Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Rabi' al-Thani 23, 1425/ June 13, 2004 #69
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SUMMER SCHEDULE:
Dear readers: Asalamu alaikum. During June and July, New Trend might appear irregularly owing to the invitations we have received. We'll try to be steady but might not appear for extended periods of time. Inshallah, we'll go back to normal in August. Thank you for your support.
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BOYCOTT BUSINESSES WHICH SUPPORT ISRAEL: Latest News

Jamaat al-Muslimeen reports:
The boycott brochure was given to 100 Muslims at the Islamic Center in Newark, Delaware. It was enthusiastically received. The congregation here is largely Pakistani, followed by Arabs and a few African-Americans.

To join this effort, contact: DIRECTOR of BOYCOTT in California at this address:
Pradia2@aol.com
To donate for this effort:
Jamaat al-Muslimeen
POB 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234
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Civil Rights
MUSLIM WOMAN REFUSED TO TAKE CLOTHES OFF

[Sent by Br. Yusuf El-Fakhri in Manassas, Virginia.]

LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the city of Omaha on behalf of a Muslim woman who says she was barred from accompanying her children to a city swimming pool because she was fully clothed.

The lawsuit filed in Lincoln federal court Wednesday says Lubna Hussein took her three children to the pool in June and August 2003 but was turned away at the gate after she told employees she could not wear a bathing suit.

Hussein is required by her religious beliefs to keep her body covered in public except for her face and hands.

She was told she could not be in the pool area in her street clothing, even though she saw other people in the area who were not wearing bathing suits, according to the lawsuit.

On one occasion, the lawsuit says, city workers told Hussein that her children could enter but that she would have to remain outside and observe them through a fence.

"The city cannot operate its pools in a way that discriminates," said Amy Miller, legal director for ACLU Nebraska.

Omaha City Attorney Paul Kratz said he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to immediately comment on its specifics. But he said the city has a policy of not allowing people in street clothes inside pool areas.

The lawsuit says the city violated Hussein's equal protection rights and other constitutional guarantees. It asks for a court order declaring the pool policy unconstitutional, as well as unspecified damages for humiliation, embarrassment and suffering.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey S. Smith
443-677-7084
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Pakistan Air Force in Action: Paratroopers Capture 3 Houses in Shakai: 35 Islamists, 18 Pakistani troops Killed: Naik Muhammad Leads Islamic Resistance

by our Pakistan Observer

June 10, 11, 12: Under the personal supervision of General Musharraf, President of Pakistan, the armed forces of Pakistan have launched an all out offensive in South Waziristan, near the Afghan Frontier.
The Ahmadzai Pathans, known for their Islamic sense of honor, are resisting the Pakistan army. The resistance is lead by Naik Muhammad, a Pakistani supporter of the Taliban, who has given refuge to Islamic refugees from Chechnia and Uzbekistan.

The Pakistani assault began with bombing raids by 4 jet fighters of the Pakistan Air Force [PAF] on three houses in Shakai village said to be harboring Al-Qaida refugees. The bombing was followed by the landing of paratroopers from 20 helicopters supported by another 16 helicopter gunships which rocketed the surrounding areas.

The bombing was resumed on June 12.
Till now the Pakistani attack seems to have failed. At least 35 Islamists were said to have been killed in the bombing but the government has identified only seven of them as Uzbek Muslims, while it appears that the remaining 28 were Pakistanis from the Ahmedzai tribe. One of the martyrs is a Qari [reciter of the Qur'an] from Dera Ismail Khan.

The Pakistani advance halted after the mujahideen counterattacked , killing 13 Pakistani troops, from the regular army and the Frontier Corp.On June 12, the mujahideen struck a Pakistani paramilitary force known as Waziristan Scouts [reconnaissance unit], killing 5.

Pakistani bombing attacks could cause serious civilian casualties in the Ahmedzai villages. One initial report states that Pakistani mortar fire killed a little girl and injured 3 people in a home.

The Pakistani general, Shaukat Shah, in charge of public relations, has warned the public not to think of Naik Muhammad as a hero: He is simply a "terrorist," the general stated.
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INTENSE REVULSION AMONG PAKISTANI MASSES as MUSHARRAF'S SECOND OFFENSIVE IN WAZIRISTAN UNFOLDS

[Exclusive to New Trend from Syed Munawwar Hasan, Secretary General of Jamaate Islami Pakistan.]

June 13, 2004. In Lahore, Pakistan, Syed Hasan, told New Trend that Pakistanis in general are disgusted and sickened by the Musharraf military offensive against the Muslims of South Waziristan. Numerous protest demonstrations against the military action have been held across the country, in spite of the very hot weather.

According to Syed Hasan, it is a disaster for Pakistan that the Pakistani army is fighting the Pakistani people, and General Musharraf is directly responsible for this situation. This assault, said Hasan, is being carried out at the behest of the Bush administration.

Musharraf does not have any support for the use of the military in this anti-Pakistan action, Hasan said. The General has totally ignored the elected representatives of the tribal areas in the decision to use the military, Hasan pointed out. The ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES are VEHEMENTLY opposing the action.

Discussing the situation in Karachi, Syed Hasan says the terrorism in that city is connected to the ethnic organization known as MQM. This is a small, fascist, organization composed of street thugs and killers, supported by the Musharraf regime. MQM is the only group supporting Musharraf's actions, Syed Hasan concluded.
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Occupied Kashmir

INDIAN SHELLING DESTROYS MOSQUE, KILLING IMAM

[News reports]

June 8. At the village of Bogand, the Kilgam area of Kashmir, Indian forces demolished a mosque killing its Imam Muhammad Yunus Butt, a Hafiz of the Qur'an. The Indian army claimed that mujahideen were hiding in the mosque, but on June 10, when the rubble was cleared, only the imam's body was found. His funeral prayers were led by Syed Ali Gailani, leader of the political opposition group Hurriyet Conference. Large numbers of people participated in the prayer and protested against the atrocity.

Villagers say that during the Indian army siege of the village, a 7 year old girl, Bisma Jan, became seriously ill, but Indian troops would not let her be evacuated and she died.
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GERALDO RIVERA'S AFGHANISTAN: FOX TV's PROPAGANDA EXERCISE RAISES QUESTIONS

[From New Trend's Media Monitor]

On June 12, Fox TV featured Geraldo Rivera speaking for almost an hour from Kandahar, Afghanistan. At the same time, FOX TV claimed that U.S. marines have killed 80 [Eighty!] Taliban for a loss of only 2 injured.

No evidence for this claim of victory was available in Geraldo's program. The program showed wide ranging shots of various American military camps in southern Afghanistan. However, NOT ONE TALIBAN WAS SHOWN, DEAD OR ALIVE. Nor could Geraldo find EVEN ONE American soldier who had engaged in a fight with the Taliban.

By contrast, one scene showed a U.S. military CAMP UNDER TALIBAN ROCKET FIRE and the clear escape of the attackers. At another point, the viewers were told that the Taliban had killed 6 policemen [ostensibly to force schools to close down].

Taking Geraldo's report at face value, there is no evidence that the U.S. has scored any success against the Taliban. [By mistake, Geraldo admitted that five weeks back there was a SUCCESSFUL Taliban against U.S. troops in KANDAHAR itself. He gave no details and only expressed happiness that Kandahar had not witnessed such an attack for 5 weeks.]
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Egyptian Islamist dies in custody

Thursday 10 June 2004, 9:57 Makka Time, 6:57 GMT

A member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood died on Wednesday while in police custody, a spokesman for the movement said.

"Engineer Akram Zoheiry ... died Wednesday morning," Abdel Moneim Mahmud, an official in the Muslim Brotherhood media department, said, giving no further details of his death.

Though the movement - founded in 1928 in Ismailiya, Egypt, by Hasan al-Banna - is officially banned, some of the Muslim Brotherhood's activities are tolerated by the Egyptian government.

Zoheiry was one of 54 people arrested on 16 May accused of having organised protests against Israel's assassinations of Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, founding leader of the Palestinian Islamic resisting movement Hamas, and his successor Abd Al-Aziz al-Rantisi.

Custody deaths

Last week, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights issued a report charging that at least 15 Egyptians had died while in police custody between April 2003 and April 2004.

The organisation said it had "strong suspicions that the 15 deaths resulted from torture and abuse at Egyptian police stations".

The figure represented only a fraction of the problem, the statement said, referring to reports of hundreds of other cases of torture across the country.
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2004-06-16 Wed 20:31ct