New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org) (Phone: 410-435-5000)
[Announcement: The
latest PRINTED issue
of
New Trend
is ready for
distribution. For free distribution, 50 copies are available for $5.50
postage. Order from: New Trend, P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal notice: Dr. Said Zafar, a prominent member of the Canadian
Muslim
community, will be undergoing surgery for a tumor in the pancreas on
August
6. Please pray for his recovery and health.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Abdus Salaam Zaeef,
Afghan
ambassador, Tortured to Death in Guantanamo Bay cage
2. Six U.S. troops, two Afghan mercenaries killed in clash near Khost
3. Gun battle in Islamabad,
Pakistan.
5 killed, 45 injured
4. Pakistani college women beaten up by police in Lahore. 200 teachers
arrested
5. Pakistani lawyers will not meet Musharref without Constitutional
guarantees for nation
1. In spite of healthy scepticism about the morality of the
American
power
structure, New Trend could not accept for two days (July 30-31), that
the
Islamic ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan has been tortured to
death in a cage in Guantanamo Bay.
The news came over the internet from Balochistan Post and we are not
aware of
this paper. We investigated a variety of Pakistani publications and
found
them all reporting that Mullah Zaeef has died under torture. The source
of
the news is the ambassador's family.
According to these reports, Mullah Zaeef was subjected to ongoing
torture by
his American captors and finally succumbed to his suffering.
Readers might remember that Mullah Abdus Salaam Zaeef was the
Ambassador of
Afghanistan to Pakistan. When the U.S. bombing of the poorest country
in the
world began, Zaeef started holding daily briefings at his residence in
Islamabad in which he detailed the U.S. bombing of civilian targets. He
became the epitome of Afghan resistance. Owing to his humble demeanor
and
gentle ways he won the hearts of people all over the world.
One of the worst crimes of the Pakistan military leader Pervez
Musharref was
that after the collapse of the Taliban government, he handed over
Mullah
Zaeef to the Americans. Such a dirty crime, a Muslim country handing
over an
Islamic
ambassador to his country's Kafir enemy, is unique in
Islamic history.
It appears that the U.S. first moved Zaeef to an air craft carrier and
then
to the prison cages in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Probably, owing to his
high
position in the Taliban government, he was seen as a rich source of
intelligence and was subjected to systematic torture. It appears that
he was
as brave as he was gentle and seems to have given no secret to the
Americans.
Hence his death under torture.
New Trend joins the Muslim world in mourning this gentle, humble,
learned,
cultured ambassador of Islamic Afghanistan. O Allah accept his
martyrdom and
exalt him in Paradise. Inna lillahe wa inna allaihi rajeoon.
---------------------------------------------------------
2. PAKISTAN's most prestigious Urdu daily newspaper
NAWA-e-WAQT
reports
an incident on July 29 at Linkarwali, 15 km from Khost in which two
U.S.
helicopters were shot down resulting in the death of 6 "coalition"
forces (a
euphemism for American troops) and 2 of their Afghan mercenaries. The
incident began when villagers gathered to protest the arrest of Maulvi
Abdul
Hakeem, who was a police official under the Taliban, by coalition
forces. As
the clash developed, "coalition forces" brought in air support to bomb
the
village. At least 25 women and children were killed in the bombing.
-------------------------------------------------
3. (July 29) In Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, a crowd gathered to stop
the
Capital Development authority from carrying out construction in Sector
D12.
The protestors wanted the government to fulfill its promises to
compensate
the people from whom the land had been taken. Police was called in. The
villagers resisted. The following clash continued for four hours.
Police
freely used gunfire and was in turn targeted by gunmen hiding in the
nearby
village. The police killed 5 people and injured dozens of others.
Gunmen in
turn shot more than 40 policemen including the chief officials of the
police
though there were no fatalities.
-----------------------------------
4. In Lahore, teachers and professors gathered at the Government
Islamia College on Cooper Road to protest the government's attempt to
de-nationalize
educational institutions. The government sent a large police force to
surround the college. As the teachers resisted the police attempts to
break
up the gathering, the police used harsh methods. Nearly 200 teachers
were
arrested and thrown into police's cage like wagons. Many teachers were
beaten, among them prominent women like Professor Parveen Khan, who has
a Ph.D. and Naheed Musaddaq. The police are a secularized, de-Islamized
force
of thugs used by the government to crush peaceful protests. Dr. Parveen
was hit in the face, her hair were pulled out and her clothes torn.
--------------------------------------------------------
5. Pakistani lawyers have decided that they will not meet Musharref,
the
military ruler of the country, until he can guarantee that he will not
make
arbitrary changes in the country's Constitution. Chaudhery Muzammil
Khalid,
President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, made this
announcement
after countrywide consultations with lawyers across the country. (July
28)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002-08-02 Fri 18:41ct