September 2013
Carnage at Pakistan church after Sunday mass: More than 80 killed in suicide bombing By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old All Saints Church in the city of Peshawar after Sunday Mass, killing at least 81 worshippers while injuring 145 in the deadliest attack on Christians in Pakistan. Among the dead were 38 women and 7 children. City Superintendent of Police Ismail Kharak told the media later that a suicide bomber had entered through the rear gate of the church where a police constable tried to stop him. However, the attacker blew himself up, killing the policeman also. The two attackers struck at the end of a service. Read More
Where goest revolutionary Egypt: an analysis By Arthur Scott: In my previous article entitled: “Principles of Revolution: Egypt”, I had mentioned that revolutions go through three stages: moderate, radical and conservative. In February 2011, the overthrow of Mubarak represented the first stage ushering in wide euphoria among the Egyptian people for democracy and democratic change. This period paved the way for the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood under Muhammed Morsi, which was the only group, other than the military, that had developed a robust party infra- structure strong enough to take power when elections were held in June 2012. Read More
Eight arguments against going to war with Syria By Stephen Zunes: The decision by President Barack Obama to first seek congressional approval of any US military action against Syria is good and important, not only on constitutional grounds but because it gives the American people an opportunity to stop it. It is critically important to convince members of Congress not to grant the president that authority. Read More
American Muslims 12 years after 9/11 By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: * The New York Police Department has secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorist enterprises, a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on imams, often without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing. * A covert national security programme gives the FBI and US immigration authorities power to indefinitely delay immigration benefits to Muslims and those from Muslim countries, according to an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union. * North Carolina became the seventh state to adopt the so-called anti-Sharia legislation. These three episodes of last month epitomize the dilemma faced by the seven-million strong Muslim American community which remains under seige 12 years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Read More
US government hypocrisy undercuts demand for Snowden's extradition By Stephen Zunes: Reasonable people can disagree as to whether former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden should be celebrated as a whistleblower for revealing widespread U.S. government spying or whether he should be tried and punished for leaking classified documents. However, the Obama administration's extraordinary hypocrisy in demanding his immediate extradition to the United States, despite the lack of an extradition treaty with Russia, while refusing to extradite far worse criminals to countries with which the United States has such treaty obligations, denies the U.S. government any credibility on the matter. Read More
Pakistan denies reports of prisoner swap ahead of talks with Taliban By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The Pakistan Army has denied western media reports of a prisoner swap ahead of talks with the Taliban. The western media reported that the Pakistan army and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) exchanged prisoners. The report stated that the exchange included six TTP militants and two paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers. The swap reportedly occurred in the Shawal area of the South Waziristan tribal region. The militants were subsequently taken to neighboring North Waziristan, the country's main Taliban sanctuary. However, immediately Pakistan Army denied the reports. The Inter-Services Public Relations said neither FC soldiers nor militants had been released. Read More
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