China voices concern over growing US influence in Af-Pak region

Chinese Ambassador Lou Zhaohui.—APP/File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador Lou Zhaohui on Thursday said his country was ‘concerned over the increasing US influence’ in the region. He said the number of foreign forces was ‘too high’ in the region.

Talking to reporters during a visit to the Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Chinese envoy said the ‘outside influence’ was growing in the region.

‘These are issues of serious concern for China,’ he said, adding that China was concerned over the US policies and the presence of a large number of foreign troops in the region.

He said that US strategies needed some ‘corrective measures’ to contain terrorism. However, he added, terrorism was a serious issue and required cooperation between countries in the region to counter it.

‘We are cooperating with the US and Pakistan in the fight against terror,’ Mr Zhaohui said, adding that separatists belonging to Muslim majority areas of western China had got training in Fata and Afghanistan during the 1980s.

‘These groups have been branded terrorists by the UN agencies.’ He said the Chinese authorities were in touch with Pakistani officials to chalk out a joint anti-terrorism strategy.

‘Counter-terrorism is needed with Pakistan and we are in close liaison with the interior ministry for the security of over 10,000 Chinese engineers and technical experts in Pakistan,’ he said, adding that China wanted long-term strategic relations with Pakistan.

The ambassador said that more than 60 Chinese companies were involved in 122 projects in Pakistan.

Source: Dawn

Taliban won't let residents escape battle zone

The Taliban are stopping locals from fleeing Swat. “Apke khidmat ke liye baithe hain,” is what they are telling residents trying to get out of the picturesque valley in north-west Pakistan.

The Taliban are stopping locals from fleeing Swat. “Apke khidmat ke liye baithe hain,” is what they are telling residents trying to get out of the picturesque valley in north-west Pakistan. Locals now fear the Taliban might use them as human shields.

Last week thousands escaped from Swat before military operations began against the Taliban. But now, speaking over the phone to TOI from Swat’s main city Mingora and its neighbouring towns, locals say the Taliban’s understated threats are forcing them to stay put.

A family’s attempt to flee Bahrain, a town 60 km north of Mingora, on May 4 was thwarted by a young Taliban who stopped them at a checkpost saying they were there to take care of the residents. Aftab Ahmed, a 24-year-old petrol pump owner from Bahrain, says in the last two days there’s been a sudden influx of Taliban men. The 10-15 militants who were “around town” have been joined by at least 100 more and now they have a free run around the city, he says. “We can’t understand how the Taliban can saunter around with an army post right around the corner,” he wonders.

In Mingora, the army is not allowing people to move out anymore, says AG Vilayat who lives in Kanju township. Vilayat sent his wife and sons to Peshawar three days ago. “It wouldn’t have been possible now,” he says. The situation is particularly tough for women, who are practically under house arrest.

The change in personal appearance that the Taliban writ is forcing is also having its own repressive impact. “I haven’t shaved in the last two months. I don’t recognise myself. Swatis are clean-shaven. This is not us,” says Vilayat with a dry hollow laughter. From shuttlecock veils to long beards, Swatis left in the valley say they are living each day as it comes.

Sourrce: Times of India

Pakistan prepares to 'eliminate militants' from Swat valley

Trucks carrying Pakistan army soldiers on their way to the Swat valley, in Mardan near Peshawar

Ground troops have taken up positions in and around Swat Valley where fighting between militants and security forces has already forced up to 300,000 people to flee this week.

"The full-fledged operation is likely within next twenty four hours," said a government official.

The prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, said in a late-night televised address: "In order to restore honour and dignity of our homeland, and to protect people, the armed forces have been called to eliminate the militants and terrorists."

Mr Gilani said militant efforts to disrupt peace and security had reached such a stage that the government believed "decisive steps" had to be taken.

The offensive was announced after President Asif Zardari met President Oback Obama in Washington in an attempt to allay American concerns about Pakistan's commitment to tackling the Taliban and terrorism.

Thousands of civilians have continued to stream out of the Taliban stronghold of Swat, a former tourist resort, and neighbouring districts on foot or crammed into cars in the face of the onslaught.

International aid agencies warned the humanitarian crisis was escalating, and that up to 500,00 could be forced from their homes. Some 500,000 people have already been made refugees by fighting last year.

Mr Gilani's statement was measured to rally Pakistanis behind the military operation as public opinion turned against the militants.

He also appealed to the international community to help the tens of thousands of people fleeing a major anti-Taliban military offensive in the restive northwest.

A doctor at a Swat hospital said he could see Taliban sitting in front of the hospital. Army troops were restricted to a government building while militants patrolled in some areas. Families could not come out partly because of Taliban blockades and mines and partly because of non-availability of transport.

In rare statement, Pakistan's army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, said: "It (the army) will employ requisite resources to ensure a decisive ascendancy over the militants."

Source: Telegraph

Defiant Muslim dentist 'refused to treat female patients unless they wore Islamic dress': Again!

Strict: Omer Butt allegedly said it was duty to ensure Muslim women wore the hijab at his NHS dental clinic

This is the second time - this Dentist has run into trouble for attempting to force Muslim women to wear strict Islamic dress in order to be seen by him - worst it appears that he speaks to their husbands privately (away from the women),  and asks the husband to get their wife to wear the Muslim cloth - so the family can be registered - or seen by him. Two years ago the dentist was given a warning and - it seems he is back at it again. He may likely be struck off the register this time - Afghanistan probably needs dentists.

A Muslim dentist refused to treat patients unless they wore traditional Islamic dress, it was alleged today.

Omer Butt, 32, ordered women to put on head scarves or he would not register them or their families at his NHS-funded clinic, it was claimed.

At least two patients were left in pain after they declined to follow his self-imposed rules, the General Dental Council heard.

It is the second time that the dentist - who is the brother of a former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun - has appeared before the council's disciplinary panel on similar allegations.

Two years ago he was reprimanded for telling an Asian mother-of-two he would not register her unless she wore the Muslim hijab.

The GDC heard how Butt believed it was his duty to stop Muslim patients committing what he believed was Al-Kaba'ir, a religious sin.

He even put a laminated sign on the wall of his waiting room telling patients they would have to adhere to his strict dress code or find another dentist.

John Snell, for the GDC, said: 'He sought to impose a dress code on patients attending his practice.

'He required that women cover their hair with a head scarf, or hijab, and that male patients remove any gold jewellery.

'If he had simply expressed a preference, without imposing any compulsion to adhere to this dress code, there may be no cause for complaint.

'However, he insisted - and those who did not comply were refused treatment.

'He made compliance with Islamic dress code a condition of treatment, which is entirely inappropriate under the auspices of the National Health Service.

'Patients should have access to NHS treatment regardless of their religious observance, or otherwise.'

One patient, referred to only as Mrs F, told how she went with her husband and three children to register as patients at the Unsworth Smile Clinic, in Bury, Lancashire, in 2006.

While they were waiting to be seen, Butt called her husband into an office and told him he would have to tell his wife to wear a head scarf or the family would not be seen.

They promptly left and made a formal complaint to the NHS.

Traditional: The kind of Islamic outfit Butt is said to demand female patients wore

Mrs F told the panel: 'I was extremely annoyed. It's my choice if I wear a Hijab or not. But he told my husband he wouldn't treat any of us until I did.

'He even offered to provide one for me to use, but I didn't want to wear it. I shouldn't have to wear it to get treatment.

'I had great pain in my tooth at the time, but I wasn't going to stand for that so we left.'

Another patient and her family had to leave the clinic in June 2007 because she would not wear the religious headdress after spending a year looking for a dentist in the area, the hearing was told.

The woman's husband, known as Mr C, was also called into a private room at the surgery where Butt asked him to impose a dress code on his wife.

His wife said: 'My husband came out and he looked quite angry and his face was red. He said 'let's go'.

'He shouldn't say to me that he can't treat me unless I wear the hijab. He said he could provide one for us, but I didn't want to wear one. I was in pain that day.'

Butt, of Prestwich, Manchester, denies charges of misconduct for his treatment of two patients at the clinic.

If found guilty he faces being removed the dental register.

In September 2007 Butt was formally reprimanded by the GDC for similar behaviour and found guilty of serious professional misconduct.

The hearing, being held in London, continues.

Source: Daily Mail

Doctors allow Afghans to die

Danish and foreign doctors have decided to let seriously wounded Afghan men die of wounds that coalition soldiers would have treated, according to Jyllands-Posten.

According the report, civilian and military Afghans, who are so badly wounded that it would have major consequences for their future civilian lives, are given pain killers and allowed to die.

Stopping treatment
“If an Afghan, for example, has serious internal bleeding or a broken back so that he would be paralysed from the neck down, we stop treatment,” says the head of Danish medical services at Kandahar Airfield, Dr. Christian Tollund.

“If it is a Danish or international soldier we continue treatment and send that person back home. In Denmark people who are confined to a wheelchair have a completely different set of options. In Afghanistan, there is no social system and in many cases no help for the wounded – so we take the decision,” he says.

Agreement
Seventy international doctors and nurses are posted to Kandahar Airfield, six of whom are Danish.

“The decision to stop the treatment of Afghans earlier than that of (international) soldiers has been taken by the doctors in consensus. We are in agreement,” Tollund says.

He refutes suggestions that the decision is in contravention of the Hippocratic oath.

“The (Danish doctors’) oath does not prescribe that we have to keep patients alive for years. We must alleviate pain, give comfort and, if possible, heal. But we heal in order to give a patient a dignified life. That is not possible in Afghanistan. If we are able to, we include the family in decisions,” Tollund says.

Intensive
There is currently a civilian Afghan in the intensive ward at Kandahar with a pelvis that is so damaged that doctors have stopped their treatment. A Danish soldier would probably have been confined to a life in a wheelchair.

The hospital is unable to provide figures on how many treatments have been abrogated.

Source: Politiken

High court rules Swiss People's Party Muslim posters not racist

Swiss court rules in favor of free speech, free thought as well as the right to criticize. Didn't we already have those rights? Hmm...

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss federal high court has ruled that posters of Muslims prostrate in front of the Swiss federal palace, with the slogan “use your heads” is not racist. The court argued, with one judge noting reservations, that the posters do not fulfill legal requirements for racial discrimination.

The court said, in its decision not to hear a case brought by public authorities in Valais, that the interpretation of the law should not be so narrow as to endanger freedom of expression. The law makes it illegal to humiliate or use racial prejudice against others via images, text and other means of communication. The judges noted that no member of the Muslim community pressed charges.

Denmark: Immigrants/Danes have same number of children

Immigrant families in Denmark have adapted to a typical Danish family pattern, and now have as few children as a traditional Danish nuclear family

Today there's almost no difference in the number of births between Danes and immigrants, according to a report by Statistics Denmark, published by Berlingske Tidende.

While women in child-bearing age from non-Western countries had 3.04 children on average in Danish hospitals in 1998, the number fell last year to 1.94 children on average. In comparison, women from ethnic Danish families gave birth to an average 1.91 children in 2008, which is a small baby boom.

Garbi Schmidt, senior researcher at the Danish National Center for Social Research says that immigrant families are resembling Danish families more and more. Some will always prioritize a big family, she says, but their studies show that minority and majority families are getting closer. Immigrant families are assuming Danish norms, because they and Danish families meet each other on a day to day basis, go to school together, and share the workplace.

Garbi Shchmidt says that there's talk of a quiet integration, and if it also means that immigrant women have a more outgoing life than they would have had otherwise, the families will also have more economic resources

Islam in Europe, Politiken

Iraqi Christians Too Scared to Reveal Whole Truth on Violence

WASHINGTON – Fear keeps Iraqi Christians quiet about the extent of persecution the tiny minority group endures, said an Iraqi Catholic archbishop Tuesday at a private meeting with religious freedom experts and journalists.

These Christians do not fear only for their own safety, but they are afraid of retribution against fellow believers in Iraq if they speak out, explained the Most Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman, the head of the Latin mass church in Iraq, at a Hudson Institute hosted luncheon. This mindset has kept even Iraqi Christians in the United States and other western nations relatively quiet about the severe Christian persecution in their homeland.

It is as if Iraqi Christians speak two different languages, the archbishop told the small group of Americans gathered for the invitation-only event. To the pope they say they are being persecuted, he said, but to the public they say they are living well with occasional problems.

“I think in Iraq I suffered from lack of freedom and the truth,” Sleiman said. “I understand why, I don’t accuse. My predecessor used to say I don’t understand politics but I understand something realistic, I see people suffer. So he never answered political questions,” the archbishop said.

Since the U.S.-led Iraq war in 2003, more than 200 Christians have been killed, dozens of churches have been bombed, and more than half the Iraqi Christian population have left the country.

Last March, the second most senior Catholic cleric in Iraq, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped and then murdered in the northern city of Mosul. Then in October, more than 15,000 Iraqi Christians were reportedly driven out of the northern city of Mosul after 13 local Iraqi Christians were killed within four weeks, including three within 24 hours.

And just last week, three Christians were attacked and killed in Kirkuk, Iraq.

“There is a real fear and now the fear spirit is still dominating and pushing many people to leave the country,” Sleiman said. “Even if they don’t have personal difficulties, they say now my neighbor has difficulty maybe tomorrow my family.”

Nina Shea, the director of Hudson’s Center for Religious Freedom, criticized the Iraqi government for not doing enough to protect the country’s Christian minority. She said even though the Iraqi vice president has publicly urged Christians to stay in Iraq and vowed protection, nothing is being done to make this possible.

The church, said Archbishop Sleiman, cannot be responsible for the safety of Iraqi Christians.

“I think the church is still helping,” said Sleiman, “but when you have killing and kidnapping, it is something that depends on the political authority not on the church.

“Security cannot really be our duty,” he said, noting that the church cannot do anything about the fear.

The Iraqi archbishop, while declining to comment about U.S. politics and military in Iraq, recommended that the United States help Iraqi Christians through cultural aspects such as education and employment. He believes that the battle in Iraq is a cultural one because even if there are good laws, they will not be applied unless the minds of citizens change.

Many citizens still do not understand the concept of democracy and vote for their group member rather than a candidate, he said.

Sleiman is in Washington, D.C. this week to meet with members of the State Department and congressional leaders to discuss the persecuted Christian population in Iraq. He also plans to attend the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Friday.

Iraq is listed as a country of particular concern in the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) 2009 Annual Report. Shea, an expert on religious freedom in Iraq, serves as a commissioner for USCIRF.

Source: Christian Today

Italian Muslim Candidate Gabriele Piccardo withdraws from election

Gabriele Piccardo withdraws his candidacy

Gabriele Piccardo, son of convert to Islam (Hanza) Roberto Piccardo who converted back in 1974, on a stay in North Africa. Gabriele seems to have moderate views - but his father headed Italy's largest Muslim group UCOII, and was an outspoken critic of the government - the question is what was he asking for - was it more mosques or Islamization as an answer to all of Italy's problems? Though it seems that the positions of the father have influenced public opinion about the son. In his defence - Gabriele is saying he is not campaigning on anything to do with mosques or the Islamic community.

It is being put across as just plain religious discrimination, but one case in Holland - when the Dutch Left thought a Muslim lawmaker of Moroccan descent - was a shining example of how Islam could fit into secular society - the guy did a couple of strange things - first he asked that Islam be taught in all schools in Holland - [where I believe Christianity is not even taught] but he really took the cake - when he asked for a separate "state" exclusively for Muslims in or near Rotterdam, Holland [Jan. 2009]. He definitely lost his wonderboy Islamic sheen after that - as both sides accused him of putting his religious interests before the country's!

In another case an Islamic ex-mayor in the UK turned down a woman who applied to run in the local elections - by telling her - over the speaker phone - firstly that she was Jewish and secondly she was too white - to be voted in - in his area - prior to this the woman had done a lot of work in that same community - dealing with all groups.

First of all - who would likely be Gabriele Riccardo's contributors - those with large Islamic interests - as with the Dutch lawmaker - could there be those looking to set up an Islamic state - within a European country - or as in the UK - those who would prefer not to see a Jew out front - eternal hatred - but because Gabriele was born to an Italian convert to Islam - it may be that he would not have been exposed to or does not fully understand the extremes of Islam - for example the treatment of women, the concept of jihad and denial of individual rights.


Translated

"I have decided to withdraw my candidacy at the request of the same list that wanted to present myself. I feel discriminated against as a Muslim." He said today Gabriele Piccardo, announcing his decision not to run for one more post for councilor of Imperia, in view of forthcoming elections, in support of the candidate mayor, Paul Strescino.

"I was forced to withdraw my application after the national media was announced that a Muslim candidate in a list of Pdl - Piccardo continues - and there is no other reason behind these pressures if not the fact of being Muslim" .

His candidacy had attracted a stir in local politics, since it is the son of Hamza Piccardo, the former secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities (Ucoii), which has always been critical of government policy and the Lega Nord. Piccardo, 25enne, was at first put on the list 'Imperia Next go', but it seems that the League has vetoed.

"My son was discriminated against as a Muslim" said the father, Hamza Piccardo, the former secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, who continued: "Apart from the bond with my son, I think that what happened is the result a heavy burden of discrimination against an Italian citizen who has purely religious. He wanted to contribute to the development of the city and had developed an interesting and innovative program in which no one spoke of, mosque or Islamic community. "

Iran Islam's Holiest Laws: The executioner returns, 15 put to death in a week

Islamic law in action ~ found at the end of a noose!! 

A woman is hung in Evin charged with killing three men. Last Saturday in Taybad six drug traffickers were put to death. 

Teheran: the death penalty is an “efficient method” to guarantee security.

Teheran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Fifteen hangings in less than a week: “justice” returns to Iran and saves no-one, even those were minors when they committed the crime. Yesterday authorities in Evin – Tehran’s infamous prison for political detainees – carried out the death penalty on a 28 year woman Zeinab Nazarzadeh, Hamid, 30 year old Safarali Nasiri and Hasanali.



The night before her hanging of Zeinab Nazarzadeh –accused of killing her husband – her family had launched a desperate appeal for the suspension of the death sentence, but it went unheard: the women who had spent the last two months of her life in prison was hung at dawn. Her mother died two months ago due to pressures her daughter experienced; rapes, physical and mental abuse are a common praxis in Iran’s prisons.



Since the beginning of May 11 other executions have been carried out in Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht, Ardabil and Taybad, north east Khorasan. Last Saturday in Taybad, closet o the border with Afghanistan, six drug traffickers were hung. A seventh man, Abdolbaret Noorzehi, was put to death in Khash, he was charged with murder.



The recent hanging of Delara Darabi, condemned to death for murdering a relative has provoked widespread condemnation; the murder took place in 2003 when she was only 17. Initially Delara, who went on to become famous for the art she produced while in prison, had taken full responsibility for the murder to save her boyfriend from hanging. A subsequent retraction was not taken into consideration by Iranian authorities, who confirmed her death sentence which was carried out May 1st last.



These latest executions bring to 85 the number of people put to death by the Iranian regime, which punishes with death drug traffickers, assassins and political dissidents. In 2008 246 death sentences were carried out, a hundred less compared to 2007 in which that number totalled 335. Tehran maintains that the use of capital punishment is an “effective tool” in improving security in society.

Italy hails 'historic' return of Libyan migrants escaping the harsh reality of Islamic world

Rome, 7 May (AKI) - Italy's interior minister, Roberto Maroni, has hailed the immediate return of 227 illegal immigrants to Libya after they were intercepted off the coast on Wednesday. "This is very important because it is a turning-point in the fight against illegal immigration," said Maroni.

"For the first time ever, we managed to send straight back to Libya - from where they set sail - illegal immigrants aboard three boats," Maroni told the Canale 5 commercial TV network on Thursday.

It is the first time that Italy has been able to intercept people-smugglers' boats at sea and escort them back to their point of departure instead of having first to take them ashore in Italy and identify them before deporting them, Maroni noted.

A bilateral agreement to combat illegal immigration came into force this month.

Under the accord, Italy is to provide Libya with millions of dollars in aid while Libya will allow the Italian military to conduct joint patrols with its navy in patrolling the country's coasts to intercept people traffickers' boats.

"We worked on this agreement for a whole year, and it seems to me to be a truly historic result," said Maroni, adding that it was the result of "intense diplomatic activity".

The accord symbolised the Berlusconi government's total success in achieving its immigration objectives in its first year in office, Maroni claimed.

The Berlusconi government has taken a tough line on illegal immigration.

It is planning patrols of 'concerned citizens' in Italy's cities and is seeking to make school and health service enrolment conditional upon immigrants' possession of a valid permit of stay.

Late last year it converted the temporary reception centre on the southernmost island of Lampedusa into an identification and expulsion centre for illegal immigrants.

This switch has caused severe overcrowding and unrest at the centre this year as illegal immigrants have been held there for months at a time rather than a few days, as occurred previously.

Lampedusa is the main drop-off point for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that reach the southern coast of Italy each year from North Africa.

The government has sought repatriation agreements with the various North African countries from which the people traffickers' boats set sail.

Maroni said in March that more than 3,000 illegal migrants had been expelled from Italy since the beginning of the year as part of the government's crackdown.

Maroni said that more than 30,000 immigrants reached the Sicilian coast in 2008.

He claimed that as soon as the joint Italian-Libyan patrols began in the southern Mediterranean, Lampedusa would be "freed from this burden."

Iran Shari'a: Five hanged in southeast prison

Islamic law seems to have failed to produce the Utopian society - that Muslims around the world seem to believe it will. Rather than a utopia - brutal punishments act as the bond to to hold the vision together. And what is worst - is that these punishments don't seem to be able to erase the stain of Islam's or man's imperfections. Shari'a the ultimate law of the Islamic God - has to therefore be a pretender to the throne - its Utopian image existing only in the mind of men - driven to believe in it.

Tehran, 7 May (AKI) - Five people were reported to have been executed in a prison in south-eastern Iran on Thursday. The five were all convicted of drug smuggling and hanged at Kerman prison, in the south-east of the country, the state-run Iranian news agency Fars reported.

Citing the Fars report, Iran Human Rights webite said the five were only identified as: "Saeed D.", "Sattar N.", "Mahmood M.", "Majid P." and "Sarvar V.".

The executions came after the Iran Human Rights website reported a woman and three men were hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday.

The woman, identified as Zeynab Nazarzadeh, 28, was convicted of murdering her husband.

The three men were identified as Hamid, Safar Ali and Hassan Ali.

Nine men and one woman were reportedly scheduled to be executed on Wedneday, but the execution of six of the group was postponed for six months.

A 17-year-old boy was among those scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. Two other youths, who committed crimes as minors, Amir Khaleghi, 18, and Safar Angooti, 19, were also among those due to be executed on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, human rights group Amnesty International held symbolic protests in Britain's capital, London, and in the Italian capital, Rome and other cities at the recent hanging of a young Iranian woman, Delara Darabi.

Darabi was executed last Friday despite having received a two-month stay of execution by the head of the Iranian judiciary on 19 April.

Her lawyer was not given the 48 hours notice of her execution required by law, Amnesty said.

Darabi was 17 when she alleged murdered a relative in 2003. She initially confessed to the murder, saying she believed she could could save her 19-year-old boyfriend from execution for the crime, but later retracted her confession.

International law unequivocally bans the execution of people convicted of crimes committed when under the age of 18, Amnesty noted.

Iran has executed at least 42 juvenile offenders since 1990, eight of them in 2008 and one on 21 January this year.

Afghanistan: Taliban urges Pope to stop Christian Evangelist conversions or else

Together in Jihad against freedom and human rights are Al-Jazeera, the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Afghan bibles in Pashto online

The Islamic law is such that if an Afghan is caught with a Koran - and that is 'Koran' - in their own language Pashto or Dari - they could be put to death for blasphemy. Even though few understand the Arabic the Koran is written in. 

Pictured is an Arabic bible

No one owns humanity!

Kabul, 7 May (AKI) - The Taliban on Thursday threatened "harsh reprisals" if Pope Benedict XVI does not immediately intervene to stop Christians proselytising in Afghanistan. In a message posted on their official website, the Taliban made the threat against the pope and Christians for spreading their faith.

The message followed video footage aired on Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera earlier this week apparently showing Christian soldiers proselytising outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, and handing out copies of the bible in Pashtun.

"We are sending out a message to the most important personality in the Christian world - Pope Benedict XVI," read the message.

"If he does not immediately stop these stupid and irresponsible acts of proselytism by the crusaders, our reprisals and that of the Afghan people will be very harsh.

"Afghans are offended by this," the message said.

The message claimed that dozens of Christian missionaries are proselytising in Afghanistan under the guise of humanitarian non-governmental organisations.

It also said these groups are collaborating directly with American and other foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"They are taking advantage of the war and of needy Afghans, who are driven towards the religious deviance of these groups," it said.

The message cited as examples the "apostate" Abdel Rahman who converted to Christianity* (*while in Pakistan, 10 years prior to his being found out and the whole of Afghanistan called for his death - in a blood thirsty rage - finally the government officials said Rahman was a little mad and therefore could not be responsible for his condition - that of being a Christian and so hewas  taken from the jail and given asylum in Italy)  and gained asylum in Italy and a group of 23 South Korean missionaries kidnapped by the Taliban in July 2007.

It called on Afghans, especially religious leaders and intellectuals, to "repel the attacks on their faith which prolong the crusader war started by (former US president George W.) Bush".

Religious leaders and mujahadeen (holy warriors) must keep tabs on the movements of "enemies of Islam" and crusader occupiers" and prevent them from spreading "the propaganda of other religions in the land of Islam," the message said.

"All the supporters of (Afghan president) Hamid Karzai's regime, especially the courts the justice and Islamic affairs ministries must apologise and condemn these crusader acts.

"They must no longer allow them to take up arms against us, thus redeeming themselves before Allah," the message concluded.

Violence in Afghanistan in the past year has reached its highest level since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001, despite increasing numbers of American and other foreign troops.

Trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is a 'crime' in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has seen bloody demonstrations in recent years after cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad were published in Denmark and after allegations emerged that US troops in Guantanamo Bay mistreated the Koran.

Gallup poll offers stats for moderate inclusive picture of Islam in UK - but something behind all the goodness and light

Burqa clad women waiting to enter the UK, at airport.

Bit deceptive the study - as it doesn't ask - do Muslims identify more with Islam than with the UK - I think for many the loyalty aspect is a problem. The question therefore becomes - why are Muslims here - if you identify more with the Islamic Ummah than - with your place of birth or family's adopted country - then why remain in the western secular world? Perhaps it would be better to go and live in an Islamic country - which has Shari'a law. The study seems to want to plaster over rather than ask any sticky questions.

Which is understandable - as the Gallup polls section which questions Muslims - is run by a Muslim. The aim is to present - the Western world - with as moderate an image of the Muslim faith as possible - but is it to be believed?

Further Gallop poll has formed a partnership with Coexist Foundation also involved in this study, which appears to be an Islamic organisation charged it seems with the promotion of the Islamic image - within its confines - they talk about the Abrahamic faith - to Muslims this means people of the book - or religions they are allowed to respect - unlike Hinduism or Buddhism. Here is the related piece directly from their site:-   

The Gallup Organization, which is one of the world’s longest-established and best-respected polling companies. Their World Poll, launched in 2000, aims to assess trends in global opinion over the next century. One part of this involves the largest, most detailed study of Muslim opinion, covering more than ninety percent of the world’s Muslim population. We have a ten year not-for-profit partnership with Gallup to help disseminate the findings of this poll – on what Muslim’s think, and what the world thinks of Muslims. 

Here's a similar poll for France by Gallop and Coexist. 

I think it is really simple no one wants to live under Shari'a in Europe - except for Muslims who believe they are doing everyone a favor by taking away freedoms.  

The survey by Gallup has found that 77 per cent of Muslims say they "identified with the UK" compared with only 50 per cent of the public at large.

Most Muslims - 75 per cent - say they also identify with their religion, according to the poll conducted with the interfaith Coexist Foundation.

Muslims also outscored the general public for their belief in courts, honest elections, financial institutions and the media.

Confidence in the military was the only area where British Muslims scored lower than the general public.

Gallup conducted face to face interviews with more than 500 Muslims over 18 in areas where they made up more than 5 per cent of the population.

That was compared with a telephone poll of 1,000 people aged over 15, weighted to reflect the general population.

It revealed that 82 per cent of Muslim say they are loyal to the UK, although only 36 per cent of the general public would consider Muslims loyal to the country.

Only 12 per cent of MuslimS believe that removing the veil is necessary for integration, compared with 53 per cent of the general public.

Only 18 per cent of the public said the same about removing the Sikh turban.
The report also found that Muslims tend to hold more conservative views on moral issues than the general public in France, Germany and Britain.

Muhammad Yunis, senior analyst at Gallup, said: "In the aftermath of the horrific London bombing, Britain's multicultural approach to integration came under fire from pundits in Europe and the United States, who saw it as an appeasement of unreasonable demands and promoting parallel societies.

"However, it appears British Muslims are more likely to identify strongly with their nation, and to express stronger confidence in its democratic institutions, while maintaining a high degree of religious identity."

But the economic difficulties faced by Muslims also came out in the survey which found that only 7 per cent were considered "thriving" compared with 56 per cent of the general population and only 38 per cent said they had a job, compared with 62 per cent of the general public.

Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies who has recently been appointed as an adviser to President Obama, said: "This research shows that many of the assumptions about Muslims and integration couldn't be more wide of the mark.

"British Muslims want to be part of the wider community and contribute to society however in many cases it is a harsh economic reality that holds them back and stops them from realising their full potential."

The report also includes results of a 27 country survey, spanning four continents which found that 99 per cent of the population of Bangladesh said religion played an important part of daily life while only 29 per cent said the same in Britain and 20 per cent in Norway, which same bottom of the table.

Source: Telegraph

Video: Women in the Koran - Hard Facts!

Pakistan moves under shadow of the Taliban

While the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and its supporters constitute a direct challenge to the authority and resources commanded by the state, it is equally worrying that the extremist right-wing ideology they represent and the tactics they employ are casting a shadow that looms far beyond their strongholds. Large sections of the citizenry living far from the actual theatre of war are being threatened in this manner. This is dangerous for the former threat, it can be hoped, may be countered through superior weaponry and sufficient political will; but the latter threat, being nebulous and diffuse, is almost impossible to control.

In recent weeks, educational institutions in urban centres such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi — which stand in little danger of being physically overrun by the Taliban — have been receiving threats of varying intensity. Security has been tightened, and staff and students work under the fear of attacks by either militant ideologues or shadowy copycat criminals. The fact that at least two educational institutions have enforced stricter dress codes —mainly for female students — shows just how far the fear invoked by the Taliban has spread. In some cases women have been threatened for what the extremists consider ‘liberalism’ or ‘improper behaviour’.

Although the women of this country are no strangers to harassment, the gravity of the threats they now potentially face is greater than ever before. Women are usually the first and most vulnerable targets of the extremist right-wing thinking that now holds Pakistan at gunpoint. Yet they are now accompanied in their peril by others such as media personnel, who have been told to ‘mend their ways’, and thousands of citizens — including teachers, barbers and CD shop owners — whose businesses or workplaces have been destroyed or otherwise targeted by the extremists.

Instances of such targeting include the blackmail, harassment and intimidation of citizens at the hands of a dark ideology that has seeped into the very fabric of society, the tactics of which are most horribly apparent in the activities of the Taliban. The fact is that the Taliban have already extracted a heavy toll in terms of civil liberties and freedoms of citizens.

While the government and the security forces mull over methods to defeat the Taliban militarily, they would also do well to recall that the basic purpose of the state and its apparatus is to ensure the safety and personal freedoms of the citizens. It may require years to neutralise the Taliban threat in this deeper sense.

Dawn

Taliban chief Sufi Mohammad’s son killed in security forces' shelling

Following this event its is uncertain how the TNSM chief will react, making the future of the peace deal highly sketchy. — AP/File photo

LOWER DIR: Sufi Mohammad’s son Kifyatullah has been killed in shelling during the security forces’ operation in Lower Dir’s Maidan area, said family sources. Meanwhile, intense clashes between militants and security forces continued in Maidan as 15 troops went missing in the district.

‘I have been informed by the family of Maulana Sufi Mohammad that his son, Kifayatullah, has died and his brother-in-law is seriously injured,’ said the TNSM spokesman, Ameer Izzat Khan.

The TNSM chief, Sufi Mohammad, has been calling for an end to the military operation in the area since it started, threatening to abandon the peace deal with the government and making numerous objections to the implementation of the Nizam-i-Adl.

Following this event it is uncertain how the TNSM chief will react, making the future of the peace deal highly sketchy.

On the other hand, a militant commander in Maidan, Mifthahuddin, talking to DawnNews, claimed that they had killed at least 12 security personnel in Gumbar and their bodies were lying in the bazaar.

Security officials and independent sources are yet to confirm the death of the security personnel but have confirmed that a fierce gun battle had erupted between the militants and security forces in Gumbar and casualties were feared.

Dawn

Savage calls listeners to boycott British goods and travel, in retaliation for pin-head Jacqui Smith's decision to ban him

It is pretty fair to say that Jacqui Smith lives in another world - power mad and African dictator like in her spending of taxpayer's money - for her own pleasure (literally* charged taxpayers for porn movie watched), among other lavish expenditures, she has sought to ban any and all who criticise Islam. Geert Wilders and now Michael Savage - while at the same time letting in those with radical Islamic opinions - only barring them once the inconsistencies in her banning policy were exposed -

Possibly Gordon Brown is going after the Islamic vote - maybe he has calculated - like the father of Benazir Bhutto did - that ponying up to the Islamic constituency - is the only way he could win - at any cost - look at Pakistan now - to put it politely - they are having a "few troubles" with Islam.

That these ordinary people - think that they have the right to act as filters - just as is done in Islamic regimes - and in communist countries - on what people can hear - and deny them the freedom or right to accept or reject - falls outside of the democracy that they have been elected to run. And no doubt - the bans on free speech - have little to do with the community - or its harmony - as firstly in a democracy we agree to disagree - in the free world - this is our cohesion - the British government could only be doing these things for its own political gain.


The "shock jock" threatened to sue Miss Smith, claiming that he had been defamed by the list, which ranked him "in the same league as mass murderers".

The Home Office's "least wanted" list of 22 people banned from the country also including extremists, white supremacists and Islamic fanatics.

Savage, whose real name is Michael Weiner, was included for "engaging in unacceptable behaviour" by seeking to provoke violence and foster hatred.

The DJ, who hosts a far right talk show called The Savage Nation, has described the Koran, the Islamic holy book, as a "book of hate" and questioned the validity of autism, though he has argued some comments have been taken out of context.

Speaking on his show, the 67-year-old said he was "shocked" and outraged to be named on the list, and that his life was now in danger as a result.

Savage told listeners: "For this lunatic Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary of England, to link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in (the same) league with mass murderers who kill Jews on buses is defamation.

"Moreover I have been endangered by this lunatic. She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people.

"I thought this was a joke or a mistake... How could they put Michael Savage in the same league with mass murderers when I have never avowed violence? She picked an easy target.

"As a result of this I'm going to sue her (Miss Smith). I don't know if I can win, I don't know the law of England. I have seven lawyers working on this right now."

Justifying his inclusion on the list, Miss Smith said that the radio host was "someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause intercommunity tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country".

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, said: "There will have been specific decisions made by the Home Office based on the evidence that they have.

"Our general position is that we do want to make a distinction between reasonable and moderate debate and actions that deliberately set out to create tensions."

Savage's threat came as it emerged that the majority of people named and shamed on the list has never applied to come to Britain.

The broadcaster said he fell into this category, saying: "I hadn't planned on going and I haven't been there in over 25 years."

He also called for his 8-10 million listeners to "cancel trips to England", adding: "I suggest you stop buying English made goods, I don't know what they make any more but whatever they make I suggest you don't buy any more.

"If they want to play hard ball, we'll play hard ball. Will they ban my listeners from going to their wonderful, great nation as well."

The media lawyer Mark Stephens, of the London law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, warned Mr Savage could receive as much as £200,000 in damages if he won.

He added: "He would seem to have a very good case. The people on the list who have been banned are supposed to be advocating extreme violence and so to put him into that category is clearly defamatory.

"His views, such as those on homosexuals, may be offensive but that is another thing entirely. The Home Secretary appears not to have appreciated the difference between tolerance and defamation."

Two of the people named on the list are in prison in Russia where they are serving 20-year sentences.

Staff across Whitehall, including the intelligence services, are apparently gathering information about individuals around the world who could be included on the list even though they do not know whether the person intends to travel to Britain.

Also "named and shamed" are American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and claimed the deaths of US soldiers are a punishment for US tolerance of homosexuality.

Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal, Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe are also on the list.

Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned from coming to Britain. Both are currently in prison.

Making up the rest of the 16 named by the Home Office are preachers Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi and Emir Siddique, Muslim activist Abdul Ali Musa (previously Clarence Reams), murderer and Hizbollah terrorist Samir Al Quntar and Kashmiri terror group leader Nasr Javed.

A Home Office spokesman said the fact some of those on the banned list had not applied to come to the UK was "not the issue".

The Tories have dismissed the list as a "gimmick to distract from Labour's failure".
Savage added: "People are saying to me that this is the last gasp of a troubled Labour party that is out of touch with the voters of England.

"That's all well and good but will the Conservatives undo the damage that this lunatic has done?"



Source: Telegraph

Pakistan government does nothing to stop violence against minorities

Bursting Islam's bubble.

Of particular note is this explanation for collection of the jizya an Islamic protection tax. Once a country has been conquered i.e. the west - Muslim have within their Islamic law - the right to impose the jizya tax on all - who do not wish to join Islam. The penalty is such that it will simply be easier to join Islam - than not to - even though as Muslims point out - one is not 'compelled' to do so.

Bhatti, a Catholic, slammed demands by the Taliban that non-Muslims pay the Jizia, or poll tax, saying that religious minorities are not conquered native communities.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Violence against religious minorities is commonplace in Pakistan, one of 13 countries named by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom where the government condones or supports such behaviour.

This year “has seen the largely unchecked growth in the power and reach of religiously-motivated extremist groups whose members are engaged in violence in Pakistan and abroad, with Pakistani authorities ceding effective control to armed insurgents espousing a radical Islam ideology,” the 2009 report stated. Recent events in the Swat Valley confirm the situation.

Calling the Pakistani government and army “enemies of Muslims”, the local Taliban vowed on Monday to march forward till death. “Either we’ll be martyred or we’ll march forward,” Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said, who added that elements in the military and the government were trying to sabotage the peace process to please the United States.

Maulana Abdul Aziz, former imam of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), said that whatever situation has emerged in the troubled areas of Swat was a reaction of a military operation conducted on the mosque in 2007 when 86 people officially died.

In the meantime Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti reiterated his government’s commitment to ensure the safety of minorities in the country. “The present government believes in the principles of tolerance, human equality and peaceful co-existence,” the minister said.

Bhatti, a Catholic, slammed demands by the Taliban that non-Muslims pay the Jizia, or poll tax, saying that religious minorities are not conquered native communities but sons of the same soil and rightful citizens of Pakistan.

Explaining that the situation would improve the minister said that Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees that “every citizen shall have the right to profess, practise and propagate his religion” without discrimination.

Last Saturday activists and groups from civil society groups launched a petition campaign in Karachi, collecting signatures against the Taliban and the imposition of Sharia in the Swat valley.

It's time lily-livered Europe stood up to Muslim bigots

Muslims are using Europe's liberal democratic apparatus to roll back our hard-fought freedoms

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

FIRST POSTED MAY 5, 2009

In 2006, I had a debate with Tariq Ramadan, the author of Western Muslims and the future of Islam. In the hypothetical event of a war between Egypt and Switzerland, for which community would he be prepared to die, I asked him.

Mr Ramadan has dual citizenship. He's an Egyptian by birth and a Swiss by naturalisation. His response was one of rage on different levels. Above all I think he was outraged that one should ask such a question. He refused to answer.

Mr Ramadan, like many other Muslims, may have two or more citizenships. From all that he expresses both in person and on paper, it is clear that his loyalty, above all, is to Islam. I do not doubt that he would die for Islam, like most Muslims, and that's his prerogative. But what European countries have done is give citizenship to individuals who feel no obligation to share in their societies for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer and in the event of a catastrophe, sacrifice themselves.

No debate is more explosive than the debate on the future of Islam in Europe

In this way, they evade one of the chief criteria of citizenship. Political allegiance to the constitution of your country is the minimum requirement. It is this state of affairs that makes Christopher Caldwell's book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration and the West (Allen Lane, £17.99), which opens with the sentence, "Western Europe became a multi-ethnic society in a fit of absence of mind," a chilling read.

This absence of mind, which Caldwell lays bare, is reflected in Europe's immigration policies and especially in its response to Islam. No debate today is more explosive, more sensitive, more confusing and more frightening than the debate on the future of Islam in Europe.

In March this year, the French intellectual Pascal Bruckner and I spoke about Caldwell's book. Bruckner said, "Americans [like Caldwell] do not understand Europe. There are many Muslims who, in their daily lives, are more agnostic and in their practices even atheist, but are just Muslim in name."

This seems to be reassuring. But would these agnostic and unpracticing Muslims, if push came to shove, die for Islam or for France? My guess is they would, most likely, die for Islam.

Caldwell discusses this theme in an interesting light: he does not overlook the Europeans who feel that Islam is a danger to European values but asks, "How can you fight for something you cannot define?" And this is Europe's problem - insecurity about who we are, what our various flags mean, why, with every turn, we spend less and less on the military.

Europe has become a place for new religions, new creeds, multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism, transnationalism. Everything is thus relative. This is an uncertainty that the Muslim does not share. The Muslim ethic and tribal spirit are far more resilient and fierce in war than the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.

The numbers and insights that Caldwell has collected in his book are visible to many Europeans. During my life in Holland, and in my trips back, I have spoken to European intellectuals who see the revolution that Caldwell describes so well in his book. They may not call it a revolution, they may also not see it as complete, but they see the identity crisis in Europe.

Take the debate on freedom of expression. In 1989 and afterwards, the provocations in the name of Islam were greeted with a confident, "No way! This is Europe, and you can say what you like, write what you like," and so on.

Two decades later, Europeans are not so sure about the values of freedom of expression. Most members of the media engage in self-censorship. Textbooks in schools and universities have been adapted in such a way as not to offend Muslim sentiment. And legislation to punish 'blasphemy', if not passed, has been considered in most countries - or old laws that were never used are being revived.

Today, in the name of Islam, synagogues are vandalised

Take anti-Semitism in Europe. The sensitivity and guilt Europeans feel about the Holocaust is comparable to the sensitivity and guilt that Americans feel towards black Americans. A decade or two ago, it was unthinkable for Jews to be slandered openly and be targeted for no other reason than their Jewishness.

Today, in the name of Islam, synagogues are vandalised. There are open denials of the Holocaust. There is an active network of Muslim organisations lobbying to curtail or even get rid of Israel. There are incidents of Jews being harassed, beaten, even killed. All this is met with grim silence and rationalisations that it's not really anti-Semitic but anti-Israel. Can you imagine anything like this happening today in America to black people and it being met with silence?

Take the history of women's liberation in Europe. In the 1970s, women were burning their bras, abortion was legalised almost everywhere and rape in marriage was penalised. Today, more and more European elites, including some feminists, argue thatit might, perhaps, just be better to respect the culture and religion of a minority.

Women's shelters have adapted their curriculum - instead of teaching the women who come to them how to become self-reliant, the shelters facilitate prayer rooms and employ mediators from the Islamic community. All this mediation serves only one purpose - that is, to return the woman to the circumstances of abuse she left.

Here is a system, which was a tool to emancipate, that has been completely transformed to serve the Muslim purpose of obedience. If the wife obeys, then the husband no longer needs to beat her. The matter is settled.

The same applies to gays. Ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable that anti-gay sentiment would pass without condemnation. In Holland, for instance, we pride ourselves on allowing gays to have the exact same rights as heterosexuals. Yet today, they are beaten on the streets of Amsterdam. To be on the safe side in certain neighbourhoods in Europe, it's advisable to conceal your identity if you are gay or lesbian.

Muslims try to abolish freedom of expression using the vocabulary of freedom

The terrifying paradox about these developments is that Muslim immigrants were admitted into European borders on the basis of universal rights and freedoms that a large number of them now trample on, while others perhaps watch passively, or seek to defend only the image of Islam.

Even worse, those who lobby to abolish freedom of expression and to discriminate against Jews, women and gays do so while using the vocabulary of freedom and through the institutions of parliament and the courts that were designed to protect the rights of all.

American observers like Caldwell, Bruce Bawer, Walter Laqeur and many others who go to Europe and write candidly about these things can return to America, where they can write on another topic, keep their jobs and their social networks.

Europeans who do the same thing as Caldwell, often face a campaign of ostracisation from their own compatriots. They run the risk of losing their jobs or not being promoted or not getting invitations to the circles of which they are a part. The more stubborn, like Geert Wilders, get prosecuted, and access to a neighbouring country is even denied.

In reality, if Europe falls, it's not because of Islam. It is because the Europeans of today - unlike their forbears in the Second World War - will not die to defend the values or the future of Europe. Even if they were asked to make the final sacrifice, many a post-modern lily-livered European would escape into an obscure mesh of conscientious objection. All that Islam has to do is walk into the vacuum. 

Source: First Post

U.S. military rejects allegations of trying to convert Afghans

The trouble here is that the Arabs imagine that they will be able to treat these people like children forever - forever their gatekeepers of information and knowledge they are allowed to be exposed to - so-called - according to Islam. What a joke !!

Here are two examples of how easy it is to get Pashto and Dari Afghan Bibles online - and likely Afghanistan doesn't have the money for expensive internet filters! 

Islamic law only works so long as people believe in it - and if they have to kill people who wish to leave it - then these people are being forced to remain Muslim - Islam is not greater than humanity - and its laws rendered hocus pocus - when people don't wish to remain in it.

Americans also distributed Korans in the local Afghan language - but the fundamentalist Islamic authority see the Korans as evil - and prosecutes anyone caught producing them will be charged with blasphemy - as Korans they believe should only be in Arab. The rigidity of Islam - will lead to its downfall.


Claims by an Arab news network that U.S. soldiers at a base in Afghanistan distributed Bibles and tried to convert Afghans are false, Pentagon officials said Monday.

"The Bibles were never distributed. They were removed by the chaplains," Col. Gregory Julian, a spokesman for U.S. Forces, told CNN.

Al Jazeera English, a television news service based in Qatar, released a video showing evangelical Christian soldiers at the U.S. military air base at Bagram, Afghanistan, with a stack of Bibles translated into local Pashto and Dari languages. The Bibles were mailed from Sgt. James Watt's hometown church.

Al Jazeera reported that the U.S. soldiers were on a clear mission to proselytize, which is in direct violation of U.S. Central Command's General Order Number 1.

Col. Julian said the video edited out footage showing the chaplain instructing the soldiers not to distribute the Bibles.

Spokeswoman Major Jennifer Willis at Bagram confirmed "that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed."

"They were never distributed," Willis said, according to Reuters.

The Al Jazeera report also features a Sunday worship service at Bagram where Lt. Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief U.S. chaplain at the air base, tells the congregants – mainly soldiers – that their commission is to be witnesses for Christ.

"The special forces guys, they hunt men, basically. We do the same things as Christians. We hunt people for Jesus," Hensley says. "Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do; that's our business."

Col. Julian said Hensley did not tell the congregation to try to convert Afghans and that he did nothing wrong.

A Defense Department official also noted at a Pentagon briefing, "American servicemembers are allowed to hold religious services."

"The clip shows one of those services with an American chaplain leading a religious service for American servicemembers. In it, he spoke generically about the evangelical faith. That’s all there was to it," the official said, according to American Forces Press Service.

The video footage of the evangelical soldiers was shot by independent documentary filmmaker Brian Hughes last year.

Col. Julian is concerned the Al Jazeera report may trigger more violence in the region.

"This was irresponsible and dangerous journalism sensationalizing year-old footage of a religious service for U.S. soldiers on a U.S. base and inferring that troops are evangelizing to Afghans," Julian said, according to CNN.

In Afghanistan, where over 99 percent of the population is Muslim, trying to convert Muslims to another religion is a crime. Conversion from Islam is considered apostasy and could be punishable by death.

Source: Christian Today

Somalia lawless like Wild West, says ministry

A Somali woman walks past a church destroyed by fighting in Mogadishu January 6, 2008. The Horn of Africa nation has been without a central government and mired in lawlessness and violence since warlords ousted dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

While media attention on Somalia has ebbed, a ministry working with the persecuted church continues to encourage prayer for the tiny Christian community there that suffers from social chaos, tribal conflict, and religiously motivated violence.

Jerry Dykstra, media relations coordinator at Open Doors USA, calls Somalia a “tough, tough place to be a Christian.”

“There’s so much danger there and there is not an established government there,” he told The Christian Post last week.

Somalia, which has been called the most lawless place on earth, was described by Dykstra as the “wild west.”

“It’s just a humanitarian disaster,” he said. “They need all kinds of aid, food, and of course they need spiritual nourishment as well.

He added, “When you hear about the pirates, I also encourage people to think about the Christians that are there.”

Two men carry a wounded man as militiamen engage in a firefight against government troops in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu on March 30, 2009. Somalia's new President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's, a moderate Islamist cleric, has signed up to a UN-sponsored national reconciliation process and received international backing. While the Shebab faction appears to have little political or popular backing, their ability to destabilise the country remains high and they have reportedly received the support of hundreds of foreign jihadists in recent months.

Open Doors estimates there is about 4,000 Christians out of a population of about 10 million people in the predominantly Muslim country. Most of the Christians in the country are from a Muslim background, Dykstra said, and because of their conversion these Christians face the double threat of being targets of random acts of violence as well as religious extremists.

The ministry does work in Somalia, but the Open Doors spokesman said he could not reveal what exactly it does in the country.

Somalia is ranked No. 5 this year in Open Doors’ World Watch List of countries with the worst records of Christian persecution. Somalia is ranked below North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan, respectively.

Also this past week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recognized Somalia’s religious intolerance problem and placed it on the group’s watch list of countries that should be closely monitored for severe religious freedom violations.

Source: Christian Today

Taliban resurgence worries Pakistani Christians, protest in Holland

A displaced Sikh family from Buner eats lunch at the Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal, the third most sacred city for the followers of the Sikh religion. More than 300 Sikhs from Buner have sought shelter at the temple after fighting broke out between Pakistan's army and Taliban militants earlier in the week - AP Photo/Greg Baker

The Taliban resurgence in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) has jeopardized thousands of Christians who fear "abductions" and compulsory "jiziya" tax that has already forced the Sikh community to flee for refuge.

Last week, 150 Sikhs and Hindu families in Pakistan's NWFP and tribal areas moved to Punjab after the Taliban demolished houses and threatened to kill the non-Muslims who failed to pay the religious tax sanctioned by the Sharia law.

According to Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC), there are more than five hundred thousand Christians in NWFP province who are living in fear of life and property.

PCC said Taliban bombed Christian Schools in Swat Valley and forced thousands of Christians to convert to Islam or to pay tax levied to non-Muslims.

This has led to scores of Christians from Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Sawabi and Charsadda districts of NWFP province to flee for refugee.

Some Christians were also attacked and executed after they peacefully protested against the anti-Christian slogans Taliban wrote on walls of churches and homes. They read: “Taliban Zindabad”, “Pay Jazia”, “Christians are infidel”, “ Convert to Islam”, etc.

Nazir S Bhatti, President of PCC, said he was disappointed on killing of Christians and mass migration of Christian families. He also condemned the silence of India and International forums to formally lodge protest with Pakistan.

“PCC shall write a letter to India through Indian Ambassador in USA, President of EU and President Obama to press upon Pakistan to secure life and property of millions of Christians in Pakistan before President Zardari-President Obama meeting of May 6, 2009, in White House, Washington DC,” Dr. Nazir Bhatti said.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Christians in Holland, on May 4, protested against the attack on churches and killing of Christians.

The protesters carried play cards and banners that read, “Stop desecration of Church and killing of Christian in Pakistan”, “We condemn injustice with Minorities”, “Pakistan government should protect Christians”, etc.

During the protest in front of Embassy of Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Holland, they demanded that the government curb terrorism and arrest those attacking Christians and their belongings.

Similar campaigns are underway in UK, USA and Canada, where the Pakistani Christian Diaspora will protest against the Taliban attacks.

Last week, the Asia Evangelical Alliance (AEA), in a statement, called on the Pakistan government to "provide adequate protection to the minority groups within the country and to take necessary action to stop the rise of militancy in the county."

"AEA also urges Christians across the globe to pray for political stability in Pakistan and for adequate and effective measures to be taken to check the rise of militancy in the region."

Source: Christian Post