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Southeast Asia

Indonesia: 2 More MIT Militants Slain

2017-05-19

[BENARNEWS.ORG] Two men killed in a firefight with security forces in Sulawesi have been identified as members of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) bully boy group, local officials said Tuesday. The gunbattle took place a day earlier when soldiers on a routine patrol encounted gunnies in a mountainous area of Poso regency so remote that civilians can reach it only after a four-day walk from the nearest village, officials said. Two were rubbed out while the other men escaped, said Arif Darmawan, head of the Central Sulawesi Police Mobile Brigade Unit. One soldier was maimed, he said. Central Sulawesi police chief Rudy Sufahriadi on Tuesday identified the two dead men as MIT members Barok, 38, and Askar, 30, of Bima, West Nusa Tenggara. They were identified by MIT members who were captured in recent months, police said, and their bodies were taken to Bhayangkara Hospital in Palu, where DNA samples would be taken in hopes of locating their relatives. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who was in Palu on Tuesday to open a congress of the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement, instructed security forces to find the members of the banned outfit still on the lam. Hundreds of security personnel have been on the ground in Poso regency since January 2015 in two joint army-police operations code-named Camar Maleo and Tinombala. "(The president) expressed appreciation for the personnel of Tinombala Task Force and communicated that we should focus on finding the remaining (suspects)," Rudy told news hounds in the lovely provincial capital. More than a dozen MIT members, including its leader, Santoso, were killed as a result of the operations in 2016, officials said. Santoso swore allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terror group in an audio recording released by the MIT in July 2014.

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India-Pakistan

Three more religious groups banned

2012-03-12

[Dawn] The government banned on Saturday another three religious/charity organizations working in the country. According to a bigwig of the interior ministry, with the latest ban imposed on Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Al Harmain Foundation (AHF) and Rabita Trust (RT), I believe al-Harumain and Rabita Trust were banned under Perv in 2002 or thereabouts and removed after their protestations of innocence around 2006. The dates are just off the top of my head, so could be wrong. the number of outlawed organizations and groups has risen to 38. The three organizations were outlawed by the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... in 2009 under a resolution adopted by the Security Council. ... and three years later Pakistain gets around to putting them on the list of banned organizations, a process that still has nothing to do with putting them out of business... The ASWJ, known previously as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... (SSP), is taking part in activities of a recently-formed group of religious organizations, Difa-e-Pakistain Council. ...and no suggestion of "banning" the Difa-e-Pakistain Council... The council recently attracted large crowds at some of its public meetings in different cities where it lambasted both Islamabad and Washington. The council may strongly react to the government's decision to ban one of its important members. ... probably by blowing something up or killing somebody or both... The AHF is a Soddy Arabia-based organization and also working in Pakistain. The official said the interior ministry had sent letters to the four provincial home secretaries, informing them about the ban on the three organizations. According to the BBC, ASWJ chief Maulana Ahmed Ludhyanvi expressed ignorance about any such ban. "No, no! Certainly not!" However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... he said if it was true he would opt for a legal fight. "We are a peaceful organization," he was quoted as saying. "If anyone places a ban on us...they are trying to place a ban on Pakistain." A document, which the BBC describes as a notification issued by the interior ministry that was not publicly announced, claimed that the ASWJ was suspected to be involved in acts of terrorism in the country and, therefore, it was being added to the first schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The organizations previously banned by the government are: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistain (banned on Aug 14, 2001), Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, Tehrik-e-Jaafria Pakistain, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi, Tehrik-e-Islami (on Jan 14, 2002), Al Qaeda (on March 17, 2003), Millat-e-Islamia Pakistain, Khuddam-ul-Islam, Islami Tehrik Pakistain (on Nov 15, 2003), Jamaat-ul-Ansar, Jamaat-ul-Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir (on Nov 20, 2003), Khair-un-Naas International Trust (on Oct 27, 2004), Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Liberation Army (on April 7, 2006), Islamic Students Movement of Pakistain (on Aug 21, 2006), Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam, Haji Namdar Group (on June 30, 2008), Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (on Aug 25, 2008), Jamatud Daawa, Al-Akhtar Trust and Al-Rashid Trust (banned under the UNSC resolution 1267 on Dec 10, 2008), Shia Talba Action Committee, Markaz-e-Sabeel (Gilgit), Tanzeem Naujawan-e-Sunnat (Gilgit), People's Aman Committee, Balochistan Republican Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Balochistan Liberation United Front and Balochistan Musallah Difa Tanzeem (banned in 2011). The fact that there are this many extremist organizations -- merely the ones that urgently need banning, not all of them -- is simply breath-taking. And for some reason the Paks see the problem as some sort of "hidden hand."

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan bans JuD, LeT, JeM

2009-08-06

The Pakistan government has banned 25 religious and other organisations, including the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashker-e-Taiba, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry presented a list of the banned organisations in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament. It also said the Sunni Tehrik had been put on a watch list. Among the organisations included in the list of outlawed groups are JuD, LeT, JeM, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muahammadi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Al-Akhtar Trust, Al-Rasheed Trust, Tehreek-e-Islami, Islamic Students Movement, Khair-un-Nisa International Trust, Islami Tehreek-e-Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Islam, Balochistan Liberation Army, Jamiat-un-Nisar, Khadam Islam and Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan. A majority of the groups have been linked to terrorist attacks and suicide bombings in Pakistan. India has blamed the JuD, LeT and JeM for several attacks on its soil, including the Mumbai attacks and the 2001 assault on the Indian parliament. Pakistan banned the JuD after the UN Security Council declared it a front for the LeT in December last year. The LeT and JeM were banned by the country in 2002. Responding to a question in the National Assembly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the federal government had banned the 25 organisations and entities under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. Three of the banned organizations -- JuD, Al-Akhtar Trust and Al-Rasheed Trust -- had been included in the UN Security Council resolution no 1267, he said. Law enforcement agencies closely monitor the activities of these groups and "stern action is taken against those which indulge in objectionable activities," Malik said.

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India-Pakistan

Ban on 25 groups imposed: interior minister

2009-08-06

At least 25 extremist and militant groups and welfare organisations affiliated to them have so far been banned because of their involvement in terrorist activities. In a written reply submitted on Wednesday in response to a question in the National Assembly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the banned organisations included Al Qaeda, Sipah-i-Muhammad, Tehrik Nifaz-i-Fiqah Jafaria, Sipah-i-Sahaba, Jamatud Dawa, Al Akhtar Trust, Al Rasheed Trust, Tehrik-i-Islami, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Islamic Students Movement, Khairun Nisa International Trust, Tehrik-i-Islam Pakistan, Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar-i-Islam, Balochistan Liberation Army, Jamiat-i-Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir, Khuddam-i-Islam and Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan. Mr Malik said Jamaatud Dawa, Al Akhtar Trust, and Al Rasheed Trust were banned on Dec 10, 2008, after they were named in the United Nations Security Council Resolution No 1267 and the Sunni Tehrik was placed on the 'watch list'. He said law-enforcement agencies were closely monitoring their activities and stern action was being taken against people taking part in objectionable activities. He said various steps, including strengthening of intelligence networks, extensive police patrolling and regular raids on criminals' hideouts, were being taken to curb sectarian terrorism during Muharram. Occasional ban on pillion riding, picketing and regular snap-checking was also being carried out to improve the law and order situation. He said all banned organisations were being watched and people suspected of making hate speeches were also under continuous surveillance. He said the government of Punjab had issued a 'red book' for arresting most-wanted sectarian terrorists.

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India-Pakistan

17 banned groups warned against collecting hides

2006-12-29

The government has told the provinces to make sure that 17 banned religious and militant organisations are not able to collect the hides of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha. The gummint issues the same order every year. The Bad Guyz still collect the hides every year. “The Interior Ministry has issued this directive to the four provinces and the Islamabad district administration while asking them to step up security around places where Eidul Azha prayers will be offered,” sources said. Seventeen organisations have been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. These are Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi, Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan, Khudamul Islam, Islami Tehrik Pakistan, Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, Jamiatul Furqan, Jamiatul Ansar, Hizbul Tahreer, Khairunnas International Trust, Islamic Students Movement and Balochistan Liberation Army. Jamaatud Dawa Pakistan and Sunni Tehrik are on a watch list. So they can collect the hides and the bucks that go with selling them. The sources said that intelligence reports submitted to the Interior Ministry warned that members of banned militant and religious outfits would try to collect hides of sacrificial animals under fake names. The militants would ask the khateebs (prayer leaders) of their sects to appeal to people in their areas to collect hides for the welfare of poor students getting religious education there, the sources said. However, the fear is that money from the hides would be used to finance terrorist activities. The provinces have also been asked to issue directives to district authorities to keep an eye on 570 prayer leaders who, under Section 11EE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, are not allowed to leave their areas during Eidul Azha, the sources said. The Interior Ministry has also directed the authorities concerned of the four provinces and the district administration of Islamabad to mobilise officials of the Special Branch of the police to keep an eye on members of banned militant organisations, the sources said.

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Southeast Asia

Indonesian theologian sez pesantren can counter negative image of Islam

2006-02-18

Dr. Hosham Dawod, an Islamic theologian of Iraqi descent, was on a tour to five Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, in East Java recently with the aim of repairing the negative image toward Islam. The theologian's visit to the Tebuireng Islamic boarding school in Jombang on Tuesday attracted the attention of students. Those, who were engrossed in reciting the Koran at the school's mosque, stopped to closely watch him leisurely walking toward the custodian's residence, KH Yusuf Hasyim, the youngest son of KH Hasyim Asy'ari, founder of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim organization. "I'm here to discuss with scholars about many things, including Islamic teachings, which originated from the Middle East," said Dawod, who was accompanied by Emanuel Subangun from the Ganesha Foundation in Jakarta and Hery Haryanto, executive board chairman of the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement (PMII). The other four Islamic boarding schools visited by Dawod, who resides in Paris, were Ngalah in Pasuruan, Darul Ulum and Manbaul Ma'arif in Jombang and Lirboyo in Kediri. Dawod's visit is connected to the currently declining image of Muslims around the world, since terrorists, who claimed they were acting on behalf of Islam, hijacked planes and crashed them into buildings in New York City and Washington, DC on Sept. 11, 2001. Since that tragic day, Islam, which means "religion of salvation", cannot be separated from terrorism, especially when Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network who was allegedly responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, has repeatedly carried out terror acts in the name of Islam. A number of bomb attacks that claimed the lives of hundreds in Indonesia have been perpetrated by similar means: Bali in 2002 and 2005, and the Hotel JW Marriott and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. The attacks were purportedly perpetrated by the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network, one of al-Qaeda's offshoots in Southeast Asia. Dr. Azahari -- killed during a raid in East Java three months ago -- and Noordin Top are said to be the masterminds behind these terror acts. The negative image of Islam, according to Dawod, is due to the attitude of Muslims themselves. In Europe, for instance, the image that has already been smeared by various incidents has been exacerbated, especially when Muslims demand a revision in the legal systems. "Of late, Muslims in European countries have called for a change in the judicial system, which they maintain should be more accommodating to Muslims' interests," Dawod, a theological researcher at the Centre Nationale Research Scientifique (CNRS), told The Jakarta Post. That is clearly not a wise move, especially as the judicial system in Europe has been enacted without accommodating interests of Islam since the beginning, when Islam had yet to exist on the European continent. Only years after the legal system was established, did Muslim migrant workers arrive in Europe. Dawod disclosed that in general, dialogs between Muslims and European governments were needed to enhance better understanding among both parties. Muslims, he explained, need to decide whether they want to understand and be aware that the legal system existed before the presence of Islam in Europe, or choose to return to their homeland or migrate to countries that are more accepting of Islam. On the other hand "European countries should be aware that they need to refurbish their legal system because there are a large number of Muslims whose rights should be considered," he asserted. The education systems used at pesantren in Indonesia, according to Dawod, can be used as a model to enhance understanding between Islam and non-Muslims. "I was amazed to find non-Muslim students and a number of foreign uztad (Islamic teachers), at the Pondok Ngalah pesantren in Pasuruan," said Dawod. Of the 8,000 students studying at the pesantren, 25 of them are non-Muslims and three of the teachers are Australians. "Its open attitude toward other faiths is a beneficial step to creating better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims," said Dawod. Custodian of the Ngalah pesantren, KH Sholeh Bahruddin, disclosed the school's decision to accept non-Muslim students and the opportunity given to Australian teachers to teach there was an attempt to bolster religious tolerance. "Many non-Muslims visit our school to have dialogs on many issues. They are our friends too," said Sholeh. According to Sholeh, Muslims throughout the world believe that humans originated from one creation, Adam and Eve. "So, we're all brothers and sisters, and there's no reason for us to become enemies," he said. Caretaker of the Darul Ulum pesantren in Jombang, M. Zahrul Ashar Asumta, was of the opinion that visits by foreigners to Indonesia to see the education system in Islamic boarding schools first hand was an important step for the development of Islam, because the pesantren teaches many things in life based on religion, and far from the fearful image perceived by the West so far. "The perception of Islam should be straightened out," Zahrul, who is also the son of Darul Ulum's founder, KH As'ad Amar.

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