakistan, there are around 1,100 incarcerated women, statistics presented by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) revealed. Commenting on the depressing condition these women are in, the HRCP official said that their families disown them instead of helping them to fight the cases due to social stigma. “Women prisoners are the most vulnerable detainees,” he added in reference to the lack of privacy for women detainees. Women are not provided with qualified lady doctors when in need, he added. The HRCP official pointed out that cells of the Women Police Centre Jail Road, Lahore, are reportedly exposed to passersby and walls of its bathroom is only four feet high. Furthermore, there are no separate juvenile cells for girls under 18. Apart from the lack of privacy and facilities, the detainees are reportedly kept in their cells beyond the stipulated time. Domestic violence There were 4,585 cases of domestic violence from the period of January to June 2012, according to the recent report `State of Human Rights in 2012′. At least 41 girls and women became victims of acid attack in 2012, 15 had their limbs amputated, 37 had their heads shaved while 49 were set on fire in different incidents, said the report compiled by HRCP media monitoring. The perpetrators in a majority of these cases were related to the victims. According to the Aurat Foundation, domestic violence increased by 7 percent in 2012 over the previous year. The HRCP official said that legislation to curb crimes against women should be implemented.
Pakistan: Misuse of agro-farms
Cities are built not for years but for centuries, for posterity lasting generation after generation. So was the concept and the master plan for Islamabad, the country's new capital. The plan clearly marked out the space, reserving special areas for the government offices, court buildings, business centres, industrial areas and residential sectors. Since the land to be occupied was to be dispossessed by thousands of farmers they were allotted residential plots in housing sectors as well as agro-farms which were expected to sustain their lives by growing crops and raising cattle. Of these 504 farms about 200 are now in the use of some of Pakistan's most powerful people.
The allotment of the agro-farms was conditional to adhering to the stated use, and the misuse was warned to be penalized with cancellation. As over the years the capital city grew and the value of its real estate rose manifold quite a few of the original owners sold the farms to more enterprising investors. And these investors include two former presidents, same number of former prime ministers, some ex-ministers and a host of other old and new rich.
The view is no more of green fields tended by the farming families but a row of high-wall palatial mansions, wedding halls, offices and even a clandestine night club. Not too surprisingly - if you know how tall walks the greed in the nation's capital - as all of this subversion of master plan was taking place the guardians of the city's master plan, Capital Development Authority, was sleeping, the sleep induced not by the load of work in the office but by the smell of red- and blue-backs or the fear of the slap from the above in the high government offices. No wonder as this rape of the countryside was in progress only a mile from the parliament building there was no 'calling attention notice', much less a serious debate - because only a fool would apply the axe to a branch he is sitting at. All along it was daylight robbery. And in the process out of the 504 agro-farms the use of about 200 is now out of sync with the allotted purpose.
But the buck stops here, thanks to the notice taken by the Supreme Court. After initial hearing on Thursday the court ordered the Capital Development Authority to restore all 504 farmhouses to their sanctioned use as agricultural land within three weeks. In case the owners want to retain the farms they have to bring their use in line with the rules, which dictate a small two-room farm house. Since some of the owners are highly influential persons can the CDA implement the court's order, a high drama is in the making. We hope and expect the law to prevail whatever it costs. Not only these farmhouses have to be brought in line with their stated purpose, but there is a lot more work cut out for the authority - by none else but by itself by 'allowing' encroachments all over the place. Over the last few years the encroachers have been really on the rampage. What was supposed to be vacant spaces along the streams that flow through the city, plots were created to benefit resourceful people. The commercial buildings designed to be two or three-storey high have been allowed to add more floors. Even the small open places in the mini-markets in the sub-sectors have been allotted to favourites. So completely permeating is the encroachment fever gripping the Capital city that even otherwise the law-abiding residents have been tempted to tinker with building plans of their residences and sometimes illegally extend their boundaries to overlap footpaths and in some cases old graveyards. And all this encroachment, both legalised and illegal, has come with a horrific price.
Most adversely affected are the services like water supply, drainage and sanitation. The city's most prestigious business acreage, the Blue Area, is no more an open, refreshing place to visit, but a bedlam difficult to walk through - what to talk of getting a reasonable place to park your car. It is so because the new structures have been added to the existing buildings which accommodate more offices and shops. Elsewhere in the city the conditions are even worse where gutters overflow and footpaths are used for parking. That the Supreme Court has delivered a crushing blow to the abusers living on the Garden Road it's great. What about the CDA which is supposed to be tasked with the implementation of the Islamabad master plan in letter and spirit without let and hindrance. We wait to hear the CDA.
Musharraf ‘jailed’ in his own house
Daily TimesThe anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday remanded former president Pervez Musharraf in custody for two weeks as judges pushed ahead with plans to put the former army chief on trial for a crackdown on the judiciary during his time in office. Hundreds of lawyers jeered at Musharraf and scuffled with his supporters as he appeared at the Islamabad court a day after police arrested him at his home — a breach with an unwritten rule in Pakistan that ex-generals are above the law. The judge ruled that he be detained until his next court appearance on May 4. Musharraf’s spokesman said authorities had decided that he would be placed under house arrest at his farmhouse residence on the edge of Islamabad. “The government has declared Musharraf’s farmhouse as the jail, and he will be moved there from police headquarters,” said spokesman Mohammad Amjad. Musharraf’s appearance sparked chaotic scenes in the court complex as police formed a human chain to prevent protesting lawyers —- who chanted “Down with Musharraf” — from getting closer to the former president. Musharraf left the court after his brief appearance and returned to police headquarters, where he has been detained in a police guest house. Musharraf is facing allegations that he overstepped his powers in a showdown with the judiciary in 2007 when he sacked the chief justice and placed judges under house arrest.
Pakistan: Unstoppable dimension in suicide bombings
It is hard to imagine that a banned Islamic militants’ outfit, mostly comprising the most religious Pushtun community, can use a young woman to explode human bomb in Bajour agency to meet its agenda. Yet it has happened for the second time in the tribal areas. The first it occurred in December 2010, when burqa-clad woman blew up her explosives at a United Nations Food distribution point in Khar, killing 45 people. The Taliban claimed responsibility of that suicide attack by a woman in the agency. On Saturday, another female suicide bomber, in her early 20s, detonated her explosives outside a hospital in Khar, the main town in the restive Bajaur tribal region, killing at four people dead. Local authorities have found the attacker’s head and legs, and are conducting a detailed investigation. Bajaur is one of seven districts in tribal belt, where Taliban militants have carved out strongholds thus Taliban’s involvement in the latest act of the suicide bombing in Bajour agency cannot be ruled out though the TTP is yet take the responsibility of the bombing.
The eye-brows are being raised if Taliban’s morale has gone down so low to rely on their female colleagues to carry their missions. Contrary to all social developments, a young woman can opt to explode in a public place is a new phenomenon, which is not easily digestible under existing culture and traditions. Not easy to detect the female suicide bombing has emerged on the horizon. Regardless of responsibility of the latest bombing episode, the new form of terrorism is the most deadly way to unleash ha voc on human life and property. The police or the political administration will find difficult to detect movement of the female bombers as no administrative measure can be put in place to physically check every female wading streets and roads despite the fact police posts are operative in every nook and corner of the country. Islam does not allow physical inspection and checking of the female members of any family. Even non-Muslim in Pakistan cannot tolerate the physical search of their families; because it is considered sheer disgusting, humiliating and embarrassing under the social norms thus the female suicide bombers will infuse new headache for the law enforcing agencies and the policy-makers alike.
Answers to this problem may be many yet the unabated terrorist attacks in the FATA and in other parts of the country are strengthening the general belief that the terrorism is far from being over, and the counter terrorism strategy adopted by the armed forces against Taliban is either weak or ineffective thus has failed curb militants’ advances in Khyber agency and in the settled areas especially Peshawar. Of late, Taliban are frequently hitting their political rivals-cum-targets in the provincial capital of the Khyberpakhtunkhwa, and the security agencies are reeling absolutely clueless. The only satisfaction and the consolation that the nation gets every now and then come from the repeated vows and the announcement from the Chief of Army Staff that Pakistan is fully capable of responding effectively to internal and external threats. The fact is that Pakistan army is concentrating hard on the problem it is facing on the internal front though it is yet to achieve the desired results in the last five years or so. Pakistan has suffered massive loss of life. Still the end to it is not insight. The Pakistan army is bravely fighting against ruthless enemy but the weak political leadership has repeatedly suffered setbacks on the diplomatic front. The time for the compromised approach towards the militants’ activism is gone. The foreign funding for the banned outfits, fighting against the state, is continuously pouring in, and the political leadership in the past and even the caretaker government has failed to take up the issue at every available forum. The crucial election date is approaching fast amidst growing threat of terrorism. The civil and military leadership should put their heads together to chalk out a consensus security mechanism against the terrorism. Apart from taking on the militants only, all the political parties should also play their due role against terrorism of all sorts, and the provincial governments—notably Punjab--should also purge their houses altogether, failing which the innocent people will continue to fall down like dried leaves. International community should take notice of foreign interference in the country before the terrorists spread the deadly activities across the globe.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Pashtun Genocide: ISI-backed Taliban’s relentless terrorism against ANP
While pro-Taliban parties like PTI, PML N and JUI F campaign freely, Pakistan’s oldest secular party, ANP is the daily victim of terrorist attacks. Two ANP leaders, dozens of its activists have been killed and scores wounded in the last week alone.
Just yesterday PPP and ANP candidates from KP survived terrorist attacks that have left scores of ANP workers martyred. Meanwhile, the rival candidate from the same constituency, Mr. Imran Khan was uttering his typical Taliban apology gibberish in the platform provided by another civil society favourite and Taliban apologist, Hamid Mir of GEO.
When Imran Khan blames drones attacks for terrorism, does he ever consider the intellectual dishonesty of his arguments?
Do we still need to talk to Taliban monsters like Hakeemullah who proudly own up to these attacks? The “Talking to the Taliban” tactic has been Imran Khan’s prescription to tackling terrorism and extremism.
A pliant media has so far not exposed what could possibly be significant financial corruption (of his assets and fund raising) but there is no doubt that Imran Khan’s disgustingly apologetic and cowardly views about the Taliban highlight a mental corruption. They remind one of Neville Chamberlain’s spinelessness against the Nazis – the Taliban of their day.
The ANP and PPP have been left at the mercy of the Taliban. These parties represent the secular mandate of the Pashtuns. In relatively fair elections, they have always secured the majority of the Pashtun vote bank. However, the military establishment and its pliant proxies like Najam Sethi and Tariq Ali misrepresent the Pashtuns and grotesquely portray the Taliban as an “expression of Pashtun nationalism”.
Najam Sethi repeatedly blames the PPP and ANP for failing to create a “consensus” for a military operation against the Taliban – instead of blaming the army that actually calls the shots for any policy related to the Taliban or for that matter any policy relating to security. By his morally bankrupt and warped logic, Najam Sethi should also blame the ANP and PPP for failing to create a consensus to provide security to their own lives!
The paper tigers of PML N like Shahbaaz Sharif beg the Taliban to spare them in Punjab by arguing that the are one. Imran Khan publically cowers away from condemning them. At the same time, Shaheed Bilour’s (ANP) speech to the parliament, along with the stance of Iftikhar Hussain (ANP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (PPP), Nadeem Afzal Chan (PPP), Shaheed Taseer (PPP), Shaheed Bhatti (PPP), Farahnaz Isphani (PPP), Bushra Gohar (ANP), Faisal Raza Abidi (PPP) and dare we say it, President Zardari (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-02-15/pakistan/27999342_1_taliban-yusuf-raza-gilani-pervez-musharraf), provide the alternative.
There is an ongoing genocide of the Pashtuns to make them bend to the will of the Punjab-dominated military establishment. The security establishment has been striving for decades to misrepresent the Pashtuns as a monolithic group that is naturally inclined towards the barbaric Taliban. Yet, the reality is that the same security establishment has tag teamed with its Taliban assets to facilitate the massacre of hundreds of anti-Taliban tribal leaders and thousands of innocent Pashtuns. Over 800 ANP workers and activists have been killed along with scores of their MPAs and MNAs. Yet the establishment has failed.
Even if they manage to knock out the PPP and ANP by using a pro-Taliban Judiciary-Media team or the Taliban itself, in the long run, the security establishment will fail, as it has in each of its created wars.
Pakistani Christian not support Pervez Musharraf nor any other Muslim leader
Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC expressed grave concern on meeting of Christian political and religious leaders with former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf and photo sessions with him.
“General (Rtd.) Pervez Musharraf as a President of Pakistan stabbed at back of Christian nation by abolishing their right to elect their representation in parliament with their votes and imposed Joint Electorate which empowered Muslim political parties to Select their representatives of their choice” said Nazir Bhatti
The Christians and other religious communities were fully enjoying Separate Electorate from 1985 till 1997, when they were electing their members in National Assembly of Pakistan and Provincial Assemblies with their votes. There was not any voice from any forum of minorities against Separate Electorate but suggestions were given on delimitation of constituencies instead of all Pakistan to be a constituency and announcement of election results with results of general seats but military ruler Pervez Musharraf snatched right of vote of minorities.
Nazir Bhatti said “When Christians are demanding Elections instead Selection system imposed by Pevez Musharraf and have announced to boycott elections 2013, held under imposed Selection system, the meeting of Christian leaders and section of Christian clergy with Pervez Musharraf are very surprising for common Christian in Pakistan”
Dr. Nazir Bhatti urged Election Commission of Pakistan and higher courts to award permission to Pervez Musharraf and his party All Pakistan Muslim League APML to enter in elections because keeping him away from elections will create negative impact on democratic system of Pakistan.
PCC Chief clarified that Christian of Pakistan are a nation not a community because they are sons of soil and deserve due share in resources of state which Muslim majority is reluctant to share with them that is not in favour of solidarity and integrity of Pakistan because it was not created for Islam or Muslims only nor Christians voted in favour of formation of Pakistan to become slaves of Muslims.
Nazir Bhatti said that Christian will started boycotting election 2013 from today with social boycott of those Christians who have been nominated by Muslim parties as members for NA or PA,s for selections and who’s name will appear in final list of ECP.
Nazir Bhatti said that Christians have to rise like a nation in Pakistan which is only solution to their issues while Muslim political groups have no solution nor they are sincere in solution of problems of Christians.
US, Russia to Cooperate in Boston Bombings Probe - Kremlin
United States and Russia might join efforts in the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings if the suspects' ties to Russia are confirmed, the Kremlin’s spokesman said on Saturday.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia has not yet received an official confirmation of the identities of two bombings suspects with reported family roots in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus, but signaled that Russia is open for cooperation with the U.S. in the case.
“As all the circumstances and details get cleared, I think, our intelligence agencies will be in conctact” over the case, Peskov said in an interview with Rossia 24 state TV channel on Saturday.
On Friday, President Obama thanked Putin for his condolences, and praised the close cooperation that the United States has received from Russia on counter-terrorism, including in the wake of the Boston attack that killed at least three earlier this week. Earlier on Tuesday, Putin offered Russia's assistance in the investigation.
The only remaining suspect in the bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was taken into custody late Friday after a massive manhunt which followed a shootout with police on Thursday night in which his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was fatally injured.
Interpol has issued an international security alert detailing the features of the improvised explosive devices used in the Boston marathon bombings to assist law enforcement across its member countries detect any similarly configured bombs.
Boston : City returns to normal after manhunt
Seven questions about the Boston bombers
By:Peter BergenWe don't yet know how or why the Tsarnaev brothers, the alleged Boston Marathon bombers, decided to carry out their attacks, but a look at how their stories correlate with those of some other terrorists living in the West could provide some answers to the questions that many are now asking about them.
1. How could someone who grew up in the United States become a terrorist?
Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas in 2009, was born and raised in Virginia.
He self-radicalized, in part, over the Internet, which he used to reach out to the Yemen-based preacher Anwar al-Awlaki for advice about whether it is permissible for Muslim soldiers in the U.S. military to kill their comrades in the name of jihad.
Awlaki, a leader of al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, was somewhat noncommittal in his responses but did not discourage the act.
Investigators will surely be combing through the e-mail traffic of the Tsarnaev brothers to see if they either reached out to militant Islamist clerics or downloaded lectures by such clerics. They will also examine the brothers' Internet usage to see if they visited jihadist forums or downloaded propaganda from al Qaeda or other allied groups. And of course, it's possible their decision to carry out the attacks was reached without any outside influence.
2. How do you square the multiple descriptions of the brothers as "good guys" with the fact that they plotted mass murder?
It's worth recalling that Mohammed Sidique Khan, the leader of the suicide attackers who bombed the London transit system in 2005 killing 52 commuters, was a beloved teacher at a primary school in the northern city of Leeds who taught children with developmental problems, and the happily married 30-year-old father of a baby daughter. Colleagues and acquaintances described Khan as a gentle, kind man.
No surprise then that we are hearing some similar positive characterizations of the brothers Tsarnaev.
3. Did the brothers have any training or practice on explosives?
It seems quite unlikely that the perpetrators would have been able to successfully set off two deadly bombs within seconds of each other without some sort of training or practice.
Bomb-making recipes certainly exist on the Internet, but actually building effective bombs is generally a skill that requires some training or practice, and even then a successful detonation is not guaranteed.
Faizal Shahzad, for instance, received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban before he constructed a bomb in an SUV that fizzled out rather than blowing up as he intended in Times Square on May 1, 2010.
The older Tsarnaev brother, Tamerlan, spent six months in Russia last year. What precisely he did there will surely be of intense interest to investigators. Could he have received some kind of bomb-training from Chechen militants who are experienced in making explosives?
Also, might the brothers have done some kind of test runs of their explosive devices in the United States?
4. If the brothers' motivation had something to do with their Chechen heritage, how might that have played out in this case?
In the years after 9/11, dozens of young Somali-American men traveled to fight in the civil war in Somalia. Just as the Tsarnaev brothers, these Somali-Americans were first-generation Americans.
For these new Americans, the politics of their homeland can sometimes become more meaningful and important than it was for their parents who fled the chaos of their native countries for the safety of the United States, and who now want to put those conflicts behind them.
What exactly prompted the FBI to interview Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011, following a tip from an unidentified foreign government that he was "a follower of radical Islam" and was contemplating leaving the United States to join a clandestine organization? And was this tip provided by the Russian government, which has been at war in Chechnya on and off since the 19th century?
5. Did the brothers intend to die during the attacks or their aftermath?
It seems shocking to many that the Tsarnaev brothers might have been wearing suicide vests during their gun battle with police on Thursday night, but in reality several U.S. citizens and residents have intended to die in terrorist attacks.
Three of the young Somali-American men who traveled from Minnesota to fight in civil war in Somalia later carried out suicide attacks there.
Major Hasan undoubtedly went into his attack on a military base full of armed U.S. soldiers believing that it would be the last thing he did before he died. (That prediction did not come true. He was wounded in the attack but not killed).
Al Qaeda recruit Najibullah Zazi, who plotted to bomb the Manhattan subway in the summer of 2009, planned to die in this attack but was arrested before he could pull it off.
6. Were the brothers really "lone wolves"?
Given all the mayhem the two brothers are allegedly responsible for: Two bombings that caused three deaths and some two hundred injuries at the Boston Marathon as well as the subsequent murder of a policeman at MIT, did they have some kind of additional help?
According to Boston law enforcement officials, there is no evidence of such help and it's worth recalling that Hasan was entirely a lone wolf who nonetheless managed to kill 13 on a U.S. military base with heavy security.
7. How unusual is it for brothers to carry out terrorist attacks together?
More frequent than you might think. The deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history on 9/11 involved three pairs of brothers among the 19 hijackers: brothers Waleed and Wail al-Sheri, Hamza and Ahmed al-Ghamdi and Nawaf and Salem al-Hazmi.
Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad" and a director at the New America Foundation. Jennifer Rowland is a program associate at the New America Foundation.
Pakistan: Female suicide bomber kills four outside Bajaur hospital
At least four people were killed Saturday when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives outside a hospital in Khar tehsil of Bajaur tribal region, officials said.
Local administration official Asad Sarwar confirmed the attacker was woman.
“The woman, in her early 20s, blew up her explosives as she walked to the main entrance of the hospital. Authorities have found the attackers head and legs and are conducting a detailed investigation,” said Sarwar, an assistant political agent in the tribal region.
Officials said the bomber apparently targeted security men guarding the hospital.
Hospital officials said four other people were also injured in the bombing.
Agency health officer, Mohd Riaz, said the dead included one security personnel and two civilians, while one of the dead was a hospital worker.
President Obama's Weekly Address: America Stands with Boston
http://www.kmbz.com/
In his weekly address, President Obama continues to uplift the people of Boston in the wake of the act of terror at the Boston Marathon that wounded dozens and killed three people Monday.
In the days since the bombings, the president says, "the world has witnessed one sure and steadfast truth: Americans refuse terrorized."
Ultimately, he says, what will remain after this week is the "stories of heroism and kindness; resolve and resilience; generosity and love."
President Obama praises the courage of the first responders "who ran toward danger to help their fellow citizens." He adds that the race volunteers, spectators and runners "rushed to help," never expecting "to see such scenes on the streets of America."
He thanks the doctors and nurses "who have toiled day and night to save so many lives," and the "big-hearted people of Boston "who carried victims in their arms; delivered water and blankets; lined up to give blood [and] opened their homes to total strangers."
Finally, the president expresses gratitude on behalf of the entire country to the federal agents and law enforcement "who worked together throughout the week, often at great risk to themselves, to keep our communities safe."
"If anyone wants to know who we are; what America is; how we respond to evil and terror -- that's it. Selflessly. Compassionately. And unafraid," the president says in his address, before concluding:
"Through days that would test even the sturdiest of souls, Boston’s spirit remains undaunted. America’s spirit remains undimmed. Our faith in each other, our love for this country, our common creed that cuts across whatever superficial differences we may have – that’s what makes us strong. That’s why we endure.
In the days to come, we will remain vigilant as a nation. And I have no doubt the city of Boston and its surrounding communities will continue to respond in the same proud and heroic way that they have thus far – and their fellow Americans will be right there with them every step of the way. May God bless the people of Boston and the United States of America."
Bahrain protesters battle police into night before F1: activists
Earthquake in China has claimed 156 lives, with more than 5,500 injured
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya'an city in Southwest China's Sichuan Province at 8:02 am Saturday Beijing Time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
BOSTON: '' In Tsarnaevs’ background, a preview of future threats''
EDITORIAL
NO ONE in Boston will forget the drama of the manhunt for two brothers suspected in the Marathon bombings. Nor will anyone forget the courage of the officers involved, including Sean Collier of the MIT police, who lost his life, and MBTA Transit officer Richard H. Donahue Jr., who was seriously injured. On Thursday night and Friday, residents of Greater Boston experienced the type of siege that most see only in movies. All along, though, the cooperation among authorities, victims, and an intensely engaged public made it clear there was no way for the bombers to escape accountability by remaining undetected.
The brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared in surveillance images to have dropped off bomb-laden backpacks near the finish line. Their baseball-capped faces look like those of ordinary young men almost anywhere in the country. But they also fit the profile of a growing danger faced by American communities: disaffected young people, prone to one form of radicalization or another, hoping to act out their frustrations in a blaze of carnage.
It’s a threat that Boston and the rest of America will be contending with for the foreseeable future. As global networks, such as the Al Qaeda operation that struck on 9/11, lose their leaders and their maneuvering room, smaller groups and individuals, operating with home-made weapons, will become more prominent.
As of Friday evening, authorities were probing the six months Tamerlan Tsarnaev reportedly spent outside the United States in early 2012; investigators are looking for links to overseas terrorists. The brothers are just the kind of young people such networks are pursuing: amateur operatives with “clean hands” — that is, no previous ties to radical groups to put them on watch lists. But the brothers could just as easily have been “self-radicalized,” like the chaplain who perpetuated the shootings at Fort Hood.
The Tsarnaevs came to the United States from the former Soviet Central Asia. Their family originally comes from Chechnya, which fought two bloody wars of independence, and where some fighters came to embrace radical Islam. The younger brother, Dzhokhar, made connections with friends and neighbors in Cambridge, where he won a local scholarship, and at UMass Dartmouth, where he studied and played sports. Yet news accounts Friday suggested he readily followed the lead of his brother, a boxer who once declared he had no American friends. Tamerlan, in his frustration, seems to have found solace in the teachings of an extreme Salafist imam, whose speeches are referenced on a YouTube account bearing Tamerlan’s name.
This is a threat that can’t be contained through fences or wars.
Though all this may feel exotic to many Bostonians — distant and alien — the basic storyline is not. Young people without secure family relationships and communities are prone to radicalism of many varieties. The appeal of a charismatic imam isn’t all that different than a charismatic white supremacist, anti-abortion militant, or animal-rights extremist: All have been known to motivate bombings in the past.
The burden of keeping young people from embracing radicalism falls, inevitably, on parents and families, communities, and ultimately law enforcement. The FBI and other agencies closely monitor the Internet activity of extremist groups, and must strive to adapt their intelligence-gathering capacities to the latest ways that young people communicate with each other. Local police must embrace that mission as well. On the home front, parents can monitor their children’s Internet addictions and associations, seeking help when needed. And where there are no family members, others must fill the gap.
Ironically, such connections existed for the Tsarnaevs through schools and universities. Both young men availed themselves of Massachusetts public higher education. Cambridge, with its earnest embrace of diversity, was seemingly among the most hospitable of environments for newcomers from overseas, and practicing Muslims. And yet it appears that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev found radicalism — or it found them.
This is a threat that can’t be contained through fences or wars, even though new security efforts should be pursued. Rather, it has to be fought at the human level. The best way to protect communities in Boston and across the nation is by combating foul and extremist ideologies of all stripes, through monitoring, countering with moderate appeals, reaching out to vulnerable young people — and calling the authorities when necessary.
USA: 32 US lawmakers will not endorse Pakistan's May elections without Ahmadis on joint electorate
Ahmadiyya TimesA joint letter signed by 32 members of the U.S. Congress to U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, underscored lawmakers' concerns about the denial of Ahmadi voting rights in Pakistan. The 32 lawmakers, the letter bluntly says, cannot accept the May election results if Ahmadis are not also included as part of Pakistan's joint electorate. "Absent the ability of Pakistan's entire electorate to participate, we will not be able to endorse the May election," the letter warned. Ahmadis cannot freely vote in Pakistan due to the discriminatory processes introduced in the election related laws which climaxed during the regime of former dictator General Pervez Musharraf. In 2002 Gen. Musharraf cowed to Islamists' demands and issued a Presidential Executive Order, effectively barring Ahmadis from participating in the election process. Executive Order No. 15 of 2002 excluded Ahmadis from the country's joint voter roll, requiring they be registered on a supplementary voter roll, and necessitated that Ahmadis must sign a declaration to renounce their faith in Islamic tenets. In the letter dated April 16, 2013, the lawmakers impressed upon Secretary Kerry saying, "we cannot stand idly by and allow four million Ahamdis to remain disenfranchised and outside the electoral process." "You have a unique opportunity to advocate on behalf of an entire segment of Pakistani society which has long been marginalized and oppressed," the latter further advised Secretary Kerry. The letter asks Secretary Kerry to 'press' Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari to immediately repeal Executive Order No. 15 of 2002. Through Secretary Kerry, the lawmakers reminded President Zardari that with the historical successful completion of a term of democratically elected government, he has a unique opportunity to remove discriminatory voting restrictions on Ahmadis.
Musharraf appears before Pakistani anti-terrorism court
REUTERSFormer Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf was taken before an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Saturday in connection with allegations that he ordered the illegal detention of judges while we has in power, his lawyer said. Pakistani television showed pictures of Musharraf entering the court in the capital, Islamabad, amid tight security. Police arrested Musharraf on Friday and took him into custody at a guest house in police headquarters in the city. "He is being produced before the anti-terrorism court today," Qamar Afzal, one of Musharraf's lawyers, told Reuters. Afzal said the judge was due to rule on whether Musharraf could remain remanded in police custody or would have to be transferred to jail ahead of his next appearance, which is expected to take place in the next few days. Former army chief Musharraf faces allegations that he ordered the illegal detention of judges during a showdown with the judiciary in 2007. Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, resigned in 2008.
The Pakhtun, the Taliban and Imran TALIB Khan
BY: Farhat TajHate for the US is the problem of Imran Khan or his anti-Pakhtun allies. It is not the problem of the people of FATA. Their problem is occupation of their land by the international jihadi gangs. There are clear signs that the people of FATA are cooperating with the Americans in liberating their land from the jihadi occupation.
This is in response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s recent declaration that he is ready to mediate and start negotiations with the Taliban to secure a peace agreement if the government is willing to guarantee that it would not scrap the peace deal with them under US pressure. He made this offer in an interview with Dr Moeed Pirzada on a private TV channel. By now Imran Khan stands fully exposed that he is one of the forces of darkness — the jihadi generals like Hamid Gul, the Jamaat-e-Islami and other pan-Islamists like the Deobandis, neo-Wahabis and Akhwan ideologues. Together they have given the Taliban identity to the Pakhtun and caused massacre of over three million of them on both sides of the Durand Line. They continue to destroy the Pakhtun for a great game against India and in the name of global Islamism. It is, however, the duty of all educated Pakhtuns to challenge the bizarre fabrications that Imran Khan attributed to the people of FATA to justify his offer.
Imran Khan said one of the Taliban groups is made of tribesmen who hate the US and attack the state and society in Pakistan because they see the country in alliance with the US. This is a bizarre fantasy of Imran Khan having nothing to do with tribesmen in FATA. There are no tribesmen who are killing innocent civilians and security forces due to anti-US sentiment. The tribesmen who have joined the Taliban groups are seen as criminals by their fellow tribesmen. The tribesmen who have joined the ranks of different Taliban groups are lost to the global jihadi ideology of the al Qaeda and stand stripped of Pakhtunwali. They are no more Pakhtun! They themselves have given up their Pakhtun identity. They claim to fight for global Islam that disrespects ethnic sensitivities.
The militants, in Imran Khan’s own words in the interview, are 15,000. Clearly not all of them are tribesmen. They include the Punjabi Taliban and foreign terrorists. There are no signs that these 15,000 or so terrorists are backed by tribal society. There has never been any grand tribal jirga in any tribal area that backed the terrorists, local or foreign. The Taliban groups in FATA are Hafiz Gul Abrader Groups, Haqqani Group, Mullah Nazeer Group, Turkistan Brittani Group, Tariq Afridi Group, Mangal Bagh Group, and Maulvi Omar Group. These terrorist groups are killing indiscriminately inside and beyond FATA. None of them had ever been backed by tribal jirgas. In fact, some of them have banned jirgas and termed them as ‘un-Islamic’ institutions. These groups have to be crushed for peace in Pakhtunkhwa and wider Pakistan. Anyone seeking dialogue with such groups is the enemy of the Pakhtun and Pakistan.
Hate for the US is the problem of Imran Khan or his anti-Pakhtun allies. It is not the problem of the people of FATA. Their problem is occupation of their land by the international jihadi gangs. There are clear signs that the people of FATA are cooperating with the Americans in liberating their land from the jihadi occupation. The drone strikes could not have been successful in killing so many al Qaeda and Taliban leaders without the help of the people of Waziristan on the ground.
Moreover, the Taliban kill people every single day in Waziristan on suspicion of spying for the US. They think that with terror they can deter the people of Waziristan from coordinating with the Americans. This has not been successful so far. Why is Imran Khan ever so silent over the daily slaughter of innocent people of Waziristan on charges of spying for the US? Are they not tribesmen and women and even human beings?
The most outrageous statement he made is that the assassinated tribal leadership in Waziristan was pro-US. The leadership has been eliminated by the Taliban with state collusion according to the families of the assassinated people. I challenge Imran Khan to prove that even a single person among the assassinated 600-plus tribal leaders, religious scholars, teachers, doctors, etc., was pro-US! Were respectable tribal elders like Shah Alam Wazir, Khandan Mehsud, Mirza Alam Mehsud, Mohammad Nawaz Mehsud, and Farooq Wazir pro-US? The Taliban beheaded Mufti Sibghatullah and killed Maulana Mohammad Hussain, Imam of Godam Mosque, Tank. Does Imran Khan believe that those religious scholars were also pro-US? Imran Khan must tender an unconditional apology to the people of Waziristan, especially to the family of the assassinated people for making this bizarre statement.
Exploiting the infamous anti-Indian stance, he argues that the government of Pakistan is pleasing India by making the soldiers of the Pakistan Army fight with the Taliban. This is the interpretation of the pro-jihadi forces in Pakistan. It is not the view of the people of FATA. This war is not about India or the US. It is about us — the citizens of Pakistan, whose lives are disrupted by the terrorists who are hell bent upon subjugating us to their version of shariah. The jihadi pursuit of our state created these terrorists and it is now the duty of the state to eliminate them if Pakistan has to survive as a modern democratic state.
Both the PPP and the ANP have lost near and dear ones in terrorist acts of the Taliban. They must continue the fight against the Taliban and ignore the offer of Imran Khan, who is in any case not a neutral party but one of the pro-Taliban forces. In this regard I wish to refer to one of the points of the joint declaration of a grand jirga of all democratic political parties, intelligentsia and civil society organisations held in Peshawar on December 12-13, 2009. The declaration says, “All those political or non-political forces that defend the Taliban and Talibanisation in Pakistan in one way or the other like the Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Tehreek-e-Insaf and other outfits are considered anti-Pakistan, anti-people and anti-Pakhtun by the people of Pakhtunkhwa.”
The Pakistan Army must continue fighting the Taliban until their complete elimination. The military establishment must know that lack of protection of the state from the Taliban atrocities has already thrown the people of Waziristan into cooperation with the US in terms of spying for the drone attacks on the terrorists occupying the area. A time may not be far when the rest of Pakhtunkhwa will be cooperating with the US. What would become of the federation of Pakistan in such a situation? Up until now most Pakhtuns are loyal to the federation of Pakistan, but this loyalty is definitely not limitless and requires that the state must protect them and their way of life. By eliminating the Taliban, the army must prove that it stands with the Pakhtun who suffer under the Taliban. In the long run, this may be important for a constant inflow of Pakhtun loyalty with the state of Pakistan.
The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy.
Malala gives hope to poor girls in Pakistan
Malala a, 15-year-old Pakistani student, was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for her activism for girl's education. But as her struggle and commitment to equality continue, the issue has taken on a global dimension.
A Taliban attacker shot Malala Yousafzai in the head in October last year. After receiving initial treatment from an army hospital, she was flown to Britain for further surgery and treatment, including reconstruction of her skull. Last month, she resumed her studies in Birmingham.
Malala has received various awards for her courage and dedication and was recently named as one of the nominees for the Noble Prize for Peace, making her the youngest nominee in history.After Malala was shot, a fund was established in her name by a US-based non-government organization Vital Voices Global Partnership as well as other international organizations and individuals. Vital Voices Global Partnership was founded by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 1997 and it works for the empowerment of girls and women.
Girl's Education in Swat: still a long way to go
Swat Valley is a residual district of Pakistan's North Western province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The home of about 20 million people lacks the basic amenities of life, including education and health. A large number of girls have no access to the basic right of education even in the second decade of the 21st century. Most of the girls allowed by their families to attend school have to quit after primary education, which is a mere 5 years.
"There are 509 girls' primary schools in Swat providing education to a total of 99,274 girls" according to Mrs. Dilshad Begum, District Education Officer (DEO) in Swat. "The number of female middle schools is only 56, where 8,500 students are registered, while about 7000 female students are getting education in 34 higher secondary schools," she added.
Dilshad Begum told DW that before the Taliban occupation, the trend of female education was much more positive than now. The Islamists have banned girls from joining schools and destroyed many of their schools. "That has affected their education badly and now only 24 percent of girls are in school."
Not only do not enough schools exist to accommodate girls, the ones who do go to school have to sit on the ground during class because there is no furniture available in many schools in areas like Bahrain, Kalam, Matiltan, and many other places in Swat. To top it off, there is a shortage of teaching staff.
"At the moment we need 842 female teachers for our primary school," according to DEO Dilshad Begum. "If staff is not hired timely, the future of girls will be darkened even further."
Malala Fund's first grant
Malala Yousufzai has set up a $45,000-grant for girls' education in Swat. She made the announcement in a video played on the first day of the Women in the World summit in New York on April 4.
"We are going to educate 40 girls, and I invite all of you to support the Malala Fund," she said. "Let us turn the education of 40 girls into 40 million girls."
Ahmed Khan, a close friend of Malala's father and principal of Sarosh Academy of Education in Swat's largest city Mingora said, "Malala and her father Zia-ud Din Yousufzai are doing their best for education in Swat."
Khan, who is also the spokesperson of Swat National Jirga, told DW, "The United Nation's special peace envoy and Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has donated 200,000 US dollars to the Malala Foundation." He added that the $45,000 from the Malala Fund will be allocated to an NGO in Islamabad and will support 40 poor girls aged five to 15 in Swat. He mentioned that the fund will pay for their school fees, daily expenses, and provide them with a monthly allowance.
"These little girls would have otherwise been forced to work to support their families, entering the labor force, instead of going to school."
The principal of Sarosh Academy also told DW that the Malala Foundation would soon present the Malala Award, which will be given to people in various walks of life for their contribution to girls' education. A cash amount of 50,000 rupees (around 385 euros) will be the part of award.
Khan hopes, "Once the Malala initiative catches the public eye, funds through this foundation will play a pivotal role in female education in Swat."
Pakistan's Secular Parties Feeling Insecure About Election
Balochistan Earthquake: Relief work hampered by distance, terrain
Residents claim that relief operations in the quake-struck region of Mashkhel and its surrounding areas falls short of their needs, while government officials say they are doing all they can.
The death toll is also disputed. The deputy commissioner claims that 12 persons lost their lives, while 25 were injured. Media reports indicate that the death toll is 41. However, the locals claim that the number of deaths is a staggering 80, with the number of injured is in the hundreds.
The 7.8-magnitude quake, which was centered in southeastern Iran on Tuesday, sent shockwaves that spread as far as Lahore and Karachi, though most of the damage took place in Balochistan’s remote Mashkhel district. The immense damage caused President Asif Ali Zardari to announce an amount of Rs 500,000 for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the earthquake and Rs 100,000 for the wounded. Presidential spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the president directed that every effort be made for rehabilitation of the victims.
A spokesperson of the Balochistan government said that situation was “under control” as the Provincial Disaster Management Authority had administered a fund of Rs 20 million for the provision of food, medicines and tents. Twelve trucks carrying nine hundred tents, thousands of packets of food, and other necessary items reached Mashkhel on Wednesday, along with several teams of doctors from Quetta, Kharan and Dalbandin who came equipped with medical supplies. He added that that the military and paramilitary forces were also lending a hand with relief activities.
When Inspector General Major Ubaidullah Khan visited earthquake hit Mashkhel on Thursday and witnessed the relief and rescue work in the area, he expressed his satisfaction over the aid works carried out by Pak Army, Frontier Corps and other institutions and directed the authorities to work in the same spirit until the complete restoration and rehabilitation of the affectees.
However, residents of Mashkhel say that the government’s relief activities are falling short. Some locals claimed that they never received any relief supplies, and that hundreds of people, some suffering from gastroenteritis, are unattended on the roadside and without shelter, food or medicine.
The military on Thursday continued to fly in medicine and tents, but more supplies are desperately needed, said local official Syed Mureed Shah.
“There’s growing impatience among the people affected by the quake as they are not receiving relief goods,” Shah said.
Rauf Jamal Dini, an official with Quetta-based charity Sahar, also called for more supplies, saying neither the military nor government authorities had been seen in areas visited by his aid workers.
“People are making complaints. They are in dire need of relief goods. We are conducting a rapid survey to assess the damage,” he said.
Relief activities are also impeded by the difficult terrain. “The distances are long, the roads are rocky, and hence supply-laden trucks take more time to reach people,” said Deputy Commissioner of Washuk Khan Mohammad Bangulzai while talking to The Express Tribune.
The Chief Minister Balochistan directed the relevant organizations to do their best for the provision of aid and rehabilitation to the affected people.
Meanwhile, the Governor Tabuk, a Province of Saudi Arabia, had rushed a plane load of relief goods and food packets. The plane landed at Dalbandin Airport on Thursday evening and the supplies will be distributed on Friday.
Pakistan: ''A lacklustre affair: Election campaigning''
SO far, several reasons have hampered parties from campaigning enthusiastically for the May 11 vote. These have included the initial uncertainty of the elections being held at all. Indecision over party candidates and valid security concerns have been other reasons, with some candidates and their supporters falling prey to acts of terrorism. All this has taken away from the festivity of the election season that has its own distinctiveness in this part of the world. Traditionally, after the Raj days, public meetings and processions were the most effective mode of political mobilisation. This time, it is TV and social media on which the parties and candidates have largely relied to convey their viewpoints to potential voters, and this mode of campaigning has not contributed to electoral vitality. However, with the deadline for the withdrawal of nomination papers over, the stage is now set for a historic election that will, for the first time in this country’s history, see an elected government taking over from another that completed a full five-year term.
The task facing the Election Commission of Pakistan and the interim government is challenging. At stake are 849 general seats in the national and provincial assemblies, contested by candidates whose number — before the final list — stood at 23,079, an average of 27 for each constituency. The number of registered voters is 86,189,802, including 37,597,387 women. The latter figure, although less than half that for male voters, indicates that the number of women participating in the political process has kept pace with the growing population. And it is refreshing to know that women from the conservative tribal areas will be contesting alongside other women, including a former bonded labourer from Sindh. Since all campaigning must come to an end 48 hours before the vote, the contestants have three weeks in which to maximise their efforts. This way, this will be the shortest campaign period in Pakistan’s history.
Will the candidates conform to the strict criterion laid down by the ECP? Will violence not linked to the terrorist threat obstruct electioneering? Will rules against providing transport for voters on polling day be flouted? It will be interesting to see how these problems are tackled by the ECP and the law enforcement authorities. There are of course limits beyond which the ECP and the law enforcers cannot be fully effective. Ultimately, it is the candidates and their supporters who have to demonstrate restraint and make it a violence-free and transparent exercise.
Pakistan: The General in his labyrinth
EDITORIAL: Daily TimesLatest reports in the drama surrounding General (retd) Pervez Musharraf speak of his being transported to police headquarters in Islamabad from his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad, where he had fled after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) refused to extend his pre-arrest bail on Thursday in the case of illegal detention in their residences of 60 judges of the superior judiciary after promulgation of the PCO of November 3, 2007 (the Emergency). After the refusal, the IHC ordered the arrest of Musharraf and asked the police to add the charge of terrorism in the FIR against Musharraf. However, police present in the court made no move to comply with the court’s orders. Musharraf’s security detail whipped him out of the court and transported him to his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad. The IG Police Islamabad was summoned for Friday by the IHC to explain why his officers were negligent in carrying out the arrest orders of the court and what, if any, action he had taken against them for dereliction of duty. Musharraf’s legal team attempted to file a pre-arrest bail petition in the Supreme Court (SC) but were unable to do so for lack of time. The hearing was expected on Friday. The incident left egg on the caretaker government’s face, despite the iteration by Federal Information Minister Arif Nizami that the court’s orders would be carried out, come what may. Although the latest development of Musharraf being taken to police headquarters promises the caretaker government has finally decided to put its money where its mouth is, the episode poses a challenge for the caretakers. Meanwhile the Chak Shahzad farmhouse may not remain available to Musharraf as a retreat and safe haven for long if the SC’s orders are complied with within three weeks by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). The SC has ordered that all the palatial homes built by the rich and powerful on farmland originally leased to persons displaced from Islamabad for purposes of agricultural cultivation be demolished since they violate the rules and regulations. Musharraf has clearly fallen on hard times. His arrival in Karachi did not evoke the teeming thousands of supporters he had dreamed of. His pre-arrest bail in some cases against him stands, while the bail in the judiciary detention case now hangs in the balance in the SC. He has been knocked out of the elections. To add to his woes, a petition has been moved in the Anti-Terrorist Court Quetta by Jamil Bugti to summon Musharraf in the Nawab Akbar Bugti killing case. In the Senate, members were apoplectic at the security and protocol being given by the caretaker government to Musharraf, complaining that at the same time security was being withdrawn from politicians arguably at risk because of Musharraf’s legacy, and the caretaker government was dragging its feet on charging Musharraf with treason under Article 6. The incensed Senators wanted to end the duality of law for civilians and those in uniform, as the treatment of Musharraf seemed to reflect, and for him to be administered ‘exemplary’ punishment. Musharraf’s ill-advised (from his own interests’ point of view) return to Pakistan has put the cat among the pigeons. The military is doubly embarrassed. It had reportedly advised Musharraf not to return, the latest such missive being dispatched just one month before the commando decided to conduct his latest ‘raid’. The military’s fears were for his security as well as the prospect of an ex-COAS being dragged over the coals in the courts. Although he has been provided what appears to be sufficient security by the government and his own guards to prevent any untoward development in the former apprehension, the latter one is being witnessed ever since he arrived. The military embarrassment can only be imagined in being caught in the bind of protecting their ex-COAS while being helpless to prevent the course of the law (in civilian hands). The fears of a military-civilian clash, in which if history is any guide, the latter may come out the poorer, may well be exaggerated. Times have changed. The very fact that an ex-COAS is being arrested is in itself a historic first and its significance given Pakistan’s history of military interventions and dominance cannot be understated. Whatever else democracy may or may not have delivered, it has made possible the grinding of the wheels of justice, which, as we know, grind slowly but extremely fine.
Musharraf trial to define future
Finally, former military dictator General ® Pervez Musharraf’s egomaniacal return from his self-exile to run in the next general elections ends house-arrest in the outskirt of Islamabad—the federal capital of Pakistan he ruled for nearly a decade. It may be a rude shock for the former strong man of Pakistan, if not now—the likely events from hereon will give him a taste of his own medicine. Former army chief of Pakistan, who governed the country from 1999 to 2008, has been placed under the house arrest for his decision to put several judges including the Chief Justice of Pakistan under the house-arrest when he imposed the Emergency Rule on Pakistan in 2007. Amidst the tight security, a confident looking former military dictator appeared in the court of the area magistrate, vowing to face the challenges. The former military ruler, then having full military might behind him, is hardly ashamed of overthrowing an elected government, violating the Constitution and is suspected of his involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He is also wanted in the killing of former Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Akbar Bugti.
The country is governed under the Constitution of Pakistan those who violate the Constitution deserve to stand trial in the court of law to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution of Pakistan. The former military ruler is no exception. But his return and the events thereafter suggest he considers himself above the law. His invisible power base, that paved way for his return, still reckons him a force in the political arena. He has been given a unprecedented security despite the fact he had been declared a proclaimed offender by the court of law. No proclaimed offender, in the world, is given a police escort—an act that made mockery of the judicial system, and prompted some emotional individuals to unleash assault on official security men escorting ex-dictator to the court. In a changing political scenario around the world, the dictators are brought down and taken to the task. Pakistani dictator should also stand free, fair and thorough trial for power abuses, maintaining absolute legalities based on impartiality. If in yesteryears, a dictator misused his power to clamp harsh steps against judges going against him, today the judiciary should not base the Musharraf trials on personal vendetta or a tit-for-tat. Let us make no mistake here, this is a defining moment in the history of the country; the honest and impartial trial of a dictator will, indeed, set a political tune for the future, slamming doors on the military coups. The course of the judiciary is a step in right direction but the approach of the power-corridors seams a little compromised. The man, who is absconder, should be treated like a criminal in the street not a celebrity making heroic come-back. All are equal before the law. A military dictator, who allegedly abused powers and the law at his will, should be treated like a common criminal. The lethargic approach of the Islamabad police towards Musharraf arrest on the court orders has put a question? Is there any other NRO signed under the table which is preventing firm action against the dictator. Pakistan has already seen enough of a NRO rule in last five years; further compromise on the political horizon is no more acceptable. The huge disparity in implementation of law on the poor and a dictator Musharraf is quite visible.
The law should take its course on the principle of fair-play and justice. Airy-fairy trial of the former military ruler will neither serve the interests of the nation nor bear any fruit rather will tarnish the image of the judiciary across the world. Had Pakistan conducted fair trial of the military rulers in the past or of those who conspired against the country, today the geographical formation of the state would have been different. Alas! The ruling elite, including civil or military leadership, always escapes the law and is treated as sacred cows. Thus plundering and looting of the national wealth and violation of the Constitution are going on unabated, adding woes and miseries to the masses. Rising above the personal gains, the powers-that-be must stand behind the judiciary to ensure the rule of law and uphold the Constitution. The history of Pakistan is in the making; the superior judiciary must deliver now, giving a fair chance to the dictator to defend his misdeeds.
Obama Talks With Putin, Lauds Anti-Terror Effort on Boston Attack
President Barack Obama spoke Friday with President Vladimir Putin and praised US-Russian anti-terrorism cooperation in the wake of the twin bomb attack this week at the Boston Marathon, the White House said.
"President Putin expressed his condolences on behalf of the Russian people for the tragic loss of life in Boston," the White House said in a statement.
"President Obama thanked President Putin for those sentiments, and praised the close cooperation that the United States has received from Russia on counter-terrorism, including in the wake of the Boston attack. The two leaders agreed to continue our cooperation on counter-terrorism and security issues going forward," it added.
The statement was issued as security forces in Boston said they had surrounded the second suspect in Monday's attacks in a house in the Boston suburb of Watertown. US media reported that shots had been fired and CNN said police were firing gas canisters into the structure in the hopes of capturing the suspect alive.
The first suspect was killed in a shoot-out with police earlier Friday. The two men, brothers with reported family roots in the volatile Russian republic of Chechnya, have been named as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19.
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