Suicide bomber at Muslim mosque shatters holiday that celebrates peace

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- It was supposed to be a day of happiness, a moment to mark the start of a Muslim holiday that celebrates peace as the faithful observe the height of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

It was a respite that Zain-ul-Obdin said was needed by the people in Afghanistan's Faryab province, where suicide bombings and insurgent attacks have taken their toll on the population.

The people did not get that respite.

It was erased by a suicide bomber who left bodies broken and bloodied outside Eid Gah Mosque in the provincial city of Maimana.

"I saw dozens of people lying on the ground covered in blood," Zain-ul-Obdin said. Among them were the bodies of children, he said.

At least 40 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the attack that came as worshipers were leaving Friday morning prayers marking the beginning of Eid al-Adha, Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the northern Afghanistan police chief, told CNN.

The death toll was likely to rise given the size and timing of the explosion, said Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Seddiqi.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Seddiqi laid the blame for the attack squarely at the feet of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

"Their target and their main objective is to attack and kill as many people as possible," he said.

Eid al-Adha, also known as Feast of Sacrifice, is considered a joyous holiday for Muslims. It commemorates when God appeared to Abraham -- known as Ibrahim to Muslims -- in a dream and asked him to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience.

The mosque had been so packed that Zain-ul-Obdin and his neighbors were forced to pray just beyond the front doors of the mosque.

It was this misfortune at being unable to get into the mosque that may have saved his life.

When the sermon was over, he was among the first to leave the grounds, he said.

At the same time, the bomber -- said to be dressed in a police uniform -- waded into the crowd leaving the mosque and detonated his explosives.

Coming at the start of the Eid holiday, the attack drew swift condemnation from neighboring Pakistan as well as the United States.

"This violence undertaken at a place of worship, and during Eid, once again shows the insurgency's callous hypocrisy and disregard for religion and faith," said Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry vowed to stand by Afghanistan in the fight on terrorism.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the attack demonstrated "the insurgency's lack of respect for religion, faith and its disregard for the safety and security of the Afghan people."

A Joint Statement by 12 Arakanese Organizations Call for

A Joint Statement by 12 Arakanese Organizations Call for

Immediate Halt of Violence in the Arakan State of Burma

 

October 25, 2012

 

Since October 21^st, sectary violence between the Arakanese community and Bengali Muslim community in Minpya, Mrapon, Mark Oo, Kyautphu, and other townships are taken places. Bothe sides burned houses and attacked each other by knives and sticks, resulting over 1600 houses burn-down, killed several, and injured many. Some Arakanese were arrested by security force. We urge the Arakanese and Bengali Muslim an immediate halt of the violent attacks and restrain further escalation.  

 

We call for the government and its responsible authorities to exercise its legitimate coercive judicial powers to impose rule of the laws, stability and security of lives and properties of the people in the Arakan State.

 

At these critical moments, all must be cold headed and foreseen the trap and the instigation that lead to the deathly violence and turn the faults onto our shoulders if we can’t  control it, especially the Arakanese may be put  to lost-face in the world.    

 

We urge Bengali community not to continue to attack the Arakanese such kinds of burning the house looting properties, murder and poisoning the all kinds of drinking water source. The Arakanese also should not act emotionally and hatefully for those who hate and use the violence but united and be self-defensive position.  We have seen the unnecessary deaths, injured, and imposing curfew laws in Myinpya and Mrak Oo townships that make us deeply concern and worrisome. 

 

We believe that only peaceful solutions with justly responding the sectary violence between the both communities are the best way. To do it rightfully, the Union government, the state government, the Arakanese political parties, and the people should jointly implement step by step the rule of laws, open education and economic opportunities for the long term; give citizenships for those who are eligible for the citizenship right, accordance with the immigration laws; try and deport those who are illegal immigrants to their mother countries.

 

To properly solve it, all sides firstly stop the violence. For long term solution, we recommend the Arakanese leaders from the political parties and organizations should meet and make viable policies and practical strategies whereas common wills and common platform can be made for stability, peace, and security of all walks of  life.    

 

We assume that if the violence continues, return the hate by the hated, and respond the irrational act of emotion by revenge, endless circle go on, and it will finally hinder the momentum of the reform process in Myanmar.

 

We evaluate that if the government does not take drastic measurement of rule of the laws but keep giving lip-services as usual, and if both sides keep attacking each other, it can expend instability beyond the Myanmar boundary, ways of regional and of international concern. If such interfere happens, more confusions will be unavoidably imposed.   

In short, we humbly appeal our respectful Buddhist monk-leaders to teach the way of matta, ultimate kindness, to the devoted Buddhist Arakanese to restrain the violence. We also urge the Muslim religion leaders do the same to immediately stop the violent attacks over the Arakanese.

 

 

 

 

 

Under Sign Organizations:

 

(01)            Arakan National Council (India)

(02)            Arakanese Community (Europe) 

(03)            Association of Arakan National Council Supporting (Malaysia)

(04)            Association of Arakan National Council Supporting (The United States of America)

(05)            Arakanese Worker Union (Thailand)

(06)            Arakan Trade Union (India)

(07)            Arakan Independent Force (Bangladesh)

(08)            Khamin Ethnic Development Party (Bangladesh)

(09)            Organization of Arakan Development (Bangladesh)

(10)          Tripura Arakanese Education and Culture Development Organization  (India)

(11)           National United Party of Arakan (Bangladesh)

(12)          Democratic Party of Arakan (India-Burma Borders)

 

Please feel free contact with us if you need more information about violence between the Arakanese community and Bengali Muslim community in Arakan State western part of Myanmar(Burma).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking tea with a terrorist

 

Taking tea with a terrorist

 

By Paul Cruickshank

 

He didn't look like a hardened terrorist. A short, meek man with a neatly cropped beard and glasses, Moez Garsallaoui was shy and courteous. He served me and a CNN crew sweet Moroccan tea and north African cakes in the living room of the pinewood Swiss chalet he shared with his Belgian-Moroccan wife.

That was in 2006. Fast forward to the present: A posting on the Shumukh al-Islam Jihadist forum Monday said Garsallaoui had been killed in "a cowardly, treacherous raid" somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. He was 44.

In the intervening six years, he had become a jihadist of some standing, and may have influenced the young Frenchman who carried out a string of shootings in southwest France earlier this year.

"We received the painful news about the killing of another hero of the heroes of this Ummah, and one of its best," the posting by a militant calling himself Abu al-Laith al-Waziri stated, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.

A European counterterrorism official told CNN the claim appeared to be credible, but said confirmation of his death had not yet been received.

That cold afternoon in Switzerland, we had actually come to talk with Garsallaoui's wife. She was called Malika el Aroud, and was the widow of Abdessattar Dahmane, an al Qaeda operative who had killed the Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud in Afghanistan two days before 9/11.

Back then, she was attracting increasing scrutiny from European security agencies for running a pro-al Qaeda website and was earning a reputation as an "al Qaeda living legend" in radical circles because of a book she published about her time in Afghanistan.

Garsallaoui was tech savvy and showed us how he helped el Aroud administer the website from a computer in their bedroom. He was obviously in awe of his wife and her former husband, the al Qaeda hero.

After Garsallaoui traveled from Europe to the tribal areas of Pakistan in early 2008, the bookish Tunisian was transformed. Paramilitary training bulked up his physique and he became a significant operator in his own right amongst jihadists in the mountains of Waziristan.

In early 2008 he sent a picture of himself to his wife back in Belgium posing with a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher. "I saw the picture," el Aroud replied to him. "You are so beautiful." In another message - intercepted by U.S. intelligence - he told her he had killed several American soldiers in Afghanistan.

He appeared to be trying to prove to her that he was as worthy a Holy Warrior as her former husband.

In the months before he left for Pakistan, the couple had moved from Switzerland to Belgium, where they had worked to recruit militants to travel to Afghanistan to fight U.S. and NATO troops. Garsallaoui arranged for a group of Belgian and French militants to travel to Pakistan's tribal areas at the same time he did, and when they got there, he arranged for them to receive training from al Qaeda instructors, according to Belgian court documents.

One of the Belgian militants who traveled with Garsallaoui subsequently testified that Garsallaoui's marriage to Malika el Aroud had "opened doors" for him in Waziristan.

According to Belgian court documents, after his arrival, Garsallaoui formally joined al Qaeda by signing a membership document they presented him. He soon connected with senior al Qaeda operatives, including Abu Leith al-Libi, the group's Libyan military chief, and became acquainted with several al Qaeda recruits, including the American Bryant Neal Vinas.

He later told his wife that on January 31, 2008, he narrowly escaped being killed along with al-Libi in a drone strike after he spent the night at the Libyan's house.

'The archetype of the fanatical terrorist'

European counterterrorism officials believe that although he declared his allegiance to al Qaeda, he kept a significant amount of independence, moving between various groups in North and South Waziristan as a sort of jihadist freelancer.

In late 2008 several of the European militants who had traveled with Garsallaoui to Pakistan returned to Europe, sparking a terror alert in Belgium and a wave of arrests. Among those arrested was his wife, el Aroud, who was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison. Garsallaoui was convicted in absentia, given the same length sentence, and he was made the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.

"He represents the archetype of the fanatical terrorist, disposed to the worst excesses to see his liberty-depriving philosophy succeed. Human life appears to have little value in his eyes," the Belgian judges who sentenced him concluded.

Several of Garsallaoui's proteges shared that fervor. One of the Belgium-based militants Garsallaoui brought to Pakistan - Hicham Bouhali Zriouil, 33, a former Brussels taxi driver - also developed close ties to al Qaeda's top leadership. Last year, senior Libyan al Qaeda operative Atiyah abd al-Rahman entrusted Zriouil with a mission to help set up al Qaeda's operations in Libya, a Western security official told CNN, but he was arrested in Syria before he made it there. Zriouil was subsequently extradited to Morocco and handed a 20-year prison sentence by a Moroccan court for terrorism-related offences.

In the spring of 2009, Garsallaoui posted a message on a jihadist forum claiming he was fighting beside elements of the Taliban, and making cross-border raids into Afghanistan from the tribal areas of Pakistan to target American troops. He delivered this message for Western counterterrorism agencies: "If you thought that you could pressure me to slow down through the arrest of my wife, you were wrong. ... Those who laugh last, laugh more."

Not much was heard from Garsallaoui in the years that followed apart from the occasional statement under one of his many aliases on jihadist forums, and a few online exchanges with Western journalists. Western intelligence agencies believed he was operating mainly in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and acting as a facilitator connecting European militants to al Qaeda and other affiliated jihadist groups. They believed that the rising toll of drone strikes had led to Garsallaoui playing an increasingly senior role.

In October 2011, Garsallaoui released a statement railing against democracy in his home country of Tunisia. Two months later, Garsallaoui again surfaced to post a message in support of attacks by a then-little-known al Qaeda affiliated jihadist group in Kazakhstan called Jund al Khilafah, or JaK, according to Western intelligence officials. CNN has seen the posting.

Suspected links to Toulouse shootings

Weeks later, Garsallaoui was in the spotlight of Western intelligence agencies like never before. In March 2012, a French-Algerian jihadist named Mohammed Merah carried out a series of shootings in southwest France that killed seven people, including three Jewish schoolchildren. Merah was eventually killed in a hail of gunfire during a siege at his apartment.

Before he died, Merah spoke with negotiators through a walkie-talkie over a 17-hour period. Some of his claims were at first treated skeptically by French officials, but subsequent investigations corroborated a significant number of details he provided.

Merah said that when he traveled to the tribal areas of Pakistan in September 2011 he connected with a group of al Qaeda fighters reporting up to Abu Yahya al-Libi, a senior al Qaeda Libyan operative. He also claimed he was provided weapons training by a Pakistani Taliban grouping.

But he said it was an al Qaeda figure who had spent time in France who encouraged him to return home to launch an attack.

"He told me, 'Return to France, kill them in France' ... and I thought about it, took some time to think seriously about it, and said to myself, 'Go for it, I'll take my chance,'" Merah told the negotiators, according to a transcript of his exchanges with them.

Merah said that he himself planned the shootings, including selecting the targets, and that he had no communication with al Qaeda after his return to France.

In the weeks after the Toulouse siege, Western intelligence agencies came to suspect it was Garsallaoui who encouraged Merah to bring terror to France, a senior Western intelligence official has told CNN.

"That is the working hypothesis, but it's something that's going to be painstakingly difficult to prove," the official told CNN.

The hypothesis is - in part - based on a series of indicators.

The first, according to officials, was that Western intelligence agencies received specific intelligence that Garsallaoui had joined JaK, the Kazakh jihadist group, whose leadership had moved to the tribal areas of Pakistan after a crackdown in Kazakhstan.

This was significant because in wake of the Toulouse shootings, JaK released two claims of responsibility for the attack. Though the claims were dismissed at the time by some as opportunist, subsequent investigations left French intelligence officials in little doubt they were authentic.

A telling alias?

The second indicator came with the second of the JaK statements, issued April 1. The statement was signed by "Abu al-Qa'qa' Al-Andalusi" a name similar to two of Garsallaoui's known aliases - "Abou Souheil al Andalousi" and "Al Molla al Andalousi."

"I knew the brother (Merah) up close, and sat with him on many occasions, and I was for a short time one of those who guided him," Abu al-Qa'qa' Al-Andalusi wrote on April 1. He also outlined how JaK provided Merah weapons training.

A senior U.S. intelligence official told CNN it could not be ruled out that another North African jihadist in JaK authored the claim, as the jihadist fighting name al-Andalusi is popular with North African jihadists.

The third indicator, according to officials, was that the author of the April 1 statement claimed to have spoken French with Merah, recognized that his accent came from southern France, and acted as his interpreter. Garsallaoui was fluent in French.

The Shumukh al-Islam posting Monday confirmed Garsallaoui's membership in JaK, describing him as the group's "emir," or top leader. It added that he ran a center where he trained Kazakh militants in explosives and other tradecraft so they could return home to wage jihad. In confirming his link to JaK, he provided intelligence services with a fourth, and perhaps most compelling, indicator of a link between the Toulouse shooter and Garsallaoui.

The Shumukh al Islam posting also implicated Garsallaoui in the abduction of a Swiss tourist couple in the Pakistani province of Balochistan in July 2011. The two were kidnapped as they traveled in their camping van, and were subsequently taken by militants to the tribal areas of Pakistan. In March 2012 the couple walked free from their captors. The Swiss government denied media reports that it had paid a ransom.

A European counterterrorism official told CNN that Western intelligence agencies had suspected Garsallaoui of involvement in the kidnapping, and the posting provided a stronger indication of that.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/17/taking-tea-with-a-terrorist/
 

Man arrested after plotting Federal Reserve bomb, authorities say

New York (CNN) -- Federal authorities running a sting operation arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, who came to the U.S. on a student visa and was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb, officials said.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was detained Wednesday after an alleged attempt to detonate the device, which was inert and part of an elaborate investigation by federal authorities and NYPD detectives.

Prosecutors say Nafis was apparently motivated by al Qaeda and traveled to the United States in January under the pretext of attending college in Missouri in order carry out "a terrorist attack on U.S. soil" and to recruit members to form a terrorist cell.

Accused 9/11 mastermind says U.S. tortured in name of national security

It's not clear whether Nafis maintained al Qaeda ties, but authorities say he apparently claimed that the plot was his own, and that it was his sole motivation for the U.S. trip.

One of the people Nafis apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. official as well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said.

At one point, the suspect contemplated President Barack Obama as a target, but that idea never progressed, a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, of Bangladesh, allegedly planned a terrorist bombing.

While the details surrounding the suspected plot remain murky, prosecutors say Nafis indicated that he wanted to "destroy America" by going after the nation's financial institutions and ultimately settled on the landmark bank.

The undercover agent, authorities say, also provided 20 bags of 50 pounds each of purported explosives to Nafis, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike.

They say Nafis further divulged a "Plan B" that involved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his initial effort.

Packing his van with what he apparently believed were explosives, Nafis then allegedly traveled with the undercover agent to Manhattan's financial district, attached a detonator to the material and recorded a video statement in a nearby hotel.

"We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," he allegedly said, covering his face, donning sunglasses and disguising his voice.

While en route to his target, authorities say, Nafis detailed how his jihadist views were -- at least in part -- formed by watching video sermons by American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last year by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

With his van parked next to the Federal Reserve, Nafis allegedly attempted to detonate the inert device by using his cell phone.

The effort failed, and he was arrested soon after, authorities said.

Much of the sting operation was also captured on video, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Nafis faces charges of "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda."

His arrest came as a result of the "culmination of an undercover operation" after he was being monitored by NYPD detectives and the FBI New York Field Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force, the statement said.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment, while Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reminded New Yorkers to remain vigilant against potential threats.

"Al Qaeda operatives and those they have inspired have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field," he said in a prepared statement. "We are up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Center."

He added that "after 11 years without a successful attack, it's understandable if the public becomes complacent."

"But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford," he said.

Jay Carney, White House press secretary, told CNN that President Barack Obama has been briefed on the threat.

Meanwhile, Nafis made an initial court appearance Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn.

His attorney, a public defender, declined to comment.

Nafis was a student majoring in cybersecurity at Southeast Missouri State University from January to May of this year, said Ann Hayes, a spokeswoman for the university.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/17/justice/new-york-federal-reserve-terror-plot/index.html?hpt=us_c2

Fake currency 'factory' busted

10 held with Tk 10 crore, note-making equipment

Counterfeit notes of taka and Indian rupee notes recovered from different areas in the capital are put on display for newsmen at the Media and Communication Centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday.Photo: STARStaff Correspondent

Two factories making fake bank notes were seized and 10 people with Bangladeshi and Indian fake notes were arrested by Detective Branch of police in the capital's Demra and Kamrangirchar on Saturday.

Forger gangs have become active in preparation for spreading Tk 100 crore in fake notes at different markets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, said DB officials.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku yesterday said fake note detectors would be installed at cattle markets across the country to check the spread of fake notes. He said this at a meeting of the anti-militancy national committee at the Secretariat.

Mahbubur Rahman, DB deputy commissioner (west), at a press briefing at Media and Community Service Centre yesterday said the DB had seized Tk 2.5 crore and Rs 88,000 in fake notes and materials worth around Tk 8 crore in two drives the previous day.

The seized materials include three laptops, a desktop computer, a computer monitor, six printers, packets of ink and watermarks of Bangladesh Bank.

Mashiur Rahman, DB additional deputy commissioner (North), said the police in the first drive raided a factory in Demra's Aminbagh and arrested Abdur Rahman, 36, Jalaluddin, 25, Shanta alias Shabana, 25, Maksuda, 20, and Lima Akter, 20.

Tk 1.3 crore in fake notes and related equipment worth around Tk 5 crore were seized from the factory, Mashiur said.

Shanta said she had been involved in this activity for the last three years and that she had learned the technique from her husband Sirajul Islam, who is now on the run.

With information from the arrestees, the team in the second drive arrested Darud Zaman alias Zaman Bishwas, 50, his younger brother Khaliduzzaman, 35, Manjurul Kamal, 60, Md Babu Mia, 30, and Sujon alias, 27, at another factory at West Rasulpur in Kamrangirchar.

The team seized Tk 1.2 crore and Rs 88,000 in fake notes and note-making equipment worth Tk 3 crore in the drive.

The DB officials said Darud is one of the first in such forgery in the country and earlier in 1999 he was arrested with fake notes.

Darud said, "I have made fake currencies worth Tk 20 crore so far. Eid is the best season for us. We planned to spread Tk 50 crore in the upcoming Eid season.”

“I sell Tk 1 lakh in fake notes for Tk 6,000-7,000 to the dealers who then sell them for Tk 10,000-12,000 to another dealer. The fake notes spread to the markets after changing hands four or five times,” he added.

Of the arrestees, Abdur Rahman, Jalaluddin, Shanta, Maksuda, and Lima were placed on four days' remand while Darud, Khaliduzzaman, Manjurul, Babu and Sujon on five days' remand when they were produced at a Dhaka court yesterday.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=253860

Khaleda flies to China

Staff Correspondent

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday left the capital for a seven-day visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party.

Senior party leaders saw her off at the airport. A regular flight of Thai Airways, carrying Khaleda and members of her entourage, took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 1:35pm.

The BNP claims that the senior leaders were prevented by the authorities concerned from entering the VIP lounge at the airport.

"Former ministers and lawmakers could not enter the VIP lounge. It is nothing but an expression of the autocratic attitude of the government," standing committee member Moudud Ahmed told reporters.

Several thousand leaders, workers and supporters also gathered outside the airport to see off Khaleda, a former premier.

As per her itinerary, the BNP chief stopped over and stayed in Bangkok overnight. She is scheduled to reach Beijing today.

Before leaving the country, the party's standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, who is accompanying Khaleda during the visit, said the party chief would hold meetings with top-level leaders of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.

"This visit will strengthen the ties between the two countries, and between the BNP and the Chinese Communist Party," he told The Daily Star.

Party leaders indicated that the BNP chairperson might raise the issue of the recent communal attack on Buddhists in Ramu during the meetings with the Chinese leaders as the BNP believes a section of the Awami League-led government was behind the incident.

Khaleda will also seek Chinese support over her demand for the restoration of the caretaker government system in Bangladesh



Khaleda flies to China

2 more held over Ramu attacks

File photoStar Online Report

Police arrested two more people at Ramu upazila in Cox's Bazar in the wee hours of Friday for their alleged involvement in the recent attacks on Buddhist temples and houses.



The arrestees are Monjur Alam, 25, of Ramu and Hafez Ahmed, 35, of Ukhia, reports our correspondent in Chittagong.



They were nabbed on the basis of specific allegations against them, Gazi Md Shakhwat Hossain, acting officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Station, told The Daily Star.



With these two, the number of total arrestees in this connection stands at 102.



During the September 29 attacks, 12 monasteries and about 50 houses were torched or vandalised following the Facebook post of an anti-Islam photograph tagged to a Buddhist youth's account.

Govt backed hate attacks

Govt backed hate attacks: BNP probe Fri, Oct 12th, 2012 2:13 pm BdST

Dhaka, Oct 12 (bdnews24.com) – An investigation by the opposition BNP into the recent communal attacks in Ramu, Ukhia, Teknaf and Patia has found the government 'backed the attacks indirectly'. A 67-page investigation report released at its headquarters in Naya Paltan here on Friday also blamed 'inaction of local administration during the attacks'. The party has demanded formation of a judicial commission headed by a retired Chief Justice to probe the attacks 'immediately'. bdnews24.com/sm/ost/nir/1407h

IM terrorists arrested; major terror strikes averted

 

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar claimed that the trio were instructed to carry out strikes in Delhi and a temple in Bihar's Bodhgaya.

 

Yahoo! India News – 57 minutes ago

http://in.news.yahoo.com/im-terrorists-arrested--major-terror-strikes-averted.html

 

NEW DELHI: A major terror strike was averted today with the arrest of three suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, Delhi police said.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar claimed that the trio were instructed to carry out strikes in Delhi and a temple in Bihar's Bodhgaya during the festival season.

At a press conference, Neeraj Kumar said: "Two of the IM operatives Asad Khan, 33, and Imran Khan, 31, were arrested from south Delhi's Pul Prahladpur on Sep 26, the day they came to Delhi from Rurki, a town located in Punjab province of Pakistan. The third IM operative Sayed Firoz alias Hamza, 38, was arrested on Oct 1 from Nizamuddin Railway Station."

Neeraj Kumar said that the trio was also involved in the August 1 Pune serial blasts.

Asad - a computer expert inclined towards jehad - was the recruiter, motivator and ideologue of this IM module which received Rs.3 lakh from their mentors based abroad through hawala, he said.

The three were being instructed by IM chief Yasin Bhatkal and his brother Riyaz, apparently operating from across the border, the police chief said.

"They had also planned to attack the Bodhgaya Temple in Bihar... We have informed Bihar Police and asked them to step up security in the temple premises," he said.

During the interrogation of Abu Jundal, the arrested handler of Pakistani terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack, it came to light that terror organisations based overseas were planning to strike in major Indian cities.

Investigations revealed that Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Fayyaz Ahmed Qagzi, a resident of Beed in Maharashtra and presently based in west Asian countries, was co-ordinating with Bhatkal brothers to set up a base in Delhi and carry out a blast.

"Qagzi was the main man who brought the trio together," said Neeraj Kumar.

Asad and Imran told interrogators that they had come to Delhi on the direction of Bhatkal brothers and Qagzi.

"They were on continuous move from one place to another before approaching Delhi. They were received by 'Raju Bhai, 40,', who had made arrangements for their stay by hiring a house in Pul Prahladpur. They met Raju first at Nehru Place," said Neeraj Kumar.

Police are yet to identify Raju Bhai, believed to be the main handler of the terror suspects allegedly planning to strike in Delhi.

On the basis of the information provided by the arrested IM members, sketches of Raju Bhai, who speaks Urdu-Hindi in a north Indian accent, and two other operatives involved in their module have been prepared and circulated, police said.

The terrorists also disclosed their involvement in six serial blasts that took place in Pune this year.

"Asad, a B.Com degree holder, indoctrinated Imran and came in contact with Quagzi in August 2009 through telephone and email. Asad, Imran and Feroz had gone to Saudi Arabia on a number of occasions and had met Qagzi there. They had discussed about jehad to carry out terror strike in India," said the police chief.

In January, Qagzi introduced Asad to Bhatkal brothers -- who wanted to avenge the death of Qateel Siddique, a militant of IM killed June 8, in Yerwada jail in Maharashtra.

Initially, the plan was to plant a bomb in Yerwada jail or in the premises of the Pune court. But because of the high security at both the places the plan was cancelled, the police chief said.

"Later, they were asked to kill the family members of Sharad Mohol and Ashok Bhalerao, the jail inmates responsible for killing Siddique. This plan was also given up due to identity problem of the family of Mohol and Bhalerao," said Neeraj Kumar.

Finally, the Bhatkal brothers decided to use the operatives to carry out blasts either at Pune or in Mumbai.

"In the second fortnight of July, Feroz took a flat in Pune and was joined by two other IM operatives, whose names can not be revealed due to investigation purpose. They went to Mumbai and recced places to plant explosives, but the Bhatkal brothers changed their plan and told them to strike in Pune," said Neeraj Kumar.

He said that the IM members received their funds through hawala transactions. "This module received Rs.3 lakh from their mentors based abroad through hawala."

 

Rohingyas, Harn Yawnghwe, and Fraudulent Claims?

Rohingyas, Harn Yawnghwe, and Fraudulent Claims?

(Direct translation of Aung Than Oo’s article “Human Rights and Self Interest”.)

EBO-OIC Signing in Saudi Arabia for Rohingya Claims?

The topics I’m going to write about in this article basing on my past experiences and what I could intellectually think of are the dishonest land claims of foreign-born Bengalis illegally entering Burma from the neighboring Bangladesh.

In this article I tried my best to avoid the two common prejudices of race and religion even though my aim is to prolong our race Burmese and our religion Buddhism, and at the same time I am extremely careful not to attack or insult other races and other religions.

Principally I am going to write about the so-called Rohingyas who under the cover of human-rights issues in Burma are recently and presently claiming that they are an authentic ethnic race of Burma while hiding their original Bengali roots, especially now that they are making so much noise and attracting undeserving international attentions and Arab money generously as Muslims.

We could even accept them in Burma as the settlers if they honestly admit that their ancestors were and they themselves are the cheeky illegal migrants from Bangladesh into our naturally-endowed Burma. But their lies as a true ethnic group trying to demand aboriginal rights and to impose their dominating religion Islam onto us Burmese Buddhists brazenly and dishonestly are totally unacceptable.

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Harn Yawnghwe with Burmese-Muslims in Saudi Arabia.

Back in Burma I never used to have hatred or anger based on race and religion and I had had many Bengali Muslim friends. As a tease I would say to them my childhood friends in Bengali, “Gan-mari-kar (Son-of-a-bitch) Lout-lar (Dick Head),” and they would reply, “Ma-lout-phu (Not enough in Burmese),” as a joke too.

And they would often greet me in Bengali, “Sar-lar (Pussy),” and I would reply, “Ma-sar-bu (Not hungry in Burmese),” as a joke back.

In reality those words are extremely-rude Bengali swear words but for us those were just friendly greetings between us Burmese and them Bengalis. We could say those words to each other, for we didn’t really hate each other as different races and religions and we knew very well that we respect each other and treat accordingly.

But nowadays there have constantly been many religious-terrorism cases breaking out all over the world because of the Islamic-fundamentalist-driven religious extremism. For example Islamic Afghanistan was once a very Buddhist country since ancient times more than two thousand years ago.

Blowing Up of Two Bamiyan Buddhas.

Two massive Buddhas standing more than fifty meters tall and well known as the Buddhas of Bamiyan are the irrefutable evidence of Buddhism once thriving in Afghanistan.

(Translator’s Notes: The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two sixth century monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan Valley in the Hazarajat region of Central Afghanistan, situated about 150 miles northwest of Kabul. They were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban on orders from Mullah Mohammed Omar declaring that they were Buddhist Idols.)

But since Mullah Omar-led Taliban became the rulers after the Soviets’ departure the extreme Islamic fundamentalism has arrived in Afghanistan. And the Islamic fundamentalists hate other religions especially the Buddhism.

And despite their respectable religious iconic status and their high historical values the more-than-100ft-tall Buddhas of Bamiyan were soon smashed into thousand pieces by the Islamic Taliban with tanks and cannons and dynamites so that the truly-visible historical evidence of their Afghanistan once being a proud Buddhist country is permanently deleted.

The fact that, despite all the desperate pleads from the Buddhists all over the world and Christian organizations and world heritage organizations and even UNESCO, the extremist Taliban ignored the world and brutally destroyed the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan.

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Famous Borobudur in Indonesia.

That act alone has proved the undeniable fact that a Buddhist country like Afghanistan could easily be turned into a Muslim country by brute force. Indonesia is another country that met the same fate as Afghanistan. World famous Borobudur is the proof of once thriving Buddhist society in now Islamic Indonesia.

Another country turning Muslim in modern time is Lebanon. Originally Christian but in Lebanon the Muslims gradually outnumbered the Christians as the Palestinians slowly moved in after all the Arab-Israel wars. Finally a long civil war broke out between Christians and Muslims and Christian lands were forcefully taken over by the Muslims.

I strongly believe that it is the patriotic duty of every citizen of a country or society to defend their race and religion, and to fight back if the foreigners illegally entering their country have either conspired or even intended to swallow up the original inhabitants by imposing their race and religion through the cross-marriages with local women and then forced-conversions.

NLD Tin Oo with ASSK (1988).

Retired General Tin Oo (Now NLD Vice-President) who once took stern actions against illegal Bengali Mujahedins from neighboring Bangladesh in 1950s as the Commander of Burmese Army Western Command was recently condemned by so-called Rohingya Dr. Waka Hudin, a naturalized Bengali-American, on RFA (Radio Free Asia).

I have decided to write this article when I heard the rude demands of Waka Hudin on the RFA for our U Tin Oo to apologize him as U Tin Oo’s mentioning of so-called Rohingyas as the Bengali descendants was an insult.

Dr. Waka Hudin also persistently maintains his fraudulent and make-believe theory that the so-called Rohingyas are the descendants of seagoing Arab traders shipwrecked and stranded on the Arakan Coast and ended up settling there with the local women whoever they were.

But Arabs are basically a Caucasian race and they are generally tall and white. But the so-called Rohingyas are short and dark like the Bengalis from neighboring Bangladesh. Not only that they do speak fluent Bengali and do not speak Arabic at all and do not speak Burmese well like any other ethnic nationalities of our Burma. Everything about their behavior and culture and appearance is exactly same as the Bengalis from Bangladesh.

Fenced Burma-Bangladesh Border Line.

Oh one more thing! I had to laugh out loud when Waka Hudin added in his interview on RFA that his Rohingyas also wear lon-gyi (sarongs) like the Burmese. Our honorable Dr. Waka Hudin had forgotten the fact that the Bengalis also wear lon-gyi.

My proposal to end this controversy of whether the so-called Rohingyas are the Arabs as they themselves have fancied in recent years or the Bengalis as Burmese have been labeling them for hundreds of years is the scientifically-proven and time-honored DNA test.

Just do DNA tests on the blood samples of those fanciful Rohingyas and my challenge to them is if the DNA test said they are non-Bengalis then we will let them stay in our Burma and if they are Bengalis will they go back where they came from, the miserably crowded Bangladesh?

(Translator’s Notes: Please do look carefully at the following comparative population densities i.e. Population per square mile in 2010.

Whole Bangladesh (Muslims) 1,217

Maungdaw Township (Muslims) 870

Taungbyo Township (Muslim/Buddhists) 700

Whole Arakan State (Buddhists) 233

Whole Burma (Buddhists) 191

Like water people must naturally flow down from the higher level of population density to the lower level of population density. Not just natural migrant flow, the Muslim reproduction also is much much higher than the Buddhists for the obvious religious reason. Our Burma is the last bastion of Buddhism against unrelenting tide of Islam.)

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Ilegal Immigrants on the US Border.

Just look at the United States of America. Thousands of Mexicans from Mexico are illegally entering the neighboring states of Texas and California and Americans are using their Border Guard Forces to capture them and send them back.

Even with such tough measures the Spanish-speaking Mexicans and other Latinos are now rapidly filling the states of Texas and California. Nowadays California is 50% Mexicans and 50% Americans. But these Mexicans still call themselves American-Mexicans. They have never claimed they were the Natives of North America. Even the American-Whites do not call themselves Natives. Because everyone knows that the true Native Americans are only the Red-Indians.

Dr. Waka Hudin has claimed the so-called Rohingyas have been living there in the Arakan State of Burma for thousands of years. But in reality the term Rohingya was not even mentioned once in the well-established and extensively-studied history of Arankan State and her Yakhine people.

Now this Waka Hudin guy, who can speak only broken-Burmese and who is constantly telling the porkies about his great fanciful Rohingya race, is demanding that our NLD leader U Tin Oo apologize him for saying the truth about the so-called Rohingyas being the illegal Bengalis. For me it is the rudest insult possible to throw at us Burmese by a so-called Rohingya.

(Translators’ Notes: Maybe after a few more years there in America Dr. Waka Hudin will eventually be claiming his great-great-great-------grand parents were a shipwrecked Arab trader and Pocahontas, just kidding. One thing about these Musulamen is they will take any racial cover to suit their environment but never abandon their religion and thus they always need an Arab male, preferably a Saudi for financial convenience, at the root of their blood line.)

At the same time I would like to report to the readers the related case of unscrupulous dealings between so-called Rohingyas and Harn Yawnghwe’s EBO (Euro Burma Office). The whole thing had been bottling inside of me for so long and now this wild insult spitted at our great NLD leader by broken-Burmese-speaking Waka Hudin had prompted me to blow the whistle on both Harn Yawnghwe and Waka Hudin’s so-called Rohingyas.

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The existence of EBO in Brussels was mainly due to the financial and humanitarian aids given generously by the NGOs and the governments of European democracies since our LDC (Least Developed Country) listed Burma the rare military-ruled Socialist country has fallen so far from being a star of SE Asia to one of the poorest countries of the world.

Harn Yawnghwe became active very early in Burmese-Exile politics by forming ADDB (Associates to Develop Democratic Burma) in Quebec City and publishing Burma Alert journal.

(Translator’s Notes: 100 US$ a pop for annual Burma-Alert subscription direct to his bank account had once made him a rich exile in Canada and given him a taste of blood money or political funds from the sympathetic donors. Being the youngest son of Burma’s former President late Sao Shwe Thaik the last saw-bwa of Nyang Shwe also helps his cause.)

Because of his western education and his English proficiency and his famous Shan background he was picked by so-called Burmese Exile Government (NCGUB – National Coalition Government of Union of Burma) as their sole Representative in Europe.

His successful approaches to the EU and the European governments to economic-blockade Burma by submitting the Burmese military government’s serious violation of human rights in Burma had made him an exile politician trusted and relied on by us the Burmese democracy activists here in Europe.

We’ve also known the fact that he has received substantial amount of funds donated by the European Union (EU) and also other European governments for restoration of democracy in Burma.

Even though Harn Yawnghwe had received millions of Euro for NCGUB and also to implement many of his proposals with various titles, we’ve never seen or heard how much he got, or from which organization, or how and where he’d spent that millions of Euro. Not a word about their accounts from Harn Yawnghwe or NCGUB.

Later when the EU countries especially my Germany have changed their Burma policy from isolation to engagement and started diverting their funds to the NGOs and other democratic organizations inside Burma our Harn Yawnghwe has again followed the money trails and started cooperating with so-called the Third Force inside Burma.

VAHU's Dr. Zaw Oo

By cooperating with pro-SPDC (State Peace and Development Council, now defunct) Ne Win Maung (the founder and owner of Myanmar Egress, Myanmar Partners, the Voice Journal, and Living Color Magazine) and so-called exile-economist Dr. Zaw Oo of VAHU Institute at Chaing Mai University, our chameleon Harn Yawnghwe has changed his political-color overnight from Sanctions Policy to no-Sanctions Policy, totally against the strong wishes of us democracy activists and the people of Burma.

Then I had another shocking experience of Harn Yawnghwe’s alarming behavior at the Burma Day Discussion chaired by East-Timorese President Ramos Hose at Belgian Brussels on 5 May 2010.

During that discussion our group had tabled two proposals against Military Government in Burma. One was for the international community to neither recognize nor accept the 2010 Burma’s election based on 2008 sham Constitution. Other one was for the European countries to support forming the International Inquiry Commission to investigate war crimes and war criminals in Burma.

But we all were unbelievably shocked when Harn Yawnghwe stood up and demanded if Burmese war criminals were to be listed for prosecution in the International Court our NLD Vice-Chair General Tin Oo must also be listed as a war criminal and charged.

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Now what Waka Hudin said on the RFA (Radio Free Asia) demanding U Tin Oo to apologize for saying a lie that his so-called Rohingyas are just common vanilla Bengalis from Bangladesh was exactly same as Harn Yawnghwe’s calling our U Tin Oo a war criminal.

Obviously what Harn Yawnghwe has been doing recently is actively recruiting non-Burman groups, both ethnic and non-ethnics, by throwing donated Euros from Europe at them so that they would all be bitterly against the majority Burmans. We are now even so concerned about Harn Yawnghwe’s involvement in our UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council).

(Translator’s Notes: UNFC was formed in mid-February 2011 by KIO (Kachin Independence Organization), NMSP (New Mon State Party), SSA-North (Shan State Army-North), KNU (Karen national Union), KNPP (Kareni National Progressive Party), CNF (Chin National Front), and few other ethnic organizations.)

OIC Emblem.

Just recently he has been cooperating with Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah based OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) the second largest International organization in the world after the United Nations and receiving funds and other assistance from the OIC to further the Rohigya cause by exploiting current human rights violation in Burma against illegal Bengali Muslims.

As I have said before I do not have any hatred towards Muslims. But I bitterly hate the extremist fundamentalist Muslims like Afghan Taliban. Accordingly the Burmese Muslims should not be lying to the world by re-labeling themselves as Rohingyas. For us Burmese they could only be acceptable if they honestly admit they are just Bengali-Burmese-Muslims born in our Burma.

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Harn Yawnghwe & Daughter at Rangoon Airport.

I honestly believe this Rohingya fiasco is dangerously pushing to create not just the racio-religious clashes between Burmese Buddhists and Burmese Muslims but also the serious threats on the racial, religious, and territorial integrity of our Burma. The whole Rohingya issue is also mucking up our democratic struggle as the complex religion and race issues do not mix well with politics.

Right now Harn Yawnghwe and his daughter are in Rangoon taking the first concrete steps to open an internal hunting-ground for them together with Ne Win Maung’s Egress and Zaw Oo’s so-called VAHU think-tank.

They are well used to receiving foreign funds from international donors and now they can foresee the money coming as social-aid for Burma. Obviously they can also smell the generous amount of easy money coming from Europe as the European countries started diverting their aids from the exile groups to the social organizations inside Burma.

By this article I have gathered and highlighted the dishonest and self-serving activities of EBO’s Harn Yawnghwe and the so-called Rohingyas so that Daw Aung San Su Kyi and her NLD as a political party could avoid them at all cost.

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(The author Aung Than Oo now residing in Germany is one of the founders of FBE (Forum for Burmese in Europe) and also a prominent student leader of the Shwedagon Strike in June 1975. Then a GTI (Government Technical Institute) Civil Engineering student he was captured and jailed for a long time by the Ne Win’s Military Government till 1980. He left Burma in 1987 for political asylum in Germany.)

 

http://hlaoo1980.blogspot.nl/2011/10/rohingyas-harn-yawnghwe-vested.html