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Bangladesh
Some politicians helped Lashkar put down roots
2009-08-11
[Bangla Daily Star] Besides the local chapter of Huji, some political leaders have been helping Pakistan-based militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to operate in Bangladesh.

Investigators learned about the political patrons from two recently-detained LeT operatives and Indian nationals--Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali. They are now working to gather more about them, said sources in the intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Officials involved in the ongoing crackdown on militants said they have information that some politicians might have been sheltering LeT cadres as per secret deals with the terrorist group.

Though law enforcers had detained several LeT operatives in the past, they formally admitted the outfit's existence here only last month after the Detective Branch of police arrested Obaidullah and Mansur. Before that, they had been denying reports about foreign militants ensconced in the country.

A former investigator of the Rapid Action Battalion told these correspondents earlier that they had come to know about the existence of LeT and at least seven of its political patrons in Bangladesh during the last BNP-Jamaat-led government rule. But they could not carry the investigation through as they had limitations with the four-party alliance in power.

Sources said investigators are confirmed that banned Islamist outfit Harkatul-Jihad-al Islami, Bangladesh, has all along been backing LeT operations here.

The local political links became a focus of the investigation after names of some political leaders came up during interrogations of the detained Lashkar men.

DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam who leads the agency's drive against militancy said, "We are now verifying the information and names we've got from the detained Lashkar leaders."

He, however, would not say anything about identity of the political leaders suspected of aiding and abetting LeT in Bangladesh.

Sources close to DB say some of the suspects are local level leaders of a political party and some are quite prominent at national level.

Investigators would also examine if any of the political patrons of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh are involved in any foreign militant organisation like LeT.

The law enforcers hope they will be able to make headway towards unearthing the LeT's political patrons once they capture some other Lashkar men in the country.

Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mansur meantime disclosed that their organisation has been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years. They also said local LeT operatives have links to the network of absconding Indian underworld don Daud Ibrahim and Huji Bangladesh leaders.

Both the detainees had been teaching at local madrasas since their illegal entrance to Bangladesh in 1995.

"Obaidullah had been organising Bangladeshi youths for jihad on instructions from Ameer Reza, an Indian holed up in Pakistan," DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque told newsmen after Obaidullah's arrest.

Talking to reporters while being paraded before the media, Obaidullah said four other most wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh. Following up information obtained from him, DB police arrested LeT leader Mansur Ali from Dakkhin Khan area in the capital on July 22.

Mansur told reporters at the DMP headquarters that he had close relations with local Huji top brass including Mufti Hannan, Abdur Rouf, Abu Taher and Sheikh Abdus Salam
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Bangladesh
Mansur Ali wanted by US too
2009-07-22
[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Indian national and Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali is on two lists prepared by the intelligence agencies of India and the US for his involvement in militancy, sources said.

According to sources, Mansur's position is 16th on the list prepared by the US. A total of 280 names of militants who took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir are on the US list while another 77 militants on the Indian list.

DB sources said they have collected the two lists from two countries recently.

The listed militants are the citizen of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa, sources added.

Sources said some 13,000 Bangladesh nationals were Afghanistan and Kashmir war veterans.

According to the sources, hailing from Padmapukur village under Bagdah Police Station in North 24 Pargana district of West Bengal, Mansur came under Indian intelligence observation after Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), which works together with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, founder Asif Reza Khan and some of his close aids were arrested from Gujrat and later killed in an encounter with the Indian law-enforcers in 1994.

Asif Reza and his associates were arrested from a meeting. But Mansur, however, had managed to flee, sources said.

Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam of DB-South told The Daily Star that Mansur had regular communications with Pakistani leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba and ARCF.

Besides, he had close links to the senior leaders of Harkatul Jihad al Islam (Huji) in Bangladesh and also to the network of international mafia don Daud Ibrahim.

Monirul Islam also said "Mansur had also contact with Daud Ibrahim's close aid Indian national Zahid Sheikh and Daud Merchant."

Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh were arrested from the country about two months back.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, detained Indian militant Mansur admitted that he is one of the most wanted Indians and he knows a number of Huji leaders in the country as they were his fellow fighters in the two wars.
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Bangladesh
Another Lashkar man captured
2009-07-22
[Bangla Daily Star] Detective Branch of police has arrested another Indian national linked to Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the capital.

The arrestee, Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali, was also an organiser of Asif Reza Commando Force, the terrorist outfit responsible for the attack on American Centre in Kolkata on January 22, 2002.

DB police claim they made the arrest swooping on a madrasa in Dakkhin Khan area on Monday night.

They carried out the raid following up information gleaned from Mufti Obaidullah, an Indian and LeT operative captured in Dhaka recently.

Mansur was paraded before the media at the DB headquarters yesterday.

DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam said the militant leader entered Bangladesh illegally from India in 1995. Under the alias Habibullah, he worked as teacher in different Islamic seminaries.

Before joining Madrasatur Rahman at Saodagarbari of Dakkhin Khan, Mansur taught at Nurani Madrasa at Moralimore, Bagharpara Madrasa in Jessore, Porasunda Maktab in Habiganj and Tikarpur Madrasa at Nababganj in Dhaka.

Obaidullah too had been holed up in the country as a madrasa teacher.

An Afghan war veteran, Mansur was above him in the LeT hierarchy.

He told reporters he was a student when he joined the Afghan war against the then Soviet troops.

He said he had close relations with local Huji top brass including Mufti Hannan, Abdur Rouf, Abu Taher and Sheikh Abdus Salam.

He however denied having links to any attacks staged by the Harkatul Jihad al Islami operatives in Bangladesh, another banned Islamist organisation.

Trained in operation of AK-47 assault rifle, machinegun, rocket launcher and anti-aircraft weapons, Mansur returned to India in 1993.

He moved back and forth between Pakistan and Afghanistan after the war ended in 1989.

Back in India, he joined fellow Afghan war returnees in efforts to recruit youths to fight the Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir, read a DB press release.

He came under Indian intelligence watch in 1994.

After arrest, Mansur kept claiming that he is from Shriramkathi village under Jhikargachha upazila in Jessore.

DB officials took him there for crosscheck and found his claim to be false.

DC Monirul said Mansur participated in at least 25 battles in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Daud Merchant, detained Indian underworld operative, gave police leads about the LeT leaders hiding in Bangladesh.

Merchant, a close aide to mafia don Daud Ibrahim, is one of those accused of killing music baron Gulshan Kumar in Mumbai in 1997.

He and his associate Zahid Sheikh were arrested one and a half month ago.
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Bangladesh
Laskar-e-Taiba active in Bangladesh for 14 years
2009-07-18
[Bangla Daily Star] Pakistan based Islamist terrorist organisation Laskar-e-Taiba has been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years, intelligence sources said quoting one of the most wanted Indian terrorists recently captured here. Local leaders of the organisation have links to the network of absconding Indian mafia don Dawood Ibrahim, and also to leaders of other Islamist militant organisations like Harkatul Jihad al Islami Bangladesh (HuJi), the sources added.

The Detective Branch (DB) of police yesterday disclosed that they recently arrested an Indian national who is very much close to Laskar-e-Taiyeba, and also one of the most wanted by the Indian law enforcing and intelligence agencies.
Congratulations!
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque said the arrestee is identified as Mufti Obaidullah, who has been staying in the country since 1995. -"He was arrested from the capital , and was taking preparations for a jihad by organising Bangladeshi mujahids with directives from Ameer Reza, a leader of Kashmir based Laskar-e-Taiyeba, who is an Indian national now staying in Pakistan," the DMP commissioner said.

Obaidullah took part in Afghan conflicts four times. Besides, he was active in militancy in India, in collaboration with militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also collaborated with Islamist militants of Kashmir, Benaras, Punjab, and Hyderabad in India, said the DMP commissioner adding that Obaidullah came to Bangladesh to evade Indian intelligence after the government of that country in 1994 had declared him one of the most wanted.
Clearly the good mufti is a very, very bad man.
DB sources said a team led by Deputy Police Commissioner Monirul Islam of DB-North identified the Indian terrorist on the basis of confessions made by another detained Indian national Daud Merchant, a close aide to Daud Ibrahim and one of the main accused in the killing of music baron Gulshan Kumer. Daud Merchant and his associate Zahid Sheikh, who is also an Indian, were arrested in Bangladesh a month and a half ago.

According to the sources, Mufti Obaidullah has a PhD degree on fatwa from Deobandh Madrasa in India, and he was a teacher at Jamiatul Sunnah Madrasa of Shibchar upazila in Madaripur since 2003.
But we all know what PhD means, and what PhDs know. ("Piled higher and deeper." and "More and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing at all").
In June 1995 he came to Bangladesh, took up a fake name, Abu Zafar, and started teaching in different madrasas in Monirampur of Jessore, in Shrimangal of Moulvibazar, and at Tikirpur Jamia Mahmudia Madrasa in Nawabganj of Dhaka.

He took part in the previous Afghan war in 1988 while he was a student. In 1990, he took part in the ensuing Afghan conflict for the second time, when he was trained in operating a wide range of light and heavy weapons like machinegun, anti-aircraft gun, BM-50 canon, rocket launcher, and mortar. In 1991, he re-joined the conflict for the third time and visited various war camps as a veteran fighter. Finally in 1992 he took part in that ever morphing conflict for the last time.

Talking to reporters yesterday in detention, Obaidullah said he came to Bangladesh only to hide, and brought his family into the country later. He admitted that he is one of the most wanted in India, and said four other most wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh.

"In 1994, Indian commandos went to West Bengal from Delhi by helicopters to arrest me, but I managed to evade arrest and later left India," Obaidullah added.

He said he knows many leaders of Bangladeshi Islamist terrorist groups, but denied carrying out any militant activity in the country. He however did admit to being active in the Islamist terrorist movement in India.

He also said he has a number of friends and well wishers in the country who are former students of Deobandh Madrasa.

He also managed to get a Bangladeshi national identity card, and cast votes in several elections, Obaidullah said.
The ACORN people will be mad with jealousy when they hear about him.
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Bangladesh
DawoodŽs agents received money from Pakistan
2009-06-09

[Bangla Daily Star] Detectives have found a good deal of money transactions from Pakistan to the arrested accomplices of underworld crime boss Daud Ibrahim through Western Union Money Transfer.
Whoops!
Investigation Officer (IO) of the case Inspector Mohammad Ashraf Hossain said one Fahim Mach Mach alias FM
FM being so much cooler an alias than the more accurate FMM.
had recently sent Tk 1.5 lakh to National Bank, Mohammadpur branch. Abdul Rouf Daud Merchant, Zahid and Arif Hossain used to collect the money on monthly basis, he added.

Assistant Commissioner (AC) Mohammad Mohibul Islam Khan of Detective Branch (DB) of police told The Daily Star that they would officially send letters to National Bank and Western Union to provide the names of people who received the money.
Oh dear. Not good for those who were suddenly much wealthier.
AC Mohibul said Daud Ibrahim and Chhota Shakil had been trying to establish their stronghold in Bangladesh after their crime empires in India, Pakistan, Dubai and Iran.

IO Asharaf said they are investigating whether the employees of Western Union Money Transfer and National Bank had any link with the gang while disbursing the amounts.

However, quoting bank sources he said they disbursed the money after identifying the men concerned by examining their national identity cards.

The IO said they had submitted a prayer to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner for transferring the four arrestees including Kamal to the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell.

With the latest arrest of Arif the DB has so far arrested three Indian nationals and their Bangladeshi host Kamal.
So much for Bangladeshi generosity.
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Bangladesh
Some politicians helped Dawood spread crime web
2009-06-08
[Bangla Daily Star] Detectives have found some political leaders and influential people in Bangladesh to have close relations with international mafia don Daud Ibrahim.

The police suspect the influential people maintain close link with Daud to get his support in expanding their businesses in Dubai, a stronghold of the Mumbai-based mafia don.

"The names of a number of political leaders and influential people surfaced during interrogation of two detained accomplices of Daud. We're now verifying what kinds of relations they maintain with him," Deputy Commissioner (DC) Monirul Islam of Detective Branch (DB) told The Daily Star.

He however refused to reveal the names and identities of the influential people at this stage of investigation.

Meanwhile, the detectives arrested another accomplice of Daud Indian national Arif Hossain at Krishi Market in Mohammadpur in the city Saturday night.

The police have so far arrested three of Daud's accomplices since May 27 who are either convicted or accused in criminal cases including for murders.

The police claim they came to Bangladesh to accomplish the gang's long-term assignment, but the arrestees say they were just hiding here.

DB sources say the arrested Indian criminals came to Bangladesh at the directive of Chhota Shakil, who is next to Daud Ibrahim. The sources add Shakil handles his network in Bangladesh over cellphone so tactfully that his operatives here even don't know each other.

ARREST OF ARIF
A DB team raided the Krishi Market area after squeezing information out of detained Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh and arrested Arif.

During interrogation at the DB office on Minto Road, Arif said Chhota Shakil sent him Tk 1.5 lakh through Western Union last week to provide legal support to Rauf and Zahid, sources say.

The sources also say Shakil was keeping regular contact with Arif over cellphone to discuss means to free Rauf and Zahid on bail.

Arif was running a meat shop at Krishi Market since he came to Bangladesh and residing at a rented house in Mohammadpur Housing Society.

He told The Daily Star at the DB office that he is accused and arrested in connection with a murder in India. Sakil sent him to Bangladesh in 2001 as he was freed on bail in 2000 after serving around seven years behind bars.

"I received Tk 10,000 per month but after my marriage I am receiving Tk 16,000. In this country I was registered as a voter and was living here as a stranded Birhari."

Arif admitted without hesitation that he and another gangster gunned down Amar Sohana Bhaskar Shethe in Mumbai in 1993 at the directive of Shakil as Shethe allegedly led the damage to the historic Babri Mosque.

He said he was arrested the same year in connection with that murder.

Arif married a Bangladeshi national and the couple has two daughters, he said, adding they are trying to settle in Bangladesh by becoming citizens on Shakil's instruction.
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Bangladesh
Dawood has 20 paid women agents in Bangladesh
2009-06-06
[Bangla Daily Star] Police believe at least 20 women are working in the country to expand the network of international mafia godfather Daud Ibrahim. The investigators are yet to get details of those women and their whereabouts. They suspect that their job was to find and persuade people into the network of the underworld gang.

Chhota Shakil, second-in-command of Daud Ibrahim's gang, used to pay those women through one of his Bangladesh-based gangsters Zahid Sheikh, a Detective Branch (DB) Police source said. Zahid, an Indian national, admitted to investigators that he recently received Tk 4 lakh from India. Investigators said they are now trying to find out the channel through which Zahid received money from India.

Zahid has been hiding in Bangladesh since 2001 and was in Brahmanbaria on May 27 with Abdul Rouf Daud Merchant and their Bangladeshi host Kamal Mian.

Both Daud Merchant and Zahid are on an eight-day remand.

"Checking Zahid's cellphone memory list we have come to know about the 20 women," an investigator told The Daily Star. Wishing anonymity, the investigator said Zahid maintained regular contact and relation with the women but he is yet to give details about them.

"Once we arrest some of the women we will know more about their role and the network of Daud Ibrahim's gang," he said, adding that they suspect that more than 150 highly-paid agents have been working in the country for Daud Ibrahim.

Zahid disclosed sensational information to the investigators. He said Daud Ibrahim visited Khulna area in 1996 but he did not know details of the visit. He said he first met Daud Ibrahim at hotel Sayana in Mumbai. He used to know him as Raja Bhai, the DB official said.

Chhota Shakil maintained the gang so efficiently that the gang members do not even know each other. Giving an instance, the DB official said while Zahid came to the country first through Benapole in 2001, Chhota Shakil sent a man with a blue car to receive him from a place near Zia International Airport in Dhaka.

The man took him to Banani in the capital and from there another man took him to a hotel at Mohakhali where he stayed until he rented a house in Mohammadpur area. Zahid told investigators that he never saw the two persons again during his long stay in the country.

Meanwhile DB police interrogated Brahmanbaria Municipality councillor Faruq yesterday and they will interrogate the mayor of the municipality today. DB sources said councillor Faruq said Kamal Mian, who is known to him, took Daud Merchant to him and told him that Daud Merchant was a resident of the municipality. Councillor Faruq in good faith attested an application without verifying his nationality.
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Bangladesh
Zahid Sheikh held first in 2004, got bail
2009-06-02
[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Indian underworld gangster Zahid Sheikh, a close aide of Indian-born crime boss Daud Ibrahim, along with his Indian accomplice Raju were earlier arrested at Dhaka in March 2004 by Mohammadpur police. Mysteriously, they were released on bails soon after being produced before a Dhaka court.
Did any bank accounts mysteriously grow significantly larger?
Sources from Detective Branch (DB) said Zahid had admitted his escape from India after killing three people in Mumbai eight years ago.

Zahid, however, claimed that he and his associates killed three Shib Sena members in Mumbai for tortures on Muslims, DB officials said.

DB officials also said Zahid had been roving India and Bangladesh -- often without passport -- and maintaining Daud Ibrahim's network in the region under Chhota Shakil's direction.

DB sources said both Zahid and Raju were arrested under section-54 of Criminal Procedure Code on charges of their suspicious movement and activities.

"With such criminal record his bail from the court of law then is still a riddle." Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque told The Daily Star adding, "Another mystery is that how he managed to avoid arrest during his presence in the country."

Asked, the DMP Commissioner said another arrested Indian criminal Abdur Rouf alias Daud Merchant came to Bangladesh under Zahid's supervision. Daud Merchant, a convict awarded lifetime for killing music baron Gulshan Kumer, had been trying to set up a network jointly with Zahid Sheikh.

"We are investigating into what Zahid had been doing and looking for the people he had been maintaining contacts with," Commissioner Shahid said adding, "We are also trying to unearth the reason behind Daud Merchant's intrusion in the country."

A DB source said Zahid disclosed names of some individuals in Dhaka and the detectives are trying to nab them.

Both Daud Merchant and Zahid were arrested at Brahmanbaria on 27 May last along with their Bangladeshi host Kamal.
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Bangladesh
Rauf came to set up Dawood's crime network
2009-05-31
Indian fugitive criminal Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant came to Bangladesh with a mission to expand the illegal empire of Daud Ibrahim, head of a organised crime syndicate in Mumbai. "Detained Rauf came to Bangladesh to set up a network of Daud Ibrahim," Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Huq said, adding, "We will launch an investigation and dig out their network and their Bangladeshi agents."

But both Rauf and Zahid denied the allegation and their link to the Chittagong arms haul. They said that they came just to get holed up to escape the grips of Indian law enforcers.

Meanwhile, Rauf, his sidekick Zahid Sheikh and their Bangladeshi host Kamal were taken on an eight-day remand yesterday. At a press briefing at the office of Detective Branch (DB) of police, the DMP Commissioner said they were trying to find out if Rauf had any link to the smuggling of 10 truckloads of illegal arms and ammunition seized in Chittagong.

Rauf, sentenced to life for killing Indian music baron Gulshan Kumer on Aug 12, 1997, said he has no link to Dawood Ibrahim. But he confessed to his association with Chhota Shakil, a close aide to Dawood Ibrahim. Shakil had advised him to enter into Bangladesh, as it is a Muslim country and assured him that he would take care if something goes wrong, he added.

Another arrested Indian national Zahid also said he has link to Chhota Shakil who gives him Tk 10,000 monthly. Sources said Zahid, a resident of 24 Pargona in West Bengal, escaped from India eight years ago and since then he had been hiding in Bangladesh identifying himself as a Bihari.

Rauf in the first week of this month took shelter at Zahid's Shekhertek residence and later they went to Brahmanbaria on May 21.
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Bangladesh
Daud brought to Dhaka for interrogation
2009-05-30
[Bangla Daily Star] Detective Branch (DB) of Police yesterday brought detained Abdur Rauf Daud Merchant, a close aide to mafia don Daud Ibrahim, and his two accomplices to Dhaka from Brahmanbaria for interrogation. DB police said they are now trying to find out the motives behind his illegal entry into the country.
Snatch a few JMB operatives and ask them, they'll know ...
Rauf was sentenced to life in prison on April 29, 2002 for killing music baron Gulshan Kumar.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Monirul Islam of DB police told The Daily Star, "He has been accused of intrusion, possessing fake passports and posing security threats to the country."

DB police arrested another Indian national Kamal and Bangladeshi citizen Kamal Mia for sheltering him.

During primary interrogation, Rauf said he entered Bangladesh on May 2 after he was released on parole for 14 days on the grounds of his mother's illness.

Asked whether Rauf had any plan for subversive acts, Monirul said they would produce the arrestees before the court today with a prayer for their 10-day remand for interrogation.

Our Correspondent from Brahmanbaria adds: Sadar Police Station yesterday began to verify the fake one-stop passport of Daud Merchant and making preparation to file a case against him in this connection, sources said. Brahmanbaria Sadar Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) said that he had already received the passport-related file of Rauf.

Two months back, Muzahid introduced Abdur Rauf to Kamal. Since then Kamal had been working for them. It is Kamal who helped Rauf to secure a false passport, police sources said.

When contacted, Kamal's wife Ferdousy said, "We did not know that Muzahid and Samir (Abdur Rauf) were bad people. They often used to come to our house and stay for four to six days at a time. My husband helped them in car business.

"I treated them well. I could not understand all their conversations as they talked in Hindi," she added.
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India-Pakistan
Nuggets from the Urdu press
2005-12-31
Resham and Leila go ‘gutham-gutha’
As reported in Khabrain, Pakistan’s top film actresses Resham and Leila quarrelled and fought with each other till skin and hair flew at a local beauty parlour in Lahore. Resham went to the parlour with her sister and found Leila already getting her nails done along with her mother. The two sides started talking but fell out over roles that they had done in a recent movie. Resham’s sister was insulted by Leila’s mother after which the former broke open the skull of the latter. The four became gutham-gutha (fell in a heap). By the time the fight neared its end, fully 11 women were on the floor in a state of violent gutham-gutha. Leila fell on Resham who bit her, after which Leila slapped her hard and banged her head against the wall. After this, the beauty parlour called the police wile Resham called a posse of armed men. Both sides have demanded apology from each other. The press had the opportunity to film the fight.

Police officer awarded in America
Sarerahe in the Nawa-e-Waqt wrote that a Pakistani was awarded a special prize in America for being an ideal officer. He was earlier a police officer in Pakistan but got no such prize. Pakistan should send its entire police force to America so that they improve in performance. Inside Pakistan, the performance of the police is abysmal. The question is: why are Pakistanis such good workers abroad but such poor workers inside Pakistan?

Don’t let the NGOs in!
Ex-ISI chief Hameed Gul wrote in the Jang that NGOs linked to organisations in the West with political agendas should not be allowed to function in Azad Kashmir for reconstruction. On the other hand, ‘ideological’ NGOs alone should be allowed there. With regard to the work of the NGOs, Pakistan will also have to counteract the so-called Pakistani intellectuals working under external prompting.

Forward bloc leader and his past
Writing in the Jang, Chaudhry Fawwad Husain stated that the leader of the PML Forward Bloc Mr Riaz Pirzada began his career from Bahawalpur in 1985 when he lost his MNA seat but won the MPA seat. In 1988, he was in the Nawaz Sharif government but lost the election. He left Nawaz Sharif and joined the PPP but lost the 1990 election again. But in 1993, he won on the PPP ticket but he fell out with Ms Bhutto because she did not make him a minister and joined the Millet Party of Mr Farooq Leghari and finally landed with the PML now in power. He quarrelled with the PML leadership because he was not made minister and was greatly offended when his grouping lost the local bodies polls recently. After that, he has made a Forward Bloc challenging Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, accusing his family of dynastic rule.

Allah is angry!
Reported in Khabrain, the clerics at the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Raiwind said that Allah was angry with Muslims and that was why he had killed 73,000 in the earthquake. This was because the mosques were empty in the country and Muslims were becoming westernised and strangers to their religion. Muslims were relying on sabbab (cause) rather than Rabb (God). Reports complained that no sanitary system was provided for the gathering and people falling ill were not looked after. One thief collected 100 cell phones for recharging but ran away with them. On the last day, the congregation shed tears and mourned the fact that kafirs were dominant over Muslims because the Muslims had turned away from Islam.

Jinns burn tree near Data Darbar
According to Khabrain, a tree near Data Darbar, Lahore, was set alight every year for the past 25 years after the festival of Eid. While the tree burns, people gather around it and are dumbstruck. They resort to praying and asking Allah to forgive their sins and forgive them for forgetting Islam. Eyewitnesses said that the fire was lit by jinns but the tree miraculously survived. Every year, hundreds of people gather to see the spectacle.

The scarf in France
Columnist Ataur Rehman in the Nawa-e-Waqt reproduced the letter of Mirza Imran Beg, who had disagreed with him over the issue of the scarf in France. Writing from France, Mr Beg stated that France had banned all religious markers in schools so that the children could grow up without hating each other for being different. Even the Sikhs are not allowed to wear the turban in schools and the Christians could not wear the cross in school. No one minded this and no one agitated in France as violently as the Muslims did. Ataur Rehman linked the scarf issue to the recent unrest in France.

Bal Thakeray’s divine punishment
Sarerahe in the Nawa-e-Waqt wrote that the most fanatical anti-Muslim Hindu leader of India, Bal Thakeray, was punished when his granddaughter Neha Thakeray married a significantly named Muslim doctor of Mumbai, Dr Muhammad Nabi. The Abu Jehel of India, Bal Thakeray, stood humbled before the ruins of his Somnath at last.

Laloo in trouble
According to the Jang, after losing in elections Bihar politician Laloo Prashad Yadav was in trouble because he had to vacate the house from where his wife Rabri Devi was ruling the state. He was at a loss to solve the problem of his cattle which were sustained by the official residence. He had nine hundred heads of cattle in addition to his own nine children.

Urdu Maqtadara closed down
According to the daily Pakistan, the Urdu Maqtadara (authority), opened some years ago with the task of making Urdu popular in the country and helping towards its enforcement, was shut down in the country because of paucity of funds. Around 500 employees were rendered jobless after the closure. It had ten offices in the four provinces but not much work was being done because the funds had dried up.

Qadianis burnt Sangla Hill churches!
According to the Nawa-e-Waqt, World Pasban Khatm-e-Nabuwwat organised a protest meeting in Sangla Hill, Lahore and Hafizabad, condemning police action against Muslims in Sangla Hill. The organisation claimed that Sangla Hill churches were destroyed by Qadianis and Jews and not Muslims, as alleged by local Christians. In Sangla Hill, mosque loud speakers condemned the Christians who had desecrated the Quran and appealed that a judicial commission be asked to inquire into it. Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nabuwwat in Chiniot condemned the Qadianis for committing atrocities against Muslim ladies. They had earlier got a ‘Qadiani petrol pump’ banned in Chiniot and now wanted Section 144 lifted from the city so that action against Qadianis could be taken. According to Khabrain, the Bishop of Canterbury called on the chief minister of Punjab the same day.

Ayub Khan and his stengun
Writing in the Jang, historian Dr Safdar Mehmood stated that Pakistan’s governor-general Ghulam Ahmad was in the habit of abusing everyone. He once called the incumbent prime minister Bogra from East Pakistan and abused him roundly in Punjabi. He was afflicted with a disease that had given him a speech defect which rendered the curses even more grotesque. Once he called Chaudhry Muhammad Ali who then told the story that as Ghulam Ahmad abused everyone, the army chief Ayub Khan was standing behind a curtain with a stengun in his hand, a proof that Ghulam Ahmad was being abusive because the army was behind him.

Abu Salem and Daud Ibrahim
Writing in Khabrain, Arshad Wirk stated that underworld don Abu Salem who confessed to having done the 1993 bombings in Mumbai had been surrendered to India by Portugal, where he was living on a Pakistani passport. The plot to avenge Babri Mosque was hatched in Dubai between Abu Salem and Daud Ibrahim. Others present were Anees Ibrahim, Muhammad Dossa and Mustafa Dossa. Indian actor Sanjay Dutt was also said to have met Abu Salem in Dubai. He said his relationship with Daud Ibrahim was spoiled by another underworld hood, Chchota Shakeel.

Population of Islamic utopia
The daily Jang published an article by Dr Hamidullah saying that the population of Madina was 10,000 when Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) entered it. Half of this population was Jewish while the rest were the ten tribes of Aws and Khazraj. They were squared off into two fighting factions. The Muslims, including those who came with the Prophet (pbuh), were a few hundred. The population of Madina was made into one nation and thus a utopia was created.

Sarfraz Naeemi on Sangla Hill Christians
The daily Pakistan reported that Maulana Dr Sarfraz Naeemi, secretary general of Tanzimat Madaris Dinia, had declared that the government had paid scant attention to the desecration of the Quran but was rounding up the 88 Muslim citizens of Sangla Hill on the fake charges of destroying the Christian churches. He declared that the Christian clergy had set the churches on fire after the desecration incident and should be put behind bars and not allowed to leave the country. He warned that he was taking a procession to Sangla Hill to get the Muslims released from jail. He protested against religion minister Ijazul Haq’s statement that the Muslims had destroyed the churches. He said that the Quran library was burnt by the Christian clergy with the help of a special incendiary powder first used by Christians in Shantinagar in 1997.
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