The Perfect Murder

Pakistan Says It Seized Americans Tied to Al Qaeda

By DEXTER FILKINS

New York Times

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 12 — Several men believed to be American citizens have been taken into custody here during the past few weeks on suspicion of being linked to Al Qaeda, senior Pakistani officials said today.

The Pakistani officials said most of the men had been picked up along with other suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members in joint American-Pakistani raids in the country`s remote tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.

They said they believe that the men form a disjointed network of disaffected Westerners who converted to Islam and have been drawn to militant causes, fighting alongside Al Qaeda, the Taliban or guerrillas in Kashmir, the mostly Muslim region claimed by both Pakistan and India.

One man is believed by Pakistani officials to be an associate of Jose Padilla, the Brooklyn-born man detained last month on the suspicion that he was trying to build a radiation dispersal bomb intended for detonation in an American city.

He goes by the name Ahmed Muhammad, which Pakistani officials say they believe is a false name, as well as Benjamin. It was unclear whether Benjamin was used as a first or a last name.

Pakistani officials said several of those detained, including Mr. Muhammad, claimed to be American citizens. But the officials refused to verify the nationalities of any of the detainees for fear of what one called the ``legal implications`` that could impede the interrogations.

Mr. Muhammad, a Pakistani official said, was in Pakistani custody and being interrogated by the F.B.I.

Senior government officials in Washington said they had not yet confirmed that the men being held in Pakistan are American citizens. They also said they had not yet independently determined whether the men are connected to Al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations. The American officials also said they had not established a connection between Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Padilla.

Pakistani officials say they have picked up about 400 suspected members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in sweeps around the country since December. About 300, they say, have been turned over to American authorities.

They said some of those detained appear to be Westerners who have been drawn to militant Islam. Pakistani officials said today that they believed that an American citizen who had converted to Islam had been killed while fighting alongside Muslim guerrillas in Indian Kashmir in 1998.

They also said they suspected that some of the men recently detained and believed to be Americans may have studied under Mufti Muhammad Iltimas, a radical Islamic cleric who runs a madrasa in Bannu, a village near the border with Afghanistan.

John Walker Lindh, the American charged with fighting alongside the Taliban, is believed to have attended Mr. Iltimas`s religious school, and Pakistani officials say Richard C. Reid, a British subject and suspected Al Qaeda member arrested in December for trying to blow up a passenger jet with a bomb in his shoe, may also have attended the school.

Mr. Iltimas was taken into custody last month during an American-Pakistani operation in the area, and was released the next day.

Taken together, the arrests of Mr. Padilla, Mr. Lindh, Mr. Reid and others appears to offer a glimpse into a world of alienated Western men who apparently dropped out of society and tried to find fulfillment by converting to Islam and fighting for its more radical causes.

One Pakistani official said some of the detained men believed to be Americans may have converted to Islam while serving time in prison in the United States.

Mr. Padilla, who was raised a Roman Catholic and who had a criminal record, converted to Islam when he married a Muslim woman of Middle Eastern descent. Mr. Reid converted to Islam while serving time in prison.

A Pakistani official said his government was looking into the possibility that Mr. Reid and Mr. Padilla were associates during the time officials say they were in Al Qaeda.

Pakistani officials said five other men believed to be of Pakistani or Middle Eastern origin were detained in France today on suspicion of being linked to Mr. Reid.

The officials also said today that they had detained five more people here who are believed to be Pakistani citizens and associates of Mr. Padilla. At least some of those detained are believed to have knowledge of Mr. Padilla`s activities in recent months.

The Pakistani officials said they were also searching for a group of women and children who are believed to have stayed in the same Al Qaeda hideout used by Mr. Padilla and Abu Zubaydeh, the senior Qaeda commander arrested in Pakistan on March 27. American law enforcement officials say Mr. Zubaydeh formed a close association with Mr. Padilla. The women and children are believed to be family members of a senior Qaeda member, possibly but not necessarily those of Mr. Zubaydeh.

The Qaeda hideout where Mr. Padilla and Mr. Zubaydeh were alleged to have spent time together is in Peshawar, a city in Pakistan`s Northwest Frontier Province near the Afghan border. It was some time after that association began that Mr. Zubaydeh was arrested and Mr. Padilla allegedly traveled to Karachi, Switzerland and then the United States with his plans to develop the radiation bomb.

To date, Americans have been detained on suspicion of fighting with the Taliban and with Al Qaeda as part of the Afghan conflict. Today, Pakistani officials said they had confirmed that an American convert to Islam was killed while fighting alongside Muslim guerrillas in Kashmir. The officials said they confirmed the man`s death after seeing a story about him in a magazine called ``Blow of the Believer,`` published by the Army of Muhammad, a Pakistan-based group battling Indian rule in Kashmir. The story did not identify the man by name.

The Army of Muhammad has been outlawed in Pakistan and declared a terrorist organization by the United States. One of its members, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, is charged in the kidnapping and murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Pakistani officials said that after the story appeared, they contacted members of the guerrilla group and were satisfied that the account was accurate. The Pakistani officials said the American man was killed during an operation with Lashkar-e-Taiba, another guerrilla group battling Indian rule in Kashmir. The group has been outlawed in Pakistan.

The article is entitled ``The story of an American Shaheed,`` using the Arabic word to describe someone who dies in the act of defending Islam against nonbelievers. The magazine said the man, whose Muslim name was Abu Adam Jibreel al Amrikeeas, joined the Kashmiri movement as a 19-year-old in 1997 and was killed in the fall of 1998 during an attack on an Indian Army base.

The article said Mr. Adam was ``born into a considerably wealthy family,`` and grew up in Atlanta, where he attended the Ebeneezer Baptist Church as a child. Much like Mr. Lindh, who has been described as a precocious young man who explored different religious faiths, Mr. Adam is said to have read deeply about various religions, including Judaism and Buddhism, before finally deciding on Islam.

re: Abdul Kalaam

Once in a while this nation of 1 billion people produces a son worthy of its name. Abdul Kalaam (nicknamed ``Iyer`` for his scholarship in sanskrit)is one such illustrious son. His rise to the very top instils hope in the poorest of the poor in that country. Meritocracy, though not much in vogue in India, is not dead as yet.

This man is a bachelor, lives the life of a sage, writes poetry in Tamil, quotes sanskrit verses left and write when giving speeches. He has single handedly transformed the defense preparedness of India, putting India on the missile map. His motto is ``a strong India is a must for India`s prosperity``. His vision for 2020 includes many original plans, which if successfully implemented will see India as a developed nation by 2020. One may read more about this man in the website: www.abdulkalam.com. The following is the article that appeared in the HT today:

``Kalam just a click away

Anuj Dhar

New Delhi, Jun 13

Getting to know our would be President is now a few clicks away. Dr A P J Abdul Kalam is not only going to be India`s first scientist President, but also the first President to have a site in his honour. Promoted by Kalam`s friends and admirers, www.abdulkalam.com, also available in Tamil, is a treasure trove of information on the man and his mission.

The masthead declares it to be ``a site for inspiration and nation building`` and it sure is: it encapsulates Dr Kalam`s vision of India expressed in his performance, thoughts, speeches and dreams for the nation.

While the homepage upfronts the presidential prospects for Dr. Kalam, the surfers are bound to end up rediscovering the extraordinary person he is. For instance, did you know that Dr Kalam has been associated with developing an external cardiac pacemaker for patients suffering from bradycardia (prevalent mainly in mal-nutritioned population) or that he has plans for establishing clinical connectivity between remote villages and hospitals in cities, making healthcare accessible to all?

On a personal level, the site showcases the inimitable Doc, as he is known to people close to him. Soon after he was conferred the Bharat Ratna, he issued a circular saying he should be spared from all felicitations. He warned officers not to be present at the airport to receive him with garlands. He prefers to travel in an old Ambassador car without a beacon light and VIP cap. More importantly, his pilot vehicles are instructed to follow the traffic rules!

For good measure, Dr Kalam is humble enough to admit that his life could be an inspiration to many: ``I will not be presumptuous enough to say that my life can be a role model for anybody; but some poor child living in an obscure place in an underprivileged social setting may find a little solace in the way my destiny has been shaped. It could perhaps help such children liberate themselves from the bondage of their illusory backwardness and hopelessness?`` ``.

Sridhar

TAhmed

``I am surprised that you think the choice is not between war and peace, but war and war by other means. This is at odds with the post you wrote a couple of weeks back at the height of the current round of tensions. I agree that women and children and farmers keep dying on the borders from shelling. ``

I think you misunderstood my previous post. When I say the choice is between war and war by other means, I am merely being realistic and no, I am not talking about the shelling on the border.

Regardless of the 2 countries moving away from war, the root cause of Kashmir has not been addressed. Yes, the infiltration is going to stop temporarily, but the proxy war will start again. In realistic terms, India will try and finish of the insurgency in the next few months, or at least bring it down to manageable levels. Then we will hold elections, freer and fairer in the past. Sure, we may not completely like the people who win, but it will be those who at most ask for autonomy, not independence. Pakistan, seeing itself cut out of the deal, will unleash Jehadi forces again. Result: War

What Pakistanis do not seem to realize is that we have no give on Kashmir. We cannot let it secede voluntarily, and when we get the thousand`th cut, we will have to go to war. I am not couching this in moral terms, because neither country can be defended in that sense. It is also a copout to blame Jehadis only for the Pakistani involvement in Kashmir. The fact remains the Jehadis came on the scene coz the liberal elite wanted them to do the dirty work. Also, Kashmir is a Pakistani agenda, not just an Islamic one.

``I see both sides heading toward peace - due to the grim realities of nuclear war (with decision makers on both sides personally risking death, their nationalistic fervor and dreams of glory rapidly disappear), and due to international pressures (who realize that they could have the fallout entering their lungs at some point). I think the Day of the Mullah is already over in Pakistan as a result. The next few months and years will I am sure prove me correct.``

No Pakistani leader can walk away from Kashmir, just as no Indian leader can give it away.

``I dont think therefore that it is too early to start changing the tone of Indo-Pakistan relations now. So, hope you will continue to stay above the Indo-Pak armchair warriors on chowk.``

:) I am being realistic. I would be quite happy to be proved wrong. If there is a genuine peace, if we can leave Kashmir on the backburner, and improve relations in 10 other areas, kinda like India has done with China, then I would be the happiest person. I don`t believe in fighting for the sake of fighting.

However, in India the gov`t never aroused public opinion about the border dispute with China. Therefore, we can deal with them in commerce and technology and a 100 other things without arousing public opinion. The opposite is true in Pakistan. ``Kashmir Banega Pakistan`` is embedded in the public consciousness, and the Pakistan Army cannot lose it`s raison d`etre by expanding commercial ties with India.

I would love to be proved wrong, but there have been too many false starts in South Asia. The problem is not with the people, it is with our respective national identities. I do apologise if I have come across as unduly harsh towards my perception of Pakistan Gov`t`s policy vis a vis India. I am not interested in apportioning blame, just recognizing the efect of our policies.

I look forward to your reading of the situation, based on current geo-political realities, not human emotion.

AlephNull #583
Would`ve been better if it was 6 LeT :(. Ideally indigneous militants would be rehabilitated not killed by foreign terrorists(who definitely need to be dispatched to an early reward)

re: Tough challenge at home

The following is the Editorial article by Najam Sethi in The Friday Times. If this article does not convince the average reader in Chowk that the present day Pakistan is moving towards lawlessness and anarchy, nothing else will.

``Greater challenge at home



Najam Sethi`s



On June 11, Muhammad Yusuf, convicted two years ago of blasphemy by a sessions court, was shot five times in the chest with a .30 handgun at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. The next day, the press reported that the gun was allegedly brought into the prison by one of the jail staff and given to a prisoner on death row. The said prisoner didn’t have the stomach for it, so he passed the gun on to a fellow-convict, Tariq Mota of Gowalmandi, Lahore, a member of the banned extremist outfit, Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba. Tariq, after killing Yusuf, shouted “Allah-o-Akbar” and declared that he had done the deed to win eternal salvation.

Reports in the press say that the sessions judge who gave Yusuf the death sentence in the first place was a close relative of General Zia-ul-Haq and had made it clear during the trial that he was moved more by religious passion than solid evidence. Yusuf had appealed the sentence in the High Court and his case was pending. Since there were some serious flaws in the earlier judgment, legal experts had opined that his sentence would be set aside. Unfortunately, some newspapers began calling him kazzab (pretender) even before he was convicted and have continued to label him thus after his murder. All this before his guilt could be conclusively proved at the High Court.

A few days before Yusuf’s murder, on June 7, a group of lawyers and mullahs nearly came to blows in the Supreme Court. The Court was hearing a petition filed by the United Bank Limited against a 1999 verdict banning bank interest. Eminent lawyers Raja Akram and Raza Kazim appeared for UBL while Ismail Qureshi of the Jamaat-e-Islami represented the party defending the 1999 verdict. In arguing their case, the former quoted verses from the Quran. To this, the clerical crowd raised objections saying Raja Akram was not employing the “right accent” when quoting from the Quran. They also took exception to the presence in court of Dr Rashid Jallundhuri, a scholar of Islam. Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Engineer Salimullah of the JUP (N), ex-convict Maj-General (retd) Zaheerul Islam Abbasi, and Maulana Allah Wasaya were also present. The defendants’ lawyer Ismail Qureshi also protested the removal of Justice Taqi Usmani from the Bench. Justice Usmani had been part of the court consensus against riba in 1999. Matters came to a head and the assistants of both sets of lawyers came to blows. The honourable court warned the mischief-makers but took no action, clearly embarrassed by the presence of a powerful religious pressure group in the court.

It has also come to light recently that of the 12 high-profile cases of sectarian violence, none was brought before the anti-terrorist courts after the expiry of the one-month deadline set for the production of the accused belonging to the banned Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba and Sipahe-e-Muhammad. Earlier, Pakistan’s most notorious sectarian killer Riaz Basra was killed in a “police encounter”, which many analysts thought was stage-managed to avoid bringing the case to court. The reason for this was not only that the police usually fail to investigate the case effectively but that the judges at the lower courts are subject to threats from religious organisations. Scores of highly qualified and public-spirited doctors have been killed in Karachi by the religious terrorists. Despite pledges of tough action, the killings have continued and some medical practitioners have quietly left Pakistan because they know the state’s writ does not extend to those who strike terror in the heart of the nation. Even police officers have been quoted in the press as saying that they cannot stand up to the terrorists because the state is unable to protect them. Interior Minister General (retd) Moinuddin Haider was the only member of General Musharraf’s government who chose to call a spade a spade and spoke out against the religious mafias that run riot in Pakistan. He was warned of dire consequences by many recognized clerical bodies. His brother was then cruelly done to death in Karachi. General Musharraf himself was threatened with physical removal by Maulana Akram Awan of the Tanzim-al-Ikhwan in 2001.

Such is the power of the terrorist in Pakistan. The elements that the state has unleashed on the nation over the past two decades now threaten its very existence. The economy is starved of investments, which have dried up in the face of runaway terrorism in Karachi, Pakistan’s industrial and commercial hub. Wary investors euphemistically call this terrorism “Pakistan’s unsatisfactory law and order situation”. The fallout of the 1999 anti-riba verdict of the Supreme Court Appellate Bench compounds the threats that booby-trap the national economy.

The groundswell of support for General Pervez Musharraf when he first came to power in 1999 had sprung from the citizen’s desire to see the military putting an end to Pakistan’s internal anarchy. Unfortunately, state and society have both become more undermined since 1999 and the country is clearly unable to withstand external challenges while the government is unable to protect it from internal dangers. As the Musharraf government faces off with India, it would do well to remember that the greater challenge is at home.``

Sridhar

Reply #: 578

harish_hyd

``In her eagerness to appear impartial, Ms. Versey, seems to have completely lost sight of objectivity.``

Do not wory. Ms Vershey never had objectivity in the first place. Most journalists from India rarely do.

Sridhar

Pakistani Crackdown Gives Rise to Doubts

South Asia: Curbing Islamic extremism is widely seen as key to easing tensions over Kashmir. But to some, it borders on betrayal.



By TYLER MARSHALL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

MANSEHRA, Pakistan -- The first hint of a government crackdown against Muslim extremist groups in this dusty market town came in January, local businessman Jamil Ahmed recalls.

That`s when police told him to stop collecting money for the militant Al Badr organization, which for nearly a decade ran a training camp in the nearby hills. Locals say it was one of eight such camps in the Mansehra area that turned young Pakistani volunteers into Islamic warriors--known as jihadis--and then launched them across the frontier to fight in the Indian-controlled portion of disputed Kashmir.





By March, jihadi recruiting posters that had lined the streets of this town in Pakistan`s Northwest Frontier Province for years quietly came down, as did billboards proclaiming Indian atrocities against the predominantly Muslim Kashmiris. Then, Ahmed and other residents say, the camps themselves were closed about two months ago and those who ran them vanished. For political moderates here and in India, that`s good news.

Curtailing the jihadi groups is widely viewed as a vital first step in scaling back a crisis that has led India and Pakistan to mass about 1 million troops on their border and raised the frightening prospect of the world`s first war between two nuclear-armed states.

Pakistani officials say the crackdown in Mansehra is part of a broader move against Islamic militant groups that began tentatively this year and appears to have gradually gained greater purpose. Leaders of many of the militant groups were detained last month, according to authorities.

Today, there is little visible evidence in Mansehra of either the jihadis or their cause.

After initial skepticism, India appears to have accepted that Pakistan has stopped militants from crossing the so-called Line of Control that divides Kashmir, but the extent to which their activities inside Pakistan have been halted remains unclear. India, for example, says that at least three training camps still operate in the area around Mansehra--a charge that Pakistan rejects.

``I can say with authority there are no training camps operating now,`` declared army Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, who is leading Pakistan`s efforts to shut down the extremist groups.

Locals, however, refused to take a foreign reporter to visit the camp locations, saying they were afraid of possible reprisals from ``the agencies``--a reference to Pakistani intelligence organizations, including the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, that for years have been the jihadis` main backers within the country`s military establishment.

The government`s follow-up on the initial arrests of suspected militant group members has also raised questions about the crackdown`s effectiveness. For example, 21 militants arrested here in April under an anti-terrorism law were set free recently for lack of evidence.

For President Pervez Musharraf, shutting off support for the jihadi groups means stepping back from a decade-old strategy: using religiously motivated fighters to harass India with a persistent, but effective, low-grade guerrilla campaign in Kashmir.

The mountainous, spectacularly beautiful territory, claimed by India and Pakistan, has been the object of two of their three wars in the last 55 years. After suffering defeat twice in conventional conflicts at the hands of superior Indian forces in Kashmir, Pakistan embraced the jihadis in the late 1980s.

Although government support for the jihadis has always been denied publicly, the groups for years recruited openly, published magazines, solicited donations and operated sophisticated training camps.

Two years ago, Al Badr leader Bakht Zameen even brought a group of Pakistani reporters based in Peshawar to the group`s camp near here to watch a colorful graduation ceremony for recruits who had completed basic training before heading for Kashmir.

``The level of discipline was amazing,`` said one witness who declined to be identified. ``It was like watching an army.``

A 22-year-old volunteer jihadi from Peshawar who used the nom de guerre Uqab said in an interview this week that his main training camp instructors were retired Pakistani army members. He went through a camp run by the Hezb-ul-Moujahedeen group two years ago near Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistani-held portion of Kashmir.

Uqab said the camp offered three types of courses, including three-week basic training and a special forces session that taught recruits how to use a variety of weapons, including hand grenades and rocket launchers. The third course lasted six months and was for suicide bombers.

``Very few people are selected for this course,`` Uqab said.

In recent months, actions attributed to the jihadi groups, including a daylight attack in December on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, have exacerbated political tensions between the two nations.

For Musharraf, moving against the Islamic militants carries considerable domestic risks in a country where the struggle to break India`s grip over Kashmir is imbibed with mother`s milk.

Pakistan`s vociferous fundamentalist Islamic minority already resents Musharraf`s decision to abandon Afghanistan`s Taliban government and side with America and the West in the war against international terrorism after Sept. 11. Some now see Musharraf`s clampdown on the Kashmir militants as dangerously close to betrayal.

``People aren`t happy about this,`` said Junus Khattak, a local leader of Pakistan`s largest religious-based party, Jamaat-i-Islami. ``Jihadi groups should be allowed to operate [in Kashmir]. Their fight is on the side of good, on the side of the oppressed.``

But the biggest danger for Musharraf as he moves forward might not be from an angry populace but from disgruntled elements within his ruling establishment, including the ISI and senior ranks of the army.

Some officers in both institutions see the guerrilla campaign not just as an effective and low-cost response to India`s huge military superiority but also as part of a far larger global struggle to end the oppression of Muslims. As such, these officers have developed strong loyalties to the militants.

``Pakistan had success diplomatically after Sept. 11 when it became the centerpiece of an anti-terror campaign, but militarily, it has suffered a huge setback in Kashmir,`` said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a regional specialist at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, the capital. ``The question now is if this really leads to a de-escalation and genuine dialogue for a peaceful settlement of the issue.``

International diplomatic efforts, such as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld`s visit to the region this week, are expected to dwell on measures to verify the frontier`s stability and to coax both sides to pull back military forces and, eventually, begin talks.

Many Pakistanis worry that Musharraf has conceded too much. With the jihadis cut off from Indian-controlled areas, they fear, India`s security forces are likely to move more freely against indigenous Kashmiri separatist groups. Any such action from New Delhi would put pressure on Musharraf to unleash the jihadi groups again, especially if there is no progress toward negotiations.

``If he gets nothing [from India], he`ll ask the militants to lie low and consider his options,`` Rais said. ``He`ll keep the structures [of the militant groups] intact.``

Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-000041298jun12.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dworld

Ref scout #: 575

[anNy #567,

and you should get married to ali1 and watch the floor break ;) ]

Ali1 is a raunchy old goat. Get him a bakra and leave anNy out of this!

Ref Condom Horse #: 579

[harimau

``...........
Whats that ?]

I am seriously thinking of changing my handle to OBC....``



HARIMOU

Other Backward Class, the category under which Maasaanamuthu got into a professional college.

sadna #582

{Foreign Lashkar vs local Hizbul

Doda: Turf war sparks off fight, six Hizbul men killed}

Bravo! The wolves devour one another.

http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=4294

Foreign Lashkar vs local Hizbul
Doda: Turf war sparks off fight, six Hizbul men killed
Pradeep Dutta

Jammu, June 12: In a new twist to militant violence in the Valley, this time signalling growing differences between ‘‘foreign’’ and indigenous groups, the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen fought each other in an apparent turf war last night.

Seven militants, including six of the Hizbul, were killed and three injured in the ‘‘encounter’’ in Kishtwar tehsil of Doda district, said Senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, Vijay Singh Samyal.


According to officials, security forces got to know of the clash through a wireless intercept in which a Lashkar commander was reported as communicating the death of Hizbul men to his seniors across the border.

The slain Hizbul militants have been identified as area commander Shaheen Kashmiri of Anantnag, Ishtiyaq Ahmed Lone codenamed Captain Aijaz of Marwah, Gulzar Ahmed alias Hazari of Nawapachi, platoon commander Ansari of Thatri, Afaq and Shahnawaz of Kishtwar. The lone Lashkar militant killed was Major Altaf of Pakistan.

While tension between the two groups has been evident ever since the Hizbul condemned the Lashkar’s fidayeen attack in Kaluchak, last night’s gun-battle is reported to have been sparked off by a turf war.

Lashkar, which is dominated by foreign mercenaries, has the upper-hand in Rajouri and Poonch districts while Doda is considered to be Hizbul’s area of operation.

Last night, Lashkar militants were reportedly directing Hizbul cadre to work under them. When the Hizbul commander refused, they started firing and lobbing grenades at each other. Wireless intercepts reveal that the group clash has worried Pak’s ISI, who have asked the commanders of both outfits to remain alert and prevent a backlash.

This is not the first time that the Lashkar has tried to take on the Hizbul. Differences between the two groups reportedly cropped up when the Lashkar killed a 13-year-old girl, Roshni, and a woman, Mughli, in the Sadhu Ganga area of Kupwara — considered to be a Hizbul stronghold — despite the latter’s warnings against intruding in their ‘‘territory’’.

And to add salt to their wounds, a few days later, Lashkar militants reportedly abducted a top Hizbul leader, Mushtaq Ahmad, in Kupwara and tortured him.

Confirming this, Abu Obeida, a newly-appointed commander divisional commander of the Hizbul, warned that they would lose their patience if the Lashkar didn’t mend its ways.

Earlier this year, the Lashkar killed four women and a girl belonging to the minority community in Kreeri Posh and Hogam villages of Anantnag. On investigation, security agencies found out that the killings were probably sparked off by Obeida’s statement to the press warning Jaish and Lashkar to stop killing innocent locals.

Four days before the killings, Obeida had gone on record to say that these killings had given a bad name to the cause. The Lashkar is reported to have purposely chosen soft targets in the Hizbul stronghold in defiance.

The Lashkar’s ‘‘inhuman’’ acts in Hizbul areas have sparked resentment among the local militants. The wedge between the two widened further in the last fortnight, when 21 Hizbul militants surrendered in Kupwara .


 

Ref Impacted-Wisdom-Tooth #: 525

[And another quote dated June 2, 2002 from Praveen Togadia of the VHP: “Ab jahan jahan Godhra hoga wahan wahan Gujarat bhi hoga.” This was not a personal opinion but voiced at a meeting of senior VHP leaders at Ayodhya.]

You know, Hindus aren`t followers of Hazrat Isa so please don`t expect them to turn the other cheek when slapped.

[And I am being asked why I have not condemned Godhra. Readers will recall that there have been many ‘theories’ propounded about how Godhra could have happened. I did not get into the ‘diabolical schemes’. I did not justify them.]

Why don`t you investigate how and why Godhra happened? Aren`t you claiming to be a journalist who seeks after the truth?

[And I did not go around asking Hindus to apologise for Gujarat.]

Good thing you didn`t ask for any apology but enough people were already apologizing for being Hindus, for being on the train, for passing through Muslim territory, for chanting Ram`s name, in fact, for being born. Check out Chowk.

[I also wonder how a taxi ride can make people discover what’s going on in the minds of burqa-clad creatures (PS: political correctness is the last resort of the scoundrel)]

Well, when one has the option of not wearing the burqa or even not going out at all if one was afraid of communal violence, it would seem reasonable to assume that they weren`t afraid. It does not require mind-reading, just simple logic.

[…if it is sought to be conveyed that they can walk about in some suburban lane without any worry despite being easily identifiable as belonging to a certain community, then it is a darned patronising attitude.]

If you read what I wrote, I pointed out that Hindu women and men were also wandering around with apparent unconcern. You see, I am an equal opportunity patronizer.

[All I can say is that the easiest way out for some people is to call someone a hypocrite. (And the problem is that Muslims who do not weave carpets or make brass vessels are called elitist.) If it makes them feel good, fine.]

You are a hypocrite for the simple reason you see the beam in India`s eye while steadfastly ignoring the mote in Islamic countries` eyes. Cut out the crap about you are concerned about India because it is your country. Indians are as human as the next person and respond the same way to provocations as others. So, if some Kashmiris get some fancy ideas about independence or joining Pakistan, Indians are not going to put up with that crap. Those who want to be part of Pakistan can pack up and move. And we don`t want any sympathy for them from you.

[There are millions of Indians who go through a good deal of privation before they can achieve anything; they do not use that as a bullet to shoot others with.]

On the other hand, they accept their fate and get on with their lives as opposed to others who whine or people like Sudalaikkannu who sheds crocodile tears.

[The other strategy, if they want to sound reasonable, is to play what their version of a reasonable Muslim is against me. I do know for certain that Zafar does not enjoy this.]

I suppose you can read Zafar`s mind who is in Australia but I cannot figure out what goes on in people`s minds when they walk about with no concern on the streets of Bombay. Would that be feminine logic, Islamic logic or Bombay logic?

Ref Zafar Al-Talib #: 501

[And Mr Harimau! Now that you have introduced “Love Queen” as a character into our paradigm, it is only a matter of days, IMO, before a certain person takes on this handle and incorporates it into their stable of personas. I hope you’re happy. Whatever you do, DON`T mention Amma. Please. Otherwise we could find ourselves having to give ten percent of our words to somebody`s idea fund whenever we post...]

Maybe 12-head will choose to use Maasaanamuthu instead!

I have of course a steady supply of names including Palyagasalai Mudukudumi Peruvazhudi, Kulamutrattu Tunjiya Killivalavan, Thaeypuri Pazhankayitrinar, and Chembulappeyaneerar that 12-head can use.

I am seriously thinking of changing my handle to OBC.

It is unfair to accuse the PM`s call to troops on the LoC as a politician`s preparation for elections. If the prime minister of a country does not encourage the morale of his troops facing harsh weather conditions in a state of perpetual wait, what was he supposed to do? Tell that they were all going to perish in a nuclear cloud? The fact is that the PM`s exhortations for a decisive victory sent alarm bells ringing across the border in Islamabad, forcing the General to act. For too long, General Musharraf had taken things easily in the belief that India would dare not attack Pakistan, because of American troop presence in the country. He (and most Pakistanis) was under the impression that the Americans` presence had granted him some kind of an immunity from the impending attack, and that the Americans would never allow India to attack, as that would jeopardize the on-going operation against the Al Qaeda. The ISI had taken this as a virtual license to kill and create terror in Kashmir, that dastardly attack on the Kaluchak camp, in which the victims were mainly women and children, being just an example.

Ms. Versey also perhaps needs to ponder over this: Everybody knows Abdul Ghani Lone was a moderate, and as such, a prime target for the pro-Pakistan militants. Would any outfit dare claim responsibility for the assassination? He was the among the very few Hurriyat leaders who openly shunned violence, and had outrightly rejected violence as the way to bring about a solution. That the ISI (and hence Syed Salahuddin and his ilk) resented this is an open secret. Kashmiris, fed-up of nearly a decade-and-half of violence, are more open today than ever before for a negotiated settlement.

In her eagerness to appear impartial, Ms. Versey, seems to have completely lost sight of objectivity.

Ref Maasaanamuthu aka Pearl of the Graveyard #: [Leave the old man be. He`s battling a phantom of his own creation. Soysauce this, soysauce that - the man is working out his bigotry in public...]

So, I am working out MY bigotry in public, eh? How about the slogans on the walls in Trichy, ``If you see a brahmin and a snake, kill the brahmin first``? That would be social engineering and not bigotry, I suppose.

If you attempt to justify that by the so-called misdeeds of brahmins in not giving water to your ancestors, tell me why you hold the current generation responsible for the sins of their forefathers. By the same token, why the hell do you not support punitive measures against Muslims for the misdeeds of THEIR forefathers? Will you support the statement ``If you see a Muslim and a snake, kill the Muslim first``?

[Our friend harimau has been pestering me to explain the lyrics of some the ``poets`` he is allergic to but is fascinated enough by them nonetheless to warrant such close attention to the garbage they turn out. harimau is our ultimate sewer-inspector.]

I AM fascinated by the utter degradation of a society by you Sudalaikkannu types. This is what you fought for, isn`t it? To be able to publicly broadcast pornographic verses? That is the meaning of your Tamil movement.

By the way, you just need to walk down the streets to hear that song being played on boomboxes from every corner teashop.

[Unkalji, i`m not a movie buff. The last tamil movie that i was forced to watch was hey ram and i was utterly revolted by the violence.]

But you are not revolted by the violence that Father Big Man and his followers have unleashed in Tamil Nadu, have you? How about this: in Thinnayam village in Trichy District, where the Dravidian parties hold sway, an Adi Dravida family (this would mean aborigines) was forced to eat dried sh!t because they were cheated out of Rs. 2000 by the village chief who promised them housing and they demanded their money back. That is the extent of your anti-brahmin sentiment. If the weakest and poorest brahmin had demanded his money back, you wouldn`t have returned the money but you mufukkas wouldn`t have the ba!!s to do what you did to that aborigine. So, that has been the commitment of the Dravidian Progressive Party to the Dravidian cause.

[On the other hand most indians (& most tamils) seem to devote their weekends to watching all the crap that they turn out from bombay, madras or hyderabad and a large majority of them, as far as i could tell, are brahmins. So there!]

How do you know? Do the brahmins let you into their houses?