Posted on 08/25/2007 2:26:58 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Lowry: The CIA's record leading up to Sept. 11 was one of failure By Rich Lowry Article Last Updated: 08/25/2007 09:07:06 AM MDT
The new report from the CIA's inspector general about the spy agency's pre-9/11 failings could be titled, ''What We Did During Our Holiday From History.'' The stretch between the end of the Cold War and the Sept. 11 attacks was supposed to be a shiny new era of globalized peace and prosperity, to which an intelligence service was considered quaintly irrelevant.
The CIA conformed to the zeitgeist by remaining quaintly irrelevant. George Tenet presided over the agency, failing his way to the second-longest tenure of any director of central intelligence, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a $4 million book advance. He made the Peter Principle work for him not just by advancing to his level of incompetence, but by benefiting from it handsomely.
Congressional Democrats pushed for the release of the scathing IG report, completed back in June 2005, to embarrass the Bush administration. But most of the failures identified in the report took place during the Clinton administration, which set the CIA's skewed priorities and selected Tenet in the first place. President Bush should be embarrassed only because he didn't fire Tenet upon taking office or after 9/11, while Bush also has failed to undertake a serious retooling of the sclerotic bureaucracy that is the CIA.
Tenet took terrorism seriously, ''sounding the alarm about the threat to many different audiences,'' in the words of the report. Maybe he should have gone on a lecture tour. Where Tenet fell down was in managing his agency. The thought may be father to the deed, but without the actual deed, the thought is only political cover in after-the-fact memoirs.
Tenet insists that he had a ''robust plan'' against al-Qaida. In reality, he only thought he had. He directed that such a plan be formulated, but according to the IG report, it never happened. Worse, Tenet did not ''work with the National Security Council to elevate the relative standing of counterterrorism in the formal ranking of intelligence priorities.''
In Tenet's defense, he operated within the context of a Clinton administration that basically was uninterested in intelligence. Tenet notes that the intelligence community lost 25 percent of its personnel in the 1990s and ''tens of billions of dollars in investment compared with the 1990 baseline.'' He implored the administration for funding increases in 1998 and 1999, but had to go ''outside established channels to work with then-Speaker Gingrich to obtain a $1.2 billion budgetary supplemental.''
Even with more resources, his managers repeatedly moved funds from counterterrorism programs to other needs, without ever raiding other programs to fund counterterrorism, according to the IG report. What could be more important than counterterrorism? Analytic resources were poured into addressing more pressing matters like the Balkans and the environment.
After 9/11, Clinton officials and Tenet argued whether the CIA had been granted the authority to kill Osama bin Laden, with the Clintonites, in a bout of retrospective bloodlust, insisting that it had. The IG report finds that restrictions on the CIA killing bin Laden had been ''arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed'' for a brief period in late 1998 and early 1999 (how Clintonian). But CIA managers refused ''to take advantage of the ambiguities,'' and even if they had, the agency didn't have the covert-action capability to kill bin Laden. Such was life during history's holiday.
What's more scandalous is how the CIA has escaped serious reform even today. Two CIA directors in a row have resisted the IG report's recommendation for an accountability board to evaluate the pre-9/11 performance of CIA officials. That word - not ''board,'' but ''accountability'' - raises hackles at Langley, where everyone is above-average at fighting al-Qaida. Even though as many as 60 CIA employees knew that two of the hijackers were in the U.S. before 9/11 and no one managed to get the word to the FBI, CIA Director Michael Hayden thinks holding anyone accountable for that or other failures would be ''distracting.'' And so the band plays on.
21 November, 2007
Israeli leftists join British anti-Semites
On Sunday, London saw the conclusion of a conference on the so-called one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While pro-Israel groups accused the organizers of staging a provocation aimed at bashing Israel’s image, academics from Israel and the Palestinian Authority discussed possible models for the formation of a single state ranging from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, and maybe even further east.
The conference, which attracted many academics as well as local activists from Palestinian solidarity groups, students and Arab activists, was perhaps the latest stage in a series of projects that have given London its image as one of Europe’s most anti-Zionist capitals.
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Indeed, the British left’s attitude toward Israel has been characterized by warrants for the arrest of Israel Defense Forces officers, boycotts of Israeli products on the part of various trade unions, condemnations of Israel as an apartheid state by churches, and the recent academic boycott initiative.
The latest two-day event, at the University of London’s School of Oriental And African Studies (SOAS), attracted no less than 300 people. The participants discussed establishing either a binational state or a “state of all its citizens”, or a secular democracy that would include the entire population of the Palestinian Authority plus all the Palestinian refugees.
at 11/21/2007 10:01:00 PM
Gov’t orders forced fingerprinting of foreigners
The Justice Ministry has instructed regional immigration bureaus to forcibly take fingerprints from foreigners who refuse to be fingerprinted or to leave the country, sources close to the ministry said.
The ministry’s Immigration Bureau sent the directive to regional immigration bureaus prior to the introduction of a system on Tuesday, under which all foreigners who enter Japan, except for a limited number of people such as special permanent residents and visitors under the age of 16, must be photographed and fingerprinted at airports and ports.
The ministry had explained that it had no intention of forcibly taking fingerprints from foreigners who visit Japan.
The directive cites a clause in the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, which empowers immigration officers to conduct body checks on foreign visitors if such measures are necessary for safety reasons. It then urges immigration officers to forcibly take fingerprints from those who refuse to cooperate and film them on video.
at 11/21/2007 08:46:00 PM
More than 230 Jewish cemeteries desecrated in 5 years in Germany
237 Jewish cemeteries were reported desecrated in Germany, between 2002 and 2006, an average of around 50 a year, the daily newspaper Taggespiel reported, quoting the German Interior Ministry.
This phenomenon culminated in 2002 with 60 desecrations against 39 in 2006, the ministry said in reply to a question by Petra Pau, a leader of the Left Party in the Bundestag or Parliament.
There are approximately 2,000 Jewish cemeteries in Germany.
” I am shocked,” declared the secretary general of the central Council of the Jews in Germany, calling for the designation of a governmental representative for the fight against the extreme-right and anti-Semitism.
The Council has on many occasions warned of a growth in anti-Semitic activity in Germany in the past year but it was reproached by others “to create panic.” “Today we see that our attitude was justified,” he said.
Gert Weisskirche, responsible for the combat against anti-Semitism for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said he now wishes to discuss various proposals with an informal group of parliamentarians, including the ideas of having an official government representative to deal with anti-Semitism, of creating a commission of enquiry, or of having an annual government report on anti-Semitism.
In September, a rabbi was seriously injured after being stabbed in the street in Frankfurt by a young German of Afghan origin and a swastika was painted on a wall of the synagogue in Paderborn.
at 11/21/2007 06:41:00 PM
18 November, 2007
Court deals blow to Islamic charity’s illegal wiretapping claim
A federal appeals court dealt a near-fatal blow to an Islamic charity’s lawsuit challenging the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, concluding that a key piece of evidence is protected as a state secret. The lawsuit, filed by the Oregon-based U.S. arm of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, alleged the National Security Agency illegally listened to its calls. The charity had wanted to introduce as evidence a top-secret call log they received mistakenly from the Treasury Department.
But the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the log could not be used because it fell under the “state secrets” privilege invoked by the government, and without it, the court said, the foundation had little proof it was wiretapped. The decision, which reversed a lower court ruling, was a victory for the White House, but it didn’t entirely put the issue to rest. The judges sent the case to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to determine whether the law governing the wiretapping of suspected terrorists trumps the state secrets law.
The foundation has been labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
at 11/18/2007 07:00:00 PM
[an interesting website.....granny]
Anti-Semitic incidents in Holland up by 64%
Anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands have leapt by 64 percent last year, according a report by a veteran Jewish non-profit organization. In its report, released on Thursday, the Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel lists 261 cases of non-physical anti-Semitic attacks - compared to 159 in 2005. The report, which covers all of 2006 and the first four months of 2007, listed eight cases of violent anti-Semitic attacks and seven cases of “violent behavior.” The organization’s director, Dr. Ronny Naftaniel, told Haaretz yesterday that most of the incidents recorded occurred on the streets of Amsterdam.
“Some cases involved shouting and insults at people wearing a skull-cap,” Naftaniel said. “Other attacks came via e-mail. Many Jewish organizations and some private persons received hate mail last year.” The report lists the Second Lebanon War as a possible cause for the attacks. “The research focused only on unmistakably anti-Semitic incidents and remarks,” the report says. According to the document, criticism of Israel was not included in the report.
at 11/18/2007 01:07:00 PM
http://adcnd.blogspot.com/2007/11/neo-nazi-activity-spreading-around.html
04 November, 2007
Neo-Nazi Activity Spreading Around the World
Neo-Nazi activity is rising around the world, as incidents in September and early October were reported in Europe, Southeast Asia and the U.S.In the United States, an epidemic of neo-Nazi vandalism is beginning to surface on the eastern seaboard.
New York
Anti-Semites erected a four-foot high swastika at a Long Island, New York school this week in the latest of a rash of anti-Semitic incidents. Swastikas were also sprayed at another school and hate mail was sent to at least seven Jewish homes. On September 23, Yom Kippur eve, a bus outside the Bnei Shimon Yisroel yeshiva in Brooklyn was found marked up with swastikas and anti-Jewish slurs. Vandals used soap or lotion to smear the mirrors and bus interior. The incident occurred in Williamsburg, a primarily Jewish Chassidic section of the borough. Police are investigating the incident, but a school official quoted in local papers said educators don’t expect results anytime soon.
“You see people doing all kinds of graffiti in this neighborhood,” said the school official, who asked not to be identified. Even if there had been witnesses, he added, they would probably not have paid attention to the incident.
Pennsylvania
In a rural area near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this week, a 60-foot wide swastika was carved in a cornfield. The farmer destroyed it by harvesting the crop. A similar, but more extreme incident occurred in the same area last month, when a huge 600-foot wide swastika was found carved in another cornfield.
http://adcnd.blogspot.com/2007/11/why-are-iaea-and-dr-mohammed-el-baradei.html
08 November, 2007
Why Are the IAEA and Dr. Mohammed El-Baradei Protecting Iran?
The repeated statements by Dr. Mohammed El-Baradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), incongruously denying that Iran is seeking and making progress towards acquiring nuclear weapons, are difficult to explain. The evidence is staring everyone in the face - the banks of centrifuges from A.Q. Khan’s proliferation supermarket (used by Pakistan for its bomb) and other technology inappropriate for a civil power program; the subterfuge that kept these and other activities from the IAEA inspectors for many years; the import of components and evidence of facilities for testing weapons design. Taken together, the case is overwhelming, not only in Washington and Jerusalem, but also in Paris, London, Moscow and Beijing.
So why is El-Baradei insisting on denying the obvious? He is an Egyptian national, but without a history of ideologically or religiously motivated policies or statements, and does not share the visceral anti-Israel and anti-Western positions held by the Nasserites such as Amr Mousa (ex-foreign minister and now head of the Arab League). Indeed, when El-Baradei was first nominated to head the IAEA after many years as a lower level official, the Egyptian government proposed another candidate. And in official visits to Israel, El-Baradei showed a high level of diplomatic skill in repeating the traditional call for universal accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), but acknowledging the complexity of the Israeli situation. His statements and activities projected an image of an international civil servant who took these obligations and commitments seriously.
http://adcnd.blogspot.com/2007/11/christopher-wolf-kristalnacht-online.html
18 November, 2007
Christopher Wolf: Kristalnacht Online
Thursday, Nov. 8th was a depressing, cold and drizzly night in Berlin. Fitting weather for the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the government-sanctioned night of terror against Jews in 1938 that was a major step towards the Holocaust. Earlier that day, almost seven decades after Kristallnacht, human rights experts from around the world gathered in a reconstructed synagogue in Berlin’s Mitte district to discuss a resurgence of anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance. The group observed that the most numerous attacks on Jews and other minorities are now coming in the form of Internet hate speech broadcast worldwide. And although most of it is not government-sanctioned (with the exception of Iran), the increasing presence of verbal and graphic attacks on Jews and other minorities is serious, and dangerous. While not necessarily visible to passers-by in the way that broken glass on the pavement was in 1938, the hate is widespread if one looks for it.
Organized hate groups and individuals alike are using all the tools available on the Internet to celebrate intolerance, to distort historical facts about the Holocaust, to threaten minorities and, most disturbingly, to recruit and indoctrinate young people to their hateful viewpoint. The haters find expression in chat rooms, on Web sites and in audio files. And now, with the recent advent of so-called Web 2.0 technologies, there is a proliferation of social networking homepages and uploaded “user-generated” videos designed to foster hatred and violence towards Jews and other minorities. Recycled Nazi propaganda films and modern rock music with hate-filled lyrics are sharing space on the Internet.
There even are online games that celebrate the killing of minorities. And, of course, radical Islam is using the Internet to spread condemnation of Jews (and by association, because of its support of Israel) the United States..
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071120-1746-bn20fire2.html
By Angelica Martinez
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
5:46 p.m. November 20, 2007
SAN DIEGO – Some military housing residents in Tierrasanta were told to evacuate when a brush fire erupted on a hillside Tuesday afternoon off Interstate 15 near Aero Drive, police said.
Residents in eight units on Kelsey Street were told to evacuate at 2:03 p.m., said police Det. Gary Hassen.
continued............cause under investigation...............
http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/news/breaking/2007/11/oceanside_riverbed_fire_nearly.html
November 21, 2007
Oceanside riverbed fire nearly under control
Oceanside firefighters are getting a handle on a vegetation fire along the San Luis Rey River near North Canyon Drive.
The blaze broke out about 4:40 p.m. north of state Route 76, the San Luis Rey Mission Expressway, a North Comm fire dispatcher said. No homes were threatened.
Less than 2 acres burned. Fire crews remain on the scene to fully extinguish the flames. The cause of the fire wasn’t known.
Posted by Pauline Repard November 21, 2007 06:40 PM
[I listened to this on the scanner]
Suspect in weekend shootings pleads not guilty
UNION-TRIBUNE
6:36 p.m. November 21, 2007
SAN DIEGO – A 23-year-old man arrested for a weekend shooting that led to a police gunbattle on Interstate 805 pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Prosecutors said Tri Vo drove the gunman to a 34th Street apartment in City Heights, where the gunman opened fire on the occupants, including his ex-wife.
Prosecutors said narcotics agents had been watching Vo, whom they suspected of gang involvement and drug and gun trafficking. The agents believed Vo was planning a robbery on Nov. 17.
Instead, Vo drove Cao Lam to a house where Lam picked up a gun and extra ammunition, and then to the apartment.
Prosecutors said Lam, 41, shot and killed Oeuth Saem, 47, who tried to keep Lam from the residence. Lam wounded five other people, including his ex-wife, who was shot in the chest. Acquaintances said that Saem was dating Lam’s ex-wife.
Lam shot and wounded a state drug agent while fleeing. As Lam ran across Interstate 805, police fatally shot him.
If convicted, Vo could be sent to prison for 31 years to life. San Diego Superior Court Judge David M. Szumowski ordered Vo held without bail.
– Dana Littlefield
Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071121-1836-bn21trivo.html
[This does not say it, but you could hear it and the calls from the people on the freeway, as he ran down the middle island of the freeway, he kept firing shots at the police, and I would assume any of the passing cars............they had no choice to shoot him, at the point he was killed the call had already gone out that a Policeman had been shot............granny]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21840852/
DA: County’s Largest Auto Theft Ring Busted
San Diego County, California
.
KNSD-TV
updated 10:41 p.m. MT, Sat., Nov. 17, 2007
SAN DIEGO - An undercover sting in the South Bay results in what’s being called the largest auto theft bust in San Diego County history and perhaps California history.
View Images | Watch RAW Video
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and other law enforcement officials announced the results of “Operation Southside Blitz,” which netted 73 arrests, the recovery of 160 stolen vehicles worth nearly $1.9 million, drugs and 12 firearms.
The operation started back in fall of 2006 with undercover officers infiltrating vehicle theft groups, according to Dumanis.
continued, with more info.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20071114-9999-1m14baja.html
More Tijuana news
Troubling sign in Baja
Surfers warn of armed robberies while camping on Mexican coast
By Terry Rodgers and Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
November 14, 2007
The fear is growing.
Southern California surfers have reason to be especially wary about venturing to Baja California after a spate of armed robberies by paramilitary-style criminals.
EDUARDO CONTRERAS / Union-Tribune
Ruben Valdez and Briana Kennedy of Orange County surfed near where robbers have struck.
About a half-dozen robberies and carjackings that targeted U.S. surfers en route to camping spots along the 780-mile Baja California peninsula have occurred since June, accordingng to unconfirmed tallies reported via the Internet.
Mexican authorities said they’ve heard of few such crimes since August, but concede that American tourists may not be stopping to report the incidents before returning to the United States.
In addition to the buzz created by online postings, members of the Swamis Surfing Association heard from one of their own last night about the heightened crime risk.
Pat Weber of Encinitas talked during the club’s meeting about his traumatic experience last month at Cuatro Casas, a popular but remote surfing spot about 200 miles south of the border.
Weber said he and his girlfriend had gone to Baja to escape the foul air caused by the wildfires in San Diego County. Just after sundown Oct. 23, two men wearing military clothing and ski masks confronted the couple. Weber said he initially refused to come out of his motor home, but surrendered after the robbers fired a shot into the vehicle.
Reporting an assault
While in Mexico, flag down a police officer or dial 066 on a local phone.
People visiting Baja California can receive help by calling the office of the region’s secretary of tourism. The hotline is 078.
Once back in the United States, people still can report crimes that occurred in Mexico by contacting:
The U.S. Consulate’s office in Tijuana, which channels complaints to the appropriate Mexican agency and assists U.S. citizens with follow-up investigations. E-mail consulartijuan@state.gov.
The San Diego Police Department, which takes courtesy reports and forwards them to the consulate’s office. Call (619) 531-2000.
“They made us get down on all fours – execution position – and put guns to our heads,” said Weber, who owns the San Diego Surfing Academy in Carlsbad.
The gunmen sexually assaulted his girlfriend before stealing $10,000 worth of computers, video cameras and other gear, he said.
Weber had logged more than 500 days in Baja and taken dozens of students there over the past 10 years. He now considers it hazardous territory.
“My career guiding surfing tours into Mexico is over,” he said. “I’m cutting it off. I’m urging everyone else for their safety to do the same.”
Unlike many other victims, Weber stopped in Ensenada to report the robbery and assault to police. He wasn’t the only recent victim at Cuatro Casas.
On Sept. 16, three San Diego-area surfers camping there were robbed at gunpoint by two men fitting the same description as those who attacked Weber and his girlfriend.
The three surfers, each in their 20s, were rousted from their tents at midnight and robbed by the masked men. The victims lost everything but their vehicle and keys. Terrified, they did not report the crime until they had returned home.
Some visitors don’t trust Mexican law-enforcement officers, who have been linked to corruption and criminal groups over the years. Other travelers just want to put the trauma behind them as quickly as possible.
Mexican authorities said they have increased patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border highway, Calle Internacional, and along Mexico Highway 1 leading to the Ensenada toll road.
continued, this is only a part of the article.....................
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7528030
Bomb squad detonates suspicious device found in Knightsen
By Matthias Gafni,
Hilary Costa
and Scott Marshall
STAFF WRITERS
Article Launched: 11/21/2007 05:56:17 PM PST
Contra Costa sheriff’s deputies evacuated 220 homes and stopped traffic for several hours after finding a suspicious device in Knightsen this afternoon.
The Walnut Creek police bomb squad detonated the device, which appeared to be a timer attached to sticks of dynamite or signal flares, shortly after 5 p.m.
Deputies told motorists early on to expect the area to remain closed for an extended time.
“We know there’s a lot of inconvenience on the day before Thanksgiving, and we apologize,” said sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Lee. “But it’s really a safety issue and we want to finish up as quickly as possible.”
The incident began at 1:30 p.m. when Shelley and Richard Mythen of Knightsen went to check on their 1979 Winnebago at 60 Broadway.
Shelley Mythen had agreed to rent the Winnebago to a homeless woman, who then moved it from Mythens’ residence on East Cypress Road to the Broadway property, which is owned by another party.
The Mythens were on their way to relatives’ home for Thanksgiving this afternoon when they passed the parcel on Broadway where the Winnebago was parked.
They saw that the vehicle had been moved down the driveway and was partially on the roadway.
Shelley Mythen opened the door and immediately saw the device: three sticks of what looked like dynamite, wrapped in duct tape, with a ticking digital alarm clock and an antenna attached. She recognized the clock. The device was placed atop the fuel tank, she said.
continued.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7526803
Four San Jose suspects held in robbery spree throughout Bay Area
By Roman Gokhman
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 11/21/2007 03:35:25 PM PST
A report of a prowler in Livermore led police Monday to find and arrest the suspects in several home-invasion robberies and burglaries throughout the Bay Area.
“This is a widespread spree these individuals were involved in,” Danville police Sgt. Troy Craig said. “We are working with a lot of other agencies ... in the East and South Bay.”
Four San Jose residents were arrested in all after Livermore police officers ran a VIN identification number of a suspicious vehicle and discovered that it had been reported stolen from Danville last month during a home-invasion robbery.
Arrested on various burglary and vehicle theft charges were Derick A. Hutchinson, 21; Michael J. Hernandez, 23; Amanda Garcia, 23 and Sarah Revera, 29.
It was not clear Wednesday which of the four suspects were believed to have played a role in other crimes.
continued..............
the end of the article:
At 12:15 p.m., a hotel manager let the officers inside, where the suspects were located and arrested. Investigators also found a loaded handgun with extra ammunition, a police scanner, methamphetamine and property that had been reported stolen from various locations throughout the Bay Area.
More stolen property was found inside the SUV, as well as an AirSoft semi-automatic pistol.
http://www.kashmirherald.com/online/print.php?t=O&no=335
Posted on: November 21, 2007
The Jihad in Paradise
PRAVEEN SWAMI
“Congratulations,” said the voice on the crackling phone line from Lahore, “your sons have become martyrs for the faith in Kashmir.” Ever since that January 27, 2007, call, the families of teenagers Mohammed Faseehu, from the Laam atoll island of Dhanbidhoo, and Shifahu Abdul Wahid, of Dhiffushi island in Kaaf atoll, have been engaged in a desperate search for their children. Despite petitioning both the Maldives Government and the Pakistan High Commission in Male, both families have so far drawn a blank. There is no trace of Mohamed Niaz, a Lahore-based seminary student from the Maldives who called with news of their death.
After the September 29, 2007, Sultan Park bombing in Male, the first-ever Islamist terror strike in the Maldives, however, intelligence services across the world – those of India, USA and UK among them – have developed a new interest in the missing men. A rising tide of violent Islamism, the Sultan Park bombings suggest, has begun to surge across the Maldives. Dozens of local men who have fought in Islamist campaigns across the region are now preparing to bring home their war. Experts, and many Maldives residents, fear the gathering storm could tear apart the island paradise.
Faseehu and Wahid had travelled to Pakistan in March, 2005, to study at a seminary in Karachi. Soon, they moved to the Jamiya Salafia Islamia at Faisalabad – a seminary whose alumni include several al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) leaders. It is also a leading supplier of the Maldives’ large-scale import of Salafi neo-conservatism – and now, terrorism.
More than two decades ago, a young seminary student from the Maldives made the same journey as Faseehu and Wahid. Mohamed Ibrahim Sheikh returned to the islands in 1983, armed with the neo-conservative Salafism he had learned in Pakistan. He railed against the mainstream Sha’afi-Sunni traditions the regime of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom propagated. Soon, Sheikh was banished from Male to the southern atolls. Out of sight, though, Sheikh continued to preach his faith. Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed, the Qatar-educated cleric now held for his links with the Sultan Park terrorists, was among those who were influenced by Ibrahim Shiekh. Salafi mosques operating without the legal permission required by Maldives law were set up in Male. On the remote southern island of Himandhoo, in the Alif Alif atoll, Fareed was eventually to build a tiny Shariah-bound mini-state modelled on the Taliban’s Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the flow of students to Pakistan continued. Mohamed Halim, now vice-chief of administration for the Laam atoll, was among the first from the Maldives to study at Jamia Salafia. “There were 23 students from the Maldives there in 1989,” he recalls, in perfect Urdu “and dozens of others at other seminaries across Pakistan. Some used to go off for training with jihadi groups along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.” Among Halim’s contemporaries was Fonadhoo island resident Ali Shareef, who has now been held for his alleged role in the Sultan Park bombing. Along with Mohamed Mazeed of Male, as well as Ali Rashid and Mohammad Saleem, both residents of Kalaidhoo island in Laam atoll, Shareef plotted to establish a Shariah-based state in the Maldives. The plot failed, but President Gayoom sent an envoy to Jamia Salafia to insist the seminary watched its students more closely.
It was a futile enterprise: at the seminary, religious education and jihad were organically enmeshed. Shareef’s contemporaries included, for example, Faislabad resident Abdul Malik. As head of the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Umm-ul-Qura camp between 1998 and 2003, he trained thousands of LeT operatives for the jihad in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Operating under the code-name Abu Anas, Malik was eventually killed in a 2003 firefight with Indian troops near Sangrama, in northern J&K.
Several Maldives students continued at LeT-run facilities in Pakistan, some during Malik’s tenure as head of Umm-ul-Qura. Ahmad Shah, a Male resident now battling a heroin addiction, was put through the daura-e-aam, or basic combat course, at a Lashkar-run camp in the late 1990s. “Many students from the Maldives were there,” he recalls. Others were recruited from the Binori Masjid seminary in Karachi, the institution which gave birth to the JeM’s Maulana Masood Azhar. One Maldives national, Ibrahim Fauzee, spent time in Guantanamo Bay after intelligence officials learned of his association with al Qaeda operatives.
In the run-up to the Sultan Park bombing, evidence emerged that these networks were preparing for more aggressive operations. Ali Shameem and Abdul Latheef Ibrahim, now held for their role in the terror cell, were arrested on charges of preparing to join the jihad in J&K. In April 2005, Ibrahim Asif was arrested in Kerala after attempting to source weapons from Thiruvananthapuram. And in 2006, Male residents Ali Jaleel, Fatimah Nasreen, and Aishath Raushan were arrested for preparing to go to Pakistan to receive jihad training. Although acquitted for want of evidence, Nasreen made little effort to veil her ideological leanings. In one recent interview, she said of Osama bin-Laden: “there are things I support, and things I can’t decide on”.
Across the road from the Zikura Masjid, loud Hindi film music blasts out of a store selling high-end audio equipment. No-one seems to object: in the Maldives, the sacred and the profane have learned to coexist: Nasreen’s views are those of a small minority. Just around the corner, though, stand the Zeenia Manzil apartments, until recently the centre of Islamist efforts to change the local balance. Inside a makeshift, one-room mosque in the building, Police investigators say, a group of local residents linked to the ultra-right Jamaat Ahl-e-Hadis sect planned the Sultan Park bombing. Much of the funding for the Sultan Park bombing, investigators in the Maldives believe, came in from Islamist organisations based in Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Some USD 1,000 was recovered from Sultan Park-accused Moosa Inas, but Police say thousands more would have been needed to pay for the terror cell’s frequent international movements, proselytization activism, and recruitment operations. Investigators are, in particular, seeking to identify a United Kingdom national of South Asian origin, who identified himself to members of the Sultan Park terror cell as ‘Abu Issa’. Believed to be of South Asian descent, ‘Abu Issa’ is thought to have arrived in the Maldives soon after the 2005 Tsunami, armed with several thousand dollars in cash for victims then sheltered in the premises of a factory in Gan.
Moosa Inas, who, Police say triggered the explosive device that went off at Sultan Park, was among several local Islamists involved in distributing the relief. Ali Shareef and Mohammad Mazeed, arrested after the Maldives Defence Forces moved against the Islamist base at Himandhoo, also participated in the relief operations. Both men are believed to have earlier participated in an abortive plot to bring about an Islamic revolution. Fiyes magazine reporter Ahmed Abdulla, who covered the 2005 disaster, recalls: “Basically, Inas and the others made it clear that they would only help those who converted to their particular form of Islam. People were desperate, so many agreed.” Interestingly, the charitable wing of the LeT, the Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq, claimed to have spent PKR 17.2 million on tsunami relief operations in the region.
Apart from distributing funds to Islamists in the Maldives, intelligence sources said, ‘Abu Issa’ also travelled to Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. One meeting between the terror financier and operatives in India is thought to have been held six months ago. Indian intelligence services believe Ibrahim Asif, a Maldives national arrested for seeking to procure weapons in Kerala in April 2005, may also have been financed by ‘Abu Issa.’
Much of the Islamist infrastructure built with these funds is thought to have been controlled by Saeed Ahmed, the Zeenia Manzil Masjid’s leading ideologue. Ahmed, who was a key participant in 2004 street protests against President Gayoom’s regime, left for Pakistan several months ago. His family claims to have no knowledge of his current whereabouts. Like several other Maldives Islamists, Ahmed is thought to have been linked to the Jamia Salafiya Islamia.
Eight members of the terror cell – Ibrahim Maslamath, Mohamed Ameen, Mohamed Imad, Hassan Yousuf, Mohamed Iqbal, Moosa Manik, Hassan Riyaz, Hussain Simad – left for Karachi through Colombo before the bombings. Two other suspects, computer engineer Abdul Latheef Ibrahim and Ali Shameem, were deported from Colombo before they could catch an onward flight to Karachi.
Despite large-scale operations against Islamists, and over a hundred arrests linked to the Sultan Park bombing, officials in the Maldives say the terror threat has yet to recede. “I think we still need to be alert,” Maldives Home Minister Abdullah Kamaludeen said, “Both the available intelligence and plain and simple prudence make this imperative.”
Just why did Islamism flourish in paradise – in islands apparently free from the deep social and political strains that drove its growth in Pakistan or India? Two sets of processes – cultural and political, need be examined.
Nothing illustrates the changing cultural climate in the Maldives as well as the story of its top rock star, Ali Rameez. Three years ago, Rameez abandoned his place under the spotlights, and chose a new life guided by the light of Islam. In a public demonstration of his new convictions, the rock star had thousands of hit compact discs thrown into the sea off Male, and invited his fans to follow the teachings of the islands’ best-known neoconservative Islamic theologian, Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed: the man who inspired the Sultan Park cell. Rameez’s journey represents an ongoing battle between religious neo-conservatism and liberalism: a battle Islamists seem to be winning. Maldives residents say the cultural influence of Islamists has become increasingly visible in what used to be an almost ostentatiously westernised society. There are more women wearing headscarves than short skirts or jeans now, while growing number of men can be seen sporting full-length beards. On some islands, women have defied laws that prohibit the all-enveloping buruga, known in India as the burkha. Underpinning this shift is a deep cultural dislocation. Signs of the crisis aren’t hard to come by. Just three kilometres by two kilometres, Male is home to a welter of street gangs, engaging in violent crime and competing to sell drugs. Machangolhi’s Buru gang has clashed with the BG (a street gang) in Maafannu and the Flats’ Bosnia gang, named after the jihad which stirred Islamists worldwide.
Narcotics use has also grown to disturbing levels. According to a 2006 United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) report, non-governmental organisations have estimated that there are some 8,000 drug users in the islands – an astounding figure, given that their total population is just some 300,000. In the southern-most atoll of Addu, informants told UNICEF that up to 70 per cent of young men and women were using drugs. “Many parents,” says Male journalist Ahmed Nazim Sattar, “are delighted when their children turn to religious groups, since it keeps them away from drugs and gangs. Very few understand where this journey might end up taking their children.”
Bookstores selling the Islamist vision to new recruits have proliferated. One, until recently owned by Rameez’s brother, Ibrahim Fareed, stocks a wide range of Salafi sect literature. Zakir Naik, a controversial Mumbai-based television evangelist, whose admirers included 2005 Mumbai serial bombing-accused Feroze Deshmukh and Glasgow suicide-bomber Kafeel Ahmed, occupies a place of honour on the shelves.
President Gayoom’s complex, ever-changing relationship with Islamists in the Maldives has also driven the rightward-turn in the islands. Having risen to power three decades ago on his religious credentials from the famous al-Azhar University in Cairo, Gayoom used Islam as a tool of social control, often characterising his critics as apostates, or, even worse, Christians. Islam, regulated and propagated by the state, was adroitly used to marginalise his increasingly-vocal democratic opponents.
Islamists, often educated at state expense in West Asia and Pakistan, were quick to cash in. The journalist Aishath Velazinee has recorded:
“…a few islands even reverted to ‘the Prophet’s time,’ attempting to emulate the Arabian dress and lifestyles of the time of Prophet Muhammad. Men grew their beards and hair, took to wearing loose robes and pyjamas, and crowned their heads with Arab-style head-cloths. Women were wrapped up in black robes. Goats were imported, and fishermen gave up their vocation to become ‘shepherds.’ Young girls were taken out of school and married off in their early teens in religious ceremonies said to be sanctioned by Islam.”
Two key social classes in the Maldives backed militant Islamists. Merchants and traders, the islands’ traditional elites, had seen their influence decline as the power and wealth of new elites rose. Gayoom’s regime had given birth to an affluent new group of entrepreneurs, often linked to the tourism trade, and the traditional bourgeoisie saw piety as a means with which to reassert power. Second, universal school education had created a generation of young people with skills, but few entrepreneurial opportunities. Disinherited and disenfranchised, some turned to drugs and street violence; others to militant Islam.
With democratic voices silenced, religious fundamentalism emerged as the principal language of dissent. In December 1999, Islamists launched incendiary attacks against the regime, arguing that planned millennium celebrations were part of plot to spread Christianity. In 2003, posters appeared on the walls of schools in Edhyafushi Island, praising Osama bin-Laden. A Male shop displaying a Santa Claus was attacked in 2005.
Militant Islam now threatened the regime which had nurtured it. But while the government sometimes used coercive means to punish Pakistan-trained Islamists involved in violence – some famously had their beards shaved off with chilli sauce instead of foam – for the most part, it chose accommodation. Islamists who accepted the established political order – a group who call themselves ‘super-Salafis,’ to distinguish themselves from the jihadi ‘Dots’ – were given considerable freedom.
Ali Shareef, for example, returned to the Maldives despite his abortive plan to over throw the Government, and secured an appointment in the judicial service. He used his influence to help build the Islamist mini-state on Himandhoo, which, among other things, ran a Salafi mosque that rejected state-approved liturgical practices. Charges against Ibrahim Asif were dropped, after the Maldives Police chose not to secure witnesses or forensic evidence from India. Jaleel, Nasreen and Raushan, too, were set free.
Police shut down the Himandhoo mosque in 2006, but it was allowed to resume operations within weeks. Ibrahim Shameem, a Government supporter on the island who resisted the Islamists, was assassinated two months later in a reprisal killing that went unpunished. And while the Islamists and Police fought a street battle in June after officials attempted to close down a Salafi mosque in Male, at least two others operated unhindered. One, investigators have now found, gave birth to the cell which carried out the Sultan Park bombing.
Now under pressure, the Maldives finally appears to be cracking down. Soon after the Sultan Park bombing, troops and Police moved to clear the mini-state in Himandhoo, while Salafi mosques have been closed down. Almost a hundred people have been arrested. Still, trouble could lie ahead. Elections are scheduled for next year, and some analysts believe jihadis will escalate operations to ensure their cadre are not won away by mainstream parties like the secular Maldivian Democratic Party or Islamist Adaalath. Intelligence officials are also concerned at the possible use of remote Maldives Islands by organisations like the LeT, as well as at the steady flow of funds to local Islamists from organisations in Pakistan, west Asia, and the United Kingdom.
Hell, it would appear, isn’t that far a journey from paradise.
The writer is Deputy Editor and Chief of Bureau, Frontline, New Delhi, India.
Courtesy : South Asia Terrorism Portal
© 2001-2010 Kashmir Herald. All Rights Reserved
www.kashmirherald.com
http://lodinews.com/articles/2007/11/17/news/1_imam_071117.txt
New Lodi imam ready to heal Muslim community
By Matt Brown
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Ahmad Hashimi rests on a couch in a comfortable, cream-colored robe. His feet are bare, and a black cylindrical hat sits atop his head hiding his straight dark hair that is flecked with gray.
His bushy, black beard ends in tiny, kinky curls, accentuating his round face.
But Hashimi’s most striking features are his eyes. There is a certain peacefulness and wisdom in his half-opened hazel eyes that betrays this spiritual leader’s age of 34 years.
These are the eyes of a much older mystic. Perhaps they are the eyes of his father, a Sufi scholar.
There is hope in these eyes and a sense of purpose. As the new imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, Hashimi represents a chance to heal a community still reeling from two deported imams and a terrorism investigation.
“I came here to preach Islam and paint a very lovely and tolerant picture of Islam,” Hashimi says in a slow, soothing tone with a thick south Asian accent. “A time will come when this mosque will be a model mosque in America.”
He peppers his speech with scholarly words and cites Goethe and the Sufi poet, Rumi.
Hashimi’s eyes serenely scan the Spartan living room of his new house. He arrived here from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, less than two weeks ago leaving behind a wife and two young children. This small house next to the Eastside mosque will be his home for what mosque leaders hope will be at least three years, and his family may join him here.
Besides the couch, a few chairs sit in the corner of the room. A low table rests atop an ornately woven rug. On the table are a stack of Islamic books, including the Quran, and a string of prayer beads.
Three imams have left Lodi’s mosque since 2005. Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammad Adil Khan were arrested on immigration charges and later deported. Ahmed was on an FBI watch list for making anti-American speeches in Pakistan. The third imam, Cassim Maiter, left because of a contract dispute in December 2005 after only two weeks.
Hashimi is the mosque’s first imam since then and the first Lodi imam from the Sufi tradition of Islam. Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam with a philosophy rooted in peace, love and tolerance of other religions.
Shoes line the shelves in the foyer at the Muslim Mosque, where Muslims have come to see their new imam, Ahmad Hashimi, lead prayer and spread the message of Islam through Sufism, on Friday. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)
“My true nature is love toward God and humanity,” Hashimi says. “Sufism accepts every person whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim.”
Hashimi was born in Mansehra, a rugged frontier town in the mountains of northern Pakistan. In the tradition of his father, the head of a post-graduate college, Hashimi began studying philosophy, eventually earning a master’s degree from Peshwar University.
When Lodi Muslim Mosque president Mohammed Shoaib visited Pakistan last year, he found Hashimi teaching at a post-graduate university.
“When I first met him, I knew he could help us here in Lodi,” Shoaib says. “I am very much impressed with him.”
Since arriving in Lodi, Hashimi has heard about the mosque’s recent imam troubles. He also learned about the 2005 investigation and 2006 trial of two Lodi Muslims on terrorism related charges.
Hashimi said he realizes the challenge of gaining the trust of the Muslim community and the greater Lodi community as a whole, but he has already begun the process.
“I am very against these activities because the spirit of Islam is very peaceful and tolerant,” he says. “We should spread the teachings of peace.”
Mosque secretary Adur Lugmani says Hashimi is already drawing more worshipers to the mosque, especially young Muslims, who could be positively influenced by his teachings.
“Before him, we didn’t have a good imam because they had limited educations,” Lugmani says. “Now we have a great man. We hope he will be a sufficient role model for our youth.”
Indeed, about 50 Muslim men fill the mosque at the start of Hashimi’s on Friday afternoon sermon. As he speaks, more trickle in until about 200 worshipers in light-colored robes and white skull caps pack the mosque to hear Hashimi’s message.
Lodi Muslim Community reunited
Lodi’s 2,000-member Pakistani community has been reunited under the Lodi Muslim Mosque after infighting led to a division in the community.
“In a meeting, we tried hard to work out our problems,” Mosque President Mohammed Shoaib said Friday. “All the problems have been resolved by mutual understanding. We are happy. This is a very good thing.”
The three-year rift stemmed from a legal dispute over land that was to become an Islamic school. A 200-member group broke away from the mosque and started worshipping at a local church.
Since the dispute ended in August, both sides of the Muslim community are again praying at the Eastside mosque, according to Taj Khan, who had prayed at the church with the breakaway group.
“We have reconciled and resolved our issues and are moving on,” Khan said. “Most of the people that didn’t go to the mosque are now coming back.”
— News-Sentinel staff
Sufism at a glance
Sufism is the mystical movement within Islam that seeks to find divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. It consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to explore the nature of mankind and God and to facilitate the experience of divine love and wisdom in the world.
After the death of Islam’s founder, Muhammad, Sufism arose as an organized movement among different groups who found orthodox Islam to be spiritually stifling.
The practices of contemporary Sufi orders and suborders vary, but most include the recitation of the name of God or of certain phrases from the Quran as a way to loosen the bonds of the lower self, enabling the soul to experience the higher reality toward which it naturally aspires.
Though Sufi practitioners have often been at odds with the mainstream of Islamic theology and law, the importance of Sufism in the history of Islam is incalculable. Sufi literature, especially love poetry, represents a golden age in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu languages.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannia
Seated in an ornate, gold-painted chair, Hashimi delivers his oration in a commanding, yet measured voice. During the 30-minute lecture in Urdu, Pakistan’s native language, many in the audience nod and mumble in agreement. Afterward, he summarizes his lecture in English.
“The best of you are those that are well mannered,” he says. “We should understand that the Islamic code of ethics is very firm and we should adopt this ethical code.”
At the end of the prayer, mosque members praise the new imam’s intellect.
“He’s a good man and intelligent,” Mike Mikbel says. “He speaks English, Urdu and Arabic, so he will be good for the people to learn from.”
Zamarad Khan says: “He’s a true scholar.”
Hashimi, who enjoys a game of badminton or table tennis when he is not reading religious works, has already visited some local sites including the library and the Galt flea market. He says he likes what he has seen of the Lodi area.
“The atmosphere is very pleasant and it is a very beautiful place,” he says. “The people are very peaceful.”
In his first two weeks in America, Hashimi says he can see the differences between preaching Islam in Pakistan and this country, where Muslims comprise the minority.
“This is a different community from Pakistan,” he says. “I think we are have difficulty (in America) presenting the true picture of Islam. I think we should get back to the spiritual message of Islam.”
Contact
http://satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=11/22/2007#12
India
Pakistan Army using rivers for infiltration of militants into Jammu and Kashmir
Pakistan army has developed a new type of “floating air pillow” to infiltrate militants from newly developed infiltration routes through rivers along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu sector, according to Daily Excelsior. The “air pillows” were reported to have been successfully used by a group of five militants to infiltrate into Indian territory from Munawar Tawi along Sunderbani-Khour sector on the Rajouri-Jammu border, official sources said. The new infiltration routes through rivers have been developed by Pakistan army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as they were finding it difficult to push the infiltrators through LoC as well as IB in view of fencing and installation of sophisticated electronic gadgets. “If movement of the militants while swimming is observed by security forces or the people, they could easily go deep into the waters to hide themselves. A special “breathing pipe” has been installed with the air pillow which will help the infiltrators survive while being deep into the waters”, sources said.
The information on infiltration by the militants using specially designed floating air pillows has been revealed by Mohammed Sharif alias Sharka, a top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, who was operating in Rajouri district for the last seven years and was directly in touch with top LeT commanders and Pakistan army officers through his sophisticated wireless sets and phones. Sharka, who had surrendered before Rajouri Police a few days back, has disclosed that a group of five LeT militants had successfully used floating air pillows to cross Munawar Tawi from Sunderbani sector in Rajouri district and reached the Indian side of LoC in the first week of October 2007. From Sunderbani, the militants were taken to Gool-Gulabgarh via Pir Panjal range by a guide of the LeT outfit, sources added.
http://satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=11/22/2007#14
Pakistan
President Musharraf amends Constitution to secure blanket indemnity
President Pervez Musharraf on November 21 amended the Constitution through an executive order which legal experts said was essentially aimed at providing “constitutional cover” to all actions taken during the period of emergency and to clear the path for the lifting of emergency if and when he desired to do so, according to Dawn.
The presidential order, officially described as the “Constitution (Amendment) Order 2007” and promulgated under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), takes away the powers of judicial review by superior courts of all actions taken under the PCO. The president’s order allows insertion of a number of amendments in the Constitution which, legal experts say, could otherwise only be carried out with the support of a two-thirds majority in parliament. The new Article, 270AAA, has been inserted in order to validate and affirm all laws, orders and constitutional amendments during emergency. Sub-article 1 of the Article 270AAA added to the Constitution reads: “The proclamation of emergency of November 3, all President’s orders, ordinances, Chief of Army Staff orders, including the Provisional Constitution Order No 1 of 2007, the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007, the amendments made in the Constitution through the Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007 and all other laws made between November 3, 2007, and the date on which emergency is revoked (both days inclusive), are accordingly affirmed, adopted and declared to have been validly made by the competent authority and notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution shall not be called in question in any court or forum on any ground whatsoever.”
According to 270AAA (2), all orders made, proceedings taken, appointments made, including secondments and deputations, and acts done by any authority, or by any person in exercise of powers derived from any proclamation, PCO order No 1 of 2007, president’s orders, ordinances, enactments, including amendments to the Constitution, notifications, rules, orders, by-laws, or in execution or compliance with any orders made, or sentence passed by any authority in exercise of these powers, notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution or any judgment of any court, be deemed to always to have been validly made, taken or done, and shall not be called in question in any court or forum on any ground whatsoever. Clause 270AAA (3) says all proclamations, president’s orders, ordinances, Chief of Army Staff orders, laws, regulations, enactments, including amendments to the Constitution, notifications, rules, orders or bye-laws in force immediately before the date on which the emergency was revoked, will continue in force until altered, repealed, or amended by the ‘competent authority’.
http://satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=11/22/2007#3
Pakistan
Balochistan Liberation Army chief Balach Marri killed in Afghanistan
Baloch leader Nawabzada Balach Marri was killed along with his bodyguards in a clash somewhere inside Afghanistan on November 21, triggering widespread violence in capital Quetta and some other parts of the Balochistan province, according to Dawn.
Nawabzada Gazeen Marri, the elder brother of Balach Marri, confirmed his death while talking to the BBC. However, Gazeen Marri refused to name the place where he was killed. He also said that only his family members could decide about the burial of Mir Balach Marri, as “we do not want his body to be disgraced the way the rulers treated that of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.” Beeburg Baloch, a spokesman for the defunct Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), called journalists in Quetta by satellite phone from an unknown location to inform them about the nationalist leader’s death. He informed that two other Baloch leaders had also died in the clash. However, some other reports suggested that besides Balach Marri, seven of his security guards and six other people were killed in the incident. Some sources reportedly suggested that Balach Marri was killed in an air strike by NATO forces in the Gramshar area of Afghanistan’s Helmand province. They believed the Western forces had mistaken Marri and his entourage for Taliban militants.
Nawabzada Balach Marri, who was the youngest son of Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, had sought refuge in Afghanistan following the crackdown in the Marri and Bugti areas after the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006. He had been elected member of the Balochistan Assembly from his home constituency of Kohlu in the 2002 general election. He never attended assembly proceedings after the opening session. Balach Marri was thought to be the chief of the BLA.
Meanwhile, three people were killed in Quetta’s Huda area late on November 21-night after unidentified armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on them. In another incident, a group of armed men opened fire on a police van on the Brewery road, killing a constable and injuring three other policemen. Two policemen were injured after a bomb exploded near the WAPDA grid station in Sariab. Further, arsonists torched an ambulance of the Bolan Medical Complex and a building formerly housing a government organisation in Killi Shabo. Two Frontier Corps personnel were injured when a hand grenade was thrown at their vehicle in the Sariab area. An office of the Punjabi Ittehad was set ablaze on Query road.
In Turbat, angry mobs reportedly ransacked shops and also set ablaze an office of the livestock department. Niaz Zehri, a government official, suffered injuries when a mob attacked him in Khuzdar. Separately, two bomb blasts damaged telephone lines in Mastung. Train services between Quetta and the rest of the country were suspended after a track was blown up near Sibi.
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