As protests roil neighbors, Saudis quash rallies

A massive show of force by Saudi Arabia's government snuffed out a Facebook-based effort to stage unprecedented pro-democracy protests in the capital on Friday, but political unrest and sectarian tensions roiled neighboring Yemen and Bahrain.

Yemen's largest demonstrations in a month were met by police gunfire that left at least six protesters injured and seemed certain to fuel more anger against the deeply unpopular U.S.-allied president.

In Bahrain, a conflict deepened between the island kingdom's Shiite majority and its Sunni Muslim royal family, whose security forces and pro-government mobs attacked demonstrators with tear gas, rocks and swords. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the tiny country, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, to reassure its rulers of unwavering U.S. support, officials said.

With uprisings threatening allies on its eastern and southern flanks, the Sunni Saudi monarchy appeared to be taking no chances in its effort to keep the popular push for democracy in the Arab world from spreading to the world's largest crude oil exporter.

In the heavily Shiite eastern Saudi province, hundreds of protesters marched in at least four different locations, calling for the release of political prisoners and demanding reform.

In the city of Qatif, not far from Bahrain, armored personnel carriers and dozens of officers in riot gear surrounded several hundred demonstrators shouting calls for reforms and equality between the sects. Police opened fire in the city to disperse a protest late Thursday in an incident that left three protesters and one officer wounded, but there was no repeat of that violence.

In a video posted on social networking websites, a helicopter hovered over a few hundreds male protesters in a small street in the town of al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province. Protesters chanted: "The people want justice and equality." It was not possible to independently confirm the footage.

Yemen's president of 32 years appeared to be one of the Arab leaders most threatened by the regional unrest inspired by pro-democracy revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Yemen's four largest provinces, ripping down and burning President Ali Abdullah Saleh's portraits in Sheikh Othman, the most populated district in the southern port city of Aden, witnesses said.

Security forces hurled tear gas into crowds close to a stadium and then opened fire, using machine guns mounted on vehicles, said eyewitness Sind Abdullah, 25.

In the conservative capital, Sanaa, thousands of women participated in demonstrations - a startling move in a deeply tribal society where women are expected to stay out of sight.

Demonstrators demanded jobs and greater political freedom and decried Saleh's proposal Thursday that the government create a new constitution guaranteeing the independence of parliament and the judiciary, calling it too little and too late.

The autocratic leader is also an ally in the Obama adminstration's push to eliminate the local branch of al-Qaida, which has attempted to attack the United States. He has also worked closely with the Saudis to quash his own Shiite uprising in the north.

In the Saudi capital, security forces who took up positions on corners and intersections as at least one helicopter buzzed overhead. Police blocked roads and set up random checkpoints, searching residents and vehicles around a central mosque as large numbers of people gathered for Friday prayers.

Government minders escorted journalists around the city, where they were shown a man, who gave his name as Khaled al-Juhni, standing outside a government building, shouting calls for more freedoms.

Police and journalists watched as the man criticized the regime as a "police state" and "a big prison" before he got in his car and left.

A government official said security measures around state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco and its oil facilities in the east were beefed up protectively in case of any violence. The company is based in the Dhahran district on the kingdom's eastern coast.

Investors are sensitive to any sign of upheaval in Saudi Arabia because the OPEC leader has been using its spare capacity to make up for output lost amid the violent uprising against Libya's government. When news broke that Saudi Arabian police fired shots to break up the protest Thursday, prices soared $3 in just 12 minutes.

Shiites make up 10 percent of the kingdom's 23 million citizens and have long complained of discrimination, saying they are barred from key positions in the military and government and are not given an equal share of the country's wealth.

Last month, the ultraconservative Saudi government announced an unprecedented economic package worth an estimated $36 billion that will give Saudis interest-free home loans, unemployment assistance and debt forgiveness.

At the same time, it reiterated that demonstrations are forbidden in the kingdom.

So far, any demonstrations have been small, concentrated in the east among Shiites demanding the release of detainees. But activists set up Facebook groups calling for protests in Riyadh and one group garnered more than 30,000 supporters of its demands for free elections.

The Middle East feminist revolution

Women are not merely joining protests to topple dictators, they are at the centre of demanding social change.Naomi Wolf

Among the most prevalent Western stereotypes about Muslim countries are those concerning Muslim women: doe-eyed, veiled, and submissive, exotically silent, gauzy inhabitants of imagined harems, closeted behind rigid gender roles. So where were these women in Tunisia and Egypt?

In both countries, women protesters were nothing like the Western stereotype: they were front and centre, in news clips and on Facebook forums, and even in the leadership. In Egypt's Tahrir Square, women volunteers, some accompanied by children, worked steadily to support the protests – helping with security, communications, and shelter. Many commentators credited the great numbers of women and children with the remarkable overall peacefulness of the protesters in the face of grave provocations.

Other citizen reporters in Tahrir Square – and virtually anyone with a cell phone could become one – noted that the masses of women involved in the protests were demographically inclusive. Many wore headscarves and other signs of religious conservatism, while others reveled in the freedom to kiss a friend or smoke a cigarette in public.

Supporters, leaders

But women were not serving only as support workers, the habitual role to which they are relegated in protest movements, from those of the 1960s to the recent student riots in the United Kingdom. Egyptian women also organised, strategised, and reported the events. Bloggers such as Leil Zahra Mortada took grave risks to keep the world informed daily of the scene in Tahrir Square and elsewhere.

The role of women in the great upheaval in the Middle East has been woefully under-analysed. Women in Egypt did not just "join" the protests – they were a leading force behind the cultural evolution that made the protests inevitable. And what is true for Egypt is true, to a greater and lesser extent, throughout the Arab world. When women change, everything changes - and women in the Muslim world are changing radically.

The greatest shift is educational. Two generations ago, only a small minority of the daughters of the elite received a university education. Today, women account for more than half of the students at Egyptian universities. They are being trained to use power in ways that their grandmothers could scarcely have imagined: publishing newspapers - as Sanaa el Seif did, in defiance of a government order to cease operating; campaigning for student leadership posts; fundraising for student organisations; and running meetings.

Indeed, a substantial minority of young women in Egypt and other Arab countries have now spent their formative years thinking critically in mixed-gender environments, and even publicly challenging male professors in the classroom. It is far easier to tyrannise a population when half are poorly educated and trained to be submissive. But, as Westerners should know from their own historical experience, once you educate women, democratic agitation is likely to accompany the massive cultural shift that follows.

The nature of social media, too, has helped turn women into protest leaders. Having taught leadership skills to women for more than a decade, I know how difficult it is to get them to stand up and speak out in a hierarchical organisational structure. Likewise, women tend to avoid the figurehead status that traditional protest has in the past imposed on certain activists – almost invariably a hotheaded young man with a megaphone.

Projection of power

In such contexts – with a stage, a spotlight, and a spokesperson – women often shy away from leadership roles. But social media, through the very nature of the technology, have changed what leadership looks and feels like today. Facebook mimics the way many women choose to experience social reality, with connections between people just as important as individual dominance or control, if not more so.

You can be a powerful leader on Facebook just by creating a really big "us". Or you can stay the same size, conceptually, as everyone else on your page – you don't have to assert your dominance or authority. The structure of Facebook's interface creates what brick-and-mortar institutions - despite 30 years of feminist pressure - have failed to provide: a context in which women's ability to forge a powerful "us" and engage in a leadership of service can advance the cause of freedom and justice worldwide.

Of course, Facebook cannot reduce the risks of protest. But, however violent the immediate future in the Middle East may be, the historical record of what happens when educated women participate in freedom movements suggests that those in the region who would like to maintain iron-fisted rule are finished.

Just when France began its rebellion in 1789, Mary Wollstonecraft, who had been caught up in witnessing it, wrote her manifesto for women's liberation. After educated women in America helped fight for the abolition of slavery, they put female suffrage on the agenda. After they were told in the 1960s that "the position of women in the movement is prone", they generated "second wave" feminism – a movement born of women's new skills and old frustrations.

Time and again, once women have fought the other battles for the freedom of their day, they have moved on to advocate for their own rights. And, since feminism is simply a logical extension of democracy, the Middle East's despots are facing a situation in which it will be almost impossible to force these awakened women to stop their fight for freedom – their own and that of their communities.

Naomi Wolf is a political activist and social critic whose most recent book is Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries.

SAUDI ARABIA URGED TO REVERSE BAN ON PEACEFUL PROTEST

Amnesty International has called on the Saudi Arabian authorities to reverse the ban on peaceful protest in the Kingdom, amid fears of a violent crackdown on mass demonstrations planned for Friday's “Day of Rage”.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the country’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that “reform cannot be achieved through protests”, while the protest ban, confirmed on Saturday, was backed by religious and security bodies.
"Instead of banning peaceful protests the Saudi Arabian authorities should address the need for major human rights reform in the country," said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“They must heed the growing calls for change within Saudi Arabia”.
Saudi Arabia's "Day of Rage" was organized online using Facebook. One page has over 33,000 followers.
Media reports over the weekend suggested that some 10,000 Saudi troops would be deployed to crack down on any protests.
The ban was also backed by the president of the Mutawa'een (religious police), the Council of Senior Ulema (religious clerics) and the Shura Council (a consultative body appointed by the King).
“Reports that the Saudi authorities plan to deploy troops to police upcoming demonstrations are very worrying,” said Philip Luther. “Rather than seeking to intimidate would-be demonstrators from coming out on the streets, the authorities should rein in the security forces and allow peaceful protests to take place.”
Amnesty International has also called on the authorities to release or charge a man detained on Friday 4 March during a protest in the capital Riyadh.
Muhammad al-Wad'ani has been detained incommunicado since his arrest and is believed to be at risk of torture.
A video posted on YouTube two days before the demonstration showed Muhammad al-Wad'ani calling for the fall of the monarchy and for people to join the protest.
Around 24 people were detained on 3 and 4 March following protests in the city of al-Qatif, denouncing the prolonged detention without trial of Shi'a prisoners. They were released on 8 March without charge reportedly only after they signed a pledge not to protest again.
Background
The Ministry of Interior was reported to have said in 2008 that protests in Saudi Arabia were banned, after a demonstration against Israel's military action in Gaza.
Although Amnesty International is not aware of any legal text banning demonstrations, in practice the Saudi Arabian authorities have not allowed them to take place.
Torture and other ill-treatment is frequently used to extract confessions from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent” or to force them not to criticize the government.
Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a confession is obtained, which can take months and occasionally years.

Saudi Arabia,“I need freedom, I need democracy … the whole country is a prison,”

Appeals issued mainly on Facebook for Saudis to stage a so-called “Day of Rage” went unheeded Friday as a heavy police presence blanketed this capital city to prevent any large-scale demonstration.

Traffic police manned checkpoints at many key intersections and scores of police were stationed outside Al Rajhi Mosque, and two courthouses — sites where demonstrators had been asked to stage protests. A helicopter also patrolled the skies over these key points.

There were no reports of protests elsewhere in the country except in Awwamiya and Uum al Hamam, two small towns outside the Shiite majority city of Qatif in the oil rich-Eastern province, according to a Shiite community leader. There also was a demonstration in the eastern town of Hofuf, according to Dow Jones.

“The Saudi people have answered [and shown] their relationship to the [protest] calls going on in cyberspace,” said Gen. Mansour al Turki, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. “Friday is always a quiet day in our life. People go to pray and then go home. That’s exactly what people did today.”

The Facebook appeal for protests on March 11 were apparently inspired by recent events in Egypt and Tunisia, where massive and sustained demonstrations by thousands of citizens ultimately brought down two Arab leaders.

These revolutions, along with a wave of protests in other Arab countries like Yemen and the ongoing uprising in Libya, appeared to generate greater interest in the Facebook calls for Saudi protests than they would have drawn at other times.

A London-based Saudi dissident, Sa’d al Faqih, had also called for protests on his personal television channel, Saudis said.

There is genuine discontent among many Saudis over corruption and the lack of political freedoms, such as the right to form parties and trade unions, and the lack of elected bodies. This discontent was clear in several petitions demanding political reforms that were sent to the king by various groups in the last few weeks, including liberals, moderate Islamists and young people.

But even among pro-reform Saudis there was little enthusiasm for the Facebook protest calls because they were made by unknown people who did not have a clear agenda and who may not even be living in the kingdom.

Also, protests are illegal in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Interior reminded Saudis of that in a firmly worded statement last week, and added that those who violated the ban “will be subject to the full force of the relevant regulations.”

Government-employed Islamic clerics have been warning Saudis that open protests are "haram," which means religiously forbidden.

“Islam strictly prohibits protests in the kingdom because the ruler here rules by God's will,” the Saudi Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdel Aziz Ibn Abudllah Alasheikh, said Friday during a sermon in Riyadh's central mosque.

Earlier this week, the Senior Council of Ulema, a clerical body whose members are appointed by the government, said that "the correct way in sharia [Islamic law] of realizing common interest is by advising, which is what the Prophet Muhammad established. Reform and advice should not be via demonstrations and ways that provoke strife and division.”

Another deterrence measure the sending of anonymous text messages to some mobile phones warning that protesters would face lengthy prison terms and loss of their Saudi citizenship. Onlookers at protests, the messages said, would also face detention and fines.

In a different approach to defusing discontent, the government also recently announced a huge economic package valued at around $36 billion that will give Saudis interest-free home loans, unemployment assistance and debt forgiveness.

In the eastern part of the kingdom, where its main oil fields are located, Shiite residents of Qatif and neighboring towns have held small protests regularly over the past three weeks. They are demanding the release of Shiites detained for long periods without charges and protesting discrimination in government jobs that they say makes them second-class citizens.

On Thursday night, a protest in Qatif ended in violence with one policeman injured in the face and two protesters injured, one in the leg and one in the hand, according to Al Turki. The protesters’ injuries came from bullets, he added.

Al Turki said that police monitoring the protest had fired upwards into the air in order to disperse the demonstrators after some of them began beating a policeman who had been spotted “documenting armed fire from the group.” He said that the entire incident is under investigation.

In Riyadh, the Saudi Ministry of Information organized a bus tour for journalists to several sites named by protest organizers as places to demonstrate, including Al Rajhi Mosque and part of Olaya Street, a major downtown boulevard.

At another site, as reporters were photographing police guarding a courthouse building, a man approached reporters and began denouncing the ruling royal family. He said he had intended to be part of a demonstration but that the large police presence had prevented people from arriving.

“I need freedom, I need democracy … the whole country is a prison,” said the man, who identified himself as a 40-year-old Arabic teacher named Khalid Muhammad Al Jahani. “I will be put in jail but I don’t care ... This is a police country.”

Afghans rely heavily on foreign advisers as transition looms

Nearly 300 foreign advisers, most of them Americans, work at Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, and hundreds more work in other government departments, a reliance on foreign expertise that raises doubts about the viability of the West's exit strategy.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will announce later this month his plans for "transition" from heavy international involvement in Afghanistan's governance and security to local control. But the number of civilian advisers in the ministries suggests that either Afghans lack the ability to govern themselves or that the international community is trying to run the administration itself, more than nine years after the U.S.-led invasion of the country.

There's no clear plan to reduce that number.

Foreign advisers in the Interior Ministry, for example, appear to outnumber the senior Afghan officials they serve.

The Afghan government's capacity to execute plans is so lacking it will spend only half of its $1.5 billion budget for economic development projects this fiscal year, according to the Ministry of Finance — despite the desperate need for investment in education, health and other basic services.

Karzai's announcement for how the country will move to Afghan management between now and 2014 will include the names of the provinces and districts that will be the first to come under Afghan security control. The list is likely to include the provinces of Bamiyan, Panjshir, Kabul, Herat and the district capital of Helmand province, Lashkargar, all relatively safe places.

The exit strategy for the U.S.-led international coalition requires the gradual handing over of responsibility for security to Afghans, so that the bulk of the 150,000 foreign soldiers — 100,000 of whom are Americans — deployed in the country can be pulled out. International partners are currently spending about $12 billion a month in Afghanistan, about two thirds from the U.S.

While many Afghan officials believe that the work of foreign advisers is crucial to rebuilding the capacity of a government machinery that's been battered by 30 years of constant war, some believe that the quality of the international experts is mixed and they at times push priorities and programs at odds with the ministers they are supposed to serve.

"The requirement is for technical assistance, something that's need-driven, not donor-driven," said Najib Manalai, an Afghan who's the media adviser to the minister of finance, where 70 foreign advisers serve. "The need for foreign advisers is decreasing every day, but the numbers are increasing every day."

The Interior Ministry in Kabul has 282 foreign advisers working there, according to the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan, which placed them in the ministry. Of the 282 advisers, 120 are contractors, costing $36 million a year, paid for by the U.S. government. The rest are made up of 119 U.S. military and U.S. government civilians, and 43 from other coalition countries.

Most of the contractors are from two controversial American firms: Dyncorp and Military Professional Resources Inc.

The Interior Minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, has six personal foreign advisers, two from the military and four civilians. Foreign advisers outnumber senior Afghan officials in the ministry, according to a presentation document prepared by the NATO mission. In some departments, the ratio is stark. The document, dated last month, shows at least 45 foreign advisers in the Interior Ministry's Logistics department, mentoring 14 Afghan officials.

"We're absolutely not run by foreigners. They don't tell us what to do," said Zemeri Bashary, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, who himself has two foreign advisers. "We do need support. But that doesn't mean they are running the ministry."

Several Interior Ministry officials, serving and retired, were complimentary about the work of the foreign advisers. One mid-ranking security official, who didn't want to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters, said that corruption would be "many times" greater if the foreigners weren't present.

Some Western experts who deal with the Interior Ministry said that Afghan officials there were weary of the rapid turnover of the international staff, who might serve for only six months or a year, and being told what to do by outside "experts" with a dim knowledge of Afghan conditions.

Another former senior Interior Ministry official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Afghans wanted to develop the police as a law enforcement force, but that American advisers, holding the upper hand because they also held the purse strings, pushed through training the police as a counterterrorism force instead.

"Most of these guys (foreign advisers) are doing a wonderful job," the former official added. "But the contractors are ill-disciplined and poorly supervised."

The Interior Ministry is probably the most extreme case of foreign involvement, given its responsibility for the police and other vital internal security functions. The Defense Ministry has 58 international advisers, according to the NATO mission. The Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Agriculture are likely to be among those with a heavy foreign presence. Ministries with foreign contractors also often need to have private security companies providing guards, to fulfill insurance requirements of the contracting firm.

"Many advisers work on the kind of things donors need, like strategies and reports. There's very little real thinking about what a self-sufficient Afghan government would look like," said Martine van Bijlert, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent research organization. "The foreign advisers are often there to solve little problems, but it's not a coherent program to get Afghanistan ready for transition."

Lt. Col. David C. Simons, a spokesman for the NATO mission, said the foreigners working in Afghan ministries are providing similar services as foreign military trainers provide the Afghan army. "The number of foreign advisers is crucial to ensuring Afghan-led ministerial processes by 2014," he said.

It's not just people that other nations provide Afghanistan. The World Bank estimates that the Afghan government won't be financially self-sufficient until 2023, a date other estimates push to 2025. That means that until then, the international community, primarily the U.S., will need to pay an army and police force of at least 300,000, initially costing $6 billion to $8 billion a year.

In the next fiscal year, which starts later this month, donors will provide about $1.3 billion toward the government's budget for "ordinary" expenses — primarily the salaries of government employees, according to the Ministry of Finance.

In addition, the whole $1.5 billion budget for development projects will be provided by foreign donors, which also separately spend about $4 billion a year in Afghanistan aid projects directly.

Canada extends funding for Kandahar learning centre

A popular learning centre in Kandahar City has received new financial backing from the Canadian government, temporarily ending fears that the facility might have to close.

Though less than half of what facility directors requested, the $250,000 grant from the Canadian International Development Agency will allow classes to continue at the Afghan-Canadian Community Center.

An announcement of the funding was made this week at a ceremony to mark International Women's Day. The centre, though catering to both male and female students, is an especially important educational outlet for Kandahari women and girls who often risk their lives to go to school, centre director Ehsanullah Ehsan said.

"We are proud to celebrate . . . the female students of ACCC who are contributing to the development and prosperity of Afghanistan and Kandahar," Ehsan told a crowd of 240 women collecting graduation certificates for completing English language, computer and management courses. "Let me congratulate you for the achievement you have made and for the bravery you have shown against challenges. You have power and authority in life that can only be achieved by education."

Since opening in 2007, more than 1,500 students have received instruction at the 23-room facility or through the centre's online courses.

CIDA has given the centre about $350,000 over the past three years, but that money was set to run out at the end of March until the latest $250,000 grant was announced. It's unknown how long that will keep the facility afloat, or whether the agency will provide further money once Canadian troops and civilians leave the Kandahar area later this year.

The centre had asked CIDA to provide $650,000 for three years of operations, capital investments and curriculum development.

"Throughout the remainder of our funding relationship, we will continue to work closely with the ACCC to determine the most suitable arrangement to ensure its continued operation," CIDA spokesman Alex Asselin told Postmedia News last month.

Besides CIDA funding, the centre is also dependent on donations and modest student fees charged to the male students.

About 700 of the facility's students, including 300 women, have moved on to full-time jobs with aid agencies, United Nations programs and the Afghan government, Ehsan said.

But despite those successes, serious challenges remain for women in Afghanistan, he told graduates at the ceremony.

"Illiteracy, poverty, violence, disease and discrimination, forced marriages, underage marriages, selling girls for property and forcibly giving a girl to a man to settle tribal feuds are still common practice and go unchecked in our community," he said. "Women are deprived of basic rights to education, decision-making and freedom of expression."

Malalai, a female student at the centre, said education is necessary for women, not only to earn a living, but to teach them they have choices.

"We have such painful cases for women here in Kandahar, women cutting off their fingers, or burning their bodies or committing suicide by drinking poison — all due to lack of education. Once they get education they won't kill themselves," she said.

Another student, Rahila Jan, said that despite ongoing security problems, women's lives in Afghanistan have improved since the Taliban government was ousted.

"My parents now understand education is essential for girls, they are supporting me, which is a good sign for me. I am so thankful to Canadians for supporting us."

This week's ceremony at the centre coincided with the release of a new UN report on Afghan civilian casualties in 2010, which found a six-per-cent increase in the number of women killed and injured.

Overall, 2,777 civilian deaths were recorded in 2010, the highest total to date in the decade-long Afghan war and an increase of 15 per cent compared with 2009. Three-quarters of those deaths were attributed to insurgent attacks, mainly suicide bombs and IED blasts. However, in a disturbing trend, targeted assassinations of civilians more than doubled last year, with half of the 462 deaths occurring in the south, including Kandahar province where Canadian troops are concentrated.

Deaths due to Afghan or NATO forces declined significantly in 2010 but still accounted for 16 per cent of the total. Nine per cent could not be attributed to any party in the conflict.

On the positive side, the report praised coalition forces in Kandahar for avoiding large-scale civilian casualties during clearing operations last year. An earlier clearance campaign in neighbouring Helmand province resulted in much more violence but also provided lessons for coalition militaries, the report speculated.

"Pro-government forces engaged in more extensive consultations with communities prior to operations and carried out a series of smaller operations around Kandahar City; and more attacks in the Kandahar operations appear to have been preplanned," it stated. "In addition, raids and attacks targeted Taliban fighters more precisely, resulting in few civilian casualties."

However, the report's authors noted that the same care was not applied to property protection, which worked against efforts to improve relations with the local population.

"The Kandahar operations resulted in the large-scale destruction of homes, crops, and irrigation systems. Many houses were destroyed to dispose of IEDs and to improve the defences of pro-government forces' bases," the report said.

"Military vehicles drove off roads to avoid IEDs but destroyed walls, gardens, and irrigation systems in the process and pro-government forces destroyed buildings used for drying grapes to prevent their use as fortifications."

Japan earthquake, tsunami death toll rises to 1000, reports say

Japanese media are reporting at least 1000 people are presumed dead from the massive 8.9 earthquake, most of them drowned by the wall of water that swept across the northeast coast of the island nation.

Protests hit eastern Saudi Arabia, calm in capital

Several hundred people protested in heavily Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia Friday but hundreds of police prevented protests in the capital calling for democratic reforms inspired by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world.
Police blocked roads and set up random checkpoints in Riyadh, searching residents and vehicles around a central mosque as large numbers of people gathered for Friday prayers. Witnesses said groups of policemen manned street corners and intersections and a helicopter flew over the city.
By midday, no protesters had showed up in the capital and the police presence significantly decreased.
In the eastern city of Qatif and nearby areas where the country's minority Shiites live, several hundred people staged protests, shouting slogans calling for reforms and equality between Shiites and Sunnis. In Qatif, the protesters were surrounded by armored personnel carriers and dozens of riot police in full gear.
On Thursday, violence broke out at another protest in Qatif, when Saudi police opened fire to disperse demonstrators. At least three protesters and one police officer were wounded. Friday's protest was largely peaceful.
Although protests have so far been confined to small rallies in the east, activists have been emboldened by other uprisings in the region that have toppled longtime rulers of Tunisia and Egypt. The Saudi activists have set up online groups calling for protests in Riyadh on Friday.
Any violence at Friday's planned protests could reverberate through the world's markets because of the importance of Saudi oil exports.
Security officials on Friday said security measures around state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco and its oil facilities in the east were beefed up protectively, in case of any violence. The company is based in Dhahran district on the kingdom's eastern coast.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the new measures were "considered normal under the current circumstances," referring to the online call for protests in the area.
Investors are sensitive to any sign of upheaval in Saudi Arabia because the OPEC leader has been using its spare capacity to make up for output lost amid the violent uprising against Libya's government. When news broke that Saudi Arabian police fired shots to break up the protest Thursday, prices soared $3 in just 12 minutes.
Discord is common between Saudi authorities and the country's Shiites, who make up 10 percent of the kingdom's 23 million citizens. The Shiites have long complained of discrimination, saying they are barred from key positions in the military and government and are not given an equal share of the country's wealth.
The pro-Western monarchy is concerned protests could open footholds for Shiite powerhouse Iran and has accused foreigners of stoking the protests, which are officially forbidden.
In Riyadh, the Interior Ministry organized a tour for a few journalists who were escorted by police around the city Friday. At one point in front of a government building, the journalists encountered a man, Khaled al-Juhni, standing outside a government building, shouting calls for more freedoms.
Police and journalists watched as the man criticized the regime as a "police state" and "a big prison" before he got in his car and left.
Despite the ban on demonstrations and a warning that security forces will act against them, protesters demanding the release of political prisoners took to the streets Thursday for a second day in the eastern city of Qatif. Several hundred protesters, some wearing masks to avoid being identified, marched after dark asking for "Freedom for prisoners."
Police, who were lined up opposite the protesters, fired percussion bombs followed by gunfire, causing the crowd to scatter, a witness said. Other witnesses said the protesters threw Molotov cocktails and stones from rooftops on the security troops.
Mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia has struggled to stay ahead of the unrest that has led to the ouster of the Egyptian and Tunisian leaders in recent weeks.
Last month, the ultraconservative Saudi government announced an unprecedented economic package worth an estimated $36 billion that will give Saudis interest-free home loans, unemployment assistance and debt forgiveness.
At the same time, it reiterated that demonstrations are forbidden in the kingdom because they contradict Islamic laws and society's values and said security forces were authorized to act against anyone violating the ban.
So far the demonstrations have been small, concentrated in the east among Shiites demanding the release of detainees. But activists have been emboldened by other uprisings have set up Facebook groups calling for protests in the capital, Riyadh, on Friday to demand democratic reforms.
One such group garnered more than 30,000 supporters. The group called the "Honein Revolution March 11" has listed a number of mosques in 17 Saudi cities for protesters to rally.
The group says it strives to have elected officials in Saudi Arabia, including the ruler

Pakistan Says Drone Strikes Have Been Effective

A top Pakistani military commander acknowledged this week that the U.S drone strikes against militant hideouts have been an effective weapon in the anti-militancy fight.
Analysts say the rare public admission by the powerful military will help remove misperceptions about the American drone program that has targeted al-Qaida and Taliban-linked fighters in the country's tribal region on the Afghan border.

Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region has been the focus of most of the missile strikes that the unmanned U.S spy plans - or drones - have carried out against al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants.

U.S army officials believe the mountainous Pakistani border district has become the "epicenter" of international terrorism and is being used for attacks on coalition forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

In recent years, U.S. drones have stepped up missile strikes on militant positions in the North Waziristan region. But alleged civilian deaths in these raids are being cited as a major source of growing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, a vital U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism.

Publicly, the powerful Pakistani military and the political leadership have been condemning drone attacks as a violation of the country's sovereignty. But it is widely believed that local authorities help with intelligence information for the CIA-run drone program.

But the Pakistani general leading troops in the North Waziristan has for the first time publicly acknowledged the U.S drone attacks are hitting mostly militants and al-Qaida fighters.

Major-General Ghayur Mehmood spoke to a group of Pakistani reporters on a rare trip to Miran Shah, the administrative center of North Waziristan.

The Pakistani general says that information the military has gathered from its sources suggest most of those killed in drone attacks are hardcore militants, and the number of innocent people being killed is relatively low.

The official paper distributed among reporters says that there have been 164 drone strikes in the militant-dominated region of North Waziristan since 2007, killing 964 "terrorists". There were 171 al-Qaida fighters among those killed, mostly belonging to central Asian and Arab countries.

Analysts like former army general Talat Masood suggest that the rare admission by the Pakistani military about the effectiveness of drone attacks could be exploited to make the general public understand the dilemma their country is facing.

"Because on one hand the drone attacks are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and it is also a violation of international law. But at the same time, they have a certain tactical utility in the sense that Pakistan has lost control over these areas and if the American drones help in containing these forces and also killing some of the militants, specially their top leadership, then it will facilitate Pakistan's fighting against the militant forces," Masood states.

Ayesha Siddiqua is a social scientist with deep insight into Pakistani military affairs. In a country where the army is seen as the main power broker, she says the acknowledgement about drones being a useful tactic against militants is likely to help political leaders to seek legitimacy for the strikes in public discourse.

"It basically means that the political dispensation is under greater pressure, is much more answerable to the people and, therefore, they have to at least cook some stories. But in reality, the military which is not answerable to any public, it is also a party to the decision of conducting drone attacks," Siddiqua said. "So I think the most significant thing is that the Pakistani army is not shedding its responsibility of being a party to the decision to the drone attack [and that] intelligence is provided by our own sources."

The United States does not acknowledge the drone campaign but American officials describe the missile strikes as an important weapon against militants. Observers say the Pakistani military's nod to the effectiveness of the U.S campaign could serve the interest of both countries in sending a message to critics of the drone program that they are avoiding civilian deaths and that the strikes are militarily effective.

Saudi Arabia 'Day of Rage'

Washington Post
The "Day of Rage" planned by critics of the Saudi Arabian government may have turned into a day of rest on Friday, with quiet streets in the eastern city of Qatif one day after police fired on protesters there, and peaceful demonstrations outside the town.

Witnesses reported a heavy police presence in Riyadh, the country's capital, but no protests.

One witness said hundreds marched in Al-Ahsa, in the southern part of the country's largely Shiite Eastern Province, and several protesters were arrested, but that there was no violence. Another witness said that marches took place in two towns outside Qatif in the late afternoon without incident.

Protesters have called for increased democracy in the country that has been ruled by the al-Saud family since they united it by conquest almost 80 years ago. The royal family and the majority of the country's population are Sunni Muslims, and Shiite Muslims in the Eastern Province have called for an end to what they say is government discrimination against them that prevents them from holding many public positions and restricts their public services.

Fridays have been the biggest days for confrontation and demonstrations since protests started sweeping North Africa and the Mideast two months ago; the Saudi government had indicated this week that it would do whatever it took to prevent demonstrations from taking place this Friday.

It was still possible that more protests could take place after evening prayers.

In Qatif, police shot and wounded at least two protesters Thursday night, and a police officer was also injured, according to the Interior Ministry. On Friday, a black bus filled with members of what appeared to be the Saudi Arabian National Guard sat parked near the town's main square about noon.Heavily armed National Guard members stood casually around the bus, but no protesters were in sight. A few hours later, two black military buses drove toward the city's police station, as the afternoon had passed uneventfully.

In Riyadh, witnesses said that police helicopters were hovering all over the city, and that police had crowded streets that led into areas where protesters had said they would hold a demonstration.

"The entire area, the designated area for protests, was completely barricaded by police cruisers. You see police checkpoints at every place to get in," said Mohammed al-Qahtani, the founder of the Association of Civil and Political Rights in Saudi Arabia, who was in Riyadh on Friday.

"You see back alleys packed with anti-riot police apparently waiting if anything should happen. ... It intimidates people," he said. No protests had been reported as of Friday afternoon.

In Al-Ahsa, several hundred people protested after a top Shiite cleric gave a Friday sermon, said a witness, who asked to remain anonymous because he feared reprisals from the government. The cleric, Sheikh Tawfiq al-Amer, was released from prison this week after being jailed for several days for calling for a constitutional monarchy in a sermon at the end of February.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that he had said upon his release that he was cautious about protesting right now because the government appears willing to make some reforms.

Arab world witnesses more protests

Security services are on high alert across several countries in the Arab world as authorities seek to contain anti-government protests planned for the day.

Police have flooded the streets of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, looking to deter fresh demonstrations. A Facebook page calling for a 'Day of Rage' on Friday has attracted more than 30,000 supporters in the kingdom.

Protests are strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia, and scores of uniformed police patrolled the main squares in Riyadh, with helicopters buzzing overhead, significantly raising the security presence there.

Two activists said more than 200 protesters had rallied in the city of Hofuf, which is close to the eastern Ghawar oil field and major refinery installations.

The city has seen scattered protests in the last two weeks by minority Shias, who complain of discrimination in the face of the country's dominant Sunni majority.

Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, a major US ally which has guaranteed Western energy supplies for decades, and the calls for protests have put markets on edge.

"The fact the Saudi regime is making a big deal of this suggests that it may be a big deal ... If the first kind of explicitly pro-democracy protests happen [on Friday] that sets a precedent and we'll probably see more pro-democracy protests," said Shadi Hamid, an analyst with the Brookings Centre in Doha.

"Even if it's 200 or 300 that is still, by Saudi standards, a big deal and something to worry about."

At least three people were injured on Thursday after police fired in the air to disperse several hundred protesters in the eastern oil-rich city of Qatif.

"As the procession in the heart of the city was about to finish, soldiers started shooting at the protesters, and three of them were wounded," said a witness, requesting anonymity.

A spokesman for the country's interior ministry spokesman said police had fired live rounds in the air after shots were fired from among the protesters.

Kuwait demonstration

In Kuwait, elite anti-riot police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of stateless Arab protesters who were
demanding citizenship and other rights.

About 500 demonstrators took to the streets in Jahra, west of Kuwait City, the capital, following Friday prayers, despite a stern warning against protests from the new interior minister.

"Stateless since 50 years, we demand citizenship," read a huge banner in English as protesters chanted "we will not leave without a solution".

There were other protests in Sulaibiya, southwest of Kuwait City, and in the oil-rich city of Al-Ahmadi, south of the capital.

Stateless Arabs, known locally as bidoons and estimated at more than 100,000, protested last month for three consecutive days until officials gave them assurances that their grievances would be addressed.

But parliament on Tuesday refused to debate a draft bill that would give them civil rights.

Bahrain march

Thousands of opposition activists heading towards Bahrain's royal court have been prevented from marching on the king's palace.

Carrying Bahraini flags and flowers, the mainly Shia protesters began walking from the Aly area to Riffa, a district of Manama, the capital, where Sunnis and members of the royal family live.

Near a clocktower in Riffa, about 1,000 residents armed with clubs gathered to block the protesters' advance.

More than 200 riot police armed with batons blocked off the road with barbed wire, persuading most protesters to go home.

Police pushed back a group of rock-throwing Sunnis who approached police lines and fired tear gas to disperse Shias
trying to get around the roadblock.

Medical sources said one person was seriously injured.

"The royal family has lots of palaces and houses here. We're peaceful. We want to go to their house and ask for our rights," said Ahmed Jaafar, as he set off from Aly. "Power should not be with one family, it should be with the people."

Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been gripped by the worst unrest since the 1990s when protesters took to the streets last month, inspired by uprisings that unseated entrenched autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia.

Seven people have been killed in clashes with security forces and thousands of the February 14 youth movement still occupy Pearl roundabout, a busy intersection in the capital.

Sectarian violence has begun to increase in the Gulf island where the majority of people are Shia Muslim but the ruling family is Sunni.

Yemen deaths

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Yemen on Friday, drawing record crowds in Sanaa, the capital, to show Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, his reform offers would not soften their demand for his immediate departure.

Yemenis flooded streets and alleys around Sanaa University in the biggest protest to hit the capital since demonstrations began in January.

Thousands of Saleh loyalists also crammed the capital's Tahrir Square, carrying pictures of the veteran leader.

Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Sanaa, said there were reports that at least four people had been injured in clashes between the protesters and government loyalists.

Protests turned violent in the southern port city of Aden, where three people were wounded by gunfire and six overcome by tear gas as police tried to disperse thousands of marchers.

Unidentified armed men killed four soldiers on patrol east of Mukalla city in Hadhramaut province, in southeast Yemen.

Security source accused al-Qaeda operatives of being behind the attack.

A wave of unrest has weakened Saleh's 32-year grip on his impoverished nation, with about 30 people killed since January.

Iraq protests

In Iraq, hundreds of protesters are demanding jobs and better basic services, in the latest challenge to the government.

About 500 protesters turned up in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on Friday, with a similar amount in the city of Fallujah west of the capital.

Deomonstrations were also reported in several other cities, including Sulaymaniyah in the north and Basra in the south.

Iraq's government has been shaken by a string of rallies across the country since the beginning of February.

US gives thumbs up to Russian choppers for Afghan army

Moscow will conclude a deal to sell choppers to Afghanistan with the US rather than NATO despite previous plans.

The deal involving 24 helicopters has been already agreed on and could be concluded by April, the Russian daily, Kommersant wrote on Friday. The choppers are intended for the Afghan army.

Earlier Russia had been expected to sign a contract with NATO rather than directly with the US. Previous talks between Moscow and the Western alliance on delivering several dozen Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan reportedly failed to produce any results.

Now the fleet of Russian-made helicopters bound for Afghanistan could be expanded from 70 to around 100, a source familiar with the deal told the daily. Moscow is ready to throw in three more choppers free of charge. Russia will also be delivering components for the choppers in the future.

Last year, NATO members agreed to set up a special trust fund to finance the establishment of a helicopter repair base and a training center for Afghan pilots. It will be also responsible for deliveries of fuel, spare parts and weapons.

Earlier this week, Anatoly Isaikin, head of Russia’s arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, confirmed that Moscow was negotiating the supply of choppers to Afghanistan and Iraq with the US Department of Defense. The deal, however, was still in the stage of discussions, he noted.

According to the official, the terms of the contracts still have to be agreed on. But the desire to buy helicopters from Russia is there. Isaikin believes the objective to step up co-operation in this area could be reached in the near future.

Eearthquake jolts northwest Pakistan

A light earthquake of magnitude 4.8 jolted northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan on Friday but there were no immediate reports of casualties, an official said.

The quake struck at 4:32 pm (1132 GMT) with its epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountain range, chief meteorologist Mohammad Riaz told AFP.

Tremors were felt in several cities in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its capital, Peshawar, he said.

The small quake hit a few hours after a devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on Friday and triggered tsunami alerts across the Pacific ocean.

Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Bahrain troops, protesters in standoff near palace

Security forces and pro-government vigilantes carrying clubs and swords faced off against protesters near Bahrain's royal complex Friday in a showdown that displayed that deepening conflict between Sunni Muslims backing the ruling system and Shiites demanding it give up its hold on power.

Hundreds of pro-reform marchers — some wearing white headbands as a symbol of their willingness to die — stood just 500 yards (meters) from the wall of riot police with armor vehicles and a hundreds-strong Sunni mob armed with street fight-style weapons.

Any incident could further enflame tensions between Bahrain's Sunnis and majority Shiites, who have increasingly called for toppling the Western-allied monarchy in the small but strategic island nation that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
Even some main opposition parties had urged to cancel the march, fearing Bahrain was moving dangerously close to a full-scale sectarian conflict after nearly a month of political unrest. On Thursday, students clashed at a school and Sunni groups burned a Shiite-owned supermarket and threatened other businesses.
But mostly Shiite youth groups ignored the appeals to call of the protest near the offices and compounds of Bahrain's king and other members of the ruling dynasty that has held power for more than two centuries.
A statement by Bahrain's interior ministry warned against the march amid a "level of sectarian tension that threatens Bahrain's social fabric."
Major Sunni-Shiite clashes occurred during the 1990s and forced Bahrain's Sunni rulers to introduce political reforms that included an elected parliament. But the island's Shiites — about 70 percent of the population — still see themselves stuck in a permanent underclass status.
They are effectively blackballed from top government or security posts and complain that voting districts are gerrymandered to prevent a Shiite majority in the 40-seat parliament, where the main Shiite bloc took 18 seats in elections last year.
A main grievance is the Sunni naturalization policies, which seek to offset the lopsided Shiite demographic advantage and bulk up the ranks of loyalists. Opposition groups estimate tens of thousands of Sunnis from across the Arab world and South Asia have been brought to Bahrain in recent years.
On Wednesday, thousands of Shiites marched outside the immigration office in the capital Manama to decry the "political naturalizations" and demand a mass expulsion.
Bahrain's leaders, meanwhile, are under strong regional pressure to stand firm.
The other Sunni Arab dynasties in Gulf — particularly Saudi Arabia — fear any crack in Bahrain could encourage more uprisings across the oil-rich region to demand an end to their authoritarian grip. Protests have flared already in Oman and Kuwait. Saudi security forces were out Friday in a major show of power amid rumblings of wider demonstrations.
The Gulf Sunni leaders also see Bahrain as a potential beachhead for Shiite powerhouse Iran. Although there is no evidence of political ties between Tehran and Bahrain's main Shiite groups, some hard-liners in Iran have called Bahrain the "14th province" of the Islamic Republic.
On Thursday, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council backed a $10 billion aid plan for Bahrain and Oman, the relatively poorest nations among the super-wealth bloc.
In Geneva, U.N. human rights officials said three prominent human rights activists in Bahrain are being targeted by death threats conveyed through Facebook and other social media sites. Rupert Colville of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the messages on Facebook and other social media Web sites denounce the three men as "traitors" and aim to incite people to kill them.

Hundreds Protest in Eastern Saudi Arabia

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of al-Ahsa Friday.

About 500 protesters, mainly Shiite Muslims who make up a large part of the population of the region, demonstrated in the oil-rich eastern province. They called for the release of prisoners held without charges, according to Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb, president of Human Rights First Society.

There was no gunfire or clashes with police in the area, Mr. al-Mugaiteeb said.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, Friday prayers ended calmly, as none of the protests activists had called for materialized by mid-afternoon local-time.

Dozens of police cars waited quietly in the area where activists had called for the demonstrations after Muslim prayers. No protesters could be seen in the area.

Activists had used Facebook pages to call for demonstrations to demand political reforms. The calls for protests came as demonstrations have broken out across the Arab world, toppling entrenched regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and leading to a bloody fight between pro-government and antigovernment forces in Libya.

Saudi Arabia's government has taken a harsh line on protests. Protests have been banned, and last week a small demonstration in the east of the country police arrested the demonstrations' organizers.

On Thursday, Saudi police fired rubber bullets to disperse about 200 Shiite protesters in Qatif, a town in the oil-rich Eastern Province, local human rights activists said

Will March 11th Bring “Day Of Rage” In Saudi Arabia?

Blast in Peshawar mosque, no casualties

A week after the devastating blast at the funeral procession in the Badabher area on Friday last, the militants have struck again as blast have been reported in Shahabkhel mosque in the area.

According to police, unidentified militants planted bomb in the local mosque to apparently target the Friday congregation but it went off premature causing no casualties.
However, building of the mosque was damaged in the terror incident. The law enforcers have further beefed up the security in the area and banned parking of vehicles outside the mosque.

Saudi Arabia prepares for 'day of rage' protests

Protestors have taken to the streets in the city of Katif for a second night, before a so-called "day of rage" against Saudi Arabia's rulers planned for Friday.

There are reports of the police firing stun grenades and live bullets to disperse the crowd.

One minister there has warned that the government will "cut off any finger" raised against it.

The Saudi authorities place foreign journalists under tight restrictions but the BBC's Paul Wood has sent this special report on whether the unrest in Libya and Egypt is spreading to Saudi Arabia.

QUAKE ROCKS JAPAN

A tsunami strikes the coast of Japan following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake which triggers tsunami warnings in other countries, including Russia, the National Weather Service says.

DAY OF RAGE: protests key test for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's capital was quiet on Friday ahead of a planned day of demonstrations that will test whether activists calling for reform online will succeed in taking their protests to the streets.

A loose coalition of liberals, rights activists, moderate Sunni Islamists and Shi'ite Muslims has called for political reform and a Facebook page calling for demonstrations attracted more than 30,000 supporters, but protests are strictly forbidden in the conservative kingdom.

The government made those views clear late on Thursday, when police dispersed protests in the eastern province town of Qatif. Shots were heard from where the demonstration of about 200 people in the oil-rich region's Shi'ite minority were gathered.

Police cars toured the streets of Riyadh early on Friday, raising the security presence ahead of the planned protests.

"The fact the Saudi regime is making a big deal of is suggests that it may be a big deal ... If the first kind of explicitly pro-democracy protests happen (on Friday) that sets a precedent and we'll probably see more pro-democracy protests," said Shadi Hamid, of the Brookings Centre in Doha.

"Even if its 200 or 300 that is still, by Saudi standards, a big deal and something to worry about."

A diplomat in the Gulf region said protests were not expected to evolve into a mass demonstration on Friday and the Saudi government would respond through non-lethal means.

AID FOR GULF PARTNERS

On Thursday, foreign ministers from Gulf Arab oil producers unveiled a $20 billion aid package for Bahrain and Oman, both of which are facing anti-government protests, emphasising the nervousness felt by the region's rulers over spreading social unrest.

Protests were also planned in other Gulf countries such as Yemen, Kuwait and Bahrain on Friday, which falls on the weekend.

The time after Friday prayers has proved to be crucial in popular uprisings that have brought down Tunisian and Egyptian rulers who once seemed invulnerable.

The world's biggest oil exporter has made it clear it will not tolerate any protests or political parties, which are seen as unnecessary in an Islamic state applying sharia (Islamic law).

A note by political risk analysts at Eurasia Group said that, unlike unrest that has rocked other autocratic Arab leaders' rule, Saudi protests calling only for reform were currently less of a threat to the kingdom's stability.

"They are appealing to the king, not demanding his departure. Thus, while there may be some unrest tomorrow, it will not threaten al Saud in the short term -- but things could get complicated if Saudi security forces overreact."

Eurasia Group also said Shi'ite protesters were unlikely to try and sabotage energy infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia is home to Islam's holiest sites and a long-time U.S. ally which has ensured oil supplies for the West.

In a sign that Riyadh was keen to address brewing discontent, ruler King Abdullah unveiled benefits for Saudis worth about $36 billion last month when he returned from three months of medical treatment abroad.

Other Gulf rulers have offered political concessions or paid out billions to help ease the pain of rising food prices and unemployment. Until recently, many had expected the region to avoid the massive uprisings seen in North Africa.

United Arab Emirates citizens petition for direct elections and legislative powers

A group of 133 United Arab Emirates nationals have petitioned the president of the country for direct elections.
It includes academics, former government officials, journalists and activists, said Ahmed Mansoor, one of the petitioners.
The petition comes in the midst of a wave of unrest and political change across the region that has brought new leadership to Egypt and Tunisia.
The petition is addressed to President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the members of the Supreme Council of the seven Emirates that form the U.A.E.In addition to elections, the group is also asking that the Federal National Council be granted legislative powers. The body only works in an advisory capacity and has no regulatory powers.
"The group called for a comprehensive reform of the parliamentary system of the Federal National Council (the Parliament), and included demands for free elections by all citizens," Mansoor said in an email. "It also demanded reform of legislation governing the work of the Parliament to include legislative and monitoring authorities and calling for necessary constitutional amendments to ensure that."
Despite widespread political unrest across the Middle East and North Africa, there have been no protests in the U.A.E. Demonstrations aren't technically illegal, but police never grant permits for them.

'Bhutto' Film Biography At Real Art Ways

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was as revered as she was mistrusted, even within the ranks of her own family. Her complex personal and political story is the subject of "Bhutto."

Duane Baughman and Johnny O'Hara's documentary follows Bhutto from the beginnings of her career to her 2007 assassination.

It will be shown in a limited run this weekend at Real Art Ways. Showtime is 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.After Saturday's showing, there will be a discussion with Pakistani-American artist Nilofer Haider. After Sunday's screening, there will be a discussion with Pakistani-born Hartford physician Faisal Zaeem.

Real Art Ways is at 56 Arbor St. in Hartford. Admission is $9, $5 for members, $6.25 for seniors and students, $4.50 for senior and student members.

China is definitely not Middle East

Turmoil in Libya had at least left more than 1,000 people dead, about 600 in the capital of Tripoli alone till February 26, according to conservative United Nations estimates, with one million people fleeing and inside country need humanitarian aid, said Valerie Amos, Secretary General for UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Television images of waves after wave of Libyan refugees are seen fleeing their homeland to lead a vagrant life, without knowing "what could happen to them" and when they would return home. This has saddened us with a deep sign to indicate the truth that national turmoil has made ordinary locals true victims eventually.

Since the end of 2010, unrest has spread a swath of the North Africa and the Middle East, where the situation has turned fiercely chaotic, and people there suffered an immense loss. At the time when people around the world mulled the solution to conflicts in the Middle East countries, some people with sinister ulterior motives both inside and outside China attempt to divert troubled water to China and "fan flames" via the Internet in a hope also to "provoke street corner politics", so as to make China chaotic. But the country is definitely not the Middle East anyhow.

The Chinese people, like the people of other countries, yearn for the lasting peace and stability. People in China, now better fed and better clothed, are striving to pursue their still better living standards; they are fully aware that the premise for the auspicious days is precisely the national stability and a harmonious society. Over the past 60 years after the birth of new China, especially in the last 30 years of reform and opening up, the Chinese nation has initially been thriving with a remarkable rise in its overall national might and brought substantial benefits to its people.

Chinese people fear turbulence and worry about being led into troubles and so they ardently hope for stability, harmony and peace. They exert themselves to seek development wholeheartedly and still better livelihoods, and most of them long for a better quality of life. Hence, the only very few trouble makers cannot randomly make a crack up in the country even if they vainly attempt to make trouble.

The leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is laid on a very solid foundation in recent years. China held the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, all performed with flying colors. And the relief work in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and the ensuing Yushu Quake rescue work, as well as the efforts to cope with the impact of the global financial crisis, and the latest Libya evacuation of more than Chinese 30,000 nationals -- All these difficult matters were done so well.

A formerly backward and impoverished nation has been turned into the second biggest economy in term of gross economic output, and the whole world holds it in high esteem. All these feats are owed to the wise leadership and scientific guidance of the CPC. Steady progress in the reform of political arrangements has inspired the standardization and institutionalization of the Party's leadership setup, from the abolition of life-long tenure of leading officials to the establishment of a national civil service...

Last year, a unique poll had been measuring the view of people around the world since 2002, and the project was conducted by Pew Research Center in 22 countries to track trends in value, political and social attitudes of their people. "Only in China," the survey reported, "does an overwhelming portion of the population (87 percent) express satisfaction with national conditions. So, "China is clearly the most self-satisfied country in the survey."

The U.S. "Time" magazine reported on March 7: "But there is a crucial difference -- and this is why expectations of a so-called 'Beijing Spring' are premature. In the Middle East and North Africa, even in countries with decent economic growth, governments are seen as the problem. In China... the 'regime' is regarded by its people as the engineer of the most spectacular economic expansion the world has even seen. Even the rest of the globe suffered during the financial crisis, China kept chugging along. Why throw the bums out when the bums keep delivering? Few Chinese, schooled as they are in the perils of revolution, would want to risk Arab-style chaos."

China has already abolished the life-long tenure of leading officials as a matter of course, and the change of leadership has become a conventional practice. There is no such phenomena that China is led by a leader entrenched for a decade, two decades, three decades or even four decades... In the meanwhile, China has set up a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and keeps consummating its socialist democracy system.

Furthermore, people in China enjoy freedom of participating in the practice of governance and deliberating over government affairs under the existing legal framework and democratic system. Under no circumstances should China allow "street corner politics" to incite unrest to attain the political objectives.

Chinese leaders have always complied with public will and are bent on tackling social problems emerged in the course of reform by means of development and reform. For instance, one college student used to be selected among some 100 college-aged people and, to date, the college recruit to college aged people ratio has come to 1:4. Consequently, there are some problems facing college graduates, including unemployment. And there are also issues regarding high house prices, a rise in food and other commodities prices and a gap between the rich and the poor.

In deliberating the targets of the draft 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) and the government work report, NPC deputies and members of the CPPCC National Committee have been mulling ways toward resolving problems emerged during their panel discussions. Only development and reform is the only correct way to solve problems.

Of course, when the existing problems are resolved, new ones will come to the fore, and society keep advancing in the process of overcoming problems. But "street corner politics" can only result in social chaos, make a mess of things, and could only stagnate Chinese society in steady advance.

In a nutshell, China is definitely not the Middle East, and any vain scheme to diver Middle East turmoil to China is doomed to fail.

By People's Daily

The women of Benghazi

LYBYA CRI

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Shahbaz Sharif’s wrong call

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s recent statement about involving the army and the judiciary to “discuss a strategy to steer the country out of the current situation” has come in for a lot of criticism. Mr Sharif had apparently suggested this to Prime Minister Gilani on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s advice. Mr Shahbaz Sharif said, “The need for unity, solidarity and national harmony in the current situation is greater than ever before. Collective efforts are needed to resolve the problems faced by the country.” PPP members like federal Law Minister Babar Awan and Punjab Assembly’s Opposition leader Raja Riaz have said that Mr Sharif wants a judicial martial law in the country. As far as reports suggest, dubbing Mr Sharif’s remarks as asking for a judicial martial law is a non sequitur. After the military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999 against the PML-N’s government, it is highly unlikely that the PML-N would want the khakis back in power. Mr Sharif might have been implying that since the crisis in Pakistan is so severe, all the stakeholders need to sit down and sort it out. What Mr Sharif did not take into cognizance is that neither the army nor the judiciary have any role whatsoever in a meeting of political parties. “There can be two sessions of (proposed) conference and the army chief and the chief justice could be asked to brief the political leadership in an in-camera session,” PML-N’s Siddiqul Farooque elaborated on the idea. Now this, too, is a questionable idea at the very least.

Mr Shahbaz Sharif’s ‘invitation’ may have been well-intentioned and may not be the same as the MQM chief’s call to ‘patriotic generals’, but his proposal is not constitutional. The army’s role is to safeguard our borders and protect the country from attacks. Constitutionally, it has no role whatsoever to meddle in the political domain. Our history shows us that our military has been anything but non-political. Thus to ‘invite’ it again, even at a political conference, is asking for trouble. As far as the security situation is concerned, what with the war on terror and the ever-increasing terrorist attacks, the executive is already discussing the security situation with the military on an ongoing basis. Such consultations are a norm given the circumstances but this does not mean that the military has any role to play at a political convention. As per our constitution, the judiciary is independent but its role is to dispense justice. The judiciary should remain unbiased and apolitical instead of being involved in politics. We have seen an executive-judiciary clash many a time and should not be advocating a role for the judiciary that is not within its constitutional purview. It is out of the judiciary’s writ to join politicians at a conference that is meant solely for the political class. Pakistan has a democratic government in place. At the proposed all-parties conference, the political parties should join hands and come up with solutions to address the crises our country is facing.

Given our history, if the judiciary and military are indeed invited to an all-parties conference, it would give out a wrong message. We need to avoid this at all costs. The democratic government and all political parties need to address the grievances of the nation. It is also imperative that civilian supremacy be asserted and established.

Veena Malik threatened by the Taliban

Actress Veena Malik on Thursday claimed she had been threatened by the Taliban.

Malik, who is currently in India appearing on television shows for the cricket World Cup, told Express 24/7 that she had received a letter from the Taliban four days ago via a media house in Pakistan. On the authentication of the letter, Malik said she had spoken to representatives of the media house, who confirmed its legitimacy.
Malik says the letter has been sent from a Ahmed Masood of the Taliban. The contents of the letter threaten to give Malik ‘exemplary punishment for her work in India’, she claims. Malik said that the letter also threatens her family and that if anything happened to them she would hold the government responsible.
She said that she will not seek asylum in India, stating that running away was not an option and that she would return to Pakistan. Malik said that the Indian authorities had provided her with security and she was getting in touch with Pakistani authorities to inform them of the situation.
Malik had recently participated in the fourth season of the Indian reality show Bigg Boss.

Peshawar children deprived of polio drops due to terror, fear

Several children couldn’t receive polio drops in Peshawar due to wave of terror, fear and negligence of teams.After the end of Polio campaign, several kids haven’t received polio drops in Yousafabad, Ameen Colony, District Colony, GharibAbad and several other areas of Peshawar. It happened because newly trained teams and students didn’t have proper information about the areas and were scared of terror incidents.The children having ages less than five are more than four thousand whereas around 170 schools didn’t receive polio drops.The residents of these areas have appealed to the government to take action against those who didn’t administer polio drops.

Protests called Friday in Saudi Arabia

Protesters in Saudi Arabia called for a "day of rage" Friday, though longtime observers of the kingdom remained skeptical that it would make a major impact.
"I don't think any protests that happen tomorrow will be destabilizing to the country," said Christopher Boucek, a Saudi expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Prominent blogger Ahmed Al-Omran said the Saudi government remains unresponsive to the streets.
"I don't think they're really in touch with the people," he said.

Still, he said, Friday's planned protests could set the tone in Saudi Arabia for the next few months.Get up,Stand up,For Your Rights

The Saudi government prohibits all kinds of public demonstrations.

But more than 100 Shiite demonstrators defied that ban and rallied Wednesday in the eastern city of Qatif, calling on authorities to release Shiite prisoners.

A sprinkling of women were among the protesters, said Ibrahim Al-Mugaiteeb, president of the Human Rights First Society.

Police kept a watchful eye but did not intervene, he said. Earlier, Saudi authorities had authorized its security forces to "take all measures against anyone who tries to break the law and cause disorder."
Last week, about 24 protesters were detained in Qatif as they denounced "the prolonged detention" of nine Shiite prisoners held without trial for more than 14 years, Amnesty International said.
Police kicked and used batons to beat three protesters in what was an apparent peaceful demonstration, Amnesty said in a statement.
"The Saudi Arabian authorities have a duty to ensure freedom of assembly and are obliged under international law to allow peaceful protests to take place," said Philip Luther, deputy director of the human rights group's Middle East and North Africa program.
"They must act immediately to end this outrageous restriction on the right to legitimate protest."
There was no immediate reaction from the Saudi government to the Amnesty statement.
The protests in the majority Sunni kingdom have followed similar demands across the Arab world for more freedom and democracy.
Rights activists have been advocating the right to protest for months in the kingdom but they have been denied permission to assemble.
Lately, grass-roots ferment mirroring the unrest across the Middle East and North Africa has emerged, with a Facebook group calling for days of rage and Shiites taking to the streets. Activists have been calling for reform and the release of people jailed without charge or trial.
Amnesty said the recent detentions came a week after a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Tawfiq Jaber Ibrahim al-'Amr was arrested after a sermon calling for reforms in Saudi Arabia. He was released without charge Sunday.
Most of the protesters are believed to be held in a police station in Dhahran, an eastern city. Among them are activists who have protested arrests and discrimination against the minority Shiites.
"The Saudi authorities must investigate reports of beatings of protesters by security forces. They should also ensure that those detained are either charged with recognizable offences and tried fairly or released," Luther said.
"While in detention they must be protected from torture and other ill-treatment and given regular access to their family, lawyers and medical staff."
The Shiite activists in "prolonged detention" have been held in connection with the deadly 1996 bombing of a U.S. military complex in Khobar in which 20 people were killed and hundreds injured.
"According to reports, they were interrogated, tortured and denied access to lawyers together with the opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention," Amnesty said

Saudi protest dispersed by police, shots heard

Saudi police dispersed a protest by a Shi'ite minority in the OPEC member's oil-producing Eastern province on Thursday with one to four people wounded as shots were heard, witnesses said.
One witness said police fired percussion bombs to disperse the crowd of around 200 people, while a witness and Shi'ite activist said shots were fired.
"There was firing, it was sporadic," the witness said.
The witness said he could not see where the firing was directed. Witnesses and activists said between one and four people were wounded.
Brent oil prices jumped by $3 a barrel on the Saudi report, fully erasing earlier losses to trade close to $116 a barrel at 1900 GMT. Earlier in the day, oil was falling on the back of Europe's debt woes.
More than 32,000 people have backed a call on social networking site Facebook to hold two protests in the world's top oil exporter this month. The first is planned for Friday.
A loose coalition of liberals, rights activists, moderate Sunni Islamists and Shi'ite Muslims has called for political reform. Saudi rulers say the country has no need for protests or parties as an Islamic state applying sharia (Islamic law).
In oil-rich Eastern Province, Shi'ites have long complained of marginalization and have staged small demonstrations for almost three weeks.

Saudis pessimistic about 'Day of rage'

Online activists have vowed to hold a "Day of Rage" in Saudi Arabia, similar to those seen throughout the Arab world. But a number of Saudis say there is more to lose than gain in protesting.

Mohammed, a 32-year-old resident of Jeddah who wished to use his first name only, said that the demands of the protesters for greater government accountability and transparency are "perfectly legitimate."

A Facebook group calling for a Saudi "Day of Rage" has nearly 33,000 followers. The group said the protest is mostly aimed at demanding political reforms, the release of political prisoners, more employment opportunities, and greater freedoms.

"A sense of frustration is pervasive," said Mohamed.

Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam's holiest site in Mecca, is the world's largest crude oil exporter.

However, nearly 40 per cent of Saudis aged 20 to 24 are unemployed and many have argued that the kingdom's expansive oil wealth has remained concentrated in the hands of the royal circle.

Just last month, King King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz looked to woo Saudis with a promise of 36 billion dollars in benefits, which included a 15-per-cent salary raise for public employees and financial aid for students and the unemployed.

Heavy hand feared

Despite the financial handout and signs that the government may be subtly trying to win over frustrated youth, Mohammed told the German Press Agency dpa that he will not protest, because he believes the government's response will be heavy-handed.

"The government sees this as a direct threat to its rule and I will not risk everything to protest for a thing like ending corruption, for example, when they see me as a threat worthy of murder," he said.

"I think most people feel they have too much to lose in a highly rigged fight," he added.

The Interior Ministry posted on its website that "security forces are lawfully authorized to take all necessary actions against whoever tries to violate the law in any way and will be subject to the full force of the relevant regulations."

Sultan, a Saudi graduate student in the United States who also wished not to be named in full, told dpa he doubts there will be a large turnout in Friday's protests because people are expecting the government to respond "harshly."

"They already started to investigate bloggers, social and political activists, and some people who signed petitions addressed to the king," said Sultan.

Brutality

Recently, Saudi women who were protesting in the eastern part of the kingdom were arrested after a ban was issued on all kinds of demonstrations.

They were reportedly beaten before they were detained.

The women were part of a series of protests that have taken place in recent weeks by the kingdom's Shiite minority calling for equal rights.

Shiite cleric Tawfiq al-Amer was himself briefly detained after calling for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights for minority Shiites, who make up between 10 and 15 percent of the Saudi population and are concentrated in the Eastern Province.

Revolts by Shiites in neighbouring Bahrain have unnerved the conservative Sunni authorities in Saudi Arabia, who warned that foreign interference from Shiite-led Iran would not be tolerated.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said this week that the kingdom would "cut off the fingers of those who try to interfere in our internal matters and we reject dictates from any foreign party," suggesting that calls for protests were being dictated externally.

"Saudi Arabia has prohibited demonstrations as it goes against the country's law," added al-Faisal in his remarks to the press.

Bad faith

To support its ban on protests, the government recently obtained a religious edict, or fatwa, saying that protests are prohibited in Islam.

"So long as the religious institutions continue to contribute to the public dogmatic understanding about basic rights by their religious edicts and the Ministry of Interior keeps violating (the rights of) anyone who talks about political reform loudly by jail or constraints, it will be difficult to achieve a radical change that assert people's demands," said Sultan.

A 2010 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report found that vested interests by power groups, such as the business community and the religious establishment, weigh heavily on both judicial and educational matters.

Moreover, the feeling among several young, educated Saudis interviewed in recent days is that there is a very high possibility that the country could regress into a system of more tribalism and fewer personal freedoms if a truly representative political system were in place.

The reason, some argue, is that King Abdullah himself has faced opposition from the religious establishment and leading opinion makers to incremental, marginal reforms aimed at liberalizing society in recent years.

According to the HRW report, King Abdullah has succeeded in promoting the acceptance of reforms that would modernize Saudi Arabia's state apparatus, making it more efficient and somewhat more transparent and has encouraged respectful dissent, but within limits.

"However, the obstacles to reform nevertheless remain formidable," according to HRW.

A mother of three who lives in Saudi Arabia, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed a similarly pessimistic view.

"I don't think our country is ready for this type of expression and it will be squashed," she told dpa.

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