Senators accuse govt of derailing war on terror
Sunday, March 08, 2009
By Mumtaz Alvi
.......................MQM’s Abbas Kumaili painted a grim picture of security with reference to Dera Ismail Khan, Quetta and elsewhere. “Daily people are being mercilessly massacred and even funerals are being ambushed,” he lamented. “But the government is totally unmoved to these bloody acts,” he alleged.
He questioned why governor’s rule was not being imposed in the NWFP and Balochistan, where innocent people were being targeted. “After people are killed and maimed in suicide attacks, they are then fired at and the police and administration remain totally indifferent to the gory crimes,” Kumaili said.
The lawmaker from Karachi asked the government officials and legislators to visit PIMS or Polyclinic, where victims of the DIK and Dera Ghazi Khan blasts were admitted for treatment to learn about the horrifying account of the recent suicide attack. “Is not DIK part of Pakistan?” he wondered.
“The police have been seen firing at those who survived the suicide attacks. They say, an MPA of a banned outfit has got recruited favourites in police who are doing this heinous act,” the senator said. Kumaili lamented that people were being assaulted freely in mosques, hospitals and even at Muharram processions. He sought an inquiry into police raids at houses of those who had been wounded in the recent suicide attack in Dera Ghazi Khan.
“Valuables, including ornaments, were taken away by the police,” he said.There is no sign of government writ in the NWFP and Balochistan, but the Punjab is chosen for governor’s rule, he continued and said in 1971, linguistic hatred was spread and today sectarianism was being promoted.
He regretted that neither President Asif Ali Zardari nor Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had visited the bereaved families in DIK or Quetta, where people were being gunned down every day................
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20811
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Solution for ending unrest in Dera
Solution proposed to end violence in D.I.Khan
ISLAMABAD, Mar 01, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX)
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has suggested to adopting multi-pronged approach involving all the notable figures of different schools of thought to curb sectarian violence in Dera Ismail Khan, where a large number of innocent people have fallen prey to target killing, suicide bombings and kidnap over the last couple of years.
Solution to all these ills lies with the people, who need to forge unity against anti-state elements, PTI D.I.Khan leader Muhammad Yahya said during his visit to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and some other hospitals of the Federal Capital where last weeks suicide bomb blast victims were being treated.
Around 50 injured were shifted to various hospitals after they were being referred by the hospitals in D.I.Khan. He sympathised with injured and assured them of full support by PTI. He said PTI was seriously concerned over deteriorating security situation in D.I.Khan where people feel insecure even to carry out their routine business.
A conspiracy is being hatched to spark violence in this peaceful district, and there is a need for reversing the situation. He said last week, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of a funeral procession near Shobrah Hotel, killing several innocent people. After the blast the district has witnessed a number of target killing incidents despite an elaborate security cover being in place.
Yahya called upon the citizens to remain alert against acts of anti-state elements, who wanted to pursue their malicious designs by dividing the people. We need to forge unity to foil the nefarious designs of all those who want to create rifts among us.
The district was so calm and peaceful in the past that it formed an attractive spot for recreation. People from suburban as well as adjoining areas used to come to D.I.Khan on holidays and Eids. The PTI leader called for taking solid steps to restore peace in D I Khan.
Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2211931/
ISLAMABAD, Mar 01, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX)
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has suggested to adopting multi-pronged approach involving all the notable figures of different schools of thought to curb sectarian violence in Dera Ismail Khan, where a large number of innocent people have fallen prey to target killing, suicide bombings and kidnap over the last couple of years.
Solution to all these ills lies with the people, who need to forge unity against anti-state elements, PTI D.I.Khan leader Muhammad Yahya said during his visit to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and some other hospitals of the Federal Capital where last weeks suicide bomb blast victims were being treated.
Around 50 injured were shifted to various hospitals after they were being referred by the hospitals in D.I.Khan. He sympathised with injured and assured them of full support by PTI. He said PTI was seriously concerned over deteriorating security situation in D.I.Khan where people feel insecure even to carry out their routine business.
A conspiracy is being hatched to spark violence in this peaceful district, and there is a need for reversing the situation. He said last week, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of a funeral procession near Shobrah Hotel, killing several innocent people. After the blast the district has witnessed a number of target killing incidents despite an elaborate security cover being in place.
Yahya called upon the citizens to remain alert against acts of anti-state elements, who wanted to pursue their malicious designs by dividing the people. We need to forge unity to foil the nefarious designs of all those who want to create rifts among us.
The district was so calm and peaceful in the past that it formed an attractive spot for recreation. People from suburban as well as adjoining areas used to come to D.I.Khan on holidays and Eids. The PTI leader called for taking solid steps to restore peace in D I Khan.
Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2211931/
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Bleeding Dera Ismail Khan: Who Will Heal It?
When the peace talks are underway in the Swat area, the rest of NWFP is as restive as it was. Two blasts were reported in Sirai Norang area of Laki Marwat and the blast in the Dera area is very much the reminder of the grim situation in the tribal belt and its adjacent areas.
Dera Ismail Khan is the target. At least 32 persons were killed and 85 others injured in a powerful suicide blast during funeral procession of Shia elder near Shobara hotel. The funeral procession accompanying the body of Shia elder, Sher Zaman killed yesterday by unknown gunmen, was moving towards the graveyard when it reached near Sobara hotel a powerful explosion took place.
After that it was mayhem. The whole of NWFP dripped in the gloom and doom. Peace efforts have been quashed in Dera Ismail Khan. Its the same hand which is creating unrest and chaos in the country just to destabilize the affairs. Hidden enemy is now trying to fan the flames of sectarian violence.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, should come out of their palaces and visit the restive areas to heal the wounds of surviving people.
Source: http://www.chowrangi.com/bleeding-dera-ismail-khan-who-will-heal-it.html
Dera Ismail Khan is the target. At least 32 persons were killed and 85 others injured in a powerful suicide blast during funeral procession of Shia elder near Shobara hotel. The funeral procession accompanying the body of Shia elder, Sher Zaman killed yesterday by unknown gunmen, was moving towards the graveyard when it reached near Sobara hotel a powerful explosion took place.
After that it was mayhem. The whole of NWFP dripped in the gloom and doom. Peace efforts have been quashed in Dera Ismail Khan. Its the same hand which is creating unrest and chaos in the country just to destabilize the affairs. Hidden enemy is now trying to fan the flames of sectarian violence.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, should come out of their palaces and visit the restive areas to heal the wounds of surviving people.
Source: http://www.chowrangi.com/bleeding-dera-ismail-khan-who-will-heal-it.html
Pakistan, Can You Hear Me?
Pakistan, Can You Hear Me?
By Rakesh Mani
The recent suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan that targeted the funeral of a Shia Muslim cleric who was gunned down, Sher Zaman, was shocking enough. But what is even more shocking is the sheer passivity in the reaction of people in Pakistan to recent events in Dera Ismail Khan and Swat.
It is appalling to think that Pakistanis are ever-ready to take to the streets, shouting slogans and burning effigies, when Salman Rushdie writes something controversial or when offensive cartoons are published in Danish newspapers but are curiously silent when the funeral of a religious leader is bombed in sectarian violence. Or when Taliban forces capture Swat and start beheading people for religious insubordination.
Where is the conscience of a nation? Where are the protests and the million-man marches? Where are the voices that rally dormant citizens to action - on television, in the newspapers, on Facebook even?
If no one protests, it just sends a signal that this is OK. It is OK to bomb a Shia funeral, but it is not OK to write an irreverent story or draw cartoons that poke fun at religion. Where are people’s priorities? How much deeper into the abyss is Pakistan going to sink?
Islamic fundamentalism’s biggest draw is that it is a utopian alternative to the miserable realities of people’s lives. But everywhere that fundamentalists have come to power, their sheen has worn off. Think of Bangladesh, Turkey and Iran. People realize that mullahs can preach all day, but they can’t run a country. So if sectarianism, and militancy in the north-west areas, is Pakistan’s big problem then perhaps it is also Pakistan’s big solution.
Maybe the harsh Zia era was not enough. Maybe what Pakistan needs, finally, is for the Islamists to actually come to power, impose draconian edicts and provide the country with a final inoculation against excessive religiosity.
Maybe then, after suffering through medieval laws against adultery and blasphemy, ordinary Pakistanis will shed their passivity, agitate to separate the state from the tentacles of the mosque and loudly cry no to religious education in high schools, to religion lines on their passports and to rhetoric that urges them to subordinate their citizenship to their religious beliefs. Perhaps Pakistan needs a bitter pill that will forever taint this notion of the religious right being the ultimate defenders of flag and faith.
Because at the heart of Pakistan’s crisis is a national tendency to over-emphasize religion, whether in politics, or at home. Sure, religion can be a good thing. But there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. It will only help if Pakistan begins a massive religious re-discovery movement, its own vernacular version of Protestantism.
But must we go down that dangerous path? Is it really not possible for people to realize what is happening to what is left of their country? Atrocities like the bombing of funerals and the usurping of freedoms from the people of Swat provide opportunities for everyone to clearly see the many evils of excessive religious zeal and of outfits like the Taliban.
Pakistan is the global epicenter of Islamic fundamentalism because of a dysfunctional political system and its underlying difficulty of being born as an Islamic state. Even today, there are too many in Pakistan’s upper echelons – bureaucrats, politicians, power players, journalists and intellectuals – who are uncomfortable with the prospect of secularism, modernism, growth and an open society.
Pakistan’s elites are a paradox. They are largely secular and confident in their professional and social roles. In New York and London, they announce themselves as a part of today’s thriving, bustling modern world. Countless Pakistani men and women throng Wall Street’s biggest banks and Manhattan’s hottest nightclubs. But in Karachi they are more guarded and cautious, and readily cow down to orthodoxy. How they change and fit their modern lifestyles into parochial Pakistan is one of the greatest exercises in hypocrisy.
But as they continue to avert their eyes, Pakistani society is being overrun with cruel, medieval attitudes toward women, education, economic liberalization and modernity in general. Bringing change to Pakistan – reforming a political system and revolutionizing an entire culture – sounds like an impossible challenge. But all the mullahs in the world can’t stand up to the combined will of an agitating and determined citizenry.
There are positive signs coming from Pakistan, however. Yeh Hum Naheen – an NGO headed by producer and media consultant Waseem Mahmood – has put together a musical movement that stands up against terrorism and tells the world that the Pakistani people sing the songs of peace. They claim that more than 62 million people have put their name to the organization’s petition against terrorism, more than the number who voted in the last election in Pakistan. And as Barkha Dutt eloquently pointed out in a recent column, “Pakistan’s media understands that if it doesn’t speak up, their country’s existential crisis could spiral out of control.” No-one can deny the Pakistani media’s extraordinary bravery in light of the challenges they face.
But let more Pakistanis come out on the streets to protest against the Taliban, against violence and against the murder of their own people. And for peace and dignity and friendship with their neighbors. Let them pressure their state to take action and soon enough the world will unite around their courage and share in their battle.
But if they decide to stay at home and say nothing, they will be sanctioning evil itself.
Published in Outlook India, 24th February 2009
Source: http://www.chowk.com/articles/15482
By Rakesh Mani
The recent suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan that targeted the funeral of a Shia Muslim cleric who was gunned down, Sher Zaman, was shocking enough. But what is even more shocking is the sheer passivity in the reaction of people in Pakistan to recent events in Dera Ismail Khan and Swat.
It is appalling to think that Pakistanis are ever-ready to take to the streets, shouting slogans and burning effigies, when Salman Rushdie writes something controversial or when offensive cartoons are published in Danish newspapers but are curiously silent when the funeral of a religious leader is bombed in sectarian violence. Or when Taliban forces capture Swat and start beheading people for religious insubordination.
Where is the conscience of a nation? Where are the protests and the million-man marches? Where are the voices that rally dormant citizens to action - on television, in the newspapers, on Facebook even?
If no one protests, it just sends a signal that this is OK. It is OK to bomb a Shia funeral, but it is not OK to write an irreverent story or draw cartoons that poke fun at religion. Where are people’s priorities? How much deeper into the abyss is Pakistan going to sink?
Islamic fundamentalism’s biggest draw is that it is a utopian alternative to the miserable realities of people’s lives. But everywhere that fundamentalists have come to power, their sheen has worn off. Think of Bangladesh, Turkey and Iran. People realize that mullahs can preach all day, but they can’t run a country. So if sectarianism, and militancy in the north-west areas, is Pakistan’s big problem then perhaps it is also Pakistan’s big solution.
Maybe the harsh Zia era was not enough. Maybe what Pakistan needs, finally, is for the Islamists to actually come to power, impose draconian edicts and provide the country with a final inoculation against excessive religiosity.
Maybe then, after suffering through medieval laws against adultery and blasphemy, ordinary Pakistanis will shed their passivity, agitate to separate the state from the tentacles of the mosque and loudly cry no to religious education in high schools, to religion lines on their passports and to rhetoric that urges them to subordinate their citizenship to their religious beliefs. Perhaps Pakistan needs a bitter pill that will forever taint this notion of the religious right being the ultimate defenders of flag and faith.
Because at the heart of Pakistan’s crisis is a national tendency to over-emphasize religion, whether in politics, or at home. Sure, religion can be a good thing. But there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. It will only help if Pakistan begins a massive religious re-discovery movement, its own vernacular version of Protestantism.
But must we go down that dangerous path? Is it really not possible for people to realize what is happening to what is left of their country? Atrocities like the bombing of funerals and the usurping of freedoms from the people of Swat provide opportunities for everyone to clearly see the many evils of excessive religious zeal and of outfits like the Taliban.
Pakistan is the global epicenter of Islamic fundamentalism because of a dysfunctional political system and its underlying difficulty of being born as an Islamic state. Even today, there are too many in Pakistan’s upper echelons – bureaucrats, politicians, power players, journalists and intellectuals – who are uncomfortable with the prospect of secularism, modernism, growth and an open society.
Pakistan’s elites are a paradox. They are largely secular and confident in their professional and social roles. In New York and London, they announce themselves as a part of today’s thriving, bustling modern world. Countless Pakistani men and women throng Wall Street’s biggest banks and Manhattan’s hottest nightclubs. But in Karachi they are more guarded and cautious, and readily cow down to orthodoxy. How they change and fit their modern lifestyles into parochial Pakistan is one of the greatest exercises in hypocrisy.
But as they continue to avert their eyes, Pakistani society is being overrun with cruel, medieval attitudes toward women, education, economic liberalization and modernity in general. Bringing change to Pakistan – reforming a political system and revolutionizing an entire culture – sounds like an impossible challenge. But all the mullahs in the world can’t stand up to the combined will of an agitating and determined citizenry.
There are positive signs coming from Pakistan, however. Yeh Hum Naheen – an NGO headed by producer and media consultant Waseem Mahmood – has put together a musical movement that stands up against terrorism and tells the world that the Pakistani people sing the songs of peace. They claim that more than 62 million people have put their name to the organization’s petition against terrorism, more than the number who voted in the last election in Pakistan. And as Barkha Dutt eloquently pointed out in a recent column, “Pakistan’s media understands that if it doesn’t speak up, their country’s existential crisis could spiral out of control.” No-one can deny the Pakistani media’s extraordinary bravery in light of the challenges they face.
But let more Pakistanis come out on the streets to protest against the Taliban, against violence and against the murder of their own people. And for peace and dignity and friendship with their neighbors. Let them pressure their state to take action and soon enough the world will unite around their courage and share in their battle.
But if they decide to stay at home and say nothing, they will be sanctioning evil itself.
Published in Outlook India, 24th February 2009
Source: http://www.chowk.com/articles/15482
Carnage in Dera
Carnage in Dera
By Prof. Dr. Mansoor Akbar Kundi
The suicidal bomb blast in the funeral procession in my hometown Dera Ismail Khan on 20th like before left more than thirty dead and twice of them wounded. It was a target attack on the Shia as they were carrying the funeral of a Shia activist gunned down a day before. A similar attack was carried few months ago in the emergency ward of the district civil hospital where a Shia crowd following the killing of a fellow had approached the site. No matter whatever one may call it: barbaric, heinous, horrible, atrocious, it is all beyond it. It diminishes me. My hometown, once known for its tranquility and peace with people known for docile smile and warmth hospitality, is now brutally plunged into killing fields with innocent and precious lives lost in day to day bloody sconce without any solution or remedy in sight.
D. I. Khan is a border town. It links Punjab and tribal Frontier Region. Before Tank was raised to a district, it shared direct border with South Waziristan. Being raised to a district status in 1894 with Mr. H.W.Gee as its first Deputy Commissioner it remained a part of Punjab province until the NWFP was raised to a Chief Commissioner province in 1901. It had a mixed ethnic and religious population with 20-25 percent of them belonging to Shia sect. After 1947 a considerable number of refugees from India were settled in the district. Its population rapidly increased after oil boon in 1973 where tribal from Waziristan with financial resources of labor earnings in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Sheikhdoms bought land and properties. After the construction of Chasma Right Bank Canal with agriculture boon and prosperity people from other areas shifted and bought lands.
No matter with rapid change in culture and ethnic dimensions with militancy growth over the years due to Afghan Counterrevolution/Jihad with Pakistan as the front state to facilitate proxy war against Soviet Union, it was still by any definition a peaceful city until the military action by Pakistan army in South and North Waziristan in 2003. The past five years experiences show that it was a drastic action and ultimate bad policy making of our praetorian rulers to please American bosses which has engulfed the NWFP in the flames of instability and chaos. Khalil Gibran says that Cuckoo does not build nest lest its chicks bear the wrath of slavery comes true in the case our rulers opted for military action without realizing the past and present.
They failed to realize the vision and wisdom of Quaid-e-Azam who soon after the independence moved troops from the two agencies by vacating Mir Ali, Razmak and Manzai garrisons the British raised. Where it was a shift in loyalties and priorities of nation-states’ establishments redefining the nature of their relationship, particularly between a core and periphery(ies) by taking U Turn in Afghanistan and events after, there it was a writing on the wall for future instability of the region, the D.I.Khan is part of the day to day bloody scenes. Until 2003 NWFP was out of militancy it is plunged today.
The military action in Waziristan led to huge property destruction, killing and migration to D.I. Khan and adjacent areas. It included children, women, men and militants. During the period many tribal youngsters between the age of 12 to 20 fell into Taliban lines. They were moved by the state of agony and pain of their kith and kin’s murder, losses of properties, and social condemnation; some by Jihad paradigm to bless them and their relatives in the life eternity with all blessings in paradise the Koran promises to a martyr. Out of all revenge and brain washing, their immediate target was the revenge taking from the killers of their relatives, believers and countrymen. A crop of suicidal bombers was easily raised which in attempt to target the heavily guarded security forces convoys and installations are now out of bound.
In D. I. Khan, poor public scary and threatened of the blasts, “death (bomb) squads are around, it is matter of mobilization”. Their targets are defined and undefined, becoming more indiscriminate. They include security forces, political figures, mosques, or any crowd. In D. I. Khan, Shia procession is one of them. The town where I spent my childhood and youth without any sound of gunfire for years is now a bleeding ground for innocent killings.
Source: http://www.pakspectator.com/carnage-in-dera/
By Prof. Dr. Mansoor Akbar Kundi
The suicidal bomb blast in the funeral procession in my hometown Dera Ismail Khan on 20th like before left more than thirty dead and twice of them wounded. It was a target attack on the Shia as they were carrying the funeral of a Shia activist gunned down a day before. A similar attack was carried few months ago in the emergency ward of the district civil hospital where a Shia crowd following the killing of a fellow had approached the site. No matter whatever one may call it: barbaric, heinous, horrible, atrocious, it is all beyond it. It diminishes me. My hometown, once known for its tranquility and peace with people known for docile smile and warmth hospitality, is now brutally plunged into killing fields with innocent and precious lives lost in day to day bloody sconce without any solution or remedy in sight.
D. I. Khan is a border town. It links Punjab and tribal Frontier Region. Before Tank was raised to a district, it shared direct border with South Waziristan. Being raised to a district status in 1894 with Mr. H.W.Gee as its first Deputy Commissioner it remained a part of Punjab province until the NWFP was raised to a Chief Commissioner province in 1901. It had a mixed ethnic and religious population with 20-25 percent of them belonging to Shia sect. After 1947 a considerable number of refugees from India were settled in the district. Its population rapidly increased after oil boon in 1973 where tribal from Waziristan with financial resources of labor earnings in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Sheikhdoms bought land and properties. After the construction of Chasma Right Bank Canal with agriculture boon and prosperity people from other areas shifted and bought lands.
No matter with rapid change in culture and ethnic dimensions with militancy growth over the years due to Afghan Counterrevolution/Jihad with Pakistan as the front state to facilitate proxy war against Soviet Union, it was still by any definition a peaceful city until the military action by Pakistan army in South and North Waziristan in 2003. The past five years experiences show that it was a drastic action and ultimate bad policy making of our praetorian rulers to please American bosses which has engulfed the NWFP in the flames of instability and chaos. Khalil Gibran says that Cuckoo does not build nest lest its chicks bear the wrath of slavery comes true in the case our rulers opted for military action without realizing the past and present.
They failed to realize the vision and wisdom of Quaid-e-Azam who soon after the independence moved troops from the two agencies by vacating Mir Ali, Razmak and Manzai garrisons the British raised. Where it was a shift in loyalties and priorities of nation-states’ establishments redefining the nature of their relationship, particularly between a core and periphery(ies) by taking U Turn in Afghanistan and events after, there it was a writing on the wall for future instability of the region, the D.I.Khan is part of the day to day bloody scenes. Until 2003 NWFP was out of militancy it is plunged today.
The military action in Waziristan led to huge property destruction, killing and migration to D.I. Khan and adjacent areas. It included children, women, men and militants. During the period many tribal youngsters between the age of 12 to 20 fell into Taliban lines. They were moved by the state of agony and pain of their kith and kin’s murder, losses of properties, and social condemnation; some by Jihad paradigm to bless them and their relatives in the life eternity with all blessings in paradise the Koran promises to a martyr. Out of all revenge and brain washing, their immediate target was the revenge taking from the killers of their relatives, believers and countrymen. A crop of suicidal bombers was easily raised which in attempt to target the heavily guarded security forces convoys and installations are now out of bound.
In D. I. Khan, poor public scary and threatened of the blasts, “death (bomb) squads are around, it is matter of mobilization”. Their targets are defined and undefined, becoming more indiscriminate. They include security forces, political figures, mosques, or any crowd. In D. I. Khan, Shia procession is one of them. The town where I spent my childhood and youth without any sound of gunfire for years is now a bleeding ground for innocent killings.
Source: http://www.pakspectator.com/carnage-in-dera/
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Dera among the least likely places to visit
Skyscanner reveals the top 10 most searched for 2009 destinations to see where people are heading on holiday this year.
Spain remains a favourite with Brits due to its close proximity, hot weather and good value
1. London (UK)
2. Malaga (Spain)
3. Alicante (Spain)
4. Tenerife (Spain)
5. Dalaman (Turkey)
6. Faro (Portugal)
7. Palma (Spain)
8. Geneva (Switzerland)
9. Paphos (Cyprus)
10. Murcia (Spain)
Top 10 most searched for destinations by UK visitors using Skyscanner.net for travel in 2009 (as of Dec 08). London took the top spot and a total of five UK cities made the top 50, highlighting the fact that domestic air travel remains strong. However, Spain dominated the top 10, with 5 Spanish destinations featuring, all of which are beach holiday spots. Turkey, Portugal and Cyprus also placed in the top 10, as did Switzerland, due to its popularity as a ski hub.
Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder commented:“It’s still early days for 2009 bookings, but already we can see that British people don’t want to give up their beach holidays, even when times are tough. This year, it’s all about making your money go as far as possible, which is why Spain remains an extremely popular destination for British travellers. It’s close, warm and still very good value. Turkey is another value destination, jumping up five places compared to last year’s top 10, partly because it’s outside the Euro-zone.”Of the top 50 destinations, only eight were outside of Europe, suggesting that short haul travel will be the winner for 2009. Despite a fall in UK-USA search traffic in the run up to Christmas due to the strengthening US dollar, New York (USA) and Orlando (USA) made the top 20, as did Rome (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France) and Amsterdam (Netherlands).
Places least likely to see many UK travellers in 2009 included Dali City (China), Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan) and Iron Mountain (Michigan, USA).
Source: http://news.skyscanner.net/articles/2009/01/000847-where-are-we-going-in-2009-top-10-travel-destinations.html
Spain remains a favourite with Brits due to its close proximity, hot weather and good value
1. London (UK)
2. Malaga (Spain)
3. Alicante (Spain)
4. Tenerife (Spain)
5. Dalaman (Turkey)
6. Faro (Portugal)
7. Palma (Spain)
8. Geneva (Switzerland)
9. Paphos (Cyprus)
10. Murcia (Spain)
Top 10 most searched for destinations by UK visitors using Skyscanner.net for travel in 2009 (as of Dec 08). London took the top spot and a total of five UK cities made the top 50, highlighting the fact that domestic air travel remains strong. However, Spain dominated the top 10, with 5 Spanish destinations featuring, all of which are beach holiday spots. Turkey, Portugal and Cyprus also placed in the top 10, as did Switzerland, due to its popularity as a ski hub.
Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder commented:“It’s still early days for 2009 bookings, but already we can see that British people don’t want to give up their beach holidays, even when times are tough. This year, it’s all about making your money go as far as possible, which is why Spain remains an extremely popular destination for British travellers. It’s close, warm and still very good value. Turkey is another value destination, jumping up five places compared to last year’s top 10, partly because it’s outside the Euro-zone.”Of the top 50 destinations, only eight were outside of Europe, suggesting that short haul travel will be the winner for 2009. Despite a fall in UK-USA search traffic in the run up to Christmas due to the strengthening US dollar, New York (USA) and Orlando (USA) made the top 20, as did Rome (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France) and Amsterdam (Netherlands).
Places least likely to see many UK travellers in 2009 included Dali City (China), Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan) and Iron Mountain (Michigan, USA).
Source: http://news.skyscanner.net/articles/2009/01/000847-where-are-we-going-in-2009-top-10-travel-destinations.html
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Soft-drink bombs: SIMI's new weapon
AHMEDABAD: Having used ammonium nitrate-based bombs to devastating effect in serial blasts across the country, the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was experimenting with a new concoction using hydrogen peroxide to make liquid bombs.
Prototypes of liquid bombs were first experimented with in the Vagamon forests in Idukki district of Kerala where a SIMI camp was held in December 2007 to impart terror training to its cadres. The camp was organized by Kerala SIMI secretary, PA Shivli. The experiments with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were revealed in the statement of SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori during interrogation after his arrest by the Indore police on March 26 this year.
"Liquid bombs are as potent as the ones which use ammonium nitrate. The concoction can be injected in plastic or glass bottles of soft-drinks and detonated without attracting much attention," said a senior Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) official.
"The terrorists knew that the government would impose strict restrictions on supply of ammonium nitrate. H2O2 was a suitable alternative as it can be obtained from chemist shops easily," said the police official.
Officials said the soft-drink bottles could be placed in crates or stacked in closed goods carriers and then detonated. SIMI planned to use food colours to make these bombs look like the original beverage. They had also figured out how to fix the batteries and detonators for triggering the device.
SIMI was inspired by the liquid bombs tried out by the Trans-Atlantic flight bombers in London in August 2006. Eight Al Qaida terrorists were held while planning to carry the liquid bombs in seven Trans-Atlantic flights.
According to Nagori's statement, this bomb-making technique was first introduced to the SIMI cadres by Hyderabad-based Raziuddin Nasir who had been trained at the Dera Ismail Khan terror training camp in Pakistan.
Nasir (21) was arrested by Karnataka police in January this year from Davangere. He is the son of the Hyderabad cleric Maulana Naseeruddin, currently in a Gujarat jail facing trial in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Soft-drimk_bombs_SIMIs_new_weapon/articleshow/3379416.cms)
Prototypes of liquid bombs were first experimented with in the Vagamon forests in Idukki district of Kerala where a SIMI camp was held in December 2007 to impart terror training to its cadres. The camp was organized by Kerala SIMI secretary, PA Shivli. The experiments with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were revealed in the statement of SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori during interrogation after his arrest by the Indore police on March 26 this year.
"Liquid bombs are as potent as the ones which use ammonium nitrate. The concoction can be injected in plastic or glass bottles of soft-drinks and detonated without attracting much attention," said a senior Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) official.
"The terrorists knew that the government would impose strict restrictions on supply of ammonium nitrate. H2O2 was a suitable alternative as it can be obtained from chemist shops easily," said the police official.
Officials said the soft-drink bottles could be placed in crates or stacked in closed goods carriers and then detonated. SIMI planned to use food colours to make these bombs look like the original beverage. They had also figured out how to fix the batteries and detonators for triggering the device.
SIMI was inspired by the liquid bombs tried out by the Trans-Atlantic flight bombers in London in August 2006. Eight Al Qaida terrorists were held while planning to carry the liquid bombs in seven Trans-Atlantic flights.
According to Nagori's statement, this bomb-making technique was first introduced to the SIMI cadres by Hyderabad-based Raziuddin Nasir who had been trained at the Dera Ismail Khan terror training camp in Pakistan.
Nasir (21) was arrested by Karnataka police in January this year from Davangere. He is the son of the Hyderabad cleric Maulana Naseeruddin, currently in a Gujarat jail facing trial in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Soft-drimk_bombs_SIMIs_new_weapon/articleshow/3379416.cms)
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