ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, Mufti Munibur Rehman, lashed out at leaders of the Awami National Party (ANP) on Sunday for celebrating Eidul Fitr in the NWFP one day ahead of the rest of the country.
He said in a statement that moon sighting was the responsibility of religious leaders and not the prerogative of the ANP leadership. ‘Asfandyar Wali Khan (chief of the ANP) should control his ministers and ask them why have they created this mess,’ he said, adding: ‘I demand that Mr Wali should take notice of their decision to celebrate Eid without the sighting of the moon.’
In may be mentioned that ANP leader Bashir Bilour had said a couple of days ago that this time only one Eid would be celebrated across the country.
But besides ANP leaders, NWFP Governor Owais Ghani was also seen on TV channel offering Eid prayers on Sunday along with Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti.
Mufti Munib said Eid was not a festival but a religious ritual which should be observed in accordance with Shariat, not on some people’s will.
He said no previous provincial government had interfered in the work of the moon-sighting committee.
He said the ANP government had for the first time decided on its own to announce the beginning of Shawwal.
Referring to a statement of Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour that Muslim countries should celebrate Eid with Saudi Arabia, he said: ‘Everyone knows that Saudi Arabia has a different system of government where no-one challenges official decisions, even regarding moon sighting.’
Shawwal moon was sighted on Sunday and Eid will be celebrated in the country on Monday.
Making the announcement, Mufti Munib said: ‘When moon appears it is seen by everybody.’
He said he had not taken charge of his office by choice and if anyone wanted to replace him he could contact the federal government.
Bashir Bilour said Eid was celebrated in several parts of the NWFP after the sighting of moon by some religious leaders in the province. ‘I think the religious scholars who declared Eid on Sunday are more learned and knowledgeable than Mufti sahib.’
PPP leader Fauzia Wahab said the ANP decision was tantamount to creating disharmony between the centre and the province.
An expert of the meteorological department said moon could not have been sighted on Saturday because it appeared during sunshine and only for a limited time.
Online adds: A TV channel quoted the railways minister as saying after Eid prayers that some ulema had made it a matter of ego.
‘If we celebrate Eidul Fitr with Saudi Arabia there will be no conflict or dispute. Those who are not celebrating Eid on Sunday are politicking. When there are no differences at the time of Eidul Azha, why should there be such dissents on Eidul Fitr?’ he asked.
He said Muslims all over the world should associate themselves with Makkah and Madinah.
He also said that it was a sin to fast on Eid day.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Shia settlement a militant target
On the cusp of the volatile tribal areas, the Shia-dominated Astarzai village was in many ways an obvious target for an attack by Sunni militant groups.
On Friday, the village was thronging with shoppers when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the Hikmat Ali hotel, owned by a local Shia businessman.
This is a busy commercial hub, located in the middle of a hotbed of sectarian conflict.
It is the first of a series of Shia settlements stretching up to the town of Hangu. West of Hangu, Sunnis dominate.
The broader Kohat-Hangu region is a patchwork of rival sects and loyalties.
Astarzai has more the look of a town than a village now - home to more than 10,000 people.
On the main road between Kohat and Hangu it serves as the main shopping point for all the Shia and Sunni villages dotted in the wilderness of the Orakzai tribal region.
Witnesses told the BBC the blast that hit the market around the Katcha Pakha roundabout demolished many buildings.
The head of the village council told the BBC how local residents were desperately digging in hope of finding survivors.
"People are doing it with their bare hands," Mehtabul Hasan said.
"They pulled out one dead body from the debris of a shop just half an hour ago."
History of violence
The people of the Orakzai tribal region have traditionally been drawn into sectarian conflict.
 |   |
A hold-up by Sunnis in one area causes a hold-up by Shias in another and so on.
Astarzai's population used to be quite mixed. Shias lived among Sunnis and vice versa.
But as the years have gone by the population has shifted and Astarzai has become mostly Shia.
Sectarian conflict in this area dates from the early 1980s, when Sunni groups received arms and training in the Afghan war.
During the past two years, the area has been the scene of repeated militant attacks in which hundreds of soldiers, policemen and civilians have been killed.
Frequent Taliban attacks along the road leading from Kohat to Kurram led to a virtual blockade of upper Kurram region that still continues.
A major reason for the Taliban attacks has been to force the Shias on the defensive and get a toehold in Kurram, which has strategic value for Taliban forays into Afghan areas close to capital, Kabul.
Shias have so far denied them this advantage, and last year a Shia tribal force pushed Taliban fighters from their major command and control centre in lower Kurram.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
PM crying over spilt milk
Dawn news reveals the whole story as under:
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani distanced himself on Wednesday from what has been described as a deal to provide ‘safe exit’ to former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and said that he was neither aware of nor part of any such deal.
Talking to journalists at an Iftar dinner at the PM House, he said the presidency’s spokesman already denied that President Asif Ali Zardari had made any statement about a deal reached with foreign players to give indemnity to Gen (retd) Musharraf, adding that as far as he was concerned he was not aware of any such deal.
The prime minister said that some parties which were part of the Musharraf regime were also in the present government while Article 6 of the Constitution would apply also to everyone who had abetted him and implemented his policies. It was for that reason that he had termed the demands of Musharraf’s trial as ‘not doable’.
Responding to a question about his own opinion on Musharraf’s trial, Mr Gilani said he still believed that parliament alone could pardon him or try him under Article 6 which also applied to those who supported him.
‘How many political parties had lent a supporting hand to Musharraf throughout his rule and how many of them would be included in the trial?’
He said that even if a court handed down a punishment to anyone under Article 6, the president could pardon him.
The prime minister said that when he asked the political parties which were demanding Musharraf’s trial ‘to do what is doable’ he meant that anything decided unanimously by parliament could help the government to initiate an inquiry and a trial.
Otherwise, a crude attempt would only strengthen the former dictator, he added.
Mr Gilani said the government would soon present recommendations of the special committee on Balochistan to a joint session of parliament to achieve consensus on an incentive package for the province.
He said the recommendations prepared by the Raza Rabbani committee had been discussed by the PPP’s central executive committee and approved by the president.
Commenting on Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s statement about mid-term polls in the event of government’s failure to deliver, the prime minister said: ‘Rest assured, we will improve our performance because the country cannot afford snap polls.’
When asked about the recent large-scale promotions and reshuffle in bureaucracy, he said that a few cases would have to be deferred for the next round.
However, he made it clear that he had acted on a list provided by the Central Selection Board.
Answering a question about government’s intention to take cases of murder of Shahnawaz Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto and Z.A. Bhutto to the United Nations for investigation, like the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, he said it was the desire of the late Benazir Bhutto that the party should go to the world body in case of any such incident.
He recalled that after the Karachi bomb explosion Ms Bhutto had expressed her desire that the PPP should go to the UN if such an incident happened in future.
"Being the part of grand coaliation of PPP and PML-N, now the PM Gillani distances himself from the Mushi's safe exit issue, just because he's got surety of being in the government in the next elections."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Article 6 of the Constitution or constipation
ISLAMABAD: Top former judges of the Supreme Court, who had refused to take oath under Musharraf’s first PCO of 2000, say Musharraf is trying to create confusion over Article 6 of the Constitution to escape trial.
Musharraf, in an interview, had passed the buck to the Army and the apex court judges, saying they were part of the decision-making process. He also mentioned that he had hopes of justice from Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Former chief justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui said the recent interview of Musharraf was a calculated move to escape trail under Article 6, as the public demand was mounting pressure on the government to initiate proceedings against him.
Siddiqui mentioned that it was the prerogative of the federal government to initiate proceedings against any person or persons and it was up to the federal government to decide against whom the proceedings would be initiated. “The federal government has to decide against how many persons the proceedings of high treason be initiated,” he said, adding: “If the federal government wants to initiate high treason proceedings against one person then the court hearing the case would decide who else should also be served notices.”
He mentioned that if Musharraf argued before the court that the judges who had validated his acts should also be tried then the court would assess the legality and worth of such an allegation.
Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad, another judge of the Supreme Court who had refused to take oath under the PCO in 2000 and whose father was among the three dissenters of the famous Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case which sent Bhutto to the gallows, told this correspondent that Musharraf and his aides were trying to create confusion over Article, so that the dictator could not be tried in a court of law.
He said that under the High Treason Punishment Act, 1973, only an authorised federal government official could initiate proceedings of high treason against any person.
Talking about the confusion created by Musharraf regarding those who validated his acts, Justice (retd) Wajihuddin said the acts of October 12, 1999, had been provided immunity with the 17th Amendment, therefore, they were part of the Constitution, but the acts of November 3, 2007, were not part of the Constitution and it would be up to the court to decide who should be served notices. “If Musharraf says that corps commanders and judges were with him then the court would take cognisance of such statement and decide accordingly,” said the former judge.
Musharraf, in an interview, had passed the buck to the Army and the apex court judges, saying they were part of the decision-making process. He also mentioned that he had hopes of justice from Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Former chief justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui said the recent interview of Musharraf was a calculated move to escape trail under Article 6, as the public demand was mounting pressure on the government to initiate proceedings against him.
Siddiqui mentioned that it was the prerogative of the federal government to initiate proceedings against any person or persons and it was up to the federal government to decide against whom the proceedings would be initiated. “The federal government has to decide against how many persons the proceedings of high treason be initiated,” he said, adding: “If the federal government wants to initiate high treason proceedings against one person then the court hearing the case would decide who else should also be served notices.”
He mentioned that if Musharraf argued before the court that the judges who had validated his acts should also be tried then the court would assess the legality and worth of such an allegation.
Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad, another judge of the Supreme Court who had refused to take oath under the PCO in 2000 and whose father was among the three dissenters of the famous Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case which sent Bhutto to the gallows, told this correspondent that Musharraf and his aides were trying to create confusion over Article, so that the dictator could not be tried in a court of law.
He said that under the High Treason Punishment Act, 1973, only an authorised federal government official could initiate proceedings of high treason against any person.
Talking about the confusion created by Musharraf regarding those who validated his acts, Justice (retd) Wajihuddin said the acts of October 12, 1999, had been provided immunity with the 17th Amendment, therefore, they were part of the Constitution, but the acts of November 3, 2007, were not part of the Constitution and it would be up to the court to decide who should be served notices. “If Musharraf says that corps commanders and judges were with him then the court would take cognisance of such statement and decide accordingly,” said the former judge.
activities of US security agency
ISLAMABAD, Sep 15 (INP): National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior has expressed concern over the alleged activities of US security agency ‘Black Water’ in Pakistan, negligence of senior officers in recently made promotions and formation of tribal lashkar against Taliban in tribal areas including Swat and Punjab. The committee observed that such steps by the government would further aggravate the law and order situation of the country.
The committee has sought explanation over the alleged activities of Black Water in Pakistan and the formation of a lashkar by an MPA in Dera Ghazi Khan from Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Inspector General Punjab respectively.
The committee’s Chairman Abdul Qadir Patel chaired the committee meeting held at Parliament House on Tuesday in which affairs of the corporate societies in Islamabad were also discussed in length.
Expressing concern over the harassment of people by personnel of a US security agency, the committee has asked the federal interior minister to explain the government’s position in this respect.
Earlier, committee member MNA Bushra Gohar told the committee that ‘Black Water’ personnel were harassing residents of Peshawar university town, causing panic among them.
The meeting took notice of recently made promotions in the police department in which seniors were neglected. The committee expressed annoyance and said that such steps could further aggregative the law and order situation in the country.
Additional secretary interior admitted that senior officers were neglected in recently made promotions in the police department and pointed towards the cabinet division or the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for an explanation in this regard.
The committee has also expressed concern over the formation of a local lashkar by an MPA against anti state elements in Dera Ghazi Khan and sought explanation from IG Punjab in this regard.
The committee’s chairman said that police, rangers and security agencies should be deployed as there was no need to form a lashkar.
Earlier, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Faisal Asghar briefed the committee about corporate housing societies in Islamabad. The committee has expressed annoyance over violation of rules and regulations of corporate housing societies as well as non-allotment of plots to members and no refund of money despite the lapse of many years and sought record of such housing societies.
The committee while terming the construction of bungalow type houses at agriculture farm houses in Islamabad as illegal has sought explanation from CDA. The committee has also asked Chairman CDA to tell the committee in next meeting that what action has been taken against former President Gen. (retd) Pervez Musharraf for constructing a bungalow type house at his agriculture farm.
The committee has sought explanation over the alleged activities of Black Water in Pakistan and the formation of a lashkar by an MPA in Dera Ghazi Khan from Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Inspector General Punjab respectively.
The committee’s Chairman Abdul Qadir Patel chaired the committee meeting held at Parliament House on Tuesday in which affairs of the corporate societies in Islamabad were also discussed in length.
Expressing concern over the harassment of people by personnel of a US security agency, the committee has asked the federal interior minister to explain the government’s position in this respect.
Earlier, committee member MNA Bushra Gohar told the committee that ‘Black Water’ personnel were harassing residents of Peshawar university town, causing panic among them.
The meeting took notice of recently made promotions in the police department in which seniors were neglected. The committee expressed annoyance and said that such steps could further aggregative the law and order situation in the country.
Additional secretary interior admitted that senior officers were neglected in recently made promotions in the police department and pointed towards the cabinet division or the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for an explanation in this regard.
The committee has also expressed concern over the formation of a local lashkar by an MPA against anti state elements in Dera Ghazi Khan and sought explanation from IG Punjab in this regard.
The committee’s chairman said that police, rangers and security agencies should be deployed as there was no need to form a lashkar.
Earlier, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Faisal Asghar briefed the committee about corporate housing societies in Islamabad. The committee has expressed annoyance over violation of rules and regulations of corporate housing societies as well as non-allotment of plots to members and no refund of money despite the lapse of many years and sought record of such housing societies.
The committee while terming the construction of bungalow type houses at agriculture farm houses in Islamabad as illegal has sought explanation from CDA. The committee has also asked Chairman CDA to tell the committee in next meeting that what action has been taken against former President Gen. (retd) Pervez Musharraf for constructing a bungalow type house at his agriculture farm.
Want to come to America?
Of course! Even if you’re a heart-throbber, a show-stopper, a lady-killer, still if your last name is Khan, sorry wrong number. Detention and grilling awaits your arrival at airports in America.
The ‘Gestapo’ brigade hired to scrutinise all the brown sahibs stepping foot on their soil are armed with lists of names like Khan, Hassan, Ali, Mohammad, Hussain etc, etc. These names send red flags raging. 'Step aside, please,' orders an unsmiling immigration officer sitting at the window before a computer. He looks at your passport, reads the name, looks up at your face and without another word tells you to go inside the corridor, turn left and wait for 'secondary questioning.'
Picture this: Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan flies in from Mumbai and lands at Newark airport in New Jersey.
He expects red carpet treatment in America. Arriving on a special invitation to lead the Indian Independence Day celebrations in Chicago, the Indian actor is ready to board the flight for Chicago once immigration is cleared. Thoroughly pampered and mollycoddled by the Air India cabin staff, including the captain flying him, the air-stewardess and the passengers all consider him God’s gift on earth.
Khan is used to such crazy adulation wherever he goes in India and abroad. But America is a world unto its own. It’s a strange animal. While it gives an Oscar to a Bollywood inspired movie called Slumdog Millionaire, the minimum-wage-earners getting paid $8 an hour at Newark airport are not expected to know Bollywood’s greatest. To them, all Khans must be hauled into the backroom for “secondary questioning” the term euphemistically used by the US immigration.
With his sexy looks and boyish swagger the last thing on Shahrukh’s mind is to find himself in a roomful of nervous-looking fellow passengers with Muslim names. He’s horrified! He’s mad! Imagine the great Khan sharing a bench with ordinary fellas whose only sin is to be Muslims and to be between 20 to 50 years age group. Wait, there’s more drama… the law-enforcing agents take him aside and begin to ‘frisk’ him — the 'act of searching someone for concealed weapons or illegal drugs.'
Maybe the jetlagged, unshaven, tousled-haired, droopy-eyed actor is suspected by the eagle-eyed officers to be on dope. Shahrukh’s cell phone has been taken from him. When his name is announced, he goes before a dour-looking officer. Believe it or not, but Shahrukh Khan is grilled for full two hours until help is on its way. He’s allowed to make one phone call. He dials the Indian consulate-general in New York. The guy on the other line jumps into action and places a phone call to the American ambassador in New Delhi.
Even more bizarre is Timothy J. Roemer, the US ambassador in New Delhi’s statement. 'We’re trying to ascertain the facts of the case… to understand what took place,' he says, 'Shahrukh Khan, the actor and global icon is a very welcome guest in the United States. Many Americans love his films.' Oh yeah?
To be fair to the US immigrations, after 9/11, it has stepped up its scrutiny of Muslim males coming into the US and is doing the right thing screening out would-be terrorists. The officers interrogating the men are polite and very businesslike. They are professionals merely doing their duty. Every law abiding American citizen — white, black or brown; Muslim, Christian, Hindu or Jew, has a duty to keep America safe and cooperate with the law enforcement officials as much as he/she can.
Ven Konuru is an Indian American who is an IT specialist living in New Jersey. 'While it must have hurt Shahrukh Khan’s ego to be detained, frisked and grilled for two hours, I will not condemn the immigration officers for this act. They were merely doing their duty as expected of them by us. Let’s flip the argument: had 9/11 happened in India or Pakistan and the 19 hijackers were white Americans, what do you expect the reception Americans entering our shores would receive? Would the Pakistani or Indian immigration authorities behave the same way the immigration officers did at Newark airport with Shahrukh Khan?'
I have no answer. Ven is probably right. While he thinks 'nobody is above the law (Shahrukh Khan included)', but if he was in the running for a job with another white guy, the white guy would get it: 'all things being equal, the white guy would probably be hired.' While he’s loath to say anything negative about his adopted country, Ven does reluctantly venture out: 'America is at the beginning of a sunset. It has an aging population with shrinking numbers. The people eventually driving it will be Indians, Pakistanis (if allowed that is) and Chinese immigrants. They will be young and not shy from taking risks. The baby-boomers (aging Americans) are on the wane. Still I think America is the greatest country in the world.”
Soon it’s time to say goodbye to Ven. As I come out of the hotel where we have had dinner, two ‘baby-boomers’ waddle out of another room where they have spent the last few hours 'dancing with singles.' Why don’t you get married, I ask, instead of hanging around singles bars? 'Are you kidding?' they shoot back at me. 'We don’t want kids!'
Ven’s prophesy may well come true: the end of the white empire. Here’s free immigration advice for Pakistanis: want to migrate to the US? Okay, but get ready to be grilled at the airport!
The ‘Gestapo’ brigade hired to scrutinise all the brown sahibs stepping foot on their soil are armed with lists of names like Khan, Hassan, Ali, Mohammad, Hussain etc, etc. These names send red flags raging. 'Step aside, please,' orders an unsmiling immigration officer sitting at the window before a computer. He looks at your passport, reads the name, looks up at your face and without another word tells you to go inside the corridor, turn left and wait for 'secondary questioning.'
Picture this: Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan flies in from Mumbai and lands at Newark airport in New Jersey.
He expects red carpet treatment in America. Arriving on a special invitation to lead the Indian Independence Day celebrations in Chicago, the Indian actor is ready to board the flight for Chicago once immigration is cleared. Thoroughly pampered and mollycoddled by the Air India cabin staff, including the captain flying him, the air-stewardess and the passengers all consider him God’s gift on earth.
Khan is used to such crazy adulation wherever he goes in India and abroad. But America is a world unto its own. It’s a strange animal. While it gives an Oscar to a Bollywood inspired movie called Slumdog Millionaire, the minimum-wage-earners getting paid $8 an hour at Newark airport are not expected to know Bollywood’s greatest. To them, all Khans must be hauled into the backroom for “secondary questioning” the term euphemistically used by the US immigration.
With his sexy looks and boyish swagger the last thing on Shahrukh’s mind is to find himself in a roomful of nervous-looking fellow passengers with Muslim names. He’s horrified! He’s mad! Imagine the great Khan sharing a bench with ordinary fellas whose only sin is to be Muslims and to be between 20 to 50 years age group. Wait, there’s more drama… the law-enforcing agents take him aside and begin to ‘frisk’ him — the 'act of searching someone for concealed weapons or illegal drugs.'
Maybe the jetlagged, unshaven, tousled-haired, droopy-eyed actor is suspected by the eagle-eyed officers to be on dope. Shahrukh’s cell phone has been taken from him. When his name is announced, he goes before a dour-looking officer. Believe it or not, but Shahrukh Khan is grilled for full two hours until help is on its way. He’s allowed to make one phone call. He dials the Indian consulate-general in New York. The guy on the other line jumps into action and places a phone call to the American ambassador in New Delhi.
Even more bizarre is Timothy J. Roemer, the US ambassador in New Delhi’s statement. 'We’re trying to ascertain the facts of the case… to understand what took place,' he says, 'Shahrukh Khan, the actor and global icon is a very welcome guest in the United States. Many Americans love his films.' Oh yeah?
To be fair to the US immigrations, after 9/11, it has stepped up its scrutiny of Muslim males coming into the US and is doing the right thing screening out would-be terrorists. The officers interrogating the men are polite and very businesslike. They are professionals merely doing their duty. Every law abiding American citizen — white, black or brown; Muslim, Christian, Hindu or Jew, has a duty to keep America safe and cooperate with the law enforcement officials as much as he/she can.
Ven Konuru is an Indian American who is an IT specialist living in New Jersey. 'While it must have hurt Shahrukh Khan’s ego to be detained, frisked and grilled for two hours, I will not condemn the immigration officers for this act. They were merely doing their duty as expected of them by us. Let’s flip the argument: had 9/11 happened in India or Pakistan and the 19 hijackers were white Americans, what do you expect the reception Americans entering our shores would receive? Would the Pakistani or Indian immigration authorities behave the same way the immigration officers did at Newark airport with Shahrukh Khan?'
I have no answer. Ven is probably right. While he thinks 'nobody is above the law (Shahrukh Khan included)', but if he was in the running for a job with another white guy, the white guy would get it: 'all things being equal, the white guy would probably be hired.' While he’s loath to say anything negative about his adopted country, Ven does reluctantly venture out: 'America is at the beginning of a sunset. It has an aging population with shrinking numbers. The people eventually driving it will be Indians, Pakistanis (if allowed that is) and Chinese immigrants. They will be young and not shy from taking risks. The baby-boomers (aging Americans) are on the wane. Still I think America is the greatest country in the world.”
Soon it’s time to say goodbye to Ven. As I come out of the hotel where we have had dinner, two ‘baby-boomers’ waddle out of another room where they have spent the last few hours 'dancing with singles.' Why don’t you get married, I ask, instead of hanging around singles bars? 'Are you kidding?' they shoot back at me. 'We don’t want kids!'
Ven’s prophesy may well come true: the end of the white empire. Here’s free immigration advice for Pakistanis: want to migrate to the US? Okay, but get ready to be grilled at the airport!
insurgents active in India
14/09/09 NEW DELHI : India's Maoist insurgency has spread to 20 of the country's 28 provinces, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Monday, flagging it as a major security challenge for his government. Opening a three-day meeting of top police officials in New Delhi, Chidambaram said 1,405 incidents of left-wing violence had claimed 580 lives so far this year across the country. "Left-wing extremism purports to be a radical form of communism.
Today, various groups adhering to this outdated ideology have their pockets of influence in 20 states across the country," Chidambaram warned. The guerillas, whose shadowy leadership is based in the dense forests of central India's Chhattisgarh state, were refining their tactics and acquiring advanced military hardware, Chidambaram added.
In June, Chidambaram slapped a formal ban on the Maoist rebels, whose strength is variously estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000, officially designating them as terrorists. The insurgency, which started as a peasant uprising in 1967, has been repeatedly flagged by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the main home-grown threat to security.
The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribespeople and landless farmers. In one incident last week, suspected Maoists abducted five railway employees during a rampage in the eastern state of Orissa in protest at the arrest of alleged sympathisers.
can't change US policy
14/09/09 TEHRAN, US President Barack Obama is a ‘prisoner’ in the hands of ‘extremist Republicans’ and is unable to change American policy towards Iran, a top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charged on Monday.
"Mr. Obama's behaviour and the positions he has taken show that he is still a prisoner in the hands of extremist Republicans and is unable to wipe out the policies of (former president George W.) Bush from the White House," Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media advisor, was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.
"The interfering stance of the US after the Iranian election and his refusal to congratulate the president of Iran on his victory overtly show that Obama is unable to adopt a new approach towards the Islamic republic and is being forced to take the path of the Republicans."
Javanfekr also said that Ahmadinejad would not be holding talks with US officials during his visit to the UN General Assembly meeting later this month.
Ahmadinejad at a Tehran press conference a week ago had reiterated that he was ready to hold a debate with Obama to discuss global issues.
Javanfekr said American officials had not replied to the suggestion, which, he said, had made them "agitated."
"The debate is one way of solving international issues, but it seems that this suggestion has made Americans agitated because so far we have not witnessed any positive feedback from the American president in this regard," he said.
Officials in Washington have said that Ahmadinejad should not expect to be invited to a leaders reception Obama will host at the UN General Assembly.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the reason was that, "Iran is failing to live up to its international obligations."
Iran and the US have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Washington and five other world powers are seeking an urgent meeting with Tehran to resolve a row over its controversial nuclear programme.
Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have refused to climb down on the atomic programme.
"Mr. Obama's behaviour and the positions he has taken show that he is still a prisoner in the hands of extremist Republicans and is unable to wipe out the policies of (former president George W.) Bush from the White House," Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media advisor, was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.
"The interfering stance of the US after the Iranian election and his refusal to congratulate the president of Iran on his victory overtly show that Obama is unable to adopt a new approach towards the Islamic republic and is being forced to take the path of the Republicans."
Javanfekr also said that Ahmadinejad would not be holding talks with US officials during his visit to the UN General Assembly meeting later this month.
Ahmadinejad at a Tehran press conference a week ago had reiterated that he was ready to hold a debate with Obama to discuss global issues.
Javanfekr said American officials had not replied to the suggestion, which, he said, had made them "agitated."
"The debate is one way of solving international issues, but it seems that this suggestion has made Americans agitated because so far we have not witnessed any positive feedback from the American president in this regard," he said.
Officials in Washington have said that Ahmadinejad should not expect to be invited to a leaders reception Obama will host at the UN General Assembly.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the reason was that, "Iran is failing to live up to its international obligations."
Iran and the US have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Washington and five other world powers are seeking an urgent meeting with Tehran to resolve a row over its controversial nuclear programme.
Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have refused to climb down on the atomic programme.
Musharraf playing dirty games
ISLAMABAD, Sep 15: General (r) Pervez Musharraf's latest statement that Pakistan had diverted the US aid and ammunition, given to Islamabad for the war on terror, against India is considered here as a great disservice to Pakistan and may create more problems for the country internationally. Some former generals believe that the ousted dictator is playing into the hands of enemies of Pakistan
Blasphemy accused found dead
LAHORE / SIALKOT: Tension gripped Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur after a young Christian man who was arrested on blasphemy charges was found dead inside his jail cell on Tuesday.
Jail Superintendent Ishtiaq Lodhi claimed that the accused, Robert alias Fanish Masih, being kept in solitary confinement, had committed ‘suicide’ in his cell.
But his relatives and members of the Christian community refused to accept the jail authorities’ claims and alleged that he was tortured to death.
Robert, 19, belonged to a poor family and was arrested on Saturday by the Sambrial police for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran in Jatheki village the previous day.
Members of the Christian community had fled the village after Muslims took to the streets in protest against the alleged desecration.
Robert was sent to the Sialkot jail on a 14-day judicial remand by a local court on Monday.
Jail authorities claimed that the accused had committed suicide by hanging himself, using the lace of his Shalwar to tie with the latch of his cell’s door.
The situation in Sialkot was tense till late in the evening as relatives of the dead man protested by placing his body on the Kashmir Road.
Demanding arrest of jail officials responsible for Roberts death, they attacked 13 shops and damaged some vehicles.
They dispersed after senior police officers assured them of justice. The Christian community has decided to observe a two-day mourning.
An inquiry committee said Robert had committed suicide, suspending three officials of the jail for negligence.
Lahore DIG Salim Shahid Beg told Dawn over telephone that the committee had inspected the accused’s body and questioned police officers.
He said that they had also consulted senior doctors and leaders of the Christian community, and found that there was no mark of torture on the body. Leaders of the Christian community were satisfied with the findings, the DIG said.
The suspended officials included Assistant Superintendent Sibtain Raza, Head Warden Mohammad Yusuf and Warden Javed Iqbal Awan.
The DIG said the suspended officials would face an inquiry under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act.
The Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, said the government had ordered a probe into the death and promised that its findings would be made public.
In Sialkot, the district administration and police high-ups and leaders of Christian and Muslim communities were trying to keep people calm. Provincial Minister Michael Kamran was also part of the effort.
Christians believed that the accused had been tortured to death by jail officials, who had later hanged his body to give impression that he had committed suicide.
Roberts family claimed that there were torture marks on his body and his ribs were broken. His father, Riasat Masih, called for a judicial probe into the death and asserted that no one could commit suicide with a weak lace of shalwar.
Our Sialkot correspondent adds: The situation was tense not only in Sialkot but also in adjacent towns of Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur.
Scores of Christians took to the streets, blocking traffic and torching tyres. All shops and markets in Sialkot and Sambrial were closed.
Robert’s body would be kept in the Bethania Christian Hospital in Sialkot, and his last rites would be performed on Wednesday.
The deceased would be buried in a cemetery in Sialkot instead of his native village because of security reasons.
The Sambrial police have registered a case against around 100 people for burning the local Catholic Church.
Jail Superintendent Ishtiaq Lodhi claimed that the accused, Robert alias Fanish Masih, being kept in solitary confinement, had committed ‘suicide’ in his cell.
But his relatives and members of the Christian community refused to accept the jail authorities’ claims and alleged that he was tortured to death.
Robert, 19, belonged to a poor family and was arrested on Saturday by the Sambrial police for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran in Jatheki village the previous day.
Members of the Christian community had fled the village after Muslims took to the streets in protest against the alleged desecration.
Robert was sent to the Sialkot jail on a 14-day judicial remand by a local court on Monday.
Jail authorities claimed that the accused had committed suicide by hanging himself, using the lace of his Shalwar to tie with the latch of his cell’s door.
The situation in Sialkot was tense till late in the evening as relatives of the dead man protested by placing his body on the Kashmir Road.
Demanding arrest of jail officials responsible for Roberts death, they attacked 13 shops and damaged some vehicles.
They dispersed after senior police officers assured them of justice. The Christian community has decided to observe a two-day mourning.
An inquiry committee said Robert had committed suicide, suspending three officials of the jail for negligence.
Lahore DIG Salim Shahid Beg told Dawn over telephone that the committee had inspected the accused’s body and questioned police officers.
He said that they had also consulted senior doctors and leaders of the Christian community, and found that there was no mark of torture on the body. Leaders of the Christian community were satisfied with the findings, the DIG said.
The suspended officials included Assistant Superintendent Sibtain Raza, Head Warden Mohammad Yusuf and Warden Javed Iqbal Awan.
The DIG said the suspended officials would face an inquiry under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act.
The Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, said the government had ordered a probe into the death and promised that its findings would be made public.
In Sialkot, the district administration and police high-ups and leaders of Christian and Muslim communities were trying to keep people calm. Provincial Minister Michael Kamran was also part of the effort.
Christians believed that the accused had been tortured to death by jail officials, who had later hanged his body to give impression that he had committed suicide.
Roberts family claimed that there were torture marks on his body and his ribs were broken. His father, Riasat Masih, called for a judicial probe into the death and asserted that no one could commit suicide with a weak lace of shalwar.
Our Sialkot correspondent adds: The situation was tense not only in Sialkot but also in adjacent towns of Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur.
Scores of Christians took to the streets, blocking traffic and torching tyres. All shops and markets in Sialkot and Sambrial were closed.
Robert’s body would be kept in the Bethania Christian Hospital in Sialkot, and his last rites would be performed on Wednesday.
The deceased would be buried in a cemetery in Sialkot instead of his native village because of security reasons.
The Sambrial police have registered a case against around 100 people for burning the local Catholic Church.
Obama's AfPak strategy rejected and accepted 50/50
ISLAMABAD: President, Asif Ali Zardari, has rejected the Obama administration's strategy of linking policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in an effort to end a Taliban insurgency and bring stability to the region.
US President Barack Obama earlier this year appointed senior diplomat Richard Holbrooke as his special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan in a move intended to address these two states as a single arena of conflict.
"Afghanistan and Pakistan are distinctly different countries and cannot be lumped together for any reason," Mr Zardari said in an interview with the Financial Times on the anniversary of his first year in office.
Mr Zardari's comments reflect Pakistan's unwillingness to be aligned in a joint policy framework with neighbouring Afghanistan, an approach referred to as "AfPak". The Pakistani leader and his senior officials draw a distinction between a Pakistan with functioning institutions, diversified economy and a powerful national army, and Afghanistan, a state shattered by decades of conflict and ethnic divisions.
Ending the Taliban insurgency raging on both sides of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is only likely to be achieved by concerted military action by Nato forces fighting in Helmand and Kandahar and Pakistan's army in Waziristan and other tribal areas along the border. Military experts say Taliban leaders travel across the Durand Line, the colonial era border, to avoid military pursuit.
Mr Holbrooke's two-country mandate was also a recognition of Pakistan's historic role in supporting the Taliban regime ousted from Kabul in 2001, and Islamabad's former doctrine of "strategic depth" into Afghanistan in case of a conflict with arch-rival India.
Mr Zardari said Mr Holbrooke had brought a "unique focus on relations with Pakistan" and acknowledged the emphasis President Obama had put on Pakistan's economic and energy needs.
US President Barack Obama earlier this year appointed senior diplomat Richard Holbrooke as his special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan in a move intended to address these two states as a single arena of conflict.
"Afghanistan and Pakistan are distinctly different countries and cannot be lumped together for any reason," Mr Zardari said in an interview with the Financial Times on the anniversary of his first year in office.
Mr Zardari's comments reflect Pakistan's unwillingness to be aligned in a joint policy framework with neighbouring Afghanistan, an approach referred to as "AfPak". The Pakistani leader and his senior officials draw a distinction between a Pakistan with functioning institutions, diversified economy and a powerful national army, and Afghanistan, a state shattered by decades of conflict and ethnic divisions.
Ending the Taliban insurgency raging on both sides of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is only likely to be achieved by concerted military action by Nato forces fighting in Helmand and Kandahar and Pakistan's army in Waziristan and other tribal areas along the border. Military experts say Taliban leaders travel across the Durand Line, the colonial era border, to avoid military pursuit.
Mr Holbrooke's two-country mandate was also a recognition of Pakistan's historic role in supporting the Taliban regime ousted from Kabul in 2001, and Islamabad's former doctrine of "strategic depth" into Afghanistan in case of a conflict with arch-rival India.
Mr Zardari said Mr Holbrooke had brought a "unique focus on relations with Pakistan" and acknowledged the emphasis President Obama had put on Pakistan's economic and energy needs.
Pakistan’s anti-militant progress
WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (APP): Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tuesday told U.S. lawmakers that it is important to recognize the anti-militant success Pakistan has recently achieved and advocated long-term cooperative relationship with the key South Asian ally in defeating al-Qaeda along the Afghan border.In reference to Pakistani actions in the northwestern territories, Mullen said that in the last year the Pakistani military and the Frontier Corps have acheived a lot and noted that their actions had a big impact.
“There has been a lot that has been changed in the last year in Pakistan with what the Pakistani military and the frontier corps have achieved.
“And I think it’s important to recognize that, because a year or two ago, there were many people who were very skeptical that they would do anything. And they’ve had a big impact. It hasn’t been perfect,” Mullen stated appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a confirmation hearing of his second term as chairman.
Mullen also cited Pakistan army’s progress in counterinsurgency training.
He said the U.S. will continue to support Pakistan at the pace Islamabad desires.
“We are there to support them where they are asking our support.
That said, it’s only going to go as fast as they want it to go. And that’s ---
I’ve been there I think 13 times. It’s very clear to me that they very much appreciate the support; but it’s going to be at their pace --- even though we would like --- many of us would like to see it happen more quickly.”
He drew the lawmakers’ attention to the vitality of US assistance for Pakistan in the long-term perspective under a pending bipartisan bill, sponsored by senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar.
“We think that is an important long-term relationship. They still ask the question, are you staying or going this time? Not unlike the question that gets asked in Afghanistan. Kerry-Lugar bill is very important, as far as I am concerned because it is not about $ 1.5 billion a year as much as it is a five-year commitment to Pakistan.
“So our strategy is, I think, much more comprehensive with Pakistan than it used to be. That said, there are limits. It’s a sovereign country, and they are very much in charge of their own country.”
He said the U.S. and its allies “have had success in diminishing al-Qaeda leadership.
“It’s not as strong as it was, but it is still very lethal, still very focused on us as a country, planning to still execute attacks against us and other Western interests. So there has been progress but we still got a long way to go.”
He expressed concern over the Afghan militant groups operating along Afghan-Pakistan border and claimed the border is likely to remain dangerous.
“There has been a lot that has been changed in the last year in Pakistan with what the Pakistani military and the frontier corps have achieved.
“And I think it’s important to recognize that, because a year or two ago, there were many people who were very skeptical that they would do anything. And they’ve had a big impact. It hasn’t been perfect,” Mullen stated appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a confirmation hearing of his second term as chairman.
Mullen also cited Pakistan army’s progress in counterinsurgency training.
He said the U.S. will continue to support Pakistan at the pace Islamabad desires.
“We are there to support them where they are asking our support.
That said, it’s only going to go as fast as they want it to go. And that’s ---
I’ve been there I think 13 times. It’s very clear to me that they very much appreciate the support; but it’s going to be at their pace --- even though we would like --- many of us would like to see it happen more quickly.”
He drew the lawmakers’ attention to the vitality of US assistance for Pakistan in the long-term perspective under a pending bipartisan bill, sponsored by senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar.
“We think that is an important long-term relationship. They still ask the question, are you staying or going this time? Not unlike the question that gets asked in Afghanistan. Kerry-Lugar bill is very important, as far as I am concerned because it is not about $ 1.5 billion a year as much as it is a five-year commitment to Pakistan.
“So our strategy is, I think, much more comprehensive with Pakistan than it used to be. That said, there are limits. It’s a sovereign country, and they are very much in charge of their own country.”
He said the U.S. and its allies “have had success in diminishing al-Qaeda leadership.
“It’s not as strong as it was, but it is still very lethal, still very focused on us as a country, planning to still execute attacks against us and other Western interests. So there has been progress but we still got a long way to go.”
He expressed concern over the Afghan militant groups operating along Afghan-Pakistan border and claimed the border is likely to remain dangerous.
American jihad or FBI blunder
Even by the intrigue-swilled standards of Pakistan's frontier badlands it was a strange case. On a muggy October afternoon last year a battered taxi trundled out of Mohmand, a Taliban-infested corner of the tribal belt, towards the settled area of North-West Frontier Province.
In the passenger seat sat a swarthy young man of athletic build wearing a black shalwar kameez, a tight beard and trainers like those favoured by insurgent fighters. At a government checkpoint a suspicious policeman searched him, only to make some startling discoveries.
The man had American dollars in his pocket, a laptop computer in his bag and a cheap Chinese knife tucked into his shoes. He barely spoke a word of Pashto, the local language. And he produced an American passport that identified him as Jude Kenan Mohammad, a 19-year-old student, who claimed to be a tourist. "He said he had come to visit a friend," the officer, Khurshid Khan, said, sitting on his bed in the dingy checkpoint. "I thought he looked like a Taliban spy."
The case excited a brief stir in Pakistan. Curious reporters turned up at two court hearings, as did officials from the fortress-like US consulate in Peshawar. Pakistani intelligence interrogated him.
Just as quickly, the matter faded away. The court charged Kenan with two minor misdemeanours - lacking the correct paperwork and carrying an illegal weapon - and freed him on bail of £750. The intelligence men said nothing, the world moved on. But last month the case of the enigmatic American "tourist" resurfaced in a much more serious light, as a key element of a terrorism trial in his home city of Raleigh, North Carolina. On 4 August, the FBI indicted Kenan as the eighth man in a plot by a gang of mostly American Muslims to commit murder, kidnap and mayhem in the name of "violent jihad". If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Prosecutors claim the men were led by Daniel Boyd, a 39-year-old building contractor and convert to Islam who, they say, used his lakeside home to stockpile weapons, spread extremist literature glorifying Osama bin Laden, and foster a cell of homegrown American jihadi terrorists.
In preliminary hearings investigators played recordings of rattling gunfire at a military-style training camp run by Boyd, and a tape in which he declares: "I love jihad. I love to stand there and fight for the sake of Allah."
What has alarmed Americans most is the middle-class ordinariness of the accused. Boyd had a Support Our Troops sticker on his truck; one of his sons was an eagle scout; his friend Ziyad Yaghi was arrested by the pool, wearing only his swimming trunks. This shows, the FBI says, that "terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some faraway land but can grow and fester right here at home". But friends and family of the eight accused say the prosecution is a huge mistake, misinterpreting everything from politically driven talk of jihad to a shooting outing with legally held weapons. "Pure poppycock," said Boyd's older brother, Robert, of the charges.
Boyd's non-Muslim neighbours say the image of a dangerous fanatic is at odds with the devout, personable man they know. "Everyone's got guns," said neighbour Jeremy Kuhn. "Welcome to North Carolina." The trial is likely to revolve around one question: were the Boyd gang truly trainee terrorists, or just big-mouth blowhards?
Part of the answer may be found thousands of miles away, in the swirling, violent frontier region of north-western Pakistan, where the eighth man is still at large. Jude Kenan is the product of an unusual union. His father, Taj Muhammad, hails from Dara Adam Khel, a lawless town of gunsmiths south of Peshawar known for its brisk sales of imitation AK-47s and rocket launchers. His mother, Elena, is a white American who converted from Catholicism to Islam. According to Kenan's lawyer, Khan Ghawas Khan, the couple met in New York in the early 1980s when Muhammad was pursuing a masters in law. They had four girls and a boy and lived in Pakistan for several years. But about a decade ago Elena moved back to America, he said, taking her son with her.
In Raleigh, Kenan was a pretty typical teenager - partying, drinking and dating girls. His usual greeting was "yo, what's up, man", say friends. "He was very popular, cool as hell," said one. About 18 months ago something changed.
Kenan, who had always played basketball outside the local mosque, became a more observant Muslim, stopped partying and made plans to see his father in Pakistan. "He would say, 'I've been there, done that, it's time for me to settle down,'" the friend said. Last October he left for Pakistan. While in Raleigh he shared a cheap two-bedroom apartment with a sister, in Dara Adam Khel he was part of the tribal elite. According to his lawyer the family have extensive business interests across Pakistan - five petrol pumps, property in Karachi, a fuel distribution firm and millions of rupees worth of shares.
But his new home was also a dangerous place. Last year, soldiers and Taliban fighters battled for months for control of Dara Adam Khel, and a major road tunnel near the family house was closed.
On 13 October, the day of his arrest, Kenan told his father he was going into Peshawar to buy movies. That afternoon, he was arrested on the border of Mohmand Agency and Charsadda, north of Peshawar. He seemed unperturbed. "He was very calm and friendly, not at all aggressive," recalled officer Khan. In court, Kenan lunged playfully at a cameraman who filmed him being led away in handcuffs. His father loudly remonstrated with him before the judge. "He said, 'Look at the problems you have created for me!,'" said journalist Kaman Shah. Kenan's lawyer, Ghawas Khan, called the trip a rash adventure of youth: "He only wanted to boast to the people in America that he had seen the place where the Taliban are fighting."
Back in Raleigh, the FBI was taking a more sinister view. Daniel Boyd was coming under scrutiny. Federal agents tapped his phone and recruited an informant to penetrate his circle. Boyd knew they were watching. "The FBI wants to catch me slipping," he told a friend.
The son of a US marine, Boyd converted to Islam at 17. In Raleigh he was a prominent, if intensely devout, Muslim. His wife, Sabrina, wore a burqa in public while his sons, Dylan, 22, and Zakariya, 20, stood out for their flowing white robes and scraggy beards. A year earlier Boyd had opened the Blackstone Market, a shop selling halal food that became a meeting place for the Muslim community. There, he liked to tell tales of past glory fighting the Soviet Union, a disputed episode that has become a central part of the FBI case against him.
In 1989, Boyd and his brother Charles moved to Peshawar to participate in the CIA-sponsored "jihad" war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. But they were too late - the Soviets quit Afghanistan six months before they arrived.
Instead the Boyds appear to have joined Hizb-i-Islami, one of the mujahideen factions that was fighting in Afghanistan's growing, post-Soviet civil war. During this time, the FBI claims, Boyd attended three "terrorist training camps" in Sadr, Khalden and Jawr - camps that only a few years earlier had been funded with tens of millions of dollars in covert CIA funding. The Boyds' Pakistan adventure soured dramatically in 1991. A Peshawar court convicted the brothers of robbing a bank of $3,200, and handed down a shocking sentence: the amputation of their left hands and right feet. "This is not an Islamic court, it is a court of unbelievers," Daniel Boyd yelled as he was led away. But the ruling was overturned on appeal, and the Boyds returned to America.
This colourful history will be explored in Boyd's trial, due to start later this year. But first there are unresolved matters involving his alleged accomplice, Kenan.
The young American is due back in court on 5 September to face minor charges from last year's unlikely trip through the tribal belt. His lawyer, Ghawas Khan, predicts a rapid acquittal. "There is no evidence against him, I am 100pc sure."
More pressing questions loom at home. One witness told the FBI that Kenan "attempted to recruit him to travel to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad".
Prosecutors refuse to say whether they will seek his extradition. "We're trying to actually locate him," said Robin Zier, spokeswoman for the US attorney's office in Raleigh.
Ghawas Khan said he had not even heard of the American charges until the Guardian approached him. Despite repeated requests he could not provide a contact number for his client.
"All I can say is that the authorities here know he is totally innocent," he said. "He's just a baby."
In the passenger seat sat a swarthy young man of athletic build wearing a black shalwar kameez, a tight beard and trainers like those favoured by insurgent fighters. At a government checkpoint a suspicious policeman searched him, only to make some startling discoveries.
The man had American dollars in his pocket, a laptop computer in his bag and a cheap Chinese knife tucked into his shoes. He barely spoke a word of Pashto, the local language. And he produced an American passport that identified him as Jude Kenan Mohammad, a 19-year-old student, who claimed to be a tourist. "He said he had come to visit a friend," the officer, Khurshid Khan, said, sitting on his bed in the dingy checkpoint. "I thought he looked like a Taliban spy."
The case excited a brief stir in Pakistan. Curious reporters turned up at two court hearings, as did officials from the fortress-like US consulate in Peshawar. Pakistani intelligence interrogated him.
Just as quickly, the matter faded away. The court charged Kenan with two minor misdemeanours - lacking the correct paperwork and carrying an illegal weapon - and freed him on bail of £750. The intelligence men said nothing, the world moved on. But last month the case of the enigmatic American "tourist" resurfaced in a much more serious light, as a key element of a terrorism trial in his home city of Raleigh, North Carolina. On 4 August, the FBI indicted Kenan as the eighth man in a plot by a gang of mostly American Muslims to commit murder, kidnap and mayhem in the name of "violent jihad". If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Prosecutors claim the men were led by Daniel Boyd, a 39-year-old building contractor and convert to Islam who, they say, used his lakeside home to stockpile weapons, spread extremist literature glorifying Osama bin Laden, and foster a cell of homegrown American jihadi terrorists.
In preliminary hearings investigators played recordings of rattling gunfire at a military-style training camp run by Boyd, and a tape in which he declares: "I love jihad. I love to stand there and fight for the sake of Allah."
What has alarmed Americans most is the middle-class ordinariness of the accused. Boyd had a Support Our Troops sticker on his truck; one of his sons was an eagle scout; his friend Ziyad Yaghi was arrested by the pool, wearing only his swimming trunks. This shows, the FBI says, that "terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some faraway land but can grow and fester right here at home". But friends and family of the eight accused say the prosecution is a huge mistake, misinterpreting everything from politically driven talk of jihad to a shooting outing with legally held weapons. "Pure poppycock," said Boyd's older brother, Robert, of the charges.
Boyd's non-Muslim neighbours say the image of a dangerous fanatic is at odds with the devout, personable man they know. "Everyone's got guns," said neighbour Jeremy Kuhn. "Welcome to North Carolina." The trial is likely to revolve around one question: were the Boyd gang truly trainee terrorists, or just big-mouth blowhards?
Part of the answer may be found thousands of miles away, in the swirling, violent frontier region of north-western Pakistan, where the eighth man is still at large. Jude Kenan is the product of an unusual union. His father, Taj Muhammad, hails from Dara Adam Khel, a lawless town of gunsmiths south of Peshawar known for its brisk sales of imitation AK-47s and rocket launchers. His mother, Elena, is a white American who converted from Catholicism to Islam. According to Kenan's lawyer, Khan Ghawas Khan, the couple met in New York in the early 1980s when Muhammad was pursuing a masters in law. They had four girls and a boy and lived in Pakistan for several years. But about a decade ago Elena moved back to America, he said, taking her son with her.
In Raleigh, Kenan was a pretty typical teenager - partying, drinking and dating girls. His usual greeting was "yo, what's up, man", say friends. "He was very popular, cool as hell," said one. About 18 months ago something changed.
Kenan, who had always played basketball outside the local mosque, became a more observant Muslim, stopped partying and made plans to see his father in Pakistan. "He would say, 'I've been there, done that, it's time for me to settle down,'" the friend said. Last October he left for Pakistan. While in Raleigh he shared a cheap two-bedroom apartment with a sister, in Dara Adam Khel he was part of the tribal elite. According to his lawyer the family have extensive business interests across Pakistan - five petrol pumps, property in Karachi, a fuel distribution firm and millions of rupees worth of shares.
But his new home was also a dangerous place. Last year, soldiers and Taliban fighters battled for months for control of Dara Adam Khel, and a major road tunnel near the family house was closed.
On 13 October, the day of his arrest, Kenan told his father he was going into Peshawar to buy movies. That afternoon, he was arrested on the border of Mohmand Agency and Charsadda, north of Peshawar. He seemed unperturbed. "He was very calm and friendly, not at all aggressive," recalled officer Khan. In court, Kenan lunged playfully at a cameraman who filmed him being led away in handcuffs. His father loudly remonstrated with him before the judge. "He said, 'Look at the problems you have created for me!,'" said journalist Kaman Shah. Kenan's lawyer, Ghawas Khan, called the trip a rash adventure of youth: "He only wanted to boast to the people in America that he had seen the place where the Taliban are fighting."
Back in Raleigh, the FBI was taking a more sinister view. Daniel Boyd was coming under scrutiny. Federal agents tapped his phone and recruited an informant to penetrate his circle. Boyd knew they were watching. "The FBI wants to catch me slipping," he told a friend.
The son of a US marine, Boyd converted to Islam at 17. In Raleigh he was a prominent, if intensely devout, Muslim. His wife, Sabrina, wore a burqa in public while his sons, Dylan, 22, and Zakariya, 20, stood out for their flowing white robes and scraggy beards. A year earlier Boyd had opened the Blackstone Market, a shop selling halal food that became a meeting place for the Muslim community. There, he liked to tell tales of past glory fighting the Soviet Union, a disputed episode that has become a central part of the FBI case against him.
In 1989, Boyd and his brother Charles moved to Peshawar to participate in the CIA-sponsored "jihad" war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. But they were too late - the Soviets quit Afghanistan six months before they arrived.
Instead the Boyds appear to have joined Hizb-i-Islami, one of the mujahideen factions that was fighting in Afghanistan's growing, post-Soviet civil war. During this time, the FBI claims, Boyd attended three "terrorist training camps" in Sadr, Khalden and Jawr - camps that only a few years earlier had been funded with tens of millions of dollars in covert CIA funding. The Boyds' Pakistan adventure soured dramatically in 1991. A Peshawar court convicted the brothers of robbing a bank of $3,200, and handed down a shocking sentence: the amputation of their left hands and right feet. "This is not an Islamic court, it is a court of unbelievers," Daniel Boyd yelled as he was led away. But the ruling was overturned on appeal, and the Boyds returned to America.
This colourful history will be explored in Boyd's trial, due to start later this year. But first there are unresolved matters involving his alleged accomplice, Kenan.
The young American is due back in court on 5 September to face minor charges from last year's unlikely trip through the tribal belt. His lawyer, Ghawas Khan, predicts a rapid acquittal. "There is no evidence against him, I am 100pc sure."
More pressing questions loom at home. One witness told the FBI that Kenan "attempted to recruit him to travel to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad".
Prosecutors refuse to say whether they will seek his extradition. "We're trying to actually locate him," said Robin Zier, spokeswoman for the US attorney's office in Raleigh.
Ghawas Khan said he had not even heard of the American charges until the Guardian approached him. Despite repeated requests he could not provide a contact number for his client.
"All I can say is that the authorities here know he is totally innocent," he said. "He's just a baby."
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