By Aziz Ahmad Tassal and Mohammad Elyas Dayee HELMAND – People in Marjah district in Helmand province, where a Western and Afghan military operation aims to oust the Taliban, say several civilians have been killed in addition to the 12 acknowledged by the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF. They also say the fighting has caused hunger because people cannot leave their homes to fetch food. Helmand provincial governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal visited the area on the fifth day of the operation to see for himself. “People asked me to provide them with food … as the operation goes forward, many … Continue reading Anger spreads on Marjah’s front line

By Brian McCartan BANGKOK – The exact motives behind a recent crackdown on ethnic Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are still unclear, but some answers may be found across the border in Myanmar, where the ruling generals are maneuvering for votes in the lead-up to general elections slated for later this year. The Rohingya, a Muslim minority living mostly in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, are ethnically, linguistically and religiously distinct from the majority Buddhist Rakhine of the state. Tensions and distrust between the two groups have periodically exploded into violence, and a Myanmar military operation in 1978 forced hundreds of thousands … Continue reading Bilateral repression for Myanmar’s Rohingya

By Caleb Lauer ISTANBUL – As current Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu describes it, Turkey was a “wing state” of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) during the Cold War, at the edge, protecting the core. The only NATO country, besides Norway, to border the Soviet Union, Turkey was the first place the Truman Doctrine of containing communism was put into practice. This Western allegiance and its military character suited Turkish state elites and so, for 44 years, in exchange for money and arms, Turkey guarded itself and the southeast corner of Europe from the red threat. Then as the … Continue reading The man behind Turkey’s strategic depth

By Victor Kotsev “We are waiting for the United States to give us [its] undivided attention,” Jordan’s King Abdullah said in an interview this month, speaking of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “If we don’t get a clear mandate over the next month or so, I’m not convinced we will be able to move forward.” The king’s words and a grim picture he painted of “decades of instability” as an alternative, added gravity to US President Barack Obama’s own assessment. Speaking to Time magazine, Obama last month voiced his dismay at the absence of brave leaders among the Israelis and Palestinians. … Continue reading A (Nobel) crown of thorns

By IPS correspondents KOLKATA – They emerge stealthily from the jungles, ambush police posts, kill government supporters, kidnap officials, trigger landmines and disappear back into the forest with looted weapons as Indian police suffer like sitting ducks. The Maoists killed 24 policemen in eastern India’s West Bengal state last Monday. This was followed by another deadly attack that killed 11 villagers in the neighboring state of Bihar. This exposes the inability of the Indian police to fight the Maoists rebels, who have armed themselves to the teeth and who are fully trained in guerilla warfare. “The attack by the Communist … Continue reading India’s red rebels are the ‘biggest threat’

By Christopher Johnson TOKYO – Japan was not a fun place to own a car even before wide-ranging recalls from Toyota and Honda sullied the country’s reputation for producing quality automobiles. Roads are crowded, narrow and dull; highway speed limits top out at 80 kilometers per hour, and the toll fees are steep – drivers on the 325-kilometer trip from Tokyo to Nagoya before the financial crisis broke last year had to pay 7,100 yen (US$77.47). Within Tokyo, a parking space costs the equivalent of US$300 a month and up. Regulations and taxes add to the pain of car ownership, … Continue reading Japan beset by auto apathy

A book for all —by Samia Saleem Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time By Karen Armstrong Harper Collins; Pp 249 Reviled by her critics and applauded by her admirers, Karen Armstrong has revealed her story-telling skills, brilliant perception and painstaking research yet another time in Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. Written expressly with the purpose of removing misunderstandings about Islam in the West in the aftermath of 9/11, the book goes beyond simply highlighting the tolerant and pluralistic character of the faith proclaimed by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 7th century Arabia while recounting his life’s journey. She brings it … Continue reading Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time

Ishtiaq Ahmed Conspiracy theories and their authors become a cause for concern when they begin to hallucinate and can no longer distinguish between their own flights of imagination and the world around them. When they hijack a whole nation or community into another world, then they ought to be held accountable These are very troubled times. Such times are a bonanza for conspiracy theorists because they know how best to simplify extremely complex situations while simultaneously grossly exaggerating the evil ingenuity of the plotters, and thus create thorough confusion. If such confusion can generate panic, then the conspiracy theorist has … Continue reading Conspiracy theories and theorists… Is this what Pakistanis really think?

“I think he should work on getting closer to the stumps. A lot of the times he will be pitching the ball such that it is knocking middle stump and hitting the batsmen on the pad. But its not out as it is pitched outside leg stump,” Boycott said of Mohammad Aamer. Legendary former Yorkshire and England batsmen turned commentator Geoffrey Boycott believes Pakistan’s newest pace find, Mohammad Aamer, needs to fine tune his run-up and final delivery stride in order to become a more effective bowler. The lanky 17 year old left armer from Gujjar Khan, who suffered a … Continue reading Aamer needs to work on his delivery stride: Boycott