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October 2014
Kashmir Beyond Platitudes: The Responsibility to Protect
By Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai: Why, after 67 years of dispute, is the question of Kashmir, land of the "gentle race," still lurking in the shadows of international relations, still unresolved, despite its seemingly relative unimportance to global interests in matters of resources and international trade? Reasons for the conflict over Kashmir are argued among contenders on a number of points, more often than not to serve globalist interests rather than the fundamental needs or desires of the Kashmiris themselves. Why, after 67 years, the problem continues to fester is the challenge those who talk of peace, stability, and democratic rights must sooner or later confront. Read More
Happy new Hijra (Islamic) year 1436
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Today, October 25, 2014 marks the first of Moharram, the beginning of the new Hijra year 1436, according to the Islamic calendar announced by the Fiqh Council of North America and endorsed by the Islamic Society of North America, a leading American Muslim civil advocacy group. It may be pointed out that, in a bid to end the controversy over the beginning of the month of Ramadan and Eid celebrations, the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), in August 2006, announced a 20-year Islamic calendar based on astronomical calculation abandoning the traditional method of actual sighting of crescent. Read More
Congressional defense of war crimes in Gaza
By Stephen Zunes: Israel's seven weeks of attacks on heavily populated civilian neighborhoods in the besieged Gaza Strip this summer has led to unprecedented concern among Americans who, while still broadly supportive of Israel, found the attacks to be disproportionate and unnecessary. Close to 1,500 Palestinian civilians in Gaza were killed in the Israeli attacks, more of 500 of whom were children, and 18,000 homes were destroyed, leaving 100,000 homeless. Read More
The politics of Nobel Peace Prize
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: On Friday (Oct 10, 2014) the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace to a Pakistani teenager, Malala Yousafzai and an Indian child rights campaigner, Kailash Satyarthi. At the age of just 17, Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the prize. The teenager was shot in the head by militants in October 2012 when she was on her way home from school. She now lives in Birmingham in the UK. Many Pakistanis are skeptical about the meteorite rise to fame of Malala propelled by the Western media and Western controlled international organizations and institutions. The Nobel Peace Prize has, more often than not, raised eyebrows and created controversies. The politics of the Nobel Peace Prize have been described as tragic, outrageous and sometimes cringe-worthy. While meant to recognize those whose work has greatly benefited or contributed to the advancement and unity of mankind, the Nobel Peace Prize has sometimes been given to those with violent pasts or who have been exposed for lying in the so-called factual work that earned them the award. In recent years the Nobel prize committee has made some controversial decision on those who were awarded the peace prize. Read More
US drone attacks intensify as Pakistan Army continues brutal operation in North Waziristan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A US drone strike on Thursday (Oct 9, 2014) killed at least four suspected fighters in a restive northwestern Pakistani tribal area on the Afghan border taking the death toll from a flurry of such strikes this week to 25, Al Jazeera reported on Friday. The attack took place at Laman village in North Waziristan where the Pakistani military has been waging a brutal operation since June. "A US drone fired two missiles at a vehicle and killed at least four militants and one was wounded," the AFP news agency quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying. The death toll could not be verified through independent sources as the area is out of reach of independent media. "The area is off-limits to journalists, making it impossible to verify the number and identify the dead independently," Al Jazeera pointed out. Read More
29 years later, still no charges in Alex Odeh's assassination
AMP Report: October 11, 2014 marks the 29th commemoration of the assassination of Alex Odeh, Southern California Regional Director, of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Alex Odeh was tragically assassinated on October 11, 1985. Alex Odeh's life was taken by a pipe bomb that exploded as he entered the ADC office in Santa Ana, California. In addition to killing Mr. Odeh, the bomb injured several other victims. The FBI quickly named the militant Jewish Defense League, or JDL, as a focus of its investigations. But decades later, no one has been questioned or indicted for Odeh’s murder. Read More
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