5.12.08

[zamanku] Jamaah Plus Keluhkan Fasilitas Pondokan

 
umat, 5 Desember 2008
 
 

Jamaah Plus Keluhkan Fasilitas Pondokan


BERHAJI: Masjidil Haram mulai disesaki ribuan umat Muslim. Jamaah haji asal Indonesia pun sudah ke tanah suci. Namun masih ada beberapa masalah yang didapati jamaah DI Makkah, berbagai komplain terus bergulir dari kalangan jamaah Indonesia. Setelah jamaah reguler, kali ini protes dilontarkan oleh jamaah haji plus. Mereka mengeluhkan jauhnya lokasi penginapan yang menghalangi keinginan untuk salat lima waktu di Masjidilharam.

Seperti dilaporkan wartawan JPNN di Makkah Abdul Muis, banyak jamaah plus yang menempati penginapan di luar ring satu. Bahkan, fasilitas hotelnya tidak lebih baik daripada jamaah reguler.

"Kondisinya hampir mirip losmen bertingkat,'' kata Rochman, jamaah asal Lombok. Hal senada diungkapkan M. Saiful, jamaah plus asal Madura, yang menempati penginapan di Tan'im.

Penginapan itu berjarak sekitar 10 kilometer dari Masjidilharam.

Untuk mencapai Masjidilharam, jamaah plus memperoleh jatah bus yang disewa travel secara paket. Namun, bus tersebut hanya datang pada jam-jam tertentu. Misalnya, travel yang diikuti koran ini hanya menyediakan angkutan ke Masjidilharam sekali antarjemput. Waktunya sesudah salat Zuhur dan pulang setelah Isya. "Kami hanya bisa salat jamaah Asar, Magrib, dan Isya," jelas Totok, jamaah asal Surabaya.

Lain halnya dengan Rr Erna. Wanita asal Solo itu mengaku malu ketika dikunjungi adik iparnya yang kebetulan satu sektor di kawasan Aziziah Samalia. "Kamu ikut haji plus, tapi tidurnya kok di pucuk gunung?" ledek Iwan yang membuat Erna tersipu. "Ini namanya haji plus naik gunung, he he he," sahut Erna. Erna pun lantas minta suaminya, Yuni Eko, protes kepada travel yang mereka ikuti.

Iwan memang pantas mengatakan demikian. Sebab, dia yang naik haji reguler tinggal tidak jauh beda dengan yang plus. Iwan bersama kloter 39 dan 40 menempati maktab di bagian bawah bukit kawasan Aziziah Samalia. Fasilitas maktabnya jauh lebih representatif daripada hotel tempat tinggal Erna. "Hotel kami namanya saja tidak ada. Katanya sih Qosor Ain dan setaraf bintang empat, tapi sopir taksi aja tak tahu," timpal Ali Sofa, jamaah asal Surabaya.

Bupati Gresik KH Robbach Maksum yang satu kloter dengan koran ini juga mengeluhkan fasilitas haji plus yang dia ikuti kali ini. Sebagai pelayan tamu Allah, menurut dia, pengelola haji plus harus konsekuen dalam menjual jasanya. "Jangan manis di saat menawarkan barangnya, tapi kenyataannya banyak jamaah yang komplain," ucapnya saat sarapan pagi di hotel. "Mereka-mereka naik haji plus ini kan ingin bisa salat lima waktu di Masjidilharam. Tapi, kenyataannya kok minus he he he," imbuhnya.

Yang lebih menyedihkan, Robbach yang berangkat bersama istri harus "angkat koper", pindah ke kamar lain. Bahkan, jamaah yang seatap dengannya harus menyeret kopernya sendiri. "Sudah harus pindah ke tower tujuh bawah bukit…, ee malah kamarnya gak ada air lagi. Masak ini fasilitas haji plus," ujarnya sembari nyengir.

Para jamaah haji plus itu sebenarnya sudah bisa menerima fasilitas yang diberikan. Sebab, manajemen travel ini jauh hari sudah memberikan gambar videonya hotel tersebut. Namun, kenyataannya, fasilitas hotelnya tidak sesuai dengan harapan. Misalnya, kamar yang terlalu kecil harus diisi empat jamaah sesama jenis kelamin. "Kamar saya malah gak ada pintunya," ujar Aris, penghuni blok 521 Hotel Qosor Ain.

Kondisi kamar mandinya tidak sama. Ada yang ngecembeng dan airnya tidak keluar. Juga di setiap kamar tidak selalu ada kamar mandinya. Padahal, dalam satu blok terisi empat kamar yang berarti berisi 16 orang. "Saya sendiri harus ngalah, mandi pakai pancurannya cebokan," ujar Abdul, penghuni blok 522.

Ruang salat juga tidak ada sama sekali. Padahal, travel ini punya program kultum setiap menjelang salat Duha dan Tahajud. Akibatnya, acara religius itu dilakukan di tempat ala kadarnya. Para jamaah harus berimpitan di atas lima permadani warna merah di lobi hotel yang sempit itu. Akibat lainnya, jamaah yang tidak ikut salat Duha dan Tahajud tidak bisa keluar dari hotel. Terutama jamaah yang hendak dan baru balik dari Masjidilharam sendirian. "Saya sampai ngantuk nunggu orang habis salat tahajud," keluh Flodesa, jamaah asal Mojokerto, sepulang dari Masjidilharam.

Begitu pula saat salat Subuh berjamaah di hotel, tidak seluruh jamaah bisa ikut. Sebagian di antara 208 jamaah yang mengikuti travel itu salat berjamaah di luar, masjid terdekat, atau di kamar masing-masing. Salat Subuh dan Duhur memang dijadwalkan dilaksanakan di hotel. Salat tiga waktu lainnya –Asar, Magrib, dan Isya– dilakukan di Masjidilharam.

Sampai kemarin, manajemen travel juga belum memberikan penegasan tentang keinginan jamaah yang hendak ikut salat Jumat berjamaah di Masjidilharam menjelang wukuf.

Setelah salat Duha kemarin, salah seorang direktur tavel yang dikomplain jamaahnya, Amaluddin, langsung konsolidasi. Komplain jamaah yang sudah terembus sejak menempati hotel pada 30 November malam itu baru direspons kemarin. Semua unek-unek telah disampaikan dalam pertemuan gelar karpet di lobi hotel. Tujuannya, menjelang wukuf, persoalan nonteknis tersebut jangan sampai mengganggu ibadah mereka.

Bahkan, dalam temu dialog tersebut, ada jamaah yang menuntut agar ongkos kenaikan haji plus senilai 850 dolar AS per orang dikembalikan. Sebab, kenaikan harga itu tidak memberikan jaminan jamaah menginap di ring satu kawasan Masjidilharam.

"Kami tidak akan mengembalikan uang kenaikan itu," tegas Amaluddin. Sebab, uang kenaikan itu sudah dibelanjakan sesuai dengan kesepakatan awal. Kenaikan tersebut digunakan untuk menambal kenaikan harga tiket pesawat dan sewa hotel selama di Tanah Suci. Hotel di Aziziah yang akan ditempati selama 13 hari itu, menurut dia, juga bertaraf bintang empat.

"Demi Allah, kami tidak membohongi jamaah," tegas Amaluddin. Menurut dia, manajemen sudah menjalankan fungsinya sebagai pelayan tamu Allah. Pihaknya juga tidak melanggar aturan Depag tentang jauhnya hotel yang ditempati jamaah sekarang ini. "Di sini (Hotel Qosor Ain) kan hanya transit. Seusai Arbain nanti, kita tinggal di Tower Zamzam (hotel paling mewah di Masjidilharam, Red)," tegasnya.

Meski demikian, penjelasan Amaluddin tersebut tetap belum memuaskan jamaah. "Kalau Qosor Ain kelasnya setaraf hotel bintang empat, kenapa tidak ada room boy yang membersihkan kamar setiap hari," celetuk Ny Titik asal Ngawi. "Kami juga sulit mau cuci pakaian. Pelayanan laundry aja tidak ada," timpal Ratrih, jamaah asal Malang. (agm/jpnn)

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[zamanku] Gereja Izinkan Dipakai Shalat

Harian Komentar
05 Desember 2008
 

Gereja Izinkan Dipakai Shalat 


Wisconsin, KOMENTAR
Sebuah gereja di Negara Bagian Wisconsin, Amerika Serikat timur laut, telah memperkenankan umat Islam melaksanakan shalat dua kali sehari. "Kami merasa ber-terima kasih kepada gereja itu," kata Ajaz Qhavi, seorang tokoh Islam setempat. Gereja Presbiterian di Kota Franklin, Wisconsin Selatan, itu telah mengizinkan kaum Muslimin setempat melaksanakan shalat sebanyak lima hari dalam sepekan, tulis Journal Sentinel, seperti dilaporkan IINA. Sejak pekan lalu, kaum Muslimin berkumpul di ruangan


Sekolah Minggu gereja itu untuk melaksanakan shalat Subuh dan Isya. Pusat Islam Milwaukee membayar biaya sewa untuk menutup penge-luaran gereja. Langkah tersebut diambil sehubungan tak adanya mesjid terdekat di kawasan itu. 

Para jemaah biasanya shalat di mana saja, seperti di rumah, di luar rumah, bandara, kata Isa Sadlon, Direktur Eksekutif Pusat Islam Milwaukee.

Namun demikian, banyak umat Islam lebih suka shalat berjamaah dan lima perjalanan per hari ke mesjid sangat mem-bebani pengeluaran mereka, kata mereka.

Tempat shalat tersebut, kata Sadlon, memungkinkan mere-ka untuk memenuhi kewajiban mereka dan jaraknya dekat de-ngan rumah atau tempat kerja mereka. Di Kota Franklin, kini terdapat sekitar 150 keluarga Muslim.(ihc

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[zamanku] No time to hide

 
3 - 9 December 2008
Issue No. 925
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
 

No time to hide

How long will extremists speak on behalf of Muslims, asks Aijaz Zaka Syed*

Watching with me on television the terror nightmare unfold in Mumbai over the past three days, my children have repeatedly asked me: "Who are these terrorists and why are they doing this?" Every time I wished I could offer them a convincing answer.

What could I tell them? For one, I was equally clueless why these individuals had taken over India's financial and cultural capital and were targeting people who had nothing to do with them and had done nothing to harm them. Second, I was too ashamed to tell them these individuals were ostensibly Muslims and came from a country that was created in the name of Islam.

A distraught friend who has devoted her life to speaking and fighting on behalf of Arabs and Muslims wrote a few days ago, "I've had it with the Arabs and Muslims and Islamic militancy. Forgive me, but I am throwing in the towel."

I couldn't write back to her but understood her pain. She grew up in Mumbai and is understandably upset.

My friend went on to say: "The Muslims and Islam have a problem and only they can solve it. If they do not, the whole world will turn against them."

If this is how our most loyal friends feel, imagine the sentiments and reactions of the rest of the world. Can you blame the world if it's turning against Muslims? What do you expect when not a single day passes without the name of our faith being dragged through the mud by fellow believers around the world?

How many innocents have to die in the name of Islam before Muslim leaders and countries take effective action to deal with the lunatics out to destroy us all with their nihilistic cult?

I know that Muslim leaders, including those in the highest echelons of power, have lately started speaking out against extremists. Darul Uloom Deoband in India, one of the oldest and most respected centres of learning in the Muslim world, issued a fatwa against terrorism at a large gathering of Islamic scholars and leaders in June. Last month, nearly 5,000 scholars backed the edict at a huge congregation in Hyderabad.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference and Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Arab-Islamic world, have of late been equally vehement in condemning repulsive acts of violence targeting innocents. Eminent Muslim intellectuals and journalists like Tariq Ramadan, a grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan El-Banna, and India's M J Akbar and numerous others have repeatedly protested against this distortion of Islamic teachings and spirit.

These calls of conscience on behalf of mainstream Islam have, however, proved to be voices in the wilderness. Clearly, we need to do more to be heard by the world and to stop this shameful victimisation of innocent people in the name of religion.

The great irony of the Mumbai attacks is the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare and his colleagues. Karkare, a brave and decorated officer investigating the Malegaon blasts and other recent terror attacks that he established to be the handiwork of Hindu extremists, not Muslim groups like SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), was killed by terrorists outside Cama Hospital Wednesday night. Obviously, Muslims do not know who their real friends and enemies are.

And, pray, why is India increasingly being singled out for this savagery? What do they think this country is, a Hindu country or an anti-Muslim nation?

Do the ignorant ones repeatedly being sent out on so-called jihad know that this great country is home to the world's largest Muslim population? Almost twice the size of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan! India's greatest superstar is a Muslim, not to mention countless achievers in other fields. Why are our friends across the border bent on destroying the whole world and themselves? Is this what Islam and the noble prophet teaches and stands for?

It's all very well for us to say Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. We can go on deluding ourselves that these psychopaths do not represent us. However, the world finds it hard to accept this line of argument because it sees extremists increasingly assert themselves and take centre- stage while mainstream Islam remains silent.

The great religion that preaches and celebrates universal brotherhood, equality and peace and justice for all has been hijacked by a demented, minuscule minority. And, as my friend says, only Muslims can solve this problem. Only Muslims can confront these anarchists in their midst. Only they can get their faith freed from the clutches of extremism. This is no time to hide. It's time to stand up and speak out. For the terrorists will continue to speak on our behalf, until we do. This is no time for silence. Enough is enough!

* The writer is opinion editor at Khaleej Times , Dubai.

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[zamanku] Turkey in Arab eyes

 
3 - 9 December 2008
Issue No. 925
 
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
 

Turkey in Arab eyes

As Turkey becomes increasingly engaged in Middle East issues, Arabs would do well to review their preconceptions of it, writes Mustafa El-Labbad*

After an absence of many decades, Turkey has returned as a major player in the Middle East. Clearly motivated by national interests, its reengagement in the affairs of the region will have significant repercussions on Middle Eastern balances of powers. It will also impact on the way Arab elites regard Turkey and their judgements on that country's historical experience since the declaration of the republic in 1923.

Despite its relatively long absence, the ideological prism through which Arab politicians and intellectuals of all shades of the political spectrum view Turkey has hampered an objective view of that great and ancient country that had such a profound historical impact on the region. For decades, Arab leftists and Arab nationalists branded Turkey as subordinate to the West on the basis of the Cold War experience and Ankara's membership in the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) and then NATO. This static, one dimensional and essentially facile judgement naturally hampered the ability to monitor and appreciate the major developments and changes that Turkey has undergone. Arab Islamists, meanwhile, have long faulted the founders of the Turkish Republic for having ended -- and establishing itself on the ruins of -- the Islamic caliphate. Yet, so intent are they in condemning the republic for its "historical crime" that they missed the fact that the founders of the republic actually scored a historical achievement, which was to salvage what they could of an empire that had already disintegrated and that the West had virtually pronounced dead. Indeed, even Istanbul, the capital of the country and the seat of the caliphate, was under foreign occupation at the time of the founding of the republic, along with other chunks of present day Turkey, and it fell to Turkish soldiers in the ranks of Mustafa Kemal to recapture their land from British, Italian and even Greek forces.

SECULARISM -- A FATEFUL CHOICE: Turkish society paid a heavy price for that critical decision to turn westward and adopt secular values. However, an objective assessment of that society today, 85 years after the founding of the republic, suggests that the decision was largely right. True, the government often took secularism to an extreme. However, those who deplore that choice cannot help but to observe that, in spite of its flaws, the secularist values inherent in the multi-party parliamentary system and the peaceful rotation of civil authority have permitted for the rise to power of a party with an Islamist frame of reference. Equally, if not more telling is the enormous political and economic progress Turkey has achieved, especially when one compares that to the general decline in the Arab world. Although the Arab-Israeli conflict was instrumental in delaying the processes of social and economic development in Arab countries, that alone is insufficient to explain the huge gap between them and Turkey, and the albeit smaller gap between Iran and Turkey. Perhaps the primary reason resides in the enormous sacrifices undertaken by the Turkish people in their places of work elsewhere in Europe and in the factories in western Turkey that export their products to the industrial West at nominal prices in order to assimilate their economy into the Western capitalist cycle. It was through blood, sweat and tears that Turkey carved itself a place among nations and elevated its economy to the 17th strongest in the world, ahead of all the Middle Eastern oil exporting countries and Israel, the West's most forward point in the region. Turkey is no angel. But it is certainly no devil either. Nor is it some alien implant. It is no longer the great powers' façade in the region, as it may have been in the past. It is a regional power that is gaining in strength and that has national interests that it hopes to further through regional and international alliances. Turkey is currently striving to strengthen its regional influence by a means of a new foreign policy strategy intended to take Turkey from a partisan position as a member of one camp or pact against another to a more independent or neutral position from which it can maintain contact with diverse parties simultaneously.

Some Turkish intellectuals who visited Cairo recently observed that their Arab neighbours failed to understand their country sufficiently. They were particularly disturbed by the tendency to see their country through a single lens, as a counterweight to Iranian influence, for example. My friends explained that their country was not advancing itself as a model to be emulated by others in the region and that it did not regard Iran as a rival. Rather, Turkish actions, whether with regard to the situation in Iraq and the Kurdish entity in northern Iraq, or to Syria and the negotiations between Damascus and Tel Aviv, were guided by Turkish national interests above all.

TURKISH MONOPOLY: In addition to the general tendency of Arab intellectuals to pass sweeping judgements on modern Turkey based on certain chapters of Turkish history and the tendency on the part of some politicians and analysts to see Turkey solely from their vantage point with respect to Iran, we find others in the grips of a bias of a different order. These are those who exulted at arrival of the Justice and Development Party to power as though this were a victory against Turkish secularists, cast, in this case, as the enemy. This excessive jubilation, as though Arab-Turkish relations have only just begun -- in spite of the fact that they extend back through the Ottoman era to Byzantine and Roman times -- is the product of an ideological prism that regards the revival of Turkey's interest in Middle East affairs as identical with Turkey's support for Arab/Islamic issues. While it may have been the case that Turkish secularists have been more or less aloof to the concerns and issues of the Middle East, the tendency here, now, is to see Turkey as no more than the Justice and Development Party, as though this were not one among several other political parties in Turkey. The Arabs would be better equipped to avail themselves of Ankara's closer interest in the region if they attempted to appreciate the diverse aspects of Turkey, instead of reducing that multi-faceted country to its "secular" or "oriental" face. They should attempt to see Turkey as it is: a country that borders their region by virtue of geographical happenstance, and a neighbour with which are shared strong historical and cultural links, but one which may variously see eye-to-eye with or differ from us, depending on its perception of its national interests.

Perhaps Turkey, for its part, could do more to explain its outlook and positions to us in the Arab world as it engages more closely with the issues that concern us. At the very least, this would free the Arab mind of the preconceptions that have monopolised its perspective on the Turkish Republic since its establishment in 1923.

* The writer is director of Al-Sharq Centre for Regional and Strategic Studies.

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[zamanku] Islamic school bans national anthem

 

Islamic school bans national anthem

December 05, 2008

Article from:  The Australian

AN Islamic school in Brisbane has banned the playing of the national anthem.

The Australian International Islamic College in the suburb of Durack ruled that Advance Australia Fair was against the Islamic view and ethos, Sky News reports.

A teacher who requested the playing of the anthem claims he was sacked after requesting the anthem be played.

The college is accused of promoting segregation after a memo was sent in July announced the singing of the anthem will be put on hold.

The school has denied the anthem has been banned at assembly and says the students sing it at functions on every occasion.

It is not compulsory for schools to play the national anthem.

AAP
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[zamanku] Police Detain Activists Burning Pictures of President

 

Police Detain Activists Burning Pictures of President
Thursday, 04 December, 2008 | 11:37 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Yogyakarta:The police have detained two activists from the Unified People Coalition (KRB) for allegedly burning flyers with pictures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the State Palace yesterday.


The two, Andi Permana and Asibun Aliya, were accused of waving anti-government banners. "We are still questioning them," said Yogyakarta Police Commissioner Pitoyo Agung Yuwono, adding that the police also confiscated flyers and banners condemning the government.


KRB coordinator Arif Brahman explained that the demonstration carried out by 50 students, NGOs, and workers are demanding that the President withdraw the ratified four-ministerial decree. "We want the police to release our friends," Arif said.

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[zamanku] Neighboring Arab countries are plundering Persian architecture: Farshchian

 
December 4, 2008

Neighboring Arab countries are plundering Persian architecture: Farshchian
Tehran Times Culture Desk


TEHRAN -- Over the past few years, some of Iran's neighboring countries have been purchasing Persian books and research works compiled by Iranian masters of art and history, and have translated them into Arabic or Turkish, plagiarizing Iranian art, culture and history and palming it off under their own name.

Prominent Iranian artist and master of miniature Mahmud Farshchian, who currently resides in the United States, expressed his opinion concerning this matter to the Mehr News Agency in a phone interview.

Unfortunately, the story of forging Persian art and culture is not an issue that just surfaced today, Farshchian said, adding, "Based on the archaeological research, the history of Iran's architecture dates back thousands years, and it has been progressing all that time.

"Iran's architecture enjoys unique characteristics compared to those in other countries, such as efficient design, precise calculation, functional form, concern with the technical details of structure, porticos with high columns, and beautiful decorations, all of which narrate the glorious development and longevity of Iran's architecture," he remarked.

"In the recent years, the book 'Arabic Geometrical Pattern and Design' has been published and translated into several languages as a book on Arabic and Islamic art, while it contains Persian art and tile works," Farshchian explained.

He emphasized that Iranian art and Islamic art are closely related to each other but are also totally distinct from one another. He stated, "I am a practicing Muslim but this does not mean that I will keep quiet while others introduce Persian art as the art of their countries. Although Iranian art and Islamic art are interdependent, we can not label all Iranian art as the same as Islamic art."

Farshchian went on to say, "Sometimes Our officials remain silent over these kinds of topics because of political issues, and the Arabs pay no attention and actually capture Persian art in this way.

"Iran is like a valuable treasure chest filled with the riches of a variety of arts and our neighbors are doing these sorts of things to create a culture for themselves by stealing gems from our Iranian treasure chest. It is the incumbent upon our cultural officials and masters of art to find a solution for this problem," Farshchian concluded.

Master of art and Islamic architecture Mahmud Maheronnaqsh also expressed his deep regret over the issue and said, "The Arabs have published all the trade secrets of traditional Iranian architecture in a book and wherever they goes unchallenged, claiming this architecture as their own not the Persian's. And we sit here immobilized, mourning that Persian architecture is dead."

He stressed that Iran's Arab neighboring countries introduce Iranian art as their own art to the world and said, "The artists of Pakistan and Afghanistan have always admitted that they imitate Persian architecture, having observed this on my trips to these two countries, but unfortunately in Arab countries, despite the fact that their architecture is deeply rooted in Persian architecture, they deny imitation and claim it belongs to them.

"The neighboring Arab countries have no background in the art of architecture and use the Iranian masters' sources to write books, while only the Arabs of North Africa have their own unique style of architecture of which is quite distinct from our architecture," he explained.

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[zamanku] Sole terrorist survivor reveals he was being trained in Pak

 
 
 
Tushar Srivastava, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 05, 2008

The Mumbai terror attacks have been in the works for at least a year. The interrogation report on Ajmal alias Abu Mujahid, who the media have been referring to as Ajmal Amir Kasab, reveals that he underwent 21 days of physical training and Darsh-e-Quran (Quran recital) at a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) camp at Muridke in Punjab in Pakistan last year. This training programme was called Daura-e-Shufa (era of simplicity).

The courses were very intensive and gruelling and not all recruits made the cut. Ajmal did, and was then sent to another LeT camp in the Cherapadi Pahadi region of Muzzaffarabad in PoK in June-July this year. "He does not remember the date, but recalls that he was in training, along with 24 others, when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated," the interrogation report states. Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007. This timeline is corroborated by the confessions of Fahim Ahmed Ansari, who was arrested, along with four others, by the UP Special Task Force in February this year.
 
Following this, after a gap of one or two days, Ajmal, the only terrorist captured alive by the police, was sent to Manzera in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for another 21-day training programme called Markaz-e-Taiyyaba (centre of pure). He was taught how to use automatic rifles, including AK-47s and M-16s, and pistols. On completing his arms training, he had to undergo two months of Khidmat (service) training — as a cook in the camp kitchen.

The courses were very intensive and gruelling and not all recruits made the cut. Ajmal did, and was then sent to another LeT camp in the Cherapadi Pahadi region of Muzzaffarabad in PoK in June-July this year.

For the next two-and-a-half months, he received advanced training from ustads (teachers) in firing AK-47s, rocket launchers and mortars and was also taught how to use GPS systems and marine compasses. The camp commander was a terrorist called Saif-ur-Rahman, alias Chachu (who his fellow terrorist Ismail was trying to call when they were cornered in Mumbai). Ajmal was also trained by terrorists who had returned from Jammu & Kashmir. This bunch of battle-hardened desperados were highly respected by members of the camp and called "Gazi".

Apart from arms training, Ajmal and the other "students" were also taught how to withstand intensive interrogation and mislead interrogators. The methods were primitive and brutal — they were thrashed for several days during training to prepare them for "hostile interrogations". Having "qualified", Ajmal and his cohorts were taught to operate maritime vessels.
 
His handlers now considered him a finished product. He proceeded to Azizabad in Karachi where he and nine others were briefed about their deadly mission. The group of 10 started in a medium-sized boat from an isolated creek in Azizabad on November 23. Three or four nautical miles into the sea, they boarded Al Hussaini, a larger, sea-faring vessel. They were given a bag each, which contained eight grenades, one TT pistol with one or two magazines, an AK-47 with three double magazines, a gas lighter, a dry fruit packet weighing 500 gm, loose ammunition, one mobile phone with an Indian SIM card and a walkie-talkie. Each of them was also given fake ID cards.

By 12.30-1.00 pm, they were within reach of Mumbai, but the instructions were to launch the operations only after nightfall. So, they slowed down and waited for the sun to set. At 6.30 pm, the group of 10 boarded a rubber speedboat, fitted  with a new Yamaha engine and came ashore in India's financial capital at 8.30 pm.

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[zamanku] Report: Syria won't renew peace talks until Israel clarifies Golan plans


Last update - 16:05 04/12/2008


Report: Syria won't renew peace talks until Israel clarifies Golan plans
By Haaretz Service

Syria refuses to renew its indirect negotiations with Israel until the latter responds to queries regarding plans for the disputed Golan Heights, the Arabic-language Al-Hayat daily reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Syria has given Turkish mediators its responses to Israel's security questions, but has asked that the document not be transferred until Jerusalem delivers its responses to Damascus' own queries.

Turkey has recently urged a renewal of negotiations, particularly in light of Barack Obama's election to the U.S. presidency.
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Both Turkey and Syria have expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will enable an intensive advancement of contacts and perhaps even bring about direct negotiations.

The Bush administration has long had reservations about Israel's talks with Syria and refuses to play any active role in them.

Obama, however, favors American dialogue with Syria, and would presumably agree to take an active role in Israeli-Syrian talks.
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