India asserted its troops will remain on Pakistan's border until it has extradited 20 alleged fugitives, and rejected as non-serious a similar counter-demand made by Islamabad to the government in New Delhi. The strongly worded statement came from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan. "Pakistan, even as a joke, had never made an allegation that India was sponsoring cross-border terrorism. So how can we take this seriously?" Mahajan said of Sattar's weekend announcement. Closing down the Bad Guys and arresting the worst of them is a good first step. Give him a chance to come through with some more.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Prof Mohammad Ibrahim condemned the banning of religious organisations and said that attempts to turn the country into a secular state will be fiercely resisted. Ibrahim claimed that the introduction of joint electoral system and a new curriculum in madaris and ban on Jihadi organisations would weaken the ideological foundation of the country. He said the army should hand over power to an honest leadership. JI provincial secretary general Sirajul Haq said party workers would take part in the Jan 27 public meeting in Peshawar and demonstrate that they would defend the ideological frontiers of the country at all costs and get rid of the American agents. Boy, it sure would be awful if Pakistan became a secular state. Better to keep to national traditions, like beating women and shooting people up. That's the only way to ensure a peaceful and prosperous Islamic nation. Pakland's percentage of newborn deaths is roughly ten times higher then that in the developed countries - but let's spend all our time, money and resources on jihad.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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People's War Group, one of India's most powerful Maoist guerrilla groups, has offered to start its first-ever peace talks with local auhtorities in the Andhra Pradesh. The outlawed group said it had made an "unconditional offer" to talk with the government of Andhra Pradesh state to stop frequent police killings of its members. The offer came after police shot dead a PWG deputy commander in Andhra Pradesh's Venkatampalli district. Police said the slain guerrilla leader, Boya Ramakrishna, was wanted for several counts of murder. Cheeze. First the money dries up, then the arms dry up, and now Ramakrishna's toast. It's gettin' harder to make a living as a crazed killer all the time. Might as well get jobs.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Seven snuffies and an Army jawan were killed in separate encounters in the Kashmir valley on Sunday, Indian sources said. Lemme see, that's 4,988 left to go, and two arrested makes 4,986.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Israeli tanks remained in position outside Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters a day after clashes left eight wounded and after a night of scattered violence. The hardline militant group Islamic Jihad said it would renew attacks Israel if the seige on Arafat was not lifted. The group, together with Hamas, also warned last week it would resume strikes if the Palestinian Authority did not release Ahmed Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Another group, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called for Palestinians to launch suicide attacks on the Israeli army, and for human shields to be formed against the "crimes" of Israel. Then again, they're going to renew their attacks anyway, regardless of what Israel does. Can't have a jihad without shooting guns in the air and killing granny ladies and shooting up little girls' parties.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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The Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers of Tamil Elam will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding as a precursor to the Norwegian brokered peace talks. The "preliminary agreement" is expected to provide the basic foundation for a full-fledged dialogue between the two sides. With the funding cut off from Pakistan and the training and arms cut off from the terror networks, they're going to have to get jobs. Bet they're unhappy.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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If any Taliban or al Qaeda prisoners escape from the U.S. Navy base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba would send them straight back to American custody, armed forces' chief Raul Castro said. Cheeze, it's tough being a mad dog killer nowadays! Nobody seems to understand!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Indian police aborted a major sabotage plan by Hizbul Mujahideen gunnies to trigger serial blasts across Jammu city on the eve of Republic Day. Police arrested two Hizbul militants, trained in Pakistan, from the outskirts of the city and recovered two pistols, one-and-a-half kg of RDX and other ammunition. Two more small fry struck off the rolls, and the festivities will be a little more civilized.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Sheik Hammoud bin Oqla al-Shoeiby, an Islamic cleric who was praised by al-Qaida group and censured by the Saudi government, has died of a heart attack. He was 77. Al-Shoeiby died at the King Fahd hospital in Breida, Saudi Arabia. Although blind, al-Shoeiby rose to become a leading Islamic scholar in Saudi Arabia. His students included the country's mufti, the current minister of justice and a former Islamic affairs minister. He came to wider notice in October when he issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for holy war against the United States in support of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and their al-Qaida allies. That's the bad part about being on of those guys who talks to God and interprets His will: every once in awhile, He'll call somebody in for a little clarification.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Palestinian Authority officials denied Israeli media reports suggesting Chairman-for-Life Yasser Arafat might resign. The Israeli online news service Arabynet quoted an unnamed senior PA official saying Arafat was preparing to deliver a speech in the next few days announcing he would step down due to a perceived lack of international support. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aid to Arafat rejected the report saying it is "psychological warfare by the Israelis." Golly. We'd miss him terribly. Probably a good idea to keep a casual eye on the checkbook for awhile, just in case. No doubt he'll be very happy in Monaco or Lichtenstein.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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A CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter on a resupply mission in northern Afghanistan experienced a "hard landing" in mountainous terrain, killing two of the seven Marines on board. The five survivors have been moved to medical facilities and an investigation is under way to find the cause of the incident. Even the routine stuff is dangerous. It's a helluva war when you lose more loadmasters than infantry.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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American military aircraft delivered troops, vehicles and other equipment to the southern Philippines. Three C-130 aircraft from a US military base in Okinawa, Japan landed with supplies for at least 650 US soldiers who would be taking part in a six-month joint campaign with Filipino troops. The Philippine troops are capable of dealing with the Abu Sayyaf Bad Guys, and with the kindred MNLF. The US will more likely be working with them on updating the command, control and communications structure. Real combined arms operations takes some pretty sophisticated coordination among different branches of service. The US has been working on the doctrine since the mid-70s, and has been able to work the bugs out in Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War and most recently Afghanistan. I wouldn't mind being a Raytheon salesman in Manila right now. There's going to be some money spent on the C3 upgrade.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt was winning its domestic fight against terrorism, but said the success of a wider international war on terror hinged on the creation of a Palestinian state. "For many years the police have fought a harsh battle against terrorism to smash their organizations, arrest most of their leaders, dry up most of their sources of finance, and uncover their communication lines to groups abroad," he said. "They are leading a successful battle against evil," Mubarak said in a televised speech honoring Egypt's police force. Egyptian radical Islamic groups launched an open war against Mubarak's government from 1992 to 1997 in which around 1,200 people were killed and tourism revenues, a key foreign currency earner for the Arab country, dropped sharply. Many of the Egyptian radicals moved to Afghanistan where they joined forces with al Qaeda. You're welcome. No, you can't have a Palestinian state right now. We - and you - have more important things to work on right now.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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Several thousand people attended a rally organized by Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammedi (TNSM), in Dir, 160 miles from Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province. At least six policemen were injured by rocks, witnesses said. The group threatened to hold more protests if its jailed leaders and activists are not released within a week. TNSM leader Sufi Mohammed led thousands of Pakistani tribesmen to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. Since returning to Pakistan, he has been arrested and sentenced to three years in jail on a weapons charge. The Paks are going to have to put up with this sort of nonsense from bloodthirsty goons for quite awhile, until the money runs out. Just hope Musharraf's got the patience of a saint.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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One of five terror suspects identified by the FBI on a videotape, Khalid Ibn Muhammad al-Juhani, is a Saudi national who has been suffering from mental problems. The state-controlled paper Al-Watan quoted family members as saying al-Juhani got involved in the Afghan civil war in 1992 at the age of 18 and fought for three years before returning to Saudi Arabia. "He was described then as suffering from mental problems believed to be the result of pressure he faced during the war," a relative told the newspaper. Wonder if he was the one who was giggling and kissing his gun?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/20/2002 ||
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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.
