Saudi women are being driven to rebellion

Nesrine Malik


The driving ban in Saudi Arabia does little to actually protect women, it is merely a backward, pre-emptive act of repression

While all eyes are on Libya, Syria and Yemen, a different kind of rebellion is taking place in Saudi Arabia. A group of Saudi women have set up Women2Drive, a right-to-drive campaign, with a launch date of 17 June.

Last week one of its members, Manal al-Sharif, took to the streets and drove a car for a couple of hours, filming her trip (her father assisted) and posting it on YouTube. On Sunday, she was arrested along with her brother, who reportedly has now been released.

This isn't the first time that there has been a push to drive in the kingdom. In the early 1990s, members of a similar campaign were arrested and some were fired from their jobs.

Against the backdrop of the Arab uprisings, it might seem like a frivolous thing to ask, especially when we are told that Saudi women do not need to drive, as they are so covetously protected and provided with drivers to save them the trouble.

The irony is that although the entire system is constructed to prevent men and women finding khalwa, or privacy, together, it is permissible to be alone in a car with one's non-Saudi driver – the perfect confluence of racism and patronage that exposes the absurdity and confusion behind arbitrary laws of public female deportment in Saudi Arabia.

There is nothing empowering or protective about not being allowed to drive. While I was living in Saudi Arabia, in a family of five females with no man in the household, we were permanently at the mercy of our driver to run even the most basic of errands.

If he was late, indisposed or unable to tend to us for some reason, the only alternative was to hail a taxi – a very unpleasant prospect for a woman in a Saudi city. To stand on the side of the road in the city of Riyadh waiting for a taxi to arrive meant braving the harassing calls and jibes from passing motorists, and to be alone in a car with a cab driver in a country where that is rather rare posed its own risks in terms of the liberties the driver feels he may be entitled to take. Sharif herself claimed she was harassed by her driver. Needless to say, there is no public transport available for women.

Those who espouse a moral position, ie that should these women be allowed to drive they would run amok and go wherever they please putting themselves in harm's way and making rendezvous with men, are either disingenuous or naive.

Most of the employed drivers in Saudi Arabia have no say over where they go, they merely do their mistresses' bidding. I remember being given a ride with a Saudi female colleague who ordered her driver to chase, at high speeds, the cars of men whom she found attractive or who had tried to pass their numbers through car windows. The driver haplessly complied, and was told off in strong terms for not catching up with the quarry.

This law is simply a backward, visceral objection to the thought of a woman behind the wheel, a physical embodiment of a volition which is too offensive to enact. It is about maintaining some semblance of control, the erosion of which it is thought would be complete if women were allowed to drive.

There is this odd view of women in the kingdom as being always on the cusp of dissolute behaviour – reminiscent of an attitude towards slaves who would rebel and murder their owners if not kept perpetually oppressed. This is a ghastly spiral, where the worse the victim is treated, the worse they are likely to be pre-emptively repressed. When arguing against allowing women to uncover their heads or faces in public, some (men and women) respond that if that if this were to pass, women would surely walk around in semi-nudity.

It doesn't occur to these people that public codes of dress do not exist in most other Arab countries, and women still manage to dress in a culturally appropriate way. Women are allowed to drive throughout the conservative Arabian Gulf, and these societies have not imploded in moral degradation.

The Saudi driving ban is a social, rather than political, issue, over which the authorities would rather not incur the religious establishment's wrath or create controversy. But if there is one lesson Arab rulers would do well to heed, it is that withholding rights raises the chances of an explosion of dissent.

The arrest of Sharif certainly appears to have done nothing to dissuade the Women2Drive campaign from going ahead; if anything it seems to have garnered it more publicity. There are reports that the religious police are teaming up with traffic forces to patrol and stymie the campaign. If these are to be believed, then Saudi Arabia is in for a first-of-its-kind confrontation on 17 June.

SAUDI ARABIA: Security forces clamp down on those allegedly behind campaign to defy ban on women drivers

Saudi Arabian authorities have clamped down on women's rights activists after a bold call by a group of women in the ultra-conservative kingdom on social media sites on the Internet to break a ban on women driving.

Saudi police arrested at least two people linked to the campaign and shut down a Facebook page meant to promote civil disobedience, according to the Abu Dhabi-based English-language newspaper the National.

Saudi security forces loyal to King Abdullah, whose family has ruled the kingdom for 80 years, arrested Manal Sharif, a 32-year-old computer security consultant, and her brother, the National reported.

On Facebook and Twitter, activists had launched a campaign calling on women in Saudi Arabia who hold international drivers' licenses to get behind the wheel on Friday, June 17, and drive their cars to protest the country's ban on women driving.

Their call is a daring initiative. Women who have defied the ban in the past have lost their jobs, been banned from travel and denounced by members of the country's powerful extremist religious establishment.

The women say their planned move is not a protest nor an attempt to break the law, but rather a bid to claim basic rights as human beings.

"We women in Saudi Arabia, from all nationalities, will start driving our cars by ourselves," read a statement posted on the group's Facebook site, I will Drive Starting June 17, before Saudi censors took it down. "We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities. We are here to claim one of our simplest rights. We have driver's licenses and we will abide by traffic laws."

Their Facebook group had garnered more than 11,000 supporters and around 3,000 people follow the group's account on Twitter.

Critics say Saudi, a staunch U.S. ally and largest exporter of oil in the world, has a horrific record on human rights and women's liberties. In addition, it's said to be pumping cash into global Islamic organizations that promote extremist Islamic thinking across the Islamic world, including the nascent democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.

But some Saudis themselves are trying to challenge the conservativism of their own country.

On recent incident suggests things are already heating up on the women's ban driving issue. A few days ago, 30-year-old Saudi housewife and mother Najla Hairiri told Agence-France Presse how she drove her car in the streets of the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah for four days before getting stopped.

She took the decision "to defend her belief that Saudi women should be allowed to drive" and said she wasn't afraid of being hauled into detention for flouting the driving ban because she felt she was setting a good example for her daughter and other young Saudi women.

"I don't fear being arrested because I am setting an example that my daughter and her friends are proud of,'' she said, adding that she also offers driving lessons for women.

Below is a video clip showing Saudi women's right activist Wajeha Huwaidar driving her car in a rural part of the kingdom on International Women's Day in 2008 and talking about the problems that come with not letting women drive in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia adheres to a strict interpretation of the ultra-conservative Wahabi version of Sunni Islam. Aside from being banned from driving, Saudi women face a myriad of other restrictions. They cannot travel on their own without getting authorization from a male guardian, cannot receive an education without male approval, and are not allowed to cast ballots in municipal elections -- the only kind of elections that currently exist in the absolute monarchy.

If the call for defying the driving ban on women materializes on June 17, it will not be the first time women in Saudi Arabia will have gotten behind the wheel and taken to the streets in protest. On Nov. 6, 1990, a group of women drove through the streets of the Saudi capital Riyadh before getting pulled over and stopped.

Several of the women reportedly lost their jobs and were denounced as by powerful religious figures.

Recent comments by Saudi religious clerics about the June 17 campaign suggest the sight of women driving in the streets will go down with the religious clergymen as badly as it did in 1990.

Saudi cleric Mohammed Nujaimi told Bloomberg News that the women's plan was “against the law" and that driving does “more harm than good” to women, because they might intermingle with males who are not their relatives, such as mechanics and gas-station attendants.

Pakistan's Naval base attacked

Insurgents stormed a major Pakistani naval base in Karachi — setting off a prolonged gun battle with security forces. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility saying it was revenge for the U.S.-led military raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Obama Challenges Israel to Make Hard Choices Needed for Peace

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speaking on Sunday to the nation’s foremost pro-Israel lobbying group, repeated his call for Palestinian statehood based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders adjusted for land swaps, issuing a challenge to the Israeli government to “make the hard choices that are necessary to protect a Jewish and democratic state for which so many generations have sacrificed.”

In his remarks to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the president, while offering fulsome praise for the relationship with Israel, did not walk back from his speech on Thursday, which had infuriated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Rather, the president took indirect aim at Mr. Netanyahu, first by repeating what the Israeli prime minister so objected to — the phrase pre-1967 borders — and then by challenging those whom he said had “misrepresented” his position.

“Let me repeat what I actually said on Thursday,” Mr. Obama said in firm tones at one point, “not what I was reported to have said.”

“I said that the United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”

The president emphasized the “mutually agreed swaps,” then went into an elaboration of what he believes that means. Mr. Netanyahu, in his critique of Mr. Obama’s remarks, had ignored the “mutually agreed swaps” part of the president’s proposal.

“Since my position has been misrepresented several times, let me reaffirm what “1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps” means,” Mr. Obama said. “By definition, it means that the parties themselves — Israelis and Palestinians — will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967. It is a well known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation. It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years.”

“There was nothing particularly original in my proposal,” he said. “This basic framework for negotiations has long been the basis for discussions among the parties, including previous U.S. administrations.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s furious reaction last week to what many administration officials viewed as a modest compromise from the more dramatic all-encompassing American peace plan that some of Mr. Obama’s advisers had been advocating, infuriated the White House. In particular, administration officials were angry by Mr. Netanyahu’s lecturing tone during statements the two leaders gave on Friday. American officials were also irritated by Mr. Netanyahu statement directly after Mr. Obama’s speech that used the phrase “expects to hear” in saying that Mr. Netanyahu expected to hear certain assurances from Mr. Obama during their meeting.

Mr. Obama also assured the group that the administration was steadfast in its “opposition to any attempt to de-legitimize the state of Israel,” but he warned that Israel would face growing isolation without a credible Middle East peace process.

Sunday’s audience, which had been quiet, cheered Mr. Obama, although the cheers were far more muted than the standing ovation they had given at other points of Mr. Obama’s speech, like when he talked about Iran and when he reiterated that his opposition to a looming United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood.

“I know very well that the easy thing to do, particularly for a president preparing for re-election, is to avoid any controversy,” Mr. Obama said. “I don’t need Rahm” — former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel — “to tell me that.”

But, Mr. Obama added, “as I said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, I believe that the current situation in the Middle East does not allow for procrastination. I also believe that real friends talk openly and honestly with one another.”

Others close to the administration have also pushed back against the notion that Mr. Obama was signaling a major shift in American policy on Thursday. “No, he wasn’t,” said his newly departed special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, when asked that question on Sunday.

“The president didn’t say that Israel has to go back to the ’67 lines,” Mr. Mitchell said on ABC’s “This Week”. “He said ‘with agreed swaps.’ Those are significant.”

Mr. Mitchell went on: “ ‘Agreed’ means through negotiations; both parties must agree. There’s not going to be a border unless Israel agrees to it, and we know they won’t agree unless their security needs are satisfied.”

It was a quietly delivered speech that lasted 20 minutes, and at the end, the packed hall of at the Washington Convention Center stood up for Mr. Obama and clapped — some even cheered. There were no boos or hisses, as some of the president’s allies had feared.

Mr. Obama’s arrival on stage, before a backdrop collage that meshed fragments of the Israeli and American flags, was met with loud applause. But that was at least partly because it followed an introduction by Lee Rosenberg, the group’s president, that ended with a guaranteed applause line: “Thank you, Mr. President, for ridding the world of Osama bin Laden.”

Saudi Arabia, UAE financing Pak's hardline clerics

Hardline Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith clerics in Pakistan's Punjab province have been receiving financial aid worth nearly $100 million annually from groups in Saudi Arabia and UAE, according to a secret US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.

The cable sent in November 2008 to the US State Department by Bryan Hunt, then Principal Officer at the US Consulate in Lahore, was based on information gathered during discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during trips to Multan and Bahawalpur cities in Punjab.

Most of the funding flowed to southern Punjab, which has been described by Western diplomats and security officials as an emerging stronghold of jihadists, including the Punjabi Taliban.

The cable said that "financial support estimated at nearly $100 million annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith clerics in south Punjab from organisations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ostensibly with the direct support of those governments".

Quoting local interlocutors, Hunt explained how the "sophisticated jihadi recruitment network" operated in a region dominated by the moderate Barelvi sect.

The presence of the Barelvis, according to the cable, made southern Punjab "traditionally hostile" to the Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith schools of thought. Hunt referred to a "network of Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith mosques and madrassahs" being strengthened through an influx of "charity" that earlier went to hardline groups "such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Al-Khidmat Foundation".

Portions of these funds were given to clerics "to expand these sects' presence" in a "potentially fruitful recruiting ground", the cable said.

The cable described how "families with multiple children" and "severe financial difficulties" were being exploited by those recruiting for militant groups. Families approached by "ostensibly 'charitable'" organisations would later be introduced to a "local Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith maulana" who would offer to educate the children at his madrassa and "find them employment in the service of Islam".

"Martyrdom" was "often discussed", with a final cash payment to the parents, the cable said. "Local sources claim that the current average rate is approximately Rs 500,000 (approximately $6,500) per son," the cable said. Children recruited by the jihadis were given age-specific indoctrination and eventually trained after madrassa teachers assessed their inclination "to engage in violence and acceptance of jihadi culture" versus their value as promoters of the Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith sects or recruiters, the cable said.

Recruits "chosen for jihad" were taken to "more sophisticated indoctrination camps". "Locals identified three centres reportedly used for this purpose," the cable said. Two centres were stated to be in Bahawalpur district, while one was reportedly situated "on the outskirts of Dera Ghazi Khan city".

These centres "were primarily used for indoctrination", after which "youths were generally sent on to more established training camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and then on to jihad either in FATA, NWFP, or as suicide bombers in settled areas", the cable said.

The cable quoted local officials criticising the PML-N-led government in Punjab and the PPP-led federal government for their "failure to act" against "extremist madrassas, or known prominent leaders such as Jaish-i-Mohammad's Masood Azhar".

The then Bahawalpur district nazim (mayor) told Hunt that despite repeatedly highlighting to the provincial and federal governments the threat posed by extremist groups and indoctrination centres, he had received "no support" in dealing with the issue unless he was ready to change his political loyalties.

The nazim, who at the time was with the PML-Q, "blamed politics, stating that unless he was willing to switch parties neither the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz provincial nor the Pakistan People's Party federal governments would take his requests seriously".

Saudi Arabia, UAE financing extremism in south Punjab

A US official in a cable sent to the State Department stated that “financial support estimated at nearly 100 million USD annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith clerics in south Punjab from organisations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ostensibly with the direct support of those governments.”

The cable sent in November 2008 by Bryan Hunt, the then Principal Officer at the US Consulate in Lahore, was based on information from discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during his trips to the cities of Multan and Bahawalpur.

Quoting local interlocutors, Hunt attempts to explain how the “sophisticated jihadi recruitment network” operated in a region dominated by the Barelvi sect, which, according to the cable, made south Punjab “traditionally hostile” to Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith schools of thought.

Hunt refers to a “network of Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith mosques and madrassahs” being strengthened through an influx of “charity” which originally reached organisations “such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Al-Khidmat foundation”. Portions of these funds would then be given away to clerics “in order to expand these sects’ presence” in a relatively inhospitable yet “potentially fruitful recruiting ground”.

Outlining the process of recruitment for militancy, the cable describes how “families with multiple children” and “severe financial difficulties” were generally being exploited for recruitment purposes. Families first approached by “ostensibly ‘charitable’” organisations would later be introduced to a “local Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith maulana” who would offer to educate the children at his madrassah and “find them employment in the service of Islam”. “Martyrdom” was also “often discussed”, with a final cash payment to the parents. “Local sources claim that the current average rate is approximately Rs 500,000 (approximately USD 6,500) per son,” the cable states.

Children recruited would be given age-specific indoctrination and would eventually be trained according to the madrassah teachers’ assessment of their inclination “to engage in violence and acceptance of jihadi culture” versus their value as promoters of Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith sects or recruiters, the cable states.

Recruits “chosen for jihad” would then be taken to “more sophisticated indoctrination camps”. “Locals identified three centres reportedly used for this purpose”. Two of the centres were stated to be in the Bahawalpur district, whereas one was reported as situated “on the outskirts of Dera Ghazi Khan city”. These centres “were primarily used for indoctrination”, after which “youths were generally sent on to more established training camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and then on to jihad either in FATA, NWFP, or as suicide bombers in settled areas”.

The cable goes on to quote local officials criticising the PML-N-led provincial and the PPP-led federal governments for their “failure to act” against “extremist madrassas, or known prominent leaders such as Jaish-i-Mohammad’s Masood Azhar”. The Bahawalpur district nazim at the time told Hunt that despite repeatedly highlighting the threat posed by extremist groups and indoctrination centres to the provincial and federal governments, he had received “no support” in dealing with the issue unless he was ready to change his political loyalties. The nazim, who at the time was with the PML-Q, “blamed politics, stating that unless he was willing to switch parties…neither the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz provincial nor the Pakistan People’s Party federal governments would take his requests seriously”.Dawn.com

Nawaz feared arrest on deportation: cables

Nawaz Sharif feared that he might be taken under arrest after deportation from Pakistan in 2007; a private TV channel reported quoting cables released by WikiLeaks.

According to leaked cables, former Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri asked Nawaz Sharif not to return to Pakistan but Nawaz did otherwise.

The secret US cable, which revealed this information, was sent from US consulate in Jeddah on September 12, 2007.

The discussion between the head of Saudi secret agency Prince Muqrin and US’s then ambassador disclosed this information in a secret cable released by WikiLeaks.

According to cable, Saudi Prince Muqrin told US ambassador that Nawaz had feared that he might be arrested on way to Saudi Arabia after his deportation from Pakistan.

Upon this he was given two options: he could either stay at a palace that had been prepared for him, or at his home. Sharif opted to go to his home.

The cable also released details of the secret agreement that allowed Sharif to go into exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years after he was convicted on charges, like hijacking, following the military coup against him by former President Pervez Musharraf.

Babar wants few answers from Nawaz Luhar

Federal Law Minister Dr Babar Awan has urged the federal government to take practical steps for the procurement of additional wheat from the farmers of the province.
Speaking at a seminar ‘Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Constitution and Justice’ held here at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Saturday, he said that the rulers in the province were spending billions of rupees on Kalima Chowk flyover, completely ignoring plight of the growers and now it was responsibility of the federal government to make necessary arrangements.
Awan assured the growers that the federal government would not leave them alone in the hour of need. Coming hard on the PML-N leadership for getting security from Elite Force while visiting Sindh, he said that the step had conveyed a wrong message to the smaller province.
“Neither Mohtarma, nor Junejo or Jamali brought with them security men from their respective provinces while visiting Punjab. The PML-N leader should answer that why he did it while going to Sindh”, he said. He also ask four more questions from the PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif while urging him to respond to the queries himself instead of assigning the responsibility to any other person.
“The PML-N remained in power for eight months after the Kargil Operation. Why Nawaz Sharif rushed to the US instead of approaching the parliament.
Nawaz Sharif should also inform that why joint session of the parliament was not summoned on Eimal Kansi issue. He should also tell the nation that when he would return the money to the country earned from ‘Karz Utaro Mulk Sanwaro Scheme’, he said, adding that the PML-N was not ready to sit with anyone of the mainstream political parties.
“PML-N can’t sit with the MQM and Q-League. It is also not comfortable with the ANP. The PML-N leader should tell the name of the party with whom he is comfortable”, he said. He said that the person who left the country after tendering apology was talking about national pride and integrity.
Referring to the ZAB reference in the Apex Court, Awan said that contesting case of Quaid-e-Awam was a matter of pride for him. He said that coming era was of Bhuttoism and the poor, labourers and farmers would get the right to rule the country.

Saudi Arabia, UAE funded jihadi networks in Pakistan

Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in U.S. ally Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage holy war, a local newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Wikileaks.

A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to a jihadist recruitment network in Pakistan's Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported.

The November 2008 dispatch by Bryan Hunt, the then principal officer at the U.S. consulate in Lahore, was based on discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during trips to Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province.

It said those sources claimed that financial aid from Saudi and United Arab Emirates was coming from "missionary" and "Islamic charitable" organizations ostensibly with the direct support of those countries' governments.

Asked to respond to the report, Saudi foreign ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said: "Saudi Arabia issued a statement from day one that we are not going to comment on any WikiLeaks reports because Saudi Arabia is not responsible for these reports and we are not sure about their authenticity."

Saudi Arabia, the United States and Pakistan heavily supported the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet occupation troops in the 1980s.

Militancy subsequently mushroomed in the region and militants moved to Pakistan's northwest tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, seen as a global hub for militants.

Since then there has been a growing nexus between militant groups there and in Punjab. In recent years militants have been carrying out suicide bombings seemingly at will in Pakistan, despite military offensives against their strongholds.

The discovery that Osama bin Laden was living in a Pakistani town not far from Islamabad until he was killed by U.S. special forces earlier this month has severely damaged ties between Washington and Islamabad.

The United States wants Pakistan to be a more reliable partner in its war on militancy.

CHILDREN SENT TO TRAINING CAMPS

But militancy is deeply rooted in Pakistan. In order to eradicate it, analysts say, the government must improve economic conditions to prevent militants from recruiting young men disillusioned with the state.

The network in Punjab reportedly exploited worsening poverty to indoctrinate children and ultimately send them to training camps, said the cable.

Saudi Arabia, home to the fundamentalist Wahhabi brand of Islam, is seen as funding some of Pakistan's hardline religious seminaries, or madrassas, which churn out young men eager for holy war, posing a threat to the stability of the region.

"At these madrassas, children are denied contact with the outside world and taught sectarian extremism, hatred for non-Muslims, and anti-Western/anti-Pakistan government philosophy," said the cable.

It described how "families with multiple children" and "severe financial difficulties" were being exploited and recruited, Dawn reported.

"The path following recruitment depends upon the age of the child involved. Younger children (between 8 and 12) seem to be favored," said the cable.

Teachers in seminaries would assess the inclination of children "to engage in violence and acceptance of jihadi culture."

"The initial success of establishing madrassas and mosques in these areas led to subsequent annual "donations" to these same clerics, originating in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," the cable stated.

Taliban car bomb targets US convoy in Peshawar

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan said on Friday it had attacked a US consulate convoy in Peshawar, the latest in a surge of violence since US forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden earlier this month.

US embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said no Americans were killed or seriously wounded in the car bomb attack, which killed one Pakistani and wounded 10 people.

The attack took place on a main road in an area where many Western diplomats live and involved 50 kg of explosives, police said. “There was an attack on a two-car convoy from the consulate in Peshawar. One car was hit. We are still investigating what actually happened,” said Rodriguez.

Peshawar has seen many attacks by Taliban militants seeking to topple the US-backed Pakistani government and was home to bin Laden in the 1980s when extremists were fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda and its ally, the Pakistani Taliban, have vowed to avenge the killing of bin Laden by US Special Forces on May 2, and, the group said it would target the Pakistani government and its Western allies.

“The diplomatic staff of all Nato countries are our targets,” said Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters via telephone from an undisclosed location.

“We will continue such attacks. Pakistan is our first target, and America is our second.”

Peshawar police chief Liaqat Ali told reporters the booby-trapped car appeared to have been parked at the side of the road and exploded as one consulate vehicle was near, forcing it to slam into an electricity pole.

Police superintendent Ijaz Khan told Reuters two American security guards were slightly wounded, and were being treated at a US medical facility.

Pakistan has witnessed a jump in violence since bin Laden’s death, including a twin suicide bombing last week that killed more than 80 people, most of them paramilitary recruits.

The Taliban have kept up pressure on the government with suicide attacks despite several army offensives on their strongholds in the northwest.

The United States wants nuclear-armed Pakistan to be a more reliable partner in its war on militancy launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Close cooperation between the two allies is needed to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan. Ties have been severely damaged since the secret raid that killed bin Laden.

Pakistan is under pressure to explain how bin Laden spent what appeared to be about five years in a military town not far from the capital.

Pakistan’s powerful army was infuriated by the operation, describing it as a violation of the South Asian country’s sovereignty.

Obama announces 'new chapter in American diplomacy'

The United States will support efforts for reform across the Middle East and North Africa, including "transitions toward democracy," President Barack Obama said Thursday in what the White House billed as a major speech laying out U.S. policy for the region.
Announcing what he called a "new chapter in American diplomacy," Obama pointed to recent popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.

"The events of the past six months show us that strategies of oppression and strategies of diversion will not work anymore," he said.
He said people in parts of the region "have seized control of their own destiny."
The "shouts of human dignity are being heard," Obama said.
But the president emphasized that the changes under way will take time. "It will be years before this story reaches its end," he said.
Obama said there is a "deepening spiral of division between the United States and the Arab world" that needs to be reversed.
The president also accused Iran of hypocrisy for publicly supporting protests in parts of the Arab world after violently cracking down on protests at home.
On Libya, the president said that while the United States can't intervene militarily everywhere, it had to act in Libya to prevent an imminent massacre.
Now "time is working against (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi," he said. When Gadhafi goes, "decades of provocation will come to an end" and a democratic transition can begin, he said.Officials said the president will pledge U.S. economic assistance to Egypt and Tunisia.
Obama is "laying out a vision tomorrow for the region of what it can be long term and its role in the world," a senior administration official said Wednesday. He was one of three senior administration officials who briefed reporters about the speech on condition of not being identified by name.
The president is emphasizing U.S. principles such as freedom of assembly, the right to self-determination and respect for human rights while promoting economic development as a significant contributor to helping people of the region realize their aspirations, the officials said.
The focus on economic aid for Tunisia and Egypt is intended to bolster the democratization and economic development efforts of two countries at the vanguard of political reform. The two countries can serve as models for a region undergoing change so that other countries have incentive to undertake similar reforms, according to the officials.
Obama is announcing several programs intended to increase U.S. and international investment, create jobs and spur economic growth in the two countries.
Specific programs include relieving Egypt of up to $1 billion in debt over the next two to three years so the money can be invested by the Egyptian government in economic development plans, and providing $1 billion in loan guarantees to finance infrastructure development and job creation, the senior administration officials said.
In addition, programs through international banking and funding organizations such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be worth a few billion dollars, the officials said.
More broadly, the United States also will work with international groups and allies to help Middle East-North African countries modernize and integrate trade policies, according to the senior administration officials. Currently, nations in the region of 400 million people export about the same amount of goods as Switzerland, a country of 8 million, if oil is removed from the equation, according to a White House background document on the speech.
According to the officials, Thursday's speech was designed to serve as an opportunity for the United States to help people in the Middle East-North Africa region gain a say in their future governance through the changes they have launched.
"It's important to note that some of the protests in the region are deeply rooted in a lack of individual opportunity and economic growth, as well as a suppression of political rights," one of the officials said. "We also know from our study of the past that successful transitions to democracy depend in part on strong foundations for prosperity, and that reinforcing economic growth is an important way of reinforcing a democratic transition."
That means that "one of the most important areas for us to focus on is supporting positive economic growth that, again, can incentivize and reinforce those countries that are transitioning to democracy," the official continued, adding that "we see this as a critical window of time for the United States to take some concrete action to demonstrate our commitment to their future and to, again, reinforce their democratic transition with support for a broader base of prosperity."
Thursday's speech comes nearly two years after a 2009 address by Obama in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, that called for "a new beginning" between the United States and the Muslim world.
Now, many in the Middle East and North Africa consider the Cairo speech a collection of lofty ideals that lacked sufficient follow-through, and they have been looking for Obama to signal substantive and concrete policies that support the aspirations of the region's people.
Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister and longtime advocate of Arab reform, said Wednesday that the Middle East is a new environment now, where young men and women are laying their lives on the line for democracy throughout the region. They need to be told their cause is just and how the United States will support them.
If Thursday's address turns out to be "another Cairo speech, forget it," said Muasher, now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It was great two years ago, and even then the feedback was mixed, because people wanted to see what he would do. If he doesn't have much to add this time, people will not be fooled by it."
Gigi Ibrahim, a 24-year-old Egyptian activist and blogger, told CNN that Obama's words will have little impact in her country.
"At this point, whatever President Obama will address will really be irrelevant to what the situation is now because we're really building democracy from the bottom up," Ibrahim said, adding that "America is not the model of democracy that we are striving for."
She called U.S. policy on the Middle East "hypocritical" because, she said, the United States "will support a dictatorship if it's aligned with its interests."
That attitude is rife throughout the Middle East and North Africa, noted CNN senior political analyst David Gergen.
With Egypt facing economic crisis, the Libyan conflict at a stalemate, an ongoing harsh crackdown on demonstrators in Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at a standstill, there is little belief in the region that Obama or the United States can do much to help, Gergen said.
"I think it's going to be very difficult in the near term to generate excitement about his policies in the Middle East," Gergen said.
In an effort to start changing such perceptions, the Obama administration on Wednesday imposed tough sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six other senior Syrian officials in an effort to stop the regime's fierce crackdown on anti-government protests.
The sanctions also target two top Iranian officials whose unit was a "conduit for Iranian material support" to Syrian intelligence, according to a copy of the executive order issued by the White House.
Obama's speech comes in a week when the White House has focused on Middle East issues. He met Tuesday with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House, and will meet Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After his talks with King Abdullah, Obama said it was "more vital than ever that both Israelis and Palestinians find a way to get back to the table and begin negotiating a process whereby they can create ... two states that are living side by side in peace and security."
However, former Sen. George Mitchell unexpectedly submitted his resignation as the president's Mideast envoy Friday, and deadly clashes broke out Sunday between pro-Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces.
Ongoing Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and Palestinian steps toward a unilateral declaration of statehood have driven the two sides further apart since Obama took office. They have also placed new obstacles in the path of the administration's push for a mutually acceptable two-state solution.
Additional doubts about the viability of the stalled peace process were raised this month in the wake of a formal reconciliation agreement between the two largest Palestinian factions: President Mahmoud Abbas' party, the West Bank-based Fatah; and the Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Both Israel and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist organization and have voiced strong opposition to the inclusion of the group in any unity government, demanding that it first renounce violence, recognize the state of Israel and abide by all previous agreements.
Netanyahu has called on the Palestinian Authority to pull out of the deal, saying it jeopardizes prospects for a peace agreement.
The Obama administration has "made it clear that Hamas must stop its outrageous use of terrorism and must recognize Israel's right to exist," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday. "Any participation in a Palestinian government would require that it abides by those standards, in our view."
In other engagement in the region, Obama helped push Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office in February and subsequently committed U.S. forces to a NATO air campaign in support of the rebel movement in Libya. The administration has repeatedly called for an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule.
The White House has been much less vocal, however, in dealing with allies such as Bahrain, a small Persian Gulf state that is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Pakistani Workers' Land Of Opportunity: Afghanistan?

It's not unusual for laborers the world over to cross borders, sometimes illegally, to find a safer environment and better wages. But it is strange when their land of opportunity is Afghanistan.

It may be a sign of economic and political instability in neighboring Pakistan that manual laborers are sneaking across into Afghanistan, where wages are double and, in some cases, security is better.

That level of desperation has many fearing that Pakistan may be holding on to stability just as tenuously as Afghanistan.Day Laborers

Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul, is growing faster than the government can measure — mostly in the form of big concrete and brick buildings. But an increasing number of the laborers on the buildings aren't from there.

Enya Atullah, an Afghan working on the precarious fourth floor of a new building, says he knows Pakistani day laborers will do his job for less.

They've ruined our work, Atullah says in Pashto. He says he doesn't make enough because he has to compete with Pakistani laborers, and he hopes the government will come up with a policy to stop them from coming into the country.

An official from the Afghan Ministry of Labor said he had no idea how many Pakstanis are working in the country illegally, and he frankly admitted that the government has almost no control over individuals who cross the border. Most of them are Pashtuns, and they have ethnic and family ties that straddle the frontier.

Of course, Afghan contractors don't mind the migrants, according to one businessman who gave his name only as Amin. Pakistani laborers will work day or night for about half the price of Afghans.

"Pakistani people [are] taking less money than Afghan people," Amin says. "In this case, everybody [chooses] the Pakistani workers, and also maybe they are working during night. All the time, if you are paying money, they are working."

Amin admits to some smugness that Afghanistan, which saw millions of refugees flee to Pakistan during the 1980s, is now in a more advantageous position. It's not so satisfying on the other side.

Uncertainty In Pakistan

It's bad at home, says Azizullha, who uses only one name. He's from Bajur, one of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border. He has been working as a mason in Afghanistan for about three months.

Things are so bad in Pakistan, Azizullha says, that if you get out of the city, there is fear of kidnapping, security is bad and, of course, there are no jobs.

Azizullah says there were foreigners in his home village — by which he probably means al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who cross the border into the Afghan province of Kunar to fight. He says the Pakistani army cleared them out for the most part, but Kabul still feels safer, and he can earn money to support his wife and kids back home.

Azizullah says he feels no certainty about the way Pakistan is headed. In that, he shares the same sentiment as many in Islamabad, Kabul and Washington, D.C.

Gates Says No Sign That Top Pakistanis Knew of Bin Laden

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that he surmised that “somebody” in Pakistan had been aware that Osama bin Laden was hiding in a compound in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, but that there was no evidence so far that anyone in the country’s senior leadership had known.

“My supposition is, somebody knew,” Mr. Gates said at a Pentagon news conference with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Beyond that, he said, the Obama administration, which has repeatedly said that Bin Laden seemed to have a “support network” while in hiding, had little information.

“We don’t know whether it was retired people, whether it was low level — pure supposition on our part,” Mr. Gates said. “It’s hard to go to them with an accusation when we have no proof that anybody knew.”

Mr. Gates said that his supposition, shared by many other Obama administration officials, did not extend to Pakistan’s top political and military officials. “I have seen no evidence at all that the senior leadership knew,” Mr. Gates said. “In fact, I’ve seen some evidence to the contrary.”

Mr. Gates, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, did not elaborate on that evidence. But hundreds of intelligence analysts continue to pore over the large trove of computer files, whose volume of data has been compared to that of a small college library. Navy Seal commandos recovered the material after they killed Bin Laden on May 2 in a raid on his Abbottabad compound, a short distance from an elite military academy that is Pakistan’s West Point.

Asked if the Pakistani senior leadership should pay a price for apparently not knowing that Bin Laden was there, Mr. Gates replied swiftly. “If I were in Pakistani shoes, I would say I’ve already paid a price — I’ve been humiliated, I’ve been shown that the Americans can come in here and do this with impunity,” he said.

Admiral Mullen echoed Mr. Gates. “I don’t think that we should underestimate the humbling experience that this is, and in fact the internal soul-searching that’s going on inside the Pakistani military right now,” he said.

At the same news conference, Mr. Gates and Admiral Mullen each said that there had been too much public discussion about the details of the raid and that there were concerns about security for the families of the Navy Seal members who had carried it out.

Mr. Gates, who met privately with the commandos four days after the raid, said that the commandos, whose names are classified, “did express concern, not so much for themselves but for their families.” Mr. Gates suggested that security measures might be taken as a precaution against potential retaliation by terrorists.

“All I will say is that we have been taking a close look at that, and we will do whatever is necessary,” Mr. Gates said.

In comments last week at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Mr. Gates said that top administration officials in the White House Situation Room who monitored the raid as it was happening had agreed not to release operational details but that the agreement fell apart afterward.

Although Mr. Gates appeared to be referring to an extensive White House briefing that followed the raid, he said at the Pentagon news conference on Wednesday that he was not singling anyone out.

Admiral Mullen said simply that “it is time to stop talking.”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned

Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive accusations that he had sexually attacked a housekeeper in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room.

“It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of managing director of the I.M.F.,” he said in a statement dated Wednesday and issued shortly after midnight by the I.M.F. “I think at this time first of my wife — whom I love more than anything — of my children, of my family, of my friends.”

His resignation comes four days after Mr. Strauss-Kahn was taken off an Air France plane at Kennedy International Airport and arrested in connection with the accusations, and a day after Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, called for his resignation.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, had been expected to declare his candidacy for the French presidency soon. He was seen as one of the people figure most likely to oust President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In issuing his resignation Wednesday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said, “I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.”

News of the arrest produced an earthquake of shock, outrage, disbelief and embarrassment throughout France.

Though Mr. Strauss-Kahn received generally high marks for his stewardship of the bank, his reputation was tarnished in 2008 by an affair with a Hungarian economist who was a subordinate there. The fund decided to stand by him despite concluding that he had shown poor judgment. He issued an apology to employees at the bank and his wife, Anne Sinclair, an American-born French journalist.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s extramarital affairs have long been considered an open secret. But the legal charges against him — which include attempted rape, forced oral sex and an effort to sequester another person against her will — are of an entirely different magnitude, even in France and elsewhere in continental Europe, where voters have generally shown more lenience than Americans toward the sexual behavior of prominent politicians, most notably the sexual escapades of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s resignation now sets off the jockeying for his replacement. The French finance minister, Christine Lagarde, is considered the leading candidate to succeed Mr. Strauss-Kahn, her friend and colleague. Her straight talk has helped burnish Ms. Lagarde’s reputation as one of Europe’s most influential ambassadors in the world of international finance.

Her main competition, analysts say, is Kemal Dervis, a former finance minister of Turkey. Mr. Dervis is credited with rescuing the Turkish economy after it was hit by a devastating financial crisis in 2001, in part by securing a multibillion-dollar loan from the I.M.F. Before that, Mr. Dervis worked at the World Bank for 24 years.

In the meantime, the I.M.F. said in its statement Wednesday night that John Lipsky would remain as acting managing director.

While at the helm of the I.M.F., Mr. Strauss-Kahn, an economist and politician, had used the European debt crisis to seize, somewhat audaciously, a new and prominent role for the world body. Trying to shed its old image as a hidebound policy task master, the fund refashioned itself as the investment bank of multilateral institutions — doing whatever it took to get the deal done.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was a leading member of France’s Socialist Party when he was chosen by the newly elected Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative, to be the head of the fund, a job that has traditionally been given to a European.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest came 10 minutes before his plane was due to depart, at about 4:40 p.m., when two detectives of the Port Authority suddenly boarded Air France Flight 23, as the plane idled at the departure gate.

The police were called to the hotel about 1:30 p.m. on May 14, but when they arrived, Mr. Strauss-Kahn had already checked out. At some point, Mr. Strauss-Kahn called the hotel and said that his cellphone was missing. Police detectives then coached hotel employees to tell him, falsely, that they had the telephone, according to the law enforcement official. Mr. Strauss-Kahn said he was at Kennedy Airport and about to get on a plane.

US working hard for understanding with Pakistan

The United States is striving to have an understanding with Pakistan on way forward that continues anti-militant progress in the region and “answers a lot of the concerns that both sides have at this point,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

She indicated intensive diplomatic engagement between the two countries in the weeks ahead as they seek to salvage the relationship - seen critical to U.S. success in Afghanistan - and overcome tensions arising in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s discovery in Abbottabad and the May 2 U.S. unilateral action to take al-Qaeda leader out.

“We are working very hard to have an understanding with our counterparts in Pakistan about the best way forward,” Clinton told reporters Tuesday after meeting New Zealand’s foreign minister.

She spoke as Senator John Kerry returned from a visit to Islamabad during which both countries signaled their agreement on building trust and bilateral ties.

In her media interaction at the State Department, the top American diplomat would not comment specifically on any issue between the two countries. But, she stressed “we’re going to be working very hard in the days and weeks ahead to ensure that we have a path forward that continues the progress and answers a lot of the concerns that both sides have at this point.”

Clinton, who is expected to travel to Islamabad in the near future, noted that just in the past few days, she has spoken to senior Pakistani leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani, Army Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

In the coming days, U.S. Special Representative for the region, Marc Grossman will be in Pakistan “to continue more detailed consultations.”

“And obviously, there are important concerns and many questions that have to be addressed and worked through,” she remarked. At the same time, the diplomat reminded that “in recent years our cooperation between our governments, our militaries, our law enforcement agencies, has increased pressure on al-Qaida and the Taliban, and we want that progress to continue.”

Going forward, she pledged, the Obama Administration is “committed to supporting the people and the Government of Pakistan as they defend their own democracy from the constant attacks by violent extremists.”

Clinton had praise for Senator Kerry’s efforts in Islamabad and said she had been in close touch with him before and during the lawmaker’s trip.

“I appreciate very much his delivering to the Pakistanis, in his capacity as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, a clear perspective on the concerns of the United States Congress.”

Rs3b okayed to set up FATA university, governor briefed Tribal students getting Rs1b in scholarships

Establishment of FATA University with an estimated cost of Rs. 3 billion has been principally approved and the project is at initial stage for which a suitable location is being identified. This was disclosed during a presentation to the Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Barrister Masood Kausar on FATA Education here at the Governor House on Tuesday. It was further revealed that Rs. 2680. 129 million had been allocated for FATA education during the current financial year which is the highest ever outlay for education sector development in FATA.Director Education FATA Fazal Manan gave the presentation in which the Additional Chief Secretary FATA Fazal Karim Khattak, Secretary to Governor Sikander Qayyum and Secretary A&C FATA Abid Majid were also present. The governor was told that under different schemes FATA students were being awarded educational scholarships worth nearly one billion rupees annually.Talking on the occasion the governor said that education development in FATA was the top most priority adding that quality education was the ultimate aim that would never be compromised. The governor emphasized efficient monitoring of the educational process in FATA to ensure its quality and continuity and urged that trend of absenteeism in the educational institutions must be discouraged. The governor stressed the need for promotion of female education in FATA, saying that the female literacy ratio was very low needed to be enhanced. On a point regarding shortage of teaching staff, the governor said that the issue would be raised with the federal govt. He described extra-curricular activities as equally important for student’s physical and mental development and urged that sports and other healthy activities and provision of facilities for such activities must be part of our educational development plan for FATA.On a query regarding closure of certain educational institutions in FATA the governor was told that in certain areas education institutions had been closed due to law and order problem and these institution will be opened when the situation in the respective areas become normal. Regarding closure of community schools, the governor was informed that these schools were closed in December last year as being reportedly, non-functional. However a survey was being carried out through local committees and the feasible and functional schools will be reopened. The total number of educational institutions in FATA is 5620 including 41 colleges and nearly 300 high and higher secondary schools. The male enrolment in these institution is above 0.4 million and that of female is above 0.2 million. 20 Model Schools and 6 Cadet Colleges are also being opened, out of which 10 Model Schools and One cadet College in Wana has since become functional.

Shahbaz Sharif Breaking the begging bowl

The Frontier Post

The Pakistan Muslim League-N government in Punjab has decided not to take foreign loans for the province’s economic restructuring and its Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif told a news conference in Lahore on Monday that his party and the provincial cabinet had chosen an honourable way of living, breaking the begging bowl and depending on own resources to walk with head high among comity of nations. Claiming to be setting example for others to follow, the chief minister of the largest province said the refusal to accept foreign loans and aid might pose a short-term difficulty and some of the development projects might get delayed execution, but the damage can be controlled by way of ‘sacrifices’ of the people, particularly the elite classes. He said trade and not aid would be his government’s commitment that would strive for besides insistence on respectability of mutual benefit with other nations as the only way forward to progress and development of the province and the country. Well said the younger Mian Sahib, this certainly is a resolve worth emulating. This is what the highest degree of self-esteem would think the like. But how a commoner would comprehend as to how and why the decision was taken by the provincial administrator first and then sought to seek consent of the chief of party in power; this is a big political anomaly and leaves many questions to answer.That is not all, there is something else and it falls squarely into the mischief of deceit. The Punjab’s ruling elite has concealed a vital fact from the people that the PML-N government has already obtained from the multilateral donors like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank a hefty amount of no less than Rs32.27 billion out of the donors’ commitment of around Rs40 billion by April 30 for budgetary support and development works during the fiscal 2010-11. This is the height of tenacious delusion of a politician who has been and continues to thrive on doggedness. Breaking the begging bowl has been a slogan that the Sharifs yelled aloud long ago and what we see at the end of all their governments, we see the country plunging further deep down in foreign debts. For example, Nawaz Sharif received one of the highest IMF assistance of $13 billion during his first stint as prime minister. This is a matter of record, and what a record, that the elder Mian Sahib pays an annual tax of Rs5,000 on his entire income coming from the industries in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that proudly lists him and his family among the 20 richest persons of Pakistan after Mian Mohammad Mansha (assets $2.5 billion), President Asif Ali Zardari (assets $1.8 billion), Sir Anwer Pervaiz, of Bestway group of companies, a Pakistani national in UK (assets $1.5 billion). The Sharifs’ total assets in and out of Pakistan are believed to be worth $1.3 billion and their palatial mansion at Raiwind alone stands at $5 million with its lush green sprawling lawns and orchards and a network of roads and pavements that a person can only see in his or her dreams.

Pakistan and Russia face similar threats: Medvedev

Russia and Pakistan on Thursday pledged to coordinate efforts in the fight against terror as the Kremlin welcomed the Pakistani leader for a key visit after the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Meeting Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari for talks expected to also produce several economic cooperation agreements, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the two countries both suffered from terrorism.



“We are interested in coordinating our efforts on the international arena. It is obvious that our countries are facing absolutely the same threat, I mean international terrorism,” Russian news agencies quoted Medvedev as telling Zardari at the Kremlin.



“We have to do everything so that we could jointly counter this main evil of the 21st century,” Medvedev was quoted as saying.



Zardari, who kicked off his three-day trip to Russia on Wednesday, expressed hope his visit would help deepen ties between the two countries which share a complicated history.



“Our countries are very close neighbours, we are located in the same region and although we do not share borders our hearts beat in unison,” Russian news agencies quoted Zardari as saying.



“The time has come to acknowledge the importance of our countries for each other and the importance of our cooperation.”



Foreign news agencies were not invited to cover the talks.



The Russian trip is Zardari’s first high-profile visit abroad since the Al-Qaeda leader, the world’s most wanted man, was killed in the raid by US forces on a compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan.



The Kremlin hailed the death of bin Laden as a “serious success… in the war against international terrorism” but Pakistan has expressed fury that US forces carried out the raid without informing Islamabad first.



Russia and Pakistan are hoping to pursue joint economic projects and officials from the two countries were also expected to sign agreements on cooperation in agriculture, aviation and energy.

French Socialist Party puts on a united front

Saudi women use Facebook and Twitter to fight for equal rights

A group of women in Saudi Arabia banded together to form a movement seeking to end the country's discriminatory laws particularly male guardianship.

The Saudi Women Revolution, made up mostly of young university-educated women, was started as a Facebook page and a discussion topic on Twitter in February, by Nuha Al Sulaiman.The Facebook page has now more than 3,000 "likes" and several of the women have met in person to discuss their campaign.
According to Al Sulaiman social media like Facebook and Twitter made possible for people who have common ideas to meet.
According to Human Rights Watch, male guardianship means Saudi women need permission from their male kins - husband, father, brother or even son - to work, travel, study, marry, or even access health care.
Saudi Women Revolution recently made their first public act by turning up at election centers to register for the municipal elections in September. As expected the women were turned down. Arab women were never allowed to vote. The women said it doesn't matter that they were rejected but their action was their way to get attention to their campaign. The women also wanted to be allowed to drive which is forbidden in the Kingdom.
"We will do whatever it takes. We will go to the king himself. We will never stop fighting for our rights because it's time for change," Al Sulaiman said.
The Saudi Women Revolution stressed that they are not fighting their government but just want to send the message to end women discrimination.
The campaign has already attracted support from human rights organizations outside the country.
Not all Saudi women want to end male guardianship, however. In 2009, a group of Saudi women launched a campaign called "My Guardian Knows What's Best for Me," which was participated by thousands of supporters.

Obama approval ratings at a 2-year high

United States President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit the highest point in two years at 60 percent. According to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after US forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected... according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Obama: ‘We saved the country from a Great Depression’

At a pair of fundraisers in Austin, Texas, Tuesday night, a confident Barack Obama touted accomplishments made under his watch, and declared, “We saved the country from a Great Depression.

The president said the shrinking economy he inherited “is now growing fairly steadily.”

“I don't think we fully realized how dramatic some of the changes would be as we came into office,” he told supporters, citing his administration’s handling of the banking crisis, intervening in the auto industry, passing equal pay legislation, investing in education and clean energy, doubling exports, ending a war, “as promised,” and working on drawing down troops in Afghanistan this year.

But with all that progress, Mr. Obama warned, “we still got some climbing to do,” saying he wants to reach a “summit” where all children have opportunity and where America is more prosperous.

“That's the summit we want to reach. And it’s going to take more than a couple years to get there. In fact, it’s going to take more than one term to get there,” he said to applause.

President Obama then asked his faithful to hang in there with him – even if it looks like he’s compromising too much with the Republican agenda.

“I know all the grumbling,” he said, admitting he gets frustrated too.

Then a candid Obama admitted while he gets frustrated, even “candidate” Obama knew it would be a tough road to hoe.

“I always laugh when people say, boy, you know, the Obama campaign back in 2008, that was just so smooth and flawless - and I’m thinking, what campaign were they looking at? We screwed up all the time during our campaign. We made mistakes. We lost all kinds of primaries and caucuses, and there were all kinds of times where I said things that I wish I hadn’t or didn't say things I wish I had. That's life. But you guys stuck with me because you knew that at each and every juncture in our history, when our future is on the line, when our country is at a crossroads - like we are now - we can come together and we can do big things.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Visits China

The Pakistani prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, arrived in China on Tuesday for a four-day visit, picking up some welcome diplomatic support at a critical moment in Pakistan’s relations with the United States.

The prime minister’s visit was planned as part of a long-planned celebration of diplomatic ties, but analysts said Pakistan is using it to hint that China is an alternative source of security and economic aid — a reassuring message for a nation angered and humiliated by the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

“It is being used for show, for politics, for domestic reasons, to show to the Pakistani public that if relations deteriorate with the United States, China is there to swing in with diplomatic and other support,” said Andrew Small, a fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Brussels. “China is playing along to some extent because Pakistan is in sort of a tight spot at the moment.”

Though Mr. Gilani arrived late Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said his visit would officially begin on Wednesday. The prime minister will meet with Premier Wen Jiabao, President Hu Jintao and various economic officials, the Chinese government said. He met earlier this week with Senator John Kerry, who flew to Islamabad to try to ease tensions over the raid.Both Mr. Gilani and the Chinese media played up Pakistan’s ties with China. Xinhua, China’s official news agency, quoted Mr. Gilani on Tuesday as saying, “We are proud to have China as our best and most trusted friend.”

A Foreign Ministry spokesman on Tuesday promised China’s unswerving support to Pakistan’s fight against terrorism. A signed commentary the day before in People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, urged Americans to critically examine the unilateral nature of its raid and infringement on Pakistan’s territorial rights.

Analysts said that while China is happy to offer Pakistan diplomatic cover, it is wary of tilting too far in Pakistan’s direction. Annual trade between the two countries amounted last year to $8.7 billion, and China supplied Pakistan with two new civilian nuclear reactors, balancing a nuclear deal between the United States and India.

But “China wants to hold back from a full-on alliance,” Mr. Small said. “They don’t want to be stuck in a situation where they seem to have taken on too much direct responsibility” for a country with Pakistan’s security and political problems. While there is some talk in Islamabad that China might supplant the United States as Pakistan’s main economic backer, the Pakistani officials privately express little expectation that that will happen.

Rong Ying, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, said tense relations between the United States and Pakistan were more of a threat than a benefit to China. China has a huge stake in a stable Pakistan, he said, partly because it fears that Islamic militants could spill over into its western Xinjiang region.

“I think the United States should think about how it can damage-control relations with Pakistan,” he said.

Pakistan and NATO Forces Exchange Fire

Pakistani ground troops opened fire on two NATO helicopters that crossed into Pakistan’s airspace from Afghanistan early Tuesday morning, the Pakistani Army said in a statement. A firefight then briefly erupted between NATO forces and the troops, the statement said, and two Pakistani soldiers were wounded.

The clash took place at Admi Kot Post in the North Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan, an area that American officials have long regarded as a haven used by militants to attack coalition forces inside Afghanistan. NATO officials said they were looking into the incident, and could not immediately confirm whether the helicopters had indeed entered Pakistan’s airspace.

The exchange of fire between NATO and Pakistani forces appeared likely to worsen frictions between Pakistan and the United States. The Pakistani Army “lodged a strong protest and demanded a flag meeting,” the statement said, referring to a meeting between officials from Pakistan and NATO.

Last September, Pakistan shut down for more than a week the land route through Pakistan that NATO uses to supply its forces in Afghanistan, after two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed in a similar border clash.

Tuesday’s clash came as Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, traveled to Beijing. Analysts said that visit was meant to signal to the United States that Pakistan saw China as an alternative source of security and economic aid.

On Monday, Senator John Kerry met with top civil and military leaders in Pakistan in an effort to smooth the fraying relations between the two countries in the wake of the American raid by forces that killed Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani Parliament in a closed-door session last week urged the government to renew and revisit its terms of engagement with the United States. It also warned that it might sever supply lines to coalition forces in Afghanistan if there were further unilateral incursions.

Drone attacks, which are operated by the C.I.A., not by the NATO-led coalition force, are highly unpopular in Pakistan. Nationalist and right-wing Islamist political parties regularly denounce the use of drone attacks inside Pakistani territory. Government officials who in the past privately approved the use of drones have lately been joining the chorus of public criticism.

Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s leading spy organization, also maintains that it has stopped cooperating with the United States in choosing targets for drone attacks.

At the same time, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani Army chief, has resisted American pressure to start a military operation in North Waziristan, a stronghold of the Haqqani network, whose militants cross into Afghanistan to battle American and NATO soldiers.

PAKISTAN: Driven out of Kurram Agency by violence

At a transport stand in Peshawar, Ali Junaid, 35, haggles with bus and truck drivers for the best rates to take him and his family to the southern city of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest urban centre.

“I need to hang on to what money I have,” he said. “It is not much, but I also want my family to be comfortable. It is a long journey, and my three children are young.”

Junaid would have been paying for one other family member to travel with them, but his four-year-old son died in January while they were living in the town of Parachinar in the restive Kurram Agency, one of seven tribal agencies on the Pakistan-Afghan border where a bitter war between Sunni and Shia Muslim sects has resulted in hundreds of deaths since the 1980s.

A complex set of geopolitical issues has influenced events in Kurram valley - an area central to the interests of Taliban militants because it offers easy access to Afghanistan. For example, the fiercely Sunni orthodox Taliban have faced consistent resistance in the region from Shia tribes, a factor which has contributed to sectarian conflict in the area.

Kurram’s population of 500,000 has a Shia majority, according to official statistics. Since 2007, things have been particularly grim. That year, the main road linking Parachinar on the Pakistan-Afghan border to Peshawar was closed due to militant activity, resulting in acute shortages of essential items in Parachinar, according to observers like the autonomous Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The ongoing violence has resulted in hundreds of deaths and large-scale displacements from Kurram. One of those who died was Junaid’s son.

“He developed a sore throat and very high fever, but there were no medicines available in Parachinar,” Junaid told IRIN. “We found a doctor, who believed my child had meningitis, but without drugs there was nothing he could do for him. I considered trying to take him to a town with a running hospital, even through Afghanistan, but he was too weak to make the long journey and died.”

Leaving Parachinar

When the road was reopened briefly in February this year, before being shut down again in March after fresh sectarian violence, Ali Junaid chose to leave Parachinar.

“It is fortunate we did,” he said. “Now the road is closed again, even food supplies are short and no one pays any heed to demands that the road be opened.” Unable to find a job in Peshawar, Junaid, a mason, hopes for better luck - and a safer future for his family - in Karachi.

After the brief reopening of the crucial road, the prime minister announced a plan to support some 32,000 people displaced from Kurram Agency. However, the truce quickly broke down, prompting more people to want to leave both Kurram and the Tirah Valley area in the Khyber Agency, where there has also been an increase in tensions.

“Many people are trying to leave, but the security situation makes this impossible,” Hussain Abbas, who works with a community-based welfare organization in Parachinar, told IRIN.

UN Refugee Agency spokesman Duniya Aslam Khan said: “We do not have reports of any large-scale movements out of these areas, but people could be moving in with relatives rather than to camps.”

Some certainly have chosen this route. Zaigham Hassan, 40, and his wife, Shandana Bibi, moved out of Kurram Valley in 2009 and took up an invitation from a cousin based in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa town of Mardan to live in his house. Hassan, who had considered going back to Kurram in March, has now abandoned any thoughts of doing so.

“It seems my four children are destined to grow up away from their homeland,” he told IRIN. “I would love to go back, but after the renewed trouble, I fear things will never get back to normal. The economy has slumped, and as a truck driver I have no work when key roads are closed.”

Deadly crackdown as Yemen protests persists

Growing Dangers Despite U.S. Billions Invested in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan

Those who so jubilantly celebrated Osama bin Laden's demise may be surprised to discover that America's position in Pakistan and two of its neighboring countries remains just as untenable and dangerous as ever.

Three countries which have received billions in U.S. foreign aid -- Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- made the top ten list of the world's failed states, in a survey conducted by Foreign Policy magazine.

Moreover, Transparency International reports that Iraq and Afghanistan are just about the most corrupt countries in the world -- edged out only by Myanmar and Somalia -- among the 178 nations rated. Pakistan ranks 143, just slightly better than Haiti and Iran.

When a state fails to provide adequately for its citizens, corruption, theft, bribery and extortion become acceptable means of conducting business. Meanwhile, receiving decent education and healthcare becomes next to impossible as the professional classes flee in droves. Those who remain, reasonably and otherwise, point the finger of blame at America.

Iraq, for example, has seen 12,000 of its 34,000 physicians pick up and leave the country. The ratio of teachers to students in Afghanistan is one to 200, while Afghan poppy fields provide 95 percent of the world's heroin. Given these numbers, it would be absurd to think that the U.S. dollars being poured into these countries, instead of ending up in the pockets of their debased rulers, are going to build clinics and schools.

According to Foreign Policy, "Three million Pakistani civilians were displaced by 'counterinsurgency' operations in 2009—the largest single movement of people since the Rwandan genocide." The raid to kill bin Laden, purported to have been without the knowledge, let alone consent of Pakistani authorities, has eroded the confidence of Pakistanis in their own government even more.

And yet more alarming, Pakistan, unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, is a nuclear power. According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, Pakistan has 60 to 90 nuclear warheads, which can be delivered by "aircraft controlled by the Pakistan Air Force, and surface-to-surface missiles controlled by the Pakistan Army." The aircraft in question are American F-16 fighters, which have been modified for the purpose.

While the Bush Administration resorted to the Big Lie of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to invade that country, and succeeding administrations have sanctioned Iran for its nuclear power development, Washington keeps largely silent about a country on the brink of chaos with a verifiable nuclear arsenal.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), answerable to no one, is a predatory, opportunistic organization with a deeply ingrained culture of cynicism bordering on psychosis.

It created the Taliban and supports them still, along with certain al Qaeda elements, even as they operate inside Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. With close ties to a military that controls the nuclear weapons, the ISI has twice leaked the identity of the CIA station chief in Islamabad in recent weeks, forcing the first one to leave the country, most likely in order to deflect attention from its own obvious role - independent of Pakistani government oversight - in helping the CIA locate and kill bin Laden.

It is frightening that such an organization, whose actions are consistently guided by self-serving rationalization, can influence the decision-making process that would commence a thermonuclear offensive.

The growing crisis in that region, as all major disasters, has multiple causes. It stems partially from America's consistent misreading of the region and its overriding interests in it, its oil and geopolitical riches, as well as abysmally poor populations within the region who give rise to the worst of leaders.

Even more dangerous than Pakistan's control of a nuclear arsenal is the growing power vacuum in an area of the world which extends from the Persian Gulf to the Caucuses and Central Asia--where numerous former Soviet republics have become nation states with Muslim majorities -- and from the Turkish border to the Indian subcontinent.

Should the war in Afghanistan spill into Pakistan beyond the border mountains, leaving the United States little choice but to solidify its hold over the landmass by launching the long-dreaded offensive against Iran, other world powers are not going to sit idly by.

Russia cannot remain eternally indifferent to the growing turmoil close to its southern reaches, while China may find the moment opportune to flex its considerable muscles. Even India, the other regional nuclear power, may jump into the fray, helping to create a conflict of global proportions to define our times in the most dreadful terms possible, just as two disastrous world wars defined the previous century.

Least helpful is to stage unilateral, feel-good spectacles to serve myopic political ambitions, such as the raid that killed bin Laden. These actions only give ammunition to America’s most vociferous detractors within the region who have long lambasted it for its willful posture.

Quite to the contrary, America must begin to act multilaterally, not only in conjunction with its European allies, but countries within the region, as well as such sleeping giants as China and Russia. As it stands, every step is being taken in the wrong direction with every promise to put the entire world in unfathomable peril.

China unswervingly supports Pakistan's anti-terror efforts: spokeswoman

Xinhua

China said on Tuesday that it will "unswervingly" continue to support Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism and urged "relevant countries" to offer further help to the South Asian country.

"Pakistan has made important contributions in fighting terrorism and made great sacrifices," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu during a regular news briefing.

"The Chinese government will unswervingly continue to support Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism," said Jiang.

Jiang said that preventing and dealing with terrorist threats is a challenge for the entire international community, and urged more international cooperation regarding the issue.

"We hope relevant countries will continue to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan and provide further help to the country," said Jiang.

Jiang's remarks came as Pakistani Prime Minister Raza Gilani arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for an official visit.

Suspected Midland drug kingpin linked to family of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai

Surghar Daily
A SUSPECTED Midland drug kingpin has been linked to the family of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

Robert Dawes, 39, from Nottingham, was extradited to Spain from Dubai last month to face charges connected to a massive cocaine ring which allegedly flooded Britain with Class A drugs.

While Spanish prosecutors prepare to try the Midland man for smuggling and distributing narcotics, reports of links have emerged between Dawes and a nephew of President Karzai.

Afghanistan has a reputation as one of the world’s largest producers of heroin, and the US has estimated that up to $10 million a day leaves the country for Dubai, which has acted as a money laundering centre for Afghan druglords in recent years.

Jamil Karzai, a nephew of the Afghan president, was allegedly seen at Dawes’ offices meeting the suspected kingpin’s right-hand man, Manchester-born Raphael Nasr.

“Raphael is our best friend and is kind of family now,” Karzai allegedly told an undercover investigator. “We can do good business there. If we all get together we can have something really good.”

Asked about Dawes, Karzai allegedly said: “I’ve spoken with him, yeah, I’ve spoken with him, I think, a couple of times.” Meanwhile, Nasr told the investigator, who was posing as a broker for a client looking at business opportunities in Afghanistan, that he had strong links to Jamil Karzai.

The Afghan, who heads the Youth Solidarity Party, was an MP in Kabul until losing his seat in 2010.

When later confronted, Nasr admitted that he was friends with members of the Karzai family and Robert Dawes, but denied he was involved in any criminality. Karzai denied that he knew Nasr or Dawes.

In a statement released last week, the Spanish Civil Guard described Dawes as “the boss of an important English drug trafficking organisation”.

Arrested

He was arrested after a joint operation between the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the Spanish Civil Guard’s Central Operative Unit in Madrid, and Belgian police.

A further 22 people were taken into custody as part of the probe, nine of them in the UK, eight in Spain, four in Belgium and one in the United Arab Emirates.

Officers seized millions of pounds worth of drugs, including more than five tons of cannabis resin, 100 kilos of heroin and 210 kilos of cocaine. They also recovered four firearms and £90,000 in cash.Dawes was extradited from Dubai to Spain after completing a jail sentence imposed in 2008 for money laundering. Spanish prosecutors say he was able to continue running his operation from his jail cell in the United Arab Emirates.

He fled the UK for Spain nearly ten years ago and left his base in Mijas Costa for Dubai in 2007 after a number of his alleged associates were arrested.

Police in Britain have swooped on members of Dawes’ family, including his brother John and father, Arthur. Both were jailed in 2005 for drugs offences and money laundering.

Dawes has previously been named by SOCA as “a highly significant international criminal” wanted in the UK and other European countries.

He is under investigation in Holland for the 2002 murder of teacher Gerard Meesters, who was shot outside his home in Groningen.

British police are also said to want to interview him about the unsolved murder of father-of-two David Draycott, who was shot at his home in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, in 2002.

Who are India's Communists?

India's Communists had not completely abandoned the gun for the ballot box when the country won its independence from British rule after the Second World War.
But they soon came under pressure from the Soviet Union to make peace with the ruling Congress Party, then one of Moscow's most valued allies.

Like other communist parties around the world they was plagued by splits and in the late 1950s and early 1960s was pulled in different directions by the tensions between the former USSR and Mao's People's Republic of China.

In general elections, it didn't manage to win over the masses: its ranks of MPs remained in the 20s, but it managed a breakthrough in 1977, under the leadership of the late Jyoti Basu.

Basu, who died last year, masterminded a stunning victory in the West Bengal state elections, was revered in India as a 'gentleman and a communist' who broadened the party's appeal and transformed it into a national force.

He was widely respected beyond his party as a veteran of the independence movement, but as chief minister of India's first Communist-led government he introduced a series of land reforms and gave poor small farmers a greater say in local government. His popularity was such that he was picked as the United Front's choice to become prime minister, but the move was vetoed by his party's Politburo. He believed it made an 'historic blunder' which may have stopped the party becoming a dominant force in Indian politics.

The party's poll showings improved in the 2004 election and in 2009 it emerged as the country's third largest party with 59 seats, but its fortunes were already in decline. Basu's 'democratic socialism' in Calcutta gave way to a series of alliances between party bureaucrats and local property dealers who colluded with gangsters to force poor farmers to make way for inward investors.

Many felt they had been forced to give up land cheaply for capitalist corporates who would later make fortunes from it.

The party had moved away from the people, and last night the people put the party in its place.