Outrage … Asian man was forced off bus and grilled at cop shop over rucksack and mobiles Don’t allow extremists to divide us AN innocent Asian man was forced off a bus by passengers over fears that he was a suicide bomber – because he had a rucksack and two mobile phones. Cops swooped on the Megabus coach and ordered the startled lad off for questioning after barmy commuters badgered the driver over “concerns” he was a terrorist. Last night, the bigots on board were slammed by a horrified fellow passenger, who said: “It’s terrible that people are alienated over … Continue reading AN innocent Asian man was forced off a bus by passengers over fears that he was a suicide bomber – because he had a rucksack and two mobile phones.

Who represents whom within Muslim communities, indeed any community, is contested ground, writes Jamie Bartlett. Jamie Bartlett Anjem Choudary Photo: PA There is only one thing worse than being talked about. Especially when you are the leader of a provincial Islamist group that has global pretentions. So it wasn’t surprising when the publicity hungry Anjem Choudary announced his plan to parade 500 empty coffins through Wootton Basset to symbolise the thousands of Muslims killed ‘by the oppressive US and UK regimes’ in the war in Afghanistan. The date has been cleverly left unspecified. His deft media touch suggests he has … Continue reading To what extent does Maniac Mullah Anjem Choudary represent the Muslim population?

Yemen deputy PM claims Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab may have met radical cleric linked to Fort Hood accused Haroon Siddique and Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Photograph: US Marshals/EPA A Nigerian man accused of attempting to blow up a US-bound plane on Christmas Day was recruited by al-Qaida in London and may have met a radical Islamist cleric linked to the Fort Hood mass shooting, Yemen‘s deputy prime minister said today. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was indicted yesterday on charges including attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people aboard the Northwest … Continue reading Airline bomb plot accused ‘joined al-Qaida in London’

Pressurised by the right-wing political-religious parties, the Z A. Bhutto regime’s “socialism” (called ‘Islamic Socialism’) was presented by Bhutto and his party’s central think-tank as something closer to ‘true Islamic aspirations.’ However, rather ironically, the cultural tactics that his regime used to paint the regime’s socialist credentials as something nearer to Islam actually ended up contributing to the symbolism that in-turn became instrumental in the making and emergence of the 1976 right-wing anti-Bhutto “Nizam-e-Mustapha” movement. For example, all that self-righteous mocking of liberal fads and fashions in many of the decade’s Pakistani films in which, for example, a liberated woman, … Continue reading Filming irony

Thursday, 07 Jan, 2010 Pakistani policemen stand guard in Islamabad. – AFP (File Photo) ISLAMABAD: Security agencies arrested a top Tehreek-e-Taliban operative from Islamabad on Thursday. Forces also recovered a stolen military vehicle from his possession, which he was planning to use for a future suicide attack. Sources told DawnNews in Islamabad that the TTP operative, Israr Amin, belongs to District Hangu in the NWFP. During the initial investigation, the TTP operative disclosed that he had snatched five military vehicles from the tribal areas and the NWFP, and had used them to launch attacks against military targets. The arrested operative … Continue reading Top Terror Mullah arrested in Islamabad

By Dr Tariq Rahman Like sweatshops the world over the call centres of Pakistan are the new sites for the extension of globalised capitalist market practices and the ideology which underlies them. –File Sweatshops exist because workers in poor countries take lower wages to do the same kind of labour as their counterparts in developed, postindustrial societies. Corporate investors can get their products manufactured cheaply and sell these at a much higher price with their brand name. Call centres are also based on this basic principle. They exist because the rapid development in communications, especially the telephone and Internet, make … Continue reading Linguistic sweatshops

Thursday, 07 Jan, 2010 Children are the biggest victims of the war in Afghanistan, with more than 1,050 juveniles younger than 18 years old killed last year alone, according to an Afghan human rights watchdog. –AFP Photo/Tauseef Mustafa KABUL: Children are the biggest victims of the war in Afghanistan, with more than 1,050 people under 18 years old killed last year alone, according to an Afghan human rights watchdog. Taliban-linked militants caused around 64 per cent of all violent child deaths last year, the Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said in a report. Children were also press-ganged, sexually exploited, deprived of … Continue reading Afghan war kills three children a day