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January 2013
Islamabad Long March Declaration
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: On Thursday, January 17, 2013, Tehrik-e-Minhajul Quran chief Allama Tahir ul Qadri announced lifting the four-day siege of the capital, Islamabad, after he signed a four point agreement with the government regarding his demands of revamping the electoral system and Election Commission, dissolution of parliament and appointment of an interim government . The agreement, dubbed as Islamabad Long March Declaration, was reached after four-hour talks with a 10-member delegation representing leaders of the ruling People's Party and its allies. After the successful negotiations between the committee formed by the government and Allama Tahirul Qadri the agreement was signed with him by all members of the negotiating team and countersigned by the Prime Minister Raja Ashraf. Interestingly, Allama Qadri signed the agreement with the prime minister and ministers whom he had termed “ex premier and ministers” on the very first day of the sit-in on Monday. Read More
The Case Against Kerry
By Stephen Zunes: President Obama’s selection of John Kerry as the next secretary of state sends the wrong signal to America’s allies and adversaries alike. Kerry’s record in the United States Senate, where he currently chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, has included spurious attacks on the International Court of Justice, unqualified defense of Israeli occupation policies and human rights violations, and support for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, thereby raising serious questions about his commitment to international law and treaty obligations. Furthermore, his false claims about Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction” and his repeated denials of well-documented human rights abuses by allied governments raise serious questions about his credibility. Read More
2012: Another hard year for American Muslims
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: On December 29, the American Muslim community was shocked at the horrendous murder of Sunando Sen, who was pushed by a women to his death on the tracks of a New York subway station because she thought he was Muslim. "I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up," Erika Menendez, 31, told police. She was charged with second degree murder as hate crime. India-born Sunando Sen was raised as Hindu. The murder of Sen at a New York Subway Station of Queens comes only weeks after Pamela Geller placed hate-ads targeting the Arab and Muslim community in subway stations across New York. One of the ads insinuated that Arab and Muslims are “savages” and another ad has an image of the World Trade Center exploding next to a quote from the Quran. Sen's murder is a clear example of how hate speech can lead to and incite violence against Arabs, Muslims, and those perceived to be Arab or Muslim. Read More
Killing of children is wrong anywhere
By Stephen Zunes: Like many of other parents, I've shed tears over the photos of the young schoolchildren murdered in Connecticut, in large part because they remind me so much of my children when they were that age. I've spent enough time in the Middle East to recognize that parents in Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and other countries love their children just as much. And the deaths of children in those countries are just as tragic. I continue to be amazed, then, there are those who continue to defend the killing of Middle Eastern children. Read More
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