May Allah bring you joy, happiness, peace and prosperity on this blessed occasion.
Wishing you and your family on this happy occasion of Eid! Eid Mubarak!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
A very Eid Mubarak to all
May Allah bring you joy, happiness, peace and prosperity on this blessed occasion.
Wishing you and your family on this happy occasion of Eid! Eid Mubarak!
Amazing Islam Miracles
An interesting video highlighting how the words “Allah” and “Muhammad” appear in Arabic text throughout the creation. An interesting video to share with others. Simply copy the web address of this page and forward.
Monday, September 29, 2008
THE WORLD’S LEADING TERRORIST!
WHY GEORGE W. BUSH IS
THE WORLD’S LEADING TERRORIST!
THE WORLD’S LEADING TERRORIST!
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Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. - US Federal Bureau of Investigation
Read the sentence carefully. You didn’t hear it on any corporate media newscast since 9/11. It’s the official US FBI definition of terrorism. In its official definition, the FBI does not limit terrorism to stateless individuals or groups. In its official definition, the FBI does not suggest that terrorism cannot be perpetrated by the leader of a nation state. But even more amazing is that the official FBI definition of terrorism describes exactly what George Bush did in the aftermath of the attacks of 9/11!
APPLYING THE DEFINITION
- George W. Bush, in his unprovoked attack against the sovereign nation of Iraq, openly violated the UN Charter, to which the US is a signatory. The Charter's core principles contained in Article 2(4) and Article 51 prohibit one nation from attacking another except in self-defense or with the authority of the U.N. In effect, George Bush launched an unlawful use of force against persons and property.
- The invasion launched by George W. Bush was heralded by the most frightening and powerful use of force and military violence in recent history. His Shock and Awe bombardment of Baghdad was designed to intimidate and coerce the government as well as the civilian population of that nation to change its existing leadership. That, in itself, was a political objective.
- The purpose of the invasion and ensuing occupation of Iraq was to replace the existing dictatorship with an American-backed form of democracy that would not permit the emergence of a government headed by the majority Shia religious leadership. These motives were unquestionably political and social.
So, what part of the FBI definition of “terrorism” do the voters of the United States not understand? And what acts of terrorism as defined by the FBI do the voters of the United States not recognize? Is there any doubt at all that the Bush administration committed acts of terrorism when it unlawfully used force and violence against the nation of Iraq to intimidate and coerce its government and the civilian population, in furtherance of the Bush/PNAC political and social objectives.
Therefore, by any definition, if George W. Bush is guilty of terrorism, he can accurately be identified as a TERRORIST. And if he is truly a terrorist, it is only fitting that George W. Bush be scrutinized in terms of his success in that capacity. What is his standing among the other murderous terrorist activity in the world today? Is it possible that George W. Bush actually has claim to being the very BEST at something during his reign in office? Let’s look at the figures.
MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL
WHO’S THE LEADING TERRORIST OF ALL?
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THE CONTEST
EVERYONE ELSE: Despite the protestations of George W. Bush to the contrary, we are NOT safer now by any stretch of the imagination. According to an NBC report at the beginning of September, 2004, there were roughly 2,929 terrorism related deaths around the world since the 9/11 attacks. Of these, 58 per cent of them – 1,709 – occurred in 2004 - this year!
Repeat: The total number of deaths in the entire world at the hands of terrorists since George W. Bush declared a War on Terror, amounts to around 3,000. Add the terrible losses in the United States on that fateful morning of September 11th, and we reach somewhere in the vicinity of 6,000 precious, innocent lives. Again: In only three years, terrorists around the world took the lives of approximately six thousand people.
GEORGE W. BUSH: In pursuit of his arrogant and PNAC-driven political and social objectives in Iraq, George W. Bush has the blood of thousands of innocent civilians on his hands. To cover his guilt, early in the war, the US government ordered the Iraqi Ministry of Health to stop counting civilian deaths, and forbade them from releasing any totals previously gathered. The image of a surgical war, dominated by smart bombs and resulting in very few civilian casualties was televised to the American public throughout the hostilities.
As a result, the number of civilian casualties in Iraq is probably vastly under-estimated. According to Human Rights Watch, many of the civilian deaths were the direct result of weapons that should never have been used in populated areas. Among these were nearly 2 million submunitions which fail to explode immediately and killed people long after the initial conflict had ended. In addition, the strategy of decapitation bombing killed many civilians while it failed to kill a single Iraqi military leader in 50 attempts.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, civilian losses in Iraq have been severe. They used the research results of a group of British and Americans who surveyed media reports of casualties as well as eyewitness accounts to conclude that between 8,789 and 10,638 Iraqi civilians have died since war began March 19, 2003. That puts George Bush in the lead for most successful terrorist, big time.
As of September, 2004, IraqBodyCount.net placed the Iraqi civilian death total at a minimum of 11,793 and a maximum of 13,802. On September 8th, 2004 the AP reported that no official, reliable figures existed for the whole country, but private estimates ranged from 10,000 to 30,000 killed since the United States invaded in March 2003. Whatever count you accept, George W. Bush wins, big time.
If we go with the lowball figure, - the very least estimate of Iraqi civilians killed as a direct result of the unlawful invasion and occupation of the country, George W. Bush still wins the title of the LEADING TERRORIST alive today, big time.
If we go with the lowest estimate, then the number 8,789 stands for the total civilian deaths caused by the invasion of Iraq in LESS THAN A YEAR AND A HALF. Contrast that number to the 6,000 deaths caused AROUND THE WORLD in THREE YEARS, by other terrorists. No matter how you look at it, George W. Bush wins, big time.
And that doesn’t include the estimated 3,485 civilian deaths in Afghanistan, - the country to which we sent only 11,000 troops to fight the Taliban. George W. Bush claimed victory in Iraq in his acceptance speech. What utter nonsense. The country is dangerous and explosive, and in the hands of the same warlords and Taliban chieftains who ruled before 9/11. Revisionist history by this administration is never challenged by the media. The list of Big Lies prevails.
And it doesn’t include the military deaths on all sides, or the kidnappings, or the contractor deaths or the wounded or the dying. It doesn’t count the deaths to come from the depleted uranium shells or the permanently maimed and psychologically affected.
George W. Bush, his handlers and his administration can be proud. The dubious title of LEADING TERRORIST now belongs to the most powerful man in the world who seeks another term of office to continue what he has begun.
The American corporate media refuse to address the totals. Doing so might result in an accusation of being unpatriotic or un-American. Doing so would challenge directives from the WH such as those that keep the nation from seeing the draped coffins of our military dead. Doing so might even influence the outcome of this crucial election.
How utterly shameful that is for this wonderful country and how tragic for the world.
87,833 – 95,866
Deaths per day from suicide attacks and vehicle bombs (now includes non-vehicle suicide attacks)
Deaths per day from gunfire / executions
Weekly graph Monthly table
This data is based on 16,040 database entries from the beginning of the war to 4 August 2008. The most recent weeks are always in the process of compilation and will rise further. The current range contains 2,580–2,658 deaths (2.9%–2.8%, a portion which may rise or fall over time) based on single-sourced reports. Graphs are based on the higher number in our totals. Gaps in recording and reporting suggest that even our highest totals to date may be missing many civilian deaths from violence. See Recent Events for as yet unpublished incidents, and read About IBC for a better description of the project's scope and limitations.
Lailat-ul-Qadr (the Night of Power)
WE celebrate Lailat ul-Qadr on the auspicious night of 27th Ramadhan. But nobody knows definitely when the Great Revelation came down to the benighted world through the agency of the angelic host, representing the Mercy of Allah. The Night has been variously fixed as the 3rd, 12th, 21st, 25th, 27th or the 29th of Ramadhan. It is probably one of the last three. Ibn Hambal reported that Ibn Omar had narrated a Hadith in which the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: "Whoever seeks the Night, let him seek it on the 27th."
But Imam Bukhari (RA) writes that Ibn Abbas reported the Holy Prophet (Sm) as saying: "Seek Lailat-ul-Qadr in the last ten nights of Ramadhan, on the twenty-first, twenty-third and twenty-fifth."
Abu Said al-Khudri said: "God's Messenger spent the first ten nights of Ramadhan in devoition, and spent the middle ten nights in devotion in a round Turkish tent, after which he raised his head and said, 'I have spent the first ten nights in seeking this Night, then I spent the middle ten nights in devotion and after that I had a heavenly visitant and was told that it is in the last ten: so he who was engaged in devotion along with me should do so during the last ten nights, for I was shown this Night, then was caused to forget it, but I have seen myself prostrating in water and clay on the morning following, so seek it among the last ten and seek it in every night with an odd number." He said: "Rain fell that night, the mosque which was a thatched building dripped, and my eyes saw God's Messenger with traces of water and clay on his forehead on the morning after the twenty-first night." Bukhari and Muslim agree on the subject matter, the wording being Muslim's up to "and was told it is in the last ten," the remainder being Bukhari's.
It was on the auspicious Lailat-ul-Qadr, the Night of Power or Honour or Majesty, that the Holy Quran, the most blessed and perfect of all revelations, was vouchsafed to the benighted world. By revelation, of course, is meant the first revelation, because the Holy Quran was revealed in portions for twenty-three years. The real merit of this blessed Night has been expounded in the Holy Quran. Allah has emphatically and very clearly declared in Sura Qadr: "We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power." Allah further corroborates in the same Sura. "And what will explain to thee what the Night of Power is? The Night of Power is better then a thousand months."
Lailat-ul-Qadr occupies a unique position in the Islamic calendar. It was this blessed Night of Majesty which first witnessed the shining of the divine light which was destined to illumine the whole world.
This night of grandeur or greatness, better than a thousand months, is indeed a night of great wonders and divine blessings, wherein, as the Holy Quran declares: "Come down the angels and the Sprit by Allah's permission on every errand."
The night on which a Message descends from Allah is indeed a blessed night, like a day of rain for a parched land. It is for this that the I'tikaf, going to the mosques or retiring for contemplation during Ramadhan as a form of devotion, is fixed for the last ten days of the month of Ramadhan. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) himself used to spent the last ten days of Ramadhan in complete retirement in the mosque. He even had his bed placed in the mosque during the I'tikaf."A thousand months" may be taken in a mystic sense as denoting a very long period of time. This does not necessarily refer to ordinary human conception of Time, but may refer to the "Timeless Time." In the words of Maulana Yusuf Ali: "One moment of enlightenment under God's light is better that thousands of years of animal life, and such a moment converts the night of darkness into a period of spiritual glory."
The descent of the angels and the Sprit by Allah's permission also testifies to deeper significance and religious sanctity of the auspicious Night, for though a particular night in the month of Ramadhan may be characterised by great Divine blessing, it is more especially in connection with the mission of the One appointed by Allah for the regeneration of the world that 'the angels and the Spirit' come down from heaven, such being the Divine support of his cause." Sura Qadr, testifying so eloquently to the divine grandeur and unique greatness of the majestic Lailat-ul-Qadr, ends with the beautiful expression. "Peace… This until the rise of morn."
Peace, indeed, is the chief distinction of Laila-ul-Qadr. This peace comes to the hearts of the devotees in the form of a tranquility of mind, which makes them fit to receive Divine blessings. When the Night of spiritual darkness is dissipated by the Glory of Benign Providence, a wonderful peace and sense of security arise in the soul. All agitations are stilled in the reign supreme of peace. "And this lasts on," in the words of Maulana Yusuf Ali, "until this life closes, and the glorious Day of the new spiritual world dawns, when everything will be on a different plane, and the chequered nights and days of the world will be even less than a dream."
The continuance of the blessed Night till "the rise of morn" is quite clear and evident when the Night is taken literally: the work of morning, signifying "the approaching end of the reforms, when truth, like the light of the day, has made itself fully manifest." In the words of Abdullah Yusuf Ali: "The mortal night gives place to the glorious day of an immortal world."
Lailat-ul-Qadr, the blessed Night in the Great Revelation of the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful Allah "broke through the darkness of the human soul" and the Holy Quran, the perfect code of human life, reached mankind as a message of "Mercy from the Lord," carries another significance of Diving Excellence. As Moulvi Mohammed Ali states: "The time during which a prophet appears is usually a time of darkness and, as such, is often compared to night in the Holy Quran. But, as in this darkness comes a blessing from on high in the person of a Divine Messenger, the Night is a blessed and majestic night. Hence, the period of the advent of Divine Messenger may also be metaphorically called Lailat-ul-Qadr. Its designation as the Blessed Night in Sura Ad-Dukhan, followed as it is by the statement that in it "every wise affair is made distinct," shows clearly that the other significance of the world is based on the Quran itself, because it is during the time of a prophet's advent that true wisdom is distinctly established.
Blessed indeed is this Night of Power. The divine importance of this Night of Grandeur is so great that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) himself declared: "He who spends the Lailat-ul-Qadr through prayers, in full faith, shall have all his previous sins and guilt forgiven."
It is not, however, the worldly pleasures and physical comforts that one should ask for on this holy Night. What a man should pray for in this blessed Night is forgiveness and Allah's forgiveness alone. Nothing can be more pleasant, nothing can be more beneficial, nothing can be sweeter that the glorious Mercy of the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful Allah.
Hazrat Ayesha Siddiqua (RA) said: "I asked the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) what to say during the Night on the assumption that I knew it was the Night." The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: "One should say 'Lord! You love forgiveness, so forgive me.
Laylatul Qadr (the Night of Power) is described in the Quran as, “better than a thousand months” (97:3). Any action done on this night such as reciting the Quran, remembering Allah, etc. is better than acting for one thousand months which do not contain the night of Qadr.
Allah’s Messenger used to exert himself in devotion during the last ten nights to a greater extent than at any other time.” (Muslim). Allah’s peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet.
Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, related that the Prophet said: Look for Laylatul Qadr on an odd-numbered night during the last ten nights of Ramadan (Bukhari).
The Prophet said: “Whoever prays during the night of Qadr with faith and hoping for its reward will have all of his previous sins forgiven.” (Bukhari and Muslim recorded from Abu Huraira).
Here are some tips of things we can do on the Night of Power and the time before and after it.
1. Take a vacation for Allah
We take a break from our jobs for almost everything in life. Why not this time to focus on worshiping and thanking our Creator.
If this is not possible at least take a few days off if you can. This can make it easier to stay awake at night to do extra Ibadah, not having to worry about getting to work the next day.
It will also facilitate doing Itikaf.
2. Do Itikaf
It was a practice of the Prophet to spend the last ten days and nights of Ramadan in the masjid for Itikaf.
Those in Itikaf stay in the masjid all this time, performing various forms of zikr (the remembrance of Allah), like doing extra Salat, recitation and study of the Quran. They do not go outside the masjid except in case of emergencies, therefore, they sleep in the masjid. Their families or the masjid administration takes care of their food needs.
Itikaf of a shorter period of time, like one night, a day or a couple of days is encouraged as well.
3. Make this special Dua
Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: I asked the Messenger of Allah: ‘O Messenger of Allah, if I know what night is the night of Qadr, what should I say during it?’ He said: ‘Say: O Allah, You are pardoning and You love to pardon, so pardon me.’ “(Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Tirmidhi).
The transliteration of this Dua is “Allahumma innaka `afuwwun tuhibbul `afwa fa`fu `annee”
4. Recite the Quran
Perhaps you can choose Surahs or passages from the Quran which you have heard in Tarawih this past Ramadan to recite.
If you attend a class where the recitation of the Quran is taught, this is a great time to put your knowledge into practice.
5. Reflect on the meaning of the Quran
Choose the latest Surah or Surahs you’ve heard in Tarawih and read their translation and Tafseer. Then think deeply about their meaning and how it affects you on a personal level.
(If you want to study the Quran with more understanding, check out Way to the Quran and Access to Quranic Arabic.
6. Get your sins wiped out
Abu Huraira narrated that the Messenger said: Whoever stands (in prayer) in Laylatul Qadr while nourishing his faith with self-evaluation, expecting reward from Allah, will have all of his previous sins forgiven. [Bukhari and Muslim).
Don’t just pray using the shorter Surahs that you know. Try to make your prayers longer, deeper and meaningful. If you are familiar with longer Surahs, read the translation and explanation and then pray reciting these Surahs, carefully reflecting on the meaning while you pray.
Even if you are only familiar with the shorter Surahs, read the translation and explanation beforehand, and then pray reflecting on the message of the Surahs.
This is a good way to develop the habit of concentration, even in regular prayers, where many of us tend to be fidgety and/or easily distracted.
7. Make a personal Dua list.
Ask yourself what you really want from Allah. Make a list of each and everything, no matter how small or how big it is, whether it deals with this world or not. Allah loves to hear from us. Once this list is ready, you can do three things:
• Ask Allah to give you those things
• Think about what actions you have taken to get those things
• Develop a work plan to get those things in future.
8. Evaluate yourself.
Ask yourself those questions that need to be asked. Do an evaluation of where you are and where you are going. Let this evaluation lead you to feel happiness for the good you have done and remorse for the bad you have done. (see a short and a long evaluation guide) This latter feeling should make it easier to seek Allah’s sincere forgiveness when making the Dua mentioned in tip number one above.
9. Make long, sincere and deep Duas
One of the best times to do this is during the last part of the night.
Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, related that the Prophet said: When the last one-third of the night remains, our Lord, the Glorious One descends towards the heaven of the earth and proclaims: Who is that who supplicates for Me, and I grant his supplication? Who is that who begs Me for anything and I grant it to him? And who is that who seeks My forgiveness, and I forgive him? (Bukhari, Muslim).
That means for instance, waking up one hour before Suhoor time to ask Allah for anything and everything you want that is Halal. This can be done using the Duas of the Sunnah, but also Dua in your own language, with sincerity and conviction.
For some tips on making Dua please see the article Some personal Duas you can make.
10. Memorize a different Dua every night
They don’t have to be long. They can be just one line. And be sure to know what they mean generally at least, even if you don’t know the exact translation in English.
You can put them on index cards (or and keep them with you during the day, glancing at them during work, while driving, waiting in line, etc.) Then practice them at night in prayer.
11. Have Iftar with the family
If you’ve spent Iftar time on weekdays in your cubicle at work alone with a couple of dates, now is the last few days you’ll have this Ramadan to spend with your family. Use it wisely.
12. Take the family to Tarawih
Have your spouse and kids missed Tarawih most of Ramadan because you weren’t there to drive them to the Masjid, which is too far away to walk to? If so, do all of yourselves a favor and bring everyone for Tarawih in these last ten nights.
13. Attend the Dua after the completion of Quran recitation
Almost all Masjids where the Imam aims to finish an entire reading of the Quran in Tarawih prayers in Ramadan will be completing their recitation in these last ten nights. They may try to end on one of the odd nights and read the Dua at the end of a reading of the Quran. Attend this particular night’s Tarawih prayer with your family. See if you can attend different Masjids’ Tarawih prayers the night they finish reading the Quran.
14. Finish reading a book on the Prophet
Read about the Prophet’s life, which can increase your love for him and Islam by seeing how much he struggled for Allah’s sake. It may inspire you to push yourself even harder during these last ten nights. This community is built on sacrifice.
15. Plan for the next year
Once you’ve done a self-evaluation, you can plan on where you want to go, at least in the next 12 months. Laylatul Qadr is a great night to be thinking about this (without taking away from your worship), since you’ll Insha Allah, be in a more contemplative state. You may choose to dedicate one night of power for evaluation and one night for planning for the next year.
16. To do list for the Night of Power
Make a to do checklist for each Night of Power. This should define how you would like your night, the one better than a thousand months, to be used. Pick things from this list and define the sequence you would like to do things in. This will help you avoid wasting your time in unproductive chats which common in the festive atmosphere of Masjids at the Night of Power.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
5,389 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers over 8 years of intifadah
Marking eight years since the start of the second intifadah local Palestinian organizations Al-Haq for Legal and Human Rights, and the Health Action Committee held a press conference in Ramallah. During the press conference the organizations outlined all that had been “achieved” since the second “popular uprising” in Palestine. Of those killed by Israeli forces, they said, 194 were women and 995 children. During the same time 135 Palestinian patients died at one of the 630 military checkpoints throughout the areas. The group said 32,270 Palestinians were injured over the last eight years, and 3,530 of those injured have suffered permanent handicaps, and at least 220 Palestinians have died waiting for treatment abroad. General Director of the Health Action committee Shatha Au’da said that Israel had destroyed entire infrastructures in Palestinian lands, from road networks, to health, government and security on account of occupation and siege policies. Palestinian lands and lives have been cut up by road-blocks, concrete walls, settlements and discriminatory policies. Settlements have expanded 30% since the Annapolis conference alone, and since 2000 7,934 Palestinian homes have been demolished. Israelis have collected 66million Shekels in fines from Palestinians living in East Jerusalem since 2006, and in that city alone 27 homes are currently threatened with demolition. There have been 450 kilometers of separation fence build across the land, and 45% of West Bank lands are not accessible to Palestinians. According to Sha’wan Jabareen, general director of Al-Haq, the Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley area have become completely isolated from the rest of the Palestinian areas. Jabareen accused the international community of failure in pressuring Israel to halt settlement construction, as well as all other crimes against the Palestinian people, and he expressed concern over the recent Europe-Israel partnership agreement. |
Friday, September 26, 2008
US Says Pakistani Troops Fired on Helicopters
NATO has issued a statement today saying that Pakistan troops opened fire on two helicopters near the Afghan border. This is the third such incident reported in the past two weeks, with the other two reports involving US helicopters in South Waziristan. This report is unique, however, in that it did not come from anonymous officials over the denials of their military, but rather was an official statement issued by NATO itself later confirmed by the US military.
According to a US military spokesman the helicopters were two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters, and they received small arms fire from a Pakistani border post. He insists “they did not cross the border and they did not fire back.” The incident occurred in the Khost Province, which is directly across the border from North Waziristan. Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said he is still awaiting a full report, but the incident is being investigated.
The United States launched two air strikes into North Waziristan earlier this month, killing 23 and 14 people, respectively. A third air strike was briefly reported, but that strike turned out to be on the tiny village of Al Must, just across the border in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military has barred foreign forces from operating inside its territory since shortly after an incident in which US forces killed 20 civilians in South Waziristan. According to Major-General Abbas, the army has been authorized to retaliate against any incursions by foreign troops.
According to a US military spokesman the helicopters were two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters, and they received small arms fire from a Pakistani border post. He insists “they did not cross the border and they did not fire back.” The incident occurred in the Khost Province, which is directly across the border from North Waziristan. Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said he is still awaiting a full report, but the incident is being investigated.
The United States launched two air strikes into North Waziristan earlier this month, killing 23 and 14 people, respectively. A third air strike was briefly reported, but that strike turned out to be on the tiny village of Al Must, just across the border in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military has barred foreign forces from operating inside its territory since shortly after an incident in which US forces killed 20 civilians in South Waziristan. According to Major-General Abbas, the army has been authorized to retaliate against any incursions by foreign troops.
How a Pakistani protest song is redefining Islam as anti-terrorist
The song “Ye Hum Naheen” which is performed by eight celebrity singers, including Strings, Shuja Hyder, Hadiqa Kiani and Ali Zafar, has become a success while also promoting a powerful anti-terrorism message. The song’s title is Urdu for “This is Not Us” and is meant to show that Islam does not agree with terrorist activity. Along with the song, almost 63 million Pakistanis signed a petition supporting its message within just five weeks during the summer. Thanks to the power of the message and the performers, the song was able to top the charts in Pakistan and at MTV Asia, as well as the British Asian charts once a video was released for the song on YouTube.com.www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIsvsm9xgrg
Zardari tells Palin she’s ‘gorgeous’
Sarah Palin, Republican Party’s vice-presidential candidate, is trying to get valuable foreign policy experience by holding meetings with various world leaders attending the UN Session in New York. On Wednesday, Sarah Palin held a meeting with Pakistan’s new president, Asif Zardari. At the beginning of the meeting the duo exchanged pleasantries and Zardari described the vice-presidential candidate as ”even more gorgeous” than he had expected. She thanked him and he responded; “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you.” It didn’t end there. When a cameraman asked them to shake hands again so that he could get the right shots, Zardari really turned it on: “If he’s insisting, I might hug.” Palin again smiled politely. Maybe this could serve the former Alaska beauty queen well if the US ever decides to get tough on Pakistan’s harboring of Al-Qaeda and Taliban.Source: CNN
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Many still have doubts' over 9/11
Many still have doubts' over 9/11
By Alex Sehmer
More than 50 per cent of people reject the official belief that the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, were carried out by al-Qaeda, a new survey has revealed.
The findings, released late on Wednesday, suggest that the official version of events - that the attacks, which killed more than 2,900 people and sparked the US so-called "war on terror", were carried out by al-Qaeda - is still a long way from being generally accepted.
Only 46 per cent of respondents named al-Qaeda, while 25 per cent said they did not know and 15 per cent said the US government was behind the attacks.
Steven Kull, the director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, which carried out the survey, told Al Jazeera: "Broadly what this says is that there is a lack of confidence with the United States and so people mistrust the narrative the US puts forward."
Officially, hijackers took control of four passenger aircraft in the September 11 attacks. Two of the aeroplanes crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York and the "Twin Towers" subsequently collapsed, bringing down two other buildings nearby. The third aircraft hit the Pentagon while the fourth is said to have crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Kull's organisation asked more than 16,000 people world wide "Who do you think was behind the 9/11 attacks?", leaving the question open-ended.
Blaming Israel
While a substantial number of those polled believed the US government was in some way behind the attacks, seven per cent point the finger at Israel.
Of the countries surveyed, Egypt and Jordan had the highest percentages of people who believed Israel was behind the attack, polling 43 and 31 per cent respectively. Nineteen per cent of those polled in the Palestinian territories claimed Israel was in some way responsible.
"In Muslim countries - where we've carried out a number of focus groups - it's clear there is a feeling that the US had some kind of motivation, such as invading Iraq," Kull said.
"There are also some difficulties with the idea that Muslims carried out attacks on civilians - which is widely seen as wrong and contrary to Islam... And there are plenty of people in Muslim countries who say it would have been too technically difficult [for al-Qaeda] to pull off."
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, a majority 57 per cent said they did not know who was behind the attacks. Only five per cent said that Israel had been involved.
'Conspiracy theorists'
In 2002, the US government set up the 9/11 commission, chaired by Thomas Kean, a former governor of New Jersey, to investigate the event. It published its report in 2004, concluding that the 19 hijackers were all members of al-Qaeda. It also concluded that there had been intelligence failures on the part of the CIA and the FBI, the US's spy agencies.
But the World Trade Centre attacks quickly proved fertile ground for "conspiracy theorists" and sceptics have a wide range of alternative theories to choose from - including that US military personnel were involved in the attack or that the towers were brought down with the help of a controlled explosion.
"There are people who are saying that US soldiers were flying the planes ... or people who say simply that the US government turned a blind eye to the threat or that they somehow got them to do it through some means," said Kull.
One of the proponents of an alternative version of the events has been Willis Carto, editor of the American Free Press newspaper, which frequently points the finger of blame at Israel.
He told Al Jazeera the attacks were "perpetrated by the Israeli Mossad [secret service] in conjunction with the American government".
"There's no real evidence whatsoever that the official story of the planes smashing into the building was true. It's impossible to believe that a few furtive little characters armed with box cutters who had no idea how to fly ... could have manouvred the planes like this," Carto said.
"There are so many holes in the story that no one in his right mind can believe it."
Classroom politics
Those who expound alternative versions of the events have themselves become the targets for debunking. Loose Change, a popular series of internet videos that counters the official version of events, has itself inspired a blog called Screw Loose Change.
Reports in engineering publications have sought to counter alternative theories that say the towers could not have collapsed as they did simply by being hit by an aircraft.
In 2007, research by Keith Seffen, a senior lecturer in Cambridge University's engineering department, used analysis of an engineering model to show the tower collapse had been "quite ordinary and natural".
The US has also seen the debate enter the university classroom. Both Ward Churchill, of the University of Colorado, and Kevin Barrett, of the University of Wisconsin, provoked a public outcry over the fact they professed to believe alternative versions of the events.
Their critics feared the academics might be tempted to bring there beliefs into the classroom. Their supporters said that even if they did, a university classroom was the place for alternative theories.
'Structural failure'
Michael Newman, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist), which worked for several years on reports about how and why the World Trade Centre towers collapsed, told Al Jazeera the debate was unlikely to ever go away.
"Whenever we put out one of our reports, we get phone calls and emails from those with alternative views," he said.
"And you always get a lot of interest around the time of the anniversary - it's a part of history now.
The Nist reports say the towers' collapse was due to "structural failure" after the aeroplanes hit them. The reports have been welcomed by building code regulators and many of Nist's recommendations from its investigations have been adopted, but those with alternative viewpoints have continued to dispute the organisation's findings.
"We've heard opinions from all sides," Newman told Al Jazeera.
"At the end of the day, people are entitled to their own opinions and we probably won't be able to convince them otherwise."
By Alex Sehmer
More than 50 per cent of people reject the official belief that the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, were carried out by al-Qaeda, a new survey has revealed.
The findings, released late on Wednesday, suggest that the official version of events - that the attacks, which killed more than 2,900 people and sparked the US so-called "war on terror", were carried out by al-Qaeda - is still a long way from being generally accepted.
Only 46 per cent of respondents named al-Qaeda, while 25 per cent said they did not know and 15 per cent said the US government was behind the attacks.
Steven Kull, the director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, which carried out the survey, told Al Jazeera: "Broadly what this says is that there is a lack of confidence with the United States and so people mistrust the narrative the US puts forward."
Officially, hijackers took control of four passenger aircraft in the September 11 attacks. Two of the aeroplanes crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York and the "Twin Towers" subsequently collapsed, bringing down two other buildings nearby. The third aircraft hit the Pentagon while the fourth is said to have crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Kull's organisation asked more than 16,000 people world wide "Who do you think was behind the 9/11 attacks?", leaving the question open-ended.
Blaming Israel
While a substantial number of those polled believed the US government was in some way behind the attacks, seven per cent point the finger at Israel.
Of the countries surveyed, Egypt and Jordan had the highest percentages of people who believed Israel was behind the attack, polling 43 and 31 per cent respectively. Nineteen per cent of those polled in the Palestinian territories claimed Israel was in some way responsible.
"In Muslim countries - where we've carried out a number of focus groups - it's clear there is a feeling that the US had some kind of motivation, such as invading Iraq," Kull said.
"There are also some difficulties with the idea that Muslims carried out attacks on civilians - which is widely seen as wrong and contrary to Islam... And there are plenty of people in Muslim countries who say it would have been too technically difficult [for al-Qaeda] to pull off."
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, a majority 57 per cent said they did not know who was behind the attacks. Only five per cent said that Israel had been involved.
'Conspiracy theorists'
In 2002, the US government set up the 9/11 commission, chaired by Thomas Kean, a former governor of New Jersey, to investigate the event. It published its report in 2004, concluding that the 19 hijackers were all members of al-Qaeda. It also concluded that there had been intelligence failures on the part of the CIA and the FBI, the US's spy agencies.
But the World Trade Centre attacks quickly proved fertile ground for "conspiracy theorists" and sceptics have a wide range of alternative theories to choose from - including that US military personnel were involved in the attack or that the towers were brought down with the help of a controlled explosion.
"There are people who are saying that US soldiers were flying the planes ... or people who say simply that the US government turned a blind eye to the threat or that they somehow got them to do it through some means," said Kull.
One of the proponents of an alternative version of the events has been Willis Carto, editor of the American Free Press newspaper, which frequently points the finger of blame at Israel.
He told Al Jazeera the attacks were "perpetrated by the Israeli Mossad [secret service] in conjunction with the American government".
"There's no real evidence whatsoever that the official story of the planes smashing into the building was true. It's impossible to believe that a few furtive little characters armed with box cutters who had no idea how to fly ... could have manouvred the planes like this," Carto said.
"There are so many holes in the story that no one in his right mind can believe it."
Classroom politics
Those who expound alternative versions of the events have themselves become the targets for debunking. Loose Change, a popular series of internet videos that counters the official version of events, has itself inspired a blog called Screw Loose Change.
Reports in engineering publications have sought to counter alternative theories that say the towers could not have collapsed as they did simply by being hit by an aircraft.
In 2007, research by Keith Seffen, a senior lecturer in Cambridge University's engineering department, used analysis of an engineering model to show the tower collapse had been "quite ordinary and natural".
The US has also seen the debate enter the university classroom. Both Ward Churchill, of the University of Colorado, and Kevin Barrett, of the University of Wisconsin, provoked a public outcry over the fact they professed to believe alternative versions of the events.
Their critics feared the academics might be tempted to bring there beliefs into the classroom. Their supporters said that even if they did, a university classroom was the place for alternative theories.
'Structural failure'
Michael Newman, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist), which worked for several years on reports about how and why the World Trade Centre towers collapsed, told Al Jazeera the debate was unlikely to ever go away.
"Whenever we put out one of our reports, we get phone calls and emails from those with alternative views," he said.
"And you always get a lot of interest around the time of the anniversary - it's a part of history now.
The Nist reports say the towers' collapse was due to "structural failure" after the aeroplanes hit them. The reports have been welcomed by building code regulators and many of Nist's recommendations from its investigations have been adopted, but those with alternative viewpoints have continued to dispute the organisation's findings.
"We've heard opinions from all sides," Newman told Al Jazeera.
"At the end of the day, people are entitled to their own opinions and we probably won't be able to convince them otherwise."
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
List of Death’s in North West Pakistan.
Attached above is a list I recently recieved of deaths as reported in the Media in the North West of Pakistan.
Exclusive Pictures by BrassTacks - A Suicde Bomber caught
Dear brothers, sisters in faith,
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah.
he is a boy, hardly 15, illiterate and brain washed and trained to be a ruthless killing machine to carry out suicide attacks against citizens, State and armed forces of Pakistan. Have a look at him closely. This is the face of a suicide bomber, caught before he could detonate. Many like him are being trained and equipped in camps run by Baitullah mehsud, infected by Takfiri ideology, funded by RAW, protected by CIA and given shelter by Karzai. This is the ruthless cocktail we are fighting today, trying to destabilize our beloved country. These 'Hashisheens' (Malahida/ Fidaiees of Hassan bin Sabah) and 'Kharjis' of today, who consider every Muslim as murtid and Kafir are as big a fitna as NATO and crusaders attacking the Muslim world. It is time,we know their faces, ideology and backers.
Wassalam and duago
Zaid Hamid
================================================================
We have been saying for a long time now that the so-called ‘Pakistani Taliban’ is a group of criminals and not Mujahideen and their agenda is suspicious. These exclusive pictures, released by BRASSTACKS today, provide the proof. This is the Nowshera boy who was arrested before he could pull the trigger on his suicide jacket. A poor 15-year-old. His masters, people like Baitullah Mehsud, are using Pakistani children to kill ordinary Pakistanis and to spread chaos. What Muslim or Pakistani would do this? Why do Pakistani government authorities not bring these people on television so that we could ask them: How did they take you away from your parents? How did they tell you to pull the trigger and you will be immediately taken by Angels to Heavens? What are the training camps you attend? Who are these people? How can they have so much money to spend? How do they terrorize the poor tribal Pakistanis and hold them hostage with their shiny new weapons and scary hoods that hide their faces? How can we know that suspicious foreign players are not part of this game? Anyone can play this game. All you need to fool our people is a lot of money, local contacts, the ability to speak Pashto/Urdu and good knowledge of Islam. It is called ‘Special Operations’.
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Star has fallen" - Times Newspaper 28.12.2007
"Pakistan's star has fallen.""Then a woman said, 'Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow'.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
When you are sorrowful look again into your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."
From: "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran
9/11 everyday (Allah khair)
Goodness - who gets killed? The poor pakistanis. Who are already striving hard. Yet finding it difficult to feed their families even twice a day.The drivers waiting in car park, the poor security guards. May Allah bless them all in eternal peace. Its going to be a hard struggle for their families from now on. May Allah bless them all.Pakistan’s 9/11, as Najam Sethi mentioned, seems so APT.
But for someone's 9/11 that happened ONCE why should we let them make our country a 9/11 everyday?
Inna lillah e wa inna alyhe rajeyoon!
Allah khair. Even in Ramadhan - at aftar time … all this. Where are we heading? Who are these people? Nation destabilisers.
Unable to think straight now.
____
The idiots who are leading this nation (sigh) have already deserted Islamabad. One off to praise uncle sam and the other coward to Lahore. That's what proud leaders of proud nations do.
And yeah ... that’s what you get when you say “Yes Sir” blindfoldedly to Uncle Sam.
All Pakistanis can go to hell. No ... wait ... lets create the hell here. Straight away!
What if American forces attack us?
Had somebody told Iraqis even in late 80’s that America would attack them, they would have ridiculed him at great lengths. Had somebody even merely mentioned to Afghans in 90’s that after Russia, US will attack their country, they would have considered him crazy. If somebody tells us Pakistanis today that America will attack us in future, what will we do?
I presume that most Pakistanis will not laugh, instead they will nod their heads gravely. So what will happen if America attacks Pakistan? What would everyone do? Here is my opinion,
- The hypocrites in armed forces, politicians, industrialists, technocrats, clergy, bearucrats and landlords will leave the country in no time.
- Rest of the country will be charged up in no time, because they already knew that this would happen sooner or latter.
- Army will make it clear to world that we haven’t acquired the nuclear and missile capability merely for display or vanity.
- Politicians will mobilise and organise the populace very rapidly within hours of knowing them that America intends to attack.
- Almost all people of country will volunteer for the war
- The terrain of Pakistan so diverse and difficult that US armies will prefer to remain in air and in Arabian sea. Pakistani missiles with nuclear warheads can reach their very easily and don’t forget our friends in gulf. India will think umpteenth time before hitting us. Their all cities are marked with precision by us, rest assured.
- Very Very few factions from within country (almost no one, contrary to Afghanistan and Iraq) will join hands with US forces in attacking Pakistan.
- China and Iran will surely be on our side, overtly or covertly.
- Afghanistan is already playing in hands of America.
- India will gleefully aid American in attacking us.
Pakistanis have a history to forget their divisions in time of disasters. The war of 1965 and current earthquake are the clear manifests of it. Pakistanis love peace and hate terrorism. We wont allow terrorism either from so-called Al-qaida or US. We will die instead of becoming conquered by foreign troops, but before dying we will make an unprecedented example of aggressors. We will not wage war on anyone, but we will defend our ideology and country with every drop of our blood.
Peace!!!!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
It's Time To End Pakistani Role In America’s War
Pakistan is being punished for refusing to allow U.S. military boots on Pakistani soil, for the bombings in India, for the July 7 attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, and for the failures of the American military in Afghanistan. The attack is a clear message to the Pakistani ruling elite: We will bring the war to your home. The Americans are now accusing army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani of complicity in bombing the Indian embassy in Kabul, an accusation that even the Indians dared not make. The General is a suspicious man now in the eyes of the Americans and the Zardari government. After its bungled attempt on the ISI, there is a possibility that the pro-U.S. Zardari government might try to remove Gen. Kayani and replace him with a more pliant army chief who can subordinate the Pakistani military to Washington’s agenda in the region. To end this mess, Pakistan needs to say goodbye to the coalition that Washington assembled in 2001 to occupy Afghanistan, a coalition that has shrunk in seven years to only U.S., U.K. and Pakistan.The massive attack on the Marriott hotel in the heart of the federal Pakistani capital is a punishment for Pakistan for refusing to allow U.S. military boots on Pakistani soil, for the bombings in India, for the July 7 attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, and for the failures of the American military in Afghanistan.The attack is a clear message to the Pakistani ruling elite: We will bring the war to your home; we will convince you and the world that your situation is worse than Iraq and Afghanistan and that you are unable to handle it alone and need foreign intervention.Pakistan stands accused of attacks in both Afghanistan and India. The Americans have gone as far as blaming Pakistan in advance for future attacks against United States. In fact, in a calculated leak, The New York Times on Sept. 11 accused Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani of complicity in the July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, something that even the Indians didn’t dare do. And on Sept. 7, President Bush delivered a speech at the National Defense University in Washington where he almost called Pakistan a terrorist state.The Americans had hoped that the pro-U.S. Zardari government in Islamabad would move to neutralize or disband the ISI and check the Pakistani military. They waited enough. The Zardari government did make a failed attempt on July 27 to clip the wings of ISI, which would have ended the agency’s external counterintelligence operations, crucial for the world’s sixth declared nuclear power and an important regional power that has legitimate security and strategic interests to protect. But it seems Mr. Zardari has decided not to risk alienating the country’s powerful military. Hours before the attack, President Zardari told a joint session of Parliament “We will not tolerate the violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity by any power in the name of combating terrorism.” This statement ended the confusion, at least for now, on Zardari’s apparent reluctance to endorse army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s stern warning to Washington not to attack Pakistani soil.The punishment for Pakistan is not limited to the Marriot hotel, which was more of a symbolic target, close to the houses of the President, Prime Minister, federal ministers and senior federal bureaucrats. Hours earlier, explosives-laden cars attacked two military convoys in the tribal belt. Eight hours after the Marriot attack, the power grid in Swat, northern Pakistan, was blown up. The frequency and intensity of attacks inside Pakistan have exceeded the attacks that U.S. military is facing in Afghanistan. Which is in itself a strange thing. If the U.S. accusations are true and Islamabad is behind Afghan Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, then why are the ‘Pakistani Taliban’ attacking Pakistani military targets? They should be happy that Pakistan is allegedly supporting the Afghan Taliban? But what is happening is the opposite: The so-called ‘Pakistani Taliban’ is punishing Pakistan, exclusively. The question is: Who benefits?According to one Pakistani source, there are close to 8,000 foreigners in the country’s tribal belt at the moment. Before 9/11, they were under 1,000, and most of them were peaceful leftovers from the anti-Soviet war in the 1980s, grownup, aging, with local wives and children. Yes, Pakistan did have a domestic religious extremism problem but it consisted of small groups and not armies with endless supplies of money and sophisticated weapons and, apparently, advance knowledge of Pakistani military movements.There is no question that many of these 8,000 foreigners are agents of foreign intelligence agencies who have infiltrated the Pakistani tribal belt from Afghanistan. This is not Hollywood. During the 2001 war against the Taliban government in Kabul, U.S. military used special ops teams made up of Pashtun look-alikes complete with perfect Pashtun accents, assisted by local help, purchased in U.S. dollars, in the areas of their deployment. In Pakistani tribal belt, the numbers of foreigners dramatically increased in the years 2002 to 2004. These foreigners used the natural local anger at Pakistani military’s alliance with U.S. to work up the locals against Islamabad. The area remained quiet for most of the time after the 2001 war until it finally erupted in insurgency led by a series of ‘rebel Mullahs’ who caught the Pakistani government and military by surprise. Karzai’s security and intelligence network is populated with strongly anti-Pakistan officers. The Indians received an American nod to establish an elaborate intelligence and military training setup in Afghanistan. Indians and Karzai’s men are directly involved in training, arming and financing rebels and insurgents and sending them into Pakistan. There is a full backing for an ethnic insurgency in southwestern Pakistan where China is building a strategic seaport. There are reports that the Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, is helping the Indians and Karzai’s security in destabilizing Pakistan’s western parts. The Israeli ambassador in New Delhi admitted in February that Israel offered crucial help to India during the Kargil war in 1999 which was the only reason India managed to repeal what appeared to be a surprise Pakistani victory. The Israelis have built a close defense relationship with India ever since and are also helping India perfect its occupation methods in Kashmir.Pakistanis don’t have evidence that shows direct U.S. involvement in this anti-Pakistan campaign. But the circumstantial evidence is more than overwhelming. Afghanistan could not have turned into a staging ground for anti-Pakistan covert operations involving several players with out Washington’s nod. U.S. military has also been deliberately attacking those militant tribals inside Pakistan who are pro-Islamabad, and sparing those militants who only fight Pakistani military. Also, U.S. government has refused to designate the ethnic insurgency in southwestern Pakistan as terrorism. One very interesting piece of information that points the fingers to both India and U.S. is that these shady ‘Pakistani Taliban’ have focused their efforts in the past four years on attacking Chinese citizens and Chinese interests inside Pakistan. No U.S. or NATO citizens have been attacked. The Afghan Taliban –who are the real Taliban before this American-orchestrated insurgency in Pakistani border areas was deceptively termed ‘Taliban’ – have never attacked Pakistan despite Islamabad’s policy change after 9/11. In fact, senior Taliban officials, like its ambassador to Islamabad Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, never said anything against Pakistan despite having been captured and handed over to the Americans by Islamabad.There is no question that Washington destabilized Pakistan using the same methods it had perfected in South America in the 1970s. As Pakistan faced instability on the border, Washington moved in late 2006 to destabilize the country from the inside. A discredit former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was convinced to end her self-exile and enter into a U.S.-brokered deal with a weakened President Musharraf in exchange for endorsing the U.S. agenda and having her stolen millions whitewashed. The fast paced political change threw Pakistan off-balance and resulted in massive internal upheaval that continues until today, almost ending Pakistan’s remarkable economic rise of the past decade.Once Pakistan was trapped, U.S. media sprung into action and mounted a massive propaganda about Pakistan becoming ripe for an Iraq-like U.S. intervention to neutralize its nuclear weapons and to ‘save’ the country from turning into a haven for al-Qaeda.The entire purpose of this anti-Pakistan campaign is to remove the Pakistani hurdle that stands in the way of Washington’s plans for the region: China, Russia, Central Asia and Iran, and also to help pave the way for India to assume a bigger role, which it can’t in the presence of Pakistan. This is what the planners in Washington might be thinking. The Indian thinking, however, is more short term. India is more interested in disorienting Pakistan and using all possible opportunities to make hurt Pakistanis and deprive Islamabad of any strategic advantage, whether in Afghanistan or with regards to the Chinese-built seaport near the Gulf.WHAT ISLAMABAD CAN DOPakistan will continue to face instability as long as it continues to be part of the war on terror on Washington’s terms. Pakistan’s legitimate security interests have been so damaged and ignored by Washington that it is time to tell the Americans to go and deal with Afghanistan on their own. This is the only way for Islamabad to regain respect in the eyes of its own people. Pakistan can say that it will help Washington where possible but that it is no longer part of the coalition that Washington assembled to occupy Afghanistan 2001, a coalition that only includes three nations now: U.S., U.K., and Pakistan. In this regard, Pakistanis can renegotiate the terms of letting U.S. use Pakistani soil and airspace for the transport of supplies. Pakistan can ask U.S. military to vacate the remaining Pakistani airbase under American use. Also, Islamabad can revoke the permission that former President Musharraf granted CIA to establish outposts in Pakistan’s tribal belt and the permission to recruit local assets. Meanwhile, Pakistan can continue eliminating the shady foreign and local criminals who call themselves ‘Pakistani Taliban’. This is what the Pakistani military has been doing recently, wiping off all these foreign assets. Which probably explains some of the recent American panic.This way Pakistan can regain some of the stability and also the confidence of other countries in the region, especially China which has been watching with concern how Islamabad has allowed itself to be dragged by Washington into this mess.
[ 9/11 Era + The Marriot Hotel Blast ] -- My thoughts
Today at 1:45pm
The Marriot Blast - Aftermath
Another Day In Paradise It's around 2 am on a Saturday night and I find myself sitting here, writing this in sheer awe of the kind of horrendous tragedy that has gripped our nation's capital, with the kind of magnitude never before witnessed.According to the reports thus far, over 70 innocent civilians including some foreign nationals have lost their lives while 250 have been injured in this demented act of terrorism that defies all bounds of humane consciousness."Pakistan's 9/11" - is what they're calling it, as if brandishing the act with a title and laying a label on it makes things better in terms of understanding this psychotic phenomena that a rising number of pitifully miserable degenerates in our society propagate today, with the sole motive of attaining hidden political agendas all in the guise of religious virtuosity!
Truth is a whisper Funny thing is, people don't even realize the kind of atrocious anguish that these inhumane fanatics are inflicting every part of our country with on almost a daily basis. We're so oblivious to the reality of things back home, to an extent where it takes either a burnt Macdonald's store,emptied Coca Cola bottles down the gutter or a 5 star Marriott Hotel being blown to smithereens by ignorant subhuman freaks - to bring the reality of such a grotesque truth to the forefront of our busy lives.It's been almost over 2 years now that sporadic brutality, ferocious violence, twisted fury and malicious terror in the name of religion, has claimed thousands of innocent lives throughout the country - while our government has been unwilling or unable to do enough.
You scratch my back, I'll bomb yours Coming from a family with a traditionally long military background myself, it just burns my blood in sheer disgust, to see how these hot headed animals kill every single day by the dozens; young men belonging to our own armed forces in the North Western areas of our nation.Young Jawaans of The Pakistan Army and border security forces are constantly engaged in fierce gun battles, mortar rounds and brute onslaught of medium-heavy arms in the Northern and Western Waziristan belt of the country on almost a daily basis with tribal leaders, extremist militants and remnants of the Taliban regime. ( Point to note: I'm not talking about the innocent men, women and children who die in these areas everyday due to U.S airstrikes in the name of "The war on terrorism", since its common knowledge that these poor residents have nothing to do with the Taliban in the first place - I'm talking about the real pro Taliban militants that not only participate in homegrown breeding of extremist crackheads, but readily and willfully participate in such violence by planning attacks across Pakistan themselves) These extremist elements fire artillery shells and rockets at the Pakistan Army and blow up military convoys through improvised explosive devices, killing and injuring their own countrymen by the hundreds - all in the name of a "Jihad" that their sick interpretation of Islam has contaminated the minds of our youth in rural areas of the country with.
The "Jihad" brigade - Ignoranamous unit
"Shoot At Sight" 101 - class now in session Such twisted maniacs who call themselves "Muslims", brainwash these youths in rural 'Madrahssas' with the most vile and corrupt of Quranic interpretations, distorted enough to mislead the minds of the already illiterate and ignorant, thus paving the way for the attainment of politically motivated and religiously instigated designs that a religion they claim to reverently follow - itself brands as unjustifiable inhumane terror.Ever since 9/11 - most of us abroad have been under the impression that the filth of terrorism is an external problem, advocated by falafel eating rag heads in the middle east only. However, the years following the events of 9/11 have completely proven the opposite, demonstrating how homegrown terrorism is an internal curse that needs to be eradicated first, in order to even think about managing the external threats that such extremist savages pose to our country in specific and human society in general.
Soldiers of fortune
Man In The Mirror The Marriott blast is just another terrorist stamp that certifies the problem, it's just another emblem that represents the ugly reality of such a truth and stands today as just another hideous face staring right at us in a mirror that represents a bleak future, reflecting our own fate.Turning away on one's heels from such a loathsome sight isn't the answer, nor is breaking the mirror in sheer rage.The answer infact lies in reflecting upon the mirror's image, realizing the truth and rectifying the errors, in the ultimate quest to identifying, nabbing and eliminating the cancer that fosters contamination of our existences as a nation and as an Ummah!
Human Rights - The Islamic PerspectiveWe must differentiate right from wrong and as such 'project' that distinction to the world, thus preserving the essence of who we are as Pakistanis and most of all as proud Muslims.Islam is an all embracing system that has unequivocally guaranteed the fundamental rights of every living creature; such an all-inclusive concept of rights is beyond the reach of any other system.
The rope that we rarely hold on to.
On a general level, the glorious Qur'an rich with Allah s.w.t's immaculate wisdom asserts itself that taking the life of a human being is the same as taking the lives of all humanity:"He who kills a soul unless it be ( In legal punishment with the due process of law ) for murder or for causing disorder and corruption on the earth, will be as if had killed all humankind; and he who saves a life will be as if he had saved the lives of all humanity" [ The Holy Qur'an 5:32]Whereas on a more specific level in terms of the Muslim Ummah, the Holy Qura'n says:" Whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein forever. And the wrath and curse of God are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepare for him" [ The Holy Qur'an 4:93 ]The above two versions of legislation in regards to murder as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, clearly proves that any act of indiscriminate violence, propagation of malicious sentiments, motives of creating mischief in the land and most of all unjustifiable murder of innocent human beings, is not only forbidden by God Almighty in the most strict of ways, but defying such rules and regulations would result in a severe and tormenting punishment for the scoundrel in the hereafter, regardless of who he is and what religion he 'presumably' followed.As Muslims who fear God, we should remember that Islam approaches human rights in accordance with the basic principles encompassing all humanity, holding each human being accountable for preserving and maintaining these inalienable rights; "The right to live" being the foremost.Hence, once you strip away a human being with the basic and foremost right of 'life', you commit the most serious of crimes not just against all humanity and the social fabric in general, but an unforgivable sin in the eyes of God Almighty, which is nothing but a one way ticket to the magical fun filled world of Hell fire!The same applies to "suicide", because suicide is an act of defiance of God, where the person takes their own life by turning their back on the Almighty and commits a serious crime against the human system of life that is regulated as a mortal test of our existences with a divine 'purpose' in the first place. Nobody has the right to 'end' that system and take the easy way out, no matter what the justification!Now, when you combine 'Murder' and 'Suicide' together and further embellish it with the fuel of religious fanaticism and politically motivated insanity, what you get is a very expensive yet highly fulfilling combo deal waiting for you on the table in the hereafter, who's food is best described in the Holy Qur'an as : "No food will there be for them except bitter dhari (a thorny plant),which will neither nourish nor satisfy hunger" [The Qur'an 88:6-7]“They will be given to drink boiling water,so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)” [The Holy Qur'an 47:15]I'm sure the subhuman cowards who committed the Marriott Hotel blast, are in for a savory, delightful, most succulent and truly scrumptiously of splendid treats! :)
The flight of the pure
Conclusion - Ignorance ain't no blissIn conclusion, it's quite simple really, the pitiful wastes of human flesh ( Be it religiously motivated Muslim fanatics, politically instigated militant extremists, internationally meddling CIA agents, Indian secret service RAW conspirators or any other group or entities one can ever point fingers at ) who committed this particular act of terror or any other ones in the past inside Pakistan or outside - are nothing but degenerate cretins and the lowest of living beings who are not only a threat to democracy, peace and tranquility, political / cultural stability, bridging of religious gaps, civil liberty and freedom - but most importantly to the fundamentals of basic human rights that seek to preserve the mortal chastity of every single human being on the face of the earth.Period!"Terrorism", has no religion, no culture, no justification, no substantial worth and absolutely no consciousness. May Allah s.w.t punish the criminals who commit such devastating heinous acts of human brutality and may he incur his wrath upon the likes of them both in this world and the hereafter.May the warmth of his mercy and the light of his beneficence; be a source of strength, patience and perseverance to the families of the innocents who have lost their lives and may he bless the souls of the dear departed with the soothing beauty and comforting grace of Paradise!
The Patriot's Prayer" Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country! " - John F. KennedyAs Pakistanis and as Muslims - we're a country and a people of immense capability and profound strength, if only we could lead forward with the light of faith and be a source of inspiration for the rest of the Ummah - the world just might be a better place!
"Collateral Damage" eh? :)
May Allah s.w.t bless our nation and save it from the claws of bigotry and the enslavement of ignorance; for the sake of our children in specific, and that of humanity in general!Ameen, Suma Ameen!Pakistan Zindabad!And....Allahu Akbar!
The Marriot Blast - Aftermath
Another Day In Paradise It's around 2 am on a Saturday night and I find myself sitting here, writing this in sheer awe of the kind of horrendous tragedy that has gripped our nation's capital, with the kind of magnitude never before witnessed.According to the reports thus far, over 70 innocent civilians including some foreign nationals have lost their lives while 250 have been injured in this demented act of terrorism that defies all bounds of humane consciousness."Pakistan's 9/11" - is what they're calling it, as if brandishing the act with a title and laying a label on it makes things better in terms of understanding this psychotic phenomena that a rising number of pitifully miserable degenerates in our society propagate today, with the sole motive of attaining hidden political agendas all in the guise of religious virtuosity!
Truth is a whisper Funny thing is, people don't even realize the kind of atrocious anguish that these inhumane fanatics are inflicting every part of our country with on almost a daily basis. We're so oblivious to the reality of things back home, to an extent where it takes either a burnt Macdonald's store,emptied Coca Cola bottles down the gutter or a 5 star Marriott Hotel being blown to smithereens by ignorant subhuman freaks - to bring the reality of such a grotesque truth to the forefront of our busy lives.It's been almost over 2 years now that sporadic brutality, ferocious violence, twisted fury and malicious terror in the name of religion, has claimed thousands of innocent lives throughout the country - while our government has been unwilling or unable to do enough.
You scratch my back, I'll bomb yours Coming from a family with a traditionally long military background myself, it just burns my blood in sheer disgust, to see how these hot headed animals kill every single day by the dozens; young men belonging to our own armed forces in the North Western areas of our nation.Young Jawaans of The Pakistan Army and border security forces are constantly engaged in fierce gun battles, mortar rounds and brute onslaught of medium-heavy arms in the Northern and Western Waziristan belt of the country on almost a daily basis with tribal leaders, extremist militants and remnants of the Taliban regime. ( Point to note: I'm not talking about the innocent men, women and children who die in these areas everyday due to U.S airstrikes in the name of "The war on terrorism", since its common knowledge that these poor residents have nothing to do with the Taliban in the first place - I'm talking about the real pro Taliban militants that not only participate in homegrown breeding of extremist crackheads, but readily and willfully participate in such violence by planning attacks across Pakistan themselves) These extremist elements fire artillery shells and rockets at the Pakistan Army and blow up military convoys through improvised explosive devices, killing and injuring their own countrymen by the hundreds - all in the name of a "Jihad" that their sick interpretation of Islam has contaminated the minds of our youth in rural areas of the country with.
The "Jihad" brigade - Ignoranamous unit
"Shoot At Sight" 101 - class now in session Such twisted maniacs who call themselves "Muslims", brainwash these youths in rural 'Madrahssas' with the most vile and corrupt of Quranic interpretations, distorted enough to mislead the minds of the already illiterate and ignorant, thus paving the way for the attainment of politically motivated and religiously instigated designs that a religion they claim to reverently follow - itself brands as unjustifiable inhumane terror.Ever since 9/11 - most of us abroad have been under the impression that the filth of terrorism is an external problem, advocated by falafel eating rag heads in the middle east only. However, the years following the events of 9/11 have completely proven the opposite, demonstrating how homegrown terrorism is an internal curse that needs to be eradicated first, in order to even think about managing the external threats that such extremist savages pose to our country in specific and human society in general.
Soldiers of fortune
Man In The Mirror The Marriott blast is just another terrorist stamp that certifies the problem, it's just another emblem that represents the ugly reality of such a truth and stands today as just another hideous face staring right at us in a mirror that represents a bleak future, reflecting our own fate.Turning away on one's heels from such a loathsome sight isn't the answer, nor is breaking the mirror in sheer rage.The answer infact lies in reflecting upon the mirror's image, realizing the truth and rectifying the errors, in the ultimate quest to identifying, nabbing and eliminating the cancer that fosters contamination of our existences as a nation and as an Ummah!
Human Rights - The Islamic PerspectiveWe must differentiate right from wrong and as such 'project' that distinction to the world, thus preserving the essence of who we are as Pakistanis and most of all as proud Muslims.Islam is an all embracing system that has unequivocally guaranteed the fundamental rights of every living creature; such an all-inclusive concept of rights is beyond the reach of any other system.
The rope that we rarely hold on to.
On a general level, the glorious Qur'an rich with Allah s.w.t's immaculate wisdom asserts itself that taking the life of a human being is the same as taking the lives of all humanity:"He who kills a soul unless it be ( In legal punishment with the due process of law ) for murder or for causing disorder and corruption on the earth, will be as if had killed all humankind; and he who saves a life will be as if he had saved the lives of all humanity" [ The Holy Qur'an 5:32]Whereas on a more specific level in terms of the Muslim Ummah, the Holy Qura'n says:" Whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein forever. And the wrath and curse of God are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepare for him" [ The Holy Qur'an 4:93 ]The above two versions of legislation in regards to murder as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, clearly proves that any act of indiscriminate violence, propagation of malicious sentiments, motives of creating mischief in the land and most of all unjustifiable murder of innocent human beings, is not only forbidden by God Almighty in the most strict of ways, but defying such rules and regulations would result in a severe and tormenting punishment for the scoundrel in the hereafter, regardless of who he is and what religion he 'presumably' followed.As Muslims who fear God, we should remember that Islam approaches human rights in accordance with the basic principles encompassing all humanity, holding each human being accountable for preserving and maintaining these inalienable rights; "The right to live" being the foremost.Hence, once you strip away a human being with the basic and foremost right of 'life', you commit the most serious of crimes not just against all humanity and the social fabric in general, but an unforgivable sin in the eyes of God Almighty, which is nothing but a one way ticket to the magical fun filled world of Hell fire!The same applies to "suicide", because suicide is an act of defiance of God, where the person takes their own life by turning their back on the Almighty and commits a serious crime against the human system of life that is regulated as a mortal test of our existences with a divine 'purpose' in the first place. Nobody has the right to 'end' that system and take the easy way out, no matter what the justification!Now, when you combine 'Murder' and 'Suicide' together and further embellish it with the fuel of religious fanaticism and politically motivated insanity, what you get is a very expensive yet highly fulfilling combo deal waiting for you on the table in the hereafter, who's food is best described in the Holy Qur'an as : "No food will there be for them except bitter dhari (a thorny plant),which will neither nourish nor satisfy hunger" [The Qur'an 88:6-7]“They will be given to drink boiling water,so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)” [The Holy Qur'an 47:15]I'm sure the subhuman cowards who committed the Marriott Hotel blast, are in for a savory, delightful, most succulent and truly scrumptiously of splendid treats! :)
The flight of the pure
Conclusion - Ignorance ain't no blissIn conclusion, it's quite simple really, the pitiful wastes of human flesh ( Be it religiously motivated Muslim fanatics, politically instigated militant extremists, internationally meddling CIA agents, Indian secret service RAW conspirators or any other group or entities one can ever point fingers at ) who committed this particular act of terror or any other ones in the past inside Pakistan or outside - are nothing but degenerate cretins and the lowest of living beings who are not only a threat to democracy, peace and tranquility, political / cultural stability, bridging of religious gaps, civil liberty and freedom - but most importantly to the fundamentals of basic human rights that seek to preserve the mortal chastity of every single human being on the face of the earth.Period!"Terrorism", has no religion, no culture, no justification, no substantial worth and absolutely no consciousness. May Allah s.w.t punish the criminals who commit such devastating heinous acts of human brutality and may he incur his wrath upon the likes of them both in this world and the hereafter.May the warmth of his mercy and the light of his beneficence; be a source of strength, patience and perseverance to the families of the innocents who have lost their lives and may he bless the souls of the dear departed with the soothing beauty and comforting grace of Paradise!
The Patriot's Prayer" Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country! " - John F. KennedyAs Pakistanis and as Muslims - we're a country and a people of immense capability and profound strength, if only we could lead forward with the light of faith and be a source of inspiration for the rest of the Ummah - the world just might be a better place!
"Collateral Damage" eh? :)
May Allah s.w.t bless our nation and save it from the claws of bigotry and the enslavement of ignorance; for the sake of our children in specific, and that of humanity in general!Ameen, Suma Ameen!Pakistan Zindabad!And....Allahu Akbar!
Marriott Hotel Blast
The powerful explosion caused fire in many parts of the hotel besides shattering the windowpanes of the buildings around the hotel.
Rescue operation is underway to bring out the people trapped inside the hotel.
Emergency has been declared in the hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
About 1000 kilograms of explosive material was used in the deadly explosion, said police.
This hotel in Islamabad is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and gather, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were scattered.
According to senior correspondent of Geo News, Hamid Mir, about 100 people are feared dead in the attack.
The blast left a vast crater some 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide in front of the main building where flames leapt from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was hosting an Iftar dinner at the nearby Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The event was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. There was no reports of anyone being injured at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
The President’s House is located near the 290-room hotel which is a popular haunt among foreigners.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear. But Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
Rescue operation is underway to bring out the people trapped inside the hotel.
Emergency has been declared in the hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
About 1000 kilograms of explosive material was used in the deadly explosion, said police.
This hotel in Islamabad is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and gather, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were scattered.
According to senior correspondent of Geo News, Hamid Mir, about 100 people are feared dead in the attack.
The blast left a vast crater some 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide in front of the main building where flames leapt from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was hosting an Iftar dinner at the nearby Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The event was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. There was no reports of anyone being injured at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
The President’s House is located near the 290-room hotel which is a popular haunt among foreigners.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear. But Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
Marriot hotel blast in Islamabad, termed as 9/11 of Pakistan
At least 65 people including a US national and six other foreigners were killed and scores others injured when an explosives laden vehicle was blown up at the entrance of a five star Marriot hotel situated in high security zone shaking up the Federal Capital here on Saturday evening.
Those killed include five women. 257 wounded, some of them critically were shifted to the local hospitals after the deadly explosion. The death toll is feared to rise further.
The powerful explosion caused fire in many parts of the hotel besides shattering the windowpanes of the buildings around the hotel.
According to details, a small vehicle broke through the security barrier outside the hotel before an explosives laden dumper truck was struck with the hotel causing a huge explosion.This caused the gas pipelines to burst triggering fire which engulfed the entire building of the luxury hotel.
The blast, which occurred only a few hours after conclusion of President Zardari first address to the parliament, was described as the deadliest one in Pakistan history with more than five suicide bombers riding the mini truck loaded around 1,000 kilogram explosive struck the hotel as people inside were dinning just after the Iftar.This hotel in Islamabad is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and gather, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were scattered.The blast left a vast crater some 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide in front of the main building where flames leapt from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was hosting an Iftar dinner at the nearby Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The event was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. There was no reports of anyone being injured at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear. But Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
Suicide bombers seemed to have taken the advantage as the security officials might have lowered their guards for Iftar. The blast, which was termed as 9/11 of Pakistan by some analysts, caused a crater of over 25 feet leaving almost the entire hotel building on fire. There were some reports that no VVIP or VIP was present in the hotel.The bang of the suicide explosion was so intense that it was heard in a radius of 32 kilometers and created panic and chaos in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The blast has completely wrecked the six-storey Marriott Hotel even of high security alert was issued in the Capital due to President’s address to the Parliament.
The blast ruined more than 100 vehicles parked in the hotel parking area. The road in front of the hotel was giving a site a complete destruction as the blast damaged the vehicles and trees. The ambulances of all the hospitals, Edhi Foundation, Rescue 1122 and other organisations rushed to the scene for rescue operation.
Fire engines of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Army and Air Force were in the operation to extinguish the fire. The explosion caused damages to adjacent buildings of the hotel including multi-storey Evacuee Trust Building (ETB), Frontier and Balochistan Houses, as the rescuers recovered 5 dead bodies from ETB adjacent to the hotel. Dozens of drivers who were in vehicles outside the hotel were also injured in the incident.
The explosion and fire caused huge damage to hotel, feared to collapse at any time. Army Engineering Corps was called to take charge of the hotel to avert any more loss due to destruction of the Marriott Hotel. The inspector General of Police Islamabad, Raza Gardezi told reporters that a Shahzor truck was used in the suicide attack.
Sadruddin Hashwani, owner of the Marriott Hotel, told that more than 600 employees are working in one shift while there were more than 400 guests in different halls and rooms of the hotel at the time of the blast. He said that hotel has 310 rooms and 90 out of them were occupied by foreigners.
The security officials ignored the smaller vehicles and terrorists took advantage of this security lapse and succeeded in causing biggest explosion of Pakistan history in Marriott Hotel. This was third explosion at Marriott Hotel as previous two were of low intensity.
Those killed include five women. 257 wounded, some of them critically were shifted to the local hospitals after the deadly explosion. The death toll is feared to rise further.
The powerful explosion caused fire in many parts of the hotel besides shattering the windowpanes of the buildings around the hotel.
According to details, a small vehicle broke through the security barrier outside the hotel before an explosives laden dumper truck was struck with the hotel causing a huge explosion.This caused the gas pipelines to burst triggering fire which engulfed the entire building of the luxury hotel.
The blast, which occurred only a few hours after conclusion of President Zardari first address to the parliament, was described as the deadliest one in Pakistan history with more than five suicide bombers riding the mini truck loaded around 1,000 kilogram explosive struck the hotel as people inside were dinning just after the Iftar.This hotel in Islamabad is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and gather, and it has previously been targeted by militants.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned, smoke hovered and the carcasses of vehicles were scattered.The blast left a vast crater some 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide in front of the main building where flames leapt from the windows and rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted building.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was hosting an Iftar dinner at the nearby Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The event was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. There was no reports of anyone being injured at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear. But Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
Suicide bombers seemed to have taken the advantage as the security officials might have lowered their guards for Iftar. The blast, which was termed as 9/11 of Pakistan by some analysts, caused a crater of over 25 feet leaving almost the entire hotel building on fire. There were some reports that no VVIP or VIP was present in the hotel.The bang of the suicide explosion was so intense that it was heard in a radius of 32 kilometers and created panic and chaos in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The blast has completely wrecked the six-storey Marriott Hotel even of high security alert was issued in the Capital due to President’s address to the Parliament.
The blast ruined more than 100 vehicles parked in the hotel parking area. The road in front of the hotel was giving a site a complete destruction as the blast damaged the vehicles and trees. The ambulances of all the hospitals, Edhi Foundation, Rescue 1122 and other organisations rushed to the scene for rescue operation.
Fire engines of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Army and Air Force were in the operation to extinguish the fire. The explosion caused damages to adjacent buildings of the hotel including multi-storey Evacuee Trust Building (ETB), Frontier and Balochistan Houses, as the rescuers recovered 5 dead bodies from ETB adjacent to the hotel. Dozens of drivers who were in vehicles outside the hotel were also injured in the incident.
The explosion and fire caused huge damage to hotel, feared to collapse at any time. Army Engineering Corps was called to take charge of the hotel to avert any more loss due to destruction of the Marriott Hotel. The inspector General of Police Islamabad, Raza Gardezi told reporters that a Shahzor truck was used in the suicide attack.
Sadruddin Hashwani, owner of the Marriott Hotel, told that more than 600 employees are working in one shift while there were more than 400 guests in different halls and rooms of the hotel at the time of the blast. He said that hotel has 310 rooms and 90 out of them were occupied by foreigners.
The security officials ignored the smaller vehicles and terrorists took advantage of this security lapse and succeeded in causing biggest explosion of Pakistan history in Marriott Hotel. This was third explosion at Marriott Hotel as previous two were of low intensity.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Greater Balochistan: U.S. Military Agenda (Report Analysis)
Washington favors the creation of a "Greater Balochistan" which would integrate the Baloch areas of Pakistan with those of Iran and possibly the Southern tip of Afghanistan thereby leading to a process of political fracturing in both Iran and Pakistan.
Military scholar Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters writing in the June 2006 issue of The Armed Forces Journal, suggests, in no uncertain terms that Pakistan should be broken up, leading to the formation of a separate country: "Greater Balochistan" or "Free Balochistan" (see Map). The latter would incorporate the Pakistani and Iranian Baloch provinces into a single political entity.
In turn, according to Peters, Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) should be incorporated into Afghanistan "because of its linguistic and ethnic affinity". This proposed fragmentation, which broadly reflects US foreign policy, would reduce Pakistani territory to approximately 50 percent of its present land area. (See above map). Pakistan would also loose a large part of its coastline on the Arabian Sea.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Peters was last posted, before he retired to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, within the U.S. Defense Department, and has been one of the Pentagon’s foremost authors with numerous essays on strategy for military journals and U.S. foreign policy."
Covert Support to Balochistan Separatists
Balochistan's strategic energy reserves have a bearing on the separatist agenda. Following a familiar pattern, there are indications that the Baloch insurgency is being supported and abetted by Britain and the US.
The Baloch national resistance movement dates back to the late 1940s, when Balochistan was invaded by Pakistan. In the current geopolitical context, the separatist movement is in the process of being hijacked by foreign powers.
British intelligence is allegedly providing covert support to Balochistan separatists. In June 2006, Pakistan's Senate Committee on Defence accused British intelligence of "abetting the insurgency in the province bordering Iran" [Balochistan]..(Press Trust of India, 9 August 2006). Ten British MPs were involved in a closed door session of the Senate Committee on Defence regarding the alleged support of Britain's Secret Service to Baloch separatists. Also of relevance are reports of CIA and Mossad support to Baloch rebels in Iran and Southern Afghanistan.
The stated purpose of US counter-terrorism is to provide covert support as well as training to "Liberation Armies" ultimately with a view to destabilizing sovereign governments. In Kosovo, the training of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the 1990s had been entrusted to a private mercenary company, Military Professional Resources Inc (MPRI), on contract to the Pentagon.
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