Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) can be a matter of great anguish to patients. When they are informed of the bleeding, extent of the problem may not be known. It could be just simple peptic ulcer or colon cancer. Only a complete work up can reveal the extent of problem. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Americans are hospitalized with a GIB and between 15,000 to 20,000 die each year from an ulcer or GI bleed related to NSAID (Ibuprofen, Aleve or Motrin) use. There are 14 million arthritis patients who use NSAID’s regularly and up to 60% may experience GI side effects. It can be from slow or undetectable to massive and life threatening.
GIB are divided between upper and lower. An upper GI bleed refers to bleeding from pharynx to end of the stomach. It can present as vomiting of blood or coffee-ground material, stomach pain, or black stools. Peptic Ulcers are most common cause of upper GIB accounting for almost 50 percent of cases mostly caused by over the counter arthritis medication. Other causes include erosion of esophagus, duodenal ulcer, or variceal bleeding secondary to liver cirrhosis or Mallory-Weiss tear (tear in the lining of esophagus) due to cough or retching. The incidence of ulcers caused by H. Pylori bacteria is decreasing.
GI B are becoming more common due to newer anti-coagulation medications that are used to treat chronic non-valvular atrial fibrillation or pulmonary embolism, or just deep venous thrombosis e.g. Dabigatran (Pradaxa) or rivaroxaban (Xarelto), and warfarin (Coumadin). Risk of bleeding with Pradaxa is increased by greater than 30% than with Coumadin. Short term medication used in the hospital for DVT prophylaxis like Lovenox or Heparin can also do that. Upper GIB is much more common than the lower GIB. Incidence of upper GI bleeding is 50 to 150 per 100,000 adults per year while lower GI bleeding is 20 to 30 per 100,000.
Lower GI bleeding refers to bleeding from the colon or the rectum. The most common cause of bleeding is diverticulosis followed by hemorrhoids, vascular ectasia, ulcer, colonic polyps or cancer. In renal failure patients, vascular ectasia is the most common cause of upper or lower GIB. Symptoms of lower GI bleeding can include fresh blood in the stool, pain on defecation, and abdominal pain. Patient will usually feel weak, tired, and pale. With rapid bleed they can have rapid heart rate, and low blood pressure. A blood test like hemoglobin can show the rate of decline specifically by comparing to previous one. CT angiography or bleeding scan can be used to determine the exact location of the bleeding.
Treatment depends on the diagnosis, location and severity of GI bleed. Most of minor bleeding stops on its own. Upper GI bleeding usually requires upper endoscopy, use of Proton Pump Inhibitors, cauterization or injection of epinephrine during the procedure to stop the bleeding or surgery in case of severe bleeding. Capsule enteroscopy is used to diagnose any mass lesion in small intestine. Most common lesion in the small intestine is vascular ectasia and tumor. Colonoscopy is the most useful in diagnosing of lower GI B. The bleeding site can be cauterized and medication can be injected to stop the bleeding. In case of mass or suspicious lesion, a biopsy can be performed at the same time. Serious bleeding requires prompt blood transfusion, urgent colonoscopy and admission to ICU. One third of the patient with bleeding ulcer will rebleed within 1-2 years. Death is usually attributed to major illnesses like cancer or cirrhosis. Mortality rates in patients admitted with a GI bleed is about 7%. Despite treatment, re-bleeding occurs in about 7-16% of those with upper GI bleeding.
Evaluation of positive occult blood test generally begins with colonoscopy, particularly in patient more than 40 years of age. If evaluation of colon is negative, then many perform upper endoscopy only if Iron deficiency anemia or upper GI symptoms are present. If both scopes are unrevealing then video capsule enteroscopy may be considered inpatient with Iron deficiency anemia.
Prevention depends on 3 main factors in ulcer pathogenesis, H.Pylori, NSAID and acid. Eradication of H. Pylori in patients with bleeding ulcers decreases rate of rebreeding to less than 5 percent. Changes of NSAID to COX-2 Inhibitor (Celebrex) or chronic use of Proton pump inhibitor in highest risk patient will be another strategy.
Conclusion: GI bleeding is a serious condition that needs to be handled in a timely fashion. GI bleeding has become more common due to common use of aspirin, arthritis medication and blood thinners. More education and close coordination with their physician is required to handle this problem efficiently.
Anis Ansari, MD Chairman, Department of Medicine Mercy Medical Center Clinton, Iowa
Former Pakistan leg-spinner bowler, and current English national team bowling instructor, Mushtaq Ahmed has signed a deal with Indian Premier League cricket team Delhi Daredevils to work as their bowling consultant. However, Mushtaq has not made the appointment public due to the recent backlash in India over the presence of Pakistani athletes. “Mushtaq had finalized the contract but is avoiding a confirmation because there is still time for IPL and he does not want any unnecessary attention to be created and problems to arise because of his involvement in IPL,†sources told the press.
Mushtaq confirmed that he has got an “attractive and challenging†coaching offer from Delhi Daredevils for the IPL and said the deal would be finalized soon. “I have gone through the written offer to be bowling consultant for DD and documents are being exchanged. It is an offer that has interested me a lot. It should be finalized soon,†he told the media. “The offer from Delhi is an interesting and challenging one but it has got my interest for sure and until now I have had come positive discussions with the owners,†he said.
Mushtaq said that he had considered the IPL coaching offer as he was free of any commitments until the Champions Trophy in May and the Ashes series. The former leg-spinner works as bowling consultant for the England team and accompanied them on their tour to India recently.
It was his involvement with the England team that got the Delhi outfit apparently interested in hiring him as bowling consultant. “As a professional coach I am always looking forward to challenging assignments but obviously I am committed to the England team,†he said. The IPL season begins in April and lasts approximately six weeks.
The Qatari ownership group of Parisian soccer giants Paris St.-Germain acquired international soccer superstar David Beckham for the rest of the Ligue 1 season as part of a five month loan deal. Beckham even announced that he would donate his entire salary for the five-month s to a local children’s charity.
Beckham is now in the twilight of his career at the age of 37. But he has a world of experience, having played for such clubs as Manchester United, A.C. Milan, and most recently the L.A. Galaxy of the United States’ Major League Soccer. He was also former captain of the English national team. And off the pitch, he is a celebrity on virtually every continent, not to mention his ongoing career as a television model for such brands as H & M. “It’s an exciting city — it always has been, and it always will be,†Beckham said of Paris. “But now there’s a club that’s going to have a lot of success over the next 10, 15, 20 years.â€
Paris St.-Germain has been spending freely to add such star players as Thiago Silva, Lucas Moura, and coach Carlo Ancelotti. And, Beckham will be joining PSG’s biggest star, prolific striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has Muslim ties.
Fabien Barthez, a former goalkeeper for France’s national team who played with Beckham at Manchester United, said the move was good for French soccer, which has often taken a backseat to the English and Spanish leagues. “It shakes things up,†he told France Info radio. “It’s true that there are some who will always talk,†he went on, referring to criticisms that Beckham represents little more than a grab for publicity. “But we know that music.†Barthez added, “You mustn’t forget what the guy has lived, and all the experience, all this lived experience that he can bring to the young players and the team.â€
“I haven’t spoken French for quite a few years, since I was in school,†said Beckham, sending cameras clicking as he flashed his signature smile. “So, yeah, that’s quite a few years. I’m definitely going to have to brush up on it.†His wife Victoria, and his three sons, will remain in London during the loan spell.
The Bush regime’s response to 9/11 and the Obama regime’s validation of this response have destroyed accountable democratic government in the United States.
So much unaccountable power has been concentrated in the executive branch that the US Constitution is no longer an operable document.
Whether a person believes the official story of 9/11 which rests on unproven government assertions or believes the documented evidence provided by a large number of scientists, first responders, and structural engineers and architects, the result is the same. 9/11 was used to create an open-ended “war on terror†and a police state. It is extraordinary that so many Americans believe that “it can’t happen here†when it already has.
We have had a decade of highly visible evidence of the construction of a police state:
* the PATRIOT Act, illegal spying on Americans in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, * the initiation of wars of aggression–war crimes under the Nuremberg Standard–based on intentional lies, * the Justice Department’s concocted legal memos justifying the executive branch’s violation of domestic and international laws against * torture, the indefinite detention of US citizens in violation of the constitutionally protected rights of habeas corpus and due process, * the use of secret evidence and secret “expert witnesses†who cannot be cross-examined against defendants in trials, * the creation of military tribunals in order to evade federal courts, secret legal memos giving the president authority to launch preemptive cyber attacks on any country without providing evidence that the country constitutes a threat, and the Obama regime’s murder of US citizens without evidence or due process.
As if this were not enough, the Obama regime now creates new presidential powers by crafting secret laws, refusing to disclose the legal reasoning on which the asserted power rests. In other words, laws now originate in secret executive branch memos and not in acts of Congress. Congress? We don’t need no stinking Congress.
Despite laws protecting whistleblowers and the media and the US Military Code which requires soldiers to report war crimes, whistleblowers such as CIA agent John Kiriakou, media such as Julian Assange, and soldiers such as Bradley Manning are persecuted and prosecuted for revealing US government crimes. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33804.htm The criminals go free, and those who report the crimes are punished.
The justification for the American police state is the “war on terror,†a hoax kept alive by the FBI’s “sting operations.†Normally speaking, a sting operation is when a policewoman poses as a prostitute in order to ensnare a “John,†or a police officer poses as a drug dealer or user in order to ensnare drug users or dealers. The FBI’s “sting operation†goes beyond these victimless crimes that fill up US prisons.
The FBI’s sting operations are different. They are just as victimless as no plot ever happens, but the FBI doesn’t pose as bomb makers for terrorists who have a plot but lack the weapon. Instead, the FBI has the plot and looks for a hapless or demented person or group, or for a Muslim enraged over the latest Washington insult to him and/or his religion. When the FBI locates its victim, its agents approach the selected perpetrator pretending to be Al-Qaeda or some such and ply the selected perpetrator with money, the promise of fame, or threats until the victim signs on to the FBI’s plot and is arrested.
Trevor Aaronson in his book, The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s War on Terrorism, documents that the FBI has so far concocted 150 “terrorist plots†and that almost all of the other “terrorist cases†are cases unrelated to terrorism, such as immigration, with a terror charge tacked on.
The presstitute American media doesn’t ask why, if there is so much real terrorism requiring an American war against it, the FBI has to invent and solicit terrorist plots.
Neither does the media inquire how the Taliban, which resists the US invasion and attempted occupation of Afghanistan, fighting the US superpower to a standstill after 11 years, came to be designated as terrorists. Nor does the US presstitute media want to know how tribesmen in remote regions of Pakistan came to be designated as “terrorists†deserving of US drone attacks on the citizens, schools and medical clinics of a country with which the US is not at war.
Instead the media protects and perpetrates the hoax that has given America the police state. The American media has become Leni Riefenstahl, as has Hollywood with the anti-Muslim propaganda film, Zero Dark Thirty. This propaganda film is a hate crime that spreads Islamophobia. Nevertheless, the film is likely to win awards and to sink Americans into both tyranny and a hundred-year war in the name of fighting the Muslim threat.
What I learned many years ago as a professor is that movies are important molders of Americans‘ attitudes. Once, after giving a thorough explanation of the Russian Revolution that led to communist rule, a student raised his hand and said: “That’s not the way it happened in the movie.â€
At first I thought he was making a witty joke, but then I realized that he thought that the truth resided in the movie, not in the professor who was well versed in the subject. Ever since I have been puzzled how the US has survived for so long, considering the ignorance of its population. Americans have lived in the power of the US economy. Now that this power is waning, sooner or later Americans will have to come to terms with reality.
It is a reality that will be unfamiliar to them.
Some Americans claim that we have had police states during other wartimes and that once the war on terror is won, the police state will be dismantled. Others claim that government will be judicious in its use of the power and that if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear.
These are reassurances from the deluded. The Bush/Obama police state is far more comprehensive than Lincoln’s, Wilson’s, or Roosevelt’s, and the war on terror is open-ended and is already three times longer than World War II. The Police State is acquiring “squatter’s rights.â€
Moreover, the government needs the police state in order to protect itself from accountability for its crimes, lies, and squandering of taxpayers‘ money. New precedents for executive power have been created in conjunction with the Federalist Society which, independent of the war on terror, advocates the “unitary executive†theory, which claims the president has powers not subject to check by Congress and the Judiciary. In other words, the president is a dictator if he prefers to be.
The Obama regime is taking advantage of this Republican theory. The regime has used the Republican desire for a strong executive outside the traditional checks and balances together with the fear factor to complete the creation of the Bush/Cheney police state.
As Lawrence M. Stratton and I documented in our book, The Tyranny Of Good Intentions, prior to 9/11 law as a shield of the people was already losing ground to law as a weapon in the hands of the government. If the government wanted to get you, there were few if any barriers to a defendant being framed and convicted, least of all a brainwashed jury fearful of crime.
I cannot say whether the US justice system has ever served justice better than it has served the ambition of prosecutors. Already in the 1930s and 1940s US Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland and US Attorney General Robert Jackson were warning against prosecutors who sacrifice “fair dealing to build up statistics of success.†Certainly it is difficult to find in the ranks of federal prosecutors today Jackson’s “prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.â€
Just consider the wrongful conviction of Alabama’s Democratic governor, Don Siegelman by what apparently was a Karl Rove plot to rid the South of Democratic governors. The “Democratic†Obama regime has not investigated this false prosecution or given clemency to its innocent own. Remember how quickly Bush removed the prison sentence of Cheney’s operative who revealed the name of a CIA undercover agent? The Democrats are a cowed and cowardly political party, fearful of justice, and as much a part of the corrupt police state as the Republicans.
Today the purpose of a prosecution is to serve the prosecutor’s career and that of the party that appoints him or her. A prosecutor’s career is served by high conviction rates, which require plea bargains in which the evidence against a defendant is never tested in court or before a jury, and by high profile cases, which can launch a prosecutor into a political career, as Rudy Giuliana achieved with his frame-up of Michael Milken.
Glenn Greenwald explained how Internet freedom advocate Aaron Swartz was driven to his death by the ambition of two federal prosecutors, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Assistant US Attorney Stephen Heymann, who had no aversion to destroying an innocent person with ridiculous and trumped-up charges in order to advance their careers.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/ortiz-heymann-swartz-accountability-abuse
It is rare for a prosecutor to suffer any consequence for bringing false charges, for consciously using and even paying for false evidence, and for lying to judge and jury.
As prosecutors are rarely held accountable, they employ illegal and unethical methods and routinely abuse their power. As judges are mainly concerned with clearing their court dockets, justice is rarely served in America, which explains why the US has not only a larger percentage of its citizens in prison than any other country on earth, but also the largest absolute number of prisoners. The US actually has more of its citizens in prison than “authoritarian†China which has a population four times larger than the US. The US, possibly the greatest human rights abuser in history, is constantly bringing human rights charges against China. Where are the human rights charges against Washington?
In America the collapse of law has gone beyond corrupt prosecutors and their concocted false prosecutions. Unless it needs or desires a show trial, a police state does not need prosecutors and courts. By producing legal memos that the president can both throw people into prison without a trial and execute them without a trial simply by stating that some official in the executive branch thinks the person has a possible or potential connection to terrorism, tyranny’s friends in the Justice (sic) Department have dispensed with the need for courts, prosecutors and trials.The Bush/Obama regime has made the executive branch judge, juror, and executioner. All that is needed is an unproven assertion by some executive branch official. Here we have the epitome of evil.
Evidence is no longer required for the president of the US to imprison people for life or to deprive them of their life. A secret Justice Department memo has been leaked to NBC News that reveals the tyrannical reasoning that authorizes the executive branch to execute American citizens on the basis of belief alone without the requirement of evidence that they are terrorists or associated with terrorists.
In “freedom and democracy†America, innocent until proven guilty is no longer the operative legal principle. If the government says you are guilty, you are. Period. No evidence required for your termination. Even Stalin pretended to have evidence.
The United States government is working its way step by step toward the determination that any and every critic of the government is guilty of providing “aid and comfort†to Washington’s “terrorist enemies,†which includes the elected Hamas government in Gaza. The only critics exempted from this rule-in-the-making are the neoconservatives who criticize the US government for being too slow to throttle both its critics and “anti-semites,†such as former US President Jimmy Carter, who criticize the Israeli government’s illegal appropriation of Palestinian lands. Most of Palestine has been stolen by Israel with Washington acquiesce and aid. Therefore, nothing is left for a “two-state solution.â€
There is no doubt whatsoever that the Israeli government’s theft of Palestine is illegal; yet, Washington, on which Israel is totally dependent, does nothing about law. Law, we don’t need no stinking law.†Washington has might. Might is right. Get used to it.
Not only for Palestinians has law ceased to exist, but also for Americans, and for Washington’s NATO puppets in the UK and Europe, pitiful remnants of once great nations now complicit in Washington’s crimes against humanity. The Open Society Justice Initiative, a NGO based in New York, has issued a report that documents that 54 governments are involved in Washington’s rendition and torture program. Twenty-five of the governments that help Washington to kidnap, disappear, and torture people are European. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/cia-rendition-report-uk-court
The opening decade of the 21st century has seen the destruction of all the law that was devised to protect the innocent and the vulnerable since the rise of the now defunct moral conscience of the West. The West’s moral conscience never applied outside of itself. What happened to people in Europe’s colonies and to native inhabitants of the US and Australia is a very different story.
Nevertheless, despite its lack of coverage to the powerless, the principle of the rule of law was a promising principle. Now America under Bush and Obama, two peas of the same pod, has abandoned the principle itself.
The Obama police state will be worse than the Bush/Cheney police state. Unlike conservatives who in times past were suspicious of government power, Obamabots believe that government power is a force for good if it is in the right hands. As Obama’s supporters see him as a member of an oppressed minority, they are confident that Obama will not misuse his power. This belief is akin to the belief that, as Jews suffered so much at the hands of Hitler, Israel would be fair to the Palestinians.
Glenn Greenwald writes that “the most extremist power any political leader can assert is the power to target his own citizens for execution without any charges or due process, far from any battlefield. The Obama administration has not only asserted exactly that power in theory, but has exercised it in practice.â€
This is the power of a dictator. That Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were said to have this power was part of their demonization as “brutal dictators,†a justification for overthrowing their governments and murdering the dictators and their supporters.
Ironic, isn’t it, that the president of the United States now murders his political opponents just as Saddam Hussein murdered his. How long before critics move from the no-fly list to the extermination list?
The report of a new study of Israeli and Palestinian textbooks commissioned by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land is causing quite a stir, especially in Israel (the government of Israel is already rejecting it as biased). Apparently, the authors of this report – Professor Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University and Professor Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University – discovered that both sides in the conflict see themselves as the primary victims and that both sides do not teach the historical narrative of the other side. What a shock!
I and many other people in Israel and Palestine who are familiar with the situation here for the past several decades could have saved the US State Department a lot of money and the researchers a lot of time by telling them that this would be the conclusion of the report. It has been obvious to anyone involved in peace education in this region – as I have been for the past 22 years – that both sides to our conflict only teach their own narrative and basically negate the narrative of the other as false and therefore inadmissible in their school systems.
There was a brief period, which hardly anyone remembers, when the Labor government was in power and Yossi Sarid was Minister of Education, when it was permissible in Israeli schools to teach the Palestinian narrative a bit, and even to teach the poetry of the famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. But since Kadimah and then Likud returned to power, it is no longer allowed, Heaven Forbid! In fact, a high school teacher in the Negev by the name of Michal Wasser – she once taught one of my daughters history in high school in Jerusalem many years ago – was still daring to teach both the Israeli and Palestinian narratives in her high school in recent years using an experimental booklet prepared by Professor Sami Adwan and another Israeli professor of education. When this became known to the head of the Pedagogical Secretariat in the Israeli Ministry of Education, she was summoned and informed that, according to (Likud) government policy, such a dastardly educational act is not permitted in the current state of Israel.
In our conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we really do not teach objective history. Rather, both sides continue to teach ideological history, which they know does not represent the full truth, but since they are both addicted to ideology, they cannot allow themselves to reveal to their students the basic truth, which is that both sides in the conflict understand and portray the historical conflict which we have been involved in for the past 100 years only through nationalistic ideological lenses.
Many years ago, after the signing of the Oslo Accords, in September 1993, many of us in this field in Israel thought that the situation was going to be different. In that same year, I wrote an article for an American Jewish newspaper in which I said that we were “in the era of peace.†During that same year, I convened a group of Israeli and Palestinian educators who met for three years, from 1993-95, in a project we called “Educating about each other in the era of Peace.†After Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of blessed memory was assassinated in Fall 2005, we changed the name of the project to say “in the beginning of the era of peace.†It is so long ago that no one remembers now how optimistic we were back then!
On the second day of a two day seminar in the third year of the project, I chaired a panel called “How will we educate about each other in the future?†As moderator of the panel, I asked: “Do you think that in 10 or 15 years (17 years have now gone by!) someone will come from the West – from Harvard or Oxford or somewhere – and write a new history of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, incorporating both narratives?†A Palestinian professor who had come to the seminar from Al Najah University in Nablus answered by saying: “Yes. That will happen. But in the meantime, we each will continue to tell our own story!â€
And we are still telling our own stories.
In contrast, when I attended an interreligious conference in East Germany in 1990, the year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism, I visited the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar. At the entrance to this museum, they screened an old East German film about the camp, in which they told about how the Bolsheviks fought the Fascists and vice versa, but there was no mention of Jews.
The next year my wife and I attended an interreligious conference in Warsaw, following which we visited Krakow and then Auschwitz-Birkenau, where a young Polish Catholic law student – who had just spent a month studying at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem – was our guide and focused totally on the Shoah and what happened to the Jews of Europe.
In other words, once Communism fell, the people in Eastern Europe stopped teaching history by outdated ideologies which were patently false and narrow-minded.
When the walls fall down in our conflict – not just physically but also psychologically – then we will change the way that we teach about the other, not only in history classes but in classes about religion and in many other places in the formal and informal curricula, including what we teach in churches, synagogues and mosques.. In the meantime, we continue to teach ideological history because we have not yet decided that in order to live with the other in peace, we need to really deeply understand how he or she actually thinks and lives.
When we sign a peace treaty – which one of my friends calls a piece of paper – we must realize that we will need an educational appendix which will begin to lay the groundwork for learning about each other genuinely and sincerely for the purpose of how to learn to live together in peaceful coexistence for the future.
Shah Rukh Khan is no ordinary celebrity. Being the lead actor with a very vibrant presence on big and small screen makes him to be very much on the top. Recently the communal elements asked him to produce his patriotism certificate. Khan in one of his articles in The New York Times-Outlook Turning Points ((January 2013) suggested that India has a bias against Muslims and goes on to say that “Political leaders have made me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India.†He also writes “There have been occasions when I have been accused of bearing allegiance to our neighboring country-this even though I am an Indian, whose father fought for freedom of India. Rallies have been held where leaders have exhorted me to leave and return (to Pakistan) when they refer to my original home land.â€
In response to this the Pakistan foreign minister Rahman Malik was quick to ask the Indian Government to provide security to Khan. Hafiz Sayeed went to the extent of inviting Khan to Pakistan with a promise to provide him with security. Both these are sort of pinpricks which are usually dished out by the neighbors to each other. When Hindu minorities suffer in Pakistan the immediate chorus comes up here in India is to ask to take steps for security of Hindus in Pakistan. Malik and Sayeed were just trying to put some salt in to the wounds of Indian psyche, not that they are concerned about Indian Muslims as such. They belong to a country where large section of Muslims themselves is struggling to live the life of dignity. A section of Muslims is being called Mohajirs and is denied most of the privileges of citizens. In Pakistan currently the Shia Muslims and Ahmadiyas are an object of wrath. So lesser said about Rahman Malik and Hafiz Sayeed Company the better.
The criticism directed against Khan was that he is giving ammunition to the elements across the border to criticize India. But can we keep the wounds of Indian Muslims under wraps, with no smell polluting the air? As far as Khan’s statement that there are biases against Indian Muslims is concerned, it is a painful reality. Muslims have been demonized; the strong streak of Islamophobia persists all over. The myths, stereotypes and biases against Indian Muslims were heightened with the partition tragedy, when the communal forces propagated that it is due to Muslims that India had to be partitioned. This is a total misreading of recent history as majority of Indian Muslims neither supported the idea of Partition nor were behind the Muslims League. Muslim League cut a sorry figure in 1937 assembly elections as majority of Indian Muslims did not vote for Jinnah party. And after the Jinnah’s resolution demanding Paksitan in 1940, majority of Indian Muslims took out processions opposing the demand of Pakistan.
The other biases against Muslim community started intensifying through the propaganda by the communal forces, the biases about the Muslims related to the atrocities committed by Muslim kings, the biases related to polygamy, number of children, beef eating and their loyalty to Pakistan. The parallel process of communal violence started marginalizing them from social scene, the violence against them (Muslims are 13.4% as per 2001 census; Muslims are close to 90% amongst the riot victims). These stereotypes against Muslims are currently at peak and hatred resulting from these biases is leading to repeated communal violence and polarization.
While the average Muslim has been living with these biases pasted on his/her forehead, after 9/11, ‘All terrorists are Muslims’ has also been popularized through various mechanisms, section of media, words of mouth, SMS chains through mobile phones and the social media. While in the regular channels Muslims are too few, in the offbeat channels of social life, they do excel as in sports, music and films. At the same time the Muslims, who by mistake reach the top slots in position of authority have to be more careful for obvious reasons. Here the communal parties and outfits pick up some pro-Pakistan label against Muslim celebrities. Dilip Kumar, Yusuf Khan, was initially given the same abuse of being for Pakistan and he had to face lot of music when he was awarded the highest civilian honor by the government of Pakistan, Nishan-e-Pakistan. Lot of demonstrations was held in front of his house by these outfits to humiliate him. That may be one of the reasons for him not being awarded the highest civilian honor, which he deserves many times over. Mohammad Azaruddin, the outstanding cricketing talent and ex-Indian cricket Captain was mocked that he plays poorly when playing against Pakistan, to enable Pakistan to win!.
Shah Rukh Khan is another such celebrity. He had to face the double flak. Being a Khan, twice he was detained and stripped at the US entry points. Interestingly when he was detained many of his fans were approaching him for his autographs right there. In India the Shiv Sena, claiming to be a patriotic organization, holding on to Hindu Nationalism not Indian nationalism, has meted similar treatment to Shah Rukh Khan. Khan is from Peshawar and it is an enlightening point to know that his father was the follower of Khan Abdul Gaffer Khan, Frontier Gandhi, and participated in freedom struggle.
Shah Rukh Khan knows he is too secure; he is not talking as a victim, it is not from the angle of victimhood. He is expressing the anguish of being a Muslim at a time when in India the anti Muslim sentiments are at a peak and these get a boost from global Islamophobia created by American propaganda. Imagine the pain of an Indian when he is looked down to be owing allegiance to the neighboring country? Only those seeped in the values of Indian freedom struggle and those respecting the values of Indian Constitution can feel the anguish of Shah Rukh Khan and many more Muslims, celebrity or not, who have to keep producing loyalty and patriotism certicates time and over again, and that too to those belonging to the politics based on the ideology, which was not a part of freedom movement and has little respect for values of Indian Constitution.
In popular psyche the identification of Indian Muslims with Pakistan has been cultivated with vehemence by communal forces. Muslims are more loyal to Pakistan is a standard propaganda. How can we judge patriotism of an individual? By cheering for the cricket teams or by allegiance to Indian Constitution? The matter of fact is that some disgruntled Muslims may be showing their anguish by cheering for Pakistan, in cricket matches, but that’s where the matters rest. A lot has been made of this deliberately and this falsehood has become part of social common sense. Shah Rukh Khan has been made a deliberate target by the communal forces and it is a part of their game of manufacturing biases against Muslim community as a whole. His expression in the said article is expression of what many Muslims suffer in India, celebrities included.
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian opposition fighters captured a military airport near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday in another military setback for President Bashar al-Assad’s forces which have come under intensifying attack across the country.
The airport is the latest military facility to fall under rebel control in a strategic region situated between Syria’s industrial and commercial center and the country’s oil- and wheat- producing heartland to the east.
Fighting in the nearly two-year-old conflict has intensified in the three weeks since the political leadership of the opposition offered to negotiate a departure for Assad.
In the first direct government response, Syria’s minister for “national reconciliationâ€, Ali Haidar, said he was willing to travel abroad to meet Moaz Alkhatib, the Cairo-based president of the Syrian National Coalition opposition group.
Authorities had previously said they would talk to the “patriotic opposition†– figures who have not allied themselves with the armed rebellion. But most centrist opposition figures have left the country since Abdel-Aziz al-Khayyer, a proponent of dialogue and non-violence, was arrested last year.
“I am willing to meet Mr Khatib in any foreign city where I can go in order to discuss preparations for a national dialogueâ€, Haidar told the Guardian newspaper. But Haidar said the authorities rejected any dialogue that aims “to hand power from one side to another†and insisted that formal negotiation must take place on Syrian soil. The main push for talks on a transition is coming from U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran diplomat who helped mediate an end to civil war in neighboring Lebanon and warned that Syria could become a failed state.
The Syrian uprising, in which 60,000 people have been killed, has been the bloodiest of the Arab revolts that already toppled four autocrats in Libya, Egypt, Tunis and Yemen. With the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, dominating power in Syria, the conflict has deepened the Shi’ite-Sunni divide in the Middle East.
JETS OVER DAMASCUS
In the capital Damascus, residents and activists said the army had moved tanks to central Abbasid Square to shore up its defensive lines after rebels breached it last week and then struck several security targets in the heart of the capital.
Jets bombarded rebel held areas in the east of the capital and in an expanse of farmland and urban areas known as Eastern Ghouta, from where rebels have launched an attack to cut off the loyalist supply lines.
“The bombing has been terrible. The centre of Damascus is shaking. You can hear the jets from here,†said one woman.
Despite a large military arsenal – opposition activists reported several Scud missiles being fired at unknown targets from an army base north of Damascus – Assad’s forces appeared to be on the defensive in many parts of the country.
The army and a plethora of security forces remain entrenched in fortress-like bases in Damascus and the provincial capitals, where their advantages in air power and heavy weaponry have kept the opposition from taking over the major cities.
Jarrah air base, 60 km (40 miles) east of Aleppo, came under the control of rebel units who have been surrounding it for weeks, and the highway linking Aleppo to the east of the country is in opposition hands, the Sham News Network said.
Video footage showed fighters from the Islamic Free Syria Movement inspecting the airport. Several fighter jets were shown on the ground at the airport and in concrete shelters.
Abu Abdallah Minbij, one of the opposition commanders who planned the attack on the airport, said by phone that two operational MiG jets and ammunition were found intact at the base, along with 40 disused fighter jets.
“The airport was being used to bomb northern and eastern rural Aleppo. By capturing it, we have cut the regime’s supply line from Aleppo to the east,†Minbij said.
He said the army will now struggle to send reinforcements to stop a rebel advance in the adjacent Raqqa province, where rebels have captured the country’s largest hydro-electric dam this week.
In Sfeira, a nearby town in rural Aleppo, footage showed opposition fighters surrounding a captured tank in the middle of the town, with the body of three soldiers on the ground.
Assad’s father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, used carrot and stick tactics to build alliances with the Sunni Muslim tribes in rural Aleppo and in Raqqa and Deir al-Zor to the east that cemented the decades long domination of his Alawite minority on the country.
But most of the alliances between the ruling minorities have broken down since the 22-month uprising erupted in March 2011.
Opposition activists said Liwa al-Islam, the largest rebel unit in the area, has thousands of fighters belonging to tribes that have abandoned Assad, such as the Anzeh tribe, which extends to Saudi Arabia.
They said the focus of rebel operations in Aleppo the last few weeks have been to neutralize four airports in the province, including Jarrah, which have been also used as artillery bases to shell surrounding rebel-held countryside and towns.
“The airports have been a source of aerial bombardment and indiscriminate shelling on rural Aleppo and on the city itself,†activist Abu Louay al-Halabi said by phone from Aleppo.
He said rebels have hit planes on the ground belonging to two squadrons based in the airport of Minbij, 70 km (45 miles) northeast of Aleppo and overran several buildings in Nairab airport, which is adjacent to the city and remains in government hands.
“Once the airports are neutralized, the opposition’s grip on Aleppo will become less tenuous and the fighters can concentrate on taking the whole city,†Halabi said.
(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Peter Graff)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pentagon leaders told Congress on Thursday that they had supported a recommendation to arm Syrian rebels promoted by the State Department and CIA but which President Barack Obama ultimately decided against.
Obama’s government has limited its support to non-lethal aid for the rebels who, despite receiving weapons from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are poorly armed compared to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army and loyalist militias.
Syria’s 22-month-long conflict has killed an estimated 60,000 people.
Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, has championed greater U.S. involvement and chided the Obama administration at a hearing, asking Pentagon leaders: “How many more have to die before you recommend military action?â€
He then pressed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, about whether they backed the recommendation by the State Department and CIA chiefs last year to arm the rebels.
Panetta and Dempsey said they had backed the recommendation, and later in the hearing, the defense secretary elaborated.
“Obviously there were a number of factors that were involved here that ultimately led to the president’s decision to make (the aid) non-lethal,†Panetta said, adding he supported Obama’s decision. The comments were the first public acknowledgement of Pentagon support to arm the rebels since the New York Times reported on February 2 about the plan developed last summer by Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus, who have since left their jobs at the State Department and CIA, respectively.
The defense chiefs’ testimony also suggested that White House opposition alone may have been enough to override the position of most major U.S. foreign policy and security agencies – the State and Defense departments, and the CIA.
CONCERN ABOUT DEEPER U.S. INVOLVEMENT
The Times said that the plan to arm and train rebels was rebuffed by the White House over concerns it could draw the United States into the Syrian conflict and that the arms could fall into the wrong hands.
The questions about U.S. policy in Syria came during a hearing focusing on Libya, with Pentagon leaders defending their response to last year’s deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Republican lawmakers raised questions about whether the reaction was too slow and whether Obama was not engaged enough during the incident, choosing to get updates on the crisis from staff instead of military leaders.
Panetta and Dempsey said U.S. forces could not have reached Libya in time to prevent the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on September 11, 2012, and assured that Obama was kept in the loop.
Panetta also stressed that it was also not the U.S. military’s responsibility to be able to immediately respond anywhere in the world to a crisis. There was no intelligence about a specific plan to attack the consulate, he and Dempsey noted.
“The United States military … is not and, frankly, should not be a 911 service capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world,†he said, referring to the 911 U.S. emergency phone number.
Panetta, who is soon retiring, also used the hearing as an opportunity to take more parting shots at Congress over its inability to reach a budget deal needed to avert automatic spending cuts that will hit the military.
Panetta warned those cuts, due to start kicking in next month, could create a “readiness crisis†for the military and urged lawmakers to strike a deal.
“I cannot imagine that people would stand by and deliberately hurt this country in terms of our national defense by letting this take place,†he said.
It was likely to be Panetta’s last hearing before he retires, and despite a sometimes accusatory tone from lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats praised his work as Pentagon chief and, previously, as CIA director.
The man nominated to be Panetta’s successor, former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, faces stiff Republican resistance but is expected to win Senate confirmation.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Warren Strobel and Philip Barbara)
Fighters from the Free Syrian Army’s Tahrir al Sham brigade fire back at the Syrian army during heavy fighting in Mleha suburb of Damascus, in this January 26, 2013 file photo. MiG warplanes roar low overhead to strike rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad on the fringes of Damascus, while artillery batteries pound the insurgents from hills overlooking a city divided between all-out war and a deceptive calm. That is one Damascus. In the other, comprising the central districts of a capital said to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, the restaurant menus are full, the wine is cheap and the souks are packed with shoppers. Employees report for work, children go to school and shops are open, seemingly undeterred by the din and thud of war. Picture taken January 26, 2013. To match Insight story SYRIA-CRISIS/DAMASCUS REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/Files
BEIRUT, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Syrian rebels are launching a major operation to take control of the strategic eastern city of Deir al-Zor after pushing out government forces from oil-producing areas around it, a rebel commander said.
If they seize the city, the rebels will control a whole province for the first time in the 22-month-old Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Ibrahim Abu Baker, leader of the powerful Al-Qadisiyah Brigade, said his rebel force, along with Islamists from Jabhat al-Nusra and Arab fighters, had surrounded Deir al-Zor on four sides in the build-up to the operation.
“The countryside is liberated, what is left of the province (of Deir al-Zor) is the city itself,†he told Reuters from the province via Skype. “All brigades are taking part in this… We are in charge of the eastern side of the city.â€
Deir al-Zor extends northwards along the Euphrates River from the border with western Iraq, home to Sunni Muslim tribes which support the Syrian rebels.
Another rebel from Abu Baker’s brigade said on Monday that fighters had started the first stage of the operation by targeting tank fire against three military targets inside the city and besieging the final army stronghold on its outskirts.
“We are now surrounding (the army’s) ‘113 Brigade’ which is the last point in the countryside before we are totally focused on the city,†said the rebel fighter who used the name Abu Mazen. “When we liberate the city some brigades will stay to take care of it and the rest will march to Damascusâ€.
Abu Baker said for months the rebel forces had only limited access to the city, which contains powerful security branches and a military airport.
But two weeks ago, with help from Jabhat al Nusra, they captured a security branch located near a strategic bridge on the Euphrates, opening the eastern bank to the rebels. “After liberating the bridge we started sending aid and weapons to the fighters inside the city.. And also sending reinforcements,†he said. “Now there is nothing to stop us from entering the city.â€
The Qadisiyah Brigade is one of the most influential in the province and has fought fierce battles with government forces.
It already controls wheat silos, a textile factory and a gas distribution centre. It is composed of eight battalions with fighters from across the country, Abu Baker said.
“FIGHTING FOR GODâ€
The revolt against Assad has taken on a sectarian hue, pitting the mainly Sunni rebels against an army whose senior ranks are dominated by Assad’s minority Alawites.
Like most brigades fighting in Syria, Abu Baker said his force is composed of Syrian Sunni fighters only. “We are Islamists, we went out just to support our religion. This is why we took to the streets. We respect other religions but we are Sunnis and we want a Sunni to rule not an Alawite.â€
Other Arab fighters from Iraq and Saudi Arabia are also fighting in the province, he said. “They are a separate faction, but our relation with them is good. We welcome anybody who wants to join us in jihad against Assad whether Saudis or Iraqis.â€
“…Our goal is one and we are fighting for God.â€
Rebels control the Syrian side of the Albu Kamal crossing into Deir al-Zor province, a key supply route from Iraq, but the Iraqi government has sometimes closed the crossing fearing a spillover of sectarian conflict into their country.
Iraq’s government faces its own Sunni protests, with a series of demonstrations in the Western province of Anbar.
With protests in Iraq increasing, Syrian rebels are keeping a close eye on their neighbour and some are anticipating clashes with the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad.
“The Sunnis in Anbar are helping with weapons and ammunitions,†Abu Baker said. “Their days (of fighting) will come soon and Inshallah (God willing) we will go to jihad with them. Those Sunnis are our brothers.â€
So far, Saudi citizens do not appear to be reacting very strongly to news that the U.S. government operates a secret drone base within their country. Ahmed Al Omran, a Saudi journalist who runs the Riyadh Bureau Web site, wrote on Friday that the story has not elicited the sort of public outrage that some had feared:
The Saudi government has not made any statement about U.S. news reports that the CIA is using an airbase in Saudi Arabia to conduct drone assassinations in neighboring Yemen, and local media has so far ignored the story. Saudi users on Twitter talked about the story briefly, but it was not widely discussed on the social network compared to other recent stories.
Al Omran cites a Twitter hashtag that translates, roughly, as “Secret U.S. base in Saudi Arabia.†Since Al Omran posted on Friday, discussion on that hashtag seems to have largely petered out.
I asked other Gulf-country citizens if they had heard of any reaction, whether from mainstream or more marginal sources, and none had. One pointed out that the U.S.’s close counterterrorism cooperation with the Saudi government is well known, as are the U.S. drone strikes in Yemen. And it had been previously reported that the U.S. maintains a drone base somewhere on the Arabian Peninsula — which Saudi Arabia dominates. The news, in other words, does not appear to have shocked Saudis who follow this sort of thing.
For months, the U.S. government had asked media organizations not to reveal the base, which has sent drones at least into neighboring Yemen. A major rationale for that request,according to the New York Times public editor, was that the news might inflame Saudi public opinion. The concern was that outraged Saudi citizens might pressure their government to close the base, thus removing an American counterterrorism tool and creating another problem for the already troubled U.S.-Saudi relationship.
Though the Saudi public reaction has been muted so far, there was very real precedent behind the fear that it might have gone differently. In 1990, as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait, U.S. troops arrived in Saudi Arabia. Their purpose was both to expel Saddam’s forces from Kuwait and to prevent them from pushing any farther, namely into neighboring Saudi Arabia. Still, their presence sparked a public debate within that country that quickly elevated extremist and anti-American voices.
“America has occupied Saudi Arabia,†a Saudi sheikh declared on one of the popular audiotapes that circulated in the Arab world. He added, making an argument that has in the intervening two decades become familiar to Americans, “It is not the world against Iraq. It is the West against Islam.†The Islamist sheikhs and activists soon turned their ire to their own government, demanding a series of reforms from the absolute monarchy; some quasi-democratic, some Islamist. Though most of their requests were not related to the U.S. military presence, those troops had caused enough public outrage to put the monarchy on its back foot.
When John O. Brennan arrived as the CIA station chief in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh in 1996, the public debate that had begun with the arrival of U.S. troops was still ongoing. Not all of the opponents of the U.S. troop presence were extremist, of course, but the extremists seemed to be on the rise. The Saudi monarchy seemed to want to work with the Americans on counterterrorism and against mutual enemies – first Iraq, now Iran – but it remained deeply concerned about domestic dissent of any kind. Brennan, whom the Obama administration recently nominated to head up the CIA, would have likely been involved with any conversations between U.S. and Saudi officials about balancing those goals.
Given that Brennan was reportedly an architect of the U.S. drone base in Saudi Arabia, perhaps his experience with the country’s 1990s domestic turmoil informed the U.S. government’s apparent urgency in keeping the base secret.
So what does it tell us that the feared public backlash has not, so far, materialized? It is difficult to draw many conclusions from this one incident, but it does suggest several interesting possibilities. Perhaps, for example, there is something categorically different, for Saudi citizens, between a large number of U.S. troops and a relatively small drone base, which makes the latter less significantly offensive than the former. Maybe there have been so many hints and suggestions of such a base that people had time to get used to the idea.
Or maybe something about Saudi Arabia has changed during the past 20 years, such that what might have once caused wide public outrage no longer does. It is still an austere, deeply conservative and politically oppressive country, but it has not been totally immune from the Middle East’s two turbulent and ideologically charged decades.
Whatever the reason for the relatively mild reaction so far, it will be interesting to see if that changes. We’ll be watching.
Worshippers take part in Friday prayers inside the mosque at the Mississauga Muslim Community Centre in Mississauga, Ontario January 18, 2013. Sufi cleric and leader of the Minhaj-ul-Quran religious organization, Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, has held several lectures at the Community Centre, located just west Toronto, Ontario. Qadri recently returned to Pakistan after living in Canada for several years to lead a call for reforms that has made him an instant hit among Pakistanis disillusioned with the state. Photo taken January 18, 2013.
REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Gone are the days in Pakistan when after keeping a track of series of events and developments, and connecting the dots, one could really predict the next course of action but things are being changed and such is no longer the case. Similarly, the emergence of Tahirul Qadri as a power and making a strong mark this quick in the political scene in Pakistan was anyone’s not even a guess!
There has been much talks in every circle about the sudden rise of Tahirul Qadri, who has become a source of encouragement to the nation that there is someone who could take a fearless stand for the betterment of the country for the people and have the ability to deliver. While this rise has pushed the politicians to regroup, rethink and redesign their political strategies.
Long march can be seen in both perspectives, as a success and one step towards the revolution - when a large number of people participated in it and they didn’t disperse despite the severity of weather and other factors and maintained a complete calm, so there were no damages to the property or loss of any lives. This has been, by far, a never seen before kind of peaceful demonstration that showed at least one thing to those pointing fingers across the globe that Pakistanis in general are a peaceful nation. He sets the record and in fact did everything to deter the uniform to take control of the power when, really, Islamabad was available to take over if the procession would have turned violent.
However, the failure was in the sense that the government gave a lollypop to end the procession which, for not having much room to further continue the sit-in, Mr Qadri had to accept it. There have been some speculations that it was a carrot and a stick policy that the government played as the current term is ending soon and fresh elections have already been scheduled in March. So, the declaration was not a brainer but more of a confirmation of the upcoming elections. A few obvious mistakes that Mr. Qadri made were when he demanded the election commission to be removed, exaggerated number of participants and comparing this march to Hazrat Imam Hussain’s against Yazid. Nonetheless, he made his point and now he is the center figure in the political sphere and has become even more respectful when he announced him and his family not to contest in the upcoming elections.
Parallel to this, Tahirul Qadri has always been perceived as someone very literate, possessing a vast knowledge on Islam, having innumerable followers all over the world. He is a reputable scholar but then again, seeing him taking the center stage, the following questions come to mind that what does he really want? What is his interest? He was in Canada since a while, but how exactly he planned for such a fool-proof long march that has mobilized the nation and jolted the government. His plan came to the nation as sudden news that he would be arriving in Pakistan on December 23 and would launch a long march on January 14 while he could have really continued his Minhajul Quraan organization and continues to writing books and focus on his lectures? This doesn’t seem like an abrupt decision rather an intense plan, carefully designed with all consequences well perceived.
Beside the point, pertaining to the above, I have spoken with two outstanding individuals. Let’s see how they think on the subject:
In response to the above questions, Mr Kamal Zafar, a New York based community activist, says: “It doesn’t seem that Mr Qadri has any personal interest. Like many other conscientious citizen, he has had it enough and decided to fight against the corrupt political system of Pakistan. He doesn’t believe in the capabilities of the current government. He is extremely concerned about the next elections and wants that to be free and fair.â€
“Indeed, he could have just focused on whatever he was doing prior to this but this not how the great leaders think so the leadership comes with responsibility. In my opinion, Dr Tahirul Qadri’s long march will continue to inspire debate in local and international politics for next few months. By holding historical long march and making sit-ins, Tahirul Qadri along with his lovers achieved what opposition leaders failed to do. He was infuriated after being fed up of the wrong policies and bad governance. Thousands of participants did not stop in spite of having threats of terrorism, rainy and chilly weather and other odds like lack of facilities,†he added.
He further said: “He raised his voice for the rights of people, fought for it till the end and finally somewhat achieved some areas of his demands. From the beginning politicians offered various speculative theories to explain the motivations of this drama being unfolded. One of the most favored theories was if was set up by the establishment and the Americans to delay elections and derail democracy. But at the end all the conspiracy theories died as the government and leaders of major parties, sat alongside him in his container to draw out the Declaration. One question I ask all Pakistanis is, did the long march strengthen their struggle for political change or it’s still a status quo?†Mr Zafar concluded.
Mr Hafeez Choudhary, a real estate developer by profession from NY and the creator of Vision for Pakistan, says: “He is indeed a great scholar, but he wants to make his space in the Pakistan’s mainstream politics which he did through his long march. He appeared as a force and has gained a political status and if he activates his candidates in the elections, he may be able to swipe the results that means, he could create an alliance and with any political party and still head it but I don’t think he would be able to work with Imran Khan but if him and Imran were together in the long march, the results would have much different today.â€
“Though he mentioned that him and his family would not take part in the elections but looks like he wants to be the king maker, he has shown his power to the nation and government, he will remain power and even if he is not sitting as an elected member in the parliament,†he added. “The only thing I thought that make sense in his declaration was the part where he emphasized the eligibility criterion of those interested candidates contesting in elections,†Mr Choudhary concluded.
If the purpose was to provoke the thoughts in the power stream and create a wave of awareness among the masses, then the long march was effective. Tahirul Qadri’s arrival is not a conspiracy he made his way in and proved himself, that means, he earned the nation’s trust. He is a good scholar and is able to understand politics and perhaps, can make a difference. Let’s see how future unfolds itself.
Before concluding here, I just thought to reiterate a little about the history that Long March, which was a historic journey of about 6,000 miles, in which Communist army forces fled their bases in south China. Surrounded by the Nationalist army of Chiang Kai-shek, some 80,000 soldiers of the Red Army escaped and headed north. Only 8,000 to 9,000 survived the trek, which ended in the establishment of a new Communist base in Yan’an. Ever since, the Long March became the central event in Chinese revolutionary mythology. It became a metaphor for the revolution itself, and was a source of inspiration.
– The author is a New York based analyst, a senior executive at ARY. To connect, please email at theamericannotebook@gmail.com.
Dr. Aqiq Khan, a retired internal medicine & family physician, passed away at the age of 77 in Northern Virginia. An avid humanitarian he was associated with many charitable and volunteer causes. His volunteer activities included working as a docent at the Library of Congress and a volunteer poll watcher on Election Day. He also established a fund to build and support a primary school for girls in his native village of Bara in the Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh in India.
Dr. Aqiq Khan’s life is exemplary as he overcame immense odds to attain his numerous accomplishments. According to a Washington Post obituary he was born in a cave to an illiterate sixteen year old mother in 1935 and swam in the ganges in his boyhood. In the troubled time of partition in 1947 he migrated to what is now Bangladesh and later to Lahore in Pakistan where he received his medical degree. He did postgraduate study in internal medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He migrated to the US in 1972 and successfully practised in Missouri and later on in the Washington DC area. Throughout his time he always was concerned and supported his large family.
Efforts underway to build the first mosque in Ithaca
ITHACA,NY–Ithaca’s Muslim community has finally collected enough funds to build the first mosque in the area. It was a long time coming as plans and fundraisings have been held for almost three decades. The fact that most of the Muslim community in the area consisted of transitory students made the fund raising even more impossible. But with the collected funds so far things are moving ahead.
A community spokesperson told the Cornell Daily Sun that they will either purchase a piece of land or a small building. Dr. Ahmed Ahmed, a senior research associate in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said “If you start even with a small building, you can go to the [big mosques] in big cities and ask them for donations to increase the space. If we don’t have a project, they won’t give us anything. This is the aim — to start anything [so that] at least we can start with something.â€
There are approximately 400 Muslims in the community.
Symposium held in Oakland U. on Women in Islam
Oakland University Student Congress hosted a symposium ob Women in Islam on Feb.7. This was the second meeting of the two-part event. During the previous week, students were invited to learn how to wear a hijab, wear it for the week and then return to the second meeting to share their experiences, the Oakland Post reported.
“The main goal today is to promote the education of culture and the acceptance of everyone,†Robbie Williford, vice president of OUSC, said. “We want to break down stereotypes that students might have.â€
Also featured at the symposium was a a wall featuring Muslim women from various regions in different attires.
Nisa Khan receives Sheriff’s Youth Medal of Honor
Buffalo Grove High School senior Nisa Khan recently received the 25th Annual Cook County Sheriff’s Youth Service Medal of Honor for undertaking more than 100 hours of volunteer service. She volunteers for a number of organizations including the Rotary Club and the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Last fall she helped organize helped organize the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, which attracted more than 502 participants from both Buffalo Grove High School and Stevenson High School and raised $86,000.
The MIT Geospatial Data Center (GDC)’s Asif Iqbal won the 2012 Dr. Mikio Shoji Award for Innovation in Information Technology.
The award was presented before members of the SDM community in a recently held award ceremony.
Iqbal was praised specifically for his work on cyber security challenges in the semiconductor industry. Asif was also recognized for his course content contributions in graph theory and linear algebra for analyzing transportation networks. The course content will be used jointly by MIT and the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
For his accomplishments and contributions, Asif received a memento and a certificate signed by Dr. Mikio Shoji and conferred by Geospatial Data Center at MIT.
The award is named after Dr. Mikio Shoji, Adviser ORIX Corporation and longtime corporate supporter of MIT CEE research.
Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
In an opinion ayman30 titled as “OIC Summit in Cairo exposes deep and widening divisions in the Muslim countries†was in effect a contravention of the summit’s theme, “The Islamic world: Fresh Challenges and Growing Opportunities.â€
As the name of the organization denotes cooperation and unity in the Islamic World, the just concluded summit in Cairo, Egypt of leaders of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation failed to mend differences and concerns that make them far apart from each other. In the contrary, it was observed they deepened their disunity and narrowed their cooperation. Unyielding voices prevailed in the summit.
The summit was represented by over 20 state leaders and government which included Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Saudi Minister of information and Culture Iyyad Madadi was chosen to proxy Turkey’s Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as secretary general.
Despite of the observed widening divisions in Islamic countries as represented in the summit as quoted from a reliable source (ANSAmed) “a final statement on Syria, Palestine and Mali was approved. On Syria, the leaders from the Muslim world called for ‘’serious dialogue’’ between the opposition and government representatives who ‘’are ready for political change and are not directly involved in any sort of repression, in order to pave the way for a transition.â€
The summit was finally concluded Thursday with certain common understandings concerning prevailing crises affecting nations in the Islamic World. The summit’s success to arrive at specific consensus to work on for betterment of member states of the organization clearly debunked that “there was no exposition of deep and widening divisions among Islamic nations†as perceived.
Alfredo B. Ancheta is Anchor for Allvoices Philippines
The Muslim Center of Detroit hosted a meeting this past Sunday to celebrate the teachings and accomplishments of WD Mohammad and to build on his legacy and upon his bulwark as one of the pioneering members of the converted Muslim community in the USA.
Speaking were several prominent members of the Muslim community, including Dr. Halim Naeem, the host and MC Imam Abdullah El-Amin, tBro. Norman Muhammad, Imam Mikyel, Professor Nadir Muhsin, Imam Mubarak Hassan, Dr. Naajiah Muhammad, Sheik Abdulkarim Yahya, Sis. Tahira Khalid, Imam Salim Mumin, and Imam Garrett Jihad.
The theme of the meeting was what can each of us do to improve ourselves and improve the community. Focused around this theme, Imam El-Amin invited participants who were able to contribute in many diverse areas.
People spoke on the importance of families, the importance of education, the importance of cultural responsibility, and also on the legacy of the man to whom perhaps millions of Muslims in this country owe a debt of gratitude for swinging them into mainstream Islam from their previous religious lives–many of them hailing from the Nation of Islam.
All of this self improvement was in the light of showing honor and reverence for Warith Deen Mohammed’s teachings.
Perhaps 100 people were present and they listened attentively throughout–many of those present explained that they had come from the time of the Nation of Islam, and had been brought to mainstream Islam by Imam Warith Deen Mohammed.
At the end there was a spaghetti dinner and “halal jazz cafe†music.
One of the very interesting speeches of the evening was that of Dr. Halim Naeem, who spoke at length on the love of reading and the need for education.
Dr. Naeem echoed a theme that continues from the time of the Nation of Islam through today, the encouragement of the community to develop its own scholarship in each area including religious knowledge.
He emphasized the foundational importance of Qur`an for Islam, and emphasized the transformational impact of Prophet Muhammad (s) on the people of the Arabian peninsula–who in 50 years’ time were transformed from a relatively unknown people to the governors of whole countries.
He also echoed a very beautiful teaching, that just as the sun provides light that affects the earth and the life that is on it, and that there is light on the visible and invisible spectrums, so analogously does Divine light benefit creatures, although invisibly.
“We will show you Our Signs in the heavens and in yourself,†he quoted from Qur`an.
“How could a civilization founded on reading forget reading.â€
Sheik Abdulkarim Yahya spoke as a visitor to the community of Imam WD Mohammed, emphasizing the good that the imam had done for the American Muslim community.
This cartoon that appeared in Sunday Times over a week ago caused an uproar forcing Sunday Times to withdraw the cartoon and issuing an unreserved apology for its publication.
Its editor Martin Ivens and the owner Rupert Murdoch himself apologized. In its print apology they said: “We crossed the line and “we would never set out to offend Jewish people – or indeed any other ethnic or religious groups.â€
Umpteen blasphemy cartoons, vitriolic articles and venom spewing discussion against Muslims and Islam have appeared in print on TV and electronic media. But we have yet to hear an apology from any individual. Demand for such an apology met with an unequivocal answer citing the first amendment and echoing refrains of “Freedom of Speech.â€
So what draws the line between hate speech and freedom of speech? Other nations draw the line but in the US speech is “free†to a greater extent than other countries.
In the US, legally, all speech is protected under the first amendment. Socially speech may be considered unacceptable, but this political correctness is not legally binding.
Each country defines hate speech differently, but generally it is accepted that when words are used to directly incite violence against a specific person or a group of persons it becomes hate speech.
In 1993 The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a report entitled, “The role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes.†This report gave one of the first definitions by the government on hate speech. According to the NTIA the hate speech is:
1) Speech that advocates or encourages violent acts or crimes of hate.
2) Speech that creates a climate of hate or prejudice, which may in turn foster the commission of hate crimes.
Usually the people responsible for such speech are ignorant and misinformed on the issues. The mind molders of the masses, print news, electronic media, TV and Hollywood movies, are the prime culprits in feeding misinformation and disinformation to their audience. In over 90% of the cases Muslims and Islam have been the target of this vitriol. It is no exaggeration to say that media, taking full advantage of protections offered by the first amendment, have created a bogie of Islamophobia to serve a specific cause.
That cause is to demonize one group of people while elevating the status of a privileged group that it serves. And to mold public opinion to serve a specific cause. Iraq and the WMD are still fresh in the memories.
This distorted public opinion, perception, demonization, may be about a person or about a group of persons or about a society, or a culture or religion or a country.
Counter this menace with an understanding from the great judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. who said, “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.â€
That is: we should respect each other’s property rights.
How can we ban the hate speech against any religious figure or against any religion, Jewish, Christian, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or any others?
Since the Bill of Rights restricts the legal solutions, we need to work on other avenues that would make such hate speech unacceptable socially and morally, through social, political, economic and media avenues.
On the social front, many groups including interfaith groups, advocacy groups, religious groups and professionals are doing an effective job in removing the misconceptions about Muslims and Islam, through individual interactions or through gatherings.
On the political front Muslims are becoming savvy. In the last general election they targeted about 7 bigoted candidates. In spite of heavy funding from the Neo Conservative Super PACs, all of those candidates lost except one, who earlier had been a presidential candidate, barely hung on to her seat. In most of the contests the financial difference was huge, one candidate had over $17 million to spend as compared to the winning candidate who had hardly $3 million to spend. This changing momentum has forced Republicans to rethink their positions on such issues and we will see far less diatribe in the midterm election of 2014.
In all probability economic pressure was one of the major factors in withdrawal of the cartoon and the ensuing apology. Sunday Times, in all likelihood, received a threat from financial corporations and big businesses of boycott that would have caused a precipitous fall in subscriptions and more significantly withdrawals of the advertisers. Boycott and divestment are the essential tools that hurt more than any other actions. Because it cuts off the life line.
Media factor is equally important. Media builds public opinions and brings collective conscience of the people together on any issue, especially the issues that are dearer to our heart. It is also the only vehicle that connects our leaders to its masses. It conveys the views of our leaders- social, political, religious or others- to the masses. Media is the vehicle to raise issues, for or against, in mobilizing the community on any particular issue. We have ignored this avenue for a long time and we have suffered because of it.
For the welfare and well being of any community media is the most important tool to have. No community can afford not to have it. It is the call of the day to put the money where your mouth is.
Just thinking of these dust mites living in your pillow by the millions, eating your dead skin and hair is enough to make even Gov. Arnold Schwartznegger sick. The are a major cause of asthma and allergies; especially in vulnerable individuals, such as children and the elderly. According to the American College of Asthma, Allergy & Immunology, approximately 10 percent of Americans exhibit allergic sensitivity to dust mites. In the spring, pollen aggravates allergies, and dustmite infestations make it worse. The Fall and Winter months are a particular problem, as we close up our houses and the concentrations of dust mites and their feces increases inside. And with dustmites at their multiplying peak during warm, wet weather, read on to find out what you can do about dust mites!
House dust mites are microscope bugs that primarily live on dead skin cells regularly shed from humans and their animal pets. Dust mites are generally harmless to most people. They don’t carry diseases, but they can cause allergic reactions in asthmatics and others who are allergic to their feces. People sometimes confuse dustmites with bed bugs. Skin cells and scales, commonly called dander, are often concentrated in lounging areas, mattresses, frequently used furniture and associated carpeted areas, often harbor large numbers of these microscopic mites. Since the average human sloughs off 1/3 ounce (10 grams) of dead skin a week. That gives dust mites a lot to eat. Cats and dogs create far more dander for dust mites to eat.
A typical mattress can contain tens of thousands of dust mites. Sick yet? Nearly 100,000 mites can live in one square yard of carpet. Ready to convince your spouse to start bathing regularly? Did you know a single dust mite produces about 20 waste droppings each day, each containing a protein to which many people are allergic. Yuck! The proteins in that combination of feces and shed skin are what cause allergic reactions in humans. Depending on the person and exposure, reactions can range from itchy eyes to asthma attacks. And finally, unlike other types of mites, house dust mites are not parasites, since they only eat dead tissue. Gross, but true. Beds are a prime habitat (where 1/3 of life occurs). A typical used mattress may have anywhere from 100,000 to 10 million mites inside. (Ten percent of the weight of a two year old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings.) Mites prefer warm, moist surroundings such as the inside of a mattress when someone is on it. A favorite food is dander (both human and animal skin flakes).
Humans shed about 1/5 ounce of dander (dead skin) each week.
About 80 percent of the material seen floating in a sunbeam is actually skin flakes. Also, bedroom carpeting and household upholstery support high mite populations. For most people, while they are disgusting, house dust mites are not actually harmful. However, the medical significance of house dust mites arises because their microscopic cast skins and feces are a major constituent of house dust that induces allergic reactions in some individuals. There is a genetic predisposition to dust mite allergies, but like many allergies it can also develop over time.According to Darryl C. Zeldin, acting director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, in the Wall Street Journal (January 5, 2010, Page D2), 18% to 30% of Americans are allergic to dust mites’ waste products, and almost 50% of American homes have allergen levels that are high enough to cause sensitivity in people who were nt previously allergic to dustmites. In other words, high levels of dust mites and their wastes, can cause previously non-allergic people to develop an allergy. In addition to producing allergic reactions, dust mites can also cause nasal polyps growths within the nose. Beds are a prime habitat (where 1/3 of life occurs). A typical used mattress may have anywhere from 100,000 to 10 million mites inside. (Ten percent of the weight of a two year old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings.) Mites prefer warm, moist surroundings such as the inside of a mattress when someone is on it. A favorite food is dander (both human and animal skin flakes). Humans shed about 1/5 ounce of dander (dead skin) each week. About 80 percent of the material seen floating in a sunbeam is actually skin flakes. Also, bedroom carpeting and household upholstery support high mite populations.
House dust mites, are too small to be visible to the naked eye; they are only 250 to 300 microns in length and have translucent bodies. It takes at least a 10X magnification to be able to correctly identify them. The adult mite’s cuticle (covering) has simple striations that can be seen from both the dorsal (top) view and from the ventral (bottom) view. The ventral view of the house dust mite reveals long setae (hairs) extending from the outer margins of the body and shorter setae on the rest of the body. Through the microscope, one will see many oval-shaped mites scuttling around and over one another. There are eight hairy legs, no eyes, no antennae, a mouthpart group in front of the body (resembles head) and a tough, translucent shell, giving a “fearsome appearance.â€
Smoke comes out from a mosque tower during heavy fighting between the Free Syrian Army and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, in the Jobar area of Damascus February 6, 2013. Syrian rebels battled President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on the edge of central Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said, seeking to break his grip over districts leading to the heart of the capital. REUTERS/Mohamed Dimashkia
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian rebels battled President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on the edge of central Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said, seeking to break through to the heart of the capital.
Their offensive aims to break a stalemate in the city of 2 million people, where artillery and air strikes have prevented rebels entrenched to the east from advancing despite their capture of army fortifications, the activists said.
“We have moved the battle to Jobar,†said Captain Islam Alloush of the rebel Islam Brigade. The district links rebel strongholds in the suburbs with the central Abbasid Square.
“The heaviest fighting is taking place in Jobar because it is the key to the heart of Damascus,†he said.
Assad, battling to crush a 22-month-old uprising in which 60,000 people have died, has lost control of large parts of the country but his forces, backed by air power, have so far kept rebels on the fringes of the capital.
Despite the setbacks, Assad has remained defiant, telling a visiting senior Iranian official on Sunday that Syria was able to confront “current threats … and aggressionâ€.
That visit came just after Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib in Moscow. Iran is Syria’s strongest backer in the region.
Salehi said on Wednesday the Syrian government may be ready to respond positively to Alkhatib’s offer of direct peace talks.
“I think that the Syrian government is ready to negotiate with the opposition,†he told Egyptian state news agency MENA during a visit to Cairo.
But Alkhatib gave the Syrian government until Sunday to release all women detainees, otherwise he would regard his offer of dialogue as rejected by Assad.
“If any woman stays in prison, I consider the regime not responding,†BBC Arabic quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile Syrian state media denied rebel gains in Jobar and said the army had pushed back rebels from the neighborhood and other parts of the Ghouta area of eastern Damascus.
“Our noble army is continuing its operations against the terrorists in Irbeen, Zamalka and Harasta and Sbeineh, destroying the criminal lairs,†Syrian television said.
But video footage taken by activists purported to show opposition fighters inside Jobar after they overran an army road block, and rebels said they had made significant gains.
“Parts of the Damascus ring road fell to us today. The road has been effectively the last remaining barrier between the Ghouta and the city,†said Abu Ghazi, a rebel commander based in the eastern suburb of Irbeen.
“I don’t want to give people false hopes but I think if street fighting reaches central Damascus, the regime will not be able to quell it this time.â€
A disorganized rebel advance on the city failed last year. Ghazi said that this time opposition fighters had established supply lines to support their offensive.
“STRATEGIC TARGETSâ€
The Damascus Media Office, an opposition activists’ monitoring group, said 13 people had been killed in fighting in Jobar, while three people had died in army shelling on Thalatheen, a rebellious neighborhood in southern Damascus.
The Syrian National Council, an exile opposition group dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, said Syrian Free Army rebel units were attacking “strategic targets†in Damascus.
“There is a new strategy, brigades are united. What is happening in the field is huge but it is a preparation for bigger operations,†said Abu Moaz al-Agha, a leader of the Gathering of Ansar al-Islam, which groups many Islamist units.
“Right now we will attack checkpoints especially in Jobar that some time ago seemed impossible to get near to. We want to shake the regime.â€
Abbasid Square and the Fares al-Khoury thoroughfare were closed as fighters attacked roadblocks and fortifications with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, activists said.
“The areas of Jobar, Zamalka, al-Zablatani and parts of Qaboun and the ring road have become a battleground,†activist Fida Mohammad said from Qaboun.
Residents reported explosions across the east and north of the capital. “The army seems to have been caught by surprise,†one activist said. “Reports from the heart of the battle are talking about several tanks being hit and the army has been pushed to Abbasid Square.â€
The rebel Liwa al-Islam unit said the operation to enter eastern parts of Damascus aimed to relieve pressure on two large southwestern suburbs that have been under army siege.
Assad’s core forces, mostly from his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, are based in Qasioun Mountain, which is part of Damascus, and on hilltops dotted with artillery pieces and multiple rocket launchers.
SUPPLY LINE
Estimated at 70,000 army, security and militia personnel, the core forces have a supply line to the coast that has remained open despite rebel efforts to disrupt it.
Rebels were also attacking Adra, 17 km (10 miles) northeast of Damascus. Video footage purported to show an armored vehicle in the area being hit by a rocket. Thousands of refugees have fled to the town, which is home to Syria’s largest prison.
In Palmyra, 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Damascus, on the main road to the oil-producing east, a suicide car bomb struck a military intelligence compound, causing dozens of casualties, opposition campaigners said.
A bomb destroyed part of the back wall of the compound near the Roman-era ruins in the city and then a suicide car bomber drove through, detonating the vehicle and destroying parts of the facility, activists in Palmyra said.
They said it was not immediately clear how many people had been killed in the blast and the clashes that followed. Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed a large cloud of thick smoke rising in the city.
“The first car bomb struck at around six in the morning. The second one, which caused the larger explosion, broke through into the compound 10 minutes later,†activist Abu al-Hassan said from the city.
He said tanks in the compound had responded by shelling an adjacent neighborhood, killing several civilians.
Roadblocks across the city also came under attack.
The state news agency said two “suicide terrorists†blew up cars packed with explosives near a garage in a residential district, killing and wounding several people.
Street demonstrations against Assad’s rule erupted in Palmyra at the beginning of the revolt almost two years ago. But the army has since tightened its control of the city, which is situated near a major oil pipeline junction.
President Barack Obama announced full support behind a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration laws during his second term. On Feb 5, 2013 in Las Vegas, he said “now’s the time†to replace a system which he regarded as “out of date and badly broken.â€
The president specified three pillars of immigration reform: better enforcement of immigration laws, dealing with citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country, and revamping the legal immigration system.
A group of senators from both parties earlier unveiled the framework of a broad bipartisan reform to the nation’s immigration laws, including a track towards citizenship for the 11 million undocumented aliens in the United States.
The detailed reform will carry the signatures of four Republicans and four Democrats. Senators Chuck Shumer, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Dick Durbin and Marco Rubio are a few of the notable members of this group. This document will supposedly be drafted by March this year . It is also believed that it will produce tough but fair route to citizenship to the illegal immigrants living in the country.
Immigrants have played a very significant role in the financial growth of the country. Immigrants are indispensable to the U.S. economy, they are a significant part of the US workforce, research shows that one in every seven workers in the country is an immigrant. Immigrants are more likely to be entrepreneurs than native-born U.S. citizens. One of every four engineering and technology companies created in the United States between 1995 and 2005 had immigrant founders. Foreign-born scholars, scientists, and engineers have played imminent role in the prosperity of the country. In the last two decades over one third of Nobel Prizes in the U.S. were awarded to foreign-born scientists. Hispanics, Chinese and South Asian Americans are the three major immigrant groups residing in United States.
Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi (R) meets with Turkish President Abdullah Gul after he arrived at the Cairo International Airport February 5, 2013. Gul is in Cairo for the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which is due to start on Wednesday morning. REUTERS/Stringer
CAIRO (Reuters) – Leaders of Muslim nations called for a negotiated end to Syria’s civil war at a summit in Cairo on Wednesday, thrusting Egypt’s new Islamist president to center stage amid turbulence at home.
On the summit sidelines, the leaders of Egypt, Turkey and Iran gathered for talks on the Syria crisis. The Iranian foreign minister came out of the meeting expressing optimism about the prospects for a resolution.
The head of the Syrian opposition, in Cairo but not at the summit, told BBC Arabic that Iran was making the decisions in Damascus, and gave the Syrian government until Sunday to release women detainees or else his offer of talks would lapse.
The summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation opened on a day when the assassination of a leading Tunisian opposition politician highlighted the fragility of “Arab Spring†democratic revolutions in North Africa.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki canceled his trip to the Cairo meeting after Shokri Belaid, a staunch secular opponent of the moderate Islamist government, was shot dead outside his home, triggering street protests.
With Mahmoud Ahmadinejad making an ice-breaking visit to Egypt, the first by an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the two-day meeting was focusing on how to stop the bloodshed in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad counts Tehran as one of his last allies.
In a keynote address, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi called on “the ruling regime†in Damascus to learn the lessons of history and not put its interests above those of the nation, saying that rulers who did so were inevitably finished.
Mursi urged all OIC members to support the Syrian opposition’s efforts to unite and bring about change.
Heavy fighting erupted in Damascus on Wednesday as rebels launched an offensive against Assad’s forces, breaking a lull in the conflict, opposition activists said. Ahmadinejad earlier told Egyptian journalists there could be no military solution and he was encouraged that the Syrian government and opposition were moving towards negotiations to end a conflict in which at least 60,000 people have died.
His foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Egypt’s state news agency he believed the Syrian government was ready to negotiate with the opposition. “We are optimistic,†he added after the meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Egypt.
OFFER OF TALKS
In an interview with BBC Arabic on Wednesday, opposition Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib said Iran was the real power in Damascus. Alkhatib had on Sunday offered to meet Assad’s ceremonial deputy, Farouq al-Shara, for peace talks if the authorities released thousands of prisoners.
But in his interview, he said his proposal for talks with Shara had been rejected. He demanded the release of all women detainees by Sunday, or else his initiative “would have been brokenâ€, the BBC reported.
Underlining the deep regional divisions over the Syria conflict, Saudi Arabia, a key supporter of the Syrian rebels and a member of an “Islamic Quartet†formed by Mursi last August to try to broker a solution, did not attend the Syria crisis meeting in Cairo, diplomats said.
Saudi Crown Prince Salman told the summit the Syrian regime was “committing ugly crimes†against its people. He said the U.N. Security Council, which has so far been paralyzed by Russian and Chinese opposition to sanctions, should act to “finalize the transition of powerâ€.
Diplomats said Iran had objected to the wording and it might be toned down to spread responsibility more evenly.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the statement had to be adopted by consensus and would stress the need for dialogue and a political solution.
The draft text also urged the opposition to speed up the creation of a transitional government “to be ready to assume responsibility in full until the completion of the desired political change processâ€. Without mentioning Assad, it says: “We urge the Syrian regime to show wisdom and call for serious dialogue to take place between the national coalition of the Syrian revolution, opposition forces, and representatives of the Syrian government committed to political transformation in Syria and those who have not been directly involved in any form of oppression…â€
SPOTLIGHT ON MURSI
Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, sought to project his country as the leader of the Islamic world in his speech, seven months after becoming Egypt’s first democratically elected head of state.
He told the assembled kings, presidents and prime ministers that the “glorious January 25 revolution†that toppled Egypt’s autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 “forms the cornerstone in the launching of this nation to new horizons of progressâ€.
Egypt is taking over the OIC chair at a time of upheaval in the Arab world and sectarian tension between the main branches of Islam. Mursi is also grappling with sustained protests at home by liberal and leftist opponents who accuse him of seeking to monopolize power.
On Tuesday, he embraced Ahmadinejad and gave him a red-carpet airport welcome, but his foreign minister hastened to assure Gulf Arab states that Egypt would not sacrifice their security in opening to Tehran.
Syria was not present at the Islamic summit after being suspended from the OIC last August. The Syrian opposition said it had not received an invitation and would not be attending.
(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Marwa Awad and Asma Alsharif in Cairo, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman and Tarek Amara in Tunis; Editing by Jon Hemming)
