MINGORA, Pakistan — In a voice barely above a whisper, I.H. stared at his feet as he recounted haltingly how the Taliban kidnapped him and a classmate as they played in the street. They cleaned dishes for a few days in a militant training camp in northern Pakistan before escaping during Friday prayers, he said.
The Pakistani army says it has so far found 20 boys like I.H., who is only being identified by his initials for his safety, in the battle-scarred Swat Valley, scene of a major offensive against the Taliban this spring.
They believe the Taliban hoped to turn the boys into informants, fighters or even suicide bombers. Some escaped, others were rescued by authorities. Maj. Nasir Khan said many more are believed to be in the hands of militants.
Eleven such boys — the youngest only about 7 years old — were presented to journalists Monday at a military base in Swat's main town of Mingora.
The Taliban have been known to use children as fighters before in Afghanistan, and the army seems keen to capitalize on the boys' capture, hoping their stories will help turn public opinion against the militants.
The spring offensive in Swat — to clear the region of militants after they flouted a peace deal and expanded their area of control — was relatively popular in Pakistan. The government now hopes to extend its grip on Swat to prevent the Taliban fighters likely hiding in the mountains from mounting their own counteroffensive to regain control of the strategic area.
The U.S. sees Pakistan's ability to take on the Taliban as key to its own troops' success across the border in Afghanistan. But some Pakistanis support the Taliban, especially in the lawless tribal areas that border Afghanistan, and the army's military campaign against them also has involved public relations battles.
Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar could not be reached for comment on the militants' use of children.
The boys on Monday said they had spent time in training camps — though how long was unclear. They themselves mostly said just a few days, but the army said they were probably with the Taliban for a month or more.
Three of the boys appeared to be younger than 10 and were visibly traumatized, occasionally breaking down in tears. The others were mostly in their mid-teens. Of the six who spoke to the AP, most said they were made to clean dishes or undergo rigorous physical training. None said he had been trained to carry out a suicide attack.
Feriha Peracha, a clinical neuropsychologist called in by the army to assess the boys, said some of them were clearly depressed and traumatized. However, she said it was unlikely all had been kidnapped as they claimed.
"It's only one or two maximum out of this group that I would say was probably actually taken by force," Peracha said.
The Taliban have been known to persuade boys to join their ranks or even paid impoverished families to hand over a young future fighter, Khan said.
"They are like the Mafia. Some children are inspired by them. They command respect because people are afraid of them," he said.
Peracha said most of the boys she interviewed tested below average on intelligence tests and came from poor families, which may have made them easy targets for the militants. One displayed psychotic symptoms.
I.H., who said he's 12 but looks much younger, said he was snatched off the streets and driven to a training camp.
"We were just playing" in the village when a car drove up, he said. "They blindfolded us."
B.K., a 15-year-old from Mingora, said he was lured into a car.
"They took me to a mountain place that was a training center" where he and other boys were woken before dawn for prayers, followed by strenuous physical exercise, he said.
"I was told that I would be trained for jihad to fight against the army and to kill soldiers," he said, adding that there were another 50 to 60 boys at the camp. He said an uncle managed to negotiate his release.
M.K., a 16-year-old who already had some gray hair, said he was returning home after buying groceries when a car pulled up and offered him a lift. But when they reached the turn for his house, the bearded men in the car gagged and blindfolded him, and drove him to a training camp where there were about 250 other boys, aged between 12 and 18.
"They told us jihad (holy war) is the duty of every Muslim," M.K. said. He said he was told it was OK to kill your parents if they disagreed.
"I was shocked. I was thinking, how can someone kill their parents?" the boy said, his voice barely audible.
Khan said that once the boys are picked up by the army, they are questioned before they are allowed to return home.
Army officials took blood and hair samples from the boys Monday, to run DNA tests and to check whether any of them had been drugged while they were in the training camps.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Akthar Abbas said it's clear some of the boys were being trained as fighters or worse.
"They were being trained as suicide bombers. There is fear still at the back of their minds," he said.
Abbas said they are setting up a rehabilitation program for the boys to provide them with education and psychotherapy.
"We will try to convert them as useful society members."
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Pakistan hurt by killing of Christians-church head
LONDON (Reuters) - The death of eight Christians burned alive in clashes with majority Muslims has diminished Pakistan and injured the Muslim faith, the spiritual head of the world's 77 million Anglicans said on Tuesday.
Four women and a child were among those killed in the violence which broke out in Punjab province, central Pakistan, on Saturday, after Muslims torched Christians' homes following allegations one had desecrated the Koran.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the Anglican church, called on the Pakistan government to protect the "small and vulnerable" Christian minority.
"The recent atrocities against Christians in Pakistan will sear the imaginations of countless people of all faiths throughout the world," he said in a statement.
"As the minister of law in the Punjab has already said, such actions are not the work of true Muslims: they are an abuse of real faith and an injury to its reputation as well as an outrage against common humanity, and deserve forthright condemnation.
"Those of us who love Pakistan and its people, whatever their faith, feel that the whole country is injured and diminished by the violence that has occurred."
Pope Benedict has said he was "deeply grieved" by the killings and has sent his condolences to Pakistani Christians.
A senior Pakistan government official said on Tuesday Islamist militants from groups linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban were suspected of being behind the mob violence in which 40 homes were burned.
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country and religious minorities, including Christians, account for about 4 percent of the 170 million population.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said Christians needed to be assured they lived in a "just and peaceful society."
"They are disproportionately affected by the draconian laws against blasphemy, which in recent years have frequently been abused in order to settle local and personal grievances," he said.
Four women and a child were among those killed in the violence which broke out in Punjab province, central Pakistan, on Saturday, after Muslims torched Christians' homes following allegations one had desecrated the Koran.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the Anglican church, called on the Pakistan government to protect the "small and vulnerable" Christian minority.
"The recent atrocities against Christians in Pakistan will sear the imaginations of countless people of all faiths throughout the world," he said in a statement.
"As the minister of law in the Punjab has already said, such actions are not the work of true Muslims: they are an abuse of real faith and an injury to its reputation as well as an outrage against common humanity, and deserve forthright condemnation.
"Those of us who love Pakistan and its people, whatever their faith, feel that the whole country is injured and diminished by the violence that has occurred."
Pope Benedict has said he was "deeply grieved" by the killings and has sent his condolences to Pakistani Christians.
A senior Pakistan government official said on Tuesday Islamist militants from groups linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban were suspected of being behind the mob violence in which 40 homes were burned.
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country and religious minorities, including Christians, account for about 4 percent of the 170 million population.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said Christians needed to be assured they lived in a "just and peaceful society."
"They are disproportionately affected by the draconian laws against blasphemy, which in recent years have frequently been abused in order to settle local and personal grievances," he said.
Clinton Leaves N. Korea After 2 Journalists Are Pardoned
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NEW YORK TIMES
SEOUL, South Korea — Former President Bill Clinton left North Korea early Wednesday, the state news agency reported, after securing a pardon for two jailed American journalists from the reclusive North Korean president, Kim Jong-il. It was not immediately known whether the journalists were allowed to leave as well.
The official Korean Central News Agency issued a brief dispatch, news agencies reported, saying that Mr. Clinton and his party had left by plane.
The two journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, had been held by North Korea since being detained by North Korean soldiers along the Chinese border on March 17. They were on a reporting assignment from Current TV, a San Francisco-based media company co-founded by Al Gore, the former vice president.
They were eventually convicted and sentenced to 12 years at hard labor for “committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry.” But they were held near Pyongyang rather than sent to a labor camp after the sentencing, raising hopes that North Korea might be willing to pardon them. The administration, which had initially said the charges were “baseless,” began discussing a possible “amnesty” for the women, signaling a readiness to acknowledge some degree of culpability in return for their freedom.
On Tuesday, the Ling and Lee families issued a joint statement on their Web site in which they thanked the Obama administration, President Clinton and “all the people who have supported our families through this ordeal.” They added that they were “counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms.”
The pardon added to speculation among analysts in Seoul that North Korea, after months of raising tensions and hostile rhetoric towards Washington, may be ready to return to dialogue with Washington.
Tensions have been high since a nuclear test by the North on May 25 and the subsequent American-led effort to impose international sanctions against the North.
Administration officials sought to temper suggestions that Mr. Clinton would engage in sweeping discussions with Mr. Kim about North Korea’s nuclear program. His brief, one official said, was strictly limited to the imprisoned journalists.
Since its last short-range missile tests in early July, North Korea has refrained from taking any provocative actions, setting the stage for a possible return to dialogue. In recent weeks, it has indicated that it wanted one-on-one talks with Washington. The United States insists that such discussions are possible only within the six-nation talks involving other regional powers, a multilateral forum the North has declared “dead.”
Accompanying Mr. Clinton was John Podesta, who was his last chief of staff at the White House and is now an informal adviser to the Obama administration. Mr. Podesta, the president of the Center for American Progress, a research organization in Washington, is an influential player in Democratic policy circles. Mr. Clinton also brought longtime personal aides, including Douglas Band.
Kang Sok-ju, the first vice foreign minister and Mr. Kim’s most trusted adviser on Pyongyang’s relations with Washington, attended the meeting, and later in the evening the North’s National Defense Commission, the country’s top governing agency chaired by Mr. Kim, hosted a dinner party for Mr. Clinton, state media reported.
Mr. Clinton flew into Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, in an unmarked jet early Tuesday morning local time, Central TV, a North Korean station, reported. The White House confirmed the visit on Tuesday, but said it was a private mission.
“While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment,” Mr. Gibbs said in a statement. “We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton’s mission.”
It was widely assumed that Mr. Clinton would not have undertaken the mission without specific assurances that Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee would be released.
The last time an American official met with Mr. Kim was in October 2000, when Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Mr. Clinton’s top envoy, traveled to Pyongyang. Mr. Kim reportedly suffered a stroke last August, raising uncertainty about his health and the future of his regime.
Television footage from Pyongyang showed Mr. Clinton being greeted at the airport by North Korean officials including the chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan and Yang Hyong-sop, the vice parliamentary speaker. The footage showed him smiling and bowing as a young girl presented him with flowers. Photographs released by North Korea showed Mr. Clinton sitting next to a thin, though not sickly looking, Mr. Kim.
The Obama administration had been considering for weeks whether to send a special envoy to North Korea. The visit by Mr. Clinton, even if officially a private effort, was clearly undertaken with the blessings of the White House, and marked his first diplomatic mission abroad on behalf of the administration. Mr. Clinton’s wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, has been deeply involved in the journalists’ case.
Mr. Clinton is the first former American president to travel to North Korea since 1994, when Jimmy Carter went to Pyongyang — with Mr. Clinton’s half-hearted blessing — to try to strike a deal to suspend the North’s nuclear work in return for concessions from the United States. Ultimately that led to a 1994 nuclear accord, which froze North Korea’s production of plutonium until the deal fell apart in 2002.
As president, Mr. Clinton was initially ambivalent about Mr. Carter’s intervention. But Mr. Carter’s trip also proved that a former president could break a logjam, and Mr. Clinton has some cards to play with the North. In December, 2000, the last days of his presidency, he came close to traveling to the country in hopes of striking a deal to contain North Korea’s missiles. Mr. Clinton ultimately decided not to go because the deal was not pre-cooked, and his advisers feared he would be appearing desperate for an end-of-presidency deal.
Relations with the North deteriorated rapidly under the Bush administration, with the North renouncing the 1994 nuclear agreement, harvesting enough plutonium for approximately eight nuclear weapons and conducting a nuclear test. Mr. Obama never had time to get talks off the ground with the North before it conducted a second nuclear test and terminated the one significant deal it struck with the Bush administration. It is in the process of restarting its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon.
It is not clear whether the timing is propitious for Mr. Clinton to revive the broader relationship, with Mr. Kim in failing health after a stroke last summer and the North Korean leadership facing an apparent succession struggle.
In fact, the jailing of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee came amid a period of heightened tensions following the second nuclear device in May and the subsequent launchings of several ballistic missiles.
In recent months, the White House has marshaled support at the United Nations for strict sanctions against the North Korean government, including a halt to all weapons sales and a crackdown on its financial ties.
But the administration has tried to keep its diplomatic campaign separate from this case, which American officials have portrayed as a humanitarian issue, appealing to North Korea to return the women to their families.
“Their detainment is not something that we’ve linked to other issues, and we hope the North Koreans don’t do that, either,” Mr. Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said to reporters in June.
Bill Clinton in N. Korea for journalists
(CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton landed in North Korea early Tuesday on a mission to negotiate the release of two American journalists imprisoned there since March, according to the country's state news agency and a CNN source.
The North Korean news agency KCNA did not disclose the purpose of the visit in its three-line dispatch. But a source with detailed knowledge of the former president's movements told CNN late Monday that Clinton was going to seek the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for California-based Current TV -- media venture launched by Clinton's former vice president, Al Gore.
Meeting Clinton were the vice president of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, Yang Hyong Sop, and Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister, KCNA reported, adding that "a little girl presented a bouquet to Bill Clinton."
The women were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.
Since the United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, efforts to resolve the issue so far have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state.
Last month, Clinton's wife -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- said the Obama administration had dropped its request for Ling and Lee to be released on humanitarian grounds and instead was seeking amnesty, which implies forgiveness for an offense.
This change in language is an important distinction that could move North Korea to release the women without feeling that its legal system has been slighted, according to analyst Mike Chinoy.
"I suspect that it was made pretty clear in advance that Bill Clinton would be able to return with these two women otherwise it would be a terrible loss of face for him," said Chinoy, an Edgerton Senior Fellow on Asia at the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. "The bigger, broader and more important question is what else could be on the agenda. Will Clinton be carrying a letter from Barack Obama for the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il? Will he meet Kim Jong Il?"
Clinton's mission comes as the United States and its allies in the region are trying to push North Korea back into stalled nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea conducted a nuclear bomb test, its second, in May, and has conducted several missile tests since then. The United Nations responded by tightening and expanding sanctions on the North.The two nations were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War and had no regular contacts before a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea agreed at that time to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but abandoned that accord and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.
Clinton had considered visiting North Korea in 2000 near the end of his second term as president. His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, had gone to Pyongyang in early 2000 to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -- now widely reported to be ill.
Rocket attack on Afghan capital, two hurt
Eight rockets struck the Afghan capital Tuesday, including one that landed near the US embassy, wounding a man and a child, the government said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the dawn attacks, saying its fighters targeted Afghan soldiers and the Kabul international airport. Eight rockets landed in various parts of the city, at least one of them in the US embassy's neighbourhood and others near the airport and in the east, the interior ministry said.
Four soldiers killed in Miramshah clash
MIRAMSHAH: At least four security officials and three civilians were killed in a clash between security forces and militants in Miramshah, official sources told DawnNews.
Sources say the clash erupted after suspected militants attacked a security forces check post late Monday, killing four security officials and injuring six.
After a battle that lasted for nearly two hours, security forces retaliated and pounded militant hideouts.
Three civilians were killed and four others were injured in the clash.
Shahbaz Sharif visits Gojra on Tuesday
GOJRA: After eight people lost their lives and hundreds were injured, on the fourth day of the Gojra riots, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif visited the city and consoled the families of the deceased.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif cancelled his visit to Gojra
Strong reaction was seen on Monday afternoon at Gojra when news came that chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif who had to visit on Monday the houses those Christian who lost lives of their kins in Saturday's attack of a mob,had cancelled his visit.Hundreds of Christian community people who were waiting for CM in Cathlic church on Samundri road shoouted slogans against their Chrstian leaders and held them responsible for not giving importance to Gojra incident by CM.They also demanded immediate arrest of the alleged killers of the seven Christian persons of Gojra Christian colony who were burnt alive.Over this situation,Punjab minorities minister Kamran Michael,Punjab parliamentary secretary Khalil Tahir Sindhu and MPA Joel Amer Sahutra haned over their resignations from assembly membership to two Christian fathers Emanovel Yousaf and Sabir Shafiq Hidayat and allowed them to send their resignations to Punjab assembly speaker after August 11 in case CM did not come Gojra before said date,the alleged killers were not arrested and the compensation was not paid to the affected families whose houses were burnt.
Pope condemns Gojra incident, appeals for peace
VATICAN CITY :Pope Benedict XVI on Monday urged Pakistanis to turn their backs on violence after seven Christians were killed in bloody riots in the country.
"In the name of God, (the pope) calls on everyone to renounce the violence that has caused so much suffering and start working towards peace," said a telegramme from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in the name of Benedict.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church was "deeply saddened to learn of the senseless attack against the Christian community of Gojra," the remote village in Punjab province where the violence occurred, the message said.
He sent condolences to the families of the victims and urged Pakistani Christians to build a society where all communities displayed "mutual respect" towards each other.
"In the name of God, (the pope) calls on everyone to renounce the violence that has caused so much suffering and start working towards peace," said a telegramme from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in the name of Benedict.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church was "deeply saddened to learn of the senseless attack against the Christian community of Gojra," the remote village in Punjab province where the violence occurred, the message said.
He sent condolences to the families of the victims and urged Pakistani Christians to build a society where all communities displayed "mutual respect" towards each other.
Roadside bomb kills 12 in Afghanistan's west
HERAT, Afghanistan - A Taliban roadside bomb killed at least 12 people Monday in a key commercial city in western Afghanistan, officials said, amid worsening security before a presidential poll this month.
The remote-controlled device may have been aimed at a local police chief but killed mainly passers-by when it exploded during rush hour near a blood bank in Herat, a relatively peaceful city near the Iranian border.
Violence has escalated ahead of the August 20 presidential poll that is seen as a key test of Western-led efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.
Nine foreign soldiers, including six Americans, were killed in the south and east, where the Taliban is strongest, in the last three days.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who took over Saturday, said he wanted Afghanistan's own forces to play a greater role in providing security over the next four years.
"I believe that during my term as NATO secretary-general, Afghans must take over lead responsibility for security in most of their country," he told a news conference in Brussels.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met on Sunday at an air base in Belgium with Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Gates obtained an update on a review of the war being conducted by McChrystal. The unusual meeting, attended by other top U.S. defense officials, was not announced in advance.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election and have called on Afghans to boycott the ballot, the second direct presidential poll since the Islamists were toppled in 2001.
In Ghazni province, a Taliban stronghold southeast of the capital, insurgents have posted notices in mosques and to walls, warning people to stay at home a day before the poll.
"In order that this illegitimate process faces failure, fighters will intensively attack polling centers, and warn voters to stay home one day before," one item posted overnight read.
GIRL, WOMAN KILLED
Among those killed in Monday's blast in Herat were a woman, a 12-year-old girl and two policemen, said provincial security commander General Esmatullah Alizai.
A Reuters witness saw several women and children being carried out of ambulances into a military hospital in Herat.
Alizai said 12 people were killed and Khoja Issa, a district police chief, was seriously wounded. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said Issa was the target of the attack.
In Kabul, the Interior Ministry put the death toll at 10 and said 29 were wounded. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the Herat bombing as "a terrorist attack."
Herat, one of Afghanistan's three largest cities, is usually a safe and prosperous center because of its strong trade links with nearby Iran and Turkmenistan.
July was the deadliest month for foreign forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, with at least 71 killed. August has so far followed that deadly trend.
A total of 41 U.S. troops were killed in July, compared to the previous monthly high of 26 in September 2008.
Britain has also suffered heavy battlefield casualties, with the 22 killed in July taking its toll in the eight-year-old war to 191, 12 more than were killed in Iraq.
Attacks across Afghanistan this year had already reached their worst level since 2001. They escalated further after thousands of U.S. Marines launched a major operation in southern Helmand province last month, long a Taliban stronghold and the source of most of the opium that helps fund the insurgency.
The U.S. operation, along with a similar British offensive, is the first under President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan.
The election is seen as a test for Obama's new strategy, as well as Kabul's ability to stage a legitimate and credible poll.
Civilians are also dying at record rates. The United Nations said last week 1,013 civilians had been killed between January and June this year, up from 818 in the same period last year.
The Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 59 percent of those deaths, the United Nations said.
There have also been a series of election-related attacks, with one of Karzai's campaign convoys ambushed in southeastern Ghazni Saturday. A bodyguard was killed and a candidate for provincial elections was wounded.
Karzai is seen as a clear front-runner in a field of 35 challengers. While his main rivals, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, have been campaigning vigorously, Karzai has been quietly building coalitions among the large field of contenders.
Monday, he announced Abdul Majeed Sameem, a minor candidate from Jawzjan province in the north, had become the latest to pull out in favor of Karzai.
Poor security appears to be one of the few threats to the man who has ruled since 2001 and won the first direct vote in 2004.
Low voter turn-out in the ethnic Pashtun south, Karzai's power base, could raise the possibility of a second run-off vote if no one gets more than 50 percent in the first round.
The remote-controlled device may have been aimed at a local police chief but killed mainly passers-by when it exploded during rush hour near a blood bank in Herat, a relatively peaceful city near the Iranian border.
Violence has escalated ahead of the August 20 presidential poll that is seen as a key test of Western-led efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.
Nine foreign soldiers, including six Americans, were killed in the south and east, where the Taliban is strongest, in the last three days.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who took over Saturday, said he wanted Afghanistan's own forces to play a greater role in providing security over the next four years.
"I believe that during my term as NATO secretary-general, Afghans must take over lead responsibility for security in most of their country," he told a news conference in Brussels.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met on Sunday at an air base in Belgium with Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Gates obtained an update on a review of the war being conducted by McChrystal. The unusual meeting, attended by other top U.S. defense officials, was not announced in advance.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election and have called on Afghans to boycott the ballot, the second direct presidential poll since the Islamists were toppled in 2001.
In Ghazni province, a Taliban stronghold southeast of the capital, insurgents have posted notices in mosques and to walls, warning people to stay at home a day before the poll.
"In order that this illegitimate process faces failure, fighters will intensively attack polling centers, and warn voters to stay home one day before," one item posted overnight read.
GIRL, WOMAN KILLED
Among those killed in Monday's blast in Herat were a woman, a 12-year-old girl and two policemen, said provincial security commander General Esmatullah Alizai.
A Reuters witness saw several women and children being carried out of ambulances into a military hospital in Herat.
Alizai said 12 people were killed and Khoja Issa, a district police chief, was seriously wounded. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said Issa was the target of the attack.
In Kabul, the Interior Ministry put the death toll at 10 and said 29 were wounded. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the Herat bombing as "a terrorist attack."
Herat, one of Afghanistan's three largest cities, is usually a safe and prosperous center because of its strong trade links with nearby Iran and Turkmenistan.
July was the deadliest month for foreign forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, with at least 71 killed. August has so far followed that deadly trend.
A total of 41 U.S. troops were killed in July, compared to the previous monthly high of 26 in September 2008.
Britain has also suffered heavy battlefield casualties, with the 22 killed in July taking its toll in the eight-year-old war to 191, 12 more than were killed in Iraq.
Attacks across Afghanistan this year had already reached their worst level since 2001. They escalated further after thousands of U.S. Marines launched a major operation in southern Helmand province last month, long a Taliban stronghold and the source of most of the opium that helps fund the insurgency.
The U.S. operation, along with a similar British offensive, is the first under President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan.
The election is seen as a test for Obama's new strategy, as well as Kabul's ability to stage a legitimate and credible poll.
Civilians are also dying at record rates. The United Nations said last week 1,013 civilians had been killed between January and June this year, up from 818 in the same period last year.
The Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 59 percent of those deaths, the United Nations said.
There have also been a series of election-related attacks, with one of Karzai's campaign convoys ambushed in southeastern Ghazni Saturday. A bodyguard was killed and a candidate for provincial elections was wounded.
Karzai is seen as a clear front-runner in a field of 35 challengers. While his main rivals, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, have been campaigning vigorously, Karzai has been quietly building coalitions among the large field of contenders.
Monday, he announced Abdul Majeed Sameem, a minor candidate from Jawzjan province in the north, had become the latest to pull out in favor of Karzai.
Poor security appears to be one of the few threats to the man who has ruled since 2001 and won the first direct vote in 2004.
Low voter turn-out in the ethnic Pashtun south, Karzai's power base, could raise the possibility of a second run-off vote if no one gets more than 50 percent in the first round.
Pukhtunkhwa Minorities flay Gojra incident
PESHAWAR.. Minority communities of NWFP Monday strongly condemned Gojra incident. Addressing a joint press conference here at Peshawar Press Club under the banner of Pakistan Council of World Religions, Bishop Humfery Sarfaraz Peter said under a planned conspiracy the minority community is being targeted to defame the country. The press conference was also addressed by representatives of various communities. "The Christian community accords high regard and reverence to `Holy Quran' and cannot even think of desecrating it," remarked Bishop Sarfaraz. Bishop Humfery demanded compensation for the affectees of the incident. He also demanded measures for curbing this conspiracy and bringing culprits behind this henious crime to task. Our country, he added, is passing through a very difficult phase and happening of such incidents can prove very In response to a question, Bishop Humfery Sarfaraz, who is also General Secretary of All Pakistan Christian Community blamed that local people tried to save the minority community, but some outsiders reportedly exploited the Gojra incident. He was of the vview that timely action by law enforcers could help control the situation, and save loss of precious lives and property. PPI adds: Faith Friends of Pakistan, while strongly condemning the Gujra incident, demanded of the government to arrest the real culprits responsible for the incident and termed the registration of FIR against 800 people unjustified. Speaking during a news conference at Peshawar Press Club here on Monday, All Pakistan Church Association general secretary Hamfrey Sarfaraz Peter said that the Christian community even could not think to burn Quran Majeed. On the occasion, Priest SP Asghar, Charan Jeeth Singh, Allama Fakhrul Qararwi and Mukhtiyar Baacha were also flanked by Sarfaraz Peter. It is to be said here that few days ago, more than 40 houses of Christians were burnt, their houses luggage were thrown on roads, broken and then burnt. In the incident 7 people were also burnt alive. Hamfrey Sarfaraz further said that Pakistan had already passing through very crtical situation in the present law and order situation and such incident would make the country even weaker, adding that the results of such conspiracies come out very dangerous, therefore, the government should take serious measures to arrest the real culprits. He said that the minorities had always been targeted on the name of Islam, Quran and religion but neither Islam nor Quran allow anyone to torture minority, saying that the Christians live their lives very peacefully and loved Pakistan very much and never want the country’s situation disturbed. But, till today no charge had been proved behind these incidents but only the innocent minorities are being killed or tortured.
7 Afghan rebels killed as PAF hits Dogh Dara Ghulam Ghaus
DIR UPPER: Seven militants were killed as PAF jet aircraft bombed the hideouts of the Afghan militants in Dogh Union Council of Dir Upper on Monday. Sources of the local Lashkar told The Frontier Post that the jet fighters have targeted the habitats of the militants in Ghazigay area of Dhog Dara. “Seven militants were killed and several injured as bombers targeted Ghazigay, Bagano Manzai and Mirsha,” sources said. “Three missiles were fired on the miscreants in Dogh Dara destroying thier three hideouts,” he added. Meanwhile, the Local Lashkar has been fighting the militants for the last two months but they have only succeeded in restricting the militants to Dogh Union Council. An update issued by the ISPR here Monday said 3 terrorists voluntarily surrendered themselves to security forces at Shangla. Six terrorist suspects were apprehended during operation at Puronai, Kukarai. In search operation in Gokdara near Mingora security forces recovered a small machine gun (SMG) along with 3 magazines, 2 pistols and a computer. The press release said security forces carried out search operation in Salampur during which four terrorists were apprehended and recovered 4 rifles and 30 rounds of pistol One terrorist was arrested from Panrsat near Chuprial and an IED on track Panrsat-Pankarai was defused. During search operation by Security forces at Ashara near Bar Durshkhel and Shakardarra, 2 terrorists were apprehended and 3 houses of terrorist were demolished. One terrorist was arrested from Dargai Killay, in Kalakand during the operation. Two terrorists were apprehended from Katkalla village of Buner and a grenade was recovered from their custody. APP adds : The security forces during a raid on a Madrassa of a militant commander recovered huge quantity of explosive materials, missiles, rocket launchers, mortar shells etc and bulldozed the building of the religious seminary and the adjacent house in Charbagh. The official sources informed that the security forces raided the Madrassa of militant commander Faizur Rehman alias Khat Mulla. The armed seized included ten missiles, ten shells of rocket launchers, 1200 rounds of anti aircraft gun, 36000 cartridges of different bores, scores of remote control bombs, other heavy weapons and thousands kilograms of explosives. The Madrassa and the adjacent house of the militant commander were dynamited by the security forces with the seized explosives. The official sources also confirmed the arrest of four suspects in Islam Pur, a suburban area of Saidu Sharif while in other activities the law enforcers seized arms and computers. Simiarly the return of the IDPs is continuing unabated in the district as on Monday 7000 more families returned to different parts of the district. Since July 13, 2009, till date, a total of 570000 affectees have reached their hometowns. There was relaxation in curfew for thirteen hours in Mingora city on Monday and majority of the markets, bazaars and other offices were opened. For Tuesday (August 04), Swat Media Centre has announced relaxation in curfew from 6 am to 7 pm for Mingora City, Fizza Ghat, Charbagh while for District Shangla, Khwazakhela, Matta, Madyan, Baidara and Durushkhela it would be from 7 am to 6 pm.
New NATO chief outlines policy priorities
BRUSSELS, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- On his first day at work as NATO chief, new NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday outlined his priorities, vowing to build a "true strategic partnership" with Russia, to reaffirm commitments to Afghanistan, reduce NATO-led troops in Kosovo and to work on NATO's new strategic concept.I believe that during my term as NATO secretary general, we should develop a true strategic partnership with Russia. We should extend practical cooperation in areas where we share security interests," Rasmussen told reporters.He said NATO and Russia can work together on terrorism, Afghanistan, piracy and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.Rasmussen said differences between NATO and Russia should not poison the whole relationship."I am not a dreamer. It is obvious that there will be fundamental issues on which we disagree... But we cannot let those areas of disagreement poison the whole relationship," said the new NATO chief."My message to the Russian leadership and people is clear: let us build trust on cooperation and base our cooperation on shared interests," said Rasmussen, who replaced Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as NATO chief."NATO is really not an enemy of Russia, NATO is not directed against Russia," said Rasmussen.On Afghanistan, Rasmussen said the international community must prevent the Asian country from being again "the grand central station of international terrorism.""It will not be easy and the past month has made that bitterly clear. But it can be done and we will do it. Let there be no doubt about that," he said.NATO's immediate goal is to make the Aug. 20 presidential and provincial council elections credible, first and foremost in the eyes of the Afghan population, he added.The long-term goal for NATO, he said, is to help the Afghans take over lead security responsibility.During my term as NATO secretary general, Afghans must take over lead responsibility for security in most of their country... NATO must and will be there in support," he said.But he quickly added that the transfer of lead responsibility does not mean premature NATO departure, saying "Let no Taliban propagandist try to sell my message as a run for the exit. It is not. We will support the Afghan people for as long as it takes."Rasmussen emphasized the need to show the Afghan people and non-NATO troop contributors to the NATO-led international force "more light at the end of the tunnel."He said NATO needs help from other actors to succeed in Afghanistan.We can't do it alone. This has to be an international team effort -- military and civilian -- with more efforts from the Afghans themselves as well," he said.On Kosovo, Rasmussen said the NATO-led troops there (KFOR) could be significantly reduced or even completely withdrawn by the end of his four-year term.It is the first time that the alliance has indicated a timeline for the complete withdrawal of KFOR, which has been in Kosovo since 1999 after NATO airstrikes drove out Serbian forces from the region. "On Kosovo, my aim is clear: by the end of my term, I want to see KFOR reduced to just a small reaction force, or out altogether," said Rasmussen, adding "We should not stumble so close to the finish line. But I believe that conditions will in the foreseeable future be right to retire KFOR with success."NATO defense ministers decided in June to significantly scale down KFOR. Currently, the first phase of reduction is in process as each phase must be decided by the decision-making North Atlantic Council based on military advices.The target to reduce KFOR to 10,000 by January 2010 from about 14,000 at present is still within reach, NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters last Wednesday.Russmussen's predecessor Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had repeatedly refused to give a deadline for the complete withdrawal of KFOR, saying the troops would be there as long as necessary. NATO defense ministers envisaged a three-phase reduction within a time frame of two years starting from the activation of the first reduction. The final number they were looking at was around 2,200 troops, according to NATO officials.Meanwhile, Rasmussen refused to be drawn into a controversy that put his country in crisis with the Muslim world back in 2005 with the publication of 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Prophet Muhammad. Rasmussen said he considered the incident as a matter of the past. But he emphasized the need to enhance cooperation with NATO's Middle East partners, the so-called Mediterranean Dialogue countries.He said he will arrange individual meetings with each and every ambassador from the seven countries, namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.Rasmussen's hardline attitude toward the cartoons controversy sparked criticisms from the Muslim world and became an obstacle to his appointment as NATO chief. Turkey, a mainly Muslim country, finally dropped its opposition after it was assured of senior posts in the alliance. Rasmussen said Monday that he would do his utmost to deliver the promises. Turkey and Greece will be the two countries where he will pay his maiden visits in his capacity as NATO secretary general. Most importantly, his first practical move as NATO chief was the appointment of a 12-member expert group to work on NATO's new strategic concept, a guideline document for all activities of the organization. The experts, which will be chaired by former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, will submit their conclusions to Rasmussen before consulting widely both within and outside NATO. Rasmussen will then lead negotiations with all NATO member countries. An agreed text will be adopted at NATO's next summit, which is expected to be held in late 2010 in Lisbon.NATO's current strategic concept was adopted in 1999. At their summit in April 2009, leaders of NATO countries deemed it necessary to rewrite the document as the alliance faces new security threats.
Pakistan to send list of Afghan terror camps to Kabul
ISLAMABAD: Highly placed Interior Ministry sources told DawnNews that action has been taken by Islamabad following a statement by the Afghan Interior Minister that the Afghan President did not admit that there existed militant training camps in Afghanistan.
The source said lists of suspected camps have been prepared and would be handed over to Kabul within twenty four hours.
The lists also contain information about Indian involvement in such activities on Afghan soil against Pakistan.
Talking to DawnNews, Interior Minister Rehman Malik strongly refuted the statement of his Afghan counter-part. Rehman Malik said that during his meeting with Hamid Karzai two weeks ago, he did discuss terrorist camps, and the Afghan President assured him that action would be taken.
Pakistan has prapared lists of terrorist training camp being operated from Afghan soil for carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan.
The source said lists of suspected camps have been prepared and would be handed over to Kabul within twenty four hours.
The lists also contain information about Indian involvement in such activities on Afghan soil against Pakistan.
Talking to DawnNews, Interior Minister Rehman Malik strongly refuted the statement of his Afghan counter-part. Rehman Malik said that during his meeting with Hamid Karzai two weeks ago, he did discuss terrorist camps, and the Afghan President assured him that action would be taken.
Pakistan has prapared lists of terrorist training camp being operated from Afghan soil for carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Marines fighting Taliban strive to win Afghan locals' trust
USA TODAY
HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Somewhere nearby he hears a Marine cry out: "Casualties! Casualties!" Garrett arrives at the outer wall of a housing compound and finds some of his men sprawled on the ground. Others stumble around, shell-shocked from the blast, temporarily unable to hear their own voices.
No one is badly hurt, but Garrett recognizes that Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines is in for a long, hot day. "Hopefully, everybody gets out of here alive today," he mutters.
A few miles away, but seemingly a world apart, sits another walled cluster of homes. Here, the Marines arrive the next day to a reception that may not be warm, but isn't lethal. Afghans talk with Marines; children beg them for sweets. A villager notices Marines hoisting themselves over a wall, gets their attention, and points out a shortcut.
The contrast between the two housing compounds in Afghanistan's Helmand River valley, a longtime stronghold of the Taliban militant group, illustrates the challenges facing Marines as they implement a new strategy that emphasizes winning the trust of the local population.
Using some of the 21,000 extra troops that President Obama has ordered to Afghanistan this year, the Marines are setting up small patrol bases in far-flung areas that largely had been neglected during the first seven years of the war.
By providing security, rather than just focusing on killing insurgents, the Marines hope to convince locals to turn on the Taliban and eventually hand control over to the Afghan army and police — mirroring the tactics that helped turn the war in Iraq a few years ago.
"We win when the people really believe that the government is here to help them," says Lt. Col. Christian Cabaniss, the battalion commander. "We can't kill our way out of an insurgency. All security does is create a vacuum. It takes the Taliban out. We'll show them that our brand of security is a lot nicer than the Taliban's."
Yet, some areas of Afghanistan have been so lawless for so long that it's extremely difficult for the Marines to establish that first critical point of contact. They're encountering armed resistance in some cases, and an equally formidable foe — fear — in others.
Hours after Garrett's unit came under attack, an Afghan man in the same troubled compound sought Garrett's help filing a claim for damages that a bomb had caused to his home. It was exactly the sort of conversation that can help forge a longer-term relationship, but it took place deep inside the man's courtyard — because the man fears the Taliban would behead him if they knew he was talking to Americans, Garrett says.
Trouble spots can be especially hard for the Marines to identify because they often co-exist with relatively peaceful areas — as happened with the two unnamed compounds that Garrett's unit encountered near the village of Hassan Abad, about 400 miles southwest of Kabul.
In an insurgency, "every village has its own microclimate," says John Nagl, a counterinsurgency expert at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.
Nagl says control of a particular area — "even (a) neighborhood or street," he says — can hinge on a variety of factors including how long Afghan security forces have been there, whether there are any insurgent bases nearby, and even what tribe the local population belongs to.
At the safer housing compound, locals seem to understand why the Americans are there. Many even feel safe enough to approach them and ask for medical help.
"This is God's will that they come here for our security," says Abdul Ali, 50. "We don't like the Taliban. Whoever can bring us peace is who we want."
Down the road at the troubled compound, the Marines believe the Taliban have been active for a longer period of time, says Capt. Junwei Sun, 31, Fox Company commander.
The Marines are racing to learn more — taking photos, iris scans, fingerprints, and names of the compound's residents to compile a database of suspected insurgents, just as was done in troubled areas of Iraq.
Ultimately, though, the best intelligence likely will come from whatever Garrett and his men are able to glean while headquartered at their new patrol base nearby.
Almost 'paradise'
The "Jugroom" base is a fortress made up of fabric and steel-mesh cylinders of packed soil and rock called Hescos. The floor is gravel. Temperatures routinely soar above 120 degrees, drawing Marines in their downtime to cool off in the irrigation ditch that runs through their outpost.
There's no TV, no Internet, and they line up to make brief calls home by satellite phone. There's one hot meal a day, the remainder are packaged Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).
It's not an easy life, and the Marines seem to revel in it.
"We're a refrigerator away from paradise," Garrett says.
Well before dawn, Fox Company and a group of Afghan soldiers under Garrett's command rouse themselves for a march toward a group of homes near the village of Hassan Abad. Intercepted communication from the Taliban suggest they're waiting to attack, Garrett says.
The Marines are particularly exposed during such missions — the paths in this area appear too small for a Humvee, much less Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), the armored trucks designed to help troops withstand roadside bombs.
"At home, we trained up for 50% vehicle, 50% foot patrols," says Gunnery Sgt. Denis Desmarais, 29, an explosives expert. "Here, it's 90% on foot."
At 6:50 a.m., as Marines approach the compound, they hear the first blast from an improvised explosive device (IED).
Bursts of gunfire erupt. Some rounds are close enough for Garrett to order his men to take cover. A half-hour later, the bomb explodes that dazes his men.
In all that day, the Marines find five IEDs, made of fertilizer and fuel and triggered remotely by copper wires buried in hard-packed dirt. One of the bombs, evidently designed to kill Marines scrambling to rescue victims of the first, fails to detonate. It's uncovered by explosive ordnance technicians, hacking through the dirt with hunting knives.
"This place is just riddled with IEDs," says Sun, the Company commander. "Every time we come here we get shot at."
In other areas of Afghanistan — such as Jalalabad, where the U.S. military has made significant inroads and Afghan security forces are better established — locals often provide tips as to where IEDs are hidden.
Until that kind of trust takes root elsewhere in the country, though, the danger will remain high: At least 43 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan in July, making it the deadliest month of the entire war. Three more U.S. troops died in a militant ambush in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, bringing the U.S. death toll for August to six, the Associated Press reported.
For Garrett's platoon, the attacks end by mid-morning, allowing Marines and Afghan soldiers to conduct house-to-house searches for bomb-making equipment. Many of the residents say they knew about the bombs, and where they were planted, but wouldn't tell Marines because they feared retaliation from the Taliban.
An elderly man trembles as he tells this to Garrett through an interpreter.
"Yeah, I know," Garrett tells his interpreter. "Nobody sees anything."
'We'll have to kill them'
Some militants will be easier to convince to lay down their weapons than others, Sun says. Some of them are paid by the Taliban to attack U.S. and Afghan troops, he says. In other cases, parents are compelled, through death threats, to have their sons join the fight. Those are the types who often will switch sides if security can be established, Sun says.
"There is a handful of extremists you can't flip," Sun says. "We'll have to kill them."
There are some potential glimpses of a brighter future. When Garrett's unit sets out on its mission to the calmer compound, the troops charged with looking for IEDs with handheld metal detectors are able to quickly find a clear path. There were times the day before that they couldn't take a step without hearing beeps indicating the buried metal of bombs' trigger wires.
The troops quickly cross fields of corn, flooded paddies of rice and gardens filled with ripening tomatoes, okra and melons. Children drive sheep and goats to pens and pull cows to pasture. A man tends a field with hundreds of chest-high marijuana plants. The Marines laugh and snap pictures. It's hardly the Welcome Wagon, but residents don't seem hostile.
"I like the Afghan soldiers," says Sardar Mohammed, 10. "I don't like the U.S. They fight, but there is no clear effect."
The boy's criticism amuses Garrett. He's pleased the child views the Afghan soldiers positively. "It's their country," Garrett says. "They'll have to take care of it."
Next door, Abdul Ali, the boy's neighbor, clasps Garrett's hand and thanks him.
Meanwhile, work is underway to buttress the improving relationships with economic aid. Cabaniss, the battalion commander, points to a project, funded with $20,000 from emergency funds, that allowed the local government to unplug a sluice gate and improve irrigation around the town of Garmsir.
More Afghan forces needed
Time may be running out for such efforts to take hold, says Arturo Munoz, a expert on Helmand province at the RAND Corp., a think tank.
"In southern Helmand today, the central government has one last chance to get it right and provide law and order to the citizens of this region," Munoz says. "If it fails in this mission, then the ultimate objectives of this (Marine) campaign in Helmand likely will not be met."
There are about 10,000 Marines in Helmand, 4,000 of whom are involved in the offensive. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, says the current U.S. strategy is sound but manpower is still short. "One element that is in short supply is Afghan soldiers," he says.
Cabaniss and Col. George Amland, deputy commander of the Marines in Helmand, acknowledge that there aren't enough Afghan security forces involved as of now. About 650 soldiers took part as Marines swept south into the province July 2, and reinforcements are promised.
The Afghan soldiers who are present often need training. Garrett's men were accompanied by an Afghan unit led by 1st Lt. Saifur Rahman, 22, as they searched houses. They appeared willing to fight, though Rahman complained during the first patrol that his men didn't have time to break for lunch. Rahman says he joined the Afghan army because he couldn't find another job.
On the second day, one Afghan soldier fired warning shots at what turned out to be a family heading to a wedding party. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, has put renewed emphasis eliminating civilian deaths, which he said eroded support for the government in years past.
Garrett barked at the Afghan soldiers: "No more shooting. No more."
Unlike the previous day's 10-hour marathon, this patrol ends before lunch. No shots were fired at U.S. or Afghan troops, and they don't find any IEDs. They return to their base. There, they'll have time to eat and check their gear.
"We'll send them back on patrol later," Garrett says. "No days off here."
Pakistan blames Islamists linked to al-Qaida for attack on Christians
www.guardian.co.uk
The Pakistani government has blamed a Sunni militant group linked to al-Qaida for leading an attack on a Christian community at the weekend that killed eight people, including three women and a child.
Christian schools and colleges across Pakistan closed today for three days to protest against the killings in Gojra, a scruffy town in Punjab province, on Saturday. Community leaders appealed for calm as paramilitary rangers patrolled the streets.
Thousands of Muslims rampaged through a Christian neighbourhood after days of tension over reports that a Qur'an had been burned at a Christian wedding. Six people were burned alive in one house, while two others were shot dead.
More than 100 houses were torched by a mob that, according to some officials estimates, swelled to more than 20,000 people. The police intervened with teargas but failed to stop the violence.
Pakistan has an estimated 2.8 million Christians, mostly living in Punjab and employed in poorly-paid jobs. Sectarian violence led by Muslim extremists erupts periodically, usually triggered by blasphemy allegations. The federal minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, said the latest attack was led by militants from Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), a banned militant group notorious for violence against Shia Muslims during the 1990s.
In recent years, members of SSP and its more virulent offshoot, Lashkar I Jhangvi, have been linked to numerous Taliban and al-Qaida attacks. SSP's historical base is in Jhang, close to Gojra.
Under Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws, defilement of Islam's holy book is punishable by life imprisonment. Human rights campaigners say the law is frequently abused to settle personal scores or exploit communal tensions.
Punjab's law minister, Rana Sanaullah, said initial investigations had debunked the Qur'an defilement theory and 12 people had been arrested.
"This is not the work of Muslims. A group of extremists have exploited the situation," he told a group of Christians after funeral prayers for one of the dead yesterday.
Media commentators and newspaper editorials condemned the attack as the latest sign of virulent Islamism threatening Pakistan, as the army fights the Taliban on its north-western borders. "Ours is an intolerant society, and we are particularly intolerant of those whose faith is not Muslim," said the News.
A spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari promised an inquiry into the incident.
The Pakistani government has blamed a Sunni militant group linked to al-Qaida for leading an attack on a Christian community at the weekend that killed eight people, including three women and a child.
Christian schools and colleges across Pakistan closed today for three days to protest against the killings in Gojra, a scruffy town in Punjab province, on Saturday. Community leaders appealed for calm as paramilitary rangers patrolled the streets.
Thousands of Muslims rampaged through a Christian neighbourhood after days of tension over reports that a Qur'an had been burned at a Christian wedding. Six people were burned alive in one house, while two others were shot dead.
More than 100 houses were torched by a mob that, according to some officials estimates, swelled to more than 20,000 people. The police intervened with teargas but failed to stop the violence.
Pakistan has an estimated 2.8 million Christians, mostly living in Punjab and employed in poorly-paid jobs. Sectarian violence led by Muslim extremists erupts periodically, usually triggered by blasphemy allegations. The federal minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, said the latest attack was led by militants from Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), a banned militant group notorious for violence against Shia Muslims during the 1990s.
In recent years, members of SSP and its more virulent offshoot, Lashkar I Jhangvi, have been linked to numerous Taliban and al-Qaida attacks. SSP's historical base is in Jhang, close to Gojra.
Under Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws, defilement of Islam's holy book is punishable by life imprisonment. Human rights campaigners say the law is frequently abused to settle personal scores or exploit communal tensions.
Punjab's law minister, Rana Sanaullah, said initial investigations had debunked the Qur'an defilement theory and 12 people had been arrested.
"This is not the work of Muslims. A group of extremists have exploited the situation," he told a group of Christians after funeral prayers for one of the dead yesterday.
Media commentators and newspaper editorials condemned the attack as the latest sign of virulent Islamism threatening Pakistan, as the army fights the Taliban on its north-western borders. "Ours is an intolerant society, and we are particularly intolerant of those whose faith is not Muslim," said the News.
A spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari promised an inquiry into the incident.
Afghan challengers target Karzai
(CNN) -- In less than three weeks, Afghan voters -- still reeling from one of the most violent months since the war on terror started -- head to the polls for what some call the country's first-ever truly contested election. Two candidates, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, have emerged as the top contenders among the dozens hoping to unseat President Hamid Karzai, who has led the country since shortly after the 2001 fall of the Taliban and is seeking re-election.
Abdullah and Ghani spoke to CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on Sunday, expressing disappointment with the current administration in Kabul and what they hope to accomplish if they win the August 20 election.
Karzai "turned out to be a very poor manager, in the sense that he could not deal with issues in a manner that would respond to the needs and aspirations of the people and create a sense of momentum," Ghani said. "The other side was his tolerance for corruption that grew into a massive disease, into a cancer that's eating through the society."
He noted that Afghanistan's government has been ranked by the Brookings Institute as the fifth most corrupt; the center of drug production; and "a place of disenchantment of the population with this government." He blamed what he called Karzai's "bad governance" for the return of the Taliban force -- not a military or ideological resurgence.
"I have talked to a lot of people in the south, where the heart of the insurgency is. And time and again, their story comes to one thing: an injustice that could no longer be tolerated and forced them to active resistance," Ghani said.
Earlier this year, Karzai said in an interview that if he wins another five-year term, he will put a special emphasis on building dams and bringing electricity to the Afghan people. A U.S. government assessment determined that less than 10 percent of Afghans have access to electric power.
Karzai emphasized also the importance in the coming years of what he described as the "peace process" with the Taliban. He characterized it as being at "the heart" of what his government hopes to achieve, and said he is "glad that the Obama administration is backing this."
Fifty-nine percent of this year's civilian casualties resulted from insurgent bombs. The U.N. report concluded that Taliban insurgents -- which have regrouped and gained momentum since 2004 -- are "basing themselves in civilian areas so as to deliberately blur the distinction between combatants and civilians, and as part of what appears to be an active policy aimed at drawing a military response to areas where there is a high likelihood that civilians will be killed."
"Because of the resentment of the people, dissatisfaction of the people towards the government, the current administration is losing the people, and it is strengthening the insurgency," presidential contender Abdullah told CNN Sunday. "That trend has to reverse before anything else could happen."
"There is no doubt there is a hardcore element in it," he added. "But there are thousands of people under the same brand, Taliban, which have joined the insurgency because of other reasons."
Abdullah, a former foreign minister of Afghanistan, was a key figure in the Northern Alliance, the opposition group that helped the United States topple the Taliban after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
He called Karzai's previous relationship with the Bush administration a "blind date," saying both sides ultimately realized the partnership was not sincere.
"I think in the United States is a new beginning and a new approach towards many issues, including Afghanistan," Abdullah said, referring to the Obama administration. "In Afghanistan there is a hope that, as a result of the elections, there will be another opportunity for working together in order to help Afghanistan stabilize ... "
The United States and Britain recently said they are committed to remaining in Afghanistan, despite increased military casualties and declining public support for the war effort. Last week, Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters that boosting the training of Afghan forces would be a big focus after the country's August 20 election. When asked whether the election would be fair, Holbrooke, who just returned from the region, said he had heard complaints from all sides but was not "unduly upset."
Ghani told CNN that "an exit date" for international forces should be a long-term goal for his country. But the first issue at hand is establishing a cease-fire with insurgents."First we need to get a cease-fire -- this is not going to be an easy issue," he said. "But we need to try everything possible, so we can build a cease-fire. ... International forces in Afghanistan, in general, and those of the United States, in particular, are not here to colonize Afghanistan or to build an empire. They are here to create a stable Afghanistan that would be a source of stability to the region and the world at large."
Abdullah and Ghani spoke to CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on Sunday, expressing disappointment with the current administration in Kabul and what they hope to accomplish if they win the August 20 election.
Karzai "turned out to be a very poor manager, in the sense that he could not deal with issues in a manner that would respond to the needs and aspirations of the people and create a sense of momentum," Ghani said. "The other side was his tolerance for corruption that grew into a massive disease, into a cancer that's eating through the society."
He noted that Afghanistan's government has been ranked by the Brookings Institute as the fifth most corrupt; the center of drug production; and "a place of disenchantment of the population with this government." He blamed what he called Karzai's "bad governance" for the return of the Taliban force -- not a military or ideological resurgence.
"I have talked to a lot of people in the south, where the heart of the insurgency is. And time and again, their story comes to one thing: an injustice that could no longer be tolerated and forced them to active resistance," Ghani said.
Earlier this year, Karzai said in an interview that if he wins another five-year term, he will put a special emphasis on building dams and bringing electricity to the Afghan people. A U.S. government assessment determined that less than 10 percent of Afghans have access to electric power.
Karzai emphasized also the importance in the coming years of what he described as the "peace process" with the Taliban. He characterized it as being at "the heart" of what his government hopes to achieve, and said he is "glad that the Obama administration is backing this."
Fifty-nine percent of this year's civilian casualties resulted from insurgent bombs. The U.N. report concluded that Taliban insurgents -- which have regrouped and gained momentum since 2004 -- are "basing themselves in civilian areas so as to deliberately blur the distinction between combatants and civilians, and as part of what appears to be an active policy aimed at drawing a military response to areas where there is a high likelihood that civilians will be killed."
"Because of the resentment of the people, dissatisfaction of the people towards the government, the current administration is losing the people, and it is strengthening the insurgency," presidential contender Abdullah told CNN Sunday. "That trend has to reverse before anything else could happen."
"There is no doubt there is a hardcore element in it," he added. "But there are thousands of people under the same brand, Taliban, which have joined the insurgency because of other reasons."
Abdullah, a former foreign minister of Afghanistan, was a key figure in the Northern Alliance, the opposition group that helped the United States topple the Taliban after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
He called Karzai's previous relationship with the Bush administration a "blind date," saying both sides ultimately realized the partnership was not sincere.
"I think in the United States is a new beginning and a new approach towards many issues, including Afghanistan," Abdullah said, referring to the Obama administration. "In Afghanistan there is a hope that, as a result of the elections, there will be another opportunity for working together in order to help Afghanistan stabilize ... "
The United States and Britain recently said they are committed to remaining in Afghanistan, despite increased military casualties and declining public support for the war effort. Last week, Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters that boosting the training of Afghan forces would be a big focus after the country's August 20 election. When asked whether the election would be fair, Holbrooke, who just returned from the region, said he had heard complaints from all sides but was not "unduly upset."
Ghani told CNN that "an exit date" for international forces should be a long-term goal for his country. But the first issue at hand is establishing a cease-fire with insurgents."First we need to get a cease-fire -- this is not going to be an easy issue," he said. "But we need to try everything possible, so we can build a cease-fire. ... International forces in Afghanistan, in general, and those of the United States, in particular, are not here to colonize Afghanistan or to build an empire. They are here to create a stable Afghanistan that would be a source of stability to the region and the world at large."
About 200 arrested in violence against Christians in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- About 200 people have been arrested in a flare-up of anti-Christian violence in Gojra that left seven dead, a government minister said Monday.
Rana Sana Ullah, Punjab's provincial law minister, told CNN that the paramilitary Rangers force was helping police and maintaining law and order.
Seven people were killed and 20 injured Saturday when Muslim demonstrators set fire to houses in a Christian enclave and fighting broke out, authorities said. Police said the Muslims were protesting an alleged desecration of pages in the Quran, the Muslim sacred text, at a Christian wedding.
At a news conference in Islamabad carried on local TV, Shehbaz Bhatti, federal minister for minorities, said an investigation determined there was no desecration of the Quran in village 95 Gill near Gojra City, and the allegations were baseless. He also said the government will rebuild all the burned houses.
Bhatti told CNN that four women, two men and a child, all Christians, were either shot to death or killed when their houses were burned. About 50 houses were burned down, and more than 100 were looted by the protesters, Bhatti said. The incident occurred in Gojra City, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Lahore.
Kamran Michael, Punjab provincial minister for human rights and minority affairs, who is a Christian, told CNN after meeting with Pakistan's Christian leaders in Gojra that a consensus had been reached to observe three days of mourning, from Monday to Wednesday, for the attack on the Christians.
On those three days, all schools, colleges, missions and educational institutions run by Christians will remain closed. Christian schools in Karachi, which were due to open for the new term Monday, remained closed. However, schools in most other areas of Pakistan are still on summer vacation.
Michael also criticized Pakistan's "law of offenses relating to religion," which has a penalty of life imprisonment for desecration of the Quran and even death for defiling the name of the prophet Mohammed. He called the law unjust and misused, and he strongly condemned it, demanding that it be amended because of its misuse against minorities.
Pakistan Valley Tries to Heal, and Fears Dark Battles Ahead
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NEW YORK TIMES
MINGORA, Pakistan — Schools have officially reopened. Soldiers stand guard at checkpoints and have established a semblance of order. Many thousands have returned here to a town that is mostly intact, if still under a military presence.
But Mingora, a battle-scarred city in the Swat Valley, remains tense. Pakistan’s efforts to restore normalcy — a vital test of the government’s resolve to stand up to the Taliban — waver between fear and hope, leaving an enduring victory over the militants a distant goal.
Beneath the surface of relative calm, there is the sense that a new and more insidious conflict may be afoot, one that could take many months to play out before the fate of this once-prosperous region is ultimately decided.
On Sunday morning, a body, hands bound with rope and shot in the back of the head, lay on the sidewalk of a main road. A note pinned to the shirt and written in Urdu gave the victim’s, Gul Khitab, and said he was from Matta, one of the remaining Taliban strongholds. “Enemy of Swat,” it read.
Rumors abound of other bodies being dumped in the last two weeks, a signal that the army may be prepared to use extrajudicial killings to settle scores. A government employee, Murad Ali, who peered at the body, said he had seen three bodies, shot in the head, lying in similar fashion in the past six days.
Asked about the identity of the man, an army commander who stopped to look, and then moved on, said with a grin, “Maybe a bad guy.” A military spokesman, Maj. Nasir Khan, said the army was unaware of the death and did not condone extrajudicial killing.
If no one knew precisely what to make of the body, it was a clear enough sign that the conflict in Swat was not over.
To the fear and frustration of those who suffered at their hands, the top Taliban leaders remain on the loose. Taliban fighters have melted away to the periphery of Swat or to neighboring areas, like Dir, leaving soldiers and civilians alike filled with dread of when — and how — the insurgents would return.
On Friday, warning shots could be heard, as jittery soldiers, worried about suicide bombers, patrolled on with hair triggers.
Three months after the Pakistani military began its offensive, many among the more than one million displaced have returned, expecting calm but still uncertain whether the military can guarantee it.
The failure to kill or capture Taliban leaders has left many here suspicious that the military is not serious about taking on the Taliban. To allay fears, the military has publicly presented four teenage boys who it says were captured by the Taliban and placed in a training camp with more than 100 other boys, all of them hostages.
The boys said they were lectured by a trainer on how the army was an “infidel” organization filled with “apostates.” The four boys said they escaped in less than two weeks.
For the moment, the military’s presence is tolerated. But the fact that soldiers are holed up in schools — the prestigious Sarosh Academy is being used as a prison for Taliban militants — does not make people happy, either.
The western part of the city remains barricaded. The many requirements to secure the peace — functioning courts and other government services — seem months away.
“One year — we’ll be lucky if we get this under control,” Atif ur-Rehman, the district coordinating officer who is one of the senior government officials in Swat, said in the garden of his residence on a hill above the town.
Mr. Rehman, the point man for foreign donors who are beginning to line up with plans for reconstructing Swat, said the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank were assessing needs based on the damage to buildings, roads and bridges after two years of periodic fighting between the militants and the army, and the three-month offensive.
The United Nations planned to help restore health and education services. The United States Agency for International Development had also offered to help.
“Their mode of working is slower than the government of Pakistan,” Mr. Rehman said of his meeting with officials at the American agency.
Whether these foreign aid programs can be done fast enough to satisfy the people who are most vulnerable to the lure of the militants is a pressing concern.
At Takhtaband, an impoverished area on the edge of Mingora, Rahim Khan described two aerial strikes by the Pakistani military around 5 p.m. on May 15, at a playground where children were playing cricket.
The strikes killed 27 people, including his mother, father and eight children, Mr. Khan said. The second raid came as relatives picked up the wounded and the dead from the first attack, Mr. Khan said.
Nearby, as he spoke, a skull was lodged in a crevice among the broken bricks, and from the smell it seemed likely that bodies were still strewn beneath them.
The strike was apparently intended for an adjacent farm that was used by the Taliban, Mr. Khan said. The farm was untouched by the attack, though six or seven Taliban were also killed in the strikes, he said.
The most bitter experience, he said, was dragging 12 of the most seriously wounded on a harrowing two-day walk to a hospital in Malakand. Some were carried on the backs of men, and others were put in wheelbarrows, he said. Six of the 12 later died, he said.
The May 15 date described by Mr. Khan corresponds to official army reports, made May 18, that heavy fighting was under way in the Takhtaband area, and that two Taliban commanders had been killed.
For most of the 20th century, Swat was a place apart in Pakistan. It was run until 1969 by a hereditary ruler, and its natural beauty of cascading rivers, towering mountains and pristine forests drew wealthy Pakistanis.
The Pakistan Tourist Development Corporation hotel reopened two weeks ago. It still serves tea in pots covered by cozies and poured into flower-patterned china cups, one of the few genteel touches to survive the traumas of the last two years.
The owner of a copy shop, Jehangir Khan, said his customers now were mostly those applying for government compensation for damaged property. “Business is equal to nothing,” he said.
Would Swat ever be the same? “It’s difficult to see,” he said. “The government never takes care of its promises.”
Christian schools close after Pakistan killings
KARACHI — Christian schools and colleges went on strike in Pakistan Monday to protest against the killing of seven Christians in bloody riots that heightened fears of widening unrest, officials said.
"We are mourning the death of innocent people in Gojra and have closed our schools in Karachi for three days from today," said Saleem Michael, an official of the Catholic Board of Education in Pakistan's financial capital.
The board controls about 62 schools in Karachi where around 50,000 students are enrolled, Michael said.
"We believe in peace, so we are protesting against the Gojra tragedy in a peaceful manner," he said.
An angry mob of Muslims torched 40 houses and a church in the remote village of Gojra, 160 kilometres (99 miles) west of Lahore in Pakistan's heartland province of Punjab, on Saturday.
The violence broke out over the alleged desecration of the Koran. In all, seven Christians died, officials said.
Two children -- a brother and sister aged six and 13 -- their parents and 75-year-old grandfather were burnt to death after the mob locked them inside a room of their house, Father Shabbir told AFP by telephone from Gojra.
"Five members of one family burnt to death, including innocent children and their parents. How we can feel safe and secure in such a country?" he said.
Ayub Sajid, a Christian community leader in the central town of Multan, said 13 missionary schools due to re-open after the holidays in central Punjab, would remain closed for three days to mourn and protest the killings.
Christians have accused the local administration of siding with the Muslims and failing to protect Christians following an earlier attack late last month.
"The blasphemy law is always used against minorities... Now minorities all over Pakistan feel they aren't secure," said Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a Christian member of the Punjab provincial parliament.
Another Christian lawmaker in North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan in western Pakistan, also echoed the same fears.
"We have cancelled all functions in Peshawar and other districts. We will mourn the killing for three days," Prince Javed told AFP.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered an inquiry into the alleged desecration of the Koran and appealed to residents of the area to remain calm.
Desecrating the Koran is punishable by death under the blasphemy laws of Pakistan, although no executions have ever been carried out.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Britain's drug fighting role in Afghanistan a 'poisoned chalice', say MPs
www.telegraph.co.uk
In a damning report, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee concludes that the conflict has delivered "much less than promised" and that the effort of British troops is being "significantly diluted" by lack of coherent vision and strategy.
"The UK deployment to Helmand was been undermined by unrealistic planning at senior levels, poor co-ordination between Whitehall departments and crucially, a failure to provide the military with clear direction," the report concludes. It demands that the Government urgently issue a statement setting out what lessons have been learned from "the mistakes made by the international community over the last seven years".
The report from the Labour dominated committee will intensify the row about the future of Britain's role in Afghanistan, which has concentrated so far on concerns over lack of equipment, but which now shifts to a much wider set of concerns.
MPs blamed "mission creep" for considerably expanding the UK's role in the conflict to include the task of being the lead force on counter-narcotics operations. In accepting this role, the committee said, "the UK has taken on a poisoned chalice".
Since the first British troops were deployed there in 2001, the UK has moved from its initial goal of supporting the US in countering international terrorism, into the realms of counter-insurgency, protection of human rights and state building.
"During our visit we were struck by the sheer magnitude of the task confronting the UK," MPs on the committee said. "We conclude that there has been significant 'mission creep' in the British deployment to Afghanistan, and that this has resulted in the British government being now committed to a wide range of objectives."
The report disputes ministers' claims that the operation to stop heroin production in Afghanistan has benefits for Britain by restricting the flow of drugs to the West. "The Government's assessment that the drugs trade in Afghanistan is a strategic threat to the UK which, in part, merits the UK's continued military presence in Afghanistan, is debatable."
Moreover, it says there is "little evidence" that recent reductions in poppy cultivation are the result of policies adopted by the UK. It calls on the Government to relinquish the role of lead partner nation on counter-narcotics to the UN and refocus its efforts on driving forward diplomatic efforts.
Other failures of the Coalition singled out by the report include a failure to create an "effective formal justice system". It says there has been "virtually no progress" in tackling the endemic problem of corruption in Afghanistan and that "in many cases the problem has actually become worse. " The recent attempt by the Afghan government to impose a Shia law which would have legalised rape within marriage highlighted how fragile human rights were in the country eight years after the end of Taliban rule.
The future of Nato had also been called into doubt by the conflict as some allies had shirked their share of the burden. "Without a more equitable distribution of responsibility and risk, Nato's effort will be further inhibited and its reputation as a military alliance... seriously damaged," it said.
In a scathing set of conclusions which will intensify debate about the future of Britain's deployment, MPs said: "We conclude that the international effort in Afghanistan since 2001 has delivered much less than it promised and that its impact has been significantly diluted by the absence of a unified vision and strategy, grounded in the realities of Afghanistan's history, culture and politics.
"Avoidable mistakes, including knee-jerk responses now make the task of stabilising the country considerably more difficult." It urges the Government to make a statement redefining its aims and says that a negotiated Afghan-led political settlement with broad popular support represented "the only realistic option for long term security and stability". However while the security situation remained unstable, MPs accepted the current increased deployment was a "necessary prerequisite to any long term political settlement".
Negligence of officials blamed for Gojra riots
TOBA TEK SINGH: As the death toll in violence against the Christian community rose to seven, relatives of the victims blocked the Multan-Faisalabad section of the railway track for over six hours on Sunday by placing on the track the coffins of the people killed in Gojra on Saturday.
They protested against attacks on their houses and burning alive of seven members of their community by a mob.
Rangers patrolled the area as shops and businesses remained closed.
Violence had broken out in a Gojra village on Thursday after an alleged incident of desecration of the Holy Quran during a wedding ceremony.
The incident triggered two days of violence in which a mob torched a large number of houses, burning seven people alive.
On Sunday, talks were held between representatives of the protesters and Federal Textile Minister Rana Muhammad Farooq, Minorities’ Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and provincial ministers Kamran Michael, Haji Muhammad Ishaq, Raja Riaz Ahmad and Dost Muhammad Khosa to persuade leaders of the Christian community to end their protest.
During the talks, local leaders of the community said they would end their protest only after names of the DPO and DCO were included in the FIR of the case.
Addressing the protesters, Pakistan Minorities Democratic Alliance president Atif Jamil Pagaan accused some of their leaders of betraying the community. A group of youths jeered at Faisalabad’s Bishop Joseph Coute when he was addressing the protesters at the railway track.
The provincial in-charge of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Mahboob Ahmad Khan, Labour Party leader Tariq Mahmood and dozens of rights activists from Lahore, including Nadeem Anthony, Waliur Rehman, Munawar Shahid, Iftikhar Butt and Atif Nadeem, were present during the protest.
The protesters ended the blockade of the track only when provincial minister Kamran Michael showed them a copy of an FIR naming the DCO and DPO (for negligence), 15 other people and 800 unidentified people for being involved in the killing of their men and damaging their property.
Later, final rites of the seven deceased were performed in a church on Samundri Road and the bodies were laid to rest in a local cemetery.
Meanwhile, Gojra city police have arrested more than 65 people for their alleged involvement in the violence.
The arrested men include Qari Abdul Khaliq Kashmiri, a leader of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.
Police also raided the house of Sipah-i-Sahaba activist Abid Farooqi but he escaped and police took his father and two brothers into custody.
Agencies add: Local administration chief Tahir Hussain told reporters that Rangers had been deployed in the violence-hit areas who had arrested 12 suspects.
Three of the arrested people were from a banned sectarian group, he said.
Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, who visited the violence-hit town on Sunday, promised to pay compensation to the affected families.
‘We have identified those who attacked. They are terrorists, these people want to destabilise our country,’ he told reporters.
‘We will give compensation to the victims, we will pay them for all the losses they suffered,’ Mr Sanaullah said.
Local people and officials said the situation on Sunday morning was tense, but there was no unrest.
‘There is too much fear among the Christians,’ said provincial Minister for Minority Affairs Kamran Michael.
‘The situation is tense in the city, but security has been enhanced to keep the situation under control.’
Sohail Iqbal, a cellphone shop owner in the city’s main market, told The Associated Press by phone that there was a heavy police presence in the area.
‘We have opened our shop and others too, but the atmosphere is grim and tense,’ he said.
Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said 40 Christian homes had been torched on Saturday by the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba group, which is accused of attacking security forces and of staging bombings at public places in recent years. He said there was no truth to allegations that the Holy Quran had been defiled and accused the police of ignoring his appeal to provide protection to Christians under threat.
In a statement released on Sunday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini denounced the violence against Christians as ‘a very grave and unjustifiable attack against human rights and in particular against the inalienable right to religious freedom’.
They protested against attacks on their houses and burning alive of seven members of their community by a mob.
Rangers patrolled the area as shops and businesses remained closed.
Violence had broken out in a Gojra village on Thursday after an alleged incident of desecration of the Holy Quran during a wedding ceremony.
The incident triggered two days of violence in which a mob torched a large number of houses, burning seven people alive.
On Sunday, talks were held between representatives of the protesters and Federal Textile Minister Rana Muhammad Farooq, Minorities’ Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and provincial ministers Kamran Michael, Haji Muhammad Ishaq, Raja Riaz Ahmad and Dost Muhammad Khosa to persuade leaders of the Christian community to end their protest.
During the talks, local leaders of the community said they would end their protest only after names of the DPO and DCO were included in the FIR of the case.
Addressing the protesters, Pakistan Minorities Democratic Alliance president Atif Jamil Pagaan accused some of their leaders of betraying the community. A group of youths jeered at Faisalabad’s Bishop Joseph Coute when he was addressing the protesters at the railway track.
The provincial in-charge of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Mahboob Ahmad Khan, Labour Party leader Tariq Mahmood and dozens of rights activists from Lahore, including Nadeem Anthony, Waliur Rehman, Munawar Shahid, Iftikhar Butt and Atif Nadeem, were present during the protest.
The protesters ended the blockade of the track only when provincial minister Kamran Michael showed them a copy of an FIR naming the DCO and DPO (for negligence), 15 other people and 800 unidentified people for being involved in the killing of their men and damaging their property.
Later, final rites of the seven deceased were performed in a church on Samundri Road and the bodies were laid to rest in a local cemetery.
Meanwhile, Gojra city police have arrested more than 65 people for their alleged involvement in the violence.
The arrested men include Qari Abdul Khaliq Kashmiri, a leader of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.
Police also raided the house of Sipah-i-Sahaba activist Abid Farooqi but he escaped and police took his father and two brothers into custody.
Agencies add: Local administration chief Tahir Hussain told reporters that Rangers had been deployed in the violence-hit areas who had arrested 12 suspects.
Three of the arrested people were from a banned sectarian group, he said.
Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, who visited the violence-hit town on Sunday, promised to pay compensation to the affected families.
‘We have identified those who attacked. They are terrorists, these people want to destabilise our country,’ he told reporters.
‘We will give compensation to the victims, we will pay them for all the losses they suffered,’ Mr Sanaullah said.
Local people and officials said the situation on Sunday morning was tense, but there was no unrest.
‘There is too much fear among the Christians,’ said provincial Minister for Minority Affairs Kamran Michael.
‘The situation is tense in the city, but security has been enhanced to keep the situation under control.’
Sohail Iqbal, a cellphone shop owner in the city’s main market, told The Associated Press by phone that there was a heavy police presence in the area.
‘We have opened our shop and others too, but the atmosphere is grim and tense,’ he said.
Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said 40 Christian homes had been torched on Saturday by the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba group, which is accused of attacking security forces and of staging bombings at public places in recent years. He said there was no truth to allegations that the Holy Quran had been defiled and accused the police of ignoring his appeal to provide protection to Christians under threat.
In a statement released on Sunday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini denounced the violence against Christians as ‘a very grave and unjustifiable attack against human rights and in particular against the inalienable right to religious freedom’.
Punjab's Village of Gojra.... Fear and dread
Editorial
THE NEWS
No member of any religious or ethnic minority anywhere in the country will be feeling safe and secure today. Members of the Christian minority will be feeling particularly threatened as the details of the events at Gojra on Friday and Saturday last emerge. Seven people, possibly more, have been burned alive in their houses. As of Sunday afternoon the number of injured has risen to over 70. Almost a hundred houses have been damaged in the Christian colony. TV channels showed live pictures of wanton destruction and of a police force that beyond lobbing a few tear-gas shells at nobody in particular, was interested only in containing and not quelling the riot. The disturbances broke out after several religious parties held a public meeting to protest against an alleged desecration of the Holy Quran. Local Christians were said to be the desecrators and as has now become the norm their property was attacked, their churches desecrated, their lives and livelihoods destroyed. Unusually, the Christians fought back, and there was an exchange of fire between the attackers and their intended victims; perhaps an indication that a community which is generally peaceable and unarmed is arming itself for protection. The attack was led by masked men said to be members of a banned religious organisation who had reportedly entered the town from nearby Jhang. The violence had subsided by Sunday morning and an uneasy calm prevailed with Rangers holding the perimeter.
Ours is an intolerant society, and we are particularly intolerant of those whose faith is not Muslim. Intolerance is not only interfaith, as within the Muslim majority there are deeply-ingrained intolerances that manifest themselves as sectarian violence. There are those who are well aware of the fragility of the relationship between the faith-groups; and will do all they can to exploit it in the hope of furthering their own aims of destabilising the state and challenging its writ. Today it is the turn of the Christians to see their community laid waste and terrorised all for the sake of trumped-up allegations of blasphemy. This was proven by a statement of the Punjab law minister who said on Sunday that a preliminary investigation had shown that no incident of blasphemy had taken place. While a few weeks ago it was the turn of the Sikhs who fled the Taliban in Orakzai — some families who remained were held hostage by the Taliban while a couple of the male members were told to arrange for payment of the ‘jiziya’ that the local Taliban had levied on them. The Kalash, the tiniest of our minorities, live under constant threat by those demanding their conversion. The substantial Hindu minority of south Punjab go in fear of their lives as do those who live in Sindh where kidnapping of Hindus in recent months has intensified. Ministers and government officials and representatives of minority organisations have all converged on Gojra, promises of compensation have been made, and attempts to cool things down are in full swing. Sadly, this will be largely for naught. The only way to change this tendency towards mindless persecution is to change the message that goes into the minds of those that perpetrate it. We need to be hearing words of conciliation and fraternity from our mosques. It is our religious leaders who are our primary influence, and it is to them that we must look to douse the fires of intolerance and hatred. Would they? Do they have that within them? Or is inclusivity and tolerance beyond those who lead our prayers?
THE NEWS
No member of any religious or ethnic minority anywhere in the country will be feeling safe and secure today. Members of the Christian minority will be feeling particularly threatened as the details of the events at Gojra on Friday and Saturday last emerge. Seven people, possibly more, have been burned alive in their houses. As of Sunday afternoon the number of injured has risen to over 70. Almost a hundred houses have been damaged in the Christian colony. TV channels showed live pictures of wanton destruction and of a police force that beyond lobbing a few tear-gas shells at nobody in particular, was interested only in containing and not quelling the riot. The disturbances broke out after several religious parties held a public meeting to protest against an alleged desecration of the Holy Quran. Local Christians were said to be the desecrators and as has now become the norm their property was attacked, their churches desecrated, their lives and livelihoods destroyed. Unusually, the Christians fought back, and there was an exchange of fire between the attackers and their intended victims; perhaps an indication that a community which is generally peaceable and unarmed is arming itself for protection. The attack was led by masked men said to be members of a banned religious organisation who had reportedly entered the town from nearby Jhang. The violence had subsided by Sunday morning and an uneasy calm prevailed with Rangers holding the perimeter.
Ours is an intolerant society, and we are particularly intolerant of those whose faith is not Muslim. Intolerance is not only interfaith, as within the Muslim majority there are deeply-ingrained intolerances that manifest themselves as sectarian violence. There are those who are well aware of the fragility of the relationship between the faith-groups; and will do all they can to exploit it in the hope of furthering their own aims of destabilising the state and challenging its writ. Today it is the turn of the Christians to see their community laid waste and terrorised all for the sake of trumped-up allegations of blasphemy. This was proven by a statement of the Punjab law minister who said on Sunday that a preliminary investigation had shown that no incident of blasphemy had taken place. While a few weeks ago it was the turn of the Sikhs who fled the Taliban in Orakzai — some families who remained were held hostage by the Taliban while a couple of the male members were told to arrange for payment of the ‘jiziya’ that the local Taliban had levied on them. The Kalash, the tiniest of our minorities, live under constant threat by those demanding their conversion. The substantial Hindu minority of south Punjab go in fear of their lives as do those who live in Sindh where kidnapping of Hindus in recent months has intensified. Ministers and government officials and representatives of minority organisations have all converged on Gojra, promises of compensation have been made, and attempts to cool things down are in full swing. Sadly, this will be largely for naught. The only way to change this tendency towards mindless persecution is to change the message that goes into the minds of those that perpetrate it. We need to be hearing words of conciliation and fraternity from our mosques. It is our religious leaders who are our primary influence, and it is to them that we must look to douse the fires of intolerance and hatred. Would they? Do they have that within them? Or is inclusivity and tolerance beyond those who lead our prayers?
Fear and shame of Gojra
Editorial:DAILY TIMES
After a week of simmering Muslim-Christian dispute over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in tehsil Gojra in Toba Tek Singh district in Punjab, violence has broken out simply because the local administration ignored orders from Lahore to control the situation. The Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, has suspended the persons responsible for letting this very familiar type of incident get out of hand. Seven Christians have been burnt alive and their houses torched. There may be more casualties.
As usual a “banned organisation” — Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti says it was Sipah Sahaba — came in from outside the town and took over and used acid and petrol bombs to destroy property and kill Christian women and children, while the local government and police simply did nothing. The federal government has taken serious note by sending in the Rangers and the Punjab government has ordered an inquiry into what really transpired. Compensation for the destroyed property has already been announced.
There is a pattern of violence against Christians in Punjab that cannot be ignored. First of all, let us ask why it happens mainly in Punjab? Some facts are illustrative. The Christians of Pakistan are the largest religious minority in Pakistan. The total number of Christians in Pakistan was at least 2 million in 2008, or 1.1 percent of the population. An examination of birth records yields a total number of Christians at 2.8 million. More than 90 percent of the country’s Christians reside in Punjab, making them the largest religious minority in the province. And 60 percent of them live in the villages, and in most cases are more indigenous to their areas than the Muslims.
Charges of blasphemy and desecration of the Quran are “used” against them, but the latter is used against them collectively, followed by organised dispossession and destruction of property. In 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony 12 kilometres east of Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Muslim citizens and 500 policemen acting together after an incident of alleged desecration of the Quran was reported. The police first evacuated the Christian population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field explosives to blow up their houses and property. Sipah Sahaba was also blamed by the Christians for that holocaust.
In 2005, the Christian community of Sangla Hill in Nankana district in Punjab experienced a most hair-raising day of violence and vandalism. After allegations of desecration of the Quran, a mob of 3,000 led by the local elected politician and police burnt down three churches, a missionary-run school, two hostels and several houses belonging to the Christian community. Lahore’s archbishop stated that the attackers had been brought there by buses from outside. The Punjab government once again acted quickly to compensate for the neglect and complicity of the local administration, but was prevented from proceeding fairly by a renowned Sunni cleric of Lahore who took his own lashkar of youths to “defend” the Muslims in Sangla Hill. Ironically, he has since fallen to a suicide-bomber of the Taliban.
These were big incidents that not only shook Pakistan but the world too. The Archbishop of Canterbury, already expressing sympathy with Pakistan after the earthquake in Azad Kashmir, was forced to say after Sangla that Pakistan was in the process of redefining who could be its citizens. Smaller incidents of persecution of the Christians have never stopped, but Gojra tells us that holocausts can repeat themselves as civic virtue declines in Pakistan under the influence of extremism.
We don’t know whom the laws of blasphemy and desecration were supposed to target, but their intent was to stop the crime mentioned in them. Tragically, blasphemy cases have proliferated after the promulgation of the blasphemy law, and action taken against the accused is not by the state but by the vigilantes the state cannot control. Section 295-B Defiling of copy of the holy Quran says: “Whoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran or an extract therefrom, or uses it in a derogatory manner or any unlawful purpose, shall be punishable with imprisonment for life”. But the punishment has been inflicted without trial on people who had nothing to do with it.
These are signals of doom. And the crime is being committed by the non-state actors that were once considered “assets” of the military-state. Their dominance in Punjab is well established and their control over local population to the detriment of local administration is also well known. The laws mean nothing under these circumstances.
After a week of simmering Muslim-Christian dispute over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in tehsil Gojra in Toba Tek Singh district in Punjab, violence has broken out simply because the local administration ignored orders from Lahore to control the situation. The Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, has suspended the persons responsible for letting this very familiar type of incident get out of hand. Seven Christians have been burnt alive and their houses torched. There may be more casualties.
As usual a “banned organisation” — Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti says it was Sipah Sahaba — came in from outside the town and took over and used acid and petrol bombs to destroy property and kill Christian women and children, while the local government and police simply did nothing. The federal government has taken serious note by sending in the Rangers and the Punjab government has ordered an inquiry into what really transpired. Compensation for the destroyed property has already been announced.
There is a pattern of violence against Christians in Punjab that cannot be ignored. First of all, let us ask why it happens mainly in Punjab? Some facts are illustrative. The Christians of Pakistan are the largest religious minority in Pakistan. The total number of Christians in Pakistan was at least 2 million in 2008, or 1.1 percent of the population. An examination of birth records yields a total number of Christians at 2.8 million. More than 90 percent of the country’s Christians reside in Punjab, making them the largest religious minority in the province. And 60 percent of them live in the villages, and in most cases are more indigenous to their areas than the Muslims.
Charges of blasphemy and desecration of the Quran are “used” against them, but the latter is used against them collectively, followed by organised dispossession and destruction of property. In 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony 12 kilometres east of Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Muslim citizens and 500 policemen acting together after an incident of alleged desecration of the Quran was reported. The police first evacuated the Christian population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field explosives to blow up their houses and property. Sipah Sahaba was also blamed by the Christians for that holocaust.
In 2005, the Christian community of Sangla Hill in Nankana district in Punjab experienced a most hair-raising day of violence and vandalism. After allegations of desecration of the Quran, a mob of 3,000 led by the local elected politician and police burnt down three churches, a missionary-run school, two hostels and several houses belonging to the Christian community. Lahore’s archbishop stated that the attackers had been brought there by buses from outside. The Punjab government once again acted quickly to compensate for the neglect and complicity of the local administration, but was prevented from proceeding fairly by a renowned Sunni cleric of Lahore who took his own lashkar of youths to “defend” the Muslims in Sangla Hill. Ironically, he has since fallen to a suicide-bomber of the Taliban.
These were big incidents that not only shook Pakistan but the world too. The Archbishop of Canterbury, already expressing sympathy with Pakistan after the earthquake in Azad Kashmir, was forced to say after Sangla that Pakistan was in the process of redefining who could be its citizens. Smaller incidents of persecution of the Christians have never stopped, but Gojra tells us that holocausts can repeat themselves as civic virtue declines in Pakistan under the influence of extremism.
We don’t know whom the laws of blasphemy and desecration were supposed to target, but their intent was to stop the crime mentioned in them. Tragically, blasphemy cases have proliferated after the promulgation of the blasphemy law, and action taken against the accused is not by the state but by the vigilantes the state cannot control. Section 295-B Defiling of copy of the holy Quran says: “Whoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran or an extract therefrom, or uses it in a derogatory manner or any unlawful purpose, shall be punishable with imprisonment for life”. But the punishment has been inflicted without trial on people who had nothing to do with it.
These are signals of doom. And the crime is being committed by the non-state actors that were once considered “assets” of the military-state. Their dominance in Punjab is well established and their control over local population to the detriment of local administration is also well known. The laws mean nothing under these circumstances.
Israel Evicts Palestinians From Homes
NEW YORK TIMES
JERUSALEM — Israeli security forces evicted two Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem early Sunday after the families lost a long legal battle to remain in the contested properties, furthering a plan for Jewish settlement in the predominantly Arab area. The move, days after senior American officials visited Jerusalem to press for a settlement freeze, prompted sharp international criticism.
Later Sunday, the Israeli police said they had evidence to support indicting Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on charges including taking bribes, laundering money and committing fraud.
Mr. Lieberman, who denied wrongdoing, has been the subject of various police investigations for 13 years. The police said they had passed their conclusions to the attorney general, who will decide whether to press charges. If Mr. Lieberman is indicted, he would be forced to resign.
Mr. Lieberman has become increasingly powerful in recent years as the leader of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party, an important partner in the governing coalition. He has gained some notoriety at home and abroad, particularly for the contentious positions he has taken on Israel’s Arab citizens.
Responding to the police announcement, Mr. Lieberman said he was the victim of police persecution. “As much as my political strength and the strength of Yisrael Beiteinu rise,” he said in a statement, so the police campaign “intensifies.”
In East Jerusalem, the evictions stemmed from a drawn-out legal dispute over the ownership of a site in the wealthy Sheik Jarrah neighborhood, near the Old City. But the sensitive location of the neighborhood and competing Israeli and Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem make nearly every move on the ground politically charged. As soon as the Palestinians had been forcibly removed from the houses, Jewish nationalists moved in, witnesses said.
Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war, but the Palestinians now demand that East Jerusalem be the capital of a future state for them. Continued Jewish settlement, especially in the heart of Arab neighborhoods, is seen by the Palestinians and many countries and international groups as anticipating a result of negotiations over the future status of the city and strengthening Israel’s hold on it.
Police cordoned off the road leading to the disputed houses, stopping journalists from reaching them. Orthodox Jews were allowed through to visit a nearby site believed by Jews to be the ancient tomb of Shimon Hatzadik, or Simeon the Just, a Jewish high priest.
Nasser Ghawi, one of the evicted Palestinians, said his family had been living in its house for 53 years before the Israelis broke down the doors. Maher Hanoun, the head of the other evicted family, was out on the street like Mr. Ghawi.
“I do not need a tent or rice,” Mr. Hanoun said. “What I need is to return to my house where I and my children were born.”
Thirty-eight members of the Ghawi family were removed from six apartments that made up one of the houses. There are 17 people in the Hanoun family.
The houses were built in the 1950s by a United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees when the area was under Jordanian control. Jordan gave the families ownership of the houses but had not formally registered the buildings in their names by the time the 1967 war broke out, according to the families’ attorney, Hosni Abu Hussein.
In the early 1970s, a Jewish association claimed ownership of the land around the tomb based on property deeds from Ottoman times. At first the Palestinian families agreed to pay rent to the association to continue living there as protected tenants. Mr. Abu Hussein said they stopped paying when he discovered that the Jewish property deeds had been forged.
Eviction orders were issued, though the authenticity of the property deeds is still debated in Israeli courts.
Robert H. Serry, the United Nations special Middle East coordinator, who visited the Hanoun home in the spring, said in a statement that he deplored the evictions, which he described as “totally unacceptable actions by Israel.”
The British Consulate, in Sheik Jarrah, said in a statement that its officials were “appalled” by the evictions.
In a visit in March, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned against threatened evictions and demolitions in East Jerusalem.
Countering criticism of another Jewish building project planned for Sheik Jarrah, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said recently that Jerusalem residents had the right to live anywhere in the city and that Israel’s sovereignty over the capital “cannot be challenged.”
Separately, in Tel Aviv, the police continued hunting for a gunman who fled a gay community center after killing 2 Israelis and wounding at least 10 others on Saturday night. The shock over the attack was felt far beyond the gay community, jolting a society that largely values tolerance and has hardly been exposed to the specter of hate crimes.
Both Mr. Netanyahu and the defense minister, Ehud Barak, strongly condemned the attack.
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