Sick And Tired Aussies Take To Arms Against the Indians
Muhammad Javed Iqbal
stabbing of an Indian student in the southern city of Melbourne was
racially motivated.
The 21-year-old was apparently attacked as he walked through parkland
west of the city on Saturday night.
Senior sergeant David Snare said there was no indication the man, who
had been studying accounting, was targeted because of his race.
“I think to jump to any conclusion like that is presumptuous and may
well interfere with the investigations,” Snare told reporters.
Anger over a string of violent attacks against Indian students spilled
over into street protests in Sydney and Melbourne last June, sparking
a wave of negative publicity.
An interim report on Australia’s international education sector
released in December found its global reputation had been damaged by
news of the attacks and later revelations of migration scams,
“particularly in India”.
Based on early visa data, officials said the number of students from
the subcontinent was likely to slump by one-fifth in 2010, with 4,000
fewer enrolments at a cost to Australia’s economy of up to 78 million
dollars.
Australia’s lucrative higher education industry is worth 17.2 billion
dollars a year and is officially listed as the country’s third largest
export earner.
Students from the subcontinent account for 19 percent of total
international enrolments.
They filled 117,000 places in the 12 months to October 2009, according
to government statistics. —AFP
Satish Kumar
wrote:
> Sick And Tired Aussies Take To Arms Against the Indians
Now the Taliban are certainly sick. But they are not tired of killing
human beings. Here's how they murdered a 100 Pakistanis at a
volleyball game.
Gloom and fury as Pakistan attack toll nears 100
By RIAZ KHAN and NAHAL TOOSI,
Associated Press
Sat Jan 2, 12:40 pm ET
SHAH HASAN KHEL, Pakistan – Tribal elders in a Pakistani village where
a suicide car bomber killed nearly 100 people insisted Saturday that
residents will keep defying the Taliban, even as the bloodshed laid
bare the risks facing the citizens' militias that make up a key piece
of Pakistan's arsenal against extremism.
The New Year's Day attack on the northwest village of Shah Hasan Khel
was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that has killed more
than 600 across Pakistan since October. Police believe the attacker
meant to detonate his 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of explosives at a
meeting of tribesmen who supervise an anti-Taliban militia. Instead,
the blast went off at a nearby outdoor volleyball court, killing at
least 96 people.
The explosion leveled some three dozen mud-brick homes and covered the
village with dust, smoke and the smell of burning flesh. On Saturday,
numerous homes received visitors offering condolences, and funeral
prayers were held. Many of the residents in the village of 5,000,
which lies near Pakistan's militant-filled tribal belt, were too
scared to name any possible culprits, but others were defiant.
"The people are in severe grief and fear — it is a demoralizing
thing," said Raham Dil Khan, a rifle-toting, 70-something member of
the tribal council. "We want the government to provide security, but
one thing is very clear: The committee will stand against every type
of terrorism and despite this great loss we will continue our work."
None of the elders at the gathering was killed. The 28-member council
had been debating punishing relatives of militants suspected in the
recent killing of a fellow tribal leader, Khan said.
Across Pakistan's northwest, where the police force is thin, underpaid
and under-equipped, various villages and tribes have taken security
into their own hands over the past two years by setting up citizen
militias to fend off the Taliban.
The government has encouraged such "lashkars," and in some areas they
have proven key to reducing militant activity. In the Bajur tribal
region, for instance, the militias helped turn the tide against
militants during a 2008-2009 army offensive. And in the northwest's
Swat Valley, citizens have set up militias to prevent militants from
staging a comeback as the army continues an offensive there.
The militia movement has its roots in ethnic Pashtun tribal traditions
that go back generations and encourage vengeance. It has been compared
to the largely successful U.S. efforts to persuade Sunni tribesmen to
turn on al-Qaida in Iraq.
Afghan officials also are encouraging tribal militias on their side of
the border, where the Afghan Taliban have staged a comeback.
Pakistani tribal leaders who face off with the militants do so at
grave personal risk. Several suicide attacks have targeted meetings of
anti-Taliban elders, and militants often go after individuals.
One reason militancy has spread in Pakistan's tribal belt — a semi-
autonomous region where tribes, not the government, have long wielded
the most authority — is because insurgents have slain dozens of elders
and filled the resulting power vacuum.
Shah Hasan Khel is a village filled with many farmers and other
laborers. Its residents are mainly Pashtuns, the same group that make
up the bulk of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
The two movements are separate but linked, and both oppose their
countries' U.S. allied governments. U.S. and Pakistani army offensives
aim to squeeze the militants on both sides of the border, though many
of the insurgents are believed to slip easily back and forth across
the porous boundary.
The militia in Shah Hasan Khel has about 1,000 members, essentially
all the adult males in the village, but tribal elders said residents
needed more support — including weapons — from the government.
"Such attacks will only strengthen our resolve — being Pashtun,
revenge is the only answer to the gruesome killings," said Mushtaq
Khan, 50, the head of the tribal council.
Shah Hasan Khel lies in Lakki Marwat district near South Waziristan,
where the army has been waging an offensive against the Pakistani
Taliban since October. The military operation was undertaken with the
backing of the U.S., which is eager for Pakistan to free its tribal
belt of militants believed to be involved in attacks on Western troops
in Afghanistan.
But the offensive has provoked apparent reprisal attacks across the
country. Those behind the strikes appear increasingly willing to hit
targets beyond security forces. No group claimed responsibility for
Friday's blast, but that is not uncommon when many civilians die.
In Afghanistan, a leading human rights advocate said many citizens
would probably view such an attack with disdain because of the number
of civilians killed. Nader Nadery said he doubted the Pakistan attack
would deter Afghans from joining militias on their side of the border
because they had already witnessed so much oppression by the
militants.
"Even before this attack the people here have seen intimidation,
beheadings, kidnappings by the Taliban, who wanted to stop them from
working against them," Nadery said. "Attacks like this often work
against the Taliban."
Mohammed Qayyum, 22, tried to avoid crying Saturday as he recounted
how his younger brother died and his family's house was damaged in
Friday's attack.
"After the blast, I heard cries, I saw dust, and I saw injured and
dead bodies," said Qayyum, who escaped safely. "See this rubble? See
these destroyed homes? Everybody was happy before the explosion, but
today we are mourning."
While many in the village seemed scared or in shock, others vowed
revenge.
"We are not cowards," said Naqeebullah Khan, 25, who lost a cousin.
"We will fight. We will die. We will not bow to these cowards."
Authorities said about 300 people were on or near the volleyball
court, including security personnel.
Local administrator Asmatullah Khan said Saturday that 90 bodies had
been identified, while six remained unknown. Thirty-six people were
being treated at nearby medical centers.
Mushtaq Khan, the tribal leader, estimated the death toll was higher,
saying more than two dozen people were reported missing.
The attack was one of the deadliest in years in Pakistan, and the
second deadliest since the latest wave of bloodshed began in October.
A car bomb killed 112 people at a crowded market in Peshawar on Oct.
28.
As hundreds of people poured into the village to offer condolences,
Raees Khan, a 65-year-old who lost five relatives in the blast, showed
the palms of his hands and said: "Look at these blisters. We were
working all night to dig the dead bodies out of this rubble. We are
tired."
He then looked down at the pile of debris beneath him and said, "I
don't know whether there are more dead bodies under my feet."
Gloom and fury as Pakistan attack toll nears 100
By RIAZ KHAN and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writers Riaz Khan And
Nahal Toosi, Associated Press Writers Sat Jan 2, 12:40 pm ET
SHAH HASAN KHEL, Pakistan – Tribal elders in a Pakistani village where
a suicide car bomber killed nearly 100 people insisted Saturday that
residents will keep defying the Taliban, even as the bloodshed laid
bare the risks facing the citizens' militias that make up a key piece
of Pakistan's arsenal against extremism.
The New Year's Day attack on the northwest village of Shah Hasan Khel
was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that has killed more
than 600 across Pakistan since October. Police believe the attacker
meant to detonate his 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of explosives at a
meeting of tribesmen who supervise an anti-Taliban militia. Instead,
the blast went off at a nearby outdoor volleyball court, killing at
least 96 people.
The explosion leveled some three dozen mud-brick homes and covered the
village with dust, smoke and the smell of burning flesh. On Saturday,
numerous homes received visitors offering condolences, and funeral
prayers were held. Many of the residents in the village of 5,000,
which lies near Pakistan's militant-filled tribal belt, were too
scared to name any possible culprits, but others were defiant.
"The people are in severe grief and fear — it is a demoralizing
thing," said Raham Dil Khan, a rifle-toting, 70-something member of
the tribal council. "We want the government to provide security, but
one thing is very clear: The committee will stand against every type
of terrorism and despite this great loss we will continue our work."
None of the elders at the gathering was killed. The 28-member council
had been debating punishing relatives of militants suspected in the
recent killing of a fellow tribal leader, Khan said.
Across Pakistan's northwest, where the police force is thin, underpaid
and under-equipped, various villages and tribes have taken security
into their own hands over the past two years by setting up citizen
militias to fend off the Taliban.
The government has encouraged such "lashkars," and in some areas they
have proven key to reducing militant activity. In the Bajur tribal
region, for instance, the militias helped turn the tide against
militants during a 2008-2009 army offensive. And in the northwest's
Swat Valley, citizens have set up militias to prevent militants from
staging a comeback as the army continues an offensive there.
The militia movement has its roots in ethnic Pashtun tribal traditions
that go back generations and encourage vengeance. It has been compared
to the largely successful U.S. efforts to persuade Sunni tribesmen to
turn on al-Qaida in Iraq.
Afghan officials also are encouraging tribal militias on their side of
the border, where the Afghan Taliban have staged a comeback.
Pakistani tribal leaders who face off with the militants do so at
grave personal risk. Several suicide attacks have targeted meetings of
anti-Taliban elders, and militants often go after individuals.
One reason militancy has spread in Pakistan's tribal belt — a semi-
autonomous region where tribes, not the government, have long wielded
the most authority — is because insurgents have slain dozens of elders
and filled the resulting power vacuum.
Shah Hasan Khel is a village filled with many farmers and other
laborers. Its residents are mainly Pashtuns, the same group that make
up the bulk of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
The two movements are separate but linked, and both oppose their
countries' U.S. allied governments. U.S. and Pakistani army offensives
aim to squeeze the militants on both sides of the border, though many
of the insurgents are believed to slip easily back and forth across
the porous boundary.
The militia in Shah Hasan Khel has about 1,000 members, essentially
all the adult males in the village, but tribal elders said residents
needed more support — including weapons — from the government.
"Such attacks will only strengthen our resolve — being Pashtun,
revenge is the only answer to the gruesome killings," said Mushtaq
Khan, 50, the head of the tribal council.
Shah Hasan Khel lies in Lakki Marwat district near South Waziristan,
where the army has been waging an offensive against the Pakistani
Taliban since October. The military operation was undertaken with the
backing of the U.S., which is eager for Pakistan to free its tribal
belt of militants believed to be involved in attacks on Western troops
in Afghanistan.
But the offensive has provoked apparent reprisal attacks across the
country. Those behind the strikes appear increasingly willing to hit
targets beyond security forces. No group claimed responsibility for
Friday's blast, but that is not uncommon when many civilians die.
In Afghanistan, a leading human rights advocate said many citizens
would probably view such an attack with disdain because of the number
of civilians killed. Nader Nadery said he doubted the Pakistan attack
would deter Afghans from joining militias on their side of the border
because they had already witnessed so much oppression by the
militants.
"Even before this attack the people here have seen intimidation,
beheadings, kidnappings by the Taliban, who wanted to stop them from
working against them," Nadery said. "Attacks like this often work
against the Taliban."
Mohammed Qayyum, 22, tried to avoid crying Saturday as he recounted
how his younger brother died and his family's house was damaged in
Friday's attack.
"After the blast, I heard cries, I saw dust, and I saw injured and
dead bodies," said Qayyum, who escaped safely. "See this rubble? See
these destroyed homes? Everybody was happy before the explosion, but
today we are mourning."
While many in the village seemed scared or in shock, others vowed
revenge.
"We are not cowards," said Naqeebullah Khan, 25, who lost a cousin.
"We will fight. We will die. We will not bow to these cowards."
Authorities said about 300 people were on or near the volleyball
court, including security personnel.
Local administrator Asmatullah Khan said Saturday that 90 bodies had
been identified, while six remained unknown. Thirty-six people were
being treated at nearby medical centers.
Mushtaq Khan, the tribal leader, estimated the death toll was higher,
saying more than two dozen people were reported missing.
The attack was one of the deadliest in years in Pakistan, and the
second deadliest since the latest wave of bloodshed began in October.
A car bomb killed 112 people at a crowded market in Peshawar on Oct.
28.
As hundreds of people poured into the village to offer condolences,
Raees Khan, a 65-year-old who lost five relatives in the blast, showed
the palms of his hands and said: "Look at these blisters. We were
working all night to dig the dead bodies out of this rubble. We are
tired."
He then looked down at the pile of debris beneath him and said, "I
don't know whether there are more dead bodies under my feet."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan