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Memories of Another day

Memories of Another day
While my Parents Pulin babu and Basanti devi were living

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Fwd: [bangla-vision] Crimes on Afghan kids+Lynne Stewart +Top Ten Idiots: 2010+Canadian critic of Z+60 Paks K.+Dr. Jamil on westernization



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kaukab siddique <butshikan@msn.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 5:31 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Crimes on Afghan kids+Lynne Stewart +Top Ten Idiots: 2010+Canadian critic of Z+60 Paks K.+Dr. Jamil on westernization
To: Kaukab Siddique <ksidd37398@aol.com>


 

New Trend Magazine
New Phone: 410-497-4988. Subscription for printed edition: $10 for 3 months. Mail check to: New Trend, P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are not necessarily shared by the editors. New Trend does not endorse violence of any kind. Information on news or views related to violence is for analysis and understanding, not for endorsement. New Trend is against racism, classism, gender superiority, Zionism and Imperialism.
The Qur'an and the authentic Hadith are our foundation.
All views are welcome but only a selection can be published owing to high volume of mail. Anyone criticized in New Trend has the right of reply up to 300 words.

Email address: butshikana@gmail.com

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Mohurram 13, 1432/December 20, 2010

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On the Muslim prayer day, 12.17, the US air force slaughtered 60 Pakistanis. We present a BBC report. Please scroll down. Remember that the western news agencies use words like "militants" to justify the killing of civilians who support the Taliban or Lashkare Islam. These are CIVILIANS opposed to NATO who gather to show support for the Jihad. Lashkare Islam is not a military group and has a few small arms only. {Two British Muslims helping the fighters were also killed.]
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We are still sending out Da'wah books by Islamic teacher and scholar Shamim Siddiqui. If you want to spread the message of Islam, we'll send them to you. He teaches wisdom and truth.
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From Imam Badi Ali [National Shoora, North Carolina]

Prepared by New Trend's research group.

Top Ten Idiots of the World for the Year 2010

[This annual item from New Trend has attained popularity in the Muslim world.]

 

1.    Mahmoud Abbas has been foisted on the Palestinian people by Israel and the US. He is a confused and mediocre person but his puppet role in Palestine, which is central to issues facing the Muslim world, makes the number one idiot whose behavior plays into the hands of Israel and the US, He is dangerous for the Muslim world.

2.    President Barack Obama seems to be a highly sophisticated politician but allows himself to be used in the hope of victory for his cause. However, his cause is nebulous and he is being used by hidden forces. He has been deceived but he thinks he is on top of things. His own supporters hardly treat him as a president. Gradually, the people are seeing that "the emperor has no clothes." Keeping the Bush tax cuts for the very rich, open homosexuality in the military for the Zionists … what else is next!

3.    Hosni Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt is used like a door mat by Israel and the US. He works hand-in-glove with the worst enemies of Egypt. His role in sealing off Gaza to help Israel is the darkest chapter in Egyptian history. Wikileaks has uncovered Hosni even more than before. He has no shame and no honor.

4.    The four "Karzais" of the Arab world: Saad al-Hariri of Lebanon, King Abdullah of Jordan, King Mohammed of Morocco, al-Maliki of Bagdad. Between them, they are preparing for Israeli expansion and a new war.

5.    Sarkozy, the playboy of France, has the gift of mischief, fitna. He makes a fool of himself by dishonoring women, attacking Islamic dress [hijab], trivializing his country. Such a person is a useful toy for the oppressors and exploiters.

6.    Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Zardari of Pakistan and Karzai of Kabul, are beneficial for their masters. Their fate is entirely in the hands of western powers. Thousands of civilians killed by NATO in Pakistan and Afghanistan but these two pretend concern and then smile at those who did it.

7.    Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, thinks he is, though he is not. The powers play with him and he thinks he has moral authority.

8.    The Presidents of South Korea and Taiwan. [Does anyone even know their names?] Why pretend that they are independent countries. Hong Kong thought so but is now, comfortably, a part of China. Why not let Taiwan go its natural way? Why not let South Korea unite with North Korea? Why keep up this sham through military power?

9.    "Scholars" of Islam in the West. After 9.11 they have justified  just about everything which Islam does not permit. Bank interest [riba], free mixing of men and women, removal of Shar'ia, western propaganda against Islamic resistance, Israel, NATO's wars, Somalia's destruction, Nigerian army's slaughter of Islamic people, subversion of Sudan, homosexuality [waiting in the wings], you name it. There are many of them like Amr Khalid, too many to list here.

10.  The President of Yemen. It was known that he was working for western powers but Wikileaks has shown how much he despises his own people. He has gone to the extent of urging the US that he be permitted to take credit for the slaughter of Yemeni civilians in American air raids.

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Spotlights from Imam Badi Ali [Jamaat al-Muslimeen North Carolina]

Jamaatalmuslikmeeninternational [dot] org

 

Spotlight #1: Digital technology has flooded our world. It has many benefits and it cannot be neglected. Are we neglecting the human touch, the feeling for real people, the desire to meet humans, the effort to be with those, many, who are not digital including many of the elderly and the disabled?

 

Spotlight #2: Texting is becoming quite a waste of time when it is really unnecessary. Is it texting or sexting?

 

Spotlight #3:  Children need proper sleeping hours for their health, but there is no early sleep for our children now. Our children are awake LATE with their digital toys, doing we know not what!

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Jamaat al-Muslimeen [News]

P.O. Box 10881

Baltimore, MD 21234
 
Outreach in Alexandria, Virginia: Jamaat literature Distributed.
    We have some support in Alexandria. This is new. On December 10, Friday, Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Shoora resolutions were handed out to 15 Muslims. Then on December 17, Friday, JAM literature about Wikileaks and Dr. Siddique's stand against Zionist Jews was handed to 20 Muslims.
We thank Br. Hassan from the West Indies for this new effort. This is a small start but inshallah it will grow.
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People's Lawyer Lynne Stewart Deprived of Family Support during Christmas.

Moved to Prison Across the Country: Vendetta by Zionist Regime

 

The following letter provides the new location of Ms. Stewart's prison. The second letter explains how suddenly she was moved from New York to Oklahoma and then Texas. The Soviets used to commit such crimes against dissenters.

Ms. Stewart's "crime?" She defended the blind Shaikh [Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman] free of charge and then worked with his translator Ahmed Abdel Sattar to protect the Shaikh's rights.

 

Friday, December 17, 2010, 9:02 PM

Greetings friends of Lynne Stewart! I just checked on the BOP web sight and they have Lynne at FMC Carswell. Below is her address and if we all put a card in the mail tomorrow she should have them by the 24 and will know.

She is in our hearts..Thanks.

 

Paulette

ABQ Jericho

 

Lynne Stewart 53504-054

FMC CARSWELL

FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTER

P.O. BOX 27137

FORT WORTH, TX  76127

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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Lynne Stewart Update!

 

URGENT UPDATE ON LYNNE STEWART from Ralph Poynter:

 

Greetings It is official. Lynne Stewart, our shero and people's

lawyer is at this very moment in transit to the Oklahoma prison

complex which is a transit point for the prison system.

 

We still have no confirmation as to where they will send her.

They may keep her there for two weeks until this is determined.

 

Clearly, the request of friends and family that she be allowed to

remain at MCC until that time, has been deliberately disregarded.

Clearly the efforts of the police state to break and abuse her spirit

is evident, in that she could have just as easily been allowed to

remain close to her love ones for the holidays, instead of being

handcuffed and shackled to the floor of a prison transport plane to

Oklahoma transit prison. This is business as usual policy for the

U.S. Prison system and we hope, against all hope, that Lynne was not

shackled in this manner.

 

Continue to write, write, write. Her letters will follow her and when

she arrives at her destination i.e. assigned place of imprisonment,

she will need them as much as we will appreciate them.

 

Thank you much.

Ralph Poynter

Lynne Stewart Defense Committee

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New Trend suspects that MLFA is connected to pro-government Muslim cliques. MLFA has not replied to two email inquiris.
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Stop Collecting Funds in Dr. Aafia's Name: MLFA told to Desist

To Supporters of Dr. Aafia:

This is to inform supporters that the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) will no longer be involved with funding for Dr. Aafia's case and any monies donated to them will not go towards any aspect of Dr. Aafia's case.

The family have requested that MLFA kindly cease to use Dr. Aafia's case, her name, statements or any statement from family members for their fund raising activities in order to avoid confusion among potential donors.

We remain thankful for all sincere efforts provided in the past.

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Wikileaks Uncovers DynCorps Crimes

US Group's violation of Afghan Children Combined with Anti-Taliban Propaganda

The Wikileaks expose of sexual exploitation of Afghan children is another example of why the war criminals in office loathe Wikileaks. It is particularly cynical that DynCorps, as a representative of the U.S. in Afghanistan, engages in practices such as bacha bazi, which involves pedophilia, sodomy, and child rape, while another U.S. government mouthpiece--Hollywood--blackballs the Taliban via propaganda flicks like  "Kite Runner," accusing the Talibs of precisely such depravity. Afghans love their children, so it is no wonder that the powers-that-be wanted the story suppressed, come hell or high water.

-Nadrat Siddique

http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/wikileaks_reveals_us_tax_dollars_fund_child_sex_slavery_in_afghanistan#share_source=blog-top_fb

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Courtesy dissidentvoice.org by permission of the editor

Defend Jennifer Peto, a Brave Canadian Critic of Zionism

by Jay Knott / December 14th, 2010

Canada is mostly a diluted version of the USA. But Canadians are justly proud of their country's resistance to the abrasive style of American politics. In one respect, though, it is more extreme than the United States – it is the only country with a more fanatical Israel Lobby.

When the University of Toronto recently accepted a Master's thesis critical of Jewish privilege, the Lobby, the media, and politicians, immediately condemned it as 'hate'. Some of these legislators declared the University should not have awarded the M.A. to Sociology and Equity Studies student Jennifer Peto, an unprecedented interference of the government in academic freedom.

When a Jewish anti-Zionist like Peto is physically threatened by Zionists and denounced by politicians, the first thing is obviously to defend her and her freedom of speech. But there is a danger in giving extra credit to her argument because it has come under such vicious attack from the Lobby.

The extreme reaction of the Lobby to any criticism has the effect of encouraging narcissism in critics, especially Jewish ones – there is nothing like persecution to make people self-righteous, and Zionists know this better than anyone! To be a Jewish critic of Zionism in a Western country today is less risky than to have joined the white anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, who were on the receiving end of letter-bombs as well as abuse. Still, Peto is a brave woman, and her thesis honestly describes her difficult break with her Zionist upbringing.

Her thesis, 'The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education', is a development of the tradition of left-wing criticism of various kinds of 'privilege' – white, male, etc.1 She reviews How Jews Became White Folks.2 She thinks that race is socially constructed: "race, whiteness and ethnicity produce, and are produced by, nationalist discourses." She uncritically repeats the idea that Israel is a US 'client state' but admits "the discourses that are used in defence of Israel are different than those used to excuse or deny American, Canadian and other Western imperial violence." It's not that complicated. Never mind 'discourses.' Is it in the interests of the other Western capitalist countries to give unconditional support to Israel, or not? In short, she has no critique of Jewish power.

Peto states, "My work is based in the understanding that Zionism – the belief that Jewish people have a right to a nation-state built on top of the ruins of Palestine – is a racist, imperialist ideology that can only effectively be challenged through anti-racist, anti-imperialist theory and activism." I argue the exact opposite – I want to challenge her and the left in general to ask why this approach was so effective in the case of South Africa, and so ineffective against Israel. She has nothing to say about 'the chosen people' and the festivals which celebrate massacres of gentiles – she makes no attempt to answer the question "is Zionism an expression of Judaism"? She explicitly says, "Jews of European descent now enjoy white privilege," which implies a) they didn't used to enjoy privilege at all, and b) the privilege they now enjoy is not specifically Jewish. She compares Canada's history of ethnic cleansing with Israel's. This is not how to undermine Zionism.

A thesis is not a political manifesto, but obviously, Jennifer Peto is an activist, and her paper's argument leads to certain conclusions, certain tactics, for the growing campaign to reduce uncritical support for the apartheid state in the rest of the world. Therefore, I think it is appropriate to criticize it from a tactical point of view.

My argument is, quite simply, that left-wing anti-oppression politics is inadequate for combating Zionism. Telling the white European majority of the Western countries that Jewish privilege is essentially a variant of their own is not only false, it leads logically to solidarity with Israel. Surely it would be more effective to point out that most Americans have no interest in supporting Jewish supremacy, rather than telling them they are 'complicit' in racism? Concern with the history of white European racism assisted the dismantling of apartheid in Africa, desegregation, affirmative action, busing and African-American studies, but it doesn't lead to opposing the Jewish apartheid state.

The Palestine solidarity movement should be trying to drive a wedge between supporters of the Jewish state and everyone else. This involves emphasizing the differences between the former and the latter, putting forward the overwhelming case that a) Israel is morally worse than all the other Western countries, and b) most of their inhabitants, rich or poor, have no reason to support it. It implies showing, in complete contrast to the dogmas of modern leftism, how Western countries are the most egalitarian societies which have ever existed – except Israel. Trying to fit opposition to Zionism into the general framework of opposing oppression in general doesn't work. For example, feminist and gay politics don't aid opponents of Jewish apartheid; its defenders point out that Israel is by far the most liberal country in the Middle East. Analyses derived from Marxism are also unhelpful; Western support for Israel is not based on material interests, and the conflict in Palestine is about race, not class.

Instead of trying to fit the square peg of opposition to Jewish ethnocentrism into the round hole of political correctness, we should list the ways in which Jewish power is more powerful than white supremacy:

1. The open advocacy of white power – in any country – is taboo – no politician in the world does it
2. The open advocacy of Jewish power – in Israel – is mandatory for all Western politicians
3. The Western countries boycotted, and caused the end of, white apartheid, thirty years ago
4. The Western countries support Jewish apartheid today, uncritically and very expensively
5. Desmond Tutu has stated that Israeli policies are at least as bad as apartheid
6. Apartheid South Africa fought for US interests against Soviet-backed forces
7. Apartheid Israel has never fought for US interests
8. There has been no violence against Jews in any Western country for sixty-five years – unless you count Palestinian resistance, which is the result of Jewish supremacy
9. When US colleges, co-operatives and other bodies initiated a boycott of South Africa over thirty years ago, no white supremacists tried to stop them
10. When, today, US colleges, co-operatives and other bodies tentatively discuss a boycott of Israel today, right-wing Jewish activists issue lawsuits and stage protests, and left-wing Jewish activists try to undermine their efforts from within, complaining of 'oppression' and 'anti-Semitism'

Jewish power is so much more important than white privilege that I argue that concern with the latter works, consciously or otherwise, to the benefit of the former. Critics of white privilege, for example critical race theorist Stanley Fish, often claim that Zionism is not a form of racism, by emphasizing how Jews have suffered at the hands of white supremacists.3 Peto boldly challenges the use of the holocaust to reinforce Jewish self-righteousness. She describes The March of Remembrance, a Zionist project aimed at making gentiles aware of the holocaust, but, because of her perspective, she doesn't go so far as to see it as part of the culture of 'white guilt'. I would criticize it as such, and advocate, and organize, open discussion about the holocaust and the rest of the larger Holocaust of World War II. Canada's laws against questioning aspects of the Shoah are a clear expression of Jewish privilege. Opposing that privilege by defending freedom of speech means trying to overturn those laws as much as defending Jennifer Peto and her comrades against Jewish power.

1.     Jennifer Peto (2010) "The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education," Master of Arts thesis, University of Toronto. []

2.     Karen Brodkin (1998). How Jews Became White Folks: and what that says about race in America. Rutgers University Press. []

3.     Stanley Fish (1994). There's No Such Thing As Free Speech: And It's a Good Thing, Too. Oxford University Press. []

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Islamic Upsurge in India 

Dr Jamil calls for death blow to Westernization

Rescue the people from a fake worldview

Report on Dr Javed Jamil's lecture on "Westernism and its impact on Humankind", organized at Rampur, India

 

by  Adeel Akhtar

 

 

Dr Javed Jamil, Executive Chairman of International Centre for Applied Islamics, described the ideology of Westernism as a "python which needs to be captured at the earliest and killed without delay". He was delivering a lecture on on "Westernism and its impact on Humankind" organized by the people of Rampur. The people thronged in great numbers to hear the talk, with around 5000 people including a large number of women hearing the PowerPoint presentation with rapt attention. Dr Jamil clarified at the very outset that when he talks of Westernism, it does not mean the geographical West or the people living in the West but the ideology of Westernism that originated in Europe and has now America as its leader now. He said that Westernism has brought chaos at every level by commercializing and glorifying human weaknesses and if this chaos has to be turned into peace, Islam will have to play a leading role. But he added that Islam will have to take all the religions of the earth along in this fight, particularly Christianity and Hinduism. He added that for the final demise of Westernism, the people of the West themselves will have to play the most crucial role.

 

Dr Jamil defined Wesrternism as an ideology that revolves around "Economic Fundamentalism" and the use of money and technology for the supremacy of certain Western powers. He told that Westernism began with the beginning of the Industrialization when the big business realized that the industries cannot grow unless all the institutions of human life are run in accordance with the demands of the forces of economics. For this purpose, religion was sought to be marginalized with separation of Church and Establishment because they though that religious values and morality would be a big obstacle in commercialization of human desires to the tilt. At present their target is Islam because they regard it as the greatest threat to their monopoly. He said that the introduction of democracy was the result of the same plan. Apparently, democracy was presented as "a government of the people, for the people and by the people" but in truth it has become "a government of the corporate, by the corporate and for the corporate".  He remarked that "whether it is President of America or Prime Minister of India, they cannot move an inch without the approval of the big business houses".

 

Dr Javed Jamil had a dig at the "Freedom of Choice" and told that Freedom of dangerous choices cannot be permitted to the people and Freedom of Choice should be limited to "Freedom of Good Choices". There cannot be a choice between life and death. He gave statistics of the death of human beings on account of the current concept of "Freedom of Choice" which include:

·        5 million deaths on account of sex related diseases every year,

·        5 million deaths on account of smoking,

·        50 million deaths of human unborn children (abortions),

·        2 million deaths due to alcohol,

·        2 million deaths due to gambling related problems

·        and more than 2 million suicides.

 

 Additionally, more than 3 million people are murdered every year due to the new Judicial System, which is like an orchestra that constantly keeps on tuning and modernizing itself but never plays the expected tunes. All these deaths can be avoided if "Fundamental Prohibition," an integral part of Islamic system is introduced.

 

Dr Javed Jamil criticized the "champions" of Human rights saying that "Human Rights" today is nothing but a campaign in defense of gay rights, the rights of abortions and the right of murderers and rapists to avoid death.

 

Dr Jamil gave the reasons why Islam stands the best chance of leading the mankind in this hour of crisis. Islam has the Book of God and the Sunnah of all prophets including the Last Prophet Muhammad SAW at its disposal. Islam has the ideals for individuals, family as well as society. He exhorted people to immerse themselves in the "color of God" if they have to become the saviour of mankind and ended his speech with his own Urdu couplets:

 

"Ajeeb rang hai logo ye momineen ka rang

(Wonderful is the color of the true devout of God, O people)

Yeh rang who hai jo hota tha mursaleen ka rang

(This is the same colour which used to be the colour of all the Messengers of God)

 

Khuda ke rang mein doobi hai kaynaat tamaam

(The whole universe is immersed in the colour of God);

Khuda kare yehi ho jaaye is zameen ka rang

(May God turn the same the colour of the earth.)

 

Power presentation attached

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How the Taliban Fooled Richard Holbrooke

 

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

The sudden and unexpected death of veteran diplomat, Richard Holbrooke, has come as a shock to many around the world. A career diplomat, Richard Holbrooke gained wide acclaim after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. Infamous for his brash style, he was nicknamed "the Bulldozer" and widely admired by western political observers. In January 2009 US President Obama appointed Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The essential question is that, why was he appointed to that position and what was expected of him? Richard Holbrooke was primarily a negotiator, famous for achieving diplomatic breakthroughs in conflict zones. The appointment of Holbrooke was a clear signal that the US regime realized that the war in Afghanistan had become unsustainable and a political solution had to be sought. The public and private rhetoric of the time (as revealed by the wikileak cables) would suggest that the special envoy was expected to negotiate with the Mujahideen forces, sow dissention into their ranks, convince the Mujahideen to accept the current Afghan constitution, and effectively give up their resistance to the foreign occupation of their country. In other words, he was chosen to achieve with negotiations, what the occupying countries had failed to achieve with force.

Such an objective, especially in Afghanistan, is a colossal asking from any person. Richard Holbrooke's intensive visits into the region, especially over the last 12 months, convinced him beyond all doubt that the US and its allies could not succeed in Afghanistan. Despite his reputation, Holbrooke failed to bring the Mujahideen to the negotiating table, and his abrasive approach distanced even his closest allies. Clutching on to straws, Richard Holbrooke was unwittingly duped by a meager shop keeper from Quetta that he was the Taliban's "special representative" to negotiate with the foreign powers.

 The task set for him proved too cumbersome for the man and on 13 December 2010, Holbrooke died from a tear in his aorta – the largest artery which carries oxygenated blood from the heart. To use the Afghan term, "his heart exploded".

The fate of Holbrooke symbolizes the fate of the US strategy in Afghanistan, and the fate of the entire war in Afghanistan. A conflict in Afghanistan is not just a headache for its enemies; it is also a heart ache that not even the bravest and strongest can bear for long. Earlier this year, US General David Petreaus also fell unconscious during a congressional hearing into the war in Afghanistan. The men in charge of conducting the war in Afghanistan seem to be suffering from the same symptoms as the men responsible for directing Soviet strategy in Afghanistan two decades earlier. During that war, three Soviet premiers suffered death during their tenure while a fourth committed political suicide (and caused the break-up of USSR). The only reason the previous and current US Presidents seem to be immune from this fate is that they are blissfully ignorant of their course in Afghanistan.

To the seasoned diplomats and generals directing the US-led occupation of Afghanistan, it has become visible that the US's continued occupation of Afghanistan achieve no long-term strategic objectives for the United States and that it would be best advised to exit this quagmire with any face-saving opportunity that it can find. Opportunities, however, are fleeting moments in time, which if not seized then and there, might never be seen again. And when you are fighting a losing a war, these so-called "opportunities" are even rarer than they would otherwise be.

Richard Holbrooke realized this fact and in his deathbed. When he had almost seen the other side, summoned all his energies and spoke the wisest words of his life: "You have got to stop this war in Afghanistan". America and its allies would be wise to heed these words.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

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with thanks to Sis. Hamdiyya, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Charlotte, North Carolina
 
17 December 2010 . BBC Report.

Scores die as drones renew attack on Pakistan's Khyber

Drones have killed hundreds of people in 2010 

Nearly 60 people have been killed in a series of attacks by US drones in the past 24 hours in Pakistan's Khyber tribal district, officials say.

At least 50 died in three unmanned air strikes in the Tirah Valley, a day after seven others were killed nearby.

Security officials say all the dead in the attacks are militants - a claim that cannot be independently confirmed.

Meanwhile, the CIA has withdrawn its top spy from Pakistan, amid threats to his life, US intelligence confirms.

The Islamabad station chief had been identified in a lawsuit linking him to drone strikes, and media coverage of the legal action led to his name appearing on placards during anti-US protests in the Pakistani capital.

'Leaders killed'

US drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal region have increased under the presidency of Barack Obama, often occurring several times every week.

But the US now appears to be expanding its campaign to other parts of the tribal belt, as most of these attacks have been in the Waziristan region, says the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi.

Drone attacks in Khyber are rare.

The first missile attack on Friday in the Tirah Valley is said to have taken place at 0800 local time (0300 GMT).

Seven Taliban militants died and 11 were injured when two vehicles were targeted in the Sandana area, a Pakistani security official told the BBC.

Those killed were militants from outside the Khyber tribal region, said the official.

Minutes later there was another attack in the Speen Drang area at a compound where pro-Taliban militants from the Lashkar-e-Islam group were holding a meeting.

At least 32 people, including senior leaders of the group, died, according to the official.

The Lashkar-e-Islam group is trying to enforce its hardline version of Sharia law in the area. A small number of its militants are involved in fighting Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan.

The third attack took place in the afternoon in the Narai Baba area, the official said.

"A compound was hit killing at least 11 militants," the official told the BBC. "All were from Swat and were taking refuge due to the military operation there."

On Thursday, at least seven more militants loyal to Taliban chief Hafiz Gul Bahadur died when several drone missiles demolished a house.

'UK militants' mystery

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says Khyber is an unusual target for drone attacks, as it is not usually seen as a major militant sanctuary.

The Waziristan tribal area is believed to be the main haven for the leadership of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The drone attacks have inflamed Pakistani public opinion

But with many militants having fled to other parts of the tribal belt due to drone strikes, the US now wants to target these new havens, says our correspondent.

It emerged this week that two white British al-Qaeda members had apparently died in a US drone raid in North Waziristan in recent days.

The Muslim converts, aged 48 and 25, were killed in a missile attack on a vehicle six days ago, said Pakistani officials.

They told the BBC the Britons' surnames were Stephen and Dearsmith.

There have been more than 100 attacks by pilotless US aircraft in 2010, most of them in North Waziristan.

Drone strikes are credited with killing some top insurgents, but are also blamed for civilian deaths.

The attacks have angered Pakistani public opinion. The country's government criticises such strikes, saying they merely fuel support for militants.

But analysts say Pakistani officials privately condone and probably provide intelligence for such strikes.

Pakistan's military has launched offensives in parts of the north-west, including the Swat Valley, but the insurgents continue to mount attacks.

The US military and the CIA do not routinely confirm that they have launched drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have deployed such aircraft in the region.

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--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

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