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Children’s novel tells Taliban tale LONDON, Nov 1: Parents and teachers struggling to explain the war in Afghanistan can call on a new novel to help children. ...more
Sharjah
offers guide SHARJAH (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES), Nov 1: Western and Arab women in Bikinis drink beer and groove to loud disco music at luxury beach hotels..more Bomb Taliban frontlines, Afghan envoy pleads LONDON, Nov 1: A brother of assassinated Afghan guerrilla chief Ahmed Shah Masood disparaged the US bombing of. .....more Most
Sept 11 hijackers WASHINGTON, Nov 1: The United States has vowed to tighten its visa procedures, saying most of the suicide hijackers ....more |
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Moroccan female MADRUD/RABAT, Nov 1: At a time when many people identify Islamic radicalism with ......more Atom
watchdog VIENNA, Nov 1: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the.......more
Anthrax,
other attack WASHINGTON, Nov 1: US Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the risk of an anthrax or other terrorist attack has yet to . ....more France, Russia back India for Permanent Security Council seat UNITED NATIONS, Nov 1: Terming India as "strong and worthy", several countries, including France, Russia, Armenia and ........more |
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Children’s novel tells Taliban tale LONDON, Nov 1: Parents and teachers struggling to explain the war in Afghanistan can call on a new novel to help children picture life under the Taliban. Billed as the only children’s novel on the subject, "the breadwinner" follows 11-year-old Parvana as she struggles to support her family while avoiding beatings, bombings and death by starvation. "The breadwinner’ is a powerful depiction of life under the Taliban regime, told honestly and directly, in a way children will really understand," the book’s publishers said. Aimed at nine to 12-year-olds, the work depicts Parvana masquerading as a boy — Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban rulers say women must stay home unless accompanied by a male relative — as she gathers food for her starving family and struggles to survive in the war-torn country after her father’s arrest. "Bombs had been part of parvana’s whole life. Every day, every night, rockets would fall out of the sky, and someone’s house would explode," reads one passage in the book, by Canadian author Deborah Ellis. "When the bombs fell, people ran. First they ran one way, then they ran another, trying to find a place where the bombs wouldn’t find them." The book was written before the current conflict. Oxford University Press said it rushed publication after parents, teachers and librarians said they struggled to answer children’s questions in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "Our reps at bookstores told us there has been enormous demand for books like this to help parents explain to their children what they were seeing on television," said Catherine Stokes, Oxford University Press Marketing Manager. A US-led military strike on Afghanistan is under way to force the Taliban to hand over Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden, Washington’s prime suspect for the attacks on New York and Washington. Children who might be dazed by blanket media coverage of the conflict can now get a fictional rendition of life in Kabul through the book, which will be published today. The publisher said Ellis, a 41-year-old counsellor in Toronto, had paid frequent visits to refugee camps in Pakistan during Afghanistan’s 20 years of conflict. On one trip, Ellis heard of a girl who had cut off her hair, put on boy’s clothes and worked in a market to support her mother and sisters — just like the heroine in the breadwinner. "The girl’s mother and sister told me that a lot of girls were doing this," Ellis said. "Their fathers and brothers were killed or imprisoned, and they have to go out and earn money to support their families." Stokes said Ellis steered clear of politics but did not shield readers from the harsher aspects of life in Afghanistan, where women and girls must be covered from head to foot. In the novel, Parvana must avoid landmines and suffer beatings from the Taliban. "We owe it to our children to be honest about the world and to provide them with material written specially for them," Ellis said in a statement. (REUTERS) |
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Sharjah offers guide to west-Islam balancing act SHARJAH (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES), Nov 1: Western and Arab women in Bikinis drink beer and groove to loud disco music at luxury beach hotels in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai — a scene that would enrage Muslim militants like Osama Bin Laden. But a 30-minute drive away is what could be the answer for pro-western Arab Governments struggling to contain conservative Islamists — Sharjah. Sharjah has its own formula for resolving an old problem for Arab leaders that took on huge dimensions after the September 11 attacks — how to keep close links to the west without unleashing the fury of Islamists at home. On the surface, it appears Bin Laden and his followers could find a sympathetic ear in conservative Sharjah, one of seven Emirates in the United Arab Emirates, a major oil producer and a US ally. "The Taliban is good. Americans will die in Afghanistan. They are finished," said an Afghan labourer outside one of Sharjah’s many mosques, his friends nodding in agreement. While that type of sentiment has in the past led to bombings of Americans in neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia, Sharjah’s unique approach allows people to let off steam, analysts and residents here say. "It is the right blend of traditional Islam and some western influences but not too many. I work in Dubai but prefer to live in Sharjah," said Zafeer a Pakistani man. "We don’t like American fast food restaurants and culture but that doesn’t mean we back terrorism. My little daughter gets scared every time she sees a plane in the sky". Sharjah’s Islamist ruler, Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al-Qassimi, has opened the door to western businesses — from Europe to the Ukraine — but not enough to undermine local culture. Sheikh Sultan, described as a renowned man of letters on a Sharjah internet site, has taken measures to counter what he sees as corrupting western influences. Sharjah is the only UAE Emirate that bans alcohol completely and has issued a decree ordering women to wear modest clothes. Men must keep away from places specified for women. At the same time, Sheikh Sultan has promoted music, painting, sculpture and literature, with an emphasis on Islamic and Arab heritage. It is seen as one of the cultural capitals of the Arab world. Sharjah’s strategy has kept at bay Islamists who are fiercely opposed to the western cultural invasion of nearby Emirates and cities across the Arab world, analysts said. "It is just the right combination," said Abdel Khalek Abdullah, a Political Science Professor at Emirates University. But Sharjah has not always been free of turmoil. Straddling the interior of the Arabian Peninsula which runs north towards the strait of Hormuz, it has neither the vast oil wealth of UAE capital Abu Dhabi nor the commercial success of glitzy Dubai. Sharjah was rocked by a coup attempt in 1987 in which Abu Dhabi and Dubai — the Federation’s most powerful states — backed opposite sides, exacerbating tensions between them. While Dubai has lured foreigners and their cash with its liberal economy, rumours have swirled for years that gulf oil power Saudi Arabia was pumping money into cash-strapped Sharjah to impose its Austere Qahhabi brand of Islam. Those reports concern diplomats, who believe the policy could create fertile ground for Islamic militants if Sharjah’s balancing act does not last. (REUTERS) |
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Bomb Taliban frontlines, Afghan envoy pleads LONDON, Nov 1: A brother of assassinated Afghan guerrilla chief Ahmed Shah Masood disparaged the US bombing of his country as a "waste of time", but said a recent switch to targeting Taliban frontlines had encouraged him. Ahmad Wali Masood, who heads the London Embassy of the Afghan Government ousted by the Taliban in 1996, also criticised UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for including in his team a man he described as biased in favour of the ruling Taliban. Masood said that Washington had until recently pursued a mistaken strategy of bombing Taliban targets in cities and easily replaceable training camps of Osama Bin Laden in the hope of promoting an anti-Taliban rising among the Pashtun majority. "It was a waste of time," he told Reuters yesterday. "They should only have bombed the frontlines and coordinated with US 100 percent. If they’d done so, we would have seen a major result by now." Masood said coordination had now improved in the past few days and the emphasis had shifted to the battle fronts, away from urban areas where civilian casualties were inevitable. Forces of the opposition Northern Alliance had made little headway, partly because the Taliban had sent reinforcements to the front, calculating they would be safe from US bombs there. "They have also laid thousands of mines and brought up many heavy guns," he said. "But if Taliban lines are really hit hard, our forces are ready to go on the offensive." US warplanes carpet-bombed the Taliban front line north of the Afghan capital kabul for the first time on Wednesday, taking advantage of better information, partly supplied by a small number of American ground troops now inside the country. The United States said this week it had a small number of ground troops in Afghanistan to liaise with Northern Alliance leaders and provide intelligence to the attackers. A growing number of civilian casualties in the air war has angered Muslims across the world, put US allies in the region on edge and appeared to be hurting public support. Masood reiterated that alliance forces, commanded by his brother until his assassination two days before the September 11 attacks on the United States, would stay out of Kabul to avoid reigniting civil war based on ethnic cleavages. "We are hoping to achieve a consensus among all the different parties on a transitional Government of national unity to oversee a period in which a constitution is drafted and a loya jirga (tribal assembly) is called," Masood said. A vital task for the transitional Government would be to conduct a population census so that all Afghans of whatever ethnic origin would be fairly represented in the Loya Jirga. A unity council that the Northern Alliance and the former king Zahir Shah had agreed to set up would determine the shape and form of the transitional Government. The Taliban are strongest in the mainly Pashtun South. Most of their foes are minority Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. Masood argued that Afghanistan’s traditionally dominant Pashtun tribes had to be included in any post-Taliban future, but that did not imply a futile search for Taliban "moderates". "No one can find moderate taliban. The Taliban can’t represent the Pashtun, though Pakistan wants to mix the two." He said Islamabad’s "greatest crime" was to fuel ethnic rivalry in Afghanistan, but this could be defused through a democratic process and possibly a federal formula for a country which few Central Governments have been able fully to control. "If a region like Kandahar wants to be ruled by Mullah Omar or Taliban elements, that’s all right, but not by force." Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the hardline Islamist movement, is a main target for US strikes, along with Bin Laden, accused of being behind the September 11 attacks. Masood said the United Nations could play the most important role in post-Taliban political arrangements, provided it picked a team that was beyond suspicion and operated with the support of the international community, not just the United States. "The least they can do is supervise the transitional Government, the democratic process and reconstruction. If they can do peacekeeping too, they are welcome," he said. But he voiced doubts about the suitability of Brahimi, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special envoy, saying that during an earlier attempt to broker peace, he had dismissed assurances from Northern Alliance leaders that they were ready for peace. Masood took exception to the inclusion of Ashraf Ghani in Brahimi’s present entourage. "This man...Has always been totally pro-Taliban and against US," he said. Annan’s spokesman Fred Eckhard announced on Monday that Brahimi had seconded ghani to his team from the World Bank. Ghani, described by Eckhard as "an expert on Afghanistan who is himself also an Afghan", is a US-based academic who, in a recent article, said the United Nations and the United States should keep Pakistan’s interests in Afghanistan in mind. "Pakistan should have no role in choosing Afghanistan’s future leaders, but its interests must be respected," Ghani Co-wrote in the wall street journal with Barnett Rubin. "The US and the UN must assure that future Afghan Governments work with Islamabad on developing their frontier into a zone of mutual cooperation," Ghani and Rubin declared. (REUTERS) |
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Most Sept 11 hijackers got visas in Saudi Arabia WASHINGTON, Nov 1: The United States has vowed to tighten its visa procedures, saying most of the suicide hijackers who killed about 5,000 people in the attacks of September 11 entered the country with papers obtained from US missions in Saudi Arabia. "There were, I think, 19 people identified as suspects, terrorists, in these hijackings. We know that 15 of them applied for visas in Saudi Arabia," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States was always reviewing its visa policy so as to remain an open society, but one that could protect itself. "We’re now working with all of the intelligence agencies in the country and law enforcement agencies ... So that we have a common database that will allow our consular officers to do their job," Powell said. The news could present a challenge to relations with Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, which have already been tested by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Critics of Saudi Arabia in the United States say it has been too soft on "terrorism", an argument fueled by the presence of several apparently Saudi names on the list of suspects, though it is unclear if the attackers were using their real names. On the other hand Muslim clerics denounce Riyadh’s support for US military strikes in Afghanistan and the long-standing presence of US forces on its soil. The removal of the troops is one of the demands of Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden, who is blamed with his Al Qaeda network for the September 11 attacks. Riyadh has given its backing to the military campaign while at the same time urging a swift end to the air strikes. From the US perspective, the fact that nine of the named suspects came in legally on student visas had already helped spark a major shake-up of immigration policies. Boucher said only six of the 19 suspects were interviewed by consular officers about their visa applications. In many countries including Saudi Arabia, procedures usually allow for applicants to be interviewed if they are third-country nationals, first-time applicants or if they do not clearly qualify for a visa, Boucher said. Under a system called "visa express," other applications can be processed without interviews. "These processes of interview by exception are being maintained, but consular officers around the world have been instructed to be more careful," Boucher said. Boucher said he did not know how many of the visa applicants were Saudi citizens and noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigations had not yet resolved the issue of whether the attackers used aliases. He said the rejection rate for visa applicants in Saudi Arabia was very low because most Saudis were traveling for pleasure or business, or because they had substantial assets or reasons to return to Saudi Arabia. (REUTERS) |
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Moroccan female fundamentalist challenges Osama Bin Laden MADRUD/RABAT, Nov 1: At a time when many people identify Islamic radicalism with presumed Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden, Moroccan Nadia Yassine gives fundamentalism a strikingly different face. Wearing a tight headscarf and loose clothing, the 42-year-old spokeswoman of the Islamic movement Al Adl Wal Ihsane (justice and spirituality) looks like a traditional Moslem woman, but often sounds like a western feminist. Speaking perfect French and joking with journalists while her husband quietly serves tea, the university-educated mother of four dismisses Bin Laden as a "son of Islam who has got lost" and who has totally missed out on the essence of Islam. The real Islam is tolerant of other religions, is perfectly compatible with women’s rights from divorce to contraception, and can learn from the western parliamentary system, Yassine told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA. Nadia Yassine is internationally one of the best-known women in morocco. As spokesperson for the movement founded by her father, Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine, 73, she has received countless journalists at her home in sale, twin town of the capital rabat. "We are the only real opposition in Morocco," Nadia Yassine keeps repeating, and analysts agree that the country’s biggest Non-Parliamentary Islamic Movement represents at least something of a challenge to the ruling class. Claiming to speak for the oppressed, justice and spirituality -which is still technically illegal - wields influence especially on university campuses and in city slums. Observers estimate that up to 20 per cent of Moroccans support fundamentalist ideas. Nadia Yassine explains that justice and spirituality shuns elections because it fears a repetition of the tragedy in Algeria, where the electoral success of Islamic radicals sparked a bloody civil conflict. Islam is a totally pacific religion, and people such as Bin Laden tarnish the reputation of other fundamentalist groups which follow a completely different path, she complains. Many educated middle-class Moroccans see justice and spirituality as a backward movement, yet Nadia Yassine believes that Islam holds the keys to the progress that the country yearns for. Neither Iran, nor Saudi Arabia nor Afghanistan provide an example to follow, because nobody has yet managed to create a state faithful to the principles of Islam, she explains. An Islamic state could learn from the west in creating a truly representative democracy, but would not separate religion from politics and would create its own model instead of aping the west, Yassine stresses. She took part in a huge march against a plan by the Moroccan Government to improve the judicial status of women, yet she claims that Prophet Mohammed was a feminist. "I only opposed the plan because it focused on irrelevant things, such as the right of women to get passports without permission from their husbands, when most Moroccan women could not even dream of travelling abroad." Yassine explains that 20 per cent of the members of the leading organs of justice and spirituality are women. She finds the recent presence of Moroccan politicians at a memorial service for the American victims of the September 11 terror attacks inappropriate, not because it took place in a church - "I would go to a church or synagogue any time" - but because "morocco has become a US base." Nadia Yassine gives justice and spirituality a progressive face, but aren’t most of its supporters conservatives who disagree with her ideas? "I’m not saying that everyone in the movement thinks like me, but the movement is also seeking to educate people and to change their thinking," she replies. "My Moslem brothers are perfectly happy for a woman to speak for the movement," says this lively woman who has undoubtedly earned justice and spirituality a lot of additional publicity. (DPA) |
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Atom watchdog sees greater nuclear terrorism risk VIENNA, Nov 1: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the ruthlessness of the September 11 attacks on the United States showed that an act of nuclear terrorism was "far more likely" than previously thought. "The willingness of terrorists to sacrifice their lives to achieve their evil aims creates a new dimension in the fight against terrorism," IAEA Director General Mohamed Elbaradei told journalists in Vienna yesterday. Elbaradei, whose Vienna-based UN agency sets world standards for nuclear security, said the concern was no longer limited to the possibility of Governments diverting nuclear materials into clandestine weapons programmes. "Now we have been alerted to the potential of terrorists targeting nuclear facilities or using radioactive sources to incite panic, contaminate property and even cause injury or death among civilian populations," he said. Experts from around the world have gathered at the IAEA’s headquarters this week to discuss security. In the light of the September 11 attacks, they have added an extra session on Friday devoted solely to the issue of nuclear terrorism. Elbaradei called on countries around the world to take a careful inventory of the security risks at their nuclear power plants and other facilities and to spend the money necessary to ensure that they can prevent or withstand terrorist attacks. Although there are no confirmed cases of terrorists using a nuclear weapon, Elbaradei said there was concern at reports that some militant groups had attempted to acquire nuclear material. These included Al Qaeda, the group run by Osama Bin Laden and blamed by Washington for the attacks on the United States. Since 1993, there have been 175 known cases of trafficking in nuclear material and 201 cases of trafficking in other radioactive sources, such as those used for medical or industrial purposes. But only 18 of these cases have actually involved highly enriched Uranium or plutonium, the material needed to produce an atomic bomb. The iaea believes the quantities involved to be insufficient to construct a nuclear explosive device. "However, any such materials in illicit commerce and conceivably accessible to terrorist groups is deeply troubling," Elbaradei said. The IAEA estimates that there has been a sixfold increase in nuclear material in peaceful programmes worldwide since 1970. There are 438 nuclear power reactors around the world, 651 research reactors, of which 284 are in operation, and 250 fuel cycle plants, including uranium mills and plants that convert, enrich, store and re-process nuclear material. Additionally, tens of thousands of radiation sources are used in medicine, industry, agriculture and research. While the level of security at nuclear facilities is generally considered to be very high, the IAEA believes the security of medical and industrial radiation sources is disturbingly weak in some countries. "The controls on nuclear material and radioactive sources are uneven," said Elbaradei. "Security is as good as its weakest link and loose nuclear material in any country is a potential threat to the entire world." While the IAEA is concerned about the threat of nuclear terrorism, Elbaradei said that it would be easy to exaggerate the consequences of an attack on a nuclear plant. "Nuclear facilities are perhaps the strongest, most robust industrial structures in the world," he said, though he added that none had been designed to withstand the kind of attacks that brought down New York’s World Trade Center. He said the soundness of nuclear facilities had been demonstrated in US experiments in which a military jet was slammed into a concrete and steel structure identical to that of a nuclear power plant. The structure held. Nevertheless, security at all nuclear plants must be kept tight: "after September 11, we realised that nuclear facilities — like dams, refineries, chemical production facilities or skyscrapers —have their vulnerabilities," Elbaradei said. "There is no sanctuary any more, no safety zone." (REUTERS) |
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Anthrax, other attack threats unabated, says John Ashcroft WASHINGTON, Nov 1: US Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the risk of an anthrax or other terrorist attack has yet to abate and he urged that 46 groups be designated as terrorist organizations. "We simply have an environment in which threats exist," said Ashcroft yesterday, who two days ago warned of possible additional terrorist attacks against the United States or US interests over the next week. "I wish I could turn the clock back to before September 11. I wish that we didn’t have to talk about threats," said Ashcroft, the top US law enforcement official in charge of the investigation into the attacks and spread of anthrax. "I can’t say that people have any right to think that the risks have abated, as it relates either to anthrax or other terrorists risks," he told a news conference. "I believe that we still have to ask the people to be alert." Since September 11, when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing about 4,800 people, there have been 16 confirmed cases of anthrax, including four deaths in Florida, Washington, DC, and New York. Ashcroft said authorities were continuing to investigate the latest death, a New York hospital worker who died on Wednesday from inhaled anthrax in a mysterious case that has baffled authorities. "We’re not able to announce conclusions," he said. Ashcroft’s Justice Department has yet to bring any criminal charges against those who may have helped in the September 11 attacks or the spate of recent anthrax cases. Asked whether any progress had been made in tracking down the source of the anthrax, Ashcroft replied, "we don’t have progress to report at this time." Ashcroft also said he was asking Secretary of State Colin Powell to designate 46 groups as terrorist organizations under an anti-terrorism law that took effect on Friday. He said all of the groups have committed or planned violent terrorists acts or serve as fronts for terrorist organizations. Ashcroft said the groups included those linked to the Al Qaeda network led by Saudi born-dissident Osama Bin Laden, who the United States has called the prime suspect behind the September 11 attacks. He said the assets of these groups already have been frozen by the US Government. Ashcroft said designating the groups as terrorist organizations will allow the US Government to prevent those who are affiliated with them from entering the United States. It will also make it easier to deport aliens who support, give money to or work with the terrorist groups, he said. In an explanation of the latest move, a justice department official said: "We don’t have to let people in who think it’s their duty to kill Americans." He said it would be valuable if the United States could manage to remove even a small number of people who had ties to terrorist organizations. Ashcroft said Deputy Assistant FBI Director Steven McCraw would head up a "foreign terrorist tracking task force," a federal Government group whose creation was announced by President George W Bush two days ago. McCraw said the group’s mandate was to keep terrorists and those who support them out of the United States, and "secondly, if they’ve made it into the United States, to find them, those would-be terrorists, to find them, their supporters, and get them out of the United States." (REUTERS) |
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France, Russia back India for Permanent Security Council seat UNITED NATIONS, Nov 1: Terming India as "strong and worthy", several countries, including France, Russia, Armenia and Vietnam, have strongly backed its candidature for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council as the General Assembly debated the expansion and equitable representation of the 15-member council. It was first time that France and Armenia have come out with open and firm support for the India’s candidature. Addressing the General Assembly yesterday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey A Ordzhonikidze described India as a "strong and worthy" candidate from Asia for the permanent membership of Council. There are also other strong candidates in other regions, he said but he did not name them. Expressing similar views, French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte strongly supported India’s candidature, along with that of Japan, for the permanent membership of the Council. He also supported India’s stand against any piecemeal expansion of the Council as suggested by some developed nations. The developing nations fear that in case of piecemeal approach, Japan and Germany may join the Council while the representation of other regions is put on the backburner. Stressing the expansion should "necessarily embrace both developed and developing countries", he said India would be a strong candidate for the permanent membership. Armenian representative Arman Jkopian said India deserved to be seriously considered as a candidate for permanent membership of the Council. Akopian said "we believe that the new permanent members must have the ability and readiness to contribute both financially and politically to the United Nations activities." In this context, he said his country supported the candidature of Japan, Germany and India for the permanent seats on the expanded Council. Calling for expansion of both permanent and non-permanent categories on the Council, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Chau strongly supported candidatures of India, Japan and Germany for the permanent membership. The Vietnamese Ambassador said as most of the cases under the review of the Council concerning developing nations, it is essential that developing countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean should be represented on the Council. "It is reasonable that new permanent seats should be allocated to industrialised countries that are willing to undertake greater commitment to the work of the united nations," he said. He also supported abolition of Veto and said till that happens, it should be used with restraint. Ordzhonikidze rejected the suggestion by some member states that power of Veto — which permanent members China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States enjoy — should be diluted. "There should be no derogation from prerogatives and powers of the current permanent members of the Council, including the right to veto. The unjustified criticism of the institution of Veto only stirs up unnecessary emotions but in no way facilitates the achievement of the desired agreement on the parameters on the reform of the Council," he said. (PTI) |
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