Last week the hypocrite regime at Kabul has launched a National peace Jirga to negotiate peace with Mujahedeen but at the same time Qandahar is under brutal military operation ‘Anaconda' for more than two weeks now. Similarly hundreds of Muslims in Afghanistan are under bombardment of US and NATO forces every day, killing and wounding hundreds.
A Swiss newspaper revealed on Saturday that the United Nations deliberately covered a report about the rights violations in Afghanistan between 1978 and 2001 that accused Soviets, Islamists and US forces of "atrocities". It is also said that the reports was not published because of Karzai's request.
For the past month, the Palestinian Authority's Security Enforcement Agency has been refusing to implement the Palestinian High Court verdict; case number: 2010/583, release date: 2010/8/30. The verdict calls for the immediate release of detainee: Mohammad Khateeb, a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. According to the High Court's verdict, "the military prosecutor's decision to arrest the accused, Mohammad Khateeb, is arbitrary to the authority."
According to a foreign ministry news release, America has asked Bangladesh to deploy combat troops in Afghanistan. The US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke made this demand in his meeting with foreign minister Dr. Dipu Moni who is in New York attending the 65th UN General Assembly. The news release also said that Dipu Moni assured Holbrooke that Bangladesh would do whatever it can to help restore peace in South Asia, especially in Afghanistan.
The Muslims of Bangladesh reject Dipu Moni's assurance to her masters and instead offer our assurance to crusader America of nothing but brave political resistance against her plan to utilize our army to join her war against the Muslims. We will not fight out brothers.
America is making this demand while she is in a quagmire in Afghanistan being chased by a group of ill-equipped mujahideen and her own Western allies are abandoning her. She has already engaged the Muslim Army of Pakistan in this quagmire which brought nothing but death and destruction for the Muslims in Pakistan, added to the death and destruction in Afghanistan for almost a decade. Now she wants to involve the Muslims of Bangladesh and our army. This reveals America's intentions behind her military exercises and the so-called ‘military-to-military cooperation' with the Bangladesh army. That is to utilize our army to achieve her evil designs and consolidate her hegemony in the region.
As for the foreign minister's reference to restoring peace in South Asia, her attempt to fool the people will not work. The Muslims know very well that the source of war in this region is her masters, the evil American Empire. The Muslims are yearning to see the end of this evil empire and they will soon kick out America from this region by re-establishing their super power state, the Khilafah "Caliphate".
After the arrival of the first wave of immigrants from the Caribbean to the United Kingdom in the 1940s, when the new arrivals went looking for houses to rent, they were sometimes met with signs saying ‘No blacks, no dogs, no Irish'. Today, such blatant racism no longer exists and is probably contrary to the current anti-discrimination laws, but does that mean racism no longer exists in the UK?
There is a trend in some circles to argue that race is no longer such an issue and that it is time to move on. The argument goes like this: since the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993, and the Macpherson inquiry report that followed in 1999 accusing the police of "institutional racism", race relations in the UK have turned around. They further argue that though there were massive problems of discrimination and unequal opportunities and racial violence before, now the authorities have got their act together.
Now, some ministers tell us that the new disadvantaged group that feels alienated and requires urgent attention because of the many socio-economic problems it is facing is the white working class. Hence TV program makers at the BBC argued that it was right to give the leader of the racist British National Party (BNP) a platform on a national discussion program alongside frontbench politicians from mainstream political parties. Actually, in Italy, France, Denmark and other parts of Europe, mainstream politicians feel ever more comfortable to openly express racist views.
And now, a special issue of the thoughful political publication, Prospect magazine, lays out what is apparently the state-of-the-art thinking on race. Put together by Munira Mirza, who is herself of Asian parentage and the London Mayor's adviser on arts policy and therefore ranks as one of the most powerful ethnic-minority officials in the country. She makes the point over and over that like polio or smallpox, racism has been all but eradicated.
"Old prejudices have faded," declares Mirza. "Race is no longer the significant disadvantage it is often portrayed to be." Which means that "1980s anti-racism", as the magazine refers to it, is presumably as outdated as the fashion from the 1980s and with less chance of a revival.
Two things stand out in these pieces. The first is how little facts they contain, with Mirza and her co-authors offering up scarcely a statistic between them. Instead, we get arguments that begin in the anecdotal or purely personal: "as a black man", or "as a black woman", or "as someone born in Oldham". Well, as "someone who recently took a bus ride", my views on public transport still are not worth much without some evidence.
The other detail that strikes you is how narrowly Mirza and her team define racism. For them it is simply the most humiliating and vicious forms of discrimination - paki-bashing (insults or physical attacks on Asian looking people) or landlords' notices stating ‘No blacks, no dogs, no Irish'.
Although these former everyday horrors are no longer common, and that is an improvement, it cannot be argued that they have entirely disappeared if one thinks of the 89 people killed because of their race since the murder of the black teenager Steven Lawrence in 1993. They might also remember that the government's own figures show that black people are over seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than whites. And they suffer harsher treatment at every stage of the criminal justice system, even when it comes to how long they are put in prison.
The Prospect magazine article and the statement from some senior politicians from all parties paint a picture of racial harmony in Britain and talk of a society where skin colour is no longer a barrier to making it to the top of society.
Yet race remains a massive factor in determining our opportunities and life chances. Two in three British Bangladeshi children grow up in poverty in the UK (compared with two in 10 of their white counterparts). Even those at the top of the career ladder, are still subject to what Bristol academic Tariq Modood calls an "ethnic penalty". What does that mean? The typical Chinese-origin man now earns about 11% more than his white British counterpart; but he is still paid 11% less than would be implied by his qualifications. Since time immemorial, ethnic-minority children have been told they need to work twice, three times as hard as their white friends: that rule hasn't expired yet.
Britain now isn't the same place as it was when the first ships carrying immigrants from the Carribean docked, and the nature of race relations in this country have got more subtle. But racism can still be as simple as being pulled over by a policeman for having the wrong colour of skin and no amount of sophisticated arguments can mask that.
Despite technological advancement, western societies have been unable to create societies where race truly is no longer an issue. Something Islam managed from its very inception.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware [Al Hujurat 49:13]
Taji Mustafa
it is mentioned that the state can use either gold or silver or any other appropriate metal so long as gold remains the main currency. Therefore can the state use other expensive metals side by side gold and silver like platinum or gems like diamond and others?
Is it permissible for Muslim lawyer to write a will for a non-Muslim client in accordance with the English law since the non-Muslim may have bequeathed some or all of his wealth to such institutions which may either be unknown or even prohibited like the institutions for caring of dogs or sailors?
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News Details:
Obama Wars
Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new book "Obama's Wars" has exposed major differences amongst Obama's advisors over Iraq and Afghanistan. Some highlights are as follows:-
* The book describes President Obama pushing a withdrawal timetable because, "I can't lose the whole Democratic Party."
* The US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke says of the new strategy, "it can't work."
* Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the president's adviser on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is said to think president's reviews of the strategy going forward did not "add up" to his ultimate decision.
* Gen. David H. Petraeus tells an aide that he disliked talking with White House senior adviser David Axelrod because he was "a complete spin doctor."
Of more consequence, Woodward reports that the C.I.A. has a 3,000-man mostly Afghan "covert army" in Afghanistan called the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, or C.T.P.T.
Australia: Muslims protest burqa ban
Muslims, including women and children, in Australia have staged a march in Sydney to protest against a proposal to ban burqa in the country, condemning it as part of the West's "war on Islam". Women with veils and placards rallied in hundreds showing "my burqa -- conviction not coercion" and "leave my mum alone -- we love niqab" on Sunday in a park in Punchbowl, southwestern Sydney, according to media reports here. The protest against calls to ban covering of the full face was organized by a coalition of Muslim groups including Islamist political party Hizbut Tahrir, which favors the creation of an Islamic caliphate, and the fundamentalist Ahlus Sunna wal Jamaah Association. A female speaker, Umm Jamaal ud-Din, told the rally a ban proposed by Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile, which was due to be debated in the New South Wales Parliament this month, had fuelled intolerance and bigotry.
UK extremists are travelling to Somalia to train, says MI5 chief
British Muslim extremists are increasingly switching from Pakistan to Somalia to receive training in militant camps with the aim of carrying out attacks in this country, according to the head of MI5. Jonathan Evans said yesterday there was deep concern that "it is only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside Al Shabaab, an Islamist militia in Somalia". While it has been known for some time that members of the Somali Diaspora in the UK had been back to their homelands to join insurgents, others including those of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and North African extraction are now taking the same route. Some have been killed in the fighting there, but others have returned to Britain following lessons from the Al Shabaab group which is believed to have links with Osama bin Laden. Mr Evans, the Director General of the Security Service, said yesterday that the number of bombing plots in the UK linked to Pakistan had fallen from 75 per cent to about 50 per cent following action against al-Qa'ida's senior leadership in the country's tribal belt. But, he continued: "The reduction is also partly as a result of increased activity elsewhere. In Somalia, for example, there are a significant number of UK residents training in Al Shabaab camps to fight in the insurgency there. Al Shabab, an Islamist militia, is closely allied with al Qa'ida and Somalia shows many of the characteristics that made Afghanistan so dangerous as a seedbed for terrorism in the period before the fall of the Taliban."
Russia forbids S-300 missile supply to Iran
The Kremlin posted a decree signed by President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday banning supplies of Russian S-300 missiles to Iran. "Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree "On Measures to implement the United Nations Security Council resolution 1929 from June 9, 2010," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website. The decree forbids supplies of S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, among other weapons, said the statement accompanying the decree.
Gulf states in $123bn US arms spree
This week the Financial Times reported Arab states of the Gulf have embarked on one of the largest re-armament exercises in peacetime history, ordering US weapons worth some $123bn as they seek to counter Iran's military power. A package of US arms worth more than $67bn for Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest single component of this military build-up, providing a huge boost to the American defense industry. The first phase of this agreement - soon to go before the US Congress for approval - is estimated at about $30bn. Anthony Cordesman, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the US was aiming to achieve a "new post-Iraq war security structure that can secure the flow of energy exports to the global economy". Saudi Arabia will receive 85 new F-15 jet fighters and another 70 will be upgraded. Boeing will be the principal supplier, allowing the US company to strengthen its ability to manufacture advanced military jets, an area where it has been slipping under competitive pressure. A successor agreement is expected to provide for the upgrade of radar and missile defense systems and an ambitious modernization of the Saudi Navy's eastern fleet. "The Saudi aim is to send a message especially to the Iranians - that we have complete aerial superiority over them," said a Saudi defense analyst. Other US allies in the Gulf are also involved. Theodore Karasik, from the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said that the United Arab Emirates had signed contracts to buy military equipment worth $35bn-$40bn. Elsewhere, Oman is expected to spend $12bn and Kuwait $7bn in the period until the end of 2014 on replacing and upgrading warplanes and new command and control systems, according to Blenheim Capital Partners, a consultancy that arranges offset deals. Oman's package will include 18 new F-16 jet fighters and upgrades for another 12. This will benefit Lockheed Martin, reinforcing its position as the leading US manufacturer of warplanes. The total value of all US arms deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait is estimated at $122.88bn over the next four years.
Holbrooke: Pakistanis Must Raise More Money to Pay for Floods
Richard Holbrooke, the special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan from the United States says in his recent journey to Pakistan, he found thousands of people who have been living in many flood victims camps eager to go home. But, says Holbrooke, their homes are gone, their livestock is gone and their crops are underwater. "Beyond that lays the monumental task of rebuilding the one fifth of the country where every bridge has been wiped out, roads are gone, 4 or 5 thousand schools are gone, hundreds of health clinics (are gone). That is what you're really talking about. That is going to cost tens of billions of dollars. In that long term recovery phase, the international community is not going to be able to pick up the bill for 20 or 30 billion dollars or more. We will pick up some of it, the world community will give money, but the Pakistanis must raise their own revenue base," said Holbrooke.
