Mysterious ‘Chip’ is CIA’s Latest Weapon Against al-Qaeda Targets Hiding in Pakistan’s Tribal Belt

by

The CIA is equipping Pakistani tribesmen with secret electronic transmitters to help target and kill al-Qaida leaders in the north-western tribal belt, in a tactic that could aid Pakistan’s army as it takes the battle against extremism to the Taliban heartland.

As the army mops up Taliban resistance in the Swat valley, where a defence official predicted fighting would be over within days, the focus is shifting to Waziristan and the Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud.

Declan Walsh: ‘Microchips are the talk of the town in tribal areas’ Link to this audio

But a deadly war of wits is already under way in the region, where tribesmen say the US is using advanced technology and old-fashioned cash to target the enemy.

Over the last 18 months the US has launched more than 50 drone attacks, mostly in south and north Waziristan. US officials claim nine of the top 20 al-Qaida figures have been killed.

That success is reportedly in part thanks to the mysterious electronic devices, dubbed “chips” or “pathrai” (the Pashto word for a metal device), which have become a source of fear, intrigue and fascination.

“Everyone is talking about it,” said Taj Muhammad Wazir, a student from south Waziristan. “People are scared that if a pathrai comes into your house, a drone will attack it.”

According to residents and Taliban propaganda, the CIA pays tribesmen to plant the electronic devices near farmhouses sheltering al-Qaida and Taliban commanders.

Hours or days later, a drone, guided by the signal from the chip, destroys the building with a salvo of missiles. “There are body parts everywhere,” said Wazir, who witnessed the aftermath of a strike.

Until now the drone strikes were the only threat to militants in Waziristan, where the Pakistani army had, in effect, abandoned the fight.

But now, emboldened by a successful campaign to drive militants out of Swat, a region about 80 miles from Islamabad, the army is preparing to regain lost ground in the more remote tribal belt.

It will be a much tougher campaign than in Swat, with the army pitched against a formidable, battle-hardened opponent. Yesterday Taliban fighters ambushed a military position in what could be a prelude to much more intense combat.

For the US military, drones have proved to be an effective weapon against al-Qaida targets, and they are becoming increasingly accurate.

On 1 January a drone-fired missile killed Usama al-Kimi, a Kenyan militant who orchestrated last year’s Marriott hotel bombing in Islamabad, a senior official with Pakistan’s ISI spy agency said.

It is a high-tech assassination operation for one of the world’s most remote areas.

The pilotless aircraft, Predators or more sophisticated Reapers, take off from a base in Baluchistan province.

But they are guided by a joystick-wielding operator half a world away, at a US air force base 35 miles north of Las Vegas.

Barack Obama has approved the drone campaign, which is cheap and limits the danger posed to US troops. But the strikes have many unintended victims. A Pakistani newspaper estimated that 700 people had been killed since 2006, most of them civilians, as a result of drone attacks.

For the tribesmen who plant the microchips and get it wrong, the consequences can be terrible. Last month the Taliban issued a video confession by Habib ur Rehman, 19. “They money was good,” he said in a quavering voice, describing how he was paid 20,000 rupees (£166) to drop microchips hidden in a cigarette wrapper at the home of a target.

Rehman said his handler promised thousands of pounds if the strike was successful, and protection if he was caught. The end of the video showed Rehman being shot dead with three other alleged spies. Residents say such executions – there have been at least 100 – indicate how much the drone strikes have worried the Taliban.

In Wana, the capital of south Waziristan, foreign fighters are shunning the bazaars and shops, and locals are shunning the fighters. “Before, the common people used to sit with the militants,” said Wazir. “Now they are also afraid.

Paranoid militant commanders are closely monitoring cross-border traffic with Afghanistan, from where they suspect the chip-carrying CIA spies are coming, said Imtiaz Wazir, a resident of Spin Wam village in north Waziristan. “If I go to Afghanistan without any purpose, the militants come to ask why,” he said.

A local transporter named Haji Hamid who gave the wrong answer, he said, was found shot dead two months ago, his legs and fingers broken.

The drone strikes are despised across Pakistan, where politicians including President Asif Ali Zardari denounce them as a breach of sovereignty. But behind the scenes his government is quietly colluding with Washington.

A former CIA officer who served in Waziristan in 2006 said that small American teams comprising CIA agents, radio experts and special forces soldiers are stationed inside Pakistani military bases across the tribal belt.

From there, the CIA recruits a network of paid, and sometimes unwitting, informers – known as “cut-outs” – to help identify targets, he added. In most cases they are poor local men.

Ironically, support for the drone strikes is strongest in the frontier, especially among embattled security officials. “They are very precise, very effective, and the Taliban and al-Qaida dread them,” said the provincial police chief, Malik Naveed Khan, with undisguised admiration. The strikes have caused friction between the US and the ISI, which would like America to give it control over the new technology. “The problem with the Americans is that the only instrument up their sleeve is the hammer, and they see everything as a nail,” said a senior official.

The ISI resents the US for failing to target Mehsud, whose deputy claimed for last week’s Lahore attack that killed at least 24 people, including an ISI colonel.
But as the army prepares to attack South Waziristan, with broad public support, the warlord’s luck may be running out. Authorities in North West Frontier Province are preparing for up to 500,000 refugees, added to 2.5 million displaced by operations in Swat.

Mehsud faces other challenges, too. Rival militant groups, with army support, are challenging his dominance in South Waziristan.

And he faces the ever-present danger that some visitor could drop a “pathrai” at his doorstep, and bring an American drone with it.

* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

Obituary: Hanif Akhgar

by

By Afzal Usmani

Jo hai Taazgi meri zaat mein, wahi zikr-o-fikr chaman mein hai
Ke wajood mera kaheen bhi ho, meri rooh mere watan mein hai

Hanif Akhgar Malihabadi

hanifAkhgar The last symbol of the Jigar Muradabadi school of Urdu ghazal, and the flag bearer of Urdu ghazal in North America, Hanif Akhgar Malihabadi, is no longer with us.

He died on 31st May, 2009 at his residence in Dallas, Texas. His sad demise has created a vacuum in the entire Urdu world. He was a classical poet of ghazal and his ghazals were an extension of Jigara Muradabadi and Asghar Gondvi.

Syed Muhammad Hanif Akhgar Malihabadi was born on September 3rd, 1928, in the family of Qazi Syed Muhammad Shareef ‘Asar Kasmandvi’ and Mohtarma Raziun-Nisa Begum in the town of Malihabad, close to Lucknow in undivided India.

He completed his primary education in Malihabad and finished his “Munshi-Fazil” from Sulaimania College in Bhopal. On 29th December, 1950, his family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan.

Hanif Akhgar completed his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Institute of Business Administration, University of Karachi. He also completed his Diploma in Industrial Financing from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London.  He joined the United Nations (UN) as International Civil Servant (I.C.S.) in 1971 and served in different parts of world and retired on May 2nd, 1989 as Division Chief of the United Nations Capital Development Fund Division for Asia Pacific, Latin America and Arab States and settled down in New York with his family. He was also a permanent representative of World Assembly of small and medium Enterprises (WASME) in United Nations at New York.

Syed Muhammad Hanif became Syed Muhammad Hanif “Akhgar” at a very young age when he won 1st prize in a `Tarahi-Mushaira` at Amir-ud-Daulah Islamia College in 1945. Hanif Akhgar was perhaps the last of the quintessentially romantic poets in the tradition of Jigar Murabadabadi and Asghar Gondvi, and none among the  huge range of South Asian poets in North America and the western countries even came close to his stature. His reputation had gone far beyond  these shores and he was considered a mature and seasoned poet in South Asia and all the countries where people who speak Urdu and understand and love Urdu poetry reside. His booming and captivating ‘Lahan’ absolutely  enthralled and mesmerized his audiences.

Hanif Akhgar Malihabadi A deeply religious man, his eyes would often become moist when he recited his naats. He was by far the most beloved and admired poet among all those who  came from India/Pakistan and those from North America who participated in  the Mushairas of The Federation of Aligarh Alumni Associations across the US.

He will be sorely missed by all who care about the future of Urdu poetry.  Urdu poetry was his passion and his first collection of Ghazal “Chiragaa(n) “ was published in 1989. In 1997, his second collection “Khayaabaa(n)” was published. His last book came as collection of “Naat”, as Khalq-eMujassam in 2003.  He also completed his Autobiography, Aetraaf-wa-Inkashaf. He attended Almi Urdu Conference at New Delhi and received Khawaja Meer Dard Award. Since 1975, when the Aligarh Alumni Association of Washington DC started organizing Mushaira in the DC area, he has been a regular participant of the annual Mushaira of Aligarh Alumni Association of Washington DC. On several occasions he chaired Qaid-e-Azam Mushaira of Karachi, Pakistan and other major mushaira in and outside of North America. Aligarh Alumni Associations of Arizona, Northern California, Houston, and San Antonio invited him for their annual Mushaira on several occasions. He also started “Halqa-e-Adab” in New York area and organized several literary events and Mushaira.

Wherever he had visited, his poetry and his sweet and humble personality made a huge fan and followings. He was a regular to the annual mushairas of Aligarh Alumni Association of New York, Washington DC, and quite often in Greater Chicago and Northern California.

Due to some health issues, Hanif Akhgar moved to Dallas Texas in 2007 and since then he was living Dallas Texas till his last breath. He left behind, his wife, seven daughters and 4 son and number of grandson and grand daughters. His sad demised will be felt for a long time among the Urdu lovers in the continent of America and all across the Urdu speaking world.

Janaza prayers were held after dhuhr prayer on June 1st 2009 at Richardson Mosque in Richardson Texas and buried to Richardson cemetery.

11-24

Obituary–Shaykh Tajuddin Shoaib

by

It is with sadness the Shura Council received the news of sad demise of Shaykh Tajuddin Shoaib the morning of Tuesday, June 2nd in Los Angeles. He passed away leaving behind five children and his wife.

He was an Imam, Educator and a Scholar of Islam serving Allah and his Deen for more than two decades in Southern California.

We ask Allah to bless him in his eternal life Hereafter and grant his grieving family with much patience for their irrevocable loss, said Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman of the Shura Council, who was with the grieving family at the time of his death in a hospital in Los Angeles.

The burial will take place in Palmdale.

Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Rajeeon – Indeed, to Him we all belong and to Him we all return.

11-24

Contributions of Islamic Astronomy

by

By Ivan G. Nassar

In 1609, Galileo Galilei, Italian Mathematician, Astronomer and Physicist, credited as the inventor of the first telescope turned his instrument to the night sky and made astounding discoveries that forever changed mankind’s understanding of the grand scale structure of the Universe. To commemorate this occasion the astronomical world has dedicated the year 2009 as The International Year of Astronomy. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has initiated an effort to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe. While the astronomical world is reflecting on its highlights and achievements, it is fitting that the contributions of early Islamic astronomers receive a measure of recognition for their pioneering work.

Early religious communities had little or no tolerance for findings that conflicted with the literal interpretation of church doctrines. Witness Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish monk who proposed replacing the Ptolemaic theory which incorrectly assumed that the earth was the center of the universe and the planets revolved around it. Or consider Galileo Galilei who accepted the Copernican heliocentric design, and paid the price for his allege blasphemy of church doctrine. The inquisition in Rome forced Galileo to recant his theories and writing and he would spend the last eight years of his life under house arrest.   

Centuries before Copernicus and Galileo, in 762 CE the Abbasid dynasty took over the khalifate of the vast Muslim empire and moved the capital to Baghdad. While Europe was in the grasp of dystopia, Baghdad was a flowing fountain of knowledge with an inexcusable consortium of scholars to quench the thirst for learning. Historian called this time: ‘The Golden Age of Islam’.   

The most famous mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi, the “father” of algebra (named after his book “Kitab al-Jabr”). Was just one among a family of scholars residing at Baghdad’s great learning center: Bayt al-Hikmah (The House of Wisdom)   

Baghdad was a thriving metropolis of museums, hospitals, libraries, and mosques. Muslim scholars translated old Greek texts. The House of Wisdom attracted strong intellectual interest, as scholars; from all over, the world came to study the works of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Euclid, and Pythagoras. Over the next five centuries, much of the knowledge in the Alexandrian tradition became the springboard to the discipline of Islamic astronomy, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, literature, and more.

One of the most important astronomers and mathematicians of this time was al-Battani (c. 858-929), whose full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Jabir ibn Sinan al – Raqqi al – Harrani al – Sabi al – Battani. The works of Battan had a large influence on European Renaissance scientists such as Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus. Al-Battani wrote books on astronomy and mathematics, he’s best known for his book Kitabal-Zij. This famous book included a star catalog, trigonometric tables, solar, lunar, and planetary tables. His observations exposed the errors in Ptolemy’s Almagest of the main parameters of planetary motion.   

Abd-al-Rahman Al Sufi (December 7, 903 – May 25, 986 A.D.) a Persian astronomer and sometimes referred to as Azophi made several corrections to Ptolemy’s star list and he formulated his own brightness/magnitude estimates of stars which frequently departed from those in Ptolemy’s work. Al Sufi dedicated his book the constellations of The Fixed Stars. (Kitab suwar al-kawakib) to the Buwayhid ruler Fana Khusrau, titled Adud al-Dawla (made Emir of Iraq in 949 CE and died in 982 CE), who was a great patron of astronomy and had erected an observatory at Shiraz. Al Sufi was the first to assign Arabic nomenclature to stars and constellations, many of which have survived to this day and listed in modern scientific astronomical atlases. Al-Sufi, described and depicted in 964 AD an object, in the night sky known as the “little cloud.” This little cloud turned out to be The Andromeda Galaxy, frequently referred to as M 31 since it is the 31st object on Charles Messier list of diffuse sky objects, The celebrated French astronomer cataloged this object on August 3, 1764 obviously unaware of the Persian astronomer early reports, the French astronomer ascribed its discovery to Simon Marius.

The ancient Middle Eastern peoples undoubtedly had observed two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible in the southern hemisphere. However, the first record of it official observation was Al Sufi in 964; he called it Al Bakr, the White Ox.

European astronomers did not record this sighting til the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan. The 16th century Portuguese navigator and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects are known as the Clouds of Magellan, now understood to be satellite galaxies of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy.

The uniqueness of Islamic rule in Spain was tolerance of diversity. Muslims, Christians and Jews lived and worked together in an ambience of peaceful coexistence. There are substantial reports of influential Women competing professionally in the business world under Moorish rule. The Moors were a highly civilized people devoted to the pursuit of fairness and the transmission of knowledge.

The Moors produced astronomical tables with the 0-degree longitude reference in the Moorish capital of Cordoba, some 700 years before Great Britain convinced the world to establish the 0-degree reference at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich London to coordinate world time to the Greenwich Mean Time standard, also known as Greenwich meridian time (GMT).

Queen Isabella of Castile and King, Ferdinand 11 of Aragon achieved the conquest of Spain by, expelling the last ruler of the Moor’s from its Granada stronghold in 1492. The Catholic Monarchs set out to restore royal authority in Spain. This was a particularly bad time for non-Catholics as Isabella and Ferdinand began a reign of terror, for those who did not renounce their own religion and became a Catholic. The Monarch issued the following orders to the Jewish population: By July 1,1492 all people of the Jewish faith had to covert to the Catholic religion or leave Spain.   

Isabella and Ferdinand are most famous for authorizing the first expedition of Christopher Columbus voyage to the Americas and bestowing upon him the name “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” . This incongruous event of Columbus voyage to the new world was finance at the price of religion freedom.

“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straight-jacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and system of belief, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history.” Prince Charles, lecture at Oxford University.

11-24

Arthropods

by

tufail

An arthropod is a member of the phylum Arthropoda, the largest in the animal kingdom, which includes such familiar forms as lobsters, crabs, spiders, mites, insects, centipedes, and millipedes. About 84% of known species of animals are members of this phylum. Arthropods are represented in every habitat on Earth and show a great variety of adaptations. Several types live in aquatic environments, and others reside in terrestrial ones; some groups are even adapted for flight.

The distinguishing feature of arthropods is the presence of a jointed skeletal covering composed of chitin (a complex sugar) bound to protein. This nonliving exoskeleton is secreted by the underlying epidermis (which corresponds to the skin of other animals). Arthropods lack locomotory cilia, even in the larval stages, probably because of the presence of the exoskeleton. The body is usually segmented, and the segments bear paired, jointed appendages, from which the name arthropod (“jointed feet”) is derived. About one million arthropod species have been described, of which most are insects. This number, however, may be only a fraction of the total. Based on the number of undescribed species collected from the treetops of tropical forests, zoologists have estimated the total number of insect species alone to be as high as 10,000,000. The 30,000 described species of mites may also represent only a fraction of the existing number.

The phylum Arthropoda is commonly divided into four subphyla of extant forms: Chelicerata, Crustacea, Hexapoda, and Myriapoda. Some zoologists believe that arthropods possessing only single-branched appendages, particularly the insects, centipedes, and millipedes, evolved from a separate ancestor and therefore group them within a separate phylum—the Uniramia, or Atelocerata; however, in this treatment these forms are dispersed among several subphyla. In addition, the phylum Arthropoda contains the extinct subphylum Trilobitomorpha. This group is made up of the trilobites, the dominant arthropods in the early Paleozoic seas (542 million to 251 million years ago). Trilobites became extinct during the Permian Period (299 million to 251 million years ago) at the end of the Paleozoic Era.

The myriapods (centipedes, symphylans, millipedes, and pauropods) live beneath stones and logs and in leaf mold; insects are found in all types of terrestrial habitats and some have invaded fresh water. The sea has remained the domain of the crustaceans, however, and only at its very edges are insects found.

11-24