23.8.05

Literally, to pastures new (for now)

Bangladesh bombs, foreign roots

The government yesterday arrested former [Muslim QUANGO] Islamic Foundation director Moulana Fariduddin Masud, off-loading him from an Emirates flight at Zia International Airport on suspicion of his links to an Islamist militant network. Sources in the law enforcement agencies said he is suspected to have a connection with the August 17 blasts.

Masud, who was on the way to London, was arrested at around 10:00am by the Immigration Police under high-level government instruction.
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According to his former colleagues, Masud has been a mysterious character but he is reputed as an Islamic scholar who owns a NGO, a hospital, an Islamic School and a madrasa.

"We heard that he has wide international connections. He received funds from the Middle East, and the UK to run these enterprises," said one of his former colleagues.

From the available reports, the indications are that the act was masterminded by, and carried out under the supervision of, the banned extremist Islamic organization Jamaatul Mujahideen. They also point the finger at the organization’s leader, Abdur Rahman, as being the mastermind behind the entire dastardly deed. According to several accounts, Rahman, after having gone to Saudi Arabia for higher studies, subsequently had a stint in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of that country, and then returned to Bangladesh. At one point he came into contact with the currently banned (both in Bangladesh and in its home country Saudi Arabia) Islamic NGO al-Harmain Islamic Foundation and the Kuwait-based Islamic Heritage Society who had been functioning in Bangladesh. It needs to be pointed out that al-Harmain has been outlawed as a part of the global war on terror because of its connection with Islamic terrorist organizations. Rahman then joined the rigorously fundamentalist Ahle Hadis Movement and from there, almost as a natural progression, made the short leap to terrorist activities.

The intelligence agencies have prepared a list of nine foreigners believed to have links with the local Jamaatul Mujahedin adherents, who allegedly carried out the serial bomb blasts on August 17.
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"The suspected foreigners have stayed at different hotels this month and most of them left the hotels by August 16," sources added.

The suspected are: Maolana Nur Ahmed, Maolana Yasin, Hafez Monir Hossain, Touhid Wahab, Mehbub Noor, Zoinuddin Khan, Ahmed Abdullah, Ahmed Shah Bin Sharif and Ahmed Shah Noor-e Islam.

22.8.05

SB autumn chic

Tavistock Square redux

20.8.05

Bangladesh reaction

Jama'atul Mujahideen first came into focus on February 13 when seven bombs exploded at one of its hideouts in the Chhoto Gurgola area of Dinajpur town while its cadres were making bombs. Later it was found that this group had planned to set off blasts in different towns in northern Bangladesh. Two arms and explosives cases were filed and seven were arrested. But all of them were released later.

In August 2003, cadres of the JMB along with its top leaders Bangla Bhai and Shaikh Abdur Rahman were locked in a clash at a secret training camp with the police at Khetlal of Joypurhat. Most of the militants managed to escape leaving behind huge documents showing their subversive plans. Eighteen militants were arrested, including Rahman's brother. But a few days later, they were not only released, but the government transferred several police officials involved in the Khetlal operation.

Islamic extremists, who were once hated in Bangladesh, have been gathering force for over a decade and half. They have not only increased their cadre strength but also gained political legitimacy by being part of the government. They are important constituent of the present ruling coalition. But being in government has not taken them away from their violent or extremist activities. The increasing strength of Islamists in Bangladesh has caused concern among the international community. But the leading party in ruling coalition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has always tried to underplay the existence of Islamists in the country. However, the latest series of blasts flies in the face of this claim. Islamists through these blasts, actually displayed their strength and countrywide network, which the BNP has been always more than eager to deny.

18.8.05

Bangladesh? Never heard of it

Hundreds of bomb blasts across Bangladesh on Wednesday have triggered fresh concerns that one of the world's poorest countries is nearing a tipping point in the advance of militant Islamic fundamentalism into the mainstream of the nation's social and political life.

Around midday on Wednesday, more than 300 crude bombs exploded nationwide, officials said, targeting symbols of public life: government buildings, courthouses and press clubs for journalists. The attacks were fastidiously planned, with hundreds of strikes condensed into a half-hour and spread across 63 of the country's 64 districts.

Because the process under which the head of the state or other rulers are elected is totally anti-Islamic. The Quran or Hadis do not recognize any democratic or socialist system that is enacted by infidels and non-believers. These systems are in direct contravention of Allah’s laws. The laws of the land are the brain-children of infidels, non-believers and Jews precisely to destroy Muslim mores and faith.
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This is the third call of JM for Islamic rule in Bangladesh. This time if the government does not establish Islamic rule and instead arrest Muslims for seeking Allah’s laws and suppresses ulemas (learned in religion) the JM will go into action against concerned people and authorities.
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Allah’s soldiers will not allow this wish to be fulfilled, nor will they allow the success of the infidel concept of democracy. Democracy is a Tagut [secular] invention and the most important weapon for establishing Tagut rule. Those who seek to establish Tagut rule are terrorists and militants.

The Bangladeshi chapter of the ‘Let’s murder our way to Paradise’ gang of religious fascists have been at it again.

...politics remains confrontational and marked by frequent strikes and street demonstrations. This problem contributes substantially to the deterioration of law and order, with thousands killed, injured, or arrested every year in politically motivated activities. Human rights abuses are common, and extrajudicial killings, torture, and unwarranted lethal force by government forces continue.

... endemic corruption, a weak rule of law, limited bureaucratic transparency, and political polarization for undermining government accountability. In October, Transparency International again listed Bangladesh at the bottom of a 146country list on its 2004 Corruption Perceptions Index and noted that corruption was perceived to be “acute.”
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Islam is the official religion. Hindus, Christians, and other minorities have the right to worship freely but face societal discrimination and remain under-represented in government employment. Violence against the Hindu minority flared up after the 2001 elections, when BNP supporters attacked Hindus because of their perceived support for the rival AL party. Atrocities, including murder, rape, destruction of property, and kidnapping, forced hundreds of Hindus from their homes, some across the border into India. Hindus continue to face harassment and violence at the hands of orthodox Islamist political parties and their supporters. During the year, the 100,000strong Ahmadiya Muslim sect also faced increased attacks from Islamist groups

Sun, sand and, er, Saudi Arabia

M[inister]: [Visitors will] be able to get visas on arrival at the airport, just like Dubai.

RP: So anyone can fly into Riyadh or Jeddah and just pick up a visa at the airport?

M: Men can, certainly, and married couples, as long as they can prove they're married, so they'll need to bring a Marriage Certificate, four copies translated into Arabic and certified by a lawyer. Not a Jewish lawyer, naturally. Women, on the other hand, will need to be sponsored by someone inside Saudi Arabia.
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RP: And what about couples who aren't married, or gay couples?

M: Well as you know, we behead homosexuals, and stone adulterous or loose women to death, so it's probably best if we don't let them in in the first place, otherwise there'll be no end of paperwork.
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RP: Can they sit under a sunshade and have a drink, like in Dubai?

M: Certainly not, and if there's any drink in their suitcase, they'll go to prison.
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RP: So they can go and look round the famous mosques, like they can in Bahrain for example?

M: Well they can certainly look at the outside.

RP: But not the inside? After all, that's where they'd see the beautiful decorations, get a sense of stillness and reverence.

M Oh no, if they go inside we'll put them in prison.

RP: And of course they can't go and visit the spiritual center of Islam, Makkah, or historic Madinah?

M: If we ever found them there they'd certainly go to prison, unless they were lynched first.
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RP: And can the women go topless?

M Certainly not. They must keep their heads covered at all times.

My own little Islamic republic

Like other countries around the world, we hit the wall when we started letting Islamics in. They are deeply alien, hostile and expectant of being treated with special consideration from the start, in every country in which they have been allowed in. My heart goes out to the British and Europeans who are forced by their economic circumstances, to live in their ghettoes.

Another Muslim democracy by the end of 2005

The government will stick to an original schedule to have a fully-fledged democratic system in the nation of 300,000 before the end of 2005, the 41-year-old minister said in Colombo.

"It is not just a multi-party system we are talking about, but an electoral system, a judiciary and a media that will also go with that,'' [Foreign Minister] Mr Shaheed said.

He said the government had secured the support of two European experts to set up an electoral system for the former British protectorate which for the first time wants to conduct multi-party parliamentary elections.

The nation of Sunni Muslims will also for the first time have independent commissions to run the civil service, the judiciary and to conduct elections, while there will also be an independent press complaints commission, he said.

17.8.05

On squabbling liberals

16.8.05

Are comment box trolls all on drugs?

As often happens, our readers... have lambasted us. Critics of the [Iraq] war have accused us of pimping for the Bush administration for daring to imply that the war was anything but a total and catastrophic failure. Supporters of the war wrote to condemn us for even imagining that al Qaeda might consist of people who actually think and plan things, rather than of raving psychotics seeking slaughter because they feel like it. One e-mail said the war is the result of George W. Bush's unresolved Oedipal conflicts. Another said that we were naïve in assuming that all Muslims were not deranged killers. Discussions of the war have never been elevated, but they have now degenerated to a Warner Brothers' cartoon — with Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer and Bugs all cranked up on speed and self-righteousness.

Musical interlude: Arctic Monkeys

He talks of San Francisco, he's from Hunter's Bar
I don't quite know the distance
But I'm sure that's far
Yeah I'm sure that's pretty far

And yeah, I'd love to tell you all my problem:
You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham
So get off the bandwagon, and put down the handbook
Fake Tales of San Francisco

15.8.05

Wish you were here, Omar Bakri Mohammed

His decision to leave the country for Lebanon, where he holds citizenship, demonstrated that his claim of refugee status in any case has no merit. If you fear persecution in a country, you don’t go there for a holiday or to see Mama...

14.8.05

You want Hizb?

It is true to say that Hizb-ut-Tahrir, as presently constituted, does not actively solicit the murder of civilians in Britain. Those who have been most closely linked to terrorism are its former, rather than its present, members. Therefore, the spokesman who declares "our work is totally non-violent" is telling the truth.

The party does, however, teach a politics which seeks to establish a theocracy, and which understands history as a Manichean struggle between Islam and unbelief which will ultimately result in a "bloody struggle". In that sense, it has close similarities with other totalitarian movements.
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Merely because Hizb-ut-Tahrir presents itself as a religious-political movement does not mean that it should be held to a different, lower, standard than its secular counterparts. Other racist and totalitarian parties of the far right are not given a free pass by the media, nor do they see their true nature finessed by a secular left hungry for allies. Hizb-ut-Tahrir has spent a great deal of time and effort sanitising the public face of its politics. In that sense, it has followed the same path as the British National Party. But people are not fooled by extremists simply because they wear smart clothes and speak in measured tones. They should not be taken in by Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

12.8.05

All just a little bit of history repeated

11.8.05

Are we losing in Iraq?

10.8.05

Osama, chief of police

Singapore rights update

I wonder if he [Blair] is aware that the recent Freedom House civil and political rights report for Singapore rated that country substantially less free than Benin, Bolivia and Bangladesh, roughly on a par with Armenia, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Congo and Kuwait. All these countries have serious human rights problems, as I'm sure you know.
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According to Amnesty, the tiny city-state has executed 420 people since 1991, the highest per capita execution rate in the world... Civic rights have actually waned in the last decade
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Perhaps you could suggest to him that he raises these matters during his visit?

Dear xxxx

Thank you for writing to me about the Prime Minister's recent visit to Singapore. You are quite right about their appalling human rights records [sic], and I only hope that he raised these matters with the Prime Minister of Singapore when he was there.

Yours sincerely

pp. Diane Abbott MP

9.8.05

Nosemonkey's morals and Nagasaki Day

That wars should be brought to an end as quickly as possible

They [people of Hiroshima] were civilians, in that they were not in army uniform. However, they were civilians who were working, in industrial cities, to support their army, who was at war (with a number of nations) and could therefore be justified as military targets.

I... am fully aware of the difference between western democracy and fascism... The question is not about the relative moral worth of the people using the tactics - it's about the tactics themselves, an end/means thing.

The question is not about the relative moral worth of the people using the tactics - it's about the tactics themselves... How many deaths does it take before it becomes unacceptable?

8.8.05

Two ends of a very long road