From: imnet2@max.u.washington.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (28th)
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:19:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: max.1992Aug28.111951.1

***************************************************************************
*     IN THIS ISSUE:                                                      *
*                   - NEWS UPDATE (AUG.28th)                              *
*                   - READERS' COMMENTS ( FROM ARUN)                      *
*                   - EDITORS' NOTE                                       *
*                   - ANNOUNCEMENTS                                       *
***************************************************************************
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% NEWS UPDATE:

OCCUPIED PALESTINE
The Israeli occupation force in the West Bank shot and killed three
persons in a raid on a house in Jenin on August 26. The commanding
officer of the Israeli undercover unit, that specializes in
extrajudicial executions, was also killed.
Two young babies, 1 and 3 years old respectively, were seriously
wounded.
The attack occurred when the zionists stormed a house in Jenin at
1 am. The Palestinians inside returned fire and shot dead
the commander of the zionist execution squad.
The woman of the house, Ala Alawneh, was killed and her two young
daughters were seriously wounded.
The two Palestinian youths who were shot dead were Ibrahim Said
Zreiki, 21, and Ibrahim Salman Ibrahim Jalamnah, 18.
Since the zionists launched their policy of extrajudicial executions,
at least 35 Palestinian youths have been shot dead by the zionists
in various parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Most have been executed by attacking them from behind. The zionist
occupation regime has allowed its army to shoot Palestinians
without warning if they are suspected of carrying weapons.
This has been used by soldiers to shoot young children or
attack youths who are suspected of carrying stones that they
might throw at the zionists' jeep or armoured personnel
carrier.
Hurting the zionists' armoured personnel is clearly a crime punishable
by execution in the "only democracy" in the Middle East.  

LEBANON
The next round of elections will proceed as planned next Sunday despite
protests by several ministers who have either lost their seats or are
in danger of losing.
President Elias Hrawi rejected the postponement call on August 26
despite the fact that his eldest son lost a safe family seat from
Zahle in the first round.
Hussein al-Husseini, speaker of the Lebanese parliament, who was one
of the strongest advocates of elections, suddenly turned against
them when he lost his own seat in the Baalbek area.
The Hizbullah did exceedingly well in the area, reflecting its
popular support.
Foreign minister Faris Buwaya and telecommunications minister Georges
Saadeh, resigned from the cabinet because president Hrawi did not
cancel the elections as they had demanded.
Buwaya is the president's son-in-law while Saadeh heads the
Phalange Party, the party of the Maronite Christians who have held
disproportionate power in Lebanon since 1943.
Under the artificially-arranged parity by the French colonialists,
the Maronites were considered equal in number to the Muslims.
In the division of power, the constitution stipulated that the
president must always be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister
a Sunni Muslim and speaker of parliament always a Shi'i Muslim.
The cabinet was weighted in favour of the Christians 6 to 5.
The defence portfolio was always held by the Christians as was the
post of militarychief.
This artificial division of power worked against the Muslim
majority. That explains why the various Christian warlords
were more eager to  start a war than to hold an election or
arrange for a census in the country.
The 15-year-long bloody civil war that raged in Lebanon was the
direct result of the Christians' machinations who refused to
allow a fair distribution of power.
Their opposition to the current round of elections springs from
the same desire.
Whether the elections will change anything in Lebanon is hard to
predict at this time, but one thing is certain: the first round
has already shown that the Hizbullah enjoy far greater support
in the country than anyone was prepared to admit so far.

ALGERIA
The Algerian military junta has responded to the August 26 bomb
explosion at Algiers airport in characteristic style. It has
ordered even more repressive measures that have reduced Algeria
to its sorry state in the first place.
Nine people were killed and more than 100 injured when a powerful
bomb exploded at the airport.
The military junta has suspended all civil liberties and banned
elections following the massive victory in the first round by the
Islamic Salvation Front. Many of its top leaders are languishing
in jail.
Despite the oppression, the people have shown their support for
the Islamic Salvation Front.
Attacks against government installations as well as personnel
are continuing, indicating that the people are resisting the
military regime.
The country's economy also appears to be in shambles because the
regime cannot plan any policy as its time and resources are
consumed by suppressing the people.
The only choice facing the junta is to bow to the people's will
and not fight it. Its present policy can only lead to disaster.

BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
There has been much talk at the London conference but no specific
solutions to the terror that the people of Bosnia are subjected
to by the marauding Serbs.
Western leaders as well as the UN secretary general, have
simply concentrated on the humanitarian aspect of the tragedy and
talked of tightening sanctions against Serbia, in other words,
a green light to the Serbs to continue their barbaric
practices.
Only Turkey and Bosnia called for military intervention to stop the
Serbs' murderous assaults.
Western media reports have started to hail the London Conference
as a major breakthrough. One wonders, for whom? The Serbs
have not stopped shelling Sarajevo or killing innocent people.
On August 27, another breadline was hit by four shells killing
seven people and injuring scores of others.
In another interesting development, George Kenney, chief of the
Yugoslavia desk at the US State department, resigned his post
because he accused the US government of deliberately ignoring
proper solutions to end the Balkan tragedy.
Kenney resigned on August 25 saying that the US government
refused to consider options that would secure peace in the
region.
He said that the Bush administration had deliberately exaggerated
the danger of involvement and the costs it might incur.
Kenney said that it was unfair to block the flow of weapons
to Bosnia when it was faced with such an onslaught from
Serbia.
He cited an example of how the US ducked responsibility for
several weeks when reports of Serbian atrocities against
innocent civilians surfaced.
Kenney said that while it is true that the US did not have
independent confirmation of these reports but the US
made no effort whatsoever to verify them. It could easily
have done so.
The reason why the US and the UN did not do anything, according
to Kenney, was that then they would be obliged, under the
Genocide Convention, to act. This neither the UN nor
the US wanted to do. Thus, the US and the UN actually became
accessories to the crimes being perpetrated by the Serbs.

AFGHANISTAN
A temporary ceasefire announced by the interim administration in
Kabul on August 27 was shattered when rockets slammed into
Kabul airport on August 28.
One of three Russian planes sent to evacuate their diplomats,
was hit and destroyed at Kabul airport.
Two other planes managed to fly out, taking about 200 diplomats
and their families.
Another 50 Russian embassy staff and family members are left in
Kabul.
An attempt by the government of Pakistan to arrange a ceasefire
so that talks could be arranged between the warring factions,
also appeared doomed.
*******COURTESY OF CRESCENT INTERNATIONAL, The newsmagazine of the global  
         Islamic  Movement. Phone # (416) 474-9292, Fax (416) 474-9293.
ADDRESS: 300 Steelcase Road West, Unit8, Markham, Ontario, L3R 2W2 Canada.
**************************************************************************
EVENT SCAN ###############################################################
*************READERS' COMMENTS:

From:   IN%"ARUN@MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU" 23-AUG-1992 16:19
To:     imnet2@MAX.U.WASHINGTON.EDU

Hi,

        This is in response to an item posted in Islamic World News(21st).
I think that the facts and opinions expressed in this item about Kashmir
are one sided, inaccurate and biased.

>The State of Jammu and Kashmir has been in the throes of an uprising for
>nearly three years. The Indian occupation forces that number some 650,000,
>have carried out a brutal campaign of murder, torture and rape.
>Human rights organizations have reported at least 35,000 deaths, 56,000
>people imprisoned and thousands of women gang-raped by the Indian
>occupiers, over the last three years.

        And ofcourse you turn a blind eye towards what these kashmiri
terrorists have done to innocent people just because they are not muslims.
Very conveniently you fail to mention that several tens of thousand non-muslims
have been forced to leave the Kashmir valley by these terrorist ( this is also
mentioned in a recent amnesty international report); leaving all their
belongings behind. Many innocent civilian men , women and children have been
killed by these terrorists; why? because they are not muslim. Also you don't
have the courage to mention all the bombing of public places, burning of
public buildings and lot of other terrorist activities that have not only
killed many innocent lives, but also paralysed the economy of the whole state
of Kashmir because no one wants to go to that beautiful state anymore which has
been turned into a battle field by these terrorists.  Keep in mind that tourism
used to the biggest source of income in Kashmir. By ruining the economy in this
way, the terrorists have committed an unforgivable crime of putting hundreds of
thousands of people of Kashmir into poverty, misery and insecurity. 

>The Kashmiris demand the right to hold a referendum, as enshrined in
>numerous UN security council resolutions, to determine their own future.
>The Indians refuse to honour their pledge made in this regard to the world
>as well as to the Kashmiri people. Hence, the current uprising.

        There are two points that should be clarified here:

1. NOT ALL KASHMIRIS DEMAND A REFERENDUM. Although muslims are in a majority in
Kashmir, there are lot of Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists in Kashmir  who don't
want any such thing as seperation from India or any referendum. It is a fact
that the current insurgency in Kashmir is almost completely ISLAMIC and
motivated by political interests. You must have read the reports of various
Kashmiri millitant groups fighting among themselves. This kind of thing casts
doubt over "noble" cause behind this insurgency. And even among muslim
Kashmiris , not all of them support this terrorism. Many of them support it
because of the fear of the terrorists, and not because they want it.

2. As far as the UN resolution goes, please go back and read the history once
more. Long time ago, Nehru, the then prime minister of India, DID AGREE TO HOLD
THE REFERENDUM, BUT PAKISTAN DECLINED TO FULLFILL ONE OF THE CONDITIONS FOR THE
REFERENDUM; NAMELY TAKING ITS TROOPS OUT OF KASHMIR VALLEY BEFORE THE
REFERENDUM COULD BE HELD. Clearly the reason was that Pakistan knew that if the
referendum was held at that time, All the Kashmiris would like to join India
and Pakistan would lose Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. That's why they hampered the
referendum at that time. So it's not Indias fault that the referendum could not
be held.

        And ofcourse, holding the referendum now would be meaningless, because
of the terorist fear and false propaganda in Kashmir. How can you expect people
to vote freely and honestly when there is a gun behind them? I don't really
oppose the referendum, It should only be held after THERE IS PEACE IN THE
VALLY,  PEOPLE ARE NOT AFFRAID OF ANY TERRORISTS AND AFTER ALL THE PEOPLE WHO
WERE FORCED TO LEAVE THE VALLY HAVE COME BACK.

>India stubbornly clings to the fiction that Kashmir is its integral
>part even if the Kashmiris hate their guts.

KASHMIR IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF INDIA. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IT GO THERE AND SEE
FOR YOURSELF. JUST BECAUSE A FEW PEOPLE ARE ON THE PATH OF TERRORISM, YOU CAN
NOT CONCLUDE THAT ALL KASHMIRIS HATE INDIA. IT SEEMS YOU HAVE BEEN GETTING A
LOT OF BIASED NEWS.


>##########################################################################
>*------- Note to contributors and readers:  
>   ****Islam, as a universal Religion, forbids any sorts of racial 
>bigotry; country names are to be used for and understood as a mere designation
>of the geographical locations. Criticisms are for that particular system
>or power structure and NOT the people. 
>__________

        Your news reporting seems to be in complete contradiction with what you
say here. Unless the news reports from both sides are given equal coverage, it
is just propaganda and bad example of journalism. If you are biased in your
reporting like this, why do you blame the west if they are conveniently biased
to preserve their interest. I don't really see any difference.

        Please send me e-mail if you have any comments. Thanks.

-Arun
______________________
_________________
To Arun:
Thank you for your response to our article on Kashmir.
Far from distorting the "facts" as you accuse us of doing, the
article was in fact, quite mild in comaprison with the
reality in Kashmir.

In your response you brought up the following points:
1: "Terrorism" by Kashmiris & bombing of public buildings;
2: Destruction of the Kashmir Economy;
3: Not all Kashmiris demand a referendum;
4: India did not hold a referendum because Pakistan "refused" to
   withdraw its forces from the Kashmir Valley; &
5: You will support the referendum idea only when "peace" has
   been achieved in Kashmir.

Item 1
It is said that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.
No doubt, we have this situation in Kashmir as well.

But we need to ask: WHO IS TERRORISING WHOM?

India maintains an occupation army of 650,000 in Kashmir.
This is nearly 50 percent of the entire Indian army. The occupation
force in Kashmir is made up of the regular army, the Border
Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF).
Most of the Indian army is deployed in Srinagar, the capital of
Kashmir. Srinagar had a total population of 1 million before the
latest uprising. Now it is much less, thanks to the slaughter
perpetrated by the Indian occupation forces and the
migration of people out of fear of attacks by
the occupation forces.
Even if we consider the city's population to be 1 million, it
means that India maintains one soldier for every three persons
in the city, since there are believed to be 300,000 troops
in the capital.
Surely, this is an incredibly high number and would belie the
claim that only a "handful" of people are opposed to
Indian occupation.

As far as the "flight" of non-Muslims out of Kashmir is concerned,
let us look at some Indian newspaper reports.
ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY, DELHI (March 31, 1990) carried
the following from their reporters -- Tapan Bose, Dinesh Mohan,
Gautam Navlakha & Samanta Banerjee (note: they are all non-Muslims!).
"In srinagar, we met a number of Hindu families who had stayed
back. During a visit to Bal Gardens on March 13, we met a
cross-section of local people including Hindus, Muslims &
Sikhs. We met the Hindus separately and all of them told us
that they had not faced any threats from the militants, and
were on the best of terms with their Muslim neighbours..."
(pp.654-655).

"The Hindus we interviewed declined to comment about why
the other Hindus had migrated to Jammu and Delhi....
"During our conversations with individual Muslims or groups
of Muslims, or in encounters with Muslim demonstrators, we
never found them speaking against Hindus, their main ire
being directed solely against the Indian government and the
Indian para-military forces." (p.655).

One must therefore, have much more precise proof than simple
accusations of the Muslims' anger being directed against
innocent non-Muslims.
Similarly, one must have more precise details as to which
public places have the so-called "terrorists" attacked?

Here is a list of places that the "civilised" Indian
security forces have attacked and destroyed:

October 1, 1990: In the town of Handwara, nearly 600 houses
                 were set on fire by the occupation forces.
                 The town's fire brigade was prevented from
                 putting out the fire; 17 people were killed in
                 the fire (Details BBC World Service; October 2, 1990)
Ocotber 7, 1990: 734 houses set on fire in Srinagar and
                 37 people killed, most of them burned alive
                 in their homes; among them a six-month pregnant
                 woman, Shamima, and a nine-year-old boy,
                 Yusuf Dar. The boy had managed to escape from his
                 burning house when he was thrown back into the
                 inferno by Indian soldiers.
(For details, see Reuters report October 9, 1990 from Srinagar;
also THE TIMES,London October 10, 1990 &
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, October 22, 1990).

February 23/24, 1991
The village of Kunan Pushpura in the district of Handwara,
was attacked by 800 soldiers of the 4th Rajput Rifles of the
68th Infantry Brigade.
At least 53 women ranging in age from 13 to 80 were gang-raped
by the soldiers of this elite Indian army unit. What possible
security purpose was involved or accomplished?
Among the victims was 21-year-old Zarifa Bano, who was raped by
seven soldiers even though she was in the last days of her
pregnancy.
Four days later she gave birth to a boy, whose arm had been
broken when one of the soldiers kicked her in the womb.
Many women were raped in front of their children.
(For details, see THE INDEPENDENT, London, March 19, 1991;
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS MAY 1991; OCTOBER 1991;
& MAY 25, 1992. New York-based ASIA WATCH also reported
these and other horrible details of Indian security
forces' crimes in their release of May 5, 1991).

NO CRIMES BY MILITANTS, HOWEVER SERIOUS, CAN JUSTIFY THE GANG-RAPE OF
INNOCENT WOMEN IN REMOTE KASHMIRI VILLAGES.

It is to the eternal shame of India that its soldiers are invloved
in such heinous crimes. So far, the Hindu governor of Kashmir,
Garesh Saxena, has ordered 17 inquiries into such crimes but not
one soldier has been disciplined, much less dismissed.

2: Kashmir's Economy
It is true that Kashmir's economy lies in shambles but the people
of Kashmir had enjoyed a thriving Fruits & Handicrafts economy
for many years before India came to destroy it.
The implanting of a tourist economy was a deliberate ploy
to destroy the Muslim culture of Kashmir.
After all, tourism encourages prostitution, gambling and
drinking, all activities condemned by the Islamic faith. The
overwhelming majority of the people who are Muslims, do not want
to live off such filthy things. In fact, they are glad to get
rid of the vestiges of such corrupting practices.
Kashmir's economy was in such shambles even before the latest
uprising that thousands of Kashmiris, holding masters degrees,
were forced to work as waiters in restaurants and hotels for
lack of suitable job opportunities.
I am sure they will not regret losing such humiliating jobs.
Incidentally, Indian health officials have become quite
alarmed at the rapidly spreading AIDS epidemic in such cities
as Bombay, Agra and Delhi, favourite places for tourists to
visit. The Kashmiris will be glad to be spared such
horrible fate.
    
3: "Not everyone in Kashmir demands a referendum"
Whether this statement is true or false can only be verified
when a referndum is held. After all, if the majority of
people are opposed to the referendum, all India has to do is
to hold one under international auspices and have the
matter settled once and for all.
This was incidentally the challenge posed by Jay Prakash Narayan,
the former president of the Indian National Congress and a
leading human rights activist. In an article published in the
HINDUSTAN TIMES, Delhi, on April 20, 1965, about Kashmir,
he wrote:
"If we are so sure of the verdict of the people, why are we
so opposed to giving them another opportunity to reiterate it.
The answer given is that this would start the process of
disintegration of the country. The assumption behind the
argument is that the states of India are held together by
force and not by the sentiment of a common nationality. It is
an assumption that makes a mockery of the Indian nation and a
tyrant of the Indian State."

4: No referendum was held because Pakistan "refused" to
   pull its forces from the Kashmir Valley.

This is, of course, the line given by Indian propaganda in
order to hide its own crime in the matter, namely, reneging on
a promise made repeatedly at the United Nations as well as to
the people of Kashmir.
The first Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru reiterated this
pledge until 1954. At no stage did he say that India could not
hold a referendum because Paksitan had "refused" to withdraw its
forces from the rest of Kashmir.
It must be racalled that India occupies two-thirds of Kashmir, the
overwhelming majority of whom are Muslims. In the Pakistani part of
Kashmir there is no uprising and there never has been for the simple
reason that they are part of a country that they would like to be in.
It is in the Indian-occupied Kashmir that there have been frequent
uprisings demanding referendum.
If India is really serious about honouring its pledge to hold a
referendum, a solution to the problem could easily be found.
Both India and Pakistan could withdraw their forces from
Kashmir and allow UN forces to organize a referendum there.
This would alleviate any charges of intimidation by all sides.
If this is acceptable to India, the people of Kashmir would
be glad to accept this.
The fact of the matter is that India and its apologists
use these phoney arguments in order to divert attention from the
real issue: the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by the
India and the brutalization of the Kashmiris by Indian troops.

5: You will support the referendum idea, once there is peace.

This is a familiar line. The kind of "peace" that India has in
mind can be dicerned from its policy over the last three
years: "PEACE OF THE GRAVEYARD".
Is it surprising, therefore, that the people of Kashmir are not
willing to submit to such peace?
After all, there was peace prior to the latest uprising three
years ago. India and its apologists never talked about
holding a referendum then. There was plenty of opportunity to do
so. Surely, it could have been done and India might even have
achieved favourable results. But no, it was determined to
deny the people of Kashmir every peaceful means of
expression.
At present, governor's rule has been imposed in the State. It
has been in force since July 1990.
This means the suspension of all civil liberties, the judicial
process and due process of law. The armed thugs that go
by the popular name, the Central Reserve Police Force,
terrorise innocent people. Nobody's life or honour is
safe.
The governor's rule has been used as a convenient cover by India
to ban most foreign journalists, especially television
cameras, from entering the State.
If India is not involved in committing any crimes against
innocent people, and that only the so-called "terorists" are
involved, why not let the International media come and
see for themselves?
I do not believe that the world's media has any particular
sympathy for the Muslims. In fact, it is India that is the
darling of the west what with its "non-violent" nonsense and
the myth of "the largest democracy in the world". The
largest concentration camp in the world would perhaps be
a more apt description.
Finally, if India is really innocent and it is only a handful of
terrorists who are doing all these terrible things, why
has Amnesty International been kept out of Jammu and Kashmir?
Indeed, why has Amnesty not been allowed to visit India since
1978?
What is India so scared of? Surely, Amnesty has not been
inflitrated by "Islamic fundamentalists"? 
The real measure of what the Kashmiris think of the Indians
can be gauged from the graffiti on the walls.
The most common slogan is:

INDIAN DOGS GO HOME!

In the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, calling someone a "dog" is the
ultimate insult.
Are the Indians listening, or will they have to be driven
out of Kashmir by force?

A final note, we've never claimed that our news is `news for the sake of news'
rather our reports were a live voice of those who who wish that the world
recognize their fundamental rights no more no less. At least so far, with our
biased reports have proven that we have nothing to hide and will have greater 
respect for anyone who do the same instead of hiding behind the pretty sounding 
slogans that do us no good but increasing the gap of distrust as a product of
the modern politics. Having said this, our criticism is not limited to the 
government of india, but to all  governments and politicians who disregard
human dignity.
____________
THE EDITORS
(IWN)
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*------- Note to contributors and readers:  
   ****Islam, as a universal Religion, forbids any sorts of racial 
bigotry; country names are to be used for and understood as a mere designation
of the geographical locations. Criticisms are for that particular system
or power structure and NOT the people. 
__________
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