The Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that several Taliban commanders have also been killed in Afghanistan following their leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour's death in a drone strike in Pakistan.
They said that the Taliban have come under enormous military pressure.
The ministries said that the Taliban's attacks have reduced following their leader's death. They said that the Taliban launched 65 attacks over the past four days and security forces have conducted 260 attacks against the Taliban in the same amount of time.
"Taliban had movements, but they cannot create challenges for security forces. The Taliban have been suppressed, wherever they have risen up," said Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the MoD.
Based on figures provided by the MoI, "Mullah Manan, Qari Aref and several other Taliban commanders who were fighting in Helmand have been killed in security forces' operations," said Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the MoI.
The Taliban militants, after the death of their leader, still continue fighting in different parts of the country, including Baghlan.
"Fighting is still underway in Baghlan-e-Markazi district [of Baghlan province]. The government has also launched an operation, but it was not effective," said Azim Mohseni, a lawmaker from Baghlan province.
[DAWN] Former Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour was tracked down by United States (US) spy agencies when he was visiting his family in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Iran, however, has denied that Mansour entered Pakistain from the Islamic republic.
It was an alternate plane, one only available to American drones and their targets. The creatures of the Mad Mullahs are made of much too base a clay to access such rarified realms, so of course they missed the gentleman in question.
The WSJ report claims US surveillance drones don't operate in the Iran-Pakistain border area, due to which intercepted communications and other intelligence allowed agencies to track Mansour down and lay a trap for him as he crossed the border into Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... in a white Toyota Corolla.
Armed drones were sent across the Afghan border to lock on to the car and take down the target, officials told WSJ, before the Taliban leader could reach Quetta.
The WSJ said the killing of Mansour in Balochistan was a warning to Pakistain that the US would take action on Pak soil without prior notification if necessary.
US President Barack Obama That’s just how white folks will do you.... and State Department Spokesman Mark Toner have both said American forces will continue carrying out strikes on Pak soil to "remove murderous Moslems who are actively pursuing, planning and directing attacks against US forces".
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... has offered condolences to the family and supporters of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor over his death.
Hekmatyar has released an unusual statement amid ongoing peace efforts between his party and the Afghan government, calling on Taliban to form a coalition with him.
He has called on Taliban to jointly work with him to achieve the joint targets and resolve the crisis in the country.
The leader of Hezb-e-Islami has also asked Taliban to jointly work with him in his ongoing peace efforts and resistance and jihad and for the future of the country.
The Talibs earlier rejected to form a coalition with Hezb-e-Islami and on numerous occasions fighting erupted among the fighters of the two groups, according to VOA’s Afghanistan service.
This comes as the Presidential Palace announced Tuesday that there is no specific timeframe for the conclusion of peace deal with Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Deputy presidential front man Syed Zafar Hashemi told news hounds that grinding of the peace processor is always complicated and it would be a mistake to confirm a timeframe regarding the peace agreement, insisting that small and big changes normally takes place everyday, in every seconds and at the final seconds of grinding of the peace processor.
Meanwhile the Afghan government signed the draft peace agreement with Hezb-e-Islami last week.
Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Khan told news hounds last week that the draft agreement has been signed and will become enforceable once the Hezb-e-Islami party signs it.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Pak Army Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... has conveyed serious concern to the US Ambassador to Pakistain over a drone strike that targeted the Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
According to the local media reports, Gen. Sharif conveyed his concern over the Arclight airstrike during a meeting at Pakistain Army’s General Headquarters.
"While expressing his serious concerns over the said drone strike, COAS said such acts of illusory sovereignty violations are detrimental to relations between both countries and are counter-productive for ongoing grinding of the peace processor for regional stability," a statement by Inter Service Public Relations said.
Earlier the US Ambassador to Pakistain was summoned by the country’s foreign ministry over the Arclight airstrike killing Taliban leader in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province.
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05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Afghan Taliban under their new leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ...Deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour... , on Wednesday rejected peace talks as a viable solution to bringing the Afghan insurgency to an end, and have stated that fighting will continue.
In an audio message released in Pushto, circulated by Taliban capos, Haibatullah stated the "Taliban will never bow their heads and will not agree to peace talks."
Afghan Taliban's new chief added that "people thought we will lay down our arms after Mullah Mansour's death, but we will continue fighting till the end."
Not even a hudna? Goodness.
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05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Army Chief of Staff General Qadam Shah Shaheem instructed the Afghan commandos to use all force against the enemies of the country.
He was speaking during a gathering in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... on the occasion of the graduation of 900 commandos of the Afghan National Army.
Gen. Shaheem said the Afghan civilians should not be harmed as a result of the capabilities of the Afghan commando forces but it should be enemies who should fear.
He also urged the Afghan commando forces to treat the Prisoners of War well and not to harm them and also prevent causing harm to the properties of the civilians.
In other parts of his speech, Gen. Shaheem pointed towards the state of the art equipment in jug of the Afghan special forces.
He urged the Afghan forces to take better care of the equipment, insisting that the equipment and technology belong to the Afghan nation.
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05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The Libyan National Army (LNA) has warned that it is only 10 KM from Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and that it will be liberating Tripoli soon. The LNA has warned that it would be liberating Tripoli a number of times since the capital’s occupation by militias in the summer of 2014.
The warning came Tuesday from Chief of Staff Abdul Razak Al-Nazhuri who was attending the graduation ceremony of 1,600 House of Representatives (HoR) Ministry of Interior Special Forces in Zintan. He was also conducting a tour of LNA-loyal forces in the western region. The graduates are said to be from all regions of Libya.
Zintan and its militias are loyal to the eastern-based HoR and its LNA based in eastern Libya.
It was the fighting between the Zintani-led militias and the Misrata-led militias in Tripoli in 2014 that led to the current political split of Libya. The fighting led to the destruction of a number of oil storage tankers, the destruction of numerous aircrafts and to the total destruction of Tripoli International Airport.
Nazhuri said that there must be one unified Libya and Libyan army and police and that the LNA will not accept ministers (in the Government of National Accord ‐ GNA) that had been supplying terror groups fighting the LNA in Benghazi.
The LNA have consistently accused the Islamists and groups in the city of Misrata of supplying the IS/Ansar Sharia/BRSC fighters in Benghazi.
Referring to Faiez Serraj and his GNA, he said that the LNA was sending a message to all who are in the foreign installed government (GNA), adding that in Libya there will be no acceptance of a ’’Karazi’’ (the Afghanistan leader installed by the international community).
The Zintan based LNA forces carried out a graduation ceremony as a reminder and show of strength as they feel marginalized from the GNA and the anti IS action around Sirte. It is partly to show that the GNA or its supporting militias are far from being in control of the whole of western Libya.
While Hafter’s eastern based forces have been engaged in some action, slowly making their way towards Sirte and fighting IS/BRSC/Ansar Sharia coalition in Benghazi, the Zintan-based forces have been idle bystanders.
Equally, Zintan’s Presidency Council (PC) representative, Mohammed Al-Aswad has been boycotting the PC while the rest of the PC based in the Bu Sitta Naval Base have continued without him. The High State Council, dominated by former members of the GNC and led by Zintan-arch enemy Abdelrahman Swehli have also continued to impose itself while Zintan seems to be side-lined from the new power share-out.
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05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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Another girl not from the Chibock group is rescued.
[Ynet] A 16-year-old girl was kidnapped with her 1-month-old baby by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... from her home in northern Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... 18 months ago, taken to Nigeria, married off to an holy warrior fighter and then trained to be a jacket wallah.
Last week she succeeded in escaping when the Nigerian military launched a raid on a Boko Haram camp. She wandered through Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria for several days until, tired, weak and hungry, she was found by members of a local defense group fighting the holy warriors, who handed her over to Cameroon's military, said Midjiyawa Bakary governor of the Far North region of Cameroon.
"When the Nigerian army attacked the Boko Haram camp where we were, there was confusion everywhere and I escaped to the forest where I walked for a week and handed myself to the first people I saw," she said.
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05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] International Death Eater group Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... is trying to ride a wave of religious radicalisation by falsely claiming a spate of killings in Bangladesh, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam has said.
In an interview with Rooters on Tuesday, he claimed that there was enough evidence implicating the local Death Eater groups in these attacks.
Analysts say that as IS loses territory in Iraq and Syria and its finances get drained, it may be trying to build affiliates in countries such as Libya, Egypt and Bangladesh for jihadists to launch attacks locally and cheaply.
Shahriar said that no local or foreign agency had found any presence of IS in the country. "Those claims [of killings] are definitely false," he said. "But what we’ve agreed with our partnering countries is that we’ll not argue over it ‐ that sends a wrong message."
His comments came just days after a EU delegation said that there was an unprecedented threat to human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... and freedom of expression in Bangladesh and urged Dhaka to tackle the challenge to protect its international reputation.
Since February last year, Rooters says, Muslim-majority Bangladesh of 160 million has seen the killing of at least 26 people, including five secular bloggers, a publisher, two LGBT campaigners, non-Muslim and non-Sunni preachers.
Al-Qaeda has claimed some of the attacks, while IS has claimed 17 killings since first taking responsibility for murders in Bangladesh in September last year, according to US-based monitoring website SITE Intelligence Group.
The latest claim by IS was made after the killing of a fan of mystic Baul songs and popular homoeopath doctor, Sanwar Hossain, in Kushtia on May 20. It was the sixth murder claimed by the terrorist group since January and third since April.
In its April edition of Dabiq magazine, IS claimed that they had operations in Bangladesh, from where they had plans to attack Myanmar and India to avenge the persecution on Muslims.
"Having a strong jihad base in Bengal [Bangladesh] will facilitate guerilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides [east and west]," its alleged leader for Bangladesh Sheikh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif said in an interview. IS has strong base in Pakistain and Afghanistan region ‐ they call it Khorasan province.
Following this, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan labelled the claims as "local and international conspiracy" and reiterated that two banned Death Eater groups ‐ Ansarullah Bangla Team and Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had carried out the attacks to destabilise the country and as part of their campaign to establish a Shariah-based state.
We needn't worry about the following report, then:
[AlAhram] Islamic State (IS) group grabbed credit for stabbing an elderly Hindu businessman to death in Bangladesh, monitoring service SITE said on Wednesday, in what would be the second killing by the murderous Moslem group in the country in less than a week.
Debesh Chandra Pramanik, 68, a shoe trader, was found hacked to death in his shop on Wednesday in the northwestern rural district of Gaibandha, police said. Police found his body lying in pool of blood, police official Mozammel Haque said.
"The attackers slashed his throat with sharp weapons leaving him dead on the spot," he said, adding that one person had been picked up for questioning.
IS group claimed the killing of a village doctor on Friday.
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05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Religious belief is no excuse for refusing to shake a teacher’s hand, authorities in a northern Swiss region ruled Wednesday, reversing one school’s controversial decision to grant exemptions for Muslim pupils unwilling to touch the opposite sex.
Parents of pupils who refuse to shake a teacher’s hand at schools in the northern Swiss canton of Basel-Country could now face fines of up to 5,000 Swiss francs ($5,000, 4,500 euros), regional education authorities ruled.
"A teacher has the right to demand a handshake," they said in a statement.
The decision comes after a national uproar arose over revelations last month that a middle school allowed two Syrian brothers, aged 14 and 15, not to shake their teachers’ hands after they complained that doing so was counter to their religious beliefs if the teacher was a woman.
They argued that Islam does not permit physical contact with a person of the opposite sex, with the exception of certain immediate family members.
To avoid effectively permitting discrimination against female teachers, the school decided to exempt the boys from shaking hands with any of their teachers, regardless of sex.
’Totalitarianism’ That decision -- made independently by the school in the northwest Therwil municipality without involvement of the canton’s authorities or local officials -- triggered an outcry across Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , where the tradition of students shaking their teachers’ hands as a sign of respect is deeply entrenched.
The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) said Basel-Country had exceeded its authority with the ruling overturning the school’s decision and vowed a court battle if the measures are enforced.
Mandating physical contact between individuals amounts to "totalitarianism," the ICCS said in a statement.
The Federation of Islamic Organisations of Switzerland (IOS), considered more moderate than the ICCS, meanwhile said it had no objection to the practice of handshaking in schools but regretted that authorities had sought a legal ruling to settle the issue.
"It could have been resolved more gently by involving the Federation of Muslims in Basel, which could have acted as a mediator," IOS front man Pascal Gemperli said in an email.
He called the prospect of a 5,000 Swiss franc fine "harsh" and warned that "it could further polarize the debate."
Explaining Wednesday’s ruling, authorities said "the public interest concerning gender equality as well as integration of foreigners far outweighs that concerning the freedom of belief of students."
The school at the centre of the dispute, which amid the uproar had turned to the cantonal authorities for guidance, said it was "relieved" at Wednesday’s ruling.
"Now there is clarity on how to proceed," it said in a statement, adding that it would lift the temporary exemption in place since the school year began last autumn.
"This decision has recently been communicated to the family," it said.
Sanctions
The cantonal authorities stressed that if the two students at the heart of the controversy once again refuse to shake hands, "the sanctions called for by law will be applied."
The public focus on the case has already landed the family in difficulty, after media revealed they were seeking to become Swiss nationals.
Cantonal authorities last month announced that naturalisation proceedings had been put on hold.
The father of the two boys, a holy man based in Basel and a Syrian national, moved to Switzerland in 2001 and was granted asylum.
Basel’s migration office was seeking more information about the circumstances under which the father’s asylum request was approved.
On Wednesday, authorities said one member of the family, whose identity was not revealed, had received a warning over "incitement to violence," which could have consequences for the naturalization process.
Switzerland’s population of eight million people includes an estimated 350,000 Muslims.
Previous similar disputes have centered on Muslim parents who demanded that their daughters be exempt from swimming lessons, a case that led to the parents being fined.
Muslim families have however secured victories in court against schools which sought to ban the full-face veil.
[AnNahar] Spain started taking in refugees this week from camps in Europe, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Leb, pledging to welcome 586 people from now until the end of June after months of strident debate over governmental inaction.
Twenty-two Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... n men arrived at Madrid's airport on a flight from Rome on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.
Twenty Syrians and Iraqis coming from Greece were taken in on Tuesday -- the first since November last year.
The ministry said that Spain planned to welcome a total of 586 refugees from now until the end of June -- a majority of them Syrian and Iraqi.
Among these, 285 are coming from camps in Leb, 150 from Greece, and the rest from Turkey and Italia.
Last year, some 1.3 million refugees coming mostly from the conflict-ridden countries of Syria and Iraq asked for asylum in the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... -- more than a of third of them in Germany.
So far this year, the International Organization for Migration says an estimated 190,000 migrants colonists and refugees have entered Europe by sea, arriving in Italia, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Another 1,359 have died en route.
The European Union has put in place a program aimed at redistributing a first group of 140,000 people throughout the 28 member states.
Spain agreed to take in more than 17,000, but until this week just 17 had arrived, with authorities blaming slow administrative procedures in Greece and Italia.
Politicians and associations in Spain heavily criticized the current conservative government over the slow progress.
In April, four politicians -- including two from far-left party Podemos -- went on hunger strike for one week to put the spotlight on the plight of refugees.
Socialist party chief Pedro Sanchez, meanwhile, accused the government of "embarrassing Spain."
[AnNahar] A Milan court on Wednesday sentenced a Pak and a Tunisian to six years in prison for threatening terror attacks in Italia via social media.
Tunisian Lassad Briki, 35, and Pakistain national Muhammad Baqas, 27, will be deported after serving their sentences, the judge said after agreeing to the maximum sanction requested by prosecutors.
The two men were jugged Please don't kill me! in July 2015 in Brescia in northern Italia on suspicion of setting up a Twitter account from which they posted messages threatening to attack iconic Italian monuments like Milan's Duomo and the Colosseum in Rome.
The threats were accompanied by photos of the monuments and written in Italian, French and Arabic.
"We are on your streets, we are everywhere," one post read. "We are identifying the targets and await the X hour."
The sentences were handed down despite the prosecutor in charge of the investigation saying at the time of the arrests that "there was no sign of even the beginning of a move (beyond words) to action."
The two men had however downloaded an online "manual" which covered the production of home-made explosives, carrying weapons and operating clandestinely on the Internet.
[FoxNews] The Obama administration is preparing to transfer up to 24 additional detainees out of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp this summer, Fox News has learned.
The move comes as President Obama continues to try to close the camp in the face of congressional resistance. The administration so far has reduced the population from 242 detainees to 80.
But one official said the detainees remaining at the camp represent the "worst of the worst."
The official was not confident the countries ultimately receiving these terrorists would be up to the task of keeping them locked up or even tracking them. While an Obama administration task force found many detainees should remain in U.S. custody, a new review board in 2011 looked at the cases and reached a different conclusion, though much of the evidence was the same.
The White House still maintains that closing the camp makes the most sense.
"It's a recruiting tool for those who wish to do us harm," spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Still, the most recent issue of Al Qaeda’s propaganda magazine said it’s the Arab-Israeli conflict that drives Al Qaeda recruitment ‐ not the detention center. The issue says: "Many have joined jihad because of the Palestinian ’rhetoric’ compared to Guantanamo."
But mostly they've joined because they want to play soldier and get girls -- whether earthly or in Paradise doesn't much matter.
Thomas Joscelyn, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior editor of The Long War Journal who testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill about the prison, said the push to shutter Guantanamo is "all about ideologically driven policy. It's not about the actual assessment of the risks of these individuals."
Just like everything else this administration has done. And a dreadfully old-fashioned ideology it is, too.
For those countries that take transfers, Republican Sens. Mark Kirk, of Illinois, and James Lankford, of Oklahoma, have introduced an amendment to hold them accountable.
"If you take a detainee, it comes with a responsibility. That responsibility is to make sure the detainee doesn't return to the fight, or you will lose American federal aid. It's pretty straightforward," Lankford explained.
[Daily Excelsior] At least 17 groups of bully boyz have become active across the Line of Control (LoC) opposite twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and Kupwara district of Kashmire valley with a view to infiltrate into the State to create disturbances even as the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), set up by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has maintained that 18 bully boyz have infiltrated this year so far.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the credible inputs available with security and Intelligence agencies revealed that at least 17 groups of bully boyz have been observed across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmire, who were fully geared to infiltrate into the State but high alertness being displayed by the troops hasn’t allowed them to succeed in their task.
As per the inputs, there were two groups of bully boyz waiting across LoC in Poonch, three opposite Mendhar, four across Rajouri and two opposite Nowshera. Two groups of bully boyz were stationed across the International Border (IB) in Samba. In Kashmire valley, there had been specific reports of two groups each waiting across Keran and Kupwara but the number could grow due to fast melting of snow in the summer.
Continued on Page 49
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[DAWN] After geo-tagging of the seminaries across the province, the Sindh police have started analysis and audit of their finances to trace the source of their funding and spending, in line with the National Action Plan’s initiatives which requires the database of all madressahs operating across the country, a bigwig said on Tuesday.
The move initiated by the Sindh police, the official said, could take time as the job required special skills and information from different sources to determine the channels of funding, its sources and then utilisation.
"We have already done the geo-tagging of the seminaries," additional inspector general of police Sanaullah Abbasi told Dawn. "After that months-long project, we are now analysing the facts and checking records which also require a sort of audit of accounts to determine the source of funding, channel of funding and then the nature of consumption of all that money."
He said the aim of all that exercise was to identify those facilities which had any links with militancy though he believed that most of the seminaries were not found involved in any suspicious activities that could prompt some action against them.
"After that process with geo-tagging already, it would provide great comfort to the law enforcement agencies to keep a check on these madressahs in a much easier way. It would be a lifetime job as the geo-tagging coupled with data finances’ details would help in establishing a province-wide database of the seminaries."
The Sindh home department had identified 49 madressahs having alleged links with ’terrorist organizations’ against whom the ’relevant authorities’ were told to take action last month. The madressahs were identified on intelligence reports. The report prepared by the home department in August 2015 said 26 of the seminaries linked with the banned groups were in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , 12 in Hyderabad, seven in Sukkur and four in Larkana.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[GEO.TV] Pakistain’s Interior Ministry has decided to carry out verification process of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) of all Paks again, federal minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... said on Wednesday.
"Illegal CNICs has caused us to face an emergency-like situation," Nisar said after chairing a high-level meeting with National Database Regulatory Authority (Nadra) officials. "Institutions responsible for national security will cooperate for verification and non-verification of CNICs," he added.
The Interior Ministry’s decision to re-verify CNICs has come after Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s liquidation by a US drone in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... . He was carrying a Pak ID and passport.
In an investigation carried out by The News, it was learnt that over 45,000 foreigners were issued Pak CNICs since 2005 alone.
The country’s top registration authority, Nadra, allegedly issued these cards to nationals of China, United States, India, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Uzbek, Maldives, Morocco, Bangladesh and Burma, putting national security at a greater risk, revealed official documents.
Shocking revelations came at a time when the country’s top security czar Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan confirmed that Nadra blocked over 0.23 million suspicious national identity cards in past five years. Either these CNICs were issued to foreigners or Paks.
More than 650 officials of Nadra allegedly issued these tens of thousands of CNICs to foreign nationals, majority of them were ’unregistered Afghan refugees’ during this period, officials assigned to investigate this scam claimed.
Nadra issued to Pak CNICs to 21 Chinese citizens, 29 Indians, 236 Iranians, one American, 111 Bengali and Burmese, seven Moroccan, three Uzbeks, two Maldivians, one Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... citizen, 13 Egyptian and around 40, 000 Afghans got Pak cards, revealed official documents also exclusively obtained by Geo TV and The News.
After expanding scope of investigation into this scam, top registration body’s officials claimed that they have blocked around 40, 000 CNICs issued to Afghan citizens since 2005.
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The man has become a monomaniac. No sooner has his Herzog-in-government effort failed than he turns up with this rerun that never flew before, and won't fly now.
[IsraelTimes] Former British prime minister Tony Blair says Sunni Muslim countries are ready to normalize ties with Israel should the Jewish state negotiate a peace deal with the PA on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative.
The plan, first proposed in 2002, calls for full normalization between Israel and the Arab world in exchange for a withdrawal from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights.
The first might happen with an honest Palestinian government, the third might have happened back when Bashir Assad controlled all of Syria, the second might have happened if Yasser Arafat had accepted the trade for peace instead of literally running away. But until there is an honest Palestinian government and Syria is at peace, what is the point of negotiations?
It would include land swaps, the establishment of a Paleostinian state and a negotiated agreement on Paleostinian refugees.
The negotiation on Palestinian refugees is that they can all settle in the Palestinian territories... but they could do that now without any agreement, were the Palestinians willing to share with their "kin".
"Provided the Israeli government is ready to commit to a discussion around the Arab peace initiative ... it would be possible to have some steps of normalization along the way to give confidence to this process," says Blair, according to Haaretz.
Oh. It's Ha'aretz, the correctly self-described New York Times of Israel. No wonder this report does not ask what confidence-building steps will be asked of the Palestinians.
"With the new leadership in the region today that is possible. A lot will depend on the response of the Israeli government to President Sissi’s initiative and to the Arab Peace Initiative, and to whatever steps the Israelis are ready to take," he says.
President Sissi was in on Mr. Blair's initiative to put Herzog in Israel's government. Did he happen to mention this to Prime Minister Netanyahu during their near-daily phone calls?
Blair has in recent years been working independently on a peace deal between Israel and the Paleostinians.
I don't recall -- is Mr. Blair part of former president Jimmy Carter's Elders, that group of leftist former heads of state and other important people that provides unsolicited advice to those who aren't interested? President Carter himself just announced he is moving to emeritus status, according to Politico, so hopefully only the non-emeritus Elders will now have to screen his calls.
In '67 & '73 the Arabs fought and lost two wars with Israel. Now, as when this was first proposed, they say:
"Okay Israel, we'll accept your total surrender and we can call it peace."
[WAPO] TAMPA -- From the outside, U.S. Special Operations Command’s latest attempt to find and test the best technology for its operators looks like one more downtown storefront here.
Inside, 3-D printers and half-built drones litter the 10,000-square-foot space, which was converted from an old tattoo parlor and former telephone book factory. High stools, wood tables and flat screens give it the look of Silicon Valley. The walls, however, are adorned with pictures of commandos in 1940s North Africa and mission dossiers from the CIA’s World War II precursor, the Office of Strategic Services. During a recent visit, a young intern was working on a device that uses radar to see through walls.
This is SOFWERX -- a stylized name that roughly translates to Special Operations Forces Works -- a Special Operations Command (SOCOM)-funded technology incubator that opened its doors at the end of 2015.
#1
They might be interested in one of my ideas. A small bot that can be dropped on underground facilities that crawls into ventilation shafts then does things like sealing the shaft with foam that sets hard and continues on down the shaft having cut off the air supply, which of course it doesn't need.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday it was holding off from striking rebels with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front to give other gangs time to move away from Nusra positions.
The ministry said in a statement it had received requests from multiple gangs, mainly in Damascus and Aleppo, asking for a pause in air strikes.
The ministry said taking those requests into account, it had decided to allow more time before it starts air strikes on the Nusra positions.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Powerful Islam Army and rival group, Faylaq Al Rahman, have reached a 'Declaration of Principles' deal to end the infighting in besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs near the capital after two bloody weeks left dozens killed and wounded from both sides, local reporter said Tuesday. The agreement was brokered by Qatar and the Syrian opposition coordinator Riyad Hijab, Islam Army said in statement.
It feels like this only happened because Qatar has both groups on the payroll. Even so, how long do you think it will be before the hudna is ended suddenly and with a great deal of violence, dear Reader?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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[Iraq Sun] Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said Moscow was ready to coordinate with a Kurdish-Arab alliance and the US-led coalition in an assault on the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group's Syrian bastion of Raqa.
"I say with all authority that we are ready for such co-ordination," Lavrov told journalists at a summit in Uzbekistan, quoted by TASS state news agency.
He was speaking before Kurdish-Arab forces announced that the assault had been launched, saying: "I cannot say how realistic the reports are that such actions have already started."
"Of course Raqa is one of the goals of the anti-terrorist coalition, just as is Iraq's djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ," Lavrov said.
"We are convinced it would have been possible to more effectively and quickly liberate these populated areas if our militaries [Russian and US] had started co-ordinating their actions much earlier," Lavrov said.
Lavrov said that Russia and the US had agreed to co-ordinate military action in Syria in addition to exchanging information.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/26/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
[FoxNews] The Obama administration is preparing to transfer up to 24 additional detainees out of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp this summer, Fox News has learned.
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
