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Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 05-23-2006
This time the crocodile won't wait
Londonistan by Melanie Phillips Buy this book
Reviewed by Spengler
In retrospect, it seems oafish of Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister in 1938, to have betrayed Czechoslovakia to Nazi rule in return for the empty promise of peace. Yet an overwhelming English majority looked with horror on the prospect of confrontation with Germany and a new world war, until Adolf Hitler forced England's hand by invading Poland. "The appeaser hopes the crocodile will eat him last," said Winston Churchill. Today's crocodiles may not be so patient.
Opposing voices in 1938 rang lonely and shrill, and just as shrill today sounds Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips in her portrayal of an emasculated Britain ashamed of its own national identity and anxious to appease the "clerical fascism" of the jihadis. That will change, perhaps even before the print is quite dry on her new book. She warns that the West faces a religious war with Islam. I concur, and recommend Londonistan as indispensable background.
Britain, Phillips warns, is reaping what it has sown. A large minority of British Muslims are disaffected at best and seditious at worst. Phillips cites a 2004 Home Office survey finding that 26% of British Muslims felt no loyalty to Britain, 13% supported terrorism, and about 1% (up to 20,000 individuals) were "actively engaged" in terrorism or support for terrorism.
Another poll found that 32% of British Muslims agreed that "Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end". In the event of a violent collision between the West and Iran, for example, civil conflict might arise in Britain on a scale resembling that in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.
Phillips accuses British security services with complicity in the gestation of a terrorist apparatus in London. Her documentation of overt terrorist activity centered in London is exhaustive, and raises the question of why the open scandal was tolerated. Saudi, Algerian and Egyptian requests for extradition of suspected terrorists were refused, and Arab diplomats vented their frustration over British recalcitrance in public.
A cynically narrow concept of national interest guided this policy, she argues, charging that MI6 (Military Intelligence Section 6, now officially known as the Secret Intelligence Service) believed "that if the Islamists were being left undisturbed to conduct their activities on the assumption that they would not then attack Britain".
But that can explain only part of the story, and Phillips searches for deeper causes of Britain's cowardice. "Denial" is a recurrent theme. She cites an unnamed "foreign intelligence source" as follows:
During the 1990s, many attempts were made to enlighten the British about what was happening. But they refused to see this problem as having a religious character. If this was a religious problem, it became a religious confrontation - and the specter of a religious war was too horrendous. A religious war is different from any other war because you are dealing with absolute beliefs and the room for compromise is very limited. Religious wars are very protracted and bloody, and often end up with a very high toll of lives.
That is not denial, though, but revulsion. The British establishment may have recoiled in horror from the prospect of religious war precisely because it has sufficient institutional memory to know just what such wars entail. Religious war, however, is precisely what it will have, on the worst possible terms, and with an extensive fifth column in place.
Successful manipulation of religious conflict is a lost art. Cardinal Richelieu and his successor Jules Mazarin kept the Thirty Years' War aflame in Germany by subsidizing new entrants into the fray, notably Sweden's Gustavus Adolphus (King Gustavus II), deploying French forces when proxies were not available.
The carnage claimed the lives of more than half of the German speakers and left France the dominant power in continental Europe until 1870. On a smaller scale, Britain played such divide-and-conquer games throughout its imperial history, most obviously by transplanting Scottish Protestants to Northern Ireland. Some in India read malice aforethought into the 1947 partition of the sub-continent. Britain no longer has malefactors with the iron stomach and broad culture of a T E Lawrence or a Sir Richard Burton to undertake such projects.
Phillips soft-pedals the imperial sins for which today's problems are part payment. As Phillips observes, the legacy of Britain's imperial past in the form of Northern Ireland distracted the security services' attention from the Islamist threat:
Instead of studying the Middle East as a cause for concern, they were staring across the Irish Sea at Northern Ireland, where a terrorist insurrection against the UK had been in progress since the 1970s. The mindset, on both sides of the Atlantic, was that terrorism was tied to discrete grievances against individual states. And with the end of the Cold War, the notion of a global threat rooted in ideology was assumed to be dead and buried.
But the Northern Ireland disaster was more than a distraction. Britain has a glorious past, and its role in defining individual rights and representative democracy is central to the success of the West. But real crimes can be laid at Britain's doorstep, including the mistreatment of the Irish over centuries. That does not excuse the thuggishness of the Irish Republicans, but it does help explain the moral palsy that afflicts today's British establishment.
Former US president Jimmy Carter's ability to see the better side of his country's worst enemies comes to mind. In this month's issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Mark Bowden reports that Carter forbade the Delta Force commandos to use deadly forces against the kidnappers of American hostages in Tehran in the ill-fated 1980 rescue attempt.
In his ignorance and provincialism, Carter could not see any conflict in terms other than the black-white confrontation during the US South in the 1960s. Palestinians, Iranians, or other self-defined victims of Western imperialism are the blacks of Selma in the diminutive mind of the former president. But the civil-rights movement in the United States brooks no comparison to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was a Christian-led movement appealing to the conscience of other Christians under the law of the land, and succeeded with minimal loss of life.
Black and white Baptists made their peace in the US South a generation ago. Protestants and Catholics yet might make peace in Northern Ireland. But that is an entirely different matter, says Phillips: "True, the IRA [Irish Republican Army] were Catholics and their adversaries were Protestants. But their cause was not Catholicism. It was a united Ireland. They did not want to impose the authority of the pope upon Britain ... There is simply no comparison to the agenda of the Islamists who want to defeat the West in the name of Islam."
The institution that should understand this best, namely the Church of England, seems most eager to liquidate itself. Notes Phillips: "In America, the churches have been in the forefront of the defense of Western values. Some of the strongest support for Israel comes from evangelical Christians. In Britain, by contrast, the Church of England has been in the forefront of the retreat from the Judeo-Christian heritage."
The Archbishop of York, the black Ugandan Dr John Sentamu, praises the British Empire and the culture it spread around the world, whereas the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, apologizes for taking "cultural captives" through the export of English hymns and liturgy. Sadly, the "cultural captives", mainly black African converts, are all that is left of the C of E. Its evangelical wing, represented by former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey - a vocal critic of Islam in the past two years - cannot compete with dissenting churches, and the High Anglican side barely breathes.
It is a bit late in time for a national church. The Roman Catholic Church can make a case that Benedict XVI has the right to head a universal church by virtue of his apostolic succession from St Peter, and thus can forgive sins in Jesus' own stead. But why should Queen Elizabeth II, much less the overtly Islamophile Prince Charles, enjoy this privilege? Perhaps the moment is ripe for the remnants of English Catholicism to join the Roman Church, and for British Protestants to find their way to more robust dissenting denominations.
In any case, Western liberalism, including the sexual habits of English curates, does not appeal to Muslims. On the contrary, Phillips says:
British Muslims are overwhelmingly horrified and disgusted by the louche and dissolute behavior of a Britain that has torn up the notion of respectability. They observe the alcoholism, drug abuse and pornography, the breakdown of family life and the encouragement of promiscuity, and find themselves there in opposition to their host society's guiding values. What they are recoiling from, of course, is the breakdown of Western values. After a visit to the United States in 1948, Sayed Qutb wrote: "Humanity today is living in a large brothel!"
Revulsion and contempt color Muslim attitudes toward the British leftists who most desire to appease them. That is not a recipe for co-existence but for escalation, as last year's subway bombings should have made clear. But the issue now is not terrorism but rather outright war.
The British authorities may have turned a blind eye to terrorism directed against others, and may even have dragged their feet at confronting the terrorist threat at home that erupted in the July 7, 2005, subway bombings. Terrorism is dreadful but, like many nasty things, one can develop a tolerance for it. Now it is not merely terrorism that the West confronts but a strategic debacle of intolerable proportions in the form of Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons.
In that sense Melanie Phillips' book comes too late, for it reports a set of circumstances shortly to be overthrown by events. She is writing about 1938, and we are entering 1939, when the West will have to respond to an external challenge in a way that it never could to an internal threat. Britain will have the religious war it sought to dodge.
Londonistan by Melanie Phillips. Encounter Books: New York 2006. ISBN: 1594031444. Price: US$25.95, 213 pages.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HE23Aa01.html
Islamism - 5 - ramana - 05-25-2006
X-Posted
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Please read the following lectures
History Guide- Christianity as a Cultural Revolution
Early Church fathers- St Jerome and St Augustine
Bzyantine Civilization
Islamic Civilization
See the progression and integration of Christian elements in Islam. There are parallel lives of Christian Siants and Muhammed.
Is it possible that Muhammed was really a Christian sect follower in a non-Roman ruled area who brought in Roman-Christian traditions into non Roman rules areas? He did not like the lite version of Roman Christian and developed his own hard version where the mercy that Jesus talsk about is shown only to the beleivers.
Note that his 'new' faith spread like wildfire in all areas that were essentially non-Roman_ Syria, Egypt etc. All these new areas were 'conquered' or rather submitted to provide an alternate power center to Rome and restore their primacy in the Middle East and beyond.
See the parallels between the German tribes that adopted Arianism and conquered for Rome and the Turks who adopted Sufism and conquered for Islam.
Persia took 900 years from 650 AD to 1550 (Safavid) again there was no large non-Roman Christian population. Even in India, Islam showed up in Kerala and then other areas(Sind etc) by conquest.
Its all about political power in times of uncertainity(jahilliya) which coincides with the fall of Rome.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 05-25-2006
Admins may remove if not found appropriate for this thread:
Historic day as city's first "Asian" Lord Mayor takes the reins
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->By Dave Marsh
Municipal Reporter
Civic history was made in Leeds last night when Mohammed Iqbal became the city's first Asian Lord Mayor.
Coun Iqbal (Lab, City and Hunslet) was installed as the city's 113th lord mayor, with his wife, Fatima, and daughter, Sayeka, a Leeds Metropolitan University law student, sharing the duties of lady mayoress.
<b>A Muslim born in Kashmir</b> <b><i>(that should read Mirpuri)</i></b>, Coun Iqbal came to Leeds in 1970 when he was nine. He was elected to the council in 1999. Coun Iqbal played a leading part in trying to bring communities together after it emerged three of the July 7 Lond-on bombers had lived in Beeston.
He told last night's meeting: "People went through a traumatic time when pictures of Beeston and Holbeck were flashed around the world. It was heartening to see how the div-erse communities pulled together."
He said he was very honoured to be elected Lord Mayor of Leeds, a city renowned for welcoming and embracing people from different religions, cultures and backgrounds.
Coun Iqbal said: "It was Leeds that gave me a home, an education through school and college and gave me work. I see this as an opportunity to pay back the city that adopted
me from the age of nine." He said during his year of office he would be raising money for an appeal for children's intensive care equipment at LGI and an appeal to set up a burns unit in Kashmir.
Coun Chris Beverley (Morley South), the city's first British National Party councillor, broke with tradition to abstain instead of voting in favour of Coun Iqbal's appointment, as well as that of Coun Jack Dunn (Labour, Ardsley and Robin Hood) as deputy lord mayor. Retiring Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress are Coun Bill Hyde and his wife Pat.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<img src='http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/Upload/LEED/235200624e4-2305-02-2305_082331.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
PROUD DAY: Coun Iqbal with with his wife, Fatima, who will share Lady Mayoress duties with daughter Sayeka. Picture: Dan Oxtoby
"He said during his year of office he would be raising money for an appeal for children's intensive care equipment at LGI and an appeal to set up a <b>burns unit in Kashmir</b>."
This will never stop till the Brits don't stop them.
Islamism - 5 - Naresh - 05-28-2006
<b>Islam and modern times</b>
Reconciliation of Islam with modernity is the need of time present. Modernization is the avowed goal of China: including modernization of economy, modernization of defence, modernization of science. In the words of Deng Zao Ping it does not matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice. By all accounts our friendly neighbour China is well on the road to emerging as a superpower while the Muslim World lags far behind. To quote one statistic Israel has more scientists than the entire Arab League.
Despite the resources, fossil fuels, and wealth no Muslim state can be counted among the ranks of advanced nations. Many attempts have been made to reconcile Islam with modernity. The best known is Turkey. Kemal Ataturk rebuilt Turkey as a modern nation state from the ashes of the collapse of the five-century old Ottoman Empire. Roman alphabets replaced the Arabic Script, the Fez was banned, the veil lifted as Turkey embarked on the policy of becoming an European State yet the doors have not been opened to allow Turkey to enter the European Union. Recent referendums on the new European Constitution rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands were in essence a vote against Turkish membership of the EU.
Another example of a failed modernization is that of the pre-revolutionary Iran of caviar, nightclubs and the precious liquid flowing in the nightclubs of Tehran under the Shah. The Shah of Iran moved Iran too fast down the bend of modernity crowned by the festivities where he anointed himself as Arya Mehr evoking the ancient memory of pre Islamic Iran of the Shahnama of Firdausi. This was too much for a socially conservative society. The pillars of Persepolis were shaken by Ayatullah Khomeini who launched a Revolution of have-nots and unarmed masses as earthshaking as the French Revolution living on the floor of the seminary at Qum and not the Peacock Throne, subsisting on an ascetic diet of yogurt. Paradoxically Iranians of today reading Lolita in Tehran are more modern than most Muslim Sates with eighty percent literacy, the best known birth control pill, and a high degree of empowerment of Women who are found everywhere at work.
Soekarnoâs Indonesia and Egypt under Nasser had an anti imperialist, socialist and progressive orientation but the succession to Suharto and Mubarak reversed the trends and both countries fell prey to naked dictatorship without an ideology with the sole objective of cronyism and the perpetuation of power. Malaysia represents a ray of hope with its democratic civilian supremacy and modern productive forces in a plural society; yet it is a laboratory and its human rights credentials are open to question after the experience of its rebel Deputy Prime Minister. The rest of the Muslim World lives in darkness at noon under three types of dictatorships: dynastic one-party rule, absolute monarchs and military dictators.
Pakistan was achieved by the ballot not the bullet. The turning point was the election to the Constituent Assembly in the Winter of 1945-46 in which the Muslim League won all of the thirty seats reserved for Muslims. Yet most of the Founding Fathers including the Premiers of Punjab, Bengal and Sindh were disqualified from Public Office by the Electoral Bodies Disqualification Order of 1960 promulgated in the wake of the First Martial Law in our troubled history. The list of those disqualified includes Hussain Shaeed Suhrawardy, Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot, Mian Mumtaz Daultana, Feroze Khan Noon, Kh Nazimuddin, Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, Col Abid Hussain.
Every military ruler since then has eliminated the political leaders of the time leading to a devaluation of the political process. One can only wonder about the course of history if George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the authors of the Federalist James Madison and Alexander Hamilton had been disqualified. Modernity demands a system of Government by Institution and not by Individuals. It is for Pakistan to provide the solution for the reconciliation between Islam and the Modern Age. It is our duty to history.
Modernization is part of our heritage. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was the pioneer of the Movement for reconciling Islam with modernity. He was not the only one. Khan Bahadur Effendi in Sindh, Sir Abdul Qayyum in the Frontier, and Iqbal in Lahore led the Movement for a synthesis between modern education, science and technology within the framework of Islamic values and culture. Lahore was to this Muslim Renaissance what Florence was to the Italian. Iqbal and Faiz in the 20th Century Lahore were the harbingers of the Muslim Renaissance.
The solution to the problem of reconciliation of Islam with modern time is to be found in Iqbalâs lectures on the Reconstruction of Muslim Thought as also in the popular Idiom of his Urdu poems shikwa and jawa-i-shikwa.
According to Iqbal empiricism is the essence of Islam as it is of modernity. His exegesis of the Holy Quran is that the message of Islam is empiricist. Iqbal expounds on the repeated message of the Holy Koran to study the movement of the stars and planets, to observe and deduce from experience. If Iqbal was like Dante, the humanist Faiz was our Petrach. Though Faiz wrote about clerks and tongawallas and the wretched of the earth, his lyricism bore the stamp of classicism. Hence the first collection of poems by Faiz bears the title naksh-i-fariady. In his essay on the quest for Identity in Culture Faiz writes of the predicament of the Muslim intelligentsia after the extinction of the Moghul.
The decline of the Muslim Power coincided with the dawn of great folk classics, heroic or mystical, such as Khushal Khan Khattak (1613-91) Shah Abdul Latif (1690-1757), Waris Shah 1722-? And Bulleh Shah (1688 -1728). In another Essay on Cross Cultural Encounters Faiz writes about the religious confrontation between Western Christianity and Eastern Islam and observes: âThe legendary figure of Alexander first emerges as a prototype of all subsequent heroes of medieval romance: young, handsome, brave and invincible, ruthless in battle magnanimous in victory. And second as a common protagonist of both Eastern and Western national and religious causes. Religious commentators identified him with Zulqarnain mentioned in the Holy Koran, who stemmed the onslaught of Gog and Magog â
Faiz describes Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as the Leader of the Muslim Reformist Movement and quotes Sir Syed: âWe want the Indian Muslims to give up their prejudices and false notions and advance towards culture and civilizationâ.
The Valley of the Indus is the meeting point between East and West where Alexander, the pupil of Aristotle, the source of Western thought, once strode leaving to posterity the Ghandara Civilization. Gandhara blended Hellenism with the early Buddhist period when three things happened writes Faiz âFirstly, the rise of Taxila as the seat of Government, secondly, the rise of cities on the trade routes, and thirdly, the importation of classical cultural influences from Persia and Greece and later on from Romeâ. In the same vein Iqbal in one of his letters to Jinnah writes about the common message of social democracy and equality in Islam and Buddhism
Lahore during the 20th Century was another Gandhara in the making. This beloved city became the center-point of Urdu Literature during the Twentieth Century. It was also the city of the painters Chugtai, Allah Bux, Shakir Ali, Amrita Sher Gill, Khurshid Anwar in music and Noorjehanâs songs in Heer Ranjha. Professor Dr. Abdul Salam, the only Pakistani to win the Nobel Prize, was a Ravian. Galileo supported the Copernican theory that the planets revolved around the sun, invented the pendulum for keeping time, proved the law of uniform acceleration of falling bodies by throwing rocks of uneven weight from the leaning tower of Pisa which fell to the bottom at the same time contrary to the conventional wisdom of the time that rate of gravity depends upon the weight of the falling body and thus earned the ire and imprisonment of the Pope. Galileo developed the astronomical telescope and showed that the milky-way was composed of stars. At the time of his premature death Dr. Salam was working on the Unified Theory of the Universe forced into self imposed exile by discrimination.
The population of Pakistan was 35 million in 1947, today it has multiplied by five times. Shortages of land and water and the exploding population breed unemployment. <b>Thus the discontents of our civilization arise from our illiteracy and ignorance.</b> The Muslim World needs An Age of Reason in order to survive and prosper in Modern Times. Since no other Muslim State has succeeded in reconciling Islam with modernity the burden falls upon the people of Pakistan.
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Islamism - 5 - Naresh - 06-01-2006
<b>West being engulfed by radical Islam: Oriana - Khalid Hasan</b>
WASHINGTON: Controversial Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who has been on a crusade against Islam for the last several years, has said in an interview published this week that the Western world is in danger of being engulfed by radical Islam.
A profile of the ailing journalist, which appears in the current issued of New Yorker, quotes from one of her more recent pieces of writing in which she said that Muslim immigration is turning Europe into âa colony of Islamâ, or a âEurabiaâ, which will soon âend up with minarets in place of the bell-towers, with the burka in place of the mini-skirtâ.
Fallaci argues that Islam has always had designs on Europe, invoking the siege of Constantinople in the seventh century, and the incursions by the Ottoman Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. She contends that contemporary immigration from Muslim countries to Europe amounts to the same thing âinvasion - only this time with children and boatsâ instead of âtroops and cannonsâ. She writes that the âart of invading and conquering and subjugatingâ is âthe only art at which the sons of Allah have always excelledâ.
Muslim immigrants, she maintains, have no desire to assimilate, while European leaders, in their âmuddleheaded multiculturalismâ, have made âabsurd accommodationsâ to them, allowing Muslim women to be photographed for identity documents with their heads covered; looking the other way when Muslim men violate the law by taking multiple wives or defend the abuse of women on supposedly Islamic grounds.
According to Fallaci, Europeans, particularly those on the political left, subject people who criticise Muslim customs to a double standard. âIf you speak your mind on the Vatican, on the Catholic Church, on the Pope, on the Virgin Mary or Jesus or the saints, nobody touches your right of thought and expression. But if you do the same with Islam, the Koran, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), you are called a xenophobic blasphemer who has committed an act of racial discrimination.â
The rhetoric of Fallaciâs three books on Islam, the New Yorker writer Margret Talbot notes, is âintentionally intemperate and frequently offensiveâ. In the first volume, she wrote that Muslims âbreed like ratsâ; in the second, she conceded that while that statement was âa little brutalâ, it was âindisputably accurateâ. Spain, she wrote, has been overly acquiescent to Muslim immigrants because âtoo many Spaniards still have the Koran in the bloodâ. Much of the Italian intelligentsia, Talbot adds, now shuns her. The German press has been highly critical, too. Fallaci has repeatedly fallen afoul of some of Europeâs strict laws against vilifying religions or inciting racial hatred. She currently faces trial in Italy, on charges that amount to blasphemy. Last year, Adel Smith, a convert to Islam who heads a group called the Muslim Union of Italy, and who had previously sued the government to have a crucifix removed from his sonsâ classroom, persuaded a judge in Bergamo to allow him to charge Fallaci with defaming Islam. Fallaci told the New Yorker writer, âI am convinced that the situation is politically substantially the same as in 1938, with the pact in Munich, when England and France did not understand a thing. With the Muslims, we have done the same thing.â Elaborating, she said, âLook at the Muslims: in Europe they go on with their chadors and their burkas and their djellabahs. They ⦠go on with mistreating their wives and daughters. They refuse our culture, in short, and try to impose their culture, or so-called culture, on us. ... I reject them, and this is not only my duty toward my culture. Toward my values, my principles, my civilisation. It is not only my duty toward my Christian roots ⦠Islamism is the new Nazi-Fascism. With Nazi-Fascism, no compromise is possible. No hypocritical tolerance. And those who do not understand this simple reality are feeding the suicide of the West.â
Talbot writes, âFallaci tends to portray the worst practices of Islamic fundamentalists as representative of all Muslims ⦠Many of Fallaciâs objections, however, have more to do with her aesthetic sensibilities. For her, hearing Muslim prayers in Tuscany is a form of oppression. Yet such examples do not rise to the level of argument that she wants to make, which is that the native culture of Italy will collapse if Muslims keep immigrating. âThey live at our expense, because theyâve got schools, hospitals, everything,â she said at one point, beginning to shout. âAnd they want to build damn mosques everywhere.ââ
<b>She hates Yassir Araft, Gaddafi and Muhammad Ali. She told her interviewer, âI do not accept the mendacity of the so-called Moderate Islam. I do not believe that a Good Islam and a Bad Islam exist. Only Islam exists. And Islam is the Koran. And the Koran says what it says. Whatever its version.</b> Of course there are exceptions. Also, considering the mathematical calculation of probabilities, some good Muslims must exist. I mean Muslims who appreciate freedom and democracy and secularism.â
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 06-03-2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Taliban-II more lethal </b>
Pioneer.com
B Raman |
Afghanistan continues to boil in the jihadi cauldron while Pakistan stokes the fire below ---- The upsurge in violence - partly conventional strikes, partly acts of terrorism - which one has been seeing in southern and eastern Afghanistan since the end of winter is not a copy-cat version of what has been happening in Iraq since 2003. It is more a re-run of the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s - this time targeted not against the Soviet Union and their Afghan supporters, but the US and the UK and their Afghan supporters.
There are some new elements in the current version, which were not there in the 1980s - the increasing resort to acts of terrorism, particularly suicide terrorism, for example. But terrorism is not the mainstay of the jihad being waged by the neo-Taliban. It is conventional guerrilla strikes.
Carefully planned and skillfully executed ambushes of the convoys of the Afghan security forces and surprise attacks on posts of the security forces - often at night - form the essence of the jihad. Making the opponents bleed continuously is the tactical objective. Not territorial control.
Regaining control of Afghanistan is the strategic objective, but the neo-Taliban proposes to achieve it not piecemeal - gaining one area after another. It proposes to achieve it in one go when the Western forces, tired and weakened by the continuous bleeding, decide to quit - as the Soviets did in 1988 - and the Hamid Karzai Government in Kabul collapses as the Najibullah Government did in 1992.
The Pashtuns - Afghan as well as Pakistani nationals - are in the forefront of the jihadi insurgency in Afghanistan. There is very little non-Pashtun involvement on the ground.
The role of Al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the Chechens and the Pakistani members of the International Islamic Front (IIF) is restricted to training the Pashtuns in their camps in north Waziristan and guiding them in their operations in Afghan territory. The only reported ground involvement of the Arabs living in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region has been in some acts of suicide terrorism.
Despite the role of Al Qaeda and its associates in the training and guidance of the neo-Taliban, <b>one sees less of pan-Islamic rhetoric in Afghanistan than in Iraq. The rhetoric in Afghanistan is partly nationalistic and partly religious. The Afghans vs the American and British occupiers. The Muslims vs the infidels. Anti-Christian rhetoric is more in evidence than anti-Jewish. President Hamid Karzai is projected not only as an American stooge, but also a Christian stooge. Western NGOs doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan are projected as Christian conspirators</b>.
Whereas Al Qaeda has, of late, been talking increasingly of a world-wide crusader-Jewish-Hindu conspiracy against Islam, the neo-Taliban's propaganda is relatively free of references to the Hindu conspirators.
When the neo-Taliban stepped up its activities in Afghanistan starting from 2004, it projected its jihad as against the American occupiers of Afghanistan. It has now been projecting it as against the American-British occupation. Thus, the UK is now being seen to be as satanic as the US.
In Iraq, the internal segment of the conflict is between the Shia majority, which dominates the Administration and the security forces, and the Sunni minority, which finds itself marginalised in the new post-2003 political dispensation, which is perceived by the Sunnis as the creation of the US-led coalition. In Afghanistan, the internal segment of the conflict is between two sections of the Pashtuns, who are Sunnis and constitute the largest ethnic group in the country.
What one is witnessing is a conflict between anti-Western, fundamentalist Sunni Pashtuns (a large number of them from Pakistan) and pro-Western, less fundamentalist Sunni Pashtuns (all of them Afghan nationals) serving in the Government and the security forces.
The neo-Taliban is concentrating its jihad presently against the pro-Western Pashtuns in order to intimidate them into changing sides and supporting it. It is not focussing on the non-Pashtun ethnic groups such as the Tadjiks and the Uzbeks living in the north.
Many Western analysts have been connecting the upsurge in violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan to the on-going induction of NATO forces into the region so that the NATO could take over from the US the leadership role in the counter-insurgency - with the British troops moving to the forefront of the counter-insurgency operations.
This analysis is somewhat facile. The Taliban started staging a comeback long before the decision of the NATO to take over the counter-insurgency responsibilities. The decision of the Taliban taken in 2003 to revive and step up its activities on the ground in Afghanistan was an indicator of its confidence in its newly-acquired ability to stand up and fight against the Americans and other Western forces.
It was also an outcome of its assessment that widespread anger against the US among Pashtuns due to American counter-insurgency methods such as the use of the air force against the jihadis causing considerable collateral damage. Besides, reports of the violation of the human rights of those detained at the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba had antagonised a large number of Pashtuns.
Two aspects of the Afghan situation - one positive and the other negative - as compared to that in Iraq need to be underlined. The positive aspect is that the newly-raised Afghan Army has been putting up a better resistance against the neo-Taliban than the newly-raised Iraqi army against the Iraqi resistance fighters and the Al Qaeda. The negative aspect is that the new political structure of Afghanistan is weak and relies largely on one leader - Mr Hamid Karzai. But political stability in Iraq does not depend on the continuance in office of any one political leader.
While President Pervez Musharraf has cooperated with the West to some extent in their operations to nab some activists of Al Qaeda, he has not extended any support against the neo-Taliban. While he admits the possibility that some of the Al Qaeda leaders might still be operating from Pakistani territory, he has been denying the presence of Taliban leaders, camps or activists in Pakistan.
<b>In the face of Mr Musharraf's policy of total denial, the only option left for Afghan security agencies is to undertake covert strikes against the Taliban's sanctuaries in Pakistan without the help of Western powers. </b>
<i>(The author, a retired Additional Secretary with the Cabinet Secretariat, is presently Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter)</i><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-04-2006
Just saw the news, 17 terrorists were arrested in Toronto, the police are saying that they were planning attacks here soon, most of them are young and Canadian, they were allegedly training in the cottage country in Southern Ontario, inspired by Al Qaeda. I don't know how many pakis are involved, saw their families on the news, all the women I saw were covered head to toe in burqas except for their eyes. On the news they were saying that there are as many as 350 more of these types roaming free in Canada.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->RCMP arrests 17, foiling alleged Ont. bomb plot
Updated Sat. Jun. 3 2006 5:42 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Police arrested 12 men and five youths on terrorism charges in the Toronto area Friday night, allegedly foiling a potential series of bombings against targets in Southern Ontario, the RCMP says.
The individuals are all residents of Canada, and "for the most part citizens of Canada," said RCMP Asst. Commissioner Mike McDonell said at a Saturday news conference in Toronto.
"The RCMP, in cooperation with our partners through out Integrated National Security Enforcement Team here in Toronto, have arrested individuals who were planning to commit a series of terrorist attacks against solely Canadian targets in Southern Ontario," McDonell said.
Charges included participating in or contributing to the activities of a terrorist group, including training or recruiting; the commission of indictable offences, including firearms or explosives, for the benefit of a terrorist group; and providing or making available property for the purposes of terrorism.
Following is a list including the names, ages and addresses of the men who have been arrested and can be named:
Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto;
Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.;
Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga;
Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga;
Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga;
Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.;
Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston;
Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto;
Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto;
Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur 25, Toronto;
Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga;
Saad Khalid, 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga.
All 17 of the suspects appeared in court in Brampton, Ont. on Saturday afternoon. There was heavy security around the courthouse. Inside the courtroom, the suspects were handcuffed and shackled. Their next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, when they can apply for bail.
"The court is hot. There are a lot of family members. There's a lot of tears, a lot of waving back and forth," CTV's Denelle Balfour, outside the courthouse, told Newsnet.
"Most of the reaction of family members is shock, and as you can imagine, some of them are very upset."
To enter the courthouse, Balfour said she had to go through three different security checkpoints, one manned by heavily armed officers from tactical squads. "There are snipers on the rooftops," she added.
Because the investigation is ongoing, the RCMP have asked the court to order the men have no contact with each other, Balfour said.
Police allegations
Police claimed the men had the means to make powerful bombs.
"This group took steps to acquire components necessary to create an explosive device using ammonium nitrate, which is a commonly used fertilizer," McDonnell said.
"Three tonnes of ammonium nitrate was ordered by these individuals and delivered to them. It was their intent to use this for a terrorist attack."
By comparison, he said the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people was completed with only one tonne of ammonium nitrate.
"This group posed a real and serious threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks," McDonnell said.
The RCMP would not name any of the suspected bombing targets, but said the Toronto Transit Commission -- a network of public buses, subways and streetcars in Canada's largest city -- was not seen as a potential target.
The Saturday press conference was attended by representatives of all the groups involved in the investigation, including the Peel, York, Durham and Toronto police services, as well as the RCMP and CSIS.
"This has been and continues to be an intensive investigation in which many partners have been involved," McDonell said.
According to the Toronto Star, CSIS has monitored the suspects since 2004, while the RCMP began its investigation last year.
Luc Portelance of CSIS said the suspects come from a variety of backgrounds. Their common denominator, he said, is an adherence to a violent ideology inspired by al Qaeda.
"It is important to note that this operation in no way reflects negatively on any specific community or ethno-cultural group in Canada. Terrorism is a dangerous ideology and a global phenomenon. As yesterday's arrests confirm, Canada is not immune from this ideology."
U.S. role
The Canadian Press cited a source who requested anonymity that information from the U.S. helped the investigation.
Two Americans from the Atlanta, Ga. region reported travelled to Toronto in March 2005. While there, they met with other so-called persons of interest and allegedly discussed terror training and bombing plots against military facilities and oil refineries, CP said.
"There is preliminary indication that some of the Canadian subjects may have had limited contact with the two people recently arrested from Georgia,'' FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said in a statement.
"As always, we will work with our international partners to review any intelligence gathered and will conduct any appropriate investigation.''
Kolko told CP the two countries have been working together on the case for some time.
Canada not immune to terrorism: Harper
In a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Prime Minister Stephen Harper underscored some of Portelance's comments.
He praised investigators for heading-off potential attacks, pledged his government would continue to fight crime, and said Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism.
"Today, Canada's security and intelligence measures worked. Canada's new government will pursue its efforts to ensure the national security of all Canadians."
Later on Saturday, during an address to 224 new military recruits at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Harper said Canada's unique values make the nation a target for terrorists.
"We are a target because of who we are, how we live, our society, our diversity and our values -- values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law -- the values that make Canada great," he said.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur 25, Toronto; <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Looks like a Hindu-xtian halfbreed who later converted to the religion of peace.
Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-04-2006
hehe see I was right about that half breed guy, oh the beautiful effects of converting to the religion of peace..., if any Indian's are involved then it will also bust up the p-sec arguement of Indian Muslims being peace loving doves not involved in any international terrorist org's and who are being terrorised by Hindu Nazis.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Indian names in Toronto terror bust
- Canadian crackdown nets 17 suspects with bomb-making materialÂ
K.P. NAYARÂ
Washington, June 3: Several Canadians believed to be of Indian origin are among 17 people rounded up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Greater Toronto last night in the biggest anti-terrorism investigation in Canada since an Air-India aircraft was bombed by Khalistanis in 1985.
The list of those arrested, released in Toronto today by the authorities, names Steven Vikash Chand as among those detained during raid, which also led to the seizure of bomb-making material, computer hard drives and camouflage uniforms.
Chand, 25, a resident of Toronto, converted to Islam and has an alias, Abdul Shakur. Another detainee, Asad Ansari, 21, of Mississauga in the Greater Toronto area, is also believed to be of Indian origin.
There are some more Indian-sounding names on the list of 12 detainees released today, but it could not be verified immediately whether they originally came from elsewhere in the sub-continent.
Canada has a large number of immigrants from East Africa who trace their ancestry to undivided British India. Five names were not released by the authorities for legal reasons under Canadaâs Youth Criminal Justice Act.
âThe men arrested yesterday are Canadian residents from a variety of backgrounds,â according to Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canadaâs intelligence agency. âFor various reasons, they appeared to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al Qaida.â
If it is finally determined that there are Indo-Canadians among those arrested last night, it will be a rare instance of people of Indian origin being involved in any international terrorism plot since September 11, 2001.
Two Indians were charged, not for involvement in terrorism, but for selling mobile phone cards to those who bombed trains in Madrid in March 2004.
Reports in the Canadian media this morning said the plotters intended to attack targets in Toronto, including the headquarters of the CSIS. During the raids, the police recovered three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser commonly used by terrorists to make bombs.
This is three times the amount of ammonium nitrate used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in the US in April 1995, killing 168 people.
The Toronto plot was uncovered even as Canadian troops have become increasingly involved in fighting a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan in recent weeks, resulting in deaths of Canadian soldiers.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement today after the RCMP announced the arrests: âCanada is not immune to the threat of terrorism. Through the work and cooperation of the RCMP, CSIS, local law enforcement and Torontoâs Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), acts of violence by extremist groups may have been prevented. Today, Canadaâs security and intelligence measures worked.â
Harper added that Canadaâs new government will pursue its efforts to ensure the national security of all Canadians.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060604/asp/...ory_6309405.asp<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 06-04-2006
Inshallah! May the religion of peace flourish in Denmark
http://web.mosquedenmark.org/index.php?lang=english
Once their own house is on fire, their attitude will undergo a sea change.
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 06-04-2006
Coming back to the Canada story, some photos:
<img src='http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20060603/capt.d3724161cdf047c29ec29c33d1fd2ddc.canada_terrorism_arrests_cptd102.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.thestar.com/images/thestar/img/060603_terror16_gal.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.thestar.com/images/thestar/img/060603_terror11_gal.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al-Qaida, who obtained three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/CP, Nathan Denette) <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 06-04-2006
Are these females are suspects?
Where we can find names of people captured.
Its a myth that Indian Muslim are not in jihadism. Indian Muslim still believes in Mughal days and have full faith in Pan-Islamic agenda even they are Hindu converts.
Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-04-2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Are these females are suspects?
Where we can find names of people captured<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No the females are all relatives or family members of the suspects, of the 17 arrested 15 appeared in court, I highlighted the names of some of the suspects in my posts, the other names I don't think can be published due to the Youth Justice Act which states that names of people under 18 shouldn't be published. Apparently, one is an Egyptian, other is from Trinidad and Tobago (a convert) and the half breed with the mixed Hindu-Xtian name is also a convert with a Muslim name, we still don't know if people who directly originate from India (meaning people who are not of East African Indian origin or Caribbean Indian origin) are involved.
Islamism - 5 - acharya - 06-05-2006
Monday, June 05, 2006
Islamâs message is universalist: Akbar Ahmed
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: Pakistani academic Dr Akbar Ahmed told a VOA discussion programme on whether Saudi Arabian school textbooks teach hatred for other religions that what is important to remember is that the Quran is a universalist book with a universalist message, teaching high respect for Jews and Christians as people of the book.
The programme was held in the wake of a Freedom House report which said that textbooks used in Saudi Arabiaâs schools promote religious intolerance. Religions other than the Salafi branch of Islam are demonised, beginning in the first grade. <span style='color:red'>âEvery religion other than Islam is false.â</span> By eighth grade, Saudi students are taught: âThe apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.â By the twelfth grade, Saudi students are reading that âJihad is the path of God - which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it - is the summit of Islam.â Saudi Arabiaâs ambassador Prince Turki Al-Faisal responded to the Freedom House report in a written statement, saying, âThe Saudi government has worked diligently during the last five years to overhaul its education system,â the objective being to âfight intolerance.â
Also taking part in the VOA programme was Nina Shea, director, Centre for Religious Freedom at Freedom House and one of the Saudi reportâs authors. She said Saudi Arabia was positioning itself as the âVatican of Islam,â an observation Dr Ahmed contradicted, pointing out that Mecca and Medina, the holiest cities of Islam, happen to be in Saudi Arabia. Muslims throughout the world look up to Saudi Arabia, which is a âterrible burdenâ on the Saudis because not all Muslims have the same views on even essential religious issues and concepts.
Asked if Saudi Arabia was funding the spread of an austere version of Islam around the world, Dr Ahmed said the world of Islam was only 18 percent Arab. The rest of the community of Muslims does not speak Arabic, which means that for a lot of Muslims, what comes from the Arab world becomes literally the truth, which is doubly dangerous. If a Pakistani or Afghan child is given a Saudi textbook to read, he is likely to think that what it says is Islam. What is important is to teach children what true Islam is.
Shea stressed the dangers of advocating the view, basing it on religion, that to wage jihad and battle the infidels is an Islamic obligation. Dr Ahmed clarified that the term used in textbooks for waging a just war was not jihad but âqitalâ. It was not necessary that this just war should be waged physically. Jihad simply means striving to improve and elevate oneself. He said every major world civilisation today is experiencing some kind of polarisation. One must not, however, demonise any particular system. âEvery world civilisation is in intense debate in the context of the age of globalisation,â he added. He pointed out that it was the Arabs who gave the world civilisation for the first thousand years of their history which was at the cutting edge of art, architecture, intellectual endeavour, thought, and tolerance. Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together for centuries. As such, there was need to be careful about not making the Muslim world feel that the entire religion of Islam is being demonised.
Shea said the Saudi embassy in Washington had been asked to be represented in the VOA programme but had declined the invitation. Instead, the Saudi ambassador had said in a statement, âFreedom House continues to exhibit a disregard for presenting an accurate picture of the reality that exits in Saudi Arabia,â and also that âoverhauling an educational system is a massive undertaking.â She said the problem arose when a government endorses and advocates jihad.
She said the Saudi government and its representatives keep saying that are undertaking the necessary textbook reform but it does not appear to be happening. Dr Ahmed disagreed, saying there is a process of change taking place in Saudi Arabia. âThereâs a soul-searching. The intellectuals are active. Not a very large group, but they are active. The government is active,â he stressed, adding that the Muslim world is not one country. Saudi Arabia is a very important country, but it is small in terms of population. One should remember that there are 57 Muslim countries in the world, Saudi Arabia, though very important, is one of them.
Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-05-2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
June 5, 2006 Monday
HEADLINE: Suspects came from varied backgrounds
Quote:
Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43
By far the oldest of the alleged terrorists, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, is described as being angry about Canada's role in Afghanistan and supportive of Toronto's notorious Khadr family.
"I know for sure that, like me, he was very angry about how people treated the Khadr family," said Aly Hindy, a well-known imam at Scarborough's Saleheddin Islamic Centre, a mosque frequented by at least four members of the alleged homegrown terror cell.
Ahmed Said Khadr, the family patriarch, was an al-Qaida financier before he was killed in a gun battle in Pakistan in 2003, the FBI says.
Hindy said Jamal was upset about the Canadian army's deployment to Afghanistan. "He's an elder person and he speaks out," he said.
Jamal attends another Greater Toronto Area mosque where as many as six of the arrested men regularly prayed.
Mosque member Sam Lela told reporters that Jamal is a person always eager to help those in need.
Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19
Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, reaffirmed his Islamic faith as a teenager, but the timing of his religious rebirth may help explain his alleged ties to terrorist plans, said a former schoolmate.
Durrani, of 10 Stonehill Court in Scarborough, Ont., was born into the Muslim faith, but did not fully embrace it until he was in high school, said Ali Khan, who attended Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough with Durrani.
"When he converted to the full of Islam he was very vulnerable. What he knew about Islam, his ideas and everything, were still raw. They weren't formulated, they weren't refined," said Khan. "That's the time when people approach you the most -- once you've found that true calling and you go toward true Islam. That's when people attacked him in the sense that they called him in for little gatherings. That's when they started teaching him anti-American doctrines," he said.
Zakaria Amara, 20
Cardboard and staples now hold together the front door of the home where a 20-year-old Zakaria Amara was arrested Friday night in a terrorism investigation.
Amara had moved into the Mississauga, Ont., basement apartment last Monday, but was familiar to at least one neighbour who had seen the bearded young man in the neighbourhood last July.
A twenty-something man who answered the front door of the two-storey home refused to comment, but Mike Paaku, a next-door neighbour, said Amara appeared to be a "normal, nice guy."
Fahim Ahmad, 21
Residents on Robbinstone Drive, a sleepy Toronto-area street often filled with young children, could not believe when their neighbourhood was associated with a raid on alleged terrorists.
One of those charged, Fahim Ahmad, 21, is listed as living on Robbinstone Drive in Scarborough, Ont. But the man's young brother-in-law said that's not the case.
Zuhair Mohammad, 14, lives at 93 Robbinstone Dr. with his parents and six siblings, including his 17-year-old sister, Maria. She is married to Ahmad, but he does not live at the same residence. He lives in Mississauga with his parents, but usually spends two nights a week at the Robbinstone Drive residence, the brother-in-law said.
The young man has known Ahmad for about a year and described him as nice, outgoing and always willing to help with a problem.
Jahmaal James, 23
Jahmaal James travelled to Pakistan in the last year -- but those who know the Scarborough, Ont., man insist the trip had nothing to do with terrorist training.
James went there to get married, said Imam Aly Hindy, who helped arrange the union with a woman who still lives in Pakistan.
"He's a very nice guy, you know. He came to me to ask about getting married," said Hindy, who runs the Salaheddin Islamic Centre, a Scarborough, Ont., mosque frequented by James and at least three others swept up in Friday's crackdown on the alleged homegrown terror group.
Hindy said James flew to Pakistan approximately six months ago, stayed for about a month, then returned. He did not know where in Pakistan James's wife lives. Hindy also said Pakistani authorities briefly detained the 23-year-old at an airport during the trip and that he knew CSIS and RCMP investigators were watching him.
James's father wept into his lap Saturday as he contemplated what would happen to him and his family as word of the alleged terrorist plot spread.
Ahmad Ghany, 21
Ahmad Ghany, 21, recently graduated in health sciences from McMaster University in Hamilton. He was born in Canada to parents who emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago in 1955, said his lawyer, Rocco Galati.
Ghany recently was married to a woman who is the sister of the wife of one of his co-accused, Zakaria Amara.
A thin man with a slight dark beard and sombre-looking face, he hung his head throughout his court appearance, staring at the ground and declining to meet the gaze from his father, who sat in court.
Ghany's father, a soft-spoken medical doctor, declined to comment on the charges against his son, saying only he was disappointed he did not get a chance to speak with his son.
Asad Ansari, 21
Nothing seemed amiss on Rosehurst Drive in Mississauga, Ont., just west of Toronto, on Friday afternoon as Asad Ansari played basketball with neighbours. About two hours later, the 21-year-old was being led out of a home by police officers. Neighbours were ordered inside as police wearing helmets and bulletproof vests descended on the suburban street around 6:30 p.m.
A woman who lives behind the home said she had often seen an older man and woman as well as a younger man and woman of "college-going" age barbecuing in the backyard.
Steven Vikash Chand, 25
Steven Vikash Chand, 25, began using the name Abdul Shakur when he became a Muslim, leaving behind the Hindu faith under which he had been raised, say his landlord and the imam at the Scarborough, Ont., mosque he attended.
Chand's landlord, Mohammad Attique, said Chand moved into a room in his Treverton Drive basement in Scarborough between seven and eight months ago.
Attique said he and Chand attended the same mosque, the Salaheddin Islamic Centre.
At least four of the suspects picked up in Friday's terrorism bust attended the mosque, said its imam, Aly Hindy.
"He was a convert," Hindy said of Chand, adding he didn't know much about him except that he hung around at the mosque with other alleged cell members: Fahim Ahmad, 21, Jahmaal James, 23, and a young offender originally from Sri Lanka. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 06-05-2006
came in email
Dr Babu Suseelan quoted in Deccan Herald,
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Deccan Herald » Foreign » Detailed Story
<b>Religious intolerance in Saudi textbooks</b>
From Shyam Bhatia
DH News Service Washington DC:
Saudi Arabiaâs reluctance to moderate school textbooks intolerant of other
religions has come under fire from an Indian professor of clinical psychology who says the countryâs educational system encourages ...
Saudi Arabiaâs reluctance to moderate school textbooks intolerant of other religions has come under fire from an Indian professor of clinical psychology who says the countryâs educational system encourages jihadi terrorism.
The desert kingdomâs educational curriculum and most recent textbooks have
been monitored by a US non-profit group in Washington, the Center for Religious Freedom, that describes in a report how religious extremist thinking is part and parcel of education in Saudiâs government schools.
Among the examples cited is a text for first grade students that says, âEvery religion other than Islam is false.â Fifth-graders are told, âIt is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and his prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam.â
The most controversial is a passage for eight grade students, which says, âAs cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.â
<b>Professorâs remark</b>
Commenting on the textbooks, Kerala-born Dr Babu Suseelan, a professor of clinical psychology in Pennsylvania, told Deccan Herald, âThis is why jihadi terrorists are coming up. They believe what they are doing is justified in their educational textbooks. If you donât restructure the thought system, more jihadis will come up.â
Saudi Arabiaâs education system came under scrutiny after the 9/11 attacks
when it was criticised for propagating extremist thinking. Responding to the criticism at the time, the Saudi authorities had promised a thorough revision of their educational texts.
But Freedom House, which has since monitored Saudi history and educational textbooks with the help of the Washington DC-based Institute for Gulf Affairs, says there is still a prevailing and systematic theme of hatred against unbelievers, whose ambit includes Christians, Jews, Hindus, atheists, Shiites and other minority Muslim groups.
<b>Saudi stand</b>
Responding to the criticisms, Saudi Arabiaâs Ambassador to the US Prince Turki Al-Faisal said in a statement, âThere are hundreds of books that are being revised to comply with the new requirements, and the process remains ongoing. The objective of the educational system is to fight intolerance and to impart to Saudi youth the skills and knowledge required to compete in the global economy.â
<b>Critical thinking</b>
But Dr Suseelan says much more is required. âEducation means helping students to think creatively and critically and also to transfer that ability to life situations,â he argues. âCritical thinking empowers one to participate effectively in society, or to change society
â. A lack of critical thinking, or the tendency to seek answers from dogma limits the individualâs ability to solve common human/social/psychological problems. Open-minded rational thinking and critical analysis embraces emerging new concepts and knowledge that can be applied across contexts.â
Asked why the Saudi authorities had not implemented the textbook changes they had promised, Dr Suseelan said, âYes, they said they would revise their textbooks, but they made only superficial changes. They are a closed system
and they thought no one would read the books because they are all in Arabic.â
Another take on the textbook controversy is offered by Hassan al-Ahdal, director general of the Saudi-based Muslim World League.
He told The Washington Post, âThe problem is not with the text books, but the mentality of a minority. Some teachers or supervisors are projecting their own beliefs in the text books and are trying to convince their students that theirs are the real interpretations of the textbooks.â
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-06-2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Why I Published the Muhammad Cartoons
Sign In to E-Mail This Print Single Page Reprints Save
By Flemming Rose
Published: May 31, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/world/eu.../31spiegel.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Islamism - 5 - acharya - 06-07-2006
http://pedestrianinfidel.blogspot.com/
About the Book Islam and the Psychology (Mind) of the Musulman and its author Andre Servier
http://musulmanbook.blogspot.com/2005/11/r...-islam-and.html
Chapter 5..
Mahomet's doctrine-Islam is "CHRISTIANITY" adapted to Arab mentality-The practical essentials of Islam-The Koran is the work not of a sectarian but of a politician-Mahomet seeks to recruit his followers by every possible means- He deals tactfully with forces he, cannot beat down, and with customs that he cannot abohsh-Musulman moralIty -Fatalism-
ISLAM is Christianity adapted to Arab mentality, or, more exactly, it is all that the unimaginative brain of a Bedouin, obstinately faithful to ancestral practices, has been able to assimilate of the Christian doctrines. Lacking the gift of imagination, the Bedouin copies, and in copying he distorts the original. Thus Musulman law is only the Roman Code revised and corrected by Arabs; in
the same way Musulman science is nothing but Greek science interpreted by the Arab brain; and again, Musulman architecture is merely a distorted imitation of the Byzantine style.
Islamism - 5 - Guest - 06-07-2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2214665,00.html
<b>Canadian suspect 'planned to behead the Prime Minister' </b>
Why they opt for beheading? What is the significance in Islam?
Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-07-2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->How the police watched the plan unfold
Fahim Ahmad group's alleged 'emir'
COLIN FREEZE
TORONTO -- It's alleged that they called their project Operation Badr. And before its unravelling gripped the world's attention on the weekend, it made quieter noises that police say they picked up on: a seemingly inconsequential gun seizure at the Canada-U.S. border; a gunshot near Cochrane in Northern Ontario; bullets shattering statues of Hindu gods during a target practice in a remote area in the Township of Ramara, Ont.; and the printing of business cards with a decidedly non-threatening e-mail address, Studentfarmers@hotmail.com.
According to a copy of a Crown synopsis viewed yesterday by The Globe and Mail, police have months worth of surveillance, communication intercepts and physical evidence that were amassed before a monitored buy of $4,000 worth of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on Friday. This sting is said to be the final chapter of months of dogged police work, leading to the arrest of 17 suspects.
None of the evidence has been tested in court and all suspects are presumed innocent until proved guilty. Indeed, most of the suspects have minor roles in a plot that appears to have two ringleaders. Still, the eight-page Crown dossier is thick with allegations.
The upshot? The police and spies who caught wind of this were as meticulous as their targets were ambitious.
It has been called a made-in Canada plot against Canadian targets, but this is only half the story. It's alleged the group's emir, or leader, was Fahim Ahmad, and that he was in touch with shadowy terrorist figures in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain.
But the bulk of the action occurs entirely within Ontario.
Mr. Ahmad, who faces the most charges of any suspect, cuts a distinctive figure in the Crown dossier. He is accused of bearing the brunt of the responsibility for the gun-running, the training and the final phase of the operation, a series of ammonium-nitrate truck bombs to be exploded against Canadian targets.
According to Crown information, the group discussed many possible targets before settling on three main ones: an unspecified Canadian Forces base, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the downtown Toronto office of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
According to Aly Hindy of the Salaheddin Islamic Centre, Mr. Ahmad blamed constant spying by CSIS for forcing him into criminal activity.
In August, 2005, two young men were stopped at the Canada-U.S. border and searched. Authorities found three handguns, boxes of ammunition and even a bullet stashed in a sock.
The men, Mohammed Dirie and Yasim Mohamed, told authorities they bought the weapons from a drug addict in Columbus, Ohio, for "protection" from criminals. They were sentenced to two years each.
The smuggling incident was brought to the attention of the RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.
They noted that the car intercepted at the border was a rental. And, according to the Crown dossier, the credit card used to obtain the vehicle belonged to one Fahim Ahmad.
It was at that point that authorities began to regard the case as much, much more than a gun-smuggling incident.
Mr. Ahmad had such a radical, Internet-influenced approach to Islam that even Mr. Hindy regards him with suspicion.
According to Mr. Hindy, the young man told him of renting a car for a gun-smuggling operation. Mr. Hindy said he called some Toronto undercover police detectives he knew, and reported on Mr. Ahmad's alleged involvement.
Mr. Hindy was stunned to see the suspect keep returning to the mosque: Why hadn't police done anything?
But according to the Crown dossier seen by The Globe, police were doing a lot: They were watching Mr. Ahmad's communications, and came to believe he was talking to overseas figures with ties to international terrorism; they were trying to tie him to two Georgia-based terrorism suspects who had visited Toronto that spring; and they were keeping a close eye on the Toronto-area circles he moved in.
As the summer of 2005 turned to fall, it is alleged that Mr. Ahmed increasingly drew upon a fellow suspect, Zakaria Amara. According to the dossier, he sent him to Cochrane, Ont., to scout out a possible location for a training camp.
It is alleged that Mr. Amara was spotted approaching government offices in the far Northern Ontario community. Someone claims to have heard him fire off two shots with a shotgun.
Police allege he returned back to brief the emir on his travels. In the end, the location was not suitable. A community closer to Toronto was chosen.
It is alleged that the ringleaders had amassed a number of followers, including young men in their late teens. Police say they wanted to become jihadis.
Two guns may have been seized at the border, but the group had access to a 9 mm Luger, according to police. They also had an air rifle and a paintball gun. Strangely, by this time, CSIS had long since released a discussion paper under the Access to Information Act, indicating it was keeping tabs on young extremists playing paintball.
The training started on Dec. 18 and finished on Christmas Day, according to the Crown information. Sentries were posted around the Ramara camp 24/7. Police say the group shot at statues of Hindu gods for target practice. In quieter moments, it is alleged they reviewed jihadist videos and talked. They even had a course in confidence building, according to the Crown dossier.
According to the document, they had a name for their project: Operation Badr. A list of possible targets was overheard, according to the Crown synopsis.
The Parliament buildings are said to have came up. So did the Toronto headquarters of the CBC and RCMP headquarters in Ottawa. So, too, did the notion of taking politicians hostage. (One lawyer's assertion yesterday that his client stands accused of plotting to "behead" Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not seen in the document The Globe viewed yesterday.)
As the Canadian Forces mission in Afghanistan began to ramp up, the group talked of hitting a military base back home, the dossier states.
And then there was CSIS: Police say they picked up conversations targeting the spy service at its downtown Toronto offices or possibly its Ottawa headquarters.
In one conversation, police say they overheard concerns about whether the Toronto office was appropriate. One suspect allegedly said he didn't care whether the attack caused mass casualties on the street.
Police assert the attacks would be multiple, and simultaneous, for maximum effect. It is alleged the explosions were to be delivered by truck bombs.
But tensions began to arise within the group, according to the Crown dossier. It is alleged that Mr. Amara grew impatient that Mr. Ahmad was not moving fast enough.
Mr. Amara, who lived on the other side of the Toronto area, in Mississauga, is alleged to have joined forces with a charismatic figure at a local Islamic centre: Qayyum Jamal. With the help of the 43-year-old, Mr. Amara surrounded himself with a small group of young men and teenagers.
It is alleged that Mr. Amara was seen hatching plans to buy a detonator and researching bomb construction in public libraries. From the beginning, the bomb was said to be big: 1.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, according to police, mixed with several litres of nitric acid to get the explosion going.
Police monitor large purchases of such substances. But what if a lot of people make individual purchases? The Crown alleges a plot manifested itself with 200 business cards that would allow suspects to approach suppliers individually and acquire smaller batches. The Crown says the e-mail address had a memorable ring: Studentfarmers@hotmail.com.
Then there was a change of plan. The Crown alleges Mr. Amara brought in another Mississauga man, Shareef Abdelhaleem, to assist with buying thousands of dollars worth of fertilizer.
According to the Crown information, a police agent was on the opposite end of a payment of $2,000. After that point, the operatives are alleged to have rented a house and industrial storage unit.
There is a second payment recorded by Crown officials. It was for $4,000 and it took place on June, 2, 2006 -- the day of the arrests.
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Islamism - 5 - Bharatvarsh - 06-07-2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->England afraid to fly its own flag
Following threats by extremist Islamic group, several corporations, chain of pubs ban England flag
Modi Kreitman
Following warnings by extremist Islamic group al-Muhajiroun, in which the group said that the red cross in the England flag symbolizes the 'blood thirsty crusaders' and the occupation of Muslims, some of the largest companies in England have ordered their workers not to wave the flags.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3258613,00.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->UK site: Can we help dying infidel?
Jihadist websites discuss 'dilemmas,' respond to London anti-terror operation by attacking 'filthy infidels'
Yaakov Lappin
Internet sites run by young extremist Muslims in Britain and other Western countries have begun reacting to the anti-terror operation in London in which a 23 year-old suspect was shot.
"What filthy kuffar (infidels)," wrote one user on the Muntadaa jihadist forum. Similar messages expressing hatred for non-Muslims were echoed by other members of the site.
"There is little doubt left in the minds of the majority of Muslims that we are a community under siege," wrote Anjem Choudary, media secretary of the jihadist al-Ghurabaa website. "On the domestic front the British regime have brought in a range of draconian laws targeted specifically at Muslims and which facilitate the kind of oppressive tactics we saw employed on Friday (in the police raid)," Choudary said.
A protest against the shooting and arrests has also been organized by Islamist groups. "Make sure that you are there, we cannot watch the police shoot our brothers and remain silent!" A user said.
A leaflet advertising the protest, entitled "police target Muslims: Will you be next?" charged the British government with "occupying Muslim lands⦠the murder of innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq, and (being) an active participant of torture experiments with the USA."
'Can we save dying infidel?'
Meanwhile, at the al-Ghurabaa website, a reader sent in a question, asking: "If a kaffir (infidel) is about to die on the road, can we help him?"
He was told that a dying 'infidel' could only be helped on the condition that he was called to Islam.
"If someone had covenant of security with the people he is living with, and the person was not at war with Islam and Muslims, it is allowed to help the person as part of his da'wah (Islamic spiritual awakening) to show his good character. But he must call him to Islam by it, and not do it out of love," the site's web team answered.
A man who wrote in to say he was offended by posters put up by the group in east London was told in response: "The way to better British society is to remove all the British values and to teach the people the Islamic values. If it wasn't for the man-made way of life in britain, we would never have seen such high levels of crime, rape, alcoholism, homosexuality, adultery, theft, burglary, exploitation and terrorism in the UK and the world today! Rather we must continue to struggle and change the British way of life and introduce and teach the Islamic values to all, so that all the people in Britain can flourish."
Members with usernames such as Zarqawi, and the base (al-Qaeda) continue to fill English-speaking Islamist forums with jihad rhetoric.
Quoting an Islamic medieval scholar, one forum member wrote: "The Jews are the cursed nation whom Allah is angry with. They are the people of lies, fabrications, treachery, conspiracies, and are murderers of Prophets and Messengers."
The same post describes Christians as "misguided cross worshipers. They are those who swear at Allah the Creator⦠and their biggest curse against Allah is the Trinity. According to the Christians, Mary is the lover of Allah and Jesus is His son. They claim the Almighty God came down from his great chair and melted in the womb of Mary, until he was killed and buried at the hands of manâ¦They drink alcohol, eat pork, desert circumcision, worship with impurity and eat everything, even if it is filthy, whether that be the elephant or the mosquito."
(06.05.06, 14:18)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3258963,00.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->