Philippines to crack down on militants after beheading of kidnapped teacher

Severed head of teacher found after family failed to raise ransom demanded by militants believed to be linked to al-Qaida Source: Guardian

The Philippine government today promised to hunt down al-Qaida-linked militants suspected of beheading a schoolteacher whose family failed to raise a ransom demanded by his kidnappers.

Workers at a petrol station on southern Jolo island found the severed head of Gabriel Canizares, 36, in a bag three weeks after suspected Abu Sayyaf militants stopped a passenger minibus and dragged him away in front of his colleagues, said a regional military commander, Major General Benjamin Dolorfino.

The militants, notorious for bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings, were reportedly demanding a ransom of 2m pesos (about £25,500) for his release.

Dolorfino said the demand was later halved but Canizares' family was able to raise only 150,000 pesos. A school principal usually makes at least 23,000 pesos a month in the impoverished country.

"The demand could not be met," Dolorfino said.

The president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, today ordered the military and police to put an end to the Abu Sayyaf group's "heinous and inhumane atrocities", her spokeswoman, Lorelei Fajardo, said. "We shall make them pay for the enormity of this savagery," Fajardo said. Dolorfino said troops were preparing an operation against the militants.

Abu Sayyaf, which is suspected of receiving funds from al-Qaida, is believed to have about 400 fighters on Jolo and nearby Basilan island. The group has been sheltering militants from the larger south-east Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, the military says.

Despite years of US military training and assistance, Filipino troops have struggled to contain the militants, who have recently intensified attacks on Jolo, blowing up bridges, firing mortar shells and setting off roadside bombs.

A landmine explosion on 29 September under a military convoy carrying American troops killed two US army special forces soldiers, the first US military deaths in the southern Philippines in seven years.

About 600 US troops are stationed in the south but are barred by Philippine law from engaging in direct combat.

The education secretary, Jesli Lapus, expressed shock at the teacher's killing, saying six other teachers who had been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf this year had all been released despite threats to behead them. He said his department was at a loss how to ensure security for teachers in high-risk areas and feared that the kidnappings would discourage others from teaching underprivileged youths in Muslim areas.

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Ten killed, 15 hurt in Pakistan bomb-police

Source: Reuters

ISLAMABAD, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Ten people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb blast in the northwestern Pakistani town of Charsadda on Tuesday, police said.

"We have reports of 10 people killed and 15 wounded," Malik Naveed, police chief for the North Western Frontier Province, told Reuters by telephone. "We are checking it now." (Reporting by Augustine Anthony; Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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FBI reassessing past look at Fort Hood suspect

Source: AP on Google

By DEVLIN BARRETT (AP) – 32 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Nearly a year before Maj. Nidal Hasan allegedly went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, terrorism investigators conducted an "assessment" of him before deciding he did not pose a threat.
After the shooting, the FBI is doing a new assessment — of its own conduct.
The Army psychiatrist is believed to have acted alone despite repeated communications — intercepted by authorities — with a radical imam overseas, U.S. officials said Monday. The FBI will conduct an internal review to see whether it mishandled early information about the man accused in the bloody rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 29.
President Barack Obama was joining grieving families and comrades of the victims Tuesday at a memorial service at the sprawling Texas Army base. Hasan, awake and talking to doctors, met his lawyer Monday in the San Antonio hospital where he is recovering, under guard, from gunshot wounds in the assault.
In Washington, an investigative official and a Republican lawmaker said Hasan had communicated 10 to 20 times with Anwar al-Awlaki, an imam released from a Yemeni jail last year who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims across the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. Despite that, no formal investigation was opened into Hasan, they said.
Investigative officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said it was his understanding Hasan and the imam exchanged e-mails that counterterrorism officials picked up.
Officials said Hasan will be tried in a military court, not a civilian one, a choice that suggests his alleged actions are not thought to have emanated from a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Hasan warned his medical colleagues a year and a half ago that to "decrease adverse events" the U.S. military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, made the recommendation in a culminating presentation to senior Army doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center, where he spent six years as an intern, resident and fellow before being transferred to Fort Hood.
"It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," Hasan said in the presentation, a copy of which was obtained by the Post.
FBI Director Robert Mueller ordered the inquiry into the bureau's handling of the case, including its response to potentially worrisome information gathered about Hasan beginning in December 2008 and continuing into early this year.
Based on all the investigations since the attack, the investigators said they have no evidence that Hasan had help or outside orders in the shootings.
Even so, they revealed the major had once been under scrutiny from a joint terrorism task force because of the series of communications going back months. Al-Awlaki is a former imam at a Falls Church, Va., mosque where Hasan and his family occasionally worshipped.
In 2001, al-Awlaki, a native-born U.S. citizen, had contact with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and on Monday his Web site praised Hasan as a hero.
Military officials were made aware of communications between Hasan and al-Awlaki, but because the messages did not advocate or threaten violence, civilian law enforcement authorities could not take the matter further, the officials said. The terrorism task force concluded Hasan was not involved in terrorist planning.
Officials said the content of those messages was "consistent with the subject matter of his research," part of which involved post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A law enforcement official said the communications consisted primarily of Hasan posing questions to the imam as a spiritual leader or adviser, and the imam did respond to at least some of those messages.
No formal investigation was ever opened based on the contacts, the officials said.
They said the decision to bring military charges instead of civilian criminal charges against Hasan did not mean it wasn't a terrorism case. But it is likely authorities would have had more reason to take the case to federal court if they had found evidence Hasan acted with the support or training of a terrorist group.
Investigators tried to interview Hasan on Sunday at the military hospital where he is being held, but he refused to answer and requested a lawyer, the officials said.
Hasan's new civilian and military attorneys met him for about half an hour at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, said retired Col. John P. Galligan, who was hired by Hasan's family. Galligan said Hasan asked for an attorney even though he is on sedatives and his condition is guarded.
"Given his medical condition, that's the smart move," Galligan told The Associated Press on Monday night. "Nobody from law enforcement will be questioning him."
Galligan said both he and Maj. Christopher E. Martin, Fort Hood's senior defense attorney, met Hasan. Galligan questioned whether Hasan can get a fair trial at Fort Hood, given Obama's visit to the base and public comments by the post commander, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone. Galligan also said he plans to raise the issue of Hasan's mental condition.
The most serious charge in military court is premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty.
The Army has not yet appointed a lead prosecutor in the case, said Fort Hood spokesman Tyler Broadway.
Associated Press writers Angela K. Brown at Fort Hood and Pamela Hess in Washington contributed to this report.

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THE FORT HOOD INCIDENT IN THE US

Source: Raman strategic analysis blog
B.RAMAN

The dilemma and the problems posed by the existence of pockets of qualms of conscience and divided loyalties in the Muslim communities of the non-Muslim world has been tragically illustrated by an incident in a US military base in Fort Hood, Texas, on November 6,2009.Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist of the US Army born to Palestinian migrants to the US from Jordan, suddenly went on a killing spree killing 13 soldiers with a handgun before he was injured and overpowered. He is presently under interrogation.

2.It has been reported that the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been sought in the investigation to rule out any terrorist conspiracy behind the incident. The indications till now are that it was the act of a lone Muslim with a mind troubled by conflicting loyalties to the US and Islam and angered by his own allegedly negative experiences as a Muslim in the US as well as in the Army and by the US involvement in the campaign against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is constantly and mischievously projected by Al Qaeda and its affiliates as a campaign against Islam. Media reports claim that over a period of time this officer, with a 20 year record of service in the Army, had been expressing ideas of solidarity with his fellow-religionists, who had taken to arms against the US. He had also come to notice for allegedly speaking with some understanding of what he saw as the compulsions which drove some Muslims to take to suicide terrorism.

3.This was not the first incident of its kind in the US Armed Forces since 9/11, but this was the most dramatic. There were two previous incidents, which were equally troubling, but less dramatic.Just before the US troops entered Iraq in March,2003, Sergeant Hasan Akbar of the US Army based in Kuwait threw hand-grenades and opened fire into a tent in which US military personnel were sleeping. Two officers were killed.There was another incident in which two soldiers were killed outside a recruitment centre in Little Rock, Arkansas.

4. The fact that such incidents have till now been few and far between show that the US military authorities are sensitive to the pressures that are likely to be faced by the Muslim soldiers of their Armed Forces arising from the propaganda that the US military is waging a campaign against Islam and not against Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist groups and that efforts are being made to remove wrong impressions of the campaign against terrorism in the minds of the Muslim soldiers, whose number in the US Armed Forces is estimated at around 3600.

5.The Fort Hood incident shows that despite this, troubled minds continue to exist among the Muslim soldiers. There has been an obvious failure of the human element in that despite past reports of the negative thinking and ideas of Major Hasan timely action was not taken to facilitate his exit from the Army in response to his reported desire to leave the Army.

6. Those opposed to the US role in Iraq and Afghanistan would use the Fort Hood incident as one more reason why the US should quit Iraq and Afghanistan. Isolated incidents such as this should not be allowed to influence policy decisions of strategic significance.

7. As of now, there is no evidence that a terrorist conspiracy might have been behind the incident. But it is likely that Al Qaeda and its affiliates would exploit it to spread disaffection and anger among the Muslim soldiers just as in the 1980s, the Afghan Mujahideen spread disaffection and anger among the Muslim soldiers from Chechnya, Dagestan and Central Asia serving in the Soviet Army. They went on duty to Afghanistan as convinced communists, but returned as born-again and wahabised Muslims. They constituted the initial core of the terrorist movements in Chechnya, Dagestan and the present-day Central Asian Republics. A similar possibility in the US has to be guarded against. ( 7-11-09 )

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com ) Sphere: Related Content

Hasan Called War on Terror an Attack on Islam, Classmate Says

Source: Bloomberg

By Justin Blum

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of a shooting spree that killed 13 people at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas, called the war on terrorism “a war against Islam,” said a doctor who was in a graduate program with him.

While studying for a masters degree in public health in 2007, Hasan used a presentation for an environmental health class to argue that Muslims were being targeted by the U.S. anti-terror campaign, said Val Finnell, a classmate.

“He was very vocal about the war, very upfront about being a Muslim first and an American second,” said Finnell, 41, a preventive medicine doctor in Los Angeles, in an interview yesterday. “He was always concerned that Muslims in the military were being persecuted.”

Hasan, 39, opened fire on fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood Army Base on Nov. 5 before he was shot several times, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the base commander, told reporters. In addition to those killed, 30 people suffered wounds that required their hospitalization, Colonel John Rossi, the base’s deputy commander, said at a press conference last night. Rossi said 23 of the wounded remained hospitalized.

Military officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are probing what triggered the attack by the physician at a crowded medical processing center on the base. Hasan was moved yesterday to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He “was intubated and not able to converse,” Rossi said.

‘Upset and Angry’

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, said she was told by Fort Hood authorities the suspect was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and had been “very upset and angry” in the past few days.

Hasan’s family doesn’t know what prompted the shooting, said Nader Hasan, a cousin who lives in Virginia, in an e- mailed statement yesterday.

“We cannot explain, nor do we excuse or understand what happened,” the statement said.

The Virginia Board of Medicine listsNidal Hasan as a licensed physician. He received his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2003. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in 2007 and a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry in 2009.

Hasan was getting his masters degree in public health in 2007 and 2008 at the Uniformed Services University as part of his fellowship, said Bill Bester, vice president for external affairs at the school. Bester said he was unaware of comments Hasan may have made during the program.

Shocked, Not Surprised

Finnell said he remembered Hasan “vividly” and said of the shooting: “I’m not surprised, based on the things he said in the past. I’m shocked that it happened, but not surprised.”

In conversations, students challenged Hasan on his statements and he would become “visibly upset, sweaty, nervous,” Finnell said.

Toward the end of the program, in 2008, Hasan gave a presentation that was billed as a survey of the climate for Muslims who serve in the U.S. military, Finnell said.

“It wasn’t really very objective,” Finnell said. “It was like he was trying to prove a point.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.netSphere: Related Content

Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood suspect

Source: AP on Google

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE (AP) – 53 minutes ago

WASHINGTON

— His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive. But details of his life and mindset, emerging from official sources and personal acquaintances, are troubling.

For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.

"He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," Grieger said. "I didn't hear anything contrary to those oaths."

But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

They had not determined for certain whether Hasan is the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

One of the officials said late Thursday that federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize the seizure of Hasan's computer.

Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars, and had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.

Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim.

"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.

"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."

Nothing stood out about Hasan as radical or extremist, Khan said.

"We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Khan said. "Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist."

Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.

He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. He also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg. He received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry there in 1997.

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes, Pam Hess and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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LeT targeting top schools

 Source: ET
5 Nov 2009, 0309 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The Lashker-e-Toiba is plotting overtime to unleash some high-profile attacks on India. Among targets are some of the country’s

leading schools, the National Defence College here and tourist spots and places frequented by foreigners.

While the LeT plot to strike the National Defence College premises on Tees January Marg here was uncovered during the interrogation of arrested US national and LeT recruit David Coleman Headley by FBI, independent inputs with Indian security agencies point to planning by the Pakistan-based outfit to launch attacks that would fetch wide publicity. It is in this light that LeT bosses have picked schools, where children of influential persons study, to unleash their terror agenda.

The plans include hitting tourist spots as well as facilities frequented by foreigners — including five-star hotels, beaches and bars — as LeT believes this would give them wide coverage in the international media. Incidentally, the beaches in Goa and Kerala are a hot favourite among foreign travellers around this time of the year.

Inputs regarding the terror threat to some top boarding schools, reportedly located in Uttarakhand, have been shared with the state government concerned and adequate measures taken to beef up their security.

Planned strike on NDC premises here, something that Coleman told FBI about and which was on Tuesday presented as evidence before the Chicago court trying Headley and his associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana, is seen as attempt to take advantage of the rather sparse presence of security around the premier defence institute that conducts training courses for top Army officers as well as military officers from other countries. Security inputs suggest that the LeT plot may have included taking these Army officers hostage.

Opposing the bail application of Rana, arrested with Headley on charges of plotting terror attacks for LeT in Denmark and India, attorneys from the US Department of Justice said Rana is a danger to the nation and may flee the country if freed. According to the attorneys, the two terror suspects had referred to the National Defence College, New Delhi, as a terror target during their conversations on September 7, which was tapped by the FBI.

“In the same conversation, Headley and Rana discussed Denmark and other targets, including the National Defence College in India — Rana, in fact, used the English word ‘target’ in this discussion,” the FBI informed the court.

In its amended complaint filed before the Chicago Court last month, the FBI said Rana and Headley had discussed and named multiple targets of their planning in their conversation on September 7. “Headley listed four targets, one of which was Denmark, then commented after that “if I will pray for any other action call me a thief. God may help me complete this task.” Later in the same conversation, Rana asked Headley to “pass along a message” to Individual B (unidentified LeT leader),” the FBI said in its previous affidavit.

The two Chicago residents then discussed a fifth target. More specifically, Headley referred to the earlier discussion, and stated words to the effect of “oh my friend, not four, five, five.”

While Rana laughed, Headley stated, “Defence College” twice, and Rana commented “right, this is it. I knew already.” The conversation indicates that the LeT was giving priority to its attack on the NDC in New Delhi over the other targets, including the facilities of the Danish newspaper, which had published a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad.

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Five injured in bomb explosion in Manipur

Source: Express India

Five persons were injured in a bomb blast in front of the office of a local daily at Keisampat Tiddim Road in Imphal (West) district tonight, police said.
Police said unidentified people hurled the bomb at a group of security personnel on duty in the area. Though no injury was caused to the jawans, one sub-editor of a local daily and four passers-by were wounded.
The injured were admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Science and Hospital here, they said.Sphere: Related Content

US strike kills five militants in Pakistan: officials

Source: Google AFP

By Hasbanullah Khan (AFP) – 6 hours ago

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — Suspected US missiles killed five militants in Pakistan's Al-Qaeda-infested tribal belt on Thursday, not far from where 30,000 troops are battling a major offensive against homegrown Taliban.

The attack, which Pakistani officials said was carried out by a US drone, targeted a house in North Waziristan, where Washington says Islamist militants fighting 100,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan are hiding.

"It was a US drone attack which targeted a compound of a local tribesman, Musharraf Gul, in Norak village," a senior security official told AFP.

Two missiles were fired from a US drone at 1:30 am (2030 GMT Wednesday).

Another security official confirmed the attack and said "Taliban rebels were using the compound. Five militants were killed and four others wounded."

"It is not clear if there was any high-value target," the official said, adding: "We also do not know yet the identity of the militants."

Local residents and security officials said Musharraf Gul, aged between 28 and 30, was a cab driver who had fraternised with militants for more than 18 months.

"Musharraf opened fire after the missile strike in a bid to keep villagers away. He buried the bodies of militants killed in the attack with the help of fellow rebels, who are still guarding the place," said a security official.

Although Pakistan opposes US drone attacks on its soil as a violation of its sovereignty, the government's public condemnation of the strikes has subsided since a US missile killed Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud in August.

Around 63 attacks have killed more than 610 people since August 2008, fanning anti-American sentiment in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where around 2,440 people have died in a wave of militant attacks since July 2007.

The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the pilotless drones in the region.

Thursday's strike comes with around 30,000 Pakistani troops, backed by warplanes and attack helicopters, pressing a major offensive against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in neighbouring South Waziristan.

Pakistan has vowed to crush the TTP, holding the umbrella organisation responsible for a surge in militant attacks and bombings targeting civilians and security personnel across the country.

Pakistan launched its three-pronged offensive on October 17 and the military has claimed to have captured a string of TTP-held towns and villages, and most of Mehsud's once-operational base of Sararogha.

The military provides the only regular information coming from the frontlines. None of the details can be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers barred from the area.

So far, the military says more than 390 militants and 37 troops have been killed since the offensive began -- far fewer military losses than in previous offensives into South Waziristan that ended with controversial peace deals.

Although South Waziristan is the focus of Pakistan's current offensive, Islamist militants are embedded in large swathes of the mountainous northwest and have recently stepped up attacks in other tribal districts.

Militants on Thursday blew up a second girls' school in less than a week in the lawless district of Khyber, on the main supply line for US and NATO troops fighting in landlocked Afghanistan, local officials said. Related article: Militants blow up girl's school

"Militants used 25 to 30 kilograms (55 to 66 pounds) of explosives to blow up the two-storey school on the outskirts of Bara town," local administration official Farooq Khan told AFP.

Khan said the school had 26 rooms, including a science laboratory, but that the explosion gutted eight rooms.

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Is the Strategy Against the Naxals Working?

Source: India Today

The BEST (India Today's Board of Experts on Security and Terror) warns the Government that its hardline Naxalite policy should not escalate into military action. It wants the focus to also be on strengthening local governance.

Ajit Kumar Doval, former Director, Intelligence Bureau: They are giving an impression that they are going to conquer their own land and vanquish their own people. That's a wrong message. The message that should go out is that we are keen on their development. And for supporting their developmental needs we will reinforce the region security-wise that they can get schools, roads and hospitals. Just as the ITBP is making a road in Afghanistan, we are sending 70,000 CRPF troops there to ameliorate the conditions of the people and save the tribals from exploitation. We are not sending the troops to conquer.

Ved Marwah, former Governor, Jharkhand: Very briefly about China. I agree that hysteria is the last thing that the Government should be doing or our media should be doing but the fact remains that China has been following a policy of containing India for years. But China's presence in our neighbourhood has had a dramatic increase in recent years. It started, of course, with Pakistan but now it is there in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. Developments in Nepal should worry us because Prachanda's statements are strongly anti-India and he is interested in the Naxal wars in India. His first visit after he came overground was to Darjeeling and he met all these people because we have a problem related to the Nepalese in Darjeeling and in Sikkim. The Maoists, whether in power or not, can exploit this. So I think we should be very careful. My second point about China is the situation in the North-East. The situation in Manipur and Nagaland is worse than it ever was and in the whole of North-East, our control has really weakened and this is something that China is aware of. They will press our vulnerability at the same time, realising that this Government is desperate to keep its people ignorant because they want to present a picture that everything has improved.

The Government till recent times was trying to project to the Indian public that this Naxal violence was no problem at all. It's a minor law and order problem. Our previous Home Minister is on record, when he was playing with statistics, that the number of police stations affected in India is hardly 4 or 5 per cent of the total. Tomorrow they will say how many households are affected and then the statistics will come down further and they will say 0.1% homes in India are affected by Naxal violence. This is something that is happening in the North-East.

Coming to the violence, there are pluses and there are minuses. The plus is, after Chidambaram's taking over, they have recognised the problem and this is a big step forward. Having said that, the main thing is that it is absurd to talk of a military action. The Naxals will disappear and attack again. They have been doing this for along time. This increase in Naxal violence, I believe, is because of their link with Nepal. This is a vulnerability which they will exploit. Another negative factor is that we still find it difficult to resist the temptation of playing politics. Even in West Bengal, it is well known that Trinamool Congress is playing politics and the Central Government finds it difficult to keep its ally in check. Not that one approves of everything that the Leftist Government in West Bengal has done but now that they wanted to do something, why embarrass them? But they could not resist the temptation. The third point I want to raise is that of the Air Force chief seeking permission. When you are talking of self-defence, you are talking of ground, not of self-defence in the air. Even if they are shot at, we must realise that the target is not bang in front of you. If the helicopter starts shooting in the area it can create havoc.

Air Marshal (Retd.) Kapil Kak, Additional Director, Centre for Air Power Studies: (Interjection) You don't fire in an area, you fire at a point. For firing at our own people, the Indian Air Force needs political clearance. Let me clarify, what the chief said was that my helicopter is inducting troops in that area which is surrounded by Naxals. My helicopter is under fire. One of the flight engineers was killed on the ground by Naxals.

Marwah: It would be a wrong step because one flight engineer has been injured, it will have terrible repercussion and the Naxals will have a massive propaganda point. The fact is, you must strengthen the ground situation. The Naxals can't fire in the air like that. That means your control over the ground situation is so weak that they are firing anti-aircraft guns. I think the Air Chief has done a very wrong thing by asking for it.

Sending the army also will be a terrible thing to do. The situation on the ground has not reached a point where the Naxals dominate an area completely, except for Chhattisgarh. If the Government takes comprehensive steps the situation can be controlled. You have to put your house in order. You have to stop playing politics with the Chhattisgarh Government and the West Bengal Government. Even now, a very senior Congress leader says that non-Congress Governments are not cooperating. The agenda of the Maoists is not Congress or non-Congress governments, their agenda is India. Particularly after September 2004 when two major groups came together and formed the CPI (Maoists). There is an escalation after September 2004 and every year this will increase further. I am afraid, the Centre is ruling Jharkhand - there is no state Government but what is happening there? They have lost control of the Ranchi-Jamshedpur road which is such a busy road. Still they are playing politics. Fact is, every political leader has a direct nexus with the Naxals. This must end. If you want a comprehensive settlement, it must include strengthening of governance in the affected areas. We should not make Naxal affected areas punishment postings but should send the right people who are available. Also, governance can be improved not by just sending money, which is looted by politicians and bureaucrats but ensuring that something is done. But if we keep on ignoring as we have done in the past, the situation will get out of control.

Kiran Bedi, former Director-General, Bureau of Police Research and Development: I have a considered option. I had a part in drafting the Model Police Act of 2006. it was submitted to the Government on October 30, 2006 and was chaired by Soli Sorabjee. First, it went nationwide and then to a small group. We deliberated on Chapter 11, Policing in the Context of Border and Internal Security, and I remember we deliberated on what to do? Can we go about it state-wise or can we look at it as a zone? And the suggestion was the creation of Special Security Zones (SSZ) something which Marwah also just mentioned. I am looking at the SSZ of the affected states which includes portions of West Bengal, Andhra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh etc., In Section 112, if the security of an area is threatened by insurgency, any terrorist or any militant activities of any organized crime groups, the Union Government may with the concurrence of the state government declare such area as a SSZ. Any such notification will be placed before appropriate legislature for ratification within six months from the date of issue or first sitting of the legislature provided further that the period of notification shall not exceed two years unless it is ratified by the Parliament with the concurrence of the state legislature. It also said that the state government shall create an appropriate police structure and a suitable command control and response system for each such special security zone. Even for an existing thing we have very poor structure. We may have the command but a very poor response system so even within the state we have a very poor response, forget about the SSZ. The state government, in order to ensure coordinated functioning of the different wings of the administration shall set up in each zone, a suitable administrative structure which will integrate administration and developmental measures in the area. The Director General of Police shall with the concurrence of the state government issue orders laying down standard proceedings. We have not done it. We need to bring states together to become a security development zone, i.e. one command structure. Let's take up these young retired military men and let's create a new force. Now let them take this operational matter and let them do policing. Here we are starting jungle warfare training now. How do I recruit trained people? We don't have a response system. You can't wait for new recruitments and the jungle warfare for the next seven years. Create a force comprising young retired armymen with an experience of seven to eight years and put them into the security zone. They are also trained for jungle warfare and let them take charge. Along with it comes development. That means we have to politically solve this issue. Somebody should file a PIL, why can't it be declared a SSZ because so many states are affected? And that is what is happening, why is Andhra safe today? Andhra has those Greyhounds. You press the Naxals here, they go there. You press them there, they come here. It is happening in West Bengal. Why can't the country work together? I think this is the possible solution which I have in mind. This is what Chidambaram should look at, this is being pro-active and that is what the leadership needs to look at. Our young officials do not have the wherewithal, they don't have development, and the civil service doesn't exist in Maoist-affected areas. Look at the police which has been taken from West Bengal, they hardly had any roof on their head. They had locked up the weapons in a suitcase so that they don't get stolen and this is what the Naxal in West Bengal did - took away the weapons and now the police is weaponless. Today's picture showed a policeman in a lungi. They are there because they need a job and because their family has to be fed. Our policemen are not prepared for this zone at all. Why are they sent there? They are cannon fodder. I think what we really need to do is too treat this as a SSZ? Why can't we get trained infantry? Create a force for the next ten years, I don't want to call it an anti-Naxal force, I want to call it a SSZ force and these states should jolly well come together. To me this is the real political challenge. If Chidambaram succeeds in putting this, he proves himself as the Home Minister of India, otherwise he is not.

Major General V.K. Datta, former DDG MO (Special Operations): Why China is doing what it is doing today? It has brought out various strategic issues related to the sub-continent. You would have heard that people in China were thinking that they can break India into 37 different states. If you look at the map of India and consider me an outsider - a Pakistani or a Chinese - I see Jammu and Kashmir is burning, North-East is on a turmoil, Punjab can be restarted sometime and the central heartland of India is the red carpet. So what is left of this country? So they perceive that if we put pressure and give a little push India will disintegrate.

Our entire response to the Naxal problem is knee-jerk. The threat emanates from Nepal and comes all the way to the centre of India. You have to go in and dominate that area so completely that the Maoists don't return. You just cannot go there for an operation and come back. You have to have a permanent presence. Conduct development in the area, run a hearts and minds campaign, improve socio-economic infrastructure and education but do not go in like an army of occupation. They are our own people.

Ajai Sahni, executive director, Centre for Conflict Studies: The Government has taken on the Maoists by threatening to reach into their heartland and you have forced them into taking pre-emptive action in other states. We talk and can't do. The Naxals talk and do. There is a tremendous wastage of existing capacity and even the available capacity against the Naxals is not being used. The Government prematurely announced operations against the Naxals even before the security apparatus was in place. They destroyed the element of surprise and now are running around trying to deal with the violence the Naxals promised to unleash in their June document where they said the Centre lacked the capacity to operate against them across the country. The Government has thrown the initiative into the hands of the Maoists. In the short term, capacities have to be reoriented. Andhra Pradesh had the lowest police-population ratio but fought the Naxals by re-training, re-orienting and re-deploying its forces. This is something that the Central paramilitary forces are not doing.

Chengappa: Thanks, all of you for sparing the time. The good news is that the security is much better than it was the last time. The hero seems to be Chidambaram. The debate on China was very enlightening. To me it seems that the threats are real. These are not imagined.

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Judge orders: Return 'Muslim Mafia' docs

Source: WND
Incriminating material obtained in probe of CAIR's connection to Islamic terrorism

---

Posted: November 03, 2009
9:46 pm Eastern

By Art Moore
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

CAIR's national headquarters, three blocks from the U.S. Capitol

A federal judge in Washington today ordered a co-author of the book "Muslim Mafia" and his son to return internal documents, recordings and records obtained in a six-month undercover operation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations that presented further evidence of the D.C.-based group's ties to terrorism.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted CAIR's request for a temporary restraining order barring P. David Gaubatz and his son, Chris Gaubatz, from further use or publication of the material and demanding that they return it to the Muslim group's lawyers by midnight Nov 18.

Kollar-Kotelly – who as head of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court made several controversial decisions against the Bush administration's counter-terrorism policies – was criticized recently by many security experts for ruling against the military's designation of a Guantanamo detainee as an enemy combatant, allowing the Obama administration to send him home.

But Daniel Horowitz, one of the attorneys representing the Gaubatzes, said it's important to look at both sides of the judge.

"She is extremely intelligent and a strong supporter of the First Amendment," he said.

CAIR's restraining order accompanied a lawsuit in which the Islamic group alleged Chris Gaubatz, who served as an unpaid volunteer for CAIR, obtained access to the group's property under false pretenses and removed the internal documents and made recordings of officials and employees "without any consent or authorization and in violation of his contractual, fiduciary and other legal obligations to CAIR."

David Gaubatz told WND that CAIR's legal moves have been anticipated, and some of the court's order already has been fulfilled as material has been turned over to law enforcement officials.

"I do look forward to bringing all the evidence to court," he said. "Courts are a two way system."

Gaubatz contended the research described in his book "was conducted professionally and legally."

"CAIR executives know this, and I can tell the American people that since I have worked with CAIR executives personally – in law enforcement training in Texas – executives such as Nihad Awad, Ibrahim Hooper and (North Carolina state) Senator Larry Shaw are fighting amongst themselves, because they know everything mentioned in 'Muslim Mafia' is true.

"The last thing they want is more evidence of their ties to terrorists before our courts," Gaubatz said.

Gaubatz told WND yesterday the research was "funded by a high profile U.S. organization with very close ties to senior law enforcement and U.S. government officials."

Gaubatz said he cannot name the group now, but noted it is not SANE, the Society of Americans for National Existence, as widely believed.

"This organization is very professional, and every step of the research was coordinated with their legal team and senior personnel," he said. "From the very onset of the research, our researchers observed intelligence in CAIR documents which appeared to be national security concerns."

CAIR is seeking punitive damages for trespass, breach of contract, conversion and breach of fiduciary duty.

In Gaubatz's book, "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," published by WND Books, he and co-author Paul Sperry present first-hand evidence CAIR is acting as a front for a well-funded conspiracy of the Muslim Brotherhood – the parent of al-Qaida and Hamas – to infiltrate the American system and help pave the way for Saudi-style Islamic law to rule the U.S.

In the lawsuit, however, CAIR, a self-described Muslim civil-rights group, does not defend itself against the book's claims.

The FBI cut off ties to CAIR in January after the group was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case in Texas, the largest terrorism-finance case in U.S. history. Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and other senators have called for a government-wide ban on CAIR.

'Wall of separation'

In July, Kollar-Kotelly ruled a Kuwaiti detainee at Guantanamo captured in Afghanistan in 2002, Khalid Al Mutairi, had been unlawfully detained as an enemy combatant. The habeas corpus ruling led to the Obama administration's decision in October to transfer Al Mutairi to his home country.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly

Kollar-Kotelly, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by President Clinton in 1997, was chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the FISA court, from 2002 until this year.

She was among the judges who moved to rebuild the "wall of separation" between criminal investigators and intelligence agents cited by the 9/11 commission as a factor in the failure to detect the 9/11 plot, notes counter-terrorism expert and former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy. The rebuilding effort, however, was overruled by the FISA Court of Review in 2002.

Kollar-Kotelly also was a chief critic of the Bush administration's warrantless-surveillance program that targeted communications between terrorists in the U.S. and abroad. In 2005, she ruled enemy combatants were entitled to counsel, at taxpayers' expense, to challenge their detention.

WND is defending David and Chris Gaubatz against the CAIR lawsuit and has established a legal defense fund.

If you're a member of the media and would like to interview Paul Sperry, Dave Gaubatz or Chris Gaubatz, e-mail WND's marketing department or call Tim Bueler at (530) 401-3285.

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Post-amnesty: Ex-militants report to camp

Headlines Nov 4, 2009

FG releases N2bn for roads in N-Delta, To construct  rail line from Calabar to Warri

By Chris Ochayi & Oscarline Onwuemenyi

ABUJA — THE Federal Government, yesterday, commenced the post-amnesty programme in the Niger Delta region as it directed 3,000 former militants who had accepted the amnesty offer to report to camp between now and November 11 towards rehabilitating them just as the government approved N2 billion for immediate construction of physical development projects in the region.

Some of the ex-militants however expressed regrets over their decision to lay down their arms citing insincerity on the part of the government.

Chairman, Presidential Committee on Amnesty and Minister of Defence, Major-General Godwin Abbe (rtd) who spoke yesterday in Abuja at a meeting with leaders of ex-militants, assured that the region will witness aggressive physical development if the current peace is sustained.

Ex-militant leaders, who attended the meeting include, Ateke Tom, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), Chief Jacob Odiki, Ezekiel Akpasebewa, Bonny Godei, Lubi Akpobi Ebi, Joh Toso and Hon Ayela.

A cross section of former Niger Delta militants, who had accepted the amnesty offer nwo asked to report to camp between now and November 11 towards rehabilitating

Major-General Abbe explained that with the successful implementation of the first phase of the amnesty programme by the Federal Government, the next stage is now the rehabilitation and the reintegration of the ex-militants.

According to him, “the essence of this meeting is for the amnesty committee to interact with you all and let you know the steps of government as affecting the next stage of the implementation of the amnesty programme, which has to do with rehabilitation and reintegration of all of us back into the society.

“We are going to be discussing with you the plans we have and how we intend to implement the plans. We are also in this meeting to get your own contribution towards this programme so that together we can move on.

After that, we will have someone who will be speaking to us on the process of law and order, so that we take the message back and get ourselves organised.

“For a start, between now and November 11, 2009, there will be a call up for our boys to start reporting to the camp. And because of the difficulties in accommodation facilities, we are going to put together two camps.

“These two camps established are at Agbarho in Delta State and Alu in Rivers State. We have plans to establish another one in Bayelsa State the moment we finish further discussions with the Governor of Bayelsa State who will tell us his own plans. He too is also working and very soon, we will hear from.

“But be that at it may, the call up will not work effectively unless you participate, in the number that we have to go into now from the beginning, and what we want to do is to give preference to those who really picked arms and later surrendered and accepted the call of Mr. President”.

General Godwin Abbe further told the Niger Delta leaders that “In the process, we are going to have the opportunities of discussing with every individual as to the type of training that individual will be interested in.
“When we have done that, and we are satisfied, we will move to the next stage of dispersing everyone who have been categorised into the various institutions of their choice.

“Some who will want to go to school because they stopped schooling will also go and continue their school; those who want to go to the university should know that university admission has strict rules, which has to be followed, and admissions are over now, so those who want to go to university should wait and prepare for admission examinations.”

N2bn for roads; plan for rail line

General Abbe also disclosed that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, has approved the sum of N2 billion intervention fund for Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for the construction of major roads in all the oil producing states.

He explained that the Federal Government is also working towards the construction of the first phase of the railway project from Calabar to Uyo-Port Harcourt-Yenogoa and Warri, adding that the second phase of the project will be linked to Lagos.

Abbe noted that President Yar’Adua has directed that work should commence on the Inland waterway project, adding that relevant government agencies have started studying the East-West Coastal road project which will commence from Calabar.

The minister further explained that government is also planning the construction of some houses in various communities across the region with a view to ensure re-integration of the ex-militants and address the problem of shortage of houses for the residents of the region.

Abbe further disclosed that the Federal Government through the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP, would provide revolving loan for some of the fishermen who embraced the amnesty offer.

In his comments, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Ufot Ekaette, said all what was needed was for “all to work together so that peace is restored to the region.

Ekaette said his ministry had organised a job fair and trade expo earlier in the year and “we were able to identify  job providers who were not only prepared to offer jobs but to ensure that jobs are given to the Niger Delta. I have also been privileged to hold discussions with some foreign investors and all they are saying is if peace returns to the region, we will come and invest; so we are appealing that peace is sustained in the region.”

Meanwhile some of the ex-militants who attended the meeting have accused the Government of insincerity.
President of the Ijaw Youth Council, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, who spoke on behalf of the other ex-militants expressed doubts over the sincerity of the Federal Government to implement most of the programmes it enumerated prior to the amnesty deal.

According to him, “Thirty days after our people surrendered our arms, we have not seen any progress. The fundamental question is on government plan for the pre and post amnesty programme. We are tired of having these meetings.

“We are beginning to ask the question if we actually took the right decision. Those at the helm of affairs already know the problem and we should not be at the planning phase at this time.”

Ekiyor noted that, “We are tired of having these meetings. The way and manner we have been attending meetings, I am aware that from 2007 till date, we have exhausted whatever is needed to be said and we are beginning to wonder why we accepted having this meeting today. Today, you call this group, tomorrow you call another group and nothing is being said.

“These agenda are the reason why we are here. People are wondering what questions are we going to ask and what answers are you going to give. So, with this question and answer session, my people are wondering what answers you are going to provide.

“What they want to see is that these are things that can be done now, tomorrow, next tomorrow and two years from now.”

He said the people of the Niger Delta and Nigerians are asking “what are those things you are doing now that are doable ones, because what we see are the same programme of events, planning stage and all what not.

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Feds: Chicago men discussed terror attack in India

Source: Kentucky

By MIKE ROBINSON - AP Legal Affairs Writer

CHICAGO -- A Chicago man charged with scheming to launch a terrorist attack on a Danish newspaper also discussed a possible attack against a military college in India and advised a member of a Pakistan-based terrorist group on how to slip people into the U.S., prosecutors said Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers that Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana in September talked with another man charged in the case about designating the National Defense College of India as among possible targets they might pursue.
"Recorded conversations involving the defendant, emails and other documentary evidence demonstrate that the defendant conspired to provide and did provide material support to the conspiracy," prosecutors said in court papers.

Lou Chuckman

AP Photo - This image taken from video shows a courtroom artists drawing of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, center, 48, charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper, as he appears at a bond hearing before federal Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, in Chicago. Nolan said she needed more time to rule on Rana's bond and set another hearing in the case next week.Rana, 48, and another man, David Headley, 49, are charged with conspiring to attack the Copenhagen newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which sparked outrage in much of the Muslim world in 2005 by publishing 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Paul Beaty

AP Photo - This Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 picture shows the grocery store owned by Tahawwur Hussain Rana on Chicago's Devon Avenue, home to one of the largest South Asian business enclaves in the U.S. On Tuesday federal officials unsealed criminal complaints against Rana and David Coleman Headley. Rana was a businessman who was arrested on federal charges for an alleged terrorism plot against a Danish newspaper. The newspaper published twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. One cartoon showed Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Any depiction of the prophet, even a favorable one, is frowned on by Islamic law as likely to lead to idolatry.

Paul Beaty

AP Photo - The Chicago home of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was arrested on federal charges detailed Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 for an alleged terrorism plot against a Danish newspaper, is shown in Chicago. The newspaper published twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. One cartoon showed Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Any depiction of the prophet, even a favorable one, is frowned on by Islamic law as likely to lead to idolatry.

Polfoto, Kaare Viemose

AP Photo - A view of the offices of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in Aarhus, Denmark, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. Two Chicago men are charged with plotting terrorist attacks against overseas targets, including at the Danish newspaper that sparked outrage throughout the Muslim by publishing cartoons by Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, depicting the prophet Mohamme in 2005, prosecutors announced Tuesday. David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were charged in separate complaints filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The court papers were filed as Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan met with attorneys to discuss the possible release of Rana on bond.
Prosecutors offered the new allegations to reinforce their argument that Rana should remain in the Metropolitan Correctional Center and not be released. Headley is scheduled to have a bond hearing later.
Defense attorney Patrick Blegen disputes government claims that Rana is a danger to the community and a flight risk. He said friends and relatives in Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Texas will post their homes to secure a bond.
With supporters in Canada also willing to post cash, Rana could post a bond of $1 million to guarantee that he would not flee to avoid prosecution, Blegen said.
Blegen told reporters after meeting with Nolan that Rana, if asked about the new allegations against him, would deny them.
Nolan did not rule on the bond and scheduled another hearing on the request for next Tuesday.
In a complaint unsealed last week, prosecutors quoted Rana and Headley as discussing an unspecified "defense college" as a potential terrorist target.
The court papers filed Tuesday said that on a long automobile drive in September, Rana and Headley "discussed Denmark and other targets, including the National Defense College in India - Rana in fact used the English word target."
There was no detail in the court papers on whether anything substantial had been done in regard to the school in India or whether it was merely talk. Prosecutors have said there were five such potential terrorist projects.
Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, declined to elaborate on the allegation.
The court papers also said that in late 2008 Rana, who operates a Chicago immigration law service, had a discussion with a someone affiliated with the group Lashkar-e-Taiba who was identified only as Individual B. The Pakistan-based organization has been declared a terrorist group by the U.S. government, and India claims it was responsible for the commando-style assault that killed 166 people in Mumbai last November.
The discussion, conducted by e-mail, included a warning from Rana not to use student visas to get people into the country. He said a school "reports to immigration on a hot line that students are missing and immigration at 5 a.m. is at their place of residence or work, wherever they can pick them up."
"Then they offer them a deal and ask them to tell how they came. ... How they paid, what amount whom, who did what," the e-mail said, allegedly quoting Rana.
"Only one loophole is business which they believe is OK," it said. The e-mail and court papers did not elaborate. Rana asked Individual B to delete the e-mail from his computer, according to the court papers.
Prosecutors also said in the court papers that when another, unnamed individual suggested to Rana that he might back-date a document to 1983 to help someone get a visa Rana warned him that he wo

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Is Saif and Kareena's Kurbaan just another terrorism movie?

Source: SIFY

IANS  | Monday, 02 November , 2009, 11:51

Questions are being raised about Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor's latest flick, Kurbaan, which seemingly revolves around terrorism, a theme which has been explored by films earlier. Karan Johar's upcoming Kurbaan is being likened to films on terror such as New York and Fanaa but the filmmaker is no longer giving the straight-jacketed , 'it's truly different' reply. He has instead left it to the audiences to find out if there are any similarities between the movies. Saif and Kareena reveal Kurbaan details "That's because this isn't the first time that it's happening to a film coming from Dharma Productions. When Wake Up Sid was being made, people asked whether it had any similarities to Lakshya. Now when the movie has released and is finding so much appreciation, the same people are coming back and telling me that 'this one was so different'," Karan said. He has quite a few other examples -- Kal Ho Naa Ho was said to be a remake of Anand while Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna appeared to have its germ in Silsila. "And didn't all these 'germs' just disappear when the films released and talked their own language? See, the fact is that originality has always been the strength of Dharma Productions. We don't like to emulate other films. "This is why I would rather talk about Kurbaan and its so-called similarities after it is out in theatres. That's because by that time audiences would have seen the film and realised that Kurbaan is a film about its own world," Karan said. Directed by Rensil D'Silva, Kurbaan stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Asked about the film, Karan said: "There is very little that you can compare this film with any other Hindi films that you name. It's just that the protagonists are in a zone where terror is on the forefront. "At Kurbaan, we are scratching the surface a little harder when it comes to global terrorism. We are dealing with an absolutely different tone and syntax." He rues that audiences as well as filmmakers have started looking at every product suspiciously. Find out more about Kurbaan "The sad part is that whenever a new film comes, whether from my company or any other, we start believing that people are not really offering anything original. We start looking for inspirations and immediately draw a connect. This has happened time and again. It's so unfortunate that we have lost faith in originality," said Karan. He is however happy that first time director Rensil D'Silva has brought in a different point of view in the film. " Kurbaan is written by me but has taken a great dimension due to the virtue of Rensil's own point of view. This is something that comes across quite strongly in the film. "Since he comes with a global thought process, it has penetrated into the narrative of the film as well. There is an intellectual look at the situation without any bias in the narrative. I can proudly declare that Kurbaan isn't anything like what has been seen on celluloid before." Also starring Vivek Oberoi, Om Puri, Kirron Kher and Dia Mirza in key roles, Kurbaan is set for a November 20 release.

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Police, broker partner to identify terrorist targets

Business Nov 3, 2009 By Patience Saghana

Nigerian Police in collaboration with Pinnacle Insurance Brokers Limited has concluded arrangement for a dialogue to identify probable targets of terrorism with the aim of exploring grey areas and proffering solutions on counter measures.

The parley between the police and the broker present a welcome opportunity to correct shortcomings and fill gaps in the fight against terrorism by offering a comprehensive framework for a coherent international response to terrorism.

The dialogue which is billed for December at the Musa Yar’ Adua Conference Centre, Abuja will give priority attention to addressing underlying conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, such as poverty, prolonged unresolved conflicts, dehumanization of victims of terrorism, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, political exclusion, socio-economic marginalization and lack of good governance among others.

Nigerian government has continued to condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as the government view acts of terrorism as threats to international peace and security.

It was in this light that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua asks the National Assembly to enact legislation against terrorism, the Nigerian Police has begun moves to equip itself and key security agencies with safety measures
In president Yar’ Adua’s letter dated October 12, 2009 to the two chambers of the National Assembly, Senate and the House of Representatives, he explained that the law became necessary to combat terrorism and kidnapping.

The bill, which contains 34 sections, explains acts that constitute terrorism to include “any person who knowingly – does, attempts to do an act preparatory to or in furtherance of an act of terrorism; or omits to do anything that is reasonably necessary to prevent an act of terrorism; or assists or facilitates the activities of persons engaged in an act of terrorism, commits an offence.”

The strategy also emphasizes the imperative for respecting human rights and promoting the rule of law as a sine qua non to the successful combating of terrorism and the implementation of the Strategy
eria has ratified 9 of the universal instruments against terrorism including the Amendment to the
Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials, which was ratified in April 2007, while the
remaining instruments are at different stages of ratification. When passed into law, the Terrorism
Prevention Bill currently before the National Assembly will address all wider issues such as incitement to commit terrorist acts, freezing, confiscation and repatriation of terrorist-related funds assets. Pending the enactment of the Bill, relevant constituent elements of the Criminal and Penal Codes and the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act (2004) and the Money Laundering Act (2004) are relied upon for the prosecution of terrorist offences

Just as President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua asks the National Assembly to enact legislation against terrorism, the Nigerian Police has begun moves to equip its self and key security agencies with safety measures.

Organisations and Agencies that would be at the forum to brainstorm on the safety of Nigerians and assets include personnel from the Banking Industry, Telecommunication companies, Oil and Gas companies, Industrial Sectors, State Governors and Local Government offices, the Military and all security Agencies

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Most Pakistanis back war against Taliban: poll

Source: Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A majority of Pakistanis support military action against the Taliban although more people blame the US for the violence, a poll released on Tuesday showed. According to a Gilani Research Foundation poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan, an affiliate of Gallup International, 51 percent of people support the offensive. A majority supported the action, only 25 percent of respondents said the Taliban were responsible for the offensive with 35 percent blaming the US and 31 percent the government. Thirty-six percent of people thought the offensive would improve security while 37 percent said it would lead to deterioration, the poll found. 37 percent of people considered it Pakistan’s war while 39 percent saw it as America’s war.

reuters

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Financing terrorism declared an offence

Source: DailyTIMES

* Companies, employees can be fined upto Rs 5m for offences under proposed legislation

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday approved the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2009, declaring “terrorism financing” a criminal offence.

Officials of the Finance Ministry and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) informed the committee members that Pakistan, being a signatory to various UN conventions, required laws in line with international standards to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

The committee meeting, presided by Fauzia Wahab, was attended by Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique, the SBP deputy governor, SBP Banking Policy director and other senior officials.

The committee also approved increase in penalty from Rs 1 million to Rs 5 million for a company or its employees found guilty of an offence under the proposed bill.

The committee was informed that the amendments were in line with international standards on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism. In the proposed bill, the definition of “financial institutions” includes any institution accepting deposits and other repayable funds from public, lending in whatsoever form, financial leasing, money or valuable transfer, managing credit and debit cards, cheques, travellers cheque, money orders, bank drafts and electronic money among other financial activities.

Smuggling is also one of the requisite predicate offences as per Financial Action Task Force (FATF). To include “smuggling” as a predicate offence, only bringing some provisions of the Customs Act, 1969 under the purview of the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2009 was proposed. As per FATF recommendations, actions such as concealment, disguise, third-party laundering, facilitating and counselling have also been declared offences in the proposed bill.

Finance Secretary Salman Siddique informed the committee that Pakistan had already been issued a notice to upgrade the existing anti-money laundering laws before February 2010.

In case of a failure to amend the existing laws, Pakistan would be declared a high-risk country, its letters of credit (LCs) would not have been honoured abroad, which, he said, would create difficulties for the country’s businessmen, the finance secretary added.

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Striking Red

The youth, it seems, was all set to strike red. About 20 of them were crowding around to catch the action on a carrom board, balanced on a lorry tyre. The players were on stones that served as seats. That's when our vehicle entered Ambatpally village and to my surprise, all of them scattered just in a matter of a minute. I got off our vehicle to find out what happened. It took some time for us to figure out that the youth had mistaken us for police in mufti.

"No. No. We are from the press. I am from NDTV, from Hyderabad,'' I explained, pointing to our video camera. As we got talking, the youth slowly started gathering around us.

"Why are you so scared of the police?'' I asked. Suresh, who was playing the game, and runs a chicken shop replied. "You never know how they would react to all of us huddled together.''

The fear here is real. Ambatpally has been home to a number of naxals in the past. And the people have paid the price for it. With the outlaws now reportedly trying to get back into Andhra Pradesh, I was told, the police are making frequent trips to these remote villages to 'chat' with these ex-naxals.

One of them is Swamy, a former commander of the naxal group Praja Prathighatana. 30-year-old Swamy was initially a deputy commander for four years with another naxal group Janshakti. That's when he was lured by the Praja Prathighatana and promoted to join as commander. And soon Swamy was controlling large parts of Mahadevpur mandal in Karimnagar district, where the naxal writ ran large. But then some human emotions are universal. Swamy's deputy, keen to move up the naxal organisational ladder, leaked information about his movements to the police and Swamy was arrested in January 2005. Today he runs a business in wood but everyone still knows him more as Naxal Swamy.

Later that day, we visited Mahadevpur police station. In 2003, a group of naxals had driven into this station with a RTC bus laden with explosives. Timely alert by a sentry on duty minimised damage to the station. That evening, I listened in as sub-inspector Srinivas spoke to over 50 so-called Maoist sympathisers who were summoned to the police station. His tone was firm as he warned them against any `wrongdoing' . Every fourth sentence was : "Understood? You understood?'' It did not seem so much like he was saying `you better understand' as hope that they would understand.

Srinivas has an impressive dossier on 400 such sympathisers and former naxals, with a detailed case history and photograph. I recognised one of them, Tirupati, sarpanch of Palimella village, who I had met that morning. Tirupati was also a naxal for a decade till his arrest in 1997. Ironically he is once again on the run, as he is now on the hitlist of his former brethren. Naxals had visited Palimella a month ago to warn Tirupati and two others against being police informers and against indulging in corruption. Since then, Tirupati has been in hiding.

For many years, Mahadevpur's 22 villages were always more under naxal control than the state's. That changed post-2006 when a sustained police offensive pushed them out, across the Godavari into Chattisgarh. There is no road 13 km out of Mahadevpur town, which means you have little option but to make it by foot. We trek to Sarvaipet village, 30 km from Mahadevpur, that forms the bottom end of the triangle with Maharashtra's Gadchiroli a km away on the left side and Chattisgarh again a km away on the right side. In between is River Godavari that is now acting as the courier to bring back naxals into their once familiar territory of Andhra Pradesh.

Since there is no road, there is no RTC bus service, which means you travel by bullock cart. During the monsoon, the kaccha road is also flooded and the rest of Andhra forgets there is this habitation called Sarvaipet. There are no medical facilities and you have to travel 20 km to show a sick child to a doctor. The two wells in this village of 1200 dry up in the summer which means women like Nagamma have to trek 8 km to and from the Godavari to fetch water.

I meet Babu, who is studying B.Sc (Maths) at a college in Bhoopalpally. ``What will you do next?'' I ask. "M.Sc (Physics),'' he says.

"And what job will you get after that, Babu?'' I am curious.

"I will go to Karimnagar or Hyderabad. I can work there as an electrician. I will make 2000 rupees in a month,'' he replies.

If an electrician's job for a post-graduate in Physics is all our system can offer, how are we to prevent anyone from taking the road less travelled? How long will a Babu or a Nagamma put up with a system that promises the heaven but delivers zilch?

That's the frustration naxals are trying to cash in on. For the last two months, groups of naxals have been storming these border villages in the dead of the night, to threaten public representatives with documentary proof that they will be killed unless they stop indulging in corruption. In a state where the state has failed to ensure the delivery mechanism works efficiently, ironically it is these outlaws who are trying to ensure a Babu and a Nagamma get the benefits. A certain amount of hero worship is already beginning in these parts. Unfortunately, it will only earn them a place in Srinivas's dossier.

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The return of the Naxal to Andhra

T S Sudhir, Tuesday November 3, 2009, Karimnagar district, AP

The Sun sets in an uneasy calm over the river Godavari on the northern border of Andhra Pradesh. On one side, just a kilometre away, is Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. On the other side, lies Chattisgarh. This is Naxal turf. Strong, forbidding, inescapable. Night falls in eerie silence. It is in this darkness that Naxalism is sneaking back into Andhra Pradesh.

When the sun rises, we meet Tirupati. For three weeks now, he has been on the run. Once a Naxal, now the sarpanch of Palimella village in Karimnagar district, Tirupati has no choice but to hide. He has found out he's on the Naxals' hitlist.

"They left a poster stating that two of my associates are police informers and warned me if I did not mend my ways, they will kill me," he says.

Beyond Palimella is Sarvaipet village. It's small villages like this that hold the answers to why Naxalism thrives. No medical facilities here for a population of 1200 people; the nearest doctor
can be found at a clinic 20 kilometres away. There is no road, and therefore no bus service.

On Diwali night, a platoon of 80 to 100 Naxals came here, to Ganapathi's home, to warn him not to be a police informer. He wasn't at home, so the Naxals left with his relative, Bheem. He won't speak to us. A villager, Krishnaiah, explains, "Imagine what they would have done if he had not escaped."

Krishnaiah's daughter is upset that he has spoken to us. The Naxals are never far. "Action teams of 3 to 4 Naxals each are moving around in the forest area," states B Srinivas Reddy, Sub-Inspector, Koyyur.

One of the election promises the Congress made in 2004 was to hold peace talks with the Naxal groups. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy set the ball rolling almost immediately after he took over as Chief Minister. Within six months, the Naxals left their hideouts inside the Nallamalla forests to travel to Hyderabad for talks with him. Senior Naxals handing over their weapons to their subordinates was the photo-op of the year.

But after that, the Naxals used the period of the ceasefire for massive fund-raising and recruitment. The police, which was initially upset with the political decision for the ceasefire, realized it needed a new strategy. So as senior officers later admitted, their men concentrated on infiltrating Naxal groups, serving as moles.

Eventually, the peace talks failed, and the Naxals returned to the forests. From December 2004, bloody encounters followed for nearly eight months. In August 2005, Naxals killed Narsi Reddy, a sitting Congress MLA from Mahbubnagar district at an Independence Day function. The YSR government banned Naxals immediately and ordered the police to start a giant offensive.

Their moles gave the police crucial intelligence against the Naxals. Also, YSR's focus on strong rural development meant that young men and women were less interested than earlier in Naxal ideology. But it was the Greyhounds, Andhra's anti-Naxal commando force, that really routed the Naxals, forcing them to admit that they couldn't compete.

There has been a lull in Naxal violence in Andhra Pradesh, save some parts of the Andhra-Orissa border, for the last three years. But emboldened by their successes in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal, Naxals are once again crossing the Godavari into parts of north Andhra Pradesh.

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Somali group with al Qaeda ties threatens Israel

Al-Shabab militia patrol a market in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October.

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- A militant Islamist group associated with al Qaeda has for the first time threatened to attack Israel, far from its normal base of operations in Somalia.
Al-Shabab, which is fighting to control the east African country, accused Israel of "starting to destroy" the Al Aqsa mosque, where standoffs have taken place recently between Israeli police and Palestinians. The mosque is part of the complex that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.
"The Jews started to destroy parts of the holy mosque of Al Aqsa and they routinely kill our Palestinian brothers, so we are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers," said Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, a prominent Al-Shabab commander.
His threat was part of a series of fiery sermons delivered after Friday prayers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia. Al-Shabab controls the region, which is part of a country that has been without an effective national government for nearly 20 years.
Other leaders of the group also threatened Israel, the first time the group is known to have done so.
"We will transfer and expand our fighting in the Middle East so we can defend Al Aqsa mosque from the Israelis," Al-Shabab commander Abdifatah Aweys Abu Hamza said in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
He is apparently the leader of a new Al-Shabab armed group calling themselves "Mujahedin Al Aqsa," or "Al Aqsa Holy Warriors," which they said is assigned to attack Israel.
It is not clear whether Al-Shabab has the capacity to carry out its threats against Israel.
But Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group warned that the group should be taken seriously.
"We should not underestimate the capacity of Al-Shabab," he said. "This is a deadly organization, a formidable foe."
Abdi said the group had been mutating from a nationalist group into a terrorist organization more like al Qaeda, which was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"If you look at the rhetoric and language and if you look at the Web sites, if you hear their preachers or their scholars speak, it is completely indistinguishable from al Qaeda leaders," Abdi said.
The group has also become more vicious in Somalia, a local human rights expert said.
"The most gruesome and gross violations of human rights are committed by Al-Shabab," activist Hassan Shire Sheikh said. "They have also instilled fear. They just shoot, they kill, they maim and they lash."
The group also threatened African neighbors on Friday, including Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Eritrea, Ghana, Sudan and Uganda. They have in the past threatened African nations that provide peacekeeping troops to the war-torn country.
The U.S. State Department Country Reports on Terrorism from April lists Al-Shabab as a terrorist organization and blames it for shootings and suicide bombings inside Somalia. It does not list the group as having carried out violence outside Somalia, but says some members of the group have trained and fought alongside al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked brutal clan infighting.
The transitional government has struggled to establish authority, challenged by Islamist groups like Al-Shabab that have seized control of Mogadishu and much of the south.

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