INTOLERANCE KILLS
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Intolerance kills
Friday, March 5, 2010
Police say 12 killed in NW Pakistan suicide attack
By Munir Ahmad, Associated Press Writer
Friday, March 5, 2010
ISLAMABAD - A suicide bomber targeted Shiite Muslims on two buses
being escorted by security forces through a northwestern Pakistan
border area rife with sectarian and insurgent violence, killing 12
people Friday. Tensions between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and
Shiites had made the road unsafe for the minorities traveling to the
nearby Kurram tribal region. Police recently had declared it safe,
but Shiites are provided security to travel through it.
Friday's attack only targeted the buses carrying Shiites, police
official Akram Ullah said. Security forces escorting them weren't
harmed. The victims were passing through a gas station in the town of
Hangu when the lone attacker on foot set off the bomb, Ullah said.
Five people were killed at the scene and seven others died at
hospitals, he said. Pakistan's northwest has been plagued for years
by Islamist extremist violence fueled by anger over the war in
Afghanistan and Islamabad's alliance with Washington. An army
offensive that began in October against the Pakistani Taliban spurred
attacks that killed more than 600 people. But with the exception of a
few attacks on northwest police stations, violence appears to have
subsided in recent weeks, an indication that the army operation in
the South Waziristan tribal region may be having an impact. Sectarian
tensions are another matter.
Extremist Sunnis and Shiites have targeted each other's leaders in
violence that dates from well before the 2001 terrorist attacks in
the United States. Several of Pakistan's Sunni extremist groups also
are allied with the Taliban and al-Qaida, who view Shiites as
infidels. The Sunni-Shiite schism over the true heir to Islam's
Prophet Muhammad dates to the seventh century. Also Friday, Pakistan
army helicopters destroyed a sprawling hideout of a key al-Qaida-
linked militant leader, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, in the northwestern
tribal region of Bajur, killing 25 insurgents. However, it was
unclear whether Mohammed was present at the time, according to an
army and intelligence official. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
Mohammed is a close aide to al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
He is also the deputy chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella
organization of several militants whose chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, is
believed to have died in an American missile attack near the Afghan
border in January.
The Pakistani Taliban have denied Mehsud's death. On Sunday, they
released a video of Mehsud, but his taped comments fail to prove he
survived the missile strike.
- - -
Associated Press writer Habib Khan contributed to this reports from
Khar.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100305/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan
Intolerance Kills: Zealots Turn Eid Milad Celebrations into
Battlegrounds
Posted on February 28, 2010
Adil Najam
In both Faisalabad and Dera Ismail Khan, religious zealots turned Eid
Milad-un-Nabi celebrations violent leaving at least seven dead and
more than thirty injured. The irony, and sheer lunacy, of this
criminal violence is that there are those amongst us who are so
convinced that they and they alone are the �best� Muslims of all,
that they and they alone know what �true� Islam is, that they are
willing and ready to attack - and even kill -even those who profess
the very same faith as them. And all in the name of �saving Islam�...
from other Muslims!
(News photos of the violence in Faisalabad that left property
destroyed and burnt, including the charred remains of a copy of the
Holy Quran inside seen inside a house which was attacked by a
religious mob during the clashes)
The editorial in today's Dawn (excerpts below) get it right, but one
wonders if anyone at all is listening:
Pakistanis hardly need reminding that the country is in the grip of
religious intolerance and violence: the war against militancy has
touched every corner of the country inflicting a terrible toll, and
for a while certain areas were virtually ceded to the militants
without a fight. But there is another, more insidious, religious
poison that is spreading, largely unnoticed, across the country, and
it is not quite as easy to explain as the territorial ambitions of
the Taliban. That poison has pit Sunni against Shia, Deobandi against
Barelvi, Muslim against religious minorities -- and it defies easy
categorisation. The only thing its various strands seem to have in
common is a hatred for everything that is 'different', where
'different' is inevitably judged as an unacceptable deviation and
therefore deserving of punishment, even death, in many instances.
Invariably -- perhaps suggesting where the cure must first begin -- a
steady diet of dogmatic preaching is to be found wherever such
violence occurs. In Faisalabad, the khatib of a local mosque was
arrested on charges of inciting people to violence. It will take
great political will but such violent elements need to be purged from
the mosques and madressahs, for without that it will not be possible
to roll back the tide of hate that is threatening to engulf the
country... The infrastructure of hate that has slowly taken hold at
the grass-roots level is really what needs to be dismantled. Further
delay in initiating that process will only cause the problem to grow
in magnitude.
The details of what happened on what was supposed to be a Holy and
auspicious day, are gory but no longer unfamiliar, or even
surprising. For those who might have missed them, here is a detailed
report from The News:
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Police and security forces on Sunday arrested over
100 suspects in a swoop launched after sectarian clashes during the
Milad-un-Nabi procession and, subsequently, between protesters and
the police in Dhaki village... At least, seven people were killed and
32 others sustained injuries in the violence and clashes between the
protesters and personnel of police and security forces. Eyewitnesses
said that a procession was taken out from the Bilal Mosque in
connection with the Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) in Dhaki village on the
Dera-Chashma Road.
After covering some distance, the students of a seminary of another
sect blocked the road for the procession and did not allow them to
proceed. The situation worsened when participants of the procession
and the students exchanged hot words. Subsequently, the sources said,
the religious students started firing at the procession in which
Muhammad Irfan Kanju was killed on the spot while nine others
sustained injuries... The sources said the students involved in the
firing on the procession fled after the incident. However, the
members of the procession took out a protest rally as a large number
of people from the nearby villages thronged the place and joined the
protesters. Eyewitnesses said a fierce clash between the enraged
protesters and the police erupted after the former attempted to block
the road and set the seminary and the house of the cleric heading it
on fire.
The police, led by District Police Officer (DPO) Gul Afzal Khan,
tried to stop the mob by blocking the road. However, the protesters
did not disperse, which forced the police to use batons and fire
teargas shells at the protesters. The protesters, the sources said,
reportedly opened fire on the police in which Sepoy Sanaullah of the
Elite Force, Sepoy Asmatullah of Paharpur police station and the
DPO's security guard Tahir sustained injuries. The sources said the
police and protesters exchanged heavy fire in which six people were
killed and 32 others were injured. Those killed included Muhammad
Hanif, Azizullah, Hafiz Alam Sher, Sanaullah, Hashmat Ali and Ahsan.
.. Maulana Zahid Mahmood told journalists in police custody that the
participants of the procession allegedly pelted the main gate of Gole
Masjid with stones and used abusive language. According to sources,
Gole Masjid Ghulam Muhammadabad was considered the main centre of
banned Sipha-e-Sahaba.
FAISALABAD: Some unidentified persons opened fire on Eid Milad-un-
Nabi procession near a mosque in Ghulam Muhammadabad on Saturday
afternoon, injuring at least four persons seriously. Infuriated
participants of the procession blocked the road by setting tyres on
fire and later attacked the Ghulam Muhammadabad police station. They
pelted stones and torched vehicles parked on the police station
premises. More than 100 vehicles, including impounded vehicles,
wagons, motorcycles and cars and motorcycles of the police officials,
were set ablaze, while the criminal cases record of the police
station was also burnt to ashes. However, a local official denied the
earlier reports about torching of 150 vehicles and motorcycles. He
confirmed that 50 vehicles and 10 motorcycles and record of the
police station were gutted during the incident.
When the fire-brigade staff reached the police station, the furious
religious workers pelted them with stones. The police have reportedly
arrested four persons on charge of involvement in firing on Milad-un-
Nabi procession and damaging the public property. However, their
names were not disclosed by the police. After setting on fire the
police station record, the protesters ransacked the house of Maulana
Zahid Qasmi, looted valuables and set his house on fire. This caused
serious damage to a gas pipeline in the area, which resulted in
burning of a nearby house and two cars parked along the road. The
furious protesters also burst into the Madrassa run by Zahid Qasmi,
but the police took prompt action and got vacated the building.
Meanwhile, both factions of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Sahibzada
Fazle Karim faction and the Rasool Group, announced to observe a
complete strike in Faisalabad on Sunday against the incident of
firing on Milad-un-Nabi procession and asked the trade organisations
to close down their businesses on Sunday against the incident. The
JUP leaders also announced taking out protest rallies in Faisalabad
and stage sit-ins at various points, including Ghanta Ghar Chowk.
Police have registered a case against 25 persons, including 15 top
activists of different sects under 7-ATA and various sections of the
PPC. The police have also arrested 10 people, including Maulana Ziaul
Qasmi, general secretary of the International Khatme Nubuwwat
Movement. Meanwhile, religious scholars staged a protest to condemn
the attack on the house and seminary of Jamia Qasmia. The eight
bazaars were closed as the protest demonstration entered the downtown
area.
Addressing the protesters at Ghanta Ghar Chowk, Maulana Ahmed
Ludhianvi and Maulana Ilyas Chinioti termed the incident a conspiracy
against peace of this city. Meanwhile, the Khurrianwala police have
also booked 12 activists on the charge of displaying arms on Eid
Milad-un-Nabi. Those booked included Bilal, Tanveerur Rehman, Naveed
Zafar, Saleem, Naveed Taj, Rizwan Afzal and Abdul Ghafoor.
SARGODHA: About 12 people were injured in an attack on Eid Milad-un-
Nabi procession at Chak 35/NB on Saturday. A complainant, Asif, told
the Sadr police that dozens of people attacked the Eid Milad
procession with sticks at the behest of Aziz. As a result, he,
Faisal, Azhar, Atta Muhammad and others sustained minor injuries...
Meanwhile, Markazi Milad Committee Convener Khalid Iqbal Musarrat
demanded strict action against the attackers. In the meantime, Punjab
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the IG Punjab to conduct an
inquiry into the incidents, while the IG reviewed the situation.
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has also ordered a joint
investigation to probe the incidents occurring on Saturday in Dera
Ismail Khan and Faisalabad.
http://pakistaniat.com/2010/02/28/intolerance-kills-eid-milad/
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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Seon Ferguson
P. Rajah
between 10.30 am and 12 noon on Friday, Yeddyurappa will present the
budget at 12.30 pm. Most of Yeddyurappa�s predecesors as finance
ministers have been particular that their budget speech does not fall
within the inauspicious period, a tradition the CM is religiously following.
Around Thursday noon, chief minister, who also holds the finance
portfolio, B S Yeddyurappa gave the final nod to his 2010-2011 budget
script.
Prior to coming to the legislative assembly, the CM is scheduled to
offer pooja at the Subramanya and Ganesha temples in Sanjaynagar, close
to his residence in Bangalore.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/BSYs-budget-only-after-rahu-kaalam/articleshow/5644976.cms
Hunter
> Forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
>
> Intolerance kills
Coming from one of the most intolerant usenet posters in history that is
just magic............