Reading the Middle Eastern and South Asian Press

By Sandip Roy, AlterNet. Posted May 17, 2002.

Editor's Note: This roundup assembles from regional news sources a collage of headlines and viewpoints that have gone missing in action in the U.S. press.


Pakistan Tribes Issue Fatwa Against U.S. Troops

Widespread anger against American forces among tribal groups in South Waziristan Agency on the Afghan-Pakistan border has made American and Pakistani authorities postpone their operation against the al Qaeda and Taliban and retreat back behind the Afghan border. Pakistan had allowed U.S. forces to pursue fleeing Taliban and al Qaeda into Pakistan. Pakistani tribes have been so incensed by the presence of American commandos in the area that pamphlets have been distributed with a fatwa (edict) calling on people to gun down any American, whenever and wherever found. --Dawn, Karachi, Pakistan, May 10, 2002

West Bank Palestinians Accused of Faking Funerals

Palestinians are being accused of faking funerals in the refugee camp of Jenin to gain international sympathy. An Israeli intelligence officer screened video images of a staged funeral that showed pallbearers repeatedly trying to wrap a green blanker around a man pretending to be dead. The blanket kept falling off the man, who helped pallbearers put it back again. Israeli television showed the footage. Israeli intelligence sources also accused the Palestinians of exhuming corpses from nearby cemeteries and burying them in a mass grave in Jenin in order to raise the fatality count. They also said animal carcasses were being dragged there to create the "stench of death." --Israel Insider, May 5

Pakistani Dragnet Snares 300 Alleged Terrorists

Pakistani police have arrested 300 suspects with alleged links to Al Qaeda in a recent countrywide sweep. The action followed a suicide car bombing that killed 14 people, including 11 French technicians. Police also picked up 120 people from the North West Frontier Province near Afghanistan. Intelligence sources said members of outlawed organizations such as Jaish-I-Mohammed were sheltering Al Qaeda and Taliban members there. --Gulf News, Dubai, UAE, May 5.

A Kinder, Gentler Afghan Warlord?

Afghanistan's battling warlords are trying a little civility. Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum signed an accord with three of his rivals, and in an unprecedented move, admonished more than 90 commanders for alleged atrocities committed by their soldiers after the fall of the Taliban. The warlords listened to a recounting of a 52-page U.N. human rights report about atrocities committed by their troops. After hearing the report Dostum said, "If any one of my commanders commits these kind of acts, I will kill him tomorrow." He warned the soldiers that they could be taken to an international court of justice. --Dawn, Karachi, Pakistan, May 10

Intifada Taking Toll on Israeli Economy

An official of Israel's central bank said that the Israeli economy might lose up to 5 percent of its gross domestic production in 2002 if the Palestinian Intifada continues. The Intifada has already caused the economy to lose about $2.45 billion from October 2000 to the end of 2001. Tourism, construction, agriculture and specially exports to the Palestinian territories -- which reached more than $2 billion dollars in the late 1990s -- have been affected. --Al Jazeera Television, Doha, Qatar, May 9

Suicide Blast Draws Rare Criticism From UAE

The United Arab Emirates publicly criticized the recent Palestinian suicide bombing of a club in Tel Aviv that killed 16 people. Such criticism is extremely rare, especially in the Gulf Arab countries. The Emirati Minister of Information, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said that the suicide bombers did not do the operation "for the sake of establishing a Palestinian state or for the sake of peace, but for the sake of their radical objectives." He also decried such operations as useless, saying they only benefited right-wing parties inside Israel --Al Jazeera Television, Doha, Qatar, May 8

Iraq to Return Kuwaiti Documents

Iraq has informed Arab League Chief Amr Mussa that it is ready to return national archives and official documents seized during its 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait. Mussa said that Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri had told him that different ministries in Baghdad were coordinating their efforts to gather all Kuwaiti documents. Mussa said his task was organizing the return of the papers to Kuwait. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the move as a "positive development." --Albawaba.com, Amman, Jordan, May 4

Arab League Offers 'Total Cease-Fire' to Israel

Arab nations are ready to bring to Israel a "total cease-fire" in exchange for its withdrawal from Palestinian self-rule areas. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa made the comments after a recent meeting of Arab foreign ministers. He said, "The American position is known and the Arab position is clear: These (suicide) operations will stop when the (Israeli) retreat starts." He also said Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian self-rule areas was a precondition to any new Middle East peace conference. --Albawaba.com. Amman, Jordan, May 10

White House to Sanction Iran-Linked Companies

A high-level administration official said that the White House has decided to impose new sanctions against some Chinese, Armenian and Moldavian companies suspected of aiding Iran in its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The official did not elaborate on the nature of the sanctions, but said Congress would soon be notified of the move. The decision was taken in accordance with laws passed by Congress in 2000 to prevent Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. --Al Jazeera Television, Doha, Qatar, May 9

Yemen Denies Plans for U.S. Military Bases

The Yemeni government has denied opposition claims that it is planning to establish American military bases on Yemeni soil. American Gen. Tommy Franks, head of U.S. Central Command, reportedly had said that facilities would be established at Adan Harbor for American warships, prompting Yemen's opposition parties to send a letter protesting the developments to the president. A government spokesperson called on the opposition leaders to visit the ports in question and see for themselves that no American base was under construction. There are 150 American military advisers training Yemeni troops. --Al Jazeera Television, Doha, Qatar, May 8

India Claims Kashmir Terrorists on the Rise

India is claiming that the number of Pakistan-trained terrorists moving across the border into Kashmir is rising again. Sources estimated the number went from 33 in January to 132 in March. A new report said that 73 terrorist camps had sprung up in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, housing 3,650 fighters. The Al Badr Marqaz encampment had formed a group known as Shura-e-Furkaan to unite remaining Taliban and al Qaeda fighters for an operation in Kashmir. Banned groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba have been renamed and have opened new bank accounts. Middle-rung leaders of these organizations have been released. --The Week, Kochy, India, May 12

PNS Associate Editor Sandip Roy (sandiproy@hotmail.com) is host of "Upfront" -- the Pacific News Service weekly radio program on KALW-FM, San Francisco.

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