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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Zulhijja 1, 1431/ November 8, 2010 # 44

Verse of the Week

"Therefore remember Me, I will remember you, and be thankful to Me, and do not be ungrateful to Me. O you who believe! seek assistance through patience and prayer; surely Allah is with the patient. And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead; nay, they are alive, but you do not perceive. And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient, who when a misfortune befalls them, say: Surely we are Allah's and to Him we shall surely return. Those are they on whom are blessings and mercy from their Lord, and those are the followers of the right course"
--Holy Qur'an, 2:152-156

Submitted by Sis. Abigail


Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz Addresses Jamaat Shoora Council on Zionism and Racism

DrAAS.info

November 6, 2010. Acclaimed mathematician, professor, worldwide traveler and motivator of oppressed communities in Africa and America, Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz addressed the Central Committee (Shoora) of Jamaat al-Muslimeen in Greensboro, North Carolina. He focused on the misuse of education which he said has been instrumental in the justification of racism. "Mind control leads to physical control," said Dr. Shabazz as he carried out a devastating analysis of racism from slavery times till today.

Unimaginable crimes were committed against human beings by the slave owners and traders. The slavers calmly watched the spectacles of horror in which humans were cut to pieces and burned alive. Even into our own times the terminology of the slavers has persisted in words like "picnic" which meant "pick a nigger" to be lynched.

The scapegoating of Obama for unemployment and for the blunders of the Bush administration is a subtle aspect of racism.

Zionism is a form of racism, springing naturally out of European ideas of supremacy. The Zionists call their victims "terrorists" and without any qualms of conscience commit human rights violations against Palestinians. The Zionist idea has dehumanized the Palestinians not unlike the European slavers who thought Black Africans were born to serve the "superior" race.

During his one and a half hour address, Dr. Shabazz supported his arguments about racism and Zionism with scholarly research works and references. The Zionists, he concluded, think like the slavers and believe like them that God is on their side in their ongoing atrocities and genocidal destruction of the Palestinian people.

National Islamic Shoora Gives Unanimous Approval to Dr. Kaukab Siddique as Ameer of Jamaat al-Muslimeen

JamaatAlMuslimeenInternational.org

On November 6, 2010 U.S. Muslims' National Islamic Shoora of Jamaat al-Muslimeen was hosted by Imam Badi Ali in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Shoora gave its unanimous support to Dr. Kaukab Siddique to continue as Ameer of Jamaat al-Muslimeen. The delegates hailed Dr. Siddique's stand against Zionism and condemned the national and international campaign by the alliance of Zionists and right wing extremists against Dr. Siddique.


Jamaat al-Muslimeen Resolutions Express Aspirations of U.S. Muslims 9 Million Strong

Zionism
We must continue to call all people of conscience, Muslims and non-Muslims, to unite against Zionism, confront Zionism and expose Zionism.

Holocaust and other aspects of history
Revisiting or questioning the accuracy of an event in history is not illegal. The process of learning should not exclude the criticism, or re-evaluation or debunking of holocaust reports. Suffering of immense proportions affected many of the nations involved in the Second World War, including Jews, Germans, Russians, Poles and Japanese. No one has a right to exclusive victim status. As for offensive viewpoints, comments and abuse on Jesus, pbuh, in the Zionist media have gone beyond decency, without any attempt at scholarship.

Israel is an Aggressor Entity
We affirm that Israel is a major aggressor and has committed human rights violations and genocide against generations of Palestinians and Lebanese people. Americans need to get beyond the corporate and right wing media, and see Israel as an aggressor entity.

Boycott of Pro-Israel Businesses is a key tool of non-violent resistance
We urge the American people to boycott businesses which support Israel. Among such supporters of Israel are Nestle, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Disney, Home Depot and Estee Lauder. The boycott movement must continue and expand.

Where are the "Muslim" Leaders when Br. Kaukab is targeted by International Zionism and Right Wing Extremism?
When an outspoken Muslim brother, particularly one who has a record of standing up for the oppressed, is himself persecuted by the enemies of Islam, the silence of those who claim to be leaders of the Muslims is an indicator of their true allegiances, and should be noted with great shame by the Ummah.

Gaza is still under Siege
We condemn the continuing siege of Gaza and the Israeli effort to put an entire city into a concentration camp.

US Must Stop Occupation and Interference in Muslim Countries
We demand immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. We urge an end to the occupation of Kashmir by India and of Chechnya by Russia. We call for an end to U.S.-Israeli interference in Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria.

Bombing of Pakistan Violates International Law and Kills civilians
The US has been bombing Pakistani villages with great intensity at the orders of President Obama. Hundreds of civilians have been killed, and mosques and madressas desecrated. The U.S. must stop the bombing. It will only stiffen Pakistani resistance.

Obama Should Release Muslim Political Prisoners
The Muslims of America cannot ignore the imprisonment of innocent Muslims in U.S. prisons where their humanity is degraded and they are treated as sub-human. We urge Obama to issue a general amnesty for political prisoners who are totally innocent such as Homaidan al-Turki of Saudi Arabia. Top Islamic leaders and teachers and associates should be released unconditionally. These includes:

and many others.

Economic Unraveling in America: Israel is sucking US Resources
One in eight Americans are living on Food Stamps, one in ten are unemployed. Our economy should come before that of Israel.

Death Warrant by Missile on Shaykh Awlaki
The US is supposed to be a nation of laws. The "dead or alive" verdict against Shaykh Awlaki is a violation of basic constitutional rights. He is a U.S. citizen and should not be tried by the media.

We condemn the exploitation of women and the demonization of African-American and Mexican populations in the media

Unprecedented Floods and Sunamis and Cholera Epidemic Should be investigated.
There is historic precedent that America used man-made sickness and disasters against helpless people. The tragedies in Guatemala and the Tuskegee experiments, the small pox blankets which decimated Native Americans, were conspiracies which turned out to be fact. Now we have the tsunamies, the unprecedented floods in Pakistan and the cataclysm in Haiti followed by a cholera epidemic. Are these "natural" disasters or man-made assaults on humanity? Where are the scientists who have the courage to investigate.

The report back from the National Shoora will continue in the next issue.


New Trend Exclusive

An Interview with Karima Al-Amin (Part 2 of 2)
By Nadrat Siddique

In the second of this two part interview, Karima Al-Amin, Atlanta-based activist,
attorney, and wife of Imam Jamil Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown), speaks about
her and her husband's conversion to Islam, the effects of Imam Jamil's incarceration on
their family, and the many legal actions undertaken by the imam since his incarceration.
Some of these he initiated without the aid of an attorney. Others were vigorously pursued
by a legal team at a prominent Atlanta law firm, the imam's first truly competent and
committed legal representation, which appeared on the scene a few years after his
conviction.

As I listened to Ms. Al-Amin, I was stunned by the resilience and resolve of the Al-Amins, undaunted by the challenges before them. Against all odds, they'd patiently continued a dignified and peaceful resistance. Most amazingly, they had not restricted themselves to the challenge of wrongs done to Imam Jamil, although this was, in itself, a huge litany. They were tackling the very constitutionality of laws which violated the rights of inmates, political prisoners, and other victims of the prison-industrial complex. In other words, from behind bars, the Imam, his wife at his "side," was fighting to "free the slave"—while many seemingly free imams and others on the outside cowered in fear and silence.

Q: Tell me about Imam Jamil's transition from black radical to mainstream Muslim imam. Did you feel you had to influence him to repudiate or reconstruct that image into a more moderate one?
A: My sister's first husband was a Muslim from the Republic of Guinea. I remember they had a Qur'an on a stand, and they gave us a prayer rug before we were Muslim that we hung on our wall; consequently, that was one of our early exposures to Islam. My husband took his shahada in December 1971, while he was incarcerated in New York City. Brothers from the Dar-ul-Islam in Brooklyn entered the jails as chaplains and volunteers to hold classes on Islam. The transition to Islam was very natural for my husband because it did not compromise any of his positions.

I took my shahada a few months later, in February 1972, when Imam Jamil gave it to me. I still was reading about Islam after he became Muslim because I wanted to make sure I was becoming Muslim based on my belief. It was a natural flow for us to become Muslim. We never felt we had to explain the transition from his past as H. Rap Brown to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, although the transition was confusing for those who did not understand my husband. After El Hajj Malik Shabazz, my husband was the next public figure in the Movement to become Muslim. We then saw other black liberators in the 1970s and 1980s become Muslims.

Q: What made you decide to attend law school?
A: Law was my third profession. Here in Atlanta, I worked for a 15-year period with two foundations giving money to grassroots organizations and working on desegregating public higher education and enhancing the traditionally black colleges and universities.I did not go to law school until 1992, while I was teaching English. When I was in high school, I considered law as a career. My mother worked at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund when Thurgood Marshall was the Executive Director, and lawyers were dispatched to the South to represent students and local people who were being arrested, brutalized,and killed. This certainly influenced my early thoughts on considering law. Also, once I married my husband, I was constantly with William Kunstler and at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, as he and the organization represented my husband. And lastly, the fact that the government was continuing its efforts, COINTELPRO-style,to incarcerate my husband, was another factor that moved me finally to attend.

Q: What did you see as your role in the Al-Amin household?
A: I saw my role as a stabilizing one. I was not making speeches, and I wasn't out there in the public with my husband. I saw my role as maintaining peace at home. I was a teacher during our early years of marriage. My concentration was making sure we could eat together and be together as a family. It always amazed me when we heard people gasp and say, "I saw H. Rap Brown, and he was holding a child," or "I saw the Rap and he was holding a cat." Ordinary things he did shocked people because the media had dehumanized him. When things are moving wildly, it's necessary to have normalcy at home, so I would try to maintain a sense of normalcy in an abnormal world.

Q: What attitude or outlook to life did you adapt after you realized that your husband would be locked up for a long time? What has been your biggest challenge since his railroading?
A: Naturally to be stripped of a husband, a companion, is devastating. Because I came up through the struggle with him, I understood the challenges. Many people refer to my husband as the "last man standing." He was a COINTELPRO target and he has remained one. I understand his innocence, and the governmental efforts to silence him throughout a 43-year period. This gives me the strength to remain strong and by his side.

My biggest challenge was ensuring that I could provide for my family in my husband's absence. I was doing so many pro bono cases that I realized that I had to begin charging for my legal services. I was faced with raising a 12-year old son, who was very close to his father, and I had to monitor the psychological impact on him. He was a basketball son, and accustomed to seeing his father at all of his games since he was five years old. I had to move quickly to maintain his life as a youngster, and I could not miss a basketball game or school activity. My overarching challenge naturally was—and continues to be—to work to free my husband.

Q: Has Imam Jamil's incarceration influenced the career choices of your children? Do you think they will go to law school?
A: We have two children: Kairi and Ali. Kairi is 22 and Ali is 31. Kairi is in law school. He is in his second year, but wants to practice, perhaps, entertainment/sport or international contractual law. He graduated from high school when he was 16, and went to three universities before graduating, still on time. Kairi was in the eighth grade when his father was arrested, and during the trial he would come to court carrying his backpack. He was a trooper.

Q: Have the children visited their father in Florence, CO? Tell me about that visit.
A: Kairi and I visit Imam Jamil in Florence, Colorado. He is being held in the Supermax prison, 1400 miles away, which makes traveling very costly. It essentially takes a full da to travel there and another day to return home. It's really been a struggle, and we haven't been able to visit as often as we'd like. Florence is seen by many as a concentration camp for Muslim inmates. Imam Jamil is handcuffed at the waist behind a glass when we see him in one of the legal rooms. On the days we are with him, we are able to visit for approximately six hours. If he receives food during the visit, he has to hold his hands chained in front of him in order to eat. It is a very difficult position, and his wrists begin to swell.

The law firm now representing Imam Jamil pro bono also worked on suits for Guantanamo prisoners. One of their lead attorneys said that if he had to choose between Gitmo and Florence, he would choose Gitmo. Imam Jamil is held in solitary confinement, and Florence is a "no contact" institution, so the conditions are punitive and deplorable.
Q: Imam Jamil's projects to rid the West End community of drugs are well known, as was his mentoring of the youth. Have these projects continued, and what is the extent of your involvement with them?
A: I'm still involved with the community. It's a community I helped start with Imam Jamil and it is dear to me. Many of our children now are active in the community, and taking leadership roles, and it's wonderful to see and feel their energy. We have continued with classes, youth activities, and the Riyaadah that we started in 1982.

Our community under the leadership of my husband always included the youth in our family-oriented activities; therefore, mentoring the youth continues to be a focus.

Q: Do you feel that things have gotten worse in the city since Imam Jamil was locked up?
A: When he was around, there was some vibrancy in the neighborhood. We all miss his presence and his hard work to keep the ills from consuming our community. We can all agree these are drastic times for people, and this is reflected throughout the inner cities. My husband always reminded people that Islam is the medicine for the sick; it is the cure for all society's ailments.

Q: Unfortunately, the number of political prisoners has increased exponentially since your husband went to prison. What is your advice to the current generation of Muslim law students, as to how they should operate within the U.S. justice system? What should be their contribution to the Muslim community?
A: Imam Jamil was instrumental in getting a Muslim lawyer's group started. This was similar to what SNCC [Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee -editor] had,where attorneys represented civil rights workers on a pro bono basis. We have to get more attorneys who would be able to take on cases. Many Muslims who are arrested now have not committed criminal activities, but are arrested for "thought crimes." We need a band of attorneys to be able to represent Muslims who are being entrapped by informants. Family members of those arrested are draining their resources and are receiving minimal assistance from the Muslim community. We need to recognize that the divide-and-conquer strategy is working very well within the Muslim community, with the result that dissent is crushed and support for political prisoners is diminishing. We need activist attorneys to challenge constitutional violations and the unjust arrests so that families will not have to go to court with attorneys who are concerned only with billable hours.

Q: What is the current state of Imam Jamil's case?
A: Imam Jamil was convicted in 2002 on Georgia state charges. He immediately was transferred to the maximum state prison in Reidsville, Georgia, where he was held in administrative lockdown. Despite his physical isolation, his presence in the prison for other inmates had an electrical charge. While visiting him, we would see other inmates, passing by on their visits, raising their fists or giving salaams, and—their visitors would do the same.

In 2006, the FBI released a report called "The Radicalization of Muslim Inmates in the Georgia Prison System." The report focused on the effort by Muslim inmates in the Georgia prison system to have Imam Jamil serve as imam over all Muslim Georgia inmates. Georgia officials realized that Imam Jamil did not initiate the effort, and although he agreed to stop the effort, the FBI launched its own investigation. We believe the report by the FBI was the final step in getting him moved out of Georgia, to the federal supermax prison where so many high profile Muslims are being held.

The Georgia conviction is still being challenged through a habeas corpus action to prove my husband's innocence. [A writ of habeas corpus is a request for a reversal of a conviction. Imam Jamil's habeas lists fourteen very compelling reasons why his conviction should be reversed.-editor]. That was filed in 2005. We are at the end of that state process, and attempting to move forward, and hopefully will have a ruling next year.

Q: So even though Imam Jamil was not convicted on any federal charges, he was moved from state to federal custody?
A: Yes, Imam Jamil was moved out of Reidsville without notification to his family or attorneys. The move was based on an agreement between the State of Georgia and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to take on state prisoners. Georgia pays the Federal Bureau of Prisons every month to house him. They whisked him away in a hot van, and had him sit
for hours in 90-degree temperature until he developed chest pains, and had to be taken to an Atlanta hospital. We knew nothing about this. They kept him overnight, and then returned him to the airport for a flight to the Oklahoma City Federal Penitentiary. From there, he was taken to Florence, CO. The move alone violates the Bureau of Prisons' rule that an inmate must be housed within 500 miles of his home.

Q: Tell me about some of the lawsuits initiated by Imam Jamil.
A: Imam Jamil filed numerous grievances while in Reidsville and Florence, Colorado, that ultimately ended in his filing a lawsuit:

Legal Mail Lawsuit

This lawsuit was filed because the Reidsville prison staff continued to open legal mail from me to my husband. The Department of Corrections in Atlanta was notified that opening his legal mail in his absence was a violation of the department's standard operating procedure, and a First Amendment violation. The Southern District Court, in which the lawsuit was filed, ruled in his favor, and Georgia appealed. The case then went to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for argument. At that point, the 11th Circuit appointed a prominent Atlanta-based attorney and his firm to represent my husband on a pro bono basis. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the action of the staff in opening legal mail from me to my husband was a First Amendment violation. Georgia appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court; that Court refused to hear Georgia's appeal.

Retaliation Lawsuit

From the day he entered the Reidsville Georgia prison, he was held in administrative 23- hour lockdown. He's never done a juma'a since he was incarcerated—from 2002 until now. So, we do have fundamental constitutional issues. We will continue to challenge the inhumane and punitive actions of the Georgia Prison system to prevent Imam Jamil's contact with other prisoners and the right to practice his religion during his incarceration. Additionally, we will challenge the retaliatory transfer from Georgia to a supermax "no contact" prison without his having a federal charge, conviction or sentence. We are very concerned about the impact solitary confinement has on the physical and mental condition of an inmate. [So, specific factors being challenged in the retaliation lawsuit include the imam's 23-hour per day lockdown in Reidsville, the violation of his religion rights within the Georgia prison system, and the gratuitous transfer to the Florence Supermax. -editor]

Challenge to the Prison Litigation Reform Act

The State has refused to settle our legal mail case; therefore, we are preparing for trial. In doing so, we first are challenging the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Our position is that a constitutional violation is sufficient to win punitive damages, just as a physical injury entitles one to punitive damages. Courts are divided on this issue. [The PLRA, as it stands, prevents Imam Jamil—and others in his position—from receiving punitive damages for violations such as the opening of his legal mail in his absence, on the grounds that the damage inflicted was not physical. -editor]. Our case will give the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals an opportunity to rule on this issue.

Q: What is the situation with Otis Jackson, the self-confessed shooter in the crime for which Imam Jamil was convicted?
A: Our attorneys have deposed Otis Jackson. His testimony, that he committed the actions for which Imam Jamil was convicted, has been consistent. So, we've made some headway, but it's taken a long time. One of the reasons the State said Otis couldn't have done it, is that he was wearing an electronic monitor. We talked to the maker of the monitor and learned that it is possible to beat the monitor. And in fact, he had a faulty electronic monitor.

Part of the habeas has been that Otis was not investigated. The prosecutor told our attorneys "Oh, he's crazy, like the other ones," and the attorneys froze and did nothing to investigate the confession or the monitoring device.

Q: Any final words for New Trend readers?
A: Imam Jamil was previously incarcerated [under the COINTELPRO era prosecutions of Black, Native American, and other leaders and activists -editor] for five years. He got out in 1976. Right after the 2002 conviction, the prosecuting attorney for the State said, "After 24 years, we finally got him." This confirmed Imam Jamil's position that it was a government conspiracy. Our immediate short-term goal is to have the Imam transferred back to Georgia, or to a federal prison within a 500-mile radius of his home. Our ultimate goal, naturally, is to exonerate Imam Jamil. We thank you for supporting Imam Jamil and our efforts to exonerate him.


Donations for Imam Jamil's defense may be sent to:

The Justice Fund
P.O. Box 115363
Atlanta, GA 30310

Write to Imam Jamil Al-Amin:
Reg. No. 99974-555
USP Florence ADMAX
P.O. Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226

For more information, contact:
thejusticefund [at] aol [dot] com


Part 1 of this interview appeared in the July 30, 2010 edition of New Trend:
http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1346.htm


180 Small Schools Set up by Jamaate Islami for the Poor
The women's wing of Jamaate Islami has set up tiny schools for the children of the poor in the various regions of Pakistan where JI has branch offices. Of the 1,000 students in these little schools, 70% are women.

§ Provision of quality education and training in spite of limited time and resources.
§ Initiation of school on one-teacher/one-room basis.
§ Nazra education of the Quran in addition to modern education.
§ Special attention to the curricula of Qur'anic understanding.
§ Training and development workshops and courses for the teachers.
§ Imparting of useful skills in addition to education. These skills include sewing, embroidery, electrical and wood work skills etc.

We urges our readers to help these schools which are in need of educational resources.


Islamic Woman's Achievement
Punjab University awards Ph.D. to Sameeha Qazi

LAHORE, Oct 18. The Punjab University has awarded Ph. D. degree to Begum Sameeha Raheel Qazi, daughter of former Jamaate Islami leader, Qazi Husain Ahmed and chairperson, Women and Family Commission, JI. The degree has been awarded on her thesis on "The Challenges facing the Family System". The JI chief, Syed Munawar Hasan and Secretary General, Liaquat Baloch, have congratulated Begum Sameeha Raheel Qazi on this award.


Jamaate Islami Pakistan Sees Obama Supporting Indian Aggression

LAHORE, Nov. 8: The Jamaat e Islami chief, Syed Munawar Hasan, has said that if the masses wanted to get rid of price spiral, load shedding and plunder of the rulers, they must change their voting pattern. Addressing a civic reception here, he said if the people wanted a change, they should reject the corrupt people and their parties, and elect patriotic and honest people. But if they return the plunderers, thieves and fake degree holders to the echelons of power through their vote, they should not complain of corruption and price hike. If the people vote for those who do not have Pakistan in their agenda, the situation would not change, he added.

Syed Munawar Hasan said the US President was on a visit to India these days and the two countries had entered into trade and defense pacts. India, he said, claimed to be a great democracy which was a farce. Democracy implied power sharing by the masses but in India, over a dozen separatist movements were going on while in Kashmir, India was committing state terrorism. Around 7 lakh Indian troops were carrying out the genocide of the Kashmiris. Ignoring India's state terrorism was betraying the country and the nation, he added.

The JI chief said, India was trying to destabilize Pakistan through an open interference in Baluchistan. There was evidence of India's distributing arms and money in Baluchistan.

He said India had brought Pakistan in the dock by propagating the Mumbai attacks all over the world and the Pakistani rulers must go a for a tit for tat by exposing India's state terrorism in Kashmir throughout the world.
To a quest ion about MMA's revival, Syed Munawar Hasan said a non- political, non-electoral alliance on the pattern of the Milli Yakjehti Council (MYC) was the need of the hour in order to wipe out sectarianism and killings in the country. However, he said, the MMA's revival was out of question when one of the MMA parties was part of the present government which had allowed open US interference in this country.

The reception was hosted by the Anjuman e Shahyarn e Lahore. The Anjuman chief Rana Nazrur Rehman and Dr. Farid Ahmed Piracha, also addressed the gathering.

Norwegian envoy visits Mansoora

LAHORE, Nov. 8: The Norwegian ambassador in Pakistan, Robert kvile, called on the Jamaat e Islami Secretary General, Liaquat Baloch, at Mansoora, Monday afternoon and discussed with him issues of bilateral interest. The JI leader told the envoy that the policies of most of the Muslim countries on different issues including the blasphemous cartoons, military invasion on the Muslim states or thrusting dictatorial rule there, were in conflict with the masses' sentiments. He said the slogans of East-West friendly relations or religious tolerance were fascinating indeed but as long as there was no practical change in the policies of the US and other western countries, the gulf between the East and the West would continue to widen.

He pointed out that the Kashmiris had been fighting for their basic rights for the last 62 years. He said, every attempt for confidence building with India would bear no fruit unless the Kashmir issue was resolved in the light of the UN resolutions and in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiris. He said, peace could not be established in South Asia without resolving the Kashmir issue and the foreign troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan.


Mass Gathering of Indian Muslims sees Obama Visit as anti-People US-Israeli Strategy

New Delhi: After last minute withdrawal by the Delhi police, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) rally was converted in to a public meeting held on Sunday at JIH headquarters at Jamia Nagar, where speakers registered their protest and anger against the curb on basic human and democratic rights violation by the Delhi police only for a VVIP.

JIH General Secretary, Nusrat Ali, said "We register our protest on curbing of our legal and democratic rights in this country only for a guest whose country is responsible for many problems of the world." He said that India is not the country of any party, family, or other group. This is a country of all citizens, and every citizen has the right to present his or her view to make this nation. JIH has a program to alleviate poverty from this country, and we felt that we should present our view to the people of this nation, Nusrat Ali said. The government can stop us from going to Ramleela, but can not stop us from conveying our message.

He said that we have to learn how live independently and in a self reliant manner, and that this problem is not a problem confronted by Muslims alone; it is the problem of every section of this country.

He questioned how America and Israel could help India, when they had destroyed Baghdad and Kabul. India is strengthening its relations with Israel, which has changed an independent country, Palestine, into a jail. Israeli crimes against humanity are enough to make us believe that Israel is not our ally.

Criticizing governments economic and social policies, the JIH Secretary General said that the country had failed to show any progress on Human Development Index indicators, but that the number of millionaires and billionaires was increasing He also pointed to deteriorating law and order problems in the country where hundreds of Muslim youths had been illegally detained and tortured.

The JIH Secretary General asked Indian Muslims and their leaders to speak on the issues facing India, to show that Indian Muslims are not indifferent of the problems and are committed to contribute their ideas, and Jamat Islamic will strive to bring the Muslim community together.

Maulana Umri was delivering the presidential address to gathering of thousands, at which Muslims leaders from all sections and offices had gathered to launch their protest against the last minute withdrawal of the permission to organise a rally today on the same theme, citing VVIP visit of the US President, Barak Obama.

Maulana Umri urged the nation and the leaders of the cross-sections of the country to "Analyse the message of Islam and then turn it down if you feel its not the option or the alternative for a successful society." He challenged the audience by asking, "We follow Marx and Lenin, were they Indians?" He further said, "Then why not give a hearing to your own brethren who wish to see a better India."

He explained that the concern and objective of the United States was to uplift its economy, whether or not achieving this goal meant labeling somebody a terrorist or bombing a nation. Calling attention to core Islamic teachings, Maulana Umri said, "The Quran says, O people, fear your Creator." He urged the policymakers to take heed of the suffering of millions of people in India, and to make choices which allowed law and justice to prevail throughout society.

Earlier in the day, Janab Nusrat Ali, Secretary General of JIH said, "The JIH posts a strong protest against the curbing of the freedom of the citizens of this country." He asked, "How can one exercise good relations with a country when the starting premise is a violation of basic democratic rights?" He expressed sorrow that India is moving towards enslavement by imperialist powers. It is the duty of the government to provide the basic necessities of the citizens of the country, he said.

Expressing concern over the injustice to the youth with state terror, Janab Ali lamented that "Under the false terrorism charges, numerous youth are behind bars; after years they are acquitted with an apology, but what about their future? Who's responsibility is the miscarriage of justice?" "We call upon the government to stop state terrorism, due to which there's unrest across broad spectrums of society," he emphasized. "Our concern is to provide equal opportunities and rights to the citizens of the country," he reiterated.

Maulana Mufti Mukarram Mehmud, Imam of Masjid Fatehpuri quoting non Muslims scholars said, Islam is the only solution for all the problems. He further emphasised that Muslims need to shun organisational bias and work devotedly for the prosperity of the country specially to curb the monster of inflation. He also criticized the Government spending on CWG and Obama visit.

Naved Hamid, Member of National Integration council represented Muslim Majlise Mushawrat He strongly agitated the arrests of innocent youth and demanded that investigating agencies must be made accountable.

He appreciated the political effort of JIH in Kerala and said the problems in democracy can be solved through active participation. He also demanded the prosecution of RSS cadre who are found guilty of spreading terrorism at par with the other criminals and terrorists.

Citing the demographical change in India, he pointed that, more than 50% are youth and we should plan and strategise our actions according to the modern trend.

Shabbir Ahmed Ansari, President All India OBC organisation "There are reservations for the Muslims but its the misfortune that we are unable to take the benefits of these reservations. The country is known for its reservations and positive discrimination policies".

Zafarul Islam Khan editor Milli Gazzette called on the Muslim Ummah to fulfill their basic duties the society and specially referred to the system of Zakaat. He further urged that Zakaat should be implemented in a manner to be the alternative and to eradicate poverty from the society.

"A lobby in the country is in support of the western lifestyle where the slogan is 'eat, drink and be merry cause tomorrow you will die", exclaimed Prof. Ejaz Ahmed Aslam, Secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) and Editor, Radiance Viewsweekly.

He lamented at the state of affairs of the country, as the country is engulfed with inflation and corruption. He further expressed concern and said, the country is moving ahead with capitalism. Concluding on a positive note, Prof. Ejaz said, where there are so many problems, there are some optimism and democracy is the greatest of them. He called on the women to actively participate at different levels of governance and to prepare themselves for this need.

Maulana Mehmood Madni MP and leader of Jamiatul Ulema Hind also criticized the government policies and said we are going to lose more than gain from USA. He asked Muslims to come forward in assisting others with their problems, and expressed his willingness to lend his support in this cause.
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Horrific US-Shi'ite Crimes in Iraq Disclosed: Shi'ism is Used by US Invaders

(Comment by a British Muslim who sent this to us. It is too strong: "This shaytan Petraeus has adopted tactics the British Raj would have been proud of, a truly evil SOB who wears a facade of diplomacy.")

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/11/201011112630560418.html

The revelation by Wikileaks of a US military order directing US forces not to investigate cases of torture of detainees by Iraqis has been treated in news reports as yet another case of lack of concern by the US military about detainee abuse.

But the deeper significance of the order, which has been missed by the news media, is that it was part of a larger US strategy of exploiting Shia sectarian hatred against Sunnis to help suppress the Sunni insurgency when Sunnis had rejected the US war.

And General David Petraeus was a key figure in developing the strategy of using Shia and Kurdish forces to suppress Sunnis in 2004-2005.

The strategy involved the deliberate deployment of Shia and Kurdish police commandoes in areas of Sunni insurgency in the full knowledge that they were torturing Sunni detainees, as the reports released by Wikileaks show.

That strategy inflamed Sunni fears of Shia rule and was a major contributing factor to the rise of al- Qaeda's influence in the Sunni areas. The escalating Sunni-Shia violence it produced led to the massive sectarian warfare of 2006 in Baghdad in which tens of thousands of civilians - mainly Sunnis - were killed.

The strategy of using primarily Shia and Kurdish military and police commando units to suppress Sunni insurgents was adopted after a key turning point in the war in April 2004, when Civil Defence Corps units throughout the Sunni region essentially disappeared overnight during an insurgent offensive.

Two months later, the US military command issued "FRAGO [fragmentary order] 242", which provided that no investigation of detainee abuse by Iraqis was to be conducted unless directed by the headquarters of the command, according to references to the order in the Wikileaks documents.

The order came immediately after General Petraeus took command of the new Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq (MNSTC-I). It was a clear signal that the US command expected torture of prisoners to be a central feature of Iraqi military and police operations against Sunni insurgents.

Petraeus knew that it would take more than two years to build a competent Iraqi military officer corps, as he told Bing West, author of the The Strongest Tribe, in August 2004. Meanwhile, he would have to use Shia and Kurdish militias.

In September 2004, Petraeus adopted a plan to establish paramilitary units within the national police.

The initial units were from non-sectarian former Iraqi special forces teams. In October, however, Petraeus embraced the first clearly sectarian Shia militia unit - the 2,000- man Shia "Wolf Brigade", as a key element of his police commando strategy, giving it two months of training with US forces.

In November 2004, after 80 per cent of the Sunni police defected to the insurgents in Mosul, the US command dispatched 2,000 Kurdish peshmurga militiamen to Mosul, and five battalions of predominantly Shia troops, with a smattering of Kurds, were to police Ramadi. But a few weeks later, after the completion of its training, the Wolf Brigade was also sent to Mosul.

Hundreds of Shia troops from Baghdad and southern areas of the country were also sent into Samara and Fallujah.

It did not take long for the Wolf Brigade to acquire its reputation for torture of Sunni detainees. The Associated Press reported the case of a female detainee in Wolf Brigade custody in Mosul who was whipped with electric cables in order to get her to sign a false confession that she was a high-ranking local leader of the insurgency.

But an official of the US command later told Richard Engel of NBC that the Wolf Brigade had been a very effective unit and had driven the insurgents out of Mosul.
The Wolf Brigade was then sent to Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad, where the Association of Muslim Scholars publicly accused it of having "arrested imams and the guardians of some mosques, tortured and killed them, and then got rid of their bodies in a garbage dump..."

The Wolf Brigade was also deployed to other Sunni cities, including Ramadi and Samarra, always in close cooperation with US military units.

The war logs released by Wikileaks include a number of reports from Samarra in 2004 and 2005 describing how the US military had handed their captives over to the Wolf Brigade for "further questioning". The implication was that the Shia commandos would be able to extract more information from the detainees than would be allowed by US rules.

General Martin Dempsey, who succeeded Petraeus as the commander responsible for training Iraqi security forces in September 2005, hinted strongly in an interview with Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News three months later that the US command accepted the Wolf Brigade's harsh interrogation methods as a necessary feature of using Iraqi counterinsurgency forces.

Dempsey said, "We are fighting through a very harsh environment... these guys are not fighting on the streets of Bayonne, New Jersey." Contrary to the Western notion of "innocent until proven guilty", he said the view in Iraq was "close" to the "opposite."

Vargas reported, "For Dempsey, a big part of building a viable police force is learning to accept, if not embrace, the cultural differences."

A second stage of the strategy of sectarian war against the Sunnis came after the new Shia government's takeover of the Interior Ministry in April 2005. The Shia minister immediately filled the Iraqi police - especially the commando units - with Shia troops from the Badr Corps, the Iranian-trained forces loyal to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

Within days the Badr Corps, along with the Wolf Brigade, began a campaign of mass arrests, torture and assassination of Sunnis in Baghdad and elsewhere that was widely reported by news agencies.

The US command responded to that development by issuing a new version of the previous order on what to do about Iraqi torture, according to the Wikileaks documents. On April 29, 2005, the US command issued FRAGO 039 requiring reports through operational channels on Iraqi abuse of prisoners using a format attached to the order. But no follow-up investigation was to be made unless directed by higher headquarters.
The former Minister of Interior, Falah al-Naquib, later told Knight-Ridder correspondent Tom Lasseter that he had personally warned Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other US officials about the sectarian violence by Badr police commandoes against Sunnis. "They didn't take us seriously," he lamented.

In fact, the US military and the US Embassy were well aware of the serious risk that the strategy of relying on vengeful Shia police commandos to track down Sunnis would exacerbate sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shia. In May 2005, Ann Scott Tyson wrote in the Washington Post that US military analysts did not deny that the US strategy "aggravates the underlying fault lines in Iraqi society, heightening the prospects of civil strife".

In late July 2005, when Petraeus was still heading the command, an unnamed "senior American officer" at MNSTC-I was asked by John F. Burns of the New York Times whether the US might end up arming Iraqis for a civil war. The officer answered, "Maybe".

The US-sponsored Shia assault on the Sunnis gave al-Qaeda a new opportunity. In mid-2005, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, announced the creation of a special unit, the Omar Brigade, to combat the Shia commando torture and death squads. That led to the massive sectarian bloodletting in Baghdad in 2006, when thousands of civilians were dying every month.

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in US national security policy.This article first appeared on the Inter Press Service News Agency.

2010-11-10 Wed 19:04:55 cst
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