[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs group in Afghanistan confirmed Anas Haqqani has been sentenced to death by primary court of Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... on Monday.
Insisting on Anas’s innocence and lack of accountability, the group claimed the "American government and the Afghan government both do not have any proof or material etc to keep him in detention."
The group further added that the death penalty of Anas Haqqani is politically imposed. "There are no legal grounds on which the death sentence could ever be awarded to Anas Haqqani."
The remarks by Taliban came as there have been growing pleas by the Afghan people as well as several former Afghan officials to hang Anas.
The Haqqani terrorist network is accused of staging numerous deadly attacks in Afghanistan including a coordinated attack on VIP protection unity in Kabul wich left at least 74 people dead and over 300 others maimed.
The majority of the victims of the incident were ordinary civilians, according to the Afghan officials.
In the meantime, the group released the latest video of the American and Canadian hostages in a bid to force the Afghan government prevent imposing death sentence on Anas.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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Countering the ongoing threat to life and security caused by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Somalia, will require additional resources from international partners as well as increased cordon and search operations and training for AMISOM and Somali security personnel on counter IEDs measures, according to military experts.
Say, it would be nice to bring your forces into the 2016 era, wouldn't it...
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has made an appeal for technical expertise and equipment to help counter the use of IED’s which have become the weapon of choice of the militant group Al-Shabaab. The appeal was made at a three-day seminar organized to raise awareness of the IED situation in Somalia, which ended Thursday. The participants representing AMISOM and Somali Police Force (SPF) met to learn about the devices and ways of countering their threat.
“I have engaged partners and friends on the necessities to enhance counter IED defeat measures. This is because some of the Troop Contributing Countries have limited capabilities that are inadequate to defeat the use of IEDs,” AMISOM Deputy Force Commander in charge of Support and Logistics, Nakibus Lakara, said during the closing ceremony of the workshop.
He noted that the militants were manufacturing bigger IEDs, some weighing more than 80 kilograms.
Maj. Gen. Lakara called for the strengthening of counter intelligence measures between AMISOM and its partners to effectively tackle the problem.
Speaking at the same event, Lt Col Geoff Minton, who represented the United Kingdom, said the United Kingdom will remain a major ally to the government of Somalia and AMISOM in countering the use of the deadly devices.
“We are looking forward to working with more SNA (Somali National Army) officers and a greater Federal Government of Somalia participation in future to increase their understanding of IED threats and to start planning for capabilities they would need in order to play their part in countering IEDs,” Lt Col Minton observed.
Captain Asad Abdalle Said from the Somali Police Force thanked the organizers and said he would use the skills learned to educate his colleagues on tackling IEDs.
“We have benefited a lot from the seminar, for example, learning how to counter IEDs, controlled explosion techniques and also defusing the devices. I am hoping to pass the skills to my colleagues in the Somali Police Force so that they can save lives of Somalis,” he said.
The seminar was organized by the AMISOM Mission Enabling Unit, supported by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and funded by the United Kingdom Mission Support Team (UK MST).
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09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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[TheGuardian] Chaotic and deadly scenes are unfolding off the Libyan coast as record numbers of migrants attempt the dangerous crossing to Europe.
More than 13,000 migrants were rescued last week from the seas off the lawless country, most by a flotilla of charity vessels which themselves are under threat after details emerged of an attack on one of them by the Libyan navy.
Europe’s migrant crisis of last summer is repeating itself in the waters of the Mediterranean as tens of thousands struggle to cross from Libya, following the closure of the migration route through the Balkans from Turkey. And those seas may be about to witness armed confrontation, with the arrival of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Diamond to lead Operation Sophia, a European Union force tasked with intercepting people smugglers.
The centre of the migration chaos is a stretch of water hugging Libya’s western coast, where smugglers are putting migrants into flimsy boats without enough fuel to reach Europe, knowing that they will either be plucked from the water or drown, the fate of 3,000 people so far this year.
These smugglers are still alive -- why?
However, the seas are becoming as dangerous for the rescuers as the rescued, with the Libyan navy admitting last week that it staged an attack that saw the rescue boat Bourbon Argos, of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) raked with gunfire. When gunmen opened fire on the ship, on the morning of 17 August, the crew hid in a safe room, thinking the attackers would seize them or sink the boat from under them.
We covered this at the time, figuring that it was pirates. Nice to know the Libyan navy isn't above piracy...
The Libyan navy said that it intercepted the boat when checking for illegal petrol smuggling, and insists that any bullet strikes (MSF say 13 hit the bridge and wheelhouse) were accidental. The charity condemned the attack, saying: “This was a serious and worrying attack, with shooting towards our boat which could have put our staff in acute physical danger.”
It is not the first time Libya’s navy has threatened rescue boats. In April, warning shots were fired prior to the boarding of a vessel from the German charity Sea Watch. “They fired shots in the air and entered our ship. They claimed to be looking for illegal fishing,” says Sea Watch’s Ruben Neugebauer.
Rescue ships from nine aid groups operating off Libya are already at full stretch. A deal cut in the spring between the EU and Turkey has blocked the route to Europe used by 900,000 migrants last year. As a result, smuggling gangs have switched gear, channelling Middle Eastern migrants through Libya to join the growing number of Africans making the same journey. “The Turkey deal was done in March, it takes some time to change routes, but this is changing right now,” says Neugebauer.
Shoot a few smugglers. Drone zap them. A fair bit of this will stop.
There is apprehension among the rescue crews about the coming armed intervention by combined EU navies, authorised last week by Brussels. Some fear they will be caught in the crossfire. “We don’t want to pick people out of the water while a naval vessel is there with all guns blazing,” says Peter Sweetnam, chief executive of Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station.
Speaking from the deck of his rescue ship, Phoenix, Sweetnam says charity boats are already working flat out, with smugglers sending people to sea in wooden hulks, inflatable rafts and anything that floats. “We’ve got 414 survivors on board at the moment, and we helped rescue more than 1,000 in the past two days. After the MSF attack, we improved our communications; it’s a reminder of the element we are working in,” he says.
The growth of the flotilla of rescue ships from charities across Europe has seen tens of thousands saved from drowning, but the August attack has put a question mark over how long unprotected vessels can continue operating. “If the security situation deteriorates further, I don’t think the small NGOs can continue,” says Cusumano. “As for the bigger boats, these boats are chartered. They belong to a ship owner; I can imagine the ship owners pulling out.”
For the crews of the rescue ships, the fear of kidnap sits alongside anxiety that Italy, recipient of 100,000 migrants so far this year, may refuse to take the people they rescue, since few other EU states are willing to take their share of new arrivals. North African states are equally unwilling to help, leaving the rescuers wondering if they will one day run out of ports willing to take saved migrants.
There is unease among charities about asking for protection from the growing number of foreign warships.
Because the military of your own countrymen, highly professional and proficient, is ucky...
NGOs fear their independence would be compromised by seeking naval protection, and that protection would require them to operate farther from the coast, leaving many migrant boats to founder.
Yet there is no sign of an end to the human exodus. Libya’s UN-backed government, unelected and lacking popular support, has no security force of its own or the means to police the militias, for whom migrant smuggling is big business. Operation Sophia estimates the income to the militias from this migration at more than £200m a year, strengthening their hand.
Need to raise the personal cost of this for the smuggler chiefs...
There are bright spots, with foreign crews highlighting the help from Libya’s coastguard, a separate service from the navy, in joint rescues, and Brussels has announced it will begin training its units. The bigger problem highlighted by charity crews, many having worked off Libya for two years, is the lack of a political solution to the crisis, with European states unwilling to open their doors to legal mass migration.
That's stated as a problem for which one should criticize the European states, whereas it's more of a recognition of unreality by the charities...
“This could all be solved if the EU could give migrants procedures,” says Neugebauer. “This is a political problem, it’s absolutely man-made. There has to be a political solution.”
I have a political solution for you but you won't like it.
The premise is simple: the best place for Libyan refugees is in Libya. The best place for Syrian refugees is in Syria. And so on.
Establish refugee camps. In Libya. Set them up in a place that's reasonable with clean water, decent shelter, decent food. The EU provides sufficient armed security, including military force. The EU can provide a lot of the aid. Separate Libyan refugees (internal) from non-Libyans (external). Start repatriating the externals to their home countries. Move the internals to safe locations within Libya as the situation permits. Modest amounts of aid to these other countries to assist in the repatriation.
If the Libyans don't like, too bad. Look them straight in the eye and tell them you'll close the camps and leave the day the Libyan people can form a government that is representative, can keep basic law and order, and can control its own borders. But until you can act like a sovereign state, you won't be treated like a sovereign state.
If the EU objects to the heavy lifting: you can either deal with the refugee problem in Libya, or deal with it in your home countries. My way is easier, and better for everyone in the long term.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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Kuwait has advised citizens to make sure their phones contain no material that might be seen as being linked to Islamist militants before traveling to the United States, local media reported on Saturday, after three men were denied entry in July.
State news agency KUNA quoted a statement by the Kuwaiti embassy in Washington as saying that authorities at "some U.S. airports may check the contents of mobile phones or other smart mobile equipment".
"The embassy of the state of Kuwait in Washington urged citizens to make sure that their phones do not contain any materials or photos of extremist nature, related to areas of conflict or terrorist organizations or footage of violence of all kinds before entering U.S. territories," KUNA said, citing a statement.
"(This is) so that students and citizens may be spared questioning by authorities in U.S. airports and to avoid any action against them that could result in cancelling their visas and banning them from entering U.S. territories," it added.
The Arabic language al-Rai newspaper reported in July that three businessmen were questioned for 21 hours at Los Angeles airport and had their telephones checked before they were turned back, in the second incident of its kind this year.
The Gulf Arab OPEC oil exporter is a key U.S. ally and a member of an international alliance led by the United States which is fighting against Islamic State in Syria.
In July, the United Arab Emirates, another close Gulf Arab ally of the United States, told its male citizens to avoid wearing traditional white robes and head dress when traveling abroad, after a businessman was wrestled to the ground at an Avon, Ohio hotel and held as an Islamic State suspect.
Aden-As governorates are freed from militia-hold in Yemen, they self repair- a major number of security and judicial institutions in southern Yemen have been reinstated and are operational.
Brigadier General Saleh Mohammed Al Qamli, head of the Aden criminal investigations unit told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that local police have launched a special investigations counterterrorism unit, a first for the country.
The task force’s chief mission is to pursue suspects believed to be affiliated with the hardline terror groups such as al-Qaeda or ISIS.
Qamli explained that the counterterrorism force will also be involved with case files of criminal fugitives and will account to 80 percent of crime prevention.
Commenting on the restoration of administrative life to liberated areas, Qamli said that the return of public prosecution to work had played majorly to settling the hundreds of piled up cases at the criminal investigations unit.
The security official clarified that the headquarters of criminal investigations had been largely damaged by the oppressive war waged by insurgency militia attempting to oust legitimacy from the country.
The coup in Yemen is led by Houthi armed militants and gunmen supporting the toppled former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Criminal Investigation Unit quarters in Aden were subjected to massive destruction during the Houthi-led offensive in March 2015.
Qamli also said that leveling down the security center and vandalizing the laboratory was intentional.
He added that words fail him when attempting to elaborate on the size of damage done. Moreover, Qamli reported that all employees and agents of the security body are under continuous threats of assassinations and harm.
Qamli also lauded and held high Gulf countries for the support given to reinstate the unit, namely the Saudi-led Arab coalition. He added that the operational activity has reached average thanks to all the received assistance.
Posted by: badanov ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Witnesses who testified in the trial of Mir Quasem Ali ...Jamaat-e-Islamic Central Committee member and Saudi money man in Bangla. Currently waiting to be hanged.... waited with bated breath for the execution of the convicted war criminal last night, saying they could only relax after receiving news of his death
The witnesses and wartime victims of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader, who led al-Badr Bahini ‐ a local affiliation of Pakistain occupational forces in 1971, demanded speedy execution of the death penalty after the Supreme Court rejected his review petition on August 30.
They said Mir Quasem’s son, Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, a barrister at the Supreme Court, tried to buy them off to prevent them from testifying against his father.
His family has a lot of money which they did not hesitate to use to save him, they said.
But Mir Quasem must face the consequences of the crimes he committed during the war, or the sacrifices of the Liberation War deaders would have been in vain, they said.
In an immediate reaction after the review rejection verdict, freedom fighter and journalist Nasir Uddin Chowdhury said: "I am relieved to see the death penalty being executed. Mir Quesem thought money could buy everything for him. He offered the witnesses money, and threatened to kill them when they refused to take it. We put up with a lot to see this day."
Freedom fighter Jahangir Chowdhury was one of the witnesses in the case ‐ he was held captive at Dalim Hotel in Chittagong, one of the torture cells set up by Mir Quasem’s al-Badr Bahini during the war.
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09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Investigators have found that explosives expert Sohel Mahfuz alias Hat-kata Mahfuz, a big shot of the main JMB who later became part of the New JMB, was linked to the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan
"We have information that Sohel Mahfuz supplied the grenades used by bandidosmurderous Moslems in the Gulshan cafe attack," Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit chief Monirul Islam said yesterday.
CT unit sources say Mahfuz was a founding member of the JMB, which was formed in 1998 by former Jamaat leader and Ahle Hadith member Shayakh Abdur Rahman and declared banned in 2005. Abdur Rahman and some of his associates were hanged in 2007.
Mahfuz has expertise in making bombs. His left hand was blown off in a kaboom, but he can use a firearms with the other hand.
He is a relative of Gulshan attack’s operation commander Nurul Islam Marjan. In his student life, Mahfuz was a member of Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , the radical student wing of Jamaat and later joined the JMB.
Hailing from Kushtia, Mahfuz declared himself its chief after the arrest of its second ameer Saidur Rahman in 2010 but it triggered conflict within the group. Later Mahfuz went to Burdwan of India and from there tried to raise a new faction of the JMB with the help of Maulana Abul Kashem, who later became its acting chief.
CT unit sources say Mahfuz fled to India and returned home a couple of years ago and started working with the New JMB faction, coordinated by Bangladeshi-born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury. He played a key role in supplying arms and bombs for its members.
Detectives could not confirm Mahfuz’s position in the outfit.
Monirul said Marjan was an important leader of the New JMB and a close aide of Tamim.
"More information can be found about the outfit if we can arrest Marjan."
He earlier said that they learnt about eight to nine more people who had been behind the Gulshan terror attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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A top Islamist party figure was hanged in Bangladesh on Saturday for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, the country’s law minister said, an act that could draw an angry reaction from his supporters.
Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed at Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of the capital for murder, confinement, torture and incitement to religious hatred during the war fought to break away from Pakistan.
Ali was hanged at 10.35pm local time, law minister Anisul Haq told Reuters.
The execution took place amid a spate of militant attacks in the Muslim-majority nation, the most serious on 1 July, when gunmen stormed a cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter and killed 20 hostages, most of them foreigners. Thousands of extra police and border guards were deployed in Dhaka and other major cities. Previous convictions and executions have triggered violence that has killed about 200 people, most of them Islamist party activists, and police.
Since December 2013, five Jamaat leaders, including former top leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, and a leader of the main opposition party, have been executed for crimes committed during the 1971 war.
Prosecutors said Nizami was responsible for setting up the pro-Pakistani al-Badr militia, which killed leading writers, doctors and journalists in the most gruesome chapter of the war. Their bodies were found blindfolded with their hands tied and dumped in a marsh at the outskirts of the capital. The trial heard Nizami had ordered the killings, designed to “intellectually cripple” the fledgling nation.
He was hanged in May after being convicted in October 2014 by the international crimes tribunal, set up by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in 2010. The tribunal has drawn criticism from opposition politicians, who say it is targeting their political foes. The government denies the accusations.
Human rights groups say the tribunal’s procedures fall short of international standards, but the government rejects that assertion, and the trials are supported by many Bangladeshis.
Fair enough for that region. No need to bring in Carla del Ponte...
Official figures show about 3 million people were killed and thousands of women were raped during the nine-month war, in which some factions, including Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed the breakaway. Independent researchers put the death toll at between 300,000 and 500,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un keeps brutally asserting his hold on power with purges of the upper echelons, the government here confirmed Wednesday.
Kim Yong-jin (63), a vice premier, was executed by firing squad on charges of counter-revolutionary activities after he was seen sitting in a "bad attitude" at the Supreme People's Assembly in June, the Unification Ministry here told reporters. The narrative suggests that the vice premier had amassed too much personal wealth and influence.
Among officials particularly feared in South Korea, Kim Yong-chol (71), the head of the United Front Department, was sent for re-education and hard labor on a farm between mid-July and mid-August, apparently for abusing his power.
A government official here said Kim Yong-chol, who is believed to be behind the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010, was punished for his "poor track record" in dealing with South Korea. The government warned that he may now feel the need to prove his loyalty by masterminding another provocation against the South.
Kim Yong-chol was conspicuously absent from a ceremony last month marking "Victory Day" or the end of the Korean War.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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North Korea has been expanding concentration camps for women near the border with China as a growing number are forcibly repatriated.
The information comes from a report released Tuesday by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a U.S. activist group, on the Chongori reeducation camp, also known as Camp No. 12. The camp is in Hoeryong near the North Korea-China border in North Hamgyong Province.
The group tracked changes in the reeducation camp from the 1960s until May last year in cooperation with AllSource Analysis, a commercial intelligence firm that specializes in satellite images, and based on defectors' testimony.
Twenty percent of the inmates are women, the vast majority of them sent back from China.
"The prison was expanded between February and August 2009 with the addition of a rectangular walled annex for female prisoners," the report said.
The camp was originally built for men, but the regime started incarcerating women there in 2007 as more of them fled the country and were repatriated. The number of inmates has roughly quadrupled from some 1,300 in the 1990s to 5,000, and another building is reportedly under construction as the camp exceeds its capacity.
"Male inmates are digging mines in search of copper and female inmates are forced into labor at a wig factory or on a farm," said a former inmate who escaped. "Brutality, including torture and beatings, is routine there."
The activists called on the North Korean regime to improve conditions for the inmates, who often suffer malnutrition, improve the environment at worksites like the copper mine, solve water pollution near the copper mine, and allow the international Red Cross to access the site.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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They claim a win in Islamic Whack-a-mole, Home Edition. A big round of applause. Aren't they great?
ANKARA: Turkey has swept Daesh and the Kurdish YPG militia from an area of northern Syria, but Syrian Kurdish forces have still not met a Turkish demand to withdraw to the east of the Euphrates river, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Turkey launched a cross-border offensive into Syria last week, saying it had a dual aim of driving away radicals and ensuring Kurdish forces did not fill the void that was left by extending their control of territory along Turkey’s border.
Turkey is concerned that Syrian Kurdish fighters could embolden Kurdish militants waging an insurgency on its soil.
The US has been alarmed by Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish forces. US officials have urged Ankara to focus its attacks on Dash instead.
Erdogan said on Friday that the operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield” had been successful in clearing Daesh and Kurdish YPG from a 400 sq km area. But he dismissed claims that the Kurdish YPG, which Ankara calls a terrorist group, had withdrawn to a Kurdish-controlled canton to the east of the Euphrates River. The YPG says it has done so and US officials agree that is mostly the case.
“At the moment, they are saying the YPG has crossed,” Erdogan said. “We are saying no they didn’t. The proof depends on our own observation.” The Kurdish YPG is part of a broader US-backed coalition in Syria, called the Syrian Democratic Forces. Washington has supported the group in its battle against Daesh but Ankara sees it as an extension of the PKK, the outlawed Kurdish militant group in Turkey.
“Nobody can expect us to allow a terror corridor on our southern border,” Erdogan said, adding that said Turkey had sought the establishment of a “safe zone” in Syria, but said the idea had not received the backing of other world powers.
Posted by: badanov ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
“Nobody can expect us to allow a terror corridor on our southern border,” Erdogan said
and yet Turkey sends aid to Hamas
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/04/2016 0:34 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Com-mander Southern Command, Lt Gen Aamir Riaz, decided on Friday that civil and military institutions would continue joint operations against turbans for restoring peace and order in the province.
Chief Secretary Saifullah Chattah, Balochistan Inspector General of Police Ahsan Mehboob and security bigshots also attended their meeting.
Official sources said that security matters pertaining to Balochistan and the ongoing measures taken for improvement in the law and order situation were discussed at the meeting.
The security forces were commended for their efforts in eliminating terrorist activities. It was decided to strengthen cooperation between the security forces and the administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Army Chief General Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... on Thursday warned India’s premier and its spy agency that Pakistain knows its enemies and is fully aware of their nefarious designs.
Making a special mention of Indian PM Narendra Modi and the country's intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW ... India's Research and Analysis Wing, Pakistain's equivalent of the Boogie Man... ), Gen Raheel assured the nation that the country’s frontiers are totally secure.
The army chief was speaking at a seminar in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) to highlight the progress on the China Pakistain Economic Corridor (CPEC).
While addressing the participants, Gen Raheel said: "I am confident that the country is moving in right direction and we will ensure foolproof security of CPEC."
He acknowledged and appreciated the courage and determination of Gilgit-Baltistan's people and assured them that "China is working for the welfare and development of the region".
"I am confident that Gilgit-Baltistan will also develop like the Chinese area across the border," he asserted.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The four jacket wallahs who stormed Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's Christian Colony a day earlier were foreigners but it was yet to be ascertained which countries they belonged to, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... said on Saturday.
"We had intelligence alert about a possible murderous Moslem attack in three to four areas in Peshawar," Nisar said during a press briefing in Mardan.
Terrorists struck Mardan and Peshawar on Friday, killing 14 people and injuring 49 in a day that could have ended with a higher number of deaths had four of the suicide bombers not been killed before they could set off their explosives.
"Pakistain’s security forces have won a difficult war but there is still more to be done to eradicate terrorism entirely," Nisar said, adding that "previously there were attacks every other day, now they happen in months".
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... the interior minister admitted that the security situation in the country is not entirely under control.
"We have yet to take financiers of terrorism to task," he said.
Nisar said Pakistain's war against terrorism was for its own survival. "To do politics on terrorist attacks is like putting the country's future at stake."
The attacks in Peshawar and Mardan happened barely a day after Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asim Bajwa gave an exhaustive rundown of progress made against bandidosLions of Islam in the country's northwestern region in Operation Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... which was launched in June 2014.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Ahrar
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq’s prominent Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... on Friday urged babus government employees to wage a two-day general strike across the country starting Sunday over what he described as the government dragging its feet over moves to curb corruption.
In a statement read at al-Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on Friday, Sadr said "it is now imperative to activate peaceful protests" following the expiry of his one-month ultimatum to the government on the issue.
Iraq ranks 161st out of 168 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
Sadr, who enjoys a wide base and is the leader of the Sadrist Movement, urged all babus government employees to start their peaceful protest starting Sunday to Monday. He said the would-be protesters should stand in front of buildings to fix urgent matters that need to be dealt with.
He also called for a hunger strike inside mosques, churches and other places of worship and cultural institutes.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi assumed office in September 2014. The main plank for his premiership bid at the time was to fight corruption and press ahead with reforms.
While Abadi launched his offensive to bring about more reforms, including reshuffles within top military ranks, his promised change is still elusive in a country rife with political rivalry and instability.
As the operation to liberate Iraq’s second largest city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... looms, parliament withdrew confidence from the country’s defense minister over corrupt arms deals.
Some commentators consider the move to sack some politicians over others as political, with the former defense minister himself accusing fellow politicians, including the parliament speaker, of corruption.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
Any bets on when the first contraband is found in those shipments from Turkey?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Turkish aid for the Gazoo Strip has been sent from the country’s southern coast for the second time since relations were normalized between Israel and Ankara in June, a Turkish official said Saturday.
A humanitarian aid ship bound for southern Israel’s Ashdod port left Mersin on Friday, the official said, "the second major shipment of humanitarian aid to Gazoo since an agreement was reached."
The shipment is the first since Turkish politicians ratified the deal to normalize ties between the two countries last month.
Under the deal, Israel will pay The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... $20 million (17.7 million euros) in compensation for a botched Israeli commando raid on a Gazoo-bound Turkish aid ship in 2010 that left 10 Turks dead.
The official, who did not wish to be named, said Ankara had sent 100 wheelchairs, 1,000 bicycles, 100,000 backpacks and stationery kits, 300,000 pieces of clothing and 350,000 nappies.
The shipment also contained 1,288 tons of flour, 170 tons of rice, 64 tons of sugar, 95 tons of vegetable oil, the official said.
"We expect the items to be distributed to the people of Gazoo before the upcoming Islamic holiday," the official said, referring to the Eid al-Adha holiday, around Sep. 12.
The first shipment reached Gazoo on July 4 just in time for the Moslem Eid celebrations marking the end of Ramadan fasting.
Turkey’s ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party has friendly ties with Gazoo’s Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has been a vocal supporter of the Paleostinian cause.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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[PJ] British reporter Anthony Loyd recounts in The Times (UK) today his reaction when he saw his former Syrian "rebel" kidnapper Hakim Abu Jamal, aka Abdel Hakim al-Yaseen and Hakim Anza, celebrating a victory in northern Syria two weeks ago as part of a supposedly CIA-vetted "moderate" rebel group.
Loyd reports (The Times article is behind a paywall; link is to same article in The Australian):
It was with some surprise watching a video of a victorious band of western-backed rebels that I noticed the face of America’s newest ally in the war against Isis in Syria. It was the face of a man I last saw in May 2014 when he leant forward to shoot me twice in the left ankle at almost point-blank range while my hands were tied. It was punishment for having attempted to escape his gang of kidnappers in northern Syria who had hoped to sell me on. He shot me in the middle of a crowd of onlookers, after a savage preliminary beating, denouncing me as "a CIA spy". Now, it seems, he works with them.
The grainy footage of the video - posted last month on Facebook - showed Hakim Abu Jamal waving his Kalashnikov in the air to proclaim a small victory, courtesy of US air power, on a dusty street in the border town of al-Rai.
I remember him well from across the years. Now, Hakim, forage cap on his head, was standing in the middle of a group of ten other Syrian rebel fighters all belonging to a CIA-vetted group.
The group was backed by Turkish artillery and US airstrikes to oust Isis fighters from a key stretch of road before the capture of the town of Jarabulus last month. Hakim Abu Jamal, who also goes by the names Abdel Hakim al-Yaseen and Hakim Anza, was among the hundreds of other Syrian rebels who crossed from Turkey into Syria two weeks ago to purge ISIS.
And it seems that U.S. authorities aren't eager to respond to questions about their newly minted "moderate" rebels:
Last month, however, video surfaced of Hakim Anza proving that he was not only free, but was also serving in a CIA-vetted Syrian rebel group, First Regiment (al-Fawj al-Awwal), which was receiving US weaponry, including Tow missiles, as well as air strikes in support of their operations. In between times he appears to be based in southern Turkey, where he takes orders from the Hawar Kilis Operations room.
Four US hostages were murdered in Syria in 2014. Two British hostages were also beheaded there. The memories of Britain and America must be short, for on Friday sources in the Free Syrian Army and US confirmed Hakim Anza's membership of the CIA-backed group, in which he is sub-commander.
Centcom, the US Central Command, did not respond to Times requests over three days this week to explain how such a well-known hostage taker with family connections to extremists could have passed US vetting procedures.
However, a Pentagon official, who preferred not to be named, described repeated US air support for a recent mission conducted by vetted Syrian rebel groups, where Hakim Anza was filmed with his men on August 17. He has apparently transformed effortlessly from criminal pariah to a worthy foot soldier allied to Operation Inherent Resolve, the 60-nation coalition, motto "One Mission, Many Nations", in the Middle East to fight ISIS.
Skipping a lengthy FSA chronology and moving to the closing paras:
And yet the Obama administration continues on a reckless course of backing these rebels well knowing that any actual moderates have become few and far between in Syria, and that some of these CIA-"vetted" groups have been directly involved in the abduction and killing of U.S. citizens.
And a larger question looms: as the mountain of evidence continues to grow about the extremism of U.S.-backed rebel groups, at what point does the U.S. become complicit in their crimes?
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mohammad Fneish, accused on Saturday a regional party of being responsible for the obstruction and presidential vacuum in the country.
Fneish, who represents Hezbollah in the Lebanese cabinet, added that Leb was going through a severe political crisis titled "presidential vacuum," National News agency reported.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced our stance to back the nomination of MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... , stressing our intention to avoid this crisis, Fneish said during honorary ceremony for students who passed their academic year in Tyre.
"The main problem lies in a regional party which backs a political camp in Leb. Yet, this party has not given the green light to solve the Lebanese crisis," Fneish added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... the minister also underscored the importance to issue the salary scale since it won’t set any additional financial burdens on the state.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[TheGuardian] Chaotic and deadly scenes are unfolding off the Libyan coast as record numbers of migrants attempt the dangerous crossing to Europe.
Kuwait has advised citizens to make sure their phones contain no material that might be seen as being linked to Islamist militants before traveling to the United States, local media reported on Saturday, after three men were denied entry in July.
A top Islamist party figure was hanged in Bangladesh on Saturday for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, the country’s law minister said, an act that could draw an angry reaction from his supporters.
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
Moqtada 
[PJ] British reporter Anthony Loyd recounts in The Times (UK) today his reaction when he saw his former Syrian "rebel" kidnapper Hakim Abu Jamal, aka Abdel Hakim al-Yaseen and Hakim Anza, celebrating a victory in northern Syria two weeks ago as part of a supposedly CIA-vetted "moderate" rebel group.
Michel Aoun
