Two blocks from Ground Zero, a thousand miles from the Mother of Exiles

Numerous pressure groups have problems with a "mosque" being built near "Ground Zero".

I take it that despite Israel's documented crimes against humanity, they would have no trouble with a Synagogue being built in the same location. Nor would there be such an outcry over an issue that has been totally misrepresented by those with agendas driven by an engine of misinformation.

Personally a bigger issue - and one I have problems with - is the demolition of homes in territories illegally occupied by Israel. The Bedouins who have seen their homes destroyed before their eyes, have no influential backers to push their case on their behalf - we all know who has that privilege.

The community centre may be two blocks away from Ground Zero, but it appears it is a hell of a lot further from the Statue of Liberty - the symbol of the Land of The Free.

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Perhaps Emma Lazarus, should have added -

Terms and Conditions Apply

Wherever you may be - be safe

Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved

Kashmir: Women reliving pains of the past in which sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers disappeared or were killed

Republished permission Inter Press Service (IPS )
copyright Inter Press Service (IPS)
http://www.ipsnewsasia.net/ and http://www.ipsnews.net/

In Kashmir, Tensions Put Life on Hold

By Athar Parvaiz

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 19, 2010 (IPS) - The doctors at the hospital that Khalida Begum’s husband brought her to in the frontier district of Kupwara knew she was in a dangerous state. They thus recommended that she be transferred soonest to the maternity hospital here in Srinagar, where she was sure to receive far better care.

Begum’s husband Nazir Ahmad quickly heeded the doctors’ suggestion. But there have been on-and-off curfews in Srinagar in the last three months, and the ambulance rushing Begum here soon found itself running through a veritable obstacle course.

Recounts Ahmad: "Our ambulance was stopped by security men at a number of places even as my wife was screaming in pain."

In the end, Begum and Ahmad lost their child. Ahmad says, "We were told by the doctors that if we had reached in time, the baby would have been saved."

Staff at Srinagar’s Lal Ded and JVC Hospital say at least a half-dozen similar cases have occurred recently – yet more proof of the destructive impact conflicts like the decades-old one in Kashmir have on people’s everyday lives, including that of women and children.

Psychologist Malik Roshan Ara observes, "The unending cycle of violence is telling upon the psychology of Kashmiri women. That is why they are also seen joining the protest demonstrations now, a phenomenon not common in the past phases of violence."

Kashmir’s troubles date back to 1947, when Britain granted India independence and the Muslim-dominated areas became part of Pakistan. A U.N. resolution, meantime, gave Kashmiris the option to join either Hindu- dominated India or Pakistan or to become independent. But Kashmiris had no chance to make a choice as their homeland is claimed by both India and Pakistan.

Roughly a third of modern-day Kashmir is administered by Pakistan while the rest is under India. But it is an arrangement that has not been accepted by many Kashmiris, and some youths living in the Indian side rose up in arms in 1989.

For most of the last 30 years, Kashmir has been the site of violent clashes between authorities and those demanding independence from India. Official estimates put the number of those killed as 50,000, but the figure most likely excludes fatalities like Begum and Ahmad’s baby.

A later count, though, may include the death of Tufail Matoo, a 17-year-old student who was apparently killed in the crossfire in June as police and local protesters fought in the streets of Srinagar.

It was Matoo’s shooting, in fact, that triggered the current round of violence, which in turn has led to authorities to impose curfews whenever they smell a protest in the air. But demonstrators against India’s security rule and presence have been undeterred, even though authorities’ response has led to casualties.

Few had foreseen violence to be staging a full-strength comeback following the peaceful elections in November 2008. Yet since June, more than 50 people have been killed – including a nine-year-old boy, a woman, and dozens of teenagers – as a result of clashes between Indian security personnel and protesters.

The present situation is giving Kashmiris a dreadful sense of déjà vu. Experts say that women in particular seem to be reliving the pains of the past in which their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers either disappeared or were killed.

The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) says past violence had made thousands of women "half-widows", meaning they have no knowledge if their husbands are alive or dead.

"For the last 10 years, we stage a sit-in protest on 25th of every month to seek the whereabouts of our dear ones," says APDP President Parveena Ahangar. "But the authorities don’t tell us anything about them, whether they are dead or alive."

"But we have not lost hope," she tells IPS. "We will continue our struggle."

Mustaq Margoob, a leading psychiatrist in Kashmir, meanwhile says that more than 60 percent of those seeking psychiatric treatment in the valley are women. He explains, "Most of these women have witnessed people getting harassed, tortured, maimed, and killed. (This) has caused depression among them."

For sure, though, the experience of Khalida Begum shows that there does not even have to be a violent incident for the conflict to inflict pain and suffering.

Hospital attendant Abdul Rashid, for one, complains about the "lack of compassion shown by the security personnel who do not spare even the ambulances" during curfew periods. He says bitterly, "We the people of Kashmir, are simply being treated as cattle."

Rashid himself has a sister who was stopped by authorities while she was being rushed to the hospital.

"She complained of high blood pressure and we attempted to take her to hospital, braving the curfew restrictions," Rashid relates. But they reached the hospital "too late" after having to negotiate through the security barricades; his sister Ameena lost the baby.

She has yet to stop crying since. "It was a male baby for which we were aspiring for years," Ameena says, sobbing. "We have three daughters and my husband desperately wanted a male child."

Her grief-stricken husband Mushtaq is also finding it hard to come to terms with the tragedy. "It simply means God had gifted me a male baby," he says, "but the security men denied him the entry into the world just because they wanted to ensure strict curfew restrictions."

i On Global Trends will shortly be publishing a feature on the tragedy of Kashmir

Russia: Fires - "Some people told me that the forest had been set on fire deliberately - to clear the territory for future construction works"

The Russian summer of fires and heat is drawing to its end. Nearly all forest fires in the country have been extinguished. Now the country will have to face the aftermath of the natural disaster, which unexpectedly took the national scale and affected many lives. Experts are now trying to calculate the damage, which the fires caused, hoping that the total number will not exceed 10 billion rubles.

In the meantime, many villages that have been destroyed with forest fires, are still in smoke. Pravda.Ru's special correspondent Dmitry Reznichenko went on a hitchhiking trip across the regions, which suffered from the fires most.

Here is his first field report.

I arrived in the town of Kolomna the day before Putin came here. It was pouring rain the whole night through. Local officials were obviously busy with making preparations to the prime minister's visit. As it traditionally happens, they ordered to repair roads here and there.

The town is shrouded in smoke. The smoke comes from large swamps near Shatura. Putin will arrive in the town to see which efforts the authorities were taking to extinguish the fires. Peat bog fires occur here every year, but this year was the hardest at this point.

Placards with warnings of possible wildfires are plastered all over the town. I saw a very expressive cross street banner saying "Entry to the forest forbidden!" There was also a red skull displayed next to was warning. It was a stylish creation indeed, the image of the skull could be very good for a tattoo.

Local residents say that the fires started neat the Blue Lakes, which is a very popular place in the town. Many locals go there for camping, picnicking and swimming. It was practically impossible to extinguish the fires during extremely hot and windy weather. The fire was spreading too quickly.

Eyewitnesses of the fires said that they could see many fire-fighting vehicles parked across the smoke-shrouded highway. The fire-fighting brigades were simply standing there and watching. What could they do? A vehicle can not drive into the forest. Aircraft could be a way out, but any type of aviation is useless when literally every tree around was in flames.

There was a military unit not far from the Blue Lakes - it burnt to the ground.

Many locals showed me their pictures and videos, which they had taken with their cell phones. Some people told me that the forest had been set on fire deliberately - to clear the territory for future construction works. This is what they think, they said.

Some people lost their wooden country houses which they had been building for years, scraping and saving. Others set their dachas on fire themselves after they heard that the government was promising compensations to those who lost their possessions in flames.

A traditional Russian village, where all houses are made of wood, can be engulfed in flames in several minutes, if the wind is strong enough.

In conclusion, I'd like to mention here that there are no birds in the woods here. Not even a sound of a singing bird.

Dmitry Reznichenko
Pravda.Ru

Australia: Election campaign has barely touched upon Australia's increasingly important and complex foreign relations

By Fergus Hanson for ISN Security Watch

A lively campaign has barely touched upon Australia's increasingly important and complex foreign relations, Fergus Hanson writes for ISN Security Watch.

Australians will go to the polls on Saturday, 21 August, and while election campaigning has been firmly grounded in domestic matters – as most modern elections are - what is striking here is the almost complete lack of focus on foreign policy.

A quick glance at the two candidates’ CVs explains why: Neither has had much of anything at all to do with foreign affairs.

Foreign policy novices

In April this year, in his first speech on foreign policy, opposition leader Tony Abbott opened with these disarming remarks: “As the leader of the party, obviously it’s my challenge to rise to areas of expertise and understanding that haven’t been my forte in the past. It’s always an interesting challenge.”

Incumbent Prime Minister Julia Gillard is also an unknown when it comes to foreign policy. She only came to power a few months ago without any background in international affairs. (On 24 June she was promoted from deputy prime minister after ousting her former boss, Kevin Rudd.)

After the leadership coup, foreign policy analysts were left poring over the scantest of evidence to try and decipher how she might operate on the international stage.

The contrast with the previous election is striking. As a former diplomat and the western world’s first Chinese-speaking leader, Kevin Rudd came to power promising a flurry of new international activity and quickly earned the moniker ‘Kevin 747’ for his hyperactive global travel schedule.

The state of play in foreign affairs

The fundamentals of Australian foreign policy, such as the centrality of the US alliance, are accepted by both sides. But there are considerable differences in nuance that will pose serious challenges.

In Afghanistan, Australia recently suffered the death of its 18th soldier; seven of those deaths came this year alone. Not surprisingly, there is some unease in the electorate about Australia’s continued participation in the war - particularly as America’s European allies begin to withdraw.

On the trading front, relations with Australia’s second largest export market, Japan, have soured after a diplomatic snub followed by the then-Rudd government making good on a promise to take Japan to the International Court of Justice over its ‘scientific’ whaling program.

Relations with New Delhi are also on the rocks after the Rudd-government reversed a decision by its predecessor to sell it uranium, and then mishandled a spate of attacks on Indian students living in Australia.

On climate change the Australian government’s credibility on the world stage has been blackened. Though the government talked the talk in the years leading up to Copenhagen, just months before his ouster, Rudd announced that he did not plan to introduce an emissions trading scheme in Australia until at least 2013. So much for climate change, in Rudd’s earlier words, being “the great challenge of our generation.”

And on Australia’s immediate doorstep challenges also abound. Fiji’s military dictator, Frank Bainimarama, is now firmly entrenched; Papua New Guinea (a former Australian colony) is experiencing a resources boom that will be hard to manage given weak governance; and Australia’s relations with Indonesia, while solid at a government-to-government level, need a lot of work.

It’s a crowded international agenda for whoever wins on 21 August. The big question though is how the future leader will respond.

Growing into the role

Gillard, who is just ahead in most polls, has moved on from her youthful flirtation with socialism and appears as committed to the US security alliance as anyone.

Her defense minister has ruled out any increase in troop levels to Afghanistan and tried to sketch a clear exit strategy, but he has also announced he is stepping down after the election.

Gillard has gotten off to a rough start on the foreign policy front. Her first failure was a proposal to have refugees trying to reach Australia by boat first register themselves in East Timor – a proposal East Timor rejected out of hand.

The biggest factor shaping a Gillard foreign policy could be her choice of foreign minister. Incumbent Finance Minister Stephen Smith had been playing understudy to his old boss, Kevin Rudd, but his hold on the job now seems tenuous. When she became prime minister, Gillard promised Rudd a senior ministry if re-elected, which many assume will be the Foreign Ministry.

Should that be the case, the public would expect some continuity with Rudd’s past foreign policy objectives: pursuit of a temporary UN Security Council seat, continued work on nuclear non-proliferation and perhaps even an attempt to revive his ill-fated Asia-Pacific Community proposal. Without a country to run, he might step up his activism, though it is difficult to envision relations with either Japan or India rebounding anytime soon.

Abbott, for his party, went somewhat further in outlining his worldview in an April speech to the Lowy Institute. He pointed to the centrality of the US alliance, but idiosyncratically said that the “Anglosphere was the heart of the Western alliance” - a notion Australia’s close friends in Asia might find rather quaint, if not offensive.

Abbott rejects Gillard’s plans to seek a temporary UN Security Council seat as a waste of time and effort, and has also proposed rebuilding relations with India by reconsidering the sale of uranium. He also said his government “would be prepared to consider doing more” in Afghanistan.

Just when it seemed like there would be no serious discussion of international issues in this campaign, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop debated against Foreign Minister Stephen Smith a week before election day. While it was a reasonably substantive debate, it tended to focus on box ticking, stock-standard foreign policy lines.

Reflective of the campaign’s lack of foreign policy attention, it was only in the Q&A after the debate that a journalist accused the two parties of not having “said anything substantial about China during this election campaign,” even though it is “the single biggest question in this region.”

Smith hit back, saying, “I'm very happy to respond to the first question I've received in the campaign on China.”It’s an extraordinary reality given the huge challenge the next government will face managing relations with an increasingly assertive China, which is also Australia’s single largest trading partner.

While both candidates are new to foreign affairs and there could be some initial uncertainty in the direction of Australian foreign policy, there is no reason to panic. One of Australia’s longest serving prime ministers, John Howard, came to office with little foreign affairs experience, yet he grew into a very active international player.

Fergus Hanson is a Research Fellow and Director of the Lowy Poll Project at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Australia.

Iran: Iran accuses US of being, "biggest supporter of terrorism in the world in the past three decades"

Tehran, Aug 19, IRNA – Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said the US was the biggest supporter of terrorism in the world in the past three decades.

He said the US tried to cover up its own terrorist nature by putting up claims against other countries and accusing them.

Based on a report by Iran’s Foreign Ministry Website on Thursday, the spokesman further termed as baseless and condemned the accusations about Iran’s alleged role in world terrorism raised in the US State Department Annual Report.

He stressed the need for stopping the present trend of raising baseless and biased claims against countries as agents and backers of terrorist operations and warned that the trend could have unfavorable impacts on the international trust and mutual confidence which is a basic element in the world stability and security.

Mehman-Parast noted that while the Islamic Republic of Iran attached special importance to its cooperation with the international community in anti-terrorism campaign, the Western countries and the US in particular followed a double-standard policy towards the issue.

He said examples of such a policy was the extensive activities of the members of the terrorist Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) in these countries and their close relationship with the political figures there.

He also pointed to the role of some of Western countries and their intelligence services especially those belonging to the US in supporting the terrorist organizations working against Iran like the grouplet led by Rigi and the PJAK as other cases of such a behavior.

He further pointed to the remarkable increase in the opium production which provides the financial resources for terrorism and extremism as the result of the presence of the US and Western military forces in Afghanistan.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman went on to point to the support of the US for the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime in massacring the defenseless Palestinian and Lebanese peoples as other examples of the US administration’s role in expanding terrorism.

Mehman-Parst concluded by noting that the international community had been suffering much of the unilateralist views of the US, stressing that Washington has to be pressured to change its attitudes.

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan's blocking of airspace "attempt to hamper NATO supplies to Afghanistan"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan has blocked airspace for a Yerevan-bound plane carrying Armenian peacekeepers who completed their mission within a German contingent in Kunduz province of Afghanistan. The crew had to choose another route.

The Armenian Defense Ministry eyes the incident as an attempt to hamper NATO military supplies to Afghanistan.

The Defense Ministry discusses adequate measures, including ban on use of Armenian airspace by planes carrying military goods to Baku.

Earlier, Armenia has always kept its airspace open for the planes flying from Turkey to Azerbaijan and then to Afghanistan.

Gaza: Hamas demands Gaza shops stop displaying female lingerie

Hamas has demanded that shops in Gaza stop displaying female lingerie, the latest in a series of new rules imposed in the name of "public morality".

The most popular lingerie shop in Gaza has been told not to display bras, underwear or nightdresses, even inside the shop.

The lingerie display rule comes after Hamas banned women from smoking shisha on beaches or riding on motorbikes.

Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports from the Gaza Strip.

Child labour: 160 million children aged between five and fourteen, trapped in child labour

By Eleonore Meyer
Republished courtesy of IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN (IDN) - Nearly 160 million kids aged between five and fourteen are trapped in child labour world wide. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations, handling chemicals and pesticides in agriculture, working in mines, or operating dangerous machinery.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in Sub-Saharan Africa around one in three children -- 69 million are engaged in child labour. In South Asia, they number 44 million.

A new report finds that child labour related risks are mounting in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China -- also known as the BRICs countries.

The study by the Maplecroft risk analysts based in London analyses the most recent events, reports and published raw data to offer a detailed overview of the child labour situation in the BRICs. It is intended "to enable business and investors to identify potential supply chain and investment risks arising from child labour in the world's fastest growing economies".

Of the four countries, India has the most challenging environment for business relating to child labour, as it is ranked 1/196 countries in Maplecroft's Child Labour Index. The country has the highest number of child workers in the world, says the report released on August 16.

It says that estimates from national and international NGOs place the figures of child workers in India between 60 and 115 million. On the other hand, latest official government figures estimate 16.4 million child labourers between the ages of 5 and 14.

Of those, approximately two million are thought to work in "hazardous industries", including mining, ship breaking and manufacturing or are trafficked and exploited in the sex industry, the Maplecroft report says.

However, the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India said in a media release on August 16, 2010: "As per 2001 census, the total number of children working in various occupations including hazardous occupations in the country was 1.26 core (12.60 million).

"As a result of various welfare measures taken by the Union Government and the State Governments coupled with stricter enforcement of the provisions of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 the number of working children has declined to 90.75 lakh (9,075 million), as estimated by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 2004-05."

India's Minister of Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge gave this information in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) on August 16. He said the Government of India has adopted a multi-pronged strategy for eradication of child labour as follows:

- A legislative action plan in form of Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.
- Project-based action plan in areas of high concentration of Child Labour under National Child Labour Project Scheme.
- Focus on general development programmes for the benefit of the families of Child Labour.

The above measures had yielded positive results in eradication of child labour, the Minister said.

CHINA

China is rated "extreme risk" in all of Maplecroft's labour rights and protection indices with the risks for child labour, trafficking and discrimination increasing. Key findings of the report point towards the highest prevalence of child labour violations in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of China.

"Human rights abuses associated with suppliers within the textile and electronic sectors are of particular concern following a recent cluster of suicides that occurred in a Foxconn factory based in the country," states the report.

"Child labour in the manufacturing sector is hard to identify. It often occurs down the supply chain when production is outsourced to home-workers," said Professor Alyson Warhurst, CEO of Maplecroft.

"This means that companies need to be especially diligent when it comes to auditing their supply chains. But they also need to be cognisant of the implications for children of taking them out of work where schooling is inadequate and families live in poverty."

BRAZIL

According to the report, child labour in Brazil is prevalent in the informal, agricultural and manufacturing sectors. In 2008, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that 58.7% of child workers between 5-14 years old worked in agriculture. Children working in this sector are particularly vulnerable to accidents, often involving agricultural chemicals and machinery.

The latest available statistics from the Brazilian government point out, according to Maplecroft, that in 2006 there were 273,000 accidents involving child labourers. Maplecroft's labour protection risk indices show that working conditions are worsening in Brazil.

RUSSIA

Business in Russia is not immune from the risks associated with child labour, as the country is ranked 75/196 and "high risk" in Maplecroft's Child labour Index. While an overall estimated figure on children working is unavailable, the Federal Labour and Employment Service (FLES) found over 10,000 child labour law violations in 2008.

These children often received little pay and were discovered in dangerous working conditions in the industrial and agricultural sectors. The report also states that risks associated with working conditions in Russia are growing.

The report offers a detailed analysis about child labour in each of the BRIC countries, which provides companies with an understanding of where child labour risk exposures may lie within their supply chains.

INDICES

The report includes country scores from Maplecroft's labour protection indices, analysis of the issues and sector insight, details of labour laws and ratification of ILO and other UN Conventions. Sub-national maps reveal hotspots and pinpoint incidents, particularly around economic zones. There are also stakeholder viewpoints and a chronology of key recent child labour reports.

The Child Labour in the BRICs report is part of Maplecroft's growing ethical supply chain management and human rights monitoring services.

The risk analyst has a long history of working on ethical supply chain and ethical value chain management. This includes in the development of human rights, child labour and other policies, supplier assessment questionnaires, country risk intelligence and reports, as well as monitoring programmes and compliance systems.

The company's approach to ethical supply chain management is to determine and map the intrinsic risk exposure of each supplier that is, relating to sector, product type, geography etc. This is later aligned with specific information on risk management proficiency i.e. how well these risks are managed by suppliers.

The latter is determined through either a questionnaire or audit approach, both of which build on relevant ethical supply chain initiatives such as Sedex (the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), Ethical Trade Initiative, Forest Stewardship Council (FCS). (IDN-InDepthNews/19.08.2010)

Pakistan: External security - no change in risk assessment

By B.RAMAN
See also: www.southasiaanalysis.org and the Chennai Centre For China Studies at www.c3sindia.org

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan is a joint agency of the armed forces, normally headed by an officer of the Army, which is responsible for the collection, analysis and assessment of tactical and strategic intelligence having a bearing on Pakistan's internal and external security.

2. Pakistan does not have separate set-ups for the analysis and assessment of tactical and strategic intelligence similar to India's Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) and National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). India follows the British principle that the same agency should not handle collection as well as analysis and assessment. Pakistan did have an NSC under Gen.Pervez Musharraf, but it has been dispensed with by the present Government.As a result, the Armed Forces, particularly the Army, dominate the process of assessment of likely threats to national security----internal and external.

3. The ISI is also an action agency which undertakes covert actions in Pakistan as well as abroad.As examples of its covert actions, one can mention its operations in Pakistan against the Bengali nationalists before Bangladesh was born in 1971 and its subsequent operations against Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun nationalists and its role in the clandestine acquisition of nuclear and missile capabilities. Its use of terrorism against India and its operations in Afghanistan to protect Pakistan's interests would also come under this category.

4.The ISI views its use of terrorism against India as meant to dilute the asymmetric advantage enjoyed by the Indian armed forces over their Pakistani counterparts.Lt.Gen.Hamid Gul, who was the Director-General of the ISI during Benazir Bhutto's first term as the Prime Minister (1988-90), used to argue that keeping India preoccupied with internal security problems was equivalent to the Pakistan Army having two extra Divisions at no cost.

5. It has been the assessment of the ISI that India is the principal threat to Pakistan's external and internal security. The threat to its external security arises from India's military and nuclear capabilities. In the ISI's perception, India is also a major threat to Pakistan's internal security because of its alleged links with the Sindhi and Pashtun nationalists when Gen.Zia-ul Haq was in power and with the Baloch nationalists when Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto was in power before 1977 and even presently.

6. Influenced by the ISI's assessment, Pakistan's national security management is focussed on five pre-requisites to protect the integrity of Pakistan:

* Firstly, maintaining a high level of preparedness and capability on the Indian border to deter a military conflict initiated by India.
* Secondly, constantly improving its nuclear and missile capabilities to deter India from using its capabilities against Pakistan.
* Thirdly, keeping the Indian security forces preoccupied with internal security problems.
* Fourthly, preventing the Indian security agencies from exploiting the feelings of alienation of the non-Punjabi segments of the Pakistani population.
* Fifthly, preventing India from acquiring a second front capability in Afghanistan.

7. Since the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988-89, Pakistan's internal security problems have been aggravated by developments and elements, that have had nothing to do with India. As examples one could mention the following:

* The return to Pakistan of its Wahabis who had fought in Afghanistan. They assumed control of the madrasas and started using them for spreading the cult of jihad in Pakistan and abroad.
* The return to Pakistan of the Arab mercenaries of the Afghan Mujahideen groups. They became the forerunners of Al Qaeda.
* The return to Pakistan from Afghanistan of anti-Shia sectarian organisations which stepped up anti-Shia violence.

8. The ISI tried to deal with the resulting situation in the following manner:

* By diverting the Pakistani returness from Afghanistan to Indian territory to wage a jihad against the Indian security forces.
* By persuading or pressuring the Arabs to return to their country. Many did, but some who had married local women stayed behind and became the initial recruits of Al Qaeda.
* By using the madrasas to raise a new crop of volunteers to found the Taliban in 1994 and helping it to capture power in Afghanistan from the Afghan Mujahideen of the 1980s vintage.
* By creating splits in the anti-Shia sectarian movement in the hope of weakening it.

9. As a result of these developments, the post-9/11 internal security situation in Pakistan has been aggravated by the presence and activities of a hotch-potch of ethnic nationalist, indigenous jihadi and global jihadi groups. These groups could be divided into the following categories:

* (a).Nationalist groups which the ISI suspects to be having links with India.
* (b).Jihadi groups originally supported by the ISI for use against India which have now gone out of the control of the ISI and have been operating in Indian as well as Pakistani territory against the security forces of these two countries.Under this category would come the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM).These are essentially Punjabi groups.
* (c). Jihadi groups sponsored and supported by the ISI for use in India and Afghanistan, which have retained their loyalty to the ISI and the Pakistani security forces, but have at the same time been helping Al Qaeda in its global jihad. Examples: The Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Hizbe-Islami of Gulbuddin Heckmatyar, the Afghan Taliban headed by Mulla Mohammad Omar and the Haqqani network.
* (d).New organisations that have come up on their own after the raid of the Pakistani Army into the Lal Masjid of Islamabad in July 2007. They are concentrating their attacks on the ISI, the Pakistani security forces and sections of the mainstream politicians.They have formed the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban. They are essentially Pashtuns and joined hands with the anti-Army Punjabi groups known as the Punjabi Taliban.
* (e). The anti-Shia Sunni organisations which have been helping Al Qaeda in its operations in Pakistani territory.The most active of them are the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

10. A consequence of these developments is that the principal threat to Pakistan's internal security now arises not from nationalist organisations, which are accused by the ISI of having links with India, but from jihadi Frankenstein's monsters.It is concern over the activities of these monsters which is reflected in the ISI's assessment as reported by the Wall Street Journal of August 16. According to the WSJ:

"A recent internal assessment of security by the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's powerful military spy agency, determined that for the first time in 63 years it expects a majority of threats to come from Islamist militants, according to a senior ISI officer.The assessment, a regular review of national security, allocates a two-thirds likelihood of a major threat to the state coming from militants rather than from India or elsewhere. It is the first time since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947 that India hasn't been viewed as the top threat. Decades into one of the most bitter neighborly rivalries in modern history, both countries maintain huge troop deployments along their Himalayan border".

11. Indications from reliable sources in Pakistan are that the ISI still views India as posing the principal threat to Pakistan's external security and has advised against any major changes in Pakistani capabilities and deployments on the Indian border. This assessment, which was prepared before the recent visit of Gen.Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the Chief of the Army Staff, to China, is understood to have stressed the importance of continued nuclear and missile supply relationship with China and seeking additional Chinese help for strengthening the Pakistani Navy. ( 19-8-10)

The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies.

Intelligence: Declassified files reveal clandestine Israeli PR campaign in America

Declassified files from a Senate investigation into Israeli-funded covert public relations and lobbying activity in the United States were released by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on July 23rd, 2010. The subpoenaed documents reveal Israel's clandestine programs for "cultivation of editors," the "stimulation and placement of suitable articles in the major consumer magazines" as well as U.S. reporting about sensitive subjects such as the Dimona nuclear weapons facility.

Documents are now available for download from http://IRmep.org/ila/azc include:

Dimona (excerpt): "The nuclear reactor story inspired comment from many sources; editorial writers, columnists, science writers and cartoonists. Most of the press seemed finally to accept the thesis that the reactor was being built for peaceful purposes and not for bombs." http://www.irmep.org/11-121960AZC.pdf

Content placement and promotion (excerpt): "The Atlantic Monthly in its October issue carried the outstanding Martha Gellhorn piece on the Arab refugees, which made quite an impact around the country. We arranged for the distribution of 10,000 reprints to public opinion molders in all categories… Interested friends are making arrangements with the Atlantic for another reprint of the Gellhorn article to be sent to all 53,000 persons whose names appear in Who's Who in America…Our Committee is now planning articles for the women's magazines for the trade and business publications." http://www.irmep.org/09101961AZC.pdf

Pressure campaigns (excerpt): "It can be said that the press of the nation…has by and large shown sympathy and understanding of Israel's position. There are, of course, exceptions, notably the Scripps-Howard chain where we still need to achieve a 'break-through,' the Pulliam chain (where some progress has been made) and some locally-owned papers." http://www.irmep.org/11-121960AZC.pdf

Magazine Committee achievements (excerpt): "We cannot pinpoint all that has already been accomplished by this Committee except to say that it has been responsible for the writing and placement of articles on Israel in some of America's leading magazines...." http://www.IRmep.org/10301962_AZC.pdf

According to Grant F. Smith, director of IRmep, "It is frightening how easily some in the American news media surrendered to a foreign public relations campaign that spent the 2010 equivalent of $36 million over two years. Time has proven most of the planted content to be misleading, if not dangerous. These historical documents hold many important lessons for Americans who have long needed—but rarely received—straight reporting on key Middle East issues."

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. It retains 1%-3% of the most important documents of business conducted by the United States Federal government. The Israel Lobby Archive, http://IRmep.org/ila is a unit of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington.

Source: Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy

Equatorial Guinea: First anti-corruption trial of its size comes to an end

Source: Republic of Equatorial Guinea

The African news service News 24 today reported that a court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced 11 people up to 21 years in prison for the embezzlement of almost euro 4 million worth of public funds.

News 24 reported that defendants in the anti-corruption trial included a Member of the Parliament of Equatorial Guinea, as well employees of the Sociedad General de Banco en Guinea Ecuatorial (SGBGE) bank and the Finance Ministry of Equatorial Guinea.

News 24 reports that the verdicts brought an end to the first anti-corruption trial of its size in Equatorial Guinea.

Religion: Court rules it is unconstitutional for a Cross to be used as memorial to fallen Utah Highway Patrol officers

The Anti-Defamation League today welcomed an opinion by the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the cross is a Christian religious symbol and that it is unconstitutional for a state to allow its placement with a prominent government seal on public land as a memorial to fallen Utah Highway Patrol officers.

Nina Simone Grotch, Interim Regional Director, said:

This case forced the appeals court to rule on a bizarre question: Is the cross an inherently Christian symbol, or can it be merely a generic symbol representing death? The fact that a lower court had found that the cross was a generic symbol of death was as deeply troubling as it was historically inaccurate and offensive to both Christians and non-Christians alike.

With its decision, the Court of Appeals corrected this critical error. We are pleased that the court reaffirmed the common-sense notion that a cross is a religious symbol and found that, as a consequence, its display on public land with an official seal by the state of Utah was unconstitutional.

Of course, we are mindful that this case involves the placement of crosses along public highways by the Utah Highway Patrol Association, a private organization acting with the permission of the State of Utah, to memorialize officers who fell in the line of duty. We hope that a more fitting symbol can be found to honor their sacrifice.

The case is American Atheists v. Duncan. As part of a coalition, ADL submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the cross is a long-standing religious symbol, cannot be interpreted as a secular symbol, and that the State's displays in this case show a governmental religious preference in violation of the First Amendment.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Source: Anti-Defamation League

Youth issues: Youth urged to use their voices to promote understanding

The second annual Global Model United Nations conference, bringing together hundreds of students from more than 60 countries, wrapped up in the Malaysian capital today with a call by a senior official from the world body for greater dialogue and understanding.

During the five-day event in Kuala Lumpur, participants took on the role of foreign diplomats and held simulated meetings of UN multilateral bodies, including an emergency Security Council session at this year’s conference, whose theme was “Towards an Alliance of Civilizations: Bridging Cultures to achieve Peace and Development.”

The ideas generated at the event will feed into other international forums in the coming months, including those organized by the UN Alliance of Civilizations, set up under UN auspices in 2005 to promote better cross-cultural relations worldwide.

At the closing of the latest conference, Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, lauded students for “[debating] ways to diffuse religious and political extremism,” as well as for discussing ways to tackle and prevent conflicts.

“In all of this, you have seen that the issues and challenges that nations face today cut across borders, religions and cultures,” he added.

“But, most importantly, you have discovered, working together, that finding sustainable and long-term solutions to these complex problems requires persistence, open dialogue and respect for different perspectives.”

Mr. Akasaka encouraged the students to continue creating and maintaining networks linking people from across borders on issues affecting young people.

“Remember: the United Nations needs your imagination, your ideas, your initiatives and your dynamic energy,” the official said. “I assure you that you will not regret your life-long engagement with the UN.”

Last week, the world body launched the International Year of Youth, stressing the need to harness the talents and energy of the world’s young people to promote better understanding and dialogue between different generations, cultures and religions.

Dialogue and mutual understanding is the theme of the Year, which kicked off on 12 August, observed annually as International Youth Day.

Several hundred Model UN conferences are organized each year at all educational levels from primary school to university. While preparing for the conference, students develop leadership skills and research, writing, public speaking and problem-solving skills that they can use throughout their lives. In addition, participation also encourages consensus building, conflict resolution and cooperation and the enhancement of leadership skills.

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