Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

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Germany mulling burqa ban
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:21:59 GMT

As France has moved closer to a ban on burqas, German politicians are debating whether a similar measure should be taken in their own country.

After a French parliamentary commission ruled earlier this week that the enveloping garment worn by some Islamic women is unacceptable and recommended a ban in schools and public offices, a former Social Democratic parliamentarian, Turkish-German Lale Akgun, made a case for a similar ban in Germany, RIA Novosti reported on Saturday.

"The burqa is a full-body prison that deeply threatens human rights," she told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau. "It would be an important signal for Germany to ban the burqa."

A burqa ban in Germany would include schools, universities, and high-security zones such as banks and airports, she said.

However, fellow party member Dieter Wiefelsputz rejected the suggestion.

"We have a different understanding of freedom than the French," he told the paper, adding that an enlightened Islam could not be forced.

Green party leader Cem Ozdemir said the debate overlooked the real conflict of integration and pointed out that very few women wear burqas in Germany.

SG/HGL

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Death toll from US drone attack stands at 9
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:28:17 GMT

The death from a US drone attack on Pakistan's tribal region of North Waziristan has reportedly increased to at least nine people.

Pakistan officials said the late Friday airstrike — the 12th drone attack so far this year — hit a suspected militant base, killing five people instantly, while four of the several more wounded died overnight.

The identity of those killed has not been confirmed.

The imprecise nature of missiles attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), which has lead to scores of civilian deaths in Pakistan, has sparked criticism throughout the country.

Since the start of the unpopular drone operations on Pakistani soil, the United States has ignored reports of the strikes, neither denying nor confirming its involvement in the attacks.

However, US forces in neighboring Afghanistan and Central Intelligence Agency are the only services known to use UAVs capable of firing missiles.

Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the airstrikes as a violation of its sovereignty and has linked them to the increasing anti-American sentiments in Pakistan.

ZHD/MMN

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Aafia Siddiqui stands her ground at trial
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:52:26 GMT

Pakistani citizen Aafia Siddiqui, who is charged with attempted murder of FBI agents and US military personnel, has told a New York court that the charges against her are "ridiculous."

On Friday, the prosecution at the New York court brought in a gun instructor from Boston.

Gary Woodworth of the Braintree Rifle and Pistol Club in Massachusetts testified that Siddiqui took a 12-hour basic pistol course in early 1990s, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

The move was made in response to a statement by Siddiqui in which she said that she did not know anything about firearms and had not taken a target-shooting course.

She also denied taking pistol lessons at the rifle course in Braintree while she was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Siddiqui went on to say that she saw an M-4 for the first time when it was produced in the court a couple of days ago as the weapon she allegedly used.

It was absurd to think a US soldier would carelessly leave his weapon in a place where a suspect like her could grab it, she told the jury.

"It's too crazy. It's just ridiculous," Siddiqui said. "I didn't do that."

On Thursday, Siddiqui told jurors in Manhattan Federal Court that charges alleging she grabbed a rifle and shot at US interrogators in Afghanistan are a joke.

"This is the biggest joke. Sometimes I've been forced to smile under my scarf."

Siddiqui denied the FBI's accusations that her purse contained chemicals, a list of terror targets in New York City, instructions on how to make a dirty bomb, and drawings of weapons.

“To answer your question, I do not know how to make a dirty bomb,” Ms. Siddiqui said, adding later, “I did not draw those pictures. I'm definitely not that good an artist, I can tell you that.”

Sidddqui also insisted that she was imprisoned in Afghanistan over the past few years.

It was “pure psychological, emotional torture,” she said, describing her situation.

"I thought it was a continuation of what had been done to me in my secret prison history."

According to some reports, she had been detained at the US military's Bagram prison, which is located north of Kabul, since 2003.

At one point, when her head scarf began to slip over her face, her attorney, Elaine Sharp, asked her to explain her attire to the jury.

“If you've been in a secret prison, abused, you get more modest. And it's part of the religion,” Siddiqui said.

She also repeated claims that FBI agents had threaded to hurt her children in order to scare her.

She said she was shot two or three times by one person in the room of the police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan where she was detained in 2008, and then shot by someone else.

Siddiqui vanished in Karachi, Pakistan with her three children on March 30, 2003. The next day it was reported in local newspapers that she had been taken into custody on terrorism charges.

US officials allege Aafia Siddiqui was seized on July 17, 2008 by Afghan security forces in Ghazni province and claim that documents, including formulas for explosives and chemical weapons, were found in her handbag.

They say that while she was being interrogated, she grabbed a US warrant officer's M-4 rifle and fired two shots at FBI agents and military personnel but missed and that the warrant officer then fired back, hitting her in the torso.

She was then brought to the United States to face charges of attempted murder and assault. Siddiqui faces 20 years in prison if convicted.

However, human rights organizations have cast doubt on the accuracy of the US account of the event.

Many political activists believe she was Prisoner 650 of the US detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, where they say she was tortured for five years until one day US authorities announced that they had found her in Afghanistan.

JR/HGL

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Pakistan says investigating Mehsud death reports
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The Pakistani army said Sunday it is investigating reports that a top militant leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, may have been killed in a US drone attack two weeks ago.

Pakistani intelligence officials said according to unconfirmed reports, Hakimullah Mehsud died of injuries he sustained in a drone attack on January 17.

State TV had previously reported that he was killed in a similar attack in the northwest on January 14. The militants issued an audio tape two days later, denying the reports.

On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq denied the fresh reports of Mehsud's death. He told the French News Agency Mehsud was "alive and safe."

Tariq said the Taliban provide proof that Mehsud is alive; thus, those who say he is dead "should provide proof."

The United States has increased its drone attacks in Pakistan after Mehsud allegedly orchestrated a deadly bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan.

MSD/MD

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15 killed in US drone strike in northwest Pakistan
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:58:47 GMT


US drones have fired three missiles in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 15 people and injuring several others.

The attack took place in the North Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani officials announced on Saturday.

It is not clear whether any so-called high value target was in the area at the time of the strike.

Drone attacks in the region have increased significantly since December 30, when seven CIA operatives were killed in an attack in Afghanistan's Khost province, which borders Waziristan.

Hundreds of people, many of them civilians, have been killed since 2006 in CIA-operated drone strikes in Pakistan.

JR/HGL

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Interpreter shot dead after killing 2 US soldiers
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:25:30 GMT

In a combative move in Afghanistan, an interpreter has been killed by US troops after shooting two American soldiers dead.

The incident took place in Wardak province southwest of the capital city of Kabul on Saturday.

"Initial indications are that this was a case of a disgruntled employee," a US military official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The interpreter was shot dead by other soldiers after killing the two service members.

The interpreter had quarreled with the soldiers over pay and treatment before opening fire, according to an unnamed Afghan provincial official.

AGB/MMN

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Taliban vow to continue fighting foreign troops
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:06:58 GMT

The Taliban say they will continue fighting the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The Taliban vow to continue fighting the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, denying reports that they have held peace talks with UN officials.

"We insist on continuing our holy Islamic jihad against the enemy," the militants said in a statement on Saturday.

The Taliban also denied that outgoing UN Special Representative Kai Eide had met with their senior commanders in Dubai earlier this month, calling the reports as “rumors” and “propaganda.”

The militants also rejected the London conference, which was held on Thursday to discuss the future of Afghanistan, as a failure and a “ploy.“

Ahead of the conference, Taliban spokesman Zabihuallh Mujahid said the only solution to the conflict was the complete withdrawal of all international troops from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the militants described US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as war-mongering rulers who sought "to deceive the people of the world."

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan to allegedly root out militancy in the country.

The costly and fatal conflict is stretching into its nine year as many thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed both by violent militant acts, including bombings and daily fighting, and US military operations in the country.

AGB/MMN

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Afghanistan calls for trial of US troops
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:30:05 GMT

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry has condemned the killing of four Afghan soldiers by American forces, calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.

In a statement released on Saturday, the ministry said that American troops killed at least four Afghan soldiers in Wardak province Friday night, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the troops with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also injured seven other Afghan soldiers in face-to-face battles.

He added that the fighting occurred Friday evening in Sayed Abad district, in Wardak province. The cause of the clash has yet to be determined.

The ministry called for a thorough investigation into the incident, saying "the murderers" should be tried and punished accordingly.

The NATO-led ISAF confirmed on Saturday that an "incident" had taken place between Western and Afghan security forces, but declined to give further details.

"We are working with the Ministry of Defense to determine the facts of the incident," said US Army Lieutenant Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the force.

AGB/MMN

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UN holds secret talks with Taliban commanders
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:09:29 GMT

A UN official says the UN representative in Afghanistan and members of a Taliban's leadership council have secretly met as the West has been trying to bring the militant group into Afghan government.

The unnamed UN official said that UN Special Representative Kai Eide had met with senior commanders of the Taliban in Dubai on January 8th, Reuters reported.

The senior Afghan Taliban commanders who took part in the reported meeting are based in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta.

The official says the high-level talks took place upon Taliban request.

"They requested a meeting to talk about talks. They want protection, to be able to come out in public," the official said.

Reconciliatory talks with the militant group revived since exploratory contacts between emissaries of the Afghan government and the Taliban were made in Saudi Arabia last year.

The United Nations has removed several former Taliban officials from its blacklist in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

President Hamid Karzai on Thursday at the London summit raised his government's plan to re-integrate into the Afghan society those Taliban militants who he said have cut ties with al-Qaeda.

Senior US officials have announced that the US supports efforts to engage in a dialogue with the militants.

The US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, told reporters on the sidelines of the London Summit that more than two-thirds of the Taliban are not “extremists.”

The US has reportedly gone so far as to sanction a political party for the Taliban.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recognized that the Taliban are a part of Afghanistan's political force.
"The Taliban...are part of the political fabric of Afghanistan at this point," the Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying on last Friday. He made the remarks during his two-day visit to Pakistan.

This comes as Washington and its allies have time and again accused the group of spreading terrorism and extremism in the region.

The US invaded Afghanistan following September 11, 2001 attacks to allegedly destroy the militancy in the country.

Many Afghan civilians have been killed both by violent militant acts, including bombings and daily fighting, as well as by US military operations in the country.

The developments show US President Barack Obama's administration might be willing to accept the militants as playing a potentially central role in Afghanistan's future.

JR/JG/DT

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Arms sale to Taiwan will cost US dear, says China
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:21:09 GMT

The Pentagon has unveiled plans to sell more than six billion dollars in arms to Taiwan, including missiles and helicopters.
China has threatened the US with "serious" consequences over a Washington decision to sell USD 6.4 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan.

The arms package includes Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters, and communications equipment for Taiwan's F-16 fleet. However, it does not include the fighter jet itself, which had been part of Taipei's wish list, AFP reported on Friday.

After US announced the arms sale to Taiwan, Beijing quickly responded with a warning that the arms sale could jeopardize important bonds of cooperation between the two countries and can have "serious" consequences.

"The US plan will definitely undermine China-US relations and bring about serious negative impact on exchange and cooperation in major areas between the two countries," a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Wang Baodong said.

Baodong urged the United States to halt the planned sales, saying that otherwise "this will lead to repercussions that neither side wishes to see."

The last US arms package for Taiwan, announced under previous president George W. Bush in October 2008, led China to temporarily snap off military relations with the United States.

SG/MMN